The timing matters. UA has that right prior to boarding. The passenger protections are found in FAA regulation. If I wasn’t on the road, I’d source them for you.

Its not. Removal for non-safety/legal reasons or administrative purposes has to be voluntary.

As a former US Marshall, I’m 100% certain the plain clothed officer is not in the service. Those are airport police.

Alright, this is where it gets murky. The FAA rules require compliance with the crew, but the crew cannot make you follow directives that violate the Common Carrier Agreement (which this does). I believe the airline is ultimately at fault. They are the ones that performed a passenger removal that is outside of the FAA…

The issue is that you are required by law to comply with airport security personnel. That said, security personnel are required to follow federal law and only federal law while within the airframe or on the tarmac. I’m betting the airport cops were not informed as to the removal circumstances and were unknowingly…

Read the Carriage Agreement on your ticket next time you fly. It applies up to the point of boarding. Once the passenger passes through the gate, the legal situation changes and the FAA rules take over.

The carriage agreement only covers pre-boarding actions when related to overbooking. The plane was boarded, airline rules are out FAA rules are in.

Refusing to leave is only criminal if the airline is removing him for lawful reasons as outlined by the FAA’s Common Carrier Agreement or the TSA’s Anti-Terrorism efforts.

He’s not breaking the law when the removal doesn’t fall within the FAAs Common Carrier policies.

Not necessarily true. United is a common carrier and under FAA rules they can prevent you from boarding due to overbooking.

Meh, guard pilots have the same training and flight hours requirement as active Air Force.

Florida has done something similar since the 90s as well. Although I think there is a high school GPA requirement to qualify.

The Russian troops had vacated by the time the missiles were fired. We coordinated the launch with Russia for this very reason.

But we didnt fire missiles at a base occupied by Russian personnel and equipment.

1. Not really. In an Appeal to Authority Fallicy, an argument either falsely invokes expert opinion or falsely cites an expert who is not a true expert.

Clintons intrvention in Bosnia took two Army divisions on the ground. Nothing permenant happens without boots on the ground.

People on blogs sharpshooting Generals with PhDs and 30 years of strategic, operational and tactical experience ranks up there with deniers trying to call out climate scientists.

It didn’t work when 3000 civilians were gassed in 2013 and anothe 400,000 killed since then. There’s was never a red line, just a soft fuzzy salmon or magenta line.

Unenforceable unless you are willing to fire rockets at Russian, Iranian, Turkish and Israeli aircraft.

Each missed also has a shelf life. Like all ordnance they have a stability expiration date. Either they get fired during their lifespan or they get destroyed at a munitions depot.