Delta caved to various anti-gun groups in the wake of the Florida school shooting and fired the first shot by ending the discount it gives to NRA members. The GA lieutenant governor responded by saying the airline -- which has its HQ in Atlanta and a huge hub there as well -- as a corporation, "cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back."

Some background: Several years back, during the recession, Georgia's legislature ended the tax exemption on jet fuel it had once given. Delta has been lobbying ever since to get it back. So of course, the Georgia senate -- which is a politically oriented body -- working with the lieutenant governor (who has authority in the senate) can refuse to grant it, especially given the lieutenant governor can bottle it up and prevent its approval.

Now we would say that the NRA, or any other organization, doesn't have any right to discounts from any airline or other corporation. But the same applies to corporations such as airlines, in that they don't explicitly have a right to untaxed jet fuel, most reasonable people would say.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

I absolutely agree with everything you state here.

However, I question whether I would want one of my elected officials to state, "if you don't support the NRA, we'll take away the $40 million tax break we've already approved". And so I'm fair and clear, I also would question any politician that said, "if you don't support [insert any major left/right/center lobbying group], we'll take away the [insert benefit] we've already approved." Both seem akin to bribery, black mail, strong-arming, or some other illegal action that we typically don't want to see from our elected officials (excuse my lack of exact legal term / circumstances, I'm not a lawyer yet).

I agree, but, I have bigger problems with this. Let's look at his statement:

“Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back,” Cagle said.

Now, full disclosure: I am an NRA member and a conservative. With that in mind, how the hell is this an "attack" on conservatives? Is NRA membership restricted to conservatives?

This is a gross over-step by government. This is the type of thing the market (not government) should correct. If NRA members are butthurt over the discount being dropped, they should stop flying Delta and use the power of the purse to effectuate change.

Ridiculous.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Let's let the voters in Georgia sort it out on election day.

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"Du or Du not-there is no Tri" - Yoda

GA's motto "at least we aren't MS".........yet

Why do you hate market forces?

(Asked because that's the only other option that has been proffered in this discussion...)

Even more background, Lt Gov Cagle is running for governor this year.

That said, I'm sure MSP or DTW would love for Delta to move it's HQ to old Northwestern hubs...

We will.

If social media is any indication, the backlash over this will be huge, and not good for the politicians.

Because freedom can be hard on the feels, yo!

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"Du or Du not-there is no Tri" - Yoda

As a Gold Medallion, it's not anti-gun "groups", it's a collection of individuals like ME who vote with their wallets and use social media to get get their opinion heard.

DL gets thousands of tweets from THEIR customers, DL listens. Its that simple.

Heard an interesting piece about this on NPR this morning. One point they made was something like this could easily put Atlanta out of the running for Amazon. Might be right on that point.

I do find the "attack on conservatives and the 2nd amendment" quite comical. As if being conservative entitles you to discount airfare. Bunch of entitled leaches I tell you....

For once I am in complete agreement with you.
Mark

Someone sent me this yesterday:

Sounds to me like Georgia needs the treatment that North Carolina got after passing that stupid bathroom bill. Watch businesses move out the state, watch the NCAA and professional sports leagues move their events, watch entertainers decide to play their concerts elsewhere, what your economy start to dry up. Then see how firm they are in their principles.

As a Diamond Medallion - who do I call to tell them my opinion? I don't tweet.

Stop using facts that don't support the left opinion.....

If the non-Delta employees would stop shooting people, gun violence would decrease by 100%.

You could insert a whole lot of groups into that meme. I really don’t see how it applies here though ...

I think the intent of the meme was to communicate that NRA members rarely (if ever) are responsible for intentional acts of firearms violence (especially mass shootings) therefore Delta was off base for dropping their relationship with the NRA and offering NRA members (a small) discount on airfare. However, the "left" or those in the anti-gun camp embraced the move by Delta. In time, the free market will determine whether the move helped, hurt or had no impact on Delta's bottom line.

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"Du or Du not-there is no Tri" - Yoda

Ahhhhh! Thanks for clearing it up for me. This whole time I thought we were discussing the actions of elected government officials, not a business decision by an airline.

There are so many tiers of stupidity in this whole affair:

1) It's stupid for Delta to offer discounts to organizations that are politically active. Whether it's the NRA or the SPLC. Stupid.

2) It's even more stupid for Delta to rescind such discounts when the news cycle changes. Unless they just say "We're discontinuing discounts of this sort across the board; the NRA, SPLC, and all others need no longer apply." Singling out the NRA was a dumb move.

3) The only thing more stupid than Delta's actions are those of the Georgia executive branch and legislature. Whipsawing tax policy back and forth like they have over the last few years just sends the message that they are stupid.

If I lived there I'd be heading for South Georgia, where I'm told the sandwiches grow on trees. Does Delta fly there?