Leah Wheeler

Wife of Keith! Mom; Grandma! J3ZUS!➕⛪❤🎶✌🏽🕊 RONNI3 L0NG is Fr33 NC! Justice Now for Charles McNeair NC! JumpStartNC

[Leah Wheeler @leawhee]

@Aria124634 Aman.

[Leah Wheeler @leawhee]

@Avabelly__ The letter "E."

[Leah Wheeler @leawhee]

@Avabelly__ His horse was named Friday.

[Leah Wheeler @leawhee]

@Avabelly__ Definitely not enough! At least $100!

[Leah Wheeler @leawhee]

@Avabelly__ Give him the rest of the pack of markers and tell him to finish his masterpiece 😄 Sorry.

[Rodney Smith Jr @iamrodneysmith]

During the month of May, 81 kids signed up to take on The 50 Yard Challenge and begin serving their communities by mowing free lawns for the elderly, disabled individuals, single parents, veterans, and first responders. Since starting this the organization in 2016, we are now up to 6,426 kids who have signed up nationwide for the 50 yard challenge and are closing in on an amazing milestone of 6,500 participants. To every parent who has encouraged their child to get involved, thank you. Together, we’re raising a generation that understands the value of service, hard work, and giving back. If your child is looking for a way to make a real difference in their community, we invite them to take on The 50 Yard Challenge. One act of kindness can change a life—and it all starts with one lawn at a time.

[Leah Wheeler @leawhee]

@iamrodneysmith Stay hydrated, Nathan!

[Rodney Smith Jr @iamrodneysmith]

Family, help me give a BIG welcome to Chandler& Kolton of Marion,North Carolina. These two amazing young leaders have stepped up to take on the 50 Yard Challenge, committing to mow 50 FREE lawns for the elderly, disabled, single parents, and veterans in their community.

[Leah Wheeler @leawhee]

@iamrodneysmith @WhiteHouse Let's send Mr. Smith to Washington 🥰 @POTUS @FLOTUS Reward a HUGE dreamer, a BIG giver, and a VISIONARY leader! Let the kids see the reward of their hard work! And Mr. Smith, I'm praying for you all. This isn't just once in a lifetime, but the beginning of an annual tradition!🙏

[Rodney Smith Jr @iamrodneysmith]

Dear @WhiteHouse, my name is Rodney Smith Jr., founder of Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service in Huntsville, Alabama. Through our 50 Yard Challenge, over 6,000 kids across the country have signed up to mow free lawns for the elderly, disabled, veterans, active-duty military, first responders, and single parents. With America celebrating its 250th birthday this year and me also being born on July 4th, I wanted to humbly ask if a few kids from our program and myself could travel to Washington, D.C. to help mow the White House lawn for this historic celebration.

More than anything, I want these kids to see how a simple act of service something as ordinary as mowing a lawn for someone in need can lead to extraordinary places. What better lesson in community service than showing them that helping others can take them all the way to our nation’s capital? I’d also love to bring my American flag-themed mower in hopes that the President might sign it, so I can later auction it off and donate 100% of the proceeds to a nonprofit supporting veterans. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to highlight the importance of service, patriotism, and the impact young people can have when they choose to make a difference. 🇺🇸

[Andy Ngo @MrAndyNgo]

The FBI is offering up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Minnesota Somali fraud suspect Said Abdullahi Ereg.

Ereg is wanted for his alleged role in a massive fraud scheme that stole millions from the federal child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funds meant to feed children in need were instead misappropriated and laundered.

Investigators allege Ereg used most of the money to support his family's lavish lifestyle, like other Somalis who have been charged. The arrest warrant for Said Abdullahi Ereg was issued on January 24, 2024, but prosecutors believe he has already fled the U.S.

Somalis claim to be refugees to get settled in the U.S., but they often travel back to Africa and, more recently, have been fleeing there to escape prosecution.

Anyone with information concerning this case is asked to contact the FBI’s tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online at https://t.co/xKqX67f1ZN.

[GuardsTV @GuardsTV]

Note to self: Do not let Mike Aviles near your car😂

#GuardsBall

[Cleveland Guardians @CleGuardians]

Big series in the Big Apple.

#GuardsBall

[Sports Patriot @SportsPatriotUS]

I have been told countless times over the last 48 hours that I am a conspiracy theorist.

That I do not know basketball.

That I do not understand the WNBA.

And that my articles are too long.

So I wrote this...

I do not believe there is some organized, calculated operation to take down Caitlin Clark.

That would be too simple.

The truth is deeper... and far more damaging.

Caitlin Clark walked into a league that spent nearly three decades convincing itself that its weaknesses were culture.

For years, the WNBA was not a mainstream sports product.

It was a cause.
A talking point.
A subsidized idea.
A league people were told they should support, even when the product on the floor often failed to earn that support from casual fans.

The empty seats were excused.

The financial struggles were excused.

The rough offensive flow was excused.

The poor spacing was excused.

The inconsistent officiating was excused.

The excessive physicality was excused.

The lack of mainstream interest was excused.

And anytime fans questioned the product, the answer was usually the same:

You just do not understand women’s basketball and you're racist.

That was the lie the league told itself for too long.

Because a lot of fans understood basketball perfectly fine.

They just did not like what they were watching.

Too often, the WNBA confused physicality with quality.

It confused survival with success.

It confused being protected with being excellent.

It confused an insulated culture with a strong one.

And then Caitlin Clark arrived.

She did not come in asking people to support the league out of obligation.

She made people want to watch.

That is the difference.

Caitlin brought range, pace, vision, passing angles, court gravity, creativity, and real basketball electricity.

She made regular-season games feel like events.

She made casual fans stop scrolling.

She made people who had ignored the WNBA for years suddenly care about matchups, rotations, officiating, coaching decisions, and league standards.

And that is where the collision happened.

Caitlin Clark exposed the gap between what the WNBA had convinced itself was good enough and what mainstream sports fans actually expect.

Fans want skill.

They want spacing.

They want pace.

They want shooting.

They want smart coaching.

They want fair officiating.

They want stars protected.

They want basketball that looks modern, intelligent, and entertaining.

They did not show up to watch Caitlin get grabbed, held, shoved, bumped, and treated like every possession needs to become a wrestling match in the name of “physicality.”

They also did not show up to watch the basketball constantly pushed into the background while social messaging, league-approved narratives, and cultural lectures compete for center stage.

That is not evolution.

That is a league clinging to old habits because it does not know how to handle the future standing right in front of it.

And Caitlin Clark is the future.

That does not mean she is perfect.

She is not.

That does not mean veterans have no value.

They do.

That does not mean physicality has no place in basketball.

It does.

But there is a difference between physical basketball and ugly basketball.

There is a difference between toughness and fouling.

There is a difference between defensive pressure and mugging someone off the ball.

There is a difference between culture and bad habits that went unchallenged because not enough people were watching.

Caitlin did not create the league’s problems.

She exposed them.

She exposed the officiating.

She exposed the coaching gap.

She exposed the outdated style.

She exposed the resentment toward new fans.

She exposed the discomfort some people have with a player becoming bigger than the system that was supposed to contain her.

And more than anything, she exposed a league that is still trying to force a generational player into an old version of basketball that she has already outgrown.

That is why this does not feel like a conspiracy.

It feels like resistance to change.

The WNBA finally got the player who could push the league into a new era, and too many people inside the ecosystem seem determined to make her prove she belongs in the old one.

That is backwards.

You do not take the most skilled, market-changing player your league has ever seen and ask her to shrink into the culture that failed to attract mainstream fans in the first place.

You build around her.

You modernize around her.

You protect what she represents.

Because she is not just another player.

She is the mirror.

She is showing the league what it has been, what it is, and what it could become if it would stop defending its flaws as tradition.

And the frustrating part is that the next generation is already here.

You can see it with Caitlin.

You can see it with Paige Bueckers.

You can see it with Sonia Citron.

You can see it with Aliyah Boston.

You can see it with JuJu Watkins.

The skill is changing.

The training is better.
The footwork is better.
The shooting is better.
The spacing is better.
The basketball IQ is better.

But too much of the league around them is still operating like nothing has changed.

Same coaching habits.

Same officiating problems.
Same marketing instincts.
Same defensive excuses.
Same resentment toward criticism.
Same belief that the old WNBA culture must be protected, even if it means slowing down the very players who could make the league bigger than it has ever been.

That is the real story.

Caitlin Clark is not being taken down by some secret plan.

She is being resisted by a league that still does not fully understand what she represents.

She represents a better product.

A bigger audience.

A more skilled game.

A more modern game.

A version of women’s basketball that does not need to be sold as charity, activism, obligation, or guilt.

It can be sold as basketball.

Great basketball.

But that requires the league to stop pretending its weaknesses are sacred.

It requires officials to clean up the game.

It requires coaches to modernize.

It requires veterans to adapt.

It requires media voices to stop protecting the old product from honest criticism.

And it requires the WNBA to stop resenting the very fans it spent decades trying to attract.

So no, I do not think there is a coordinated takedown of Caitlin Clark.

I think it is bigger than that.

I think Caitlin walked into a league that spent years convincing itself its flaws were culture.

And now that a generational player has arrived to expose the difference, too many people are trying to humble her instead of learning from her.

That is not Caitlin Clark’s failure.

That is the league refusing to recognize the future.

[GuardsInsider @GuardsInsider]

Steven Kwan is back with the squad.

#GuardsBall

[Leah Wheeler @leawhee]

@conservmillen When James, a man created of a woman and man, creates his own universe, he can write the rules. Until then, hard pass on your blathering, James.

[Leah Wheeler @leawhee]

@hicasamadim I saw it as 4 but thought it was too easy so I must be wrong. 😑

[Leah Wheeler @leawhee]

@gman5180 The phone book, and a doilie.❤️

[Leah Wheeler @leawhee]

@theAuntieAngie Thank you for sharing your story of redemption. I'm a jail chaplain. You and your daughter give me hope for all the women I serve, some of whom are pregnant. God bless and keep you all as you walk into this next chapter of life. Love ❤️

[Donovan Mitchell @spidadmitchell]

Cleveland I love yall ❤️ Wouldn’t be here without yall!!