Not sure if Tracey and I would ever take another Royal Caribbean cruise (we probably did a dozen or more in our earlier years) – there are too many families and too many kids for my taste, and the ships are just so damned big that you lose all sense of ibig blue, but if we were to, this is certainly good to know.

Even if Lindsay Buckingham hadn’t been fired by his Fleetwood Mac bandmates I really don’t think I would attend one of their concerts. Considering the turnover the band had with guitarists in their first ten years of existence, it’s hard to believe Buckingham has been in and out and around the FM dial (so to speak) for more than four decades. But I love his guitar work – next to Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and George Harrison he’s my favorite guitarist of all time.

Geez, if this doesn’t tell you everything that is wrong with our public schools, nothing does:

The National Education Association stands firmly with the millions of people in the United States, including our students and educators, who identify as transgender, gender non-binary, gender expansive and/or intersex.

We are alarmed by recent news reports that indicate that the Administration is contemplating policy to erase transgender protections through reinterpretation of existing laws and regulations. The NEA strongly opposes such damaging and dangerous policy efforts.

We oppose any policy or regulation that violates the privacy rights of those that identify as transgender, gender non-binary, gender expansive/non-conforming or who are intersex. NEA logo

We oppose any attempts to eliminate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who identify as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth.

We view any attempts to narrowly define gender as a deliberate attack on the fundamental equality of LGBTQ individuals and part of a deliberate strategy to eliminate or undo federal protections for LGBTQ people on the part of the current administration.

Transgender, gender non-binary, gender-expansive/non-conforming and intersex individuals are our students, our colleagues, our members and our families.

We call for equality in policy-making and equality under the law for transgender, gender non-binary, gender-expansive/non-conforming and intersex individuals.

Think this person is more than a little misguided? I wonder what she (or he, or it) self-identifies with. Heck, I’m old enough to remember when education was all about the three “Rs”…

Boy, you read stories like this and this, and the next two years with the Democrats in charge of the House of Representatives is really gonna be something. America, get ready to have your eyes O-P-E-N-E-D.

…if you want to see the Democrats’ plans for America all you have to do is see how the states they have run for decades are doing. It should scare the bejeezus out of everyone.

I’m listening to “The Nutcracker” on YouTube. Brings back fond memories of seeing the Boston Ballet’s annual presentation at the Wang Center. Tracey and I would be decked out in our finest evening wear and start our night with Italian food in the North End. Then, after heading over to the Wang Center, we’d grab a couple of champagnes and head up to the balcony and look down at all the pretty people decked out in their holiday finest and do our own version of the Joan & Melissa Rivers “red carpet” treatment. At intermission, rinse and repeat. Those were good times, magical times.

Speaking of Christmas, Shawn Colvin’s pitch-perfect, almost child-like voice is perfect for “Christmastime is Here”.

Just another example of political correctness being a killer:

The organization has been fending off lawsuits over alleged abuse, including one filed by four former scouts who called the club a “pedophile magnet” and alleged that they were molested by scoutmaster Waldron Ackerman between 1974 and 1976.

Just like the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts’ lack of enforceable standards and accountability attracted the wrong element and for all the wrong reasons. Next thing you know, you got a public relations nightmare on your hands, the lawsuits start flying, and a once-great institution is destroyed by the rot they allowed to proliferate. It’s just another reminder that the institutions that will last are those who aren’t afraid to stand up for what they are and what they believe, and make their membership mean something.