justice

"At the heart of the Right to Repair movement is human agency — the agency to use your property as you see fit; the agency for small businesses and repair shops to compete with huge incumbents by providing better, cheaper services; and the agency for the next innovators of the world to tinker, free of constraints, as they develop the skills needed to realize the vision for that next great product."

"Shunning as an end-point to normative conflict is the definition of absurdity. Shunning is not only a punitive silencing, but it is a removal from humanity, and therefore reliant on the Making of Monsters. After all, no one owns humanity and humans cannot be removed from themselves. It’s a delusion."

"Shunning, an active form of harassment, is never useful in resolving problems; in most cases it is petty and primarily a way to avoid an adjustment of the self that is required for accountability. If it has no terms for resolution, it is simply a form of asserting supremacy and imposing punishment, and punishment, as we know, rarely does anything but produce more pain."

"Those who know may also know that they keep a strict version of the “,” or shunning, as practiced by early Protestants. Few realize that “Meidung,” when it was introduced, was regarded as a progress. The Amish fled to North America to affirm their right to religious liberty. As part of religious freedom, apostates were no longer executed, and physical violence against them was forbidden. They were free to go elsewhere and, if inclined to do so, establish new separate religious communities. The only sanction they were subjected to was “Meidung” or shunning, i.e. strict separation from their friends and relatives, which was perhaps sad but surely better than being burned at stake or drowned in the icy waters of the river, the penalty for apostates in Protestant Zurich."

"On December 14, 2023, the Netherlands joined several other democratic countries that have declared the so-called “shunning” practiced by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other religions not illegal and protected in its teaching and practice by international and domestic provisions on freedom of religion or belief. The Minister of Justice and Security wrote to the House of Representatives explaining the reasons why shunning should not be criminalized in the country."

"The [Belgian Court of] Cassation acknowledges that it would be forbidden to “harass, threaten, or bully ex-members,” but states that this is by no means part of the shunning policy of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is true that shunning may lead “to social isolation towards other members of the faith community,” but this should not be confused with a “generalized social isolation.” The Belgian Jehovah’s Witnesses are a “small faith community of about 26,000 members across Belgium,” and those shunned remain free to associate with all the other people living in the country."

"Shunning by family, cliques, or governments is an active form of harassment, and is consistently detrimental to all parties, even as it becomes normalized and status quo."

"The problem with shunning is that it keeps information that can be productive out of the realm of consideration. Healthy discourse means dealing with what exists and coming into some kind of relationship of understanding with reality. Defended discourse forbids or shuns certain perspectives or contexts to information."

"The origin of the term “nepotism” comes from Catholic bishops who would bequeath wealth, property, and priesthood to their “nephews”---usually their illegitimate offspring, and it served as a way for church clergy to both own property and to retain power in their families. Today, we use nepotism to refer to the hiring or promotion of a family member (including in-laws), and it smacks of favoritism. Indeed, the hiring of relatives in some companies is forbidden by company policy."

"NEPOTISM, n. Appointing your grandmother to office for the good of the party."

"There is one simple change that would help shake up the status quo and reverse the ongoing trend towards incumbency and plutocracy. All we need do is pass a law that prohibits family members of a current or former officeholder from running for elected office or serving in any capacity in his or her own administration. Ever since John Quincy Adams... America has suffered the shortcomings of a system open to the abuses of nepotism... George W. Bush was never qualified to be president, but he had the family connections...the Democratic Party could have saved itself from itself with such a statute in place as Hillary Clinton, the wife of a former president, would have been disqualified... would have cleared the way in 2016 for Bernie Sanders, who had a far better chance of knocking off Donald Trump... Such a provision would prevent the likes of the Bush daughters and Chelsea Clinton from running. More importantly, it would halt any further political ambitions by the Trump siblings, including Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka.... With special interests ruling the roost, we're lucky to see new blood take office and instead must put up with something more akin to dynastic rule.Let's at least put an end to the passing of power from one generation of professional politicians to another, and clear the way for the possibility of truly representative government."

"While some companies have formal programs, others let employees follow their individual passion for volunteering. “Our leadership team doesn’t dictate where people volunteer because we want our team members – those who live and work in the communities we serve – to decide where their time will have an impact,” said Chris Martin, President and CEO, Provident Bank. “Whether that’s picking up a hammer and helping Habitat for Humanity or spending the day throwing strikes during the Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowling Tournament, we encourage all team members to take time to give back. That is why we give every employee 2 paid days per year to volunteer."

"Society's and law‐makers' demands for individual and corporate social responsibility as an alternative response to market and redistributive failures have recently become more prominent. Certainly, calls for people to contribute time and money to good causes have existed throughout history and in all societies, from Antiquity to, say, eighteenth century Quakers' and Mennonites' refusal to invest in weapons and slavery.... the movement is gaining momentum, especially with the empowerment of civil society... and the equitable‐trade/responsible‐investment movement. A variety of factors probably combine to account for this trend: (i) social responsibility is likely to be a normal good; (ii) information about companies' practices throughout the world has become much more accessible and quick to travel; (iii) the scope of environmental and social externalities exerted by multinationals in less developed, more laxly regulated countries is likely to have expanded in pace with globalization; (iv) the long‐run cost of atmospheric pollution (e.g. global warming), or at least the public's awareness of it, has risen significantly."

"As a former editor with some experience in investigating and exposing corruption and misconduct... I have the greatest admiration for the way the Guardian has handled the Snowden leaks. The moral courage, professional diligence, social responsibility, and editorial excellence that has gone into making this challenging mass of material, including technical information, accessible to general readers are in the finest traditions of public-spirited and impactful investigative journalism."

"Charitable acts have value, but under the slightest scrutiny the magnanimity of the super-rich often proves to be a Band-Aid – and a self-aggrandizing one at that – over social consequences of the process that allows such unprecedented accumulation of wealth. Decades of skirting social responsibility to maximize profit can’t be undone with a few magnanimous gestures."

"No one has ever proved that they have psychic abilities since the beginning of time. And James Randi, from the James Randi Foundation, put up a $1 million challenge to any psychic who could prove their abilities. No one has ever collected."

"This is organized crime and there is a network all over the country. It's been going on for centuries and is passed down from generation to generation. The mothers teach their daughters... The psychics you see in the storefront who are dressed kind of shabby and don't have that much money actually are the same people who when they drive away go live in a million dollar house on the Intracoastal and they're driving around in a Maserati... It leaves the victims penniless and emotionally broken."

"I would like to stress how ruthless these self-proclaimed psychics are. They have absolutely no regard for their fellow human beings."

"No other victims are more maligned than victims of psychic fraud. The embarrassment of being swindled plays right into the hands of phony psychics."

"People are very embarrassed by this. They say, "How could I have fallen for this?" ... [But] it doesn’t matter if you’re a college professor. It doesn’t matter if you’re a lawyer. It doesn’t matter if you’re a doctor. You’re on their territory. And they know how to take advantage of that."

"These cases are all psychological manipulation under the guise of assistance. They sell false hope. That's a very powerful product when you’re a person that's desperate."

"I’ve never come across a case where an atheist got taken by a psychic. I’ve never had a case like that. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but I haven’t seen it."

"They [the psychics] find someone that's at a vulnerable point in their life. They create a sense of dependency. They create a pseudo-world. They will tell people, "I'm doing God's work. I'm taking the money to the altar". The amount of money that these people are defrauded of by these so-called psychics is astronomical. We're talking in the billions of dollars."

"When the veil drops, victims face financial wreckage... A lot of people call me, and they just want to talk, tell me what happened. But they don't want to go forward. They're too embarrassed. They don't want to see their name in the papers."

"It's not a crime to be gullible. But it is a crime to steal from a gullible person."

"Justice, under capitalism, works not from a notion of obedience to moral law, or to conscience, or to compassion, but from the assumption of a duty to preserve a social order and the legal “rights” that constitute that order, especially the right to property. … It comes to this: that decision will seem most just which preserves the system of justice even if the system is itself routinely unjust."

"Theft is only punished because it violates the right of property; but this right is itself nothing in origin but theft."

"Tenure of property is more of a duty than an actual right of possession. Property in the widest sense is a right that can belong only to society, which in turn receives it as a trust from Allah who is the only true owner of anything. ... There can be no real place for personal possession unless it carries with it the rights of disposal and use. The condition on which this right must stand is that of wisdom in the disposal; if the disposal of property is foolish, then the ruler or society may withdraw this right of disposal. ... The right of disposal depends on being mature and being able to fulfill one's duties; when the possessor does not meet these requirements, then the natural fruits of ownership come to an end."

"There is no security of property, where a despotic authority can possess itself of the property of the subject against his consent. Neither is there such security, where the consent is merely nominal and delusive."

"Property rights define the institutional basis of power relations in production, exchange and accumulation, rather than just the relationship of actors to property. The ability to manipulate property rights affords the state important leverage over the balance of power among actors in the economy."

"The right to hold slaves was a property right; since Congress could not interfere with a man's property rights, it could not prohibit slavery in the territories."

"Καὶ ποῖον, λέγει, ἀδικῶ, μὲ τὸ νὰ κρατῶ γιὰ τoν ἐαυτόν μου αὐτὰ ποῦ μου ἀνήκουν; Ποία, εἰπέ μου, εἶναι αὐτὰ ποῦ σου ἀνήκουν; Ἀπὸ ποῦ τὰ ἔλαβες, καὶ τὰ ἔφερες στὴν ζωὴν αὐτήν; Ὅπως ἀκριβῶς κάποιος ποὺ εὑρίσκει στὸ θέατρο θέση μὲ καλὴν θέαν, ἐμποδίζει ἔπειτα τοὺς εἰσερχομένους, θεωρώντας ὡς ἰδικὸ τοῦ αὐτὸ ποὺ προορίζεται γιὰ χρῆσιν κοινήν, ἔτσι εἶναι καὶ οἱ πλούσιοι. Ἀφοῦ ἐκυρίευσαν ἐκ τῶν προτέρων τα κοινὰ ἀγαθά, τὰ ἰδιοποιοῦνται ἁπλῶς ἐπειδὴ τὰ ἐπρόλαβαν. Ἐὰν ὁ καθένας ἐκρατοῦσε ἐκεῖνο ποὺ ἀρκεῖ γιὰ τὴν ἱκανοποίηση τῶν ἀναγκῶν του, καὶ ἄφηνε τὸ περίσσευμα σ’ αὐτὸν ποὺ τὸ χρειάζεται, κανεὶς δὲν θὰ ἦταν πλούσιος, ἀλλὰ καὶ κανεὶς πτωχός."

"In an ideal , the reward for invention would be completely separated from any charge to the users of information. In a free enterprise economy, inventive activity is supported by using the invention to create property rights; precisely to the extent that it is successful, there is an underutilization of the information."

"I hear Republicans and Libertarians and so forth talking about property rights, but they stop talking about property rights as soon as the subject of American Indians comes up, because they know fully well, perhaps not in a fully articulated, conscious form, but they know fully well that the basis for the very system of endeavor and enterprise and profitability to which they are committed and devoted accrues on the basis of theft of the resources of someone else. They are in possession of stolen property. They know it. They all know it. It's a dishonest endeavor from day one."

"The ideas of the ruling class are, in every age, the ruling ideas. ... The class which is the dominant material force in society is at the same time its dominant intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control over the means of mental production, so that in consequence the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are, in general, subject to it."

"Institutions are the humanly devised constraints that structure political, economic, and social interaction. They consist of both informal constraints (sanctions, taboos, customs, traditions, and codes of conduct), and formal rules (constitutions, laws, property rights). Throughout history, institutions have been devised by human beings to create order and reduce uncertainty in exchange."

"Now it doesn’t require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed or the title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? Such machinery already exists. The government can find some charge to bring against any concern it chooses to prosecute. Every businessman has his own tale of harassment. Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment."

"In every civilized society property rights must be carefully safeguarded; ordinarily, and in the great majority of cases, human rights and property rights are fundamentally and in the long run identical."

"Humanity ... is never stationary. Its progressive march leads it to equality. Its regressive march goes back through every stage of privilege to human slavery, the final word of the right to property."

"When asked abroad why the United States has become the most prosperous large economy in the world, I respond, with only mild exaggeration, that our forefathers wrote a constitution and set in motion a system of laws that protects individual rights, especially the right to own property."

"The Constitution of the United States recognises slaves as property, and pledges the Federal Government to protect it. And Congress cannot exercise any more authority over property of that description than it may constitutionally exercise over property of any other kind."

"The most skilfully combined, and with the greatest foresight of objections, of all the forms of Socialism, is that commonly known as Fourierism. This system does not contemplate the abolition of private property, nor even of inheritance; on the contrary, it avowedly takes into consideration, as an element in the distribution of the produce, capital as well as labour. ... In the distribution, a certain minimum is ... assigned for the subsistence of every member of the community, whether capable or not of labour."

"Computers and robots replace humans in the exercise of mental functions in the same way as mechanical power replaced them in the performance of physical tasks. As time goes on, more and more complex mental functions will be performed by machines. Any worker who now performs his task by following specific instructions can, in principle, be replaced by a machine. This means that the role of humans as the most important factor of production is bound to diminish—in the same way that the role of horses in agricultural production was first diminished and then eliminated by the introduction of tractors."

"Since the state must necessarily provide subsistence for the criminal poor while undergoing punishment, not to do the same for the poor who have not offended is to give a premium on crime."

"We need to change the fundamentals of our society. We must move from a wealth-based civilization to one that is life-affirming—an ecological civilization. Without this Great Transition, we are leaving future generations to face the horrors of a collapsing civilization on a devastated planet. Can we transition rapidly enough? And can the transition occur without the old civilization collapsing catastrophically around us? Given this context, I have been surprised by how much the discussion of a universal basic income sounds like arguing how to stack the deck chairs on the Titanic... In my view, the fundamental issues need to be: Does UBI help with the process of transforming civilization from within?"

"If the picture I’ve drawn is at all right, the only way we could have anything resembling a middle-class society — a society in which ordinary citizens have a reasonable assurance of maintaining a decent life as long as they work hard and play by the rules — would be by having a strong social safety net, one that guarantees not just health care but a minimum income, too."

"A full-fledged UBI — one that unconditionally provides every person with enough income to meet their basic needs—would fundamentally alter the paradigm of capitalism that has locked workers into the dominant system ever since its inception. Capitalism has endured by commoditizing people’s lives, forcing them to sell the bulk of their available time and energy, or else face destitution and starvation. A true UBI would transform the relationship between labor and capital and weaken the power of the wealthy elite to control the population."

"The State owes all its citizens a secure subsistence, food, suitable clothes and a way of life that does not damage their health."

"There is nothing except shortsightedness to prevent us from guaranteeing an annual minimum – and livable – income for every American family."

"A host of positive psychological changes inevitably will result from widespread economic security. The dignity of the individual will flourish when the decisions concerning his life are in his own hands, when he has the assurance that his income is stable and certain, and when he knows that he has the means to seek self-improvement. Personal conflicts between husband, wife, and children will diminish when the unjust measurement of human worth on a scale of dollars is eliminated."