553 Comments

Why was this such a huge deal? For US Citizens, the right to defend yourself was on trial. Thank God, JUSTICE, common sense and decency won over hyperbole, lies, and authoritarianism.

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Finally some good news. Courageous jurors in Kenosha.

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The fact that a trial like this got so politicized is the real issue. The facts made this a clear self-defense case. This case never should have made it to trial, and the prosecutors engaged in conduct that is certainly unethical, and possibly something that will result in them being summoned before the state bar to explain themselves.

The rule of law matters. Even when the person it protects made some questionable-but-perfectly-legal decisions.

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Justice will not be completely served until and unless the people that rushed to judgement and those that politicized the event to accuse this young man of being guilty of racial hate-backed murder... are punished for what they have done.

I assume that trial attorneys are lining up for a barrage of civil suits. CNN, MSNBC and Joe Biden should be the first defendants.

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Had a conversation earlier in the week with a former law partner—an otherwise bright and decent guy—where I mentioned some of the prosecutorial missteps and evidentiary issues in the case. He looked aghast and sneered, “what are you rooting for Kyle Rittenhouse now?!?”

ROOTING?!?! Who is actually “rooting” and picking a side in a situation where two men are dead, one severely injured, dozens of small business owners wiped out who will never afford to rebuild, on top of an 18yo kid (even if a seriously-misguided one) who’s probably now completely PTSD from killing two people and being on trial for his life AND marked for life as a homicidal, white-supremacist nutjob. No winners, only tragedy, in this fact pattern, so, really, what is there to root for?

Worst of all, the competing takeaways among large segments of our population will be (x) that it’s a not a terrible idea to go around in public heavily armed in case called upon to use lethal force in defense of property (mindless the fact that provable self-defense against death/serious bodily injury was the ONLY reason Kyle walked today) or (y) that everything in our entire system is so irredeemably racist and broken that the rule of law is no longer required.

For the diminishing cohort of those of us who actually think (rather than just letting emotions do the work), the real positive upshot of today’s verdict is that, against all odds, the criminal justice system worked--strictly on the specific set of facts and circumstances presented in this particular case—nothing broader than that.

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This is NOT a black v. white issue.

The only black person involved in this very sorry affair was "jump-kick man" a/k/a, Maurice Freeman....who is black. Everyone else involved is WHITE!

Mr. Freeland joined others and chased down Rittenhouse. Once Rittenhouse was on the ground, Freeman kicked Rittenhouse in the back of the head. Freeman then turned and again came at Rittenhouse trying to kick or punch Rittenhouse as Rittenhouse was on the ground. When Rittenhouse saw Freeman coming at him, Rittenhouse pointed his rifle at Freeman in self-defense. Freeman saw Rittenhouse pointing his gun at Freeman and Freeman immediately backed off.

As a result, Rittenhouse did NOT FIRE at Freeman.

But, if Rittenhouse is such a 'white supremacist' protraited in the media, why didn't Rittenhouse immediately BLOW FREEMAN away????

Again, this is NOT a black v. white issue....

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Seems Brandon is upset over the verdict. LET'S GO BRANDON !!!

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I want to find common cause with the dems, but damn they make it impossible. The hatred, the contempt, the utter denial of the destruction wrought in the name of social justice, the lack of belief in the American system of government... There just isn't anything there anymore.

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Keep up the great work Glenn!

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The confused reaction of those who disagree with the verdict may be the most informative aspect of this entire exercise. Those people are clearly either lying, tribal before American, and/or completely addled by drugs and/or MSM.

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A personal victory for Kyle, and thank God that he was exonerated. But in a way, it's a defeat for several traditional principles:

1. Innocence until proven guilty. There was massive unfair and deceitful coverage by people who had a political agenda. They would happily see an innocent man tossed to the wolves.

2. Self-defense. It was blisteringly and devastatingly clear that Rittenhouse acted strictly in self-defense, full stop. He fled his attackers, tripped, and was physically assaulted with dangerous weapons, and only then did he resort to deadly force in self-defense. Yet, he was tried for murder.

3. Right to bear arms. AR-15, the most common rifle in America since the early 1900s, is no more an assault weapon than a kitchen knife. Yet, it is labeled as such by a manipulative, sensationalist press seeking to whip the public into a frenzy for more page views. Millions of ignorant Americans including my own wife, despite my best efforts to educate her, believe the AR-15 is a military assault weapon that should not be in civilian hands. They further believe that NO CIVILIAN SHOULD EVER CARRY A GUN FOR ANY REASON. This is a clear failure of our educational system.

4. Right to a speedy trial by a jury of one's peers etc. etc. The jury and judge were intimidated by outside forces -- Antifa thugs, most likely. Their pictures were taken and at least one juror reported threats. The judge and his family were also threatened. So yes, it was a victory in the sense that the outcome was fair despite the threats. But the fact that there were threats, indeed the fact that the boy was even on trial in the first place, and that the jury took so long to arrive at the simple obvious conclusion, is highly disturbing and bodes ill for future such situations.

The lessons one can derive from this mockery of justice, despite its happy ending, is that either (1) you are better off not defending yourself or (2) you must indeed use deadly force, make sure your attacker is dead, and make sure you are not identified. Out west, they call it the Three S's: shoot, shovel, shut-up. I suspect the latter practice will become more common.

Bernie Goetz, the subway shooter in 1984, turned himself in and subsequently spend time in prison for defending himself from four attackers. Had he not turned himself in, had he not believed in the fairness of the U.S. criminal justice system, he would have remained free. He was forced into prison by a malicious prosecution that had decided citizens must be punished for using deadly force to fight off muggers. Random New Yorkers agreed: "We can't just have someone going around shooting people," said one woman on camera. Meanwhile, New Yorkers fled and are still fleeing the city to escape the lawless elements rather than fight back as Goetz did.

Somewhere along the way, Americans lost their will to fight, and have become the kind of weak, spineless fools that Theodore Roosevelt spoke about in his 1910 speech in Paris: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

We are, today, a nation of cold and timid souls. The few heroes among us are torn down and destroyed. I pray that enough people will wake up before it is too late.

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People upset at this jury verdict are obviously okay with Kyle Rittenhouse becoming another Reginald Oliver Denny. Because it is clear that it would have happened had he not defended himself.

People satisfied with this jury verdict want everyone... even those upset with the verdict... to never become another Reginald Oliver Denny.

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Had Kyle Rittenhouse been found guilty and thus martyred on the alter of Progressive political ideology (i.e. anything including burning down communities and killing children and innocent bystanders is permissible, providing BLM or any other Progressive icon is being supported), it would have been at a terrible long term political cost to the Left, but it also would have been a terrible injustice.

Rittenhouse was innocent. The three adult thugs who chased him down had previously been convicted of a variety of child molestation, and/or battery and other illegal behaviors. The entire prosecution/persecution was a travesty. I only hope there is sufficient proof of libel and/or slander so that Rittenhouse can successfully sue various media outlets and individuals. I hope Kyle Rittenhouse gets awarded millions and millions of dollars.

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I think this means that we don't need to watch helplessly as the violent mob takes over the streets and loots and burns with the approval of the Democrat party. We can defend ourselves. And if enough people do, the mob will slink away as the cowards that they are.

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Before Biden was elected he referenced Rittenhouse as a white supremacist. I guess he was ill informed as to the race of those that died. Today, after his colonoscopy he said the justice system works, but then said, he was angry and concerned at the verdict like many others. No wonder that during his colonoscopy they found his head up his ass.

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Thank you very much for your courageous pursuit of the truth

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