The Flagler County Commission considers a policy on tacking names to buildings and other government landmarks, the South Carolina Senate debates the Confederate flag.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
I Identify As American
Political independence is easy. The unalienable right to choose who and what we want to be down to our most basic identity, including one’s race, religion, sex and culture, has been harder to secure.
Another Strong Growth Month Adds 223,000 Jobs, Lowering Unemployment to 5.3%
For all the economy’s overall improvements, when it comes to the majority of workers, there are no improvements where it matters: in families’ standards of living.
Independence Weekend Briefing: It’s All About the 4th, Savior Nicholas Winton, RIP, Trump’s Continued Surge, Copeland’s Common Man
Before starting your July 4 celebrations, remember the great Nicholas Winton, savior of nearly 700 Jews and others from the gas chambers. Plus, Susan Sontag, how art became irrelevant and a few safety tips.
Rick Gets Richer: Governor’s Net Worth Climbs $14 Million in 2014, Padded By Blind Trust
Scott, who reportedly spent $13 million last year on his re-election, stated he generated $9.8 million last year from his blind trusts. Unlike last year, however, Scott did not disclose the assets of the blind trust in the most recent report.
Disney’s CEO Makes $248 a Minute as Some of His Employees Go Homeless on $8.03 an Hour
Even after a raise to $10 an hour, Disney employees can only expect to take home about $20,000 over the course of a year, not enough to live decently in Orlando. A $15-an-hour wage is more critical, argues Scott Klinger.
Wednesday Briefing: Principals Hinson and Pryor Say Farewell, Full-Moon Gamble, Bunnell’s Cop Cars
Buddy Taylor Principal Stephen Hinson and Matanzas Principal Chris Pryor bid their last farewell, why racists burn black churches, more overtime pay for managers.
Judge Halts Abortion Waiting Period Set to Start Wednesday, Pending ACLU Challenge
But the appeal by Attorney General Pam Bondi triggered an automatic stay on Francis’ decision, which could allow the law to go into effect. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the initial case, immediately responded by asking for Francis to lift that stay.
Tuesday Briefing: Palm Coast Talks Fences, School Board’s Disability Dollars, Social Media Day
Social Media Day is marked at Cowork this evening, fencing regulation is again on the Palm Coast Council’s agenda, while the school board hunts for dollars to keep its adults with disabilities program going.
Backdoor Snooping: Why the U.S. Is Wrong to Oppose Full Encryption of Your iPhone
The U.S. argues that the country will be less safe if the proper authorities have no “backdoor” – a piece of code that lets them in. Software engineers call backdoors “vulnerabilities,” deliberate efforts to weaken security.
Supreme Court’s Lethal Injection Ruling Clears Way For More Florida Executions, and Challenges
In the 5-4 majority opinion issued Monday, Justice Alito wrote that the first of the three-drug lethal cocktail used also used in Florida, “entails a substantial risk of severe pain.”
Monday Briefing: Supreme Court Goes Lethal, Puerto Rico Goes Greece, Flagler Goes Jet Skis
The Supreme Court refused to declare lethal injection unconstitutional in a fractured 5-4 opinion, Flagler County Fire Rescue has itself new jet skis in time for July 4.
New Laws Kick In This Week: Body Cameras, Drones, Abortion, Traffic Tickets, Secret Recordings, Flags
Florida’s record-setting budget goes into effect on Wednesday, along with 130 other new laws that were produced by the Legislature this year in the regular and special sessions and signed by Gov. Rick Scott. Here’s a run-down.
The Confederate Flag:
A Swastika Cross-Dressing as Heritage
Removing the Confederate flag from public places isn’t a denial of first amendment rights. It corrects an offensive version of false history and opposes black honor to white supremacy.
Gay Marriage Is Now Legal in the United States: Supreme Court Rules for Equality, 5-4
The United States Supreme Court this morning declared gay marriage legal across the United States in a 5-4 decision authored by conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Bad Judges: Florida Supreme Court Seeks to Rein in Rogues and Hotheads
The number of judges facing sanctions in Florida jumped last year, and the high court is more often seeking harsher penalties than those originally proposed by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission.
Weekend Briefing: Banning the Ghastly Selfie Stick, Ham Radio Fest in Flagler Beach, Construction Updates
The selfie stick is finally banned at Disney, Flagler County’s ham operators hold their annual open house in Flagler Beach Saturday, all sorts of construction progress reports.
Supreme Court Upholds Obamacare Subsidies, 6-3, Protecting Benefits For 1.3 Million Floridians
Some 1.3 million Floridians and millions more across the country will not lose their health insurance subsidies as the U.S. Supreme Court this morning ruled decisively, by a 6-3 vote, that the subsidies are legal and must remain in place, even in states that have not established their own health insurance exchanges.
Thursday Briefing: Regulating Flagler Beach’s Farmer’s Market, Amazon’s Lovably Stupid Alexa, Flagler Cigar Launch
The Flagler Beach City Commission again tries to regulate farmer markets after its clumsy and failed attempt in September, the launch of the Flagler Cigar Company’s own cigars, evaluating Amazon’d Alexa.
Judge Considering Temporary Block of Florida’s New 24-Hour Abortion Waiting Period
A judge is considering halting the law from going in effect July 1 while a constitutional challenge goes forward. The challenge was filed by the Florida ACLU.
Believe It: Trump, in 2nd Place, Is Within 3 Points of Bush in New Hampshire Poll
Bush was favored by 14 percent of the 500 likely primary voters surveyed, with 11 percent preferring Trump, even though only 37 percent of those surveyed viewed Trump favorably compared to 49 percent who had an unfavorable opinion of him.
Wednesday Briefing: Open House on Phoenix Academy’s Likely Closure, Home-Grown Extremism’s Death Tally, Don Lemon Whiffs
A 6 p.m. open house on the likely closure of Phoenix Academy as it “transitions” to Wadsworth Elementary’s STEM Academy is scheduled at Wadsworth’s media center, the truth about American right-wing extremists, in numbers, Don Lemon’s outrageous advantages to CNN.
The Climate Pope’s Message: Reversing Global Warming is Humanity’s Responsibility
If we do not change our behavior quickly, we may well lose the environmental stability upon which our planet – and our lives – depends. This is the main message of the pope’s encyclical.
Environmentalists Sue Florida Lawmakers Over Amendment 1, Claiming Misuse of Dollars
The suit seeks a court declaration that money from the state’s Land Acquisition Trust Fund, which will handle all the Amendment 1 funding, may not be substituted for general-revenue funds or used to pay for other services and programs.
Tuesday Briefing: How to Evaluate Teachers, The Supreme Court’s Surprising Left Tilt, Suing Over Amendment 1
The Flagler School Board continues to wrestle with a teacher evaluation system, environmentalists sue over the Legislature’s perceived misinterpretation of Amendment 1, the U.S. Supreme Court moves left.
Lawmakers Again Refuse to Extend KidCare Coverage to Children of Legal Immigrants
The proposal in the Florida Legislature would have eliminated a 5-year waiting period for lawful immigrants to qualify for the subsidized insurance program that serves children from low- and moderate-income families.
Monday Briefing: Varn Park Flush With Colors, Bunnell Garbage Costs, Confederate Battle Flag Embattled
Varn Park’s renovations are celebrated at 1 p.m. today in a ribbon-cutting, Bunnell recalibrates its garbage rate for the school board, Marco Rubio veils his support for the Confederate flag.
$780 Million More for Education in Florida, But a $500 Million Property Tax Increase
The special session’s much-touted tax cut of $427 million is wiped out by a nearly $500 million tax increase to pay for education funding increases.
That Other American Exceptionalism:
Right-Wing Terrorism
For all the wasted blood spilled on ISIS and al-Qaeda, the real terrorist threat is neither far away nor foreign. It speaks English. It’s white. It’s American. And it’s sanctified by the NRA’s liturgy of guns today, guns tomorrow, guns forever.
Taxpayers’ Tab in Gov. Scott’s Losing Drug-Testing Lawsuits: $1.5 Million
The $1.5 million in legal fees, including nearly $1 million to civil-rights lawyers, are because of Gov. Scott’s failed push to force welfare applicants and tens of thousands of state workers to submit to suspicionless drug tests.
Weekend Briefing: Lynching By Gun in Charleston, “Mental Illness” Lies, Health Fair at AACS
The terrorist attack on a black church in Charleston is a modern-day lynching, Obama, Stephen King and Jon Stewart take on a culture of complicity, and other local happenings.
Just as Flagler County Resolves Against Fracking, Ratepayers Will Underwrite FPL’s Fracking Bills
FPL can invest $500 million in fracking ventures at ratepayers’ expense, making it the first utility in the nation–according to an analysis by the Public Service Commission–to spend ratepayers dollars on “non-regulated risk.”
Florida’s Nature Conservancy Gets It:
It’s About Land Management
Most Florida environmental groups this special session made a lot of noise and spent a lot of money, but came away empty-handed and unhappy. Not The Nature Conservancy.
Thursday Briefing: Vote For Office Divvy’s Grant, World’s Largest Swim Lesson at Frieda Zamba, Home Prices Stabilize
Palm Coast’s Office Divvy wants your vote, the largest swim lesson at Frieda Zamba pool this morning, Job Bush slow-jams the news, Jon Stewart thanks Donald Trump.
Quit Turning Your Backs on Desperate Migrants. Help Them Instead.
Like Americans’ ancestors, migrants are fleeing poverty, war, or oppression, or are searching for a better life in a new land. Blocking that flow, argues Kofi Anann, is bound to fail, with disastrous consequences for human lives.
Gov. Scott Signs $429 Million Tax-Cut Package, Saving Average Floridians a Few Dollars a Year
The tax savings are projected at less than $2 a month for people paying $100 a month for phone or TV services. The package reduces costs on cell-phone bills, cable TV bills, gun club memberships, college textbooks and luxury boat repairs.
Clinton Still Leads Rubio and Bush in Florida, But Most Voters Call Her Dishonest
Te gender gap is working strongly in Hillary Clinton’s favor: she has a double-digit lead among women when matched against Rubio or Bush, though her overall numbers have weakened since late last year.
Wednesday Briefing: Benefit Concert For Flagler Beach Family in House Fire, the TDC’s Empty Kitty, Extinct Cougar
A fund-raiser for the the Johnson-Ghormley family twho lost their home in May is at the Beach Front Grille in Flagler Beach at 5:30 p.m. The Flagler Tourist Development Council is out of money for certain grants. The federal government is ready to declare the eastern cougar extinct.
Tuesday Briefing: YMCA Taking Over Belle Terre Racket Club, Yet Another Dollar General, Yet More Trump
The school board this evening may ratify an agreement with the YMCA to take over Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club, a Dollar general is planned for the west side of the county, the pope’s global warming encyclical is leaked.
Accenting His First Name, Dissing His Last, Jeb Bush Finally Declares for 2016
Jeb Bush made his announcement in Miami with his brother and father, both ex-presidents, nowhere in sight as the latest Bush hopes to redefine the tarnished name in his quest for the White House.
To Fight Obesity, Get Government Involved: Taxes, Regulations, Education
Successful efforts to improve public health — smoking bans, seat-belt laws, and speed limits–have always involved legislation and regulation supplementing education, argues Harvard’s Kenneth Rogoff.
Monday Briefing: Cottages for Princess Place, Canadian Drugs for County Employees, New Health Department Director
The design of the proposed vacation cottages at Princess Place Preserves is unveiled to county commissioners, who also are expected to appoint Robert Snyder as Flagler County’s Health Department administrator, replacing Patrick Johnson.
ISIS and Barack Obama’s Dumb War
Sending US troops back to Iraq to fight ISIS, Obama is doing what no American president has ever done before: re-start a war long lost. He’s doing it illegally, without Congressional authorization.
Sedated We Stand: Medicare Paid for Nearly 40 Million Tranquilizer Prescriptions in 2013
Florida had more doctors who prescribed large amounts of benzodiazepines than anywhere else in the country with some 144 Florida doctors wrote at least 2,000 prescriptions for them to Medicare patients.
ACLU and Women’s Health Center Sue Florida Over 24-Hour Abortion Waiting Period
The lawsuit contends that for women — especially low-income women who must arrange for child care, time off work and overnight travel — the law can push them past the time it is legal to have abortions.
Thursday Briefing: Emergency Drill at FPC, Ty Pennington Digs Palm Coast, Denali Dims McKinley
Avoid the area around Flagler Palm Coast High School Thursday morning, Mt. Denali wants to kick out McKinley, Ty Pennington grills in Palm Coast.
The War on Women, Cont’d: Enough with Mandatory Vaginal Exams, Florida
It’s not enough that in 2011 our Legislature passed a draconian law forcing women to schedule, pay for, and look at an ultrasound of their fetus if they choose to exercise their right to an abortion.
Fossil-Fuel Utilities Band Up to Block Solar-Power Initiative Aiming to Unshackle Industry
Florida’s largest electric utilities, AG Pam Bondi and business groups want the Supreme Court to block a proposed solar-energy ballot initiative that would go before voters in 2016.
Wednesday Briefing: Golden Lion’s Saucy Reach, Brotherhood Ride at Palm Coast Elks, Bail’s Injustice
Flagler Beach’s Golden Lion donates 50% of profits from its tartar sauce sales to feed the needy, the Brotherhood Ride in Palm Coast honors 10 Fallen Florida First Responders, how the bond system screws defendants and ruins families daily.
Citing “Competition,” Lawmakers Want Hospitals Deregulated. Hospitals Disagree.
The measure would eliminate what is known as the hospital “certificate of need” process in Florida, which requires state review and approval of building new hospitals, replacing hospitals and offering certain complex, costly medical services such as organ transplants.