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Weather: Showers and thunderstorms. Locally heavy rainfall possible. Highs in the mid 80s. East winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90 percent.
Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy. Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly in the evening. Lows in the mid 70s. East winds 5 to 10 mph. 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 Daytona Beach (a few minutes off from Flagler Beach) here.
- tropical cyclone activity here, and even more details here.
Today at a Glance:
Elks Lodge 2709 is holding its annual 911 ceremony at 8 a.m. at the lodge’s outdoor 9/11 Memorial at 53 Old kings Road, Palm Coast. The ceremony will consist of a parade, dignitary’s speeches and a wreath-laying ceremony. The general public is invited to have coffee and donuts prior to the ceremony. The Wednesday buffet that day will also be made available to the public after the ceremony for $15 per person. For further information please contact Heather Thompson of HT Production Company at [email protected].
River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee meets at 9 a.m. at the Airline Room at the Daytona Beach International Airport. The TPO’s planning oversight includes all of Volusia County and the developed areas of eastern Flagler County including Beverly Beach and Flagler Beach as well as portions of the cities of Palm Coast and Bunnell, with board member representation from each of those jurisdictions. The committee is responsible for reviewing plans, policies, and procedures and rank priority projects as they relate to bicycle and pedestrian issues within the TPO planning area. See the full agendas here. To join the meeting electronically, go 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 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]
The Circle of Light Course in Miracles study group meets at a private residence in Palm Coast every Wednesday at 1:20 PM. There is a $2 love donation that goes to the store for the use of their room. If you have your own book, please bring it. All students of the Course are welcome. There is also an introductory group at 1:00 PM. The group is facilitated by Aynne McAvoy, who can be reached at [email protected] for location and information.
 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: J. Michael Luttig is not a mild conservative. He was considered a front-runner for a Supreme Court seat during the second Bush years until he resigned his seat on an appeals court and flew with Boeing as the company’s general counsel and one of its vice presidents. But if you want Central Casting to serve up a principled conservative, he’s it. His appearance at the Aspen Institute shows why, particularly his description of Mike Pence’s until-then little-known prevarications over whether to go to the Senate on Jan. 6, as Trump’s goons battering the Capitol. It was Pence’s son, it appears, in an accidental conversation, who convinced him to stop prevaricating–after Pence had decided not to go. Luttig tells the story almost at the halfway point of the interview. “Oh my God. America came within that much of a revolution, and we had never known that,” Luttig told his wife when he learned of Pence’s equivocations until the last minute. He doesn’t say this, which fits on this day: America had never come anywhere close to that much of a “revolution” that Sept. 11. It was a horrific day and an atrocity, but it was never a day that put the country or its institutions in question, and nothing those 19 nothings did came close to the undoing that Trump almost brought about. But here we are, less than two months from an election when he will pick up exactly where he left off on Jan. 6. No box cutter necessary. He’ll do it by the ballot box, with the electorate’s blessing. Luttig, incidentally, who retired from Boeing in 2019, has endorsed Harris.
—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 County Drug Court Convenes
Flagler County Canvassing Board Meeting
Story Time for Preschoolers at Flagler Beach Public Library
Flagler Tiger Bay Club Guest Speaker: Carlos M. Cruz
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Town Center
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.
Almost four years ago now, on January 6, 2021, a stake was driven through the heart of America’s Democracy, and on that day American Democracy was left teetering on a knife’s edge. On that day, the prescribed day for choosing the American president, there was not a peaceful transfer of power in the United States of America — for the first time in the almost 250 years since the Founding of the Nation. As a consequence of the former president’s continued denial of that appalling day, and his defiance of America’s Democracy to this day almost four years later, millions of Americans still believe that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from the former president, despite the fact that he lost that election fair and square in what has been proven over and over to have been the freest, fairest, and most accurate election in American history. Because of the former president’s continued, knowingly false claims that he won the 2020 election, millions of Americans no longer have faith and confidence in our national elections, and many never will again. Because of the former president’s knowingly false claims, many Americans — especially young Americans, tragically — have even begun to question whether constitutional democracy is the best form of self-government for America. The 2020 presidential election of course was not “stolen” from the former president and he knows that. It was the former president who attempted to steal the 2020 presidential election from the American People, not they from him. To attempt to steal an election in the United States of America is to attempt to steal America’s Democracy. For the former president to continue to persist in the knowingly false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him is a profound affront to American Democracy and to the Constitution of the United States — an affront without any precedent in all of American history. […] America’s two political parties are the political guardians of American Democracy. Regrettably, in the presidential election of 2024 there is only one political party and one candidate for the presidency that can claim the mantle of defender and protector of America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law. As a result, I will unhesitatingly vote for the Democratic Party’s candidate for the Presidency of the United States, Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. In voting for Vice President Harris, I assume that her public policy views are vastly different from my own, but I am indifferent in this election as to her policy views on any issues other than America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law, as I believe all Americans should be.
–From J. Michael Luttig’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, Aug. 19, 2024.
Ray W. says
According to Forbes, former President Trump and current President Biden are both partially responsible for the inflation inflicted on the nation over the past four years:
“Some economists have noted presidents themselves can’t really be solely blamed for inflation, since its often a worldwide phenomenon caused by a variety of factors, including the independent Federal Reserve’s influence over interest rates, though at the same time, presidential fiscal policies (such as pandemic stimulus packages under both Trump and Biden) can be among the factors that contribute to inflation.
“Trump has cited the tie-breaking Senate vote Harris cast to advance the American Rescue Plan Act in blaming her for inflation — many experts agree the post-pandemic stimulus packages signed by Trump and Biden contributed to inflation by leading to a spike in demand while supply chains were still hampered by the pandemic, but the supply chain shortages, coupled with the Russia-Ukraine war, were more significant factors.”
Make of this what you will. Me? The pandemic is the primary cause of upward trend in inflation in the months following the international upheaval of economies. Secondary causes include Trump and Biden signing into law $5.9 trillion in unfunded stimulus money, plus supply chain shortages and the Russo-Ukrainian War. It seems to me that it is becoming more and more clear that supply chain issues caused much of the inflation we so dislike, but it is also becoming more and more clear that Trudenomics also led to Trudenflation, but both of these factors appear nothing more than responses to the main driver of inflation: the world-wide economic effect of the pandemic.
Is it fair to argue that any “pestilential” partisan member of faction who claims that any one politician is the primary cause of inflation is a fool? A fool who is unable to understand how the economic world actually works?