Clay Bennett (CTFP) marks Flag Day with a display of US flags flown respectfully over the years, contrasted with the improper display of the flag currently practiced by the New Confederacy.
Respect for the flag is a tradition, not a law, but if you read the current United States Flag Code, you’ll find all sorts of ways people violate it.
There was an interesting blow-up around 1970 when the flag became a symbol of loyalty to the war and to the Nixon administration generally. As police and fire departments added US flag patches to their uniforms, some veterans objected, saying it was inappropriate for state and local agencies to display the national flag they’d fought under.
Their objection failed to gain support, particularly from the folks who now support states’ rights and consider the federal government oppressive, but who festoon themselves with flagware.
Asking for consistency is foolish. I spent a week staffing a booth at the Washington County Fair in New York, across from a VISA booth that was handing out American flag beach towels with each application for a card, and next to a US Army booth staffed by recruiters.
There was a constant line at the VISA booth of young people who wanted a flag towel, but who then cut a wide circle past the place they could have talked to other young people who served that flag but who they treated as if they had cholera.
Let me know when you’re surprised.
What the heck, I’ll even throw in this You Damn Kid from 2015, since newspapers enjoy a constant flow of furious letters to the editor from folks like Grandpa Harv.
What I remember from being a damn kid myself was that the flag was like a crucifix or the palms from Palm Sunday: Not only did you have to fly it correctly, but you couldn’t let it touch the ground and, if you went to a parade and someone gave you a flag, it meant you had to behave as if you were carrying a religious item
Today, plastic and paper flags are part of the litter strewn in the gutters after a parade. It’s not that I feel the flag should be worshipped, but maybe somewhere in between would be nice, particularly since it’s become such a symbol of politically-correct patriotism.
Even in the Sixties, the only people who burned the flag were boneheads like Slim. And he screwed it up.
Bill Bramhall brings us back to the present day with another reminder of how to properly display the flag.
It does seem strange that the Americans who boast of their patriotism are so willing to ignore the Flag Code, but, then again, they also pride themselves on being Christian and look how they express what he preached.
Ann Telnaes offers some alternative banners more in keeping with traditional American values, but she’s shoveling water with a pitchfork.
The Upside Down Patriots have just passed a resolution condemning Merrick Garland for preserving separation between the executive and legislative bodies, a move that RJ Matson expresses using one flag as a symbol of respect and others as disrespect for the system.
And, of course, it goes without saying that the same people who believe they should have full access to the president’s documents today felt quite differently when it was their boy in the White House. For that matter, they don’t think the government should have had access to the documents in the ex-president’s bathroom.
To repeat, at least Jeff Davis and John Tyler and that crew had the integrity to secede and set up their own government.
Juxtaposition of the Day
Two visions of the flags we fly.
Britt may be a little harsh in applying the swastika, though Martha Ann has put herself on the side of white supremacists in declaring who she hates, and in her odd statement about German heritage.
But if she hasn’t specifically endorsed the Stars and Bars, she has certainly lined up on the side of disloyalty. You can nitpick his choices, but his opinion is not unsupported by her words and actions.
I am considerably more disturbed by Whamond’s cartoon because his flags are specific — one up, one down — leaving nothing to dispute, while the situation he uses them to depict is also beyond dispute.
I had a conversation the other day in which a group of people spoke of being somewhat afraid to put Biden bumperstickers on their cars because of the danger that some screwball will decide to take exception. Even if it doesn’t erupt into armed violence, it could involve a hateful encounter with potential for things like vandalism of your car.
I haven’t seen that sort of thing in the news yet, but it’s telling that, while jurors who found Trump guilty have remained incognito, those who voted to convict Hunter Biden are giving interviews.
Nobody is doxxing them or sending them threatening letters.
We did have a case locally in which Woodstock, Vt. gave a group permission to display pride flags on town lampposts, only to have a local merchant take the one in front of his business down and replace it with a US flag.
It’s an attitude that fits Kevin Necessary’s accusation that MAGAts consider sexual orientation to be an issue of patriotism: They believe that the country is divided into Real Americans and Those People.
And the cartoon goes beyond that, contrasting the Pride Flag with the often vulgar hostility of the MAGAts.
If you want to raise a religious issue, try this one: If Noah and his family emerged from the ark and saw a rainbow (as the Bible tells us), then either (A) those remaining humans stopped having heterosexual intercourse or (B) looking at rainbows doesn’t turn you gay.
Since Noah and his family repopulated the planet, I’m going with (B).
Happy Birthday, Mister Ex-President!
Michael Ramirez (Creators) celebrates Donald Trump’s 78th birthday with this reminder that the sands are running out.
He chose an example of a guy who is three-and-a-half years older than Trump, but that’s less than 5% and inconsequential: In a foot race, I’ll bet Dear Leader would win the silver medal, while Sleepy Joe would finish next to last.
Again, I’ll say it: who the hell is that guy in Ramirez’s cartoon supposed to be? It doesn’t look like anything human or animal I’ve ever seen.
Pet prejudices must be played with as well as fed in order to be kept strong and healthy. Ms. Alito knows that.
Yeah, the people who lose their sh*t at seeing an “offensive” rainbow flag while simultaneously promoting vulgar pro-Trump/anti-Biden signs, slogans, and bumper stickers because they think it’s “cute” are something else.
I actually don’t see too many political signs, stickers, or flags in my area. There is at least one SUV that I see regularly at the local Meijer which is covered in anti-vax and “#FJB” decals, but that’s exception.
Of course, those anti-Biden “I Did That!” stickers were all over gas pumps just a couple years ago.
Funny how you don’t see those now that prices have fallen…
They’re the same people who thought Obama wearing a tan suit was an impeachable offense. Sanity left the republican building long ago and metastasized into full blown dementia.
Don’t forget the mustard scandal!
Back in 2020 some doofus driving down the road had one of those full-size T**mp flags blow off the back of his pickup and dang near through the windshield of the car behind him. That didn’t happen, thankfully, but Einstein did have to stop in the middle of a 4-lane road to pick up the thing.
Flags and other symbols are just used for triggering emotion. All too often that emotion engenders uncontrolled zealotry, hatred and violence in the barbarians. I recently saw that in action when a barbarian was shouting hateful profanities at a person wearing a T-shirt with a peace symbol flag printed on it.
From yesterday: News throughout the world proves to me that humanity hasn’t evolved socially beyond that violent, selfish state of barbarism. There is a small percentage of humans who have become more enlightened and civilized. But, they are at a great disadvantage compared to the violent barbarians. I am far from flawless, but I, and our organization strive for wisdom that leads to peaceful enlightenment.
My Hopi friend and I both love Pete Seeger, but I was reminded by her that ‘We don’t own the land, the land owns us. And, this land is your land only because your waspy forefathers violently stole it’. I can’t argue with that.
I can. The song says she belongs here and we belong here and good people can get along and people who try to “own” the land don’t understand how life works. That’s the entire point of the song, but it’s very much the point of the verse in which Woody says the sign saying “Private Property” is simply wrong, that the land belongs to everyone. If she feels she “owns” the land, she’s part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Sing it brother.
The crazy idiots who have attracted so much focus these days are starting to scare the hell out of me.
I saw a Biden-Harris bumper sticker on a car yesterday and commented to my wife that I hadn’t seen too many, but was happy to see it.
Her reply was in fear of a retribution for expressing an allegiance. I really don’t want to cower to the minority of fascists… who really aren’t aware that they’ve crossed the line.
I’m concerned that our SF Giants license plate frame around our California license plate and our SF Giants decal on our Equinox will be already too much for the locals in Eagle, Idaho come August (niece’s wedding).
Excellent excuse to skip it. Just tell her you didn’t want to offend fans of Idaho’s major league teams, because you’ve read so many news stories about how violent they are.
Mike wrote: ‘If she feels she “owns” the land, she’s part of the problem, not part of the solution.’
I reply: to restate and clarify what I wrote, ‘your waspy forefathers violently stole it’ does not imply that she owns it. Her first statement ‘we don’t own the land’ made that clear. The first lines of Pete’s song clearly imply ownership and that’s what we take exception to when it comes to pushing people off their land and murdering them. We see that is what happened in ‘manifest destiny’ and we see it now in the middle east. Violent barbarians still plunder and murder with impunity.
You are intentionally misunderstanding the song to advance your political leanings. Woody (not Pete) wrote it as an answer to “God Bless America” precisely because he was so opposed to the triumphalist nature of that song. I don’t know how you missed the verse about poor people standing in line for relief or the attack on private property, but, even so, the overall theme of the song is that the land was made for everybody. That could be true if it were made in six days by a bearded deity, drawn up out of a hole by a magical woman or created on the back of a turtle.
I don’t know how it could be clearer.