Discussion for article #235390
I don’t believe that anybody wants to personally take responsibility for the fallout
Grandpa or no, the guy knows DC…
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Gyrocopter Pilot Gets Banned From Operating An Aircraft After Capitol Stunt
Good thing he’s melanin-deficient.
Or he could have been banned from breathing.
jw1
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Has a gofundme page been set up yet?
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Actually, I was just thinking that this guy probably has a lot of sympathizers. It was a stunt that could have ended badly, but it shows more of the American spirit many of us can get behind (unlike the Bundys and their ilk).
He was actually trying to draw attention to something that needs to be fixed, something that’s hurting all of us.
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I agree; He just had a boneheaded method of going about it. He could have been killed.
I find it thoroughly disappointing that TPM, in the manner of the rest of mainstream media, publishes an article like this and completely avoids any mention of WHY this man did what he did.
He risked his very ass to draw attention to the need for campaign finance reform, and even a web site like TPM can’t or won’t keep his cause in the conversation.
“Stunt”? Yeah, it was a stunt all right. Just a stunt by some crazy man. Our security is in tatters. That’s the story. Gotcha.
Sadly, it was all for nothing, Mr. Hughes. But thank you for trying. Unfortunately, the inertia supporting the status quo is just too immense to overcome.
And now, this sponsored message from TransCanada, bringing energy to the world with the Keystone XL pipeline.
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Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said he plans on investigating how Hughes was able to fly through restricted air space onto the Capitol grounds.
Under the radar, dude, under the radar
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I was saying something similar yesterday. He has an important message about campaign finance reform, had even prepared individual letters for members of Congress to read in the foolish hope they’d care enough to read them if he could ever reach the Capitol building… Now the message is being buried so deep in all the law and order shit it’ll never see the light of day again. Ask John Q. Public who is Doug Hughes and what did he do recently and why, and their eyes will glaze over. And it’s even worse that TPM will go along with the bullshit lawlessness angle.
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Banned? I want this dude to deliver my mail. Maybe the birthday presents I mailed TWO WEEKS IN ADVANCE would get their on time.
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It really is funny in that dark unfunny way, after all the $$$, laws and agency expansion plus the press attention given to security forces descending on a range of gormless Ohioans, that a grandpa on a flying bicycle should so deftly illustrate a huge, obvious flaw in security and the absence of investigative journalism in and around the nation’s supposed Holy of Holies…
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I’m going to take up for Mr. Hughes and for the USPS generally. Their service and delivery times are way better than they use to be. A birthday card I recently mailed to the DC/ Virginia suburbs was delivered in 2 days. In years past that whole area had unreliable and slow delivery of mail and 4 to 5 days was a normal delivery time.
These days their service is quite competitive and the folks behind the counters and in the trucks are working their tails off. They are very competitive with the private entities like UPS and Fed EX too. All this in spite of the GOP’s ongoing attemps to do them in and outsource that very basic constitutional duty of the federal government…
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I dunno. TPM gave you the facts, including what he claimed he was doing there, and you’re allowed to draw your own conclusions. And by the way, when the justice system takes him to court, he’ll have … his day in court.
He shouldn’t have too much trouble getting a friendly jury, is my guess. I’ll bet a bunch of people will admit to admiring his guts.
And then who will look like a frightened ninny? The Senator from South Carolina who assumed this man meant him harm, that’s who.
Well. That’s my hope for the outcome, anyway.
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When you fly into restricted airspace, suspension of your pilot license is pretty much automatic. When you deliberately fly into restricted airspace, permanent loss of your pilot license is a foregone conclusion.
The entire FAA licensing and inspection scheme is incredibly draconian and unforgiving. It’s that way because the agency was formed in response to a rash of deadly crashes in the early days that were threatening the economic viability of civil aviation generally. The underlying philosophy is that the slightest slack or relaxation of rigor will lead to many more airplane crashes. Which is why the fact that Idiot Inhofe’s deliberate landing on a closed runway a few years ago didn’t lose him his license is a much larger scandal than people unfamiliar with the way the FAA works realize.
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If you you jump up on the table at a public dinner and take a crap on it to draw attention to your campaign to save the baby seals, the cause is rarely going to be the focus of the story.
Better than prison or being shot down