re: Police investigate photo of Pennsylvania student stomping on American flag

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Typical stupid reactionary bullshite. Destroy the substance to save the symbol. The freedom to desecrate the flag is the very thing that it stands for and what makes it so fricking awesome.

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^gets it

You're reaching. The constitution and the supreme court's interpretation of the constitution are the supreme law of the land. Even so, proscribing a form of expression/speech is directly in conflict with the first amendment.

For many of the reasons already noted burning the flag, while very disrespectful will gain you more enemies than friends but it's not going to land anyone in jail. This act is intended to bait and trigger.

I guess one could 'retaliate' by defiling what ever symbol a given flag burner cherishes: wipe the floor with a Gay Pride flag, or a Don't Tread On Me flag, or an Earth Day flag?

The whole concept of burning the US flag strikes me as puerile, at best.

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What is constitutionally protected today can be deemed unconstitutional if the justices sway their opinion in that way.

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This is exceedingly rare and occurs over the course of several decades, typically. Which is more or less how our system was supposed to work. All 9 justices don't just wake up one day and say "HEY LETS ALLOW GAYS TO MARRY!"

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This is exceedingly rare and occurs over the course of several decades, typically. Which is more or less how our system was supposed to work. All 9 justices don't just wake up one day and say "HEY LETS ALLOW GAYS TO MARRY!

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Of course it takes decades, and I have not expressed how I feel about it only that it's their opinion of the intent. There is a reason political parties either get giddy or nervous when a justice passes away or leaves office. Yes, I meant the word giddy, if you think the DNC was not excited when Scalia died you are fooling yourself. The SCOTUS can be influenced, the written word cannot. If a catholic, a baptist, a pentecostal, and a quaker all read the bible and are asked to make a determination of x based on the bible's teachings there will be differing opinions. The same holds true for SCOTUS, the word does not change but the ideology does.

Yes. But the school did not press charges. So there is absolutely no reason for the police to be involved.

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unconstitutional.

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This is my entire problem with your statement. The constitution is either determined to be of text and intent or of precedent and ideology. That was my sole issue with your phrasing. There is very little that is unconstitutional while a good many of our laws are set by precedent and interpretations of the document. Unconstitutional is a term that can encompass a few but not all of SCOTUS' rulings. The fact that currency is protected but the flag is not is due to precedent, not due to the constitution.

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I liken it to the reason there are inordinate amounts of christian doctrines all from the same book. If you try hard enough and are convincing enough you can make anything good or bad, even if the intent of the writer would have been opposing of your views.

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I once read a quote by a noted biblical scholar: "The Bible is like a person; if you torture it enough, you can get it to say anything."

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Its a dumbed down term to describe an intricate and complex process to determining legal precedence.

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Well, the majority of the population of the OT more than likely doesn't consist of constitutional scholars. I was just trying to get the point across. I'd say "unconstitutional" does that quite well. I understand what you're saying. And yes, it is kind of laughable outside of an academic context. You clearly know what you're talking about, though, I'll give you that.