NYT’s Jodi Kantor Has A History Of Peddling Deranged Anti-Alito Hoaxes

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-06-at-6.07.57 AM-1200x675.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-06-at-6.07.57%5Cu202fAM-1200x675.png%22%7D" expand=1]Unable to critique the court for any legitimate reason, Kantor has written obsessive hit pieces not just about the wife of a Supreme Court justice, but about her flag choices.

San Francisco flew the 'Appeal to Heaven' flag for 60 years — then along came the New York Times' smear campaign



Democrats and their allies in the liberal media launched a smear campaign against Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito earlier this month in an effort to prompt his recusal from upcoming cases related to former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 protests.

Jodi Kantor, running lead on the initiative for the New York Times, failed to land a decisive blow with her May 16 flag story, which the Washington Post had years earlier wrote off as a nothing-burger. Meatless, but desperate for results, Kantor found another flag to concern-monger about: the "Appeal to Heaven" flag, also known as the Pine Tree Flag, which had apparently been flown above Alito's beach house in New Jersey last year.

This line of attack proved similarly ineffective. Alito told Democrat Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island that he personally flew neither flag and that he would not be recusing himself, prompting Democrats to rage impotently.

Democratic lawmakers' feelings and the New York Times' remaining credibility were not the only casualties in the unsuccessful smear campaign.

The offending "Appeal to Heaven" flag has effectively been transmogrified in the popular liberal imagination from a patriotic banner — designed by an aide-de-camp to then-General George Washington and flown by proud Americans ever since — to a loathsome symbol of an imagined wrong.

It has 'since been adopted by a different group — one that doesn't represent the city's values.'

The "Appeal to Heaven" flag was one among a collection of 18 flags reflecting different moments in American history flown in Civic Center Plaza outside San Francisco City Hall. According to the SFist, despite being flown for 60 years with "zero controversy," the flag has been removed by the city's Recreation and Park Department.

The flag's fate appears to have been sealed not only by its presence among the myriad of different banners present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 but on account of is recent association in the Times with a Supreme Court justice detested by the left.

City parks officials told the San Francisco Chronicle in a statement that whereas the flag originally signified the "quest for American independence," it has "since been adopted by a different group — one that doesn't represent the city's values."

The "Appeal to Heaven" flag has been replaced by an American flag, which also appeared at Justice Alito's home and at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The flag's removal comes just days after users on social media indicated Democrats were effectively whipping stones at Alito from a glass house and months after a Palestinian flag was sent up a pole at the Golden Gate Bridge.

According to the U.S. National Park Service, the "Appeal to Heaven" flag "became familiar on the seas as the ensign of the cruisers commissioned by General Washington and was noted by many English newspapers of the time."

Republican Illinois state Rep. Chris Miller's office noted years before the flag became controversial:

The pine tree had long been a New England symbol being depicted on the Flag of New England flown by colonial merchant ships dating back to 1686. Leading up to the Revolutionary War it became a symbol of Colonial ire and resistance. The colonists resented the restrictions on the timber used for their needs and livelihoods. Prohibitions were disregarded and they practiced 'Swamp Law,' where the pines were harvested according to their needs regardless of statutes.

In New Hampshire enforcement led to the Pine Tree Riot in 1772, one of the first acts of forceful protest against British policies. It occurred almost two years prior to the more well-known Boston Tea Party protest and three years before open hostilities began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The pine tree was also used on the flag that the Colonists flew at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775.

The flag was subsequently adopted by the Massachusetts Navy and used until 1971.

Concerning San Francisco's quiet removal, Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R) joked online, "'Quick, we can't let the unwashed masses see that the Appeal to Heaven flag isn't a call for violent insurrection!"

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Don’t Mistake Democrats’ War On America’s Heritage As Just A Clash Over A Pine Tree Flag

The controversy surrounding historical symbols such as the 'Appeal to Heaven' flag reflects a deeper conflict over the very soul of the nation.

Democrats’ Alito Freakout Is A False Flag Operation To Take Down The Court

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-28-at-11.31.39 AM-1200x675.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-28-at-11.31.39%5Cu202fAM-1200x675.png%22%7D" expand=1]The contrived attacks on Justice Alito serve only one purpose: to delegitimize the Supreme Court and its forthcoming opinions.

Democrats Promise Coordinated Assault On Court If They Don’t Get Their Way

'We will look at the Supreme Court and figure out what can be done about that extremely corrupted and contaminated body.'

Lindsey Graham lectures Alito for flag, Mike Lee hits back in defense of Supreme Court justice: 'Every right to hang whatever flag'



Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina recently lectured Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for allowing his home to fly an upside-down American flag and another flag with historical significance dating back to the early stages of the American War of Independence. Two Republican lawmakers have come to the defense of Justice Alito following a hailstorm of attacks by liberal media outlets and Democrats.

Last week, Obama hagiographer Jodi Kantor wrote an article in the New York Times centering on an American flag that was displayed upside down outside Alito's New Jersey vacation home in mid-January 2021.

Alito said that his wife – Martha-Ann Alito – flew the flag in their yard "in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs."

Alito explained that his neighbor had a "F*** Trump" sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school bus. The neighbor allegedly blamed the January 6th riots on Mrs. Alito and "engaged in vulgar language, 'including the c-word.'"

The conservative Supreme Court justice noted that the flag was only flown for a "short time."

The New York Times then ran another article highlighting that an "Appeal to Heaven" flag was displayed outside Alito's vacation home in July and September 2023.

The Times attempted to frame the flags as having negative connotations because some protesters carried the flags during the Jan. 6 demonstration and riot.

The Appeal to Heaven flag, also known as the "Pine Tree Flag," has historical roots in the Revolutionary War.

The flag was commissioned by George Washington, and has been in existence since 1775. The flag was first used by the Massachusetts Navy during the American Revolutionary War. It was among the first flags to symbolize the American colonies' pursuit of independence from the British.

The flag features a green pine tree and the phrase "An appeal to Heaven."

"An appeal to Heaven" is a quote from British political philosopher John Locke – who is often credited as a founder of modern liberal thought.

The quote is from Locke's "Second Treatise," written in 1689.

The old question will be asked in this matter of prerogative, But who shall be judge when this power is made a right use of? I answer: Between an executive power in being, with such a prerogative, and a Legislative that depends upon his will for their convening, there can be no judge on Earth: As there can be none, between the legislative, and the people, should either the executive, or the legislative, when they have got the power in their hands, design, or go about to enslave, or destroy them. The people have no other remedy in this, as in all other cases where they have no judge on Earth, but to appeal to Heaven.

Locke adds:

And therefore, tho' the people cannot be Judge, so as to have by the constitution of that society any superior power, to determine and give effective sentence in the case; yet they have, by a law antecedent and paramount to all positive laws of men, reserved that ultimate determination to themselves, which belongs to all mankind, where there lies no appeal on Earth, viz. to judge whether they have just cause to make their appeal to Heaven. And this Judgment they cannot part with, it being out of a man's power so to submit himself to another, as to give him a liberty to destroy him; God and nature never allowing a man so to abandon himself, as to neglect his own preservation: And since he cannot take away his own life, neither can he give another power to take it. Nor let anyone think, this lays a perpetual foundation for disorder: for this operates not, till the inconvenience is so great, that the majority feel it, and are weary of it, and find a necessity to have it amended. But this the executive power, or wise princes, never need come in the danger of: And 'tis the thing of all others, they have most need to avoid, as of all others the most perilous.

The U.S. Postal Service issued the Appeal to Heaven flag as a stamp in 1968.

Graham pilloried Alito for flying the flags.

"Emotions are apparently high in that neighborhood," Graham told reporters on Monday. "But no, it’s not good judgment to do that. He said his wife was insulted and got mad. I assume that to be true, but he’s still a Supreme Court justice, and people have to realize that [at] moments like that to think it through."

'Martha-Ann Alito has every right to hang whatever flag she wants.'

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) took Graham to task over his criticism of Justice Alito.

Responding to a post on the X social media platform with Graham's response to the flag controversy, Lee fired back: "Martha-Ann Alito has every right to hang whatever flag she wants. In whatever manner she wants. She is a free citizen. And a freedom-loving, American patriot."

He continued, "Her husband doesn’t speak for her. And she doesn’t speak for her husband. Why can’t the left accept that?"

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also defended Justice Alito.

Johnson declared the Pine Tree flag has "nothing to do with" the "stop the steal" protests.

He told CNN on Wednesday, "It's George Washington’s flag. It goes back to the founder’s era. I’ve always flown that flag."

Johnson currently has an Appeal to Heaven flag outside his office.

A Rolling Stone hit piece on Johnson from November 2023 tried to manufacture outrage because Johnson had the Pine Tree flag outside his office in the Cannon House Office Building.

The article – titled "The Key to Mike Johnson’s Christian Extremism Hangs Outside His Office" – claimed of Johnson, "He's also a dyed-in-the-wool Christian conservative, and there’s a flag hanging outside his office that leads into a universe of right-wing religious extremism as unknown to most Americans as Johnson was before he ascended to the speakership."

The far-left outlet alleged that the Pine Tree flag was a "symbol of Christian warfare."

"To understand the contemporary meaning of the Appeal to Heaven flag, it’s necessary to enter a world of Christian extremism animated by modern-day apostles, prophets, and apocalyptic visions of Christian triumph that was central to the chaos and violence of Jan. 6," the article reads.

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New York Times’ hit piece on Justice Alito fails; only reveals NYT needs a history lesson



When Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s wife flew an upside-down American flag over their home, the New York Times was not happy.

Now, the New York Times is upset with the justice again — this time because he flew an "Appeal to Heaven" pine tree flag outside his New Jersey beach home. The Times is claiming this is a popular symbol among January 6 “insurrectionists.”

While the New York Times clearly has no idea what they’re talking about, they’re in luck. Because Glenn Beck does know what he’s talking about, and he’s here to give them a much needed history lesson.

“That was the symbol of New England since the 16th century. Why? Because New England had big pine trees. Why was that important? Because they could build ships and build them for England or whoever and ship giant masts, which were hard to find because nobody had the giant pine trees that New England had,” Glenn explains.

The flag is also symbolic of “the Great Peacemaker,” who was with the Iroquois Indians. The peacemaker had convinced warring nations to bury their weapons under a pine tree.

“So, it is also the symbol of the tree of peace,” Glenn says. “It was also on the coinage produced by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and it became the symbol of the colonial iron resistance as well as a multi-tribal support for independence now,” he adds.

The phrase “Appeal to Heaven” is also an expression of the right to revolution, which Glenn jokes comes from the “outrageous killer John Locke.”

“Let me just boil this down,” he explains. “This flag is first a sign of the pine tree as trade, okay? It is also a sign of peace among the Indians. It is then added to that ‘the appeal to heaven’ comes from John Locke and what he wrote in 1690. It was a refute of the theory of the divine right of kings.”

Glenn has his own interpretation of the flag, and it’s not a symbol of insurrection.

“I always interpreted that flag as an appeal to heaven for common sense and for help. Please Lord, help us, and it would go right along with an upside-down flag,” he explains, adding, “We’re in distress. Can we please look to God and beg for his mercy and guidance. How unbelievably controversial is that.”


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Democrats mount another desperate attack against Justice Alito — with the election in mind



Democrats and their allies in the liberal media are desperately working to undermine the U.S. Supreme Court and blunt its conservative edge. This public-private campaign has been focused on painting Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas as ideologically compromised culture warriors, incapable of weighing impartially on cases relating to the Jan. 6 protests or to former President Donald Trump.

The same partisans who were silent in April on the matter of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's partiality in the Idaho case related to gender, have impotently demanded in recent weeks that Alito recuse himself from various cases — cases in which House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), and other critics are politically invested.

Getting increasingly desperate and having failed to manufacture sufficient outrage over Alito's American flag and divestment from Bud Light's parent company, the public-private campaigners found another item to take issue with: the "Appeal to Heaven" flag, which was allegedly flown over the justice's New Jersey beach house last summer.

This latest attack, centering on a flag designed by an aide-de-camp to then-General George Washington and flown by American patriots in the Revolutionary War and patriots since, may similarly prove fruitless.

Background

Blaze News previously reported that Obama hagiographer Jodi Kantor kicked off the latest leg of the private-public campaign on May 16 with a piece in the New York Times entitled, "At Justice Alito's House, a 'Stop the Steal' Symbol on Display."

The so-called "Stop the Steal" symbol in question was the American flag, which Alito's wife, Martha-Ann Alito, supposedly flew "in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs."

Alito told the times he had nothing to do with the incident and Kantor produced no evidence tying the alleged flag inversion to support for the Jan. 6 protests. That did not, however, stop Kantor from insinuating a connection, leaning upon the interpretation of a partisan neighbor and adopting the accusatory framing of leftist "experts."

Once the Times established the narrative, Democratic lawmakers ran with it.

'He must recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 election and former President Donald Trump.'

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, "Justice Alito should recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection, including the question of the former President's immunity in U.S. v. Donald Trump, which the Supreme Court is currently considering."

Adopting the same script, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement, "Samuel Alito should apologize immediately for disrespecting the American flag and sympathizing with right-wing violent insurrectionists. He must recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 election and former President Donald Trump."

The Times followed up with another piece building upon Kantor's initial framing with the help of former Marshall Project activist Abbie Vansickle.

Various other Democrats and leftist publications joined in, suggesting that Alito's future involvement in cases even peripherally related to Trump or Jan. 6 would shake public confidence in the Supreme Court.

Failing to arouse the mass indignation they apparently wanted, the public-private campaign tried a new angle on Monday. Law Dork published a blog post entitled, "Justice Alito sold Bud Light stock amidst anti-trans boycott effort."

CNBC and other left-leaning outlets carried this story along with the suggestion that Alito's divestment from Anheuser-Busch InBev — months after it became clear the company would not soon recover from the boycott over its collaboration with a transvestite activist — was "suspicious" and again evidence of partisanship on the justice's part.

"If the sale was in response to the Bud Light controversy last year, he might have an appearance-of-bias problem when it comes to future court cases related to trans rights," Gave Roth, executive director of leftist activist outfit Fix the Court, told CNBC.

Forty-five Democrats sent Alito a letter Tuesday demanding he reuse himself from the cases of Trump v. United States and Fischer v. United States, complaining that his decisions might otherwise "profoundly affect the future of a past and potentiality future President, and of democracy itself."

Again, their efforts appear to have been in vain.

Another offending flag

Kantor penned another alarmist piece Wednesday, this time aided by former Bellingcat research director Aric Toler and former Washington Post researcher Julie Tate.

'[The justices'] decisions will shape how accountable [Trump] can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election and his chances at regaining the White House in the next one.'

The article again insinuates political bias on the part of Alito, and a link between the justice and Jan. 6 on the basis of his alleged possession and hoisting of a nonpartisan flag of historic significance.

In July and September 2023, someone snapped a photo of "An Appeal to Heaven" flag allegedly flying above Alito's New Jersey beach house.

Long before the New York Times decided it was controversial, the U.S. National Park Service indicated why a maritime residence might be an appropriate spot to hoist such a flag: "This particular flag became familiar on the seas as the ensign of the cruisers commissioned by General Washington and was noted by many English newspapers of the time."

Ahead of the 2019 National Day of Prayer, Republican Illinois state Rep. Chris Miller's office noted that this flag, which features a pine tree along with the Lockean motto "An Appeal to Heaven" or "An Appeal to God," was "used originally by a squadron of six cruiser ships commissioned under George Washington’s authority as commander in chief of the Continental Army in October 1775."

"The design of the flag came from General Washington's secretary, Colonel Joseph Reed," continued the statement from Miller's office.

The pine tree had long been a New England symbol being depicted on the Flag of New England flown by colonial merchant ships dating back to 1686. Leading up to the Revolutionary War it became a symbol of Colonial ire and resistance. The colonists resented the restrictions on the timber used for their needs and livelihoods. Prohibitions were disregarded and they practiced 'Swamp Law,' where the pines were harvested according to their needs regardless of statutes.

In New Hampshire enforcement led to the Pine Tree Riot in 1772, one of the first acts of forceful protest against British policies. It occurred almost two years prior to the more well-known Boston Tea Party protest and three years before open hostilities began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The pine tree was also used on the flag that the Colonists flew at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775.

Ted Kaye, secretary for the North American Vexillological Association, told the Associated Press that the Massachusetts Navy adopted the pine tree flag in 1776 and used it until 1971.

Jared Holt, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue — a foreign think tank that has been accused of labeling mainstream conservative views as disinformation — told the Associated Press this historic flag has been linked to a "patriot" movement that obsesses over the Founding Fathers and the American Revolution.

"Others adhere to a Christian nationalist worldview that seeks to elevate Christianity in public life," the liberal outlet warned, echoing Holt who went on to call Alito's alleged flying of the flag "alarming."

Holt, evidently ready with a blanket accusation, said that those who fly the flag tend to support "more intolerant and restrictive forms of government aligned with a specific religious philosophy."

Former Vice President Mike Pence, no fan of the Jan. 6 protesters, has underscored that the flag is part of "our proud heritage of Faith and Freedom and every American should be proud to fly it."

In her piece for the Times, Kantor concern-mongered that the same justice who allegedly flew this historic American flag will rule on a case that "could scuttle some of the charges against Mr. Trump, as well as on whether he is immune from prosecution for actions he took while president."

'This is a threat to the rule of law and a serious breach of ethics, integrity, and Justice Alito's oath of office.'

Kantor appears to clarify what is ultimately at the heart of the effort to neutralize Alito, referenced also in Democratic lawmakers' Tuesday letter: "[The justices'] decisions will shape how accountable [Trump] can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election and his chances at regaining the White House in the next one."

Once again, Democrats are doing their part.

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) — whose adult son was arrested and charged in January 2023 with assault and battery on a Boston police officer — said in a statement Thursday, "Justice Alito has displayed flags at his homes that support insurrection against our government, promote religious nationalism, and attack free and fair elections."

"This is not just another example of extremism that has overtaken conservatism. This is a threat to the rule of law and a serious breach of ethics, integrity, and Justice Alito's oath of office," continued Clark, absent any confirmation Alito flew the flag. "At minimum, he must recuse himself from any cases involving January 6th, Donald Trump, and the security of our elections. Anything less will tarnish our judicial system and democracy."

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The Most Dangerous Part Of The NYT Alito Flag Meltdown Is The Politicization Of Patriotism

The New York Times is convinced an iconic banner of American patriotism is an emblem of extremism. It isn't.

NYT Attacks Alito A Second Time Over Well-Known American Revolution Flag Flown At Private Residence

The Times continues to attack Alito over flags flown at his home in a blatant attempt to undermine and discredit the Supreme Court justice.