Biden Bucks Tradition, Orders US Flags to Half-Staff for Atlanta Massage Spa Shootings Victims
President Joe Biden, in his latest bout of virtue signaling, ordered United States flags to be lowered to half-mast in honor of the victims of the Atlanta shooting on March 16.
In honor of the victims of the senseless shootings in Atlanta, I’ve ordered the flag of the United States to be flown at half-staff. To the loved ones of those we lost on Tuesday, know the nation mourns with you. pic.twitter.com/abZDiisNAf
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 18, 2021
In the process, the president has also managed to steamroll tradition and establish an entirely new precedent for half-mast orders.
The part of the U.S. Code which establishes half-mast orders makes clear that flags can be flown at half-mast for “the death of principal figures of the United States Government” in their memory, as well as for the deaths of servicemen and servicewomen in their home states. The flag is also typically flown at half-mast for national tragedies, such as bombings and in remembrance of 9/11.
Of course, the Atlanta shooting was devastating. Eight people died across three spas in the Georgia city before the shooter, Robert Aaron Long, was arrested. However, with Biden’s half-mast order being given, it’s beginning to look more and more like the mainstream media is attempting to make it worse than it is.
Karen Attiah, global opinions editor at The Washington Post, essentially prescribed Long with racism in a tweet the day following the shooting, telling us all to “DO BETTER.”
“The white man who murdered several Asian women told the police he’s not racist, so it must be true.” -Media, basically
Guys. DO BETTER.
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) March 17, 2021
Vermont Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders even jumped into the fray, declaring, “This must end now.”
I’m outraged by last night’s murders in Atlanta. Over the last year, racist violence against Asian Americans has increased sharply, and women have borne the brunt. This must end now.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 17, 2021
It’s extremely easy to connect Long’s race to the race of his victims and immediately tie them together as blatant racism, but it’s also extremely dishonest. All the more dishonest, in fact, when the shooter himself told police his shooting wasn’t based on racism or hatred, but a disease completely separate from anything the mainstream media will mention.
According to USA Today, Long told Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds that he had a “sex addiction,” and that his actions weren’t fueled by racism at all. Captain Jay Baker of Cherokee County told USA Today, “These locations, he sees them as an outlet for him, something that he shouldn’t be doing.”
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“He was attempting to take out that temptation,” USA Today added.
All three of the “massage parlors,” as Andy Ngo reported Wednesday, are extremely illicit.
Looking into the “massage parlors” that were shot up in the #Atlanta-area. The shooting suspect told investigators he targeted the businesses because of a sex addiction. Politicians and media around the world are reporting this as murderous anti-Asian hate inspired by Trump. pic.twitter.com/WQPI63YeOo
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) March 18, 2021
Despite the overwhelming amount of facts pointing towards Long’s sex addiction, the mainstream media has thus far refused to acknowledge the idea, instead taking the far-more-traveled road of white supremacy and racism.
The president has also taken this road, although in a different fashion. His half-mast order elevates the Atlanta shooting victims above the victims of most senseless shootings, insinuating that the Atlanta shooting was something separate, something eviler.
Mass murder wasn’t enough for the mainstream media, and it certainly wasn’t enough for the president, and something had to be done to make it artificially more important.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
