The citizens of Ferguson, Missouri, deserve better than Al Sharpton. A world-class scumbag with criminally under-acknowledged ties to the Mafia, the FBI, Rudy Giuliani, Nixon administration shysters, corrupt business tycoons, and endless other seedy characters, Sharpton had the gall this week to castigate Ferguson residents for allegedly expressing too much anger at the police over the killing of 18-year-old Mike Brown. That Sharpton is being held up as some kind of moral exemplar, authorized to lecture people on proper behavior, is truly a sick joke. In a sense, though, you have to admire the guy��s brazenness: Few street preachers end up advising the president.

Sharpton may have conceded agreement with Senator Rand Paul last week that the militarization of local law enforcement represents an undesirable trend, but the good reverend lagged well behind the libertarian right in coming to the realization that equipment from Iraq and Afghanistan could be used for problematic purposes when transferred by the federal government to departments across the country, free of charge.

Sharpton’s tardiness in denouncing police militarization is perhaps partly explainable by the fact that, per his own reckoning, he literally operates as a proxy for the Feds ��namely the Obama administration. CBS's 60 Minutes reported on this posture as such: ��He's decided not to criticize the president about anything, even black unemployment that's twice the national rate.�� Since acquiring his own MSNBC show, Sharpton—a former FBI informant, it was revealed in April has regularly glommed onto highly charged controversies (such as the killing of Trayvon Martin) by presenting himself as a sort of de facto emissary between the White House and the community he purports to represent.

Sharpton postures as a fearless critic of state violence, but one can’t simultaneously be an honest broker about what’s going on in Ferguson ��the federal government at Obama’s direction is complicit in extreme terror, escalation, and civil liberties infringements—while simultaneously affirming that the chief executive of the federal government ought to be off limits for scrutiny.

“Sharpton has a long and well-documented history of leveraging his civil rights profile for his own benefit,�� journalist Wayne Barrett, who chronicled his travails for 37 years at the Village Voice, wrote on the sordid occasion of Sharpton��s 2011 ascension to the 6 PM MSNBC time slot, replacing Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks. Uygur had garnered excellent ratings in the preceding months, so the removal seemed somewhat puzzling ��until Uygur revealed that network executives summoned him to a cartoonishly melodramatic closed-door meeting in which they issued a threat: Think twice before saying anything that might upset certain unnamed people in Washington.” Uygur didn��t do that, and not long thereafter, he was replaced by Sharpton, a reliable peddler of pro-administration talking points.

Sharpton now enjoys a larger audience than ever before in his long, stupid career. In 2013, he made use of this privilege by moderating a probing segment titled "Should President Obama Be on Mount Rushmore?"

At times, Sharpton has certainly helped provide needed services to traumatized, grieving, and financially despondent victims of NYPD violence. But he has all too frequently used such endeavors to promote lies and slander, always to the convenient effect of heightening his own stature. The 1988 Tawana Brawley disaster is among Sharpton’s most high-profile scams, and is cited on a regular basis by the conservatives he purposely enrages. During that shameful saga, Sharpton served as lead spokesman for a batty team of NYC lawyers that claimed the Ku Klux Klan, Irish Republican Army, and other dark forces were involved in covering up the rape of a 15-year-old black girl. The entire story was ultimately exposed as a hoax, and the district attorney Sharpton falsely accused of being one of the attackers successfully sued for defamation.

Sharpton also thrust himself to the fore of Eric Garner’s police-caused death this summer. NYPD officers threatened, surrounded, and then seized Garner in an illegal choke hold, in broad daylight, for doing nothing more than standing on a Staten Island sidewalk. The coroner’s office declared it a homicide; locals were distressed. Given Sharpton’s longtime residency and activism in the city, that he would intervene after such an incident may seem reasonable enough.

Well. At the Garner funeral service on July 23, which I attended, Sharpton delivered a bombastic address. In it, he paid special attention to the individual who recorded Garner��s fatal police altercation, which showed incontrovertible proof of officers�� unprovoked aggression. Sharpton invited the young man up to the altar of Bethel Baptist Church in Downtown Brooklyn and heralded his courage ��the only problem was that he kept misstating the man��s name as Ramsey Ortiz�� instead of ��Ramsey Orta," indicating just how little attention Sharpton apparently pays to the pesky details of the causes he inserts himself into.

At an August 22 rally on Staten Island for Garner and Mike Brown, Sharpton cautioned the assembled crowd against formulating any systemic analysis of police misconduct in their neighborhoods, recommending instead to focus merely on the few ��bad apples�� who tarnish an otherwise valiant department. This logic is completely fallacious, and Sharpton thus distracts from the crucial task of assessing NYPD violence on an institutional, policy level.

Sharpton went on to warn any rally-goers who might be tempted to stir up trouble, ��Don��t piss on my party, then announced he'��d be leaving his own event early to depart for Washington, DC. Janaye Ingram, executive director of National Action Network (NAN)—otherwise known as Sharpton��s personal corporate slush fund ��later declined to provide details when I asked where exactly he had gone.

According to the veteran journalist Barrett, despite the self-anointed reverend�� title, Sharpton has never actually administered a church. Still, he was invited recently to stand alongside Cardinal Timothy Dolan at a summit convened by Mayor Bill de Blasio, where the duo discussed ��healing strategies for NYC minority communities in the aftermath of Garner��s homicide. Dolan ��another pandering, blusterous, hyper-partisan, power-worshipping clerical charlatan—has proved an awfully auspicious partner for Sharpton. Both men live opulent lifestyles. Sharpton infamously lavished his then girlfriend, who was also executive director of NAN, with luxury hotel stays valued at $4,000 per night—not to mention “a Mercedes, a Caddy, a $7,000 Rolex, mink coats, David Yurman jewels, and a Trump apartment.” (Dolan has a mansion on Madison Avenue in Manhattan.)

That someone with such an extensive record of deceit, lying, and fraud as Sharpton now occupies a position of such prominence says a lot about the fundamental ethical rot at the heart of elite US political culture. In all likelihood, the people who enable Sharpton privately find him a complete moron, but nevertheless understand his vacuous bombast is good for business. Such people therefore offer restrained praise for Sharpton in public, appear at his fake charitable functions, and pretend that he represents some kind of oh-so-very important ��voice. Shortly after the Uygur-Sharpton switcharoo, Phil Griffin, Sharpton’s boss at MSNBC, was bestowed with the NAN ��Keepers of the Dream award. (Two years later, NAN honored former NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, granting him the opportunity to invoke Martin Luther King Jr. in defense of the department’s relentless stop-and-frisk policy.)

This duplicity goes back decades. Sharpton’s impetuous ��campaign�� for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, today largely forgotten, was regarded at the time as such a joke that almost no black people supported him. He finished a distant third in the heavily black South Carolina primary, which Obama himself won four years later by 29 points. (Sharpton also lost two thirds of the black vote in his home state.) Demonstrating his lack of backing among the demographic on whose behalf he claims to speak, the charade mostly served to get Sharpton on TV, which ended up paying big dividends.

After the phony presidential effort folded he won laughably few delegates Sharpton went on to enjoy a successful run as a regular Fox News talking head. The relationship made perfect sense. His overbearing, obnoxious persona allowed for topics with racial dimensions to be simplified into straightforward, easily digestible narratives. Issues of police violence already disrupt the typical partisan paradigm, because it��s not something like Obamacare, where the two parties have a vested self-interest in endlessly trumpeting their unchanging position one way or another. Countless Democrats heap worshipful praise on the police at every opportunity, and often provide them with more taxpayer-funded goodies than Republicans, but would be embarrassed to tout those accomplishments before black audiences. As senator, for instance, Vice President Joe Biden spearheaded the 1994 ��crime bill” that played a major role in facilitating the transferal of military equipment from the Pentagon to podunk little police forces that never in a million years would have legitimate use for armored vehicles or rocket launchers. (“The Western Foothills of the State of Maine currently face a previously unimaginable threat from terrorist activities,” one sheriff’s corporal recently proclaimed in defense of his application for federal funds.)

Despite the outsize importance that black voters assign to criminal justice issues, national Democrats have virtually ignored the policy preferences of their surest constituency in this arena. Sharpton’s primary function appears to be misdirecting black folks�� absolutely justifiable fury into votes for politicians who might systematically neglect their concerns but nonetheless pay requisite homage to ��the Rev.

Therein lies the danger of Sharpton injecting himself into situations like Ferguson: His unwieldy rants have the effect of inflaming tensions, and not the productive kind of tension that might eventually manifest in substantive change. Instead, he fosters an aura of cheap partisanship, which only reduces the likelihood that marginalized communities suffering under violent police regimes will secure any meaningful amelioration of their hellish predicaments.

As Ferguson shows, so many matters involving race today are in dire need of robust and honest public discussion. Sharpton inhibits this process. He is a self-aggrandizing fraud, and though it’s true that conservative media’s fixation on him is usually ridiculous and condescending, it’s equally true that his current prominence is thanks to all manner of major US political figures, including Mike Bloomberg, Newt Gingrich, Cory Booker, Condoleeza Rice, and especially Barack Obama, who adulated the bogus reverend twice in four days a few months ago.

From the Donald Sterling affair, to the 2004 Haiti coup d’état, to the 2000 Florida recount—Sharpton apparently feels that he has a constructive role to play in virtually every major world controversy. But if anything is impressive about Sharpton, it’s the sheer breadth of his hypocrisy. That so many powerful actors are eager to countenance his ******** really sucks, most of all for the besieged people of Ferguson. Meanwhile, the sleazy ��reverend�� keeps laughing all the way to the bank.

Now that it’s clear the main aim of National Guard forces deployed to Ferguson by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon was not ��ensuring the safety and welfare of the citizens,” as Nixon originally claimed, but instead to help reinforce and fortify the already militarized local police, will Sharpton call on the commander-in-chief to order swift redress? Seems unlikely.

http://www.vice.com/read/al-sharpton-is-a-huge-fraud-826?utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=mainrss

Surprise, surprise..........

a fraud for what he 'didnt' specifically say (although he has decried militarized police for decades) and a fraud if he says it because he isn't some model example of morality,,,,,,



I would bet a years salary this is another who knows nothing about Al Sharpton besides tidbits he heard in the news (usually negatively spun) and hasn't BOTHERED to research anything different,,,

..surprise,,surprise,,,

And the resident race baiter speaks.

yep,a surprise indeedy!

http://www.tpnn.com/2014/10/22/video-martin-luther-kings-niece-god-appointed-jesus-of-nazareth-not-al-sharpton/

Civil rights activist Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., and author of King Rules Ten Truths for You, Your Family, and Our Nation to Prosper, appeared with Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Network to discuss the upcoming midterm elections and the continued lock the Democrat Party has on the black vote, despite the fact that black Americans have done much worse under Obama than prior administrations.

During the last seven years, the African-American unemployment rate is a shame and a disgrace, Dr. King told Cavuto.

When Cavuto asked why blacks continue to vote Democrat in spite of the worse economic conditions they've suffered under during the Obama presidency, Dr. King said that, People have not really been educated. They do not understand that voting for the color of someone's skin has not repaired the problems.
This trend can be reversed. We've got a plan at RestoreTheDream2014.com. It's a new initiative and effort where we're going to go across America and educate the communities that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.

Al Sharpton is another comedy of errors, Dr. King told Cavuto after he interjected that Sharpton would be saying exactly the opposite. "God appointed Jesus of Nazareth, not Al Sharpton," she pointed out.

Many credible people (Both black and white) have exposed the Dishonorable Al and Uncle Jesse for what they really are, racist race baiting media hounds who hurt not help the black community.

no surprise that the doctor (or any other doctor) has an opinion either,,,,,

everyone here is just like her, in terms of their opinions

I agree God didn't appoint Al Sharpton, or anyone else here,, including the GOOD DOCTOR

yet AMERICA did give all of us a right to voice opinions, JUST LIKE THE DOCTOR DID,,,



but whats that to do with the topic in the op?

as I said before, everyone has an opinion,,, but most who criticize him don't bother to find out anything about him,,,,,

race baiting media decide which voices to publicize, and that's not on the shoulders of people who bother having a voice,,,

That even his own People start seeing him for the Fraud he is!
Isn't that the Topic!
Al being a Snake-Oil Salesman,and full-time Fraud and Ripoff Artist?

I wasn't aware of the faulty premise that all whites support all whites and all black support all blacks and that whenever that isn't true,, it proves a flaw in the individual not being supported

,,,now it all makes sense,, to those who believe such a premise,, which I don't,,,

So, Ms, are you saying that you support Sharpton and believe in what he does?

can you be more specific? I pay none of the Reverends expenses...lol

I agree with Sharpton on times and disagree with him on others

which is pretty much true of everyone I know, read about, or communicate with,,,lol

I am supportive of the ability and presence of the Sharptons, Farrakhans, and others who , for whatever reason, are able to attract attention to injustices which may otherwise go unchecked,,,

I'm sure that he gets enough revenue without your money. What did he do that made you support him? Just curious.

Speaking of Farrakahn, I ran across this clip of Louis Walcott in 1949.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xvJlxqHh28

nice guy back then.

his national action network constantly sponsors and supports policies and legislation to address inner city issues such as unemployment, crime, education, and poverty

I believe they had such a summit just this past summer addressing crime,,,

and, as most well know, I am/was very supportive of his position in trying to get justice for Treyvon Martin

Speaking of Farrakahn, I ran across this clip of Louis Walcott in 1949.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xvJlxqHh28

Nice guy back then. The original Steve Erkel.

I cant watch it, but I can imagine things and people looking and sounding differently in the forties,,,

he would have been just 16...imagine that?

One doesn't need to research Al to know Al. One only has to watch the news and listen to his line of BS.

yes, in that case I 'know' everyone on this board

just by reading(watching) their particular line of 'BS'

but in reality, I don't believe I 'KNOW' any of you , all I can say is what you 'seem' like and that must call for me being open to new information or additional information that can change what 'seems' to be,,,

Public figures are to the public, what they sell to the public. Al sells himself as a representative of the black community, which he is. He also sells himself as the spokesperson of the black community which he is not. He purports himself to represent a high moral standard which he does not. He also pretends to know what white people think which really doesn't matter because his conclusions of what should be done in any given situation are hard core left wing ideology.

Any reasonable person, after listening to him once, would conclude that he is a race baiter and extremely bad for the black community.

people only become public figures if the media DECIDES TO PUBLICIZE their work,, they are still no more or less the INDIVIDUAL they were before media makes such a decision

Sharpton has a LONG history as a civil rights advocate, and in that context he is 'representing' minorities , women, lgbt, and other disenfrahcnised(historically) groups of people


He speaks about things in the black community(amongst other communities which don't get the same press for some reason) and because he is black, others ASSUME him to be the 'spokesperson' for black people,, that is their problem not mine

he isn't my 'spokesperson' as I speak for myself
Hilary isn't my 'spokesperson' because she is a woman, I speak for myself
Pat Robertson isn't my 'spokesperson' because I speak for myself

yet,, as a fellow black person, there are areas of perception and opinion that may CROSSOVER between myself and other black people

as a fellow female, there are areas of perception and opinion that may CROSSOVER between myself and other females

as a fellow Christian, thare are arease of perception and opinion that may CROSSOVER between myself and Robertson

I have never known the Reverend to claim or 'sell' himself as morally superior to anyone,,,,again, that is someones personal perception and their business,,,


He knows what some people think, because some people think SOME of everything,,,,I know what some people think too, though I cannot pinpoint specific names of WHo thinks it,, again,, that is a human tendency to speak of what SOME do or think,, and I will leave that perception as the subjective standard that it is,,,


any REASONABLE person understands the world is much more complex than the idiot box (media) and so are people,, and don't make rash judgments based only on a square box and what comes out of it,,,


but in a culture where its reasonable to be shallow in thought, I understand why such logic (that you can watch whats on television to 'know' someone),,,,is considered reasonable by some,,,

I also support Sharptons message at Michael Browns funeral
http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/michael-brown-funeral-rev-al-sharpton-full-speech-25120916