Free Republic

Mississippi legislators this year won't attempt to redesign the last state flag that features the Confederate battle emblem because leaders say they can't find a majority to remove the symbol from the 122-year-old banner. Tuesday was the deadline for legislative committees to act on general bills, and flag proposals are among hundreds of measures that died without being brought up for debate. Some bills proposed redesigning the flag to remove the rebel cross, while others would have stripped state money from colleges and local governments that refuse to fly the current banner. One bill offered separate-but-equal flags, keeping the current...

'Duck Dynasty' game changer? Large crowd in SC for Ted Cruz; Sean Hannity, Phil Robertson appear [pics, video]...

A pro-Ted Cruz robo-telephone call is blasting Donald Trump for butting his nose into support of the Confederate flag coming down. The recorded message, coming late in the campaign, also takes a jab at Gov. Nikki Haley. “Put it in a museum, let it go,” the recording says, quoting Trump and his view on removing the flag. An announcer then picks up by saying “That’s Donald Trump supporting Nikki Haley removing the battle flag from the Confederate memorial in Columbia.” It adds “people like Donald Trump are always butting their noses into other people’s business,” and that “Trump talks about...

Andre Perry, a New Orleans education consultant, said he was shocked on Sunday (Jan. 31) afternoon when he noticed that his 5-year-old son had caught a necklace of Mardi Gras beads studded with plastic Confederate flags, thrown from a float in the Krewe of Carrollton parade. "When I noticed what he caught," Perry wrote in a text message, "I took them away from him." Perry, who is African-American, said that he later did his best to help his son understand the implications of the symbol. He also posted a photo of the beads on his social media account, which attracted...

Civic leaders, activists, artists and others are celebrating, marching and paying homage Monday to Martin Luther King Jr., marking the 30th anniversary of the federal holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader. In South Carolina, civil rights leaders planned a march to their state capitol as in past years when their rally highlighted calls to remove the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds. The King Day at the Dome gathering began in 2000 with that call. Last July, organizers got their wish as South Carolina swiftly removed the flag which had flown at the capitol for more than 50 years after...

Several vendors at the Pennsylvania Farm Show have been asked to stop selling merchandise adorned with the Confederate flag. The vendors were selling items such as t-shirts, belt buckles and hats with the flags at the show which runs through Jan. 16 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg. "All told, seven vendors that were selling items with the flag displayed were brought to our attention. Upon request, seven vendors removed the items of concern, and we certainly appreciate their cooperation and understanding," said Brandi Hunter-Davenport, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture via an...

Congress released the full text of Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC)'s response to President Obama's State of the Union address, as prepared for delivery: "Good evening." "I'm Nikki Haley, Governor of the great state of South Carolina. "I'm speaking tonight from Columbia, our state's capital city. Much like America as a whole, ours is a state with a rich and complicated history, one that proves the idea that each day can be better than the last. "In just a minute, I'm going to talk about a vision of a brighter American future. But first I want to say a few words...

A southwest Virginia lawmaker has filed a bill that would allow a Confederate battle flag to again be displayed on state-issued license plates. Senator Charles W. Carrico Sr. told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that his constituents believe Gov. Terry McAuliffe went too far when he moved to have the plates phased out. The Grayson County Republican says he represents his district "first and foremost." ...

University students in Massachusetts who were upset by an image of a Confederate flag sticker on another student's laptop were offered counseling services at Framingham State University. The offer came after the university's "chief diversity and inclusion officer," Sean Huddleston, described the display of the small Confederate flag sticker as a "bias incident." -snip MRCTV obtained the email in which Huddleston wrote: A student reported a bias incident today, in which the image of the Confederate flag was displayed on a laptop. Many of you may be aware that last month we received a Bias Incident involving two other students...

It's an Obama world. A black gang of six youths brutally beat two white kids for having a Confederate flag decal in their truck window. The entire assault was caught on tape. One of the white men was talking to the men when he was knocked unconscious. That's when the second man was attacked by at least six black youths.

(CNN) - During the Civil War, it was a patch of the South so reviled by the Confederacy for its pro-Union leanings that it in 1862 it was declared "enemy territory" by the secessionist government. The area's most celebrated native, Andrew Johnson, was the only Southern senator to remain loyal to the Union. Johnson would go on to become president, succeeding Abraham Lincoln. Now, more than 150 years later, Greene County, Tennessee is once again ruffling feathers on matters pertaining to the long-gone Confederacy. This time, however, the rebellious county just might turn the historical tables and for the first...

Virginia has banned driving with a license plate that depicts the Confederate flag — but some in the state are resisting. Around 1,600 Virginians with state-issued Confederate flag plates received a letter last month from the DMV saying they had until October 4 to swap them out for new ones that don’t show the flag. Only 187 people have so far complied. One man who has not is Kevin Collier.“Next thing you know, they’re going to say you can’t wear blue on Monday … or you can’t wear yellow on Thursday,” Collier, who is active with the Sons of Confederate...

A Michigan man employed at the Hillsdale Bob Evans plant was fired after refusing to remove a Confederate flag from his truck, the Hillsdale Daily News reports. According to the man, his bosses at the plant forced him to remove it after receiving a single anonymous complaint. Angela Payne, a spokeswoman for the restaurant chain, told NBC24 that the flag was “offensive to many… customers and employees.” The employee, Wesley Rogers, was told two weeks ago to remove the flag but refused, resulting in his termination. “They said they were doing their best to follow up on a complaint,” Rogers...

In an unusual legal maneuver, the district attorney in this suburb of Atlanta has won indictments against 15 supporters of the Confederate battle flag, accusing them of violating the state’s anti-street gang ordinance during a confrontation with black partygoers in July, the district attorney said on Monday. Prosecutors say that members of the group, which calls itself “Respect the Flag,” threatened a group of African-Americans participating in an outdoor party on July 25. A cellphone video of part of the episode shows several white men driving away from the party in a convoy of pickup trucks with the Confederate battle...

I remember the good old days when liberals who wanted to tear down the symbols of the Confederacy were assuring us that it was only an issue when it flew on taxpayer owned, public property over the seat of government. Other than that it was a question of free speech. (Or racism or oppression or whatever you like.) Remember that line? Ah, good times, my friends. But that’s long since ceased to be the case. As many of us predicted, this trend was going to spread like pubic lice at an Occupy Wall Street camp, and it has been...

With that kumbayah moment at the Capitol in South Carolina, when the Battle Flag of the Confederacy was lowered forever to the cheers and tears of all, a purgation of the detestable relics of evil that permeate American public life began. City leaders in Memphis plan to dig up the body of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who is buried in a city park that once bore his name. A statue of the great cavalrymen will be removed. “Nathan Bedford Forrest is a symbol of bigotry and racism, and those symbols have no place on public property,” said council Chairman...

An Air Force pilot was assaulted with a bat in Washington state Saturday by masked “anarchists” after they noticed he was displaying two Confederate flags on his motorcycle, police said. The incident occurred in Olympia, Wash., a few miles west of where the man is stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The pilot was stopped because protesters were marching in the street. Then they surrounded him as they attempted to knock his motorcycle over, according to a police report. “They sprayed the victim in the face with mace, and struck him in the back with a baseball bat and a glass...

After self-described “racist” killer Dylann Roof executed the black members of a church Bible study, people found photos of the killer holding the Confederate battle flag. There were also photos of him burning and stomping on the American flag — per the request of a social media activist. Suddenly, the ‘Southern Cross‘ was removed from the public square all over — state houses, companies, flag poles and college campuses. The murders prompted the call for the digging up the body of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. The Virginia murderer had in his possession the ‘gay...

The local Democratic Party has closed its booth at a county fair in northeastern Ohio because officials won’t ban the sale of Confederate flags at the event.

The 12,000-strong city of Bucyrus, Ohio, down near Mansfield, will host a "Confederate Flag Pride Parade" on Saturday. The Port Clinton News-Herald reports that roughly 50 vehicles are expected to participate, and that city leaders are expecting neither disruption nor significant changes in traffic volume. Event organizers didn't exactly echo the "heritage not hate" refrain of Confederate Flag supporters nationwide. One told the News-Herald that the flag is "not racist at all," that it's "just another red, white and blue flag," a "military thing." He said that organizers in Bucyrus had been trying to assemble a parade before, but couldn't...