On Tolerance, Pardons, Politics and Dinesh D'Souza

In 2012, conservative polemicist Dinesh D'Souza contributed $20,000  via a straw donor for his friend Wend Long's quixotic campaign to become Senator from New York.   His infraction was zealously prosecuted by politically connected US Prosecutor from the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara.   

In 2014, D'Souza entered a plea for a one count felony charge. D'Souza's sentence was for eight months in a half way house, five years probation and a $30,000 fine. 

 This was perhaps the first time that someone was sentenced to prison for a minor FEC infraction.  Liberal Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz noted that such campaign violations were common and questioned if it was a proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion.   Many conservatives believe that Bharara threw the book at D'Souza as payback for cinematic success of  "2016: Obama's America" (2012).   Bharara was thought to be a front runner to replace Obama Attorney General Eric Holder in 2014. 

On May 31, 2018  President Donald Trump announced via Twitter that he would grant D'Souza a full pardon because  he was very unfairly treated by our government.

President Barack Obama granted clemency to 1,715 nonviolent criminals, many of them were for drug dealers and even a terrorist.  Obama granted more commutations  than the prior twelve Presidents. The mainstream media lauded the Obama Administration as being tolerant.  

It is dubious that the media accredited Democrat steno-pool will apply the same standards towards President Trump regarding Dinesh D'Souza.

Justifying Georgemas

British Great War Recruiting Poster 

According to the Gregorian calendar, April 23rd is the Feast of St. George (or Georgemas).  The Orthodox also admire the attributes of St. George but follow the Julian calendar which marks the feast on May 6th.  St. George born in Syria Palestrinia in the late Third Century who served as an officer in the Roman army that guarded the Emporer Diocletian, but who was martyred for not renouncing his Christian faith.  The emperor tried to bribe George to renounce his faith and tortured him, but to no avail. Before he was decapitated, St. George gave all of his wealth to the poor.

St. George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic Church, among Anglicans, Orthodox, East Syrian churches. Even Muslims revere this honorable military man. In the Twelfth Century a legend was attached to St. George about slaying a dragon.  The standard Orthodox icon of St. George depicts him slaying a dragon with a woman in the background.

The dragon is generally understood as being both Satan and the monster from his own life (Diocletian). The woman in the background is Alexandra, the wife of Emperor Diocletian. Crusaders credit an appearance of St. George. This was probably legend which traveled back with the Crusaders from the Holy Land and was embellished in courtly Romance retellings.


Legend has it that a plague bearing dragon came down from the mountains and terrorized the countryside.  The dragon could not be appeased with ransom of livestock.  This  dragon would not stop his rampage unless the King tied a young maiden to an oak tree in the center of the village.

The King's nobles used a pigeon to decide what to do.  If the bird flew to the east then, they must take the King's own daughter Sabra and tie her to a tree, as the dragon demanded.  The pigeon flew off to the east. 

But as fate would have it, the pigeon managed  to attract the attention of a knight called  George and guided him back to the princess. Just as the dragon was about to devour the princess, the good knight clad in armor fortified himself with a sign of the cross and then brought the fight to the dragon.  George cunningly slowed down the dragon by driving a ball of pitch down his throat, and then speared the dragon with a grievous wound with his lance.

The Wedding of St. George and Princess Sabra by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1857)

According to Eastern versions, the knight rode back to the city along with the princess and the dragon in tow.  As George approached the city, he promised to slay the dragon if the town would become baptized Christians.  Fifteen thousand men took to the baptismal waters and George slayed the dragon with his trusty sword Ascalon (recalling the city Ashkelon in Israel).  The king was so grateful that he bestowed nobility (some say Sainthood) to George and gave his daughter Sabra's hand in marriage and promised to build a church were the dragon was slain.

St. George is the patron saint of England yet it is not a public holiday in England. The reasons why celebration of Georgemas is muted are cultural, historical and now tinged with political correctness.



St. George was neither English nor roundly associated with England, even though King Edward III formed the Order of the Garder under the patronage of St. George in 1348.  The Reformation played a part as Protestants did not care much for saints' days. In addition, celebration of St. George's day has been in decline since the Act of Union between England in Scotland completed in 1707.  In today's world,  the Daily Telegraph reports that many English people are concerned that national symbols like St. George can be considered racists,


Aside from the fact that many pubs in England are named after George and the dragon, it makes one wonder why this legend matters. Modern man is quick to dismiss myths (unless it is anthropogenic global warming), but this is short sighted. Myths convey essential truths although the romantic story elements may not be exact.  For instance, the story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree may have been apocryphal but it does "I can not tell a lie" does illustrate some of the virtues of Washington's transcription of "The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior", which molded the first President's life and were put into practice at the founding of the American Republic.

The reason that St. George matters so much to the English is that the legend reinforces characteristics which the English admire and seek to emulate.  St. George is a knight who exemplified chivalry. St. George and the dragon also champions the little guy as well as the triumph of good over evil.  The versions which depict him making the sign of the cross depict deep dedication to principles (if we dare not declare faith).  These romanticized virtues along with the more verifiable versions of his hagiography make St. George a man worthy (bank holiday or not) for Englishmen to emulate.

[This piece originally ran on DC-LausDeo.US]

Democrats Said to Be Up and Cummings (sic)

MSNBC's Donnie Deutsch asked Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD 7th) who were the rising stars of the Democrat Party.  The Baltimore Democrat gave an eyebrow raising list:

It was curious that two of the up and Cummings (sic) stars of the Democrat Party in the District of Calamity had haunted the halls of Congress for years.  It seems strange to consider Rep. Barbara Lee (D-13th) as a rising star, considering her 22 years in Congress.  She was infamous for voting against going to war after the terror attacks of 2001. But maybe just missing being voted Vice Chair of the DNC gave her that stature in Cumming's mind.

There is some merit in citing Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA 28th) as a rising star.  His stature as the Ranking Member on the House Intelligence Committee gives him a place of prominence when making television hits, particularly regarding Benghazi and accusations of Russia electoral interference.  But this is Schiff's 8th term, so he's hardly a rising star.

Then there is Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA).  Had Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election, Kaine would have been Vice President, and spoken of in reverential tones like the predecessor former Vice President Joe Biden.  But that fate was not to be. Kaine distinguished himself as being a disagreeable debater during his match up against his counterpart, then Governor (now Vice President) Mike Pence (R-IN). This compensated for Kaine's charisma deficit during most of the 2016 General Election campaign.  After the electoral defeat, Kaine declined to take a position of prominence amongst DC Democrats, yet Cummings cites him as a up and coming Democrat star.



All three of these Up and Cummings stars seemed to have thrown their lot in with the progressive wing of the Democrat party.  In the past, Kaine had been known for some moderate as well as liberal positions, but the inclination for being a squish seems to have past. Of course, Blue Dog Democrats are dead in the eyes of most Democrat loyalists. If Democrats were keen on a fresher face in DC, they could turn to Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH 13), a blue collar Democrat from Youngstown/Akron who made a quixotic bid to unseat Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA 12th) from being House Minority Leader.  Between Ryan's willingness to consider working with the GOP on some bills where there is mutual agreement and payback for challenging the leader (and losing), it is no surprise that Ryan of Ohio was not mentioned.

It is telling that DC Democrats only looked among themselves for rising stars, instead of looking of not looking between the beltways.  But considering how many seats Democrats have lost since President Barack Obama, there may not be many success stories to which to point.

DC Republicans may be in trouble with voters unless they can achieve some successes with health care, taxes, and immigration issues.  But if the Up and Cummings pols  are really the bench for DC Democrats, I weep for their future.

Remembering San Jacinto Day

On the eve of the decisive for Texas independence which would occur on April 21, 1836 at San Jacinto, Captain Mosely Baker extolled his troops:

You are now paraded to go into battle. For the past few weeks, our greatest desire has been to meet our foes in mortal combat, and that desire is about to be gratified. I have confidence to believe that you will do your duty and act like men worthy of freedom, but if there be one who is not fully satisfied that he can face death unfalteringly, he is at liberty to remain at camp, for I do not wish my company disgraced by a single act of cowardice.

 Yonder, within less than a mile is the tyrannt, Santa Anna, with his myrmidons who have overrun our country, destroyed our property, put to flight our families and butchered in cold blood many of our brave men.

Remember, comrades, that we fight this day for all that is dear to us on Earth, our homes, our families and our liberty. He who would not fight for these is not worthy of the name of man.

Remember that is little army of less than 800 men is the last hope of Texas, and with its defeat or dispersion, dies the cause of freedom here and we will be regarded by the world as rash adventurers, but should victory crown our efforts, of which I have but little doubt, we can anticipate a riddance to the country of our oppressors, followed by peace and prosperity, and in the further years when this broad, beautiful and fertile land shall be occupied by millions of intelligent and thrifty people who can appreciate the value of liberty, we will be honored as the founders of a Republic.

 Remember that Travis, Crocket, Bowie and their companions, numbering one hundred and eighty three of the bravest of brave men, stood a siege of ten days their number and fought till the last man was not killed, not one being left to tell the news or tell the tale.

Remember that Fannin and four hundred volunteers were basely murdered after they had capitulated as prisoners of war and sent to the United States.

Remember you fight an enemy that gives no quarter, and regards neither age nor sex. Recollect that your homes are destroyed; imagine your wives and daughters trudging mud and water, and your children crying for bread, and then remember that the author of all this woe is within a short distance of us; that the arch fiend is now within our grasp; and that the time has come at last for us to avenge the blood of our fallen heroes and to teach the haughty dictator that Texans can not be conquered and that they can and will be free.

Then nerve yourselves for the battle, knowing that our cause is just and we are in the hands of the All-Wise-Creator and as you strike the murderous blow let your watchwords be: "Remember Goliad! Remember the Alamo!" 

The 800 Tejanos routed 12,000 Mexican troops on April 21, 1836 in eighteen minutes.  The battle was so decisive that General Santa Anna escaped the San Jacinto battlefield for a few days dressed as a private.  Despite Cpt. Moseby's firey rhetoric against the ruthless tyrant Santa Anna, the defeated Mexican General was not harmed when he was captured. In attempting to prevent execution, Santa Anna offered to order the sizable remaining Mexican forces to stay away. Thus, the Texas troops followed Sam Houston's exhortation not to harm Santa Anna lest he just be another dead Mexican. 

Three weeks later, General Santa Anna signed the Treaties of Velasco which ended hostilities with the Texans and established the first steps of official recognition of Texas independence from Mexico. 

Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Doolittle Tokyo Raids

Just a little over five months after the devastating Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States  made a daring raid on the Imperial Homeland.  The responsibility to conduct the raid fell upon then Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, a revered test pilot for the U.S. Army Air Corps.   

Sixteen specially modified B-25B bombers carrying 80 men took off at night from the USS Hornet on April 18, 1942, which was positioned 500 nautical miles off the Japanese mainland.  The plan had to be rushed as the Hornet was sighted further out than expected.

The Army Airmen participating in Doolittle's raid understood that they were most likely on a suicide mission. Their intended targets were military and industrial targets in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya and Yokosuka. One of the sixteen planes had to bail before it reached its target.  

Remarkably despite losing 15 aircraft, only four of eighty men were killed  in the Doolittle Raid, eight became POWS (but three were executed), and one crew was interned after landing in Vladavostok, Soviet Russia.  They were held in the USSR for a year and were "smuggled out" (probably arranged by the Russian Secret Police NKVD because the USSR could not release the prisoners because of the neutrality pact with Japan).





Doolittle expected to be court marshaled as his raid lost 15 of 16 aircraft in pin prick air strikes.  But back in the United States, the daring Doolittle Raids was celebrated as a morale building first strike against Imperial Japan.  The Japanese were caught off guard by the Tokyo Raid and the Imperial Military rearranged forces, which might have turned the tide in the Battle of Midway in June 1942.

Doolittle received the Medal of Honor from President Franklin Roosevelt, with the citation:

"For conspicuous leadership above and beyond the call of duty, involving personal valor and intrepidity at an extreme hazard to life. With the apparent certainty of being forced to land in enemy territory or to perish at sea, Lt. Col. Doolittle personally led a squadron of Army bombers, manned by volunteer crews, in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland."

Doolittle was eventually promoted as a Lt. General and became the highest ranking active reserve officer in modern times. 

Sometimes the bigger battle is won through morale boosting and reminding America of its mission.

On Dead Parrots and Trump Tax Returns

Democrats have been fulminating for months about Donald Trump's refusal to release his tax returns, as most modern Presidential candidates have done. When these calls for transparency fell up Donald's deliberately deaf ears, Democrats have threatened consequences in governing.

 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) taunted President Trump to release those tax documents or else he should expect efforts to reform the tax code to go down to defeat. This threat seems disingenuous, as Schumer vowed not to cooperate with the Trump Administration unless it acceded to every Democrat demand.

As Tax Day loomed, Between the Beltway pundits pondered if Mr. Trump would reveal his personal IRS papers.  Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer pulled no punches with his prognostication.



Krauthammer pithily predicted that the issue was "a dead parrot", a reference which harkened back to Monty Python's Flying Circus.  It gladdens the heart that when "The Hammer" goes down, he can be mirthful in making his pessimistic political prediction. 



I wonder if he would say "Ni".  I doubt it (sic).

L.A. Street Artist Sabo Skews Tinseltown by the Discounting of Hollywood

On the eve of the Academy Awards, L.A. Street Artist Sabo did a real life installation that skewered Tinseltown. 



Sabo created posters that looked very similar to Tinseltown publicity but which sported a message which did anything but hype the 2017 Oscars, particularly quoting from Quentin Tarantino's True Romance (1993).

The host of this year's Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel has warned that viewers acknowledges that much of his Academy Awards monologue will be about President Donald Trump (and it won't be all light commentary) because that is what people are talking about.  Still Kimmel worries that the Oscars will talk too much about Trump, and inevitably such political talk will alienate some people.

For those "Deplorables" who are already alienated from the progressive pontifications from Hollyweird, Doc Thompson is hosting the #SnowFlakeAwards on The Blaze TV (which will also be livestreamed on The Snowflake Awards website).   That will be a show that will be much more simpatico with Sabo, albeit the ceremony will not simply skewer the entertainment industry.

However, it is dubious if those who achieve the Peoples' Choice in the Snowflake Awards will pick up their trophies before they melt in the hot studio lights or the glare of public opinion.

The GOP's Milo test

Last week, CPAC seemed to have scored a coup in landing provocateur extraordinaire Milo Yiannopoulos as the "Conservative" Political Action Committee's keynote speaker. Yiannopoulos was slated to speak about free speech on campus, as he was at the center of the UC Berkeley riots at the start of February.   

However, less than three days later on Washington's Birthday Observed (a.k.a. Presidents' Day), this honor was unceremoniously yanked from Milo, after Yiannopoulos made some statements which seemed to condone pederasty.  Yiannapoulos' book deal also was cancelled.

Many new to the political scene in support of President Donald Trump seemed ideologically enamored to Milo's in-your-face publicity stunts and alt-right rhetoric.  Whether this episode establishes the high mark for Alt-Right infiltration of Republicans or it underlines the tension between the establishment GOP and the so-called "basket of deplorables" nationalist populist wing remains to be seen. 

On Trump Resistance and a Soft Coup D'Etat

Between the astroturf agitation seemingly sponsored by George Soros and the strategic intelligence leaks from holdovers inside the government, former US attorney Joe Di Genova frets that a soft coup d'etat is underway.

Milo Yiannopoulos on Character

After the University of California anti-free speech riots, the Mayor of Berkeley tried to blame the unrest on the speaker Milo Yiannapoulos by smearing him as a white supremacist.

Several hours later, Mayor Jesse Arreguin revised his statement to label Yiannopoulis as a "white nationalist" in lieu of a "white supremacist".  Neither smear seems to fit the libertarian leaning, flamboyantly homosexual Trump supporter. 

But claiming that Yiannopoulos might have engaged in "hate speech" had he been given the chance to speak seems to be the key for liberals to excuse mob violence to silence dissent at the supposed home of the free speech movement.

On an Obama Eviction

KISS off America Haters?

Sign of the Times?: Rogue Won (sic)

In the run up to the premiere first cinematic Star Wars spin-off, famed street artist Sabo graced LA-LA land with a roguish parody which matched up Rogue One with Election 2016. 

These faux movie posted popped up all around Hollywood Boulevard.  Sabo's signs had a heroic Trump along with Steve Bannon, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Julian Assange, Milo, Yiannopoulos and Gavin McInness. 

But Sabo was not the first one to make this connection. 

It seems the anti-hero depends up who is telling the story.  

Perhaps Disney will update Star Wars episode Five with "The Media Empire Strikes Back". But that may not be a part of the Culture Wars tales. 

H/T: Hollywood Reporter 

Turkish President Erdogan on the Streetcar of Democracy

There was a coup attempt by the Turkish military to overthrow long time Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan.  As Ralph Peters surmised on Fox News, it seems that it was undertaken by lower ranks of the Turkish military as a last ditch attempt to save secular society from an Erdogan inspired Islamization by the few forces which have not been purged by the autocratic Erdogan.  

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama have come out in favor of supporting the duly elected government in Turkey.  Hence, their support of Erdogan was for the winner of a a one party election which is rapidly overhauling Attaturk's secular state with one that is more sharia compliant, for an official who has backed Obama bete noir Assad in Syria and who complicated military tactics in overthrowing Iraq's Saddam Hussein in 2003.  

As Erdogan's flippant appraisal of the Streetcar of Democracy shows:  Turkish Democracy is here today and Erdagon tomorrow.  Next stop, Berlin 1933!

Did Speaker Paul Ryan Lose Respect for FBI After Clinton E-Mail Recommendation?

In February 2016, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan deflected a question concerning expansion of the Clinton e-mail case because of his said respect for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

After F.B.I. Director Comey laid out a case of careless recklessness on the part of former Obama Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, it is dubious if he still has the same respect for parts of the storied G-Men.

Le Corbusier on Architecture

George Will on Leaving the GOP

P.J. O'Rourke's POTUS Endorsement

Is this a joke or is the 2016 Presidential Election?

Chewing on Social Cannibalism

We like to think of ourselves as being so civilized and sophisticated.  Yet progressive America continues to champion abortion on demand, in which proponents can not even own up to taking a human life as they claim to protect womens' reproductive freedom.

In the 2016 political cycle, Senator Bernie Sanders (Socialist-VT) has excited young progressives who would sympathized with Occupy Wall Street's targeting of "the 1%" in pursuit of free college, free health care etc. without producing anything.  In essence, it is an "Eat the Rich" mentality. 

Some Soylent Green anyone?

Cruz Manifestly Slams Communism at Campaign Stop

During a campaign event in Elkhart, Indiana, a student asked Republican Presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) to sign his "economics textbook".  Cruz obliged but noted that the tome was the "Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx.



Rather than call out thugs to make the disrupter disappear, Cruz made his point through a clever signing statement. WSBT cameras covered how Cruz noted how millions suffered because of this economic ideology and how it impacted his family's history.  Cruz then thanked the student for coming to the event.

This is a much different tact than seems to occur at Trump rallies.  It is not just the Trump riot in Santa Cruz, California.  It seems that pugnaciousness is encouraged and dissent is not tolerated at in the Trump rump.

This is not the first time that Cruz has engaged with opposition in his audience to his advtange.  Last July, Code Pink crashed a rally against the Iran Deal in Lafayette Park near the White House.  Instead of shouting down the opposition or folding the tent, Cruz lent the microphone to Medea Benajamin and other Pink protester to engage with them on their points, rather than staged talking points. But naturally that does not make the news, because the Lamestream Media would rather cover such vital stories as Cruz refers to basketball rings in Indiana.