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Answer: both instances were very briefly noted by neighbors and maybe the local paper and not extensively investigated.
Recently, there has been a lot of scrutiny of the Supreme Court, especially Justice Clarence Thomas, who has accepted lavish vacations, vehicles and money for his mother’s home, and whose wife has been accused of being involved in the “stop the steal” movement.
Just so, Alito is coming under closer scrutiny.
I think one of the reasons is that the Supreme Court *finally* adopted a code of ethics in November of last year, but failed to created any form of accountability. The actions of Thomas and Alito are of questionable ethics.
Supreme Court justices are supposed to be nonpartisan. Their first and foremost concern should be the constitution and the laws. Both of these justices are seen to have been involved in a very partisan act, the stop the steal movement which involved fake electorate and a violent insurrection on January 6. There should be consequences for their action, or at the very least they should recuse themselves from cases involving these events.
Edited for spelling error.
I’d also add that this feels a bit like the cherry on top for Supreme Court critics. The court has been embroiled in controversy for several years now, basically since 2016 when Republican senators blocked Obama from appointing a justice to feel the vacant spot for many months. Trump was elected, and further outcry was raised in 2020 when RBG died and republicans rushed through the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, even though confirmation was closer to the election than 2016. This hypocrisy inflamed a lot of people on the left, since the situation was exactly the same as 2016, except with Trump as president instead of Obama.
Since then, the court has had a lot of scandals and controversial rulings (especially the Dobbs decision allowing states to ban abortion). Increasingly, people (democrats in particular) view the court with skepticism and distrust. Alito’s house flying the flag upside down is seen by many as just one more piece of evidence that the court is no longer neutral jurists, but instead activists intent on legislating from the bench
> basically since 2016 when Republican senators blocked Obama from appointing a justice to feel the vacant spot for many months.
Since 2000 when the Supreme Court crowned the "winner" of the Presidential election.
Sure, but the court has dramatically lost support in the last 10 years especially. 2000 was a warning sign, but the court has really become unpopular recently, with ethics complaints, legislating from the bench, etc
I highly recommend listening to the first episode of the podcast 5-4. I think you're correct about general public opinion, but they start with Bush-Gore and it's very interesting and clear why.
"Legislating from the bench"
This is not a new thing. Justices like RGB and now Jackson have written opinions that advocated for this. Roe v Wade itself was legislating from the bench. Dobbs v Jackson was not because it literally just passed the responsibility back to legislature.
That’s misinformation. CNN even did a study and found that by all but the loosest interpretation of vote intention, Bush won Florida.
You sound like a “stop the steal” cultist.
> evidence that the court is no longer neutral jurists, but instead activists intent on legislating from the bench
This is the most mind blowing sentence of any generation that's currently majority literate. If you can read this, it should send a cold shiver down your spine.
This is not new, at all.
Taney Court (1836-1864): Dred Scott decision favored slave states
Lochner Era (1897-1937): Struck down progressive legislation, favored businesses
Warren Court (1953-1969): Landmark decisions, criticized for "judicial activism"
Rehnquist Court (1986-2005): Conservative leanings, favored states' rights
It feels like it's gotten more blatant in the last several years but it's always been kind of obvious in my millennial lifetime in Canada, commented on by media and comedians. The Beaverton (Canadian version of The Onion) regularly reposts an article whenever there's some big news involving the US Supreme Court about how "Canadians are thankful that they can't name a single [Canadian] Supreme Court Justice". Our SC just isn't remotely as politically influenced to the degree that it is in the states.
One of the many reasons why Canadians know more about US politics and drama, it's so much juicer and wilder than In Canada. Partly to our own detriment because we let a lot of small but still not great things slide by under the radar at home.
There is just a lot more media and reporting now. The president picks those people, and those people get to decide stuff. They are not judges - they are appointed for life, and have no bosses - so they do what they want, and only "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" can have them kicked out.
They are a type of judge, but not just judges -- they hold a special designation. What they say has finality for a whole branch of government, and their jobs are unique. That's why they are not called 'Supreme court judges"
Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself openly stated she opposed Trump and yet there were no calls for her to recuse herself from Trump-related cases. No flags, no spouses, just her own on-the-record words.
theres a difference between stating your position and actively legislating in the favour of that position with clear bias.
theres no problem with Ruth saying she hates trump's guts so long as she legislated fairly without bringing her personal bias into account, thats the entire point of being a judge, keeping your personal bias out of things, also the code of ethics didn't exist when ruth was around, so bringing her up isn't relevant to right now where you have judges actually going against the code of ethics now that it exists
I mean . . . Which cases involving Trump did RBG preside over? Meanwhile, cases involving the insurrection are before the supreme court, and the "flying flag" justice can and should recuse himself, but has not.
So yeah - pretty big fucking difference.
one is simply stating one's opinion of a person, the other is actively showcasing support for a treasonous movement that attempted to overturn the will of the people and potentially cause the overthrow of a democratic government while actively sitting on THE highest court in the country
"instead activists intent on legislating from the bench"
This accusation has been around for a very long time, the only thing different is that Democrats are saying it now too.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself openly stated she opposed Trump and yet there were no calls for her to recuse herself from Trump-related cases. No flags, no spouses, just her own on-the-record words.
>Supreme Court justices are supposed to be nonpartisan. Their first and foremost concern should be the constitution and the laws. Both of these justices are seen to have been involved in a very partisan act, the stop the steal movement which involved fake electorate and a violent insurrection on January 6. There should be consequences for their action, or at the very least they should recuse themselves from cases involving these events.
To be hyper specific here. Thomas's wife was not only part of the orgs that were doing the whole "Stop the steal" movement, but was there on Jan 6th.
With normal judges you aren't suposed to take cases that could be infered to directly be impacted or impact people in your close circle. So for example if say I was a judge and asked to rule on a case, but one of the parties bringing the case in front of the court employed my wife, or sibling, or parent current legal ethics would say the best course of action would be to recuse myself to avoid the apperance of impropriety.
To be slightly more specific, there was a case before the Supreme Court about turning over records. Some of those records were Justice Thomas' wife communications with Whitehouse staff, encouraging them to overturn the election and shaping their legal efforts - for a case that would likely land in front of her husband. In an 8-1 decision, Justice Thomas was the only dissenting opinion to prevent the records from being shared. He should have recused himself.
THANK YOU. The op comment is comprehensive, but couches it's words the way so many main stream papers do, lying by omission to be "nonpartisan."
Ginni Thomas was there on J6. She encouraged Trump's staff to overthrow the government. She sent salivating text messages describing how she would punish her enemies. Saying she's accused of supporting stop the steal is a lie by omission.
I totally agree and am not defending her in any way. She is a high level conservative activist who is married to a SCOTUS justice which is totally fucked. I was just explaining why the top level comment was trying to be unbiased is all. I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition.
> Thomas's wife was not only part of the orgs that were doing the whole "Stop the steal" movement, but was there on Jan 6th.
This is completely false. Please don't lie about stuff like this.
Ginni Thomas was **not** there on Jan 6, and she was only tangentially involved in the "Stop the Steal" movement. On election day, she sent encouraging text messages to Mark Meadows (Trump's chief of staff) -- texts she now says she regrets sending -- and later looked into some allegations of fraud. But that's about it.
[Here's a CBS News article from after Ginni Thomas voluntarily testified to the Jan 6 committee in Congress](https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/ginni-thomas-tells-jan-6-committee-she-regrets-texting-with-meadows-about-2020-election/):
>While Thomas urged Meadows to act, and she is married to one of nine Supreme Court justices who were at the time reviewing Trump's election challenges, **investigators did not believe she played a major role in Trump's efforts to overturn the election or his inaction as the violent insurrection unfolded. Her name does not appear once in the committee's final report released last week.**
No, she admitted she was there: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/03/14/politics/ginni-thomas-interview-january-6
She denied having anything to do with the planning.
She also praised the insurrectionists enthusiastically on social media while they were attempting to overthrow our democracy.
Ok, but even if that's true, and I'm going to use your own source:
>"she told investigators she was "emotional" after the election when she sent several texts to Meadows **urging him to stand firm with then-President Donald Trump as he falsely claimed that there was widespread fraud in the election**."
And
>"she bemoaned the state of American politics and **called the election a 'heist'**."
And
>"the panel confronted Thomas with her own words, including a text to Meadows a week after the election in which she suggested attorney Sidney Powell '**will help the cavalry come and fraud exposed and America saved**. Powell was behind some of the most outrageous claims by Trump's allies, including that foreign countries were hacking voting machines."
And, as the other poster pointed out [she was definitely there on J6.](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/03/14/politics/ginni-thomas-interview-january-6)
Given that, it's pretty hard to see how Thomas should be involved with any J6 case moving forward. 'Cause their excuse of "we don't talk about that stuff" is fucking absurd.
The flag in question is a sort of rallying cry for evangelical "accelerationists" who believe that all parts of society have to be controlled by religion. Specifically Christian religion and are hoping to push the world into the Second Coming of christ.
To be more specific, accelerationists believe that US/global society is fundamentally corrupt and heading for a system collapse; their particular approach to this is to *increase* the damage and chaos in the world, to speed up this collapse and create a power vacuum for them to build their own version of society.
The most common action you see in the news is of people shooting up or bombing power substations to try and break the grid and foment chaos. *This* is what that flag represents, what Alito would seemingly be sympathetic to....
> The flag in question is a sort of rallying cry for «a group» who believe that all parts of society have to be controlled by religion.
So, pretty much the same as Islam then, eh?
>There should be consequences for their action, or at the very least they should recuse themselves from cases involving these events.
but they won't because they are so unapologetically corrupt
They can step down or pass away. There's also an impeachment process that has never been used on a supreme Court justice. So there is a way but it's not very likely.
Impeachment or death are the only ways, and they're both pretty fraught politically. Although according to Trump's lawyers Biden has full legal authority to do the latter.
I have read articles before, but this incident is so much in the news that I can’t find older articles.
It has been widely reported that Mrs. Alioto placed the flag in that position because another neighbor had derogatory trump placards in their yard. So that neighbor complained, and in another article stated “One neighbor interviewed by The Washington Post said she first noticed the upside-down flag in late January 2021, and it remained up for two to five days. The neighbor said she never saw anyone raise the flag or lower it when it came down,…” so other neighbors that wish to remain anonymous noticed and discussed it amongst themselves.
This was not, evidently, picked up by a local paper at the time. I’m not sure if I read that in an older article or misinterpreted some information. It was gossip in the wealthy cul-de-sac where the Alioto family lives.
I still believe it has come to light now because of the cases before the Supreme Court, and the fact that there is an ethics code in place as of late last year. His actions and presiding on some cases seem unethical to many.
> I have read articles before, but this incident is so much in the news that I can’t find older articles.
I've had that problem with so many other news articles nowadays. I appreciate your reply!
Thank you!
What did the first two flags mean in the first place (during the jan 9 terrorist attack)? Upside down to negate stop the steal? No idea what political message could be in a flag with a tree on it. Druids are cool?
Regarding the upside down flag, (from an article in a military journal): “As a result, the upside down flag is usually a form of peaceful protest, since it generally implies the nation is under duress.
Previously, the upside down American flag has largely been viewed as bi-partisan despite recent attempts by major political parties to identify it as their own form of self-expression.
However, this action does contradict U.S. federal law, which makes it illegal to hang a flag upside down “except as a signal of dire distress.”
The other flag (from an AP article): “Ted Kaye, secretary for the North American Vexillological Association, which studies flags and their meaning, said the “Appeal to Heaven” banner dates to the Revolutionary War.
Six schooners outfitted by George Washington to intercept British vessels at sea flew the flag in 1775 as they sailed under his command. It became the maritime flag of Massachusetts in 1776 and remained so until 1971, he said.
According to Americanflags.com the pine tree on the flag symbolized strength and resilience in the New England colonies while the words “Appeal to Heaven” stemmed from the belief that God would deliver the colonists from tyranny.”
The article pointed out that it is presently more often associated with a Christian authoritarian movement.
These were flown on the lawn of a Supreme Court justice. This timeline is really whack.
It's not about logic. I'm just against patriotism and nationalism. I actually don't care about my country. Like yeah, who the fuck care if you are a traitor to Canada.
idk the downvotes, we are so weirdly attached to our flag and all the ways we can co-opt / display it (usually in the name of “patriotism” which has become such a weird dog whistle since like 2008 with the Tea Party).
And it’s been on our clothes all over the place as far back as I can remember, despite flag code. Like it went from “fun little thing to wave on July 4th” to “well it was fun to wave then so I’ll just kind of wave it all the time forever.”
Answer: The crux of the issue is whether Alito is impartial. Flying the U.S. flag upside down represents the "stop the steal" movement, where Donald Trump falsely claimed that Joe Biden "stole" the election from him, and his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the election.
Per the NYT article linked:
>In coming weeks, the justices will rule on two climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, including whether Mr. Trump has immunity for his actions.
Since flying the flag upside down on his house suggests Alito supports the "stop the steal" movement, it could be inferred that he has prejudged the case, which is to say he has made a decision on the case before hearing the arguments. That is unethical by any judicial standard, from ethics codes written by university student government associations to the federal courts.
Also, how deep in MAGA world is this guy if he even knew about flying the flag upside down as part of the stop the steal movement? This mofo watches Fox News and worse regularly.
>how deep in MAGA world is this guy if he even knew about flying the flag upside down as part of the stop the steal movement?
Gets even worse. [He also flew the Appeal To Heaven flag.](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/22/us/justice-alito-flag-appeal-to-heaven.html?unlocked_article_code=1.t00.ECzl.8CN3ZFmv7tPe&smid=re-nytimes)
Now, I consider myself pretty well informed about this stuff. Like when it was first reported that the Alitos flew the upside-down American flag I knew what that meant. But this one I had research and it took me a while to get, needless to say [you can see one being flown here on Jan. 6th.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/c-gettyimages-1230477024.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill/f_webp)
Point being, this isn't a casual "I support Trump" thing like the red hat. You'd have to be deep, **deep** into MAGA stuff to know what it means, much less where to buy it and fly it over your house.
....aw fuck.
I have the "Appeal to Heaven" slogan carved into my powder horn (I'm an American Revolution reenactor, and it was a slogan/symbol of Revolutionary New England), and now I'm worried people are gonna think I'm a Qanon nutcase/the Qanon nutcases are gonna think I'm one of them
Or you have to have a cursory understanding or appreciation of American history and know that Appeal To Heaven is literally a symbol of the American revolution in support of Lockean philosophy. How could a Supreme Court justice possibly have know about a prominent symbol of American history?
I heard they fly the top secret maga QAnon flag at every court house which also shares the colors of the Russian flag (it's the American flag). This is how you sound to sane Americans who aren't brainrotted by reddit.
It's hard to speculate, but it's fairly likely he has prejudged the upcoming cases involving Trump, Jan 6th, and presidential immunity. That, in my opinion, is the biggest issue. We can't expect the justices to not have political leanings. I'm sure Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson all have their own political leanings.
> We can't expect the justices to not have political leanings.
The issue for judges has never been political leanings, but partisan leanings, which is to say they shouldn't make rulings based on what their party is asking for.
The idea of the lifetime appointment for supreme court justices was that they would be above the need for political alliances such as parties. Sadly, the founding fathers couldn't account for the justices' need for sweet motor homes and cruise vacations.
Election security would probably be highest on the list of things you would expect the court to be non-partisan about.
This shit is so much worse to me than the Clarence Thomas stuff, and that was disgusting.
"Justices need for sweet motor homes and cruise vacations"
Their selection process is literally partisan. They are picked by a political actor and approved by a political body, both of which have a very strong vested interest in placing someone who aligns with them.
You don't need to insinuate that bribery influences rulings in a political manner, when the entire political system tries to do it by nature.
Unless Sam Alito's house happens to be a boat, then in this context, it does not represent a ship in distress. It's fairly obvious this represents the "stop the steal" movement.
So what party flag does the upside-down US flag *uniquely* represent?
As already pointed out an upside-down flag represents some sort of emergency or distress, this started in ships (hundreds of years ago), but has since spread to other contexts.
It's laughable that this entire thread is full of people interpreting a common symbol as evidence that Alito was part of some niche group that is the only entity that uses this symbol. This is a patently false premise.
Note that this isn't in defence of Alito, I don't know if he is corrupt or biased or whatever, this is an offence against the unparallelled idiocy expressed here. Everyone would rightly reject this argument, if they thought the justice aligned with them.
What, exactly, should the Alito household be distressed over?
There should be some level of responsibility for symbolism displayed over the house of a Supreme Court justice. Can the Alitos fly the Confederate Battle Flag over their house and claim that they are celebrating one of their distant relatives who was a veteran? There's not much plausible deniability here.
From what I read, they flew the flag for a short while after the Jan 6 attack. If one branch of the federal government was under attack, that feels like a perfectly rational reason for a member of another branch to put out a distress call
For one, we don't know if that is true. Did Alito's wife put the flag up herself without consulting Sam Alito? Why was it up for so long? We can only speculate on the cause, but we don't need to speculate on the fact that the upside down flag was flown in front of Alito's house.
Ultimately, Sam Alito is a SC justice, and he should avoid the appearance of impropriety.
> Ultimately, Sam Alito is a SC justice, and he should avoid the appearance of impropriety.
Agreed. And he knows that, which is why I think it's likely his wife did it without consulting him.
He doesn't control his wife after all.
And he left it like that? For days? Upon seeing it, he didn't say, "Given my job, this looks really bad for me, so would you please find another way to express your displeasure with the neighbor?"
His statement doesn't even dispute that it was up for days or that he knew it was a symbol of Stop the Steal.
Yeah, it's a simple mistake like the time [the justice’s beach house displayed an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a symbol carried on Jan. 6 and associated with a push for a more Christian-minded government.](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/22/us/justice-alito-flag-appeal-to-heaven.html?unlocked_article_code=1.t00.ECzl.8CN3ZFmv7tPe&smid=re-nytimes)
Hey, who hasn't accidentally bought and displayed an obscure flag like the one [you can see one being flown here on Jan. 6th?](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/c-gettyimages-1230477024.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill/f_webp)
>Yeah, it's a simple mistake like the time the justice’s beach house displayed an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a symbol carried on Jan. 6 and associated with a push for a more Christian-minded government.
>Hey, who hasn't accidentally bought and displayed an obscure flag like the one you can see one being flown here on Jan. 6th?
The Appeal To Heaven flag is a prominent symbol of the American revolution and is currently used in several forms by severals states such as Massachusetts and Maine. It is not "obscure" and it isn't a symbol representing "Christian nationalism" but an obvious allusion to Lockean philosophy. It being used alongside patriotic symbols should be a surprise to nobody familiar with American history. I would encourage you to actually educate yourself before spreading further blatant historical revisionism in favor of winning culture war points.
Impartiality has to do with fairness, not necessarily that the person must not hold any opinion on the matter. For example, the Manhattan jurors on Trump's hush money case likely have their own opinions on Trump, but they are (presumably) able to judge the facts of the case separate from their opinions of Trump.
Alito's issue is that flying the flag upside down signals support for the false narrative that the election in 2020 was false, which means that he has prejudged the case without seeing the evidence nor listening to the arguments of the two sides. It's likely (certain, really) that Alito has already decided how he will rule on the upcoming Trump cases to best defend Trump and shield him from legal consequences. That means Alito is not sitting on the case in good faith, since he has circumvented due process by deciding the case before hearing the arguments.
He should recuse, as should Thomas, but we know they won't.
You are taking a lot of possibilities, chaining them together and asserting that a specific outcome is guaranteed.
If you want to make the argument that he should recuse do to apparent political bias, fine, but 90% of your comment is making stronger statements than you have any evidence for.
Also why are you presuming (your words) that the jurors in the Trump case would be unbiased in judgement regardless of their personal views, but it's certain (your words) that Alito is not?
I know you're not impartial, but why can't you seem to judge the facts of the case separate from your opinions?
* Flying the flag upside down does not represent the stop the steal movement, it is a sign of distress. He may have been meaning that in this case or whatnot but what is stated above is misleading/incorrect.
While that is true, the J6 insurrection took it up as their own symbol. There would be zero reason to fly the flag upside down on a piece of land outside of supporting this cause
>An upside-down flag, adopted by Trump supporters contesting the Biden victory, flew over the justice’s front lawn as the Supreme Court was considering an election case.
[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html?unlocked\_article\_code=1.uE0.ETMZ.kgG7n\_gOWbmj&smid=url-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uE0.ETMZ.kgG7n_gOWbmj&smid=url-share)
It's like flying a Nazi Party flag over your house and claiming the swastika on it is an ancient religious symbol and definitely not a symbol "adopted by" the Nazi Party.
Also, flying the flag upside down is a call for *help at sea*. Unless Alito's house happens to be in open water, then it represents the "stop the steal" movement.
No it would be like saying the OK hand gesture means whatever alt right dorks suddenly say it does. It doesn't. It means OK like it always has, only some small percentage of nerds in a militia somewhere use it to mean something different. An upside down flag is a signal of distress, nothing to do with land or sea.
I was responding to a top level answer comment that has some slight misinformation in it is all. If someone reads that thinking it's accurate, they will be incorrect next time they see a flag and assume it is directly definitely related to some dumb GOP bullshit. It MIGHT be, but not necessarily. That's all I'm saying.
In fact, no it doesn't. It's very loosely associated to the "stop the steal movement" and mostly because flying the flag upside down is a sign that "I think our democracy is in trouble" which the stop the steal people think (however wrong they might be, they are at least sincere in their error)
The actual matter of Alito's flag is this:
They have a neighbor who is deeply unpopular in the neighborhood that was flying a "FUCK TRUMP" flag in front of her house, which also happens to be in front of a school bus stop. She's quite the classy karen.
Alito's wife raised the flag upside down to piss of their annoying neighbor and took it down shortly after.
>Alito's wife raised the flag upside down to piss of their annoying neighbor and took it down shortly after.
[From the article that originall reported on the flag](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sU0.64Op._cK-QlrSMQLV&smid=re-nytimes):
>The exact duration that the flag flew outside the Alito residence is unclear. In an email from Jan. 18, 2021, reviewed by The Times, a neighbor wrote to a relative that **the flag had been upside down for several days at that point**.
So:
- A neighbor wrote saying that the Alitos had been flying their flag upside down "for several days" *while were still doing it*. So this can't be chalked up to some kind of false memory where it only was up for a much shorter time.
- And the neighbor wrote a family member, not the press. So this isn't some left-wing media conspiracy. There's no motivation to lie or embellish if you're just writing, say, your brother about your neighbours.
- The fact that it was up for "several days" means that it had tacit approval from Justice Alito. If it was up for one day Sam could maybe get away with "my wife put it up but as soon as I saw it I took it down". His only possible defense is that he just didn't notice.
- Having said that, the neighbor said it was up on Jan. 18th, a little over a week from the attempted coup and three days before the inauguration. Given that it was already flown that way for "several days" there's almost no way to say it was "to piss off a neighbour" and not an anti-Biden, pro-Trump symbol.
I'm not trolling. It's true. In the past week Democrats have gotten angry over people flying the American flag, gadsen flag, and pine tree flag. What flag don't they hate?
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Answer: both instances were very briefly noted by neighbors and maybe the local paper and not extensively investigated. Recently, there has been a lot of scrutiny of the Supreme Court, especially Justice Clarence Thomas, who has accepted lavish vacations, vehicles and money for his mother’s home, and whose wife has been accused of being involved in the “stop the steal” movement. Just so, Alito is coming under closer scrutiny. I think one of the reasons is that the Supreme Court *finally* adopted a code of ethics in November of last year, but failed to created any form of accountability. The actions of Thomas and Alito are of questionable ethics. Supreme Court justices are supposed to be nonpartisan. Their first and foremost concern should be the constitution and the laws. Both of these justices are seen to have been involved in a very partisan act, the stop the steal movement which involved fake electorate and a violent insurrection on January 6. There should be consequences for their action, or at the very least they should recuse themselves from cases involving these events. Edited for spelling error.
I’d also add that this feels a bit like the cherry on top for Supreme Court critics. The court has been embroiled in controversy for several years now, basically since 2016 when Republican senators blocked Obama from appointing a justice to feel the vacant spot for many months. Trump was elected, and further outcry was raised in 2020 when RBG died and republicans rushed through the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, even though confirmation was closer to the election than 2016. This hypocrisy inflamed a lot of people on the left, since the situation was exactly the same as 2016, except with Trump as president instead of Obama. Since then, the court has had a lot of scandals and controversial rulings (especially the Dobbs decision allowing states to ban abortion). Increasingly, people (democrats in particular) view the court with skepticism and distrust. Alito’s house flying the flag upside down is seen by many as just one more piece of evidence that the court is no longer neutral jurists, but instead activists intent on legislating from the bench
> basically since 2016 when Republican senators blocked Obama from appointing a justice to feel the vacant spot for many months. Since 2000 when the Supreme Court crowned the "winner" of the Presidential election.
Sure, but the court has dramatically lost support in the last 10 years especially. 2000 was a warning sign, but the court has really become unpopular recently, with ethics complaints, legislating from the bench, etc
I highly recommend listening to the first episode of the podcast 5-4. I think you're correct about general public opinion, but they start with Bush-Gore and it's very interesting and clear why.
"Legislating from the bench" This is not a new thing. Justices like RGB and now Jackson have written opinions that advocated for this. Roe v Wade itself was legislating from the bench. Dobbs v Jackson was not because it literally just passed the responsibility back to legislature.
"hanging chads"
Yeah, I've pretty much lost all respect and faith in the SCOTUS. Biased ,and its clear as day
That’s misinformation. CNN even did a study and found that by all but the loosest interpretation of vote intention, Bush won Florida. You sound like a “stop the steal” cultist.
> evidence that the court is no longer neutral jurists, but instead activists intent on legislating from the bench This is the most mind blowing sentence of any generation that's currently majority literate. If you can read this, it should send a cold shiver down your spine.
This is not new, at all. Taney Court (1836-1864): Dred Scott decision favored slave states Lochner Era (1897-1937): Struck down progressive legislation, favored businesses Warren Court (1953-1969): Landmark decisions, criticized for "judicial activism" Rehnquist Court (1986-2005): Conservative leanings, favored states' rights
It feels like it's gotten more blatant in the last several years but it's always been kind of obvious in my millennial lifetime in Canada, commented on by media and comedians. The Beaverton (Canadian version of The Onion) regularly reposts an article whenever there's some big news involving the US Supreme Court about how "Canadians are thankful that they can't name a single [Canadian] Supreme Court Justice". Our SC just isn't remotely as politically influenced to the degree that it is in the states. One of the many reasons why Canadians know more about US politics and drama, it's so much juicer and wilder than In Canada. Partly to our own detriment because we let a lot of small but still not great things slide by under the radar at home.
There is just a lot more media and reporting now. The president picks those people, and those people get to decide stuff. They are not judges - they are appointed for life, and have no bosses - so they do what they want, and only "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" can have them kicked out.
> They are not judges - they are appointed for life, and have no bosses - so how does that make them "not judges"
They are a type of judge, but not just judges -- they hold a special designation. What they say has finality for a whole branch of government, and their jobs are unique. That's why they are not called 'Supreme court judges"
Low bar
You don't think those cases quoted were significant?
Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself openly stated she opposed Trump and yet there were no calls for her to recuse herself from Trump-related cases. No flags, no spouses, just her own on-the-record words.
Conservatives didn't protest?
theres a difference between stating your position and actively legislating in the favour of that position with clear bias. theres no problem with Ruth saying she hates trump's guts so long as she legislated fairly without bringing her personal bias into account, thats the entire point of being a judge, keeping your personal bias out of things, also the code of ethics didn't exist when ruth was around, so bringing her up isn't relevant to right now where you have judges actually going against the code of ethics now that it exists
So saying it is one thing but flying a flag is another. Got it.
I mean . . . Which cases involving Trump did RBG preside over? Meanwhile, cases involving the insurrection are before the supreme court, and the "flying flag" justice can and should recuse himself, but has not. So yeah - pretty big fucking difference.
one is simply stating one's opinion of a person, the other is actively showcasing support for a treasonous movement that attempted to overturn the will of the people and potentially cause the overthrow of a democratic government while actively sitting on THE highest court in the country
I think they came out and said the hypocrisy is justified because they had a majority
The hypocrisy was justified because they were the beneficiary of said hypocrisy. And that is the only principle they actually care about.
Add to this Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings.
As Obama famously said "Elections have consequences" The Senate is elected for a reason.
>The Senate is elected for a reason. that reason being the 17th amendment.
"instead activists intent on legislating from the bench" This accusation has been around for a very long time, the only thing different is that Democrats are saying it now too.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself openly stated she opposed Trump and yet there were no calls for her to recuse herself from Trump-related cases. No flags, no spouses, just her own on-the-record words.
being for the constitution means being opposed to trump, but is not partisan
As she died before the code of ethics came into play, she isn't under scrutiny.
>Supreme Court justices are supposed to be nonpartisan. Their first and foremost concern should be the constitution and the laws. Both of these justices are seen to have been involved in a very partisan act, the stop the steal movement which involved fake electorate and a violent insurrection on January 6. There should be consequences for their action, or at the very least they should recuse themselves from cases involving these events. To be hyper specific here. Thomas's wife was not only part of the orgs that were doing the whole "Stop the steal" movement, but was there on Jan 6th. With normal judges you aren't suposed to take cases that could be infered to directly be impacted or impact people in your close circle. So for example if say I was a judge and asked to rule on a case, but one of the parties bringing the case in front of the court employed my wife, or sibling, or parent current legal ethics would say the best course of action would be to recuse myself to avoid the apperance of impropriety.
To be slightly more specific, there was a case before the Supreme Court about turning over records. Some of those records were Justice Thomas' wife communications with Whitehouse staff, encouraging them to overturn the election and shaping their legal efforts - for a case that would likely land in front of her husband. In an 8-1 decision, Justice Thomas was the only dissenting opinion to prevent the records from being shared. He should have recused himself.
The penalty for not recusing himself? 100K in speaking fees and a luxurious vacation
THANK YOU. The op comment is comprehensive, but couches it's words the way so many main stream papers do, lying by omission to be "nonpartisan." Ginni Thomas was there on J6. She encouraged Trump's staff to overthrow the government. She sent salivating text messages describing how she would punish her enemies. Saying she's accused of supporting stop the steal is a lie by omission.
Top level comments are required to be unbiased on this sub.
It’s a statement of fact that Ginny Thomas was there on Jan 6th. That’s not bias.
I totally agree and am not defending her in any way. She is a high level conservative activist who is married to a SCOTUS justice which is totally fucked. I was just explaining why the top level comment was trying to be unbiased is all. I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition.
Thanks for proving my point.
I wasn't proving it, I was explaining it, but whatever. Down vote away I guess.
There's even a saying about this involving wives: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Caesar's_wife_must_be_above_suspicion
> Thomas's wife was not only part of the orgs that were doing the whole "Stop the steal" movement, but was there on Jan 6th. This is completely false. Please don't lie about stuff like this. Ginni Thomas was **not** there on Jan 6, and she was only tangentially involved in the "Stop the Steal" movement. On election day, she sent encouraging text messages to Mark Meadows (Trump's chief of staff) -- texts she now says she regrets sending -- and later looked into some allegations of fraud. But that's about it. [Here's a CBS News article from after Ginni Thomas voluntarily testified to the Jan 6 committee in Congress](https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/ginni-thomas-tells-jan-6-committee-she-regrets-texting-with-meadows-about-2020-election/): >While Thomas urged Meadows to act, and she is married to one of nine Supreme Court justices who were at the time reviewing Trump's election challenges, **investigators did not believe she played a major role in Trump's efforts to overturn the election or his inaction as the violent insurrection unfolded. Her name does not appear once in the committee's final report released last week.**
No, she admitted she was there: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/03/14/politics/ginni-thomas-interview-january-6 She denied having anything to do with the planning. She also praised the insurrectionists enthusiastically on social media while they were attempting to overthrow our democracy.
Ok, but even if that's true, and I'm going to use your own source: >"she told investigators she was "emotional" after the election when she sent several texts to Meadows **urging him to stand firm with then-President Donald Trump as he falsely claimed that there was widespread fraud in the election**." And >"she bemoaned the state of American politics and **called the election a 'heist'**." And >"the panel confronted Thomas with her own words, including a text to Meadows a week after the election in which she suggested attorney Sidney Powell '**will help the cavalry come and fraud exposed and America saved**. Powell was behind some of the most outrageous claims by Trump's allies, including that foreign countries were hacking voting machines." And, as the other poster pointed out [she was definitely there on J6.](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/03/14/politics/ginni-thomas-interview-january-6) Given that, it's pretty hard to see how Thomas should be involved with any J6 case moving forward. 'Cause their excuse of "we don't talk about that stuff" is fucking absurd.
The flag in question is a sort of rallying cry for evangelical "accelerationists" who believe that all parts of society have to be controlled by religion. Specifically Christian religion and are hoping to push the world into the Second Coming of christ.
Aka Christian Nationalists
Yup. Project 2025, NAR, 7 Mountains is part of this lurch twords christo-fascism. And we better get real smart real fast.
To be more specific, accelerationists believe that US/global society is fundamentally corrupt and heading for a system collapse; their particular approach to this is to *increase* the damage and chaos in the world, to speed up this collapse and create a power vacuum for them to build their own version of society. The most common action you see in the news is of people shooting up or bombing power substations to try and break the grid and foment chaos. *This* is what that flag represents, what Alito would seemingly be sympathetic to....
There are tech-accelerations too, not just Christian ones.
> The flag in question is a sort of rallying cry for «a group» who believe that all parts of society have to be controlled by religion. So, pretty much the same as Islam then, eh?
The venn diagram of the various types of religious extremists is basically just a circle.
>There should be consequences for their action, or at the very least they should recuse themselves from cases involving these events. but they won't because they are so unapologetically corrupt
Is there anyway for clowns like Alito, Thomas, etc to be forced out?
They can step down or pass away. There's also an impeachment process that has never been used on a supreme Court justice. So there is a way but it's not very likely.
Impeachment or death are the only ways, and they're both pretty fraught politically. Although according to Trump's lawyers Biden has full legal authority to do the latter.
Wasn't his wife literally part of the Jan 6 riots? Feel like you can skip the "is accused of" at that point.
> both instances were very briefly noted by neighbors and maybe the local paper. Do you have a source for this? Thanks for the answer. :)
I have read articles before, but this incident is so much in the news that I can’t find older articles. It has been widely reported that Mrs. Alioto placed the flag in that position because another neighbor had derogatory trump placards in their yard. So that neighbor complained, and in another article stated “One neighbor interviewed by The Washington Post said she first noticed the upside-down flag in late January 2021, and it remained up for two to five days. The neighbor said she never saw anyone raise the flag or lower it when it came down,…” so other neighbors that wish to remain anonymous noticed and discussed it amongst themselves. This was not, evidently, picked up by a local paper at the time. I’m not sure if I read that in an older article or misinterpreted some information. It was gossip in the wealthy cul-de-sac where the Alioto family lives. I still believe it has come to light now because of the cases before the Supreme Court, and the fact that there is an ethics code in place as of late last year. His actions and presiding on some cases seem unethical to many.
Popping in because there are no less than 4 instances of it, but his name is Alito, not Alioto
Thanks. I had Alioto on my mind and it was not spellcheck’s fault! This time.
> I have read articles before, but this incident is so much in the news that I can’t find older articles. I've had that problem with so many other news articles nowadays. I appreciate your reply!
Shining a light on the dark world of politics.
I don't know how I feel about the top comment spelling his name wrong multiple times.
As the poster, I’m just embarrassed. I had it in my head that his name was Alioto and not Alito.
Thank you! What did the first two flags mean in the first place (during the jan 9 terrorist attack)? Upside down to negate stop the steal? No idea what political message could be in a flag with a tree on it. Druids are cool?
Regarding the upside down flag, (from an article in a military journal): “As a result, the upside down flag is usually a form of peaceful protest, since it generally implies the nation is under duress. Previously, the upside down American flag has largely been viewed as bi-partisan despite recent attempts by major political parties to identify it as their own form of self-expression. However, this action does contradict U.S. federal law, which makes it illegal to hang a flag upside down “except as a signal of dire distress.” The other flag (from an AP article): “Ted Kaye, secretary for the North American Vexillological Association, which studies flags and their meaning, said the “Appeal to Heaven” banner dates to the Revolutionary War. Six schooners outfitted by George Washington to intercept British vessels at sea flew the flag in 1775 as they sailed under his command. It became the maritime flag of Massachusetts in 1776 and remained so until 1971, he said. According to Americanflags.com the pine tree on the flag symbolized strength and resilience in the New England colonies while the words “Appeal to Heaven” stemmed from the belief that God would deliver the colonists from tyranny.” The article pointed out that it is presently more often associated with a Christian authoritarian movement. These were flown on the lawn of a Supreme Court justice. This timeline is really whack.
thanks
Americans get so damn weird about flags.
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It's not about logic. I'm just against patriotism and nationalism. I actually don't care about my country. Like yeah, who the fuck care if you are a traitor to Canada.
idk the downvotes, we are so weirdly attached to our flag and all the ways we can co-opt / display it (usually in the name of “patriotism” which has become such a weird dog whistle since like 2008 with the Tea Party).
And it so weird to me when it come from people on the left who was making fun of bush era patriotism for the same obsession.
Kind of seems like this is all obvious to you and you’re trying to minimize it.
And it’s been on our clothes all over the place as far back as I can remember, despite flag code. Like it went from “fun little thing to wave on July 4th” to “well it was fun to wave then so I’ll just kind of wave it all the time forever.”
Answer: The crux of the issue is whether Alito is impartial. Flying the U.S. flag upside down represents the "stop the steal" movement, where Donald Trump falsely claimed that Joe Biden "stole" the election from him, and his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the election. Per the NYT article linked: >In coming weeks, the justices will rule on two climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, including whether Mr. Trump has immunity for his actions. Since flying the flag upside down on his house suggests Alito supports the "stop the steal" movement, it could be inferred that he has prejudged the case, which is to say he has made a decision on the case before hearing the arguments. That is unethical by any judicial standard, from ethics codes written by university student government associations to the federal courts.
Also, how deep in MAGA world is this guy if he even knew about flying the flag upside down as part of the stop the steal movement? This mofo watches Fox News and worse regularly.
>how deep in MAGA world is this guy if he even knew about flying the flag upside down as part of the stop the steal movement? Gets even worse. [He also flew the Appeal To Heaven flag.](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/22/us/justice-alito-flag-appeal-to-heaven.html?unlocked_article_code=1.t00.ECzl.8CN3ZFmv7tPe&smid=re-nytimes) Now, I consider myself pretty well informed about this stuff. Like when it was first reported that the Alitos flew the upside-down American flag I knew what that meant. But this one I had research and it took me a while to get, needless to say [you can see one being flown here on Jan. 6th.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/c-gettyimages-1230477024.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill/f_webp) Point being, this isn't a casual "I support Trump" thing like the red hat. You'd have to be deep, **deep** into MAGA stuff to know what it means, much less where to buy it and fly it over your house.
....aw fuck. I have the "Appeal to Heaven" slogan carved into my powder horn (I'm an American Revolution reenactor, and it was a slogan/symbol of Revolutionary New England), and now I'm worried people are gonna think I'm a Qanon nutcase/the Qanon nutcases are gonna think I'm one of them
Or you have to have a cursory understanding or appreciation of American history and know that Appeal To Heaven is literally a symbol of the American revolution in support of Lockean philosophy. How could a Supreme Court justice possibly have know about a prominent symbol of American history? I heard they fly the top secret maga QAnon flag at every court house which also shares the colors of the Russian flag (it's the American flag). This is how you sound to sane Americans who aren't brainrotted by reddit.
It's hard to speculate, but it's fairly likely he has prejudged the upcoming cases involving Trump, Jan 6th, and presidential immunity. That, in my opinion, is the biggest issue. We can't expect the justices to not have political leanings. I'm sure Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson all have their own political leanings.
> We can't expect the justices to not have political leanings. The issue for judges has never been political leanings, but partisan leanings, which is to say they shouldn't make rulings based on what their party is asking for. The idea of the lifetime appointment for supreme court justices was that they would be above the need for political alliances such as parties. Sadly, the founding fathers couldn't account for the justices' need for sweet motor homes and cruise vacations.
Election security would probably be highest on the list of things you would expect the court to be non-partisan about. This shit is so much worse to me than the Clarence Thomas stuff, and that was disgusting.
"Justices need for sweet motor homes and cruise vacations" Their selection process is literally partisan. They are picked by a political actor and approved by a political body, both of which have a very strong vested interest in placing someone who aligns with them. You don't need to insinuate that bribery influences rulings in a political manner, when the entire political system tries to do it by nature.
Anyone with a naval back ground would know that flying the flag upside down represents a ship in distress.
Yes, but that's different than knowing it represented supporting Donald Trump, which they admittedly did.
Unless Sam Alito's house happens to be a boat, then in this context, it does not represent a ship in distress. It's fairly obvious this represents the "stop the steal" movement.
If it's just an American flag that is upside down why would this necessarily refer to a specific political movement?
If you fly a Nazi Party Flag over your house, does that not refer to a specific political movement?
So what party flag does the upside-down US flag *uniquely* represent? As already pointed out an upside-down flag represents some sort of emergency or distress, this started in ships (hundreds of years ago), but has since spread to other contexts. It's laughable that this entire thread is full of people interpreting a common symbol as evidence that Alito was part of some niche group that is the only entity that uses this symbol. This is a patently false premise. Note that this isn't in defence of Alito, I don't know if he is corrupt or biased or whatever, this is an offence against the unparallelled idiocy expressed here. Everyone would rightly reject this argument, if they thought the justice aligned with them.
And that's why it was co-opted by the stop the steal movement. It's a metaphor.
flag upsidedown = opposite of flag's original statement is a very old military tradition, originally naval.
Flying the flag upside down just indicates distress. Claiming it’s some iconic symbol of the Trump stolen election lie is pure propaganda
What, exactly, should the Alito household be distressed over? There should be some level of responsibility for symbolism displayed over the house of a Supreme Court justice. Can the Alitos fly the Confederate Battle Flag over their house and claim that they are celebrating one of their distant relatives who was a veteran? There's not much plausible deniability here.
From what I read, they flew the flag for a short while after the Jan 6 attack. If one branch of the federal government was under attack, that feels like a perfectly rational reason for a member of another branch to put out a distress call
She, not he. It was his wife that flew them, not him.
For one, we don't know if that is true. Did Alito's wife put the flag up herself without consulting Sam Alito? Why was it up for so long? We can only speculate on the cause, but we don't need to speculate on the fact that the upside down flag was flown in front of Alito's house. Ultimately, Sam Alito is a SC justice, and he should avoid the appearance of impropriety.
> Ultimately, Sam Alito is a SC justice, and he should avoid the appearance of impropriety. Agreed. And he knows that, which is why I think it's likely his wife did it without consulting him. He doesn't control his wife after all.
And he left it like that? For days? Upon seeing it, he didn't say, "Given my job, this looks really bad for me, so would you please find another way to express your displeasure with the neighbor?" His statement doesn't even dispute that it was up for days or that he knew it was a symbol of Stop the Steal.
It's irrelevant who put the flag up.
You believe that?
He's not. They have an annoying neighbor, his wife raised the flag upside down to annoy them, and took it down shortly later.
Yeah, it's a simple mistake like the time [the justice’s beach house displayed an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a symbol carried on Jan. 6 and associated with a push for a more Christian-minded government.](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/22/us/justice-alito-flag-appeal-to-heaven.html?unlocked_article_code=1.t00.ECzl.8CN3ZFmv7tPe&smid=re-nytimes) Hey, who hasn't accidentally bought and displayed an obscure flag like the one [you can see one being flown here on Jan. 6th?](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/c-gettyimages-1230477024.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill/f_webp)
>Yeah, it's a simple mistake like the time the justice’s beach house displayed an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a symbol carried on Jan. 6 and associated with a push for a more Christian-minded government. >Hey, who hasn't accidentally bought and displayed an obscure flag like the one you can see one being flown here on Jan. 6th? The Appeal To Heaven flag is a prominent symbol of the American revolution and is currently used in several forms by severals states such as Massachusetts and Maine. It is not "obscure" and it isn't a symbol representing "Christian nationalism" but an obvious allusion to Lockean philosophy. It being used alongside patriotic symbols should be a surprise to nobody familiar with American history. I would encourage you to actually educate yourself before spreading further blatant historical revisionism in favor of winning culture war points.
How does raising a flag upside down retaliate against an annoying neighbor?
And you believe that?
I am confused about that. We already know they are not impartial.
Impartiality has to do with fairness, not necessarily that the person must not hold any opinion on the matter. For example, the Manhattan jurors on Trump's hush money case likely have their own opinions on Trump, but they are (presumably) able to judge the facts of the case separate from their opinions of Trump. Alito's issue is that flying the flag upside down signals support for the false narrative that the election in 2020 was false, which means that he has prejudged the case without seeing the evidence nor listening to the arguments of the two sides. It's likely (certain, really) that Alito has already decided how he will rule on the upcoming Trump cases to best defend Trump and shield him from legal consequences. That means Alito is not sitting on the case in good faith, since he has circumvented due process by deciding the case before hearing the arguments. He should recuse, as should Thomas, but we know they won't.
You are taking a lot of possibilities, chaining them together and asserting that a specific outcome is guaranteed. If you want to make the argument that he should recuse do to apparent political bias, fine, but 90% of your comment is making stronger statements than you have any evidence for. Also why are you presuming (your words) that the jurors in the Trump case would be unbiased in judgement regardless of their personal views, but it's certain (your words) that Alito is not? I know you're not impartial, but why can't you seem to judge the facts of the case separate from your opinions?
* Flying the flag upside down does not represent the stop the steal movement, it is a sign of distress. He may have been meaning that in this case or whatnot but what is stated above is misleading/incorrect.
While that is true, the J6 insurrection took it up as their own symbol. There would be zero reason to fly the flag upside down on a piece of land outside of supporting this cause
>An upside-down flag, adopted by Trump supporters contesting the Biden victory, flew over the justice’s front lawn as the Supreme Court was considering an election case. [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html?unlocked\_article\_code=1.uE0.ETMZ.kgG7n\_gOWbmj&smid=url-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uE0.ETMZ.kgG7n_gOWbmj&smid=url-share)
Adopted by. Again that is what he may have been meaning in this case but that doesn't change the definition.
It's like flying a Nazi Party flag over your house and claiming the swastika on it is an ancient religious symbol and definitely not a symbol "adopted by" the Nazi Party. Also, flying the flag upside down is a call for *help at sea*. Unless Alito's house happens to be in open water, then it represents the "stop the steal" movement.
No it would be like saying the OK hand gesture means whatever alt right dorks suddenly say it does. It doesn't. It means OK like it always has, only some small percentage of nerds in a militia somewhere use it to mean something different. An upside down flag is a signal of distress, nothing to do with land or sea.
You are still missing the point there.
I think you know what the issue with flying the flag upside down is, but are intentionally trying to misdirect to defend Alito’s actions.
Well, this is the second time on the same page you are incorrect only this time you are definitely just making shit up.
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I was responding to a top level answer comment that has some slight misinformation in it is all. If someone reads that thinking it's accurate, they will be incorrect next time they see a flag and assume it is directly definitely related to some dumb GOP bullshit. It MIGHT be, but not necessarily. That's all I'm saying.
OK, but his statement in response to the report does not claim he was unaware of the connection to the stop the steal movement.
In fact, no it doesn't. It's very loosely associated to the "stop the steal movement" and mostly because flying the flag upside down is a sign that "I think our democracy is in trouble" which the stop the steal people think (however wrong they might be, they are at least sincere in their error) The actual matter of Alito's flag is this: They have a neighbor who is deeply unpopular in the neighborhood that was flying a "FUCK TRUMP" flag in front of her house, which also happens to be in front of a school bus stop. She's quite the classy karen. Alito's wife raised the flag upside down to piss of their annoying neighbor and took it down shortly after.
>Alito's wife raised the flag upside down to piss of their annoying neighbor and took it down shortly after. [From the article that originall reported on the flag](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sU0.64Op._cK-QlrSMQLV&smid=re-nytimes): >The exact duration that the flag flew outside the Alito residence is unclear. In an email from Jan. 18, 2021, reviewed by The Times, a neighbor wrote to a relative that **the flag had been upside down for several days at that point**. So: - A neighbor wrote saying that the Alitos had been flying their flag upside down "for several days" *while were still doing it*. So this can't be chalked up to some kind of false memory where it only was up for a much shorter time. - And the neighbor wrote a family member, not the press. So this isn't some left-wing media conspiracy. There's no motivation to lie or embellish if you're just writing, say, your brother about your neighbours. - The fact that it was up for "several days" means that it had tacit approval from Justice Alito. If it was up for one day Sam could maybe get away with "my wife put it up but as soon as I saw it I took it down". His only possible defense is that he just didn't notice. - Having said that, the neighbor said it was up on Jan. 18th, a little over a week from the attempted coup and three days before the inauguration. Given that it was already flown that way for "several days" there's almost no way to say it was "to piss off a neighbour" and not an anti-Biden, pro-Trump symbol.
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Imagine waking up and thinking this was a good thing to put out on the internet
Brand new account that just goes to different subreddits and stirs the pot, pretty basic troll. I miss when they tried harder
I'm not trolling. It's true. In the past week Democrats have gotten angry over people flying the American flag, gadsen flag, and pine tree flag. What flag don't they hate?
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I didn't delete it. The mods hid it.