ALL EYES ON WISCONSIN

 Once Upon a Time, not so very long ago ... 2016 to be exact  ... Wisconsin was considered "Fly Over Country" -- if for some reason you don't understand that term, it means that a political party is of the opinion that they will always go their way in voting and act in a particular way, in a particular situation -- then Donald Trump won the state and set everybody on their ears.

Never mind the fact that Sen. Paul Ryan was from Wisconsin -- you might remember him, he was Speaker of the House, took President Obama on about the ACA and pointed out that the numbers were WAY off and wouldn't work the way they hoped they would (he pointed out that with 18-26 yr olds being on their parents policies, there would not be enough premiums paid to keep costs down), he also ran to be Vice President.

Wisconsin was also the home of ... and this shocked me when I found out ... MacCarthy -- Sen. Joseph MacCarthy -- yup, THAT guy.  Mr. "Hunt the Hidden Pinkos" himself.

BT -- all that being said ... it was interesting to see Wisconsin become a hot bed in 2020 when riots were happening in MN and then WI decided to have one of their own ... but they had to Better MN by adding one extra issue -- a SHOOTING.

Yup, I'm talking about Kenoshaw, WI ... a place I do not remember ever visiting or passing through but I may have on a trip to Chicago ... where, I believe, Kyle Rittenhouse is from, or one of its suburbs.

There are a few things people should do before they draw any conclusions ... and that's learn the FACTS of the trial.

==  Rittenhouse was from Illinois, NOT Wisconsin ... he crossed the border

==  The rifle used actually was purchase in Ladysmith, WI - a small town in northern WI, so it traveled a long way

== Rittenhouse had his cousin BUY the rifle because while he is allowed to possess a weapon of this type, he was not allowed to PURCHASE it.

==  Rittenhouse had said on the stand, under oath, that if he LEGALLY COULD HAVE he would have preferred to have a handgun instead of the rifle, but that is illegal in the state of WI.

== At the time of the shooting, Rittenhouse had already been smacked in the head by someone with a FOREIGN OBJECT (I want to say a skateboard, they are as bad as a 2X4)

== Rittenhouse broke down on the stand talking about how a crowd had surrounded him BEFORE any shots had begun ... at this point, the "crowd" was going into "mob" mentality - they have video of it.  Its a very scary, tramatic thing to get caught in a crowd like that.

==  The Prosecutor got REEMED by the judge several times - I saw the judge send the jury out of the court room at least 3 times in once day (I watched for 2 hours)

== the jury is NOT being SEQUESTERED ... this will cause many issues of its own.  Just like the Chauvan trial in MN, if they are not sequestered, the judge/court cannot control what they see/hear/read/listen to/etc. while deliberations are going on.

== The jury was allowed to RETURN TO THEIR HOMES over this past weekend ... and you know the story was allover the news, newspapers, & radio -- you could NOT escape it.

== Late Friday, the prosecutor wanted to add lesser charges to the list of what will be given to the jurors ... so perhaps, he realized that he might have a problems getting the charges he wanted. Especially with all his experts seeming to help Rittenhouse more than they expected.

This is going to be interesting to say the least.

Hopefully, people will behave themselves no matter which way the verdict goes ... no rioting, just PEACEFUL protests which follow the Rule of the Law.

but please remember -- this kid is NOT from Wisconsin ... he's a product of Illinois.  Please take your demonstrations there.