Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old charged with killing two people and injuring another during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, sobbed Wednesday as he took the stand to be questioned by his defense team.
The judge called for a brief recess after Rittenhouse began hyperventilating and could no longer control his emotions shortly after being asked to describe the moments leading up to the shootings.
WATCH: The judge calls for a 10-minute break after Kyle Rittenhouse breaks down and begins to hyperventilate on the stand while describing the events leading up to the fatal August 2020 shooting. pic.twitter.com/2GACgCEdvc
Rittenhouse is accused of fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and grievously injuring Gaige Grosskreutz on Aug. 25, 2020. The then-17-year-old fired an AR-15-style rifle he was too young to buy legally and went to Kenosha to protect Car Source, an automobile dealership located near the heart of the protests.
Rittenhouse’s friend, Dominick Black, is accused of buying the gun used to kill Rosenbaum, a man who chased Rittenhouse into the Car Source parking lot and lunged for his weapon, according to testimony. Rittenhouse, a former police youth cadet and part-time YMCA lifeguard, shot and killed Huber, who swung a skateboard at him. Rittenhouse also shot Grosskreutz in the arm after Grosskreutz aimed a pistol at him.
Prosecutors have painted Rittenhouse as a trigger-happy “tourist” who deliberately inserted himself into the volatile scene with a gun he shouldn’t have had and wasn’t trained to use. Rittenhouse’s lawyers claim he acted in self-defense.
His mother, Wendy Rittenhouse, was heard sobbing loudly within earshot of jurors as she watched her son break into tears, according to the pool reporter in the courtroom.
After the recess, Kyle Rittenhouse composed himself to tell the court he was being chased by Rosenbaum and the only way to get away was toward a Car Source parking lot. He then heard Joshua Ziminski, another protester, instructing Rosenbaum to “get him and kill him,” Rittenhouse testified.
“That’s what I heard,” he said.
The court was presented with video that showed Rosenbaum throwing a plastic bag at Kyle Rittenhouse, but the teenager said he thought it was a chain. While being chased, Rittenhouse stopped and turned to see Rosenbaum closing in.
“I remember his hand on the barrel of my gun,” he said.
Rittenhouse said he didn’t have room to run away because 100 people had gathered.
His lawyer asked, “As you see him lunge towards you, what do you do?”
“I shot him,” Rittenhouse replied.
He said he ran to Rosenbaum after shooting him four times to see if he could help, but Daily Caller video director Richie McGinniss, who was there, “took off his helmet and slammed it on the ground and took off his shirt — I don’t remember what he said — I wasn’t focused on that. I was in shock.”
Rittenhouse said he called Black and told his friend, “I shot somebody. I had to shoot him.”
Rittenhouse testified he heard multiple people shouting, “Get his a**! Get him! Get him!,” and thought his safest option would be to make his way down the street and turn himself in to the authorities.
As he was running, he saw Jason Lackowski, a former Marine armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. Rittenhouse said he stopped to talk to Lackowski for a brief moment and told him he had “just shot somebody” and needed help to get to the police station “because a mob was chasing me.”
Rittenhouse said he didn’t remember if Lackowski said anything and that all he could hear was the “mob” shouting, “Cranium him. Kill him. Get him,” which prompted Rittenhouse to take off running.
Rittenhouse testified he was trying to get to the police because he was defending himself.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “I defended myself.”
He said the next thing he remembered was Anthony Huber. Rittenhouse testified Huber held his skateboard like a bat and tried to hit Rittenhouse, who absorbed some of the blow by putting his arm up.
“As I block it, it goes off flying somewhere in the distance,” he said, adding that he became lightheaded, stumbled, and fell toward the ground after being struck twice, once with a rock and the other a skateboard.
When he first took the stand Wednesday morning, Rittenhouse responded no when asked whether he came to Kenosha looking for trouble.
The 18-year-old testified that he saw videos of violence in downtown Kenosha on Aug. 24, 2020, the day before the shootings, including a brick being thrown at a police officer’s head and cars burning in a Car Source dealership lot.
Rittenhouse said the Car Source owner “was happy we were there.” On Friday, the owner testified he never asked or wanted Rittenhouse on his property.
Rittenhouse’s decision to testify followed a week that did little to paint Rittenhouse as a trigger-happy aggressor on the night of the shootings. At times, the prosecution’s witnesses seemed to lend credit to Rittenhouse’s claim of self-defense.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Judge Bruce Schroeder sent the jury out of the courtroom before berating the prosecutor for questioning Rittenhouse about whether he was using deadly force to protect property.
Schroeder accused lead prosecutor Thomas Binger of trying to introduce testimony that he had ruled earlier was prohibited.
Not mincing words, Schroeder accused Binger of trying to provoke a mistrial with his line of questioning.
WATCH: Judge in Rittenhouse case berates prosecutor over line of questioning.
New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney, one of the most powerful elected officials in Jersey, finally conceded to Edward Durr, the Christian truck driver who only spent a few thousand dollars on his campaign.
Sweeney refused concede for more than a week after he was defeated in last Tuesday’s election claiming 12,000 ballots were “found” in one county.
On Wednesday, Democrat Sweeney finally conceded to Republican Durr, admitting there was a “red wave.”
New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney, one of the most powerful elected officials in the state, conceded on Wednesday that he lost reelection to the state Senate.
Sweeney, a Democrat, lost to Republican political newcomer and commercial truck driver Edward Durr in southern New Jersey’s 3rd District.
“I of course accept the results. I want to congratulate Mr. Durr and wish him the best of luck,” Sweeney said during a speech at the statehouse complex Wednesday.
Sweeney’s loss to Durr, who spent at least $2,300 in the contest, shocked state officials and leaves the Democrats who control the Legislature searching for a new leader.
Sweeney said his loss by about 2,000 votes was the result of overwhelming GOP turnout in his suburban Philadelphia, politically split district.
Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse took the stand Wednesday to testify in his own defense on Day 7 of his murder trial
The defense has demanded a mistrial with prejudice, meaning Kyle Rittenhouse could not be tried again and would get off scot-free for the the two murders in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 25, 2020
Judge Bruce Schroeder sent out the jury for a second time and shouted down Prosecutor Thomas Binger
Binger sought to bring information before the jury that the judge had already ruled out of proceedings
Binger had begun to question Rittenhouse about a TikTok post that he had made in which he expressed a desire to have his AR-15 to shoot people
Rising to object, Mark Richards said, ‘The prosecutor is clearly attempting to provoke a mistrial. He’s an experienced attorney and he knows better’
Judge Schroeder began yelling at Binger, ‘Don’t get brazen with me!’
Furious, he concluded with a stern warning to Binger, ‘I don’t want to have another issue as long as this case continues is that clear?’
Rittenhouse broke down on the witness stand as he recalled the moment he was ‘ambushed’ by Joseph Rosenbaum the night he shot him dead
Rittenhouse told the court that Rosembaum threatened to kill him twice once while swinging a heavy chain and the second time when he said he would ‘cut out your f***ing heart’ and ‘kill you N-word’
The judge in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial has continued to reprimand the prosecutor in court as the defense demands a mistrial with prejudice.
If the judge rules in the defense’s favor, Kyle Rittenhouse could not be tried again and would get off scot-free for the two murders in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 25, 2020.
Corey Chirafisi informed Judge Bruce Schroeder that the defense plans to move for a mistrial on grounds of prosecutorial misconduct following a morning of high drama in Kenosha County Courthouse.
He went on to accuse Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger of knowingly attempting to throw over the proceedings because they were going badly for the state.
He explained, ‘Normally a mistrial does not preclude a retrial [unless] a defendant’s motion is necessitated by a prosecutorial impropriety designed to avoid an acquittal.’
He continued, ‘What has happened is two times the state commented on Mr. Rittenhouse’s right to remain silent.
‘The first time he was admonished by the court. The second time the judge had the jury leave and he was re-admonished.’
Before Rittenhouse took the stand Wednesday morning the judge had doubled down on an earlier decision in which he excluded evidence that the teen had commented online about wishing he had his AR-15 so that he could shoot shoplifters.
But despite this decision – and its reiteration – Binger brought the information up during his cross examination, a move that sparked a furious response from the judge.
Judge Bruce Schroeder sent out the jury for a second time Wednesday morning and shouted down Prosecutor Thomas BingerBinger sought to bring information before the jury that the judge had already ruled out of proceedingsBinger had begun to question Rittenhouse about a TikTok post that he had made in which he expressed a desire to have his AR-15 to shoot people
Chirafisi continued that to move for a mistrial with prejudice, ‘The prosecutor’s actions must be intentional…[with] an awareness that his activity would be prejudicial.
‘You had warned him. You had told him prior to Mr. Rittenshouse testifying,’ Chirafisi said. ‘You had warned him about the infringement of his constitutional right to remain silent. He did it again.
‘The second one says that the prosecutor’s actions was designed to allow another chance to convict, to provoke a mistrial to get another kick at the cat because the first trial is going badly.’
Binger asked for more time to consider his response but his efforts only brought more ire from the bench as he sought to claim that he had brought information in good faith.
Judge Schroeder shot him down, ‘You’re an experienced trial attorney and you’re telling me when the judge says, ‘I’m excluding this’ you decide to bring it in because you think you’ve found a way around it. Come on!’
Binger continued, ‘You can yell at me if you want…I was acting in good faith.’
To which Judge Schroeder responded, ‘I don’t believe you. When you say you were acting in good faith, I don’t believe you.
‘There better not be another incident.’
Binger then pushed to be able to use a photograph in which Rittenhouse posed up alongside patrons of a bar shortly after his initial court appearance and wearing a T-shirt with the slogan, ‘Free As F***’
Binger argued that it spoke to a lack of remorse and respect for human life.
Chirafisi objected strongly saying it showed no such thing, that there was no relevance and nothing had changed to open the door on the evidence.
Judge Schroeder appeared to agree. He said, ‘If he were on trial for exquisitely poor judgment, if he were on trial for behaving in a very offensive way I could see the purpose.
‘But an incident that occurs four months after the incident in question…?
‘Everybody in all of humanity at one time displays bad judgment, sometimes exquisitely so we don’t let it into people’s trials.’
The judge concluded, ‘I’ve ruled before it’s not admissible and I don’t want to waste anymore time on it.’
He said he will take the defense’s motion for a mistrial with prejudice under advisement.
Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum (above), 36, with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle after Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse across a parking lot and threw a plastic bag at him shortly before midnight on August 25, 2020. Moments later, as Rittenhouse was running down a street, he shot and killed Anthony Huber (below), 26, a protester from Silver Lake, WisconsinRising to object, Rittenhouse’s attorney Mark Richards said, ‘The prosecutor is clearly attempting to provoke a mistrial. He’s an experienced attorney and he knows better’
Earlier in the day Judge Schroeder sent out the jury for a second time and shouted down Thomas Binger after he sought to bring information before the jury that the judge had already ruled out of proceedings.
Binger had begun to question Rittenhouse about a TikTok post that he had made earlier in August in which he expressed a desire to have his AR-15 to shoot people.
Rising to object, Mark Richards said, ‘The prosecutor is clearly attempting to provoke a mistrial. He’s an experienced attorney and he knows better.’
Binger claimed that he thought the door had been ‘left open.’
Yelling and clearly irate, Judge Schroeder said ‘Open for me! Not you! Why would you think that made it okay for you to, without any notice, bring the matter before the jury?’
As Binger kicked back, Judge Schroder exploded, ‘Don’t get brazen with me you know very well that an attorney can’t go into these areas when a judge had already ruled without going into it out of the presence of the jury before doing so. So don’t give me that.
‘It isn’t coming in no matter what you think.’
It is the second time that the judge has halted the cross-examination in a morning of extraordinary courtroom drama.
He told Binger, ‘I was astonished when you began your examination by commenting on the defendant’s post arrest silence.
‘I have no idea why you would do something like that. I don’t know what you’re up to.’
Now, the judge said, ‘I have to be concerned about the progress of the trial when you were over the line and close to and over the line on commenting on the defendant’s pre-trial silence which is a well known rule.’
Furious he concluded with a stern warning to Binger, ‘I don’t want to have another issue as long as this case continues is that clear?’
The cross examination was previously halted almost before it began as Judge Schroeder accused Binger of being ‘right on the borderline’ of ‘a grave constitutional violation.’
The dramatic moment came as Binger stood to cross examine Rittenhouse and began to suggest that he was ‘tailoring his story’ to fit the facts and accounts he had ‘had the benefit’ of hearing during the prior days of testimony.
Rittenhouse had already denied that he had ‘intended to kill’ any of the men he shot but that he intended to ‘stop the threat’ against him as he was being attacked.
Binger said, ‘This is first time you have told your story since August 25, 2020 isn’t it?
‘And you have had the benefit of seeing countless videos of your actions that night…and hearing the testimony of thirty-some witnesses who have testified in this case?’
Sustaining an objection by Mark Richards the judge dismissed the jury to reprimand Binger.
He said, ‘You are commenting on the defendant’s right to silence. This is a grave constitutional violation and you are right on the borderline of it in fact you may be over it. But it better stop.
‘This is not permitted.’
Rittenhouse had taken the stand in his own defense to tell the court that Rosembaum threatened to kill him twice – once while swinging a heavy chain and the second time when he said he would ‘cut out your f***ing heart’ and ‘kill you N-word’Kyle Rittenhouse has broken down on the witness stand as recalled the moment he was ‘ambushed’ by Joseph Rosenbaum the night he shot him dead
As the afternoon session continued, Binger returned to toil through cross-examination in which he sought to gain traction but seemed only to elicit information that aided the defense.
Attempting to cast doubt on Rittenhouse’s claims that he wanted to help and to put out fires Binger mocked, ‘Why did you feel the need to put out fires?’
Rittenhouse responded with the earnest, ‘To make sure my community didn’t get burned down and to help.’
Turning to Rittenhouse’s claim that he recognized Rosenbaum and felt threatened by him when he ‘ambushed’ him Binger asked, ‘So you were thinking this is the guy who threatened me?’
Rittenhouse responded, ‘I was thinking this is the guy who said if he catches me alone he’ll kill me as I’m running away from him.’
Binger pointed out that Rosenbaum had ‘changed his appearance’ – taking off a blue banana he had worn earlier that evening and wrapping his maroon T-shirt around his head.
‘How did you know this was the same guy?’ he asked of the distinctive figure as if Rosenbaum had somehow morphed out of all recognition.
Rittenhouse seemed bemused by the very question. He said, ‘His appearance, his shorts, his height. He was wearing the red shirt when he chased me around his head.’
As her son spoke softly and steadily, calm now after a morning of high emotion, Wendy Rittenhouse blinked slowly, sometimes holding her eyes closed for a long period of time – worn out by it all.
She pinched the bridge of her nose as if trying to ease a headache as she listened.
The jurors who had listened attentively to direct examination, taking notes, appeared to tire – some rubbing their eyes and fewer noting anything down.
Again and again Binger’s questions only served in their responses to remind jurors that Rittenhouse was in Kenosha that night to help put out fires and administer medical aid.
Again and again his questions underlined the image of Rosenbaum as an aggressor rather than a passive victim.
Binger said, ‘In that that entire evening he never touched your body.’
Rittenhouse replied, ‘He grabbed my gun when he attacked me.’
Binger circled back, ‘And that’s why I asked the question the way I did – he never touched your body,’ the point falling flat.
Binger repeatedly returned to the fact that Rittenhouse had chosen to bring his AR-15, presenting himself as a man perplexed as to why somebody who wasn’t anticipating trouble might do that. Rittenhouse said he brought the gun in case somebody hurt him.
He asked, ‘If you’re just trying to help people why would you think somebody was going to hurt you?’
Rittenhouse apparently without guile said, ‘I don’t know. Somebody did try to hurt me and I was trying to help people.’
Wednesday morning, Rittenhouse broke down on the witness stand as he recalled the moment he was ‘ambushed’ by Joseph Rosenbaum the night he shot him dead.
His mother Wendy watched on from the public gallery of Kenosha County Courthouse, weeping.
Rittenhouse had taken the stand in his own defense to tell the court that Rosembaum threatened to kill him twice – once while swinging a heavy chain and the second time when he said he would ‘cut out your f***ing heart’ and ‘kill you N-word.’
The teen recounted the events of the night and explained that he had gone to administer medical aid, armed with his rifle but not looking for trouble, when he found himself alone and cut off from the rest of the group with whom he had been earlier on the evening of August 25, 2020.
Questioned by his lead attorney Mark Richards, Rittenhouse said that he had been attempting to put out vehicles in one of three Car Source properties that he and his fellow so-called vigilantes were in downtown Kenosha to protect during the nights of civil unrest that followed the police shooting of black man Jacob Blake.
Armed with a fire extinguisher, his medical bag and his AR-15, he said, ‘I started running towards the Car Source number three to put out fires, pausing occasionally to catch my breath and walk.
‘As I’m walking I hear somebody scream, ‘Burn in Hell!’ and I replied with, ‘Friendly! Friendly! Friendly!’ Like I just want to put out the fires.
‘I noticed a flame in the back seat of a [vehicle] and I stepped towards [it] and as I’m stepping forward I believe his name is Joshua Ziminski steps towards me with a pistol in his hand.
‘I drop the fire extinguisher and step back. My plan is to get out of that situation and go back North to Sheridan Road.’
His emotion clearly rising Rittenhouse continued, ‘Once I take that step I look back over my shoulder and Mr. Rosenbaum was no running from my right side and there were people right there…’
Kyle Rittenhouse points and names people in a photograph taken on the night of August 25, 2020His mother Wendy watched on from the public gallery of Kenosha County Courthouse, weeping, as Judge Bruce Schroeder called a halt to proceedings in the dramatic morning of testimony
At this point Rittenhouse’s testimony became unintelligible as he began sobbing in gulping breaths until the judge was forced to call a halt to proceedings and ushered the jury out.
Earlier Rittenhouse had appeared calm and spoken clearly told the court that he did not go to downtown Kenosha ‘looking for trouble’ and would not have shot Joseph Rosenbaum if he hadn’t, ‘chased after him and tried to take his fire-arm.’
He told the court that he was there to administer medical aid that evening and that during the evening he had bound a woman’s sprained ankle and tended to fellow vigilante Ryan Balch when he was affected by a chemical bomb – helping him with his breathing and to irrigate his eyes.
Rittenhouse is a trained lifeguard with some first aid training. He is currently studying nursing at the University of Arizona.
According to Rittenhouse he had gone into downtown Kenosha earlier that day to help clean graffiti off the side of Reuther Central High School. It was during the trip with his friend Dominick Black and sister McKenzie that he said he met the owners of local business Car Source – which has three locations in the small town.
Car Source owners Anmol ‘Sam’ and Sahil ‘Sal’ Khindri have both stated under oath that they did not ask anyone to protect their property though two defense witnesses and one witness for the state said that they did.
Today Rittenhouse told the court that not only did the business owners give permission for them to be there and ask for protection that night – which he had offered earlier in the day – Sal drove him, his friend Dominick Black and former Car Source worker Nick Smith to the particular property.
He said, ‘Sam and Sal thanked us for coming out to help and Sal said ‘Why don’t you guys hop in my car?’ He was going to drive us down to [another] Car Source lot.’
He said that he witnessed Sal give Nick Smith keys to the business – something which Khindri also denied under oath – and showed the men where ladders were kept so they could access the roof. Khindri also denied doing this.
He said, ‘He let us know where the power washers were and the hose hook ups. He showed Dominick Black and Nick Smith the two ladders that were there to get up on the roof.
‘I didn’t personally [use the ladders] but the people who were on the roof did.’
Before the jury were called in and ahead of his testimony Rittenhouse had sat, wide-eyed in the stand, assuring the judge that he felt all right, that his mind was clear, that he had not consumed alcohol or drugs and that he had decided that this was ‘a good thing to do under the circumstances.’
Attorney Mark Richards stood to confirm that he was acting on the advice of counsel.
Today deputies patrolled the courtroom ensuring that cell phones were put away and earlier a film crew was stopped attempting to film in the courthouse hallways.
The teen recounted the events of the night and explained that he had gone to administer medical aid, armed with his rifle but not looking for trouble, when he found himself alone and cut off from the rest of the group with whom he had been earlier on the evening of August 25, 2020Gaige Grosskreutz was shot by Kyle Rittenhouse on August 25, 2020 and his right bicep was almost entirely blown away. Grosskreutz, the state’s star witness, took the stand Monday morning
Back on the stand after a brief break to compose himself Rittenhouse continued to narrate the events of the night – detailing how he was pursued and attacked first by Rosenbaum, then Huber and finally Grosskreutz.
He recalled that he felt trapped between Ziminiski and Rosenbaum and revealed that he had heard Ziminski tell Rosenbaum to, ‘Get him and kill him.’
He said that Rosenbaum threw something at him, he turned around but that it didn’t stop the other man who was running after him and gaining on him.
As he ran, Rittenhouse said, he heard a gun shot behind him, took a few steps and turned around to see that Rosenbaum was ‘about as far from me to where the judge is coming at me with his arms out in front of him.’
He said, ‘I remember his hand on the barrel of my gun.’
After he shot Rosenbaum he said, ‘I ran around to see if I could help Mr. Rosenbaum.
‘Mr. McGinniss tore off his helmet slammed it on the ground, took off his shirt. I don’t remember what he said, I was in shock.’
Rittenhouse said he called his friend Black and told him he had just shot somebody, that he had to shoot him.
He said, ‘I heard people say, ‘Get his ass.’ And thought the safest option was to reach the police line and turn himself but that as he tried to so do he was being chased ‘by a mob.’
He said, ‘People were screaming and saying, ‘Cranium him! Kill him!’
‘I didn’t do anything wrong I defended myself.’
He said that the next thing he remembered was Anthony Huber striking him on the head with a skateboard. He batted it away with his arm and continued on but, light-headed and in shock, he said, he stumbled and fell.
He told the court that as he was running he was hit twice on the head with some sort or rock.
According to Rittenhouse, ‘As I’m on the ground there are people around me. The last person, I don’t know his name [went to kick me]. As his face made contact with my face I fired two shots at him.
‘I thought he would stomp on my face if I didn’t.’
Neither shot hit the man known only as ‘jump-kick man’ in court.
Immediately after, he said, Huber came at him again – grabbing for his gun.
He said, ‘I can feel it pulling away from me and I can feel the strap coming off my body. I fire one shot.’
Struggling to get up he said he saw Grosskreutz coming towards him, initially with his hands up. He said that he lowered his weapon and looked down but, he added, ‘Mr Grosskreutz lunges at me with his pistol pointed directly at my head.’
He recalled, ‘He is standing – what I remember is our feet were touching
My rifle is down, his hands are up. His pistol is in his hand and then Mr Grosskreutz looks at me and that’s when Mr Grosskreutz brings his arm down…with me on the ground and his pistol is pointed at me and that’s when I shoot him. Once.’
Surrounded by chaos and potential threats he said, ‘I start walking towards the police line to turn myself into the police.
I run and walk, I put my hands up. I can’t really hear anything, my vision is very narrow. I see the flashing lights, I occasionally tried to move my rifle to put it behind me so the police didn’t see me as a threat.
‘I walk towards the window of the police cruiser and tell the officer, ‘I just shot somebody. I just shot somebody,’ and the officer says
‘Get the f*** back or you’re going to get pepper sprayed. Go home, go home, go home.’
Kyle Rittenhouse stammered, ‘My God my life might be over,’ as he admitted that he had ‘shot someone’ on the night of August 25, 2020Marshall posted a picture on Facebook of himself with Grosskreutz in the hospital the day after he was shot in the hand by Rittenhouse
Ultimately Rittenhouse was driven home by Dominick Black and then taken by his mother to Antioch Police Department, Illinois.
He said ‘I’m in shock I don’t really remember what was happening.
I was freaking out. I was just attacked my head was spinning.
‘The Kenosha police dept was barricaded off with a fence so I went to the nearest police department I knew of which was in Antioch by my house.’
As he sat waiting for officers to arrive from Kenosha to question him he said he was, ‘vomiting’ and having ‘panic attacks.’
In what has proved a brutal afternoon for the prosecution the judge prevented Binger from playing what the defense argued was enhanced or ‘altered’ video footage during cross examination.
Exasperated Binger insisted that all that he intended to do was ‘pinch and zoom’ on images and that this would not distort what was altered.
Judge Schroeder was not satisfied. He said, ‘I’ve got an objection in front of me now. [Mr Richards]is suggesting that amplifying the image is altering what is portrayed.
‘You’re giving me the defense that it’s no different from using a magnifying glass. I don’t believe that.
‘I do believe the [forensic imaging] expert testified that either he or the device inserted additional pixels into the image.
‘You’re the proponent and you need to assure me before I let the jury speculate on it that it is a reliable method that does not distort what is depicted.’
Pushing his luck on what has already been a bad day for the state Binger said, ‘So my understanding is we play it and sort it out later.’
The judge appeared aghast and said, ‘I did not say that. If I did then shame on me. I said before I’m going to allow this to be amplified in the way that you want it is going to have to be demonstrated to me that it is a [harmless] way to do it.’
Binger requested an adjournment to allow him time to do this before continuing his cross examination and was immediately shot down by the judge who said, ‘I’m not going to do that. Get right on it. Perhaps you can get an expert to speak to it in seconds.’
Jurors at Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial were shown gruesome images of the wounded bodies of the two men he shot dead the night of August 25, 2020. Huber’s body is pictured
Gaige Grosskreutz’s former roommate told the court that he ‘made it all up’ when he claimed that Grosskreutz’s ‘only regret’ was ‘not killing’ Kyle Rittenhouse the night he was shot by the teen.
Jacob Marshall was the first witness called by Rittenhouse’s defense Wednesday morning and made the startling assertion under direct examination by Corey Chirafisi.
Marshall posted a picture on Facebook of himself with Grosskreutz in the hospital the day after he was shot in the hand by Rittenhouse.
The post, which he has since deleted, was displayed on large screens in court.
It showed the two men posing up alongside Marshall’s post, ‘I just talked to Gaige Grosskreutz. His only regret was not killing the kid and hesitating to pull the gun before emptying the entire mag into him.’
Yet today Marshall said that he ‘100 percent lied’ when he wrote that post.
He said, ‘I made a bad remark. I was trying to stick up for my friend. He didn’t know what was going on.’
Chirafisi pointed out that he was not sticking up for Grosskreutz but ‘equating what he said.’
Marshall insisted, ‘Those words never came out of my friend’s mouth…It was bad judgement.’
He also denied deleting the post because he knew it would be bad for his friend’s credibility as a witness in these proceedings
Grosskreutz himself denied uttering the words when he was called as a witness for the state last week.
Yet under cross examination Grosskreutz’s testimony was severely undermined as it emerged that the trained paramedic, who had been painted as a non-partisan and peaceable by the state, had failed to mention that he was armed with a Glock, or that he was pointing it at Rittenhouse when he was shot, in either his police statement or two lawsuits which he has brought in relation to the case.
Yesterday, I was listening to a classical-music station when NPR came on with the news. Addressing the controversy surrounding former President Trump’s efforts to keep secret his records relating to the January 6 protests at the Capitol, the NPR reporter referred to the “deadly attack” on the Capitol.
I immediately thought to myself, “Well, that’s certainly an interesting use of language.”
When I hear the word “attack,” I think of weapons, specifically guns, grenades, or missiles that are intended to kill people. For example, when the Pentagon fired a missile at that family in Afghanistan shortly before exiting its 20-year war in that country, I would term that an “attack” — and a “deadly attack” at that, especially given that many innocent people, including children, were killed by that missile.
One of the fascinating aspects of the “attack” on the Capitol is that the “attackers” didn’t have guns. In fact, as far as I know, they didn’t even have any swords. To me, that’s one unusual “attack.” In fact, I’ll bet that there haven’t been many other “attacks” in history in which the “attackers” failed to use weapons to commit their “attack.”
What about words? Yeah, the Capitol “attackers” certainly employed a lot of words during the course of their “attack.” Maybe that is what NPR means when it describes what happened as an “attack” — that the “attackers” were engaged in a “word attack” on the Capitol. Imagine how frightening that “attack” must have been — with “attackers” hitting one victim with some particular word — maybe “Tyrant!” — followed by some other word, perhaps “Thief!”
Now, I think you would agree with me that that would be one scary “attack”!
In fact, it was so scary that one Capitol police officer shot and killed one of the “attackers” because he was so afraid that the “attackers” were coming to get him. He wasn’t the only one who was afraid. Many members of Congress were equally terrified of the Word-Attackers.
Hey, don’t judge these people too harshly. You don’t know how you would react if a bunch of Word-Attackers were coming after you and flinging and hurling nasty words at you.
Another interesting aspect of the NPR news broadcast was the reporter’s reference to the “deadly” attack on the Capitol. Now, when I hear that someone has engaged in a “deadly” attack, I immediately think that the attackers have killed people in the course of their attack.
Yet, here, the “attackers” didn’t kill anyone. Instead, the only person killed was one of the “attackers.” Her name was Ashli Babbitt. She was shot dead by that Capitol policeman who was terrified that Babbitt and the “attackers” were coming to get him and members of Congress. It’s still not clear why he didn’t fire a warning shot over her head. If he had done that, she undoubtedly would have backed off, especially since she was unarmed, well, except for words in her vocabulary.
For a while, the news media was reporting that Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick was beaten to death by the “attackers.” For example, the New York Times reported that he “was overpowered and beaten by rioters from the mob at the Capitol.”
Could that be what NPR is referring to when it cites the “deadly” attack on the Capitol?
I don’t think so because as things turned out, what the Times reported about Sicknick turned out to be incorrect. An autopsy revealed that Sicknick died of natural causes, to wit: strokes.
The New York Times also reported that a woman named Rosanne Boyland, who was one of the “attackers,” “appears to have been killed in a crush of fellow rioters during their attempt to fight through a police line.”
Alas, what appeared to be true wasn’t. An autopsy revealed that she died of a drug overdose, not trampling.
Two other “attackers” — Kevin Greeson and Benjamin Phillips — died of a heart attack and a stroke.
Thus, five people died during the “deadly attack.” One “attacker “was killed by a terrified Capitol police officer. One Capitol police officer and two of the “attackers” died of natural causes. Another “attacker” died of a drug overdose.
Given the nature of those deaths, is it really proper to refer to the “deadly” attack on the Capitol? Doesn’t the use of the term “deadly” imply that the attackers deliberately shot or killed people as part of their “attack”?
Maybe NPR is saying that the words that the “attackers” were employing as weapons caused those people to have heart attacks, strokes, and drug overdoses. Maybe their words are what caused that police officer who killed Ashli Babbitt to become terrified.
Ironically, as far as I know, the Justice Department hasn’t charged any of the January 6 protestors with murder or even a massive conspiracy to initiate a “deadly attack” on the Capitol. What’s up with that? Those federal prosecutors need to start listening to NPR.
(Financial Times) Biden says taming inflation is ‘top priority’ as soaring energy costs help drive 6.2% increase.
US consumer prices jumped in October at the fastest pace in three decades as inflationary pressures spread further throughout the economy, putting the Biden administration on the defensive and increasing prospects that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next year.
The consumer price index published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday rose 6.2 per cent in October from a year ago — the fastest annual pace since 1990 and a sharp increase from September’s levels of 5.4 per cent.
Month-over-month price gains accelerated, with a jump of 0.9 per cent amid what the BLS described as a “broad based” increase across a number of sectors. Between August and September, prices had risen 0.4 per cent.
Driving the surge was an uptick in costs for energy along with shelter, food, used cars and trucks and new vehicles. The energy index rose 4.8 per cent from September, while the gasoline index increased 6.1 per cent. On an annual basis, these sectors are up 30 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday singled out rising energy costs as a primary driver of inflation and said it was a “top priority” to reverse the continuing trend.
“I have directed my National Economic Council to pursue means to try to further reduce these costs, and have asked the Federal Trade Commission to strike back at any market manipulation or price gouging” in the energy sector, he said in a statement.
He also implored Congress to pass his $1.75tn spending bill, saying “17 Nobel Prize winners in economics have said that my plan will ‘ease inflationary pressures’” — although some Republicans have countered that such a huge injection of spending will make inflation worse.
Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator from West Virginia who has been at the centre of congressional negotiations over the bill, also weighed in, warning that the threat posed by extremely elevated inflation was “getting worse”.
“From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day,” he wrote on Twitter.
In addition to higher energy prices, food prices jumped 0.9 per cent over the month, with a 1 per cent rise in “food at home” costs.
Stripping out volatile items such as food and energy, prices rose 0.6 per cent for the month, well above the previous reading of 0.2 per cent. On an annual basis, those costs increased 4.6 per cent, the highest level since 1991. In September, it stood at 4 per cent.
Short-dated US government bond yields, which are most sensitive to changes in monetary policy, surged following the report, as expectations rose that the central bank may lift interest rates multiple times next year.
The two-year Treasury traded roughly 0.08 percentage points higher at 0.51 per cent, while yields on the benchmark 10-year bond climbed 0.06 percentage points to trade around 1.51 per cent.
The data reinforce the view that inflationary pressures are proving more persistent than expected — a growing risk the Fed acknowledged last week when it announced plans to begin scaling back its $120bn-a-month asset purchase programme this month.
Senior Fed officials — including chair Jay Powell and Richard Clarida, the vice-chair — contend that the current imbalances will eventually recede as global supply chains and labour markets adjust, meaning inflation will ultimately prove “transitory” and fade over time. But Wednesday’s data challenged that view, economists said.
“Transitory is dead and buried,” said Eric Winograd, senior economist for fixed income at AllianceBernstein. “There is a good chance we will see core CPI close to 6 per cent over the next few months.”
A “striking” surge in services-related expenses affirmed that the Fed is likely to raise interest rates next year, according to Winograd. He expects an adjustment soon after the central bank’s asset purchases end as planned in June, with another increase likely later in the year.
Save for a dip in airfares and the prices for alcoholic beverages in October, costs are rising again for many of the sectors most sensitive to the economic reopening, although the pace is more moderate than earlier in the year.
Prices for used cars, which had driven the bulk of the inflation surge this spring, picked up again after two months of declines. They rose 2.5 per cent from September and are up 26.4 per cent for the year.
Hotel expenses also increased 1.5 per cent after several months of lower prices, bringing the annual rise to almost 26 per cent.
October’s data confirmed prices were picking up across a broader number of sectors, including medical care, household furnishings and recreation. Transportation services rose 0.4 per cent after two months of decreases.
Rents and other shelter-related costs, which represent about a third of CPI, kept advancing steadily. Owner’s equivalent rent — a measure of what homeowners believe their properties would rent for — rose 0.4 per cent between September and October, or 3.1 per cent on the year.
Shelby Allen, a 17-year-old from Dyer County, Tennessee, is hospitalized with a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks its nerves. She developed the condition after getting a COVID vaccine.
Shelby Allen, who lives in Dyer County, Tennessee, said she started experiencing back pain and tingling in her arms a few weeks ago at a wedding. Her symptoms progressed until she found herself unable to feel her arms and legs while bowling with her school’s team.
“I’m on the bowling team in Dyer County, and I noticed when I was throwing the ball, I couldn’t feel my arm and legs,” Allen said. “So, I was freaking out.”
Her parents took her to a doctor in Jackson, Tennessee, where she was diagnosed with GBS. She was admitted to the ICU at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital for treatment.
“When we got in, my doctor … told me right off the bat what she thought it was. She said ‘you have Guillain-Barré,’” Allen said.
Dr. Nick Hysmith, the medical director of infection prevention at Le Bonheur, said GBS is where “the body’s immune system gets a little bit confused and targets your nerve cells, and that leads to weakness.”
He said the adverse reaction is “extremely rare” and advised people to still get vaccinated.
According to the Mayo Clinic, initial symptoms of GBS include weakness and tingling in the extremities. The symptoms can spread quickly, eventually paralyzing the whole body.
People with GBS usually experience their most significant weakness within two weeks after symptoms begin. Most GBS patients require hospitalization.
Between Dec. 14, 2020, and Oct. 29, 2021, for all age groups, 1,591 cases of GBS were reported to VAERS by people who had recently been vaccinated for COVID.
Allen, who was moved out of the ICU at Le Bonheur, said she is determined to walk at her graduation.
“I should be able to walk and get my diploma in March,” Allen said. “I’ll be graduating high school. I should be able to walk on that stage and I’m determined to do that.”
Allen said she feels blessed. “I could be dead, or I could be paralyzed.”
In an exclusive interview, Ochoa said she is outraged after the vaccine injuries left her in “horrific pain,” unable to walk without assistance or provide for herself. Ochoa said she now suffers from injuries “far worse” than what she went through with her cancer treatment.
The Defender has also reported on a Texas teenager diagnosed with GBS a few weeks after his first dose of a COVID vaccine.
“I wanted to get the vaccine,” said Wyatt McGlaun, a high school senior. “I felt it was the right thing to do. I wanted to travel and enjoy my last summer before college.”
A few weeks after being vaccinated, McGlaun became weak and had difficulty walking. He was admitted to CHI St. Luke’s Health where he was diagnosed with GBS. Although McGlaun said he believed the vaccine was to blame, doctors said it could just be a “coincidence.”
French and German health authorities are warning against the use of Moderna’s experimental Spikevax Covid-19 vaccine for people under the age of 30 in light of evidence the shot wages higher risk of heart disease.
QUICK FACTS:
A German advisory committee, known as STIKO, cited findings showing that experimental vaccines using mRNA technology were associated with an increased risk of hospitalization for myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), and pericarditis (inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart), in younger patients, according to The Epoch Times.
Findings showed higher prevalence in those who received Moderna’s jab.
Germany’s findings are similar to a study published on Nov 8 by France’s Epi-Phare.
France’s public health authority also recommended people under 30 not receive Moderna Inc.’s Spikevax jab, which carried comparatively higher risks of heart-related problems, notes Reuters.
France’s Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS) cited risks linked to Myocarditis, a heart disease, that had shown up in recent data on the Moderna vaccine and in a French study published on Monday.
Both France & Germany are now advising AGAINST the Moderna vaccine for people under 30 years of age.
Former OSHA chief of staff Debbie Berkowitz tells Associated Press they will have to rely on whistleblowers.
QUICK FACTS:
Biden’s mandate, requiring companies with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are fully vaccinated or test negative for the virus at least once a week, is scheduled to take effect Jan 4.
But with 1,850 OSHA inspectors and 8 million job sites, the organization will likely not be able to enforce the mandate across all U.S. businesses.
Former OSHA chief of staff Debbie Berkowitz told the Associated Press they will have to rely on whistleblowers, Newsweek reports, meaning Biden’s mandate will rely on employees informing on employers.
“There is no army of OSHA inspectors that is going to be knocking on employers’ door or even calling them,” Berkowitz said. “They’re going to rely on workers and their union representatives to file complaints where the company is totally flouting the law.”
With a shortage of OSHA safety inspectors, they will ask employees to report their employers for violating Biden's COVID-19 mandates. https://t.co/z5xu5uElCb
OSHA has jurisdiction in 29 states. Other states, including California and Michigan, have their own federally approved workplace safety agencies. These states will have an additional month — until early February — to adopt their own version of the COVID mandate, equal to or tougher than OSHA’s.
OSHA urges workers to first bring unsafe or unhealthy working conditions to the attention of their employers “if possible.” Employees could also file a confidential safety complaint with OSHA or have a case filed by a representative, such as a lawyer, a union representative or a member of the clergy. But they have no right to sue their employer in court for federal safety violations.
Typically, 20 to 25 percent of OSHA inspections originate with a complaint.
“You fill out a form or somebody fills out a form for you,” said Berkowitz. “And that’s all workers have. If OSHA decides not to inspect, that’s it. Or if OSHA inspects but decides not to cite the employer, that’s it. … So it’s a pretty weak law.”
Only OSHA can bring cases over violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, the law that is meant to provide safe workplaces. Going outside OSHA to sue employers for negligence is all but impossible, say Berkowitz and other worker advocates.
State worker compensation programs — which reimburse injured workers for medical costs and lost wages and provide death benefits to survivors of those killed — include no-fault provisions that block most lawsuits.
Even sounding the alarm can be risky. In a report co-written by Berkowitz, the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for worker rights, found that OSHA dismissed — without investigating — more than half the COVID-related complaints of retaliation it received from whistleblowers. Just 2 percent of complaints were resolved in the five-month period last year that the law project studied. Workers have just 30 days to file an OSHA complaint over retaliation.
“OSHA needs to improve its handling of whistleblower complaints,” the Labor Department’s Inspector General, its internal watchdog, concluded last year. “When OSHA fails to respond in a timely manner, it could leave workers to suffer emotionally and financially, and may also lead to the erosion of key evidence and witnesses.”
Still, most companies are considered likely to comply with the COVID mandate, as they mostly do with other OSHA rules. Some employers were likely relieved: They may have wanted to require inoculations on their own but worried that they’d alienate anti-vax workers and possibly lose them to employers that didn’t require vaccinations.
“Most employers — they’re law abiding,” says David Michaels, a former OSHA chief who is an epidemiologist and professor of public health at George Washington University. “They’re trying to make sure that they meet the requirements of every law and regulation .. Now OSHA will follow up. They’ll respond to complaints. They’ll do spot checks. They’ll issue citations and fines, and they’ll make a big deal of those” to discourage other potential violators.
In a separate report, Labor Dept shows real wages decline 0.5% in just one month (Sep to Oct) as pay can’t keep up with prices vaulting higher. pic.twitter.com/XdnF6kSqJt
