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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#272501: Feb 21st 2019 at 4:17:36 PM

Personally, I'm broadly sympathetic to the idea of reparations; on a strictly moral level I think the crime of the slave society is too horrible to ever fully atone for, but that's exactly why it's important to do what you can.

I've seen a little of Coates' "Case for Reparations" article but I don't remember what his specific ideas were in how to carry out the reparations.

What's interesting to me is that IIRC MLK talked about them on a few occasions, and while he was unsurprisingly for it, he also supported the idea of some kind of welfare benefit for poorer whites to mitigate grievances and also because they were, in a far lesser way than african-americans, being exploited by the wealthy.

GoldenKaos Captain of the Dead City from Cirith Ungol Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Captain of the Dead City
#272502: Feb 21st 2019 at 4:33:00 PM

I mean, in a sense, shouldn't the state just allocate part of its budget as a 'reparation fund' to be used for the betterment of people of colour? So, every year, a little bit more gets done to right the wrongs that took centuries to inflict?

"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#272503: Feb 21st 2019 at 4:46:47 PM

It's a good idea in principle, but the complication comes in how exactly the funds get applied in a way that leads to permanent betterment (compare and contrast the idea of giving money to the homeless), and whether it would be better if those resources were diverted towards altering the system so that it's no longer necessary.

HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
Ultimatum Disasturbator from Second Star to the left (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Disasturbator
#272505: Feb 21st 2019 at 5:19:34 PM

Honestly when I read 'reparations' my mind immediately goes to Germany after world war 1,which is probably why it's bad idea to even name it that, people will feel like they're paying reparations for something they did wrong, the feeling of being punished unfairly breeds resentment, and resentment fuels tensions and existing prejudices

It might be morally right right to pay some sort of money for slavery,but you need to have a good way of implementing it

Edited by Ultimatum on Feb 21st 2019 at 1:19:56 PM

New theme music also a box
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#272506: Feb 21st 2019 at 5:20:31 PM

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/02/21/day-763/

     Day 763: Swiftly 
1/ House Democrats will file a resolution rejecting Trump's national emergency declaration. Nancy Pelosi said the House will move "swiftly" to pass the disapproval resolution, which is the first formal step in countering Trump's effort to go around Congress and build his border wall. While the effort is almost certain to fall short due to the threat of a Trump veto, voting will put some Republicans from swing districts and states on the record. (Washington Post / The Guardian / Politico)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/20/house-democrats-donald-trump-national-emergency

2/ A federal judge banned Roger Stone from speaking publicly about his case after he published an Instagram post with what appeared to be the crosshairs of a gun drawn behind her head. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson banned Stone from issuing statements on the radio, press releases, blogs, media interviews, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat posts. Jackson also banned Stone's spokespersons, family members or his "many volunteers" from issuing statements on his behalf. Stone claimed he was "heartfully sorry" and that he was "having trouble putting the food on the table and making rent," and that he needed to be able to make money as a commentator. Stone's pre-trial consulting income was $47,000 a month. (NBC News / CNN / Washignton Post)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/roger-stone-back-court-after-instagram-post-n973986

3/ The White House is forcing interns to sign non-disclosure agreements and warning them that a breach of the NDA could result in legal and financial consequences. Interns were also told that they would not receive a copy of the NDA. The Trump intern orientation process calls this "ethics training." (Daily Beast)

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-white-house-is-forcing-interns-to-sign-ndas-and-threatening-them-with-financial-ruin

A former Trump staffer filed a class action lawsuit against the Trump campaign alleging that the non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements are invalid. The claims brought by Jessica Denson are the broadest attack on Trump's campaign practices to date, which include having staffers, volunteers, and contractors sign agreements that prohibit them from ever publicly criticizing Trump, his company, or his family, and bars them from disclosing private or confidential information about all three. Denson's lawyers believe thousands of campaign staffers, volunteers, and contractors signed ND As and could be covered by the case. If the agreements they signed are eventually thrown out in court, they would all be free to discuss their time working for the campaign and to criticize Trump without fear of financial penalties or legal retribution. (Buzz Feed News)

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/trump-campaign-nondisclosure-agreements-class-action-lawsuit

    Notables 
Michael Cohen has agreed to testify publicly before Congress next week about his work as Trump's longtime fixer, lawyer, and confidant. Lawmakers have said they will limit the scope of their questions out of deference to Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation. Cohen will appear Wednesday before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, where he'll be given an opportunity to explain the work he did for Trump, including the illegal plan during the 2016 campaign to pay off two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. (New York Times / CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/politics/michael-cohen-capitol-hill/index.html

Paul Manafort will be sentenced on March 8th in Virginia after being convicted last summer on eight felony counts of bank and tax fraud. Manafort will be sentenced in a related case in Washington, D.C. five days later. (Politico / CNBC / Reuters)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-manafort-idUSKCN1QA2A1

Senate investigators want to question a Moscow-based American businessman with deep ties to Trump after witnesses told lawmakers that the man could provide information about Trump's commercial and personal activities in Russia dating all the way back to the 1990s. The Senate Intelligence Committee has been interested in speaking with David Geovanis for several months. Geovanis helped organize a 1996 trip to Moscow for Trump while he was in the early stages of pursuing what would become his long-held goal of building a Trump Tower in Russia's capital city. Years later, Geovanis worked for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. (CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/politics/senate-trump-russia-david-geovanis-intl/index.html

White House officials, as well as several Republican and Democratic lawmakers, are concerned that Trump will soon replace Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. Trump spent the holiday weekend at Mar-a-Lago venting about Coats' testimony before Congress last month, where Coats publicly contradicted Trump about the chances North Korea agreeing to give up its nuclear weapons. (CNN / Washington Post)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/politics/dan-coats-donald-trump-north-korea/index.html

TobiasDrake Queen of Good Things, Honest (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Queen of Good Things, Honest
#272507: Feb 21st 2019 at 5:22:41 PM

I grew up in a white conservative household so I used to hear things about Native Americans like "When does it end? How much do we have to do for them until it's even? At what point do we just call it square?"

And. Like. I don't know the answer to that but I do know this: the first step towards any kind of reparations for Native Americans is to stop actively killing them with our policies. Like, before we can even have a discussion about crimes of the past, we need to put an end to crimes of the present.

It's pretty much the same for black people. White people talk about "When is it going to be enough for black people?" but, like, our cops put seventeen bullets into a random black kid every other week. Forget "enough"; we haven't even taken the first step, which is to stop oppressing and literally murdering them.

White people like to think we've paid our dues to all the people we stepped on, but we're still standing on them.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Feb 21st 2019 at 6:24:04 AM

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#272508: Feb 21st 2019 at 5:23:04 PM

"The White House is forcing interns to sign non-disclosure agreements and warning them that a breach of the NDA could result in legal and financial consequences."

Has this happened before with other administrations?

TobiasDrake Queen of Good Things, Honest (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Queen of Good Things, Honest
#272509: Feb 21st 2019 at 5:26:17 PM

As I understand it, it's actually illegal. White House employees are not employees of Donald Trump; they're employed by the United States of America. The United States Government can't make its employees sign NDAs, because that constitutes a violation of the First Amendment.

None of these NDAs are legally enforceable, and Trump can get sued for a constitutional violation for even having them.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Feb 21st 2019 at 6:27:00 AM

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.
Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#272510: Feb 21st 2019 at 5:27:14 PM

Silasw and Ultimatum are right.

Yes, other administrations had NDAs in some form

Edited by Soban on Feb 21st 2019 at 8:29:24 AM

kkhohoho Since: May, 2011
#272511: Feb 21st 2019 at 5:27:39 PM

[up]

As I understand it, it's actually illegal.

When has that stopped them before?tongue

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#272512: Feb 21st 2019 at 5:28:47 PM

How Bernie’s 2020 Map Might Change Without The #NeverHillary Vote

Short answer: it'll probably make things more difficult for him, but he probably benefits from a divided field.

Edited by LSBK on Feb 21st 2019 at 7:29:00 AM

Gilphon Since: Oct, 2009
#272513: Feb 21st 2019 at 5:28:52 PM

It also seems pointless- like, surely they can't enforce that if they don't know who the leak is, and if they knew who the leak was, they'd just fire that person.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#272514: Feb 21st 2019 at 5:32:01 PM

It'll be enough when they get a fair shake.

Which they don't.

At the very least, Native Americans should have the nation-to-nation relationship they were promised and the rights to make their own laws for their own people. Which they very often don't.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#272515: Feb 21st 2019 at 5:55:34 PM

Soban: Thanks. Interesting, this one only applied to a specific office and it explicitly states that it doesn't supersede a number of circumstances where the signer might be required to talk.

Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#272516: Feb 21st 2019 at 6:01:08 PM

I'll admit that I didn't dig far. However, it is an example, which means that there are likely more examples.

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#272517: Feb 22nd 2019 at 3:06:28 AM

I never quite know how to broach this with people, because it never goes over well, but...

The "Bantustan" homelands South Africa had during Apartheid? Well... *cough* where do you think the idea came from? It wasn't just concentration camps from the UK or population scattering of old (like with the Mfecane) or even older VOC licencing systems or even the atrocities of German Southwest Africa.

Jim Crow and Reservations were used as "inspiration".

Yeah. How the States treat Reservations in law and other ways got a long, long look by Verwoerd and company. :/ In short, the use-by date for those policies expired long ago, and you guys need to deal with reparations and more. Mainly, getting shot of your still-existing proto-Apartheid system.

Either they are full Nations. Or full States. In their own right, with full rights.

Same goes for other territories.

Edited by Euodiachloris on Feb 22nd 2019 at 11:19:28 AM

HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#272518: Feb 22nd 2019 at 3:37:18 AM

Everything the US does tends to cause ripples everywhere, it comes with being the most influential country on Earth.

And the segregation in the US, particularly the South, never really "ended", it's just not legally enforced anymore, or at least not as blantly, I'm sure there's still plenty of racist laws in place.

On a ligther note, for years I thought Jim Crow was an actual guy who proposed the segregation laws, rather than a racist caricature tongue.

Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#272519: Feb 22nd 2019 at 4:27:12 AM

[up]Huh. So did I, until this very moment.

Edited by Medinoc on Feb 22nd 2019 at 1:27:30 PM

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#272520: Feb 22nd 2019 at 8:04:21 AM

House Democrats move to block Trump's national emergency declaration – Rep. Joaquin Castro introduced the measure to block Trump's national emergency declaration, which he aims to use to divert money to build his proposed border wall.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/22/house-democrats-move-to-block-trumps-national-emergency-declaration.html

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#272521: Feb 22nd 2019 at 8:07:32 AM

While that will definitely pass the House, and likely the Senate given the number of Republicans on record as opposing the emergency declaration, it it is very unlikely that there would be enough votes to override Trump's expected veto. It's symbolic, but it's an important symbol.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#272522: Feb 22nd 2019 at 8:10:25 AM

Exactly. It'll be vetoed, but it's important that the statement be made. It'll also make Trump have to veto a bill so that he can maintain emergency authority, which is always a bad look.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#272523: Feb 22nd 2019 at 8:11:34 AM

Putting aside whether or not it could pass, would the Privileged Motion status this has force the Senate to hold a veto vote much like it forces the Senate to vote after the House passes it?

Edited by sgamer82 on Feb 22nd 2019 at 9:11:56 AM

Cris_Meyers reluctant author, willing misanthrope from Chicagoland (Fifth Year at Tropey's) Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
reluctant author, willing misanthrope
#272524: Feb 22nd 2019 at 8:14:19 AM

There's also a chance it doesn't get thru the Senate. There's some polling to suggest that the declaration isn't quite that unpopular among the GOP base:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trumps-national-emergency-policy-is-unpopular-but-not-really-really-unpopular/

Not sure how much I buy it, because this would be a pretty useful political cudgel to use against any Senator that voted nay.

Edited by Cris_Meyers on Feb 22nd 2019 at 10:14:50 AM

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#272525: Feb 22nd 2019 at 8:17:05 AM

[up][up] I don't know if the "privileged motion" status applies to a veto override vote. Whether it does or not, there would be little purpose in holding such a vote unless there was a good chance it would pass.

Edited by Fighteer on Feb 22nd 2019 at 11:17:47 AM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

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