You have to go back to the founding of the nation, which had a built-in flaw from the beginning. Article 1, Paragraph 2, Section 3 of the Constitution referenced "free persons" and "all other persons" for the purposes of apportioning representation and taxation among the states. It was known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, and was the basis for getting all 13 colonies to agree on forming the Union.

The North wanted the slaves NOT TO BE COUNTED AT ALL. The South did not want their representation limited in this way, and ideally would have preferred that ALL slaves be counted as people. The compromise was a way of reconciling both sides sufficiently for the Union to reach full flower.

But the side effect was that the concept of slavery was BUILT INTO the Constitution.

Conflict over slavery indeed was a portion of the grievances which led to the secession. But the secession was not a declaration of war. It was a breakup due to irreconcilable differences. When one spouse divorces the other, that spouse does not normally attack the other physically. A decision has been made to part ways, and civilized people recognize that, the breakup having occurred and reconciliation having failed, the two parties should be facilitated to go their separate ways.

The hostilities were instigated by the North to prevent the breakup. Lincoln invented out of whole cloth the idea that the Constitution was a binding contract from which it was not permitted for any of the parties to resign. But all he intended was to use force to retain possession of Federal property. He specifically made no mention of any intent to tinker with slavery.

The South offered to pay for Federal properties, it being an absurdity to have foreign forces occupying these enclaves within their territory. Lincoln refused this sensible accommodation, resolving to hold onto various forts, knowing this was a sure way to provoke the south. Fort Sumter was the trigger point.

The war was fought as Lincoln's power play to "preserve the Union". Most definitely not to end slavery. That didn't come about until the war was militarily won. Lincoln knew he couldn't get the necessary amendment through once the South was back in the Union and once again represented. So he rushed it through just before.

Look, the Confederate flag means slavery, hatred, bigotry and treason against the USA.

Utter bullshit.

First; you make some excellent points.

All right; you've got some salient details wrong.

The American flag did not exist until 1776, and that was only the continental colors, or 1777 for a recognizable version of the stars and stripes. And no slave ships sailed to the US after the abolition of slavery in 1865 by the thirteenth amendment - that's right, the END of the civil war, not the beginning. So the longest that "slave ships" could possibly have sailed under the "US flag" is 91 years, not "over 100 years".

Far from every slave ship sailed under the US flag, anyway. Not only did that flag not exist before 1776, but many/most slavers were from other nationalities anyway. "The Atlantic slave traders, ordered by trade volume, were: the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Spanish, and the Dutch Empire."

By far the greatest number of slaves sent to the Americas were not sent to the US or the area which would become the US, anyway. Breakdown by destination of distribution of slaves, 1519-1867:
    Portuguese America, 38.5%
    British America MINUS North America, 18.4%
    Spanish Empire, 17.5%
    French Americas, 13.6%
    British North America, 6.45%
    English Americas, 3.25%
    Dutch West Indies, 2.0%
    Danish West Indies, 1.3%

Reference: Stephen D. Behrendt, David Richardson, and David Eltis, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, Harvard University. Based on "records for 27,233 voyages that set out to obtain slaves for the Americas". Stephen Behrendt (1999). "Transatlantic Slave Trade". Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. New York: Basic Civitas Books. ISBN 0-465-00071-1.

[Note: I'm not sure what the separate categories are for, "British America MINUS North America" and "English Americas"; I don't have a copy of the reference to hand to see if/how it explains]

[BTW: re "Danish West Indies", I had to look that one up myself]

A bit of detail of which many people are unaware: the US was far from the last area to abolish slavery. Just some which held out til later were:
    Portuguese territories (4 years later)
    then-Spanish colony of Puerto Rico (8 years later)
    then-British colony of the Gold Coast (9 years later)
    Egypt (12 years later)
    Ottoman Empire (17 years later)
    then-French protectorate of Cambodia (19 years later)
    then-Spanish colony of Cuba (21 years later)
    Brazil (23 years later)
    Korea (29 years later) (but not fully implemented until 65 years later)
    then_French colony of Madagascar (31 years later)
    then-British protectorate of Zanzibar (32 years later)
    Ethiopean Empire (37-77 years later)
    China (41 years later)
    Siam (47 years later)
    Morocco (57 years later)
    Afghanistan (58 years later)
    Iraq (59 years later)
    Iran (63 years later)
    Tibet (94 years later)
    Saudi Arabia (97 years later)

You're a liar - but you already know that. PaulBu jammed your words down your throat.

The founders couldn't have imagined that states would ever have been compelled by naked force to remain joined to a federal entity turned into a tyranny. There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution prohibiting secession.

Plenty of people who have not a racist bone in their body support the memory and ideals of the secession and revile the tyranny and bloodlust of the war of northern aggression whipped up against them. If you can't recognize the issues involved, choke on it.

Oracle isn't leaving anything on your floor, unless you invite them to.

Then obviously, since you are so intellectually honest, if you call me to come and repair your water pipe, you won't mind if I leave a heap of steaming shit on your nice tile floor.

Oracle can package Java any way they want, including with "opt-outs." Downloading/installing Java is a voluntary choice the user makes.

Apologist alert. So if you "voluntarily" choose to engage me to mount new tires on your car, does that mean you don't mind if I install a tracking device in cooperation with the NSA, if you fail to spot the tiny pre-checked box on page 678 of the paperwork? Because everyone should EXPECT tracker installation when they "voluntarily" choose to install new tires, right?

Aluminum does not self-protect when the surface oxidizes. Stainless steel does. Anodizing is not like corrosion. Unlike corrosion, anodizing does protect the metal, but even it is not perfect because it is not a galvanic protection. Anybody living near the seacoast with one of those antique rooftop aluminum TV antennas, even if anodized, knows they progressively rot to pieces and the pieces end up decorating the lawn.

Make a good close survey of a WW2 warbird which has not been preserved. Corrosion will have rendered it unairworthy. Restored warbirds are protected by zinc chromate primer, and this has to be maintained.

How many divisions does the court command?

Nothing was pulled from the court's rectum.

Yep, because you know why? They don't have a rectum. They are FULL OF SHIT!

Especially when they are in the middle of the news feed later.

Yeah, Sweden, fiberglass insulation will really do a lot to stop electromagnetic waves, no?

You have a LIVING HUMAN in reception in your company??? Answering the phone and greeting people who walk in?

RAIDZ3 FTW.

Haha. So true. Tofu has to have one of the most nasty look and texture of tofu. It combines rubbery with slimy in one go.

Succinctly put and to the point. And people who can't or don't understand this have no business using C++.