The past week or two have been CRAZY!
Monday April 29, 2024
Good morning Democrats!
First – GRATITUDE! Thanks to Barry Wray of the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition and Ciera Cox, the point person in Monroe County for the Right to Clean Water initiative, for joining us at the last minute on Thursday to talk about water and the environment. It was highly informative, and a bit scary.
The past week or two have been CRAZY! Watching Don Snorlioni face the music has been almost as much fun as seeing how few of his supporters are out front protesting. New Yorkers know this guy. They are so ready for him to face the music for some fraud, they might dance in the streets when he is convicted, much like they did when he LOST the 2020 election!
Meanwhile, here in Monroe County, the spinning fish make national news, (can you say canary in the coal mine?) and Good Morning America does a great piece on the Sheriff’s Department’s Animal Farm. If you have never been there, you must round up the neighborhood children and go. Farmer Jeanie does a fantastic job working with the inmates and caring for the animals.
But what did the cowards on the BOCC do last week? Kick the can down the road, again! I am talking about the Cemex/Publix Cluster-of___ back-room deal! It is time for some change on the BOCC!!!
In Key West we have a similar issue with a big hotel owner wanting to get a BIG zoning change that will have many repercussions in the surrounding neighborhood! The natives are NOT happy! (PS - there is a neighborhood meeting on May 1 at 5:30pm - 727 Washington St. regarding this issue. Please RSVP to glloyd@yahoo.com)
Never forget to VOTE the down ballot races.
This is why voting is so important. Elections have consequences – judicial appointments, votes on zoning, rights being stripped from citizens for no good reason. If you do not want or need an abortion do not have one! If you do not want to see a drag show, do not go see one! Banning books just makes more folks want to read them. If you think DJT is fit to govern anyone or anything, you have been brainwashed.
Start Here:
Activist events/meetings this week
Wednesday May 1
The Key West Chapter of Drinking Liberally will meet at 5:30pm in the back room of VFW POST 3911, 2200 N Roosevelt Blvd. The Conversation is always interesting!
Local Government Meetings this week
Monday April 29
District 2 County Commissioner Michelle Lincoln will host a Town Hall meeting at the Big Coppitt First Baptist Church, 200 Ave. F, Big Coppitt Key at 5:30pm to discuss many local issues. Could one of them be the Dolphin Marina project?
The Florida Keys Electric Co-op Board of Directors will meet at 1pm in their Tavernier Headquarters, 91630 Overseas Hwy. No agenda available
Tuesday April 30
County staff will host the second of two public workshops at 5:30pm in the Murray Nelson Govt. Ctr., 102050 Overseas Hwy regarding the redesign of Harry Harris Park. This event is also viewable over ZOOM. Click on this link for more details: https://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=10266&month=4&year=2024&day=30&calType=0
The Islamorada Parks and Rec Citizens Advisory Committee will meet at 4pm In the Founders Park Community Ctr., 87000 Overseas Hwy, Plantation Key. For more details: https://www.islamorada.fl.us/Calendar.aspx
The Islamorada Near Shore Water Regulation Citizens Advisory Committee will meet at 5:15 in the Founders Park Community Ctr. (assuming the previous meeting ends on time) No agenda available.
Wednesday May 1
The Florida Keys Transportation Coordination Committee will meet from 10am – noon in the Marathon Government Ctr. You can also attend via ZOOM; the Topic is the various road projects currently in progress and future projects. For more details: https://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=10279
Mark your calendars for May
DEMS Meetings:
Key West – Monday May 13
Key Largo – Wednesday May 15
Sunday Salon – Sunday May 19
Marathon – Thursday May 23
Fellow Citizens, it is time to drop the scales from your eyes and see clearly where we are in terms of this election and the future of the USA.
Heather Cox Richardson in this morning’s missive makes it pretty clear. In reference to a recent interview on CNN with Bill Barr, Trump’s former Attorney General who now says he will vote for Trump: “The contention of the former attorney general—who had been responsible for enforcing the rule of law in the United States of America—that a man who has demanded the execution of people he dislikes is a better candidate for the presidency than a man who is using the power of the federal government to create jobs for ordinary people, combat climate change, protect the environment, and promote health and education, illustrates that Republican leaders have abandoned democracy.”
If you are not reading Heather Cox Richardson, start now. Her ability, as a historian, to go back and connect the dots so you can understand how we got to where we are now, is astonishing.
Look up “Unitary executive.” Sounds a lot like “dictator” to me.
Saturday Nite’s White House Correspondent’s dinner was the first time I had ever watched the whole thing. I never knew it was a combination Fundraiser (scholarships), awards dinner (excellence in journalism), and comedy show. I only knew about the comedy part. I will admit, I had tears in my eyes from the jokes. But the President, after making fun of himself, his age, and the “stormy” time his opponent is experiencing, had a serious request of the journalists in the room and around the country.
“I’m sincerely not asking of you to take sides but asking you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment; move past the horse race numbers and the gotcha moments and the distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalize our politics; and focus on what’s actually at stake,” he said. “Every single one of us has…a serious role to play in making sure democracy endures…. I have my role, but, with all due respect, so do you.”
That goes for us as well. Here are some last thoughts from George Stephanopoulis on Sunday morning: “Until now,” he said in the show’s opener on Sunday, “[n]o American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse….
“The scale of the abnormality is so staggering, that it can actually become numbing. It’s all too easy to fall into reflexive habits, to treat this as a normal campaign, where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and the peaceful transfer of power. But, that is not what’s happening this election year. Those bedrock tenets of our democracy are being tested in a way we haven’t seen since the Civil War. It’s a test for the candidates, for those of us in the media, and for all of us as citizens.”
AMEN!
Let’s get to work!
Bert Sise/Chair
KeysDems
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