Half-staffed Thursday

By the time you read this we may be at war with Italy.  The New York Times published a recipe for pasta carbonara which calls for bacon instead of guanciale, parmesan instead of pecorino, and -- wait for it -- tomatoes.  Have they forgotten the French recipe from 2016 with its onions and creme fraiche?  It nearly broke up the European Union before British crackpots had a chance to.  Per Bacco, don't mess with the carbonara.

The trouble with symbolic language is that it's often non-specific.  For example, lowering flags to half-staff as a mark of respect for someone who is dead.  Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered American flags in Florida lowered for dead Florida asshole Rush Limbaugh, and numerous state officials responded NO DAMN WAY.  Mayor Rick Kriseman of St. Petersburg is one of them; he has, however, lowered his flags in honor of Deputy Michael Magli, who was killed in the line of duty while pursuing a drunk driver.  To add to the confusion, President Biden ordered flags to half-staff for five days in memory of the over 500,000 Americans lost to coronavirus.  So if you're driving through Florida and you see flags at half-staff, it means whatever you want it to mean.

More flag news out of Harrisburg, where Pennsylvania lieutenant governor John Fetterman is defying the legislature and displaying the Rainbow, Trans Pride and Legalize Weed flags outside his office.  He promises to take them down as soon as the Republican-controlled leg. passes anti-discrimination laws and legalizes marijuana, so I assume they'll get right on it.  Or impeach him.  Either way, Fetterman is running for the Senate next year.  I wish he lived in West Virginia.

There's an LGBTQ Equality Act pending in the House and one of its supporters is Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL), whose daughter is transgender.  After speaking in favor of the bill she placed a Trans Pride flag in front of her office.  Unfortunately her neighbor is Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-QAnon), who popped out of her lair in one of the low-cut outfits she now favors and posted a sign that said "There are Two genders:  MALE & FEMALE.  'Trust the Science!'"  The "science" she references is of course a compendium of Bronze Age superstitions known as The Bible.  The even earlier Epic of Gilgamesh is much wiser about death, sexuality and barmaids, and a lot shorter.

I don't know what sort of flag Riley June Williams pledges allegiance to.  The 22-year-old currently in her mother's custody after invading the Capitol in the abortive coup of January 6 bragged about her trophy, a laptop from the Speaker's office (or as she put it, "STOLE SHITT FROM NANCY POLESI") and had an idea about passing it to Russian intelligence.  Now we have video of her prancing about her bedroom endorsing "Accellerationism" and yelling "Heil Hitler" while throwing a fascist salute.  "Accellerationism" believes American society is near collapse and needs only a nudge from racist terrorism like the Tree of Life massacre.  This is where it gets complicated.  Putin is a fascist and disciple of Ivan Ilyin, but "fascist" is a term of abuse in Russia frequently hurled at Ukraine, NATO and just about any other opponent, a holdover from the Great Patriotic War (1941-45).  Williams knows a fascist when she sees one, but could Putin accept stolen intelligence (assuming she had any) from someone who shouts "Heil Hitler"?  Quite a predicament.  The fascism, the hatred of America, the love of violence at someone else's expense -- got it!  A Trump flag.