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In a rapid and dramatic policy shift, Confederate flag imagery could be allowed to remain displayed on graves on federal land in some circumstances under a Republican-sponsored amendment that will be voted on in the House on Thursday. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., announced the unexpected change of plans Wednesday evening as floor debate wrapped up on the fiscal 2016 Interior-Environment spending bill (HR 2822). The Interior-Environment Appropriations chairman and floor manager set a roll call vote on the Confederate flag amendment for Thursday, when lawmakers are scheduled to vote on final passage of the $30.2 billion measure. The move came just...

The House has voted to ban the display of Confederate flags at historic federal cemeteries in the deep South. The low-profile move came Tuesday evening after a brief debate on a measure funding the National Park Service, which maintains 14 national cemeteries, most of which contain graves of Civil War soldiers. The proposal by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., added language to block the Park Service from allowing private groups to decorate the graves of Southern soldiers with Confederate flags in states that commemorate Confederate Memorial Day. The cemeteries affected are the Andersonville and Vicksburg cemeteries in Georgia and Mississippi. “The...

Coincident with July 4, the Pew Research Center published a survey asking, "Why has the U.S. been successful? Reliance on principles or ability to change?" Fifty-one percent attributed America's success to its "ability to change" and 44 percent to its "reliance on longstanding principles." Not surprisingly, 73 percent of conservatives attribute America's success to its "reliance on principles," and 77 percent of liberals attribute it to its "ability to change." But the survey question, I think, is deeply flawed. It's like asking what explains the work of a great artist -- the ability to master the discipline of their art...

If President Obama had a son, he might look like Amari Brown, the little boy killed by a bullet intended for his gang-banger father on the streets of President Obama’s Chicago in yet another bloody Windy City weekend. As the Chicago Tribune reported, over the Fourth of July weekend, Amari Brown was one of the ten that were killed among 55 that were shot, none attributed to Confederate flag loyalists: Among those killed was 7-year-old Amari Brown, shot in the chest as he watched fireworks near his father's home in Humboldt Park late Saturday night. Police say they believe the...

OCALA -- Marion County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to once again fly the Confederate flag at the county's government complex. The flag was taken down last week and temporarily replaced with a flag with the seal of Marion County. PREVIOUS STORY: Marion County takes down Confederate flag Commissioners on Tuesday said they planned to meet with the county's historic commission to discuss placing markers near the flag to explain its historic significance. The Civil War-era flag has been under attack since nine black men and women were gunned down at a historic church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17....

Republican South Carolina Sen. Lee Bright started off a debate about the Confederate flag by denouncing the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling and calling on people of faith in South Carolina to “rise up.”“I heard our president sing a religious hymn, and then Friday night I watched the White House be lit up in the abomination colors,” Bright said on the South Carolina Senate floor Monday. “It’s time — we’ve got amazing grace, we’ve got people in the stands here of faith — it’s time for the church to rise up. It’s time for the state of South Carolina to...

The Dark for Dinner campaign by Dixie is one many families will want to get behind. It encourages people to leave their phones elsewhere during Sunday dinners to ensure they enjoy the company they keep around the dining table instead. Although a short challenge -- lasting only six weeks -- the Dark for Dinner campaign may very well instill a ritual families and friends would be loathe to break.

As Western Journalism reported last week, pro golfer and two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson has vowed to remove the image of the Confederate flag from the classic General Lee car he bought after the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard ceased production. Watson has said he’ll replace the Confederate flag atop the iconic Dodge Charger with an American flag — a move that drew a fair amount of criticism on social media from folks who believe the golfer caved to the PC purge some argue is now in full force. The cable network TV Land has also shown its PC...

Treating the Confederate Flag as a hated enemy because some low life racists have misused it conflicts with Dr. Martin Luther King’s teaching that we should love our enemies. Instead of trying to ban the flag, black leaders should be embracing it so they can turn it into a symbol of racial harmony. Turning the Confederate Flag into a symbol of racial harmony would rob racists of an opportunity to misuse a popular southern symbol to further their goals

The Supreme Court’s extra-constitutional decision to make same-sex marriage legal across all 50 states is not without its unintended consequences. Take for example this interesting conundrum: There was a rally to be held over the July 4th holiday weekend in the parking lot of a Walmart in a small town in South Carolina, home of the now-nationally-despised Confederate flag, a rally to show support for said item. In a small parade of vehicles carrying the flag, some were hoisting a second. One of these other flags just happened to be Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition flag. You know the one, the...

CNN political commentator Paul Begala, the co-chair of a pro-Hillary Clinton Super PAC, said Tuesday she would “absolutely” have to answer for her time as Arkansas First Lady when her husband stood by a flag with a blue star inspired by the state’s former membership in the Confederacy. “Sure, absolutely,” he said, when asked about the subject by New Day‘s Chris Cuomo. “Times change and circumstances change.” - See more at: http://freebeacon.com/politics/begala-hillary-clinton-needs-to-answer-for-confederate-flag-in-arkansas/#sthash.CMKl9Khd.8YgWml1w.dpuf

<p>DAYTONA BEACH (CBSMiami/AP) — A growing national controversial issue has worked its way into NASCAR.</p> <p>Steven Rebenstorf has numerous flags flying atop his canopy tent inside Daytona International Speedway.</p> <p>The Confederate flag is front and center.</p> <p>It’s been like that for years. And the 57-year-old Rebenstorf has no plans to take it down — not even if NASCAR decides to ban the embattled flag from its racetracks.</p>

The nation’s pitched and passionate debate over the display of the Confederate flag has found its voice in the northern state of Minnesota, where a firefighter flew the most enduring symbol of the Civil War South alongside Old Glory on a fire truck in a July 4th weekend parade in Albert Lea. The Confederate flag flew at the same height as the U.S. flag from the back of the truck belonging to the Freeborn County town of Hartland during the “3rd of July Parade” on Friday, which was organized by the Chamber of Commerce. Also over the weekend, the Confederate...

Fans at Daytona International Speedway are defending and displaying their Confederate flags. At NASCAR’s first race in the South since the racing series and its tracks urged fans to no longer wave the banner, dozens of Confederate flags were scattered throughout the vast infield. The first motorhome inside the Turn 4 tunnel has one flying high above it, and it doesn’t take long to reach double figures when counting them on a stroll through the infield. They’re on clothing, coolers and cars, and even tattooed on skin.

Everybody has an opinion about whether the Confederate flag is good or bad. They’re all dug in. Some are certain it’s racist and the very signature of evil. Others say it’s purely an expression of Southern pride and reverence for ancestors who fought and died a long time ago. Some of them have devoted careers and personal reputations to these propositions. A newspaper column is not going to change any minds. The Civil War is a big bagful of ironies and paradoxes, and not a recommended study for folks who like to keep things simple. It would be a particular...

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (Reuters) - Fourth of July holidaymakers ignored a call to boycott Georgia's Stone Mountain Park, known as the "Confederate Rushmore," over its display of the contentious Confederate flag. Hundreds of people had staked out spots at the 3,200-acre (1,295-hectare) privately run park by noon on Saturday for nighttime laser and fireworks shows. They shrugged off heavy rain on the park's busiest day of the year as well as the boycott call. Democratic state Representative LaDawn Blackett Jones this week urged people to stay away from the park 10 miles (16 km) east of Atlanta because it flies...

DAYTONA BEACH -- NASCAR stirred up controversy this week when officials announced that fans should turn over their confederate flags for the Stars and Stripes, but some fans are still showing up with their flags. "We have the stars and bars...But the tallest flag out there is the stars and stripes. The way it ought to be,” said local NASCAR fan Jim Higginbotham. Higginbotham said he’s proud to be American and a southerner. "I see that flag I don't see racism at all I see southern pride,” he said. Higginbotham isn't alone. Hundreds of flags were flying high above the...

Complete Headline: Flying the Confederate flag over a U.S. state capitol building is like flying the Nazi flag over a synagogue Flying the Confederate battle flag — the symbol of the deadliest war in our country’s history — over a state capitol dome is like flying the Nazi flag over a synagogue. It symbolizes everything that the institution is not. As Americans, we’re better than that. Really. The Confederacy was about breaking apart the union, not its unification. That’s why we’re called the United States, not the Divided States of America.

The growing movement to find new appellations for buildings, landmarks and even bodies of water named after Confederate leaders has finally expanded to reach Woodrow Wilson, America’s 28th president, a model progressive Democrat and a world-class racist scumbag.

Washington (CNN)American public opinion on the Confederate flag remains about where it was 15 years ago, with most describing the flag as a symbol of Southern pride more than one of racism, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. And questions about how far to go to remove references to the Confederacy from public life prompt broad racial divides. The poll shows that 57% of Americans see the flag more as a symbol of Southern pride than as a symbol of racism, about the same as in 2000 when 59% said they viewed it as a symbol of pride. Opinions of...