Eli Levenson-Falk
Anil DashIt is still wild that millions of Americans routinely fly alternate defaced flags signaling their support for the extrajudicial execution of their neighbors and everyone acts like it’s normal.
alison@anildash what flag is that I’m confused
Rick O'Toole@bluishorange the "Back the Blue" or thin blue line flag, for one
Martin P.@rotoole @bluishorange often seen inserted into the punisher logo for extra “are we the baddies?” vibes
@rotoole @bluishorange yeah, any of the alternate-stripe or black & white flag versions.
Richservo 
@anildash @rotoole @bluishorange oh I figured you meant confederate flags. The literal sign of murdering your neighbor.
Unprecedented 2023
Cassidy James 
@bluishorange @anildash thin blue line which defaces the US flag to signal support for something other than the US itself.
AlicePaul@cassidy @bluishorange @anildash
Fine. Ship ‘em out.
They won their prize.
mjfgates@bluishorange @anildash Or just, like my next-door neighbor, flipping the US flag upside-down the day after Biden came into office. His flagpole had to be really confused when he added a Ukrainian flag to that..
Jason Pettis 😷🗽@anildash on one hand, freedom of speech ... On the other "How Nature says 'stay away'"
Seeing the different alt-flags and T*ump-2024 banners on my neighbor's houses always creeps me out
DeclanStIrish@anildash yes, this, Thank you for speaking honestly, directly & plainly
Jay Thoden van Velzen ☁️🛡️
@anildash my neighbors a few houses over fly one
what makes it even more wild is that they are an original boomer tie-dye hippy couple. in California
Elan Hasson@anildash Are you referring to confederate flags? Or different versions of the flag?
I just watched #Jericho where they had this flag for the `Allied States of America`
@elan was referring to blue line flags; confederate flags are just actual enemy flags.
Michael Stanclift
Dan Morgan 
@vmstan @anildash @elan There was an early companion podcast done by the Jericho showrunner(s). You would learn what the Morse code was from the beginning if you were like me, Morse deficient. I truly loved that show although the needed to hire me to be the “farming consultant” but those writers were idiots on that.
@DanMorgan @anildash @elan or maybe a map consultant. There’s no reality in which you stood at the Kansas/Colorado border in which you could “see Denver” even if you dropped a nuclear bomb on it.
Lyle Solla-Yates@anildash We had a big fight in #Cville whether official police vehicles should promote it https://www.c-ville.com/why-are-charlottesville-cops-still-driving-this-car/
@martin has moved@anildash ubiquitous in my rural South Jersey town, so many that people don’t even think about it.
EPD Total Landscaping
Urban Futurist Democrat@anildash Last weekend in a beach town frequented by MAGA trucks I saw one parading, not those flags, but a regular American flag accompanied by a death's head flag. Possibly scarier as even more open fascism
The Doctor@anildash If we say anything they might open fire.
The BEST Words@anildash It is crazy.
Jon Michaels@anildash Those things scare the crap out of me. I keep thinking of them as the Fascist States of America.
Jacque@anildash my trailer park had made flags " not state, federal, or armed forces related" and it's hysterical how mad ppl got about not being allowed to have their weird creepy anti human flags.
gavinisdie 
@anildash a few days ago, while heading hoke from school, I saw a truck with an upside down US flag
isotope239 🥸💻📚 🇺🇦@anildash I live in a majority Democrat state in a suburban area and every other house down this street has some version of an alternate flag. It's like living in the midst of an enemy camp. I don't dare put anything in the front yard that would indicate my progressive opinion. Around the corner there's a brave soul flying the rainbow flag and I just wonder how often their property has been vandalized or defaced.
Lonewolf@anildash not a flag buty neighbors down the street during the mid terms had signs that said "back to basics" and "protect girls sports". What kind of policy is that lol
@anildash the flag that really irritates me is the stupid police "blue line" flag
Helchose@anildash We were seeing them all over the suburbs (and in our neighborhood) of Sacramento during Trump-era, but most of them are removed now. I'm not sure why. They are still out in rural areas but even there, fewer of them.
Paul@anildash The black flags (take no prisoners) that popped up in my neighborhood were what prompted me to finally learn to shoot and arm myself
Drtuck@anildash the Wild West Returns.
vy@anildash the problem is impunity
Fan of Shared Truth & Empathy@anildash @thomasfuchs My inner Boy Scout knows that something very, very wrong continues to happen in our nation.
mtsw@anildash like the "don't tread on me" and "pow/mia" flags before them, the blue lives matters flags also function as a plausibly-deniable way for small businesses to signal that minorities are not welcome there.
scotian@mtsw @anildash It was so normalized that our national police force had to issue a directive in late 2020 (!!) telling officers they could not wear it on their uniforms https://globalnews.ca/news/7392282/rcmp-directive-thin-blue-line/ Even this news story waits until the sixth graf to suggest that "critics" have issues with it — after explaining that it's a symbol of "solidarity and support" for police officers and quoting the police union!
Brian Anderson (He/Him)@anildash reading through the comments in this thread, I’m honestly surprised at how many of y’all didn’t know how racist your friends and neighbors growing up were…until now.
Todd Smith@btanderson @anildash In my personal experience (which definitely won't be true for everyone) it's extremely rare to have someone make a racist remark in private company.
I may not socialize with the "right" people though. 🤷🏼♂️
@todd_smith @anildash sounds like y’all need to listen to more black and brown folk in your life pointing out what’s not being said out loud. The signs were always there.
One World One People@anildash TWW: There is no greatness in the sacrifice or taking of life, no glory or redemption, only loss. This loss is the purpose and key to mortality, do not fear it. *Yet so many beautiful lives end in tragedy that this loss is crippling to a society of a culture that is critical to understanding modern American culture. Each life is a song of this world, learn and sing of all that you can, keep them in this moment by sharing with others and listen to the songs they have learned. OWOP
Buffalo Rude@anildash My favorite are the “thin blue line” patches worn by a number fucking cops in Buffalo.
Jason Shellen@anildash Was thinking how wild this is driving thru Fresno this weekend. Ripped, torn, thin blue line, bald Eagle face. It’s like they set the rules but only enforce them for other people. Might not extend only to flags.
Aviva Gary@anildash Well yeah... the alternatives are usually a lot worse and in many areas (not sure about US but internationally it is so) they can be illegal. However I love them. As a minority, it tells me to stay the hell away from them because I know what they really want to fly and what the alternative (likely) is.
Monica Di, PhD 
@anildash TBH, it often feels like the regular US flag signals support for extrajudicial execution and everyone acts like it’s normal
Jeff@anildash republican have been taking down America since civil war
Stephen Collins@anildash We call them the racist American flags. It’s a real signal for how some people are.
Ed Sanders@anildash every time I see it I make sure to add to my count of American Nazis. I live in a RW area of a very liberal state. I see at least one and almost always more than one, every day.
bobchauvin@anildash Are we talking about the #thinblueline bs. Yeah, we have county sheriff's with it on their cruisers.
RhetRx@anildash Some towns in northern NewJersey had to be told NOT to paint blue stripes in between the double yellow lines on their roads (the reason given to them was that this interferes with colorblind drivers’ safety…)
Mike Babyak@anildash @ifilljustice Out here in rural NC they are not rare. It’s disgusting. A guy on my little street has a mannequin with a Trump mask, maga cap, holding a plastic assault rifle out at the end of his drive. He has a Buck Fiden t-shirt handing next to it. For a time he had a rubber head of Obama on a stake at the foot of Trump. The neighborhood asked him to take that down. It’s a bizarre and dangerous cult.
Michael Martinez@anildash Its pretty much all there is where I am in South Carolina, including police vehicles themselves.
Digichelle@anildash It’s shocking how much Americans write off as normal: mass shootings every day, for-profit healthcare, for-profit prisons, legal and constitutionally protected bribery (“money is speech”), car-centric urban planning, funding-starved public schools, police brutality, outright fascism… the list goes on and on.
Thin red/blue line flags? Just another awful item on a long (and growing) list of awful things.
Michael Smith 2nd@anildash Wild isn't quite the right word 😥
Allyson Williams ✅@anildash Thank you for “alternate defaced flags.” Some of my neighbors do this and it’s more elegant than if I shout, “Disrespectful f-ing Traitors!”