Tag: Crime & Punishment

Getting Their ‘Freak’ On

The big story yesterday was the Feds busting a prostitution ring operating in the DC area….

“Pick a profession, they’re probably represented in this case.” Those were the words of a federal prosecutor in reference to what CNN describes as the “sprawling client list” of a network of high-end brothels operated in the Washington, DC, area as well as in Massachusetts. Those clients included, per the Justice Department, “politicians, high tech and pharmaceutical executives, doctors, military officers, government contractors that possess security clearances, professors, lawyers, scientists and accountants.” The DOJ has charged three people with running the network, two of them in Massachusetts and one in California, Politico reports. As for the clients, they’re being investigated.

The three defendants, Han Lee, Junmyung Lee, and James Lee, allegedly rented expensive apartments and advertised rates ranging from $350 to $600 per hour for sexual services to pre-approved clients. They allegedly mostly advertised on websites promoting sex with Asian women; Fox News, which has a screenshot of the alleged “menu” of services one client provided to the feds, reports the websites included photos and measurements. Women’s flights and transportation were allegedly paid for. The feds say they’re interviewing alleged customers and looking at cellphone location data, surveillance video, and financial records amid the investigation, and that there are “potentially hundreds of yet to be identified customers.”

Hubba Hubba

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Is A War Crime?

Since Russia invaded Ukraine there has been lots of talk about holding Putin responsible for the crimes being committed against the Ukrainian people…..and likewise there is more talk about holding HAMAS responsible for the ‘crimes’ they have been accused of committing.

All this is an excellent idea….but all parties committing these crimes should be held accountable….ALL parties……

Before we go any further what is a war crime…..

The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has led to accusations of war crimes on both sides, after Israeli civilians were targeted in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and Israel responded with airstrikes on the densely populated Gaza Strip.

Under these conditions, protecting civilians can prove difficult or impossible. But combatants are bound by international humanitarian law to minimize the impact on populations.

Here’s what to know.

Although the history of international law regulating warfare goes back to the first Geneva Convention of 1864, World War II — in which twice as many civilians as fighters were among the tens of millions killed and the Nuremberg Trials that held Nazi leaders to account for atrocities — spawned interest in expanding the scope of the agreement.

The 1949 Geneva Convention established Article 3, delineated combatants from noncombatants and set down the obligations of governments and militaries on how to minimize casualties and the suffering of civilians in wartime.

International humanitarian law “basically grounds the parties to a conflict,” says Fernando Travesí, executive director of the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice, which works with victims of massive human rights violations. Armies, he says, have the right to go to war, “but that exercise of violence has limits.”

The Geneva Convention has been agreed to by 196 states and serves as the international standard on the treatment of civilians, as well as prisoners of war and sick and wounded soldiers.

In a practical sense, every government in the world subscribes to these rules, says Kenneth Roth, a visiting professor at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs and former executive director of Human Rights Watch. “I think it’s important to stress that these [rules] are not the concoctions of human rights groups. These are not idealistic, pacifist rules. These are the rules that the militaries themselves adopted for themselves,” he says.

https://www.npr.org/2023/10/20/1206157206/israel-hamas-war-crimes-international-law-geneva-convention

There are some countries that do not want to held accountable and those countries are the ones that yell the loudest about war crimes.

The law holds no credibility if all nations do not subscribe….just a bunch of loud-mouths and hypocrites.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Crap Comes Home To Rooster?

After months of back and forth there seems to be a break-through on the Trump and secret documents thing.

Donald Trump has been indicted over his handling of classified documents. The former president posted on Truth Social Thursday evening that his lawyers informed him of the development, reports the Hill. The New York Times confirmed the news, reporting that the Justice Department filed the indictment in federal court in Miami, where Trump has been ordered to appear on Tuesday afternoon. He is expected to surrender to authorities rather than be taken into custody. Trump thus becomes the first former president in US history to face federal charges, per the Times. As the Washington Post notes, the investigation involves not just hundreds of classified documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate but whether the former president obstructed efforts to recover the material.

The specific charges Trump faces have not yet been publicly detailed. Trump has insisted that he did nothing wrong and that he had full authority as the outgoing president to retain such documents. He has further accused the FBI and the Justice Department of a politically motivated investigation intended to torpedo his 2024 run for reelection. The Justice Department investigation has been run by special counsel Jack Smith, who has, as expected, remained mum about developments.

Investigators also found documents at the residence of Mike Pence but have cleared him of criminal charges. An investigation is still underway over classified papers found at the residence of President Biden, stemming back to his days as vice president. On Thursday, Biden said Americans should trust the process. “Because you’ll notice, I have never once—not one single time—suggested to the Justice Department what they should do or not do on whether to bring any charges or not bring any charges,” the president told reporters, per CNN. “I’m honest.”

7 counts, eh?

What could they possibly be?

Donald Trump was indicted on seven counts related to the probe into his handling of classified documents, his attorney confirmed. The former president is facing one charge under the Espionage Act, plus charges including obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy, and false statements, CNN reports. Trump himself weighed in on the Espionage Act charge, which he called “ludicrous.” Federal agents from the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security are en route to Miami ahead of Trump’s court appearance, which the former POTUS said would happen Tuesday, the AP reports.

Meanwhile, Trump’s fellow Republicans are speaking out against the indictment. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy blamed President Biden for the charges, saying it is “unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him.” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise agreed, saying Trump is “weaponizing his Department of Justice against his own political rival.” Even Trump’s 2024 rivals are backing him up on this: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wondered, “Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter?” while Sen. Tim Scott said the justice system’s “scales are weighted” based on politics. Fellow GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said the indictment was “an affront to every citizen.”

Great news in my opinion…..but I do not think this will go the whole way…..

He, Trump, should be barbecued IMO.

Any deep probing thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Wolves In Priest Clothing

One of the biggest stories this past week was abuse cases in Baltimore.

Yet another scandal involving the Catholic Church…..sexual abuse, in cased you were confused….

This time it is the archdiocese of Baltimore and the number of cases is greater than 500….

Maryland’s attorney general released the results Wednesday of a four-year state investigation into the sexual abuse and torture of children by clergy members and employees of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The report covers the totality of 80 years of mistreatment, during which it says 156 members of Catholic clergy abused at least 600 children, CNN reports. From the 1940s through 2002, the report says, they “engaged in horrific and repeated abuse of the most vulnerable children in their communities while Archdiocese leadership looked the other way.” At a news conference, Anthony Brown pronounced Wednesday “a day of reckoning and a day of accounting.”

The investigation found that one deacon admitted abusing more than 100 children, the Baltimore Sun reports. Even after the Rev. John Joseph Mike pleaded guilty to abusing a boy, he was assigned to a parish in Clarksville. A victim wrote in his diary that Mike tied him up, suspended him from a basketball backboard in the parish gym, and whipped him 150 times. Hundreds of abuse survivors were interviewed for the investigation; the state report called the scope of the abuse “astonishing.” Brown met with advocates and survivors Wednesday to hear their accounts. “What was consistent throughout the stories was the absolute authority and power these abusive priests and the church leadership held over survivors, their families and their communities,” he said.

In many cases, the report says, the archdiocese knew of the abusers but did little to stop them. They often were transferred to new jobs, even after admitting to abuse, where they mistreated more children. When looking into abuse, the report said, police, prosecutors, and local news media often treated church leaders with deference. The attorney general said many of the abusers have since died or can’t be prosecuted because of statutes of limitations. “While it may be too late for the survivors to see criminal justice served, we hope that exposing the archdiocese’s transgressions to the fullest extent possible will bring some measure of accountability and perhaps encourage others to come forward,” Brown said.

When will the church start making these perverts pay for the crimes?

After all these religious types are sexual predators….plain and simple.

Warning:  Keep your children away from youth ministers.

Happy Easter

Enjoy your day….be well and be safe.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That Trump Thing

The biggest story for the MSM over the weekend was those indictments of our dear beloved ex-president….so I thought I should bow to conventional wisdom and do what needs to be done.

Personally I am sick of the whole idea of Trump….

The news is Trump is making a deal for his appearance on Tuesday…..

Court officials in New York said Friday that they plan to arraign Donald Trump at 2pm Tuesday. The former president’s presence is expected in a 15th-floor Manhattan courtroom for the proceeding, they said. A lawyer for Trump said his team has agreed with the district attorney’s office on how the arrest will be handled, Fox News reports: Trump is to surrender to detectives, who will not handcuff him. The Secret Service will decide how the former president is brought to Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom. A meeting was scheduled for Friday afternoon among representatives of the FBI, New York City police, New York state court officers, the Secret Service, and the district attorney’s office to settle logistical and security arrangements.

The prosecutor in the case responded Friday to intense criticism from Republican lawmakers over the indictment. A letter from District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to three GOP committee chairmen called their accusation that the indictment is politically motivated “misleading and meritless.” General counsel Leslie Dubeck wrote that Trump is entitled to fight the charges in court, per Politico. “What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State,” the letter says. Dubeck asked that Reps. Jim Jordan, James Comer, and Bryan Steil withdraw their demands for information about the case and allow the case to “proceed without unlawful political interference.”

Trump launched fresh attacks Friday on the judge he’ll stand before Tuesday, posting that “the Judge ‘assigned’ to my Witch Hunt Case … HATES ME.” Merchan handled unrelated accusations against the Trump Organization, and Trump said the judge treated him “viciously.” Partly because of Trump’s recent social media posts, fears of political violence related to the case have increased. The New York mayor’s office tweeted Friday afternoon that no credible threats have been received, per the Independent

We will see what this shakes out of the woodwork.

Meanwhile the Trump sycophants are running to the closest camera and spouting their usual crap….how will that play out?

We know former President Trump has been indicted, though we don’t know the exact charges just yet. Still, the unprecedented move to indict a former president has given political observers across the political spectrum plenty to consider:

  • Worth the worry: Columnist Nicholas Kristof is worried that a failed prosecution would strengthen Trump. “Yet I’d also worry—even more—about the message of impunity that would be sent if prosecutors averted their eyes because the suspect was a former president,” he writes in the New York Times. Kristof cites the example of a police officer who ticketed then-President Ulysses S. Grant for speeding with a horse. “If a police officer in 1872 could hold out his hand and force the president’s speeding carriage to a stop, then we, too, should do what we can to uphold the magnificent principle of equality before the law.”
  • Trouble ahead: The conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, while frequent critics of Trump, see the move as a mistake akin to opening Pandora’s box. “The danger for America is the precedent this prosecution sets,” reads the editorial. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “is busting a political norm that has stood for 230 years,” and you can bet that Republican prosecutors will try to make a name for themselves by reciprocating against a Democratic president. Our “democracy will be further abused and battered,” it warns. “Bragg, the provincial progressive, is unleashing forces that all of us may come to regret.”
  • Glenn Beck: The right-wing pundit donned a MAGA hat on Fox News and declared, “This is the way the average American feels tonight.” Appearing on Tucker Carlson’s show, he said: “The bill of rights is gone. Nobody is paying attention. … Donald Trump is not even a person anymore. He’s a symbol. He’s a symbol of the average everyday guy that keeps getting screwed every single time.” Watch the clip.
  • On the left: In the Nation, Elie Mystal writes that he doesn’t care if this makes Trump more popular politically. Still, he’s not optimistic about a conviction. “I want to get him, and these charges don’t feel likely to accomplish that,” he writes. “A federal case against Trump for tax and campaign finance fraud two years ago would have been welcome. But going at Trump with shaky jurisdictional authority, two years too late, feels doomed.”

Now you have the most recent thoughts….you decide what is right and what is wrong.

Me?  I’ll take vanilla.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

To Arrest A President

Yes more history from the old Professor.

All the blah blah about the possibility of the arrest of an American president, Donald Trump. Many have raised concern because no American president has been arrested so why start a precedent now.   (Personally I think many of them should have been….but that is just me)

There are the so-called Dems that keep going on and on without much thought behind their idiotic ramblings.

All that aside has any president ever been arrested?

Glad you asked….yes there has been one incident.

There is a lot of hullaballoo about whether former President Trump will soon be indicted, but there is one former president who was definitely arrested while in office: Ulysses S. Grant. The crime, per the Washington Post, was born of “Grant’s love of fast horses,” and ended with the arrest of a sitting president by a Black man who had served in his army during the Civil War. The Post cites a 1908 story in the Washington Evening Star in which one since-retired police officer, William H. West, gave a bit of a tell-all about the time in 1872 in which he arrested his former boss. It goes a little like this:

DC cops had been getting complaints of speeding carriages; there had been an accident, and West was investigating when another group of scofflaws sped toward him. He flagged them down, including one man driving “a pair of fast steppers,” per the Star story, which “he had some difficulty in halting.” It was the president, He was less than pleased, asking West, “what do you want with me?” West informed him that he was “violating the law by speeding along this street,” and further had “set an example for a lot of other gentlemen.” Grant made his apologies, said it would never happen again, and was let off with a warning. But the next night, West again busted Grant going so fast that, per the Post, “it took him an entire block to stop.” Grant told West he had no idea he was going so fast.

This time West wasn’t having it. He told the Star that Grant was smiling and looked like a busted schoolkid. West’s quote, which granted is recalling a 36-year-old incident, is thus: “I am very sorry, Mr. President, to have to do it. For you are the chief of the nation, and I am nothing but a policeman, but duty is duty, sir, and I will have to place you under arrest.” And so he did. Grant and some other alleged speeders went down to the DC pokey, and the sitting president of the United States of America had to pony up $20 as collateral. A trial was held for the drivers the next day, and fines and a “scathing rebuke” were issued. But the president, dear readers, was a no-show.

If Trump is arrested he would not be the first.

But that was then and this is now….different times indeed.

So what will all this notoriety do for his possible campaign?

First of all, let’s get the obvious question out of the way: No, the indictment of Donald Trump does not bar him from running for president. In fact, even a conviction likely wouldn’t put the kibosh on his presidential campaign. “There are actually not that many constitutional requirements to run for president,” a law professor explains to the Washington Post. “There is not an explicit prohibition in the Constitution in respects to having a pending indictment or even being convicted.” The Post notes, however, that practically speaking, it could be difficult to run for president and face a criminal trial at the same time.

Do not excited right now.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“No Foul Play Suspected”

Those terms come from the ME office when a death is investigated.

Then there is the report from my home state of Mississippi….

On Oct. 2, a frantic Rasheem Carter called his mother and told her “three truckloads of white men” were chasing him. She told him to call the police, and when she didn’t hear from him again, she reported him missing. A month later, his body was found in a wooded area near Taylorsville, Mississippi, where he’d been working. It had been dismembered, with his head and other body parts severed, the Washington Post reports. The local sheriff initially said there was “no reason” to suspect foul play—but now, months later and after outcry from Carter’s family, he’s changing his tune. More from the coverage:

What happened: Carter was working in Taylorsville, about 100 miles away from his home in Fayette, Mississippi, on a short-term contracting job as he saved money to reopen his restaurant, which shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic. His mother says he fled the job in October after some sort of disagreement with at least one co-worker, NBC News reports. She says he mentioned multiple people from the job as possibly threatening him. The sheriff confirms there were “a couple of verbal altercations” between Carter and at least one colleague, but hasn’t revealed what they were about.

  • Not himself: Smith County Sheriff Joel Houston says everyone at that job has been interviewed. “They said [Carter’s] whole demeanor had changed. They weren’t sure what was going on,” he says. “They just said he kept to himself more. He usually joked around, and in the last week or so they weren’t able to do that.” The colleagues mentioned as possible threats were confirmed to have been at another job site almost 100 miles away when Carter was last seen alive.
  • Timeline: Carter did go to the police station after his last conversation with his mom, but Houston said last year that Carter did not report that he was in any sort of danger, and simply appeared to be in need of a ride back to his hotel. Carter was last spotted in the woods around 4:30pm on Oct. 2 in footage from a private landowner’s game camera, apparently alone.
  • Police theory: Houston says that “there’s no indication that someone killed him. The evidence we do have does coincide with what animals would do to a body.”
  • Family disagrees: But Carter’s family isn’t buying the idea that an animal is responsible for dismembering Carter. “There is nothing natural about this. What we have is a Mississippi lynching,” family attorney Benjamin Crump says, per the BBC. “This was a nefarious act. This was an evil act.” Carter’s mom says he was lucid when they spoke, not under the influence of any intoxicants, and that he had no history of mental health issues.
  • Sheriff’s current stance: On Tuesday, the day after a family press conference with Crump, Houston clarified that he has not ruled out the possibility Carter was murdered. “Nothing is being swept under the rug. There’s nothing to hide,” he said, adding that the investigation is ongoing and search warrants are in process.

This is not the only time this announcement was made over a death….

Just a little homespun news for my readers….get to know Mississippi.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–12Jan23

950 and counting

That is the total so far of people arrested and charged for their participation in the insurrection of 06 January….

And the word is there will be more to come……

In the two years since a violent mob forced its way into the U.S. Capitol, more than 950 people have been charged for their roles in the riot, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continues to seek hundreds more.

“Our work is far from over,” Attorney General Merrick Garland stated Wednesday, regarding the investigation into the deadly attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

Roughly 350 suspects remain on the FBI’s wanted list of violent offenders at the Capitol that day, Garland’s office stated. More than two-thirds are wanted for violence against the estimated 140 law enforcement officers assaulted that day.

Garland’s office reports more than 950 have been charged. Roughly 230 of those were arrested in 2022, records show. But arrests continue, with at least 17 in December.

More than 3,860 counts of criminal activity had been alleged against 934 of the defendants through mid-December. USA TODAY tracks initial charges as they are announced by the Department of Justice. 

Nearly all the accused rioters were charged with disorderly and disruptive conduct. Most also were charged with entering and/or remaining in a restricted building or grounds. 

More than a quarter, 284, have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, Garland’s office said. Of those, 99 were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.

  • Roughly 350 suspects remain on the FBI’s wanted list of violent offenders.
  • Arrests slowed in 2022, with at least 230 charged, compared with roughly 700 in 2021.
  • Of the 192 people who have been sentenced to incarceration, the average incarceration time levied is 16 months.

In the two years since a violent mob forced its way into the U.S. Capitol, more than 950 people have been charged for their roles in the riot, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continues to seek hundreds more.

“Our work is far from over,” Attorney General Merrick Garland stated Wednesday, regarding the investigation into the deadly attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

Roughly 350 suspects remain on the FBI’s wanted list of violent offenders at the Capitol that day, Garland’s office stated. More than two-thirds are wanted for violence against the estimated 140 law enforcement officers assaulted that day.

Garland’s office reports more than 950 have been charged. Roughly 230 of those were arrested in 2022, records show. But arrests continue, with at least 17 in December.

The FBI has reviewed almost 4 million files, including 30,000 video files and continues to seek tips from the public.

More than 3,860 counts of criminal activity had been alleged against 934 of the defendants through mid-December. USA TODAY tracks initial charges as they are announced by the Department of Justice. 

Nearly all the accused rioters were charged with disorderly and disruptive conduct. Most also were charged with entering and/or remaining in a restricted building or grounds. 

More than a quarter, 284, have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, Garland’s office said. Of those, 99 were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. 

More than 295 were charged with “corruptly obstructing, influencing or impeding an official proceeding, or attempting to do so,” the department said.

Among the charges are at least: 

  • 315 counts of violent entry and disorderly conduct. 
  • 222 counts of civil disorder or interfering with law enforcement during civil disorder.
  • 95 counts of conspiracy. 
  • 17 counts of seditious conspiracy.

(usatoday.com)

Still not enough are paying for this affront to our society.

Personally I think that some of these law breakers got off too lightly….

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Dead Eye Dick” Is Guilty

06 January conspirator has had his day in court and is found guilty…..

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was convicted Tuesday of seditious conspiracy for a violent plot to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential win, handing the Justice Department a major victory in its massive prosecution of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. A Washington, DC, jury found Rhodes guilty of sedition after three days of deliberations in the nearly two-month-long trial that showcased the far-right extremist group’s efforts to keep Donald Trump in the White House at all costs, the AP reports. The rarely used, Civil War-era charge calls for up to 20 years behind bars. Rhodes didn’t go inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, but was accused of leading a plot that began shortly after the 2020 election to wage an armed rebellion to stop the transfer of presidential power.

Through recordings and encrypted messages, jurors heard how Rhodes rallied his followers to fight to keep Trump in office, warned of a possible “bloody” civil war and expressed regret that the Oath Keepers didn’t bring rifles to the Capitol on Jan. 6. In an extraordinary move, Rhodes and two other defendants took the stand in their defense, opening themselves up to intense questioning from prosecutors. Rhodes told jurors there was no plan to attack the Capitol and insisted that his followers who went inside the building went rogue.

On trial alongside Rhodes were Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, another Florida Oath Keeper; Thomas Caldwell, a retired Navy intelligence officer from Virginia; and Jessica Watkins, who led an Ohio militia group. Meggs was also found guilty of seditious conspiracy but Harrelson, Watkins, and Caldwell were found not guilty of the charge, the BBC reports. All five defendants were found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding.

Only right wing dipshits will mourn his conviction…..not even his family has anything good to say about Dead Eye Dick……

Prosecutors with the Justice Department were handed a big win Tuesday with the conviction of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes on sedition charges, but they’re not the only ones celebrating a victory. “I am beyond happy,” Tasha Adams, the far-right militia leader’s estranged wife, tells Insider. “He has absolutely never had to face a consequence in his entire life.” Adams, who shares six children with Rhodes, adds: “He’s spent his life making others pay; this was past due for him.” The outlet notes that Adams has previously talked about the fear she had of her husband, whom she married in 1994 after dating for three years.

She says that Rhodes was emotionally and physically abusive to the children, and that he “viciously pushed every psychological button after just the slightest request of him,” per Insider. She adds that she breathed a sigh of relief when he was arrested earlier this year on the Jan. 6 charges. Now, “I am thrilled that he’s finally facing justice,” she says, though she warns that her spouse will likely try to seek a pardon from former President Trump if he is elected back to the Oval Office, per HuffPost.

She’s not the only family member speaking out. The Daily Beast reports that, after Tuesday’s verdict was read, Dakota Adams, the couple’s 25-year-old son, took to Twitter to post a three-second YouTube clip from It’s a Wonderful Life, in which the villainous Mr. Potter exclaims, “Happy new year to you … in jail!” In a second tweet, Dakota added: “So much weight is off now.” The BBC has a longer take on the ordeal of Rhodes’ family, and how Dakota Adams helped them all escape from him in 2018. “Until I was an adult man, I lived absolutely under the thumb of an emotional terrorist,” Adams says. The family’s full story here.

I say give him/them the max penalties….jail time and cash…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Vigilantes On Parade

Have you noticed in the past 10 years the amount of vigilantes hitting the streets has increased.

The individuals and groups that have been taking to the streets in the name of ‘freedom’….and the incidents of actual violence is increasing exponentially…..the most recent example is the trial of Rittenhouse….

The Wisconsin ruling clearing Kyle Rittenhouse on all charges for the killing of two Black Lives Matter activists looks to be a milestone moment for the rise of rightwing extremism in America. It’s not so much the details of this case and the spin that can be employed in interpreting the events that concerns me most. It’s the implications of the case, considering the larger political context and the threat of rising extremism.

A dangerous precedent has been set in this ruling, empowering vigilantes who believe they are deputized to enforce “the law” against perceived political enemies. Rittenhouse traveled to a city that he didn’t live in, to a state in which he is not a resident, while illegally possessing an assault rifle he had no right to wield, in the name of “protecting” property he didn’t own, in the process killing two men in violent altercations that would have been avoided entirely if Kenosha police had done their job, corralling vigilantes who looked to commit violence, and separating them from those engaged in protests or destruction of property. Even for those who are fixated on the property damage question, it’s difficult to defend Rittenhouse’s actions when he engaged in vigilante violence, with no training in dealing with conflict situations, and when responsibility for enforcing the law clearly falls on the police.

The Rittenhouse case shouldn’t be interpreted in a vacuum, as it occurred within a larger political environment in which other rightwing vigilantes seek to justify violence, and even murder, under the guise of “self-defense.” Consider, for example, the Ahmaud Arbery case in Georgia, where three white vigilantes stalked, cornered, and shot a black man who was jogging through a neighborhood – and away from them – under the false premise that he may have been responsible for a local burglary. There is no plausible scenario in which these three men can reasonably claim self-defense, when the altercation was entirely of their own initiation, when the man murdered was unarmed, and when he had nothing to do with the crime in question. And of course, there is the issue of implicit or explicit racial bias related to the defendants, which is also difficult to ignore in a country where research shows that assumptions of guilt related to violent crime are consistently racialized, with black men assumed to be the prime perpetrators in violent and other criminal acts. If the Arbery defendants successfully justify their actions as “self-defense,” then the courts will have effectively criminalized being black in America. An acquittal sends a message that white vigilantes can commit violence and murder at will against people of color who have the nerve to venture out into public, and with black men’s mere existence constituting a “threat” from which white people need “protection.”

Vigilantes on Parade: Rightwing Extremism and the Threat of National Implosion

All this does nothing to stop the social slide that has been developing over the last 25 years or so…..

None of this bode well for a orderly society and a stable nation.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”