(Cover photo by Bob Cesca: The Virginia Monument, Gettysburg, PA.) The Banter Long Read: The violation was known as "vagrancy." If you were a black man in the South following Reconstruction, and you were unable to show proof of employment on-demand to the police, you could be ...read more

• By Bob Cesca
  Nov 9, 2018

Just when it seemed like Donald Trump was capable of passing the lowest bar ever, when he finally said "racism is evil" yesterday after three days of refusing to acknowledge that the events in Charlottesville were caused by white nationalist neo-Nazis, he did a press conference ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Nov 9, 2018

So, this idiot named Brandon Partin hung a Confederate flag at a Trump rally last night, and because people were watching, they made him take it down, but he still thinks Donald Trump would be okay with it because history: Yeah, it wasn't about slavery, because the South "had ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Nov 9, 2018

Remember when Republicans finally relented in their steadfast defense of the Confederate flag when that symbol of racism and hate became untenably unpopular following the Charleston mass shooting just over a year ago, and got all kinds of unwarranted credit for it? Well, their ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Nov 9, 2018

Even in these modern times, it's too easy to feel as if you've unwittingly stumbled into a time machine and have been transported back to darker times. To wit, look no further than this headline in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday: Georgia Confederate group blasts MLK ...read more

• By Michael Luciano
  Nov 9, 2018

UPDATE: It has been reported to us that the photo is a fake with the following photo apparently being the original.  The Klan were even more late and more dollars short than South Carolina's legislature this past weekend when they showed up to the capitol to protest the removal ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Feb 17, 2016

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley appeared on Meet the PressSunday to discuss a range of issues, but also to bask in the warm glow of a mainstream media that has positioned her as the courageous champion who vanquished the Confederate flag from the state capitol. Along with ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Nov 9, 2018

South Carolina made some late-to-the-party history Friday by finally removing the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol, spurred on by the massacre of nine black parishioners by a racist, terrorist mass murderer. Unfortunately, there are some holdouts who ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Feb 17, 2016

In the wake of the tragic terrorist murders at a historic black Charleston church, the South Carolina legislature finally moves to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the capitol, the U.S. House of Representatives has been taking measures of its own to restrict the ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Nov 9, 2018

One of the simplest ways to point out the absurdity of modern faith-based religion is to replace commonly accepted deities with the names of those who long ago proved they couldn't withstand the march of progress. In other words, maybe demanding that people pray or adhere to the ...read more

• By Chez Pazienza
  Nov 9, 2018

The ferocious but welcome tide against the Confederate flag these past weeks has much of the country, and almost all of the media, in a self-congratulatory mood, but on Wednesday, shit got real. While it's easy to blast the banner of slavery and the folks who cling to defending ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Feb 17, 2016

This week, The New York Times reported that the procedural elements within South Carolina's general assembly to introduce legislation that will officially remove the Confederate Flag from the State Capitol grounds are well underway and its prospects for passage appear to be ...read more

• By Robert Covington, Jr.
  Nov 9, 2018

Well, that didn't take long. Days after nine African Americans were murdered in cold blood by a psychopathic racist, and literally hours after the debate began to focus on getting rid of the Confederate flag, Rush Limbaugh has leapt to the defense of persecuted white people ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Feb 17, 2016

Traditionally, the Swastika symbol is considered sacred to Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. The word itself derives from the Sanskrit svastika, which means "lucky or auspicious object". In the modern context though, the Swastika symbol is synonymous with racial hatred, fascism ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Feb 22, 2016

The nauseating insult on top of the catastrophic injury wrought by the racist terror attack that killed nine black parishioners in Charleston has been the continued presence of the Confederate flag flying on South Carolina's statehouse grounds. Even as they tearfully mourn the ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Feb 17, 2016

On Thursday morning, developments occurred quickly in the story of the mass murder at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The identity of the shooter, who killed nine black church attendees at a Bible study Wednesday night, has ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Nov 9, 2018

A group of Confederate flag enthusiasts called The Virginia Flaggers has just completed their second massive erection of a Confederate flag, along Interstate 95 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Just how massive? The 20x30 foot flag now flies atop an 82-foot pole, where, according ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Feb 17, 2016

I realize this story involves Kanye West and that more than likely you, like me, would love nothing more than to never hear from him again except for maybe on record. I truly do wish his generally excellent albums were recorded by somebody else -- anybody but him -- because I ...read more

• By Chez Pazienza
  Feb 17, 2016