Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D - Enron) is entitled to the privileges of her position. Like discriminating against the disabled and other people's airline seats.
A judge has refused to dismiss a federal lawsuit accusing Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of discriminating against and mocking a disabled staffer — charges the Texas Democrat denies.
Mrs. Jackson Lee’s legal team sought to have the complaint dismissed, arguing in part that actions concerning her staff are protected under the Speech or Debate clause of the Constitution. In a lengthy ruling, the judge disagreed.
And as a civil rights hero and freed slave, she is entitled to other people's airline seats. If they disagree, they're racists.
A passenger on a flight from Houston to Washington D.C. has accused United Airlines of giving her first-class seat to U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. D-Houston, and then threatening to remove her from the plane for complaining and snapping a photo of the Houston congresswoman.
"It was just so completely humiliating," said Jean-Marie Simon, a 63-year-old attorney and private school teacher who used 140,000 miles on Dec. 3 to purchase the first-class tickets to take her from Washington D.C. to Guatemala and back home.
Of course this had to happen on United.
Her seat, 1A, was taken, she was told. Simon was given a $500 voucher and reseated in row 11, Economy Plus.
United Airlines. We hate you and it shows.
Simon said she saw Jackson Lee board the plane with a flight attendant before all of the other passengers, but did not know who she was until another passenger told her after they were seated.
About five minutes after Simon took the photo on the plane, Simon said, another flight attendant sat next her and asked if she "was going to be a problem."
That's the cue for United's complimentary in-flight 'knocking your teeth out' service.
The airline announced policy changes after that incident and its CEO, Oscar Munoz, has promised a "culture shift toward becoming a better, more customer-focused airline."
By 'customer focused', he meant Congress Focused. It's the government, not its customers, whom United fears.
Anyway, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has a kind statement to make.
"Since this was not any fault of mine, the way the individual continued to act appeared to be, upon reflection, because I was an African American woman, seemingly an easy target along with the African American flight attendant who was very, very nice," Jackson Lee said in the statement. "This saddens me, especially at this time of year given all of the things we have to work on to help people. But in the spirit of this season and out of the sincerity of my heart, if it is perceived that I had anything to do with this, I am kind enough to simply say sorry."
In the spirit of the season, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is kind enough to accuse the woman whose seat she stole of being a racist. And then to tack on an apology for nothing on the end while praising her own kindness.
Truly, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee embodies all that is noblest about the CBC.