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Happy Thursday Democrats!

Shout Out

Thank you to the wonderful Democrats who volunteered to judge the science fairs in our schools this week. It was awesome to see you there and supporting the Democratic principle of Public Education.

Newsletter Highlights

Our annual Holiday Party is TONIGHT! See the Democrats of Indian River section
Volunteer Coordinator Needed! See the Get Involved section
Precinct Captains are needed. See the Democrats of Indian River section

Office Hours

Our regular office hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

FEDERAL

A Week of Biden Bringing Us Back to Cultural Normalcy and Leading Through Extraordinary Action

What a week! At long last, President Biden and the First Lady brought to the American people some semblances of normal as we usher in the holiday season. First, there was the lighting of the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse with performances from Billy Porter, Chris Stapleton, Keb’Mo’ and Kristin Chenowith, Patti LaBelle and others. Dr. Biden then unveiled the decorations “in the People’s House” which were warm, friendly and family-oriented as opposed to last year’s dystopian nightmare. Next, they honored American culture at its finest with the awarding of medals for lifetime artistic achievement to operatic bass-baritone Justino Díaz, Motown founder, songwriter, producer, and director Berry Gordy, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, legendary stage and screen icon Bette Midler, and singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. These much needed gifts of the best that America has to offer were a return to normal from four years of a cultural desert.

But, in an extraordinary week for the President, he stared down Vladmir Putin’s potential aggression on Ukraine; led a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in China pushing back on the repressive regime of Xi Jinping; introduced us to the Omicron coronavirus and preaching calm but vigilance in our protective efforts of vaccinations, masking and testing; negotiated a bi-partisan deal to raise the U.S. debt limit; applauded the Department of Justice in suing the State of Texas for its gerrymandering plans to suppress voters’ rights; welcomed his commission report on reforming the Supreme Court and Federal Judiciary that was affirmed by this bi-partisan group 34-0; had his chief for Customs and Border Protection confirmed by the Senate; is hosting a democracy summit with 100 world leaders; and has pledged that the federal government will be carbon neutral by 2050. Whew! What a week!

How Did Bill Posey Vote in November?

Here is how Representative Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, voted in Congress in November.

For additional information, including specifics about each vote, visit https://data.tcpalm.com/roll-call/
Here is a sample of his votes:

Build Back Better Act
Question: Table Motion to Reconsider
Result: Passed on November 19, 2021
Posey: Not Voting

Build Back Better Act
Question: On Passage
Result: Passed on November 19, 2021
Posey: Nay

Build Back Better Act
Question: On Motion to Recommit
Result: Passed on November 19, 2021
Posey: Aye

Censuring Representative Paul Gosar
Question: On Agreeing to the Resolution
Result: Passed on November 17, 2021
Posey: Nay

Providing for Consideration of the Resolution (H. Re. 789) Censuring Representative Paul Gosar
Question: On Agreeing to the Resolution
Result: Passed on November 17, 2021
Posey: Nay

Providing for Consideration of the Resolution (H. Re. 789) Censuring Representative Paul Gosar
Question: On Ordering the Previous Question
Result: Passed on November 17, 2021
Posey: Nay

INVEST in America Act
Question: Table Motion to Reconsider
Result: Passed on November 5, 2021
Posey: Nay

INVEST in America Act
Question: On Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment
Result: Passed on November 5, 2021
Posey: Nay

To Designate the Federal Building and United States Courthouse located at 1125 Chapline Street in Wheeling, West Virginia, as the Frederick P. Stamp, Jr. Federal Building and United States Courthouse
Question: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass
Result: Passed on November 4, 2021
Posey: Aye

To Designate the Federal Building located at 1200 New Jersey Avenue Southeast in Washington, D.C., as the Norman Yoshio Mineta Federal Building
Question: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass
Result: Passed on November 4, 2021
Posey: Nay

To Designate the Federal Building located at 167 North Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee as the Odell Horton Federal Building
Question: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass
Result: Passed on November 4, 2021
Posey: Aye

Protect Older Job Applicants Act of 2021
Question: On Passage
Result: Passed on November 4, 2021
Posey: Nay

STATE

Charlie Crist Demands Probe of “Disturbing” UF Censorship by DeSantis

“U.S. Representative Charlie Crist has called on state education officials to investigate claims made in a “disturbing” new report by University of Florida professors detailing how faculty curbed race-related references in course materials and blocked, delayed or destroyed COVID-19 data out of fear of retaliation by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration.”

You can read the article here:
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/478753-charlie-crist-blames-gov-desantis-demands-probe-of-disturbing-uf-censorship/

LOCAL

Faces of Eve – Fundraiser for Gifford Cultural Center

The fundraiser for the new Gifford Cultural Center is called the Faces of Eve Collaboration. To raise money for the Center, you can purchase the Faces of Eve coffee table art book. Please order your copy today in the link below! They also welcome sponsorships, the various levels are listed on the Rally-Up fundraising page.

https://go.rallyup.com/giffordculturalcenter/Campaign/Details

Boat Parade

The Boat Parade is Saturday, December 18^th at 6:00 p.m. The public is invited to enjoy viewing the parade boats at restaurants, parks and other locations along the route including Royal Palm Point and Vero Beach City Marina.

McKee Botanical Gardens

DEMOCRATS OF INDIAN RIVER

Democratic Executive Committee

Want to be more involved in your neighborhood and community? Consider signing up to be a precinct captain for your local area. Precinct captains lead up Get Out the Vote efforts.

We need Captains in the following Precincts:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 14, 15, 20, 22, 24, 28, 29, 32

Contact Stacey at: [email protected] if you want to participate!

Democratic Club of Indian River

We are planning a Democratic Club Holiday Party that will include members of the Democratic Women’s Club and the Democratic Executive Committee (DEC), at the Irish American Club on Thursday, December 9th at 6:00 p.m. Attendees will be asked to bring appetizers, hors d' oeuvres, or desserts to share. We request that attendees bring an unwrapped toy to donate to "Toys for Tots". The local band, “Friends and Neighbors,” will be providing the music. Masks and social distancing will be required as we monitor the diminishing COVID situation.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

This week we will begin featuring a letter that was written to the TC Palm in opposition to Democrats or our ideals. We then ask that you write a response back. It’s time we start speaking out as a collective and correcting the disinformation printed in newspapers. Staying silent is accepting, and we must fight for our democracy.

Here is the letter we ask you to respond to:

GOP wants to be ‘the party of parents’

Former President Obama's deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter sounded the alarm on the power of parents. Don't let [the Republicans] become the party of parents,” she said.

We know, the Democrats are playing politics with our children.

Let's review the “party of politics” — the Democratic Party.

Democrats have closed our schools, demanded and mandated masks for many children, and want to mandate COVID vaccines for school-age children. College-bound children are mandated to get the shot or be denied entry to some schools.

Statues are being removed from our cities, towns and universities and even the names of our schools are being changed. The Democrats are erasing our wonderful history. They have indoctrinated our children with a form of critical race theory and their twisted ideology. The teachers unions demanded and received millions in COVID-19 money, and the teachers never went into the classroom. If they received that money, how was it spent?

We are also being inundated with what they call political correctness; transgender bathrooms, gender pronouns and a choice of what sex you want to be, and of course climate change. On CNN, one of the commentators recently stated that Republicans are too stupid to understand the critical race theory taught in the schools. We do understand CNN's position.

On Oct. 15, the Martin County school system pulled their new fifth-grade reading comprehension unit. The reason given was that someone thought "it could be political and divisive." How much objectionable material was there? I want to know if this program is critical race theory under a new name.

Joanne Collins, Palm City

To respond to Joanne with a letter of your own, you can do so here:
https://static.tcpalm.com/forms/?wid=q1jkscld1v7h87e

GET INVOLVED

Volunteer Coordinator Needed

2022 will require a lot of work to register voters, text voters, canvass, participate in events, send out mailings and conduct literature drops. To do this work we will need volunteers – lots of volunteers! We are looking for a couple of volunteers who would like to help manage those volunteers. If you are interested email Stacey at [email protected]

CALENDAR

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

9:00 a.m. - IRC County Commission
For agenda and meeting information go to
https://ircgov.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Superintendent Workshop School District of Indian River County
For agenda and meeting information go to
https://go.boarddocs.com/fl/ircs/Board.nsf/Public

6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. - School Board Business Meeting, School District of Indian River County
For agenda and meeting information go to
https://go.boarddocs.com/fl/ircs/Board.nsf/Public

Thursday, December 16, 2021

9:00 a.m. - Indian River Shores City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to https://www.irshores.com/government/town-meetings/

7:00 p.m. - Fellsmere City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to www.cityoffellsmere.org/citycouncil

COVID TESTING, STATISTICS AND VACCINATIONS

First Omicron Case in Florida is in St. Lucie

A presumptive case of the newest SARS-CoV-2 variant, which causes COVID-19, recently emerged in St. Lucie County, the local Florida Department of Health office confirmed Tuesday afternoon. The health department released a statement saying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had formally determined the presence of the variant, also known as B.1.1.529.

You can read more here:

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/health/2021/12/07/coronavirus-covid-19-florida-omicron-variant-of-concern-cdc-who-st-lucie-county-tampa-hillsborough/6421931001/

Testing

If you are looking for a testing site, which is becoming harder to find, you can see a list of locations here:

http://indianriver.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/COVID-19/irc-covid-testing-sites/index.html

Statistics

A great place to check statistics for Indian River County is on Covid Act Now. You can access it here:
https://covidactnow.org/us/florida-fl/county/indian_river_county/?s=21821108

Vaccinations

3rd shots are now available from Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson.

You can search for vaccination locations and details by clicking here:

https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/vaccines/vaccine-locator/?utm_source=floridahealth.gov&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=covid-19&utm_term=information+covid-19+vaccine+&utm_content=011921-vaccine-locater.redirect.html_in_article_link

TIDBITS

Have you ever wondered how glass Christmas ornaments are made? Watch this short video to see the cool process!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g2TIwJnKQg

Have a great week!

Copyright © 2021 Democratic Executive Committee of Indian River County, All rights reserved.
You expressed interest in receiving information about the Democrats of Indian River County.

Our mailing address is:

Democratic Executive Committee of Indian River County

2345 14th Ave.

Suite 7

Vero Beach, FL 32960

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