So I was 3 years of age in 1956, [View all]

[PCIntern]

And my brother had visited the United Nations as a member of his high school class in Lower Bucks County, PA. It was a beautiful Spring day and all these people on our block had these flagpoles upon which the (48) Stars and Stripes flew. I wanted to have a flag myself so I went into my brother’s room and took one of the twenty or so small, desk-size flags that he had purchased on his trip and put it on the front lawn. I chose a bright pretty one.

An hour later, the first police car arrived with two officers and my mother answered the door scared to death. “What’s the matter?” Was her question. They led her towards the curb and there, planted in the ground for all to see, was a pretty red flag…with a yellow hammer and sickle.

I confessed to doing it on the spot and the officers let my mom off with a stern warning that I needed to be controlled because apparently I almost caused an international incident from the way they were talking to her. She was appropriately contrite, picked up the flag, hollered at me in front of them and dragged me back to the house. The show satisfied the officers and they left.

Once inside, my mother explained why she had to pretend that she was so mad at me and told me that in America you cannot show any respect for the Russians or the USSR. She told me that in fact I had done nothing wrong morally or illegal but it’s something one cannot do and be part of the community at large. She utilized kid-words but I got the point. What amazed everyone in the family was that I had managed to pick the only controversial flag he had purchased -he bought it because we have Russian heritage.

So when I see these Republican creeps kowtowing to Putin and doing his bidding, I think back to the days of the Cold War and what the ramifications would have been if they had acted this way. I would think the term “firing squad” might be included in any sentence. And that’s not hyperbole.