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Democratic Club Board and Officers

The annual election of club officers and board members is scheduled to be held at the Democratic Club meeting in March.
If you are interested in joining the Board of Directors, please contact Clay Wild at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) or Claudia Martino at [email protected] ([link removed]) . Current Board of Directors have indicated they will continue to serve on the Board if needed, but we also need another officer to fill our slate of candidates.

CALENDAR

TONIGHT:
Thursday, February 16, 2023

6:00 p.m. - Democratic Club meeting and Potluck at the Irish Club, 1314 20th St, Vero Beach, 32960.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

9:00 a.m. – Vero Beach City Council Chambers, City Hall, 1053 20^th Place, Vero Beach 32960 : For agenda and meeting information go to
[link removed] You can watch here: [link removed]


[link removed]

Wednesday, February 22, 2023


[link removed] ([link removed])

Thursday, February 23, 2023

9:00 a.m. - Indian River Shores City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to
[link removed]

Proud Democrats Merchandise

Handmade Glass Plates $12 (small) $15 (large)
Handmade Glass Pendants $12
T-Shirts $20
Tank Tops $15
Hat $12
Mug $10
Dog Bandana $5
Stainless Bottle $15

Available in the Democrats' office Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

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Democrats of Indian River

Democratic Club

Thursday, February 16, 2023

6:00 p.m. - Democratic Club meeting and Potluck at the Irish Club. (Please keep it simple, finger foods: sandwiches, chips and dips, cheese and crackers, pizza...) We will discuss March election of new Board of Directors and a precinct captain will speak about neighborhood outreach.

SAVE THE DATE
Friday, February 24, 2023

Democratic Women's Club
The DWC Book Group will meet 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Brackett Library on the IRSC Mueller campus and discuss
“Braiding
Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of
Plants” by Author: Robin Wall Kimmerer

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NOTICE: Democrats of Indian River Office is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. You can always reach us at (772) 226-5267 and at [email protected]

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Paper version of our weekly newsletter is now available in the office and in all Indian River County public libraries.



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR



Stop promoting DeSantis with flattering descriptions

We’re seeing inaccurate, uncritical usage of the words like “conservative firebrand” to describe Gov. Ron DeSantis admiringly in the press (TC Palm, Feb. 7: ** “GOP-led Florida Legislature opens session to fix flaws in weapons used by DeSantis” ([link removed])
).

We’d like to challenge that. There’s nothing “conservative” or small government about the mass banning of books, discriminating against LGBTQ people, attacking and interfering with businesses like Disney that speak their minds, pulling stunts using public funds to score political points while using brown peoples’ lives as pawns, taking over the boards of colleges, and more.

The latest, to quote a friend in the case of the Disney brouhaha the governor created: “DeSantis would now control the appointees that oversee Disney's theme parks. If Disney opposes DeSantis or does something DeSantis dislikes, he can punish them by denying critical services or increasing taxes. People need to wake up to what he's doing.”

Normalizing this type of behavior in a leader uncritically by using words like “conservative firebrand” is dangerous and has many warning parallels in history ― all authoritarian or fascist.

Words have power. Our press needs to choose them more carefully and honestly before our America ends up like Viktor Orban’s Hungary or worse — the opposite of freedom.

DeSantis' actions make us ashamed he’s in charge of our state. It would be regretful for many more people if he were ever allowed to ascend to higher office.

Scott Francis, Vero Beach

First Amendment provides freedom from religion, too

** In reference to a letter Feb. 5 ([link removed])
, I have a few thoughts:

It's true, the United States was the first nation in history to build its society on the concept of separation of church and state.

Still, the writer seems to have skewed the Founding Fathers' words and concepts. The suggestion our country was founded on the concept of "freedom of religion," not "freedom from religion," missed the whole idea of what freedom actually means.

It does NOT mean that our government, be it local, state or national, has the right to foist certain religious habits or practices onto those who would prefer not to participate in such a display or hear such words at a public meeting or forum.

It DOES mean that we, as U.S. citizens, can expect our freedom "from" certain coercions, be they religiously oriented or otherwise, will be respected.

In this current absolute control and right-wing based government of DeSantis Florida, one might expect this sort of theory, but just because one wishes something to be true does not make it a viable argument.

I enjoy my "freedom from religion" and don't want to see that freedom eroded by religious fanatics who want to foist their own religious views onto the rest of us. The recent behavior of certain citizens at the Stuart City Commission is just another example of the coercive spirit of today's right wing religious zealots who require "my way or the highway," just like their "hero," the disgraced former president, who, by the way, took advantage of these folks who were snookered and used by him. His lifelong behaviors certainly indicate he is definitely not a Christian.

Sharon E. Garland, Hobe Sound


Weaponizing governor's office to attack opponents wrong

As Ron DeSantis marches Florida off to communism, I thought I would point out a few things the governor has done that would make Vladimir Lenin proud.

DeSantis fired an elected official because he dared to have different politics. DeSantis punished the largest private employer in the state because it has different politics. The bookshelves at some public schools have been stripped for fear the books don't agree with DeSantis’ politics. DeSantis is attempting to strip the liquor licenses of businesses that do not agree with his politics.

DeSantis has weaponized the office of the governor to go after folks who dare to disagree with him. The governor is using the power of the governor's office to suppress free speech in the state of Florida.

That seems like communism to me.

Don Whisman, Stuart


Deliberately creating polarization troubling

Columnist ** John Wood, Jr. wrote ([link removed])
: “The worst of all catastrophes in our society is the social and political polarization that divides Americans.”

Some may quibble over the suggestion our divisive political polarization is the “worst catastrophe” facing us, but it’s a serious issue that impedes the resolution of other existential problems, including mass shootings, immigration and global warming.

Wood is correct to suggest political polarization has weakened those federal institutions on which we depend to maintain a strong, free and impartial democracy. The erosion of trust that’s weakened the foundations of these institutions has its origins in, as Wood notes, “the spread … and acceptance of misinformation that deepens our divisions and endangers lives” (emphasis added).

As a moderate independent, I’m an equal opportunity critic who tries to consider issues dispassionately from multiple perspectives. When emotions enter politics, political extremists cleverly inflame them, fanning passions in shameful attempts to burn opponents to cinders. Rational thinking and objective analysis is suspended.

This burn-or-be-burned behavior suggests, as an example, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ strategy to turn up the heat on two cultural issues sparked by conservative activists: race and gender. It’s another shameful strategy because its intent is to ignite conservative voters’ emotions by humiliating two particular demographics — African Americans and LGBTQ individuals — while suppressing the right to free speech in our public schools and colleges and universities.

Consider comments made by Manny Diaz Jr., Florida's commissioner of education, who charges the College Board’s impending release of an Advanced Placement African American Studies course is “filled with Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other obvious violations of Florida law.”

While CRT is an emotional, red-meat issue to the MAGA crowd, Diaz initially offered no specific examples why the governor opposes the AP course. Thoughtful Floridians know why, and it discredits our state government.

Cray Little, Vero Beach

To submit your letters to the Editor, go to:

** [link removed] ([link removed])

LOCAL




Hate Group Targets Vero Beach with Second Wave of Antisemitic Flyers


Vero Beach residents fell victim to a hate crime and hate speech when their Sunday movie nights and Monday morning routines were marred by another round of antisemitic flyers found outside their homes.
Sunday night the flyers were tossed from a pickup truck onto lawns and doorsteps of homes in neighborhoods off State Road 60. They promoted anti-Jewish conspiracies as well as the website of ** the Goyim Defense League ([link removed])
whose users stream videos of white supremacist and antisemitic content filled with racist slurs and Nazi imagery.
Its founder publicly announced a move from California to Florida last December while other founding members were known to live in the Port St. Lucie area, ** according to the Anti-Defamation League ([link removed])
.
The ADL, which bills itself as the “leading anti-hate organization in the world” with a stated mission to “stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all" was also the target behind the naming of the Goyim Defense League, or GDL.
"Between 2020 and mid-2022 we saw over 400 instances of antisemitic and extremist flyering throughout (the state)," said Lonny Wilk, a regional director of ADL Florida. "We’re calling for all elected officials and public officials to denounce antisemitism and all expressions of bigotry firmly, clearly and frequently. There must be no tolerance for those who wish to intimidate and harass entire communities."
Mary Lou Calhoun lives in the McAnsh Park area near the Vero Beach Regional Airport and she said a flyer was found in her yard around 9:30 p,m, Sunday. She said she had neighbors visiting for a movie night when it was found. "That's not the way you treat people," she said. "I had a Jewish friend here with me - we're in a movie club together, eating pizza and watching movies."
Several other residents in her neighborhood also received flyers Calhoun said, adding it was the first time in the area "ever having any hate speech thrown about. It was really disappointing."
She said people in her community had plans to make signs against hate and discrimination, and paint messages on rocks to leave in the area.



"I don’t want any neighbor to think that they aren’t welcome here – or that they live close to anybody that’s OK with that," she said. "We want to
respond to the people with love that’s being targeted." The GDL group last targeted the Vero Beach area in a similar flyer distributing operation in June 2022. Police then described it as “definitely antisemitic, definitely hate speech and definitely a first time for us.”

On Monday, Vero Beach police shared images of the flyer on Facebook asking the public for information about the incident. A spokesperson said Tuesday evening they were still gathering information and don’t have anything to go on at this time.
Spokesperson Kelsea Marty said, “We’re definitely investigating,” and asked anyone with any video footage from their Ring (surveillance camera) or home security system to send it to the Police Department.

“Before we can decide any type of charges, we have to figure out who’s sending them out so we can speak to them and see what their intent is,” said Marty.

An Indian River County Sheriff’s Office investigation into last summer’s incident was closed without any action taken by law enforcement who deemed the case, “unfounded.”

In its investigative conclusion detectives declared, “Civil liberties and speech rights are protected by the Constitution, whereas, the flyers collected did not depict any direct threat, however, did make recipients of the literature uncomfortable.”

Lt. Joe Abollo said they have no active investigation into the latest incident.

Flyers were also found on Cortez Avenue by residents Jerry Morris and his wife Karen who saw one as she left for work Monday morning.

** Corey Arwood ([link removed])

Treasure Coast Newspapers



STATE

Bills filed in the House and Senate (HB 543 and SB 150) would eliminate a requirement that people get state concealed-weapons licenses to carry guns — a proposed change that supporters call “constitutional carry.” The bills are filed for consideration during the legislative session that will start March 7.

While the groups of police chiefs and sheriffs have backed the bills, the Giffords gun-control group issued a statement Monday that criticized the legislation and pointed to Tuesday’s fifth anniversary of the shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people.

“This ‘no questions asked’ permitless carry bill will endanger Florida’s children,” former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Giffords Florida senior adviser, said in a prepared statement. “We must come together and make our voices heard.”

For more on this report, go to:

** Florida police chiefs group backs ‘constitutional carry’ bills (tampabay.com) ([link removed])

RELATED: ** Florida could soon have permitless carry. It’s not enough, some gun owners say. ([link removed])

News Service of Florida



FEDERAL

George Santos and the Case of the Missing $365,000

Representative George Santos’s failure to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in spending is part of a pattern of irregularities in the way his campaign handled its finances.

Santos has spent his campaign money in plenty of conspicuous ways, from lavish hotel stays in Las Vegas and Palm Beach, Fla., to an unusual slew of payments for exactly $199.99 — two cents below the threshold where receipts would be required.

But deep within Santos’s campaign filings, The New York Times found another eye-catching number: $365,399.08 in unexplained spending, with no record of where it went or for what purpose.

Several donors said in interviews that the Santos campaign or associated groups misrepresented how much they gave. Campaign finance documents show discrepancies between what the Santos campaign reported having spent and what recipients, such as other Republican candidates, reported having been given.

When the campaign has amended its filings, as it has 36 times, some payments have gone up or simply disappeared. And though other New York candidates list $26,000 in donations from Santos, the contributions do not appear in his filings at all, The Times’s analysis showed.

Bill McGinley, a lawyer for one of the donors and a former general counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, examined some of Santos’s contribution reports and said they were “all over the place and do not make any sense.”
* House Committees: Santos said that ** he would temporarily recuse himself ([link removed]█=storyline_top_links_recirc)
from sitting on ** congressional committees ([link removed]█=storyline_top_links_recirc)
as he faces multiple investigations over his lies.
* The Case of the Missing $365,000: Santos’s ** failure to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in spending ([link removed]█=storyline_top_links_recirc)
is part of a pattern of irregularities in the way he handled his campaign finances.
* Sexual Harassment Accusation: A prospective congressional aide has accused Santos of ** ethics violations and sexual harassment ([link removed]█=storyline_top_links_recirc)
, according to a letter the man sent to the House Ethics Committee.
* Santos’s Treasurer Resigns: The resignation of Nancy Marks, which ** was shrouded in confusion and mystery ([link removed]█=storyline_top_links_recirc)
, could exacerbate ** the congressman’s financial troubles ([link removed]█=storyline_top_links_recirc)
.

For more on this report, go to:

** George Santos and the Case of the Missing $365,000 - The New York Times (nytimes.com) ([link removed]█=4&campaign_id=142&emc=edit_fory_20230214&fellback=false&imp_id=183669872&instance_id=85297&nl=for-you&nlid=196646573&pool=pool%2Fa2fc9efa-4a9f-46ae-8506-967a38fc2099&rank=5&regi_id=196646573&req_id=16032092&segment_id=125236&surface=for-you-email-news&user_id=1ad3465d4561f637d59db043bdc07b10&variant=0_edimp_fye_news_dedupe)

** Grace Ashford ([link removed])
, ** Alexandra Berzon ([link removed])
, ** Ken Bensinger ([link removed])
and ** Alyce McFadden ([link removed])

VIDEO of the WEEK

"Meatball Ron" sung to the tune of "Uptown Girl" by Stephen Colbert

[link removed]





Office Hours

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
10am to 3pm

2345 14^th Ave. Suite 7
Vero Beach 32960

(772) 226-5267

[email protected]


STAY SAFE OUT THERE!


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