In the Aftermath of the Rittenhouse Verdict

WASHINGTON, DC, Nov 22 – The name Rittenhouse has not gotten bandied about like this since 1825 when they renamed Southwest Square in Philadelphia after the American Revolutionary patriot, David Rittenhouse. This time, however, leftist media reports are using the name Kyle Rittenhouse to foment dissension. 

Kyle got a fair trial and was acquitted last week after being accused of murder, among other things, because in August of 2020, he shot three men who were trying to kill him during a protest in Kenosha, WI. Two of the men died.

One of them was Joseph Rosenbaum, a man who the Washington Post described as having “spent most of his adult life in prison.” Rosenbaum was far from being a peaceful protestor. The other man who was killed was Anthony Huber, who also had spent most of his adulthood in prison for strangling his brother and kicking his sister, according to the Post. The third assailant was wounded. His name is Gaige Grosskreutz. During Kyle’s trial, he first said he did not point his pistol at him but later admitted that he, indeed, had aimed his gun at him.

Yet in the aftermath of Rittenhouse having been declared “not guilty” by a jury of his peers last Friday, the liberal press, as well as several TV stars, began replaying the trial, portraying it as some sort of right-wing conspiracy.

TV host Bill Maher, who has been described as “acerbic” and “politically controversial,” opened his Friday talk show the night of Kyle’s exoneration by saying that “Something bad, I think, happened in this country today.  I think vigilantes got a signal that you can go out and do whatever you want, which I don’t think is going to be good … This decision is an indictment of irresponsible laws that make our society far more violent and unsafe under the guise of personal freedom and so-called self-defense.”

And then there were the so-called comedians on Saturday Night Live who performed a skit mocking the judge and jury for returning a not-guilty verdict.  In a skit Fox News host, former Judge Jeanine Pirro, portrayed by SNL cast member Cecily Strong, is caught sarcastically saying: “That lovable scamp [defendant Rittenhouse] was put through a nightmare of a trial just for doing the bravest thing any American can do— protecting an empty used car lot in someone else’s town.”  She then interviewed cast member Mikey Day, playing the role of trial Judge Bruce Schroeder whom the fake Judge Pirro describes as “impartial as a dance mom clapping harder than anyone” and then goes on to “expose” his bias in favor of the defendant.

Not very funny, but it serves their purpose of defending leftist violence and identifying Judge Schroeder as some sort of conservative henchman.

Interestingly, our Commentator-in-Chief, President Biden, seemed to abandon his leftist bias and issued a statement praising the Rittenhouse verdict.  He told reporters, “I stand by what the jury has concluded.  The jury system works.  We have to abide by it.”  But he apparently couldn’t resist adding: “While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken.  I urge everyone to express their views peacefully, consistent with the rule of law. Violence and destruction of property have no place in our democracy.”

Good catch, Joe.  You don’t want to “incite” widespread rioting.  In fact, while protests to the verdict in Kenosha have been breaking out sporadically since it was handed down by the jurors, they have not been as violent in all incidents as might have been expected.  However, protestors in Oakland, CA, shouted, “revolution nothing else.”   Have we gotten to the point that angry Americans are actually calling for the overthrow of our government?

That said, Biden’s plea apparently was ignored.  The violence got underway soon after Rittenhouse was found not guilty on Friday.   Protestors affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement in Kenosha boldly declared that the Courthouse would be burnt to the ground.  It didn’t happen, but in Portland, OR, radicals of the socialist Antifa movement helped fuel what police there called a riot and allegedly then sought to break into the city’s Justice Center.

Meanwhile, hundreds of protestors gathered in New York City and elsewhere throughout the U.S. hell-bent on creating chaos.  Rioters showed up in what the New York Post called “a sleepy middle-class Queens community” and caused a night full of mayhem.  They “tossed garbage cans at cops, ripped American and ‘Blue Lives Matters’ flags from homes, damaged mailboxes and cars,” according to the NYPD.

Elsewhere, on Saturday night, in Walnut Creek, CA, a violent crowd of some 80 persons broke into the local Nordstrom Department Store.  Many of them were armed with crowbars and proceeded to wreak havoc.  Police said it was like a scene out of a movie.  Many of the rioters were seen leaving the store with their arms filled with goodies they had lifted during the melee.  It begs the question: were they there to protest the Rittenhouse verdict, or were they there to rob the store?  

Rioting was expected and still is in Kenosha, where the trial took place.  However, things have remained relatively calm over the weekend, although the city is bracing for potentially violent protests.  Storekeepers are boarding up their windows, and the townsfolk are at the ready.  And they are arming themselves.  As one resident told the Epoch Times, “The last thing I ever want to do is [to] have to pull a firearm on someone.  That’s one of my biggest fears.  But it gives me a little bit of comfort knowing I have protection for me, my wife, my daughter, and my mother-in-law.”