Best Online Wine Columnist in the World! 2013 Roederer Award in that category, and they stopped giving out that award immediately afterward. In perpetuity!
San Francisco
Joined June 2009
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W. Blake Gray retweeted
My interview with @SergeZaka for wine-searcher: wine-searcher.com/m/2026/10/…
Looking for explanations for conservatives winning British Columbia for the first time in a century, I found this.
(BTW, naturally I wonder how this election might affect the US-Canada trade war.)
thehub.ca/2026/10/25/why-dav…
This is shocking. BC's premier called an early election, assuming anger at Trump was enough for a big win.
I'm not in BC and I don't know why the conservatives won. But, what a huge miscalculation.
#BREAKING: B.C. Conservatives win majority government. Live real-time election updates here. ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article…
Worth reading. This guy wrote 214 essays for Scientific American but eventually was dismissed because he kept insisting on facts and logic, even when it went against Woke 1 beliefs.
Wokeness taking over WaPo and NYT is one thing. But this was SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.
Here is my account of what happened to Scientific American before the latest meltdown, when the wokeness first began to rot this once great institution.
michaelshermer.substack.com/…
Progressives hate freedom of speech
I was just forcefully removed from a @ThornsFC game for the crime of wearing an @xx_xyathletics t-shirt. I am in shock. We peacefully wore our shirts. We were assaulted by fans. Then WE were forced to leave – with FORCE by stadium security. I am utterly in shock.
Champagne decides not to expand to areas previously deemed not worthy of inclusion.
It always looked like a plan to create more bottom-shelf Champagne. This decision is not about the sanctity of the AOC; it's about luxury marketing through scarcity.
wine-searcher.com/m/2026/10/…
Interesting, complex story about media suppression.
As a working journalist, one thing I take from it is that these journalists didn't see themselves as part of a larger company. But they were deluding themselves.
SHOULD they have been independent? Maybe. But they weren't.
This investigation in @TheNation about the downfall of Scientific American presents a neat parallel to the question of whether the downfall of the transgender rights movement can be blamed on its political excesses prompting a backlash, on cynical rightwing exploitation, or a combination of both.
After @SciAm became nakedly leftwing in recent years under Laura Helmuth (who posted scathingly about Trump supporters after the 2024 election results came in and was pressured to resign), this attracted the ire of the Trump administration, which in turn put pressure on its corporate owner, which ultimately offloaded the company to a small firm, which proceeded to gut the magazine.
Would none of this have happened had SciAm stuck strictly to the science and not come out swinging in the left-wing approach to the culture wars? We'll never know.
thenation.com/article/societ…
I wonder how much $ this cost.
No matter how corrupt your country's government is, and ours is very corrupt right now, it's nothing compared to FIFA.
nytimes.com/athletic/7716521…
W. Blake Gray retweeted
Elise Bierer of Battle Ground High (WA) walked off the starting line to protest running against a biological boy in a district cross country meet Wednesday. The choice ended her season. My column on the sophomore who broke down into tears after taking a stance.
foxnews.com/outkick-sports/w…
Interesting lawsuit. Like most North Americans, I'd like to see our trade war with Canada end.
But will this do it? I'm curious to see a court respond to the argument that a 96-year-old law is a "relic" that has been "superseded by modern trade laws."
newser.com/story/398564/food…
Wine lovers won a big victory in Ohio last week.
But now they have to file more lawsuits to take advantage.
People just want to order special wines, like birth-year wines or single-vineyard rarities. That requires a surprising number of lawsuits.
wine-searcher.com/m/2026/10/…
Censorship in the UK is really shocking.
If the US had laws like this -- that mocking a politician is a crime -- most of the country would be under arrest.
nypost.com/2026/10/21/opinio…
Jay's right about this when it comes to restaurants.
In San Francisco I can have a $400 (plus undisclosed 20% service charge and 5% worker health fee) tasting menu. Or I can have a $15 burger. But there's not much in between.
.@jayleno says the middle of the consumer market is disappearing, from cars to hotels to restaurants.
"The middle is dead."
"I see Porsche moving upscale and they want to be like Ferrari."
"Everything is that way now. With hotels, you're either at the Motel 6 or the Four Seasons."
"Restaurants are either fast food or top end restaurant."
"We have no middle class anymore."
The original Abbott & Costello routine plays a surprisingly important part in "You Can See Everything," which I just saw yesterday (and highly recommend.)
It's fun to see this version, generally.
Don't know if it's possible to be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in a documentary, but if so, Amanda Seyfried deserves it. She's amazing in this and showcases the art and craft of acting.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Ca…