Free Republic

Reviewing the charging documents in the case against former Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr., D-Ill., it is impossible not to wonder how he got away with stealing his campaign funds for so long. For a period of at least seven years, Jackson misused his campaign funds to buy personal items, including a $40,000 Rolex watch, mink capes, mounted elk heads and Michael Jackson memorabilia, among other things. Part of the problem is that since 2001, the Federal Election Commission — the agency charged with monitoring campaign finances — has specifically permitted candidates to use campaign funds to pay family members....

The Jackson file... Ensconced in the safety of their home in Washington, D.C., former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, former Ald. Sandi Jackson, are struggling to make ends meet before their sentencing in June. To wit: The shattered couple, who recently pleaded guilty to felonies, could lose their law licenses. They are desperately trying to pay the bills and figure out a financial plan for their two children. Although writing a memoir is on the table if Jackson Jr. can find a publisher (or publish it himself), Sneed is told their major financial support now is Triple J’s...

Wolf Blitzer: “What do you say to the Venezuelans, not only in the opposition but those who have fled the country, who considered Hugo Chavez a vile dictator?” Jesse Jackson: “Well, you know, democracies mature, Our first 15 presidents owned people. They owned slaves. Democracies mature.” Read more: http://conservativevideos.com/2013/03/jesse-jackson-compares-hugo-chavez-to-founding-fathers/#ixzz2N5Yp4HNE

**SNIP** Ask how he could humiliate not one but three generations of his globally known family — his famous father and his young children included. No, Jesse Jackson Jr. wouldn't be the first to purposefully slow-walk that yearslong walk. Not the first to delight in secret luxuries and expensive acquisitions along a reliable, efficient path to the self-destruction of his career and his reputation. Imagine, though, the depth of conniving, or self-delusion, or entitlement, or sheer audacious recklessness, that the federal accusations against Jackson would have required of him. What the feds on Friday suggested had happened here is a...

An attorney for former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s wife says she signed a plea deal with federal prosecutors related to accusations her husband misused campaign funds. Tom Kirsch tells The Associated Press former Chicago alderman Sandi Jackson agreed to plead guilty to one count of tax fraud.

**SNIP** One in the pack running for Jackson’s vacated house seat is one who’s been there before, former congressman Mel Reynolds. “At a time when we are living in the killing fields of Chicago, our federal government seems obsessed with the Jackson,” said Reynolds. Reynolds points to stories that include Jackson’s wife Sandi who’s also resigned her elective seat as alderman. “Do they really now want to put both parents of small children in jail or is their strategy to get Sandi Jackson to flip on her husband so they can put even more pressure on that family?” said Reynolds.

Can a Republican Take Jesse Jackson Jr.'s Old Seat?Lenny McAlister thinks his chances are good, but will 2nd District voters look beyond the "R" on the ballot? By Christopher Paicely One Republican has entered the race to replace Jesse Jackson Jr. as the United States representative for the 2nd District. Lenny McAllister has no legislative experience and has never won an election, but he's hoping to win a seat held by Democrats for more than 50 years. And let's not forget a Republican was unable to come close to beating a nigh-nonexistent congressman back in November.

CHICAGO—A veteran Illinois state senator was arrested Wednesday after allegedly trying to board a flight from Chicago to Washington with a gun and ammunition in a carry-on bag, authorities said. Sen. Donne Trotter, a Chicago Democrat who recently announced he would run to replace Jesse Jackson Jr. in the U.S. House, was carrying an unloaded .25-caliber Beretta handgun and a magazine clip with six bullets when he tried to board a flight at O'Hare International Airport, according to Chicago police.

Sources with knowledge of the probe told the Chicago Sun-Times that investigators believe Jackson had learned of the federal scrutiny of his financial activity prior to his June 10 leave from Congress. The sources said it didn’t necessarily mean the tip was from an investigative source, saying it was possible the congressman received a tip from someone who was notified about the probe, possibly through a subpoena. While Jackson, a South Shore Democrat, eventually released information concerning his health, he did not publicly disclose he had knowledge of the federal probe until last Wednesday — the day he submitted a...

Ambitious, bright and a powerful orator, Jesse Jackson Jr. once saw himself following in the footsteps of his father and running for president.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. will announce his resignation from Congress today in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Jackson's brother Jonathan Jackson said.

"Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who is battling legal troubles and mental illness, is likely to resign from Congress and face jail time under the terms of a plea deal his lawyer is negotiating with the federal government."

When former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president, Romney campaign chair John Sununu dismissed it as just a black man standing up for one of his tribe. That racial gibe fits a campaign with a yawning racial divide: Obama is struggling among white working-class men, while Romney has essentially abandoned any effort to win the votes of African Americans and Latinos. Someone should talk to the skilled, largely white, workers at Sensata Technologies Inc. about that. They work for a hugely profitable company owned by Romney’s Bain Capital. Bain is moving the jobs to China.

Report: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. releases robocall, tells supporters 'I am human'By Jonathan Easley - 10/20/12 07:07 PM ET The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) sent out an automated message to constituents in his district on Saturday, asking voters to stick by him through his recent spate of difficulties. “Like many human beings, a series of events came together in my life at the same time and they have been difficult to sort through,” Jackson says in the call. “I am human. I am doing my best. I am trying to sort through them...

He’s being treated for bipolar disorder — a mental illness that can bring depression, mania, risky behavior and delusions. He’s had a highly publicized relationship with a “social acquaintance” that rocked his marriage. His name is repeatedly linked to disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Now he’s the target of a federal investigation into “suspicious activity” into his congressional finances. What does all this mean for Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s political future when the Nov. 6 election is a little more than three weeks away? “He’s going to be re-elected,” political consultant Thom Serafin said. “In this particular part of the...

Talk by Jesse Trentadue on "The Trentadue Case: No Time to Mourn" given September 6, 2012 at Town Hall Seattle in Seattle, WA and sponsored by the Post-Prison Education Program.

Separately, Jackson cited “a ‘New South’ that has been created largely by the civil rights marches and then by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which President Johnson got passed through Congress in 1965.” One far-reaching effect of the Voting Rights Act, said Jackson, “is that politics have changed in the South. Jefferson Davis Democrats became Goldwater Republicans and the Lincoln Republicans became Johnson Democrats.” Both Jackson and Metcalf agreed that a winning tactic on the part of the new Democratic coalition they envision is full-scale combat with the tea party conservatives and their agenda to cut government. “45 percent...

A group of combat-tested Navy SEALs say they learned something any statehouse reporter in Minnesota could've told them: When Jesse Ventura talks, the subject is usually Jesse Ventura. But the special forces members -- some still on active duty -- are supporting a comrade's claim that during a wake for a fallen team member six years ago, the former governor popped off one too many times, prompting one of them to deck him in a California bar. After that SEAL, Chris Kyle, described the alleged incident in his memoirs about his military career as a sniper, Ventura sued him, claiming...

The Mayo Clinic said Monday that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is under treatment there for the condition. Jackson has been hospitalized at the Rochester, Minn., center and absent from Congress since June 10. He’s been suffering from massive depression and gastrointestinal issues, a likely complication from a risky weight-loss surgery known as a “duodenal switch.”

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s mother, Jacqueline Jackson, told a Rainbow/PUSH conference Friday that her son has suffered years of “enormous disappointment.” “I’m not ashamed to say ... he thought he was going to be a senator. He thought he was going to have a chance to run for mayor. And young people don’t bounce back from disappointments like me and my husband" she said. . . .