Asked Tim Donnelly to disavow his support for the Confederate flag.

I have finished with some other research business and I am starting to follow up with contacting people in California. I would like to see State Senator Stephen Knight be not re-elected if he doesn't disavow his vote for the Confederate flag. I am letting various people in California know about the neo-Confederate movement.

Tim Donnelly is a member of the California State Assembly. He was the lone vote in defense of the Confederate flag in a recent vote in the California State Assembly.

http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-confederate-flag-bill-20140820-story.html

He came in third in the recent Republican primary for governor.

I have asked Mr. Donnelly to reconsider his vote for the Confederate flag. I sent him the following email to his campaign website:

Dear Mr. Donnelly:

I learn with regret that you were the lone vote for the Confederate flag in the California Assembly. When I was young the Republican Party was the party of Abraham Lincoln and not Jefferson Davis.

I am an investigative academic researcher into the neo-Confederate movement. I am published by peer reviewed academic journals and university presses. My resume is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/resume.htm.

People coming up with rationalizations for neo-Confederacy enable that movement.  At my online resume I think you will find material which will show why the neo-Confederate movement should not be enabled. Additionally there are free guest links to the my articles  and essays and reports at “Black Commentator” which I think you will find informative.

I ask you to disavow your vote in the Assembly regarding the ban on the Confederate flag.

A person who enables the neo-Confederate movement should not hold any office of public trust.

I hope that you will consider this.

Regards,

Edward H. Sebesta

Co-editor of “Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction,” Univ. of Texas Press, 2008 (http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exhagneo.html), and “The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The ‘Great Truth’ About the ‘Lost Cause’” Univ. Press of Mississippi 2010. (http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338).  Author of chapter about the Civil War and Reconstruction in the notorious Texas teaching standards in Politics and the History Curriculum: The Struggle over Standards in Texas and the Nation, published by Palgrave Macmillan.  http://www.keitherekson.com/books/politics-and-the-history-curriculum/

John McKee Barr starts tearing apart Abbeville Institute Donald W. Livingston's "Confederate Emancipation" essay in the "Confederate Veterans"

John McKee Barr is reading and reviewing Donald W. Livingston's essay "Confederate Emancipation" which was published in the July/August 2014 Confederate Veteran.

http://loathinglincoln.com/confederate-emancipation-part-i/

Barr seeks not just to refute the historical argument but show the tactics of neo-Confederate argumentation. How they have serious errors in logical thinking, obscure the historical record, and are self-deluding.

The reader of John McKee Barr's series will not just learn that Livingston's essay misrepresents history, the reader will learn that Livingston's ideology prevents him from doing historical scholarship.

No posting on the Ice Bucket challenge with the Confederate flag and the head on fire.

Yes, I saw the ice bucket challenge that was done with a Confederate flag and in which the hair was set on fire. It was all over the internet. I saw it once, I don't want to see it again. I am not going to include a link to it. I am not going to have it on this blog.

I have some problems with it.

1. It sounds like the person who was doing the challenge was seriously hurt. I don't find that funny or entertaining.

2. I question whether this video was what it seemed. If it was a sincere ice bucket attempt, why would you put it on the internet when it was clearly a failure?  Why would you go to the effort to upload it?

I suspect, but I can't prove it, that perhaps the video was a staged to make fun of a stereotype.

It seems that the public has a certain stereotype of those who are supportive of the Confederacy and the Confederate flag that they are rural persons of low intelligence and lacking education and not able to pronounce many words.

The neo-Confederate movement is composed of educated people who are intelligent. These stereotypes of who supports the Confederate flag helps neo-Confederates by allowing them to represent themselves as not being racist.

Liberty University: American or Confederate?

The 12th Annual Scholars Conference is at Liberty University.

http://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/event/twelfth-annual-abbeville-institute-scholars-conference/

One year the history department at Liberty University put Abraham Lincoln on trial and found him guilty.

"Daily Caller" opinion editor J. Arthur Bloom justifies foul mouth.

Earlier this year I had a post about the comments of Jordan Arthur Bloom regarding myself.

Bloom's comments:  http://mitrailleuse.net/2014/06/22/secession-lagniappe-7/

Bloom's comment was in response to my campaign to ask churches no to host neo-Confederate groups. This campaign is documented online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm. In particular asking the Episcopalian church not to host neo-Confederate groups.

I did a blog on his comments on July 24, 2014 and the following is the link to the blog posting.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2014/06/daily-caller-jordan-bloom-opinion.html#.U_4PhPldWSo

Yesterday, August 27, 2014 I got this response from him.

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1s66dm2

J. Arthur Bloom is actually an Opinion Editor for the Daily Caller. It is a website that seems to specialize in hysteria.

What I pointed out in my original blog posting about Bloom's comments about myself is that Jordan Arthur Bloom couldn't resort to any argument but resorted to scatological name calling.

I said in the post:

What is interesting is that despite all the pretensions of intellect, being Opinion Editor, obscure blog name, etc., the person is just a foul mouth character that has no argument to be put forth and thus resorts to name calling. 

Always swearing, cursing, profanity, obscenity, etc. is a failure of intellect, the failure to express your objection in real terms and it is just ranting. Also, it is ineffective in stinging anyone. It is just noise that people tune out. It really shows the mental incapacity of Bloom.

The title of the post was:

"Daily Caller" Jordan Bloom Opinion Editor's scatological and negative opinion of my Churches of the Confederacy campaign.

In Bloom's response he states:

... and the pearl-clutching, schoolmarmish title of this blog post suggests to me that in your heart you know your actions -- asking denominations to intervene in congregational decisions about what groups have the right to meet on church property -- are wrong.

I am not sure how the title of my blog posting is "pearl-clutching, schoolmarmish" or proves that I think that I am wrong, whether in my kidneys, heart or lungs.  Perhaps Bloom likes to assert that his opponent's opinions are like those of women. My posting simply is a blog posting pointing out that the Daily Caller employs a foul mouthed person as their opinion editor, an editor who uses foul language instead of a reasoned argument. However, if you read the Daily Caller, he probably is a perfect fit for an editorial position with them.

The conclusion of Bloom's essay is that since he really doesn't like my plan to get denominations to not host neo-Confederate groups it justifies him being foul mouthed in his writings.

Bloom denies that there is a neo-Confederate movement and makes other assertions about neo-Confederate groups.

Bloom's primary assertion is that it is "bullying" if I write denominational leaders a letter to consider that their denomination should not be hosting neo-Confederate groups because I don't think it is a good thing to do.

Denominational leaders are tasked with leading. They lead. So asking them to lead on an issue for their denomination by what authority or means granted to them by their denomination seems reasonable. None of my letters ask that thugs be employed. In situations like this you find that a writer has adopted a term with an elastic definition that encompasses the world so what ever you might do or say falls under the term.

Also, if you publicly complained about a denomination's practices without having written the leadership of a denomination about your complaint, people would think you were an idiot and rightly so.

Bloom's response is just over heated rhetoric using phrases like "pearl-clutching, schoolmarmish," and just labeling something he doesn't like with loaded terminology.

Also, Bloom is avoiding the issue in my campaign to get churches to stop hosting neo-Confederates by making up a distraction about "bullying."  This distraction is used by him to avoid discussion of the issues I raise and on which there is no comment forthcoming by Bloom.

Bloom real complaint with my efforts writing the Episcopalians is revealed in the following section of his response.

Your letter comes on the heels of a largely successful campaign on behalf of the bishop, costing tens of millions of dollars, aimed at confiscating the property of congregations that have opted to leave the Episcopal Church rather than obey its slate of progressive priorities.

I don't think I am responsible for the quarreling in the Episcopal church or how they are dividing up the property.

It would be interesting to get Bloom's thoughts on the Confederacy but I doubt that will happen since I think the primary purpose of this claim of "bullying" is to avoid the issues.

California and the Jefferson Davis Highway

Recently the California legislature has made it very clear that they don't care for the Confederate flag.

http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-confederate-flag-bill-20140820-story.html

I wonder if the California legislature knows that the California state government is allowing the United Daughters of the Confederacy to claim a stretch of highway as the Jefferson Davis Highway even though the California legislature was against it when they attempted to get an official designation.

I think that asking the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) to move their monuments off state property is a logical thing to ask for next.  The UDC had their Jefferson Davis highway monuments given back to them in the State of Washington, California would be next. That would get a trend going and the highway could be rolled back to Texas. Jefferson Davis was very explicit and negative in his opinions about Latin Americans.

I will likely write the whole legislature after the Confederate flag banning bill is signed by the governor.

Valdosta State University Professor Suffers Retaliation

VALDOSTA STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR SUFFERS RETALIATION

A Valdosta State University Professor who had opposed all state Confederate monuments has suffered retaliation by the university and. His email account was shut down.

I recently tried emailing Mark Patrick George who I had emailed before and the email bounced. I didn't know what had happened until I found these news stories.


http://clatl.com/freshloaf/archives/2014/08/18/vsu-prof-behind-effort-to-end-state-sponsored-confederate-memorials-alleges-retaliation-by-university-state

And this article

http://vsuspectator.com/2014/08/22/vsu-cracks-down-on-former-proffessor-protesting-against-confederate-memorials-in-georgia/

In the articles you can see the role of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in this.

Judge James F. Lockemy gives presentation on the Confederacy to United Daughters of the Confederacy chapter Ann Fulmore Harilee Chapter 1740 in Dillon, SC

It seems that Dillon, South Carolina has a Confederate judge.

The program was given by Honorable James E. Lockemy of Dillon, who presented an excellent PowerPoint presentation of Confederate art and poetry, adding interesting facts and stories of Lee and Jackson. [page 34, June/July 2014 United Daughters of the Confederacy Magazine.]

It seems to me that Lockemy should recuse himself from all cases before his court where any party is a minority member.

Neo-Confederates should be neither judge or jurors as explained in this paper at Black Commentator.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/507/507_confederacy_jury_selection_sebesta_hague_guests_share.html

Neo-Confederate movement becoming more known by the general public

There are more stories where people are realizing that the "Heritage not hate" slogan really isn't true and that the neo-Confederate movement really is extremist.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/11/christian-talker-marxist-lincoln-enslaved-us-all-by-ending-southern-slavery/

For those following the neo-Confederate movement the neo-Confederate rantings about Lincoln are no surprise, but to groups that track right wing extremism this is new.

Additionally there is this article about a divorced woman who went into hiding with her child.

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2014/08/florida_kidnapping_megan_everett_robert_baumann.php

Again, the neo-Confederate movement is something new to them.

Sons of Confederate Veteran Georgia Division Commander Ray McBerry scandal

These are quotes from the Atlantic Journal Constitution.

http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2010/04/29/parents-church-and-judge-told-future-gop-candidate-for-governor-leave-the-girl-alone/

Rachel Gandee was a band nerd in high school.

She didn’t drink. She didn’t smoke. Her grades were solid. The 16-year-old had just finished 10th grade and was, by her mother’s judgment, a good girl.

Then she fell in with Ray McBerry, a married history teacher and member of her small storefront church in McDonough. When their relationship began, McBerry was still four years away from his first Republican run for governor in 2006. He’s trying again this year.
Last month, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission released a summary of its investigation into McBerry, who resigned his position at Patrick Henry High School in Stockbridge in January 2003, shortly after Rachel’s mother filed a complaint. 

Eventually, in 2004, the GPSC would suspend his teaching certificate for five days for abuse of a student, lying to administrators and violation of the commission’s standard of conduct for teachers. 

The only person identified in that state report was McBerry. The identities of Rachel Gandee — her married name — and her parents were protected. 

But at some point, anonymity becomes a form of paralysis. The facts belong to those willing to discuss them in the open. 

Over the past few weeks, Rachel Gandee has eased herself onto the public stage, starting with a detailed account of her relationship with McBerry on SWGAPolitics.com, a southwest Georgia political blog run by Jeff Sexton. “The truth getting told,” she wrote, “might help me get over all this.”

There is a lot more in the story and the above is just a small part.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/03/ray-mcberry-sexual-partners-list_n_803889.html

The above article is about his suing people for libel.