Posted on 01/23/2019 8:07:09 AM PST by SeekAndFind
It’s disturbing to see the left-wing hate that is still being directed at the Covington Catholic students — days after the initial framing of the story was thoroughly debunked. Judging from the vitriolic online responses to my piece, it’s apparent that many folks on the left are basing their understanding of the incident by still taking Nathan Phillips entirely at his word about the incident. They credit his good intentions. They credit his good faith. And they credit his version of the story.
This is a grave mistake. As my colleague Kyle Smith documented in a viral piece this weekend, in his initial account of the event, Phillips gave substantially different accounts to the Washington Post and the Detroit Free Press. But the inconsistencies don’t stop there. Perhaps his longest statement is contained in this CNN interview, and — quite frankly, it’s simply incredible. There’s an alarming number of falsehoods, inconsistencies, and nonsensical statements. For example, there’s the interesting question of his alleged service in Vietnam (the Washington Post reported today that he served in the Marines from 1972 to 1976 but was not deployed). In the transcript, he appears to falsely state that he served in Vietnam twice:
CNN: Let me ask you about what happened to you. These boys in the middle of this group and you find yourself surrounded. How did that happen and what did that feel like as a person standing there face to face with a young man who seems to be staring at you or glaring at you? How would you describe that moment?
Phillips: When I was there and I was standing there and I seen that group of people in front of me and I seen the angry faces and all of that, I realized I had put myself in a really dangerous situation. Here’s a group of people who were angry at somebody else and I put myself in front of that, and all of a sudden, I’m the one whose all that anger and all that wanting to have the freedom to just rip me apart, that was scary. And I’m a Vietnam veteran and I know that mentality of “There’s enough of us. We can do this.” (Emphasis added.)
Here’s the second:
CNN: One of the things they said is we weren’t protesting against Native Americans. We were there for the March for Life and we were just chanting — and this is kind of putting the blame on you — and that this person came into our space and we were just getting all hyped up. Do you buy that?
Phillips: Not in the least.
CNN: What really happened?
Phillips: They were there looking for trouble, looking for something. Everybody knows the right to life and (pro-choice), it’s been like this and they’re hateful to each other. And it’s because I’m a veteran — I’m a Vietnam veteran — that these two groups even have the right in this country to have protests, to have conflicting opinions. If they were doing that, they should’ve done that there and then when they come into public, that wasn’t the place for that. That was a public forum where we was at. We were still under the protection of our permit for the indigenous peoples rally. (Emphasis added.)
If you watch the available video, the first transcript entry is wrong. He says the more ambiguous “Vietnam-times.” I can’t find video of his second statement (CNN apparently aired only excerpts of the larger interview), but why emphasize Vietnam when you didn’t serve there? This is deceptive at best and an outright lie at worst. But look closer at those same transcript excerpts. Do they comport with the video evidence of the event? He disagrees with the kids’ defense that Phillips “came into our space and we were just getting hyped up.” He says that is “not in the least what happened.” But the video is crystal clear. He walked into their midst just after they did a series of school cheers.
Moreover, he says they were “looking for trouble, looking for something.” Yet again, the video shows something substantially different. The Black Israelites were hurling homophobic and racist taunts. If anyone was “looking for trouble,” it was the people who were calling kids homophobic slurs, “crackers” and “incest babies.” But “looking for trouble” is a subjective judgment, so it’s difficult to categorize as a flat-out lie. Let’s be charitable and simply say that his statement is flat-out inconsistent with the available evidence. Moreover, read the way he describes the confrontation between Black Israelites and the Covington Catholic kids:
Phillips: Oh, what I was witnessing was just hate? Racism? Well, hate. What I’m saying is that when these folks came there, these other folks were saying their piece, and these others they got offended with it because they were both just expressing their own views. And if it’s racism, that’s what it was because the folks that were having their moment there, they were saying things that I don’t know if I agreed with them or not, but some of it was educational, and it was truth, and it was history about religious views and ideologies, but these other folks, the young students, they couldn’t see it. They had one point of view, it seemed, and that was that their point of view was the only point of view that was worthwhile. And that’s now what I was feeling.
Again, this is an astounding statement. Is this at all consistent with the video? The adult Black Israelites were taunting the kids, relentlessly. Anyone who has encountered the Black Israelites (and I have) knows how they conduct themselves. You know they are full of rage and hate. But, right, the kids were the real problem. (Or, as Phillips described them to the Detroit Free Press, they were the “beast,” and the Black Israelites were the “prey.”) But there is no video evidence I’ve seen that indicates these boys threatened the Black Israelites — and at the point where Phillips walked into their midst, the boys were keeping their distance.
Also, please read this exchange and compare it with the video:
CNN: Were you trying to calm the situation down basically when you saw kind of things seemed to spiral out of control?
Phillips: I think so. I think that was the push, that we need to use the drum, use our prayer and bring a balance, bring a calming to the situation. I didn’t assume that I had any kind of power to do that, but at the same time, I didn’t feel that I could just stand there anymore and not do something. It looked like these young men were going to attack these guys. They were going to hurt them. They were going to hurt them because they didn’t like the color of their skin. They didn’t like their religious views. They were just here in front of the Lincoln — Lincoln is not my hero, but at the same time, there was this understanding that he brought the (Emancipation Proclamation) or freed the slaves, and here are American youth who are ready to, look like, lynch these guys. To be honest, they looked like they were going to lynch them. They were in this mob mentality. Where were their parents? Because they were obvious a student group. Where were their–
What does he mean that he “thinks” he was trying to calm them down? Either he was or he wasn’t, and if he was, it is truly odd to do so by not speaking words the boys could understand and walking straight into their midst with an entourage that is actively taunting the kids, telling them to “go back to Europe.” That is odd behavior. It’s not peacemaking. If you’re trying to make peace, say so. The drumming and chanting have no independent, calming power — especially when they’re accompanied by angry taunts.
But then, later, he contradicts himself — saying something that seems much closer to the truth. He told CNN that one of his people said they should “reclaim our space.”
Phillips: When they said, “Let’s go hit the drum, let’s go sing, let’s reclaim our space here” because this was the Indigenous Peoples March rally, and when these two groups came together and started that and I was witnessing as it escalated from just two small groups, then the other one just went back and got more people, went back and got more people, went back and got more people until there were over 100 people, maybe 200 young men there facing down what? Four individuals? Why did they need 200 people there other than it’s hate and racism? They had their target. They had their prey. And so I wish somebody would’ve been able to stand in front of the 7th Cavalry and my relatives at Wounded Knee. I wish somebody would’ve stood there and said, “No, you can’t do this.”
And there it is again, the claim — without any evidence — that the Covington kids looked at the Black Israelites as their “prey.” Finally, here’s Phillips even denying the kids were chanting school chants — something that’s plainly obvious from the relevant videos. One of them is even the very old and corny, “We got spirit, yes we do.”
CNN: Does it feel like hatred toward you because the kids will say, “Oh we were just chanting our school chants and this person came in between us as we were chanting our school chants and we were not being hateful.” What did it feel like to you?
Phillips: I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh. Well, yes, I do, I guess. I heard that rhetoric before and it’s just one of those things, it’s got to be like water off a duck’s back. Time for lies to be not accepted anymore. I don’t accept their “I’m just chanting a school chant.”
But again the video contradicts Phillips. They’re clearly and plainly chanting about their school. If you have eyes and ears you can see it and hear it.
I’ve been to dozens of high school football and basketball games. In the South at least, this is what student bodies do. They chant. They jump around. They get loud. And if they’re being taunted by racists, it actually seems like a constructive response to hate speech. Don’t engage, have fun. But then came Nathan Phillips, he walked into their midst, he sang words they didn’t understand, and then he spewed falsehoods in the national media. Why are so many progressives taking his word as true? Because he’s telling the story they want to hear, not because he’s telling the truth.
Lol, should have read the whole thread, saw you got lots of responses... fair question...
Typo smirker
Can’t help thinking about Desmond Dekker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxtfdH3-TQ4
Yes. The area is full of practicing German Catholics. Most Christian Germans end their names with 2 letter n’s rather than one.
The school is in Kentucky but 2.5 miles from Cinncinati, a city. That is not rural. The Cinncinati airport is in Kentucky. It is all part of the greater Cinncinati area.
You know where you can stick your drum and stick, huh, Nathan?
“Former” Marine? ;-) At least you didn’t say EX. LOL!
It may not be ‘rural’ but it is not uncommon for Jewish parents to send their kids to Catholic schools...............
Once a Marine, always a Marine...........
Someone posted a pretty good overview of these hate filled folks. I don’t recall if they are tied to Black Liberation Theology or not. Think Rev Wright and obxxx’s church in chitcago.
“The mainstream media ran with a narrative without fact checking and spread lies ..”
WUT?! Shouldn’t that be in “Breaking News”? LOL!
“....should have read the whole thread....” But that’s out of character for most of us FReepers. ;-)
LOLOLOL!
Three POS rolled up into a single ball.
It is uncommon, but it does happen when the need to fill seats.
No no no! You have it wrong...it is out of character to actually read the linked articles or the summary at the top of a thread!
.... I am sure as a proud Marine who served his country in Vietnam, Philips would have no problem releasing his DD-214 to the public and press.
I usually try to violate both whenever I can. “HEADLINES FOREVER!”
“I went to an expensive religious high school and maybe 25% of the student body was Jewish. That’s higher than most but in such schools far higher than 2% of the student body is Jewish, typically.”
Years ago, I taught for a while at a Catholic boys school. I am not Catholic. Parents of many religions send their kids to parochial schools to get an education superior to the public schools in a disciplined and safe environment.
Per FR member Captain Rhino:
Looked at Chief’s video.
Couple of points for clarification about the pages shown from his service record book (SRB). (BTW, the Chief is connected, this info is definitely not from a DD 214. This is an actual scan of his assignments page.):
1. Rifleman for two days.
This is just an admin entry to put him back on to a Marine Corps unit’s rolls after he returned from his initial recruit training and MOS training. Likely this reserve rifle company was providing admin support for all Marine Corps Reserve (MCR) Marines living in the general Omaha area. He was probably joined on 721106 so he could liquidate his travel claim and get his regular pay. The rifleman designation is a default entry. Once they processed his paperwork, he is transferred (by another unit diary entry) the next day (721107) to a MCR aviation utility unit in Lincoln, Nebraska. That’s were he is going to do his weekend drills.
2. Hanging around Lincoln.
He is joined to Marine Wing Utility Squadron 4 (MWUS-4) the next day (721108). MWUS-4 is a place you would expect a refrigeration mechanic to be assigned. The extract shown in the video for this period has standard entries: annual entries for audits and an entry showing him going onto annual active duty for training (ATD) and coming off it 2 weeks later. The last entry we were shown is of his transfer in December 1973. Since we lack the next entry (being joined to the new unit), we should not read too much into this entry. The earlier DD-214 extract shows him not returning to active duty until August 1974, so he was still somewhere in the reserves, perhaps at a unit a little closer to home.
3. Then Something Happened.
In the normal course of events, a Reservist does initial active duty for recruit training and MOS training. (This can be split up if there are no school slots immediately available after completing recruit training.) When not on active duty, reservists drill one weekend a month with their unit and attend two weeks of active duty for training annually(ATD). This is the pattern for the 6-8 years of a typical reserve contract. If you break the contract (by not attending drill weekends or ATD, failing to maintain standards, etc.), you can be ordered to active duty. I am not certain but I also believe it is possible to request to be called to active duty so you can end your contracted period of service earlier. Given his subsequently less than stellar conduct, he was probably ordered to active duty for some significant infraction.
4. His first UA(AWOL) was the last straw for some CO.
The next assignment page entry the Chief shows us is in May 1975 (750519) when he is run to Unauthorized Absence (UA) status. (Absent Without Leave (AWOL) is entered so that the 30 day minimum clock on that offense is simultaneously started in case the Marine is gone longer than a month.) Two days later, 750521 he is sent to confinement (the Brig) for two months. He returns to duty on 750722. He was UA, according to the entries for one, maybe two days. Under normal circumstances, 2 days UA is not punished by two months in the brig. You get 2 months in the brig (usually along with being reduced in rank and fined) when your enlisted and officer leadership is finally, really, and truly feed up with your nonsense. At this point, he has been back on active duty a little less than a year. Imagine what has been going on to reach this point of exasperation with the private. Interestingly, when he goes UA for six days in September 1975, there is no confinement. He just goes back to duty. He is put in UA status again on 751206 but we don’t have any more entries to see how the offense was handled.
5. He may have “Bad Paper.”
What follows is speculation since his full SRB is not available to examine, but I suspect that he might have already been awaiting an administrative discharge or had been tried by a courts martial.
During the early and mid-1970s, the Marine Corps faced a crisis in the number of poor performing Marines it was having to process for discharge. (It was not the only service experiencing this problem.) This toleration of petty infractions sometimes was the case if the unit was being forced into carrying the Marine on its rolls while awaiting completion of the often considerable time required for the automatic review process by an overburdened military judicial system. This review is required when a bad conduct or dishonorable discharge is ordered as part of the sentence of a courts martial. At times during this period, this process was so long that a Marine would complete the confinement portion of their punishment and return to the unit to await the final administrative process. At that point, how much further punishment could be inflicted on someone who had essentially nothing left to lose? The resulting situation was essentially an uneasy truce between the unit and the Marine awaiting discharge. The unit didn’t unduly harass the Marine if the Marine was more or less conforming to expected minimum standards of performance and behavior. In return, the Marine had three squares a day, a place to sleep and bathe, got some portion of a private’s pay, and could go on liberty if he stayed out of/didn’t cause further trouble.
Later in the 70s, the Marine Corps would develop the “Expeditious Discharge Program,” which streamlined the discharge process and greatly shortened the time required from many months to often less than a month to discharge a poor performing/trouble making Marine. Real criminals, as always, continued to be tried and punished by courts martial.
It is unclear if there was or wasn’t a courts martial in his case because the DD-214 extract lists “Not on File” under Transcript of Courts Martial Trial. Considered in context, “Not on file” cannot be considered the equivalent of “N/A.”
On the other hand, the DD-214 simply states his duty status as “Discharged.” So, if there was no courts martial, he might have gone out the gate with a “General” or “Other Than Honorable” discharge based on his low proficiency and conduct marks.
A General discharge is the very best he could have left with because, as the Chief said, still a private after four years of service says something special - and it isn’t good - about the quality of your service.
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