To include your event in the Briefing and Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Weather: Mostly sunny. A chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning, then showers and thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 80s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent. Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening, then partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the lower 70s. Northeast winds around 5 mph. Chance of rain 50 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:
The Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at Wickline Park, 315 South 7th Street, featuring prepared food, fruit, vegetables , handmade products and local arts from more than 30 local merchants. The market is hosted by Flagler Strong, a non-profit.
Coffee With Commissioner Scott Spradley: Flagler Beach Commission Chairman Scott Spradley hosts his weekly informal town hall with coffee and doughnuts at 9 a.m. at his law office at 301 South Central Avenue, Flagler Beach. All subjects, all interested residents or non-residents welcome.
Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, 6400 North Oceanshore Blvd., Palm Coast, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Flowers, bushes and hard to find plants. The event is sponsored by the Friends of Washington Oaks. Regular entrance fee applies: $4 per vehicle with one person aboard, $5 for vehicles with more than one person.
American Association of University Women (AAUW) Monthly Meeting, 11 a.m. at Cypress Knoll Golf Club, 53 Easthampton Blvd, Palm Coast. A monthly speaker is featured. Lunch is available for $20 in cash, $21 by credit card, but must be ordered in advance. The lunch menu is available on our website. Lunch may be ordered by sending an email to: [email protected].
Jesus Christ Superstar at City Rep Theatre, 160 Cypress Point Parkway (City Marketplace, Suite B207), Palm Coast, $7:30 p.m. except on Sundays, when at 3 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults, $15 for students. Book here. One of the great rock musicals of all time takes us on a spiritual, emotional and provocative journey that enthralls, edifies and invigorates us. With an all female cast, the CRT production explores these compelling themes from a different perspective. The ride of a lifetime.
‘The Great American Trailer Park Musical’ at Daytona Playhouse, 100 Jessamine Blvd., Daytona Beach, 7:30 p.m. except Sundays at 2 p.m. There’s a new tenant at Armadillo Acres and she’s wreaking havoc all over Florida’s most exclusive trailer park. When a stripper on the run comes between the Dr. Phil–loving, agoraphobic and her husband, a storm brews. Directed by: Ashley King and Melissa Cargile.
Grace Community Food Pantry, 245 Education Way, Bunnell, drive-thru open today from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The food pantry is organized by Pastor Charles Silano and Grace Community Food Pantry, a Disaster Relief Agency in Flagler County. Feeding Northeast Florida helps local children and families, seniors and active and retired military members who struggle to put food on the table. Working with local grocery stores, manufacturers, and farms we rescue high-quality food that would normally be wasted and transform it into meals for those in need. The Flagler County School District provides space for much of the food pantry storage and operations. Call 386-586-2653 to help, volunteer or donate.
 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: That was The Economist’s cover last week. In 2013, there were 32,893 fatalities on America’s roads. Last year: 40,990, a 25 percent increase. That’s not just because we have more cars on the same number of roads. The rate has increased, too, from 1.1 fatality per million vehicle mile traveled to 1.26. In Florida, we had 2,402 fatalities in 2013. In 2023, we had 3,436, a 43 percent increase. The American rate is the highest of any industrialized country, Florida’s way worse than that. An Economist editorial: “The next time you are stuck in traffic, look around you. Not at the cars, but the passengers. If you are in America, the chances are that one in 75 of them will be killed by a car—most of those by someone else’s car. Wherever you may be, the folk cocooned in a giant SUV or pickup truck are likelier to survive a collision with another vehicle. But the weight of their machines has a cost, because it makes the roads more dangerous for everyone else. The Economist has found that, for every life the heaviest 1% of SUVs or trucks saves in America, more than a dozen lives are lost in smaller vehicles. This makes traffic jams an ethics class on wheels. Each year cars kill roughly 40,000 people in America—and not just because it is a big place where people love to drive. The country’s roads are nearly twice as dangerous per mile driven as those in the rest of the rich world. Deaths there involving cars have increased over the past decade, despite the introduction of technology meant to make driving safer. Weight is to blame. Using data for 7.5m crashes in 14 American states in 2013-23, we found that for every 10,000 crashes the heaviest vehicles kill 37 people in the other car, compared with 5.7 for cars of a median weight and just 2.6 for the lightest. The situation is getting worse. In 2023, 31% of new cars in America weighed over 5,000lb (2.27 tonnes), compared with 22% in 2018. The number of pedestrians killed by cars has almost doubled since 2010. Although a typical car is 25% lighter in Europe and 40% lighter in Japan, electrification will add weight there too, exacerbating the gap between the heaviest vehicles and the lightest. The Ford F-150 Lightning weighs around 40% more than its petrol-engine cousin, because of the battery that moves all those lithium ions from cathode to anode.”
View this profile on Instagram
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
For the full calendar, go here.
The height and width of the typical SUV make it hard for car drivers behind it to see the road ahead, increasing the chance that they will be unable to avoid a crash, especially a multi-vehicle pileup. The stiff, truck-like underbody of an SUV does little to absorb the force of collisions with trees and other roadside objects. Its size increases traffic congestion, because car drivers tend to give sport utility vehicles a lot of room, so fewer vehicles can get through each green light at an intersection. Most of the nation’s roadside guardrails were built for low-riding cars, and may flip an SUV on impact instead of deflecting it safely back into its lane of traffic. The trucklike brakes and suspensions of SUVs mean that their stopping distances are longer than for a family car, making it less likely that an SUV driver will be able to stop before hitting a car. And when SUVs do hit pedestrians, they strike them high on the body, inflicting worse injuries than cars, which have low bumpers that flip pedestrians onto the relatively soft hood. For all their deadliness to other motorists, SUVs are no safer than cars for their own occupants. Indeed, they are less safe. The occupant death rate per million SUVs is actually 6 percent higher than the occupant death rate per million cars. The biggest SUVs, which pose the greatest hazards to other motorists, have an 8 percent higher death rate for their occupants than minivans and the larger midsize cars like the Ford Taurus and Pontiac Grand Prix.’ How is this possible? SUV occupants simply die differently, being much more likely than car occupants to die in rollovers, as well as being much more likely to send other drivers to the grave.
–From Keith Bradsher’s High and Mighty: SUVs: The World’s Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way (2002).
Ed P says
The Harris strategy is working. With only 51 days to the election and early voting starting in 9 days, she will not risk exposing her far left radical ideology that has permeated her entire public career. She doesn’t want another debate. The next media event scheduled is with the hard nosed Oprah Winfrey.
The Harris/Walz plans for the United States has not yet been exposed. Just Harris’ economic policies should send shivers up our spines. The down payment for first time home buyers, increases in long term capital gains tax, individual marginal tax brackets, unrealized capital gains tax, and corporate income tax increases. Regressive at best and they add head winds to the economy and won’t just affect the rich.
Secondly, maybe even more importantly, foreign policy along with open borders are paramount to every American.
Her campaign surrogates will not allow her to reveal her values because her core supporters know in their hearts that her moderation and changing of views are what she must do to win. Her core values are unchanged.
Laurel says
COFEFE!
DaleL says
Harris’s economic policies include the Inflation Reduction Act. (Sometimes known as the stick it to China act. :-) Adjusted for inflation, the DOW is up 40.8% from its pre-pandemic high. Adjusted for inflation, that is a 15% increase in value. Above all, Harris represents sanity and decency.
Trump represents fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD). It is illustrating that on Trump’s most recent campaign trip to the border to promote “his” wall, he stood in front of the portion which was built during the Obama administration! Trump, like all authoritarians, will not really fix anything. Rather he will tell us it is all fixed and have his goons go after anyone who says differently.
Ed P says
No rebuttal on economic policies? Price gouging laws to lower inflation? Ridiculous. Student debt forgiveness? Maybe 7 billion dollars in medical bill forgiveness? Unrealized capital gains….look out stock market and any buy and hold strategy. Increase in corporate taxes…passed straight to consumers.
I agree her debate performance was good. I’m simply pointing her warts.
What I do contend is she is incapable of changing her left radical ideology. Both political parties are at the table spending money we can afford. National debt hovers at 35 trillion. We need smaller government and fewer give aways and a hot economy to reverse this trend. We fund wars, support millions of illegals while ignoring our homeless and veterans. Give aways and shackling corporations is not the way forward.
Ray W. says
Hello Ed.
Please reconsider your position on Ms. Harris having a “left radical ideology.” Your claiming that makes you look no different from the Chicago Tribune editorial writer who claimed that the Social Security Act was a communist plot that would undermine American values.
You must be more precise in your claims. Hyperbole can sink even the best of arguments. Repeatedly stepping off the deep end into water over your head will stick with you. You risk sounding like the John Birchers of my youth that Mr. Tristam is so fond of.
Here’s how you should write. “Vice President Harris presents mainstream and long-standing Democratic policies that people who no longer recognized conservative values hate.”
See how easy that was. And I was far more accurate in my points than you were in yours.
Ed P says
Ray W,
When did the truth become hyperbole?
Has there ever been a more left of center Democrat Political ticket than Harris/Walz?
Pierre Tristam says
Always funny that Ed P, stepping right into it. Must not have read his Orangina (secret) hero’s Art of the Deal, page 58: “I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration—and a very effective form of promotion.” And yes, Roosevelt/Garner, Roosevelt/Wallace, Roosevelt/Truman, Stevenson/Sparkman, Stevenson/Kefauver were all more liberal tickets than the fearful centrists we’ve been getting since the guy who rode in a tank.
Ed P says
Pierre,
You would be right if the liberal goal posts hadn’t been moved a few lengths of the field.
If your example above of liberal tickets were put into the proper historical context using today’s measurements of liberalism, then at their moment in time they probably appeared more liberal, but today, nah.
Laurelurel says
Nice try
Foresee says
@ EdP According to National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun- “A slowdown in home prices is underway and welcomed, particularly as the typical home price has risen 42% in the past three years.”
-Realtor Magazine Feb. 2023
Heard any complaints from home owners whose houses have surged in value over the past 4 years?
Kamala has a plan to help first time home buyers. Trump has a plan to help his rich donors.
Ed P says
Foresee,
I am grateful that our economy is strong enough and resilient enough to handle minor damage imposed from either side of the aisle. We just need to be sure we don’t damage capitalism beyond repair.
Sometimes people are successful despite themselves, not because of themselves.
The $25,000 give away could result in raising the price of starter homes and ultimately costing tax payers.
Foresee says
Badmouth the record high of the stock market while you’re at it, twisting yourself into speculative knots.
Foresee says
@EdP BTW “Sometimes people are successful despite themselves, not because of themselves.” What you suggest is that people didn’t work hard to afford their first homes, they accidentally stumbled into home ownership. So out of touch. So MAGA brainwashed.
Ed P says
Foresee
The stock market is not a direct reflection of the economy. Never has been and never will be. It is a leading indicator.
Libs probably should refrain from using that barometer while accusing corporations of gouging, conducting stock buy backs at consumers expenses and then suggesting an 8 % corporate tax hike. Harris is simultaneously suggesting an unrealized capital tax on Wealth over 100 million dollars (not income Jim and Dale).
The booming U.S. stock market does not benefit all racial and ethnic groups equally.
The wealthiest Americans own 93% of stocks.
Who knew?
Ray W says
Hello Ed P. Did you intentionally leave off the ending to your statement that the “stock market is a leading indicator? That the stock market is the leading indicator of the confidence the investing class has in the economy? That when confidence in the economy rises, money flows into the market and when confidence wanes, money flows back out?
Foresee says
@EdP Make us all rich! Tell us what the stock market is now indicating what the stock market will do. You must be one of the wealthiest Americans who own 93% of stocks. It’s clear you don’t understand what a leading indicator is, and your statements are just a mish-mosh of things you’ve heard and then regurgitate in a stream of self contradictory fuzzy logic that doesn’t make sense. Just like DJT, your idol.
Ed P says
Foresee,
Is name calling all you’ve got…
A Econ 101 lesson. The 3 most important economic indicators are:
1) CPI
2)GDP
3) unemployment figures
A leading indicator is measurable variable that can help predict future events and trends. There are also lagging indicators such as the employment figures.
Hence, leading and lagging are terms.
62% of Americans own stock The top 1% own 50% of stocks or $21 trillion.
These top 1% will be forced to change their investing strategy should Harris’ unrealized capital gain tax become reality. If they start dumping stocks to pay a 25% capital gains taxes, what do you think the market will do?
Google You Tube: Be happy don’t worry and listen to Kevin O’Leary.
Skibum says
Please send your script back to fauxinfotainment nuuse. Apparently you missed all of the news feeds where VP Harris is clamoring for another debate to further humiliate and expose Trump for what he is. It is Trump himself who has repeated his refusal to debate her again. He was extremely hesitant to do so the first time, trying to wiggle out of it by saying he only agreed to debate Biden. After his horrible performance in front of 67 million Americans, he is running away like a scared mouse runs from a cat (lady) with razor sharp teeth and claws. And as far as plans for America… while there could have been more detail provided in some, Harris was very specific about her plans to help average Americans afford childcare, housing and medical expenses… not to mention protecting a woman’s right to abortion. Trump’s plans? Well, he does have “concepts” of plans, but his REAL plans don’t involve you or I. The main plans he is consumed with involve dismissing his federal indictments, pardoning himself if that fails, doing whatever necessary to keep himself out of prison, and becoming a “dictator on day 1” if given the chance to coerce himself back into the White House by any corrupt means necessary. That is the GOP candidate’s plan.
Ray W. says
Hello Ed P.
Then again, among the two presidential candidates, Vice President Harris’ core values just might be, by far, the least bad of the two options available to America’s voting public.
Ed P says
Ray W,
Did deeper, lots deeper. Maybe you will be “less sure” about who is less bad for our grand and great grandchildren. At our age, we don’t matter, do we.
Did you know if you hold your nose and bite into an onion, some people say it tastes like an apple?
Laurel says
Oh, so that’s why Republicans often state they hold their nose when they vote for Trump.
I wondered about that; thanks for the explanation.
Ray W. says
And yet you are still more wrong than I am, simply because you cannot bring yourself to use the most appropriate terms to describe a situation. Hyperbole haunts your comments.
Ray W. says
The irony of the shallow-digging Ed P.
Jim says
You nailed it! God knows Harris wouldn’t want to get whipped by DJT again in another debate. Man, did he show her how it’s done. No one has ever seen such a whipping before! Bigly! The polls all show DJT winning 98-2!
And you got it right on foreign policy as well! Ol’ DJT was the most respected President the USA has ever had! Why, at the UN when he gave a speech, he was so well received that everyone laughed at him! And Russia just loves him! We need him in there right now so we can be assured of a third war in Europe! DJT will stop supplying Ukraine with weapons, allow Russia to attach any NATO ally that isn’t paying what DJT thinks they should and, if we are all lucky, Putin will stop at the shores of France – just like Hitler did…..!!!!
And you got it right on the economic policies as well. Harris wants to tax unrealized capital gains for people making over $100M/year! Well, that’s just about all of us, right!?! And let’s make sure to keep the tax rate lowered on businesses because, just like ol’ DJT said, companies will all take that savings and put it into R&D or to lower costs for consumers, right? They won’t use it to buy back stocks to prop the price up, will they? And we can all see how much they’ve driven down costs with that savings. Let’s all cheer for these businesses! They’re really looking out for all of us consumers and they deserve a break!!!
But, since you know all her policies, I wonder how you can say her “campaign surrogates will not allow her to reveal her values”. Seems to me they’ve done a pretty poor job of that since you know so much. But, hey that’s how MAGA rolls… Let’s have it both ways at the same time!!!
Ed P, enjoy your daily dose of Kool-Aid on Fox News. Sounds like you are soaking it all up! And, hey, don’t let the fact that those fine “news people” paid $687M in penalties to a vote counting company for lying in the last election! They’re all better now and you and MAGA can trust them completely! Just like DJT.
Pierre Tristam says
I want to have Jim’s babies. And call our first one Ed Grimley.
Ed p says
🙏🏻
Laurel says
It was pretty awesome, I must say!
Ed p says
Jim,
I disliked Kool aide as a kid, still do today. Luxury Tequila is my preferred beverage.
Maybe you are right, but just in case, step outside of the echo chamber and your comfort zone just to be sure you are correct.
The progressive movement thus far has not been a catalyst for capitalism or the free enterprise system. Once you’ve chipped away at any foundation long enough, collapse is inevitable.
Ed Realville
Ray W. says
If you say so, Ed P.
You’ve been colossally wrong so many times before on so many subjects, it is a wonder you keep trying.
To me, the greatest threat to our economy is the federal debt, regardless of who wins the next national election.
Politicians of both parties have been chipping away at that foundation ever since Reagan trotted out an economist who testified to Congress that cutting taxes on the wealthy would create a rising tide that would lift all boats. It didn’t and David Stockman admitted that he had inserted erroneous values in his economic algorithm. Trickle-down economics did not work as he originally claimed it would, he said, and yet time and time again, so-called conservatives keep trying and failing to have some of the enormous debt they create through huge tax cuts trickle down to the masses; it has been their policies that have contributed trillions to our total debt, right alongside progressive policies.
The only time we stopped chipping away at the economic foundation occurred when GHW Bush signed into law a significant and broad-based tax increase just before the end of his term. He listened to respectable economists and caused his own political loss, but the American economy soared for nearly nine years, with the last three years seeing tax surpluses, the only years since the early 60s that that happened. Stock market values soared. GDP growth soared. Job growth soared. It seems that every Republican politician swore to never listen to respectable economists again; it is political truth, not economic truth, that matters now.
In the forty years since Stockman’s economic error, but for the Clinton era, our debt has grown from less than $1 trillion to $35 trillion and climbing.
And yet you spectacularly go on record as saying progressivism is the sole cause of the chipping away of the foundation, of this wave of debt that threatens to swamp our children. Wow!
There is only one truth on this subject matter. Republicans and Democrats, all of us, for almost all of the past forty years, have ignored the obvious and refused to fix the problem. Trying to blame progressives alone for something you helped cause is rich beyond description. And you say you don’t drink the Kool-Aid.
Now, Fed Chairman Powell is telling us all that in time the national debt will become “unsustainable”, and you still insist progressives are the only ones to blame.
Ed P says
Ray W ,
Look above at my September 14 post. Only error is the word can was made instead of can not. Yes, both parties have been seated at the table of excessive spending.
I understand that a 36 trillion dollar deficit with a 1.2 trillion dollar interest/debt load annually is quite unsustainable since the federal government collects 4.7 trillion annually in taxes.
And for you too Laurel, that was what I meant in another post when I said a financial crisis is on the horizon.
Will Harris economic plan help more or will Trumps?
Ray W says
Hello Ed. Some common ground. Thank you.
Per the question you properly raise at the end of your comment, I suppose the only argument that works is that we will never know whose economic policies will turn out better, because only one candidate will be elected. The other’s policy claims will likely never be tried.
As for the plethora of current competing claims from a myriad of talking heads that one candidate’s policies will turn out better than the others, my thought is that from the plenty of prognosticators out there we each can choose our favorites and we might still both be wrong, for different reasons. Me? I tend to follow Fed Chairman Powell. But predicting our economic future is fraught with error.
Skibum says
Today’s political cartoon is not only hilarious, it is emblematic of a man with some type of disorder that somehow prevents him from ever admitting he was wrong, that he doesn’t know everything, or taking personal responsibility for the things he says and does. It is ALWAYS someone else’s fault for bad decisions he has made, yet he is quick to claim responsibility for all good things that happen anywhere on planet Earth, no matter how ridiculous the assertion is. He has stated publicly that he has neve asked God for forgiveness for anything in his life, as if he is the one and only human being in history to never have committed a sin – despite the fact that anyone could easily check off multiple commandments that he is guilty of just off the tops of our heads. It is no wonder he is refusing to accept a second debate with Kamala Harris after his dismal performance earlier this week. He knows he is incapable of self-discipline, he cannot stop himself from believing and engaging in the wildest of conspiracies, no matter how obviously false and bizarre they may be, and his appetite for being baited and whipped into a frenzy of flailing foolishness by a sharp, strong-willed black woman who revealed him to be the emperor with no clothes in front of 67 million Americans was absolutely historic. There is NO WAY he is wanting to humiliate himself to that degree again, so instead he turns to loonies like his favorite conspiracy theorist Laura loony Loomer to invent the most recent lie that VP Harris must have been wearing magical earrings with built-in audio devices that fed her answers to the moderators’ questions. Well of course, because otherwise one would have to believe instead that Harris simply prepared for the debate like any good competent debater would have done, that she was smart enough and articulate enough to convey factual information to the TV audience, and looked and sounded like a rational person as opposed to an old, blabbering white supremist loving psychopath. Trump cannot have anyone believing something like that despite the evidence to the contrary.
Sherry says
Thank you Skibum! As usual, you are most certainly right on!
Endless dark money says
Rcons have no policy or strategy to help or improve anything or anyone. Just more tax cuts for millionaires and dismantling of social programs. Oh yeah and to preach hate and discrimination to push division!
Sherry says
OMG! And, the “Sheer Lunacy” from maga goes on, and on . . . now with Bomb Threats and School Evacuations over the BS claim that Haitians are eating dogs and cats in Springfield. . . this from the Associated Press:
Donald Trump and his running mate on Friday continued to disparage Haitian migrants in an Ohio community, further fueling false claims the Republicans have promoted even as the city saw bomb threats and school evacuations and local officials called for a cooling of the anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“We will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio,” Trump said Friday during a news conference in California, adding that he could possibly hold a campaign event or town hall in the city and claiming the migrants are “destroying the way of life.”
Ohio authorities have said there are no credible or detailed reports to support the debunked allegations circulated this week by both Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, that Haitian immigrants are eating domestic pets and birds in the city’s public parks. Trump mentioned the claims during a debate Tuesday with his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, prompting her to laugh and call the GOP presidential nominee “extreme.”
After city agencies were targeted in a bomb threat, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue on Thursday called on politicians to tamp down the rhetoric.
Laurel says
What are Trump’s policies again? Going after legal Haitian immigrants? Embarrassing the shit out of Ohio?
Did anyone tell Trump that Haitian Americans vote? African Americans vote? Cat ladies vote? Jews vote? LGBTQ plus vote? Swifties vote? Hispanic people of varying backgrounds vote? White men who retained their senses vote? Suburban men and women who want government out of their bedrooms vote? Economists vote? Women who want government to mind their own, damned business vote? Psychiatrists vote? People who don’t watch Fox Entertainment vote? People who think Trump is nuttier than a fruitcake vote…? Oh, you know it goes on and on.
I guess not.
Wait, what are Trump’s policies again? Protecting kitties and puppies he loves so much? Lending an ear to Laura Loony?
Wha…?
Ray W. says
Various news outlets report that, according to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, two geese were hit by a car in Columbus. A motorist stopped to remove the geese by carrying them away.
“[T]here is no evidence that the man is Haitian, an immigrant, or that he even intended to eat the geese.”
Laurel says
Ray W.: But it could have been RFK Jr.! :D
Ray W says
Thanks for the smile, Laurel. Good point.
PDE says
Is it possible that Ed P is actually a Democrat posing as an ignorant, brainwashed / brain dead MAGA supporter so he gets called out by the majority of FL readers that expose his posts for what they are? I mean, NOBODY can be that stupid and live in his loony alternate reality…………can they?
Pierre Tristam says
PDE, you might recall the Daily Mirror’s headline the morning after George W. Bush was reelected (“How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB,” though moronic politics are a growth industry in this country: 54.4 million had voted for Reagan’s re-election), or the 63 million who gave us Trump in 2016, albeit 3 million fewer than those who didn’t want him. But we’re not a democracy, are we.
Ed P says
PDE,
Ahh, you got me. Not.
I’m neither a Republican nor a MAGA. I prefer to be thought of as a conservative with a libertarian lean. I’m guided by common sense. It’s that simple. Period.
Our choice is really which candidate is less bad, not better.
I take the longer view of a Presidency, not what will they be for the next 4 years but rather where they lead the country into the next decade and beyond.
Have you analyzed the long term trajectory of Harris’ policies?
Laurel says
EdP: You know, that all made some sense until you left out Trump in the very last line. It’s as if you are a Trump denier yet promoting Trump.
Ed P says
Laurel,
Regrettably the only choice based purely on economic and homeland security policies. The open border debacle could possibly be the worst political decision in our lifetimes.
The ramifications are just starting to be revealed.
A primary function of our government is to protect our borders and the citizens. I believe the Dems have failed.
I see a financial crisis on the horizon.
Laurel says
You may “see a financial crisis on the horizon,” but I seriously doubt it will be because of Harris. The economists on money shows point to Trump as the problem. As it is now, under Biden, the economy is thriving. Our current problem is corporate price gouging for shareholder’s profit, which Harris states she will deal with. Trump distracts us, constantly, with crazy town talk. I would not bet on him to help the average American. He didn’t last time, he gave tax breaks to the wealthy, who donate to his campaign, and give him the approval he so desperately craves due to his narcissism.
The open border nonsense is purely to appeal to the fearful and bigoted amount us.
Ray W says
Hello Ed P.
I find your comment about the “open border” being the “worst political decision in our lifetimes” hyperbolic at best and grossly wrong at worst. You use the term “debacle”, which means “a sudden and ignominious failure, a fiasco.”
I looked it up. According to the Migration Policy Institute, each decade since 1970 has seen a large influx of immigrants.
In 1970, the 9,619,300 immigrants residing in America comprised 4.7% of the overall population. Congress did little to secure the open areas of the border. It wasn’t a debacle then.
In 1980, the 14,079,900 immigrants residing in America comprised 6.2% of the overall population. Congress did little to secure the open areas of the border. It wasn’t a debacle then.
In 1990, the 19,767,300 immigrants residing in America comprised 7.9% of the overall population. Congress did little to secure the open areas of the border. It wasn’t a debacle then.
In 2000, the 31,107,900 immigrants residing in America comprised 11.1% of the overall population. Congress did little to secure the open areas of the border. It wasn’t a debacle then.
In 2010, the 39,955,900 immigrants residing in America comprised 12.9% of the overall population. Congress did little to secure the open areas of the border. It wasn’t a debacle then.
In 2022, the latest year of complete statistics, the 46,182,200 immigrants residing in America comprised 13.9% of the overall population. Congress did little to secure the open areas of the border. It wasn’t a debacle then.
Suddenly, during a 2024 political campaign, it transforms into a debacle.
Let’s face it, the last 52 years, with many ups and downs, has seen a tremendous series of growth spurts. Immigrants worked in their millions right alongside everyone else.
Remember, for the last two decades or so, some one million immigrants have become naturalized citizens. Others returned to their birth countries. Some migrated on to other countries. Some died. Many are undocumented. More are legal.
Something tells me your new-found opposition to immigration is mere hyperbole driven by the empty political winds of hatred.
Because it is impossible to call a five-decade long pattern of economic enhancement “sudden”, debacle simply does not apply to those millions of people who contributed so much to our lives, nor can something that on balance has been positive ever be called a poor political decision. I would agree with the characterization of good but not perfect, or less than the best we could have done, but never “bad”, much less the worst political decision in our lifetimes.
One the subject of poor political choices in our lifetime, I vote for China. Since 1979, when Carter adopted the “one China” policy, every president since then has appeased the Chinese government as its businesses stole every copyright and patent they could steal. We appeased China when it refused to allow its currency to float on the international monetary marketplace. We appeased China when it engaged in unfair business practices. We appeased China as it repeatedly engaged in violent or threatening behavior to seize territory from India, Viet Nam, Japan, the Philippines, and on and on. China threatens to invade Taiwan. China is building military bases on shoals in Philippine territory, on islands in Vietnamese territory. China claims islands near Taiwan and Japan. China engages in economic brinksmanship all around the world.
China appeasement has long been a “debacle”, were “sudden” ever to be removed from the definition. How about clusterf..k? Common ground?
Benefitting from the positives that immigrants bring to our economy, despite some real negatives, like health care and education, does not make immigration a bad thing. Perhaps these two negatives are better called “problems”, as opposed to debacles. But you present as someone who lives in a hyperbolic world lacking in common sense and you chose debacle.
Oy vey!
BillC says
The styling, the elegance, the luxury! All new for 2025… The ThunderMaster SuperSport XXXXXXXL Dump Truck.
” Now everyone will look up to you as you leave them in the dust”!
Laurel says
Ford!
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.