Dear Friends and Patriots,

Waiting is something I'm good at. I was a submariner once upon a time. I spent weeks upon weeks waiting for things to happen. Once my boat left home for its intended mission, I waited mostly just to return. Between the boat's departure and return, my life was suspended. What I did while underwater didn't count. Life was lived ashore, not at sea. At sea, I lost all my liberty. I could not come and go as I pleased. I had no mail. I had no TV. I had no car, nor telephone, nor radio, nor mail, nor sunshine, fresh air, wind, or rain. I had no chance meetings with perfect strangers. I had no family, no pets, and no say in how I spent my time. For me, as well as for everyone I accompanied on those voyages, time became an abstraction. Night could not be differentiated from day. For weeks, I wouldn't know what day of the week it was, nor the date. Time meant nothing, and, yet, it meant everything. But I had to learn how to wait, how to be patient. My time would come, the time when I would return home and resume some semblance of a normal life. Waiting became a habit. It was the Navy, where submariners turned the practice of "hurry up and wait" into something of an art form. It was very Zen-like, really.

Today (Nov. 19), the Kyle Rittenhouse jury is still out. Perhaps they'll return a verdict before day's end. We wait. In a way that doesn't matter. The verdict is already in. The State of Wisconsin never had much of a case and certainly blew whatever chance they may have had for a true conviction. Once their "star" witness admitted at the time he was shot in the right arm he was pointing his semi-automatic pistol at Rittenhouse as he lay on the ground, it was "game over."

There has been a great conspiracy in progress for months, ever since Kyle Rittenhouse encountered the raging mob in Kenosha. There were many elements of our society in on the conspiracy. It was truly shameful. America, the land of the just and the free...America showed itself to be a very perverted place. Our media spun the story of that night in ways that eliminated the public's understanding of truth – at least for those who don't pay attention. Those of us who do pay attention always understood.

Until the trial, the vast majority of people in the world believed the myth spun by the media and certain interest groups that Kyle Rittenhouse was a neophyte white racist of the first order, and that at least two of his "victims" were black. The names of the people he shot were rarely mentioned. Their pictures were almost never shown. If you didn't do a bit of research, you might assume the people shot at that riot sponsored by Black Lives Matter would be minorities. Here are their names, in case you still don't know: Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony M. Huber, and Gaige Grosskreutz. They might all be some kind of minority or another, but certainly none of them were black. But to maintain the myth of Kyle Rittenhouse as an ignorant, white-privileged, super-racist, certain facts needed to be downplayed. The race of those shot was among those facts. When facts don't match narrative, those facts are suppressed.

A lot was tossed in the air about Rittenhouse's motive. It was portrayed that he traveled from his home in Illinois "all the way" to Wisconsin for the sole purpose of killing. The distance was made to seem vast, when in fact it's not. Rittenhouse's home is near the Wisconsin state line. Kenosha is just north of that same state line, hard by Lake Michigan. I know. I've been there. I spent a good deal of time in northern Illinois and in Kenosha. I know that terrain.

During the trial, we learned that Rittenhouse's father lives in Kenosha. Kyle spent a good deal of time there, too. It was his second home.

I saw Kyle Rittenhouse interviewed well before the riot began. A local reporter had him on camera and made sure everyone knew he'd traveled from Illinois. In that interview, Rittenhouse said he came to help local law enforcement; to volunteer to guard businesses against the looting and burning that had been seen during the previous riot. He said he was there to help and would be on the streets and armed. At the time, I thought he was a bit foolish. Why allow his presence to be advertised? Why make himself a target that way? He was young and didn't know better. Without knowing it, he became a target of the mob. They went looking for him.

The gun was central to the case, that "assault rifle," his AR-15. Every possible question regarding the acquisition of the gun was asked. Every possible question about its configuration was, too. And, one truth the media had twisted like a pretzel came out as well, the rifle was purchased in Wisconsin and had never left the state. Kyle Rittenhouse didn't bring it from Illinois to kill people. He had purchased it previously and maintained it in Wisconsin. It was a standard, off-the shelf AR-15-style rifle. It wasn't modified as the media and prosecution suggested. It wasn't an illegally purchased firearm, nor was it illegally carried that night. It didn't have a shortened barrel. Everything inferred and alleged about that rifle was made up. The anti-gun crowd ended up confirming exactly none of their inferences and allegations.

The "real" star witnesses of the trial were videos. We live in an age where almost every event of significance ends up on smart phones, wielded by those who show up only to capture such scenes and to prove they were there. Evidently, there's a market for such things. I don't actually know; I never video anything. But I'm glad there were people who did—this time. The videos tell the truth. They show Kyle Rittenhouse being attacked and chased by an angry mob. They show him falling to the ground and being kicked at and hit with a skateboard. They also show Mr. Grosskreutz pointing his pistol at Kyle Rittenhouse just before being shot in the arm. Of course, the video also shows the shootings. Being videos, they don't pass judgments. Judgments are for those who view them, but as evidence they are compelling. One truth that's clearly depicted in the videos is the number of people who approached Rittenhouse in an aggressive manner whom he didn't shoot. One of those people, a black man, tried to kick him in the face, yet Rittenhouse didn't shoot him. The videos don't show a violent white racist bent on killing black people. The videos show a young man who was surrounded and alone; who was trying to save his own life.

I could wait a few hours and write this article after I'm certain of the verdict, but I don't feel the need. I already know what the truth is and what the verdict should be. Kyle Rittenhouse acted in self-defense that night. He killed two men and seriously injured a third. Those are indisputable facts. The fact that he did those things in self-defense is also indisputable. The jury's verdict can't change that, no matter what they decide. In the end justice may not prevail, but the truth will.

One thing that truly pleased me was the conduct of the trial by Judge Bruce Schroeder. He's now being lambasted by the media and bleeding heart groups who don't like it that he put an end to prosecutorial shenanigans intended to sway the jury with unsubstantiated allegations. He models what jurisprudence is supposed to be.

I'm given to understand there are rioters on stand-by in Kenosha. I hear they're all ready to wreak havoc if the jury has the temerity to return a not-guilty verdict and let Kyle Rittenhouse go free. In some universe, those facts are seen as right, proper, and naturally expected. The media speaks of justice, but the justice they seek is not the one this trial merits. They seek the kind of justice that's based on phony emotional victimhood, as practiced today by the communist-led radicals of the world. How intimidating it must be to sit in that jury room, deliberating the fate of Rittenhouse, Kenosha, the nation, and all their own families. It takes a lot of guts to do what's right in such circumstances. We'll see how much guts they have, soon enough.

It's time to tell you why I'm writing this. I won't just let you try to infer my intent, I'll declare it. It's the reason I don't wait for the jury verdict. I'm writing because I understand this trial in a way that others might not. I understand the real point of the trial is not because Kyle Rittenhouse shot three men, killing two. It's because Kyle Rittenhouse stood up to Black Lives Matter. He dared to stand in defense of property and lives against the ultra-left's new shiny toy. That he would even risk being in a situation that might result in him killing black rioters—that's just not PC and not to be tolerated. We are supposed to yield when BLM shows up. We're supposed to quail in fear. We're not supposed to offer resistance, much less defend ourselves, our homes, or our neighbors. If more people acted like Kyle Rittenhouse, BLM would have to dissolve; to disappear. They would have no power. People like Kyle Rittenhouse cannot be allowed to roam this country. They stand in the way of The Great Reset. If he is allowed to get away with his actions, he might start a trend that would reverse the tide of anti-Americanism that's been sweeping the nation for the last decade.

Kyle Rittenhouse is one eighteen-year old. Think, though, that if we had ten thousand Kyle Rittenhouses across this land, people willing to take up arms to aid their communities and guard them against the mayhem of BLM, Antifa, The John Brown Gun Club, and all the other bullying groups paid for by rich globalists interested in seeing America brought to her knees, think of how it might be. We might even have a chance to save our nation.

Good luck, Mr. Rittenhouse. You've done a rare thing. Your actions may have resurrected an America that many had thought dead; an America filled with heroes willing to sacrifice all for the concept of natural rights and our American traditions.

Now, I go back to waiting. But the verdict is not important to me, to the nation, and to history. The truth is important, and anyone who's paid attention must know the truth already. We don't need any jury verdict to tell us that.

In Liberty,

Steve