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-Land of the Free
Demonstrators burn a US flag in front of the White House
2019-07-05
[TWITTER]
Update from The Hill at 7:10 a.m. EDT:
Two protesters were arrested and a pair of U.S. Secret Service officers received minor injuries in front of the White House on the Fourth of July after an American flag was set on fire ahead of President Trump’s “Salute to America” celebration, the agency says.

The two were allegedly arrested for "burning an American flag outside the limits of a permit that had been issued by the National Park Service."

The Secret Service told The Hill that one person was arrested for felony assault on a police officer and for malicious burning, and the other was arrested for obstructing a police investigation and resisting arrest. One person was transported to a hospital for minor injuries, and two Secret Service officers were also transported to a local hospital for treatment.

USA Today reported that a group calling themselves the Revolutionary Communist Party burned the flag and posted video showing protesters pushing and shoving each other after the flames died down.

Washington Examiner reporter Steven Nelson shared footage of the burning on Twitter and reported that a veteran grabbed the flag while it was still on fire.
A Marine veteran in a MAGA t-shirt. Semper Fi, most assuredly.
Posted by:Fred

#18  Wait.. how is panhandling free speech ?

Cause SCOTUS can't tell commerce from speech. The air is really thin up there. Same people who struck down vagrancy laws and residency laws. They seem to have a knack in creating problems where there were none before.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2019-07-05 21:09  

#17  SteveS, isn't that how Otto Warmbier ended up getting imprisoned to death?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2019-07-05 21:08  

#16  Burning the US flag *is* protected political speech. It's a way of saying America is an awful, icky, repressive place.

It is also ironic as all get out and anyone doing it should be loudly mocked. Want proof? Go burn the national flag in a truly icky, repressive country like, say, NKor or Cuba and see what happens. Don't forget to post the pix for our amusement, loser!
Posted by: SteveS   2019-07-05 19:33  

#15  oh, and guess it is free speech too aggravate the hell out of ppl dron
Posted by: chris   2019-07-05 19:21  

#14  panhandling will get your ass locked up where i live
Posted by: chris   2019-07-05 19:21  

#13  Wait.. how is panhandling free speech ?
Posted by: Dron66046   2019-07-05 15:20  

#12  Flag burning, nude dancing and panhandling have all been decreed "free speech" by SCOTUS. Two of the three entail those who want to watch handing over currency.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2019-07-05 14:58  

#11  I'm thinking a milk shake full of lighter fluid.. if possible.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2019-07-05 13:18  

#10  Instead of saving the flag folks should spray lighter fluid on the protester and watch the fun. Might stop the next one before it even starts.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2019-07-05 13:18  

#9  Pinochet Helicopter Tours™
Posted by: Frank G   2019-07-05 09:49  

#8  only place they need too be dropped is to the ground and stomped to death
Posted by: chris   2019-07-05 09:14  

#7  #1 Drop them in Cuba I was about to say the same thing DV. Cuba. Maybe Venezuela. There aren't too many Communist paradises (sarc on) left.
Posted by: JohnQC   2019-07-05 08:56  

#6  Did you know that you don't own your own mailbox? That even if you purchase it and place it in the appropriate spot, it belongs to the USPS. When yokels get a hootn' and blow one up, its a federal offense, because its federal property.

Title 18. USC
Section 1705. Destruction of letter boxes or mail

Whoever willfully or maliciously injures, tears down or destroys any letter box or other receptacle intended or used for the receipt or delivery of mail on any mail route, or breaks open the same or willfully or maliciously injures, defaces or destroys any mail deposited therein, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

So, the legal principle is established. Why should it be so hard to extend to the flag? /rhet question.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2019-07-05 07:38  

#5  Have to be Maoist. It's in the nomenclature - a blatant claim to organized revolt. And a symbolic attack with the implicit promise of escalation. Maoist. I'd bet money on it. Besides, we have a RCP in India too, that unsurprisingly tried to do the same thing.
Posted by: Dron66046   2019-07-05 07:36  

#4  the Revolutionary Communist Party burned the flag

How quaintly old fashioned. Are they Leninists or Maoists, do you suppose?
Posted by: trailing wife   2019-07-05 07:16  

#3  Sixteen Maoist rebels did this in India in 2009, burning the tricolor. Only one of them survived the mob that descended on them from nowhere. From nearby vendors to rickshaw pullers, commuters... it was like a zombie attack by common people. The mob was let off with a pat on their backs.

Patriotic vigilance is seldom 'just dismissive' of physical or symbolic dissent, and to liberal minded people, seems like an overreaction. But few people can dare to do it now. I suspect the same is true for many 'illiberal' countries looked down upon by the west.

Interestingly, the Flag Desecration Act of the US was obliterated by the action of a sworn leftist judge. Judge William J. Brennan Jr. - celebrated democrat, a hopelessly irrational progressive. His ruling in a case against some anti-war 'Nam vets is the precedent for creatively relating flag-burning with the 1st Amendment. A champion of the 'misunderstood, under-represented minorities' And probably responsible for their over-representation today , he was a savior of criminal defendants throughout his career. Also worked fervently against the death penalty.
Posted by: Dron66046   2019-07-05 06:43  

#2  In reference to the "Capital 4th" on PBS tonight (Executive Producer George Soros):

o Poor selection of acts. There's a heavy concentration on minorities, most of these acts wouldn't make it into the semi-finals of AGT, and the anchor concentration on Muppets is really dumb.

It pays a bit of homage to our independence and we have a military protecting us, but otherwise silly acts, and no reference to our President's parade and speech earlier in the day.

Heavy on cheap entertainment, completely negligent on July 4 issues; independence, protection, freedom to say whatever you want (outside crying fire in a theater).

Notes
o 76 trombones – Soros guess at what would draw the folks in
o Emcee uses his baby in most scenes
o Get your cell phones out
Posted by: Fairbanks   2019-07-05 02:21  

#1  Drop them in Cuba
Posted by: DarthVader   2019-07-05 00:45  

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