Bonnie Bolden,Mississippi Clarion Ledger; Trans Black Hawk pilot wrongly named in crash rumors wants people to stop sharing fake news
[Kip Currier: Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbor.
Call out the people and social media sites that knowingly spread falsehoods and harmful statements.]
[Excerpt]
"UPDATE: A video and additional statement from Jo Ellis have been added since the article was originally published.
A trans woman who has been wrongly named as one of the pilots in a deadly mid-air collision between a helicopter and plane in Washington, D.C., is asking people to help stop the spread of the fake news online. The crash killed 67 people, including U.S. Army members and some families tied to the figure skating community.
"Some craziness has happened on the internet and I’m being named as one of the pilots of the DC crash," posted Jo Ellis, a Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) – UH60 Black Hawk Pilot in the Virginia National Guard...
She took to Facebook on Friday morning, asking for help stopping the spread of the wrong information, including uploading a proof of life video and issuing a statement.
She said neither she nor the families of the crash victims deserve to be tied to this tragedy for a political agenda, calling the move "insulting."...
Trump cites FAA DEI efforts as factor in crash with no evidence
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said the crash "could have been" the fault of Biden- and Obama-era hiring practices focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism – all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country," he said, specifically talking about the Federal Aviation Administration's criteria to hire air traffic controllers."
