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The racial politics of this are appalling. The guy shot three ne’er do wells who, whether misguided or malicious, attacked him. He also shot at another one who was kicking him in the head, and missed. The video evidence was exculpatory.
I know one thing: Rittenhouse ought to thank his lucky stars that the FBI had drone cameras active (remember, there was no federal support allowed on the ground because nobody wanted Trump’s help during the summer of love). Had the drone footage not existed I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the kid would be a convicted double murderer.
Instead he is an unfortunate case study for the adage about “bringing enough gun” to a fight. Unfortunate only because like it or not, only a true psychopath (which Rittenhouse is not) gets away from killing another person without trauma.
So, let’s recap since I have followed this closely: young person decided to get together with a friend to help guard property during a period of looting and vandalism. The young person carries the only legal firearm allowed to him: a long gun (could have been a shotgun or a rifle). While perhaps he should have chosen pepper spray, he was lawfully carrying a rifle.
Young person is accosted by a somewhat erratic man who makes corroborated threats to him, who chases young person, “surprises” him, may have cornered him, and may have grabbed for his rifle (implying very close contact). The young person shoots the man four times, ultimately killing him. Without the FBI video all of this is conjecture but with it, the scenario is known to have played out (excepting whether or not the man grabbed the rifle, due to the quality of the video).
Young person then removed himself from the vicinity, ostensibly because the crowd around him begins to yell things like “get him” and “let’s kill him.” These threats can be heard on the video of him running away. These threats amount to enough concern for most individuals to fear for their lives. Nevertheless, he maintains course and does not brandish his rifle (meaning pointing it in a threatening manner).
He stumbles and falls down. This is the most unfortunate incident of the night (from his perspective), because it puts him in an instantly vulnerable position. He is subsequently kicked by “jump kick man” and discharges his rifle (twice) but misses. Jump kick man learns a lesson and leaves the picture. For some reason, skateboard man decides to attack, swinging his skateboard and contacting the young person in a highly aggressive manner…a clear threat. The young person fires at skateboard man, hitting him in the middle of his chest and ultimately killing him.
Finally, a man wearing a paramedic hat walks toward him, with hands in the air. When the young person looks away, paramedic man pulls a concealed handgun and points it at the young person, who shoots in his direction and wounds him badly.
The young person, having stopped three additional threats to him, two of whom made active and violent contact with him and one of whom pointed a gun at him, gets up and runs to the police line.
From the moment rittenhouse falls down, until he is up and moving away again, during which he is attacked by three separate individuals, is 12 seconds.
Now, a lot is being made of how this happened at a “protest” that related to BLM, but the reality is it was in the midst of civil unrest that in no way reflected a “protest.” That’s the only way race comes into this, and it is being milked dry.
I am not a fan of what Kyle Rittenhouse decided to do leading up to the need to defend himself. But, every action he took was lawful, from carrying the weapon to defending himself to leaving the scene because of continuing threats.
If anything, this case has led to fevered defense of people who were doing really bad things that night, one of whom was NOT Kyle Rittenhouse.
I can understand why people don’t like this. It conflicts with their worldview where nobody should have to pay for their actions with their life, and, like the DA said, sometimes you need to take a beating. While I understand that worldview, I reject it. It’s the same worldview that would have a 100 lb woman unable to defend herself against a 200lb man because weapons are icky.
In this case, Kyle brought the right weapon, and used it fairly adroitly. He literally threaded a needle of legal peril because he hit no bystanders, brandished at no bystanders, and escaped without significant injury. That’s the point of effective self defense.
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)Yeah. I think the evidence is so clear. And I think too many people are protecting the president. The moment he gets to speak freely is the moment we know there’s something very wrong.
He has always been a very weird and glib politician, but his mental decline has removed his ability to keep mental threads within his glibness.
for example:
Biden: "How do I cross a bridge in a snowstorm… What happens if the bridge collapses and there's a fire on the other side? It's gonna take ten miles longer to get to the fire. People could die." pic.twitter.com/sJ6RAX5KoW
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 16, 2021
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)I have a feeling that he’s within his rights to self defense. I also don’t understand why people dislike this. It was a riot. He happened to arrive with proper equipment. People attacked him. He stopped them.
Others will say that he made poor choices by being there etc, but that doesn’t negate his right to self defense in most jurisdictions. He ran away from everybody who was ultimately shot for attacking him.
Still others will say he should face legal peril for open carrying a rifle during a riot. He was only 17. For them I say…okay but he is about to beat a rap where he was charged as an ADULT. If he beats that; then to go charge him with an underage crime seems a bit double dealing.
If he were my kid I would be simultaneously royally pissed at his choices, and really glad he was home safe and sound after defending himself.
Here’a a strange thought experiment: is Kyle rittenhouse more like Trayvon martin or Dylan Klebold? The press wants us to think he was akin to a school shooter. But reality is he was actively and aggressively threatened in every case. I think he’s more like martin.
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)It’s amazing that with all the criticism of Trump being a pariah internationally, the U.S. was actually taken seriously with him at the helm.
I don’t think anybody takes Biden seriously. Even his staff. It’s one of the strangest, weakest leadership profiles that I have ever seen outside of a family business.
China may be thinking “now’s our chance.”
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)No. That game was one of the worst football games I have seen played by one side. Truly a disaster.
Pretty sure Shaw bas lost the team. Pretty sure he isn’t a good enough coach or recruiter to get out of the hole. Pretty sure he still is here until he chooses to resign.
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)Well, if we weren’t boring before…
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)Having kids may not make you happy, but it may make you fulfilled. I think real, physical work is similar. It may not make you happy while doing it, but the notion of having accomplished something is fulfilling.
Having no kids is less complicated. That, in and of itself, probably contributes to some notion of “happiness.”
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)Yeah. I will leave the test post up. If you ever have a post disappear, just post there. Every now and then posts with a lot of links get nabbed by a spam filter I can’t turn off. Unless I check it, they stay there until somebody mentions it.
Rocky hated this bug to the point he thought I was censoring him. I tried everything to find how to allow any post but couldn’t figure it out.
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)Thanks. I will clear the queue. I don’t get notifications.
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)Stupid and about par for the course.
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)The Biden administration is having a rough year.
It truly is the gang that can’t shoot straight.
And Psaki is going from annoying mouthpiece to chief propagandist in the worst way.
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)Yeah, my understanding is that some of the “iconic” billionaires sitting on loads of high growth stock just make lucrative arrangements with their banks whereby they take out margin loans and live off those, while the stock appreciates. It’s risky, but probably not so risky when you can borrow a billion dollars against a $50 billion net worth.
While I AM suggesting a reclassification of debt to income, I actually think it’s fair to say that the guy either should pay himself or should have his debt reclassed as income on some level… In this case not the full amount but via a surtax.
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)Been thinking about this one.
Why not just add a surtax to margin loans above a certain size? Wouldn’t that accomplish the wealth tax issue for the egregious cases? As I understand it, Elon Musk doesn’t sell his stock. He just takes loans against it. Why not just raise the price of those loans via a surtax?
haven’t thought it through but if there is a tax I like it’s taxes that tax risky or otherwise bad behavior. I do believe that borrowing against the appreciation of a liquid asset is tantamount to creating income, and ought to be treated as such. The same goes for all you Californians taking cash out refis on your homes that have gone up in value by a million bucks. You aren’t musk but you are dodging the same taxes (well, kinda).
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)Wonder if they will allow for refundable deductions for unrealized capital losses…? If not, why not?
This is a stupid policy that will only create more confusion and avoidance.
You want to capture large estates? How about a massive estate tax on very large estates? Family farms? not if it’s worth $100 million or more. That’s an industrial base. Your daddy’s an industrialist.
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)
