<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Courtesy of <i>CNN</i> at:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/29/politics/donald-trump-flag-burning-penalty-proposal/index.html?sr=fbCNN112916donald-trump-flag-burning-penalty-proposal0104PMVODtopLink&linkId=31691676">http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/29/politics/donald-trump-flag-burning-penalty-proposal/index.html?sr=fbCNN112916donald-trump-flag-burning-penalty-proposal0104PMVODtopLink&linkId=31691676</a></div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------</div><div><br></div><div><div class="el__leafmedia el__leafmedia--sourced-paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h1 class="pg-headline" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 4.1333333333rem; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: CNN, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; font-weight: 300; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.064516129; color: rgb(38, 38, 38);">Trump ignores First Amendment, suggests jail time for flag-burning</h1><p class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.6666666667;"><cite class="el-editorial-source" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700;">(CNN) - </cite><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">President-elect Donald Trump proposed on Tuesday a penalty -- including possible jail time or loss of citizenship -- for burning the American flag, in spite of two US Supreme Court rulings that protect the act under the First Amendment as a form of free speech. </span></p></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.6666666667; margin-right: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag -- if they do, there must be consequences -- perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!," Trump tweeted.</span></div></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.6666666667; margin-right: 0px;"><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.6666666667; margin-right: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Supreme Court twice affirmed the right to desecrate the American flag as a form of free speech -- a historically contentious issue -- in cases before the high court in 1989 and 1990.</span></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.6666666667; margin-right: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/facts-and-case-summary-texas-v-johnson" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s; transition: color 0.2s;">In the 1989 case "Texas v. Johnson,</a>" the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that flag burning was a form of "symbolic speech" that was protected by the First Amendment. The ruling was granted after an appeal from Gregory Johnson, who had been convicted by a Texas court of violating a state law that prohibited the "desecration of a venerated object" such as the US flag. </span></font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.6666666667; margin-right: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The following year, <a href="http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/texas-v-johnson" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s; transition: color 0.2s;">in "United states v. Eichman,</a>" the Supreme Court again affirmed the right to burn the flag when it ruled 7-3 that the Flag Protection Act of 1989 -- passed by Congress in response to the Johnson decision -- was unconstitutional. </span></div><div class="zn-body__read-all" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.6666666667; margin-right: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When asked about the Supreme Court rulings on CNN's "New Day," Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller did not respond to questions about the constitutional protections of flag burning.</span></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.6666666667; margin-right: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Flag burning should be illegal," Miller repeatedly told CNN's Chris Cuomo.</span></div></div></div><div>--------------------------------<br><br><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div> </div></div></div></body></html>