Brazil Fines U.S. Pilot for Making Gesture . . lifted his middle finger

[ConcernedCanuk]

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. YUP - you guessed it, the truly favorite Western Insult - -

Brazil Fines U.S. Pilot for Making Gesture

By STAN LEHMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

An American Airlines pilot was fined nearly $13,000 Wednesday on accusations he made an obscene gesture when being photographed at the airport as part of entry requirements for U.S. citizens, officials said

/snip/ (dat's an expensive "bird" !!)

The pilot, Dale Robin Hersh, lifted his middle finger while undergoing the new security process at Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport, said federal prosecutor Matheus Baraldi Magnani.

Police accused the Miami-based pilot of showing contempt to authorities, a crime in Brazil, and escorted him to a nearby federal courthouse for possible formal charges.

/snip/

The prosecutor said Hersh could have faced charges punishable by up to two years in jail.



Dammm good think that Pilot's got all tha Murikkkan firepower behind him

Imagine if a Brazilian citizen did that ???

Now I wonder, will that Pilot be discraced ? or a Hero ?

I suppose there are already "Hershy" jokes and cartoons in the making - - - :shrug:

[Mikimouse]

1. Arrogant jerk was only doing individually...

what his idol has been doing internationally for the past three years. I wish they had charged him in court. Furthermore, I'll bet he is a real rule of law type who probably worships people like Limbaugh.

[POed_Ex_Repub]

2. I agree it was rude and should be punished... but...

$13,000 and 2 years seems a little harsh. Half of us would be sent away on our daily commute if we had those penalties! (Then again, maybe people would go out of their way to be nice) Hmm....

[Mikimouse]

6. If that's the law in Brazil, then that's the law...

All I hear is derisive commentary when other nations question the wisdom of some of things we do here. What's good for the goose...

[joeunderdog]

18. If it happened here, we'd arrest the pilot for terrorism.

Americans in the tourism industry and those that depend on exports for their business are losing money every day because of our brash politics.

Cry me a river....

[0rganism]

10. Think! The man was going through customs & security procedures!

You wouldn't get sent away on your daily commute any more than a Brazillian commuter would. But flip off a cop in the good ol' USA while he's taking your affadavit, and you're playing fast & loose with your health. Hell, try flipping off the airport screeners and security guards next time you take an intra-national flight, and see if you aren't inconvenienced.

It's very sad that a $13000 fine is quite likely a large chunk of the man's salary; flat fines are an exceedingly unfair facet of too many justice systems. I can't imagine very many Brazillians being able to pay that much.

[BiggJawn]

13. Bet it's only 10% of his year's take.

Now If *I* had done that, I'd be out 35% of my year's salary, and closer to 50% of my take-home pay...
Maybe ALPA will help him out.

[Boomer]

14. Chances are you're wrong

You would think pilots make a lot of money, but truth is that many of them make startling low salaries (below $40,000) until they have many, many years of seniority.

[Say_What]

12. Typical 'muriKan--thinks he can do whatever he wants in a foreign country

F*ck him. It's time 'muriKans found out that foreign countries have laws that folks have to abide by.

Well HerseyBoy, you f*ck'n idiot, get out the Mastercard. I'm sure your crew is not very happy with you, MORON.

From the article:

...Police accused the Miami-based pilot of showing contempt to authorities, a crime in Brazil, and escorted him to a nearby federal courthouse for possible formal charges.

However, Hersh agreed to pay a fine before he leaves Brazil in exchange for no charges being filed, the prosecutor said.

"Since this was a minor crime I proposed that he be fined 36,000 reals ($12,750), which will later be donated to a home for the elderly," Magnani told reporters.

[Boomer]

16. He should thank his lucky stars

I wonder what would happen to a Brazilian flight crew that laughed and joked their way through an American airport security checkpoint and made obscene gestures.

Can you imagine our Homeland security officers levying a fine for charity and then letting the jokesters go back home?

The pilot was an arrogant jerk and should be exceedingly grateful Brazil was content to make its point without frying his ass.

--Boomer

[0007]

26. Something tells me Brazil has been waiting for this jerk pilot for a long

time. It appears they took delight in helping this anxious overbearing jerk.

[michaelwb]

20. Wrong term

foreign countries

In Neo-Con speak they are "dangerous zones of Anti-Americanism" which could serve as breeding grounds for TERRORISTS!

We must launch pre-emptive invasions now to protect the security of the American people!

[burrowowl]

3. Love it!

Now, only if we could put Smirk in jail for showing contempt for the world, along ith killing, etc. In prison for life!

[Wonco_the_Sane]

4. 2 years for the finger?????

God bless America.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

11. Yeah! God bless America...

Where you could be locked up without trial, without a lawyer, without contact with the outside world, for doing the same thing, especially if you were of Arab descent...

[rudeboy666]

5. Not neccesarily bad

"Police accused the Miami-based pilot of showing contempt to authorities, a crime in Brazil"___a crime to show contempt for authority?

EVERYONE should do that more often!

[Norquist Nemesis]

7. OOPS!

He stepped outside the Free Speech Zone. :/

[Fridays Child]

8. He's probably already got a book deal pending, along with...

...appearances scheduled for O'Reilly and Scarborough. :eyes:

[kskiska]

25. Right. I'll bet O'Lielly is signing him up as we speak

Then he'll go the way of that boy who was caned in
Singapore for vandalizing cars.

[DoNotRefill]

9. Ummmmm...

don't you HAVE to make that gesture with BOTH hands when fingerprinted?

Every time I've been fingerprinted (which is in the hundreds of times) they've wanted a fingerprint of my middle finger, too. I always felt kind of strange flipping the bird to a cop with both hands (especially when the cop has ahold of the digit in question), but have never been CHARGED with anything for doing so.

The most difficult gesture for me to make is with my ring finger...it just doesn't want to stick out like that when the rest are closed.

[F-5]

15. What would happen if a foreigner did that here?

Would they be thrown in Gitmo???? :grr:

[ConcernedCanuk]

17. --- Finally, a picture of THE OFFENDING FINGER !!

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[Nashyra]

19. I'm glad he did it.

As an airline employee traveling in and out of foreign countries we are continusly treated like s(*& because of our gov'ts policies worldwide and our own custom people are just as big of a*&holes to us returning to the US as they are to others.

[saigon68]

23. $13,000.00 on your MASTERCARD-- Priceless

His head should be examined and taught that " When In Rome"

obviously his MOM didn't teach him any manners.

[Ripley]

21. My Dad just did that recently at an airport.

He is 73 and pretty thin and has a pace-maker which you can clearly see and feel in his chest. When I took him back to the airport after Christmas, I stood to watch how they treated him going through security because he said they really harassed him coming here. They severely body prodded him, made him sit down and felt between his toes, then touched the top of his fucking head (he's pretty bald)! I smiled and shook my head and he had his arms up in the air while they were touching his legs and he made the gesture at that time. They didn't see it, but we laughed our asses off.

Come on people! Why did they touch his head? Do they think my frail, old Dad is wearing a bomb disguised as a bald head? Since he has a pace-maker, he doesn't go through the metal detector, but it's asinine that they single him out to get such a shakedown. If they would just touch his chest they could feel the damn pace maker and let him through. He won't travel anymore thanks to this crap.

[Sparkle]

22. Felt between his toes?

How disgusting! For your father that is....

[Ripley]

24. Well, he did have his socks on.

But the guy with the plastic gloves was so intent, you'd think he was a veternarian giving a dog it's annual physical exam.

Why do they have to harass old people? My mom bought special slip on shoes so she wouldn't have to tie them back up (she has bad knees and can't bend over that well). It made me sick to see that they were doing to them.

Where has all the common sense gone?

[opihimoimoi]

27. Common Sense and Sanity are POWs in Cuba, Gitmo

[The_Casual_Observer]

29. You see this all the time

Little grandmas and grandpas getting frisked by those assholes.
Just how many terrorists have been caught by all of this? Has there been a single bomb found? The answer would have to be no, because if they did, it would have been the biggest news story of all time.


This is all a huge face saving "close the barn door" effort after Atta that has lead to NOTHING. We are NO SAFER because of any of this than we were before.

[daleo]

28. I think this is a bit of an over-reaction by Brazil

But I must say, they sure have been getting feisty lately.

[ConcernedCanuk]

30. Jus curious - this pic was all over Canuk news last nite

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Did the "offensive finger" pic make it into Murikkkan news too ??


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At first the picture was "pixelized"

- but on the same channels a wee bit later, the "pixeliztion" was removed

Just a Curious Canuk