Flag Day, 2024

For God, for Country, and for Mickey D's

After 9/11/2001 people of all persuasions flew the flag.

McDonald's is as American as apple pie and keeps up the tradition in Foster City. It welcomes everyone.

Alas, two decades later everything has become politicized.

Has anyone noticed that if you fly the American flag, everyone seems to know who you're voting for? 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/egl28bNWw6

— 🇺🇸 Larry 🇺🇸 (@InterStarMedia) June 9, 2024

Flag Day

Outside City Hall (2021 photo)

The egalitarianism of the age frowns upon hierarchies, but as Jordan Peterson points out, hierarchical structure is not only intrinsic to human society, it's embedded in animal DNA. It was part of life long before humans walked the earth.

On the flagpole the relationships are clear. At the top is the U.S. flag, and just below it, albeit tangled, is the flag of the State of California. On the next level down is the flag of Foster City and the Rainbow Flag in honor of Pride Month.

Flags are just pieces of colored cloth, yet men have fought and died for them. Whether one stands or kneels before flags can inspire or enrage multitudes, depending on the context.

On Flag Day in our town there were no crowds or marching bands; nevertheless, there were a few of us who stopped by the flags and paused for a moment of reflection before going about our business.

The Best Weekend of Football Ever

Tetraptych of the four winning quarterbacks: Burrow, Bengals;
Mahomes, Chiefs; Garoppolo, 49ers; Stafford, Rams (WSJ photo)

Fans of professional football for over 50 years, we've always made a point of tuning into the Divisional Playoffs, four weekend games which pit the eight teams left in the Super Bowl tournament. We hope for one, maybe two exciting games; usually there are a number of stinkers that are decided by halftime.

Last weekend each game was exciting enough to have been the highlight of the weekend in past years.

the 2022 version of the divisional round may be the best ever.

Two No. 1 seeds were taken out in the divisional round, the first time that's happened since 2010. All four teams that won earned the victory in walk-off fashion.

Evan McPherson hit a game-winning 52-yard field goal to give the No. 4 Cincinnati Bengals a 19-16 win over the top-seeded Tennessee Titans.

Robbie Gould hit a game-winning 45-yard field goal to give the No. 6 San Francisco 49ers a 13-10 win over the top-seeded Green Bay Packers.

Matt Gay hit the winning 30-yard field as the Los Angeles Rams knocked off the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Patrick Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce on an eight-yard touchdown pass to give the Kansas City Chiefs an overtime victory over the Buffalo Bills.

The National Football League couldn't have written the script any better. The first game, Cincinnati's upset win over Tennessee that was decided by a last-second field goal, was exciting, but each succeeding game was even more thrilling as the stars elevated their play. IMHO, the games were "won," not "lost."

a football weekend like this past one, a four-contest, do-or-die playoff buffet in which the first game was totally wild, the second game was utterly wilder, the third game was straight-up bonkersville, and I really don’t have the term to describe the fourth game, because the English language has yet to come up with a sufficient word to precisely describe its final minutes of madness...

It was some 24 hours, starting with Cincinnati winning a football game they really had no business winning, to San Francisco winning a wintry game they had no business winning, to the Los Angeles Rams winning a game they did their best to gift wrap and leave on the doorstep for Tampa Bay, to a relentless jaw-dropper between Kansas City and Buffalo in which the lead flipped back and forth in the closing seconds of regulation.

Another reason this was a great weekend for football: for the first time in 5-7 years the focus has been on the games and not on fundamental threats to its popularity. Rule changes and improvements to safety equipment have halted, at least temporarily, the furor over CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). A combination of acceding to some of the players' demands and a general lowering of the political temperature has pushed the flag-kneeling controversy to the background. Vaccinations and greater knowledge of the disease have made COVID protocols less disruptive.

Go Niners!

Flag Day + 1

Long may they wave

At City Hall the flagpole has gotten a bit crowded.

The Stars and Stripes, the Rainbow Flag (it's Pride Month), and the light blue Foster City flag all flapped proudly in the breeze.

The California flag was tangled in the crossbar, unable to handle the atmospheric winds that pull it in all directions.

Speaking of crosscurrents, today California is officially re-opening: [bold added]

On June 15, California will generally align with the CDC’s mask recommendations, which means that if you’re fully vaccinated you don’t have to wear a mask in almost all settings, including shopping, going to a bar, working out at the gym or attending church services.

There are a few exceptions, such as health care settings and public transportation, including airports and transit stations.

If you are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, masks are still required indoors, and outdoors when 6 feet social distancing cannot be maintained. California will mostly rely on the honor system to enforce masking rules.

Comment 1: Honor system? I thought that went out of style half a century ago. Well, I'll put my skepticism aside and be open minded about whether that will work. Frankly, I think the danger will come from those who, lacking trust in others, will demand to see vaccination cards when they have no right to do so. I hope I'm wrong.

Comment 2: I'll still wear a mask pulled down over my chin. When I see a masked person approach, I'll pull it up out of courtesy. I often see masked parents out and about with their children, most of whom are not vaccinated. And I do believe that the risk is vanishingly small to children contracting COVID-19 when outdoors, and even if that does happen, the severity is much less. Nevertheless, parents' ability to assess risks is very poor when it comes to their children.

Be kind, even though you don't have to be--that's another meaning of the Flag.

Flag Day, 2021

Happy Flag Day!

Old Glory has been revered through most of the nation's history, to such an extent that men have given their lives to see it raised on the battlefield. It's a symbol of America, tattered, resilient, and unique among nations. Everyone who is not descended from Native Americans or African slaves can trace their ancestry to someone who chose to be here.

On this day we celebrate choice, the freedom to choose what to do with our lives regardless of the circumstances of our birth, and to succeed or fail on our own merits. Of course, these are aspirations and frequently do not depict "reality." As the saying goes, unless we know where we are going, we will never get there.

Independence Day, 2020: I've Stopped Looking For a Pony

(Business Insider image)

The headlines about President Trump's speech on Independence Day eve were uniformly negative, so I decided to exercise my right to independent thought by reading his speech in its entirety (after the break at bottom) before checking out the reviews.

A generation ago you wouldn't have blinked at most of the speech: praise for American exceptionalism, the words and deeds of the Founders, the great inventions and triumphs ("electricity, split the atom, and gave the world the telephone and the Internet. We settled the Wild West, won two World Wars, landed American astronauts on the Moon"), and a recitation of the accomplishments of the four Presidents on Mount Rushmore.

The latter allowed the President to transition to a condemnation of those who tear down monuments (he was careful not to mention Confederate symbols). He then levied a much broader attack against

“Cancel Culture"— driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees. This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and our values...

In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted, and punished.

Throughout his term the President has been called every name in the book, including Nazi and dictator, so his opponents won't like it that he's calling them the Fascists and totalitarians.

Actually, I've decided not to read the reviews because I know they're going to say what they've been saying for the past 3½ years: the President is divisive, he's firing up his base, he's a racist and white supremacist.

From Russian collusion to the Ukraine-whatever-that-was to the emoluments clause to the Logan Act to the climate denialism to the #MeToo movement that toppled mostly Democrats to the Trumpian over- then under-reaction to the coronavirus the media has been shoveling a lot of [stuff] since 2016 and affecting outrage throughout.

I used to trust their profession of journalistic principles to believe that they had something, but frankly I've stopped looking for a pony.

Stop Spoiling Our Lives

(Image from Today)

Re the American Revolution, who is the first woman you think of? Right, it's Betsy Ross, who created the American flag.

A few weeks ago Nike pulled its 13-star July 4th sneakers because Colin Kaepernick complained that white nationalists were co-opting the Betsy Ross flag as one of their symbols.

Hallmark movie: lovers come together over the original flag.
Hallmark doesn't know right-thinking people are outraged.

Frankly, I'm tired of fringe groups few have ever heard of seizing upon cherished symbols and phrases to further their causes. But I'm even more tired of opponents being offended by these groups---thereby giving the latter free publicity--and making these symbols and phrases off limits to all.

Give it a rest, 21st-century Puritans, stop spoiling our lives by being offended at everything.

A Flag for People Like Us

The Chronicle is running a contest to design a new flag for San Francisco. Shown above is William Leidenthal's entry:

Fog (gray background)

Pacific Ocean (dark blue bar)

San Francisco Bay (green bar)

Cultural diversity of the people of San Francisco, where an inclusive society is the city’s pillar of strength (a four-color tower — Coit or Salesforce)

Gold Rush, which gave birth to a world-class city (gold stripe at the bottom).

The explanation is all well and good, but what's the first thing you see, dear reader? Right, and I wouldn't call it "cultural diversity".

The work is too phallocentric. That's not us, Mr. Leidenthal. Now, if you had depicted a mansion with poop, drug needles, a homeless encampment, and a vacant storefront right outside, that would be us.

Some Heft

On Flag Day it's appropriate that we honor Robert G. Heft (1941-2009), who designed the current flag:

The original 1958 flag in 2006 (Houston Chronicle)

Ohioan Robert G. Heft designed the fifty-star United States flag. Stanley Pratt, Heft's teacher at Lancaster High School, asked his students to design a flag for the admittance of Hawaii and Alaska as states in the United States. Heft chose to arrange the fifty white stars on a blue background in alternating horizontal rows. Five rows had six stars, and four rows had five stars. Seven alternating horizontal red and six white stripes completed the flag, representing the original thirteen colonies. The flag's three colors, red, white, and blue, represent respectively courage, purity, and justice. It took Heft 12.5 hours to sew the flag together.

Stanley Pratt gave Heft a B- as the grade for the flag. Pratt supposedly stated that Heft's design lacked originality, but the teacher did offer to raise the grade if Heft could get the flag accepted as the United States' national flag. Heft sent his flag to Walter Moeller, his Ohio Congressman. Moeller succeeded in having Heft's design adopted as the new United States flag on July 4, 1960.

Heft's original flag has flown over the White House, every state capital building, and eighty-eight United States embassies. It remains in Heft's possession, although numerous people and museums have offered to purchase the flag, including one offer of $350,000. Heft's design was the twenty-seventh official flag of the United States.

Heft was born in Saginaw, Michigan, but he spent his youth in Ohio. He returned to Saginaw after retiring from Northwest State Community College in Archbold, Ohio, where he was a professor. He also served as mayor of Napoleon, Ohio, for 20 years. In Saginaw, he was employed as the Education Manager of the Saginaw County Junior Achievement. Heft traveled across the country, giving speeches regarding the United States flag and his role in its design. Heft also developed a fifty-one star flag in case a new state joins the United States.

Heft died on December 12, 2009, in Saginaw, Michigan, of natural causes.

Robert Heft's humble Midwest beginnings, his claim to fame (what 17-year-old boy today would spend 12.5 hours sewing a school project?), and what he did with his life is from a Norman Rockwell America that has all but vanished.

Best Wishes to a November Baby

Colin Kaepernick turned 30 today. Other than our shared birthdate we have nothing in common. He's rich, tattooed, an outstanding physical specimen, angers a lot of people---hey, maybe there is something to this horoscope stuff after all.

Actually, I do wish him the best. He offended many good and decent people with controversial actions that I totally disagree with, yet in the end did not really harm anyone (IMHO, offending is not harming). He put everything on the line and likely destroyed his career, despite wishful thinking from his lawyer. I can respect his choice.

I hope he has many more---and happier---birthdays.

Give Me Some of That

Tied for NFL's worst record (0-5): you might kneel, too (Chron)

Vice President Mike Pence walked out of the Indianapolis-San Francisco game yesterday when twenty-three 49ers knelt during the national anthem. One of the kneelers, 49ers safety Eric Reid, said after the game: [bold added]

“He know that our team has the most players protesting, so he stopped to watch us do it and left in an effort to try to thwart what we’re trying to accomplish,” Reid said. “This is a case in point for systematic oppression. This is a powerful man with a huge platform and this is what he chooses to do. Fly in on taxpayer money to confuse the issue that we’re trying to control the narrative on.

“It’s really disheartening.”

Eric Reid doesn't like a system that "oppresses" him with a salary of $5,676,000 in 2017. By the way, the Vice President of the United States makes $230,700, four percent (4%) of Mr. Reid's compensation.

If this is oppression, I'd like a helping of that, too.

Afterthought: "control the narrative on"---it looks like Eric Reid has picked up a little critical theory from some newfound protester-friends. It's impossible for your side to control the narrative now, Eric, and besides, they are not your friends and certainly not football's.

Irreversible Injury

I often wonder whether President Trump tweets and/or speaks impulsively or with a grand plan in mind. His latest tweetstorm concerns the well-publicized but ultimately insignificant issue of NFL players kneeling when the National Anthem is played at the beginning of the game. There are many aspects to the story---free speech, the politicization of sports, the meaning of the national anthem and the flag, and the reported disproportionate killing of unarmed black men by police--all against the backdrop of football CTE injuries, criminal behavior by NFL players, and multi-billions of dollars spent each year on America's most popular sport.

I've been a fan of the local teams, the 49ers and Raiders, for most of my adult life, but there's very little of that world (athletics, big money, fame) that I can identify with. To the extent that I can relate to anyone in this sorry mess, it would be President Trump.

When he said that players who kneel during the National Anthem should be "fired" and that owners should "get that son of a bitch off that field", I think he went way over the top; however he was right about a basic business principle that politics should have been kept off the field.

I have worked for large companies most of my life. Political speech is verboten for good reason: no matter how righteous I may think my cause, my espousal of those views would antagonize some customers and some co-workers. (The First Amendment applies to government control of speech; workplace speech is another matter entirely--if I dissed my employer out loud, he would be justified in getting rid of me.)

If I wore a "Black Lives Matter" shirt or a "Make America Great Again" hat, my employer would give me a warning, then fire me if I didn't remove the offending garment. And if the cameras had been rolling, I wouldn't even get a warning.

The vast majority of Americans have worked in such circumscribed environments where speech and behavior are limited while on the job.

Colin Kaepernick, whom I believe is sincere and do respect, should have been warned, then banned from the field if he continued to kneel for the Anthem. (At the same time the NFL could also have put money and time into addressing the issue that concerned Mr. Kaepernick.)

Now it's too late, and the injury to football is probably irreversible.

Memorial Day, 2007

For God, for Country, and for Mickey D's

To the men and women of our armed forces, and especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, thank you.

Memorial Day, 2006