Federal statutes bar flag desecration. [FN1] One cannot attach “any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature” on the flag. [FN2] Indiana has similar statutes. [FN3] One may properly dispose of a desecrated flag by burning. [FN4] 1/9

In 1907, the Court held that a State could bar the use of the flag as printed on labels of bottles of beer. [FN5] In 1969, the Court held as protected speech a veteran’s burning of the flag in protest of James Meredith’s shooting. [FN6] That holding still is the law. [FN7] 2/9

Flags for the trump/Pence ticket sprang up in 2016 & seemed oddly martial. trump dodged the draft, and quite possibly a tour in Vietnam, without regard for principles. That Daddy could afford the right doctor for a deferment is consistent w/history. 3/9

White people, on both sides, protested the Civil War because sons of wealth paid $300 for a substitute, then stayed home & profited from a fight they’d dodged. [FN8] Small farmers, who in the South were over 50% of the white population, often were unresponsive. [FN9] 4/9

U.S. military involvement in Vietnam was different because protests ended it. People of means could & did dodge the draft. The late Andy Jacobs, Jr., who went to Korea in 1950, called people who, once safe from active duty they dodged, advocate for wars, “chicken hawks.” 5/9

The flag in question was made in the Peoples Republic of China, already is desecrated w/the image of trump & is stored safely outside the county. We shall dispose of the flag, consistent w/U.S. code, streamed live date & time TBA. And remember: #BrainsNotBraun 6/9

Footnotes:
FN1. 18 U.S.C. § 700.
FN2. 4 U.S.C. § 8(g).
FN3. I.C. §35-45-1-4.
FN4. 4 U.S.C. § 8(k); I.C. §35-45-1-4(b). 7/9

Footnotes:
FN5. States can legislate to maintain the flag “as an emblem of National power and National honor.” Halter v Nebraska, 205 U.S. 34, 38 (1907). Also, the only federal law that mentioned use of the flag was in trademarks. 205 U.S. at 39.
FN6. Street v New York, 394 U.S. 576 (1969). 8/9

Footnotes:
FN7. E.g., Texas v Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989).
FN8. Meier, Michael, “Civil War Draft Records: Exemptions and Enrollments,” 26 Prologue Magazine, No 4, Winter 1994.
FN9. Ambrose, Stephen, “Yeoman Discontent in the Confederacy,” 8 Civil War History No. 3, pp. 259-263, Sept 1962. 9/9