Rebane's Ruminations

Redeeming Aspects of American Slavery?

George Rebane

One of our politicians, I now forget who, recently let slip the notion that American blacks have benefitted from having ancestors who were slaves – he stated that American slavery had bestowed redeemable aspects on those progenies who today share protected freedoms with our white population.

Of course, the politician was immediately attacked as a racist for proposing that slavery had any redeemable features at all.  In response he immediately succumbed and offered profuse apologies for his obvious error.  And the matter appears to have been settled as strong reminder that no one should ever again publicly imply that slavery was a “positive good in the United States” as was the regular habit of ante-bellum southern politicians during the 1810-1860 period. (more here)

Most people today reject the oratorical arguments of men like John C. Calhoun, et al. holding that regulated slavery vs unregulated free labor was indeed a “positive good” for civilized society.  But giving the matter a little more thought does bring up another perspective.  And that is in the comparison of the quality of life enjoyed today by the African-Americans to that of the trials and tribulations available to sub Sahel African blacks.  It is clear to many, most certainly to our African-Americans, that America continues to provide a much higher quality of life and opportunity for our black citizenry.  All one has to do is look at the predominance of which direction migration is taking place between the two continents.

In short, one can argue that whatever suffering our slaves went through compared to the then concurrent life of their African cousins on a continent of constant combat and corruption, our slaves bequeathed their posterity a much better environment in which to pursue their happiness than did those who remained in Africa.

If this has been a redeeming feature of American slavery, it most certainly was not planned that way a couple of centuries ago.  But today it is what it is, and therefore may require some more thought when we reconsider the darker side of our history.

Sandbox - 29sep23

[Sen Dianne Feinstein spent thirty years in Congress.  Her death yesterday launched an avalanche of hosannas by the lamestream for her productive life as a legislator.  However, her accomplishments as such have been few and far between, and almost all misdirected.  RIP Dianne.  gjr]

Basic pricing rules in an insane Democrat economy

George Rebane

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron in a 35-page opinion “found that Donald Trump and his family business committed fraud by making false and misleading valuations on much of his real-estate empire and ordered the cancellation of legal certificates that have allowed the Trumps to do business in the state.”  He claims that “the Trumps have repeatedly relied ‘on bogus arguments’ that ignore basic rules about how assets are valued. To the Trumps, rent-regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated ones, and restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted property”. 

To Engoron “This is a fantasy world, not the real world.”  And to correct these egregious business practices “the judge said it was necessary to go ahead and cancel the Trump business certificates now because the defendants ‘have continued to disseminate false and misleading information while conducting business,’ even as an independent monitor has been overseeing their actions.” (more here)

This hands a pre-appeal victory to New York Attorney General Letitia James who has been hunting Trump for some years now.  Looking at the nature of the charges they have cobbled together, this puts the AG and the judge into the large cohort of Democrats in which evil and rank ignorance cohabit.  Consider the charge that a property owner cannot price his own properties, especially prices that have been accepted by some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated lenders who have repeatedly dealt with Trump in mutually beneficent deals that have enriched all participants.

According to these evil idiots – abetted by legions of Democrats and lamestream outlets - the government is the final arbiter of real estate prices (what next?), and can criminally charge citizens with fraud if they price their properties higher than what is acceptable to our overseers.  How does one find common ground with such senseless autocrats, let alone abide with them peacefully within the same borders?

Sandbox - 14sep23

Sandbox -14sep23

[California Dems are giving ‘butt stupid’ a expanded definition with their new CCW law that prohibits law-abiding citizens to exercise their concealed carry rights in an expanded array of places that include schools, government buildings, prisons, hospitals, airports, and bars.  The criminally intent and crazies out there welcome such prohibitions which keep them safe as they carry out their plans for murder and mayhem.  It is amazing that we walk the same planet with idiots who believe such laws will reduce ‘gun violence’.  gjr]

Scattershots – 2sep23

George Rebane

‘How the AI Revolution Will Reshape the World’ is an essay in the 1sep23 issue of Time that presents an excellent summary of how the advent of generative AI is launching “the greatest redistribution of power in history.”  Not only is this new wave of technology based on large language models sufficient to found the greatest revolution in human civilization all by its lonesome, its redistribution of power will be abetted by accompanying technological breakthroughs in synthetic biology, quantum computing, and “abundant new sources of energy.”  Having understood all this, it is remarkable that today “this is the most underappreciated aspect of the technological revolution now underway.”  What’s more, previous technological leaps were reserved to the capital rich elite or national governments.  That’s no longer the case.  “We are facing a step change in what’s possible for individual people to do, and at a previously unthinkable pace. AI is becoming more powerful and radically cheaper by the month—what was computationally impossible, or would cost tens of millions of dollars a few years ago, is now widespread.”  For the sanguine among us, snooze on at your own peril.  (H/T to reader)

Blinders on black governance.  It’s with some trepidation that I offer this observation motivated by the recent slum apartment building fire in Johannesburg that killed over seventy poor immigrants to the Union of South Africa. (more here)  Over the last generation (i.e. post-apartheid) that nation’s largest city has turned from a crown jewel of Africa into the country’s, perhaps the continent’s, largest favela.  And here is the observation to which no one dare give voice – are there any black-governed countries in Africa, or anywhere for that matter, that compare favorably with first-world nations like those in Europe, North America, and Asia?  To carry this observation even deeper, the same may be asked of black-run cities in the United States.  Instead, these questions remain unasked and unexamined.  From an academic or demographic perspective such enquiries remain on terra incognita, and their causal factors define one of our culture’s growing number of forbidden territories.  Anyone daring to even explore whether there is any truth to the basis which such questions imply is immediately tagged as a racist or worse.  As evidence, I offer the comment stream below.