(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Alito flag controversy just keeps getting worse [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-06 Voter123 has reported on some highlights from a insightful interview that CNN's Erin Burnett conducted yesterday with Emily Baden, the former neighbor of Samuel and Martha-Ann Alito who is at the center of the story regarding the Alitos' scandalous behavior in flying an upside-diwn American flag in their yard in mid-January 2021 as a sign of their solidarity with the January 6 insurrectionists.Baden confirmed some things that had previously been reported about the controversy, but I learned some new details that makes the controversy stink even more. One highlight of the interview, which Voter123 reports on, is that Samuel Alito was clearly lying about the reasons why they flew the up-side down American flag at their home. Alito stated that they flew the flag in response to a verbal altercation with Baden. However, there is a date-stamped photo showing the flag flying on January 17, but Baden said the verbal altercation occurred on February 15, which is confirmed by police records. Baden said that they were feeling so threatened by the Alitos - particularly Martha-Ann - that they felt compelled to call the police. In their complaint to police, Emily Baden and her family accused Martha-Ann Alito of "umprompted" harrassment. Baden explains that a few times before the Feb. 15 alercation, Martha-Ann Alito would stop in fron of their house and glare at them, likely in response to their anti-Trunp lawn signs. But the first time she ever spoke to Martha-Ann was on Feb. 15 when Martha-Ann came up to them and started screaming at them (Samuel was with her). Martha-Ann used their full names, which unnerved them and felt like a clear threat. This prompted Emily to call them out: "You're a stranger. We don't know you, you don't know us. How do you know our full names?...I said, 'How dare you. You're on the highest court in rhe land, you represent the Supreme Court of the United States. You're behaving this way. You're yelling at a neighbor. You're harassing us. How dare you. Shame on you.'" But there's another disturbing piece of the story that I learned for the first time from Baden's CNN interview. She noted that the security detail assigned to the Alitos is always in a car parked on the street in front of the Alitos' house. But Baden started seeing the security detail sometimes parked in front of their house, which is 4-5 houses away from the Alitos' house, including on the day that the New York Time "broke" the Alitos' upside-down American flag story (although WaPo had actually sat on the story for 3+ years, but I digress). I find it unconscionable that the Alitos would use their security detail to try to intimidate Baden and her family. Baden spoke in the interview about how unnerving and unbelievable it was to see one of the most powerful people in the country, if not the world, trying to intimidate a "nobody" everyday citizen. Truly an abuse of power. I also found it interesting that during the Feb. 15 verbal altercation with Martha-Ann Alito, Baden claims that Samuel Alito said and did nothing. “He just kept walking,” Baden said. “And basically disappeared." Baden pointed out that a normal person would have tried to diffuse the situation, but Samuel Alito just walked away and let Martha-Ann rage on. Burnett had noted that Baden was nervous to do the interview, and asked her why she ultimately decided to do it. Here was her kick-ass response: "I think our democracy is fragile, and we learned that on January 6...We see it all the time with Trump saying he wants to be a dictator. These are serious, serious things. And I just want people, regulat people like myself, to understand that we live in a democracy and we don't have to watch our democracy become a dictatorship or a fascist Christisn nationalist society. We need to pay attention. We need to stand up, organize and resist." I'm so grateful that Emily Baden has had the courage to stand up and speak out. Let's all show her some love and support. UPDATE HughJimBasile asked about the Alitos' security detail, and I was curious too so I did some quick research and found this: The nine (Supreme Court Justices) are protected by the Supreme Court Police Department when in Washington, and outside of D.C., their security is the responsibility of the U.S. Marshals Service, a part of DOJ. So this is different from the secret service. Regardless, I'm not an expert but it looks like our taxpayer dollars are being used by the Alitos to intimidate Americans. I'm just sayin'. 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