October 2, 2019 Jay Taber

[Editor’s Note, October 11, 2019: According to a communication from James McKinney today, who is mentioned in Jay Taber’s post below, Mr. McKinney has not been an executive director of Common Threads Northwest for two years. However, the perception that he remains the executive director is, to this editor, understandable, since a list of the current leadership of Common Threads Northwest is not available on their website. A phone call was made to Common Threads Northwest today to verify who their leadership includes, but no one answered and a recording stated their mailbox was full. Meanwhile, there is a February 6, 2018 Bellingham Herald video* with a caption that refers to Jim McKinney as being the executive director of Common Threads Northwest. Additionally, there is a November 30, 2018 annual report for Saturna Capital** — in which Mr. McKinney is listed as a trustee for Saturna Capital– that identifies him as the executive director of Common Threads Northwest. Mr. McKinney is also currently identified, at the Crew List which is linked to on the Saturna Capital website About page, as being the executive director of Common Threads Northwest.*** Again, according to Mr. McKinney, he is not currently the executive director of Common Threads Northwest. – Dena Jensen, Noisy Waters Northwest]

Tony Larson—candidate for Whatcom County Executive—is on a mission from God. Indeed, he is a featured speaker at the 2019 NW Business Leaders of Faith Conference.

As the president of Whatcom Business Alliance, Tony Larson plays a pivotal role in the Anti-Indian, Tea Party network that has attacked Lummi Nation and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians in the treaty rights vs. fossil fuel export conflict since 2012. Larson’s former director of operations and current board member at Whatcom Business Alliance, Laura McKinney, is the wife of James McKinney, who is the executive director of Common Threads Northwest [see Editors Note at the top of this article]— the organization in which the ostensibly departed Whatcom Tea Party envisioned itself living on. Whatcom Tea Party leadership, along with KGMI radio, promoted the 2013 Anti Indian conference in Bellingham.

Larson, the Tea Party, and the Whatcom Business Alliance are advocates for the BP Cherry Point Trans Mountain 2 marine terminal in the war against treaty rights. The Christian Business Leaders Network is out to “advance God’s kingdom” and, as Larson remarks in the Illuminate NW video, to “shine the light on Whatcom County.”

Fellow Christian Business leader and conference presenter, Jason Hubbard, is director of Light of the World Prayer Center. One of the core values of the apostolic center is “the salvation of the lost” to convert indigenous peoples, especially Native Americans, in order to transform our society. Modeled after Tim Taylor’s Operation Rolling Thunder, the Whatcom prayer center engages in ‘spiritual warfare’–a concept made famous by vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

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Jay Taber’s “On a Mission from God” was originally published on CWIS (Center for World Indigenous Studies). I have published Jay’s piece here on Noisy Waters Northwest, which contains one section of edited language, with the author’s permission. – Dena Jensen

* https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article150931582.html

** https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/811860/000081186019000040/sit-ncsra20181130.htm

*** https://www.saturna.com/about/crew-list