Meet Kathy Gugulis for Delegate

When I moved to Montgomery 40 years ago, it was one of the three wealthiest counties in the nation, with one of the top three school systems. Today, it is not even top in the State. 

Student performance is down, crime is up, and the business economy is the slowest in the region.  Across Maryland, only one in six students is proficient in math, one in four in English and two out of five in science.

When I retired, I almost didn’t recognize the county that I had lived in for the past 40 years.  No longer were we at the top of the class.  Montgomery County’s economy was declining while others in the region were growing.  There were fewer and less good paying jobs, as well as less tax revenue to support the growing needs in a county where taxes and living expenses all but consume low-and-moderate-income wages. 

By Joseph Gillin

Excitement has been growing for the launch of Artemis I at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, scheduled for Monday morning, August 29 at 8:33 AM (though don’t be surprised if weather or technical issues cause delays).  This launch (uncrewed) is a test flight of some of the hardware that will return humans to the Moon within a few years.

After several fits and starts over the decades and several administrations since the Apollo program implemented the goal of Pres. JFK for the US to land astronauts on the Moon within a decade, the Artemis program was approved by Pres. Trump and championed by VP Mike Pence and NASA Admin. Jim Bridenstine (a former GOP Rep. from Oklahoma). This is one Trump initiative that Pres. Biden has allowed to proceed.

The massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket was actually mandated years earlier by an act of Congress. It is controversial even within the space community because of its high cost and lengthy delays. (The political history of the SLS is described at https://tinyurl.com/bddphbrm). Because of its high cost, the SLS will likely be gracefully retired in a few years as commercial heavy lift rockets come on line. The SpaceX Starship vehicle is already contracted to be the system that will take the astronauts from lunar orbit down to the surface and back on the first human landing mission.

Controversy or not, this week’s launch is generating excitement and national pride. Hotels in central Florida are booked and local officials are planning for traffic gridlock.

Most residents of Maryland don’t realize how much of a role this state plays in the space industry. The Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, along with other Earth and space science missions, were developed and are operated out of Maryland centers. One thing that Sen. Barbara Mikulski got right was recognizing that, in proportion to population, Maryland is as much of a leading space state as Florida, Texas, California, etc. (GOP candidates and elected officials, take note!) Thousands of Maryland residents work at various government, industry, and academic facilities involved in space. The growing NASA and commercial activities at the Wallops Island spaceport near Chincoteague, VA have a positive economic impact on the Maryland eastern shore. Families will even have more frequent opportunities to combine viewing a space launch up close with an Ocean City vacation!

So, even if I’m not in Florida this week, I’ll figuratively hang a note that says “Out to Launch”. If the Artemis I launch hasn’t already occurred by the time you read this article, you can watch it live at https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive.

_______________ 

Joseph Gillin is former Party Secretary of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee, a former Lockheed associate and long time advocate for manned space exploration.

After a well fought Republican primary, the voters have chosen Dan Cox and Gordana Schifanelli as their Governor and  Lieutenant Governor team. Every Republican must support them in the face of a far-left WOKE and well-financed “progressive” ticket of Wes Moore and Aruna Miller.

Moore and Miller want to turn Maryland into a poster for far left ideas. Put public safety on the back burner, defund and disrespect the police, continue support for masking, opening us up to vaccine passports and continued Zoom schooling of our kids. They propagate the heightening of racial tensions and gender confusion in our schools and continued rhetoric in the business community that will cost us jobs.

While Moore wants to use the office for national attention, Miller wants to use it for equity, radical transformative programs to make us the envy of our decaying west coast. They feel no qualms about the decline of public safety, prosperity, wage growth and educational excellence. They will just redefine and reimagine to suit their agenda.

But there’s another way - as our neighbors in Virginia have shown in electing Glenn Youngkin and Winsome Sears - we too can reverse this trend. The majority of Marylanders also want a less radical, center-right approach. Folks who’ve arrived to join our country from all over the world know that what we have is best, and they all know why they left their rapidly failing countries.

We have the chance in our Montgomery County to catch our breath, halt the slide to the decaying left, and vote for Republican candidates across the board. All of Maryland is counting on us. We have a duty to secure our values and blessings of our liberty. Through our elected representatives we, together, have to ensure equal rights under the law for all Marylanders regardless of anyone’s race, gender or national origin. Our values are universal. Our candidates are not extreme, no matter what some say.

As one people under God, it is our sole responsibility to ensure that dangerous progressive ideologies do not destroy what our forefathers fought to secure. Your participation in the General Election is essential. Your vote for all Republican candidates up and down the ticket is essential. Our children cannot afford that we lose this election, and we must do everything in our power to mobilize every freedom-loving person regardless of their race, religion, or party affiliation. We need your vote.

The Republican Party of Montgomery County, Maryland

As you know, I am running a very hard and intense campaign to become the first Republican to win Office in Montgomery County in two decades.  I am running for Legislative District 19 Delegate. District 19 runs through the heart of Montgomery County and is probably the most gerrymandered District in the County.  I call it a wounded salamander with growths coming off of it in all directions.  The head is in Derwood and the tail is in Silver Spring.

My slate of three opponents have $200,000 to defeat me.  I know I can beat them with adequate funding.  I have raised two-thirds of the funding to do this but still must raise another $30,000 to get over the top to win.  Only five weeks remain until the General Election and even less until mail-in and early voting.  I must make my final move now.

Again, as most of you know, I have plastered the County with my campaign signs, building up awesome name recognition.  I am door knocking on as many doors as possible with thousands already under my belt.  I am doing a massive direct mailing unlike any Republican candidate has in a long time.  I am continually contacting potential donors.

To finish, I need two crucial forms of support:

1. Donations that total $30,000: 10 donations of $3,000, 30 donations of $1,000; 300 donations of $100, or 1000 donations of $30. It does not matter how big or how small.
2. People to find places to put up even more signs AND people to wave signs anywhere they wish in my District and anywhere else in the County.

You can mail donation checks to:

Citizens For Frank Nice

PO Box 5616

Derwood, MD 20855

You can donate on my website:  https://DrFrankNiceForDelegate.com

You can contact me for signs or to wave signs at:

[email protected]

301-840-0270

This year is the perfect storm.  It is now or never for the Republican Party and the citizens of Montgomery County.  A win for me is a win for all of Montgomery County.

Thank you.

Dr, Frank Nice

The Biden Catastrophe

By William Richbourg

My purpose here is to remind my fellow citizens of the damage the  “Biden Catastrophe” has done and continues to do to our country. I want to emphasize that, although many of you are focused on our local elections, it is absolutely critical to recognize that wherever democrats win at the local level, it emboldens those at the federal level to continue their destructive policies. Do not be fooled by soothing words from Democrat candidates. The Left is ecstatic that President Brandon…Biden has given them everything they wanted and you can quote me on this; Democrats in Montgomery County fully support the policies of Joe Biden’s administration and, no doubt, if elected will double down on the most destructive policies put forth by this administration. For example:

1. The left likes (loves) inflation. Not since former President Jimmy Carter has a Democrat been so insistent on inflating the money supply.  The rich who have money don’t really feel it; the poor who don’t have any money, suddenly do and the middle class gets screwed! 
2. The left is finally executing its dream to dramatically force fuel prices up to force Americans to abandon petroleum products and transition to renewable energy. 

Biden drank the “koolaide” and is either too dumb or evil to even consider the damage such a premature move can cause to our economy and ultimately our way of life. He has done more than any other Democrat to ensure fossil fuels were unaffordable

-He canceled federal energy leases. 

-He shut down drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 

-He canceled pipelines and warned the oil industry its days were numbered. 

3) The Left always wanted unlimited illegal immigration to ensure massive illegal immigration as part of its dream of flipping red states blue by changing the demography Biden agreed , appointed his dimwitted VP as border czar and opened the Border. 

• In less than two years, nearly 3 million illegal aliens have surged into the United States. Nearly all of them arrived unvaccinated, untested, and inadequately vetted during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Record numbers of Americans are dying from drugs pouring across the border. 
• Cartels are richer and more powerful than ever, while child traffickers operate with impunity.

4) Biden, without warning and apparently without serious planning simply yanked all U.S. troops from Afghanistan and abandoned a $1 billion new embassy, a $300 million refitted U.S. air base, and $80 billion worth of sophisticated arms and equipment.

In other words, Biden has done than any other prior Democrat to ensure the United States was grievously humbled abroad.

5) Biden was the first president to promise in advance that his vice-presidential running mate and his Supreme Court appointee had to be both black and female. For his cabinet picks, Biden ignored most criteria of prior experience or specific expertise, but instead ensured that his administration was “diverse” and almost totally devoid of appropriate qualifications and experience.

No prior Democratic president has been so beholden to identity politics or so consistently used de facto racial, gender, and sexual identity quotas in his presidential appointees.

6) The Left for years has railed about the criminal justice system. It believes punishment does not really deter crime, which is instead a result of racism and a toxic capitalist system.

Biden agrees and has appointed Federal attorneys who have practically ripped the blindfold and smashed the scales from Lady Justice” who enforce the law largely according to party affiliation.

7) No prior president has managed to weaponize the Pentagon, the FBI, or the CIA in ways that have transitioned them from traditional institutions to woke avatars of social revolution.

Now close to 70% of the American public appears to be eager to oust Biden or at least ensure that he does not dare seek reelection in 2024?

Biden’s current record and unpopularity are due not just to his unmistakable cognitive decline. Instead, the administration has damaged itself with a terrible agenda. The public detests $5-a-gallon gas and recoils in horror at 9.1 percent annual inflation along with extensive supply chain shortages to say nothing of near record annual increases in murders and other violent crime.

I believe the public is irate that the Biden cabinet never responds to these disasters but either denies the crises even exist or blames its own self-created messes on the Russians, or Trump, or their own Democratic senators who balked at printing more trillions of dollars.

The Left now appears to be looking for a younger, more charismatic replacement to advance their stale and unpopular agendas.

But since when has changing an inept messenger ever changed a DISASTEROUS MESSAGE?

__________

William Richbourg is a Member of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee

Politicians and Party Members under the Big Top

Dan Cox, Reardon Sullivan, Neil Parrott, Greg Coll and so many more candidates joined MCGOP volunteers under the Republican Big Top for the annual Montgomery County Agricultural Fair in Gaithersburg.

Our volunteers were amazing, our contacts and conversations were wonderful, and the food, drink and rides were great and satisfying.

Fun and Politics at the Montgomery County Fair!

"Pigs, Pies and Politics"

Still time to sign up to volunteer HERE>.  Extra info on the sign-up site.

That's right - Party and Politics. AUGUST 15-20 -Montgomery County Ag Fair

We need folks to welcome visitors and sign up fair-goers for Republican activities. You can volunteer, students can volunteer, Candidates and their reps can volunteer.

Reardon Sullivan, Republican nominee for Montgomery County Executive and Don Patti, running for MD Delegate in LD 17, greet volunteers and supporters at the MCGOP Big Top. More FAIR Pix HERE>

Sign up to volunteer HERE>.  Extra info on the sign-up site.

At the MCGOP Big Top Booth (late morning thru evening). Candidates welcome. MCGOP Committeewomen Martha Schaerr and Laura Benson are coordinating our very popular political Big Top!

More FAIR Pix HERE> More activities coming all summer. Stay tuned! 

Labor Day activities are just around the corner!

Examining Trends of Drug Overdose Deaths 2006-2019

Dr. Christopher Hekimian - The Joseph Albert Hekimian Legacy Fund, 2022

Deaths due to drug abuse have long been endemic in the United States. The following figure, produced by the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Drug Abuse [i] shows drug-involved overdose death totals by year from 1999 to 2020. The serious nature of the problem is clearly evident.

[i] Overdose Death Rates. NIH, National Institute on Drug Abuse. URL: https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates, Accessed: 7/31/2022

Figure 1 CDC Totals by Year for National Drug-Involved Overdose Deaths

What can be done about the problem that continues to steal brothers, sisters, sons and daughters and moms and dads from so many American families? Can anything be done?  Let’s examine the chart more closely.

The data appears to increase monotonically until 2017, where it appears to level off, until it increases again in 2020.  The jump in death rates in 2020 is likely attributable to the negative impacts of COVID-19. In-person counseling and support group meetings were shut down and jobs and income lost through economic hardship led to increased personal stress and drug addiction relapses[i] and new cases of addiction and subsequent overdoses. In fact, linear regression analysis shows that the average rate of increase of overdose deaths was 17,155 new deaths per year for the ten years leading up to 2017. From 2017 through 2019, the average rate of new deaths per year reduces to 7,038. Statistical significance testing on the two trends show that if the initial rate of increase of deaths were to have prevailed during the years of 2017- 2019, there would be less than a 0.4% likelihood of achieving the reduced average rate of new deaths that did actually occur. Figure 2 is a zoomed in view of the relevant period of Figure 1, with the two different trend lines shown.

[i] The Impact of COVID-19 on Drug Use—and How It Contributes to Overdose Risk. News Release. NYU. Apr 25, 2022. URL: https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/april/covid-19-drug-use.html. Accessed: 8/6/2022

Figure 2 Trend Established Between 2006 and 2016 Extrapolated through 2019 and Actual 2017-2019 Trend Lines

Figure 2 and the statistical evidence support the notion that something happened to affect positive change starting in 2017, continuing through 2019 and ending with the impact of COVID-19. Analysis indicated that we can be more than 99.6% confident that the more favorable trend did not occur by chance. So, what did happen during the period of 2017-2019 that could account for the change?

The changes included the following[i]:

1. An addition of $6 billion in new funding over a two-year window to fight opioid abuse was made.
2. The federal government Implemented a “Safer Prescribing Plan” with the objective of reducing opioid prescription fills by 33% within three years.
3. The Administration took a series of aggressive steps to secure our nations borders and ports of entry against the flow of illicit drugs into the country.
4. In 2018, the President worked with Congress to pass, in a bipartisan manner, the largest legislative package addressing a single drug crisis in history. The act was called the SUPPORT Act,

Further, the Administration at the time applied great political and economic (trade) pressure on the Chinese in an attempt to stop trafficking of the deadly drug fentanyl. The result of the pressure was that China placed 1,400 different fentanyl analogues (sometimes referred to as “bath salts”) under state control. [ii] The Administration worked with the private sector to raise awareness about fentanyl products and they designated some Chinese nationals as drug kingpins for trafficking in the substance.[iii]

The Administration also expanded access to the opioid overdose antidote drug called Naloxone.[iv]

Given the CDC data and the results of the regression analysis, the impact Trump Administration efforts can be quantified in terms of human life. In particular, had the average increase in overdose deaths of the 10 years preceding 2017 been allowed to continue, that rate of death by overdose would account for an estimated 34,310 deaths over the period of 2017 through 2019. Instead, the interventions of the Trump Administration, including the examples referred to in this article resulted limited the increase in deaths to only 14,075 over the base amount for that 3-year period. The difference in these numbers represent an estimate of more than 20,000 lives saved over the course of 3 years by an aggressive anti-drug policy.

[i] Ending America’s Opioid Crisis. Trump White House Archives. URL: https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/opioids/. Accessed: 7/31/2022

[ii] Jonathan Landay. “Trump accuses China's Xi of failing to halt fentanyl exports to U.S.”. Yahoo News. 8/1/2019. URL: https://news.yahoo.com/trump-accuses-chinas-xi-failing-235641280.html. Accessed: 7/31/2022

[iii] Marisa Schultz. “Trump launches effort against fentanyl trafficking”. NY Post. 8/21/2019. URL: https://nypost.com/2019/08/21/trump-launches-effort-against-fentanyl-trafficking/ . Accessed: 7/31/2022

[iv] Maegan Vazquez. “What Trump's drug policies have meant for America's opioid epidemic”. CNN. 2/2/2020. URL: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/02/politics/opioid-epidemic-donald-trump-drug-policy/index.html. Accessed: 7/31/2022

Across all human societies at all times and in all locations, regardless of religion or other value system there was and is one irreducible base-line truth - there are men and there are women and that distinction is one of biology, not preference - the "Baseline Truth." A society only progresses in time through men and women living, laughing and loving together, having children and maintaining coherent families.  Without embracing the Baseline Truth of male and female and that necessary interaction, there are no children, there are no families and the society collapses.

NO SURPRISE HERE 

By Hessie Harris

From the day he entered office, Biden has been working to impoverish American citizens by interfering with their financial self-sufficiency with the goal of destroying it. He cancelled the Keystone Pipeline and with it the scheduled employment of several citizens.

During the “Pandemic” he allowed the CDC to impose an unauthorized rent moratorium which not only negatively affected the income of large realtors, it crushed that of some small ones.  There were those who had to sell their rental properties, the income from which they paid their mortgages.  Even with doing that their homes were sometimes foreclosed on.  

Unnecessarily restrictive rules caused many small businesses to fold. Then the rest of his “emergency welfare” in the form of unneeded, wasteful, inappropriately awarded “Stimulus” made it difficult for employers to find employees. Potential employees collected more money not working.   That caused even more businesses to fail.

His “Inflation Reduction Act” is a bad joke because he caused the inflation with his previous reckless and needless spending and this law will cause more.  But it is no laughing matter because it imposes higher and additional taxes on the American people will not reduce inflation.

Now he is trying get 87,000 new IRS agents hired supposedly to “audit citizens”.  But the facts suggest something else: raids not audits.  One of the new positions to be filled is that of “IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent” which will require a willingness to work more than 50 hours, which may be irregular. They must be on call24/7 including holidays and weekends.  The person must carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force as well as being able to participate in arrest, execution of search warrants, and other dangerous assignments”.

Furthermore, such activities are deemed within the scope of the job because “no matter what the source of the income, both legal and illegal, has the potential of becoming crimes which fall within the investigative jurisdiction of the IRS Criminal Investigation”.  (Townhall, August 11, 2022). Apparently, Former President Trump is the first victim of such procedure.

However, as stated in the Wall Street Journal, “these new efforts to Enforce the tax code will be focused on the middle and upper middle classes because that is where the money is”.  It is also where those with the courage to oppose Biden and the Leftists are found.  Wealthier people would only be at risk, if somehow the criticized or otherwise interfered with his agenda.

This is not only to destroy economic freedom and independence but also negate citizen’s rights.   Any government intrusion will be deemed excusable under this procedure.  Any form of resistance could put a person’s life and that of their loved ones in jeopardy.  People will be cowed into silence because of an overarching fear of a tax raid.

Our hope now must be in concerted efforts by citizens and Congressional representatives who opposed Biden and his henchmen.   Those members of Congress constantly say what they and the newly elected will do after the November elections.   They do not seem to see that if this IRS Gestapo is allowed, candidates opposing Biden and the Leftists will fear running for office.   Indeed, citizens will fear voting as Biden’s mafia will have no problem in corrupting the process and possibly revealing their identity and choice.

Congress persons speak in the halls of Congress, in Town Halls, and on news programs. But they are not reaching the uninformed, indifferent, ignorant and inept of the populace.  It is time that in addition to their usual approach, they proceed with the intensity that they do in their political campaigns.  They need to speak directly and more frequently to constituents about what is going on.

That means more trips back home and going where the people are. Virtual communication such as Zoom is also available.  They and/or their assistants need to telephone constituents.  That does not mean robo calls.  Tell them to write and call the White House when the problem is being generated from there. 

Citizens should also write and call the offices of presumed supporters of Biden. Many have no concept of what is being planned.

In addition, Citizens must speak to people they know.  They need to show them the articles.  Refer them to news programs that tell the story.  Encourage them to write and make the calls, as well as encouraging others to do the same.

The Biden Ministry of Truth was stopped by activism as was Biden’s proposed bill to track bank accounts of citizens with over $600 in annual transactions.

In conclusion, the Executive Branch is totally corrupt, the Judicial Branch is under attack, Congressional Representatives must work to stir the informed and educate the uninformed.   The things Biden has down as is planning can and will destroy their lives, as well as those of citizens, if they do not act.

__________

Hessie L. Harris is a newly elected Member of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee, taking office in November.