As I listened to the Rittenhouse verdict, the phrase "restorative justice" popped into my head.  I was pretty sure I didn't have the definition right, so I looked it up.  Turns out, it's yet another phrase co-opted by the left, meant to describe the starry-eyed process of "reconciliation" between criminal and victim.  Somehow, I think that's a one-way street, meant more to gain sympathy for the criminal by pushing the victim to forgive.

I'd like to change that phrase's definition.  For me, it's more that this verdict restored my faith (and, I'm sure, the faith of others of like mind) in our justice system, at least to an extent.  Such faith had long been lost, to the point where I had no idea if we would ever view a just verdict in a politically charged case again.  Restoration of faith in "the justice system," however small the example, is a very good result for the public at large.

The verdict humiliates the mainstream media, no doubt left scrambling as their "guilty" narrative was squished like a bug.  I rarely watch "the other" channels (a little FOX, I can stomach, but not CNN and MSNBC), except when I'm on the rowing machine at the gym.  There, CNN is usually right in front of me, so I often read the closed captioning.  Most of the CNN shows spend their time hyping the vaccine and extolling Biden's virtues, but they intermingled reports denigrating Rittenhouse and pushing their leftist narrative of his guilt — only in this case, it's pushed them right over the cliff.

We have a long way to go in this country until justice is restored.  I think about the January 6 prisoners, and my faith in justice is diminished severely.  I contrast their treatment with the Antifa/BLM rioters in so many cities, released and forgotten about, while the damage they caused remains.

I think about the four years of House finagling and interference in the Trump administration, all chasing an illusory Trump-Russian conspiracy.  Anyone with an I.Q. over 50 should have been able to see that fake narrative clearly (which says little for our ability to elect the competent).

I think about the election, stolen from Trump by sleight-of-hand so obvious even our Supreme Court should have seen it and done something.

Image: Kyle Rittenhouse hugs his attorney.  Rumble screen grab.

I think of the argument I had, before the election, with someone I care about.  He insisted that the media were honest, that the Hunter Biden laptop was a fake, and a means to trip up Biden.  All media collusion, pushing a fake narrative to achieve the end they wanted and got, and now must find a way to live with.

I think about the thousand cuts of injustice all around us, the police being defunded and the concurrent rise in crime, the prosecution of those doing their jobs, all "validated" by our dishonest media.

And I think about how I lost faith in our American people, who let themselves be so duped that they were complacent in accepting the "election" of an imbecile as our president and a total idiot as his second.

I think about the responsibility of citizenship, as embodied in the Rittenhouse jury.  Threatened with violence against themselves, they had to be brave to even sit on that jury, much less reach a verdict.  It helped, no doubt, that they were all probably there, living in Kenosha during the violence.  They witnessed the events the night Rittenhouse was charged with killing people, and they have had to live with the aftermath, a destroyed city.  They live in the havoc the left and its Antifa/BLM thuggery left behind.

I am heartened that they would be brave enough to come to the conclusions they did — not guilty, on every count.  I pray for their well-being, as well as for Kyle Rittenhouse's safety.

He is exonerated, and it is infuriating to the manipulators, the violent, the chaos-mongers.  I know he is not safe, because they, the left, the BLM and Antifa crowd of privileged (mostly white) children, are violent children, self-centered, anarchistic, stupid, and greedy.  They are the product of a generation of parents who never said "no" to their kids, and a school system that fed their egos, not their minds.  Egged on by a complicit media establishment, they've been invincible until now.

I read that Matt Gaetz wants to offer Kyle an internship.  I don't know whether he aspires to that role or if he wants to simply live a calm life where he can continue to serve locally.  I know he has a bright future since his fealty seems to be to family, to community, and to justice.  He should stand proud, knowing he weathered an ordeal by fire such as few are asked to undertake, and did so with his head held high.

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