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Weather: Sunny. Highs in the upper 60s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear in the evening, then becoming partly cloudy. Not as cool with lows in the lower 50s. Northeast winds around 5 mph. See the daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
Today at a Glance:
In Court: The trial of Donald Andrew Sharp continues before Circuit Judge Terence Perkins in Courtroom 401 at the Flagler County Courthouse. Sharp faces several capital felonies–he would face life in prison, not death, if convicted–on accusations that he raped his 8 and 9 year old cousin when he babysat her in Palm Coast, and directed her slightly older brother to molest her. See: “In Trial’s Opening, Prosecution Describes Andrew Sharp, 22, as Babysitter Turned Sexual Predator on His Own Young Cousins.”
Palm Coast Open: A USTA Pro Circuit Event: At the Palm Coast Tennis Center, 1290 Belle Terre Parkway, Palm Coast. Check daily schedules here. In its 13th year, the Palm Coast Open features elite men’s tennis played on our hometown stage. Competitors worldwide travel to Palm Coast for a chance at winning a total of $15,000 in prize money and points toward their ATP ranking, a merit-based method to determine tournament entry and seeding based on men’s tennis rankings.
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.
Valentine’s Day Marriage Ceremony: The Flagler County Clerk of Court and staff host the traditional Valentine’s Day group wedding ceremony on the steps of the county courthouse, at noon. The ceremony is led by Clerk of Court Tom Bexley. See: “‘Stress-Free’ Valentine’s Day Mass Wedding at the Courthouse Returns With 13 Couples.”
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]
Stayin’ Alive: One Night of the Bee Gees, at Flagler Auditorium, 7 p.m., Flagler Auditorium, 5500 State Road 100, Palm Coast. $54 to $64, book here. STAYIN’ ALIVE offers to their audiences the songs and sights of a full Bee Gees play list, singing blockbusters such as “Night Fever,” “Jive Talkin’,” “How Deep Is Your Love,” “You Should Be Dancing,” “Nights on Broadway,” and “Stayin’ Alive.” In addition, they perform softer poetic ballads such as “I Started a Joke,” “Massachusetts,” “Fanny Be Tender,” “Words,” and “To Love Somebody,” among other great hits. STAYIN’ ALIVE is the largest and most definitive production, offering big-screen video clips, photos, and dazzling imagery. STAYIN’ ALIVE has played intimate settings as a six-piece band and huge venues with a 62-piece orchestra. STAYIN’ ALIVE is the quintessential tribute band to the Bee Gees, capturing the excitement of live performance and the tender subtleties of the human voice.
 Keep Their Lights On Over the Holidays: Flagler Cares, the social service non-profit celebrating its 10th anniversary, is marking the occasion with a fund-raiser to "Keep the Holiday Lights On" by encouraging people to sponsor one or more struggling household's electric bill for a month over the Christmas season. Each sponsorship amounts to $100 donation, with every cent going toward payment of a local power bill. See the donation page here. Every time another household is sponsored, a light goes on on top of a house at Flagler Cares' fundraising page. The goal of the fun-raiser, which Flagler Cares would happily exceed, is to support at least 100 families (10 households for each of the 10 years that Flagler Cares has been in existence). Flagler Cares will start taking applications for the utility fund later this month. Because of its existing programs, the organization already has procedures in place to vet people for this type of assistance, ensuring that only the needy qualify. |
Notably: Haaretz, the Israeli daily, the only English-language daily that seriously challenges the current Zionist-Israeli dogma of Israeli infallibility–the dogma that prevails, at the risk of losing one’s job if challenged, in American media and beyond–ran a column a few days ago by a Gaza resident it simply identified as Abdullah, for a reason made obvious in the headline: “Writing these words in Gaza could cost me my life.” Abdullah summarizes what we have long known about Hamas: it is a regressive, death-cult organization that thinks of Gaza’s civilians pretty much as Lenin thought of Russians on the way to establishing his supreme Soviet: everyone is expandable for the ultimate goal. “But Hamas isn’t the only extremist religious movement endangering us,” Abdullah writes. “After years of a political dead end, the extremists on both sides have strengthened.
They both promote the idea that the other side is made up solely of enemies who deserve to die. In Israel too there are people filled with hatred and racism who are hostile to the most basic human values such as free-dom, equality, justice and democracy. And they use religion to ignite wars and profit from them. It’s true that the Palestinians in general refuse to see the differences and diversity of Israeli society. […] But Israeli society, in turn, refuses to see Palestinian pluralism. Israel doesn’t distinguish between the organization that’s fighting it and the people. All are enemies in its eyes. All should be wiped out. The truth is, we view Israel in the same way, which is why the bloodshed will never stop without a just and comprehensive political solution.” In the end it’s not complicated. It’s not an intractable conflict. It hasn’t been going on forever. It’s a land dispute, and a battle over identity, and rights. But it is cluttered by biblical noise, by racism, by stereotype. None of that is on its way out. There is no Israeli leader, let alone a Palestinian leader (Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank, is a mass of corruption) who could show the way, as Shimon Peres had, as Anwar Sadat had (though Sadat did it at the expense of Palestinians). Maybe with the exception of Marwan Barghouti. But Marwan Barghouti is rotting in an Israeli prison, and the Israelis, who know he has that Nelson Mendela potential, aren’t about to release him.
—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.
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Al-Anon Family Groups
For the full calendar, go here.
Having spent the last 15 years in an Israeli prison, I have been both a witness to and a victim of Israel’s illegal system of mass arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners. […] Decades of experience have proved that Israel’s inhumane system of colonial and military occupation aims to break the spirit of prisoners and the nation to which they belong, by inflicting suffering on their bodies, separating them from their families and communities, using humiliating measures to compel subjugation. In spite of such treatment, we will not surrender to it. Israel, the occupying power, has violated international law in multiple ways for nearly 70 years, and yet has been granted impunity for its actions. It has committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions against the Palestinian people; the prisoners, including men, women and children, are no exception. I was only 15 when I was first imprisoned. I was barely 18 when an Israeli interrogator forced me to spread my legs while I stood naked in the interrogation room, before hitting my genitals. I passed out from the pain, and the resulting fall left an everlasting scar on my forehead. The interrogator mocked me afterward, saying that I would never procreate because people like me give birth only to terrorists and murderers. […] Over the past five decades, according to the human rights group Addameer, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel — equivalent to about 40 percent of the Palestinian territory’s male population. […] Israel has established a dual legal regime, a form of judicial apartheid, that provides virtual impunity for Israelis who commit crimes against Palestinians, while criminalizing Palestinian presence and resistance. Israel’s courts are a charade of justice, clearly instruments of colonial, military occupation. According to the State Department, the conviction rate for Palestinians in the military courts is nearly 90 percent. […] Israel is not the first occupying or colonial power to resort to such expedients. Every national liberation movement in history can recall similar practices. This is why so many people who have fought against oppression, colonialism and apartheid stand with us. The International Campaign to Free Marwan Barghouti and All Palestinian Prisoners that the anti-apartheid icon Ahmed Kathrada and my wife, Fadwa, inaugurated in 2013 from Nelson Mandela’s former cell on Robben Island has enjoyed the support of eight Nobel Peace Prize laureates, 120 governments and hundreds of leaders, parliamentarians, artists and academics around the world. Their solidarity exposes Israel’s moral and political failure. Rights are not bestowed by an oppressor.”
–From Marwan Barghouti’s “Why We Are on Hunger Strike in Israel’s Prisons,” The New York Times, April 16, 2017.
Pogo says
@Lest we forget those who were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day in 2018
These are the victims of the Florida school (Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School) shooting
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/us/florida-shooting-victims-school/index.html