“The good thing about hard-labor camps is that you have all the freedom in the world to sound off. In Ust-Izhma you’d only have to whisper that people couldn’t buy matches outside and they’d clap another 10 on you. Here you could shout anything you liked from a top bunk and the stoolies wouldn’t reportContinue reading “RKS Literature: Freedom of Speech in the Gulag (Solzhenitsyn)”
Tag Archives: Robert K. Stephen
RKS 2025 Wine: A Chianti Classico: Bring on the Transylvanian Bear Stew!
Aroma: Virtually screaming “Cherry”. Blackberry, milk chocolate and Coachella Valley date. Palate: Serious stuffing to this wine. Well built in tannins and tight structure suggesting some ageability. The fruit is busting to escape but not just yet fellow. Chery again but kirsch as well. Long ponderous finish with a hint of sour cherry. Personality: DoContinue reading “RKS 2025 Wine: A Chianti Classico: Bring on the Transylvanian Bear Stew!”
RKS 2025 Documentary Film: “Death Without Mercy”: Your Trip to Hell
It was a quiet early 2024 November evening in Thessaloniki, Greece and I was holed up writing reviews for films I had watched at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Thessaloniki has survived many aftershocks but in 1978 the city suffered aftershocks from a 6.5 Richter scale earthquake killing an estimated 49 people. Greece is noContinue reading “RKS 2025 Documentary Film: “Death Without Mercy”: Your Trip to Hell”
RKS Literature: Paying Attention to the Gulag Hierarchy (Solzhenitsyn)
“The foreman matters more than anything else in a prison camp: a new one gives you a new lease of life, a bad one can land you six feet under. Shukov had known Andrei Profofyevich Tyurin back in Ust-Izhma. He hadn’t worked under him there, but when all the “traitors” had been shunted from theContinue reading “RKS Literature: Paying Attention to the Gulag Hierarchy (Solzhenitsyn)”
(Trumpian Tariff War): Department of Finance of Canada Lists Various Types of American Beer, Wine, Spirits and Alcoholic Beverages Subject to 4February2025 Tariff of 25%
The 25% tariff is effective 4February2025 and will remain in effect until Trump tariffs end. The Department of Finance product list and backgrounder can be accessed below. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2025/02/list-of-products-from-the-united-states-subject-to-25-per-cent-tariffs-effective-february-4-2025.html
RKS Trumpian Tariff War: The Province of Nova Scotia Removes All United States Liquor from Its Stores
The Premier of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Tim Huston, announced he will direct the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation to remove all United States alcohol from its shelves effective 4February2025.
RKS Trumpian Tariff War: British Columbia To Restrict U.S. Liquor Sales
Premier David Eby of the Canadian province of British Columbia announced countermeasures on 2February2025 to “stand up” for British Columbian workers and businesses after the United States announced incoming tariffs of 25% on incoming goods and 25% on Canadian energy. As a first step the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch will immediately stop purchasing liquorContinue reading “RKS Trumpian Tariff War: British Columbia To Restrict U.S. Liquor Sales”
RKS 2025 Wine: A South African Red Blend
This Kloof Street Swartland Rouge is a blend of Syrah (41%), Grenache (32%), Tinta Barocca (17%) and Cinsault (10%) which have been fermented using indigenous yeasts. From sustainably farmed vineyard parcels in different parts of the Swartland, up to 48 years in age: Two parcels of Syrah and one parcel of Cinsault and Grenache fromContinue reading “RKS 2025 Wine: A South African Red Blend”
RKS 2025 Film: “Exhibiting Forgiveness”: Bible Thumpers Curing Horrific Wrongs?
Forgiveness is an essential component of Christian and mindfulness ideology. Forgiving is perceived as liberating and healing. But are there certain dastardly and evil deeds that simply can’t be forgiven such as the endless episodes of genocide plaguing world history? Tarrell (André Holland) is a black artist seemingly living the good life, a real upContinue reading “RKS 2025 Film: “Exhibiting Forgiveness”: Bible Thumpers Curing Horrific Wrongs?”
RKS Literature: The Perpetual Sentence in the Gulag (Solzhenitsyn)
“Another thing the searchers looked for in the morning: men wearing civilian dress under prison clothes. Never mind that everybody had been stripped of his civilian belongings long ago and told that he’d get them back the day his sentence ended (a day nobody in the camp had yet seen).” “One Day in the LifeContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Perpetual Sentence in the Gulag (Solzhenitsyn)”
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 