It’s a dreary start to this early December weekend here in the Valley of the Sun. Not that surprising – you typically get days of clouds and high, shimmering clouds as storms coming out of the Pacific either drop a little rain on us or pass to our north. The Christmas tree is up and running in all of it’s 2018 glory, and Tam brought over the first presents that make it look like a Christmas tree rather than some phony airport or Vegas casino display. Me? I’ve got some errands and a bit of holiday shopping to do (not much), so let’s get to it!

When history looks back at the Robert Mueller “Russia collusion” investigation, this will be the week where it was revealed to be the sham and witch hunt it always was to begin with. The media hacks and liberal shills at CNN and MSNBC can be as breathless about the latest Michael Cohen “revelations”, but, as Richard Baris points out in this important tweet, not only did Barack Obama get busted for the same thing and no one cared, but what’s to stop anyone elected president that the so-called “Deep State” doesn’t approve of to be hounded and investigated for no real reason other than to constrain his ability to do the job he was elected to do?

…this is nothing but banana republic politics, folks, and the sad thing is, the hatred of Donald Trump by liberals – simply because their crappy candidate ran such a crappy campaign – runs so deep and is so irrational that they can’t see the danger to this country’s electoral processes. Our country’s core values and institutions are being eaten out from within by the worms and maggots of liberal/socialist identity politics, political correctness, and people who wield social media as a weapon to destroy the lives and reputations of others from their high horses and glass palaces.

…so liberals, if you want to blame the likes of Donald Trump for this, go ahead and delude yourselves, but the problem is actually revealed by you looking in the mirror and taking a good look at what and who you are.

Good on the Red Sox for resigning Nathan Eovaldi. Watching that guy pitch during the ALCS and World Series was thrilling – even better than watching Roy Hobbs blow away the Whammer in “The Natural”.

The biggest problem Democrats and liberals are going to have when they assume control of the House of Representatives in January is their utter inability to temper their own extremes and the angels of their lesser nature. They never learn. Ramming through Obamacare the way they did gave the GOP the wedge issue they needed to be returned to power in the House during Barack Obama’s presidency. Now, their hatred of Trump and thirst to investigate and impeach, and a progressive/socialist wing which only wants to give more free stuff out to more people (health care, student loans) and take things away from them (climate change) will be their undoing in 2020.

…see, the problem is a mainstream media which will fawn over everything the likes of Adam Schiff and Alexandra Ocasio-Ortiz mutter, and Nancy Pelosi will have no other choice but to listen to a base which is raving and drooling over the prospect of destroying, rather than working with, President Trump. Unfortunately, voters will (gasp!) expect the Democrats to govern in a responsible and dignified manner (there are, after all, ticking time bombs like the deficit, Medicare, and Social Security demanding at least honest evaluation and solutions). Unfortunately, with what goes for Democrats and our poisoned political culture these days, that’s just going to be impossible.

…because, after all, the media would rather focus itself on “Russia collusion” than news like this, which seems to me a much bigger deal, no?

It’s going to be a great Christmas for Beach Boys fans everywhere with two new releases: “Wake The World: The Friends Sessions”, and “I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions”. 1968 was a challenging time for the band: the so-called “Summer of Love” had pretty much swept the beaches clean of everything that was relevant musically prior to 1967 (much like the arrival of The Beatles had done just three years prior). As a result, The Beach Boys were suddenly old hat, passe, out of the musical mainstream. But that didn’t mean they stopped creating and generating unique and interesting (if not particularly successful) music.

…these two releases scrub the vaults of their musical output in 1968 much like last year’s ground-breaking “Sunshine Tomorrow” release did for their 1967 output. What it shows is a band searching for an identity at that time and making music purely for the love of it, guitarist Carl Wilson beginning to take on more of a leadership role, and drummer Dennis Wilson’s emergence as a fully-realized and creative artist in his own right – a significant development for the band in the succeeding years. One of the reasons I fell in love with The Beach Boys’ music to begin with back in 1974 was their post-surf music, and these releases only serve to reinforce that feeling. It may not be for everyone, surely, but for Beach Boys fans it is Christmas-come-early, and a must-have.

…which makes the prospect of a similar kind of release in 2019 that scrubs the vaults of The Beach Boys’ musical activity from 1969 so intriguing. The band by that time was readying its artistic and commercial comeback that would culminate in the classic (though unappreciated at the time) Sunflower, and 1971’s Surf’s Up releases, and there is some truly great stuff just waiting to see the light of day. Something to look forward to, fer shure. What a great time to be a Beach Boys fan!