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Weather: Partly sunny. A chance of showers in the morning, then showers and thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. Highs around 90. Temperature falling into the mid 80s in the afternoon. Northeast winds around 5 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent. Monday Night: Mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms likely in the evening, then partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the lower 70s. Chance of rain 70 percent.
- Daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
- Drought conditions here. (What is the Keetch-Byram drought index?).
- Check today’s tides in Flagler Beach here.
- tropical cyclone activity here, and even more details here.
Today at a Glance:
In Court: Circuit Judge Terence Perkins hears pleas and imposes several sentences throughout the day.
Nar-Anon Family Groups offers hope and help for families and friends of addicts through a 12-step program, 6 p.m. at St. Mark by the Sea Lutheran Church, 303 Palm Coast Pkwy NE, Palm Coast, Fellowship Hall Entrance. See the website, www.nar-anon.org, or call (800) 477-6291. Find virtual meetings here.
 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: We’re losing our touch. Or did we lose it a long time ago? I recall (well, “recall” needs defining) seeing an article about Eisenhower’s farewell tour toward the end of his presidency in National Geographic. Obviously I recall the time when I saw that article in one of those eternal issues that linger in libraries all over the world years after the publication date, since I was not yet a glimmer in a gonad at the time of the tour in the late 1950s. (It was actually from the May 1960 issue, “When the President Goes Abroad,” written by Gilbert Grosvenor, the editor in chief.) One picture in particular: Eisenhower in a convertible (a convertible!) clearly very slowly making his way through throngs in the streets of Karachi. Karachi! As in Karachi, Pakistan. As in the city that beheaded Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter captured by Islamist terrorists of one sort or another. Karachi, where the State Department warns Americans against visiting. How times have changed. From Statista: The United States, “once a role model for democracy, is viewed in an increasingly negative light. According to the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Survey, the U.S. has lost its status as the shining light of democracy with the majority of respondents from 34 countries saying that the U.S. democracy is no longer or has never been a good example for other countries to follow. As our chart shows, respondents from France and Mexico were particularly critical of the U.S., as nearly 40 percent of respondents from both countries said that U.S. democracy has never been the shining example it’s often made out to be. In most countries, the United States’ reputation as a democracy has suffered in recent years, with more than 60 percent of respondents from Germany, the UK, Canada or Japan saying that the U.S. used to be a good example but hasn’t been in recent years.”
—P.T.
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Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Scenic A1A Pride Meeting
Blue 24 Forum
Acoustic Jam Circle At The Community Center In The Hammock
Flagler County’s Cold-Weather Shelter Opens
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
It’s Back! Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
For the full calendar, go here.
In the hands of [racist Darwinian missionary Josiah] Strong [Theodore] Roosevelt, and other expansionists, Manifest Destiny became practically indistinguishable, as a concept, from the imperialism being practiced by the nations of Europe. The contrast with the dominant ideas of a century earlier was striking. In the early days of the American republic, with France setting all Europe aflame with revolution, men like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson could well hope that democracy was destined to spread throughout the world. Theirs was a belief in the power of ideas-particularly in the idea of liberty. Theodore Roosevelt, President in an era when Europeans were using force to subjugate much of the globe, was wedded instead to the idea of power.
–From James MacGregor Burns’s The Workshop of Democracy (1985).
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Ray W. says
I argue that it wasn’t the power of ideas some much as it was the power of reason guided by intellectual rigor that drove our founding fathers to hope that for the first time in history, men (and women) could form a structure of government through reflection and choice that had never before successfully achieved permanence.
In the first paragraph of Federalist Paper #1, Hamilton posed what he called the “important” question:
“[W]hether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government by reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident or force.”
The Federalists who published their proposed Constitution opposed the exercise of power, which Hamilton termed “force.” They opposed “accident” of birth in royal governments. To them, the concept of checks and balances was to pit power against power. They never wanted one political party to ever gain unlimited political power for an indeterminate period of time.
Reason to be followed to whatever end it led them, regardless of party, was their polestar. Political power was not. Any judge who believes that one side should ever win fails to understand the original intent of our founding fathers. No one side is ever supposed to win. There was to be endless dispute, endless political clamor, endless “checks” on the other’s limited political powers, endless “balances” of political power against political power.
So, I propose an exercise in reason. In a recent Reuters article, the author addressed today’s higher prices:
“Even if price increases have been tamed by and large, higher prices are here to stay. Price level shocks don’t reverse, and even overall price drops from one month to the next are rare.
“Economists would argue that it wouldn’t even be healthy if they did, since deflation – a chronic drop in prices – can be even more corrosive to the economy than prices that rise too fast.
In fact guarding against deflation, and the falling wages and living standards that go with it, is why the central bank sets an inflation target to begin with.
“The Fed’s mandate from Congress is to keep prices ‘stable” While some have argued that implies no inflation, central banks globally feel a slow, steady rise in prices and wages – 2% is considered the norm for what amounts to background noise in the economy, though that is based more on intuition than formal modeling – keeps both households and businesses looking forward without distorting their decisions.”
Here’s the question: When FlaglerLive commenters clamor for a return to the $2.00 gasoline that they saw at the time of the onset of the pandemic when demand for gas plummeted and crude oil prices sank (I clamor for a return to the $1.49.9 gasoline I purchased during the Obama years), are they being realistic? Do they really prefer a deflationary economy, with all its potential dangers? The last time we experienced a deflationary economy, we ended up calling it the Great Depression. Would a deflationary economy really be better than a slightly and steadily rising inflationary economy? Would it be economically wise to return to an age of a McDonald’s cheeseburger costing 19 cents and a minimum wage of 1.25 per hour?
Skibum says
Ray, your question for all of us should be rhetorical, but I guess for some who don’t think things through to their logical conclusions might really beckon for earlier times and the actual cost of things back then. But there is no reality to being in the present time with the cost of things as they once were decades ago, and for anyone suggesting such, it would obviously put every worker in the poor house and close down ALL businesses nationwide. Yes, it would be wonderful if we could buy a home for $25,000 and drive to the gas station and fill up for $1.49 a gallon and then stop in at Micky D’s for a 19 cent hamburger in today’s world, until the entire business world all came crashing down around us.
Laurel says
For starters, Micky D’s ain’t worth $0.19 today!
Sherry says
Dear Ray,
I really appreciate your belief that everyone is capable of critical thinking/intellectual rigor. How very kind of you.
I cannot honestly say that I still have that same belief. I did expect more of may fellow citizens 25 years ago, when I last lived in the educated/enlightened/evolved culture of Marin county California while working in San Francisco for 20 years. I didn’t realize it then, but I lived in a highly educated, progressive society bubble.
When the passing of my mother took me back to my home state of Florida, I chose Flagler Beach for it’s small town feel and proximity to the sea. Over the 18 years I lived there as a retiree, my husband and I were able to travel to other countries extensively about 6 months out of every year by doing home and car exchanges. However, when Covid hit and we played it safe and stayed home, the “toxic” culture of extreme right winged Florida was impossible to ignore any longer. We were the proverbial “fish out of water” and very unhappy.
After returning to wonderful California two years ago, I now have the feeling of returning home, and a clear understanding of the differences in those two sharply contrasting cultures.
Consider the possibility that there are those like Jimbo and Dennis who are simply not prepared to do as we would all prefer . . . exercise enough research/reason/logic to allow us all to engage in a reasonable intellectual discussion. Please know that I am saying this, again, to myself as much as I am to you. Perhaps they are not capable because of their lack of IQ/education. It could be that they are too lazy. It also could be that they cannot find any credible facts to justify their rants and ramblings.
In any case, those us us calling for discussions based on intellectual rigor will likely continue to be frustrated by their obstinate refusal to move beyond their “emotional” stronghold of the fear and hate that comforts their innate insecurities. They are the offspring of Rupert Murdoch’s FOX empire, suckling at the teat of that sweet propaganda for most of this century.
Unfortunately, rehab services of any kind are extremely rare in Florida.
AJ says
Please stay in California, the toilet state”, por favor. Signed, the majority of Florida citizens
Sherry says
Thank you aj. . . we most certainly will! At least “this” toilet has been “FLUSHED”. . . LOL! LOL! LOL!
Laurel says
AJ: Do not assume you speak for others, you speak for yourself.
Sherry says
Right On Laurel! Thank You!
Laurel says
Ray W.: I do wonder how people expect to go back in time expensewise, but, we also need to consider that the average worker only gets raises that keep up with inflation, never really getting ahead. I believe that is completely intentional by the big corporations.
Meanwhile, it has been rigged by the 1-5%, since the 1970s, for their corporations to consolidate in order to monopolize a lack of competitive pricing, leaving the average American to pay up for food and gas. Have to love it; can’t really leave it. As one of the better Republicans (in my opinion) Mitt Romney said “Corporations are people my friends.”
You know I go after Publix quite a bit, and will continue to so, but there is no good excuse for, not just a couple items costing extra due to some sort of plague, but most items being shockingly expensive. Same with health care, not to mention a really *great* savings if you buy now, you can get $800.00 off on your new cell phone! Insane!
I agree with what you are saying and at the same time, I believe we are seriously manipulated.
YankeeExPat says
Dont cast your vote for Convicted Felons, Rapists, Hillbillies or Sovereign Citizens , ……..if you have a conscience ?
It’s time to step up and do the right thing my Christian Brethren………I speak as lapsed Catholic so take it or leave it
Conscience
: the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one’s own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good.
Sherry says
Thank you YankeeExPat! Have a wonderful day!
Sherry says
Just a small reminder of what the wages were in those wonderful 1950’s. . . just do the math:
The average salary was $3,300, which was $200 higher than in 1949. The median household income was $3,000. The federal minimum wage was $0.75 per hour. Union building trades workers’ hourly wages increased by 4.4% between July 1949 and July 1950.