{"id":1080,"date":"2026-07-28T04:14:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=1080"},"modified":"2026-07-28T04:14:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:14:26","slug":"someone-was-arrested-at-a-public-meeting-for-the-crime-of-anti-data-center-clapping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=1080","title":{"rendered":"Someone Was Arrested at a Public Meeting For the Crime of Anti-Data Center Clapping"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you\u2019re thinking of attending any sort of public meeting about, say, zoning changes in and around your community that enable the building of data centers, here\u2019s something to keep in mind: a school teacher has now been carried out of one such meeting and booked in jail for clapping\u00a0<\/em>after someone else\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think we\u2019re all in a state of fear because of what this government\u2019s doing to us,\u201d an anonymous attendee of that meeting told the Wichita TV news outlet KWCH in a report from July 22. The meeting in Emporia, Kansas concerned zoning to enable the construction of the Flint Hills Digital Campus data center, a proposed \u201cgigawatt-scale\u201d facility.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get this out of the way: the teacher in question, 37-year-old Lux Claridge, was warned. The whole room was warned before this happened\u2014warned not to clap, which is an expression of approval.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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A man clapped once during public comment at a data-center zoning meeting in Emporia, Kansas.<\/p>\n

They arrested him. <\/p>\n

Remember\u2026 no dissent allowed! <\/p>\n

Just be silent like an obedient domesticated taxpayer while they fast\u2011track a data center in your backyard. pic.twitter.com\/2iEE41Akwq<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jason Bassler (@JasonBassler1) July 26, 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Across the three videos released so far of the incident\u2014in the Jason Bassler X post above, along with the two videos at the KWCH website, one of which is a news report while the other is just footage of the meeting, you can see an ostensible final warning, and then what I suppose you would call a rule violation in the form of clapping.<\/p>\n

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For what it\u2019s worth, a blog post on the First Amendment Coalition website questions whether a public meeting can even deem clapping to be a disruptive act and set an enforceable rule against it. Such meetings are meant to be fora for free expression. Clapping, undesirable as it may be for a presiding officer, may not rise to the level of \u201c\u2018actual disturbance,\u201d the Free Speech Coalition suggests. The Coalition quotes a ninth circuit ruling saying that in the context of similar meetings, a city \u201ccannot define disruption so as to include non-disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

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At any rate, in the footage, the apparent presiding officer says, \u201cSnapping, clapping, any other rude comments or anything, we will ask you to leave.\u201d A speaker finishes on an impassioned note, saying, \u201cwe are the people, and the table belongs to us,\u201d and sure enough, Claridge claps.<\/p>\n

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Then the presiding officer gives a somewhat ambiguous statement saying \u201cChief, will you take the next person out that claps or anything. Thank you.\u201d Evidently whoever the chief is, they interpret this as a call to make Claridge leave. We then see four people with badges swarm Claridge. Claridge refuses to get up, and says \u201cdrag me out,\u201d and then, as if to facilitate dragging, lies down on the floor. The four badged people lift and carry Claridge to a police Dodge Charger as multiple people might carry a cooler at a beach\u2014no dragging occurs.<\/p>\n

Claridge was arrested and charged. \u201cI\u2019m glad to be out \u2014 but this is an inconvenience, really. It\u2019s not really deterring me from speaking out or I guess, clapping,\u201d Claridge told KWCH. They plan to plead not guilty to the relevant charges.<\/p>\n

The Emporia Police Department told KWCH it \u201cremains committed to ensuring public meetings are conducted safely and in an orderly manner, while also respecting the rights of all citizens to participate in the civic process.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to KWCH, the city passed the zoning change needed for the data center project.<\/p>\n

Read more When You Share Claude Chats, You Might Be Sharing Them With Everyone<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After hearing an impassioned speech, Lux Claridge clapped, and was then arrested.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence"],"yoast_head":"\nSomeone Was Arrested at a Public Meeting For the Crime of Anti-Data Center Clapping - Long Haul Moving Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=1080\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Someone Was Arrested at a Public Meeting For the Crime of Anti-Data Center Clapping - Long Haul Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After hearing an impassioned speech, Lux Claridge clapped, and was then arrested.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=1080\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Haul Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-28T04:14:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=1080#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=1080\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b\"},\"headline\":\"Someone Was Arrested at a Public Meeting For the Crime of Anti-Data Center Clapping\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-28T04:14:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=1080\"},\"wordCount\":652,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=1080#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/31ba13df7aad4c3b1281d2897251546b.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Artificial Intelligence\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=1080#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=1080\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=1080\",\"name\":\"Someone Was Arrested at a Public Meeting For the Crime of Anti-Data Center Clapping - 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