Posted on 08/28/2018 7:57:30 AM PDT by MountainWalker
Background: I work in the communist epicenter of Virginia. There's a bike trail that goes from my house all the way practically to the front door of my office, so I ride my bike in to work every day.
I had a late start in to the office this morning due to a doctor's appointment, so I was the only one on the trail at the time I crossed the part that goes over I-66 into the swamp. I happened to notice a large upside down flying American flag zip tied to the safety fencing above the walkway, so I pulled my EDC knife out of my bag and cut it down and put it in my pack. It took me all of about 3 minutes to pull it down.
About another 50 yards down the trail, it was closed for construction, so I followed the detour. At the first intersection there was a large fire truck engine that flashed its lights on as I approached. The guy in the front passenger seat yelled down to me:
"Hey, did you take down that flag?" "Yeah" "Why'd you take it down?" "Because it was flying upside down." "Well, then give it to me." "F**k you"
I then zipped off along the detour, and, unbelievably, they actually tried to chase me in a freaking fire truck! The detour zipped back and forth between small side streets, so they didn't stand a chance of catching me. They honked at me as they finally bugged out after about 3 turns.
I always thought that firemen were pretty normal conservative guys, but maybe they're loony leftists even in Arlington county. Or, maybe they just saw me taking it down and didn't believe me or understand what an upside down flag meant? I was just amazed and still don't understand how they spotted me and got there so quickly.
The station is up the street. Do you think that I should report this to their fire chief or just let it go? For all I know, he might be as deranged as the rest of them.
I thought about that, but they asked why I took it down and I told them that. They didn’t seem to care.
Oh. Then my vote goes for changing your route, bike color, and usual form of dress.
I concur.
I find firefighters to be militant union thugs. Where I live (in the San Francisco Bay Area in case you want lessons on true Commies and nutcases), the firefighters try to intimidate citizens to vote for pay raises for them, and I think they are way over paid. Police tend to be conservative. Firefighters are libs.
But I would report them to their chief. You can just call the station. You don’t have to give your name.
And I agree. Change your route. Firefighters are thugs.
I’d leave room for the possibility that they just weren’t paying attention when they posted it upside down...
Do it with extreme stealth. Don't let them see you. If they see you they will confront you or worse.
Collect as much evidence as you can. Go to each TV station and act like you're a liberal in meltdown mode so they'll take you seriously.
I suppose it’s possible that someone might have snipped off the top zip ties to invert it but not likely and certainly not based on their reaction, whether or not they were the ones who hung it.
Put it back, right side up when there’s no chance they’ll see you.
Libtards aren't aware of the history of the American flag so you should have left it alone.......
And what if they're actually patriots?
Perhaps they are patriots. But they are in need of a course on flag etiquette.
100% find out about that fire truck and it’s station.
I am part of a union, and all the meeting begin with the Pledge, and the members are by and large patriots.
Sounds like some rouge scum.
You know the area and people far better than I so it would only be speculation on my part. I do have to (reluctantly) say that I’ve encountered many people - LEO, military, fire, who were leftists. It seems like a logic disconnect to me but there you go.
The one thing I haven’t seen addressed is liability. I would urge caution about what action you take going forward. In my state (Washington) signs - including political signs - are considered personal property, even when posted on public property. I could envision a circumstance where someone might lodge a complaint against you for theft.
Who needs the aggravation?
I think you did good to rescue the flag from its distressed comportment but I think I would let it be.
Yeah, but what are the odds that only a small group of scumbags end up in the same engine? Maybe the whole lot of them are liberal losers.
I suspect the ship in distress signal indicated how Trump, this country and his administration are under attack by leftists........
Libtards aren’t aware of the history of the American flag so you should have left it alone.......
Most people wouldn’t read it that way, which is something you’d want to consider if you were of the mind to fly it inverted. I see lots of inverted flag avatars on Twitter, and they’re all resistance communists. Especially given my location, Occam’s Razor points to angry progs desecrating the flag because they hate Trump.
Now the flag will have a new home and be shown proper respect. I should have told that a-hole he could have it if they all got out of the truck and got down on their knees.
Before you stole it maybe you should have inquired as to what their intent was in displaying it that way.
I could just as easily have flown mine upside down as an anti-Obama political statement during his reign and I would have put a beat down on anyone I caught stealing it.
I'd say you were lucky.......
Nah, I’d rather just make them keep buying more flags. If the perps want to desecrate the flag on public property, they’d better have a lot of room in their budget for more flags. ;-)
They never indicated that it was theirs or that they hung it. They asked if I took it down, why I did and then demanded to have it. If it were their flag, I’m sure they would have said so.
I suppose there is a possibility that they were dunderheads who didn’t know what an inverted flag meant and so my justification meant nothing to them. If that’s the case, maybe they’ll tell someone what happened, and they’ll feel like fools when they realize what they did. I do notice that fire engines often have American flags flying on the back of their trucks. This one did not.
And, if they were leftists as I’m sure was the most likely explanation and took some enjoyment in the inverted spectacle, then they can suck it. Eff the resistance.
I’m not the one that took it. Or did you miss that?
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