The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, May 25, 2025

clay jones kristi noem
From Clay Jones: “There should be a test before seeking public office. I understand there’s on-the-job training, but this isn’t Taco Bell. Even before Kristi Noem was the Director of Homeland Security, she was a governor. No governor in this nation should be as ignorant of the Constitution as Noem displayed yesterday. Don’t we already have too many Jeff Sessions in government? Even college football coaches should know what the three branches are. Even at Taco Bell, I’m sure you’d eventually get shit-canned if you couldn’t keep track of the difference between a Chalupa and a Gordita. Fuck. Now I want some Taco Bell. Anywhos… […] The question was: What is habeas corpus? Her answer was more embarrassing than that time Katie Porter asked Ben Carson about REO rates, and he thought she was talking about Oreo cookies. Dammit. Now I want some Oreos. Noem’s reply was, “Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country.” Wrong. Not even close. It’s not even a nice try. If you asked this question as a part of a bar bet, you’d probably get a better answer and still win a beer. Hassan should have made this a bar bet, because at least she would have won a beer. My go-to question in a bar bet is: Name the only American president who was never elected. ” Read more at Substack.

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Weather: Mostly clear. A 20 percent chance of showers. Highs in the lower 90s. Lows around 70.

  • 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:

Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village: The city’s only farmers’ market is open every Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. at European Village, 101 Palm Harbor Pkwy, Palm Coast. With fruit, veggies, other goodies and live music. For Vendor Information email [email protected]

SunBros Cafe Celebrates the Life of Travis Sundell from 2 to 4 p.m. at SunBros Cafe, 301 Moody Blvd, Flagler Beach. Sundell, the co-founder of the Cafe in 2021, died earlier this month. “We will be gathering to share some of our favorite memories and stories, to laugh, to cry and remember a wonderful person who will be greatly missed,” the family posted on the Cafe’s social media pages. “Attire is beach casual.” See: “Flagler Beach Reels at Death of SunBros Café Owner Travis Sundell, 49, ‘Passionate Part of What Makes This Town Special’.”

Gamble Jam: Musicians of all ages can bring instruments and chairs and join in the jam session, 2 to 4 p.m. Note that in a temporary change from the regular schedule, Gamble Jam will be the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month through August 17.  The program is free with park admission! Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach, 3100 S. Oceanshore Blvd., Flagler Beach, FL. Call the Ranger Station at (386) 517-2086 for more information.  The park hosts this acoustic jam session at one of the pavilions along the river to honor the memory of James Gamble Rogers IV, the Florida folk musician who lost his life in 1991 while trying to rescue a swimmer in the rough surf.

ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students: 9:30 to 10:25 a.m. at Grace Presbyterian Church, 1225 Royal Palms Parkway, Palm Coast. Improve your English skills while studying the Bible. This study is geared toward intermediate and advanced level English Language Learners.

Grace Community Food Pantry, 245 Education Way, Bunnell, drive-thru open today from noon to 3 p.m. The food pantry is organized by Pastor Charles Silano and Grace Community Food Pantry, a Disaster Relief Agency in Flagler County. Feeding Northeast Florida helps local children and families, seniors and active and retired military members who struggle to put food on the table. Working with local grocery stores, manufacturers, and farms we rescue high-quality food that would normally be wasted and transform it into meals for those in need. The Flagler County School District provides space for much of the food pantry storage and operations. Call 386-586-2653 to help, volunteer or donate.

Al-Anon Family Groups: Help and hope for families and friends of alcoholics. Meetings are every Sunday at Silver Dollar II Club, Suite 707, 2729 E Moody Blvd., Bunnell, and on zoom. More local meetings available and online too. Call 904-315-0233 or see the list of Flagler, Volusia, Putnam and St. Johns County meetings here.

Notably: This remark by a young André Gide (he wrote it in 1896, he was around 27), had me–has me–happily puzzled, as with a geometric thought  experiment I don’t quite want to solve: “I can no more be grateful to God for having created me than I could blame Him for not being — if I were not.” The elegance of the line is superior to its logic. I also wonder about those last four words, if I were not. Is he equating non-existence of god with non-existence of self? The two cannot go together. At least not in the logic of the line, though if Augustine were reading this, of course he’d equate non-existence with non-being: god doesn’t exist, then neither do you, in Augustinian certainties (the very certainties that are its Achilles’ heel). Maybe Gide isn’t going that way, and simply taking refuge in the nothingness of nonexistence as absolving him from blaming god for not having existed. Now, would Gide care to ask: may I blame god for existing? Here the date of composition becomes more relevant. It is 1896, not 1915, not 1918, not 1942, dates Gide will come to know, as we will come to know him through that same Journal where he wrote this line. I don’t know that the elegance of the line would survive the Marne, Verdun, Hitler, the Holocaust, Hiroshima. Unless, as is much likelier, I am again misreading. I always have Flannery O’Connor, that other Catholic, buzzing her truths in my ear: “Your criticism sounds to me as if you have read too many critical books and are too smart in an artificial, destructive, and very limited way.”

P.T.

 

Now this:

The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.

May 2025

Sunday, May 25


ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students

Grace Presbyterian Church

grace community food pantry

Sunday, May 25


Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way

Flagler School District Bus Depot

Sunday, May 25


Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village


gamble jam

Sunday, May 25


Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area

Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach

sunbros cafe

Sunday, May 25


SunBros Cafe Celebrates the Life of Travis Sundell


al-anon family groups logo

Sunday, May 25


Al-Anon Family Groups


Monday, May 26


Memorial Day Ceremonies


nar-anon family groups palm coast

Monday, May 26


Nar-Anon Family Group

St. Mark by the Sea Lutheran Church

Monday, May 26


Flagler County Beekeepers Association Meeting

Flagler Agricultural Center

Monday, May 26


Bunnell City Commission Meeting



No event found!

For the full calendar, go here.

FlaglerLive

“Skeptical as to the existence of unicorns and salamanders, the age of Machiavelli and Henry VIII found food for its credulity in the worship of that rare monster, the God-fearing Prince.”

–From R. H. Tawney’s Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, cited in Bertrand Russell’s Power (1938).

 

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