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Weather: Rain showers likely. Highs in the lower 50s. Lows in the mid 30s. Chance of rain 70 percent.
- Daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
- Drought conditions here. (What is the Keetch-Byram drought index?).
- Check today’s tides in Daytona Beach (a few minutes off from Flagler Beach) here.
- Tropical cyclone activity here, and even more details here.
Today at a Glance:
The Cold-Weather Shelter known as the Sheltering Tree will open tonight: The shelter opens at Church on the Rock at 2200 North State Street in Bunnell as the overnight temperature is expected to fall to 40 or below. It will open from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. The shelter is open to the homeless and to the nearly-homeless: anyone who is struggling to pay a utility bill or lacks heat or shelter and needs a safe, secure place for the night. The shelter will serve dinner and breakfast. Call 386-437-3258, extension 105 for more information. Flagler County Transportation offers free bus rides from pick up points in the county, starting at 3 p.m., at the following locations and times:
- Dollar General at Publix Town Center, 3:30 p.m.
- Near the McDonald’s at Old Kings Road South and State Road 100, 4 p.m.
- Dollar Tree by Carrabba’s and Walmart, 4:30 p.m.
- Palm Coast Main Branch Library, 4:45 p.m.
Also: - Dollar General at County Road 305 and Canal Avenue in Daytona North, 4 p.m.
- Bunnell Free Clinic, 4:30 p.m.
- First United Methodist Church in Bunnell, 4:30 p.m.
The shelter is run by volunteers of the Sheltering Tree, a non-profit under the umbrella of the Flagler County Family Assistance Center, is a non-denominational civic organization. The Sheltering Tree is in need of donations. See the most needed items here, and to contribute cash, donate here or go to the Donate button at this page.
The Palm Coast City Council meets at 9 a.m. at City Hall. For agendas, minutes, and audio access to the meetings, go here. For meeting agendas, audio and video, go here.
The Flagler Beach Library Writers’ Club meets at 5 p.m. at the library, 315 South Seventh Street, Flagler Beach.
John Lennon’s ‘Lost Weekend,’ at Ocean Art Gallery, 197 E. Granada Blvd, Ormond Beach, Jan. 21 and 22. Few people knew John Lennon as intimately as May Pang. Pang was Lennon’s lover during the infamous “Lost Weekend” which lasted 18 months during late 1973 through 1975. During this highly creative time for Lennon, Pang took candid photos of Lennon in a comfortable, relaxed environment. A collection of these private photographs including several taken at Disney World, will be on display and available for purchase at Ocean Art Gallery. May Pang will be in attendance at Ocean Art Gallery both days from noon to 8 p.m., meeting customers, signing all prints and telling stories behind these limited-edition photographs of John Lennon.
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.
Notably: In one of the opening scenes of James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, a ridiculously racist book (but still a fun read), Cora in one of her first exchanges with FRank is incensed that he’s taken her for a Mexican. Not even a Mexican. Just a Mex:
“You think I’m Mex.”
“Nothing like it.”
“Yes you do. You’re not the first one. Well, get this. I’m just as white as you are, see? I may have dark hair and look a little that way, but I’m just as white as you are. You want to get along good around here, you won;t forget that.”
The scene reminded me of the time when a dumb fuck in the audience, wearing Maga red before her time, tells John McCain during a 2008 campaign rally that she can’t “trust Obama” because “he’s an Arab.” McCain (as you can see in the video below) had earlier very nobly told the audience that they had nothing to be “scared” about in Obama, that he is a “decent man,” words you would never hear from Trump these days–not just about his opponents, but about most people. But when the dumb fuck told McCain of her mistrust of Obama because he’s “an Arab,” he ruined the noble moment. He shook his head, took the mic away from her, and told her: “he’s a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues,” but rest assured, he tells the audience, “he’s not” an Arab. He must’ve read his Cain. The way Warren Harding during the whisper campaigns against him in his race angrily disavowed the rumors that he had Black blood, even though, in private, he told a Cincinnati Enquirer reporter (according to historian Jon Meacham): “One of my ancestors may have jumped the fence.” Another crude way of acknowledging a possible truth, but still not the point. The point is: so what if Obama was an Arab, or a Muslim? Are we OK with American presidents being Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, but not Muslim? Are we OK with them being South Asian, but not west Asian? What if Harding had Black blood? We got there with Black blood, finally, temporarily (very temporarily, if Harris doesn’t make it). We’re not there with so much else.
—P.T.
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The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Flagler County Commission Workshop
East Flagler Mosquito Control District Board Meeting
Nar-Anon Family Group
Flagler County Beekeepers Association Meeting
Bunnell City Commission Meeting
Palm Coast City Council Workshop
Flagler County School Board Information Workshop
Book Dragons, the Kids’ Book Club, at Flagler Beach Public Library
NAACP Flagler Branch General Membership Meeting
Flagler County School Board Meeting
‘Crimes of the Heart’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy
For the full calendar, go here.
Available historical data suggest that a negative image of Arabs existed before the September 11 attacks. A March 1993 Gallup poll, conducted shortly after a terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center, showed that just 39% of Americans had a favorable opinion of Arabs, while 32% had an unfavorable opinion and 29% had no opinion. An ABC News poll, conducted during the Persian Gulf crisis in February 1991, found that 43% of Americans said they had a high opinion of Arabs while 41% said they had a low opinion. In that poll, majorities of Americans said the following terms applied to Arabs: “religious” (81%), “terrorists” (59%), “violent” (58%) and “religious fanatics” (56%). A July 1993 Gallup poll found that nearly two-thirds of Americans believed that there were “too many” immigrants from Arab countries entering the United States, while just 6% thought there were too few and 24% thought the number was about right. The poll was conducted at a time when most Americans thought immigration on the whole should be decreased. Still, Arab countries topped the list of areas from which Americans said “too many” immigrants were coming to this country, followed closely by Latin American and Asian countries, with African and European countries well behind. Sixty percent of respondents in an April 1998 New York Times poll agreed that “Arab-Americans are more loyal to Arab countries than to the United States,” while 26% disagreed. In 1995, following the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, many Americans believed that Arab terrorist groups were responsible before the investigation uncovered Timothy McVeigh as the perpetrator of the crime. Nevertheless, six in 10 Americans thought media coverage of the bombing had been fair to Muslims and Arabs, while 28% thought it was unfair.
–From Gallup, Sept. 28, 2001.
