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Hey everyone , check out @jgray78 article on some thoughts I have on just one way policing can and does cause unintended harm. Thanks to Jeremy for giving me a broader reach on this. Looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts.
Thanks to retired #Birmingham West Precinct captain @Jerry5Wiley for sharing his thoughts. He illustrates his theory through the story of a single mother with an expired tag and no insurance who is stopped for speeding. al.com/opinion/2021/03/traff…
Jerry Wiley retweeted
Adam, you were censured by your own party for investigating January 6. Someone sent a letter threatening you, your wife, and your infant son. You could have spared yourself a great deal of pain by repeating the lie or simply looking away. You chose your oath instead.
Tuesday can't return what those years cost your family, and one election doesn't finish the work. But it does offer a verdict on the people who demanded silence and called it patriotism. They spent years calling you a traitor for refusing to betray your oath. Turns out they had that exactly backward. You earned this moment, Adam. I hope your family gets to enjoy it.
Jerry Wiley retweeted
I want to weigh in on the recent cash of the lear jet in Florida. As someone who started flying at 15, had an aerobatic coach by 20, and has flown everything from seaplanes to stunt planes my entire life, I know exactly how unforgiving aviation can be. As many of you know, I even survived a major amphibious aircraft crash myself, flipping upside down underwater in the Allegheny River flying with my dad.
First, let's put the age and experience argument to bed. When a tragedy like this happens, people are quick to fixate on a 20-year-old in the cockpit. Forget the noise about her age. Some of the greatest pilots in the United States—the ones flying our most advanced military aircraft—are in their late teens and early twenties. If someone that young can handle an F-35 Lightning II in a dogfight, they are absolutely capable of flying a Learjet.
Now, just looking at the cold facts of this specific crash, FAA regulations (AIM 7-1-27) are crystal clear: pilots must avoid thunderstorms by a minimum of 20 miles. Ultimately and tragically, this boils down to a fatal pilot error. They never should have flown directly into a severe storm cell.
In the cockpit, final responsibility always rests with the Pilot in Command (PIC). The captain was highly experienced, and at the end of the day, he owns that bad decision. Could the young co-pilot have pushed back? Yes. She had every right to question the call and insist they do a 180 to find a safer route. But the ultimate burden of the failure belongs to the PIC.
Listening to the ATC audio is absolutely heartbreaking, but you have to give that young co-pilot immense credit. You can literally hear her fight off the initial terror, force herself to stay cool, and continuously brief Air Traffic Control right up to the end. She was doing her job even when she had to have known they had no hope left.
Very few people will ever be in a position of knowing with 100% certainty that they are going to die, yet still forcing themselves to execute a job for the final two minutes of their life. Godspeed to the passengers and crew.
Jerry Wiley retweeted
Republicans will spend time and treasure, likely years and millions of dollars, for consultants and experts and pundits to find out what went wrong and how this happened. Save your money and don’t waste your time. The answer came 10 years ago by a Senator from South Carolina who didn’t live to see his prophetic words come to pass. “If we nominate Donald Trump we will get destroyed…and we will deserve it.” Republicans blew up their party, their values, their dignity and decency for a man who wasn’t even a Republican. Unilateral tariffs on our allies by executive orders isn’t conservative. Siding with Vladimir Putin’s murderous war in Ukraine isn’t conservative. Accepting a bribe from a foreign country in the form of an airplane that costs hundreds of millions of dollars isn’t conservative. Turning untrained thugs in masks loose in our communities to murder American citizens in cold blood isn’t conservative. Threatening to invade and conquer a sovereign country, an ally, isn’t conservative. Pardoning people who assaulted law enforcement officers isn’t conservative. The list is too long and too exhausting to contemplate. Republican law makers lit themselves on fire for a thrice married, sociopathic, mentally unstable reality tv personality who bragged about acing a test to check for dementia and spoke about the asses of male candidates for the US Senate. There was a time when I believed we should welcome any of them who finally spoke up back into polite society. But that ship has sailed. These people should live in shame for the rest of their days, shunned and repudiated in history books, never to hold a position that requires the public trust ever again.
Jerry Wiley retweeted
The difference in a professional starting qb in the nfl and a cocky little shit backup…
Jerry Wiley retweeted
So, I have a few thoughts regarding Alabama’s election last night.
Am I disappointed that Doug Jones lost? Absolutely.
Am I also encouraged by how Doug Jones ran? ABSOLUTELY!
I haven’t seen an Alabama statewide election this competitive in a LONG time. Tommy Tuberville won by only about 4 percentage points. Let that sink in. FOUR POINTS. In ALABAMA!
That tells me something: Alabama isn’t nearly as untouchable politically as some people would have you believe. And THAT is encouraging to me.
Several good things happened last night.
We saw competitive races across the state, Democratic victories, and a level of support for Doug Jones that many people probably never thought possible in Alabama. Jones received more than 800,000 votes in a state that many have written off politically.
But the biggest win?
SHOMARI FIGURES WON REELECTION TO CONGRESS IN A DISTRICT THAT WAS EXTREMELY GERRYMANDERED TO FAVOR REPUBLICANS!
Let that sink in, too!
What does this mean?
It means Alabama may not be the safe red state that people have grown accustomed to. It means there are voters here who want something different. It means change is possible, even when the odds are stacked against us.
It also means there is still WORK to do. And trust and believe, Montgomery AND Washington, D.C., got the message last night!
One more thing… (and I say this in love).
To my Alabama natives who now live in other states:
Now is NOT the time to tell us that Alabama will never change. And PLEASE don’t tell us that everyone here is complacent or doesn’t want change, because that simply isn’t true.
Remember, some of the states you currently live in, and sometimes look down on Alabama from, were once considered solidly red, too. People said those states would never change, either.
But guess what? Change happened because people stayed, organized, voted, worked, and refused to give up.
We don’t need your negativity right now. We need your encouragement and support.
There are people right here in Alabama who are putting in the work, fighting for progress, organizing communities, and refusing to accept that things have to remain the way they’ve always been.
Don’t dismiss their efforts simply because the results aren’t happening as quickly as you would like.
And finally, to my fellow Alabamians:
Cry today. Wipe those tears tomorrow. Then get MOTIVATED and get back to WORK!
Because change doesn’t happen overnight, and it certainly doesn’t happen when we give up.
Alabama is worth fighting for. And last night proved that the fight is FAR from over!
Imagine with me if you will. Imagine the many millionaires running for office and during their victory speeches, give this heart felt, thankful and humble of a speech. You cant can you? Neither can I.
Jerry Wiley retweeted
Well would you look at that...
SCOOP: Jennifer Hegseth, the wife of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a former longtime Fox producer, last year was paid by the top Trump-connected DC consulting firm Watchtower Strategy that also did work on behalf of Lockheed Martin the same year (!). politico.com/newsletters/pla…
Jerry Wiley retweeted
I can't let the night go by without offering a shout out and deep appreciation to all the poll workers and election officials, most unpaid, others underpaid, who put themselves on the line to give us elections with integrity, and often face threats or disrespect while doing so.
Jerry Wiley retweeted
There are four kinds of possible outcomes in an SEC Conference game (according to how the Committee describes the various results):
- Great Win: Beat any team in the top 1/3 of the conference.
- Quality Win: Beat any team in the bottom 1/3 of the conference.
- Good loss: Lose to any team in the top 1/3 of the conference.
- Neutral loss - Lose to any team in the bottom 1/3 of the conference. It is a gauntlet, you know.
Some resulting realities:
- Any game involving any team in the top 1/3 of the conference will result in a Great or Quality Win.
- Any game between two teams in the top 1/3 will result in a Great Win and a Good Loss.
- Many great wins and quality wins are guaranteed. There is no avoiding that.
- Once you get your head around no losses being bad losses, you need to put 3-loss SEC teams in the playoff. That is what the Committee is coordinating now.
Two-loss SEC teams are currently ranked #5, #7, #10, #13 and #14. Alabama and Texas have already basically been guaranteed playoff spots, even when they take their 3rd losses.
You have to hand it to them. They let everyone know what they were planning a few months ago. Nobody should be surprised.
Jerry Wiley retweeted
Here’s what people need to understand: my daughter couldn’t care less about the Muslim Brotherhood or transgender people. She voted on the fact that her and her husband had to DROP THEIR HEALTHCARE during this open enrollment because they can’t afford a $900 monthly premium and a $6000 dollar deductible. They are only insuring her so they can have another baby and are praying her husband and one year old don’t get too sick.
So no, she couldn’t care less about Muslim’s in Minneapolis or Congress. She doesn’t care whether a person has a penis or a vagina. She doesn’t care whether her neighbor is documented or not. She doesn’t care about Iran or Israel or Ukraine. Her worries are in her home everyday knowing she can’t provide healthcare for her son.
So every elitist who wants to say we are doomed, the country is going to change, be scared of this, etc. She doesn’t care. And until the everyday life of the average person improves and families have breathing room and can afford a home and health care, this is what we are going to get.
The Republicans are SO out of touch about what actually matters and they deserved every bit of this.
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Jerry Wiley retweeted
Reposting this for no particular reason
Liz Cheney: “I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible. There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”
Real patriot 👇
Jerry Wiley retweeted
I rarely talk about what January 6 cost me and my family. The friendships, the threats, the party I once called home.
But today, I feel something I haven't felt in years.
Vindication.
We refused to bow to Trump. We paid a price. And last night, America roared back.
This one's personal.