Bizarre, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Connecticut Official Stirs Controversy By Taking A Knee During Every Pledge Of Allegiance In Council Meetings

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 7.58.32 AM.pngA controversy is building in the little town of Haddam, Conn. where Selectwoman Melissa Schlag continues to take a knee NFL-Style during the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of meetings.   Her protest however is not the treatment of African Americans but to protest President Donald Trump.  I have previously stated my personal dislike for such protests during the national anthem and I frankly view this as a bit silly as a forum.  However, while I have argued that owners have every right to bar such protests by NFL players as a contractual matter, I believe Schlag has a clear first amendment right to continue her protest as these meetings.

Schlag said that she was specifically motivated to do the protest in response to Trump’s comments after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.

 

Schlag told the Hartford Courant. “I felt nervous when I did it but I also felt powerful.  If I don’t speak up, those who can’t won’t be heard.”

She however insisted that the “The Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t have anything to do with the flag, in my opinion,” according to FOX61.  I agree that it is broader than the flag but that only deepens my dislike for such protests.  For me, the flag and the allegiance is our collective expression of unity in our constitutional system.  It is the same Constitution that allows Schlag to work to defeat Trump in the next election.  She is protesting the very thing that guarantees her right to change the system and yes protest. It is a curious thing to be made at Trump and yet protest the flag or the Constitution or whatever she sees in that moment of collective affirmation.

Schlag was previously criticized for removing both the United States and Connecticut flags removed from her office rom 2013 to 2015 when she served as first selectwoman. She insisted that that she removed them to make way for a bookshelf.

101 thoughts on “Connecticut Official Stirs Controversy By Taking A Knee During Every Pledge Of Allegiance In Council Meetings”

  1. This is a communist ironically taking advantage of constitutional freedom of speech,

    saying that she hates the outcomes of freedom and that she hates the Constitution.

    She is not dissimilar to Justice Ginsberg et al.

    Observe the Trojan Horse.

    The enemy is inside the gate.

    1. I served for 25 years in the US Navy for this “communist” to knee during the national anthem. What did YOU do for this country?

      1. I paid a ton of taxes that’s for sure
        She’s a fool. Let her be voted out and verbally pilloried for her foolish exercise of free speech.
        As many people are for various other offenses.

        It would be great if all the idiot liberals would start kneeling like this so we would know who they are.

      2. What was your MOS; your history – a supporter of the principles of communism?

        I earned a Combat Infantryman’s Badge and a Purple Heart in Vietnam. Would you like my DD 214? My father served as a “Railsplitter” FO evading Stukas in a Piper Cub over Germany in WWII. My father’s ancestors fought with Washington at the crossing of the Delaware in the Revolutionary War. My mother’s ancestors established the Popham Colony in 1607 at what is now Popham Beach, Maine. Freedom of speech transforms into treason when the abrogation of the Constitution and the implementation of the Communist Manifesto are supported. At that point, an American becomes a traitor.

        1. George I like you but many of the Manifesto aims were accomplished in America by various legislation

          Abolishing ownership of all private property (not)
          Establishing system of heavy taxation (IRS)
          Abolishing the right to inherit (not)
          Centralizing credit and establishment of a state bank (FED)
          Centralizing communication and transport with the state (DOT)(FCC)
          Confiscating all emigrant and rebel property (WHAT?/// HAHAHA)
          Extending the means of production to the state (1/5 ECONOMY)
          Equalizing liability to all levels of labor (?)
          Combining agriculture and manufacturing industries (done)
          Establishing a free public education system (done)

          Communism is an economic and political theory which is worthy of study. it’s day is done. We should not call these modern fools communists anymore it lends them a dignity they don’t deserve

          1. MK, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.

            “Crazy Abe” Lincoln eliminated the “class society.” by eliminating the slave class. Progressives imposed the income tax, IRS and Fed. The communistic FDR administration (Alger Hiss et al.) redistributed wealth through Social Security and Medicare (both insolvent). And Comrade’s Kennedy-cum-Johnson saddled America with welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, affirmative action, forced busing, quotas, social services, WIC, Fair Housing, Non-Discrimination, etc. Ultimately, Obama initiated national healthcare by forcing Obamacare on America.

            Collectively those communists have imposed Central Planning, Control of the Means of Production (i.e. regulation), Redistribution of Wealth and Social Engineering – the principles of the Communist Manifesto.

            Imagine, America’s most formidable trading “partner” is absolutely communist – that of course being China. The rest are also but you and everyone else refuse to acknowledge extant facts.

            All of these communist principles are violations of limits on Congress’ power to tax only for “…general Welfare…” (please read Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1), freedom of assembly, socialization, speech, thought, religion, belief and the right to private property, as Madison said “…in exclusion of every other individual…,”

            Do you accept the conjecture that women can be a little bit pregnant?

            America is not a little bit communist.

            America is all communist.

            1. George – I accept the proposition that women can be a little bit pregnant. It is that part of pregnancy before she “pops.” After that, she is fully pregnant.

          2. MK, that legislation, as is most legislation, is unconstitutional and should have been struck down by the SCOTUS. The SCOTUS is totally corrupt and acts politically, not in support of the “manifest tenor” of the Constitution. I don’t suppose you saw the SCOTUS overturn its own previous decision two weeks ago, nor did you see the SCOTUS overturn the decisions of lower courts a few days earlier. The judicial branch itself acknowledges and changes judicial decisions all the time – it’s no longer jurisprudence but politics in the judicial branch. Lincoln began the egregious nullification of the Constitution by denying fully constitutional secession and starting an unconstitutional war of aggression against a seceded and sovereign foreign nation. Of course, the whole world knows that secession is legal and constitutional – Catalonia, Brexit, Scotland, Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Virginia and every nation in the former Soviet Union have all availed themselves of the natural and God-given right to secession.

        2. Ooops..I guess he pulled that card out to the wrong person.

          1. I fully support George’s worthwhile contributions to this site. I am just making a contrary observation. I like being contrary.

          2. Christine Alford – the Stuka was notoriously slow and actually I think the Piper Cub could outfly them. Stukas were not a pursuit plane though, they were a dive bomber with a whistle on them. It is an interesting looking plane though.

        3. I too have a DD214. I too served in Vietnam. My dad was a tech who worked on the Anola Gay before she flew to Hiroshima on 8/6/1945.

          I’m not a communist, nor do I support communism. But I support her and every other US citizen’s right to protest.

  2. The same ones that don’t like the knee protest, are the same ones that wear the American flag as clothes, wipe their mouths with American flag napkins and scrap the potato salad off their flag covered paper plates on the 4th of July.

    1. The exact same ones, FishWings? And you know this, how…exactly?

      1. I know, how does she possibly know that? I personally am only mildly bored with the kneeling gambit.

    2. And they love to drive around with little flags on their cars — little flags flapping in the breeze, much like their tongues.

      1. In one sense, it’s great when our American traditions are sullied like this. It will erode the waning polity and pave the way for the Big Sort, which comes.

  4. “Glenn Greenwald

    @ggreenwald

    3h3 hours ago

    Finally, a periodic reminder that James Clapper – Obama’s top national security official, current paid CNN analyst & #Resistance hero – blatantly & deliberately lied to Congress about one of the government’s most consequential program, and paid no price

    https://www.icij.org/blog/2018/07/im-worried-that-we-will-run-out-of-sources-when-we-need-them-the-most/ …”

    https://twitter.com/ggreenwald?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

  5. Jerry Jones has lost all credibility with me. He recently had the chance to honor or flag and respect our veterans, but instead chose to keep his hat on through the playing of our national anthem AND talk to the person next to him rather than stand respectfully. Disgusting display.

  7. She’s a local politician. You want to know what her constituency believes, just follow her lead. As James Garfield said:

    Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption.

  8. Patriots and Protesters Should Take a Knee for the Constitution

    by John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute

    https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/patriots_and_protesters_should_take_a_knee_for_the_constitution

    Excerpt:

    Technology, which has developed at a rapid pace, offers those in power more invasive and awesome possibilities than ever before. Never in American history has there been a more pressing need to maintain the barriers in the Constitution erected by our Founders to check governmental power and abuse.

    As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, we’re at a very crucial crossroads in American history. We have to be well-informed, not only about current events but well-versed in the basics of our rights and duties as citizens. If not, in perceived times of crisis, we may very well find ourselves in the clutches of a governmental system that is alien to everything for which America stands. And make no mistake about it, the mass of citizens will continue to be misinformed, and as astute political leaders have recognized in the past, they can be easily led.

    Therein is the menace to our freedoms.

    Stop falling for the distractions. Stop allowing yourself to be fooled by propaganda and partisan politics. Stop acting as if the only thing worth getting outraged about is whether a bunch of football players stand or kneel for the National Anthem.

    Stop being armchair patriots and start acting like foot soldiers for the Constitution.

    Remember, it’s all a game, a ruse, a dance intended to keep you in line and marching to the government’s tune instead of freedom’s call. In this age of spin doctors and manipulation, those who question the motives of government provide a necessary counterpoint to those who would blindly follow where politicians choose to lead.

    Past regimes understood well how to manipulate and maneuver. As Hermann Goering, one of Hitler’s top military leaders, remarked during the Nuremberg trials:

    It is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

  9. Although she seems to have little understanding of the actual situation she is protesting (basically, she is protesting a peace process between two nuclear powers), she has every right to do this. If we truly believe in freedom of speech, we will support her right.

    IMO there should be a mass flag burning to protest the undermining of our system of govt. by establishment oligarchs and the people who support them.

    1. No, Jill, she is protesting Trump, a narcissistic liar who holds “summits” for attention and publicity. What happened at that “summit”? Did Trump reaffirm his fealty to Vladimir?

      1. It doesn’t occur to Natacha that the broad is an attention-whore disrupting the opening ceremony because Natacha thinks its perfectly normal to be juvenile and histrionic.

        1. “…the broad is an attention-whore disrupting the opening ceremony because Natacha thinks its perfectly normal to be juvenile and histrionic.”

          Says the irrelevant person who believes that s/he’s making a mark by posting an endless stream of comments on a blog.

          1. Quietly taking a knee, saying nothing, is not engaging in histrionics or juvenile behavior, but it does speak more powerfully than mere words can. Did you notice that her head is bowed?

            1. To be clear:

              TSTD said: “…the broad is an attention-whore disrupting the opening ceremony because Natacha thinks its perfectly normal to be juvenile and histrionic.”

              I agree with you Natacha.

              1. anonymous – I have to agree with DSS. Natacha is an exhibitionist.

            2. Quietly taking a knee, saying nothing, is not engaging in histrionics or juvenile behavior,

              No, she wasn’t looking for anyone’s attention at all.

              Again, no one’s accused you of being bright.

          3. Says the irrelevant person who believes that s/he’s making a mark by posting an endless stream of comments on a blog.

            I thought you liked L4D????

            1. Next time you change your user name, TSTD, you should consider “addle-brain.”

              Talk is cheap, TSTD — and you love to talk, talk, talk. Some people actually do things in this world.

      2. No, that’s your delusion. Actually, two heads of nuclear super powers engaged in diplomacy and turned back the clock to potential nuclear annihilation a few seconds, not that liberals like it when a Republican does this. They would rather fry and be right than live and be wrong.

  10. Liberals love to virtue signal to show how such good people they are. Good as opposed to those evil clingers from fly-over country who need to be doxxed, fired and driven from civil society.

    Virtue signaling is actually the leftist version of cheap grace and should never be confused with actual virtue.

    antonio

  11. Professor ….This post is one of the best on this topic..The flag and pledge being “our collective expression of unity” is powerful and perfect, imo.

    1. But, WE aren’t unified. Trump sees to that. Yesterday, it was reported that the Russians fully understand what divides this country, one thing being racism, and pandered to that to help get Trump elected. Some of their social media blasts prior to the 2016 election were aimed pissing off whites at the “black lives matter” rallying cry.

      1. understand what divides this country, one thing being racism, and pandered to that to help get Trump elected.

        The Democratic Party has spent several decades trying out a coalition-of-the-fringes strategy built on social resentments (and packing the meeting with illegal immigrants) and the sorosphere was escalating big-time after 2013, but somehow Trump is the nefarious one. No one ever accused you of being bright, Natacha.

        1. I disagree with what you said, but Democrats are at least AMERICANS. It is well-known and documented that Trump has pandered to white resentment and fear: fear over brown people coming from south of the border, fear over loss of manufacturing jobs which Republicans, by the way, are responsible for because they own factories and the Republican majority in Congress does nothing to stop them from exporting jobs, fear over change, which is why he promised to bring back the coal industry, pandering to White Supremacists and the NRA. “Make America Great Again” really means “Make America White Again”. Vladimir understands this even if you don’t.

          1. Democratic pols have been attempting for nearly a generation to build an electoral base by sabotaging immigration enforcement and importing foreigners. These Democrats are ‘Americans’ in only a narrowly formal-legal sense.

          2. Natacha – I like brown people, I just want them to come here legally.

          3. Guess what, nationals from every part of the globe identify with their national group.
            Usually this means something we also call an ethnic group.
            To liberals, white is not an ethnic group, just a bunch of haters.
            Whites aren’t allowed to identify with their own kind and pursue legit group interests?

            If that’s your point of view, then what you want is a civil war not a dialogue

            And you may not like the result. But, we shall see.

            the crazy thing is a lot of white people appear to hate the white race or white-group-interests type speech and activity.
            it’s not clear how many white people are self-hating, but it raises the uncomfortable question:
            are white people fit to survive— if they can’t even consider themselves a legit group?

      2. Natacha,
        Well, if the flag and the pledge are an expression of our collective unity, as the Prof said, then the people who do not respect and honor the flag and pledge must be the ones trying to keep us from that unity, right?
        All lives matter, by the way. Deal with it.

        1. Silently taking a knee is not disrespect or showing dishonor. It is a quiet expression of protest, protected by the Constitution.

          2. Taking a knee when such a gesture is non sequitur is a bid for attention. The woman’s a child and should be told so.

          3. Natacha. It’s always a surprise to hear a liberal nowadays mention the constitution.
            .Isn’t there a group of foreign criminals somewhere, waiting for you and your fellow “patriots” to sneak them across the border?

      3. Yeah, because The Kenyan really brought Americans together, right? /sarc off

        Black/DNC/MSM/Progressive lie/meme: “Only white Caucasians can be racist. By definition, no non-white persons can be racist.”

      4. Trump cannot create the disunity of which you speak, (nor can Bush, Hillary, Obama or any other politician), the basic divisions must already exist. In this country, these divisions came out of the 1960’s and consist of 2 different, incompatible philosophies and ways of looking at the world, constitution, etc. I am tired of the constant infighting with the American left. And if we are as evil, racist, sexist, homophobic and stupid as the left believes us to be, LET US GO. I WANT A DIVORCE. And you lefties, can create your multicult, socialist utopia. I want what used to be America.

        antonio

      5. @Natacha

        Trump cannot create the disunity of which you speak, (nor can Bush, Hillary, Obama or any other politician), the basic divisions must already exist. In this country, these divisions came out of the 1960’s and consist of 2 different, incompatible philosophies and ways of looking at the world, constitution, etc. I am tired of the constant infighting with the American left. And if we are as evil, racist, sexist, homophobic and stupid as the left believes us to be, LET US GO. I WANT A DIVORCE. And you lefties, can create your multicult, socialist utopia. I want what used to be America.

        antonio

      7. Ah the all-powerful Russians! The Russians are “Mexicans with missiles” as I heard one pundit accurately assess. Forget about the Russian non-threat and look at the Chinese real threat.

    2. Cindy Bragg wrote: “The flag and pledge being “our collective expression of unity” is powerful and perfect, imo.”

      “Powerful and perfect”???

      Nope. These exercises have become rote, phony, and meaningless displays — in most contexts. Things aren’t what they seem to be in this country. More Americans should be taking a knee, flying their flags upside down, and paying attention to the serious trouble we’re in. As Natacha rightly notes, “…WE aren’t unified.”

      1. Anonymous …….I was saying that in my opinion I thought his sentiment was powerful and perfect. Try to keep up.
        It IS tempting to want to take a knee and place it in a strategic place on many of the race baiting filthy rich athletes.

        1. @Ms. Bragg:

          No, you’re the one who should “try to keep up.” You’re obviously way behind.

          “race baiting filthy rich athletes” — says Ms. Bragg

          Your true colors are shining through…

          1. Anon…I’m color blind, and living Dr. King’s dream. You should try it.

            1. Who’s Dr King? Never heard of him. I don’t get it. He dreamed of you?

          2. anonymous – sadly, what Cindy Bragg says is correct. Those athletes are race-baiting and filthy rich. Now, if you have a cite to prove any of that not to be true please link it. If not STFU.

            1. More Paulpuckey. And just because C. Bragg says something and you happen to agree — doesn’t make it true. Futhermore, I don’t have to give you a cite.

              And, funny thing: I don’t have to STFU, either.

              1. anonymous – we can all hope though. 🙂 BTW, if I say something, it is right, unlike Benson who Makes Stuff Up.

                  1. anonymous – if you can’t attack the message, attack the messenger. Weak.

              1. That Paul agrees with you is meaningless but, hey, pat yourself on the back

                1. anonymous – it is not meaningless. It means that one person with the guts to use his real name backs her play.

                  1. Meaningless — as are most of the comments. There isn’t much happening below the fold…and one has to wonder about those who reside here.

        2. @Ms. Bragg:

          No, you’re the one who should “try to keep up.” You’re obviously way behind.

          “race baiting filthy rich athletes” — says Ms. Bragg

          Your true colors are shining through.

  12. When I’m in a crowd where the pledge is launched, I stand but don’t say anything. Some years ago, (even before Trump) it occurred to me that my allegiance was to the Constitution, not to any piece of cloth. Parading around the flag strikes me as being very similar to the notion of “eucharistic adoration” practiced in some churches. It is, to me, akin to idolatry – worshipping the symbol rather than the underlying basis for it.

    1. Jay S – I was at a Johnny Cash tribute concert last night and he did a piece dedicated to the US Flag which was very moving. Intellectually, I can see myself on both sides of the issue, however, when push comes to shove, I will protect that flag. It is ingrained in me.

  13. Recap. Where Are They Now?

    23 Celebrities Said They’d Move out of the U.S. If Trump Won

    Surprise, the carpet baggers are still in the U.S. making a ton of cash!

    1. Maybe they’ll move if Bernie/Ocasio get their way, for that matter maybe we’ll all move if they have their way.

          1. Really? “Ground glass” on the floor beneath her knees would be a patriotic gesture?

  16. The exhibitionism of these people is tiresome. The Democratic Party is a crap!y kids’ table.

  17. They should pass a dress code where the councilwomen have to wear tight skirts. That will stop this. 😉 And maybe the citizens of her town or city will vote her out because they feel empowered.

    1. This feckless demonstration will set back woman candidates everywhere.
      So Spread the video far and wide. Long live the PATRIARCHY! lolz

  18. What we need is an opposing stance manifested in extending the national anthem with extra verses, made up on the spot if necessary. This can be done with the pledge of allegiance as well. The NFL players can kneel for a half hour more or longer as the anthem rolls along with verse after verse. The pledge can go for an hour or so with whatever creative extensions someone in opposition to all this kneeling can imagine.

    A comedian, Tom Green (Canadian), did a bit where he sang the national anthem at a ball game in Texas. At the end of the regular anthem everyone started to sit down but he started up another verse and they had to stand up again. This went on for a few extra verses; sitting-standing-sitting… It was hilarious. The faces of the fans, seriously wondering. Cuz, most people just go through the motions until their personal issues are scratched and then it becomes pertinent.

    The anthem and pledge are not about opinions but the right to have opinions. Perhaps the more stuff that surfaces about the contradictions, travesties, perversions, etc in America by kneeling during the anthem is what the anthem is all about. Mindlessly mumbling along in blind acceptance may be what the anthem is not about. Bandiera Rossa-come the revolution!!!!!

  19. Certainly every country has some things it can be proud of and anthems, pledges, and other rituals are designed to recognize those positive aspects of one’s country. Should we also recognize the grave and highly destructive errors our national leaders have made by refusing to recognize the positive? It’s a glass half full thing.

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