[Report] Kobe Bryant Passes Away at 41

[Coconuts]

1 hour ago, oldnews said:

I agree - there is a lot to unpack, that isn't just about Kobe Bryant.  And I think it's important not to form conclusions on little information - especially if it's tilted due to 'not liking' someone - I don't really know what the truth of the allegations were - all I know are a few received/perceived 'facts', one being that they were made to go away.  What I think is important is the larger picture regarding these kinds of incidents.  The problem with assuming every allegation is true is that allegations are easy to weaponize in that context (and would increasingly be used by alt-interests) and vice versa, when they are all dismissed or made to go away, it's an absolute field enabling  the violent, predatory, exploitative.  I think the underlying reality is a real imbalance of power, wealth, entitlement that silences a whole lot of people.

I remember a poll taken during the OJ trial - a 'racial' pole - asking 'caucasian' and 'African-American' respondents whether they thought OJ was guilty or not.  I recall it being a very telling result - with 'caucasians' heavily weighted towards assuming guilt, and 'African-Americans' heavily weighted towards innocence.  I think the reality at the time was that very few people in fact had any real idea - little evidence - really there were probably only a handful of people)?) alive at the time that really knew what had happened - but many, many people nevertheless formed opinions of guilt/innocence.

Anyhow - for me - the parts that I tire quickly of are the endless accolades, legacy comments, assumptions that Kobe was a hero, humanitarian, good samaritan, etc - and the intolerance of what lies outside that storyline.

I think our perception of what a 'hero' is can be radically bent at times.

For me - I think of divers risking their life to rescue children trapped in that cave in Thailand - one who lost consciousness and died in the process of attempting to deliver oxygen to those children - people like that become a passing blip in the media (Saman Kunan).  Another of those divers (Beirut Pakbara) has lost their life to a subsequent related infection.  Divers from around the world travelled there to assist.  Those are 'heroes'.  And they do so 'knowing' that they will be, for the most part, a blip in the memory of most of us - not lasting "legacies".   People that spend their hard-earned money to fly to Australia to assist in extinguishing virtual state of emergency fires - I mean choose your own heroes - but Kobe was a basketball player - very talented, wealthy, priveleged - but a basketball player.  Inspirational to some, but let's get real - it goes to show how out of whack our weighting of the significance of games are - games.  And when that social esteem, power, privelege becomes an enabler (as it clearly has in many instances in sport) it's really problematic - and distorts our 'value' system imo.   We all feel for the families of all the people who lost loved ones, the friends, etc - but what feels like relatively endless, disproportionate attention is a bit much to listen to, particularly if there is such hostility to people with different perceptions on the matter.

Solid post, there's a lot that lurks beneath the surface regarding Kobe and society as a whole. How bias is weighted is interesting as well. That last bit about society's perception of what makes a hero resonates with me. While Kobe most certainly impacted many folks and may have been a personal inspiration to many he was still just a privileged athlete playing a game at an extremely high level at the end of the day.  

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Gurn]

American litigation at work, instigate a lawsuit; and the defendant wants you to take a psychiatric exam;

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/us/los-angeles-county-wants-vanessa-bryant-and-others-to-take-a-psychiatric-exam-ahead-of-trial/ar-AAPC14q?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

 

Los Angeles County wants to compel the widow of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and others involved in a lawsuit over leaked photos of the helicopter crash that killed him, their daughter and seven others to take psychiatric exams before the case goes to trial, court filings show.

 

In a motion filed in court Friday, Los Angeles County argued independent medical examinations are necessary to determine whether the emotional distress suffered by Bryant and others were caused by the leak of the photos or the helicopter crash itself.

 

Vanessa Bryant's civil lawsuit against Los Angeles County claims photos of the January 2020 crash were shared by county fire and sheriff's department employees in settings irrelevant to the investigation, including at a bar. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in September 2020, seeks undisclosed damages, claiming civil rights violations, negligence, emotional distress and violation of privacy.

A "central tenet" of the county's defense is the "severe emotional and mental injuries were not caused by any conduct of Defendants, but rather by the tragic helicopter crash and resulting deaths of their loved ones," the court filing says. The county argues the plaintiffs "cannot be suffering distress from accident site photos that they have never seen and that were never publicly disseminated."

he plaintiffs are seeking "tens of millions of dollars to compensate them for their alleged mental and emotional injuries," the county says, and the medical examinations would help evaluate the "existence, extent and cause" of their "alleged harm."

Attorneys for Vanessa Bryant and the other plaintiffs argued against the examinations, saying a "complaint that merely claims damages for emotional distress does not place a party's mental condition 'in controversy.'" They added the county should work to evaluate emotional stress by "less intrusive means."

"It does not take an expert -- and it certainly does not take an involuntary eight-hour psychiatric examination -- for a jury to assess the nature and extent of the emotional distress caused by Defendants' misconduct," attorneys for Bryant said.

The plaintiffs' distress "are the feelings that any reasonable person would experience if the public officials entrusted to protect the dignity of their deceased family members snapped graphic photos of their loved ones' remains, used the photos for cocktail-hour entertainment, and failed to contain and secure the photos."

A hearing on the matter is slated for November 5, according to Friday's court filing, and the trial is set to begin in February 2022.

Earlier this year, family members of those killed in the crash settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the company that owned and operated the helicopter.

[Alflives]

2 hours ago, gurn said:

American litigation at work, instigate a lawsuit; and the defendant wants you to take a psychiatric exam;

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/us/los-angeles-county-wants-vanessa-bryant-and-others-to-take-a-psychiatric-exam-ahead-of-trial/ar-AAPC14q?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

 

Los Angeles County wants to compel the widow of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and others involved in a lawsuit over leaked photos of the helicopter crash that killed him, their daughter and seven others to take psychiatric exams before the case goes to trial, court filings show.

 

In a motion filed in court Friday, Los Angeles County argued independent medical examinations are necessary to determine whether the emotional distress suffered by Bryant and others were caused by the leak of the photos or the helicopter crash itself.

 

Vanessa Bryant's civil lawsuit against Los Angeles County claims photos of the January 2020 crash were shared by county fire and sheriff's department employees in settings irrelevant to the investigation, including at a bar. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in September 2020, seeks undisclosed damages, claiming civil rights violations, negligence, emotional distress and violation of privacy.

A "central tenet" of the county's defense is the "severe emotional and mental injuries were not caused by any conduct of Defendants, but rather by the tragic helicopter crash and resulting deaths of their loved ones," the court filing says. The county argues the plaintiffs "cannot be suffering distress from accident site photos that they have never seen and that were never publicly disseminated."

he plaintiffs are seeking "tens of millions of dollars to compensate them for their alleged mental and emotional injuries," the county says, and the medical examinations would help evaluate the "existence, extent and cause" of their "alleged harm."

Attorneys for Vanessa Bryant and the other plaintiffs argued against the examinations, saying a "complaint that merely claims damages for emotional distress does not place a party's mental condition 'in controversy.'" They added the county should work to evaluate emotional stress by "less intrusive means."

"It does not take an expert -- and it certainly does not take an involuntary eight-hour psychiatric examination -- for a jury to assess the nature and extent of the emotional distress caused by Defendants' misconduct," attorneys for Bryant said.

The plaintiffs' distress "are the feelings that any reasonable person would experience if the public officials entrusted to protect the dignity of their deceased family members snapped graphic photos of their loved ones' remains, used the photos for cocktail-hour entertainment, and failed to contain and secure the photos."

A hearing on the matter is slated for November 5, according to Friday's court filing, and the trial is set to begin in February 2022.

Earlier this year, family members of those killed in the crash settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the company that owned and operated the helicopter.

Never a Kobe (the person) fan, but whomever these persons were that shared those photos should lose their jobs.  That’s absolutely disgusting behaviour.  Seriously, what kind of sicko idiot even thinks of doing something like that?