The upside-down American flag goes mainstream as a form of right-wing protest.
NPR reports on the trend after an inverted American flag flew outside the Virginia home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021. Many conservatives displayed the flag in a similar fashion to protest Donald Trump's conviction in the hush-money case.
Trump calls on the Supreme Court to annul his guilty verdict in election interference hush-money case
In a worrying sign for Trump,
a new ABC/IPSOS poll showed ⭐️50% of voters thought the verdict was correct,
nearly double the 27% proportion who believed it was wrong.
⭐️Nearly half of those polled, 49%, thought he should end his campaign – a step he is highly unlikely to take.
The figures were even starker among “double haters”
– voters who equally dislike Trump and president Joe Biden
– 🌟65% of whom supported the verdict, with two-thirds saying the former president should end his campaign.
Pollsters predict the cohort could be a critical component of the swing voter constituency they believe will determine the outcome in November.
By appealing to the supreme court to intervene in a case he insists is nakedly political,
Trump is reprising the legal strategy deployed in his defense against special counsel Jack Smith’s charges
relating to the 6 January 2021 mob attack on the US Capitol
in a bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in his favor.
The #Jan6 case is currently on hold while the nine justices consider claims by Trump’s lawyers that he had complete #immunity from prosecution for decisions taken while he was president.
But Trump's invocation of the court
– which has a six-to-three conservative majority after Trump’s judicial appointments while he was in the White House
– also comes as 💥 questions over the court's political #impartiality are at a peak💥... following revelations that a US flag was flown upside down at the home of Justice Samuel #Alito at the time of the January 6 riot.
The gesture is identical to that used by many participants in the attack as a symbol of protest against Biden’s victory.
I believe they are fascists or at least on friendly terms with fascists. I believe they've broken laws and are a threat to my life and the lives of my children.
I believe the US government may not be equipped to bring them to justice and that too is a crime.
I will never wish violence on them. I will never wish cancer on them.
"It [i.e., Trump's "bear hug" posting about Alito on Truth Social] was a marvelous distillation of the corrupt conservative-supermajority Supreme Court that Trump helped to create and which he sees as his ultimate salvation against the four – count ’em, FOUR – ongoing criminal prosecutions he faces."
That upside-down flag was the second plane hitting the World Trade Center. It meant that it was no longer possible to deny an ugly reality -in this case, that two SCOTUS wives were in apparent league with the traitors.
In a letter to #Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-IL, & Sen Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, Roberts said he "must respectfully decline your request for a meeting," citing concerns about maintaining judicial independence.
“Chief Justice John #Roberts on Thursday declined an invitation to meet with Democratic senators to talk about Supreme Court ethics and the controversy over flags that flew outside homes owned by Justice Samuel #Alito.” #SCOTUS
[Slate]: A Benign 18th-Century Foam Finger
The defense of the Appeal to Heaven flag is familiar to anyone who’s been watching this court. By Dahlia Lithwick
Alito’s Aggrieved Letter to #Congress Tips His Hand in the Jan. 6 Cases
“No one should be surprised that the author of Dobbs—a decision that cherry-picked and butchered history to reach a preferred outcome—would ignore the intimate ties between this flag and fringe right extremists. For #Alito and his fellow GOP appointees, originalism means slicing and dicing history to fit whatever reality you favor. The flagrant violation of the flag code? The winking support for “Stop the Steal”? It means exactly what the justice wants it to, and nothing more. Your offense is the real offense.”
Each page yesterday took him just a little more than a minute, so this will take >30 mins.
Between that & the testimony readbacks, also expected to take >30 mins, there will likely be >1 hour this morning w/the jury in the courtroom, not actively deliberating.
#Trump has posted a photo on his social media w/o comment — the photo of the #UpsideDown American #flag that was hung outside the home of #SCOTUS justice Samuel #Alito after the Capitol riot in 2021. The upside down flag was a symbol of distress but is now a #RightWing symbol of #Jan6, Stop the Steal & support for Trump. It was posted by several other #Republicans as well.
Roberts already made the decision to defer to #Alito when the ethics code was watered down to get unanimity on it. Notion chief is going to step in now to create enforcement mechanism is fantasy.
"Tens of millions of Americans reasonably doubt that Alito can fairly discharge his duties. Alito is gaslighting the American people—a technique he learned from Trump. Having been caught in his lie he is doubling down on the lie—while pretending to be aggrieved that Americans doubt his veracity.
This debacle is a stain on the Court and an indictment of Justice Robert’s leadership."
“Justice Alito has no problem telling American women they lack the right to make decisions about their own bodies and health. But apparently, he can’t tell his wife to take down a flag that calls the integrity of his decisions on the Supreme Court into question. He doesn’t care. He has life tenure and there are no repercussions binding ethics rules he must obey.”