South Carolina

The Confederate Flag flying over South Carolina's Capitol building has been removed (temporarily)... not by congressional decree, but by the hands of spider-man-like Bree Newsome who scaled the 30-foot flagpole. However, shortly after her arrest by State Capitol police, the flag was raised again...

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people"...and complete f##king idiots obsess about flags.

"Racial and ethnic minorities now surpass non-Hispanic whites as the largest group of American children under 5 years old, the Census Bureau said Thursday. The demographic rise of minorities comes at a time when heightened racial tensions make headlines from St. Louis to Charleston, South Carolina, and as minorities lag in education, earnings and labor market outcomes."

Ben Jones, who played good ‘ol boy Cooter on the show, responded to the removal of the flag, echoing the general sentiment of many Americans who find the move by major retailers and political leaders to be overkill: "Some unnamed genius at the company feels that the flag is ‘offensive to some’ and therefore it has no business on a classic TV comedy about a bunch of good ol’ boys and girls in the Southern mountains. This is a new level of ‘P.C.’ idiocy. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of being insulted by morons."

The riots that left Baltimore in ashes in late April and the massacre that occurred last week at the historic Emanuel AME church in Charleston serve as vivid reminders of the extent to which American society now teeters perpetually on the edge of social upheaval. "A lot of the whites in the U.S. are starting to wake up," Robert Jones, grand dragon of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina, tells Reuters.

Following the removal of Confederate Flag merchandise from WalMart; Sears, Ebay, ETSY, and prominent flag maker Valley Forge Flags have all joined the 'movement' and stopped selling the 'controversial' flag. However, as with any and all government-'suggested' actions, there are unintended consequences in the hypocrisy of implicitly banning this symbolic banner... sales of Confederate Flags are soaring everywhere else (as the "guns and ammo"-like threat of scarcity has led to a run on the products).

• Greek offer to creditors runs into angry backlash at home (Reuters)
• Tsipras Seeks to Stave Off Greek Defections Over Aid Plan (BBG)
• Austria finmin says no agreement on Greek proposals without concrete plan (Reuters)
• Another ELA raise, this time under €1 billion: ECB raises emergency funding for Greek banks (Reuters)
• Greek energy, foreign ministers divided on Russia gas deal (Reuters)
• China’s Plan for Local Debt Amounts to a Bailout (WSJ)
• Key Democratic senators back plan for trade legislation (Reuters)
• South Carolina Governor: Time to Furl Flag (WSJ)

In the latest populist act of America's largest retailer, minimum-wage-raising, mysterious store-closing Wal-Mart has decided to remove all Confederate Flag merchandise from its stores. Apparently it will continue to stock handguns, rifles, crossbows, ammunition, and other land-of-the-free-to-choose merchandise.

Today’s America* is an ugly fraud. Today’s America* has nothing in common with the nostalgic images and grand successes of the nation as it were in her glory days. In fact, we would argue not only does America* lack any authentic representation of times past but is the antithesis of America. We have come full circle, back to the very thing our ancestors fought, died and ultimately persevered to escape.

Any economic intervention, no matter how slight, causes unintended consequences. There are things that you cannot see, that the planner cannot anticipate. There are also easy ones...

Among countries with relatively high Human Development Index scores, the number of African Americans killed per 100,000 people in the US each year is around 12 times the average for all people in developed countries and is comparable to the homicide rate in Rwanda and Mexico.

The amount of hate crawling through his soul must be mind-numbing.

"Last Wednesday — exactly one week before the Charleston church massacre — Roof told his friends and neighbors at the park that 'he was looking to kill a bunch of people on Wednesday.'"

Update: Dylann Roof, the suspect identified as the Charleston church shooter has been caught by authorities in Shelby, North Carolina

The FBI has identified the suspect in the shooting that killed 9 at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday evening. One eyewitness has offered a chilling first-hand account.

Police have released photos of a white male they say is a suspect in the shooting that took the lives of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday evening.