Well, here’s another discussion board, where a guy says his ship was boarded by the Coast Guard for flying that flag. I also mentioned the Navy Officer who told my uncle to pull down the flag. There was a third reference to this in my previous link.
So all I’ve got is indirect testimony from three people who have been told by military officers that it is illegal.
That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. If they asked me that, I’d tell them to show me the specific law.
I seem to remember the Navy ship I was on flying the “Jolly Roger” during a “Crossing the Line” ceremony back in the 1980s.
ETA: Oh, I’d also ask that Navy officer who he thinks he is and what he thinks he’s pulling.
You can call this song
The “Czech No Slovak Blues.”
“Treason doth prosper; what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”*
*or if you wrap yourself in the Confederate flag, apparently, you get to beat the rap too.
It’s still hard for me to believe that Davis, Stephens, Lee, and the rest of those fuckers didn’t get strung up for the treasonous criminals they were.
This is the meaning that occurred to me.
I’m going to substitute the Gadsden flag in my mind’s eye when I see the rebel flag. It’s a somewhat more palatable sentiment, and I like rattlesnakes.
We’re in the United States, not Germany, so it’s perfectly legal to fly a swastika flag here.
Otherwise, I get what you’re saying - I think anyone flying the confederate flag is an asshole too. I just don’t think it rises anywhere near the level of needing to be an exception to the 1st Amendment.
I would be curious where the flag was flown. (If it was flown as a burgee or a jack, it is unlikely to have had any negative reactions. If it was flown as an ensign, well, who in these days is going to challenge a warship of the USN?)
= = = =
The ensign position, a staff projecting from the stern of a ship or flown from the gaff of a sailing vessel so equipped, is the location of the national emblem, (i.e. ensign), and I could see a Jolly Roger getting a lot of negative attention for that.
The jack position is at the bow of the ship. That is usually reserved for a second national flag or ensign, but not all navies follow that tradition. So while it could garner negative attention, I am not sure that it would.
Courtesy flags, (flags of a nation being visited, flown by the visiting ship), are flown from the starboard yard* or spreader** of the most forward mast. However, on powered ships and boats (that do not have masts to hold sails) the courtesy flag is flown from the “mast” on which the navigation lights are placed and and on sloops (where there is only a single mast), the courtesy flag is flown on a spreader for that mast.
The last point gets confusing, because the burgee, (indicating a club with which the ship or boat is associated), is often flown from the same line, below the courtesy flag if there is one. So some joker flying the Jolly Roger from the position of the courtesy flag in or near the waters of the nation in which the vessel is registered–thus not needing to fly a courtesy flag–might simply claim that it is a club burgee.
(Flying the Jolly Roger in place of a courtesy flag, if sailing in the waters of another nation, would be regarded as a grave insult, at best.)
(There is also a house flag, (indicating the corporation of individual who owns the ship), that generally flies from the mainmast (or the mizzen for a ketch or yawl), but which might be flown on the port side on a sloop or powered vessel that had only a single mast.)
HIS door. Not the door of the government offices.
On a Marconi rigged sailboat, you can use the back-stay to fly the ensign.
As far as the jolly roger, piracy laws are pretty old, however… flying the jolly roger in international waters can get you boarded by any navy or other ship because pirates are offered no protection under the maritime laws. So not a good idea no matter how funny you think it may be to fly it.
Inside national/coastal waters, specifically Canada and US, it’s just disrespectful, at worst. The coast guard or local harbour police can ask you to take it down but there really are no specific laws that say you must. However, international water laws apply in that you may be boarded.
In practice, the rest of the boating community just thinks you’re a douche bag.
:smack: Okay, I think maybe I’m being too subtle. For those who aren’t baseball fans, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ emblem is the Jolly Roger. Don’t any other cities have their sports’ teams flags or anything hanging up during the playoffs, or whatever? (Even at publically owned spots)
(Of course, this probably depends on how we’re defining “government property”)
Or a British submariner. They’ve been flying the Jolly Roger when coming back to port since WW1, when some high admiral called them “underhanded, unfair and damned un-British” and opined they should all be hanged as pirates.
The marina where we have our pontoon currently has a beautiful display of hundreds of courtesy flags flying. The owner bet me I couldn’t guess the significance. I studied them for a while, then guessed:
He was surprised, gave me a beer!
I had earlier observed him securing an Olympic flag to his boat, so it was an obvious guess.
I suppose… But if a policeman pulls you over for speeding, do you demand he shows you the specific law?
I know they don’t hang out Cubs flags In Chicago. 
Congressman Steve King, of Iowa, keeps a Confederate flag on his desk, next to a Don’t Tread On Me flag and the US flag (and something else that I think is the Iowa state flag, but I’m not sure). And what’s that other flag, something to do with the Vatican?
Ugh, Steve King. The only thing that makes sharing the same state is the fact that I’m on the opposite side of Iowa. Western Iowa, and particularly northwestern Iowa, is a scary land of hardcore Christian conservatives who don’t need none of that liberal gummint nonsense, thankyouverymuch.
Looks like he has the American flag, the Iowa state flag, the Gadsden flag, the Confederate flag, and the papal flag. Cause nothing says “good friend of Catholics and the Pope” like the good old CSA flag.
He’s such a maroon. A Democrat can’t get any votes in his district, and the sane Republicans can’t run anyone who can beat him in a primary.
Could it be that, whilst having no wish to return to the horrors of slavery, they do want to respect their ancestors who fought and died for ‘that damn rag’, however ignoble the cause. Sure, some of them may be bigots too, but it’s a free country. Where’s the harm? I can see it might hurt the feelings, and legitimately, of others but there’s no law against hurting someone’s feelings. At least not yet.
Of course, it’s a free country. Which means we can say they’re complete assholes for doing so.
This.