To include your event in the Briefing and Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Weather: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Sunny and hot, with a high near 95. Friday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 8pm. Mostly clear, with a low around 77.
- 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. See previous podcasts here. On WNZF at 94.9 FM, 1550 AM, and live at Flagler Broadcasting’s YouTube channel.
First Friday Garden Walks at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, 6400 North Oceanshore Blvd., Palm Coast, 10 a.m. Join a Ranger the First Friday of every month for a garden walk. Learn about the history of Washington Oaks while exploring the formal gardens. The walk is approximately one hour. No registration required. Walk included with park entry fee. Participants meet in the Garden parking lot. The event is free with paid admission fee to the state park: $5 per vehicle. (Limit 2-8 people per vehicle) $4 per single-occupant vehicle. Call (386) 446-6783 for more information or by email: [email protected].
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.
Notably: In Andrew Roberts’s hagiographic 2014 biography of Napoleon–a pre-Trumpian orgy of admiration and justifications for the Corsican dictator–Roberts gives us one of those toadying bits about Napoleon’s intellect, after he is elected to the Institut de France: “Napoleon was a bona fide intellectual, and not just an intellectual among generals. He had read and annotated many of the most profound books of the Western canon; was a connoisseur, critic and even amateur theorist of dramatic tragedy and music; championed science and socialized with astronomers; enjoyed conducting long theological discussions with bishops and cardinals; and he went nowhere without his large, well-thumbed travelling library.” The question is: so what? What has intellect to do with morals, justice, ethics? This line from Anthony Burgess’s 1985 occurs to me: “A commandant who had supervised the killing of thousands of Jews went home to hear his daughter play a Schubert sonata and cried with holy joy… the good of music has nothing to do with ethics.” Or this one from Omar el Akkad: “The man who put the bullet in the little girl’s head might return to coach Little League games. The patrol that opened fire on the starving civilians might meet up every now and then for karaoke nights.” Or this from Dostoevsky’s “Eternal Husband,” the 1970 short story: “The most monstrous of monsters is he who has noble feelings.” Aesthetics is not ethics. Aesthetics can and I think is as often as not is a mask for ethics, the way clubbish aristocrats use manners as an exclusionary tool–the way, incidentally, the right-wing mobocracy tore into Justice Jackson after she used a few colloquialisms in her recent dissents. “Is there a real connection between man’s soul, his higher sensibilities, and his artistic ability?” the historian Hendrick van Loon asked in his history of the arts. His answer was a stark No.
—P.T.
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.
August 2025
Flagler County Drug Court Convenes
Story Time for Preschoolers at Flagler Beach Public Library
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Town Center
In Court: Whitfield v. Flagler County
Flagler County Industrial Development Authority Meeting
‘Let’s Talk Palm Coast’ Town Halls with Council Members
Palm Coast Democratic Club Recap Meeting
Town of Marineland Commission Meeting
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
For the full calendar, go here.
“I subscribe to Consumer Reports and as a consequence I own a first-class television set, an all but silent air conditioner and a very long lasting deodorant. My armpits never stink.”
–From Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer (1961).
Pogo says
@Slouching toward Trumpmorrah
… with only a copy of Project 2025 in its pockets, Russell Vought’s finger in its ass — and song in its heart:
Little House in Bethlehem
https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+new+ballroom
Laurel says
“necessary renovation”
The White House now has to try and keep up with Trump’s enormous ego. All the “patriotic donors'” names will surely be etched on plaques for We the People to enjoy from a distance.
Brian says
Funny, we never saw any political cartoons of the last press secretary Buckwheat, with the toilet-bowl-cleaner head – now there’s a true cartoon character!
James says
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/official-trump/
Cashier — “That’s one loaf of whole wheat bread, a dozen eggs, three bags of dry beans, two bottles of tomato sauce and two bananas.
That’ll come to two Stallones, three Eastwood’s, one Schwarzenegger, a Bronson and five Washington’s… Denzel Washington… we no longer accept any of that old “funny money.”
Grocery shopper — “Here ya go… two Stones, an Ozzy, a Presley, two Berry’s, and one Santana.
Cashier — “Fine… here ya go, your change and receipt. Thanks for your patronage. Next.
Grocery shopper — “Wait, there must be some mistake, two Pat Boone’s and a Jimmy Buffett?”
Cashier — “Oh yeah, we only accept actor meme coin… all other memes are subject to the prevailing exchange rate… in addition to the usual transaction fee of course. Next.”
Grocery shopper (walking out) — “Wow, two Pat Boone’s and Buffett? I guess I’ll really have to start clipping those ABBA coupons.”
James says
Btw, I should note that “meme” coins are not really to be confused with a crypto currency… namely Bitcoin.
Which in my opinion isn’t actually a currency, but more of a decentralized credit/debit card.
One of the oldest (but best, in my opinion) books that attempted to explain Bitcoin and the then new blockchain technology was “Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain,” by Andreas M. Antonopoulos.
Just a clarification.
Some twisted leadership says
There was a group in the 1920s and 30s that did eerily similar things . Ultimately millions died because of it. Enjoy the forced recession!!
James says
To put it as succinctly as possible… Bitcoin is what “miners” receive for processing (settling) transactions made by consumers… who by the way are charged a fee for using “Bitcoin.”
Which is somewhat different than traditional credit cards whose fee is charged to the business.
When you trade Bitcoin, you’re trading in a sort of derivative that miners sell to recoup their input costs in the settlement process… electric power, machine maintenance, etc.
That’s Bitcoin as I understood it from the Antonopoulos book.
To be honest, I was very intrigued by the concept a few years back… but then I heard about Florida getting “all in,” and I decided to remain “all out.”
Just-a-relay’n my personal opinion… read the literature and decide for yourself.
Ray W, says
Here are a few bullet points from today’s Wall Street Journal story on Chevron and Exxon profits for the second quarter of 2025.
– Exxon’s second quarter earnings fell 23% from the 2024 second quarter to $7.1 billion. Per share earnings of $1.64 beat earnings expectations of $1.56 per share. Exxon is on track this year to buy back $20 billion-worth of its shares and to send $9.2 billion in dividends and past share repurchases to its shareholders.
– Chevron’s second quarter earnings are down 44% from the same quarter of 2024. Its per-share earnings of $1.45 came in below expectations of $1.64 earnings per share.
– Chevron has benefitted from a number of positive outcomes across its operations. First, it prevailed in arbitration over Exxon for the right to purchase Hess’s share of the multi-corporation development of oil exploration of the coast of Guyana. Second, exploration efforts in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Kazakhstan are coming online. Third, “free cash flow” rose by 15% to $4.9 billion from the first quarter of 2025, even as oil prices dropped by 10%.
– Despite recent Trump-administration policy rollbacks of greenhouse gas emission regulations, Exxon’s CEO, Darren Woods, announced Exxon’s intent to continue to lessen emissions: “We’re very aggressively pursuing management of those emissions. That doesn’t change with the political party in office.”
– But the biggest bullet point is that Exxon possesses the resources to look for further mergers and acquisitions. In 2023, Exxon spent some $60 billion to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources, a Permian Basin “fracking giant.” Said Wood to the Journal reporter: “I think there are opportunities out there for us. … We’re working to see if we can’t bring some of those to fruition.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Pioneer Natural Resources was but one of some eight American energy companies under investigation by the FTC for possible collusion with OPEC+, i.e., the company intended to limit exploration for additional sources of crude oil after OPEC+ voted to reduce its extraction of crude oil. International crude oil prices skyrocketed to over $120 per barrel for a short time. A number of American oil company executed went on record to say that they were not going to extract more oil despite the shortages caused by OPEC+. One American CEO said he didn’t care if crude oil hit $200 per barrel; his company was going to stick to its plan of limiting output of oil.
If the FTC allegation is true (the FTC did sanction one American energy company and it referred that company’s CEO to the Justice Department for possible prosecution on a charge of collusion), then it stands to reason that the many billions in profits “earned” by colluding American energy companies came from the wallets of FlaglerLive readers as gas prices at the pump broke $4.00 per gallon. If true, FlaglerLive readers were gouged by OPEC+ and by those one, several, or eight colluding American shale oil companies.
Ray W, says
Oil company executives, not oil company executed. Flying fingers yet again. I need an editor.
Ray W, says
I looked for and located an unsigned 2024 FTC complaint on the issue of whether Pioneer Natural Resources Company colluded with OPEC+ in an effort to manipulate internation crude oil prices for corporate profit.
The FTC described in its “NATURE OF THE CASE” section of the complaint an allegation that Pioneer founder and CEO, Scott Sheffield, “campaigned to organize anticompetitive coordinated output reductions between and among U.S. crude oil producers, and others, including the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (“OPEC”), and a related cartel of other oil-producing countries known as OPEC+. Mr. Sheffield’s communications were designed to pad Pioneer’s bottom line — as well as those of oil companies in OPEC and OPEC+ member states — at the expense of U.S. households and businesses.”
In the body of the FTC allegation was listed a number of public statements made by Mr. Sheffield, as follows.
Section 27: “One move in Mr. Sheffield’s playbook has involved publicly threatening U.S. shale producers who might deviate from a coordinated output reduction scheme. For example, in 2021, Mr. Sheffield said ‘Everybody’s going to be disciplined, regardless of whether it’s $75 Brent, $80 Brent, or $100 Brent.’ He added that ‘All the shareholders that I’ve talked to said that if anybody goes back to growth, they will punish those companies.”
Section 29: “In a 2022 interview, Mr. Sheffield commented, ‘[i]n regard to the industry, it’s been interesting watching some of the announcements so far, the public independents are staying in line … I’m confident they will continue to stay in line.'”
Section 30: “In fact, as recently as April 16, 2024, Mr. Sheffield said at a conference: ‘Even if oil gets to $200/bl, the independent producers are going to be disciplined.'”
Section 32: “In discussing his efforts to coordinate the Texas producers under a mandated RRC [Texas Railroad Commission] production cut, Mr. Sheffield said ‘If Texas leads the way, maybe we can get OPEC to cut production. Maybe Saudi and Russia will follow. That was our plan.’ He added: ‘I was using the tactics of OPEC+ to get a bigger OPEC+ done.'”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Intent is a difficult thing to prove. But if the FTC allegations and factual summaries are sufficient to prove that American oil producers colluded to keep American supply of oil output below demand for it, then can it be argued with intellectual rigor that anyone who posted a sticker on a gasoline pump blaming the Biden administration for rising gasoline prices was a lie launderer? And can it be argued with intellectual rigor that any FlaglerLive commenter who blamed the Biden administration for the rising gasoline prices at the pump was equally a lie launderer?
I have commented of this bef0re, but it bears repetition.
There is a pestilence of lie laundering upon the land.
Those FlaglerLive commenters who work to further the spread of that pestilence are attempting to lower the bar on what constitutes moral turpitude in the FlaglerLive community. To such pestilence spreaders, lie laundering should be considered a virtue worthy of accolade and admiration.
But lie laundering is not worthy of accolade, no matter what the lie launderers write, it will always be a pestilence.
As an aside, it is being reported that President Trump has ordered the firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the agency issued today’s report that lowered the number of May and June paychecks created.
If the report is true, can it be inferred that any replacement leader of the Bureau of Labor Statistics might no longer insist on the mathematical accuracy on future reports?
Is it reasonable, then, to also presume that any issuance of a report by any statistics-based agency that our president might not like will now be enough to fire anyone for reporting with mathematical accuracy what is actually going on in our economy?
Will American lose the decades-long high level of trust and admiration by foreign leaders and foreign economists in the accuracy of America’s economic data?
Who among us can legitimately place full trust in any statistical analysis provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or any other government agency, starting today?
Pogo says
@Trump’s role models set frightening example
… don’t think the pernicious brain trust with its hand up Trump’s ass (animating the sphincter he uses to speak, eat, and guzzle with) aren’t raptly attending, and receiving all manner of instruction — and inspiration:
Putin Passes New Law That Even His Own Circle Is Alarmed About
Story by Kathrine Frich
“… Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that penalizes individuals for searching online content deemed “extremist” by the state…”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-passes-new-law-that-even-his-own-circle-is-alarmed-about/ss-AA1JHNZa?ocid=nl_article_link#image=2
Ray W, says
During a ProPetro earnings conference call, the company’s CEO, Sam Sledge, told investors that ProPetro expects to continue to employ only 10 to 11 fracking crews in its Permian Basin properties, and that the company might further cut the number of crews during this year’s Q4. This announcement came after the company reported a second quarter loss and a 9% decline in year-over-year revenues, down to $326 million. ProPetro anticipates another 9% reduction in capital spending for fiscal year 2025.
Sledge also said:
“The completions market in the Permian Basin continues to face challenges. … Increased market uncertainty driven by tariffs and rising OPEC+ production has resulted in more idle capacity than anticipated.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Idle capacity! Incompletions market! Tariffs!
Is it reasonable to argue that American shale patch oil companies issued their 2025 drilling plans prior to OPEC announcing in March that its member nations had voted to add over time 2.2 million more barrels per day in oil output?
Is it reasonable to argue that tariffs affect economies all over the world? That tariffs increase economic volatility. That tariffs can reduce overall demand for crude oil.
Is it reasonable to argue that with OPEC steadily ramping up oil output it might mean that American companies which have already contracted to drill new oil wells will continue to drill the wells, but they might not file the necessary notices of completion with the Texas Railroad Commission to actually extract any oil?
It makes sense to me that a drilled well that is not filed with the state regulatory agency as complete means that the oil to be extracted from the well will continue to sit in the ground as it has for forever and a day; it won’t be extracted until market prices rise enough for the company to decide to make the final effort profitable!
As a child, whenever I vacationed with my family throughout Louisiana and Texas or Arkansas and Oklahoma, if the derricks were pumping in town after town, my father would tell us that the American economy was strong. When the pumps were still, he would say the American economy is weak. An already drilled well does not have to produce oil. When oil prices drop, well owners simply turn off the well motors, awaiting a rise in prices.
If this is true, and I assert that a market-based economy works in this way so as to maximize profits, then oil companies are not going to Drill! Baby! Drill! until the price is right, regardless of presidential promises.
So, I checked with AAA to learn yesterday’s national average gasoline price at the pump: Just under $3.15 per gallon. That price point remains slightly above the $3.12 per gallon that it was at on January 20, 2025.
Perhaps there is still time for President Trump to achieve his promised 50% reduction in gas prices after one year, all the way down to an average of $1.56 per gallon at the pump.
Perhaps not.
I can’t tell the future more than anyone else, that is anyone else other than Dennis C. Rathsam; he knows the future and it is glorious.
But if the past six months offers any semblance of guidance, American oil companies are not going to produce more oil if it means lower prices and lower profits. Something tells me that American oil companies do not like today’s crude oil prices. Why would they drill for more oil if it means even lower profits?
Ray W, says
A number of months ago, I commented on a new method of extracting lithium from lithium brine.
The Cool Down recently added to information about the new extraction method.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, in concert with University of Chicago researchers, created a “vermiculite” membrane that more efficiently separates lithium from brine, a process that can lower the price of EV batteries and reduce reliance on lithium sourced from foreign countries.
Vermiculite is an inexpensive and abundant form of clay that sells for $350 per ton.
Researchers found a way to separate layers of vermiculite and reassemble the layers into a porous membrane that captures lithium ions from the brine while removing magnesium, sodium, and potassium.
Said one of the researchers: “Filtering by both ion size and charge, our membrane can pull lithium out of water with much greater efficiency. … Such a membrane could reduce our dependence on foreign suppliers and open the door to new lithium reserves in places we never considered.”
Other vermiculite membrane usages include the recovery of cobalt, nickel, and rare earth metals. The membrane can also filter out toxic pollutants from water supplies.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Recent government explorations led to the discovery of a huge lithium brine deposit deep underground in a basin stretching from southern Arkansas to eastern Texas to western Florida. Perhaps the new membrane can be used to solve our nation’s reliance on foreign sources of lithium.
Who says government does not create jobs!
Sherry says
Straight out of Orwell’s 1984. . . rewrite history:
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History last month removed a board that referenced President Donald Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibit on the American presidency.
In a statement to CNN on Thursday, The Smithsonian Institution said the decision, which was first reported by The Washington Post, was made after a review of the museum’s “legacy content” this year.
Unmentioned in the statement was Trump’s executive order earlier this year that appeared crafted to direct the Smithsonian to soften or distort forthright discussions about certain aspects of American history, which could include the legacy of racism in the United States and parts of Trump’s own history-making but controversial first term.
The exhibit had last been updated in 2008 and included information about the impeachments of Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, and the impeachment process against President Richard Nixon, who resigned over the Watergate scandal before he could be formally impeached.
Laurel says
You know who got rid of Nixon? The Republicans did! That’s how much the GOP has changed since that time. It has become unrecognizable.
Jonathan Capeheart resigned his position with the Washington Post as Jeff Bezos was trying to control what he said about Trump. CBS will now have a “monitor” who will report back to Trump. Trump sued ABC , and is now suing Rupert Murdoch, of Fox. Trump is now badmouthing NBC.
For the love of daddy, Republicans are turning their backs on the Constitution, and Freedom of the Press.
Shameful times.
Laurel says
“If the report is true, can it be inferred that any replacement leader of the Bureau of Labor Statistics might no longer insist on the mathematical accuracy on future reports?”
Yeah. For me, the intent is clear. I am actually surprised Trump waited this long. I believe that anyone, who puts forward facts that are not in line with what Trump wants to project, that person will be canned. That’s a given. That’s already been established.
I know, as an attorney, you have to leave each question open until it’s been answered with hard facts. That makes perfect sense. But for me, self preservation, I believe the gut is necessary. Any police officer, who teaches self defense, will tell you to listen to your gut. It’s a real thing. When Trump stated “grab ’em by the pussy,” that was bad, but not the end. When he mocked a reporter with palsy, for me, it was over and no way to turn back.
If it walks like a duck…