Tag: Al Sharpton

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Kim Guadagno Hits Back Over Murphy Race Baiting

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September 3,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, while we have never been a strong supporter of Kim Guadagno , Phil Murphy (Corzine 2.0) is clearly a threat to many New Jerseyans livelihood . His big government tax and spend philosophy will chase any business out of New Jersey, leaving fewer people to carry the massive tax burden.  Murphy’s “Connecticut Scheme ” will have the same results as in Connecticut driving away the states largest employers and most productive individuals .

Worse yet in recent statements Murphy is appearing a bit desperate which seems odd for someone “up 29 points” in the polls.

Kim Guadagno  slapped back  at Murphy, “It’s a shame that Phil Murphy would stoop so low to hide his support for raising taxes by over $1.3 billion by getting involved in divisive and horrendous identity politics. Carlos and I have condemned racism and bigotry in all forms, and Phil Murphy knows it. His desperate race-baiting attacks to stir up fake outrage are beneath all of us as New Jerseyans, who value diversity, equality and love for each other.”

Murphy Race Baiting , “We are now seeing a disturbing trend emerge with Kim Guadagno and her campaign. Yesterday, she refused to criticize a sitting Assemblyman for posing with the Confederate flag, a symbol of bigotry and divisiveness. Today, we’ve learned that her choice for Lieutenant Governor, Woodcliff Lake Mayor Carlos Rendo, has been accused of systematic harassment and discrimination by the Chabad community in Woodcliff Lake. Yet, both times Lieutenant Governor Guadagno refused to criticize racist and anti-semitic speech despite the clear evidence.”

“Clear evidence.” really this guy is starting to sound like Al Sharpton quoting fake news , race baiting and obfuscating  his positions trying to hide the huge tax increases that will finally sink New Jersey economy once and for all  .

Kim Guadagno sums it up  ,”Murphy is taking the coward’s way out, ducking for cover behind the task force to avoid saying what he’s likely thinking, that he plans to reward those unions for their support by dumping the cap. New Jerseyans deserve to know where Murphy stands before November, and they have every reason to expect our would-be governor to have the courage explain his position.”

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Lauding hi-tech education, Sharpton at his side, Murphy doubles down on courting Newark vote

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August 22, 2017 at 6:23 PM

With the Rev. Al Sharpton at his side, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy made a campaign stop today at a hi-tech education center in Newark’s South Ward, saying the state needed to support urban youth to succeed in a globalized and digitized economy.

“We’ve got to be here, backing up these kids, to make sure that they can achieve all that they can achieve,” said Murphy, flanked by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Newark native Sheila Oliver, the Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial candidate. “Centers like this are at the very center of our economy. This is the future of our economy.”

Murphy appeared at NAN Newark Tech World, a center dedicated to improving Internet-based technological skills critical for many careers in the increasingly digital economy. A key part of the center’s mission is to provide access to opportunities available through the Internet by offering classes in computer training skills and other technology programs.

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/newark/sections/politics/articles/lauding-hi-tech-education-sharpton-at-his-side

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Celebs who said they’d leave country if Trump won – Start Packing!

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By Melanie Zanona

The threat is a common one after any election outcome: Canada’s immigration website crashed from heavy traffic as it looked increasingly likely that Trump would win.

But after the real estate mogul clinched the presidency in a stunning victory early Wednesday morning, some of those stars will face questions about making good on their promise.

Here is a list of some of the celebs who claimed they would move out of the U.S. under a Trump administration.

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/305117-celebs-who-said-theyd-leave-country-if-trump-won#.WCMW4ELB36o.twitter

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BET feels the Bern : How Bernie Sanders Can Win the Black Vote in South Carolina and Beyond

Bernie Sanders

He has the platform, but it’s all about communicating it.

By Paul Meara
Posted: 02/16/2016 11:00 AM EST

If we know anything about Bernie Sanders’ campaigning prowess it’s that he can make up ground quickly. And there’s no better candidate to do that against than Hillary Clinton, whose approval or favorability numbers have never strengthened after announcing a candidacy bid for any public office. That said, the Clintons have generally high popularity numbers with African Americans and it’s going to be an uphill climb once again for Sanders to capture a large swath of that support.

With the Nevada Caucuses just eight days away and South Carolina Primaries only 15, Bernie has his work cut out for him. Luckily for him it seems like more and more black support, especially young, seems to be turning more and more in his favor. At the same time, Clinton just picked up an endorsement from theCongressional Black Caucus PAC, and it’s likely she’ll pick up the support of President Obamaeventually, whose accomplishments she heavily touted in the Friday’s (February 11) Democratic debate.

While it may be a little outdated, a December poll by YouGov of South Carolina Democrats showed that African Americans heavily favored Clinton at almost 4 to 1. Nationally, a recent Fox News poll showed a 71 percent support figure among non-whites for Clinton compared to just 20 for Sanders. Barack Obama carried South Carolina in 2008 with 80 percent of the black vote and while that number may not be entirely necessary to hit in order to win the state, Bernie can’t have Hillary attaining a statistic near that, especially as they’re mostly split among whites in the state.

No turn around in presidential politics so far would be as big as if Bernie Sanders were able to cut 20 to 30 percent off of Clinton’s lead among African Americans in the state. That effort has already begun and for it to be even more effective, here are a few ways he can better gain the black vote in South Carolina and beyond.

https://www.bet.com/news/national/2016/02/11/how-bernie-sanders-can-win-the-black-vote-in-south-carolina-and-.html

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Sharpton calls for black churches to lobby on Iran deal

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August 15, 2015, 02:26 pm
By Mark Hensch

Rev. Al Sharpton will push America’s black churches to lobby in favor of the Iran nuclear deal, a new report says.

Sharpton is launching his push backing President Obama’s pact with Tehran this weekend, according to The Huffington Post.

“I am calling on ministers in black churches nationwide to go to their pulpits Sunday and have their parishioners call their senators and congressmen to vote yes on the Iran nuclear plan,” he said Friday.

“We have a disproportionate interest, being that if there is a war, our community is always disproportionately part of the armed services, and that a lot of the debate is by people who will not have family members who will be at risk,” Sharpton added.

He also argued Friday that his efforts would counter a coordinated national effort against Obama’s historic diplomatic achievement.

“There needs to be a balance in this,” he said. “Clearly lobbyists and others like AIPAC are pushing on their side, and there needs to be an organized effort on the other side.”

 

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/251209-sharpton-calls-for-black-churches-to-lobby-on-iran-deal

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You’re 45% more likely to be murdered in de Blasio’s Manhattan

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By Larry Celona

May 26, 2015 | 8:28am

Murders are way up so far this year in Manhattan, The Post has learned.

Sixteen people were killed around the borough between the first of the year and Sunday. Over the same period last year, the figure was 11. That’s an increase of about 45 percent.

Shootings in the borough have also soared.

There have been 50 “shooting incidents’’ since Jan. 1, compared with 31 in the same time period in 2014 — an increase of about 38 percent. Some of these “incidents’’ involved more than one victim.

The number of shooting victims nearly doubled, from 33 to 61.

“City Hall better wake up soon,” a police source said. “When murders and shootings go up in Manhattan, everyone is affected,’’ he said, pointing out that crime impacts business, tourism and the city’s economy as a whole.

He said there are a variety of reasons, from the plummeting number of “stop-and-frisks’’ to the fact that the city needs more officers. “The cops’ hands are tied,’’ he said.

https://nypost.com/2015/05/26/youre-45-more-likely-to-be-murdered-in-de-blasios-manhattan/?utm_source=NYPFacebook&utm_medium=Native&utm_campaign=NYPFacebook

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16 Facts About Al Sharpton the Media Won’t Tell You

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16 Facts About Al Sharpton the Media Won’t Tell You

Tuesday, 09 Dec 2014 12:40 PM

By Jim Meyers

The Rev. Al Sharpton has been praised as a civil rights icon by prominent figures in politics, and “60 Minutes” reported that he has become President Barack Obama’s “go-to black leader.”

Sharpton has been frequently in the media for leading protests against grand jury decisions exonerating white policemen in the deaths of unarmed African-Americans in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York.

But many in the mainstream media have sought to downplay the negatives surrounding the firebrand minister, who has been accused of being a rabble-rouser out for personal gain, including:

1. When Sharpton sought involvement in the funeral of Akai Gurley, an African-American shot dead in November by a rookie police officer in the darkened stairwell of a housing project in Brooklyn, New York, Gurley’s family told him to stay away.
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Sharpton held a news conference condemning the cop and promised to deliver a eulogy at the wake. But Gurley’s aunt, who was speaking for his mother, told TMZ: “Al Sharpton came in, put his name on the situation, but has not even made one single call to the parents of Akai,” adding that all Sharpton sees “is money and political gain and he is turning the tragedy into a circus.”

2. Sharpton has more than $4.5 million in current state and federal tax liens against him and his businesses. His National Action Network has repeatedly failed to pay travel agencies, hotels, and landlords, records show.

3. Sharpton has allegedly sought to keep his nonprofit afloat with money that was supposed to go to payroll taxes, although he contends that the payroll tax shortfall was not intentional.

4. The reverend accused an upstate New York prosecutor, Steven Pagones, of being part of a group of white men who raped teenager Tawana Brawley in 1987. A grand jury found “overwhelming evidence” that the rape allegation had been fabricated. Pagones sued Sharpton for defamation and won a judgment of $65,000. Sharpton reportedly paid the judgment with money raised by his supporters.

5. Sharpton has frequently sparked controversy with his strident language. During a rally in Brooklyn, he called white people “crackers.”

6. After a car in a Hasidic rabbi’s motorcade killed a 7-year-old black boy in Brooklyn in 1991, Sharpton referred to the Hasidic Jews as “diamond merchants” and said “if the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house.” Shortly afterward, an innocent Hasidic Jewish student visiting the area from Australia was set upon by a mob and stabbed to death.
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7. In 1995, an African-American Pentecostal church in Harlem, New York, asked a Jewish tenant of one of its properties, Freddie’s Fashion Mart, to evict a black-run record store that was subletting part of the property. Sharpton showed up outside Freddie’s vowing to a crowd: “We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business.”

Two weeks before Christmas that year, Freddie’s was attacked by a man in the crowd who shot several customers and then set fire to the building with a flammable liquid, killing seven employees. Sharpton subsequently apologized for his “white interloper” remark, but vehemently denied responsibility for the violence.

8. Speaking at a college in 1994, Sharpton referred to gay men as “homos.”

9. When Mitt Romney, a Mormon, was running for president in 2007, Sharpton said: “As for the Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyway.”

10. In 1990, Sharpton was acquitted of felony charges that he stole $250,000 from his youth group.

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com https://www.Newsmax.com/Newsfront/sharpton-fines-racism-taxes/2014/12/09/id/612015/#ixzz3NTjJnu80

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News Media Outlets Caught Directly Funding Political Activism of Tax-Dodging Demagogue Al Sharpton

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News Media Outlets Caught Directly Funding Political Activism of Tax-Dodging Demagogue Al Sharpton

BY KARA PENDLETON

Al Sharpton hosts a show for MSNBC and is a public speaker, both of which bring in money for him. However, there are more details behind his finances that have raised some eyebrows – and, it’s just not the money he owes in back taxes or the fact that his ventures are in debt.

Melissa Francis, host of Money With Melissa Francis on Fox Business News, spoke with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly about how Sharpton’s political and financial backing by Comcast and NBC is deeper than it appears.

Francis reports that Comcast, MSNBC and NBC Universal all directly funded Sharpton’s National Action Network (NAN) as recently as this October. Each were “Preacher Level” sponsors at a combined 60th birthday party/fundraising event for Sharpton that netted an estimated $1 million in donations.

In ascending order, the sponsor levels noted on the event program were “Media Sponsor,” “Contributor,” “Medallion,” “Track Suit,” “Hair,” “Brooklyn,” “Preacher,” “Author,” and “Activist.”

When asked about the donations, NAN’s response was less than forthright:

“We can’t confirm or give comment that quickly. We have not done our audit for 2014, so how would anyone know when there has been no report on who gave what?”

Sharpton and the cable giants have done business in the past, as well. In 2010, Sharpton spent time lobbying Congress when Comcast wanted the acquisition of NBC Universal to go through. The following year, Sharpton was given his own show.

Recently, Al Sharpton has embroiled himself in the shooting deaths of two NYPD officers, saying that the death of Eric Garner following a physical arrest was a “trigger” for Ismail Brinsley to get revenge. Earlier, Sharpton directly inserted himself into the Ferguson controversy, a conflagration that ultimately led to community-wide devastation from vandalism and looting.

Situations like these between Sharpton and his donors are not unique. ANew York Post article from 2008 provides several other examples of instances where Sharpton threatened boycotts or negative publicity to garner large donations. Once donations were received, these companies were given public support or even awards of recognition.

Certainly, as Sharpton pushes himself further into the national spotlight, the origin and methods of his funding will become the subject of heightened scrutiny. Whether or not anything comes of it is up to who is in charge of the investigative process in the federal government.

https://www.ijreview.com/2014/12/224067-2-who-is-funding-the-controversial-al-sharpton-what-megyn-kelly-finds-out-is-the-disturbing-tip-of-the-iceberg/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_content=conservativedaily&utm_campaign=Politics

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Is Bill de Blasio the Most Hated Mayor In America?

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Is Bill de Blasio the Most Hated Mayor In America?

The Most Hated Mayor In America? Educated Ignorance At The Top…
12/22/2014

Read more at https://dcgazette.com/hated-mayor-america-educated-ignorance-top/

Bill de Blasio said cops are racist. Is he that ignorant or just plain stupid? Last I checked police officers come in every color, race and religion. Was he talking about white cops, black cops, brown cops, or yellow. This man needs to look in the mirror and take a long hard look. He is a white man that needs to stop being pissed off because God didn’t make him black. He talks about racist while hanging out with the country’s number one racist. He is the mayor of our largest city and is paid to protect people from crime. Cops are out protecting New York against Thugs like Al Sharpton who are inciting violence.
Read more at https://dcgazette.com/hated-mayor-america-educated-ignorance-top/

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AL SHARPTON LEADS MARCH IN DC AS NYC PROTESTERS CHANT: ‘WHAT DO WE WANT? DEAD COPS!’

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AL SHARPTON LEADS MARCH IN DC AS NYC PROTESTERS CHANT: ‘WHAT DO WE WANT? DEAD COPS!’

WARNER TODD HUSTON 13 Dec 2014405

Joining the families of blacks killed by police, thousands marched toward the capitol and down New York streets on Saturday to protest what they called an epidemic of abuse at the hands of police.

But even though it was his event, many attendees didn’t want to hear from organizer Al Sharpton.

The march, organized by Sharpton’s National Action Network, once again chanted the oft-heard slogan, “No Justice, No Peace” with marchers demanding that federal laws be enacted to curb local and state police agencies use of force rules.

In an op-ed published on December 8, Sharpton noted that the “march against police violence” was needed to force Congress to “immediately start hearings to deal with laws that will change the jurisdiction threshold for federal cases and policing.”

Once the thousands of marchers reached the grounds outside the Capitol, Sharpton warned Congress that he and his supporters would not be ignored.

“You thought you’d sweep it under the rug. You thought there’d be no limelight,” Sharpton said. “We are going to keep the light on Michael Brown, on Eric Garner, on Tamir Rice, on all of these victims because the only way — I’m sorry, I come out of the ‘hood — the only way you make roaches run, you got to cut the light on.”

Sharpton was joined at the podium by felony armed robbery suspect Lesley McSpaddenand alleged riot-inciter Louis Head, the parents of Michael Brown, a strong-arm robbery suspect killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in August.

https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2014/12/13/al-sharpton-leads-thousands-in-saturday-march-on-washington-dc/

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Al Sharpton will attend Monday White House civil rights meeting

Plane Watchers

Al Sharpton will attend Monday White House civil rights meeting as White House proposes $263 million plan that puts body-worn cameras in police departments and reviews police ‘militarization’

Slain 18-year-old Michael Brown’s parents have demanded the use of more body-cams by police forces to document violent encounters with suspects
President will meet with ‘young … civil rights leaders’ and law enforcement officials after he holds a cabinet meeting about the Ferguson unrest
Civil rights meeting will focus on challenges posed by ‘mistrust between law enforcement and communities of color’
Speculation ran rampant that Al Sharpton would be in the White House Monday, and his representatives confirmed it before lunch
Cabinet meeting will concern the militarization of local law enforcement with equipment provided by the federal government
Task force will have four months to make recommendations to Obama about how to change the program that has moved $5.1 billion in ge

President Barack Obama will meet with controversial black pastor and MSNBC host Al Sharpton on Monday at the White House, and plans to demand 263 million from Congress to put 50,000 body-worn cameras in U.S. police departments in response to the August police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Brown’s parents have pushed the cameras as one solution to the distrust between police and criminal suspects following physical encounters. The White House said in August that it agreed with the idea in principle.

‘We support the use of cameras and video technology by law enforcement officers, and the Department of Justice continues to research best practices for implementation,’ the administration wrote in response to a public petition that attracted more than 154,000 supporters on the White House website.

The new initiative will provide 50 per cent of the funding for cameras, but will not pay for them entirely, at a cost of $75 million.

It will also provide new training resources and funds to study how to reform police practices.

It’s unclear why Officer Darren Wilson didn’t wear a camera during his fateful encounter with Brown. Members of the Ferguson Police Department were photographed wearing body cameras later that month during an August 30 rally.

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2855715/Obama-hold-White-House-meetings-Ferguson.html#ixzz3KgHIJVuN

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FBI Warns Ferguson Decision ‘Will Likely’ Lead to Violence By Extremists Protesters

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FBI Warns Ferguson Decision ‘Will Likely’ Lead to Violence By Extremists Protesters

Nov 17, 2014, 6:34 PM ET
By MIKE LEVINE, PIERRE THOMAS, JACK DATE and JACK CLOHERTY

As the nation waits to hear whether a Missouri police officer will face charges for killing unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., the FBI is warning law enforcement agencies across the country that the decision “will likely” lead some extremist protesters to threaten and even attack police officers or federal agents.

Peaceful protesters could be caught in the middle, and electrical facilities or water treatment plants could also become targets. In addition, so-called “hacktivists” like the group “Anonymous” could try to launch cyber-attacks against authorities.

“The announcement of the grand jury’s decision … will likely be exploited by some individuals to justify threats and attacks against law enforcement and critical infrastructure,” the FBI says in an intelligence bulletin issued in recent days. “This also poses a threat to those civilians engaged in lawful or otherwise constitutionally protected activities.”

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbi-warns-ferguson-decision-lead-violence-extremist-protesters/story?id=26980624

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How Long Will It Take to Repair Damage Holder Has Done at Justice Department?

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How Long Will It Take to Repair Damage Holder Has Done at Justice Department?
Hans von Spakovsky / @HvonSpakovsky / September 27, 2014

Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement Thursday that he is resigning, effective when his successor is confirmed, is welcome news.

As John Fund and I outline in our recent book, “Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department,” every time President Obama has broken, bent, ignored or changed the law, the person at his side advising him how to do it has been Eric Holder.

Mr. Holder is also responsible for spearheading an unprecedented politicization of the Justice Department, which should be of great concern to anyone who cares about the rule of law and the impartial administration of justice.

Why care about who runs the U.S. Justice Department? It matters because Justice is one of the most powerful executive branch agencies in the federal government. It has enormous discretionary power to pursue people accused of breaking the law and to exert major influence over social, economic and national security policies by the enforcement (or non-enforcement) choices made by its top officer.

Justice requires someone who understands that, while the attorney general is a political appointee, he (or she) has a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution and enforce the law in an objective, non-political manner. For the most part, Eric Holder failed in the execution of that duty.

Mr. Holder is the first attorney general in history to be held in contempt by the House of Representatives. He earned this dubious distinction by refusing to turn over documents related to what may be the most reckless law enforcement operation ever undertaken by the Justice Department: Operation Fast and Furious.

Every time President Obama has broken, bent, ignored or changed the law, the person at his side advising him how to do it has been Eric Holder.

During his tenure, the Justice Department launched more investigations and prosecutions of leaks than all prior attorneys general combined, while studiously ignoring high-level “friendly leaks” by White House officials designed to make the president look tough in the fight against terrorism.

Mr. Holder racialized the prosecution of federal anti-discrimination laws and led an unprecedented attack on election integrity laws, thus making it easier for people to commit voter fraud.

His handling of national security issues and his reinstitution of the Clinton-era criminal model for handling terrorists have endangered national security and the safety of the American public.

Mr. Holder has tried to restrict pro-life protesters’ First Amendment right to speak, has prosecuted American companies (under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) for behavior that is routine among government officials, and has on numerous occasions ignored his duty to defend the law and to enforce statutes passed by Congress.

Photo: Christy Bowe/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom

In clear violation of civil service rules, Mr. Holder filled the career ranks of the Justice Department with political allies, cronies and Democratic Party donors.

He treated Congress with contempt and did everything he could to evade its oversight responsibilities by misleading, misinforming and ignoring members of Congress and its committees.

For these reasons and many others, a former career lawyer who served in the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations told us that, in his opinion, “Holder is the worst person to hold the position of Attorney General since the disgraced John Mitchell, who went to jail as a result of the Watergate scandal.” This is quite a criticism given that many DOJ veterans believe that the Department reached its nadir under Mitchell.

But in comparison to Holder, Mitchell seems like an amateur in corrupting the law enforcement duties of the Justice Department to carry out the political objectives of President Obama.

The many cases in which judges have accused DOJ prosecutors of engaging in prosecutorial abuse during Holder’s tenure shows, unfortunately, the extent to which this modus operandi has seeped into the lower levels of the Department.

How long it will take to repair the damage that Eric Holder has done to the management and operation of the Justice Department? There is no way to know.

In the end, it is the president who decides on the character, attributes and competence of the individual chosen to be the head of the largest law enforcement organization in the United States.

And it is the president who decides whether his administration – and his attorney general – will fulfill their obligation to “faithfully execute” their duty to enforce the law and “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Originally appeared on FoxNews.com.

https://dailysignal.com/2014/09/27/how-long-will-it-take-to-repair-damage-holder-has-done-at-justice-department/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

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Politico Reports MSNBC Host Al Sharpton Was Obama’s Eyes and Ears In Ferguson

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Politico Reports MSNBC Host Al Sharpton Was Obama’s Eyes and Ears In Ferguson
By Tim Graham | August 22, 2014 | 09:53

In yet more proof that MSNBC has absolutely no sense of journalistic detachment from the Obama White House or political activism in the streets, Politico’s Glenn Thrush is reporting that Team Obama was plumbing Sharpton for information he gleaned on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri.

“Sharpton—so often criticized for being a self-promoter—finds himself in the unusual position of being too close to a White House that seems to be losing power by the day, ” Thrush wrote. But Sharpton is still boasting that it was his sincerity that bonded him with the president: 

Over the years, the 59-year-old former Brooklyn protest leader turned MSNBC talk-show host has embraced a new identity, one that reflects his evolution from agitator to insider with all that implies. In Ferguson, Sharpton established himself as a de facto contact and conduit for a jittery White House seeking to negotiate a middle ground between meddling and disengagement.

“There’s a trust factor with The Rev from the Oval Office on down,” a White House official familiar with their dealings told me. “He gets it, and he’s got credibility in the community that nobody else has got. There’s really no one else out there who does what he does.”

And the White House, as the crisis following Brown’s death seemed to flare out of control, worked extensively behind the scenes to maximize The Rev’s doing what he does, using him as both a source of information and a go-between. After huddling with Brown’s family and local community leaders, Sharpton connected directly with White House adviser and First Friend Valerie Jarrett, vacationing in her condo in the exclusive Oak Bluffs section of Martha’s Vineyard, not far from where President Obama and his family were staying. Obama was “horrified” by the images he was seeing on TV, Jarrett told Sharpton, and proceeded to pepper him with questions as she collected information for the president: How bad was the violence? Was it being fueled by outside groups—and could Sharpton do anything to talk them down? What did the Brown family want the White House to do? [Italics in the original.]

If anything, the Ferguson crisis has underscored Sharpton’s role as the national black leader Obama leans on most, a remarkable personal and political transformation for a man once regarded with suspicion and disdain by many in his own party. It’s a status made all the more surprising given that Obama, America’s first black president, ran on a platform of moving beyond the country’s painful racial divisions while Sharpton is the man who once defined those divisions for many Americans.

What brought them together, according to numerous sources I’ve spoken with about this over the years, is a shared commitment to racial justice, and a hardheaded pragmatism that has fueled their success. “He realized I wasn’t as irrational or as crazy as people thought,” Sharpton told me in an interview this week, and indeed Sharpton not only visits the White House frequently, he often texts or emails with senior Obama officials such as Jarrett and Attorney General Eric Holder, the first African American to hold that job and who, like Sharpton, views the Ferguson crisis as a pivotal one in Obama’s presidency.

“I’ve known Al since he was 12 years old, and he’s arrived at the level he always wanted to arrive at, which is gratifying,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a colleague and sometimes rival, told me. “He’s the man who’s the liaison to the White House, he’s the one who’s talking to the Justice Department….”

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“He’s calculating … he gets the game,” Sharpton recently told an associate when asked about why he’s bonded with Obama.

“The relationship evolved over time,” Sharpton explained to me. “I realized he was just a different kind of guy. … He wasn’t going to be guided by emotions. He was not intimidated. There was no game you could play [with him]. The key for him was seeing that I wasn’t insincere, that I actually believed in the stuff I was talking about.”

Read more: https://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2014/08/22/politico-reports-msnbc-host-al-sharpton-was-obama-s-eyes-and-ears-fergus#ixzz3BJWNaFqP

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Al Sharpton’s Secret Work As FBI Informant

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Al Sharpton’s Secret Work As FBI Informant

Untold story of how activist once aided probes of NYC wiseguys

APRIL 7–When friends and family members gathered recently at the White House for a private celebration of Michelle Obama’s 50th birthday, one of the invited partygoers was a former paid FBI Mafia informant.

That same man attended February’s state dinner in honor of French President Francois Hollande. He was seated with his girlfriend at a table adjacent to President Barack Obama, who is likely unaware that, according to federal agents, his guest once interacted with members of four of New York City’s five organized crime families. He even secretly taped some of those wiseguys using a briefcase that FBI technicians outfitted with a recording device.

The high-profile Obama supporter was also on the dais atop the U.S. Capitol steps last year when the president was sworn in for a second term. He was seated in front of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two rows behind Beyonce and Jay Z, and about 20 feet from Eric Holder, the country’s top law enforcement officer. As head of the Department of Justice, Attorney General Holder leads an agency that once reported that Obama’s inauguration guest also had La Cosa Nostra contacts beyond Gotham, and engaged in “conversations with LCN members from other parts of the United States.

https://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/al-sharpton-764312