Brickbat: The Greatest Gift of All

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Zach Cassidento was hauled out of class, arrested and suspended by Connecticut's Amity Regional High School for "disrupting the educational process" after posting a photo of a birthday present to Snapchat. Cassidento received an airsoft air gun as a gift. His post contained no threats but it still upset another student, who reported him.

Comments

[IceTrey]

And then they came for our Airsoft.

[SQRLSY One]

So if I sneeze in class, and some asshole reports me, and all the school administrators and cops and therapists and judges and lawyers and the POTUS and the POOTUS and the SCOTUS and the SCROTUS, ***ALL*** go and shit their pants, and then smear their shit all over, painting the whole town brown...

Then it is MY fault, for disrupting class, by sneezing?!?!?! WTF?!?!? I think our entire culture is mentally insane, and needs therapy!!!

[Quo Usque Tandem]

I generally abhor this crude expression, but our entire culture needs to grow a pair.

[gaoxiaen]

Times 250,000,000

[Wizard4169]

I remember many cases from my own dear school daze when various behaviors were forbidden and punished because they "disrupted", yet the only actual disruption I noticed was the reaction of administrators to unapproved behavior. Looking back, I think this observation may have been one of my early steps toward libertarianism.

[sharmota4zeb]

This is why we need more porn artists running our schools. Porn artists defend freedom of the press.

[Longtobefree]

WHAT WAS THE CHARGE for the arrest????

The snowflake should lose his first amendment rights for life.

[Fist of Etiquette]

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.

They were able to obtain a warrant based on a Snapchat picture of a toy gun?

[Cyto]

The picture he posted includes the red muzzle piece that says "this is a toy" as well as a sticker that says "warning, this is a toy gun".

So what did they take to the judge to get a warrant? If they left out the actual picture and just had text describing "reported as posting pictures off assault rifle", they should be disciplined for filing such an obviously false warrant application.

But if they included the photo..... why is that judge still on the bench?

Finally, I suppose it is possible that they didn't have a warrant. They could have just shown up and demanded to search the kid's home, expecting the parents to comply when 5 armed men with badges show up and demand entry.

[sarcasmic]

Or they forced their way inside and wrote in their report that the parents consented. Unless their is video telling otherwise, the cops' lies will always be believed.

[mpercy]

At least the cops didn't shoot their dog.

[Rebel Scum]

expecting the parents to comply when 5 armed men with badges show up and demand entry

Comply or die, as the saying goes. This is likely, I think. Intimidation.

[croaker]

The last person who demanded a warrant was dragged out the door, proned out on the porch, and shot five times in the back.

[I can't even]

That sentence made no sense to me either. No lawyers? No warrant?

[Rebel Scum]

five officers

That seems excessive. Aren't there real criminals to be found? //rhetorical

And how the fuck did they get a search warrant for a toy gun??

[Quo Usque Tandem]

School shootings are the offense du jour and no amount of response and force is excessive. Lest this guy by another Nicholas Cruz [especially given the total fuck up everyone from the school janitor to the FBI made of that one].

[Wizard4169]

Real criminals often have real guns. Surely you wouldn't expose our brave protectors to that sort of danger?

[Longtobefree]

Warrants? We don't got no stinkin warrants. We don't need no stinkin warrants.

[Jerryskids]

I'd have the picture put on a T-shirt with the slogan underneath "Ceci n'est pas une pistolet ? air comprim?" and defy them to make a court case out of it. It sounds to me like the offended snowflake is the one who disrupted the educational process in what seems to be a clear case of the heckler's veto. Smack the little shit upside the head and send him back to kindergarten like the little baby he is. Or get ready for vegans filing complaints over the problematic cafeteria food - and God help the school if it's serving culturally appropriative tacos or pizza or french fries.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Grievance rules, especially if you can claim protected species status.

[Cynical Asshole]

God help the school if it's serving culturally appropriative tacos or pizza or french fries.

Tacos, yes. Pizza and french fries, not so much. The French are white people, so no one gives a shit if their culture is "appropriated." The Italians are also now considered "white oppressors" as well, despite the fact that as recently as ~50 years ago they were also looked down on for coming over here and stealing all the jobs (along with the Irish).

[Tamfang]

I hate it when Italians come over and steal our Irish.

[Mark22]

The Spanish look pretty white to me too. They even used to be slavers, colonists, and imperialists, until their massive exploitation of South America's silver resources caused their currency to collapse.

[Cyto]

He forgot to check his privilege.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Where is the extremely amazing hero kid who sparkled for his masters? Who stopped this terrible school massacre before it was even conceived? Name this hero that we may glorify and exalt them as a perfect tool.

[Longtobefree]

Uh, yeah, right. That's what we all want to do for him.
We could even organize a parade complete with a rail.
Maybe get a nice rope necktie.

About 200 years a go, the Commonwealth of Virginia had a motto "Thus always to tyrants". Little did they know we would reach the point where a snowflake could posses tyrannical powers.

[sarcasmic]

When I was growing up I was told horror stories of this far away land where citizens lived in constant fear of being reported by their fellows to an oppressive government. I was assured that I lived in a free country where that could never happen.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Heard and read about the same stories; A Day in the LIfe of some Rusky dude.

[Inigo Montoya]

They say the USSR collapsed, but I'm no longer sure. I'm wondering if they secretly won and now we've come under Stalinist rule.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

As Nikita predicted, as he banged the podium with his shoe.

[Zeb]

Let's keep a little perspective. We are still pretty far from millions of people being murdered or starved to death, I think.

[sarcasmic]

We do now live in a country where people are encouraged to report on each other. People now get satisfaction from dropping a dime and making their neighbors disappear. Labeling entire demographics as enemies of the state is only a few steps away. After that anything goes.

[Cynical Asshole]

We do now live in a country where people are encouraged to report on each other.

"If you see something, say something."

[Quo Usque Tandem]

I f'n hate that expression. And I agree, it is a precursor to much worse. Personally, I ain't say'n shit.

[croaker]

This isn't a free county. It's not even reasonably priced.

[Incomprehensible Bitching]

I don't know about you, but where I come from, disrupting the education process is a class Z schedule omega felony.

[creech]

I'll bet it doesn't apply to teachers who walk out of school because they want higher salaries and pensions.

[JWatts]

Now you are Woke!

[Will Nonya]

This isnt even remotely funny. Even after they won raises in OK they walked out "for the children".

Nothing they've done is for the children. My kids elementary school has a $20k smart board in each classroom. I've yet to see a single teacher know how to use it much less use it to add benefit to the course ware. Yet they decided to walk out because they want new textbooks. The local high school spent more than a million buying chrome books because some technologically illiterate bureaucrat thought that kids is a relatively affluent area needed district purchased computers. Never mind that these devices will teach none of the skills they're slated to teach and are more likely required surveillance devices than educational aides.

I believe the teachers pay needed to be addressed but the way they went about it was lazy and disingenuous. That they still walked out after winning their raises "for the children" while placing the burden on parents and non-union school support staff is shameful.

The issues here are less to do with school funding than school priorities.

[Rebel Scum]

"disrupting the educational process" after posting a photo of a birthday present to Snapchat.

I don't think "disrupting the educational process" means what they think it means.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

That's admini-speak for we need to make an example of you to show just how on it we are.

[Will Nonya]

respect mah authoritah

[Inigo Montoya]

Where are the adults here? The narc kid should have been stopped by his parents. "You want to report WHAT? My god, junior. Don't be such a baby!"

The cops should have told school officials they don't have time for such crap as photos of B.B. guns. Not when dogs and black folk are roaming the streets.

I just hope the parents of the birthday boy sue the pants off everyone involved. Maybe that's the only way they'll learn. And at least the family of the reporting kid will actually feel the economic impact of a suit. Taxpayers won't foot their bill.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

In this environment of school shooting hysteria? Surely, you must truly hate children.

[Longtobefree]

"Surely, you must truly hate children"

I didn't, but now I do.
And public schools. And school administrations. And colleges who turn out these administrators. And stories publicizing this insanity.

I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more. Welcome to the revolution.

[Conchfritters]

What the holy fuck? Disrupting the educational process? I assume he took the picture at home, no? Or did he sneak it in to Spanish class and take the picture?

[Zeb]

That may be the most disturbing part of stories like this. Or one of the several very disturbing parts. The gun and the picture of the gun have nothing to do with school or the educational process (well maybe they do now).

[Zeb]

That other student reporting this has upset me. Arrest that asshole too.

[croaker]

No, take his ass behind the woodshed for the ass-beating beta daddy never gave him.

[Tejicano]

Wait a minute here. This wasn't no actual BB gun - which shoots metal projectiles with the capacity to harm living things. No buddy, this was an Air Soft which shoots plastic pellets able to blast ragged holes in paper images of people and kittens.

Maybe you didn't get the memo but these Air Soft gunz are scary and black and science has shown them to be the gateway totem to school-shooter-hood.

[Will Nonya]

Back in my day attempting to disrupt the "educational process" was like a sport. We thrust, teacher parry. If we won we might get out of learning something for a bit or if we did really good we'd get out of class for a chat with the psuedo authority figure on duty. None of them were armed though.

When a teacher swatted away our attempts like the amateurs we were they won themselves a modicum of respect.

Now it seams to go something like this:
Kid: "You have a personal life I don't agree with?" Points finger, screams "Active shooter!! Active Shooter!!"
Teacher: Screams and faints
Cops burst in, swat falls through the ceiling tiles and the principal says "It's out of my hands" then sips his bourbon tainted double whip caramel macchiato.

[Cynical Asshole]

His post contained no threats but it still upset another student, who reported him.

*facepalm* The proper response would have been to tell the busybody in training to get some non-bunching panties and mind their own fucking business.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

While I still find this as total BS. The photo in question is not the one being shown. He's photo if of an "assault" style rifle. Click the link.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

This is someone's idea of common sense gun laws.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Let this be a warning to all gun owners.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

News 8 reached out to the school superintendent but the calls weren't returned.

We don't answer to the little people.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

"Lions do not concern themselves with the opinions of sheep."

Sheriff Scott Israel, as stolen from Game of Thrones

[Tamfang]

There's nothing disruptive about having a cop drag a student out of class, of course.

By the way, when I followed the link, my computer hung up.

[Paco]

Here's an idea. Get together a dozen freedom loving families to post dozens of pictures or firearms, bb guns, replicas and perhaps a howitzer on a few Snapchat or Facebook ID's. Put a civil rights lawyer on retainer. Then start making complaints to the school. Sit back and watch the cluster****.

This type of response is called "fighting fire with fire".

[jerbigge]

Leaves no doubt these people have no comprehension of what an "assault rifle" is. Democrats being "stupid" will keep the Republicans in power and give Donald Trump a second term.