Trial opens in killing of US anti-racism protesters

Trial opens in killing of US anti-racism protesters

A double-murder trial underpinned by the stark left-right divide in US politics over last year's anti-police and anti-racism protests opened Monday in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Jury selection began in the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who, joining vigilante groups opposed to the protests and rioting, shot two men dead and wounded a third on the night of August 20, 2020, drawing condemnation from the left but support from then-President Donald Trump.
Carrying a semi-automatic assault rifle, he had opened fire during the march against police mistreatment of African Americans, killing two men, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and badly wounding a third, Gaige Grosskreutz. All three were white.
The circumstances of the shootings, which were partly filmed by bystanders, are at the heart of the case: did Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, intend to kill people when he went to the protest, or did he shoot the men in self-defense?

The judge in the case, Bruce Schroeder, underscored that question and angered liberals when he ruled last week that the people shot in the case could not be called "victims," but could be labelled "rioters," "looters" or "arsonists" if defense attorneys can show they had engaged in such acts.
"Those of you who are selected for this jury are going to hear for yourselves the real evidence in this case," Schroeder told potential jurors Monday, suggesting that some of the reporting on the case had been "irresponsible and sloppy."
Rittenhouse is charged with five felony counts, including first-degree homicide.
Anti-police protests erupted in Kenosha after a white policeman grievously injured and paralyzed a Black man, Jacob Blake, shooting him in the back repeatedly during an arrest attempt.
A resident of Antioch, Illinois, Rittenhouse drove the 20 miles (30 kilometers) to Kenosha where he joined dozens of others who said they were there to protect local businesses from looting and damage after rioting.
Several videos captured his movements that night.
On one of them, Rittenhouse seems to flee just before another young man falls to the ground with a gunshot wound to his head.
On another, he is seen being chased by a small group of protesters. He falls down, then points his weapon. The sound of shots being fired is clearly audible.
Since then, Rittenhouse has become a hero-figure in some right-wing and pro-gun circles, where the protests of 2020 were blamed on violent radicals.
Protesters "violently attacked him," Trump said during a Kenosha visit in early September. "He probably would have been killed."
After his arrest Rittenhouse was freed on bail of $2 million, raised by supporters across the country, including prominent supporters of Trump.
Prosecutors are expected to depict Rittenhouse as a right-wing extremist who had come to Kenosha with the specific intention of clashing with anti-racism demonstrators.
His own lawyers will say he acted in self-defense, shooting only to protect himself from rioters pursuing him.
If convicted during the trial in Kenosha County Circuit Court, Rittenhouse faces a possible life sentence.

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Joe Manchin just torpedoed the White House's planned victory lap

Joe Manchin just torpedoed the White House's planned victory lap

When Joe Manchin stepped to the podium in the US Capitol on Monday afternoon, the hope among Democrats was that he was going to announce that he supported the $1.75 trillion social safety net bill -- a moment that would virtually ensure passage of the bulk of President Joe Biden's first-term domestic agenda.

After all, why else would Manchin call a news conference and tell reporters that he was going to "clear up a lot of things"?

Well, not that, as it turns out.

What the West Virginia Democrat announced was that liberals' attempts to secure his vote for the safety net bill in exchange for their backing of the $1.2 trillion "hard" infrastructure bill aren't working -- and won't work.

"It is time to vote on the (bipartisan infrastructure) bill, up or down," said Manchin. "Holding this bill hostage is not going to work in getting my support

for the reconciliation bill."

Ultimately, Manchin didn't want to get jammed into supporting something he was far from ready to endorse, CNN's Manu Raju reported after talking to a source familiar with the senator's thinking.

As to whether he will EVER support the social safety net bill, Manchin was decidedly noncommittal. Raju, who was at the Manchin presser, also noted:

"One thing that Manchin's statement makes clear is it's going to take time — potentially a lot more time — to win his support, if that's even possible."

It's hard to overstate how big a setback Manchin's statement represents for Biden, who is attending a climate change conference in Scotland.

At the start of the day Monday, the general consensus among Democrats was that a deal had been reached on at least a framework for the social safety net legislation.

And that reality appeared to be softening concerns among liberals that voting for the "hard" infrastructure bill without the broader bill would cost them the only leverage they have with Manchin and Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Now? Manchin's insistence that the House (read: liberals in the House) pass the infrastructure bill without any assurances on how he will ultimately vote on the safety net measure will re-stoke all of the doubts among progressives about him walking away from the broader deal once he gets what he wants.

And Manchin's lecture-y "it's time to pass a bill and quit playing games" is just going to piss the left off (even more than they already were).

The Manchin announcement is pure bad news for the Biden White House, as it may well put them back at square one when it comes to negotiating a way to get the President's domestic agenda through a Democratic-controlled Congress.

That it comes one day before Virginians choose their next governor -- and with the GOP candidate carrying all the momentum in that race -- makes what Manchin said even more problematic.

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