I don't like reveling in things like this, but isn't this guy an arrogant ass? Delicious!

[bigtree]

Conservative and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza, left, accompanied by his lawyer Benjamin Brafman leave federal court, in New York, Tuesday, May 20, 2014. D'Souza has pleaded guilty in New York federal court to making illegal campaign contributions. He admitted getting two close associates to make $10,000 contributions to Wendy Long. She was a candidate who lost the New York Senate race in 2012 to the Democratic incumbent. His plea agreement calls for a sentence of 10 to 16 months in prison. He'll be sentenced on Sept. 23. Photo: Richard Drew, AP


____ Dinesh D'Souza told a federal judge on Tuesday that he "deeply" regretted violating a federal campaign finance law, and that he knew that what he did had been wrong, during a hearing in which the conservative author pleaded guilty to making more than $10,000 of contributions in the names of others.

“I knew that making a campaign contribution in the name of another was wrong and something the law forbids,” D’Souza told U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan, according to The New York Times. “I deeply regret my conduct.”

“Are you pleading guilty to this crime because you are in fact guilty of it?” Berman asked in response.

“Yes, your honor,” D’Souza said . . .


read: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/dinesh-dsouza-court-statements

[mountain grammy]

1. I have only one thing to say:

ATTICA!

[SummerSnow]

2. Maher to D'Souza, " You may be going to prison, and share a cell with Michael Grimm."

[xocet]

26. Note how D'Souza immediately exaggerates so as to defend his "documentary"....

He apparently knows the tone of what he wants to say to defend the documentary, but clearly has not a clue as to the actual numbers involved. At 1:35 in the video:

D'Souza: "Look, Obama has doubled the national debt. The national debt was eight trillion dollars when he came in. It's over sixteen trillion dollars. That's a lot for one guy to do. Now, I'm not saying he did it himself...."

President Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. The US Treasury website indicates that the US national debt on December 31, 2008 was 10,699,805,000,000 USD - so nearly 11 trillion USD if one were to round to the nearest trillion - here is the link to the pdf source of this information: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/mspd/2008/opds122008.pdf .

So, not only is D'Souza incorrect in what he states, but he is off by about 2.70 trillion USD. That is a fairly substantial error.

The available data from the US Treasury Department is current to April 2014, and this data indicates that the US national debt is 17,508,437,000,000 USD - so 18 trillion if one were to round to the nearest trillion - here is the link to the pdf source of this information: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/mspd/2014/opds042014.pdf .

So, once again D'Souza is quite incorrect in what he states. He is off by about 1.51 trillion USD.

Beyond D'Souza's incapability to recall the correct numbers, he neglects to remember that President Obama had to put President Bush's extravagances on the books so that they could be dealt with, and that President Obama has had to try to repair the damage that the worst President in US history did while he was in office: rebuilding is anything but free.

[napi21]

28. I believe there's another error in his figures.

Bushie was paying for the Iraq war "Off the books" and when Obama was elected, he said he was ordering that cost to be "on the books" because the American people should KNOW the cost. I don't recall exactly how much that was, but I found this article.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/11/us-public-defrauded-hidden-cost-iraq-war

When the US invaded Iraq in March 2003, the Bush administration estimated that it would cost $50-60bn to overthrow Saddam Hussein and establish a functioning government. This estimate was catastrophically wrong: the war in Iraq has cost $823.2bn between 2003 and 2011. Some estimates suggesting that it may eventually cost as much as $3.7tn when factoring in the long-term costs of caring for the wounded and the families of those killed.

The most striking fact about the cost of the war in Iraq has been the extent to which it has been kept "off the books" of the government's ledgers and hidden from the American people. This was done by design. A fundamental assumption of the Bush administration's approach to the war was that it was only politically sustainable if it was portrayed as near-costless to the American public and to key constituencies in Washington. The dirty little secret of the Iraq war – one that both Bush and the war hawks in the Democratic party knew, but would never admit – was that the American people would only support a war to get rid of Saddam Hussein if they could be assured that they would pay almost nothing for it.

The most obvious way in which the true cost of this war was kept hidden was with the use of supplemental appropriations to fund the occupation. By one estimate, 70% of the costs of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2008 were funded with supplemental or emergency appropriations approved outside the Pentagon's annual budget. These appropriations allowed the Bush administration to shield the Pentagon's budget from the cuts otherwise needed to finance the war, to keep the Pentagon's pet programs intact and to escape the scrutiny that Congress gives to its normal annual regular appropriations.

With the Iraq war treated as an "off the books" expense, the Pentagon was allowed to keep spending on high-end military equipment and cutting-edge technology. In fiscal terms, it was as if the messy wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were never happening.

[xocet]

36. Thanks for bringing up that article.

Based on these examples, it seems safe to conclude that D'Souza is wildly wrong about most of what he states as a fact.

His so-called "documentary", 2016: Obama's America, was a ridiculous montage of RW fantasies layered with economic fear-mongering and racism.

[freshwest]

41. Very good clear piece in the cost of the Iraq War. Thanks for posting it. n/t

[babylonsister]

3. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. nt

[bigtree]

4. he thought he was soooo sharp

. . . not too swift, sharpie! .

[struggle4progress]

5. I guess he won't be gushing giddily from Bunkerville for a while

[Cirque du So-What]

6. A little advice for Mr. D'Souza

Don't wear that tie at your sentencing, or you might get six months tacked onto your sentence...just because.

[Cha]

8. "..Just because".. Rofl

[Cirque du So-What]

11. Justice is blind

but chances are that the judge isn't, and (s)he wouldn't appreciate getting blinded by the defendant's gawdawful choice in ties.

[Cha]

15. It Screams.. "Poor Choices"!

[Cha]

7. Thank you, bigtree.. I think this thread was

necessary! Revel Revel

[calimary]

9. The only thing he "deeply" regretted is getting caught.

SCHMUCK.

[okaawhatever]

10. His lawyer looks like a televangelist. nt

[Aristus]

25. I was thinking he looked like Beethoven.

[okaawhatever]

27. Lolz. nt

[Jim Lane]

31. Brafman is a very well-known NYC criminal defense lawyer.

He represented Dominique Strauss-Kahn, for example.

[Cirque du So-What]

12. Revel revel

you've torn your dress

revel revel...

you know how it goes.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

13. I'm reveling enough for the both of us.

Last week he was on Real Time talking about a vigorous defense. Lol

Folded like a cheap suit.

[MFM008]

14. he is neither a SCHOLAR or a film maker

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. I love reveling in things like this.

Few things in life are as satisfying as the warm fuzzy Schadenfreude one experiences when a right-wing asshat gets his just desserts.

[shenmue]

20. Yay!

[vlakitti]

21. Yay! Mean!

Bullseye.

[blkmusclmachine]

17. ,

,

[The Wizard]

18. Once dated

Aryan Annie Coulter. That should get him an insanity defense.

[YOHABLO]

24. The two of them together ewwww.

[JohnnyRingo]

22. The fact that he accepted a year in a plea agreement...

...tells me this was a very serious crime. For a first time offender to agree to that long, he must have been facing the better part of a decade at trial.

[Jim Lane]

32. I think that part of the report is misleading.

The deal seems to be that he'd plead to making the contributions, in return for which they'd drop the charge based on his lying about the contributions. The 10 to 16 months isn't in the plea deal; it's the federal sentencing guideline for this offense. He can and will seek a more lenient sentence, so it's not even certain that he'll do a day in prison.

[47of74]

23. I only have one thing to say;

[Iwillnevergiveup]

29. I don't like reveling much myself, but....

do you suppose Sister Simone will visit him in jail?

[Recursion]

30. I'm sorry to say he's from Mumbai

Don't judge the city on that...

[Jim Lane]

33. He was born in Mumbai but is ethnically a Goan.

Would people in Mumbai regard him as being "not really one of us even though he happened to be born here"?

[Recursion]

35. Probably not; D'Souzas are thick here

The Portuguese ran most of this coast for a while. Mumbai has always been closely tied to Goa.

As far as his personal obsession? India wants nothing to do with that. Obama has higher approval ratings here than in the US.

[malaise]

34. The fact that the ReTHUG scumbag is no longer smiling

is delish

[Orsino]

37. It takes hard work and ddication...

...to find one of the few remaining laws regulating campaign contributions, and to violate it.

[Enthusiast]

38. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!

Can't stand the lying fucker.

[ancianita]

39. Yep, I publicly admit my wrongdoing in privately revelling.

[yellowcanine]

40. Always reminded me of Mr. Bean.