Congratulations go to Al Sharpton. He has succeeded once again. In full-on Sharpton style, he timely ginned up the chaos and devastation in a midwestern suburb named Ferguson, Mo., and as planned, it ignited and smoldered.

Sharpton taking center stage to wreak havoc is always predictable, but the newest bit of surprise is that now the media have actually admitted Sharpton has close ties to the White House and many of its full- and part-time occupants.

This fact is apparently common knowledge to those who exist in the beltway, but for those of us who aren’t there, it’s now free-flowing on the Internet and magazines like Politico. Newsmax’s Newsfront section storied the following on Aug. 25: “Politico: Al Sharpton Becomes Obama’s Race Ambassador.” The major media ignore the commentaries of rational and sound black men such as former U.S. Rep. and Lt. Col. (Ret.) Allan West, Dr. Ben Carson, Niger R. Innis and Onan Coca, to name a few.

Characters like Sharpton are simply dangerous. They are dangerous because they are wholly and intentionally irresponsible. As long as they can foster havoc and be dividers instead of uniters, they have a job.

Worse is that Sharpton specifically has a proven track record of (1) being a liar; (2) aiding and abetting crimes that never happened; (3) fueling false police reports; (4) having been found guilty of ruining the reputation and life of at least one white prosecutor; and (5) not paying the judgment against him as assessed by a court of law – all of this from just the Tawana Brawley case. Sharpton made a repeat performance in the Duke University Lacrosse case. There’s more.

Armed with those facts, now the matter at hand is Ferguson.

One cannot listen to or read about the Ferguson event anywhere, including Fox News, without the theme being “unarmed 18-year-old black man shot by white cop.” The isolated words are accurate, but the travesty emerges when the accompanying story is manufactured to fit an agenda – be it an agenda of gaining viewership, selling a product, energizing chaos or race baiting.

The amount of media swarming in Ferguson is disgusting. The reporters all tell the same story of a smoking war zone in a town of about 21,000 people. As for the genesis of the whole event, they don’t know any more than you or I do, and if they do, they sure aren’t telling it.

It took at least two weeks for the media to tell the rest of us that officer Darren Wilson has substantial facial injuries because he was physically pummeled by Michael Brown while still inside his police car. It’s barely mentioned that Brown had just strongarmed a local small business owner by brazenly walking in, stealing merchandise, physically shoving the much-smaller man, and departing.

Also barely mentioned is that Brown was 6’3” and about 300 pounds, and just as in the Trayvon Martin case, the media show pictures of a sweet face and not the ones that are elsewhere on the Internet that give a glimpse of a different side of these deceased young man.

As a citizenry, we are not served fairly, nor are we serving ourselves well when we opt to digest junk food put before us without taking the effort to look at the whole buffet.

As more information is revealed, Michael Brown is not looking like a picture of innocence, and Officer Wilson is not looking like he simply shot Brown with no cause at all.

There are many items on the travesty list about this case. Here’s but a few:

* Another young man is dead;

* Another police officer is smeared, and his former life is over;

* Media that pick and choose what the world will view and hear;

* We are once again reminded of the sham of Al Sharpton;

* A lot of Ferguson small business owners have suffered irrecoverable damages;

* Many of the rioters and looters came from out of town and out of state. (I’d like to know who paid for that. How about that, investigative reporters?)

* The cry for “justice” now means “our kind of justice.”

Once again a U.S. president errantly and quickly opined on a local matter, then threw the weight of the U.S. Attorney General onto the heap.

There are two major factors that are not being highlighted.

* One: Guilt and innocence have already been established with no complete investigation – just riots and destruction.

* Two: How did it come to be that Al Sharpton, Barack Obama and Eric Holder decide which lives, specifically black lives, are important and which are not?

How is it OK with anyone that the likes of Sharpton, Obama, Holder, Jesse Jackson and the New Black Panthers get to choose which black victims are important enough to highlight in their political football game and which are not?

The proof for asking that is Chicago. One of their team players is in charge of Chicago – Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The Chicago Tribune updated its “Chicago shooting victims” site Aug. 26, reporting:

* Jan. 1, 2014 – Aug. 26, 2014: 1,292 shooting victims;

* Jan. 1, 2013 – Dec. 31, 2013: 2,185, noting, “This data is compiled from reporting done by the Chicago Tribune Breaking News staff and is updated approximately once per month. Therefore, the most recent shootings may not be displayed immediately.”

Why aren’t those victims garnering any attention? Are not their families hurt and suffering?

Those questions ought to offend every person of every color.

Betty Arenson has lived in the SCV since 1968 and describes herself as a conservative who’s concerned about progressives’ politics and their impacts on the country, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She says she is unashamed to own a gun or a Bible, couldn’t care less about the color of the president’s skin, and demands that he uphold his oath to protect and follow the Constitution of the United States in its entirety. Her commentary publishes Fridays.