It’s true that Chaucer’s work contains toxic material, including sexist and antisemitic material. But if you examine his writings in detail, you’ll see themes of concern for women and human rights, the oppressed and the persecuted, reappear time and time again.
Backgrounders
Most Covid Deaths in England Now Are in the Vaccinated. Here’s Why That Shouldn’t Alarm You
The fact that more vaccinated people are dying than unvaccinated people does nothing to undermine vaccine safety or effectiveness. In fact, it’s exactly what we’d expect from the excellent vaccines, which have already saved tens of thousands of lives.
Robert Cuff: Palm Coast’s Choice for Mayor Is Between Competent Leadership and Truly Dangerous Dysfunction
Robert Cuff, the former Palm Coast city councilman, warns that the July 27 special election for mayor will need a large turnout from voters who seek smoothly functioning government and serious leadership. The alternative is partisanship, division, and dysfunction for the next three years, endangering the city’s future.
Why Some Younger Evangelicals Are Leaving the Faith
The institute’s study found that only 14% of Americans identify as white evangelical today. This is a drastic decline since 2006, when America’s religious landscape was composed of 23% white evangelicals, as the report notes.
High-Tide Flood Risk Will Increase 5 to 15 Times Over Next 15 Years, Putting Coastal Economies at Risk
The frequency of high-tide flooding along the U.S. coasts has doubled since 2000, and it’s expected to increase five to 15 times more in the next 30 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns in a new report released July 14, 2021.
Danko-Lowe Campaign Fabrications: Governor’s Office Refutes Incendiary Claims About Holland “Criminal Charges”
Ed Danko, the Palm Coast City Council member working on behalf of Alan Lowe to get him elected mayor, has been making misleading or baseless statements, including outright lies, and leveling false and potentially defamatory accusations about former Mayor Milissa Holland, her ailing daughter and to some extent former City Manager Matt Morton, a FlaglerLive investigation found.
The Inherent Racism of Anti-Vaxx Movements
While many accuse anti-vaxxers of a selfish disdain for the health and safety of others, there is a underlying aspect of these movements that needs to be more widely recognized. Vaccine resistance movements have always been led by white, middle-class voices and promoted by structures of racial inequality.
Delta Variant Attacks Vaccineless in Flagler and Florida as Covid Cases and Hospitalizations Shape into 4th Wave
Covid-19’s extremely infectious Delta variant is zeroing in on those without vaccines, who make up the entirety of the 430 hospitalizations in Central Florida’s AdventHealth hospitals alone. The proportion of those vaccinated in Flagler and Florida remains below 50 percent.
Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart Issues Statement on Election Security
Flagler County Elections Supervisor Kaiti Lenhart issued the following statement this morning, in light of the ongoing special election for Palm Coast mayor, which culminates with in-person voting on July 27. Mail balloting has been ongoing, and early voting begins Saturday and runs until July 24.
Cuba Protests: 4 Essential Reads on Dissent in the Post-Castro Era
Street protests erupted across Cuba on July 11, 2021, with crowds of Cubans demonstrating against food scarcity, medicine shortages and economic misery in their island nation. Here are four stories that describe current conditions in Cuba and the recent history behind this rare public outpouring of anger.
63% of Workers who File an EEOC Discrimination Complaint Lose Their Jobs
People who experience sex discrimination, race discrimination and other forms of discrimination at work aren’t getting much protection from the laws designed to shield them from it, researchers found.
Nobles’ Resignation Added to Baxley’s, Bunnell Invites Residents to Apply for 2 Commission Seat Appointments
The Bunnell commission decided on seeking two appointments within the month in an evening of farewells and surprises, with Commissioner John Rogers revealing that he had just been battling Covid-19, and had been gravely ill, and former County Commissioner Nate McLaughlin, looking fit and conversant, making his first public appearance in a government setting since he suffered a stroke in February.
Flagler Beach Mayor Throws Marker Against Supporting Organizations Appearing on Joe Mullins Infomercial
Flagler Beach Mayor Suzie Johnston, with fellow-commissioners’ support, severed her support for the Family Life Center, the shelter for abused people, after the center’s director appeared on Joe Mullins’s partisan infomercial on WNZF, what Johnston described as crossing a line. Mullins recently had slurred Flagler Beach commissioners as “cowards” and has been in an open feud with Commission Chairman Eric Cooley.
Five Lessons on Bringing Truth Back to Politics
Democracies have felt precarious – in the US, during the Trump presidency, and in countries like Brazil, Hungary and Poland currently. Integral to such corrosion of democracy (as George Orwell made clear in his novel 1984) is the distortion of truth and facts in favor of a particular agenda.
County and Whispering Meadows Ranch Draft Roadmap to Move Equine Therapy Non-Profit to Fairgrounds
Whispering meadows Ranch and county government are on the verge of an agreement that would set the path for a long-term partnership, leasing land to the ranch at the county fairgrounds and ending the controversy, prompted by a few neighbors, that has surrounded the ranch’s operations in recent months on John Anderson Highway.
Trump Can’t beat Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in Court but the Fight Might Be Worth More Money than a Win
No one involved with this case could be serious about winning in federal court. But that is not the “court” to which the former president is playing. Donald Trump is after money, and the federal court stage is another way to get it.
An Alan Lowe Campaign Message: 60 Seconds, 2 Violations of Law, 3 Falsehoods, 4 Misleading or Deceptive Statements
Lowe’s contempt for facts was apparent in his run for the mayorship last year and has characterized his renewed run in the July 27 special election for mayor. If all six candidates are sincere, including Lowe, only Lowe makes explicitly false statements, misleading claims, legal violations, and ideologically-driven pitches that have little to no connection to Palm Coast governance.
Should You Be Concerned About the Delta Variant in Flagler? Absolutely, Health Officials Say–If You’re Not Vaccinated
The bottom-line verdict on the Delta variant of the coronavirus is this: it is far more transmissible than its predecessors. It is more virulent. Vaccinated people, while not immune, are extremely unlikely to be gravely sickened by it. Unvaccinated people remain susceptible to easy infection, a greater chance of serious illness, and death.
Ed Danko Fumes, Accuses and Menaces as Politics of Destruction Point to Palm Coast Council’s Potential Direction
In a preview of the sort of council to come if Ed Danko gets Alan Lowe elected mayor and aligns with Victor Barbosa, as Danko has continuously suggested, Tuesday’s Palm Coast council meeting was a rank display of the politics of destruction, of an elected official lashing out publicly and brutally against his own colleagues and the only two people on the council who report to him while distracting from a still-active internal investigation against him.
Carol Bacha, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
Carol Bacha is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
Critical Race Theory: What it Is and What, Gov. DeSantis, It Is Not
Americans are used to viewing their history through a triumphalist lens, where we overcome hardships, defeat our British oppressors and create a country where all are free with equal access to opportunities. Obviously, not all of that is true.
David Alfin, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
David Alfin is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
Flagler Schools Refuse Free Rapid Covid Tests That Could Minimize Quarantines Even as 9 Private Schools Sign Up
Flagler County schools have declined an offer from the Flagler County Health Department to place free rapid-covid-test kits at the district’s nine school campuses. The rapid tests, part of a federal grant, could have been used to drastically minimize the need for students to be quarantined at home for 10 days at a time when merely suspected of having been exposed to the virus.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, July 6, 2021
The Flagler County school Board will discuss substitute-teachers’ pay, the Palm Coast City Council will vote on the second and final reading on the closure of Slow Way.
With Support for Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashad Becomes One of Several Deans to Tweet Themselves Into Trouble
Rashad sent out a controversial Tweet in support of her onetime “TV husband,” Bill Cosby, after a court overturned his sexual assault conviction. “FINALLY!!!!” Rashad wrote in the Tweet. “A terrible wrong is being righted — a miscarriage of justice is corrected!” This prompted critics and Howard students to call for her resignation.
Cornelia Downing Manfre, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
Cornelia Downing Manfre is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
Kathy Austrino, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
Kathy Austrino is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
Supreme Court Blunts Voting Rights in Arizona, and Potentially Nationwide, in Consequential Ruling
Arizona may keep two voting laws that Republicans say protect election integrity and Democrats believe will make it harder for some residents to cast ballots. That’s the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, one of the decade’s most important voting rights cases.
Alan Lowe, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
Alan Lowe is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
Palm Coast Splits 49-49 On Allowing Commercial Trucks in Driveways, But Survey’s Flaws Are Mosaic of Caveats
By one measure, 70 percent of respondents are opposed to relaxing the commercial-vehicle rule in Palm Coast, but that’s before accounting for massive manipulation of the survey. Once weighed for such manipulations, the split is nearly dead even. Either way, the administration has no plans to submit the numbers to the council.
Doug Courtney, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
Doug Courtney is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
Flagler Beach Will Borrow Up to $15 Million to Finance Reconstruction of Its Ramshackle Sewer Plant
The Flagler Beach City Commission is embarking on an ambitious and expensive plan to rebuild its derelict sewer plant and position the city to stop dumping treated water in the Intracoastal by the beginning of the next decade.
How Flagler County’s Drunken-Sailor, All-Republican Commissioners Tried to Con You Into a Higher Tax
The Flagler County Commission’s attempt unilaterally to impose an increase in the sales tax is the latest example of a lazy, bumbling commission addicted to spending, deceptive in its methods and indifferent to the long-term public interest.
Palm Coast Councilman Ed Danko Investigated By City Over Harassment of Employees and Interference With Duties
Palm Coast City Council member Ed Danko, elected last November, has been the subject of an internal inquiry triggered by allegations he harassed and bullied employees and was rude to them, records show. The investigation, which remains open, concluded in a draft report that Danko had “inappropriately attempted to influence staff’s administrative duties.” Interference would be a violation of the city charter. Danko disputes the finding.
At Flagler Airport, Freedom Fest Soars Again on Wings of Pride and Memory
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.
White Gen X and Millennial Evangelicals Are Losing Faith in the Conservative Culture Wars
Some of the younger evangelicals are openly questioning their religious and political traditions while the majority of white evangelicals are aging and a portion of younger evangelicals are engaging in both religion and politics differently.
Quietly, and Without Voter Say, Flagler County Readies to Raise Sales Tax on Everyone. Palm Coast Says No.
The Palm Coast City Council today rejected a request by county government to support raising the local sales tax from 7 to 7.5 percent. The rejection deals a blow to county government, which is looking to increase the tax to pay for law enforcement and fire operations, but it also replays tensions from 10 years ago when the county’s approach on the sales tax was equally clumsy and unilateral.
Crime Dropped By Half in Staly’s 1st Term, Giving Flagler 4th-Lowest Rate Among Florida Counties of 100,000 or More
Flagler County’s crime rate in 2020 fell for the 11th straight year, though it’s never fallen as sharply as it has in the last three, when it fell by half since 2017. In 2020, Flagler had the fourth-lowest crime rate in the state for counties of 100,000 or more people, aided in part by the pandemic.
Supreme Court Upholds Religious Liberty Over LGBTQ Rights and Nods to Bigger wins for Conservatives Ahead
Last week’s Supreme Court ruling is narrow, but it means that any unequal treatment of religious groups will be regarded as a violation of the First Amendment, even if it comes at the expense of the dignity of LGBTQ citizens.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, Juneteenth 2021
It’s Juneteenth, but this being Flagler County, and an AACS virtual program aside, you wouldn’t know it. The stages at City Repertory Theatre and the Flagler Playhouse are lit up tonight. And it’s a day of superpowers at Euro 2020.
Woman Claiming She was Drugged and Raped Sues Palm Coast Doctor Gerard Abate; Criminal Investigation Open
A woman is suing Gerard Abate, a 67-year-old Palm Coast physician who runs his own medical consultancy, over claims he drugged, raped and exposed her to a sexually transmitted disease after meeting her on a dating site in 2017. A potential criminal case against Abate is pending, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said.
Florida Supreme Court Justices Again Reject Recreational Pot Amendment Despite Strict Regulatory Language
Justices, in a 5-2 decision, said a proposal by the political committee Sensible Florida included ballot wording that would mislead voters. By the same margin, the court in April rejected a recreational-pot proposal by the committee Make It Legal Florida.
Road Signs May Not Be Enough to Stop Sea Turtles’ Carnage on Flagler’s Beachside
A dead or stranded turtle on the side of the road is common, but prevention is not complicated, whether it’s reducing clutter and pollution on the beach or following up on the Flagler Turtle Patrol’s awareness tips.
Man Who Killed His Father Says His Freedom Doesn’t Mean ‘I’m Going to Jump Off a Bridge and Kill Somebody’
A judge denied lifting all restrictions on Richard Dunn, 60, who killed his father in Palm Coast in 2006 and was found not guilty by reason of insanity. But numerous restrictions have been lifted, and Dunn’s other family members are objecting to further freedoms he may gain, which make them fearful for their safety.
Patient Batters 3 People at AdventHealth’s ER Waiting Room Before One Victim, a Security Guard, Stops Him
Kory Prusaitis, a 25-year-old resident of Winterling Place in Palm Coast, was upset at hospital staff when told that that his mother couldn’t come into the waiting room with him, and went on a brief rampage against three people.
Robert Hill Had Threatened to Smash His Girlfriend’s Face In Before Shooting Her. She Recorded Him.
It was Brenan Hill, 32, who unknowingly led detectives to the gun used in the shooting of his 22-year-old girlfriend in Palm Coast last March, and the victim’s own recordings of him that made him the chief suspect, as a trove of digital footprints unraveled his many lies to detectives.
Richard Dunn Nearing Full Freedom from Restrictions 15 Years After Being Found Insane in Father’s Murder
Richard Dunn, the 60-year-old former Palm Coast resident found not guilty by reason of insanity in the stabbing death of his father Jack Dunn 15 years ago, will again appear in court Wednesday to seek his full freedom, without medical or other supervisory restrictions.
Attempted Murder Charge for Brenan Robert Hill in Shooting of Girlfriend Near Microtel in March
Brenan Robert Hill was charged today with attempted second-degree murder in the shooting of his girlfriend near the Microtel March 26, a shooting Hill had blamed on a robbery and that had briefly seemed like an inexplicable, unnerving act of violence.
Here’s What I Tell Middle and High School Teachers About How to Teach Young Students About Slavery
Nervous. Concerned. Worried. Wary. Unprepared. This is how middle and high school teachers have told me they have felt over the past few years when it comes to teaching the troublesome topic of slavery, writes Raphael Rogers, with advice.
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.