* Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems preposterously claimed that Larry Bushart had threatened “mass violence” at a school.
* Last year, Larry Bushart spent 37 days in a Tennessee jail because he had shared a widely circulated anti-Trump meme on Facebook. Today his attorneys announced that he had agreed to settle the resulting federal lawsuit in exchange for a payment of $835,000.
* “No one should be hauled off to jail in the dark of night over a harmless meme just because the authorities disagree with its message,” said Adam Steinbaugh, a senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which represented Bushart along with local attorney Katherine Phillips. “We’re pleased that Larry has been compensated for this injustice, but local law enforcement never should have forced him to endure this ordeal in the first place.”
* The meme in question, which Bushart posted on September 20 in response to a Facebook announcement of a candlelight vigil for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk at the Perry County Courthouse, featured a photo of President Donald Trump flanked by a quote from a speech he gave at a campaign rally in Iowa on January 5, 2024. The day before, a gunman had killed two people and injured six others at a high school in Perry, Iowa.
UnfinishedPrimate on
Man. Nowhere else on Earth is there a greater divide between the rhetoric of pure freedom, and the actual behaviour, which is authoritarian bootlicking.
Silent-Resort-3076 on
RE: The lawsuit
And, while I’m happy he’s getting something for the asinine decision and for his troubles (understatement, I know), just remember that **EVERY** incompetent (and inhumane) screw-up by THIS administration that results in a federal lawsuit (with a monetary payout or no) means, WE, the taxpayers have to ultimately pay!!🙄
Edited to add: Including state lawsuits!
PerniciousPlay on
I’m glad this dude won
khabijenkins on
What’s getting raked back I’m taxes and legal fees.
TheBalzy on
The people who arrested him should lose their jobs and their pensions, and be facing charges for false imprisonment.
The judge who didn’t IMMEDIATELY throw this case out, should be censured and removed, losing their pension as well.
HyperactivePandah on
Can I have that option?
I can last a month in jail. As long as it isn’t big-boy-jail
Purple-Possible-7429 on
Tax payers foot the bill.
ronm4c on
I think these headlines should focus on the fact that the taxpayers are on the hook because some unqualified manbaby was hired as a cop and blatantly broke the law
mossyskeleton on
I’ll go to jail for 37 days for $835,000!
Fuck you Donald J Trump!
iDrGonzo on
That meme payed out better than any NFT, call wallstreetbets put everything on trashing trump and his gestapo.
Xenocide_X on
$22,500 for every night dude stayed in jail. Not a bad payout. Shouldn’t have ever came to this though. 1st amendment has been under attack since Trump’s first term.
happyColoradoDave on
I wonder if I can get them to arrest me too
hifumiyo1 on
*This* is your first amendment. Freedom from arrest for criticizing the government.
moyismoy on
Yo, I’d take that deal in a heartbeat
MRTFOGR on
One of many to come over the next several years. Wait until we no longer have Trump’s DoJ in power. The lawsuits will flow like water and make $835k seem like Pennie’s on the dollar. The immigrants locked up in these concentration camps will eventually file lawsuits and they will get PAID. Kim’s Abrego Garcia, if he can stay in the country long enough, will make millions on his lawsuit.
America could literally pay out over a billion dollars in settlements.
syynapt1k on
Not enough consequences. We need serious people in control of government who aren’t going to fuck around the way we’ve been doing since Reconstruction.
Desperate-Hearing-55 on
Now peoples will make anti-Trump memes and get paid for it. Best paid job ever.
RunTheJules-11 on
Trump/Maga/conservatives are the most baby shit, soft-ass motherfuckers on the planet.
lurkersteve3115 on
seems like $1.8B would be more appropriate
ecafsub on
BRB, gonna get jailed for an anti-Trump meme and make some bank.
21 Comments
Snippet:
* Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems preposterously claimed that Larry Bushart had threatened “mass violence” at a school.
* Last year, Larry Bushart spent 37 days in a Tennessee jail because he had shared a widely circulated anti-Trump meme on Facebook. Today his attorneys announced that he had agreed to settle the resulting federal lawsuit in exchange for a payment of $835,000.
* “No one should be hauled off to jail in the dark of night over a harmless meme just because the authorities disagree with its message,” said Adam Steinbaugh, a senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which represented Bushart along with local attorney Katherine Phillips. “We’re pleased that Larry has been compensated for this injustice, but local law enforcement never should have forced him to endure this ordeal in the first place.”
* The meme in question, which Bushart posted on September 20 in response to a Facebook announcement of a candlelight vigil for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk at the Perry County Courthouse, featured a photo of President Donald Trump flanked by a quote from a speech he gave at a campaign rally in Iowa on January 5, 2024. The day before, a gunman had killed two people and injured six others at a high school in Perry, Iowa.
Man. Nowhere else on Earth is there a greater divide between the rhetoric of pure freedom, and the actual behaviour, which is authoritarian bootlicking.
RE: The lawsuit
And, while I’m happy he’s getting something for the asinine decision and for his troubles (understatement, I know), just remember that **EVERY** incompetent (and inhumane) screw-up by THIS administration that results in a federal lawsuit (with a monetary payout or no) means, WE, the taxpayers have to ultimately pay!!🙄
Edited to add: Including state lawsuits!
I’m glad this dude won
What’s getting raked back I’m taxes and legal fees.
The people who arrested him should lose their jobs and their pensions, and be facing charges for false imprisonment.
The judge who didn’t IMMEDIATELY throw this case out, should be censured and removed, losing their pension as well.
Can I have that option?
I can last a month in jail. As long as it isn’t big-boy-jail
Tax payers foot the bill.
I think these headlines should focus on the fact that the taxpayers are on the hook because some unqualified manbaby was hired as a cop and blatantly broke the law
I’ll go to jail for 37 days for $835,000!
Fuck you Donald J Trump!
That meme payed out better than any NFT, call wallstreetbets put everything on trashing trump and his gestapo.
$22,500 for every night dude stayed in jail. Not a bad payout. Shouldn’t have ever came to this though. 1st amendment has been under attack since Trump’s first term.
I wonder if I can get them to arrest me too
*This* is your first amendment. Freedom from arrest for criticizing the government.
Yo, I’d take that deal in a heartbeat
One of many to come over the next several years. Wait until we no longer have Trump’s DoJ in power. The lawsuits will flow like water and make $835k seem like Pennie’s on the dollar. The immigrants locked up in these concentration camps will eventually file lawsuits and they will get PAID. Kim’s Abrego Garcia, if he can stay in the country long enough, will make millions on his lawsuit.
America could literally pay out over a billion dollars in settlements.
Not enough consequences. We need serious people in control of government who aren’t going to fuck around the way we’ve been doing since Reconstruction.
Now peoples will make anti-Trump memes and get paid for it. Best paid job ever.
Trump/Maga/conservatives are the most baby shit, soft-ass motherfuckers on the planet.
seems like $1.8B would be more appropriate
BRB, gonna get jailed for an anti-Trump meme and make some bank.