dagblog - Comments for "Ta-Nehisi Coates: Sanders and Reparations"

Here is the latest Atlantic

barefooted — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 20:49:34 +0000

In reply to Ta-Nehisi Coates: Sanders and Reparations

Here is the latest Atlantic article from Ta-Nehisi Coates regarding his previous piece on Sanders and reparations.

So we ran out the clock on

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 14:11:21 +0000

So we ran out the clock on slavery, but still have a duty to Americans in need. Not ones being beat up by cops and discriminated against when they go for jobs or stuffed in prisons for high crimes like smoking dope, just generically ones in need. Blacks being a minority of those, which is good, because they're most accustomed to playing minorities.

And Bernie of course will save the day.

No. We have a duty to

HSG — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 13:44:50 +0000

In reply to So we ran out the clock? Cool

No. We have a duty to address ongoing racism in America and we also have a duty to assist all Americans in need. Because of slavery and racism, a high percentage (but not the majority) of those Americans are African-American. Sanders has the best record and the best and most coherent plans when it comes to these issues of great moral import.

So we ran out the clock? Cool

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 12:41:51 +0000

In reply to I agree that we have a duty

So we ran out the clock? Cool, mission accomplished. Germans no prob..

So we ran out the clock? Cool

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 12:41:48 +0000

In reply to I agree that we have a duty

So we ran out the clock? Cool, mission accomplished. Germans no prob..

I agree that we have a duty

HSG — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 12:33:56 +0000

In reply to Free golf lessons and night

I agree that we have a duty to rebuild Iraq since we broke it. I also agree we have an ongoing duty to integrate the African-American community fully into American society. Here's how Bernie would do that.

So I think what we should be talking about is making massive investments in rebuilding our cities and creating millions of decent paying jobs, and making public colleges and universities tuition free, and working on child care. Basically, targeting our federal resources to the areas that it is needed the most. And where it is needed the most is in impoverished communities, often African American and Latino.

http://thedailybanter.com/2016/01/the-atlantic-ran-a-ridiculous-hit-piec...

Reparations for the Holocaust and the incarceration of Japanese Americans are not truly apposite. Germany provided help to Israel seven years after WWII when its surviving Jewish victims were still alive and more recently millions of Euros to survivors. Reparations to Japanese Americans were paid directly to those the FDR administration incarcerated. Reparations to former slaves was contemplated in the form of "40 acres and a mule". This should have happened but due to virulent opposition from the south did not except in a few instances.

The slaves and slaveowners are all dead now. The debt their owners owed them can never be paid and frankly it never could have been. No amount of money could redress the evil of slavery. What we can and should do is ensure that all Americans today have the necessary resources to live a fully human life and no Americans are so rich and powerful that their status approaches that of the slave-owning ante-bellum planters.

He's not "getting silly" - it

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 10:45:52 +0000

In reply to Oh come on. Drugs can affect

He's not "getting silly" - it's a running joke, anything to do with drugs or the porn industry. I thought about commenting, but then noted it's his brand, so why even bother?

Oh come on. Drugs can affect

ocean-kat — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 09:52:32 +0000

In reply to All marijuana is medical

Oh come on. Drugs can affect the body and the mind in ways that are both medicinal or fun. Alcohol was a commonly used anesthetic before ether. They're related chemicals. Alcohol is metabolized into ether in the body which is why it puts you to sleep if you drink enough. But not everyone uses alcohol as medicine. Many people who use marijuana medicinally look for low THC species so they don't get high. Demerol is a powerful pain killer and is also a fun party drug when you're not in any pain at all. I could go on.

I understand why some people who like to party with pot are upset when there's difficulty getting the drug and the possibility of prison. I understand why they go overboard in their defense of the drug. But now you're just getting silly. While sometimes there are grey areas usually there's a pretty clear difference when a drug is used therapeutically or used to party.

All marijuana is medical

jollyroger — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 08:48:30 +0000

In reply to For a society that still has

All marijuana is medical marijuana

Free golf lessons and night

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 05:33:05 +0000

In reply to He could try but I doubt he'd

Free golf lessons and night school credits? Or maybe special spa and union membership?

In any case, the main reason for reparations for slavery is not to address other issues, but to reparate (a word?) for slavery. Maybe we should ask Germany how it's done.

Anyway, I think it's worth considering just so progressives who glibly sweep it off the table will actually think about what it means, and what actually happened and what our responsibility is. "The fathers have eaten of bitter fruit and the children's teeth are set on edge."

Yeah, it'd be inconvenient, but so what? Oedipus took responsibility for sins he unknowingly committed, for his part in the universe (read "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" - not the movie - for an extended treatise).

Of course we then might have to consider our responsibility and payments for bombing the shit out of Iraq with impunity - even making little Bush the "establishment candidate" with no sense of shame.