While many people might think LGBTQ+ representation on TV began in the 1990s on shows like “Ellen” and “Will & Grace,” LGBTQ+ people had already been producing their own television programming on local stations in the U.S. and Canada for decades. Hundreds of LGBTQ+ public access series were produced across the country. In a media environment historically hostile to LGBTQ+ people and issues, LGBTQ+ people created their own local programming to shine a spotlight on their lives, communities and concerns.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
New Lines of Attack Form Against Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act is back under attack. Not as in the repeal-and-replace debates of yore, but in a fresher take from Republican lawmakers who say key parts of the ACA cost taxpayers too much and provide incentive for fraud. Several House Republican leaders have called on two watchdog agencies to investigate, while Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) fired off more than half a dozen questions in a recent letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, August 15, 2024
Only three days left for early voting, Story Time for preschoolers in Flagler Beach, the Supreme Court’s decision criminalizing homeless sleeping, the homeless crisis in Florida.
Harris’s Joy, GOP Mockery: Nothing New to Black Women
Black women in the U.S. have a history of struggle against violence and oppression. And too often when they experience joy, and show it, ridicule follows. They are said to be too loud, too emotional – well, too “Black women.” History shows that this is a familiar dog whistle.
Religious Leaders Warn Schools of Liability Dangers of Voluntary Chaplain Program
School districts have shown little interest in welcoming volunteer chaplains to serve in their facilities, an initiative recently permitted by the Legislature that, according to the ACLU, could create legal liability for schools and risk creating an environment of “religious coercion and indoctrination of students.” For school boards and districts that may move to implement the program, religious and civil rights leaders have recommended approaches they believe would best protect children.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, August 14, 2024
The River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee meets, the Flagler County Canvassing Board meets, Carlos Lazoda wonders about America as a City on a Hill.
‘Misogynist Radicalization’ and What Parents of Boys Should Know
Many parents are worried about their children using social media. But these concerns tend to focus on privacy, exposure to explicit material or contact with strangers. But looking at sexism and misogyny in schools and the influence of social media, it is also important for parents to understand how algorithms work. These can drive misogynistic content towards boys and young men and make extreme views seem normal.
These can drive misogynistic content towards boys and young men and make extreme views seem normal.
Producer of Lab-Grown Poultry Sues Florida Over ‘Cultivated Meat’ Ban
A California-based producer of lab-grown poultry filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging a new Florida ban on selling or manufacturing “cultivated” meat. UPSIDE Foods, Inc., contends, in part, that the law violates a constitutional prohibition on favoring in-state businesses over out-of-state competitors.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Early voting continues, the Palm Coast City Council meets in workshop, the Community Traffic Safety Team, muted Islamophobia so far in the presidential race, Armstrong’s “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.”
Five Growing Threats to Academic Freedom
Professors across the country have sounded the alarm about infringements on academic freedom following crackdowns on pro-Palestine protesters on campus. The current conflict, however, is only the latest iteration of an intensifying decline in academic freedom.
After Lawmaker Complains of Alleged Anti-Israel Bias, Florida Universities Are Ordered to Scan Materials
Florida university presidents have been instructed to scan their syllabi for material deemed antisemitic or exhibiting anti-Israeli bias following concerns raised by Rep. Randy Fine. Once a course has been reviewed and all instances of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias have been flagged, universities must report their findings to the chancellor’s office.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, August 12, 2024
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.
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.