Cooper's mother, Kelley Porter Turner, claimed that Ziebarth was infringing on her son's First Amendment rights. She reportedly emailed Eisenhower High School and told them to "take care of it."

Damn, she in the mob or something?

thisispete: America is very keen on its flag. You've got this pledge thing and your anthem is all about it, rather than something reasonable like the need for your leader to be saved by a deity or by being girt by sea. To those of us outside the US, even in newer countries of our own where likewise we don't have millennia of symbols to fall back on, it's always seemed a bit weird.

The flag is an important symbol. The pledge and the anthem are both partly relics from an older attitude concerning the idea that the presence of a flag means control and sovereignty.

The national anthem is about the fact that the flag is still flying despite a concerted attack. The flag is merely the symbol that the defenders have not failed and are still resisting. All night long it was evident because of the explosions of the weapons the enemy was using that the fort had not fallen, because the weapons illuminated the flag, and it was still the American flag.

Similarly, from the Pledge of Allegiance:

"...to the flag of the United States of America, and to the country for which it stands..."

The flag is just a symbol, but when you can see it flying, it means America still exists, still has territory, is still a thing. It's a symbol of that. We have a lot of pride in the fact that we won our independence from what was at the time one of if not the most powerful country on the planet. How many other countries have that as their origin?

And America, despite all its flaws and its bizarre and troubled history, is still great as far as I'm concerned, and as far as lots of other citizens are concerned.