United Pilot in Trouble for exercising Free Speech

West Virginia’s House of Delegates lawmaker gets in hot water for… “hyperbolic speech”.

West Virginia lawmaker Michael Folk got in trouble yesterday after exercising his First Amendment right calling for Secretary Clinton to be hanged in the Washington Mall for treason.

Folk's tweet, from KTLA.com

Folk’s tweet, from KTLA.com

Since that tweet caused an uproar, Folk has publicly attempted to explain his extremely inappropriate remarks away by saying: “The hyperbole in the statement was probably uncalled for”. The irony of using an understatement to explain hyperbole is lost on him apparently.

As it turns out, Folk is, according to his own twitter account “Member WV House of Delegates, 63rd district Father of 4 great children, Husband, Farmer, Airline pilot!”. He is employed by United Airlines as a commercial pilot.

Folk’s remarks sparked outrage with several people tweeting at United to take action against him, calls for him to resign from the WV House of Delegates among his peers, as well as a petition on Change.org to have United dismiss him as a pilot. The latest statement from United is the following:

While Mr. Folk definitely can and should exercise his freedom of speech whenever and however he sees fit, however inappropriate and ludicrous, it is worth reminding everyone that it is United’s right as well to do so by removing him from his duties is they see fit.

Would you feel comfortable knowing a person who believes a politician should be publicly hanged is piloting the plane you just boarded?

Author: Ben Nickel-D'Andrea

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6 Comments

  1. What a pompous idiot. Yep, fire him.

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    • the First Amendment has nothing to do with this. has he been charged with a crime? no.

      “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech.” Congress made no law. he can say what he wants, and his employer can do what it wants.

      not everything is a Constitutional issue.

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      • Just curious, what does being charged with a crime have to do with this?

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  2. West Verginia lol. consider the source. He’s probably pandering to the uneducated trash that makes up the local electorate.

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  3. I guess they didn’t go much for that book learnin’ in his neck of the woods.

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  4. He’s from West Virginia and he’s a Republican. No surprise here.

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