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A defiant Rev. Al Sharpton today responded to media reports that he served as an FBI informant against mob bosses in the 1980s, confirming that he recorded conversations, but insisting the reports missed the mark. Speaking at a hastily-called press conference at the National Action Network’s headquarters in Harlem, Mr. Sharpton took special issue with the “informant” characterization. The front pages of the New York Post and Daily News today labeled the reverend a “rat” and a “mob snitch.”

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...

(snip) The ex-informant has been one of Obama’s most unwavering backers, a cheerleader who has nightly bludgeoned the president’s Republican opponents in televised broadsides. For his part, Obama has sought the man’s counsel, embraced him publicly, and saluted his “commitment to fight injustice and inequality.” The president has even commented favorably on his friend’s svelte figure, the physical manifestation of a rehabilitation effort that coincided with Obama’s ascension to the White House. This radical makeover has brought the man wealth, a daily TV show, bespoke suits, a luxury Upper West Side apartment, and a spot on best seller lists. Most...

President Obama is lending his political support to fellow community organizer Al Sharpton by headlining the MSNBC host’s National Action Network (NAN) conference this week in New York. Obama’s choice to headline the conference underscores the close ties of the two leaders and provides an increased sense of political legitimacy to the controversial leader and his much-maligned organization. Sharpton’s conference is held in April "not just to commemorate the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, but to honor his legacy by proactively engaging in dialogue that will spawn change." The NY Daily News reports that along with President...

President Barack Obama is set to headline Al Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN) conference that is being held in New York April 9th through April 12th. The Sharpton conference ostensibly is to "honor" the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Organizers claim that the event is not just for honoring King but for "proactively engaging in dialogue that will spawn change." Al Sharpton founded NAN in 1991 when he was but a community agitator in New York, long before he became an MSNBC TV host. For his work with the organization, NAN paid Sharpton nearly $250,000 in 2011. But the...

Liberals don’t like Ted Cruz. Many hate him. But why? Is it his conservative politics? That might have something do with it. The most plausible explanation is that liberals fear any politician who dares to be non-white, non-conformist, and non-complacent, and who challenges their 1940s Rooseveltian worldview. Whenever someone like Ted Cruz comes along, liberals cling to their outdated values, and immediately set out to neutralize this threat via a process known as “othering.” According to Yahoo! Answers: Othering is a way of defining and securing one’s own positive identity through the stigmatization of an “other.” Whatever the markers of...

Tallahassee, Fla. Pastor Dr. R. B. Holmes, whose leadership against hazing and the infamous "stand your ground laws", has announced his candidacy for the presidency of the National Baptist Convention USA., Inc. At a National Press Club announcement last week, Holmes called on the Black church to arise and take back its historic role in fighting social justice issues. "The Black church has become too quiet, too passive, too disconnected when it comes to challenging policies programs and persons that degrade and devastate our people" said Holmes, flanked by dozens of church and community leaders. He also announced the formation...

The rise of Asian-Americans and their dominance in academia may be exemplified by the extraordinary performance of Asian-American students in New York City. How A Chinese Solar Giant Was Snared In An Italian Fraud Scandal According to recent media reports, Asian-American students account for almost three-fourths of the enrollment at Stuyvesant High School, one of the city's eight specialized, elite public schools that strictly use test scores for admission. Asians represent less than 14 percent of the city's entire public school student body, meaning they are disproportionately represented at Stuyvesant by a magnitude of about five. (In 1970, Asians accounted...

While appearing at a rally to kick-off the campaign for an Ohio state constitutional amendment dealing with voters' rights, MSNBC host Al Sharpton and some Democrats honored Melowese Richardson, a former poll worker who was convicted in 2013 of voter fraud, Cincinnati.com reported Friday. Richardson admitted voting twice for Obama in 2012, and was indicted for voting at least six times. She was also charged last year of illegal voting in the 2008 and 2011 elections. She was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released and placed on probation after Democratic activists demanded a "fairer" term, Cincinnati.com said....

I guess this should be filed in the "Washington Politics" thread ... I'm an African American registered Democrat. I don't mind giving conservative Republicans hell when they deserve it. But unlike many conservative, I don't mind speaking out against my Party when I think they are wrong and encouraging them to do the right thing. Anyway, white liberals are having fits about the article posted below, which was written by me and published on my blog, in Black newspapers across the country, and at the liberal Daily Kos blog. I'm posting the article here because I'd like to have some...

Ohio Democrats honored a disgraced Hamilton County poll worker, convicted of voting multiple times, at a Voter Bill of Rights rally Thursday. Al Sharpton was the keynote speaker at an event to spearhead a campaign to get an amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would, among other things, allow for online voter registration. But the real guest of honor turned out to be Melowese Richardson, according to the Cincinnati Inquirer. Inquirer reporter Sharon Coolidge tweeted: In the 2012 presidential election, Richardson voted as many a six times in her fight “for Mr. Obama’s right to sit as president of the...

Last month racist writing on a dormitory door shook Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Much like the notorious Oberlin College racism hoax, the incident caused much turmoil on campus, as reported by MLive: Students who live in the residence hall said they were surprised by the incident, saying signs of racial tension haven’t been present in the past. One resident, Andrew Seawood, a freshman from Stevensville, said the slurs were upsetting because the residents of Copeland typically get along with one another. “It was a little surprising when they did say something was written,” he said. “Everybody gets along...

LANSING, MI -- A group of two dozen activists rallied at the state Capitol on Tuesday, promising to launch a ballot campaign to repeal Michigan's "stand your ground" law if lawmakers fail to update it. The Rev. Charles Williams II, Detroit head of the National Action Network, said that the group supports 2nd amendment and self-defense rights but believes Michigan's law goes too far and does not encourage residents to "choose peace" when the option is available. "We're going to go to every community across the state of Michigan and we're going to get 'stand your ground' repealed right here...

Saturday, March 08, 2014 The Black Hitler of Harlem Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog The Black Hitler was a Chicago community organizer who moved to New York. Somewhere along the way he picked up a gold lined cape, a purple turban and a stepladder on which he used to stand while giving speeches outside the stores of Harlem's dwindling Jewish community.  The cape and the turban were combined with Nazi style military shirt and jackboots, for the quixotic uniform of a man who is remembered today as a pioneering labor leader-- but was known back then...

February 11, 2014 Al Sharpton shows off his French at White House dinner Eddie Scarry From a White House pool report on the state dinner taking place at the White House Tuesday evening for French President François Hollande: Al Sharpton said he’s been practicing his French and he offered some at the press’ urging. “Oui oui oui.” Sharpton is one of dozens of celebrity guests attending the dinner. Others include singer Mary J. Blige, who will also perform, comedienne Mindy Kaling and Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert.

...celebrity boxing promoter Damon Feldman says he got Zimmerman to agree to engage in a celebrity boxing match for charity. However Sharpton, the civil rights activist and leader of the National Action Network, is warning people against being quick to label Zimmerman a celebrity. "We must be very careful not to glorify or in any way sidestep the implications of making someone whose only claim to fame was killing an unarmed young man named Trayvon Martin into a cultural celebrity or hero," Sharpton told CNN. "It is perfectly legal for him to exploit his fame but we should never forget...

Did Al Sharpton just stumble into some unfortunate phrasing, or did he take an intentionally vulgar shot at Rand Paul? On his MSNBC show tonight, discussing the fact that Paul recently raised the most salacious scandal of Bill Clinton's presidency, Sharpton said "Rand Paul is really going to try to do the Monica Lewinsky on the Democrats as a way of countering the war on women that they're doing with legislation and all kinds of things." I'm inclined to believe the sly Sharpton knew exactly what he was doing. View the video here.

As a mainstreamed reverend enjoys access at City Hall, community leaders recognize change; but some still nurse grudges.Two decades ago, Rev. Al Sharpton was the ultimate civic iconoclast, speaking what he called truth to power, organizing rallies and attacking the establishment on behalf of the oppressed. Today, he’s under fire for being too mainstream. Last summer, another prominent black voice, Cornell West, attacked the National Action Network founder in a radio interview as a too-complacent “house negro” of Barack Obama’s “plantation,” failing to hold the president accountable for drone strikes or talk about “Wall Street criminality.” And as he emerges...

A top aide to the Rev. Al Sharpton will be getting $170,000 a year from taxpayers to serve as chief of staff to Chirlane McCray, Mayor de Blasio’s wife. The mayor confirmed the prominent position that his wife is set to play at City Hall with the appointment of Rachel Noerdlinger, who has worked for Sharpton since 1999.