lummi island wine tasting sept 26-27 ’25
Hours this weekend: 4-6 pm Friday & Saturday
watercolor by Kim Obbink
This week’s wine tasting
Argento Malbec ’22 Argentina $13
From organically grown grapes; deep purple hue; inviting aromas of red berries and flowers, and flavors of plum and sweet blackberry; finishes with ripe, balanced tannins– way over-delivers for its modest price.
Christopher Michael Pinot Gris OR $14
Classic, natural peach-skin color with aromas of Anjou pears and white peaches; juicy and plush, with sweet stone-fruit flavors and bright acidity, and a dry, fresh finish.
Chehalem Corral Creek Pinot Noir ’21 Oregon $32
Elegant, smooth, complex, and light; bright aromatics of strawberry, cherry, toasted oak and baking spice; long, silky, and juicy palate with soft tannins and lingering flavors of bright red fruit.
Economics of the Heart: Cruelty As Government Policy
The first seeds of Republican Cruelty to hit the mainstream were the radio and TV talk show hosts of the early 90’s. Their lies about Democrats became 24/7 ad hominem insults across the nation on right-wing radio and TV. They laid the groundwork for the nonstop demonizing of the Clinton Administration in general and the Clinton family personally. Those deliberate decisions to stream false and outrageous narratives have been the public face of the Republican Party ever since. Those few with honor are long gone.
Dubya took office in 2001, failed to prevent the 9/11 hijacking attacks, and invaded Iraq and Afghanistan where armies of subcontractors made $billions. Thus began the “War on Terror,” which over the next 20 years put lots of $$ in the hands of billionaire investors, killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of people, and laid the path for a major economic recession just as Dubya left office. The Obama administration stepped in in 2008, made the investments and created the legislation to provide health care to all Americans, bailed out the American automobile industry, took out Osama bin Laden, got the economy back on track…you know, the typical transition from Republican looting to Democratic management.
Since the Tweetster’s Jan 6 2021 coup attempt, however, Republican Maga World has taken us down a very different path toward very different goals. Since then, Republican politicians and backers have turned increasingly to a single strategic goal: replacing Constitutional government with a tyrannical religious state run by a handful of extremely wealthy white men who will own everything and decide everything. There will be no “civil rights” in their neo-feudal system outside the small Elite, only liabilities, and cruelty as we have been seeing since January.
There will be subsistence living for ordinary people in good standing who toe the line. Men will be trained and assigned work according to family status. Women will make and take care of babies, manage households, or otherwise work as assigned. Big Brother will be constantly monitoring what everyone says and does, and violations will bring punishment.
This dystopian picture follows from last week’s post on the research of Matthew Boedy on his forthcoming book “The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy.” That subject came up last week from searches on Charlie Kirk and his “Turning Point USA” crusade. This talk Kirk gave at the 2020 CPAC meeting clarifies what Boedy is warning about the goals of Turning Point and its close relationship with the Christian nationalist New Apostolic Reformation movement (NAR). Btw, the Southern Poverty Law Center characterizes NAR as “the greatest threat to American democracy that most people have never heard of.”
It is appropriate to be concerned that the ongoing coup right now in our country is linked directly not only to Republican elected officials and their selected billionaire funders, but even more deeply to these terrifyingly hateful behind-the-scenes people who have made up their own Christian religion and intend to punish anyone who stands in their way. And who almost certainly are the force behind Project 2025.
The “good news” is that the ongoing Cruelty of Project 2025 is building more resistance against itself every day while the Tweetster is getting crazier and crueler every day, and our place in global politics and trade is slipping as long-time trading partners are taking their business elsewhere.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
2072 Granger Way