CREDIT: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana.
I had thought that Richard Dawkins was the prime example of old, white, straight male privilege spilling out all over Twitter like toxic waste. We have a new winner for that position, one Donald Trump. For fuck’s sake, if he can’t control himself on effing Twitter, what does that say for when he’s handed the keys to the country?
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
Adorable, isn’t it, electing a jackass who doesn’t know one thing about government, history, the constitution, or the bill of rights. These are things you should know from grade school, but as we’ll see in an upcoming post, Trump doesn’t think that sort of thing matters, no. It’s just as well to keep in mind that this may well be another smoke screen, give the rubes something to watch, while I do this next evil thing. It’s best not to forget the proposal for legislating “economic terrorism“, aka protests. Everyone in the resistance has to keep all this in mind. Okay, back to the current idiocy:
But even setting aside Trump’s unconstitutional call to criminalize flag burning, which became a staple of American conservative politics long before Trump emerged as a presidential candidate, Trump is calling for something even more extraordinary. He wants to strip citizenship — and with it, voting rights — from political dissidents. Federal law does permit Americans to lose their citizenship after “committing any act of treason against, or attempting by force to overthrow, or bearing arms against, the United States,” but flag burning is a far cry from treason or armed rebellion. It is a political statement, and democracy depends on the free expression of political ideas.
The president-elect of the United States has proposed stripping a political protester’s very status as an American. In the process, he would take away that person’s ability to vote — and thus to vote for someone other than Donald Trump. Today, Trump proposes this consequence for a very specific category of speech that most Americans view as odious. But once a person’s voting rights can be made contingent upon their beliefs, or their silence, then elections become increasingly meaningless.
We have to remember that Trump isn’t done appointing people as of yet; we have to remember that people with truly repugnant views control the senate and congress, so there’s little point scoffing with a “can’t happen”. We’ve seen what can happen. If that “economic terrorism” bill goes through, and there’s no particular reason to think it won’t, especially given Standing Rock, this isn’t quite as impossible as it seems right now. It doesn’t even matter whether or not Trump means what he says, he said it, he said it in a very public manner, and all the bigots, white supremacists, and other weak people who are desperate for a chance to kick others will embrace it. Welcome to the Nightmare.
Via Think Progress. * Support The Resistance.
Has anybody heard of that particular cupcake. Damn must it feel good to have won. I mean, he’s been boosting quote some of the ideas and people in power now…
He’s gone fair quiet since the stroke, or at least someone finally got a twitter leash on him, I don’t know. I expect he’s damn happy to be an ocean away from the implementation of those ideas he boosted. Or maybe he’s all for it. Don’t know, and I hope to hell he stays quiet.
Well, he’s starting his campaign for a second term unusually early, even by US election standards, isn’t he? Just imagine: eight awful years instead of ‘only’ four. The voter-suppression strategy doesn’t seem to be new to the Republican party but the approach itself would be a novel one. I think.
Komarov:
I’ve already imagined. It’s become habitual, electing a pres for two terms, it’s been going on a while now. Might be getting ahead of myself here though, Trump might nuke us all to hell long before then.
If the orange rapist runs again, I think he’ll win the same way he won this time.
It’s not like there’s a shortage of Americans who want white supremacy in charge of their country no matter the cost.
If he does make it into the white house, we may be looking a very different government at the end of four years.
Memo to self: buy flag. Already have diesel.
Don’t use diesel! It burns dirty, and it’s quite difficult to ignite.
Marcus:
My comment to Rick after posting: now I want to buy a flag just so I can burn it.
Dunc@#8:
It also burns slowly. Gasoline in cold winter air can be lethal.
Maybe I’ll see if I can use a propane torch to burn an anarchist logo into it. I think… yeah, that ought to work…
I’ve got some travel for the next couple days but I’m gonna get to play with fire when I get home!! (happydance)
Does anyone know the recommended method of disposing of a worn-out flag?
Google it. It’s quite heart-warming. If not outright pagan.