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Weather:
- 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 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.
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 special guest today is County Commission Chair Andy Dance, who will discuss the county’s beach management plan.
SpringFest 2025 at Joanne B. King Park in Bunnell, 300 Citrus St, Bunnell: from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free admission. Note the new location: For the first time, SpringFest will be held at Joanne B. King Park in Bunnell, making it more accessible to the Flagler County community, with extended hours for more shopping, entertainment, and activities, including an expanded entertainment lineup. Free activities for kids, including a pet parade, bounce houses, face painting and fun for the whole family to enjoy. Presented by the Palm Coast-Flagler Regional Chamber of Commerce.
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.
Speakeasy: The North East Florida Jazz Association presents the Amy Alysia Quartet in concert, 4-7 p.m. at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway. The Association (NEFJA) is dedicated to the perpetuation of jazz and the support to young musicians who seek a career in this art form. This Speakeasy event is one of a series of concerts in the Palm Coast and Daytona area to raise awareness, appreciation, and stipend money for music students. Tickets are $35 per person, available online at NEFJA.org. No ticket sales at the door. BYOB!
‘One Slight Hitch,’ at Daytona Playhouse, 100 Jessamine Blvd., Daytona Beach, Adults $25, Seniors $24, Youth $15, two shows today, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. It’s Courtney’s wedding day, and mom is making sure everything is perfect. Then, like in any good farce, the doorbell rings, and all hell breaks loose. So much for perfect.
‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre, 11 Old Mission Avenue, St. Augustine, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, $35. When wealthy widow, Mrs. Tottenham, hosts the wedding of the year, she gets a lot more than a write-up in the society pages. This magical piece of meta-theatre and playful, heartfelt parody of the 1920s musical comedy features a chirpy jazz age score by Tony-winning collaborators. Book here.
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.
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.
Readings: Why I still like James Carville. From the Feb. 25 Times: “The Republican Party is all too often effective at campaigning and winning elections, but there’s another fact about it that a lot of Americans forget: The Republican Party flat out sucks at governing. Even Tucker Carlson agrees with this. For all the huffing and puffing on the campaign trail in 2016, the first Trump administration largely amounted to tax cuts for the wealthy, 500 miles of a border wall and a destructive pandemic gone viral. George W. Bush got us into a harebrained war in Iraq and then tried to privatize Social Security while letting our financial system drive smack into the Great Recession. And George H.W. Bush governed his way into a one-term presidency because of the economy. For round two in office, instead of prioritizing the problems he campaigned on — public safety, immigration and the border, and most of all the economy — President Trump is hellbent on dismantling the federal government. To accomplish this, he has put his faith in the most incompetent cabinet in modern history.” His suggestion? “With no clear leader to voice our opposition and no control in any branch of government, it’s time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party: roll over and play dead. Allow the Republicans to crumble beneath their own weight, and make the American people miss us. Only until the Trump administration has spiraled into the low 40s or high 30s in public approval polling percentages should we make like a pack of hyenas and go for the jugular. Until then, I’m calling for a strategic political retreat.” Janissaries were very good at this.
—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.
April 2025
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Friday Blue Forum
4-H and FFA Youth Livestock Show and Sale
The Dallas String Quartet at the Fitz
‘Sense and Sensibility’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre
‘Something Rotten,’ at the Daytona Playhouse
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park
American Association of University Women (AAUW) Meeting
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
‘Something Rotten,’ at the Daytona Playhouse
‘Sense and Sensibility’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre
‘Something Rotten,’ at the Daytona Playhouse
For the full calendar, go here.
Now Borden said he was a Russian spy. What is far more likely is that he was a victim of scientific politics. A savage dispute was raging between nuclear physicists belonging to two schools of thought named for America’s two great nuclear laboratories, Los Alamos and Livermore. The Los Alamos group, comprising Oppenheimer’s colleagues and protégés, held that nu-clear missiles should be only one of many kinds of weapons in the American arsenal. This was called “finite containment.” The Livermore, or Teller, group believed that the nation’s security depended upon the unlimited development of nuclear striking power. That was “infinite containment.” Most scientists took the finite view, but an administration that advocated “massive retaliation” was plainly thinking in infinite terms. The Livermore men were in power, and this, in fact, was one reason Oppenheimer had withdrawn to Princeton. But that wasn’t enough for his adversaries. The debate had turned some men of science into fanatics which is not really surprising, since the issue could determine the future of the human race-and certain admirers of Edward Teller were determined to discredit Oppenheimer. Almost certainly they were behind Borden.
–From William Manchester’s The Glory and the Dream (1974).
Ed P says
Readings: we are in trouble when James Carville is going to use Tucker Carlson for a reference source that he is agreeing not bashing.
Cartoon: town hall outrage- real of fake. Grassroots or Astro turf. Don’t rely on internet for an answer, it aligns with their lean.
For any Clay Jones fans- you can own a signed print of any Claytoonz for $40-$50
He even has a “tip” jar. Reminds me of Oprah’s ringing endorsement, oh the million dollars went to Harpo Productions( she owns), not her.Posers and phonies.
Pogo says
@A toast to Mr. James Carville
Pogo says
@Damn right
Pogo says
@Censored twice in one morning
… I must be doing something right.
Sherry says
I watched the Zelensky “debacle” a couple of times yesterday. My personal opinion is that I saw trump looking “spaced out” while he sat silently at the start. Meanwhile Vance got his “Bully On” telling Zelensky that he had not “KOWTOWED” to trump enough. Zelensky, who speaks English as a second language, did then “Thank” the US “AGAIN” for the support . Zelensky was “trying” to explain how Putin had broken ceasefire agreements in the past and was not to be trusted. trump then suddenly woke up from his stupor and began shouting and berating Zelensky for not “Thanking” trump enough for the Javelin missiles. . . saying that Obama only gave him “sheets”. . . Obama’s “sheets”. . . WTF?
In any case, what I saw was two completely “Pompous Asses” bullying the President of a “Democratic” European country over trump’s need to have his (unclean) ass kissed! BTW, Zelensky won his 2019 election by over 70% of the vote.
Zelensky is the President of country that has been almost completely annihilated by Putin’s Russia! The people of Ukraine have literally laid down their lives to stop Russian aggression! Does anyone in their right minds think that Putin would have been satisfied with only taking Ukraine? Other Baltic countries were/are at high risk of Ukraine’s plight.
trump and vance are complete embarrassments to our country! Unfortunately, the Maga mindless supporters are cheering them on. Is trump “losing it”? Go back and look at the way he is glassy eyed and silent when in the room with musk, and now vance. Just who is leading our country anyway?
Pogo says
@P.T.
Many thanks for sharing the Updike interview; 27 minutes passed in a moment, and left me feeling as well as a dose of painkiller when it is needed.
Sherry says
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/us/video/christiane-amanpour-trump-zelensky-digvid
Christine is Right On!
Ray W, says
The Wall Street Journal, a conservative-leaning newspaper, recently published what is described as a story, and not as an opinion piece, on the “clean energy revolution”, written by two Oxford University professors.
The professors argue that their energy research “shows that once new technologies become established their patterns in terms of cost are surprisingly predictable” in two out of three scenarios.
The first technological energy cost pattern involves short- and medium-term “volatile cost” variations that over time turn out to be stable. They point to fossil fuel extraction as such an example. Despite many large price fluctuations occurring over days or months or even years, when adjusted for inflation, oil and natural gas prices are roughly the same as they were a century ago. They explain that while technological advances can lower extraction costs, oil and gas deposits have become harder and harder to find and exploit.
As an aside, I have commented on a number of occasions that oil companies recently received permission to drill in the Gulf of Mexico at depths up to 20,000 pounds of water pressure per square inch. The low hanging fruit in the American oil and gas industry has already been plucked. American energy producers are drilling in the Gulf to depths of 35,000 feet to find new sources of oil and gas.
Their second example of an energy cost pattern pertains to hydropower or nuclear energy generation. As dams and nuclear plants vary in design to fit local conditions, mass production to reduce construction costs is difficult to sustain. Nonetheless, hydropower cost of generation is about the same as it was 50 years ago. Worldwide, nuclear cost of generation is also about the same as it was 60 years ago, with the U.S. as an exception to the rule.
Their third example of an energy cost pattern is the opposite of the first two patterns. Where solar, wind and batteries are the subject, the pattern is one of exponential cost reduction over time, not cost stability.
As guidance for their pattern description for renewables, the professors rely on Moore’s Law, published in 1965. Gordon Moore, Intel’s head at the time, noticed that the density of the electrical components in integrated circuits was increasing at a 40% rate year over year. He predicted that component efficiency would continue to grow at that rate over time, and it has.
Since 1990, the cost of generating electricity via wind turbine has been steadily dropping at a 4% average annual rate.
Solar power generation costs have been steadily dropping at a 12% average annual rate.
And lithium-ion battery costs, too, have been dropping on average at a 12% average annual rate.
To the professors, this raises an interesting question: Just when will an emerging energy technology that is getting ever cheaper displace an established energy source that has proven cost-stable over the decades?
They use the example of landline telephone technology. In 2000, 95% of U.S. homes had a landline. In 2023, 25% of U.S. homes had a landline. As they put it, in two decades a century-old industry virtually disappeared.
With generating costs of hydropower and nuclear power and coal power and natural gas power staying flat over many decades and costs for wind power and solar power and battery storage steadily dropping, can anyone stop the adoption of renewables?
Make of this what you will.
Me?
For years now I have championed renewables not just because they are environmentally better but because they are cheaper. How many times have I commented on the 2023 EIA cost comparison study of all types of energy production. The agency visited 142 different types of electricity generating facilities all over the world and from the data obtained from each site it estimated the average cost per megawatt-hour over a 32-year estimated lifetime of producing power, with the first seven years devoted to applying for and obtaining permits, lining up financing, and building the plant, and a 25-year operational lifespan.
For coal, the lifetime average cost of generating electricity was at or just above $110 per megawatt-hour. For solar? $22 per megawatt-hour and dropping. We need more and more electricity, and the choice of which option to build is simple. Solar or coal! Hmmmm!
Two decades ago, coal-fired electricity generating plants provided some 50% of the nation’s electricity needs. The EIA says the percentage this year will be 16%. No one is building new coal-fired plants in America. About three or four years ago, FP&L still held long-term contracts to buy electricity from some coal-fired plant operators. FP&L bought the coal plants and closed them before their certificates of operation expired in order to save money. Solar farms all across the U.S. surge in installation. Wind power, too.
When Hillary Clinton told America in 2016 that the age of coal power was over, she was telling the truth, and she was vilified for her honesty. When Donald Trump immediately began lying to us all that he was going to bring back coal, he was lauded for his dishonesty.
Just how wise was James Madison when he commented that there would always be a class of “pestilential” partisan members of faction among us who could not ever put the good of the nation above their party prejudices? His observance of human nature remains true to this day.
The two professors argue that technological changes in renewable power sources do not occur in an arithmetic or linear progression. The change is exponential: “A new technology is small for a long time, and then it suddenly takes over.”
FlaPharmTech says
Project 2029.
Sherry says
Remember PROJECT 2025. . . The Game Plan trump said he did not know about. Here is a comparison to his recent executive orders. This is just the beginning! Here a small sample from Politico:
Social issues
Trump has taken an aggressive posture on culture war issues in the early weeks of his second presidency. The long list of actions closely hews to his campaign trail promises to combat what he argues is the “woke” posture taken by the federal government during Joe Biden’s presidency. But they also reflect an expanded list of social priorities from the ones long championed by Republicans in the past by emphasizing a more secular set of culture war issues over the religious.
Advance school choice
Advancing education freedom. Empowering families to choose among a diverse set of education options is key to reform and improved outcomes, and it can be achieved without establishing a new federal program.
…
Providing education choice for “federal” children. Congress has a special responsibility to children who are connected to military families, who live in the District of Columbia, or who are members of sovereign tribes.
Project 2025, excerpted from Chapter 11
Authored by Lindsey Burke, Heritage Foundation director of the Center for Education Policy
The Secretary of Education shall include education freedom as a priority in discretionary grant programs, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.
…
Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense shall review any available mechanisms under which military-connected families may use funds from the Department of Defense to attend schools of their choice, including private, faith-based, or public charter schools
Executive order: Expanding Educational Freedom And Opportunity For Families
Allow troops to rejoin who declined Covid-19 vaccine
Reinstate servicemembers to active duty who were discharged for not receiving the COVID vaccine, restore their appropriate rank, and provide back pay.
Project 2025, excerpted from Chapter 4
Authored by Christopher Miller, former secretary of Defense
Make reinstatement available to all members of the military (active and reserve) who were discharged solely for refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and who request to be reinstated … enable those service members reinstated under this section to revert to their former rank and receive full back pay, benefits, bonus payments, or compensation
Executive order: Reinstating Service Members Discharged Under The Military’s Covid-19 Vaccination Mandate
Ban transgender troops
Reverse policies that allow transgender individuals to serve in the military. Gender dysphoria is incompatible with the demands of military service
…
Restore standards of lethality and excellence. Entrance criteria for military service and specific occupational career fields should be based on the needs of those positions. Exceptions for individuals who are already predisposed to require medical treatment (for example, HIV positive or suffering from gender dysphoria) should be removed, and those with gender dysphoria should be expelled from military service
Project 2025, excerpted from Chapter 4
Authored by Christopher Miller, former secretary of Defense
It is the policy of the United States Government to establish high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity. This policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria.
Executive order: Prioritizing Military Excellence And Readiness
Close the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
The President should eliminate OFCCP by simply rescinding EO 11246.
Project 2025, excerpted from Chapter 18
Authored by Jonathan Berry, former Trump Labor Department official
Executive Order 11246 of September 24, 1965 (Equal Employment Opportunity), is hereby revoked … The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs within the Department of Labor shall immediately cease.
Executive order: Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-based Opportunity
End diversity, equity and inclusion programs
Delete the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (“SOGI”), diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.
Project 2025, excerpted from Foreward
Authored by Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation president
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), shall coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.
Executive order: Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing
End government efforts to fight misinformation and disinformation
Prohibit the FBI from engaging, in general, in activities related to combating the spread of so-called misinformation and disinformation by Americans who are not tied to any plausible criminal activity.
Project 2025, excerpted from Chapter 17
Authored by Gene Hamilton, former Trump DHS and DOJ official
Under the guise of combatting “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “malinformation,” the Federal Government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens … no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen
Executive order: Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship
Enforce the death penalty and execute prisoners on death row
The next conservative Administration should therefore do everything possible to obtain finality for the 44 prisoners currently on federal death row. It should also pursue the death penalty for applicable crimes.
Project 2025, excerpted from Chapter 17
Authored by Gene Hamilton, former Trump DHS and DOJ official
It is the policy of the United States to ensure that the laws that authorize capital punishment are respected and faithfully implemented, and to counteract the politicians and judges who subvert the law by obstructing and preventing the execution of capital sentences.
…
The Attorney General shall pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.
Executive order: Restoring The Death Penalty And Protecting Public Safety
Recognize only two sexes
Commence a new agency rulemaking process to rescind the current Administration’s Title IX regulations … and define “sex” under Title IX to mean only biological sex recognized at birth.
…
The next Administration should move quickly to restore the rights of women and girls
Project 2025, excerpted from Chapter 11
Authored by Lindsey Burke, Heritage Foundation director of the Center for Education Policy
It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.
…
Agencies shall effectuate this policy by taking appropriate action to ensure that intimate spaces designated for women, girls, or females (or for men, boys, or males) are designated by sex and not identity.
Executive order: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government
Remove diversity, equity and inclusion from federal hiring
Federal agencies and their components have established so-called diversity, equity,
and inclusion (DEI) offices that have become the vehicles for this unlawful discrimination.
Project 2025, excerpted from Chapter 17
Authored by Gene Hamilton, former Trump DHS and DOJ official
Federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one’s commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of “equity,” or one’s commitment to the invented concept of “gender identity” over sex.
Executive order: Reforming The Federal Hiring Process And Restoring Merit To Government Service
Pogo says
@Ray W
Could, “A new technology is small for a long time, and then it suddenly takes over.” also apply to the russian brain cancer in Tallahassee — and Washington D.C.?