The “My Take” personal essay by Vincent G. Barnes is a disgrace. The United States Flag Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, section 8(a) states: “The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”
I dare to say that his life or property are not in extreme danger, no matter how angry he is at President Donald Trump. I commend the teenager who had the courage to knock on Mr. Barnes’ door to tell him that he thought it was disrespectful and that he knew people who had died for the American flag. As an educator, Mr. Barnes should be ashamed that he uses a distress signal of the American flag to express his political views.
Larry Brickman, Bellevue
Note from KBJ: As longtime readers of this blog know, I usually post snarky comments on the letters to the editor that I post. I'm going to continue posting letters (one each day) but stop posting comments. If you care to comment on a particular letter, feel free to do so. By the way, you should not assume that my posting of a letter signifies agreement with its author. Sometimes I post a letter because, in my view, it shows how vicious or stupid its author is. At other times, I post a letter because it expresses what I believe.
Note 2 from KBJ: I no longer post letters that have been published by the New York Times. The reason is that I no longer visit the website of the New York Times. Its monolithic leftism is predictable, tiresome, and, frankly, boring. I am currently rotating four newspapers: the Seattle Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Kansas City Star, and the Miami Herald. At least some of these newspapers publish letters from conservatives or libertarians.
