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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

Fire water!!!

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

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:

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.

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About Jerrold Zocco-Hochhalter

Jerrold (Ted) Zocco-Hochhalter is a Columbine parent (two kids there April 20, 1999 – one critically injured), emergency management specialist (Bureau of Reclamation, FEMA, EPA, North Dakota Division of Emergency Management), school safety/gun violence prevention advocate (post Columbine), Navy veteran (Vietnam era), husband (Katherine), proud father (blended family).

• My Two Cents: School Safety….’Quick Fix’ Style - September 26, 2019
• My Two Cents: School Safety – DAMMIT! It’s Not Rocket Science….. - January 28, 2019
• My Two Cents: Kovington Kids Kalamity Double Standard…. - January 26, 2019
• My Two Cents: Weighing in on the ‘Covington Kids Calamity’ - January 22, 2019
• My Two Cents: The Illogical Logic of the NRA - January 11, 2019
• My Two Cents: School Safety Is An Enigma - January 3, 2019
• My Two Cents: ‘To Protect and To Serve’ vs the ‘Public-Duty Doctrine’ - December 22, 2018
• My Two Cents: Quiet Rooms - December 15, 2018
• My Two Cents: Stay in Your Lane Road Rage NRA Style - November 26, 2018
• My Two Cents: School Safety Hoplophile Style - November 17, 2018

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