Southwest’s Plus-Size Policy, NFL Feuds, And A Fraught Minneapolis

The mic heats up fast: we call out power with names and dates attached, from Minneapolis leaders shifting toward ICE cooperation to the way media framing turns “undocumented” into something softer than policy implies. We don’t tiptoe around the language debate—words shape outcomes, and when voters are promised one course and get another, the dissonance is more than a headline. Accountability matters, whether it’s a city hall presser or a cable hit that muddles who is a criminal and who is simply convenient to label.

Then we board another battleground: the cabin. Southwest’s updated policy for plus-size travelers raises fair questions about fairness, clarity, and predictability. If a second seat must be bought up front and refunded only when flights aren’t full, does that provide dignity or just another tripwire? We break down how better design, upfront guidance, and consistent refund rules could transform a flashpoint into a workable standard. Because when policies feel arbitrary, frustration becomes the brand.

Sports doesn’t escape the crosshairs. The NFL’s long freeze of Dave Portnoy seems to thaw, but with the caveat that entry requires a purchased ticket. We unpack what that says about credentialing, influence, and who gets to stand on the sport’s biggest stage. And we pull apart the Broncos–Patriots officiating controversy, where whistles, replays, and muddled explanations turned a live moment into a trust test. Fans can accept tough calls; what they won’t accept is opacity dressed as authority.

We close by looking ahead to Super Bowl Sunday: who you’re rooting for, whether you’ll watch the halftime show, and what an alternative stream signals about culture and choice. If you value sharp takes over safe platitudes, you’ll feel right at home. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves honest talk, and drop your stance: halftime spectacle or switch to something different?

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Liberty Line each week on Sunday, look for topics on my X file @americanistblog and submit your 1-3 audio opinions to anamericanistblog@gmail.com and you'll be featured on the podcast. 

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Chapters

• 0:29 Cold Open And Show Countdown
• 0:56 Minnesota, ICE, And Policing
• 3:07 Media Language And “Illegal” Vs “Undocumented”
• 4:09 Hard Pivot And Sign-Off On Minnesota
• 5:03 Southwest Plus-Size Ticket Policy
• 6:50 Portnoy’s NFL Ban Lifted
• 9:20 Broncos–Patriots Call Controversy
• 11:29 Super Bowl Plans And Halftime Question

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:15

Well hello, my little love bunnies. Good morning. It's cold here in Alabama, like 13, 14 degrees. And of course, we're under a severe weather advisory for cold weather. Okay, whatever. I'll give them a pass because it's the south. Um, I have 15 more episodes after this one, and then we're calling it quits. It's the end of the podcast. It'll be a thousand episodes. All right, let's see. First, I would like to speak about Minnesota for a second. Greg Bov Bovino is out. He's going back to California. They're bringing in Tom Holman to help ease the tension. My question, one of my questions for Tom Holman is where are the 300,000 children you said you would find? It's been a year. Where are they? Secondly, now the Minneapolis police are cooperating and trying to arrest agitators, and I put agitators in quotations. Um where were you before that? And Tim and Fry, Jacob Fry are have blood on their hands because they are the ones urging their citizens to go out and fight with IC. The only people that are responsible for their oh death are the people who went out there and caused trouble. Let ICE do their job. How about that? And what what what does not make sense out of that? And now you can see that the right are starting to bend a little bit and starting to use their language. And um I heard on Fox News this morning Ainsley Earhart talking about how now Minneapolis local authorities are going to cooperate with ICE and hand over the criminals that are in prison there. My question is why do you need to get the criminals out of the prisons if they're already in the prison? I mean, I understand maybe getting them out so the taxpayers won't have to pay for them. Also, but what that implies, Miss Ainsley Earhart, is that the rest of the people who are there are not criminals, but they are because they're illegal. That's why the left likes to change the wording and use undocumented. Because when you use undocumented, they don't sound criminal, do they? But when you we use the word illegal, definitely criminal. They are in this country without proper authorization, they are illegal and they are a criminal. And they we voted for Trump for mass deportations, did we not? I think we did. But nope, we're backing off of that now. All right, we need to move on to the three stories I put out on X this morning that are not related to anything like that. I'm done with Minnesota. As far as I'm concerned, Minnesota is not a part of the United States anymore. F them. I hope you live with the decisions you've made, people of Minneapolis and the leadership there. I hope your town goes to shit, even more so. Yes, I do. I said it out loud. Okay. And it'll be your fault. It'll be your fault, nobody else's, but your own. Alright, profile. Here we go. Um, I have a couple of sports ones. We'll okay, let's start with this one first. South, this is not a sports one. I'll save the last two stories, which are sports related um for last. Southwest controversial plus size passenger policy kicks in Tuesday today. Here's what it means for travelers. Let's see what it means. This is from the New York Post. Let's see what it means. Starting Tuesday, Southwest Airlines is enacting its controversial new policy that will raise ticket prices for plus size passengers. Oh, I didn't know it was that. Under the new rules announced last year, travelers who cannot fit between their seats, armrests will be required to buy a ticket in advance. How do you okay? How do you know you well obviously you can obviously you know because those seats are tiny, are tiny. To ensure space, we are communicating to customers who have previously used the extra who has previously used the extra seat policy that they should purchase it at booking. I'm confused how this is gonna work. Because don't you buy your tickets online? I mean, how are they gonna are they required to buy two seats? So now when they go on, are they not gonna be able to fit? How's that gonna work? Uh I don't understand. Let's read on. That marks a start back up. Maybe it tells me I just skipped over it. Um, oh my gosh, these damn advertisements on this stupid app. To ensure space, we are communicating to customers who have previously used the extra seat policy that they should purchase it at booking, Southwest Rep said in a statement regarding the policy change. Well, haven't they not been doing that already? I don't know. That marks a stark change from the current customizer of size mandate, which allows plus size passengers to proactively purchase an additional seat with the option of being refunded later or requested a free extra seat at the airport. How do you get a f you can't request a free extra seat at the airport? If that's the case, I want one. By contrast, the new mandate stipulates that the second seat is only refundable if the flight is not fully booked. And if both of the okay, whatever. I don't really, I don't even care. I'm not obese. Well, technically I am. If you really want to talk about it, but we won't. Alright, uh, let's see. Uh moving on to um the end of Dave Portnoy Super Bowl ban comes with one NFL caveat. Well, let's see what it says. I you know, I talked earlier about him being banned from the Super Bowl, but I don't know why. I forget why he was banned. Maybe it'll tell us here. All right, Dan uh Dave Portnoy's ban from the NFL is over. The Barstool Sports Founders' long running beef with the NFL has come to an end, with the league telling TMZ on Monday that Portnoy is good to go to the Super Bowl in 2026 on February eighth to watch his beloved Patriots face the Seahawks at Levi Stadium as long as he buys a ticket. Well, are you giving the are you giving these tickets away to people? These elites? Is that what's happening? Portnoy had told the outlet before the NFL's comments to TMZ that he didn't think he was still banned and that I have one hundred percent intentions to go watch the Super Bowl as a fan and enjoy it. Well, I would assume you would pay for a ticket. I'm not looking for trouble, I'm just looking to cue the duck boats and have another parade. The feud between the NFL, Portnoy, and subsequently Barstool Sports stems from a protest at the league's Manhattan headquarters following the suspension of Tom Brady for four games over the Deflate Gate scandal in 2015. They banned this man before leading a protest. Come on. Portnoy and three other Barstool employees ended up being arrested over the sit-in protest. The NFL refused to credential Barstool Sports for the Super Bowl several years later, citing the protest as its reason. Portnoy was also kicked out of the big game that same year in 2017 when the Patriots defeated the Falcons in a come from behind win after trailing 28-3. But that now seems to be coming to an end in some fashion. Breaking. I'm hearing the NFL ban on Barstool Sports has been lifted. It feels like the end of Rocky IV. This has been 100% confirmed, but the Cold War may be over. He posted on X. What isn't immediately clear is whether the ban that was lifted was just for Portnoy or if the NFL will start allowing Barstool sports employees to attend league media events. Hmm. Either way, Barstool Sports founder will get to enjoy watching the Patriots attempt to win a seventh Super Bowl without having to worry about getting kicked out this year. Well, he could still get kicked out. But it's concerning when the caveat says only one condition, he has to buy a ticket. Were they letting them in free before? That is very concerning. Very concerning to me. Alright, the last one here is the big game between uh the Broncos and the Patriots. There was apparently a controversial call, or the one that they didn't call. We'll see. The Patriots capitalized on a reverse call against the Broncos in their AFC Championship win Sunday. But as one referee explained post-game, there was another error at the scene in Denver. And I think I know which one they're talking about. When discussing this series of events in the second quarter, no, this is not the one I'm thinking about, I don't think, with an under pressure Jarrett Stidham. Am I pronouncing his name Stidham? Flagged for intentional grounding with an incomplete forward pass before the call on the Broncos QB was reversed to a backward pass recovered by the Patriots. Referee Alex Kemp was asked if there was an inadvertent whistle with the play being ruled dead even as New England scooped up the ball and took it to the end zone. The whistle stopped the play, but it was after the New England player picked up the ball, Kemp said according to a transcript transcript. I have no idea what I'm reading. Just to let you know. Had the play kept going, the Patriots would not have seen the touchdown from Patriots linebacker Elijah Ponder negated. And the replay would have been available to turn the mistaken ruling of a backward pass into an incompletion per pro football talk. New England scored a short time later to tie the game at 7-7. I don't know what I'm reading. You can go check it out. It's on my X feed. Um, but I'm I really I've disliked the Patriots for such a long time, for decades. I hated that they won. I really don't care for any of the teams right now. We were rooting for the um for the Rams. Obviously they didn't win. Oh, excuse me. I don't care for any of them, any of them, but obviously I'm gonna re root for the Seahawks because I hate the Patriots. Hate them. I loathe them with everything. Alright, let's see. Um, alright, okay. That's it. That's all I've got. I guess I need a question of the day. Okay, well, speaking of Super Bowls, are you going to watch the Super Bowl this year? And if so, are you gonna watch the halftime show or are you gonna change it over and watch uh TP USA's halftime show? I think you can stream it on YouTube is what somebody said. But they need to advertise it a little bit better than they're advertising it right now because I've not seen anything about it. Alright, yes, we'll be watching the damn Super Bowl. Probably won't watch the halftime show. I don't know. I might watch it just out of curiosity so I can make fun of it. You know we're gonna hear all about it later, that's for sure. Okay, I gotta go. Thanks for listening. Bye.