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Leading the push for a Virginia-based FBI are the states two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. Warner, in discussing the ferocious debate, referred to Hoyer in the practiced and professional tones of a heavyweight rival in a boxing match with thousands of jobs on the line.

Ive got great respect for Mr. Hoyer, and Im anxious that the process proceed, Warner said. Weve got criteria, we made our last and best final offers last week and I feel good about where Virginia stands.

Rep. Steny Hoyers (D-Md.) home-state passion is being put to use in the battle over the location of the next FBI headquarters.|Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo

The FBI headquarters face-off has stoked fierce divisions among two congressional delegations that interact more than nearly every other pair of states, excepting the Dakotas or Carolinas. Yet its not the only fresh fault line between Virginia and Maryland, whose Democratic senators split over disapproving a progressive D.C. crime law, with the former duo backing the rollback and the latter backing the D.C. Council.

Then, of course, there are the standard tension points: bragging rights over the Chesapeakes famous blue crab and football (the Virginia Cavaliers are set to take on the Maryland Terrapins this fall).

The FBI battle has dramatically intensified recently, ever since Marylanders learned that Virginia would have at least one leg up in the process. Thats because the agency leading the headquarters hunt, the General Services Administration, plans to weigh the two sites proximity to the FBI academy in Quantico, Va., as a larger part of its overall decision.

This goes beyond a rivalry, said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). This is about the mission of the FBI and getting the taxpayers the best deal. But Van Hollen made one point clear: The oyster wars, that was part of our longstanding rivalry. Just for the record, Maryland won the oyster wars.

Members of the two Senate delegations, all of them Democrats, insist though that they agree on more than they disagree, highlighting their work together on WMATA funding, H-2B visas and their support for federal employees.

Generally, were together more than not, said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). I have the utmost respect for my two colleagues from Virginia.

Still, the competition is stiff for the FBI building. Hoyer, the former House majority leader, is perhaps the most fervent FBI-to-Maryland booster of all. He recently drove to Virginias proposed headquarters site in Springfield, snapping cell phone photos to help make his case.

More than a decade after then-FBI director Robert Mueller first walked into his office to discuss the subject, Hoyer estimated in an interview that he spends about one-fifth of his time per week on the new headquarters. Hes worked with Wes Moore, Marylands rising-star governor, to deploy every possible resource on their states behalf, including personal pleas to Biden and the new White House chief of staff, Marylander Jeff Zients.

The Free States pitch is bolstered by the NAACP as well as civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, centered on a push for equity that Black community advocates say is critical for Prince Georges County and for Bidens own reelection.

And that pressure campaign has infuriated many Virginians, some of whom have quietly gone to the White House themselves with an entreaty to ignore it.

Things could soon get even nastier. Hoyer did not rule out flexing some of his power over the federal purse this fall if Marylands bid is rejected. He and Van Hollen are both the top Democrats on a spending panel that oversees funding for the very agency in charge of the headquarters search, the GSA.

I dont think wed go quietly into that dark night, Hoyer said when asked if he would try to influence the selection through his Appropriations Committee perch if Virginia wins. Van Hollen and I will still be where well be.

Virginians, though, insist they wouldnt let the FBI building clash derail another spending bill. The headquarters was one of the final hangups delaying passage of Decembers government funding deal, with Hoyer in particular refusing to yield until he secured new language that helped keep Marylands bid alive.

Marylands stance shocked the Virginians, including Warner, who ultimately went to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to help end the standoff. Schumer eventually reached a deal with the two delegations.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who represents the Springfield site, responded coolly to Hoyers suggestion that another spending bill could hang in the balance: Threats to retaliate against a professional decision made on the merits, I think, are unworthy of any senior member of Congress, and I hope will not work.

Connolly himself has plenty of experience with Beltway-state squabbling that, as he put it, goes back to King Charles. As a top official in Fairfax County, he once got embroiled in a lawsuit between the two states over the location of a drinking water pipe that went all the way to the Supreme Court which ultimately ruled for the Old Dominion.

He added that hes disappointed by the element of desperation in Marylands jockeying during the last few months, particularly its case for diversity and equity he pointed to the more than 100 languages spoken in Springfield.

Kaine, meanwhile, insisted that the fight for the FBI building is not an anomaly for the two states and described it as a friendly competition.

I dont view this as different than other instances where Maryland and Virginia have squared off, Kaine said. Virginia would love to have NIH. Virginia would love to have some of the intel agencies, the NSA in Maryland. Im sure Maryland would love to have some of the things that are in Virginia.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) insisted that the fight for the FBI building is not an anomaly for the two states and described it as a friendly competition.|John C. Clark/AP Photo

This time, however, the Hill is paying even more attention to the two states because theyre also home to two national political players in their respective parties: Moore and Glenn Youngkin, Virginias Republican governor.

Moore and Youngkin have been planning to sit down together after they both won in November, according to a person familiar with the discussions. In the meantime, Moore challenged Youngkin to a one-on-one pickup basketball game to determine the FBIs future hub. Youngkin did not formally respond, according to a person close to Moores office, though the Republican governor did tweet back: Game on! (Moore also accurately picked UVA to lose in the first upset of March Madness in his bracket. The Terps won the same day.)

While Virginia Democrats acknowledge its a bit awkward to root for handing Youngkin a big political win in the FBI building as he eyes a potential 2024 bid, they say a bipartisan approach is also critical. Kaine, Warner and Youngkin wrote a joint Washington Post op-ed on Thursday that made the case again for their state. And if Maryland makes any maneuvers in year-end spending bills, for instance, Youngkin could call on House GOP leaders to stop them.

Hoyer predicted Youngkin wouldnt hesitate to use a potential FBI win on the campaign trail, whether hes seeking his partys presidential nod or a different prize. Im sure he would, he said.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are already looking ahead to what could be the next fight. The White House announced last week that Bidens new disease-fighting agency, ARPA-H, will house its headquarters in the D.C. metro area.

Its location will be chosen by GSA.

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Long-friendly neighbor states are in a bitter battle over the next FBI HQ - POLITICO

An Alabama pastor and voting rights activist, who is the half-brother of the Rev. Al Sharpton, pleaded guilty Friday to federal tax evasion, mail fraud, and drug conspiracy charges.Kenneth Glasgow of Dothan entered the plea in Montgomery federal court. The guilty plea avoided a trial that was scheduled to take place next month. He will be sentenced at a later date. Glasgow, the founder of The Ordinary People Society, is a well-known Alabama activist who has worked on the restoration of voting rights for former prisoners, prison reform and other issues. He has been a frequent critic of the state prison system and police in his hometown.Prosecutors said Glasgow admitted not paying income taxes on thousands of dollars he withdrew from the charities and also to claiming Social Security disability benefits by falsely claiming on mailed forms that he had trouble driving. Prosecutors said Glasgow received traffic citations between 2015 and 2020 relating to approximately 27 different traffic stops, all of which indicated that Glasgow was the driverGlasgow also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute. Prosecutors in 2021 charged Glasgow and another man with the drug conspiracy charge. The U.S. attorney's office said in a press release that Glasgow faces up to 20 years in prison, along with substantial fines and restitution. Kenneth Glasgows actions not only endangered the community, but defrauded the American taxpayers, Paul Brown, Special Agent in Charge for the FBI said in a statement. His guilty plea should help to dissuade others from following this same path.Related stories:Alabama activist out on bond for capital murder jailed on 3 additional chargesAl Sharpton's half-brother arrested again while on bond

An Alabama pastor and voting rights activist, who is the half-brother of the Rev. Al Sharpton, pleaded guilty Friday to federal tax evasion, mail fraud, and drug conspiracy charges.

Kenneth Glasgow of Dothan entered the plea in Montgomery federal court. The guilty plea avoided a trial that was scheduled to take place next month. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Glasgow, the founder of The Ordinary People Society, is a well-known Alabama activist who has worked on the restoration of voting rights for former prisoners, prison reform and other issues. He has been a frequent critic of the state prison system and police in his hometown.

Prosecutors said Glasgow admitted not paying income taxes on thousands of dollars he withdrew from the charities and also to claiming Social Security disability benefits by falsely claiming on mailed forms that he had trouble driving. Prosecutors said Glasgow received traffic citations between 2015 and 2020 relating to approximately 27 different traffic stops, all of which indicated that Glasgow was the driver

Glasgow also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute. Prosecutors in 2021 charged Glasgow and another man with the drug conspiracy charge.

The U.S. attorney's office said in a press release that Glasgow faces up to 20 years in prison, along with substantial fines and restitution.

Kenneth Glasgows actions not only endangered the community, but defrauded the American taxpayers, Paul Brown, Special Agent in Charge for the FBI said in a statement. His guilty plea should help to dissuade others from following this same path.

Related stories:

Alabama activist out on bond for capital murder jailed on 3 additional charges

Al Sharpton's half-brother arrested again while on bond

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Al Sharpton's half-brother pleads guilty to federal charges ...

Rev. Al Sharpton stepped onto the national stage as an activist in 1980s New York City, a time of heightened racial tension in the Big Apple, and has become a nationwide voice in the social justice movement.

In the documentary Loudmouth, which premieres on BET before the NAACP Image Awards on Feb. 25, Sharpton, a Brooklyn native, recalled the simmering racial environment in New York City and around the country at that time.

In one incident that ignited a racial firestorm, Bernhard H. Goetz, the so-called subway vigilante, who is white, opened fire on four Black teenage boys in 1984 on a Manhattan train, partially paralyzing one of them. Goetz claimed self-defense because he believed he was going to be mugged when they asked him for $5. Three years later, a jury acquitted him of attempted murder.

In another high-profile incident, a mob of white teens wielding baseball bats chased a 23-year-old Black man, Michael Griffith, to his death on Dec. 20, 1986 in Howard Beach, Queens. The thugs, angered by seeing a Black man in their neighborhood, yelled the N-word at Griffith, who was struck by a car fleeing the mob.

Amid the boiling racial tension, Sharpton recalled that New York Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat, used racist dog whistles, like the term Black poverty pimps, to appeal to some white voters.

Sharpton has given voice to our trauma and anger for decades showing no signs of slowing down as a younger generation of activists continue the struggle for racial justice and equality.

Over the years, hes mastered the tools of activism. Here are five lessons from his playbook revealed in the documentary.

Sharpton said in the story of the hunter and the lion, the hunter always wins. Why? Thats because the hunter writes the story. In the hunters narrative, the lion is always depicted as inferior and unworthy.

Translation: The system writes the story, which is always slanted. Everytime we come into a case the first thing we have to do is fight the wrong narrative, Sharpton says. They try to criminalize and demonize the victim.

Its one thing to orate about the evils of racism but another thing to shine a light on it, the preacher says. As a younger man, all the activists he studied emerged at a time when white people ignored complaints about injustice from Black leaders. So you had to be loud because you were not invited to address the public, he noted.

At the time of Griffiths death, the media largely ignored the case. Sharpton said he could have stayed at home and delivered speeches, but he decided that it would be more effective to go to Howard Beach and have folks there make the speech for him.

Understanding the power of capturing hatred on video, Sharpton drew news cameras to Howard Beach by leading a huge youth rally in the neighborhood. At the peaceful demonstration, Reporters interviewed angry Howard Beach residents who unabashedly spewed the N-word and said Black people are not welcomed in their community.

A jury convicted three white teenagers of manslaughter for Griffiths death after a tense three-months trial and 12 days of deliberations. The jury, which included just one Black person, also found them guilty of first-degree assault for beating another Black man, Cedric Sandiford, with a baseball bat that night.

It would have been easy to say mission accomplished, this victory changes everything, and go home.

But effective activists understand that theres a difference between moments and movements. You could have a good momentary victory without structural change in the criminal justice system, Sharpton admonishes.

Activists must learn how to expand support for social justice by navigating two widely held views that could stifle the movement.

Sharpton said white people often demand to know why he makes everything about race. At the same time, many Black people have asked him why hes leading marches because nothing is going to change, anyway.

Its somewhere between these two questions that Ive had to do a lot of my work in activism, the civil rights leader says.

Often, the public fixates on an individual incident and misses the underlying issue. Effective activism involves surfacing the systemic problem to bring about change.

Preachers learn to use biblical stories to highlight moral or ethical messages, Sharpton noted. He has applied that method to his social justice work. What happened to Griffith in Howard Beach is the story, but the issue is racial violence. Use the story to make the issue clear.

LOUDMOUTH premiers on Saturday, February 25 at 4:30 p.m on BET, BET Her, VH1 and will stream on BET+ following the "54th NAACP Image Awards". The film can also be seen on Showtime at a later date.

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Loudmouth: 5 Lessons From Rev. Al Sharpton On How To Be An ...

The former couple met in the 70s, wed in the 80s and called it quits in 2004

Al Sharpton and his estranged wife Kathy Jordan have submitted legal docs to officially end their marriage, and the move comes 17 years after they separated.

Sharpton and Jordan met in the 70s, wed in the 80s and called it quits in 2004. The former couple just submitted divorce paperwork Thursday in NYC, TMZ reports. They share two adult daughters, Dominique and Ashley.

Read More: President Donald Trump calls Rev. Al Sharpton a racist in latest Twitter tirade

When Sharpton met Jordan, he was touring with James Brown and she was a backup singer. Since their split, the famous reverend has reportedly been linked with several women. In 2013, he began dating personal stylist Aisha McShaw, who noted on her website that she began her fashion journey as a stylist, styling housewives, corporate women, celebrities, and attending numerous red carpet events herself.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK OCTOBER 03: Rev. Al Sharpton with Aisha McShaw attend his 65th Birthday Celebration at New York Public Library Stephen A Schwartzman Building on October 03, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

McShaw debuted her ready-to-wear collection in 2017 during New York Fashion Week. She told Essence after her first show that, as a designer, shes coming into the game with something for all generations and something for every woman. Her debut line reportedly launched with 46 signature pieces.

Every woman wants to feel beautiful, confident and empowered. Thats my line. Its all about beauty and simplicity, McShaw said at the time.

During the Obama administration, McShaw attended multiple White House events with Sharpton. A 2016 Vanity Fair feature described her as the revs girlfriend of six years.

Read More: Al Sharptons daughter bags $95K settlement from NYC for sprained ankle case

The Daily News reported in 2013 that Sharpton was shocked by the criticism he received over his relationship with McShaw because he and Jordan had not filed for divorce. Sharptons aide, Rachel Noerdlinger, told the newspaper that His exact words to me were, Rachel, Im not announcing an engagement or a marriage. Dont I have a right to date when my marriage has been over for a decade?

Story continues

Its unclear if Jordan, the founder and president of the National Action Network, will be seeking spousal support, or how she and Sharptons estate will be split up.

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Twenty-five years ago the Tawana Brawley case enflamed race relations in America and catapulted Al Sharpton into the national limelight. But Sharptons race demagoguery had begun years before that, and his notoriety as a racial arsonist continues up to the present, as testified by his leadership role in turning the Trayvon Martin shooting into a national racial confrontation.

The Tawana Brawley case is the subject of a short, excellent new documentarybyRetro Report that expertly combines historic photos, documents, and news footage with recent interviews (including with Al Sharpton himself) along with important perspectiveon the tactics and sordid record of one of Americas most (in)famous agitators and race hucksters. Surprisingly, the New York Timesand Newsweek/Daily Beast, two of the MSM flagships that helped boost Sharpton to prominence and shield him from the consequences of his violent advocacy, have promoted the recent Retro Report expos of Sharpton. The Daily Beast article went further, not only highlighting Sharptons role in the Brawley affair but also touching upon the Rev. Als incendiary role as both the gasoline and the spark in the Crown Heights riots and the Freddys Fashion Mart murder/arson tragedy.

Tawana Brawley: Rev Als Launchpad

In November 1987, Tawana Brawley, a 15-year-old black girl from Wappingers Falls, New York, knew she was in trouble. Although she had been grounded, she had gone out with her older boyfriend anyway and had been gone for four days. She knew from past experience that when she went home she could expect a beating from her mothers live-in boyfriend, a violentex-conand alcoholic who had served time for murder. To avoid those consequences she concocted a lurid story that ended upbeing transformed once Sharpton got ahold of it into a racially polarizing incident at the national (and then global) level.

Tawana claimed that she had been abducted, raped, and abused by a group of white men, who smeared her with feces and wrote B****, KKK, and N***** on her clothes and body. If true, this would have been a horrendous crime. But Sharpton turned this hoax of a troubled teen into a malicious cause clbre to advance his own career. Sharpton and his fellow activists, attorneys C. Vernon Mason and Alton Maddox, turned the case into a three-ring media circus that ran for months in 1988, capturing the top headlines of many of the MSM daily news cycles.

Under Sharptons tutelage, two of Miss Brawleys four anonymous white men developed names: local police officer Harry Crist, Jr. and local prosecutor Steven Pagones. Not only that, but Sharpton accused Gov. Mario Cuomo and other state officials of covering up the crime. Officer Crist, who, according to testimony of family and friends, was already dealing with despondency over personal issues, committed suicide, very likely pushed over the edge by the onslaught of defamatory accusations and hateful publicity orchestrated by Rev. Al. But Sharpton, ever the audacious opportunist, even exploited the Crist suicide, accusing Pagones of murdering Crist to keep secret their rape of Miss Brawley. As with all of his other outrageous charges, he offered no evidence.

A special New York State Grand Jury composed of both white and black members spent seven months examining evidence and hearing from 180 witnesses, including forensic experts. One of the witnesses, a black woman who was a resident of the apartment complex where Tawana Brawley was found in a garbage bag, said she had seen Brawley climb into the bag. Forensic experts said there was no evidence of rape and the evidence overwhelmingly indicated that the alleged abuses were self-inflicted. While the Grand Jury was conducting its investigation, Sharpton & Co. were conducting daily rallies and marches, as well as busing in demonstrators to lay siege to the Grand Jury and milk the MSM press corps for as much publicity as they could get. The Grand Jury released its 170-page reportin October 1988. In its conclusion, after summarizing the key evidence, the Grand Jury stated:

Based upon all of the evidence that has been presented to the Grand Jury, we conclude that Tawana Brawley was not the victim of a forcible sexual assault by multiple assailants over a four-day period. There is no evidence that any sexual assault occurred.

(The conclusion of the Grand Jury can be read here.)

The Grand Jury also exonerated prosecutor Steven Pagones, who later was awarded$345,000 in a defamation lawsuit against Sharpton, Maddox, and Mason.

Sharpton: Brawley Case Will Make Us the Biggest N*****s in New York

However, even several months before the Grand Jury issued its report, one of Sharptons top aides revealed Sharptons mercenary motive.Perry McKinnon, a decorated black Vietnam vet and former police officer,told federal investigators that Rev. Al had admitted privately that he didnt believe Tawana Brawleys story, but intended to ride it to fame and glory. McKinnon stated:

Sharpton acknowledged to me early on that The Brawley story do (sic) sound like bull****, but it dont matter. Were building a movement. This is the perfect issue. Because youve got whites on blacks. Thats an easy way to stir up all the deprived people, who would want to believe and who would believe and all [youve] got to do is convince them that all white people are bad. Then youve got a movement. It dont matter whether any whites did it or not. Something happened to her even if Tawana dont (sic) it to herself.

Perry McKinnon submitted to a lie detector test administered on camera and passed all questions. In the Retro Report video, McKinnon further remarked, on camera:

This whole situation is not about Tawana Brawley. Its about Mason, Maddox, and Sharpton taking over the town. Their exact words were, We beat this, we will be the biggest N****** in New York.

Tellingly, when Sharpton is confronted with McKinnons accusations, he doesnt deny them. In his interview with Retro Report, Sharpton utilizes his standard evasiveness and weasel-worded response. He refuses to apologize, admit that he was wrong, or concede that Brawley was lying. He resorts to his standard line that something happened, as if that absolves him of all the unethical and criminal activities he and his team employed. Whatever happened, youre dealing with a minor who was missing for four days, so its clear that something wrong happened, Sharpton says. He goes on in a pathetic attempt to cloak his activities in righteousness, declaring: Even if you think I was wrong on some cases, dont act like I wasnt geared towards social justice.

Yes, no matter how wrong, corrupt, dishonest, or criminal his tactics, they can all be rationalized as acceptable, or even good, because they are employed in the pursuit of Rev. Als warped definition of social justice.

As Sharpton predicted, the Brawley hoax did indeed catapult him to new levels of fame and political power, even though it should have landed him in jail and forever exposed him as a malicious charlatan. The Tawana Brawley hoax cost New York taxpayers over a million dollars, but the far greater cost in terms of poisoning black-white race relations is incalculable.

Serial racial arsonist, liar, demagogue, media celebrity

Even before the Tawana Brawley case had made him a household name, Sharpton had established himself as a racist demagogue. An in-depth, 49-page report by Carl F. Horowitz entitled Mainstreaming Demagoguery: Al Sharptons Rise to Respectability(published by the National Legal and Policy Center) traces Rev. Als sordid career as an incendiary race baiter and race hater from the famous 1984 Bernard Goetz Subway Vigilante shooting, through the Howard Beach conflict (1986), the Tawana Brawley hoax (1987-88), the Central Park Wilding rape case (1989), the Bensonhurst siege (1989-90), the Crown Heights riots and Rosenbaum murder (1991), the Freddys Fashion Mart murder/arson tragedy (1995), the Amadou Diallo shooting (1999), and much more.

Rev. Sharptons sordid career also has been ably summarized by John Perazzo in The Nine Lives of Al Sharptonfor FrontPageMag.com.

Sharptons role in the vicious racist campaign against Jewish storeowner Fred Harari, owner of Freddys Fashion Mart in Harlem, that resulted in the murder of seven people, should have spelled curtains for the hate-spewing reverend. Sharpton and Morris Powell, a lieutenant in Sharptons National Action Network (NAN), organized an ongoing street demonstration against Freddys, with escalating rhetoric that culminated in a shooting rampage by one of Sharptons followers, Roland J. Smith, aka Abubunde Mulocko, who burst into the store and shot four people, torched the shop, and then shot himself. Three others died in the fire. In all, eight people, including Smith/Mulocko, died. Sharpton immediately tried to distance himself from the deadly debacle, insisting he had nothing to do with it. However, it was Sharpton and Powell who launched the incendiary boycott and demonstrations against Freddys, and Sharptons man Powell who daily stoked the rallies with vitriolic denunciations of the Jewish crackers. It was Sharpton who publicly denounced Fred Harari as a white interloper and an outsider, even though he had been a Harlem merchant for decades. Sharpton turned up the vitriol in his speeches attacking Freddys in broadcasts over black radio stations WWRL, WLIB and KISS.

What neither the Horowitz or Perazzo exposs mention is that Sharptons radical racial activities go back much further, to his activities with Communist Party activists and violent revolutionaries and terrorists in the 1970s.

The KeyWiki website points out, for instance,that as far back as 1971 Sharpton was supporting the Communist Partys effort to aid terrorist Angela Davis, who later went on to run twice as the official candidate of the Communist Party USA for vice president of the United States. In 1971 Sharpton endorsed the Communist Partys Free Angela Davis campaign. Moreover, he has worked closely over the years with communists and Marxist-Leninists, and radical racists such as William Kunstler, Sonny Carson, Ben Chavis, Khalid Muhammad, Malik Zulu Shabazz, Ron Kuby, Michael Ratner, Leslie Kagan, and many others.

Why do NBC, MSNBC, Fox promote this Sociopath?

Considering his toxic record and his cartoonish, buffoonish persona, Al Sharpton should be considered a pariah, a leper, whom no politician and no media organization would dare go near or quote. But Rev. Al leads a charmed life and serves a purpose for various powers that be; not only has he not paid a price for his despicable actions, he has actually prospered.

In his Daily Beast article cited earlier, Stuart Stevens writes:

There are a lot of angry, twisted individuals in America and Sharpton is hardly alone in having spent decades vomiting hate, leaving innocent victims in his wake. What distinguishes Sharpton is the willingness of powerful people and organizations to look past the hate when they believe it may benefit them.

The Democratic Party and its candidates for president in 2004 were perfectly content to have Sharpton appear in presidential debates. Not one candidate called Sharpton out for his outrageous history of hate.

And today one of the great American news organizations, NBC News, is spending millions of dollars to rehabilitate and promote Al Sharpton. Americans have been pretty good at sniffing out and discarding haters, but here is Al Sharpton on NBC and MSNBC being promoted as a credible source of information. Sharpton has gone from manipulating the news with vile accusations to delivering the news for NBC. When the Boston-bombing story broke, there was Al Sharpton delivering breaking news for MSNBC.

Yes, the man who has set back race relations in America more than David Duke, the KKK, and the Aryan Nations combined, has been rewarded with his own network platform. He can be viewed daily on NBCs Politics Nation with Al Sharpton, where he continues his attacks on conservatives, white America, Republicans, capitalism, and traditional morality, while promoting Big Government, gun control, homosexual marriage, and other pet hobby horses of the far-left agenda. But NBC is far from being Sharptons only media gig; he also has a regular blog on the Huffington Postand has replaced his friend and ally Jessie Jackson as the go-to black leader the MSM pundits shower with the most face time.

Fox, OReilly, Hannity: What Gives With the Sharpton Lovefest?

If the MSM love affair with Sharpton is reprehensible, the ongoing romance Sharpton enjoys at the Fox network has been doubly so. The top offender at Fox has probably been Bill OReilly, who has featured Sharpton as a guest many times, according him a credibility he does not deserve. Moreover, the tough guy OReilly treats Sharpton with kid gloves, never calling him out on his outrageous antics and never giving him the bully treatment he (OReilly) dishes out to conservatives.

Back in 2007, Accuracy In Medias Cliff Kincaid called OReillyout for his support of Sharpton, pointing out that the Fox celebrity anchor was also a featured special guest at Sharptons annual National Action Network conference, along with Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Edwards. That Democrats such as Edwards, Clinton, Obama, Kerry, et al, find it expedient to associate with the likes of Sharpton is at least somewhat understandable, considering that the party of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson long ago gave up any pretense of being shocked at the even the most extreme radical-left political activities or the sexual scandals of its heroes (think Barney Frank, Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner). But what is it that makes Foxs Bill OReilly, Sean Hannity, Mike Huckabee, or politicians such as Newt Gingrichso chummy with charlatan Sharpton? Its not like Rev. Als sordid record is any secret. In fact, regular Fox commentator Michelle Malkin has repeatedly exposed Sharpton over the years (see here,here,and here).

Stuart Stevens concluded his Daily Beast column with this common-sense recommendation:

Heres a simple test that doesnt involve market research or complicated board meetings. If you are an NBC exec and have kids, sit down with them and watch the Times documentary on Tawana Brawley. And when your kids ask why your colleague Al Sharpton is working for NBC, you can explain to them why everything youve tried to teach them about honesty, fair play, and decency is wrong and Al Sharpton is right.

Sound advice not only for NBC, but also CNN, ABC, CBS, PBS, FOX, and all the other MSM organizations that regularly give Sharpton a platform for his hate mongering and racial agitation.

Photo of Al Sharpton: AP Images

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Al Sharpton: A Lucrative Career Built on Hate and Racial Conflagration ...