Free Republic

A Memorial Day tradition will continue in Berks County, Pa., this year after the state’s governor agreed to waive one of his administration’s coronavirus rules. Because of the waiver, flag maker FlagZone of Gilbertsville was able to begin distributing an estimated 50,000 American flags to veterans organizations and volunteers throughout the county, The Reading Eagle reported. The decision was good news for Robert Haller, senior vice commander of a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Birdsboro – although he said he planned to defy the restriction if it wasn’t lifted.

A flag company in Pennsylvania will not be able to sell flags for Memorial Day observances because of the governor’s shutdown of all non-life-sustaining businesses to slow the spread of the coronavirus. FlagZone LLC near Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, had asked Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf for special permission to ship American-made flags for veterans’ graves in nearby Berks County and nationwide for Memorial Day. Flagzone LLC was one of the many non-life-sustaining businesses that Wolf ordered to close on March 19 in response to the coronavirus. “We want to be able to honor veterans as we do every year and as we’ve...

The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts who have traditionally placed American flags on the graves of veterans at veterans’ cemeteries on Memorial Day have been barred from doing so because of the coronavirus crisis. The Scouts cannot perform their acts of honor because the Department of Veteran’s Affairs has banned public events at the sites, Fox News reports, adding, “On Long Island, N.Y., where more than 500,000 veterans are buried at two national military cemeteries, there are demands for the VA to reconsider and rescind the ban.” Suffolk County executive Steve Bellone told Fox News, “If we can’t figure out...

To close out her 2019, Lupita Hernandez stopped after every mile to plant a small flag along Interstate-10 between Houston and San Antonio. Each pause in her 200-mile run was to honor a fellow veteran battling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), something she has dealt with since she retired from the Marines in 2004. PTSD still affects her life each day, whether personally or in Hernandez’s work in the Veteran Treatment Court in Harris County, Texas. On average, 22 veterans commit suicide everyday, and that’s a statistic that is always on her mind. “I wanted to bring awareness to the stigma...

Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters waving American flags filled the streets Thursday to celebrate President Donald Trump's signing of a law that supports their months-long movement. Images and video footage from the semi-autonomous city showed thousands of protesters out to praise the action, with many waving or adorning red, white and blue flags. President Trump on Wednesday signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which will seek to ensure that Hong Kong has sufficient autonomy from China to maintain favorable trading terms with the United States. The bill, which would impose sanctions on Chinese officials for cracking down on...

While America faces some turmoil at home, the nation is still being represented as a symbol of freedom across the globe. Protesters in Hong Kong are singing the U.S. national anthem and flying American flags as they protest oppression under China’s Communist Party. Specifically, protesters are outraged about China’s new extradition laws, which weaken Hong Kong’s sovereignty and gives the communist party more power over the people.

June is designated LGBT Pride Month, and rainbows are displayed on everywhere from T-shirts to restaurant chains to the Uber app. Even with all the gay pride flags, parades, and recognition the LGBT community receives in the U.S. during June, the Left is still not satisfied. They demand that the rainbow flag be flown over U.S. embassies abroad. Look at this practice that's been in place since the Obama administration — President Barack Obama actively promoted the LGBT community not just domestically but also internationally through the U.N., State Department, and U.S. Agency for International Development.

Vice President Mike Pence confirmed reports that Pride flags had been banned from U.S. embassies, and expressed his support for the administration's decision. June is Pride Month, and in an interview with NBC's Kristen Welker, the vice president said four embassies' requests to fly rainbow flags, which symbolize LGBTQ pride, were denied. "I'm aware that the State Department indicated that on the flagpole of our American embassies, one flag should fly, and that's the American flag. And I support that," Pence said. Welker pressed him about President Trump's tweet in support of LGBTQ Pride Month, and whether it contradicts the...

he Trump administration is rejecting requests from U.S. embassies to fly the rainbow pride flag on embassy flagpoles during June, LGBT Pride Month, three American diplomats tell NBC News. The U.S. embassies in Israel, Germany, Brazil and Latvia are among those that have requested permission from Trump's State Department to fly the pride flag on their flagpoles and have been denied, diplomats said. Although the pride flag can and is being flown elsewhere on embassy grounds, including inside embassies and on exterior walls, the decision not to allow it on the official flagpole stands in contrast to President Donald Trump's...

OLYMPIA – Equipped with a variety of armaments and dressed in tactical military gear, protestors displayed their appetite for guns, the constitution – and in some cases, flags. Among the crowd Saturday at the “March for Our Rights” on the Capitol Campus was Spokane-native Spencer Lowell, who had a Remington 870 shotgun strapped to his chest, and a backpack full of patriotic flags. He had a sign advertising them for $5 each – and was accepting cash, Visa and Mastercard. Lowell estimated he’d sold about 200 flags. One person bought 20. The ability to own guns is a not up...

What started out as a single flag in tribute to his friend has taken on a life of its own for a Lewes businessman. On July 10, Dave Repass put up a blue, black and white flag, known as a Thin Blue Line flag, on the northbound side of Route 1 over the Nassau Bridge following the sudden death of his friend, Delaware State Police Master Cpl. William Matt.

The five flag poles that line the entrance sidewalk to the VA Northern Indiana Health Care System at 2121 Lake Ave. typically fly flags of the country's five branches of military:  Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard. On Tuesday, through, those flags were taken down and just one was flown in their place: an LGBT pride flag. -snip The VA Northern Indiana Healthcare System issued the following statement: "Logistically, we could not add a flag without removing a flag from the poles outside our VA. Rather than single out one military branch's flag to be temporarily replaced with the LGBT flag, we...

Spain laid claim to the Island of Jamaica from the time Columbus landed there in 1494. In 1503, Columbus was shipwrecked there for a year. In 1655, Jamaica was captured by British Admiral William Penn, the father of Pennsylvania’s founder. Jamaica was too far from England to defend, so the inhabitants turned to privateers, freebooters, buccaneers and pirates for protection. The likes of Blackbeard, Calico Jack and Captain Henry Morgan, namesake of the rum, attacked Spanish ships and settlements, then returned to Jamaica with their booty. The skull pirate flag, called the “Jolly Roger,” was adapted from the flag of...

"Preston Sharp Thank You for Your Service" When I called Preston Sharp, he answered the phone. I heard the voice of a very young person. However, as the conversation ensued, I heard words of commitment, well beyond the age of the person on the other end of the line. When I met Duane Ehmer in Red Bluff, California, he handed me the business card of Preston C. Sharp. He had obtained the card when he visited Preston at a cemetery where Sharp was busy planting flags and artificial flowers (Red Carnations) on the graves of military veterans. Duane, a veteran...

A protester threw Russian flags at President Trump on Tuesday as he entered the GOP policy lunch. The protester could be heard shouting "Trump is treason" as the president walked by. "Why are you talking about tax cuts when you should be talking about treason?" the man could be heard shouting in videos.

Despite the controversy over monuments and the deadly Alt-Left vs Alt-Right rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, there has been another surge in the sale of Confederate flags, CBS News reported. Belinda Kennedy, owner of the Alabama Flag & Banner shop in Huntsville, Alabama, said sales have been brisk. She said sales spiked even more “dramatically within in the last 24 hours,” since an interview about the shop was published at AL.com. “What's really pushing sales [now] is removal of the monuments,” said Kennedy, who opened her shop in 1985. “The general feeling I get from customers that call and email is...

Muncie mayor extends ban to include U.S. flag MUNCIE, Ind. Flags aren't allowed to be flown any longer at a city-run campground at Muncie -- including the U-S flag. W-I-P-B-T-V in Muncie reports that police today passed out notices at Prairie Creek Reservoir campground saying that all flags must come down. The U-S flag wasn't included in the city's original ban when it was imposed earlier this year. The city had banned Confederate flags and all others except U-S and P-O-W flags. The Indiana Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against Muncie Mayor Dan Canan over the ban. Friday,...

Southern Methodist University officials on Tuesday revised a policy that aimed to protect students from "harmful or triggering" messages after a dispute erupted over an annual 9/11 installation that students had planned for the heart of campus. Nearly 3,000 flags have been placed on Southern Methodist University's Dallas Hall Lawn every year since 2010, but the group responsible for the display, Young Americans for Freedom, was recently told it must be moved. University officials told Grant Wolf, who leads SMU's Young Americans chapter, that the display can be placed only on Morrison-McGinnis Park, a less prominent campus location informally known...

Fox news music video on 20th Sep 2001 tape. "God Bless the U.S.A." by Lee Greenwood. This version shows the historical chryon running, showing what was going on.

This weekend, at a lesbian march in Chicago, three women carrying Jewish pride flags — rainbow flags embossed with a Star of David — were kicked out of the celebration on the grounds that their flags were a “trigger.” An organizer of the Dyke March told the Windy City Times that the fabric “made people feel unsafe” and that she and the other members of the Dyke March collective didn’t want anything “that can inadvertently or advertently express Zionism” at the event. Laurel Grauer, one of the women who was ejected, said she’d been carrying that Jewish pride flag...