Wednesday, November 10 top stories
It is Wednesday, November 10. Here are today’s top stories.
Kyle Rittenhouse took the stand today in his murder trial in Wisconsin.
He said that as he was walking around the streets during the protests, the first of his two victims, Joseph Rosenbaum, acted aggressively towards him and threatened to kill him if he found him alone. He said another man pointed a gun at him when he was carrying a fire extinguisher to put out a fire.
Rittenhouse broke down in tears and struggled to speak, and the judge called for a 10-minute break.
When the trial resumed, Rittenhouse said as he was walking on a street, he heard a gunshot behind him, and as he turned around, he saw Rosenbaum coming towards him with his arms out and his hand on the barrel of his gun, and he opened fire -- which killed him.
Rittenhouse said that the second victim, Anthony Huber, hit him in the head with his skateboard and grabbed his rifle, so he opened fire, which killed him.
Rittenhouse told the court that he didn’t do anything wrong and that he defended himself. He said he had to use deadly force to stop the threat that was attacking him.
The prosecutors focused on whether Rittenhouse could have legally possessed his AR-15 rifle because he was a minor at 17 years of age. Prosecutors also tried to frame Rittenhouse as being reckless by putting himself in a situation in which he ended up killing two people.
The judge, Bruce Schroeder, was angry at the prosecutor and admonished him twice after the jury was asked to leave the courtroom. Schroeder said the prosecutor shouldn’t have talked about Rittenhouse’s silence after his arrest because it is a constitutional right to remain silent. The second issue was on whether the prosecutor crossed a line by asking questions about whether it was appropriate to use deadly force to protect property. The questions seemed to be related to a video of Kyle Rittenhouse taken two weeks before the shootings on August 25, 2020, in which Rittenhouse was heard saying he wished he could shoot looters running outside of a CVS store. The judge had ruled that the video was off-limits before the trial and was angry that the prosecutor seemed to be bringing up the video without explicitly mentioning it. The defense team asked for a mistrial, and the judge said he would consider it but would allow the trial to go on.
At the time of signing this news, the trial is still going on, so I’ll provide another recap tomorrow.
The NFL fined the Green Bay Packers $300,000 and their star quarterback Aaron Rodgers $14,650 for violating the NFL’s Covid policies. A second player was also fined. Rodgers was fined specifically for attending a Halloween party while unvaccinated and for not wearing a mask when he spoke with reporters during press conferences. The team was fined for failing to supervise its unvaccinated players.
Rodgers recently said he takes full responsibility for anyone who might have felt misled by his statement in August that he was “immunized” against Covid-19. Many thought Rodgers was saying he was vaccinated, but he wasn’t. Rodgers said he is allergic to two of the three Covid-19 vaccines and has done his own research that led him to take ivermectin, a medicine that is usually given to horses for parasites.
The FDA said ivermectin is not proven to be a safe and effective way to treat Covid-19 and that the best way to prevent infection is to take the vaccine, which has been proven to be safe and effective.
Rodgers lost a sponsorship with a Wisconsin health care company, Prevea Health, because of the controversy. Another sponsor, State Farm, is sticking with Rodgers but said in a statement that they don’t agree with Rodgers’ stance on the vaccination but respect everyone’s right to make a choice based on their personal circumstances. Rodgers may be eligible to play this Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.
[Sponsored Video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
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Prices for goods and services for U.S. consumers are up 6.2% compared with October of last year. The Labor Department said Americans are facing their highest inflation rate since 1990. The rise in costs of goods is eating away at gains in wages and salaries. AP News said there is strong consumer demand for goods, which has caused persistent supply shortages from Covid-19 related factory shutdowns in China and other overseas manufacturers. American companies have raised prices on their goods to cover the cost of pay raises to employees to keep them during worker shortages. AP News explained that there is also a worldwide acceleration of prices.
President Joe Biden said “inflation hurts American pocketbooks, and reversing this trend is a top priority for me.”
Republicans said Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package in March and enhanced unemployment aid caused demand for goods to surge beyond what the economy could produce.
A Capitol rioter named Scott Fairlamb was sentenced to more than 3 years in prison for punching a police officer in the face on January 6. Fairlamb is a boxing coach and a former MMA fighter. He pleaded guilty to his charges and said in a statement that he truly regrets his actions that day. His case is significant because he is the first person to be sentenced for assaulting a law enforcement officer during the riot. There are many more who were accused of assaulting officers on January 6 who face similar punishments.
Portugal’s parliament approved new labor laws that say it is illegal for employers to contact workers outside of office hours. This means that bosses can’t text or call their subordinates after work. Companies that violate this law can face fines. The new laws also said companies will have to help pay for expenses for remote working such as higher electricity or internet bills. The new laws only apply to companies with 10 or more employees.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/09/nfl-fines-aaron-rodgers-and-packers-for-covid-violations-.html
https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-sentence-scott-fairlamb-8fef3ecc6888ace1b9f949f21b625363
https://nypost.com/2021/01/23/new-jersey-gym-owner-scott-fairlamb-charged-in-capitol-riot/
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/10/scott-fairlamb-jan-6-sentencing-520592
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/11/10/us/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-testimony