To include your event in the Briefing and Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Weather: Mostly sunny. Patchy fog in the morning. Showers likely with a slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs around 90. Southwest winds around 5 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent. Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy. Showers with a slight chance of thunderstorms in the evening, then a chance of showers after midnight. Lows in the mid 60s. Southeast winds around 5 mph in the evening, becoming light and variable. Chance of rain 80 percent.
- 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:
Free For All Fridays with Host David Ayres, an hour-long public affairs radio show featuring local newsmakers, personalities, public health updates and the occasional surprise guest, starts a little after 9 a.m. after FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam’s Reality Check. Guests today include Rep. Sam Greco, Tourism Director Amy Lucasik, County Commissioner Kim Carney, and Ed Danko. See previous podcasts here. On WNZF at 94.9 FM, 1550 AM, and live at Flagler Broadcasting’s YouTube channel.
The Friday Blue Forum, a discussion group organized by local Democrats, meets at 12:15 p.m. at the Flagler Democratic Office at 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite C214 (above Cue Note) at City Marketplace. Come and add your voice to local, state and national political issues.
RockabillieWillie At City Repertory Theatre: Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., City Repertory Theatre, 160 Cypress Point Parkway (City Marketplace, Suite B207), Palm Coast. Tickets are $25 adults and $15 students, available online at crtpalmcoast.com or by calling 386-585-9415. Tickets also will be available at the venue just before curtain time. Get ready for Shakespeare like you’ve never heard—or seen—before! RockabillieWillie mashes up scenes from The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet, and Henry V with a jukebox of rockabilly hits. Musical numbers like “Willie and the Hand Jive,” “Love and Marriage,” and Buddy Holly’s “Oh Boy” are reimagined to playfully clash and complement Shakespearean drama. Adapted by John Sbordone, RockabillieWillie is dedicated to the proposition that “All’s well that ends.” Don’t miss this fun, fast-paced ride through the Bard’s greatest hits! See Rick de Yampert’s preview: “City Repertory Theatre Untames Shakespeare, Doo-Wop and R&B with “RockabillieWillie.”
Murder at Shivering Timbers Murder Mystery Dinner Show Fundraiser, 6 p.m. at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE. Step into a world of mystery, laughter, and adventure with our captivating murder mystery play, Murder at Shivering Timbers! Hosted as a fundraiser, this enchanting evening promises not only thrilling entertainment but also an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our local foster and displaced children. Tickets are $55 to $60. Book here.
Readings: Ben Rhodes used to be one of Obama’s speechwriters and deputy national security adviser. He never invited reporters of his group chats, though he’s not been known as a great friend of the press, for which he has more contempt than respect (in most cases he’s right: the American press is a gutter-grade bazaar with occasional gems). The opening lines of a recent Rhodes column in the Times sum up the catastrophic decomposition the republic is going through: “In 1941, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt marshaled support for the fight against fascism, his chief antagonists were isolationists at home. “What I seek to convey,” he said at the beginning of an address to Congress, “is the historic truth that the United States as a nation has at all times maintained clear, definite opposition to any attempt to lock us in behind an ancient Chinese wall while the procession of civilization went past.” Roosevelt prevailed, and that victory expanded America’s relationship with the world in ways that remade both. Eighty-four years later, President Trump is systematically severing America from the globe. This is not simply a shift in foreign policy. It is a divorce so comprehensive that it makes Britain’s exit from the European Union look modest by comparison. Consider the breadth of this effort. Allies have been treated like adversaries. The United States has withdrawn from international agreements on fundamental issues like health and climate change. A nation of immigrants now deports people without due process, bans refugees and is trying to end birthright citizenship. Mr. Trump’s tariffs have upended the system of international trade, throwing up new barriers to doing business with every country on Earth. Foreign assistance has largely been terminated. So has support for democracy abroad. Research cuts have rolled back global scientific research and cooperation. The State Department is downsizing. Exchange programs are on the chopping block. Global research institutions like the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Wilson Center have been effectively shut down. And, of course, the United States is building a wall along its southern border. Other countries are under no obligation to help a 78-year-old American president fulfill a fanciful vision of making America great again. Already a Gaza cease-fire has unraveled, Russia continues its war on Ukraine, Europe is turning away from America, Canadians are boycotting our goods, and a Chinese Communist Party that endured the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution seems prepared to weather a few years of tariffs. Travel to the United States is down 12 percent compared with last March, as tourists recoil from America’s authoritarian turn.” For all that, it seems we’re only at the beginning.
Now this: Mark Lilla with David Brooks on Ignorance and Bliss:
View this profile on Instagram
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 County Library Board of Trustees
Nar-Anon Family Group
Bunnell City Commission Meeting
Palm Coast City Council Workshop
Community Traffic Safety Team Meeting
St. Johns River Water Management District Meeting
Flagler County School Board Workshop: Agenda Items
Flagler Beach Library Book Club
Flagler County Planning Board Meeting
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy
For the full calendar, go here.
Ours is the only civilization in history which has enshrined mediocrity as its national ideal. Others have been corrupt, but leave it to us to invent the most undistinguished of corruptions. No orgies, no blood running in the street, no babies thrown off cliffs. No, we’re sentimental people and we horrify easily. True, our moral fiber is rotten. Our national character stinks to high heaven. But we are kinder than ever. No prostitute ever responded with a quicker spasm of sentiment when our hearts are touched. Nor is there anything new about thievery, lewdness, lying, adultery. What is new is that in our time liars and thieves and whores and adulterers wish also to be congratulated and are congratulated by the great public, if their confession is sufficiently psychological or strikes a sufficiently heartfelt and authentic note of sincerity.
–From Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer (1961)..
Jim says
I hope all Trump supporters actually saw the interview Trump gave where he didn’t respond that he must follow the Constitution in performing the duties of his office. Easily found on the Internet if you’d like to see the actual event without a Fox News interpretation.
In Trump’s oath of office, he said: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”. There is no ambivalence in that statement.
Yet Trump wants to take the position that he doesn’t have to enforce the parts that he doesn’t like. Quite a unique position, even for Trump. So, basically, his position is that if the Constitution demands action or requires restraint, it’s more of a suggestion than a requirement. How low can he go?
You may be fine with deporting aliens without due process. You may be fine with military parades on his birthday. You may be fine with his tariffs and the destruction of our economy and standing in the world. You may be fine that he says gas is now $1.89/gallon and eggs are down 87%. You’re entitled to you opinions. But if you’re fine with a president picking and choosing when the Constitution must be followed diligently, you need to seriously reconsider your allegiance to the USA. If Trump will not follow our Constitution – in all cases – then he is no longer president; he is a dictator. He’s certainly acting that way if you just pay attention.
So decide whether you’re for the USA and freedom or not. You don’t have long.
Laurel says
Didn’t he say he knew more than anybody about everything?
Ed P says
If everything is a constitutional crisis, eventually nothing is a constitutional crisis.
If everything is racist, eventually nothing is racist.
Eventually, crying wolf erroneously about everything has consequences.
National, state, and local authorities have all been selectively enforcing laws.
Multiple Judges at all levels have bastardized their authority and legislated rather than interpret and enforce laws.
Impeachment of politicians is serious, yet it’s all too common. It’s become more symbolic than actual.
Certainly feels like everyone of authority is culpable.
There are multiple layers of guard rails that have protected the construction for 237 years. I suspect it will survive another 4.
If illegal aliens have the same constitutional rights as U.S. citizens, then why have we shed so much blood and life? Do you believe the founding fathers created the constitution for the benefit of illegal foreigners? If you honestly look at the truth, how can any nation exist with out sovereignty and a border?
Regardless of the actual number of illegal border crossings, was our sovereignty at a bare minimum, ignored or selectively enforced?
Pogo says
@Better late, then never
… or some such — oh, well.
And
https://www.google.com/search?q=what+did+the+condemned+in+the+French+Revolution+talk+about+while+waiting+their+turn+to+die
BillC says
@ EdP 14th Amendment Section 1: ” No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
It says “any person” as distinct from “citizens”.
Sorry, for all your histrionics, your views attack the Constitution. Not surprising as MAGA is attacking the legitimacy of all our Courts in order to put sole power in the hands of one man, a Supreme President.
billcampionmemo@yahoo.com says
@EdP PS In case you forgot the Constitution was written to oppose and prevent a Monarchy from ever being established in this country. That’s what makes this country great- a beacon of freedom and an inspiration to the world and responsible for our success!
Ed P says
It’s widely reported that BOTH President Obama and Biden each removed over 3 million illegal immigrants during their respective presidency. It is estimated that 70-83% of those deportees never saw a judge or had a chance to plead their case.
The above is mostly true but simplified. where is your outrage and concern over the shredding of the US Constitution? No they did not provide due process to some 6 million+deportees.
They used legal procedures to skirt the due process that you each herald.
Sherry says
And now for just a little CONTEXT when comparing trump to President Obama:
Obama prioritized deporting people convicted of serious crimes and recent arrivals who had no criminal records.
“If you’re not targeting and focused on people who recently arrived, then the border is effectively open. It is more humane to be removing people who have been here two weeks than it is to be removing people who have been here for 20 years and have families.”
Trump, by contrast has rejected the policy of focusing on new arrivals and criminals and instead wants to deport as many people as possible.
It’s impossible to ignore trump’s rhetoric. He infamously called some Mexican immigrants “rapists,” and focused his presidency around the idea that he would build a wall, get tough with Mexico and deport as many undocumented immigrants as possible.
Trump’s planned raids come after years of claims that American citizens are harmed by the presence of undocumented migrants – from inviting crime victims to the State of the Union address to his recent effort to add a citizenship question to the census.
Obama used executive action to temporarily give protected status to undocumented people who arrived in the US as children, and curbed deportations from the interior states of the country. His focus, particularly toward the end of his administration, was on quick “returns” of new arrivals at the border who were perceived to have had fewer ties in the US – though that, controversially, included the same types of Central American migrants whose arrival has swamped the border this year.
The libertarian Cato Institute crunched the data and demonstrated that deportations from the interior of the country – meaning away from the border, so, people who have likely been in the country longer – were on the downswing during most of the Obama administration.
GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA – FEBRUARY 09: Guatemalan immigrants deported from the United States arrive on a ICE deportation flight on February 9, 2017 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The charter jet, carrying 135 deportees, arrived from Texas, where U.S. border agents catch the largest number illegal immigrants crossing into the United States, many of them from Central America. U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to vastly increase the number of deportations.
Trump has sought to end Obama’s program shielding undocumented young people from deportation and has reversed the trend on internal deportations as he’s sought to remove more people, including those who have been in the country a long time.
Muñoz argued it is Trump’s lack of priorities about who to deport that is causing chaos in immigrant communities.
“People are in terror,” she said. “They’re scared of sending their children to school. That is a very, very different dynamic. There are no enforcement priorities in the Trump administration. That’s the point. In the Obama administration there were clear priorities.”
BillC says
@EdP “The above is mostly true”, “It is estimated”. No sources given. The usual jibber and deflection.
The Mayor of Newark NJ was just arrested by masked ICE agents and congress members roughed up by them. That’s a scene out of North Korea or Russia.
Ed P says
Bill C
Try google. Multiple sources, too many to list.
Since I was summarizing, because Obama was 3.5+- million and Biden 3+- million and the percentages of deportees who did not get due process was a 15 percent spread, I was trying to ameliorate the word/number parsers ability to criticize.
Spend a nanosecond………..
Sherry,
So it was fine the libs did exactly what Trump is trying to do, and your take away is your above post? Your distain for any alternate view, even factual has no bounds.
BillC says
@EdP Just more shuckin’ and jivin’. Just list 2 or 3 sources. Aside from the arrest of Newark’s mayor, which you ignore, now Trump wants to do away with Habeas Corpus (Article 1, Section 2, Clause 9) of the Constitution. After all, on January 20, 2025, President Trump issued pardons for approximately 1,500 individuals convicted of crimes related to the January 6 Capitol riot. If you were consistent, and not MAGA brainwashed, wouldn’t you be praising Obama and Biden for deporting, by your numbers, roughly 7 million people? Obama/Biden bad, Trump good.
Ed P says
Bill C,
Per your request. ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS,NPR,CNN,FOX.MSNBC, ACLU,AFL-CIO,National Immigration Law Center, WSJ,AP, Reuters………….
Yahoo news May 4, 2025 Snopes fact check: US deported more than 3M people during Obama presidency. Most did not have chance to plead case in court. Mostly True.
So once again, why are standard operating procedures ok for Obama but not Trump?
Also I never once criticized Obama or Biden for their deportation policies, just their open border debacle.