OUR SILO AND THEIRS: Storyline versus information!

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2021

Information versus names: Just to be completely fair, Joy Behar actually asked a (very) good question.

She did so in the course of a pseudo-conversation on this past Monday's The View. This pseudo-discussion typified the way our tribe responded to last Friday's verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.

Behar spoke on ABC; millions of people were watching. At the start of the pseudo-discussion, Whoopi Goldberg played tape of Rittenhouse saying this:

"I'm not a racist person. I support the BLM movement. I support peacefully demonstrating."

The videotape ended there; instantly, Behar jumped in. A pseudo-discussion ensued—a pseudo-discussion during which Behar asked a very good question:

BEHAR (11/22/21): Then why did he go there with a gun? Sorry.

GOLDBERG: No, no—I mean, it's the question. It's the question.

BEHAR: If you support them, why did you go there with a gun? 

To watch the fuller pseudo-discussion, you can just click here.

Why did Rittenhouse go where he went, with a gun, on the unfortunate evening in question? 

That's an extremely good question! It's astounding to see how rarely this question has been answered as our failing tribe has pretended, again and again and again and again, to discuss the events which underlay this trial.

Why did Rittenhouse go where he went?  That's a very good question! We're not sure we've ever seen that question answered in the endless pseudo-discussions which have emerged, with stunning regularity, from within our own blue tribe.

It has been answered, again and again, in discussions conducted by the red tribe. For the record, an answer to that basic question doesn't answer this separate question:

Should he have gone there with a gun on the evening in question?

Should he have gone there with a gun? That too is a very good question. Sadly, though, Behar didn't seem to know the answer to the simpler question she was asking.  Neither did the equally clueless Goldberg, Behar's partner in sin. 

The delightfully offbeat corporate stars kicked off a pseudo-discussion. With Behar wonderfully saying, at one point, that she almost called him "Rotten-house," this is the fuller text of their imitation of life:

BEHAR (11/22/21): Then why did he go there with a gun? Sorry.

GOLDBERG: No, no—I mean, it's the question. It's the question.

BEHAR: If you support them, why did you go there with a gun? I mean, this is gonna have serious repercussions, in my opinion. 

I mean, we can talk the legality of it and everything else. But to me, it's like, I can't go and protest now without worrying that some nutcase is gonna have a gun, cross the state line, and come and shoot me. That's the problem. That's what I have to worry about.

I come from a generation—we protested the Vietnam War and all of that. I believe in protest—I really believe in it.…And so, that is my fear now. That he has opened Pandora's Box for some crazies out there.

She almost called him "Rottenhouse," Behar said at one point! In such ways, our failing tribe has pretended to discuss the Rittenhouse verdict and the underlying actions which were under review.

For starters, we'll venture a fairly safe guess. We're prepared to guess that Behar hasn't spent a lot of time at protests lately. 

In that sense, she doesn't have to worry about some nutcase or some crazies "crossing the state line" to shoot her as she engages in the basic right she loves. 

Meanwhile, sure enough! There it was, once again, inserted as if by heavenly mandate—the utterly irrelevant statement that Rittenhouse had "crossed state lines" on his way to Kenosha that day or that night, or whenever the heck it was that he had actually gone there.

That utterly irrelevant point has been stated again and again as the tribunes of our tribe refuse to discuss the actual questions surrounding the events in Kenosha and the subsequent trial. 

This group performance has been unending; its spectacular dumbness defies traditional anthropological belief. It's a good example of "automatic speech," in which tribunes of a tribal group repeat irrelevant points mainly because the last twenty people they saw and heard had said the exact same things.

In truth, Rittenhouse did cross state lines on his way to Kenosha! He did so the day before the day in question, on his way to his lifeguard job in Kenosha County. In fact, he crossed state lines every time he drove to his lifeguard job from his home, which was one mile across the state line.

After performing his lifeguard duties, he spent the night with a friend in Kenosha. For that reason, he didn't have to cross state lines on the day or the evening in question. 

Still, he did cross state lines to get to Kenosha! The point is wholly irrelevant, but it's been recited, as if catechismally, by long lines of our failing tribe's tribunes. 

In fairness, Behar isn't exactly a journalist. At this point, she's more of a network "discussion actor" and a highly-paid network clown.

Behar isn't a journalist. But here was Greg Sargent, embarrassing himself in the Washington Post two days later:

SARGENT (11/24/21): In the days after Rittenhouse, 18, was acquitted of homicide in killing two and wounding a third amid unrest in Kenosha, Wis., two strains of Rittenhouse lionization developed on the right. One was sanitized, mainly treating his acquittal as heroic in that he evaded a would-be injustice at the hands of out-of-control leftism.

The other was darker and more explicit, treating Rittenhouse as a hero for what he did: cross state lines to deliberately place himself in a combustible situation, armed to kill...

Sargent recited the talking-point too. In his presentation, as in Behar's, Rittenhouse "crossed state lines!" 

(During his piece, Sargent cited, and linked to, this earlier piece by the Post's James Hohmann. According to Hohmann, Rittenhouse "crossed state lines from his home in Illinois." By now, reciting this point was required, as if by tribal law.)

According to Sargent, Rittenhouse crossed state lines "to deliberately place himself in a combustible situation." This brings us back to the very good question Behar actually managed to ask during her pseudo-presentation:

"Why did he go there with a gun?" the befuddled network star had asked. 

In theory, Behar is paid a very large salary—you aren't allowed to know how much—to discuss such topics on ABC. But neither she nor the equally clueless Goldberg seemed to be able to answer this very basic question.

In truth, this was an extremely good question. For that reason, it's important to understand why a pair of pseudos like Goldberg and Behar were still unable to answer. 

In fact, Goldberg and Behar were conducting a classic pseudo-discussion—the kind of conversation which used to be restricted to corner saloons. Now, these conversations are routinely conducted on our nation's "cable news" programs, and on network TV shows like The View.

The View is one of the dumbest versions of this cultural artefact. That said, Behar was asking her question on ABC, with millions of people watching.

She didn't seem to know why "Rottenhouse" had gone where he went that night. Goldberg didn't seem to know either—but viewers were allowed to hear that he'd "crossed state lines!"

Why did Rittenhouse go where he went that night? As the trial was being discussed, that question was almost never answered for those of us who get our programming and our talking-points from CNN or MSNBC.

By way of contrast, people watching Fox News were quite likely to hear that question answered, in a fairly straightforward way. 

As noted above, this doesn't answer that other question—Should he have gone there that night? But it constitutes actual information, and in this particular instance, people who were watching Fox News were more likely to be exposed to same.

On the channels and news orgs designed for us, such basic points of information were very rarely provided. Instead, we were subjected to the consummate dumbness of our tribe's talking-points, including the amazingly braindead claim that Rottenhouse—sorry, Rittenhouse—had fiendishly "crossed state lines" on his way to a protest.

By the way—had he actually gone to "a protest?" Is that an informative account of where he went that night?

We'll explore that question next week, along with quite a few others.

Within our tribal silo, we're been told that Rittenhouse "crossed state lines," and that he was "a vigilante." A friend of ours emailed this week to ask us what else we'd call him.

We'd answer that question this way:

We wouldn't necessarily "call him" anything at all! Given the opportunity, we'd try to provide information about what he actually did, and about the events surrounding his actions.

That said, the day is long gone when our "news channels" exist to provide information. Today, our channels exist to churn Storyline, and to guide us in our name-calling.

Personally, we wouldn't be inclined call Rittenhouse a vigilante; we don't think the name fits very well at all. But we're less interested in the calling of names than in the supply of information.

Alas! Concerning this general topic, more information flowed on Fox than on our own "news channels" or within our other "news orgs." We think it's instructive for tribal members to be aware of this fact.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but our vastly self-impressed tribe is currently sinking fast. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but name-calling makes us dumber.

Why did Rittenhouse go there that night? That's a very important question.

We'll start with that first question next week. We'll then move on to other info which our tribe rarely heard.

Next week: Behar's question first


56 comments:

  1. Whatever Somerby is trying to show with that link to the excerpt from “The View” is disproven a few seconds into the video. Two of the participants in the discussion immediately offer objections to Goldberg and Behar.

    Any regular viewer of “The View” knows that at least one of the co-hosts is always from a more conservative-leaning viewpoint. So, they would seem to offer what Somerby finds so lacking on all those MSNBC shows, a mix of differing opinions.

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  2. Thanks for documenting liberal atrocities, dear Bob, but this:

    "Should he have gone there with a gun? That too is a very good question."

    But it is, in fact, an utterly stupid, totally irrelevant question.

    Young Rittenhouse walked a public street, perfectly legally carrying a perfectly legal object.

    It's entirely young Rittenhouse's business to decide what he should or shouldn't do, within the constraints of the law.

    Y'know, dear Bob, we're very much used to the famous liberal concept that sexual assault of a scantily dressed womyn in a seedy neighborhood is absolutely, 100% not the scantily dressed womyn's fault.

    Because, dear Bob, it's her right to walk scantily dressed through any seedy neighborhood she likes.

    We'd appreciate any sign of liberal consistency here, dear Bob, at least from you.

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    1. Russia does not have a constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms, and is therefore not a free country.

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    2. It was not legal in Kenosha for a 17 year old to be in possession of such a weapon. The judge's dismissal of the weapons charge doesn't change state law.

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  3. "We're prepared to guess that Behar hasn't spent a lot of time at protests lately."

    And Somerby has? Quite a few celebrities attend demonstrations these days. Unless he knows whether Behar was among them, he shouldn't be making such a statement in the absence of information.

    Personally, I worry about who will be shot at a demonstration too. I don't have to be there myself to be concerned about the others who may be attacked now that Rittenhouse has set a precedent for using guns against political enemies.

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  4. Somerby objects again to the use of the phrase "crossed state lines". In his excessively literal parsing, he seems to misunderstand that this refers to "outside agitators", to those who come from somewhere else to stoke violence at demonstrations. Do these people come from elsewhere? How many came to the 1/6 insurrection, bused in, flying in, driving across state lines? How many brought weapons? Quite a few, including some who stashed an arsenal at a nearby motel to be close at hand.

    Rittenhouse responded to an internet call to action. He didn't just wander by the riot on his way to his dad's house, as the right is now pretending. He went there on purpose (crossing a state line) to participate, and he brought a gun given to him by someone local, since Rittenhouse was unable to buy a gun legally.

    Somerby's pretense that this characterization of what Rittenhouse did is incorrect, is becoming tiresome. When these women are talking about crossing state lines in future demonstrations, Somerby has no basis for objecting at all. That is what these militia members and alt-right groups do. They mobilize and bring weapons. The fear that this will happen more often after Rittenhouse's acquittal is justified.

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  5. Thanksgiving, indeed.

    https://www.wsbtv.com/video/local-video/ahmaud-arberys-father-speaks-after-jury-finds-3-men-guilty-his-murder/0de630ac-ebd3-4220-bed9-983a39344277/

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    1. Your drive by quips are annoying. Arbery's father deserves respect because he has suffered a loss. You just reveal yourself to be a huge asshole when you do this.

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    2. Anonymouse 2:24pm, Mr. Arbery deserves all the respect in the world.

      Still, you’re being too hard on Anonymouse 12:57pm.

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    3. So, if he deserves respect, why did you post the video of him with your snide comment? You really need to think before you comment. This isn't one of your alt-right blogs.

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    4. How is “Thanksgiving, indeed” a snide comment?

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    5. We know that you don't care one bit about Arbery, his murder, or his father's feelings. That's what makes your comment snide.

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    6. You can’t layoff the f-offs and the anonymouse self-referential and circular reasoning for one day?

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    7. You should just say nothing about Arbery. This isn't the time for mockery or gloating or whatever form of owning the libs you think you are engaging in.

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    8. How do you shoplift a 65-inch TV? That's what we would like to know. It's either brilliant or incredibly dumb.

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    9. When it’s the right time to say anything with which you don’t concur, do let us know, Anonymouse 4:39pm.

      In that case, I will alert my ISP and the media because whether it’s about a murder or Maureen Dowd, you’re in self-righteous finger-pointing outrage every day, so obviously you’d have to be in a hostage siituation or having a stroke.

      Until then, ahhh…just go soak your head.

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    10. It is the right time for you to fuck off.

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    11. Everyone knows Micah X. Johnson is the greatest American hero.

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    12. Cecelia here displays the same immoral behavior Rittenhouse did with his first victim; they taunt their victims, provoke a response, then attack, then claim self defense. Right wingers call this "strategy" the rest of us understand it is a call for help with their unresolved issues, usually stemming from childhood trauma.

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  6. As many times as Somerby repeats the question, why did Rittenhouse go there with a gun, he never answers it. Instead he says:

    "By way of contrast, people watching Fox News were quite likely to hear that question answered, in a fairly straightforward way. "

    Did those at Fox news hear the truth about that, or did they hear the excuse whipped up by Rittenhouse's attorneys? Was there any analysis of the things that Rittenhouse himself said and did before the riot and afterward, to friends? Was there any consideration of how facts support or do not support Rittenhouse's claims about his actions?

    I don't have to watch Fox to know that none of that happened. Viewers are more likely to know why Rittenhouse actually went to the demonstration with a gun, as opposed to Rittenhouse's self-serving defense statements, if they listen to other sources besides Fox News, whose main intent was simply to justify Rittenhouse's actions and present him in the most positive light, consistent with conservative beliefs and values.

    In that sense, Fox serves up propaganda, not facts. In this case, the propaganda was pro-gun and pro-vigilante and pro-alt-right, not an objective examination of anything that occurred.

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    1. Was Rittenhouse really the choir-boy that his defense suggested he was? His mother doesn't even buy that portrayal of him.

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    2. There are two accounts of how Rittenhouse got to Kenosha. Rittenhouse said he drove himself. There is also an account that says his sister drove him. After the shooting, he didn't drive back to Antioch himself because the car was "at his father's house", so Black drove him.

      According to FackCheck.org:

      "Rittenhouse returned to his residence in Illinois shortly after the shootings, when Black drove him home. It’s not clear why Rittenhouse did not drive himself, but he had testified that his car was parked at the stepfather’s house and that Black drove them to downtown Kenosha in Black’s car.

      When the teens arrived in Antioch, Rittenhouse said he told his mother and two sisters what had occurred that night in Kenosha and then his mother took him to the local police station to turn himself in at about 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 26.

      Wendy Rittenhouse said in a November 2020 interview that she initially did not know of her son’s whereabouts or what he was doing on Aug. 25.

      Rittenhouse, then a nursing assistant at a nursing home, told the Chicago Tribune that she worked a 16-hour shift on Aug. 24 and slept late on Aug. 25 before going to get a COVID-19 test for her job and then running other errands in Illinois with her oldest daughter."

      Rittenhouse's pretense at being a medic may have arisen because he mother is a nurse.

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    3. There is testimony that Rittenhouse had an interest in policing and was part of a youth program, and that he supporter Blue Lives Matter. There is no testimony that he worked in youth-nursing activities (hospital volunteer) and such aspirations were unrealistic given that he had been a dropout for three years and had no GED, nor was he pursuing any education before the demonstration in Kenosha. He started such efforts after his arrest.

      That makes his medic story appear fabricated. His association with local milita members and his identification with police seem to be his primary motive for going there.

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  7. "We'll start with that first question next week. We'll then move on to other info which our tribe rarely heard."

    Don't hold your breath. Somerby still hasn't discussed Robin Givhan, as promised. He slimed her and then moved on.

    Today, Somerby is pretending that the left doesn't know why Rittenhouse went there. He says he will tell us Monday, but I suspect he will either tell us the right-wing party line (as if it were fact) or move on to something else. Perhaps he'll tell us about how crazy Godel was in his old age?

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  8. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

    "The friend who bought the rifle that Kyle Rittenhouse used to fatally shoot two men and wound another would like charges against him thrown out.

    But just when it seemed a controversial ruling from Rittenhouse's trial last week might clear Rittenhouse's friend, that case was again delayed on Monday.

    Dominick Black, 20, of Kenosha, was charged last fall with two counts of providing a firearm to a minor, resulting in death. He bought an AR-15-style rifle for Rittenhouse in May 2020, when Rittenhouse was too young to legally purchase a gun. "

    Black testified against Rittenhouse at Rittenhouse's trial.

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  9. From Wikipedia:

    "During the day of August 25, peaceful[41][42] protests in Kenosha were followed by chaos where demonstrators, armed civilians and others faced off against one another and the police at night.[41][42] After the city suffered building and vehicle damage the preceding day,[43] social media had drawn locals and outsiders, left-wing activists and right-wing militia into the city streets despite an evening curfew imposed on citizens.[38] Some 250 National Guard members were deployed to the city.[43] Militia that included Boogaloo boys[44][38] and a biker crew carrying "hatchets, ball bats, and firearms" accumulated near two gas stations south of Car Source, an automotive business with three properties (a dealership, a used car lot, and another car lot to the South), which had been badly damaged during the first two nights of unrest.[45] Car Source had suffered $1.5 million in arson damage the previous night.[45][46][38] The shootings took place shortly before midnight along Sheridan Road in Kenosha after protesters were moved out of Civic Center Park following clashes with law enforcement.[47] Police in armored vehicles drove protesters south away from the courthouse and Civic Center Park.[48]

    Kyle Rittenhouse was a resident of Antioch, Illinois, about 20 miles from Kenosha by road.[15][5][49] Prior to the Kenosha unrest, he had participated in local police cadet programs and expressed support on social media for the Blue Lives Matter movement and law enforcement.[50][5][51] On August 24, he drove to Kenosha to stay with his friend Dominick Black,[52][53] who kept a rifle he purchased for Rittenhouse four months earlier at his Kenosha home.[53][54] The following day, August 25, Rittenhouse helped clean graffiti off a school.[55] Later, together with Black, he arrived at Car Source.[56][57] Accounts differ as to whether Rittenhouse and Black's help was requested by Car Source. The dealership owner's sons denied that gunmen had been asked to defend the business,[58][59] but several witnesses testified that armed individuals had been directly sought out by the business to protect their property.[58]

    In the hours leading up to the shooting, Rittenhouse appeared in multiple videos taken by protesters and bystanders and was interviewed twice: first by a livestreamer at the car dealership where he and a number of other armed men had stationed themselves, second by Richie McGinniss, a reporter for The Daily Caller.[41] Rittenhouse was seen talking with police officers,[41][60] and offering medical aid to those who were injured.[41] When McGinniss asked Rittenhouse why he was at the car dealership, he responded: "So, people are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business. Part of my job is also to help people. If there is somebody hurt, I'm running into harm's way. That's why I have my rifle, because I have to protect myself, obviously. I also have my med kit." At some point, Rittenhouse left the dealership, was prevented by police from returning,[41] and then headed to the Car Source lot farthest to the South.[38]"

    The gun that Rittenhouse used was bought for him by Black four months before the demonstrations. Rittenhouse was hanging around the militia members when he was approached by people trying to disarm him. There was other gunfire. All of the people on the street were violating a curfew.

    You can believe that Rittenhouse went there as a medic, but that seems highly unlikely given his lack of training. This sounds more like a cover story than an actual explanation of his presence. There is no reference to any organization that might have authorized him or supported his medic efforts. In that sense, he was a vigilante medic too, not simply a vigilante security guard for businesses that didn't authorize him to protect them.

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    1. "Once the prosecution rested, Judge Bruce Schroeder agreed to dismiss a curfew violation charge against Rittenhouse, ruling that prosecutors had failed to present any evidence a curfew was in place."
      https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/09/us/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-tuesday/index.html

      Obviously the judge failed to consult with the HIGHEST authority -- wikipedia.

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    2. Somerby doesn't want to address this question with any facts. He wants to use it to beat up on liberals and journalists -- today, Behar and Goldberg on The View, which is not an actual news show.

      Somerby's goal, once again, seems to be to encourage readers of his blog to watch more Fox News. It also seems to be to undermine reporting on mainstream cable news (MSNBC and CNN) and call into question facts about Rittenhouse reported there, in favor of the propaganda verson of Rittenhouse's actions presented on Fox.

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    3. Mao, the prosecutors' failure to present evidence for a curfew doesn't prove that there wasn't a curfew.

      You don't understand legal reasoning because you don't live in a free country: President Putin has not granted you the right to keep and bear arms.

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  10. The former president has endorsed Rittenhouse's behavior. Does it even matter why he went to Kenosha after that?

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  11. Here are some facts about the Kenosha Guard and militias, and Kyle Rittenhouse's involvement with them, that Somerby wouldn't have heard on Fox News:

    https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/05/kyle-rittenhouse-american-vigilante

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    1. From the NewYorker article:

      "Rittenhouse stood over McGinniss for half a minute. Amid the sound of more gunfire, he didn’t stoop to check on the injured man or offer his first-aid kit. “Call 911!” McGinniss told him. Rittenhouse called a friend instead. Sprinting out of the parking lot, he said, “I just shot somebody!”

      Demonstrators were yelling: “What’d he do?” “Shot someone!” “Cranium that boy!” Rittenhouse ran down the street toward the whirring lights of police vehicles. To those who had heard only the gunfire and the shouting, he must have resembled a mass shooter: they tend to be heavily armed, white, and male."

      That doesn't sound like the behavior of any medic.
      The behavior of those who encountered Rittenhouse down the street is fully explainable by their perception that Rittenhouse was a mass shooter.

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    2. There is also this:

      "Weeks before the shootings, Rittenhouse had been hanging out with other teen-agers on the Kenosha waterfront when an argument erupted involving the younger of his two sisters, McKenzie. Reese Granville, a rapper who happened to be cruising past with a friend, filmed the altercation with his phone. (In the video, Granville and his friend could be heard debating what would happen if the police arrived: “It’s all white people, boy. We Black—we goin’ to jail.”) When a girl started to fight with McKenzie, Rittenhouse punched her, repeatedly, from behind. Bystanders broke it up by turning on Rittenhouse: “Don’t put your hands on a female!”

      Conservatives largely ignored the waterfront video. The protest footage had convinced them that Rittenhouse was a patriot who, after months of destructive unrest in U.S. cities, had finally put “Antifa” in check by bravely exercising his Second Amendment rights. Carlson, on Fox News, declared, “How shocked are we that seventeen-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?”

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    3. Since being found innocent of all charges, Rittenhouse has signed sponsorship deals with Prell Shampoo and Sunglass Hut, with many more to follow.

      I think all Americans should support these businesses. I know I will.

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    4. Not only that, he's signed to star in the Love Boat reboot.

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    5. He is also invited to join the board of directors of the school of American ballet.

      ...ah, sorry, scratch that. That was Chelsea Clinton...

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    6. To the extent it doesn't conflict with appearing in all of the Republican campaign ads in 2022 and 2024.

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    7. They're making cute little Kyle dolls for Christmas season with which we all can cuddle.

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    8. This shows you what conservatives consider funny:

      https://dailysoak.com/index.php/2021/11/24/desperate-democrats-make-kyle-rittenhouse-voodoo-doll-in-last-ditch-effort-to-take-him-down/

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    9. After your cult's VIP clowns did this, voodoo wouldn't surprise us in the least.

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    10. After Republicans suppressed votes of black people all across the country, it wouldn't surprise me if they cheered along Rittenhouse because he shot three people during a protest for black justice.

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    11. You should rejoice, dear Robert, for those black justice warriors have now achieved martyrdom.

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  12. Here is the sad part. Rittenhouse not only dropped out of high school, but he kept losing his jobs, including his lifeguard job and the one at the YMCA in Kenosha (which he did not hold at the time of the shooting, as was claimed). He was not enrolled in any online nursing course either at the time of the shooting. Nursing requires a degree or certificate of some sort, depending on the type of license.

    Rittenhouse wanted to join the police but:

    "About one third (30.2 percent) of police officers in the United States have a four-year college degree. A little more than half (51.8 percent) have a two-year degree, while 5.4 percent have a graduate degree."

    In Los Angeles, completion of high school is required. In Kenosha, you need a two-year certificate program (after high school graduation). Rittenhouse wasn't on that course, at the time of the shooting, not matter what he may have signed up for during his trial.

    These wannabees who cannot meet requirements to join police, military or other first-responders, focus on the shooting part, because they think that's easy. Too bad no one is zeroing in on the mistakes Rittenhouse made -- it might be instructive for the other kids in his situation. There is a lot more to the job than simply point and shoot.

    Somerby, who claims to have been an educator, apparently doesn't recognize the importance of education to these lost souls.

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  13. Somerby thinks racism is not a thing anymore, as long as he doesn't see color. But this is what it is like to be black and go about your everyday life:

    ""It was pretty dramatic. It's destroyed me," 73-year-old Eugene L. Brice, a member of the Springfield chapter of the National Association of Black Veterans, told MassLive.

    "I pulled into the handicapped spot at the Big Y in East Longmeadow. I do my own shopping and for my wife," Brice said. "A woman pulled beside me and crossed halfway over the lines. I asked her to move so I could use my ramp to get out of the car."

    While the woman did move, she didn't give Brice enough room to exit his car, prompting him to ask her again, to which she responded, "Mind your own business." But then what happened next moved Brice to tears.

    "The woman said, 'N----, just keep on moving.' She said that several times," said Brice, who uses a mobility scooter to get around. He also said that the woman physically threatened him.

    "I was sitting in the scooter, and I was very vulnerable. I was scared and afraid if I said something, it might escalate," Brice said.

    Once he was inside the store, Brice's ordeal wasn't over yet.

    "I tried to buy some ice cream, but I was shaking and I couldn't talk," he said, adding that a white man who saw the incident told the woman that if Brice had stayed "with his own kind" — it wouldn't have happened."

    It isn't just up to black people to affirm that all lives matter, as Arbery Sr. did. It is up to white people to admit that there is a problem when white people behave like this to a black disabled veteran who is just trying to get his shopping done.

    If Cecelia thinks Arbery is saying something important, she needs to live that truth by sticking up for black people when stuff like this happens. And I frankly just don't see that happening. Instead, she wants to use Arbery Sr.'s words to count coup against the libs here at Somerby's site, while Somerby pretends racism is long gone.

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    1. Corby, you can’t have it all ways.

      You can’t constantly blister people as negating racism towards blacks when we say that all lives matter and equate those who want a colorblind society as being in denial of the existence of racism and then hammer me when I hold up a man who has been thru the wringer, but still says…no, insists…that we’re all the same and ALL lives matter.

      I didn’t own the likes of you. Mr. Arbery did.

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    2. Super-dooper-liberal Massachusetts, eh? No surprise there.

      ...or is it Jussie Smollett, acting out again? What do you think, dear Corby?

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    3. Mr Arbery expressed his own opinion. He doesn't "own" me any more than you ever do. He has been "through the wringer" but you think he should be held in our faces, as though his son's death meant nothing more to you than a poltical "in your face"! He may believe that all lives matter, but you don't or you wouldn't use his words the way you have, as if his loss doesn't matter. And it clearly doesn't, to you.

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    4. "you can’t have it all ways."

      It would be almost as hypocritically foolish as taking a stand against "cancel culture" while trying to ban CRT from being taught in schools.

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    5. What's so hypocritical about banning mein-campfy CRT and opposing liberal-hitlerian repressions, dear dembot?

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    6. Mao,
      When you learn what some of the words you write mean, it'll start to make sense to you.
      In the meantime, learning is your friend.

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    7. Every parent should have the right to question police departments on how they do their jobs. If the cops don't like it, they can get a job in the private sector.

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    8. He's right that all lives matter. For these establishment liberals, black lives only matter if their murders can be used politically. Other than that it is quite completely clear that they could care less about them.

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    9. Meh. Lives mostly matter to those who actually live them.

      To young Rittenhouse, for example, his life matters, since he defended it.

      But for Saint Joseph Rosenbaum, his life obviously didn't matter to him, since he already attempted suicide twice, and finally succeeded by jumping an armed man.

      To each their own, as they say.

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    10. Very stupid and ignorant comment 11:29.

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