Rage is an emotion I rarely ever feel. I’m thankful that it doesn’t happen very often. When rage hits I have to take a step back and collect my thoughts. That happened last night when El Jefe reported the ruling of the judge in the Jacob Rittenhouse case here.

I wanted to check myself and go to the source. However, I know Twitter is not the best source for news either. So, I decided to go to a reputable source like NPR and saw the same story again. I still couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was like we had gone down some sort of worm hole in time into a different universe. I certainly wasn’t capable of intelligent commentary.

Let’s start with the obvious. Does this judge have proof that those particular individuals were participating in looting, arson, and rioting? Moreover, did Rittenhouse absolutely know which of his victims (oops) were guilty of those things? Firing indiscriminately into a crowd would seem to show a lack of discerning on his part, but that’s probably my fault for using big words like discerning.

How is anyone (let alone a judge) allowed to refer to anyone in public as a looter, rioter, or arsonist unless we know for a fact that they were doing those things? In one flail swoop, the judge has managed to not only render a ruling that makes the case for an appeal a slam dunk, he’s opened himself up to class action lawsuit for defamation of character.

However, let’s forget all of that for the moment. Do we want to live in a society where that even matters? Do we want to live in a society where a teenage boy gets to decide what crosses the line between peaceful protests and rioting? Do we want an adolescent deciding when someone has crossed the line into looting? Do we want someone without a fully developed frontal lobe getting to decide the fate of someone even if they have been caught committing an act of arson? Hell, are any of those actions things that anyone should be killed over?

I’m not qualified to make that decision and I’m a grown ass man. Besides, I don’t want to live in a world where individuals on the street get to decide whether my actions somehow call for me to be the victim of state sanctioned murder. The whole concept is so morally repugnant that I can’t even entertain it. This didn’t come from a high school buddy or some stranger down the street. Apparently, this thinking came from a judge in a court of law.

So, one decision collectively demonstrates where we have gone wrong. This decision just told the families of those VICTIMS that it was their fault for protesting in the wrong place at the wrong time. This decision told the families of the VICTIMS that their loved ones will forever be branded as criminals or miscreants. This decision white washed a young kid’s decision to take the law into his own hands and become judge, jury, and executioner. This decision turned the American justice system (if even temporarily) into a lynch mob. May God have mercy on our soul if we allow this to happen.