Should Flag-Burning Be Protected?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The answer is finally revealed, ladies and gentlemen, to the
question that we've been asking ourselves for an eternity, what
happens when you have two people who are so incredibly insufferable,
if they would actually potentially be just insufferable enough for

(00:20):
each other? And the answer is we know now Travis
Kelcey and Taylor Swift are officially engaged.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
And.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Holy cow, our long national nightmare is over. Anyway, yesterday
Donald Trump had an executive order that he signed in
the White House as it relates to flag burning.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
I'm going to need you on this one today.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Because I read this, I went through this, I tried
to understand this, because he can't just change how flag
burning operates in the United States. My first expectation was
that there's going to be quite a bit of people

(01:07):
that will somehow have to out themselves as flag burning
lovers in order to be opposed to Donald Trump this time.
You know, they opposed to Donald Trump. What does that create? Oh, well,
that means you basically have to admit that you are
in favor of people's rights to light American flags on fire,
which I mean, good luck coming back from that, pal. Unfortunately,

(01:33):
we live in a world where people seem to be
just fine with that, why can't you just change the rules? Well,
it's because the Supreme Court has already ruled on this
before nineteen eighty nine. Gosh, stupid Taylor Swift album name,
isn't it?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yes, it is five to four.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
The Supreme Court at the time in nineteen eighty nine
said that it is legitimate political expression flag burning. It
is protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
So if that's the case, then well this is all
said and done. Whyprehand's clean of this? Who were these
justices that were fine, apparently with political expression that included

(02:16):
lighting the American flag on fire. Well, you can't even
blame conservatives of the time because guess what, antoninist Kaliah
was one of them. It's all celebrated, a celebrated conservative
Donald Trump calls one of the most important justices of
his lifetime. Jd Vance Today on X also mentioned this

(02:37):
and made sure that he made everyone understand that yes,
he knows, he knows that antonin Scalia was partially responsible.
He was if you want to talk about it, I mean,
he's one of five. If he would have just voted
the other way this thing could have remained outlawed.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
JD.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Van said this earlier today.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Number one antonin Scalia was a great Supreme Court justice
and a genuinely liked and decent person. To the president's
executive order is consistent with Texas versus Johnson, which is
the decision by the Supreme Court that required that opinion
back in nineteen eighty nine. Number three Texas versus Johnson

(03:18):
was wrong and William Rehnquist was right. That's very, very
confusing if you don't exactly know all of the language
and terminology that is used in Texas versus Johnson the opinion,
and i'm, you know, unpacking it like the non legal
person that I am.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Here's what it sounds like to me.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
It sounds like this entire concept from Donald Trump is
that if you burn it an American flag, you should
get one year in jail. That's what he says. It's
not that you get ten years in jail. It's not
that you get a month in jail. You get one
year in jail. Trump believes that this will stop the
flag burning immediately. Now, I don't know how you prosecute

(03:58):
somebody like this unless it's very obvious who they are
on video. If you have somebody in a scheme ask
got an American flag on fire, just daring the American
government to arrest them and throw them in jail for
a year. If this were to, you know, become real,
become legitimate, well, are we going to spend a lot
of time investigating who that is? What if a bunch

(04:20):
of radical liberal anti trumpers decide, you know what would
be really funny if we lit a bunch of American
flags on fire at the same time in a bunch
of different places. Are they all going to find all
of us and give us one year in prison? And
how do you go about changing the Supreme Court's decisions previously?
I have a couple of ideas of this. I'll tell

(04:41):
you first things first, it's been done before.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Remember the Roe v. Wade overturning and what that meant
for what Roe v.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Wade was.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
It just kind of got scratched from the record and
it didn't really change much of anything except gives states
the right to make decisions for themselves, which for abortion,
seem to be the more popular opinion and the right
thing to do. At the same time. Every time that
you do that you undo something a previous Supreme Court

(05:12):
has done, you are making it easier for the next
time when you want to undo something a previous Supreme
court has done. If we're okay with that, well, that
just means that depending on what kind of Supreme court
you have, whether it's more conservatives or more liberals, they
may just spend all their time undoing stuff that the

(05:32):
current political party that they represent, even though they're not
supposed to be representing a political party. The pressure is
going to be there to undo a bunch of stuff
from previous Supreme courts that they just don't agree with.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Is that the America? What we want? We have to
ask ourselves that now.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
The other thing is if a Supreme Court, including someone
a conservative justice, a decent man like anthonin Scalia, is
saying this is a legitimate political expression protected by the
Constitution of the United States of America. Okay, So how
do we redefine what flag burning is so it no
longer is a legitimate political expression? I had, you know,

(06:10):
a lot of people send me this this morning when
I talked about this of an example of a man
who stole a Pride flag off the side of a church.
This guy was kind of a menace to society anyway,
So this may not be a perfect example. He already
had a long criminal record, but he stole a Pride
flag from the side of a church in the Des
Moine area and lit it on fire, and he was

(06:33):
given fifteen years in prison. You know, he could have
done the exact same thing to an American flag, and
allegedly the people are saying he would have gone unpunished. Well,
that's not true, because the stealing of the flag first
and foremost not his property. He would have been prosecuted
for that specifically. However, the flag burning itself does not
carry any penalty, whereas the burning of the Pride flag

(06:53):
was deemed a hate crime, an intimidation of a minority group,
even if it's a grew that many people refuse to
believe truly exists in some way, shape or form, and
he was given all those years. So if we're going
to look at the burning of the Pride flag as
some sort of attack on a group of people, which

(07:14):
I don't necessarily disagree with, that the only reason you'd
ever burn a Pride flag is to intimidate people who
are LGBTQ plus or their allies right at the same time,
I think you could absolutely make the understanding of the
burning of the American flag an attack on Americans. Not
that they're going to go around hurting Americans, but they

(07:36):
are so upset or angry with the administration who is
in office right now in the United States federal government
that they would rather burn a flag.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Than be proud to be an American. How do you
change that?

Speaker 1 (07:51):
My idea is, thus, you take the burning of the
flag and you redefine it as an intimidation tactic or
a sign of threaten violence against the current administration and
anyone who supports it, then you can stop acting like

(08:15):
this as some sort of legitimate political expression that is
somehow protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
If you can find a way to say that.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
This does insight violence or insights threats of violence toward
anyone who would be in support of the current administration,
regardless of their political affiliation, then I think you absolutely
can say that's a very different thing than I don't know,
burning a flag in distress, which again the United States

(08:49):
flag etiquette shows that if you just fly the flag
upside down, that's protected as political expression.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
As well.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
But that's actually what a sign of the stress is
supposed to mean. Fly the flag upside down unless it's
in distress, unless you're in distress and you need rescue. Well,
people do this because they're very dramatic, and you'll see
some protesters just carrying around American flags that are upside
down on a flag pole. That's legitimate political expression. But

(09:16):
that's everything that burning the flag I think is supposed
to mean for these people, these radicals. So if they're
out there just lighting flags on fire, they're not really
in distress. They're making a political statement that they wish
harm to the current federal government. I think that you
could absolutely define that as an offense worth arresting and

(09:41):
incarcerating a person over Now, are we okay if we
can't find a way to redefine that and it stays
as something that the nineteen eighty nine version of the
Supreme Court, including Justice Antonin Scalia, a non conservative justice,
believed at the time to be legitimate political expression which

(10:03):
was protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution of
the United States of America. Are you okay changing the
Constitution or the way that we see it or define
it to be able to make this an a fence
worth incarcerating someone over and would we be at all
opening even a tiny crack in the door down the

(10:24):
line for more and more of our rights as Americans
protected in the American Constitution, that more and more of
those could start getting knocked off, one at a time,
one at a time. You think this little kind of
side piece isn't that big of a deal to pull

(10:46):
out of the First Amendment. Well, this isn't any First Amendment, right. Well,
next time a liberal walks up to you and says, well,
neither is owning an AK forty seven or an AR
fifteen explicitly protected in the American Constance. All it says
is the right to bear arms against the tyrannical government.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Okay? Would you be okay with that?

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Because if not, then I think we have a deeper
conversation than it appears on the surface. If you would
like to take part in the conversation, I'll leave the
phones open for this. Four two five five eight eleven
ten is the number. Four two five five eight eleven ten.
Would love to chat with you today about this. I
am Emory Songer, very happy to have you with us.
Scott borihes alongside. It's been the first segment telling you

(11:32):
my idea about how Donald Trump could take it. What
was an executive order that really doesn't have the ability
to enforce any actual rule about the burning of the
American flag, which we're talking about burning it in distress
or burning it in protests, not burning it because you're
tiring a flag, which is the proper flag etiquette from

(11:56):
basically the entirety of American history is how you disposed
of an America flag. This is not that this is different,
but what is kind of your opinion on the whole thing.
I don't know how many people I see burning American
flags in the United States, see a lot of it overseas.
But what do you say about maybe tweaking or removing
a previous Supreme Court ruling from nineteen eighty nine that

(12:19):
would have protected that as some sort of legitimate political expression.

Speaker 4 (12:24):
I'm not sure that's President Trump's goal here. I think,
like a lot of things he's doing lately, he wants
to put his opposition on the wrong side of an
issue that is otherwise popular. With the way Trump sees it,
most people don't want to see the American flag burned
they also might understand, like, well, it is federally protected

(12:47):
speech actions, and you know, I might hate it, I
might find it reprehensible. But I guess I see what
President Trump's doing. He's trying to do it from the
don't inside a riot. There's a difference though, in inciting
a riot. If I'm sitting at home from sitting in
my driveway burning a flag, I don't think there'll be

(13:08):
a riot.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
Maybe there will be. If there is a riot that
occurs because of that, I guess I've incited a riot.
But there's a difference between me saying, hey, Travis Kelcey
just took my girl, let's go get him. I don't
know that that's going to inside a riot. But if
we're at Arrowhead Stadium and I got a bunch of
angry Taylor Swift fans and we see him and I'm
burning his jersey going there he is get him, Well,

(13:29):
suddenly that's a different thing, isn't it. I think President
Trump just wants his opposers to be on the wrong
side of this issue.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
This is definitely an issue that is wrong. I think
there's no way that you can justifiably tell me that
you could burn the American flag and people would be
just totally down with that. Because you're protecting free speech
in the Constitution. There's got to be a way that
we can redefine this as a way to move around

(14:00):
whatever the First Amendment says, because the First Amendment doesn't
explicitly say that you can burn a fly that's a
here's the examples of all the different ways that are
freedom of expression. If it were like that, then I
think we'd have a lot less problem with stuff like that,
and it probably be a lot less cool or fun

(14:21):
I guess for some of these people, for them to become,
you know, protesters and then they set a flag on fire,
feeling like they're accomplishing something that's not something that I
think is even a good use of someone's time. But
too for the Supreme Court, including Justice Scalia, a known

(14:41):
conservative justice, to say specifically that they think that this
is protective, you know, a protected form of expression political
expression in this country is very odd to me. But
if they made that determination, I'm not sure that I
want to just open up the can of worms and
say we need to be changing a bunch of stuff

(15:01):
that previous minute, like previous administration's previous Supreme courts and
how they felt I could absolutely be wrong. I just
think we need to redefine what flag burning is, because
then that's how you kind of skirt around this whole thing.
If you can say that it is something that could
incite violence toward an administration or a political politician, or heck,
even the person that's in charge in your state or
your district, well, in that situation, I think pretty clearly

(15:25):
we can say that it's, you know, a threat, and
you should be able to arrest somebody and incarcerate them
for that. But if we're saying that it's some sort
of political expression, but you can't burn a Pride flag,
you can't burn a state flag, you can't burn any
sort of symbol that represents any group of people.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
Uh, you know what are you talking about?

Speaker 5 (15:47):
Here?

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Got some people lining up on the phone lines to
take part in this, and I want your help on this.
I want any type of opinion because I think this
is important for us to hash out. Four h two,
five to five, eight eleven tens a number. Travis, welcome
to the show. You're on eleven to ten KFA.

Speaker 5 (16:01):
Yeah, you just touched on it a little bit. I
was wondering why it's a hate crime to burn the
Pride flag, but you can burn the American flag. I mean,
to me, that's the threat threat against to me, I mean,
I feel like that's a threat.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
The easiest answer is, Travis, we know exactly who the
Pride flag represents, and the only reason you would burn
a Pride flag is to I guess, threaten that community.
But just not see that burning the American flag kind
of means the exact same thing, at worst, not at worst,
at least toward our government. At worst, every single person
who lives here. Yeah, that's why you see people burning

(16:39):
flags in the Middle East, saying death to America? Right,
how is that not the same thing. I don't have
a good answer for you.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
I just don't. I wish I had a better answer.

Speaker 5 (16:48):
So you're saying the rights so the minority supersede the
rights of the majority.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
Well, that's what I think.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
As far as the Supreme Court in nineteen eighty nine
was concerned, they didn't have to worry about Pride flags
getting lit on fire because the thing didn't exist yet.
But as far as our government is, yeah, it's what
it sounds like doesn't it that they are thinking about
protecting the minority, But they just don't see who the
American flight truly represents, whether that's the current administration, whether

(17:15):
that's our government, whether that's the people who live here,
whether that's people that are.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Born and raised in the United States of America.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
I think if you just narrowed that down, this very
quickly becomes an unprotected political expression. You should be arrested
for this if you looked at it that way. But
when people just say, oh, it's just a former protest,
I guess that you can get away with it.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
I suppose. I wish I had a better answer for you.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
Yeah, well, hey, I appreciate your program.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Hey man, thanks for calling in. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
Jim's on the line. Four h two five five eight
eleven ten. Welcome in, Jim. What's on your mind?

Speaker 6 (17:46):
Hey, Emrie, thanks for taking my call. I kind of
would like to look at it in a different direction
than we have been talking about it. Not that the
Act itself may be the issue, but why are we
committing the Act to begin with? There is obviously people
across the country that are not very happy with the

(18:10):
form of government we have, and I say that for
a reason is because of what we may or may
not believe, what former government we're supposed to have. If
we have a representative government not representing this, If we
have a representative government, especially the legislative branch of our
federal government, not following the Constitution itself and legislating and

(18:34):
passing laws that they're not responsible for, and why we
get upset about what we're dealing with around the country
because of that representative government, then we the people self
government by representation, not representation, ruling over self government, should
be looking at our representatives and every two years for

(18:55):
the House and all the House members and a third
of the centators, we should be replacing them. We should
be governing ourselves better than we than we are.

Speaker 7 (19:05):
The question is.

Speaker 6 (19:07):
Are we governing ourselves better?

Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (19:09):
We are self governed? Well, yeah, we should be asking
our we should be looking in the mirror.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Hey Jim, Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Appreciate the call man as always good stuff from you
and a way to bring the Constitution into better context
with us today. We got David, John, Brian and other
people calling in. I will get to your calls if
you can just hold on with me through the break.
Four oh two five five eight eleven ten. Four h
two five five eight eleven ten. How can we help
define redefine flag burning if we want to make it

(19:38):
a penalty, something you could do jail time for, or
should we leave it alone and leave it as a
protected form of political protest. We will talk about that
more on news Radio eleven ten KFAB and raised on there,
John is on the line to start off this segment. John,
Welcome to our show today on eleven ten KFAB.

Speaker 8 (19:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (19:59):
Hi, My question is, and hopefully this isn't too far
of a stretch, but I mean, the American bald eagle
is a symbol of the United States, and it's it's
a felony to shoot the American bald eagle. To me,
the American flag is not a political If you want
to burn something that you know, you hate the rn C,

(20:19):
you hate the DNC, or who's ever in power, burn
burn their flag, burn you know, burn something you know
that that basically you know is you know, part of
the political power party that's in power. But I mean,
for me, the American flag is just like the bald eagle,
is a symbol.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Of the United States, and it is John, And there's
no doubt now.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
The only catch to what you're saying is because I
don't disagree with where your mind is at. But at
the time that they made it a felony, it wasn't
always a felony. But the time that they made it
a felony to kill a bald eagle, bald egle populations
were dwindling, and it was on the verge of becoming
like a seriously endangered species in North America. So it

(21:01):
became incredibly even more protected than a You know, we've
protected Canadian geese too, right, I mean, we've protected a
lot of species from hunting, but we went like four
steps further with the eagle and said it is a
legitimate felony that you could be jailed for if you
shoot a bald eagle, and we've not adjusted that, and
I think for good reason. Like you said, it is
more than just a bird. It is a symbol of America.

(21:24):
And we have you know, we we love what seeing
an eagle means to us. It's not just while we're
seeing a cool bird, we're seeing a true symbol of
what America is. The American flag is the same. I
don't disagree with you at all. It's just that A
previous Supreme Court also said that it is protected freedom
of speech or expression based on the First Amendment to

(21:45):
set an American flag on fire. How do we go
back and change that without, you know, compromising the First
Amendment of the Constitution would be the only trade.

Speaker 9 (21:53):
I don't see burning something as speech, you know, and
it has to do with you know, freedom assembly either
I mean, you know, destruction of property or destruction of something.
It has nothing to do with speech. Do you want
to spout off and see whatever you want about the
United States? You know, our our First Amendment gives you
that freedom. But you know when you start taking symbols,

(22:15):
you know that that you know, you know the United
States stands for for the last two hundred and fifty years.
I mean, to me, that's something that's completely different. That's
just my thoughts.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
I think you're right on it, John, I really do
really appreciate you cone Man. Thanks for listening to the show.
You I can't agree with anything he said at all.
Brian's on our phone line of four two, five, five, eight,
eleven ten. Brian, welcome to the show. On eleven ten, Kfab.

Speaker 10 (22:39):
Well, first, it's entirely legal to burn your own pride
flag as long as you burn it somewhere the burning
is allowed. It's only a crime if you burn someone
else's pride flag.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
Okay, On the.

Speaker 10 (22:50):
Main topic here, the twenty year old combat bather in
who burned the flag in front of the White House.
Do you think that they before yesterday he was thinking
of doing that.

Speaker 11 (23:03):
No.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
And this is one thing that I've said over and
over again, Brian, when you bring this stuff to the
attention of the American people. And this is why I
thought that though, you know, federalizing the Washington, DC Police
force so publicly and putting people of the National Guard
on the streets and saying it so publicly, it was
going to create a dangerous situation. It's resolved itself in

(23:24):
Washington now. But I know where you're going with that,
and I don't disagree. I think that we put a
spotlight on something and it just begs people to go
a defy this president or the people who support this president,
just to rile him or the people that support him up.
Trump knows what he's doing because he wants those people
to be on the wrong side of history.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
Right now.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
The pride thing that you mentioned before, and I just
want to touch on them before we get too far
away from it is that we have. If you took
a Pride flag, and I'm not saying anyone should do this,
but if you took a Pride flag, which was obviously
a Pride flag, and you burned it, and you publicly
burned it, and you burned it in the where you're

(24:08):
visually seen by people, whether that's on social media, whether
that's in public, even if it is your own Pride flag,
and you burned it in a place where people are
seeing it, knowing what that means, you don't think that
there would be any questions or any arrest or any
accusations of threats against a group of minority people in

(24:29):
the LGBTQ plus community. I think it'd be a bit
harrier than if you burned an American flag, where people
just would honestly be forced to stand there and watch.
According to the United States Supreme Court of nineteen eighty nine, right, well,
you might.

Speaker 10 (24:42):
Have people who didn't like it, But show me any
arrests or tickets that ever happened from that, other than
burning something where you're not supposed to burn something, And
I will love out to your wisdom on that, But
I wanted to say, burning the flag is something that
almost never happens. Maybe a few anti American propel stity
in protests, you'll see that happen. But those people cause

(25:04):
trouble wherever they go, particularly for Democrats. But I just
wanted to say what the guy who burned the flag said.
He said, quote our first Amendment right to burn Oh
she said, it's our first Amendment right to burn this flag.
We burn this flag protests to that president who feels
that it's his right to do whatever he wants, may
quever law he wants, regardless of if it's legal or illegal.

(25:28):
The man said, according to the video.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yeah, well again, I have a lot of questions for
somebody who's twenty years old, who is you know, doing
something for attention, Brian, more so than doing anything that's
going to make anybody change their mind about anything.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
This was done.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
It's all theatrical, it's very dramatic. It's not changing anyone's mind.
It is literally just done for the attention, And it's
hard for me to take anybody like that seriously.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
To be honest with you, Well.

Speaker 10 (25:59):
I thought it was a dumb thing to do, burning
the flag, But now that Trump made it a thing
for him, and I especially think if you make it
illegal somehow, you just have more people.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah, but then if you could throw them in jail, Brian,
wouldn't that kind of like when they go back and forth, right, like, oh,
you're going to defy what Donald Trump said just because
Donald Trump said it? Well, and you're just going to
start burning the American flag? What does that say about
these people? It literally outs them for the scumbags that
they are. Let's be honest, right, If that's well, you

(26:29):
you thought this twenty year old was, yeah, yeah, Well, Brian,
that's where you and me are different. I'm not going
to think that a twenty year old he was just
doing something for clicks and being dramatic as some sort
of hero. I'm not going to sit and celebrate somebody
for deciding that, oh, Donald Trump said this is bad,
I'm going to go ahead and do it right in
front of the White House. That doesn't do anything for America.

(26:49):
He's done absolutely nothing for America. He's done absolutely nothing
to change anyone's mind on this particular issue or any
issue revolving around Donald Trump. The only thing that he's
done is gotten you to say that he's a hero
on Omaha Radio. Congratulations to that guy, Brian, I'll talk
to you later. I just don't understand. Oh yeah, that
guy some sort of big guy because he decided to

(27:10):
burn an American flag in front of.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
The White House. Whup de do.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Congratulations pal. Of all the things that you could possibly
do to try to change people's mind, you're lighting an
American flag on fire. Oh yeah, that's gonna get people
to get on your side.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Oh, and we're gonna blame Donald Trump because he he
said it's a big deal.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
Now.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
I don't necessarily disagree with Brian that I don't see
it happening very much.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
Right.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
We see stuff get lit on fire all the time,
and yeah, during twenty twenty and the police stuff and
the George Floyd thing, and then of course following January
sixth and stuff, there was some of that circling social media.
I haven't seen anything like that in person myself, but
I do have some questions about anybody who thinks that
that's some sort of win to just light a flag

(27:54):
on fire. It's designed to be disrespectful and it's designed
to say that. I just despise the play that I'm living.
If that's the case, then why don't we just take
you and show you what it's like to live in
Bangladesh or Pakistan, or India or Iran or anywhere else honestly,
and see how much you like it, and then if

(28:14):
you want to come back you can, and uh, maybe
you respect and be grateful for the place that we
have here in the United States. Beyond that, I don't
know what to tell you. Four two, five, five, eight
eleven ten is the phone number if you'd like to
call in and be a part of the show today,
and we have Max on the line.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
Welcome in, Max. What's on your mind?

Speaker 11 (28:33):
Oh?

Speaker 12 (28:33):
Well, yes, I just happened to hear the conversation living
from work. I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this, but
I have to recall several years ago when Bob Carey
was in the Senate, there was I'm not sure why
or how this came up upon the Senate floor, but
he pretty much said that even though he personally does

(28:55):
not think and he hated that people were burning the
American flag, he also understood that people would have a
right to and he said that he gave his all
in the military in order to ensure that we would
have the right to protest, even if the way that

(29:16):
people protest people may not like. Yes, he was a Democrat,
but I don't know if it cancels it out or
makes it any better or more valid for its point.

Speaker 8 (29:27):
He was a Congressional Medal.

Speaker 9 (29:29):
Of Honor winner.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
No, and I you know, in Max, I don't want
to dismiss that because it is important. I heard a
lot of military people say the exact same thing when
Colin Kaepernick, for instance, was kneeling for the national anthem right.
That's a form of protest that absolutely would be protected
under the First Amendment.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Of the Constitution.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
However, the burning of an American flag being treated differently
than say, the burning of a Pride flag is one example,
and I know that may not be one for one,
but we just don't usually allow symbols of this nation
and what this nation stands for to be treated so
poorly with no punishment. And I don't really even know

(30:11):
how big of a problem this is in the United States,
but I do think that there's something to be said
for when you light an American flag on fire in distress,
that is being done like you're going above what a
real protest is you're attempting to be as shock value
as you possibly can without actually trying to hurt anyone.

(30:33):
And I just think that it should be treated differently
than say a form of protests like carrying a flag
upside down for instance, Right, you can turn the American
flag upside down, and that's a signal for distress. Many
people would say that's disrespectful to the American flag. Well,
that absolutely is a flag etiquette of protests, there's no doubt.
I just don't understand why burning a flag is something

(30:55):
that people would resort to other than the shock value
of it, as well as trying to incite some sort
of violence or some riot against the current American government.
That's the only thing I can think of, right Max.

Speaker 12 (31:08):
Uh, Yeah, And I understand that like some people don't
have the best of intentions or motivations.

Speaker 13 (31:15):
When they burn the flag.

Speaker 12 (31:16):
I agree with that, and I also I don't have
all the answers, and i'm i hopefully and I agree
to your point that there it's a certain for lack
of a better term, symbol that needs to have special protection,
if you will, but at the same time not infringing
on the rights that we hold because there are some countries,

(31:41):
even though they consider themselves a free society, democratic, whatever
label they have for their country, that if they were
to burn the flag of their country, yes, they.

Speaker 7 (31:54):
Would get chilled.

Speaker 12 (31:55):
And in some cases, if there were more of a
repressive society, they might have a worse meashment.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
Yeah, of course we don't.

Speaker 12 (32:03):
Of course we don't want to go down that route,
but yeah, there have to be And I agree with you.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yeah, I gotta go.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
I'm running out of time, Max, And I appreciate the
call today, and I understand what he's saying. I just
think that and I don't want to become the oppressive
society that tells people how they can and cannot protest.
I just think that, Why else are you bringing American
flag if you're not trying to incite some sort of
riot or violence against the current administration or federal government.
It makes no sense to me. We have Todd on

(32:30):
the line. Todd, thank you so much for calling us today.
What do you think about this?

Speaker 14 (32:34):
Well, I really don't understand flag burning. You're burning the
symbol of a country that gives you the right to protest.
So you want to throw the you want to burn it.
Who are you saying you want to burn it all down,
get rid of all of America? Is that what you're
saying when you're burning the flag? I would say one

(32:55):
of the solutions which should be make all American flags
property of the United States government. Just like it's it's
wrongful to face money, you should not face the flag.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, Todd, I honestly that could be a way to
get around this too. Is that the American flag, if
flown and you're trying to fly it properly, or if
it exists in some way, there should be protections on
it in a way that, you know, if you're happy
to be an American, awesome. If you're not, there are
different ways to protest then to try to set fire

(33:32):
to something that represents the entire United States of America.
I do appreciate you hanging on man, Thanks so much
for being on our show today. The bigger question even
beyond this, and I have a ton of emails I
can read here, but I think we get ourselves a
little caught up in the politics of this. I'm going

(33:55):
to talk about there. There is this thing about the
National Guard going into Chicago, and we're going to talk
about that later, But the thought of seeing things through
political goggles, you can't realistically tell me, under any circumstance

(34:17):
whatsoever that if we sat everyone down in a room
and we were able to look at each other from
across the room, you would think that at some point
we could all agree that this was something that would
be an attack on America. Burning the American flag isn't
a signal for distress. It is quite literally a signal

(34:40):
of anarchy. So what is the next point. What's the
next thing that you can do to try to bring
two sides together on this particular issue, because I would
bet the most Democrats aren't in favor of burning the
American flag either. In fact, Bob Carry is one of them.
And Bob Carry what was this? This was right after

(35:00):
this Supreme Court ruling in nineteen eighty nine.

Speaker 4 (35:02):
Right, yeah, this was in nineteen ninety.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, So in nineteen ninety Bob Carey, of course very
well known here in Omaha, the Nebraska area. Here's what
he had to say about this, each.

Speaker 15 (35:14):
The President said, and we ought to have this be
one of them. I mean, I see genuinely this amendment
not as an effort to protect the flag. I do
not believe that the American flag will be more protected
as a consequence of this amendment. I believe, in fact,
what we're doing is protecting Americans, American individuals like myself

(35:37):
who are offended when they see someone burn a flag.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
Now, see that is a Democrat speaking about this specific
conversation roughly nineteen ninety, which leads you to believe, where
did we go wrong in this country that Democrats made
that much since the nineties. You listen to some of
the Clinton stuff, It's just like, that's a Republican platform, now,
you know what I mean. It's just it's crazy that

(36:01):
we've come so far out that we have Democrat liberal
people trying to actively defend people's rights to just set
a flag on fire and say that, oh, well, that's
just an expression of political distress, and we're really under
stress here in the United States of America. Phone lines
are open at four h two, five five, eight, eleven ten.
We're taking your calls today. Teresa is on the line. Teresa,

(36:22):
welcome in on eleven ten.

Speaker 16 (36:24):
Kfab Hey, Emrie, thanks for taking my call. Quick question,
what is the definition of defacing the American flag and
using it for clothing like you're repurposing it, which you're
not supposed to do. So what is the definition?

Speaker 2 (36:45):
Yeah, you're not supposed to paint over it. You're not
supposed to.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
I mean it's interesting because if you did took that
too literally, then I suppose that you could say, like
the uh that police flag where the blue stripe is
in the middle, that that could theoretically be a defacing
of the American flag. Or if we have American flag
shirts or you know, like I see a lot of
people with like swimsuits that look like the American flag?
Is that any further than you know? So we just

(37:09):
have to be careful about exactly how we would define that.
But you would think that if we got real serious
about it, certainly setting it on fire would be defacing it, right.

Speaker 17 (37:19):
Uh.

Speaker 16 (37:19):
Yes, And I also believe writing your name in a
black sharpie across it in front of a bunch of
young children is also defacing it.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
Oh, it definitely is, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 16 (37:27):
And you're our president on camera doing that though, well.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
The current president Donald Trump.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
Yes, when did he do that?

Speaker 7 (37:38):
I don't know.

Speaker 16 (37:38):
It's all over the internet, but I know this was
before AI.

Speaker 5 (37:42):
I mean wait a.

Speaker 16 (37:42):
Minute, AI has been around. I understand that, but it
shows him signing with his big black sharpief.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
Somebody wanted him to sign an American flag, is what
you're saying, and he signed an American flag.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah, I mean that would be not cool. I don't
know when that happened.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
I'll look into that, Teresa, though, But if that took place,
I mean that absolutely is to facing of an American flag.

Speaker 16 (38:01):
There's no doubt and memory, I believe. Okay, wait a minute.
I do not like to see the American flag burned. Yeah,
but I love my country enough to know that people
have fought for that freedom and.

Speaker 18 (38:18):
Go with it.

Speaker 16 (38:20):
If that's your way to protest, then protest.

Speaker 5 (38:23):
Okay, that's all I can say. I just because you
know what's going to come next.

Speaker 16 (38:29):
It's going to come next that there's no freedom of
speech right, and I'm pretty sure the Supreme Court will
go ahead and get rid of that part of the
Amendment because of the Supreme Court justices that are on
the on the bench.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
Yeah, Teresa, I appreciate the call. Thanks so much for
listening to us today. And yeah, you too. What she
said there again, I think they're going to be conservatives
that say we shouldn't be messing around. In fact, I
had an email come in here from uh Dave Dave
sitting screenshot of a local news organization that said, should

(39:02):
people go to jail for desecrating the US flag? And
fifty nine percent of the people in this poll this
is I think, over the last day or so said no.
Fifty nine percent said no, you shouldn't get jail time.
And I suppose jail time might be a bit extreme
for whatever we're talking about here, but I do think

(39:23):
that people would be a little bit And this should
be my caveat. If we cannot properly redefine what it
means to burn an American flag in protest or out
of distress, and if we don't find a way to
redefine it as some sort of attack on America or
an incitement of violence which totally goes beyond what is

(39:44):
protected in the First Amendment. If we're not able to
do that, then I don't think we should touch this.
I really don't, because if you start this is what
I said, there is a chance that if a Democrat
took office as President of the United States decided to
look at the Constitution much like we're looking at it,
in a way here based on a Supreme Court ruling

(40:04):
from thirty six years ago, that they could look at
maybe the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, and
be able to tell us that, well, the Second Amendment
doesn't necessarily protect owning all guns, or there aren't specific
parameters about the way you can own guns, if that is.

(40:29):
You know, if we do this now, is that opening
the door for something like that later, or, as Teresa mentioned,
something else with freedom of speech or the First Amendment,
that would be something we would have to keep in
mind here if we're going to be trying to redefine
or readjust what the Constitution says. I think we can
get away with it pretty easily if we redefine what
it means to burn an American flag, But we have
to be very explicit in how we do that so

(40:50):
it doesn't open up any changes to the Bill of
Rights or our Constitution. Alex Larry Bill Sarah. We'll get
to your phone calls coming up next four h two five, five,
eight eleven ten on. This conversation rolls on on news
radio eleven ten KFAP.

Speaker 19 (41:02):
Every songer on news radio eleven ten KFAB.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
Alex is on the line, will start us this segment, Alex,
Welcome to the show today. What's on your mind?

Speaker 20 (41:11):
Hey, I was just wondering people celebrate somebody burning an
American flag in the middle of the street. I would
like to see how many people are okay with you
burning LGBTQ flags or Palestina flags or a Mexican flag
on the street in front of protesters without getting assaulted.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
Yeah, well, well not even that that would be protected
as like a hate crime, wouldn't it like like wouldn't
that kind of demonstration in all likelihood you would probably
get arrested in charge with some sort of hate crime
for doing that, would be.

Speaker 20 (41:47):
My guess, exactly exactly.

Speaker 7 (41:49):
So, I think the proper way.

Speaker 20 (41:50):
To burn the flag is when you're disposing of it,
and that's the only context in which you can do it.
Otherwise it's hate for the United States, is hate for
the people, the sacrifices of millions of people, and it,
I mean, it's a no brainery. People are okay with
burning the American flag but not any other flag, and

(42:12):
I think it's they have a big problem.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Hey, Alex, I really think that that's where most of
our minds are at. But you articulated it very well.
Thanks so much for calling in.

Speaker 20 (42:22):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
Larry's on our phone line four two, five five eight,
eleven ten. Welcome in, Larry, you're on eleven ten kfab.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
Hello, Hello, sir, h Am I on the air.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
Yes, sir, Larry, Fire away, buddy, I got a long
line behind.

Speaker 7 (42:43):
I just think that I see lately, last five to
ten years, I see many it's foreigners that are non
citizens that are burning these flags, and it just it
just chaffs me off that, Yeah, they didn't have the

(43:04):
courage to stay in their own country and try to
change it.

Speaker 3 (43:08):
Right, there should be.

Speaker 7 (43:09):
Some penalty if you are not a citizen of the
United States.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
Okay, So this is an interesting concept here as well, Larry.
So if you're a citizen of the United States burning
the flag versus a non citizen burning the flag, you
think those could be different penalties, or we could define
those as two different things.

Speaker 7 (43:29):
I mean, the citizens, they've borne into it or earned
the right if as long as this rule has passed
that you can burn one, which I don't agree with
in the first place.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Sure, but it exists.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
Yeah, yeah, that's what.

Speaker 7 (43:46):
So these people come here and there they have no
right to burn our flag.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
They didn't earn the right very very.

Speaker 7 (43:55):
Get everything free, and they should go back and straighten
out their own country. But they don't have the guts
to do it. Larry, I know nothing's gonna happen to
him here.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
Yeah, well, Larry, I will tell you this.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
That's I didn't even think about that as a concept
of you know, like it may be being protected for
a citizen, but not being protected for somebody who isn't
a citizen who's come here from a foreign country, whether
they're legal or illegal. I don't think that even matters
as far as this goes, because, like you said, you
haven't done what it takes to actually be a citizen
to make America better at that point, and it may

(44:29):
very well mean something different for somebody like that to
burn a flag versus an American citizen. I do appreciate
this call. Thanks so much for being on the line
with us.

Speaker 7 (44:37):
It's worse every year I see the who's doing it?

Speaker 1 (44:41):
Yeah, No, I appreciate the call, Larry. Thanks so much
for being on the show today. Bill is on our
phone line four two, five, five, eight eleven ten. Welcome
in Bill. What's on your mind today?

Speaker 21 (44:51):
Well, I think, first of all, At least in my mind,
the flag does not represent any political party or a
government or anything. Yeah, of the United States of America
and the promise that it holds. You know, men, men
don't go to war to fight and die for a government,

(45:11):
That's true. They go and they fight and die for ideas.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Yeah, yeah, the country and what it stands for.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
I don't disagree with that bill, But would you say
that that that wouldn't be true as far as like
when somebody is burning the flag now, they're burning it
in protest of Donald Trump. They're both voting in protests
of the Republican Party who's in control right now. They're
flying the flag upside down because they don't like the
policies of this particular president. Would you say if we
could redefine this as like an attack on the political

(45:38):
party or a politician, do you think that we could
make this more of a targeted incitement of violence than
somebody burning a flag because they're protesting living here or
something like that.

Speaker 21 (45:50):
Well, I think you're I think you're right there, Uh,
And I wouldn't disagree with what you said at all.
I think I think the only thing is is these
people are misguided and you know what they're thinking. The
flag represents m You know there's the colors.

Speaker 5 (46:05):
On the flag.

Speaker 21 (46:06):
They all have a meaning, you know, the reds for
the blood that was built to ensure our freedom.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
Yes, sir, so yeah, No, you're I think you're nailing
You're hitting the nail on the head there.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
Bill.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
I really appreciate your thoughts today, think so much for
being a part of our show.

Speaker 21 (46:22):
Yeah, you have a good one.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
Yeah you too.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
Uh, that's that's good to Maybe people are burning the
flag think it's some sort of flex on the current
federal government or the administration or Donald Trump or whomever.
But it really is just kind of like an own
goal the way that he's Yeah, I think, man, we
need to maybe education could go a long way to saying, hey,
that actually isn't You're not really doing what you think

(46:47):
you're doing by burning the American flag. You're not doing
anything that is considered constructive.

Speaker 7 (46:54):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
Mike is on our phone line A four oh two
five five eight eleven ten. As we keep rolling through
the calls here on eleven ten kfa B, it's Mike Emery.

Speaker 22 (47:02):
I say this total tongue in cheek because I would
never do this, Yeah, but I just I just bagged
my my bald eagle. I like to make them every
year for Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
Ah, yes, yes, Thanksgiving. Yeah yeah that might that that's
that's how you end up in jail.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
Yeah yeah yeah.

Speaker 22 (47:27):
So why shouldn't burning the American flag be the same
sort of consequence?

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Yeah, so they're both symbols. I think if you pulled
people in, which is a more important symbol? I think
maybe even the flag would be more uh more renowned
as a symbol of this country. But I think the
bigger question on that front would be, would if we
could go back and change how we view bald eagles,
would the the law still be the same, that you'd

(47:54):
be a felony for you to harvest woman or shoot
one or anything like that. It still is protected even
though that the species isn't endangered anymore, And I think
that's good because of what it symbolizes as part of
this nation. As far as the flag goes, I think
we just have to go back to nineteen eighty nine,
like getting a time machine Marty McFly style, go back
and try to figure out what Scalia and all those

(48:15):
people who voted in favor of this being some sort
of free political expression and why they felt that way
at the time, because it was pretty clear even Democrats
felt like this is something that was a complete overstep.
People in the late eighties early nineties felt like burning
the American flag just in general was bad and it

(48:36):
was a bad look and it was not a viable
form of protest. Yet somehow now we have an entire
political movement, the Democratic Party, saying that, oh, well, that
should be protected and people should be allowed to do it.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
I don't have a good answer for you, Mike.

Speaker 22 (48:51):
That's heavy, Doc there is.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Hey, nice good call there, Mike, appreciate the call. Thanks
for listening to our show today. Sarah on the line,
welcome in, Sarah, what do you think about this?

Speaker 23 (49:03):
Good afternoon, Emriy.

Speaker 24 (49:05):
I think there's a place for protesting, but I truly,
truly do not believe.

Speaker 23 (49:12):
That the flag needs to be burned in protest.

Speaker 12 (49:15):
There's lack of respect in our.

Speaker 16 (49:17):
Country today and in our culture.

Speaker 17 (49:20):
As everybody knows, many men and women have died for
this country in many wars and conflicts, and many men
and women are serving domestically and in the foreign areas today.

Speaker 24 (49:34):
Including my nephew to Saya and they have worked so
hard for freedom in this country. And like the other
gentleman said, the flag is a symbol.

Speaker 17 (49:45):
It's not of one party or the other.

Speaker 24 (49:47):
It's a symbol of freedom, it's a symbol of hope,
and it's a symbol of this country. And if a
person doesn't believe they agree with, say the current president
or their senator, own a certain belief, well you can
protests in a certain way, but how about take some action.
Consider running for your local school board, or consider running
for city council or senate or even in the in

(50:09):
the legislature.

Speaker 17 (50:10):
Do something about it.

Speaker 24 (50:11):
Get that, like, I'm very passionate about things. I've called you.

Speaker 17 (50:14):
Off and you know Scott knows, and.

Speaker 24 (50:18):
Do something with that passion and turn it into action.
Find a way to help people, volunteer, do something with
that passion, even running for office. Try to make it
right Right.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
Here, I'm hearing you, Sarah, and I think one hundred
percent that you're right. If you really want to make
a difference, it's the way to do it. The problem
with that, Sarah is you actually have to work, You
have to do stuff. You have to like really be
like motivated to actually make yourself a better person. It's
just way easier to go light a flag on fire,
you know what.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
I'm saying, So right, it is, it is.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
It's kind of an indictment just on. It's not a generation.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
It's just a type of person that wants to act
like they're some sort of activists, but they actually don't
do anything except yell at people and you know, try
to incite riots and block traffic on roadways and stuff
like that. It just makes no sense to me. Thanks
so much, Sarah, really appreciate the call. All right, Yep,
you too. And that's you know, and that's what you're saying, right.

(51:13):
It's just like, and I've been saying this the whole time.
God bless people who want to protest. If you want
to protest the right way, which really, I mean there's
not a whole lot of ways that I'm not a
fan of. You could protest however you want. Good luck
getting me to change my opinion with your protest or
anyone for that matter, especially if you try to get
in my way, you try to block traffic, you're trying
to yell at me, you're trying to use megaphones to

(51:35):
disrupt something that I'm doing. Yeah, I'm definitely not gonna
be on your side. Pal, Good luck with that. I
got Kelly on the phone line four two, five, five,
eight to eleven ten. Welcome in, Kelly.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
What's on your mind today?

Speaker 25 (51:48):
You guys got a great show.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
Thanks.

Speaker 7 (51:51):
I think President took a watch step farther. If you're
at illegal, if you've burned a flag, you should.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
Be Oh my god, yeah, no doubt. I want one
hundred percent agree. And it kind of goes back to
I think it was a mic. I can't remember exactly
who had that point, but the penalty should be way
different if you're not a citizen of this country. Whether
even if you're a legal immigrant but you're not a citizen,

(52:19):
I don't know if that gives you the same type
of you know, rights that it would you know, would
exist for a citizen, as far as the Constitution itself
would be concerned. Now, I have no problem with immigration
if it's done legally. I'm not somebody that's going to
tell people they can't live where they'd like to live.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
I don't think anybody should have the right to tell
people where they should live if they do it the
right way. But another guy just said like you haven't
really earned the right to be really upset about what our.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
Country is or isn't doing. So what are we doing here?

Speaker 1 (52:50):
Like You're going to come to the country trying to
have a better life and then you start burning the
American flag and some sort of protest. I mean, why
weren't you doing this and wherever you can from? That
doesn't make any sense, does it. He's just on a
phone line for a two, five, five, eight, eleven ten.
He's just welcome to eleven ten, kfab what it's on
your mind?

Speaker 26 (53:09):
Hi, an awesome show today, and I just wanted to
just say, you know what, Our American flag is one
of our most important things. It represents so much for
our country. I mean, we even have a pledge of
allegiance to the most important flag over all other flags.
And I think what it is is that that people get.

(53:31):
If you're allowed to burn the American flag, then it
doesn't matter about any other flag because it represents every
person in the United States, all minority groups. That represents
every group. So if you're allowed to burn that, then
that opens up that all the other flags can be

(53:53):
burned just as much because there's no other flag that
is more important in this country than the flag of
the United States of America. And it opens up a can.

Speaker 27 (54:04):
Of worms to be able.

Speaker 26 (54:06):
To go ahead if you choose. I don't do those
kind of things. Yeah, but if people are going to
be able to burn the American flag most of the
time they're burning it, if they're going to burn it
with the same type of hatreds that somebody's going to
burn any of the other flags, yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
Yeah, just imagine, yeah, imagine what the response would be
if you burned a Palestinian flag outside of you know,
like a outside of a protest of you know, a
pro Palestinian protest or an Israeli flag outside of a
synagogue or something like that, right, I mean that would
immediately be be flagged.

Speaker 17 (54:42):
Way you have.

Speaker 26 (54:43):
Multiple And one other thing is when you have multiple
flag flying, the flag of the United States of America
is supposed to fly higher than any other flag that
is that has been flown on flag poles.

Speaker 2 (54:56):
Yeah, am I right now, one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
But this is the other thing to hayesus some and
how our flag became political and I don't know where
that happened or why it happened. It's the same reason
that you had a bunch of liberals that were going
out of their way to say that they weren't celebrating
Fourth of July this year because they didn't feel very free.
I mean, give it a rest. What are we talking
about here, Go live, Go live in Pakistan if you're
really that concerned about the freedom that we have here.

(55:19):
But with that being said, I put my flag outside.
I got a flag from Durable Flags, and I put
my flag outside and I was really excited to get
it outside and let it start billowing in the wind
and it was really cool. But my wife, she didn't
say this to get me to take it down, but
she's just like, you know, it kind of feels like
a political statement put in the flag out, And I
kind of thought it kind of is in a way, right,

(55:39):
because you just don't see a lot of people flying
an American flag these days, for one reason or another,
because of the political ramifications. I don't know how we
got there, but that shouldn't be how it is, but
it is part of the process.

Speaker 26 (55:53):
Though. That flag represents every fabric of our country side,
minority groups, our liberties, our freedoms, every single represents it
all in one flag.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Yeah, I'm with you, Jesus.

Speaker 26 (56:12):
Yeah, well, thank you so much. I appreciate the subject.
And the other thing too, is that you know, we're
letting in all of these other people that are coming
in illegally, so they don't, you know, they don't submit
to our flag. They don't.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 26 (56:29):
Yeah, when when somebody becomes a legal alien, sure, a
legal legal American citizen, yeah, they pledge allegiance to the flag.
In anybody else that comes in, they don't.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Yeah, I'm with you. I got some other calls I
got to get to though.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
I appreciate the call man and really appreciate you for
listening to the show today. As always, Brad is on
our phone line four O two five five eight eleven ten.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
Welcome in, Brad. What do you think about this today?

Speaker 7 (56:53):
Can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Sir?

Speaker 20 (56:56):
Hey?

Speaker 28 (56:56):
So, anyway, you know, I'm against defacing the American flag,
but mailboxes they're actually considered US government property. Yeah, and
if you to face or a mailbox, it can penalties
and violations of this walk can that include finds up

(57:17):
to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, imprisonment for three
years or both. So it's a good point mailbox, federal
property considered federal property, and maybe American flag should be too.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
Yeah, you're not the first person to say this, Bretton.
I do appreciate the call.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Today.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
I was thinking to myself, right, like, what would that
solve the problem?

Speaker 3 (57:41):
Right?

Speaker 1 (57:42):
And if there is a problem, I don't want to
make it sound like this is a huge problem because
I haven't seen this in person.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
I've seen videos.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
A lot of them are from you know, the Middle
East or you know, countries that are openly opposed to
the United States existing. But there are people in some
of these more serious protests. And we saw people in
the George Floyd you know era in twenty twenty. We
saw some people in like the ice raids and stuff
in Los Angeles burning an American flag as some sort

(58:10):
of variation of a protest.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
And if we made the.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
American flag some sort of federal property, how would that
affect our ability to wear the American flag on a
shirt or to wear the American flag is you know,
like you know, we got people wearing stars and stripes
on their swim trunks or their swimsuits. Certainly that wouldn't
count as a flag. But we're now opening up a
different can of worms, right. And also I don't know

(58:36):
how much I want of things that I have the
right to own, like my flag in my flagpole, and
have the federal government tell me explicitly that I better
if I'm gonna buy that American flag, I better be
respectful of it because if I do anything wrong with it,
the federal government can come after me. Are we sure
we want it to be that serious.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
I just wish that we could just kind of all
agree to be respectful of something that is so symbolic
of what our nation stands for. I would just hesitate
a little bit to get the federal government more involved
in my own personal life.

Speaker 7 (59:10):
Now.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
The reason, of course a mailbox would be considered a
felony to destroy a mailbox is because the federal government
potentially is sending you mail into your mailbox, and that
could be the the mail itself, making it up impossible
for the person who's supposed to be the recipient to
actually receive the mail. That's more of the crime than

(59:32):
the destruction itself of the mailbox. But still I understand
what the point is. Three forty seven, I got plenty
more calls coming in. We got Teresa, Tom, Jeff, Joe,
all these people coming in Call in four two five five,
eight eleven ten. Four h two five five eight eleven ten.
You're on news Radio eleven ten, Kfab and Resung. Teresa,
welcome into the show today. What's on your mind?

Speaker 23 (59:54):
Great show, Emory. I love listening to you guys. I
drive a semi locally and I am very much about
the American flag. I have one that hangs in the
back window of my semi nice and I see several
other local drivers that hang the American flag in the
back windows of their semis. My question is, if I

(01:00:15):
were to get a Mexico flag and burn it, yep,
is that considered a protest or is that considered racist?

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Well, it depends on the context. So Teresa, if you
took a Mexican flag and you showed up at like
a protest like these people would, and you burned the
Mexican flag, I don't know if racist is even termed.
You would probably just get arrested in charge with the
Hay crime. I mean, you're going to probably serve jail
time because of how you did that, where you did it.
If you took a Mexico flag and you just like

(01:00:43):
lit it on fire and just did that in your backyard.
I don't think anybody would even notice or care. But
you know that would be beside the point of why
you would do it in the first place, right, So,
but you're right. I mean, if you took a Palaesinian
flag in front of a pro Palestinian protest, you would
be probably arrested. If you burned an it was a

(01:01:03):
Raeli flag in front of a synagogue or people who
are in support of Israel, you'd probably get arrested. I
don't know why it's so different about the American flag.
It's a really really interesting question. I do appreciate the
call today, Teresa. Thanks for listening to the show. We
got Tom on the phone line four h two five five,
eight eleven ten. What's going on today?

Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
Tom?

Speaker 12 (01:01:22):
Hey?

Speaker 29 (01:01:22):
Every first time, long time. Much like Teresa, I drive
an one camera locally. Sorry if you can't hear me,
I'm going very fast in it right now.

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
Nice question for you.

Speaker 29 (01:01:34):
If I burn a flag in my fireplace you just
to feel something, Do I then have to deal with
some FBI does coming to give me a put me
in jail?

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
Well? It depends.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
So I mean in this particular situation, right, I would
imagine that, you know, I don't think anybody's going to notice.
And you have to keep in mind that it's still
the rule of etiquette for an American flag that when
you retire an American flag is that it is.

Speaker 29 (01:02:01):
White cells on me like Nazi Germany.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
Well, I mean, like we need you would need a
lot of evidence, right, she would have to like film
you doing that and use it as evidence. But right now, no,
I mean, like it depends, like even if that was
like a Pride flag or an Israeli flag that you're
putting in your fireplace, that wouldn't incite anything because you're
not doing it in a way that you're trying to
incite violence or hate towards somebody. You're just doing it

(01:02:26):
as long as it's your flag. If it's the American flag,
right now, they can't do anything either because it's protected
as freedom of expression in the First Amendment. So I mean,
right now, Tom, there's nothing that would stop you from
being able to do that at all.

Speaker 3 (01:02:39):
I guess, well, I'm more worried about the.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
If this executive order.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
Yeah, I would imagine it just depends on how you're
doing it more so than doing it at all would
be my guess. Would That's all I can tell you,
But I don't have a crystal ball, buddy. But I
appreciate the call to you, thanks so much. Let's go
to Jeff on the phone line for two five five,
eight eleven ten and welcome in Jeff. What is on
your mind today?

Speaker 10 (01:03:02):
Well, thank you for taking my call.

Speaker 30 (01:03:04):
Hey, I've heard everybody. I appreciate all their energy and
their fervor on this, but I think we're missing the
ball here. Okay, this is systemic. This isn't about a flag,
a piece of cotton. This is about our immigration policy
as a whole.

Speaker 21 (01:03:22):
And until we get.

Speaker 30 (01:03:23):
On our representatives, our governors, our mayors, our US representatives
are congressmen, and we dictate that we want a sustainable, simple,
long term immigration policy, none of this changes. So it
is a bunch of wasted error and effort to put

(01:03:43):
out all of our comments, to put out these presidential orders,
to put out executive orders. None of it matters until
we as a country come together and decide we want
to be sovereign. We have borders, we have a policy
for immigration, and if you violate it, you are gone.

Speaker 7 (01:04:01):
Period.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
The end, and I appreciate the Jeff. I got like
three more calls. I'm going to try to I can
only squeeze in so much many here. But my only
comment on what Jeff was saying there is I think
this is even a little bigger than the immigration conversation.
I think this is like a little larger than that
I got Joe. Joe, Sorry, I only have about forty seconds.
What's on your mind today?

Speaker 3 (01:04:20):
Joe?

Speaker 8 (01:04:22):
I could do him forty seconds. Here's the deal. I'm
maga from my head to my toe and I'm six
four on the service. I believe Trump may have made
a mistake with this one, because what I would have
done is hardened all the people locked up for pferring
a gay flag, a Paladame flag, an extra flag or whatever.

Speaker 17 (01:04:44):
Wash wait, see what happened?

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
Yeah, no, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
Joe, thanks for hanging on with us as we uh
we heard the car wash doing its thing.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
But I I he's right.

Speaker 1 (01:04:57):
I mean you you could have done this in a
way that probably would have just made the point without
having to sign in an executive order. But at the
same time, it was going to become a major talking
point either way.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
It is four oh seven.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
Scott was saved by the bell here after somehow finding
a way to insult Stevie Nicks.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
Of all people, No.

Speaker 4 (01:05:13):
No, I said that song, not Stevie Nicks, not Fleetwood Mac.
That song is one of the worst songs of all time.
She's Edge of seventeen. By the way, Edge of seventeen
is a terrible, just a banging song. Lyrics are dumb,
the way she sings it, like, look how tough I am.
I'm a singing all b she It's just I can't
stand that song. Guitar work and it's.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
Fantast Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Yeah, No, Mike's off, Mike,
Mike off for Scott VT. He's lost talking privileges for
the next segment. Unbelievable stuff. Get in the corner, crazy, Okay,
In all seriousness, we've had a great show talking about
Donald Trump signing an executive order yesterday about flag burning,

(01:05:54):
saying that he suggests you didn't suggest. He says, this
is how should be where if you burn the America flag,
this should be a year in jail. Now, if you
are wondering, why can't that just be the case, Well,
there was a Supreme Court ruling in nineteen eighty nine
that specifically took this issue up and said that flag
burning is protected under the first men of the Constitution

(01:06:15):
because it is as far as the Supreme Court ten
was concerned, including conservative Justice Inteninscalia saying straight up, it
is protected because it is a political expression. It is
a legitimate political expression, and that's all. I think people
are looking at it quite differently. Now we're taking your
thoughts on it. At four h two five five eight
eleven ten. Four h two five five eight to eleven ten.

(01:06:36):
Let's start with Doug this hour. Doug, welcome to our
show on eleven ten.

Speaker 3 (01:06:39):
Kfab, Hey, every own, How you doing, Buddy good Man?
How are you?

Speaker 25 (01:06:45):
I know you guys are busy, and I hope I
don't take up us two time. But this is very
much touching on this subject. I want to touch on
the I think it was the caller before last Sandy
wanted to burn the flag in his fireplace and whatever
if his wife would bust him out or whatever. Yeah,

(01:07:05):
and he was worried about the future. I'm going, why
are you worried about the future? What do you want
to do? Just sit around burn American flags for no reason.
I mean, that's ridiculous. And the American flag, to me,
I think Supreme Court's wrong by the way. I think
they need to overturn that. It should be illegal. I

(01:07:28):
think one year is not enough. And that flag represents
hundreds of thousands of men, women, fathers, mothers, daughters and sons.
They gave their lives and gave their limbs to protect
that flag. And if you'll like our flag, get the.

Speaker 3 (01:07:49):
Hell out, amen.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
I love the passion. Love it, Love it, Doug. This
is why I love my show. Thanks so much for
listening to us. You have a great rest of your day.

Speaker 3 (01:07:58):
Man, appreciate it.

Speaker 20 (01:08:00):
Buddy, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
Yeah, you too.

Speaker 9 (01:08:02):
Ah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:03):
You know what, you can't argue with somebody that passionate.
I don't necessarily agree on all of his points there,
but I definitely know that that's a red blooded American.
You can tell the way that he you know, he
really takes offense to it. If you don't love being
here in this country, you know, I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:08:21):
Fighting fire with fire is the right way to do
this literally and figuratively in this context. But it is
quite interesting to see how much that conversation has changed
since the nineties or the late eighties. I guess when
the Supreme Court made that ruling. Let's go to Mark
number one. Mark number one is on our phone line today. Mark,
thanks so much for the call today. What's on your mind?

Speaker 13 (01:08:43):
I was just calling in a listen everything we know,
we all know what the flag stands for. We all
know why these people want to burn the flag. But
what we got to figure out is what you guys
are talking about is a solution to this problem. You know,
to them, it's a game. It's a game to them,
so because they know what makes us mad, because everybody
wants to talk about you know, what it stands for

(01:09:04):
and what it means. Everybody knows that. But it's because
of that that they're burning these things and doing these things.
So why not play the game with them, you know,
make it one hundred percent legal. But like other things,
you know, get a permit. Let's let's put fi a
fee on this thing. Let's get a permit. We got
to have a permit to assemble. If you want to
burn a flag, you want to burn anything anywhere, you

(01:09:24):
got to get a permit.

Speaker 21 (01:09:25):
So if you want to burn a flag, get.

Speaker 13 (01:09:27):
Your permit, get your permit to assemble, get your people together,
get it figured out, do it properly, do it right,
and then everything is what it is, you know, so
you can even come on the backside, you know, with
how they wanted to prosecute the guy with burning a
flag in a public space. Yeah, well absolutely, let's raise
the penalties for those play the game from the backfield,

(01:09:49):
play football.

Speaker 1 (01:09:50):
Yeah so so Mark the only thing that I could
say about this from that perspective, right, So, I'm thinking
to myself, so how would that work? You know, know,
when we had the big when the cultural series was happening,
for instance, and we had just had the ice operation
at that food plant, and I was concerned about what

(01:10:10):
a protest would look like. Well, the protesters organized and
actually called the police and told them exactly what they
wanted to do, and the police kind of help them
execute their protest to keep it out of the way
of traffic and to make things safe for everyone. I
actually did respect that. I don't think I'd have too
much of a problem. I suppose if this was something

(01:10:32):
that was done in correlation with that, if you did
go through proper channels to do it in a way,
and this is not about burning a flag specifically, but
about protesting in general and getting a permit to as
symbol or to have some sort of event in a
public space burning a flag. I think the only reason
you would do that. I mean, and I've seen people
like have dummies lit on fire and beat like a

(01:10:54):
pinata and stuff like. How different is that than you know,
what we're talking about with the flag here? Something that
seems sacrilegious about setting an American flag on fire unless
it's tattered and needs to be retired.

Speaker 2 (01:11:06):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:11:07):
I just can't get to a point where I'm going
to be like, yeah, that's totally okay, let me give
you a permit so you can do that, you know.

Speaker 13 (01:11:14):
Right, Well, that's the whole idea emory is is is
these people are lazy. It's the same with social media
right now. That's why everybody's they sit on their couch
and they have an opinion about everything. But put them
in a group of people where they actually have to
deal with going through the proper channels and doing things properly.
They just don't. They don't, they won't.

Speaker 3 (01:11:33):
Oh good, and they have to.

Speaker 13 (01:11:34):
Put their name on it and stand in front of.

Speaker 5 (01:11:36):
It and own it.

Speaker 13 (01:11:37):
Then then let's just see no one's gonna want to
do it because they're lazy.

Speaker 2 (01:11:41):
Hey that's a good point. Mark.

Speaker 1 (01:11:43):
You might be onto something there. I appreciate you coming
in man as always. Thanks so much for listening to
our show.

Speaker 20 (01:11:47):
God Loves America.

Speaker 2 (01:11:48):
See you guys, yeah, talk to you later.

Speaker 1 (01:11:50):
Mark number two is on our phone line at four
oh two, five, five, eight, eleven ten, Mark number two,
How are you today?

Speaker 31 (01:11:56):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (01:11:57):
Good?

Speaker 11 (01:11:57):
Yeah. I think a lot of these people maybe they
spent too much time living in Lincoln and Omaha. But
I lived in California for ten years in Las Vegas
and been around in big cities, really big cities, and
I've seen a lot of things protests like big ones
and from Mexico and different places. And I listen to

(01:12:19):
Jesse Kelly as a show after You're in Rush. I
used to listen to Rush Limba. Most of these people
don't understand. It's a different mindset. A lot of those
people are paid protesters. That's why they're doing it. They
have to get money somehow, and they're getting paid and
it's for disruption. It's not a lot yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:12:39):
Yeah, So no, I'm hearing that market. I do appreciate
your thought on that today, But you know, I got
some of the calls that I want to get to.
The first thing is the paid protest, RIGHTDA, we are
kidding ourselves we think every protester is that.

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
Because they're not.

Speaker 1 (01:13:00):
We know some of these people, we see these people,
they're in our communities. Are there paid protesters that are
just kind of going city to city point to point.
They might have been the same people that were going
from city to city in twenty twenty with George Floyd thing.

Speaker 2 (01:13:15):
They were going city.

Speaker 1 (01:13:16):
To city after that about you know, even recently with
the Ice operations. Whatever the thing is to protest, they
are going to be there, and maybe they are getting
funded by somebody to create this type of havoc. Sure,
my biggest thing would be, there's no justifiable reason under

(01:13:37):
like the way that I'm seeing it that under any
circumstance you could tell me that anyone really proud to
be here for any amount of money wouldever consider doing
something as drastic as burning the American flag. And if
they are, whether they're a paid protester or not, that
to me is a step to the point where you
don't want to be here.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
So why are you here.

Speaker 1 (01:14:00):
You know, wouldn't it be so much easier, just like
the people that are trying to come into our country
illegally for a better, easier life. Well, why don't you
If you're interested in just bringing the American flag in
protests of what the American government is doing or what
they represent to you, at least try go into a
place that may not have those same kinds of freedom.
You know, spend spend a week in Bangladesh and tell

(01:14:22):
me how it goes, you know, go to an African
country and tell me how it goes. Heck, you could
even you know, spend some time in South America. I'm
sure a place like Venezuela is nice this time of year.
Come back and tell me how it goes for you
see how much you enjoy the United States.

Speaker 3 (01:14:38):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
A Britney Griner I think was a really good example
of this. You know, she was playing professional basketball in
Russia and she got arrested for having marijuana cartridges and
was begging basically to get back on American soil. After
protesting against what this country was, she looked at it differently.

Speaker 2 (01:14:52):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:14:53):
She may not tell you everything you want to hear,
but she definitely looks at it differently. Now we have
more time to take calls when we come back on
the break, so stick around. Four two five five eight
eleven ten. If you want to be a part of
our conversation today, love to chat with you on news
Radio eleven ten.

Speaker 19 (01:15:08):
Can't have it be Emery's songer.

Speaker 1 (01:15:11):
This is a classic, incredible American song by an American queen,
Stevie Nicks.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
Scott Moorehies. Tell me about what makes this song so great?

Speaker 4 (01:15:22):
Oh, the instrumental is incredible, great music. The lyrics are stupid.
The way she sings it, the way she sings it
trying to be tough. Doesn't it falls short? Doves don't
say baby ooh ooh said ooh, okay, all right, enough
from you stupid.

Speaker 12 (01:15:38):
No.

Speaker 1 (01:15:39):
You know what, I will not take Stevie nicks slander
on this show. You none asked me what I thought.
You're supposed to say it's awesome because it is. You
got the four roh two five five eight eleven ten.
We continue our conversation about flag burning and whether or
not it should be made illegal. Of course, this would
require some work because of the Supreme Court r in

(01:16:00):
nineteen eighty nine that said it was a legitimate political
expression and protected by the First Amendment of our Constitution.
But how do we feel about it? Gary is on
the phone line. Gary, welcome into our show today.

Speaker 3 (01:16:09):
How are you doing, Hey, how are you?

Speaker 18 (01:16:12):
Thank you for those opportunities?

Speaker 2 (01:16:14):
Yeah, no problem.

Speaker 18 (01:16:16):
My big question was when I called was where are
all these big guns in the Democratic Party? What are
their opinions? I know they're gonna fall behind, Oh, whatever
the law says, well, you know the law is wrong
there they let that law get twisted so much to
the point where it's happening. What is their personal opinions?

(01:16:39):
And I'll bet every one of them say, whoa, I
don't agree with it at all.

Speaker 1 (01:16:43):
Yeah, but that's the thing Gary, and I said this, Yeah,
and I said this earlier in the show, like a
long time ago in the show. But like, we have
to see everything through the goggles of our political ideologies, right,
So I think personally, yeah, most Democrats would in the
confines of a personal and private conversation, they would say
it deeply troubles me to see people burning the American flight.

(01:17:05):
I don't disagree with that, But they wouldn't publicly say
that because they have a chance of you know, their
radical followers that they would have on the far left
would say, oh, can't support them because they are on
Trump's side on.

Speaker 18 (01:17:19):
This and just the money and pash and checks and
counting boats.

Speaker 3 (01:17:25):
Yep.

Speaker 32 (01:17:26):
It's what it comes down to with the Democratic Party.

Speaker 21 (01:17:28):
Well, and that's what it comes down to.

Speaker 1 (01:17:30):
H No, no doubt, Gary, But I mean it's honestly
both sides on different issues.

Speaker 26 (01:17:34):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:17:35):
It's just like if you would have if a Republican
would have come out and said they agreed with anything
Biden was doing, that would have been political suicide too.
So it's just a two party system problem that we
have here. Because you're one hundred percent right. I would
love to hear what Democrats say on this, but they've
been awfully quiet or saying that, hey, the Supreme Court's
already ruled on this, there's no need for this. Why
are we targeting protesters that sort of thing? Because they

(01:17:56):
cannot agree with Trump about anything. They have already put
their they're they're they're feeding the cement on that. I
appreciate the call, buddy, thanks for listening to us kj's
on our phone line of four oh two, five five,
eight eleven ten. Welcome in kJ You're on eleven tin
kfa B.

Speaker 33 (01:18:11):
Hi Emery, Hi Scott. I love your show, great topic today.
People don't understand. I've retired a lot of American flags
because they're no longer serviceable and the only way to
do it is to burn it. And I've done this
for the military, civic organizations, u VFW and such. It's
done in a solemn manner. It's usually done with the

(01:18:32):
respectful type of music, playing taps, and it's done in
a roaring fire outdoors, and and we we prep the flag,
we removed the brass, and we lay it out, you know,
softly on the fire, and the flames turn color, and
you stand back and you salute it. And those ashes
need to be buried before sunset. I mean, people don't

(01:18:55):
understand that's how you retire a flag. You don't do
it in a malicious manner, and you don't do it
out of disrespect. Yeah, done solemnly, and you know, Yeah,
I'm a little worried because a lot of people.

Speaker 31 (01:19:09):
In my neighborhood know I do this, and they give
me their tired flags, and I have a conglomerate of them,
you know, and I just I wait for that moment
when I can go and do it. It's done so
in a prepared manner.

Speaker 2 (01:19:20):
Yeah, and kJ one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (01:19:22):
We need to make sure that we are very, very
delicate in the way that we talk about burning a flag.
Because I bought a flag from Durable Flags, and with
my American flag, there came a little piece of paper
about the etiquette of a flag and how to fly
it in the fact that it needs to be up
at sunrise and down by sundown, and if it's up overnight,
it's got to have a light on it and be

(01:19:44):
illuminated and things like that. And it does say the
only proper way, according to the United States government, that
you can retire and dispose of an American flag is
through burning it. And I mean that is a completely
different thing than burning it a healthy flag, especially of protest.
And that's where I hope that we can make a
definitive line between those two things when we have this discussion.

(01:20:06):
But I do appreciate what you've done, and I appreciate
you calling in with this perspective, and really thank you
so much for listening to our show today.

Speaker 33 (01:20:14):
Absolutely keep up the good work. Nice job.

Speaker 2 (01:20:16):
Thanks man.

Speaker 1 (01:20:17):
Really appreciate that, Tom, Brad and everyone else calling in.
I will get to your calls next. Thank you for listening.
If you want to call in, four oh two five
five eight eleven ten is the number four oh two
five five eight eleven ten. You're tuned in to news
Radio eleven ten KFA.

Speaker 19 (01:20:29):
B Henry Songer on news Radio eleven ten KFAB.

Speaker 1 (01:20:34):
Tom, We do appreciate you for holding it being on
the show today. What's on your mind?

Speaker 5 (01:20:39):
Yeah, I'm My name's Tom. I'm a US Army veteran
and a Purple art recent I believe that it is
a right to burn the flag. I think that's what
we fought for the rights of us to do and
protest how we want. You know, the US government has
not always treated us like we should be treated. We

(01:21:01):
have Agent Orange and Vietnam, we have the Gulf War
syndrome going on, and they denied it and denied it
and denied it until everybody's got sick and finally it's
kind of turning the corner.

Speaker 6 (01:21:13):
But it's not that.

Speaker 5 (01:21:16):
People hate the governor hate the United States. It's that
the government sometimes isn't doing everything correctly, and I don't
think I also think that. You know, I would not
want to see anybody burn a flag. I think it's wrong,
but it is a right, just like the Second Amendments
are right. But also, if you're going to burn the

(01:21:38):
American flag, all flags should be available for burning. I
believe there's a kids that have been doing a burnouts
on these crosswalks or are painted at the rainbow, and
I think they've been charged with like hate crimes doing that.
You know, maybe they it's not a hate crime. If
it's okay to bring the American flag, maybe it's exhibitions

(01:22:00):
speed and you shouldn't be doing to burn out the street.
But if you're going to burn the American flag, like
they get a couple of callers Ago said, you need
to permit. Well, if you're gonna burn trees out here
in the country, do you need a burn permit? So
if you burn a.

Speaker 27 (01:22:14):
Flag, maybe you get charged with.

Speaker 5 (01:22:17):
Burning some people without a burner.

Speaker 1 (01:22:19):
Very interesting, Tom, Well, thank you for your service. I
do appreciate your perspective. Very unique today, and thank you
so much for listening to our show.

Speaker 16 (01:22:27):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (01:22:27):
Thanks.

Speaker 1 (01:22:28):
Yeah, you know, I'm not here to argue with somebody
who has fought in our military and has done what
they can to defend the rights of this country. I
just would be a little bit curious, right, Like the
reason the burning of a Pride flag or the people
who were doing donuts intentionally on the Rainbow sidewalk, or

(01:22:52):
that he kind of referenced there we're charge of the
hate crime is because you can't there is no alternative
way to defend what you're doing there, Right, everyone knew
what they were doing. They did that intentionally, and it
was a message to the LGBTQ plus community. If you're
going to interpret that though, with some sort of hate
crime to a minority or to you know, some group

(01:23:14):
of people who feel like they already are you know,
the people are against them, how can you not define
the American flag? Is that also like the American flag? Yeah, okay,
so it represents the majority of the people. Okay, but
that still should it should mean kind of the same
thing to me.

Speaker 2 (01:23:32):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:23:33):
But again with the Supreme Court saying very specifically that
this is a protected freedom of expression because it's a
political expression and it's protected by the First Amendment of
the Constitution, Okay, Well, if that's the case, then you know,
we have some red tape that we have to work
around and logistics that we have to fix if we're
going to make that something that is punishable by time

(01:23:53):
in jail, is that a can of worms were willing
to open. Well, if people of our United States military
say that I don't think that's a good idea, that
I'd be willing to listen to them in their perspective
on that. Brad is on our phone line four h
two five five eight eleven ten. Brad, welcome to eleven
ten kfab.

Speaker 27 (01:24:10):
Hey, thanks for taking my call. I really appreciate it.
I'll actually admit the fact that I said I'm an
independent that sits on the left side. I think when
I look at the situation with the flag burning scenario,
I kind of think that the left doesn't have any
of its pieces together and I can give us no
clear messaging. But on the right, I think a challenge
that I would like to hear your opinion on is

(01:24:31):
why can't we push back collectively on the right and
see anyone just openly say the Supreme Court has ruled
on this. A veteran's already been arrested at DC for
burning the flag in protest of what the government is doing.
And I really struggle with this, with this dichotomy that
we're struggling now that we can't have anyone on the
right criticize Donald Trump for an executive order. This isn't
a law coming from Congress, This isn't anybody else. This

(01:24:53):
is a feel good stick for those folks that I
think on the right say well, this is just the
way it should be.

Speaker 21 (01:24:58):
I agree.

Speaker 27 (01:24:59):
I not like the flag burn I wholeheartedly agree, but
it is a right to protest. That is a struggle
that has been fought for and is now given to
individuals that they don't believe the government is acting in
their favor. And I don't know why we can't openly
see people like yourself say that, No, this needs to
be a constitutionally protected right of our First Amendment, the
right to protest, the freedom to assemble.

Speaker 1 (01:25:20):
Yeah, so everything you just said, it's not all mutually exclusive, Okay,
So I think we need to just start there. The
mutually exclusive right to assembly versus the right to protest,
versus the right to burn a flag versus the right
to display a flag upside down. None of that needs
to exist for any other portion of that to exist.
So I want to be careful about the way that

(01:25:42):
we talk about this now. According to the Supreme Court
in nineteen eighty nine, which as far as the United
States government is concerned, that's the way that it is.
It is a protected political expression, and it is protected
by the First Amendment as of right now. So I'm
I'm picking up what you're putting down there, and I
understand what you're saying. However, the reason that person was
arrested at Washington Sea today was because of the way

(01:26:04):
they were demonstrating.

Speaker 2 (01:26:05):
It was where they were demonstrating. It was burning of a.

Speaker 1 (01:26:08):
Flag, basically in defiance of the current administration and targeted
directly at them.

Speaker 2 (01:26:15):
Something that right.

Speaker 1 (01:26:17):
Did you see any Republicans burning American flags while Joe
Biden was in office. I mean, it's just not something
that people on the conservative side of things would do
because they do respect the flag. I'm not saying that
all Democrats don't. Brad like you said, you are one
who certainly would be. You're not a Democrat, but you
lean to the left and you don't like seeing the
flag burn I would think a majority of Democrats don't

(01:26:38):
like seeing the flag burned. So it's not an attack
on that political party or that ideology. What I'm saying, though,
is in the way that you're doing it that should matter. Okay,
if you want to signal distress about the way that
of something that's going on that you don't like about
our country, well, in the etiquette of the American flag,
flying it upside down would achieve that.

Speaker 2 (01:27:01):
There are a lot of people that also are offended
by that.

Speaker 1 (01:27:03):
But I'm not going to sit here and say that
flying the flag upside down is illegal. Flag etiquette says
specifically that that's what you do. If there's distress or danger,
you fly the flag upside down. I've seen people in
the protests of ice operations flying the flag upside down.
It disturbs me some, but I will completely agree that

(01:27:23):
that's their right to display it that way. As far
as you know, Republicans trying to combat the executive orders
of Donald Trump, and he's written a lot of them,
not that all of them all of a sudden, you know,
erase laws that are existing. It's mostly him proclaiming that
he'd like something done, or that something that is kind
of open ended can get closed. This didn't change the law.

(01:27:47):
This had nothing to do with changing a law, they
have to overturn a Supreme Court ruling to get anything
officially changed.

Speaker 2 (01:27:54):
But there are Republicans who have said Donald Trump is
abusing his power as president with all these executive orders.
I have seen that.

Speaker 1 (01:28:01):
I have said, I think that he's getting a bit
out of hand with all the executive orders and proclamations.
At the same time, his right as president of the
United States is to be able to do this while
he's in office, and whatever his legacy becomes is going
to be at the behest of what he has or
has not done. So if he thinks this is important
enough for him to put it in writing, even if
it doesn't actually change anything in the long run, which again,

(01:28:24):
we have to have the Supreme Court overturn a previous
decision for this to even be considered, And then Congress
would have to find a way to codify this in
some sort of law, to make it a violation of
some sort of crime that could result in a year's
worth of jail time. If that were to all happen,
right then we have to talk about Okay, now, have

(01:28:46):
we compromised the First Amendment of the Constitution? And I
think that would be a realistic conversation for us to have.
I still think in this moment it is appropriate for
us to talk about how discussing it is to see
people burning healthy flags out of protest when there are
so many different ways that you could try to protest,
and no one is changing their mind based on somebody
lighting an American flag on fire. If that is how
you really feel about this place, spend a week in

(01:29:08):
Bangladesh and come back and tell me how that was.

Speaker 2 (01:29:11):
That's all I have to say about it.

Speaker 1 (01:29:12):
But I love it when people like you call Brad
because I need that perspective, and I think our listeners
need that perspective of how other people think. So thank
you so much for calling in today, Emory Songer with
you two more calls to finish up this conversation about
flag burning, the executive Order, and what we do next.
Let's start with Sam. And Sam, we do appreciate you
for being on the show today. What's on your mind?

Speaker 34 (01:29:33):
Hey, Emer, I just wanted to say you are absolutely
dead wrong when you equated burning a Pride flag with
burning the American flag, that they are not in effect
the exact same hate speech burning the American flag hate
speech burning the rainbow that hate speech burning out on

(01:29:55):
an intersection is hate speech. They are all the same.
They should all be punished the same.

Speaker 7 (01:30:01):
That's what you're choosing to do.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:30:03):
I think you misunderstood what I said because I said
the exact same thing you just said, Sam. But I
appreciate the call today. No, no, no, I literally said
the I literally said the exact same thing. But whatever
you say, man, I appreciate the call. Frank is on
the phone line. Frank will be our last one today.

(01:30:24):
Really do appreciate the call today. What's on your mind?

Speaker 32 (01:30:27):
Yeah, Emory, just quickly, and I got in late on
your programs, so I may be forgiven hopefully. But I
think in the executive order and I have not read it,
and that is a key yesterday when they pointed out,
at least on television, the word insight to incite a riot,
whether it's for or against whatever. If it can be proven,

(01:30:51):
then that's the issue. Otherwise the entire thing stays the
way the Supreme Court has decided recently. So there's really
no changes except for that insight, and that's what they
would try to prove. Yeah, Now whether they could prove
something or not, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:31:06):
Right.

Speaker 32 (01:31:07):
That's that's the way I see it. So there's really
no change, And I think you've been saying that I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:31:11):
Yeah, I actually have, Frank, and I do appreciate you
calling in. Thanks so much for listening to the show today. Yeah,
I if we're going to talk about this and back
to Sam just real quick. I literally said that if
you're going to penalize people for burning an American flag
or for burning an Israeli flag or anything like that,
it's a hate crime for anything other than the American

(01:31:32):
flag right now, if you do it in a way
that incites violence or even threatens a community of people,
and I think it should be in a lot of ways, right.
You shouldn't just go around burning flags that are representative
of what people believe, right, Like if you saw somebody
burning a flag of something that is important to you,
or knocking a you know, setting fire to something that

(01:31:55):
was important to you or represented the people that you're
you know, Jewish people in the Israel is a good
example of this. If somebody went to a synagogue and
decided they were going to burn it an Israeli flag, how
could you not think that was some sort of hate crime?

Speaker 2 (01:32:07):
It absolutely would be. So if that's what.

Speaker 1 (01:32:10):
We're talking about here, then we needed to look at
the American flag the exact same way. If it is
being burned like in a demonstration like that twenty year
old at the White House today who was arrested after
he did this, well that is obviously to incite some
sort of reaction. That was a demonstration beyond just burning
a flag in protest. If you can find a way

(01:32:31):
to prove that this was being done to incite violence
or threatening people of this administration or people who even
support this administration, then I absolutely think that it's completely
different than exercising the freedom of protests that is protected
in the First Amendment of our Constitution. And I don't
know why we're I don't know why we've become so
far apart on this because if you go back to just

(01:32:52):
a few decades, that was not the case. This was
a pretty bipartisan issue that I think most people agreed on.