Memorial Day Flag Etiquette: A Complete Guide to Honoring the US Flag

 Military.com

Learn Memorial Day flag etiquette, including when to fly the U.S. flag at half-staff and how to honor the fallen with proper flag display. Backed by U.S. Flag Code and veteran traditions.

Memorial Day Flag Protocol FAQs

"When should I lower my flag on Memorial Day? The U.S. flag should be flown at half-staff until noon and then raised to full-staff until sunset.

"What's the proper way to hang the flag on a wall? Vertically: union (blue field with stars) at top and to the flag's own right (observer's left). Horizontally: union at top and observer's left.

"Which side of the porch to hang the American flag? The U.S. flag should go to the observer's left, which is the flag's own right.

"Is it illegal to fly the American flag at night without a light? No, but it should be properly illuminated if displayed at night.

"Do all veterans get a flag on their grave on Memorial Day? Not automatically. Many cemeteries and local organizations place flags, but it is not required.

"Can state flags fly at the same height as the U.S. flag? Yes, if they are on separate flagpoles of equal height. On the same staff, the U.S. flag must be on top.

"What flags can't be flown under the American flag? No flag should be above the U.S. flag. It should also not be displayed with commercial or decorative flags beneath it.

"Is it illegal to fly a flag above the U.S. flag? Per the U.S. Flag Code, no other flag should be flown above the U.S. flag.

Read More: US Flag Code

The amazing ‘last call’ photo of the people Colbert kept employed

 Andrea Widburg - American Thinker  

"Colbert’s show was limousine leftism at its finest. Ed Driscoll has an absolutely splendid round-up of the media’s mourning for the show’s end. This was their show, promoting their values, all at the expense of CBS’s shareholders, of course."

"Brian Stelter is thrilled, for reasons that are unclear, but I find it fascinating. That’s because this bastion of Democrat politics, where one would expect to find a huge quota of black people (something Democrats have made clear should apply to academic admissions and corporate America), but I didn’t. Instead, among those 140-160 employees, I counted 15 who were definitely black. In other words, roughly 10% of the employees are clearly black, which is less than the 13-14% of blacks in the total American population:

"I admit that the count is a bit rough because the faces are small, and people in the back right are shadowed. But as best as I can tell, most of the team was white, with Far East Asians and Southeast Asians coming in second. While they may be minorities, their incredible success in America means that Democrats are schizophrenic about them: They woo them as “people of color” for the Democrat coalition, but they despise them because their drive and initiative reveal that a failure to thrive amongst many black Americans has nothing to do with systemic racism." . . .   More...

Lockheed Martin Unveils New AI Superweapons to Destroy Drone Swarms

  RedState  

"'This drone that we're building with the help of AI will enable us to attack 50 different drones with one mission without firing any weaponry," he shared."

"One of the major problems any military force has is this: All too often, they train to fight the last war, and neglect looking around at current conflicts for lessons. One such current conflict is the Russo-Ukrainian War, which is still somehow dragging on; another is the United States' takedown of the 7th-century barbarians running Iran. Both of these conflicts have given us plenty to consider when it comes to one of the newer weapons of war: Drones.

"Drones, especially drone swarms, pose the possibility of overwhelming traditional air defenses and causing significant damage, not only to combat forces but also to an army's logistical trains; that's something that Ukraine in particular seems to have a knack for. Now, the American company Lockheed Martin has announced the development of some new weapons systems that combine AI with the weapons themselves, specifically to counter drone swarms. So far, the company isn't revealing a lot of detail, but Lockheed Martin's CEO, Jim Taiclet, recently handed out a few hints.

A top U.S. defense contractor pulled back the curtain on next-generation AI-powered systems designed to hunt down and destroy swarms of enemy drones as the U.S. rapidly expands its next-generation warfighting capabilities.

"We are inserting technology of all types into our systems," Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet told FOX Business on Thursday, detailing the company's AI-powered counter-drone system, Sanctum.

Taiclet said the system uses artificial intelligence to detect incoming drones, determine whether they pose a threat and predict where they are headed before they can be intercepted or disabled.

More...

Two of the Left's Favorite Extremist Loudmouths Just Got Served Regarding Cuba Antics

 Never fear - Springsteen and Hollywood will support you both.

Bob Hoge – RedState 

Piker and “Medea” are both loudmouths who love to spout inflammatory rhetoric for clicks, but they may have stepped over the line this time with their actions. 

"Hasan Piker is a far-left provocateur who RedState’s Brandon Morse calls the “Left’s It Boy” and a “man of privilege and wealth who larps as a communist and is actively a terrorist sympathizer.”

"Meanwhile, “Medea” Benjamin, born with the less dramatic first name Susan, is a co-founder of the radical anti-war, anti-American group CODEPINK, which is comprised almost entirely of people who want to attend protests every day of their lives and cozy up to regimes hostile to the United States.

"Now the pair has been subpoenaed by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control in their probe of whether the two and others violated U.S. sanctions laws while attempting to help the communist government of the República de Cuba.

Piker and Benjamin are among those caught in a federal inquiry into whether activists who traveled to Cuba in March violated U.S. sanctions laws through the financing, coordination or delivery of goods to Cuba, including potential contacts with Cuban government personnel or entities on the island. The administrative subpoenas were sent to the pair by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control

The administrative subpoenas — called "Requests for Information," or RFI — seek financial, logistical and communications information revolving around trips the two widely bragged about making to the island nation in March with delegations of the "Nuestra América Convoy," or "Our America Convoy," from a global network of communist sympathizers, activists and influencers who brought supplies to the country's ruling Communist Party of Cuba, according to sources familiar with the matter.

. . . "Since the indictment dropped on Wednesday, numerous left-wing groups, including CODEPINK, immediately ramped up their fundraising and lobbying efforts on behalf of the dictatorial Cuban regime that has sunk the country into such misery. Why anyone would advocate for the cruel failure that is today’s Cuba is hard to fathom." . . . More...

The Pacific: Marines of the Pacific - Eugene Sledge, Robert Leckie

HBO

"A look at the life of WWII veteran Eugene Sledge featuring interviews with Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, actor Joe Mazzello and the team behind the HBO miniseries "The Pacific."

"Interesting fact: Eugene Sledge's brother Edward was awarded the silver star for his actions in Europe. He was on Omaha beach, the Hurtgen forest and the battle of the bulge."

"'With The Old Breed' is a fantastic book. My father was in 1st Marines at Guam and Okinawa (3rd amphib). He never wanted to tell us about it. I now know why after reading Sledges' book. My dad was, and still is my hero. He embodied the true meaning of Semper Fi. I am a good man because of him.:"

The Pacific: Marines of the Pacific - Robert Leckie "One of Robert Leckie’s children - David - was my son Chase’s 8th grade teacher. Chase really valued the type of teacher “Mr. Leckie” was... kind, committed to his students, humble. I think Robert would be very proud of his son. And what kid doesn’t remember their favorite teacher? The Leckie legacy extends beyond one family... and beyond the battlefield."

Congress Advances Proposal to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent

 Legal Insurrection  

Proponents of standard time also note that more daylight earlier in the day can help children heading to school and commuters traveling in the morning. They may have a point. I recall a motorist in our town striking a child walking to a bus stop on the Monday after the switch to daylight saving time. The driver simply did not see the child in the darkness..

eBay

"On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 48-1 to advance the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act. The Sunshine Protection Act — a measure that would make daylight saving time permanent — is included in this legislation. The bill now moves to the House floor.

"Following the vote, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), a primary sponsor of the Sunshine Protection Act, issued a statement that read:

My Sunshine Protection Act will bring us one step closer to ending the outdated and unpopular practice of changing our clocks twice a year. Floridians and Americans across the country are tired of the biannual time change, and the evidence is clear that permanent daylight saving time can improve public health, reduce traffic accidents, lower crime and encourage more outdoor activity.

Ending the clock change is a commonsense reform that will improve everyday life for millions of Americans.

"And President Donald Trump has thrown his full support behind this initiative. In a Thursday Truth Social post, he wrote:

Big Vote today (48-1!) in the Energy and Commerce Committee on a Bill including The Sunshine Protection Act, which will be making Daylight Saving Time Permanent! This is so important in that Hundreds of Millions of Dollars are spent every year by people, Cities, and States, being forced to change their Clocks. Many of these Clocks are located in Towers, and the cost of renting, or using, Heavy Equipment to do this twice a year is prohibitive! . . . More...

A New Wave of Domestic Terrorism Coming?

 Which came first? Radical teachers who create radical students, or leftist students influencing malleable teachers (who we assume were radicalized by leftists in teachers' colleges? TD

David Strom – HotAir 

"Democrats are rallying around Hasan Piker and Graham Platner, who both have called for violence and who have been open about being revolutionary communists (although Platner is now disputing that he remains one). Luigi Mangione is a hero." . . . 

"It's no longer in the public consciousness, but domestic terrorism was very much a thing in the United States and Europe during the 1960s and 1970s. 

"There is no one hard count, but in those two decades, about 20,000 bombings happened in the United States, with actual revolutionary groups trying to overthrow the United States government. 

"They failed, of course. But domestic terrorism was very much a thing, and a significant fraction of our cultural elite were at least somewhat supportive. That's one of the reasons the working class started moving rightward, alongside crime, cultural, and economic issues. 

"The radicalization of the left in recent years has already inspired riots and assassinations (sound familiar?), and it is quite possible that a new wave, hopefully not as widespread, of domestic terror will be unleashed. 

"Radical groups are gearing up for it already, feeling that the wind is at their back, unifying around racial issues and the Palestinian "cause.". . .  More...

David Strom is a reformed academic, which means he has a modicum of common sense. He has been a political and policy advisor as well as a speechwriter in 3 gubernatorial campaigns, several Congressional campaigns, and a US Senate campaign. He has also advised numerous state legislative candidates on policy issues. Over the past 25 years he still hasn’t figured out that Minnesota is a terrible place to be a conservative

Report: Israel Formed Secret Unit to Kill or Capture Every Oct. 7 Attacker

 Report: Israel Formed Secret Unit to Kill or Capture Every Oct. 7 Attacker

"Israel established a secret elite intelligence task force in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre to track down and kill or capture every terrorist involved in the attack — from senior commanders who orchestrated the assault to individual gunmen who crossed into southern Israel during the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

"According to a detailed Wall Street Journal report published Wednesday, the unit — known as NILI, a Hebrew acronym derived from a biblical verse meaning “The Eternal One of Israel Does Not Lie” — was formed by Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service and military intelligence shortly after the Hamas-led attack that killed roughly 1,200 people and saw 251 Israelis taken hostage, most of them civilians.

"Earlier reports following the massacre indicated the operation also involved Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency, signaling from the outset that the campaign would likely extend beyond Gaza to Hamas operatives and leadership figures based abroad.

"The report said the task force compiled a database containing thousands of names, including Hamas Nukhba commandos — the terror group’s elite assault force that spearheaded much of the October 7 infiltration — as well as additional Palestinians identified as participating in the massacre. Israeli officials told the newspaper that targets are reportedly approved only after investigators obtain at least two independent pieces of evidence placing them at the scene of the attack or directly tying them to the assault.

"According to the report, Israeli intelligence personnel relied on a sweeping range of surveillance and intelligence tools to identify suspects, including facial recognition software run against videos uploaded by Hamas terrorists themselves, intercepted communications, cellphone location data, social media footage, and interrogations of Gazan detainees captured during the war." . . .  More...

One year ago, Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar was eliminated by the @IDF.
He was hiding in a tunnel directly beneath the emergency room of a hospital in Khan Yunis.
He didn't die on a battlefield. He died in a hole under a hospital, using the sick and wounded as his final shield.… pic.twitter.com/cbFVfBs5NE

— Embassy of Israel to the USA (@IsraelinUSA) May 14, 2026

President Trump: Please Do Not Leave the Iranian Regime in Place. . .

. . . "We Waited More Than Four Decades for You, We Will Not Get Another Break"

Gatestone Institute  

"President Trump: For the world, for humanity, for Western civilization, please do not leave this regime in place -- or a secular military one that is just as fierce. We cannot wait another 50 years for someone like you again."

Toon added by TD

"The Iranian regime is playing its game again: drag everything out to stay in power until the American public grows tired of high gasoline prices; or until the November midterm elections, when the Democrats might win; or until 2029 when President Donald J. Trump's term finally ends and he is replaced, with luck, by an invertebrate.

"Iran's regime has been using two tactics. It says: "We need time. We are, because of the strikes, fractured and our leadership divided." Or, as Vice President J.D. Vance naively noted on its behalf: it says it does not know what it wants. "The Iranians aren't themselves quite clear in what direction they want to go," Vance, with a straight face, told reporters at the White House; "they are also just a fractured country."

"That is exactly what the regime wants: that you are dumb enough to believe that. The Iranian regime knows precisely what it wants. It wants to stay in power to continue its anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, anti-Westernism and anti-its-own-people-ism. The regime wants to revive its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs; restore its terrorist proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis; try to create another noose of death around Israel; threaten Europe and eventually the United States; suppress, kill and execute its own people, and continue to export its fanatic ideology and Islamist revolution.

"The supposed "moderates" will say, " Oh please wait for us. We are so fractured! We just want to win over the hardliners -- and we are ALMOST there!" This dish has been served up for years. It works.

"The second ploy is "Drag, Drag, Drag." Drag the deals. Drag the talks. Drag the feedback. Drag the confusion. Or else: Put a deal out on the table and then take it back. Then put out another deal. Then another one. Before you know it, the West will be worn down." . . .

Full article here.

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu

Reparations: Who Pays Whom?

 John Perry - American Thinker

"Reparations, its proponents insist, are payments white Americans owe black Americans for enslaving them, a practice that ended 163 years ago.  These advocates would have us believe that seven or eight generations after the fact, the limitations and inequalities of slavery still hold slavery’s descendants back and deny them their chance at the American dream.  And somebody has to pay.

"Setting aside the logic of that claim for the moment — while noting its similarity to the familiar liberal mantra: “Vote for us, and we’ll give you stuff!” — let us consider the practical question: Who exactly should pay whom?   

"Since only the wealthiest people could afford slaves, the legal and moral argument on the subject was academic, not practical, for the vast majority of citizens at the time.  That being the case, few among today’s population, even in theory, should have to pay reparations to descendants of slaves.

"According to the 1860 census, on the eve of the Civil War, under four percent of American households owned one or more slaves.  That means about ninety-six percent of the population owned none.  So the descendants of that ninety-six percent should be off the hook.  But what about people whose ancestors were members of slaveholding families yet personally opposed slavery?  On the other hand, what about people who would have liked a slave but couldn’t afford one?

"If descendants of slaveholders should foot the bill, who among us today is descended only from former slaveowners?  Odds are that after seven generations, it’s nobody.  Why should descendants of non-slaveholders be liable financially for the decisions of others?  What about those who are fifty percent descended from a slaveholder?  Forty-nine?

"The United States government as a whole isn’t liable for slavery; it fought the bloodiest war in its history in part to abolish slavery.  It doesn’t owe a dime in reparations to anybody." . . .More

John Perry is a ghostwriter and collaborator, as well as the author of more than a dozen books including Sgt. York: His Life, Legend, and Legacy (Fidelis, 2021). His latest book is The Detroiting of America: What Happened to the Motor City, Why Other Cities Followed, How Detroit is Coming Back

Must watch: Ted Cruz obliterates the lies of Mazie Hirono

 D Parker - American Thinker   

"This highlights an important point: With the midterms only a few months away, it’s vitally important to clear away the detritus of leftist lies now rather than later, while also setting forth our principles."

"The good guys are winning.  Plain old facts are obliterating the lies of the left, and the leftists don’t know what to do with themselves.

"A recent congressional hearing had Hawaii Democrat Mazie Hirono trotting out the ever tiresome litany of leftist lies on slavery, elections, and racism.  Violent leftists usually expect to get away with their big lies because that’s the way it’s been in the past.

"But something’s changed in the world, primarily because of the threats from an increasingly violent left and the looming implications of the midterm election season.  It’s become clear to the pro-freedom community that we must push back on the perennial lies of the left simply because they have become dangerous.

"Violent leftists have often tried to dehumanize their political opponents as collectivist fascists, national socialists, and KKK members.  Though these organizations originated on the far left, the left continues to call them “far right.”  Senator Hirono presents the familiar claims on slavery, elections, and racism.

"Although it’s almost painful to sit through her ramblings on the subject, it’s also amusing to watch her doing this, knowing what is going to happen next:" . . .

"The icing on the cake is that after this rhetorical beatdown of her facts, Ms. Hirono asks for a point of personal privilege.  And then, instead of actually refuting these facts, she complained that she feels personally aggrieved because she’s being “lectured.”  You can almost sense their arrogance and anger at no longer getting away with spewing lies."    More...

D Parker is an engineer, inventor, wordsmith, and student of history, a former director of communications for a civil rights organization, and a longtime contributor to conservative websites.  

The Media War on Israel

 The American Spectator  

"If the New York Times wants to be a voice for the Palestinian people or for victims of sexual violence, it has already done them a grave injustice through its untrustworthy reputation. Any facts that are unveiled, unfortunately, are drowned in a sea of objective opinions. If corrections are later published on Kristof’s latest piece, chances are most readers won’t see it."

"The New York Times’ coverage of Israel’s wars has established a new precedent in journalistic integrity: publish stories as soon as possible, let them go viral, then discreetly apologize when the stories prove to be false. 

"Take, for example, the explosion at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City on Oct. 16, 2023. Palestinian authorities blamed the explosion on Israeli air strikes, and the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health reported 500 people dead. The following day, the New York Times posted “At least 500 people were killed by an Israeli airstrike at a Gaza hospital, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.” Other outlets followed suit. “Hundreds feared dead or injured in Israeli air strike on hospital in Gaza, Palestinian officials say,” reported the BBC.

"After a thorough investigation, the hospital explosion was confirmed to be caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired in a barrage intended for the civilian populations of southern Israel. But by the time the facts came out, the narrative had already been set. 

"But there’s more. In July 2025, the New York Times published a photo of an emaciated toddler on its front page as proof of an Israeli-facilitated famine in Gaza. As it turned out, the boy suffered from a preexisting genetic disease unrelated to the war. The Times did issue a correction, but it was published on its public relations X account, seen by less than 100,000 viewers, and not on its website or main account, followed by over 55 million users. Over the past two years, I’ve also reported on how widely circulating claims of genocide and famine in Gaza have been fabricated by biased NGOs, politicians, and media outlets as part of a campaign to slander Israel.  

"News, therefore, is not being reported; it’s being shaped and fabricated through biased narratives, and the consequences are dangerous.

"The most recent jab at Israel is Nicholas Kristof’s opinion piece published in the New York Times on May 13. Kristof unveiled alleged horrific sexual abuses committed against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. This followed a similar report from Faisal Ali at the Guardian a year earlier on alleged sexual abuses of Palestinian detainees. 

"Kristof’s piece was hard to read, filled with emotionally driven accounts from sexual abuse victims. It claimed that there is a pattern of widespread sexual violence against detained Palestinians by the Israeli military, intelligence agencies, Jewish settlers in the West Bank, prison guards, and specially trained rape dogs. But even in the most cringeworthy moments, I recalled reading uncomfortable pieces from the Times before, only to find out days or weeks later that the content had been recalled or debunked." . . .