Today, a judge in the Washington DC Misdemeanor Court sentenced a “Proud Boys” leader, who happens to be A Colored Man, to 5 months in the local GrayBar Hotel for “Burning a Black Lives Matter” Flag, on January 5th 2021… The defendant was NOT in Washington DC on the next day which was the day of the Riot, and had no personal connection to that issue… NOW MY QUESTION… How can burning a BLM Flag be a Criminal Offense, if under SCOTUS Precedent, burning the American Flag is considered covered under the First Amendment as “Free Speech”??? I really would like an answer to this question…
Was it his BLM flag? Was it attached to a BLM protestor at the time? The guy should be able to get that overturned on appeal.
Doesn’t matter if it was his flag or not… If it was NOT his flag, then he should have been convicted for “Theft” not burning the flag, but that was not the case here…
We now have a system of "hate" crimes that in many ways make the 1 st amendment dead, but he was not charged with the destruction of the BLM flag as a political statement, but the misdemeanor charge of destroying the property of the church it was taken from. He said that he did not know where the flag had came from and it was never really proved that the flag that was burned was in fact that one. Interesting that the theft of a flag will get you 5 months in jail, but shop lifting hundreds of dollars is not considered a crime. They also had a charge of large capacity magazines and given the situation, I am sure he took a plea bargain vs the possibility of years in prison for that "crime". Also there is the fact that the Justice Department was asking for a 3 months jail and that was what he was expecting, but the judge gave him 5 months. He was not charged with burning the flag as a political statement, but it would be impossible to figure that out from the reporting on the events. Then we also have the old system in which you are convicted on page 1 of the mass media and the fact that you are innocent is reported on page 30 if at all. Goes back to the old question asked of a judge when a man was declared innocent, "Where do I go to get my reputation back?" It doesn't happen.
In Common Law, it doesn’t matter if he knew anything about where the Flag came from, or even who gave it to him, or if he thought it was even “A Political Statement” … All those are immaterial to the charge of which he was convicted of.. The Act of Burning a Flag, ANY FLAG, is by SCOTUS Precedent, protected by the First Amendment… Go read the SCOTUS Ruling… Now if they wanted to convict him of “receiving stolen property” or “”theft” then they should have charged him for those offenses, but not for “Burning a Flag”..
Is there an actual offence “burn flag” or has he been convicted of something akin to our offences here of “destroy or damage property” or “malicious damage” ? I am not a study of the relevant legislation in the us but here you need a specific offence ie Crimes Act 1900 Section ? Sub (?) titled “??????” For that offence there must be a set of specific “proofs” satisfied for a conviction to occur. For example Larceny As A Clerk (it’s been a bit since I last looked) you need to establish the position of the person charged, the ownership of the goods taken, that the goods were taken (by whom) and an intention to permanently deprive the owner of the goods. in this case I would assume there is no offence of “burn flag” but perhaps there is one of “cause public outrage”….disturbing the peace etc. Not saying I at all agree at all but I would need to know what he was convicted of not just what he did. I am guessing a successful appeal is assured however.
He was charged with property destruction, and illegal magazines, the flag issue was never touched in the court case per se, only by the media and every one else. Proud Boys Boss Enrique Tarrio Accused Of Torching Black Church's BLM Banner | HuffPost
Was he actually convicted of burning the flag or is the news story just crappy and inflammatory? If he was convicted of burning the flag he will get it reversed. If they convicted him of fire setting, larceny etc it might stand better but not with that hefty sentence.
Welcome to the brave new world. The rule of the day is ambiguity. Clear lines are to be avoided at all costs. Rulers are now proud members of WESAYSO. WESAYSO Corporation
Yea, I have read the transcript of the Trial, now, and basically he was convicted of “Destruction of Property” a Misdemeanor, and possession of Two High Capacity Feeding Devices, which are not allowed to be possessed in DC… The Flag Burning was used by the most Media as a False Flag, or Talking Point, to get attention for the Article… This just proves that the MEDIA, CAN NOT be Trusted to just REPORT THE FACTS, but needs to Agendize and Politicize their Reporting…. The MEDIA needs to be Called Out for such Reporting…
There is no fury like the fury of the Left against any minority uppity enough to leave the Plantation. Next thing you know they will start thinking on their own and stop voting like they are supposed to. Remember how Clarence Thomas, Condoleeza Rice, and Ben Carson were treated?
This is the part I have called BS on since he was arrested. Enrique Tarrio was adamant since day one. Proud Boys were never to carry any form of firearm to these events ESPECIALLY when they traveled to DC. They knew the stakes. Paintball guns in Portland was about it. So now suddenly he's gonna go to DC with that on him? I say the Feds planted them on him because no one was gonna give a tin crap about an "Afro Cuban" burning a BLM flag even if he did pull it off a black church.
He stipulated in Court, that he did have possession of the devices, and was going to deliver them to another person, outside DC, but was arrested before he could make the exchange, having wondered into DC…
Right, the magazines had the Proud Boys etc motif on them and were sold as a fund raising thing. They were empty, no ammo in car, no weapons in car, but it was not only illegal to bring them into the district but selling and delivering them without going thru a FFD might have compounded the crime in the eyes of the judge. He would be expected to believe that the person getting the magazines did in fact live in the district and it would be up to the defendant to prove he wasn't.. He also might of had problems with the possession of the magazines as a convicted felon. As a lesson in what can happen, read what the DC gun laws actually state. General Requirements for Firearms Registration | mpdc You have to buy a pistol from a licensed firearms dealer, but since DC is not a state, there are no licensed dealers in the district, although last I knew that was being challenged. You are only allowed to carry 20 rounds with you. You have to have written permission from the police chief to fire a fire arm in the district.
Ok well I quit following it all before that came out. Got banned on Twatter, lol, kinda quit paying attention after that.
I can see a business opportunity for some savvy techie entrepreneur, to come up with an interactive GPS trip planner to help drivers to navigate the gun laws in the jurisdictions one wishes to travel too and from... an add on service would be to input jurisdictions which have outstanding warrants on the driver and passengers...after all, where I am...the route planner software asks, ever so politely, whether one wishes to use toll paying (and theoretically quicker) routes, or non-toll routes.... I can hear the GPS 'Gun-safe Traveler' route planner avatar saying: "DANGER> DANGER> DANGER! MATT Gxxxz....you are crossing a state line...into a jurisdiction where anything more lethal than an airsoft device will attract fines and possible jail time...oh, and by the way...you did say that your female passenger has turned 18 years of age???"
