The Flagler County Commission has an overflowing agenda–school impact fees, Eagle Lakes development, a comprehensive plan update. Twitter is 16 years old but still acting 7, Matthew Broderick at 60.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Covid’s ‘Silver Lining’: Research Breakthroughs for Chronic Disease, Cancer, and the Common Flu
Building on the success of mRNA vaccines for covid, scientists hope to create mRNA-based vaccines against influenza, Zika, rabies, HIV, and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which hospitalizes 3 million children under age 5 each year worldwide. Researchers see promise in mRNA to treat cancer, cystic fibrosis, and rare, inherited metabolic disorders, although potential therapies are still many years away.
The Jesuits, Lightning Rods of Controversy
Jesuits have worn many hats: missionaries, educators and preachers; writers and scientists; priests with the poor and confessors to the royal courts of Europe. They are also among the church’s more controversial groups.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, March 20, 2021
“The Revolutionists,” at City Repertory Theatre, Francois Couperin’s “Mysterious Barricades,” and winter’s last cool blast.
Mason-Dixon 2.0: Some States Make It Easier To Vote, Some Harder.
There’s been a good deal of crying foul about what are being called anti-democratic new state laws that make it harder to vote. But it turns out such laws might have little impact on voter turnout and vote margins in an election.
A Fringe Legal Theory Could Reshape State Election Laws
The U.S. Supreme Court this month left open the possibility that it could endorse a fringe conservative legal theory–the “independent state legislature doctrine”–that would give state legislatures unchecked powers over election rules before the 2024 presidential election.
‘Is Our Democracy At Risk?’ Answer Question in Flagler/Volusia ACLU Essay Contest; $850 in Prize Money
If you’re a high school student in Flagler or Volusia counties, here’s your chance to answer the question in an original essay of up to 2,000 words and participate in the ACLU of Florida’s annual essay contest, with cash prizes sponsored by FlaglerLive. The deadline is April 4.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, March 19, 2022
Flagler Reads Together’s “Hidden Figures” Movie Matinee, CRT’s “The Revolutionists,” Palm Coast Historical Society Speaker Series, Philip Roth, William Jennings Bryan.
Sanctions Will Not Push Russians to Abandon Putin
Russians are used to turmoil and instability. They endured cruel social experiments during the 20th century, and the early 21st, performed upon them by their own political leadership.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, March 18, 2022
Cornelius Baker’s likely final and most fateful sentencing, “The Revolutionists,” at City Repertory Theatre, John Calhoun, and a few reflections on John Updike on his 90th birth anniversary.
Ukraine, a New Spanish Civil War? Not Quite.
Tempting as it is to compare the Spanish Civil War and Ukraine in how they drew foreign fighters, doing so does more to obscure than to explain either of the conflicts. In some instances, the analogy relies on distorted frames inherited from the Cold War; in others, it seems to be driven by blatant opportunism.
DeSantis-Backed Law Restricting Protesters’ Rights Draws Skepticism from Federal Appeals Court
An attorney for Gov. Ron DeSantis drew skepticism Thursday from a federal appeals court during arguments in a challenge to a controversial law that enhanced penalties and created new crimes in protests that turn violent.
Corporations Are Using Inflation to Cloak Price Gouging and Score Record Profits
Low-income Americans are pinching pennies to feed their families and pay their bills. And while mega-companies can use their market power to raise prices and generate record profits, small businesses and independent retailers are struggling to keep their doors open.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, March 17, 2022
The Garden Club at Palm Coast’s Treasures in the Attic Rummage Sale, Nat King Cole, Bayard Rustin, Bret Stephens on how World War III begins.
The Risks of a No-Fly Zone in Ukraine
Implementing and enforcing a no-fly zone in Ukraine has significant risk for escalating the conflict. It would be the first U.S. imposition of a no-fly zone during an international conflict. It would also represent the first time that a nuclear power like Russia has been subject to such a ban.
New Statewide Testing System for Schools Is Now Law, But Hurdles Are Ahead
From how much time students and teachers will spend on the new methods and exams to how the system will gel with federal testing requirements, Florida will have to navigate a new way to test kids.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Palm Coast’s Reilly Opelka goes up against Nadal at Indian Wells today, the Palm Coast Planning Board and Flagler County’s Technical Review Committee handle new, big developments, today is Black Press Day.
How to Use Plantations (i.e. Forced Labor Camps) to Teach About Slavery
School boards are attempting to ban books that deal with difficult histories. Lawmakers are targeting initiatives that promote diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. Such efforts raise questions about whether students in the U.S. will ever be able to engage in free and meaningful discussions about the history of slavery in America and the effect it had on the nation.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, March 15, 2022
The Palm Coast City Council meets and will hear about its financial health, it’s Food Truck Tuesday in Palm Coast’s Central Park, and if you’re into oxymorons, it is Belarus Constitution Day.
Affordable Housing Is Increasingly Scarce. Where Are Renters to Go?
Workers have faced stagnant wages for the past 40 years. Yet the cost of rent has steadily increased during that time, with sharp increases of 14% to 40% over the past two years. Now, more than ever, workers are feeling the stress of the affordable housing crisis.
Not Just in Elementary School: GOP Targets University Tenure to Mum Discussions of Race and Sex Orientation
Tenure is facing threats to its survival, at least in some parts of the country, as Republican politicians in Texas and other states push to restrict or eliminate it, with continuing efforts to restrict the teaching of race and sexual orientation in college and university classrooms.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, March 14, 2022
The Bunnell City Commission sets up a charter review commission and considers handing over major crime investigations to the Sheriff’s Office for $120,000 a year, An NBC radio interview with Albert Einstein upon his naturalization as an American.
The Puerility of Putin’s Machismo
A scholar who has spent years writing a book on George Washington’s leadership and masculinity has no qualms about stating that, for that long-gone generation that created an independent country, wars didn’t feed their egos.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, March 13, 2022
The Flagler Playhouse’s last performance of “Company,” a Clarence Darrow special, including Henry Fonda in the one-man performance of the David Rintels play directed by John Houseman.
Understanding the Latest Oil Shock, Minus the Spin
Price shocks aren’t new. Viewed historically, they are an integral part of oil market dynamics, not anomalies. They have occurred since the birth of the industry. Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prices were climbing rapidly because of roaring demand and limited supply growth.
Illinois Could Join Vermont, Maine and DC in Allowing Imprisoned Felons to Vote
Lawmakers in Oregon considered a similar bill in February which would have restored voting rights to roughly 12,000 to 15,000 incarcerated Oregonians, but the effort failed for the second time.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, March 12, 2022
The Strawberry Festival in Town Center is cancelled, weather will be an issue today ahead of a freezing front, remembering Mustafa Kamal Aataturk’s role in the Armenian genocide, DeSantis as Cesar, FRD’s first Fireside Chat.
Daylight Saving Time Sucks. Here’s What You Can Do to Unsuck It.
Is there something to be done to help to deal with this loss of sleep and change of body clock timing? Of course. The first step is increasing awareness and using the power of knowledge to combat this issue. Here are some quick tips to prepare yourself for the upcoming weekend.
School Book Inquisitions and School Board Term Limits Head for Governor’s Signature
School board members soon could be limited to serving 12-year terms under a bill that is headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis — but the measure also includes a controversial provision that would intensify scrutiny of school library books and instructional materials.
I’m a Christian Mom. I Love My Trans Daughter. The State Sees Me as an Abuser.
Texas Governor Abbott recently issued horrifying, unconstitutional orders directing our state’s office of Child Protective Services to investigate parents of transgender children for child abuse. The only one engaging in child abuse here is Abbott — and his equally cruel attorney general, Ken Paxton.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, March 11, 2022
The mercurial Joseph Bova is again in court on a hoped-for plea, ending his nearly decade-long murder case, Sondheim at the Flagler Playhouse, Christopher Hitchens.
How a Hurricane Fueled Wildfires in the Florida Panhandle
It might sound odd – hurricanes helping to fuel wildfires. But Michael’s 160 mph winds left tangles of dead trees that were ready to burn.Here’s an explanation of the role the hurricane played in wildfires that forced over 1,000 people to evacuate their homes.
Bill Creating Elections Policing Squad, 1st of Its Kind in the U.S., Heads for Governor’s Signature
In part, the bill would create an Office of Election Crimes and Security in the Department of State. Also, it would require the governor, working with the commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, to appoint special FDLE officers to investigate allegations of election violations, with at least one officer in each region of the state.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, March 10, 2022
Ex-Deputy Dedorius Varnes’s sentencing, Jane Mealy and James Sherman take the oath on the Flagler Beach City Commission, which then hears decides whether to keep its lease going with Ocean Palms Golf Club, “Osborne’s Revenge.”
An Ida B. Wells Barbie Is Nice. But It Doesn’t Combat Persistent Anti-Blackness.
Having a doll that honors Wells’ legacy can help today’s children “know they have the power” to bring about a better future, an Instagram account for Barbie said in a post. However, the mere existence of a Black doll does not combat anti-Black racism. Representation alone does not equal racial justice or stop messages of anti-Blackness from existing.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, March 9, 2022
La Darrien McCaskill’s sentencing in the 2018 and 2019 Palm Coast robberies involving six assailants, the Northeast Florida Regional Council’s Affordable Housing Workshop for Flagler County, Schubert’s 13th sonata.
Support for Democracy Is Waning Across the Americas
People are losing faith in democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. Across North, Central and South America, and parts of the Caribbean, only 63% of the public expressed support for democracy in 2021, possibly explaining the growth of support for authoritarian leadership in places like the United States, Peru and El Salvador.
Noel Jon Ouellette, Obituary
Noel Jon Ouellette, age 81, was peacefully called home to the Lord at Hospice of Ormond Beach on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Election Day in Flagler Beach and Bunnell, the Palm Coast City Council reckons with a grim evaluation from residents about its own behavior, the St. Johns River Water Management District board meets, as does the Flagler County Planning Board, with a look at Russian oil exports and know-nothings who think they know it all.
Battles Over Book Bans Reflect Conflicts from the 1980s
The attacks on books in the 1980s bear similarities to the current attacks. Both object to the critical teaching about race and racism, historical as well as contemporary. Both accuse schools of tearing down America and weakening patriotism. Both object to teaching about gender roles, sexual orientation and alternative models of the family. Conservative institutions like the Heritage Foundation have been involved in both periods.
Senate Moves to Cloak in Secrecy Businesses and Drugs Connected with Florida’s Executions
The Florida Senate on Monday passed a measure that would more broadly cloak information about people and businesses involved with state executions and the drugs used for lethal injection, positioning the proposal for action by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, March 7, 2022
The Flagler County Commission talks federal stimulus dollars without giving credit to the source, the Beverly Beach commission meets, Piet Mondrian’s 150th birth anniversary, Princeton’s dullness.
Conservatives Profit from Anti-Transgender Agendas to Rally Their Base
Anti-transgender health care bills and legal interpretations are part of a package of initiatives that mark 2021 as a “record-breaking year” for anti-LGBTQ policies introduced in state legislatures across the country. And 2022 is already on track to surpass this record.
Ukraine and the Fallacy of ‘All Lives Matter’
Every war brings out the best and the worst in human beings. Ukrainian resistance has been heroic and inspiring as Russia carries out its war crimes. But there’s also a strong element of bias at work in the public reaction. You know, the way a blue-eyed blond child gone missing will get page one sympathy while a missing Black child will be ignored.
‘We the People’ Are In Dangerous Territory
The state of the union is precarious because some of us have lost faith in democracy and have begun to flirt with other means to achieve political goals, other means to obtain and keep power, means based more on brute force and intimidation than on persuasion and compromise.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, March 6, 2022
Remembering the Dred Scott decision’s atrocity, “Company,” the 1970 musical by Stephen Sondheim, is staged by Flagler Playhouse, Poe’s macabre toothy grin in “Berenice,” the so-called “Fall of the Alamo.”
Death: How Long Are We Conscious For, and Does Life Really Flash Before Our Eyes?
Experiments have been conducted in an attempt to better understand reports from people who have had a near death experience. Such an event has been associated with out-of-body experiences, a sense profound bliss, a calling, a seeing of a light shining above, but also profound bursts of anxiety or complete emptiness and silence.
Trump Just Endorsed an Oath Keeper’s Plan to Seize Control of the Republican Party
The “precinct strategy” widely promoted by Steve Bannon has already inspired thousands of Trump supporters to fill local GOP positions, intent on preventing a “stolen election” despite endless evidence that there’s been no such thing.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, March 5, 2022
A closer look at DeSantis bullying students for wearing masks, Stephen Sondheim at the Flagler Playhouse, The First Saturday Creative Bazaar Arts and Craft Market in Palm Coast’s Town Center, Dostoevsky on brutifying human beings.
Zelenskyy’s Putin Antithesis: Grit and Grace of Leadership
Putin demonstrates a tendency toward authoritarianism in both political action and in political style. Zelenskyy, in contrast, presents a more modest and understated vision of political leadership – one more appropriate for democratic institutions, in which the leader is not thought to be morally superior to the governed.