Just a mild diatribe about the South Carolina flag controversy: I support removing it from the Capitol grounds for multiple reasons, and I think people who are saying "it's not related to the shooting" as justification for leaving it up aren't wrong; they're missing a larger point.
The Confederate flag is offensive to many Americans, because it stood for a confederation of states who propagated states' rights. What rights? Their rights to exist, and the right to exploit black people through slavery (and to spread slavery to new territories). In fact, the Confederate States even tried to force black slaves to fight against the Union during the Civil War, an effort that more or less failed.
That's why the Confederate flag belongs in a museum, just as Nazi propaganda does. It's offensive. It's wrong for a present-day government to venerate a symbol of a regime that stood for exploitation. Those who find comfort in the "historical tradition" of the flag should find discomfort when they realize exactly what that tradition was.
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