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The new legislation, which is expected to be passed by the City Council on Tuesday, includes menthol-flavored products; the only vaping liquid that would be allowed for sale are tobacco-flavored products. The bill would then go to Mayor Bill de Blasio to sign.

The mayor supports it. We will either sign it or let it lapse into law, said Freddi Goldstein, Mr. de Blasios press secretary.

The Council, however, set aside a companion measure that would have banned the sale of menthol cigarettes amid concerted lobbying efforts and opposition from the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose nonprofit National Action Network has regularly taken five-figure contributions from the tobacco giant Reynolds American.

That legislation has come under attack from some civil rights activists who say that since menthol cigarettes are largely smoked by African-Americans, banning them would create an underground market that could lead to tragedies like the death of Eric Garner, a Staten Island man who died after a confrontation with police officers who accused him of selling loose cigarettes. Others have argued for a ban, citing health concerns.

Mr. Levine said there is still a strong commitment to the menthol ban.

Kirsten John Foy, a civil rights activist who was formerly a part of Mr. Sharptons organization, said that delaying a menthol cigarette ban was a capitulation to the tobacco industry.

The vaping industrys lobbying efforts have also been strenuous, if less successful. In 2019 alone, Juul paid more than $250,000 to lobbyists from five separate firms to lobby on its behalf in New York City, mostly related to the flavored e-cigarette bill, state filings show. (The company also paid to lobby against restrictions in Albany.)

The City Council speaker, Corey Johnson, who has shared on social media about his use of e-cigarettes to quit smoking cigarettes, proudly supports the vaping legislation, said his spokeswoman Jennifer Fermino, and is meeting with stakeholders to find a compromise on the menthol ban.

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After Deaths, Ban on Flavored Vapes to Be Passed by New York City - The New York Times

Washington, D.C. Today, U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL-01) exposed Reverend Al Sharptons history of racist remarks and inflammatory actions by quoting a concurrent resolution by former U.S. Congressman Joe Scarborough, which detailed a pattern of questionable conduct by Reverend Al Sharpton.

The resolution, named Condemning the Racist and Anti-Semitic Views of Reverend Al Sharpton, recounted instances where Reverend Sharpton uttered repeated animosities toward the Jewish people, toward people of white descent, and toward people of color. Congressman Gaetz entered Mr. Scarboroughs resolution into the Congressional Record via unanimous consent.

A rough video of Congressman Gaetzs exchange with Reverend Sharpton, excerpts from the exchange, and text of the resolution can be found below:

EXCERPTS:

Congressman Gaetz: Have you ever referred to members of the Jewish faith as white interlopers or diamond merchants?

Mr. Sharpton: No sir I referred to one in Harlem, an individual.

______________________________________

Congressman Gaetz: Did you march next to a sign that said, the white man is the devil?

Mr. Sharpton: I have no recollection of that.

__________________________________

Congressman Gaetz: Have you ever referred to African Americans that disagreed with you as cocktail-sip negros?

Mr. Sharpton: I have.

_________________________

Congressman Gaetz: Have you ever referred to African Americans who disagreed with you as yellow, and then the N-word?

Mr. Sharpton: I dont know that I haveIve referred to people as names.

_________________________

Congressman Gaetz: Have you ever referred to African Americans that disagreed with you as negro militants?

Mr. Sharpton: I dont know, I dont recall.

RESOLUTION:

106th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. CON. RES. 270

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Condemning the racist and anti-Semitic views of the Reverend Al Sharpton

Whereas the Congress strongly rejects the racist and incendiary actions of the Reverend Al Sharpton;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has referred to members of the Jewish faith as bloodsucking [J]ews, and Jew bastards;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has referred to members of the Jewish faith as white interlopers and diamond merchants;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton was found guilty of defamation by a jury in a New York court arising from the false accusation that former Assistant District Attorney Steven Pagones, who is white, raped and assaulted a fifteen year-old black girl;

Whereas, to this day, the Reverend Al Sharpton has refused to accept responsibility and expresses no regret for defaming Mr. Pagones;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharptons vicious verbal anti-Semitic attacks directed at members of the Jewish faith, and in particular, a Jewish landlord, arising from a simple landlord-tenant dispute with a black tenant, incited widespread violence, riots, and the murder of five innocent people;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharptons fierce demagoguery incited violence, riots, and murder in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, following the accidental death of a black pedestrian child hit by the motorcade of Orthodox Rabbi Menachem Schneerson;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton led a protest in the Crown Heights neighborhood and marched next to a protester with a sign that read, The White Man is the Devil;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has insulted members of the Jewish faith by challenging Jews to violence and stating to Jews to pin down their yarmulkes; and

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has practiced the politics of racial division and made inflammatory remarks against whites by characterizing the death of Amadou Diallo as a racially motivated police assassination:

Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),

That the Congress

(1) condemns the practices of the Reverend Al Sharpton, which seek to divide Americans on the basis of race, ethnicity, and religion;

(2) expresses its outrage over the violence that has resulted due to the Reverend Al Sharptons incendiary words and actions; and

(3) fervently urges elected officials and public servants, who have condoned and legitimized the Reverend Al Sharptons incendiary words and actions, to publicly denounce and condemn such racist and anti-Semitic views.

###

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Congressman Matt Gaetz Exposes Reverend Al Sharpton During ...

Born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 3, 1954, Reverend Alfred "Al" Sharpton has been preaching since age four. He was licensed and ordained at age nine. In 1971, he founded the National Youth Movement and for seventeen years he led the organization, registering young people to vote and giving them job opportunities. His direct-action and civil disobedience campaigns have brought attention to injustice in many areas.

Sharpton has pursued other interests while continuing to preach: in his teens, he established a close bond with James Brown and developed a father-son relationship, eventually recording the record God Smiled on Me with him. In the 1970s and early 1980s, he worked as a youth organizer with boxing promoter Don King, while learning more about African American politics and entertainment.

However, Sharpton never strayed far from activism. He formed the National Action Network in 1991 to fight for progressive, people-based social policies by providing extensive voter education and registration campaigns, economic support for small community businesses and by confronting corporate racism. That same year, Sharpton was stabbed in a Bensonhurst school yard. This represented a turning point for him. Eventually, he met and reconciled with his attacker.

Sharpton has never hesitated to act in support of African Americans, from individuals seeking public offices to Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant brutalized by Brooklyn police in 1997. Now he is also seeking to build a national multi-cultural, multi-racial movement addressing a range of issues. To that end, in 1999 Sharpton, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree formed "Second Chance", a program to serve non-violent felony offenders after their release from prison. Sharpton also orchestrated a massive protest when police shot unarmed Amadou Diallo 42 times in 1999. In 2001, Sharpton protested the U.S. Navy's bombing of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. Attempting to fight injustice wherever he finds it, Sharpton is following in the footsteps of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr.

Bibliography:

Sharpton, Al. Go and Tell the Pharaoh: The Autobiography of Reverend Al Sharpton. New York: Doubleday, 1996.

Sharpton, Al. Al on America. New York: Kensington Pub Corp, 2002.

Marcovitz, Hal. Al Sharpton (Black Americans of Achievement). Philadelphia: Chelsea House Pub, 2001.

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Reverend Al Sharpton's Biography - thehistorymakers.org

As Breitbart News has documented, Sharpton has a long record of using racist and antisemitic rhetoric. Many Jews blamed him for exacerbating mob violence against the Jewish community in New York in the 1990s.

More recently, Sharpton led protests against the 2012 death of black teenager Travyon Martin, which he and fellow activists cast as racially motivated, marking the beginning of a decline in race relations that has lasted several years.

On Thursday, Sharpton appeared before a congressional hearing at the House Judiciary Committee on policing practices. During his turn to question the witnesses, Gaetz referred to a resolution,H.Con.Res. 270, which then-Rep. Scarborough introduced in 2000.

The resolution was called, Condemning the racist and anti-Semitic views of the Reverend Al Sharpton. Though it was never voted on, it contains a list of offensive statements and actions by Sharpton, as follows:

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has referred to members of the Jewish faith as bloodsucking [J]ews, and Jew bastards;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has referred to members of the Jewish faith as white interlopers and diamond merchants;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton was found guilty of defamation by a jury in a New York court arising from the false accusation that former Assistant District Attorney Steven Pagones, who is white, raped and assaulted a fifteen year-old black girl;

Whereas, to this day, the Reverend Al Sharpton has refused to accept responsibility and expresses no regret for defaming Mr. Pagones;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharptons vicious verbal anti-Semitic attacks directed at members of the Jewish faith, and in particular, a Jewish landlord, arising from a simple landlord-tenant dispute with a black tenant, incited widespread violence, riots, and the murder of five innocent people;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharptons fierce demagoguery incited violence, riots, and murder in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, following the accidental death of a black pedestrian child hit by the motorcade of Orthodox Rabbi Menachem Schneerson;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton led a protest in the Crown Heights neighborhood and marched next to a protester with a sign that read, The White Man is the Devil;

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has insulted members of the Jewish faith by challenging Jews to violence and stating to Jews to pin down their yarmulkes; and

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has practiced the politics of racial division and made inflammatory remarks against whites by characterizing the death of Amadou Diallo as a racially motivated police assassination

As a video released by Gaetzs office shows, Sharpton had to admit many of the statements, or claim not to have recalled them or to be responsible for them. He noted, in his defense, that he and Scarborough work together well.

Chairman Nadler struggled to maintain control as Gaetz fought to ask his questions within the time limit. Rep. Jim Jordan (D-OH) yielded his own time back to Gaetz to continue his line of questioning to Sharpton, who struggled to answer some of the allegations, including that Sharpton had used a gay slur inreferring to Greek homes. Gaetz also asked Sharpton about whether and why his charity allegedly paid him $500,000 for rights to his life story.

In 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) would not be seen with Sharpton and made it known that he did not want Sharptons endorsement. But Obama later turned to Sharpton to defend the administration in the black community.

At the same time, Sharpton began working for MSNBC as a prime time anchor, after the liberal network faced criticism for having a lily-white lineup. He continues to host his own show on the left-wing cable news network.

In the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primary, Sharpton has emerged as a kingmaker, as virtually every one of the candidates has courted his favor speaking at his conferences, meeting him for lunches in Harlem, and so on.

Gaetz represents the same district, FL-01, that Scarborough once represented in the western Florida panhandle.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author ofHow Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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Matt Gaetz Exposes Al Sharptons Racist, Antisemitic ...

There are figures that leftists revere, and Al Sharpton is one of those figures. The man styling himself as reverend has been around for years thanks to making racism against black people and social justice a central issue. As such, he is often protected.

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida doesnt care about all that, and while at aHouse Judiciary Committee hearing about policing practices where Sharpton was considered an expert, Gaetz confronted Sharpton with statements he had made in the past about other races in an attempt to make it clear that Sharpton is not the best guy to take advice from.

Gaetz began by having Sharpton answer for a resolution submitted by then Rep. Joe Scarborough (now Sharptons fellow MSNBC host) back in 2000, which was made forCondemning the racist and anti-Semitic views of the Reverend Al Sharpton.

Mr. Scarboroughs resolution began by saying, Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has referred to members of the Jewish faith as bloodsucking [J]ews, and Jew bastards,' Gaetz said. My question to you is, does Mr. Scarboroughs assertion that you said these things, is that true or did you not say those things?

Sharpton denied ever having said these things, calling them patently untrue. From here, Gaetz and Sharpton devolved into trying to talk over each other as Gaetz attempted to push more questions about things Sharpton had said, and Sharpton defending himself while attempting to run out the clock.

Eventually,Committee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and immediately took Sharptons side, banging his gavel and saying that Sharpton should get all the time he needs to defend himself since aspersions were cast on him.

No, Im sorry, Mr. Chairman, aspersions werent cast, replied Gaetz, noting that hes only asking if Scarboroughs allegations were true.

This only caused Nadler to bang his gavel harder, and let Sharpton continue.

Regardless, the back and forth continued with Sharpton either denying or making excuses for, racist things he said or did in the past. He was ultimately successful in running out the clock on Gaetz, but Rep. Jim Jordan yielded his time to Gaetz when it was his turn.

As Gaetz continued his inquiries, Democrats became upset. Both Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee and Nadler called Gaetzs questioning obnoxious, which Gaetz objected to. Nadler continued by saying that unfortunately the rules of congress allow Gaetz to ask these questions.

Gaetz made his point, however.

Reverend Sharpton has come before the House Judiciary Committee as a purported expert on policing. Yet his bigoted statements undermine the bipartisan work we should be doing to ensure that all citizens are able to come together and have safe communities.

While Sharpton had a solid excuse for some of the things that he had said or done, the majority of his past comments were indeed racist and bigoted. While Democrats continue to sell themselves as the party of anti-racism, they continue to hold up figures like Sharpton who have no business representing anti-racist peoples.

Whats more, the fact that Democrats were so adamant to defend Sharpton only makes them look all the worse.

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