Before the heat dome, Pastor Charles Silano on the new poverty class, the Blue 22 Forum, Einaudi in concert, the culmination of the backlash against affirmative action.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Greenland and Antarctica Cracking
Earth’s remaining ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are far more vulnerable to climate warming than models predict, and that the ice sheets may be destabilizing from inside.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, June 29, 2023
A dangerous dog appeal hearing in Palm Coast, the Flagler County Public Library Book Club meets, Elegy for Hill City, Kansas.
The Difference Between Nationalism and Patriotism
The words nationalism and patriotism are sometimes used as synonyms, such as when Trump and his supporters describe his America First agenda. But many political scientists and citizens don’t typically see those two terms as equivalent – or even compatible.
Moms for Bigotry Quoting Hitler Is an Example of the Right’s Embrace of Extremism
Last week, an Indiana chapter of Moms for Liberty, a nonprofit organization that advocates for “parental rights” in education, ended up apologizing and condemning Adolf Hitler after previously using a quote from the racist and anti-Semitic Nazi leader in its newsletter.
DeSantis Vetoes EV Bill House Approved 115-1 and Senate 38-0
Gov. Ron DeSantis today vetoed a bill that could have made it easier for officials to choose electric cars when buying vehicles for government fleets. The measure was approved 115-1 in the House and 38-0 in the Senate.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Jamier T. Lee-Bright, who shot his dog, is sentenced, Separation Chat’s Open discussion, chess club for teens, the Canadian fires devouring an area the size of Ireland.
Right-to-Charge Laws Bring EV Promise to Apartments, Condos and Rentals
More than 3.6 million electric cars are driving around the U.S., but if you live in an apartment, finding an available charger isn’t always easy. Several states and cities, aiming to expand EV use, are now trying to lift that barrier to ownership with “right to charge” laws. Florida is one of them.
U.S. Supreme Court Decisively Rejects Outlier Elections Theory Giving Unchecked Powers to States
In a major election-law decision, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that although the Constitution gives state legislatures the power to regulate federal elections, state courts can supervise the legislature’s exercise of that power. By a vote of 6-3, the court rejected the so-called “independent state legislature theory” favored by a extreme Republicans.
With $1.2 Billion for Florida, Biden Unveils $42.5 Billion Plan to Connect All Americans to Broadband
The Biden administration on Monday announced $42.45 billion to connect all Americans to high-speed broadband internet by the end of the decade, likening the ambitious goal to FDR’s New Deal-era rural electrification program that brought the then-modern technology to farms and rural areas across the United States.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Docket sounding for Damari Barnes, The Flagler Beach City Commission shortlists candidates for city manager, the Palm Coast council meets, John Reed, big Bill Haywood and the Wobblies.
Weakening Child Labor Restrictions
A movement to weaken American child labor protections at the state level began in 2022. By June 2023, Arkansas, Iowa, New Jersey and New Hampshire had enacted this kind of legislation, and lawmakers in at least another eight states had introduced similar measures.
School Vouchers, Teaching Muzzles, Diversity Bans, Looser Guns: 200 New Laws Take Effect Saturday
More than 200 laws passed during the 2023 legislative session, including a record $116.5 billion budget, will take effect Saturday, including a massive expansion of public money available for private schooling, permitless gun-carrying, and more restrictions or bans on what teachers may say or teach.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, June 26, 2023
The Flagler County Beekeepers Association meets, the Bunnell City Commission meets, trying to figure out Taylor Swift and her Swifties.
Wagner’s Mutiny and the End of Putin’s ‘Strongman’ Image
While the mutiny of mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner brutes was short-lived and its goals unclear, it will have lasting effects – exposing the fragility of Putin’s grip on power and his ability to lead Russia to victory over Ukraine.
How the Wall Street Journal Accused ProPublica of Misleading Readers in a Story It Had Not Yet Published
Behind the scenes of Justice Samuel Alito’s unprecedented Wall Street Journal pre-buttal, Alito’s behavior underscores that the “no surprises” approach involves taking a risk, allowing subjects to “spit in our soup,” as Paul Steiger, the former Journal editor who founded ProPublica, liked to say.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, June 25, 2023
Belle Terre Swim & Racquet Club Summer Open House Weekend continues, is the word “cracker” derogatory? Bach’s Partita No. 6, Ulysses Grant writes his father.
The Dangers of Boast-Seeking Adventure Tourism
Tourists are generally seeking more authentic experiences that occur without prescribed paths or known endpoints. Technology can often make the extreme environments of adventure tourism more safe, but at the bottom of the ocean, the vacuum of space or the cold of a mountain summit the consequences of failure can be high.
Florida Law Banning Kids at Drag Shows Blocked and Termed Unconstitutionally Vague
Operators of Orlando restaurant Hamburger Mary’s, which has run “family friendly” drag shows for 15 years, filed a legal challenge shortly after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law restricting children from attending “adult live performances.”
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, June 24, 2023
Reflections on Orhan Pamuk’s “Nights of Plague,” and more Pamuk, Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers, the Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market.
Can AI Make Art?
When photography started to become popular, there was a debate about whether photography was a form of art. It came down to a court case in France in 1861 to decide whether photography could be copyrighted as an art form. Those same questions emerge when considering AI systems that are taught with the internet’s existing images.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, June 23, 2023
Incoming Superintendent LaShakia Moore on Free For All, John Updike on his dancing days, going Kwak, John Mulaney on his addiction, Scenic A1A Pride.
A Year After Roe v. Wade’s Fall, Abortion Care Is Confusing and Unequal
While there is no law in the U.S. that regulates what a man can do with his body, the reproductive health of women is now more regulated than it has been in 50 years. And the scope of reproductive health care that women can receive is highly dependent on where they live.
Supreme Court Kills Lawsuit by State Attorney Andrew Warren, Whom DeSantis Suspended
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an attempt by suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren to get his job back, ruling that the twice-elected Democrat waited too long to bring the case. Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Warren on Aug. 4, accusing the prosecutor of “incompetence” and “neglect of duty.”
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, June 22, 2023
The Flagler Beach City Commission holds a pair of meetings, one of them in the “shade,” to discuss legal strategy, history of the Pledge, Cormac McCarthy.
Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court
In the years after the undisclosed trip to Alaska, Republican megadonor Paul Singer’s hedge fund has repeatedly had business before the Supreme Court. Alito has never recused himself.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, June 21, 2023
Flagler Beach’s joint-government meeting on the future of the city’s tourism management, Florida Speaker of the House Paul Renner at Flagler Tiger Bay, St. Augustine’s inglorious racial history.
Southern Baptists’ Renewed War on Women and LGBTQ
The Southern Baptist Conference’s stance on issues of gender and sexuality have not always been just about fidelity to their interpretation of scripture. Rather, the SBC uses these issues to differentiate itself from other, more progressive denominations.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, June 20, 2023
The school board and the Palm Coast City Council have meetings, Career Shadowing for Flagler County students at FPC, debating the spread of tipping, Food Truck Tuesday.
Juneteenth as Antidote to Erasing Black History
Many Juneteeth celebrations not only commemorate the end of slavery, but they also honor the generations of Black men and women who have fought to end slavery and for racial justice.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, June 19, 2023
The Flagler County Commission meets, the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s salvo against zealotry in our governments, an opening shot from Charles Portis.
The Fearless Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy’s unique and varying writing style has been compared with that of many of the greatest authors of American letters, with scholars highlighting connections to the writings of Herman Melville, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, June 18, 2023
Suicide and homicide rates among young Americans at decade high, Gavin Newsom on Hannity, more guns means more violence.
The George Soros Legacy
Baseless conspiracy theories have at times clouded George Soros’s legacy as one of the world’s biggest donors to causes like higher education, human rights and the democratization of Europe’s formerly communist countries.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, June 17, 2023
Rat Pack Universe, a fund-raising concert for arts in education at the Flagler Auditorium, John Wayne speaks to Americans of tomorrow, Francis Parkman speaks of pre-Americans of yesteryear.
The Courage of Daniel Ellsberg
How a young war planner became a peace activist is one of the most striking conversion stories in American history. But Ellsberg’s political and moral transformation did not happen in a vacuum. It reflected a titanic shift in public attitudes about the Vietnam War.
As Florida Floods Private Schools with Public Money, Schools Raise Tuition to Capitalize
The Florida allocation of public money per private school student is expected to be about $8,000 a year — more than some private schools were charging for annual tuition. As a result, some private schools raised their prices.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, May 16, 2023
Brendan Depa in court for a competency hearing, David Ayres discusses growth in Flagler, Rebuke to a Dog Poisoner, Ferris Bueller’s day at the museum.
96.4% of Americans Had Covid-19 Antibodies in their Blood by Last Fall
Antibodies to the virus that causes Covid-19 were present in the blood of 96.4% of Americans over the age of 16 by September 2022. That’s according to a serosurvey – an analysis testing for the presence of these immune defense molecules – conducted on samples from blood donors.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, June 15, 2023
Drug court, Magna Carta’s anniversary, Franz Liszt’s Consolations, Matthew Yglesias on how politics at its best just isn’t necessarily all that entertaining.
Inside the Black Box of Amazon Returns
In 2022, Amazon returns cost retailers about US$816 billion in lost sales. That’s nearly as much as the U.S. spent on public schools and almost twice the cost of returns in 2020.
Once a Model of Independence, Florida’s Judicial Nominating Process Is Now an Irrelevant Farce
Veteran prosecutor Victoria Avalon, a Florida Supreme Court candidate, warned that the judicial nominating process that once was a model of independence under Gov. Reubin Askew has been politicized to the point of irrelevance by Republican governors since Jeb Bush, with all picks pre-ordained.
Florida Republicans Think Trump Did Nothing Wrong
Florida’s Republican establishment raced to the defense of former President Donald Trump following his indictment this week, with Gov. Ron DeSantis denouncing “an uneven application of the law depending on political affiliation.”
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Marc C. Gordon in court, Separation Chat’s open discussion, weekly chess club, a farewell to Cormac McCarthy, with a few dissenting words.
Guns and Drugs: Life Expectancy in the U.S. Keeps Falling
People in the U.S. are dying at higher rates than in other similar high-income countries, and that difference is only growing. It goes well beyond Covid, to an epidemic of gun deaths and drug deaths.
Anti-Trans Politicians Take Pages from Nazi Playbook
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other GOP leaders are following the Nazi playbook, substituting transgender youth for the Jews. They industriously promote hatred, fear, and physical revulsion of this small group — also barely 1 percent of the population — and pretend it’s out of concern for children.
Lawyers Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Halt Duane Owen’s Killing, Arguing Mental Incompetence
Attorneys for convicted murderer Duane Owen on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block his execution, after Florida courts rejected arguments that he was not mentally competent to be put to death.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Nysean Giddens in court, the Palm Coast City Council talks referendum and recall procedures, St. Mary’s Missionary Baptist Church in St. Augustine, Bruce Catton’s Civil War.
South Florida’s Rich Spanglish-Infused Dialect
A new dialect is taking shape in South Florida, a language variety that came about through sustained contact between Spanish and English speakers, particularly when speakers translated directly from Spanish.
Why the 9/11 Families Are So Angry With the PGA Tour
The PGA Tour seized on alleged Saudi connections to the 9/11 attacks when opposing the Saudi-funded LIV Golf tour. But in partnering with LIV, families of the 9/11 victims say the PGA has “done a complete 180.”