Nathan Phillips’ Vietnam service: in his own words
I had originally thought Nathan Phillips had been cagey enough to merely use phrases that gave the impression he was a Vietnam vet who actually, you know, went to Vietnam. In other words, phrases such as “Vietnam times vet.”
But he’s said a lot more than that:
?Nathan Phillips, January 3, 2018?
"I'm a Vietnam Vet. I served in Marine Corps 72 to 76. I got discharged May 5, 1976. I got honorable discharge and one of the boxes shows peacetime or, what my box says is that I was **in theater**. I don't talk much about my Vietnam times." pic.twitter.com/nIoYxGoPqM
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) January 24, 2019
More Nathan Phillips January 3, 2018:
"Be honest, I got a Section 8 home because I'm a veteran, a wartime veteran like that, honorable, in theater." pic.twitter.com/Jmu6uGYNRM
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) January 24, 2019
More Phillips:
"I got a relation. A sister, or a niece, she gave me that Vietnam colors flag. You know the yellow, red, black one with some tobacco on there. She wanted me to carry it around because you know her dad, a Vietnam vet too like that." pic.twitter.com/aZGuVAiHwx— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) January 24, 2019
Phillips not only lied and claimed to have served “in theater” (every usage of that term I’ve ever seen means in some sort of conflict or war setting), he then lied about his lies:
…Thursday [today, that is] on the “Today Show”…
When asked to clarify whether he was saying that he served during the Vietnam war, but not in the war, Phillips adamantly denied ever saying that he was in theater.
“What I’ve always said is I’ve never stepped foot in south Vietnam. And that’s — I don’t know how clear — how much clearer can that be, you know?”
One of the interesting things about Phillips—besides being a con artist liar, that is—is that he keeps being tripped up by video evidence. He’s enough of a publicity-seeker that there is a video trail that he’s made that contradicts his current lies (that is true of his encounter with the Covington students, although the video trail that discredited him there wasn’t one he made himself or even had previously known about).
On the other hand, Phillips is probably correct in counting on the MSM to protect him from any charges of lying. We’ll see whether any of this becomes common knowledge.
A few more details about Phillips’ history:
Phillips also reportedly has a criminal history. A May 9, 1974 article in The Lincoln Star reported that Phillips, then 19 years old, was “charged with escaping from the Nebraska Penal Complex where he was confined May 3,” according to The Washington Examiner. He also reportedly had a charge of destruction of property dropped in 1973 and pleaded guilty to assault on June 19, 1974, for which he paid a fine of $200.
Phillips later reportedly served one year of probation for underage possession of alcohol and was charged in 1978 with driving without a license.
He also went AWOL three times during his stint in the military.
Quite a few people have been doing their homework on this guy—but it sure hasn’t been the MSM.
[NOTE: There’s also no indication Phillips was honorably discharged, another claim of his. This report states that he did not receive an honorable discharge, but I haven’t seen too much more about that. I doubt that at the time he made these videos making these claims, he thought he’d ever be the subject of enough attention to have people fact-checking him. So he felt free to state whatever he wanted.]
And then there’s the dedicated, multi-talented, brilliantly perverse and oh-so-righteously indignant Stalinists at “The Guardian”:
http://hurryupharry.org/2019/01/24/guardian-doubles-down-on-covington-lies/#disqus_thread
(One can smell the Intensity!…along with the grim, psychotic desperation….)
Somewhere, Orwell smiles knowingly (or might that be “smirks”?)….
That link above should be:
http://hurryupharry.org/2019/01/24/guardian-doubles-down-on-covington-lies/
Chief Lietoyourface said Nick Sandmann “stole the narrative.” The kid hadn’t said a thing publicly until the Savannah Guthrie interview, as far as I know. One more lie among too numerous to count.
A few days ago I was willing to give Phillips slack as an embittered, somewhat confused elder who had had a hard life.
No more. It’s clear he is a lying, manipulative SOB with no honor.
I’ll be curious how the Native American community handles this. As it happens, Rep. Deb Haaland, half-Native-American, represents my district in Congress. She was fast out of the gate with a tweet supporting Phillips and condemning the Covington boys:
This Veteran put his life on the line for our country. The students’ display of blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance is a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration. Heartbreaking.
https://twitter.com/carolinatitan10/status/1086669377414578176
Heartbreaking indeed.
Of course, he was AWOL. How can you report for duty from jail ?
The “Indians” who appear in the media are already hustlers working from Soros/Tides Foundation and the fracking enemies like Russia and Saudi Arabia who were known to be supporting the “Indian” demonstrators in North Dakota.
The same demonstrators that left tons of trash when they moved on to the next gig.
Stolen valor is easy peasy on the left..
nothing matters but power, even meanings of words dont really matter other than their usefulness in achieving responses… dont even have to be cogently strung together to make a non contradicting few paragraphs…
Valor he steals is a privelege..
if they threw urine, spit and so on…
why would they care someone claimed false to achieve a socialist end?
i guess no one holds the ruler of 100 million worked to death and murderd, and realize that after that, as a norm, and without apolgies and ejecting ideology, all such lesser things pale…
good people do not measure rightly that way, so they do not see or care, as to the things they refuse to wrap their minds around… the demographic collapse from feminism
well known, you can track it as they internationalized it, each copyin gthe same thing in all the countries having problems… including japan.. IF you read the right papers, you will get valid answers correlating with sciecne… if not. then you get a concept of we havent bled the patient, lets cure them some more..
and you guys expect the truth from the left on this pr anything? think hard…
IF they are saying X then it must be Y… borders, replacement immigration papers, etc..
Phillip’s DD-214 will show if Phillip’s discharge with less than an Honorable one, and since former Navy SEAL Don Shipley, the Stolen Valor guy, who claimed to have gotten hold of Phillip’s DD-214, didn’t mention it, I assume that Phillip’s discharge was Honorable.
By the way, even Honorable discharge papers could have what were called “SPIN” codes on them, an inconspicuous number or letter combination that was code for the particular reason that a serviceman was being discharged.
Such SPIN codes, unbeknownst to those separated, could result in them being rejected for things like jobs, even though they presented those considering them with a DD-214 that was, on it’s surface, “Honorable.”
Find below a list of some of the SPIN codes:(Separation Program Number)
See https://www.thebalancecareers.com/military-separation-codes-3356946
If the democrats want to create the next Obama, a crazy socialist and the ultimate smooth liar with a flair, they should lock Phillips and Christine blasey in a room and make them conceive a baby. NO couple could be more perfect for each other.
He should run for Senator from Connecticut.
That Guardian piece is amazing for Jan 24 (thanks for link, Barry Meislin). I presume they’ll be hearing from Robert Barnes. Some of these publishers are going to be a lot poorer.
Not sure he has jurisdiction over a British publication. Maybe.
I’m sure he’ll be plenty busy, though.
To be sure, the usual suspects will be freely and creatively accusing him—and the Right, generally (all because of DJT, of course)—of trying to suppress the media, to stomp on freedom of speech, to hogtie free expression, to drape a dark cloud over the US of A, yadda, yadda, yadda. Remember, the best defense is to be offensive!
If you want to find out what it’s really like to be a Ranger or a Seal check out your local honky tonk on a Saturday night. They usually hang out around the pool table.
The Guardian is publishing a US edition, and the writer is based in Portland, Ore., if I recall (don’t want to load the link yet again).
Phillips is probably correct in counting on the MSM to protect him from any charges of lying.
I think that’s a pretty safe bet — here’s how the Today Show website is headlining the Phillip’s interview right now: Nathan Phillips on viral encounter with Nick Sandmann: ‘I forgive him’
I assume that Phillip’s discharge was Honorable.
I have also read “general” but have seen the DD 214.
The Guardian and other Brit papers that may pile on should aware that British libel laws are much more severe than ours. Ask Melania Trump.
Don Shipley has FOIA info in his video on “Nathan Stanard.” At 3:34, for instance, there’s a FOIA doc showing him discharged as a Private, I gather from the Marine Corps Reserves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIXIzvyAlLA
I never heard of Don Shipley, but it looks from the Ixquick search as if he might be the real deal. Can anyone confirm?
He says he doesn’t recall actually hearing Phillips call himself a “Vietnam vet,” but I’d swear that somewhere I did hear him (N.P.) say that. Course I’m never wrong about anything, so there’s that.
This sad sack, con man is basking in his moment of fame as the msm promotes noble savage versus deplorable MAGA teenagers. Crickets where the lost tribe of black Israelites is concerned. TDS haunts the land.
Here it is. Scroll down….
https://twitter.com/kerpen/status/1088285433673515009
Commenter Phil Kerpen transcribes the statement just above the video of Phillips in which he makes his claim to be a “Vietnam vet”:
(I did a cut-and-paste job. The question marks are at spots where the tweet shows graphics. –They’re just cosmetic.)
AesopFan,
Copy this:
^blockquote^ ^/blockquote^
and paste it into your text program (on the Mac, it’s “TextEdit”; don’t remember on Win machines). Change the leading and ending ^ signs here to “less than” and “more than” signs (shift-comma and shift-period) respectively. Save.
When you’re posting quoted material, copy your “blockquote” html tags (which you’ve already edited as above, so they’re ready to go) from your quick-text program, and paste into your comment. Then copy the material you’re posting, position your cursor between the two blockquote tags, and paste.
Maybe you’ll find that a helpful technique. :>)
“[…I doubt that at the time he made these videos making these claims, he thought he’d ever be the subject of enough attention to have people fact-checking him. So he felt free to state whatever he wanted.]” – Neo
I wonder if that is what the creator of the Fake Bush Memos thought as well.
If you don’t want to be fact checked, don’t make yourself the center of attention in a major public controversy (or two or three).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killian_documents_controversy
“The purveyor of the documents, Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, claims to have burned the originals after faxing copies to CBS.[8]” — Wikipedia
I hope that Wikipedia is wrong about that, whether or not intentionally. Bill Burkett is in good odor with me, and I hope I’m not granting him credibility he shouldn’t get.
I notice the footnote says he “CLAIMS” to have burned the originals. This hints at fakery, but without actually saying that LC Burkett faked them. On the other hand, if I wanted to put out the actual fact that he did make that statement, without giving my own opinion of its truth or falsity, the sentence would be the literal truth and I would want it to be taken at face value. So…there we are, but where are we?
.
By the way — Bill Burkett is hardly unknown on the Internet. I learned of him because of my great interest in the Viet Nam War — which I am still fighting, if anyone cares. He’s a staunch defender of American troops’ conduct and of the war itself as an honorable undertaking (as am I), regardless of all the political players and their shenanigans.
So although I can’t say for certain, it wouldn’t surprise me if he IS in fact used to being somewhat controversial.
brinster:
Chief Lietoyourface said Nick Sandmann “stole the narrative.” The kid hadn’t said a thing publicly until the Savannah Guthrie interview, as far as I know.
Sandmann released a written statement on September 21.Student at Center of Face-Off With Native American Elder Defends Himself. Jan 21, 20196:05 PM.
the Savannah Guthrie interview was on Nick Sandmann on encounter with Native American elder Nathan Phillips: ‘I respect him’ (January 22). Talk about CHUTZPAH:
As if Nathan Phillips did anything that merited forgiving!
Barry Meislin.
Not sure he has jurisdiction over a British publication. Maybe.
You can sue in the UK over what is printed in the UK. UL libel laws are much stricter than they are in the free-for-all that exists in the former American colonies. Graham Greene lost a libel lawsuit in the UK over a movie review on Shirley Temple he wrote in Night and Day, a magazine he edited.
What Was the Deal With Graham Greene Calling Shirley Temple “a Fancy Little Piece”?
Some of these military wannabees claims might be close enough to fool a lot of people, then there are the claims that are so over the top.
In addition to all of the fruit salad on this guy’s uniform shirt, claiming to have been awarded nine Purple Hearts is a nice touch, as are the Gunnery Sergeant’s stripes combined with the lapel insignia that says he is a Colonel.
Take a look at the linked Youtube video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EiSkgwLT4s
Now I’ve just watched what I take to be the full interview (~ 9 min.) of Nick Sandmann on the Today show. The interviewer did indeed state that just standing there was “aggressive.”
The young man comes across, to me at least, as showing considerable backbone in the interview. And at one spot toward the end I wondered — not sure — whether he were near tears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8ZhDGaQMS4
I want to e-mail him (and his parents) a note of support. Does anybody have an e-mail address of some sort? Thanks.
Gringo, I stand corrected. Thanks. But Phillips is a liar, regardless.
Gringo, I assume you mean “as if Nick Sandmann did anything that merited forgiving.” Young Mr. Sandmann appears to have conducted himself very well.
Neo, I did it again. I apologize. You’ve already got the Kerpen tweet and videos in your posting. Well… I knew I’d run across that “Vietnam veteran” claim somewhere.
Too much focussed on chasing down info and trying to put the pieces together, I guess.
Gringo, I stand corrected.
No problem- you did state “as far as I know.”
But Phillips is a liar, regardless.
Phillips’s pattern of truth-telling reminds me of what Mary McCarthy said about Lillian Hellman.
Every Word She Writes Is a Lie, Including “And” and “The.”Nathan Phillips needs to be mocked into silence.
Gringo, I assume you mean “as if Nick Sandmann did anything that merited forgiving.”
Thank you for catching my error.
As I attempted to say in a previous comment, Nathan Phillips reminds me of the following Mary McCarthy quote about Lilian Hellman.
Snow on Pine, re retired Navy SEAL Don Shipley, the Stolen Valor guy
Yes, the straight read is that if Nathan Phillips’ discharge was anything other than Honorable, we would heard about it, from the rafters.
But saving ammo is big deal in successful Politics … and for success on the battlefield. That, and ‘timing is everything’.
If Shipley had any intimation that this could drag on longer than seems it should … he could have saved the best (most effective) for last.
Caveat being, others can get that DD-214, too.
others can get that DD-214, too.
Unless it burned upon in St Louis but I think that was longer ago.
I still have mine in a file.
Looking at all the instances up on the Internet and on Youtube, it looks like military imposters are everywhere, perhaps even a major problem, especially if they usurp the place, the accolades, the benefits, the jobs, the special breaks that people–if they are so inclined–should give to actual veterans.
According to reports, there are a lot of such imposters who have also been able to scam the VA into giving them benefits, sometimes for many years.
The only period I personally know of where “in theater” included the continental US, was WWII and a bit thereafter. But I say this with the proviso that my research was based on potential qualifications for veterans’ Aid and Attendance.
Atlantic sub patrols from the Eastern seaboard qualified in this case, as being in a theater of war. I suppose training as a fighter pilot in Texas, and then being stationed in Florida, would qualify as well.
During the Vietnam era, you had to be over there to qualify if I read the docs correctly.
My guess, and it is only a guess, is that Phillips received a general discharge based on his jail time and AWOL. Maybe even general “under less than honorable” conditions. I doubt he got a bad conduct discharge if he served a full enlistment period, as it doesn’t seem to make sense they would keep him in full term.
As for honorable discharges, prior to the appearance in time of the DD-214 mentioned here, some of the cards issued to WWII vets merely said satisfactory.
In our recent case, the funeral home director said he had seen a small number of these laminated cards which elderly guys had in their possession. The full discharge papers explicitly stated “honorable” when we received them. However, by that time the local commandant had already authorized a color guard as my sisters had (for some reason) requested one on the basis of the card alone. And I must say I was touched and impressed by the seriousness and the respect they all showed.
“Video Proof Of Nathan Phillips’ Lying By Saying Was Vietnam Vet”
https://lidblog.com/nathan-philips-vietnam/
(Saw the link at Instapundit)
This post also has a copy of Nathan Phillips’s discharge status.
I’m used to looking at DD 214s as I was examining recruits for six years until couple of months ago. The RE code is often interesting. It means do they want him back if he wants to come back. Some of the codes I had to Google to figure out what they are.
It’s amusing how leftists/SJWs use the military: either they want some cred in moments like these or they join without learning much of anything afterwards where they’d love to change military policies socially.
There is a smell in the air if a man starts telling you about his “Special War Experience” before you really get to know him. Nathan Phillips is one of these wanna be vets who might be able to repair refrigeration.
I come from a family who served in wars going back to King Phillips War in New England in 1765 and we seemed to have folks mixed up some way or another in most of them up until now when I have the husband of a nice who is active and served a number of deployments over the past 15 years. I myself did four years from 1966 to 1970 one year in the states training in the misnomer intelligence and three years in West Germany, no Viet Nam.
All of my family and friends who saw actual getting fired at combat, people I knew and who talked to me about it going back to WWI up until now usually told about the nutty, ironic, stuff and the close encounters but never about being a hero and the men I know and knew, because a lot of them are no longer with us were, closed mouthed until they felt same with family or friends.
I was blessed to hear some wonderful stories about hardship, brother hood and gratefulness for just making it through a terrible time in their lives and then coming back and being good men raising their families and taking care of business. Those stories include Bastogne, B-17 missions over Germany, B-24 missions in the Pacific, flying SBDs off of carriers, submarines in the Pacific, POWs in the Philippines and Germany, it seems as if most of our fathers of those who were born during and right after WWII saw a lot of active service. And then there were stories of Korea, an uncle getting wounded at Chosin and lying in the snow during the daylight until he could get back under cover in the dark, a friend who talked about moving up to the front and seeing things slung under the tubes on artillery and being told those were dead frozen marines being brought back.
My good friend and relatives who did see action in Viet Nam and remember the smell and have to have a few drinks on a quiet evening to open up even a bit about their experience. An older Special Forces cousin who was stained at Fort Devens while I was there in 1966 did two and a half years in Nam and is still incensed about the way we treated the Montagnards.
There are all sorts of war stories and if a person you barely know uses his military experience as part of his story he is blowing smoke up your ass. I have met people like Nathan and heard such special operations, recon ranger, bull shit stories that a little bell starts going ding, ding, ding, you are an asshole, get away and I never want to see you again.
Sorry King Phillips War was in 1675 in New England.
I entered the USAF in 1972. Vietnam ERA veteran.
Did not serve there.
Was eligible to and knew many who did.
So there is something to say for that.
But I am always clear that I was not there.
I did get a National Defense ribbon (I think that;s what it was called) because the effort was on.
As for “in theater”, everyone I knew called it :in country”.
But this special idiot Phillips is from my adopted hometown where he became responsible for the renaming of the Eastern Michigan University Hurons (we are located on the Huron) to the Eagles. This was of course a huge left/right issue locally.
Many indigenous resented the change as they looked on the association as an honor to them.
He has not changed tactics.
“As for “in theater”, everyone I knew called it :in country”.
In the case of Vietnam, and as regards qualification of a Veteran’s pension or aid, that (“in country”) is also the “qualifying terminology” used for that particular conflict. There may be some area definition that extends out from land to cover Navy personnel operating offshore, but that was not the period I was concerned to thoroughly investigate.
By the way, this veteran’s aid and attendance program which some sites make out to be an almost automatic qualification for a elderly wartime veteran, is anything but. Almost all the supposed guidelines, and allowable levels of income are subject to interpretation.
One reads that all veterans over 65 are assumed to automatically be disabled, even if you are still spry. That, those older than 90, qualify for fast tracking. That your house and car are never taken into account as assets, and that you may have at least 80k left in the bank and still qualify for caregiver money. Oh, you can even have a substantial monthly income, if not lots of assets. Bullshit. At least in practice.
What did the lawyer specialist say? “Now, if we put him in assisted living – a mini apartment – and he doesn’t need their more costly services, then with the government’s 2k, and his 2k SS per mo, you only need another 2k or so.”
“I see. So what’s the advantage.” I ask, “when we are presently spending 10 k a month for my mother at home, and that is not going to change, and he is living there too?”
“Uhhh, well, the application paperwork goes through with much greater assurance of approval if they know it is going straight into the hands of a caregiving institution. That’s where we come in … to help arrange that”
Yeah. The Government. It’s here to help you.
Julie near Chicago on January 24, 2019 at 6:21 pm at 6:21 pm said:
AesopFan,
Copy this:
^blockquote^ ^/blockquote^
* * *
It’s a good technique, but ” ” and * * * are still faster to type.
I’ll work on it, if I don’t fall back into bad habits. 😉
Don’t get too stressed out over this Covington brouhaha, although it is certainly maddening to see people absolutely refusing to accept evidence that contradicts their narrative.
AesopFan, it certainly is frustrating. And it gets me going partly because I absolutely hate it with a passion when people “get in other people’s faces,” which in the present instance one presumes Maxine Waters would’ve been all in favor of — on both sides, no? and when they are grossly and clearly unjust and unfair. (Also because of a certain problem with some relatives. Families! –one of mine went to Standing Rock and I just know he’s all on board with our Mr. Phillips. And oh by the way…he’s Catholic. !!)
And here I was beginning to get over quivering with rage about the Kavanaugh thing. Those people (the Dem Senators) were utterly vile. (And I don’t think B.K. is going to be our Justice on a White Horse, either. Pity! But with luck he’ll be better than some National Lawyer’s Guild yay-hoo.)
And I just now finished listening to 1984, which is not a book to feel one’s spirits like to the lark at break of day arising…..
I really ache for the kids, especially Nick S., and their folks.
Thanks for the kind words. :>)
Chief Fulla Bull is the exemplary liberal icon of our times.
I think you guys are actually missing the process…
will give it a shot to explain this… not that anyone can believe
what you have is a group of people who want X to happen. they are not up front, they are not in the light, and for the most part, are just like you and me in terms of lives and so on… no evil dungeons, just zitgeist & beliefs…
so, what can they do to make changes in a nation one could never ever frontally assault in any way and succeed. anything and everything direct would be off plate, and death by a 1000 million cuts would be the main course…
but i digress… none of these people would EVER want to stand up and be a target, to be the ones who would bear the brunt of any actual action. just as your body of cells is really protection for your fertility, and what happens to your leg does not matter if one hasnt pulled a darwin award…
So what they need, as necheyeve lays out, are people to USE..
you need victims, so you give bad advice to women, but wrap it in sugar like the ice queen of narnia… (if one needs a visual to get it)..
you also need people to use as ardent promoters and if you read neceyeve and a few other things you will find that these people basically spend their time hunting the forest of humans to find specimens that are useful, guidable, and once protected can flower outwards causing all manner of issue… and 100% safe…
you could be from other states, you could be from this one, you could just be a newpaper person who has a certain view so once resonating, you do what you think is right, as a trained seal thinks whats right is to honk horns… no orders needed, its in your education and being to respond that way once, shall we say, triggered
so this particular person is completely expendable, and so is david hogg, and many more.. NONE of them are from the right families to actually have a place at the table other than beliefs… of course these families would want the destruction of all other families, so none could do what? they would also want domestication of the under class, reduce males, uplift females, get them used to breeding and turning over kids, get them to do all the work as the men are reduced, and remove (as the engels points out in the magyar struggle) the problem classes that are, to these people, too much problem once their usefulness has worn off.
all you need is the audacity of a psychopath or a group of them, whose desire for power has no bounds…
but first, you have to get rid of the AMORAL (capitalist) system that is fair enough to allow social evolution and the potential of your lines to die out… and replace it with an IMMORAL system that one can insure outcome.. then have lots of kids while suppressing others, and give your kids the kind of education farmers of men get, and give everyone else what “tools’ get…
Ann Althouse has an annoying post today calling Phillips, “ordinary people living private lives in obscurity.” That is nonsense and several commenters called her on it.
Trashing Phillips raised the ire of the SJWs, which might be a reason to leave him alone if you don’t want to take them on, but he’s hardly an ordinary person living in obscurity. He’s a man who deliberately works at becoming a news item. The people who went after the boys really messed up. The people who went after Phillips exposed a fraud. There’s a big difference there. There’s no walking this back. The folks who attacked the boys need to don their sack cloth and sit in the ashes instead of making excuses, and they ought to be a lot more skeptical of what they hear in the msm and see on any You Tube video less than an hour long in the future.
They won’t be doing anything like that but at least someone on the left noticed.
How could the elite media—The New York Times, let’s say—have protected themselves from this event, which has served to reinforce millions of Americans’ belief that traditional journalistic outlets are purveyors of “fake news”? They might have hewed to a concept that once went by the quaint term “journalistic ethics.” Among other things, journalistic ethics held that if you didn’t have the reporting to support a story, and if that story had the potential to hurt its subjects, and if those subjects were private citizens, and if they were moreover minors, you didn’t run the story. You kept reporting it; you let yourself get scooped; and you accepted that speed is not the highest value. Otherwise, you were the trash press.
We’re not talking about planned parenthood, selective-child, and the wicked solution. We’re not talking about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. #HateLovesAbortion
Mike K: Althouse is a curious case. She’s a bright, brave and articulate writer. However, she has a large blind spot when it comes to assuming she’s got the invulnerable high ground when it comes to intellect and morality. For instance, she enjoys lecturing Christians on how to be Christian.
One of her favorite maneuvers is to call “civility bullshit” on others yet, when it suits her to correct others, so many of her posts are indeed the same dung. Althouse has been called on this enough times she ends this particular post hoping to foreclose that attack:
You might say it’s too similar to calling for civility (which I’m known for calling “civility bullshit”), but it’s not the same thing. It’s not about tone. It’s about interpretation and understanding.
Right… Thanks for the lecture.
Huxley you are right about Althouse. There is a lot of good stuff in her blog but she is a legend in her own mind. E. g. how do I know she graduated 1st in her class from NYU Law. That is why I prefer Neo.
Ann Althouse has a site I visit daily and I agree with her a good deal of the time, thoughtful stuff and good explanations but she does reflect her culture, raised in the NE, teaching and living in Madison Wisconsin, voted for Bush and then voted for Obama so there’s that. At times she is totally wrong as in the case of professional Indian Protestor Nathan Phillips, noted on Wikipedia as a notable member of his tribe, so there’s that.
I usually scroll by artfldgr but he has a very good point in his 9:24 am comment. While I agree with everything Neo says about Phillips he is not really the issue.
Of course it sucked for Nick Sandmann to have this sociopath get up in his face beating a drum while waiting for a bus. But it was a million times worse – not much of an exaggeration – for a 15-yo kid to be lynched nationwide by the media essentially for wearing a MAGA hat and being a devout Catholic.
When someone made the comparison of Phillips to Ward Churchill my first thought was that Churchill had more responsibility because he had some status, thinking of him as another loud mouthed leftist professor. But based on the comments here Churchill didn’t deserve his status any more than Phillips does. He was promoted by academic elites for the same reason Phillips was promoted by media elites – to serve their leftist agenda. And it is those elites who are the real problem.
I read Althouse’s blog most days and used to comment there a lot. She has a small group of trolls that are really nasty and personal so I recently quit commenting and did so before the 2016 election for the same reason. A couple of her commenters are very good and a few provide good links to stories.
Neo polices this blog and Althouse does not. I found that I would get into exchanges with the trolls and finally quit.
She does have a few blind spots; one is gay marriage as she has a gay son.
This might help. Or not: I was Army Reserve 1967-1973. At the time it was up to 6 months for training and the balance of the 6 year enlistment as Active Reserves (monthly meetings & a couple weeks active annually). My DD-214 (I just pulled it from the safe and reviewed it) was created at the completion of my active duty, NOT at the completion of my 6-year obligation. One box on it says “nature of service” and typed in is “honorable”. I does not say “nature of discharge”. I got this copy of my DD-214 via the social security admin when I turned 65 and went on medicare, long after all my service was done… showing there is no update of these things.
Phillips (or whatever he name is) shows date of service totaling about 4 years, 2 short of the basic enlistment. He mustered out as a private. I managed to leave as SSG (E-6) with little more effort that showing up as required and doing the jobs assigned. (Yes, being young and dumb, I did not fully realize that I had made it “overt the hump” rank-wise and should have stayed in… ).
All that BS aside — Phillips was not a good Marine and his exit rank and recorded AWOL issues (probably due to what was mentioned above as conflict caused when being incarcerated made drill attendance difficult) attest to that, and most likely contributed to his leaving early. I doubt he has a certificate of Honorable Discharge hanging on his Tee-pee wall.
Old Texan – I grew up in Connecticut and attended King Philip JHS in West Hartford, named after the Indian warrior from the 1600’s. There was a cave in nearby Avon Mountain called King Philip’s cave where he supposedly hid out.
Churchill didn’t deserve his status any more than Phillips does.
Or Fauxcahontas, who was hired for “diversity.”
Very good piece by Rod Dreher today — “Of Pogroms & Political Theology”; here’s some of it:
He also quotes from a piece by Andrew Sullivan that includes this:
Confirmed. Philipps is definitely lying. Nobody spends four years in the service and gets out as an E-1. That’s the rank he would have had when he got out of boot camp. Speaking of boot camp, he was only awarded one medal. The National Defense Service Medal. Considering he joined during the Vietnam war he would have been issued that along with his uniform. Everybody gets one if they serve during a time of conflict; it’s like a grammar school participation trophy.
I didn’t join until the late 80s but I had friends who had joined during the seventies. Back in the 70s the services were kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel personnel-wise. Not that there weren’t good servicemen who joined but that wasn’t the norm. Apparently each command had a quota for awarding Good Conduct Medals. So they were handing out Good Conduct Medals based on who had spent the least time in the brig. I guess since Philipps went UA (Unauthorized Absence, the Navy and current Marine Corps equivalent of AWOL although it appears the USMC was transitioning from AWOL to UA when he was in) three times he spent too much time in the brig to qualify. Clearly so; to qualify for the USMCR equivalent of the Good Conduct Medal (Organized Marine Corps Reserve Medal) back in the 70s he would have had to spend four years in, satisfactorily complete his accession training, monthly drills, and annual training free from disciplinary action. Going UA three times would have disqualified him.
Per the releasable information the USMC made public it only provides Philipps’ duty status; discharged. It doesn’t characterize his service but I can’t imagine that a reservist can go UA three times in four years and get anything higher than a general discharge. I mean, that’s quite a feat for a reservist considering based on the documents I’ve seen he actually went UA three times in 1975 alone. So he could have gone UA a lot more times than that. He may have spent up to six months on accession training in 1972. How do you go UA six times in a year as an active reservist? He would have drilled one weekend a month and then spent two weeks on active duty per year from 1973 on.
All in all he is clearly a lying scumbag.
Neo polices this blog and Althouse does not. I found that I would get into exchanges with the trolls and finally quit.
Mike K: I understand why you say that. Perhaps it’s part of Althouse’s claim not to indulge “civility bullshit.”
Still there was Althouse’s weird, hysterical break several years ago that started with gay marriage, as I recall, but resulted in this big FU Everyone and comments were closed for a while.
I thought it was a sort of “self-blogicide” at the time, but she managed to stanch the bleeding and get her blog back on track, though probably not to her sense of desired remuneration.
She wasn’t shy about that either with her readers — if my blog is so great, why ain’t I rich, so get with it.
Mike K above quotes a comment at Althouse:
Or, as we longtime Donald Duck fans remember, you were owned by Rawcuss J. Yellowpress. :>))
. . .
Another comment from the Althouse piece:
I agree — and it’s difficult for me to practice, because I was trained from babyhood to the ‘Principle of Charity’ as quoted. (No, we weren’t Catholic — we were Congregationalists, if anybody cares.) But that was the outlook we kids were encouraged to take. Not that my folks couldn’t be quite forthright (in private) in their opinions! LOL
. . .
Ann, thanks so much for Mr. Dreher’s column. Very interesting.
In particular, this:
More echoes of 1984. (Yes, I know the title really uses words for ‘1984.’)
By the way … don’t you just love Andrew Sullivan? /sarc
. . .
Speaking of Ward Churchill, apparently a male version of Fauxcahontas and a plagiarist with questionable claims about military service, there’s a fairly detailed writeup at DTN. (Also from near Chicago!, sorry to say, and even sorrier to see he was involved with SDS and Weatherman back in the day.)
https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individuals/ward-churchill/
” There may be some area definition that extends out from land to cover Navy personnel operating offshore,”
If I recall correctly the combat zone extended 50 miles offshore of Vietnam. That enabled the sailors on the oilers and supply ships to obtain combat pay because they had to come into the combat zone to refuel and rearm us. I was on a destroyer and we went into Da Nang and Vung Tau harbors, but that didn’t count as being in country. You had to set foot on the ground to be in country.
Andrew Sullivan is not someone I read unless there’s a good reason to; this was a good reason to.