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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

The House did pass a resolution in 2008 in which it “apologizes to African Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow” www.congress.gov/bill/110th-c...

congress.gov

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

I was only there a few months and working remotely so wasn’t paying income tax to Lithuania. Some people I knew were living off rent or business incomes in their home countries so I think also weren’t paying tax to Lithuania, though perhaps should have been if it was their country of residence.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

It’s something to bear in mind, particularly when the country has a selective immigration system. Research is mixed as to whether it harms or benefits the country of origin. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_c...

en.wikipedia.org

Human capital flight - Wikipedia

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Cutting taxes for those on a low income is easy to do, and would disproportionately benefit black people. Increasing funding to schools, improving public housing and Medicaid etc.. You don’t get the symbolism of reparations, but you do more to help those black people who most need it.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

That could get quite costly. You would get dubious and outright bogus claims that would need to be checked out, and perhaps an appeals process. How high would the administrative costs have to get before you say maybe there’s a better way we can spend this money to help black people?

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Thanks. They propose that eligibility would be based on someone being able to demonstrate they’re descended from slaves, so Barrack Obama wouldn’t qualify but his daughters would based on Michelle’s heritage. They suggest using census records and DNA testing to determine qualification.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Could you link to where those questions have been answered please, or answer them here if you prefer. I’d really like to see a practical policy proposal, like a piece of draft legislation, that sets out how this would be administered and what the expected effects would be.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

So you could certainly argue that the US carries responsibility for its past actions, and past inactions. However, it now has a responsibility to get the policy right. A well meaning but poorly thought through policy is not going to help and could just make things worse.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

What our country does or what our country did? In a democracy we carry some responsibility for what our country’s government does. The country as a whole has a responsibility over what it did in the past, like if it took out a loan. Britain only finished paying off its WW2 loan to the US in 2006.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

On immigration from poor countries to rich countries, we need to consider the impact on the countries people are emigrating from, countries which may have paid to educate them but now they’re using their education being doctors or engineers in rich countries.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

However, I spoke to a Lithuanian who couldn’t afford to live in the centre of the city any more. The immigrants had pushed the prices up. Similarly with restaurants and bars catering to the rich immigrants, too expensive for the locals. Whilst some were profiting, many had become a servant class.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

A couple of decades ago I spent some time in Lithuania, a relatively poor country by European standards, but with open borders to other EU nationals. There were many foreigners living in the capital, people from richer countries. Property was very cheap by our standards.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Agreed, but I thought this piece by Peter Kellner was interesting, comparing it to Tony Benn’s situation in 1960. open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

open.substack.com

Tony Benn's lesson for Donald Trump

The President can't run for a third term. Or can he?

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Those are both true statements though, aren’t they? It did happen a long time ago and those alive today weren’t responsible.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I think you need to work on your reading skills.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I think you’re wrong on the first of those. Most people are aware of the harms done. The debate is over what, if anything, can be done now.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Not sure what you mean, but one of the things with EU free movement was that the people coming to Britain were from other European countries, places like Poland, the vast majority of them white. Some Brexiteers argued that giving preference to European immigrants was racist.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Those were at best partial democracies. Slaves didn’t have political rights.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I don’t think that’s the case for most people. Those who were enslaved are no longer around so can’t be compensated. You’re proposing to compensate their descendants, and that compensation would have to be paid by people who have never owned slaves and don’t therefore consider themselves guilty.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

No, I’m using those as examples. Immigration was a big part of the Brexit debate and most businesses opposed Brexit because ending the free movement of labour risked labour shortages, higher costs and a greater administrative burden. And that’s exactly what’s happened.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

No. When there was slavery there wasn’t democracy. The franchise didn’t extend to all. In democracies our laws are made by our elected representatives. That severely weakens any moral case for breaking the law.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Generally I would go along with that principle, but a more efficient and more practical way to get money to black and native people who need it is to target poverty rather than ethnicity. That would also be far less divisive and therefore less likely to provoke a backlash.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Would you favour open borders with no restrictions at all on who can enter the country?

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

There are also different degrees of illegal immigration in the UK. Overstaying a visa is a civil offence whereas entering the country illegally is a criminal offence that can get you up to four years in prison and facilitating illegal immigration (people trafficking) can get you a life sentence.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I don’t think so. If reparations were to become policy would you want to apply the one drop rule to determine who qualifies? If so, how would you go about that? Would it be down to self-declaration? If not, how in practical terms would this policy be applied?

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

That it’s illegal. There are legal routes for applying. It’s unfair on those people if some are able to jump the queue. Also, illegal immigration is often dangerous, like for instance people crossing the Channel in small boats, and it’s often conducted by criminal gangs of people traffickers.

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Reposted by Legjoints

Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

The sun is shining. The birds are singing. Le Pen's career is coming crashing down around her as a result of her brazen corruption. It's a good day.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

What of those with a mixed race parent? And someone who is black is not necessarily a descendant of slaves. Would they still get reparations? Would rich people get reparations? If the issue you’re trying to address is that many black people are poor, wouldn’t it make more sense to tackle poverty?

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

You’re drawing a false equivalence. Hitler’s ideology and his actions, the holocaust for instance, were on another level. The Allies were right to fight the Nazis and their motivations were for the most part noble. By the way, black US GIs were welcomed by Brits when they were stationed there.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

In Britain most businesses opposed Brexit because the free movement of goods and labour was good for business and in the US many tech businesses support H-1B visas.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

That’s part of it, but he also believed Germans were the master race, destined to rule the world and that the German people needed Lebensraum. It was this ideology and its threat that the Allies fought against. Their primary motivation was not one of vengeance.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

That’s one case. The question is about probabilities, whether or not allowing males into female spaces increases the risks posed to females.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Which same people? It sounds like you have one particular country in mind. There are other countries where immigration is a major issue but the related economic and cultural issues are not identical across all those countries.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

War was declared when Germany invaded Poland since Britain and France had a treaty with Poland. They stood by that treaty. Similarly the UK and the US signed an agreement with Ukraine, promising to come to its assistance if it was attacked.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Where does that belief get you? If evidence comes out then fine, but without evidence expressing such doubts about the election can be harmful. It allows Republicans to both sides election denialism.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Why is restricting legal immigration unfair? Who is it unfair to? Many countries have seen high levels of immigration in recent years. It’s perfectly reasonable for a democracy to debate what the level of immigration into their country should be and how to decide who should be admitted.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

It was not the primary motivation of the Allies.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

I was making a distinction between legal and illegal immigration. If politicians say they support illegal immigration, what are they saying? That they don’t support the rule of law? That if you manage to break the law and get away with it you should be rewarded?

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

How would that work for those who are mixed race? Would they get half the amount or a quarter of the amount depending on their ethnic mix? You’d need to do a lot of DNA tests.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

So your use of "entirety" was also hyperbolic? The primary motivation of the Allies was not vengeance, it was to win the war as quickly as possible and thereby liberate the people living and dying under Nazi occupation.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

"MOJ stats show 76 of the 129 male-born prisoners identifying as transgender (not counting any with GRCs) have at least 1 conviction of sexual offence." committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide...

committees.parliament.uk

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Whilst most people accept the need for legal immigration, it's illegal immigration that many object to. It strikes at people's sense of unfairness.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

If a decade or so ago a man went into a women’s toilet he could expect to be challenged whereas now, when anyone can identify as a woman and questioning how someone identifies is considered transphobic, such challenges become less likely.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

What do you mean by queer rights?

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

What do you mean it’s not a bug but a feature? That seems to imply that hurting civilians is intentional. There are instances in WW2 where you could argue that civilians were needlessly hurt, like in the fire bombing of Dresden in 1945, but mostly civilians were not targeted by the Allies.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Hyperbolic truth? Civilians are hurt in all wars, but David implies that they were intentionally targeted for the entirety of WW2. That’s not true. The intention of the Allies was to defeat the Axis powers militarily and thereby liberate people living (and dying) under fascist rule.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

David’s claim was “Literally the entirety of WW2 was simply leveling cities in the effort of crushing the will of the opposition.” That’s not true, is it? And I was in no way claiming D-Day didn’t result in civilian casualties.

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Legjoints @legjoints.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Socialist is a bit different though, isn’t it?

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