Verdict returned in Rittenhouse trial

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Don't tell anyone, but I don't vote for any party, these days. Shhhh.

I don't specifically vote for party...a lot of the votes are just on if this or that will pass. That said with the shenanigans the republican party has pulled I will vote all democrat, not that I like the democrats but they are better than the fascists.

either way I cannot help thinking if you can vote it is very dishonorable not to vote..I mean I just think it is disgusting not to vote...not to say I am not open to hearing other perspectives but that is my perspective I think it is shameful not to vote if you have the option to.

That may have been the case decades ago.
I really don't think it is True these days.

The adage:
"If you aren't a progressive under 30, you don't have a heart..."
Has seeming changed to:
"If you aren't a progressive under 30, you don't have a fist (or jackboot)."

The antifa movement has a lot to do with that, imo.
This "affliction" has affected Australia, also, btw.

I am a disgusting stinky skunk.
I think not voting is well within my character makeup.

I don't specifically vote for party...a lot of the votes are just on if this or that will pass. That said with the shenanigans the republican party has pulled I will vote all democrat, not that I like the democrats but they are better than the fascists.

either way I cannot help thinking if you can vote it is very dishonorable not to vote..I mean I just think it is disgusting not to vote...not to say I am not open to hearing other perspectives but that is my perspective I think it is shameful not to vote if you have the option to.

Antifa is SEVERELY over-hyped compared to its actual prevalence and effect. I don't know of anyone who connects to Antifa, despite knowing a pretty disparate group of connections. I talked with at least one QAnon believer, someone who has been to an Oath Keepers event, BLM activists, etc. Antifa? Never met one, never read one. They were Trump's bogeyman, and I know they've been at protests, but they aren't significant, IMHO.

I'm not fully buying it but it's complicated. Those comments fell into the realm of hyper-exaggerated messaging sparked (but sometimes departing) from a grain of truth that I find so misleading and distasteful in so much of today's news environment. Less reliable sources on all sides of the political isle do it. What the samples don't do is change the fact that Rittenhouse was a valid news character. Sandman never should have made the news to start with.

Pepe isn't American, btw, so the play on words doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't vote at all.

The Trump Republican ethos has to be stamped out, IMHO. Trump only cares about Trump. He has no values besides what can increase his personal power, and its been disappointing to see so many Republicans fall into his camp. The changes in election rules in some states are downright frightening, as is the intense gerrymandering. We're not out of the woods yet, when it comes to potentially becoming an authoritarian country, and there could be unknown threats in that direction hiding in any politician, either side of the isle; we need to be vigilant.

I wish it wasn't so dang hard to understand what is really happening in the moment it is happening. As much as I disliked certain political turns of events in prior decades, I didn't see where we were headed. I didn't see that we were selling out the middle of our economy, allowing the income gap to widen, and wiping out the gains made by my parents' generation. Gains that everyone in my generation assumed were trends destined to continue. It's frustrating to look back on at my age. We don't get the peace of thinking we've built a better world for our children. A lot of people have the right to be angry, so it isn't surprising so many people are, but I don't believe that "angry" is the path towards workable and effective solutions.

You don't think that calling someone a racist and a white supremacist without any evidence isn't defamatory on its face? I agree with you on Sandmann, that was truly ridiculous that it even became a story, but Rittenhouse wasn't exactly a public figure either, and these people viciously slandered him to their massive audiences. I saw you favored finding Alex Jones liable for spreading lies about the Sandy Hook families, so how is this different?

Yeah...the good guys won
https://www.npr.org/2021/11/19/10574787 ... n-violence

Same here. I thought at least a lesser version of one the "reckless" charges ...

There are rumblings that some jurors may have been afraid of the groups backing Rittenhouse. Do you think that is possible?

Had Rittenhouse killed 2 POC, I don't think he would be free now.

A jury fully acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on Friday, bringing a close to the high-profile and often tense trial that reflected America's deep political polarization.

Rittenhouse, 18, who was not charged with murder, faced charges of first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide, and attempted first-degree intentional homicide for fatally shooting two men and injuring a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse was also charged with reckless endangerment of two additional men.

The teenager pleaded not guilty to all five counts and testified that he acted in self-defense, saying the men he shot were attacking him. He was acquitted on all counts.

In the aftermath of Friday's verdict, a flurry of responses and reactions to the ruling restated longstanding myths and misinformation surrounding the trial and Rittenhouse's actions on August 25, 2020.

Insider debunked six such myths.

[...]

Unclear: The people Kyle Rittenhouse shot were protesters

Gaige Grosskreutz, a then-27-year-old EMT who survived being shot by Rittenhouse, testified during the trial, telling the jury that he frequently attended demonstrations as a volunteer medic and chose not to affiliate with any particular side. He said he had gone downtown the night of August 25, 2020 — and dozens of other nights that summer — to provide medical aid to anyone in need, regardless of political affiliation.

The motives of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, were less clear that night. Rosenbaum was seen in a number of videos not protesting but causing destruction, setting fires, tipping over a Porta Potty, wielding a chain, and at one point even shouting the N-word. Rittenhouse's defense attorneys characterized Rosenbaum as a "rioter," and even the lead prosecutor said in his closing statement he would have prosecuted Rosenbaum for arson had he not been fatally shot.

Rosenbaum's fiancée told The Washington Post in 2020 that he wasn't there as a rioter or a looter. Just hours before the protests, Rosenbaum had been released from a hospital following psychiatric care for a suicide attempt.

"Why was he there? I have no answer. I ask myself that question every day," she told the outlet.

Huber's girlfriend told the New York Post that she and Huber, 26, were protesting that night. She disputed the defense attorney's characterization of Huber as a "rioter" or "looter." Huber's great aunt, Susan Hughes, also testified at Rittenhouse's trial, saying Huber knew Jacob Blake personally and was upset by his death.

Myth: Rittenhouse went downtown on August 25 to answer a 'call to arms' put out by a Kenosha militia group

A "Kenosha Guard" militia group on Facebook did issue a "call to arms" ahead of the violence on August 25. But the tech company later confirmed that Rittenhouse had not been a follower of the flagged page.

Rittenhouse testified that he and Black went downtown because they were invited to guard the Car Source, a Kenosha car dealership, during the unrest and were under the impression they were going to be paid.

The China brothers who own the dealership denied this under oath, but multiple other witnesses testified against them, backing Rittenhouse's version.

Myth: Kyle Rittenhouse is a self-identified white nationalist

The civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Blake family, falsely described Rittenhouse on Friday as a "self-declared white nationalist." But Rittenhouse has never publicly identified as a member of any extremist group.

After he pleaded not guilty to the initial charges in January 2021, prosecutors said Rittenhouse went to a bar in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, where he posed for photos with members said to be of the Proud Boys while flashing a "white power" hand signal.

His legal team said Rittenhouse did not know who the men were or what group they were affiliated with and was unfamiliar with the hand symbol's meaning.

The judge noted that the prosecution did not find any evidence of his affiliation with a white supremacist group in phone records or social media history, and as Michelle Mark previously reported, ruled the trip to the bar was not relevant to the 2020 shooting.