#doing justice

[jasper-book-stash]

Deep understanding of any subject or set of facts requires active inquiry. That in turn requires asking questions. Every kind of question—searching questions, uncomfortable questions, broad questions, narrow questions, long-shot questions, repetitive questions, hypothetical questions. Many questions should be asked twice, perhaps even a third time, and rephrased each time to make sure the question was really understood and to make sure you understood the answer.

Smart questions are good; dumb questions are even better. There is no such thing as a dumb question, the saying goes, but the shorthand is useful here. So-called dumb questions are often foundational; they tend to get to the basics, to the bottom line. Dumb questions uncover superficial reasoning, reveal bad logic, and expose false experts. The world is populated, even in rarefied workplaces, with bullshit artists. People are forever using acronyms they can't expand, spouting jargon they can't translate, trafficking in concepts they don't grasp. They parrot shallow talking points and slogans and other people's recollections. When you take at face value everything said to you—even from supposed subject matter experts opining with great confidence—you are at risk of perpetuating everyone's superficial understanding of the matter at hand. There is no shame in asking basic questions, in virtually any context. In fact, it is essential to your personal understanding of any issue. Too often, people like to play in the treetops before working at the roots. That is a mistake in any job and in life generally.

I don't know the right number of questions a person should ask in any particular context. But what I do know is this: find the person in the new job who asks the fewest questions, and there's your problem. One veteran in my office gave this advice to newly minted supervisors: "People are going to come into your office and ask some crazy stuff. They're not the ones you need to worry about. It's the guy you haven't seen in six weeks."

-Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law, Preet Bharara (2019)

[pangur-and-grim]

a lot of you probably knows Belphie's story, but I'll summarize just in case.

Devon Rex cats are better for people with allergies (less shed fur + less Fel d1 protein in their saliva), so on February 16, 2024, I went the breeder route and put down a deposit. before Belphie even opened his eyes, he was mine!

every Friday, the breeder sent me a new photo. I had a broken leg, and was basically rotting in bed at that point, so it was the best part of my week. then, at 12 weeks old, I BROUGHT HIM HOME!

at first, he was so alive! like a wind-up monkey that never shut off. he dangled from the wall-hangings, savaged my feet as I walked, and used my elderly cats as jumping poles to do cool acrobatics over. but all this gradually faded.

first, he stopped playing. then he stopped climbing. then he stopped moving much at all. my vet ran tests on him and found multiple pathogens (calcivrius + mycoplasma), but the medication didn't help - he kept declining.

on September 17th, I woke up to find him swollen like a balloon. we finally had an answer: he had Feline infectious Peritonitis, aka FIP. before 2017, this would've been a death sentence. he would've kept bloating until he drowned in his own fluids. and before 2024, I would've been forced to inject him with black market drugs. but thankfully, South Tower Animal Hospital in Fergus, Ontario was doing a study on the oral medication! we drove two hours, enrolled him, and left with the GS-441524 pills.

and he went from those photos above.....to this:

I thought Belphie would die as a kitten. I'd accepted that he would never grow up. but now he gets to LIVE!

and all for the low cost of $7,553.....ahhhahaha........god.

that + a recent home disaster has wiped out my savings, but I still need to pay for Belphie's medication. to remain in this study, I need to do bloodwork monthly until Feb 2025, and he'll need daily pills until March 2025.

I've put a risograph print + enamel pin set up at greerstothers.shop. I hate asking for help, but if you'd like to support Belphie's continued treatment, please consider checking them out!

[thisiswhereikeepdcthings]

Justice League identity reveal where they don’t know who Batman is and one day a bunch of them walk in on him just casually eating yogurt in the cafeteria with his cowl off. A bunch of them recognize him, a couple don’t, and they’re all shocked.

Turns out Batman didn’t realize none of them knew who he was, since it had taken him all of ten minutes and three google searches to put everyone’s secret identities together and he just assumed they had all figured it out by this point. Or maybe he had meant to tell them and then just forgotten. Either way, he regularly interacts with half of them outside of hero stuff and hasn’t bothered with the whole separate persona thing with them in years. Shouldn’t they really have figured this out by now? So what if he forgot? This is clearly on them.

[itsdabatt]

happy national impersonate your favorite vigilante day to those who celebrate

Part 2

[brucie-baby]

the fact that alfred was the one to put up jason's memorial is so important to me

[manzanamarim]

These attorneys sure are ace or smth idk

[lungthief]

sometimes u just gotta remind yourself that while ace attorney is about law and justice and stuff it is also about a bunch of young adults living in [CALIFORNIA]

[mysticalcats]

i believe he is slaying as the kids say

[batsyheere]

I sometimes just imagine the first time Phantom is introduced to the league as like, a fellow big league hero. As someone who works with Justice League Dark and took down the Ecto Acts with his own team and allies to be included under the meta acts like aliens. He knows Constantine and Zatanna and is a pretty common name in the magical community now even if usually as his human form "just Danny".

And suddenly he is surrounded by these "big time heroes" and aliens and champions and most would assume he'd be overwhelmed or in awe. Maybe nervous, or weirdly fixated on being in space.

But here's the kicker- Danny is dead. Technically part of the category ecto-entity, ghost, and thus belonging to the Infinite Realms. He has met a vast variety of characters who are far more chaotic and legendary than these people who have so much interpersonal drama it looks like one of the soap operas Tucker refuses to admit he watches. Wonder Woman? Danny has lunch with Pandora and visits the Greek sections of the realms when he needs to research old prophecies. Superman? Kryptonite is like rock candy and the dead of Krypton are either very sweet or very condescending and Danny has seen both in the Boy Scout. The less said about the Green Lanterns the better. The Flash family are entertaining but also headache inducing because Danny has heard the complaints about the timeline. Half a dozen other heroes and vigilantes have their own dramas that Danny could pick apart at the source for the many issues that started said drama, and that's not even beginning on the issues with Batman and the weird galley of children he has who are sometimes even worse than the dark knight himself.

Meanwhile the League find themselves growing more concerned and horrified the more Phantom manages to reference his adventures and rather stressful start as a vigilante. Constantine hasn't been more entertained in years.

[chaithetics]

THE TREATY PRINCIPLES BILL IS BEING PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE TOMORROW!!!!!!!

EDIT: SIGN THIS PETITION THAT CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT AOTEAROA TIME 18TH NOV

EDIT: Here's a link with more info on the Bill and it's contents and breaches!

This matters to EVERYONE in our country! If you're Māori this is about our LITERAL existence, if you're Pākehā, tauiwi, tangata Tiriti this concerns you because Tiriti is what gives you the privilege of existing on this whenua! The Waitangi Tribunal has already said this Bill will be the biggest Waitangi breach ever. YOU have a responsibility to do something.

ACT, our coalition government, and the Ministry of Justice have been intentionally keeping this bill under the wraps. Mad mihi to the MoJ analyst who leaked that draft though (I'm sure they got sacked if not massive repercussions).

What we know so far is that Te Pāti Māori, Green Party, and Labour WILL NOT be voting for this and that ACT, NZ First, and National WILL be voting for this tomorrow. NZ First and National have said that they WILL NOT support this Bill after its first reading so it will go to Select Committee and then die at first reading.

National and NZ First have said they'll only support this Bill to first reading (thankfully) but there is always the chance of closed door promises & favours and we still need to advocate for this disgusting bill to die.

I'll post more about submissions when they open for Select Committee but I'm happy to help answer questions or help with that and the process.

But the racist idiots to email and drill in that you DO NOT want this Bill are...

ACT MPs

1. David Seymour (Email: David.Seymour@parliament.govt.nz ) (the one bigoted brain cell behind this bill)

2. Brooke Van Velden (Brooke.Vanvelden@parliament.govt.nz)

3. Nicole McKee (Nicole.McKee@parliament.govt.z)

4. Todd Stephenson (Todd.Stephenson@parliament.govt.nz)

5. Andrew Hoggard (Andrew.Hoggard@parliament.govt.nz)

6. Karen Chhour (Karen.Chhour@parliament.govt.nz)

7. Mark Cameron (Mark.Cameron@parliament.govt.nz)

8. Simon Court (Simon.Court@parliament.govt.nz)

9. Parmjeet Parmat (Parmjeet.Parmat@parliament.govt.nz)

10. Laura Trask (Laura.Trask@parliament.govt.nz)

11. Cameron Luxton (Cameron.Luxton@parliament.govt.nz)

AND

- Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (Christopher.Luxon@parliament.govt.nz)

- Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters (Winston.Peters@parliament.govt.nz)

If you're able to participate with any part of the hīkoi please do and please be safe!!!!

Toitū te Tiriti! Ake ake ake!

[jasper-book-stash]

The investigator's orientation matters. The mind-set and motivation are key. You must want to find the truth, must want to get it right. All too often, people simply want to win, facts and truth be damned. But to begin an inquiry, when justice is the goal, you must not be wedded to any result, must not have a thesis in advance. To be open-minded means proceeding without a theory. You develop a thesis from the facts, not vise versa.

Why is this so important? Once you commit to a theory or a thesis, it's hard to let it go. Psychologists are familiar with this phenomenon. People tend to tune out facts that conflict with their original thesis. They will downplay contrary evidence or, even worse, may not even recognize new facts as undercutting their first belief. First beliefs are sticky. Unproven first beliefs weaken your bain and dull your thinking just as a fever weakens your body. In any given inquiry, without constant vigilance, obvious first principles are at risk of degrading into facile catchphrases. You know them all: keep an open mind, don't prejudge, don't assume, don't jump to conclusions, guard against bias.

This open-minded approach meets resistance because it slows the speed of an investigation. After a horrible disaster of a violent crime, the world understandably clamors for accountability; they want the bad guys caught. The victims have faces; sympathy and empathy naturally pour forth. It's understandable that people want to see the faces of the evildoers. They want culprits, and they want them fast. In the wake of a crime, everyone turns into a NASCAR fan. They want speed, speed, speed.

Speed is an investigation's best friend and also its worst enemy. Speed is your friend because some evidence evaporates like a puddle in the sun. Memories lapse, witnesses walk, documents go missing too. So you want to get your hands on all the nuggets you can in short order.

But undue speed can cause you to overlook evidence or misinterpret it. It can force mistakes. As the Roman senator Tacitus said, "Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty." When you are always racing forward, it becomes hard to take a step back. But stepping back can be the key to a case. An investigator must maintain a near-impossible balance between patience and impatience. A burning drive to find the truth quickly is essential, but so is a calm resolve to take your time to get it right.

-Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law, Preet Bharara (2019)

[warningsine]

Cunk on Earth | Philomena's Castle

[nova-rpv]

death leech shadoo.....

design by @galaxylover06

[chibiveneficus]

oh this robot is gay, like GAY gay

[spader7]

it's ghoul hours

[blueboyluca]

“When I first heard it, from a dog trainer who knew her behavioral science, it was a stunning moment. I remember where I was standing, what block of Brooklyn’s streets. It was like holding a piece of polished obsidian in the hand, feeling its weight and irreducibility. And its fathomless blackness. Punishment is reinforcing to the punisher. Of course. It fit the science, and it also fit the hidden memories stored in a deeply buried, rusty lockbox inside me. The people who walked down the street arbitrarily compressing their dogs’ tracheas, to which the poor beasts could only submit in uncomprehending misery; the parents who slapped their crying toddlers for the crime of being tired or hungry: These were not aberrantly malevolent villains. They were not doing what they did because they thought it was right, or even because it worked very well. They were simply caught in the same feedback loop in which all behavior is made. Their spasms of delivering small torments relieved their frustration and gave the impression of momentum toward a solution. Most potently, it immediately stopped the behavior. No matter that the effect probably won’t last: the reinforcer—the silence or the cessation of the annoyance—was exquisitely timed. Now. Boy does that feel good.”

— Melissa Holbrook Pierson, The Secret History of Kindness (2015)