In this installment of our weekly Sunday Six conversation, PF Whalen and Parker Beauregard of The Blue State Conservative discuss six takeaways from the recently concluded trial of Kyle Rittenhouse.
#6: We learned that leftwing activists now believe they can intimidate participants in the justice system into bowing to their objectives, without any boundaries.
PF: There were protesters in front of the courthouse from the beginning of the trial – an increasing amount of them, in fact – and while some were pro-Rittenhouse, the majority were anti-Rittenhouse. Those protesters were demanding that Rittenhouse be found guilty and were extremely vocal in their pleas. And while most of us have probably felt the urge to smack a reporter upside the head on occasion, we suppress those inclinations because we’re rational human beings. But such was not the case with one anti-Rittenhouse protester, who went so far as to physically body slam a reporter. That assault led to the young man’s arrest, after which it was determined that the body slammer had a felony warrant out for his arrest. What nice bunch of concerned citizens, those anti-Rittenhouse protesters.
One of the protesters outside of the courthouse was carrying an AR-15, which is obviously not allowed, and jurors had expressed various fears from the very beginning of the process. Additionally, the judge at the trial, Bruce Schroeder, received thousands of death threats and vile messages. This type of nonsense has no place in our justice system, and it seems clear that such actions are increasingly common because they’ve worked in the past.
During the Senate hearings to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, we saw leftists successfully intimidate then-Senator Jeff Flake from Arizona outside the chamber. There was an incredible amount of intimidation from protesters, and even Congresspeople such as Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), during the Derek Chauvin trial, and there’s little doubt that that intimidation had an influence on the jury’s decision.
Regardless of what one thinks about Kyle Rittenhouse, or Derek Chauvin, or Brett Kavanaugh, this type of intimidation should greatly concern all of us. Everyone has the right to a fair trial or hearing, whether in a courtroom or the Capitol Building, and when we have shenanigans such as these going on, it damages the credibility of the entire system.
#5: We learned that basic concepts like the rights to life, liberty, and property are only applied to the preferati of progressive society.
Parker: I don’t think any of the phenomena we are discussing are new. The justice system has long been rigged in favor of identity politics (see: the OJ trial) and the concept of police abdicating its primary role of defending private property has likewise been a failure for decades (see: the Rodney King riots). Concern over loss of life is subjective (see: Kim Foxx not pressing charges in a broad-daylight killing) and concern over shootings is likewise subjective (see: Arlington shooter released on bail the same day). Nothing that played out over the course of this past year, and especially the few weeks of this trial, are unheard of or unseen.
Still, everything about this case feels more amplified. Everything is so much more obvious. With OJ, for example, none of us were in the house of the crime. Two people were murdered and everything pointed to Juice, but the idea of reasonable doubt exists for a reason. Evidence notwithstanding, we could never ascertain the absolute truth of his role. We are all 99.99% certain of his guilt but .01% remains undecided. Acquittal might have felt unfair but the other side of that was potentially sending the wrong man to prison. Would we rather live in a society where too many are found guilty or not enough?
With the Rittenhouse case, there is no doubt about what happened. As both a blessing and curse in our lives, the ubiquity of technology undoubtedly should serve as a boon to the self-defense claims. We saw every interaction. We heard every voice. We know what happened. Rittenhouse acted in self-defense. If his actions cannot be understood as self-defense, then the entire notion of protecting oneself from harm vanishes.
This case would neither be prosecuted nor a story if not for the context of the events. BLM riots, white, gun-toting male. It fit the narrative, insofar as the rest of the facts such as other white men being shot and those same white men attacking Kyle first were ignored. The awful, unjustified, and immoral support of career criminal and thug Jacob Blake made this all possible. Somehow, the inspiration for the Kenosha riots has since had all of his charges dropped and a man who went to the city merely to defend people is on trial for illegal actions. The world is upside down.
#4: We learned that anyone who thought the credibility of the mainstream media had already cratered was sorely mistaken.
PF: Attempted intimidation of jurors wasn’t limited merely to protesters, as previously mentioned. With the Rittenhouse trial, it actually involved members of the mainstream media, and not simply through their reporting on the case. A producer from NBC News named James Morrison – working in this situation on behalf of sister network MSNBC – was caught following the bus which carries the jury to/from the courthouse and an undisclosed location. This stunt earned the banishment of anyone from MSNBC from the courthouse by Judge Schroeder on Thursday and is currently being investigated by authorities.
Leftwing bias in our media has been obvious for decades. Virtually all our mainstream media outlets, including MSNBC obviously, have become just another branch of the Democratic Party’s communications department. We get it. But what happened this week with MSNBC in Kenosha has taken the problem to a whole new level.
Following jurors in a bus with tinted windows, designed to protect their identities, isn’t just partiality like failing to report on the Hunter Biden email scandal. It’s not like putting their thumbs on the scale of the election by lying about the Republican candidate and fawning over the Democrat. Following a bus full of jurors is participatory. That’s activism. And that type of engagement by our media, who are supposed to be neutral arbiters of the truth, should infuriate everyone.
But the problems with the media with the Rittenhouse trial wasn’t limited to MSNBC’s games. The entire media lied to us throughout the trial. They told us Rittenhouse crossed state lines for the protest, but he didn’t. He worked in Kenosha. They told us he took his firearm across state lines. He didn’t. That gun was kept at his friend’s house. They repeatedly called him a “white supremacist.” He’s not; and there’s zero evidence to support that claim; zero. The mainstream media has lied about virtually every aspect of this case.
#3: We learned that the justice system is indeed flawed, just not how progressive claim.
Parker: Several years ago, the infamous story of the Duke lacrosse team made front-page headlines throughout the country. It had all the cuttings of a juicy tabloid story: entitled, rich brats at a snooty private college raped a black female stripper…except none of it was true. Once all of the information got out, Durham County DA MIke Nifong became the first prosecutor in North Carolina history to be disbarred for trial conduct. As an aside, the black stripper that made those claims later went on to be charged with attempted murder of one boyfriend and is now serving time for the murder of a later one.
The comparison between the disgraced and disbarred Nifong to Thomas Binger should be obvious. Binger, knowing all of the evidence, time lines, testimonies, nonetheless brought the book against Kyle Rittenhouse. As you mentioned, PF, even with a flawless prosecution, Rittenhouse would still walk; it was that obvious to anyone. When the prosecution brings people to the stand that 1) admit they were asked to change their testimony and 2) admit they were shot by the accused after they pointed their own weapon at him do make for compelling state evidence.
What’s more, it looks like Binger and his useful idiot companion sat on high-definition footage of the night and knowingly shared a lesser quality to the defense. They brought up Rittenhouse’s public silence until the trial, which ignores the basic Constitutional right against self-incrimination. They made outlandish claims, none of which could be backed up with evidence, throughout the trial.
This is all a long way to say that if there is an honest justice system, Binger should lose the privilege of practicing as an attorney. He is a joke.
An honest system would also ask some other obvious questions. If Rittenhouse is innocent, doesn’t that make the three other men the assailants? There isn’t another way around this; if Rittenhouse acted in self-defense, then those men attacked him. We need to see charges against Grosskreutz.
An honest system would also allow Rittenhouse to sue the pants off everyone that defamed, libeled, slandered, and defiled his character this past year. We need to see Joe Biden, the media, and various talking head idiots lose their pants, shirts, wallets, all of it. They made things up and charged the young man with ridiculous crimes and associations. Time to pay for it.
#2: We learned that University of Michigan Law School – alma mater of Prosecutor Thomas Binger – is not nearly as prominent as we had thought.
PF: Like it or not, how we behave reflects on others, including: the parents who raised us, the churches that counsel us, and the educators who educate us. In the case of Thomas Binger, the prosecutor in this case, his actions over the past few weeks put a stain on many who have associated with him. But the law school that supposedly prepared him for this career must be the most embarrassed.
This case should have never been brought to trial, and that is arguably Binger’s biggest mistake. While it’s true that Binger’s repeated missteps were ridiculous, even if he had flawlessly pursued Rittenhouse’s conviction, he still would have lost. Friday’s verdict of not guilty on all counts was inevitable because it was obvious from the beginning. Not only was Rittenhouse ‘not guilty,’ he was outright innocent, and probably even worthy being honored for doing the right thing. Yet Binger chose to prosecute him anyway.
Once in the courtroom, Binger fumbled and bumbled virtually every day. He called on witnesses that not only failed to corroborate his narrative, they unquestionably contradicted it. A lawyer should never ask a witness a question to which they don’t know the answer, but that’s exactly what Binger did, time and again. Binger was scolded by the judge for implying Rittenhouse’s guilt due to his exercising is Fifth Amendment right to remain silent after he was arrested. And during closing arguments, Binger actually pointed Rittenhouse’s actual gun at the jury with his finger on the trigger. The list of blunders goes on.
Boston University will always have the stain of having bestowed a Bachelor of Arts in Economics upon the incomparable Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), someone who clearly doesn’t understand basic elements of that discipline. And the University of Michigan Law School will also bear a stain. The school that had previously had the honor of bragging about esteemed alumni such as Clarence Darrow, Ann Coulter, and Dick Gephardt, now must bear the burden of having handed a diploma to Thomas Binger. Oh, the shame.
#1: We learned that the tide could be turning in our favor.
Parker: The month of November has been a huge wake-up call for America. In the first week, gubernatorial races swung only in one direction, enough to throw down a slam dunk in Virginia and enough to turn a solidly-blue New Jersey into a coin flip (despite the governorship remaining with Democrats by a hair, their state senate leader was ousted by a minimally-spending truck driver). Other races across the nation were decidedly in favor of conservative candidates, especially in local school board elections.
The Kyle Rittenhouse trial is the cherry on top of this awakening. While voters bucked the media narratives against conservative candidates and conservative causes in early November, in the case of the jury they had to overcome not just a year of blatant falsehoods but direct intimidation. When a major broadcasting studio tasks journalists with following a secret jury bus, that is pure evil. However, these twelve Americans stood up to the threat of mob violence and personal attacks and vindicated young Kyle on all counts.
Something feels different in America right now. Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are polling in uncharted territory, particularly considering their electoral victory just one year ago. Chants against the president ring out across the land, including safe havens of college campuses and blue-city stadiums. The con of Covid is being fully exposed, with the vaccine narrative running headlong into the uncomfortable position of not working. No one denies that the vaccines confer neither immunity to the recipient nor protection from transmitting it to others. It’s a complete bust, with the added injurious reality that it harms those that take it. Looking ahead, the Supreme Court has some significant cases challenging both the legality of Roe V Wade and far-reaching implications to the 2nd amendment vis-a-vis New York’s conceal/carry limitations. The prospects for those rulings are promising.
Culminating in all of this is the victory of Kyle Rittenhouse. He should never have been prosecuted, he should never have been dragged through the mud, and the country should never have dealt with any of the Jacob Blake and Kenosha nonsense. But he was – and everything about it was rejected.
Featured photo is a screengrab from NBC News.
Content syndicated from TheBlueStateConservative.com with permission.