The justice’s wife allegedly spat at her neighbors’ car and traded insults, prompting the young couple to call the police
After reports that an upside-down American flag had flown outside the Virginia residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito during the period surrounding Jan. 6, 2021, the conservative justice blamed the flag’s placement on his wife, Martha-Ann — claiming her actions were a result of a clash over a neighbor’s anti-Trump yard sign and a verbal insult.
Now, the Alitos’ neighbors — Emily Baden and her then-boyfriend, now husband — are disputing the Alitos’ version of events, according to the The New York Times, which reviewed text messages and a police call to corroborate the claims. According to the Badens, Martha-Ann instigated the weekslong conflict and, at one point, spat at their car as they drove by the Alito’s home.
Per the Times, the couple had placed signs on their yard that read “Trump Is a Fascist” and “You Are Complicit” shortly after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Emily told the publication that the second sign was not directed at the justice and his wife, but at Republicans in general. The signs were soon taken down by Emily’s mother out of safety concerns.
My wife pushes back but this right here is the reason I don’t have certain signs/flags on my property. If it was just me, fuck the fascists I would fly so much shit all the time. I just can’t in good conscious put my wife and kids lives in danger because of the rabid right-wing cultists out there. I understand that’s by design and exactly what they want but their safety is far superior to mine.
Same exact reasoning here, but I have another. Why paint a target on myself when the fascists are doing so voluntarily? A Trump flag says, “You are my enemy.” Why should I give them the same intelligence on me?
We live in a bellwether county, meaning the vote (almost) always goes to the winner of the presidential election, so there’s a decent mix, but I still don’t put political signs on my lawn because I don’t want to deal with shit from people. We put up a sign on our lawn once that said that everyone was welcome in our home in multiple languages and my librarian wife had us put up a “We [heart] Our Library” sign, but that’s as political as I want people to think we are in this neighborhood because the last thing I need is to get into a nasty argument with a guy a couple of houses down with a Trump sign.
We do have a United Federation of Planets flag on the flag pole that came with the house though.
Loving the library is a political sign nowadays, unfortunately. Let alone welcoming ESL speakers into your home.
I realize that, but it’s not going to get my neighbor to come over to me and start yelling at me about voting for Biden.
(Also, this is a college town, so if they don’t like ESL people, they’re out of luck.)
That is an excellent lesson to teach your kids /s
Jk, kinda. I don’t have kids (so totally easy for me to say) but I know of that one poem/saying that goes, I taught my daughter not to stand out and be obedient so she wouldn’t struggle against the fascists. Now, I realize I should’ve taught her to be herself and stand out, as that is what this world needs now more than ever… don’t remember exactly but it was something like that, I also don’t remember where I heard it