A tiny but vocal minority of readers have asked why I haven’t written about the John Kerry mask incident from this week. When I say “tiny” and “vocal” that’s exactly what I mean — it’s like three people, but they’ve left a handful of comments each. Ultimately I’m happy to report on this and share my take, even if my take is “I’m not sure.”
In this post:
John Kerry’s maskless airplane picture
77-year-old John Kerry, who is the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, has gotten some flak for an incident that occurred on an American Airlines flight from Boston to Washington on Wednesday.
In a picture that’s being circulated widely online, Kerry is seen reading a book with his mask dangling from one ear.
Both the federal mask mandate and American Airlines’ policy require passengers to always have masks on when on planes, except when briefly removing them in order to eat or drink.
Kerry has called this story “malarkey,” stating that if he dropped the mask to one ear on a flight, it was momentary, adding that he wears masks because it saves lives, and because it’s what science tells us to do.
I do find his response to be strange, as he says “if I dropped my mask.” There’s a picture of him with the mask dropped, so if you ask me, that’s not the way to respond to this incident.
Meanwhile American Airlines has investigated the incident, stating that it has reminded Kerry of its mask policy, and also stating that no crew member observed Kerry without a mask, and there were also no complaints from other passengers about mask compliance issues with him.
Analyzing the picture of Kerry maskless
All we have here is a single picture, so let’s try to objectively analyze that:
- It looks to me like Kerry’s glasses may be fogged, or perhaps just really dirty
- If they’re fogged (and I’m not sure that’s the case — the photo quality isn’t great), that suggests to me that the mask was just removed a moment earlier
- If that’s the case, was he momentarily removing the mask for a reason, or was he just having issues with the glasses fogging up, and decided that he wouldn’t wear his mask while reading?
- He does seem to be pretty focused on his book, which raises the question of whether he was reading for an extended period of time without a mask
- There is a bottle of water in the picture, though it appears to belong to the passenger in the aisle seat; that being said, we don’t know if Kerry had a bottle of water right next to him on his seat that he drank out of, or what
- I haven’t seen any claims from passengers about what happened beyond what’s seen in the picture — in other words, I haven’t heard anyone suggest he left the mask off for an extended period of time, that he refused to put it on when asked, etc.
My take on this story
If Kerry actually had his mask dangling that way for an extended period of time then he was absolutely in the wrong, and should be called out for it. A few thoughts, though:
- Airlines generally ban people over mask compliance issues when an employee asks them to put their mask on and they refuse, so you don’t typically get banned from an airline without an employee intervening; American Airlines has confirmed that no employee saw Kerry without a mask
- I would assume Kerry is vaccinated and therefore posed minimal risk to others (based on initial studies suggesting that asymptomatic spread from the vaccinated is rare), but ultimately that shouldn’t matter — the mandate applies to everyone, even those who are vaccinated
- We just ultimately don’t know very much — we have a single picture, and there are no eyewitness statements I’ve seen claiming anything
To address the comments that I got along these lines:
“No article about John Kerry not wearing a mask but you’re happy to blast Ted Cruz for the same thing?”
So, yeah, no:
- You must be mixing me up with someone else, because I never wrote about Ted Cruz not wearing a mask (that did happen, I just chose not to write about it, because I didn’t think it was much of a story); the only time I’ve written about Cruz in the past year was in relation to a United Airlines data leak when his reservations to Cancun were exposed
- The only other time I’ve covered politicians on planes in regards to coronavirus was when several congresspeople flew Delta after having been in direct contact with Trump when he had coronavirus, in violation of Delta’s policy that you can’t fly if you’ve knowingly been in contact with someone who tested positive
A single still picture of someone not wearing a mask on a plane isn’t a story, in and of itself, in my opinion. And that’s how I feel about this situation — we don’t have enough information one way or another, regardless of political affiliation.
I was on a flight a while back and the ear loop on my mask snapped. I held the mask to my mouth while getting out a replacement mask, but of course there was a brief period where my mouth wasn’t covered, and I wasn’t eating or drinking. There could just as easily be a picture of me like that (not that anyone would care enough to take it, but…).
Bottom line
There’s a picture of John Kerry with a mask dangling from an ear on an American Airlines flight this week. That’s all we know — there’s only one picture, I haven’t heard any passengers claiming that he had the mask off for an extended period of time, and the crew claims they didn’t see this and didn’t get any complaints for other passengers.
Without more information this is a non-story, in my opinion, but in my quest to be fair and balanced, there you go. It’s certainly the less interesting airplane story of the week that involves an ear…
What’s your take on this mask incident?
You've never heard of photoshop?
Oh oh. Headlines for tomorrow: Biden took off his mask when he went to bed last night and every night since inauguration. That's over 60 scandals already. Scandals won't end for at least another (almost) eight years.
"Same vein as the California governor’s big French Laundry lunch at the height of COVID (and many other CA politicians similar things that most outside of CA wouldn’t have heard of)."
It's pretty amazing that any republican on earth was able to pretend like the "orange man bad" or "TDS" thing was remotely genuine when we just knew with 100% certainty that the same disingenuous cowards repeating this line would be alternating whether they have...
"Same vein as the California governor’s big French Laundry lunch at the height of COVID (and many other CA politicians similar things that most outside of CA wouldn’t have heard of)."
It's pretty amazing that any republican on earth was able to pretend like the "orange man bad" or "TDS" thing was remotely genuine when we just knew with 100% certainty that the same disingenuous cowards repeating this line would be alternating whether they have tantrums about Newsome, AOC, Pelosi. But sure, totally. TDS. And right after you argue about that, head over to the recall newsom booth because he ate at a restaurant, while defending the actions of donald trump.
Kinda wild how every single member of the Republican party is a disingenuous coward in the exact same way.
I’m sure you remember the Gavin Newsome story of him at the French Laundry with no mask while he shutdown his entire state. When you belong to an administration with a zero tolerance policy and is talking the talk, you have to walk the walk.
1860s divisive issue: Slavery
1960s divisive issue: Civil Rights
2020s divisive issues: masks
You all suck.
I am not bothered at all by Kerry or anyone else dropping off their masks...but I am bothered by hypocrisy of the politicians...whatever they impose on public, they should impose twice as hard on themselves...however strictly the rules are for public, they should be ten times as strict for those in the government...put your money where your mouth is...but what we heard and hear about politicians - dinner parties, hair salons in the middle of...
I am not bothered at all by Kerry or anyone else dropping off their masks...but I am bothered by hypocrisy of the politicians...whatever they impose on public, they should impose twice as hard on themselves...however strictly the rules are for public, they should be ten times as strict for those in the government...put your money where your mouth is...but what we heard and hear about politicians - dinner parties, hair salons in the middle of lockdowns, masks dropped "for a moment" - that just makes us cynical and skeptical (not to mention the overuse of phrases like "saves lives" or "science tells us")...it should apply to all politicians, both parties - practice what you preach, only practice even harder than the rest of us...
@Mattt
I very honestly believe you've just given the single most accurate description of the entire left wing ideolog:
"and giving a larger stage to the tiny and vocal few just emboldens them further to go around making things up. Not responding is the best answer/revenge for people who just want to incite stuff."
Also, I thought you were all about minorities and making sure their voices are heard? lol
I hate this type of "news", he should apologize accept he made a mistake and we should all move on. Same deal with Ted Cruz, he accepted he made a mistake (eventually) and the world somehow managed to move to another day. Cable news and social media amplify all this crap so even a non political travel website is forced to comment on this type of thing. Lucky please don't feed the trolls and start...
I hate this type of "news", he should apologize accept he made a mistake and we should all move on. Same deal with Ted Cruz, he accepted he made a mistake (eventually) and the world somehow managed to move to another day. Cable news and social media amplify all this crap so even a non political travel website is forced to comment on this type of thing. Lucky please don't feed the trolls and start speaking about politics, keep this site about points and travel. I would much rather have an update on the latest Emirates happenings then this garbage. I know this type of coverage gets clicks, but at what cost? Is this going to become travel TMZ or will you keep the core audience who appreciates nuanced niche news about points and travel tips? Hopefully it's the latter.
Josh Yes he should be impeached. He is commiting a misdemeanor. January 7, 2023 is general impeachment day.
At least 20 people.
Tiffany thanks for the information but Ben's subconscious bias is shining through. Maybe a reeducation session or 5 is on order?
There is a pretty even toned article with comments from the passenger next to Kerry. "The Tennessee Star published a photo of a bare-faced Kerry apparently flying first-class from Boston to D.C. on Wednesday." Not sure where they got it.
Looks like another story of do as I say and Not as I do. But its not a mountain, just a mole hill.
https://nypost.com/2021/03/17/climate-czar-john-kerry-caught-going-maskless-on-flight/
I flew AA on Tuesday MIA-LAX-MIA on 2 crowded 777-200s. When I walked to the back from PE, I counted at least 10 people with their masks below their noses. None of them was eating or drinking. Most of the crew was yukking it up in the back galley...
Sorry Ben, think you missed out on the truth for this one. However I understand why.
There are photos showing Kerry standing in first class without a mask.
Other photos showing Kerry sitting without a mask. Seems not to be a one off for a few seconds.
I presume you are trying to be politically correct, understandable as you need to preserve your column.
However, no one is going to remember this Kerry photo...
Sorry Ben, think you missed out on the truth for this one. However I understand why.
There are photos showing Kerry standing in first class without a mask.
Other photos showing Kerry sitting without a mask. Seems not to be a one off for a few seconds.
I presume you are trying to be politically correct, understandable as you need to preserve your column.
However, no one is going to remember this Kerry photo after what happened to Biden yesterday on the airplane stairs which today must be weighing very heavily on most American minds.
My first thought ran to “why isn’t he on the C-32? Why did he fly commercial?” Then I remembered that he’s no longer Secretary of State, and the C-32 is probably in Alaska with SoS Blinken.
Anyway, it certainly doesn’t help with the administration’s goal to encourage mask compliance, and if we’re honest if it were a high ranking official from the previous administration, he’d have been absolutely skewered.
I hold him to the same...
My first thought ran to “why isn’t he on the C-32? Why did he fly commercial?” Then I remembered that he’s no longer Secretary of State, and the C-32 is probably in Alaska with SoS Blinken.
Anyway, it certainly doesn’t help with the administration’s goal to encourage mask compliance, and if we’re honest if it were a high ranking official from the previous administration, he’d have been absolutely skewered.
I hold him to the same high standards I do everyone else. He should’ve known better, and explain his carelessness (somehow). I’d go so far as to say AA should ban him like they do every other traveller who refuses to comply with mask requirements
"He should be impeached."
Oh, dear.
We didn't need some article about people wearing or not wearing masks on a plane. These types of articles are nonsensical and clickbait. In addition, I'm willing to bet the few people who kept asking about John Kerry are anti-maskers and are pushing their faux outrage in an effort to attack an administration official of the other party. After all this photo was tweeted out by Don Trump jr and we all know he doesn't take the virus seriously.
To the Biden defense squad, why is your first response to any topic casting doubt on the competence of your team to call other people idiots? Seem to remember a certain orange former commander and chief that invented the same playbook. Grow up. He represents an administration that implemented a national mask mandate. If you cannot understand why that means representatives of that administration will be held to a different and higher standard, you have...
To the Biden defense squad, why is your first response to any topic casting doubt on the competence of your team to call other people idiots? Seem to remember a certain orange former commander and chief that invented the same playbook. Grow up. He represents an administration that implemented a national mask mandate. If you cannot understand why that means representatives of that administration will be held to a different and higher standard, you have no zero sense of what functional leadership looks like. One washed up patrician Senator aimlessly wandering the WH is enough. Fire Kerry.
Life is short we should all spend as much time as possible arguing politics with complete strangers via the internet.
I am conservative and no fan of Kerry but who cares. Why is this even on the blog. Very silly and not necessary! Leave the old guy alone. More PC BS!
He should be impeached. He is and always has been a hypocrite. He normally rides around in private jets and is the climate czar.
I would say if you were banned for American for anything. I would suggest using them for civil rights violations.
Your failure to timely post thus matter is highly political as it too you 27 minutes to post on ted Cruz.
Will you release your donations? And ad $?
@ Eric -- The bulk and tone of your comment suggests it doesn't really merit a response, but for avoidance of doubt should anyone else come across your question:
One Mile at a Time does not receive any monies from any political campaigns, parties, candidates, or issues. While we don't directly control the bulk of our display advertising, political ads are blocked at a programmatic level from displaying on this domain.
@ Eric -- The bulk and tone of your comment suggests it doesn't really merit a response, but for avoidance of doubt should anyone else come across your question:
One Mile at a Time does not receive any monies from any political campaigns, parties, candidates, or issues. While we don't directly control the bulk of our display advertising, political ads are blocked at a programmatic level from displaying on this domain. We don't accept or publish any pay-for-play coverage, regardless of source.
Our corporate donations are well-disclosed, and consist of our One Tree Planted campaign, and the happy hours/YouTubeLives benefiting The Loveland Foundation.
Individual contributions any of us may have independently made are (like everyone's) searchable via the FEC. I can confidently state you won't find a lot there though, just because we all tend to prefer giving directly to organizations and individuals in our communities versus politicians.
Hypocrite.
I don't think that you need to waste your time analyzing a single photo for a travel blog.
Please implement the new user system, so people with the same name don't get confused for each other. I don't want to look like a Trump supporting nut case like the David above.
@Alex Z - oh you seem to back the historic loser who lost the House, Presidency, and Senate in three consecutive elections, and never got within 3MM of the popular vote? And the same guy who will be on trial shortly for tax & business fraud? 2024 bring it on then!
It's John Kerry, biggest hypocrite there is. What more do you need?
Oh Ben! How dare you assail us with logic LOL!
The ex Senator is a major league all star jerk. Ask any private jet pilot that has flown him. He will either totally ignore them or bark orders, but is all smiles and such when they land if there are tv camera's around. I am sure from what pilots told me about him, there is more than his flimsy excuse. One of the benefits of staying at the same hotel where Private Jet pilots stayed for training. You would hear about the nice people and the jerks.
I'm hoping all these people furious with Kerry for not wearing a mask in public / confined spaces, were just as furious each time Trump didn't wear a mask in close proximity to others, which was basically all the time. Or are science-rejecting imbeciles given a free pass when it comes to not wearing a mask?
So he's a covid-denying, Trump supporting insurrectionist right? Or is it okay because on your team?
At the rate we're going in this country, every hangnail is going to be politicized.
Please no more posts about politicians. You live in a deeply divided country, leave it to other blogs.
Ben, I would much rather you repost old posts ..your highlights reel, when you were giddy flying American from Florida to Dallas on a 737 in 2011, or the once in lifetime trip in The Residence
No video? Useless without video context, or comments from photographer about duration of this alleged offense. Person with chip on shoulder using whataboutism.
Wow finally some disingenuous conservative GQP cowards find a new thing to complain about. I guess Dr. Seuss was getting old?
All you can really do is laugh at the cowards that post this stuff on twitter and throw fits about "the libs" in comment sections. I don't understand what people get from being that sad and pathetic.
Chill. Just chill.
Photos "in the moment" don't necessarily convey the truth, for D's or R's.
Whitehouse privilege extends to a moment of being maskless on a plane and not anything else done by the previous administration... ok check
Look at the website for her company in her bio. Given who her clients are it's no surprise she is making a big deal of this. She probably had her phone trained at John Kerry for the whole flight waiting to a capture any brief moment his mask was removed.
Looks like a case of Kerry using WHITEhouse PRIVILEGE, Bill.
@Bill - You're the type of liberal that is the reason why Trump was elected in the first place and you're the type of liberal that might get him elected again in 2024 if he decides to run
Ben, if you consider just one comment on this thread, please let it be Sam Kim's. Leave this crap to the #Thought #Leader.
You're way past this-- and giving a larger stage to the tiny and vocal few just emboldens them further to go around making things up. Not responding is the best answer/revenge for people who just want to incite stuff.
Your content and quality writing is too good to waste on this shit.
False equivalency gives oxygen to stupidity. Republicans don’t get accosted by the media or public health experts for briefly not wearing masks; they get accosted for not wearing masks at all or for extended periods in obvious dereliction. This attempt at a gotcha moment is just another desperate rightwing propaganda attempt to create false equivalency for ReTrumplican morons to somehow feel better about their ignorance with regard to masks. It’s about as trumped up as...
False equivalency gives oxygen to stupidity. Republicans don’t get accosted by the media or public health experts for briefly not wearing masks; they get accosted for not wearing masks at all or for extended periods in obvious dereliction. This attempt at a gotcha moment is just another desperate rightwing propaganda attempt to create false equivalency for ReTrumplican morons to somehow feel better about their ignorance with regard to masks. It’s about as trumped up as Pelosi’s brief maskless moment as she moved between stations in a hair salon — encouraged by the Trumpian hair salon owner so he could create his own “gotcha” moment and enjoy his 5 minutes of fame in Trumpian circles.
Kerry had the mask off for an undeniably brief time — as made clear both by the unidentified Fox Lies source and the facts that no one else in the full First Class cabin saw or complained about Kerry being massless and no AA crew noticed either. The unidentifed source also could have taken video had it been for any length of time — but the same source mentioned this was before departure and that Kerry did wear his mask most of the flight.
Gary Leff immediately sent this rightwing story into the travel blogosphere by commenting on it as the obvious rightwing clickbait it is.
Just stay above the fray. No political coverage whatsoever. I like reading about miles and points and how to get more, make more, and do more. Let someone else worry about the Kerry stuff.
If people feel like your writing is politically biased, they should read a different blog. I don’t like Fox News so I just avoid it. I don’t watch it and then write comments about how it’s wrong.
Amazing non-political take. @lucky I know it is sometimes hard not to mix obvious political/sarcasm into relevant stories but I appreciate what you don’t.
Please. No politics in this blog. All people have a bias and only listen to the news that supports their own opinions (either leftists with CNN/MSNBC or rightwingers with FOX).
Therefore, less political banter, the better. IMHO.
There is something inherently wrong about the messaging here in the US regarding wearing a mask.
I grew up in Asia, and many Asians (particularly in East Asia -- Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc) wear masks during EVERY FLU SEASON to protect themselves. The underlying message of course is that you cannot trust everyone else to cover their nose and mouth while coughing and sneezing, so it is far better to cover your own...
There is something inherently wrong about the messaging here in the US regarding wearing a mask.
I grew up in Asia, and many Asians (particularly in East Asia -- Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc) wear masks during EVERY FLU SEASON to protect themselves. The underlying message of course is that you cannot trust everyone else to cover their nose and mouth while coughing and sneezing, so it is far better to cover your own nose and mouth to minimize the chance of catching the flu.
Here in the US, it is quite the opposite. The idea of wearing masks to protect yourself is so foreign. You only wear masks when you are sick. Maybe you trust that others will do the same. If you wear a mask during flu season, you are frowned upon. Some years ago, I have a friend who were laughed at face-to-face by her colleague here in the US and told her that only the sick wear a mask. Maybe that messaging is edged into everyone's memory here since they are young.
If anyone has a decent memory, you should recall that the guidance from every medical experts here, including CDC and even WHO, up until end of May, said there was no reason to wear a mask unless you are sick. Maybe their motive is selfish; if everyone wears a mask (and at that time there weren't reusable cloth masks at all, just disposable surgical masks, and all available supplies had been raided by Communist Chinese agents and shipped back to China) there isn't enough supply for the medical professionals. I don't know. Maybe they do believe that only the sick wear masks.
Anyway, my point is, if I wear a mask, and I do, long before any mask mandates, I DON'T GIVE A D*MN IF SOMEONE ELSE IS NOT!! I just don't understand why so many are so on edge when someone is not wearing one. Maybe they hate wearing a mask so much and wear one so reluctantly that they cannot bear the thought of someone else not suffering with them. Could that be the reason?
Don't people have better things to do? This is silly. I took my mask off to momentarily swig a bottle. You could take a picture and point at me going "See!!!! NO MASK!!!" Get a job.
You can write about whatever you want, but don't insult our intelligence by pretending that you are unbiased about this. If it was a prominent GOP official your "analysis" would be much different. I very much doubt you would be performing such mental gymnastics to find a way to give this arrogant, hypocritical elitist career politician a pass. Remember when a GOP cabinet member was targeted by travel blogs simply for flying domestic F? But...
You can write about whatever you want, but don't insult our intelligence by pretending that you are unbiased about this. If it was a prominent GOP official your "analysis" would be much different. I very much doubt you would be performing such mental gymnastics to find a way to give this arrogant, hypocritical elitist career politician a pass. Remember when a GOP cabinet member was targeted by travel blogs simply for flying domestic F? But I guess now it's (D)ifferent. But at least our "climate czar" is only flying domestic F to save the planet from evil co2, instead of his usual private jets.
@ Ben - I just think most passengers don't care that much about it or weren't paying attention. There's only a select few people that are probably looking for a story. But since it's out there I just noticed that there's no mention of it on mass media channels so to me it's clearly a bias
@David - "fairness in media" is rich...Fox basically refused to cover the historic $1.9T Covid relief package, and instead just focuses on endless cancel culture issues.
American should follow their own rule making and ban him. There should be no special circumstances for a politician or public figure. He is clearly not wearing a mask, nor eating or drinking. There is no exemption for glasses fogging up.
This just shows the hypocrisy of the entire last year with shifting rule sets.
One picture... and everyone has a thousand opinions. Kerry could have had the mask down 15 seconds or 15 minutes. 15 seconds: no story. 15 minutes: story. The context of how long is what's critical, and it's currently missing. Without the context, it's just a lot of opinions, guesswork and noise.
He should be wearing a mask according to the rules. End of.
That said I doubt there is single person who is "angry" about this because they feel strongly about the importance of mask compliance, I would bet they are "angry" because they want occasions like this so they can say "look see, they say we should wear masks but they don't do it themselves, the whole thing is BS".
I am very strongly pro...
He should be wearing a mask according to the rules. End of.
That said I doubt there is single person who is "angry" about this because they feel strongly about the importance of mask compliance, I would bet they are "angry" because they want occasions like this so they can say "look see, they say we should wear masks but they don't do it themselves, the whole thing is BS".
I am very strongly pro mask but occasionally I forget to put it back on immediately after eating or drinking. That is not because I think I shouldn't do it or think I'm above the rules, but because I am human.
Ultimately politicians of both parties should not be expected to be perfect robots. If they admit they made a mistake and confirm they are fully behind mask compliance, that should be enough.
If they are photographed repeatedly not wearing masks when they should be, that is a different story.
The one thing Kerry could have done better here is given a more comprehensive mea culpa.
Seems like a story that should be left to the 'thought leader'. Lol
Shouldn't the climate Czar take the Acela when traveling the northeast corridor?
@Ben: try harder. The number of passengers seated in first class that would be able to see him seating without a mask was very limited. Maybe 3 or 4 passengers? It was mid flight so what did you expect? 100 passengers sharing? That is what no more passengers shared.
Hi All:
I was part of that "tiny but vocal" minority (i.e. it was one comment). I was not making a statement that mask compliance is a hassle (I wear one all the time). It was rather as a statement that if this had been a Trump Administration official, we would never hear the end of it.
I just want fairness in the media, that's all.
Thanks for posting this story!
Who bloody cares whether people wear masks or not? Fanatics on both sides are low life twats.
@d3kingg We agree on respecting Ben and the post. Zero disagreement.
I dont think he should respond to a minority. I equate this to the crazy guy standing outside City Hall yelling that the martians are coming to kidnap all puppies - we don't respond to that guy.
Ashley St. Clair (who you show above) once sat next to me on a WN flight. It was, uh, quite the experience. She had loud phone calls until we departed so everyone would know how important she was.
Thanks for addressing this. If masks are so important, it does raise the question about why airlines have allowed people to remove them for eating/drinking on these short flights. Most people should be able to go 1.5 hours without eating or drinking.
@Chatter
I respect Ben for reporting it. Unbiased journalism.
People's attempts to analogize this to how Republicans are treated are ridiculous. No one has been bashing Republicans for momentary periods without a mask in between continued compliance and encouraging others to do so. Republicans are criticized for continued non-compliance and undermining of mask mandates. This is a non-story in light of no airline employee having seen him without the mask and no other complaints. A single photo clearly taken by someone with an agenda...
People's attempts to analogize this to how Republicans are treated are ridiculous. No one has been bashing Republicans for momentary periods without a mask in between continued compliance and encouraging others to do so. Republicans are criticized for continued non-compliance and undermining of mask mandates. This is a non-story in light of no airline employee having seen him without the mask and no other complaints. A single photo clearly taken by someone with an agenda who likely sat there ready to take a picture when the mask came off. Neither the quality nor quantity of what someone is trying to allege is remotely comparable to what we've seen on the other side.
The Tweet was just so no.
He may have made a mistake but if you're going to address it on twitter say you made a mistake or what not, don't act like you're the best person by saying how you're doing what science says. When your best defense is comparing yourself to (Some) no mask republicans then you're in the wrong.
@Ben: Why no more passengers have come forward to share more details? First, how many passengers are in FIRST CLASS? Second, how many passengers seating in first class which is usually high paid employees or rich people want to get involved in sharing a picture of a politician not wearing a mask in social media? Thus, have you realized that the number of people that saw him maskless are very small?
@ Santastico -- "How many passengers seating in first class which is usually high paid employees or rich people want to get involved in sharing a picture of a politician not wearing a mask in social media?"
Um, well, that's exactly what someone did, no? But they didn't make any claims about how long Kerry had the mask off?
And this is why you should have not written the article. Your vocal minority is .... exactly that.
But I always love nutty stuff from QAnon morons so please delve into that pool next!
I’m sure the police were waiting to arrest him as he deplaned at the gate and he’s been put on the no fly list just as would have happened to the rest of us. Just another example of an entitled elite doing as they please.
I fly American every week and they are very strict with their mask rule announcements and FAA mandate .
Good report but there’s much more pressing issues that have emerged in the past couple of days. I’m over it.
@Lucky: this is old news. You either report when it happens or just ignore it. My view from the picture: his glasses are far enough from his eyes (you can see them by the tip of his nose) so no, they won't fog because there is enough air flow on the position. He is really deep into his book so it does not seem a split of a second that he dropped his mask. he...
@Lucky: this is old news. You either report when it happens or just ignore it. My view from the picture: his glasses are far enough from his eyes (you can see them by the tip of his nose) so no, they won't fog because there is enough air flow on the position. He is really deep into his book so it does not seem a split of a second that he dropped his mask. he took it off and was taking a break which many of us want to do but are not allowed. I have my own view about wearing masks on planes but it is not what matters here. He works for the Government. The Government that employs him has enforced a mask mandate. Thus, like it or not he has to follow it.
Last, the fact he is Kerry, 77yo, vaccinated, etc... it does not mean anything. I can tell you many people have no clue who he is, his age and unless he has a tattoo on his forehead saying he was vaccinated I am not supposed to assume he was. BTW, CDC website says very clear that there is a chance that vaccinated people may still spread the virus. Long story short, he was wrong.
You missed on this one. I think analyzing the picture to find justifications to why he has his mask completely off is just stupid and hypocritical given people who actively criticize any right wing politician in same exact situation. I am no republican at all, but the blatant double standards on any issue on both sides drive me insane. If he is traveling in no point should he be taking his mask off.
The water bottle in that picture is open and the pax next to Kerry is completely masked up.
So, my natural assumption is Kerry took off the mask to take a sip, put the bottle down and then moved his hand to turn over the page while leaving the mask off and this picture was taken.
"If" I dropped my mask to one ear". ???? If ? If ?
There is a picture that shows this clearly.
It wasn't momentarily either. He looks very settled and a moment is just that - a moment. So, the person that took the photo just happened to have his camera set and pointing in Kerry's direction and ready to take the photo at the exact "moment" he dropped the mask ??
(Ben -...
"If" I dropped my mask to one ear". ???? If ? If ?
There is a picture that shows this clearly.
It wasn't momentarily either. He looks very settled and a moment is just that - a moment. So, the person that took the photo just happened to have his camera set and pointing in Kerry's direction and ready to take the photo at the exact "moment" he dropped the mask ??
(Ben - you're being a little apologetic for Kerry as well in coming up with a theory to excuse it based on the foggy lenses... come on)
He's 77. His wife is worth a billion dollars. Explain to me again why he wants a job?
Oh right, it's about the mask. Airlines let passengers take masks off and on for eating and drinking. His was off, maybe it was on more than off, maybe not. EVERY PERSON ON THAT FLIGHT WAS LIKELY DOING THE SAME THING.
Maybe we should start a blog for pictures of everyone on every plane, with or without a mask. Would be some fascinating content.
@RaflW, "I can’t help but feel that the small but vocal group of people making this some sort of a thing aren’t doing it to try to increase mask compliance, but rather to argue that mask compliance is a hassle, or some such."
I'd guess is to point out that for the rule makers that "the rules are for thee, and not for me".
Same vein as the California governor's big French Laundry lunch at...
@RaflW, "I can’t help but feel that the small but vocal group of people making this some sort of a thing aren’t doing it to try to increase mask compliance, but rather to argue that mask compliance is a hassle, or some such."
I'd guess is to point out that for the rule makers that "the rules are for thee, and not for me".
Same vein as the California governor's big French Laundry lunch at the height of COVID (and many other CA politicians similar things that most outside of CA wouldn't have heard of).
desantis is an idiot . the end.
There's clearly media bias as it is mostly liberal. They quickly point out any Republican politicians not following protocols on a plane and there are many examples of it. I simply don't believe American Airlines that no one noticed or complaint about it. Since Kerry is part of Biden administration I just don't see them wanting to ruffle any feathers especially since they will again be bailed out. Ted Cruz for example had coffee in...
There's clearly media bias as it is mostly liberal. They quickly point out any Republican politicians not following protocols on a plane and there are many examples of it. I simply don't believe American Airlines that no one noticed or complaint about it. Since Kerry is part of Biden administration I just don't see them wanting to ruffle any feathers especially since they will again be bailed out. Ted Cruz for example had coffee in his hand while not wearing a mask and even though he wasn't banned by AA there was certainly a media firestorm
@ Alex Z -- So then what's your explanation about why no passengers have come forward to share more details?
Biased article as usual. Guarantee you’d take a different tone if a single photo of a republican came out.
You didn’t hesitate to attack desantis in a totally unrelated article.
@ INS Vikrant -- A countless number of photos of Republican politicians without masks *have* come out, and I didn't write about them, so...
You are 100% correct Ben. These people are just looking for something to say "gotcha" about, and they fail miserably. It's pathetic when you think about it.
I can't help but feel that the small but vocal group of people making this some sort of a thing aren't doing it to try to increase mask compliance, but rather to argue that mask compliance is a hassle, or some such.
But all one has to do is read about how terrible the situation is in Manaus, Brazil with the P1 variant and it is very clear to me, even after getting my first...
I can't help but feel that the small but vocal group of people making this some sort of a thing aren't doing it to try to increase mask compliance, but rather to argue that mask compliance is a hassle, or some such.
But all one has to do is read about how terrible the situation is in Manaus, Brazil with the P1 variant and it is very clear to me, even after getting my first vaccine dose, masks are essential for now. If we want to resume relatively open travel (and oh, boy do I want to!) then minor inconveniences will be part of the program for a while. So be it.