The Rittenhouse murder trial is being prosecuted in front of a nearly all-white jury, before a white judge who uses conservative lingo to describe protesters, in a country where white vigilantism is often excused, if not worshipped. In that context, Rittenhouse’s tears, real or not, have tremendous value. There’s a type of person who is vulnerable to emotional appeals from violent white men, and Rittenhouse’s attorneys only need one of 12 jurors to fit the profile to win this case....
From the outset, the Rittenhouse murder trial has been theater, with a cast of characters who are seemingly meant to vindicate conservatives’ violent hero worship. Rittenhouse’s waterworks were an essential part of the act, painting him as a reluctant killer instead of a boastful one. His acquittal would set a dangerous precedent, but it could be the finale we’re headed toward.
[H]e seemed to relive the experience and to be overtaken with trauma, crying in a way that could not be faked. It was very real and convincing that he is suffering. One might attempt to argue that he feels sorry for himself, and he was reliving the horrible moment his life went to hell, and the men he killed are not alive to cry and win our sympathy, but I think his show of emotion will impress at least one juror that he felt truly cornered.
That is, I didn't assume the crying was in genuine remorse for causing death, but I did decide it was real crying. I didn't think Rittenhouse could be a good enough actor to fake that, but the MSNBC writer, Jones, says:
Rittenhouse sniffled, quivered, contorted his face, bloated his cheeks and did just about everything else you’d expect of a novice actor attempting to convey sorrow. Pictures even showed him peeking around the courtroom as he worked himself into a lather. Though photos captured a single tear streaming down his face, I couldn’t tell whether it was from actually crying, or if he’d merely worked up a sweat from trying.
That's a well-written description, and it should stand in that form. It is a disservice to Jones to slap that race-baiting, nasty headline on the column. Jones never used the term "crocodile tears" and he certainly didn't say "white crocodile tears." He didn't say "white" tears. His description of the crying doesn't contain any reference to Rittenhouse's race! Jones doesn't even mention that the protests in Kenosha had to do with race. The only references to race are: "a nearly all-white jury, before a white judge" and "a country where white vigilantism is often excused...."
It is the MSNBC headline writer who made up "Kyle Rittenhouse’s white crocodile tears." And it's not just MSNBC. The "crocodile tears" meme took off immediately:
(Snopes's answer is: true.)
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137 comments:
What a sly trolling. “The article only says ‘white’ three times - which is hardly much at all for MSNBC!” Amazing!
Plus, the white judge using “conservative lingo” to describe protesters. Presumably that lingo was looter, rioter, arsonist - which the court said the defense could use IF SUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE INTRODUCED AT TRIAL. (Hardly a characterization indulged in by the court.)
The people politically motivated by emotion in every instance believe the jury will acquit because of emotion. At least they are consistent for once...
Democrats are disgusting people doing disgusting things.
The difference between how Kyle Rittenhouse and Trayvon Martin acted for example.
One was a violent thief.
The other was trying to stop violent thieves.
If you support kids like Kyle you end up with a prosperous safe country.
If you support kids like Trayvon Martin you end up with a violent might makes right country.
And democrats know that they have to turn this into a group racism issue because nobody will support their policies on an individual level or the results.
Most black people do not support violent lawless looting. Nobody does except people stupid enough to support the poopy pants regime.
Democrats are shitty dishonest people.
The media did not like Nick Sandmann's smile either. And it cost them a 7 or 8 settlement.
Amusing for these racist media clowns to label two teenagers white supremacists.
The media SHOULD watch the actual trial, instead of sound bites on Twitter. IF they watched it, they would be really surprised by the lying going on in the media forcing people to believe what's NOT true. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/victoria-taft/2021/11/11/media-discovers-that-kyle-rittenhouse-defended-himself-and-theyre-shook-n1531749
The Fake News is evil and vile. He’s 18 and is being unjustly prosecuted. His entire future is on the line.
He’s done remarkably well on the stand. He’s very poised. And I’ve tried jury cases.
We had a high profile self-defense case in Omaha. There was a riot in Omaha’s Old Market. A bar owner was getting choked out by a convicted felon when he killed the guy. Videos. Witnesses. Dead guy was black. Bar owner was white.
The county attorney quickly reviewed the case and decided it was self-defense. Big uproar from BLM and liberals. They go to his house (!) and harass him for weeks. He decided to ask for a Special Prosecutor who happens to be a former law school classmate of mine. He’s black. He calls a grand jury and indicted the bar owner. The bar owner killed himself rather than turn himself in and face a trial.
So, yeah. It is an emotional thing being tried for murder when the killing was self-defense. Put your 18 year old self in that situation and think about how you would handle it.
The Fake News is the Enemy of the People. That much I know.
serious question
are there big scumbags on earth, than journalists?
and i'm including looters, rioters, arsonists when i ask
". The media are not going to help preserve the peace ...."
They'll inflame things like they did in 2020, except this time the mood of most of the country is "Let's Go Brandon" not lets get rid of Trump. This isn't the only political show trial we will see, it is just the first of many.
Is a nearly all-white jury the same thing as an all-white jury? What percentage of white people is required to not have an all-white jury? If a juror is half white half black do they count as some portion of a person as to the makeup of the jury?
Asking what the rules are. That simple phrase is all you need to know. The article wants a race war. Justice doesn't exist.
"the nearly all-white jury"
Anybody know how many blacks are on the jury? Two would be representation equal to their percentage in the population.
This will continue until the moderates on both sides toughen up and stand up to to the nonsense, lies, manipulation, and propaganda in their own ranks.
Consider it your duty and tasking to pop a delusional bubble today. Focus on your friends and associates, as you have credibility only when sympathetic to most of their views.
I'm sure the same people will be praising Alec Baldwin's GENUINE and TRUE tears, despite the fact he's a professional actor. No surprise, the machine looks after its own. Perhaps Jones has a point. Perhaps he doesn't.
What is definitely true is that even most liberals won't carry water for convicted Jewish pedophiles who mysteriously get released from prison to engage in criminal rioting. There are some who will, like gadfly, but they're NPCs who reflect whatever the organ grinder tells them to.
The tears don't matter. They get zero weight. It's self-defense, a structural matter.
With all the focus on people’s race and not their actions, CRT is living large in our country. We need MLK jr back to set us straight.
Sick. I will pray for this racist troll Ja’han.
Well, I will try to pray. It will test my mettle.
Does Jones think the guys Rittenhouse shot were black?
A number of left-leaning acquaintances thought that.
Why does it matter what color the jurors are? All the players are honkys.
Is Jones worried the jurors might be neutral? If you're neutral on the role the players had in the riot that night you're a racist?
When I typed the word "black" above, I was prompted by my computer to capitalize it. First time I've seen that happen.
I watched the video and agree with you. That was someone reliving a very horrific event. Can you imagine what it must have felt like to be shot at, kicked in the head, hit in the head with a skate board, have someone grab your gun who just threatened to kill you, and have another guy point a gun at your head, all in a matter of seconds? I can not. Even a hardened soldier would have trouble recovering from that, let alone a 17 year old kid.
The left is sounding pretty desperate here. Even Miriam Webster is getting in on the act--injecting "crocodile tears" into the discussion, which MSNBC felt the need to one up to "white crocodile tears" as though that were a saying, as though tears of any sort could be white. The word "white" appears 7 times in this excerpt, yet, miraculously, none of those 7 is referring to the victims, who we are obviously mean to think are black.
They've devolved into nonsense, which is a good sign for Rittenhouse.
The most telling part of the whole thing is that ADA Binger during his cross examination of Mr. Rittenhouse continually asked why he didn't just call 911. Calling 911 would have had no effect as ADA Binger well knew. The cities of the United States decided that the property of their citizens, public property such as police stations, and even the health and lives of their citizens needed to be sacrificed to the mass hysteria running through the country.
The government had abandoned their post, yet the ADA stood there and pretended that they had not. No one was coming to help Mr. Rittenhouse. When the mob cut him out of his herd and several people, many now known to previously convicted criminals, tried to kill him he was alone. The left in the form of the media intends to make it clear that you are alone and need to accept the destruction of your property and you life if that is what they ask of you. If Mr. Rittenhouse is convicted it will be a capitulation to the mob.
They did the same thing to Juanita Broaddrick.
Funny that the only time the headline doesn't make an issue of someone's race is in regard to the attackers, all three of whom were also white.
It is gross to me that they portray these Antifa assholes as "protesters." They are opportunistic dirtbags who use social unrest as cover for their violent predilections.
"His description of the crying doesn't contain any reference to Rittenhouse's race!"
But an earlier sentence sets up the description and does reference his race: "emotional appeals from violent white men, and Rittenhouse’s attorneys only need one of 12 jurors to fit the profile to win this case."
He brings up whiteness, the theater, and "waterworks were an essential part of his act." The phrase "white crocodile tears" sums that opinion up nicely.
Seriously, what more is there to say about the insane racist rhetoric that is common from the Left these days? How did we again get to the point where it is not only acceptable, but a regular part of the language to attack or slur people based on their color, using their color as a pejorative? I guess its acceptable and regarded as de rigueur in these circles- you know- what goes around comes around? It was done to Black people for centuries, so what's a few "I hate White tears" today?
Except that racism begets racism. Hate begets hate.
Rittenhouse clearly had the look a child has when they are holding back tears, just before they cry. If that's acting, he's got a whole new career ahead of him because that was spot-on. It was real. And black or white could hardly matter less.
What matters is that our nation stood around while thousands of Black and White lefties tore up our country, burned down city blocks, and killed people. No one on the Left said nuthin, except to cheer them on, or pay for their immediate release- including our political leaders like Pelosi and Harris. All of these higher-than-thou racists hacking away at Rittenhouse, using his skin color as their weapon were cheering on the destruction of cities and murders by others.
They have nothing to say now. Not one of them has a place at the table any longer. They've embraced the bad, the breakdown of society, backed it up, and now want to play like they are standard bearers on what is right, good, and noble? Not happening.
For how much longer is anti-white commentary going to go on? If not soon I can see this whole thing ending very badly
"It is a disservice to Jones to slap that race-baiting, nasty headline on the column"
Why a disservice? I'm pretty sure Jones like being disserved that way.
Race-baiting nastiness isn't "slapped on," it's their MO. Social justice means no justice for anyone even remotely perceived as on the other side.
The left protects its own, and fights. As it did in the streets of Kenosha, as it does through the DA's office, and as it does in the media. Which will continue, as long as nice liberal women provide a sufficient audience. Althouse is seeing the light: how many more will it take?
The purpose of this prosecution is to penalize the exercise of the right of self defense.
Lawfare works, especially if you have zero honesty in your prosecution.
The people killed were also white. Why is race even mentioned?
It is a disservice to Jones to slap that race-baiting, nasty headline on the column. Jones never used the term "crocodile tears" and he certainly didn't say "white crocodile tears." He didn't say "white" tears. His description of the crying doesn't contain any reference to Rittenhouse's race!
Sure, but to be able to appropriate his race that way politically is likely why his "white" corporate masters hired him in the first place.
I'm not sure how much I believe this is a real person because I'm naturally suspicious of most accounts on Twitter... but the way the Corporate Media tosses white in everywhere on Rittenhouse, it seems possible that people believe he shot black people peacefully protesting. It was only today that I learned the Kyle Rittenhouse victims were white.
Apparently the color of a person’s skin is how MSNBC and its viewers judge people.
As some have noted, actually watching the trial demonstrates the depravity of these news types and their whipping up the woke mob. But if you cast your mind back over the history of the Democratic Party, you see that this race baiting is pretty much what they do, only this time they are turning it Rittenhouse...and the judge.
The skillset persists among Dems and their acolytes. It must be cultural. Next USA Today will be calling for lynching.
Time to reread "The Gods of the Copybook Headings."
What did these people say about Ford's testimony against Kavanaugh? Their pathetic personal hatred just seeps into their words.
Maybe somebody should explain that Rosenbaum and Grosskreutz are not typically black names?
My son just told me something that I had absolutely not heard in any of the coverage, conservative or liberal. One of the main arguments used against him is that he had no business being there, so he has responsibility for the results. "He had every business being there- his dad and half his family live in Kenosha and he works there. While they were burning people's cars Kyle was putting out fires, providing first aid and protecting his friend's friend's car dealership."
That's important, no? Not just a vigilante. What would you have done when they were burning your family's and friend's things twenty miles away?
I heard ABC news describe the protestors/rioters (be real - they were rioters) as "Demonstrators".
Hacks taking sides.
The rioting was promoted by the collective left - including MSNBC. Are we surprised they are harassing Rittenhouse and this judge?
To me it looked like Rittenhouse was trying to hold it together, and he wanted to hold it together. But he could not.
MSNBC is the place to go for lying liars who lie.
Quaestor predicts crocodile-themed merch will appear shortly.
Picture this: a grinning rifle-armed saurian chows down on a couple of bullet-riddled thugs.
The Proud Boys will also co-opt the crocodile theme. For example, perhaps they will establish a citation for meritorious crime suppression by armed citizens, the Most Illustrious Order of the Croc.
We have always hated Goldstein, and we always will.
I've been around for more than a few decades and I watched Rittenhouse's testimony. His breakdown on the stand was real. There's real, convincingly acted, and clearly faked. Many in the media and other "performers" are trying to cancel Rittenhouse, cancel the judge, cancel the jury (unless they convict), and cancel our own relyable eyes (video of the incident and of Rittenhouse's testimony).
I think testifying in one's own defense in a criminal trial where one's liberty is at stake must be extremely difficult to do. It IS a performance, probably one that's been rehearsed many times, especially rehearsing not to seem rehearsed!
I don't know if Rittenhouse is crying because he's remorseful or for some other reason but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the reason is just plain old stress. But then I think stress is underrated when it comes to establishing a possible source for tears.
I am paying casual attention to the Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos trial and the defense is getting ready to put its case on so big question is will Holmes testify? The betting is yes, because she's an amazing performer, incredibly skilled at getting people to like her and believe in her.
I bet Ja'han Jones still believes Jussie Smollet.........
More jury intimidation. The left is really out to get him.
How dare someone interfere in "peaceful demonstration."
I still think they targeted him because he was a kid.
Thanks for the morning laugh at “the media are not going to help preserve the peace."
One of the people Rittenhouse killed in self defense was filmed saying the N-word over and over. N-word guy was a white supremacist leftist rioting skinhead. Why was a white skinhead rioting? People with rage issues and other mental disorders were encouraged to show up and riot by democrats and the media. That's why.
The on-air talent on MSNBC opened the door to rioting, thus giving permission to white skin head N-word guy to show up.
The left cry crocodile tears over N-word guy's death.
Does the fact that he shot three white people not render the silly whiteness sermonizing totally irrelevant?
As this train load of coal currently fueling the outrage machine burns out, what could possibly replace it to keep everyone amped up on fight or flight emotional nirvana?
The Rittenhouse murder trial is being prosecuted in front of a nearly all-white jury, before a white judge who uses conservative lingo to describe protesters, in a country where white vigilantism is often excused, if not worshipped.
And they say that people aren't exposed to critical race theory think.
The writer or newscaster is informed of the headline and often they do write it. In a normal newsroom not stuffed with anti-white lynch mob employees, of course. This is sickening, and to parse it is to entirely disregard the point: some people in America today can be arrested, fired, and destroyed for far less offense than what other people literally make big bucks doing to whites.
You know this. You were an academic.
I put Binger up there with Nifong as exemplars of the prosecutorial values of our era, call it the Nifong-Binger era (and then end it).
And can you name another trial with a black defendant where the media mocked their tears 24/7 on cable news? Norm MacDonald doesn’t count.
Another progressive that is perplexed by the lies of the media and what he wasn't aware of until he actually watched the trial. The MEDIA lies to you daily. (or withholds information so if you don't hear it, it never happened....)Read this thread https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2021/11/12/media-in-such-disbelief-any-leftist-blue-check-would-believe-rittenhouse-acted-in-self-defense-they-called-this-guy-to-see-if-hed-been-hacked-thread/
We have a new mayor in NYC who’s saying some good things, but we’re not headed in a good direction because we also elected a Nifong-Binger type as DA, of the Soros funded variety, who has already announced he won’t prosecute a whole host of crimes that make living in a big city really shitty. But I’m sure he’d sink his teeth into a Rittenhouse prosecution.
The apostrophe in the first name tells me all I need to know.
So disingenuous. If he wouldn’t have cried they would have said he didn’t even cry and was clearly a cold blooded psychopath.
MSNBC morons outraged that a BLM riot is not assumed to be a peaceful protest. What a shock.
Aren't these the same leftists who melted into little puddles of goo when Christine Blasey Ford shed her tears of trauma a couple years ago?
Your reaction to Rittenhouse's crying is going to be influenced by your perception of Rittenhouse. If you think he is a racist, kill crazy monster then of course your going to view his crying through a cynical lens. In addition, if you are actively working to portray him as a racist, kill crazy monster, then you have to frame his crying as a cynical ploy for sympathy.
The Left seems very worried that Rittenhouse will be acquitted.
They don’t want Vigilantes killing rioters, looters, and arsonists.
If you don’t want Vigilantes, then support the police in arresting and prosecutors in bringing charges against rioters, looters, and arsonists.
It’s pretty simple.
No more space ceded for Hooligans.
While it should be no surprise for most of us, there are some truly nasty people out there.
"Prepare yourself for much more of that. The media are not going to help preserve the peace if Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted (or the judge grants the motion for a mistrial with prejudice)"
Heck they are already stoking the fires. I saw this from some guy named Norman in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "The right to kill Black people — and their allies — is enshrined in the Second Amendment". clearly not someone who wants his readers to react calmly to any ruling they may disagree with. I wonder how the people of Kenosha are reacting to this. If riots erupt after the trial will it be like the last round where a significant number of the rioters are from out of the area?
The media are not going to help preserve the peace if Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted (or the judge grants the motion for a mistrial with prejudice).
Does anyone doubt that this was brought to court precisely because the prosecutors feared there would be violence if they did not??
Worth repeating:
rehajm said...The people politically motivated by emotion in every instance believe the jury will acquit because of emotion. At least they are consistent for once
MSNBC is being defeated by CNN in the race to be the most leftist news station on television.
MSNBC is counting on Ja'han Jones to put MSNBC back ahead of CNN in that race.
Is it OK for white people to pressure public officials for an acquittal?
Is it OK to threaten to riot if he's convicted?
Because if the races were reversed, you could bet your bottom dollar that BLM and antifa would be massing in front of the courthouse and the Mayor's private residence.
Asking for a friend...
So take a good look at my face
You'll see my smile looks out of place
If you look closer, it's easy to trace
The tracks of my tears
The Miracles
Prepare for more rioting when he gets acquitted. The Media is perpetrating that already. They are trying to make this about RACE..and use that lie to gin up the hate and violence. It is not going to end well at all. The more they do it, the more divided we get and the more hate and violence are going to happen. Buckle up. Progressives are at their end run....and they are going to push the division as much as they can to get what they want...TOTAL POWER.
Our legacy media: a walking, talking, virulent insurrection.
I fail to understand the racial angle imputed to this trial. Leftists are very sick people. My rule of thumb is that if someone is obsessed with X and talks about X incessantly then they are defining their heart for me. So if I hear race injected where it is irrelevant it tells me the speaker is a racist.
I predict the jury will acquit in under one hour. They'll be home before 5 pm.
Masturbator Jeffrey Toobin tried to make this case about RACE, and got this as a reply!! https://twitter.com/DreamWeaver61/status/1459003545198419969
It's strange that these nasty stupid racists get such a wide audience. I guess a lot of people want to hear a lot of nasty stupid racist bullshit.
"95% of those who named MSNBC as their main political news source identify as Democrats;"
There ya go.
'Prepare for more rioting when he gets acquitted.'
If that happens, I will laugh my ass off.
Lefties love riots and lefties vote democrat.
Give the people what they want.
Fuck 'em.
Have the Razzies been taken over by the malicious left, like the Oscars, Emmys, Nobels, Pulitzers before them?
Ja'han Jones doesn't seem to like white folks, that's why MSNBC & NBC push out his stuff. I actually enjoy these kind of comments because it wakes people up to the true nature of the Elite Liberal/Left. To them, if you're just being white means you're racist. Even the white libtards are beginning to understand.
Blogger Martin said...
The most telling part of the whole thing is that ADA Binger during his cross examination of Mr. Rittenhouse continually asked why he didn't just call 911. Calling 911 would have had no effect as ADA Binger well knew.
He called 911 after the CVS shoplifting. Nothing happened.
Comcast and Ja’han Jones
They got a thing goin' on
They must know that it's wrong
But it's much too strong
To let it go now
This “nearly all-white jury” talk is preparation for losing: those who want to see him fry are already looking for excuses for why he might get little or no punishment.
My attitude has moved from “he’s almost certainly culpable in at least one of these deaths” to “he has a strong case for self-defense” as I’ve read and viewed the evidence presented.
But I suppose it’s asking a lot to expect observers to judge based on evidence when there’s a narrative to defend.
Besides, I keep hearing Important Academics announce that objectivity is racist. From which it would seem to follow that judging by (objective) evidence must also be racist if/when it prevents convicting a defendant after you’ve decided your preferred narrative requires conviction.
Or at least convenient explanations for a light sentence or acquittal.
That was someone reliving a very horrific event.
I still get emotional thinking about the time a woman ran in front of my car as I was turning into a parking lot. It wasn't my fault, and she wasn't seriously hurt, but your animal brain doesn't care about reason.
Luckily for Rittenhouse he wasn't wearing Izod.
>Pictures even showed him peeking around the courtroom as he worked himself into a lather.<
This MSNBC writer is, of course, trying too hard here. Anyone who has watched any of this trial knows that Kyle has exhibited a quirky way of constantly glancing from one thing to another, seemingly at random. It was nothing unique to the crying spell.
The headline says,
"The man charged with homicide in the deaths of two anti-police brutality protesters..."
Why do we assume these men were trying diminish the occurrence of police brutality? Protesting peacefully could have some positive effect, but these guys were not peacefully protesting, were they?
Couched within the above assumption is the cognate assumption that Rittenhouse was opposed to any kind of positive message being put-forward by BLM. Ostensibly, he was there as an ad hoc security/medic, the other guys were there to slake their appetite for destruction.
I thought the tears were an act, but a great part of that is me putting myself in Rittenhouse's shoes and imagining my own emotions in that hypothetical. I know for a fact that after I shot Rosenbaum, Huber, and Grosskreutz in those circumstances, I would have spit on them afterwards in great anger- no remorse whatsoever during the act, and I can't imagine me getting remorseful about it a year later. Rosenbaum, Huber, and Grosskreutz got exactly what they deserved that night- all they ever had to do to not get shot was to not stalk and chase after Rittenhouse- if they had just ignored the boy, all three would have been alive and uninjured the next morning.
"If you don’t want Vigilantes, then support the police in arresting and prosecutors in bringing charges against rioters, looters, and arsonists."
You left out "locking them up if they're found guilty".
Just sayin'.
and who is the target audience for the racist bullshit Ja'han Jones is peddling? Woke idiots [redundant, I know]. Fuck him and fuck them.
According to David Zaslav (new CEO), CNN is going back to hard news. Opinion heads will roll. Goodbye to Cuomo, Cooper and Lemon.
“There’s a type of person who is vulnerable to emotional appeals from violent white men, and Rittenhouse’s attorneys only need one of 12 jurors to fit the profile to win this case.... ”
That seems fair given the thousands of people who are vulnerable to emotional appeals on behalf of violent black men who commit half of the violent crimes in this country.
“... in a country where white vigilantism is often excused, if not worshipped.” Despite having spent nearly 30 years in law enforcement, I have never seen this. If it were true, I’m pretty sure there would be a lot less black crime just as there would be a lot less if black vigilantism in response to black crime were excused.
Also, a hung jury is not a win, particularly in a jurisdiction where ADAs file a case in the face of a clear defense, withhold evidence and comment unlawfully on a defendant’s silence. A retrial seems most likely. Jones, like all lefties, knows a lot of stuff “that just isn’t so.” (R. Reagan)
Should I be embarrassed that I had to look up what a Razzie is?
The Chicago Tribune's articles on the trial make reference to the "protests" having started after "police shot a black man in the back."
And I'm thinking, Really? You could just say the police shooting of Jacob Blake (if you want to assume that your readership already knows the basics). But if you're going to give background, you could hardly be more inflammatory and less meaningfully accurate than that.
I really want to love everyone, but these people make it mighty hard. I can't think of any explanation other than that they wish to contribute to a race war. Disgusting.
I really hate these polarizing cases when we're expected to choose heroes and villains, victims and martyrs. Let the courts do their job and the chips fall where they may.
The tears (or facial contortions, whatever) part did nothing for me. What did was this young man's honest earnestness. His responses were simple, plain, honest, and burned a hole in Prosecutor Binger's heart. "Because there was a fire." "He was trying to kill me." "It was a riot." Zap, zap, zap.
Rittenhouse's testimony should be studied. He did what no tutored witness can ever do: he exuded honesty. I've sat on juries. I've seen the scripted testimonies, even one woman who lost her daughter in a car wreck who brought forth tears. It smelled of coaching and the entire jury felt it.
Honesty is the lost virtue. All the "We love all people," "We believe in SCIENCE," "Tolerance" signs in the world can't hold a candle to a simple, honest response. And Kyle Rittenhouse oozed honesty.
'Prepare for more rioting when he gets acquitted.'
If these threats keep being made, then there will come a point when there will be rioting when someone like Rittenhouse gets convicted.
One more thing: the point that some on the right are making -- This is what happens when the powers that be fail in keeping us safe -- is right smack dab over target. Kyle Rittenhouse, in his simplistic worldview, felt that someone needed to be Superman. He put on his cape, in this case, an AR-15, and strode into chaos.
In Kenosha white vigilanteism resulted in one death and one guy having to relearn how to masterbate.
The vigilantes in this case were the mob chasing Rittenhouse down the street, taking the law into their own hands.
I don't count Rosenbaum as a vigilante, he didn't think Rittenhouse had done anything wrong, Rosenbaum just wanted to kill him.
On trial only because all participants were white (therefore racists)?
If all were black would a version of the following occur?
"Kim Foxx can be unintentional funny. Earlier this month, the “body snatchers faction of the Four Corner Hustlers” used home-converted automatic weapons to attack the “Jack Boys faction.” Three men were shot, one died, and the “Jack Boys” refused to leave their hideout, prompting a standoff with the SWAT team. Kim Foxx didn’t bring charges. Her office explained this was, in part, because the shootout was “mutual combat” and therefore possibly not a criminal matter. Even far-left black mayor Lori Lightfoot thought that was too much, though the state’s attorney and the mayor reportedly met to talk out their differences — with the helpful mediation of Jesse Jackson. In the case of a young man stabbed to death, Miss Foxx again brought no charges, in part because she called it another case of “mutual combat.”
I don't understand the injection of race here. You have a dumb ass white boy who shot three other dumb ass white boys (with violent criminal records) who were attacking him. That doesn't sound like racially motivated violence to me.
"The media did not like Nick Sandmann's smile either. And it cost them a 7 or 8 settlement."
I truly wish that Mr Rittenhouse, after an acquittal, sues the media for their treatment of him too.
The media are not going to help preserve the peace if Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted (or the judge grants the motion for a mistrial with prejudice).
@Althouse, you write that like it’s a good thing. Despite your protestations that you’re for “boring,” I have the sense that you vicariously enjoy chaos, as long as it’s not coming down your street. Still, you’re right. It’s the responsibility of Tony Evers, governor of your wretched state; Jim Kreuser, county executive of Kenosha County; and John Antaramian, mayor of Kenosha, to preserve the peace. However they will do nothing until the blood is ankle deep in the streets because all three are Democrats and apparently ever since the new millennium two decades ago the Democrats, as a party, have decided that riots and looting are good things, whole good governance is a mug’s game.
Absolutely one should not look to Tony Evers for any level of competence. Prior to being elected governor he was the Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction for ten years, and during his tenure in that job Wisconsin earned the dubious distinction of have the worst disparity in black vs. white achievement of any state in the union. But the good people of Wisconsin made their choice, and must live with it.
Scott Adams
@ScottAdamsSays
·
3h
What "...he meant to say" is the new standard for fact-checking Biden.
Howard,
As this train load of coal currently fueling the outrage machine burns out, what could possibly replace it to keep everyone amped up on fight or flight emotional nirvana?
Oh, so that's how you see it? People perplexed -- or angry -- about the Rittenhouse trial are just burning nasty, dirty fossil fuels? Perhaps we should all get on the clean, wind/solar bandwagon of Rittenhouse-hatred instead? I mean, he's just one guy; who cares if he rots in prison for life (which will probably be short, at that)?
I know you threw in "fight or flight" b/c you heard it once in high school, but do you understand what it actually means? It means just what it did in the Rittenhouse trial -- that if you corner any creature (Rittenhouse was literally cornered, you recall, between a building and a parked van), it will try to flee (as he did, repeatedly), and when it can't flee, it will try to fight back.
I like the overuse of 'white' in columns and editorials. It helps certain writers, who otherwise would not be employed, do God's work: turn voters away from race-raging candidates and out of the Floydian Age.
Ninety-nine comments and no one has noted that Ja'han's incompetent orthography makes him write the opposite of what he means? If he'd written "anti-police-brutality protestors" it would still have been a lie (they were burning, looting, and rioting, not protesting) but a competent one, calling them (anti-police-brutality)(protestors). By leaving out the second hyphen, he made it (anti-police)(brutality)(protestors) where 'brutality' can just as easily describe the protestors, protesting (hah!) with brutality against the police.
Of course these 'protestors' are all in favor of police brutality if it's directed against their enemies, e.g. a father at a school-board meeting complaining about his daughter's rape by a boy with a skirt in a restroom. Disagree? Find me a single instance of any Antifa or BLM member supporting that father.
Fûz said...
"The media did not like Nick Sandmann's smile either. And it cost them a 7 or 8 settlement."
I truly wish that Mr Rittenhouse, after an acquittal, sues the media for their treatment of him too.
11/12/21, 10:46 AM
I hope he sues the ass off Biden too. Biden called him a White Supremacist. That's defamation. Presidents should stay out of these things...but like Obama before him, he couldn't help himself.
Let me see if I have my facts straight:
- A Black woman called 911 and reported another Black person, Jacob Blake, the estranged father of their children, had entered her home, stolen her rental car's keys, and kidnapped her three children. Blake had a warrant for his arrest for a prior domestic disturbance and the sexual assault of the woman.
- When police arrived they saw him placing a child in the rental car, and tried to place him under arrest on the outstanding warrant. He resisted arrest, fought with the officers and was ineffectually tased several times. He held an open folding knife and attempted to enter the car in which the children had been placed.
- The police, both officers were White, ordered him to drop the knife several times and eventually shot him before he could enter the car.
- The incident was later investigated by the Kenosha police and the officers were found to have acted properly. The DOJ also reviewed the circumstances, but otherwise declined to get involved. Here's the police report: (https://www.kenoshacounty.org/DocumentCenter/View/11827/Report-on-the-Officer-Involved-Shooting-of-Jacob-Blake-1. pdf.)
- Regardless, the media and community activists spread the false rumor that the police had shot an unarmed Black man, which precipitated rioting, arson and looting for several days. The governor declined to call out the national guard to help the police get the rioting under control. Rittenhouse, a 17 y/o living in Illinois, but with family and friends in Kenosha stupidly traveled to Kenosha for the stated purpose of helping to protect property from rioters. He took a rifle with him for self protection.
- He was chased down and attacked by four white men, all admitted radicals (Antifa?), one a child molester who had been released from a mental ward the same day, all of whom tried to seriously injure Rittenhouse (one tried to take is gun, one hit him in the head and neck area with a skateboard, one drew a pistol on him and pointed it toward him, and the fourth kicked him in the head) all while he was lying in the street. He shot three of the attackers, two fatally, one wounded in the arm, and the fourth ran away.
- Rittenhouse is White, as are the judge, the prosecutor, the defense attorney, Rittenhouse's attackers and everyone else I have seen in the courtroom.
- The wounded attacker was the prime witness and, when not shown to be lying and with the help of the ADA, essentially backed up everything Rittenhouse claimed occurred.
In other this case has the least credible racial angle as one can get in White Wisconsin; yet the media, the President and race hustlers are trying to make this into a White supremacist event. Anyone who can follow the facts, listen to the testimony and read the police report but still try to make this a racial issue should be introduced to tar and feathers.
"two anti-police brutality protesters"
Journalistic comedy gold!
This post, and the comments by Jones focused on race as a determinative factor in how the Rittenhouse case has gone and will likely end, reminded me a bit of Jerome Frank's Courts on Trial. Don't know if anyone still reads the legal realists anymore, but they were quite influential back in the day. Frank and others of that school thought the legal system could be improved by recognizing how open-ended and under-determined are most cases (it's not an exercise in mechanically applying clear legal rules to objectively determinable facts), as well as the many ways in which the backgrounds and personal make-up of the key participants (judges, lawyers, jurors, legislators, executives) influence the results. There's much to be said for that view of the legal process, but it's also easy to overstate it.
As that theory is recycled by Jones, it gets reduces to race -- white judge "us[ing] conservative lingo," mostly white jurors (all you need is one "who is vulnerable to emotional appeals from violent white men"), and (not mentioned) all white set of attorneys. In Jones' screed, it seems, "white" and "conservative" are overlapping categories. If Jones were right about the determinative importance of race in the functioning of the judicial system, the logical conclusion (and one the legal realists rejected) is that any system of justice in a multi-racial (or class-stratified or religiously plural or ...) society is, by definition, impossible. It is, in short, a recipe for the 'segregation now, segregation forever' prescription that Brown v. Board and so much of the civil rights revolution was meant to abolish. How what was once old and rejected (Plessy) is young again. Or perhaps the more fitting cliche is what first came around as tragedy is reappearing as farce.
Whether or not you agree with the Althouse view that Jones's piece offers a "well written description" of Rittenhouse's breakdown on the witness stand, I think Jones is clearly offering a dumbed-down caricature of legal realism. It's the sort of thing that, elsewhere, Althouse has subjected to a pretty merciless fisking.
Blogger SteveWe said...
...Many in the media and other "performers" are trying to cancel Rittenhouse, cancel the judge,...“It harms our community and puts us in the crosshairs of micro aggressions as well as actual physical violence,” said John Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC.
This was my WTH moment. The judge is racist about Asians? According to Channel 3000:
"I hope the Asian food isn’t coming… isn’t on one of those boats from Long Beach Harbor,”
I took it as he's hungry and hopes it's not delayed.
Those who look for offenses will be perpetually offended. What a sad way to live.
Thanks to jaydub for excellent summary. Here's the TL;DR version:
White guy shoots 3 white guys. Defendant, his lawyers, the entire prosecution team, judge, and most of the jury are white.
RACISM.
Like others here I have jury experience because in CA they use DMV records to send out broad summons to which few respond, so just showing up one has a very good chance of making it through at least the first round of questioning and dismissals. On one trial in Fontana, origin of the Hells Angels and numerous multi-generation Mexican-American gangs, I served as foreman. A city cop was the main witness, and it was clear he was lying about key facts in the case, without which the case would be in doubt. The ADA tried to rehabilitate the witness, in my opinion, my eliciting additional testimony designed to support the implausible assertions the cop had made earlier. As soon as we got in the jury room, the lying cop and sleazy DA were the topic of discussion. None of us believed the cop. All of us believed, based on the circumstances and shifty characters involved in the incident who testified what they saw, that the defendant was guilty. All the witnesses were unreliable. Verdict was unanimous not guilty, based on none of us believing the primary witness for the prosecution, who was the only witness to key supporting details.
Afterwards the judge asked and most of us maybe all agreed to stay and submit to questions from the ADA and the PD. The PD was all smug as if he won the case because we believed his client innocent and he looked shocked to hear we all thought he was guilty and if the cop hadn't lied, we would have convicted. The ADA just looked dyspeptic. Got the impression that he was instructed to take this case but had an idea this might be the outcome. Gary and Howard would probably agree with me that the cops in certain Inland Empire cities near San Bernardino (OK and in San Berdoo itself) have well-earned reputations as far as police misconduct, like Fontana and Redlands, and Riverside County Sheriff and...
Contrast the bawling suited Rittenhouse with the "Free as Fuck" t-shirt wearing Rittenhouse a few months ago. Unfortunately the jury won't be able to because the judge excluded that evidence.
I am baffled by this idea that Rittenhouse should have called 911 right after shooting the mentally ill, domestic abuser, child rapist/sodomizer - the cops were already out on the street, a couple blocks away. If he had called 911 it would have taken longer to get to a cop than running a block or two.
Which he did do - and was turned away by a COP.
Of all the weird things the "lynch him!" crowd of racists is trotting out, "he should have called 911" is one of the weirdest.
The critical point at the trial will come today, when the judge decides what jury instructions to give. If he rules that Rittenhouse loses the protection of the self-defense statute only if the prosecution proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he specifically intended to provoke the people he shot into attacking him so that he'd have an excuse to shoot them, then Rittenhouse will be acquired since there is no such evidence. WI Stat. Sec. 939.48(2)(c). The big issue is over the other provocation prong in Wisconsin law, WI Stat. Sec. 939.48(2)(a). That says a defendant loses the claim of self-defense if he "engages in unlawful conduct of a type likely to provoke others to attack him or her." The first issue is whether Rittenhouse was engaged in unlawful conduct. That is why the prosecution charged him with misdemeanor violation of the open carry law and why it matters that the judge has declined to dismiss that charge. I suppose the judge could charge the jury that they must decide (a) if Rittenhouse violated that law and (b) if openly carrying a rifle is a type of conduct likely to provoke others to attack him. I think that would be improper for a couple of reasons: (x) there's no connection between the violation of the law and the provocation -- there's no evidence that people would be particularly provoked because a 17-year-old was openly carrying rather than an 18-year-old, and no evidence that anyone knew he was underage. (y) That charge would vitiate the open carry law, which allows people to carry long rifles openly even though many people find the sight of open carry provocative under any circumstances.
I don't know what the answer is but I do know this is where the rubber meets the road.
"Unfortunately the jury won't be able to because the judge excluded that evidence."
Yes, because it has no bearing on the things he did 4 months before he wore that shirt.
The judge also excluded a bunch of stuff that would have buttressed the self-defense claims, particularly evidence that the mentally ill, domestic abusing, child rapist and the self-proclaimed "revolutionary" who was promoting murder and violence were exactly as we have found them out to be.
I really wish the racists of the "lynch him!" crowd would at least pay attention to what is occurring in reality.
"As this train load of coal currently fueling the outrage machine burns out, what could possibly replace it to keep everyone amped up on fight or flight emotional nirvana?"
Trump, of course. Plenty of evidence of that in this here comments section.
"Unfortunately the jury won't be able to because the judge excluded that evidence."
Why do you hate the law?
Despite your protestations that you’re for “boring,” I have the sense that you vicariously enjoy chaos
In the Professor's defense, I'd say that boring isn't bloggable, but chaos is.
I have no doubt Kyle's drama is real. SO is black people's - and we're traumatized, too. That's where this cynicism comes from.
That no one's cared about THAT, but would rather play politics with it, creates the poison.
I'm not forgiving it - I find it repugnant - but that's what's happening. Which you'd know, if you had any connection to being Americans and not Fox News think tank material.
jim5301 said...
"Contrast the bawling suited Rittenhouse with the "Free as Fuck" t-shirt wearing Rittenhouse a few months ago. Unfortunately the jury won't be able to because the judge excluded that evidence."
Trying to hide the misguided ego that got this kid into this is the right's mission.
Unfortunately the jury won't be able to because the judge excluded that evidence.
Evidence of what exactly?
Prepare yourself for much more of that. The media are not going to help preserve the peace if Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted (or the judge grants the motion for a mistrial with prejudice).
Preserve the peace?
I expect the media to dox the jury within 8 hours of an acquittal. They'll want to make no sure no jury makes the "mistake" again.
Contrast the bawling suited Rittenhouse with the "Free as Fuck" t-shirt wearing Rittenhouse a few months ago. Unfortunately the jury won't be able to because the judge excluded that evidence.
Do you also think it's wrong to exclude Rosenbaum's pedo history, violent crimes and recent release from mental facilities?
jim5301: "Contrast the bawling suited Rittenhouse with the "Free as Fuck" t-shirt wearing Rittenhouse a few months ago. Unfortunately the jury won't be able to because the judge excluded that evidence."
Uh, that's not "evidence".
But thanks for playing.
Chris Lopes: "I don't understand the injection of race here. You have a dumb ass white boy who shot three other dumb ass white boys (with violent criminal records) who were attacking him. That doesn't sound like racially motivated violence to me."
That's why the lefty media purposely published vague reports that insinuated those who were shot were black, which is why so many lefties who actually tuned into the trial to see some of the proceedings for themselves were stunned to find out everyone involved was white.
And this was after 14 months of non-stop breathless lefty media reports supposedly giving the lefties all the "Reality-based" "facts" of the case.............
.....yeah, I know.
jim5301: "Contrast the bawling suited Rittenhouse with the "Free as Fuck" t-shirt wearing Rittenhouse a few months ago."
According to Robert Barnes (BarnesLaw), the back story on the t-shirt was that it was provided to Rittenhouse by one of the early members of the Defense team. Rittenhouse did not procure it himself.
Jim5301, you might be interested in the "liberal" (i. e., "tax-happy, coercion-addicted, power-tripping State fellators) counter to the "free as fuck" t-shirt: it has a pair of shackles and the words "servile as shit."
Kyle isn’t on trial for what he wore this year but for what he did or did not do August 25, 2020. You can’t use his later association with undercover Feds against him, if that’s where you’re going with your fashion intro.
I want a divorce.
"Unfortunately the jury won't be able to because the judge excluded that evidence."
It's called due process.
If these threats keep being made, then there will come a point when there will be rioting when someone like Rittenhouse gets convicted.
That's what I keep saying. And by then, all bets are off.
"Regardless, the media and community activists spread the false rumor that the police had shot an unarmed Black man, which precipitated rioting, arson and looting for several days."
The false rumor precipitated protests against police violence. The rioting and looting were mostly done by dumb ass white boys with criminal records who could really give a rat's ass about police violence. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that said dumb ass white boys hung out (for survival sake) with white supremacists while in jail. The Left is trying to protect the same kind of thugs they claim to despise.
jim5301 said...
Contrast the bawling suited Rittenhouse with the "Free as Fuck" t-shirt wearing Rittenhouse a few months ago. Unfortunately the jury won't be able to because the judge excluded that evidence.
I have known for a long time you leftists hate freedom.
I appreciate it when you take off your masks and go full jackboot Nazi.
Responding to Mike (MJB Wolf) @12:25pm. Indeed. In my jury experience (sexual assault of a minor); we all took issue with the Children Protective Services (CPS) agents referring to the defendant as "the Perp". All the jurors discounted their testimony with one exception. The police detective assigned to CPS and this case properly identified the defendant as the defendant or maybe once "alleged perpetrator" for sake of clarity. This was enough for us to consider her testimony impartial.
This was key, because the Detective gave testimony provided by the defendant during questioning. That testimony was an initial defense argument that the defense lawyer also brought up explaining how the minor may have been aware of certain sexual acts and sexual organs of the defendant. The perp (we convicted him, so I'll call him that now) claimed he carelessly watched porn and might have been caught a time or two by the minor. Unfortunately for the perp, he decided to take the stand and when asked about that testimony by the prosecution, the perp said he never watched porn. As that new evidence went against even what his defense lawyer had provided; it blew up the defense case and we convicted.
I thought the tears were an act,
Never care what "Yancy Ward: thinks again.
Case.
Closed.
The crying seemed genuine to me. But who knows? I have a hard time understanding why it even matters. All that matters is that a true Lockean a state of nature existed on the streets of Kenosha that night, a dissolving of the state and civil society -- in large part because of the deliberate dereliction of duty of the governor and the authorities in a position to have supplied that order -- in the form of perfectly justified OVERWHELMING FORCE AGAINST THE RIOTERS that was clearly called for. Rittenhouse ought not to have been there. But since he was, he was perfectly well entitled to defend himself against attacks that reasonably appeared to him to have murderous intent. At this point, I do not care to psychoanalyze him. He will have a lifetime to do it himself. The rest of us ought to be very worried, but not about him.
"Crack Emcee said...
I have no doubt Kyle's drama is real. SO is black people's - and we're traumatized, too. That's where this cynicism comes from."
This case has nothing to do with the trauma of black people. Neither the shooter nor those he shot were black. It was dumb ass white boys all the way down.
jim5301 said...
Contrast the bawling suited Rittenhouse with the "Free as Fuck" t-shirt wearing Rittenhouse a few months ago. Unfortunately the jury won't be able to because the judge excluded that evidence.
********************
It's obvious you are an unlettered dimwit. And like Joe Biden, you have once again soiled yourself in public.
No court will admit as "evidence" things that happened AFTER the defendant is charged, UNLESS they "prove" the charge itself.
If I am caught trying to bury the jewels of a person someone who was robbed and killed, THAT would be admissible in court to "prove" that I at least had possession of the stolen goods.
But it would NOT be admissible to "prove" that I killed the person.
The Free as Fuck T-shirt "proves" nothing, about anything relating to the shootings.
rcocean said...
I thought the tears were an act,
Never care what "Yancy Ward: thinks again.
Case.
Closed.
****************
All the rest of us stopped doing that years ago.
"If these threats keep being made, then there will come a point when there will be rioting when someone like Rittenhouse gets convicted."
The sorts of people who will be very upset if Rittenhouse is convicted are not likely to express their displeasure by randomly destroying other people's property.
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