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Bard spotting on Bluesky 27 December 2024 :marseyrandom:

Here we spot wild Bardfinn Bluesky activities.

Be valid and ping ! bardfinn for something worthwhile or create a new thread.

4
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ellie lockhart (she/they) (@eleanor.lockhart.contact):

Again, Ian Miles Cheong used to pretend to be my friend

He's really moved up in terms of, well, the prominence of the people whose friend he pretends to be

Best of Dying Twitter (@bestofdyingtwit.bsky.social):

Earlier this morning, Laura Loomer accused Elon Musk of sending "his Malaysian peepee sucker reply guy [Ian Miles Cheong] to attack" her.


mutantmell (@mutantmell.net):

How on earth is their alliance falling apart this quickly lol. Trump must be having way more bad days than good days at this point.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Faschismus Immer Streit. Fascism must always fight against an enemy.


mutantmell (@mutantmell.net):

Yeah, but like, Biden is still president right now, they could be yelling at him still.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

They've defeated him (in their minds). They don't yet have the levers of power to fight the s*x and ethnic minorities they wish to oppress.

If we are lucky they will never get it.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Please, Inanna, a miracle

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Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Oh my god noise cancelling headphones tech how i have missed you so

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Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I was wrong; there is no legal necessity of recusal here, and no legal appearance of impropriety. I made an ignorant and misleading statement, which was (by way of explanation, not excuse) from despair.

There is a much better approach to what I was trying to aim for — bsky.app/profile/dmsc...


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Thanks to @kathryntewson.bsky.social , @cbowers.bsky.social , and @questauthority.bsky.social for talking me around, patience, and persistence.

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Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

There are a lot of people talking past one another about the employment history of the judge & her spouse.

Whether or not there actually exists a conflict of interest (which is beyond my authority to say), there exists an

Appearance of Impropriety

And that should suffice for a recusal.

BUT

talia jane ❤️🔥 (@taliajane.bsky.social):

health insurance ceos pressured the doj to pursue federal charges against mangione to act as a "deterrent" against "copycat vigilante killers"

then he got hit with federal charges.

nypost.com/2024/12/20/u...


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Correction, see

bsky.app/profile/skyw...

Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I was wrong; there is no legal necessity of recusal here, and no legal appearance of impropriety. I made an ignorant and misleading statement, which was (by way of explanation, not excuse) from despair.

There is a much better approach to what I was trying to aim for — bsky.app/profile/dmsc...

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Alexis Turner (@surliertexan.bsky.social):

The timeline is relevant. The recusal should have happened PRIOR to the public outcry that could have easily been anticipated. The fact that it wasn't is indicative of the gulf btwn what passes for reasonable and proper within the courts vs outside of them.


Alexis Turner (@surliertexan.bsky.social):

I'll be a lot more blunt than I was last night because the aggressive failure to understand where the problem lies is tiresome. The judiciary is a hot goddarn corrupt mess and the public isn't the one being unreasonable here to expect its members not be invested up to their eyeballs in corporations.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

They explicitly are. The judiciary are not forbidden from having retirement investments, Alexis. Should there be a rule that says that judges should only invest in index and mutual funds? Probably! Is there? No. You cannot make "being a judge" incompatible with "being financially prudent."


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Should there be a rule that says that judges should only invest in index and mutual funds? Probably! Is there? No.

Thank you.

———

I had been rethinking how my sentiment could be put into different words, and travelled down this path.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

In the absence of such a rule, there is no conflict to disclose, no appearance of impropriety.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Which brings us to an is-ought problem, which — I lack talent, cleverness, or intelligence to overcome.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

You can start by using "ought" when you mean ought and "is" when you mean is.

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Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I feel upset, disappointed, angry.

Some reasons for this include the fact that a justice system that ought to have held Donald Trump et al meaningfully accountable for his actions, instead defaulted to "This is a political question", and therefore defaulted to allowing the foreseeable sequelae …


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

And the foreseeable sequelae includes genocide, exploitation, oppression, and a laundry list of vengeance on his enemies.

I am a transgender woman. I helped get /r/the_donald kicked off Reddit, & exposed it as operated by White Identity Extremists - Nazis.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

It is a justice system which says of gerrymandering that it is a political problem and must have a political solution, while also accepting that the political approach delays and denies justice.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

The same month I came out as transgender, the harassment and death threats began. That was 8 years ago.

In the past 5 years, there's been three attempts on my life by these people. Transphobes who helped the Trump campaign on Reddit.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Like all stalking and harassment victims, I have little to no satisfaction from the justice system.

For the justice system, death threats and attempts and harassment are — a political problem, in need of a political solution. (Despite the existence of laws these actions violate)


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

The behaviour of the justice system in the United States has made it perfectly legal (in the Kissingerian sense) to be a Nazi and terrorise Nazi victims — while illegal (in Kissingerian and practical senses) to be LGBTQ.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

This is my outlook on the world and the major institutional pillars of my society — that they have functionally failed.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I might be forgiven for lacking trust in a government and its systems which I fear will allow me to be in the grip of political operatives of Donald Trump under the colour of law.

I might be forgiven for expecting more and better of them, in their institutional practices & consequent outcomes.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

And I believe there are many others who share the same anger, fear, and disappointment created by trust in systems they expected, in full faith and credit, to partner with them - only to fail when needed.

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That's nice sweaty. Why don't you have a seat in the time out corner with Pizzashill until you calm down, then you can have your Capri Sun.

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Jesse Singal Vapes Piss (@mumbly-joe.bsky.social):

Don't think I've ever seen someone literally say "one of the good ones" verbatim like this

Return of the Cmonmacques (@cmonmaque.bsky.social):

That's just the craziest fricking thing I ever saw


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I just … cannot …

Big "I worked on this for 6 months and he just tweeted it out" energy. Fully Aware Wolves, just not ashamed of it.

Surely the Nazis will never eat his face

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Dan Izzo (@izzos.us):

There's only an "appearance of impropriety" if you're operating under false statements of fact about both the judge's "ties to the Healthcare system" and her role in the case

In other words the appearance exists only if you're LYING things.

Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

There are a lot of people talking past one another about the employment history of the judge & her spouse.

Whether or not there actually exists a conflict of interest (which is beyond my authority to say), there exists an

Appearance of Impropriety

And that should suffice for a recusal.

BUT


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

bsky.app/profile/skyw...

In short: It exists as more than a specified term of legal art.

Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

To sum up, my position here is that there is a precarious balance of public trust in the institutions of the practice of law, justice, government — and that is in a scope that is beyond merely law, but is one of politics.

(Thank you @cbowers.bsky.social for your contributions)


Dan Izzo (@izzos.us):

Yes, but your still operating from false assertions of fact when you accept statements that she has ties to the health insurance industry or that she has anything to do with his trial or indeed any role beyond reading his charges and entering his plea.

Those are FACTUALLY FALSE statements.


Dan Izzo (@izzos.us):

That have nothing to do with the legal term of art or rules regarding conflicts.

They're lies you're pushing to assert your narrative.

This is every bit as disingenuous as Trump's attacks on Engoron's Clerk or Merchan's daughter in claiming they were conflicted.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

To put it another way:

I study violent extremism, including the rise of populist anti-government extremism in the United States.

Which movements are notorious for not caring about the rule of law.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Trust thermocline inversion is what I am wide awake at 0300, thinking about.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Large scale, widespread, flames-fanned and highly resonant populist sentiment of No Confidence in entire systems of law, justice, and government, including the corollary NGOs.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

In China, a major trigger of the revolution was the reality and perception of widespread corruption in institutions, including Buddhist temples.

I fear that even writing about this is merely rearranging deck chairs.

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Mike Dunford (@questauthority.bsky.social):

What you are arguing for seems to be the idea that a judge should recuse if people operating under an incomplete and misleadingly presented picture of a subset of the facts feel like impartiality has been compromised.

That's a recipe for an even more injustice-prone system than what we have now.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

You are not the first to observe this. I am a poor communicator, and should have stated that the system / she should have had the resources and structure to make any ethical questions ridiculous.

This is better - bsky.app/profile/dmsc...

D.M. Schmeyer (@dmschmeyer.bsky.social):

Here's why this is important.

We don't have infinite resources for the judicial system.

Or even, like, very many resources.

When we ask for more we don't get them

When we ask you for more you don't vote for them.

Thats before Uncle Politics shows up and makes everything complicated.


Mike Dunford (@questauthority.bsky.social):

The resources are needed, but wouldn't fix the problem. People are complex. The world is more complex. Unless the judge is a literal anchorite, there's a decent chance that something can be found that could create an appearance of a possible influence if depicted in the right (or wrong) light.


Mike Dunford (@questauthority.bsky.social):

So, no matter how well resourced, having "if an appearance of possible influence has been created by incomplete information" as a recusal standard will be something that's trivial to manipulate - allowing any well-resourced litigant to, in effect, recuse any judge they don't like.


Mike Dunford (@questauthority.bsky.social):

And I used "well-resourced" for a reason here. Finding the information and getting it to people to create the appearance is not something that all litigants will be able to do. It's another area where abuse will be easier the more money you have.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Kathryn mentioned a few times how that is abusable, and I immediately thought of terrorist extortion.

I want functional, regular, unexciting government.


Mike Dunford (@questauthority.bsky.social):

So say we all. For real.

In this particular area, the current standard is based on the fictional reasonable person who has been paying attention and is fully informed. As unsatisfying as that might be sometimes, I think that's the best (or at least the least bad) approach.

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Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

This should make you less inclined to indulge in efforts to stoke populist anti government views


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

bsky.app/profile/skyw...

Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

In China, a major trigger of the revolution was the reality and perception of widespread corruption in institutions, including Buddhist temples.

I fear that even writing about this is merely rearranging deck chairs.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

Right, you are fully aware of the harm that spreading lies that help build a perception of corruption can cause. That's my point


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Question - have you ever read Dr Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail?


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

Yes


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Would you agree that the thesis of his letter is,

"I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes."

-?


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

Not sure at 3 am that I can establish his thesis from memory, but I'll grant that something like that was a argument he offered


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Thank you.

And can we, for a moment, propose that an appearance of impropriety exists (parallel to the legal term of art) as a political phenomenon, in the eyes of millions of disempowered, exploited, angry beholders.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Frankly, I was taught that the legal discipline is self-regulating to a high standard because, if it wasn't, Politics Would Happen in its stead.

My observation is that this is coming to pass.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

None of which addresses the fact that you are spreading lies. Or that your perception that it isn't self regulating in this case is based on falsehood. You only look at the effects, you don't care at all about the underlying cause


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I think the underlying cause is that millions of people perceive an appearance of widespread systemic corruption, a blindness to it amongst its professors, and that actions taken on this perception are trending towards the destruction of the Constitutional government.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

ok? assuming that you think its bad, do you think openly lying and then smearing people in the system will help resolve the issue or make it worse? Are you in fact seeking to cause civil unrest?

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Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

You can propose it, sure. I'm not sure how this will justify your effort to contribute to the underlying cause of that appearance by spreading lies without remorse


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Well, again - it's easy to resort to appeals to specified definitions when the scope of what's being discussed is established as beyond that; it's easy to dismiss a member of one's own profession raising the alarm as a self-interested hack, marketing a podcast.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

It's tough to say, "Perhaps there are underlying causes to this phenomenon".

The riot is the voice of the unheard. Or so I am told.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

yes, one of the underlying causes is people like you who have no shame in lying to get what you want

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Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

Are lies good, Penny? Let's start there. Is it good to lie to people?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I'm going to change the subject.

I'm sorry for the death threat you received earlier. I've done what I can, in the immediate sense, to prevent that from re-occurring in my mentions.

To change it back -

I am also sorry for my lack of talent in speech has led to being accused of lying.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I'm also not unacquainted with rhetorical patronisation. You are free to simply say, "What you say here, I consider to be false", and I will address that; I'm not agreeing to a framing where I am psychologically tensed as bad.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

I think truth exists. I consider objectively false things to be false.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

And to circle back to my original assertion, I think people are talking past one another.

I am old enough to recognise the symptoms of it here. Whatever I imagined I was communicating does not seem to have been communicated.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

You made it very clear that you think it's not just acceptable but an active moral good for the magistrate to violate Mangione's rights in order to improve the public perception of the courts.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Did I?

Again - whatever I imagined I was communicating, it is clear to me that I have failed to do so, in these circumstances.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

Yes, you did. You argued that this judge should have recused herself instead of arraigning him, in order to restore the public trust.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Oh thank you.

In point of fact, I said that there is an appearance of impropriety (and then spent column inches qualifying that term in an If-By-Whiskey), and then asserted that such condition should suffice for a recusal.

I understand that legally, in a legal scope, no such requirement exists.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

It is perhaps — and can be vigorously asserted — that I am at fault for employing the If-By-Whiskey rhetorical construction.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

bsky.app/profile/kath...

Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

Are lies good, Penny? Let's start there. Is it good to lie to people?

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(@funkadelicgringo.bsky.social):

No. One can be careful as to how much truth is revealed and when it is revealed, but lies are harmful.


"Frick every cause that ends in murder and children crying." (@nocatsnomasters.bsky.social):

Gonna come out and disagree here; this is an absolute statement that is easily falsified by situations in which the lie, "Of course there are no Jews in my attic, Obergrupenfurher." is the correct and moral response to questions asked in good faith.


(@funkadelicgringo.bsky.social):

Falsified by a hypothetical?

Some individuals do not have the right to the facts or truth we possess, so when they demand them, a moral response would be to remain silent.


"Frick every cause that ends in murder and children crying." (@nocatsnomasters.bsky.social):

Thus, sometimes the correct, moral choice is to lie.


"Frick every cause that ends in murder and children crying." (@nocatsnomasters.bsky.social):

As an aside, it's... not a hypothetical question?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

In this case it is. Kathryn's question had a specific scope which is implied from context; it isn't a general philosophical conundrum, but a Socratic counter dialogue. She isn't actually arguing whether lying is acceptable or not; She is making me examine my axioms.


"Frick every cause that ends in murder and children crying." (@nocatsnomasters.bsky.social):

Fair, and thank you for the clarification, since the thread itself has a block in the middle preventing access to some of the context.

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https://i.rdrama.net/images/17189081272030811.webp

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Alvaro Ibañez (@alvaroim.bsky.social):

Of curse you are. Because if you were to actually answer the very sunple question if whether lies are bad, you'd put yourself in an untenable position

The problem is that your transparent attempt to dodge the question just showcase that...


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Please, allow me to interject -

The people I was talking with above have persuaded me I was wrong. Twice. Thank you.


Alvaro Ibañez (@alvaroim.bsky.social):

My apologies. That's what happens when you're trying to follow back from the start


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

You don't need to apologise; the blame lies with me.

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(@shirleydunk.bsky.social):

I don't think there's a bright line there. Lying to Nazis about whether you are harboring Jews in your house is clearly good. Lying to kids about Santa or, "does this make me look fat?", well, people can legitimately have different opinions. However, these lies about the judge are bad.


Heptaglemious (@heptaglemious.bsky.social):

The problem comes when those who are vested in denying facts succeed in replacing fact with Truth(TM) as the arbiter of reality. Big Tobacco, creationists, climate change deniers, antivaxers and so on.


(@shirleydunk.bsky.social):

I don't get what this means, or what it has to do with these lies about the judge.

Is this a defense of lying? "They lie so we should lie back harder"? I really don't see how that would do any good, and I've never seen that end up anywhere than backfiring horrendously.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I don't get what this means

And the fault for that devolves to me. I am not able to communicate my position sufficiently in our interaction.


(@shirleydunk.bsky.social):

Have you considered that might mean that your position is not as well grounded as you think?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

In "Gödel, Escher, Bach", Douglas Hofstadter proposes a three-tiered hierarchy of information in messages: the frame, the outer message, and the inner message.

I believe I understand the inner messages posited by the legal professionals in audience, here. I can articulate no confusion about them.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

My axiomatic first assertion in the original post is that people are talking past one another. That inner messages aren't surviving the process of encoding into outer messages and frames.

So it could be supposed that I have considered that question.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

My only ethical conclusion is that — absent perceiving some acknowledgment that my inner message has survived the modulation and demodulation — the failure lies somewhere with me.

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(@shirleydunk.bsky.social):

I only have the experience of several decades, to experience that if one is attempting to tightrope across a sea of bullshit, they'd best ensure their rigging and equipment is solid, lest they end up in the bullshit themselves. Fancy circus costumes and glittering makeup are of no help.


(@shirleydunk.bsky.social):

I usually manage to remember all that, check my rigging and stay out of the bullshit.

But only usually. I am only human, alas.


(@shirleydunk.bsky.social):

My take on this case is that there will end up being very little justice regardless of the outcome. Luigi's message is irrevocably tainted by the fact of murder. He could have chosen to use a paintball gun instead. Your message is tainted by the lies underneath it, you could have chosen truth.


(@shirleydunk.bsky.social):

In either case, we would not be flailing around in this bullshit, and would have stood a much better chance of making the other side.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

M(r?)s Tewson & Mr Bowers talked me around.

I, too, think there will be a scant chance at justice. I believe he committed murder, and will be convicted of something like that.

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You could have done crack instead of this shit

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Morten F. (@mortenf.bsky.social):

But that "appearance of impropriety" (non-existent) in your case means violating Mangione's constitutional rights to set right.

I'd personally rather protect his constitutional rights than turn him into Josef K.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

The appearance of impropriety I speak of, exists in the eyes of the beholders. Here, being millions of people exploited and angry. It is an appearance of impropriety of a system.

bsky.app/profile/skyw...

Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

it relies on the observation that the POTUS-elect has made a populist case for close to a decade that there is widespread systemic corruption, & now a wide political sentiment agrees.

Perhaps it is an observation that the system - however ethical - has already failed.

Don't shoot the messenger.


Morten F. (@mortenf.bsky.social):

Sure, but I don't understand why you want to make it worse by giving judges permission to hold you for indefinite amounts of time without telling you what you're accused of. That seems like it makes things less just, not more.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

why you want

I have previously lamented that I have clearly failed to communicate my position, so it may possibly, perhaps, tentatively, be put forward that under such failure mode, any perception of my desire or intention is unfounded.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

You literally said "to see justice done with as few doubts as to a derailment of justice be introduced as possible, the judge should recuse." So I think I can be forgiven for thinking that you believe the judge should recuse.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Fair.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

And, further, that you believe that this recusal is in the interests of justice, because it would assuage the public doubts.

Am I wrong in either of those conclusions? Did I misread you?

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Robert Szasz 𓅆 (@rszasz.bsky.social):

Should all the judges in Trump's cases have had to recuse?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

My point is rather that this question is moot.

It is that - like it or not - politics has already supplanted the rule of law in our justice system.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

to a troubling degree. Why are you advocating for more of it?

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Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

but, again, it's not just the legal requirement. your claim that there is an appearance relies on objectively false claims. you have not bothered to support your claim with a single fact, and have never shown any concern that the claims you are pointing at are false


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

it relies on the observation that the POTUS-elect has made a populist case for close to a decade that there is widespread systemic corruption, & now a wide political sentiment agrees.

Perhaps it is an observation that the system - however ethical - has already failed.

Don't shoot the messenger.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

Is Judge Parker assigned to the Mangione case, Penny?

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Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

No answer here, huh


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Would it change anything if I did answer?


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

You said you would engage with specific things if I pointed out that they were false. So I pointed out some specific things that were false, and you did not engage with them. So I guess what it would change is that then I would have SOME evidence that you're acting in good faith?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

So I pointed out some specific things that were false

I think you did so; I believe you also put words in my mouth a few times.

I have specified that you are correct in that, in a legal scope, there is no compulsion for her to recuse herself.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

Is she assigned to the Mangione case? Yes or no.

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Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

You're confirming that you are approaching this is bad faith


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I appreciate the information you shared. Not so much for the abrasiveness, but it is what it is. You don't know me, and it is understandable to presume ill intent when someone takes a position that seems hostile to what is right. —


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

In truth, I am a poor communicator; If-By-Whiskey was my choice and I bear the consequences of it.

I agree with this - bsky.app/profile/dmsc...

And I should have written in hope, rather than existential fear and nihilism.

D.M. Schmeyer (@dmschmeyer.bsky.social):

Here's why this is important.

We don't have infinite resources for the judicial system.

Or even, like, very many resources.

When we ask for more we don't get them

When we ask you for more you don't vote for them.

Thats before Uncle Politics shows up and makes everything complicated.


BADNEW (@j-mike.bsky.social):

Like how is she supposed to recuse herself from the arraignment if she has no one politically acceptable to replace her, without seriously violating Mangione's right to due process? If you acknowledge the court system is already running short on infrastructure why place more onerous demands on it?

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Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

I want you to acknowledge that Judge Parker is not assigned to the Mangione case.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I rely on your representations in that matter.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

Are you going to stop saying or implying that she is assigned to the case?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I think so. And to do so, you would prefer I take which actions? Should I delete - or keep intact and refute in a separate statement - the post that spawned all this? Or simply accede that I made a misleading statement?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

And I do want to thank you for your patience and your persistence. I do value your zeal for justice. I do not want to kneecap myself, you, or any effort to prevent a Trumpist political gutting of faith in institutions. I am just … human. And angry.

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Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

You think so?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I was wrong; you corrected me. I made (ignorant, which is a choice) misstatements about whether a magistrate is assigned to the Mangione case; I made a misleading statement about whether she can and should recuse herself.

Does this satisfy?


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

^this is direct and clear. Absolutely the way to go, and appreciated


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

And I hope my crisis (ugh I have to own this) didn't keep you from sleep. I appreciate your efforts as well.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

Oh, the sleep thing was just my brain refusing to shut off the night before a travel day. Stupid, stupid brain


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I hope you get enough rest!


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

Thanks! I'm hitting the delusional point now. Maybe some sleep on the plane this afternoon

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More comments

Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I perceive these exchanges as adversarial in nature, with a necessary axiomatic restriction that officers of the court have an affirmative compulsion under ethics to avoid any imputation that justice cannot be delivered through the court. This colours my expectations of what is possible.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

Where are you getting the existence of that "necessary axiomatic restriction," and why do you continue to act like you believe it's operative?

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Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

In truth, I should have written my thoughts in a diary, and some time later gotten feedback and editing. Rather than belabour the public with decoding my ramblings.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

This - bsky.app/profile/dmsc...

Approaches the issue much more charitably than I did. I feel there ought to be a justice system that allows jurists to avoid political appearances of impropriety; reality is otherwise. My complaint is not with those doing what they can with the little they have.

D.M. Schmeyer (@dmschmeyer.bsky.social):

Here's why this is important.

We don't have infinite resources for the judicial system.

Or even, like, very many resources.

When we ask for more we don't get them

When we ask you for more you don't vote for them.

Thats before Uncle Politics shows up and makes everything complicated.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

Except that you explicitly condemned those doing what they can with what they have. Repeatedly.

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Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

Let's back up. What is the appearance of impropriety in regards to this judge in this particular case? I'm not appealing to any legal standard, I'm asking you to lay out what your claim is


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

Can you also explain how Trump, who has no connection to either the case or judge, relates in any way?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I believe that I have previously lamented, at length, my inability to explain my position.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

are there seriously no facts at issue? Nothing the judge did, or has as some circumstance? Nothing about the case?

It doesn't need to be a good explanation, just tell us anything at all about it


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

It doesn't need to be a good explanation

And as I have confessed, mine is so poor as to escape understanding by the present audience.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

fwiw, it turns out that "I refuse to offer an explanation" necessarily leads to people not understanding your explanation

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Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

I'm not certain you have a position.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Which, again, the blame for a failure in communication is one I accept.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

Do you believe the judge should have recused herself from arraigning Mangione? This is a yes or no question.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I believe that the system should not have allowed such a question to arise in the first place, and that such has arisen is a failure mode.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

How would you avoid raising the question?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Oh my.

I don't believe this is a choice any of us can make now, and not a choice anyone with the power to effectuate it was interested in making, and we all will reap it.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

Please answer the question I asked. I don't see how you can have recusal requirements without raising the question of whether someone is required to recuse, and I am interested to learn.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I don't see how you can have recusal requirements without raising the question of whether someone is required to recuse

I was taught that there was a value, "to avoid even the appearance of impropriety". I was taught this value exists for reasons. I believe many others were, as well.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

What those reasons are included "avoiding inverting the public trust in the institution."

Which, I was taught, and which I believe, to be a political question.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

The judge is not responsible for people lying about her. also, linear time means that lies told after arraignment cannot be a basis for recusal before arraignment

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Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

You were taught incorrectly. That is not what the law actually says.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Thank you.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

Does this change your position that the interests of justice required her to recuse?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

The Code of Conduct is not law; Yet, the judge is bound to follow (her conscience) in it. This requirement is for the interests of justice. So here you appear to accept that the interests of justice have a scope outside the letter of the law.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

There is a great deal which should have occurred in many ways for the interests of justice to be best served here. In my opinion. None of which involves deny Mr Mangione his rights, or conflating that question with what I intended to communicate.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I am a poor communicator. And an insomniac.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

You communicate just fine when you want to.

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Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

how can a judge be expected to avoid the appearance when the appearance exists entirely outside the judge's sphere and nobody communicates the issue? how does one go about avoiding without taking action to avoid?


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

how can the judge be expected to avoid …

This is at the heart of it.

and nobody communicates the issue

The riot is the voice of the unheard.

Also, the poll results in elections backing a full-throated call to "Drain the Swamp" for a decade might be considered a communication attempt


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

The voice of the mob does not change the law, which the judge is bound to obey.

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Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

of, the heart of it is that the judge should do the impossible?

and that she should know that she is acting improperly, because a mob that feeds on false information made vague claims

Again, your call for recusal is dishonest. You think Luigi shouldn't face trial


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

You think Luigi shouldn't face trial

Do I?


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

Yes. You have argued that justice can only be served by him never even being told what he is charged with.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

You have argued that justice can only be served by him never even being told what he is charged with.

I understand that this is your perception of what I have attempted to communicate. I have confessed that I am a poor communicator. I have no intention that he should be denied his rights …


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

… nor that justice fail to be done.


Kathryn Tewson (@kathryntewson.bsky.social):

If the judge refuses to arraign him, his rights are denied.

Should the judge refuse to arraign him? You said yes, very clearly; truly excellent communication.

QED.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

I believe a judge should (should have) arraign(ed) him. And I believe that has happened! But, the fact of the execution of arraignment is rather beside my point.


Corey Bowers (@cbowers.bsky.social):

if the facts are beside the point then there was no impropriety and, your accusations notwithstanding, nothing that was done harmed justice at all

not having to deal with facts just means you get to throw bombs without facing challenge

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More comments

Edith Laurie Charles (@edithcharles.bsky.social):

Makes sense, astrology is phrenology for gays after all

Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein.bsky.social):

IQ tests are astrology for racists


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

[person who is clearly distracted by the proposition of having her head scratched] Ooo?

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Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

A side note: If you make death threats in my mentions, I will immediately, unqualifiedly, and without reservation block you.

Don't enable or engage those who make death threats in my mentions. Not under any circumstances.

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Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

To sum up, my position here is that there is a precarious balance of public trust in the institutions of the practice of law, justice, government — and that is in a scope that is beyond merely law, but is one of politics.

(Thank you @cbowers.bsky.social for your contributions)

Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

There are a lot of people talking past one another about the employment history of the judge & her spouse.

Whether or not there actually exists a conflict of interest (which is beyond my authority to say), there exists an

Appearance of Impropriety

And that should suffice for a recusal.

BUT


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

Capital (shareholder) finance incentives abound in the professional class. They shouldn't. That they do, tears at public trust in the institutions. Regulatory capture of public officials is apparent; this also tears at public trust.

In short, it was proper to have Jimmy Carter sell the peanut farm.


Ms. Penny Oaken, SkyWitch (@skywitches.net):

But government and justice have abandoned such standards, systemically. It is flaunted. That comes with a price.

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:marseytrain: janny with a mop. :marseytrain: janny with a mop.

Granny panties and a dress. Granny panties and a dress.

6 foot 4 and a mugshot. 6 foot 4 and a mugshot.

Child abuse and no job. Child abuse and no job.

Living in mama's sunroom. Living in mama's sunroom.

Giant pale hands and lipstick. Giant pale hands and lipstick.

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