Landon School Scandal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I expect that, in the end, the real loser will be the employment law group that is representing Mr Harrison. Harrison may not work at a school again, but he'll still have his CPA license. Landon has been embarrassed, but they'll be vindicated. But a lawyer's reputation is his stock in trade and TELG is going to be embarrassed. Recall what happened to the prosecutor that tried to hang false charges on the Duke lax players? One of those kids was from a Landon family.

As a litigator (who admittedly has no familiarity with Mr. Harrison or TELG), I am hesitant to assume that the plaintiff's counsel is behind this ill-conceived PR attempt. The bars of each state have specific rules and obligations that bind attorneys to conduct themselves in an ethical manner, and in 15 years of practice, most of the attorneys I have met take these obligations seriously. I know there are a few DCUMers who can't resist any opportunity to call all lawyers scumbags, but in my experience, this is the exception rather than the rule. As such, my default assumption when something shady happens is not that the attorney is behind it. Much, much more frequently, it is the idiot plaintiff or his friends and family who pull this kind of crap, unbenknownst to counsel. And who knows how many people out there might have a couple hundred bucks an interest in harming Landon's reputation? Considering some of the freakjobs who post on this board, it wouldn't surprise me if it was some disgruntled rich parent whose child was rejected from Landon. Quite frankly, even if the plaintiff's attorney is the type to take ethical liberties to bolster a case, I would expect him to have more effective and less-traceable resources to do so.

On another note -- I am very impressed with your detective work, Jeff!

[Anonymous]

well done Jeff.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just plain wrong! How could you fire someone for standing up AGAINST discrimination!? Obviously, it is wrong to discriminate against someone for being Hispanic or anything else for that matter. The abuse of these workers is going to just continue if he doesn't win the lawsuit. It's 2012 for goodness sake! Are we ever going to conquer racial discrimination in this country?

Hah, pinkcherrypie must have forgotten that she already posted this. Whoever hired her should be sure to get the $5 back.

GO JEFF! NICE!

[Anonymous]

Hmmm . . . check out the language in this quote from Harrison’s lawyer Adam Augustine Carter in the TELG press release:

With this latest in a string of recent scandals under Mr. Armstrong's watch, it is clear that no one is taking charge at this well-known institution, where these scandals have reinforced a perception of privilege and entitlement," added Carter.

Same script as the “pay to post” bloggers?

[Anonymous]

It might be the same words, but that doesn't mean the law firm handed it to the "pay to post" bloggers. It just means someone used that as the base text.

[Anonymous]

PP - I agree. All just a strange coincidence... haha

The thing that I don't get is if someone is going to claim that he or she raised these issues repeatedly, they must know that an email trail and other digital records will either prove or disprove their claims. Nobody can claim any credibility by saying "oh our conversations were all in person or by phone so there are no records..." Everything is digitally documented these days.

The other thing that doesn't pass the smell test is the whole concept that any school, public or private, wouldn't immediately go into overdrive investigating any claims, no matter how thin, of racial or ethnic discrimination at their institution. In the schools my kids have attended, from pre-K to post-graduate study, the commitment to diversity and to enforcing civility is a bedrock principle that informs everything. As it should. The idea that a Landon Headmaster, or any school's Head, would ignore a CFO's claims of having witnessed use of ethnic slurs by supervisors toward their staff is preposterous. Just wouldn't happen at any DC area school.

Although if you hire enough sock poppets to reference "past scandals", maybe you can convince a jury that this particular school is the exception. If the school is as horrific as Mr. Harrison claims, why on earth does he want his job back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff please address the issues of multiple posters working together with each other tho achieve the same goal. They have their talking points that originate from the same source. They may be posting from different IPs/ locations, but it is still sock puppeting nevertheless.

Also, the fact that through detective work you have identified several paid sources means nothing. Several different individuals may have chosen to post anonymously through these paid re-routing services because they felt what they had to say was important, but they felt threatened.

Speak for yourself, Punch and Judy. Nobody's given me any "talking points" -- I've given my own view on the merits of the complaint, complete with the caveat that I'm going off the complaint and published information (all released by the PLAINTIFF and his lawyers) with no first-hand information. I probably wouldn't stick with this thread except for being fascinated by the ham-handed and ultimately unsuccessful attempts to manipulate public opinion through phony posts.

Punch and Judy are puppet show from a few hundred years ago. It is supposed to be a comedy, but it is a comedy based on murder and other forms or violence. If you read the link below you'll find that one of the themes in Punch and Judy is "unapologetic murder". Also if you know anything about Latin, you already know that a "caveat" is a warning.

The above post is nothing but a veiled threat. It is a warning. This crowd is well known for their willingness to bullying people into submission, but now they have sunk so low that they are threatening bodily harm. This is a new all time low even for this crowd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy

[Anonymous]

Wow, PP, kudos for a truly crazy post! Call yourself Elmo or Kermit if you want a friendlier puppet name, but the sock puppetting Jeff uncovered is the real story despite the increasingly desperate attempts to change the story. I'm not part of any "crowd" -- just an observer who shared an opinion, as the original poster sought when he/she posted the story. I guess the problem is when the non-Landon observers don't have a knee-jerk reaction that the school is liable, huh? (and by the way, just re-read your post, 21:49, and it's even more bizarre on a second read-through.)

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
The above post is nothing but a veiled threat. It is a warning. This crowd is well known for their willingness to bullying people into submission, but now they have sunk so low that they are threatening bodily harm. This is a new all time low even for this crowd.

Even worse, if you read the post backwards, it says "Paul is dead."

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The above post is nothing but a veiled threat. It is a warning. This crowd is well known for their willingness to bullying people into submission, but now they have sunk so low that they are threatening bodily harm. This is a new all time low even for this crowd.

Even worse, if you read the post backwards, it says "Paul is dead."

Well played.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff please address the issues of multiple posters working together with each other tho achieve the same goal. They have their talking points that originate from the same source. They may be posting from different IPs/ locations, but it is still sock puppeting nevertheless.

Also, the fact that through detective work you have identified several paid sources means nothing. Several different individuals may have chosen to post anonymously through these paid re-routing services because they felt what they had to say was important, but they felt threatened.

Speak for yourself, Punch and Judy. Nobody's given me any "talking points" -- I've given my own view on the merits of the complaint, complete with the caveat that I'm going off the complaint and published information (all released by the PLAINTIFF and his lawyers) with no first-hand information. I probably wouldn't stick with this thread except for being fascinated by the ham-handed and ultimately unsuccessful attempts to manipulate public opinion through phony posts.

Rather than apologizing for alluding to Punch and Judy which is laden with murder and violence, Jeff and this poster have called me crazy. Let me get this right - you allude to murder and violence in your post and you call me crazy.
Well, Jeff if you are going to tell a lie, it might as well be a big lie.

http://www.oldwoodtoys.com/punch_&_judy.htm
“The only member of Punch’s group who doesn’t get killed is the Clown. Known also as Mr. Merryman or Joey, he’s Punch’s companion, his helper, his partner in jokes. Clown’s part in the action is to help Punch dispose of the Hangman’s body, sometimes stuffing him into a coffin.”

[Anonymous]

NP here - PP is losing it. Please trot over to another thread and leave this one alone.

[Anonymous]

We haven't heard much from pinkcherrypie or fit2fight since Jeff called them out, but those sock puppets are a model of rational discourse in comparison to the punch & judy person. Does anyone know if there is a website that plaintiff's firms can use to hire lunatics to clutter up unflattering forum discussions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We haven't heard much from pinkcherrypie or fit2fight since Jeff called them out, but those sock puppets are a model of rational discourse in comparison to the punch & judy person. Does anyone know if there is a website that plaintiff's firms can use to hire lunatics to clutter up unflattering forum discussions?

If you don't like it, don't post veiled threats under the context of characters like Punch and Judy who advocate murder and violence. You can't make such posts and expect that you will not be called out.

[Anonymous]

You think our "crowd" is ThAT simple? Oh no - we have multiple vieils and operate in cells of one so that I don't even know who posted the original allusion to PnJ, but don't let that stop you. The secret code embedded in this message will prompt another cell to reply in due course.