Early voting continues, the different reaction to the boy who threatened to blow up Orlando with nukes and the one who placed bogus swatting calls to Flagler schools, the Flagler County Library Board of Trustees meets, the Bunnell City Commission meets.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
What 3.2 Million-Year-Old Lucy Reveals
According to the coevolutionary tale of humans and their lice, our immediate ancestors lost most of their body fur 3 to 4 million years ago and did not don clothing until 83,000 to 170,000 years ago. That means that for over 2.5 million years, early humans and their ancestors were simply naked.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, August 11, 2024
Tabasco Brothers at the Golden Lion Cafe, farmer’s market, taking the measure of Parisian distances against Palm Coast sprawl, Sharath Mahendran’s “Building Beautifully” and a few words from Redburn.
Supreme Court Ruling May Put Presidents Above the Law. But Even Kings Never Were.
Many observers say a controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision from July 1, 2024, turns presidents into kings – but they underestimate how truly radical the ruling actually may be. In fact, though the court’s majority said it was honoring constitutional tradition, it appears to have created something entirely new: a legal tyrant, someone above the law, a privilege even kings never enjoyed.
Project 2025’s Secret Training Videos for a 2nd Trump Term
“Eradicate climate change references”; only talk to conservative media; don’t leave a paper trail for watchdogs to discover. In a series of never-before-published videos, Project 2025 details how a second Trump administration would operate.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, August 10, 2024
American Association of University Women (AAUW) Monthly Meeting, Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, Gamble Jam, dueling banjos revisited.
The Druze Community Devastated by the Attack on the Occupied Golan Heights
The village of Majdal Shams has been in mourning since July 27, 2024: the day a rocket hit a soccer field, killing 12 children and wounding tens more. Majdal Shams is home to a community whose relationship with Israel is doubly complicated: Druze residents of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in 1967 and annexed in 1981.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, August 9, 2024
Terrell Sampson sentencing, LGBTQ+ Night at Flagler Beach’s Coquina Coast Brewing Company, relics from the east, remembering the Beirut port blast four years later.
Misinformation, Abuse and Injustice: The Imane Khelif Boxing Controversy at the Paris Olympics
In the contemporary context, many sportswomen who appear too powerful, too successful, or look “too masculine” according to a particular set of values are at risk of being targeted. Importantly, it is most often non-white athletes who face the most scrutiny of their gendered sporting bodies.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, August 8, 2024
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets, the Palm Coast Democratic Club holds its monthly meeting, the routine of Israel settlers’ Jim Crow violence against Palestinians of the West Bank.
Tim Walz Pick: Harris Is Running Her Race By Her Rules
Harris’ choice of Walz confirms and leans into an extraordinary vibe shift in American politics. In only a fortnight, the campaign has been flipped on its head. The fact that Harris did not pick Shapiro tells us a great deal about both how this campaign will be run, and the future of the Democratic Party more broadly. Walz’ elevation is indicative of a major shift in the party – one that Harris is leading.
Loran Cole, Set to Be Killed by State, Cites Florida’s Complicity in ‘Horrific’ Dozier School Abuse in Appeal
Loran Cole, a Death Row inmate who spent time at the notorious Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys and is the first prisoner scheduled to be executed this year in Florida is asking a judge to vacate his death sentence, arguing the state is “complicit in the horrific and tragic” abuse at the reform school that “contributed to his life choices.”
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, August 7, 2024
The Palm Coast Code Enforcement Board meets, Kamala Harris’s choice of Tim Walz, a look back at the Palmer raids.
Hurricane Debby Follows Idalia’s Path, But with More Limited Impacts
Debby made landfall Monday morning near Steinhatchee as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. It came after rural Taylor County last August also took the brunt of Idalia, which made landfall in Keaton Beach. Debby’s damage was far less severe.
Stop Panicking Over Markets. This Is What a Soft Landing Looks Like.
A professor of business economics begs everyone, from investors to consumers to policymakers: Please calm down, take 10 deep breaths and relax. The economic data, taken together, paint a brighter if more complex picture.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, August 6, 2024
The Flagler Beach Planning Board takes on a revised height ordinance, the Palm Coast City Council holds an evening meeting, Nukemaps and the simulated results of nuclear bombings.
Hiroshima’s Last Survivors Tell Their Stories
The bomb, dropped by the US on August 6 1945, made orphans of around 2,000 children, mostly from central Hiroshima, who survived because they had been evacuated to the countryside. When they returned after Japan surrendered on August 15, they found their parents gone and their city razed to the ground.
Florida’s Teachers Unions Urge Judge to Side with Transgender Teacher Over State’s Pronoun Dogma
Accusing Florida of “dangerous political theater,” state and national teachers unions have urged an appeals court to side with a transgender Hillsborough County teacher who challenged a law requiring educators to use pronouns that align with their sex assigned at birth. The unions filed a 47-page brief arguing that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should uphold a district judge’s decision that the law violated the First Amendment rights of teacher Katie Wood.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, August 5, 2024
The groundbreaking for the southern branch library known as the Nexus Center is at 1 p.m., the County Commission has a pair of meetings, the Canvassing Board meets, Bernard Malamud delights us with his metaphors.
Court Rules Against Catholic Charter School. Ruling May Not Stand Long.
Three recent U.S. Supreme Court cases expanded the boundaries of state aid to faith-based schools and their students, ruling that they cannot be denied generally available aid solely due to their religious status. Drummond v. Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board has the potential to further expand the boundaries of aid to faith-based schools and their students – a dramatic change worth watching.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, August 4, 2024
Unlimited Devotion performs in St. Augustine, the Magic of Motown at the Peabody, the LOL Jax Film Festival, the chauvinism of some American media’s medal-table standings.
Could Elvis’ Graceland Hold a Key to Bridging America’s Cultural Divide?
The anxiety over the possibility that Presley’s Graceland might fall out of family control raises an important question: Why does Graceland matter? It’s the second-most-visited home in the U.S., topped only by the White House. According to the U.S. Interior Department. Many have viewed the singer’s life, output and legacy with a sneer. Nowhere is this condescension more evident than in patronizing references to his home.
Florida Officials Want Supreme Court to Approve a Manipulated ‘Impact Statement’ on Abortion Amendment
Lawyers for Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner on Friday urged the Florida Supreme Court to reject an attempt to invalidate a revised “financial impact statement” that would appear on the November ballot with a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights. A state panel made controversial changes to the financial impact statement, which Floridians Protecting Freedom–leading efforts to pass the constitutional amendment–wants invalidated.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, August 3, 2024
Back to school jam at FPC, the Flagler Beach All Stars hold their monthly beach clean-up, further thoughts on the Olympics’ opening ceremonies and arts’ controversies, a pop-up exhibit of paintings by Kiersten Hawkins.
The Heritage Foundation’s ‘Project 2025’
Project 2025 lays out many standard conservative ideas – like prioritizing energy production over environmental and climate-change concerns, and rejecting the idea of abortion as health care – along with some much more extreme ones, like criminalizing pornography. And it proposes to eliminate or restructure countless government agencies in line with conservative ideology.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, August 2, 2024
First Friday Garden Walks at Washington Oaks, First Friday in Flagler Beach, Free Family Art Night at OMAM, the cost of the Olympics, if economics were an Olympic sport.
How Reciting the Pledge Became a Sacred Ritual
In the early years of the nation, the American flag rarely appeared except in government and military displays. That changed with the Civil War. As historian and author Marc Leepson writes in his book about the U.S. flag, Northerners began displaying it in homes and businesses to show support for the Union. After the war, the flag became a symbol of the reunified nation.
Florida and 3 States Scramble to Avoid Enforcement of Federal Rule Prohibiting Gender Discrimination
Hours after a U.S. district judge ruled against them, Florida and three other states late Tuesday asked an appeals court to temporarily halt a new federal rule about sex-based discrimination in education programs. The states have prevented transgender students from using school bathrooms that don’t match their sex assigned at birth and blocked or restricted treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for people with gender dysphoria.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, August 1, 2024
Clay Jones, Charlie Hebdo, Trump and voting for the last time, health care provider scoring meeting at the GSB, Lawrence Wright on a pledge of allegiance to the future of the country.
Another Escalation of Violence in the Middle East
With the war in Gaza showing no sign of abating and the whole Middle East on a knife’s edge, the Israeli assassination of Hamas’s top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, raises questions about whether it may spark a wider regional war.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, July 31, 2024
The Flagler County Canvassing Board meets, Flagler Parent hosts a one-hour live-streamed forum with school board candidates, Elvis’s very first concert at Overton Park Orchestra Shell in Memphis.
Childless Women and the Catholic Church
J.D. Vance’s views on childless women are sharply at odds with the attitude of his present Catholic faith. Catholic history is full of childless women respected for their work, many of them members of religious communities. They often contributed to lasting social and cultural change. In fact, the very existence of women’s religious communities is a testament to the value Catholicism puts on childless women’s lives.
DeSantis Signs Ninth Death Warrant: Loran Cole, 57, for 1994 Murder of Florida State Student John Edwards
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a death warrant for an inmate convicted in the 1994 murder of a Florida State University student who went to the Ocala National Forest to camp with his sister. Loran Cole, 57, is scheduled to be executed Aug. 29 at Florida State Prison.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, July 30, 2024
The Flagler Branch of the NAACP hosts a candidate forum at 6 p.m. at AACS, Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy, where Jimmy Carter went wrong on Salman Rushdie.
Behind Biden’s Proposed Supreme Court Reform
Inconsistency in appointments is one of the reasons why President Joe Biden’s call for Supreme Court reform, which Vice President Harris supports, should be considered a meaningful attempt to address a relatively new development that has diminished the ability of the people – through their elected representatives in the White House and the Senate – to shape an unelected Supreme Court.
Stop U.S. Arms Pipeline to Israel
There is overwhelming evidence that Israeli forces under Netanyahu’s leadership have committed massive human rights atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza. And that’s against the backdrop of an illegal military occupation of Palestinian territory and apartheid, as another ICJ ruling confirmed recently. Nonetheless, Congress invited Netanyahu to speak.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, July 29, 2024
Eisenhower’s convertible trip to Karachi, Pakistan, in 1960, America’s dwindling reputation abroad, Springsteen’s, “This Land is Your Land,” a few words from James MacGregor Burns.
How Jefferson and Madison’s Friendship Shaped Separation of Church and State
Only 19% of Americans say the United States should abandon the principle of church-state separation. That said, criticism appears to be on the rise, particularly among political and religious conservatives. And such criticism comes from the top.
J.D. Vance Eclipses DeSantis. But He Might Want to Watch His Back.
If Trump wins and somehow doesn’t declare himself president-for-life, Vance will be the nominee in 2028. Ditto if Trump loses and the country survives the violence. Vance could end up as president before then, possibly without lifting a finger — except maybe to pass Trump the Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburgers that finally tip him over into massive stroke territory. Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and their autocracy-loving billionaire buds will see to that.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, July 28, 2024
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, V.S. Naipaul’s odd turn in the South and a couple of seemingly nonexistent towns, Naipaul at Colgate university.
AI Supercharges Data Center Energy Use, Straining The Grid and Slowing Sustainability Efforts
Data centers have had continuous growth for decades, but the magnitude of growth in the still-young era of large language models has been exceptional. AI requires a lot more computational and data storage resources than the pre-AI rate of data center growth could provide.
Project 2025 is a Bad Bet for Florida’s Future
Project 2025 is a blueprint for Trump’s next term. It is full of recommendations for clamping down on abortion, banning pornography, abolishing the Homeland Security and Education departments, killing the Head Start program for kids, and putting the entire executive branch, including the Department of Justice, under direct control of the president — no civil service protection.
Florida Among 25 States Seeking Halt to Biden Rule Restricting Coal-Fired Power Plants
In Florida, coal is no longer a major factor in electricity generation. As 0f 2022, and coal-fired power plants supplied about 6% of the energy supply, down from 36% in 2001, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Attorneys argue that if the Biden administration’s rule is allowed to continue, it will mean that hundreds of megawatts will be forced offline, leading to power shortages during critical weather during the summer and winter.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, July 27, 2024
Peps Art Walk next to JT’s Seafood Shack, Gamble Jam, Coffee With Commissioner Scott Spradley, with City Attorney Drew Smith, A Tribute to Queen at the Bandshell.
AI’s Mass Surveillance at Paris Olympics
The 2024 Paris Olympics is drawing the eyes of the world as thousands of athletes and support personnel and hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the globe converge in France. It’s not just the eyes of the world that will be watching. Artificial intelligence systems will be watching, too.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, July 26, 2024
The Flagler County Canvassing Board meets, Acoustic Jam Circle At The Community Center In The Hammock, the Paris Olympics open on the Seine, remembering Red Smith.
Revisiting J.D. Vance’s Middletown, Ohio
J.D. Vance’s Middletown, Ohio, his hometown – just north of Cincinnati – risks becoming an abstract symbol of Rust Belt America. Ironically, it is easy to lose sight of the city’s rich, distinctive heritage, from which Vance’s memoir drew its potency.
Florida High School Athletes May Now Cash In With Sponsors as State Board Approves ‘NIL’ Plan
While saying additional protections are needed, the State Board of Education on Wednesday ratified a plan approved last month by the Florida High School Athletic Association that will allow high school athletes to get paid through name, image and likeness, or “NIL,” deals.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, July 25, 2024
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets, Palm Coast’s forgotten Beautification Committee meets, Bob Newhart on Carson, a few thoughts on the GOP Convention.
Is Media to Blame for Biden Dropping Out?
Blaming the press for Joe Biden dropping out of his re-election bid assumes that the power of the press is significant and straightforward: If journalists report on an issue in a certain way for an extended period of time, they will ultimately shape how people feel about it. In reality, journalists’ influence is far more limited.