Until she heard about parents getting arrested for letting their children roam free, Catherine Robinson had never let her children walk home alone. That just changed.
Commentary
Enough Abuse: Close Seaworld
Nothing justifies Seaworld’s confinement of killer whales and Seaworld’s abusive treatment of the animals by way of exploitative shows and inhumane conditions. To treat orcas that way for human entertainment should elicit repugnance, not the buying of $75 tickets.
Obama Doctrines, Bland Rhetoric, and the Mealy-Mouthed West
From President Barack Obama’s oxymoronic first-term mantra “leading from behind” to the recent German variant “leading from the center,” empty phrases have become the currency of Western governments, writes Ana Palacio.
Rep. Jason Brodeur: My Religious Freedom Bill Will Encourage More Adoptions
Rep. Jason Brodeur, the Sanford Republican, sponsored the controversial bill that would allow adoption agencies to discriminate in their decisions on whom to place where, even on behalf of the state’s foster system. Brodeur defends his bill.
April 13, 1975
April 13, 1975, marks the first day of the Lebanese Civil War. On the 40th anniversary, FlaglerLive editor Pierre Tristam remembers that day as he lived it in Lebanon, and reflects on what the date has meant for two generations of Lebanese.
A Bigger Public-Health Problem Than Hunger: The Global Obesity Threat
The total economic impact of obesity is about $2 trillion a year, or 2.8% of world GDP – roughly equivalent to the economic damage caused by smoking or armed violence, war, and terrorism, according to new research by the McKinsey Global Institute.
Will Florida Senate Recognize That Every Child Has the Right To Be Loved?
The choice is not whether church-sponsored agencies have a right to practice their religion. Of course they do. The issue is whether they have a right to enforce their beliefs against others when acting as agents of the state. They do not.
Relearning to Love the Bomb
The shocking thing about nuclear weapons is that they seem to have lost their power to shock. While the nuclear deal just reached with Iran is very good news, that effort should not obscure the bad news elsewhere, writes Garth Evans.
Gov. Rick Scott Angling For Sen. Bill Nelson’s Seat in 2018
Scott in an OpEd lectured Obama on how he’s balancing budgets, creating jobs and demonstrating “fiscal responsibility” here in Florida. He’s preparing for his next makeover and political campaign, writes Daniel Tilson.
The Solar Price Revolution: Why Renewable Energy Is Becoming Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels
As some countries prepare to generate solar-powered electricity at half the cost of its production in the U.S., assumptions that generating electricity with natural gas or coal is less expensive or more efficient than solar power are rapidly becoming untenable.
Barnett Newman’s Stations of the Cross
Barnett Newman’s Stations of the Cross, 14 panels of abstract art retelling Christ’s Passion, are as sublime and austere as they are evocative.
Indiana and Arkansas Retreat From Hate Laws. Florida Plows Ahead.
Between Sen. Frank Artiles’ war on transgender people and a House bill protecting discrimination against gay parents, Florida verges on making bigotry state policy again, harkening back to Jim Crow days, but against the LGBT community.
Guilty of Being Poor: Across the Nation, Courts Shake Down the Destitute
From fines targeting the poor to civil asset forfeiture, courts have mounted odious means of seizing cash and property from people not charged with any crime and who can’t afford legal defense.
My Surprise Visit From FDLE
FDLE interprets Beatles lyrics as a threat on Gov. Rick Scott, and Daniel Tilson, the columnist, gets a call investigating his intentions. He wonders if this is the way FDLE operates under Rick Swearingen, Scott’s hand-picked replacement of Gerald Bailey.
Scott’s Magical ‘Tax Cut Calculator’ Obscures Nation’s 2nd Most Unfair Tax System
As Gov. Scott touts minor tax cuts for consumers, you could ask why that $43 a year saved on the cable bill compares so unfavorably with the $3-4 billion in corporate tax evasion he and his legislative allies let Florida’s biggest, most profitable businesses get away with each and every year, writes Daniel Tilson.
Household Debt Is a National Crisis. Predatory Lenders, Not Borrowers, Are To Blame.
Placing fair caps on interest rates, ending predatory practices that push people further into debt, and creating a path out of debt for people who are struggling are some of the ways to alleviate a mounting crisis, argues LeeAnn Hall.
Florida Legislature to Voters For Amendment 1’s Water Protection: Drop Dead
Even when expressed via an overwhelming majority “Yes” vote on a constitutional amendment, the Florida Legislature can and does subvert it, argues Daniel Tilson.
Israel’s Problem Isn’t Iran or Hamas.
It’s Benjamin Netanyahu.
The manner of Netanyahu’s reelection–his lies, his bigotry, his fear-mongering–lays bare the method of a man who should not be trusted, and who is taking Israel down its most dangerous paths yet.
Will U.S. Supreme Court Rule Florida’s Cavalier Death Penalty Unconstitutional?
In 27 of the 31 death penalty states, the jury’s decision to impose life imprisonment is final and may not be disturbed by the trial judge under any circumstances. But not in Florida.
Sea Ray’s View: We Are Building a Safer Parking Lot, Not Expanding Production
Craig Wall, operations manager at Sea Ray’s Palm Coast plant, counters concerns about the company’s intentions by laying out precisely what the manufacturer intends to do–and not do.
We Don’t Oppose Sea Ray. We Oppose Pollutants and Debasing Flagler Beach’s Quality of Life.
Two Flagler Beach residents lay out the case against Sea Ray’s proposed land use change to accommodate a parking lot, a change opponents say paves the way for more pollution without compelling the company to take stronger toxic-emission control measures.
Secretary of Evasion: Hillary Clinton’s Entirely Non-Believable Email Spectacle
Hillary Clinton’s explanation Tuesday of why she used a personal email account for official business made little sense and worsens her credibility gap.
Don’t Privatize The Postal Service.
Build On It.
Blaming deficits created by a bogus retirement-fund requirement, the USPS is closing distribution centers, cutting worker hours, eliminating delivery routes, and slashing jobs. It needn’t be that way, argues Katherine McFate.
Saggy Pants From Contempt of Court to a Rising Culture’s Free Expression
What is the real issue with sagging? Is it the fact that underwear or shorts are exposed, or is it something else? Vanessa Lopez-Littleton argues for the latter.
I Am A Throw-Away Piece Of Trash In This Country of Freedom and Liberty and Respect
Cindy Robert Sullivan, a transgender man transitioning to a woman, addressed Rep. Frank Artiles and a House committee before a 9-4 vote approving a bill forbidding certain protections for transgender people.
In Fear of ATS: The Palm Coast City
Council’s Red-Light Camera Delusions
After coming close to suspending its red-light camera [program, the Palm Coast City Council has retreated, again exposing a willingness to do its camera vendor’s bidding before looking after its residents’ interests.
The State of the State Floridians Should Hear
With 3.2 million Florida households struggling every month to stretch paychecks to cover basic necessities, former Florida Sen. Dan Gelber outlines a State of the State Floridians swill not hear when the governor opens the Legislative session this week.
Rudy Giuliani Loses It
Donald Kaul has been trying to make up his mind about Rudy Giuliani: “I can’t decide whether he’s a nutball or a sleazeball,” he writes. “For now I’m going with a sleazy nutball, but I’m open to suggestions.”
When Your Armed Neighbor Comes
Knocking: Guns and Muslims in Chapel Hill
What kind of country do we live in, where it’s legal for a man to bring a weapon to a noise complaint? Or a parking dispute? Mitchell Zimmerman confronts the Chapel Hill killings of three Muslims.
Why Journalism Should Be Addicted to David Carr
Unlike many aging baby boomers, the New York Times’s David Carr, who died last week, had no fear of new technology and no contempt for young people who did not equate the survival of newspapers with the survival of journalism.
Is Your Facebook Account Private After You Die? Senate Bill Says Not So Fast.
Florida Sen. Dorothy Hukill wants to permit online account access after an account holder has died. The Act seeks to open the book on our digital lives, even after we have uploaded to the great cloud in the sky, writes Peter Schorsch.
Net Neutrality’s Biggest Deal: FCC Rules Would Keep Internet Open
If the FCC ignores big cable and communications companies’ pressure and approves the rules, it would be one of the greatest public policy victories in decades, argue Matt Wood and Candace Clement.
Ending Political Endorsements, Tallahassee Democrat Surrenders to Focus Groups
Jac Wilder VerSteeg says he mourns the end of an era in which editors and publishers instinctively understood what readers wanted to read and ought to read, as opposed to what focus groups told them they should print.
Jeb Bush’s Behavior in the Terry Schiavo Case: Unworthy of a Governor — Or a President
Schiavo was brain-dead for 10 years. Her Catholic parents prevented her husband from removing a feeding tube, and Jeb Bush intervened, strong-arming the Florida Legislature to circumvent a court ruling.
Brian Williams and Baghdad Bob
When Brian Williams lied about being shot in a helicopter, it was part of a broader pattern of bogus stories the American media were too happy to broadcast about the war in Iraq as it sped to George W. Bush’s Mission Accomplished moment on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Lest We Get On Our High Horse: Obama’s Caution to Self-Righteous Christians
President Obama’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast cautioned Christians against shutting their eyes to their own brutal past, but was rebuked by Evangelicals and the conservative press, often with flurries of historical inaccuracies.
The FBI’s Palm Coast Visit and Jim Landon’s Accuracy Problem
Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon Tuesday accused local media of mis-characterizing the FBI’s recent interview of two city officials, but it was Landon who distorted the record and derided the local press in a way he never would dare—or that council members should never tolerate—if he were referring to any other local business.
Salamander’s Hammock Beach Hotel: An Invitation to Future Prosperity in Flagler
Tim hale, a Palm Coast business owner and Hammock resident, argues that Flagler County’s economic future is intertwined with Salamander’s proposed 198-room hotel at Hammock Beach.
Experts Were Wrong on Oil Prices. They’re Just As Wrong to Deride Solar Energy’s Viability.
Researchers mistakenly said that solar and wind power wouldn’t be competitive with dirty-energy options by now, just as predictions of peak oil or high oil prices proved wrong, writes Emily Schwartz.
Rick Scott’s Firing of FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey Unravels Political Motives
The firing of a police commissioner because he would not allow his agency to be politicized sends the worst possible message to FDLE and the entire law enforcement community, writes Dan Gelber.
Missing From Salamander Hotel Proposal: Community Consensus and Respect for Past Agreements
Chris Goodfellow, a resident of the Hammock, argues that Salamander Hotels’ proposed 198-room re-development requires a precedent-setting change the county commission should avoid absent clearer consensus from the Hammock community.
American Sniper: For North Miami Beach Police Chief, Targeting Blacks Isn’t Profiling
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2015, Florida is still making national news over racism. Thank you for that, Police Chief J. Scott Dennis, writes Nancy Smith.
When Bigots Hide Behind Religious Freedom
Kelvin Cochran, the former Atlanta fire chief, and his supporters, are using the veil of religious freedom to justify homophobic and bigoted views that have no place in the workplace.
At Hemming Park, Jacksonville Evolves From Axe Handle Saturday To Civil Rights Saturday
Jacksonville filled Hemming Park with racial hatred and violence 55 years ago. But January 10, 2015 was a celebration of love as it became the location of a series of gay marriages, writes Julie Delegal.
A Muslim Cartoonist on the Charlie Hebdo Massacre: Shame, Fear, But Mostly Hope
Cartoonist Khalil Bendib, an American Muslim and native of Algeria who’s known his share of censorship and death threats, writes of grief and human solidarity in the wake of the attack.
Standing With Charlie Hebdo:
The Right and Duty to Offend
We should celebrate differences of opinion. We have no duty to embrace differences of principles, and in many cases—and this is one of them—we must oppose them, angrily and militantly if need be.
As Swing States Go, Florida Is Still the Gate to the White House
The state’s central position on the road to the White House remains the state’s great revenge for all of the fun the rest of the country gets from reading about Florida Man, writes Steven Schale.
The Gifted Chemistry of Mentorship: Remembering FPC’s Sylvia Brady
Sylvia Brady, the long-time and popular chemistry teacher at Flagler Palm Coast High School and 1984 Teacher of the Year, died on Friday, age 73. Inna Hardison, former editor of Palm Coast Lifestyles Magazine and current co-owner of Ha Media in Palm Coast, wrote the following profile of Brady in 2009, when Brady was on the verge of retirement.
Craig Coffey’s $15,000 Raise Request: An Insult to Public Employees at Taxpayers’ Expense
The insult wasn’t just Flagler County Administrator Craig Coffey’s Christmas tithing to himself. It was the way he and his administration went about it, and the way three county commissioners played along.
St. Augustine’s A1A Ale Works: Curb Your Enthusiasm
A1A Ale Works in St. Augustine, nearing its 20th anniversary, can learn a few things about customer service if it doesn’t want to make Larry Davids of its local clientele.