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Weather: Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. West winds 5 to 10 mph. Friday Night: Mostly clear in the evening, then becoming partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 60s. Southwest 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:
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. Today’s guests: Flagler County Commissioner Leann Pennington and Deputy County Administrator Jorge Salinas. See previous podcasts here. On WNZF at 94.9 FM, 1550 AM, and live at Flagler Broadcasting’s YouTube channel.
A Night at the Museum: Buddy Taylor Middle School’s annual “Night at the Museum” features works created by sixth grade students themed around “Artifacts from Ancient Times.” 5 to 6:30 p.m., free, at the school cafeteria, 4500 Belle Terre Pkwy, Palm Coast.
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.
Notebook: On April 27, the New York Times reported on the death of Virginia Giuffre, one of the women who, when she was younger, when she was a teen, had been coerced into Jeffrey Epstein’s harem. She was 41. She died by suicide. The article, by Sam Roberts, is straightforward. The illustrations are not. There are four of them, five if you count the picture-in-picture Giuffre is holding in one of them. I could reproduce them here: they were all in the federal court file. But I wouldn’t want to reproduce what the Times did. It turned the half-obituary article into an exercise in voyeurism. The top illustration is a standard portrait of the still-striking Giuffre in 2019, a Reuters picture by Shannon Stapleton (a man). The next is a Miami Herald picture of Giuffre in 2023. Giuffre is holding a picture of herself when she was a minor, with what looks like a cockatoo on her shoulder. There’s nothing suggestive about the picture in the picture. But the fact that it is Giuffre as a minor is a little odd. The fact that Giuffre is showing the picture neutralizes the oddity somewhat. What comes next does not. Note the disclaiming opening words of the Times caption: “A widely published photograph showed Prince Andrew with his hand around Ms. Giuffre’s waist; he said he had no memory of the occasion. Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. Epstein’s co-conspirator, stood at the right. Credit…Agence France-Presse, via Us District Court — Southern District.” The “Southern District” credit is supposed to indemnify the Times, as is that opening line, as if running the picture of Giuffre getting pawed by the real whore in the shot (the alleged prince) was merely intended to document reality as opposed to give readers a titillating look at her midriffed bellybutton and the man’s paw on her waist, before or after a presumed statutory rape. Not content with that much prurience, the Times decided to run yet one more shot, “Ms. Giuffre in an undated photo that was released in 2021, the year she sued Prince Andrew, accusing him of sexual assault.” That one shows her with a sea-like background, it cuts off at her shoulder, but she’s obviously naked, or if she is wearing anything, the clothes don’t begin to appear, and she is not much older than in the previous “minor” picture. There’s a rule in court that prevents one side or the other from stacking photo after photo in front of the jury, when a single photo can make the point. For example, you can’t show a dead body from 16 different angles when a single angle showing the entry wound might do, especially when your intention is to prejudice the jury. The Times wasn’t worried about that sort of ethic. It stacked. In Giuffre’s obituary. It was exploitative. It was crude. It was one more rape by cheaper means.
—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.
June 2025
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
First Friday Garden Walks at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park
Friday Blue Forum
First Friday in Flagler Beach
Free Family Art Night at Ormond Memorial Art Museum and Gardens
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Flagler Beach All Stars Beach Clean-Up
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Bunnell History Day
Sunshine and Sandals Social at Cornerstone
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy
For the full calendar, go here.
The reason is that words are never enough. The eye sees. The mind knows. The heart feels. But the words do not exist to make us see, or know, or feel what it is like, what actually happens. The words are never right. […] Here in this picture we meet upon a battlefield of the war. It is true that we come late to the battlefield — much later than these boys, who were the first to arrive. The tide has already covered them at least once. The sand has almost buried the leg of one of them, and you can see the dark marking of high water on his helmet. Even so, we are not too late to understand this battlefield. We can see roughly what happened. They were shipped to Australia in 1942, thence to Port Moresby, New Guinea, thence by airplane over the Owen Stanley Mountains. They were set down in the heart of the jungle. Their objective was Buna. They struggled through the nightmare —week after week of Japs lurking in trees and jungle pillboxes, week after week of foxholes and bugs and skin sores and sleepless nights. Then at last Sergeant Bottcher, with a dozen men, broke through to the sea. Bottcher’s Corner, where he held out for days, lies just beyond the coconut palms in the background of this picture. And meanwhile the Japs had been trying to bring up reinforcements in landing barges. Many barges were wrecked on the shore by American airmen, just as the one shown here. But when the Jap soldiers were finally driven back to the sea they hid in these half-sunken barges. And they also constructed hidden machine-gun nests all along the shore.
–From the Life magazine issue of Sept. 20, 1943, reprinted in the Library of America volume on Reporting World War II (vol. 1). See the full article and the picture here.
Ed P says
Has Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) metastasized and mutated? What once was a negative response to Trump appears to have been altered through gain of function. It’s now an epidemic called HATE.
The liberals along with the media are the catalyst that continues to push this mutation toward a pandemic. It can be argued that Trump and his minions are the cause, but if transparent honesty and logic are applied, the origin is not that easily identified.
It’s like Covid. The truth of origin is elusive.
I’m fascinated how this hate has consumed so many. Even the “Boy Scout “, James Comey is afflicted. Ask your self, are you?
Can anyone believe that people actually openly admit that it “might” be justified to assassinate anyone in the Trump orbit. Yikes. Talk about a crisis. Hate is certainly more deadly than Covid 19.
There’s plenty of blame but the reality is that the gullibly stupid among us have fallen for a narrative that has lead them down this rabbit hole. They endorse hate instead of hope or rationally looking for the therapeutics. Reminiscent to chicken pox or measles gathering of the 60s, people are purposefully “catching” the virus.
The country will be just fine, it will not be ruined. The constitution is not being shredded, there is not a constitutional crisis. There is massive change. Nothing more.
The vaccine for this “epidemic” may prove to be the measurable level of economic success that should occur. The only problem might be the time it takes to achieve.
If we were willing to shut down our lives for nearly two years based on faulty science, wear masks that didn’t work, give up our rights having to show vaccine certificates, then a little patience and common sense is needed today. You have the cure within.
The lefts cure could prove to be far worse for future generations then Trump.
Dennis C Rathsam says
TRUMP,S return to the Middle East, shows his skills as a shrewd deal maker. TRUMP,S coming home with trillions of dollars of investments in America. He pushes peace through strength, & prosperity through out the desert. Looks like the Abraham Accord will expand, & Iran will push for a deal. now that TRUMP has them boxed in. Inflation is the lowest in 4 1/2 years { the last time he was commander & chief} Food prices are dropping, gas is down..EGGS!, Bidens $10.oo a doz. Thanks to TRUMP are less than 1/2 now. As TRUMP continues to fix the economy,America is on the verge of something special! He,s on a roll…Making America SAFE again, great again! So all you haters out there, I tip my hat to your ignorance, after being bamboozled by the democrats cover up & lies…Democrates & the fake news press, now has rotten egg on thier face.They LIED to America, they lied to themselves. It will be a long time before America believes any thing they say, and a longer time before they get to sit in the oval office again!
Jim says
Qatar’s plane is a bride. It’s so blatant that it amazes me that MAGA can turn a blind eye yet again. Here is the deal: We take the plane, tear it apart to assure no intelligence gathering devices are on board (that should be cheap), then we start the modifications necessary – such as incorporating fuel in flight capability, top of the line communications gear, defensive countermeasures and whatever else Air Force One contains. Again, should be cheap and only take a month or so to do. Then Trump starts flying around in his new plane. But only for a short while. Then, this plane that the USA has just spent millions of dollars to transform gets shipped to the Trump Library for display.
It that is not a textbook definition of a bride, then what is?
And what does Qatar get? Well, Trump just visited them, giving them world wide credibility. Then there’s the fact that Qatar is building a Trump resort there (just agreed to by the Trump sons…). Oh, and Qatar has been identified as a supporter of Hamas and persecution of Christians, LGBTQ and women. But the president is willing to overlook these minor concerns as long as he gets a new airplane!
MAGA, it must be hard to see what is going on right in front of your eyes and still pledge allegiance to your dictator/oppressor president.
I can’t wait to see how happy you all are when Medicaid, Health services, veterans support, habeas corpus, birthright citizenship and many other services and freedoms we should all expect are gone. But, on the other hand, you guys do have a nice military parade coming up on Dear Leader’s birthday! Somewhere between $45-90M but who cares about government spending, right????
Pierre Tristam says
Trump’s return to the Middle East shows his infatuation with despots and murderers and his lust for bribes at the expense of our ethics and their human rights. Dennis, as always, applauds policy by sewers. The more debased the so-called president’s impulses, the harder he applauds.
Pogo says
@P.T.
The MAGA response you did not name check is far the more pernicious. dcr’s hoootin and hollerin is putrid hee haw; the other is served by a fanatic posing as a man on the street who just happened to come by.
Ed P says
Just a hunch, but what if the jumbo jet in question is not decommissioned at the end of Trump’s term and remains as air force 1 or 2 or 3 for another 40 year run?
Pure hatred clouds perspectives.
Skibum says
Wow, both Ed and Dennis comment as if they are the latest talking heads with soiled clothing to prove just how low onto the ground they can prostrate themselves in front of the felon president while seeking a taxpayer funded federal job in the current administration! Too bad for them that they do not already work for fauxinfotainment nuze or they would likely have already been scooped up by dirty diaper donnie, maybe given titles such as Secretary of Misinformation and Director of Incredulity. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that all of their bluster and praise about the American infidel’s overseas deals and so-called accomplishments didn’t touch on the one thing that the occupier of our WH has been so forthcoming about even before his feet left the ground in Air Force 1… you know, that old, derelict, non-palatial and barely appropriate rattle trap of a plane that OMG doesn’t even have the decency to include a gold toilet seat like all of the orange faced buffoon’s commodes in drumph tower! How in the world do Americans expect the wide bodied president to fit his big ass around the rim of a mere mortal’s common toilet seat, especially one that was used previously and actually had the rear end of Barak Obama, a BLACK man, sitting on that thing. Disgraceful from the perspective of someone so high and mighty like drumph, who is used to making the very first overseas trips of his two presidencies to places like Saudi Arabia where he can sit and have tea with Saudi crown prince MBS, a murderous dictator just like what drumph has ALWAYS dreamed of becoming. Congratulations Ed and Dennis, you don’t have to keep talking about all of drumph’s most empty headed sycophants, you are well on your way to joining them.
The dude says
Ed seems pretty into it as well…
The orange sh!t stain certainly has the over 70 crowd in his thrall.
Meanwhile today the orange sh!t stain threatens to significantly raise taxes on American consumers unless 150 countries make fast “deals”…
This is just not the flex he believes it to be.
BillC says
Trump is a cancerous lesion on the Constitution. MAGA thinks it is a beauty mark.
Pierre Tristam says
Abject toadiness based in fantasy slimes reasonable discussions based on known facts.
Laurel says
Dennis and Ed: No, no, no. We don’t hate Trump, we hate what he does, says and represents. He talks on a level that would have first graders shake their heads. He is a supreme grifter, I’ll give him that. He blatantly kissed the ass of a man who ordered the murder of an American journalist, had his body disassembled, stuffed in suit cases and disposed of. What’s not to like, right? The fact that people find hope in that is stunning to the rest of us, but if that’s what you like…enjoy.
Meanwhile, take a little pain while he gets his gold plated toys.
Ray W, says
According to CNBC, representatives of twenty-one member nations to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, including from the United States, met yesterday in South Korea to discuss collective growth strategies amid tariff tensions and policy uncertainty.
The entity forecasts growth in 2025 to drop from 2024’s 3.6% to 2.6%.
The director of APEC’s Policy Support Unit, Carlos Kuriyama, said:
“From tariff hikes and retaliatory measures to the suspension of trade facilitation procedures and the proliferation of non-tariff trade barriers, we are witnessing an environment that is not conducive to trade.” He added his belief that firms have begun to delay both investment decisions and new product launches in hopes that predictability returns to the international marketplace.
According to the reporter’s interpretation of Mr. Kuriyama’s descriptions, “restoring confidence in trade requires not only easing tensions, but also actions such as strengthening supply chains resilience and improving transparency of trade rules and procedures.”
“World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonzo-Iweala urged that “there should be dialogue with the U.S. to find out why did we get where we are and what can we do about it.”
Referring to U.S.-China tensions, Ms. Okonzo-Iweala added:
“[I]f the world breaks up into two global trading blocks, we could lose 7% in global GDP in the longer term.”
Make of this what you will.
Ray W, says
Global Data headlines an article about rising sales levels of EVs thus: Global EV sales to exceed 20 million in 2025 – EIA report
Here are some bullet points from the article:
– What with global average prices for battery electric cars dropping, two-thirds of EVs sold in China now cost less than their gas-powered counterparts, not counting purchase incentives.
– Across many markets, home charging an EV costs roughly half as much as operating a gas-powered car, even if potential oil prices were to drop.
– According to EIA executive director Fatih Birol:
“Our data shows that, despite significant uncertainties, electric cars remain on a strong growth trajectory globally. Sales continue to set new records, with major implications for the international auto industry. This year, we expect more than one in four cars sold worldwide to be electric, with growth accelerating in many emerging economies. By the end of this decade, it is set to be more than two in five cars as EVs become increasingly affordable.”
– Sales of electric trucks increased by 80% in 2024, comprising 2% of global truck sales.
– With diminishing subsidies and supportive policies, European EV market share stagnated at 20%.
– U.S. EV sales rose by 10% in 2024, passing the 10% market share threshold.
– Emerging Asian and Latin American markets saw a 60% rise in EV sales.
– Chinese EVs captured almost half of all sales last year.
– Global EV sales rose to 17 million units in 2024.
– The first quarter of 2025 yielded and 35% year-on-year increase in EV sales.
– By 2030, EV sales are projected to capture 40% of the overall market share.
Make of this what you will.
Ray W, says
Per AUTOPOST, GM announced the recall of 721,000 6.2-liter V-8 engines built between 2021 and 2024, after receiving 14,332 complaints of power loss, in part due to connecting rod and/or crankshaft failures in “key full-size SUVs and pickup trucks, …” Reports of twelve accidents and twelve injuries support the seriousness of the issue.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
One lesser discussed issue in media coverage of personal transportation is the potential stranding of drivers and passengers on roadways should a gas-powered engine fail.
Diesel-electric locomotives are exposed to the same type of risk of stranding should an engine fail. In anticipation of a potential locomotive diesel engine failure, a sufficient battery reserve capacity is designed into the locomotive structure to provide power to move the train for 30-40 miles after an engine failure, according to my younger son, who long worked for BNSF as a train dispatcher. A stranded train blocks all rail traffic until it is repaired or removed, unless it can power itself via its electric motors and battery reserve to a cutoff that gets the entire train off the main rail line should the engine fail.
In a similar manner, many EVs with dual motors are less likely to strand persons on a roadway if one of the motors fails, because the second motor can still power the vehicle. The latest EV battery designs pose far fewer chances of overall battery failure, as newer-style battery packs isolate individual cells from one another. Early versions of EV battery packs could suffer massive loss of battery power if as few as one cell among thousands of cells failed. Not anymore.
FlaPharmTech says
Dennis, I mistakenly liked your comment. I take it back twofold, you dithering dud. I’m reaching out to my community and of course flaglerlive. My husband is a disabled veteran who has been treated at the year old Daytona Beach VA. He has placed several calls to schedule an appointment in the last 10 days, no response. We assume their staff has been reduced due to dear leader’s abject lack of leadership. Anybody have info? Thank you in advance.
Sherry says
The Latest From Robert Reich:
Friends,
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, says Trump’s tariffs are “too high” and it will have to raise prices because of them.
“Given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week … the higher tariffs will result in higher prices,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said yesterday.
Walmart is the largest retailer in the United States. It has huge buying power and supply-chain options. If Walmart can’t keep prices down, don’t count on any anyone else doing so.
Trump must be livid. A few weeks ago he chewed out Jeff Bezos after Amazon considered displaying the added cost of tariffs on some items. Trump’s press secretary called Bezos’s plan a “hostile and political act.” So Bezos — sycophant that he is — backed down.
Last week, after toymaker Mattel said it would raise prices because of the Trump tariffs, Trump — appearing to regard Mattel as a nation — said “they’re the only country I’ve heard” that’s done such a thing, and he threatened to levy a 100 percent tariff on it.
But Walmart has just said out loud what every other seller in America, including Amazon and Mattel, clearly knows: As their costs rise because of the Trump tariffs, their prices to consumers will rise, too.
Expect those price hikes to begin later in May and increase much further in June.
The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey, released today, showed the second-lowest level on record — down almost 30 percent since the start of the year, right before Trump took office.
Nearly three-fourths of respondents — including a notable share of Republicans — mentioned tariffs.
Funny, 30 percent is almost as much as Trump’s poll numbers have dropped since he took office.
I expect that by June 14 — when many of us will be demonstrating against Trump’s usurpation of our democracy — prices will be soaring and his polls will be in the tanking even further. Perhaps enough to give Republican lawmakers some spine.
So maybe “No Kings” Day should also be “No Trump Tariffs” Day?
Sherry says
OK the insane, despicable Maga extreme right cries TDS, TDS tio excuse absolutely everything trump is doing to destroy our entire country and Democracy!
Me, I’m posting a new cry from those who still live in “fact based” reality . . . how about “TSS”. . . also soon to be know as “Trump Sycophant Syndrome”! It’s all about those who are radicalized into the brainwashed Maga Cult where their lord and master trump can absolutely murder, in cold blood, any person of color on 5th Ave and be celebrated as the perfect “Emperor”!
I know several immoral radicalized people who are Maga trolls. They comment here all the time. . . they suffer from “TSS”!
PDE says
Skibum and Pogo nailed both Ed P. and DCR to the wall……………very well said.
Ed P. is much more dangerous than DCR, because most people here know DCR is just an ignorant idiot who can’t think, spell or punctuate to save his miserable life.
If I didn’t know better (and maybe I don’t) Ed P. is like a republican operative disguised as a commentator tasked with making the disaster known as trump seem normal and pretending that our nation isn’t in mortal danger.
Glad to know I’m not alone in my thinking.
Some years ago, I seem to remember reading about a republican effort to recruit loyal sycophants to pose as commentators in a grass roots effort to sway public opinion on local message boards and have it spread nationwide.
PDE says
Correction: I should have used spell check before posting my most recent comment.
So, just for the record, it’s “sycophants” and “spread”
Ed P says
Based on my fan club’s responses, common sense has been suspended.
Who doesn’t understand Peace through Strength? Yet can’t conceive Peace through Economic prosperity. Couple these concepts together and it could prove to be the missing puzzle piece.
Or do any of you have a better strategy?
Reminiscent of a child who refuses to try a different food.
Your pontificated wisdom stalled out at name calling.
Ed P says
The only danger is the resistance of not being analytical, open minded, with the ability to think outside of the box. One’s inability to endorse change and think for themselves stunts their edification. Lockstep thinking is easy, comfortable, but dangerous.
To hold grudges or ideological positions that create insurmountable obstacles beyond common sense will never allow for the changes necessary for world peace. Religious wars are an example. Even Japan has figured out how to get over the nuclear bomb hurdles, similar to our forefathers willingness to Unite after the civil war.
I simply understand that economic successes could ameliorate a multitude of bruised feelings and egos.
Status quo from hack politicians brought us here. Ask yourself how their skill set would provide any solutions.
PS PDE Is everyone dangerous who doesn’t see you way?
Laurel says
I’m not a Christian, so maybe one of you Trumpers can tell me if “peace through strength” is what Jesus called for? So many Trump supporters wear crosses so I thought one of you might know. Do tell.
Laurel says
Y’all know the flying palace is 14 years old, right? Well, the nine bathrooms will come in handy for the Department of Defense.
Ed P says
Our first US President, George Washington stated in his fifth annual message to Congress, the 1793 State of the Union Address.
There is a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most important instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.
Maybe there aren’t any original ideas because he recognized that prosperity and strength were intertwined.
He also believed political parties would be divisive and harm the nation.
He was, and remains our only President never to be formally affiliated with a party.
Skibum says
Ed P, in answer to your question “Who doesn’t understand Peace through Strength?” you only have to understand that our current occupier of the WH would agree with you except I believe his reading of that phrase has a slightly different spelling. To DJT, it is more like “Piece through strength” because he is nothing but a bully who takes from others piece by piece, having a misguided and immoral mindset that has guided his entire life thus far. To a bully like him, force = strength, and compromise = weakness. He never wants to be perceived as weak. Unfortunately for him and others who worship him, his bullying IS in fact one of the most obvious signs of weakness. Sorry dude, but you picked the wrong, and I might add abject failure of humanity, to worship as some misguided perception of what “strength” actually is. But you go right ahead and continue on doing you, while we marvel at your unique take on what is happening in the world.
Laurel says
“They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” – Trump
Common sense has indeed been suspended. After all, “Puerto Rico is surrounded by water. Big water.” – Trump.
Is it not?
Killing, and dissevering Jamal Khashoggi is just business, right? Is that thinking outside the box? I suppose in a psychopathic sort of way. Speaking about the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Trump stated “He’s your greatest representative, greatest representative. And if I didn’t like him, I’d get out of here so fast. You know that, don’t you? He knows me well. I do — I like him a lot. I like him too much. That’s why we give so much, you know? Too much. I like you too much.” “Oh, what I do for the crown prince.”
Ed P says
Skibum,
The right didn’t have to pick Trump, the left allowed him to be elected. The Biden/Harris/Walz ticket is to blame.
Accepting of Trumps leadership is far different than worshipping.
His unorthodox view of governing is more closely aligned other world leaders than you are willing to admit. You see him as a bully, the world’s view is different.
Our broken political system brought us here, neither party was able to correct course. Trump just happened to be the “vessel “ (person) at the right place at the right time. Would we have taken a more radical left turn if the Dems had not squashed Bernie Sanders in 2016?
Stop blaming the right and look in the mirror. Until the left reconnects with common sense, more change is ahead.
If a fraction of this sea change proves to reignite the American dream, the Democratic leadership will be shut out for a few cycles.
Acceptance and patience waiting for your time is not surrender. Dems need to go back to work for the people.
Laurel says
What world leaders saw, along with the American public, was the President of the United States, stand behind the podium and pretend to give the microphone a blow job. I think he has evaded common sense completely.
He is mocking our country, and making us look like fools.