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Weather: Mostly sunny, with a high near 74.
- 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:
Municipal Elections in Flagler Beach and Bunnell, polls open at 7 a.m., close at 7 p.m. Two incumbents and a third candidate are running for two seats in Flagler Beach. Five candidates are running for two open seats in Bunnell. Flagler Beach voters may cast ballots at Flagler Beach City Hall, 105 S. 2nd Street. Bunnell voters may cast ballots at the G.W. Carver Center Gym, 201 E. Drain Street, Bunnell. See sample ballots and additional information on the two elections at the Supervisor of Elections’ web page here.
Flagler Beach’s Planning and Architectural Review Board meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 105 S 2nd Street. For agendas and minutes, go here.
The Flagler Beach Library Writers’ Club meets at 5 p.m. at the library, 315 South Seventh Street, Flagler Beach.
The Bunnell Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board meets at 6 p.m. at the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell. The board consists of Carl Lilavois, Chair; Manuel Madaleno, Nealon Joseph, Gary Masten and Lyn Lafferty.
The Palm Coast City Council meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall. For agendas, minutes, and audio access to the meetings, go here. For meeting agendas, audio and video, go here.
Rally in support of Ukraine, 5 to 6 p.m. simultaneously at two locations: Island Walk on Palm Coast Parkway, and on State Road 100 along the Target shopping center. The rally is organized by local Democrats.
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy, 8 p.m. at Cinematique Theater, 242 South Beach Street, Daytona Beach. General admission is $8.50. Every Tuesday and on the first Saturday of every month the Random Acts of Insanity Comedy Improv Troupe specializes in performing fast-paced improvised comedy.
Notably: Our sad, annual notice from Statista: “Global freedom declined for the 19th consecutive year in 2024, according to the Global Freedom Index by democratic watchdog organization Freedom House, released Wednesday. Analysts found that 60 countries have experienced a deterioration in their political and civil liberties since 2023, while 34 saw improvements. El Salvador, Haiti, Kuwait and Tunisia saw their scores drop the furthest compared to last year, while Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Syria saw the biggest gains. In a major year for elections, violence affected 27 of the 66 countries and territories studied in the report where ballots were held last year, including attacks on candidates. In Mexico and South Africa, such assaults were largely at the hands of criminal groups seeking to gain political influence and control of territory. In countries such as France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States, extremism or partisan stances drove attacks on individuals running for office. India has seen a decline of 15 points in the past decade. Between 2023 and 2024 it slid three points and was placed in the category of “partly free”. Meanwhile, Indian Kashmir saw an increase of 12 points year on year due largely to its return of elections, lifting it from the “not free” group to the “partly free” group. Freedoms and security also continued to be hampered by ongoing armed conflicts. Freedom House notes how civil wars, clashes between states, and fighting that involved non-state armed groups have hit local civilian populations in places around the world and have had a negative ripple effect, including fuelling the spread of illicit trades. The Freedom in the World Index is an index compiled annually by the U.S. NGO Freedom House, which evaluates civil and political freedom in states and territories around the world. The methodology is based on the Declaration of Human Rights as proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) in 1948 and is intended to assess the political rights and civil liberties of individuals rather than governments.”
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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.
Municipal Elections in Flagler Beach and Bunnell
Flagler Beach Library Writers’ Club
Flagler Beach Planning and Architectural Review Board
Palm Coast City Council Meeting
Bunnell Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy
Palm Coast Code Enforcement Board Meeting
Separation Chat: Open Discussion
Flagler Beach Library Book Club
The Circle of Light A Course in Miracles Study Group
Weekly Chess Club for Teens, Ages 9-18, at the Flagler County Public Library
Flagler County Republican Club Meeting
Flagler Beach Parks Ad Hoc Committee
For the full calendar, go here.
More ominously, future tragedies were clearly in the making, for tens of millions of Germans did not believe their country had actually lost the war. For more than four years of fighting, the German military had imposed tight censorship, and even in the last months of combat, the country’s press remained relentlessly upbeat. The apparent German retreat? Merely a temporary temporary setback. As late as a few weeks before the Armistice, Germany’s newspapers were still running stories about an imminent final victory. This illusion was all the easier to believe because, to the very end, almost all the combat took place on foreign soil.
–From Adam Hochschild’s American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis (2022).
Ray W, says
Target’s CEO told an interviewer that today’s implementation of the 25% tariff on Mexican products, due to short transport timeframes in the supply line of perishable food products such as avocados, bananas, tomatoes, etc., should result in the beginning of a rise in perishable food products within a week.
Just how much is the question.
Mexico’s president announced that her nation would respond by this weekend with targeted tariffs on American products.
Just which products and how much is the question.
Canada and China have already announced plans for their own retaliatory tariffs. A Canadian provincial premier is on record as saying that his province will immediately cut $10 billion in existing contracts with American producers.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Perhaps produce prices at the grocery store will indeed soon begin to rise. I have long said that I cannot predict the future. I am not an economist. Neither am I a grocer. But I am a curious student who learned long ago to not listen to the professional lying class of any political party.
If a price rise begins to happen by next week, as Target’s CEO asserts, how will the rise manifest itself?
Grocers may not pass on all of the tariff costs to the consumer. They might absorb some of the cost, thinking the tariffs will be short-lived.
There are other possible strategies. Loss leading has been an advertising choice in the grocery industry for decades, so some companies might increase prices in other departments to mask the price shock in the produce department, market share being as important as it is.
The Super Bowl is behind us, so a rise in the price of avocados next week, however slight, timing being as important as it is, might be less shocking to consumers than it would have been had conversation at Super Bowl parties drifted to a rise in avocado prices.
If produce department prices rise on the more perishable products on display, the more gullibly stupid FlaglerLive commenters among us will blame the Biden administration for the rise, however small it might be, as they always have done. They will be wrong, as they so often are.
But consider this.
Just because America has a nationwide crude oil pipeline network doesn’t mean the network supplies crude oil to every refinery in the U.S. A number of American refineries receive all of their crude oil from Canada. If Canadian oil costs 10% more, can rail service make up the difference? Shipping oil by rail is some three times more expensive than pipeline transport. Will consumers in areas serviced by certain refineries see a regional rise in gasoline prices. Nearly 100% of the gasoline and diesel fuel in New England comes from Canadian refineries. How will those consumers adjust to suddenly higher prices at the pump. Will they begin driving to Canada, should they live close enough to the border, to purchase cheaper gas and diesel fuel?
The same goes for natural gas. The extensive natural gas pipeline network does not service every region in America. Mexican and Canadian pipelines service natural gas needs in many border regions.
As an aside, Russian commenters are applauding the Trump administration’s decision to cut off military supplies to the Ukraine.
Just another day in the Great Russian Appeasement of 2025.
Pogo says
@Spoilers
… what was MORE important — BEFORE the mob chose trump?