We're not arguing about the validity of our opinions. What a waste of time that would be! :) All opinions are valid.
What we're arguing is whether the banned user's post constituted a sidebar rule violation of my instance (it did) and whether or not it was considered a bannable offense (it was).

Good catch! To be clear, this discussion thread pertains to banning a user for sidebar rule violation. Do you think that the fact that OP mentions being in Florida invalidates the violation?