The Man Who Burned the Flag Pleads Not Guilty

 

Remember a Western North Carolina vet named Jay Carey who recently burned a flag across the street from the White House immediately after Jethro signed an exec order requiring the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute people for burning the American flag? I wrote about Jay Carey at that time. He has an interesting backstory as a Democrat activist and general gadfly, so it wasn't any surprise he'd stick his thumb right in Jethro's eye. 

Last Wednesday he pleaded not guilty to Federal criminal charges of "igniting a fire in an undesignated area" and "lighting a fire causing damage to property or park resources" -- not for specifically burning a flag. See, Trump's handlers know very well that the Supreme Court ruled long ago that burning the American flag is protected speech, so they've made up some shit to punish Jay Carey anyway for saying eff you to the would-be tyrant in the White House. Carey is being prosecuted by newly installed US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, another of those Fox News personalities that Jethro admires.

But who is Jeanine Pirro really? She was hilariously caricatured by SNL cast member Cicely Strong, who made an indelible impression:

If I read the Cardinal & Pine report on Carey's court appearance correctly, the Federal judge in charge of his case as much as invited Carey to make it a Constitutional issue: "Chief Judge James Boasberg set an Oct. 17 deadline for Carey’s lawyers to file a motion to dismiss the case on constitutional grounds." Judge Boasberg is famous for ordering the planes carrying brown people to a gulag in Venezuela to turn around, because their very existence exceeded the Constitutional power of the president. Trump hates Boasberg viciously, and MAGA troops in Congress want to impeach his ass.

But by Gawd, he knows an unconstitutional act when he sees one.