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Weather: Sunny. Much cooler with highs in the lower 60s. Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy. Lows in the lower 40s. See the daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
Today at a Glance:
Qualifying period for Flagler Beach and Bunnell municipal elections: The qualifying period for both municipal elections, to be held on March 19, is this week, from Monday, Jan. 8 at 9 a.m. to Friday, Jan. 12 at 5 p.m. in Flagler Beach, noon in Bunnell. In Flagler Beach, the mayor’s seat and one commission seat, that of Eric Cooley, are up. One candidate has filed so far for the mayor’s seat (Patricia Louise King), two have filed for the commission seat (Robert Cunningham and Doug Bruno O’Connor).
The Public Safety Coordinating Council meets at 8:45 at the Emergency Operations Center, 1769 E. Moody Blvd., Bldg. 3, Bunnell. See the full agenda here.
The Texas Tenors, 7 p.m. at Flagler Auditorium, 5500 State Road 100, Palm Coast. The Texas Tenors have amassed a huge fan base worldwide, with over half a million followers on social media and over 20 million views on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. They are Billboard Magazine’s #10 Classical Artists in the World for 2019. With impressive live ticket sales tracked by Pollstar, they are considered the most successful touring group in the history of America’s Got Talent. The Texas Tenors appeared on the most recent season of NBC’s national hit television show America’s Got Talent: The Champions. After airing worldwide, their fan base grew even larger than before. As consummate professionals, these three friends with a simple All-American dream have proven their impact will be long-lasting as their popularity grows. They have performed over 1400 live concerts in just the last ten years. With concerts at performing arts centers, casinos, symphony halls, outdoor festivals, and major corporate events, The Texas Tenors have shown they truly possess that rare, ever-sought-after quality – mass appeal. Tickets are $54 to $64. Book here.
Separation Chat, Open Discussion: The Atlantic Chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State hosts an open, freewheeling discussion on the topic here in our community, around Florida and throughout the United States, noon to 1 p.m. at its new location, Pine Lakes Golf Club Clubhouse Pub & Grillroom (no purchase is necessary), 400 Pine Lakes Pkwy, Palm Coast (0.7 miles from Belle Terre Parkway). Call (386) 445-0852 for best directions. All are welcome! Everyone’s voice is important. For further information email [email protected] or call Merrill at 804-914-4460.
Weekly Chess Club for Teens, Ages 9-18, at the Flagler County Public Library: Do you enjoy Chess, trying out new moves, or even like some friendly competition? Come visit the Flagler County Public Library at the Teen Spot every Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m. for Chess Club. Everyone is welcome, for beginners who want to learn how to play all the way to advanced players. For more information contact the Youth Service department 386-446-6763 ext. 3714 or email us at [email protected]
In Coming Days:
Saturday, January 13: Keep Palm Coast Clean: It’s a Litter-ALL Effort: You can make a difference and be part of the collective effort to keep our city litter-free. Join the City of Palm Coast for the “Keep Palm Coast Clean” litter pick-up event on Saturday, January13th, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Volunteers will meet at the Public Works Department located at 1 Wellfield Grade, just off US-1. Multiple roadways are designated as focus areas for the event. See the list here. There will be awards. The city will provide: Litter-Ready Gloves, Eco-Friendly Trash Bags, Refreshments to Fuel Your Effort, Safety Measures for a Litter-Free Day. The schedule:
8 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Briefing & introduction along with location assignments
9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. On-site cleanup
12 p.m. – Closing Ceremony to Celebrate a Litter-Free Victory
The event is FREE to participate in and we’re actively seeking volunteers, like you, who want to make a difference in our community! Individuals or groups interested in volunteering can send an email to [email protected].
Notably: It is Palm Coast Observer Publisher Brian McMillan’s 43rd birthday today. You can wish him a Happy Birthday here. Here he is, sharing the latest on FlaglerLive with the Palm Coast Historical Society’s Reichard-Ellavsky: he never loses his moral compass. Happy Birthday Brian, though I didn’t realize he was born so recently: 1980! I mean, we were already bemoaning the potential horror of a Reagan presidency. The Soviets were getting clobbered in Afghanistan. The 50 American hostages in Tehran were in their 67th day of captivity, which means Ted Koppel’s star was rising every night with what would become Nightline, and I was a sophomore at the United Nations International School in New York, that jewel on the East River, where, back then, we could still, in the dead of winter, see the occasional mini iceberg float down the river on the coldest days during homeroom. So Brian is a Jimmy Carter baby: fitting, since Carter was our most conservative Democratic president since Wilson, and almost as preachy, but the opposite of Wilson’s bigotry. Really, when it comes down to it, Wilson was a dick, pure and simple. Brian doesn’t like cussing, but in these United States of Amnesia, with another supreme dick getting ready to reclaim what we still call the presidency, but ought better be referred to as a neo-monarchy, the least forgetting, the better. It also helps to remember that for all the dicks in Disney’s Hall of Presidents, and there have been so many–the non-dicks are the exception, when you think of it: even Washington had a dickish side that, say, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe did not, in that Era of Good Feelings, but that Andy Jackson certainly did, as did the many who followed him, with the Lincoln exception always standing tall among them. No wonder Abe was depressed all the time. If John Wilkes Booth hadn’t gotten him, he’d have blown his own brains out before his second term was up. No one could blame him. God had treated him more shittily than Job. Taking his son? Saddling him with goddamn confederates, that crazy wife of his, and Andrew Johnson? who wouldn’t blow his brains out? For the record: I love Jimmy Carter. Loved him then. Love him now. As Robert Graves would say: despite and still. The United States would have been a better nation, the world would have been a better place, Uranus would have been less gassy, had he been re-elected, and Reagan sent back to his movie lot, which he never left anyway. like I said Brian: Happy Birthday.
—P.T.
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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.
June 2025
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
Al-Anon Family Groups
Flagler County Commission Workshop
Flagler County Library Board of Trustees
Nar-Anon Family Group
Bunnell City Commission Meeting
For the full calendar, go here.
But if Wilson’s private convictions were really evolving from American progressivism to an international social-democratic point of view, the fact is not registered in his public policies. The last part of his career seems like the work of a somnambulist who repeats unerringly his appointed workday rounds while his mind moves in an insulated shadow world. If he believed his fine statements with the depth and emphasis with which he made them, he may well have accounted his career as a world statesman a series of failures. He appealed for neutrality in thought and deed, and launched upon a diplomatic policy that is classic for its partisanship. He said that American entrance into the war would be a world calamity, and led the nation in. He said that only a peace between equals would last, and participated in the Diktat of Versailles. He said that the future security of the world depended on removing the economic causes of war, and did not attempt even to discuss these causes at the Peace Conference. He declared his belief in the future of government ownership, and allowed his administration to close in a riot of reaction. He wanted desperately to bring the United States into the League, and launched on a course of action that made American participation impossible. No wonder that in one of his moments of apprehension he should have confessed to George Creel: “What I seem to see—with all my heart I hope that I am wrong—is a tragedy of disappointment.”
–From Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made it (1948).
Pogo says
@P.T.
Your comment and quote today were exemplary of the reason(s), so many attend you.
Regarding today’s cartoon, my first thought, after a sad smile, was that the coming summer will be as hell itself — more than ever.
FWIW — for 2¢
https://www.google.com/search?q=reason(s)
FlaPharmTech says
Heck yes. 2024 will be hell. We will fight it tho, and prevail!
Pogo says
@FlaPharmTech
I hope with all that I am that your prediction comes to pass.
Best regards,
Pogo