Freedom Of Speech Even When the Authoritarians Say NO!

[Cameron]

Burning your own flag is free speech. Tearing up someone else's flag is vandalism and an interference with their free speech. And using knifes to tear up pride flags in particular is bigotry -- the only "speech" it expresses is a veiled violent threat -- so of course OP is in here defending it.

 

[Slartibartfast]

So if this was any Antifa weekend and blocking traffic, causing millions in police overtime and so on, then no one would think it a big deal.

However it's a few kids ripping down and cutting up PRIDE flags.

So of course it's time to ship them off to prison for several years. Now if they shoplifted these flags I doubt they could get a day of jail but PRIDE flags, time to lock them away for a half a decade.

Democrats love their authoritarian impulses. They love locking up kids for wrong thing and concern trolling about things like freedom of speech unless it is speech they disagree with in which case then its hate and a crime.

Sorry but these kids need to go free. If burning, damaging and ripping up flags is free speech then it's speech for these kids as well.

Should we send them to an El Salvadoran concentration camp after photoshopping some tattoos on their hands? That seems to be what we do with petty criminals these days.

 

[Blue Dog]

Burning someone else’s PROPERTY is not exercising freedom of speech!

 

[Captain Adverse]

So if this was any Antifa weekend and blocking traffic, causing millions in police overtime and so on, then no one would think it a big deal.

However it's a few kids ripping down and cutting up PRIDE flags.

So of course it's time to ship them off to prison for several years. Now if they shoplifted these flags I doubt they could get a day of jail but PRIDE flags, time to lock them away for a half a decade.

Democrats love their authoritarian impulses. They love locking up kids for wrong thing and concern trolling about things like freedom of speech unless it is speech they disagree with in which case then its hate and a crime.

Sorry but these kids need to go free. If burning, damaging and ripping up flags is free speech then it's speech for these kids as well.

IMO it's unlikely that they will see any serious jail time even if they have a crappy Public Defender. If they have no prior record, then at worst (IMO) they will get some kind of fine and probation, or some form of community service.

 

[devildavid]

Oh no that shouldn't be tolerated. Anybody blocking the street should be tear gassed and arrested

It's not okay to steal people's property and destroy it those kids should pay to replace it

I would say I hate crime law wouldn't apply because they targeted objects not people.

I don't doubt they're going to try their hardest. But any attorney worth their salt should be able to point out that flags aren't people

No they need to pay to replace the property they took and destroyed I don't care if it's pride plane and American flag or a Nazi flag you're not to do that sort of thing with people's property.

You would be wrong about hate crime.

Defining a Hate Crime​

A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. Hate itself is not a crime—and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties.

Hate Crimes | Federal Bureau of Investigation

Investigating hate crimes is the highest priority of the FBI’s civil rights program.

www.fbi.gov

 

[Logophile]

I have a question. If these flags are on a "crosswalk," is the crosswalk public or private property?? The reason why I'm asking is - for openers - that flags draped on a public crosswalk are a hazard. Was this crosswalk private?? I can't tell for sure but it appears to be public domain. It seems to me that this case against the kids is pretty weak. If I put a flag out on a crosswalk, do I get to assume that it should remain there intact for posterity?? Lol. Of course not, even if I have state permission. It could be argued that the flag draped there is not only a public hazard but put there as entrapment. Flags draped on a crosswalk are not permanent structures, of historic value or anything else. In fact putting them there immediately questions ownership. Who are they "registered" to?? They're not like a car with a registration. The flags were meant to be temporary, a social statement I suppose, but have no official designation that I can tell which makes the charges pretty weak

 

[bomberfox]

What is the appropriate charge and sentence for burning your flag?

That's the point for all of us whether you realize it or not.

It wasnt their flag as far as i know.

 

[Simon W. Moon]

So if this was any Antifa weekend and blocking traffic, causing millions in police overtime and so on, then no one would think it a big deal.

However it's a few kids ripping down and cutting up PRIDE flags.

So of course it's time to ship them off to prison for several years. Now if they shoplifted these flags I doubt they could get a day of jail but PRIDE flags, time to lock them away for a half a decade.

Democrats love their authoritarian impulses. They love locking up kids for wrong thing and concern trolling about things like freedom of speech unless it is speech they disagree with in which case then its hate and a crime.

Sorry but these kids need to go free. If burning, damaging and ripping up flags is free speech then it's speech for these kids as well.

I feel like a link to your namesake railing against the horrors of the 1st amendment, is ample argument that your concerns are not based on principles.

“Natasha Bertrand should be FIRED from CNN! I watched her for three days doing Fake News. She should be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out “like a dog,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Bertrand, the president argued, was “attempting to destroy our Patriot Pilots by making them look bad.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5369495-donald-trump-cnn-reporter-iran-damage-report/

1st Amendment - Freedom of the Press, you whiny little bitch. Change the channel and get over it.

 

[The Brad Dad]

So if this was any Antifa weekend and blocking traffic, causing millions in police overtime and so on, then no one would think it a big deal.

However it's a few kids ripping down and cutting up PRIDE flags.

So of course it's time to ship them off to prison for several years. Now if they shoplifted these flags I doubt they could get a day of jail but PRIDE flags, time to lock them away for a half a decade.

Democrats love their authoritarian impulses. They love locking up kids for wrong thing and concern trolling about things like freedom of speech unless it is speech they disagree with in which case then its hate and a crime.

Sorry but these kids need to go free. If burning, damaging and ripping up flags is free speech then it's speech for these kids as well.

Millions of people marching to express themselves is the opposite of “authoritarian impulses”. These idiot punks trying to vandalize others is not speech. Learn the law, learn the constitution. Love your country more than you seem to.

 

[mrjurrs]

So if this was any Antifa weekend and blocking traffic, causing millions in police overtime and so on, then no one would think it a big deal.

However it's a few kids ripping down and cutting up PRIDE flags.

So of course it's time to ship them off to prison for several years. Now if they shoplifted these flags I doubt they could get a day of jail but PRIDE flags, time to lock them away for a half a decade.

Democrats love their authoritarian impulses. They love locking up kids for wrong thing and concern trolling about things like freedom of speech unless it is speech they disagree with in which case then its hate and a crime.

Sorry but these kids need to go free. If burning, damaging and ripping up flags is free speech then it's speech for these kids as well.

It's not free speech, it's a hate crime targeted at a specific minority.

Try again, but this time with knowledge that not all speech is protected.

 

[SavannahMann]

It's not free speech, it's a hate crime targeted at a specific minority.

Try again, but this time with knowledge that not all speech is protected.

If the moron teens had held up signs saying they detest Homosexuals I'd call it Free Speech. If they wrote an article online, or preached it in a Church. I'd consider it contrary to the teachings of the Bible, but again protected speech. It isn't the words or even the message, it is the actions that are criminal.

Lots of people write that they or whatever Deity they are discussing is opposed to homosexuality. That is protected speech. I would agree that it was a violation of the First Amendment to penalize someone for it. If these idiots had bought their own flags, I'd say protected speech. But they attacked other peoples flags, because of what those flags represented to the people who had displayed them. I would object to that if the people doing the destruction of the flag were Blue with Polkadots.

 

[mrjurrs]

If the moron teens had held up signs saying they detest Homosexuals I'd call it Free Speech. If they wrote an article online, or preached it in a Church. I'd consider it contrary to the teachings of the Bible, but again protected speech. It isn't the words or even the message, it is the actions that are criminal.

Lots of people write that they or whatever Deity they are discussing is opposed to homosexuality. That is protected speech. I would agree that it was a violation of the First Amendment to penalize someone for it. If these idiots had bought their own flags, I'd say protected speech. But they attacked other peoples flags, because of what those flags represented to the people who had displayed them. I would object to that if the people doing the destruction of the flag were Blue with Polkadots.