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Gail Pinot Grigio Sonoma Valley Morning Sun Ranch 2018 (13.3%, $25): Pinot Grigio is a punchline in some wine circles, often producing a wine thats bland, insipid and immediately forgettable. Thats what makes winemaker Dan OBriens version, for his Gail Wines label, so cool. Its got all the lightness and brightness that Pinot Grigio should have you could throw it back but its also lush with orchard fruit and a hint of grassiness. Youll love it, and so will your Santa Margherita-drinking aunt.

Irene Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2017 (13%, $35): Few wine categories are as polarizing as California Chardonnay. You might have a drinker at your table who drinks the oaky, buttery stuff with abandon and another one who wont touch it. This example from Irene, a label owned by husband and wife Brian and Katelynn Jessen, would make a fine peace offering. From a vineyard that gets cool Petaluma Gap winds, their Chardonnay is neither too rich nor too searing, characterized by the bright flavor of lemon zest. Its acidity gives it firm structure, which plays off the wines round shape and lightly chalky texture.

Unti Vermentino Dry Creek Valley 2018 (13.4%, $28): By all means, bring an offbeat white wine to Thanksgiving, but make it a crowd pleaser like Vermentino a grape widely grown around Italys Mediterranean coasts that can retain acidity when grown in warm climates. Untis Vermentino, from its estate outside Healdsburg, proves why more California winemakers are interested in this grape. Its crisp and straightforward (it never sees oak barrels and does not go through malolactic fermentation) but still full of character, juicy with apricot and lemon flavors and intensely floral.

Birichino Saint Georges Pinot Noir Central Coast 2017 (13.5%, $25): Many people consider Pinot Noir especially American Pinot Noir as mandatory at Thanksgiving, given its general friendliness with poultry and autumnal flavors. But there is a lot of American Pinot Noir out there that tastes like candied yams: dominated by the sweet flavors of toasted oak barrels and overripe cherries. Luckily, theres also Pinot Noir from Birichino, a Santa Cruz winery co-owned by John Locke and Alex Krause. Their single-vineyard Pinots are stunning (look for the Enz Vineyard), but the $25 Saint Georges blend is exemplary of their finessed style: crunchy, tart, dynamically textured. Its dark, earthy flavors would play well with stuffing, cranberry sauce and a gravy-dressed slice of turkey. But hold the candied yams.

Trevor Grace Estate Grenache El Dorado County 2017 (14.2%, $30): Increasingly, California Grenache seems to be moving toward two poles: one rich and robust, modeled on Chateauneuf du Pape, the other lean and translucent. Heres an example of a wine that nicely straddles both, from the offshoot label of winemaker Trevor Grace, who also works for his familys Lewis Grace Winery in Placerville. Its got some heft and structure to it while also feeling light on its feet, with velvety tannins and striking flavors of wet stone, orange peel and red currant.

Eden Rift Zinfandel Dickinson Block Cienega Valley 2017 (15.2%, $45): For that relative who wants to maximize his alcohol consumption per sip, heres a wine that packs a serious punch but thank goodness doesnt burn on the finish. The Eden Rift estate in Hollister(San Benito County) is mostly devoted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay but maintains a block of Zinfandel planted in 1906. It smells like acai berries and blueberry pie, with an impression of tart red plum on the palate. Its juicy, tangy and balanced, despite that 15.2% ABV, a perfect bridge between dinner and dessert.

Di Co Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2017 (14.3%, $65): If youve got a family member who wants to drink only Napa Cab and another one who refuses to drink Napa Cab, this is the wine to appease them both. Winemaker Massimo di Costanzo brings a refined touch to the category, and his entry-level Di Co wine is an outrageous value for what it is: single-vineyard Cabernet from 30-year-old vines in the Mount Veeder foothills. The vineyard is called Rafael, and its wine shares the same sense of restraint and structure as di Costanzos higher-end bottlings from the Farella and Montecillo vineyards. The Di Co is both floral and savory, suggesting lavender, pencil lead and dark, crushed berries.

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7 Thanksgiving bottles to tame the wine culture wars - San Francisco Chronicle

Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court, cowritten by Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino, might be retitled The [Ongoing] Education of Conservatives. Supreme Court nomination fights have become ground zero in the culture wars. In 1987, when President Reagan nominated Robert H. Bork for the court, Democrats were loaded for bear. The Reagan White House, then run by former senator Howard Baker, was asleep at the switch. When the opposition ran television ads opposing Bork featuring Gregory Peck of To Kill A Mockingbird fame, both Clint Eastwood and Charlton Heston volunteered to appear in a pro-Bork ad. The White House, incredibly enough, turned them down. One suspects Baker had no stomach for the fight with his old Democratic Party pals.

That nomination fight was the most important political event of the 1980s. Borks defeat allowed liberals to dominate the courts for the next 30-odd years, upholding rulings on abortion and affirmative action, while legalizing same sex marriage. In 1991, there was a replay with the Clarence Thomas nomination. By the time Kavanaugh was nominated, conservatives were in their battle stations. They now had a network (Fox News), plus numerous special interest groups able to spend millions on pro-Kavanaugh ads. It didnt hurt that Kavanaugh had no intention of stepping down and even if he did, President Donald Trump would not have allowed it.

The nomination wars didnt start with Bork. The co-authors dont remember the 1969 donnybrook over Clement Haynsworth, a South Carolina jurist nominated by President Nixon. That was just as nasty. That fight broke down on regional, rather than on party lines. Southern Democrats such as Ernest Hollings (DSC) and Richard Russell (DGA) supported Haynsworth, while such liberal Republicans as Hugh Scott (RPA) opposed him, prevailing in the end. (Todays conservatives would never want to be on the same side as Russell or, say, Senator James Eastland (DMS), who also supported Haynsworth.) This oversight hampers an otherwise intense read.

The co-authors are not sanguine about the future. The next time a Republican president nominates a jurist to the court, fireworks on a scale no one can possibly imagine will explode. The co-authorsand their fellow conservativesare stuck with placing their hopes on the American people.

One justice who escaped the confirmation wars is Neil Gorsuch. The man can spend the rest of his days on the nations highest court, writing opinions to his hearts content. A Republic If You Can Keep It is a compilation of Gorsuchs opinions, speeches and testimony from recent years. The purpose of the collection is to show Gorsuch in a good light, a thoroughly harmless fellow. Kavanaugh is being raked over the coals on a regular basis. That wont happen to Gorsuch. His collection is similar to George Wills recent book, The Conservative Sensibility. Youd think the two compared notes. Gorsuch hits all the right notes: No to Plessy vs. Ferguson, yes to Brown vs. Board of Education and conveniently enough, no mention of Roe vs. Wade or Obergefell vs. Hodges.

Gorsuch does reject the notion of a living constitution. Plus, he maintains that the courts should rule on what a law is rather than what it should be. Alas, the volume is sunk by cliches. The United States does not have a shared common culture in the classic sense, the justice proclaims. We do not have the many centuries of shared heritage that exists in, say, China or England.

This statement is demonstratively false. The original colonies had a shared common culture (Anglo-Saxon-Celtic Protestant) for 167 years (1607 to 1776) before the American founding and a good 211 years (1776 to 1987) afterwards. Thats 380 years, nearly four centuries. A nation that lacks a common culture becomeswell, the kind of country America has become today. Only the character of a people can uphold a legal document such as the U.S. Constitution.

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The Court: Ground Zero In The Culture Wars - Long Island Weekly News

On Mondays episode of The Ben Shapiro Show, the Daily Wire editor-in-chief talks about Colin Kaepernicks publicity stunt over the weekend, and how it relates to the broader culture war and impeachment inquiry. Video and partial transcript below:

Colin Kaepernick was given a workout by the NFL. [They] offered to organize a private workout for him and invited every single team in the league to attend, according to ESPN.

According to Amanda Prestigiacomo, reporting for The Daily Wire:

The session, according to ESPN, allowed Kaepernick an on-field workout and an interview, which would both be taped and made available to all teams. Moreover, the workout was set up to provide teams anonymity, so if they watched Kaepernick and didnt want him, they wouldnt catch flak. This was done to encourage more teams to attend the event, thus helping the quarterback secure a position.

But this was not good enough for Kaepernick, [who] canceled the workout abruptly over the weekend on Saturday about a half-hour before the session was supposed to begin apparently because he wasnt allowed to bring his own camera crew, because he wanted to grandstand and the NFL said [paraphrasing], No, if you really want to work in the NFL, then we are going to tape it and all of the teams will show up. But youre not allowed to grandstand and call out the Miami Dolphins for not signing you or something.

The workout was originally set for 3 P.M. and was to be held at the Atlanta Falcons practice facility in Flowery Branch, CBS News reported. At 2:30, representatives for the free agent quarterback informed the league that Kaepernick would instead be conducting the workout at 4 P.M. at Drew High School in Riverdale, Georgia.

So Kaepernick attended his own workout in a Kunta Kinte t-shirt, comparing himself to the defiant slave from the movie Roots. Because when I think of Colin Kaepernick, I think of a person who was forced into involuntary servitude and then whipped. I mean, Colin Kaepernick, Kunta Kinte exactly the same, if you are an insane person. Of course, theres an iconic scene in the film Roots, where Kunta Kinte is whipped by his master for refusing to acknowledge his slave name, Toby.

A statement from Kaepernicks agent and lawyer released before the workout blamed a liability waiver and the NFL denying the quarterback the opportunity to bring his own camera crew to the workout for their decision to ditch the event with such little notice.

Also, they used as an excuse the fact that the NFL forced him to sign a liability waiver, which is a normal liability waiver, because if he gets hurt in the course of this, they dont want the NFL to be sued.

According to the NFL, the waiver Kaepernick threw a fit over was a standard liability waiver based on the waiver used by National Invitational Camp at all NFL Combines and by NFL clubs when trying out free agent players.

Also, Kaepernick didnt inform them of his request to have his own personal camera crew attend the event until Friday night, and [the NFL] said:

We heard for the first time last night, around the same time we heard from Nike, that Colin wanted to bring his own video crew. We heard for the first time this afternoon that Colin wanted to open the event to all media.

So this has been his routine. He came out after his training session, apparently scouts said that he was mediocre, that he still has arm strength which was never his problem. His problem is that he couldnt make a secondary read. His problem is that he would run before he actually did his read progression, and that he was not accurate in throws downfield. Those were his big problems. He [always] had a lot of arm strength, he still has his arm strength. Hes 32 years old and hes a strong guy. I mean, why not? But here is Colin Kaepernick afterward proclaiming himself a hero of the republic.

KAEPERNICK: Been ready for three years, Ive been denied for three years. We all know why I came out here and showed it today in front of everybody. We have nothing to hide. So were waiting for the 32 owners, and 32 teams, Roger Goodell, all of them to stop running. Stop running from the truth, stop running from the people. Were out here, were ready to play, ready to go anywhere. My agent Jeff Nalley, hes ready to talk to any team, interview a team at any time. Ive been ready? Im staying ready, and Ill continue to be ready.

So in other words, the way that you are auditioning for teams to hire you is by being a head case and a pain in the ass. That really is what this is, because this is not anymore about police brutality, or free speech, or anything like that. This is about, why would, if youre a team owner, why would you possibly hire a guy as probably third-string quarterback who, if he does not play, is immediately going to go to the media and suggest that you are a brutal, vicious racist?

Stephen A. Smith over at ESPN, who is no right-winger he slams Colin Kaepernick over this, and then he got a bunch of flak from the Left because this is how our dumb society works. Here is Stephen Smith going after Kaepernick and saying this is all grandstanding nonsense.

SMITH: Colin Kaepernick wants to change the venue, Colin Kaepernick wants his own receivers, Colin Kaepernick wants to video things himself. Colin Kaepernick wants the media this is Colin Kaepernick, the media cant find him. He aint done no interviews, he aint talk to nobody, media cant find him. But he wants to do he wants the media available now. He dont want to play, he wants to be a martyr. But guess what? It aint working this time.

So Stephen A. Smith then gets an enormous amount of flak from the Left because he said a true thing. But by the way, this is the consensus. Even with a lot of folks on the Left who are concerned about racial issues from a left-leaning perspective, theres a report yesterday that [a source] told Sports Illustrated that [Jay-Z] is disappointed with Colins actions and believes hes turned a legitimate workout into a publicity stunt.

Jay-Z has been a longtime Kaepernick supporter. Apparently, he was rumored to have had a hand in organizing the Saturday workout with the NFL athletes to help the athlete secure a position with the team. Again, according to Amanda Prestigiacomo over at The Daily Wire:

As noted by The Undefeated, Jay-Zs Carters Roc Nation entertainment company signed on with the NFL this summer to lead the organizations music and entertainment endeavors

Asked by a reporter if hed kneel or stand, Jay-Z responded: I think were past kneeling. I think its time to go into actionable items. I think everyone knows what the issue is, and were done with that . Okay, next. Where we moving on next?

So heres the Rights response to all of this: We knew all this from the beginning. And where were all of you? Like, really, we all knew this was grandstanding nonsense from the very beginning, that this was Colin Kaepernicks way of getting a headline and making money. So where were all of you? Or, was this just another way to divide the country for purposes of dividing the country?

For the Left, it was a way of dividing the country over dumb issue where again, there is broad agreement. Youre allowed to kneel for the anthem, youre allowed to burn the flag, it also makes you a jerk to do so. Also, we all agree that if the police act in a racist way, that is a bad thing. If the police do something wrong, they should be prosecuted, but the police are overwhelmingly doing their best to make cities safer. Theres a vast amount of agreement on these issues and what the Left does too often, and this is true in the case of the cultural Left of Kaerpenick, what the Left does too often is they pick a bad example, and then if you oppose their bad example, they say that you oppose the underlying idea.

They pick a jerk like Kaepernick, and then if you say, I dont like what Kaepernick is doing, I think hes doing something bad, doing something wrong, and doing something that is bad for the country. Then they say, Well, its because you dont care about police racism. This is the routine that the Left would like to play.

The Rights response to this typically is Well , F-you. Okay, that is the Rights response to all of this. Were seeing more of these incredibly stupid cultural controversies brought up by the Left, and this is why, again, this all plays into the Trump impeachment inquiry, because how you see Trump is basically deciding how you see this impeachment inquiry.

Nobody sees this as a nonpartisan effort to get to the bottom of the matter. Nobody sees this as a real defense of the Constitution. Everybody sees this for what it is, which is a deeply political exercise. And where you come down on that political exercise is largely dependent on where you come down in these culture wars.

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SHAPIRO: Colin Kaepernick Auditions For Martyr Of The Culture War - The Daily Wire

UNITED KINGDOM

If they are able to, they will grow much bigger still. Demographic trends are about to deliver a big increase in the number of school leavers. Only around half of all younger people currently go to university, but a staggering 97% of mothers of young children want their offspring to get there.

Meanwhile, politicians of all parties say they want more spending on research and development as a way of delivering future economic growth. And, as a higher proportion of research spending goes to universities in the UK than in most other countries, this would directly boost the higher education sector and universities bottom lines.

Given this positive story, why has the credit rating agency Moodys just downgraded its perceptions of some UK universities, including Oxbridge, Leeds, Keele and De Montfort?

Economic and political upheaval

The answer is that universities are not unconnected islands; they are rooted in wider society. When there is economic or political upheaval, they are often among the first to feel the chill winds.

The downgrading by Moodys reflects the tougher environment in which UK universities are now operating and all the signs suggest things could get worse before they get better. The challenges are international, national and regional.

Internationally, there is huge competition. Only this week, Clarivate Analytics showed China has snatched the UKs number two spot behind the United States for the concentration of highly cited researchers.

Chinas rise is not just in research; it is in teaching too. In the West, we regard China as a source of international students for our universities. We typically forget that 1,000 Chinese universities are now attracting hundreds of thousands of international students of their own.

General election

At a national level, the current UK general election campaign is adding extra uncertainty. Resolving the UKs future relationship with the European Union could be helpful, but a bad Brexit would mean less research funding and less staff and student mobility.

The election manifestos are now confirming that more than one party wants to end Englands high tuition fees, which would mean less money for teaching as well as likely new restrictions on student places. Meanwhile, the culture wars that have unsettled universities in various countries, including the US and Hungary, are getting closer to British shores.

At a regional level, higher education is perhaps even more out of favour. Take the potential Oxford-Cambridge arc, which the property company Savills has just declared to be one of the greatest opportunities for economic growth in Europe. Instead of celebrating this as a fantastic prospect, the election candidates of the main political parties on the route are falling over themselves trying to outdo one another in their opposition.

So higher education institutions are aware they are living in more febrile, more competitive and more challenging times. University staff feel under such enormous pressure that many are on the cusp of industrial action.

Their managers meanwhile argue, with hard evidence and some force, that keeping the UK university sectors world-class position means not only surviving but having the resources to deliver more teaching, undertake better research and build improved campuses. When other countries are developing their higher education systems so fast, to stand still means to go backwards relative to your competitors.

International fees

It is often forgotten that, of all the things universities do, only one makes a financial surplus. The income from home and EU students roughly cover the costs of teaching them, while research projects are generally severely underfunded. So there is a shortfall that has to be made up in the UK (as in competitor nations, like Australia) from international student fees.

That is another reminder that higher education is at its best when it is at its most connected. Universities were originally made up of travelling bands of scholars with little respect for boundaries. Later on, the great cities of the world founded universities with a greater sense of place, but they sucked in people from around the world.

That history should remind us that, in our own century too, the most successful academic endeavours will be those that are both globally interconnected and have the support of their local communities.

All UK universities have bold strategic plans to stay at the top of their game as well as globally competitive. The downgrading by Moodys wont send them into an immediate panic, but it will still concern governing bodies. It could, in time, affect their capacity to borrow to invest and to work with partners at home and abroad. Most importantly, it could be seen as a warning sign of worse to come.

Nick Hillman is director of the Oxford-based Higher Education Policy Institute, an independent think tank.

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UK universities face chill winds of change - University World News

I visited a performance center in Richmond, California last week and came away mightily impressed. Hows this for a mission statement

East Bay Center for the Performing Arts engages youth and young adults in imagining and creating new worlds for themselves and new visions for their communities through the inspiration and discipline of rigorous training in world performance traditions.

Wow! This is a mission statement for UNICEF, the United Nations, the European Union, and yes, the United States of America. This is exactly the mission the world needs, and is missing right now, to heal wounds that divide us as we approach 2020.

I had the pleasure of dining with the Performing Arts social worker, Corinna, who facilitates getting kids off the streets of Richmond and into programs that provide new ways of seeing the world, and new ways of contributing to that world. She is a young Mother Teresa in a hardscrabble town. Were I not older than Methuselah I would have asked to join her staff, or at least sign up for an African drumming class.

The Center makes a strong statement as to why arts matter in public education

The arts rewire the brain to make strong and more plentiful neurological connections. Heaven knows we could all use more neurological connections, one or two would be a windfall for me.

And they dont just teach music, dance and art, they cultivate creative and critical thinking, collaboration and communication. As many students begin this growth odyssey in seventh or eighth grade, much attention is paid to nurturing an ability to act in a world beyond the center. By participating in production projects, students link with the broader community. This remarkable center has been reaching out and touching thousands of young people across Richmond for 51 years, in-school, after-school and in-house on 11th Street.

They work closely with classroom teachers and principals to align workshops designed to meet the needs of the students, so consequently, focus falls on cultivating cultural activities outside the center.

For college-bound students they help research and identify schools, grants, scholarships and financial aid opportunities. This is amazing stuff. Every community should have such a Center for the Performing Arts, for if every community were to have one, well, we would no longer live in fear of nuclear wars, cyber wars, or culture wars. Good- fellowship is their game, and they play it very, very well.

As I was about to leave the center, filled to the gills with optimism, I turned to the development manager and extended my hand

You are building something here much larger and grander and more important than a performance center. You are building a model for the United Nations, thats what I think.

He smiled a humble smile, extended his hand, and said, Thanks, Dad.

Learn more about McAvoy Layne at http://www.ghostoftwain.com.

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Pine Nuts: Power of the arts - Sierra Sun