The News Thread

[bac0n]

Part of me thinks that if this woulda happened a few weeks ago, the kid would have been invited to speak at the RNC.

[Wryan]

Is Rittenhouse not the clearest and most direct result yet of Trump & Co.'s persistent and ever-increasing stochastic messaging? This has been telegraphed for a while now.

[Pop Trash]

One of the writers of the NYT article posted broke things down on twitter w/ video. Still thinking this kid walks if they charge him with murder one.

https://twitter.com/trbrtc/status/1298839097923063809

[Dukefrukem]

How could murder one possibly stick?

[Irish]

Rittenhouse has already been charged with 5 felonies, including "1st-Degree Intentional Homicide."

1st degree is life in prison. With mitigating circumstances, this could be reduced to 2nd Degree, which is ... 60 years.

Wisconsin also has a felony murder rule, which adds +15 years to every charge that sticks.

Prosecutors always go for the max from the start. It's how they plea out so many cases.

Like I've said ... kid is fucked.

[megladon8]

Good.

Now go after the parents, too.

[Ezee E]

Good.

Now go after the parents, too.

Mostly this.

[megladon8]

Watch it be another Brock Turner and the judge give him a lesser sentence because they "don't want to ruin his future".

[Irish]

The judge in Waukegan, Illinois, postponed Kyle Rittenhouse's extradition hearing to Sept. 25 during a brief video conference that was streamed online. Rittenhouse asked for the delay in order to have time to hire a private attorney. He faces five felony charges, including first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide, and a misdemeanor charge for possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor.

Rittenhouse did not appear during the livestreamed hearing. His current attorney, Lake County, Illinois, assistant public defender Jennifer Snyder, said Rittenhouse had spoken by phone with his mother since his arrest Wednesday.

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/ex...n-self-defense



Hmm... Held without bond, too... Interesting, interesting... Whomst could have forseen... whomst indeed...

[Wryan]

Seems MAGA hatters descended on Portland and were shooting paintballs from their trucks and macing folks as they drove by, even driving thru crosswalks when the "walk" sign was on. Seems one person was later shot and killed in retaliation. This is gonna continue to deteriorate.

(This is still developing, so what I wrote may not be 100%. It's all still unclear atm.)

[megladon8]

At least there isn't a gun violence problem in America.

Imagine how much worse this would all be if there was.

[Pop Trash]

Seems MAGA hatters descended on Portland and were shooting paintballs from their trucks and macing folks as they drove by, even driving thru crosswalks when the "walk" sign was on. Seems one person was later shot and killed in retaliation. This is gonna continue to deteriorate.

(This is still developing, so what I wrote may not be 100%. It's all still unclear atm.)

They ("they" as in the usual leftist Portland riffraff) were also blocking their trucks, throwing shit at their trucks, etc. (all on video). I'm not right wing but I absolutely think the right wing has just as much of a right to congregate and wave around American flags and Trump flags as any other social group.

[Pop Trash]

Good.

Now go after the parents, too.

My understanding (feel free to correct me) is that the kid was given the gun by one of his friends in WI. Supposedly he had some loose connection with the car dealership that was being targeted by vandals. Unclear, but it seems like one of his friend's parents own or work at the car dealership and this is where the gun came from. Not sure what the gun laws are, but if that's the case, don't think there is much one could do to his parents if they didn't give him the gun.

[Irish]

Ah the gentlefolk of Patriot Prayer, with their "Right Wing Death Squad" stickers and their "Pinochet did nothing wrong" tee shirts.

Hmm yas yas keeping the leftist riff-raff in check!

[megladon8]

I would take great joy in walking up to those guys and spraying them with a water gun full of diarrhea that's been in a jar on top of my radiator for 6 months.

I need some way to get rid of these jars, and that seems like a good way.

[Dead & Messed Up]

An LASD deputy who shot a Gardena teen was trying to join a group of deputies in the police force who call themselves the Executioners and would falsify circumstances to justify lethal force.

Basically the plot to the second Dirty Harry flick. Very worried about the whistleblower.

[DFA1979]

Things are going to get worse, aren't they?

[Irish]

Things are going to get worse, aren't they?

Whenever I get optimistic, which isn't often, I remember this is the country that elected Richard Nixon to the presidency. Twice.

[Scar]

Things are going to get worse, aren't they?

Don’t know what you’re taking about.

*orders body armor*

[Pop Trash]

Whenever I get optimistic, which isn't often, I remember this is the country that elected Richard Nixon to the presidency. Twice.

Nixon was popular until Watergate (at least by contempo presidential standards, where any approval rating over 50% is very high). I'd argue he did some good stuff domestically (created the EPA). Inherited a terrible war from Johnson. He was also helped by George Wallace being one of the most popular third party candidates ever, running on a return to segregation. Nixon was able to position himself between Hubert Humphrey -viewed by many as a DNC establishment candidate soft on crime and a "trojan horse" for the radical left and communism (sound familiar?)- and George Wallace to essentially be the "normal" candidate for suburbia with a return to "law and order" (sound familiar?). CNN did a fascinating deep dive series into 1968 recently. Many parallels to what is happening today.

[Pop Trash]

Ah the gentlefolk of Patriot Prayer, with their "Right Wing Death Squad" stickers and their "Pinochet did nothing wrong" tee shirts.

Hmm yas yas keeping the leftist riff-raff in check!

Now do photos of lefties at protests waving around the Soviet hammer and sickle flag. Since Stalin didn't murder any of his own people or anything. Or any other communist leader for that matter (Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, younameit).

[Wryan]

Even the lefty-est of my lefty friends would laugh at and not take serious folks waving Soviet flags at protests. They're currently sharing Communist Manifesto and proletariat memes, ffs. This is hardly the dawn of their revolution. I do not fear a far-left authoritarian government ever taking hold in this country as things are--even if non-religiousness comes to a majority position over religiousness. I absolutely do fear a far-right authoritarian government, mostly because it's happening and growing. Where are the receipts for far-left commie atheists surreptitiously securing positions of authority in law enforcement or current, active politicians being exposed for the sentiment same? I don't believe there is a serious, organized far-left presence in this country, but I do see the serious, organized, dangerous far-right presence. Most of my lefty friends object to capitalism itself and argue that its faults far outweigh its advantages, to the point of collective suffocation and death, to say nothing of general oppression, economic or otherwise.

[Pop Trash]

Even the lefty-est of my lefty friends would laugh at and not take serious folks waving Soviet flags at protests. They're currently sharing Communist Manifesto and proletariat memes, ffs. This is hardly the dawn of their revolution. I do not fear a far-left authoritarian government ever taking hold in this country as things are--even if non-religiousness comes to a majority position over religiousness. I absolutely do fear a far-right authoritarian government, mostly because it's happening and growing. Where are the receipts for far-left commie atheists surreptitiously securing positions of authority in law enforcement or current, active politicians being exposed for the sentiment same? I don't believe there is a serious, organized far-left presence in this country, but I do see the serious, organized, dangerous far-right presence. Most of my lefty friends object to capitalism itself and argue that its faults far outweigh its advantages, to the point of collective suffocation and death, to say nothing of general oppression, economic or otherwise.

Mostly agree, but the average American is only tuned in sporadically to politics and wants to be left alone and not have their communities besieged by riots. I can't tell you how many times in the Bay Area my old coworkers would complain about protesters blocking a freeway, simply because it made their jobs harder (they had to drive to various construction sites around the Bay for surveying). Lots of these people would normally lean center left, but increasingly were moved to the center or even center right, simply because leftist activists irritated them so much.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Mostly agree, but the average American is only tuned in sporadically to politics and wants to be left alone and not have their communities besieged by riots. I can't tell you how many times in the Bay Area my old coworkers would complain about protesters blocking a freeway, simply because it made their jobs harder (they had to drive to various construction sites around the Bay for surveying). Lots of these people would normally lean center left, but increasingly were moved to the center or even center right, simply because leftist activists irritated them so much.

This is the paradox of it all, right? We all agree that meaningful change is needed, but the disruption it takes for policymakers to take seriously that kind of change is the same kind of disruption that threatens to alienate [people who aren't suffering enough from the systemic issues to recognize the importance of that disruption.]

Someone close to me was upset that Kapernick was taking a knee. This is, like, the least invasive type of protest possible. A guy taking a knee at a sporting event. Doesn't delay the game, doesn't affect play. And that was enough to cheese off this person. A person who could maybe be convinced to vote for Joe Biden, if not for uppity protesters disrupting games he doesn't even watch (he's not a sports fan).

If this is the level of apathy this nation has to surmount, if this is how easily apathy can turn into support for an increasingly authoritarian state, just so people aren't personally discomforted for ten minutes, then fine. Later, USA. It was a fun concept.

[Wryan]

My mom was, for a little while, quite anti-knee. Our house was and is a pretty progressive house, and she is certainly not about bigotry and racism, but she got swept up into the animus of it all for a period of time. I wasn't sure why she would care, and we'd talk about it now and then, have FB posts-and-replies about it. With Floyd and the rest happening, she's come around to seeing the protests as right (in spirit; I suspect she doesn't like the looting/burning, etc.). My [gay] brother, who was raised in the same house as me under our Democrat-progressive parents, has recently started expressing some pretty conservative and regressive opinions, such as that the great majority of the black folks shot by police probably did something that caused it, don't wanna get shot just comply, etc. etc. I was fairly surprised to see this come from either one of them, knowing how I was raised. However, here's something rather important to note: both of them have some friends who are full-throated conservatives and Trumpists. Whether it's trying to see their side of topics out of politeness, not wanting to lose a friendship or cross swords with a friend...or whether it's just full-on getting dragged further right simply from passively absorbing the constant teeth-bared far-right conservative rhetoric, I don't really know. It's probably something in that shuffle of emotions and thoughts and relationship loyalties. I consider my mother and brother to be intelligent people, and I know their hearts are caring.

Trumpism is a toxin.