A Question of Respect?

[Tassman]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]34586[/ATTACH]

"I don’t always threaten smart-aleck adolescents by banging a drum in their face. But when I do the racist president portrays me as the aggressor, even though the kid tried to stare me down and because I’m not white".

[rogue06]

I don't know where the "Vietnam vet" thing came from. In the interview I saw (after that initial video went viral) Phillips described himself as a "Vietnam-times Vet." The insertion of "times" in that self-description got my attention, because it's an odd way for it to be expressed. Turns out he was a marine from 1972 to 1976. The "police action" (it was actually never formally a war, IIRC) was ended April 30, 1975, so his self-description was accurate. He was a marine during the time of the Vietnam action, but he was never deployed to Vietnam.

A number of news outlets described him as a Vietnam vet including the Washington Post and New York Times (both of which have since issued corrections), but he has also misrepresented himself as being a Vietnam veteran and not just a "Vietnam-times Vet" or "from Vietnam times." He twice did so after the incident in Washington while being interviewed by CNN:

And I'm a Vietnam veteran and I know that mentality of "There's enough of us. We can do this."

...

And it's because I'm a veteran -- I'm a Vietnam veteran...

Once might be a slip, but twice makes it deliberate misrepresentation. Another fraud like Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)

[rogue06]

"I don’t always threaten smart-aleck adolescents by banging a drum in their face. But when I do the racist president portrays me as the aggressor, even though the kid tried to stare me down and because I’m not white".

He was the aggressor because he instigated the incident. Now that this has been indisputably been shown both he and halfwits such as your self are screaming "RACISM!" in a futile attempt to deflect attention away from that fact.

[rogue06]

A number of news outlets described him as a Vietnam vet including the Washington Post and New York Times (both of which have since issued corrections), but he has also misrepresented himself as being a Vietnam veteran and not just a "Vietnam-times Vet" or "from Vietnam times." He twice did so after the incident in Washington while being interviewed by CNN:

And I'm a Vietnam veteran and I know that mentality of "There's enough of us. We can do this."

...

And it's because I'm a veteran -- I'm a Vietnam veteran...

Once might be a slip, but twice makes it deliberate misrepresentation. Another fraud like Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)

Oops. Looks like there has been some more misrepresentations of his service record by Phillips.

His DD 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) form has now been released thanks to a FOIA request and his repeated assertion that he was a "recon ranger" has been exposed as bunk. He was in fact refrigerator mechanic, or ReferMech who was stationed in either Lincoln, Nebraska and El Toro, California. The latter posting is fitting since his claims are now demonstrated as being full of bull.

He was also merely "discharged" rather "honorably discharged" still at the rank of private after 4 years very likely due to having gone AWOL several times.

[seer]

Oops. Looks like there has been some more misrepresentations of his service record by Phillips.

His DD 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) form has now been released thanks to a FOIA request and his repeated assertion that he was a "recon ranger" has been exposed as bunk. He was in fact refrigerator mechanic, or ReferMech who was stationed in either Lincoln, Nebraska and El Toro, California. The latter posting is fitting since his claims are now demonstrated as being full of bull.

He was also merely "discharged" rather "honorably discharged" still at the rank of private after 4 years very likely due to having gone AWOL several times.

A couple of points, he was UA a couple of times, which is not the same as AWOL. You can get charged with "Unauthorized Absence" for coming back to base late. His discharge is a General Discharge, he was a screw up. It is obvious that he lied about his service, and a run of the mill leftist activist, not the wise "Elder" as the media portrayed him.

[rogue06]

A couple of points, he was UA a couple of times, which is not the same as AWOL. You can get charged with "Unauthorized Absence" for coming back to base late. His discharge is a General Discharge, he was a screw up. It is obvious that he lied about his service, and a run of the mill leftist activist, not the wise "Elder" as the media portrayed him.

It seems that his record equates his UA with AWOL

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But yeah, he was a refrigerator mechanic not a "recon ranger" and he has claimed to be a Vietnam Veteran and not just a "Vietnam-times Vet" or "from Vietnam times" but never left the U.S.

[Mountain Man]

It seems Philips has something against Catholics.

"Nathan Phillips, along with about twenty other activists, tried to disrupt a January 19th evening Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, while chanting and banging on their drums, according to the Catholic News Agency (CNA)."

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...-beating-drum/

[seer]

It seems that his record equates his UA with AWOL

[ATTACH=CONFIG]34587[/ATTACH]

But yeah, he was a refrigerator mechanic not a "recon ranger" and he has claimed to be a Vietnam Veteran and not just a "Vietnam-times Vet" or "from Vietnam times" but never left the U.S.

A UA falls under an absent with out leave, but it is a lesser charge - an actual AWOL (with no qualifier) is much worse. Though I think the Army uses the terms differently. And I'm not sure why they used both terms on his DD-214, most Marines (including me) had UAs. And I'm going to be honest rogue, the DD-214 you linked does not look like any DD-214 I have seen from that era, it looks nothing like mine.

[seer]

It seems Philips has something against Catholics.

"Nathan Phillips, along with about twenty other activists, tried to disrupt a January 19th evening Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, while chanting and banging on their drums, according to the Catholic News Agency (CNA)."

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...-beating-drum/

Right, so maybe their approach to those Catholic School boys wasn't so friendly after all!

[carpedm9587]

This may be one of those cases where we look at the same images and see starkly different things, largely because we are genetically programmed to do so.

I don't think genetic programming has anything to do with it. I have been through several of these videos. They all tell the same story - and are missing the same pieces. How you folks can come to your conclusions is not clear...unless you are seeing what you want to see.

[carpedm9587]

A number of news outlets described him as a Vietnam vet including the Washington Post and New York Times (both of which have since issued corrections), but he has also misrepresented himself as being a Vietnam veteran and not just a "Vietnam-times Vet" or "from Vietnam times." He twice did so after the incident in Washington while being interviewed by CNN:

And I'm a Vietnam veteran and I know that mentality of "There's enough of us. We can do this."

...

And it's because I'm a veteran -- I'm a Vietnam veteran...

Once might be a slip, but twice makes it deliberate misrepresentation. Another fraud like Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)

I would agree with that observation, and thanks for providing those links. It appears Mr. Phillips has misled people about his past and his role in the context of the Vietnam War. I don't have a great deal of sympathy for that.

[Mountain Man]

Right, so maybe their approach to those Catholic School boys wasn't so friendly after all!

He was just trying to protect those poor innocent black men from the white Catholic devils.

[Cow Poke]

A couple of points, he was UA a couple of times, which is not the same as AWOL. You can get charged with "Unauthorized Absence" for coming back to base late. His discharge is a General Discharge, he was a screw up. It is obvious that he lied about his service, and a run of the mill leftist activist, not the wise "Elder" as the media portrayed him.

This is why Tassman rushes to his defense -

"I don’t always threaten smart-aleck adolescents by banging a drum in their face. But when I do the racist president portrays me as the aggressor, even though the kid tried to stare me down and because I’m not white".

this is Tassy's kind of hero. And the kid "staring him down" while the dishonest Native American political activist was advancing on his position just shows the kid has a spine.

[Sparko]

I've reviewed this multiple times. Again - it aligns with what Phillips said: he and his group positioned themselves between the two groups (kids and Black Israelites). Phillips continued playing as he merged with the kids. The view in the news report I linked appears to come from a camera to his left in the early part of this engagement - and shows Phillips engaged in what appears to be a friendly exchange all around with the kids in front of him. Sandmann is at a distance.

There is NO video i have found that shows what happens between the friendly part of the exchange with the kids - and when it became the in-your-face confrontation with Sandmann. The kids close around behind Phillips (again) as he describes it. According to Phillips, he felt his way out was through - and he was blocked. According to Sandmann Phillips was confrontational. I see no video to "prove" either position. So I lean towards Sandmann's explanation - for the reasons I've cited, but the fact is I don't know which accounting is true with any degree of certainty.

Come on Carp. You can see he approached the teens beating his drum. If you look closely you can see the teen he was confronting in the background a few feet away. It's pretty obvious he kept moving into the crowd and that teen did not want to move so they "confronted" each other. If Phillips had not gone over there in the first place, none of this would have happened. He instigated it. He was the bully.

[carpedm9587]

Come on Carp. You can see he approached the teens beating his drum.

Yes - I've not questioned that. He has said as much.

If you look closely you can see the teen he was confronting in the background a few feet away.

Yes - and there are several videos from the side that show him engaging with a dancing group in a way that can only be called "friendly." No one is in anyone else's space, the kids are dancing and cheering, and there are miles all around.

It's pretty obvious he kept moving into the crowd and that teen did not want to move so they "confronted" each other.

That is the part of your conclusion I find unsubstantiated due to the lack of supporting video. From the "dancing and having fun" to the "confrontational exchange" I have found no supporting video. We don't see when they came together or who stepped into who's space. You (and others here) appear to be making a lot of assumptions, and it seems to me to be because it conforms to what you want it to be. But only you know if that is the case.

If Phillips had not gone over there in the first place, none of this would have happened.

Also agreed - but if his motivation (which he claims) was to insert himself between two groups that were becoming increasingly agitated towards one another, then his action was justified, IMO. I hope I would have the courage to do the same thing.

He instigated it. He was the bully.

I find this conclusion unwarranted - but I suspect any views I express are not going to be convincing to you. Suffice it to say, you have not made a case that convinces. So what I know is what I have said I know - and the rest I have to say "I don't know." I realize that annoys a lot of people here - but I prefer "I don't know" to jumping to conclusions.