Nikki Haley called for the Confederate battle flag to be removed from the South Carolina statehouse and put in the state’s attic, right beside the guitar Strom Thurmond bought but never used. Denouncing the symbol of a racist rebellion against the government is apparently what constitutes leadership -- this is precisely why this country should be collectively thrown into a pool of spiders. And questions emerged whether Mississippi would remove Confederate imagery from its flag. Considering it *literally* approved the 13th Amendment two years ago, we’re going to say “no.” This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, June 22nd, 2015:
MAH DEAREST IRMA, THE FIGHTIN' FOR THE CONFEDERATE FLAG IS HARD, AND MAH BONES ARE WEARY… - This, however, will not stop the scourge of hipsters only playing The Band at outdoor barbecues. The struggle is real. Paige Lavender:
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) called for the Confederate flag to be removed from the state capitol. 'That flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state,' Haley said Monday. Haley argued that many South Carolinians see the Confederate flag as a way to respect their ancestors, but argued Dylann Roof, who was charged with murdering nine people in a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, last week, 'has a sick and twisted view of the flag.' … Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and others joined the governor in calling for the flag to come down. Graham previously said the flag 'is part of who we are,' but that he would be 'fine' with taking the symbol down. 'After the tragic, hate-filled shooting in Charleston, it is only appropriate that we deal once and for all with the issue of the flag,' Graham said in a statement Monday." [HuffPost]
@LukeRussert: Per my count there are more Confederate statues in the Statuary Hall collection at the Capitol than statues of women.
LEADERS GONNA LEAD
@JebBush: Kudos to @nikkihaley and all the SC leaders standing with her for doing the right thing
@ReidEpstein: "Walker sources" email to claim that he wanted the flag down this weekend but had to wait for Nikki Haley's announcement.
@ReidEpstein: John Kasich statement: "Like Governor Haley, I believe the flag should come down."
LINDSEY GRAHAM: NEOCONFEDERATE 'WORKS' FOR ME - Andrew Kaczynski and Ilan Ben-Meir: "Richard Quinn has been quoted in the press as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s longtime political adviser and his consultant and pollster. But there’s another title that Quinn once held: neo-Confederate magazine editor. From early 1980s until the early 2000s, Quinn’s name stood on the masthead as the editor-in-chief of the Southern Partisan, formerly one of the country’s leading neo-Confederate magazines (it still exists in a barebones online version). Quinn has tried to distance himself from the magazine in the past (he says he doesn’t like the term neo-Confederate), and after being contacted by BuzzFeed News, repudiated his past views and those of the magazine." [BuzzFeed]
Haircuts: Eliot Nelson (h/t Amanda Terkel: "Fancy haircut!"), Daniel Marans (h/t Eliot Nelson), Chris Vieson (h/t Chris Vieson), Ryan Grim (h/t Elise Foley)
Haircutweek: Sam Stein (h/t Arthur Delaney)
Did you get your ears lowered in This Town? Email Eliot and/or Arthur.
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Jeremy Davis doesn't mind if people don't want to buy Confederate battle flags in the aftermath of last week's racially motivated mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. The killings sparked a national debate over the Confederate flag, which still flies at the South Carolina Capitol building despite increasing calls for it to be taken down. Davis, who runs a flag company in Georgia called Southern Pride Fabrications, said Confederate flag sales have stayed flat amid the fuss. "It's probably a good thing, because if sales of Confederate flags did go up because of this, that tells me a lot of people are using the flags for illicit reasons, flying it as a symbol of hate," he told The Huffington Post. Womp womp. [HuffPost]
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Presented with a ton of comment.
FORMER LAWMAKER LOBBYING FOR SANCTIONED RUSSIAN BANK - When they came for Gazprom, I said nothing, because Gazprom had not signed a terms of service agreement with my firm. "A former congressman from Virginia has registered to lobby for a Russian bank hit by U.S. sanctions. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) left Congress in 2011 after serving for nearly three decades, joining Sidley Austin LLP as head of the government strategies group a few months later. He filed his first lobbying registration last week for JSC VTB Bank in Moscow with Sidley Austin at a cost of $40,000 monthly. Boucher's firm agreed to provide 'government strategies counsel and lobbying' of Congress and the White House on U.S. government sanctions on Russian-affiliated banks. The Russian bank, the country's second largest, was targeted for sanctions last year. Boucher has a 1968 bachelor's degree from Roanoke College and a 1971 law degree from the University of Virginia." [Legistorm]
FEELING ANXIOUS? THE WHITE HOUSE IS HERE TO HELP - Until now, any marijuana-based assistance provided by the executive branch involved scoring an invite to Denis McDonough's hydroponic growhouse, and only after you listened to his Rusted Root cover band demos. Ryan Grim: "The White House took a major step forward on Monday to support research into the medical properties of marijuana, lifting a much-maligned bureaucratic requirement that had long stifled scientific research. By eliminating the Public Health Service review requirement, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), also known as the drug czar's office, will help facilitate research into the drug. A bipartisan group of lawmakers had called for the requirement to be lifted. The requirement had long outgrown today's marijuana politics. Even opponents of legalization have called for it to be lifted." [HuffPost]
Ben Bernanke has some free time on his hands: "In a blog post for Brookings Institute, the former Federal Reserve chairman joined a groundswell of voices opposed to replacing the face of the founding father credited with laying the framework for the modern U.S. economy. 'Hamilton’s demotion is intended to make room to honor a deserving woman on the face of our currency,' Bernanke wrote. 'That’s a fine idea, but it shouldn’t come at Hamilton’s expense.' He suggested removing President Andrew Jackson -- whom Bernanke called 'a man of many unattractive qualities and a poor president' -- from the $20 bill." [HuffPost's Alexander Kaufman]
SAD: LARRY HOGAN HAS ADVANCED LYMPHOMA - "Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, an aggressive form of cancer. He was surrounded by his family when he made the announcement at a press conference on Monday. Hogan will not step down as governor. He said he may miss a few meetings, but he will continue to work while he receives his 18-week treatment. Hogan said Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford will step up and do more when the governor can't be present. Hogan joked that the odds of beating this form of cancer, which he described as aggressive but treatable, are better than the odds of beating Anthony Brown, his opponent in the governor's race. He said his chance of survival is strong." [WUSA 9]
HELL IS BEING AN INTERN COVERING THE SUPREME COURT - Sneaking flasks of whiskey into the bleachers at Yankee Stadium is easier than this. Dylan Byers: "The Supreme Court of the United States briefly removed media interns from its press room on Monday after a CNN intern was caught recording video footage with a GoPro camera that he had strapped to his chest, the On Media blog has learned. The episode led to an impromptu meeting among top CNN executives and editors in Washington, a call to the company's legal department, and a profuse apology to the Supreme Court's public affairs team. Recording devices are prohibited from both the Supreme Court Press Room and the adjacent Public Information Office, as well as from the court room generally. In a statement, CNN said that the intern 'misunderstood the rules about recording inside the Supreme Court's Public Information Office and acted inappropriately. We've taken the necessary action to remedy this situation. We profusely apologize to the Court.'" [Politico]
No gay marriage or Obamacare ruling from the Supreme Court today, but there was this: "On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of Marvel Entertainment against Stephen Kimble in a case that dealt with patent fees. However, what really stood out was the opinion of the court written by Justice Elena Kagan, who included several references to everyone's favorite web-slinger, Spider-Man. '[I]n this world, with great power there must also come—great responsibility,' Kagan wrote in the court's opinion, which also referenced Spider-Man's creators, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko." [CNN Money]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are some puppies growing up.
THE WAY WE [CTRL - V] NOW - Had Howard Kurtz not once reported on a conversation with Darrell Issa that was actually his press assistant, this would be a low point. Daily Download, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Jason Linkins: "In his latest searing dispatch covering the media for Fox News, Howard Kurtz lowers the boom on the 'reckless rhetoric from pundits and politicians' that has arisen out of last week's tragedy in Charleston, South Carolina. 'This message and its attachments may contain legally privileged or confidential information,' Kurtz writes, adding, 'If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to the addressee), you may not copy or deliver this message or its attachments to anyone.' He doesn't stop there: 'Rather, you should permanently delete this message and its attachments and kindly notify the sender by reply e-mail.' Really makes you think, doesn't it? Specifically, it makes you think about how little adult supervision Kurtz's pieces receive from whoever edits his work, because this is all part of boilerplate email signature that somehow made it to the page." [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
- Well, there's a new emoticon gesture.
- Spending time with Mongolian eagle hunters.
- Cat accidentally taken aboard a DIY plane.
TWITTERAMA
@zcolman: Hill interns either dress impeccably or as if they've never dressed themselves before in their lives. There is no in between.
[Aliens land]
Alien: We are here to bring knowledge and good will.
Person: We have a group that makes guns easy to get.
[Aliens leave]
@LOLGOP: Conservative History for Beginners
June 22, 2015 - President Barack Hussein Obama invents the N-word.
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