12:35 PM -- Today's Asheville Citizen Times reports on a shameful case of discrimination against an embattled religious minority in the eponymous Buncombe County, North Carolina:

Weaverville – When you’re a pirate, some dangers just come with the territory: scurvy, grog hangovers, a walk down the plank at sword point.

But being kicked out of school for a day?

Bryan Killian doesn’t think that’s a fair reaction to his decision to come to North Buncombe High School wearing an eye patch and an inflatable cutlass...

“I feel like my First Amendment was violated,” Killian, 16, said. “Freedom of religion and freedom of expression. That’s what I tried to do, and I got shot down.”

Freedom of religion?

Yes, Killian says, his “pirate regalia” is part of his faith — the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Laugh if you will, me hearties, but beware: First they came for the Pirates, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Pirate...

— Larry, Attack Monkey, Light Reading