The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Florida Man by Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune.

Weather: Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning, then showers and thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 90s. Northwest winds around 5 mph, becoming east in the afternoon. Chance of rain 70 percent. Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy. Showers and thunderstorms likely in the evening, then a chance of showers with a slight chance of thunderstorms after midnight. Humid with lows in the lower 70s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent.

Today at the Editor’s Glance:

In Court: The Kwentel Moultrie trial enters its third and possibly final day. Moultrie is on trial for the second time on a charge of first-degree felony rape of a 16-year-old girl in Palm Coast in 2019. This is the second time Moultrie is being tried. The first trial in April ended with a hung jury. Moultrie, who has been at the county jail without bond, also faces separate charges of second-degree murder and armed burglary stemming from an unrelated incident resulting from a home invasion in the R-Section in late December, 2021. The jury will not hear about those charges. The trial begins at 8:30 a.m. with jury selection before Circuit Judge Terence Perkins in Courtroom 401 at the Flagler County courthouse. The trial is expected to take three days, including jury selection.

The Flagler County Commission holds a 1 p.m. workshop focused on the 2022-23 budget, and on its differences with the sheriff’s request. The county and the sheriff earlier this month were either $1.3 million or $700,000 apart. The workshop may be followed by a special meeting where commissioners could take a vote. At the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell.

The Flagler County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meets at noon at the Government Services Building’s first floor conference room, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell.

Flagler Cares Help Night: Flagler Cares and other community partners for this one-stop help night! The event is open to the public, free to attend, and will offer assistance with obtaining the following services:

Resources on Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten, Help Me Grow, and more from the Early Learning Coalition
Autism screening and Early Steps program information from Easterseals
Health Marketplace information and Medicaid application assistance from Flagler Cares
Information on Flagler Cares’ new Behavioral Health Program
Support services and information for families from Healthy Start
Information on services offered by The House Next Door
Information on vocational rehabilitation/disability assistance
Grace Community Food Pantry dry food bags
Tablet program – free tablets (including internet, calls, texts) for eligible applicants; must bring a valid ID, $11 one-time activation fee, and at least one of the following:
Medicaid
Section 8
Food stamps
Low income (SSI letter, 1099, W2)
Assistance with food stamp and Medicaid applications and cases from ESS Medicaid worker
Information on services offered by Hope Florida
Information on services offered by CareerSource
Narcan and information about services/groups offered by Flagler Oars
Florida Department of Health in Flagler Count

Fingerprinting is available at the Flagler Beach Police Department through Thursday, between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Please bring a Government issued photo ID (Driver’s License, Passport etc.). The cost is $5 if you have your own card, and $7 if you need a card provided. Please bring exact change. Please call (386) 517-2020 before you make a trip to the Police Department, to ensure that someone is on-site to do fingerprinting and to answer any questions that you might have. 204 S Flagler Ave, Flagler Beach.

The Blue 22 Forum, a discussion group organized by the Palm Coast Democratic Club, meets at 12:15 p.m. at the Palm Coast Community Center. Come and add your voice to local, state and national political issues.

Keep in Mind: The Flagler Youth Orchestra Strings Program, a special project of the Flagler County School District, is launching its eighteenth season. Visit the string program’s website at www.flagleryouthorchestra.org to enroll online. Enrollment is open now and until Sept. 14. An open house and information session will be held August 31 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Flagler Auditorium, 5500 State Road 100, in Palm Coast. Flagler County’s public, private, charter and home-schooled students, 8 years old and older, may sign up to play violin, viola, cello, or double bass. Beginner, intermediate and advanced musicians are welcome. Tuition is free. Limited instrument scholarships are available. Students will learn about the enriching world of classical music and many other genres while receiving comprehensive string instruction in a player-friendly environment twice a week after school. One-hour classes are held at Indian Trails Middle School on Mondays and Wednesdays between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m., depending on your child’s time slot. Some scheduling restrictions apply. Attend the August 31st orientation at the Flagler Auditorium to learn more about the strings program and how to get started. For more information about the program, call (386)503-3808 or email cheryl@flagleryouthorchestra.org.

Notably: A few days ago I made an analogy between Jill Woolbright, the school board member, and Pope Innocent III, architect of the genocidal crusade against France’s Cathars. I did not mention something else Innocent is infamous for: he declared Magna Carta (the “great charter of freedom”) null and void–on this day in 2015. Ron DeSantis texted him his deeply felt appreciation.

Now this: Sugar: the bitter truth.

Flagler Beach Webcam:

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.

Saturday, May 10

6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Murder at Shivering Timbers Murder Mystery Dinner Show Fundraiser

Palm Coast Community Center

Saturday, May 10

7:30 pm - 10:00 pm

RockabillieWillie At City Repertory Theatre

City Repertory Theatre at City Marketplace

No event found!

For the full calendar, go here.

It is quite sure that motor cars don’t grow out of the earth. We feel that if someone could believe the contrary he could believe everything that we say is untrue, and could question everything that we hold to be sure. But how does this one belief hang together with all the rest? We should like to say that someone who could believe that does not accept our whole system of verification. This system is something that a human being acquires by means of observation and instruction. I intentionally do not say “learns.”

–From Ludwig Wittgenstein’s On Certainty (1951).

The Cartoon and Live Briefing Archive.

Ray W. says

August 24, 2022 at 11:51 am

Thank you, Mr. Tristam.

On the Notably section, the original Magna Carta was signed by King John in 1215. A second Magna Carta was signed again 1231. The English barons just would not go away; they felt it necessary to stand up to tyranny by the executive branch (the king). The Glorious Revolution, considered the founding act of the conservative movement, involved Parlaiment standing up to the King of England, asserting Parlaiment’s dominance in limited affairs of English government. This idea of separation of powers certainly resonated with our founding fathers.

The Wittgenstein quote reflects but one example of the widespread acceptance of Thomas Reid’s philosophical contribution in the area of educability. Reid wrote in the early 1760’s about the concept of educability. Our founding fathers were thoroughly steeped in this philosophical ideal. As I have commented many times, Reid is widely viewed in academia as one of the fathers of the Common Sense movement that lasted from roughly 1760 to the early 19th Century, when the Transcendentalist movement (Emerson, Thorough, and many others) gained acceptance in America and spread to Europe.

Reid introduced the idea that one must possess two qualities to become educable. “Veracity” was defined as the capacity to speak, know and understand the truth about a subject matter. “Credulity” was the capacity to believe that someone else can speak, know and understand the truth about a subject matter. An individual who lacks veracity on a subject matter cannot be educated until he or she forms credulity for another person, thereby giving that other person credibility. Once credible, the other person can teach the individual on the subject matter, educating the individual and helping the individual become educable on that subject matter. A person can possess veracity about the multiplication tables, but that doesn’t mean the person speaks, knows and understands three-dimensional calculus. This is why experts and intellectuals are so important to an educated society. Someone must teach those who lack veracity about certain subjects in order to educate them.

For example, a very young child likely lacks veracity on just about every subject matter yet may possess the credulity to believe everything anyone tells him. Such a person would be barely educable, and easily misled. Such a child would be naive. As the child grows and learns, the child loses a measure of naivete’, and becomes more discerning in his capacity to listen to others. The child’s growing sense of skepticism, the foundation of all scientific advances, enables the child to become more educable. Eventually, it is hoped, the growing child never loses all sense of naivete’, and the child never become completely skeptical of others. As the child gains veracity in various subject matters and increases discernment for those who can teach him, he becomes ever more educable, yet he must always possess some measure of naivete’ and another measure of skepticism. A person who becomes a complete skeptic would make a poor spouse. A person who is completely naive would accept anything anyone else told him. It is crucial for the child to come to understand that creating credulity for the wrong person can be disastrous. If a growing child were to create credulity for an individual, any individual, who wishes to take advantage of the child, the newly trusted person could say anything, and the child would believe it. I assert that this is what Wittgenstein gets at in his comment. We all need a base of understanding that allows us to discern the truth. Wittgenstein calls this a “system of verification.” A society-wide system of verification is the heart of an educational system. Such a shared system would allow for widespread educability thoughout the society. A society that accepts a leader’s efforts to destroy its system of verification, so that any wrongfully trusted leader could control the populace through disinformation, would likely descend into a tyrannical form of government.

To some among us, if a trusted leader stated that cars emerge fully made from the earth, they would believe the leader on that subject matter. Putin repeatedly tells his people that the Russian Federation is engaging in a campaign of denazification in the Ukraine. Many believe it to be true, thinking that Putin is making Russia great again. Is he? Is the Russian Federation waging war on the Ukraine or attempting to erase a Nazi regime?

Comments

Ray W. says

August 24, 2022 at 11:51 am

Thank you, Mr. Tristam.

On the Notably section, the original Magna Carta was signed by King John in 1215. A second Magna Carta was signed again 1231. The English barons just would not go away; they felt it necessary to stand up to tyranny by the executive branch (the king). The Glorious Revolution, considered the founding act of the conservative movement, involved Parlaiment standing up to the King of England, asserting Parlaiment’s dominance in limited affairs of English government. This idea of separation of powers certainly resonated with our founding fathers.

The Wittgenstein quote reflects but one example of the widespread acceptance of Thomas Reid’s philosophical contribution in the area of educability. Reid wrote in the early 1760’s about the concept of educability. Our founding fathers were thoroughly steeped in this philosophical ideal. As I have commented many times, Reid is widely viewed in academia as one of the fathers of the Common Sense movement that lasted from roughly 1760 to the early 19th Century, when the Transcendentalist movement (Emerson, Thorough, and many others) gained acceptance in America and spread to Europe.

Reid introduced the idea that one must possess two qualities to become educable. “Veracity” was defined as the capacity to speak, know and understand the truth about a subject matter. “Credulity” was the capacity to believe that someone else can speak, know and understand the truth about a subject matter. An individual who lacks veracity on a subject matter cannot be educated until he or she forms credulity for another person, thereby giving that other person credibility. Once credible, the other person can teach the individual on the subject matter, educating the individual and helping the individual become educable on that subject matter. A person can possess veracity about the multiplication tables, but that doesn’t mean the person speaks, knows and understands three-dimensional calculus. This is why experts and intellectuals are so important to an educated society. Someone must teach those who lack veracity about certain subjects in order to educate them.

For example, a very young child likely lacks veracity on just about every subject matter yet may possess the credulity to believe everything anyone tells him. Such a person would be barely educable, and easily misled. Such a child would be naive. As the child grows and learns, the child loses a measure of naivete’, and becomes more discerning in his capacity to listen to others. The child’s growing sense of skepticism, the foundation of all scientific advances, enables the child to become more educable. Eventually, it is hoped, the growing child never loses all sense of naivete’, and the child never become completely skeptical of others. As the child gains veracity in various subject matters and increases discernment for those who can teach him, he becomes ever more educable, yet he must always possess some measure of naivete’ and another measure of skepticism. A person who becomes a complete skeptic would make a poor spouse. A person who is completely naive would accept anything anyone else told him. It is crucial for the child to come to understand that creating credulity for the wrong person can be disastrous. If a growing child were to create credulity for an individual, any individual, who wishes to take advantage of the child, the newly trusted person could say anything, and the child would believe it. I assert that this is what Wittgenstein gets at in his comment. We all need a base of understanding that allows us to discern the truth. Wittgenstein calls this a “system of verification.” A society-wide system of verification is the heart of an educational system. Such a shared system would allow for widespread educability thoughout the society. A society that accepts a leader’s efforts to destroy its system of verification, so that any wrongfully trusted leader could control the populace through disinformation, would likely descend into a tyrannical form of government.

To some among us, if a trusted leader stated that cars emerge fully made from the earth, they would believe the leader on that subject matter. Putin repeatedly tells his people that the Russian Federation is engaging in a campaign of denazification in the Ukraine. Many believe it to be true, thinking that Putin is making Russia great again. Is he? Is the Russian Federation waging war on the Ukraine or attempting to erase a Nazi regime?
Pogo says

August 24, 2022 at 2:35 pm

@76 days today to go

Tell Pop Gun r dion desantis it is fired.
https://desantiswatch.org/?akid=11046.47960.aFfe4i&rd=1&t=2

The present crisis:
https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2022/08/09/desantis-abuse-of-power-and-floridas-drift-from-democracy-to-autocracy-column/

Vote to save the future.

May 2025

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