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Weather: Mostly sunny. A slight chance of showers in the morning. Highs in the lower 80s. East winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 60s. East winds 5 to 10 mph.
- 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:
Flagler Airport Terminal Groundbreaking: The county hosts a 10 a.m. groundbreaking for the future 15,000 square foot general aviation terminal at the Flagler County airport, replacing a 40-year-old building.
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.
Editorial notebook: Circuit Judge James Colaw, a circuit judge in Bradford County, the county just north of Gainesville, the county whose largest town is the aptly named Starke, where Florida’s gulag hosts its death row and its frequent state-sanctioned killings (murders by other definitions, as Clausewitz might put it), wrote in a 20-page decision Sunday that Jeffrey Hutchinson is “sane and competent to be executed” Thursday. The News Service of Florida used the phrase to headline its brief (because the condemned are generally awarded nothing more than a brief in the run-up to their last breath). Sane and Competent to be the latest cog for an insane and incompetent machinery. I recall a motion I just read last week in our local circuit court, this one against the killing of Jermaine Williams (he faces the death penalty for knifing his wife to death in Bunnell; he doesn’t deserve life. But he should not be murdered, either). “Plainly,” the motion reads in its futile effort to spare him death (something he could do for himself if he pled to life in prison), “there is a disturbing history and one which the defense is now bringing to the attention of the Court and the prosecution so there can be no principled argument in the future that similar problems with lethal injections were not foreseeable. The injection of etomidate, rocuronium bromide and potassium acetate are guaranteed to produce a horrifying and agonizing death unless the prisoner is fully anaesthetized and remains anaesthetized throughout. This, in turn, depends wholly and solely upon the nonmedical personnel accurately measuring out and then successfully administering an adequate dose of all three drugs. Even a slight error in dosage or administration can leave a prisoner conscious but paralyzed while dying, a sentient witness of his or her own slow, lingering asphyxiation.” Sane and competent.
—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
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Scenic A1A Pride Meeting
Friday Blue Forum
Acoustic Jam Circle At The Community Center In The Hammock
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
For the full calendar, go here.
I said to myself: Since I have something to write with, why not do it? But what to write? Stuck between four cold, bare stone walls, with nowhere for my legs to take me, no horizon to look at, my only occupation being to spend all day mechanically watching the slow progress of the whitish square that the spyhole in my door projects onto the dark wall opposite and, as I was just saying, all alone with an idea, an idea of crime and punishment, of murder and death! Did I have anything to say, I who have nothing more to do in this world? And what is there in my empty withered brain worth writing about? But why not? If everything around me is drab and colourless, isn’t there a storm, a struggle, a tragedy going on inside me? Doesn’t the obsession that has hold of me appear to me every hour, every second in a new form, more monstrous, more bloody the nearer the final day comes? Why don’t I try and tell myself about all the violent, unfamiliar feelings I am having in this situation of abandonment? There is certainly no lack of material, and as short as my life may be there is still enough in the dread, the terror, the torments that are going to fill it from this moment till the last which can wear out a pen, run an inkwell dry. Besides, the only way not to suffer so much from this dread is to examine it; describing it will take my mind off it.
–From Victor Hugo’s The Last Day of a Condemned Man (1829).
Dennis C Rathsam says
After the tariff deals are made, & TRUMPS tax cuts take affect, America will take off like a rocket! As the manufacturing of goods here at home will provide many new jobs & opportunities for all Americans.Biden,s dismall 4 years, & all his ignorant policies, have now been erased. TRUMP unleashed the oil industry, more drilling more wells more jobs! No more made in China shit. TRUMP will bring America back from the dead. We will prosper like never before. The future is looking bright for all Americans! The American dream will again be realized by many young families. After 4 years of the failed Biden policies, his failure to stop inflation, or corrall interest rates, TRUMP brings hope & salvation. TRUMP talks to the press, he doesn’t hide, like some demented old fool. He talks questions, & gives answers….How refreshing. It’s been a great 100 days for TRUMP. Despite the democrate resistance, TRUMP has close the border, he didn’t need an act of Congress, like the liar Biden said It just took a man with balls! Americans voted for change. A new way of doing things that only a business man can do. I thank TRUMP & MUSK for cleaning the kickback house of the democrats, & their waste of our tax dollars. The future of America is Bright again…. Your patients will be rewarded!
R.S. says
I will never understand why we think of killing someone as a penalty. Traditionally, penalties–spanking, sending to one’s room, going to bed without eating, or other forms of inflicting painful experiences–are designed as forms of behavior modification. To avoid the further inflicting of pain, the person so punished will avoid whatever behavior led to the inflicting of pain. Whether that’s even a good method of child rearing or even adult behavior modification, I won’t debate here, although it is a fairly unsuccessful method by all educational statistics. Inflicting death on someone however, cannot be any form of behavior modification. The person is dead, unable to act differently. It’s a pure form of getting even on the part of vindictive people. Statistics also clearly show that killing people does not induce any kind of dseterrence, else states with the death penalty should show a markedly lower number of violent acts than states without the death penalty; but there is no such evidence at all. Morally speaking, a society has a right to protect itself from violence; if not avoidable, even death can be administered in an emergency to protect people; however, in all cases where people are jailed before being killed, there is no threat to the society. They are confined; they cannot hurt anyone. One might also consider that the person who is finally put to death is not the person who did the deed for which s/he is being killed. People change; remorse is real. If there is the slightest danger of a person’s reverting back to violent action, s/he can continue indefinitely being restrained in a proper facility. Finally, judicial error, while it may be devastating on anyone’s life, can be amended as long as the person is still alive. There is no reason for this barbaric act of judicial killing; certainly, it does not improve the world one bit; instead, it encourages vindictive thinking, which in itself is damaging to any society.
Ray W, says
A few months ago, INSIDEEVs examined Nio’s EV battery swapping process. Here are a few bullet points from the resulting article:
– All Nio models are designed for swappable battery packs, which batteries can either be charged via plug in chargers, or they can be swapped as needed.
– Nio’s battery swap stations debuted in 2018, with over 57 million swaps since then. Nio drivers can schedule a swap time or simply show up and wait their turn, if necessary.
– A driver stops in a defined space in front of the swap station, from which location the car is then remotely directed backwards into the station. A platform raises the car off the floor and the battery removal automatically occurs. The removed battery drops below the floor and is shuttled to a recharge station. A new battery charged to an optimum 93%, ensuring the quality of each installed battery, is shuttled to underneath the awaiting car where it is automatically raised and installed. The swapping process is said to take between three and six minutes. During the main battery disconnection time, a tiny secondary battery keeps main non-driving functions operable.
– Nio now offers its battery swap stations to other manufacturers, provided they design their cars to its specifications.
– Nio owns a second brand, Onvo. Both brands sell electric vehicles with or without batteries. For example, the Onvo L60 model sells for about $29,000 with battery and for about $21,000 sans battery.
– Onvo’s 60 kWh battery itself can be leased for $85 per month. Longer range batteries trigger a greater leasing cost. The swapping station determines the level of depletion of the removed battery and charges a small fee for the amount of electricity added by the new battery.
– Nio’s software algorithms determine the specific numbers and sizes of batteries to meet local demand, including that for holidays, when people might order larger capacity batteries to travel; its largest capacity battery is not offered for sale, only for lease.
– Nio partners with four other EV manufacturers: Changan, JAC, Geely, and Chery.
– A taxicab vehicle manufacturer, Beijing, offers its own battery swap technology for its EU5 model.
– BYD, the world’s second largest battery manufacturer, has developed a use-specific version of its BLADE battery that can be swapped out in Nio’s stations. CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer, is working on its own version of swap station.
– the Onvo L60 is rated as slightly more energy efficient than Tesla’s Model Y, which lacks swappable capability.
– According to Nio, 70% of its buyers opt for the battery swap service.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Quality options make for satisfied customers. Not all Nio owners would use the battery swap option, preferring to plug in at home and charge the battery overnight. Others, perhaps condominium or apartment residents lacking easy access to home chargers near parking spaces, would always use the battery swap option.
I remain encouraged by the idea of extended range vehicles that come with a small battery pack that meets 90% of the average drivers’ daily needs. No need for a larger, heavier long-range battery that costs more to lease. If the smallest option battery depletes to a predetermined level, a purpose-built small ICE starts up to generate electricity that offers a longer range that is rarely needed on a daily basis. A hypothetical Flagler County resident who works from home three or four days a week but has to drive to her Jacksonville office once or twice per week will probably not deplete the small battery in her EREV on a daily basis, but the gas engine will kick on during her once or twice-weekly office commute on her return home. No range anxiety. Greater fuel efficiency because the gas engine is purposely designed to generate electricity at its most efficient operating RPM. No gas usage on the vast majority of daily drives.
Win, win, win!
Dr Bill Hanagan says
Dennis,
Have you ever stopped to think about why you’ve tied your identity to another man, who doesn’t know you exist?
Endless corruption says
Haha cheif treason has made his millions from market manipulation! Good luck to all those suffering throughout the globe from the orange stains policies and those being murdered at the death camps! May those responsible face a similar fate!
Ray W, says
Hello Dr. Bill Hanagan.
While it is likely true that the members of the professional lying class that sits atop one of our two political parties do not directly know of Dennis C. Rathsam’s existence, their modus operandi requires a need for gullibly stupid people by the millions who wander through life fooling themselves and whose sole value to the professional lying class comes from laundering their lies.
Ray W, says
Hagerty, a car-oriented publication, witnessed Nissan’s unveiling of its version of an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) at the 2025 Shanghai Motor Show. The 4WD Frontier, complete with a low-range function, is another iteration of an established truck model in Nissan’s world lineup.
The new Frontier Pro comes with a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder ICE, coupled with an electric motor integrated inside the transmission case. Thus, this form of EREV is unique, as most EREVs use their gasoline engines to link to a generator, sans transmission.
Nissan’s innovation uses a battery with enough power to allow the electric motor to spin a driveshaft until the battery depletes to a certain level of charge, said to be 80 miles of range. Then the ICE kicks on and drives the transmission. The electric motor can still drive the transmission when extra power is needed and when combined with the ICE, output tops 400 HP.
Another publication says the new truck will be available in “North America”, but with the current 100% tariff on all EVs prior to tariffs imposed by President Trump, North America likely means Canada and Mexico. No word on pricing yet.
Tony Mack says
Poor Dennis — “No more made in China shit…”
(From The Economic Times –Apr 15, 2025, 03:06:00 PM)
In a turn of events that reads like political satire, a Chinese state media outlet has revealed that a factory in China has been mass-producing “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) merchandise since 2016—yes, the very hats and banners that have become the emblem of Donald Trump’s populist brand. The revelation, accompanied by a video that’s now gone viral, adds a sharp twist of irony to Trump’s long-standing calls to “Buy American, Hire American,” particularly against the backdrop of his aggressive trade war with Beijing.
The factory, Jiahao Flat Company in China’s Anhui province, doesn’t just manufacture a handful of hats. According to the China 24 news channel, it churns out over a thousand MAGA banners per day, each priced at around one U.S. dollar. Workers, some barely aware of who Donald Trump is beyond his title, stitch together the fabric of an American political movement from across the Pacific—at the same time that their country is locked in a retaliatory tariff war with Washington.
The China 24 report showcases the bustling factory floor, humming with sewing machines and busy hands, producing banners that boldly declare Trump’s re-election slogan. The incongruity of it all hasn’t gone unnoticed. As Trump continues to rail against Chinese imports and threatens domestic companies with steep penalties for outsourcing, it turns out that some of his own campaign’s visual identity is being made in the very country he accuses of economic sabotage.
In one telling moment from the video, a factory worker holds up a nearly finished Trump banner and explains, “Every day we must produce over 1,000 of this.” The segment’s underlying message is hard to miss: the supposed face of American industrial revival is, quite literally, sewn in China…”
Dennis is correct — “Made in China shit…”
Ray W, says
Here is my interpretation of a Motorweek report that Boston-based Factorial, in collaboration with Stellantis (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Reneault, Fiat, etc.) is past the validation stage of battery chemistry development for a new semi-solid-state battery, with anticipated extensive full-scale fleet road testing to begin by 2026.
Factorial works with a number of other carmakers, including Mercedes-Benz, which has its own type of Factorial-designed semi-solid-state battery in its EQS model that in testing renders a range of up to 1000 km (621 miles).
Factorial and Stellantis say that “one of their next tasks will be to design a battery pack architecture with weight savings in mind. Solid-state designs are expected to weigh hundreds of pounds less than current lithium-ion packs once all the pack engineering issues are resolved. …”
The article contains no information about actual battery metal chemistry, but the battery operates within the ranges of -22 degrees and 113 degrees Fahrenheit and it charges from 15% to over 90% in eighteen minutes.
Energy density at 375 Wh/kg is significantly higher than that for the best of the several different liquid-state lithium-ion battery chemistries already in production by other manufacturers (between 250-300 Wh/kg). Thus far the battery is good for the higher level of energy density over 600 charge cycles, with charge cycle numbers needing to be increased. True solid-state batteries are said to cycle during charging many thousands of times before significant degradation of overall charge capacity occurs.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Just because Chinese battery manufacturers are far ahead of U.S.-based companies doesn’t mean there isn’t opportunity for leap-frogging the leaders, should American battery companies make the effort.
There are many chemistries and types of batteries out there ripe for additional development. There are six categories of lithium-based liquid-state (liquid lithium metal) batteries in various stages of development:
1. Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP), which uses phosphate as the cathode material and a graphite carbon anode material. These batteries last through many charging cycles, typically 2000, and offer good thermal stability due to low internal resistance, with a comparatively high thermal runaway threshold of 518 degrees Fahrenheit. Deep discharge cycles do not significantly affect lifespan, unlike lead acid batteries.
2. Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LCO), which offers high specific energy density but low specific power, i.e., good at steady low-load power delivery (cell phones, laptops etc.) but bad in high-load conditions (EV batteries). Cobalt is expensive and environmentally destructive, and the batteries offer short charge cycle lifetimes of between 500-1000 cycles. And they tend to catch fire at lower temperatures under high load, such as during charging.
3. Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO), with manganese, a common ore, permitting a three-dimensional cathode material that increases ion flow, decreases internal resistance, and improves thermal stability. They charge quickly and deliver higher current and high specific power. Early versions of these batteries last between 300 to 700 charging cycles, which inhibits their development, but Ford claims a breakthrough in this type of battery, likely in the charge cycle capacity.
4. Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC), which operate at comparatively low voltages, but offers heat stability, a longer lifecycle, and high energy density per pound.
5. Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide (NCA), which offers both high specific energy and high specific power, meaning relatively high power and high discharge rates over long periods of time. These types of battery are relatively unsafe due to thermal runaway, and they are expensive to construct, but they compete with LFP batteries as the most common style of EV battery.
6. Lithium Titanate (LTO), which replaces traditional graphite in the anode. These excel in battery storage situations, like home battery storage applications. Fast charging, they offer a very safe battery chemistry with a long lifespan and a broad operating temperature range. They, however, are expensive to construct and have a relatively low energy density, making their use unsuitable in EVs.
Ford’s “skunk works” development team recently claimed to have done something no one else has done before with a chemistry thought too difficult to develop, using a lithium-manganese-rich formulation. While LMR is considered a liquid-state form of battery, as opposed to semi-solid-state or even solid-state forms of batteries, LMR too offers a high energy density rating compared to other liquid-state lithium-ion batteries.
Solid lithium metal batteries are in their own category, with many battery chemistries yet to perfect.
As Ford’s CEO told an automotive podcaster during an interview, today’s battery chemistry development is at the Model T stage. Internal combustion engines, after nearly 125 years of intense development are nearing the end of their development possibilities, with even the most efficient ICE designs passing some 60% of the energy contained in the gasoline wasted out the tailpipe or transferred as heat into the atmosphere via the radiator. EVs are only about 20 years into their development and the best batteries are already more efficient than ICE and cheaper to build, to boot. The most efficient and longest lasting theoretical chemistry so far is graphene-aluminum oxide, which chemistry offers high energy density and high energy output with almost no risk of fire, extremely fast charging, and a lifespan of over 100,000 charging cycles, but they are extremely expensive to manufacture right now.
And battery chemistry improvements are only half the issue. Electric motor design, too, is early in development. Donut Lab, a Finnish company, has a 20-kilo (88 pound) in-wheel motor design that produces over 800 HP. With a large tractor-trailer transport fleet using diesel engines and accompanying transmissions on American roadways, replacing the diesel engine and transmission with two such electric motors would save as much as 5000 pounds per tractor; while offering continuing transport should one of the two electric motors fail on the road.
Ray W, says
Here are some bullet points from a CNN article about Tesla’s current economic condition:
– In its first quarter 2025 earnings report, Tesla listed a $595 million sale of its “regulatory credits” to other carmakers.
– In its first quarter 2025 earnings report, Tesla listed a profit of $409 million.
– President Trump is on record as wanting to eliminate the long-standing federal emissions rules that enable Tesla to accumulate the “regulatory credits” by selling large numbers of EVs in America.
– President Trump is on record as wanting to eliminate tougher emissions regulations imposed by eight states and that without the tougher emissions regulations, there would be no market for other carmakers to buy Tesla’s “regulatory credits.”
– Since 2021 alone, Tesla has earned $8.4 billion by selling the “regulatory credits” to other carmakers that violate emissions standards.
– From early in Tesla’s history, Tesla depended on the regulatory credits to offset losses as the company ramped up production and sales of its EVs.
– Tesla’s “gross automotive profit margin”, described as a “key product margin” that excludes regulatory credit sales among many other expenses from consideration, dropped from 30% in the first quarter of 2022 to 12.5% in the first quarter of 2025.
– The last time Tesla’s gross automotive profit margin was as low as 12.5% was in early 2012, according to data compiled by Morgan Stanley.
– Last Thursday, the Department of Transportation announced deregulation of “automated vehicle[s]” standards, which should assist Tesla’s plans to release its driverless taxis that lack a steering wheel.
– Elon Musk, who has been saying for at least the past six years that self-driving taxis are a year away, just said again that Tesla’s self-driving taxis are a year away, even though last October he said about full self-driving vehicles that “I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames.”
– GM just backed away from its own commercial automated vehicle, saying the business case for such vehicles is no longer viable, due to increasing competition in the sector.
– Ford’s CEO also pulled back from the sector, saying:
“Profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are a long way off.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I repeatedly comment that something other than political backlash is undermining Tesla’s market share in the global EV marketplace. Late last year, Elon Musk visited CATL to discuss LFP battery technology, which technology Tesla ignored while developing its latest version of liquid-state lithium-ion batteries. CATL’s CEO was not receptive. Now, automotive media reports that Tesla buys LFP batteries from his main competitor, BYD, which agreed to share its expertise with Tesla.
Tesla has four models, not counting the Cybertruck, which just might achieve Edsel status in Americana lore. Two of the models are assembled in American factories; the other two in China.
According to automotive reports, due to Trump’s tariffs on China and China’s retaliatory tariffs on the U.S., Tesla no longer gives its Chinese customers the option to purchase its two American-made models, thereby halving its potential customer’s options in the world’s largest and hypercompetitive EV marketplace. Other reports have Tesla sales plummeting throughout Europe and even in California, traditionally Tesla’s largest American marketplace.
This raises the question? If Tesla’s sales continue to fall, and if the sales fall means that Tesla will earn fewer “regulatory credits” that it can sell to other carmakers that wish to continue selling gas guzzlers, how will that impact Tesla’s future revenues and potential profits? And if Tesla’s “gross automotive profit margin” continues to shrink, what too does that portend for its future?
Elon Musk, on a recent investor conference call, said:
“We’ve gone through many a crisis over the years and actually been … on the ragged edge of death – at least, maybe a dozen times. … This is not one of those times. We’re not on the ragged edge of death, not even close. There are some challenges and I expect that this year will be probably be some unexpected bumps this year but I remain extremely optimistic about the future of the company.”
He might be right. Time will tell.
As an aside, initially Elon Musk told the faithful that DOGE would save the government $2 trillion, or roughly 15% of the federal budget. Then, the claimed savings dropped to $1 million. Two weeks ago, he said perhaps $150 billion. Who knows if there will be any savings at all, or at least competent and reliable evidence of any savings?
Ed P says
How many low information political activists on the streets can not even verbalize their cause when questioned why or for what end? Remember BLM’s support? How many hero’s have been idolized and later found to be unworthy of such status? How many super star entertainers who were revered my millions have fallen out of vogue? How many people have been canceled?
To the pundits who profess to know that Dennis Rathsam is wrong about his opinions, criticize him, calumniate him, and belittle him, remember he is entitled to his own opinions.
I do not recall any of his posts that are near the nature of your responses. Your pious posts simply reveal the true lack of tolerance on the left. I am glad you have been unable to silence him.
Dennis C Rathsam says
As the democrat Aproval rating goes from 23% down to 20% The good? Dr has nothing to do but worry about my beliefs on the GOP! As we see here, numerous jackasses, hate TRUMP Thats your problem, your party is dead. The democrats, have no leader. The plan is the same as it was….Hate TRUMP, call for doom & disaster. Americans didn’t buy it then, and aren’t buying it now. With socialist AOC, hooked up with communist Sanders, they are splitting the party. The bullshit they both expel, make me laugh! 2 other morons Booker & Jefferies held a town hall on the steps of Congress, there were more pigeons than people! I must thank Joe Biden, & his cover up team… All the lies, his 1/2 ass policies, his inability to concer the interest rates, & the high price of gas & food! Our ships in the Middle East were targets, China was taking control of the Panama canal, the world was spiraling out of control….Putin invaded Ukraine…Where was BIDEN A sleep? in la la land? Who was running the country? Who let this happen? It was RAY,s & the doctors heros, the democrat party! the gang that cant shoot STREIGHT! In the last 100 days TRUMPS done more for Americans then Biden did in 4 years! Gas is down! Food is down! The economy is headed in the right direction, the borders closed, TRUMP,S deporting the invaders daily! TRUMP found more Democrat wasted money, then he shut down agency’s that were their slush fundes! Why would the jackasses be against the audit of our countries finances? Why don’t they want to save tax payer money? Well my guys the president, 4 more years. Doing what he was elected to do by America. TRUMP is the greatest comeback in political history.Now he set his sites on rebuilding America… While the jackass party want to return a MS13 gang member, a wife beater! Democrats care more about Bidens invaders, than they do for the people of the USA! Dr BILL & RAY, I feel sorry for you losers.
BillC says
@Rathsam & Ed P “TRUMP will bring America back from the dead.” Rathsam’s opinion. OK, that’s the world you guys live in, a zombie wasteland.
Ray W, says
Hello Ed P.
A lie created by a vengeful professional liar with the hope and intent that the gullible among us will launder that lie to others will never be a virtuous act worthy of respect.
The pandemic upended a strong economy that had almost completely recovered from the Great Recession, a recovery thanks in large part to the administrative stances taken by both President Obama and President Trump. In response to the pandemic that was rapidly spreading throughout every corner of the nation, economists of all stripes strongly urged Congress, Trump, Biden and Powell to take the economic steps deemed necessary at the moment to limit the growing economic damage. We, as a government, threw trillions and trillions of unfunded stimulus dollars into the economy to prevent a potential depression. We were already plunging into recession. These perhaps now thought improvident economic steps culminated in an overheated and unbalanced economy prone to inflation. New economic steps became necessary to address the inflation that eventually came to pass. The national debt soared.
To repeatedly say that Biden, alone, is responsible for the economic destruction, including inflation and soaring debt, from which we as a country have once again yet to fully recover is to repeatedly lie, yet the professional lying class at the top of one of our two political parties did just that in the hopes that Dennis C. Rathsam, among many millions of others, would launder their lies. And launder their lies Dennis C. Rathsam continues to do. The economists, the legislators, the presidents and the Fed Chair, each shares a measure of responsibility for an unanticipated economic upheaval that occurred because a virus mutated, either by genetic manipulation in a lab or genetic happenstance in the wild.
There will be no future in which Biden alone will be thought responsible by competent historians for all of the effects of the pandemic. It is fantasy to think otherwise.
You celebrate as politically healthy the liar launderers among us. I do not. Neither did James Madison, who described as virtuous those few who could set aside partisan passions for the betterment of all. Those who could not set aside partisan passions he deemed “pestilential.” So, too, do I.
Only a fool would write that opposing liar launderers belongs to the left. It is a duty that belongs to us all. Opposing liar launderers is not an act of piety. It is duty. That you, of all commenters, do not understand this reflects poorly on you. You have repeatedly shown a capacity to understand that opposing liar launderers is your responsibility, yet you so easily abandon your gifts. And I mean gifts in the sense imparted by Thomas Jefferson to his favored nephew when he wrote that he considered the capacity to exercise reason in each of its three forms as heaven’s greatest gift to mankind.
BillC says
@Ed P… PS “Your pious posts simply reveal the true lack of tolerance on the left. I am glad you have been unable to silence him.”
Flaglerlive published Rathsam’s comment. “unable to silence him?” Quite the opposite, Flaglerlive has given him voice.
R.S. says
Amazing how many folks here waste their creativity on name calling each other. That didn’t win hearts and minds when Ms. Clinton called some of y’all “deplorables,” and it isn’t working now when you call liberals intolerant, communists, or other terms that you–strangely–consider bad words. It would help immensely if commenters were to focus on issues and debate solutions to problems such as bunkruptcies over medical bills, deaths from being unable to pay hospitals, quackeries that blame vaccines for autism, presidents that consider themselves above the law and infallible, people being jailed without due process, the judicial branch being silenced, etc. There is so much that we could gain from all this energy that’s being wasted on belittling each other. Even if the name were to fit well, nothing is solved or altered thereby.
R.S. says
Ray W. said: Just because Chinese battery manufacturers are far ahead of U.S.-based companies doesn’t mean there isn’t opportunity for leap-frogging the leaders, should American battery companies make the effort.
And I wonder whether high tariffs aren’t counterproductive in that case. Why should anyone want to improve anything if the status quo is governmentally supported. Free competition applied worldwide might be a far better way to encourage developments, no?
Ed P says
Everyone lies. I was not suggesting that anyone was “celebrating” the liar launderers among us. I was simply pointing out 2 simple concepts.
1. Everyone has been hoodwinked or fooled by people in their lives. There has been numerous false heroes, celebrities, and super star athletes that have fallen short. Presidents too. That doesn’t make someone “stupidly gullible”
2. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. Everyone’s opinion is their reality.
Everyone sees things differently. The parable of the blind men and the elephant explains how limited experiences explains both the different view and reason for distrust. All correct, while being incorrect.
The division and echo chamber amplifies the problems and diminishes our willingness to civilly debate these differences.
We still have the ability but the arrogance of our absolute belief that anyone’s alternate opinion is the only logical/sane position is to blame. Two things can be true, even if they seem to contradict each other. Different perspectives are healthy. That’s what I’m championing.
Sherry says
Thank you Bill C. and Ray W. !
I can only add that, “for me”, not all Maga cult members/gullible lie launderers are the same.
There are those that simply have been indoctrinated, and who have given over their thinking ability in favor of negative emotional addiction to Fox and trump. Perhaps their intellectual facility was never very powerful. For those poor souls I struggle to find compassion. I try to see them as victims. I do not bother to read their comments, as there is absolutely “nothing” of value in their words.
Then there are those whose intellectual prowess has potential, but unfortunately they are morally bankrupt. They have made a conscious decision to do everything in their power to not only justify their chosen path, aligning themselves at all costs with a con man whose character is criminally corrupt, but to try and convince others to follow as well. For that kind of person, I have nothing but contempt.
In my opinion, neither have any credibility at all. I do not take my treasured time to read any of their writings. Unfortunately, it is likely that they all may be beyond redemption. I certainly hope that is not the case.
Sherry says
Thank you R.S.!
I most certainly agree that we absolutely should be discussing what each of us could be doing in the face of Gestapo tactics being used to deport people (now, including US citizens) and imprison people in foreign countries. . . “Without Due Process”, which is against our constitution/Supreme Court decision. And, the many other illegal/immoral actions taken by the current administration. Personally, I have been participating in protest marches, writing and calling legislators, making financial contributions to support the free press, writing op eds, creating protest art. . . encouraging others to do the same.
“WE The People” CAN make a difference! “Fight Fascism at Every Turn!”
Sherry says
What’s the old saying? While you may be entitled to your own opinions. . . you are not entitled to your own “Facts”!!!
Pogo says
@Ray w
Re: “Hello Ed P.
A lie created by a vengeful professional liar with the hope and intent that the gullible among us will launder that lie to others will never be a virtuous act worthy of respect…”
Of your many excellent, worthwhile remarks, this was among the best. God bless, and thank you.
Sherry says
The very definition of the Maga Cult by Voltaire: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities”
Sherry says
When I speak about the moral character traits like “Honesty”, “Ethics” and “Integrity” as the underpinnings of a society built on trust, I mean just that. Those that excuse, twist and spin incessant pathological lies from “ANY” person are themselves so psychologically damaged and corrupted in their own lack of principals, that they tout criminal “Dishonesty” as the norm. NO everybody doesn’t lie! When “loyalty at all costs” is treasured more that “honesty”, the entire moral structure is destroyed. True loyalty requires trust, and trust requires “Honesty”.
LIES MATTER!
Ray W, says
Hello Ed P.
Once again, this is not a question of alternate opinions.
The pandemic is the primary, or proximate, cause of the economic damage with which the world has been coping for the past five-plus years. Absent competent and reliable and indisputable evidence that a human being engineered the mutation that created SARS-Covid2, as opposed to the possibility that the virus mutated in the wild, it is irrational to blame any human for the initial spread of the virus throughout the world.
None of the responses that were taken to limit the economic damage caused by the pandemic would have occurred without the primary occurrence of the pandemic. Regardless, the responses were and still are, at most, secondary causes to the economic damage that took place from 2020 and into 2021. Biden is responsible for several of the many responses taken by multiple Congresses and multiple presidential administrations, plus those responses taken by the Fed, and it is correct to blame him for his responses, should they fail to work as intended. But to repeatedly claim that President Biden is the person solely responsible for all of the negative effects of the pandemic and all the responses taken in the efforts to cure those negative effects is not an alternate opinion; it is to repeatedly launder a lie.
A certain FlaglerLive commenter has been laundering such lies for years. You celebrate that as if it is a good thing. I oppose it and I will continue to oppose it.