this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2025
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A retired Tennessee law enforcement officer was held in jail for more than a month this fall after police arrested him over a Facebook post of a meme related to the September assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Prosecutors eventually dropped the criminal charge brought against Larry Bushart, but his stint behind bars came to exemplify the country’s tense political and legal climate following the tragedy, when conservatives sought to stymie public discourse about the late controversial figure that it saw as objectionable.

Now, Bushart is suing over his incarceration.

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[–] SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 34 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The former police officer shared a meme on Facebook about a vigil being held in Tennessee for Kirk.

“This seems relevant today,” read the meme, which included a photo of Trump and a quote the then-candidate made in 2024 following a shooting at Perry High School in Des Moines, Iowa.

“We have to get over it,” Trump is quoted as saying in the meme.

Four officers came to Bushart’s home the next day, arrested him and took him to jail for “threatening mass violence at a school.” Authorities at the time said that the post was understood locally to be a threat to an area school that has a similar name to the one where the 2024 shooting occurred, according to court records.

“When Mr. Bushart posted the meme, he had no inkling or reason to think that anyone would take it as a threat of violence. And unsurprisingly, defendants … have produced no evidence that any person interpreted the meme as a threat,” the lawsuit states. “In fact, the Perry County School District has no records at all concerning Mr. Bushart or the meme.”

And there are people in this country who may still see nothing wrong with this, because it involves their dear blameless president.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 3 days ago

And this guy was a retired cop. Nobody is safe.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 135 points 4 days ago (2 children)

(From the article)

This is the image they jailed him for.

This should be a slam dunk win for him. Blatant political retribution. The people who jailed him should be jailed, disbarred, fined, etc., the citizens shouldn’t have to pay the court award for their fascism.

[–] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 35 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Are you fucking kidding me? He simply quoted Trump and got jail time? What a fucking joke.

[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 14 points 4 days ago

Thou shall not offend the Dear Leader!

[–] EtherWhack@lemmy.world 47 points 4 days ago (2 children)

May I say thanks for the pixelation. I'm serious, it's tiring looking at his ugly clueless face all the time.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 19 points 4 days ago (2 children)

It's amazing how expressive that face is, simultaneously conveying limitless malice and stupidity. The face of a child rapist? It's believable.

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[–] Jax@sh.itjust.works 328 points 5 days ago (4 children)

He quoted Trump saying 'We need to just get over it' about the Perry High School shooting in Iowa.

What he said wasn't even hateful, it was a fucking quote.

[–] Ulvain@sh.itjust.works 169 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Well, it was from Trump, so it was a pretty hateful quote, to be fair

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 65 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The same guy who said Rob Reiner "died due to TDS"?

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[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 88 points 5 days ago (1 children)

And not even close to encouraging breaking the law. I've heard politicians have essentially the same "let's move on" attitude about school shootings.

[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 13 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Some politicians wear AR-15 pins. I wish I was joking.

[–] Aljernon@lemmy.today 4 points 3 days ago

Just because we're leftists doesn't mean we have to be AK fanboys. AR-15s are good rifles too.

[–] Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 55 points 5 days ago

All Kimmel did was play clips of trump.

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 45 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I got in trouble with Facebook once for quoting Trump's thing about how he could shoot someone without losing supporters. If it isn't appropriate to say on Facebook, it isn't appropriate to say in a presidential campaign!

[–] nocturne@piefed.social 37 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I created a Facebook page called "Fled Cruz", the profile picture was Rafael "Ted" Cruz and the only thing I posted was quotes of his tweets, Facebook shut it down for hate speech. They denied the appeal and deleted the entire page.

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[–] CherryBullets@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Meanwhile, republican politicians get away with saying the most vile shit about people with mental illnesses, minorities, the poor and women, as usual. The hypocritical circus is never ending.

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[–] arc99@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

This is such an egregious violation of his rights that he should sue for millions because he'll get it.

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 55 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Turns out being a cop doesn't protect you from the regime.

Wish all the law enforcement officers who voted for a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist realized that before voting for a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist.

[–] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 28 points 4 days ago (5 children)

Cops often grew up under similar circumstances to many people who joined gangs. Being a cop is just being part of the biggest most untouchable gang of them all.

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[–] Feedback17@lemmy.world 53 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Kirk hasn't said anything racist in a while.

[–] But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 17 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Now that the emotion has died down and I can look at Charlie Kirk’s assassination as a whole and what came of it, i can confidently say that the world feels slightly better without Charlie Kirk in it. I don’t mourn him.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I said it from the start and stand by it: however you feel about political assassination aside, Kirk was one of the only right-wing media figures who had a chance of keeping Trump's political capital alive, as in, he was one of the few people with the charisma and messaging skill that he could charm MAGA's into shifting tone to follow his lead.

Who else is going to hold onto a segment of America who are violently stupid, armed, patriotic, and have the attention spans of gnats and each think themselves to be some kind of comic book hero? Trump was able to capture them because he seemed genuine even though it was genuine hate and anger. Kirk could have kept the hate and anger alive under a skin of righteousness and Christian ideology that would have absolutely caught on in midwest America like fire through dry brush if the GOP decided to go whole-hog and fund him in the coming years.

We averted a massive problem with Kirk, and the way everyone around him is currently grasping for shreds of that political capital as it evaporates into the wind just further reinforces what I believe.

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[–] BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 167 points 5 days ago (5 children)

As he should, absolutely his first amendment right was violated.

If the right can spout pure hatred and bullshit with impunity, so can everyone else.

[–] DrFistington@lemmy.world 40 points 5 days ago

It's not even hatred. It's a quote from the 'president' about a similar event, that had more and younger victims.

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[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 days ago

Too bad he was retired otherwise he would've only been suspended for a month with full pay. /s I hope he gets a shitload of money for being subject to the thought police hypocrisy.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago

This is the way.

If fucking Nazis are still permitted to go on marches (and that's the typical case discussed) then someone sure as FUCK can say whatever they want about some asshat like Kirk passing away...

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 71 points 5 days ago (5 children)

The US has lost their license to roast us (the rest of the world) for saying mean things on the internet and getting a vist from the police. Welcome to the club you fat bitch.

[–] infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 29 points 5 days ago

I assure you the United States has both people who will continue to try making that roast, and people who never felt like they had that freedom in the first place.

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[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 73 points 5 days ago (1 children)

...

Then they came for the retired law enforcement

...

[–] Postimo@lemmy.zip 87 points 5 days ago (1 children)

And I said nothing because ACAB

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 50 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Okay, that's pretty funny.

I do wonder, if the roles were reversed, would he have refused orders to make the arrest?

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[–] DarkSideOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 56 points 5 days ago

At least he is American and can sue. Some immigrants were deported and had their lives destroyed just because they had their opinions

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 22 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I never thought I'd side with a retired Tennessee cop, but here I am

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[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 53 points 5 days ago (75 children)

Was there ever a time that Republicans actually stayed true to their principles when it wasn’t to their advantage?

In my life experience I honestly can’t think of a time.

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[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 53 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Excited to be in the Supermax Prison built entirely for people who reposted illegal memes.

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 74 points 5 days ago (1 children)

There will be an entire cell block for people that post this.

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[–] webp@mander.xyz 26 points 4 days ago

Let's not use the opinionated word "tragedy."

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