A year in jail for burning the flag?

[Bush92]

What we need is a generation of educators who don't hate their own Country and teach respect for the Flag. The U.S. has been going down hill since Jimmy Carter pardoned all those draft dodgers and they became teachers.

Cowards tab to Canada and should have stayed there.

 

[irosie91]

What the hell is this? Don't we have enough problems without trying to put people behind bars for burning Old Glory? The Supreme Court already decreed that burning the Flag was covered by the 1st Amendment free speech clause.

I agree that burning the flag SHOULD BE
CRIMMINALIZED----but jailing is silly--people
learn bad habits in jail and it COSTS. It has
nothing to do with free speech

 

[White 6]

Terrible decision and disagreed with it then and still disagree with it today. Johnson was a white agitator that burned the flag outside of 1984 RNC convention in Houston to protest Israel's policies toward Palestinians. Johnson was a miserable turd.

Republicans just bring out the worst in people sometimes, eh?

 

[EvilCat Breath]

If burning the flag is harmless burning of cloth then a flaming cross is harmless burning of wood.

 

[Bush92]

Republicans just bring out the worst in people sometimes, eh?

Don't know what you're talking aboot Canuck.

 

[Bush92]

I agree that burning the flag SHOULD BE
CRIMMINALIZED----but jailing is silly--people
learn bad habits in jail and it COSTS. It has
nothing to do with free speech

Put these little spoiled white kids who are Antifa in prison with black thugs and see how they like being bitch made.

 

[White 6]

If burning the flag is harmless burning of cloth then a flaming cross is harmless burning of wood.

Ah, hate crime aspect. Don't think it has been tried yet, applying to hate crime laws to flag burning (whick I do not like either, but the law is the law) since hate crimes have been on the books. Doubt it going all the way to the Supremes by election day, but might have possiblilities.

 

[pknopp]

View attachment 353164
So then it is clear that Pelosi giving the flag to Floyds family IS an empty gesture.
After all, doesn't the flag represent the White Police State of America in the Progressive viewpoint?

No, that is what we are trying to stop it from representing.

 

[Tijn Von Ingersleben]

He should be talking about crushing leftist subversive movement.

No...he should be talking about HOW...and WHY he crushed leftist subversives.

 

[Silver Cat]

Fifteen years of jail for burning f.... t-rag.

Fifteen years in Iowa jail for burning pride flag

The Iowa man was found guilty of committing a hate crime against the Iowa gay community.

www.bbc.com

Fifteen years in Iowa jail for burning pride flag

A US judge has handed down a sentence of at least 15 years to a man who stole an LGBT pride flag from a church and burned it outside a strip club.

Adolfo Martinez, 30, admitted to the media that he took the flag from Ames United Church of Christ due to his animosity towards homosexuals.

He was found guilty last month of hate crime harassment, reckless use of fire and being a habitual offender.

The incident occurred around midnight on 11 June in downtown Ames, Iowa.

Police say the crime spree began at Dangerous Curves, a strip club, when police were called because a man was making threats. By the time they arrived, he had already been kicked out by bar staff.

After leaving the club, Martinez then travelled to the church and ripped down its flag. He then returned to the strip club where he used lighter fluid to burn the flag in the street. He also threatened to burn down the bar.

He was arrested later that day, and told local media in a jail house interview that he was "guilty as charged".

"It was an honour to do that. It's a blessing from the Lord," he said, explaining that he did it because he "opposed homosexuality".

"I burned down their pride, plain and simple," he told KCCI-TV. The interview was entered into the trial as evidence against him.

Church pastor Eileen Gebbie, who identifies as gay woman, says she agrees that Martinez' actions were motivated by hatred.

"I often experienced Ames as not being as progressive as many people believe it is, and there still is a very large closeted queer community here," she told the Des Moines Register when he was convicted in November.

"But 12 people that I don't know, who have no investment in me or this congregation, said this man committed a crime, and it was a crime borne of bigotry and hatred."

Story County Attorney Jessica Reynolds said Martinez was the first person in the county's history to be convicted of a hate crime.

"The hard reality is there are people who target individuals and commit crimes against individuals because of their race, gender, sexual orientation," she told the Ames Tribune.

"And when that happens it's so important that as a society we stand up and people have severe consequences for those actions."

 

[Fang]

Didn't the SCOTUS already rule on this? It would never pass and Trump knows it. He was just making the point that you're a POS if you burn a flag. I agree.

 

[White 6]

Fifteen years of jail for burning f.... t-rag.

Fifteen years in Iowa jail for burning pride flag

The Iowa man was found guilty of committing a hate crime against the Iowa gay community.

www.bbc.com

Fifteen years in Iowa jail for burning pride flag

A US judge has handed down a sentence of at least 15 years to a man who stole an LGBT pride flag from a church and burned it outside a strip club.

Adolfo Martinez, 30, admitted to the media that he took the flag from Ames United Church of Christ due to his animosity towards homosexuals.

He was found guilty last month of hate crime harassment, reckless use of fire and being a habitual offender.

The incident occurred around midnight on 11 June in downtown Ames, Iowa.

Police say the crime spree began at Dangerous Curves, a strip club, when police were called because a man was making threats. By the time they arrived, he had already been kicked out by bar staff.

After leaving the club, Martinez then travelled to the church and ripped down its flag. He then returned to the strip club where he used lighter fluid to burn the flag in the street. He also threatened to burn down the bar.

He was arrested later that day, and told local media in a jail house interview that he was "guilty as charged".

"It was an honour to do that. It's a blessing from the Lord," he said, explaining that he did it because he "opposed homosexuality".

"I burned down their pride, plain and simple," he told KCCI-TV. The interview was entered into the trial as evidence against him.

Church pastor Eileen Gebbie, who identifies as gay woman, says she agrees that Martinez' actions were motivated by hatred.

"I often experienced Ames as not being as progressive as many people believe it is, and there still is a very large closeted queer community here," she told the Des Moines Register when he was convicted in November.

"But 12 people that I don't know, who have no investment in me or this congregation, said this man committed a crime, and it was a crime borne of bigotry and hatred."

Story County Attorney Jessica Reynolds said Martinez was the first person in the county's history to be convicted of a hate crime.

"The hard reality is there are people who target individuals and commit crimes against individuals because of their race, gender, sexual orientation," she told the Ames Tribune.

"And when that happens it's so important that as a society we stand up and people have severe consequences for those actions."

Probably not the right case to quote as he did "admit to stealing it from a church and admitted to the media that he took the flag from Ames United Church of Christ due to his animosity towards homosexuals."

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

If burning the flag is harmless burning of cloth then a flaming cross is harmless burning of wood.

Not in our country. You can offend patriotic Americans, but you can't offend people of color.

 

[Coyote]

Okay, so let's look at this. The left has told us in the past that a flag is nothing more than a worthless piece of cloth. Burning it is not a display of hatred for our country, but freedom of expression. Yet, all across the nation, we had to remove the confederate flag from courthouses, Governors mansions, state houses, even Walmart.

So what's worse, a total elimination of a flag, or facing one year in prison for burning one? Because you see, according to the left, the US flag has no real impact on our lives, but to them, a confederate flag does. Yes......I know.....they are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites.

Well...to start with, you are making a lot of assumptions that just aren’t true, starting with the left (as a whole) thinkingthe flag means nothing (this is a common RW canard) and ending with making some sort of bizarre equivalency between our nation’s flag and the flag of treason representing the losing side in civil war over the right own slaves.

 

[Coyote]

How were you wrong? How is Trump an "authoritarian strong man?" You sound like one of those pussy assed liberals that call Trump "Hitler."

You are right, he isn’t, he is just a strongman-wannabe.

 

[Coyote]

Not in our country. You can offend patriotic Americans, but you can't offend people of color.

It is perfectly legal to burn a cross, as it is to burn a flag. You just can’t do it on someone else’s private property Without permission.

 

[jasonnfree]

A shot of this trump piece of shit humping and hugging the flag. He was saying to himself 'wonder how much of this shit these fools who love me will put up with'.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

What is flag burning? Do flags particularly serve as good fuel? Is the heat from a burning flag more efficient than a burning log? Is the light from a burning flag longer lasting than the light from a kerosene lamp?

A burning flag is political speech. Nothing more, nothing less.

Would you advocate denial of political speech? Remember it's the unpopular speech that needs protection.

Good point. So what do you think the results would be with somebody burning an Antifa or BLM flag? That's the same way patriotic Americans feel about the American flag.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

american citizens should respect the flag of the greatest nation in the history of the world. If you dont respect the flag, then you dont respect the nation and should not be here.

A year may be excessive, but the idea is correct.

Because we have freedom of expression in this country, we wont throw you in jail for your disgusting opinion. You're welcome.

 

[9thIDdoc]

Talk to the supreme court.: Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court that invalidated prohibitions on desecrating the American flag, which at the time were enforced in 48 of the 50 states. Justice William Brennan wrote for a five-justice majority in holding that defendant Gregory Lee Johnson's act of flag burning was protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Johnson was represented by attorneys David D. Cole and William Kunstler.

Texas v. Johnson - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I am aware of that decision. They were wrong and decisions have been reversed before and I certainly hope to see that one scrapped as it deserves. Where exactly in the Constitution is it written that flag burning is speech? Incitement to riot is rightfully considered a crime and that is exactly what flag burning is.