Judge: Prosecutors can't show Rittenhouse link to Proud Boys

[Ford_Prefect]

37. It appears he baited the first man into attacking him.

If you bait a Bear and force him into growling and showing his teeth, and then shoot him because you were threatened, you created the threat intending to shoot the Bear all along. You were the predator, not the Bear. You went looking for and enabled the confrontation while carrying lethal force. There was only ever going to be one conclusion to that exchange.

Rittenhouse was underage and was not a sworn peace officer. There are rules of engagement written out in police procedure for circumstances like what happened that night. It is clear that Rittenhouse went out of his way to interfere with the protest with the weapon in hand. He wasn't invited to protect personal property or police officers. He wasn't entitled or required to be there. He wasn't there to help put out a fire with a bucket of water he brought. He was there to hunt people the way vigilantes have always done: as judge and executioner like a character in a video game.