John Kerry is a former U.S. Senator, former Secretary of State and former Democratic Presidential candidate. A member of the Forbes family, he married into the Heinz ketchup fortune, and was the wealthiest member of the U.S. Senate during his time there. He is currently serving as United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
And he was photographed in American Airlines first class on a Boston – D.C. shuttle flight not wearing a mask in apparent violation of the President’s – and the CDC’s – mask mandate. He wasn’t eating or drinking. He was reading a book.
@TheTNStar Exclusive: Biden’s @ClimateEnvoy John Kerry, took off his mask as he settled into a book in his first-class seat just before takeoff today on an @AmericanAir flight Boston to DC. He was not eating, nor drinking. He was simply flaunting Biden’s mandatory mask policy. pic.twitter.com/t1wDq9OtxD
— ReporterMcCabe (@NeilWMcCabe2) March 17, 2021
The story is going wildly viral since Donald Trump, Jr. tweeted it. The photo in Don, Jr.’s tweet shows Kerry’s seat opponent who is wearing a mask, so this doesn’t appear to be recycling of a pre-pandemic photo.
American Airlines for its part says they are ‘looking into it’. They said the same thing about other politicians as well. Members of Congress and the Administration do not get banned by American Airlines. U.S. airlines have received at least $79 billion from the federal government in the past year.
We require masks on board our aircraft and are looking into this.
— americanair (@AmericanAir) March 17, 2021
In all likelihood he wasn’t posing a risk to anyone. The 77 year old government official has almost certainly been vaccinated, and Covid-19 vaccines are being shown to be highly effective protecting others – not just the person that’s vaccinated. I don’t think he put anyone in danger by violating the airline’s rules and federal regulations. This does make it harder to get people to keep wearing masks, though, and exposes a certain hypocrisy in banning ordinary passengers who refuse to do so.
If nothing else perhaps readers can now stop calling me ‘View From The Left Wing’ and complaining that I only call out Ted Cruz.
(HT: Dennis)
Let’s just let everyone vaccinated flash their card to avoid masks.
Well of course he get’s special privileges. He’s a Democrat.
I don’t like the “ let’s tit-for-tat and taddle on everyone. “
Hard to stretch around that much botox
Rules are rules and great leaders lead by example.
If true, he should either resign or get fired tonight.
View from the left wing. LOL. Funny because most commentators here seem to come straight out of a Karen and Ken anonymous meeting. How many have demanded to speak with your manager so far?
He may have shoved his mask up his anus
might be an old photo….
Trump’s boys have a history of spreading some fake imagery. But let’s see if this is or is not one of those circumstances.
Hypocrisy is the God given right of all politicians regardless of their party/ideology
@drdrew – the person sitting next to him is wearing a mask
I don’t judge by a one second photo. He would have been a great president.
Some guy used to claim oral sex is not sex, so perhaps their own kind will claim he was wearing an invisible mask.
Expected better of him, assuming the photo is genuine. Agree with Ed though. Bush & Cheney going into Iraq was like if after Pearl Harbor FDR had invaded Peru. They should have been in prison and Kerry in the White House.
I’m more surprised that he would fly commercial.
Off with his head. No exceptions, no excuses. This is attempted mass-murder – and with all the people he might have infected might be actual mass murder. He must be fired summarily.
My view is certainly from the left wing! Nothing wrong with that since the right wing is fascist & racist, but I digress. I’ve been vaccinated and still double masked. Maybe he has a breathing issue? OTOH hypocrisy without being admitted is always out of line. For the record I always try to be upfront about my hypocrisies 🙂
Rules for thee not for me.
What happened to his private plane?
Typical of the do as I say not as I do crowd – he was probably on his way to do a fundraiser for Gavin Newsom anti-recall campaign.
What’s far more concerning is both the medical establishment and the media making everything up as they go along. One moment when they want to be all sensationalist fear mongers to maintain a strangle hold on the idiot population vaccinated people can still be asymptomatic and spreading COVID and still need to wear masks or people will be dropping dead in their wake, but when it suits them all of a sudden vaccines help protect people from close contact with those who have been vaccinated. In the end it is all BS and none of them have a clue because they are all working towards their own self serving ulterior motives and not for the greater public good.
I’ve never understood that “View from the Left Wing” crap. You are politically neutral on this blog, and you go to great length to be that way.
The sheep on the left will be slobbering on their keyboards defending this clown.
You can see clearly the mask hanging from his left ear – over there by the window. Slow down with the political responses and just look at the picture. Guessing he took it off to eat or drink and just didn’t put it back on.
So he’s being an idiot. Bad look for a member of the Administration.
But I’d slow the roll on the “John Kerry Wouldn’t Wear A Mask” social media outrage. Did anyone ask him to put it back on?
Blog should be called, “View from the left wing”.
@Danverse – it is a federal regulation. And yes – he was asked – it is part of the onboard announcement inflight. Every passenger was told to wear a mask.
Just stop.
He’ll just use a private jet while telling the rest of us to cut our carbon emissions. ‘
and, of course, politicians don’t ever get banned for violating rules everyone else has to follow.
what is a seat opponent ??
@Gary i guess Kerry needs to be added onto the nofly list for AA…
Unsure I always guessed you’re more of a libertarian. That was the tilt/vibe I’ve gotten.
Im fully vaxxed and if I have to play along with this silliness by wearing a mask in 1st then so doesn’t this a-hole. Was he threatened with fines/imprisonment/no fly list like everyone else would be or was this just ignored? If he were a 2 year old, the plane would be back at the gate and the cops would be escorting him off while a smarmy flight attendant with a s**t-eating grin looks on.
John Kerry is not a has been. He has been appointed by President Biden to be Special Envoy on climate change….riding an airplane BOS-DC, which is a possible train trip (though stretching the limits of train travel given the distance).
I don’t get the Trumpist attacks on this one. They celebrate not following any rules or laws but then want to murder anyone else who does exactly what they tell their followers to do. Something doesn’t add up. Don Jr is a bought and paid for chinese shill.
@Chris – really? You wear a mask 24/7 and anyone else who doesn’t do so is an a*hole? How do you brush your teeth? Eat?
I doubt he was threatened with fines/imprisonment/no fly list because he probably wasn’t breaking any regulation, and almost certainly wasn’t refusing to put on a mask when asked directly to do so by a flight attendant.
Like Danverse says, clearly a mask hanging off his left ear, and when asked about the incident Kerry said, “Let’s be clear: If I dropped my mask to one ear on a flight, it was momentary. I wear my mask because it saves lives and stops the spread. It’s what the science tells us to do”.
So a right wing blogger spotted a Kerry on the plane, and waited until they could get a shot of him with his mask off. It would be different if this were a reported incident where the flight attendant or another passenger had asked him to pull up his mask, and he refused. Unless you wear your mask 24/7, I don’t see how you can have an issue with him being seen momentarily without one.
Ban him and charge him under the new rules.
He should be banned for the simple fact he dishonored his military service
Like Don Trump Jr is overly concerned about people wearing masks. Kerry still has the mask on one ear not completely off so for all we know it could have been exactly like he said that it was only momentary and I’m sure someone was just waiting for the moment to snap a photo. The fake outrage from the Trumpers. Way to amplify their garbage for clicks.
@Mon
“I don’t get the Trumpist attacks on this one. ”
Of course you don’t. You’re a hypocrite. You probably also think he attracted served honorably in vietnam and didn’t disgrace himself.
The left is great at lying and manipulation.
@Bill
Lefties like your always make excuses when caught in a lie.
“ In all likelihood he wasn’t posing a risk to anyone.”. Imagine if this was a Trump admin official.
Definitely View From The Left Wing here
The rule is you don’t have to mask up if you open the window. Your mask and any germs you’re exhaling get sucked out in a flash. Before rolling down the window it’s important to ask your seat mates if the breeze would bother them. If they give you the green light be sure your seatbelt is tight, hold onto your sh!t and go for it!
Is he going to be arrested upon landing and receive a FAA fine? That’s the draconian and abusive policies put out by the FAA and enforced by the FBI and DOJ. I hope people on the left awaken to the ridiculousness of these situations where flights are diverted and flight attendants act like the Soviet secret police.
The whole thing is ridiculous over a virus with a 99.999% survival rate. If masks worked, someone not wearing a mask wouldn’t present a problem to those who are wearing them correctly. Do I always wear a kn-95 when I leave my home: always. Am I going to consider it a criminal offense if someone does not wear a mask on a long flight where someone may be in the airport for hours and then on a plane (7-14 hours for long international trips): no.
Kerry hopefully will get the Cuomo treatment. I have more respect for the latter saying no to cancel culture than I did before when he pushed cancel culture for everyone on the right. Kerry didn’t commit a crime. Neither did Cuomo (who probably spoke suggestively and commented on appearance. Again, not a crime and not a reason to cancel him for life. He should be cancelled for his terrible policies of supporting illegal immigration, closing churches, attack free speech & religious freedom, and pushing excessive regulations).
“View From The Left Wing”…hilarious. What always amazes me (which I guess no longer should since it’s so commonplace on your blog) is how all the MAGA folks grab their pitchforks and fire up their tiki torches anytime you post a remotely political-leaning article. Aren’t people here to get a break from politics and bone up on their travel/points game?
Is it just me or are these people MAJORLY overcompensating for something by defending to the death the slightest slight on their disgraced wannabe despot, or conversely by issuing a death sentence on anyone on the left committing an act that has even a sniff of hypocrisy. Considering how consumed “right wing” media is with decrying the left’s cancel culture as the bane of humanity, it sure seems like folks on the right are pretty eager to do their own cancelling.
By the way @Jackson, your decimal place is off: 99.999% survival rate with 540k deaths means a US population of 5 billion people (and growing). Oh that’s right, “this is just the flu…and will miraculously go away in April [2020]”.
The anti-mask zealots during this pandemic are working themselves into a frenzy over a pro-mask advocate possibly forgetting to put back on a partially-removed mask. The world is an interesting place with the anti-mask clowns criticizing a person for possibly forgetting to put fully back on a mask.
Last time I flew AA the crew said that we could only briefly lower or raise (not take off!) our masks while eating or drinking. They claimed this was due to Biden’s federal mask mandate (before, you could fully remove you mask when eating/drinking). Kerry is clearly violating the policy.
Karen/Ken of the day
Eh. It’s not like the virus cares whether or not you’re eating or drinking. I used to be sympathetic to angry folks because I hadn’t flown and assumed that masks were on 100% of the time.
But now that I know the whole first cabin takes them off, I don’t care. An airplane cabin is risky, thanks to people absolutely needing to eat all at the same time. No avoiding that.
I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that you would even post this.
Ridiculous. He and other elected people should be subject to the same rules as for the rest of the population and THEY should be setting an example for others. It’s shameful. Ban them and see how it impacts their 1st class lifestyles the rest of us can’t get a taste of just trying to survive. He is laughing in the faces of every person impacted, from those who have lost friends and family and those who can’t visit family in facilities and everyone who has tried so dilligently to do the right thing. NO SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR ELECTED OFFICIALS PERIOD.
AND gees, at the very least could this example of a total moron at least have ASKED for some beverage or food to make it look legit? HE WILL NEVER HAVE MY VOTE should the opportunity arise.
Do as I say, not as I do….I am simply smarter than you….I want to see what the FAA fines him
Good for him! Of course, he’s still an evil, immoral politician, albeit one that might possibly not have contracted the affliction know as “Covid Derangement Syndrome”.
John Kerry lives with the smug certain knowledge that he’s better than you . . . and the US government is run in such a way as to prove him right everyday. You would be banned from AA for doing this, and likely met at the gate by abusive TSA and police officers. John Kerry doesn’t even get asked to put his mask on because he is, truly and verifiably, above the law. In the USA in 2021, all the animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
Masks are ridiculous theater, and he knows that. Yet he and the administration he’s a part of demand — not request, demand! – that you wear one under threat of severe penalties. This should outrage everybody, and that it doesn’t demonstrates the rank hypocrisy and insincerity of the maskers.