The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, May 27, 2026

end of the war Marian Kamensky, Austria — (Marian Kamensky, Austria)

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Weather: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 2pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 2pm and 5pm, then showers and thunderstorms likely after 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Heat index values as high as 100. Southeast wind 6 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Wednesday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 8pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 73. Southeast wind 5 to 9 mph becoming calm after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

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:

Eid el Adha, one of Islam’s two high holidays, is today. Of course, schools, courts and government offices remain open, in keeping with the country’s indifference to its 4.5 to 5 million Muslims. Nevertheless, if you encounter a Muslim, you might wish her/him/them Happy Eid.

River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) meets at 9 a.m. at the Airline Room at the Daytona Beach International Airport. The TPO’s planning oversight includes all of Flagler and Volusia counties, with board representation from each of those jurisdictions. See the full agendas here. To join the meeting electronically, go here.

Conversations in Democracy: An open, freewheeling discussion on topics here in our community, around Florida and throughout the United States, noon to 1 p.m. at Pine Lakes Golf Club Clubhouse Pub & Grillroom (no purchase is necessary), 400 Pine Lakes Pkwy, Palm Coast (0.7 miles from Belle Terre Parkway). Call (386) 445-0852 for best directions. All are welcome! Everyone’s voice is important. For further information email [email protected] or call Merrill at 804-914-4460.

The Circle of Light Course in Miracles study group meets at a private residence in Palm Coast every Wednesday at 1:20 PM. There is a $2 love donation that goes to the store for the use of their room. If you have your own book, please bring it. All students of the Course are welcome. There is also an introductory group at 1:00 PM. The group is facilitated by Aynne McAvoy, who can be reached at [email protected] for location and information.

Notably: Today is Eid el Adha, which translates to Festival of Sacrifice–عيد الأضحى–and in Islam signifies the end of the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage, in Mecca, and more notably, and in conjunction with the famous Biblical passage (Genesis 22:1-19), marks Abraham’s willingness to obey god’s directive to murder his son. Aside from the fact that the United States annually shows its Islamophobia by not recognizing the holiday anywhere, I’ve always found that passage one of the most repellant stories in any scriptures, though the Bible doesn’t lack for them (Psalm 137: “Blessed the one who seizes your children and smashes them against the rock”). We are told that the sacrifice may not have been uncommon: Hannibal put to death 3,000 prisoners “to appease the shade of his grandfather,” and “his successor mollified the gods of Carthage by burning alive his own son as an offering,” Will Durant tells us in Life of Greece, while Spartans threw babies against rocks if they were born defective. Phoenicians (my alleged ancestors on the Levantine shore) were said to sacrifice babies, too. Not sure what there is to celebrate in Abraham’s sacrifice, other than the fact that god in its sadistic wisdom chose to stay Abraham’s sword after toying with him the way the Tsar used to like to toy with dissidents when he’d put them in front of a firing squad just for kicks: ask Dostoevsky. I’m with Kant in Fear and Trembling on this: when faced with an immoral order, when faced with what Kant called a “teleological suspension of the ethical,” or when “religious obedience trumps morality,” as Ritchie Robertson put it more clearly in The Enlightenment, you disobey. Also, maybe you find something else to celebrate when your Hajj is over, like love for your children, all your children.

Now this:

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— God asks Abraham to lead his only son, Isaac, to the top of a mountain. Abraham must build an altar there, bind his son, lay him out on the altar and offer him as a sacrifice to God. At the moment Abraham grabs his knife, an angel intervenes. The angel tells him: ‘Do not harm this child, your only son!’ God knows from then on that his servant fears and obeys him. He can then bless him and give him a numerous, victorious lineage. I listen to him, stunned and overwhelmed. Why is Mym’s father telling me this story, in the small room next to the bedroom where his daughter’s body rests? Why does he not stay with her, until the doctor comes to confirm the death? I remain silent, I do not know what to answer. But I remember this: when Abraham ties him up on the altar to sacrifice him, Isaac is 35 years old. 35 years old, that is Mym’s age. It means nothing, and I say nothing.

–From Alain Farah’s Mille secrets, mille dangers (2022).

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