At Target Field, there are no more openings this year to be the veteran that raises the American flag — the moment which sparks loudest cheers at a Twins game these days. The games are all booked up for the rest of the year.
It’s a nice moment, for sure, but does the continuing exposition of the military have some exploitation involved? Read more →
Let’s fully understand what yesterday’s decision by NFL owners to crack down on employee protest is. The owners, under pressure from the government in the form of the President of the United States, agreed to modify its speech to please that government.
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The Green Bay Packers paid tribute to veterans during their game on Monday night, giving away American flags to everyone streaming into the stadium.
Many of the flags ended up on the ground. Read more →
Baseball has been pushing hard for years to elevate ‘God Bless America’ to National Anthem status, specifically in a salute to veterans and soldiers. It’s a nice sentiment and good business. Read more →
San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the National Anthem on Saturday, testing whether we mean any of of the platitudes we utter about America. Read more →
USA pole vaulter Sam Kendricks wasn’t entirely focused like a laser beam on his attempt on Saturday. If he had been, he wouldn’t have heard the National Anthem being played for someone on the medals stand in another competition. Read more →
In Foxboro, Mass., a school has banned this photo. What’s wrong with it? She’s obviously patriotic. She has a flag in her photo.
Look closer.
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We’ve seen tackier uses of American flag references — just see Nikki Tundel’s fine photo series on the subject today (an annual tradition in this space)– than the plan by Major League Baseball to dress up its players in stars and stripes on Flag Day Sunday.
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There are 58,286 names on a granite wall in Washington. They’re not there to honor the policies that put them there. They’re there to honor the people who were swept up and sent to Vietnam.
By now, we should have been able to understand the distinction. Read more →
Tomorrow is Flag Day in the United States, honoring the day in 1777 when the flag was adopted. It’s had a good run, despite our best attempts to embarrass it, as documented every year at this time on NewsCut (example). Minnesota Public Radio’s Nikki Tundel has been stashing her most disturbing encounters with the flag Read more →
I wrote this post in February 2008 as Pete Seeger approached 90. With his death, there’ll be plenty of words written today about Seeger’s contribution to America, but — like the comments section in the original post — the ones that matter most are the ones that reveal whether we have yet to grasp what defines a good American.
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An attempt to honor veterans is revealing an ongoing — and somewhat generational — split among veterans over the question of who can salute the flag. Read more →
Some NPR listeners are challenging the “patriotism” of NPR because it’s allowing the new Al Jazeera America Read more →
Public praise for veterans happens at most sporting events in America now. It tugs at the heart. It brings a response. And, apparently, some veterans hate it. Read more →
Bob Collins