AND WE’VE GOT ANOTHER “REPLACEMENT FLAG” PROPOSAL TO DEAL WITH …
|| By FITSNEWS || When it arrives in the S.C. House of Representatives this week, the State Senate bill calling for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the S.C. State House will be greeted by a barrage of amendments.
In fact twenty-eight of these amendments – all sponsored by S.C. Rep. Mike Pitts – have already been submitted in anticipation of the upcoming debate.
Sources in the S.C. General Assembly tell us Pitts could wind up filing as many as 100 amendments to the Senate bill – which would remove the flag (and its flagpole) and ship the controversial banner off to a government-run museum.
In addition to his amendments, Pitts has reportedly lined up at least a dozen Confederate flag supporters in the S.C. House who are willing to speak on his amendments – thus prolonging the debate. Under S.C. House rules, each speaker on an amendment is permitted to address the chamber for up to twenty minutes.
There is no cap on the number of speakers permitted.
Amendments can be ruled out of order, however, if they are deemed to be “dilatory.”
Also the House can vote to invoke “cloture” on all amendments – thus forcing an up-or-down vote on the legislation.
S.C. Speaker of the House Jay Lucas has scheduled a meeting with Pitts in an effort to discern his ultimate objective in obfuscating on this bill – which cleared the State Senate by an overwhelming margin (twice).
And what is his ultimate objective?
According to our sources, Pitts wants to replace the Confederate flag with a regimental infantry banner used by South Carolina troops during the Civil War.
Specifically, Pitts wants to raise the First South Carolina Infantry banner … which was flown by Palmetto State troops fighting for the Army of Northern Virginia (ironically, the version of the Confederate flag currently flying from the north lawn of the State House is the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia).
Here’s what that flag looks like …
(Click to enlarge)
(Pic: Via Southern Pride Flag Co.)
In addition to the debate over this banner, a sizable contingent of S.C. House members wants to replace the Confederate flag with the Bonnie Blue flag – which was flown by the Confederate troops who opened fire on Fort Sumter in 1861.
(For our exclusive report on that effort, click here).
The rebel banner has become an issue again in the aftermath of last month’s horrific, racially motivated “Holy City Massacre” – the mass murder of nine black churchgoers at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in downtown Charleston, S.C. The Mother Emanuel victims – among them S.C. Senator Clementa Pinckney, the church’s pastor – were gunned down during a Bible study by Dylann Storm Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist who used the Confederate flag as his calling card.
We’ve written extensively in the aftermath of the shooting in support of removing the flag – and doing so expeditiously. We’ve also provided some extensive historical context related to this debate (see here and here).
Our advice to the House?
Follow the lead of the State Senate. Take the banner down. Do it now. Don’t insist on anything in return.
As we’ve written on several occasions, “both chambers need to move on to addressing the myriad of issues which make South Carolina one of the poorest, least intelligent, most underemployed, most dangerous states in America.”
The House has three options: Accept the Senate bill “as is,” amend it or vote it down. Any amended legislation would have to go back to the Senate for approval prior to being sent to the desk of governor Nikki Haley, a former flag supporter who now believes the banner should come down.
88 comments
Just vote the damn bill up or down you freaking idiots
Why in such a hurry? Afraid the looting and riots will start if your leftist soulmates don’t get their way?
Not hard to imagine.
I listened to an exchange between Gilda Cobb-Hunter and a few of her cohorts today, they all sounded like a bunch of idiots – I’m afraid someone roll get their hands on a transcript of these buffoons and the carpet baggers will come running thinking we’re all that moronic.
Fine elected officials. I know you really didn’t think this issue would go away that quickly or quietly?? Very naive of you. The world watching SC, thanks to Mark Sanford and our current luv guv in her own right, already know our state is cuckoo!!
It’s been well established that we’re cuckoo since at least 1860 when James Pettigru opined that “…South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum…”
Now, we don’t need to sell ourselves short there. I doubt we are too large.
Is the lip smacking really as loud as some say when Gilda starts talking? It’s like to slabs of liver slapping together.
No, she’s quite articulate, just nuts. The debate was whether the program that supports tourism in rural South Carolina supplied to the Woodrow Wilson Boyhood Home. She was trying to explain why it would – the Woodrow Wilson Boyhood Home is about six blocks from the capitol…
Shit, that’s not his boyhood home… he lived there for two years. It’s not like it’s the house he was born and raised in until he moved to go to college.
Yes… that didn’t stop dear Gilda from thinking that we needed to spend something like $3,000,000…
Well he was there from the age of 14 to 16, it’s probably the first house he ever jerked off in.
It was a warmup for White House work.
I would think she’d want it torn down. Wasn’t it Woodrow’s southern wife who was instrumental in bringing Jim Crow to DC?
You know we’re in a bad way when Gilda is making sense.
I wish they would walk in wearing their white robes and hoods. That would be more honest and would also guarantee their reelection.
Yeah, you tell ’em, Bo. Debating a bill is for idiots. You’d NEVER debate or discuss important legislation. You’re too smart for that. Just vote in a hurry. Get it over with. That’s what a genius like you would do. I wish we had more people like you in office. We’d be great. You know it all.
If we’re talking the Affordable Care Act and 2,800 pages debate till the cows come home. This bill simply removes the flag and pole and puts the flag in the Relic Room. Not much to debate there Beaux. Most of the “debate”so far has been idiotic grandstanding.
Then you can get your brain washed,mind numbed robots that take your classes all jacked up about taking the American Flag down? Right?
You called for the removal of the American Flag yesterday.
No one called for that. Here you are again, trolling because you have idle time back over in Myrtle Beach. (I’m guessin’ since Daddy was a full bird colonel flying Warthogs – and in 1990/91 they were located at wonderful Myrtle Beach Air Force Base until it closed in 1993)
Most of the Colonels who flew out of MBAF have long since moved on, and a good many have passed on. Unlikely any of their offspring remain in these parts.
The Colonel did.Let’s see if he has the honor to tell ya.
Sure did, I’ve made the suggestion several times. My reasoning is that the State House is the South Carolina State House. Am I serious? No. Would it ever happen? Just as obviously, no.
The point is that the federal gubamint hasso far exceeds the framer’s intent that they needed to be reminded from time to time that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”. What better way to send the message?
Sir. Nice try. You gave aid and comfort to the enemy on this issue.
Lick your wounds and try and regain your RINO integrity. :)
Who is the enemy on this issue pray tell?
The Colonel Col.Flagg • 21 hours ago
My suggestion to take them all down and put the state flag back up has more to do with my belief that Washington is out of control than anything to do with this discussion.
Debate the bill, sure. But 26 mostly absurd amendments? Why not just debate a clean bill?
WADF, Think I’d change my name… wouldn’t want to be known by that!
Don’t often agree with you…but you’re spot on here!!!
Been taking grief from the “true conservatives” for several days on this one. Most of them have no idea what the word actually means. However, if thinking the time has come to take the banner down makes me a liberal, on this issue I’m a liberal.
You,Rocky and LimbaughSAPhatkhunt , get a room! Na. The Colonel has always shared his ‘heart’ on ‘life’ issues. A good man.
Carry on sir.You may be a RINO :)…but you ain’t no liberal.
why do we still have a house of representatives? it’s a relic of the horse and buggy era. there is no longer any barrier to all citizens voting on every bill, amendment or proposal. we could do it on our phones over morning coffee, or on the toilet. it wouldn’t make governance any better or worse, but at least i wouldn’t have to hear about this shithead pitts.
Why isn’t the state flag not being taken down also? According to the current phylsophy it should be offensive to.
True. The current iteration of the SC flag was created during the civil war.
Using icons of the revolutionary war and it is a modification of the flag the 2nd South Carolina infantry flew during that war, not a wholly new creation.
Same could be said for the stars and bars. Fact is, the current flag was created during a time and by people who were seceding from the union. This flag represents that cause and the cause of slavery. If the Bonnie blue flag is offensive and the stars and bars offensive, then the sc flag is offensive. I’m not really sure I get the distinction other than the sc flag looks prettier.
Okay, take the palmetto off, add the word “liberty” back to the gorget and call it a day. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moultrie_Flag
I mean I guess, but under that same logic, the guys fighting in the Revolutionary War were also fighting for slavery. Moultrie, Sumter, Marion- slave owners.
Dude at some point you have to give it a rest. To make it easy, why don’t we just use 1865?
I’m not sure giving it a rest is an option in this environment. Why can’t we pick a flag today that’s more inclusive of all people in the state? Don’t we want major corporations to move here? Why not have a New South Carolina with a new 21st century flag that is chosen by people of all races, black, white, asian, hispanic, etc., rather than one that was picked by a few white doods in 1776 or 1861?
Too bad that whole 2012 prophecy didn’t pan out.
Seems reasonable to me. Let’s face it, you either hate the confederate flag because it is construed as: (1) racist or (2) treasoness. Interestingly, after the Charleston shooting, everyone cried racism toward the Confederate Flag. More and more though, I hear the treason argument (which has probably always been the military industrial complex neocons wet dream issue against the confederate flag). So here you go, an obscure flag that should not be linked to any racial issues. Thus, if you vote against it, you’re no longer saying the beef against the flag is racial, it’s really that you don’t like that these rebels in the South fought against the big brother of Uncle Sam. Will be interesting how this issue turns out
Mr. Pitts, please mature. House, please don’t make this more painful than it is. Vote it up or down and be done with it. That is really what the majority want done and it is the most intelligent thing to do. Don’t turn this and the tragedy that preceded it into a circus. Don’t ridicule us to the rest of the nation. Please…
Does he tell you how to do your job? Does he tell you not to lean back in your chair as you sit on the front porch watching for the mailman to bring your govment check?
I kind of like the SC banner.
I just want to thank this website, the State newspaper and all media for ensuring the Confederate flag will never kill another person.
You even relaxed your rabid hate for the death penalty in this case.
You worked so hard to eradicate murder, and that must mean you care for those Charleston victims more than you care for your own lives, or anything else.
You are government compassion personified. You are a glaring example of how the state can eliminate murder.
Without you, and your assault on the Confederate flag, there would be more murders, I’m sure. Not now. You have guaranteed, with your obsessed coverage and attention, there will NEVER be a murder, at least a murder by that flag.
Now could you just go to urban Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, NY, St. Louis or LA, and work you magic of protection, there?
Democrats/Liberals don’t care about black on black violent crime/deaths.’the magic of protection’ doesn’t extend to their own neighborhoods.
Seems we now have our new village idiot.
Quick… name the name of the 14 year old thug who got gunned down two nights ago in Columbia. Quick, name the 29 year old who was gunned down in the street of North Charleston by a 14 year old last night.
Time’s up… just like everyone else you can’t and likely don’t care.
Well, we still have our racist pos posting today. Bravo!
Proved my point didn’t I? You can’t name them… because their deaths don’t mean shit to you or the media.
Black lives on matter if they can help Democrats get elected or collect campaign money.
No perceived political advantage to one black person killing another.
Black lives only matter to liberals if greedy Democrat politicians can convince the stupid to vote for them in more numbers.
Confederate Flag Kills 7 At Alabama Shopping Mall
Seven people were killed this morning when a Confederate flag walked into an Alabama shopping mall and started shooting.
According to local reports, the flag entered Cherrywood Mall outside Huntsville armed with two AK-47 assault rifles, a P 228 handgun and several grenades. It immediately proceeded to unload its ordinance on unsuspecting shoppers.
In addition to those killed, 23 people were injured and are currently being treated in area emergency rooms. Several are in critical condition and not expected to survive.
The flag’s motivations are uncertain at the moment. However, according to witnesses the flag did specifically target White people with Northern accents.
“The flag chased us down the hallway screaming ‘Die, Yankees Die!’, says Justin Anderson, an aeronautical engineer originally from New Hampshire. “Luckily flags don’t move very fast, so my girlfriend and I managed to outrun it.”
Lucy Patterson, a homemaker from New Jersey wasn’t so lucky. Both her legs were blown off when the flag lobbed a hand grenade at her feet.
“It looked straight into my eyes, pulled the pin, and threw a deathball my way,” she says. “It was so cold-blooded. Almost as if it weren’t human.”
Shortly thereafter the flag turned the gun on itself, shooting itself in the pole several times. Rushed to Huntsville Beth-Israel Medical Center, it was pronounced dead on arrival.
Confederate flags have increasingly been committing mass shootings in the South. Although retailers like Wal-Mart and Amazon have belatedly banned their sale, the existing stockpile of flags should be considered armed and extremely dangerous.
“It’s a real tragedy,” says Bret Michaels, the CEO of retailer Wal-Mart, “We should have stopped selling Confederate flags sooner. Think of how many flag-on-human shootings we could have prevented.”
Fucking stupid
What is it with these yahoos from Laurens. (Former home of the Redneck Shop and Klan Museum)
South Carolina better be prepared for July 18th rallies at their statehouse. Tens of thousands from around the USA expected to attend the KKK and The New Black Panthers freak show with other activist groups as they all come together in one spot on the same day. Major News Networks will be there to cover it all.
Sounds like a scene out of Warriors.
Its going to be heated. SC governor better wise up and have 300 or 400 national guard in place to surround the statehouse. Things could turn violent on a massive scale in second.
Better safe than sorry.
I say give all of the cops and NG the day off. Leave extra ammo on the street corners and let them eliminate each other. Bury the dead in a mass grave where their racist blood will intermingle.
Holy Moly! I am gonna wear my favorite dress and see if Rocky can steal a KKK hood for our nuptials.
Col.Flagg can you marry us?
Well, at least maybe some of the monuments deemed offensive will be taken out during that confrontation which will resolve that debate Or we then have another skirmish that some idiot will try to commemorate with another monument that will offend some more people years down the road. Take them all down and while we’re at it, just quit teaching history. Let everyone make it up their own way so nobody is offended when something unpleasant is discussed. When something ugly or unpleasant happens just delete every reference and pretend it didn’t happen. How about I feel offended about all of this political grandstanding!!! Let’s just get rid of the legislature and any more official portraits, public proclamations or Order of the Palmetto. No more flags or public displays of any kind. There we go!!! Then, of course, everyone will finally be happy and peace and tranquility will rule the day!!!NOT! PSYCH!
If you’re going to bother to place them, I hope they hand out ammo rather than have them stand around with expensive clubs.
Take it down now. Wait a few months and put something else back up.
“last month’s horrific, racially motivated”
Everyone drink!!!
“Our advice to the House?
Follow the lead of the State Senate. Take the banner down. Do it now. Don’t insist on anything in return.”
Do you really think anyone in the House gives a shit about Will’s advice? Each and every one of them are a day from being his top story of the day.
Pitts and Jay Lucas will shut this down if anyone can. Pitts and Lucas both have experience in shutting down or at least sabotaging pro-2A legislation. Pitts’ favorite tactic with pro-gun legislation is to introduce or sponsor a pro-gun rights bill, then add (or have a crony add) destructive amendments which would do more harm than good to gun owners, if approved. This keeps NRA endorsements and money flowing and idiots who cannot see beyond their own nose, voting for him.
Lucas lied to citizens and Representative Hill when he promised to call Representative Hill’s Constitutional Carry bill to the House floor for a vote before the Legislature adjourned. Instead, Lucas chose to adjourn early each of the final days of the session.
I wouldn’t piss in either of them’s mouth if their teeth were on fire, but it will be interesting to see what comes of this effort.
Wanna make a bet. This gets squashed in about 2 hours, and the vote proceeds.
They’re starting this at 10:00, are you saying they’ll be voting on it at noon?
Well no. Actually around 1:30, after what’s his name has eaten six or seven BBQ sandwiches from Confederate BBQ in West Columbia.
No , man! I try to only bet on stuff that I’m reasonably sure to win. You just might be right.
It’ll take more than two hours but the end result will hopefully be the same.
How many of the other monuments on state house grounds have cloth appendages?
Self centered sole interest politician in SC ,, who woulda figured,, the state as a once in a lifetime opportunity to show real unity and power for its people and one dickhead has to want all the publicity
Mike pitts
Some of these guys are in for a hard time. On one hand if they vote Yes the Conservative Response Team and likely some confederate groups like the SCV will push hard to primary them right out of office. On the other hand there will be well funded efforts to primary them or out right defeat them in the general election from the establishment and left leaning organizations if they vote No.
On a more positive we might be able to get some cockroaches out of the State House in the process either way.
What don’t Republicans get? Any battle flag of the Confederacy was flown in defense of the right of white southerners to enslave black people and treat them like farm animals. It is impossible for it not to symbolize racism, in its worse form. Especially when flown by a state, with a long history of racism..
There is no racism in South Boston, MA, comrade.
Southies are known for our kindness and hospitality.
If we could only get everyone so riled up about something important, like oh I don’t know FIXING THE DAMN ROADS!!!!!!!
… or Constitutional Carry. Maybe even eliminating or just reducing the number of GFZ’s in SC.
Mike Pitts is the biggest pussy in the General Assembly. Laurens County – home of the Redneck Shop.
Pitts should be told that any attempt to derail the flag legislation will result in him losing the chairmanship of his Ways and Means subcommittee.
The USA flag murdered Native Americans for many generations “for your freedom.”
The USA flag continues to murder thousands of people around the globe “for your freedom.”
TAKE THE USA FLAG DOWN.
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/marion-county-votes-to-reinstate-confederate-flag/34036104
And a Florida County just voted to put the flag back up.
Aren’t we still without a budget? Why are they wasting so much time on a non issue?
The foundation of America is freedom.
The flying of a flag on State House grounds that represents an effort to preserve slavery (see below) is kind of a big issue:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp
Here’s how this works: Lucas will by now have had a conversation with Pitts in which he has made it clear that Pitts will have a fair chance to amend the bill. There will be a few test votes on amendments. Assuming they are unsuccessful, Pitts will be expected to pull down any remaining ones. Neither the Speaker nor his colleagues are going tolerate amendments for the sake of delay. Once the inevitable outcome is determined by the first few votes, they’ll all be ready to get it done and move on.
Damn, can we please hear about TRav?? I am sick of this!!
The Flag that should be atop the memorial, the flag that should be atop the dome, and the only Flag that should be flown ANYWHERE on Captiol property is the Palmetto Flag of the South Carolina Republic and now state of South Carolina. It is the ideal compromise since the Palmetto Flag is in fact a Confederate Flag (and the original confederate flag as far as SC goes) but it won’t cause any controversy since most flag opponents are too stupid and ignorant of history to know it. The alternatives in order of preference should be:
1. Palmetto Flag
2. Bonnie Blue Flag
3. Third National Flag
4. Second National Flag
5. First National Flag
The First South Carolina Infantry Flag shouldn’t even be discussed since it was only used by troops that fought in the ANV and ANV already gets way too much attention at the expense of the the far more important Western Theater.