Frank Miele, a columnist for RealClearPolitics, recently noticed that an “extraordinary” number of houses in his town of Kalispell, Montana, had American flags displayed on their front porches. He also noticed that Old Glory was still evident on those porches long after July Fourth had passed, and at dozens of homes.
Mr. Miele determined that this gesture was “entirely spontaneous” after talking to his neighbors and later conducting a Google search on the emerging phenomenon.
One neighbor told Mr. Miele that the U.S. flag on his porch — plus an additional pro-Trump flag — was his way of replying to “Democratic socialists” who were opposed to traditional patriotism.
“It’s not that everyday Democrats don’t love the country, but they are in thrall to an ideology that is willing to sacrifice everything uniquely American and replace it with a self-loathing counterfeit orthodoxy that would rob us of our ingenuity, our character and our exceptionalism. Most of us don’t want to fight, certainly not with guns, but we know that if we don’t fight back at all, we will be absorbed and erased and canceled,” Mr. Miele wrote.
“The flag stands for freedom. It’s against the racist indoctrination of critical race theory. It’s against mask mandates without science. It’s against restrictions on religion. It’s against open borders. It’s against rewriting history. It’s against murder in our cities and criminals given free rein. It’s against rigged elections. It’s against censorship. In short, it’s against what our Founding Fathers called tyranny,” the columnist said.
“So, if there isn’t a movement to #FlyYourFlag, maybe it is time to start one. Maybe it will start in a small neighborhood of hard-working Americans in Northwest Montana. I’d like to think so,” the columnist concluded.
BILL MAHER AWAKENS
“How bad does this atmosphere we’re living in have to get before the people who say cancel culture is overblown admit that it is in fact an insanity that is swallowing up the world?” asked HBO prime-time host Bill Maher in a tweet on Monday.
He added the hashtag #WokeOlympics for emphasis.
Mr. Maher also pointed out the ratings for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo have dropped compared to other years, and referred to the current event as the “bummer games.”
“Please don’t turn the Olympics into the Oscars,” he advised.
THE MASK QUANDARY
To mask or not to mask — that is the question. And it’s become politicized.
“A bare majority of Americans, driven by Democrats, support bringing back masking and social distancing guidelines,” says a Monmouth University Poll.
Public anxiety about contracting COVID-19 has increased after hitting an all-time low earlier in July.
“Before the CDC reversed course and announced new masking guidelines last week, the poll found a majority of Americans (52%) at least somewhat support instituting or reinstituting facemask and social distancing guidelines in their state. Another 46% are opposed. The partisan split on this question is huge – 85% of Democrats support bringing back guidelines while 73% of Republicans oppose it. Independents are divided with 42% in support and 55% opposed,” the poll analysis said.
Federal health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention get a fairly good review — 57% of the public give them the nod — but another 59% say these agencies have been giving mixed messages about COVID-19 risks.
“I think Americans acknowledge that the CDC and other health agencies have to deal with a lot of uncertainty. Still, it is tough for the average person to understand the flip from masks being optional to being necessary again. The messaging has not been clear,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.
A HANDY SUMMATION
“Joe Biden’s border crisis is raging completely out of control,” reports Tommy Pigott, rapid response director of the Republican National Committee.
“During a single 24 hour period this weekend, there were 3,000 border encounters in the Rio Grande Valley Sector alone. From Friday to Sunday, there were over 8,100. Shocking new footage shows a single group of up to 1,000 people being held by Border Patrol, and estimates place July border crossings above 180,000 once again as Biden’s crisis rages nonstop,” he advises, citing new figures compiled by the Homeland Security Department, the U.S. Border Patrol and Fox News.
“And as Biden pushes mask mandates for vaccinated Americans and threatens more COVID restrictions, the number of COVID positive illegal immigrants is surging by as much as 900%. Worse still, the Biden administration is releasing illegal immigrants with COVID into local communities,” Mr. Pigott said.
A RECENT TRUMP DECLARATION
Former President Donald Trump continues to issue daily comments about the state of things in America, often with some emphatic punctuation. Here’s one from Monday, sent by email from SaveAmerica PAC.
“If I were President right now, with COVID raging back, people being shot and killed in record numbers all over our cities, and the Border totally open with criminals and heavily infected COVID people pouring through our southern border and into our communities, the Fake News Media would be having an absolute field day. When I left office law enforcement was supported like never before, the border was strong, safe, and secure (the best ever!), and I got a highly effective vaccine developed in less than 9 months (when it was supposed to take 5 years, or more!). Hopefully, people will NEVER FORGET!” Mr. Trump advised.
POLL DU JOUR
• 29% of U.S. adults describe the current state of the U.S. economy as “poor”; 44% of Republicans, 33% of independents and 12% of Democrats agree.
• 38% overall describe the economy as “fair”; 38% of Republicans, 44% of independents and 39% of Democrats agree.
• 23% describe the economy as “good”; 14% of Republicans, 18% of independents and 40% of Democrats agree.
• 3% describe the economy as “excellent”; 1% of Republicans, 3% of independents and 5% of Democrats agree.
• 6% “don’t know”; 3% of Republicans, 3% of independents and 4% of Democrats agree.
SOURCE: An Economist/YouGov poll of 1,500 U.S. adults conducted July 24-27.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.
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