#en_berne

  • U.S. flag at half-staff 328 days last year : Is the tribute overused ? - San Jose Mercury News
    http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_30080628/u-s-flag-at-half-staff-328-days
    #en_berne

    Nearly every day, somewhere in the country, the Stars and Stripes was lowered to half-staff last year in one of the most significant official gestures of mourning and respect, an Associated Press analysis found.

    The centuries-old practice can be a visible, public answer to extraordinary loss, as when more than four dozen people were killed last month at a gay nightclub in Florida. But as the nation marks Independence Day on Monday, flag buffs have noted that the honor has been extended more widely over time, including to celebrities and police dogs. And some have questioned whether the country has lowered the bar on the lowering of the flag.
    […]
    Eight states had orders lowering the U.S. flag in effect over more than 30 days; Massachusetts led all others, keeping the flag at half-staff for over a quarter of the year, including on the Fourth of July.
    […]
    Even denying flag honors to a convicted felon didn’t fly in Rhode Island. Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo initially declined to lower flags this year for longtime former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, a Republican-turned-independent who’d been convicted of corruption. Amid an outcry from Cianci fans, Raimondo changed her mind “out of respect for the office he held for 20 years.

    Difficile d’imaginer en effet que Levallois-Perret ne porte pas le deuil de son maire emblématique lorsque celui-ci achèvera le cours de son existence. Et son patronyme mériterait de rejoindre, voire remplacer, ceux des immortels spéculateurs fonciers qui ont donné leurs noms à la commune.