What to do with the stars and bars?

Stars and Bars

I guarantee you this home has called 911, probably on the Fourth of July.

The question of what to do with the Confederate battle flag is easy to answer: hang it in your frat house window instead of a curtain. Or adhere it to the back of your truck. You can even wear it on a shirt while your Big & Rich shirt is in the wash. These uses of the Confederate flag occur in different contexts and reflect its diverse meanings, but they all send the same essential message: I am white. Over at the Atlantic, Yoni Appelbaum reflects on the problem with having a flag of whiteness, first designed by the losing side in a war over slavery and reinvigorated in the backlash against desegregation. Meanwhile, in the part of America that does not read the Atlantic, Republican candidates for president are conspicuously mum.

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Friday links! The kids are all right of center edition

Right-wing Israeli teenagers in shirts that say "revenge"

Right-wing Israeli teenagers in shirts that say “revenge”

Oh, youth: that magical time in a person’s life when one or the other political party shapes the adult you will become. Of course I’m talking about proto-fascist security states that demand ideological engagement in every aspect of life, which is where youth happens now. From child soldiers in Africa to biology students in Kansas, kids are learning which point of view is right and which one is a threat to their very existence. Today is Friday, but I believe the children are the future. Won’t you indoctrinate them in the conflicts of the past with me?

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