STATE

DeSantis Introduces “Stop WOKE Act”

 
DeSantis wants parents to sue school districts if they teach Critical Race Theory.  “Nobody wants this crap,” DeSantis told the crowd at the Villages.  You can read more about his idiocy here:
 
https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2021/12/15/desantis-targets-critical-race-theory-with-bill-that-evokes-texas-abortion-bounties-1400102
 

 

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
 
 

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 Women’s Club
 
The next DWC Book Group meeting will be at 2:00 p.m. on January 28^th on Zoom. Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost our Democracy and Still Could by Representative Adam Schiff will be discussed.  If you are not a Book Group member and would like to attend please contact Rita Milelli at [email protected]
 
 

Democratic Club of Indian River
 
The Club now has 164 members, 5 members short of our pre-pandemic high, on track to surpass that record.
 
The Holiday Party was a success!  We all enjoyed getting together and listening to “Friends and Neighbors.”
 
For the third year in a row, we collected a van load of “Toys for Tots,” continuing to attract community outreach attention and admiration from the firemen at the Barber St. firehouse in Sebastian who helped unload them.
 
We also collected $109 in the donation bowl for the Treasure Coast Food Bank.  The Dems of IRC are attracting attention with their community outreach and philanthropy, be it ever so humble.
 
At our next meeting, Thursday, January 13th, 6:00 p.m., at the Irish American Club, 1314 20th St., Vero Beach 32960, our speaker will be Joanne Terry.  Joanne, who resides in Brevard, is the first person to throw her hat into the ring to run against and hopefully unseat Bill Posey, as our next US Congressperson from FL 8.
 
Hope to see you there!


 

 
 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


This week we are highlighting 5 pro-democracy and pro-Democrat letters written to the TC Palm and printed in the Letters to the Editor section.  Great job to the two Democrats in Indian River County – Valerie Brant-Wilson and Larry Zick!!  Keep writing!
 
 

Letter criticized Democrats for policies in place before Biden’s inauguration

The Dec. 8 letter from Joanne Collins as to what Democrats have done failed to mention relevant facts.

“Democrats closed schools”: In Florida schools were closed for the first time in March 2020.

“Statues are being removed from our cities”: 100 Confederate statues were removed in 2020. President Biden was sworn in January 2021.

“Teachers and their unions demanded millions and Democrats gave it to them”: Gov. Ron DeSantis announced more than $765 million in record funding for teachers, according to flgov.com.

Forced students to get vaccines before attending school: Vaccine mandates have been in use since 1850.

Critical race theory began in the 1960s, the post-civil rights era.

Gender recognition laws began around 2004. People started to accept who they are and how God made them.

June Downs, Indiantown
 


Moms for Liberty should focus on being role models for their children

Based upon several articles, the genesis of Moms for Liberty is a response from disgruntled former school board members. Moms should be role models for their children and not disgruntled parents.

As Moms for Liberty fights to remove "pornographic" books from schools' libraries throughout the nation, including Indian River County, I wonder if they will take their children's cell phones away. That is the more significant threat. Children learn more garbage from the internet (via smartphones) than from approved books that allow children the freedom to learn about life through the teacher's discussion on the book or having the student write their pros or cons about the book.

Remember, according to authorities, the 15-year-old Michigan school shooter was seen by a teacher searching ammunition on the internet via his phone. Remember his mom's response by text, "LOL, I'm not mad; next time, try not to get caught." Then he went on to kill four students and wound six students and a teacher.

My advice to Moms for Liberty is to start at home, teaching your child about the effects of good versus evil, love versus hatred, compassion versus selfishness. And, if your child loses a race, whether it is class president, valedictorian of the class, becoming a cheerleader or making the first team in the sport they are playing, don't get even by getting others to join your cause because they did not win. But tell them to evaluate their strength and weaknesses and try again.

Valerie Brant-Wilson, Vero Beach
 

Angry people are not persuasive advocates for their cause

As I participate in Indian River County events (parades and festivals) representing the Democratic Party of Indian River, I am confronted by some very angry people. They will often approach our booth with messages on their apparel that they think we should know about.

They often do not think we can read, so they shout out the message. In many cases these messages include verbal profanity or profane hand gestures.
I will not say what political party they might be with, but they are obviously not Democrats. This display of anger is very upsetting. They have no interest in anything other than disrupting our freedom and creating a scene just to make total fools of themselves.

Our fear is, of course, that they may be armed and may resort to more aggressive behavior other than just hollering obscenities. Why they feel that their cause or political view is better expressed by approaching us and aggressively threatening us by their actions is something that must be addressed by their fellow believers.

We cannot continue to bully everyone who does not agree with us. The promotion of autocracy by a showing of autocratic behavior is not the answer to a vibrant and growing democracy that should include everyone.

Larry G. Zick, Vero Beach

 
President Biden has our country’s best interests at heart

I am tired of the constant complaining about the Biden administration within these pages. As a country, we endured four chaotic years under Donald Trump. Now you can endure four years under a responsible adult president who has our country's best interests at heart. Man-up and stop the bellyaching.
 
Cam Cornish, Fort Pierce
 

Economic problems are worldwide, not the result of this or any administration

In reference to the Dec. 9 letter from Ray Mancari, “Why aren’t more people complaining about the Biden administration?” I offer a few thoughts to consider.

The price of gas isn’t controlled by the government but by supply and demand. A pipeline that would take years to complete has zero bearing on that supply today.

As far as legal immigration being down, yes, that is correct, by more than half thanks to the previous administration’s policies and COVID-19. And illegal immigration has been on the decline since 2010. I’m sure both play a significant part in today’s worker shortage. Further, economists state that even if we could get every single person who retired early or opted out of the workforce, even as suggested because they’re being paid to stay home, we would still be 3 million jobs short. By the way, that was a problem even before COVID-19.The reality is we are back to frictional unemployment range numbers so I would argue we need to increase immigration rates to help meet demand.

Finally, on supply-chain shortages: I work for a major electronics manufacturer here in Florida and even though we build our products here, many of the components and materials come from countries like China. Every country has the same issues. Not enough materials, not enough people, not enough logistics, not enough time in the midst of the  worst global pandemic in more than 100 years to ramp up to the unprecedented demand. Stop and think of what it takes to go from a world that literally came to a complete halt to now having to ramp up to meet record demand.

It has nothing to do with one man and very little from an administration or any one country, for that matter. Socialistic or otherwise.

Richard Galasso, Palm City
 
 
 

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




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
 


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
 

 

If you would like to tour the beautiful trees in the White House, and their meanings, click on the link below.  You can also do a virtual tour. 
 
https://www.whitehouse.gov/holidays-2021/


 
 
Christmas Island is being invaded!  By crabs?  Yes, crabs.  And it’s amazing.  Watch the video here:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8w45olilG8