He certainly had no business being in such a place if we listen to some posters here.
Everyone out there that night broke curfew. It was done in full view of the police officers. Did these prosecutors who are questioning Rittenhouse about the curfew prosecute anyone for violating it except Kyle Rittenhouse? Are any posters in this thread shaking their fingers at anyone else in the crowd for violating the curfew?
There is an excellent legal argument to be made that as the government allowed such open, obvious, and widespread violations of that curfew that they are estopped from charging anyone for violating it.
For a more practical reason, am I supposed to let my business burn under the theory that I should follow the curfew law and be home when it is well known that the government is not going to enforce the curfew law, is not going to punish people or stop them from setting fires, and I have to risk my business being burned? A competing harms doctrine.
It is amazing to see the nitpickery about what Rittenhouse supposedly did wrong while ignoring the actual lawbreaking that others were engaged in.
The trial isn’t about “everyone out there that night” nor is about “others”; to characterize not discussing them as “ignoring” strikes me as both inaccurate and distracting.
Rittenhouse was a minor breaking the curfew in a city he had no significant ties to. He had no business being there. The fact that there was a crowd of curfew breakers doesn’t justify Kyle piling in. If he actually supported law enforcement, he would not have added to the mob. Shesh, just what the police want, they have protests turning violent and a buncha wannabe militia members with firearms adding fuel to the fire.
Shit, what reasonable parent would have said, “Hey Kyle, why don’t you go the that city where there were riots the past couple of nights. BTW, why don’t you take an illegal firearm and meet up with some people you know from the interwebs to protect car dealers that the owners haven’t asked you for help.” What a great fucking idea, sign me up for parent of the year! (I’m not saying Kyle’s parents did this, but what responsible parent would do this???)
Again, whatever the verdict, Kyle is not innocent and he has blood on his hands.
No. It is relevant. If folks are looting, throwing molotov cocktails, destroying property, and violating curfew and none of those anarchists who are engaged in violence, in large part, to obtain or further a political agenda are charged it demonstrates selective political prosecution/persecution by the same authorities that allowed the destruction to occur.
Do only rifles escalate matters? Because Joshua Zimimski had a gun and fired it right before Rittenhouse did. Gaige Grosskreutz was also open carrying a gun. If Rittenhouse was escalating matters by openly carrying a firearm then he wasn’t alone. I’m sure we agree that the world would be a better place if no one showed up with guns but that’s not what the law says and that’s not what happened that night.
When does it happen that a black man who is shot by the police is maligned because of prior driving without a license, curfew violations, possession a gun when he was one year too young, or even better that he just had “no business” being on a particular public right of way when others were there?
And people make much of this being “across state lines” and how he “travelled there from his home state.” This was 15 miles from his house. He lives in a border town. He goes to this town often. The distortions in this case belie the bias of the people making the statements.
Oh bullshit. Nobody said anything bad about Martin buying skittles. Martin was wearing a hoodie in Florida, was walking through back yards, and did not live in the neighborhood. That gives rise to a suspicion that merits further investigation. And when Zimmerman investigates, Martin circles back and beats him down.
But you say it is skittles. This is exactly what I am talking about. Can we please have an honest debate here? Nobody at all said that Martin deserved to die because of skittles.
{…} Conversely, Skittles are now a point of attack for those who believe that Martin was one of those rare unarmed 17-year-olds who can be dangerous enough to merit killing. The Skittles and the drink he bought, some have suggested, could have been ingredients to make lean (AKA sizzurp or purple drank), a homemade drug based on cough medicine that might cause aggressive and irrational behaviour if overused. {…} How Skittles became a symbol of Trayvon Martin's innocence | Trayvon Martin | The Guardian
It was evening. In February. Temps in Sanford, FL were cool to warrant wearing a hoodie. Hoodies, by the way, were very much in fashion among teens in 2012. There’s nothing suspicious in that piece of apparel–except, apparently, if it’s worn by a black teen-ager.
Wrong. There are no backyards as such in The Retreat at Twin Lakes. Martin may have been walking on the sidewalk or cutting through the large common area, but he wasn’t entering privately owned back yards. It’s interesting that you misremember this in the way you do.
He and his father were the guests of his father’s fiancee, who lived in the gated community. They’d been there for a week and had every right to be there, just as your own guests have the right to be in your neighborhood. The gated community has over 260 residences. Zimmerman couldn’t reasonably claim that he was familiar with everyone who lived there and all their guests, and certainly not that he could identify all residents and guests from a distance in the dark.
I hadn’t thought of it before this thread, but the similarities between these two cases are striking: both involved self-aggrandizing guys who went looking for drama, inserting themselves in situations they should not have, acting recklessly, and then claiming self-defense. The people–let’s face it, mostly white–who were determined to see Zimmerman as a good guy with a gun seem inclined to view Rittenhouse the same way. At least Rittenhouse had youth to partially blame for his tragically foolish, murderous actions. Zimmerman didn’t even have that.
Of course, there are big differences. For one, Zimmerman has had a long history of arrests, including battery of an officer, and his comments, actions, and arrests since murdering Martin have underscored his violent and racist nature. Darling and cause cèlébre of the far right, Rittenhouse may walk a different but no less dangerous path. I hope not.
