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Weather: Mostly cloudy. Cooler with highs in the mid 60s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Sunday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 50s. North winds around 5 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:
Notably: This being January 4, my father Fouad’s birthday–he would have been 98–I would normally write a few lines about him, maybe about the difficulty of writing a few lines as I am now a third older than he was when he died, as his age and mine begin to blend toward that line when we’ll all be as dead as Tolstoy (“One step beyond that boundary line which resembles the line dividing the living from the dead lies uncertainty, suffering, and death,” he wrote in War and Peace. “And what is there? Who is there?- there beyond that field, that tree, that roof lit up by the sun? No one knows, but one wants to know. You fear and yet long to cross that line, and know that sooner or later it must be crossed and you will have to find out what is there, just as you will inevitably have to learn what lies the other side of death.”) But after Ubu Roi‘s latest stunt yesterday, maybe a few words about Teresa Carreño might be more uplifting, Teresa Carreño about whom none of us would have heard a thing had it not been for record labels like Grand Piano’s 2013 recording, “Rêverie,” or Carla Rodriguez’s 2009 recording, which may have been among the first in this country of this Venezuelan composer and pianist of the 19th century (1853-1917). She might put you in mind of European romantics with a touch of Caribbean airs. A Caracas girl, her father, a composer’s son, was finance minister and her first piano teacher, though he “realised soon enough that he was not able to keep up with his daughter’s rapid progress as a pianist, and also given the fact that Teresa presented her own compositions for piano as early as the age of six.” That’s from the liner notes of the Grand Piano recording. Not a mystery why, as opposed to who, was her maopr teacher: Louis Moreau Gottchalk, the great Caribbean composer whose sounds you could hear in her works. She dedicated her first composition to him, “The Gottschalk Waltz.” She was off to concerts in New York, Paris, London, Havana, performing before Rossini and Liszt, meeting Charles Gounod and Camille Saint-Saëns, taking lessons from Anton Rubinstein. She had four husbands, three children she kept, one she gave away, her life mirrored in her compositions: “This is typical of her work: very often, the melodies start out with one idea, digress from it, return to it, elaborate it, add diverse accompaniments, clothe it in different harmonies or move it to distant tonalities. The musical setting will reach out and become richer; often, one has trouble figuring out which parts best to follow in listening. all of this is not an artificial counterpoint, but a fascinating game with the possibilities the piano has to offer as regards the unfolding of rich chord and linear progressions.” Doubtful that John Updike had heard of her, or gotten into Venezuela much, before writing his condescending piece about the country after a brief visit in 1981 (he wrote Brazil, one of his unreadable novels, after a week there). Let the Venezuelan speak for herself.
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.
January 2026
Flagler Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry
Flagler County Drug Court Convenes
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Palm Coast Beautification and Environmental Advisory Committee
Flagler Beach City 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
For the full calendar, go here.
It is depressing to stand in the gloom of a shabono, the palm thatch overhead infested with giant insects, the Indians drooping in their hammocks, their eyes diseased, their bellies protuberant, their faces and limbs besmirched with the same gray-brown dirt that composes the floor, their possessions a few brown baskets and monkey skins. Their lives are not paradise but full of anxiety-their religion a matter of fear, their statecraft a matter of constant, nagging war. To themselves, they are “the people” (Yanomami); to others, they are “the killers” (Waikás).
–From John Updike’s “Venezuela for Visitors” (1981).
Jim says
From ABC News:
“”We’re going to be running it with a group, and we’re going to make sure it’s run properly. We’re going to rebuild the oil infrastructure, which will cost billions of dollars. It will be paid for by the oil companies directly. They will be reimbursed for what they’re doing, but that’s going to be paid,” Trump said.
Later, a U.S. official told ABC News what it would look like for the U.S. to “run” Venezuela.
The official said top Trump officials will continue to diplomatically engage with those remaining in the Venezuelan government, that the administration will engage with oil executives to begin oil expansion in the country and that the U.S. military will remain postured and ready, and that the oil embargo would remain in effect.
President Donald Trump said the leader of the Venezuelan opposition doesn’t have the “respect” of the country to govern following the ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect,” Trump said.
Trump also announced the U.S. will “run the country” as it transitions into new leadership.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said. “And it has to be judicious, because that’s what we’re all about. We want peace, liberty and justice for the great people of Venezuela.””
Here is what the United States is doing:
1. Kidnapping the sitting president of another country by the use of military force. Is he a bad guy? Yes. Is he an illegitimate president? Yes. Did he need to be removed from office? Yes.
2. Taking over the oil reserves of Venezuela. That is what we’re after. The oil. It’s out in the open.
3. Attacked another country who we’re not at war with without any declaration of war (kind of like Russia/Ukraine).
4. Ignoring the elected president as the obvious replacement because “she’s not respected”. That’s not what the people of Venezuela are saying but why should their opinions matter?
5. Installing a regime that will be friendly (subservient) to the United States – keep that oil flowing, baby!
This is Making America Great Again. Except we’re pariahs to the western world for this and all the other actions by the Trump administration.
This is the guy who said said he was the “peace president”. After all, he’s stopped 7,8, 9 (more???) wars in the first few months of his administration. Why, there are so few wars because of Trump, I guess he felt obligated to start one…..
We went into Venezuela to stop drug boats coming into the USA. We’ve killed 115 people in the process. But, now, I didn’t hear anything about drugs. It’s about the oil.
It will be years, if ever, before the United States will be able to condemn another dictator for his actions against other countries. All they’ll do is throw this episode back in our faces.
And for those who think the End justifies the Means, we haven’t reached the end yet. Stay tuned. It’s not going to be as beautiful as you may think.
Laurel says
Trump doesn’t give a damn about drugs, he lied about Venezuela, which was sending cocaine elsewhere and not here, and not fentanyl, and pardoned former Honduran President Juan Hernandez, who was convicted of drug trafficking. According to the Washington Post, Trump granted clemency to 100 people accused of Drug related crimes. Trump has had 115 people killed without any due process, and most of all, without any evidence of his claims left behind. So that ain’t it.
Yeah, oil companies would love to have Venezuelan oil, but Trump wants more than that. He wants their minerals, and wants to put in place a loyal sycophant as the Venezuelan President, to kowtow to him. Then, he can start putting his banners around the country, and rebranding history there too.
More than that, he wants to tear apart the U.S. Constitution, break down law and order, break down Maritime Law, and dissolve the laws between countries that we have worked on since World War II ended. He wants to be an authoritarian leader of the western countries, and our spineless political parties had better wake up, NOW!
He is in bad shape with the American people, and he knows that Presidents become more popular during a war (why bother with the Constitutional requirement that starting a war with another country needs to be approved by Congress). Hard to find a bigger distraction. You can’t write this much corruption into a best selling novel.
Oh, and by the way, releasing the Epstein files? Our law was broken there, too, by the Attorney General of the United States, no less, who kowtows to Trump. But it’s just children. Small sacrifices, for big promises you’re not going to see.
North kai says
Wow liberals are funny as hell you guys say no king yet defend a actual dictator while the Venezuelan people are cheering and thanking America for what we did question if America did wrong wouldn’t there people be upset and not happy of which they are and strategically it makes perfect sense why get the oil from across the other side of the world if we can get it from our own neck of the woods and the new government is an ally I see a win
Skibum says
What in the actual hell are you talking about??? I haven’t seen even one comment from anyone on here who is defending Maduro’s actions. His dictatorial presidency is of a foreign country, and all of the negative comments that I have read are related to OUR president’s actions, OUR rule of law. How you got your mind so twisted up to somehow surmise that negative comments against the convicted felon in the WH amounts to defending Maduro is beyond me!
The U.S. has a Constitution, which our felon president likes to ignore. The U.S. has statutory laws which our felon president likes to ignore. The U.S. has three co-equal branches of government, the other two being Congress and the federal courts, which the felon president likes to ignore.
I understand it must be difficult for the uneducated maga mush brains which our felon president says over and over again that he loves, (I wonder why) to grasp the significance of complete sentences and complex ideas. If it is too hard for you to keep up, you might want to try reading the comments over and over again until the words sink in and a lightbulb illuminates their correct meaning before uttering gibberish.
But then you sound as though you supported that “just another normal tourist day” at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 when the maga mob or rioters stormed the grounds and beat and injured more than 140 law enforcement personnel who were protecting member of Congress and V.P. Pence, so if that is true I don’t expect much sanity or enlightened wit to be forthcoming anytime soon.
Laurel says
North kai: Nobody is defending Maduro. The channels you are watching, and the podcasts or social media you are listening to, are manipulating you and lying to you. Do yourself a favor, and pay attention. Think beyond Fox Entertainment or Newsmax. There’s more of a world out there then what they lie to you about!
I know that the latest pile of crap is to say liberals are funny. Stop and think who told you to say or think that. You didn’t come up with it yourself, did you? No, it’s more talking points of bull. It’s coming up more often from different people. See the manipulation yet?
Dennis C Rathsam says
Thanks to America, and our great president TRUMP, for freeing the good people of Venezuela.
North kai says
It’s a good thing that dictator is off the board but some people on this site don’t seem to agree with that statement oh well
Pogo says
Skibum says
DRUMph can now proclaim his new, inglorious title, South American Oil King. Very appropriate for someone who has always been a greasy SOB.
Skibum says
“If you are like many Americans who are questioning the legality of attacking Venezuela and kidnapping its president, remember that we are talking about a highly corrupt and demented leader who is a known criminal, who has been using his high office to make billions for himself, who has manipulated elections to stay in power, who uses his military against his own citizens, and who protects his corrupt friends and punishes his political enemies. The president of Venezuela has done bad things too.”
The convicted felon’s military invasion into Venezuela is just the kind of thing we should expect from a president who has the highest level of unfavourability of any president in U.S. history, and who is doing anything and everything to distract Americans from the current unaffordability crisis in our economy, his protection of sexual perverts like himself who have a history of sexual abuse, some of whom prey on little girls, and the fact that millions and millions of Americans are now facing double and triple the cost of health insurance, if they are able to afford it at all.
That is NOT what anyone, including republicans, voted for!
Skibum says
North kai says
Skidbum and Jim put trump kidnapped a president no he didn’t he took a dictator off the board he wasn’t elected by the people I’m neather left win more right but using words like kidnapped seems like your sympathetic to a dictator I don’t watch fox news or newsmax I look at all sides not just one the there are nut jobs on both sides but the left there just absolutely nuts now back to the topic at hand president trump did not need congressional approval to apprehend maduro so
Skibum says
North kai, you must be a failed professor of constitutional and international law, I suppose. Your argument for the legitimacy of apprehending Maduro is wrong on multiple counts.
* Does it not appear to you to be a U.S. military invasion of Venezuela when the prez had an entire armada of naval vessels of all size and description in place off of that country’s coast, and 150 military aircraft flying inland over Caracas, the capital city, bombing multiple military compounds? That sounds like a military action against another country, NOT an emergency, by the way, that dictates notification to and support from Congress per the U.S. Constitution.
* If what our prez ordered is not in violation of international law, what stops Putin from ordering his corrupt Russian government to pass some internal law that names Zelinskyy a criminal, then sending Russian military units into Ukraine, kidnapping him and bring him to Russia to face trial in Russia? What stops China from doing the same thing against the current president of Taiwan, kidnapping and hauling to communist China Taiwan’s democratically elected president for some made up Chinese crime?
Do you not see danger and why we have to also adhere to international law to avoid unhinged government wackos (including our home grown one) from spuriously attacking other world countries, kidnapping their leaders they don’t agree with, and forcing the leaders to be tried in other countries without due process and the force of international law behind these actions?
Nobody is saying Maduro should not be brought to justice for the crimes he has committed. Putin should be brought to justice for having his political opponents murdered. Kim Jong Un should be brought to justice for his crimes against the N. Korean people. Mohhammed Bin Salam should be brought to justice for ordering and covering up the murder of an American journalist. There are many other examples, but one country cannot and should not be arbitrarily invading another country with military force, on it’s own, just to haul it’s leader out of the country and tried for crimes without the support of the international community! That is exactly what international laws are meant to prevent.
North kai says
Obama did a lot worse with the surge he had the most drone strikes in the middle east the left didn’t protest or anything and by the way he didn’t get congressional approval Russia was assumed to be a near peer threat same as China there not Ukraine has proven that and if I remember correctly Russia tried that and they failed if China went for Taiwan they would fail there prepared for that
Sherry says
Such an excellent comment Skibum!
I was about to say that “if” we are still a country of “Law and Order” we should be adhering to “International Laws” and NOT independently using our CIA and military to kidnap the leader of any other country, essentially carrying out ILLEGAL “regime change”.
Yes, Maduro is a “bad guy” that stole an election. If the trump administration were acting legally and correctly, they would support the actual winner of the last election. Why aren’t they? What is the “truthful” motive behind trump’s actions? Sometimes it’s not “what” you do but “how you do it”, and why.
Skibum says
Well, well, well… it doth now appear that our “biznus wiz” prez who has more bankrupt businesses and more failed business schemes than most people could dream up if they had a cat’s nine lives may have seriously miscalculated his intended scheme to cart off Venezuelan oil to enrich himself and wealthy “friends”, as if such a deplorable man could actually claim that other people want to admit to such a friendship with him.
Anyway, U.S. oil industry insiders are already coming out of the woodwork shaking their heads in wonderment, asking what the hell he was thinking when he came up with this doozy! No American oil company is chomping at the bit in anticipation of coming back to Venezuela anytime soon, investing hundreds of billions of their dollars that would be necessary to repair and upgrade all of the broken and degraded infrastructure that would be required to bring back even a minimum amount of additional crude oil production capacity to that country’s crumbling and broken facilities that were left in ruin after American oil companies were kicked out of Venezuela decades ago and all of their production and equipment confiscated by corrupt dictator regimes.
It appears that even if oil company executives had plans in the works to eventually try to return to reclaim their confiscated oil fields, currently the price of crude is so low at nearly $60 a barrel that it is not even worth it to be thinking about all of the billions of dollars it would cost them to get back into production.
Oil company insiders also say that the idiot president would have known all of this had he just asked the oil company execs before he executed his hairbrained military operation… but the brainiac did not even consult the oil companies to find out if they were interested until after Maduro was captured and whisked out of the country. Oops!!!!!!!!!!!
Ed P says
Skibum,
If there is a profit to made, oil companies will return.
Venezuela sits on the world’s largest oil reserves and the heavy crude is just what US refineries are best at refining.
Just a note, much of the Texas sweet crude is exported in favor of the oil coming from the Venezuelan wells.
Oil was never the primary reason for Maduro’s apprehension.
Think of the Venezuelan oil as their currency that returns them to the glory days. They will be motivated by improved technologies to increase production. It won’t take long for them to get the concept.
It won’t be opps, but hooray.
Skibum says
Time will tell, Ed, what befalls evil men and irrational plunders.
I do have to point out though, that there is a glaring misstep to the false justification for grabbing Maduro if it was because he wasn’t seen by the U.S. as the country’s legitimate president after he had stolen the election from Machado, who had received what was reported to be 70% of the votes in that Venezuelan election. Would it not have been Machado that was kept in communication with U.S. officials during the military operation to remove Maduro. Why isn’t she there in Caracas heading the new, legitimate Venezuela government in cooperation with U.S. officials to ensure that democracy in that country persevered?
No, as many people have noted, the convicted felon in the WH talked mostly about oil in his address to the nation after the military grabbed Maduro. No mention of democracy at all, no mention of Machado except in response to questions from journalists some time after who were also wondering where in the hell is the legitimately elected person in all of this calamity???
It was oil all along. The convicted felon has long discussed his disagreement about our military not taking all of Iraq’s oil after the fall of Sadam Hussein. He is doing the exact same thing now, because being a convicted felon himself, he cares not about crimes, he cares not about drug trafficking, and he cares not about dictators… as long as they do his bidding. He cares about MONEY! Oil is BIG MONEY!
Ed P says
Skibum,
Not oil but western hemisphere long term security.
The Iranian, Russian, and Chinese influence that has been accumulating over the past 20 years is actually an existential threat to our country that has to be addressed somehow beyond appeasement. That’s been a failed policy.
Skibum says
Russia’s plan to expand their sphere of influence has been ongoing now for years, since they invaded Ukraine and took Crimea by force. China has plans to expand their sphere of influence by first capturing Taiwan by force.
Are you saying it is okay for us to do the same to expand America’s sphere of influence, becoming bad actors just like Russia and China? Because bad international behavior like that only encourages more, and more such bad behavior, giving an excuse to those bad dictators who can say, “you did it, so can I”.
That is a very bad route to follow, and would have absolutely devastating worldwide implications.
Ed P says
Skibum,
There isn’t any correlation between the America First strategy or US long term security plan and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That’s not a logical comparison.
Taiwan is also a unique and different contentious situation spanning centuries. China’s national security has never been the issue.
You must also consider the financial support and investments the United States is/has made in South America. 100-200 billion annually to Latin America. Is it okay to, at the very least, ask them not to bite the hand that helps to feed them? Are you suggesting that’s bullying? Asking is wrong?
Finally, Greenland.
Strategically necessary for a US and European missile defense system. Who do you think would have to defend Greenland if a foreign invasion occurred? Canada or the Dutch? Maybe the paper tiger known as the United Nations? Laughable.
Rubio will negotiate a permanent sovereign solution before the end of this administration.
Maybe, just a permanent military installation for the stated security reasons. Payment maybe, resources?
Most people do not understand Trump’s mind set of monetizing the United States’ most powerful nation status. Why should US taxpayer “pay” to be the world’s policeman? These countries have resources and should pay for our services.
Similar to going out to dinner with friends, should you always pay because you have more money or is going Dutch a “fair” alternative?
Asking our allies to pay their fair share is not bigoted, racist or anything other than logical.
Freedom is not free, why do we always pay?
Sherry says
Right out of PROJECT 2025. . . trump’s “Playbook”!!! This from Newsweek:
Project 2025, the plan to reshape the United States federal government under a Republican president, described Venezuela as a critical nation that required closer American attention well before President Donald Trump was reelected.
The 900-page document from the conservative Heritage Foundation, published in April 2023 and named after the first year of the next administration’s term, outlined major changes to federal agencies, civil service rules, social policy and energy.
It also carried a significant foreign policy component, describing Venezuela under ousted President Nicolás Maduro as among Latin America’s “left-wing authoritarian kleptocracies.”
“To contain Venezuela’s communism and aid international partners, the next administration must take important steps to put Venezuela’s communist abusers on notice while making strides to help the Venezuelan people,” Project 2025 said.
OOPS! Does Project 2025 spell out exactly “how” to help the Venezuelan people? Poor donnie is going to be lost with those instructions!
Laurel says
Truly! Trump needs to read, slowly, what’s been put in front of him. He can get a nap, here and there, in between, now, even while standing up! If the paperwork were to be pulled out from under him, the infamous “weave” would begin. Maybe a dance to “YMCA.”
OMG, can you believe this stuff?
Sherry says
For the Maga indoctrinated who are all in on Project 2025, and think there is no connection between Russia staying out f Venezuela and their horrific war against Ukraine. . . get educated. . . this from the AP:
Trump’s former Russia adviser says Russia offered US free rein in Venezuela in exchange for Ukraine
By EMMA BURROWS
Updated 1:51 PM PST, January 6, 2026
Russian officials indicated in 2019 that the Kremlin would be willing to back off from its support for Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in exchange for a free hand in Ukraine, according to Fiona Hill, an adviser to President Donald Trump at the time.
The Russians repeatedly floated the idea of a “very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine,” Hill said during a congressional hearing in 2019. Her comments surfaced again this week and were shared on social media after the U.S. stealth operation to capture Maduro.
Hill said Russia pushed the idea through articles in Russian media that referenced the Monroe Doctrine — a 19th century principle in which the U.S. opposed European meddling in the Western Hemisphere and in return agreed to stay out of European affairs. It was invoked by Trump to justify the U.S. intervention in Venezuela.
Even though Russian officials never made a formal offer, Moscow’s then-ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, hinted many times to her that Russia was willing to allow the United States to act as it wished in Venezuela if the U.S. did the same for Russia in Europe, Hill told The Associated Press this week.