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    beanidiotAndy Cush
    7/30/16 10:26am

    Gawker’s defense of flag-burning is pretty sad and frustrating to me. Yeah, sure, free speech. Just because it's free speech doesn't mean it's something that should be done. Our country HAS done some fucked up shit over the years, and we have to own up to that every day. But burning the flag is not going to fix what we've done or relieve our guilt. I hope you guys will change course on this issue at some point.

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      The Alvin Greene Dreambeanidiot
      7/30/16 10:28am

      Gawker’s defense of flag-burning is pretty sad and frustrating to me. Yeah, sure, free speech. Just because it’s free speech doesn’t mean it’s something that should be done.

      How does burning the flag materially hurt you or anyone else? And if it doesn’t, then why oppose it?

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      Endless Supply of Cynicismbeanidiot
      7/30/16 10:32am

      Is not burning the flag going to fix what we’ve done or relieve guilt?

      Freedom of speech means freedom of speech. If it’s not causing anyone harm or threatening someone’s safety why should it be limited? There’s lots of speech I don’t agree with (like I’d love to beat the Westboro Baptist Church members with their own signs), but who decides what is acceptable?

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    Petyr Baelish, The Pimp Who Was PromisedAndy Cush
    7/30/16 10:16am

    Excuse me, but doesn’t “Chairman Bob” sound absolutely ridiculous?

    Something else that’s ridiculous is that people are still Marxist-Leninsts or Marxist-Leninist-Maoists. We have a hundred years of evidence as to what happens when these ideologies are embraced on the national level, and it’s death and destruction and oppression so awful that people can make compelling arguments that it’s worse than fascism.

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      Endless Supply of CynicismPetyr Baelish, The Pimp Who Was Promised
      7/30/16 10:26am

      He would’ve gone with Chairman Robert but it sounded too corporate.

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      BradPetyr Baelish, The Pimp Who Was Promised
      7/30/16 10:28am

      Chairman Bob is the name of the head of the local Elks lodge.

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    medrawtAndy Cush
    7/30/16 10:53am

    The transformation of the flag into a prop for patriotism kitsch is something that bothers the hidden little 1952 conservative businessman lurking in one of my ventricles. I don’t like seeing little flag replicas festooned onto all manner of tchotchkes, I’m genuinely offended by the existence and use of American flag napkins, and I do my level best to muster up disapproval of the American flag bikini. It’s just a symbol, but what it stand for means something to me, and I like the idea that we should treat the symbol with respect as a manifestation of our respect for the ideals we say it represents.

    Which is precisely why I’m not troubled by flag burning. A casual desecration of the flag upsets me. People who display the flag upside down for the same reasons they’d put an anarchy patch on their high school backpack are morons. But someone who burns the flag out of a genuine outraged need to protest is, in my addled mind, treating its potency as a symbol with the respect it deserves, whether or not I agree with their cause.

    As to Avakian, while I’m not perturbed by communists, I am baffled by people who think Leninism or Maoism are worthy implementations of Marxist thought which are worth further emulation.

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      writewhatilikemedrawt
      7/30/16 11:00am

      THIS. So much this:

      But someone who burns the flag out of a genuine outraged need to protest is, in my addled mind, treating its potency as a symbol with the respect it deserves, whether or not I agree with their cause.

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      ARP2medrawt
      7/30/16 11:29am

      Well said. Those who want a constitutional amendment to prevent desecration of the flag, would also then need to address napkins, bikini’s, cups, bath towels, etc. because if the American flag is to be revered, then even this casual support isn’t appropriate.

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    thechurchofbillhicksAndy Cush
    7/30/16 10:34am

    “...nearby, a man in a green hat stood dreamily next to an alpaca he’d evidently brought along to witness the demonstration. A Green Party member, wearing a toga...”

    “Her t-shirt made an even more explicit Guevara allusion than the RCP’s signs, superimposing her Vermont revolutionary hero’s face directly onto the Cuban’s.”

    Seriously, I’m not an expert (having been at only two protests in my life) but I really feel like political outsiders would do better if there messaging did come straight out of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

    Also on flag burning, I’ll refer to my avatar:

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      TotallyBiasedRangersFanthechurchofbillhicks
      7/30/16 11:20am

      Alex Jones was so much thinner back then.

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      5FuckingAcesthechurchofbillhicks
      7/30/16 11:26am

      I understand people being uncomfortable or angry when the flag is burned in protest. I don’t understand how someone can advocate for criminalizing flag burning as a form of protest. Does not compute, at all.

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    Endless Supply of CynicismAndy Cush
    7/30/16 10:09am

    He also told me that he believed the RCP was funded by a network of liberal actors like the Democratic Party, the Clinton campaign, and the financier George Soros, in hopes of fomenting political discontent in America.

    It’s all falling into place now!

    Billionaire George Soros, and take money from anyone candidate Hillary Clinton, only make us think they love money as a false facade. Behind the scenes they’re working to do away with money permanently so that they can live like the rest of us without the pressure of having drivers, servants, and cooks pestering them about their needs all the time.

    Wake up sheeple!

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      TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)Andy Cush
      7/30/16 10:41am

      William Shockley was a racist eugenicist, long after such theories were welcome in polite society. He also helped invent the transistor, thereby helping revolutionize the world in ways Joey Johnson could only imagine.

      Johnson and Shockley have made substantive contributions to their nation. They are also ridiculous cranks. If you ask me, that’s part of what makes America great: we accept our cranks, perhaps more than is prudent.

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        Ilbrutto13TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)
        7/30/16 11:01am

        Because sometimes the cranks are right. I’m not saying these guys are, but in general it’s valuable to have your beliefs challenged frequently.

        The beauty of America is our diversity, and it’s also the source of our strength. Our tolerance of clashing ideals and cultures, who can all live together in relative peace is an unprecedented cultural achievement.

        We have a lot to work on, but an open exchange of ideals in a peaceful environment can only hasten it. I have a lot of faith that generational, demographic, and technological shifts coming in the future will see America becomes a pretty nice social democracy. It’s only up from here.

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      The Voice of Harold MontgomeryAndy Cush
      7/30/16 10:33am

      An evenhanded article about an outre group; but you completely buried the lede here.

      “a man in a green hat stood dreamily next to an alpaca he’d evidently brought along to witness the demonstration”

      I want to know more. Where was he from? What kind of hat? What was the name of the alpaca? Was it a pet alpaca, or did he have an alpaca farm? Was he maybe an agent of the CPF, the Camelid People’s Front? Or did he represent the People’s Front of Camelid? What kind of drugs was he on at the time, and was he willing to share?

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        ARP2The Voice of Harold Montgomery
        7/30/16 11:30am

        That was a, “wait, what?” moment for me too.

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      ARP2Andy Cush
      7/30/16 10:59am

      This numbskull used to show up to talk at this little communist bookstore in Noble Square in Chicago. There were never more than a dinner party’s worth of attendees.

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        Cam/ronAndy Cush
        7/30/16 10:59am

        I saw RCP members at several antiwar protests in the Bay Area 15 years ago and I read their party newspaper. Nothing impressed me, they preached the same old platitudes as preached by naive American Maoists and Trotskyists back in the 60's and 70's. The Bay Area, particularly Berkeley, is a recycling bin for such activists. The only thing that caught my eye was their deification of Chairman Bob who wrote a rather shallow op-ed about his problems with a Pato Banton song (if I recall correctly). They have a loooong way to go if they want to overthrow the U.S. government.

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          GregorMendelAndy Cush
          7/30/16 11:30am

          I heard this guy on Pacifica one morning and almost wrecked my car. What I remember is his vision of an America where anyone can be anything they want—in a scary way. He said that anyone who wants can be a doctor because it’s your right. Uh, what? It’s not a matter of “wanting.” It’s a matter of aptitude and learned skills. Like most things in life.

          He really meant that.

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