A variety of historic and modern aircraft, flying and static, is coming to the Flagler County airport as part of Freedom Fest on Independence Day weekend, with bands, vendors and free admission.
Beyond
Imagination Vacation: In-Person Children’s Art Day Camps, Starting With Frida Kahlo
Imagination Vacation awaits children ages 7-11 this summer at Ormond Memorial Art Museum’s art and adventure day camps. This series of three-hour camps let children explore their creativity, style, and curiosity while having fun becoming a famous artist, mermaid, pirate, or honey bee.
State Workers Across the Nation Had a Holiday for Juneteenth, but Not in Florida
Even with short notice after the president signed the federal holiday into law, some states were able to manage authorizing a paid day off Friday for their state employees. Gov. Ron DeSantis could have granted state workers a paid holiday. He did not.
Florida and Seven Other States, All Republican-Controlled, Enact Anti-Protest Laws
Eight states have passed laws cracking down on protest activity since Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the United States last summer, according to the International Center for Not-For-Profit Law, which tracks such legislation. Similar bills are pending in 21 states, according to the Washington, D.C.-based center.
Biden Signs Law Making Juneteenth a New Federal Holiday
“Throughout history, Juneteenth has been known by many names—Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Liberation Day,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at the White House signing ceremony, noting that the White House was built by slaves. “And today, a national holiday.”
Records Reveal Trump Wanted U.S. Supreme Court to Order New Election in 6 States
The complaint prepared by the Justice Department at Trump’s order but never filed asked the Supreme Court to nullify the electoral votes of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and to order all six states to hold special elections to appoint presidential electors.
Critical Rage Theory
Critical race theory has been around almost 50 years and went mainstream 25 years ago, but Trumpist Republicans are discovering it only now, passing laws in several states to ban the teaching of critical race theory without understanding the first thing about it, but proving with every ban that it is less theory than fact.
The Live Daily Quote Archive, 2017-2021
The archives of the Briefing’s Live Daily Quote, covering every imaginable idea, philosophy, religion, politics, from the sublime to the outrageous to the astonishing, with style and substance, selected daily by the editor. This is not your grandpa’s Bartlett.
Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax
ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.
14-Year-Old Girl Wounded in Firefight With Deputies in Volusia Was the Arsonist in Palm Coast’s B-Section in April
Nicole Jackson Maldonado, the 14-year-old girl charged in April for setting a half dozen brush fires in Palm Coast’s B Section, burglarized a home with another boy in Deltona, the two armed themselves with an AK-47, shotguns and pistols, and started firing at deputies until the girl was hit multiple times.
Overpopularity Is Nearly Destroying the National Park Experience
America’s national parks face a popularity crisis. From 2010 to 2019, the number of national park visitors spiked from 281 million to 327 million, largely driven by social media, advertising and increasing foreign tourism. This exponential growth is generating pollution and putting wildlife at risk to a degree that threatens the future of the park system.
Texas Governor Signs Into Law One of Nation’s Strictest Abortion Measures, Effecting Ban as Early as 6 Weeks Into a Pregnancy
The signing of the bill opens a new frontier in the battle over abortion restrictions as first-of-its-kind legal provisions intended to make the law harder to challenge are poised to be tested in the courts.
Facing Death by Lethal Injection, Derrek Perkins Pleads Guilty to Murdering His Wife and Gets Life in Prison
Derrek Perkins pleaded guilty to five charges, including murder, charges before Circuit Judge Howard Maltz in St. Augustine. The judge then sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The plea essentially spared Perkins his life–and spared prosecutors, defense lawyers and taxpayers years of litigation and appeals.
Martin Luther King Jr’s Vision of Democratic Socialism Is Still America’s Best Guide to Realize the Dream
Martin Luther King Jr.’s democratic socialism in the authors’ view is the fusion of King’s prophetic social vision, fully including his radical critiques not only of racism but also of capitalism and militarism, with his revolutionary methods of social change.
Ask the Doctor: Covid and the Russian Flu, Vaccines, Allergy Shots and Colonoscopies, Future Booster Shots
In this latest installment of FlaglerLive’s “Ask the Doctor” column by Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director at the Flagler and Volusia Counties Health Departments, the doctor takes on an intriguing question about covid and the Russian flu of the late 1970s, whether booster vaccine shots will be needed, how allergy shots or colonoscopies affect vaccination, and so on.
Florida House Passes Controversial Bill Criminalizing Or Increasing Penalties for Some Acts at Protests
The sweeping bill would, among other things, create a new crime of “mob intimidation” and stiffen penalties for injuring police officers during protests that become violent. Also, it would establish an “affirmative defense” for defendants in civil lawsuits involving deaths, injuries or property damage if the injuries or damages were sustained while plaintiffs were participating “in furtherance of a riot.”
‘Covid Passports’? Not in Florida, Governor Declares, Threatening Sanctions Against Companies That Try It
DeSantis this week suggested he may go after companies if they require customers to show proof that they are vaccinated, saying “it’s more than just a private decision.” The governor was referring to what have been called Covid-19 passports, a phenomenon gathering momentum abroad.
Ask the Doctor: On the Covid Vaccine’s Safety, Emerging Mutations, Viral Transmission Post-Vaccination
In this latest installment of FlaglerLive’s “Ask the Doctor” column by Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director at the Flagler and Volusia Counties Health Departments, the doctor takes on recurring questions about the covid vaccine’s safety, its effectiveness against new variants of the virus, and many other questions.
Now Florida’s Only 2nd All-American Road, Storied A1A Has Long Navigated Between Quaint and Crass
State Road A1A is now an All-American Road, adding to the road’s paradoxes of beauty and history on one side and and relentless commercialization and development on the other, though the same people who applaud its scenic designation are also those who endanger it most.
Ask the Doctor: Returning Children to School Safely, All Those Post-Vaccine Reactions, HIV-Patient Eligibility
Dr. Stephen Bickel answers new questions about the anxieties of returning children to school in covid times, the effects (or non-effects) of the covid vaccine on various medical conditions, the eligibility of populations other than those 65-and-over for the vaccine, and more.
Healthy Opelka, Ranked 40 in the World, Hopes to Start 2021 Tennis Season With Strong Australian Open
Reilly Opelka’s career has been hampered by injuries, but the 7-foot ex-Palm Coast resident who still has strong ties to the community opens his bid at the Australian Open this weekend healthy and strong, and ranked 40 in the world.
After the Muslim Ban
Before we let the horrors of the Trump administration fade away like a fever dream, we have to ask ourselves how we got here. Otherwise, it’s going to become a recurring nightmare, argues Domenica Ghanem.
Ask the Doctor: No, Vaccines Contain No Aborted Fetus Tissue, Socializing Without Masks, Politics of Vaccines
Dr. Stephen Bickel answers two dozen new questions, including about the politics and logistics of the vaccine rollout, whether vaccinated people may socialize without masks, and numerous specific questions about the vaccine and beyond it.
Lynching Political Correctness
Thanks to Donald Trump, a national return to some sort of centrist “normal” is now impossible. Lots of people believe a civil war is already underway and they’re excited as hell about it. Political Correctness meets Jim Crow, argues Robert Koehler.
Ask the Doctor: Securing Your 2nd Vaccine Dose, Why So Little Supply, Death or Adverse Reactions
Dr. Stephen Bickel answers questions about the short supply of Covid vaccines, the potency of the first shot and what happens if the second shot is delayed, where to get the second shot, and specific questions on the vaccine’s content, adverse reactions and other issues.
Sedition Is Not a 1st Amendment Right, and There’s No Comparison With BLM Marches
Mob participants claim they were only exercising their First Amendment right to protest, and that Black Lives Matter protests and riots didn’t draw the same scrutiny. Both narratives are factual and moral frauds that hide behind liberal rationales to perpetrate reactionary lies and justify the unconscionable.
A Tale of Two Mobs
The second mob includes the eight Republican senators and 139 House Republicans who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s election, as well as the 17 Republican attorneys general who supported a bogus lawsuit to throw out the election.
Ask the Doctor: Visions of Vaccines Dance In Our Heads
FlaglerLive today is fortunate and proud to be launching the “Ask the Doctor” column, by Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director at the Flagler and Volusia Counties Health Departments. You are invited to submit your Covid, vaccine and other medical-related questions. Dr. Bickel will answer them here on a regular basis.
Trump’s Fascism and Republican Responsibility
By the time Trump was spitting sedition and inciting violence Wednesday he’d had five years of encouragement from the same Republican charlatans who would later stand on the floors of the Senate and the House to declare themselves shocked, shocked that the rioters they’d courted had desecrated and bloodied their little sanctum.
The Trump Administration’s Final Push to Make It Easier for Religious Employers to Discriminate
Last-minute policies on religious freedom clear the way for employers to hire on the basis of faith. Some of the changes won’t be easy for Biden to undo.
DeSantis Names 5 to Halifax Health Board of Commissioners
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the re-appointment of Glenn Ritchey, Carl “Rick” Lentz and Ed Connor to the Halifax Health Board of Commissioners, as well as the appointment of Alan Florez and Michael Munier to the seven-member board, which oversees Halifax hospital in Daytona Beach.
TR, as FPC Principal Tom Russell Was Known to Most, Is Celebrated as Learner, Leader, Tweeter and Jovial, Heroic Dad
James Tom Russell, who died on Dec. 9 after leading Flagler Palm Coast High School for just a year and a half after a long career in leadership of Volusia County schools, was celebrated at a memorial at Jackie Robinson Stadium Friday evening with broad-ranging affection and admiration.
Trump’s Suicide Bomber Act
Liberals would be fools to think the election was a turning point. The next four years will be as much a trial of democracy as the last four, just more diffuse, the cancer cells of Trumpism poisoning states and localities, as we’ve already seen locally in the last couple of years. Not the America we know? If you’ve been paying attention since 1980, it’s exactly the America we know.
How American Candidates and Presidents Concede: a Century of Decency and Continuity
From Herbert Hoover to Hillary Clinton, concessions by presidential candidates are among the high watermarks of American democratic discourse and reverence for institutional continuity. Candidates and incumbents have been delivering them without fail, their gestures a window into their character at their most vulnerable times.
Electionland: The State of Election Day Across the Country
In a historic election shaped by a pandemic, mail-in voting and misinformation, election officials are scrambling to adapt. Here’s what reporters are seeing across the country.
Save Lives. Fill Out Your Census.
Certain communities — such as rural, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, immigrant, and LGBTQ folks — are especially likely to be undercounted. Some experts warn this year’s census could be the worst undercount of Black and Latinx people in 30 years.
How Misinformation, Federalism and Selfishness Hampered America’s Virus Response
The American response to the pandemic, many public health experts say, has been uniquely hapless, ineffective, undisciplined and selfish. By some measures, the United States has handled the health crisis as badly as any country has.
Beirut’s Object Lesson of Weaponized Incompetence
The blast that leveled huge swaths of Beirut Tuesday was the result of years of criminal negligence and serves as an object lesson in government incompetence and indifference to public safety–not just in Lebanon.
Wawa: Behind the Name, a Rich Etymology from Around the World
The Wawa name has come to be almost synonymous with the company, as if it were its origin. In fact, the word–the sound, the name–has innumerably rich applications around the world.
AdventHealth Adds Third Drive-Up Covid-19 Testing Site
The Sanford testing site joins sites at the Daytona International Speedway and at the Mall at Millenia in Orlando. Each site’s hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Orlando site will also be open this weekend from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
American Carnage: How Donald Trump Is Killing Us
The coronavirus has mutated into ideological variants. We are moving from a natural disaster to a man-made one, from statistically unavoidable deaths to deaths willed by indifference, ignorance, selfishness, and the political calculations of a single man. The consequences will compound rather than mitigate the pandemic.
Coronavirus Traffic Lull Is Accelerating Work on I-4’s Widening Project, Now Nearly a Year behind Schedule
The $2.3 billion project is more than 250 days behind schedule. Sections of the massive Interstate 4 “Ultimate” project will see accelerated work as the state takes advantage of a coronavirus-created reduction in traffic.
When DeSantis Shut Reporter Out of Coronavirus Briefing, He Shut Out All Floridians
Gov. Ron DeSantis denying Mary Ellen Klas, a Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times reporter in Tallahassee, access to his coronavirus press conference on Saturday was vindictive, petty — and illegal. It denied access to the Floridians who look to these media outlets for vital information.
Flagler Cases Rise to 13, Including 17-Year-Old Girl; Florida’s Near 5,500; Social Distancing Extended To May 1
Despite the rising numbers, Flagler County continues to be among the counties where testing has lagged, with a mere 143 tests conducted in total, many of them through the Flagler Department of Health and some at AdventHealth Palm Coast.
CDC Bungling of Coronavirus Testing Likely To Haunt Nation For Months To Come
The CDC distributed just 200 tests roughly equally to 100 public health labs in all 50 states in early February. That decision presaged weeks of chaos, in which the availability of COVID-19 tests seemed oddly out of sync with where testing was needed.
All Restaurants Ordered Closed Except for Take-out, Palm Coast and State Agencies Shut Down All In-Person Offices
It is the latest in a series of sweeping measures gradually closing down much of the state’s economic, political, social and cultural activities as the coronavirus has caused 520 confirmed Florida cases so far, with a colossal wave of new cases expected ahead.
Volusia Sheriff Chitwood Releases Numbers Health Department Is Censoring and Criticizes ‘Lack of Certain Information’
“When the public is kept in the dark and when their legitimate questions aren’t answered several days into a national emergency, that’s when we start to see panic,” Sheriff Chitwood writes.
Catholic Leaders Promised Transparency About Child Abuse. In Florida and Elsewhere, They Haven’t Delivered.
After decades of shielding the identities of accused child abusers from the public, many Catholic leaders are now releasing lists of their names. But the lists are inconsistent, incomplete and omit key details.
Something Far Deadlier Than The Wuhan Virus Lurks Near You
The coronavirus outbreak, which originated last month in the Chinese city of Wuhan, should be taken seriously. But influenza poses a far greater threat to Americans than the coronavirus from China making headlines around the world.
American Impotence: Trump’s Assassination of Suleimani Masks Broad Retreat
All is not well: Donald Trump’s assassination of Iran’s Suleimani masks how far American power has been forced into retreat across the Middle East, and will only accelerate strategic losses that endanger American lives and interests.