#new A U.S. Marine Corps veteran was kicked out of a car show and threatened with charges over the American Flag he had on his vehicle, with organizers saying the flag was political.
Jorge Cortez, a USMC veteran was also ordered to take down a Trump “I Will Never Surrender” flag from his classic car at M Special Brewing Company in Goleta, California.
The brewery manager got involved, and called the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, which told him he would be trespassed if he did not leave.
It happened during a monthly car meet hosted by R&R Motorworks.
Cortez said an R&R Motorworks employee asked him to remove the flags. The coordinator then brought in the brewery’s Goleta Taproom Assistant Manager, Kennedy Smith, who enforced a no-political-displays rule on the property.
Smith told him he needed to take the flags down “so that other people feel inclusive.”
Cortez asked if there was a written policy banning American flags and whether flying the national flag and a flag supporting the sitting President after an ass*ssination attempt was illegal. Smith then told him to leave when he would not remove the flags. The Sheriffs arrived and he was forced to leave.
He said Smith told deputies he had been “having issues with people, causing a disturbance, being political, and argumentative,” something he said were lies, saying he arrived neutrally, talked cars with other attendees, and encountered no problems until the flags became the issue.
Cortez said that the brewery’s Santa Barbara location on State Street has a tr*nsgender flag at the front door, pointing out that politics are permitted when they match the preferred viewpoint.
