Tennessee man has charges dropped over Trump meme relating to Charlie Kirk vigil (www.the-independent.com)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works to c/politics@lemmy.world

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Larry Bushart, 61, from Lexington, Tennessee – about 110 miles from Nashville – was booked into jail on September 21 for posting a meme quoting President Donald Trump when he responded to a 2024 school shooting in Perry, Iowa, saying, “We have to get over it.”

Bushart was then arrested and charged with making threats of mass violence on school property and activities.

The dropping of the charges came after NewsChannel 5 aired an interview on Wednesday with Weems in which he admitted that investigators knew the meme was not about a school shooting, but authorities were responding to community anxiety.

top 15 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Fascism in action: Held in jail on bogus charges for over a month until he lost his job. This is a blatant and likely effective attempt to stifle dissent and deny people their First Amendment rights.

Hopefully he sues the crap out of them. The officers should lose their Qualified Immunity protection because they knowingly violated his Constitutional rights.

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago

I hope he’s already suing. That’s 100% false arrest bullshit.

[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 5 points 5 months ago

He better act quickly. The legal system is just about completely collapsed at this point. He may not get the opportunity at all later.

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 months ago

Qualified immunity and the corporate veil shouldn't exist at all. If they can't afford liability insurance, then they shouldn't do it.

[-] FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah, I hope this costs the taxpayers millions. I hope it costs them enough to where they have to start fucking caring about the shitbags they put into law enforcement.

[-] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 5 months ago

Due to being imprisoned for more than a month, Bushart reportedly lost his job in medical transport.

All according to plan

[-] foggy@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

When you get to sue for damages, what you get to sue for is based upon what the defendant is worth.

Pretty sure losing your job qualifies as damages.

Nashville ain't broke.

Homeboy don't need a job no more. This case is a slam dunk. This is at least 7 figures, guaranteed.

[-] Doomsider@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

Responding to community anxiety!? Did they just tell us they are arresting people for fucking feels. What a bunch of fascist little bitches.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 0 points 5 months ago

"community anxiety"

One Twitter fascist comment with zero shares they were somehow aware of.

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 4 points 5 months ago

Now time for the lawsuit.

[-] foggy@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Heads up, to anyone if you end up in jail and can't lose your job.

FMLA.

You can take a fuck ton of unpaid time off for family medical leaves of absence and your job must be there for you when you return.

If you're in a situation where you feel this could happen to you, get a plan in place to get the paperwork moving.

[-] brahn@piefed.social 2 points 5 months ago

i wish him luck on his eventual lawsuit

[-] hanrahan@piefed.social 2 points 5 months ago

And here

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/10/man-finally-released-a-month-after-absurd-arrest-for-reposting-trump-meme/

[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago

"Muh ~~economic~~ community anxiety!"

[-] thelivefive@startrek.website 1 points 5 months ago

He'll probably get a big payout from the taxpayers, and the crooked cops will just keep on copping.

this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2025

44 points (100.0% liked)

politics

29296 readers

1027 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News