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.
You suppose? You stole someone's flag and that's the only known aspect of your account............Everything else is just supposition........sheesh!
Yea, sorry, I missed that.......
Oh give me a freaking break. The resistance is shooting up GOP congressional baseball games, driving us off social media and out of our jobs if we don’t speak with anonymity (or even if we do like Brendan Eich) and their Antifa shock troops are beating conservatives in the streets while our Pravda media runs their propaganda operation.
But, let’s get all bent out of shape about my taking down a distressed American flag left on public property because some mouth-breathing firefighters were either too dumb to understand what I was doing or are sympathetic to all the communists groups who would hang it that way - people who, by the way, wished all of us dead.
Or, if you want to bellyache about my theft of said desecrated flag, feel free. We’re in a cold civil war here, and you’re the only one in this thread who seems to care about the owners’ negligible property loss of something someone with any two brain cells had to figure is going to get ripped down by some patriot before long.
You finally got it didn't you Einstein? I'll post it again, did the thought ever occur to you that the firefighters who may have hung that flag in that manner just may have been voicing their rebellion to the forces attacking our President?
No you didn't, and instead have attacked me.
Well here's my advice to you bro, stop posting from the bar during happy hour, get on your bicycle and go home..........Your wife or your cat is waiting for you.........
LOL!
And you’re the only one in this thread who believes that half-baked reverse psychological interpretation of why it was flown inverted. I bet you’d probably also be the only conservative rolling down the highway triumphantly pumping your fist in unison with progressives over the symbolism of the inverted flag understood by all but you.
You probably also believe the NFL flag protestors are kneeling in subservience to the flag and that Jeff Sessions is playing some three dimensional chess with the Mueller investigation. Go back to your bong. lol
Alcohol is not your friend.......hop on you bike and go home and sober up.
You are a thief, return the flag when you sober up............
Yeah, you have a point. I should have left a note asking the owners’ intent and if they could please either orient the flag in a more respectful position or kindly remove it. That’s what they would have done if this were 5 years ago, and it was flown as an ostensible protest against Obama.
When you get down to it, progressives are kind and decent people, so they probably deserve the benefit of the doubt. Otherwise, if they were protesting the president it was probably a light-hearted joke over something innocuous, like his 2 scoops of ice cream.
How is it that you write so well for someone having been born yesterday?
Obviously can’t say for sure from your account, but if you cannot see how those guys knew what you had done, I would assume the following.
They are plugged into something most people know nothing about, that sees a lot of stuff, and is probably anti-Trump because he was a target of it, and is moving to cut its influence. That is probably what is up with the flag. They were firemen second to “it.” It can become a pain in the ass if you deal with it, so inflaming things with it could become a headache.
I would drop it. Let sleeping giants lie. You may really have no idea what you brushed up against, trust me.
keep posting so we will know what happens
Yeah, I’ve gotten tired of analyzing it, and I’m decided that I’m not going to report them to their fire chief. Probably more bad than good can come of it. They were either:
a) clueless and didn’t understand what an inverted flag symbolizes
b) didn’t believe me that it was inverted and just saw me pulling down the flag
c) actually believed it was a protest against Trump’s enemies (preposterous)
d) they are union #resistance thugs
D is the most likely possibility based on the interaction but A and B are conceivable, so it’s not worth getting them disciplined based on that, plus the risk exposure to myself, even though they tried to chase me through a residential neighborhood in a damn fire truck and could have gotten someone injured or killed.
I think one person suggested that maybe it was originally flown right side up and that some saboteur snipped the top zip ties, but that isn’t likely. I ride this trail all the time and most likely would have noticed it.
Update: I spotted another upside down flag on another I-66 overpass today on my way home. It wasn’t directly on the trail, so I only spotted it since I was on the lookout. I cut that one down too.
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