Tennessee mayor lowers town's American flag on day of Biden inauguration, sparks massive criticism. But he's sticking to his guns.
A Tennessee mayor lowered his town's American flag to half-staff in mourning for the country on the day of President Joe Biden's inauguration. He posted about lowering the flag on Facebook.
While many critics accused him of trying to incite anger with the post, the mayor insisted that his post had nothing to do with Biden's inauguration.
What are the details?
Bruceton Mayor Robert T. Keeton III announced Wednesday that the town is grieving for the nation for various reasons.
In the Facebook post, Keeton wrote, "The Town of Bruceton grieves for our Republic and our loss of freedoms. We mourn the victims of the Chinese plague and those that have suffered its depredations. We pray that God delivers and restores us and that we do not fall to the clutches of communism."
Keeton's Facebook post drew a plethora of attention, which forced him on Thursday to clarify the intent of the original posting, which remains active at the time of this reporting.
As highlighted by WSMV-TV, one commenter wrote, "This is one of the most unpatriotic things I have ever seen. As friends and neighbors die from COVID and our nation hurts, you use the town page to air your personal grievances? This is not the way to promote Bruceton as a nice place to live. Shame on you."
Another critic added, "This is a slap in the face of all of our military heroes and leaders who have sacrificed their lives for this country. That's why we lower the flag. Mayor, you're placing the importance of your own personal, childish pouting on the same level with the men and women who have died fighting for you. This is shameless. I'm embarrassed for my friends who live in Bruceton."
"This is a flagrant incitement of anger and disunity on a public platform," another person added. "The mayor is not The Town of Bruceton. Was this statement approved by the city council? It seems like it is pandering to the worst characteristics of human nature. I expect better of my elected representatives."
Keeton fires back
The Jackson Sun reported that Keeton, also a lawyer, said that the post was "just a commentary and prayer for our country."
"I'm an attorney, and I'm seeing our constitutional rights being trampled on virtually every day, and I'm concerned for our republic, even though I've lost people that I know to this Chinese virus," he explained.
The outlet added, "Keeton said he's concerned with what he's seeing in the country starting with social media platforms not allowing certain communication to remain on their sites. Twitter and Facebook recently banned former President Donald Trump from posting on their sites in the final two weeks of his presidency, and Apple and Google removed the social media platform Parler – which had become a site many conservatives were going to once they felt they were being censored on Facebook and Twitter – from being available to download and access through their platforms."
He proclaimed, "That's not right, and the government isn't doing anything about it. And I was raised that everyone had the right to say what they wanted to, and if someone disagreed with you, then that's the way it is."
Keeton added that the lowering of the flag had nothing to do with Biden's inauguration.
“If anyone thinks this was because of the inauguration happening today or anything else, it's not," Keeton insisted. “We had a man in his mid-60s who called up to City Hall from the nursing home that died yesterday from the virus. He was in the nursing home alone and he died alone, and my post was a reaction to that and everything that's happened because of it."
Bruceton had a population of 1,478 in the 2010 census, the Sun reported.
10 House Republicans who objected to recognizing Biden's Electoral College win tell him they're willing to work together
On Inauguration Day, only hours before President Joe Biden took the oath of office, a group of 17 House Republican freshmen sent a letter to him congratulating him and saying they look forward to working with him on several key bipartisan issues including coronavirus relief and infrastructure.
Ten of the Republican lawmakers who signed the letter had objected to the certification of his Electoral College victory only two weeks before. Those lawmakers included Reps. Stephanie Bice (Okla.), Madison Cawthorn (N.C.), Scott Franklin (Fla.), Carlos Gimenez (Fla.), Yvette Herrell (N.M.), Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.), Barry Moore (Ala.), Jay Obernolte (Calif.), Burgess Owens (Utah), and Jerry Carl (Ala.).
"After two impeachments, lengthy inter-branch investigations, and most recently, the horrific attack on our nation's capital, it is clear that the partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans does not serve a single American," the group stated in the letter, according to NPR. "Americans are tired of the partisan gridlock and simply want to see leaders from both sides of the aisle work on issues important to American families, workers, and businesses."
"We hope to work with you to extend targeted, meaningful coronavirus relief for families and businesses, protect Americans with pre-existing conditions, strengthen and modernize our infrastructure, enforce our antitrust laws against emboldened technology monopolies, and restore our economy struggling in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic," they added.
Though the group is just a tiny sample of the GOP's 211 members in the chamber — and of the 121 members who objected to Arizona's Electoral College results — it shows that some newly elected lawmakers are weary of the intense political divisiveness in Congress and looking to find common ground wherever it can be found.
Don't expect the bipartisanship to last, though.
Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion "American Rescue Plan" has already drawn the ire of several Republicans on Capitol Hill. As a part of the costly plan, Biden suggests doling out an additional $1,400 in stimulus money to every American, extending unemployment benefits and the eviction moratorium, and raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
According to Business Insider, GOP Sen. Pat Toomey (Penn.) said, "Blasting out another $2 trillion in borrowed or printed money ... would be a colossal waste and economically harmful."
GOP Rep. Kevin Brady (Texas) called the proposal "another economic blind buffalo that does nothing to save Main Street businesses, get people back to work, or strengthen our economy."
Commentary: Biden pledges 'unity' in inaugural address, but can he achieve it?
"Unity" was the prevailing theme of President Joe Biden's inaugural address to the American people after taking his oath of office and becoming the 46th president of the United States.
The president's inaugural remarks were relatively brief compared to recent presidents, lasting just over 20 minutes. In his speech, Biden attempted to define his new administration as a reconciliatory presidency, pledging to be "a president for all Americans" who will "fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did" after an extremely divisive and contested election.
The challenge for President Biden is that while his desire for unity is noble, he cannot be a president for all Americans if the people do not agree on what values Americans should share.
"Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation. And I ask every American to join me in this cause," President Biden said Wednesday, speaking in the nation's capital to a COVID-restricted crowd mostly composed of civil officers of the United States and members of the National Guard who were stationed in Washington, D.C., to provide security after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
"History, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity," Biden said. "We can see each other, not as adversaries, but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature. For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury."
"No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos. This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward," he continued.
The president admonished Americans to respectfully listen to each other, even as he denounced a "culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured."
Addressing the 74 million Americans who voted for President Donald Trump, the president asked for peaceful disagreement, but said "disagreement must not lead to disunion."
Quoting St. Augustine, Biden said that "a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love." He then listed the values he believes unite all Americans.
"Opportunity, security, liberty, dignity, respect, honor and, yes, the truth," Biden proclaimed.
The president is right that these were once the values shared by all Americans. A community of people needs to share common values to hold together. Where there is nothing held in common, there cannot be community. The challenge facing Americans as a people is that those virtues listed by the president have different meanings for the left and for the right.
Does opportunity mean an equal chance for all to succeed, or does it mean that some purportedly disadvantaged people need to be given an artificial advantage at the expense of others?
Does security require equal enforcement of the law, or do some groups have a right to protest violently while other groups with different opinions are labeled domestic terrorists?
If liberty is freedom from oppressive constraint, which forces in society are oppressive? Is it the red tape of bureaucratic government? Or do institutions like the church impose an oppressive morality on people? If so, should those churches be free to do so? Is that freedom of belief something the government must protect and defend?
What is a man and what is a woman? Are those just oppressive terms society has imposed on us, and are we free to do as we please with our bodies? Or do we erase the dignity of being men and women by pretending there are no differences between the two?
How do we respect human life? Do unborn children have dignity? Is government required to redistribute wealth to protect the dignity of poor persons?
What is the truth? Which facts are "manipulated and even manufactured" and by whom?
Is it possible for any presidential administration or any politician to convince people who do not share common definitions of these values to unite?
The actions that the president will take today suggest that despite his high aspirations, Biden will be unable to reconcile these differences. President Biden is preparing to issue 15 executive orders on "four overlapping and compounding crises: the COVID-19 crisis, the resulting economic crisis, the climate crisis, and a racial equity crisis." Some of these executive actions will reverse policies implemented by the Trump administration that reasonable people can disagree about. Others signify that the Biden administration is firmly committed to a progressive worldview that is not shared by half the country.
Summarized by the New York Times, Biden's day one agenda will "unleash a full-scale assault on his predecessor's legacy on Wednesday, acting hours after taking the oath of office to sweep aside former President Donald J. Trump's pandemic response, reverse his environmental agenda, tear down his anti-immigration policies, bolster the sluggish economic recovery and restore federal efforts aimed at promoting diversity."
Observe that the Times' reporting reveals how the left and right hold different worldviews. Were Trump's policies "anti-immigration" or did President Trump prioritize border security and lawful immigration over lawlessness? By efforts "aimed at promoting diversity," the Times means the critical race theory ideology denounced by President Trump as "un-American propaganda."
Consider that Biden will also rescind the 1776 commission established by Trump, which sought to replace the flawed 1619 Project curriculums adopted in U.S. schools with a curriculum that honors the noble ideals of America's founders rather than denounce them as slaveholders and hypocrites.
If Americans cannot even agree on their history, what hope is there for unity?
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