The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, December 7, 2023

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Weather: Patchy frost in the morning. Sunny. Highs in the mid 60s. North winds 5 to 10 mph, becoming northeast in the afternoon. Thursday Night: Mostly clear in the evening, then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows in the upper 40s. Northeast winds around 5 mph. See the daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.

Today at a Glance:
The Palm Coast Beautification and Environmental Advisory Committee meets at 5 p.m. at City Hall.

One Night in Memphis, created and directed by John Mueller at Flagler Auditorium, 5500 State Road 100, Palm Coast, 7 p.m. It is the number one booked and critically acclaimed tribute to legendary Sun Records recording artists Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley, performed live and starring former cast members of the Broadway smash, “Million Dollar Quartet.” Over 90 minutes of authentic rockabilly, country, gospel, and 1950s rock and roll. The San Francisco Examiner raves, “An Amazing Show!” The show has an ever-growing list of sold-out performances, outstanding reviews, and a great social media presence and fan base. Be a witness to and experience rock and roll royalty with the music and talent that has stood the test of time. True American music featuring acclaimed national talent will get you rocking and rolling. There’s a whole lot of shakin’ going on! Book tickets here.

Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center: Nightly from 6 to 9 p.m. at Palm Coast’s Central Park, with 55 lighted displays you can enjoy with a leisurely stroll around the pond in the park. Admission to Fantasy Lights is free, but donations to support Rotary’s service work are gladly accepted. Holiday music will pipe through the speaker system throughout the park, Santa’s Village, which has several elf houses for the kids to explore, will be open, with Santa’s Merry Train Ride nightly (weather permitting), and Santa will be there every Sunday night until Christmas, plus snow on weekends! On certain nights, live musical performances will be held on the stage.

In Coming Days:

Dec. 23: Culmination of toy drive for Toys for Tots at AW Custom Kitchens, European Village, starting at 11 a.m. A drawing for all eligible participants will take place at 2 p.m. Anyone who will have donated toys for the drive will have a chance to win various items, including a 65-inch 4K Smart TV, an Apple iPad, a pair of Apple Air Pods, and gift cards from the co-sponsors of the event. Fifty such cards have been donated. With proof of a voucher, donors also will receive a free hot dog, a free drink, a free popcorn, a free cotton candy, and a free snow cone. There will be a variety of fun things to do such as a bouncy house for children in thanks to the community for its generosity. See details here. 

Now this:

The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.

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For the full calendar, go here.

It is remarkable to consider that television — the medium for which I am most well-known — did not even exist when I was born, in 1922. The internet came along decades later, and then social media. We have seen that each of these technologies can be put to destructive use — spreading lies, sowing hatred and creating the conditions for authoritarianism to take root. But that is not the whole story. Innovative technologies create new ways for us to express ourselves, and, I hope, will allow humanity to learn more about itself and better understand one another’s ideas, failures and achievements. These technologies have also been used to create connection, community and platforms for the kind of ideological sparring that might have drawn Archie to a keyboard. I can only imagine the creative and constructive possibilities that technological innovation might offer us in solving some of our most intractable problems. I often feel disheartened by the direction that our politics, courts and culture are taking. But I do not lose faith in our country or its future. I remind myself how far we have come. I think of the brilliantly creative people I have had the pleasure to work with in entertainment and politics, and at People for the American Way, a progressive group I co-founded to defend our freedoms and build a country in which all people benefit from the blessings of liberty. Those encounters renew my belief that Americans will find ways to build solidarity on behalf of our values, our country and our fragile planet.

—Norman Lear, from a column on his 100th birthday in The New York Times, July 27, 2022.

 

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