Hammond mayor braces for possible protests over anti-Biden flag flap

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Dan Carden

HAMMOND — A flap over a profanity-adorned flag in Hammond is prompting the mayor to muster possible police security and prepare for threatened protests by conservative groups outside of his home and City Hall, he said Wednesday.

An Evansville-based group of Donald Trump supporters say they’re planning to drive more than five hours to Hammond Saturday to protest outside City Hall and McDermott's home.

The Young Conservatives of Southern Indiana claim to be organizing a “Trump Caravan/Rally” in response to McDermott’s efforts to get a Hammond homeowner living adjacent to Riverside Park to remove a flag flying in his front yard featuring the words "F--- Biden" in large type, and in smaller type: "And f--- you for voting for him!"

A photo of the mayor's home and his address have been posted on the group's social media page.





Read more: https://omaha.com/news/nation/hammond-mayor-braces-for-possible-protests-over-anti-biden-flag-flap/article_d0f4d475-9097-5574-8541-a7462f401574.html

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Conservative radio is spreading this across the country. Expect a crowd.

[keithbvadu2]

1. Looks like he is flying it higher than the American flag two poles down.

Looks like he is flying it higher than the American flag two poles down.

[regnaD kciN]

2. Have I ever got a flag for him...!

[Initech]

14. Now that's a flag I would proudly hang!

[ShazzieB]

19. Great!

[iluvtennis]

20. Love it! n/t

[hadEnuf]

3. Another neo-nazi TrumpChump off his rocker. What a way to disgrace the American flag too.

And of course, Conservatives are rushing to the aid of this fascist asshole.



They just keep proving what they are every day.

[tirebiter]

4. Let it go

It’s a 1st amendment thing for starters. That’s why you can burn any flag you want to if you own it.

[rpannier]

13. I agree this shouldn't be an issue. He's free to fly what he wants on his property

as long as it doesn't affect his neighbors (a flag that was so large it covered his neighbors whole house and property... ala the Crocker Wall in the 19th century), or pose a hazard.

[Hortensis]

41. Well, he's across from a park, his display includes an "obscene word,"

and parents there for a Little League game reportedly complained.

We might think his entire attitude is obscene but stand up for his right to do what he wants on his property (even as his neighbor I would have to agree), but "Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott says it has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with one obscene word."

[reACTIONary]

48. As if the little leaguer never encountered ....

... that one obscene word before.

[reACTIONary]

47. Exactly! I don't see why the mayor is involved....

.... They should mind their own business. If the neighbors want to discuss it with the homeowner, that's their perogitive. If the homeomer doesn't listen, that's his perogative. But the government should not be involved.

[rpannier]

5. Hammond may not be the best place for these yokels to showq up

Lake County is the most Democratic County in Indiana.
I lived in Hammond for a few years in the early-mid 90s.
Lake County has not voted for a Republican for anything since before Roosevelt as I remember
Even the police are heavily Democratic

As to southern Indiana... ask almost anyone in the north, southern Indiana is just an extension of Alabama and Mississippi. There is a strong Klan presence down that way (at least there was into the early 2000s)

[aggiesal]

10. HHS 1980 ...

Very Democratic area.

[rpannier]

12. I taught at BNI for a few years

Liked the school
hated the money

[aggiesal]

15. My parish was St. Margaret Mary ...

Cousins went to BNI
I had a lot of friends that went to school there

[Chipper Chat]

6. That trump flag is the ugliest flag I've ever seen.

It looks like vomit.

[Coventina]

7. Aren't there public decency laws about this sort of thing?

But, if there aren't, I'd just nab him on something else.

Blight, have PD follow him everywhere he goes, whatever.

Send him sympathy cards every day....

[oldsoftie]

8. Seems as though most places would have an anti-obscenity law?

He could fly a "Screw Biden" flag & still get his point across without being profane.
I just dont see this as being a free speech thing when its profanity visible to anyone.

[Jose Garcia]

33. They wouldn't meet constitional muster in this case

The Miller test for obscenity includes the following criteria: (1) whether ‘the average person, applying contemporary community standards’ would find that the work, ‘taken as a whole,’ appeals to ‘prurient interest’ (2) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and (3) whether the work, ‘taken as a whole,’ lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/obscenity

[pfitz59]

9. I'd arrest him for terroism

he is an imminent threat...

[DallasNE]

11. So That Is Where His stimulus Check Went n/t

[brooklynite]

16. First Amendment. Let him fly his flag.

[reACTIONary]

49. +10 nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. Wait for wind to change direction & those flags fly over property line. Cut 'em w scissors. nt

[Warpy]

18. Best thing that can happen

is having this asshole's house surrounded by loud and violent conservative rabble with no opposition. They will turn on each other fairly quickly, fools who come looking for a fight will generally find one. A few nights of it and he'll be begging his "support" to go home.

Unfortunately, there are a few jerks on our side who are also looking for a fight so it's not going to happen. Also, I don't want the cops put in harm's way, they're not all fascists.

Personally, I find it a tempest in a teapot, most of the kiddies who use that park hear the word on an daily, if not hourly, basis. I say leave it up so everybody knows where the town asshole lives and will avoid him and his family.

[Carlitos Brigante]

21. "Come and take it".......... Let me tell you something pendejo. You pull any

of your crazy shit.....

[ShazamIam]

22. Sounds like a crime in the making, what exactly is their intention? nt

[Hassin Bin Sober]

23. Meh. Shoulda left him alone.

Now he is getting the attention he wanted. And then some...

[JohnnyRingo]

24. What if someone drives by with their grade school child?

What did you say!!?
"Fuck Biden". "That's what it said back there. What does that mean?"

I know the kid would be in trouble if he said it in class, all because some redneck Trumpie thinks his "free speech" is unconditional.

[Probatim]

30. Think of the children!

How many times have we heard that from conservatives?

[BoringUsername]

35. Yeah, aren't they they ones that are all about censoring curse words

on TV and radio in the first place?

[JohnnyRingo]

25. ...and I wouldn't brag about having an AR15 at the house.

They're easy to sell on the black market, and everybody knows he isn't taking it with him when he leaves.
Insurance only covers a few hundred dollars.

[Judi Lynn]

26. Evidently not a lot that goes on inside his house, or inside his head! How childish and stupid.

Here's a video clip of the genius, Roy Steffan! He is exactly as bright as you would imagine! Clearly, he has far too much time on his hands. I suspect he's lonely.

He could take some of the money he spends of obscene anti-Biden flags and think about doing something for his teeth, er, a, tooth.

Link:
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/hammond-man-flies-explicit-political-flags-in-yard-across-from-park

[ShepKat]

27. Thank you

Thanks for exposing who you are and where you live.

[turbinetree]

28. Maybe its time to see if he was in Washington on Jan 6....

[BlueStater]

29. These people are so pathetic.

I can’t even imagine nor do I want to imagine the mental state of the loser who lives in that house.

[mountain grammy]

31. What a sad, sick, stupid man.

[Martin68]

32. It is so appropriate that this "patriot" has defaced the American flag with Trump's name.

That's a flag that demands to be burned.

[ripcord]

34. It is funny how some liberals claim to support the First Amendment

Right up to the point when they themselves are offended.

[BoringUsername]

37. I don't care if this guy has these flags displayed on his property

and I think they should have left it alone instead of giving this guy the attention he craves. I do think it is funny that conservatives generally are for censoring obscene language, except they don't care if the obscene language is in support of Trump. They show they basically stand for nothing other than undying support of a sociopathic moron.

[Politicub]

36. He sounds nice.

Can you imagine living next to this clown?

[BoringUsername]

38. I do think his neighbors could file a complaint on this

because he put the flags on a fence that is probably a property boundary and that people could think the neighbors are the Trumpers instead of him, especially when the wind is going in the other direction. Seems like they could ask him to put the flags in location where they wouldn't be flying over their property.

[Mysterian]

42. Yes, it would be an encroachment if the flag flew over a neighbor's property

Just like tree limbs.

[MineralMan]

39. I don't think that guy is Biden's type, really.

No consent there.

What a fun neighbor he must be!

[bluestarone]

40. I hate QRUMP in the worst way BUT

It's his property. NOBODY but those that live in this town would have known anything about this UNTIL now. Sometimes it like just DON'T MENTION it. It's his basic right to be STUPID! Leave it alone, i say!

[Jedi Guy]

43. It's constitutionally protected speech.

And for all those going the Helen Lovejoy route, we just had four years of protests with people yelling "Fuck Trump!" and carrying signs saying the same or other colorful messages. So the moralizing about the children seems a little disingenuous.

[Bayard]

44. Looks like a job for spray paint in the middle of the night.......

I had a neighbor like this in Calif. It doesn't take much for them to turn violent.

How much screaming would we hear about flying flags that said, "Fuck Trump", and "We Will Take Your AK-47 and Deposit It Your Ass!"
And that would be our First Amendment right, until its not, sayeth these people.

[lakercub]

45. This guy is obviously an ass

but I would have left this entirely alone. His property, his choice. If he wants everyone around to know he's ridiculous, that's his right. It's a teaching opportunity for parents to show kids how not to behave.

If I'm the neighbors, however, I'd have no mercy if he does break the law or encroach on their property. He's already showing he can't be reasoned with. Sue him if it's civil and get the authorities if it's criminal. No discussion.

[LymphocyteLover]

46. Ugh, Indiana. The northern Southern state.