That was Donald Trump watching the Democratic National Convention, wheezing in impotent rage at those uppity, nasty women, and all those people determined to elect Kamala Harris. The Party of Misogyny (you know them as Republicans) simply cannot process the possibility a woman, a chick, a human with a vajayjay! might become the most powerful person on the planet.
Main Content
Daily Cartoon and Briefing
![Florida State Parks by Bill Day, FloridaPolitics.com](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/desantis-state-parks.jpg?resize=474%2C324&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, August 31, 2024
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
![](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/hel-signs.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
A Man’s Arrest Over a Mental Crisis Highlights Needs, Available Resources–and Perils to Law Enforcement
A 33-year-old Palm Coast man’s mental health breakdown and subsequent arrest on Thursday highlights the depth of needs for services for people in crisis, the perils law enforcement and health care providers–the first line of response–face when attempting to manage the crisis, as do families, and the help available to Flagler County individuals and families facing those situations.
![Joe Mullins. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/joe-mullins-13.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Six Joe Mullins Properties Ordered Into Receivership in Georgia; 2 Local Properties’ Delinquent Taxes on Installment Plan
A court has ordered Joe Mullins, the former Flagler County commissioner and a delegate to the recent Republican National Convention, to surrender into receivership three apartment buildings and three residential buildings in Georgia owned by Mullins Properties after Mullins’s lender accused him of breach of contract. In Flagler County, 2023 taxes owed on two Mullins properties were delinquent until an installment plan began in June.
![Reilly Opelka in his opening round match at the US Open this week, which he lost. (USTA)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/reilly-opelka-6.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Reilly Opelka, Grateful To Be Playing Again, Recounts Odyssey of Harrowing, Nearly Career-Ending Injuries
Though Reilly Opelka, the former Indian Trails Middle student who trained at the Palm Coast Tennis Center, lost his opening match at the US Open this week, he described in an interview with FlaglerLive how close he came to the end of his tennis career as a string of harrowing injuries sidelined him before unique surgeries helped him make his way back to the tour. He continues to be involved in Palm Coast’s tennis endeavors.
Nov. 5 Election: The Live Interviews
More Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
![He was adopted: a cat at the Flagler Humane Society. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/flagler-humane.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Flagler Humane Society Critics Urged to ‘Stop Accusations’ as County and City Seek Oversight and Expansion Plans
Officials at a joint meeting of the Flagler County Commission and the Palm Coast City Council on Wednesday agreed to place representation from either government on the board of the Flagler Humane Society, which has faced significant criticism from current and former volunteers. while the 20-year-old shelter on U.S. 1 is old, overcrowded and growing more so, and the society’s director says it’s been outgrown, the Humane Society has neither capital plan nor savings either to build larger shelter or move to one, though it would be prohibitively expensive to do so. Local officials want that plan.
![Almost tasty prices. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/gas-prices-labor-day.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Labor Day Weekend Gas Prices May Be At Lowest in 3 Years, But Drivers Beware: Sheriff’s Patrols Are in Full Force
Florida gas prices may be at their lowest in three years as Americans take to the roads this Labor Day weekend, with the statewide average at $3.29 per gallon last Sunday and prices about 10 cents higher in Palm Coast as the weekend approaches, with a few locations in the $3.20 range. Meanwhile the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is cautioning drivers that the agency’s patrols, its “DUI Taxi” and roadside message boards will be deployed across the county to remind residents to avoid driving drunk or stoned or recklessly.
![The new turning lanes, in orange, along State Road 100, facilitating right turns onto Seminole Woods and Town Center Boulevard, in orange, as depicted by a Department of Transportation graphic.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/turning-lanes.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
BJ’s Wholesale Club and Traffic Nightmares on SR100: County Says Pain Will Ease With Coming Turn Lanes
With BJ’s Wholesale’s impending opening and traffic congestion already exacerbated by road construction, Flagler County and Palm Coast officials sought to allay public anxieties with assurances of a pair of turning lanes off of State Road 100, near BJ’s, that should relieve some of the bottlenecks. That construction is possibly slated for November. But larger concerns about traffic backups in the area are still looking for solutions, even as some transportation impact fee revenue is available to facilitate them.
![Palm Coast Interim Manager Lauren Johnston rebuffed Council member Ed Danko's criticism as he called her a union shop steward "incapable" of bringing the kind of budget he was demanding. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/budget.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Palm Coast Council Signals Approval of Proposed Budget. Danko Wants $2.14 Million Slashed, But Won’t Say How.
Even as a three-member majority of the Palm Coast City Council lent support to a proposed budget and tax rate, Council member Ed Danko repeatedly pushed for a rolled back rate that would eliminate $2.1 million from the budget, yet just as repeatedly refused to provide any direction on how to get there, saying that it isn’t his job, but that of the city manager and her staff. In fact, the city manager had submitted the plan based on the city council’s priorities.
![The future Ponce Preserve's entrance off of Ponde de Leon Drive. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/ponce-preserve.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Ponce Preserve, 74-House Gated Development in Palm Coast’s P-Section, Gets Final Approval Amid Truck Traffic Strains
The Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday approved the final plat for Ponce Preserve, a gated development of 74 single-family homes on 35 acres between Point Pleasant Drive and Ponde de Leon Drive, the last such contiguous expanse of open space in the P-Section. Truck traffic in and ou of the construction zone has drawn complaints.
![Demonstrators protesting the governor's plan to build hotels and golf courses and pickleball courts in state parks, outside Anastasia State Park today. (© Ken Bryan for FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/protesters-anastasia.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
As Advocates Protest at Anastasia State Park, DeSantis Calls Golf Courses and Hotel Plan ‘Half Baked’
Trying to quell a bipartisan uproar, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that “half-baked” plans to bring golf courses, resort-style lodges and pickleball courts to state parks will be revamped. DeSantis said the Department of Environmental Protection will gather more public input before it could move forward with what is dubbed the “Great Outdoors Initiative.”
![Flagler Beach City Manager Dale Martin, right, had invited Waltz to survey the renourishment project's progress and hear about the pier reconstruction project. Left is Flagler Beach City Commissioner Rick Belhumeur. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/martin.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Flagler’s Officials Hope Congressman Mike Waltz Will Be Their Sandman as They Dredge for More Beach Dollars
Flagler County officials asked U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, the Republican whose six-county district includes all of Flagler County and who was visiting Flagler Beach today, to give them help in efforts to federalize larger portions of the 10 miles of shore that still need new beach sand. The county has no money to extend beach renourishment to that portion of the barrier island. But the congressman, who is not big on climate change measures, was reserved, making no promises.
![Council members Ed Danko and Theresa Pontieri and Mayor David Alfin this morning. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/alfin-danko-pontieri.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Infuriated Over Vague Ballot Measure Enabling Vast Borrowing, Danko Drags Council Back to Ugliest Days
Post-election tempers crackled and burned at the Palm Coast City Council this morning when Mayor David Alfin and Council member Ed Danko got into a confrontation over a proposed referendum that recalled the panel’s ugliest meetings of a few years ago. Danko snapped, yelled, derided Alfin, the city attorney and the council. Council member Theresa Pontieri called Danko “ignorant.” Alfin, striking unheard decibel levels until now, threatened to end the meeting or throw Danko out. Pontieri soon apologized to Danko, who apologized to no one. It looked like Cathy Heighter had resigned just in time.
![](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/wanted.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Swarm of Sheriff’s Units and FireFlight Searching for 2 Wanted for Home Invasion and Theft of Ferrari
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by the new FireFlight emergency helicopter, were engaged in a pursuit of someone driving a metallic-blue Ferrari at speeds of up to 110 or 120 mph through the heart of Palm Coast early this afternoon. Four schools were briefly on secure status.
![The Palm Coast City Council this morning, minus Cathy heighter, debating the mechanics of the appointment that will fill her seat for the next two years. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/diminished.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Palm Coast Council Will Appoint Heighter Replacement on Oct. 1, with Sept. 11 Deadline for Applicants
A diminished and humbled Palm Coast City Council met for the first time this morning since last week’s wipe-out election and decided to appoint a replacement for Cathy Heighter on Oct. 1. The application deadline is 5 p.m. on Sept. 11, public interviews on Sept. 17, and a vote to appoint on Oct. 1.
![The writing on the wall: sidewalk markings relating to the future condiminiums of the Soolitude development off State Road A1A near Lakeside. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/writing.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Controversial Solitude Development on A1A Moving Toward 14 Three-Story Condo Units Instead of 16 Houses
On the drawing board for almost 20 years, the controversial Solitude at Matanzas Shores development proposed for 3.9 acres of beachfront property on A1A just south of the Surf Club condominiums is now moving toward construction as 14 three-story condominium units in an L-shaped pair of buildings rising 35 and 36 feet. Each unit would have a pool deck.
The Conversation
![Should there be limits on free speech? Westend61/Westend61 via Getty Images](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/free-speech.jpg?resize=474%2C324&ssl=1)
Americans Love Their Own Free Speech, But Not Yours
The vast majority of Americans – both then and now – agree that democracy requires freedom of speech. That’s in the abstract. When the questions get more concrete, though, their support wanes. Only about half of the respondents in both the 1939 and 2024 polls agreed that anybody in America should be allowed to speak on any subject at any time. The rest believed some speech – or certain subjects or speakers – should be prohibited.
Florida and Beyond
![The court has different ideas. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/puberty-blockers.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Rejecting ‘existence of a fundamental right,’ Appeals Court Leaves Minor Transgender Care Ban in Place
In a decision that could have far-reaching implications in the legal battle over treatments for transgender children, a fiercely divided federal appeals court on Wednesday refused to reconsider a ruling that backed Alabama’s ban on hormone therapy and puberty blockers for trans minors. The decision by the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals effectively kept in place a ruling by a three-judge panel that overturned a preliminary injunction a district judge had issued blocking the Alabama law.
![Loran Cole.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/loran-cole.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Florida Kills Loran Cole, Inmate with Parkinson’s, Over FSU Student’s Murder
More than 30 years after he murdered a Florida State University student who was on a camping trip in the Ocala National Forest, Loran Cole was executed by lethal injection Thursday evening at Florida State Prison. Cole, 57, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. and became the first inmate executed in Florida this year. He could be seen breathing heavily and briefly trembling after the lethal-injection process started at 6 p.m. but did not move after 6:06 p.m.
![](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/trump-arlington-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, August 30, 2024
Fall Horticultural Workshops at the Palm Coast Community Center, when Le Petit Journal, France’s most read daily in the old days, read like a broadsheet of the Trump era, Trump by the numbers, the Eisenhower years’ anti-immigration streak.
Briefs and Releases
DeSantis Blames Trump and Others for His School Board Endorsements’ Failures
Florida Death from Sliced Meat Contaminated With Listeria Brings Total to 8
A Shark-Injured Dead Dolphin Is Recovered from St. Augustine Beach
Princeton Review Names Stetson Among ‘Best 390 Colleges’ for 10th Straight Year
Bunnell Police’s Micheal Fansler Gets Second Life Saving Award in 5 Months
More Florida and Beyond
![The Lebanese Olympians at the Paris Olympics.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/lebanon-survival.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Lebanese Make Survival an Art Form
Theodore Ell’s new book, “Lebanon Days,” spans the tumultuous period from 2018 to 2021, which include the country’s economic collapse, Covid, and the horrific explosion in Beirut’s port in August 2020. Ell’s book exudes reality to anyone who has lived in Lebanon. He describes vividly the Lebanese sense of fun, the nightclubs in East Beirut where patrons could drink and dance till dawn – and had done even in the depths of the civil war.
![Gov. Ron DeSantis. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/desantis-losing-grip.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Gov. Ron DeSantis Says He’s Not ‘Losing His Grip.’
Gov. Ron DeSantis denied Thursday that he is “losing his grip on Florida” amid the backlash against his administration’s proposal to build golf courses, hotels, and other projects in Florida state parks. During a news conference in Crystal River, the governor was asked about a Tampa Bay Times article suggesting the outraged reaction to the proposal from a bipartisan collection of elected officials demonstrates a decline in his influence.
![clay jones](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/anytime-anyplace.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, August 29, 2024
Palm Coast Concert Series: Soul Fire, this evening at The Stage, the old location of the Palm Coast Arts Foundation in Town Center, Arensky’s piano trio and why he should be reconsidered.
![The risk factors include smoking, excessive alcohol use and high LDL cholesterol.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/dementia-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
How Dementia Rates Could Be Reduced by Up to 45%
Nearly half of all dementia cases could be delayed or prevented altogether by addressing 14 possible risk factors, including vision loss and high cholesterol. That is the key finding of a new study published in the journal The Lancet.
![Going off message by John Darkow, Columbia Missourian](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/offmessage.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, August 28, 2024
The River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization meets, the Flagler County Public Library Book Club takes on “Lady Tan’s Circle of Women,” the American divide on perceptions of slavery’s impact.
![Escalating the language might work in a rally, but the general public isn’t as swayed by it, a new study show.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/climate-change-6.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
If You Want Americans to Pay Attention to Climate Change, Just Call It Climate Change
You probably have been hearing phrases like “climate crisis,” “climate emergency” or “climate justice” more often lately as people try to get across the urgent risks and consequences of climate change. The danger is real, but is using this language actually persuasive? It turns out that Americans are more familiar with – and more concerned about – climate change and global warming than they are about all those other ways to describe the problem.
![The flag has been under relentless attack in Florida. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/htransgender-treatment.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Appeals Court Stays Judge’s Injunction, Allowing Florida to Restrict Treatment for Transgender for Now
A federal appeals court has at least temporarily allowed Florida to move forward with restrictions on treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender people. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday issued a stay of a ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle that blocked the restrictions. The stay effectively means the restrictions can take effect while the appeals court considers an underlying appeal of Hinkle’s decision.
![RFK Jr and whale by Dave Granlund, PoliticalCartoons.com](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/rfk.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, August 27, 2024
The Palm Coast City Council discusses how and when to replace Cathy Heighter, who abruptly resigned last week, Fall Horticultural Workshops at the Palm Coast Community Center, numbers of the Middle Passage, a few words from Olaudah Equiano’s narrative.
![If AI didn't exist, it would have had to be invented. Largillierre's 1728 portrait of Voltaire. (Wikimedia Commons)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/voltaire-2.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Philosophy Is Crucial in the Age of AI
If AI alignment is the serious issue that OpenAI believes it to be, it is not just a technical problem to be solved by engineers or tech companies, but also a social one. That will require input from philosophers, but also social scientists, lawyers, policymakers, citizen users and others.
![It doesn;t need human beautification or amenities: Anastasia State Park (Facebook)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/anastasia-state-park.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Critics Want DeSantis Parks Plan Shredded For Good
Environmentalists are seeking assurances that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has scrapped plans for a series of golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park after a state spokeswoman said the proposal has been dropped. Audubon Florida, the Sierra Club and other groups also are rallying against additional changes floated by the state Department of Environmental Protection for eight other award-winning state parks. The plans, which include a pair of resort-sized lodges, pickleball courts and disc-golf courses, have drawn fierce opposition from Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
![Going off message by John Darkow, Columbia Missourian](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/joy.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, August 26, 2024
The Flagler County Beekeepers Association meets, remembering Larry Newsome on the fourth anniversary of his death, Joseph Brodsky’s Watermark.
The Live Calendar
The Live Calendar is Flagler County’s most complete list of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Commentary
![Pro-Palestinian protesters prepare to march in Union Park in Chicago before the start of the Democratic National Convention](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/israel-1.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1)
Arms Embargo Demands Won’t Stop Military Aid to Israel
Activists are calling for a U.S. arms embargo on Israel, which the Democratic Party’s new national platform does not include. Dov Waxman, a scholar of Israel studies, explains what is behind the U.S.’s relationship with Israel and the strategic reasons why an arms embargo is, at best, a remote possibility.
![Building three golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park will require moving the popular Hobe Mountain observation tower. (Photo via Discover Martin County)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/tower-2.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1)
DeSantis Wants to Build Golf Courses and Hotels in Florida’s State Parks
The DeSantis administration has plans to transform Florida’s award winning state parks. One of the worst plans talks of building not one, not two, but three golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound. There are plans at the other parks for big motels and pickleball courts and disc golf courses, all of which run completely counter to what our state parks are all about.
![Some members of Congress use social media to disparage the system they’re part of.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/congress.jpg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1)
Members of Congress Undermine the Country with Antidemocratic Rhetoric
Differences over politics and policy have a long history of being divisive, of course. But it’s one thing to disagree over substantive matters such as tax rates or foreign aid and something very different to undermine the legitimacy of your opponents. It’s the difference between framing those who disagree with you as fair and equal competitors or as enemies who must be defeated.