We are truly blessed in the oratory department this political season with Donald J. Trump; we are perched on the Parnassus of campaign discourse. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it. If Samuel Beckett were alive (which he isn’t) he would be in awe of some of Trump’s monologues with their startling juxtapositions and its Dadaist energy.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, September 15, 2024
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students, Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, the DEA’s drug museum and the futility of the war on drugs, with a few words from “The New Jim Crow”‘s Alexander.
Could Taylor Swift’s Endorsement Make a Difference?
Research shows that celebrity political endorsements don’t matter enough to determine an election’s results. Political campaigns seek them out because they still do matter and for many different reasons. Celebrities can easily get media attention, act as campaign surrogates, expand the voter base and make campaign contributions. All these things can help a candidate win.
Opponents of Abortion Rights Are Using Suppression Tricks and Disinformation to Derail Ballot Initiatives
In Florida, the state health agency launched a “Florida is Protecting Life” website earlier this month that says Florida’s abortion amendment “threatens women’s safety” and warns voters, “Don’t let the fearmongers lie to you.” The site makes several other unsubstantiated claims, including that the amendment would lead to unregulated and unsafe abortions.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, September 14, 2024
Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, Coffee With Commissioner Scott Spradley, American Association of University Women (AAUW) Monthly Meeting, America’s killer SUVs.
How Kamala Harris Baited Donald Trump
When Harris triggered Trump’s insecurity by questioning his popularity and political prowess, his responses were narcissistic, racist and occasionally unhinged from reality. Trump’s performance in the debate against Harris demonstrates not only that white male insecurity is a strategic liability but also a threat to democracy.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, September 13, 2024
LGBTQ+ Night at Flagler Beach’s Coquina Coast Brewing Company, ‘The Great American Trailer Park Musical’ at Daytona Playhouse, Robert Reich on Trump’s campaign money, and do you know what’s more distracting than a cellphone in school, asks Clay Jones? An AR15 in your face.
Yet Another Problem with the Electoral College
The original brilliance of the Electoral College has become one of its prime weaknesses. Presidential candidates focus their rallies, advertisements and outreach efforts on the few states where campaigns could actually tip the balance. In 2020, 77% of all campaign ads ran in just six states that were home to only 21% of the nation’s population.
In Victory for Freedom to Read, Florida School District Wil Return 36 Books to Shelves in Lawsuit Settlement
Authors of the children’s book “And Tango Makes Three” and parents of students have reached a settlement with the Nassau County school district that will lead to 36 books returning to school libraries after being removed last year, according to court documents filed this week. The settlement came in a federal lawsuit filed in May amid widespread controversy about removing books from school libraries in Florida and other states.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, September 12, 2024
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets, Evenings at Whitney Lecture Series, “The Great American Trailer Park Musical,” dance marathons and Gloria telling off the moms for liberty of her day in “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They.”
The iPhone 16 Shows How AI Is Shaking Up Devices
The unveiling of the iPhone 16 could mark a turning point in the history of Apple’s smartphone brand. Visual Intelligence allows you to search for content on whatever you can see through your phone with the help of a new camera control button on the side of the iPhone 16.
Property Owners Opposed to Public’s ‘Customary Use’ Of Beach Appeal Ruling in Case with Implications for Flagler
Property owners are challenging a ruling by U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington that said the town had adequately shown a history of “customary use” by the public of parts of the beach that are privately owned, to let the public keep using those beaches.
Clara Louise Douglas, 1951-2024
Clara Louise Douglas, 73, of Flagler Beach, Florida, passed away peacefully on August 6, 2024. Clara was born on May 12, 1951, in Putnam County, Florida.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, September 11, 2024
The Elks Lodge 2709 is holding its annual 9/11 ceremony, Weekly Chess Club for Teens, J. Michael Luttig recalls the prevarication of Mike Pence and how Jan. 6 almost caused an end to American democracy as Sept. 11 never could have.
Trump Support of Florida Pot Legalization May Show Growing Bipartisan Consensus
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s early Monday statement that he would vote to legalize recreational marijuana use in Florida sent a strong signal that both major parties are moving to adopt popular marijuana reform efforts, unexpectedly elevating the issue in the presidential battle.
Rural Voters Don’t Necessarily Love Walz
The selection of Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’ running mate has sparked a wave of commentary suggesting that simply by elevating a former small-town football coach to the candidacy for vice president, Democrats will naturally secure the allegiance of rural voters nationwide. Not so.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, September 10, 2024
The Community Traffic Safety Team meets, the Palm Coast City Council holds a workshop, the Flagler County Planning Board meets, when The New York Times advertised Florida real estate, Alex Shoumatoff’s Florida Ramble.
The US Military’s Shift from Terrorism to China and Russia
President Joe Biden’s recent approval of a major shift in U.S. nuclear weapons strategy highlights the attention the country’s national security officials are paying to Chinese ambitions for influence in the world. Over the past decade, the Pentagon’s efforts have shifted back to preparing for what officials call “great power competition” among the U.S., Russia and China.
Record Heat Is Forcing Some to Choose Between Food and Power Bills
A growing number of Americans struggle with what is known as energy poverty, including the inability to afford utilities to heat or cool a home. Households that spend more than 6% of their income on energy bills are energy-poor. Energy poverty can increase one’s exposure to extreme heat or cold, which raises the risk of developing numerous health conditions. The burden falls disproportionately on households in communities of color, which experience it at a rate 60% greater than those in white communities.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, September 9, 2024
The Flagler County Library Board of Trustees and the The Bunnell City Commission meet, Teddy Pendergrass, China’s beer consumption, the first four crusades showing the unpleasant face of greed.
Gift Card Scams and Failing Regulations
An estimated US$8 billion is stolen annually from seniors age 60 and older through stranger-perpetrated frauds, according to AARP. Increasingly, gift cards are a leading fraud payment method reported by older adults, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Low Wage Work Hurts Employees–And Customers
A business that’s focused on exploiting employees to make those at the top even richer isn’t just bad for workers, but for customers as well. And anyone who’s worked for one of these low-wage companies can tell you those businesses are hardly unique. If we want a strong economy, we need to do more to make sure all workers can make a decent living and feel safe and respected in their workplace.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, September 8, 2024
‘The Great American Trailer Park Musical’ at Daytona Playhouse, Modern Jewish Food Festival at Jacksonville Beach’s Margaritaville Hotel, On Graphomania and the comment section, Joseph Brodsky remembered, a few lines from “Watermark.”
Why Still a Gap Between Public Opinion and Scientific Consensus on Climate Change?
At least 97% of scientists agree that humanity contributes to climate change, but the same cannot be said for society at large. In the United States, where only 12% of citizens are aware of the scientific community’s near-total unanimity. This is a result of, among other things, disinformation, media portrayals, and cognitive bias.
How Illegal Short-Term Rentals Hide in Plain Sight on Booking Sites
In the midst of an ongoing housing emergency, the city of Los Angeles has struggled to keep rent-controlled housing, which includes some of the city’s most affordable dwelling units, from turning into short-term rentals. Even though a 2018 law prohibits such conversions, enforcement has been lax.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, September 7, 2024
Flagler Woman’s Club’s Casino Night at the Italian-American Club, ‘The Great American Trailer Park Musical’ at Daytona Playhouse, Sunshine and Sandals Social at Cornerstone, a rainbow over Ponce de Leon.
The Longest Journey: When the Jews of Rhodes Were Deported to Auschwitz
In the Old Town of Rhodesa marble obelisk commemorates the deportation of the island’s small but vibrant Sephardic Jewish community to Auschwitz-Birkenau on July 23, 1944. The 1,700 Jews of Rhodes had the misfortune not only of experiencing deportation late in the war, when Allied victory was almost in sight, but also of enduring the longest journey of any Jewish community sent to Auschwitz — a treacherous voyage that lasted 24 days.
Legislative Analysts Warn Florida’s Surpluses Could Turn to Billion-Dollar Deficits as Federal Aid Dries Up
While there are numerous caveats, the picture could go from a $2.09 billion surplus during the upcoming 2025-2026 fiscal year to a potential deficit of $2.826 billion in the 2026-2027 fiscal year and a potential deficit of $6.941 billion in the 2027-2028 fiscal year.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, September 6, 2024
a Margaritaville Hotel photographic update, Tyrese Patterson Sentencing, First Friday Garden Walks at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, First Friday in Flagler Beach, , Jackie Gleason, an excerpt from VS Pritchett’s “The Evils of Spain.”
Charisma Drives Trump’s Die-Hard Support
Of all the questions confronting voters in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, few are as puzzling as the seemingly unwavering support for Donald Trump even though he is deeply mired in embarrassing sex scandals and criminal business practices. Part of the reason may be explained by Max Weber, an early 20th century German sociologist and social theorist. At the center of Weber’s thinking about political authority was the word “charisma.”
Abortions Down 13% in First 8 Months After Florida’s Restrictions Became Law
The number of abortions reported in Florida during the first eight months of this year was nearly 13 percent lower than during the same period in 2022 and 2023, as a law preventing abortions after six weeks of pregnancy has led to fewer procedures.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, September 5, 2024
The demise of New York City’s great WCBS 880 Newsradio, Rally for Women’s Reproductive Rights at the northwest corner of Belle Terre and Pine Lake Parkways in Palm Coast, Story Time for Preschoolers at Flagler Beach Public Library.
Reviewing 28 Years of Research Debunks Link Between Cell Phones and Brain Cancer
A systematic review into the potential health effects from radio wave exposure has shown mobile phones are not linked to brain cancer. The review was commissioned by the World Health Organization and is published today in the journal Environment International.
Florida College Students Return to Campuses Bristling with Restrictions on Protests
Florida’s college and university students are starting the academic year greeted by friends and professors — and by warnings from administrators and Attorney General Ashley Moody about how to express their views on campus. The directives follow nationwide protests over Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza. While the scale of protests has varied nationwide, some led to arrests, including at the University of Florida, Florida State University, the University of South Florida, and the University of North Florida.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, September 4, 2024
The Flagler County Commission holds the first of two public hearings to approve its budget and next year’s property tax rate, pretending that Mike Waltz cares about climate change, Separation Chat, Open Discussion.
France Debates Le Wokisme
From the Republican party to the far-right National Rally, politicians throughout the conservative spectrum in France and elsewhere have described the opening ceremony’s scenes as “insults to the nation” and largely approached the event as a Trojan horse for the “woke ideology”.
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Decision Blocking Christian School’s Pre-Game Prayer Over Loudspeakers
A federal appeals court Tuesday said the Florida High School Athletic Association did not violate First Amendment rights when it blocked a Tampa Christian school from offering a prayer over a stadium loudspeaker before a 2015 high-school football championship game. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2022 ruling by U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell in the lawsuit filed by Cambridge Christian School.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Tyler Habdas is sentencing, the Flagler County Commission and the Palm Coast City Council meet, a short hstory of the New York Post’s journey from brilliance to sleaze, Donald Trump on Letterman.
This Supreme Court Has Redefined the Meaning of Corruption
The U.S. Supreme Court is deregulating corruption, with arguably grim consequences for American democracy. Since John Roberts became its chief justice in 2006, the court has made prosecuting corruption, especially at the state and local level, nearly impossible for federal prosecutors.
A 10-Year-Old Pointed a Finger Gun. He Was Kicked Out His School for a Year.
Over the last couple of years, Tennessee and several other states [including Florida] have been making it easier for schools to suspend or expel students. But study after study has shown that harsh disciplinary practices such as mandatory expulsions are ineffective at reducing violence in schools. What’s more, research shows that such practices often lead to Black students and students with disabilities being disproportionately suspended and expelled, making them more likely to end up in the criminal justice system.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, September 2, 2024
Labor Day at the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas and its dissimulation of horrors by entertainment, Father Guido Sarducci, a little wisdom by a builder of nuclear weapons.
‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ Is Finally Streaming
“Homicide: Life on the Street” featured cops, but you couldn’t always tell whether they were the good guys or the bad guys; its writers played with traditional episode formats; and its scenes were shot on location with handheld cameras in order to give the show a realistic feel. The show has finally been made available for streaming on Peacock. Its groundbreaking visuals and courageous scripting set the template for the television shows of the 21st century, a golden era of programming sometimes called Platinum TV or Peak TV.
Here’s How You Fix Your Florida Parks Problem, Gov. DeSantis
Gov. DeSantis’s super-sneaky plan to build a trio of golf courses, two 350-room hotels, and several sport facilities in nine state parks turned out about as well as his school board endorsements. Here’s a way to fix the mess.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, September 1, 2024
Storywalk with Parker The Pelican, ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students, the problem with Kamala Harris’s contempt for the press, JFK’s first televised news conference, William Buckley’s Yale.
What Do Storm Chasers Really Do?
Storm-chasing for science can be exciting and stressful. It has been essential for developing today’s understanding of how tornadoes form and how they behave. Here are some answers about what scientists who do this kind of fieldwork are up to when they race off after storms.
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.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, August 31, 2024
Peps Art Walk, noon to 5 p.m. next to JT’s Seafood Shack, the Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market, when Eisenhower could tour the world in a convertible without fear for his safety, Bill Bryson on bacteria.
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 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.
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.