Recession Special?: Racists and Anti-Semites Wanted for Government Job

A disturbing story is unfolding in the New York area and is about to further unfold in Brooklyn federal court next week.

Recent reports state that a man about to stand trial for inciting others to commit violence against three federal judges has not only been on the federal government payroll as a paid FBI informant and agent provocateur, but that former United States Attorney (and Governor-elect) Chris Christie personally approved the decision not to prosecute him for various crimes.   (See the Associated Press story here.)

According to this one report (of many) the man in question, Hal Turner, has a long and sordid history of anti-Semitic, racist comments.

This story originally was eye-catching because of what I thought then to be an absolutely outrageous claim that Turner was a government informant.   It was fall-down shocking to soon read that federal prosecutors confirmed this claim.   Now we have the allegation that U.S. Attorney Chris Christie was aware of, gave legal advice with regard to and personally blessed the non-prosecution of Turner.  

This raises a series of strong and disturbing questions.   What is our federal government doing, encouraging such vile diatribes?   Why are our tax dollars going to pay this guy when the SEC doesn't have enough money for investigators and lawyers, Homeland Security can't find enough translators for certain Mideast dialects, and we are getting weekly calls for the rationing of standard medical protective measures like mammograms?

This story bears continued watching.