Jim Geraghty:
Will anti-Trump protesters be dumb enough to take the bait?
Seemingly out of the blue, Donald 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!” He may have responded to a Fox News Channel report on veterans protesting Hampshire College in Amherst, which decided to remove all flags from campus. The college’s flag was found burned on Veterans’ Day.
Let’s get a key point out of the way: Stripping an American of his citizenship is thankfully difficult and rare. If you’re a naturalized citizen – born in a foreign country and legally becoming a citizen through the application and approval process – your citizenship can be revoked if the government learns you were ineligible, or you lied or hid important information about yourself. The Supreme Court has upheld an “unusually high burden of proof in denaturalization cases.”
Natural-born U.S. citizens cannot have their citizenship revoked, but can choose to renounce their citizenship. Notice the Constitution explicitly mentions death as a potential punishment for treason, but not loss of citizenship!
Several times in recent years, GOP lawmakers introduced legislation to allow revocation of citizenship for anyone providing material assistance to foreign terrorist organizations, or membership, training, and oaths of allegiance to terrorist groups. Some conservatives have questioned whether that change to the law is really necessary if U.S. policy is to arrest, detain, and/or drone-strike these people.
The big question in the coming days and weeks will be whether anti-Trump protesters have the self-control and self-awareness to realize that burning any American flags will play directly into Trump’s hands.
If you realy want to make these collage knownothing throw a hissy fit go and burn the Useless Nations flag or a Che T-Shirt thats sure to get them all baothered and make them wet their pants
I don’t know… they’re pretty stupid.
The flag burners are despicable, but protected by the First Amendment. They’re also being used by Trump as a distraction. They’re a distraction from the fact that he’s filling up his administration with Washington political insiders, billionaire corporate insiders, and financial system insiders. Hate Hillary’s handling of classified information? He’s considering for Secretary of State a guy who cut a deal to avoid felony charges for violation of the Espionage Act—knowingly giving classified information to his mistress—and giving false testimony about it to the FBI. He admitted guilt and got 2 years probation and a $100,000 fine. His probation would have to be suspended to reinstate his security clearance.
As someone just accurately pointed out on CNN, the swamp isn’t being drained at all. It’s being expanded, and getting new and bigger alligators. All he has to do to distract the public is fire off a Tweet or two.
@Greg: He’s not picking someone who cheated on his taxes to head the Treasury Department. He’s not picking a communist to create jobs. He’s not picking a racist anti-American to be Attorney General. He’s doing far better than Obama ever did.
Tell it to the alligators. You are being hustled by a real pro, who will make any Clinton impropriety you’ve imagine look like nothing. This could turn out to be the biggest hustle in human history.
@Greg: Were you on pot when you wrote that?
You can save your witty repartee for the alligators also, and see if it makes them smile.
One of those truly magical moments. Surely I have some observation. Let me think. Uh…
Rich people eat weird food?
Anyway, it’s amazing how well Donald’s hair hides the horns. You’d never guess they were even there.
These pinheads could find their own home town on a map much less cuba
@Greg: “who will make any Clinton impropriety you’ve imagine look like nothing.” But, there haven’t been any… right?
Yeah, Trump has horns. Now you’ve completed your insanity.
@Greg:
Here is a solution to the flag burning issue…..
Comprehensive flag burning reform:
(1)Whereas those who choose to burn the nations symbol of freedom are allowed to do so….
(2)Whereas those who oppose the burning of the flag can summarily beat the shit out of the pajama boy flag burners….
@Greg: CNN, now that is a reputable source for news. /s
Here is what this foolish “news” organization is suggesting….
@July 4th American: I find it amusing that Trump is described as already failing before taking office and Obama is revered for accomplishing nothing except destroying our foreign relationships and the US economy, not to mention increasing world terrorism. As long as there are ignorant people repeating mindless propaganda the MSM will print rubbish to give the fodder.
@Greg:
Yeah Obama filled his administration with Joe the Walmart greeters and people who didn’t have two nickels to rub together. For starters people like Penny Pritzker and John Kerry. They were finally able to get off food stamps once Obama added them.
Candidate Obama vowed no lobbyists and then once elected added them. Sucker.
@July 4th American: A punch in the face is, after all, a form of expression. Ask any violent liberal protester.
Yes they are
http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/11/30/protesters-burn-flags-outside-trump-tower-response-trumps-tweet
@DrJohn: And the commies, too:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-30/communist-party-protesters-burn-american-flags-new-york-after-trump-tweet
See also
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-flag-idUSKBN13P06L
[A] small group of hard-left activists burned foot-long U.S. flags outside the Trump International Hotel in New York on Tuesday, in an angry response to a tweet ….
Talk about dumb.
These guys can and will be played by Donald Trump (President-Elect) for the next 4-to-8 years.
They will never learn.
There’s a Scripture that warns us that a discerning person’s words can find the dividing point between bone and marrow, heart and mind, a person’s true motives.
The true motives of the radical Left is to tear down America and everything American.
Trump’s words exposed that.
@July 4th American: That would be ‘freedom of expression’ right?
Robert Reich reveals the seven techniques that Donald Trump uses to control the media
Yep. That’s exactly what he does. There hasn’t been a dictator any time in modern history that wouldn’t smile at item 5.
Its all there with Trump. Any intelligent person can see it. All you’ve got to do is open your eyes and look.
@Bill- Deplorable Me:
Exactly, I would express my disgust in the cupcakes who think they are courageous in the action they take by burning the flag for which I have reverence.
I also look at it from an egalitarian viewpoint. I should be able to equally display my expression as they have chosen to do.
@Greg:
The first line of No. 1. Surely you don’t think the press in the US is free and independent, do you? How naive. Most of the press is/are on the payroll of libturds. They are not free, they’re very expensive, takes millions to keep them bought. The man with the money controls them. independent? What a joke.
I don’t mind the press being truthful, telling the truth and not a bunch of made up propaganda. None of the news services that I am familiar with are truly truthful. All of them have some agenda. Even ‘fair and balanced’ Fox is owned by a libturd that certainly is not interested in the truth. Fox is only as Fair and Balanced as it has to be to stay no. 1. Shep Smith, Megan Kelly, Chris Wallace, Bret Bair are amongst those that are lefties, trying to thinly disguise themselves as Fair. LOL.
So before you worry too much about Trump trying to change or control the press, why not work toward making them a ‘free’ press.
@RedTeam, #21:
Yes, we do have a free and independent press in America, as a result of the First Amendment. If that were not the case, you would not be seeing dramatically different viewpoints being expressed by different news outlets, or by different people on the same outlet.
It's that very freedom that allows certain news outlets to slant the news to promote certain political agendas. Additionally, in the case of commercial networks, their focus also tends to be strongly ratings driven. Since they rely on commercials to pay the bills, they're more inclined to cover stories that capture and hold the attention of the largest audience.
It's the responsibility of each media outlet to maintain an acceptable level of journalistic integrity. News should be factual. If there's no evidence for what's being said, it's not a factual report. At best it's opinion, and at worse it's a deliberate lie of a propagandist. It's the responsibility of the individual viewer to be able to discern the difference.
You need to ask yourself why the right has been attempting to discredit the news in general, and why Trump is relying on Twitter posts rather than statements to the press to inform his supporters.
@Greg:
That is why when the announcement that the troglodyte who tried to kill OSU students first with a car and then with a knife that he was a soldier of ISIS, crikets are heard from the news media.
The media is un American and visibly root for the enemies of America. The left hates America and so the media sidles up to the left. One would have to be blind and deaf to not see or hear it…..
Perhaps you should eliminate all leftist programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and then ask the people who they believe cared the most for America—which is, in fact, a nation of human beings.
@Greg:
What did the human beings do before social security and Medicare?
@Greg:
Clearly you don’t understand the meaning of the words ‘free’ and ‘independent’. If you own a newspaper, do the reporters work for you, or for the newspaper and are they allowed to put what they think is news on it, even if you don’t agree, or are they limited to what you think is news? Do you think a Washington Post reporter can print a conservative story without the editor’s approval or Bezos? Not likely. Do you think CNN could run a favorable story about Trump without Ted Turner’s approval?
Correct, and we don’t. We only see two, Fox News and ‘the others’ Rupert Murdock is a liberal, but he’s a businessman first and he knew that he could not start any successful news op in the US that was just a carbon copy of the other alphabets, so he chose to be semi-conservative. Smart business decision, it put him into first place by a huge margin. He, personally, did all he could to keep Trump from being elected by personally directing Megan Kelly, Chris Wallace, Shep Smith and Bret Bair to torpedo Trump. Unfortunately, he didn’t use the ones that mattered, Greta, O’Reilly and Hannity and most of the women on Outnumbered, so Trump prevailed. So Murdoch was successful by not turning the network against Trump, only his closest henchmen (who weren’t popular to start with (with the exception of Kelly, who successfully shot herself in the foot. )
I hesitate to point this out to you, but if it’s ‘slanted’, it’s not free and independent news, it’s propaganda and/or paid advertisements.
let me see if I got that. IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL VIEWER TO BE ABLE TO DISCERN THE DIFFERENCE. That’s what you said? So the viewer has to figure out if he’s listening to news or bullsh*t? and that’s a free and independent press? Shouldn’t the viewer be able to believe if he’s seeing it reported on the news, that it is truthful? Who is it that is responsible to decide which they want to broadcast, a truthful person or a bullsh*tter?
I haven’t observed that to be the case. The right has not had to attempt to discredit them, they’ve done an excellent job of self destructing their own credibility., as you observed, when watching them, you have to try to figure out if it’s true or not.
I think you need to re-read your comment and think about why you are totally wrong. If you had been writing a thesis on proving the press is credible, you would have gotten an F-.
@Greg:
Hmmm, why didn’t you list Obamacare?
@Greg: #5:
There is NOTHING in the First amendment protecting any one, in or out of the press, while they libel someone.
As you might recall, our family used to be in the print business, even having a printing press in our home at one point in time.
You have a First amendment right to print your opinions, other people’s opinions, facts and even humor.
You don’t have any unfettered right to lie about someone just because you own a printing press.
@RedTeam, #26:
Sorry, but it’s the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech that protects the freedom to write and publish slanted news or deceptive stories, exactly as it protects a protester’s freedom to burn a flag. That’s the downside of freedom. People are also free to say and do things we disagree with. The media is free to say what it wants, and it’s largely independent of governmental controls.
That doesn’t mean it’s independent of influence by special interests. Corporations are people too, remember? Billionaires are certainly people, who can use their money to buy unlimited influence. They can fill the heads of non-critical viewers up with all manner of lies and nonsense. That seems to be how you folks wanted it.
@Greg: If that is true Greg, how can you see it?
Freedom of speech does not make the news true. Trump also has the freedom to not talk to those who skew the truth. That is his right under the 1st Amendment. The media and you far left ideologists can not have it both ways.
@Greg:
You totally missed my point. If it’s ‘slanted’ news, it’s not news, it’s fiction or propaganda. If you tell the ‘news’ it is what actually happened. If you distort, change or slant the reporting then you are reporting propaganda or lies, not news. Reporting ‘news’ means writing or telling a story about what ‘actually’ happened, not someone’s ‘opinion’ of what happened. But it doesn’t surprise me that you don’t seem to understand that truth and fiction are not the same thing.
You mean, if media outlets insist that all sorts of politically useful accusations and stories are true without having any supporting evidence to back them up, they’re propagandizing?
When did this very odd thought first occur to you?