August 2024 Ears Newsletter
Members celebrating Birthday’s in August
Marcia Estrella Aug 10th
Joe Rubay Aug 21st
Wishing you both a wonderful year filled with the love of family and friends!
September 24th Member Lunch
Our next General Member meeting will be held at Black Bear Diner in Danville on Tuesday, September 24th at 11:30am. Our speaker will be one of our very own members, Julie Mobley, who will discuss Election Integrity and Counting Your Vote in Contra Costa County. Please click here for more information and to purchase your lunch online.
We will also hear from SRVUSD School Board Candidate, for Area 2, Karin Shumway.
Our Caring for America charity this month is Blue Star Moms, Chapter 101, serving the San Francisco East Bay Region and is located in Danville, CA.
2024 Election Information
Please review our website tab, Election 2024, for candidate and ballot measure information provided by our very own member, Jeanne Solnordal, who is also the CFRW Legislative Analyst. CFRW Legislative updates can be found here.
CAGOP ~ Virtual Election Integrity Training
Join the Election Integrity Team and dedicated patriots like you for our virtual election integrity training program on Zoom. With your help, we can protect the vote and make sure every legal vote is counted properly. Sign up today to join our CA Election Integrity Team.
Voter Education Training: Aug 12th, 1-2pm; Aug 22nd, 3-4pm; and Sept 3rd, 5-6pm
Ballot Harvesting & Curing Training: Aug 8th, 10-11am; Aug 12th, 12-1pm; and Aug 19th 10-11am
Poll Observer Training: Aug 5th, 12-1pm; Aug 15th, 12-1pm; and Aug 22nd 5-6pm
LOOKING FOR OFFICERS FOR 2025!!!
Those of you who have been to our recent meetings have heard our plea for help from you, the members, to please consider stepping up and taking one of the several vacant offices on the Board.
Our Nominating Committee members, Erika Coday, Paula Knapp and Julie Mobley were approved at our May member meeting. They are beginning their search for members to step up and usher in a new group of leaders for the San Ramon Valley Republican Women Federated Club. We thank, Liz Summer, Dee Thompson, Elaine Kowalik and Mary Zellhart for the service in our Club and their mentorship of those willing to succeed them in their roles. Your nominating committee members will be contacting all active members and asking them to step up and take the opportunity to serve our Club by being an officer. If you are contacted please give serious thought on taking this step. We cannot continue as a Club without a full slate of officers so give this some serious thought! Our future as a Club depends on you, the members!
The Mt. Diablo Republican Club annual fundraiser is September 11th, 2024. Their keynote speaker will be Tom Del Beccaro who will be discussing his new book, “The Lessons of the American Civilization.” Please click here for more information.
STORM CLOUDS GROW OVER CALIFORNIA. NEWSOM CAN ONLY GASLIGHT THE PUBLIC FOR SO LONG
AUGUST 19, 2024
Last week’s precipitous fall in the stock market had many Californians nervous about whether the drop was a sign that a recession is imminent. Like anticipating the next earthquake, we were wondering, “is this the big one?” Thankfully, the market has recovered a bit – for now – but most economists still believe that a recession is overdue. If it weren’t for massive deficit spending by the federal government, we would probably be in one now.
For California, the “big one” would be especially painful. Because California is overly reliant on high-wealth individuals paying the lion’s share of income tax revenue in the form of stock options and capital gains, even a modest national recession would inflict disproportionate pain here.
A vigorous pursuit of pro-taxpayer and pro-business policies now could lessen the pain of the inevitable recession later. Regrettably, California politicians reject the policies that would protect the state from the vagaries of the national economy.
For example, the reputation that California has a high cost of living is more than an opinion. It’s a fact. According to a recent report from Forbes based on publicly available data, California ranks third among all states in cost of living. The report considered broad categories of essential expenditures, including housing costs, transportation, health care, food and income taxes.
Among all those categories, California seems to be in a league of its own. Consider energy costs. The July Energy Price Data from the California Center for Jobs and the Economy reveals California’s absurd energy costs: Number 1 in residential electricity rates, Number 1 in commercial electricity rates, Number 1 in cost of gasoline, and Number 1 in the cost of diesel. Even worse is how much higher we are than the average cost of gasoline in other states: a whopping 37.8% differential.
California’s high energy costs have garnered the attention of national media. The Wall Street Journal just reported that “California has seen some of the sharpest increases in the country—electricity prices in the state have nearly doubled during the past decade and are now higher than those of anywhere but Hawaii.” The article attributes the high cost to the nearly blind adherence to the green agenda. “Price rises are particularly drastic in California as the state pushes to electrify everything from homes to cars faster than many other parts of the country.”
High energy costs, high cost of living and high taxes have combined to slam the brakes on economic growth. Final figures for the first quarter of 2024 reveal that California’s economy grew at a 1.2% annual rate to start 2024, the lowest since 2022’s fourth quarter. How did California’s most notable competitors rank? Idaho at 5%, Nevada at 4.4%, Texas up 2.5%, and Florida up 3%.
As if the dismal GDP numbers weren’t enough, another report from the California Legislative Analyst on outmigration is more evidence that the state might soon be stripped of the word “Golden.” Just two weeks ago, the LAO reported that “the number of taxpayers who move out of California each year ticked up in 2020 with the beginning of the pandemic [and that] recently released IRS taxpayer data from 2021 and 2022 shows this trend has continued. As a result, annual net outmigration to other states nearly doubled—from about 170,000 people (taxpayers and their dependents) in 2019 to closer to 300,000 people—since the pandemic began.”
California’s political elites, especially Gov. Gavin Newsom, believe they can continue to gaslight California voters into believing that everything is fine. But as John Adams famously said, “facts are stubborn things.” If politicians don’t deal with facts now and start recognizing that the state is on an unsustainable path, the inevitable downturn will drive even more people and businesses out of state.
Jon Coupal is president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA
Please mark your calendar for Saturday, December 14th at 11am for National Wreaths Across America Day at the Alamo Cemetery in Danville. This heartfelt ceremony is followed by the placement of remembrance wreaths on the over 250 known veterans’ interned at the Alamo Cemetery. The San Ramon Valley Republican Women Federated has been the driving force behind this event since 2014. Please view our sponsorship webpage for more information and to support our goal of ensuring every veteran interned at the Alamo Cemetery receives a veteran remembrance wreath.
CALENDAR
AUGUST
Aug 1st CFRW & CAGOP Ballot Harvesting Virtual Training - 6pm
Aug 1st Universal Birthday for Shelter Dogs
Aug 4th U.S. Coast Guard Birthday
Aug 6th National Root Beer Float Day
Aug 7th Purple Heart Day
Aug 11th National Spirit of ‘45 Day - Honoring the generation of Americans that saw the country through the hardships of WWII
SEPTEMBER
Sept 1st National Little Black Dress Day
Sept 2nd Labor Day
Sept 8th Grandparent’s Day
Sept 11th Patriot Day
Sept 17th Constitution Day
Sept 22nd First Day of Fall
Sept 24th SRVRWF General Member Meeting at Black Bear Diner in Danville; Julie Mobley will discuss Election Integrity
Patriot Post Cartoons
Even Snopes are researched and confirmed that this is a legitimate letter.