SC Senate Votes to Remove Confederate Flag from State House

[Hissyspit]

Source: New York Times

South Carolina Senate Casts First Vote to Remove Confederate Flag

TRAVIS DOVE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
By ALAN BLINDER
JULY 6, 2015

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Senate voted Monday to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the State House. The bipartisan proposal, which emerged after last month’s massacre at a historic black church in Charleston, was approved by a 37-to-3 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.

The Senate has one remaining ratification vote, now virtually assured of success.

The debate will shift to the House of Representatives, which Republicans also dominate, where the timeline for — and tenor of — the debate remains less clear.

The Senate’s vote on Monday marked a resounding shift in South Carolina, where less than three weeks ago removing the Confederate battle flag from a memorial near the State House was viewed as politically impossible.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/us/south-carolina-capitol-confederate-battle-flag.html

[hlthe2b]

1. Does the House have to vote on it now or is this a done deal?

[kiri]

9. orchestrated charade---predict the confederate treason flag flies for years to come

Please be aware that this is carefully orchestrated charade.

The House will not accept the Senate bill; which needs a "3rd reading" in order to be passed. Which is delayed by waiting for the House. Then the SC House and Senate versions go back and forth for weeks or months. Attention dies down.

I would like to be wrong, but I predict the confederate treason flag flies for years to come.

[SCantiGOP]

14. Not a chance

Zero, zilch. It is - pun intended - history.

[onenote]

25. Are you sticking with that "prediction"?

[roguevalley]

11. now they need to take that maggot Tillman statue off the roof

[Archae]

18. Who's Tillmann?

Just wondering.

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman.

Senator Benjamin Ryan “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman (1847-1918) (D- SC), one of the most despicable men ever to serve in the U.S. Senate and a man who, it can fairly be said, did more to put in place the Jim Crow system in the South than any other single person. As a young man coming of age in the post-War South, Tillman was a leader of the “Red Shirts,” a terrorist paramilitary group organized to attack and intimidate Republicans and blacks. In 1876, the Red Shirts’ campaign of murder, violence, and fraud led to the defeat of South Carolina’s integrated reconstruction Republican government. Arguing that, “The negro must remain subordinated or be exterminated,” Tillman openly called for the murder of blacks in order to, “keep the white race at the top of the heap.” Tillman was elected South Carolina Governor in 1890, and created South Carolina’s first literacy test for voters, as well as promoting various property and educational requirements for voting. While in office, he once pledged to personally “lead a mob in lynching a negro.” After all, “the negro,” he claimed, was “a fiend in human form.” For his services, South Carolina sent him to the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1895 until his death in 1918.

For Tillman, though, it was not enough to be the primary architect of Jim Crow in South Carolina. Tillman spoke far and wide around the South, urging the suppression of blacks. He went to North Carolina 1898 to aide in the violent overthrow of the racially tolerant city government of Wilmington. Responding to an editorial by the mixed-race editor of the Wilmington Record, Tillman taunted, “Why don’t you lynch the n****r editor…? Send him to South Carolina, let him publish such offensive stuff, and he will be killed.”

Tillman was offensive in many ways beyond his attitudes on race and voting rights – for example, in 1902 the Senate censured Tillman for assaulting Senator John McLauren on the Senate floor. But it was race where he made his mark.

[roguevalley]

23. google benjamin tillman, south carolina

[SCantiGOP]

16. Thursday

Bill needs one more reading in Senate and then goes to the House. Unless something totally unexpected happens, it can be on the Governor's desk Thursday, and will then come down immediately.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Thank you, Hissyspit. n/t

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

3. Link to story

The State newspaper

[bluestateguy]

4. So much paper pushing and red tape just to remove flag.

Good lord .

If this was a gun bill or an abortion bill, it would be rammed through like a hot knife through butter.

[cstanleytech]

5. Thats probably because they really dont want to remove the flag but on the hand they also

dont want to lose their jobs come the next election.

[Adrahil]

13. The law was constructed to make it hard.

The bigots who passed probably thought there would never be enough votes to get a 2/3 majority.

Im sorry it took 9 deaths to make this happen, but I'm glad these legislators are doing the right thing.

[SCantiGOP]

15. It is actually moving as fast as legally possible

The so-called compromise of 2000 was crafted to purposely make it extremely difficult to ever remove it.

[24601]

22. Why would you make up something so easy to fact check? Is it that you

really believed it, or believe that truth doesn't matter on DU as long as you say something you think will be popular?

The research is easy. Here's the legislative history on a current abortion bill under consideration in South Carolina.

It's the "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act"

Here's the source: http://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess121_2015-2016/bills/3114.htm

It was prefiled December 11th, 2014 and as of June, 2015 was in committee.

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date Body Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12/11/2014 House Prefiled
12/11/2014 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary
1/13/2015 House Introduced and read first time (House Journal-page 100)
1/13/2015 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary
(House Journal-page 100)
1/28/2015 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Putnam, Rivers
1/28/2015 House Committee report: Favorable Judiciary
(House Journal-page 6)
1/29/2015 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: V.S.Moss,
Whitmire
1/29/2015 House Requests for debate-Rep(s). Delleney, Wells, Taylor,
Pope, Weeks, Hiott, Spires, Corley, Huggins,
Ballentine, Toole, Brannon, Allison, Forrester,
Nanney, Hicks, Loftis, Hamilton, Burns, VS Moss, GR
Smith, Beddingfield, Ridgeway, Douglas, McKnight,
Anthony, Knight, Williams, Jefferson, Whitmire,
Sandifer, Crowford, Gagnon, MS McLeod
(House Journal-page 18)
2/3/2015 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Bedingfield,
Hill
2/4/2015 House Debate adjourned until Wed. 2-11-15
(House Journal-page 39)
2/11/2015 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Duckworth,
Clemmons
2/11/2015 House Read second time (House Journal-page 41)
2/11/2015 House Roll call Yeas-80 Nays-27 (House Journal-page 52)
2/12/2015 House Read third time and sent to Senate
(House Journal-page 33)
2/12/2015 House Roll call Yeas-71 Nays-22 (House Journal-page 34)
2/12/2015 Senate Introduced and read first time (Senate Journal-page 6)
2/12/2015 Senate Referred to Committee on Medical Affairs
(Senate Journal-page 6)
4/21/2015 Senate Committee report: Majority favorable with amend.,
minority unfavorable Medical Affairs
(Senate Journal-page 26)
4/22/2015 Scrivener's error corrected
4/23/2015 Senate Special order, set for April 23, 2015
(Senate Journal-page 92)
5/12/2015 Senate Debate interrupted (Senate Journal-page 68)
5/13/2015 Senate Debate interrupted (Senate Journal-page 34)
5/14/2015 Senate Debate interrupted (Senate Journal-page 34)
5/19/2015 Senate Amended (Senate Journal-page 23)
5/19/2015 Senate Read second time (Senate Journal-page 23)
5/19/2015 Senate Roll call Ayes-37 Nays-7 (Senate Journal-page 23)
5/20/2015 Scrivener's error corrected
5/27/2015 Senate Read third time and returned to House with amendments
(Senate Journal-page 14)
6/2/2015 House Senate amendment amended (House Journal-page 25)
6/3/2015 House Returned to Senate with amendments
(House Journal-page 76)
6/4/2015 Senate Non-concurrence in House amendment
(Senate Journal-page 92)
6/4/2015 House House insists upon amendment and conference committee
appointed Reps. Ridgeway, Nanney, Delleney
(House Journal-page 51)
6/4/2015 Senate Conference committee appointed Cleary, Hutto, Shealy
(Senate Journal-page 92)

[BrotherIvan]

6. Bree Newsome showed them the right thing to do

Thankfully, they saw that public opinion was against them. Now let's work on the guns.

[calimary]

17. With ya! But I want to see this become a DONE DEAL. I'm also with kiri upthread -

who suspects the same thing I do. The bill succeeds in the state senate and then has to go to the house where it'll either be slow-walked into NeverNeverLand or changed or whittled away or allowed to wither on the vine. All those votes and deliberations and readings take time, dontchaknow. A way to run out the clock for those who think the "Honor" and "Respect" of that Dixie Swastika are all important to preserve. I don't know how you can possibly "honor" OR "respect" that symbol of hate.

One of my friends who lives in Texas was all on about "you know the Civil War was about economics, don't you? It was states rights!" Well, "States Rights", 'eh? Tip-off RIGHT THERE. We have cracked your code, assholes. We KNOW what you're up to and what you're trying to telegraph under-the-radar. (Btw, that atwater video is in the link here too) :

http://www.thenation.com/article/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/

EVERY TIME any of 'em says "states rights" - we KNOW what they're really saying.

As with reagan, I do see ONE thing good in lee atwater. He's DEAD.

[SoapBox]

7. Long, long over due.

[Fred Sanders]

8. "Politically impossible" three weeks ago means politically possible to do anything - next, less guns.

320 million guns is....too many guns. Three weeks from now, who knows what is politically possible if there is public will and common sense combined?

[RoccoR5955]

10. When they do it

the woodchucks will be out in force, and armed to the teeth.
Watch out, and be careful in S.C.

[OakCliffDem]

12. It is a good start

Next we need to remove the Republicans from South Carolina.

[Midnight Writer]

24. Right. Maybe next they could knock down racist voting restrictions.

That would be nice.

[Calista241]

19. Excellent. The sad thing is that the Confederate Battle flag is not even SC's state flag!

Their real state flag is beautiful.

[LynneSin]

21. So who were the three racists who voted against removing?

just curious