Tag: South Carolina

S.C. Senate Votes to Remove Confederate Flag

Buck Banks

37 to 3

Vote by members of the South Carolina Senate to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds, the Charleston Post and Courier reports. The Columbia State notes the Senate “must take one more vote Tuesday to send the bill to the House. The final vote requires a two-thirds majority vote for passage, a rule set under set in the 2000 law that moved the Civil War icon off the Capitol dome.”

Why Aren’t BMW and Adidas Condemning the Rebel Flag?

Trish
Now flying over the South Carolina state capitol
Now flying over the South Carolina state capitol

Both BMW and Adidas have plants in South Carolina but neither company has shown any interest in asking state legislators to stop flying the Confederate flag* over government buildings.

When these companies decided to take advantage of the cheaper, mostly non-unionized labor there, they made a decision to identify with the state. So why aren’t they speaking up? After all, it’s their state now.

[…]

Haley Steps Into GOP Leadership Vacuum

Buck Banks

In a 2016 field with no clear frontrunner, yet no shortage of candidates, it took a non-candidate to recognize a major national moment and, well, lead. Gov. Nikki Haley did what governors and leaders more broadly seek to do all the time – to unite, to push forward, and to heal, all in the wake of unspeakable tragedy.
… Yes, this raises her veepstakes stock. But that’s almost secondary to the example she set. She managed to drain the politics out of a charged debate over the Confederate flag that’s been popping up for longer than she’s been alive. She consulted with national and state leaders in both parties to a degree that she could appear with both Democrats and Republicans in announcing her new position. She cut through a muddled, half-hearted set of responses from 2016ers and now sees them drafting behind her leadership. Out of a tragic story, this is politics at its best – not as pejorative but as a force for the positive.

— Rick Klein, for ABC News.

Why S.C.’s Confederate Flag Is Not at Half-Mast Following Charleston Killings

Buck Banks

In South Carolina, the governor does not have legal authority to alter the flag. Only the General Assembly can do that.

— A spokesman for South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), quoted by ABC News, on why only the Confederate flag flying over the state capitol wasn’t at half-mast after the Charleston shootings.

S.C. Lawmaker Calls on Police to Find ‘Jackass’ Murderer

Buck Banks

The first thing we do, we’ve got to find this jackass and bring him to justice. It’s evil. He is evil.

— South Carolina state Sen. Larry Grooms (R), calling on police to catch the man who shot and killed his friend and colleague, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney (D), along with eight others during a Bible study last night in Charleston, TPM reports. “He was my colleague but he was also my brother in Christ, and the news of his death and the deaths of the others, made me physically ill.”