Free Republic

Jesse Jackson Jr. was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison Wednesday, the closing chapter in the story of a pol who rapidly ascended the political ladder only to fall quickly and dramatically from public grace. His story is a reminder of how quickly everything can come crashing down in politics. And the bigger you are, the harder you fall. It wasn’t that long ago that the political world was abuzz with chatter about the heights that Jackson might reach in his career. He is, after all, the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights icon. And...

CBS’ This Morning omitted the fact that former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D., Ill.) is a Democrat during a story Wednesday about the disgraced politician’s sentencing for misuse of campaign funds. Jackson faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to spending nearly $750,000 in campaign funds on items like mink coats and a Rolex. His wife Sandra, a former Chicago alderman, also will be sentenced on a related charge of failing to report about $600,000 in taxable income.

<p>Former Florida Rep. Allen West had some harsh words for nationally known civil rights activists like the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who have remained silent on a video showing black teens beating a white boy on a school bus.</p>

Former Florida Rep. Allen West had harsh words of criticism for nationally known civil rights activists like Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who have remained silent on a video showing black teens beating a white boy, 13, on a school bus: “Ya’ll just make me sick.” The video, which went viral this past week, depicts a July 9 assault on a Pinellas County school bus. Three black teenage boys, all age 15, beat a white boy, while the bus driver — who has since resigned — tries to verbally halt the altercation but does not physically intervene. The...

To quote Nancy Pelosi, we can now see what's in the Zimmerman-Martin case "without the fog of the controversy". I think the biggest lesson to be learned was from Rachel Jeantel, a friend of Trayvon Martin that testified at the trial. Rachel Jeantel has just had her 15 minutes. Predictable packaged responses full of defensive fury were covered very well by Thomas Lifson's AT article. The left has exhausted her value by attacking and chiding all white people about the racist thoughts they have decided we are feeling. They skipped the fact-gathering and evidence stage and went right for the...

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday accused Rev. Jesse Jackson of insulting Floridians with a series of reckless and divisive statements about the state and its “stand your ground” self-defense law.While visiting the state Capitol Tuesday, Jackson talked about efforts to repeal the law and used the phrase “Selma of our time” — a reference to civil rights marches in Alabama that helped prompt change in the 1960s.In a July 18 exchange on CNN, Jackson talked about an economic boycott to “isolate Florida as a kind of apartheid state given this whole stand your ground laws.” Scott denounced both...

“I first came to the Sunshine State as a young Air Force officer, and found a place so beautiful and filled with opportunity I decided to make it my home. When the entrepreneurial spirit took hold, my neighbors and colleagues embraced my new venture without prejudice or discrimination. In the decades since, I have been blessed with a loving family and a community where people are treated with respect. “When Jackson uses language that describes us as an apartheid state and compares our governor to one of history’s most notorious bigots, he is either hopelessly out of touch or purposefully...

More than two weeks after George Zimmerman was acquitted charges for the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, a group of protesters continue to stand their ground in the hallway near Governor Scott’s office in Tallahassee. “We’ve really made ourselves at home here waiting on the governor to show some leadership,” said Philip Agnew, the director of the Dream Defenders, the protesters that remain in Tallahassee. The protesters, after Governor Rick Scott continues to deny their demands to call a special legislative session, have taken matters in their own hands by holding a People’s Session. Rev. Jesse Jackson gave the protesters...

Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson isn't backing down from comments he made comparing Florida's struggle with the Trayvon Martin case to the civil rights clashes with police during the 1960s in Selma, Ala. Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday demanded that Jackson apologize for his comments calling the state the "Selma of our time." He also said Florida has been an "apartheid" state. But Jackson, in an interview with The Associated Press, defended his remarks. He cited the state's voter laws and incarceration rates of blacks versus the general population as examples of "apartheid like conditions."

Republican Gov. Rick Scott wants the Rev. Jesse Jackson to apologize for calling Florida “the Selma of our time.” Jackson made the comments Tuesday while visiting the state’s Capitol with the protest group Dream Defenders, the Miami Herald reported. “‘Stand your ground’ laws must end,” Mr. Jackson told reporters. “The manipulation of African-Americans here is disgraceful.” “We’ve seen Southern governors before change their minds,” he added. “Wallace said we couldn’t go to the University of Alabama. He had to change his mind.” Alabama Gov. George Wallace, a Democrat, is greatly known for his notorious “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door,” when...

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is asking civil rights leader Jesse Jackson to apologize for “reckless and divisive” comments following the jury verdict in the George Zimmerman murder trial. Jackson on Tuesday called Florida “the Selma of our time.” The remark follows Jackson saying Florida was an “Apartheid State,” after a jury earlier this month found Zimmerman not guilty on all charges in the shooting death of black teenager Trayvon Martin. “Jesse Jackson owes every Floridian an apology for his reckless and divisive comments,” the Republican governor said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that he would come to Florida to...

TALLAHASSEE - Florida Gov. Rick Scott sharply criticized Jesse Jackson on Wednesday over comments he made this week while joining a Capitol protest. Jackson spent time with a group upset with the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. They've refused to leave the Capitol until Scott calls a special session and asks legislators to overhaul the state's "stand your ground" self-defense laws. Scott has refused the request. Jackson, the veteran activist, criticized Florida as the "Selma of our time," referred to it as the "Apartheid State" and made a comparison of Scott to former Alabama Gov. George Wallace. Selma, Ala.,...

TALLAHASSEE - The Rev. Jesse Jackson's surprise appearance Tuesday at the Capitol sit-in was enough to take some protesters' breath away. "Whoa," said Kaylee Rodall, who will be a senior at Sandalwood High School in Jacksonville. "I mean, he is the civil-rights movement." ..Jackson planned to be the first dignitary to spend the night with the group: "Wherever they're sleeping is where I'm sleeping," he said. Organizers also said they now have the votes of enough lawmakers to bypass Gov. Rick Scott and petition Secretary of State Ken Detzner - a Scott appointee - for a special session. ..Protesters...

Sybrina Fulton repeated her assertion that neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman "got away with murder" in the 2012 killing of her son largely because of Florida's self-defense law, which generally removed a person's duty to retreat if possible in the face of danger. It was the first of its kind in the nation when passed in 2005. Now, about two dozen states have similar laws, but the focus of repeal efforts is squarely on Florida. "We have to change the law so that this doesn't happen to someone else's child," Fulton told reporters . . Although he was not...

Gloria Steinem, Jesse Jackson, Bonnie Raitt and Jay Leno have joined prison hunger strikers in calling for an end to California's use of solitary confinement to control prison gang violence. The civil rights crusaders, singer and late-night comedian are among those who signed a letter sent Monday to Gov. Jerry Brown. The letter calls isolation units "extensions of the same inhumanity practiced at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay." The letter to Brown, to be followed by a demonstration Tuesday at the Capitol, was arranged by the National Religion Campaign Against Torture and local supporters of the prison protesters. The organization,...

Six black Hillsborough County elected officials are asking Gov. Rick Scott, Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford for a special session to repeal or change the 2005 “stand your ground” law they blame for a looming economic crisis caused by a boycott of Florida. “Since the outcome of the Zimmerman verdict in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Florida has become a lightning rod for criticism over our state’s ‘stand your ground’ law,” states the July 29 letter. “Now, in the weeks since the ‘not guilty’ verdict was rendered, the cries for boycotting Florida from some of...

Despite all of the genuine hopes, by millions of people, of every tribe and tongue from every corner of this planet, an excruciatingly sad reality is being made perfectly clear. The issue of race--and more specifically America's brand of racism--will never be defeated. As the father of a multi-racial family, this reality strikes at the disappointment my soul feels about many things in our nation today, but none more personal. Some who see the headline to this piece will immediately assume I've taken a position in this fight. Because I merely observe what is evident, and state my observation publicly....

"We can boycott Florida, cut conventions in Florida, for its 'stand your ground' laws," said Jackson, speaking on a panel at the National Urban League's annual conference in Philadelphia. "If we can boycott South Africa and bring it down, we should boycott Florida and bring it down."

At the July 20 Chicago “Justice for Trayvon” rally, which garnered somewhere between 5-10 thousand people (predominantly African-American), mainstream public figures like Jesse Jackson and celebrities like MC Lyte demonstrated alongside radical groups like the International Socialist Organization (ISO), the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (REVCOM), Occupy Chicago, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). The event was one of hundreds sponsored by the National Action Network (NAN), run by Al Sharpton. At this particular rally, as was undoubtedly the case at most of the other Justice for Trayvon rallies across the country, the message was clear: the United States...