Are some cultures better than others? Or are all cultures and their values equal? Bestselling author Dinesh D’Souza, who was born in India and moved to America, explains.
In another #onlyatYAF lecture, Dinesh D’Souza blasts the left for their fascist roots and anti-minority bigotry, two things they have become adept at throwing at the right. In fact, the history of the Democratic Party is a history of corruption, bigotry, and totalitarianism. Dinesh D’Souza is UNCHAINED at Trinity University.
D’Souza gets accosted by a freshman, and a reasonably intelligent one, with a pair of questions about white privilege and Islamic militancy arising as a reaction to American imperialism. You won’t believe his response…
Dinesh D’Souza, the man behind the controversial new documentary America, jumped into the lion’s den today with an appearance on MSNBC, facing off against Ed Show guest host Michael Eric Dyson and panelists Eric Boehlert and Zerlina Maxwell over slavery, America’s comparative ills in world history, and whether President Obama is a dangerous “radical.”
D’Souza contended that people exaggerate past sins like taking land from Native Americans and slavery. Dyson challenged him on slavery, arguing it was worse (to a degree) when America did it because there was actually religious justification being trotted out. D’Souza pointed out there were free black slave owners back then, and furthermore, slavery was abominable, but the United States “fought a great war to end it.”
Boehlert challenged D’Souza on another issue he’s raised: Obama and Hillary Clinton are radicals influenced by Saul Alinsky tactics. Boehlert said D’Souza completely misrepresents liberalism and makes out Obama and Clinton to be these “monsters of the left.”
D’Souza insisted that Obama was strongly influenced by and admires Alinsky’s tactics, while Clinton had an actual relationship with him, and so the criticism is perfectly legitimate.
D’Souza said this film is different than his previous works in that it emphasizes the pre-eminence of American history.
“This film is a film that will open your eyes. There is fear and alarm in the film, but it’s also inspiration, you can feel and experience the greatness of America. You’ll be motivated to love your country even more and do more for her. What better gift can we give America on the Fourth of July?”
“First off, no version of our national anthem is or will ever be better than the original…”
Hendrix debuted his version of the song, also known as the U.S. national anthem, in the summer of 1969 at the now-historical Woodstock music festival, where it was panned by some for its irreverence and heralded by others as an instant classic. Still others assumed it was an anti-Vietnam War statement, but Hendrix simply saw it as patriotic. “We’re all Americans. … It was like, ‘Go America!’ ” he said a few weeks after Woodstock.
“…My hope for America is that we’ll become a nation they’d be proud of again and I tried to capture that with my guitar.”
Hendrix and Mustaine are both considered grand masters of the electric guitar. Mustaine, who also spent a few years with Metallica, was named No. 1 in the book 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time by Joel McIver, and Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner was named the greatest guitar performance of all time by Guitar World magazine.
The presumably right-leaning film America follows D’Souza’s hit film 2016: Obama’s America, which is the second-highest-grossing political documentary in history after Michael Moore’s left-leaning Fahrenheit 9/11. Lionsgate is openingAmerica wide on July 2, nearly 10 years to the day after the same company openedFahrenheit 9/11. Read the rest of this entry »
“It’s the issue of fair treatment. You know you don’t want to have a country where lady justice has one eye open and she winks at her friends and then gives the evil eye to her enemies.”
— Dinesh D’Souza
Megyn Kelly: It’s an end around the campaign finance laws.
Dinesh D’Souza: Yes. It’s an end around campaign finance law. I acknowledge responsibility. And I have — I did admit doing that from the beginning. But I did contest the issue of selective prosecution, why was I being — so, we made a motion before the judge on selective prosecution but in a ruling last week he said no you can’t bring that into the case. So what really happened is I was going into a trial with in a sense, no defense.
Megyn Kelly: Do you feel chilled at all from, you know, the kind of work you do, the kind of films you make now?
Dinesh D’Souza: Well, one thing, Megyn, I mean, this is been a bit of a scary process…
Author and conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza plead guilty this morning to one count on federal charges detailed in an indictment accusing him of violating campaign finance laws and making false statements. D’Souza admitted in front of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, that he did in fact ask two people to make contributions in their name and later reimbursed them, knowing it was not proper under the law.
D’Souza submitted a plea deal on May 19. Judge Richard Berman accepted his guilty plea today and set a sentencing date for September 23, 2014. The government argued attorneys would be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant, D’Souza, is guilty. There will be no trial by jury in this case.
Wendy Long, a New York lawyer who challenged Democratic senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a friend of D’Souza’s from their days at TheDartmouth Review in the 1980s, was not a target of the investigation and didn’t know about the illegal donations at the time. She has just issued a statement upon learning of D’Souza’s plea:
I am heartbroken about this. Dinesh has always been a generous man and a loyal friend who has helped many people. There was never a time when he was trying to do anything but help me personally, support my U.S. Senate campaign, and advance the ideals of freedom that we share. The statute that the government has used to target him is unconstitutional. When our government criminalizes the very free speech that the First Amendment was written to protect, sends people to prison for simply exercising their constitutional rights, and when government power is wielded like weapon against political enemies, we are all in trouble. There is no corruption here, and this entire episode is a shameful government overreach and a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Here’s the new trailer, first unveiled on The Kelly File: Having made the second-highest-grossing political documentary of all time, the team behind 2016: Obama’s America is now, as promised, following up with America. Sending up some fireworks of his own to rival the ones 2016 generated, producer-writer and kind-of host Dinesh D’Souza says of his new docu, “We answer the central moral challenge of America’s critics, which is that America’s greatness is based on theft, plunder and oppression.” Listen for other red-button phrases from interviewees describing the USA as “the new evil empire” and a “predatory colonial power” as well as referring to Mount Rushmore as “a symbol of oppression and genocide to our people.” Director John Sullivan’s film comes out two years after its predecessors — hitting theaters on the Fourth of July…(read more) Deadline.com
Conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza said that after the success of 2016 Obama’s America, he didn’t want to just make a sequel, another film about politics, or another biography, he wanted a “bigger idea”. If you’ve seen the trailer America, it’s nothing if not ambitious. Watching his appearance on The Kelly File last night, I was struck by his artful command of the medium, using his time well to convey his message and promote the film. (though producer Gerald Molen didn’t get much air time) Dinesh D’Souza immigrated to the U.S. in 1978. He says,
“…[I] chose America because it’s a place where I can be the architect of my own life.”
“Today we have kids who can’t find America on a map,” Molen said. “We have kids who probably can’t even spell America, and I think that we have, you know, left them out, we have done them a great disservice by not [… ] showing our patriotism a little more.”
D’Souza is natural successor to controversial media wizards like Andrew Breitbart, but with academic flair and debate skills reminiscent of the late Christopher Hitchens. As an ascending public intellectual, he’s a man to watch.
The trailer for “America” made its television debut tonight on “The Kelly File.” Filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza and producer Gerald Molen joined Megyn to discuss the film.
D’Souza, who immigrated to the United States, says he “chose America because it’s a place where I can be the architect of my own life.” He said the film is about what makes America lovely.
Bestselling author, academic, and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza joined Breitbart News Saturday’s live broadcast from CPAC on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125 and explained the difference between him and President Obama is,
“I am a third world guy who has embraced America, and, as I see it, he is an American-born guy who has adopted a third world ideology.”
D’Souza shared his thoughts with Breitbart News Executive Chairman Steve Bannon and Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow. Marlow asked what D’Souza thought about Obama’s new My Brother’s Keeper initiative. The filmmaker had a story to tell that shed light on just how the President treated his real brother, George Obama. D’Souza recounted that he had interviewed George for his movie 2016: Obama’s America, which he shot in Kenya prior to the 2012 presidential election.
“So it ends up I’m funding George Obama’s family medical treatments, and his brother is the President… It’s bizarre.”
Right before the 2012 election was to occur, D’Souza received a phone call from Kenya.
“I get a call, and I look at my phone, and it is from Kenya. Like, who’s calling me in Kenya? It’s George!”
“I was seventeen years old when I first set eyes on America… Even then I knew I could be the architect of my own destiny.”
D’Souza’s new movie, America, produced by Oscar winner Gerald Molen and John Sullivan, will debut in July.
“We are living in the American era, an era that began at the end of World War II, but this moment is very fragile…”
D’Souza was indicted for violating federal election laws in January by the Department of Justice. Many saw the move as pure political payback against an outspoken critic of President Obama. On Tuesday, D’Souza appeared in court with his attorney in New York City, who signaled his client was prepared to go to trial.
“I am a public critic of the president and I do recognize this has made me vulnerable to a form of counterattack…”
He added that Obama, whom he characterized as “vindictive,” had released a video response to 2016 on his website, proving the film had gotten under the president’s skin.
“…there is a sense here that Obama treats his critics not merely as people who disagree, but as enemies.”
His latest topic of concern: Dinesh D’Souza. Mr. Dershowitz thinks the federal campaign fraud charges against the conservative filmmaker and author are an example of “selective prosecution.”
Conservative commentator and best-selling author, Dinesh D’Souza exits the Manhattan Federal Courthouse in New York last week. Reuters
Weighing in on the case Friday in an interview with Law Blog, Mr. Dershowitz was withering in his opinion of the Manhattan U.S. attorney office’s prosecution of Mr. D’Souza, who pleaded not guilty last week to making illegal campaign contributions to a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in 2012.
“The idea of charging him with a felony for this doesn’t sound like a proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion,” Mr. Dershowitz said. “I can’t help but think that [D’Souza’s] politics have something to do with it. . . . It smacks of selective prosecution.” Read the rest of this entry »
Not since Christopher Hitchens was alive, engaging intellectual opponents in debates, on stage, anywhere, at the drop of a hat, or when Timothy Leary and G. Gordon Liddy did speaking engagements as a duet, on tour, do we have an unlikely pair like Ayers and D’Souza sharing a stage…
Roger Simon has some good analysis–including a candid comment about a genuine nightmare he experienced after seeing Ayers speak at length for the first time, and the dizzy depression that followed– jump over to his site to read the whole thing. Here’s a money quote:
It’s a testament to Dinesh D’Souza’s mettle that he even showed up for his scheduled debate at Dartmouth (his alma mater and mine) with Bill Ayers last Thursday. D’Souza is only recently under what is apparently selective prosecution by the federal government for campaign law violations (see “Amnesty, but Not for D’Souza” by Andy McCarthy) and that was probably some of the reason the pundit/filmmaker seemed off his game.
He fared much better debating the existence of God with the late Christopher Hitchens. But that was in part because Hitchens played fair, enjoying the intellectual jousting and search for truth between two exceptionally bright people. D’Souza’s Thursday adversary, Mr. Ayers — former Weatherman revolutionary and retired professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he held the titles of Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar — did everything but.
Paul A. Rahe writes: Not much attention has been paid in the mainstream press to the arrest and indictment of Dinesh D’Souza for supposedly breaking the campaign finance laws by reimbursing those whose money he collected in his role as a bundler for Wendy Long‘s run for the Senate in New York in 2012.
But then the same mainstream press has been notably reluctant to look into the charges that the IRS persecuted Tea-Party groups and that Erich Holder’s Department of Justice whitewashed the affair.
This administration’s partisan use of prosecutorial discretion to harass conservatives and Republicans more generally is one of the great scandals of our time. But, to be fair to the Obama administration, so is the partisan bias of the mainstream press.
Paul Bond writes: The filmmakers behind Dinesh D’Souza‘s upcoming doc have vowed to press on while their star defends himself after his indictment on federal charges that he violated campaign finance laws in 2012. On Sunday, they released a trailer for the movie, America, that is set for release on July 4.
“I want to take this progressive, leftist critique head on”
America is the follow-up to the surprise hit 2016: Obama’s America, which earned $33 million in 2012 and became the second most popular political documentary in history, behind Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which earned $119 million in 2004.
(Photo by Ben Hider/Getty Images)
In America, D’Souza — who wrote and produced the film — makes the claim that 1960s radical leftism is more or less indistinguishable from current mainstream liberalism, a doctrine that he says preaches the United States is the product of “stealing and plunder” from Native Americans, Mexicans and African-American slaves.
“I want to take this progressive, leftist critique head on,” D’Souza says in the trailer. The movie will include re-creations of some of the major events in American history.
Jason Howerton writes: On Friday, conservative scholar Dinesh D’Souza pleaded not guilty to charges that he violated campaign finance laws. The filmmaker behind the anti-Obama documentary “2016: Obama’s America” was released on $500,000 bond, which some — even in the legal community — argue was excessive.
We looked into these claims and uncovered a number of violent and disturbing offenses that resulted in bail amounts less than D’Souza was required to put up. While it’s not a comprehensive list by any means, here are nine cases where violent suspects had to put up less for bail than D’Souza:
A former convict accused of robbing 4 people and raping one of them
That was after Richmond’s bail was increased from $150,000, when he was accused of only two counts of attempted robbery. He was later indicted for additional attempted robbery charges and sexual assault.
A man accused of trying to kill a police officer
Bail for a man in Puna, Hawaii, accused of trying to murder a police officer wasreset to $400,000 in December 2013 after several missing affidavits relating to the case were found.
Secret investigations targeted coincidently at most prominent conservative groups in WI who can only now legally talk about their harassment. If you want to see what American fascism would look like, well this is it…
Requiring an ID to Eat?! The Right-Wing’s Next Crazy Plot Against Low-Income Americans
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Those crazy evil selfish racist Right-wingers are at it again. Here we go. Their hatred of poor people knows no limits! How can they live with themselves? Taking bread right out of the mouths of disadvantaged people with no identity! It’s a crazy, wicked, evil RIGHT WING PLOT!
“Under a bill Vitter introduced Wednesday , beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would be denied their food if they are unable to show a photographic identification card at the register. For millions of low-income Americans who don’t have an official photo ID and can’t necessarily afford to buy one, Vitter’s bill would mean being cut off from their primary food source.”
The Institutional Left is Completely Freaked Out at Suggestion of Showing I.D. to Access Benefits
If that’s really a concern, what about the hundreds of millions of people with jobs and incomes who would be denied food, housing, and basic services, unless they used cash-only for every transaction? Good grief, they would starve! This must be a sinister left-wing plot! Mass starvation, no heat, no safe place to sleep, nothing. Unless all working and non-working people use cash-only for every food purchase, and every transaction necessary to sustain life, there’s no way to avoid it. Mass starvation and homelessness is clearly their secret agenda. (just trying out the inflammatory liberal logic. Looks pretty silly, doesn’t it?)
Really. Who doesn’t have some way to identify themselves when they interact in the marketplace? This is true whether your income is from having a job, and working, or if your income is exclusively from government benefits.
This is the left’s favorite alarmist false crisis. The delusion that there’s a sinister right-wing plot to harm the poor. Their view? It’s a crime to criticize or question the welfare state.
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