In the last four years, we’ve been “privileged” time and again to watch the psychotics on the right attempt to rewrite history before our eyes. It’s happening again, in real time, on cable news and social media. Lucky us, we get to be part of it…

Protests in the Streets

The streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin have been alive with protests — mostly peaceful protests — demanding justice for Jacob Blake, an unarmed, innocent black American who was shot seven times in the back at point-blank range by a white cop, Rusten Sheskey, in Kenosha.

Blake was shot Sunday afternoon, less than three minutes after officers arrived on the scene.

The protests did become occasionally violent, with protesters throwing rocks and shooting off fireworks, while the police and National Guard responed with the utual tear gas and “less lethal” armaments.

The biggest problem came when armed, camoflage-wearing “militia” members took to the streets to “stand with the police” and “protect property.”

Multiple Murders

Before the shootings, the far-right rag Daily Caller did a video interview with Rittenhouse, who said:

So people are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business. And part of my job is to also help people. If there is somebody hurt, I’m running into harm’s way. That’s why I have my rifle — because I can protect myself, obviously. But I also have my med kit.

I presume he didn’t tell the Caller journalist that he intended to slaughter people later that evening.

Tuesday night around midnight, the protesters were shocked and horrified to hear gunshots ring out. A young man, 17-year old Kyle Rittenhouse from Antioch, Illinois, had just shot an innocent protester in the head after tripping over his own feet and shooting almost at random.

Multiple media accounts and videos posted on Twitter and other social media venues tell a straightforward story. Rittenhouse drove from Antioch to Kenosha carrying an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun, with the apparent intention of killing protesters. From what we currently know, Rittenhouse has two main foci in his life: police and guns. He has access to multiple weapons, and he dearly, desperately wants to be a cop. How he thought that driving across state lines to gun down unarmed civilians would get him closer to his dreaming of wearing the blue, I’m not sure. It is not clear whether Rittenhouse was there to join the militia presence.

What is clear is that the police and National Guard on the scene welcomed Rittenhouse and the militia members. They told Rittenhouse they appreciated him being there, and gave him and the other militia members water. The militia members stood with the police against the protesters, and reportedly one even asked if the police would deputize him and his cronies. One officer told a group of militia members:

We appreciate you guys, we really do.

By the way: Rittenhouse also posted video of himself in the front row of a Trump rally in January 2020. White House spokescreature Kellyanne Conway said of Rittenhouse’s attendance at the Trump rally, “We’re not responsible for the private conduct of people at our rallies any more than … all the crazy people who have been involved with the Obama/Biden campaigns or other things.” Naturally, she didn’t cite any instances of “crazy people” involved with the Obama or Biden campaigns.

After shooting the first protester, Rittenhouse apparently made a call to someone on his cellphone, saying that he had “just shot somebody.” As he was walking away, cops responded to the shots, and began loading the victim’s body into a police vehicle. They did not, however, attempt to secure the scene or find the shooter.

Moments later, Rittenhouse found himself surrounded by protesters who were trying to disarm and contain him. Why? It’s quite clear: they didn’t want him killing anyone else. One of them, Anthony Huber, was “armed” with nothing but a skateboard. He used that to try to disarm Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse began spraying fire, causing the protesters surrounding him to disperse. Rittenhouse then shot Huber in the back.

The death count now stood at two. Huber left behind a girlfriend and her daughter, who reportedly adored Huber. The first victim, Joseph Rosenbaum, left behind a fiancee and a young daughter. A friend of Huber’s, Marcus Starks, said:

I had to watch my friend die on Facebook, I had to watch my city burn down. That boy had no business being here, let alone with open carry… He came from Antioch, Illinois, he had no business being here, then the police let him walk right past them as people were screaming, that he just shot someone, they let him go and threw him a bottle of water.

During the struggle, Rittenhouse shot a third man, Gaige Grosskreutz of West Allis, in the arm. Grosskreutz would soon lose that arm in emergency surgery, but is alive and expected to “recover.” Grosskreutz has served as a medic in earlier street protests. It isn’t clear whether he was attempting to engage Rittenhouse or render assistance to Huber.

Afterwards, video captured Rittenhouse approaching multiple police vehicles with his hands up, saying “I shot somebody.” Protesters screamed, “He shot someone!” The police ignored him and the protesters. According to photographer Brent Ford:

He had his hands up and they told him to get out of there, even though everyone was yelling that he was the shooter. The police didn’t seem to hear or care what the crowd was saying.

Rittenhouse made his way back to his car, drove home, and went to sleep.

The next morning, police arrested Rittenhouse at his home. He will be charged as an adult, with first-degree murder charges and crossing state lines to escape arrest.

History Changing Before Our Eyes?

Facebook got into the act quickly, purging itself of Rittenhouse’s Facebook page as well as the pages of the Kenosha Guard and other area militia groups.

Then the right-wing media got to work.

Tucker Carlson, a dedicated racist, led the charge from his swivel chair in front of the Fox News cameras. On his show, he said:

Kenosha has devolved into anarchy because the authorities in charge of the city abandoned it. People in charge from the governor of Wisconsin on down refused to enforce the law. They stood back and they watched Kenosha burn. … So are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder? How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?

Carlson is getting pushback, including calls to boycott his show.

Psychopath and Internet maven Alex Jones took to Infowars to defend Rittenhouse, claiming that he was merely acting to defend the nation against “a community overthrow of the country.” He continued: “I told you they’re going to ratchet this up toward the election and try to make the whole thing racial. But it’s not—it’s about a globalist takeover. Jim Hoft, another far-right Internet lunatic, wrote on his Gateway Pundit blog that Rittenhouse was merely defending himself, using heavily edited and chopped-up versions of the graphic videos taken by protesters to “prove” that Rittenhouse was “fighting for his life.” Ann Coulter posted and then deleted a tweet saying she wanted Rittenhouse as her president. A contributor to the Trump-supporting student organization Turning Point USA called the shootings “justified.”

Last night, former pro baseball player Aubrey Huff posted on Twitter that Rittenhouse is a “national treasure.”

He deleted it shortly after, apparently not happy with the deluge of responses he got.

The biggest effect is, of course, on social media. Thousands of fanatics are reposting Hoft’s edited videos, or making their own, and posting as many pro-Rittenhouse (and pro-Trump) comments as their little fingers can type out.

It doesn’t help that the Kenosha police are minimizing Rittenhouse’s murders and defending the militia presence. At a press conference, Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis tried to blame the victims for being shot to death because…they were violating curfew.

Everybody involved was out after the curfew. I’m not going to make a great deal of it, but the point is the curfew’s in place to protect. … Had persons not been out involved in violation of that, perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have happened. So last night, a 17-year-old individual from Antioch, Illinois was involved in the use of firearms to resolve whatever conflict was in place. The result of it was two people are dead.

And we all know how much the RNC speakers are screaming about mobs of black and brown people overruning “our” suburbs and eradicating “our” way of life.

So, what do we do about it? How do we respond?

The one thing we don’t do is ignore it. Anyone who thinks loftily ignoring it all will make it go away is terribly, indefensibly mistaken. We ignored loudmouth Rush Limbaugh all the way from being heard on a few small radio stations to becoming a dominant force in American politics. They won’t go away because we deny them our involvement.

We push back, however we can. We do it with the facts, and we do it with commitment.

Bring it up in conversation with your angry uncle or the guy you work with who thinks Rittenhouse should take Pence’s place on the Trump 2020 ticket. Answer the screaming idiots on Facebook and Instagram. Push back with facts, post links, or just call them lying plague rats (my personal choice). But don’t let them build an alternate history of this or any other critical event.

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1 COMMENT

  2. It would help if journalists/talking heads, even on MSNBC would STOP using the term “long gun” or “rifle” to describe what this murdering asshole toted past police lines – twice.

    Call what he carried and used what it is – an ASSAULT weapon! Unlike a “long gun” or “rifle” designed for hunters, or even an old-school (pre-assault weapon design) military rifle that actually can be a pretty good big game hunting weapon an assault rifle is engineered and built for a very specific type of killing and it isn’t for big game.

    It’s made to kill other human beings.

    It was specifically designed to make every individual military trooper kill other human beings as quickly and efficiently as possible and in the greatest possible numbers. especially in close combat and/or urban/suburban environments.

    THAT is what this MURDERUR carried. I’m sick and tired of hearing even people on the favored network of liberals soft soap the description of what this guy was carrying.

    For anyone who doesn’t know the difference (and a lot of people don’t) between a regular hunting rifle or even the semi-autos our troops carried before the dumbass decision was made to switch to the M-16 I can do so. Of course, it might take on of those “involved” explanations that I’m known for – the kind folks say is too long.

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  3. They didn’t bother to tell people to go home, it was after curfew, even when they had firearms visible?
    That’s on the cops. So is being friendly with the “militia” nuts, who are not trained for law enforcement, and too effing many of whom want to kill minorities.

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  4. I’m going to revise the chronology of events a bit. The police have released a list of charges against Rittenhouse, and a clearer timeline of events.

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  5. I have no idea if true or not, but I read that his mother drove him there and back. If that turns out, do you think she might be in a little doodoo?

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  6. To be fair, some of the protesters did a lot more than “throwing rocks and shooting off fireworks.” https://www.wisn.com/article/protesters-set-nearly-100-vehicles-on-fire-at-kenosha-dealership/33725158
    https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2020/08/25/this-numbing-arson-and-damage-devastates-kenosha-businesses/3434651001/

    Biden struck the right tone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhXvg02-w9Q&feature=youtu.be

    The comedian, Trevor Noah, did not crack a single joke and asked a series of thought-provoking questions starting at about 8:45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DvmM7nPqVA

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