Full NYT tweet thread is here, by the way, in case any of you are interested in seeing a breakdown.
Armed civilian, 17, shoots 2 dead during Kenosha happening
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“As the ladies and gentlemen of the jury can clearly see from the following video, my client had good cause to fear for his consciousness, the loss of which may have led to him getting silly pictures drawn on his face in sharpie which easily could drive my bullied nerd of a client to suicide. Such an act would only be murder by another name!”
Is that supposed to prove skateboards are more of a threat than a loaded gun? 'cause I don't think anyone is arguing that if you got hit in the head with a skateboard that it wouldn't hurt and do damage, just that someone with a gun is a much more serious and immediate threat.
There was also the issue that NG are indistinguishable from militia dudes, which causes a lot of problems.
lel
No, just that they're a neat wooden board with plastic bits you can use to beat people with. It's designed to be a fun riding experience, though.
There is around 4-5 minutes worth of interview clips of him. I said earlier he reminded me of myself when I was his age.
Well sure, but I don't think anyone is arguing otherwise. Nor is anyone arguing a skateboard to the head isn't a serious threat. If someone coldcocks you in the skull with a board, that's straight up assault and you have every legal reason to fight back.
What people are arguing is that the terrorist had already killed someone. He was an active shooter attempting to flee the scene of the crime. The people defending themselves and the citizens around them were the ones chasing down the terrorist and attempting to disarm/subdue him.
and Im pretty sure criminals can't claim self-defense in the act of shooting more people who were attempting to stop them from fleeing the scene.
Yeah, ok. You're probably correct, but I'm a contrarian by nature so I'll see after they finish this in court. I still haven't figured out why he was on his own in the first place, and I understand why he'd be scared if he got separated.
“Skateboards are often seen as a precursor to the use of marijuana and other street drugs, including fentanyl. My client, an innocent schoolboy who has never held something as dangerous as marijuana, was rationally terrified of what he reasonably perceived as a doped up murderer.”
Given the video that was shown of earlier on (When "Shoot me nigga" was still alive), you can hear a woman that seems to be with the militia (Given where I'm hearing the audio come from) say repeatedly, "We have to stick together". It seemed like the militia was moving out for some reason and were trying to not get separated.
The most appropriate way to refer to a murder victim.
Well holy shit, I literally didn't think this shit show could get worse, but I guess that one is on me for not updating my imagination to 2020 levels of awful yet. Police were interacting with him and his group fucking 20 minutes before the shooting puts them at about 11 o'clock, which is so far past the curfew it's fucking staggering. Police sitting a fucking block away from active gunfire from multiple different shooters (this is another fucking twist I still can't believe), and didn't even fucking move in until after the bodies were starting to cool and fucking let an armed person, with him and others saying he shot people go. Not even detaining him to fucking figure out what happened, just let him fucking walk.
I don't doubt it.
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Kyle Rittenhouse loved cops, guns, President Trump, and “triggering the libs,” according to some of his former classmates at Lakes Community High School in Lake County, Illinois. His clothes were often branded with pro-police slogans, and he carried a Blue Lives Matter phone case, one student said.
Some of his classmates joked that he’d be a mass shooter one day. “I personally believe he went to Wisconsin with the intent to kill,” said one former classmate, who asked not to be identified out of fear for their safety.
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While Rittenhouse was only enrolled at Lakes Community High School for the 2017 to 2018 academic year, he left an impression. Students reached by VICE News described him as short-tempered and easily offended.
“When he got mad or offended he would always say he could ‘fuck me up,’ but everyone would just laugh because he was like a 5-foot-4 chubby freshman boy who we thought wasn’t capable of harm,” said Joe, who’s a minor and asked that his full name not be used.
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Rittenhouse was also known as a “ride or die” Trump supporter. “If you said anything bad about Trump, he’d threaten you,” Joe said. In January, Rittenhouse even traveled to Iowa, where he had front row seats at a Trump rally, Buzzfeed reported. “Kyle was the type of kid to wear a MAGA hat or other apparel just for attention, or to “trigger” people,” Joe added.
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Another one of Rittenhouse’s classmates said he used to refer to the school, located in a Chicago suburb, as “libtard af.”
“Kyle was kind of shy from what I remember, but he was definitely in your face and pushed his views hella,” they said. “Like one of those kids that liked ‘triggering libtards.’”
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He posted on Snapchat about Blake, the father of six, whose lawyers say he was shot by police while trying to break up a domestic dispute. Rittenhouse posted Blake’s mugshot from a prior arrest with the caption “lol, he’s innocent.”
Alleged Kenosha Killer Loved Cops, Guns, Trump, and ‘Triggering the Libs,’ Former Classmates Say
The 17-year-old was only enrolled at Lakes Community High School for a year, but he left an impression.
www.vice.com
Yeah, that’s probably exactly what happened… You should go into law; you’d be a wet dream of a defense attorney with how much credence you place on reasonable doubt over logically most likely. “Literally anything else could have happened, therefor not guilty.” Oh wait, lemme guess: you ARE an attorney. DUN-DUN! Got us again, you sneaky bastard!
Agreed, we have the right to bear arms, but NOT the right to go vigilante and dispense justice based on our “beliefs.” I “believe” my neighbor is an ass who mows his law at 7am; I’m not allowed to threaten him with a gun let alone shoot him, even less so could I travel 20 miles away to the house he moved to and threaten him with a gun because he continues to mow at 7am. The right to bear arms is for personal protection, not to empower people to run the streets looking for reasons to use them.I think it's every American's constitutionally protected right to bear arms and defend what they believe in, regardless of whether or not one is personally in danger. It's more complicated than that, of course, but that's the gist of it.
Nobody complained when the NFAC took up guns and showed them off. Nobody said it wasn't their job or their right.
source - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/07/michigan-lawmaker-armed-escort-rightwing-protest
Were these people standing up for their rights, or weren't they?
Was it their job, or wasn't it?
If you want to condemn him, you'd need to condemn these people too. If you praise them, you'd need to praise them both.
I do condemn him AND them. I dislike guns and displays of them that serve as a clear threat of lethal force. I’d like to think we have institutions in place that serve as our protectors (dare to dream…) and shouldn’t need or ever want to defer to citizens with training with firearms and none in law enforcement (generalizing) and de-escalation to police each other. I look at that picture and I don’t see concerned citizens doing what’s right; I see guys “wishing a muthafucka would.”
For personal protection; they're not going all "Batman" and roaming the streets because "justice." Rittenhouse may have acted in self-defense, but the fact remains, he went looking for a reason to; his finding one doesn't clear him of wrong-doing.
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It's probably because they saw nothing illegal happened. I mean, they didn't have the obligation to protect the protesters. That's why they didn't arrest him after he killed two people.
I like this anecdote:
That's kind of how it works. It's on the prosecution to PROVE that their version of the events DID happen. All the defense has to do is introduce the (reasonable) POSSIBILITY that something or anything else did happen. If it can't be ruled out, or if the prosecution hasn't proved their case, the jury must (should) vote not guilty.
The defense has the easy job.
The law doesn't, which is what counts.
THE DEFENSE RESTS!
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