They are being shut down because they are operating a factory in a residential zone. The flag is irrelevant, and the article even says so in the 2nd paragraph. Yet some editor thought it needed to be in the headline...

Journalism is fucking pathetic. Headlines like this for clicks so advertisers pay their pennies. It's sad.

This isn't news

eta: I don't mean that the flying of the conf. flag is irrelevant in the big picture nor am I defending it's use in any way - just want to clarify that!

their attitude towards any government authority: a tradition like that might plausibly be traced to the reconstruction years, when much of the South, despite having lost the civilo war, remained in violent rebellion

Not Virginia.

And whoever is flying it, regardless of their intentions, is presenting a racist and hostile face to the world.

Plenty of anti-gov't assholes, both north and south, manage to get along without the confederate flag.

Anyway, my main point stands, which is that the confederate flag is only mentioned in the headline for clickbait, so this becomes more than just a local story about zoning, and fueling divisive bullshit about the flag being the real reason they were shut down.

Opportunistic journalism.

issues as the meaning of the confederacy, so by now there may be people all over the country who buy into this strange interpretation