Dr. Karen Halnon, a 52-year-old Penn State University professor, was thrown off of a plane after she lit a cigarette on the jet and proceeded to have a meltdown about U.S.-Venezuela relations.
Two videos uploaded to YouTube show the extent of Halnon’s actions on the flight.
In the first video, Halnon lights up a cigarette on the plane, much to the disbelief of a fellow passenger. “Can we get a flight attendant?” says a voice after witnessing Halnon smoking the cigarette mid-flight. “Are you kidding me? You just lit a cigarette on an airplane?” says another person, who is believed to be the flight attendant.
In the second video, Halnon proceeds to go on an anti-U.S. tirade. “The United States has declared war on Venezuela. The United States has declared war on Venezuela,” shouts the professor. “Venezuela has been declared a national security threat.”
Halnon continues to yell, “The United States previously owned… the oil in Venezuela. My great hero Hugo Chavez (Venezuelan dictator) nationalized the oil supply so the people would own the oil. Not Exxonmobil. He told Exxonmobil to go away… The people own the oil!”
“So you’re aware, the police are meeting the aircraft to take you off,” the flight attendant tells the University professor. “I’m going to say my piece before I’m arrested,” responds Halnon, who is seemingly convinced that she is doing a heroic deed. “They’re already saying they’re arresting me so I’m going to tell you more,” she adds.
“Oh, God,” a passenger responds, sighing.
After being ejected from the plane, Halnon told PhillyMag that she expressed a “necessary” act “of civil disobedience.”
“The problem is U.S. military global domination,” she explained, after declaring herself as someone who looks up to people who are “carrying on the revolution.”
Halnon was then apprehended and questioned by the FBI and TSA. While in custody, she “defecated on the floor,” she revealed.
“Listen, the point is, I am a sociologist, and I live in an intellectual world,” adds the professor, after admitting that she consumed three alcoholic drinks on the plane. She concludes, “I am passionate about being an anti-imperialist. To follow Jesus is to be with the poor, to be with the suffering, to be with the oppressed, and to be anti-imperialist.”
Miami-Dade police charged Halnon with misdemeanor disorderly conduct. Penn State has yet to comment on her arrest.
Dr. Karen Bettez Halnon is listed as an Associate Professor of Sociology at Penn State University Abington.
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