lummi island wine tasting nov 14-15 ’25
Hours this weekend: 4-6 pm Friday & Saturday
click link for larger image!!
the view a gentleman sees from Mike & Diane’s privy…
This Week’s Wine Tasting
McManis Chardonnay ’23 CA $14
Lush and inviting with pure fruit flavors, voluptuous palate of peach, apricot, vibrant citrus, and melon and an easy, creamy texture with hints of vanilla and a smooth, lingering finish.
Phantom Red Blend ’20 WA $17
Petite Sirah/Zin blend delivers rich velvety palate of dark blackberry and boysenberry with peppery notes, balanced structure w/ tantalizing layers of baking spice and plush tannins…a consistent local favorite!
Marchetti Villa Bonomi Conero Riserva ’19 Italy $27
100% Sangiovese from Montepulciano, aged 16 mos. in barriques and 12 mos. in bottle; big, age-worthy wine with intense floral bouquet, nuanced flavors; ripe, pleasing tannins, and satisfying finish.
Lovo Fior d’Arancio Sparkling Moscato ’18 Italy $15
A rare clone of Moscato with an unmistakable citrus scent from nearby orange groves; a great holiday dessert wine with refined bubbles, beautiful, pearlescent color, and maybe a dessert all by itself!
Economics of the Heart: Fighting Back
This week we celebrate some shifts in the balance of power in the ongoing battle to save American Democracy. Today’s article in Salon by Heather Parton is particularly hopeful, documenting a number of encouraging political shifts over the last several weeks. In particular she traces a direct line of cause and effect between the most-recent-of-many Texas gerrymanders of its legislature to gain 5 more House seats in ’26 and a significant string of recent Maga setbacks around the country.
Interestingly, these pushbacks around the country began with the group exodus of Texas House Democrats’ out of the state (many to Illinois) to prevent a legislative quorum on yet another illegal Republican gerrymander. They received a warm welcome from Illinois Gov. Pritzger and “brought national attention to the Machiavellian tactics the GOP was employing to maintain its congressional majority in 2026. “That effort ignited a state-by-state battle that just may end up backfiring on the Republicans.”
The patently illegal actions of Texas Gov. Abbott and the subsequent publicity around the Texas House members’ unavailability set wheels of outrage in motion around the country and have already led to redistricting decisions in several swing states. Dave Wasserman, an electoral expert at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, noted on X that “between OH, KS, CA, VA and now this huge win in UT, Democrats have quietly strung together an impressive streak of victories over the past few weeks that have, surprisingly, pushed the mid-decade redistricting war closer to a draw.” See also: New Texas maps:
Party affiliations are in flux around the country. Many Hispanics who turned to Maga early on and now see immigrants like themselves being stripped of their rights, brutalized, deported, and worse by ICE, are turning back to Blue, and not likely to be switching back any time soon. That’s a substantial demographic block snubbed by Maga.
At the same time the millions of protesters who turned out for the No Kings March demonstrated national solidarity and commitment, and federal courts have been drawing firmer lines around the civil rights of both citizens and immigrants. Pressures are mounting to rein in the ongoing brutality and lack of accountability of ICE, and resistance is growing among veterans against the growing use of US military force against civilians, and the brutal bombings and murders of scores of unknown occupants of unidentified small vessels in international waters is in gross violation of international law and a dishonor to our country.
The rapidly emerging picture is that every day more people are waking up to the economic, environmental, and social disruption being caused by Project 2025’s brutal war on individual rights.
All this chaos is unfolding, of course, just as the mysterious Epstein files are being released. If they yield any actual facts we might find a few Republicans quietly start tiptoeing away from the Tweetster.
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2072 Granger Way