MAGA heroes

A New York City subway rider who was acquitted this week of killing a homeless man during a confrontation on a train has joined US President-elect Donald Trump as a guest of honour at a popular American sporting event.

[...]

A jury cleared [Daniel] Penny of criminally negligent homicide on Monday for using a fatal chokehold to restrain Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man, who had been shouting at other passengers and asking for money, last year.

[...]

Speaking about Mr Penny's acquittal earlier this week, Vance said this week on X that Mr Penny was "a good guy, and New York's mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone".

  BBC

[Kyle] Rittenhouse was acquitted on five charges for fatally shooting two people – Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber – and seriously wounding a third at a 2020 racial justice protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. No matter what else he is or isn’t, Mr Rittenhouse is someone who, as a teen, shot three people with an assault rifle at a Black Lives Matter demonstration and didn’t go to jail for it.

[...]

[S]ince before his murder trial was even finished, Mr Rittenhouse became a strange, uniquely American kind of famous: reviled by many, but beloved on the right, where Donald Trump defended him and Tucker Carlson lavished him with documentary-style coverage. Using crowdfunded donations and merch like t-shirts and sports bras, the Illinois teen raised more than a million of dollars in crowdfunded donations for his legal defence.

Since he’s been acquitted, the spotlight has only brightened. Under the banner of a purported campaign to clear his name, facing a sprawling civil lawsuit from the family of one of the people he shot, Mr Rittenhouse has become a full-blown right-wing influencer, garnering money and influence through brand collaborations, a video game, a media watchdog organisation, a speaking slot at CPAC, meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, visiting Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and appearing as the draw at various conservative events around the country.

  UK Independent

Trump's MAGA base reveres and lionizes you if you hate (and even - maybe especially - kill) the people they hate.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Killing irony one tweet at a time

MAGA world is beyond the pale

Kyle Rittenhouse was quizzed about his previously stated support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement at an event popular with conservatives, before security personnel removed the journalist asking the questions on Monday.

  MSN

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Yep, they're eating themselves now

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Right on cue

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Kyle Rittenhouse acquitted

I don't even want to talk about this outrage and what it probably will cause.

UPDATE:

Rittenhouse jury selection

Move over Brett Kavanaugh

Kavanaugh's performance, while ridiculous and unbelievable, can't hold a candle to Kyle Rittenhouse.

Of course, if Kavanaugh had been accused of murder instead of rape, he might have done better.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Lordy

Is this the best MAGA money can buy?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

WTF?

Remember atl-right hero Kyle Rittenhouse?

Prosecutors asked a judge Wednesday for a new arrest warrant for an Illinois teen charged with shooting three people, killing two of them, during a protest over police brutality in Wisconsin after he apparently violated his bail conditions.

Kyle Rittenhouse failed to inform the court of his change of address within 48 hours of moving, Kenosha County prosecutors allege in a motion filed with Judge Bruce Schroeder. The motion asks Schroeder to issue an arrest warrant and increase Rittenhouse's bail by $200,000.

[...]

Prosecutors allege Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, responded to a militia's call on social media to protect Kenosha businesses from protesters. He opened fire with an assault-style rifle on Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz. Rosenbaum and Huber were killed; Grosskreutz was wounded but survived.

Rittenhouse, who is white, fled to his home in Antioch, Ill., but turned himself in to police there the next day.

[...]

Conservatives have rallied around him as a symbol for gun rights and pushing back against anti-police protesters, although others insist he escalated tensions by walking around the protest with a gun.

Conservatives raised $2 million to cover his bail, and he walked out of jail in November.

  NPR

Dupes and suckers. Taken in constantly by unscrupulous assholes and bilked of their money. But maybe they don't care.

Last month, Rittenhouse was seen drinking at a bar in Mount Pleasant, Wis., and posing for photos with two men as they made "OK" signs with their hands, a symbol used by white supremacists, according to prosecutors. Five men at the bar also serenaded Rittenhouse with a song that has become the anthem of neo-fascist group the Proud Boys, prosecutors alleged.

Rittenhouse is now 18 but still too young to drink. However, he could consume alcohol in a bar under Wisconsin law because he was with his mother.

With his mother.

Prosecutors wrote in their motion Wednesday that they learned Rittenhouse was no longer living at his Antioch address after the court mailed him a notice and it was returned as undeliverable on Jan. 28. Kenosha detectives traveled to the address on Tuesday and discovered another man had rented the apartment and has been living there since mid-December.

The prosecutors said in their motion that it's unusual for any homicide defendant to be allowed to roam freely and that the court needs to know where Rittenhouse is at all times. They did not say whether they knew where Rittenhouse currently resides, saying only that he has failed to provide the court with a new address.

I'm guessing they don't know where he is.

"He posted no money so he has no financial stake in the bond," they wrote. "He is already facing the most serious possible criminal charges and life in prison, so in comparison, potential future criminal penalties are insignificant."

Well, no shit, and why wasn't that taken into account when he was let out on bail? Couldn't an ankle monitor have been found? 

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

UPDATE 2/5:

Does this guy actually have a law license?

He has no idea where his client is, does he?

UPDATE:

DHS internal documents regarding Kenosha killing

Federal law enforcement officials were directed to make public comments sympathetic to Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged with fatally shooting two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, according to internal Department of Homeland Security talking points obtained by NBC News.

[...]

Rittenhouse, 17, supported Trump and police on his social media pages before he traveled from his home in Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha on Aug. 25 with an AR-15-style rifle, authorities said. Rittenhouse was arrested on first-degree murder charges and is fighting extradition to Wisconsin. His attorneys argue that he was acting in self-defense.

[...]

In preparing Homeland Security officials for questions about Rittenhouse from the media, the document suggests that they note that he "took his rifle to the scene of the rioting to help defend small business owners."

[...]

It is unclear whether any of the talking points originated at the White House or within Homeland Security's own press office.

  NBC

It doesn't much matter any more since Trump has installed cronies at all the federal agencies who take their cues from him.

Trump and other officials in his administration have been quick to blame left-wing extremists. Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan has repeated Trump's claim that organized black-clad members of "antifa" were being flown to protests across the country to incite violence.

[...]

Four former Homeland Security officials, two of whom worked for Republican administrations, said it was unusual for law enforcement officials to be instructed to weigh in on a case involving a particular group or individual before investigations had concluded.

"It is as unprecedented as it is wrong," said Peter Boogaard, who was a spokesperson for Homeland Security during the Obama administration.

"What strikes me about the talking points is that they didn't call for calm among the public,” said Elizabeth Neumann, who served as DHS's assistant secretary for threat prevention and security policy in the Trump administration.

[...]

Officials were instructed to bring conversations back to the need to preserve law and order.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The whole despicable family

“We're waiting for due process. We're not jumping to a conclusion,” Trump Jr. said during an interview on the TV show Extra. “If I put myself in Kyle Rittenhouse['s shoes], maybe I shouldn't have been there. He's a young kid. I don't want young kids running around the streets with AR-15s. ... Maybe I wouldn't have put myself in that situation — who knows? We all do stupid things at 17.”

“It'

s a little beyond stupid," the show's host, Rachel Lindsay, replied. “Really stupid — fine," Trump Jr. conceded.

  The Hill

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Other killers were on their way to Kenosha

Two Missouri men were arrested on the way to Kenosha, Wis., on Tuesday for illegal possession of firearms, according to court documents.

Michael Karmo, 40, and Cody Smith, 33, were charged with illegal possession of firearms after being arrested at a hotel in Pleasant Prairie, Wis., the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

The complaint included photos of Karmo posing with a gun in front of a pro-law enforcement Blue Lives Matter flag. Karmo allegedly told the FBI that he and Smith are members of an organization called the 417 Second Amendment Militia, the complaint said.

Authorities recovered several weapons from their hotel room, including an AR-15, a shotgun, handguns and magazines, as well as a dagger, a saw and other gear.

Law enforcement received a tip warning that the two were on their way to Kenosha.

  The Hill

The killer Kyle Rittenhouse also claimed to be a militia member.

And there were probably plenty who didn't get caught.

The GOP dives deeper into nutjob territory - Part 2

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Thursday praised 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who is charged with homicide in the shooting deaths of two men in Kenosha, Wis., for showing "incredible restraint."

Rittenhouse did so, Massie said on a radio show hosted by Tom Roten, by not firing all the rounds in his semi-automatic rifle during the incident on Aug. 27.

[...]

“He didn’t empty a magazine into a crowd. There were people around him who could have caused him harm, but as soon as they showed any sign of retreat or nonaggression, he did not shoot them. He exhibited more restraint than a lot of the police videos I’ve seen.”

  The Hill

Unbelievable. Or, it SHOULD be.

Massie said Thursday that Huber was trying to "attack" Rittenhouse and the teen "responded in self-defense."

“I would not convict him of a single one of these charges,” Massie said.

The reason they were "trying to "attack" Rittenhouse" is because he already fucking shot and killed somebody who had the audacity to throw a plastic bag at him!  He shot three people, two dead.

America is in deep trouble

The National Foundation for Gun Rights, a conservative gun rights advocacy group, announced on the same day Rittenhouse was charged that it would be fundraising for his legal defense, saying he was within his right to allegedly open fire on protesters.

  The Hill

Trump's America

A teen accused of opening fire on a group during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin last night, killing two, is in custody in Illinois, the Antioch police department announced in a Facebook post. The post did not name the 17-year-old, who they said is an Antioch resident. But the Lake County, Illinois State's Attorney's office said Kyle Rittenhouse was in bond court this morning regarding being a fugitive from justice in Wisconsin, and is being held on no bond.

[...]

Cellphone video that circulated on social media showed what appeared to be a White man with a semi-automatic rifle opening fire on a group of people during demonstrations over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. The man with the gun is then seen walking toward responding police vehicles, at times with his hands in the air, as some police vehicles drive past him.

Sheriff David Beth said one victim was shot in the head and another in the chest, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The third victim's wounds were not believed to life-threatening.

[...]

The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks extremist activity, told CBS News there were militia members at the Kenosha protest but found no indication from Rittenhouse's social media footprint that he is connected to any extremist movements. His posts indicate he is extremely pro-police and appears to have been a former police explorer, a career-oriented program for youth considering a career in law enforcement.

  CBS

Thankfully he won't be getting a job as a law enforcement officer. Unless Donald Trump pardons him, that is.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.