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Weather: Sunny, with a high near 68. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 55.
- 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 Flagler County Commission meets at 9 a.m. at the Government Services Building, 1769 E. Moody Boulevard, Building 2, Bunnell. Commissioners are expected to approve a $3 million land purchase under the environmentally sensitive land program. 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 Beverly Beach Town Commission meets at 6 p.m. at the meeting hall building behind the Town Hall, 2735 North Oceanshore Boulevard (State Road A1A) in Beverly Beach. See meeting announcements here.
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.
Babylonian Craptivity, day 43: So this is what we have become. A nation where the catastrophic is normalized into a daily tally, the way it was during World War II, the way it was in the days and weeks after 9/11, except that this is self-inflicted. The catastrophe is the presidency, if unenlightened despotism can be called a presidency at all. The New York Times, without irony, and probably with too much of a nod toward FDR’s 100 days (the two are incomparable), is running every Sunday “The Week in Trump” you see above, while keeping a tally of the disintegration of the country at this page. But no one can keep up. Not even the Times. Certainly not Trump or his junta. As clusterfucks go, the word has never had as good an illustration for the Oxford English Dictionary, which does carry the word, with two definitions, the first of which I was entirely foreign to: “1. A sexual orgy. Also Mongolian cluster fuck. 2. Originally Military. A bungled or botched undertaking.” The word was apparently first used in the mid-1960s. “These are the screwups that the American public rarely hears about. They happen often enough over here that we have a term for them—‘cluster-fuck’!,” B. E. Holley, a serviceman, is quoted as having written in a 1969 letter home in Battalion Surgeon’s Journal (1993). But that can;t compare with “Proposed that the U.S. take over Gaza,” “Said Canada should become part of the U.S.,” “Said U.S.A.I.D. was run by ‘radical lunatics,’” and so on.
—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.
May 2025
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Peps Art Walk Near Beachfront Grille
Pool Safety Day
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
SunBros Cafe Celebrates the Life of Travis Sundell
Al-Anon Family Groups
For the full calendar, go here.
“To be eaten up with ambition, to abuse despotic power, to do harm, that is the real disgrace.” (Etre rongé d’ambition, abuser du pouvoir despotique, faire du mal, voylà la vraye disgrâce.)
–From a Voltaire letter of March 16, 1737.
Pogo says
@… no Mr. Bond, I expect you to die
trumpfinger, there it goes again
https://www.google.com/search?q=treasury+department+ends+money+laundering+enforcement
russia, russia, russia
The call was coming from inside the house…
https://www.google.com/search?q=tass+live+streaming+from+oval+office
BillC says
What’s next from Trump, Russian missiles in Cuba?
Pogo says
@It’s the syphilis — stupid
https://www.google.com/search?q=syphillis+ataxia
As stated
https://www.newsbreak.com/inquisitr-news-522568/3837831157866-donald-trump-s-limp-raises-alarms-is-he-hiding-any-serious-health-condition
Ibid
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14455183/Donald-Trump-legs-footage-wrong-playing-golf.html
putin needs a blood test.
Sherry says
Intelligent informed people see right through trump’s (and, now vance’s) feeble attempt at embarrassing President Zelensky with their brutish bullying. I certainly wish the Democrats would speak out like the French do:
PARIS (AP) — France’s prime minister on Monday tore into U.S. President Donald Trump’s Oval Office thrashing of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling it a staggering show of “brutality” that aimed to humiliate Ukraine’s leader and bend him to the will of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The extraordinarily frank criticism from Prime Minister François Bayrou, speaking in a parliamentary debate on Ukraine, diverged from the more nuanced tone that French President Emmanuel Macron has adopted in the wake of the clash at the White House on Friday and dropped the diplomatic niceties that customarily mark French-U.S. relations.
“On Friday night, in the Oval Office of the White House, a staggering scene unfurled before the lenses of the entire world, marked by brutality, a desire to humiliate, with the goal of making Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fold through threats, so that he gives in to the demands of his aggressors,” Bayrou said.
Foresee says
This is how ignorant Trump is. In his meeting with Zelenskyy he kept referring to “raw earth minerals”, not once, which could be a slip of the tongue, but every time he referred to them. If Trump had taken any time to read the intelligence reports before the meeting he would have known it is RARE earth minerals, not RAW earth minerals. He didn’t any concept of what rare earth minerals are and why they’re important, or what he was talking about.
Ray W, says
Earlier today, in the National Assembly, French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou addressed the French Parliament. Announcing that he was speaking on behalf of the French government, he told the assembled lawmakers:
“On Friday night, in the Oval Office of the White House, a staggering scene unfurled before the lenses of the entire world, marked by brutality, a desire to humiliate, with the goal of making Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fold through threats, so that he gives in to the demands of his aggressors. … All this was summed up in one phrase before the planet’s cameras. ‘Either you find a deal with Putin or we will abandon you.’ … “For the honor of democratic responsibility, for the honor of Ukraine and, I dare say, for the honor of Europe, President Zelenskyy did not fold and I think we can show him our appreciation.”
The assembled lawmakers rose to their feet and applauded.
Prime Minister Bayrou spoke of the Oval Office performance leaving two victims.
The first was Ukrainian security.
The second was the trans-Atlantic relationship between Europe and the United States.
The Oval Office performance “compromised another fundamental alliance: the one that the United States had with themselves, their history, and with a certain ideal of defending the law, of defending the weak against the forces of tyranny.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
In three short weeks we have gone from leadership of the free world to distrusted
street thug.
Just another day in the Great Russian Appeasement of 2025.
Ray W, says
A couple of days ago, I drew support for a FlaglerLive comment from an article about governmental efforts to address the spread of the avian flu virus that has decimated the egg farming industry. The virus has passed into humans and one person has died, but virologists assert that while the avian flu is highly virulent in poultry, it does not yet easily leap into the human population.
The Biden administration, per the article I drew from, had spent $1.2 billion on reimbursing poultry farmers for the loss of their flocks and had spent more on investigating safety practices to enable farmers to avoid future outbreaks. Of the 150 farms so investigated, only one had had a recurrent outbreak. The Biden administration had spent sums developing “prototype” vaccines, but the problem with implementing the vaccines, should they eventually be finally approved, was two-fold: The first was injecting by hand the vaccine bird by bird when you are talking about millions of birds. The second was the possibility that the EU would not permit import into the bloc of vaccinated chickens.
From other publications, I learned that since vaccines trigger an immune response that can be mistaken for the actual flu, the use of vaccines make distinguishing between infected birds and vaccinated birds more difficult.
Today, The Atlantic published an article addressing why Vice President Vance suddenly stopped talking about the high prices of eggs. The author asked the White House the question.
The reply? “The Trump administration is working tirelessly to respond to the Avian flu outbreak that has decimated our egg supply.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I recall the campaign trail imbroglio posed by then-candidate Vance. He posed in front of a grocery store egg section and said eggs cost $5 per dozen when the shelf prices listed for eggs behind him were far less than his claim. He said the fault lay with the Biden administration, when the actual fault lay with the avian flu, and with price manipulations by grocers and egg distributors.
I had already repeatedly commented that since 2022, the egg industry’s largest distributor had been reporting record profits, in some cases double or triple normal profits.
I had also already commented that Kroger’s head of pricing had admitted under oath that Kroger had raised egg prices (and milk prices) faster than its product costs had risen. Today, Kroger’s CEO was forced out for alleged “unethical practices.” Thus far, what I have read does not describe what exactly were the unethical practices, but if the reason was price-gouging customers on eggs (and milk), I don’t suppose Kroger spokespeople would want to highlight that scenario. “Unethical practices” may be the best explanation we get.
I recall the campaign trail claim centered on high egg prices: “And right now all across our country, we’ve got a lot of families that are cutting back because of Kamala Harris’s war on affordability in this country.
So, Trump is now spending less than Biden spent on combatting the spread of the avian flu and the Republicans are telling everyone they just figured out how to slice bread.
I have been commenting for over a year that the rise in egg prices was due to the avian flu and corporate greed.
The professional lying class of one of our two political parties has been claiming for over a year that the rise due was due to Biden policy failures. Now that the price of eggs has risen even higher under the Trump administration, suddenly the Republicans have figured out that the avian flu is to blame. Even Ed P. has jumped onto the bandwagon. 168 million birds have been slaughtered, he claimed, many millions of them this year.
Oy, vey!
Ray W, says
The Cool Down reported a few months ago that a Victoria University team of researchers found a use for flame-resistant reflective vests after they wear out from washing. The vests have a 25-wash lifespan, and the specialty material almost always ends up in a landfill.
In Australia, that amounts to about 12,000 tons per year.
The synthetic fibers used in the “hi-vis” vests, when used as a replacement for cement in concrete mixtures, reinforces the mixture by holding the gravel and sand together.
Other teams are studying the use of coffee grounds as a replacement for sand in concrete mixtures.
Make of this what you will.
Ed P says
Ray W,
The problem is once a flock of birds (chickens, ducks, or turkeys) is infected with the avian flu, death comes quickly. However, the farmer is only paid for the birds they “cull”
(Kill) so they rush to do the deed. They do not get paid for birds that just die from the flu. The point is, this payment could exacerbate the the problem and has been ineffective in controlling the out breaks. This was started in 2022.
There are studies where smaller flocks have not been culled and the mortality rate has ranged from 10% to 90% even when the birds show signs of the illness. Back yard chickens also appear to be less affected. Maybe the air flow, temperatures, cleanliness, or other factors aid in the survival rates.
I’m not suggesting anyone is to blame for soaring egg prices, but with import restriction of about 1% of all eggs consumed in the US., maybe the restrictions need to be lifted.
Also, multiple states have legislated non-cage regulations that have driven prices up due to high costs. Reversal could drive down prices.
These are the factors that could help in the shorter term.
I have jump on board of anything as you stated.
Fact is millions have been culled just this year. Save the Oy,Vey.
Juan says
The orange moron is showing the globe he is a terrible human and even worse leader ! federal lockup was better option. Can’t trust amerikkka! Media doesn’t cover the actual treason? Wonder why?
Sherry says
Putin is celebrating!!! Please, regardless of who you voted for. . . please, for the love of our country watch this analysis of the vance, trump, zelensky terrible shouting match. This is Brooks and Capehart on PBS via youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19r63QYAvZA
Tipping jonny says
Haha even if amerikkka returned to normal after the fascism your grandkids will be paying for these tax breaks for billionaires!l and that’s denying that the planet that’s gave us everything is about to take it all it away due to our abuse and misuse of this wonder. Killed our selves for made up money. Faster than expected!
Skibum says
With drumph’s appeasement campaign, they won’t need missiles in Cuba any longer… he is nearing the time when putin will be given the keys to our American cities, of course in return for “very beautiful” drumph branded hotels all over the newly re-constituted USSR.
Skibum says
Maybe Zelenskyy can now sign that deal with the idiot-in-chief, trading continued support of the U.S. to fight Russian aggression in exchange for “raw earth”… piles of Ukrainian dirt. That would be justice! We need about six feet or so of that set aside so one day it could be tamped down over the idiot-in-chief’s grave, and I know a slew of people who would gladly volunteer to stand around it and “irrigate” that raw earth afterward.
YankeeExPat says
Zelensky
Pro-Democracy -War-time Commander-Hero to the Ukrainian people– Won his election with 72% of vote
fighting Russian invasion of Sovergien Nation of Ukraine
Trump
Authoritarian-Felon -Degenerate Commander in Chief –Won his election with 49.8 percent of the vote
aiding and abetting Russia’s Putin– former KGB head and assassin who invaded the Sovergien Nation of Ukraine
Ed P says
Skibum,
Wondering if you investigated the rare mineral deal?
Let’s begin by understanding that much of the support to Ukraine from the G7 is more of what’s called extraordinary revenue acceleration LOANS.. The United States was thought to have been “grants”. How long are we going to get steam rolled?
Is that equitable?
Second if the US has mining interests in the geographical area of the disputed area, that land has to be negotiated “back out of Russian Control” by that agreement. Even though the US would not have boots on the ground, they have skin in the game. That has real value to Ukraine. Adds to long term security.
This is more complex and involved than most people think.
Joe D says
In reply to Ray W.
You are 100% correct!
…and by the way…
…“President” Musk “accidentally” fired the RESEARCH TEAM that was working on a bird flu vaccine (first for birds…but for the ALMOST inevitable coming mutation to allow human-to-human transmission…for a human vaccine)…OPPS!?!
…now they are trying (FEVERISHLY…pun intended) to get them rehired! I’ll tell you what my response would be , as I myself am a retired Masters Prepared Clinical Nurse Specialist and Certified Nurse Case Manager with 45 years of Nursing experience….Opps….I guess I shouldn’t say it…It doesn’t meet FlaglerLives standards for “Fowl”LANGUAGE (pun intended again) in a POST.
Sherry says
@ Joe D. . . Right On! And, clever, very clever! :)
Ray W, says
My reply option is not working.
Hello Ed P.
I really don’t know why I have to keep supplementing your partially correct comments.
In 2002, Congress passed a bill, signed into law by President Bush, that gave authority to the USDA to recommend the slaughter of entire flocks of birds. Slaughtering flocks of egg-laying hens didn’t start in 2022. During a previous outbreak of a form of avian flu in 2014, entire flocks of egg-laying hens were slaughtered to stop the spread.
The problem with your reasoning process is that egg-producing farmers often have multiple barns on one property. I have read of as many as 10 barns on one property. If a farmer with such a farm doesn’t proactively slaughter one flock of hens in one barn, the other nine might become infected.
A second problem with your reasoning process is that the 2022 outbreak of avian flu is considered “highly virulent”, meaning it spreads rapidly among birds of all types.
A third problem with your reasoning is that when scientists study the spreading efficiency of different forms of the avian flu virus, which you cite as between 10% and 90% of each infected flock, no one knows at the beginning of the viral outbreak whether it will be a 10% spread or a 90% spread or somewhere in between.
In summary, what egg-producing farmer who has 10 barns on her property would ever risk all 10 flocks when slaughtering one flock might save the other nine?
I recognize your situation. Administrative determinations and actions often occur during outbreaks. It stands to reason that the Biden administration interpreted the 2002 statute in 2022 when the latest form of the avian flu broke out. It is also likely that the Obama administration also interpreted the 2002 statute in 2014, when the previous outbreak of the avian flu occurred.
And it stands to reason that had a third version of avian flu hit the egg industry in 2018, then the Trump administration would have interpreted the 2002 statute, too.
I didn’t read the 2002 statute for this comment. I might be wrong, but I suspect that the statute contains a provision for reimbursement funds to help farmers rebuild their flocks. If that is so, then the Trump administration, by allocating funds to further fight the avian flu, already has administratively interpreted the 2002 statute in order to provide its own funds to reimburse farmers.