Trump: Burn the flag, go to jail

Indeed, the president elect offered this opinion via Twitter, oddly enough.

Apparently, we shoudl ignore free speech and case law in order to make flag burning illegal, illegal to the point where folks would get the yuge penalty of a year in jail.

I do have to question a man who does not realize that to do this one would need a Constitutional amendment, but as the incoming president, doesn't this seem to be a little harsh over something that while protected seems a bit passe?

Seems like a strange and overly ambitious response to free speech, guaranteed by the Constitution. Almost something out of a Soviet or Chinese playbook.


http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/29/politics/donald-trump-flag-burning-penalty-proposal/

President-elect Donald Trump proposed on Tuesday a penalty -- including possible jail time or loss of citizenship -- for burning the American flag, in spite of two US Supreme Court rulings that protect the act under the First Amendment as a form of free speech.
"Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag -- if they do, there must be consequences -- perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!," Trump tweeted.

Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag - if they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016

The Supreme Court twice affirmed the right to desecrate the American flag as a form of free speech -- a historically contentious issue -- in cases before the high court in 1989 and 1990.
In the 1989 case "Texas v. Johnson," the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that flag burning was a form of "symbolic speech" that was protected by the First Amendment. The ruling was granted after an appeal from Gregory Johnson, who had been convicted by a Texas court of violating a state law that prohibited the "desecration of a venerated object" such as the US flag.
The following year, in "United states v. Eichman," the Supreme Court again affirmed the right to burn the flag when it ruled 7-3 that the Flag Protection Act of 1989 -- passed by Congress in response to the Johnson decision -- was unconstitutional.
When asked about the Supreme Court rulings on CNN's "New Day," Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller did not respond to questions about the constitutional protections of flag burning.
"Flag burning should be illegal," Miller repeatedly told CNN's Chris Cuo

<<Mod Note: Title changed because CNN updated the article and changed the title>>

 

the man is clueless

 

He believes some things should be sacred. He's not wrong, however that isn't how freedom works.

 

Kind of like Obama and Merkel's opinion that the Internet should be controlled to control "fake news".

 

Burning the Countries flag is ilegal... its against all the amendments... its the Amendments your burning.. People are only free inside their borders no attacking others borders... Freedom stops when I harass you.. or you burn the Belief of 350 Million Americans.....
Anyone who burn the U.S.A. Flag should be in prison immediately...

 

Seems to me like he used the first amendment to voice an opinion. I don't agree with the opinion, but he has the right to say it. I even understand where he's coming from.

 

That is correct, opinion isn't law. Many of us feel the same way that Trump does. That doesn't make it law.

 

Setting things on fire can be illegal, burning flags exclusively should not.

 

One thing that Trump does that absolutely infuriates the left is that he speaks his mind. They are so used to politically correct candidates to tell them what they want to hear in public but say something different behind the scenes that they are shocked by an honest politician. After eight years of the "most transparent administration" that was never transparent they are upset that Trump Twitter's letting them know about the candidate and his ideas.

 

Except the Constitution and case law both disagree with you. If you hate freedom that much, perhaps North Korea would be a better home for you? People there are banned from burning the flag.

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"Speak his mind" = "Suggests idiotic unconstitutional laws that are actively anti-freedom"

I gusss that why the Fascists on the Right love him.

 

The politically correct inspired left-wing meltdown continues. I do expect most on the left to keep on screaming like banshees because they hear an honest opinion.

 

Apparently its political correctness to support constitutionally protected freedoms.

So when the Right says they want to destroy political correctness, it's those pesky constitutional protections they want to get rid of.

 

I am against politcal correctness, therefore I demand that a piece of cloth be worshiped.

 

Political correctness shut down free-speech so you got that backwards.

 

So what Trump proposes is politcal correctness then? Shutting down, even jailing, those who participate in free speech?

 

Thank you for proving my point. You are intolerant of an opinion.

 

Wait, so you are saying everything a President says is protected under free speech and any attempt to criticize his speech is political correctness?

So you guys have been engaging in political correctness with Obama for 8 years.

 

Treason should not be legal.

 

How is the guy who calls for stripping people of their citizenship for engaging in a constitutional protected speech not the guy engaging in political correctness using your own definition of the term?

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Treason isn't legal. It's also specifically defined.

 

No, you said that shutting down free speech is what politcal correctness actually is. Trump has said we should jail those who participate in free speech in the form of flag burning. The logical conclusion extrapolated using commutative property theory is that Trump is for political correctness.

 

wrong, you dont have to like it, but it is legal, period.

 

Nope, whining is protected under free-speech.

 

I hope lefties burn as many US flags as possible. It only helps unseat more democrats from elected positions across the country.

It should remain legal, although I don't think it's legal to set anything on fire in a public street/sidewalk so technically you could lockup the "protesters" for an arson charge.

 

OP is a GIANT hypocrite....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Protection_Act_of_2005

 

So is political correctness.

So really what you mean by "political correctness" is "anything a liberal says that I don't like but I won't hold conservatives to the same standard because I'm a hypocrite".