Those who say that acquittal was a foregone conclusion? Nope. Not when the jury is out for four days. This case could have gone either way. I wonder if the jury struggled with the narrative, with the accepted wisdom. Interesting to see how many people still believe that the gun was carried across State lines, that Rittenhouse had no ties to Kenosha (his father lived there; he had a job there), that those he shot were black; that two of them had used weapons against him.
“𝙽𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊 𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚎: 𝙷𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚞𝚗 𝚊𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜; 𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚓𝚘𝚛 𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝙺𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚜𝚑𝚊 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚓𝚘𝚋 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢. 𝙷𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗’𝚝 𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚊-𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚊𝚋𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚘𝚙/𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚛/𝙴𝙼𝚃. 𝙰𝚋𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚜 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 “𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚝,” 𝚊𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝙹𝚘𝚎 𝙱𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛’𝚜 𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛; 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎.
It is important to recognize that no employee ever gets fired because of financial reasons. Management will pretend that the reason for termination is costs, but this is never the case. If costs are truly an issue, a whole division or multiple employees are let go or their work is outsourced. Management consultants are famous for finding places where work can be outsourced and whole sections of workers can be let go.
(The foul-mouthed, softball-playing, draft-dodging eighth graders from St. Priscilla’s are at it again.) A sixth grade patrol boy wearing the orange belt of authority appeared at the door of the classroom accompanied by two men in black suits. Joe LaBenda, our teacher, came to the door to see what the commotion was about. The patrol boy pointed to Penis and left. The three men had a brief discussion. Mr. LaBenda told Penis to stand up.
Do you remember my scheme for spending my retirement in a college town? Many of you thought that I was joking. Some, however, got the message. There is outrage when XY chromosomed-individuals join the women’s team because they now identify as women. No one can complain on those grounds when this gal grabs a 9-iron. My only advice: please don’t spoil it for the rest of us.
How will we know the pandemic is over? Just as there was no formal announcement of the pandemic’s start, it is unlikely that there will be an announcement of the pandemic’s end. At first, the Sickness was completely local: trouble in far-off China in a B-List city; an Elvis sighting not to be concerned about. Then the virus was in the State of Washington, a local concern, nothing to be concerned about.
Test after crash.
It’s interesting (at least to me) how different systems or professions address the issue of truth. How do we know if an assertion is true? Anecdotal: True if there’s some comment about it somewhere Arabic: If no one saw it, it didn’t happen Cruentation: The victim’s body will bleed in the presence of the murderer Islam: Two male Muslim witnesses are needed, except for adultery, when four eyewitnesses are required.
In a very real sense, I grew up with Vietnam. The war the Vietnamese call the “American War” was on television every night. The movie The Green Berets instilled us with the righteousness of the American cause. It was America’s duty to fight godless Communism, though the fact that the Vietnamese were far from godless—we saw the monks immolating themselves on the news—was somehow glossed over. We were too young for the draft but watched the growing protests with interest.