{"id":46407,"date":"2022-01-19T07:05:19","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T10:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/?p=46407"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:17:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:17:43","slug":"mikey-weinstein-and-wreaths-across-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/19\/mikey-weinstein-and-wreaths-across-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikey Weinstein and Wreaths Across America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael \u201cMikey\u201d Weinstein made headlines last month when he accused Wreaths Across America<\/a>, the non-profit that places wreaths in national cemeteries each year, of \u201ccarpet bombing\u201d cemeteries with \u201cChristian gang signs.\u201d<\/a> (That the wreaths are a “Christian gang sign” will come as a surprise to Christians, who for millenia have used several symbols of their faith — but not a wreath.) His initial acerbic press release occurred in November, though it wasn\u2019t until well into December that it hit the major news cycles.<\/p>\n

One of the most obvious questions to ask when Weinstein goes after a long-running tradition like the annual Wreaths Across America event is, \u201cwhy now?\u201d If something is so egregious, why has he waited years to say anything about it? It appears Mikey himself tried to stave off this criticism by claiming he\u2019s \u201ctried to handle each client outreach on a case-by-case basis.\u201d Maybe, but that\u2019s not really Mikey\u2019s style. He\u2019s been known to make public demands and issue scathing press releases mere hours, if not minutes, after receiving a single complaint.<\/p>\n

It seems more likely that Weinstein didn\u2019t even really care<\/em> about WAA. For years, Mikey has stayed silent as volunteers placed these wreaths — “gang signs” — across the country and around the world, even at the <\/span>Tomb of the Unknown Soldier<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Notably, in 2016 Weinstein\u2019s MRFF went on the attack against US Army Chaplain (LtCol) Grace Hollis \u2013 then the senior Army chaplain at Arlington National Cemetery \u2013 after she gave an invocation at the annual WAA wreath laying event. Weinstein accused the chaplain of violating military regulations by praying at the event in uniform:<\/p>\n

On the official DoD website, there is an image of Lt. Colonel Hollis giving an invocation at the annual *Wreaths Across America event at Arlington. Wreaths Across America is a private organization that places Christmas wreaths on all the graves at Arlington and other cemeteries every year\u2026 Wreaths Across America is a private organization, or non-federal entity as the military calls it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(That photo is still there<\/a>, because, as is generally the case, Weinstein’s ravings were justifiably judged to be idiotic.) The asterisk in that quote is original. At the end of the statement, Weinstein included this italicized footnote:<\/p>\n

*The issue at hand has nothing to do with the particular organization Wreaths Across America, other than it’s being an example of Lt. Col. Hollis endorsing a private organization in uniform\u2026<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clearly, Weinstein now<\/em> claims that WAA is virulently defacing cemeteries across the country with the imprimatur of the federal government. But five years ago, even given the opportunity, he went out of his way<\/em> to avoid<\/em> pointing a finger at them. If they were “carpet bombing” national cemeteries with wreaths even at that every moment, why was he so careful to avoid accusing them of impropriety? Where was his indignation then<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Further, in the initial fusillade this year, the MRFF made a point of saying the Wreaths Across America attack on American cemeteries was “personal” to Mikey Weinstein because his father is buried in a national cemetery<\/a>. Yet, despite claiming WAA desecrates Jewish headstones across America each year, Weinstein has never<\/em> claimed anyone<\/em> has ever<\/em> placed a wreath on his father\u2019s gravesite in the Santa Fe National Cemetery<\/a> \u2013 even though WAA places wreaths there each year<\/a> and did so this past Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, only in 2021<\/em> did this suddenly become an issue. What changed? It seems some foolish person managed to convince Weinstein that the wreaths could be portrayed as inherently Christian \u2013 Christian \u201cgang signs.\u201d Then again, as a wise man once said, who\u2019s more foolish: The fool, or the fool who follows him?<\/p>\n

As the ACLJ pointed out<\/a>, Weinstein is actively taking a “secular<\/em> activity and turning it into a religious<\/em> one” for the sole purpose of attacking men and women of faith — who have nothing to do with that secular activity. Apparently, absent a genuine scandal, Mikey Weinstein just makes one up.<\/p>\n

Suddenly armed with the idea the wreaths were Christian, Weinstein launched a full-frontal assault in November \u2013 that mostly went unnoticed until December. Following a FoxNews story<\/a>, Weinstein\u2019s accusations and penchant for pithy labels made the rounds of the press. A few members of Congress wrote a letter to the VA<\/a> to ensure Weinstein\u2019s attacks didn\u2019t make any headway.<\/p>\n

In another awkwardly ironic effort to attack WAA, Mikey’s research assistant Chris Rodda insinuated financial malfeasance<\/a> with Wreaths Across America, which purchases the wreaths from the same family that started the non-profit. Laughably, this scandalous expos\u00e9 comes from a “non-profit” founded by a single person whose own salary and other compensation is, suspiciously, the single largest expense of his own charity. It almost sounds like Weinstein created the MRFF for his personal financial benefit, or inurement<\/a> — which led to Weinstein’s salary (and the claim that he’s worked 105 hours a week, nonstop, for decades) becoming the subject<\/a> of public discussion — again. He’s kind of sensitive<\/a> about that.<\/p>\n

Something about stones and glass houses, Christine.<\/p>\n

In the end, it seems nothing happened. The wreaths were placed, the solemn event marked, and Weinstein’s tirades fell on deaf ears. If Weinstein really wanted to do something, he should volunteer the MRFF as the clean-up crew for the annual WAA removal of the wreaths, which occurs this Saturday. It’s unlikely he’ll do so, though, because he only cares about those “Christian gang signs” if he can get publicity from talking<\/em> about them. To that point, while his attacks failed, Weinstein’s wallet may be a little more padded after his repeated fundraising efforts connected to the Wreaths Across America faux-scandal.<\/p>\n

To review: Re-define a secular<\/em> activity as “religious”, attack that activity for being<\/em> “religious”, and then profit off the publicity from the “scandal” that you<\/em> created.<\/p>\n

And that, ladies and gentlemen, may have been his intent all along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael \u201cMikey\u201d Weinstein made headlines last month when he accused Wreaths Across America, the non-profit that places wreaths in national cemeteries each year, of \u201ccarpet bombing\u201d cemeteries with \u201cChristian gang signs.\u201d (That the wreaths are a “Christian gang sign” will come as a surprise to Christians, who for millenia have used several symbols of their faith — but not a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[458,5284,175,96,78,5924,39,85,2,5218,7,10,171,6951,2337,1812,6950],"class_list":["post-46407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government-and-religion","tag-aclj","tag-chaplain","tag-chris-rodda","tag-christian","tag-congress","tag-grace-hollis","tag-jewish","tag-mikey-weinstein","tag-military","tag-military-religious-freedom-foundation","tag-mrff","tag-religion","tag-religious-freedom","tag-santa-fe-national-cemetery","tag-va","tag-veterans-administration","tag-wreaths-across-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46407"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46479,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46407\/revisions\/46479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}