Rangel found guilty on 11 ethics charges

Now what?

The ethics committee will meet Thursday to consider punishment for Rangel. It will come down to three possibilities and a unlikely fourth. A formal reprimand, censure, or expulsion. Of course he could retire. Would this not be a utter waste of time for all concerned if the only punishment doled out is a slap on the wrist... e.g., formal reprimand or censure? That boils down to (Gee whiz... you shouldn't have done that Charlie. See you Monday morning.)

If this was you or I we would be in jail. Just ask Wesley Snipes. I'm expecting Rangel to go into his usual long dissertation about what a fine war hero he was followed by his years of service (theft) and finally expounding on how his constitutional rights were violated because he had no time to hire legal representation. (Like it's only been two years.)
At the last hearing he said he was going to represent himself.  How does that saying go...a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.


 The common consensus is he's going to get a slap on the wrist. I'm going to go out on a limb and say they will give him the option to retire if not he will be expelled even though it will take two-thirds of the House vote and we're in the lame duck secession. Democrats want to drain the swamp. This is their chance. Put your money where your mouth is. Anything else is just a waste of time.

Oh ...by the way should he somehow remain a Congressman I wouldn't be to concerned about the prospect of his re-election. He could video tape himself murdering someone on his front porch and still get elected.

Rangel found guilty on 11 ethics charges

The Never Ending Saga Of Charles Rangel

There has been a cloud (I was going to say black cloud but that may be deemed racist) hanging over Charlie Rangel's head for quite some time. Approximately 2 years ago Rangel was brought up on House ethics charges.  One charge quite possibly could have been dismissed as an "error in judgement". But there are whopping 13 ethics violation charges not counting the new addition below. 


List of charges The Hemingway Report: Difference Between Charlie Rangel and Al Capone


So how did this sit with those brilliant, voting, constituents in his district? In the last election, just a couple a weeks ago, he garnered 81% of the vote for his twenty first term in office!

Charlie Rangel's predecessor was Adam Clayton Powell. No stranger to scandals himself. So it begs the question. If you were a black politician, representing a black district, how would it be possible to not get re-elected?

Answer: Die midterm.

Rangel Used PAC Money for Legal Defense

New York Rep. Charles Rangel, whose ethics trial starts tomorrow, appears to have improperly used political-action committee money to pay for his defense, The New York Post reported Sunday.

Rangel tapped his National Leadership PAC for $293,000 to pay his main legal-defense team this year. He took another $100,000 from the PAC in 2009 to pay lawyer Lanny Davis. Two legal experts told The Post such spending is against House rules. "It's a breach of congressional ethics," one campaign-finance lawyer said. 

Washington, D.C., political lawyer Cleta Mitchell said there is "no authority for a member to use leadership PAC funds as a slush fund to pay for personal or official expenses." Leadership PACs are typically used by politicians to donate money to other candidates. 

But Rangel seems to have run afoul of House ethics rules. Lawmakers are generally allowed to use campaign cash to pay their lawyers, but this is limited to money in their personal campaign committee and they must ask permission first, the campaign-finance lawyer said. "The only campaign funds that a member may use to pay for congressional expenses are funds of his or her principal campaign committee -- not the funds of a leadership PAC or a multicandidate committee," according to the House Ethics Manual. 

Legal fees tied to a campaign, election or performance of official duties are considered congressional expenses. "Accepting money or payment for legal expenses from any other source, including a PAC, would be a gift and is barred by the House rules," the lawyer said. The Ethics Committee had no comment. 

Rangel's office refused to comment on the PAC money. On top of the $393,000 in PAC funds, records show Rangel yanked $1.4 million from his campaign coffers in 2009 and 2010 to pay the firm Zuckerman Spaeder, his main legal-defense team, and $100,000 in 2009 to pay Davis' firm. 

He also spent $147,577 for Washington, D.C., lawyer John Kern and $174,303 for Watkins, Meegan, Drury & Co., a firm that offers forensic accounting and legal services. 

An eight-member ethics subcommittee of four Democrats and four Republicans will convene at 9 a.m. to hear the 13 charges. They include failure to disclose and pay taxes on his vacation home in the Dominican Republic; his use of a rent-regulated Harlem apartment as a campaign office; and using congressional stationery to raise money for the Rangel Center at City College.

The Never Ending Saga Of Charles Rangel

Now that the dust has settled the election results explained in fine detail

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Now that the dust has settled the election results explained in fine detail

Assimilation or Colonization

Merkle the Chancellor of Germany has seen the light.

When will the rest of the world learn?

'BURN IN HELL': MUSLIM PROTESTERS DISRUPT BRITISH VETERANS DAY

Muslim protesters during a British Armistice Day celebration. (Phot: The Scottish Sun)

While America celebrates Veterans Day on Thursday, Britons across the pond are wrapping up a similar celebration called Armistice Day. Both honor the brave men and women fighting (and who have fought) in the armed services. That didn't matter to a group of Muslim protesters on Thursday, however, who interrupted services in London with chants of "British soldiers burn in hell" and banners saying "Islam will dominate" and "Our dead are in paradise, your dead are in hell."

The group of about 30 people, according to the Scottish Sun, is called Muslims Against Crusades. And while they screamed their hate, they were met by 50 counter protesters from the English Defence League:

"I'm disgusted," one mother whose son was killed in Afghanistan told the Sun.

"There are people like myself that at 11am today were remembering the lives of our children, and then there are some people doing something so hurtful as that. I think it's atrocious."

"We're talking about individuals who have died for their country," she added.

Future suicide bombers preaching the basic principle of Islam. The solution to everything... death.

Muslim protesters hold a sign during a British Armistice Day celebration. (Photo: The Scottish Sun)

The Sun reports that three members of the Muslim protest group were arrested — two for alleged public order offences and one over claims he assaulted a police officer — while one intervening officer was taken to the hospital with a head injury.

"My son went to Iraq with the Marines fighting for Muslims to get rid of a tyrant so they could have some freedom," said a father whose son was also killed.

Assimilation or Colonization

Hoyer zings Pelosi at the celebration bash

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Hoyer zings Pelosi at the celebration bash