Reminds me of Douglass Mackey, who was convicted for sharing deceptive memes before the 2016 election that falsely told Clinton supporters they could vote by text message. He was sentenced to 7 months in federal prison in 2023.
Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit
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Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're going to change the system, which you need to do to make it possible to bring charges in a case like this, the other changes I suggested would be more effective and harder to weaponize. The core problem here is that the system allowed an innocent person to stay in jail. That needs to be fixed on a system level, not by trying to punish people after the fact for bad outcomes.
> The core problem here is that the system allowed an innocent person to stay in jail. No; the system got the innocent person out of jail and a hefty settlement for their trouble. The system is now, unfortunately, allowing the guilty parties to stay employed as cops after performing a kidnapping. > That needs to be fixed on a system level, not by trying to punish people after the fact for bad outcomes. An accidental…
See I don't view the guy getting out after 37 days as a success. It's a failure but it could have been worse.
I also think every party involved in that failure should be fired and rendered unemployable in the field.
Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit
#53The sheriff that arrested him should face criminal charges for misuse of authority. That he doesn't reflects a structural weakness in US law. In most European legal systems a law enforcement officer overstepping his legal authority would face criminal charges for it.
At the very least, taxpayers should be looking to make him personally responsible for the $835,000.
Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit
#54The sheriff that arrested him should face criminal charges for misuse of authority. That he doesn't reflects a structural weakness in US law. In most European legal systems a law enforcement officer overstepping his legal authority would face criminal charges for it.
In a sane, fair, and (crucially) long-term stable system, persons given privilege and authority over others are subject to a higher standard for their own behavior. The long-running US trend of the inverse (additional legal protections for positions of authority) is incredibly destructive. This is a moral and values judgment, yes, but it's not just that -- it communicates to the population at large that they should find their own solutions rather than using the established system.
More succinctly, down this path lie guillotines.
Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure. Let’s start pushing back against over-incarceration by not punishing people that knowingly did something wrong and flies in the face of the country’s supposed values. Makes sense.
We should start by removing the ability of prosecutors and police to bring such cases in the first place.
What does that look like here?
They falsely claimed he'd made an actionable threat. We can't remove their power to request warrants and arrest people for legitimately threatening others, right?
They misused power.
Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit
#56Reminds me of Douglass Mackey, who was convicted for sharing deceptive memes before the 2016 election that falsely told Clinton supporters they could vote by text message. He was sentenced to 7 months in federal prison in 2023.
Why does it remind you of that case? The two seem quite different.
Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit
#57The sheriff that arrested him should face criminal charges for misuse of authority. That he doesn't reflects a structural weakness in US law. In most European legal systems a law enforcement officer overstepping his legal authority would face criminal charges for it.
Eh, in the UK this is only true for the most absolutely serious cases where someone has been killed or seriously injured. Wrongful arrest doesn't. It may face career risks.
Ultimately the US lacks some sort of Federal "inspectorate of police" that would be able to ban people from being law enforcement officers or at least require e.g. retraining or restriction of duties, without leaving it up to frankly corrupt local authorities.
Double-edged sword though when the Feds get captured by the Party, though.
Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit
#58Thank god 1st amendment works. But it should not get paid from taxpayer money, instea the offending officer ahould pay it
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Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit
#59> retired Tennessee law enforcement officer Larry Bushart has won a substantial settlement from the county and sheriff behind his arrest. I did not expect to read that the victim was a retired law enforcement officer. This whole case is weird. I’m glad he won a settlement but I would like to see some actual accountability.
Even being a retired FBI director doesn't save you from this kind of stupid sh*t.
Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit
#60Reminds me of Douglass Mackey, who was convicted for sharing deceptive memes before the 2016 election that falsely told Clinton supporters they could vote by text message. He was sentenced to 7 months in federal prison in 2023.
There’s a large difference between tampering with an election by spreading misinformation (illegal) and posting a picture that expresses an opinion (free speech)