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Weather: Mostly sunny. A slight chance of showers in the afternoon. Highs around 80. Chance of rain 20 percent. Monday night: Partly cloudy in the evening, then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows in the lower 60s.
- 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:
In Court: The trial on a first-degree murder charge of Stephen Monroe, the last of four defendants involved in the shooting death of 16-year-old Noah Smith on a street in Bunnell three years ago, begins with jury selection before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols in Courtroom 401. Monroe alone declined to plead out, as the other three have. See: “Stephen Monroe, Last of 4 Defendants in Murder of Noah Smith, Goes on Trial Monday After Declining Deal.” The trial is expected to take most of the week.
The Flagler County Commission meets at 9 a.m. at the Government Services Building, 1769 E. Moody Boulevard, Building 2, Bunnell. Access meeting agendas and materials here. The five county commissioners and their email addresses are listed here. Meetings stream live on the Flagler County YouTube page.
The Flagler County Commission meets in workshop at 1 p.m. at the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell. The agenda includes discussions of a proposed county airport ordinance, among several items.
The Flagler County Library Board of Trustees meets at 4:30 p.m. at the Flagler County Public Library, 2500 Palm Coast Pkwy NW, Palm Coast. The meeting of the seven-member board is open to the public.
Nar-Anon Family Groups offers hope and help for families and friends of addicts through a 12-step program, 6 p.m. at St. Mark by the Sea Lutheran Church, 303 Palm Coast Pkwy NE, Palm Coast, Fellowship Hall Entrance. See the website, www.nar-anon.org, or call (800) 477-6291. Find virtual meetings here.
The Bunnell City Commission meets at 7 p.m. at the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell, where the City Commission is holding its meetings until it is able to occupy its own City Hall on Commerce Parkway in 2025. To access meeting agendas, materials and minutes, go here.
Notably: Liberation is one of France’s national papers, its tabloid format belying its witty seriousness as an alternative to the more august Le Monde and the right-wing Figaro. Liberation’s covers have can be as striking as The Economist’s. This one from a few days ago was especially so, as was the accompanying editorial, translated in part here: “Attention, take cover, an enormous danger threatens all of humanity and it did not take a week for Donald Trump to seize it in order to try to defuse it! The nuclear bomb? Climate change? Famine? Jihadism? Online hatred? Think again. None of this. It is about fighting against… trans people. Yes, you read correctly, trans people – 0.6% of the American population – represent such a great danger that the President of the United States himself, barely inaugurated, decided to legislate the matter. He went so far as to push clinics to interrupt the current treatment of some of their patients, without worrying about the physiological and mental impact of such a decision. […] How do they represent a danger? Their simple existence is disturbing because it upsets the immutable order of things, like Elon Musk who could not bear that one of his children wanted to transition because it called into question his own identity and especially his own authority. It would be laughable if it were not so dramatic. And if it did not recall certain dark hours of the past.”
—P.T.
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The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Flagler County Drug Court Convenes
Palm Coast Democratic Club Meetings
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Flagler Beach City Commission Meeting
Reserve at Haw Creek Joint Workshop
Evenings at Whitney Lecture Series
‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Friday Blue Forum
Flagler Outreach Brings Social Service Providers to Cattleman’s Hall
‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre
For the full calendar, go here.
Ye who have eyes and see not, and have ears and hear not; ye who are as the hypocrites of sad countenances, and disfigure your faces that ye may seem unto men to fast; learn healthy cheerfulness, and mild contentment, from the deaf, and dumb, and blind! Self-elected saints with gloomy brows, this sightless, earless, voiceless child may teach you lessons you will do well to follow. Let that poor hand of hers lie gently on your hearts; for there may be something in its healing touch akin to that of the Great Master whose precepts you misconstrue, whose lessons you pervert, of whose charity and sympathy with all the world, not one among you in his daily practice knows as much as many of the worst among those fallen sinners, to whom you are liberal in nothing but the preachment of perdition!
–From Charles Dickens’s American Notes (1842).
Dennis C Rathsam says
[Disallowed. Do not use this site to spread disinformation. Thanks.–FL]
Laurel says
It is extremely hard for me to believe that any Americans trust this man, or Trump. I certainly do not.
Pogo says
@Notably too (or is it ironically?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ_rights_by_country_or_territory
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
— Charles Dickens
Pogo says
@Air Farce One
Elon Musk’s private jet left the Washington, DC area for the first time since Trump’s inauguration
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/elon-musk-s-private-jet-left-the-washington-dc-area-for-the-first-time-since-trump-s-inauguration/ar-AA1yIh3i?ocid=nl_article_link
All work, and all play, makes Elon one crazy SOB.
— Must have been said by many
Skibum says
For someone who is the world’s wealthiest person to also be one of the least philanthropic individuals in existence is very telling about Musk’s morality and personal desires. And not only is he very stingy with his own riches, now he has been given access to yours and mine personal and financial information that is held in various, previously secure federal accounts. With that access and no guardrails, he and his twenty something “techies” are invading our IRS account information, our Social Security and Medicare account information, information on tax exemptions and political donations, just to name a few. We are not told when they access our personal and private data or what they intend to do with it. They are not government employees, so they have no electronic privacy policies they must adhere to. And lastly, as well as highly problematic, is the fact that Musk himself garners huge tax breaks and federal assistance for his companies, and now has an inside track that will enable him to have insider information and an extraordinary and unfair advantage over any other company seeking to do business in direct competition to any of Musk’s companies. Musk has gone out of his way to show allegiance and support to Germany’s white nationalist (Nazi) sympathizers, and with his bigoted, white nationalist president entrenched in the WH for the next four years, who know what additional mischief Musk will be allowed to get into that endangers each of our personal security, health records, financial wellbeing and retirement savings. This is an unprecedented and illegal breach of every American’s trust, orchestrated and approved by the worst president this country has ever seen! We can only assume more nightmares are on the horizon for all of us.
Laurel says
Skibum: It is just amazing to me that so many people are okay with this. It makes China’s facial recognition data of all its citizens look innocuous in comparison.
Laurel says
OMG! I was in Publix liquor store, and while buying my Canadian whiskey, while I still can, I looked up and saw myself on the TV monitor. That, in itself, was not a biggy, but what was really bothersome, I saw that telltale square around my face, that followed my face, exactly like you see what China uses on all its citizens! Data collection!
Private, personal information being collected by citizen Musk’s undocumented “wizards,” credit card data, and now facial recognition. The freedom of individuals is now, I’m sorry to say, lost forever.
Endless dark money says
It’s the first step in authoritarian playbook. Eliminate trust in government and institutions no better way than to install unqualified shills and boot lickers.shut down the agencies diaper don doesn’t like. If I wanted to destroy america I’d do exactly what the orange stain is doing.
Endless dark money says
I think people are too busy trying to pay the next bill and feed their families than to take action about the fascist takeover. Besides protesting is essentially illegal now so not worth risking their own livelihood for a dumpster of a nation that only represents billionaires.
Laurel says
Endless: It was planned that way.
Ray W, says
The Daily Mail reported yesterday that Spain, producer of half of the world’s supply of olive oil, benefited from a wet winter season last year followed by more moderate temperatures, so this year’s crop yield will be higher than normal, rising from 850k tons to 1.4 million tons. The two previous growing seasons were dominated by drought and heat. The price of a 2-liter bottle of oil in England more than doubled as a result of the reduced crop yields.
Over the last month, wholesale prices for olive oil have more than halved, per the International Olive Council. It is expected to take three months for the wholesale drop in prices to high grocery store shelves.
According to the Council, Greek, Portuguese and Tunisian harvests also will be larger this year.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I commented about a year ago about the predicted rise in olive oil prices from the drought and heat across southern Europe. Last summer, the drought was so bad that river traffic on certain Italian rivers had to be curtailed because the rivers were too shallow. I advised FlaglerLive readers to stock up on olive oil before the prices skyrocketed. I exhausted my stock a while ago and have been waiting for this news.
The gullible among us blamed the Biden administration for the higher olive oil prices. They were wrong, as they so often are. Simple supply and demand. Drought and heat reduce crop yields and prices rise.
For that matter, I expect beef prices to begin dropping soon. For two straight years, ranchers culled their herds early due to high feed prices after two straight years of drought occurred across the upper Midwest.
The drought got so bad that the Army Corps of Engineers had to conduct an emergency dredge of the Mississippi near Memphis, as barge traffic could not traverse the shallows at that location. At one time, the total cattle head count hit the lowest level in the country since 1951. Of course, beef prices rose. Supply and demand at work.
Last winter saw adequate rain, due to which rainfall wheat and grain crop yields rose. Feed prices dropped. Ranchers have been rebuilding their head count numbers. Once head counts return to a more normal state, beef prices should begin to drop.
The gullible among us will claim that Trump is responsible for the drop in beef prices. They will be wrong, as they so often are.
Ray W, says
A couple of days ago, CNET published an article about current egg prices. The reporter asked a number of economists to explain why egg prices are so high.
Here are some bullet points from the article:
– By the end of 2024, the national average of a dozen eggs was $4.15. In California, the state hardest hit by the avian flu, a dozen eggs on average costs $8.65.
– The recent bout of severe winter weather reduced egg production separate from the avian flu.
– Between late 2014 and June 2015, a prior strain of avian flu caused the slaughter of 50 million egg-laying hens. Egg prices in the hardest hit regions nearly doubled.
– The current avian flu epidemic is even larger, with more than 13 million chickens slaughtered in the last 30 days alone.
– In 2024, some 100 million chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys were slaughtered.
– Egg-laying hens take longer to mature than do chickens raised for meat. Egg-laying hens don’t start laying eggs until 18 weeks of age. It takes six months for a flock to fully replace a slaughtered flock. Chickens raised for meat mature in seven weeks.
– Older chickens are more susceptible to avian flu outbreaks.
– 67 people have test positive for avian flu, meaning it can transfer from birds to humans. One person had died.
– The USDA predicts that by April 2025, egg prices may begin to return to normal.
– The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report has egg prices dropping to $2.50 per dozen by the end of the second quarter. That estimate presumes the avian flu stops spreading.
– Economics Professor David A. Anderson, Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, said:
“If the bird flu outbreak does not become significantly worse, I expect that egg prices will take a downward path. … Over time, destroyed hen populations will be replaced, new egg sources will appear in response to the high prices, and consumers with low-to-moderate preferences for egg products will adapt to substitutes, especially in the places with the highest egg prices. These increases in supply and decreases in demand will usher the prices lower.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Since 2022, the recent extremely virulent avian flu virus has spread across the entire country. The over 100 million slaughtered domestic birds in the last thirteen months alone, plus a severe winter freeze has drastically reduced the national supply of eggs. Several of the more gullible among us repeatedly post comments on FlaglerLive that the Biden administration was responsible for the rise in egg prices. They were wrong, as they so often are. If you don’t destroy infected flocks, this variant of the avian flu more easily spreads to cattle and pigs. All over the country, milk testing yields the presence of avian flu in cattle and the milk they produce. Pigs are testing positive, too.
If the flu’s impact and range of infection subside, in about six months we may see more normal egg prices. If not, who knows how long it will be before prices return to normal. If prices do drop later this year, some of the gullible among us will claim that Trump is responsible for the drop in prices. They will be wrong, as they so often are.
–
Ed P says
I see the world through a different lens, providing an alternate perspective on Musk.
Did he buy twitter to protect free speech and expose government oppression / censorship? He exposed the truth, and Zuckerberg has now admitted the same. Would the 44 billion paid for X to protect free speech for our country be a philanthropic action? It’s worth less than 1/2 of the purchase price.
He has donated 5..7 billion to his foundation raising it to 9.4 billion in assets. His foundation is similar to others like Gates and Buffett. Donating to charitable causes along their individual beliefs. That’s rather generous. Do you bash them?
I’m also appreciative that someone of his caliber is donating his time in an attempt to eliminate waste and fraud that is pervasive and even accepted throughout our federal agencies. He has nothing to gain, he has enough, but naysayers “know he is corrupt”
If Bill Gates or Warren Buffett were doing the exact same thing, would the left accept their actions?
Oh, they are “better “ than Musk.
The salute hoax that was an awkward jester of throwing out his heartfelt thanks lives on. Musk is awkward. He brilliant but he’s not a Nazi nor even a fascist.
Musk is in fact the poster child for the American Dream. Has everyone conveniently forgot his journey? He is the opposite of a fascist. He has a proven track record of being a transformational leader in his companies. He has grand ideas that most people could never dream and allows his teams to bring to reality. Great visionaries have always been criticized by society, it must be frustrating dealing with myopic fools. He has few equals.
What could he have to gain, other than helping mankind, something he has dedicated his life’s work to. It’s not a crime to also be financially successful. Everyone should be rewarded for their individual contributions.
I disagree that the inefficiency, waste and fraud being removed will not cause irreparable damage. Musk and his wizards probably all have superior IQs and are probably intimidating most bureaucrats. They move at warp speed. A concept foreign to Washington. Conventional actions caused the problem, how can that be the solution?
Trump campaigned on this concept and even an ABC poll reports that Trump holds a 53% approval rating. Transformational change is on the horizon.
The courts will not prevail. 100% of Trumps actions won’t be correct. However, a Major League Baseball player who can bat .333% meaning they strike out 6/7 times out of 10 at bat, they will be inducted into the hall of fame.
Point is, if he’s right just 1/2 the time, he will be a winner.
Laurel says
Oh my goodness!
“If Bill Gates or Warren Buffett were doing the exact same thing, would the left accept their actions?” They are not doing the same thing. Buffett still lives in the same, old house, and drives the same old car. He said he doesn’t need a yacht as he has friends with yachts. He ego is in check. Gates is actually helping people around the world, live better, healthier lives, instead of dancing around the White House, and attracting attention like the toddler on his shoulders. The current billionaires running our country, are cutting taxes for themselves. Not for you; not for me.
Musk has nothing to gain? He has gained billions of dollars, and unreal power, in just weeks. He has million dollar and billion dollar contracts with the government, a clear conflict of interest.
As Neil Degrasse Tyson said, if Musk really cared, he would be active in saving this planet, and not attempt Mars occupation, [on our dime and time], instead. I agree. Our beautiful Eden is being spoiled, instead of saved, and Musk prefers dirt ball Mars. That’s a personal goal. That’s ego.
According to you, Musk has vision, and the rest of us are all shortsighted “fools.” His vision may not be the best for all of us, we are a country of individuals, not a database for amusement.
There is a reason government does not move a warp speed. At warp speed, caution is disregarded, and collisions occur. We are headed for many.
Ray W, says
In an Alternet article responding to Vice-President Vance’s tweet that “…judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power”, the reporter dug up two quotes. One from Montesquieu, the author of “The Spirit of the Laws” (1748). The other from James Madison, the author of our Constitution.
“When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty. … Again, there is no liberty, if the judiciary power be not separated from the legislative and executive.” Montesquieu.
“If it be essential to the preservation of liberty that the legislative, executive, and judiciary powers be separate, it is essential to a maintenance of the separation, that they should be independent of each other. …
“In like manner, a dependence of the executive on the legislature would render it the executor as well as the maker of laws; and then, according to the observation of Montesquieu, tyrannical laws may be made that they may be executed in a tyrannical manner.
“He [Montesquieu] conceived it to be absolutely necessary to a well-constituted republic, that the first two should be kept distinct and independent of each other … for guarding against a dangerous union of the legislative and executive departments.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
This cannot be said to often.
In 1687, King James II was deposed by forces raised by Parlaiment. Academia considers this moment the founding of the Conservative Tradition.
King James II had informed Parlaiment that as he had been created by God to rule men, he held primacy over Parlaiment. Parlaiment insisted that, yes, King James II had been created by God to rule men, but that God did not intend for a king to rule absolutely. Parlaiment had its powers, and the King held other powers. This historical episode established the English concept of separation of powers.
Soon thereafter, King James II fled to France.
Parlaiment almost immediately enacted legislation establishing 13 individual rights. Some of those 13 rights form our Bill of Rights, but not all. For that matter, during the ratification conferences, approximately 40 different individual rights were proposed by the ratifiers. This established the English idea that no matter what powers either a king or a parliament held, none of those powers could interfere with the individual rights of the English people.
By these acts, the Conservative Tradition was built upon the concepts of obedience to the rule of law, preservation of individual rights, and zealous guardianship of those limited powers held by Parlaiment.
For nearly 400 years, anyone in England or America who defined him or herself as a conservative held to these three values.
In time, because Parlaiment of the era believed that kings were created by God to rule and protect men, Parlaiment negotiated with William of Orange. He and Queen Mary eventually agreed to become England’s new sovereigns, on condition that William would not intrude on Parlaiment’s powers.
After both William and Mary died, Parlaiment negotiated with Hanoverian royalty and King George I agreed to become England’s new king, again preserving Parliament’s powers.
For the entire history of our nation, Congress has on occasion bent to a president’s will but it never to yielded to it.
Today’s Republican Party may be defined as being many different things, but it can no longer be truthfully said that it follows the Conservative Tradition.
Laurel says
What I make of Vance’s statement “”In an Alternet article responding to Vice-President Vance’s tweet that “…judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power”” is a further dedication to making the absurd, mundane. It’s been working on half of our population for a decade now.
I’m waiting for our Republican neighbors to start to doubt it, and ultimately end it. I hope it’s not too long a wait.
Ray W, says
A couple of days ago, The Daily Digest published a story about a UAE-based oil exploration company hired by Egypt striking oil in the Gulf of Suez.
As background, the author of the article wrote that Egypt’s daily oil consumption was 540,000 barrels per day, and that other Egyptian oil fields had long been dwindling in productivity. The find, estimated at 2,000 barrels of crude oil per day, could potentially produce 5,000 barrels per day; it would not allow Egypt to become oil independent, but it would be a helpful addition to its domestic supply.
The field has been designated East Crystal-1.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I went to other sources to check on this.
Apparently, there a multiple small oil fields scattered throughout the Gulf of Suez, including onshore fields, but no exploratory drilling was deemed feasible until improvements in 3-D seismic imaging made it possible to direct a drill into the most profitable identified deposits.
Initial estimates are 8 million total barrels of oil, but it is expected that with further exploration, the number will significantly rise.
Ray W, says
In June 2024, TDK announced the introduction of a rechargeable ceramic solid-state smartwatch or wireless headphone battery.
Traditional rechargeable coin batteries that power such devices have an energy density of about 400 Wh/l (watt-hour per liter). TDK’s new battery has an energy density of 1,000 Wh/l. This allows for longer battery operating life and lighter weight.
The new battery “will be made of an all-ceramic material, with oxide-based solid electrolyte and lithium alloy anodes.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
American engenuity has us at the forefront of battery technology two decades ago, but we stupidly decided to cede the field to other nations. Simple as that.
Ray W, says
Interviewed by a New York Times reporter, Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley, said China is 10 years ahead of Western automakers in EV battery technology. He added that Ford, in its recent push to compete with Chinese automakers, is having to pay Chinese battery makers to access their intellectual properties.
Ford is purchasing from CATL, China’s largest battery maker, the technology to build LFP (lithium ferrous phosphate) batteries at an American factory. Its brand-new Blue Oval Battery Park should be producing thousands of LFP batteries by 2026.
The irony to this story is that scientists at the University of Texas discovered, developed and patented LFP technology some 20 years ago. A company, A123 Systems, LLC, was set up to commercialize the battery. Funded by the Obama administration, it met headwinds when the EV market failed to develop as hoped. Bankrupt, the company sold the patent to CATL “for pennies.”
Mr. Farley now says that “[t]he way we compete with them (China) is to get access to their IP just the way they needed ours 20 years ago, and then use our innovative ecosystem and American ingenuity and our great scale and our intimacy with the customer to beat them globally. It will be one of the most important races to save our industrial economy.”
The author writes:
“Looking back from a 2025 vantage point, it seems incredible that the tech was allowed not just to leave US hands, but drop into the hands of one of its biggest adversaries. One that, according to the Bloomberg report, controls 83% of all lithium-ion battery manufacturing.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I will continue to comment on America’s failure, nee, refusal, to see what was coming. We discovered LFP battery technology. We developed LFP technology. But we stupidly thought that internal combustion engines were the future, and our automobile industry let the technology slip away for pennies. Our current president stupidly claims that ICE technology is the future, and that EV technology is to be opposed. Jim Farley is on record as stating that EVs are having a Model T transforming moment. ICE technology is nearing the end of its development curve. EV motor and battery technology is at the beginning of its development curve.
Right now, Ford is trying to catch up for the lost decades by paying a Chinese company that could see the future for the right to use its evolution of our technology.
There is no other way than to just say that the professional lying class of one of our two political parties has so distorted a message directed to its gullible followers that it and they still resist the future.
Many models of electric cars now cost less to build, cost less to buy, cost less to insure, cost less to drive, cost less to maintain, and cost less to repair than their comparable ICE versions. Former President Biden imposed a 102.5% tariff on Chinese EVs in order to give time to our domestic automobile industry to try to catch up. If that doesn’t tell you how blind our car industry leaders were, what will?
BillC says
Musk-rat is as screwy and weird as his Cybertruck. This oddball is a threat to democracy, doesn’t understand it.
Sherry says
Right On Skibum. . . I couldn’t agree more!
Jason says
What I witnessed was Elon, an individual with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), make a gesture symbolizing giving his heart to the American people and our country.
It is saddening that someone with ASD is being intentionally misrepresented because he is a Billionaire and doesn’t have the same viewpoints on the role of government and policy that his detractors do.
The implication makes no sense. Why would a billionaire with government contracts for SpaceX even care about your social security number? Do people genuinely believe he is going to open a credit card in your name? That makes zero sense. Between X(formerly Twitter) and the other social media sites he has more information about people and their behaviors, desires, wants, than the government has with your SS number. Again, it makes no sense. And when he co-founded PayPal there weren’t any concerns about sharing your private bank information or purchasing with him then. So this all has a distinct smell of desperation to cast someone in a negative light for a gesture that out of context looks like a nazi solute but in reality is a socially awkward individual with ASD that was throwing his heart out to the people.
We live in a world that lacks grace a civility. I hope that the people that are hurling this misinformation find something in their lives that will give them back the joy in life that they seem to have lost and believe they can obtain by tearing others down.
Pierre Tristam says
Elon Musk is no Magritte. He made the Nazi salute.
Jason says
I don’t want to assume you are saying Elon Musk is a Nazi, but when you state he made a Nazi solute it implies that Elon is a Nazi. Is that what you are claiming? If it is, then I’d be curious what actions he has taken to align himself with Nazi ideals.
Pierre Tristam says
Your curiosity might have been slaked had you spared me the need to waste the six microseconds it took me to find the answer to your question: “It should be noted, to address the claims of a double standard, that the attention by critics on Musk’s gesture has been fueled by his recent political remarks. The social media posts do not mention Musk’s recent support of far-right political figures and causes. In January 2025, Musk called for Tommy Robinson, arguably the U.K.’s most prominent far-right figure, to be released from prison. Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court after he aired a documentary that a judge said contained libelous claims about a 15-year-old Syrian refugee. It is his fifth prison term. Musk has also said that the German far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the “only” party that can “save Germany,” while rejecting the idea that the party is “rightwing extremist.” The Anti-Defamation League has referred to the AfD as “an extremist, anti-immigrant party.” In May 2024, a German court rejected an appeal by the AfD against its classification as a “suspected” far-right extremist organization, as reported by German media outlet Deutsche Welle. “The court finds there is sufficient evidence that the AfD pursues goals that run against the human dignity of certain groups and against democracy,” judges of the court wrote. The AfD said it would make another appeal.”
Sherry says
musk is likely not personally interested in stealing your Social Security checks. . . BUT, “UNVETTED” Doge members with zero government experience, NO Security Clearance transferring ANY payment systems to other servers creates a HUGE possibility of “Identity Theft”!!! Many banking systems still use your Social Security number as an identifier for your account access! An un-necessary “Invasion of Our Privacy”! Doge operates in almost total secrecy as the trump administration refuses any kind of transparency on that organization’s process and procedures! Lawsuits are happening and millions are alarmed for very, very good reason!
Meanwhile Maga cult members are saying again and again that everyone else should just stop asking questions and “obey” almighty trump as they are doing. The man is a proven lier, criminal, sex offender, adulterer . . . I will NEVER EVER trust him! I will NEVER EVER pay homage to Herr trump or anyone on his team!
Dennis C Rathsam says
Pierre, Theres photos of Harris, Clinton, Obama + using the same Nazi salute on X!!!! All at different rallys! Speak & show the truth!
Pierre Tristam says
You are cynically, maliciously wrong, because you know very well that they did not, and still you perpetuate the lie. I love a lot of your nonsense, because we all need a site jester and your comments have the unique ability to make us feel like we’re drunk out of our minds without having to be, which has its advantages (Jimbo has that skill too but with him it’s more like we’re on meth), but there are limits. Incidentally, X is not a reference. It’s a flag as red as your bleary words.
Sherry says
You think your Social Security and Medicare service are safe from DOGE. . . think again:
The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, headed by Elon Musk, continues to come under fire from lawmakers and the courts — with the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare telling me Monday that Musk and DOGE “are attempting to radically downsize” the Social Security Administration and cut its funding.
After reports surfaced last week that SSA is in DOGE’s crosshairs, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., raised new concerns in a letter Friday to acting Social Security commissioner Michelle King.
“As the nation’s largest benefit-paying agency to more than 70 million seniors, people with disabilities, and children, the Social Security Administration is the hub for storing Americans’ most sensitive medical and financial information,” Wyden said in a statement. “DOGE’s access to SSA’s data system is an invasion of both Americans’ financial security and privacy — including people’s bank and credit information, Social Security numbers, birth and marriage certificates, and citizenship status.”
On Monday, lawmakers joined Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., outside Social Security headquarters in Baltimore to call for “protecting the integrity of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid” following reports that DOGE has accessed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and intends to access SSA next.
“Musk and DOGE are attempting to radically downsize the Social Security Administration,” Dan Adcock, director or government relations and policy at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told me Monday in an email.
“SSA is already underfunded and understaffed,” Adcock continued. “Musk and DOGE want to unilaterally cut funding for the agency and massively lay off workers that administer Americans’ earned benefits.”