Abolishing the Electoral College would level the playing field. It would ensure that people, not parties or mechanisms, determine who leads the country. Is that so bad? If you’re a Republican, yes.
Commentary
Seawalls and the Tyranny of Small Decisions
The seawall-construction project in Flagler Beach is problematic. Building living shorelines rather than concrete walls, is going to give us the best chance at ensuring a healthy beach for generations to come.
Time for $15 an Hour and a Union
After years of idling lawmakers, the idea now has more traction in Congress thanks to the recently introduced Raise the Wage Act, which would set a national minimum pay of $15 an hour by 2024.
Felons’ Right To Vote and Paul Renner’s Cynical End Run Around Amendment 4
Paul Renner, Flagler’s GOP representative and future Speaker of the House, is being dishonest and disingenuous in his defense of a bill that would make felons’ right to vote dependent on paying back all financial obligations.
Mayor Milissa Holland’s 2019 State of the City Address: ‘We Are One Palm Coast’
The full text of Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland’s State of the City Address, presented at the Palm Coast Community Center Friday. The theme of the address is “One Palm Coast.”
Palm Coast’s Disappearing Canopy
Development in Palm Coast is back at a pace not seen since before the Great Recession. Lots are getting leveled, canopies lost. New homes are great., but must 11,000 square foot lots be entirely leveled to make room for 2,000 square foot homes? It’s not either or.
The Familiar Face of White Supremacy
The fad of not naming mass killers is deceptive and self-defeating, an act of cowardice that hides more than it wants to acknowledge. Brenton Tarrant, the killer of Christchurch, is an all–too familiar face.
The Case of an Allegedly Illegal Use of Seclusion On a Non-Verbal, Autistic 4th Grader at Belle Terre Elementary
The parent of a 4th grader used a recording device affixed to the child to capture what the child’s advocate claims are disturbing measures carried out and comments spoken by school staff. The case is headed for litigation.
Two Reasons Why I Won’t Report My Child Abuse
“It always amazes me,” the author writes, “how people will call 911 simply because someone parked in the wrong spot or put the garbage out on the wrong night, yet they won’t get “involved” in possibly saving a child’s life or at a minimum their childhood.”
Bring Back Eisenhower Socialism
Today’s Republicans might call “socialist” Dwight Eisenhower “Red Ike.” After all, during Eisenhower’s two terms to 1960, the wealthy paid a top tax rate of 91 percent on incomes over the equivalent of $1.7 million for an individual and $3.4 million for a couple.
Palm Coast’s Illusion of Affordable Housing
Simply put, the housing stock in Flagler County and Palm Coast is inadequate to suit the needs of the bottom half of the earnings ladder, and that bottom half has nothing to do with “Section 8,” argues Toby Tobin.
Jerry Cameron, There Are Better Ways To Save Face Than Blaming Media Over The County’s Homeless Blunder
Interim Flagler County Administrator Jerry Cameron said the media “interjected” themselves in the controversy over the order to vacate the homeless from around the library before the matter was “ripe.” FlaglerLive’s editor disagrees.
Silencing Home Rule: Sen. Travis Hutson’s Wrong Way On Single-Use Plastic Straws
The fact that the bill prohibits local governments from banning plastic straws will allow a serious and completely unnecessary pollutant to continue to injure sea life, litter beaches and infiltrate land and water.
What National Emergency?
American leader not only genuflecting to autocrats from Turkey to Russia to Saudi Arabia, but behaving like them is a more serious national emergency than what few migrants are still crossing the border illegally.
That Homeless Camp Behind the Public Library: A Palm Coast Problem Requiring Immediate Action
After taking a walk through the homeless camp near the library and speaking with its residents, Palm Coast Council member Jack Howell calls for creating a committee to address the issue from various angles.
Let Marijuana Help Fight Opioid Abuse
It’s time for lawmakers and health officials to recognize the well-established power of medical marijuana to treat chronic pain — and to acknowledge its emerging role in combating the opioid abuse crisis.
Take It From Me: Addiction Doesn’t Start At the Border
As the sister of a brother lost to an opioid overdose, Trump’s claim that we need a border wall in order to keep drugs out is offensive to me on multiple levels. We should treat the root causes of addiction instead.
Anthony Fennick’s Death and The Sheriff’s Green Roof Inn Smear
Much is unknown in the death of inmate Anthony Fennick, but much is known, including the sheriff’s responsibility for hiring trouble-ridden Armor Health–and for showing inmates contempt from the outset with his “Green Roof Inn” sign.
Trump Said He Would Protect Families, Then Deported My Husband
A year ago, my husband Jorge was torn from our family and deported to Mexico after living peacefully in the United States for nearly 30 years, working and raising a family with me in suburban Detroit, the author writes.
Flagler’s AAUW Branch Marks 35 Years of Advancing ‘Equity for Women and Girls’
What began with an organizational meeting of the Flagler Beach of the American Association of University Women is now an organization 50-member strong.
Medicare for All: No Country for “Can’t”
Medicare for all could be the most efficient, cheapest, and provider-friendly—but not perfect—part of what could be a health system that promotes health, saves lives, and creates a sense of social solidarity.
Starbucks’s Howard Schultz: Another Billionaire Presidential Candidate Who Doesn’t Get It
Privileged candidates from Donald Trump to Howard Schultz don’t have any idea what life is really like for a single parent raising two kids while working and attending night classes.
DeSantis Rewards Friends With Appointments. Experience Must Wait.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’s appointments are a pile of mismatches in critical state agencies so far, reflecting a normal if immoral right of passage in Tallahassee, writes Nancy Smith.
Trump’s Fabulous Wall Fables
We’re in a post-factual presidency where alternative facts are the equivalent of papal bulls. It’s about belief, not reality. For the sake of appearances though, let’s argue the facts about the wall for a moment.
Transgender Ban in Military Is About Bigotry and Distraction, Not Readiness or Cost
Trump is using the ban purely to provoke the left, throw red meat to his base, and distract us all from the real issues in our nation, like the government shutdown.
MLK’s Dream Of Economic Justice Deferred By Increasing Inequalities
King foreshadowed that if we maintain our exploitative economic and political systems, then we’d get not only racial apartheid, but economic apartheid as well.
Sheriff’s Sick Building: How To Hire A Savior
To break out of its leadership lethargy on the future of the Sheriff’s Operations Center, Flagler County government should find an obsessively independent project manager untainted by local politics or current administrations.
Democrats Are Afraid Of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Too. That’s A Good Thing.
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is upsetting fellow Democrats over her support for progressive primary challenges against centrist Democrats. But it’s a sound idea for the party of alleged change.
Democratic Leaders Fail Their First Test on Climate
Youth activists who occupied the offices of Democratic leaders to demand a special congressional committee to plan for a Green New Deal were appeased and brushed off.
Flagler Firefighters’ Union Members Vote For Firing Their Boss, Administrator Craig Coffey
The firefighters’ union’s vote was expected but significant in that its membership’s contract is dependent on negotiations with Coffey’s management team, and vulnerable to retaliation.
Let Craig Coffey Resign. With Severance.
Craig Coffey’s loss of credibility has been painful. It doesn’t need to be cruel. Rather than a public flogging on Jan. 14, he should be allowed to resign with a measure of dignity–and severance.
Before Barbecue: How Flagler County Saved Bing’s From Development
Bing’s Landing before the current controversy over Captain’s BBQ’s proposed expansion could have been sold off to developers. It wasn’t, thanks to one woman’s vision. Her daughter tells the story.
Democrats’ Arafat Complex
Early possibilities for the 2020 election–Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton–suggest Democrats aren’t learning lessons but clinging to habits of self-destruction.
Understanding the Rise of France’s Yellow Jackets
In a larger sense the Yellow Vests movement reflects longstanding neglect or exploitation of rural communities. Not only in France but in the US and much of Western Europe.
Flagler’s Beach ‘Renourishment’ Is Exorbitant Futility
Whether it’s the Corps of Engineers’ plan for 2.6 miles of Flagler Beach sands or Flagler County’s ongoing dune-rebuilding over 12 miles, there’s no money to sustain either, yet officials are mortgaging the county’s future on a blank check.
The Migrant Caravan’s Lessons from South of the Border
In Tijuana, some Mexicans have embraced the Trump line on Central American migrants. But others have welcomed them with open arms.
Save the News-Journal: How Wall Street Is Plundering Newspaper Chains Like GateHouse
Executives at GateHouse, which owns the News-Journal, demanded a $27 million cut from theirf papers’ operating expense to help pay for the hedge fund’s CEO’s $54 million pay package.
Barbecuing Bing’s
With even Captain’s BBQ owners willing to get “back to the drawing board,” there’s plenty of room for Flagler government to fix what remains a dirty deal that hurts all sides.
Nancy Pelosi’s Democrats Are Out Of Touch With Progressive Insurgents
Positions the timeworn Democratic leadership staked out are being overrun—outmatched by the cumulative power of dynamic social movements that have generated electoral clout.
In War Over Words, Republicans Continue Easily To Defeat Democrats
The Republican Party lost ground in the Congressional and state elections earlier this month, but the GOP continues to triumph in the all-important contests over words, argues Ralph Nader.
Nature Is Dying. Florida Is Sinking. Are Republicans Up to the Challenge?
A string of recent hurricanes reminded Floridians they don’t have to look across the country to see climate change in action. But the GOP continues to be in climate-change denial mode.
Democrats Won Big. But the Question Is Whether They Can Now Be Bold.
The reforms Democrats in Congress have championed have often been overly complicated and cautious — and deeply compromised by a fear of annoying deep-pocketed donors.
Muslims Surf the Blue Wave
The election of two Muslim women to Congress is a repudiation of Islamophobic domestic and foreign policies and of hostility to migrants and refugees from a number of countries.
The Death of WNZF’s Ron Charles, Friend and Colleague, at 56
Ron ‘Charles’ Gitschier, 56, built Flagler County’s first radio station WNZF as its chief engineer for the past 10 years, was its news director and a man of rare integrity and humility.
Being Trans in America Was Already Scary. Now It’s Terrifying.
On any given afternoon, the author is regularly and publicly catcalled, mocked, laughed at, and treated as an object of social disgust. Donald Trump is about to deny her right to exist.
Save Our Home: We Have 12 Years
There’s an urgent message of hope amid the latest climate report’s dire warning: We’ve got a little bit of time to save the only home planet we’ve got. And it’s going to take all of us to do it.
Restoring Felons’ Right to Vote:
Why I’m Voting Yes on Amendment 4
In 46 other states, the right is restored either immediately or on completion of probation. Florida stands out for harshness, accounting for a quarter of America’s disenfranchised.
Flagler Representative On Federal Juvenile Justice Panel Describes Efforts Decimated By Trump
Cheryl Massaro, director of the Flagler County Youth Center, describes how the Trump administration disbanded and stopped the work of the Federal Advisory Committee for Juvenile Justice she was appointed to two years ago.
Journalists Say Trump’s Caravan Claims Are ‘Evidence-Free.’ It’s a Lot Worse Than That.
Journalists have a duty to give context, not just to report on whether a sound bite contains truth on a sliding scale. Otherwise, it’s journalistic malpractice.
Trump’s Responsibility
Trump can’t have it both ways. He can’t revel in his powers of denigration and incitement then take cover behind a bogus sense of outrage and his usual deflections when the incitement and denigration arm fuses and kill people.