I have watched it four times. Bree Newsome is my newest hero. She is cool, and very polite to the police. She is methodical as she scales the flag pole. She and her compatriot respect what they are doing and accept the consequences gracefully.

I could do without the Bible verses, though. This has nothing to do with that. However, it undoubtedly sticks in the craw of those who would use religion to discriminate against people. So I give her a pass on that.

Bree Newsome! A real hero.

Who was the gentleman who helped her, I wonder? He deserves some recognition, too. Clever to dress up as a construction worker.

Cannot remember it, but Google is our friend.

His name is James Ian Tyson.

Both were arrested for "defacing monuments", a bit of an ironic charge given the events of the past couple of weeks.

My best to you.

Both brave souls, indeed!

Both charged with defacing a monument.

and yes he deserve praise also.

it helps to dispel the idea that only the bigoted haters can stand behind their G-d. and yes, it probably irritated a few rw ers who think they and only they know the mind of G-d.

go bree!

Why do people fear spelling it out? I guess I just do not understand that any more than I understand why folks insist on invoking religion for just about anything.

But I agree, her invoking it probably pisses off a few racists, which is good.

However, I am with the late Christopher Hitchens, "religion poisons everything" and especially politics.

My regards, nonetheless.

they believe is prohibited. There's no reason to criticize them for doing what they believe.

Further, the word "god" only applies to deities in the English language. I doubt that any deities would be restricted to that language, if such entities existed in the first place.

If "God" has a name, he or she has hundreds of names. The English word "God" is spelled, "Bog" in Russian, for example and is pronounced with a long O. In Spanish, it is Dio. In French, it is Dieu. In German, it is "Gott."

Some people replace the o with a -. Who cares. You know what was meant.

I am an atheist, so I don't apply names to entities I do not believe exist. I recognize names others use for deities they think are real, though, of course.

If someone's belief says that their deity should not be named in writing, why would anyone care?

My God(dess) is named Bree!

some peoples religion does not encourage them to spell the word out. A very close friend of mine is Jewish and I kind of picked this habit up from her some years ago. I do it mostly out of respect for those who feel more comfortable not spelling it out.

wish hitchens could have seen the events of this week.

i think he would be pleased

Because virtually all arguments against marriage equality are made with religious justifications.

When religious beliefs remove words and expressions from our vocabulary out of feigned respect for a deity, that is where I lose my respect for the whole business. If one cannot talk about, or even name, a deity I guess it puts it above discussion.

I will not accept that argument for a minute. I do not respect such ideas.

Why should anybody respect something which is inherently fictitious, let alone not name it out of some feigned respect? That is also how religion poisons our language. As it does everything. As Hitchens so eloquently expressed.

Here:
GOD! JAHWEY!

But that diverges this thread beyond the fact that this act and this woman is a hero.

She is still my favorite hero this week.

That took guts, and technique. Climbing a 30 foot flag pole cannot be easy. Her grace and her outward polite and calm demeanor are a winning combination. That woman rolled 18 on charisma.

Good for her.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bail-for-bree-newsome/#/story

Bree Newsome and James Tyson have agreed, all they want is the bail money. Anything extra will go to the Charleston victims' families.

I wish it could be permanent, but racists will put the rebel flag back...