Right before the Thanksgiving news-cycle black hole, charges came out against the SEIU thugs for the Kenneth Gladney beating.  Five days later, responsible news outlets everywhere (i.e.: Fox News) could finally cover the story.

BigGovernment.com Editor-in-Chief Mike Flynn and Judge Andrew Napolitano spoke with Glenn Beck about the saga on yesterday’s show.  Check out the video below and watch out for the Judge’s explanation of why the beating meets every criteria for a hate crime.  Key passage begins about 3:20 seconds in.  Transcript below:

Napolitano: A) It was organized.  You and I watched the tape of them [SEIU thugs] kicking him [Kenneth Gladney]. It wasn’t just a random act of violence.  It was organized.  B) It was to suppress his free speech.  C) As they were kicking him, they were expressing hatred for his race.  All three of these categories are what the Federal Government is supposed to prosecute people for doing.  Instead, what they’ve charged these thugs with is the moral equivalent of jaywalking. (more…)

Over at Examiner, Byron York asks the fairly obvious question:

What does a hate crimes bill have to do with money for U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Nothing, except that the National Defense Authorization Act, which will win final passage in Congress and be sent to the president’s desk this week, also contains the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which Democrats placed inside the defense measure over Republican objections.

The crime bill — which would broaden the protected classes for hate crimes to include sexual orientation and “gender identity,” which the bill defines as a victim’s “actual or perceived gender-related characteristics” — passed the House earlier this year as a stand-alone measure. But it’s never had the votes to succeed by itself in the Senate. So over the summer Democrats, with the power of their 60-vote majority, attached it to the defense bill.

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