South Carolina shooter's photos found on white supremacist website

[Likely Voter]

Let's see South Carolinian Republicans defend the confederate flag as a symbol of 'heritage' now.

[Likely Voter]

HuffPo has the manifesto. This portion is interesting and essentially shows how he was radicalized on the Internet.

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Here is a pic of the leader of the Council of Conservative Citizens holding a rally defending the Confederate Flag flying at the capital in South Carolina


And here is a lovely picture of some of the Council of Conservative Citizens celebrating their victory of keeping the flag on the grounds


Again, I look forward to those defending the flag on the grounds and how it is part of their heritage.

[Likely Voter]

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How often do we hear people talk about how ISIS is radicalizing people on the net and the threat of lone wolf attacks?

But when it comes to racist hate groups we should bury out heads in the sand and ignore the fact that the same exact thing is happening?

[Likely Voter]

Sorry but identifying the problem and shining a light on the underground of hate groups on the web in this country is not a bad thing to do. People need to be aware of the danger. Parents need to know that there are sites out there poisoning the minds of kids, some of whom may turn to violence. Pretending they dont exist and not talking about them wont make them go away.

And in this particular instance I think the connection to South Carolina's official embrace of the Confederate flag and this particular hate group is a salient point.

[Likely Voter]

I believe the fine people here at the Atlas can handle that paragraph. It doesn't glorify the racist scumbag who wrote it, but it does explain his path to murder, which has been the subject of much discussion. It seems to me that there are a lot of people who seem to not want to talk about the racial motives of this guy. You hear talk of drugs or religion. The real motives are there in black and white and I think people should read it to understand. I think it will inspire more people to root out racism then it will inspire people to join the cause of the race war.

[Likely Voter]

I am well aware of that, let's see how many of his GOP colleagues join him. So far both GOP Senators (one of whom is running for prez), the GOP governor and GOP representative Mark Sanford have all declined opportunities to back him up, generally endorsing the current 'compromise' leaving the battle flag at the memorial. At this point he seems to be alone within SC GOP. Also GOP presidential candidates Cruz, Huckabee, and Santorum have all said they take no position, refusing to back him up and saying it is up to the state (as if a Presidential candidate can't take any position on something being decided within a state). The only one who has come close is Bush who noted that Florida stopped flying the flag.

Mitt Romney is standing out as a shining beacon at this point, but perhaps that is because he will never have to try to get votes in the South again.

[Likely Voter]

Also my point is that with these new pictures it will become much harder for people to support the flag.  We will see what happens with the legislature gets back into session, but I actually think they will vote to get rid of it. Even for GOPers, it will be hard to vote to keep it with these new photos....that was my point.

But so far I have only seen one GOPer in SC have the guts to publicly say it should go. And that is kind of tragic.

And the 2016 GOPers are (for the most part) showing a lot of cowardice. This is a moment for them to show some leadership. This is an opportunity. Hiding behind "this is a state issue so I can't really get involved" is pathetic for someone running for President.

[Likely Voter]

So apparently today Gov. Haley, Senators Graham and Scott and maybe some other Republicans are going to call for the flag to come down. Before these photos came out they all waffled on the issue but (as I predicted) these photos were the straw that broke the back. The flag is no longer defensible, even for GOPers. I'm just surprised it took this long.

[Likely Voter]

So apparently today Gov. Haley, Senators Graham and Scott and maybe some other Republicans are going to call for the flag to come down. Before these photos came out they all waffled on the issue but (as I predicted) these photos were the straw that broke the back. The flag is no longer defensible, even for GOPers. I'm just surprised it took this long.

I'm not surprised you took some good news of elected Republicans using their power in the state to do the right thing and spun it into that comment.

In the days following the shooting these people all waffled on the issue, with Graham even talking about how the flag represented "who we are" in South Carolina. Why did it take the images of the shooter holding the flag along with public pressure to get these people onto the right side of history?

Yes I am glad they are doing it but they missed their first chance to show leadership last week. Now they are just playing cleanup.