Rabbi Yaacov Menken on 11/10
Los Tres Amigos 2019
Saving Western Civilization from Itself
“Rational Centrists”, the term our speaker Ken Abramowitz uses for the third of western society that thinks like “us”, are surrounded by the dark forces of Big Government, Isolationists, Political Islam and the United Nations. Although still a minority, we have improved our market share since the time of Abraham when the ratio was more like 1%.
Describing the threats to Israel as a precursor of threats to the west, he sees many of the same forces at work. Iran (who would like to wipe out the US as well as Israel), the Muslim Brotherhood and other Radical Islamists (Hezbollah, Al Queda/Daesh, etc), Globalist world organizations who reject national sovereignty (UN, EU, NGOs, etc), all figure prominently.
In order to prevail and maintain our way of life, Ken sees three key solutions.
We must maximize economic growth (happiness), protect the people intellectually, culturally and legally (liberty), and protect the people physically (life). Although Ken’s handouts went into some depth in these solution areas, he did not dwell on specifics in his talk.
Asked to grade President Trump on the defense of the west, most in the room gave all “A”s. Ken leans more towards a “B” grade though, as he objects to some specifics of the Trump agenda. While no one would argue that the economy is not booming, he faults the President for not taking on entitlements. While generally supporting the culture, he could do more on resisting aspects of Sharia in the US. On protecting physically, while the border fight is good, Ken believes pulling troops out of Syria is a big mistake. President Trump is a major improvement over his predecessor though, as he gives Obama three “F” grades.
Ken is the Chairman of “Citizens for National Security.” CFNS is a group of academic, scientific, intelligence, counter terrorism and defense experts who were involved in their respective fields decades before the 9/11 attacks on America.
Present at the meeting were County Commissioner Hal Valeche and PBG Councilman Matt Lane.
Ken Abramowitz at January Meeting
RCNPB December Meeting
Tony Khawam at October 14th Meeting
Congressional Update from Brian Mast
Sunday brunch at Grandes Bella Cucina featured district 18 Congressman Brian Mast, fresh from a great week in DC where he attended the White House event for Wounded Warriors. Regarding President Trump he said “You can see the love in his eyes” as he gave hugs to the wounded veterans.
In his update, Brian mentioned some good things in the farm bill – specifically the work requirement for welfare, and the provision that each welfare program must be applied for separately. (Currently, one enrollment gets you approved for all of them). It will be decided on a party line vote of course.
He mentioned that the Congressional office in the VA Hospital is now open for business, ready to receive veterans who want to discuss issues.
Attending a tech conference in Miami, Brian observed journalist John Harwood raising the issue of the so-called impending “blue wave”. Brian thought this was a bad question as it only addresses party and not policy. (You may remember John Harwood as the moderator of the Republican primary debate where the candidates got so fed up with his bias that they ignored him for most of the evening and asked each other questions :-). There will be no blue wave said Brian confidently. With the tax bill and improving economy we will do quite well.
During a brief question and answer session, Brian addressed Brightline (he challenged their tax exempt bonds in a committee hearing), and problems with getting legislation through the Senate.
Regarding the fact that he is facing a primary challenge, he responded “this is not my seat, anyone can run against me if they wish.” Brian will face Dr. Mark Freeman and Dave Cummings in the August Republican Primary.
Brian Mast to Speak at April Brunch
Ken Abramowitz at March Brunch
Los Tres Amigos 2018
Los Tres Amigos, for the third year running, were the highlights of our February meeting at Grande’s Bella Cucina.
Michael Barnett, PBCGOP Chair and vice chair of RPOF, was fresh from his recent Oval Office visit for the Black History Month event, where he rubbed elbows with Herman Cain, Alveda King and others.
The county GOP is in great shape he reported, raising lots of money. Lincoln Day was sold out in December, even without announced speakers, but it will be a great lineup. Sarah Palin will be the headliner, with guests Diamond and Silk, James O’Keefe, and Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA.
Michael gave us an update on outreach activities and reported that the local Haitian community is still supporting the President, in spite of media attempts to drive a wedge over alleged comments, because he keeps his promises. The Puerto Rican evacuees – estimated at over 300,000 and settling around the I4 corridor from Osceola to Hillsborough counties, are a toss-up. About 90% are expected to settle permanently and many have registered to vote – but there are more Independent registrations than either Democrat or Republican. The African American community is harder, but Trump carried a larger percentage of that group than a typical Republican and the Economy will help in the 2018 election cycle.
Next up was attorney James D’Loughy, who (with Sid as plaintiff) is suing Palm Beach Gardens over the misleading ballot questions for the March election. James was a city council candidate in 2013, jumping into the race to speak out about dirty politics, and one of the driving forces that put term limits on the ballot in 2014. That measure passed with 80% of the vote and all 5 current council members were able to run and win because of it. Now that same council has decided that they really want more terms than permitted, and want to be able to run again when their limits are up – a measure that they have placed on the March ballot to “let the voters decide”. The city is using large amounts of taxpayer money to promote a YES vote on the four questions in a misleading way – part of the reason for the lawsuit. James suggests you vote NO on all four questions.
The third “Amigo” was former County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein, whose topic was “Honey, I shrunk the Dems!”
Invoking the “Gretsky Rule” (go to where the puck will be …), Sid was very upbeat about the 2018 and 2020 elections. “I’d run with a 4% GDP growth anytime.”
He believes that 80% of the 2020 votes are already “cast” – they were locked in with the Carrier Deal in December 2016, especially in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Dems have become the “no jobs” party and have shown they will not stand up for the working man in those states.
In 2018, he thinks Brian Mast will win by 20 points. The national Democrats listed CD18 as a target race, but only because it is a closely divided district (by registration) and he does not think they will pour money into it as there are other districts where the pickings are better. He then listed many of the things which have made the Democrats weak and shrinking:
- Voter Fraud – a foundation of their strategy, will be less effective because we are talking about it and the fraudsters will keep their heads down.
- Good Help – the association with Black Lives Matters, Antifa and other groups of paid, professional thugs
- MS-13 and Sanctuary Cities – Trump is leading on these issues and Obama was absent
- The NFL – stupidity on many levels
- Political correctness – New York has renamed Columbus Day, “Indigenous People’s Day” – angering Italians everywhere
- Doubling Down on the tax bill – the Dems still call a widely successful and popular program “Armageddon”
- DACA – Trump has the high ground on this and the Dems will abandon the Dreamers in favor of an “issue”
With all of these Democrat negatives, Sid thinks Trump will win in 2020 easily.
To wrap it up, Sid described the State of the Union as “Trump hearts America”, and paraphrased the best line of the speech: “Americans are Dreamers too – AGAIN”.
