The featured image is not a mistake. If Sam and Martha-Ann Alito can fly a flag upside down as a distress signal, I can post a picture of Sam the Sham upside down as a signal of a different kind of distress. What’s more distressing than learning that a Supreme Court Justice and his wife are insurrectionists? Make that two Justices and their spouses: We already knew about Clarence and Ginni Thomas.

The far right keeps ruining American symbols. First, there was the Don’t Tread On Me flag, now it’s the distress flag. It has become a symbol of support of the Dipshit Insurrection and the BIG LIE. How distressing is that?

I’m sure you’ve all heard about Jodi Kantor’s gobsmacking story in the NYT. Here are some money quotes:

One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in Alexandria, Va., according to photographs and interviews with neighbors. The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed. President Donald J. Trump’s supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. Mr. Biden’s inauguration was three days away. Alarmed neighbors snapped photographs, some of which were recently obtained by The New York Times. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews.

 

While the flag was up, the court was still contending with whether to hear a 2020 election case, with Justice Alito on the losing end of that decision.

In his typically arrogant fashion, Sam the Sham pointed the finger of blame elsewhere:

“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Justice Alito told the Times in an email. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.” … Justice Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann, had clashed with a neighbor who displayed an anti-Trump sign using an expletive, according to the Times.

Is it 1954 or 2024? Blaming the “little woman” is a throwback response. In addition to their Jersey roots, Sam the Sham and Bob Menendez have something else in common: both are cads and wife blamers. Oy, just oy.

Fox’s Shannon Bream bought Sam’s excuse after speaking to him. I’m having problems embedding tweets so here’s Bream’s thread in quotes:

I spoke directly with Justice #Alito about the flag story in the NYT. In addition to what’s in the story, he told me a neighbor on their street had a “F— Trump” sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school bus in Jan 21. Mrs. Alito brought this up with the neighbor.

 

According to Justice Alito, things escalated and the neighbor put up a sign personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the Jan 6th attacks.

 

Justice Alito says he and his wife were walking in the neighborhood and there were words between Mrs. Alito and a male at the home with the sign. Alito says the man engaged in vulgar language, “including the c-word”.

 

Following that exchange, Mrs. Alito was distraught and hung the flag upside down “for a short time”. Justice Alito says some neighbors on his street are “very political” and acknowledges it was a very heated time in January 2021.

I’m old enough to remember when Supremes rarely, if ever, spoke to the press. I’d be surprised if Justices Harlan and Souter gave more than a handful of interviews while serving on the court. In contrast, Sam the Sham shoots off his big fat bazoo whenever he feels aggrieved, which seems to be most of the time.

If Alito’s story is true, they flew a flag in support of treason out of spite. Forgive me for being old fashioned but I thought Supremes were supposed to uphold the law, not flaunt it. A “fuck Trump” sign is protected speech as is flying the distress flag BUT Alito should be held to a higher standard than some suburban rando.

For what little it seems to be worth, Alito violated SCOTUS ethics standards by waving the insurrectionary banner:

The court has also repeatedly warned its own employees against public displays of partisan views, according to guidelines circulated to the staff and reviewed by The Times. Displaying signs or bumper stickers is not permitted, according to the court’s internal rule book and a 2022 memo reiterating the ban on political activity.

 

Asked if these rules also apply to justices, the court declined to respond.

There’s always a catch with the Supremes. They’ve abandoned judicial modesty and become mini-monarchs who think they can do whatever they want because they wear robes and have lifetime appointments. The arrogance, it burns.

Others are calling the upside down flag, the “stop the steal” flag. I refuse to do so because nothing was stolen. I will not give them the satisfaction of using their excuse for rioting on January 6, 2021 and their subsequent twisting of the facts. I saw it with my own eyes: the only ones stealing anything were the MAGA rioters and the politicians who incited the them.

What would Sam the Sham Alito say if Justice Jackson flew a Black lives matter flag? He’d denounce her as unethical and call his little friends at Fox to rat her out.

Justices Alito and Thomas have brought disgrace to the nation’s highest court. They’re not just ethically challenged; they support treasonous activities by members of their political party. The last I checked; coup plotting was against the law.

The Alitos have everything upside down. Sam the Sham should recuse himself from all insurrection related cases, but we know he will not. His ethical lodestar is Clarence Thomas. How distressing is that?

The last word goes to Diana Ross:

UPDATE: David Kurtz shared this cartoon in today’s Morning Memo. It’s too perfect not to add to this post.

Is Martha-Ann Alito the Teresa Giudice of SCOTUS spouses? Discuss amongst yourselves.