Originally published at: Guantanamo Bay lowers McDonald's flag to half-mast in honor of Madeleine Albright | Boing Boing
…
2 Likes
US Flag code dictates no flag above the United States flag. This is truly a horrible headline.
18 Likes
Doesn’t explain why there is a flag for a corporate business at Guantanamo Bay. The fact that its up there in the first place is insulting.
18 Likes
Because it’s actually a McDonald’s location serving the base?
It is not clear that BB’s headlines are written by an actual person.
11 Likes
This is the least that can be done to honor Secretary Albright’s instrumental role in restoring diplomatic relations between Mayor McCheese and the Burger King.
14 Likes
She was infamously soft on hamburger-related crime though, never once attempting to pursue charges for aggravated robble robbling.
12 Likes
That’s because her boss did a little robble robbling himself, according to this documentary segment
5 Likes
Uncle Vanya could not be reached for comment.
3 Likes
I’m not sure which part of the headline you’re critiquing here? It doesn’t say anything about US Flag Code. The headline simply states the fact that the McDonald’s flag was lowered to half mast in memory of Albright’s death. That is unambiguously true.
If you’re saying the headline is horrible because this is a horrifyingly perfect microcosm of American foreign policy … then okay, fair.
13 Likes
Pretty sure the US Flag Code requires the US flag to not be lower than other flags.
3 Likes
Cue the jokes re using fast food as an interrogation tool
(excerpt) McDonald’s installed a franchise at Guantanamo Bay in 1986. Over the years, its burgers not only fed service members but also supposedly served as a tool for interrogating Gitmo detainees. However, the prison put the kibosh on those meals in 2015, stating that they posed health and safety risks.
Read More: The Surprising Location Of Cuba's Only McDonald's
7 Likes
Ah, but the point of Guantanamo Bay is that it isn’t in the US. As an extra-national territory Emperor McCheese can demand his flag remain in the superior position, as US laws do not apply, and Cuba would prefer the whole place go away anyway.
5 Likes
We could quibble about “mast,” but my understanding is that this is common usage in the UK. In the US, a “mast” is aboard a ship, while a “staff” is on land. UK flag code uses “mast” to describe land-bound poles though. So, US flag code refers to a “staff” for everything except flags at sea. But that would be pedantry.
There are some circumstances where it’s OK. But the code does say “No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the same level, to the right of the flag of the United States of America.”
So there should be no flag to the right of it, half mast, half staff, or fully deployed.
6 Likes
The US Flag Code is the Bible of American lore. People take what they want from it, ignore the rest, then get really mad when the part they like is violated (usually while wearing US Flag underwear and dragging an unlit flag on the ground at night in front of their house)
24 Likes
Or flying the flag on a stick behind their truck, ripping it to shreds.
7 Likes
The only difference being that instead of secret sauce it has undisclosed sauce
6 Likes
Hmmmm
8 Likes
Can’t they just view the flag from a line of sight that bisects all three flagpoles and say, “There are no flags to the right of the US flag?”
1 Like
You don’t expect the people staffing the USA’s best known torture site to go without a big Mac,do you?
5 Likes
