The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, June 2, 2025

From Clay Jones
From Clay Jones: “TACO is now a reference to how markets are responding to Trump’s tariff policies. It’s an acronym for Trump Always Chickens Out. The term was created by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong. It has been adopted by some analysts and commentators to describe the potentially lucrative pattern in which markets tumble after Trump makes tariff threats, only to rebound sharply after he backs down. He’s threatened and placed tariffs on China, Canada, Mexico, the European Union, and others, only to back down later. You know, chicken out. Bok! Bok! Bok! Donald Trump is a big fat ass orange chicken. The man is a coward. Donald Trump does NOT like this term. First off, he hates Latinos and any other race that’s not White. He’s a xenophobic racist asshole. He doesn’t like Jews or women that much either. Remember when he celebrated Cinco de Mayo by sharing a photo of himself in his Trump Tower office with a taco bowl? He thought that was connecting with Latinos.” Read the rest at Clay Jones’s Substack.

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Weather: Mostly clear with a 20 percent chance of showers. Highs around 90. Lows in the upper 60s.

  • 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:

 

housing affordability

Notably: If that doesn’t illustrate the American housing crisis in one image. From Statista: Housing affordability in the United States has taken a sharp turn for the worse in recent years, as home prices surged to historical highs during and after the pandemic and mortgage rates climbed to levels last seen in the early 2000s, as the Fed was forced to raise interest rates to rein in inflation. It all began with a surge in demand for houses during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many Americans, flush with cash from government stimulus checks, reevaluated their living situation and sought more space amid stay-at-home orders and the sudden possibility of remote work. Further fueling demand were the historically low mortgage rates after the Fed had slashed interest rates to near zero at the onset of the pandemic. At the same time, supply of new and existing homes was very constrained, as construction was disrupted by Covid restrictions and would-be sellers refrained from putting their house on the market during this uncertain time. This imbalance caused a rapid increase in home prices across the country, pushing many potential buyers out of the market, a trend that was exacerbated when the Fed started to tighten its policy stance in March 2022 in its efforts to cool inflation. Looking at prices and income alone, houses have gradually become less affordable over the past 40 years. In 1985, the median household income in the United States was $23,620. The median price of new houses sold at the time was $84,300, or 3.6 times the median income. In 2000, the ratio of home prices to median income reached 4 for the first time and by 2023, it had climbed to 5.3. Between 1985 and 2023, the median household income in the U.S. grew 241 percent to $80,610 in nominal terms. The median price of houses sold in the country climbed 408 percent over the same period, reaching $428,600 in 2023.”

 

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.

June 2025

flagler county commission government logo

Monday, Jun 02


Flagler County Commission Morning Meeting

Government Services Building

Jaydon Ikaika Jackson, left, in court today with his attorney, Josh Davis. (© FlaglerLive via zoom)

Monday, Jun 02


In Court: Jayden Jackson Sentencing

Flagler County courthouse

Monday, Jun 02


Beverly Beach Town Commission meeting


nar-anon family groups palm coast

Monday, Jun 02


Nar-Anon Family Group

St. Mark by the Sea Lutheran Church

John Cascone.

Tuesday, Jun 03


In Court: John Cascone Probation Violation Hearing

Flagler County courthouse

flagler beach city commission logo

Tuesday, Jun 03


Flagler Beach Library Writers’ Club

315 South 7th Street, Flagler Beach

flagler beach city commission logo

Tuesday, Jun 03


Flagler Beach Planning and Architectural Review Board


palm coast logo

Tuesday, Jun 03


Palm Coast City Council Meeting


bunnell logo

Tuesday, Jun 03


Bunnell Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board

Government Services Building

Tuesday, Jun 03


Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy

Cinematique of Daytona Beach


No event found!

For the full calendar, go here.

FlaglerLive

“In the Middle Ages people didn’t so much live in their houses as camp in them. The nobility owned so many residences, and traveled frequently. When they did so, they rolled up the tapestries, packed the chests, took apart the beds, and moved their houses with them. This explains why so much medieval furniture is portable or demountable. The French and Italian words for furniture — mobiliers and mobilia — mean “the movables.”

–From Witold Rybczynski’s Home (1987).

 

The Cartoon and Live Briefing Archive.

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