Headline Of The Day

The SPLC has lots of details.

Trump Grandstands At Mexican Border

NBC News reports:

Presidential candidate Donald Trump faced questions about immigration policy from reporters Thursday at the U.S.-Mexico border amid roiling controversy about his bombastic style and his controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants. He did not respond to a question from NBC News regarding what he plans to do about the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. "First thing we have to do is strengthen our borders and after that we'll have plenty of time to talk about it," he said. Asked if his tour of the border yielded any evidence to support his claim that Mexico is "sending criminals" over the border, Trump promised to produce documentation but offered no details. "We'll be showing you the evidence," he said, declining to elaborate.

Hate Crime Charges For Charleston Killer

Via the Post & Courier:

A grand jury indictment of Dylann Roof on federal hate crime charges could happen as soon as today, a move that would make the 21-year-old man a defendant in one of the worst racially motivated attacks since the Civil Rights era, according to sources close to the investigation. Roof, who is white, is accused of fatally shooting nine black worshippers during a June 17 Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston. That night, authorities first stated that the shooting would be considered a hate crime. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division also sent FBI agents into the field to investigate the possible motive for what was thought to be South Carolina’s worst racial hate crime in history. An indictment could bring that aspect of the crime that has sparked conversations about race relations nationwide into the courtroom for the first time. Multiple sources confirmed that the indictment by a Columbia grand jury was imminent. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss a grand jury action.

Roof faces the death penalty.

Viral Video Of The Day

At the KKK rally in South Carolina on Saturday, one counter-protester thoughtfully provided musical accompaniment. The clip below has since racked up nearly 800K views.

(Tipped by JMG reader Daddy Ray)

Viral Photo Of The Day

The above tweet went wildly viral over the weekend. Yahoo News reports:

White-supremacist groups and African-American demonstrators clashed in Columbia, S.C., on Saturday, resulting in at least five arrests and seven people taken to hospitals as tensions — and temperatures — flared following the recent decision to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds. But it was the powerful image of a black police officer assisting a man wearing a black T-shirt bearing a swastika and struggling in the heat that resonated online. In the photo, the officer, Leroy Smith, is seen holding the arm of the unidentified protester as he helped him up the stairs and out of the sun. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in Columbia hit a high of 98 degrees Saturday. The image was uploaded to Twitter by Rob Godfrey, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s deputy chief of staff. And it quickly went viral.

The man's shirt advertises a neo-Nazi hate group.

AFA Radio Host Bryan Fischer Tweets Link To Notorious White Supremacists Group

Yesterday Little Green Footballs blogger Charles Johnson busted hate group leader Bryan Fischer for tweeting out a link to the infamous white supremacists group New Century. Fischer then deleted the tweet and denied having sent it. And as it turns out, the stats Fischer posted are completely false. Hit the link for more. From the SPLC:

Founded by Jared Taylor in 1990, the New Century Foundation is a self-styled think tank that promotes pseudo-scientific studies and research that purport to show the inferiority of blacks to whites — although in hifalutin language that avoids open racial slurs and attempts to portray itself as serious scholarship. It is best known for its American Renaissance magazine and website, which regularly feature proponents of eugenics and blatant anti-black racists. The foundation also sponsors American Renaissance conferences every other year where racist "intellectuals" rub shoulders with Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists.

SOUTH CAROLINA: The Flag Is Down

There was a huge roar from the crowd when a squad of South Carolina state troopers marched out. Chants of "USA! USA!" followed when one of the troopers began turning the crank to lower the flag.

UPDATE: Breitbart columnist reacts.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Gov. Nikki Haley Signs Bill To Remove Confederate Flag

The flag comes down tomorrow morning.

Perfumania Dumps Trump

Democrats Mock "Retrumplican Party"

RNC Chair Reince Priebus Pleads With Donald Trump: You're Hurting The GOP

Via the Washington Post:

The head of the Republican National Committee, responding to demands from increasingly worried party leaders, spent nearly an hour Wednesday on the phone with Donald Trump, urging the presidential candidate to tone down his inflammatory comments about immigration that have infuriated a key election constituency. The call from Chairman Reince Priebus, described by donors and consultants briefed on the conversation and confirmed by the RNC, underscores the extent to which Trump has gone from an embarrassment to a cause for serious alarm among top Republicans in Washington and nationwide. But there is little they can do about the mogul and reality-television star, who draws sustenance from controversy and attention. And some fear that, with assistance from Democrats, Trump could become the face of the GOP.

Yesterday Trump declared that he has "nothing to apologize for."

SOUTH CAROLINA: Confederate Flag To Come Down After Lopsided House Vote

Via the Washington Post:

The Confederate flag flying on South Carolina’s statehouse grounds is set to come down after the House voted 94-20 to remove it. The bill, passed early Thursday morning, now heads to Republican Gov. Nikki Haley’s desk and she is expected to sign it. After more than 13 hours of debate — which became increasingly contentious as the night wore on — House Republicans and Democrats agreed not to amend the legislation with a proposal that threatened to make final passage more difficult. Just before 1:00 a.m. the lawmakers approved the legislation 93-27 in a critical second reading vote. Minutes later, the bill easily cleared the two-thirds threshold needed for it officially pass the chamber, a hurdle the Senate cleared earlier this week.

After its removal the flag will be displayed in a nearby museum. One of last night's most impassioned speeches came from Republican Rep. Jenny Horne.

Trump Fashion Line Dumps Trump

Fortune reports:

Macy’s. NBC. Nascar. Serta. The PGA. The list of large companies and brands moving to distance themselves from Donald Trump has snowballed since he entered the 2016 Presidential campaign with a racist diatribe against Mexican immigrants. Add one more: Phillips-Van Heusen, the clothing conglomerate behind Trump’s brand of mid-priced menswear. “Mr. Trump and Macy’s have both addressed the discontinuation of the Trump business at Macy’s, which was the exclusive retail account for the Donald J. Trump Signature Collection dress shirt and neckwear collections produced under our license agreement for the brand,” a spokesperson told Forbes exclusively on Tuesday. “We are in the process of winding down this business. The license agreement was scheduled to run through 2018.” PVH Corp. is best known as the parent company behind wildly successful apparel lines including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and Speedo.

PVH is the world's second-largest brand licensor behind Walt Disney. Last year Trump reported $225M in name-licensing revenue. And now, without a licensor, he can't even sell his shirts at the dollar store. (Tipped by JMG reader Elroy)

SOUTH CAROLINA: Senate Nixes Flag

Only three senators voted to keep the flag:

The South Carolina Senate has voted to remove the Confederate flag from a pole on Statehouse grounds. The 37-3 vote Monday allows the state to remove the flag and the flagpole where it flies as soon as it passes the House and is signed by Gov. Nikki Haley. The bill must pass a two-thirds vote, which is likely to be held Tuesday. Monday's vote comes less than a week after the 15th anniversary of South Carolina taking the flag off the Capitol dome where it flew since the early 1960s and moving it to beside a monument honoring Confederate soldiers. Lawmakers had largely ignored the flag until the killing of nine black people during a Bible study at a historic African-American church on June 17.

Tweeted And Deleted By Donald Trump

Donald Trump celebrated the Fourth Of July on Saturday night by retweeting the above racist attack on Jeb Bush and his wife. Sometime last night Trump deleted the tweet. More from TIME:

The tweet comes on the heels of Bush publicly denouncing Trump’s comments, which characterized Mexican immigrants as potential criminals and rapists. “He’s doing this to inflame and incite and to draw attention, which seems to be the organizing principle of his campaign,” Bush said. “To make these extraordinarily ugly kind of comments is not reflective of the Republican Party.” Bush actually listed himself as Hispanic on a voter form in 2009 and has said that he takes personal offense to Trump’s statements.

Trump continues poll very well.

Macy's Dumps Trump

Trump Sues Univision For $500M, Mexico And Thomas Roberts Pull Out Of Pageant

For once Donald Trump has followed through with a lawsuit threat:

Donald Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, is suing Univision. The Spanish-language TV network dropped its coverage of Miss USA and Miss Universe — two beauty pageants that Trump co-owns — because of Trump's remarks about Mexican immigrants during his presidential campaign announcement on June 16. NBCUniversal also dropped the pageant programming. NPR's Andrew Limbong reports that Trump is seeking $500 million, and that in the suit, Trump claims Univision is attempting to suppress his freedom of speech. Here's an excerpt from The Trump Organization's statement: "Under the contract, Univision is required to broadcast the pageant live on television in Spanish. While Univision claims its decision came solely in response to comments by Mr. Trump during a June 16 campaign speech announcing his candidacy for President of the United States, the decision was, in reality, a politically motivated attempt to suppress Mr. Trump's freedom of speech under the First Amendment as he begins to campaign for the nation's presidency."

Mexico has pulled out of the pageant.

The Mexican media company Televisa said it will not have a representative in the next Miss Universe pageant. Trump is a partial owner of the Miss Universe Organization, which oversees both the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants. Televisa and former Miss Universe Lupita Jones help run Nuestra Belleza Mexico, a national pageant that determines the country's contestant for Miss Universe. Jones lashed out at Trump for his "racist comments." "As a Mexican I feel very offended and outraged, like everyone else - as Miss Universe I think Donald Trump is harming the organization," she wrote on Twitter.

Pageant host Thomas Roberts, who was heavily criticized for hosting the 2013 pageant when it was held in Russia, has also pulled out as has co-host Cheryl Burke. On Monday NBC announced it will not air either Miss Universe or Miss USA, which takes place in Baton Rouge on July 11th despite the lack of a broadcasting partner.

Confederate Flag Parade

On Saturday the town of Dalton, Georgia held a Confederate flag parade. Take it away Gawker:

“They got a goddamn day for Confederate flags. This is some bullshit!” says the (presumably black) man filming this video, “I wonder what kind of motherfuckin’ parade we could have?” And just when you’re wondering how long this line of assholes in lifted trucks can possibly be, and wishing something would make them stop... well, something does.

(Tipped by JMG reader Daddy Ray)

President Obama Breaks Into "Amazing Grace" During Charleston Eulogy

The eulogy started out very somber and presidential, but became increasing preacher-like as it went on. And then Obama did something that will battle gay marriage for tomorrow's headlines.

Linda Harvey: All Those Rainbow Flags Must Be Removed Because Jesus

"It’s time to lower the rainbow flag everywhere. God created the rainbow as a sign of hope (Genesis 9:12-17). But homosexual political operatives have captured this symbol as an unauthorized expression of 'pride.' Well, rainbows accompanying this depravity are as unfitting as the term 'gay,' and it’s time for Christians to demand recognition of the offense involved and a permanent retraction. Proud homosexuals don’t love God. They take pride in disobedience. Therefore, these rebels have no right to the rainbow, period. So, let’s demand that no more rainbow flags fly above our federal agencies. No more hateful colors on our embassies, or on the Pentagon website. And it’s time for retailers with a conscience to stop selling rainbow- adorned 'gay' merchandise and show respect and sensitivity to the outcry of concerned families and parents. Homosexuality needs to be seen for what it is: a grave sin, a depraved lifestyle, and an oppressive threat to truth, liberty, family and faith. And so, the theft of the rainbow needs to be confronted and it needs to end. No more rainbow flags, America!" - Linda Harvey, defending the Confederate flag for Barbwire.