Politics at the Department of Justice
[Guest post by DRJ]
Remember these videos from Philadelphia on Election Day 2008? Some people were bothered by them:
Apparently the political appointees at the Obama DOJ aren’t too bothered:
“Justice Department political appointees overruled career lawyers and ended a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense of wielding a nightstick and intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place last Election Day, according to documents and interviews.
***
A Justice Department spokesman on Thursday confirmed that the agency had dropped the case, dismissing two of the men from the lawsuit with no penalty and winning an order against the third man that simply prohibits him from bringing a weapon to a polling place in future elections.”
More at the link, including that one man was credentialed as a Democratic poll watcher and that the career lawyers were “ordered to reverse course” by their superiors.
— DRJ
If these guys were Republicans, their faces would run daily on CNN since the election with demands for their imprisonment and the impeachment of any GOP Attorney General who did not prosecute them.
Guess thugs at polling places was the “Change” the clowns with the silly bumper stickers were voting for.
SPQR (72771e) — 5/29/2009 @ 2:10 pmWho would have ever predicted something like this? I’m SHOCKED!
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/29/2009 @ 2:33 pmAs I believe Obama said the other night in LA, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Just wait until they try to sweep the ACORN investigations under the carpet. They have to do that before the census starts.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/29/2009 @ 2:39 pmYeah but you see, it was the awful Bush Administration under that evil Ashcroft then that incompetent Gonzales who politicized the Justice Department. This thing in Philadelphia was just a case of some young men who had been marginalized by the racist system of Amerikkka joyfully exercising their right to vote and bringing along some minor weaponry, purely for self-defense, just in case some racist sheriffs from Alabama or Mississippi showed up and tried to prevent them from exercising their long-overdue hard-fought-for enfranchisement.
JVW (fdc303) — 5/29/2009 @ 2:47 pmIs Holder going to address this, or is the DOJ an office of cowards?
Patricia (94c68d) — 5/29/2009 @ 2:52 pmNo politicization here!
mojo (8096f2) — 5/29/2009 @ 2:54 pmWhat do you expect from …..?
HeavenSent (1e97ff) — 5/29/2009 @ 2:57 pm‘The complaint said the three men engaged in “coercion, threats and intimidation, … racial threats and insults, … menacing and intimidating gestures, … and movements directed at individuals who were present to vote.” It said that unless prohibited by court sanctions, they would “continued to violate … the Voting Rights Act by continuing to direct intimidation, threats and coercion at voters and potential voters, by again deploying uniformed and armed members at the entrance to polling locations in future elections, both in Philadelphia and throughout the country.”‘
‘To support its evidence, the government had secured an affidavit from Bartle Bull, a longtime civil rights activist and former aide to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign. Mr. Bull said in a sworn statement dated April 7 that he was serving in November as a credentialed poll watcher in Philadelphia when he saw the three uniformed Panthers confront and intimidate voters with a nightstick.’
‘Inexplicably, the government did not enter the affidavit in the court case, according to the files.’
‘”In my opinion, the men created an intimidating presence at the entrance to a poll,” he declared. “In all my experience in politics, in civil rights litigation and in my efforts in the 1960s to secure the right to vote in Mississippi … I have never encountered or heard of another instance in the United States where armed and uniformed men blocked the entrance to a polling location.”‘
‘Mr. Bull said the “clear purpose” of what the Panthers were doing was to “intimidate voters with whom they did not agree.” He also said he overheard one of the men tell a white poll watcher: “You are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker.”‘
So, why would anyone expect the Democrats to pursue this? It’s exactly what the Democrats themselves have done throughout the history of their maggot-infested political party.
Threats, intimidation, violence, rigged elections, government approved racism.
That is the Democrat Party and always has been.
Dave Surls (83046d) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:21 pmBoy, that is one tough and independent DOJ we have now.
MU789 (303f04) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:26 pm“More at the link, including that one man was credentialed as a Democratic poll watcher”
Democrat Party employs racist thugs in order to prevent people from voting.
Dog bites man.
Dave Surls (83046d) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:28 pmBut let a politician use the word macaca and the Wash Post will run 50 front page stories about it and the NYT will accuse said politician of injecting race into an election.
MU789 (303f04) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:29 pmThe freakin’ “New Barack Panthers”
drjohn (862e69) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:48 pmso… what? the other two can?
There is no part about this that doesn’t enrage me.
Scott Jacobs (90ff96) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:54 pmMy son was on duty that day, (in a different precinct). Said he hadn’t heard any talk among police about it (though certainly overwhelmingly Dems.) Perhaps they were armed in the event any of the walking dead tried to vote (again).
Two glimpses of Philadelphia- our previous mayor, in a presentation to an NAACP-like organization (not sure which one), was heard to say, “The brothers are in charge now!” Minimal rolling eyes for a few days.
Suspect apprehended by same son, sawed-off shotgun hidden under coat, responsible for 10 or more mom-and-pop robberies over several months. Received 3 years probation, because “the gun wasn’t in functioning condition” and they couldn’t get any of the robbery victims to testify. Apparently the judge wants to give the guy another chance to find a gun that works…
We know the phrase “The day the music died”. I propose “The day that justice died” be applied to the day Sandy Bergler got away with a slapped wrist for stealing and destroying classified documents from the National Archives. Under a Repub President, even.
Last misc. comment- I heard today that the fellow who started what grew into ACORN was also among the founders of the SDS. Wasn’t aware of that, not sure if true, but not surprising… I mean, what’s hangin’ out with the SDS after you have Weathermen Underground associates.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 5/29/2009 @ 4:00 pm14- Md in Philly- I think Frank Rizzo was police commish when the nationwide MLK jr. assassination riots went down. Recall himw earing a nightstick in his cummerbund while attending some soiree. I don’t recall any egregious criminal behaviors during that spell. Did see cops standing on corners with shotguns in nearly Norristown.
aoibhneas (55634c) — 5/29/2009 @ 4:25 pmAnyway just compare the media’s reaction to the two Move incidents with Jack and Jill Africa and assorted posse, Birdie Africa, etc. Rizzo was bad and Goode was untouchable, even though some members of his official entourage got some grief. I wonder what the final result was with the fancy townhouses for those burned out by the police firebomb? The building trades unions and neighborhood denizens made out big I assume.
Rizzo was gone by the time we moved here. certainly there were things he did/were done under him that I can’t condone.
Actually Goode was not given a pass. He was not called to go before the feds for civil rights violations or such, but neither did the city feel he was justified in what happened.
Some contractors did real well in the rebuilding, the neighborhoods not so. The workmanship on many of the homes was so poor that it got to the point the city bought people new houses elsewhere instead of continuing to pay for repairs.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 5/29/2009 @ 5:43 pmKeep in mind that they were instructed to drop the case AFTER THEY RECEIVED A DEFAULT JUDGEMENT!!!
Granted, it’s PA, and default judgements can be addressed (as there is no Inquest Order) by the Court. However, this is slam dunksville on more than one level.
The Worm (dce7ce) — 5/29/2009 @ 5:57 pmThe Mayor in the WEB Griffin Badge of Honor series of novels was based on Rizzo. He must have been something..
What we have now is the Ayres generation in power. We’ll see how that works out.
Mike K (2cf494) — 5/29/2009 @ 6:18 pmAt least the trolls have SOME shame: I haven’t seen them on this thread. There’s little way to argue that the YouTube’d behavior didn’t merit further investigation and possible prosecution.
Mitch (ae98c3) — 5/29/2009 @ 6:32 pmIs it safe to say that the Barcky DOJ has taken a position in support of these kinds of actions?
Back to my favorite metric – imagine the outrage had Bush done this.
JD (abe6ab) — 5/29/2009 @ 6:49 pmWill these be officers in our new civilian defense force “equal to the military”? I guess in future they will be much better armed.
Machinist (c5fc28) — 5/29/2009 @ 7:37 pmMitch:
Just wait – Axelrod will figure a response for his paid minions to spout. Something about Bush’s fault, Cheney and Clarence Thomas preventing these good citizens to keep law and order blah blah blah.
Obama is paying good money for these trolls to post on these blogs and he’s not going to let them take a night off.
MU789 (303f04) — 5/29/2009 @ 7:42 pmAlso in the “what a coincidence” category, after a nearly 5 year long investigation into alleged corruption, the US Attorney’s Office in Sacramento announced it was dropping all charges against former California State Senator Don Perata, “one of California’s most powerful Democrats”. Lotsa of commies in the Bay Area are rejoicing, and smirking.
Marty Farty (73baad) — 5/29/2009 @ 8:04 pmThe Bush administration will be remembered as a golden age of honest government.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/29/2009 @ 8:22 pmSitting between the Clinton and Obama administrations would make the Nixon administration look good. I think that part of the left’s obsessive hatred of Bush was because he made Clinton look so vile and venal by comparison.The contrast was inescapable.
Machinist (c5fc28) — 5/29/2009 @ 8:51 pmOn November 4, 2008 the people of America (or certainly a majority of its electorate) decided to move their nation into the direction of a Banana Republic.
Prior to that moment, if there was even a shred of innocence or idealism remaining behind the idea of this society being somehow special — being attached to the trappings of manifest destiny — it pretty much was squeezed out on that occasion.
And now, as the saying goes, you can never go home again.
Mark (411533) — 5/29/2009 @ 8:58 pmAll they need now is a judge who can empathize with them and they can sue for millions in damages.
ras (20bd5b) — 5/29/2009 @ 8:59 pmMythical Florida police cars == GOP voter intimidation.
Actual Black Panther armed thugs == nothing to see, move along.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/30/2009 @ 11:12 amI think we all might want to become accustomed to The Black Panthers, brandishing weapons, outside voting sites in the future.
Karen (996c34) — 5/30/2009 @ 4:56 pm[…] pursue it so matter what, often by paying off corrupt political debts and alliances. Case in point: Yesterday Obama’s Justice Department dropped charges against some Black Panther thugs who were caught on videotape intimidating voters during the last election. The charges were dropped […]
Obama’s Brand of Justice | Fire Andrea Mitchell! (20d20a) — 5/30/2009 @ 11:04 pmSure, they’ll drop the charges and turn a blind eye when two Black Panthers holding night sticks are loitering around a polling place, but they’ll scream bloody murder if two Christians holding Bibles stand in front of an abortion clinic.
Blasto (a3ff49) — 5/31/2009 @ 5:33 pm