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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDead Americans and the Gadsen Flag
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/jaime-oneill/56398/dead-americans-and-the-gadsen-flagDead Americans and the Gadsen Flag
by Jaime O'Neill | June 14, 2014 - 10:02am
There are three houses in my immediate neighborhood that fly the Gadsen flag, that yellow banner with the rattlesnake and the slogan that reads "Don't Tread on Me." Since we elected a black president in 2008, that flag has become popular with people incensed by things that went unquestioned when a thoroughly entitled white guy occupied the White House. It's remarkable how many acts of presidential malfeasance, ineptitude, or usurpations of power were approved of by the very people who are now crying out how tyrannized they are, and how much worse their taxes seem now that the black guy is in office.
Though the Gadsen flag originated as the 13 colonies were moving toward insurrection against British tyranny, it has since been expropriated by the Tea Party, and by other people who are flirting with sedition, spreading fear and hatred against the duly elected leader of the country, and imposing a distorted Fox "News" view of the world on nearly any action the government takes, from expanding health care coverage to the most modest attempts to address our crazy immigration laws, and our even crazier gun laws.
These people are tyrannizing the majority of Americans. That flag has become an alternative flag to the stars and stripes. The yellow flag so many people are now willing to hoist on flag poles has become the symbol for people willing to aim high-powered rifles at men and women who are enforcing the duly enacted laws of the federal government. That snake flag now symbolizes the kind of people willing to shoot cops who are eating pizza, or Wal-Mart shoppers they see as standing in the way of their "revolution" to "take our country back." That flag is a rallying banner for some of the more paranoid people in our heavily armed nation.
So, once again we've seen people dying on our streets, our schools, and in our places of business, their lives sacrificed to the idea of a "well-regulated militia." So those policemen and that good Samaritan in Las Vegas and the two young dead kids up at that Oregon school were brought down by "militia men," I guess, though who was regulating them remains a mystery.
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Dead Americans and the Gadsen Flag (Original Post)
unhappycamper
Jun 2014
OP
mopinko
(70,197 posts)1. the old stars and bars was gettin a little too hot for them.
traitors as were we ween we flew that flag, but we knew what the hell it meant. we knew there would be no government bennies on the other side, too.
Coventina
(27,169 posts)2. *sigh* I have a Gadsen flag, given to me during the Bush years.
Now, it symbolizes nothing but bigoted ignorance.
SwankyXomb
(2,030 posts)3. Gadsden. Two D's. Sorry, pet peeve.
While that flag does have historical significance, it has been co-opted by extremists, and Americans should no more fly it than they would a Nazi swastika, or the Flag of Southern Treason.
napkinz
(17,199 posts)4. "a rallying banner for some of the more paranoid people"
The Vegas Killers Were "The GOOD Guys With A Gun" ...
see http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025095042
by Elias Isquith
June 12, 2014
Speaking on his Internet show on Wednesday, libertarian pundit, gun rights activist and former resident of a D.C. prison Adam Kokesh partially defended the actions of Jerad and Amanda Miller, the far-right extremists who recently killed two police officers, a civilian and themselves in a Las Vegas public shooting.
Railing against the Southern Poverty Law Center and USA Today for acknowledging how the Millers were influenced by Kokesh, the host swore vengeance, saying that the SPLC and USA Today are not going to get away with it this time.
He also argued that because Americas political institutions including the police have become homicidal against freedom, it was wrong to see the Millers unprovoked killing spree as acts of murder rather than self-defense.
-snip-
Ultimately calling the attack an example of not necessarily unjustified violence, Kokesh insinuated that the Millers killing spree was the governments fault.
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/12/libertarian_pundit_adam_kokesh_defends_las_vegas_shooters_for_not_necessarily_unjustified_violence/
http://conservativelogic101.net/libertarian-host-who-inspired-vegas-killers-they-were-victims-murdering-cops-saves-lives/
http://aattp.org/insane-ammosexual-adam-kokesh-tea-party-cop-killers-were-the-real-victims-video/
see http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025095042
by Elias Isquith
June 12, 2014
Speaking on his Internet show on Wednesday, libertarian pundit, gun rights activist and former resident of a D.C. prison Adam Kokesh partially defended the actions of Jerad and Amanda Miller, the far-right extremists who recently killed two police officers, a civilian and themselves in a Las Vegas public shooting.
Railing against the Southern Poverty Law Center and USA Today for acknowledging how the Millers were influenced by Kokesh, the host swore vengeance, saying that the SPLC and USA Today are not going to get away with it this time.
He also argued that because Americas political institutions including the police have become homicidal against freedom, it was wrong to see the Millers unprovoked killing spree as acts of murder rather than self-defense.
-snip-
Ultimately calling the attack an example of not necessarily unjustified violence, Kokesh insinuated that the Millers killing spree was the governments fault.
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/12/libertarian_pundit_adam_kokesh_defends_las_vegas_shooters_for_not_necessarily_unjustified_violence/
http://conservativelogic101.net/libertarian-host-who-inspired-vegas-killers-they-were-victims-murdering-cops-saves-lives/
http://aattp.org/insane-ammosexual-adam-kokesh-tea-party-cop-killers-were-the-real-victims-video/