American And Delta Pilots Grounded After Posting Online Celebrations Of Charlie Kirk’s Assassination

by Gary Leff

For the last several days I’ve seen tremendous vitriol on social media by airline employees over the shooting death of Charlie Kirk. Most of it has come to my attention when passengers, or the general public, has flagged these comments to the airlines on Twitter – asking the airlines to do something about it.

And asking the Secretary of Transportation to do something about it, too. Secretary Duffy shares that American Airlines pilots have been removed from service over some especially vile social media comments that I won’t link to.

No matter what you thought of Charlie Kirk, he wasn’t ‘Hitler’ like some of the comments about him suggest. He was a man who argued for ideas that were often controversial, especially on college campuses where he reguarly shared them. He was a husband a father. And while he wasn’t someone I paid much attention to before recent events, I cried listening to air traffic control welcome the plane that carried him back from Utah.

Aviation watchdog JonNYC shares a message from Delta to employees letting them know that employees have been suspended pending investigation for violating the company’s social media policy. Here is that note.

We’re seeing Delta suspend pilots but to be clear comments are being made across the airlines and I’ve seen it at United, American and Southwest as well.

Delta as a company has generally ‘leaned left’ (though not as far as United did under the Biden administration, and hasn’t tacked as hard to the right as United has done under Trump – though Delta has adopted ‘Gulf of America’).

Pilots are one of the few unionized work groups at Delta, and ALPA will certainly take a dim view of suspensions – though pilots generally skew quite conservative. Vitriolic criticisms of Charlie Kirk aren’t likely to represent a majority view of their members.

One Mile at a Time says Delta has a social media policy and the airline is within its rights to enforce it.

Live and Let’s Fly distinguishes between celebrating Kirk’s death and quoting him on issues like gun control. Fair, but the stuff that’s being called out to the airlines goes way beyond this. (For the record I find suggesting Kirk was a hypocrite, or deserved to die, because he was shot with a gun and colorfully opposed gun control to be far from the strongest form of argument.)

I’d frame this a little bit differently.

  • Charlie Kirk’s signature setup in his campus appearances was called the “Prove Me Wrong” table or tent. He invited disagreeemnt and debate.

  • He was vehemently opposed to ‘cancel culture’ and argued it prevents “free and honest open debate.” He compared canceling people to retreating from discourse, urging confronting controversial views in conversation rather than silencing or ostracizing them. And his killing was literally an attack on free speech.

  • Kirk’s supporters wouldn’t have been fans of cancel culture when they were on the receiving end. They shouldn’t be resorting to it now.

  • And they would especially have objected to involving government (in this case, the Department of Transportation) to bring pressure on a company over online comments by an employee.

Delta, American and other airlines are absolutely within their rights to enforce social media policies against the most vile comments being made by employees.

For pilots, though, I think the question is something different. Their number one job is safety. And their fitness, including mental fitness, is always at issue. It’s also something directly regulated by DOT.

  • Celebrating death raises questions about fitness to fly.

  • And questions of a pilot’s judgment with respect to specific people and whether it’s noble or even good for the world that they are no longer alive are really scary. Ivanka Trump flies commercial. Her family was famously harrassed flying JetBlue to Palm Beach. Would a pilot who celebrates the death of Charlie Kirk online have a momentary lapse knowing the President’s family was onboard?

Taking a pilot out of the cockpit when there’s any question over their fitness to fly just makes sense. ‘Prove me wrong.’

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  2. Many people have been radicalized. But, I will say – the left has been really, really losing it and it’s “progressive” wing is bonkers. At least with the far-far-right you always knew what you’re getting. But, now, the “progressives” are being radicalized so much so fast, it’s very dangerous.
    Looks like some kind of civil war in the US is inevitable.

  3. The unemployment rate for Sept. might hit record levels.

    Nasdaq fired an employee over social media posts related to Charlie Kirk in the wake of his assassination.

    “We are aware of social media posts by an employee regarding the shooting of Charlie Kirk that were a clear violation of our policy,” the company said in a statement on X.

    “Nasdaq has a zero-tolerance policy toward violence and any commentary that condones or celebrates violence. The employee in question has been terminated, effective immediately,” it added.

  4. Running Jock…..the first Amendment, among other things, says “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech…”
    Congress shall make no law. Companies however can enforce their own rules the on the public speech of people who represent them.

    Freedom of speech is guaranteed not to be made unlawful by congress. That is the extent of the first amendment on the topic. Therefore it is not gone.

  5. @Runningjock. Nope, it’s alive and well just as having consequences for what you say is alive and well. You’re going to say something own it stand up and say your darn right I said it because I believe it.
    But I think a majority of these people who are saying things and then getting disciplined are backtracking with mea culpas and “that’s not who I am. That’s not what I represent”.
    But of course it is.

  6. Kirk was not a debater in the classical sense, only in the terminally online youtube sense where he welcomed anyone who wanted to get yelled over and selectively edited into content for hate watchers. Also like most Republicans he loved cancel culture when it was applied to the groups that he was constantly frothing about. His murder was unfortunate but there were good people on both sides.

  8. We should be outraged by ALL political violence in all forms. Sadly, the Trumpanzees only seem to be bothered when it is one of their own who is murdered. Melissa Hortman did not deserve to die. Charlie Kirk did not deserve to die. Paul Pelosi did not deserve to be bludgeoned to within an inch of his life. Even that scumbag shred of detritus Trump didn’t deserve to be shot (if he indeed was actually shot).

    We need real leadership and folks in positions of power to tamp down the rhetoric (yeah, I’m talking to you, Tangerine Tyrant) instead of fueling hatred.

    Governor Cox of Utah said that there is only one person to blame for Kirk’s murder: Tyler Ferguson himself. Perhaps. At least he isn’t blaming the Democratic Party like the Mango Mussolini, JD Vontz, and Mike Little Johnson have done. But I believe that Cox isn’t being fully honest about this. Kirk’s assassin was a radical right-wing white kid, taking his marching orders from a Nazi, Nick Fuentes, and radical right wing media must share the blame.

  9. Freedom of speech never meant freedom from consequences. I’ll defend anyone else’s freedom of speech to the extent it doesn’t harm others liberties. Like, if your speech causes imminent harm others (yelling ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater leading to a deadly stampede…) that’s a no-no.

    As for employers suspending or firing employees over ‘celebrating’ an assassination… yeah, that’s not ‘great’ either way.

    Like, no one should be celebrating Charlie’s death; I’m sorry, I don’t agree with most of his positions, but no one deserves to be murdered like that. Full stop.

    Also, reacting to this is inherently political speech in and of itself, so to lose your job over it is a bit much, too. We need pilots, flight crews, etc. Are we really gonna ‘fire’ everyone with a less-than-ideal opinion now and again? Well, maybe we are, but that doesn’t sound good. Lots of unintended consequences here.

    Wish we’d turn down the temperature. Right and left wing extremism is bad. Political violence is bad. The paradox of tolerance is a real concern here.

  10. Charlie Kirk didn’t deserve to die but I don’t understand why the taxpayer needed to send AF2 to escort his body to Phoenix. He was a political person but never held any public office that the taxpayer should’ve been responsible for his body transport.

  11. I find suggesting Kirk was a hypocrite, or deserved to die, because he was shot with a gun and colorfully opposed gun control to be far from the strongest form of argument.

    Why don’t you just say it’s wrong? Stand for something, Gary.

  13. The airlines did what they felt they had to do. No one’s rights were compromised.
    How is it “celebrating death” for people to point out that Mr. Kirk’s death was one he himself said was worth it in order to keep our freedom to have guns? Why is that insensitive? And shouldn’t his children watch the footage? Mr. Kirk himself said children ought to watch executions.
    I don’t get this “celebrating death” thing. That’s not what’s happening.

  14. You cherry pick what were (arguably, even then) Kirk’s “good points,” and overlook that he was an ugly racist, sexist prick who had no business being elevated to sainthood by so-called conservatives.

  15. Watchdog,
    the simple reason is that companies are realizing how polarizing the US and political speech is today and they are not interested in alienating half of their customer base.

    And some of these people have gone well beyond just expressing their dislike for Kirk’s political views; they are expressing satisfaction in violent outcomes which absolutely no rational company wants on their reputation

    Presumably all of these cases involve people who have in some way publicly identified as employees of the companies that fired them; and while these cases all involve companies, I fully expect we will hear about cases involving churches, social organizations and other non-profit organizations.

    1990 is right. The temperature needs to come down. I don’t expect this event will lead to that as much as I would like this to be the time for change.

  16. The guy literally called for all homosexuals to be stoned to death. I have a family member who’s gay and I will not mourn the demise of someone threatening to murder people because that person is uncomfortable with somebody’s sexual orientation.

  17. @Peter Haas – there is quite a lot on which I would disagree with him (I really had no idea his specific views before the past few days) but the point here is simply he was about arguing for them and wasn’t actually Hitler and pilots wishing someone deqd may not be fit for the cockpit in this moment.

  18. @Christian – I do not think anyone expects you to mourn him. But if you are a pilot celebrating someone’s death that raises concerns.

  20. Kirk never called for homosexuals to be stoned to death. He embraced and befriended the gay community- even though he disagreed with them.

    Even Stephen King admitted that and apologized. You’d think a low life anonymous blogger could.

    But noooo….they’re not gonna let any facts get in the way of hate.

  21. I will not celebrate his death, it is actually sad, someone so young with so much hate! The bullet was so quick, he didn’t have time to accept Christ! I am not surprised that American A would quickly fire anyone who showed their dislike of Kirk, AA agreed with his RACIST rhetoric! Never let the wicked cause you to act or speak in haste!

  22. @cairns what anonymous blogger claims he called for stoning? I am not familiar enough with everything he said to kmow one way or the other and it isn’t relevant to what I wrote in any case

  23. MAGA celebrates Ashli Babbett as a hero too. I never watched Charlie Kirk but I know that his followers hounded academics and other commentators who held opposite views with death threats. No free speech for them. Some got fired. The president of the United States has never before turned a civilian commentator into a hero honored with an Air Force plane, but then it was unprecedented for a convicted felon to get military funeral honors. This stuff is a political perversion of the meaning of honor.

  25. I’ve really enjoyed reading you the past few years. This is my first comment because this is such a disappointing and uneducated article. 1000% agree private companies should be able to fire whoever they want. I have deep concerns for the government employees fired over their comments but airlines can fire whoever they want- although I find this all very hypocritical.
    But writing an entire article claiming Kirk stood for debate is beyond laughable. In the airline space, Kirk talked about his belief that he questioned the qualifications of any black pilot he saw flying a plane. He claimed he would be uncomfortable being treated by black female surgeons because he assumed they were all diversity hires. Any 5 second Google search would show you he carefully cultivated those “prove me wrong” crowds. In the moments before his shooting he laughably stated most mass shooters are trans- which is factually inaccurate.

    Finally, when Nancy Pelosi’s husband was nearly assassinated- he went on his radio show and asked for one of his “patriot” followers to bail the man out of jail.

    As you wrote above- “I’m not familiar enough with everything he said.” Before you argue he stood for free speech I highly suggest you actually look into it.

  26. Never heard of this guy before the other day. After hearing things he’s advocated for and said…I’m glad. That being said I don’t support gun violence of any kind.

  27. Gary the anonymous blogger’s post is just one or two above mine. Ironically he calls himself “Christian”.

    If anyone cared to research the facts they’d reveal just how open Kirk was with respect to homosexuality and differing sexual views. He certainly found many of those views to be repugnant but he tried to persuade and influence those who differed- rather than condemn anyone personally. God knows he never advocated stoning homosexuals to death (as many have stated).

    Kirk had a number of homosexual friends. He wouldn’t ever, unlike his enemies, put a bullet in anyone just because they disagreed with him. Sadly, I don’t think that many on the left understand that. They just keep spewing falsehoods as if somehow that makes his murder justifiable.

    IMO the internet and anonymity have brought out the worst in a great many of us. Very few would have the courage to say things they spout on the internet to someone’s face.

  28. Gary
    He would quote an Old Testament verse about stoning homosexuals from time to time.
    One time was in response to someone else that was quoting Leviticus “love everyone” in a “are you sure you want to live by Leviticus “ sort of way.
    I can’t tell the context of the other times he quoted the verse.
    There have been some articles though about his change in social views (on policy anyway) from ~2016 to 2024 when he took on much more of an aggressive government social policy view of his religious views

    Obviously, he didn’t deserve to die for his beliefs. But it is odd to see a hard right figure canonized in such a way when he was clearly controversial in life.

  30. The leftist students in Utah who didn’t want Charlie Kirk to speak did what leftists do: they signed petitions, staged a protest, and lined up to challenge him.

    The right winger who didn’t want Charlie Kirk to speak did what right wingers do and shot him.
    We are not the same!

  31. No one should be celebrating a death like this.
    And Charlie Kirk did not deserve to be killed.
    And as a country, we’re in trouble if this is the direction we’re going.
    And yes companies can set limits on what you can say. In an age where you can be doxxed and anyone can find out where you work I understand why companies do this.

    All that being said, while no one should celebrate something like this, many won’t mourn him either. And that’s fair.

    This guy spouted Nazi ideology to a lot of young people. So a side by side comparison of ‘his’ ideas and those of the Nazis.
    He was an abhorrent person.

    I’m Jewish. There are gay people in my family. My wife and daughters are women.
    What he’s said about all those groups is flat out awful.

    He wasn’t a great patriot. He wasn’t a model American.

    Our country literally sacrificed 100’s of thousands of lives in WWII to stamp out that atrocious ideology.

    And he gets a MILITARY escort home?! (Can someone tell me what branch of the service he was in?).

    The worst part may be the folks defending his third reich ideas because he was so nice and engaging about debating them.
    What???!
    He was being civil and engaging in promoting NAZI IDEAS.

    The civil rights act was a mistake?
    What a great guy!

    Again, he shouldn’t have been killed for exercising free speech. No one should celebrate his killing.
    But a lot of us aren’t mourning either.

  32. Two months ago Melissa and Mark Hortman and their dog were murdered in their home and there was no moment of prayer in Congress, no lowering of flags to half-staff, a Republican senator openly mocked their death and other Republicans just ignored it…

  34. @PHL/SFO

    Huh? The shooter was an antifa lefty with a trans boyfriend.

    Lefty ideology is getting dangerous.

  35. The crowd that gleefully mused about feeding immigrants to alligators would like you to stop taking pleasure at the idea of somebody else’s death

  36. @PHL/SFO

    Nice misinformation, he was a lefty antifa trans adjacent trump hater like the Minnesota mass shooter a few weeks ago.

  37. It’s pretty galling to think some people think they have a right to restrict other people’s opinions. But then again…magas and the right think they are superior and can boss everyone around. And the Airline should not be grounding anyone for their speech.Alex

  39. MaxPower,

    The problem here is that people trying to point out his awful ideas aren’t being totally honest in how they present those ideas.
    He did quote the Leviticus part about stoning gays to death.

    But he ALSO followed it up by saying of course we shouldn’t do that.

    It’s that part that gets left out when people quote him.

    However, he THEN goes on to say it’s god’s perfect law.

    In essence, one wonders what he was trying to say.

    To me, it looks like he’s basically saying it’s in the Bible to stone gays to death, but we shouldn’t do that, but it IS god’s perfect law, so……….

    It really looks like he’s saying we don’t want to kill them, but *wink wink nudge nudge*.

  40. The shooter was a MAGA. His family was MAGA. The shooter was a follower of Nick Fuentes who is a white nationalist and right of Charlie Kirk who was a far right winger.

  41. PHL/SFO is endemic of the views which inspired the killer. Beyond stupid, woefully misinformed and full of nothing but hate.

    So sad.

  42. Yes Charlie Kirk loved gays and had lots of gay friends from all across the political spectrum like Milo Yiannopolous and Peter Thiel.

  45. Charlie Kirk was funded by MAGA billionaires who wanted low IQ young boys and men to join the MAGA cult.

    He made his wealth and his name by teaching others to scorn those who were different, to view the poor, the queer, the immigrant, as objects of ridicule rather than fellow citizens, or hell, fellow human beings.

    Kirk spewed hate every day of the week

  46. PHL/SFO,

    The right had T-SHIRTS and other gear made to glorify people getting eaten by alligators.

    They made a deepfake video of Obama being tied up and kidnapped (guess they forgot about that?).

    Just 5 days ago they were all behind the president when he put out a post saying “Chicago is about to learn the meaning of the Department of WAR!” complete with pictures of military backing.

    This is the party now saying the left is pushing violent ideology?!

  47. @PHL/SFO

    The facts disagree with you. Everyone said he was a lefty, his own family his own friends and his trans lover. He used leftist Marxist engravings on his bullets

    Mentally ill to the max and like most he was anti maga. Just like the school shooter two weeks ago.

  48. @Gary. What makes pilots so special and different that they can’t celebrate a death like anyone else? They are people just like you and me. They just drive a big bus with wings and a cargo full of nitwits.

  49. It’s really hard to accept moral outrage from the party that supported the attempted overthrow of the US government while storming the halls of Congress calling for the Vice-President to be hung. When politicians were murdered in Minnesota they blamed the victims for their own murder. They sat silent when right wing extremists were arrested for attempting to kidnap and torture the governor of Michigan.

    Over and over again the far right has called for the execution or people they don’t like. Gays, immigrants, women who have an abortion, politicians. But it’s okay, but they cloak themselves in the Bible.

    Sorry, @Walter Barry you and people like you have no moral authority here. The far left is no more and no less violent and responsible as the far right has been for decades.

    You want the rhetoric toned down? Why don’t you all lead by example, or is that too much to ask?

  50. jns,

    You mean like killing 11 people in a boat with no hard evidence of any wrongdoing?
    Remind me again about which party is cheering that on.
    The party currently crying about the left’s violent tendencies sure seems to enjoy violence.

  52. @Parker

    You misrepresent the call for justice by the right as calls for violence. The violence from the left that has come from the left the last few years is dangerous and now we are seeing their radicalization coming true with the constant murder and terror from the left.

    The good news is the left is waking a sleeping giant their constant attempt at killing anyone that disagree with them is showing real normal Americans how dangerous they aren’t from the BLM terror riots of 2020 to attempted assassinations of trump and other moderate politicians to the constant growing trans child killers we are seeing more and more. Violence is the voice of the left because their ideology is based on emotion rather than logic.

    We are approaching a point where reconciliation is no longer possible because of the hate America left.

  53. cairns, do you have anything specific besides name-calling? “Beyond stupid, woefully misinformed and full of nothing but hate.” Really? That describes everyone, or no one.
    And your woefully misinformed ideas about Mr. Kirk’s attitudes toward LGBQT are beyond stupid and full of nothing but hate. Denying rights to anyone is unacceptable.

    SFO/PHL you’re cracking me up.

  54. Pilots celebrating death? Yeah, I have a major issue and concern with this. It’s not as if it’s just somebody selling me a shirt or fixing some tile. This is a dude directly responsible for transporting thousands of people SAFELY to their various destinations.

    I also wouldn’t want my surgeon celebrating death either. There are just some occupations where the two don’t mix. Ideally, all of these people are removed.

  55. @Walter Why would you assume someone who lived with a trans person was a leftist or anti-MAGA? Other than because, like you admit “most” people are “anti-MAGA”. It’s not the DNC that brings down Grindr every year.

  56. whats sad is how hard it is now to find out *FACTS* about anything. Everyone’s in a rush to be “right” or post information online, even when its wrong (such as the politics of the shooter). Reminds me fo the Air India crash – everyone was obsessed it was a flaps issue, and now we’re hearing it was a pilot suicide (or that seems to be the leading cause).

    Airline pilots should know better. They have to make judgement calls all the time, with lives behind them. We’ve already seen a few nutso pilots online (Austin pilot going off over Trump, recent Horizon pilot that cut the fuel switches, and the Germanwings pilot suicide with the A320). So we need to be very cautious here, and pilots should know better.

    I’ve seen Charlie Kirk in person – I was curious and happened to see him at UC-Irvine. It was hilarious, on all sides. The stuff we see online are just edited cuts. But the fact he actually would sit there and let people call him names and just be polite to him vs how the left treated him kinda speaks volumes.

    What makes this m*rd3r stand out is the fact it was live streamed, essentially. I haven’t seen it, nor want to. I HATE opening Instagram and Facebook right now – there’s too many crazies out there, pushing the political poles further to the left OR right instead of being in *SHOCK* that someone was just killed on essentially LIVE TV. Just for having DISCUSSSIONS.

    We can do SSOO much better.

  57. @walter barry

    Nancy Mace
    Is that you? Stick to what you know. Not speculation. God some people just want to blame every problem on trans people. Find new people to pick on. You’re a skinny bully finding the only people you know to pick on (or even could)

  58. Wait, so Charlie Kirk could post vile hateful rhetoric as protected free speech but others cannot? I normally would be on the side of toning it down but after listening to Charlie Kirk’s vitriolic nonsense (Just his comments on apaul Pelosi for example) I personally feel the world is a better place with his hate buried. I guess its good I am not a pilot. Based on who I am, Charlie would have had no issue with me being shot and killed.

  59. @rd
    The absolute hypocrisy of the right shutting down free speech over this is unbelievable
    Not this article (company policy is what it is…) but SecDef Hegseth hunting down anyone in DoD that posted about Kirk in a negative manner

    What hypocrites

  61. @RD

    He posted the truth.
    “Vile and hateful” is just code from lefties when their can’t argue facts. They used to just call you Nazis now lefties just start shooting.

    You people are a fifth column. My enemies aren’t in Russia, China or Iran. They are living on the same street as me it seems.

  62. Oh cairns. You make the case you knew the killer. Actually I did not agree with Kirk on much, but I liked him. I also think he would have softened his radical opinions with age. An option he was denied. Please refrain in making judgements on things you will never comprehend.

  63. @Winston
    @MaxPower

    He was clearly an antifa lefty and he had a transgender boyfriend. He spouted Marxist talking points ect ect. It’s very clear he was an antifa lefty terrorist and it’s time the fbi treated antifa like the terrorist groups they are.

    Again you people are a fifth column.

  64. @walter
    Find new people to bully
    You’re disgusting.
    Picking on the smallest group of all of us doesn’t make you cool, it makes you an awful bully that isn’t secure in his own masculinity.

  65. “you people”
    @walter
    Your vast grouping of anyone defending disenfranchised minorities only confirms the bigot you are.

    Are you this bored to hate people different than you? Is your life this bad?

    No one deserves to die for their beliefs or voice. NO ONE.
    But there’s zero defense for going after a disenfranchised group of people in exchange. Stop being a bully.

  66. It’s quite funny how MAGA goes from declaring civil war without any basis to who actually did it (no thanks to the FBI being run by clowns) to “thoughts and prayers” when it turned out their boogeyman was one of their own (AGAIN).

    The snakes are quite literally eating their own tails, and of course we got one guy in here (walter) trying to spin it like Robinson was some lefty double agent. And then MAGA wonders why we call them a cult.

  67. for all the people moaning about who Charlie Kirk was, Turning Point has said they have had unprecedented requests to start new chapters ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES, not with uneducated people which some here have asserted was his base.

    The vast majority of people recognize that assassinating someone is wrong – which means he died as a martyr.
    Time will tell what martyrdom will do for the movement he started.

  68. Snowflakes and their cancel culture is hilarious as the right has been bitching about this for years. Hypocrites.

  69. @Tim Dunn — It felt a bit too ‘John Birch’ for my tastes; and the billionaire benefactors behind TPUSA is more a sign of astroturfing than true grassroots movement.

    Besides, many of the young supporters of #47 are already regretting their votes as many of the promises (no wars, affordability, jobs, releasing the Epstein list, etc.) are not really the actual priority of this administration; sure, some single-issue voters (pro-crypto, for instance, or bigoted ‘culture warrior’ contrarians faux-libertarians, or the techbro accelerationists) may be happy, but they are finding out how they were just used by those with real money and power.

    All that said… violence is not and was never the answer to differences of opinion. If either side thinks they’ll kill their way to victory, they are sorely mistaken. No one ‘wins’ in a civil war. We should learn from the Irish and seek to avoid our own Troubles here.

    As to @Walter Barry, all should know by now from this and other posts that he’s literally a Russian-backed disinfo agent. Like, see any of his comments on Ukraine here (other posts) or at LALF, etc. Bad news bears with that guy.

  70. No surprise to anyone. Tim Dunn is an alt-right Charlie Kirk guy…

    is anyone surprised? Does your “wife” know about this?

  71. To lighten the mood, I’m reminded of Quentin Tarantino 2015 masterpiece, The Hateful Eight, wherein Walton Goggins’ character, Chris Mannix, says: “…you done got me talkin’ politics.” That’s kinda how I feel ‘bout all this.

    @MaxPower — You never know, a lot of those far-right fellas are into some freaky stuff. Church on Sunday… then leather in San Fran in September… hmm.

    What we really need to know, @Tim Dunn, is how does all this recent attention in Utah and Minnesota affect those Delta hubs in SLC and MSP. Like, do these tragedies boost business or stifle it. That’s peak-VFTW inquiry right there…

  72. They celebrate someone who willingly committed the cold-blooded murder of a man with whom he disagreed — in a state with the death penalty. It’s not a false equivalency to imagine one of those individuals crashing a plane with someone aboard who posed a threat to their “feelings.” I’ll take the plane with sane pilots, thanks…

  73. “it’s time the fbi treated antifa like the terrorist groups they are.”

    So they should start an expensive and fruitless manhunt and then hope that one of them turns themselves in?

  74. absolutely nowhere did I say that I support Charlie Kirk, Max. You have proven on topic after topic that you fly off the handle and come to conclusions that are far removed from what was stated.

    I had very little knowledge of him before his death.

    What I did say is that he has become a martyr; some people can’t accept that when you kill someone, you embolden alot of people. That is hardly unique to one type of political persuasion or another.

    1990,
    hatred knows no bounds. I honestly didn’t connect that this had a DL hub perspective. UVU is in Orem and not SLC anyway.

    And the recent MSP shooting was very similar in many ways to the Covenant School shooting in Nashville a couple years ago; doesn’t seem Nashville has suffered.

  75. So, Gary, Sean “MTV Real World / Fox News” Duffy writes that pilots “celebrated” a shooting death. Where are the postings of said celebration? You trust Duffy to be credible?

    This is the last nail in the coffin for me. You’ve been sucked into the culture war by the liars and flamers. I can no longer trust that anything you write is vetted to journalistic standards for facts and fairness. This blog is now just clickbait for your benefit, points and miles enthusiasts be damned.

    I’ve followed you for years. But no longer. Ben’s is the only level-headed blog I’ll read now.

  76. I think the comments in this post proves kust how deeply America is divided. I see the people on the left spouting talking points and hear say to justify their opinion without doing any research to see if the point is valid. That’s the state of the nation, and it is not well.

  77. I had no idea that there were/are so many brainwashed liberal morons who proudly praise the murder of a man who believed in the Bible and was willing to have discussions with anyone. You immoral idiots should be ashamed – but you are too stupid to realize just how pathetic you are.

  78. @MaxPower

    Right wingers are the rational ones.
    The last few years have made that clear.

    You people are the enemy.

  79. @Boeing 777

    Lol “one of their own” he literally was a lefty with a tranny boyfriend and subscribed to antifa propaganda.

    Lefties really live in their own delusional world.

  80. @Huff Daland – the postings are not hard to find, I did not want to link to them. Oh, and Ben wrote about this issue as well (choosing not to link to the social media posts either).

  81. Boy…did this aviation website go off the rails..er runway. Sticking to the actual issue… In my opinion, any business has a right to set policy regarding employees behavior when ANY part of that business is publicly displayed, implied or inferred, be it verbal, printed or visual. When these narcissistic dumb masses espouse their opinion, with their employer clearly in the crossfire, those that absorb this drivel will “assume” that the employer concurs. I recall that many years ago, a flight attendant was photographed in very provocative poses while wearing the company uniform. While she was careful to remove her ID badge, etc., the uniform was clearly that of her employer AND, the employer’s logo was clearly visible on the seat. So, these current employees who have been suspended or fired…ASKED FOR IT! Ignorance can be corrected. Stupid cannot!

  82. @walter

    “You people are the enemy.”

    You’re not the enemy to me. You’re just a bully to what seems to be the only group you feel strong enough to bully. That doesn’t make you cool, it just makes you weak that you bully and seek to ruin the lives of a very small group of people that have never done anything to you. But that you regard differing opinions as “the enemy” speaks volumes about you and your ilk.

  83. @Chris B — Nah, most Americans are just fine, rational, decent people, as are most humans, around the world. Sure, ‘on the internet,’ some people can be real agitators… and apparently, there are a few murderous people out there, all of whom should be brought to justice, regardless of their backgrounds or motivations.

    @Walter Barry — How much does the GRU pay these days? All you ever do on here and the other travel blogs is propagate disinformation, and try to egg on sectarian violence in the USA. It’s disturbing to say the least.

  84. Well deserved! Celebrating the Assassination of anyone is abhorrent on it’s own. There is far too much Hate in this Country and words have consequences. When you use words to describe someone you do not agree with your words can incite someone who is not in full control to commit an act of violence such as this or the horrible incident in Minneapolis that took the lives of two innocent children. Would these Pilots think it would be okay if their children had been left fatherless at such a young age?
    That gun did not get to that University on it’s own and did not fire itself. The Assassin brought it there with purpose. Look to the instability of the person holding the gun. Words made that person, as well as the school shooters think they needed to commit these horrendous crimes. Stop labeling others with words of Hate, vicious name calling, just because you do not agree with how they live their lives or their different beliefs.

  86. @David R Miller: I don’t know anyone who is praising Charlie Kirk’s murder. I know a LOT of people who are outraged at a culture that has permitted the execution of hundreds of school children, and are also thus not particularly bothered when an advocate for that culture experiences the consequences of their advocacy.

    Maybe Charlie wouldn’t have thought innocent people getting killed by gun violence was acceptable if he knew HE would be one of said people.

  88. Honestly, nobody cares about your opinion of Charlie Kirk. It’s absolutely right to publish stories that have to do with the firing of pilots. Your explanation, however, about Charlie Kirk the person and your slant towards he was a positive guy, rings hollow with those of us who have actually read some of the hateful, racist he spewed about many groups. Ref black pilots, the Civil Rights Act, assault of Nancy Pelosi’s husband, etc etc etc.

  89. RunningJock I think you need to change your name to RunningCock because that’s what you like to do. 😉

  90. Ordinarily I DO NOT believe someone should lose their job if they post tasteless, rude, crude types of social media post AS LONG AS they don’t bring their employer into it. For example, making a Tik Tok in uniform.

    However, there are limits. Making fun of a man shot in cold blood with hundreds if not 1000+ young people looking on that was there to debate his ideas, no matter how you might feel about those ideas, is grounds for dismal. But NOT grounds to be thrown in jail.

    If someone shot Destiny in the neck, someone I have 0% agreement with, I’d say the same. If you make social media posts supporting the killing or making fun of him, no you shouldn’t be arrested, unless you are threatening others, but you do deserve to lose your job.

    But I can only imagine the childish comments being made.

  91. Charlie kirk was a racist , bigot and hate monger . He praised the attack on Paul Pelosi. He said gun deaths in America were necessary. Its all very ironic how he died. It seems like Karma.

    Not to mention , he was also helping pam bondi and trump cover up the Epstein Files.

  92. Matters not what you think of Charlie Kirk or what he stood for To celebrate the violence that led to his death is simply immoral and downright disgusting The violence and aggressive rhetoric on both sides needs to stop We are all Americans for God’s sakes. Let’s not forget that

  94. No one should be celebrating a murder, but let’s stop this ridiculous sanitizing of a man who was a hate group all by himself.

    Actually @cairnes, in your zeal to defend Kirk who can’t be defended due to his vile spewing of hate against Jews, Blacks, LGBTQ+ and everyone who didn’t agree with him, he most certainly did advocate the stoning of LGBTQ+ people.

    In his June 8, 2024, podcast, Kirk reacted to Rachel Accurso’s posting a video in which she cited Scripture to explain why she had wished a “Happy Pride” that month to people in the LGBTQ+ community.

    Accurso stated, “My faith is really important to me, and it’s also one reason why I love every neighbor. In Matthew 22, a religious teacher asked Jesus, what’s the most important commandment? And Jesus says, to love God and to ‘love your neighbor as yourself'” “It doesn’t say love every neighbor except,” she went on to say.

    In his reply, Kirk said Accurso left out something else the Bible says. “She’s not totally wrong,” Kirk said. “The first part is Deuteronomy 6:3–5. The second part is Leviticus 19. So you love God, so you must love his law. How do you love somebody? You love them by telling them the truth, not by confirming or affirming their sin.”

    Kirk continued: “And it says, by the way, Ms. Rachel, might want to crack open that Bible of yours, in a lesser reference, part of the same part of scripture is in Leviticus 18, is that thou shall lay with another man shall be stoned to death, just saying. So, Ms. Rachel, you quote Leviticus 19, love your neighbor as yourself. The chapter before affirms God’s perfect law when it comes to sexual matters.”

    It’s clear from that Kirk, who had said tirelessly that he believed in “God’s perfect law,” and therefore he most certainly advocated stoning gays to death.

    Don’t believe it? Listen to the hateful podcast yourself.

    That’s not enough for you @cairnes ?

    In one interview with Riley Gaines on Real America’s Voice which is widely documented, Kirk railed against “the decline of American men” and blamed it for transgender equality. He added that people should have taken care of transgender people “the way we used to take care of things in the 1950s and 60s.”

    When you think about that @cairnes, please be clear headed. The 1950s and 60s were a horrible time in American for transgender people, in fact, anyone in the LGBTQ+ community. The “standard treatment” for transgenders then was lobotomy, shock therapy, and involuntary institutionalization. The police across the nation openly described queer people as “a cancer in the community” and promoted vigilant detection. Violence was normalized against them. When anyone calls for continuing Kirk’s work or praises Kirk for practicing politics the right way, his hate is the work they’re honoring.

  95. Anyone spreading hate of liberals or democrats as a reaction to his death should be immediately fired.

  96. “suggesting Kirk was a hypocrite, or deserved to die, because he was shot with a gun and colorfully opposed gun control to be far from the strongest form of argument”

    Thats just your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it.

    But it is not even an argument. It is simply irony in full display.

  97. I highly recommend listening to Tim Dillion and Max Blumental his guest. Episode 461 on Tim Dillion’s podcast. It will shed a lot of light on the threats he was facing and it wasn’t coming from the left or the right as our officials wants us to believe.

  98. As a conservative independent I’m glad I have my concealed weapon permit. Now I’m fearful that Democrats and liberals will come after me. If they do they’d better not miss. Because I don’t.

  99. @DFWSteve: Why would you be concerned about Democrats and Liberals? It’s the gun owners that are killing poeple.

  101. I’m content to leave this blog to @ChristopherJ and other intolerant hate mongers who support assassinating their fellow Americans. Adios you fools. I’m outta here.

  102. OUR FREEDOM IS UNDER ATTACK IN ORDER TO ACCOMMODATE THE “FEELINGS” OF WOKE SNOWFLAKES.

    SO SAD…

  103. 1. No one deserves to be assassinated.
    2. Turning Point should be required to reimburse the government.
    3. Pilots can have negative opinions and still fit for duty.
    4. Erika Kirk is enriching TP on the high wave of emotions. Their 5.6 mil mansion was paid off in May 2025.
    5. This is a second round of cancel culture.

  104. The money at TP is driving all of this. It’s not worth losing your job.
    Her house is in a neighborhood with manned security and 20 foot entry gates nestled against the mountain in N. Scottsdale.

  106. Charlie Kirk didn’t support freedom of debate and discussion except for right-wingers. Charlie Kirk supported the January 6th violent insurrection and he was a big fan of cancel culture at schools and other institutions so as to suppress voices he & his fellow tools considered to be political nuisances to right-wingers.

    Charlie Kirk was a horrible person and his own words and actions showed it. I doubt there is anyone who posted here in this blog piece who has invoked the 5th Amendment for themselves as much as he did for himself.

    Charlie Kirk’s own words are his own indictment of his own awful character, and he’s a victim of Republican-on-Republican family violence.

  107. @Gene — Follow the money!

    @GUWonder — Paradox of tolerance.

    @Benny J — Ah, hypocritical on both free speech and cancel culture. Hmm.

    @DFWSteve — *Willy Wonka meme* ‘Stop. Don’t. Come back.’

    @SadStateofOurNation — ‘Thank you for your attention to this matter’ vibes.

  108. @Christopher J Raehl, because of the definition of gun owner( yes they owned a gun, clearly) it’s hard to dispute your statement. But…the ones misusing the guns are not true 2nd amendment ,law abiding ,owners. They are just criminals, with guns. Of the (hundred)millions of guns owned, less than 0.0007% are used unlawfully. It is not a gun owner problem. It is a criminal problem.

  109. @Doug — Kinda depends which type of ‘gun,’ though, doesn’t it?

    Like, a pistol, for self-defense, unless at close range, really could not have done this; also, those who enjoy hunting, wouldn’t need an assault weapon (those are for killing a lot of things very fast).

    We, in the USA, really should have adopted an Australian or UK regulatory scheme like they did after their mass shootings in the 90s (assault weapons bans). No, it wouldn’t prevent all gun deaths, but it would limit the mass-casualty events.

    I recognize Kirk’s assassination was not a ‘mass shooting,’ like definitionally only one person was shot, so I believe @Christopher J Raehl was trying to make the point above about gun deaths more broadly, which is an understandable reaction after any and all of these tragedies (you know, the feeling of ‘shouldn’t we finally ‘do something’ about this…)

    If you really want to, we can do the whole ‘gun debate’ thing on here… ‘well-regulated militia,’ but, but.. knives, trucks… and, it’s to prevent tyranny (psh), etc. Though, if we weren’t going to do anything about this after Sandy Hook, I doubt we’ll ever do anything.

    If Kirk is what gets it done, wow, the irony in that.

  110. @GUWonder

    Jan 6th was a protest, nothing more.
    Charlie Kirs killer was a far left transgender enabling terrorist. He was anti-republuican like most political terrorists in the past year have been.
    lefties are just getting a taste of their own agenda. They had no problem when “cancel culture” when it was them using it.

  111. @Walter Barry — I thought J6 was just a bunch of ‘tourists’… remember? Get your propaganda straight, sir!

  114. The world according to MAGA cultists: January 6th a “protest” where it was “tourists” calling to “Hang Mike Pence” like a flag to be honored and the US Capitol Police were being “welcomed” by Charlie Kirk-supported “make love not war” lovers of the US Constitution.

  115. Charlie Kirk’s shooter is from a MAGA Republican family, and he has been a fanboy of the Alt-Right for years. Much like the abortive assassin who shot at MAGA Lord at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last year.

  116. @GUWonder

    Family doesn’t mean anything. The facts are coming out daily. Today the motive came out in the texts between him and his tranny boyfriend. But that’s probably not good enough for propagandists like yourself given we already had the proof in the etchings on his bullets.

    The left is dangerous both in violence and their wild use of disinformation.

  117. The radical right-wingers are both the biggest propagandists and the biggest perpetrators of US murders with political ideological motives. These facts are why the Tr*mp regime has been disappearing online reports which even the US DOJ website was presenting that indicated how much more murderous the radical right wingers are.

  119. You gonna low people to post the t-slur, Gary?

    You suck. And you don’t get to blame it on autism.

    Have some standards. Show some respect to your readers.

  121. I am glad that the Left is getting a taste of its own medicine with people who mock Charlie Kirk or celebrate his death on social media getting sacked from their jobs. To a point. But only to a point.

    I understand it is legal for employers to discipline or sack employees for social media posts the employer does not like in MOST states. However, there is a minority of states where that is not the case.

    After the dust settles, so to speak, I would like to see all states that have not done so make it illegal for employers to take any adverse action (e.g. reprimand, disciplinary action, discharge) against any employees due to any lawful off-duty action or activity on the part of the employee. The only exception should be for political and religious organisations where the employee acts or expresses opinions that contradict the core values of such political or religious organisation. But I think, that under ordinary circumstances, employers should be required to respect the free speech rights and the rights of employees to engage in lawful off duty conduct, whether they like it or not. I would also like to see a requirement that employers have just cause before sacking an employee rather than the “at will” standard that currently prevails in all states except Montana.

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