Mike Lester for August 18, 2020

Ok, pay them in 1865 currency. Off to the coin shop!

In 1860, the average value of a slave was about $450. Inflation takes that to $14,000 in 2020.

In 1860, there were just under 4,000,000 slaves.In 2017 there were 41,000,000 blacks.

This suggests that the value in 1860 be used to compensate in 2020. That would be a little under $1400 per black in 2020. So, yeah, one big screen TV just about covers it.

Of course, that is only one way to measure the value. We might want to consider the value of a slave’s labor over a lifetime. That is likely to be considerably more than $450. Consider that a farm laborer might get paid from 30 cents to perhaps a dollar a day. At the lower rate, that’s $100 per year. multiply by 40 years and now the value is $4000. Now we would be talking closer to $10,000 in compensation in 2020 per black.

Numbers matter.

Dumb.

“Hi! I’m Mike Lester and I can’t spell I-N-V-E-N-T-E-D!”

I think Lester must have fallen and hit his head. He has somehow “lost it”. (..Not that it was ever “there” much to begin with.)

HUH ???

How sad! Appears that Lester thinks that Slavery was just another way of doing ‘business,’ and that slaves were happy!

[ Why else treat the issue of systemic racism so trivially? ]

Crude art from a crude man.

Now if we can only get judges and juries to rule that “shooting an unarmed person is not Stand Your Ground self defense”; especially in the back.

The “reparations” comment is just a dumb remark taken up by conservative media to equate protests with looting. Most police know the difference. Why does media have a problem distinguishing between citizens protecting their right to protest and opportunistic criminals?

Lester again showcases the far right ‘sense of humor’.

After seeing cartoons like this, who could ever say that extreme right wingers are not ‘funny’?

.

It’s as if they inented humor.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/us/politics/senate-intelligence-russian-interference-report.html?smid=fb-share

Freedom is priceless.

One lie at a time, Mike!

Firstly, there’s hardly any looting.

Secondly, most of the looting and violence has been perpetrated by the radical right trying to start a race war.

Thirdly, anyone, whether they commit any crimes or not has rights.

Some folks want us to think that African Americans looting are horrible people, But no one ever talks about the rich white people who are looting the economy every day. Bezos profits in the billions, and his trucks use our roads and bridges, but he pays no taxes to support the infrastructure without which his business cannot operate. That’s just one private sector example. The GOP administration is even worse with their tax scams annd sweetheart deals. I just read today that Trump plans to sell leases on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to companies who want to drill for oil and gas.

^ Seems that Lester and the other "conservative’ cartoonists are never concerned about ‘Government of, by, and for the RICH!’

Chicago has been hit hard twice already. Many stores say they won’t take a chance on a 3rd time, so they won’t reopen. Thanks looters. You’ll soon turn one of the most beautiful downtowns of any city in the country (why do you think they call it the Magnificent Mile) into Detroit 2.0.

“invented” is misspelled.

What are these “reparations” that folks are talking about?

Whether one is “for” them or “against” them, they sound to me like nothing more than bribes.

Aside from the question of whether one can reasonably put a monetary value on loss of freedom and even loss of life, none of such money would be received by those who were actually enslaved… or even those later held in “financial” bondage (e.g., “tenant farmers”).

Meanwhile, it would do absolutely nothing to change the system of oppression and inequity which is still widespread. So should we then institute a system of periodic (maybe once every 10 years?) “reparations” to those still suffering from the inequities of that system?

No! We need to change the system! The only valid “reparation” is to repair the system itself! Not to bribe some subgroup of today’s population. But to change the system — yes, our entire culture — so that everyone can lead a satisfying life, regardless of their ancestry.

Yes, that’s “pie in the sky”. I doubt I’ll live to see it happen. But I’m “hungry”, and I won’t willingly accept - and pay for - “mud pies” as a substitute, just because they’re easier to make. They might temporarily give me a feeling of being “full”, but they cannot nourish me. They do not contribute to my survival.

The Left should be happy. With a felony conviction this person can never legally own a firearm.

So Mikey, if it wasn’t around in ‘Constitutional’ times, it’s not protected?… like automatic weapons? high capacity clips? LGBT rights? abortion rights?