No charges against officers that shot Jacob Blake, which lead to the riots in Kenosha

 

National Guard troops stand guard in Kenosha. ABC News/Getty.

No charges will be filed against the officers who shot Jacob Blake, which led to riots in Kenosha this summer. ABC News. The District Attorney said that officer Rusten Sheskey was justified in shooting Blake seven times as Blake was armed with a knife, did not follow commands to drop the knife and attempted to stab Sheskey. Blake admitted that he was armed during the conflict. He had fought with police and was able to resist being hit with a taser three times. Blake survived the shooting but the incident went viral and led to massive violence and disorder in Kenosha. So far there 

My Comment:

This story is being overshadowed by the Georgia Senate election and the massive Trump rally tomorrow but it's probably an important story. After all the Kenosha riots were the nadir of the Black Lives Matter riots over the summer. And they ended rather quickly after Kyle Rittenhouse ventilated a couple of Antifa people, itself a huge story. 

I always thought that the Jacob Blake case was one of the more obvious ones where Black Lives Matter didn't have a leg to stand on. Blake was a career criminal who was on a restraining order and was accused of sexual assault. And the video of him being shot made it very clear he was reaching for something in his car, which turned out to be a knife. Officers were more than justified in shooting Blake in the back seven times. 

I am surprised that the prosecutor was able to make this decision. I am guessing he came under pressure from both state, local and federal politicians, and the news media as well. He made the right choice even if he made the totally wrong one in charging Kyle Rittenhouse. 

I am not expecting any rioting in Kenosha tonight or over the weekend. There are a couple of reasons for this, the most obvious being that it is winter in Wisconsin. Though Kenosha is well to the south of me up in Northeast Wisconsin, I can't imagine the weather is that much different down there then it is up here. And we had a high of 33 degrees today. It's simply too cold outside for people to riot. 

I also think that Antifa and Black Lives Matter are simply not going to be in the area. Whatever is left of those organizations in the direct action department are in Washington DC tonight preparing for President Trump's election rally. There just aren't enough of these people to cover both events. I am not expecting any disorder in Kenosha, at least not in response to this.