Another Provocative Flag Was Flown at Another Alito Home

[demmiblue]

Source: NYT

Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., another provocative symbol was displayed at his vacation house in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs.

This time, it was the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Also known as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for former President Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms.

Three photographs obtained by The New York Times, along with accounts from a half-dozen neighbors and passers-by, show that the Appeal to Heaven flag was aloft at the Alito home on Long Beach Island in July and September of 2023. A Google street view image from late August also shows the flag.

The photographs, each taken independently, are from four different dates. It is not clear whether the flag was displayed continuously during those months or how long it was flown overall.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/22/us/justice-alito-flag-appeal-to-heaven.html

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Link to tweet

[unblock]

1. I'm sure the Mrs. got into a spat with a neighbor there, too.

[Think. Again.]

2. Word on the street says...

...the "Mrs." thought it was an air freshener.

[Probatim]

3. Did she dodge the same tree before she wrecked her car?

[Think. Again.]

4. (I see what you did there)

[sop]

5. What's next, a pic of Alito wearing a red MAGA trucker's cap?

[erronis]

6. And Conan-Barrett showing up for work in her red robes and nunnery maggot hat.

[HandmaidsTaleUntold]

7. His Job As Impartial Judge Needs To Be Terminated ASAP

[riversedge]

8. who has the authority to do that?? -or maybe I should say-the guts to do that??

[PlutosHeart]

11. Perhaps a bill board right in front of the SC

building needs to be erected? Then call the media to document it hoping the information gets out. Or signs in places where it is legal to erect them posting these photos.

This group of Conservative Justices are liars to the country. It will take a public mass display I think and not these long drawn out "discussions" on committees. They need to be shamed.

[riversedge]

13. I do not think the SC Rightwing justices can be shamed at this point.

[littlemissmartypants]

22. Psychopaths usually cannot. ❤️

[mwb970]

31. Conservatives do not experience shame.

Shame requires self-awareness, which conservatives generally lack.

[Aviation Pro]

9. Yeah, the Apocalypse Now solution is not a solution

And never should be.

[COL Mustard]

10. The goddamn right co-opts everything

I used to be proud of 1776. I finished high school in 1976 and I was proud to celebrate the bicentennial. Now you can’t fly the 13-star flag.

Also, I’m on the Metro now, and there’s a guy wearing a MAGA shirt and a yarmulke. I would love to tell him that we made America great when we voted the orange turd out

[GB_RN]

16. Wha?

Also, I’m on the Metro now, and there’s a guy wearing a MAGA shirt and a yarmulke.

Now there’s a combination I never expected to ever see. That’s like roaches for Raid. Chickens for KFC. Slugs for salt.

Seriously, that’s getting to be borderline “Sieg Heil” and Nazi salute territory. And yeah, not going any further with this…

I am truly baffled by how many people have been absolutely suckered into voting against their own self interests. 🤷?♂️🤦?♂️

[COL Mustard]

17. I'm not a big scene maker

So I let it go.

[GB_RN]

24. I Don't Disagree With You There...

I’m the same way. And I hope I didn’t come across as if I was encouraging a confrontation. I was just shocked by the incongruity of the description.

[COL Mustard]

26. Yeah, me too.

Dammit I wanted to say something...but probably not worth it.

[Quanto Magnus]

12. Throwing the Mrs. under the bus in 3... 2.... 1... n/t

[GB_RN]

14. My Take...

Last edited Wed May 22, 2024, 08:19 PM - Edit history (1)

(In)Justice Scammy Alito (Q-Medieval Times) and his wife are welcome to their opinions. The 1st Amendment protects them as well as us. However. Someone in Scammy’s position (and by extension, his wife) should know that advertising a slanted, and controversial (I’m being forgiving with my adjectives) political message, should be an absolute no. Neither in public, nor in view of the public, either.

Scammy should absolutely know, without having to be told, that shit like this undermines public confidence in the SCOTUS. And Scammy has already done plenty of damage to the Court’s credibility and reputation, without piling on stupid stunt after stupid stunt. Being in this situation, any normal judge would recognize that his or her partiality could more than reasonably be called into question, and would recuse themselves from any cases that might have anything to do with aforementioned political view.

Now, all that being said, it’s been painfully obvious for a long time that neither Scammy nor his sock puppet, Clarence “Uncle Slappy” Thomas, give or have ever given one shit about the Court or its reputation. And, we all know that Scammy and Slappy are both arrogant pricks who don’t give a flying fuck about what the public thinks of them either. So, both will go on to hear each and every case involving Cantaloupe Caligula and trying their damnedest to delay court cases, throw out election results, etc., etc., ad nauseam.

To which I can only say this: They can both go fuck themselves. Just go fuck right off and keep fucking off. Permanently.

[COL Mustard]

18. Uncle Slappy...

[GB_RN]

27. Wish I Could Take Credit For That One...

But it’s not mine. Credit for that is owed to the late, great Bartcop of Bartcop.com, real name, Terry Coppage. Terry died in ‘14 due to complications from a rare form of leukemia. He was one of the first liberal bloggers, going back to ‘96 or so.

He liked to refer to his site as the tequila treehouse and would frequently refer to his favorite brand of tequila, Chinaco. Specifically, Chinaco Añejo.

Bart blended political news with humor and facts for pounding Reichwing Flying Monkeys. Every so often, he’d publish an email from some numbnut, proceed to beat the shit out of the guy and then, offer up a fact about bananas…because monkeys eat bananas. 😂

I miss the hell out of his site updates.

A link or ad, don’t remember which, from DU on his website was how I got here, back around 2000. Yeah, I lurked for a long time before I registered an account.

So, here’s a shot of Chinaco 🥃 in Bart’s memory. Wherever you are my friend, keep swinging that hammer on the fascists!

[c-rational]

23. Well said.

[GB_RN]

25. Thank You!

N/T.

[TomSlick]

15. This is nuts.

This and the upside-down flag tells me Alito is nuts.

If the Dems take the House in November, the Judiciary Committee should hold impeachment hearings.

[Joinfortmill]

19. The Guardian has this story, too.

Morning Joe is going to be all over this.

[Blue Owl]

20. Religious whack job at helm of nation's judicial court

[James48]

21. What are the other two flags?

What are they other flags? I don’t recognize either.

[LT Barclay]

28. Damn. Why can't they just stick to the swastikas and confederate flags. I've had one of those for years and was

occaisionally flying it on my boat and now I have to pick something else.
I found some flags from the Lord of the Rings movies. I'll just have to hope they don't pervert those flags into their fascist universe.

[Timeflyer]

29. It pays to advertise, so the MAGAt donors know exactly how you'll rule on their issues.

[mwb970]

30. Has America ever had a treasonous SC or is this the first??

[Kennah]

32. He should fly a Confederate Flag

[muriel_volestrangler]

33. The full implication is worse than just "carried on Jan 6"; it's a flag for Christian theocracy

The far right evangelical activist Dutch Sheets (yes, his real name) has been sending the flag to theocratic-leaning powerful men - like Mike Johnson, who flew it outside the speaker's office. And, it seems, to Alito, who flew it after he restricted women's healthcare, using the justifications of a witchfinder.

Until about a decade ago, the Appeal to Heaven flag was mostly a historical relic. But since then it has been revived to represent “a theological vision of what the United States should be and how it should be governed,” said Matthew Taylor, a religion scholar at the Institute of Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies. He is also the author of a forthcoming book tracing how a right-wing Christian author and speaker who repopularized the flag helped propel Mr. Trump’s attempt to overturn the election.

That figure, Dutch Sheets, has led a yearslong campaign to present the flag to political figures, including Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice-presidential pick, and an Indiana gubernatorial candidate whom Mr. Sheets wrapped in the flag at a recent rally. Republican members of Congress and state officials have displayed the flag as well, among them Doug Mastriano, a Pennsylvania state senator and a leader of the “Stop the Steal” campaign. The highest-ranking elected official known to show the flag is Representative Mike Johnson, who hung it at his office last fall shortly after becoming speaker of the House.

...

The phrase “appeal to heaven” comes from the 17th-century philosopher John Locke, who wrote of a responsibility to rebel, even use violence, to overthrow unjust rule. “It’s a paraphrase for trial by arms,” Anthony Grafton, a historian at Princeton University, said in an interview. “The main point is that there’s no appeal, there’s no one else you can ask for help or a judgment.”

Read the whole thing to really get an understanding of how many places of power Dutch Sheets has slithered into, and you’ll see that our offhand suggestion Sheets might have personally sent this flag to the Alitos isn’t unreasonable. (Federalist Society creep Leonard Leo has one of the Christian terrorist flags outside his house too! He and Alito are extremely, extremely close. Why, Leo helped Alito get the wingnut welfare job he currently has, even though he’s not remotely qualified for it.)

https://www.wonkette.com/p/look-honey-the-alitos-put-up-another

Last NYT excerpt:

Last October, soon after the flag was last documented at the Alito beach home, Mr. Sheets devoted a prayer session to the court, this time sounding triumphant. He cited the Dobbs decision, overturning the federal right to abortion, in which the majority decision had been written by Justice Alito.

“We have reached another phase in the process of shifting the Supreme Court,” he announced. Through the justices, he said, “God’s intent for institutions of government can now be fulfilled.”