Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann loses defamation lawsuits against Rolling Stone, CBS, ABC, NYT, and Gannett

Hmmm. Catholic school kid vs. Native American. Let’s not give him any ideas.

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That’s the Pope, btw.

uh oh disaster GIF by PBS

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Sandman’s lawyer was Lyn Wood when they settled. I imagine it was for a tiny amount.

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That’s from a recent visit to Canada where The Church made a formal recognition of “the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples”.

Obviously doesn’t make it all better, but a great step in the right direction.

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Yes, but many Native American folks have singled out the war bonnet incident as another blunder that lacked sensitivity.

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I’m not sure it’s a “blunder”. They gave it to him and expected him to put it on. He accepted it and did so. How is that a “blunder”?

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That’s the context the picture was missing.

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I am sure there are some people who feel the gesture wasn’t appropriate. Natives aren’t a monolith and there are disagreements on things like that.

Also - with out any context - one may assume he just showed up like that.

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Yep. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it’s often missing some important ones.

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I don’t disagree, but the judge all but told them they were going to win. If it’s a 50/50 case, or even 10/90, then settling is probably the right calculation. But that wasn’t the case here. This was more like 1/100. Any lawyer worth their paycheck, or hell even a 2L law student, should have known that case had a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding. Plus, they need to factor in the effect that settling has on future similar situations. Settlement in a case like this is going to make plaintiff’s lawyers in the future more inclined to take a case like this in the hopes of getting a settlement, even if they know the law isn’t on their side. On the other hand, if they know the network isn’t likely to settle if the case is weak, they’re going to be more likely to turn down a potential client like this.

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Ok that makes even less sense that they settled. Lyn Wood can’t lawyer his way out of a wet paper bag.

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Just because it was given to them by First Nations people doesn’t mean that ALL First Nations people NEED to think it’s a good idea for them to have done it and for him to have worn it.

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It might even replace this one of Martin Shkreli
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But if it was given to him by First Nations members with the expectation that he wear it, then there is no way for him to be wrong to wear it. At that moment, with those people, it was acceptable.

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That doesn’t mean that every First Nation person HAS to agree that it should have happened. People who have been directly impacted by what the Catholic Church do get to have an opinion on it too. Plenty of people in leadership positions make shitty decisions, all the time. Just because the people here thought it was a good photo op doesn’t mean that everyone should just STFU and get in line.

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Right you are. I had assumed that the blunder was referring to the pope but some are upset with the Ermineskin First Nation representatives that gave it to him.

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I’m gonna say cultural appropriation compounded by appeasement. :man_shrugging:
I honestly thought this moment would have had better distribution in the news.

Yes, I know. But still…

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How much real estate does the Catholic Church own in Canada?

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It was still damaging, even if they settled for $1. Because it gave fuel to the far right narrative that this was the “MSM” lying about a poor innocent high school student, even if the video evidence was right there

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Yes exactly what you said!

I like the Guardian editorial because you know that They know we readership are leftist leaning socialists. So all photos of Boris and Donald are deliberately presented to show them as “ranting idiots” which appeals to our preconceptions and gives us a smug smile.

Be good to see a return to an idea of thoughtful photo journalism that at least tries to show some truth!