In West Antarctica, the interior of the ice sheet sits atop bedrock that lies well below sea level. As the Southern Ocean warms, scientists are concerned the ice sheet will continue to retreat, potentially raising sea level by several meters.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
The Freedom to Vote Act Is No ‘Compromise.’ It’s an Imperative.
The Freedom to Vote Act was introduced in the Senate as the successor to the For the People Act, which was shot down twice by Republican filibusters. The new act, which has the support of all 50 Democrats in the Senate, is sometimes described as a “compromise bill,” but let’s be clear: The bill is no compromise when it comes to essential protections for voting rights.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, October 17, 2021
Today is the United Nation’s annual International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Norm MacDonald’s birthday, Hawthorne’s passages from a relinquished work.
Bisexual Superman: A Subtext Finally, Happily Out of the Closet
Son of Kal-El will be out this November, and will feature Jon sharing a kiss with friend and online journalist Jay Nakamura. Apart from proving Superman has always had a thing for reporters, Jon expressing his sexuality is a watershed moment in the venerable franchise.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, October 16, 2021
Community Cats of Palm Coast celebrates the official Grand Opening of its adoption center and thrift store in the Alamo Business Center off U.S. 1, a few words about Noah Webster’s paradoxes, and a few lines from William Trevor.
Do Unbiased Jurors Exist in Social Media Age Anymore?
It’s a fundamental question for this era: Is it possible to find unbiased citizens to serve on a jury in high-profile cases during an age of ubiquitous social media? The dilemma facing the Supreme Court is how prescriptive they want the voir dire process to be. It could issue an opinion requiring lower courts to ask jurors more penetrating questions about their exposure to media accounts in high-profile cases.
Leon County Judge Refuses to Block Florida Law Banning Vaccine Passports
The ruling by Circuit Judge Layne Smith was a victory for Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has led efforts to prevent businesses from requiring customers to show proof they are vaccinated against Covid-19 — an issue that has become known as requiring vaccine passports.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, October 15, 2021
A free half-day conference on domestic violence, open to everyone, is at the Palm Coast Campus of Daytona State College. Bob Snyder, Paul Renner, Travis Hutson on Free for All Friday, and Roxane Gay on the problematic Dave Chappell.
No, Immigrants Don’t Reduce Natives’ Wages
Nobel Prize winner David Card combined a clever technique with data generated by a unique historical event to credibly answer how large-scale immigration from a poor country affects the wages of native-born citizens. It doesn’t hurt those wages.
Covid’s Impact on Students’ Mental Health Termed ‘Widespread and Deeply Concerning’
The turbulent and stressful Covid-19 crisis has impacted mental health issues, including instances of suicidal thoughts among students who have had to deal with the trauma of trying to learn during the pandemic.
Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism: Just Another Day at the NFL
The NFL’s Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen arrogantly believed that their comments would not enter into the public domain. Truth be told, they had ample reason to believe such a possible reality. For more than a decade the NFL gave them free rein to engage in such perverted, hyper levels of toxic masculinity.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, October 14, 2021
Another road closure, this one on Palm Coast Parkway, for beautification, Carla Cline gets the Flagler Beach City Commission’s appreciation, and Peter Beinart on what went wrong for Democrats.
What’s Behind All Those Empty Shelves in Stores
There are four primary – and interrelated – reasons for the continuing supply chain crunch, which won’t be resolved by the holidays: soaring consumer demand, a labor shortage, a shipping container shortage, and clogged ports.
For Republicans, It’s Still the Trump Show
For good or ill, Trump in retirement is the same force of nature he was as president. Republican leaders tread lightly around him, conscious of polls that show him by far the first choice of self-identified Republicans for the nomination, even as they worry he’s alienated so many voting blocs that his top of the ticket presence would drag down-ballot candidates to defeat.
Florida Wildlife Commission Wants $7 Million to Deal With Record 1,000-Manatee Deaths in State’s Polluted Waters
The state is approaching 1,000 manatee deaths this year, from a population estimated around 8,800, with a large number of the deaths linked to poor water quality along the East Coast. The main cause of the deaths has been starvation, as seagrass beds that are prime foraging areas for manatees in the Indian River Lagoon have declined because of repeated algae blooms over the past decade.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, October 13, 2021
The Public Safety Coordinating Council meets, as does Flagler Beach’s July 4 committee. Circuit Judge Terence Perkins holds pre-trial hearings, Robin McDonald wonders why one Palm Coast council member gets to act like an ass to fellow council members and nothing is done about it, though anyone else would be thrown out of the room.
On Refugees, Joe Biden Should Emulate Canada: Go Big
The capacity of private American citizens to resettle refugees is large and untapped. It may even bridge the divide over immigration in the United States. Now is the time for Biden to ask the American people to invite homeless and war-ravaged Afghan refugees into their homes and their communities.
U.S. School Boards Association Asks Biden for Better Security at Meetings. Florida Association Says Count Us Out.
The Florida School Boards Association is refusing to pay membership dues to the National School Boards Association after the Washington, D.C.-based organization wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden’s administration that the country’s “public schools and its education leaders are under an immediate threat.”
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Bring your earplugs, Xanax and crackerjack: The Palm Coast City Council is in workshop starting at 9 a.m. at City Hall. The council will also discuss a proposal to annually write off 75 percent of Ground Up’s municipal property taxes for five years, as long as the company maintains 25 employees and spends the money on specified community related benefits.
We’re Finally Decreasing Child Poverty. Let’s Not Blow It.
Expanded Child Tax Credit payments led to “a notable drop in child poverty” after just the first month. The U.S. Census Bureau also found that after just one month, food insecurity among vulnerable families dropped significantly, and families receiving checks also had less difficulty paying for weekly expenses.
Why It’s Time to Replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day
Since the 1990s, a growing number of states have begun to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day – a holiday meant to honor the culture and history of the people living in the Americas both before and after Columbus’ arrival.
4 Months Late, Last in Nation, Florida Submits Plan to Feds on How It’ll Spend $2.3 Billion in School Covid Relief Funds
Back in March, the Biden administration announced that $122 billion dollars nationwide was available for schools from the American Rescue Plan act, with two thirds of the money immediately available to states and the remaining third contingent on the U.S. Department of Education’s approval of a state plan indicating how the funds will be used.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, October 11, 2021
The Bunnell City Commission annexes a few more acres, students are off today, it’s Genocide Day–otherwise still known as Columbus Day in more indifferent climes, and Voltaire has a little advice on old age.
The Nobels: Maria Ressa Speaks Blogging to Power
The importance of journalists who take considerable risks to bring people the truth in countries where this involves going up against authoritarian governments has been recognized by the Nobel committee’s decision to award the 2021 peace prize to Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, October 10, 2021
AdventHealth Palm Coast’s virtual 5K run for breast-cancer awareness, the Creekside Music and Arts Festival’s last day, the two Americas, Kevin McCarthy on his us-v-them America.
The Nobels: Abdulrazak Gurnah, the Man and his Writing
Abdulrazak Gurnah is one of the most important contemporary postcolonial novelists writing in Britain today and is the first Black African writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature since Wole Soyinka in 1986. Gurnah is also the first Tanzanian writer to win.
DeSantis Makes Unfounded Claim About Federal Help Under Biden Compared to Trump
The governor marked the near-three-year anniversary of Hurricane Michael to indulge nostalgia for the Donald Trump presidency, when he enjoyed a close connection to the White House, and to criticize the Joe Biden presidency, which he implied is hostile to Florida.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, October 9, 2021
It’s all about the Creekside Music and Arts Festival today at Princess Place Preserve, plus a little more “Peril” from Bob Woodward.
Biden Restores Protection for National Monuments Trump Shrank
On Oct. 7, 2021, the Interior Department announced that President Biden was restoring protection for three U.S. national monuments that the Trump administration sought to shrink drastically: Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts in the Atlantic Ocean. President Trump’s 2017 orders downsizing these monuments, originally created by previous administrations, ignited debate over whether such action was legal.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, October 8, 2021
The Nobel Prize for Peace is announced, the Creekside Music and Arts Festival returns at Princess Place, Richard Dunn is back in court, his freedom in the balance, Gen. Mark Milley gives Stephen Miller a piece of his mind.
How Facebook’s ‘Dangerous’ Algorithms Can Manipulate You
Social media platforms rely heavily on people’s behavior to decide on the content that you see. In particular, they watch for content that people respond to or “engage” with by liking, commenting and sharing. Troll farms, organizations that spread provocative content, exploit this by copying high-engagement content and posting it as their own, which helps them reach a wide audience.
Florida Democrats Unveil Sweeping Energy Plan to Tackle Climate Change, but GOP Support Is Doubtful
A group of Democratic lawmakers unveiled an energy-efficiency plan this week that would reward farmers for conserving energy, assess energy efficiency in state-funded buildings, and create “floating solar” systems – among other projects.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, October 7, 2021
The 2021 Nobel Prize for literature is announced early this morning, the rezoning listening tour has its final stop at Buddy Taylor Middle School at 6 p.m., Rousseau on Protestant and Catholic critical thinking.
Should You Have to Conceal Your Gun? Supreme Court May Soon Say No.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, expected by mid-2022, could declare a New York state restriction on carrying concealed handguns in public places unconstitutional. Such a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, which include a National Rifle Association affiliate, could loosen gun regulations in many parts of the country.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, October 6, 2021
The Palm Coast Code Enforcement Board meets, Facebook down, John McWhorter on “They,” Malcolm X doesn’t want you to pat him on his back.
The Brutal Slave Trade Within the US Has Been Largely Whitewashed Out of History
Slavery still conjures images of Southern farms and plantations. But the institution was grounded in the sales of nearly 2 million human beings in the domestic slave trade, the profits from which nurtured the economy of the entire country.
Will Democrats Get Their Act Together?
This is not the New Deal or Great Society era, when Democrats had power in numbers. The current era requires “an honest embrace of what the politics of the moment will accept,” if only to prevent a return of the cult that doesn’t give two figs about governing.
Worker Shortage Puts Florida Group Homes in ‘Survival Mode’
For some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens who receive around-the-clock care in residential facilities, the competition for workers is having dire consequences.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, October 5, 2021
The Flagler County School Board meets in workshop to go over its meeting agenda later this month. The Palm Coast City Council will approve next year’s cultural arts grants. Jean-Francois Revel on the cult of ignorance.
The Dishonesties of Cherry-Picking Bible Verses
Many Bible verses are being lifted out of context and repurposed to buttress the anti-vaccine movement. Such shallow reading in service of political and cultural agendas has long been a fixture of evangelical Christianity.
Casey DeSantis Is Diagnosed with Breast Cancer
The governor issued a statement Monday about the diagnosis, though the statement did not provide details about issues such as the type of breast cancer, the stage or treatment. Casey DeSantis, 41, is the mother of three children under age 5.
Covid Is Killing Rural Americans at Twice the Rate of Urbanites
Rural Americans are dying of covid at more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts — a divide that health experts say is likely to widen as access to medical care shrinks for a population that tends to be older, sicker, heavier, poorer and less vaccinated.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, October 4, 2021
The Flagler County Commission considers allowing marinas along the Intracoastal and hears updates on the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club and the dunes project in Flagler Beach.
Sex Trafficking Isn’t What You Think: 4 Myths Debunked
Law enforcement, medical providers, case managers, victim advocates and immigration lawyers inconsistently define and apply the label “trafficking victim” – especially when it comes to sex trafficking. That makes it harder for these professionals to get trafficked people the help they request.
The Lie About Border Patrol Agents Whipping Haitians
There are no photos of agents whipping migrants. Nor is there any video, in an age when there’s video of everything. The photographer, Paul Ratje, who took the controversial images to which the president and his acolytes refer, told KTSM TV in El Paso that he never saw agents whipping anyone.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, October 3, 2021
Why the January 6 insurrection was far worse than we knew and what Democrats should do to prevent a rerun. Sally Rooney on if we have to go to our death for the greater good of humankind.
Pot Products Are Being Sold as Sleeping Aids. Do They Help?
As with many issues in research, there isn’t a neat answer to how effective cannabis is in improving sleep. How the drug is prepared, the way it’s taken and the person’s expectations are just some important factors that may influence the outcome. And, as with all health products, there is a risk of side-effects.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, October 2, 2021
A fall book sale at the Flagler County Public Library, including DVDs, Phileas Fogg Wager Day, Gen. Milley’s little big men, and a few thoughts from Graham Greene.
Supreme Court’s Docket: Guns, Abortion, Religion
The biggest case this year is a challenge to abortion rights. Several states are asking the justices to reconsider Roe v. Wade – the landmark 1973 ruling that established the constitutional right for a woman to terminate a pregnancy, regardless of the moral beliefs of other citizens.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, October 1, 2021
Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt explains on WNZF why a doubling of school impact fees is necessary, Judge Perkins holds a status hearing on the increasingly bizarre Richard Dunn, Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiment.