US House to propose Cuban flight ban
In what should come as no shock to anyone, 4 members of the US House of Representatives have proposed legislation to ban flights heading to Cuba. Why? Because Congress…
Under the guise of increasing the fear mongering campaign in the USA protecting Americans, 4 members of the House (3 republican and 1 democrat) are calling for a law to ban flights to the island. Chance of passing? 0%. The Obama administration sees the flights commencing as a cornerstone of improving relations between the US and Cuba, which have been strained for decades. Just last week the news broke that there would be hundreds of weekly flights starting between various cities on the island and the USA, including Los Angeles, New York and Florida.
US Capitol Building, via Archive Flickr page
They are citing concerns that the TSA might need extra time to verify that the Havana airport has sufficient security in place before commencing flights. Yep, you guessed it. THAT TSA.
Via The Hill:
A group of House members — who were denied visas to visit Cuba and assess airport security risks themselves — is backing legislation that would halt air service to Cuba until the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) conducts a thorough investigation of the security protocols at all of Cuba’s 10 international airports.
Oh really? So you were denied visas yourselves? And now you’re all angry and want to use “national security” as a way to deny Americans the right to travel? Which, by the way, has been happening for decades with charter flights, not to mention that Havana has a great safety record, with the latest fatal crash at the airport taking place back in September 3, 1989. Need I remind you back in 2013, 3 people were killed with an Asiana flight crash landed in San Francisco, and we’re not banning flights to South Korea because of it.
Flights are right now, as we speak, en route to and from many countries all over the world. Havana is being serviced by such airlines as Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air Berlin, Air Canada, Air China, Air France, Austrian Airlines, Avianca, BahamasAir, Condor, Copa, Edelweiss, Eurowings, Finnair, Gol, Iberia, InterJet, KLM, LATAM, and Virgin Atlantic, just to name a few… EVEN TAAG ANGOLA AIRLINES FLIES TO HAVANA.
Here’s what one fear monger representative, a cosponsor of the bill, said today:
“If you think about an American airliner, with an American flag on the tail, you think ISIS doesn’t see that as a great target, a great PR win, if they can get a bomb on a plane?” said Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), a lead sponsor of the legislation, referring to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. “And if there is not screening of baggage, and you’ve got people making $5 dollars a day handling the baggage, it doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination to see a scenario where somebody could put a bomb on the plane.”
Now, come on people. Lets be serious about this. Airlines fly to dangerous places every single day. Some from the USA, some from other western countries all over the world. And 99.99% of them are fine, with no problems. Now is not the time to go sensationalizing in the interest of politics in an election year. If we were concerned about minimum wage workers being bribed, then we should probably not go to any major airport in the country. According to chron.com:
New-hire full-time airline baggage handlers at large US airlines earn gross average salaries of around $21,000 annually, or $10 per hour. Many airline baggage handlers, though, start out as part-time hires, meaning they’ll make about $10,400 annually to start. Smaller regional airline baggage handler gross annual salaries are less, at about $17,600 annually, or $8.50 per hour
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