"To the passenger who just called me a motherfucker, fuck you. I've been in this business 28 years, and I've had it."   -- Steven Slater on the PA shortly before he jumped down the slide.

Good for him.

Yes.

Damn, good for him.  I don't blame him one iota.

Does this mean what Steven did was legal or safe blah blah blah, no, of course it doesn't.  Yes, that slide could have injured someone, I get that. But what about the passenger asshole who ignored the crew member's safety directive in the first place? 

Unless you've been in a coma while seated in 35B for the past 20 years, you would realize that the airlines, traveling public, and governments can take the blame for this one.  They have succeeded in wrecking the flight attendant career. But, since the FAA still doesn't allow automatic bag picker-upers and soda machines to replace flight attendants, they are still (barely) tolerated as being a part of an airline's operation.

Yes, Steven will be charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing.  He'll probably lose his job.

Hopefully, he will use this opportunity and go on every talk show on Planet Earth and earn 1000 times what he'd make at JetBlue.

And I hope that from now on, people use the term 'Pulling a Slater'.  It just fits so well.

Here's a couple of interesting links:

• NY Times story
• His Facebook page
• Huffington Post