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Weather: Tropical storm conditions expected, with hurricane conditions possible. Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. High near 80. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between 3 and 4 inches possible. Tonight: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 7pm, then a chance of showers between 7pm and 8pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 8pm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70. Windy, with a north wind 17 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
- 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:
Nobel Prize Week. Today: Literature, announced at 7 a.m. Palm Coast time, 1 p.m. at the Swedish Academy, Stockholm, Sweden, streamed live here or below:
All events below have been cancelled.
Drug Court convenes before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols at 10 a.m. in Courtroom 401 at the Flagler County courthouse, Kim C. Hammond Justice Center 1769 E Moody Blvd, Bldg 1, Bunnell. Drug Court is open to the public. See the Drug Court handbook here and the participation agreement here.
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 105 South 2nd Street in Flagler Beach. Watch the meeting at the city’s YouTube channel here. Access meeting agenda and materials here. See a list of commission members and their email addresses here.
Town Hall with Palm Coast Council Member Theresa Pontieri, 6 p.m. at the Southern Recreation Center, 120 Belle Terre Parkway, Palm Coast. This event is free and open to the public. Attendees are welcome to ask questions and discuss issues that matter to them in an open forum. Residents are encouraged to join this important conversation to help strengthen community ties and ensure that every voice plays a role in shaping the future of Palm Coast. Pontieri will discuss economic development in the city and answer questions from attendees. Don’t miss the opportunity to engage and share your thoughts.
Evenings at Whitney Lecture Series hosted by the University of Florida Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience at 6 p.m. (Note the new time.) This free lecture will be presented in person at the UF Whitney Laboratory Lohman Auditorium, 9505 Ocean Shore Boulevard, in St. Augustine. Those interested also have the option of registering to watch via Zoom live the night of the lecture. Go here to register for this month’s lecture.
The Palm Coast Democratic Club holds its monthly meeting at noon at the Flagler Democratic Party Headquarters in City Marketplace, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite C214, Palm Coast. The June speaker is US Congressional Candidate James Stockton. Noon 32164. Stockton, running to represent Flagler County in Congress. He is the eldest son of a public school bus driver and a heavy equipment operator. He was raised in a home of morals and values based on the principle of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” All are welcome to attend and meet Stockton. This gathering is open to the public at no charge. No advance arrangements are necessary. Call (386) 283-4883 for best directions or (561)-235-2065 for more 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: Unless you rise before dawn, by the time you read this you’ll know who’ll have won this year’s Nobel ion literature, so this piece, written a bit ahead of time, is already old. I was trying to guess who might win it this year, when I’m having a hard time remembering who won it last year. Google tells me it was Jon Fosse, about whom I had heard nothing before then, and about whom I have heard little since. I looked up a few of his books, but the religious theme turned me off. It’s not enough–it’s petty–to be so turned off, but sometimes it takes the right moment to overcome that anti-clerical obstacle. The Literary Hub had listed the odds-on favorites. Fosse was second on the list, at 5 to 1 favorite. The list was topped by China’s Can Xue (I have one of his books downstairs but have never cracked it). Thomas Pynchon was at 11 to 1. There was also Murakami, Houellebecq (14 to 1 each), Rushdie, Knausgaard, Joyce Carol Oates, and at 49 to 1, Paul Simon and Stephen King. The betting site OLBG this year has Lyudmila Ulitskaya topping the list at 5/1. She’s a Russian novelist and short story writer. I have not read her, but am always up for dusting off a shelf segment for an extra Russian. Can Xue is second at 6/1, then Gerald Munrane, Anne Carson and Mircea Cartarescu, none of whom I have read. I must have heard of Anne Carson, though I may be confusing her with one of Johnny’s wives. Unlike before 2018, when I would root for Roth, I have no one I am particularly rooting for. I am rooting against Houellebecq, would even root against Knausgaard–not because I don’t think he’s worth reading: I have read every page of his My Struggle and all four of his season books, but I don’t think he’s that exalted, or exalting. Same story with Joyce Carol Oates. Impressive output, but you don’t, you shouldn’t, win by bulk alone (tell that to the hack behind most FlaglerLive articles). I’ll root for a good surprise, and another worthy rush to Amazon so my friend-in-read Bob and I can splurge on new words. When else can we so openly, so shamelessly exult in lit?
—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
Nar-Anon Family Group
Flagler County Beekeepers Association Meeting
Bunnell City Commission Meeting
For the full calendar, go here.
“They will all vanish at the same time, like the millions of images that lay behind the foreheads of the grandparents, dead for half a century, and of the parents, also dead. Images in which we appeared as a little girl in the midst of beings who died before we were born, just as in our own memories our small children are there next to our parents and schoolmates. And one day we’ll appear in our children’s memories, among their grandchildren and people not yet born. Like sexual desire, memory never stops. It pairs the dead with the living, real with imaginary beings, dreams with history.”
–From Annie Ernaux’s Les Années (The Years (2008).
The dude says
The saddest part about today’s cartoon is the fact that MAGA will fervently believe that.
Domenic says
The liberals harbor too much hatred. What once this group standing for peace has become the group of hate and bullies. You no longer stand or carry the messages the children of the 60’s!
Pierre Tristam says
Odd. Domenic must not have caught wind–breaking as it does–of a Trump rally lately.
Jim says
All Trump does is spread hate and lies and you think the liberals harbor too much hatred? Really? You better get off that Fox News IV your mainlining.
Laurel says
Domenic: No one spreads hatred like Trump. Do you not listen to him? That cartoon is exactly how he talks, and you know it. Liberals do not say that Haitians are eating pets in Ohio, or say that immigrants are poisoning our blood or have murderous genes. You tell me you cannot hear that? These are Trump and Vance quotes.
Please, don’t even…
Ray W, says
Hello Laurel.
The Associate Press reports that the $59.99 Trump bible was printed in China at a cost of roughly $3 per copy. Between early February and late March of this year, 120,000 copies of the God Bless the U.S.A. Bible were shipped to the U.S.
And the Oklahoma Superintendent of Schools backed away from requiring schools to purchase 55,000 copies of the Trump bible.
Laurel says
Good!
But now, Trump is going to use the National Guard, or maybe even the U.S. Military, he says, against citizens of this country…our family members, our neighbors, our friends, and anyone who disagrees with him. He claims to put in place the usage of internment camps. Meanwhile, his supporters tell us, and each other, not to take him seriously. What a jokester!
Ray W, says
News from the misinformation laundering front: Trump recently posted to social media a graph that set out higher prices as he saw them for salmon, chicken and coffee. He claimed the prices were the “cost of Kamala.” Notably, he listed eggs at $4.99 per dozen shortly after Vance claimed they were $4 per dozen. The BLS, according to a reporter who commented on the graph, lists the average price of eggs today at $3.30 per dozen.
Make of this what you will. Me? FlaglerLive’s own gullible misinformation launderers like JimboXYZ and Dennis C. Rathsam will continue to launder the many lies issued by the lying professional class of one of our political parties. Here is an economic truth. Since both Trump and Biden adopted spending policies that triggered inflation, Trudenflation is the best way to describe our perception of the rise in food prices over the past three years.
Earlier today, the monthly inflation index was released, reflecting a 2% rise, which is the Fed’s target rate. Yes, it is a monthly gauge and therefore more volatile and less reliable than longer term analyses, but we are back to where we were in February 2021. Yes, inflation began rising during the last few months of the Trump presidency. Yes, there remains a chance that the current strong economy will slow down too much. Recession remains a slim possible future outcome.
I finally stumbled onto an article that assessed the rise in the cost of food in light of the rise in wages. Food prices, like gas prices, according to the author, are “among the volatile readings that economists and policymakers often strip out when evaluating inflation data.” But the psychology of rising food and gas prices simply should not be ignored, as these commodities are “the prices that [consumers] see the most frequently.” Since food and gas prices are such common, or constant, purchases, they “serve as the best gauge of how the economy is treating [each consumer] — and they remain front of mind.”
By now, all FlaglerLive readers know that OPEC+ nations have been manipulating international crude oil prices for nearly four years, to the great expense of us all. Crude oil prices nearly rose to $125 per barrel as the effect of OPEC+’s production cuts kicked in. Now, prices hover around $70 per barrel as OPEC quarrels with members who are secretly pumping more than their assigned share.
But what is the true rise in food prices, compared to a parallel rise in wages since Trudenomics triggered Trudenflation?
All of my adult life, I have read from time-to-time articles suggesting that if housing costs rise above a certain percentage of income, usually 30-35%, something is out of balance. I have also seen many articles about the cost of food when compared to the average paycheck.
MarketWatch conducted such an analysis and concluded that as a percentage of the average paycheck, a smaller percentage of wages today is devoted to purchasing food than was the case when inflation began to rise during the last few months of the Trump presidency.
“For the average U.S. worker, it now takes fewer hours of work to afford a week’s worth of groceries than it did five years ago, in August 2019. That’s according to a MarketWatch analysis of wage and inflation data that shows how the price of food relative to wages has fluctuated in recent years.
“Despite substantial post-pandemic increases in food prices, wages have now caught up with prices in this crucial spending category. And it’s easier for the average American worker to put food on the table than it was a couple of years ago.”
But average national economic facts often conflict with individual emotional perceptions. MarketWatch offered on possible explanation of why some individuals, perhaps many individuals, resist grasping the idea that food prices now consume a smaller percentage of their average paychecks.
“[M]ost of us had gotten used to pretty consistent prices at the grocery store. Starting in the late 1990s, the ‘real’ or inflation-adjusted, cost of food actually fell consistently. Prices were steady as wages increased — meaning that, for years, weekly grocery hauls effectively got cheaper.”
Make of this what you will. Me? I think the author got it right. For decades, the average “we” grew accustomed to stable food prices. We earned more and more but spent the same amount. Over time, less and less of our wages went to purchasing food and we liked it.
Policies adopted by Clinton, then Bush, then Obama and then Trump favored us all. Then came the pandemic. The entire economy was upended. Supply chains were disrupted in the beginning, but those problems were largely overcome. Trump money, coupled with Biden money, heated an unusually rapidly cooling economy. Inflation set in and for a short time, it outstripped wage increases.
We hadn’t seen anything like this for decades and we didn’t like it. But not for long. Rising wages caught up to and slightly surpassed the higher food prices, only emotionally we couldn’t see it as it was happening.
We are better off today than we were four years ago only we don’t yet know it.
Ray W, says
Please accept my apologies.
When I pulled up the actual BLS CPI statistics, the actual month over month increase was 0.2%. The increase for the cumulative past 12 months was 2.4%. The Fed’s announced goal remains 2% inflation.
The numbers affect my premise, which was that we are at the 2.1% inflation that existed in February 2021. We are near that figure, just less near than I stated.
Again, my apologies.
Chip D says
“We are better off today than we were four years ago only we don’t yet know it.” That is the best example of misinformation laundering that I can think of. Thanks Ray
The dude says
Yeah… 4 years ago I couldn’t buy toilet paper and I was hoarding ammunition.
I’m way better off today than I was 4 years ago.
Sherry says
@chip. . . Ray W. has given us all some powerful “factual” evidence to support his “correct” position that we are all financially better off today than 4 years ago.
Where is your “credible evidence” that we are not?
Chip D says
The average person who could pay their rent, afford groceries and afford to fill up their gas tank 4 years ago and now cannot do not give a shit about Ray’s “credible evidence”.
Ray W, says
Hello Chip D.
You raise the issue of the average person being able to pay for daily commodities.
Forbes, a publication that focuses on financial news, ran an article on this very question several months ago.
It’s headline? “The American Economy And People Are Much Better Off Than Four Years Ago”
Here’s the lead-in paragraph, through which reporters often tell readers in a condensed form what the rest of the article is going to tell them.
“It is election season. This is a time when the question of whether people are materially better off than they were four years ago comes up. Comparing March 2024 to March 2020, when a once-in-a-century pandemic broke out, the answer is obviously a resounding yes. But, even considering the winter of 2024 relative to the months before the pandemic shows a stronger and more stable economy that delivered better material well-being for American families now than was the case back then.”
Yes, the author argues that when you compare early 2024 financial well-being to the time prior to the pandemic, we are better off in 2024 than in 2019.
Here are bullet points from five different economic categories employed by the author in the article.
“Job Stability Is More Pronounced Than Before The Pandemic”
— Based on overall numbers, unemployment rates and length of unemployment are roughly equally strong in early 2024 to late 2019.
— The rate of job openings to the number of people employed in early 2024 was 5.3%, as opposed to 4.3% prior to the pandemic. According to the author, that means that workers in early 2024 had 20% more employment opportunities for economic mobility than just before the pandemic hit.
— Layoffs in early 2024 averaged 1%, or more than 20% less than the layoff rate in the winter of 2020. This means, on average, American workers faced fewer threats to their job security in early 2024 than before the pandemic.
— “By February 2024, the unemployment rate had been below 4% for 25 months in a row, the longest such stretch in more than 50 years. In comparison, the unemployment rate had been below 4% for 13 months before the pandemic hit. …”
— “By all measures, the current labor market is more stable than it was before the pandemic.”
“More Workers Receive Substantial Wage Gains”
— “Average hourly wages were about 1% higher in February 2024 than they were four years ago, according to BLS data.
— “Following the same workers over time to see their wage gains is a better measure of people’s economic security, a metric tracked by the Atlanta Fed.”
— The Center for American Progress reports that ‘a larger share of workers received annual wage increases above the inflation rate at the end of 2023 than was the case at the end of 2019. And a larger share of American workers received inflation-adjusted wage gains above 5% in 2023 than was the case in 2019.”
— “The persistent labor market stability over the past few years has meant that more workers are now able to see wage gains above inflation than four years ago.”
“Household Wealth Far Outpaces Income”
— “Quarterly Federal Reserve data show that total household wealth — the difference between what people own and what they owe — was $156 trillion at the end of 2023, the equivalent of 7.5 times the after-tax household income. At the end of 2019, that ratio was 7.1.”
— Additional Fed data shows the wealth gains are more pronounced among younger households and Millennials.
— “Households were, on average, better prepared for an eventual economic emergency, for upward economic mobility, and for a secure retirement now than four years ago.”
“Home Ownership Has Expanded”
— According to Census data, “[t]he U.S. homeownership rate was 65.7% at the end of 2023, up from 65% at the end of 2019.”
— “The gains in homeownership were especially pronounced among households with people ages 35 to 44, who saw an increase from 60.4% to 62% over that four-year period. This was the largest increase in homeownership among any age group.”
“Households Face Lower Debt Burdens”
— “The total amount of outstanding loans such as mortgages, credit card debt, student loan debt, and auto loans averaged 96.2% of after-tax income in December 2023, according to Fed data. In comparison, that ratio was 97.5% at the end of 2019. Mortgages fell from 64% to 63.6% of after-tax income and other debt — mainly student and auto loan debt — decreased from 18.9% to 18.1% of after-tax income over the past four years.”
Make of this what you will. Me? Prior to former President Trump asking Americans to emotionally decide whether they are better off now than they were four years ago, a Forbes reporter researched the issue. Yes, the evidence supports the argument that we are better off now than we were during the pandemic, and that we are better off than we were prior to the pandemic.
Chip D says he doesn’t give a shit about credible evidence. I believe him. His is a world of fantasy. He distorts reason towards a pre-determined goal, in this case life being better during Trump’s administration. I follow reason to whatever end it leads. If reason showed we were economically better off four years ago, I would agree with Chip D.
As an aside, the News-Journal publishes a state-by-state bullet point every Sunday. Several weeks ago, the entry for Arizona read:
“Phoenix: New state-level data shows that Arizonans can expect to live to 75, below the U.S. average. Arizonans lost 3.8 years of life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, according to 2021 state-level data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.”
I dug a little further.
According to the St. Louis Fed, in 2019, U.S. life expectancy was 78.79 years.
In 2020, it dropped to 76.98 years.
In 2021, it dropped further to 76.33 years.
In 2022, it began to rebound, reaching 77.43 years.
The pandemic contributed to a reduced life expectancy in the U.S., perhaps by as much as 2.46 years.
As we lay dying in droves, were we, on average better off?
Had Chip D argued that he is worse off now as an individual than he was four years ago, I would have supported his personal assessment, commiserated for his loss and hoped that his life would soon be better. I do hope that his life gets better regardless. My response would have been to his specific condition.
But Chip D tries to make his specific perception fit into a general perception. It can be difficult to go from the specific to the general. If one person dies in a car wreck, that doesn’t mean all people are going to die in car wrecks. The average American is quantifiably economically better off than she was during the pandemic. And the average American is quantifiably economically better off now than he was in 2019.
To paraphrase Wittgenstein, one of the most difficult things in life is to not fool oneself. Chip D has every right to wander through life fooling himself. The reason Trump lied when he asked whether people were better off four years ago was because he knew that people like Chip D exist. Trump’s target was the gullible among us. He wants Chip D to launder his disinformation.
Laurel says
Ray W.: Perfect! Thank you.
Sherry says
Thank You Ray W.! chip was right about one thing. . . The brainwashed maga cult members really do not give a shit about “credible facts” that go against their hate filled extreme right winged trump BS agenda.
Sherry says
@chip. . . all you’ve given us is BS talking points from Fox. . . nothing “credibly factual”. . . just as I thought. LOL! LOL! LOL!
Chip D says
Your statement that “We are better off today than we were four years ago only we don’t yet know it” is the best example of misinformation laundering that I can think of. Thanks Ray
Laurel says
So, Chip D, you were doing better during a global pandemic? Please, do tell me your secret to success!
Ray W, says
Nice try, Chip D. The misinformation occurred when the Trump campaign asked people whether they were better off four years ago, when they weren’t. Each time a person tries to defend that erroneous argument, they are laundering misinformation. You can’t bastardize that false statement into something else, no matter how hard you try. You continue the laundering of that false statement.
Back to the basics for you, Chip D. Four years ago, we were trying to emerge from a nationwide lockdown. Governor DeSantis had not yet fully rescinded the statewide lockdown he had started via executive order. Thousands of people had died from Covid and over a million people were eventually going to die. The American economy had entered into a GDP freefall. We were adding the first of some five trillion dollars in unfunded stimulus money to the national debt. 22 million Americans had applied for unemployment insurance benefits. Who knows how many restaurants had failed, among many other small businesses. Ten million women had left the workforce, and they didn’t immediately return. GDP had plummeted, only to rebound solely on the strength of stimulus money. Just what part of economic disaster don’t you understand? You are going to lose this argument every time. We are better off today than we were four years ago.
Chip D says
The fact is the majority of the country think that we were better off 4 years ago. Thats not my opinion. I just think that it is a bit arrogant to tell people that what they are experiencing is not real and that they are just simply too dumb to realize how good they have it.
Ray W, says
It is arrogant of you to launder misinformation and then claim that if a majority of our citizenry comes to believe the misinformation, no one can challenge it.
A presidential candidate lied to the country about our current economic situation, and you are trying to spread the lie.
You are engaging in the exact definition of misinformation laundering.
Someone introduces a lie in hopes that someone else will spread it. The lies spreads because of people like you. Then you claim that a majority of the population now believes the lie. Therefore, it must now magically be the truth.
This is what vice-presidential candidate did in the Springfield pet eating lie. Former President Trump introduced a lie during a debate. Candidate Vance repeated the lie. When Republican leaders from Ohio pushed back, he said he had read online lies that had been spread by people like you. When it was proved that the spreaders were lying, he said if it took a lie to create news about the situation, then he would continue to lie.
Please tell all FlaglerLive readers right now. Do you really believe that if a majority of our population now thinks that the lie about Haitians stealing pets for food is actually true, then it would be arrogant of me to point out that Vance himself would continue to push the lie for his political gain? You are defending lying! And you are reasoning that if enough people come to believe the lie, it suddenly becomes the truth?
You will never win this argument, because your argument is based on a lie.
Sherry says
@ chip. . . you deluded arrogant nothing, you DO NOT speak for the majority of the American People! Counseling is highly recommended for you.
Ray W, says
This is something I had not ever considered.
Since Vice President Harris entered the presidential race, her campaign has held six sweepstakes to raise money. Six winners have been named and three other sweepstakes are ongoing.
In the 22 months since former President Trump began his campaign, there have been more than 40 sweepstakes, offering prized totaling more than $180,000 in value. One winner has been named by the Trump campaign. Maybe more have won, but no one outside of the campaign knows the number. The Times reports that in the 673 days of campaigning, 446 have been days with an active sweepstakes.
Nuke hurricanes says
Or just redraw the impact line with a sharpie we’ve seen this orange fool before.
Chip D says
Sorry Ray. I only meant to make my comment once.