Depending on what the case is, if you ask our Facebook followers if a person should get in trouble with their employers for things they say on their personal Facebook pages, a majority often say no. But I’m sure when folks read what former fire captain Brian Beckmann had to say on his account, a few people will rethink their stance for at least a moment.

In his social media post, Beckmann called out prosecutor Angela Corey (who charged George Zimmerman with second-degree murder for killing Trayvon Martin) for her choice to seek second-degree murder charges on Zimmerman, as well as the parents of “urban youth” for being welfare folks who can’t take care of their responsibilities. In his opinion of course.

“I and my co-workers could rewrite the book on whether our urban youths are victims of racist profiling or products of their failed, sh–bag, ignorant, pathetic, welfare dependent excuses for parents, but like Mrs. Corey, we speak only the truth.”

If that wasn’t enough, Beckmann finished his rant by saying, “They’re just misunderstood little church-going angels and the ghetto hoodie look doesn’t have anything to do with why people wonder if they’re about to get jacked by a thug.”

Though he thought himself to be mighty slick, according to The Miami Herald, someone took a screenshot of the post and sent it to Beckmann’s bosses. The folks at human resources agreed that his comments were not only inappropriate, but very unacceptable. It was decided on Monday that he would be punished for his words and be demoted back to a firefighter. Why? Well, because even though his Facebook has nothing to do with his work, by spouting a whole lot of nonsense and involving his co-workers in his post (“I and my co-workers…”), he shook the confidence of the public as someone who is supposed to be in charge. His disciplinary action report said this:

“While the opinion posted may have been personal, as a captain with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, it greatly disrupted the public’s confidence in our entire organization as a result of the reference to ‘my co-workers.’”

Not sure why Beckmann felt the need to try and pull the “urban youths who are products of their failed environment and crappy parents” in reference to the Martin case. Trayvon’s parents aren’t on welfare, and he was killed while trying to navigate the gated community his father lived in. And for the umpteenth time, can people stop playing stupid and fess up to the fact that EVERYBODY owns at least one hoodie!? Can we please stop acting like a hooded sweater is all the excuse someone needs to feel intimidated and open fire on someone not posing a threat to them? It’s tired at this point, and we all know the real reason Trayvon was targeted by George Zimmerman.

No need for me to do my own rant, so I’ll just wrap it up by asking you this: Do you think his department made the right decision to demote him? I mean, the man still has his job, but they just didn’t see him fit for a leadership role. Was that a good decision, or in your mind, were they wrong and is this just another case of free speech being attacked?

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(NYT) — The city has fired the first salvo in a battle with the firefighters’ union over reducing staffing and controlling medical leave.  In a letter Tuesday to the Uniformed Firefighters Association, the city said it planned to let lapse a deal that allows 60 engine companies to staff each shift with an extra firefighter, as long as the average number of firefighters taking medical leave doesn’t exceed a specified level.

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