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VACAVILLE Little girls in blue lace dresses came with mothers and grandmothers for an afternoon of tea, teddy bears and entertainment.

The Saturday Club in Vacaville held its25th annual Sugar N Spice Tea Party, Saturday.

The annual fundraiser for a cultural scholarship and to help promote manners for young ladies, brought out about 90 visitors.

Traditional linens with fine China isnt commonplace anymore, and the polished manners to go with them are disappearing, but the Gardener family is passing down this tradition to another generation.

Chloe Gardener, 5, came dressed as a Disney princess, and was joined by her mother Gina, who is the daughter of Wanda Gardener, a member of Saturday Club since 1991.

This was little Chloes third teddy bear tea party and she was excited.

Its all she could talk about this week, said Gina Gardener.

The Saturday Club, which was createdin 1909 by Katherine Saxton Steiger, has been a staple of Vacaville for 107 years. The tea party was previously heldaround Christmas, but it was changed to January in 2000 because everyone was getting so busy in December.

The club has given out over $105,000 in scholarships, saidMonica Espinosa, Saturday Club President.

The club meets the second Saturday of each month except for January because of the special tea party that brings in a variety of dancers, artists and photographers for entertainment.

This time around, the Royal School of Ballet entertained the guests.

The club raises money for scholarships in the arts to go to a few deserving students. They have given thousands of dollars over the years toseniors who wanted to go to college and major in the artistic fields. Potentialapplicants fill out the paper work and then bring in their art or show their talents off in an interview.

On this Saturday, dad Jeremy Laukhuf of Fairfield brought his two daughters Madalynn, 6 and Vivian, 3 for a father-daughter bonding moment.

My wife heard about this. I thought maybe it would be a good thing for us to have as our special thing, he said.

For more information on the Saturday Club, contact Wanda Gardener at 696-3873.

Reach Susan Hiland at 427-6981 or [emailprotected]

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Teddy Bear Tea party passing down traditions - Fairfield Daily Republic

Gonzalo Martinez De Vedia, Jeremy Haile and Sarah Dohl, Los Angeles Times 8:01 a.m. ET Jan. 27, 2017

Marchers near the Capitol in DC.(Photo: Madeleine Winer/CJ)Buy Photo

Donald Trump represents a grave threat to liberal democratic values. On Capitol Hill, Republicans are falling in line and some moderate Democrats have signaled a willingness to cut deals. But ordinary Americans have the power to resist. We know this is true because we have seen local, grassroots organizing take hold before.

Eight years ago, two of us worked as congressional staffers and the other in immigrant rights organizing. President Obama had taken office with large Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress and seemed poised to enact many of our shared priorities. Another force was taking shape, however, that would eventually bring federal policymaking to a halt.

The tea party protests began early in 2009, as small groups of conservative activists organized against government intervention in the housing and financial markets. By summer, they had grown into a formidable opposition movement, flooding congressional offices with angry letters, emails and calls. Enabled by a media that thrives on conflict, these minority voices soon dominated the national discourse.

When members of Congress retreated to their districts for what should have been an uneventful summer of little league games and pancake breakfasts, tea party activists awaited them. Two of us worked for Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, who was mobbed in an Austin parking lot by protesters carrying Revolutionary War battle flags and signs denouncing socialized health care. Their simple chant, which would soon become familiar, was, just say no.

The tea party organized for the 2010 midterms, targeting both Republicans and moderate Democrats. By the time the dust had settled, Democrats had lost their large majorities in Congress and, with their lost seats, any hope of realizing a bold progressive agenda.

The tea party demonstrated that a small group of activists can take on a newly elected president with a majority in Congress and win.

Now its our turn.

We learned two key lessons from the tea partys success.

First, they organized locally, focusing on members of Congress in their home states and districts, pushing them to use every available tool legislation, letters, public statements, media interviews to oppose Obamas every move.

Under Trump, similar efforts will be just as important in blue districts as anywhere else. By keeping relentless, local pressure on progressive members of Congress, we can embolden them to stand firm. We can remind them that making nice with an administration built on racism, authoritarianism and corruption is not bipartisanship its collusion.

The second lesson we learned from the tea party is that we need to play defense. The movements members understood that if they tried to choose among competing conservative priorities, their coalition would fracture. Rather than putting forward plans to stimulate the economy or to improve the health care system, they chose to just say no. The tea party kept its movement strong, broad and unified by concentrating relentlessly on opposition.

Loud, localized resistance is already proving effective against the new GOP regime.

On the first day of the new Congress, Republicans moved to hamstring the Office of Congressional Ethics. Within 24 hours, activists had taken the fight to the home district office of Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, R-Va., who had led the effort, demanding a meeting and posting video of their visit on social media.

They took the just say no approach, and it worked.

Republicans swift retreat affirmed that every constituents voice across every state, in every district, red or blue will be vital to expose and blockan aggressive attempt to remake government in Trumps image.

To stand united in opposition is not about abandoning a positive vision for the future. Progressives should continue working to develop policy ideas. But for the next two years, at least, we cant set the agenda, we can only respond to it.

If the tea partys approach could stop President Obama, it can stop President Trump.Trump lost the popular vote, and has no mandate. He also has slimmer majorities in Congress than Democrats had eight years ago.

Americans against Trump are in the majority. If we want to resist his agenda, we have to do it together, and we have to start now.

Gonzalo Martinez de Vedia, Jeremy Haile and Sarah Dohl are contributors to Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda. They wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.

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To stop Trump, imitate the tea party - Courier-Journal - The Courier-Journal

Zac Anderson Political Editor @zacjanderson

Political protests in the Sarasota region rarely draw a crowd like the one that gathered recently for a solidarity march over the Ringling Bridge in conjunction with the Womens March on Washington.

The Sarasota solidarity march organized by Action Together Suncoast attracted thousands of people to Bayfront Park. Its a popular protest spot in the shadow of the Unconditional Surrender sailor statue, but most political events there draw a few dozen - or at most a few hundred - people.

In terms of crowd size, the closest thing to Action Togethers march in recent history may have been an event on April 16, 2009.

On that day more than 2,000 people gathered at Bayfront Park for the first big Tea Party protest in the region.

The movement centered around the Womens March on Washington already is being branded as the lefts version of the Tea Party.

I do see parallels, said Palmetto resident Jenni Casale, one of the organizers of Action Togethers Sarasota march.

The Tea Party largely was a conservative response to the policies put forward by former President Barack Obama. The Womens March was prompted by the deep concern many on the left have about what will happen under President Donald Trump.

Whether Trumps critics can whip up the kind of sustained energy and political pressure that Tea Party leaders were able to muster remains to be seen.

Buoyed by Tea Party enthusiasm, Republicans took back the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and have controlled the chamber ever since. The movement still exerts influence, contributing to the departure of former House Speaker John Boehner in 2015 and the ongoing anti-establishment sentiment within the GOP that Trump tapped into.

Casale and her compatriots plan to use a similar playbook to stir things up on the left.

I think we need to follow some of the same kinds of actions putting pressure on politicians said Dianne Perry, another Action Together organizer who lives in eastern Manatee County.

The group collected a long list of email addresses and phone numbers from those who participated in the Sarasota march and will work to keep these people politically engaged.

A few days after the march some Action Together members traveled to U.S. Sen. Marco Rubios Tampa office to voice their concerns about Trumps Cabinet picks. The group is gathering Sunday for a where do we go next meeting, Casale said. Theyve already requested a permit for another Sarasota march in April.

We have to protect what we have and not go backwards, Perry said.

Perry, 70, and Casale, 60, were supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Casale volunteered for Clintons campaign. But neither has been deeply involved in party politics. Both are recent retirees who say the push back against Trump has given them something to focus on in retirement.

Trump himself has criticized the movement, tweeting: "Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote?

Some argue that Trumps critics are rushing to judgement before he has had a chance to govern. Casale and Perry see no reason to give the president a grace period.

Yes the election is over, Casale said. But that does not mean we step back, lay down and just accept everything.

Gruters pushing immigration crackdown

State Rep. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, co-chaired President Donald Trumps Florida campaign and one of his first acts as a state lawmaker is right in line with one of Trumps first acts as president.

This week Trump signed executive orders calling for construction of a border wall his signature campaign promise increasing the number of border patrol guards, classifying more immigrants who are in the country illegally as priorities for deportation and stripping so-called sanctuary cities that do not fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities of federal funding.

Gruters wants to Florida to take the additional step of forcing businesses to use an E-verify system to determine if new employees are in the country illegally.

Its party of my commitment to ensure we put Americans first in the mold of Donald Trump, Gruters said of his E-Verify bill, HB 443, filed this week.

Businesses not in compliance with Gruters legislation would be placed on probation and repeat offenders would have their business license suspended. Florida lawmakers have tried to establish E-verify in the state before and failed. Gruters sees new momentum on the issue.

With Donald Trumps election and the commitment and the idea we want to put Americans first I think there may be a pathway to finally pass it, Gruters said.

This is the second bill Gruters has filed on a highly-charged partisan issue. He also wants to make abortions illegal earlier in a pregnancy.

But its not all partisan warfare for the new state representative. He also filed a request last week for funding to extend Sarasota Countys Legacy Trail further north.

Bill impacts Sarasota hospital dispute

Gruters wasnt the only freshman lawmaker from Sarasota filing high-profile legislation this week.

State Rep. Alex Miller, R-Sarasota, has a bill that would eliminate the certificate of need process for hospitals, nursing homes and hospice enters in Florida.

Miller has a deep understanding of healthcare. She runs a medical supply company and was elected to the Sarasota Memorial Hospital board before winning a state House seat. She is teaming up with another healthcare expert on the legislation. The bill is a priority for Gov. Rick Scott, the former CEO of a large hospital company.

The legislation, HB 7, would end a conflict between two competing Sarasota County hospitals.

Venice Regional Bayfront Health and Sarasota Memorial Hospital both received approval from the state to build new facilities in the Venice area. Now theyre challenging each others approval. They will have no basis for those challenges if Millers bill passes.

Events

The Sarasota Tiger Bay Club meets Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at Michaels on East. The Sarasota City Commission candidates will answer questions posed by moderator Morgan Bentley. The cost is $25 for members and $30 for guests. For reservations call 925-2970 or email sarasotatigerbayclub@verizon.net.

More:
The left's Tea Party? Sarasota march largest since early Tea Party gathering - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

NewsBusters (blog)

MSNBC Hopes Women's March is Left's Tea Party NewsBusters (blog) Their guest, Nancy Gibbs, editor in chief of Time magazine, spoke about the cover this week, which focused on the Women's March and how it will materialize into a movement. During the discussion, there was frequent mentioning of the Tea Party movement ... and more »

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MSNBC Hopes Women's March is Left's Tea Party - NewsBusters (blog)

Angry Facebook posts. People wielding signs in the city square indicating their displeasure with the president. Voters show up at town hall meetings with their members of Congress demanding to know what will happen to their health insurance and to say, "Hands off my Medicare!"

Everything that is old becomes new again. Liberals once rolled their eyes at these things when they were associated with the Tea Party Right. Now there is a Tea Party brewing on the Left.

In fact, the Washington Examiner reported on a progressive campaign to "resist" President Trump's agenda that is explicitly based on the lessons of the Tea Party.

The powdered wigs have been repealed and replaced with pink knit hats. Quotes from the Founding Fathers are still displayed on signs, but not as often as mentions to the part of the female anatomy the new president referenced in his notorious chat with Billy Bush.

That vulgar "Access Hollywood" tape has played a bigger role in radicalizing opposition to Trump than the Jeremiah Wright sermons and the "bitter clingers" tape combined did in hardening attitudes against President Obama.

FEMA camps. Muslim registries. Gun-grabbing and pussy-grabbing. The memes were dark.

Anti-Obama conservatives felt Obama was rejecting the country's founding principles and transforming it into something it was never meant to be. Anti-Trump liberals believe Trump also rejects core American political values and is reviving the racism they were once convinced would die with their Tea Party forebears.

In both cases, you saw people who were previously apolitical suddenly actively sharing political content hostile to the sitting president on social media and people who were mildly political becoming committed activists.

You also saw the occasional person who had spent their whole adult lives on the opposite side of the political divide suddenly deciding the current president was the last straw for them.

Also from the Washington Examiner

"Turns out you're just like all the rest selfish and spineless."

01/26/17 11:13 PM

Conservative and progressive groups that had long predated either the Tea Party or the self-styled anti-Trump resistance quickly sprang into action to organize and to capitalize. The antiwar and civil libertarian progressive groups that have been moribund since George W. Bush left town will be resurrected.

Liberals are even rediscovering the virtues of state and local governments standing up to Washington, the need to limit executive power, adhering to the Constitution and longstanding political norms.

The president isn't always going to be a person who shares your values or even necessarily a particularly nice person. Therefore, you might want to avoid giving him a massive surveillance apparatus or allowing him to compile a secret, extrajudicial kill list. It might be good to make him or her go to Congress before sending the country to war.

One imagines most liberals regret diluting the filibuster the point that executive branch appointees and most federal judges can be approved by the Senate by simple majority rule. With 48 seats, under the old rules the Democrats could have blocked any Trump Cabinet pick they wanted. Now they may not be able to block any.

Another similarity with the Tea Party: We could see liberals turn against Democrats who don't share their anger with Trump and the system, much as conservatives rejected Republicans who weren't sufficiently outraged by Obama.

Also from the Washington Examiner

"How can you vet somebody when you don't know anything about them and you have no papers?"

01/26/17 10:44 PM

This hasn't taken the form of many primary challenges yet. But it was a factor in Bernie Sanders' campaign against Hillary Clinton last year. It's part of what's driving Keith Ellison's bid for Democratic National Committee chair right now.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has so far voted for every Trump Cabinet pick the Senate has confirmed. That can't stand for long.

Progressives no longer believe it is inherently bad to want to see a president fail or be limited to just one term. Trump is saying he wants to do many of the same things Obama promised: bring back jobs, stimulate the economy and help fix healthcare.

If you don't think a president's policies will achieve those goals at least not at a cost future generations can endure it's hardly unpatriotic to oppose the president.

Then again, we've seen this movie before. On questions of executive power, foreign policy and civil liberties, there is very little partisan consistency. With the exception of a few bold backbenchers, we see the two parties trade places on these issues every four to eight years.

A difference this time is that there is a subset of conservatives who oppose Trump with whom the resistance could make common cause or who could be pushed into Trump's arms by unchecked left-wing hysteria. Not a huge subset, but more numerous than anti-Bush conservatives and certainly anti-Obama liberals.

That's another bit of continuity: dating back to at least Bill Clinton, a substantial portion of the country has spent much of its free time trying to convince the rest of the population that the president is the devil.

No matter how sincerely these views were held, they often did more to convince people that the opposition was unhinged. It became too hard for the voters who didn't already share their passion to separate the legitimate criticisms from what was unfair or over the top.

Fortunately for those outraged by Trump, detractors of Clinton, Bush 43 and Obama all managed to take control of Congress at these presidents' low points. But all three of those presidents got to serve two full terms.

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Liberal anger at Trump is starting to resemble the Tea Party - Washington Examiner (blog)