Heroes of Conscience

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Sunday Night I was given the incredible opportunity to attend the Heroes of Conscience Award Dinner put on by the American Freedom Alliance.  This year's recipient during the 10th Annual event was recently deceased President of the Organization, Avi Davis.  Avi was a friend who I admired greatly, and I hoped he would become a mentor.  The Lord, however, saw fit that it was time to bring Avi home.

The event was held at the Luxe Sunset Hotel.  The extravagance of the venue was amazing.  I wasn't even allowed to park my own car.  Valet was a requirement.

I arrived early, and spent a couple hours in a courtyard talking to Alan Myers, and Evan Sayet.  Evan, the master of ceremonies for the evening, is also an author, and conservative comedian.  He's always a pleasure to talk to, and always has funny things to insert into the conversation.

I possessed a VIP Reception ticket, and with that came an opportunity to acquaint, and reacquaint, myself with a number of interesting people as the start-time for the event approached.

Early on during the VIP Reception I spent a lot of time speaking even more with Alan Myers, an accountant by trade, and a public speaker about the national debt and federal reserve.  He works with G. Edward Griffin's Freedom Force group, and with Alan's help I am looking to have the opportunity to meet with Mr. Griffin.  G. Edward Griffin is the author of The Creature from Jeckyll Island.  I am also trying to get Mr. Griffin to be a speaker at an event my Constitution Association group will be putting on in July.

Following that conversation, two young ladies from UCLA's Republican Club approached.  It is very possible that I will have the opportunity to speak at the university soon.  My surprise is that the Republicans are still able to maintain a club on that campus.  The last time I encountered them was a few years ago, when my friend and colleague Walid Shoebat spoke to a packed auditorium.  Surprisingly, there were no protests.

Larry Elder, to my surprise, remembered me.  As we spoke, I reminded him of our last meeting at a Robert Davi concert.  Davi, an actor that everybody recognizes by face, but rarely by name (Goonies, James Bond: Licence to Kill), also sings Frank Sinatra (of whom Davi worked with in his first movie, as well).  Davi has a beautiful voice, not mimicking Sinatra, but singing Ol' Blue Eyes' tunes with his own unique and incredible flair.  Davi had invited me to a concert and the VIP Reception afterward in Redondo Beach a few years ago, and it was there that I met Mr. Elder.  By the time I got to Elder that night, however, I had run out of business cards.  I told Larry at the Heroes of Conscience event that he was instrumental, that night long ago at Davi's event, in teaching me the valuable lesson of always having a ridiculous amount of business cards on me.  He laughed, and then happily accepted my card.  Last fall he and I had been emailing each other quite a bit.  His schedule is a tough one, but we are hoping to get him on the radio program soon.

I spotted Alfonzo Rachel (Zo-Nation) standing outside and I went out to greet him.  He smiled and took my hand as an old friend.  We talked about our longtime friendship, and how he's pretty much in L.A. all the time, now.  He spends most of his video-making time with PJ Media, and of course plays with his band 20 lb. Sledge.  We, back in the early days of our blogging experiences, used to discuss getting together for lunch out in the desert.  We agreed, the date is still on.  He's another name we plan to get on the radio program, soon.

After I walked back inside, I shook hands with John Sullivan.  John is the producer behind pretty much all of Dinesh D'Souza's films, as well as a number of others.  He grew up in the town I live in, Murrieta, and his childhood friend, Alan Long, is on the City Council in Murrieta.  I ran against Alan back in 2010, but was defeated soundly by Murrieta's favorite son.  John smiled warmly, remembering me from our last meeting, one that happened to be at Avi's house when Mr. Davis was still with us.  We exchanged cards, and I told him I want to get him on my radio program to promote his efforts.  I received no argument from him.

Trevor Loudon was among the people I know best at the Heroes of Conscience event.  He and I chatted for a while, largely about his upcoming film, The Enemies Within.  I told him I would do what I could to promote his film.  We agreed we need to get him on the radio program, and he also agreed to be a speaker at my July 9 event in Wildomar.  This is the second time I have gotten a verbal confirmation.  This time, he tapped it into his electronic calendar.  He told me he has an event in California on June 29, so he should already be in the area when my Constitution Association Anniversary Dinner is upon us.

Inside the banquet hall I ran into a number of familiar faces, and new ones.  I must've handed out two dozen business cards.  I also handed out the cards to a few folks of Yaara Segal, with whom I had had lunch with earlier in the day.  She's the Director of Marketing for the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles.  We agreed to help each other, and I asked her for a bunch of business cards so I could hand them out to some folks I believe she needs to be working with.  Karen, the Chairman of AFA, Evan Sayet, and one of the girls from UCLA got the cards.

The speakers at the event were mostly people I mentioned already, and some of Avi's closest friends and colleagues.  Larry Elder was the keynote speaker.  Avi's two sons accepted the Heroes of Conscience Award for their father.  A video about Avi's adventurous life brought tears to the eyes of the audience, and the fundraising aspect of the event for American Freedom Alliance went well.  I sat at the dinner table with Alan Myers, a local L.A. gentleman and friend, Rueben (who gave the introduction at the beginning of the event to bring Evan Sayet on stage), and my good buddy John L. Hancock and his wife.  John recently spent some time in the hospital, and had visibly lost weight.  He seemed a little weak, but looked to be quickly returning to his own self.  It was great to see him there.  John is the author of Liberty Inherited, and Liberty and Prosperity, two books that focus on the Saxon influence of our own political system here in the United States.

During dinner a raucous discussion at our table about Trump broke out.  I learned we had three #nevertrump diners, three Trump supporters, John who remained silent and just grinned as the fireworks flew, and myself who holds a position that I am not a Trump fan, but I fear Hillary more so I will vote for Trump in the general election.  That attitude automatically landed me in the conversation with the Trump supporters as allies.

At the conclusion of the evening, I reconnected with a few more old friends, shook the hands of many of my new friends, and had some final words with already mentioned attendees.  Overall, the evening was grand.  A great additional send-off for my dear friend, Avi Davis.

I got home well after midnight, and did not attend my usual Monday Morning Breakfast meeting due to exhaustion.  The night, however, was fruitful in many ways.  I departed from it, however, saying to myself, "Man, I miss Avi."

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary