• About
  • The Poetry of Protest

Show Me Progress

~ covering government and politics in Missouri – since 2007

Show Me Progress

Tag Archives: flag

No, go ahead, tell us how you really feel

02 Monday May 2022

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

flag, missouri, right wingnut, Trump cult, values voter

Today in west central Missouri:

“Fuck Biden…and fuck you for voting for him!”

It still really chaps their asses.

Heh.

The cult of the lost cause

13 Monday Dec 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Donald Trump, flag, Joe Biden, missouri, right wingnut

Today in Johnson County, Missouri along U.S. Highway 50:

“Impeach Biden”

Tell us again that we just have to listen better.

21st Century America

23 Saturday Oct 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

flag, hoodie, missouri, parade

You are here.

“Fuck your feelings”

We are all here now.

Be a badass

02 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

flag, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, missouri

Today in west central Missouri:

“Send ‘Florida Man’ Home”

“Vote Biden Harris 2020”

In a small town in west central Missouri. That’s badass.

Vote.

Sen. Josh Hawley (r): offered without further comment

01 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by Michael Bersin in Josh Hawley, social media

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

flag, flag etiquette, Hypocrisy, Josh Hawley, missouri, social media, Twitter, U.S. Senate, wrap yourself in the flag, Wrapped in the Flag

Josh Hawley [2016 file photo].

Today, from Senator Josh Hawley (r) via Twitter:

Josh Hawley @HawleyMO
As we prepare to celebrate our nation’s birthday, it’s time we focused on the workers and families who built our country. The elite have had their day. The great American middle deserves theirs
[….]
9:59 AM – 1 Jul 2019

4 U.S. Code § 8.Respect for flag
[….]
…(d)The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free….

Welcome to Missouri and America in 2017

02 Sunday Jul 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

4th of July, Confederacy, flag, Kingsville, missouri, Powell Gardens, Treason

Flag with a blue field and a single white star displayed by someone in the audience at the annual “Booms and Blooms” concert and fireworks display at Powell Gardens in Kingsville, Missouri – July 1, 2017. Photo used with permission.

Last night the Lee’s Summit Symphony Orchestra played a two hour outdoor concert of patriotic music to celebrate the 4th of July preceding the annual “Booms and Blooms” fireworks show at Powell Gardens in Kingsville, Missouri. Throughout the concert someone in the audience prominently displayed a large flag with a blue field and a single white five pointed star in front of the orchestra.

A flag with a blue field and a single white star is called the “Bonnie Blue” flag. It is most prominently known as an early flag of the confederacy.

Think about that for just a second.

Next to “Dixie’s Land,” perhaps no other song was as well loved by the Confederate soldier as “The Bonnie Blue Flag.” Written by Harry Macarthy (1834-1888) and sung to the old Irish tune “The Irish Jaunting Car,” the song lays out the order of secession of the States that went on to form the Confederacy.   The first flag of the Confederacy was a single white star on a blue background. This song, especially popular in the South during the early years of the war, counts out the eleven seceding states one by one….

More on the song:

….After the Civil War and the collapse of the Confederacy, “The Bonnie Blue Flag” developed a life of its own. In the second decade of the twentieth century, the song was revived as a symbol of “Lost Cause” mentality in the midst of fifty-year commemorations of the War. During the Civil Rights era, “The Bonnie Blue Flag” once again became a song of protest, this time against the integration of public spaces. It even found its way back into the classroom, as one New Orleans resident remembers learning it in his elementary school classroom in the 1950s….

The refrain from the song [pdf]:

[….]
Hurrah!
Hurrah!
For Southern rights, hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
[….]

We have no idea if the individual(s) who displayed the flag were aware of the history or of the symbolism implied. The flag in the photo appears to be displayed upside down (with the single point of the star pointed downward).

The only confederate flag that matters is a white rag on a stick.

Previously:

Celebrating a little early (July 2, 2017)

Trump advocates criminalizing flag disposal

29 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by Michael Bersin in Resist

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Donald Trump.social media, Fascism, flag, Twitter

“…A person gets from a symbol the meaning he puts into it, and what is one man’s comfort and inspiration is another’s jest and scorn…”

“…Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard…”

4 U.S. Code § 8

….(k)The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.
(Added Pub. L. 105–225, § 2(a), Aug. 12, 1998, 112 Stat. 1497.)

319 U.S. 624 West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (No. 591) [1943]

….Symbols of State often convey political ideas, just as religious symbols come to convey theological ones. Associated with many of these symbols are appropriate gestures of acceptance or respect: a salute, a bowed or bared head, a bended knee. A person gets from a symbol the meaning he puts into it, and what is one man’s comfort and inspiration is another’s jest and scorn….

….It is now a commonplace that censorship or suppression of expression of opinion is tolerated by our Constitution only when the expression presents a clear and present danger of action of a kind the State is empowered to prevent and punish. It would seem that involuntary affirmation could be commanded only on even more immediate and urgent grounds than silence. But here, the power of compulsion is invoked without any allegation that remaining passive during a flag salute ritual creates a clear and present danger that would justify an effort even to muffle expression. To sustain the compulsory flag salute, we are required to say that a Bill of Rights which guards the individual’s right to speak his own mind left it open to public authorities to compel him to utter what is not in his mind….

….Struggles to coerce uniformity of sentiment in support of some end thought essential to their time and country have been waged by many good, as well as by evil, men. Nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon, but, at other times and places, the ends have been racial or territorial security, support of a dynasty or regime, and particular plans for saving souls. As first and moderate methods to attain unity have failed, those bent on its accomplishment must resort to an ever-increasing severity. As governmental pressure toward unity becomes greater, so strife becomes more bitter as to whose unity it shall be. Probably no deeper division of our people could proceed from any provocation than from finding it necessary to choose what doctrine and whose program public educational officials shall compel youth to unite in embracing. Ultimate futility of such attempts to compel coherence is the lesson of every such effort from the Roman drive to stamp out Christianity as a disturber of its pagan unity, the Inquisition, as a means to religious and dynastic unity, the Siberian exiles as a means to Russian unity, down to the fast failing efforts of our present totalitarian enemies. Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard….

In a time of war, no less.

Via Twitter, this morning:

trump112916

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump
Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!
5:55 AM – 29 Nov 2016

He’s not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, is he?

Fascist.

Civil disobedience

27 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bree Newsome, civil disobedience, flag, South Carolina

Earlier today in Columbia Charleston, South Carolina, on the capitol grounds:

From the NAACP:

NAACP Statement on #BlackLivesMatter Activist Who Took Down SC Confederate Battle Flag

June 27, 2015

BALTIMORE, MD  — Today #BlackLivesMatter activist, Brittany “Bree” Newsome, wearing propelling gear, climbed the flagpole atop Columbia, South Carolina’s Capitol dome and removed the Confederate Battle Flag, in an act of civil disobedience.  South Carolina Department of Public Safety arrested Bree, 30, along with her companion, James Tyson, also 30.  Both were charged with a misdemeanor–defacing a monument.  A new flag went up within an hour.  Subsequently, the NAACP has issued the following statement:

From Cornell William Brooks, NAACP President and CEO:

“For 15 years, the NAACP has called for the removal of the Confederate battle flag and has maintained economic sanctions against the state of South Carolina. The NAACP, Governor Nikki Haley, a bipartisan coalition of policymakers, an expanding number of American businesses, and a courageous young woman named Bree Newsome are all united in opposition to the Confederate flag. Ms. Newsome temporarily removed the flag flying in front of South Carolina’s state house. As well as supporting the permanent removal of the flag legislatively, we commend the courage and moral impulse of Ms. Newsome as she stands for justice like many NAACP activists including Henry David Thoreau, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and numerous Americans who have engaged in civil disobedience. The NAACP calls on state prosecutors to consider the moral inspiration behind the civil disobedience of this young practitioner of democracy. Prosecutors should treat Ms. Newsome with the same large-hearted measure of justice that inspired her actions. The NAACP stands with our youth and behind the multigenerational band of activists fighting the substance and symbols of bigotry, hatred and intolerance.”

###

Via Twitter:

John Cole ‏@Johngcole

I propose Bree Newsome changes her name to Bree Awsome. [….]1:06 PM – 27 Jun 2015

digby ‏@digby56

Taking history into her own hands #FreeBree [….]1:04 PM – 27 Jun 2015

Cornell Brooks ‏@CornellWBrooks

Why do we have activists climbing flagpoles when legislators can simply vote?#TakeDownFlag #FreeBree 12:13 PM – 27 Jun 2015

That’s a really good question.

And you shall know them by their deafening silence

02 Thursday Jul 2009

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

flag, IOKIYAR, patriotism, right wingnut hypocrisy, Runner's World, Sarah Palin

Why is this an outrage, and this is not? Just asking.

I’m waiting to hear about the second from the same people who were outraged by the first. [crickets]

Photo of Sarah Palin by Brian Adams/Runner’s World – via Balloon Juice  (The actual photo at Runner’s World is here).

Uh, you’re supposed to drape the flag over yourself, not drape it on your bar stool and then lean on it.

Dating from 1993:

UNITED STATES CODE

TITLE 36

CHAPTER 10

§176. Respect for flag

No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor…

…(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker’s desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general….

Okay, Chapter 10, as iterated on the non-governmental site above, is not enforceable.

Because:

Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989)

…Especially pertinent to this case are our decisions recognizing the communicative nature of conduct relating to flags. Attaching a peace sign to the flag, Spence, supra, at 418 U.S. 409″]409-410; refusing to salute the flag, Barnette, 319 U.S. at 632; and displaying a red flag, 409-410; refusing to salute the flag, Barnette, 319 U.S. at 632; and displaying a red flag, Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359, [p405] 368-369 (1931), we have held, all may find shelter under the First Amendment. See also Smith v. Goguen, 415 U.S. 566, 588 (1974) (WHITE, J., concurring in judgment) (treating flag “contemptuously” by wearing pants with small flag sewn into their seat is expressive conduct)…

And:

United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990)

…Although the Flag Protection Act contains no explicit content-based limitation on the scope of prohibited conduct, it is nevertheless clear that the Government’s asserted interest is “related ‘to the suppression of free expression,'” 491 U.S. at 410, and concerned with the content of such expression. The Government’s interest in protecting the “physical integrity” [p316] of a privately owned flag [n5] rests upon a perceived need to preserve the flag’s status as a symbol of our Nation and certain national ideals. But the mere destruction or disfigurement of a particular physical manifestation of the symbol, without more, does not diminish or otherwise affect the symbol itself in any way. For example, the secret destruction of a flag in one’s own basement would not threaten the flag’s recognized meaning. Rather, the Government’s desire to preserve the flag as a symbol for certain national ideals is implicated “only when a person’s treatment of the flag communicates [a] message” to others that is inconsistent with those ideals. [n6] Ibid. [p317]…

…Even assuming such a consensus exists, any suggestion that the Government’s interest in suppressing speech becomes more weighty as popular opposition to that speech grows is foreign to the First Amendment…

[emphasis added]

Yeah, those are flag burning cases, but the big picture is that government can’t dictate behavior or any orthodoxy about what is “correct” patriotic behavior or speech. This is not a new phenomenon in America, either:

WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION v. BARNETTE, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)

…If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us…

In a time of war, no less.

Ask yourself, what would the political right be saying if it was Barack Obama standing in that same pose instead of Sarah Palin?

So, it all comes down to the political right’s view of what is patriotic orthodoxy. At this point they’re definitely not consistent about it, either. We’ll just have to go with *IOKIYAR.

*it’s okay if you’re a republican

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007

Categories

  • campaign finance
  • Claire McCaskill
  • Congress
  • Democratic Party News
  • Eric Schmitt
  • Healthcare
  • Hillary Clinton
  • Interview
  • Jason Smith
  • Josh Hawley
  • Mark Alford
  • media criticism
  • meta
  • Missouri General Assembly
  • Missouri Governor
  • Missouri House
  • Missouri Senate
  • Resist
  • Roy Blunt
  • social media
  • Standing Rock
  • Town Hall
  • Uncategorized
  • US Senate

Meta

  • Log in

Blogroll

  • Balloon Juice
  • Crooks and Liars
  • Digby
  • I Spy With My Little Eye
  • Lawyers, Guns, and Money
  • No More Mister Nice Blog
  • The Great Orange Satan
  • Washington Monthly
  • Yael Abouhalkah

Donate to Show Me Progress via PayPal

Your modest support helps keep the lights on. Click on the button:

Blog Stats

  • 774,579 hits

Powered by WordPress.com.

 

Loading Comments...