Joyce Kaufman Highlights December Meeting
Joyce Kaufman
Our December meeting featured WFTL Radio host Joyce Kaufman who gave us a somewhat subdued analysis of our current state of affairs.
What has been wrong with our message for the last 30 or so years that continue to see the devaluing of life?
The 2024 election, described once again as “the most important in our lifetime” is just that – it will decide if we are going to still have a country.
Referring to the recent Congressional testimonies by the Presidents of Penn, MIT and Harvard, Joyce pointed out the absurdity of their responses to the anti semitism on their campuses. While mobs of students are free to chant “from the river to the sea”, as if genocide was part of the curriculum, we remember how quickly they mobilized against the police when George Floyd was killed.
Through a series of anecdotes involving the liberals in her own family, she pointed out how much of our troubles stem from the things that we are not allowed to talk about such as religion, abortion and living a moral life. It is only going to get worse if we don’t stand up and start having these conversations. One of the reasons she supports Donald Trump is that he is unafraid to talk about anything, and tells us the truths that many do not want to hear.
Asked a question as to “what should the message be?”, her reply was the economy. Are we better off now than under Trump? Most would say no, regardless of their party affiliation. If we can agree on that then we can agree that we need a change of leadership.
Also at the meeting was Charles Bender, CEO of the Place of Hope, the club’s designated charity for this year. Charles described some of this year’s activities and their expansion into other parts of the state.
Comedian Eric Golub, who was selling books and other materials at the event and will be our speaker next month talked about Comedy as a political force, and gave us a taste of his performance.
Candidates included Page Lewis (SB1), Andrew Gutmann (CD22), and Matt Luciano (WPB district 5).
PBC Chair Kevin Neal at October Lunch
Republicans are far outpacing Democrats in voter registration in Florida and we have clearly moved into position as the second largest Red State after Texas. Chairman Neal began his presentation at our October lunch with these positive trends, also noting that Florida is the home for Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, the two dominant players in presidential politics. (Note: Palm Beach county is now D+8.6, 5 points better than going into the 2020 election. Statewide it is R+4.6, also 5 points better). Kevin described the massive migration of conservatives to Florida and the other red states as “live free or move”.
So statewide and in the county we are in good shape to pick up some of the seats that were close in 2022. There are also about 90 seats up for grabs at the municipal level. With filing dates coming up in November for the March elections, the party needs people to step up and run for these seats.
As we move into 2024, Kevin suggests that we all register to receive vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots. You can still vote in person if you wish, but having the VBM ballot is a backup plan. VBM is the method most prone to fraud, but the rules in Florida have been tightened (drop box monitoring, ID requirements, limits on ballot harvesting), and as long as the process exists we should take advantage of it. The most powerful way to fight fraud is to turn out for a landslide result – more votes for our side than they can overcome by cheating.
He suggested that we can’t stop our scrutiny of the process as there is some indication that in 2020, Trump got a lot more votes in Florida than reported.
Also at the meeting was a number of candidates for 2024 races: Deb Adeimy and Andrew Gutmann for CD22, and Page Lewis for School Board district 1.
Donald Trump wins RCPB Straw Poll
The club hosted a forum on September 26th to contrast Florida’s two presidential candidates, former President Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis which included a straw poll.
After an introduction by Fred Scheibl who highlighted the unprecedented nature of this 2024 election, Willy Guardiola (“Christian on a Mission”, “Trump Corner” rallies, anti-abortion activist) explained his personal connection to Donald Trump and why he needs to be re-elected. Then Joe Budd (“Trump-45 club co-founder, 2 time Congressional candidate) outlined why he thinks it is time for Ron DeSantis to take the reins of our country.
The coming election is unique to say the least. The twice impeached front-runner who has been indicted four times by a corrupt DOJ and vindictive prosecutors in New York and Georgia is the left’s worse enemy. They are willing to trash the rule of law, the first amendment, lawyer-client and executive privilege to prevent him from re-taking the white house. The media has dropped all pretense of fairness or impartiality. Leftists in the states are trying to keep Trump off the ballot with the 14th amendment, and there are unresolved election integrity issues, even in Florida. Despite all that, he has a majority in most national polls and in one, beats Joe Biden by 10 points.
Willy referred to the outstanding Trump record – “Making America Great Again” at least until Covid came along and threw the world into chaos, and the awesome experience of being in the crowd of 800,000 for the January 6th rally in Washington (before anything happened at the capitol). Trump is needed again to repair the damage done by Biden’s leftist minions.
Joe explained that although he still loves Trump, he finds the drama exhausting. Trump could have accomplished more if he had picked the right team or fired the ones that proved to be working against him. He contrasted that to Governor DeSantis who has actually fired the “bad ones” – SOEs Susan Bucher and Brenda Snipes, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel, and a couple of rogue prosecutors. He touted the Governor’s conservative record – a CPAC 93 when in Congress, and how the 6 week abortion ban puts him to the right of Trump. As far as the polls are concerned, Joe pointed out that we don’t have national primaries and the results in Iowa and New Hampshire (which he thinks DeSantis can win) will change the dynamics of the race.
The attendees were asked to complete a straw poll ballot after hearing the speakers, and they were collected and tallied during the Q&A session which followed.
The results:
| For President | |
|---|---|
| Donald Trump | 53% |
| Ron DeSantis | 37% |
| Nikki Haley | 5% |
| Vivek Ramaswamy | 2% |
| Chris Christie | 2% |
| Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Others | 0% |
| For Vice President | |
| Nikki Haley | 24% |
| Kristi Noem | 13% |
| Vivek Ramaswamy | 13% |
| Tim Scott | 11% |
| Kari Lake | 11% |
| Robert F. Kennedy Jr. | 8% |
| Kim Reynolds | 5% |
| Matt Gaetz, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump | 1 vote each |
There was also one vote for the ticket of Ann Coulter and Megyn Kelly.
Also at the meeting was candidate Deb Adiemy, running for Congressional District 22.
Representative Mike Caruso at June Lunch – Grace Templeton Receives AR Scholarship
Our June lunch featured a session review from District 87 Representative Mike Caruso.
This year’s legislative session moved the ball on the Conservative Agenda in a big way, passing many core issues with party line votes. Thanks to a unified Republican super majority, we now have an expanded voucher program, constitutional carry, illegal immigration restrictions, limits on investing in companies that are pushing ESG, $700M for affordable housing, improvements to election integrity, and a 6 week abortion ban.
Rep. Caruso spoke of the long workdays churning out this product under the strong leadership of Speaker Paul Renner who used to command a battleship while in the Navy. The key task, passing the $117B budget, provides funding for our priorities yet still finds room to add to reserves. Fiscally responsible, it is 1/3 the size of the New York budget with 2 million less residents. Some of the bills that Mike personally drove or were especially significant included:
- HB269 “Public Nuisances” – increases penalties for anti-semitic actions such as projecting swastikas on the sides of buildings. The Governor (with Mike in attendance) signed this one in Israel and it passed both houses unanimously.
- HB295 “Substance Abuse Service Providers” – limits the use of controlled substances by rehab facilities
- HB783 “Opioid Abatement” – Using money from the opioid settlement to set up an advisory council to regulate opioid use in the state
- HB1087 “Child Support” – brings state law into synch with the federal equivalent
- HB543 “Public Safety” – removes the requirement for a concealed carry permit (Constitutional Carry)
- SB102 “Live Local Act” – Affordable Housing – use $750M of Sadowski fund
- HB1 “Education” – Significantly increases the availability of vouchers for alternative schooling
- HB1069 “Education” – extends ban on classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender to eighth grade (from 3rd)
Following Representative Caruso, Club Scholarship Chairman Bette Anne Starkey presented this year’s Anne Roberts Scholarship to Grace Templeton. In her remarks, Grace relayed her experience being home-schooled from 4th grade through High School and her plans to study English at Southeastern University. Her career goal is to teach English abroad to non native speakers. She is also planning an internship in the area of information assurance, a topic she is pursuing as a minor.
District 94 Representative Rick Roth was also on hand to talk about his new role as the elected Vice Chairman of the PBC Republican Party. He discussed the “balance” of having two businessmen as Chair/Vice Chair, and two old hands to provide institutional memory in the Secretary and Treasurer seats. Plans include revamping the regional director system and recruiting new members.
Regional Director of Turning Point Action Drienna Sixto was on hand to speak about their upcoming event in West Palm Beach, and three candidates introduced themselves – Andrew Gutman (CD22), Bill Reicherter (HD90), and Gary Warner (Westlake City Council).
Commissioner Sara Baxter and Sid Dinerstein Highlight December Lunch
What is a winning campaign strategy? Candidates who are newcomers to the political process will tell you they can win against the odds because of their particular background. They may have run businesses, or are professionals of one kind or another, or plan to identify with “the working man”. These newbies for the most part lose their elections because they underestimated the difficulty of raising money, reaching voters and crafting a coherent message. Political insiders, particularly incumbents, have overwhelming advantages in doing these things.
So how did Commissioner Sara Baxter overcome the odds? Winning by 5% while running as a Republican in a D+7 district against a well funded Democrat insider should make us all sit up and take notice. Clearly she knows how it is done, and at our December lunch, she told us.
With a war chest of about $100K (considerably less than her opponent), she didn’t waste it on a bunch of consultants to tell her what to do (a typical rookie mistake). As a small business owner, she already had the skills needed to identify her market and get her message out in an efficient way. She drew on a lot of free advice from the best minds, while taking advantage of a decade of experience in social media marketing. She also started early and worked very hard. Using video to tell her story, she was able to achieve the “touch every voter 7 times” principle so effectively that voters were asking her for new videos to watch.
Unlike the typical newcomer who may say they have the business skills to win but ultimately fall short, Sara actually managed her campaign as a business – with a budget and marketing plan to achieve a business objective – winning the race.
With that kind of skill on the dais, the other six commissioners better pay attention. I expect we will see a seismic shift at the county in the next couple of years.
Our other speaker was Sid Dinerstein who gave us a sobering assessment of the election just past on the national level.
With all the bad things that the Biden administration has done to the country, this was supposed to be our chance to reverse course. An overwhelming win – 50 house seats for example, would have put us on the road to recovery. Instead we barely limped across the finish line. Unless we can achieve a level playing field in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona (which should be red states but are now dominated by Democrat electioneers) we will never again win a national election.
There is a lot of blame to go around – some of the candidates were not suited for their races, and the national Republican leadership (particularly Mitch McConnell) seemed to be working against our candidates in a number of ways. Sid believes McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and Ronna McDaniel are decent people, but they are not “warriors” and not suited to lead in these times.
Sid also opined about the presidential primary – he believes Ron DeSantis will definitely be in the race. The stars are aligned for him now and it will be impossible to pass that up. In a straw poll around the room on “who do you think will be the nominee”, the members picked DeSantis over Trump by a 3 to 1 margin.
We also had some holiday music at the event, with entertainer Bobby Fonseca.
Representative Rick Roth on the Accomplishments of the 2022 Session
We codified many conservative aspects of the culture war in the recently ended session, but the bad news is why we had to do it. That was how Representative Rick Roth started his session review at our March meeting. “We are no longer at the edge of the abyss, we are in it!” There are those of us who are making things happen (door #1), watching what is happening (door #2), or wondering “what just happened??” (door $3). We all need to move to door #1 as quickly as we can.
With that he listed for us his “top 10” accomplishments of the session, most passed along party lines:
- HB7 – Individual Freedom. This bill bans the teaching of Critical Race Theory, along with any other classroom discussion that could make students feel guilt or anguish because of their race. For critics who say it limits the teaching about race in American history, Rick says “bring it on”. Let’s talk about the Democrat instituted Jim Crow laws, and Woodrow Wilson’s showing of Klan movies at the White House.
- HB1557 – Parental Rights in Education. This bill is about “age appropriateness” when discussing sex and gender topics. The critics who call it “Don’t Say Gay” are in fact agitating for the sexualization of children in grades K-3.
- HB7051 – Post Secondary Education. This bill aims to make colleges and universities transparent, accountable and affordable. It also requires “post tenure review” for faculty every five years.
- HB1467 – School Board Accountability. This bill makes it easier for parents and others to have input on teaching materials. It also institutes a 12 year term limit on School Board members.
- HB5 – Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality. This is the post 15 week abortion ban that also provides money for adoptions.
- HB539 – Nursing Home Financial Reporting. This requires nursing homes to report similar data as hospitals.
- HB7065 – Child Welfare. The bill encourages responsible fatherhood and increases services to children that age out of foster care.
- HB3 – Law Enforcement Officer, Benefits, Recruitment and Training. Provides compensation for LE officers as well as relocation assistance for out-of-state applicants.
- HB524 – Election Administration. The bill takes proactive measures to strengthen election security, and ensure vote-by-mail (VBM) ballot integrity. It also creates the Office of Election Crimes and Security and requires annual voter roll cleansing.
- HB1355 – Immigration Enforcement. This bill provides for enhanced cooperation between FL law enforcement and ICE, and prohibits a state or local governmental entity from entering into a contract with a common carrier who is transporting a person in Florida knowing that the person is an ‘unauthorized alien’.
Rick also spoke about the $112B budget that includes $33B from the federal government and provides $9M in reserves. Some of his highlights were: a $1B “inflation fund”, $2B for Medicaid programs, $2B for water resources, $125M for nursing education, $664M for state employee raises and to support a $15/hr minimum wage, money for rural broadband, a gas tax holiday in October and other goodies.
On redistricting, he pointed out that the Senate and House maps are done and approved, but the Governor is expected to veto the Congressional Map passed by the Legislature over gerrymandered districts in the north. In his guess, the veto will likely be overridden and the Congressional Districts will remain as proposed. (The club will be doing a session on redistricting and what it means in Palm Beach County in May).
For and in depth look at these bills and others, plus a budget analysis, see Rick’s written report at: Roth_Legislative_Report
Candidates at the meeting included Rob Astorino who is running for Governor of New York, and Bill Wheelen, candidate for CD21.
Optimism About the 2022 Elections
Our January meeting featured our county GOP Chairman Michael Barnett, with good news on our readiness for the 2022 elections.
Referring to former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s insight that having multiple candidates on the ballot helps to get out the vote, he pointed out that we have Congressional candidates running in all 4 of the county districts, and state-wide we may pick up a seat. Lots of candidates have come forward to run at the state and local level as well, and our candidate recruitment efforts are going well.
Fundraising, locally and statewide, has gone through the roof (Lincoln Day on March 12 is about sold out), and the party has money to support all the Republicans who emerge from the primaries. (The party does not take sides in primaries).
In 2020 the party had 4 branch offices running in the county and this year we may have 5 or 6, counting the DeSantis and Mast offices. We are one of the few parties in the state with both federal and local campaign accounts, so support for the candidates for Congress as well as state and local can be intermixed in the offices.
Governor DeSantis only won by about 30,000 votes in 2018, but this year his popularity is high and he is doing great things so we expect a much better margin. The Democrats really have a weak bench (Charley Crist is a multiple times loser, and Nikki Fried is under investigation.) We cannot drop our guard however. The county DeSantis person, Natalie Fisher has opened an office at our HQ location on Palm Beach Lakes.
The Republican Executive Committee (REC) has been greatly expanded over the last year and now has 323 members, with some months seeing up to 50 new swearing-ins. The precincts have been organized with seven regional directors based on the school board districts working with vice-chairman Tami Donnally.
All in all, Michael is optimistic about our likely success this year.
Also at the meeting were candidates Peter Noble (Greenacres council), Steven Chess (CD22), and Angela Templeton spoke for Jennifer Showalter (SB6).
Next month we will have a special meeting on the March municipal elections, with participation by candidates running in the north and central county. Many of these are incumbents and need your support.
Sid Dinerstein – Playing by the “Gretzky Rule”
“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” – Wayne Gretzky
In politics as in hockey, leading the target is always a good idea.
Applying this rule at our November lunch, pundit Sid Dinerstein gave his views of the puck’s location in January of 2025.
With the overwhelming disaster that is the Biden Administration continuing on its destructive path, Sid predicts that the next Presidential election will see the “end of the communist era” in America. With another Biden term practically impossible in the current environment, and a Kamala Harris candidacy a joke even to most Democrats, who will the candidates be?
Plotting their ideological leanings on a virtual baseball field, all the current Democrats (with the exception perhaps of Tulsi Gabbard) are way down the left field foul line. On our side, he sees Donald Trump as center-right, along with Mike Pompeo. Ron DeSantis is a little more right, Nikki Haley and Mike Pence a little less so.
Will Trump run again? A lot of events are coming together to suggest a run and a win are likely. The election audits continue under the MSM radar, and people don’t like cheaters – perhaps willing to right a wrong. The Durham indictments are ramping up and we should see more light shown on the Russia collusion conspiracy. The Virginia results (in which Trump played an important role even if not campaigning for Youngkin) are a harbinger, and his role in the 2022 midterms will be significant.
America is rejecting the communist movement, and the GOP will likely pick up 50 House seats and a few in the Senate. Desantis will win in a landslide, and the “Squad” will be crushed. Steve Bannon will kick ass against the “January 6th Commission”, and a Biden impeachment in the next Congress is a real possibility.
Virginia showed us the trends: momma bears and freedom up, AOC, BLM, CRT and Biden down.
To capitalize on all this, we need new Congressional leadership. McCarthy and McConnell are good people but not the warriors we need. Sid would rather see the ascendancy of Brian Mast and Rick Scott.
Prediction: Trump gets second term.
How can we help? Show up, speak up, pay up!
Also at the meeting we heard from candidates Sara Baxter (CC6), Jennifer Showwalter (SB6), and Jeff Buongiorno (CD21), a spokesperson for Bailey “Fiona’s Mom” Lashells (SB3), and Caneste Succe who offered us contacts in the Haitian community.
Club Hosts Panel Discussion on Cancel Culture and Intimidation is Schools and Business
How much does the “Cancel Culture” and “Wokeness” affect you? If you’ve ever had a social media post removed or restricted you have felt its effects. If you are a student or teacher in the woke education system, or a professional needing to maintain a certification you have likely experienced it also. In addition to Education, the Government, Media, Sports, Entertainment, Corporate America – even sometimes our neighbors are all engaged in the process of throttling thoughts about which they disapprove.
On September 28th, we invited some members of the community to share their thoughts about this growing threat to our liberty.
Melissa Tellez is an Engineering student at PB State College, and founder of their Turning Point USA chapter and has been politically involved since her high school days. She gave us a feeling for the difficulty in getting students to speak up about their beliefs in the face of peer pressure to conform to the liberal orthodoxy.
For a long time, she accepted the narrative that President Trump was all the bad things that CNN and others said about him. When she started to do her own research though, the misinformation became clear and she became a fan of the Trump policies. Now she tries to spread that word to her peers.
Audrey Friedrich is a practicing Psychologist who deals with anxiety disorders and Obsessive-Compulsive behavior, particularly among the young. In recent years she has seen a significant uptick in the number of gender dysphoria cases. As many parents are learning after distance learning gave them a window into their children’s classrooms, the schools have been pushing the message that it is perfectly normal to be confused about your gender identity, and that there are many options to effect a change in the gender to which you were born. Hence the uptick in young people seeking counseling in that area.
Audrey has also experienced the leftist bias in training courses she has taken in the field, where transgenderism is all about an agenda and not “evidence based treatment”. She found that good to know as she can counsel parents of gender dysphoria children what to expect from the “establishment”.
Christian Acosta is an Adjunct Engineering instructor at PB State who gave us some reason to be optimistic, at least about the State College system. Since many of his students are returning to school from the workplace, they are more grounded in life skills and less susceptible to indoctrination. Also, since state funding is in play, and our state education system is less tolerant of biased behavior on the part of their schools, there is more freedom of expression than you may find in a private University.
There was a goodly number of candidates who came to the meeting to introduce themselves to the members. Shown below from left are Jeff Buongiorno (CD21), Peter Noble (Greenacres Council), Brian Norton (SD29), Jason Mariner (CD20), Michael Caruso (HD89) and Rick Roth (HD85).
Jennifer Showalter on CRT and What Ails the Palm Beach Schools
In the process of restarting the club for 2021, we decided to bring focus on some of the critical issues that currently threaten our way of life. Cancel culture, compromised elections, open borders, economic insanity, and the total politicization of media, corporations, academia, K-12 public schools, cultural institutions and most of the federal government are all things we must understand in order to fight against them.
This week our topic was one of the most insidious of these threats and one that is not easily observed – the indoctrination of our children in K-12 public schools. If there was a silver lining to the pandemic, it was that “distance learning” let parents see for themselves what was being taught in the classrooms. Many did not like what they saw.
Presumably with the goal of creating a whole new generation of citizens sympathetic to Marxist ideas, our school systems are being taken over by the radical left. Critical Race Theory, teaching that the color of your skin is more important than the content of your character, is taking root like an invasive species, and seeks to divide us into warring camps.
Jennifer Showalter, our speaker this week, has been bringing the heat of public scrutiny to the Palm Beach School system through appearances at school board meetings and demonstrations in the streets. Joining her counterparts nationwide, she is asking the tough questions and bringing accountability to those who would poison the minds of our children. Here is a synopsis of what she had to say in her riveting half hour lecture on the state of our schools:
Calling it the “fight of our time”, Jennifer showed us how CRT and other Marxist projects are seeping into every corner of society. In the schools specifically, we are seeing homogeneous “anti racist” training seeded into all subjects using resources provided by such groups as “Brain Pop”. One result other than overt indoctrination is a reduction in proficiency levels for the skills that count – math, language, history and science.
This is not an isolated problem. Backed by the teacher’s unions and groups of the teachers themselves who have vowed to teach this stuff in spite of laws being passed against it, the local system is pushing forward. Teachers are taking action to prevent parents from hearing what is said in the classrooms by requiring student headsets for distance learning, and stopping the lessons if parents are observed in the room. The School board for its part, is trying to deal with the overwhelming opposition by labeling it a “faction” and limiting public input to one speaker for 3 minutes. At workshops, they are looking for ways to exclude the public altogether. This is not transparency or representative government in action!
Some of the specific ills that Jennifer is fighting against include the sexualization of children and the focus on gender identity, the “dumbing down” that occurs from the remnants of common core where everything is subjective, and the focus on “emotional learning” that shuts down the right-brain. There is no “objective reality” anymore and even science is performed by “consensus”. All people are to varying degrees “oppressed” or “oppressors” and their privilege or disadvantage is ranked by their “intersectionality”. “Equity” is to be favored over “Equality”, so that we seek equal outcomes rather than equal opportunities.
The school district’s mission statement became a public discussion over the words of “white advantage”, but what remains of it seeks conformity, not individuality. We are graduating clones – conditioned to respond to stimulus (ie. obey) rather than those capable of independent thought.
Now that these programs in the classroom are coming to light, we must bring the fight to them. Get informed and engaged, show up, wave signs, come to meetings and spread the word.
Jennifer Showalter is an announced candidate for School Board District 6, the seat currently held by Marcia Andrews. For information about her campaign, and to volunteer or donate, click HERE.