Comments

  1. PaulBC says

    Well, honestly I wouldn’t bother. I’d rather not see the Flag of the Army of North Virginia in the first place.

    Yes, of course it’s perfectly legal.

  2. Akira MacKenzie says

    It is not illegal to burn a US flag either.

    Again, yet, I’m sure the fascist majority in the SCOTUS will be revisiting that ruling soon.

  3. brightmoon says

    I have southern relatives. Not one of them has that flag in or around their houses . I think they would use it as a bum wipe . The flag is a waste of cotton

  4. Snarki, child of Loki says

    Isn’t burning a confederate flag the traditional celebration of the anniversary of Sherman presiding over the burning of Atlanta?1??

    Or maybe I’m thinking of “burning a Confederate”, not the flag.

    (checking Wikipedia for the date…)

  5. whheydt says

    I do rather wish that the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia would not be referred to as “the Confederate flag”. That said, burning it, or using it for any of the myriad uses for rags is fine by me. I say that as someone whose great-grandfather served in a Confederate cavalry unit for nearly the entire Civil War. (The cause was lost, which is a very good thing as it was an evil cause right from the beginning.)

  6. PaulBC says

    whheydt@8 Agreed. Maybe it could be called the anti-Reconstruction flag or the Southern Racist flag. Was that flag ever used in the Civil War with that aspect ratio? The Army of Northern Virginia flag is always shown as a square. The Second Naval Jack looks close, but at least in that wikipedia page, it’s a different shade of blue.

  7. PaulBC says

    OT, but one of the things that struck me is how varied and bizarre is the iconography of the Trump movement. When the flag burning amendment was a serious topic for discussion, a lot of “very serious people” could pretend there was something sacred about this national symbol that (cue dramatic music) Marines had given their lives the raise over Iwo Jima, that their dad, a WWII veteran would never let touch the ground, etc. Of course even in the 80s, the flag was plastered all over commercial products in many non-canonical variations, so this was obvious BS.

    But today, there seem to be as many flags as there are nuts waving them. There’s quite a selection of Trump flags at Walmart alone. I have lost track of what nation these assholes even think they’re declaring their allegiance to. Definitely not mine.

  8. Walter Solomon says

    I’d wipe my ass with it first, then spit on it, step on it and then burn it.

    By the way, Gary Chambers have been making some really memorable campaign commercials.

  9. Matt G says

    Paul @10- There’s one current American flag. I plan to refer to the other recent variations as anti-American flags.

  10. whheydt says

    Re: Matt G @ #16…
    I dunno….in my childhood, the US flag had 48 stars. When my father was born, it had 46…

  11. says

    I think the Danes have it right. Burning the Dannebrog (or any domestic Danish flag) is protected free speech, while burning foreign flags isn’t allowed.

    At a recent book burning in Tennessee, a gay man took the opportunity to throw a buybull into the fire, making sure the crowd knew. It did not end in violence, thankfully, though I think he got his point across.

    https://www.advocate.com/religion/2022/2/07/gay-man-burned-bible-protest-tennessee-book-burning

  12. robro says

    Nice ad. If I lived in Louisiana I would seriously consider voting for him, particularly against Kennedy, although I don’t know the other candidates. I saw Chambers’s ad about marijuana a few weeks ago and thought it was spot on. From the beginning anti-drug laws have been a significant part of Jim Crow laws criminalizing being Black. Maybe he needs a donation.

  13. davidc1 says

    Off Topic, but I know much you amuricans are interested in our very own version of your gods own party.

  14. Badland says

    Marcus @ 15

    Thank you for that bitter, bitter laugh.

    Here in Australia the ‘left wing’ Labor party have announced they will, unforced and of their own volition, support a religious discrimination bill put forward by the flailing and panicked right wing government that allows religious schools to expel trans kids.

    I would gladly wipe my arse with an Australian flat right now.

  15. robro says

    Even more OT than @ #20, the US government reported today that police in the US set a new record: they killed 1,055 people. While a new high, the “total was within expected bounds.” Geez.

    davidc1 @ #20 — Your post doesn’t seem that OT to me. I’ve seen O’Brien a couple of times, and his exasperation at the stupidity is amusing. We have a similar problem in the US: ignorance confounded by deceit. On the one hand, most Americans are ignorant about all kinds of things, like the history of racism in the US. Even some politicians and media personalities appear to be woefully ignorant about these things, and they make decisions and pronouncements from that ignorance. Then there are the folks in public life who are not ignorant and just out-and-out lying to everyone to protect their wealth and power. It’s difficult not to see all of us as screwed with such a lethal combination.

  16. birgerjohansson says

    15-20 years ago it might have been possible to be a leading Republican or tory without being a completely cynical bastard. Today, there may be some non-corrupt ones on the local level but hardly enough for either party to “rehabilitate” itself.
    Britain may be close to a total refurbishing of the political system due to ten years of being screwed over by tories, followed by the BoJo/Brexit nightmare.
    USA I am not certain about. The country may have to endure even greater misrule before the pendulum sweeps back. Joe Biden and the other dominant “heritage Democrats” are constantly outmanouvred by the Regressive party.

  17. davidc1 says

    @23&24 The major trouble is that we have first past the post,that twat faced twat johnson got an Eighty seat majority with only 43% of the votes cast.
    Labour,for some reason won’t get on board with PR,and since about the mid 90’s under that nice Mr blair they have been a tory lite party.
    Then there is the lib-dems but for a lot of people it stick sticks in their craw that from 2010 to 2015 they were in partnership with the tories and voted for all the austerity and benefit cuts which have made many disabled peoples lives more difficult than it already is.
    So for English voters that leaves The Green party.I think I am going to vote for them next time,or for whichever party that has a good chance of getting rid of those bastard tories.