Don’t. Blame. The. Masks! Fix. The. Problem!

Full Disclosure I am an airline brat. My brother and I spent our youths jetting all over the place, since my father was a customer service supervisor for United Airlines. The old airline employee slogan was Marry me and fly for free! We grew up on the airlines in the days before deregulation. I spent 20 years with United in Reservations and as a pilot crew scheduler, which means my kids grew up airline brats too. My brother retired from United last year after more than 30 years as a mechanic.

And I’m here to tell you, after 60 years of sitting in aircraft cabins and cockpits, what we are seeing today is pure, unadulterated bullshit! For most of my life, an actual assault on a flight attendant was almost unheard of. The worst thing was a business traveler who had a bad day, and one too many Jack-and Cokes. But the confrontations almost never got physical.

What we are seeing today is a different breed of cat. And you can’t blame it on masks. Masks have been mandated for air travel almost from the start of the pandemic. And in most places in the US, stores of all varieties require masks in order to enter. You have to wear a mask in order to ride a public bus. You have to wear a mask in order to enter a local, state, or federal building. Whether you’re an anti vaxxer or not, masks are a standard part of life in most of America.

So its not masks. Our mask mandate was lifted last week, and my first impulse on getting out of the car is to put my mask on. Which I gleefully ignore. But Sara Nelson, the President of the Association of Flight Attendants appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show tonight, And she related a, what I found, rather shocking detail. In cases of in air assault, it turns out that in 51% of the cases, gender, racial, or sexual preference references were used by the offenders.

From where I’m sitting, this has nothing to do with masks. This has to do with far right assholes who feel emboldened by the era of Trump who are acting out. To be fair, some of it might well be people who have been isolated for two years acting out antisocially.

The airlines are responding. Each airline has instituted their own No Fly List. If a passenger is removed from a flight and convicted with federal FAA violations, that passenger is barred from flying on that carrier again. But that doesn’t mean that the asshole can’t just turn around and make a reservation on another flight on another airline. And so, the airlines want the DOJ to create a universal No Fly List that would allow airlines to share information so that a moron who commits an assault on one airline can’t get on another airline. I heartily concur.

But the shit-for-brains in the GOP US Senate are mickle displeased. Led by Marco Rubio, Calgary Teddy Cruz, and Mike Lee, 8 GOP Senators have sent a letter to the DOJ protesting the creation of a national no fly list. Their objection was that the creation of the list could lead to anti maks protesters being labeled as terrorists.

Look fucknuts! This has absolutely nothing to do with masks! Let me ask all of you a simple question. When is the last time that any of you heard on your local news about somebody who got dragged off of a goddamn bus because he blew a mask gasket and started whaling on the driver and other passengers? News Flash for Li’l Marco and the rest of his anal retentive cabal. Some of these shitheads have actually tried to force open the door of a pressurized aircraft, which would bring the goddamned thing down.

There are currently 50 sitting GOP members in the Senate. Hopefully there are at least 10 sane members who are willing to make the skies safe for people who choose to travel by air. Because not getting these people off of airplanes is nothing more or less than an air tragedy waiting to happen. God, please not let this happen.