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Title: Veteran Arrested After Stopping Flag-Stomping Protest
Source:
Daily Caller
URL Source: http://dailycaller.com/2015/04/18/v ... g-flag-stomping-protest-video/
Published: Apr 18, 2015
Author: Blake Neff
Post Date: 2015-04-19 13:24:38 by misterwhite
Keywords: None
Views: 7032
Comments: 25
A U.S. veteran found herself arrested and banned from the campus of Valdosta State University in Georgia after she tried to take an American flag from protesters who were stomping on it. The incident, which occurred Friday, can be seen on a video recently posted to Liveleak. A group of protesters hoping to show their contempt for the United States had unfurled a flag on the ground, and were walking on top of it. Michelle Manhart, who served in the Air Force, told the Valdosta Daily Times that she didn’t know what the group’s cause was, but that she was determined to protect the flag from being disrespected after hearing about the protest from a Valdosta student. “I was just going over there to pick up the flag off the ground,” Manhart said. “I don’t know what their cause is, but I went to pick it up because it doesn’t deserve to be on the ground.” Once Manhart arrived, the situation escalated, as can be seen in the video. Manhart grabbed the flag, and refused to relinquish it. “It belongs to, actually, the entire United States,” Manhart says in the video when somebody demands that she return the flag. Police soon arrived on the scene to try to contain the confrontation, though their presence led at least one onlooker to claim the police were being more restrained with Manhart (who is white) than they would have been with a black person in a similar situation. “I swear to God, if this woulda been in the hood, you’d have had her in your handcuffs already!” the onlooker (who may also have been a protester) yelled. “Look at that white privilege.” Despite the onlooker’s complaint, however, police very soon did have Manhart in handcuffs, forcing her to the ground after she refused to hand over the flag. Manhart was then taken to a squad car and whisked away. Despite getting their flag back, the protesters dispersed moments later, after refusing to comply with police requests to show student IDs. Manhart was later released without charges, the Daily Times reports. However, she was given a criminal trespass warning from VSU, which effectively bans her from campus as well as university events like graduation. It’s not clear what the protesting group’s name is (if it has one) or what precise cause it was protesting for (if there is one), as the group refused to speak to the press. However, the Daily Times overheard one protester telling a VSU student that they were trying to show contempt for the symbols of their “slavemaster.” “When a slave understands his situation and understands he doesn’t want to be in slavery, he does not respect or revere anything his slavemaster has put in front of him,” the student said. That statement, combined with the fact the protesters were all (or almost all) black, suggests the protest may have been regarding racial issues. If that’s the case, Manhart told the Daily Times, then she is sympathetic to their cause, though not their method of protest. “If your cause is racism then find some white people and walk on them,” she said. I’m not fighting against them. I’m fighting against the way they are going about it.” VSU President William McKinney released a statement Saturday pointing out that even protests desecrating the flag are constitutionally protected. “The American flag represents everything that is best about our country,” McKinney said. “As the Supreme Court has held, one of those things is the right to free speech, which includes the right to disrespect even the symbol of our country.”
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 19.
#1. To: misterwhite (#0)
She's wrong to steal the retards flag.
Stealing the flag was not the issue here. She should have taken the flag, held it up, said "Screw America", then burned it. End of demonstration. If she gets blamed, she can say she simply got carried away.
She's a hired agent provocateur. This dopey race pimpin' exhibition would have been totally ignored, without her. Is Newt about to announce a 2016 presidential run? Those look like Newt Black Panthers!
Wow! I didn't realize that! Who hired her?
It didn't occur to me earlier but the article leaves a few little items out of her bio as a "veteran". Apparently, she got out with an honorable discharge despite dishonoring her uniform. I noticed Fox News didn't see fit to include the nude modeling in military garb as relevant. So a woman vet who left the service for dishonoring her uniform may not be the heroine intent only on saving the flag. Maybe she's just angling for another porn mag shoot as she's pushing 40 now.
Maybe she's just angling for another porn mag shoot as she's pushing 40 now. Hypocrite if you ask me.
Maybe or not. I'm thinking she might want to play this situation up to get some media attention or another lucrative porn mag shoot. Maybe she could do a nice article for Hustler with tasteful pictures showing proper flag protocol. She's already played her military background for porn money once. I don't think it is unreasonable to wonder if she's doing it again. She just "heard about" this protest and went there with her daughter to take photos and be a witness? As for Fox News promoting this story, people should recall when they focused on a veteran who felt he was being disrespected in college for being a veteran. After he was prominently featured on a bunch of FNC shows in one of their outrage-of-the-week scenarios and appearing in other venues with Ann Coulter, it turns out that he was a gay porn actor before he was in the military and also a male escort. So he gets into the Marine Corps Reserve for 8 years around 2002 as a refrigeration mechanic, then gets put on inactive status due to some unspecified medical condition so he only had to keep the Marine Corps informed as to his location but otherwise was not working for them. At the same time he was an inactive Marine, he operated his male escort website again and was attending college (despite never having graduated from high school). The Corps apparently caught on to all his man-whoring and expelled him in 2005 but apparently he got an honorable discharge too. Lots more info available at: http://cplsanchez.info/ It's worth keeping in mind that FNC is known for churning up a questionable tabloidy story from time to time with some very dicey "victims".
#20. To: TooConservative (#19)
You're not referring to Jeff Gannon, are you?
I'm sure the demand is high for nude pictures of 40-year-old MILFs who used to be in the military.
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#8. To: hondo68 (#1)
"She's wrong to steal the retards flag."
#10. To: misterwhite, publicity stunt, Newt 2016 (#8)
#13. To: hondo68 (#10)
"She's a hired agent provocateur."
#15. To: misterwhite, hondo68, GrandIsland, Abcdefg, Stoner, redleghunter (#13)
Reference to Manhart's case appears in an academic article authored by Major Kelly L. McGovern in the March 2008 issue of The Army Lawyer. To quote, "Former Air Force Training Instructor Sergeant Michelle Manhart posed in and out of uniform for the February 2007 edition of Playboy magazine. Photos included Manhart in uniform yelling and holding weapons under the headline, 'Tough Love'. On the subsequent pages, Manhart appeared 'partially clothed, wearing her dog tags while working out, as well as completely nude.' The pictures hit the stands in January 2007, and the Air Force immediately relieved her of her duties pending an investigation. The Air Force then took administrative action against Manhart. She received a letter of reprimand for violating the uniform regulation and discrediting the armed forces. The Air Force also administratively demoted Manhart from staff sergeant to senior airman. In February, she was voluntarily discharged from the Air Force citing reasons of personal convenience." 
#18. To: TooConservative, hondo68, misterwhite, GrandIsland, Gatlin, Abcdefg, Stoner, (#15)
So a woman vet who left the service for dishonoring her uniform may not be the heroine intent only on saving the flag.
#19. To: Deckard (#18)
Hypocrite if you ask me.
Replies to Comment # 19. As for Fox News promoting this story, people should recall when they focused on a veteran who felt he was being disrespected in college for being a veteran. After he was prominently featured on a bunch of FNC shows in one of their outrage-of-the-week scenarios and appearing in other venues with Ann Coulter, it turns out that he was a gay porn actor before he was in the military and also a male escort.
#22. To: TooConservative (#19)
"I'm thinking she might want to play this situation up to get some media attention or another lucrative porn mag shoot."
End Trace Mode for Comment # 19.
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