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2020 is here as we embrace digital gatherings!

2020 is here as we embrace digital gatherings!

By Joseph Concannon

As every restaurant, pizza parlor, bar and food court shutter their doors, so too did Antuns Caterers by order of the State of New York in addressing the Coronavirus.  What would happen to our dinner, our fundraiser, and how would we move forward?

For the very first time all New Yorkers were introduced to “social distancing.”  Social distancing is the nemesis of our annual gala in which socialization and networking are key components.  Our dinner is a place where politicians and candidates alike come to “shake hands,” develop new relationships and enjoy the historical aspects of the event.

Our 145th event was on pace to once again have 400-500 attendees, rekindle relationships, enjoy a great dinner and service by Antuns.  Yet it seemed as though every signal we received was to cancel the event out of hand and suffer the loss.

We are the Queens Village Republican Club.  We are strong-minded, independent and determined to overcome adversity in all its forms.  We never back down, never cower at the sign of opposition and we break down barriers large and small to accomplish our mission.  It is who we are as a club and for 145 years we have prevailed.

Our forward-thinking club needed to make a key strategic decision in the face of this virus and that was whether to present our dinner to our members and friends in a digital format.  This meant reviewing our flyer with formatted agenda and transferring that into a digital show.  Sounds easy, but it is a ton of work and requires an enormous amount of flexibility and focus.  Our speakers, our awardees, our introductions, our master of ceremonies, every aspect of our event had to be duplicated, verified and assigned a place in our digital dinner.

Frustrated at every turn, how would our members, friends and families respond?  Could we get our members, friends, event attendees to buy into this new format of video conferencing and tune in for two hours?  How would we fundraise and would our members when confronted with these challenges rise to the occasion?  We thought we were doomed. 

Surprise, surprise, as our board members joined us for four nights of training and familiarity as we tested out Zoom video conferencing and experimented with its functions.  We were gaining confidence.  Steve Bannon said no problem.  Katie Hopkins flew into NY for our event and several others and then had to fly back before the travel ban into the UK kicked in.  A day later Katie confirmed she was fully on board.  Confidence was certainly building. Each of our honorees developed a video and we knew we had a winner.  Especially as Sgt. Philip Kahn, 100 years young stepped up and gave a terrific video presentation.  Sgt. Kahn just blew us away, a true patriot!

The 145th Digital Dinner went off without a hitch, donations are still coming in as of this writing so our accounting for the event is going to be delayed.  The generosity of our members and friends is a testament to the strength and power of our wonderful club.  This event was our annual fundraiser.  Everyone knew it and after our digital dinner we heard from many of you, “I want to donate my ticket to the club”, “I want to donate 75 dollars” and many, many other expressions of generosity.  It’s frankly overwhelming.  Thank you is just not enough and keep it coming because we have some huge bills to pay. 

Our club and its prominence in New York goes without saying.  Remember please, and help us teach and inform others that elections have consequences and voting matters.


The Historic Digital 145th Anniversary Lincoln Dinner

The Historic Digital 145th Anniversary Lincoln Dinner

By Phil Orenstein

After months of hard work we were entering the final week before the day of our 145th Anniversary Lincoln Dinner, when we received the fateful call from Antuns, our dinner venue. The club’s dinner committee had been pouring their hearts and souls into producing the most patriotic and energizing celebration of our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, and galvanizing the troops to re-elect our extraordinary leader, President Trump, for four more years of American greatness!

It all started back in December when Joe Concannon and I went to a Manhattan screening of the new film about Communist China’s threat to the world, “Claws of the Red Dragon” and talk by Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist. After the talk, I jumped at the opportunity to personally invite Bannon to be our keynote speaker at the Lincoln Dinner and handed him a letter of invitation. He said he’d be thrilled to do so for America’s oldest Republican Club, in the hometown of President Trump’s birthplace! 

Rich Valdes, Mr. Call Screener

Sgt. Philip Kahn

After months of ordeals, we finally secured the confirmation from Bannon’s team, and assembled an awesome lineup of speakers and honorees, including the outspoken British journalist and firebrand, Katie Hopkins, and our master of ceremonies, Rich Valdes, aka “Mr. Call Screener” for Mark Levin. We were proud to have a 100-year-old World War II Veteran, Sgt. Philip Kahn, who was more excited than anyone else to receive the honors of Veteran of the Year.  Nearly 100 advertisers stepped up to sponsor the dinner, to produce the most memorable keepsake of the dinner party, our Lincoln Dinner Journal. Beautiful raffle baskets were being assembled and tickets were selling like hotcakes!

Then the Chinese Coronavirus hit like the plague. Two weeks before the date of the dinner, gatherings of more than 500 people were prohibited. Tickets stopped selling. The following week, New York State ordered all dining and entertainment facilities closed including Antuns. After months of preparations, our 145th Anniversary Lincoln Dinner was toast.

Then came a providential outcome which turned out better than we had ever dreamed possible. We rose to the challenge and refused to be constrained by destiny’s misfortunes. Joe Concannon, who used to run video conference training sessions years ago, as head of the FBI’s New York City InfraGard Program, suggested we go digital for the Lincoln Dinner!

Steve Bannon

With full agreement of the club’s Board of Directors, and a dedicated team working day and night, and after nightly trial Zoom meetings, we pulled it off in a week flat! On Sunday March 22nd the historic Digital 145th Anniversary Lincoln Dinner on the Zoom Video Conferencing platform, with Steve Bannon, Katie Hopkins, and all our honorees was beamed into the homes of over 100 participants. It was a wildly successful venture as dozens of congratulatory comments poured forth such as: “let me congratulate your team for a truly incredible & informative & entertaining & incredibly impromptu virtual QVRC Lincoln Dinner.” We received kudos for an action that all conservative Americans should be taking!

After brief intros, motivational clips, and proud video messages from each of our honorees, the video program segued to the next venue, War Room: Pandemic, Steve Bannon’s personal bunker.  His “keynote” address, broken into three segments, was a direct message to patriotic Americans about the dire threat we are facing from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), exacerbated by the pandemic we are now confronting.

We are in a hot war with the CCP, no less than with Germany in the 1930’s, Bannon warned. The CCP, composed of 10,000 people who run the country of 1.4 billion, are the most evil gangsters we’ve ever had to face since the Nazis and the Soviets. This is the great challenge that we are facing, as we stand up for the liberal democracies in our Judeo-Christian world, up against useful idiots of the CCP. No doubt Bannon was referring to the radical socialist Democrats. We are in the fight of our lives, he implored!

Our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, led us through our nation’s darkest years, the Civil War, and President Trump will lead us back from the brink of this pandemic, to win re-election, and witness a great resurgence of America and our economy! “No whining, no tears,” Bannon cautioned. Stand up! Deplorables will rise to the challenge! Queens Village Republican Club will live up to its great legacy!

Katie Hopkins

You can view the video of Bannon’s remarks on our website. You’ll also hear the encouraging and candid words of Katie Hopkins, whose USA Freedom Tour was cut short due to the pandemic. She came with a message to America – “do not become like UK!” She told her story of how she became a target for speaking the truth. They came after her job, her house, her kids, and the jihadi’s came for her head. The British thought police made her an example for all to keep their heads down, don’t speak out, or we will come after you like we did to Katie.

Her message was hopeful, to stand up proud and unafraid, to speak out for freedom, truth and for President Trump, as did 64 million Americans who elected our great leader!

Katie mentioned that this digital Lincoln Dinner reminded us that we are not alone! We are pioneers in bringing people together in the midst of this crisis that isolates us. This is a new world, and we will utilize this new video technology to bring us together. In preparation for our April 2nd Zoom club meeting on the Electoral College, please go to your App Store and download Zoom. Look for further information on our website.

The Lincoln Dinner is our annual fundraiser for the entire year. Please donate at: www.QVGOP.org. We look forward to many exciting events to share together, online and in person! Thank you for your support for America’s oldest Republican Club.


Videos of the March Club Meeting on Combating the Opioid Overdose Epidemic

Videos of the March Club Meeting on Combating the Opioid Overdose Epidemic

Nearly 70,000 people die from drug overdoses in America every year, 70% involving opioids. Many 1000’s more go unreported. We heard from the experts on the front lines of the battle against the growing opioid epidemic in America. This crisis which takes 100’s of American lives every day is more deadly than the Chinese Coronavirus, but it’s not even being reported.  Our March 5th club meeting was an effort to shed light on this present epidemic which will only get worse, should the economy collapse and more and more young people seek to escape into the world of drugs without knowing the fatal consequences. 

Michael Gray is a one-man army fighting the opioid scourge in America.  Two years ago, Michael lost his beloved daughter, Amanda accidentally to a lethal dose of Fentanyl, and he founded the Actus Foundation, to seek solutions for the opioid crisis in America, including federal legislation to stop China’s importation of deadly Fentanyl into the U.S.  Visit Michael Gray’s Foundation, The Actus Foundation: seeking solutions to the opioid crisis. 

Lt. Sean Walker is the Operations Coordinator for the NYPD Behavioral Health Division which manages the Department’s protocols and response dealing with mental health issues and opioid and dangerous drug overdoses. One of the main initiatives is RxStat, a collaboration of over 35 city, state, and federal agencies who meet regularly at 1 Police Plaza to confront the opioid crisis.  


Support the Queens Village Republican Club


Abraham Lincoln

lincoln2

Abraham Lincoln’s Ten Guidelines

1.  You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
2. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
3.  You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
4.  You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
5.  You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
6.  You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
7.  You cannot further the brotherhood of men by inciting class warfare.
8.  You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
9.  You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s  initiative and independence
10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could  and should do for themselves.

Quotes From Abraham Lincoln

“Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.  And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation.”

“When I left Springfield, I asked the people to pray for me; I was not a Christian.  When I buried my son – the severest trial of my life – I was not a Christian.  But when I went to Gettysburg, and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.”

“It is the eternal struggle between these two principles – right and wrong – throughout the world.  They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle.  The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings.  It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself.  That eternal world-wide struggle between right and wrong that runs through all human history.”

“Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”

“In regard to this Great Book (the Bible), I have only to say that it is the best gift which God has given to man.  All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated to us through this Book.  But for this Book we could not know right from wrong.”

“I am glad to know I have your sympathy and prayers.  In the very responsible position in which I happen to be placed, being a humble instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father, as I am and as we all are to work out His great purposes, I have desired that all my works and acts be according to His will and that it might be so, I have sought his aid.”


Ten days and counting to our 145th Anniversary Lincoln Dinner

10 DAYS & COUNTING!!

Ten days and counting to our 145th Anniversary Lincoln Dinner.  Antuns is looking forward to our annual gathering and preparing the way forward.  For details on how Antuns is preparing for a safe, clean and wholesome event for us, see their website here: www.antuns.com

Our VIP hour is building quickly and last minute confirmations may be difficult as we limit that room to the 50 first takers.
 
The raffles are being prepared, balloons ordered and everything is falling into place.  Our strong Republican audience is answering our call submitting reservations and we couldn’t be prouder!
 
With Steve Bannon, our honorees, and firebrand Katie Hopkins, all at the ready, this event is going to get your blood moving and energy building. There will be no cancellation or postponement. Only the sounds of the elephant stampede for re-electing our President Donald J Trump this year!
 
We can’t wait to greet all of you! Stay focused, healthy and #onward2020!!!!!
 
Use hashtag #Onward2020 on all communications.  Thank you!

See our website for dinner tickets, VIP tickets and information:  www.qvgop.org

Calling all voters to register Republican en masse!

President’s Message by Phil Orenstein for March 2020 Queens Village Eagle

The first week of February 2020 was amazing week for Republicans throughout America and for our President with his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial and a rousing SOTU address!  It’s a time for celebration with President Trump’s 49% all-time high approval rating, according to a recent Gallup poll, and it has been steadily climbing over the past few months of the entire impeachment farce!  Furthermore, Gallup is showing that more voters are warming towards Republicans than Democrats, and we know that Gallup is no friend of Republicans.  The Democrats are losing their minds lurching further left, as a great red wave will be washing across the nation this November!

President Trump celebrated after the acquittal saying: “The spirit for the Republican Party is stronger now than it’s ever been in the history of our country!” We see the fruits of this spirit here spreading to Queens, President Trump’s birthplace, where we are witnessing a Republican resurgence in the making as we continue to build the Republican Party. At our Feb 6th club meeting we were regaled by Gene Ho, President Trump’s original campaign photographer, who shared his belief that all states will go Red in November, even California and New York, in a landslide of epic proportions, and then our nation will be healed as people finally see our way.

But there are the naysayers and the prophets of doom and gloom saying the Republican Party is toast in New York, and before we return to the bad old days of raging crime and chaos, we had better vote with our feet and run for the exits. Others say that former walkaway Democrats should come back to the party to save us from domination of the radical left, by voting as Democrats in the primaries for the lesser of two evils. Councilman Chaim Deutsch recently made a plea to Jewish New Yorkers to register as Democrats and “seize back the Democratic Party from the clutches of the most extreme, leftist voices.”

The Editorial Board of the Jewish Press, an independent weekly newspaper based in Brooklyn, urges Jews to come back to the Democrats to vote in the historically low turn-out primaries, in order to defeat progressive leftist candidates.

This defeatist attitude harkens back to the famous quote by Winston Churchill: “an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” The Democrats created this crocodile and now it is devouring them. Today it’s the party of socialism, radicalism, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitism. It has been devoured by the “squad” of AOC, Omar, Pressley, and Tlaib. 

Last year Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was spreading anti-Semitic vitriol. She lashed out against Israel and the Jewish people which such outrageous anti-Semitic tropes as: “Israel has hypnotized the world. May Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” Republicans rightly rebuked her, but not a single Democrat politician said a word including the Queens Party chairman, Congressman Meeks. We implored our local Congressman Tom Suozzi to make a statement against her disgraceful anti-Semitism, but his silence was deafening.

Before the recent Queens DA primary contest, loud mouths insisted that we register as Democrats to save NYC from the far leftist Tiffany Caban in the primary race against the allegedly “moderate” Melinda Katz. However, newly elected Queens DA Katz, turned out to champion the same destructive policies as Caban. No sooner than she was sworn in, did she promise comprehensive criminal justice reform, ending cash bail, and closing Rikers Island, and she swept the house clean of nearly all the conservative-leaning executive staffers of the DA’s office replacing them with leftwing “true believers.”

Every one of the Democrat presidential candidates trashed America as “a racist society from top to bottom” as Bernie Sanders depicted us in the recent New Hampshire debate. Even sleepy Joe Biden said, “the fact is that there is systemic racism.” The party’s leadership as well as “moderate” Democrat politicians are all lurching leftward and agreeing with the anti-American “squad.”

When Nancy Pelosi ripped up President Trumps SOTU speech at the end of the night, she only succeeded in pounding the final nail in the Democrat Party’s coffin. This is not your father’s Democrat Party.

No voter from Jewish or other minority communities in Queens should want to identify with a corrupted party just to make a meager difference in the primaries. No respectable candidate should run as a Democrat. There is no saving the Party of socialism, anti-Semitism and the radical left by voting for the lesser of two evils.

The Democrats are historically the party of slavery, while the Republican Party is the enduring party of freedom. Our first Republican President Abraham Lincoln was the great emancipator of the slaves, whom we will be celebrating along with our remarkable President Trump, at our annual gala Lincoln Dinner on March 22nd.

If Jews, Hindus, Haitians, Asians, and voters of every ethnic minority register as Republicans en masse, this will have the greatest influence on New York City’s political climate. If 100,000 Orthodox Jews or any other groups send in their voter registrations and check off the Republican box, this will pave the way to saving NYC from a return to the crime-ridden Dinkins era.

This is a call to action that goes out not only to Republicans, but to all voters in Queens to get involved and save our city from impending ruin. We are at the edge of the precipice. There is no choice but for voters to register Republican! Come join us at our inspiring monthly club meetings. Join our club! Help to build a great new Republican Party in Queens. Come to our glorious Lincoln Dinner Gala on March 22nd! Join the battle for the very survival of our city, state and nation. 


Celebrate the Everlasting Friendship Between India and America!

“America loves India. America respects India. And America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people.” -President Trump


Philip Haney: A Former Anti-Terrorism Official Unafraid to Tell America the Truth

Philip Haney:  A Former Anti-Terrorism Official Unafraid to Tell America the Truth

By Robert Golomb

Editors note: As a tribute to the late great patriot Philip Haney, who was tragically killed on Feb 21st, we are running the past column by Robert Golomb, who explains how Haney blew the whistle on the policies of the Obama Administration that made America susceptible to terrorist attacks.

dhs-whistleblower-philip-haney-hp

Perhaps there are some among us who have forgotten the 14 Americans who on December 2nd 2015 were slaughtered while attending a job related county department of health training event in San Bernardino California. For those who may have forgotten, Philip Haney, a founding member in 2003 of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and  later a terrorism analyst at DHS National Targeting Center (NTC) and currently best known to the American public through his numerous appearances on television and radio news programs as a fierce critic of the Obama Administration’s handling of the events leading up to the massacre, has some advice.   


Religious Freedom!

By Rabbi Menashe M. Bovit, Spritual Leader of Bellerose Jewish Center, and recipient of ‘Religious Freedon Award” at 145th Anniversary Lincoln Dinner on March 22nd

We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness- From the Declaration of Independence (emphasis added)

But no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. – Article. VI. The Constitution of the United States of America

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; – Amendment I. To the Constitution of The United States of America (The Bill of Rights)

Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of Man’s nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of G-d… – John Adams, “Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law”, 1765

Virtually everyone regardless of political inclination will readily tell you that we enjoy “religious freedom” in our nation.  We can attend and participate in the rituals and activities offered in any spiritual institution we care to attend. However, is that the extent of our “religious freedom”? Today, traditional values, morality, and behavior as defined by the Judeo-Christian ethic which inspired the formation of our country is under attack. Individuals who do not wish to respect or abide by those values, certainly have the right to do so.  We are witnessing a militant, intolerant and aggressive effort to suppress and eliminate those values though.  The rights of people of faith are chastened by those who choose a life devoid of morality. 

We see a relentless jihad by the political left against people of conviction, particularly devoted, traditional Christians and Jews. These rabid leftists most often target Evangelical Christians whom they have the most hatred for as they perceive them, due to their numbers and fervor, as being the biggest threat to the left’s perverse agenda. The courts, which have been infiltrated and corrupted by these neo-Stalinists, are routinely used to bully and punish innocent, good people for simply being true to their beliefs.  Faithful Christian bakers are harassed, impugned, and maligned by the court system for refusing to bake same sex wedding cakes as doing so would violate their religious principles.  Nuns are ordered to provide abortions.  Oppressive laws are conjured up by the left to castigate clergy who would refuse to perform a same sex marriage by revoking their church’s or synagogue’s tax-exempt status. Lawsuits are filed to prevent the display of Nativity Scenes and Chanukah Menorahs. When those venerable religious symbols are allowed to be publicly displayed, atheistic leftists have demanded that Satanic symbols be displayed next to them. We are hectored and lectured to about our “intolerance” and have slurs hurled at us branding us something they call “transphobic” all because we do not acquiesce to the demands of the “Transgendered.”  We are shamed into speaking, altering our lifestyle, and complying with the left’s handbook of acceptable behavior or be labeled with pejorative words.  I am waiting for a government official to send me a letter telling me I must train a girl for Bar Mitzvah or a boy for Bat Mitzvah or be penalized.  Young people entering college are coerced into rejecting the traditional morality they were raised with and must accept a new doctrine of “intersectionality” and “political correctness.”  Should they use normative speech and not accept the artificial “non-binary” pronouns on campus they could face severe retribution and punishment by Marxist university administrators.  Oddly, these Marxists take on another stance when it comes to Islam. They see radical Islamists as their allies in bringing down the Judeo-Christian ethic, eliminating our American Constitutional freedoms, and destroying the State of Israel. Therefore, the same atheistic Marxists who rail against religion will pander to fundamentalist Muslim practices, and support the imposition of Muslim Sharia law.

It is most important that we fight to preserve our religious rights as American citizens and to engage ourselves in the political process without fear of reprisal against our faith-based institutions. We must stand up and be proudly Pro-Life and oppose the murder of unborn children. We must see the fulfillment of G-d’s promises in the Bible and support the State of Israel. We must assert our G-d given right to self-defense as enshrined in the 2nd Amendment of our Bill of Rights.  And we must continue to remind and educate the public that our nation was founded on the concept that our precious freedoms come from our Creator, G-d Almighty and are not a privilege granted to us by a state or government. When we see the Red, White, and Blue of Old Glory, our hearts should swell with pride and deep appreciation for the gift of being an American.

Rabbi Menashe Bovit, organizer and Master of Ceremonies of September 11th Memorial Community Gathering at Tribute Triangle Park in Glen Oaks, NY.

The battle to protect our religious liberty is tough and ongoing. I have spent much of my career as a rabbi working for both interfaith harmony and religious freedom. I am humbled and deeply honored that our club will bestow the Religious Freedom Award upon me this year at our annual Lincoln Dinner. I ask good people of all peaceful religions to join me in this battle. I have perfect faith that should we put forth effort, the Boreh HaOlam-the Creator of the universe, will grant us success.   

“Tzedek, tzedek tirdof – Justice, justice, you shall pursue…” – ( Devarim – Deuteronomy 16:20)


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