Covington Kids Exonerated from Wrong-doing

[_Res Ipsa]

Here is the lawsuit in detail. Can someone point out the specific lies the Washington Post is guilty of telling?

http://www.hemmerlaw.com/blog/for-truth ... -nicholas/

It’s all in the complaint.

[_Jersey Girl]

I feel bad for the kid. This thing was at the point of moving on and yielding the spotlight to the next shiny thing on the internet. By filing this lawsuit, Mom and Dad have insured that it won't go away. The first discovery request by the Post will be for the kid's school records. And if there's any disciplinary stuff in there, it all comes out in public. Does he have any enemies at school? Their story becomes public. He'll be living with the case for a couple years minimum, if no appeals are involved.

The parents couldn't have done more to make sure that the kid is defined by this incident.

I thought we discussed confidential student records previously. Is the school compelled by law to turn over the student's records?

If the school is required to provide the student's records and if there is a record of (say) bullying incidents on his part, the names of the victim's of said bullying would be redacted from any public releases wouldn't they?

[_Jersey Girl]

Here is the lawsuit in detail. Can someone point out the specific lies the Washington Post is guilty of telling?

http://www.hemmerlaw.com/blog/for-truth ... -nicholas/

I can if you pay me. ;-) Read through it, you should be able to pick out the false claims.

[_canpakes]

Here is the lawsuit in detail. Can someone point out the specific lies the Washington Post is guilty of telling?

http://www.hemmerlaw.com/blog/for-truth ... -nicholas/

I can if you pay me. ;-) Read through it, you should be able to pick out the false claims.

From the lawyers? Lol. ; )

Seriously, though, it’s hard to have any respect for lawyers that litter their complaint with statements like this:

“Apparently, Phillips, a phony war hero, was too intimidated by the unruly Hebrew Israelites to approach them, the true troublemakers, and instead chose to focus on a group of innocent children – a much safer endeavor for activist tactics of intimidation.”

[_Res Ipsa]

I feel bad for the kid. This thing was at the point of moving on and yielding the spotlight to the next shiny thing on the internet. By filing this lawsuit, Mom and Dad have insured that it won't go away. The first discovery request by the Post will be for the kid's school records. And if there's any disciplinary stuff in there, it all comes out in public. Does he have any enemies at school? Their story becomes public. He'll be living with the case for a couple years minimum, if no appeals are involved.

The parents couldn't have done more to make sure that the kid is defined by this incident.

I thought we discussed confidential student records previously. Is the school compelled by law to turn over the student's records?

If the school is required to provide the student's records and if there is a record of (say) bullying incidents on his part, the names of the victim's of said bullying would be redacted from any public releases wouldn't they?

So, it’s up to state law, but in general, if you sue someone for damages, you can’t hide potentially relevant information by claiming confidentiality. In the case of bullying, I would expect the defense to be able to learn the identity of the victim, as he would be the best witness to the bullying. It’s possible that the judge would enter a protective order of some kind, but if this thing goes to trial, I think It’s likely that everything plays out in the public eye.

[_Kevin Graham]

Here is the lawsuit in detail. Can someone point out the specific lies the Washington Post is guilty of telling?

http://www.hemmerlaw.com/blog/for-truth ... -nicholas/

It’s all in the complaint.

I'm not talking about alleged false claims, I'm talking about actual false claims. Reporting what other people said about an event, even if they turn out to be inaccurate, is not defamation by a newspaper. This meme going around that the Post refused to take normal journalistic procedure in trying to get the "other side" of the story is undermined by the very first article mentioned in the lawsuit whereby the author says they tried to contact the school, but "school officials did not respond to messages for comment."

Does this mean they're not allowed to report on a story that had already gone viral worldwide, simply because the other side had no comment?

Here is the first piece written by the Washington Post on this matter.

The images in a series of videos that went viral on social media Saturday [b]showed a tense scene near the Lincoln Memorial.

In them, a Native American man steadily beats his drum at the tail end of Friday's Indigenous Peoples March while singing a song of unity for indigenous people to ''be strong" in the face of the ravages of colonialism that now include police brutality, poor access to health care and the ill effects of climate change on reservations.

Surrounding him are a throng of young, mostly white teenage boys, several wearing Make America Great Again caps, with one standing about a foot from the drummer's face wearing a relentless smirk.

Nathan Phillips, a veteran in the indigenous rights movement, was that man in the middle. In an interview Saturday, Phillips, 64, said he felt threatened by the teens and that they suddenly swarmed around him as and other activists were wrapping up the march and preparing to leave.
Phillips, who was singing the American Indian Movement song of unity that serves as a ceremony to send the spirits home, said he noticed tensions beginning to escalate when the teens and other apparent participants from the nearby March for Life rally began taunting the dispersing indigenous crowd.

A few people in the March for Life crowd began to chant "Build that wall, build that wall," he said.
"It was getting ugly, and I was thinking: 'I've got to find myself an exit out of this situation and finish my song at the Lincoln Memorial,'" Phillips recalled. "I started going that way, and that guy in the hat stood in my way and we were at an impasse. He just blocked my way and wouldn't allow me to retreat."

So, he kept drumming and singing, thinking about his wife, Soshana, who died from bone marrow cancer nearly four years ago, and the various threats that face indigenous communities around the world, he said.

"I felt like the spirit was talking through me,'' Phillips said. The encounter generated a wave of outrage on social media less than a week after President Trump made light of the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre of several hundred Lakota Indians by the U.S. Cavalry in a tweet that was meant to mock Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D), who Trump derisively calls "Pocahontas."

In a statement, the Indigenous Peoples Movement, which organized Friday's march, called the incident "emblematic of our discourse in Trump's America."

"It clearly demonstrates the validity of our concerns about the marginalization and disrespect of Indigenous peoples, and it shows that traditional knowledge is being ignored by those who should listen most closely,'' Darren Thompson, an organizer for the group, said in the statement.

Chase Iron Eyes, an attorney with the Lakota People Law Project, said the incident lasted about 10 minutes and ended when Phillips and other activists walked away. "It was an aggressive display of physicality. They were rambunctious and trying to instigate a conflict,'' he said. "We were wondering where their chaperones were. [Phillips] was really trying to defuse the situation."

Some of the teens in the video wore sweatshirts from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Ky., which sent students to Washington to participate in Friday's antiabortion March for Life event, according to an archived page of the school's website that was taken down on Saturday.
On Saturday, school officials did not respond to messages for comment. Laura Keener, spokeswoman for the diocese of Covington, said officials there are investigating.

"We are just now learning about this incident and regret it took place,'' Keener said in a statement. "We are looking into it."

Phillips, an Omaha tribe elder who also fought in the Vietnam War, has encountered anti-Native American sentiments before: In 2015, Phillips was verbally attacked by a group of Eastern Michigan University students who were dressed as Native Americans during a theme party near the town of Ypsilanti, according to news reports.

Phillips had approached the group, informing them that their celebration was racially offensive, a local Fox News station reported. One of the students threw a beer can at him, Phillips told the news outlet.

But the incident on Friday, combined with the ensuing attention from media outlets scrambling to get his story, left him shaken.

"I'm still trying to process what happened," Phillips said. ''I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed."

If Phillips is lying to the media about the details of what happened then Phillips should be sued, not the Washington Post. The complaint is written like a piece from Brietbart. No specific "lies" by the Washington Post are sourced. Instead, we get roundabout allusions to supposed lies with comments like these:

The First Article communicated the false and defamatory gist that Nicholas instigated a confrontation with Phillips and subsequently engaged in racist conduct.

The First Article communicated the false and defamatory gist that Nicholas assaulted and/or physically intimidated Phillips.

The First Article communicated the false and defamatory gist that Nicholas engaged in racist taunts.

The gist? Is that normal legal speak in defamation suits? Because I'm no lawyer but i would imagine a defending lawyer would tear this to shreds as a subjective viewpoint.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I don't believe the parents believe for one second they'll get money out of this (at least I'd be surprised if they did). I think this is about punching back at a system that they probably feel routinely knocks their faith, kills babies, is openly hostile toward White people these days, and has an utter lack of faith in God.

It's almost as if the American punching bags united under some sort of, I dunno, firebrand who finally spoke up for them when the whole world had been targeting them for the last 25 years. And now these punching bags are going to, I dunno, punch back, even if it's absurd.

- Doc

[_canpakes]

It's almost as if the American punching bags united under some sort of, I dunno, firebrand who finally spoke up for them when the whole world had been targeting them for the last 25 years. And now these punching bags are going to, I dunno, punch back, even if it's absurd.

From the high ground, and while claiming victim status, of course.

[_EAllusion]

There is a fairly strong persecution complex running through the religious right. It has been that way for quite some time. It's entwined with the premium Christian culture puts on being a martyr. Often times, they view any attempt to strip their ability to oppress others or have privilege over others as a form of persecution. Someone says happy holidays to you and not merry Christmas? Why, that's persecution.

[_Maksutov]

There is a fairly strong persecution complex running through the religious right. It has been that way for quite some time. It's entwined with the premium Christian culture puts on being a martyr. Often times, they view any attempt to strip their ability to oppress others or have privilege over others as a form of persecution. Someone says happy holidays to you and not merry Christmas? Why, that's persecution.

Equality is a threat to the profoundly insecure.