Free Republic

Rev. Al is not happy with the Clintons. With the Democratic National Convention abuzz with anticipation over Hillary Clinton’s speech to it tonight, civil rights activist Al Sharpton says she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, cannot afford anything less than an extraordinary effort to help Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy ... Otherwise, Sharpton warned today, their reputations within the party -- once sterling -- could be permanently tarnished. “It can damage their legacy in the long run if they don’t get a grip pretty quick,” Sharpton told The Times.

DENVER -- The Rev. Al Sharpton says he and other civil rights leaders are kicking off a campaign to prevent a repeat of the 2000 and 2004 elections when there were widespread complaints of voter obstruction and vote manipulation. Sharpton said during a gathering at a Denver restaurant Monday that the Democratic National Convention, where Barack Obama will become the first black nominee of a major U.S. party, is just a start.

I’m a hustler baby, I’m a hustlerI just want you to know, wanna let you knowIt ain’t where I been, it ain’t where I beenBut where I’m ’bout to go, top of the world!—Jay Z The race hustlers can almost taste it now—Obama at the top of the world. And now Spike Lee, Maxine Waters, Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et al. are joined by a new hustler-wannabe—Howard Dean. Yes, the Dean of scream. Yaaaaaaaaaaah! Whether he made a Freudian slip or not last week, Dean reminded me of the pathetic, race-confused “Raji” as played by Vince Vaughn in the...

The Democratic Party and the mainstream media work together on behalf of terrorists. That fact has been extensively covered in this column. But that working combination does damage in many areas of national life, one of the most important being in the area of race relations and civil rights. The Democratic Party, the mainstream media and black leaders keep identifying racism as a central problem in our society and they thus manage to create a real and effective roadblock to ending any problems caused by past racism and improving the life and well-being of blacks and minority groups. The Democratic...

In case anyone thought that we were on the cusp of a thoughtful discussion about education in Illinois, enter Al Sharpton. Thanks to a confused Chicago press corps that has mistaken him for a "civil rights leader", Sharpton is now enjoying local airplay for piggy-backing onto State Senator James Meeks' Chicago Public Schools (CPS) student boycott scheduled for day one of the school year. By allowing himself to be cast with Sharpton and other professional liars, Meeks is frittering away his breakthrough opportunity for low income families whose children are unfairly locked into failing schools. While I disagree with some...

None other than the Rev. Al Sharpton has come to Milwaukee. Well, at least his voice is here. Sharpton’s syndicated radio show recently began broadcasting from noon to 3 p.m. weekdays on WMCS-AM (1290). That’s probably welcome news for some in town; for others, not so much. For some Milwaukeeans, Sharpton is part of the unholy trinity — along with Louis Farrakhan and Jesse Jackson — of outspoken black men who never let white America forget its sad racial past. To others, it’s a welcome relief to have a nationally syndicated African-American radio program with a political focus during daytime...

Gretta Van Susteren is reporting that Barack Obama's campaign is dictating the media appearances for Al Sharpton: I debated whether to tell you this or not…but I did promise behind the scenes information here on GretaWire….so here it is…yesterday at 9:00am I personally booked Reverend Sharpton to appear ON THE RECORD at 10pm eastern to discuss Don Imus. At 8:12pm, less than 2 hours before we were to begin our 10pm news show, I received a call in my office from Reverend Sharpton…he said that Senator Obama’s campaign had called and asked him to appear on CNN at the same...

Rev. Al Sharpton plans Bell protest at Yankee Stadium for All-Star Game BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Monday, June 9th 2008, 4:00 AM The Rev. Al Sharpton threatened Sunday to disrupt baseball's historic All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium next month unless the state passes new laws to curb police misconduct.A month after protesters blocked bridges and tunnels during rush hour, Sharpton said he wants to bring the outrage over the Sean Bell shooting to the national stage July 15 by targeting the midsummer classic. "We have plans to do the same at the All-Star Game," Sharpton said. "We...

Cool it with the assassination talk, the Rev. Al Sharpton warned Saturday. Sharpton said he spoke to Hillary Clinton Saturday morning about her recent reference to the assassination of Robert Kennedy - "and she understands my feelings firmly." Her team did not immediately divulge the details of their chat.

By The HeelSpecial To The Stiletto BlogAfter the Rev. Al Sharpton’s massive protest last week that shut down several major roadways in New York City during the evening rush hour, NY Gov. David Patterson said: “They felt that they had no other choice but to take the action that they took, and I respect the decision that they made to take that action.”Patterson should not be so understanding, considering that protests of this type appear to fall within the definition of domestic terrorism given at 18 USC §2331: (5) the term "domestic terrorism" means activities that – (A) involve acts...

* Home * Resume * Lectures * Services The Sean Bell shooting and probability Yesterday, there were several protests in New York City. The participants were “outraged” over the recent acquittal of two black cops and one Lebanese cop who shot and killed Sean Bell, who was black. Much was made over the fact that the three cops shot at Bell’s car 50 times. This number was touted repeatedly by some as evidence that the cops had used excessive force. Let’s look at this from the probabilistic viewpoint. It turns out that when a cop fires his weapon at a...

CIVIL rights activist the Reverend Al Sharpton and at least 30 others were arrested today for stopping traffic to protest the acquittal of policemen who fired 50 shots at an unarmed black man on his wedding day. Hundreds of protesters stopped rush-hour traffic around New York City where more arrests were expected in a civil disobedience campaign called by Mr Sharpton, who has been close to the slain man's family since the November 2006 shooting. Last month, a state judge cleared two detectives of manslaughter and a third of reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell, 23, in a...

<p>Sean Bell's fiancée, her mother and the Rev. Al Sharpton were arrested today along with dozens of demonstrators who blocked traffic throughout Manhattan to protest the acquittals of three police officers in the fatal shooting of an unarmed groom just hours before his wedding.</p>

By Brian Koonz THE NEWS-TIMES DANBURY - After blasting President Bush and the nation's immigration policy Sunday, the Rev. Al Sharpton said he plans to get arrested in New York on Wednesday as part of a civil disobedience demonstration to protest the Sean Bell verdict. Sharpton, the Brooklyn-born civil rights activist, said he plans to get arrested at One Police Plaza at 3 p.m. to protest last month's acquittals of three New York police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed Bell, who was unarmed. Sharpton revealed his arrest plans, the cornerstone of a six-site demonstration, at New Hope Baptist...

Shame on every enabler who has aided and abetted Al Sharpton’s campaign to mainstream, enrich, and advance himself as a “civil rights leader” for decades despite his lying, poisonous, police-hating, crime-coddling, race-hustling agenda.Shame on the Democrat Party, which has embraced him and honored him with the stage at the Democrat National Convention, and every Democrat presidential candidate who has flocked to kiss his ring.

NEW YORK (AP) - Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to "close this city down" to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends. "We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians," Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office in the historically black Manhattan neighborhood. "This city is going...

They waited for hours, singing spirituals, praying and chanting for justice, but in a flash, the crowd gathered outside a Queens courthouse Friday erupted in anger and grief. Men cursed and shouted. Women wailed and covered their faces. "Oh, no! No!" they yelled, as word spread that three police officers had been cleared of all charges in the 50-bullet shooting that took Sean Bell's life on his wedding day in 2006. To some, the acquittal seemed like more proof that blacks can't get a fair shake in the criminal justice system. Moments after the verdict was announced, Trent Benefield, a...

Melanie Bowers, 13, and her parents walked into Athens High School Monday afternoon to talk to campus police. They were hoping to get some answers. "It never should have happened in the first place. The whole assignment was a silly assignment and they should have contacted us immediately after it happened," said J.R. Bowers, Melanie's father. It was an assignment for history class--to make a protest sign for or against an issue, and Melanie said she chose illegal immigration. Her sign read, "If you love our nation, stop illegal immigration." Somehow, Melanie said the sign got passed around lunch and...

There are major new developments today in the case of a supposed beating of a student from Athens Middle School. Charges are being filed against 13 year old Melanie Bowers by Athens ISD through the Henderson County District Attorney's office for filing a false report, said AISD officials today. Bowers claimed earlier this week that she was beaten and threatened - with killing and rape, no less - by a group of students at Athens ISD last Friday, for creating a protest sign saying, "If you love our nation, stop illegal immigration." After Melanie's accusations, administrators reviewed school survellience videotape...

...Al Gore is launching a $300 million, bipartisan campaign to try to push climate change higher on the nation’s political agenda. The three-year campaign by the Alliance for Climate Protection will begin Wednesday... Pat Robertson and Al Sharpton just filmed an ad for the “We Campaign,” ... A future couple in the “strange bedfellows” or "unlikely alliances” will be recorded soon: Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. (excerpt, since it`s too nauseating to continue)

Black Muslim leader. Born Louis Eugene Walcott on May 11, 1933 in the Bronx, New York. ... was converted to the Nation of Islam by Malcolm X. Following Malcolm X's defection (1963-4), Farrakhan became the national representative for Elijah Muhammad. ... In 1995, along with other prominent black leaders such as Al Sharpton and Barack Obama, Farrakhan helped lead the Million Man March on Washington...

The racial dimension of Barack Obama's electability problem is now apparent, but no prominent Democrat dares discuss it openly. Similarly expect no discussion of the subject in the major media. The white working class vote I am not referring to the ongoing and intense discussion of The Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Wright is a separate problem for Obama. Whether Obama has been, or will be, permanently weakened by his long and close association with Wright, or has soared above it with his Philadelphia speech, is not the subject of these thoughts. Something much simpler than the answer to that question has...

The Rev. Al Sharpton is backing Barack Obama, but he's made the strategic decision to keep his support quiet. That's the message Sharpton delivered to his flock last Saturday as he boasted of talking to Obama "two or three times a week" - and insisted the Democratic front-runner knows the rev is in his camp. "I said, 'I'm gonna do whatever I gotta do to help you. Hillary Clinton has never done nothing for us,'" said Sharpton, recounting a conversation with Obama for his followers at his group's weekly rally. "'I won't either endorse you or not endorse you,'" Sharpton...

Last night, Bill O’Reilly asked Al Sharpton the $64,000 question — what happens if Hillary Clinton gets the nomination even if Barack Obama comes into Denver leading in pledged delegates? After the losses in Texas and Ohio, the new meme has the superdelegates wondering whether Obama can win a general election. If Hillary can make it closer by the time the convention rolls around, say to within 70 or so pledged delegates, the superdelegates will throw their support to the most competitive candidate.After hesitating a bit, Sharpton makes it clear that he and his supporters won’t accept a brokered outcome:...

With Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's decision to stay in the Democratic race to the bitter end, she has signaled a delegate fight all the way to the party's convention in Denver this August. Both candidates appear in something of a stalemate. Political strategists have concluded that Clinton cannot overcome Sen. Barack Obama's pledged delegate lead by winning additional primaries. And despite his lead in electoral and delegate wins, Obama cannot seal his nomination without the support of the party's superdelegates. Clinton's decision, after winning in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island this week that she would not capitulate has opened up...

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Takes Issue With President Bush’s Black History Month Remarks and White House Appearance With Al Sharpton President George W. Bush used an annual White House ceremony recognizing Black History Month to denounce displays of nooses and jokes about lynching. The president’s remarks grew out of concern over increased reports of racial tensions. President Bush recognized several prominent black Americans and introduced Rev. Al Sharpton. The following is Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson’s statement about what transpired at the White House ceremony: “President Bush is a decent man and I voted for him twice, but I am disappointed...

Click the following link for the video clip of Al Sharpton http://www.abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=4204523

Don Imus got into an animated discussion this morning about former President Bill Clinton's comparison of Obama's South Carolina primary victory over Senator Clinton to Jesse Jackson. ''If I had made that comparison to Jesse Jackson,'' I have a feeling that I'd be talking to Al Sharpton again,'' Imus told Michael Graham of Boston's WTKK. (image via AP via ABCNews)

ABC News' Rick Klein Reports: Rev. Al Sharpton on Monday weighed in on the raging debate inside the Democratic Party over former President Bill Clinton's advocacy on behalf of his wife's campaign, with two choice words for the former president: "Shut up." On ABC's "The View," Sharpton said voters are hearing "race charges, race-tinged rhetoric" in the Democratic primary campaign, and called on the former president to cease. "I think it's time for him to just be quiet," said Sharpton, who was a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004. "I think it's time for him to stop. As one of the...

I'm still steamed about this ... so let's go over it again. You will have read something about this in yesterday's Nealz Nuze Afterthought .. but then again, maybe not. Let me begin by saying that I've had a good relationship with Radio & Records Magazine (R&R) over the years. I've attended their annual talk radio convention whenever my schedule permitted, and was once honored by them as the News/Talk Personality of the Year. Somehow I don't think that's ever going to happen again ... and here's why. This year the R&R talk radio convention is scheduled for Washington DC....

Golf Channel Anchor Kelly Tilghman Says Young Golfers Should 'Lynch Tiger Woods'Posted Jan 8th 2008 2:01PM by Michael David SmithFiled under: Golf, Breaking NewsThe woman you see in the photo here caddying for Arnold Palmer is Kelly Tilghman, a former college golfer at Duke who now is play-by-play announcer for The Golf Channel's PGA Tour broadcasts. Tilghman made a shocking comment during Friday's telecast of the PGA Tour's opening event. She said -- on the air -- that today's young players should "lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley." What was Tilghman thinking? Who knows. It's not entirely clear what...

KINGSTON — Charges that five boys raped a girl at Kingston High School Friday are sparking racial tensions in the city. "This girl is just like Tawana Brawley, only she is white," said the pastor of two of the boys, both black, who are charged with criminal sex acts against the 15-year-old girl. At least one of the other three boys is black. Kingston police have charged the boys with sexually assaulting the girl in a boys restroom at the school about 3:30 p.m. Friday, after classes had ended. Two are charged with rape in addition to criminal sexual acts...

The Rev. Al Sharpton failed to win the surrender of an escaped New Jersey inmate today - and a prosecutor blasted the activist for interfering with authorities' hunt for the fugitive. "I wish we were in the loop," said Union County Prosecutor Ted Romankow. The prosecutor said Sharpton never even informed him that escapee Otis Blunt might have fled to Mexico, allowing him precious time on the run.Romankow only learned about the south-of-the-border stunt when he read about it in today's Daily News.

I'll admit it. I underestimated Tom Tancredo. I underestimated the impact he could make as a presidential candidate, particularly as a candidate who was polling, as many of us had predicted, around 2 percent. And yet, I had no idea he could take one issue and, with it, help make the Republican presidential race - and the country itself - an uglier, nastier and more mean-spirited place to be. He didn't do it by himself, of course. He wasn't even the lead player. You have to give that role to Lou Dobbs and the huge audience on his team. Still,...

With a hidden FBI camera rolling inside a New York hotel suite in 2003, an unsuspecting Rev. Al Sharpton, Democratic candidate for president, spoke candidly. Sharpton offered to help Philadelphia fund-raiser Ronald A. White win a multimillion-dollar business deal, if White helped him raise $50,000 for politics. White offered $25,000. "If you bring my guys up on this hedge fund, and I have the right conversation," White said, "I'll give you what you need." "Cool," Sharpton said

Time for a Thanksgiving True Crime post and there's no break from crime for the holiday. Drew Peterson, the Illinois cop who keeps losing wives, continues on his path to life in jail. An exhumation of his third wife reveals her death not an accident, Drew gives an interview and blames Stacey's problems on PMS...such a lovely guy. And Tawana Brawley's parents want to reopen her case. Wonder what Al Sharpton will think. Plus a Texas guy shoots his NEIGHBORS' burglars, a woman shoots her stalker, those anti-war criminals, that Black Muslim Bakery and a child sex abuse sting involving,...

Beg pardon, but who died and made Al Sharpton president of the Negroes?Not that Sharpton has ever declared himself as such. But the fact that some regard him as black America's chief executive was driven home for the umpteenth time a few days ago after TV reality show bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman got in trouble for using a certain toxic racial epithet — six letters, starts with "n," rhymes with digger — on the phone with his son.As you may have heard, Chapman was expressing disapproval of the son's black girlfriend. "It's not because she's black," he said. "It's...

Glenda Brawley and Ralph King want to press New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to re-examine the November 1987 incident, which a state grand jury ultimately concluded was a hoax, the Daily News reported. "New York state owes my daughter...."

Black holes often are thought of as just endless pits in space and time that destroy everything they pull toward them. But new findings confirm the reverse is true, too: Black holes can drive extraordinarily powerful winds that push out and force star formation and shape the fate of a galaxy. Supermassive black holes are suspected to lurk in the hearts of many—if not all—large galaxies. These holes drag gas inward, which accrues in rapidly spinning, glowing disks. Astronomers have long thought that such "accretion disks" give off mighty winds that shape the host galaxies, profoundly influencing how they grow....

...It would seem that Political Correctness gone mad has bestowed upon one Alfred Sharpton Jr. more power over media careers than even the FCC... I’m by no means defending the despicable language of the aptly nicknamed Mr. Chapman. However, on balance, his alleged transgressions are but words, no more, no less...

He might be a middle-aged white guy from the West, but Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) suddenly understands the travails of people stopped for "DWB": driving while black. In the course of his interview with Matt Lauer, aired last night and excerpted on this morning's "Today," Craig tried to play the profiling card. MATT LAUER: The fact that these motions seemed to replicate a well-established sequence of signals for soliciting anonymous sex, it's a coincidence?View video here. LARRY CRAIG: I now know that this cop, this officer [shades of "that woman, Ms. Lewinsky"?] is a profiler. He said looking into a...

At this point, there seems little doubt about the ugliness that has simmered, and then boiled, in a little town in Louisiana called Jena. There is a lot that has already been said, and done, about the latent racism in the town that led to the display of nooses on a tree. Racism that led, in reaction, to six black youths brutally beating a young white man, and then the subsequent disproportionate sentencing, in which those black youths could have served prison time for trumped-up murder charges. Action has been taken, and will be taken, so that those charges, and...

FORT WORTH -- A store cashier struck a deaf customer in the head with a crowbar after he mistook the man's silence for rudeness and disrespect, police said. The cashier, Ricky Benard Young, 20, is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The customer, Cody Goodnight, 31, suffered "a large knot" on his head during the incident, which occurred Saturday at the Family Dollar Store at 4117 E. Lancaster Ave. "I can't believe someone would hit him for not speaking," said Goodnight's mother, Kay Goodnight. "When you're deaf, you don't make a point of starting conversations with people." Young's...

Insisting "everything is in order" with his organization's finances, the Rev. Al Sharpton brushed off reports yesterday that his group is being probed by the state attorney general. The National Action Network will hand over years of outstanding documents to Andrew Cuomo's Charities Bureau by Nov. 1, under a deal set last year by then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer after a fire in the group's Harlem headquarters destroyed the files, Sharpton said. "The attorney general's office is currently reviewing the matter and the organization is working to bring their filings up to date," said Cuomo's spokesman Jeffrey Lerner. Questions about the...

DAVENPORT, IOWA- In spite of Hillary Clinton's growing air of inevitability going into the 2008 primary race, upstart challenger Barrack Obama continues to draw in truckloads of campaign contributions, apparently unaware that the race for the Democratic nomination is already over. According to the Obama campaign's third quarter financial report, the earnest Illinois Senator raised just shy of $20 million in the past three months, significantly more than Clinton insiders say they've gathered during the same period. If this disturbing trend continues, they warn, Obama might actually have a chance at sneaking off with Hillary's nomination. At a loss to...

This could be a first: Al Sharpton criticized for being insufficiently inflammatory; faulted for not shooting from the hip. At the opening of today's "Morning Joe," host Joe Scarborough panned the Rev's "O'Reilly Factor" performance last evening, in which the normally obstreperous one was relatively subdued on the subject of his host's comments on Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem. Later, Scarborough escalated his criticism, calling O'Reilly a "moron," and accusing him of makng "racist" comments. View video here. JOE SCARBOROUGH: Al Sharpton went on Bill O'Reilly's show last night, and apparently said very little. WILLIE GEIST: Well, to be honest, I...

After Megan Williams’ mother, Carmen, sat in a Logan County courtroom to watch the court proceedings of her daughter’s alleged attackers on Tuesday, she brought Megan Williams into Kanawha County Magistrate Court to be arraigned. Megan Williams is charged with offenses in Summers, Raleigh and Greenbrier counties. There are 11 misdemeanor counts of writing worthless checks, one misdemeanor count of obtaining under false pretenses and one felony count of failure to appear in circuit court in Summers County, according to documents provided by Kanawha County Magistrate Ward Harshbarger.

JENA, La. - Traffic jammed the two-lane road leading into the tiny town of Jena early Thursday as thousands of demonstrators gathered in support of six black teens initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate. The Rev. Al Sharpton said it could be the beginning of the 21st century's civil rights movement, one that would challenge disparities in the justice system. "You cannot have justice meted out based on who you are rather than what you did," Sharpton told CBS's "The Early Show" Thursday. The six were charged a few months after the local prosecutor...

JENA, La. - Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of this little Louisiana town Thursday in support of six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate. The crowd broke into chants of "Free the Jena Six" as the Rev. Al Sharpton arrived at the local courthouse with family members of the jailed teens. Sharpton told the Associated Press that he and Reps. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and William Jefferson, D-La., will press the House Judiciary Committee next week to summon the district attorney to explain his actions before Congress....

L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, who made history as the nation's first elected black governor, is preparing to campaign aggressively for Barack Obama, and predicted in an interview that the charismatic young candidate could shatter the Republican Party's virtual lock on the South. "He's not race-less," Wilder said of Obama, "but the skin color is of no moment. I don't think he would be an easy target for the Republicans." The unstinting embrace by Wilder, now the mayor of Richmond, could be important in Virginia and other southern states, where his reputation still looms large and the African-American vote could...