An Ohio state senator received a crude Shrek meme from a blogger mocking him for losing the race for Senate president. He could have blocked the number. Instead, Jerry Cirino personally called the police chief in his hometown and asked for charges.
The judge who signed the arrest warrant had taken campaign money from Cirino and been endorsed by him. D.J. Byrnes was arrested in public at the Statehouse and held for 23 hours.
The text that came with the meme called Cirino “Young Mussolini.” His lawyers argued the whole exchange was about one thing, which was the race Cirino had just lost. FIRE called it protected political mockery and offered the senator some advice at the time. It told him to block the number.
A jury has now found Byrnes guilty of telecommunications harassment. The fine is $200. The arrest, the night in a cell, and the trial were the real sentence, and a powerful politician handed it out because a joke hurt his feelings.
https://reclaimthenet.org/ohio-blogger-convicted-political-joke-senator
reclaimthenet / Reclaim The Net
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2026-10-13 20:01:10 UTC
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2026-10-13 20:01:10 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "An Ohio state senator received a crude Shrek meme from a blogger mocking him for losing the race for Senate president. He could have blocked the number. Instead, Jerry Cirino personally called the police chief in his hometown and asked for charges.\n\nThe judge who signed the arrest warrant had taken campaign money from Cirino and been endorsed by him. D.J. Byrnes was arrested in public at the Statehouse and held for 23 hours.\n\nThe text that came with the meme called Cirino “Young Mussolini.” His lawyers argued the whole exchange was about one thing, which was the race Cirino had just lost. FIRE called it protected political mockery and offered the senator some advice at the time. It told him to block the number.\n\nA jury has now found Byrnes guilty of telecommunications harassment. The fine is $200. The arrest, the night in a cell, and the trial were the real sentence, and a powerful politician handed it out because a joke hurt his feelings.\n\nhttps://reclaimthenet.org/ohio-blogger-convicted-political-joke-senator",
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