It’s important that people know that sexual and gender minority men are the primary victims of this monkeypox outbreak. This knowledge will help us end the outbreak before it bridges into other communities.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, August 15, 2022
The County Commission talks beach calamities and repairs, the sheriff asks for a raise for his troops, a candidate forum at Cattleman’s Hall, the coming California Megastorm, how Bassam al-Sheikh Hussain became a rare Lebanese hero.
How Seized Documents Show Trump May Have Violated Espionage Act
The FBI recovered confidential and top-secret items from Mar-a-Lago during its Aug. 8, 2022, search of the estate – pointing to former President Donald Trump’s potential violation of several federal laws. The unsealed documents seem to indicate that the U.S. Department of Justice believes Trump may have violated the Espionage Act, as well as other criminal laws relating to the handling of public records.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, August 14, 2022
Flagler’s LGBTQ youths rally for school board candidates, Grace Community Food Pantry, reflections on the stabbing of Salman Rushdie and the shock of the crime’s increasing ordinariness.
Behind Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Satanic Verses’
The book, “Satanic Verses,” goes to the heart of Muslim religious beliefs when Rushdie, in dream sequences, challenges and sometimes seems to mock some of its most sensitive tenets.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, August 13, 2022
11th Annual Surfers for Autism in Flagler Beach, Sensory Storytime at the public library, the Gamble Jam, Kurt Vonnegut on banned books.
Arctic Is Warming Nearly 4 Times Faster Than Rest of the Planet
The Arctic is on average around 3℃ warmer than it was in 1980. This is alarming, because the Arctic contains sensitive and delicately balanced climate components that, if pushed too hard, will respond with global consequences.
Military Vets Without Bachelor’s Degrees Will Soon Be Teaching in Florida Schools
Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved a new law to create an alternative temporary teaching certificate for military veterans, saying that their prior military experience will have value in the classroom. But the law would get around a prerequisite expected of thousands of teachers in Florida — a bachelor’s degree.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday August 12, 2022
Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin and Commissioner Dave Sullivan on Free For All, defunding the federal police appears to be OK with conservatives, Ricky Gervais and Moby-Dick.
The US Military Faces a Rise in Extremism in Its Ranks
Pentagon officials are shaken by service members’ prominent role in the events of Jan. 6. Of the 884 criminal defendants charged to date with taking part in the insurrection, more than 80 were veterans. That’s almost 10% of those charged.
Fried Criticizes DeSantis Attack on Law Enforcement Following FBI Search of Trump’s Home
“It also pains me that Ron DeSantis — who still has not condemned Nazis, even after multiple requests to stand united with me,” Fried said. “He won’t condemn January 6, but he has no problem attacking the FBI, an FBI that is run by a director that was appointed by Donald Trump.”
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, August 11, 2022
The NAACP Flagler Branch hosts a forum for candidates for the Palm Coast City Council and the Flagler County Commission, remembering the Iowa State Fair, Bill Burr, Orwell.
Social Media? No. Blame Cable News for Idiocy Politics.
Roughly 17% of Americans are politically polarized – 8.7% to the left and 8.4% to the right – based on their TV news consumption. That’s three to four times higher than the average percentage of Americans polarized by online or social media sources.
Appeals Court Will Decide Whether You Can Pass Water and Food to People in Line to Vote
Attorneys for the League of Women Voters of Florida, the Black Voters Matter Fund, the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans and other plaintiffs filed a 67-page brief asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a district judge’s ruling that said increased “solicitation” restrictions near polling places violate speech rights.
Arming Teachers Is Not the Answer. Limiting Access to Guns and Addressing Mental Health Is.
Problems have escalated to such a point that it has helped drive good people out of the classroom and negatively influenced people willing to become teachers. This is especially true in schools with a reputation for having a culture of discipline issues or weak community support.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, August 10, 2022
The Flagler Beach City Commission holds a special meeting on beach erosion, John McWhorter on texting, Magellan from 1519 to 1990, on trashy novels.
No Respect: Efforts to Combat Teacher Shortages Don’t Address the Real Problems
The reasons teachers are leaving primarily revolve around the disrespect they and the profession consistently face. For example, teachers earn about 20% less than similarly educated professionals. They also faced an escalating workload, even before the pandemic placed additional demands on their time, energy and mental health.
Christian School Challenges Ban on Pre-Game Prayer, Citing Recent Supreme Court Ruling
A Tampa Christian school has asked a federal appeals court to find that the Florida High School Athletic Association unconstitutionally prevented a prayer over a stadium loudspeaker before a 2015 high-school football championship game.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, August 9, 2022
The Palm Coast City Council is in workshop, The Community Traffic Safety Team meets, Remembering Nagasaki and wondering why there won’t be a moment of silence.
New Photos Suggest How Trump Flushed Official Documents Down the Toilet
Into the sewer. That appears to be the intended destination of what look like torn-up presidential documents in photographs released by reporter Maggie Haberman to the news publication Axios, which published them today.
Ballot Effort to Legalize Recreational Marijuana in Florida Launches
Trulieve, the state’s largest medical-marijuana operator, and country-music legends The Bellamy Brothers are backing a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana by people 21 or older.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, August 8, 2022
The Bunnell City Commission discusses how to go about filling another vacancy, highs only around 90 (pack a sweater), FYO open enrollment, beer bellies, lepers and conspiracy theories.
Social Media and the Misuses of Images of Carnage from War
With social media in the mix and the never-ending competition to be first, editors are publishing and distributing images with less consideration for traditional editorial restraint and balance between gore and meaning – and with less context about the images themselves.
FPL’s Covert Campaign Against the Free Press
FPL got a consultant to hire a private investigator who spied on a Florida Times Union reporter, his girlfriend, and their dog. FPL CEO Eric Silagy swears he didn’t do it. And, if somebody did it, he didn’t know about it.
Gov.-Appointed Florida Board of Medicine Targets Treatments for Transgender Youths for Ban
Amid an outcry from the LGBTQ community and harsh criticism from a host of physicians and health-care professionals, the Florida Board of Medicine on Friday advanced a plan that would ban doctors from providing treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy to transgender people under age 18.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, August 7, 2022
A view of American from abroad, Remembering Philippe Petit’s walk between the World Trade Center towers, the Gulf of Tonkin REsolution’s relationship to the Hatfields and McCoys.
The UN Declares a Healthy Environment a Universal Human Right
The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on July 28, 2022, to declare the ability to live in “a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” a universal human right. It also called on countries, companies and international organizations to scale up efforts to turn that into reality.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, August 6, 2022
It’s the annual Back to School Jam at Flagler palm Coast High School, Sunshine and Sandals Social at Cornerstone, The First Saturday Creative Bazaar Arts and Craft Market, discovering Arturo Marquez and the Autum Concerto for trumpet, Octavio Paz on the Mexican exception.
Trump-Boosted Christian Nationalism Going Mainstream Despite History of Violence
The Christian nationalist movement is “as ethnic and political as it is religious,” and relies on the assumption of white supremacy. Christian nationalism combines belief in a particular form of Christianity with nativist and populist political platforms. American Christian nationalism is a worldview based on the belief that America is superior to other countries, and that that superiority is divinely established.
Rejected in 2020, DeSantis Appoints Renatha Francis Again to Supreme Court, Despite Ethical Issues
The governor named Francis for a high court vacancy in 2020 but the sitting justices refused to seat her because she hadn’t been a member of the Florida Bar for the constitutionally mandated 10 years at the time. A recent news report showed she has been the subject of as many as five ethics complaints alleging she’d been unfair to litigants.
Mid-Season Update Still Projects Above-Normal Atlantic Hurricane Activity
Atmospheric and oceanic conditions still favor an above-normal 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, according to NOAA’s annual mid-season update issued today by the Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, August 5, 2022
Pleas and docket sounding in circuit court, First Friday in Flagler Beach, a few thoughts on prohibition, the Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Nothing’s the matter with Kansas.
Why Crossing the US-Mexico Border Is Deadlier Than Ever for Migrants
Fatalities result from two intersecting phenomena. One is the massive growth in the federal government’s policing system in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands since the mid-1990s. The other is the strong and profoundly unequal ties between the United States and the home countries of most unauthorized – or undocumented – migrants.
DeSantis Suspends Twice-Elected Hillsborough State Attorney Over Abortion Stance
Saying that a twice-elected Hillsborough County prosecutor has put himself “above the law,” Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren for pledging to not enforce Florida’s 15-week restriction on abortion.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, August 4, 2022
The Oversight Committee discussing the inter-local agreement, or ILA, between the school board, the county and Flagler’s municipalities regarding school concurrency, meets, Louis Armstrong, America’s assassination of jazz.
Kansas Vote for Abortion Rights Highlights Supreme Court’s Disconnect
The Kansas referendum’s result, by which voters made their opinions directly known on abortion, highlights the disconnection between public opinion and restrictive state abortion laws passed by many conservative state legislatures after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
First Lady Announces launch of Resource Site to Navigate Dizzying Realities of Cancer Care
First Lady Casey DeSantis on Wednesday announced the launch of Florida Cancer Connect, an online resource site for cancer patients to hear from survivors and access information to help navigate the dizzying realities of battling cancer.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, August 3, 2022
The Flagler Woman’s Club’s election forum for county commission and school board candidates, the Palm Coast Code Enforcement board, Happy Birthday, James Baldwin.
Local Elections Officials Are As Non-Partisan As They Come
Have these officials, as some charge now, used their authority to interfere with America’s democratic process? Do local election officials abuse their power? Research shows they do not, and they have not, whether they are Democratic or Republican. Legislators are a different matter.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, August 2, 2022
The Flagler County school board outlines $165 million in school construction over the next five years, the Palm Coast City Council talks Lehigh Trail, a Melville Moby-Dick marathon.
Politically Appointed Florida Board of Medicine Will Weigh Blocking Transgender Treatment for Youths
The Florida Board of Medicine is slated Friday to consider a proposal by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to bar physicians from providing treatments such as hormone therapy and puberty-blocking medication to transgender youths.
The Bill Russell Legacy
Bill Russell undertook an intellectual and personal journey during his career. He sought to find worth in basketball amid the racial tumult of the civil rights movement. He emerged from that crucible not only as a stronger man, but also as one of the most potent figures at the intersection of sports and politics.
John Wesley McNeeley Ph.D., Obituary
John Wesley McNeeley, of Palm Coast, Florida, longtime Daytona State College distinguished Professor of Psychology, passed away peacefully on Sunday, July 24, 2022.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, August 1, 2022
The Flagler County Commission meets and will once again neither censure Joe Mullins nor require him to step down at least from the chairmanship, following his abusive encounters with law enforcement. Kemal Belevi’s “Suite Chypre,” Francis Fukuyama on Soviet Man, not to be confused with Florida’s parental Bill of Rights.
What We Can Learn from Apartheid-Era Book Bans in South Africa
The rise in attempts to ban and censor books in America–and in Flagler County–in 2022 looks an awful lot like what South African censors did during apartheid. It’s as though would-be American censors have taken a page directly from the South African censors’ playbook, setting out to squash political dissent and silence social debate.
Suddenly, Florida Is a Haven for Abortion-Seekers in the South. But For How Long?
As of this week, most abortions are banned in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina. Other states in the South also have strict abortion bans that are in flux because of court appeals. But on the geographical edge of this block of Deep South states, abortion is expected to remain legal in Florida and North Carolina, at least until the November elections.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, July 31, 2022
“Keep Palm Coast Clean” litter pick-up from 8 a.m. to noon, “Constellation” has its last performance at City Repertory Theatre, Milton Friedman, The Sewing Girl’s Tale.
Time to Debunk Stereotypes About Mobile Homes, Affordable Housing’s New Face
Over 20 million Americans live in manufactured housing – more than in public housing and federally subsidized rental housing combined. Yet many people, including urban planners and affordable housing researchers, see manufactured housing parks as problems, when they may be part of the solution to housing crises.
Due to Redistricting, Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book Faces Challenger in Re-Election Bid
Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, a Plantation Democrat elected in 2016, is trying to hold onto her seat after the makeup of Senate District 35 changed earlier this year through the once-a-decade reapportionment process. A survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Book has made her advocacy for preventing child abuse a top priority.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, July 30, 2022
“Constellation,” at City Repertory Theatre, Puppapalooza at James Holland Park in Palm Coast, The Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market, reflections on Henry Ford.