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Weather: Sunny, with a high near 78. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 64.
- 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:
Drug Court convenes before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols at 10 a.m. in Courtroom 401 at the Flagler County courthouse, Kim C. Hammond Justice Center 1769 E Moody Blvd, Bldg 1, Bunnell. Drug Court is open to the public. See the Drug Court handbook here and the participation agreement here.
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 105 South 2nd Street in Flagler Beach. Watch the meeting at the city’s YouTube channel here. Access meeting agenda and materials here. See a list of commission members and their email addresses here.
The Palm Coast Charter Review Committee is hosting one of four community engagement meetings at 6 p.m. at City Hall in Palm Coast, to hear public input on the review and potential amendments to the Palm Coast Charter, the document that is the equivalent of a constitution, but for the city. The committee is reviewing the document at the City Council’s request, and will potentially submit a list of amendments by the end of March, which the council will in turn review. It’ll be up to the council to decide which amendments appear on the 2026 November election ballot. The committee will host four such community engagement meetings, one in each of the city’s districts.
See:
- Nervous About Timeline, Palm Coast Council Agrees to Accelerate Schedule of Charter Review Meetings
- In a Surprise, Committee Plans Full Rewrite of Palm Coast Charter, Not Just Amendments. Council May Differ.
- Palm Coast Council’s Five Charter Review Picks Reflect Politics and Experience, Not Diversity
- Charter Review Committee’s 5 Slots Draw 27 Applicants With Variety of Backgrounds Except in Age
Flagler Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry: Flagler Beach United Methodist Church‘s food pantry is open today from 9:30 a.m. to noon at 1500 S. Daytona Ave, Flagler Beach. The church’s mission is to provide nourishment and support in a welcoming, respectful environment. To find us, please turn at the corner of 15 Street and S. Daytona Ave, pull into the grass parking area and enter the green door.
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Central Park, from noon to 2 p.m. in Central Park in Town Center, 975 Central Ave. Join Bill Wells, Bob Rupp and other members of the Palm Coast Model Yacht Club, watch them race or join the races with your own model yacht. No dues to join the club, which meets at the pond in Central Park every Thursday.
Palm Coast Concert Series, 6 to 8 p.m. at the Stage at Town Center, 1500 Central Avenue. This free community event brings everyone together to create lasting memories while showcasing local bands. Tonight: Chillula + Biz & Brews/Prospeity 2035 Economic Development pop-up events.
Thornton Wilder’s ‘Our Town,’ at Limelight Theatre in St. Augustine, 11 Old Mission Avenue, St. Augustine. 7:30 p.m. most days, with matinees on Sundays, at 2 p.m., and on Nov. 15. Thornton Wilder’s timeless masterpiece chat quietly and powerfully explores life, love, and loss in small-town America. A deeply human story that resonates with every audience.
Notably: From Statista: The number of political protests held during Trump’s first nine months in office this year have more than tripled compared to the same period in his first term. Data collected and analyzed by Harvard University and University of Connecticut, titled the Crowd Counting Consortium, reveals that there had been 29,138 political protests as of September 30, 2025, compared to just 8,314 on September 30, 2024. The organization includes a wide range of protest types within its scope including, but not limited to, rallies, counter protests, marches, civil disobedience, vigils, student-led walkouts, encampments and banner drops. These cover a range of issues, from calls for a ceasefire in Gaza to justice for police brutality. Saturday October 18 saw anti-Trump protests across the United States, under the “No Kings” movement. The Crowd Counting Consortium is yet to add the data for the total number of protests and events held across the country on that day. However, according to G. Elliott Morris of Strength in Numbers, the median estimate for protester figures, based on local officials, protest organizers and attendees, stands at 5.2 million. According to the Harvard data platform, as of September 30, the biggest day for protests in 2025 was June 14. Coinciding with Trump’s birthday, this was when the first nation-wide No Kings rallies were held, with a total of 2,363 protests counted in one day. The next biggest day for protests was April 5, when the Hands Off wave of demonstrations took place. These were also against the Trump administration’s policies, including decrying newly imposed global tariffs, cuts to government agencies and the federal workforce, as well as broader concerns such as democratic backsliding. In 2017, the biggest day of protests was January 21, which was one day after Trump entered office for the first time and marked the Women’s March.
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.
November 2025
Flagler County Library Board of Trustees
Flagler County’s Cold-Weather Shelter Opens
Nar-Anon Family Group
Bunnell City Commission Meeting
Flagler Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry
Joint Veterans Day Ceremony and Parade
Flagler Beach Library Book Club
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy
River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee Meeting
Separation Chat: Open Discussion
The Circle of Light A Course in Miracles Study Group
For the full calendar, go here.
The Crucible was an act of desperation. Much of my desperation branched out, I suppose, from a typical Depression-era trauma — the blow struck on the mind by the rise of European Fascism and the brutal anti-Semitism it had brought to power. But by 1950, when I began to think of writing about the hunt for Reds in America, I was motivated in some great part by the paralysis that had set in among many liberals who, despite their discomfort with the inquisitors’ violations of civil rights, were fearful, and with good reason, of being identified as covrt Communists if they should protest too strongly.
–Arthur Miller in The New Yorker, Oct. 21, 1996.
Pogo says
@The tree
… the cartoon fell from:
In the beginning
https://www.newarab.com/
Related
https://www.google.com/search?q=who+owns+hamas+media+organs
Here’s hope — that this isn’t misplaced.
Ed P says
Cook County Illinois, including Chicago has endured a violent crime crisis for decades. Tragically, over 1000 lives are lost annually to shootings and homicides in this region.
In 2023, Chicago recorded nearly 800 homicides, contributing to a broader Cook County total that surpassed 1000 violent deaths. These staggering numbers reflect a persistent failure of local leaders to keep the residents safe.
Many residents in high crime neighborhoods are trapped by economic hardships, subsidized housing policies, and welfare rules that limit their ability to escape. This immobility means thousands of good families are trapped and live in daily fear. The welfare system doesn’t allow for or always provide for upward mobility either.
Given these realities, it’s the solemn responsibility of the political leaders to ensure the safety and security of all citizens. When local law enforcement resources are overwhelmed, a 30 day temporary deployment of the National Guard is a rational and necessary step to reduce violence, protect lives, and provide critical support to the police forces.
Refusing this assistance is not just a political calculation; it’s a profound ethical and moral failure.
Thousands of preventable deaths will/are occurring because of political ideologies. It raises a grave question for me.
Are the Mayor and Governor allowing fear of a Republican win- or even the optics of appearing to accept help from Trump- to outweigh the urgent need to save black lives and the lives of all Chicagoans? It appears so.
Public safety must transcend political ideology. This is not a bargaining chip in a political game. To put politics ahead of human lives is a betrayal of their duties.
A 30 day Guard deployment is not tyranny, it’s emergency aid. Continuing to treat this crisis as anything else will cost lives.
In closing, what exactly is the rationale behind the resistance to provide relief and protection to the community?
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
@Ed P
Not good to inflate numbers or embellish “decades” of violence. Simple Google search can give you numbers.
Google AI
Based on preliminary Chicago Police Department data, there were
617 homicides in Chicago during 2023. The final number, according to a Wikipedia entry referencing CPD data, was slightly higher at 621.
Other key figures related to homicides in Chicago in 2023 include:
This was a significant drop from the 709 murders recorded in 2022.
Detectives cleared 319 homicides, leading to a 51.70% clearance rate, the highest since 2019.
The murder rate per 100,000 people was approximately 23.0
Google AI
Cook County had either 805 or 828 homicides in 2023, according to different data sources
. The precise number can be difficult to pinpoint due to varying reporting methods and sources.
Here is a breakdown of the reported numbers for 2023:
805 homicides: USAFacts reported that Cook County had 805 homicides in 2023, the most of any county in the nation.
828 homicides: An analysis of homicide trends posted on X (formerly Twitter) indicated that Cook County had 828 homicides in 2023, a 14% drop from the previous year.
Then I searched States with highest homicide rate for 2023
These five states had 2023’s highest homicide rates:
1-Mississippi
2-Louisiana
3-Alabama
4-New Mexico
5-Tennessee
Four of the 5 are “red” States.
Ed P says
Nephew,
First, I used accurate Chicagoland data gleamed from chatgpt. But are you saying even 10 lives are not an issue, or that the Chicago problem is not real enough?
Second, I did not reference any other states/ metros. Each of your so called red states have blue cities with urban blight. Have any of these states had 94 years of continuous Democratic leadership like Chicago?
Are we to believe 6,000-7000 homicides over 10 years as acceptable? Because Pritzker and Johnson must think the body count is acceptable.
Purposely framing data to play whataboutism is a rhetorical tactic to deflect.
I’m interested in your “opinion” about Chicago.
Ray W. says
The Associated Press covered a recent “evening address to Canadians” by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Here are some bullet points from the story:
– The Prime Minister repeated an earlier stated warning to the Canadian people that:
“The U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression,” a statement suggesting, according to the reporter, that a decades-long process of evolving an ever-closer economic relationship between Canada and the U.S. is now over.
– Prime Minister Carney also said:
“We have to take care of ourselves because we can’t rely on one foreign partner. … We are re-engaging with the global giants India and China.”
– He added that Canada is an “energy superpower” that has the world’s third largest crude oil reserves and the world’s fourth largest natural gas reserves.
– Finally, he stated:
“I will always be straight about the challenges we have to face and the choices we make. … To be clear, we won’t transform our economy easily or in a few months — it will take some sacrifices and some time.”
– According to the reporter, Canadian crude oil exports supply 60% of all American crude oil imports. 85% of all of the electricity that the U.S. imports from abroad comes from Canada (this is somewhat misleading because only Mexico and Canada export electricity into America and both Mexico and Canada imports U.S. electricity because the long borders calls for electricity coming from plants in all three countries).
– Also, according to the reporter, America imports more steel, aluminum and uranium from Canada than it does from any other foreign country, and that Canada has reserves of 34 “critical minerals and metals” sought by the Pentagon, inferring that Canada is critical for our national security.
– At the individual state level, Canada is the top export market for 36 American states, with almost $3.6 billion in exports of goods and services each day.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Can it be legitimately argued that Prime Minister Carney is telling his citizens that a necessary and long-term painful economic transformation must be endured in order to make Canadians safer than they are today from the American government?
And can it be legitimately argued that a long-established political threshold has been pierced, in that it has become politically safe to tell the Canadian people that Canada needs, at significant economic cost, to move away from the U.S. both as quickly as possible and as far as possible to avoid the intentional and avoidable harm imposed on the Canadian economy by current U.S. government policies?
If this is an accurate perception of prevailing Canadian political thought, what does that mean for American businesses that may forever lose hard-won market share as the Canadian government and Canadian businesses trend away from the United States?
I am not going to say that I know what will happen next or even in the long term, because I don’t, but it seems straightforward to me that if someone treats a former friend like shit, then reason follows that not only will the former friend look elsewhere for friendship, but also that the former friend will not soon forget the insult.
In recent years, Canada built a Trans-Canada crude oil pipeline to an already existing deep-water seaport in British Columbia, for the purpose of exporting Alberta tar sands oil to American west coast refineries. Canada has just negotiated long-term deals to export its crude oil to Asian customers. Construction is well underway to expand the crude oil export capacity of a Vancouver port. The Canadian government just announced a multi-billion dollar plan to expand a St. Lawrence River seaport to handle the export of more Canadian cargo destined for foreign ports.
A first ever liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo departed Vancouver bound for South Korea under a newly negotiated long-term contract.
Across Canada, a number of provincial governments still ban the sale of American liquor. In other provinces, the citizens themselves have largely stopped buying American liquor, effectively establishing a consumer whiskey embargo.
Canadians are selling winter homes and condominiums all across America and vacation trips from Canada into the U.S. are down by significant margins. Canadian travel to other nations is up, again by significant margins.
My father taught me: No one can ever have too many friends, but if you have to make an enemy make sure you do it right. That way, you will never mistake him for a friend the next time you see him walking towards you on the street.
American did not have to make Canada its economic enemy, and maybe it will be shown that America hasn’t done so after everything sorts itself out, but it is looking like we did. The question will be whether Canadians will ever forget the insults.
So long as it is politically safe for any Canadian Prime Minister to tell Canadians that Canada’s economy has to move as quickly and as far as possible away from America, the insult now felt by the Canadian people will not be forgotten, as it will be dredged up in every local, provincial and national election again and again and again.
It should be remembered that Canada’s Liberal Party was far down in the polls. Trudeau was deeply unpopular. The Conservative leader was expected to win and win big. A national election was soon to be held.
Suddenly, Trump embarked on his insult campaign.
The Liberal Party immediately rallied, using an anti-Trump platform, and Mark Carney, the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, received a mandate from the Canadian electorate to implement his party’s policies.
Was Trump a seismic shift in Canadian sensibilities? Maybe. But no one can successfully claim that Trump did not send a tremor throughout all of Canada.
BillC says
@ Ed P as usual just more “statistics” pulled out of your butt. Mississippi is the murder capitol of the US. Notice Jackson, the largest city and capitol of Mississippi is not on the list.
Cities With Highest Murder Rates In Mississippi:
Amory
Cleveland
Batesville
Laurel
Vicksburg
Picayune
Brookhaven
Horn Lake
Kosciusko
Corinth
The city with the highest murder rate in Mississippi is Amory (population 6,266). By your fuzzy logic, that must make it a blue city .
Ray W. says
Hello Ed P.
In the first of your two comments, you write that for decades Chicago has endured “violent crime”, with 1000 or more murders occurring each year. But you appear to flit back and forth between Chicago as a municipality and Cook County, making comparisons difficult, even though Chicagoans comprise the vast majority of Cook County’s residents.
So I found a Chicago Tribune story about homicide counts in Chicago dating back to 1957. Only in 1974 did the city’s homicide count approach 1000. In most of the years between 1968 and 1995 the count remained above 770. But since 1997, every year since but one, 2016, has seen a murder count at or below 770. I did see from another source that the homicide and manslaughter count, when combined, skyrocketed in 2020 during the pandemic.
Violent crime will always exist. No form of policing has ever ended all violent crime. Even if violent crime is rare, any FlaglerLive commenter can still claim the existence of “too much” violent crime in Flagler County. Three carjackings in a year in Flagler County can always be said to be “too much” violent crime. But your claim of 1,000 or more murders in Chicago each year over the past several decades appears ripe for debate.
So, the question of the moment is whether Chicago has sustained for decades a murder count of 1000 or more each year?
I say, no, that assessment is inaccurate.
I have repeatedly commented on Chicago’s homicide counts, basing my comments on a presentation by a neuropsychologist at a death penalty seminar I attended in either late 2014 or 2015 and on a historical summary of the Chicago homicide counts derived from Chicago Police Department records.
In 1994, before that year’s famous November Contract with American election, a Democratic legislature voted into law an experimental program that had been recommended by neuropsychologists who testified to Congress about the need for a program that was to focus on Chicago’s homicide rate.
In the experiment, researchers were tasked to identify Chicago children who had been documented as having been exposed to seven or more of the 10 categories of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). Each of these children was to be given tutors, mentors and job training. The funding for the experiment was to sunset after 20 years.
In 1995, the first year of the experiment, nearly 400 Chicago youth were selected to receive services under the program. Each year after that, another 400 or so youth aged into eligibility for the program.
Chicago’s murder count, taken from city police department records, had averaged over 900 murders per year in the five years prior to the experiment. From the beginning of the experiment, the murder count began to drop, but it took a few years to get below 600 per year. During the 20 years of funding for the experiment, the murder count in Chicago averaged just over 500 per year. In two of those years, Chicago’s murder count was fewer than 410.
In 2014, Republicans controlled the legislature. Funding for the experiment was allowed to sunset. The homicide rate in Chicago quickly began to rise, peaking in 2016.
When you focused on Chicago’s murder count, claiming it had been at or above 1000 per year for decades, what you typed was simply incorrect. For 20 years, the Chicago homicide count was just over half what is was before the years of the experiment. Arguably, as many as 8000 people are alive because of the experiment.
Can it be argued that Chicago witnessed a long-term positive transformation in Chicago’s murder count, only to see it undone in 2014 by Republican legislative inaction. And did that Republican legislative inaction occur just in time for Chicago’s suddenly rebounding murder count to become a centerpiece of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign?
Whether you claim that American soldiers need to be in the streets of American cities is also debatable, but the Constitution and the writings of our founding fathers seem to reflect that the last thing America needs is soldiers on the streets. Maybe the law will change. Who knows.
And because you chastised another commenter about standing by and accepting higher crime numbers, I have to ask just how you stand by silently when people are being murdered in Chicago because a Republican legislature decided to allow funding for a successful anti-murder program to sunset, but hey, any argument will do for you, even an exaggerated one, if one seeks to justify putting soldiers on city streets.
And, given the number of FlaglerLive commenters who claim that crime is out of control in Flagler County, I don’t understand why you aren’t arguing for deployment of soldiers here, too.
Ray W. says
Here’s a take by The Wall Street Journal on Canada’s response to the existing U.S. trade war on Canadian goods.
The Journal reporter focuses on Canada’s decision to “fast-track” an eastern seaport expansion.
The Port of Montreal, located 30 miles northeast of Montreal and one of four total seaports near Montreal, will see an investment of $1.15 billion U.S. (the figure is expected to rise) for a new “container-handling terminal”, as the port may soon reach maximum existing capacity.
According to the reporter, Montreal Port Authority Chief Executive Julie Gascon said:
“Our economy in Canada was really built north-south, … [b]ut we are a maritime nation. So reconnecting with our roots as a maritime nation and improving our trade balance with other nations with whom we have trade agreements is part of the strategy.”
Ms. Gascon’s position of a north-south economy reflects the fact that the U.S. accounts for more than 80% of Canada’s export volume. According to a study by Canada’s national statistics office, over half of Canada’s exporters anticipate tariff pain to their businesses and almost 25% of those businesses plan to seek out additional foreign customers separate from the U.S.
The Port of Montreal expansion was but one of five recent “projects of national importance.” A nuclear power plant, a liquefaction of natural gas plant and two copper mines are receiving national funds.
The Journal reporter added that recent dockworker strikes at the port have “caused delays and backups”, and that the port, being 1,000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean might impact the viability of the port, compared to other ports, as depths on the river as low as 37 feet can limit the “size and weight” of vessels that call on the port.
Port St. John, one of three eastern Canadian seaports other than the Port of Montreal, expects container traffic of 200,000 units this year, up from 86,000 units in 2021.
The Port of Montreal, when expansion is complete, will be able to handle 1.15 million containers per year. If only 6% of all Canadian exports to the U.S. were to shift to this port, it will be at capacity when the expansion project is completed.
Make of this what you will.
Ray W. says
The Mirror US focused a story on emerging travel trends in certain American states, including Florida.
After reviewing a Travel and Tour World report, the reporter wrote that between January and August 2025, Florida’s 17.7 million tourist arrivals was 8.7% lower than the arrival figure of 19.4 million tourists for the same period across 2024. Reasons given in the report for the decline include, in part, “higher travel costs” and “concerns of future financial stability.”
Alongside the drop in tourism arrivals in Florida, budget airlines have been canceling “popular flight routes” to Florida, and Disney World just raised prices by at least $10 per ticket.
Texas experienced a tourism arrival drop of 8.6% year-over-year over the same eight-month time frame. Kentucky saw a 4% arrival decline and Illinois saw a 3% arrival time.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I understand that a number of FlaglerLive commenters insist that some negative conclusion can be drawn from the fact that Mr. Tristam does not cover every side of every story under the sun.
With more that 130,000 Flagler County residents stirring the news pot, I suppose that no one reporter could ever get to every publishable story, yet the refrain persists: Mr. Tristam is bad if he can’t cover every last story to each complainer’s satisfaction, much less each of the many sides of each of the stories he actually publishes. These complainers live in a perfect or bad world, with themselves as arbiters of what constitutes perfection. No reporter could ever meet such an amorphous standard.
Thank you for the Arthur Miller snippet and thank you for everything else you manage to get to, Mr. Tristam.
Ray W. says
Ed P.’s second comment on this thread includes a reference to his use of “chatgpt” to obtain “accurate” murder figures for Chicago. I did not rely on AI to obtain the figures I used in my rebuttal of Ed P.’s comment.
Coincidentally I had just come across a Reuters article about two federal judges, one in Mississippi and the other in New Jersey, who each admitted that judicial aides had used AI software to research and prepare legal opinions without sufficient oversight or fact checking.
In each case, one opinion prepared in this manner was signed off by each judge. After the opinion was released, people who review opinions checked out the citations in the opinions and the language associated with the citations. They found that the opinions were “riddled” with errors.
Upon learning of the flawed opinions, each of the two judges brought the errors to light, replaced the error-riddled opinions with accurate ones, and instituted procedures to prevent the occurrence of such errors again.
This propensity to AI errors is called “AI slop.”
At a Senate oversight hearing, a Senator said:
“Each federal judge, and the judiciary as an institution, has an obligation to ensure the use of generative AI does not violate litigants’ rights or prevent fair treatment under the law.”
The reporter wrote that the rise in use of AI by lawyers advocating in court has resulted in dozens of lawyers being fined or sanctioned in other ways for failing to vet the accuracy of their work product.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I hadn’t thought of this before, but since I almost never use AI as anything more than a starting point, maybe there wasn’t a need for me to think of this.
But now that I read Ed P.’s comments on this thread, complete with his admission that he relied on AI for his murder figures, his admission might explain why the figures he used are not accurate.
But that raises another possibility.
What explains this “AI slop?”
Is it possible that, given the fact that we have an entire presidential administration staffed by people who professionally lie as their modus operandi, and given the fact that their lies have been spread all over the internet by the many lie launderers out there, is it possible that AI search engines cannot distinguish between accurate sources of information and the many professionally disseminated lies and the even more lies laundered with the intent to spread the original lies? If the AI program looks to millions and millions of sources to glean answers and sees a range of figures, some true and some fake, could it be possible that the AI program simply blends the lies with the truthful information without the capacity of knowing that the result would constitute disinformation?
The reason that I first really noticed Ed P. so many months ago was that he posted a comment in which he asserted that America was sitting on enough crude oil to supply the world’s current demand for 300 years.
I knew that his was an untrue comment, but I fact checked it anyway. Years ago, a comment on which Ed P. relied for his figure had been posted to the internet and picked up. It quickly became a source of disinformation. Fact checkers had debunked the 300 year figure years before Ed P. tried to spread the disinformation onto the FlaglerLive site.
I was about to pass the comment by, as I commonly do, as there are just too many liars and lie launderers posting comments on the FlaglerLive site for anyone to keep up with.
For that matter, I don’t respond at all to certain FlaglerLive commenters because their comments are so obviously erroneous that there is a great likelihood they are doing damage to their own reputations all on their own. There is no need for me to do anything other than simply standing back and watching as they drown in their own spit.
But something about about the vindictiveness of Ed P.’s last snarky sentence in that comment, something akin to a stick it up your ass and smoke it attitude, stopped me.
I thought about that last sentence a few times and decided to respond with accurate national crude oil reserve figures. When I debunked Ed P.’s figure, he insisted he was right. He wasn’t.
We went back and forth.
Ed P. began to devolve into his true underlying nature. He called me names and then he called me worse names. None of his replies changed the fact that he was wrong.
Finally, Ed P. checked his figures for himself and he admitted that he had been wrong all along, an act that I respect. I, too, have advised FlaglerLive readers a number of times that my comments were either wrong or needed to be updated. It isn’t hard for me to admit wrongdoing, once further reading or learning reveals to me my errors.
But the fact never changed that the U.S. is not sitting on enough crude oil reserves to supply the world’s demand for 300 years; it is sitting on enough oil to supply the world’s demand for roughly 10 years. Admittedly, exploration companies keep finding new oil reserves, mostly located in deeper and deeper waters, all over the world, but we are still not finding enough new oil to keep up with what we are using.
Now, Ed P. says he relied on AI for his figures. His figures again are wrong.
It is only because for the last 10 or 11 years I have been, first, listening to a neuropsychologist about Chicago murder figures and, second, following up by reading more and more about Chicago murder figures, that I automatically knew when I read Ed P’s figures for Chicago murders that his figures were inaccurate. But I checked anyway before I responded.
If reliance on AI is responsible for the erroneous figures, hopefully, lesson learned.
As an aside, perhaps six or seven years ago, I began a process of going through each of the existing standard death penalty motions in the statewide Public Defender database to check them for accuracy. This was long before AI. I had, as I recall, 27 standard motions to review. I decided to start with one of the lengthy motions. As I began checking citations and quotes, many were accurate, but, to my chagrin, some of the citations and quotes set out in the standard motions that are used all over the state by death penalty defense lawyers contained “quotes” that were not derived from the cited opinions. Citation page numbers were inaccurate. I looked at other of the motions. Same problems. I began to rewrite the motions, but health problems overcame the issue and I retired.
Ray W. says
I concede that I haven’t seen this type of law enforcement story very often. A reporter wrote the same thing, saying that, normally, law enforcement officials reserve public comment to saying there is an ongoing active investigation. But this time, some of the affected law enforcement officers didn’t limit their comments.
Two days ago, Homeland Security issued a statement that “… said that ‘ICE dismantled an illegal horse-racing, animal fighting, and gambling enterprise operation’ and that ‘as part of the operation ICE law enforcement officers arrested 105 illegal aliens.'”
The actual joint law enforcement agency action took place on Sunday, October 19th. Ten agencies participated, with 200 or so law enforcement officers at the scene.
After the Homeland Security announcement, a news outlet named East Idaho News then published a story about how the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office and Caldwell Police Department released a joint statement, in which the heads of both agencies announced that the Sheriff and the Chief of Police wanted the public to know that it was not an ICE operation.
In fact, they stated, it was an FBI Treasure Valley Metro Violent Crime and Gang Task Force operation. ICE officials were present only to process any individual found to have “potential immigration violations.”
Both the Sheriff and the Chief of Police, according to the reporter, “… criticized [Homeland Security] putting out a statement that was ‘deeply misleading to the public.'”
The statement went on:
“To be clear, this was not an ICE-led enforcement action. … The statement released by DHS yesterday claiming responsibility for dismantling a criminal organization was completely false and a serious misrepresentation of the facts.”
They added:
“[W]e feel it’s important to address the confusion caused by recent public statements from the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigrants and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”
Make of this what you will.
Laurel says
“In closing, what exactly is the rationale behind the resistance to provide relief and protection to the community?”
I don’t see how the federal government bringing in the heavily armed National Guard, which is not trained for local policing, and paying untrained citizens, with masks and no badges or identification, wearing shirts claiming to be “police,” illegally impersonating police officers, to local jurisdictions that don’t want them, as “relief and protection.” Any ass can put on a mask, and a black tee shirt with the word “police” ironed on it. How many are actual, locally trained, sworn in police officers? They are “arresting” people, and children, by throwing them to the ground, simply based on how they look, or what language they speak. This, you call “relief and protection.”
Trump decided not to send the police impersonators into San Francisco. The big tech oligarchs told him to back off, that’s their turf. It doesn’t look good for business.
Trump isn’t doing this to bring relief and protection to anyone, he is showing us his authoritarian power over us, and I believe you know it.
Skibum says
Ed P, you asked, so I will gladly answer your question this way.
My law enforcement career spanned more than 29 years. I knew the communities that I worked in better than many people, certainly better than others who lived in different parts of both CA and WA states and were not familiar with the specific areas where I worked. It goes without question that federal agencies not only outside of those specific areas, but outside of the state altogether, were even less familiar with the geography, the demographics, the crime patterns and trends and the hot spots. That is why the further away other agencies, as well as help comes from, the more they are required to rely on local law enforcement for guidance and direction of where to go and what to target.
I would never come to your home and say you don’t know what you are doing in however you protect your family, and think I know better when I know nothing about your circumstance. For a president to unilaterally decide on his own to send federal assistance, not only when it is not needed, but when local and state authorities adamantly say NO, do not send anyone, we do NOT need them, that is the clearest signal federal officials can get that what they are attempting to do is WRONG!
Sherry says
Thank you Skibum and Ray W. !!! From two completely different perspectives your have provided invaluable insight into the “critical dangers” to our entire democracy by the “cult minded”. They continuously go to great lengths in creating and spreading misinformation/disinformation in order to further their extreme right wing agenda.
In my opinion, an “Alternate Reality” is being intentionally created. One which is based on a non-factual passionate emotional attachment to a political party/person/cultural perspective. That “Alternate Reality” is instrumental in producing the insidious undermining of “Truth and Trust”, resulting in the destruction of our democratic republic!
FACTS = TRUTH = TRUST
Ed P says
Well I must admit not one of my critics mentioned that it was not acceptable that the youth of Chicago continue to die while none of the same geniuses put forth your own solutions. Not one of you.
Instead you each deflect about accuracy of the body count or the error of sending the guard as a support staff.
I surmise that 3-10 homicides per week based on the ME reporting is what you each perceive as acceptable causalities.
Let the killing continue. Oh, it’s down 50% so 400 is ok? 300 is good?
Yes Ray W, I’m snarky because the politicians’ gamesmanship is costing lives. I read nothing in your or anyone’s pontifications or criticisms about my prior errors that resembled a solution for Chicago or any other city blue or red that needs help. Nope let’s talk oil. Wow
Each one of you proves my ongoing criticism of the fact that opposition is worth anything. Even avoidable deaths.
I believe you’re each being intentionally intellectually dishonest because your hatred of Trump won’t allow anything else. None of you are that gullible.
Snarky enough?
Sherry says
“TDS”= Maga’s “trump DEVOTION Syndrome” !
BillC says
@ Sherry That’s excellent- Trump DEVOTION Syndrome. Dems should pick that up as rebuttal.
Sherry says
Thanks BillC!