Commissioner Karen Marcus on March 1
Congressman Brian Mast on December 8
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
