Zach Cassidento is high school senior at Amity High Regional School in Woodbridge, Connecticut. For his birthday, Cassidento received an Airsoft rifle. Apparently, Cassindento likes the hobby of Airsoft and so he was excited at the new hobby rifle he received.
He was so excited and happy at the gift that he posted a picture of the rifle on social media using his own computer, at home (away from school,) and on his own time.
The words “have a nice day” with a happy face is part of the gun’s design. The senior told News 8 his hobby is playing with toy guns and he thought posting the picture was harmless.
Zach added, “I took a picture. It was about half way up the barrel of the gun. It showed the trigger. It showed the magazine. And it cut off just by the stock. It also showed the chamber open with no bullet in there and the warning sticker stating that it is a toy gun.” (emphasis ours)
Things didn’t go well after that.
The image and words were unsettling to a student who brought the picture to the attention of school officials. Zach was taken out of class.
He added, “They took my phone and my backpack and pulled me into the office, out into the hallway where the officer told me to put my hands out and he checked me.”
His mom, GraceAnne Cassidento, said her son was treated like a criminal.
She told News 8, “He was arrested because he posted a picture of what he got for his birthday which is an airsoft gun. If he would have gotten a skate board he would have taken a picture of a skate board.”
She said the high school handled it wrong. Cassidento added, “They searched my son at school. They didn’t call me. they didn’t tell me what was going on. They did not call me until he’s already been arrested, searched, brought to the office, harassed. Then they called me because I had to meet them at my home to have five officers come into my home and search my house.”
We understand the idea that in this day, age and climate, there are legitimate fears concerning teens with actual weapons making actual threats. While we don’t like the idea that the police have to investigate these things, once an investigation shows that the image is depicting a toy, move on. (more…)
Mar 30, 2018
Posted by AAfterwit on Mar 30, 2018 | Comments Off on It’s Friday, But Sunday’s Coming.
Michael Smalanskas is a senior and resident assistant at Providence College, which is a Dominican-run run school in Rhode Island.
As part of his RA responsibilities, Smalankas was required to maintain a bulletin board with relevant messages, flyers and bulletins.
On March 1, 2018, Smalankas put up a display (seen above) with the title of “Marriage: The Way God Intended It, One Man, One Woman.” The display states the official position of the Roman Catholic Church in a Roman Catholic university.
All Hades broke loose.
Some people didn’t like Smalanskas’ message.
[Smalanskas] said an earlier pro-life poster elicited little negative reaction, and he expected a similar response to his marriage poster — not a massive hostile response from fellow RAs and students, who mobbed his hall and tore it down.
At various points in the month, he said, campus security moved him to different locations because they no longer felt the situation was safe. On March 14, the hostility escalated to the point that campus security discovered a crudely drawn cartoon of him being sodomized by a male student in his hall’s bathroom.
So there it was. A student that was being attacked and threatened for putting up a display reflecting the teachings of the Church at a Catholic school.
Once the school administration saw what was happening, they rushed to defend Smalanskas’ display and re-iterated the official stance of the Church.
(If you believe that one, we have some swamp land traversed by some bridges we’d like to sell you.) (more…)
Mar 29, 2018
Posted by AAfterwit on Mar 29, 2018 | Comments Off on Cocoa Beach, Palm Bay, Or Satellite Beach. Which Is The Next Riviera Beach?
The City of Riviera Beach, Florida (population 32,000 est.) sits on the east coast of Florida, right around Palm Beach.
However, unlike many small-ish sized cities, Riviera Beach is somewhat famous (or infamous) for having had two cases that have gone to the Supreme Court. What is more interesting is that both cases involve one man – resident Fane Lozman. In a case where the City tried to evict Lozman from the marina where Lozman was living, the City lost after the Supreme Court ruled that maritime law applied to the eviction.
The latest case was just heard before the Supreme Court and the Court’s ruling will have a tremendous effect on how governments treat citizens who speak out against elected officials.
Eleven years ago, fresh off his court victory and armed for bear, Lozman was making comments in front of the City Council. He was told by the Mayor to stop talking and then was arrested when he failed to do so. You can watch the exchange below which starts at the 0:32 mark:
Lozman sued the city, arguing that his arrest was in retaliation to his First Amendment-protected criticism of city policies and corruption. Before this arrest, city council members were on record suggesting “intimidating” him due to his opposition of the city’s redevelopment plan. The city had also made Lozman “the target of a string of legal pressures,” including attempting to evict him from the local marina (which a jury found to be retaliation for Lozman’s First Amendment expression), arresting and removing him from a different council meeting, and much more.
Despite all that, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that Lozman was barred from suing the city because there may have been probable cause for his arrest, and further that the existence of probable cause categorically barred a claim for retaliatory arrest. What’s worse is that the crime for which “probable cause” the city relies on—“disturbance of a lawful assembly”—wasn’t mentioned or identified until trial eight years later.
In short, the City officials decided to bar Lozman from speaking and then made a charge up against him justifying the arrest and preventing Lozman from suing the City.
Sound familiar?
We can point to examples in Cocoa Beach, Palm Bay and Satellite Beach where citizens were threatened with arrest for speaking their minds and raising the ire of government officials. Make no mistake, these officials will sometimes make up a charge to protect themselves and not the Constitution they swore to uphold. (more…)
Mar 28, 2018
Posted by AAfterwit on Mar 28, 2018 | Comments Off on “We Don’t Know What We Are Talking About, So We Should Run Your Lives.”
Will Witt was on location at the March for our Lives Los Angeles to find out what exactly is being protested, and what reforms attendees recommend. Check it out!
Amazing. These folks don’t have a clue as to what they are talking about, yet they want to strip you of your right of self defense.
Mar 27, 2018
Posted by AAfterwit on Mar 27, 2018 | Comments Off on We’re Number 1! (And That Is Not A Good Thing.)
#1 FLORIDA The Florida Supreme Court’s liability-expanding decisions and barely contained contempt for the lawmaking authority of legislators and the governor has repeatedly led to its inclusion in this report. And though the high court’s plaintiff-friendly majority this year shrunk from 5-2 to 4-3, a
hushed discussion between two majority justices recently caught by an open microphone suggests that this majority is as partisan as ever and brazenly determined to influence the judicial selection process as three like-minded colleagues face mandatory retirement in early 2019.
Meanwhile, an aggressive personal injury bar’s fraudulent and abusive practices in South Florida and elsewhere have also tarnished the state’s reputation. Encouragingly, at least some plaintiffs’ lawyers who’ve crossed the line are being held accountable, either with stiff court sanctions or criminal prosecutions. But with the help of some lawmakers, too many are still getting away with too much, and for the first time in this report’s 16-year history, enough shade has been cast on the Sunshine State to rank it as the nation’s worst Judicial Hellhole.
This type of judicial abuse hits us all in the pocketbooks: (more…)
Mar 26, 2018
Posted by AAfterwit on Mar 26, 2018 | Comments Off on The Parable Of The Snowman.
We had the television on in the background and heard an ad for ACE Hardware where they will make sure that you have everything you need for your paint job and sell it to you on the first trip and if you have to get more painting supplies, they will deliver it to you free of charge.
It reminded us of our father and a plumbing job he took on at our house long ago. Dad was a handy person and he could do most jobs around the house without having to call someone.
After examining the problem, Dad headed and I off to the hardware store to get the needed supplies. He talked with a salesperson and got everything he thought he needed.
The salesperson rang up the sale, took Dad’s cash, thanked him for his business and said “see you later this afternoon!”
My dad paused and replied, “I wasn’t planning on doing another job today. This is it.”
The salesman smiled and said, “plumbing jobs always take three trips to the hardware store.”
“Not for me,” Dad replied as he waved and walked out the door. (more…)
I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
