What to do when ambushed — from left or right
December 3, 2011 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
So you’re walking down the street minding your own business and thinking about oh, I don’t know, your spouse? Job? Maybe you left the coffee maker on? when somebody with a flip camera pops up asking if you support Obama’s immigration policy. And if you do, does that mean you disagree with the business entity definition in Alabama’s HB 56?
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Quote from David Ross in Spring of 2000 regarding a controversy involving a local agency and corruption issues that were just coming to light, “They are friends of mine, I’ve heard their side of it, that’s all I need to hear.”
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Kudos again to Robin Washington on the art of twisted journalism!
How is it Robin Washington uses the ambush word when the director of the UMD Multicultural Center asks people handing out constitutions if they are members of a white supremacists group? The director ambushed the people handing out constitutions as seen in the Youtube video, but Washington is a pro at telling his activist side of the story. This is nothing more than “manufactured news”.
The video of David Ross is pathetic and stands alone. Ross states he is pro-union, which is shocking to many in the business community, and feels that white people have taken enough from Native Americans as seen at the end of the video.
DNT, why don’t include a link to the infamous Ross – Ness video? We published the video the day it was available.
Stop with Washington’s“ manufactured news”, link the video, stick to one story, and report the news!
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Just further proof that the DNTs value is only as a fish wrapper, nothing else.
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Robin Washington and Dave Ross are people you can easily forget after watching them or hearing them speak. They will be hanging there heads come Nov. 7 2012 day after Obama their fearless leader gets the boot…
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Having attempted to be trapped by some of those who think out of context comments are useful, it is easy to turn the tables on them. If someone asked me about HB 56, my first words to them are which portion of HB 56 are you asking about and do you have it in print for me to review. Invariably, these fly by night video types ( and much of print and television media reporters I have talked to) have an agenda to get an answer that will attempt to trip you up and make it through their editors hands but have little actual knowledge of the issue. Further, ask everyone of them for a release form to be allowed to quote you or put you on video and for media, ask to review anything before it is published or broadcast. Again, invariably they either a) won’t have a release form or b) media will claim they need to be objective and won’t allow you to point out errors in their reporting. Happens all the time. Sorry, my interactions with media have been fair at best with reporters that clearly have no knowledge of the subject matter and even when you explain it in excruciating detail, still get it wrong and then the correction gets printed on the back page. Then they apologize and wonder why you turn them down when they come back to you in the future. If the media was interested in objective, fair and balanced reporting combined with accuracy, the least they could do would allow you to review what they print or put on air.
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Quote DFL Exposed
“DNT, why don’t include a link to the infamous Ross – Ness video? We published the video the day it was available.”
We published? So are you saying you’re with these people?
As for the ambush comment? Definition of Ambush 1. an act or instance of lying concealed so as to attack by surprise
If you jump out of the bushes or act like you’re waiting for the bus and then turn and run up to people with a camera and they have no knowledge of it I would say that fits the ambush profile. If you stand on the street with camera in full view and leave people alone that do not want to participate then its a different story.
I’m surprised someone hasn’t pepper sprayed one of these people!
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Tim, not saying that at all. In no way am I with the OccuFAILURES or David “retribution of wealth” Ross. Google my name I use here and you will see what my friends and I think about both of the parasites.
Did you see the WDIO story on Ross defending the Marxist principle of redistribution of wealth? It was an unbelievable story from a $179,000+ per year lobbyist who is supposed to support business and job creators.
I totally agree with you on the need for a good pepper spraying Timbo!
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Only an admitted failure would advocate the government “re-distributing the wealth”. Ambitious individuals go for the gold themselves and earn it, rather than sitting on their lazy arses playing video games and smoking joints while waiting for the government to dole out to them a handout derived from confiscating other peoples money.
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Merv: Please reveal the source that informed you of the value of labor. Last I checked, it was determined by the market……not by some suit in a corner office or some government lackey.
I’ve never seen someone say so much without saying a single thing…..
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When you rank the existential threats to this country, internal and external, ding bats being mean to ding bats really isn’t worth worrying about.
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The author, Mr. Washington, incorrectly portrays me in this article in two ways.
First , he implies that I was on the offense with my video camera when I was at UMD in September. The truth is I was actually on campus handing out pocket constitutions for constitution day when a group of hostile students approached me. After the conversation begin getting intense, I pulled out the camera for my own safety. At that point, you know the story. Or maybe you don’t. That is my second correction for the author.
He suggests I was on campus to discuss racial politics. That is false. I was on campus to hand out pocket constitutions to people interested in constitutional principles in government.
Race was not a topic that came up until Moses started talking about how the country was founded on racism …and on and on… and then Pelayo-Woodward ignored his death threat and implied I was a white supremacist for handing out this ‘racist’ document and having a military haircut.
Therefore UMD staff and students were the ones attempting to engage me in a discussion of racial politics.
Summary of the articles inaccuracy — UMD staff and students ambushed me, not vice-versa. I was simply handing out constitutions; when they verbally attacked me on the premise that the constitution is racist, it was they (not me) that interjected racial politics into an event entirely unrelated to race (constitution day).
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Suggesting we live within the bounds of the Constitution IS radical politics to Big Media and their imitators in little media.
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Do you remember when the Democrats trashed the 4th Amendment in the Patriot Act? Those guys, and the always famous Big Media, had no respect for the Constitution. I guess it’s only appropriate that their man in the White House hadn’t even been officially elected, but rather put into office by the Supreme Court.
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Phil C, write an opinion stating your factual case and have it printed in the DNT. Your side of the story needs to be told.
Robin Washington has a bully pulpit, has an activist agenda as seen again it this article, and unfortunately is the news editor at the DNT. Washington never should have twisted the UMD Black Panther story into the Occupy Duluth Anti-Polymet, Anti-business, Duluth Chamber of Commerce story.
Send your opinion, 600 word limit, to the letters to the editor for the DNT. Robin Washington does not control the editorial page.
I hope you tell your story in your own words.
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I agree with the DFL statement. You need to get your side of the story out so that people can make an informed decision. This is an extremely liberal community and I see first hand a lot of hypocrisy when it comes to so call tolerance. The view I hear being spread within UMD is very different than what Phil is stating happened. It has been brought up in meetings in the context of dealing with “hate” and diversity.
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The Koch Brothers, obviously. I am their pupper. I do nothing without their permission. Who paid you to post a comment on this story, George Soros?
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You know, if you insist on making catty comments, you’re handicapping your ability to change the opinions of people who disagree with you.
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Keep up the good work Phil.
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Dear DFL Duluth,
I sent this to Mr. Washington moments ago:
Mr. Washington,
I have extreme reservations with the way you mis-portrayed me in your recent article.
You suggest I was out “ambushing” students on constitution day and forcing them to talk about “racial politics” with a camera.
I request you retract this claim because it is wholly inaccurate.
If you want the story before you make your retraction, feel free to contact me. My contact information is enclosed. Also, two of my initial corrections are in the comment area of the online version of your sorry excuse for news and opinion. But since I doubt that you will take the minimal effort required to do a preliminary fact search of the situation and I doubt that you will bother to call me and get the complete story, I will share some of those points with you directly.
1) I did not ambush students with a camera. I turned on the camera for my own safety after a group of hostile people started harassing me for passing out constitutions.
2) While passing out pocket constitutions I was approached by a hostile group of UMD staff and students who informed me of their view that the constitution was a ‘racist document’ and their belief that our country was founded on a belief of ‘white supremacy.’
3) After the UMD staff member ignored the death threat she then implied that I was a white supremacist for handing out the U.S. constitution and having a military hair cut.
Thus, it was UMD staff and students that interjected racial politics into an otherwise non-eventful afternoon of passing out pocket constitutions to people interested in constitutional principles in government.
Therefore, they created the controversy for wanting to kill me over a constitution. They created the controversy for tolerating a staff member with a $600,000 a year bureaucracy who ignores death threats and makes racial slurs toward me.
Now its you who is damaging my reputation and mis-portraying my character by falsely reporting the situation.
If you want to fit me into your story about ambushes, then the correct meme is this: I am like the fearless reporter Alex Washington who suggested that we pull out a camera on hecklers like Susana Pelayo-Woodward and Blair Jordon Moses and say “Ha, take that.”
So don’t use me as a reason to do what you suggest in your article when I am in fact the perfect example of how responding with a video camera, as your Alex Washington suggested, is a powerful and impactful response to hostile and combative individuals.
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Pretend I were the President or Executive Director of YWC — Would this justify the death threat that was issued by the UMD student? Would it make the fact that UMD Staff ignored that threat and then made a racial slur at me acceptable?
That being said, I have no relationship to YWC. So either way, your question is irrelevant.
However, I would like to point out that implicit in your question is that this issue was somehow about me; the truth is it has nothing to do with me. After all, there is no possible context in which what UMD staff and students did to me should be acceptable. UMD knew this and thus tried to change the subject and distort the story. Luckily, when I was ambushed, I did what Robinson said to do in this article – I pulled out a camera and got it on tape for the world to see.
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I meant no offense by my question, and you are correct, it really doesn’t matter if you were affiliated with YWC or not. I certainly don’t believe either incident leveled towards you by the student or staff member was justified.
My question may be irrelevant to you and others, but it isn’t to me. The information that was filtered to UMD faculty/staff was in my opinion inaccurate, but at the time I couldn’t answer any of it, because I had no information from your side. Another accusation I heard leveled was that carefully edited video was posted of the incident, and that you weren’t presenting the “full” story either.
Now that I’ve heard your side of the story, I can make more informed responses, if the opportunity arises. Please don’t assume that everyone working at or attending UMD is of that same opinion as those that did this to you. I for one am not.
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Bravo !!!
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I also just noticed that the article says I was standing outside the multicultural center when this happened. I was outside of Kirby center by the bus hub…
You’ve got to get the basic facts right if you want your readers to trust that you took the time to get the big facts right.
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Anything less than a full retraction and apology from Robin Washington would be a joke. There was so much misinformation in this piece that it makes me question if Mr. Washington has any malicious intent in writing this.
In any case, they’re losing my subscription. Just cancelled in the past few days.
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