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| Latin America |
| U.S. pilot is fined $12,750 in Brazil(ian shakedown) |
| 2004-01-15 |
| An American Airlines pilot was fined nearly $13,000 Wednesday on accusations that he made an obscene gesture when being photographed at the airport as part of entry requirements for U.S. citizens. I wonder how long they made them camp out before being âprocessedâ? anything to stick it to The Man© Brazil imposed the new rules that Americans be fingerprinted and photographed at entry points in response to the similar rules in the United States for citizens of Brazil and other countries whose citizens need visas to enter. any of those ianque pilots might be terrorists, paolo! The pilot, Dale Robin Hersh, lifted his middle finger while undergoing the new security process at Sao Pauloâs Guarulhos International Airport. any bets the guy is ex-Air Force? Police accused the pilot of showing contempt to authorities, a crime in Brazil... YOUâRE DAMN RIGHT IâM IN CONTEMPT! However, Hersh agreed to pay a fine before he leaves Brazil in exchange for no charges being filed, prosecutor Matheus Baraldi Magnani said. =="Since this was a minor crime I proposed that he be fined 36,000 reals ($12,750), which will later be donated to oh yeah, that $$$âs long gone Hersh was freed on his own recognizance. He was expected to pay the fine today. give those euro wannabes a bad check and GTFO of that 3rd world sh*thole The prosecutor said Hersh could have faced charges punishable by up to two years in jail. justice in brazil is blind, deaf, and retarded Hershâs 10-member crew was detained inside the airport when the incident began and was not allowed to enter Brazil. Police said the crew was not charged with anything and was returning to the United States on Wednesday evening. "the stews donât have any money, let them go" American Airlines spokeswoman Martha Pantin said the incident was the result of a misunderstanding. yeah, brasil thinks itâs BELGIUM! "The company apologizes to the Brazilian government, the airport authorities, the police or anyone else who may have perceived anything they believe to have been disrespectful," I donât think they should apologize for anything, if the brazilians donât like stricter visa policies, they can pound sand |
| Posted by:4thInfVet |
| #46 TGA, I think there's an undercurrent here that you aren't mentioning. The current leader of Brazil is anti-american and has done his best to sabotage broader economic, cultural and law enforcement cooperation between the US and Latin American countries. His buddy, the judge who decided to impose the intentionally painful fingerprinting etc., is helping him accomplish two aims: to deliberately annoy and humiliate Americans and to undercut the leadership in places like Rio, who were not his political supporters in the last election. Every country can do as it pleases -- but when I and my country are deliberately insulted, I too take offense. I don't know about the nude sambas, but frankly it doesn't make much difference to me -- my Brazilian friends would be welcome to visit me here, but I will not spend a single cent in their own country. |
| Posted by: rkb 2004-1-15 3:36:24 PM |
| #45 RC - depends! :) I wouldn't use it, but some people do without thinking about it. Although I reckon Luke is trying to be anal about it. |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2004-1-15 3:34:17 PM |
| #44 Ok I will give you the German example: Giving a German official (police etc.) the finger is rated as a "serious" insult (schwere Beamtenbeleidung). Those who do that can be prosecuted with up to one year in prison (rarely the case, only repeat offenders I guess) and/or hefty fines. The fine will typically be your income of 30 to 60 days. How much does an AA pilot make a month? I think the Brazilian fine is fairly accurate. This has nothing to do with terrorism, the pilot simply broke the law, that's all. Giving the finger is actually the worst insult in Latin America. It means as much as "f*** your a***, f*** your mother" etc... you get the idea. And the pilot is not an ignorant tourist, he must know better. Being in uniform doesn't make it any better. The new Brazilian regulations may be silly but... it's their country. If they only fingerprint Americans, it's their choice. After all America is the only country THEY get fingerprinted. Just because they are not the only ones getting fingerprinted in the U.S. doesn't make it any better (for them). They simply don't accept to be treated differently than Italians or Spaniards. From what I saw on TV, they now entertain the US tourists with half nude samba dancers while they wait. Maybe some other nationalities will insist on getting in the same file now? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-1-15 3:18:51 PM |
| #43 Hell, Zhang Fei, if someone got off the plane in NYC and gave the city the finger, you'd just think they were being friendly and return the greeting. LOL. Actually, that's about the size of it, if the guy on the other side were a civilian. But a Customs agent who got the finger would probably take the opportunity to open every single item in a person's luggage. Unlike in Brazil, American public officials are civil servants, not lords of the realm - and they don't get commended for jerking tourists around for bribes. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-1-15 2:34:40 PM |
| #42 Hell, I would be willing to chip in a couple of dollars to defray the fine if a fund is ever set up. The point here is that we are trying to identify terrorists while the Brazilians are just being pissy and juvenile. |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2004-1-15 2:33:06 PM |
| #41 Is it supposed to be insulting? Because right now it just makes the user seem, well, dumb as a rock covered in cow shit. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-15 2:25:17 PM |
| #40 I'm afraid it's cockney rhyming slang RC. Whether it originated near Bow Bells or Oz - I dunno. Apples 'and pears' = stairs (noone uses this AFAIK! :) Ruby 'Murray' = curry (as in "who's for a ruby?") Syrup 'of figs' = wig (as in "Who's the geezer with the dodgy syrup!") and... Septic 'tank' = Yank. |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2004-1-15 1:38:39 PM |
| #39 re #8 Hell, Zhang Fei, if someone got off the plane in NYC and gave the city the finger, you'd just think they were being friendly and return the greeting. |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2004-1-15 1:38:11 PM |
| #38 Where's .com when you need him? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-15 1:07:32 PM |
| #37 Mentally twelve. At most. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-15 12:41:25 PM |
| #36 I stand corrected. In another thread the troll in question is self-identified as Euro. I hadn't realized they used the same term over there. Best to all in Alice Springs. I still think the troll's about 12 or so. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-1-15 11:32:56 AM |
| #35 RC - Yes (variant Aussie slang). But since it lays there rather limply, I shrug it off rather easily. Based on the punctuation I figure he wants to be viewed as a 12 year old in a trailer outside of Alice Springs. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-1-15 11:01:40 AM |
| #34 septic: adj. 1. Of, relating to, having the nature of, or affected by sepsis. 2. Causing sepsis; putrefactive Nope. Still doesn't make sense. Anyone have any idea what the barely-literate "luke" was trying to say? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-15 10:53:40 AM |
| #33 Police accused the pilot of showing contempt to authorities, a crime in Brazil... Well this is encouraging. It would come as no surprise at all if corruption in Brazil amongst the "authorities" is pretty widespread. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-1-15 10:24:38 AM |
| #32 what about the usless septic who let someone on board a plane to uk with bullets in his pocket you septics are crap |
| Posted by: luke 2004-1-15 10:20:24 AM |
| #31 I agree with TGA, if this were a Brazillian Nut that did it inthe U.S. we would have detatined him too. I doubt that's true. A fine of $12,500? Two years in jail? I've never heard of anything like this happening here (NYC, gateway to America). Bomb threats are prosecuted, and people who damage property have to pay for damages but that's about it. Here's an account of the kinds of punishments that are meted out for incidents that involve either assault or vandalism: ⢠On a flight to Germany last March, Berlin businessman and bodybuilder Oliver-Jan Westphal locked himself in the cockpit, declared himself a secret-service agent, grabbed the controls from the pilot, and yelled, âIâm bringing you all down!â The plane quickly plunged 2,000 feet. As the pilot grappled with the intruder, four passengers broke down the door and restrained the deranged man while a dentist injected him with a tranquilizer. The Boeing 737 landed safely, and Westphal was charged with assault and attempted hijacking. ⢠During a flight from Los Angeles to Taipei in February 2000, 27-year-old Hong Kong pop star Ronald Cheng became unruly after downing several whiskeys. When a flight attendant tried to quiet him down, Cheng pulled her hair and put her in a headlock, only letting go in order to choke the copilot, who had come to help. Cheng was finally subdued after the captain used a heavy flashlight to knock the crooner out. The flight was then diverted to Anchorage, Alaska, to obtain hospital care and police assistance. Cheng agreed to pay $65,000 in damages. ⢠On a December 1997 flight to Baltimore, 22-year-old Dean Trammel proclaimed himself Jesus and wandered through the aircraft blessing fellow passengers with a pillow. When the flight attendant told the 200-pound former college football player to sit down, he explained that God had ordered him to remain standing, then hurled her across two rows of seats. It eventually took four men to restrain Trammel, who was hogtied with seat belts and an airline necktie for the remainder of the flight. In court Trammel was found guilty of assault and sentenced to three yearsâ probation. ⢠Ground zero for modern air-rage episodes took place in October 1995, when Gerard Finneran of Greenwich, Connecticut, told a United Airlines flight attendant that he would âbust his assâ after being refused more wine. The heavily inebriated 58-year-old investment banker proceeded to pour drinks on himself and then relieve his diarrhea on the food cart, using the linen napkins as toilet paper. In court Finneran was ordered to pay $49,029 to cover the cleanup costs and reimbursement to fellow passengers.âLaurina Gibbs |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-1-15 10:18:37 AM |
| #30 What would happen to me if I gave an U.S. immigration official the finger? Remind me, what terror threat level is Brazil under right now ? Fucking PINK ? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-15 9:36:07 AM |
| #29 Who in their right mind would visit Rio? The hotels warn you not to take your wallet or wristwatch when out on the town. They urge you to return by 10 PM, and provide maps of the city where you go only at your own peril. The "death squads" can't keep up with a pervasive juvenile delinquency, and racism, in a nation ostensibly color-blind is rampant. Even Jamaica looks good in comparison. |
| Posted by: Tancred 2004-1-15 8:53:23 AM |
| #28 I agree with TGA, if this were a Brazillian Nut that did it inthe U.S. we would have detatined him too. Kudos to the pilot for having a set to make a statement and I hope that fine doesn't break you. If it were possible I WOULD give them a check and then cancel it after I left their airspace. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-1-15 7:56:36 AM |
| #27 TGA from what I know you would get an instant rectal exam for a start Dorf |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-15 7:34:01 AM |
| #26 I'll stick to my comment made yesterday. What would happen to me if I gave an U.S. immigration official the finger? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-1-15 7:06:29 AM |
| #25 I think the tourism industry is already half-dead. I know I'm sure as hell never going there. There are plenty of nations with nice weather, good beaches, and hot babes. Who needs Brazil? |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2004-1-15 4:53:07 AM |
| #24 Good thing they didn't keep the pilot and cause an international incident. Banning all US flights to Brazil would KILL the tourist industry down there. |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-1-15 2:51:09 AM |
| #23 TGA, I think there's an undercurrent here that you aren't mentioning. The current leader of Brazil is anti-american and has done his best to sabotage broader economic, cultural and law enforcement cooperation between the US and Latin American countries. His buddy, the judge who decided to impose the intentionally painful fingerprinting etc., is helping him accomplish two aims: to deliberately annoy and humiliate Americans and to undercut the leadership in places like Rio, who were not his political supporters in the last election. Every country can do as it pleases -- but when I and my country are deliberately insulted, I too take offense. I don't know about the nude sambas, but frankly it doesn't make much difference to me -- my Brazilian friends would be welcome to visit me here, but I will not spend a single cent in their own country. |
| Posted by: rkb 2004-1-15 3:36:24 PM |
| #22 RC - depends! :) I wouldn't use it, but some people do without thinking about it. Although I reckon Luke is trying to be anal about it. |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2004-1-15 3:34:17 PM |
| #21 Ok I will give you the German example: Giving a German official (police etc.) the finger is rated as a "serious" insult (schwere Beamtenbeleidung). Those who do that can be prosecuted with up to one year in prison (rarely the case, only repeat offenders I guess) and/or hefty fines. The fine will typically be your income of 30 to 60 days. How much does an AA pilot make a month? I think the Brazilian fine is fairly accurate. This has nothing to do with terrorism, the pilot simply broke the law, that's all. Giving the finger is actually the worst insult in Latin America. It means as much as "f*** your a***, f*** your mother" etc... you get the idea. And the pilot is not an ignorant tourist, he must know better. Being in uniform doesn't make it any better. The new Brazilian regulations may be silly but... it's their country. If they only fingerprint Americans, it's their choice. After all America is the only country THEY get fingerprinted. Just because they are not the only ones getting fingerprinted in the U.S. doesn't make it any better (for them). They simply don't accept to be treated differently than Italians or Spaniards. From what I saw on TV, they now entertain the US tourists with half nude samba dancers while they wait. Maybe some other nationalities will insist on getting in the same file now? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-1-15 3:18:51 PM |
| #20 Hell, Zhang Fei, if someone got off the plane in NYC and gave the city the finger, you'd just think they were being friendly and return the greeting. LOL. Actually, that's about the size of it, if the guy on the other side were a civilian. But a Customs agent who got the finger would probably take the opportunity to open every single item in a person's luggage. Unlike in Brazil, American public officials are civil servants, not lords of the realm - and they don't get commended for jerking tourists around for bribes. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-1-15 2:34:40 PM |
| #19 Hell, I would be willing to chip in a couple of dollars to defray the fine if a fund is ever set up. The point here is that we are trying to identify terrorists while the Brazilians are just being pissy and juvenile. |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2004-1-15 2:33:06 PM |
| #18 Is it supposed to be insulting? Because right now it just makes the user seem, well, dumb as a rock covered in cow shit. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-15 2:25:17 PM |
| #17 I'm afraid it's cockney rhyming slang RC. Whether it originated near Bow Bells or Oz - I dunno. Apples 'and pears' = stairs (noone uses this AFAIK! :) Ruby 'Murray' = curry (as in "who's for a ruby?") Syrup 'of figs' = wig (as in "Who's the geezer with the dodgy syrup!") and... Septic 'tank' = Yank. |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2004-1-15 1:38:39 PM |
| #16 re #8 Hell, Zhang Fei, if someone got off the plane in NYC and gave the city the finger, you'd just think they were being friendly and return the greeting. |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2004-1-15 1:38:11 PM |
| #15 Where's .com when you need him? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-15 1:07:32 PM |
| #14 Mentally twelve. At most. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-15 12:41:25 PM |
| #13 I stand corrected. In another thread the troll in question is self-identified as Euro. I hadn't realized they used the same term over there. Best to all in Alice Springs. I still think the troll's about 12 or so. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-1-15 11:32:56 AM |
| #12 RC - Yes (variant Aussie slang). But since it lays there rather limply, I shrug it off rather easily. Based on the punctuation I figure he wants to be viewed as a 12 year old in a trailer outside of Alice Springs. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-1-15 11:01:40 AM |
| #11 septic: adj. 1. Of, relating to, having the nature of, or affected by sepsis. 2. Causing sepsis; putrefactive Nope. Still doesn't make sense. Anyone have any idea what the barely-literate "luke" was trying to say? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-15 10:53:40 AM |
| #10 Police accused the pilot of showing contempt to authorities, a crime in Brazil... Well this is encouraging. It would come as no surprise at all if corruption in Brazil amongst the "authorities" is pretty widespread. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-1-15 10:24:38 AM |
| #9 what about the usless septic who let someone on board a plane to uk with bullets in his pocket you septics are crap |
| Posted by: luke 2004-1-15 10:20:24 AM |
| #8 I agree with TGA, if this were a Brazillian Nut that did it inthe U.S. we would have detatined him too. I doubt that's true. A fine of $12,500? Two years in jail? I've never heard of anything like this happening here (NYC, gateway to America). Bomb threats are prosecuted, and people who damage property have to pay for damages but that's about it. Here's an account of the kinds of punishments that are meted out for incidents that involve either assault or vandalism: ⢠On a flight to Germany last March, Berlin businessman and bodybuilder Oliver-Jan Westphal locked himself in the cockpit, declared himself a secret-service agent, grabbed the controls from the pilot, and yelled, âIâm bringing you all down!â The plane quickly plunged 2,000 feet. As the pilot grappled with the intruder, four passengers broke down the door and restrained the deranged man while a dentist injected him with a tranquilizer. The Boeing 737 landed safely, and Westphal was charged with assault and attempted hijacking. ⢠During a flight from Los Angeles to Taipei in February 2000, 27-year-old Hong Kong pop star Ronald Cheng became unruly after downing several whiskeys. When a flight attendant tried to quiet him down, Cheng pulled her hair and put her in a headlock, only letting go in order to choke the copilot, who had come to help. Cheng was finally subdued after the captain used a heavy flashlight to knock the crooner out. The flight was then diverted to Anchorage, Alaska, to obtain hospital care and police assistance. Cheng agreed to pay $65,000 in damages. ⢠On a December 1997 flight to Baltimore, 22-year-old Dean Trammel proclaimed himself Jesus and wandered through the aircraft blessing fellow passengers with a pillow. When the flight attendant told the 200-pound former college football player to sit down, he explained that God had ordered him to remain standing, then hurled her across two rows of seats. It eventually took four men to restrain Trammel, who was hogtied with seat belts and an airline necktie for the remainder of the flight. In court Trammel was found guilty of assault and sentenced to three yearsâ probation. ⢠Ground zero for modern air-rage episodes took place in October 1995, when Gerard Finneran of Greenwich, Connecticut, told a United Airlines flight attendant that he would âbust his assâ after being refused more wine. The heavily inebriated 58-year-old investment banker proceeded to pour drinks on himself and then relieve his diarrhea on the food cart, using the linen napkins as toilet paper. In court Finneran was ordered to pay $49,029 to cover the cleanup costs and reimbursement to fellow passengers.âLaurina Gibbs |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-1-15 10:18:37 AM |
| #7 What would happen to me if I gave an U.S. immigration official the finger? Remind me, what terror threat level is Brazil under right now ? Fucking PINK ? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-15 9:36:07 AM |
| #6 Who in their right mind would visit Rio? The hotels warn you not to take your wallet or wristwatch when out on the town. They urge you to return by 10 PM, and provide maps of the city where you go only at your own peril. The "death squads" can't keep up with a pervasive juvenile delinquency, and racism, in a nation ostensibly color-blind is rampant. Even Jamaica looks good in comparison. |
| Posted by: Tancred 2004-1-15 8:53:23 AM |
| #5 I agree with TGA, if this were a Brazillian Nut that did it inthe U.S. we would have detatined him too. Kudos to the pilot for having a set to make a statement and I hope that fine doesn't break you. If it were possible I WOULD give them a check and then cancel it after I left their airspace. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-1-15 7:56:36 AM |
| #4 TGA from what I know you would get an instant rectal exam for a start Dorf |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-15 7:34:01 AM |
| #3 I'll stick to my comment made yesterday. What would happen to me if I gave an U.S. immigration official the finger? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-1-15 7:06:29 AM |
| #2 I think the tourism industry is already half-dead. I know I'm sure as hell never going there. There are plenty of nations with nice weather, good beaches, and hot babes. Who needs Brazil? |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2004-1-15 4:53:07 AM |
| #1 Good thing they didn't keep the pilot and cause an international incident. Banning all US flights to Brazil would KILL the tourist industry down there. |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-1-15 2:51:09 AM |