12-01-2016, 06:33 PM
(11-30-2016, 05:47 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:(11-29-2016, 03:56 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Our wonderful president whom supposed "libertarians" support, has a new proposal to violate our civil rights:
Trump suggests loss of citizenship or jail for those who burn U.S. flags
By John Wagner November 29 at 10:55 AM
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened loss of citizenship or jail for those who burn the American flag, saying such protests — which the Supreme Court has declared to be free speech — should carry “consequences.”
Trump offered his thoughts in an early-morning post on Twitter, saying, “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag.”
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Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag - if they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!
3:55 AM - 29 Nov 2016
51,285 51,285 Retweets 142,220 142,220 likes
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post...litics_pop
I hope that this is just a random twitter message, and not a considered opinion. Certainly as a conservative veteran, the freedoms I was trying to protect included free speech and expression, even if that expression involved burning of the flag.
However, this is a good reason why the liberals on the left need to help confirm Trump's initial Supreme Court nominee quickly. The list from which Trump is currently working consists of justices similar to Scalia, and Scalia was among the 5 justice majority that ruled that flag burning was constitutionally protected speech. Let's not give Trump time to shift to a supposedly more "moderate" or leftist judge like Stevens, who was willing to jettison this first amendment freedom.
No-one should count on this. Trump has shown he has no concern for civil or human rights or freedom of expression. Just because Trump says he will appoint "judges like Scalia," in no way guarantees that such a judge will vote to uphold burning the flag or other acts of free expression. Scalia at least had some sense on some issues, once in a blue moon. Considering Trump's horrific appointments, nothing can be hoped for from this man at all.