Is the fix in?

So it seem to me, when I read this headline this morning:

It feels naive to have hoped it might be otherwise. Here's a bit of the report:

A Wisconsin judge ruled Monday that attorneys in the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial could refer to the men the teen shot in Kenosha, Wis., last year as “rioters,” “looters” and “arsonists.” They could not, however, describe Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, who were killed, and Gaige Grosskreutz, who was wounded, as “victims” because the term was “loaded,” the judge said.

But Mr. Judge -- those guys are dead. Dead by the hand of Kyle Rittenhouse. 

Sure, they weren't angels. From what I've read, they were a sort of younger white man who often turns up at protests, especially at ones on the edge of violence. Brave, foolhardy, and taking up too much space in circumstances where actual injured parties ought to be front and center. They can be infuriating.

But it can't be alright to shoot them.

I will not be surprised if Rittenhouse gets off on all but the "minor in gun possession" charge -- which is indisputable. 

So then the question becomes, will Rittenhouse lend his celebrity as an acquitted killer to the white nationalists who have defended him? Or might he have the decency to slink off and do some growing up in obscurity? If the judicial process is unable to name the reality of what went down, that's the best we can hope for.