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Calling it a "contemporary symbol of divisiveness and racism," eBay said Tuesday that it will ban the sale of Confederate flags and similarly themed merchandise. "This decision is consistent with our long-standing policy that prohibits items that promote or glorify hatred, violence and racial intolerance," said eBay spokeswoman Johnna Hoff. The e-commerce company is the latest to prohibit the sale of Confederate merchandise following Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp.

Is this bolder than what Haley did or not as bold? Davis may not hold the same cultural currency as a symbol of southern pride that the flag does, but Haley had less to lose in making her move than Bevin does. She’s the term-limited governor of South Carolina; he’s the GOP nominee for governor in Kentucky. If there’s a broader southern backlash coming to all of the criticism of Confederate iconography this past week, he’ll pay for it more than she will.

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush faced the same decision as South Carolina officials - whether to remove the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds - more than a decade ago. With far less fanfare, Bush as Florida's governor 14 years ago removed the Confederate flag from the Florida state Capitol in Tallahassee. On Feb. 2, 2001, the flag moved to the Museum of Florida History. A Bush spokeswoman said at the time that the governor believed that most Floridians would agree symbols of the past "should not be displayed in a manner that may divide Floridians today." Though Bush's action drew...

"The Confederate Flag Is The Legacy Of Democrats, Not Republicans" was the word put out by Rush Limbaugh just hours before Republican Governor Nikki Haley appeared with Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott to call for removal of the Confederate Flag from the Statehouse grounds in Columbia, SC. Atlanta talk show host Erick Erickson of RedState.com also came out for flag removal. Posters here on FR have amplified their views. Much of the spin again associates Democrats with the Confederate Flag to justify the latest cave in to Leftist pressure. But I remember one such Democrat from South Carolina,...

Virginia will begin the process to remove the Confederate flag from state-issued license plates, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Tuesday, calling the emblem divisive and hurtful. McAuliffe said that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows states to decide which emblems to allow or not allow on license plates. He said that the decision supersedes previous federal court rulings that required Virginia to issue Sons of the Confederate Veterans plates that include the iconic image of the red flag with a blue X. His announcement comes a day after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for the removal of the Confederate...

Major retailers are halting sales of the Confederate flag after the shooting deaths of nine black church members in South Carolina. Sears Holding Corp. says it is removing Confederate flag merchandise from its website, and a spokesman says that no Confederate flag merchandise is sold inside Sears or Kmart stores. On Monday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it would remove all items from its store shelves and website that feature the flag after the shooting suspect, Dylann Storm Roof, appeared in photos holding the flag. However, the companies that make Confederate flags and confederate-themed products, as well as smaller operators that...

South Carolina lawmakers plan to introduce a resolution on Tuesday to begin a debate on removing the Confederate flag from the State House grounds following the killings last week of nine African-American churchgoers allegedly by a white gunman. Doug Brannon, a Republican House member, has said he plans to introduce the legislation this summer. It would take approval of a two-thirds majority vote by both chambers of the legislature to undo the state law that requires the flag at the capital.

EBay says it will ban the listing of confederate flags and related items containing the confederate flag image - Reuters

<p>Following the massacre in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday in which a gunman shot and killed nine people attending bible study at a historic black church, the Confederate battle flag — also called the rebel flag, the southern cross and the Dixie flag — has been the subject of contentious debate.</p>

One hundred and fifty years after the end of the Civil War, the symbology of rebellion and disunity may finally be falling out of favor in the South. Yesterday, Nikki Haley gathered with both Republicans who had previously supported the Confederate flag flying on state capitol grounds and asked the legislature to take it down. Shortly afterward, the Republican speaker of Mississippi’s state called for changing the state flag to remove the Confederate device within it: Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn said Monday night that the Confederate emblem in the state’s official flag has to go.“We must always remember...

The U.S. Civil War was a war that never should have been fought. Some 620,000 men died because slavery, an inhumane and evil practice, was permitted in many portions of this country. The South gets most of the blame for that, but the north benefited from the regime as well, even though it didn’t directly practice enslavement at the time of the war. I used to think the war was a bit more complicated than I do now, having had my mind changed thanks to some relatively recent guided readings of President Abraham Lincoln. But long story short, the...

"We are not going to allow this symbol to divide us any longer," South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) said Monday afternoon, in a televised address to the nation, of the soon-to-be-retired Confederate flag that has flown on the state capitol grounds for decades. And so long as GOP state legislators follow their governor and their party, after 150 years, South Carolina will no longer endorse the Confederate battle flag, but will consign it to a museum to recognize, as Haley emphasized in her address, its place in the state's history.

Amazon's sales of Confederate flags have skyrocketed by more than 3,000% in the last 24 hours. People are snatching up the flags online after several major retailers, including Wal-Mart and Sears pulled them from shelves.

I'm not sure how this story was missed, but the division commander of the S.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans, Leland Summers, released a statement on the Emanuel AME Church shooting last Wednesday. In it, he expressed sympathy for the victims and their families, noted there were black Confederate soldiers, and proclaimed there is no connection between the Confederate flag and the Mother Emanuel shooting. Here's what Summers said in its entirety: On the night of June 17, 2015, an attempt was made to break the spirit of all South Carolinians. The deranged mind of a horrendous individual, entered Emanuel AME...

After days of dancing around the matter, a score of South Carolina legislators (including the governor and both of its senators) stood united to say the Confederate flag should be removed from the state capitol.The controversy over the flag renewed after pictures were uncovered of the Charleston church shooter having a Confederate flag license plate. People have argued the kind of hate the flag represents has no place in modern America.Well, now Walmart is taking action too. According to CNN, the retail giant will no longer sell any merchandise with Confederate flags on them.A spokesperson explained, “We never want to...

In the events following the Charleston shooting, the discussion on racism has merged with a discussion of whether it is appropriate for the South Carolina Statehouse to continue flying the Confederate flag. Jeb Bush gave his opinion on the issue when he said that despite being a symbol of Southern heritage, the flag’s context is outdated and belongs only in Florida museums. While other GOP politicians have touched on the issue with varying conviction, Mike Huckabee called it a state matter that was not an issue for 2016 candidates, while Rick Santorum refused to take a side on the debate....

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Monday afternoon added his voice to a swiftly growing list of Republicans calling for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of South Carolina’s state house. “Now is the time to do what is right, and I support the call by Governor [Nikki] Haley and South Carolina leaders to remove the Confederate battle flag from state house grounds,” Priebus said in the statement.

A source close to the situation says Gov. Nikki Haley is formulating a plan with State House leaders to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds. Details are limited, but Haley is holding a news conference on Monday at 4 p.m., according to a release from the governor's office. The governor's office stopped short of saying the reasons for the news conference. South Carolina House Speaker Jay Lucas has already called for "swift resolution" on the Confederate flag issue.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham will call Monday for the removal of the confederate flag from state grounds, a source familiar with the decision told CNN. Graham, a 2016 presidential candidate, will make his announcement during a press conference with South Carolina's Republican governor, Nikki Haley, at 4 p.m. Monday.

As recently as eight months ago, at a gubernatorial debate, Haley answered her Democratic opponent’s call to take down the flag by countering that none of the CEOs who’ve brought their businesses to the state seemed to have any issue with it. That may be about to be change, though — protests to burn the flag on Saturday are already picking up steam on Facebook — so evidently Haley’s position will change with it. Last year 61 percent of South Carolinians supported keeping the flag in place on the state house grounds, but Haley’s term-limited as governor and is probably...