Tide Turns: Even South Carolina and Mississippi Face Confederate Toxin! Yet Here in Florida....

Mitt Romney might be a complete bastard, but he was the first major right-winger to call for the flag of our defeated enemy, the flag of white supremacy, to come down from SC's state capitol. The teabag governor of SC followed. Sensing a tide turning, other conservative politicians quickly followed. Even the Speaker of the damn Mississippi state house has called for the confederate flag to be extracted from the state flag.

I hadn't seen such a turn in public opinion since gay marriage.

There is no purpose this flag serves other than hate. It is a relic of a failed, racist ideology. It is a flag of a defeated domestic enemy of the United States. It is a flag of rightwing terrorism.

No goddamned way does it deserve to fly on capitol grounds anymore than a swastika.

It shouldn't have taken nine innocent deaths to get us to at least this point. But apparently, for the complete bastards that make up GOP Florida, it still isn't enough.

If you are unfortunate enough to drive on highway I-75, you will notice a massive confederate flag--the largest in the US--flying by the roadside. It is maintained by the Sons of the confederacy. They not only have influence with our idiot lawmakers in Tallahassee, several of them ARE lawmakers.

Rick Scott isn't a member, but he is a fan. Scott did jump on the Nikki Haley bandwagon (after everyone else did) last week, but was asked about the movement to take down this giant Dixie flag which, in recent days, has gotten new momentum. He was given a chance to condemn this ugly monstrosity, but Rick Scott refused to do even that:

"There were nine individuals that lost their life last week in Charleston...That’s what we ought to be thinking about right now," Gov. Scott said. "There’s plenty of time to have other conversations about other things but right now we ought to be mourning that loss."

(BTW, if that bullsh-- sounds familiar, it's because that is almost verbatim the same non-answer he gave a CNN reporter after the Newtown massacre. The reporter blasted him when he steadfastly refused to take any preventative steps following the massacre and hiding behind the victims. The video went viral.)

To be fair, the flag is on private property. Barring any ordinance, he can't force it down. But no one is asking him to. They are only asking his goddamned opinion, and one in which the appropriate response is along the lines of "it's offensive, it's disgusting, and I don't approve of it".

Lest you think this is only a Rick Scott problem, think again. Although that huge, nasty flag is at least on someone's private land, the Sons of Confederacy members and supporters in our legislature somehow found it appropriate to set aside space and time at the rotunda of the Florida State Capital building to HONOR the flag of white supremacy!!!

I'm not just talking about the standard confederate flag, which was prominently displayed. , ALL the flags of the confederacy were on display, even the "stainless banner": a confederate flag emblazoned on a white field to emphasize the "supremacy of the white race"! That isn't my opinion. That was the statement of the designer of that flag, which became the 2nd official flag of the CSA.

And there is stood in the center of the rotunda building as if it was to be honored, in a state filled with people whose ancestors suffered its atrocities. (Rubio must have been so proud!)

Perhaps most egregious is a notoriously racist Sons of Confederacy member who is also a state representative. Rep Dennis Baxley, author of Stand Your Ground and several aspects of our voter suppression laws, spearheaded a bill that allowed racists like him to forbid state park administrators from honoring fallen Union soldiers!

Residents near the Olustee Battlefield state park wanted a very small memorial to honor the American soldiers who died there. This included the 35th US Colored Troops, who amazingly repulsed a confederate attack against overwhelming odds.

Several of the wounded black soldiers who were captured by confederates were clubbed to death by the rebel troops. Baxley and other GOP leaders refuse to honor them. Baxley even argued for "a sliver of diversity" and refused any memorial for them---but supported the no less than three monuments for the confederates who committed the war crimes!!

These monuments still stand at Olustee while today there is STILL nothing that honors the fallen American soldiers who died there.

Don't look to the GOP-led government to right this wrong anytime soon. Don't look at them to even condemn any symbols of hatred that are still honored in this state. They won't change. Why would they? Florida doesn't hold these racist lawmakers accountable for the atrocities they commit today. Why would they hold them accountable for honoring the ones committed so long ago?