Posted on 11/11/2021 11:40:15 AM PST by Heartlander
The country was treated yesterday to an unusual spectacle as Kyle Rittenhouse took the stand in his trial for first-degree murder. This maneuver is generally considered a bad idea, or a sign of desperation, but in this instance the defendant seems to be acquitting himself admirably. Rittenhouse, only 18 years old, handled aggressive questioning about a complex incident with remarkable poise and calm, despite breaking down in tears at one point.
Close observers seem to agree that the prosecutor’s case against Rittenhouse is weak and falling apart. Testimony by Rittenhouse’s surviving victim revealed that he had indeed leveled a pistol at Rittenhouse right before he was shot by him, which appears to many strongly to support Rittenhouse’s claim of self-defense. Efforts by the prosecution to tie Rittenhouse to alleged extremist ideologies or groups were suppressed by the judge in pre-trial hearings.
The defendant in this case is white, as are all the people he shot in the midst of several days of looting and arson in Kenosha, Wisconsin last August. So it’s weird that the Rittenhouse case has taken on the same racialized overtones that bear on all controversial trials or investigations nowadays. From George Zimmerman to Derrick Chauvin and everyone in between, the narrative of white impunity for the murder of black people stands as the ground before which the story plays out in all its particular details.
The Rittenhouse killings happened in the days after the shooting of a black man by a white police officer, so the specifics of what happened are subsumed by the broader narrative. The people Rittenhouse killed, in the minds of liberal advocates and media figures, are black by proxy, and as such, whatever it was they were doing before they were killed is largely irrelevant. The same way that Jacob Blake’s reaching for a knife, or Mike Brown grabbing for Darren Wilson’s gun, or Trayvon Martin banging George Zimmerman’s head against the ground are beside the point and do nothing to cancel their essential innocence, the fact that Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber, and Gaige Grosskreutz were attacking Rittenhouse when they were shot is not pertinent.
The idea that Rittenhouse is a vigilante who set out to commit murder is echoed in the constant insistence that he “crossed state lines” in order to commit violence. It is true that Rittenhouse lives in Illinois, but his town is about a half-mile from the Wisconsin state line. Talking about state boundaries in this case indicates a desire from left media figures and other advocates for federal charges to be brought against Rittenhouse, out of frustration that a state court might stick too closely to the rules of evidence and procedure and acquit him. Federal courts, it is widely understood, are much more likely to charge deplorables who manage to get not guilty verdicts with broadly defined civil rights conspiracies that are impossible to wiggle out of.
The prosecution is doing its level best to imply that Rittenhouse, if not an out-and-out vigilante, was certainly looking for trouble. They have amplified the social media criticism that his actions were meddlesome and that he ought to have minded his own business. He ought to have stayed at home; he ought not to have brought a gun; he ought not to have left the car lot he was supposedly protecting; he should have let fires burn instead of putting them out; he should have let bleeding people bleed; he ought to have called 911 if he was worried about events in the streets; he ought not to have spoken to angry protestors; he should have let people beat him up. It is better, in this line of argument, to be killed than to act in defense of one’s person or community.
That’s why the Rittenhouse trial is provoking so much discussion and controversy at this moment. Many look at him and see someone who, perhaps naively, thought he could protect a community he knew (his father lives in Kenosha) and help people who were suffering. But many others—including his President—see Kyle Rittenhouse as the embodiment of white supremacist violence and entitlement, though there is no evidence that he harbors any racially-inflected views. White supremacy used to mean disliking nonwhites. Now it’s defined by who nonwhites don’t like.
do you happen to be female?
Who cares! My uncle fought in Korea at age 17 and I doubt he had the battlefield skills of young Kyle Rittenhouse. The kid acted in self defense and did nothing but rid the world of evil human beings.
Per his statements to police, a family friend and Kenosha resident Dominic Black, bought the AR15 for Rittenhouse in the spring of 2020.
As a minor, under Wisconsin law, Rittenhouse could only shoot it for target practice under adult supervision but he couldn’t own or carry the weapon.
Black told cops that Rittenhouse kept the gun at his dad’s house and they would only take it out to go hunting “up north.”
Excerpt from
https://www.the-sun.com/news/1825935/kyle-rittenhouse-paid-rifle-using-stimulus-check-kenosha/
The rifle was in Wisconsin, and Kyle never crossed state lines with it.
If you had been paying even a small amount you would know he did not cross state lines with it. It was being stored in the gun safe of his friend in Kenosha. Stop repeating stuff you heard on CNN.
That the government will destroy you for standing against them and their democrat terrorist organizations.
Just like the Baltimore riots under Obama this was about creating a safe space for rioting.
re: “I agree. Self defense vis-a-vis owning a firearm.... Right to keep and bear arms.... “
Bingo!
>>>“What’s Really on Trial in the Rittenhouse Case?”<<<
America’s complacency with thugs rioting and destroying lives and businesses while the police are ordered to stand down, which creates the scenario where a citizen (albeit a 17-year-old) feels that he must step into the breach and do what is necessary to protect those lives and property.
He did not cross state lines WITH a rifle, as said rifle was located at his dad’s house in Kenosha. Furthermore, he worked in Kenosha as a life guard.
How, pray tell, are the parents at fault in this case?
Besides, where in the Constitution does it indicate that the bearer of an arm must be 18 or older?
It shows graphically what happens when AntiFa tries to move their lawless rioting to middle America, where the vast majority of folks know the difference between girls and boys.
Oh stop it with the conciliatory language. The case is without foundation and clearly brought for political purposes.
What is on trial is the entire corrupt criminal prosecutorial system of the US.
Anyone think we have justice in the US after this. I don't - not at least as the deliberate result of a fair and impartial process.
We need laws that disbar, jail and hold liable prosecutors who bring cases without clear and convincing evidence that the defendant is guilty. The beyond a shadow of a doubt part can be left to a jury. It would result in fewer and hopefully better charges and convictions.
No one is served by the present system except the political elite and their bureaucratic enablers.
He already had a knife in his hand.
He pulled it out while fighting with the officers on the other side of the car.
That's why they backed off and tried to taze him.
Another lie by the msm, big tech and big gubmint.
If he were my son I would be very proud of him!!!!
You’re buying into the left’s false narrative yourself. Rittenhouse did not “cross state lines with a rifle”. The rifle was purchased in Wisconsin and never left Wisconsin. His home town of Antioch is literally right across the border from Kenosha, and his father lives in Kenosha, his job is in Kenosha, his best friend lives in Kenosha. He had as much a right to be there as anyone else.
Rittenhouse.
Speculate about consequences and motives, but be clear: Rittenhouse is what’s on trial. He’s the one to suffer the consequences.
You have a rather strange attitude towards 17 year old men, I was still 17 when I joined the Marine Corps but I guess times were different then, right?
You have a rather strange attitude towards 17 year old men, I was still 17 when I joined the Marine Corps but I guess times were different then, right?
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