Every now and then you read about someone sentenced to prison and wonder what the heck the judge was thinking. Normally it’s because someone commits a murder or huge theft and gets a slap on the wrist, but occasionally you’ll see something in which the punishment just doesn’t fit the crime.
That happened recently in Iowa. An Iowa man was just sentenced to 16 years in prison for burning an LGBTQ flag. The man, Adolfo Martinez, was convicted of a hate crime for tearing down a rainbow flag from a United Church of Christ and burning it outside a strip club.
Martinez didn’t deny burning the flag, and there’s no denying that he was wrong in destroying someone else’s private property. But the proper punishment for that is for him to make restitution and perhaps pay some monetary penalty for the cost of going to court. To get 16 years in prison for a crime that had no victim is absolute nonsense.
Just look at how many incidents have occurred throughout the country in which people wearing MAGA hats have been physically assaulted. Have any of those assailants received similar sentences? No. So why is a property crime being treated so harshly?
We hope that Martinez will appeal his conviction, as it’s a clear violation of the rights protected by the First and Eighth Amendments. And it’s a clear indicator of the danger of hate crime laws, which are only enforced against conservatives. Their sole goal is to punish those who believe in objective truth and morality, in order to protect the onslaught of sexual aberrance.
With the trend of Soros-supported district attorneys winning elections across the country, it’s only a matter of time before hate crime prosecutions come to a town near you. And pretty soon it won’t be actions that are prosecuted, but mere words. Dare to speak out against the filth pervading our society and you’ll sit in prison for the next couple of decades. Hate crimes laws are dangerous violations of human rights and need to be opposed forcefully wherever they exist.