You are the professional. Feel free to msg me about which specific posts raise red flags to you, and I'll edit them.
Kevin,
First, I want to make perfectly clear that I am not your lawyer and you are under no obligation to follow my advice at all. Neither am I a lawyer for or in any way connected with any other party here, so this is not anyone telling you do this or else or anything like that. It is merely me pointing out areas where it would be prudent to be careful. I'm doing it as a post so that anyone else can see what I'm saying and comment if they want to or tell you to ignore me if you want to.
My first reaction to the above was to think "all of it"- however, I think your purposes of informing people about this would be served by sticking to the factual stuff- the criminal docket, FOIA DD214, the osman settlement, Strider's own postings, quotes from magazines. Keep that basic info and get rid of most, if not all, of the commentary. There is enough in public documents for people to make up their own minds. What the problems that I see in what you posted revolve around is when you try to connect the dots and you end up speculating and, whether you are doing it intentional or not, it looks like you are accusing him of crimes- i.e. the corp. stuff and the firearms.
Specifically, first post- most of this is your summary and I think most should go, particularly, your opinions in the second paragraph. You can let the facts posted later cover most of that.
Sec 1- facts, ok. Sec 2- keep facts about the FOIA DD214 and get rid of the rest of the speculation as to how/why he left the Army or the Rangers. Sec 3- the posts from other people is ok, the speculating should go. Sec 4-same, his posts are ok, get rid of the speculation and inferences that you draw. Sec 5- same- the posts are ok, but the speculation is the last few lines is bad. Sec 6- all speculation- out. Sec 7- post is ok, your inferences about it being spec-ops heavy hitters- out. Sec 8-Same, his own posts and the docket speak for themselves, leave out the commentary. Sec 9- Same, his own posts speak for themselves, leave them and take out your conclusions. Sec 10- ok. Sec 11- posts ok, all the rest is speculation based on very little info- this is one of the parts where I had real problems with. Sec 12- posts ok, speculation out. Sec 13-Another section that I had real problems with- his own posts are ok, I would get rid of all the rest, looks like you are accusing of a crime on very thin evidence. Sec 14- the advertising copy is ok but get rid of your comments on it.
Just being clear again, you are under no obligation to follow my advice. I hope Mr. Linton chimes in, but basically the above is this- take out all the commentary and leave the factual material only. Mr. Strider is perfectly capable of shooting himself in the foot and you can let his own words and the other basic facts-DD214, court files, speak for themselves.
And I think it would be a good idea to ask Cold Steel to not use your quotes, the real problems here arise with them posting the stuff on their website- most of the stuff with you personally is an overabundance of caution. What set the alarm bells off for me is when they posted that stuff. You, I doubt anyone would go after you personally because, I'm speculating here, you probably don't have a whole lot of money to fork over in a settlement. Cold Steel, on the other hand, is just frigging beyond stupid because posting it on their website makes it Cold Steel Inc's problem and that starts looking like a juicy target. And the big thing there for you is that they are quoting all of your stuff- the first thing that they would say if sued is, well we are just posting someone else's stuff. That's a bad argument but it drags you in.
So, that's how I feel, I hope Mr. Linton comments and I would also say you are absolutely free to make your decision. Certainly ask your personal lawyer and friends, family, etc...
