Tag Archives: Dinesh D’Souza

What A Real ‘Patriot’ Looks Like

Posted on by under Free Press Issues, Global Issues, History, Law and justice, Political commentary

We’ve all heard Donald Trump praise Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.  Just last week, Trump said “how very smart” Putin was. Dictators seem to do well within the Republican Party of today. Dinesh D’Souza said, in a series of tweets, that he “respects Putin because he tenaciously defends his country’s interests and understands the use of power.” I guess that for some it’s easy to think living in such a regime would somehow be an improvement over our semi-democratic republic today.

Vladimir Kara-Murza

But I want you to consider this … today a Russian journalist, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was sentenced to 25 years in prison.  His crime?  He criticized Putin’s regime and the invasion of Ukraine.  For that, he was sentenced to 25 years, but the reality is he will likely never see the light of day again, for Putin’s enemies tend to fall out of high-rise windows, become victims of poisoning, or otherwise meet an untimely demise.  In fact, twice previously Kara-Murza has been mysteriously poisoned … in 2015 and again in 2017.

Kara-Murza has a family – a wife and three young children – and yet he stood for truth, he did what he felt was the right thing to do, to bring the truth, the facts out into the open so that the Russian people would have the opportunity to see clearly what and who Vladimir Putin and his regime are.  In my book, this man is a hero.

What follows is his final statement to the Russian Court:

    Members of the court: I was sure, after two decades spent in Russian politics, after all that I have seen and experienced, that nothing can surprise me anymore. I must admit that I was wrong. I’ve been surprised by the extent to which my trial, in its secrecy and its contempt for legal norms, has surpassed even the “trials” of Soviet dissidents in the 1960s and ’70s. And that’s not even to mention the harshness of the sentence requested by the prosecution or the talk of “enemies of the state.” In this respect, we’ve gone beyond the 1970s — all the way back to the 1930s. For me, as a historian, this is an occasion for reflection.

    At one point during my testimony, the presiding judge reminded me that one of the extenuating circumstances was “remorse for what [the accused] has done.” And although there is little that’s amusing about my present situation, I could not help smiling: The criminal, of course, must repent of his deeds. . . .

    Not only do I not repent of any of this, I am proud of it. . . .

    In their last statements to the court, defendants usually ask for an acquittal. For a person who has not committed any crimes, acquittal would be the only fair verdict. But I do not ask this court for anything. I know the verdict. I knew it a year ago when I saw people in black uniforms and black masks running after my car in the rearview mirror. Such is the price for speaking up in Russia today.

    But I also know that the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate. When black will be called black and white will be called white; when at the official level it will be recognized that two times two is still four; when a war will be called a war, and a usurper a usurper; and when those who kindled and unleashed this war, rather than those who tried to stop it, will be recognized as criminals.

    This day will come as inevitably as spring follows even the coldest winter. And then our society will open its eyes and be horrified by what terrible crimes were committed on its behalf. From this realization, from this reflection, the long, difficult but vital path toward the recovery and restoration of Russia, its return to the community of civilized countries, will begin.

    Even today, even in the darkness surrounding us, even sitting in this cage, I love my country and believe in our people. I believe that we can walk this path.

To those Americans who would call themselves ‘patriots’ because they helped try to overturn the 2020 election or because they carry a maga flag and chant trumpisms, take a lesson from Mr. Kara-Murza, for he is the true definition of the word ‘patriot.’  In October 2022, Kara-Murza was awarded the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize.

Somebody Please Take His Pardon Pen?

Posted on by under Political commentary, Social commentary

What do these two men have in common?

They are both bigots and haters, they have both broken the law, and they are both so well-loved by Donald Trump that he has used his pardon pen to exonerate them of any wrongdoing.  Sorry, Trump, they are both ugly people without a shred of humanity and in my book, they are still guilty.

Until the reign of Trump, arguably the most controversial presidential pardon had been that of Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon.  Nixon committed a crime, rigged an election, and did not deserve to be pardoned.  But I would argue that the pardons of Joe Arpaio and Dinesh D’Souza are even worse than Nixon’s.  Why?  Because Nixon was done, there was no way he was going to be allowed back into the political arena after Watergate.  Arpaio, however, has been unleashed upon the nation and is now running for a seat in the U.S. Senate.  D’Souza?  Who knows what doors this pardon may open for him, and while it is too late for him to run for a congressional seat this year, I would not be surprised to see him on the ballot in 2020.

You already know about Joe Arpaio, and if you need a memory refresher, you can check him out here.  So, let’s talk a little bit about D’Souza.

D’Souza is an uber-conservative political commentator, author, filmmaker, and convicted felon.  He was an avid Obama-hater and in fact seems to hate anything and anybody associated with the Democratic Party.  His crime?  Campaign finance fraud.  He donated 5 times the FEC limit on direct contributions ($5,000) by an individual to a PAC in the campaign of Wendy Long, the longshot Republican nominee running against Kristen Gillibrand for US Senate in New York in 2012.  He did this by using his friends as a ‘pass-through’ for contributions of $5,000 each.  Campaign finance violations are felonies, and D’Souza pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a $30,000 fine, five years’ probation, and eight months in a community confinement center (halfway house).  D’Souza served his time, but only at night … he merely went there to sleep, and his days were unsupervised.

D’Souza is an intellectual who was once well-respected within the Republican Party, but in recent years has turned more toward conspiracy theories against Democrats, and specifically against President Obama and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

As I was writing this post, a news flash came across my screen that Trump is also considering pardoning Martha Stewart and commuting the sentence of Rod Blagojevich.  Huh???  Did the man just wake up this morning and decide to pardon everyone?

Generally, those seeking pardons must wait five years from the date they are released from confinement before becoming eligible, and they must apply to the Office of the Pardon Attorney.  Joe Arpaio never served a day in prison, thanks to Trump’s pardon which came shortly after he was convicted of criminal contempt of court.  D’Souza was only convicted in 2014, and did not even file an application for pardon.

Martha Stewart, convicted in 2004 of insider trading and lying, doesn’t much bother me, for I consider her beneath serious thought. For the life of me, though, I cannot understand why Trump would want to pardon her. But Blagojevich was the governor of Illinois when he was convicted for trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.  Would Trump’s pardon allow him to re-enter politics?  Let’s hope not.

The conclusion we can draw from this latest madness is that Trump believes that the laws are there for some people, but that they do not apply to him, and that he can decide to whom they do apply.  Now, granted there have been questionable and controversial pardons throughout history.  But those are in the past, and we are living in the present, the reign of Trump that I am seriously beginning to think of as the Second Reign of Terror.  Is Trump pardoning these people to add to his list of loyal sycophants?

And now, I raise the question:  Who will Trump pardon next?  Whose sentence might he try to commute?  Dylan Roof who murdered 9 people in a church in 2015?  Can he pardon a murderer?  Under certain circumstances, yes.

Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution reads:

“The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”

The only people he cannot pardon are those who are impeached, or those who are convicted of a state criminal offense.  I have mentioned before that it may be time for some serious revisions to the Constitution.  I repeat.  The framers of the Constitution never, in their wildest nightmares, could have imagined the madman who now occupies the White House.  They honestly trusted the American people with having the good sense to select only the best people to oversee our government.  I have the greatest respect for the Founding Fathers, but … boy did they screw up on that trust thing!pardon-2