I literally have no words.
Via Rebecca Schoenkopf at Wonkette:
Oh, man, an airplane with a crying baby, right? Teh. Worst. It is like they are in pain or something and have no way to communicate that pain except screaming! We, being mamas ourselves, are always really really really nice to people with screaming babies on airplanes. We make sympathy faces at them so they know we understand and do not hate them and will not do anything like reach over, slap their baby, and snarl “shut that nigger baby up.” Wait, WHAT? We know! We did not even warn you that “shut that nigger baby up” was coming, because we are not about to put that in a headline, and “n-word baby” is just silly. The Idaho man, by the way, the one who slapped a black baby and snarled “shut that nigger baby up,” he, just so you know, is not a racist.
I just…
*logs off*
[via Wonkette]
[cross-posted at ABLC]
El Caganer
Agree 100%. “Words fail me” doesn’t even begin to convey the jaw-dropping quality of this one.
Corner Stone
I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do with this post?
I normally skip these, “Strange and Awful Things Abound on the Interwebs!” type posts but, wtf.
Hypatia's Momma
A commenter on Fark said:
Anoniminous
I have a lot of words.
If I posted them everybody’s computer monitor would melt.
The Bobs
I blame Obama.
Baud
@The Bobs:
I actually do blame Obama. His presidency lanced a boil in this country that needed lancing. It’s going to be ugly and painful for a while, but we’ll be healthier in the long run because of it.
bemused
From reading more links, it sounds like this ass has a history of drinking and anger problems. Hitting a toddler is incomprehensible…I hope he doesn’t have any kids or grandkids.
MattF
I met a nice person from Idaho, once. He spent a lot of time apologizing and saying “Hey, famous potatoes.”
ArchPundit
How did that man get off the jet alive? I’m not advocating violence, I just don’t see how someone didn’t just reach out and strangle the son of a bitch.
And as an earlier commenter pointed our, it’s not like Idaho doesn’t have a few white supremacists there.
Alison
@efgoldman: Um. No? Why did you ask that?
Ruckus
What LE agency would have responsibility here? FBI, TSA? Could the airline press charges?
clayton
@Corner Stone:
Gee, I don’t know. Perhaps you could just skip commenting. Or type something and then not hit submit.
Or you could go back and post something on your own blog.
Oh, wait . . .
Ruckus
@ArchPundit:
This thought crossed my mind as well.
Chyron HR
In B4 our resident contrarian declares that it’s quite progressive to beat children (especially other peoples’) and call them the N-word.
bemused
@efgoldman:
What?
tjmn
Lay some child abuse charges on that bastard.
bemused
@efgoldman:
Then I guess you should have added a snark tag to that.
Alison
@efgoldman: Oh, sorry :P My snarkometer gets a little janky sometimes on these posts. Should’ve known better!
Corner Stone
@clayton: Or maybe I could continue fucking your mother until I run out of quarters?
Of course then I’m not sure how she’d continue to pay the rent for you to stay in her basement.
Nunya
It’s weird seeing this story blow up given that the mother and child are my cousins. And it’s revolting to see some of the commentary surrounding the story. I cannot understand the bullshit comments about “where’s the dad when this is going on” as anything but racism. Clearly because the baby is black the father must be also be black and therefore open to immediate suspicion about his involvement or lack thereof in his son’s life. And somehow that matters for whether random assholes are entitled to call his son a nigger and assault him. I’ve never thought twice about women flying alone with their babies, but apparently when mother and son don’t have the same color of skin there’s a rule that the father has to be at their sides at all times. News to me.
Jennifer
“Shut that baby up” would have still been rude. He had to go for extra credit by using the n-word. And of efgoldman’s trollish question, of course it’s never “OK” to strike a stranger’s child. Even striking your own is questionable, though of course the degree, frequency, and circumstances all have to be taken into account (said as one who once administered a few firm pats to a 2-year-old niece’s behind for running into the street immediately after being set down following a lengthy conversation about how running into the street wasn’t acceptable, why it wasn’t acceptable, and the potential consequences of running into the street).
Comrade Jake
Racist assholes are assholes. Who would’ve guessed?
Amir Khalid
@Corner Stone:
This policy seems to work for you, and you should stick to it.
bemused
I googled Asshole Joe Rickey Hundley and a WPTV link has a mug shot photo. Only one drink Joe…I don’t think so.
AxelFoley
That would have been one dead cracker if that had been my child. Hell, the kid wouldn’t have had to have been mine if I saw what he did and heard his epithet. It would have took the police, national guard and the military to get me off his ass.
jharp
02/15/2013
Statement Regarding Investigation of Employee Conduct
“We understand that authorities are investigating the recent behavior of one of our business unit executives while on personal travel. The allegations are disturbing and are contradictory to our values.”
“We are taking this matter seriously. In accordance with our company’s personal conduct policy, we have suspended the employee pending investigation.”
— Al Haase, President & CEO, AGC Aerospace and Defense, Composites Group
http://www.unitechcomp.com/news/statement-regarding-investigation-employee-conduct-0
low-tech cyclist
Too bad they couldn’t have shown that assclown the door.
At 40,000 feet altitude, that is.
And (excepting the first sentence, of course), what Nunya said @23.
trollhattan
@efgoldman:
Trick question. White beebees are always silent and perfectestest!
c u n d gulag
I’m so feckin’ angry I don’t even want to leave my real comment, because it may make me look like a violent $$hole if I said what I would want done to this man for slapping another person’s child, and then using a racial epithet.
Pincher
Try to stay on message. The correct term is not “racist”, but “job creator”.
Mnemosyne
@jharp:
I had a moment of, “Wait, why is this guy being suspended from his job for something he did on his personal time?” And then I went, “Oh, yeah, pending criminal charges for assault and battery on a minor.”
I also suspect that if this is a guy who gets drunk and physically assaults toddlers on airplanes, he may not be the most stable employee in the workplace, either.
trollhattan
@efgoldman:
Will guess that since they do defense (gummint) work, this could threaten their contracts. Randianism only goes so far.
pluky
@tjmn: “Child abuse?” How about “felony assault and battery of a minor?”
eric nny
Hate crime if you ask me. I hope they really throw the book at him. But if they do, he’ll probably get on off-prime host slot on Faux.
MomSense
How much you want to bet this racist has a gun or 10 at home?!
eric nny
Hate crime if you ask me. I hope they really throw the book at him. But if they do, he’ll probably get on off-prime host slot on Faux.
brettvk
@Mnemosyne: He appears to actually be the president of the company, so maybe his instability is Randian jobcreatory executive temperament.
bemused
@jharp:
Well, that’s a good start but their investigation should be short resulting in kicking his sorry ass out .
JPL
@jharp: Hopefully the suspension is followed by a termination of employment. Since he is the President of a subsidiary, he’ll probably walk away with a nice amount of cash though.
greenergood
@Nunya: It makes it even harder to read that this mum and baby are related to you! And some of the comments on Smoking Gun are just incredibly awful. I was on a plane flying from UK to NY last year, where a baby started crying at take-off and never stopped, for 8 hours – obviously an ear problem. Luckily there were three UK nurses sitting in the aisle behind me, on their way to a long Xmas weekend in NYC, and they made it their business to take turns walking that baby up and down the aisles for 8 hours – kind of sharing out the noise, but helped that mum big-time, and meant everyone sitting near her didn’t have to endure all the noise, all the time. That’s what compassion is – Mr Hundley is devoid of that kind of humanity, and is, thus, an asshole; he should be charged not with common assault, but child abuse.
Also too, this story today reminds me of one that was posted by the Field Negro Saturday morning, but from another angle:
http://www.field-negro.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/suffer-little-white-children.html#.UR_tv_L9U9M
Aggression or Avoidance: they just don’t want to admit that the country’s not lily-white.
eric nny
Hate crime if you ask me. I hope they really throw the book at him. But if they do, he’ll probably get an off-prime host slot on Faux.
Corner Stone
@Amir Khalid: Yeah, you’re probably right. Thanks.
And go fuck yourself. Also, too.
JPL
This wasn’t his first assault..
In 2007, Hundley pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge filed in Virginia, according to court records.
Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/national/joe-rickey-hundley-man-charged-with-slapping-crying-boy-uttering-racial-slur-on-delta-flight#ixzz2L68NMjuK
Cermet
This scumbag asswipe was arrested immediately upon landing and is in custody of Federal Marshals since this is what is done to people who assault crew members or just get drunk on planes …
eric nny
Hate crime. Throw the book at him. Of course he’ll end up on Faux as the victim.
D. Mason
This story is so bizarre it’s difficult to read.
Baud
If that baby had had a gun, this never would have happened.
Mnemosyne
@brettvk:
IIRC, criminal charges are one of the few reasons you can fire someone at that level without having to hand them a golden parachute on their way out.
Another guess is that his secretaries and subordinates can tell you stories that are way worse about this guy, but they couldn’t get any action from the company about him.
El Caganer
Isn’t EricSonofEric all in with beating other peoples’ kids? I’d see if he had any thoughts on this, but RedState makes me break out in hives.
Citizen_X
@ArchPundit:
I would have helped him get off the plane alive and in one piece.
Oh, did you mean after landing? Never mind, then.
Jamey
I thought jettisoning guys like Joe Rickey Hundley are why airplanes have so many doors.
eric nny
Wow so sorry about the 18 identical posts. I’ll go back to just reading……
Lavocat
Let me guess … this racist shit is now claiming to be the victim here.
Well, if so, perhaps someone should make him a victim … of the ass-beating of a fucking lifetime!
bemused
@Mnemosyne:
Yup, secretaries, subordinates, restaurant/bar waiters staff, cab drivers, whoever mows his lawn, cleans his house, store clerks, pets if he has any and they could talk, his family if he has one and they dared to talk, pretty much anyone he comes into contact with that doesn’t have more seniority or power than he does.
PhoenixRising
@Nunya: From my experience as a white adoptive mom to a child of color, the rule you’re searching for is not exactly ‘dads must be present’. It’s ‘I’m not scared of some little white girl that has a brown baby because I’m superior to her’. Your cousin, by adopting that boy, waived her membership in the white race according to the aggressive, obnoxious bigots among us. I have had similar (in kind but not degree, or I’d be posting this from federal prison) moments of WTF with my fellow white people.
I’d bet my house that had the mama in question been black, this racist would have been afraid to slap her child. Because he’d have used the same beliefs that told him no one on the plane was going to hold him accountable, or question his word about what occurred, to determine that Shannika was going to cut him up if he wronged her.
Those people are dangerous because they’re violent, you know. Senselessly and inhumanely violent.
aimai
@Nunya:
I agree. I read the comments over at the smoking gun after the link at Wonkette and I was just blown away by how crazy they were–especially the weird diatribes focusedon whether she was travelling alone or not. Jeebus, women travel with babies alone all the time. Its not possible to deduce where/when/who the father is from this fact.
The Idaho/white supremacist thing leaped out at me, as well. I guess I’m profiling but occam’s razor.
brettvk
@Mnemosyne: Ahh, all he has to do is offer a tearful apology to anyone that was offended and announce that he found Jesus through this horrible experience. Call me cynical. But if he has some sort of DOD security clearance, that might make a difference to his company.
SatanicPanic
No denying racism here, even FOX can’t let him off on a technicality, because he said the magic word.
greenergood
@efgoldman: I just find it hard to imagine that if your baby’s in hospital (and it looks like this baby was in hospital for longer than a week at least) that you’d say ‘No I don’t want my child to have treatment from a qualified nurse because of the colour of his/her skin.’ What TF does skin colour have to do with health care?? If the father had a heart attack and the only medics who could treat him were not white, he can choose his fate (and I know what fate I’d choose for him), but to endanger his child due to his racism – that’s just incredible.
SatanicPanic
@greenergood: Probably thinks that nurse is a danger to his baby. If you go around harboring malice towards people of other colors, you probably think everyone else is doing the same.
CarolDuhart2
I think he’ll be allowed to quietly “retire”. Airplane parts-one of the biggest customers are governments who run their own airlines and Federal contracts. By definition, the company wants to make sure that clients in the Third World and perhaps Arab world too, aren’t taken aback by this and begin to fear that the company harbors people who are hostile to them in some way.
He’s probably been an internal embarrassment as well, but until today they maybe never really heard of any charges of any kind against him.
AxelFoley
@Baud:
I see what you did.
baxie
file under “This Week in Post-Racial America”.
Just when I think the internet has finally lost its ability to shock and disgust me, this comes along.
Jebediah
@efgoldman:
I am totally flabbergasted that they went along with that request. Don’t they have any legal advisors? (Since regular old morality was clearly not in operation.)
El Cid
Librul PC nonsense.
Since when is it “racist” to call a black baby a n****** and publicly slap it for acting like a baby?
Now, if the man had offered to support the family’s desire for affordable health insurance for the child, well, that would be racist, and Stalinist, and also genocide.
aimai
@Jebediah:
Read the comments at the original thread/article about the nurse. The number of people who come on to support the father and accuse all black people of being incompetent, greedy, affirmative action hires is just jaw dropping. Also the number of reverse sexists concern trolling the “well known” fact that women can refuse to have a male nurse or doctor in attendance–which, as far as I know, is actually a courtesy accorded to both male and female patients.
The Frito Pundito
The perp’s name is Joe Rickey Hundley. I’d change that real quick if I wanted to convince people I wasn’t a racist.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Now this was more than 25 years ago, but one of the fraternities at my university asked the school to cater a dinner for some ritual* involving their alumni. The catering staff consisted of students doing work-study jobs. One of the options on the contract form was for special requests; they used it to ask that African-American and Jewish students be excluded from crew for their event. The university basically said “Fuck you.” My fraternity was next door to theirs and we were about 25% Jewish and 10% AA. It made for, shall we say, strained relations.
*I assume the ritual involved white robes and hoods.
gelfling545
@efgoldman: I see nothing in that comment that would invite this question.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jebediah:
I’m not. I lived in Flint for six years and the racism there is, or at least was, far more overt than anything I’ve seen in my almost 30 years in Atlanta.
Jebediah
@aimai:
I am guessing I haven’t the stomach for it…
Jebediah
@SiubhanDuinne:
I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised. A few years ago we were visiting family in Michigan and took our niece to the Detroit Zoo. We drove through a little town called Howell. Our niece’s mom told us later that Howell had been a Klan center. I had forgotten about that when I read this post.
tjmn
@pluky:
Even better.
Applejinx
DAID honky…
GregB
Obama is forcing old white men to react like this.
It’s sad he’s so divisive.
Benghazi!
Rex Everything
White people—sorry, I should say certain white people—have some kind of a problem with babies. When my daughter was a baby most people in our neighborhood treated her with kindness and with the tacit understanding that a baby is, fundamentally, from a simple human perspective, a blessing.
The ONLY people who ever treated our baby with contempt were white people. The only people who ever acted like having a baby was a strike against us were white people. The only people who acted like a baby crying was some kind of a crime were white people. Without exception. Other parents I’ve talked to have noticed the same thing.
I don’t have an explanation for this.
clayton
@Corner Stone: To some, that might be offensive. For me, I don’t care what you are anyone else does with her.
Patricia Kayden
In addition to the criminal charge, I hope the Mother sues him for civil damages. This is beyond the pale. I can’t say that I wouldn’t have slugged him if I were on that plane.
debbie
@PhoenixRising:
Oh, please. He’d have changed his seat.
Patricia Kayden
@efgoldman: Then let him find a private hospital that will cater to his racist whims. I hope the nurse wins her case.
Patricia Kayden
@aimai: It’s amazing to me how racist Whites are except for allowing Blacks to fight in their armies. Sending them to die in useless oversea wars is fine, but treating them with respect here in the US is always a big problem. Amazing. That’s why I will always love Muhammad Ali for his stance on the Vietnam War, even though I hate boxing.
Bobby Thomson
@efgoldman: Weak sauce, though.
A Humble Lurker
Weird, I thought Corner Stone was from Texas. You learn something new everyday.
Anna in PDX
@Nunya: I was just sickened at those comments at the Smoking Gun. I am so sorry your relatives have to deal with such awful racism especially having already dealt with the screwed up situation on the plane. What is wrong with people?
Corner Stone
@A Humble Lurker: You were right. I am from Texas. I live in Texas. So looks like you didn’t actually learn anything new today. IOW, another day ending in Y. You’re just as fucking stupid when you go to bed tonight as you were fucking stupid when you unfortunately woke up this morning.
Anna in PDX
@efgoldman: Starts with “pr” and ends with “ivilege”?
clayton
@A Humble Lurker: There are lots of assholes here in Texas. Some are tolerable. Others, not so much.
I think your friend plays several parts here in the comments at BJ, but is just a shadow (if that)of Doug J. Something like a wannabe. That’s probably the source of your memory.
rikyrah
I would be in jail because I would have beat his ass right then and there.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Corner Stone: “You’re just as fucking stupid when you go to bed tonight as you were fucking stupid when you unfortunately woke up this morning. “
I know that you’re only being smug because every night you go to bed an asshole and unfortunately you are an even bigger asshole when you wake up. I think you’ve reached the point that you have to see a proctologist if you are in need of any kind of medical care.
Or dental care.
justawriter
My niece was on that flight. She is happy that the turd is facing federal assault charges.
Corner Stone
It’s interesting when the dead thread ankle biters show up and try to bite off a commenter rather than actually put something out there that drives discussion.
Interesting in a way that isn’t really useful, but rather instructive for the little ones.
Don’t be like those dead threaders.
g
@efgoldman:
Well, since an FBI agent swore an affidavit confirming the incident, I’m guessing NO, it wasnt’ made up.
g
@efgoldman: Would it have been OK if he slapped a Caucasian baby?
No. He’s an asshole. The racism is just the extra special cherry topping that makes him a despicable asshole.
clayton
@Corner Stone: Because you get your ankle biting in right off the bat, right sport?
clayton
@Odie Hugh Manatee: CS looks to be a bitter disability type. While Texas rails against ’em, we unfortunately have far too many who either firebag or run off to the border to shoot people. It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@clayton:
If he has a disability then I hope he has a good proctologist to deal with it. The CS existence here is all about shitting in ABL threads and leg humping the AL threads. That and proving that when it comes to the biggest things out there, Texas is the home of all of them.
CS is the president of the Biggest Asshole contingent.
Cassidy
So Corner Stone was drunk again, apparently. I guess it’s a day ending in “y”.
A Humble Lurker
@Corner Stone:
I see, you weren’t the Idaho man, you just WISH you were him. And you’re sad and pathetic enough to take that frustration out on us. So tragic. Or it would be if anything of value was wasted.
Yutsano
@A Humble Lurker: Never roll in the mud with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.
A Humble Lurker
@Yutsano:
Yeah, you’re probably right.
Chet
This is gross as hell, to be sure. But for God’s sake, keep your infants off of airplanes until they’re old enough to perform the Frenzel Maneuver, otherwise you’re causing them pain for no other reason than your own convenience.
Any parents who take an infant on an airplane should be arrested for child abuse.
ricky
So I followed the links and looked at the pictures.
If that kid grows up with any memories of the incident,
Joe Rickey better keep looking over his shoulder at the nursing home.
Amir Khalid
@Chet:
This is a curious tangent. As far as I know, it’s not considered abusive to take a baby or toddler travelling by plane. Plenty of parents do it; just look around the departure lounge the next time you go flying. Can you point to any authority on parenting that advises against it?
Chet
@Amir Khalid: You’re causing extreme pain to an infant for no purpose. (Trust me, wherever you’re taking them, they won’t even remember having been there at that age.) How is that not child abuse?
J Anthony
@Hypatia’s Momma: Hayden Lake WAS an epicenter for the Aryan Brotherhood. But some years ago the fine citizens of this town (my home for 26+ years) discarded the filth. They’ve since moved to Kalispell, MT. Regardless of that fact, actions such as these are unnacceptable in any instance.
One thing I will mention, though not condoning this man’s behavior; let’s keep our children off of airlplanes until they can ‘Frenzel’, otherwise you’re just causing them serious pain.