The Highwire with Del Bigtree - ONE COP’S FIGHT FOR MEDICAL FREEDOM

Episode Date: April 18, 2022

Former San Francisco police officer, Joel Aylworth, is one of thousands of U.S. law enforcement agents terminated due to their vaccine status. Hear how you can help his fight, alongside the United SF Freedom Alliance, with legal battles against these unjust layoffs in San Francisco.#SFFD #JoelAylworth #UnitedSFFreedomAllianceBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

We've seen all of the, you know, defund the police situations. But also, we know that there's a law in Los Angeles. Here is San Francisco Mayor London Breed announces cuts to police in new city budget. Forced vaccination of police officers up and down, California. 40, San Francisco police officers not vaccinated against COVID-19 placed on leave. I mean, at a time, and look what it's, you know, we've talked about this. And now crime running rampant in cities all across America. America, governors screaming for help, mayors shouting for help, states of emergency, people robbing stores in broad daylight, all because, and we're laying off, you know, officers, law enforcement because they won't get vaccinated.

Or if LA gets or California gets away with the law there, they want to be able to take and defund you. If you don't enforce the COVID policies on other people, kick in their doors, arrest them, force them to be vaccinated. Well, in the center of this was one such law enforcement officer, Joel Ailworth, who is joining me now. Joel, you were one of these guys in San Francisco. Vax mandate came along. First of all, why didn't you take it? Well, I'll tell you, Dale, there's a whole bunch of reasons. One is I've been following the high wire for about two years.

That was one. And I always give thanks and grace to that because I was way ahead of the game in that sense. But also just being a Christian and having those sincerely held Christian beliefs, religious beliefs, you know, we just we don't abide that. The body is within the Holy Spirit, the temple of the body, the blood of Christ and putting unknown biological substances in our body is a form of pharmacia that we don't subscribe to. So what was the response when this mandate came about? And I'm sure, you know, you were alone. Obviously, many, I think it was there. It said 40 in that area were laid off.

Did you, did you file for an exemption? What was the process? Was that allowed to you? What took place there? Yeah, so several events happened, right? In July, the city came out with this. They wanted to mandate the vaccine, but they did offer religious and medical exemptions. So many of us filed for those exemptions. And it's interesting. That number 40, just so you know, it was close to about 300 at one point that had filed for exemptions. I and about 150 other officers were were fast in applying for exemptions early on. And those were approved. So August 19th, I actually have, I submitted my exemption. You can see it up there. Yeah.

And 8.20, I believe it was on the 20th of August. It was approved. So it was approved within a day. And many of us, about 150 of us had that. Midway through, about a month that goes by September 10th or so, the public health information officer of San Francisco said, you know, masking and testing and all this isn't going to be enough. And we're going to mandate the vaccine. Now, what's really interesting about that is then they forced all of us to do a secondary review, even though it had been approved. So they had us go

through this ridiculous secondary review, which asks, asinine questions like, you know, are your kids vaccinated? You know, there it is right there. Do your children get vaccines? What I think is a absolutely is overstepping Title VII. Yeah, yeah, amen. You're hyper rights or your medical records. Your children have nothing to do with your job. Yeah, and then on top of that, they asked some other interesting questions. I don't know if your producers have, I know they have that form, but it was things like, do you take Tylenol or Tums? I mean, these questions were ridiculous, and we knew where they were going because like I said, 300 of us initially filed for religious exemptions or we're in

the process. but 150 of us that got approved they knew and i heard rumblings the city attorney and someone else got involved there are 150 outstanding and so they knew they couldn't deny us all at once so they had to group us all together by offering this secondary review and the secondary review guess what all of us got denied somehow our religious exemption apparently and the number that i've that i have is about a thousand and you can see look at that it's just it's arbitrary there's not a They don't just point all of us got the same thing. Every checkbox was checked, accommodation, you know,

was an undue hardship to the department. We pose a direct threat, all these things. And all of us got that. And there's about a thousand total. Now, SFPD, I believe there's about 300, but about 1,000 total religious exemptions that got denied in a very arbitrary sense. We don't know why.

You know, it's scary to me because I think when I look at sort of the overall scheme of things. You had the president of the United States promoting mandating of a vaccine on adults. It's the first time it really ever happened. Going after our jobs, of course, luckily it lost the Supreme Court when it came to large employers, but health care workers and things like that fell under this mandated vaccine. But when I look at this law now, one of the laws we're really fighting. And my understanding is actually just yesterday, Senator Pan has had to put it on hold because it's not popular, but they want to force law enforcement to have to, you know, uphold whatever record, you know, whatever the violation is. If it is, if the health department says you have to

kick in people's doors, then the law enforcement has to do it. If it says you have to turn off the power, then they have to do it. Like whatever it is, it basically makes the police department, the law enforcement are just, you know, are being puppeted by the health department. And in this law, if they do not adhere or uphold these regulations from the health department, they're defunded, the money is taken from them and given to that health department, giving them even more power. And when I think about, like, and maybe, I don't know if you've gone this far and you're thinking, or if you can, but when I think about why is it you wouldn't want

anyone on the police force not vaccinated in the beginning of this pandemic when you need them, it sure seems like if you really want, you know, I don't want to put it. in bad term, but goons working for you that will just do whatever you say, get rid of all of the free-thinking police officers that represent that see the unvaccinated as their brothers and sisters. They've got to be taken out. We need just the ones that fall in line, already have this thing, and then go and we'll do whatever it takes to force everybody else. Do you feel like that's a part of it just to sort of call the free thinkers out of the department?

You know, it's interesting. I mean, clearly it appears that way. I would hate to say that anybody that got, you know, forced to got a vaccine, you know, wasn't a free thinker. I can tell you. But and you've done a lot of great job with the psychology of this. And you can just go back to like Nazi Germany and stuff. And nothing to say against that time period. But we know like what.

It was like 3% of them. Not many people agreed with what Nazi Germany's overall, what their, what their, what their mission was. But they went along with it, which is what you've been preaching this whole time on the highwire. Like, we've got to stand up. And I know there were tons of officers. It's so heartbreaking because there were so many of us in this chat. And, you know, officers were texting and saying, I'm sorry, I have to cave in. I have my wife is pregnant.

I just bought a house. I don't know what to do. And so they were forced to get this vaccine and they didn't want to. And that was heartbreaking. But as you know, I think from a psychological perspective, they're using like a technique called like nibbling, right? And if you nibble and you get a little bit from somebody, you can get a little bit more. You can ask a little bit more. And you're 100% right.

People are, when you're living in fear and you have to provide for your family, you don't know any other way, you'll do whatever it takes, unfortunately, even if it means doing something that you know deep down is wrong, but you are creating a robot, unfortunately. That's just carrying out orders. And that's what happens. You get desensitized to this and you're just like, well, I'm carrying out an order. And that's what I'm doing. Yeah.

And let me just, you know, I probably was a little bit harsh because I would imagine there's there's plenty of people that say, I want to be able to protect people. And if I have to sacrifice my belief in my own health in order to continue to protect those people, I know there are those that many probably just tell them themselves that as they go through what they don't believe in. What effect has this had on law enforcement? You must still have friends in there. We're hearing really catastrophically low numbers when it comes to being able to handle the plight

of big cities and the issues of modern, you know, policing. are they strong? Are they furlough or are they in real trouble? They are devastated. I've been in contact with a lot of, you know, good friends and officers in the last week. And, you know, their morale is at an all-time low. And morale comes and goes. So that is what it is. But yeah, crime is soaring. I mean, you've got a malicious district attorney that is out, like, actively, like, looking to prosecute cops and not criminals. And so I can say also for this, you know, we know the media spins things all the time and they are completely lying when it comes to the staffing numbers at SFPD. They are at their all-time low.

I mean, when I went to SFPD in 2013, I transferred from another department. It was booming. We were running five academies at once, which is a lot in a year. If anybody knows about being in the training division, five academies, 50 students at one time. They can't even get like 20 students. And you have to remember, 50% of students usually fail the academy. It's just it's a challenging nine months academy. And so you're left with like 10 that actually make it to the street.

And then another five that might not pass field training. So officers are being called in for one of the first times in history. I'm sure it's been done before. But they're being called in on their days off. They're being forced mandatory. We've never seen that in the history of SFPD. People are leaving in droves. And that was one of the most sought after departments.

When I first got into the SFPD, they said, you might leave this department, but they always come back. And they were right at that time because it was just a great place to work in a fun, fun environment. But that's not the case anymore. What does this do to the personal lives? What happens to your life since you stood for what was right? You stood for your health. Your health matters if you're going to try and protect the rest of us. How did this affect your life?

My life, like many others, it got turned upside down. upside down. I'm not going to lie and say, I'm the kind of person I want to just say that I'm the kind of person who is the glass is always half full. And that's the way I think. So I'm never going to let this negativity or what they're doing to me hurt me. And I'll tell you when during this time, I mean, I was living in fear just like everybody else. What am I going to do? Should I, should I, you know, forge a fake Vax card so I can keep my job. But deep down, Dell, I knew that wasn't right. And it didn't align with who I say I am, my higher self, the highest version. my true self and what I align with and I said absolutely not and I want to be that force for other officers to stand tall and and be there so that light so that they can lean on that we need to build that momentum and I will say this you know I had to do some soul searching and I remember when I in this time I asked myself man what what what's the worst that could happen to me what what am I scared of what is Joel really scared of I'm scared that I'm gonna lose my

house I'm scared that I'm gonna lose all my money and at the end of of the day I got a smile came on my face because you know what I realized they can't take my integrity they can't take my soul and they can't take my happiness or my health i know how to make money and it can always make money again and i'll figure out a way and that was invigorating and that brought me back to life and that's what i tried to instill in other officers but i will say this just like me and many others we were we were forced to move i mean i was a san francisco resident for the last 10 years my wife is a born and raised and if you know anybody in san francisco there's a lot of pride that comes with being born and raised in San Francisco.

They will tell you that they're born and raised. You will find out within the first minute that they were from the city. And we lived two houses down from my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law, and my boys, they're eight and four. They have two cousins that they would see every day. And we had to leave the city, you know, that we lived there for the last 10 years. And like I said, my wife was born and raised there. So she lived there even longer.

And many families, I'm not the only one. Many of the 40 SPPD officers that you know about have had to move to various states like Texas, South Dakota to escape because they've been forced out and it's been it's been really, really sad. What are you doing now? What did you do? So how did you bounce back? What is what are you up to now? Yeah, so you know, I leaned into something that I've been working on over the last six years and that's health and health coaching. And, you know, I've been studying under naturopaths for the last six years. Really because my mom's mother got sick. She had breast cancer and my mother-in-law had thyroid issues. And it made me sick to my stomach that I couldn't figure these issues out, being a pretty healthy person. And so I went on this journey studying under various naturopaths for the last six years. And I finally launched my coaching business because I thought, this is the perfect time. And maybe

this is the time that I need to do this. And I launched my podcast over two years ago, you know, you, you, you graced us on that podcast last July, bringing a lot of awareness to that, to what was going on. And so, I'm really living that in that point of purpose and passion. And it's scary. I always say this all the time. It's really scary. But I just keep leaning into abundance because I know the more that I do that,

that that's what I will manifest. And that's the exciting thing going on right now. That's fantastic. It's exactly the message I've been bringing throughout COVID. I know they're trying to force vaccinate you. I would say to large audiences and you're saying how I'm going to feed my family. And I said, you know, you're worried about your job, but most of you hate your job. In your case, that's not the case.

But I said, there's some job. dream you have, is something you want to be doing, now is that time. Instead of sacrificing what you believe and sacrifice your body, live into your dream, I think that that's what's going to be born out of this incredibly horrific, stupid time we've been through is, I think, you know, a better world ahead. Just lastly, as we're preparing for this rally in Los Angeles, and the idea of tens of thousands of people, and by the way, you know very well the hoops we had to jump through to get the share to allow this permit, to get the police officers. And one of the things that was really, I think, fortunate for us

is how many of them believed in our message, recognize that we are out there standing for their right to choose what they're going to enforce, to not be forced to bring enforcement on COVID masks and things that they don't believe in. So many of the sheriffs standing up for freedom of choice in our Constitution around this country. So I think there was a benefit there.

But when you think about all those people standing out there. What does that mean to the police officers across the country and the healthcare workers and those that are working? Do you think it makes a difference for us standing together like that? 1,000 percent. And I'm going to tell you why, because in San Francisco right now, the tonality is that there is no hope that this is just the way it's going to be. And I can tell you, you know, I frequented Idaho over the last two years. And every time I would, I'm literally just an hour flight away. And you know, it's a completely different vibe. People are walking around like there is no COVID.

So I think what people need to realize is that there is, and I like to talk about this idea of oneness and that we're all connected. And we don't realize that we feel like we're alone, but we're not. And events like this bring us back together and make us realize we are all connected and that we all really want the same thing and that there's a big group of us. And we get to, you know, there's camaraderie in that. And I'll just say this, Del, we didn't talk about this, but, you know, the SFPD April 15th mandated the booster. And then guess what?

They backpedaled just this last week because why? Because 600 officers didn't upload or update their status. So that just shows you the power of coming together and unity. There's 2,000 officers at LAPD that are also fighting this with religious exemptions. And LAPD has done nothing. Do you know why? Because they know they can't afford to lose 2,000 cops out of a 10,000. thousand cop organization. Right. And that's what it's all about. And these events bring that awareness

that we're not alone, that we're in this together. We're all one. We definitely are. Joel Aylworth, thank you for your words. Thank you for, you know, your energy, man. I mean, I just think, God, thank God we got you off the street. I mean, God forbid you're walking around, you know, big smiling face, taking care of protecting our children and our families. But obviously you're on to bigger, better things. Once again, that website, uh, if you want to check out the work that Joel is doing here it is let's bring it up folks here we go joel evancoaching.com w w.w.jolevencoaching.com Joel take care. Thank you for taking your time to join us today. Del one last thing if I thought you don't mind is uh and I'm glad thank you for bringing awareness to

me and my own cause and my journey what I'm doing I really want to highlight in sfpd and the city of san francisco we have a fight on our hands and we are trying to you know raise money with the with the American frontline doctors or so they're doing some amazing work as you know So if people can go there, sFrights.org backslash help, we need all the help we can get. You know these lawsuits are expensive. I can does an amazing job, which is why I donate every month. And we're just asking for a little bit. These lawsuits are anywhere.

One lawsuit is about $200,000. And we've raised $75,000. So any help, if anybody can help us with that, we're motivated. And we are starting to finally feel like we're winning and that we are going to do well. We're confident we'll win. We just need a little support. So if anybody has it in their heart, even if it's just $25, man, it goes a long way, as you know. Absolutely.

All right, glad. Let's put it up one more time for everybody that went by really quickly. www.sfrights.org slash help. Look at, you know, there's millions of you out there watching this show right now. You can't all get to the rallies. You can't get out. But this is where you get to feel good. Do a little bit of good today.

Let's help those that are helping us, that are protecting us, and are in the fights of their lives. Joel, I look forward to speaking with you soon. Take care. Likewise, brother. Thank you.