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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.
May 2025
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Friday Blue Forum
A Night at the Museum
Hang 8 Dog Surfing Competition in Flagler Beach
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Democratic Women’s Club
Flagler County Public Library Book and Bake Sale
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Spring Arts Festival
Swing Through the Years Dinner Dance Benefit for St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Random Acts of Insanity’s Roundup of Standups from Around Central Florida
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Troop 472 Summer Camp Car Show and Fundraiser
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
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.