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Weather: A 30 percent chance of showers after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 59.
- 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, enters its third day 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 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.
Evenings at Whitney Lecture Series hosted by the University of Florida Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience at 6 p.m. “The Illusion of Reliable Brain Function – How Does the Brain Detect Mistakes and Corrects Them?” Dr. Carlos Lois, Research Professor of Biology, California Institute of Technology, will be the speaker. 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. See previous lectures here.
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Central Park, from noon to 2 p.m. in Central Park in Town Center, 975 Central Ave. Join Bill Wells, Bob Rupp and other members of the Palm Coast Model Yacht Club, watch them race or join the races with your own model yacht. No dues to join the club, which meets at the pond in Central Park every Thursday.
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. 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. The club holds a recap meeting at 6:15 p.m.
Notably: Decision was a short-lived literary journal that today would be identified with Antifa: “Conceived as an anti-fascist organ as well as a literary review,” says the archival note at Yale, “the magazine, from its very first issue in January 1941, was for the most part an American forum for exiled European artists and intellectuals. In addition to Thomas Mann, who contributed articles without a fee, the magazine published Stefan Zweig, Heinrich Mann, Julien Green, Vladimir Nabokov, Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger and anti-Nazi English writers such as W.H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood and Stephen Spender.” The journal ran into financial difficulties and ceased publication with the January/February 1942 issue. Unfortunately, Billy Graham launched his magazine under the same name in 1960. Its January issue had Trump on the cover, with the big headline: “Pray for the President.” Let us choose to take the headline in its ironic sense, though it wasn’t the editors’ intention. Decision’s October cover showed Harris and Trump, with the words “:socialism v. Freedom” beneath them. So much for Christian honesty. In December, as Israel was well past making Dresden of Gaza (by then the comparison with Tokyo after the firebombing of 1945 better describes the landscape) the magazine chose for its cover story a picture of something blackening the background of an urban area in Palestine or Israel with smoke, and the headline: “Christmas in Israel: Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.” One is to suppose that for Franklin Graham peace in Gaza would not have been as important to the “prince of peace,” as the magazine refers to Jesus, if not Netanyahu. The February issue has a more triumphal re-invasion of Vietnam, this time by Franklin Graham who marketed one of his revivals in the Mekong Delta, though the pictures appear doctored to make the turnout look larger than it was. The article refers to 2,400 people, and uses a stock picture of Graham instead of one at the event. There was no mention of socialism. Maybe Graham featured a picture of Harris to make the point.
—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.
March 2025
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
‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre
East Flagler Mosquito Control District Board Meeting
Flagler County Commission Evening Meeting
Nar-Anon Family Group
For the full calendar, go here.
Mr. Pritchard was a business-man, president of a medium-sized corporation. He was never alone. His business was conducted by groups of men who worked alike, thought alike, and even looked alike. His lunches were with men like himself who joined together in clubs so that no foreign element or idea could enter. His religious life was again his lodge and his church, both of which were screened and protected. One night a week he played poker with men so exactly like himself that the game was fairly even, and from this fact his group was convinced that they were very fine poker players. Wherever he went he was not one man but a unit in a corporation, a unit in a club, in a lodge, in a church, in a political party. His thoughts and ideas were never subjected to criticism since he willingly associated only with people like himself. He read a newspaper written by and for his group. The books that came into his house were chosen by a committee which deleted material that might irritate him. He hated foreign countries and foreigners because it was difficult to find his counterpart in them. He did not want to stand out from his group. He would like to have risen to the top of it and be admired by it; but it would not occur to him to leave it. At occasional stags where naked girls danced on the tables and sat in great glasses of wine, Mr. Pritchard howled with laughter and drank the wine, but five hundred Mr. Prichards were there with him.
–From John Steinbeck’s The Wayward Bus (1947).
Pogo says
@Spoilers
…still spoiling — and complaining about the disaster they enabled.
Ed P says
Controversy surrounded the Mount Rushmore project throughout. Gaining permission,
continuing funding and personal differences amongst politicians and Gutzon Borglum were more of a challenge then the actual carving process.
Nothing new here to see.
I believe 10 faces were the original commission, so there is plenty of room.
Maybe Trump can use the 60 minute settlement money to pay his bust.
Pierre Tristam says
Demolishing “Mt Rushmore,” an obscene blight on the Black Hills, and an abomination artistically (what’s one to expect from a white supremacist?), would be more appropriate.
Pogo says
@$chool daze
A$ $tated
https://ground.news/article/millions-flow-to-wealthy-families-pricey-private-schools-under-floridas-supercharged-voucher-program
My buddies wanted to be firemen, farmers or policemen, something like that. Not me, I just wanted to steal people’s money!
— John Dillinger
Sherry says
Emailed to my Senators this morning. . . feel free to use my words and do the same:
Dear Senator
Millions of US citizens are counting on you, and other champions of democracy, to “vigorously” defend our constitution and our fundamental way of life.
We are appalled that Trump has given an “unelected/unvetted” person like billionaire Elon Musk the power to completely destroy the vital organizations that comprise our federal government with seemingly no oversight what so ever!
We are appalled that the DOGE team of “inexperienced/unvetted” people without “security clearances” have been given the power to access our most private and personal information such as our Social Security numbers. This situation not only is an egregious invasion of privacy, but also subjects millions of our citizens to “identity theft”! Many banking and health care systems still use our Social Security numbers as an identifier for account access.
There are many things you personally can do to help in these disastrous times:
1. Contact the legitimate press outlets with our concerns and your action plan to protect our constitution, our democracy and our people from this Trump/Musk crime spree.
2. Make a criminal referral to stop Elon Musk’s DOGE group from ripping apart our government institutions.
3. Demand that the Inspectors General return to their agencies, which are now operating without independent oversight
4. Use all procedural methods to stop the assaults on our democracy: Deny a quorum, block unanimous consent, Max out debate time, Use all procedural methods to delay progress, and step up in unified opposition to illegal, non constitutional actions.
Object to every procedural shortcut that the Republicans try as they attempt to implement Trump’s agenda.
5. Insist that Congressional oversight of the executive branch be greatly strengthened in order to function in the way our constitution requires.
Thank you for all you have tried to do to stop this constitutional crisis from happening. I look forward to your response.
Sherry says
This is what Canada is sending around. . . take a couple of minutes to read this. . . they are not going down without a fight:
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2025/02/13/Do-Not-Test-Us-Trump/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email
Laurel says
Ed P doesn’t see any ego problem here.
I was trying to tell someone about the Trump/Musk Federal expenditure regarding the $400 mil the government is *budgeting* for the Tesla trucks, and couldn’t spit out the name Trump. I said Trusk! Then I thought, what should we call them, Presidents Trusk or Presidents Mumps? Three out of three votes went for Mumps. We’ll need a vaccine, though.
Ray W, says
One of the regular FlaglerLive commenters has repeatedly commented that people need to get out of the way of the new administration, because a new era dawns for us all. He might be right. He might be wrong, but I am curious as to how the currently magnified scrutiny by the new DOGE team of various administrative agency practices will work out. The DOGE agency, in particular, has cast its gaze toward the Federal Trade Commission, an agency whose purpose includes in part the investigation of potentially fraudulent consumer practices by corporations.
This morning, I stumbled across an August 28, 2024, article about Kroger, one of the largest national grocery store chains.
Kroger had filed notice of its intent to merge with Albertsons. Because the FTC supervises such mergers, it opened an investigation to determine whether the merger would decrease competition within the broader grocery industry.
At an administrative hearing, Andy Groff, Kroger’s Senior Director for Pricing, testified under oath. He was confronted with an e-mail he had generated standing for idea that the company had engaged in the practice of raising egg and milk prices above the company’s cost increases, i.e., price gouging of consumers. His internal e-mail to other Kroger executives reflected on the fact that “[o]n milk and eggs, retail inflation has been significantly higher than cost inflation.”
Mr. Groff admitted under oath that it was true that during the runup in inflation after the pandemic Kroger had raised its retail prices for eggs and milk above what the inflationary cost increases had called for.
A financial literary instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin to a Newsweek reporter was asked about the Kroger e-mail: Alex Beane said “[c]omments like this, despite their honesty, call into question the explanations Americans have been given for given for the last three years on inflation. … Supply chain issues, rising shipping costs, and increased wages certainly played their part in the higher prices we’re currently seeing. However, the admission some prices were elevated simply because businesses knew they could doesn’t help the case for those arguing price gouging isn’t an issue.”
Kevin Thompson, a finance expert who founded 9i Capital Group, asserted the emergence of a trend in our economic system: “We’ve moved away from true capitalism towards an oligarchic structure with less competition and larger players dominating the market. … This shift, driven by a focus on shareholder interest, has diminished consumer choice and competitive dynamics.” Thompson added: “This pricing strategy was likely implemented to maximize profits. … Other grocers may have taken similar actions, as executive compensation is often tied to stock price performance. Many executives push the boundaries of what’s legally permissible to boost returns.”
Powers Financial Group founder Drew Powers told Newsweek:
“This is not at all surprising. … Companies across multiple industries have been posting record profits since the COVID-19 crisis while consumers have faced the highest inflation in recent history. The math can only point to companies raising prices above the general level of inflation. As the old saying goes, ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.'”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
The irony is that had Kroger not tried to enlarge its imprint on the national grocery industry by attempting to merge with Albertson’s, its internal e-mail on price gouging would likely never have come to light.
It looks like there is one direct reason and five major indirect reasons why we are still in the grip of inflation, though 3% inflation is not considered a bad level of inflation.
As an aside, 2% inflation has become the ideal or target level of inflation, but it wasn’t always so. Prior to 25 years or so ago, there was not consensus ideal inflation level. The Fed, after years of discussion, finally adopted the 2% standard as “ideal.”
If 2% inflation is the Fed’s ideal number, then 1.5% inflation has to be considered less than ideal; it can still be considered good, but it has to be less than the best. Because economists greatly fear deflation, as deflation almost always causes multiple levels of destruction across an economy, 1% or lower is considered too close to deflation to be considered good in the long term.
Likewise, 2.5% inflation is also less than ideal. It, too, can still be called good, but it can’t be ideal, mainly because economists consider inflation that is just above 2% to be far less dangerous to an economy than deflation.
I don’t suppose that any reasoning person would argue that the pandemic was not the direct cause of inflation. I have already commented on the conclusion by economists that the shutdown due to the pandemic cost U.S. GDP to shrink by $7 trillion. If that figure is accurate, that means that some 25% of the U.S. GDP for the 12 months after March 2020 was lost to the shutdown. That the various spending and credit packages during both administrations injected $9 trillion in artificial money into the economy to counter the loss explains why, in part, that we emerged from the pandemic with an economy that the Wall Street Journal described as the “envy of the world.”
The five indirect reasons for inflation occurred in response to the pandemic.
First, President Trump signed into law two bills passed by Congress totaling $2.9 trillion in unfunded stimulus money. That money was designed to stimulate the rapidly cooling American economy, and it worked. GDP growth that had rapidly plummeted responded to the spending by rapidly rebounding. Inflation began ticking up before Trump left office in January 2020.
Second, former President Biden signed into law a number of bills passed by Congress totaling $3 trillion in unfunded stimulus money. That money, too, heated the economy, as intended. These funds continued the Trump heating of the economy, and inflation began to gather momentum.
Third, OPEC+ voted in February 2021 to phase in crude oil production cuts by six million barrels of oil per day at a time when the world was extracting just under 100 million barrels of oil per day. Saudi Arabia voluntarily added another one million barrels of crude oil per day to the cuts. Energy prices can be a big part of inflation. Crude oil prices inexorably began to rise due to the lack of supply, eventually hitting over $120 per barrel. The FTC has since accused one American shale oil executive of colluding with OPEC+ by agreeing to limit the amount of crude oil its company would extract. The FTC referred the CEO to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. I suspect that this is one of the reasons why the DOGE team has targeted the FTC for vilification. Everyone understands that when Governor DeSantis issued the executive order shutting down Florida in response to the CDC issuing a recommendation that the state’s shut down, people all across Florida stopped driving. Demand for gasoline fell. Prices fell. When OPEC+ closed the spigots, gasoline prices began to rise. Neither Trump nor Biden were responsible for the rise in gasoline prices; OPEC+ was the culprit, and still is, because OPEC+ has yet to fully restore its production of crude oil.
Fourth, Fed Chair Powell decided to make an additional $3 trillion in credit available to lending institutions and the Fed lowered the lending rate to zero. The excess available credit at such a low lending rate to the banks drove mortgage prices as low as 2.7%. The corresponding rush to buy homes and to refinance existing mortgages led to a housing bidding war. Prices skyrocketed. Housing costs rose. Inflation began spiking. The Fed began raising the lending rate.
Fifth, as this article exposes, it can be argued the corporations all around the country have been engaging in price gouging above what their rise in costs commanded in a competitive free market system based on the invisible hand of the marketplace. Let’s face facts. If corporate CEOs place their thumbs on the scales of commerce, consumers are the ones who suffer.
Many FlaglerLive readers may remember the commenter who wrote that after his many years in the grocery industry, he expected normal profits margins of 1.5% to 2.0%. I, too, had read studies of the grocery industry and I agreed with him. I looked up Publix’s profit margin at the time of the comment: 7.5%.
Is this an example of price gouging? Has Publix raised retail prices faster than its costs grew? I don’t know, but the idea that the most gullible among us who comment to FlaglerLive their belief that President Biden alone is responsible for the pandemic-induced inflation is absurd.
Jason says
Here I thought that Mt Rushmore was something that progressives despised but then I see them white knighting the damn thing. Personally, I think we should carve Anthony Johnson and Harriet Tubman right next to each other as a statement against altering history to fit a specific narrative.
Laurel says
Okay, for starters, Jason, I cannot remember one time, in my life, that anyone gave a shit about Mt. Rushmore, other than maybe visiting if nearby. As for your sarcasm about changing history, that wasn’t in the works either, until Trump’s ego showed up.
Are you looking forward to seeing his face plastered everywhere, like Chairman Mao?
Sherry says
Take a moment to watch and listen to what the Arizona Attorney General as to say about trump and musk:
Sherry says
Take a moment to watch and listen to what the Arizona Attorney General as to say about trump and musk: