A few days ago I wrote about Weighing in on the ‘Covington Kids Calamity’.

I’m changing that to “Kovington Kids Kalamity” with a capital ‘K’ for a number of reasons, not the least of which is a double standard I’ve been seeing in more ‘conservative’ circles.

Granted, some of the comments on the ‘liberal’ social media sites with whom I shared this essay were pretty extreme directed at the Covington Kids.

Comments rendered indicated to me that those folks didn’t even read the essay…not uncommon in the blog-o-sphere.

But that’s neither here nor there for this writing…the more ‘conservative’ response is.

Take NRA spokesmodel, Dana Loesch, as just one example.

Her take on Nathan Phillips, one of the two protagonists garnering the most attention since the incident in Washington, D.C., went down and dirty:

Revealed: Nathan Phillips’ Discharge Papers Released… And He Was AWOL a LOThttps://t.co/eOg8FVhr1Q

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) January 24, 2019

He Was AWOL a LOT.

Her AWOL take on this was arguably to try to discredit Nathan Phillips.

Question is ‘why’? Why should this even be an issue?

Discharge Papers Released

Thing is they weren’t “released”. More on that in a bit.

There were two separate Today Show interviews with the two protagonists in this ongoing controversy, first with Nick Sandmann of smirking in Phillip’s face fame:

“In hindsight, I wish we could’ve walked away and avoided the whole thing.”

Watch Nick Sandmann's full exclusive interview with @savannahguthrie pic.twitter.com/dLBTkc76YD

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 23, 2019

Please note, Nick Sandmann said “I wish we could’ve walked away”. He didn’t say “would’ve“. Nor did he say “should’ve. He said “could’ve“.

In every video I’ve watched, the option for Nick Sandmann and cohorts to walk away was never an issue.

They “could’ve“ walked away at any time.

They chose not to do so, and school chaperones chose not to intervene.

And then this interview with Phillips, himself:

 

“Even though I’m angry, I still have that forgiveness in my heart for those students.”

Watch Nathan Phillips’ full interview with @savannahguthrie pic.twitter.com/LYlWtod9Kl

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 24, 2019

Loesch’s remarks regarding Phillip’s military service are apparently based on an article from Townhall:

Revealed: Nathan Phillips’ Discharge Papers Released… And He Was AWOL a LOT

Discharge papers from the military are known as Federal Form DD-214.

All veterans get them upon discharge.

Thing is, Nathan Phillips’ DD-214 was NOT released. That would be a direct violation of the rules of National Archives: FOIA and Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF).

Someone had to deliberately search for Nathan Phillips’ DD-214 information under FOIA to try to dig up some dirt on his military service.

Lo and behold, the following video tells more:

 

https://youtu.be/CIXIzvyAlLA

Please note at the 10 second mark the ‘host’, retired Navy SEAL Don Shipley, begins tapping a vodka bottle with a spoon arguably mimicking Nathan Phillips beating on his prayer drum.

Add using a vodka bottle to illustrate white people stereotyping of Native Americans into that mix, and I almost blew a gasket! Anyone else?

I watched the rest of the video, and, to his credit, Shipley posted screen shots of some of Phillip’s discharge information that is available to the public under FOIA…information that Shipley had to consciously do a search for.

Comments on Loesch’s Tweet were, for the most part, vile and directed at Nathan Phillips personally. Here’s just one:

Probably drank too much Fire water!!!

— Demskryptonite (@Demskryptonite) January 24, 2019

Fire water!!!

And then I saw this Tweet in response to Dana Loesch:

Such hypocrisy…you shame people for going after kids then you turn around and try to destroy this man's reputation. AWOL or whatever..he still served this country.

— Alpha Lion (@mhenry7551) January 25, 2019

That…that right there…is the double standard mentioned at the outset of this essay.

AWOL or whatever..he still served this country.

Yes, indeed he did, and I, for one, thank him for his service, and I thank you, Alpha Lion, for pointing that out!

Dana Loesch, however…not so much:

What happened is a bunch of media outlets couldn’t wait for the rest of the story because Christian boys wearing Trump hats needed to be vilified first! Also, Nathan Phillips lied and has pulled this before. But dox the kids instead, right? https://t.co/bgBlNHKrb6

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) January 22, 2019

It’s the hats Dana Loesch seems to be upset about….“Trump hats” specifically.

Vilify a veteran, “Vietnam times” or not, to prove a point about Christian kids wearing MAGA hats….got it!

Lest we forget, conservatives have a couple of well-known draft dodging icons many of them look up to: Ted ‘Shit in His Pants’ Nugent, and Donald ‘Bone Spurs’ Trump. Just sayin’….

To all the veterans, including Shipley, who choose to diss Nathan Phillips because he arguably doesn’t live up to ‘your’ standards for military service, I say as a Vietnam Era Police Action (not a declared war) Veteran myself, you get no respect whatsoever from me any longer.

Some folks are now calling the Covington incident a ‘non-story’. I beg to differ.

It is representative of a much bigger and insidious societal problem called institutional racism…especially toward Indigenous People. The KKK part of that should be obvious to everyone.

If all y’all cannot see that, you haven’t been paying attention much less listening.

My two cents.