Half Mast Idiocy

I was driving through northern Colorado yesterday and noticed that in a small town, Walden, a flag was at half mast.

I didn't think much of it.  I had been pretty busy down there on work and I assumed that somebody important in Colorado had died, or perhaps nationally and I'd missed it as I had been so busy.

Nope, Dolly Parton.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

As a mark of respect for the memory of Dolly Parton, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, September 1, 2026.  I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half‑staff for the same period at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifty-first.

                             DONALD J. TRUMP

This has gotten completely stupid.

Now, I have nothing against Dolly Parton.  I don't like country music and I wasn't a fan, but I wasn't an enemy of Parton's, if there is such a thing, either.   She was certainly a well known figure in the culture.

But it's not as if she was some sort of important figure to the well being of the nation.  She was an entertainer.  Did they fly the flags half staff for Jimi Hendrix?  Given his iconic Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock, there certainly would have been a reason to do so.

In Wyoming it seems like flags are at half mast constantly.  There's the national orders put out by Presidents, some of which are due to tragedies, some due to well known figures dying.  Then there's the local ones, often when an obscure politician from some point in the distant past dies.  Half mast ought to be reserved for really important observations.

The death of entertainers isn't one of them.