So a dog died—a puppy died—on a United Airlines flight after the crew made the family put their dog in the overhead compartment, where the dog apparently suffocated to death. (Who knew those things were airtight?) Eighteen animals died on U.S. flights last year—and most of them died on United:
Last year, 18 animals, mostly dogs, died while being transported on United—three-fourths of all animal deaths on US carriers, according to the Department of Transportation. Those figures represent animals that die in cargo holds.... United, which promotes its pet-shipping program called PetSafe, carries more animals than any other airline, but its animal-death rate is also the highest in the industry. Alaska Airlines, which carries only 17 percent fewer animals, had just two deaths last year.
Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, heard about that poor dead puppy and immediately took action:
I will be filing a bill tomorrow that will prohibit airlines from putting animals in overhead bins. Violators will face significant fines. Pets are family.
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) March 14, 2018
Today, I introduced the Welfare of Our Furry Friends Act, also known as WOOFF, w my colleague @SenCortezMasto. Our bill directs the @FAANews to create regulations to prohibit the storing of a live animal in any overhead compartment and establish civil fines for violations #WOOFF pic.twitter.com/U3nZqLNIaH
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) March 15, 2018
One goddam dog dies in an overhead compartment and Sen. John Kennedy immediately introduces legislation to protect these "family members." Seventeen students and teachers are gunned down in Florida and Kennedy doesn't propose to do anything. Seven thousand children have been shot and killed since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school in 2012, 96 Americans die every day from gun violence, 13,000 Americans die every year, and twice that many Americans are injured in gun violence every year. But we're not going to do anything about that, of course, so long as the NRA owns the GOP and the GOP owns D.C.
Twitter users were quick to jump on Kennedy for the timing of his proposal, which took place the same day that thousands of students nationwide walked out of school to protest gun violence and honor victims of the Feb. 14 Florida school shooting that left 17 dead. After the shooting last month, Kennedy said that the country needs “more idiot control” instead of more gun control.
Think of the upcoming midterm elections as idiot control—if we vote the idiots out, we might finally be able to do something about guns.
