GOP Senators Object To Proposal To Label Mask Objectors ‘Terrorists’
Earlier this month, Delata Air Lines' CEO Ed Bastian asked the feds to add travelers convicted of 'unruly' conduct to a new 'no-fly' list.Earlier this month, Delata Air Lines' CEO Ed Bastian asked the feds to add travelers convicted of 'unruly' conduct to a new 'no-fly' list.'The View' co-host expresses shock that she agrees with Ted Cruz on an issue: 'I feel kind of creeped out'
Sunny Hostin, co-host of "The View," expressed shock Wednesday after learning that she actually agreed with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — and claimed she was "creeped out by it."
What is the background?
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the nation's largest flight attendant union, is advocating for unruly passengers to be placed on a national no-fly list. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian agrees and sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland last week requesting the DOJ prosecute unruly passengers and place them on a no-fly list.
But Republican lawmakers are pushing back.
A group of eight GOP senators wrote Garland this week condemning the request. They explained that placing unruly passengers, including those who become agitated over the federal mask mandate for transportation, on the federal no-fly list "would seemingly equate them to terrorists who seek to actively take the lives of Americans and perpetrate attacks on the homeland."
What did Hostin say?
Speaking about the issue on "The View," Hostin explained that, in agreement with Cruz, she opposes taking such dramatic actions against unruly airline passengers.
"It scares me, though. I never thought there would be a day when I kind of agree with Ted Cruz, so I feel kind of creeped out by it. I feel very weird about this," Hostin admitted.
Noting the possible repeal of the federal mask mandate on airplanes, Hostin then explained why she opposes the push to expand the no-fly list.
"The mask mandate is gonna be, I think, overturned on March 18th, and it's not even going to be a TSA mandate anymore. And now you'll have people on the no-fly list for a law that's not even in place," Hostin said. "And it deputizes flight attendants. They have a very hard job, but who decides which passenger gets put on that no-fly list?"
Sen. Ted Cruz Opposes No-Fly List For Unruly Passengers | The View www.youtube.com
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg, however, expressed support for adding unruly passengers to no-fly lists, saying the government must "become nannies" to handle unruly passengers.
"We have to become nannies because people don't do the right thing," Goldberg said.
Meanwhile, co-host Joy Behar compared the issue to other developments on airlines, like smoking being banned and flight desks being locked because of Sept. 11. Behar then claimed, without evidence, that Cruz and other Republican lawmakers who wrote to Garland do not actually care about the issue, but are just playing politics.
Pete Buttigieg says federal no-fly list for unruly, violent airline passengers should be considered
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday the Biden administration should consider placing unruly airline passengers on the federal no-fly list.
What are the details?
During an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," host Dana Bash asked Buttigieg whether the federal government should place unruly or violent airline passengers on the federal no-fly list.
In response, Buttigieg agreed the option "should be on the table."
"Look, it is completely unacceptable to mistreat, abuse, or even disrespect flight crews," Buttigieg said. "These flight attendants have been on the frontlines of the pandemic from day one. And they're up there, as the announcement always say, for your safety."
"There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of treatment of flight crews in the air or any of the essential workers, from bus drivers to air crews who get people to where they need to be," he continued.
"The FAA stands strongly with flight crews. It's why you're seeing some really harsh penalties and fines being proposed," Buttigieg explained. "And we will continue to look at all options to make sure that flight crews and passengers are safe."
Bash presses Buttigieg on paid family leave youtu.be
As travel volume has returned to pre-pandemic levels, the FAA has recorded nearly 5,000 "unruly passenger reports." The FAA has also documented nearly 3,600 "mask-related incident reports."
In one shocking incident last week, an American Airlines flight attendant suffered broken bones when she was assaulted by an angry passenger.
The Washington Post reported:
A flight attendant for American Airlines suffered broken bones in her face and had to be hospitalized after a passenger allegedly attacked her Wednesday in an incident the company's chief executive called "one of the worst displays of unruly behavior we've ever witnessed." The incident occurred on a flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif. It prompted the pilots to divert the flight to Denver, where the passenger was temporarily detained.
The flight attendant apparently bumped the passenger while moving through the first-class cabin, according to Julie Hedrick, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents those who fly for American Airlines. The flight attendant apologized, but the passenger left his seat, confronted her as she stood in the aircraft's galley, then punched her in the face, Hedrick said.
The FAA has a zero tolerance policy for unruly and dangerous behavior. The agency is legally permitted to levy fines of up to $37,000 per violation of the FAA Reauthorization Act.
The question becomes, then, what exactly will government classify as behavior qualifying of being placed on the no-fly list, and will there be due process? Those are questions the Biden administration will have to answer if they truly consider moving forward with such a plan.
Rand Paul: A 'no-fly list' for the unvaccinated is 'obscene' and 'authoritarian'
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday responded to a former Obama administration official who is calling for a federal "no-fly list" for Americans who have not had a COVID-19 vaccine, calling the idea "obscene."
"If we now disagree in our personal medical decision with the left they're going to declare that we're a terrorist and that we can't fly," Paul said on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" Thursday morning.
"Even the CDC says you're not supposed to get vaccinated if you've been infected within three months. So what are you going to do? Tell people they can't fly for three months even according to the CDC?" he asked.
Writing in an op-ed for The Atlantic this week, former Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security Juliette Kayyem said that since the White House has refused to implement a nationwide vaccine mandate, "a no-fly list for unvaccinated adults is an obvious step that the federal government should take."
Kayyem argued that existing Transportation Security Administration rules have created a precedent for prohibiting certain individuals from flying.
"When you go to the airport, you see two kinds of security rules. Some apply equally to everyone; no one can carry weapons through the TSA checkpoint," Kayyem wrote. "But other protocols divide passengers into categories according to how much of a threat the government thinks they pose. If you submit to heightened scrutiny in advance, TSA PreCheck lets you go through security without taking off your shoes; a no-fly list keeps certain people off the plane entirely. Not everyone poses an equal threat. Rifling through the bags of every business traveler and patting down every preschooler and octogenarian would waste the TSA's time and needlessly burden many passengers."
She further said that "flying is not a right" and that the "same principle" behind TSA regulations should animate the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
"The federal government is the sole entity that can regulate the terms and conditions of airline safety," she wrote, adding that requiring air passengers to show proof of vaccination would be a "minor inconvenience."
But Paul pointed out that under such a policy individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 and who the CDC recommends should not get a vaccine dose until three months after their infection would be prohibited from flying.
The senator, an ophthalmologist, said that he and other doctors believe an individual's natural immunity from COVID-19 infection will "last a lot longer" than three months, so barring people who have recovered from COVID from flying is unreasonable.
"This idiot would have us not flying for three months, so it makes no sense," said Paul. "It's complete collectivism and all of these people are the same people who hooted and hollered and said, 'Trump is leading us to authoritarianism.'
"What could be more authoritarian than a no-fly list for people who disagree with you?"
What could be more authoritarian than the no-fly list for people who disagree with you? https://t.co/R7sv9imMkJ
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) 1628173541.0
Obama-era official calls for the unvaccinated to be placed on a no-fly list
A former assistant secretary for homeland security who served under President Obama is suggesting that unvaccinated people should be placed on a no-fly list by the federal government.
Juliette Kayyem argues in a piece published on The Atlantic that placing the unvaccinated on a no-fly list would serve to curb the spread of the coronavirus and could lead more people to get vaccinated.
She wrote that "a no-fly list for unvaccinated adults is an obvious step that the federal government should take. It will help limit the risk of transmission at destinations where unvaccinated people travel—and, by setting norms that restrict certain privileges to vaccinated people, will also help raise the stagnant vaccination rates that are keeping both the economy and society from fully recovering."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 58.3 percent of the U.S. population ages 12 and over has been fully vaccinated, while 67.9 percent has received at least one dose.
"The public debate about making vaccination a precondition for travel, employment, and other activities has described this approach as vaccine mandates, a term that, to conservative critics, suggests that unvaccinated people are being ordered around arbitrarily. What is actually going on, mostly, is that institutions are shifting burdens to unvaccinated people—denying them access to certain spaces, requiring them to take regular COVID-19 tests, charging them for the cost of that testing—rather than imposing greater burdens on everyone. Americans still have a choice to go unvaccinated, but that means giving up on certain societal benefits," Kayyem wrote. "Amid a global health crisis, people who defy public-health guidance are not, and do not deserve to be, a protected class."
According to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government website, Kayyem "is currently the Senior Belfer Lecturer in International Security at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where she is faculty chair of the Homeland Security and Security and Global Health Projects."
Conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey, host of "Relatable," commented about the idea of banning the unvaccinated from flights: "This has nothing to do with a virus with a 99% survival rate & everything to do with people looking for an excuse for authoritarianism and finally found it," she tweeted.
“Unvaccinated people belong on the no-fly list.” This has nothing to do with a virus with a 99% survival rate & eve… https://t.co/On8beFyuMb
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) 1628108105.0
Top House Democrat says 'no question' Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley may be added to 'no-fly' list if found liable for Capitol violence
A top House Democrat said Monday that Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Josh Hawley (Mo.) should be added to the "no-fly" list — which prohibits individuals from traveling on commercial airlines into, out of, or within the United States — if they are found liable for instigating violence at the U.S. Capitol last week.
What's the background?
Democratic lawmakers have partially blamed Cruz and Hawley for last week's deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol, claiming their efforts to oppose the Electoral College certification of Joe Biden's win sowed legitimacy into claims that the election had been "stolen" from President Donald Trump.
Although Cruz and Hawley have not been accused of criminal acts, Democratic senators and representatives have increasingly called for both men to resign, alleging they have violated their oaths of office.
What is being said now?
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Monday there is "no doubt" that Cruz and Hawley should be placed on the no-fly list as a way to hold them liable for "inciting" the violence.
"There's no question about it," Thompson said on SiriusXM's "The Joe Madison Show."
"There's no exemption for being put on the no-fly list," Thompson added. "Even a member of Congress that commits a crime, you know, they're expelled from the body. There are ethics charges that can be brought against those individuals. And people are looking at all of this."
Thompson went on to include freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) among those who may need to be punished.
"What Hawley did and what Cruz did was horrible," Thompson said. "What the new member from Colorado — who basically tweeted directions and everything that was going on — that's not something you do. Somebody said, 'Well she's new.' Well the point is ignorance of the law is no excuse. So if you don't know, you've still done something wrong."
What about the protesters themselves?
Thompson made it clear what he thought of those who participated in the Capitol riots, calling them "domestic terrorists."
"First of all, these folks, in my opinion, can be classified as domestic terrorists because of the actions they participated in on Wednesday," he said, as TheBlaze reported Monday.
"Now under normal circumstances international terrorists are out on no-fly lists. These are domestic terrorists — same thing. A terrorist is a terrorist, no matter who you are," Thompson added.
Democrats are, in fact, doing everything in their power to ensure that those who participated in the violence on the Capitol face any and all consequences.
While many of the rioters have been identified and arrested, two members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure wrote to the Federal Aviation Administration this week demanding the agency do everything in its power to ensure the protestors, and future agitators, are prevented from traveling to violently disrupt President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.
Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) told FAA administrator Stephen Dickson:
We write, therefore, to urge you to take every appropriate action within your statutory authority, and to work with air carriers to persuade them to take complementary action, (1) to prevent civil unrest from jeopardizing aviation safety and leading to injury or worse during flight, and (2) to limit the chance that the Nation's commercial airline system could be used as a means of mass transportation to Washington, D.C., for further violence in connection with the inauguration.
There is no indication that any participants in last week's riots have been added to the federal no-fly list, CNN reported.
Democratic House Homeland Security chairman calls for Capitol rioters to be put on 'no-fly list' usually reserved for suspected terrorists
Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is calling on the Transportation Security Administration and FBI to place the riotous Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on the national "no-fly list" — a subset usually reserved for terrorism suspects.
Hundreds of rioters supportive of President Donald Trump's election challenge fought with cops, breached security barricades, and entered the Capitol Wednesday afternoon, forcing a lockdown and resulting in the deployment of National Guard troops. Multiple people died in the pandemonium, including a Capitol Police officer injured during the confrontations with rioters and a Trump supporter who was shot by law enforcement.
In a statement issued Thursday, Thompson said, "Given the heinous domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol yesterday, I am urging the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to use their authorities to add the names of all identified individuals involved in the attack to the federal No-Fly List and keep them off planes. This should include all individuals identified as having entered the Capitol building — an intrusion which threatened the safety of Members of Congress and staff and served as an attack on our Nation.
"We already saw reports of 'unruly mobs' in air on the way to Washington, D.C.," Thompson continued. "It does not take much imagination to envision how they might act out on their way out of D.C. if allowed to fly unfettered. This is an action that TSA and the FBI, by law, are able to take but, to my knowledge, have not yet taken. Alleged perpetrators of a domestic terrorist attack who have been identified by the FBI should be held accountable."
After calls from flight attendants to ban insurrectionists from flights out of DC, the House Homeland Security Comm… https://t.co/L3vyAhsj9X— Sam Mintz (@Sam Mintz)1610060400.0
Sam Mintz, a transportation reporter for Politico who posted the statement on Twitter, noted that the committee does not have the power to order protesters be placed on the no-fly list.
"[This is] a request (albeit one with a lot of eyes on it)," he said. "No indication yet from TSA or FBI that this has actually happened."
Thompson's request came after the nation's largest flight attendants union also expressed safety concerns and demanded that identified rioters be barred from their return flights.
According to the TSA, the no-fly list is "a small subset of the U.S. government Terrorist Screening Database (also known as the terrorist watchlist) that contains the identity information of known or suspected terrorists." Individuals are placed on the watchlist when they are "reasonably suspected of being involved in terrorist activities."
In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson for the TSA said the agency is "always on high alert."
"We prepare for all contingencies. For security reasons we do not discuss the precise details of our multiple layers of security, both seen and unseen. Travelers may notice additional law enforcement and canine presence, especially when events justify an increased security posture," the statement said. "TSA is, of course, always at the ready to accommodate FBI requests and Congressional authorizations related to the No Fly List."
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