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Weather: Mostly clear. Highs in the mid 60s. Lows in the upper 40s.
- 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:
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. The gatherings usually feature a special guest.
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.
The Flagler Beach All Stars hold their monthly beach clean-up starting at 9 a.m. in front of the Flagler Beach pier. All volunteers welcome.
Flagler Beach’s Holiday at the Beach Parade: It’s scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday. The Rotary Club is sponsoring the parade, which will occur on SRA1A and detours will be in place on SRA1A at North 10th Street and South 7th Street. Officers and Volunteers will be in place along the detour route to expedite traffic flow. If you have any questions about the traffic plan for this year’s “Holiday at the Beach” Parade, please contact Flagler Beach police at (386) 517-2024.
Sunshine and Sandals Social at Cornerstone: Every first Saturday we invite new residents out to learn everything about Flagler County at Cornerstone Center, 608 E. Moody Blvd, Bunnell, 1 to 2:30 p.m. We have a great time going over dog friendly beaches and parks, local social clubs you can be a part of as well as local favorite restaurants.
‘The Country Girl’ at City Repertory Theatre: CRT features “The Country Girl” by Clifford Odet as a staged reading at 7:30 p.m. Thursday Dec. 5, Friday Dec. 6 and Saturday Dec. 7, and at 3 p.m. Sunday Dec. 8. Performances will be in CRT’s black box theater at City Marketplace, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite B207, Palm Coast. Tickets are $25 adults and $15 students, available online at crtpalmcoast.com or by calling 386-585-9415. Tickets also will be available at the venue just before curtain time. Odets’s play tells the story of Frank Elgin, a once-lauded actor who’s become mired in booze even as he’s hoping to return to his past glory, while his ever-faithful wife, Georgie, struggles to keep him from tumbling into an alcoholic abyss. CRT is staging some of its leading stars and veterans, including Director John Sbordone. See Rick de Yampert’s preview, “Addiction v. Redemption in City Repertory Theatre’s Production of Clifford Odets’s ‘Country Girl‘”
The Kingdom Choir at the Fitz: Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center (Flagler Auditorium), 5500 State Road 100, Palm Coast. London’s The Kingdom Choir first attracted the world’s attention when they performed their show-stopping performance of Stand By Me in front of a world-wide television audience of over two billion at the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May 2018. Since that infamous day the Choir’s infectious joy and spirit, matched only by their raw Gospel spiritual style, has taken them around the world including a debut North American tour in 2019 which took them to 29 cities including New York, Montreal, Toronto, Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. $44 to $64.
A Christmas Carol at Athens Theatre, 124 North Florida Avenue, DeLand, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Adult $30, Senior $28, Student/Child $12; Groups of 8 or more, $25 per ticket. A $5 per ticket processing charge is added to all purchases. As the historic Athens Theatre does not have an elevator, the balcony is not accessible to anyone with a wheelchair or walker. Get ready to unwrap the true spirit of the holidays in an unforgettable experience with A Christmas Carol, a musical adorned with original enchanting melodies by the maestro Milton Granger and performed by a live band. This festive explosion of joy and redemption promises to transport you into the heart of Dickens’ timeless tale. With a live band providing the soul-stirring soundtrack, this production transforms into a captivating celebration of the season, weaving together the magic of music and the power of Dickens’ iconic story. Join the festivities as you embark on Scrooge’s transformative journey.
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center: Nightly from 6 to 9 p.m. at Palm Coast’s Central Park, with 55 lighted displays you can enjoy with a leisurely stroll around the pond in the park. Admission to Fantasy Lights is free, but donations to support Rotary’s service work are gladly accepted. Holiday music will pipe through the speaker system throughout the park, Santa’s Village, which has several elf houses for the kids to explore, will be open, with Santa’s Merry Train Ride nightly (weather permitting), and Santa will be there every Sunday night until Christmas, plus snow on weekends! On certain nights, live musical performances will be held on the stage.
Palm Coast Holiday Market: The City of Palm Coast invites residents to the Palm Coast Holiday Market from 4:30 to 9 p.m. at Town Center in Palm Coast. This special event, hosted in partnership with the Flagler County Rotary Club, is a highlight of the Fantasy Lights Festival, which runs nightly throughout December. The Palm Coast Holiday Market offers an exciting opportunity to shop from various local vendors, featuring unique gifts and treasures perfect for anyone on your holiday shopping list. Families attending the event can look forward to a range of festive activities, including:
- Shopping: Discover unique offers and handcrafted items from our talented local vendors!
- Food: Indulge in a variety of dishes from our lineup of local food trucks!
- Fantasy Lights Festival: Stroll through 56 animated light displays synchronized to festive holiday music for a magical experience.
- Santa’s Village: Explore charming elf houses and take a ride on Santa’s Merry Train (weather permitting).
- Snow Nights: Experience Florida’s version of a winter wonderland during the event’s enchanting Snow Night at Santa’s Village.
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy, 8 p.m. at Cinematique Theater, 242 South Beach Street, Daytona Beach. General admission is $8.50. Every Tuesday and on the first Saturday of every month the Random Acts of Insanity Comedy Improv Troupe specializes in performing fast-paced improvised comedy.
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.
Notably: It is not a small matter. True, Nixon in 1968 won with just 43 percent of the vote, just as Bill Clinton did in 1992, with third-party candidates both times taking solid shares of the popular vote but negligible electoral votes (none in Ross Pero’s case, though he won 19 percent of the popular vote: another reason the electoral college is illiterate). In 1968 Nixon barely beat Humphrey. Harry Truman won his 1948 bid by just 49.6 percent, with Strom Thurmond running a third-party bid and winning four states. Even the second time Clinton ran he won with just 49.2 percent, with Perot this time taking 8 percent. That made none of them less than legitimate. What makes Trump’s victory by less than 50 percent, now that the AP has officially downgraded him to 49.9, notable, is because of what Trump himself claimed: a mandate, a landslide, a wipeout. It was none of those things, and what matters even more in this case is that there was no third-party candidate to speak of (Jill Stein doesn’t count). The country was simply divided, with Kamala Harris falling short, if not by a Humphrey-like difference, then at least by the kind of difference that should remind Democrats–and Trump–that the ice under this presidency and GOP majority in Congress is very thin. With the GOP’s indifference to global warming (I am speaking metaphorically as much as literally), the ice will crack. Are Democrats ready to pick up the pieces, to take advantage of the fall and to offer something better? Obama was in 2008. Democrats today don’t appear to be as ready. There is more drift than direction. One other, entirely unrelated point: it’s December 7. Two thousand three hundred and ninety Americans were killed on this day in 1941 at Pearl Harbor. We very much commemorate 9/11, when 3,000 people were killed (not just Americans), but children will go to school today and likely not even hear the words “Pearl Harbor.” What is it about the simple remove of time that makes commemorations more trendy, more dependent on the times, the current generation, its short-attention span, than for commemorations for their innate sake? By necessity of course we can’t exactly commemorate every catastrophe in history. That’s all we’d be doing most days of the week.
—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
Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
American Association of University Women (AAUW) Meeting
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
The Isaacs at the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center (Flagler Auditorium)
‘Exit Laughing,’ at Daytona Playhouse
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Democratic Party Congressional Candidates Meet and Greet
‘Exit Laughing,’ at Daytona Playhouse
Al-Anon Family Groups
For the full calendar, go here.
There was something about the coast town of Dunner which made it seem more attractive than other maritime villages of eastern Maine. Perhaps it was the simple fact of acquaintance with that neighborhood which made it so attaching, and gave such interest to the rocky shore and dark woods, and the few houses which seemed to be securely wedged and tree-nailed in among the ledges by the Landing. These houses made the most of their seaward view, and there was a gayety and determined floweriness in their bits of garden ground; the small-paned high windows in the peaks of their steep gables were like knowing eyes that watched the harbor and the far sea-line beyond, or looked northward all along the shore and its background of spruces and balsam firs. When one really knows a village like this and its surroundings, it is like becoming acquainted with a single person. The process of falling in love at first sight is as final as it is swift in such a case, but the growth of true friendship may be a lifelong affair.
—Sarah Orne Jewett, The Country of Pointed Firs (1896).
Ed P says
I know it’s in the rear view mirror, but all decorum left the halls of Congress when the Speaker of The house, Nancy Pelosi ripped up a copy of President Trumps 2020 State of the Union speech on national tv just seconds after the President finished. Her distracting eye rolling and facial expressions were bad enough but the Coup de Grace was astounding.
Laurel says
Ed P: No, lose of decorum began, in our modern history, happened when Rep. Joe Wilson, Republican South Carolina, yelled “Liar!” At President Obama’s State of the Union Address.
Ed P says
Laurel,
Obviously heckling a President is never acceptable. But the fact is, Joe Wilson apologized directly after Obama speech….did Nancy Pelosi? No , she doubled down saying she felt “liberated”.
The image of Pelosi tearing up the speech while Vp Pence was still clapping and then doubling down also shows a total lack of class and the level of HATE she held.
Since I’m never about deflection, care to defend?
Laurel says
I did not see, or hear, Wilson’s apology, but I did see the State of the Union Address, as did a large portion of the population. That, over his *apology* was seen world wide. His comment was highly offensive, and it triggered the likes of Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebart to shoot off their ignorant mouths on a regular basis. Since then, Trump has normalized “…grab ’em by the pussy” and mocking a man with palsy. Now we shrug off more than 30,000 lies, and have diddly to say when he pretends to give a mic a blow job. We accept the gutter now. The Republicans should have shut him out early on, but they did not. They were far more interested in their personal power over our country’s needs.
The behavior of the Republicans and the Democrats are not comparable. I am neither, and yet it is clear as a bell to me: the behavior of Trump is unacceptable. He and his cohorts are playing by a different set of rules. Defending him is something I never thought I would see in this country, of all countries. It’s incredibly embarrassing.
The GOP is no longer. It is a major disappointment, as I believe in balance. There is no balance, which started with the Republicans, running in 2016, said they would not settle for 10% compromise.
You can call deflection, fine. I don’t care. My comments, and Ms. Pelosi’s tearing of Trump’s speech does not compare to the stupidity, and serious deflection of “They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that [sic] live there.” Why else would Trump and Vance say that other than deflection? Are they just that stupid? If so, they do not belong in office.
Dennis C Rathsam says
Best trader in the history of the stock market!!!! Don’t you wish you could have heard a little of that
Best trader in the history of the stock market, Tryed to blame Trump, about 1/6,! TRUMP offered her the National Guard, ( she had other ideas , with her coheart Ray Epps)She told TRUMP she had it covered…. Why were the 1/6 hearings evidence DISSAPEARED? Why is Biden pardoning them all? Its all democratic lies, cover ups! LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD!
‘
Laurel says
Alternate universe, alternate facts.
Oh my gosh.
Dennis, there are actual videos of what happened, yet you are asking for videos that don’t exist.
Sherry says
A very, very interesting read from the Pew Research Center on “Trust” and the important role of ethics and character in that trust:
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/07/22/how-americans-see-problems-of-trust/
Sherry says
How about when Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican congressman called Obama a “tar baby” during a debate over the debt ceiling in 2011?
Does it get any more racist than that? Oh wait, what about trump’s “birther” diatribes? Need I go on, and on about Republican racism?
Ed P says
Sherry,
Clearly, the term is interpreted by many as a racial slur, and politicians have gotten in trouble for using it. But in its original context, it was a metaphor for a sticky situation that got worse the more one tangled with it. NPR May 11 2017.
In the context that Lamborn used it. “ even if some people say, well the republicans should have done this or that, they will hold the president responsible. Now I don’t even want to be associated with him(Obama).
It’s like touching a tar baby and you get it…you know you’re stuck and you’re part of the problem now, and you can’t get away”
Maybe the term quagmire would have been better, Lamborn quickly apologized when it was pointed out it could be misleading.
He did not use it in a racist fashion.
Fact checked: false
Ray W, says
Hello Ed P.
Once again, I am intrigued by your thought processes.
The Tar Baby is the second of the Brer Rabbit tales, dating from the 1880s. I read Brer Rabbit in my youth.
Coming from Colorado’s 5th House District, I can see the argument that Representative Lamborn did not know the racist import of what he said. Then again, I can also understand the argument that he did know that what he said was racist and he said it anyway. The fact that he later apologized doesn’t prove that he didn’t know it was racist when he said it; it only proves that he apologized. It does not prove what he knew and when he knew it.
Fact checked: Unresolved.
Ed P says
Ray W,
If only I knew what you know and had your crystal ball.
Not every misspoken word or phase is intentionally raciest nor is it always a Freudian slip. When people “think aloud”
they may not be processing every sentence if they have zero ill will. Most people don’t have black hearts.
However, for the sake of argument you could be right, but I don’t think so.
Laurel says
Ed P.: I tell you what. You go into group of black people and call one a “tar baby” and see what happens. Are you telling us that Republicans in Congress are so naive?
Yeah, not buying. Interesting try, though.
Ed P says
Laurel,
Once again, you missed the key point. Lamborn did not call Obama anything, he was referencing his feeling about getting caught up in a quagmire. Go back and read the context of the comment and revisit the metaphor.
Remember these?
“ I mean, you got the first mainstream African -American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man”
“ if you don’t support me, then ain’t black”
Ray W, says
Hello Sherry,
Speaking at the recent annual Reagan National Defense Forum, Senator McConnell argued some of those with “influential voices” have forgotten the lessons of the Cold War in the face of increasing threats from Russia and China.
“Within the party Ronald Reagan once led so capably, it is increasingly fashionable to suggest that the sort of global leadership he modeled is no longer America’s place. … But let’s be absolutely clear; America will not be made great again by those who are content to manage our decline.”
McConnell called for deep investments to beef up weapons production and bemoaned the state of U.S. military deterrence.
“At both ends of our politics, a dangerous fiction is taking hold — that America’s primacy and the fruits of our leadership are self-sustaining. … Even as allies across NATO and the Indo-Pacific renew their commitments to hard power, to interoperability, and to collective defense, some now question America’s own role at the center of these force-multiplying institutions and partnerships.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
There are elements within the American political class that would have the Ukraine cede land and people to rapacious Russian claims. Such a strategy protects nothing, preserves nothing, upholds nothing.
Cede nothing to invaders. It only appeases them until their next rape of their next neighbor. Strengthen the bonds between all allies. The Russian Federation violated its sworn promise to protect Ukrainian borders in exchange for the Ukraine giving up its nuclear stockpile. We signed the treaty, too, as did Great Britain. It shames us all whenever any of our elected leaders forswear their treaty obligations and suggest that the Ukraine give up even one inch of its sovereign territory.
Yes, I know the gullible among us will revert to “pestilential” thinking and blame one of our two political parties. Read again Senator McConnell’s words. He blames the military deficiencies on the extreme ends of both parties.
Sherry says
Good Morning Ray,
I couldn’t agree more about Putin’s Russia and the horrific invasion of Ukraine. I actually celebrated my 40th birthday in the middle of December in Moscow. . . yes, it reached 15 degrees F below zero. In those Gorbachev days of glasnost, the Russian people I met had a positive hope of change, of openness, of just a taste of the many freedoms we take completely for granted.
In my thinking, the overarching political evolution of each country is sometimes completely thrown off a reasonable balance by the power amassed by one, often charismatic, person. I also posit my observation and belief that the fundamental moral character of that person weighs most heavily on the wielding of that power. . . for good or evil.
On one hand we have those leaders like Gandhi, and on the other we have the immorality of those like hitler, putin, and now trump. Their unhealthy, self centered, extreme views, left unchecked by the lack of a moral compass, often result in political actions driven by their overwhelming need to conquer and accumulate even more power and wealth. . . much to the detriment of those under their rule. They are ultimately completely insatiable because their underlying massive personal insecurities can not be quelled from without.
Therefore, your point about relenting to putin regarding Ukraine is well regarded by me. Unfortunately, many of our political leaders, and their supporters, are not nearly as wise as Ray W.
Laurel says
Sherry: That’s what is interesting to me, that people who are extremely wealthy, seem to never be satisfied. From wealth to power, from power to control, to need more money, more power, yet, never, never enough. There is a constant craving, for what? A soul? Reminds me of a song by K.D. Lang.
It’s not across the board, Thank goodness for Warren Buffet! He still lives in his original house, and still drives an old car. But admittedly, he is unique. Maybe he found his soul a long time ago, or never lost it.
Ed P says
Do you understand why the Uber rich believe it’s ok to be totally thankful for what they have but still wanting more? Because most rich men are simply poor men with money.
Moral: material wealth alone doesn’t define the character of an individual.
That’s the soul you spoke of….
Sherry says
@Laurel,
It is my Buddhist spirituality and excellent psychological counseling that bolsters my belief that “true” success is not measured in the accumulation of wealth, but in the measure of “happiness” from within. I believe the old adage that “Money Cannot Buy Happiness”.
Consider the salt in the psychological wounds of someone like trump who was born into wealth, was given every advantage, and yet a feeling of security, and accomplishment, and happiness eludes him.
trump’s niece Mary Trump, a Clinical Psychologist and PhD wrote about the mental state of trump in her book, “Too Much and Never Enough”. . . here is an excerpt:
“Donald’s pathologies,” she says, “are so complex” that arm’s-length diagnoses fail by not going far enough. “I have no problem calling Donald a narcissist — he meets all nine criteria” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, but she’d also throw in antisocial personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, and some “undiagnosed learning disability that … has interfered with his ability to process information.”
Family dysfunction
In her telling, a critical shift came one night when Donald was 2 1/2. His mother nearly died from post-partum complications, was hospitalized for months and “never completely recovered.” Finally back home, she was … weird — an insomniac “wandering around the House at all hours like a soundless wraith… In the morning her children sometimes found her unconscious in unexpected places.” “Unstable and needy,” she used “her children to comfort herself rather than comforting them.” And so, as a result of his mother’s de facto abandonment and his father’s disengaged failure to “make him feel safe or loved [or] valued,” Donald developed “powerful but primitive defenses” — a willful callousness and “an increasing hostility to others … narcissism, bullying, grandiosity.”
His Rosebud moment comes when he’s 7. At dinner one night he keeps refusing his mother’s and sisters’ pleas to stop tormenting his brother Rob, so teenage Freddy dumps mashed potatoes on Donald’s head. “Everybody laughed, and they couldn’t stop laughing. And they were laughing at Donald,” she writes. “From then on, he would never allow himself to feel that feeling again. From then on, he will wield the weapon.” At her birthday party at the White House 64 years later, Maryanne referred to the incident in a toast, and Donald kept “his arms tightly crossed and a scowl on his face“ as, once again, the rest of his family laughed.
His adolescent ripening into a full-bore jerk, when fun-loving, well-liked Freddy was beginning to escape the family, “finally made my grandfather take notice” and “validate, encourage, and champion the things about Donald that rendered him essentially unlovable.” He followed “the rules in the House,” at least for boys: “be tough at all costs, lying is okay, admitting you were wrong or apologizing is weakness.” Decades later, during his first bankruptcies and first divorce, his mother told Mary that “he was always” a self-pitying brat, and that ”when he went to the Military Academy, I was so relieved.… He never listened to me. And your grandfather didn’t care.”
That’s because, according to Mary Trump PhD, Fred Trump was a “sociopath” who taught his children that his affection for them “was entirely conditional.”
Sherry says
I would like to amend the last sentence of my post to say “maga republican” racism. It is very difficult to think of the current Republican party as anything beyond maga. I apologize to all traditional Republicans who are working behind the scenes to bring reasonable moderation to what once was the GOP. Happy Holidays!
Ray W, says
There is a story with two faces in today’s Post.
One story, gleaned from court filings by both an assistant U.S. attorney and a federal assistant public defender, has an Amazon delivery subcontractor hiring two language-limited Jordanian immigrants to deliver parcels in the region around the small city of Quantico, Virginia, population 582.
The city of Quantico is entirely within the Marine base of the same name. Any parcel deliverable to a resident must come through secured Marine entryways.
On May 3, 2024, the two employees, each non-documented immigrants, were tasked with a parcel delivery to a Quantico resident. Checking in at the Marine gate, they provided proof of delivery orders, which a Marine guard confirmed with the employer; he also confirmed their employment status.
The pair were allowed to proceed through the checkpoint into the base. They were directed to an inspection location, but they drove too far towards a second gate. When “denial barriers” were raised, the driver stopped. When told to back up, the driver complied and backed up.
Their delivery truck was then searched. No weapons or other forbidden materials were found in the search.
The defense was that due to limited English skills, the duo misunderstood directions.
Quantico officials issued citations for trespassing without arrest and turned to two over to ICE officials. They were then released on bond from ICE custody.
On October 3, 2024, the federal prosecutor dropped the trespassing charges. In a filing, he noted that from an FBI check, neither defendant had known terrorist links. Checks with Homeland Security and ICE revealed nothing. “Neither defendant is on the watch list.”
Deportation proceeding continue unabated.
Like almost all misdemeanors, the two cases initially received zero press attention.
So ends the facts of the first version as they were explained in documents filed in federal court by lawyers who have an ethical duty as officers of the court to not mislead the court.
Here begins the second version.
On May 6, 2024, Matt Strickland, a “Republican activist and grilled cheese restaurateur known for bucking the state’s coronavirus pandemic restrictions” and a military veteran, posted to Facebook:
“Terror attacks are coming soon. A box truck just ran through the gate at Quantico Marine Corps Base. Even if nothing was found in the truck, it’s a problem. That’s what we call a dry run.”
Alongside the post, Mr. Strickland added an image of a text “saying that a box truck has recently ‘run the gate’ with two men inside, one with a Virginia driver’s license, the other ‘a known Jordanian terrorist who just crossed the border not 3 days prior.'”
When asked, Strickland said the text came from a Quantico employee acquaintance.
On May 10, 2024, the Potomac Local News picked up Strickland’s Facebook post, claiming that “multiple sources” said one of the men was “on the U.S. terrorist watch list”.
The New York Post amplified the story, describing the incident as a possible “ISIS dry run”.
On May 22, 2024, Virginia’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, sent a letter to President Biden demanding a briefing with federal officials. He acknowledged that federal officials had already shared information with Virginia officials, but that was two weeks after the event, “after the event had received national news coverage.”
Youngkin sought more information, writing:
“Basic information regarding how these men entered the country, if terrorism is being considered a motive, and the contents of the box truck that attempted to enter Quantico, should be made public. … At this point, I cannot even begin to adequately assess the true nature of these potential threats — let alone take the necessary action to fulfill my duties as Chief Executive and Governor of the Commonwealth.”
The very next day, Republican members of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security sent out their own demand letter to Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and the FBI.
Since then, Governor Youngkin has repeatedly raised the Quantico incident.
In July, he spoke at a GOP activist breakfast, saying:
“Just a few months ago, Quantico Marine Corps Base’s front gates were literally rammed by two Jordanian illegal immigrants in a box truck trying to get into the base. … It’s happened to bases in California. It’s happened all over the country. We have people coming across the border who want to do our nation harm. We must stop it. …”
On October 14, 2024, Governor Youngkin told CNN’s Jake Tapper:
“We have folks that have crashed the — illegal immigrants — that have crashed the front gate at Quantico in a box truck, trying to gain access to Quantico.”
As for Mr. Strickland, the GOP activist who started the whole second story, he now says he doesn’t know what to think after the dropping of criminal charges. He thinks it possible “that the whole thing was just ‘an honest mistake’ by a pair of delivery drivers with limited English.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
There is a moral imperative to push back against liars among us, just as there is a moral imperative to push back against the vengeful among us.
There is a reason why James Madison, arguably the best-educated and most intellectual of our founding fathers, distinguished between the “virtuous” partisan member of faction who put country above party and the “pestilential” partisan member of faction who put party above country.
Were two non-documented immigrants with limited English language skills sent to the city of Quantico by their employer with instructions to deliver a package to a resident, as two zealous officers of the court told the court in multiple filings?
Or did terrorists attempt to ram the gates of the fabled Quantico Marine Base, as multiple Republican operatives without any duty to tell the truth told their gullible followers?
Your call. How you answer to yourself will tell you much about yourself.
Laurel says
I would think that a Marine base knows how to stop, or let in, a delivery truck. They do it all day long, day after day.
So, what this reminds me of, is a million years ago, I had a job as a gate attendant at a park. Patrons had to pay to get in. The genius head of the department had us in a mandatory meeting to tell us how a friend of his, along with family members, almost got into the park without paying. I called him out on that. “Almost” means they did not get in without paying. The department head was not happy with me.
A person does not necessarily have to be smart to be in charge.
Sherry says
@ Ray W. . . I’m not surprised The New York Post (part of the Rupert Murdoch media empire, along with Fox) manipulated the facts of the incident in such a biased way against immigrants. In my experience, such misinformation/disinformation is daily SOP “standard operating procedure” for all Murdoch media outlets. Note the Fox admission of lying about the results of the 2020 Presidential election of Joe Biden, after the 787 million dollar Dominion settlement.
In my opinion, such manipulation of the facts over 20+ years actually created the seeds and fertile ground for the birth of the maga cult. trump was astute enough to seize upon the millions writhing in the fear and hate ginned up by Murdoch’s popular extreme right winged outlets, and stepped in to “deliver” the political goods and power to the dysfunctional and diminished “Tea Party” Republicans.
A true testament to the “Power of the Press” . . . for evil, as well as good.
Ray W, says
According to the Tampa Free Press, twenty-seven months after the September 2022 gubernatorial order to deploy Florida National Guardsmen to fill staffing shortages at state prisons, the deployment has just been extended for another six months.
While staffing levels have improved somewhat in the more than two years of deployments, the Governor’s extension order cited ongoing threats to the safety of corrections officers, inmates and the public. Thus, it is crucial for Guardsmen to continue to maintain order and security in the prisons.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
The entire nation needs more workers. The American native-born population base of working age is shrinking. Wages are rising and Florida’s prisons still can’t compete for the declining number of American workers. We could hire documented immigrants to staff the prisons, but that seems politically unpalatable.
Let’s face facts. We needed every immigrant who entered the country during the past four years to grow our economy. If millions of immigrants are deported as promised, American businesses are going to face more and more competition over fewer and fewer American-born workers. The dearth of talent will drive up wages across the board. Numerous economists predict the deportation-driven shortages will trigger a new bout with inflation.
Ann Williams says
This represents the Republican party today. The Republican Party is not a party for the people anymore. It is a party for the wealthy and well connected to big business. The politicians are all bought and paid for by the wealthy. Very obvious in the election just past.