11/1 Update/Note: The date on the TikTok clip referenced in numerous write-ups including this one was from 10/11, not last week when the AP reporter said she heard the “Let’s go, Brandon” quote uttered. We regret not catching that. In addition to that, there is speculation the pilot in the 10/11 clip was actually saying “Let’s go, Braves” and that it may have been the same pilot she says she heard last week. We’re doing some digging into this story and will provide an update when we know more.
——–
We reported earlier on the stir one rebellious Southwest Airlines pilot created on his Houston-to-Albuquerque flight Friday when he ended a passenger greeting he was giving on the plane’s intercom system with a nod to the wildly (and internationally) popular “Let’s go, Brandon” chant.
“We’re heading east at about seven or eight miles per hour,” the pilot stated. “Clear visibility, mostly clear skies, about 77 degrees. Thanks for coming out and flying Southwest Airlines, welcome aboard, and remember, ‘let’s go, Brandon.’”
According to an Associated Press story on the triggering incident, what followed were “audible gasps from some passengers,” some of who likely needed some counseling and a few dedicated hours of alone time in a padded room if the Twitter responses from fauxtraged leftists over the story were any indication.
Making matters worse for the perpetually offended leftist mob was that knowledge that, per the Daily Mail, that one Houston pilot wasn’t the only one paying homage to the “Brandon” chant:
Pilots were also reportedly heard repeating the message on their radios throughout the day, even as someone warned ‘Southwest has a hot mic,’ according to audio posted online.
But while we’re used to the predictable nuttery from the rank and file Usual Suspects™ on social media in response to these types of stories, I must say my I had to pick myself up off the floor (almost literally, honest) a bit earlier after laughing so hard from reading some of the bat crap crazy reactions from our supposed intellectual betters in academia and in the mainstream media. Clearly, these rogue pilots hit the painfully tender nerves of some folks, and perhaps for therapeutic reasons, they chose to let it all out on Twitter.
The most notable among them came from Harvard professor Juliette Kayyem, who you’ll be shocked to find out is also a CNN “national security analyst.” In her reaction to the story, a clearly enraged Kayyem suggested all passengers on that flight have “standing to file a complaint” with the Federal Aviation Administration, encouraging them to do so ASAP in order to spur an an “investigation” which would show whether Southwest would take action against the unruly pilot or “defend him” for “messing around in the air”:
If @SouthwestAir doesn’t do anything, every passenger on that flight has standing to file a complaint with the @FAANews and they should do so. Southwest will then be compelled to investigate or defend him. Have fun with that. No messing around in the air. Bright line rule. https://t.co/L7VlZWJ0SU
— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) October 30, 2021
After critics ripped her up one side and down the other for the insane suggestion that such matters be taken up with the FAA (which probably has much more important issues to deal with beyond passengers suffering from Hurt Feelings Syndrome), Kayyem let people know that she was actually a generous person because she wasn’t calling on the pilot to be “fired.” Still, she indicated the issue must be addressed because if not it would open the door for other pilots to insult Joe Biden in front of people who might require additional cold towels, whiskey shots, and paper bags to blow into from crew members should they hear “Brandon” mentioned:
Unlike some of you, I’m not saying he should fired. Only that there should be investigation. For all we know he was making fun of it. Either way — bad joke or asshole — it cannot go unaddressed lest it opens up other pilots to harangue passengers.
— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) October 30, 2021
Those were just two of the numerous tweets she posted on the “issue.” Clearly, the triggering and the accompanying struggle to sort through her feelings on the topic were real.
In addition to Kayyem’s mini-rant was the reaction from her fellow CNN’er John Harwood, who purports to be a “journalist” but who in reality is a confirmed Democrat flack who we have been reasonably assured would never overtly display any bias (except in all the instances where he has done just that).
His reaction? “[S]eriously @SouthwestAir?”
An AP reporter who happened to be on the plane bragged about nearly being kicked off of it for trying to get to the pilot through a locked cockpit:
TFW you’re trying to go on vacation and then the pilot says the very thing you’re working on over the loud speaker and you have to try to get him comment but then almost get removed from plane. https://t.co/xZI5FtLzJB
— Colleen Long (@ctlong1) October 30, 2021
“Also in defense of airline I was asking them to open locked cock pit and probably sounded insane!” she later stressed.
Liberal podcaster/Salon writer Bob Cesca said if such a horrible thing happened to him, he’d be checking the safety equipment and procedures on the plane just to be on the safe side.
“If this happened on a flight I was on, I’d spend as much time as possible thoroughly reacquainting myself with the safety and rescue procedures because there’s an incompetent weirdo who believes a con-man’s obvious lies piloting the aircraft,” Cesca pouted.
I found that response rather perplexing, considering one doesn’t have to be a staunch supporter of former President Trump’s to not be happy with the direction this country is going under the current Oval Office occupant, as numerous recent polls have made very clear.
In any event, it tells you about the upside-down state of things in this country at the present moment when people freak out in this manner to the point they demand a government entity get involved. If Southwest decides to reprimand the pilot for making a political statement on the job (though he would be lauded by these same pepole as a Resistance hero had he uttered “Black Lives Matter” instead of “LGB”), that should be enough to appease the mobs. But it won’t be. The FAA must get involved in this very pressing matter because everything is stupid.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member