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Truth and Reconciliation: An Orwellian Strategy
When I first heard the proposal of a “truth and reconciliation” process in the United States, I felt my hair stand on end. Robert Reich, formerly of the Clinton Administration, proposed this kind of commission be established, and I knew that he was up to no good. I actually felt outraged when he used the term because I knew that these commissions were established internationally to deal with the outcomes of devastating upheavals in 40 countries. I am very familiar with events in Rwanda:
The Justice and Reconciliation Process in Rwanda— During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, up to one million people perished and as many as 250,000 women were raped, leaving the country’s population traumatized and its infrastructure decimated. Since then, Rwanda has embarked on an ambitious justice and reconciliation process with the ultimate aim of all Rwandans once again living side by side in peace.
Justice after the genocide—In the years following the genocide, more than 120,000 people were detained and accused of bearing criminal responsibility for their participation in the killings.
Following this kind of horror—one million people killed in one month—Rwanda knew that steps had to be taken in an effort to unify the country.
But Robert Reich’s proposal borders on evil:
‘When this nightmare is over, we need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission,’ Reich tweeted. ‘It would erase Trump’s lies, comfort those who have been harmed by his hatefulness, and name every official, politician, executive, and media mogul whose greed and cowardice enabled this catastrophe.’
Seriously? Does Reich truly believe that a commission of this type will unify the country? Do we need to execute people’s reputations or even lock them up because people’s feelings have been hurt? Not alone in his ruthless commitment to take revenge, he followed Chris Hayes’ recommendation at MSNBC who proposed a similar commission for those who questioned COVID-19 protocols.
It’s clear that Reich and other Trump-haters are determined to punish Trump and anyone associated with Republicans. All the positive outcomes of the Trump administration are irrelevant: improved foreign policy, a thriving economy, reduced regulations, energy independence. None of those achievements matter. The only goal that matters is destroying the political Right and the Republican party.
The columnist at the Chicago Tribune, John Kass, has taken the punishment for his positions as well. Here’s what he said recently about Reich’s proposal:
Among Republicans, the outraged hot take on all of this is to bring up George Orwell’s ‘1984.’
‘It’s Orwellian,”’ they say.
But Orwell’s ‘1984’ was a soulless world ruled by dispassionate intellects. Their terror was numbing and methodical. These Reich/Hayes Truth Commissions are tinged instead with the angry passion of the zealot seeking revenge. It’s rather French. No, not the France of today, but of the French Revolution, of tribunals and trials and the Reign of Terror, the France of the Jacobins.
That prominent Democrats feel free to propose a Truth and Reconciliation Commission is unnerving, even frightening. We must assume that they are deadly serious.
Let’s hope more than ever that November 3 is a Trump victory.
Published in Politics
The derangement speaks loudly in him. (And his fellow travelers.)
The Economist Magazine has been presenting a running probability of the election. Until a few minutes ago, Trump’s weakest probability was 7%. It just cratered to 5%.
But, by all means, please feel free to keep whistling as you pass the graveyard.
What manner of conservative accomplishments have they?
When was the last time they actually held office?
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge was a two-term Governor until 2001, when he entered Republican President George W. Bush’s cabinet.
John Kasich was Ohio’s Governor until recently. He won a landslide re-election in 2014. No Republican has ever won the presidency without carrying Ohio since the Republican Party was formed in 1856. (Winning Ohio is a necessary but not sufficient requirement for Republican candidates. For example, Nixon carried Ohio in 1960, and Dewey carried Ohio twice.)
Okay, that’s question two answered; one not for almost two decades so essentially irrelevant today, and one whose greatest accomplishment is apparently having a mailman for a father.
Really? Wow, gee, nobody here guessed that would happen. Darn. There goes my bet.
Kasich was actually a great Congressman back in the 80s and 90s, and made a decent enough governor for his first term, cleaning up messes left behind by both of his predecessors (a 1 term Dem, and a 2 term Republican notable for his sanctimonious incompetence and gullibility to con men – there was a massive scandal involving investing state funds in… collectible coins). Kasich cleaning this mess up actually did quite well.
But Kasich drifted a lot during his 2nd term. Kinda went off the rails.
Percival:“
“I would prefer cases built on a concept I refer to as “evidence,” not the puerile maunderings of “highly-placed unnamed sources” who are long on opinions and short on facts.”
“I would prefer cases built on a concept I refer to as “evidence,”
Bingo. That is what really this post is all about. When Robert Reich and other of the Psycho Democrats including Gary speak of a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” they forget a couple of very large and important things:
A. Under our Constitution, Free Speech is not a crime and what others may see as ‘hate speech” , still others on other parts of the political spectrum see as “truth”, and that is the way it is supposed to be.
B. Just as in the Trump Impeachment Process, the question needs to be asked ” what crime has been committed” and the answer as in the Impeachment Process of Trump and apparently for millions of other would be Kulaks is simply “nothing”. This “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” is simply an incredibly evil and destructive attack on Due Process. But for Gary and the other good Stalinist Democrats, such a commission is just fealty to the reign of Uncle Joe and his incredibly evil henchman Lavently Beria, who said ” show me the man and I’ll show you the crime”.
Oh, noes! Not The Economist!!1!
(H/T @ontheleftcoast for the link via the Link Library.)
Is that poll the product of intensive research by The Economist, or did it come to them via email from a “sponsor?”
(I dropped my subscription to The Economist years ago when I decided Lexington had never managed to get west of the Hudson River except for an occasional flight to “the other coast.” Alistair Cooke he ain’t.)
You know the old joke about The Economist? It’s the magazine everybody buys, but nobody reads in airports.
Trump’s odds in the Economist Forecast just went down to 4%, the lowest level ever in that forecast.
In 1980, Americans wanted to fire Jimmy Carter, but were concerned about Ronald Reagan. That concern dissipated after their only debate. My theory of the case is that Americans want to fire Donald Trump, and after the last debate concluded that Joe Biden does not suffer from dementia, and would do.
Which do you suppose has greater insight into the campaign: The Economist or Guangming Daily? One of them is a rag with suspect motivations for its reporting. The other one is published in China.
Let’s face it, Democrats want to make it illegal to be a non-Democrat. Since they can’t do that, they’re just going to make it hard to live as non-Democrat.
Gary still thinks the yacht club types are coming back. They’ve found cooler friends.
3 hots and a cot for the rest of us I guess :)
Leftists tend to conflate tax avoidance with tax fraud because in their hearts, it all belongs to the state which graciously allows you to “keep” what you earn while it inflates its value away.
Have you sat on a grand jury where evidence was presented to you on Trump’s “crimes?” If not, your pronunciations of guilt are manifestly un-American and a disgrace to your profession as a lawyer. Trial by media and political opponents? Shame on you.
Then why does the elite left keep hoarding their wealth in a manner reminiscent of Scrooge McDuck?
But even the South African thing has been repudiated and is now being used to excuse murder of caucasian farmers.
I think he voted for McMuffin last time.
And regretted it, I think.
538 had Hillary (ding dong the witch is dead!) winning at 95% the day the polls opened.
We know how that turned out.
I refer to him as “John Kaisch, the Human Toothache”
You don’t know jack about Ohio politics. If you don’t know the backstory on Ed FitzGerald you’d think Kasich was loved. He was not. But it sure helps when your opponent has his running mate found to be years and years behind in taxes, and then the candidate is caught in a parking at 4am with someone other than his wife and a driver’s license that expired 10 years ago.
But do lecture us Buckeyes on the state of our politics…
President Obama instructed James Coney to go after Flynn, using the “right people”. This was directly after Comey had told Obama that Flynn was innocent of any crime. The meeting is documented on the notes of an FBI agent attending the meetings. Subsequently the FBI broke many laws in following Obama’s pointed instruction to get Flynn.
I don’t think Obama should be prosecuted. However, I believe every American should be informed.
The Democrats, under Obama’s express instruction, instituted a “Truth Commission” for the express purpose of propagating untruth. I have no doubt they will try again, and perhaps be more skilful in their use of falsehoods to prosecute people innocent political opponents in the name name of “Truth”
That is an alarming, and probably accurate, thought, @boneycole. They will be able to say anything to justify their commissions because they have no problem just making it up out of whole cloth. The willingness to ignore, even disdain the truth is so frustrating and disheartening. Especially when so many people will believe them.
That’s not an inapt comparison, though by the end I came to think of him more as John “get off my lawn!” Kasich.
You know Kasich was up against an empty suit in 2014 when even remembering that he had an opponent is act is act of will. FitzGerald… wow, I’d forgotten entirely about him. But then again, he was so awful that I think his own party deliberately forgot about him too.
Exactly: An obvious point that deranged Nevers can’t grasp.
LOL.
Biden is the crook. And his entire family. And that is now without a doubt.
After 4 years and countless breathless announcements they have nothing, nothing on Trump or his family.
This is hysterical.
“Trump must be held accountable”!
By the same individual who refuses to acknowledge that Joe Biden and his entire family are wholly owned subsidiaries of the CCP and various entities in Ukraine, Iraq, Russia and Kazakhstan.
I am so going to enjoy the next 9 days.
No regrets for voting for Evan McMullin in 2016. I was the Coconino County Contact Person for Evan. Evan got 541 write-in votes; the next highest write-in candidate was Darrell Castle with 13 votes. We got .85% of the Coconino County vote, which is tremendous for a write-in candidate.