June 20, 2015

Mitt Romney calls for removal of South Carolina statehouse Confederate flag.

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney joined a growing chorus of Americans calling for the state of South Carolina to take down the Confederate flag, calling it a symbol of hatred and divisiveness, only to have conservative followers of his turn on him.

Attention has once again returned to the flag flown at the state capital of South Carolina, home of the birthplace of the confederacy, following the shooting of nine black churchgoers by Dylann Root, who sported Confederate flags on his car.

Friday night, South Carolina state Rep. Norman “Doug” Brannon (R) said he plans on introducing a bill to remove the Confederate flag near his state’s capitol building, adding, “I’m not a politician tonight. But I do have access, and I will introduce that bill in December,”

Saturday morning on Twitter, Romney wrote, “Take down the #ConfederateFlag at the SC Capitol. To many, it is a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor #Charleston victims.”


http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/mitt-romney-calls-for-removal-of-south-carolina-statehouse-confederate-flag-and-conservatives-go-apesht/

June 20, 2015

Bobby Jindal dodges question about Confederate flag. (VIDEO)

June 20, 2015

Marco Rubio Backed Measure Seen As Protecting The Confederate Flag In Florida

WASHINGTON -- As a state lawmaker in Florida in 2001, Marco Rubio, now a leading Republican presidential candidate, co-sponsored a bill that would have protected the Confederate battle flag’s place in public spaces.

The bill was described as a racially charged response to a decision from then-Gov. Jeb Bush, himself a current Republican presidential candidate, to remove the Confederate flag discreetly from the capitol building in Tallahassee. The flag and its symbolism are facing renewed scrutiny in the wake of Wednesday's murder of nine people in a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Rubio was one of dozens of lawmakers who backed the measure. Reflecting the odd political dynamics of the state, several of those co-sponsors were Democrats, and several of them were African Americans (who would later withdraw their support). The bill was framed as an act of historical preservation. Under its guidelines, the government would have been blocked from permanently removing or relocating historical monuments, including flags, from public property.

“It’s a preservation of historical monuments,” state Rep. Jeff Kottkamp, a co-sponsor of the measure, said in 2006 when the controversy was raised again during that year’s gubernatorial election. “I don’t ever remember the flag being mentioned.”

The language itself said that any group that tried to prevent the preservation of a historical flag or a monument would be committing a misdemeanor.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/19/marco-rubio-confederate-flag_n_7623958.html

June 20, 2015

Kasich: 'It Sure Appears' That Racism Motivated The Charleston Shooter

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), who has been toying with a presidential run, said on Friday that the suspect in the deadly shooting at a Charleston church was motivated by racism.

The governor spoke at the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, D.C.
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Authorities on Thursday arrested 21-year-old Dylann Roof, the suspect in the Wednesday shooting at a historic black church that left nine dead.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) seemed less sure on Friday when asked if the suspect was racially motivated to carry out the attack.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kasich-charleston-shooter-racism

June 20, 2015

Erickson On Charleston: We Can't Stop 'Real Evil' If We Accept Transgender People

Erick Erickson, editor-in-chief of the conservative blog RedState, said on Thursday that America’s acceptance of transgender people was creating an inability to discuss the “evil” that led to the Charleston, S.C. shootings.

Erickson’s comments, made on his radio show, “The Erick Erickson Show,” and in a blog post on RedState, addressed the Wednesday shooting that left nine people dead at a historic black church.

Erickson related the tragedy perpetrated by the “crazy” and “evil” white gunman, identified by authorities as Dylann Roof, to former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner, who recently came out as a transgender woman. Erickson lamented that we couldn’t have a conversation about mental health and evil because of society’s acceptance of Jenner.

“We can’t have the conversations we need to have in this country about mental health and evil,” Erickson said. “We cannot have those conversations. It is impossible to have conversations like that in a society that can look at a 65-year-old male Olympian and say ‘Hey, he’s a girl now. We have to start calling him Caitlyn.’”


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/erick-erickson-charleston-shooting-transgender

June 19, 2015

NRA official: I was speaking as a ‘private citizen’ when I blamed Clementa Pinckney for own death

National Rifle Association (NRA) board member Charles Cotton tried to explain his attempt to blame South Carolina state Sen. Clementa Pinckney (D) for his own death — which he has since deleted, the Washington Post reported.

“It was a discussion we were having about so called gun-free zones,” Cotton said. “It’s my opinion that there should not be any gun-free zones in schools or churches or anywhere else. If we look at mass shootings that occur, most happen in gun-free zones.”

Cotton has come under criticism since attributing the deaths of Pinckney and eight other people to his opposition to a bill that would have allowed guns to be brought into churches, restaurants and daycare centers in a post on the Texas Concealed Handgun License (TexasCHL) forum on Thursday.. The nine victims were shot and killed during a terrorist attack inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

“He voted against concealed-carry,” Cotton said of Pinckney, who was the church’s head pastor. “Eight of his church members who might be alive if he had expressly allowed members to carry handguns in church are dead. Innocent people died because of his position on a political issue.”


http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/nra-official-i-was-speaking-as-a-private-citizen-when-i-blamed-clementa-pinckney-for-his-own-death/

June 19, 2015

Fight racist fire with literal fire: Burn Confederate flags

In that South Carolina will never willingly take down the flag, the time has come for opponents to exercise their First Amendment right to free speech and burn the Confederate flag — at the state Capitol in South Carolina, in front of the White House, in front of Fox News or maybe even outside the Grand Ol' Opry.

Don't burn it in a way that can cause harm. Make sure people are not in the vicinity and check the direction of the wind. Keep a fire extinguisher near in case a grass fire accidentally starts. Don't use too much flammable liquid to start it.

Of course, burning the Confederate flag would be disrespectful. That is exactly the point.

There is no need to respect a symbol that is as evil and vicious to African Americans as the Nazi swastika flag is to Jews. In fact, it is important to actively disrespect the banner that represents a pure form of human evil.

The display of the Confederate flag — anywhere — is a nonverbal statement of race hate. Its burning would be a nonverbal response to its crude attitude. You're sure not going to change their attitudes with sweet reason. Fight their figurative fire with the real thing.


http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/06/19/south-carolina-shootings/28982177/

June 19, 2015

Nikki Haley and the GOP nurtured the environment that led to Charleston.

It is no secret that one of the baubles of the conservative movement is the Confederate flag, which appeared on Roof’s license plate. It is a symbol of white supremacy and slavery, and it is also a symbol that is a part of South Carolina's official government as the flag flies in the capital. When questioned about her state’s continued support for it, Governor Haley shrugged it off.

South Carolina hasn't exactly left its racist history behind. Haley has consistently sided with more guns, fewer voting rights, and fostering a conservative culture of fear and suspicion. Last year, she signed a new and even more expansive bill for concealed weapons and easier access to guns in her state. She was applauded by the NRA for this bill. In an age where abortion clinics are bombed, elementary school children are gunned down on a cyclical basis, and lone gunmen have unlimited access to machine guns, the idea of expanding gun rights seems inconceivable, especially in a state where a gun-related death happens every 14 hours.

Meanwhile, South Carolina was one of the first to add more restrictions on voting after the Supreme Court cut away at the Voting Rights Act and Republicans continue to pursue new voting rights restrictions aimed at black and Latino citizens. South Carolina is also one of the only states not to have a hate crime law on the books.

Given the history of the South, along the rise of both active shooters and gun access, we can't call what happened Wednesday night a “senseless tragedy.” In fact, the Charleston church shooting is full of savage sense. Thanks to complicity at best, and outright racist at worst, the “inconceivable” is still feasible. The fear tactics that were once localized in the dark backwoods of our political landscape now reach every phone and laptop. Today, xenophobia and bigotry are the daily platforms from which many conservatives speak to their shrinking base. The Charleston shooting is not a random act of violence, but part of a long litany of history culminating in a painful present.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/conservatives-dont-know-why-charleston-happened

June 19, 2015

Dylan Roof's judge was disciplined for using n-word in hearing.

harleston County Magistrate James B. Gosnell began Friday’s bond hearing for mass-murderer Dylann Roof by declaring that the killer’s family members were victims as well.

At least he did not repeat an opinion that he offered in another proceeding a dozen years ago.

“There are four kinds of people in this world—black people, white people, red necks, and n---rs,” Gosnell advised a black defendant in a November 6, 2003 bond reduction hearing.

The comment led to a judicial disciplinary proceeding and a 2005 determination by the state Supreme Court. The court’s written finding reports Gosnell’s lame defense.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/19/racist-talk-from-dylann-roof-s-judge.html

June 19, 2015

Jeb Bush: 'I Don’t Know' If Charleston Shooting Was Racially Motivated

As more becomes clear about the motives of the man believed to be behind the Charleston church shooting, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was hesitant to connect Dylann Storm Roof’s alleged actions to any racial prejudice.

When asked about whether he thought the attack was racially motivated, Bush told a Huffington Post reporter, "It was a horrific act and I don't know what the background of it is, but it was an act of hatred."

When pressed again about whether race motivated the attacks, Bush said, "I don't know. Looks like to me it was, but we'll find out all the information. It's clear it was an act of raw hatred, for sure. Nine people lost their lives, and they were African-American. You can judge what it is."


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jeb-bush-charleston-shooting-remarks