Adam Steinbaugh
LightNews LightNews
banner
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
Adam Steinbaugh
@adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
8.8K followers 540 following 850 posts
Philly. First Amendment lawyer at FIRE. Licensed in CA, PA. Opinions my own.
Posts Replies Media Videos
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 9:18 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
BREAKING: Charges against Larry Bushart over a meme quoting President Trump have been dropped: www.wkrn.com/news/charges...
LEXINGTON, Tenn. (WKRN) — The charges against Larry Bushart have been dropped, according to local law enforcement. Bushart, a retired law enforcement officer who posted dozens of memes critical of President Donald Trump, was arrested by Lexington police and booked into the Perry County Jail in September over one meme in particular. The Perry County Sheriff and Court Clerk confirmed to News 2 on Wednesday Bushart’s charges were dropped.
October 29, 2025 at 7:26 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
The Sheriff sits down in his office for an interview to argue that he *had* to arrest Larry Bushart for posting a meme quoting President Trump. www.newschannel5.com/news/newscha...
October 29, 2025 at 2:28 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
The Sheriff's story about the arrest of Larry Bushart over a Trump/Kirk meme continues to fall apart.

Sheriff claims the arrest was necessary because Bushart refused to "clarify" to local police that his meme wasn't a threat. The police department says that's not true.

www.wkrn.com/news/local-n...
In a statement to News 2, Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems claimed, “We coordinated with other departments to approach Mr. Bushart and provide options to de-escalate the situation before an arrest was made. Mr. Bushart declined to clarify his public messages and calm the situation that was causing multiple, reasonable citizens to be in fear of their children’s safety at school.” News 2 asked Weems via text message, “What agency did you work with to try to have Larry Bushart clarify and deescalate?” Weems replied, “My investigator reached out to Lexington pd.” When News 2 asked Lexington’s police chief whether his department was involved in any way with asking Bushart to deescalate or clarify his messages, the chief responded, “No.”
October 29, 2025 at 1:16 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
Who got pardoned now
October 24, 2025 at 4:46 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
Iowa federal court issues temporary restraining order against school district's efforts to fire high school teacher over social media comment about Charlie Kirk. If people complaining to the school were "disruption," it would effectuate a heckler's veto. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Because Crook spoke as a citizen on a matter of public concern, the Court must next determine whether Defendants have produced evidence to indicate Crook’s speech had an adverse impact on the efficiency of their operations. Cf. Mayfield, 122 F.4th at 1053. At this stage of the litigation, the Court determines Defendants’ allegations of harm to school operations are insufficient to warrant denial of a temporary restraining order. Defendants allege the district received “111 emails and 140 phone calls,” the vast majority of which originated from parents “asking for [Crook’s] termination or requesting that their children be removed from [Crook’s] class.” ECF No. 9-1 at 8; see ECF No. 1-12 at 1. Defendants cite Crook’s “inability to effectively work with the parents of her students,” which “would significantly hamper her job performance” as evidence of disruption. ECF No. 9-1 at 9. Further, Defendants allege Crook’s speech made it “impossible for her to serve as a positive role model for her students.” Id. Significantly, “[m]ere allegations the speech disrupted the workplace or affected morale, without evidentiary support, are insufficient.” Lindsey, 491 F.3d at 899. Without further evidence, denying a temporary restraining order on “such ‘vague and conclusory’ concerns . . . runs the risk of constitutionalizing a heckler’s veto.” Melton v. City of Forrest City, Ark., 147 F.4th 896, 903 (8th Cir. 2025) (quoting Sexton v. Martin, 210 F.3d 905, 912 (8th Cir. 2000)). Defendants have not produced sufficient evidence to indicate Crook’s speech had an adverse impact on the operations of the District.
October 22, 2025 at 1:27 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
DHS posts photos of someone in a similar costume. It's not obscenity.
A person in a penis costume with a sign reading "Deport Deez Nutz"
October 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
If you have a police officer going around telling people to remove costumes he thinks are offensive, you have speech police. And the department and city officials are defending it! www.al.com/news/2025/10...
Upon arrival, an officer observed an individual in a “phallic costume” near the Baldwin Square Shopping Center. The officer then approached Gamble and requested that she remove her costume, according to a the news release. The costume, according to Fairhope police, is “deemed obscene in a public setting.” Gamble then refused to comply, according to the report.
October 20, 2025 at 5:06 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
Update from the Mayor of Fairhope, who is hopelessly wrong: 1819news.com/news/item/pe...

Wearing a costume is peaceful.

This is not profanity, but profanity is protected by the First Amendment. Cohen v. California.

This is not obscene. If you think this is erotic, you are alone.
October 20, 2025 at 1:01 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
Texas governor openly boasts it is “targeting” faculty based on their ideology.

Meanwhile, his office is refusing to produce public records about what they are doing because they expect to be sued.
Abbott tweet: Univ. of Texas professor was dismissed from an administrative post overseeing university academic affairs because of ideological differences. Texas is targeting professors who are more focused on pushing leftist ideologies rather than preparing students to lead our nation. We must end indoctrination and return to education fundamentals at all levels of education.
October 20, 2025 at 11:35 AM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
This also explains Ed Martin’s retweet from about an hour ago.
October 17, 2025 at 10:11 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
Trump releases fraudster George Santos from prison for (R)easons.
George Santos was somewhat of a “rogue,” but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison. I started to think about George when the subject of Democrat Senator Richard “Da Nang Dick” Blumenthal came up again. As everyone remembers, “Da Nang” stated for almost twenty years that he was a proud Vietnam Veteran, having endured the worst of the War, watching the Wounded and Dead as he raced up the hills and down the valleys, blood streaming from his face. He was “a Great Hero,” he would leak to any and all who would listen — And then it happened! He was a COMPLETE AND TOTAL FRAUD. He never went to Vietnam, he never saw Vietnam, he never experienced the Battles there, or anywhere else. His War Hero status, and even minimal service in our Military, was totally and completely MADE UP. This is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN! George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated. Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!
October 17, 2025 at 10:07 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
A Texas public university administrator's notes for a meeting with faculty.

"No daylight": faculty "cannot discuss or teach anything regarding transgender - only male and female." They must "scrub" syllabi for "transgender items."

And keep everything out of writing: "Don't email; talk directly."
Notes from "Faculty Meetings": 1. From Tech System Chancellor through the Vice Chancellor and General Council to our President, Provost and General Council: Executive order of the President Executive Order of the Governor HB229 2. These documents direct that there are only two sexes: male and female 3. With regard to curriculum and what is discussed in the classroom and as part of the course, you cannot discuss or teach anything regarding transgender - only male and female 4. If you decide not to do this, you are on your own, no backing from the university, and you are placing your position at peril (Texas A&M) 5. Questions have been raised and are being asked, but for now a complete moratorium is what is expected. 6. No daylight on this - tell FACULTY NOW 7. Trans names are recognition in class are also a problem, use given/legal names, not preferred names 8. Check course descriptions to scrub for transgender items - Rewrite syllabus if necessary 9. Take preferred pronouns out of email signatures (expect a "standard" email signature to come from Communication & Marketing soon) 10. Remove "Ally" stickers from email signatures, offices, etc. 11. Don't email; talk directly 12. Questions; Please help me to coordinate any questions that you might ahve so that I can forward them up and get them answered. 13. Email copies of the information listed above (executive orders and HB)
October 17, 2025 at 2:37 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
From the complaint, filed long before January 6:
Notwithstanding these facts, SPLC's Change the Terms home page uses the photo of Mr. McInnes and the Proud Boys -- in particular, and specifically - engaged in peaceful protest as a backdrop to copy that falsely characterizes the Proud Boys as "violent," and stating, "Just as the internet has created immense positive value by connecting people and creating new communities, it has also given new tools to those who want to threaten, harass, intimidate, defame, or even violently attack people different from themselves," as shown below.
October 16, 2025 at 8:46 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
Federal court (after six years!) rules on and dismisses Gavin McInnes' lawsuit against the @splcenter.org

The case sought to declare it defamatory to say McInnes and the Proud Boys are "extremists," "far-right," a "hate group", or "white supremacists."

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Aside from what is actually alleged in the complaint (including materials adopted in it) , which is all the court may look at, see Coral Ridge, 6 F.4th at 1253, Mcinnes's briefing returns to the same losing refrain: the Proud Boys says it is not a hate group; SPLC acknowledges that the Proud Boys says it is not a hate group and that the group contends that it has engaged in non-hateful activity; therefore, SPLC acted with actual malice in describing it as a hate group. Under this flawed formulation, any published statement denied by a public figure is, by virtue of that denial, published with actual malice. squarely rejected. The Eleventh Circuit has noted that "there is a fair debate about whether the term hate group is definable in such a way that it is provable as false" and that the "debate is complicated [further] by the fact that SPLC put its own definition of the term on its website." Coral. Ridge, 6 F.4th at 1252 n.7. This court need not resolve at this time the questions posed in that debate. But if it had to, it has already found that SPLC's hate group designation was not provable as false because "there is no single, commonly understood meaning of the term 'hate group'" from which to test the label's veracity. Coral. Ridge, 406 F. Supp. 3d 1258, 1274 (M.D. Ala. 2019) (Thompson, J.). The underlying issue highlighted throughout Mcinnes' s arguments is that SPLC has amassed too much influence over social media companies. This is neither here nor there. It has been said that the film critic Roger Ebert could make or break a film's financial... success in three words or less. Ebert could have declared that "The Godfather" was a hateful, misogynistic, deeply racist film and that could have ruined the film's boxoffice. But that would not, by fiat of Ebert' s influence, make his judgment-based opinion a fact. That is, Ebert calling the movie hateful does not make the movie, in fact, hateful.
October 16, 2025 at 8:24 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
SUPREME COURT: "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate"

RUTHERFORD COUNTY, TENNESSEE.: well, let's give it a go

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
"The conduct of the Plaintiff is simply inexcusable in this context. Teachers do not shed their identity as teachers when they leave the school grounds or post on social media. Teachers have always had special roles in our culture."
October 14, 2025 at 1:39 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
October 7, 2025 at 7:55 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
our tv:
dubya ducking shoe
October 5, 2025 at 8:02 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
ahahahahahaha
Trump one dollar coin
October 3, 2025 at 6:11 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
Delaware GOP demanding an investigation and "consequences" over a University of Delaware student comedy sketch TV show (akin to SNL) because its closing credits offered "Special Thanks to: Charlie Kirk's Killer" (and also "Cocaine" and "Pollution").
Executive Director of Delaware GOP tweets: 🚨 University of Delaware TV Network Thanks “Charlie Kirk’s Killer” in Credits — Then Covers It Up @UDelaware ’s STN49, advised by the Comms Department, aired “The @BiweeklyShow ” with that credit. After students noticed, it was deleted and reuploaded. I’m told the department wanted it to “go away quietly.” No accountability just a cover-up. It was produced under faculty oversight, funded by the university, and greenlit through a sanctioned program. Who approved this and what consequences will follow?
October 2, 2025 at 10:26 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
Florida congressman extremely concerned by primary issue in his district: Muslims praying in Michigan.
Randy Fine tweet: Muslims blasting their "prayers" in an American city at 5 AM isn't a call to worship, it's a call to action. This is their warning siren. We should listen. No different than the German Stuka dive bomber scream of WWII.
September 26, 2025 at 1:44 AM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
It’s an emergency. Just like TikTok.
Lucy holding football
September 18, 2025 at 11:04 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
A senior attorney in the DOJ's Office for Civil Rights is pressuring a public university to fire a faculty member for commenting on Charlie Kirk:
Leo Terrell tweets: "Your move @montanastate," sharing a Libs of Tik Tok post about Samantha Balemba-Brownlee for saying that Kirk "was a misogynistic, racist, homophobic, xenophobic asshole. He spread hate. He harmed society. He cut down women at every turn. No, I do not mourn the man" and "Holy shit! Someone shot CHarlie Kirk in the neck! Not condoning violence, but maybe people are sick of the garbage he spews, perhaps?"
September 17, 2025 at 10:53 PM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 GEAR UP PATRIOTS 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
We’re gonna tie up the phone lines of a CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL because someone might have insulted Charlie Kirk 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
NizNellie3 • @NizNellie3 • 1h UPDATE g ... The Children's Hospital of Los Angeles are digging in its heels to protect a PEDIATRICIAN, who upon seeing the murder of Charlie Kirk, rejoiced by posting, "Let's also not forget this man was a piece of sh*t!" They've locked replies on their X account. Noted. • NizNellie3 • @NizNellie3 • 1d Dr. Elizabeth Lewis, Pediatrician, Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. Celebrated the murder of Charlie Kirk by posting: "Let's also not forget this man was a piece of sh*t!!!" Leftism is a cancer that produces doctors who laugh at widows and their children. @ChildrensLA
September 16, 2025 at 12:53 AM
adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social
Headline: Nigel Farage takes free speech crusade to America as UK laws spark concern in US Screen from Home Alone 2: "It ain't much better in here, kid." Kevin screaming
September 2, 2025 at 1:21 PM