Wisconsin Criminal Justice System Performs Normally — and Insanely

The Flight of Moloch - by William Blake.
The significance of Blake's wok is the moment
when we stop using children as pawns to
sacrifice, rather as treasures to protect.

Commentary

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — Any decent human being would decline to trick innocent people, especially children, into a false confession of a crime.

But how often have you heard of a cop or a politician speaking out against cops coercing false confessions, or framing innocent members of the public? Never, not in Wisconsin.

Who benefits by the persistence of false confessions? The victims do not; society at large does not; certainly not police-made victims; it seems the police and prosecutors are the only ones who pat themselves on the back for clearing their books of another crime while the perpetrators go free.

That's because the criminal justice and political systems act as authoritarians and have all the power when it comes to prosecuting crimes. 

The state, the sovereign, freely sacrifices innocent lives if it serves their purposes, rather than standing up for and calling out for righteous justice for the innocent.

There generally is no pre- or post-conviction review of the prosecutors and police cases, when misconduct is revealed, though there are isolated examples of this logical follow-up.

If I were a cop, and I even heard of this human rights atrocity of the police framing or coercing a false confession, I would state publicly and repeatedly, "You unbelievable coward, what is the matter with you?"

It's now routine to read of outrageous acts of police tricking children into false confessions. 

Several states have outlawed this unbelievable practice of tricking children.

But the reporting and child advocacy never take the logical next step — the condemnation of the police. We live in a politcal system in which criticism of the police almost never occurs, especially from elected Democrats and Republicans and especially in Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin, the most infamous case of police tricking and lying to children is Brendan Dassey.

After police lied, manipulated and tricked the innocent Brendan Dassey into an outrageous false confession, Wisconsin police gave the two police child molesters — Mark Wiegert (current Sheriff of the Calumet County Sheriff's Office) and Tom Fassbender (Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation investigator (ret.) — the Meritorious Service Award from the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators on May 2, 2008.

That's right. Police applauded Wiegert and Fassbender for terrorizing and destroying the life of an innocent kid.

Folks, we live in a society where police routinely prey on the innocent and gullible with the objective of sending them to prison for life. That's a problem, just ask Brendan Dassey and Steven Avery, and Penny Brummer.

What is the difference between what Wiegert and Fassbender did to Brendan Dassey and what child molesters do during the commission of their crimes? Children are lured in by false promises, assaulted,  and are oblivious to what hit them.

See John Oliver's segment on the use of the Reid Technique nonsense, police interrogations and false confessions are aptly characterized as junk science.

Said Oliver: "The problem with police interrogations right now is the same problem that we have with policing at large. They're emboldened to act however they'd like in a system where they hold an undue amount of power with very few protections for civilians, especially the most vulnerable, because there can be little to no consequences for extracting a false confession."

Act locally. In Wisconsin we need to vote out Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Joshua Kaul for protecting dirty cops and keeping those whom they know to be innocent in prison.

Meanwhile, stay current on the litigation of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey's crusade to shame Tony Evers into a pardon.

Brendan Dassey needed someone sitting with him in class to help him figure out what the teacher was asking him to do. But he had no help when interrogated. Even with help, police are trained to neutralize guardians. Lawyers can't be neutralized. @TheArcUS https://t.co/JqCn4Vgr89

— Steven A Drizin (@SDrizin) April 27, 2022

Joe Biden's Vacant Comment on Rittenhouse Verdict Comes as Protesters Demand Fed Civil Rights Probe

Biden Responds with Platitudes
'Whole Damn System Corrupt as Hell'
'Kenosha Racist as Hell'

Madison, Wisconsin — A Kenosha jury gave its imprimatur to vigilantism against black liberation protesters, finding killer Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty of five charges related to firing his AR-15 at Black Lives Matter protesters in Aug 2020, killing two and grievously wounding another.

The verdict was announced November 20, 2021.

Joe Biden's statement on the verdict offered insult to injury to a shocked Wisconsin community that watched Rittenhouse gun down two people in cold blood in videos, only to have a Kenosha County jury call it self-defense.

The verdict comes as the Wisconsin Judiciary and Wisconsin criminal justice system have become widely regraded as corrupt institutions dominated by fiefdoms, political parties and myriad bad actors such as the buffoonish Judge Bruce Schroeder who presided over the Rittenhouse trial with a mixture of narcissism and pettiness.

Furthermore, the Blake family stated the Biden administration has "sold out" the black and brown communities, in reaction to the verdict. (ABC7, Chicago; Channel 5, Chicago).

Reports ABC7, Chicago on the Jacob Blake family speaking for Rittenhouse's victims:

'They chose to represent themselves and come out here to march in peace for Jacob Blake - it led to their death.'

Blake is a Black man who was shot seven times by a white Kenosha police officer last summer, which sparked demonstrations that drew the then 17-year-old Rittenhouse to the Wisconsin community.

Blake's uncle, Justin Blake, said he was in 'shock and awe' after hearing the jury acquitted the Antioch teen on all counts, including in the fatal shooting of two men.

'How many cases do you need to see of Caucasian cops or other people walking out the door after murdering people that are either African American or supporting African Americans,' Justin said.

Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded demonstrator Gaige Grosskreutz, now 28.

'This attack on these two young men who had no weapon to defend themselves against an AR-15. They chose to represent themselves and come out here to march in peace for Jacob Blake - it led to their death,' Justin Blakd said.

Justin Blake repeated his call for the U.S. Dpt of Justice to launch a probe of Rittenhouse and law enforcement's conduct leading to the Rittenhouse's killings.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden's statement on the verdict rang hollow.

Biden's statement is reproduced below:

While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken. I ran on a promise to bring Americans together, because I believe that what unites us is far greater than what divides us.  I know that we’re not going to heal our country’s wounds overnight, but I remain steadfast in my commitment to do everything in my power to ensure that every American is treated equally, with fairness and dignity, under the law.

I urge everyone to express their views peacefully, consistent with the rule of law.  Violence and destruction of property have no place in our democracy.  The White House and Federal authorities have been in contact with Governor Evers’s office to prepare for any outcome in this case, and I have spoken with the Governor this afternoon and offered support and any assistance needed to ensure public safety.

 ###

The ACLU also issued a long statement which is reproduced below:

Kyle Rittenhouse Didn’t Act Alone: Law Enforcement Must Be Held Accountable

The massive show of force from 40 law enforcement agencies in Kenosha didn’t make anyone safer.

By Leah Watson , Staff Attorney,
ACLU's Racial Justice Program

For two weeks, we’ve heard trial testimony and seen evidence of the events that occurred on August 25, 2020 — the night that Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two people and injured another during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. While Rittenhouse was not held accountable, he was not the only one whose conduct on that deadly night should be scrutinized. The actions — and inaction — of the Kenosha Police Department and the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department in the preceding 72 hours played a critical part in the tragic events that took place.

As we reflect on that night, we must remember what ignited these protests. Two months after the murder of George Floyd, on August 23, 2020, Kenosha Police shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, in the back multiple times, paralyzing him. Faced with this latest manifestation of law enforcement’s systemic mistreatment and disregard for the lives of Black and Brown people, people took to the streets of Kenosha. Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth oversaw law enforcement’s response to these protests, including the coordination of over 40 local, state, and federal agencies.

The day after Kenosha Police shot Mr. Blake, former city alderman and self-proclaimed commander of the Kenosha Guard Kevin Mathewson wrote a racially charged “call to action” inviting armed civilians to protect Kenosha from “evil thugs” the following day. The comments on his Facebook invitation, corresponding Reddit threads, and Infowars degenerated into racist threats to kill and maim protestors.

On the night of August 25, law enforcement not only failed to protect protestors calling for police accountability and more humane treatment of Black people, but actively put them in harm’s way. Officers enabled and encouraged predominantly white, right-wing armed civilians and militia groups that night, creating a situation in which tensions escalated and people were killed.

Following the violence in Kenosha, an investigative team at the ACLU filed approximately 40 public records requests to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies; reviewed more than 800 records and 50 hours of video footage; and conducted over 40 in-depth interviews with community members to better understand what happened in Kenosha and how we can avoid these tragedies in the future. Here is what we found:

Kenosha law enforcement was aware of the threats that these armed civilians and militia groups posed to protestors exercising their First Amendment rights. Mathewson asked Sheriff Beth and Kenosha Police Chief David Miskinis to deputize these armed civilians and militia groups, noting that more than 3,000 people accepted the online invitation to “protect” the city. In addition to this correspondence, community members in Kenosha contacted law enforcement with concerns for their safety after reading this online vitriol. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security told local law enforcement that the Boogaloo Bois, a right-wing group with a history of violence, were planning an event in Kenosha on August 24. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also warned that the conflicting ideologies of protestors and these armed civilians and militia groups could “potentially be a flashpoint for violence” the next day.

Despite the obvious safety threats, law enforcement embraced the incendiary presence of armed civilians and militia groups. In a widely seen video, law enforcement thanked and even offered water to the armed civilians and militia groups attending the protests, as they instructed those protesting police brutality to leave. In text messages retrieved through our public records requests, after someone circulated a video of the Rittenhouse shootings, a Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department officer commented “nice video” in a message to colleagues and added that he was “[l]istening to gunfire. Such a nice night.”

In fact, it appears Kenosha law enforcement coordinated an effort to push protestors south on Sheridan Road, towards armed civilians and militia groups. Ryan Thomas Balch, an armed civilian affiliated with the Boogaloo Bois, was recorded saying on the night of the shootings, “Do you know what the cops told us today? They were like, ‘We’re gonna push them down by you, because you can deal with them, and then we’re gonna leave.’” In an August 26, 2020 written statement, Balch added, “K[enosha] P[olice] D[epartment] made a conscious decision to abandon the people of Kenosha to people they felt justified in using machines and weapons of war against. And were going to piss them off and drive them at us and let the chips fall where they may.”

The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department, led by Sheriff Beth, commanded law enforcement agencies to clear Civic Center Park and push protestors south towards the danger that lay multiple blocks from the park at the intersection of 60th and Sheridan. Multiple law enforcement officers documented their knowledge that armed civilians and militia members were concentrated in that direction, near 60th and Sheridan. Officers from various law enforcement agencies described the use of armored vehicles, foam bullets, tear gas, and flash bangs to herd protestors from the park toward the intersection, and to prevent the return of protestors to the park. After pushing the protestors south for over an hour, Kenosha law enforcement took a strategically timed break, consistent with Balch’s description. These efforts were well documented in the records our investigative team obtained:

• 9:43 pm: The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department documented “gas being deployed in front of the courthouse, goal to push crowd south.”
• 10:32 pm: Kenosha Police Department dispatched patrol to 58th and 8th to “keep crowd moving south on Sheridan.”
• 10:40 pm: Three bearcats moved south from 56th on Sheridan.
• 10:44 pm: Law enforcement continued to push protestors down the road.
• 10:57 pm: Law enforcement took a break.
• 11:12 pm: The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department reported that protestors “have been pushed south and we are holding our position at the park.”
• 11:40 pm: Bearcats from Racine, Walworth, Waukesha, and Sauk Counties held protestors at 60th and Sheridan, and noted a loud crowd at the gas station.
• 11:44 pm: An Oneida County bearcat moved to 60th and Sheridan.
• 11:50 pm: Rittenhouse shootings begin at 63rd and Sheridan.

The West Allis Police Department also described its actions:

At the request of tactical command, the armored vehicles and crowd control [o]fficers would direct the protestors south and hold or move the protestors south and back away north. Tactical command requested several times for this process to occur which led to the protestors being directed as far south as 60th St. & Sheridan.

Three important lessons emerge from this tragedy.

First, entrenched racism contributed to the events that unfolded. Make no mistake, the shooting of Jacob Blake and the related protests and fatalities stem from the deep-seated white supremacy that pervades our criminal legal system. Police officers brutalizing people of color who are protesting that very brutality and leaving people of color and their supporters at the mercy of armed white vigilantes is a pattern that recalls the origin of American police in slave patrols. These patrols sought to capture and return formerly enslaved people to the violence of enslavement, and their later connections to white supremacist agitation during the Civil Rights movement are echoed in the violence seen in Kenosha. In today’s world, Black and Brown people are not only targeted by police and frequently treated as presumptively guilty, but white people brandishing weapons of war are given the benefit of the doubt and even encouraged by officers of those same police agencies.

Second, law enforcement must not be permitted to weaponize the presence of armed civilians and militia. Jacob Blake’s shooting and the subsequent tragic, fatal shootings by Rittenhouse should usher in a significant wave of change, not only in Wisconsin but across the nation. Kenosha is not even the latest example of this pattern of police ignoring (at best) or facilitating (at worst) white mob violence: Following the January 6 insurrection, it was revealed that over 30 off-duty police officers attended the rally, and several joined the mob that stormed the Capitol. We must reexamine the roles and powers of police in American society, and listen to the communities of color in Kenosha and elsewhere that are calling for new approaches to public safety that protect all people, regardless of the color of their skin.

Finally, more officers and weapons do not increase safety. Law enforcement should play no role in protests, unless it is to protect our First Amendment rights, and they should not use violence to control the crowd or silence those they disagree with. Beyond the context of protests, there is little evidence that police effectively prevent or reduce violence, while there are many alternatives to policing that do make communities safer.

As our investigation illustrates, approximately 40 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies responded to the protests in Kenosha, utilizing various forms of force against protestors. This massive show of force failed to keep people safe — and in fact facilitated grave harm by pushing protesters into close proximity with Kyle Rittenhouse and other armed white civilians. The violence that night is a further reminder that well-resourced law enforcement agencies are failing to protect and even harming the communities they are sworn to serve. It’s time to acknowledge this failure and invest in measures that actually keep communities safe.

Tulsi Gabbard, Kyle Rittenshouse Defenders Go off Deep End

Rittenhouse posted bail, and then met with Proud Boys members
in a Kenosha County bar where he posed, flashing white power signs.

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — After the Kyle Rittenhouse testimony last week, most everyone agrees this killer is dim, reckless and puerile.

But defenders of Rittenhouse's self-defense claim are proffering new justifications on the eve of closing arguments and jury deliberation this coming week.

One line of killing-justification proliferating on social media is the claim Rittenhouse's victims may have criminal records, so Rittenhouse's killings can be adduced as retroactively praiseworthy. Critics of the killings are similarly off-base in their condemnations under this justification, it is asserted. 

A second line of killing-justification is the claim that all of the people on the street protesting the maiming of Jacob Blake are arsonists, (no matter the lack of criminal records or even arrests in this argument), so all Black Lives Matter protesters present in Kenosha deserve to be killed, including the victims of Rittenhouse.

That these lines of argument are insane does not stop a lot of Rittenhouse supporters from advancing their defense of this homicidal racist.

But this weekend former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard weighed in on the side of Kyle Rittenhouse, omitting mention of his Proud Boys connections, and his stated wish to fire off his AR-15 on people whom he adjudged as guilty of crimes. 

This is the kind of militarism that seems to pass muster in Gabbard's new book.

Gabbard claims Rittenhouse's motive are pure, and he just wanted to protect Kenosha.

Gabbard is off the deep end. Facile and sophomoric, her dangerous mainstreaming of vigilantism gives the green light to kill, as long as increasingly narcissistic Americans deem it necessary.

Writes Gabbard: "With no evidence, MSM & antifa-loving politicians immediately labeled Rittenhouse a white supremacist terrorist. It’s obvious now that he was just a foolish kid who felt he needed to protect people & the community from rioters & arsonists because the government failed to do so."

With no evidence, MSM & antifa-loving politicians immediately labeled Rittenhouse a white supremacist terrorist. It’s obvious now that he was just a foolish kid who felt he needed to protect people & the community from rioters & arsonists because the government failed to do so. pic.twitter.com/uhjGQtM4y4

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) November 11, 2021

Really?

Everyone on the streets of Kenosha on Aug 25, 2020, felt individually that he or she was present out of principle, but only one person fired off his AR-15 at people, killed two people, maimed another, and traumatized families and communities for decades.

Don't believe what people say about a murdered relative. No one is ever the same. Everyone on the streets of Kenosha that night could be suffering from PTSD over Rittenhouse's horror.

Gabbard argues that since in his own mind, Rittenhouse was there to protect the City, this gives him the  right to kill.

Not even Rittenhouse's attorneys pursue this absurd line of argument, but this is good enough for Tulsi.

No sympathy from Gabbard about the Rittenhouse victims, or Jacob Blake. But Gabbard did post subsequent ruminations about World Kindness Day.

This is Wisconsin. 

People here celebrate wrongful convictions, police misconduct, but I do feel optimistic that open vigilantism won't fly, no matter the effort to superimpose reasonableness onto vicious killings, and stamp deserve-to-be-killed onto victims.

In the meantime, Tulsi Gabbard is reaching out politically to the lowest of low lives who live behind anonymous accounts, threats, calumny and bile. 

See:

You support pedophiles, I am above you. You are a trash human that lies when they feel their beliefs are threatened. Keep doing you, who knows who might find out your deepest secret. I would never be violent with someone unless in self defense.

— RustyWhaler (@RustyWhaler) November 15, 2021

If so, be a shame if certain people found out you support kid diddlers and wife beaters...

— RustyWhaler (@RustyWhaler) November 14, 2021

The new logic of the right is to accuse those criticizing killing as being "pedophiles." These are the people Tulsi Gabbard is courting.

Twitter will not take down the posts.

Michael Leon is a pedophile that is upset he got called out. He can't even define fascism and makes up lies about people threatening him. His wife finds out he likes children today, he's flailing. Hard.

— RustyWhaler (@RustyWhaler) November 15, 2021

Wisconsin Dems Block Exoneration Seekers

Image is by Otto Dix, German anti-fascist artist
whose work was confiscated by the NAZIs and
displayed as degenerate art. "The Nazis labeled Dix a
'degenerate,' but the term is better applied to the society
he depicted—cannibalizing itself and hurtling toward
destruction," writes Alina Cohen in The Guardian.
Wisconsin today has veered into fascism, and literally no
elected official challenges the police-prison state which
sends innocents to their doom.

Justice Delayed in Making a Murderer Cases

MADISON, WIS — In a legal spectacle this Spring, Thomas Sowinski of Manitowoc swore in a statement that he saw the prosecution's key trial witness plant the murder victim's RAV4 vehicle on the property of the man convicted of homicide in 2007.

In other words, a credible resident swears he caught conspirators red-handed in a frame-up scheme in Wisconsin's infamous murder case drawing headlines in state post-conviction litigation.

Sowinski appears the stuff of movies — maybe, some mused, in response Wisconsin's new attorney general would seek to vacate two murder convictions, amid a vow to clean up law enforcement in east-central Wisconsin.

Movies are not political reality in Wisconsin.

The case is State of Wisconsin v Steven Avery, featured in the Emmy-winning Making a Murderer docuseries.

Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, were convicted of first-degree homicide for the 2005 murder of a young photographer, Teresa Halbach. Both men are serving life sentences.

Most see the spectacle as revenge prosecutions of innocents in Manitowoc and Calumet counties, an insular region of the state known for small-town justice — injustice.

DOJ delay strategy

The Wisconsin Dept of Justice quickly responded on April 16 to the Sowinski statement, filed by Avery attorney Kathleen Zellner.

The DOJ filing includes unfounded accusations challenging attorney Zellner's ethics, and a bizarre statement complaining about the fact that Avery spotlights more prosecutorial misconduct for allegedly withholding exculpatory evidence — a Brady violation.

The DOJ asserted that the sheer multiplicity of alleged Brady violations in the record should be read against the defense.

Avery's attorney, Zellner, reacted with restrained outrage.

Zellner replied to the Court on April 22: "It is a supreme irony that in one of the most blatant examples of a wrongful conviction the State's only response is to falsely accuse Mr. Avery's lead counsel of nefarious conduct for discovering a 6th Brady violation. Rather than seeking justice, the State wants to 'slay the messenger' by putting forth more false allegations, a skill that it has mastered over the last 16 years. The State turns a blind eye towards its past actions of withholding exculpatory evidence."

The Democratic-led DOJ said nothing about the substance of Sowinski's sworn statement, or that the prosecution apparently failed to notify the defense about this witness after he contacted the Manitowoc Sheriff's department in 2005.

Dems stand with police

What is happening in Wisconsin?

Why is the Democratic-led DOJ defending the work of Kenneth R. Kratz, former Calumet County District Attorney, (1992-2010), who was forced to resign in disgrace in 2010 for outrageous conduct in 2009, just two years after prosecuting the Avery-Dassey cases?

Kratz is self-described as suffering from narcissistic personality disorder, sexual compulsion disorder and multiple drug addictions.

Kratz described himself a "dick" for his work as district attorney in which he claimed he could not help himself harassing crime victims because of his disorders for which he was undergoing professional treatment, amid an allegation he possibly assaulted a woman.

Wisconsin Democratic Party officials, Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Joshua Kaul, have made the political decision to work for law enforcement, even Kratz, against the wrongfully convicted.

This is political liberalism at its most vicious and irrational.

One month into his term in 2019, Kaul filed legal responses signaling the DOJ would stall Avery's  possible exoneration by filing procedural objections.

The strategy keeps Avery in prison and delays a hearing in County Circuit court, a move necessary before state appellate courts can rule.

In Wisconsin, January-February weather is colder than July-August, and the Democratic Party loves and supports its cops. It's the way it is.

This political climate is why cops feel free to frame Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey. 

It's why cops like Rusten Sheskey feels free to attempt to kill Jacob Blake; and why cops killed and gunned down Paul Heenan, Ashley DiPiazza, and Tony Robinson in Madison.

It's why the racist Wisconsin State Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) felt free to travel to Madison during the historic 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, pick a fight with protesters, fake a collapse, and then retaliate against marchers by pressing criminal charges against two women whom he knows to be innocent. Carpenter hates uppity women.

Carpenter told cops he was headed to the state Capitol around midnight on business before he encountered the Black Lives Matter protests.

Gov. Evers shoots down innocents

Gov. Evers joined Kaul in the delaying strategy with Brendan Dassey, convicted co-conspirator with Avery. Dassey petitioned for a commutation in 2019, after losing his Habeas petition 4-3 at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in a lambasted 2017 decision.

Dassey claims in his 2019 executive clemency petition that Wisconsin's criminal justice system perpetuated an injustice in which the state can have no "confidence."

Reads the petition:

In 2006, Brendan Dassey was a sixteen-year-old Mishicot High School special education student with no criminal history, an IQ of 74, and speech-language functioning in the bottom percentile. After undergoing four police interrogations in 48 hours, he found himself charged with involvement in one of the highest-profile homicides in Wisconsin history – and, subsequently, sentenced to life in prison – based on a videotaped confession about which state and federal judges, national police authorities, prosecutorial groups, and psychological experts have since expressed the gravest doubts.

A member of Dassey's defense team, former U.S. Solicitor General, Seth Waxman, said in Oct 2019 in Madison, "I have never had a case that has troubled me more than this case, that has kept me awake at night, that makes me anxious and sad. And that's because I know that Brendan Dassey is innocent."

Gov. Evers sent Dassey a form letter denying his petition in Dec 2019, stating in part that since Dassey did not wait five years after serving his life sentence, Evers would not consider the plea.

While Oregon and Illinois passed bans this year on lying to juveniles during police interrogations, with some state legislators citing Wisconsin resident Brendan Dassey's ordeal, Evers refuses to consider a pardon for Dassey that looks at the merits of his case.

Tony Evers retains the power to pardon Dassey with the stroke of a pen.

Problem is a pardon or commutation would blow into a political scandal implicating Democratic sheriffs, Kaul's mother, former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager (2003-07) among other Democratic Party cops.

Dems and win-at-any costs cops

Democrat Kaul's DOJ team includes a who's who of dubious state DOJ attorneys — Mark Williams, Thomas J. Fallon, and Special Prosecutor Norman Gahn — all of whom have demonstrated misconduct in their work, either destroying evidence or lying about destroying evidence.

After years of Republican Party rule in Wisconsin, people around the world who believe it's immoral to imprison innocents had waited for how the new Democratic attorney general and governor would handle Dassey and Avery's battle for exoneration in 2019.

Next steps

Today, Avery is awaiting the appellate court decision whether to send his case to County Circuit court to hear the Thomas Sowinski statement and other evidence, and the resolution of pending motions.

At a time when our country is questioning law enforcement, Wisconsin Democratic leadership is working against the people . . . for the police.

"We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation," writes Bryan Stevenson in Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.

The quality of mercy towards the innocent appears to be exhausted under the warrant of Wisconsin Democrats.

[Michael Leon has written for The Progressive, In These Times, CounterPunch and others. Leon is covering the Making a Murderer cases, and has advocated for the release of Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey.]

Illinois Champions Brendan Dassey in Assuring Ban on Police Lying to Children to Obtain False Confessions

Wisconsin Gov Tony Evers Keeps the Innocent Dassey in Prison

Madison, Wisconsin — Illinois state legislators are so appalled at the police practice of lying to juveniles to trick children into uttering false confessions that the state is on the verge of passing a ban on deceptive police interrogation practices, (Daily Herald).

Reports Raymon Troncoso: "The Illinois House unanimously passed a bipartisan juvenile justice reform measure Saturday that outlaws the use of deceptive interrogation techniques on minors," (Daily Herald).

In fact, some legislators were incensed by the Brendan Dassey Wisconsin case that they say this grotesque injustice put their support for the ban over the top.

Reports Troncoso:

Rep Jim Durkin (R) said he was initially skeptical of the legislation but was moved toward supporting it after speaking to legal experts from the Innocence Project. According to Durkin, what finally put him over the edge to sponsor the bill was learning about the case of Brendan Dassey while watching the Netflix series 'Making a Murderer.'

'It was very clear to me that there was coercion and deception that was levied upon a 16-year-old Wisconsin resident, Brendan Dassey,' Durkin said. 'It became also very clear to me that this 16-year-old did not have the mental capacity to understand his Miranda rights, nor the capacity to waive these rights.'

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin Democratic and Republican law enforcement joined forces to use deception and lies to goad Dassey into uttering words presented as a confession in 2007.

And to widespread disappointment, Gov Tony Evers (D) denied Brendan Dassey' petition for a commutation and pardon in 2019.

Dassey was falsely convicted of murder in 2007 after being preyed upon by Wisconsin law enforcement in the persons of Mark Wiegert, (current Sheriff of the Calumet County Sheriff's Office), Tom Fassbender (Wisconsin DoJ, Division of Criminal Investigation investigator (Ret)), sex offender and disgraced prosecutor Ken Kratz and dozens of other collaborators in law enforcement.

So, Illinois is appalled by the Brendan Dassey injustice, but Wisconsin is not.

Not Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D), not Wisconsin Gov Tony Evers (D), not one Wisconsin Democratic Party elected official.

Today, we demand Gov Tony Evers (D) pardon the wrongfully convicted Brendan Dassey in the interest of justice.

Below is a repost of a piece from 2020.

Madison, Wisconsin — There is a special place in infamy for the bystander.

Brendan Dassey is in a Wisconsin prison; he is demonstrably innocent, but lives in a state with many perpetrators and more bystanders ensuring the wrongfully convicted remain behind bars.

So, Dassey works for his freedom, his life.

Dassey and Steven Avery are featured in the Emmy-winning documentary series, Making a Murderer.

The series resulted in a worldwide campaign of supporters who work for exoneration of two clearly innocent men.

No judge who has heard Dassey's case believes he is guilty.

No cop believes in Dassey's guilt, though no Wisconsin cop will state this publicly — ever.

Two Wisconsin cops worked in bad faith — Mark Wiegert (current Sheriff of the Calumet County Sheriff's Office), and Tom Fassbender (Wisconsin DoJ, DCI investigator (ret)) — and ripped into a 16-year-old with an I.Q. of 70, and a severe language impairment, ultimately leading to the false conviction for first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, and second-degree sexual assault in 2007.

The Flight of Moloch - by William Blake
Happy Mothers Day, as we remember
Barb Tadych for delivering her son to
Wisconsin law enforcement.

Dassey was easy prey for Wiegert and Fassbender.

The prosecutor, Ken Kratz, who called himself a "dick" in 2016 (for real), self-described as suffering from narcissistic personality disorder and multiple drug addictions, was driven from the district attorney's office in 2010 after multiple allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault came to light, after which he was driven from the Wisconsin legal profession altogether in 2019.

In the Dassey injustice, defense of Ken Kratz binds Democrats and Republicans here: A commitment to defend wrongful convictions at the hands of unethical and dishonest law enforcement.

Kratz' wife mocked and taunted Dassey's alleged conspirator, Steven Avery, in Feb 2019 in a tweet, now removed:

Writes Kratz:

Hey guys, Stevie’s still sitting in a jail cell 🙌🏻👏🏻🙌🏻👏🏻 #MakingAMurderer #MakingAMurderer2 Keep dragin ass, Kathleen. We love it! 😁😁

— Leah Kratz (@LeahMarieKK) February 16, 2019

One can garner much about the police culture of Wisconsin from this one tweet from an unhinged hick.

Consider this shared objective of destroying innocent life, a depraved devotion that cries out for constant challenge.

Last year a member of Dassey's defense team, Seth Waxman, advocating for a pardon or commutation for Dassey from Gov Tony Evers on Oct 2, 2019 in Madison, said, "I have never had a case that has troubled me more than this case, that has kept me awake at night, that makes me anxious and sad. And that's because I know that Brendan Dassey is innocent."

No word came from Evers before or after Oct 2019. 

Then, came Evers rejection of Dassey's bid for a pardon in Dec 2019, the news hidden in a press release just before Christmas, though Evers did manage to land a shot at Dassey, knowing he would get the news while retaining expectations about the holidays.

Ken Kratz and his ilk in the Manitowoc and Calumet County sheriff offices, have a friend they may not have counted on: Wisconsin's new Attorney General Josh Kaul (D).

Josh Kaul's office through co-counsels Mark Williams, Thomas Fallon and others is carrying on the crusade against Steven Avery and Dassey with the same lack of ethics and regard for law that defined the tenure of Kaul's three predecessors in the Wisconsin Dept of Justice.

---

In the medical profession, practitioners are expected to carry out the spirit of an oath that demands doctors be healers, not destroyers.

Among police and prosecutors, there are no such strictures governing police conduct demanding no innocent be harmed or harassed, assaulted, defamed, arrested and imprisoned. In the Dassey and Avery cases, Wisconsin law enforcement destroyed evidence, then defended destroying evidence.

Among police, and its civilian collaborators, mission-critical imperatives are to protect police. The public is a free-fire zone and in warped police culture, the police cult perpetrates predictable brutality.

The type of individual, double-high authoritarian and anti-intellectual, who wants and self-selects to be a cop is capable of anything.

And all of law enforcement and politicians remain complicit in their silence.

Evers could help correct a grotesque injustice with a stroke of a pen today.

The decent who fight for Brendan Dassey's exoneration will never quit.

We are live in Manitowoc on the corner of Washington & 25th street, which poignantly is the same road as the courthouse where Brendan's life was snatched from him. Webcam footage doesn't do it "justice" - more photos to come #BringBrendanHome #FreeBrendanDassey pic.twitter.com/KMTyJx8Znq

— Tracy Keogh (@TracyKeogh2) December 7, 2020

On Anniversary of George Floyd Murder: Recognize Police Allies Are the Enemy

Madison, Wisconsin — In Wisconsin, Democrats and Republicans knew what to do during the great protest demanding police stop killing black and brown people.

Wisconsin legislators backed a bi-partisan bill less than two months after the murder of George Floyd to protect its public statues, criminalizing as felonies defacing or vandalism.

This is typical of the response in the worst state to be black.

State Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee), the co-sponsor of the statue protection bill, continues his crusade against Black Lives Matter and black people generally, to dead silence from every elected Democratic Party official.

In Kenosha, it's open season again on black people, as exemplified by the police maiming of Jacob Blake during the protests last Summer, officially approved but the Democratic Party Attorney General, Joshua Kaul.

Name a major Wisconsin city, and police engage in misconduct SOP, and does Wisconsin ever hate anything dark. Most Wisconsin bigger cites are long-run by Democratic administrations.

I lived in Wisconsin all my life, and I can predict to a moral certainty, police with Democratic Party backing will not acclaim the humanity of black people.

But this is the fight in Wisconsin and everywhere. Black lives matter.

World's Worst Mother, Barb Tadych, Fed Innocent Son to Police Tree Jumpers

Billboard in Manitowoc Demands Pardon for
Wrongfully Convicted Brendan Dassey. Gov
Tony Evers (D) is vested with unlimited power
to grant clemency for any or no reason under
 Article V, Sec 6 of the Wisconsin Constitution.

Innocent Man in Prison — Everyone Knows

Update Sept 2, 2021: Supporters of Brad Dassey, step son of the infamous Barb Tadych, in Manitowoc County say the world's worse mother still wants her step-son incarcerated for criticizing her alleged abuse.
Corruption County, Manitowoc County, is reportedly offering a fine against Dassey for writing the truth about his step-mother.
The deranged mother who offers her children to Manitowoc County police to be incarcerated wants step-son, Brad, in prison because he defeated Tadych in a civil suit on First Amendment grounds.
Tadych says an unenforceable retraining order, now vacated, may have been violated. The Manitowoc County District Attorney's office is rightwing and out-of-control and is helping Tadych, who looks to the office to help incarcerate her step-son.
The next plea hearing is scheduled for October 15, 2021 at 11:30 am.

--

Happy Mothers Day 2021

The innocent Brendan Dassey doesn't have a good mother.

One Barb Tadych, in fact, is one of the world's worst mothers.
 
No matter, today, we demand Gov Tony Evers (D) pardon the wrongfully convicted Brendan Dassey in the interest of justice.

Below is a repost of a piece from 2020.

Madison, Wisconsin — There is a special place in infamy for the bystander.

Brendan Dassey is in a Wisconsin prison; he is demonstrably innocent, but lives in a state with many perpetrators and more bystanders ensuring the wrongfully convicted remain behind bars.

So, Dassey works for his freedom, his life.

Dassey and Steven Avery are featured in the Emmy-winning documentary series, Making a Murderer.

The series resulted in a worldwide campaign of supporters who work for exoneration of two clearly innocent men.

No judge who has heard Dassey's case believes he is guilty.

No cop believes in Dassey's guilt, though no Wisconsin cop will state this publicly — ever.

Two Wisconsin cops worked in bad faith — Mark Wiegert (current Sheriff of the Calumet County Sheriff's Office), and Tom Fassbender (Wisconsin DoJ, DCI investigator (ret)) — and ripped into a 16-year-old with an I.Q. of 70, and a severe language impairment, ultimately leading to the false conviction for first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, and second-degree sexual assault in 2007.

The Flight of Moloch - by William Blake
Happy Mothers Day, as we remember
Barb Tadych for delivering her son to
Wisconsin law enforcement.

Dassey was easy prey for Wiegert and Fassbender.

The prosecutor, Ken Kratz, who called himself a "dick" in 2016 (for real), self-described as suffering from narcissistic personality disorder and multiple drug addictions, was driven from the district attorney's office in 2010 after multiple allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault came to light, after which he was driven from the Wisconsin legal profession altogether in 2019.

In the Dassey injustice, defense of Ken Kratz binds Democrats and Republicans here: A commitment to defend wrongful convictions at the hands of unethical and dishonest law enforcement.

Kratz' wife mocked and taunted Dassey's alleged conspirator, Steven Avery, in Feb 2019 in a tweet, now removed:

Writes Kratz:

Hey guys, Stevie’s still sitting in a jail cell 🙌🏻👏🏻🙌🏻👏🏻 #MakingAMurderer #MakingAMurderer2 Keep dragin ass, Kathleen. We love it! 😁😁

— Leah Kratz (@LeahMarieKK) February 16, 2019

One can garner much about the police culture of Wisconsin from this one tweet from an unhinged hick.

Consider this shared objective of destroying innocent life, a depraved devotion that cries out for constant challenge.

Last year a member of Dassey's defense team, Seth Waxman, advocating for a pardon or commutation for Dassey from Gov Tony Evers on Oct 2, 2019 in Madison, said, "I have never had a case that has troubled me more than this case, that has kept me awake at night, that makes me anxious and sad. And that's because I know that Brendan Dassey is innocent."

No word came from Evers before or after Oct 2019. 

Then, came Evers rejection of Dassey's bid for a pardon in Dec 2019, the news hidden in a press release just before Christmas, though Evers did manage to land a shot at Dassey, knowing he would get the news while retaining expectations about the holidays.

Ken Kratz and his ilk in the Manitowoc and Calumet County sheriff offices, have a friend they may not have counted on: Wisconsin's new Attorney General Josh Kaul (D).

Josh Kaul's office through co-counsels Mark Williams, Thomas Fallon and others is carrying on the crusade against Avery and Dassey with the same lack of ethics and regard for law that defined the tenure of Kaul's three predecessors in the Wisconsin Dept of Justice.

---

In the medical profession, practitioners are expected to carry out the spirit of an oath that demands doctors be healers, not destroyers.

Among police and prosecutors, there are no such strictures governing police conduct demanding no innocent be harmed or harassed, assaulted, defamed, arrested and imprisoned. In the Dassey and Avery cases, Wisconsin law enforcement destroyed evidence, then defended destroying evidence.

Among police, and its civilian collaborators, mission-critical imperatives are to protect police. The public is a free-fire zone and in warped police culture, the police cult perpetrates predictable brutality.

The type of individual, double-high authoritarian and anti-intellectual, who wants and self-selects to be a cop is capable of anything.

And all of law enforcement and politicians remain complicit in their silence.

Evers could help correct a grotesque injustice with a stroke of a pen today.

The decent who fight for Brendan Dassey's exoneration will never quit.

We are live in Manitowoc on the corner of Washington & 25th street, which poignantly is the same road as the courthouse where Brendan's life was snatched from him. Webcam footage doesn't do it "justice" - more photos to come #BringBrendanHome #FreeBrendanDassey pic.twitter.com/KMTyJx8Znq

— Tracy Keogh (@TracyKeogh2) December 7, 2020

A Call to Boycott Wisconsin Democrats — Party Is over for Nihilistic Gang Defending Wrongful Convictions

"I hate injustice. I guess that's about the only thing I really do hate."
— Ben Shahn, anti-fascist artist (1898–1969)

Madison, Wisconsin — This is a call for withholding all political and electoral support for Wisconsin Democrats at all levels of government.

This action starts with opposing Gov Tony Evers (D), Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D), U.S. Rep Mark Pocan (D), and all Democrats down to any  state, county and municipal candidates who are silent on the wrongful convictions of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, and so many others languishing behind bars, ruining and preventing their lives.

The game, this charade, is over, people. 

The Democratic Party is imprisoning innocents and killing black and brown people in broad daylight, then defending these crimes in their elected offices of public trust. Kenosha and Jacob Blake are the norm.

Tony Robinson is the norm. Paul Heenan is the norm. Ashley DiPiazza is the norm. That's just Madison, the civilized place. Look, killer cops cannot operate for long without the support of the Democratic Party. This is the truth staring everyone in the face, and yet we look away.

In Wisconsin, supporters of black and brown folks, and Brendan Dassey and Steven Avery, it's time to pursue opposition to Wisconsin Democrats at all levels of government. This injustice system cannot go on unless we support Evers and Kaul in the political system.

Corrupt Wisconsin police targeted the innocent to tragic
consequence in cases of  Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey.
Image from Kathe Kollwitz, (1867-1945). Kollwitz
is a major anti-fascist artist who lived in Germany, and never
recovered from the death of her son in World War I.
Image depicts German state enlisting her son, shortly before
he was killed in a senseless and ridiculous war.

Evers and Kaul know the facts of these innocents in prison, especially Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey.

What escapes bums like Evers and Kaul is no individual life is worth the Democratic Party, especially this Democratic Party.

Over time, we can quickly raise the costs of Party opposition to freeing innocent men and women. 

Even a marginal raising of electoral costs will quickly degrade the Party in Wisconsin. No more support for Democrats, people. We want Brendan and Steven free?

The political system is the pressure point. This is the prominent way in which we pursue change and protect our very lives and liberty, yet many working for the freedom of innocents eschew the political and electoral systems as a means of freeing people who do not belong behind bars.

Most folks in Wisconsin, my state, had they resided in Germany in the 1930s would have made superlative NAZIs, worse -- by-standers. No more.
---

"I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."

All the NAZIs required of the population is a "mood of passive compliance" as Hitler’s Holocaust and armies coursed through Europe as he promised a return to "traditional values" and security for good German families. -- Norman Cohn, Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1970). Cited by Noam Chomsky, The Culture of Terrorism (1988).
--
Has anyone been watching the Derek Chauvin trial on Court TV?

Every witness at the Chauvin trial struggles with the question, 'should they have done more to save George Floyd?' The sadistic pig-cop Chauvin and his buddies did not struggle with any moral question. They viciously terrorized and killed a man.

Watch the sadist Chauvin driving his knee as he looks around and preens on a terrified George Floyd's neck, as he arrogantly flaunts his status as a cop among Minnesota-Nice society. What we do in Wisconsin's Democratic Party is worse, and this sick game must be over now.

Biden and Dems Setting Party up for Mid-term 2022 Shellacking

Middle-class Americans must be sacrificed for the
glory of corporatism and Party. Unity is strength.
The Flight of Moloch - by William Blake

At a CNN faux townhall at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee last week, Joe Biden was passionate and clear about one issue: He will oppose student loan forgiveness.

Shooting down the popular proposal to eliminate $50,000 (and more) in student debt, Biden said, unequivocally, "I will not make that happen," emphasizing the word, "not," after assuming his tough-guy pose at the choreographed forum, (NBC News).

This wasn't really a townhall. Questions submitted by the invite-only audience were screened and approved before attendees were allowed to read their questions out loud.

This is classic Biden though: Boasting his antipathy to popular programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and now student loan forgiveness that actually help working-class families.

Biden loves to highlight positions that directly inflict harm onto people — building more prisons, longer sentences, more police, escalation of the War on Drugs, war against Iraq, and dark people, and his longstanding distaste for social earned insurance. He thinks this makes him tough and decisive.

There were no follow-up questions on the total student loan forgiveness question. 

But Biden did manage to renew concern about his cognitive decline after he falsely concluded that he has the authority to forgive $10,000 in student debt, but does have not the "authority" to forgive $50,000 in student debt, (NBC News).

Meanwhile, rightwing Democratic Party interest groups and donors are reportedly conducting an autopsy that will reach the predetermined conclusion that the Democratic Party needs to become more rightwing, more beholden to special-interest donors and more like Joe Biden, (Burns, New York Times).

Reports Alexander Burns in the Times:

Four major groups are backing the effort, spanning a range of Democratic-leaning interests: Third Way, a centrist think tank; End Citizens United, a clean-government group; the Latino Victory Fund; and Collective PAC, an organization that supports Black Democratic candidates.

Actually, the range of Democratic-leaning interests is not well-represented in this sham autopsy, and progressives are being shut out in this effort, as well, of course, in administration appointments.

Other groups working with the big-money corporatists include the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the New Democrat Coalition, reports Burns.

These Democratic groups are stacked with more corporatist with the Congressional Black Caucus leading the charge to destroy black, brown and white working-class lives for the glory of being part of the corporatist coalition working against progressive and populists.

Henry Barbour, a member of the Republican National Committee, agrees with the Democratic corporatists' criticism of progressives who Barbour and rightwing Dems say are running too far to the "left."

To be clear, the left, progressive platform the Republican National Committee and Democrats hate includes the $15 minimum wage, social insurance, healthcare, defense of black lives, and a reduction in the obscene defense budget, among other popular policy positions.

America is 22 months from the mid-terms, and if Biden and the Dems make good on their aspiration to become functional Republicans, there will be electoral blood that will make Dems long for 1994 and 2020.

Wisconsin DA Set to No-charge Kenosha Cop for Mayhem, Attempted Murder — Cop Shot Black Man Seven Times in Back in Broad Daylight, in Middle of George Floyd Protests

Update: Democrat District Attorney Michael Graveley: No charges against Kenosha cop.

Madison, Wisconsin — During the Spring-Summer Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd, Kenosha police had a message for black folks and their allies: Black lives do not matter, we can do anything.

The message was delivered Sunday night, August 23, 2020, by Kenosha cop Rusten Sheskey who opened fire, point-blank and shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back.

Mr. Blake had apparently reasoned that the human garbage populating the Kenosha Police Dept didn't see Blake as human, so he walked away after he attempted to break up a fight one Summer night. Blake was right.

Since the municipal murder club sprung into action, the two major political parties have fled the Black Lives Matter movement like folks were one black man in a tee-shirt walking down the street.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) has signaled he'll cover up Kenosha police misconduct in his announcement, even choosing a discredited, retired police chief to review the Dept of Justice white-washing cop Sheskey's attempted rub-out.

The DoJ has been offering public updates on its investigation clearing the Kenosha cops, though the Dept is supposed be neutral and objective. It's not. The DoJ is effectively a public relations firm for police.

As noted here in late August, the Wisconsin Dept of Justice will complete its investigation of Kenosha cop, Rusten Sheskey, and clear him, Noble Wray will sign off, whereupon Kenosha District Attorney Michael Graveley will decline to prosecute for major felonies.

This is Wisconsin, and it is racist to the bone, and it loves its police destroying black lives, maiming black lives, charge-stacking, defaming, and so on. It's sport and a career for police here.

Jacob Blake's family and friends know this.

The DoJ exists for cops, is staffed by cops, breaks the law for cops and will deliver the report within days that allows the Kenosha District Attorney to clear the would-be murderer of any wrongdoing. 

Severing a spine, it's all good, mayhem is okay if the right person is maimed.

Graveley, a racist who gets bi-partisan political support, loves prosecuting black people, but would never touch a cop, no matter how outrageous the conduct. (See, for example, Harvard Crimson and the absurd case of Chrystul D. Kizer).

Screw over enough black people, and law enforcement will make you prosecutor of the year.

The DoJ won't wait to release its investigation in its entirety. No.

The DoJ will release its report drip-by-drip, half-truth by half-truth to conduct a public relations exercise in an attempt to clear would-be murderer Rusten Sheskey.

The clear-Sheskey project has already begun, (DoJ. Kenosha Officer Involved Shooting, Aug 26 2020).

In tone, language and shading of facts, the DoJ wants to clear the name of another racist and corrupt Wisconsin law enforcement agency.

For example, the victim, Jacob Blake, did not "[admit] that he had a knife in his possession," as the DoJ Aug 26 press release states. 

Mr. Blake informed the police in answer to a routine question that he legally had a knife in his car. This is not a capital offense.

Nothing — not a severed spine, wrongful convictions, destroyed lives — will stand in the way of the mission of the DoJ to clear the police of any crime, of any act.

Don't believe me? Watch the coming days.

Drip-by-drip, no statement will be released by the DoJ that supports prosecution of Rusten Sheskey, racist piece of human garbage.

This is Wisconsin, people, and they hate "niggers," to use a charming Wisconsin colloquialism.

The Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D) released a press statement Aug 24, reading in part:

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaultoday released the following statement regarding the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) led investigation into the officer-involved shooting in Kenosha on Sunday, August 23, 2020.

'The Wisconsin Department of Justice is vigorously and thoroughly investigating yesterday’s officer-involved shooting in Kenosha. As with all investigations we conduct, we will unwaveringly pursue justice in this case.'

I hope for a full recovery for the man fighting for his life. He and his family are in my thoughts, as is the entire Kenosha community.'

Bullshit. I know Wisconsin. Black folk are perceived as menace just for being alive.

Rusten Sheskey knows this.