On this week’s podcast we have the first part of our interview with Dr. Savarese from FGCU Water School where he is a professor of coastal resilience and climate adaptation. In part one of our interview we look at how communities plan for the effects of climate change and what kind of effects are expected here in Collier County. 

We, as always have our panel discussion where we dive into the Covid resurgence here in Florida. In full disclosure we intended to dive into other topics, such as the environment, etc., but the explosion of cases and growing numbers filling up hospitals around the state and particularly here in South West Florida compelled a longer dive into the numbers.

But before we get to that, let’s get some party Info out of the way.

We have Biden Signs! Are you sick of seeing Trump Signs and Trump Flags in your neighborhood? Are you ready to let the maskless, MAGA Hat Hat Wearing crowd know you are in support of a man who believes in science and listening to experts during a pandemic? You can get your Biden Sign delivered to your house by one of our volunteers for a donation of $10. Go to our website and request a sign today.

In an effort to support our candidates, we are putting on Candidate Spotlights so that voters can listen to the candidates and here their plans on how to help their constituents. We have had two spotlights so far with David Turrubiartez Jr. for County Commission District 5 and Laura Novosad for Florida House District 80. Our next event is on Tuesday July 14th at 5:30. You can sign up for this event on our website or on our Facebook Page.  

Each subsequent week will focus on another candidate so check on our website for those dates and sign up. We will have audio and video of each spotlight available on the podcast and on our website as well.

We’re excited to announce that we exceeded the match for Marv’s Match in only four days and raised nearly $6,000 in donations over the weekend. A huge thank you all of you who donated it will help us get Democrats and non-democrats who realize we need to move in a different direction to the polls this November.

Finally, the Florida Democratic Party has their big Leadership Blue gala on July 18th at 6:00 PM with the next President of the United States Joe Biden as the keynote speaker. There are tickets still available for the virtual event but they are going fast. If you want to sign up, tickets are $50 and you can sign up at www.floridadems.org. 

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

On this week’s podcast we have the Chair of the Florida Democratic Party Terrie Rizzo. Chairwoman Rizzo and I discuss the state of the Florida Democratic Party and the efforts that the state party is taking to win this November.

On our panel discussion we talk, again, about Coronavirus and the resurgence in Coronavirus cases here in Florida. We also dive into the Supreme Court decisions dealing with discrimination against LBGTQ people in the workplace and the repeal of DACA or Dreamers.

In an effort to support our candidates, we are putting on Candidate Spotlights so that voters can listen to the candidates and here their plans on how to help their constituents. Our first is on Tuesday June 30th with County Commission District 5 Candidate David Turrubiartez, Jr. You can sign up for this event on our website.  

Each subsequent week will focus on another candidate so check on our website for those dates and sign up. We will have audio and video of each spotlight available on the podcast and on our website as well.

As always there are a lot of ways you can step up and volunteer. We have virtual phone banks going on throughout the month and we encourage everyone to get involved in that.

Our Voter Protection team needs volunteers to counter the Republican stated effort of intimidation. Republican have stated that they plan to have thousands of volunteers prepared to question voters on their eligibility to vote. We need people to step up to counter this act of intimidation.

All of this information can be found on our website, www.collierdems.org. That’s www.collierDEMS.org.

Finally, we have generous donors who have announced that they will match July donations dollar for dollar. If you can donate, any amount to help us this election, please do so now and your donation will be doubled. We need every dollar possible.

https://time.com/5854572/covid-19-testing-florida-texas-arizona/

https://www.winknews.com/2020/06/17/spike-in-cases-collier-county-wont-consider-shutting-down-unless-hospitals-overwhelmed/

https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-daca.html

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/15/supreme-court-lgbt-rights-decision-319693

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article85850072.html

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/scott-maxwell-commentary/os-op-gay-teacher-fired-florida-scott-maxwell-20191101-kyjf3jqxfbdotddwzcbumzz474-story.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/trump-taking-another-run-daca-texas-case-real-threat-program-n1231562

On this week’s podcast we have both Democratic Candidates for Florida House District 105, Candidate Maureen Porras and Candidate Javier Estevez. This District is a very important district this election cycle as there are more registered Democrats than Republicans. The incumbent Ana Maria Rodriguez is stepping down and running for a Florida State Senate seat. It’s an open seat and we need to flip it. And we have two awesome candidates who will do just that.

As always, we have our panel discussion with Amber and Linda. This episode we look at the local protests over Oakes Farms and the controversial comments made by the owner of Oakes Farms, Alfie Oakes. We dig into the explosion of coronavirus cases here in Florida and the decisions by the Governor to continue re-opening without precautions. Finally we talk about voting rights and the effects, both negative and positive, that Republican efforts to restrict voting across the country is likely to have come November.

But, first here is some local party info.

We are very excited to announce that all of our local candidates qualified and will be on the ballot this November. Obviously, we have two races with primaries so those will be on the ballot this august with the winner moving on to the general election.

We have candidates in all of the Florida legislature seats running this election cycle and Democrats across the state are competing in every single legislative seat except one. We are contesting every seat to make sure that voters hear progressive values, as well as all of the Democratic candidates who are contesting Republican incumbents will hold those incumbents accountable for their record. Voters must hear about the decisions made by Republican incumbents and the best way to highlight decisions that do not help constituents, is by directly confronting them in an election. So congratulations to all of our candidates here in Collier County and all of the Democratic candidates across the state.

In an effort to support our candidates, we will be putting on candidate spotlights for our candidates who do not have primary challenges and a candidate forum for FL House 105, which has a primary. These will begin on June 30th with County Commission Candidate for District 5 David Turrubiartiez Jr. We will do one a week for the next 5 weeks, so Democratic voters get to know their candidates.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/voter-turnout-soared-georgia-despite-massive-primary-day-problems-n1230806

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article243349186.html

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/26/860458708/pandemic-puts-a-crimp-on-voter-registration-potentially-altering-electorate

https://www.news-press.com/story/news/education/2020/06/11/alfie-oakes-lee-schools-severs-ties-oakes-farms-following-ceo-alfie-oakes-social-media-post-black-li/5337091002/

On this weeks podcast we have the President of the NAACP Vincent Keeys and we talk about the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the protests that have erupted across the country, as well as here in Naples. President Keeys speaks about the need for unity and the demands that NAACP are making to local elected leaders to prevent these types of tragedies from continuing.

Our panel discussion looks at the protests themselves, the actions of police officers inside the protests and the need for white Americans to take ownership of the causes of systemic inequality in America. We also look at the response of the Republican party to President Trump and his decisions on how to handle the protests going on around the country. 

As always, we give some valuable updates on events and volunteer opportunities within the party and encourage everyone to get involved.

https://naacpcolliercounty.org/

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/04/24/usa-today-revealing-misconduct-records-police-cops/3223984002/

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-its-still-so-rare-for-police-officers-to-face-legal-consequences-for-misconduct/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/us/police-unions-minneapolis-kroll.html

On this weeks episode we speak with Dr. Amanda Phalin who is an economist with the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business where she lectures on international business, global strategy and managerial economics. Her areas of specialization are development economics, environmental economics, gender issues, innovation and intellectual property rights, and international business.

We speak about the affects Covid-19 is having on the economy, how the economy looked before the pandemic. We dive into the impact that climate change will have on the economy and the history of economic shifts in the way America works over our history. We also dive into the problems that persisted in the economy before the pandemic hit and how many Americans were not feeling the growth seen in the stock market or in GDP.

We have our panel discussion where we look at the explosion of Covid cases in Immokalee and we discuss how this is more than just a health crisis. We discuss how policy decisions over the last four decades have set the stage for the health crisis they are now experiencing. We call on all citizens to demand more from our leaders to better support the people of Immokalee.

And of course we mention some ongoing party news and event that people can sign up for.

https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/health/2020/05/28/coronavirus-florida-immokalee-sees-spike-covid-19-cases-advocates-say-more-help-needed/5269803002/

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/26/us/us-hospital-access-coronavirus.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/us/rural-florida-hospital.html

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/30/865413079/what-do-coronavirus-racial-disparities-look-like-state-by-state

https://ciw-online.org/

https://www.winknews.com/2020/04/10/immokalee-farmworkers-want-a-field-hospital-county-says-not-yet/

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/12/trump-farmworkers-essential-coronavirus-safety-250142

In this special episode of the Collier Democratic Roundup we have the audio from last weeks virtual candidate forum between Mr. David Holden and Dr. Cindy Banyai for U.S. House District 19.

There is a special bonus question at the end of the episode where each candidate spoke about a topic of particular interest to them and their campaigns.

We have a great show for you today. We have our interview with the leaders of our local voter

protection team here in Collier County, Anne Daley and Marvin Diamond. We talk about what they are

doing to prepare for an election in a pandemic, we talk about the importance of vote-by-mail, and we

discuss what they expect to see from the Republican Party.

We also have our panel discussion where we talk about news stories that caught our eye. This week we

talk about the Republican parties efforts at voter suppression over the years nationally and here locally.

We look into President Obama’s reemergence into the political fray and we discuss the Rebekah Jones

data scandal and how the officials at the Florida Department of Health are manipulating data in regards

to Covid 19.

But first, let’s go over some party info.

We are excited to announce that we have a new candidate. Ms. Laura Novosad is the President of the

Hendry County Democratic Women’s Club and she has filed to run in Florida State House District 80. This

means we have candidates in all Florida State seats that are up this year. You can find out more

information about Ms. Novosad’s campaign and all our other candidates on our website. Please check

them out and volunteer.

Some upcoming events.

June 6th – The Collier County Democratic Party and Biden Campaign will be having a virtual meeting

where the Biden Campaign will talk about their efforts and plans here in Florida. They also want to hear

from local Democrats about issues that are important to you. Be on the lookout for details on our

website. Saturday June 6 th at 4:00 PM. Check out our website, www.collierdems.org.

June 10 th – Trivia with the Democrats! We are having another virtual trivia event for you to attend. The

cost is $10 to attend and you will get a link that allows you to join other like-minded people and test

your knowledge. All the information about signing up can be found on our website.

All June – We have virtual phone banks going on every week targeting local democrats and encouraging

them to sign up for vote by mail.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/the-gop-just-received-another-tool-for-suppressing-votes/550052/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/us/Voting-republicans-trump.html

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2019/11/26/barack-obama-2020-democrats-candidates-biden-073025

https://geojones.org/2020/05/22/public-statement/

https://cbs12.com/news/local/woman-who-designed-floridas-covid-19-dashboard-has-been-removed-from-her-position

On this week's episode we talk with Supervisor of Elections Jennifer Edwards about how her office is preparing for an election during a pandemic, the process and safe guards put in place for vote-by-mail, and how collier residents can stay informed of their status ahead of the next election.

Amber, Linda and I discuss an ensemble model that combines multiple other models into one, we look at how the reality of COVID-19 is disrupting President Trump's talking points, and we discuss the local Collier media and how they cover progressive topics and candidates.

And of course, we have party news and updates keeping you informed about your local party and how to get involved.

https://www.colliervotes.com/Register-to-Vote/Update-Voter-Information

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/13/855038708/combining-different-models-new-coronavirus-projection-shows-110-000-deaths-by-ju

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/11/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-economy-infections/index.html

https://www.winknews.com/2020/04/27/wink-news-moderates-virtual-debate-for-swfl-congressional-candidates/

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/covid-trump-pandemic/610075/

On our second episode of the Collier Democratic Roundup we continue our talk with Gary West.

Gary is a former deputy director of HIV / AIDS Prevention at CDC where he worked in a variety of positions over a 35-year career. He is also the former Senior Vice-President in charge of Research at Family Health International. In retirement, Gary has been giving lectures at U.N.C. Chapel Hill and Duke Universities where he speaks about his broad career in public health and his work on HIV / AIDS, smallpox, influenza, and other infectious diseases.

In part 2 we talk about Gary's views on the state of antibody testing and how it should be used to inform public policy. We discuss what states should be looking for in order to open back up and the recent news that guidelines created by CDC were "shelved" according to a recent news report.

We also discuss the recent updates to COVID Models and how listeners should think about the different models and their predictions. And finally Gary highlights his recent article submitted to Health Affairs which highlight lessons learned from CDC's effort to stem the HIV / AIDS Epidemic and how the correlates to COVID, and a study by a colleague which looked at the efficacy of the drug Hydroxycloriquine on COVID Patients.

https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200511.235991/full/

On our inaugural episode of the Collier Democratic Roundup we talk with Gary West.

Gary is a former deputy director of HIV / AIDS Prevention at CDC where he worked in a variety of positions over a 35-year career. He is also the former Senior Vice-President in charge of Research at Family Health International. In retirement, Gary has been giving lectures at U.N.C. Chapel Hill and Duke Universities where he speaks about his broad career in public health and his work on HIV / AIDS, smallpox, influenza, and other infectious diseases.

In part 1 we talk about Gary's views on the COVID crisis, the difficulties in testing, how we should view the W.H.O. and the C.D.C., and how America handled the early stages of the pandemic.

Also on the podcast is our panel discussion where our panel discusses the reduction in global emissions as a result of the Coronavirus shutdowns and how governments may react to the economic effect with cuts to environmental regulations.

We discuss the opinion piece written by Vice-President Biden in late January and how it provides a stark contrast in foresight between President Trump and his Democratic opponent.

And we discuss the latest evidence of how the Republican party plans to defend the President's handling of the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Also we have news and information on whats going on in the local party and how you can get involved to help elect Democrats in November.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/climate/global-emissions-decline.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/01/27/coronavirus-donald-trump-made-us-less-prepared-joe-biden-column/4581710002/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/blame-and-counter-charges-the-u-s-china-rhetorical-war-over-covid-19