These banners don’t just signal ‘Pride’ — they announce conquest



On September 11, 2001, three New York firefighters raised an American flag above the wreckage of the World Trade Center. That moment was more than an image. It was a declaration that the country had buckled but not broken. That flag rallied millions, inspired enlistments, and stiffened a nation’s resolve mere hours after the most devastating attack in modern U.S. history.

In 2025, the opposite message is taking root in some of America’s cities. In Boise, Idaho, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, local leaders elevate symbolic banners that compete with, sidestep, or openly contradict the national and state standards that define shared civic space.

If we want unity, we must lead with the symbols that foster it. Because if we don’t plant our flags, someone else will.

In Boise, a blue island in a bright red state, Mayor Lauren McLean (D) kept the Pride flag flying over City Hall despite Idaho’s HB 96, a law restricting public property to the U.S. and state flags. After Attorney General Raúl Labrador (R) issued a cease-and-desist, McLean responded with a letter threatening legal action and framed her stance as “standing with my community.” The city council followed with a 5-1 vote to adopt the Pride flag as an official city emblem to get around the law.

In Minneapolis, state Sen. Omar Fateh (D) waved a Somali regional flag at an October campaign rally. Supporters defended the gesture as cultural outreach to the city’s large Somali population. Opponents saw something else: a political statement that placed clan or regional identity ahead of shared civic loyalty.

At first glance, these acts look harmless. But historians — and anyone who has studied conflict or national movements — know that flags communicate power. A flag marks territory, signals allegiance, and announces who intends to lead.

A banner raised in a civic space says something about the future of that space. It’s a symbol of conquest — in this case, conquest without firing a shot.

Minneapolis illustrates the stakes. Somali-Americans represent a large and active community, and political leaders court their votes aggressively. But clan politics from Somalia’s fractured landscape often follow families to the United States.

Analysts noted that Minneapolis’ recent mayoral race reflected clan splits, with blocs supporting or opposing Somali candidates not on ideology but lineage. That tension influences local elections and creates new pressures on civic life.

Political imagery matters when communities already navigate competing loyalties. A foreign regional flag held aloft at a campaign rally isn’t a neutral gesture; it’s an invitation to organize political power around identities that do not map cleanly onto American civic culture.

History amplifies that point. For centuries, flags have signaled triumph or defeat long before a treaty forced anyone’s hand. At Fort McHenry in 1814, the sight of the American flag still flying after a night of bombardment, energized defenders and inspired the poem that became our national anthem. At Iwo Jima in 1945, Marines raised the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi, transforming a brutal fight into a symbol of American resolve and shifting the morale of both sides.

Flags shape memory. They mark identity. They tell people who stands firm and who gives ground.

RELATED: The real danger isn’t immigration — it’s the refusal to become American

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

That is why the flags flown on public property matter now. McLean’s use of the Pride flag isn’t just about “love is love.” It supplants the symbol that binds Idahoans across differences. Fateh’s regional Somali flag isn’t simply cultural pride; it injects external political identities into municipal politics and signals a shift in who claims influence over public life.

Americans can shrug at this trend or take it seriously. Civic symbols either unite a people or divide them. A city hall flagpole should unify, not segment communities into competing camps. A political rally should appeal to voters as Americans, not as factions drawn from overseas allegiances.

The answer is not outrage or retaliation. The answer is clarity: reclaim civic symbols that express shared loyalty to a shared country. Fly the U.S. flag. Fly state flags. Encourage communities to celebrate their heritage while affirming the nation that binds them together.

A nation confident in itself does not surrender its symbols. It presents them proudly — on porches, at city halls, and at the center of public life. America’s strength begins with the values and commitments those flags represent.

If we want unity, we must lead with the symbols that foster it. Because if we don’t plant our flags, someone else will.

The left wants to ‘reclaim’ the American flag; did they run out of lighter fluid?



In 2018, I was canvassing for a Republican candidate in a local race here in Portland, Oregon. A bunch of us were knocking on doors in the suburbs, seeking out Republicans by using data printouts that indicated which households were aligned with which party.

But those printouts were not always correct. People had moved. Or there were split households. Sometimes the homeowners had changed parties.

In the early 1900s, the color red was the color of communists, subversives, and anarchists.

As the election grew near and we shifted into maximum efficiency mode, our field boss sent out the word: Only go to houses flying the American flag.

That was the easiest way to focus on the most loyal Republicans. In 2018, the two most common flags you saw at people’s houses were the Pride flag (Democrats) and the Stars and Stripes (Republicans).

(The “We Believe in Science” signs had not yet proliferated.)

The funny thing was, we door-knockers were already doing that. I certainly was. I loved canvassing mostly because I liked meeting people. And the best people were always the ones with a big American flag hanging majestically beside their front door.

That was then, this is now

Fast-forward, and I’m at a recent No Kings protest. These protests had drawn huge crowds of leftists and progressives. I wanted to see for myself what these demonstrations looked like.

Imagine my surprise when the first person I encountered was a small elderly woman with a kind face and a big bundle of American flags.

These were 8" by 12" flags. The kind little kids might wave at a parade. She approached me and offered me one.

Naturally, I was confused. Was she a Republican? No, she wasn’t. She explained that these were Democrat flags now. The left was taking the flag back. Progressives were patriotic too!

They were? I thought to myself. Since when?

But I was in enemy territory, so I just smiled and took a flag. She showed me the little note that was attached. (Of course, the left can’t give you an American flag without adding their own anti-Trump commentary.)

The note said: “MAGA is trying to claim the American flag as exclusively their own. It is time we reclaim our flag. It is our national promise of freedom, and rightfully belongs to ALL Americans. Wave it proudly.”

I carried it with me as I watched the Trump derangement parade later that day. Multiple American flags were flown. By leftists.

RELATED: Yes, Trump’s flag-burning executive order is constitutional

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The red and the blue

This isn’t the first time the left has tried to steal symbols or images (or flags) from the right. They also stole the color blue.

Throughout Europe, in the 1800s, revolutionaries and malcontents were associated with the color red. Monarchs and aristocrats were represented by the color blue.

In the early 1900s, the color red was the color of communists, subversives, and anarchists. During the Russian Revolution of 1917, “The Reds” overthrew the czar and started a civil war.

In China, when Chairman Mao Zedong instigated his own revolution in 1949, the flag, books, and symbols were always colored bright red.

This made sense. The color red suggests anger, revolt, defiance.

While blue — the color of the sky — is the color that indicates calmness, stability, order.

So what did the American left do as they consolidated their power in the late 1900s?

They switched the colors! With the help of their allies in the media, the left managed to STEAL the color blue from conservatives.

So now we call Republican states “red” and Democratic states “blue," which is the reverse of what the colors should be.

Never mind that the Democrats are still the party of chaos and upheaval. They wanted the prestige of the color blue. They want people to think of them as rational, calm, regal. So they changed the colors to favor themselves.

Capture the flag!

Regarding this theft of our flag: Does the left think we don’t remember five years ago? During the BLM riots, they were burning the flag all over the country.

In Portland, during the “Summer of 100 Riots,” they burned the flag as a nightly ritual.

Think back even further: The left has been burning the flag since the Vietnam War. It’s one of their most predictable political reactions. If anything happens that they don’t like, the American flag goes up in flames!

And aren’t these the same people who tore down the statues of our founders, who created that flag? Founders like George Washington?

In Portland, leftists toppled a large statue of George Washington. They left the statue right where it fell, with George Washington face down in the mud!

And these people think the American flag belongs to them? That they are now the patriots? That they should be anywhere near our beloved Stars and Stripes?

I don’t think so.

The good news is, it probably won’t work. Even if their strategists decide to embrace the flag, your average Joe anarchist won’t be able to help himself. They see an American flag, and they reach for their lighter.

But either way, we must reject this movement. Don’t let them have the flag. They don’t deserve it. They haven’t earned it. And they don’t love it. Not like we do.

Trump State Department reportedly tells embassies: Scrap the LGBT and BLM activist flags. Only Old Glory flies.



Under the Biden administration, the non-straight activist flag and the colors of the identitarian leftist group Black Lives Matter were routinely hoisted above American embassies and consulates, both suggesting Old Glory needed the banner equivalent of addendums and insinuating the nation was torn between competing allegiances.

The Trump State Department reportedly issued a "One Flag" policy on Monday, bringing this shameful practice to an end.

According to a copy of the corresponding memo obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, which first reported on the policy change, "Starting immediately, only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad, and featured in U.S. government content."

Keen for a symbolic change after the first Trump administration rejected embassies' requests to fly the non-straight activist flag, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a blanket authorization for diplomatic outposts worldwide to raise the activist colors. Foreign Policy reported at the time that Blinken specifically authorized diplomats to fly the flag before May 17, a day activists annually spend complaining about "homophobia" and "transphobia," as well as through the month of June.

Sure enough, American diplomats gleefully raised the non-straight flag not just for the duration of so-called "pride season" and on gender ideologues' various days of self-honor but to celebrate or commemorate various milestones on the country's deviation from the straight and narrow.

'It is fitting and respectful that only the US flag be flown or displayed.'

While they refrained from doing so in Islamist nations over fear of "backlash," Biden diplomats proved alternatively keen to antagonize conservative Christians. For instance, the American embassy to the Vatican repeatedly flew the non-straight activist flag while flooding its social media pages with the flag and activist messaging.

Various embassies also hoisted the flag of BLM, a Marxist group led by scandal-plagued radicals apparently committed to acquiring luxury real estate and enriching family members at true believers' expense as well as advancing the global cause of a single race, in part, through the elimination of prisons and police.

The American embassies and consulates in Brazil were among the many diplomatic outposts that raised the BLM flag during the Biden years. Despite the racist and divisive nature of the group signified, the U.S. embassy in Brazil stated that the phrase displayed on the flag "is connected to collective efforts to mitigate racism and build a more equitable society."

The Trump State Department underscored in its Monday memo that the "flag of the United States of America united all Americans under the universal principles of justice, liberty, and democracy. These values, which are the bedrock of our great country, are shared by all American citizens, past and present."

Diplomats who violate the new policy will "face disciplinary action, including termination of employment or contract, or reassignment to their home agency," said the memo.

The Beacon noted that the only flags permitted besides Old Glory are the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action emblem and the Wrongful Detainees Flag.

"The U.S. flag is a powerful symbol of pride and it is fitting and respectful that only the U.S. flag be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestically and abroad," added the memo.

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'We believe in God and Jesus ... we don’t stand for that': Pro-Hamas radicals evacuated from Ole Miss — in face of Old Glory



Taking a page from the playbook of University of North Carolina fraternity brothers who captured America's heart for protecting a U.S. flag on campus this week amid anti-Israel protests, more than 200 students at the University of Mississippi showed up with U.S. flags and red, white, and blue attire to drown out a much smaller group of pro-Palestinian protesters Thursday.

In fact, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators were evacuated from the campus of Ole Miss, the Clarion Ledger reported.

What are the details?

WMC-TV reported that the pro-Palestinian protest was supposed to start at the University Circle but was forced to move after a group of students blocked off the area, saying they were protecting the flag.

“I believe that is just the most important thing for us to do right now is protect everything we stand for,” Ole Miss student Aubrey Grace told the station, adding that "recently with the encampments across the nation, you have seen violence on other school campuses, and that is something that we cannot tolerate, especially as Americans."

The Ledger said upward of 60 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on the Quad, and then things heated up when the counter-protesters showed up.

WMC added in its video report that a pro-Palestinian protester threw a water bottle into the crowd of pro-Israel protesters — and then bottles and food were flying in both directions.

Soon, police led the pro-Palestinian protesters into the School of Applied Sciences building, the Ledger said. Jacob Batte, Ole Miss director of media relations, confirmed to the paper that the pro-Palestinian protesters had been safely evacuated from campus on buses.

There reportedly were no arrests or injuries, WHBQ-TV reported.

Pryce Parker — an Ole Miss student who joined the counter protest — told WHBQ in regard to the pro-Palestinian protesters that "you can’t take over our campus like the campuses in the north. This is a southern campus. We believe in God and Jesus, and we don’t stand for that.”

Pro-Palestine protests on Ole Miss campusyoutu.be

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Fraternity brothers protected the American flag when protesters tried tearing it down — now donations are pouring in



Thousands of generous Americans are donating to North Carolina fraternity brothers for defending the American flag.

On Tuesday, anti-Israel protesters at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill took down the American flag that prominently flies on the university's Quad and replaced it with a Palestinian flag. Interim chancellor Lee Roberts later personally restored the American flag, but protesters repeatedly targeted the flag before police officers installed a barrier around the flagpole.

At one point, fraternity brothers were photographed and videoed holding Old Glory to ensure it never touched the ground.

— (@)

The incident went viral and someone eventually started a GoFundMe campaign to "throw 'em a rager." The GoFundMe identified brothers from Pi Kappa Phi, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and Pi Kappa Psi as those who helped defend the flag.

"Commie losers across the country have invaded college campuses to make dumb demands of weak University Administrators," the GoFundMe says. "But amidst the chaos, the screaming, the anti-semitism, the hatred of faith and flag, stood a platoon of American heroes. Armored in Vineyard Vines and Patagonia, fueled by Zyn and White Claws, these triumphant Brohemians protected Old Glory from the unwashed Marxist horde — laughing at their shrieks and wails and shielding the Stars & Stripes from Soviet missiles."

As of Thursday morning, the campaign has raised nearly $400,000, and donations continue to pour in.

Whether all of that money will go toward a massive party remains to be seen. But a representative for GoFundMe confirmed to Blaze News that GoFundMe is communicating with the campaign organizer to ensure the donations reach the appropriate destination.

— (@)

The campaign organizer, meanwhile, provided an update on Wednesday saying he has hired someone who previously worked in the White House to organize the fraternity celebration.

One of the fraternity members who helped protect Old Glory, student Brendan Rosenblum, said he and his brothers refused to let the protesters desecrate the flag.

"These people wanted to tear down the flag, and we were there to protect it," Rosenblum told NewsNation. "Me and my friends did not allow that to happen."

"All of us felt that America, and the American flag — and for me, the Israeli flag — represent what we believe in," he explained. "And we weren’t going to let anyone stop us from keeping those two things up."

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To celebrate Juneteenth, Grammy winner wants to cancel the American flag: 'Divisive and incorrect'



In celebration of "Juneteenth," Grammy-award winning singer Macy Gray wants to cancel the American flag as it currently exists.

Gray's proposal came on the same day that President Joe Biden signed a bill declaring "Juneteenth" — June 19, the day on which the abolition of slavery is annually celebrated — a federal holiday.

What did Gray say?

Writing in an essay for MarketWatch, the five-time Grammy-nominee claimed Old Glory now represents the same values as the Confederate flag, citing the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

"The Confederate battle flag, which was crafted as a symbol of opposition to the abolishment of slavery, is just recently tired. We don't see it much anymore. However, on the 6th, when the stormers rained on the nation's most precious hut, waving Old Glory — the memo was received: the American flag is its replacement," Gray wrote.

"President Biden, Madame Harris and members of Congress: the American flag has been hijacked as code for a specific belief," she continued. "Like the Confederate, it is tattered, dated, divisive, and incorrect. It no longer represents democracy and freedom. It no longer represents ALL of us. It's not fair to be forced to honor it. It's time for a new flag."

Among other problems with the American flag — which currently has 50 stars and 13 stripes — Gray contended the flag should have 52 stars, to include Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, and the white stripes should be "off white" because the color, which represents purity and innocence, does not accurately represent America.

"America is great. It is beautiful. Pure, it ain't. It is broken and in pieces," Gray said.

"What if the stripes were OFF-white? What if there were 52 stars to include D.C. and Puerto Rico? What if the stars were the colors of ALL of us — your skin tone and mine — like the melanin scale?" Gray continued. "The blue square represents vigilance and perseverance; and the red stripes stand for valor. America is all of those things. So, what if those elements on the flag remained?"

The U.S. has flown the same American flag design since 1960. Ohio high schooler Bob Heft was credited for designing the current flag.

So what does Gray's proposed flag look like?

This, via MarketWatch:

Image source: MarketWatch