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Here is another story most of you probably haven't heard about because it has gotten very little traction in the liberal media. It is almost exclusively a Fox News story: the liberal media has picked-up bits and pieces of it to report second-hand, but essentially all of the investigation and original reporting is being done by Fox News.
All of this is paraphrased and/or quoted from the wiki and these stories:
New Black Panther Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Black_Panther_Party
Fox News interview with the group's leader: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...leader-defends-group-voter-intimidation-case/
Fox News story on the liberal media's silence: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/08/mainstream-media-coverage-slim-nasa-black-panther-stories
WSJ Op-Ed: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550604574361071968458430.html
I'm putting the sources up front and paraphrasing to keep this from getting too cumbersome - if anyone wants specific citations of any of the points in the paraphrase, I'll oblige.
The New Black Panther Party is a black militant/nationalist hate group largely drawing influence and membership from the Nation of Islam and not afilitated with the original Black Panther Party (they just co-opted the name for marketing purposes). For the 2008 Presidential election, the NBBP sent members to polling stations around the country to "stop angry whites...use all means at your disposal". In Philadelphia, several members of the NBBP stood outside just outside the door to a polling place and intimidated voters and poll workers. One in particular brandished a night stick, called whites "crackers" and said among other things: "now you will see what it means to be ruled by the black man, cracker". The second link includes these quotes as well as video clips and witness interviews from of the incident. It's an open-and-shut case of voter intimidation. He was escorted away by police, but not arrested. The NBBP suspended him temporarily from the organization and distanced itself from his actions. On Jan 7 of 2009, the Bush DoJ filed a civil suit against the NBPP and won an injunction against the primary defendant barring him from ever coming near another polling place.
Now to be sure, this is a relatively minor case of intimidation and these things do happen - a handful happen each year. And so if the story had ended there, it wouldn't be surprising that it didn't get much press beyond Philadelphia. But it didn't end there.
In May of 2009, Obama's new Assoc Attorney General, Thomas Perrelli dropped the suit against the NBBP and softened the injunction it had already won against the primary defendant to be a 4 year ban against only showing up at Philly polling places with a weapon - which is already illegal. This was opposed by a number of career lawyers in the DOJ, one of whom has since quit and has been speaking out against this action, saying it was motivated by racism. Republican lawmakers have demanded an inquiry, and have been stonewalled. The US Commission on Civil Rights sent a letter to the DOJ in August demanding answers and is investigating the incident and fallout, saying:
Now if the DOJ dropped a case against the KKK after a member brandished a billy club at a polling place, saying 'prepare to be ruled by the white man, n---', there'd be race rioting. But this story has gained little traction in the media. Virtually all of the investigation and reporting has come from Fox news, including interviews with key NBPP members and the DOJ whistle-blower. It has the feel of a media that doesn't accept the concept of black->white racism and doesn't want to question a liberal/black President's administration. Fox of course doesn't miss an opportunity to poke a finger at the rest of the media for their silence (last link at the top), listing the major outlets and the reporting they have/haven't done.
There's another interesting little nugget in that one about the head of NASA who went on Al Jazeera and said that one of the core missions of NASA, as assigned by Obama was Muslim outreach. (no, that's not a joke)
That's a little bit of an aside, but it doesn't need much discussion anyway - it's just mind boggling at face value.
All of this is paraphrased and/or quoted from the wiki and these stories:
New Black Panther Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Black_Panther_Party
Fox News interview with the group's leader: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...leader-defends-group-voter-intimidation-case/
Fox News story on the liberal media's silence: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/08/mainstream-media-coverage-slim-nasa-black-panther-stories
WSJ Op-Ed: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550604574361071968458430.html
I'm putting the sources up front and paraphrasing to keep this from getting too cumbersome - if anyone wants specific citations of any of the points in the paraphrase, I'll oblige.
The New Black Panther Party is a black militant/nationalist hate group largely drawing influence and membership from the Nation of Islam and not afilitated with the original Black Panther Party (they just co-opted the name for marketing purposes). For the 2008 Presidential election, the NBBP sent members to polling stations around the country to "stop angry whites...use all means at your disposal". In Philadelphia, several members of the NBBP stood outside just outside the door to a polling place and intimidated voters and poll workers. One in particular brandished a night stick, called whites "crackers" and said among other things: "now you will see what it means to be ruled by the black man, cracker". The second link includes these quotes as well as video clips and witness interviews from of the incident. It's an open-and-shut case of voter intimidation. He was escorted away by police, but not arrested. The NBBP suspended him temporarily from the organization and distanced itself from his actions. On Jan 7 of 2009, the Bush DoJ filed a civil suit against the NBPP and won an injunction against the primary defendant barring him from ever coming near another polling place.
Now to be sure, this is a relatively minor case of intimidation and these things do happen - a handful happen each year. And so if the story had ended there, it wouldn't be surprising that it didn't get much press beyond Philadelphia. But it didn't end there.
In May of 2009, Obama's new Assoc Attorney General, Thomas Perrelli dropped the suit against the NBBP and softened the injunction it had already won against the primary defendant to be a 4 year ban against only showing up at Philly polling places with a weapon - which is already illegal. This was opposed by a number of career lawyers in the DOJ, one of whom has since quit and has been speaking out against this action, saying it was motivated by racism. Republican lawmakers have demanded an inquiry, and have been stonewalled. The US Commission on Civil Rights sent a letter to the DOJ in August demanding answers and is investigating the incident and fallout, saying:
[from the wsj link] "We believe the Department's defense of its actions thus far undermines respect for rule of law," its letter stated. It noted "the peculiar logic" of one Justice argument, that defendants' failure to show up in court was a reason for dismissing the case: "Such an argument sends a perverse message to wrongdoers—that attempts at voter suppression will be tolerated so long as the persons who engage in them are careful not to appear in court to answer the government's complaint."
Now if the DOJ dropped a case against the KKK after a member brandished a billy club at a polling place, saying 'prepare to be ruled by the white man, n---', there'd be race rioting. But this story has gained little traction in the media. Virtually all of the investigation and reporting has come from Fox news, including interviews with key NBPP members and the DOJ whistle-blower. It has the feel of a media that doesn't accept the concept of black->white racism and doesn't want to question a liberal/black President's administration. Fox of course doesn't miss an opportunity to poke a finger at the rest of the media for their silence (last link at the top), listing the major outlets and the reporting they have/haven't done.
There's another interesting little nugget in that one about the head of NASA who went on Al Jazeera and said that one of the core missions of NASA, as assigned by Obama was Muslim outreach. (no, that's not a joke)
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/05/nasa-chief-frontier-better-relations-muslims/"When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering," Bolden said in the interview.
That's a little bit of an aside, but it doesn't need much discussion anyway - it's just mind boggling at face value.
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