In this episode of “Here’s All You Need to Know About the So-Called ‘Mainstream’ Media”…

Liberal-“leaning” billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, said on Thursday he was contacted by the media and asked if his Twitter account had been hacked after he posted a series of tweets in defense of Kyle Rittenhouse, the now 18-year-old on trial for murder in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse was 17 at the time of the two alleged murders.

Before we continue, here’s the thing. The “why” I chose to write this article.

First, it’s not about Bill Ackman. Who’s Bill Ackman, right? I know Ackman because I was in the investment business for 27 years — or I wouldn’t know who he is, either. No, I chose to write the article because this story is representative of untold numbers of other stories just like it, across America, on multiple issues.

Here’s an intelligent guy — a liberal, to be sure — who formed an image and subsequent opinion of a young man he knew zero about, based solely on the false narrative misrepresentation by the liberal media outlets he chooses to watch. Where Ackman’s story differs from most other untold numbers of stories is that when presented with reality — with facts — that he saw with his own eyes and processed with his own mind, he changed his opinion of Kyle Rittenhouse and the event in Kenosha,180-degrees.

That just gave me chills — as I wrote it, I mean.

The magnitude of Bill Ackman’s first false impression of Kyle Rittenhouse, manifested untold numbers of times, over and over and over again, oftentimes with lives hanging in the balance, is chilling as hell. And the despicable likes of CNN and other liberal media and their obscene exploitation and manipulation of public opinion — patting themselves on the back along the way — couldn’t be more reprehensible.

There, I needed to get that out. Now, let’s continue with Mr. (and Mrs). Bill Ackman.

Ackman first tweets his and his wife’s observations about Kyle Rittenhouse and his testimony on November 11.

Last night, Neri and I watched several hours of [Kyle Rittenhouse’s] direct testimony and cross-examination. We came away believing that Kyle is telling the truth and that he acted in self-defense.

We found him to be a civic-minded patriot with a history of helping his community as an EMT and fireman in training, in his removing hate graffiti earlier that day from a local school, and ultimately in volunteering to protect a business during the night of August 25th in Kenosha.

But this was not the first impression the Ackmans had of Kyle Rittenhouse  — not even close.

Last night, Neri and I watched several hours of .#Kylerittenhouse direct testimony and cross examination. We came away believing that #Kyle is telling the truth and that he acted in self defense. We found him to be a civic-minded patriot with a history of

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) November 11, 2021

helping his community as an EMT and fireman in training, in his removing hate graffiti earlier that day from a local school, and ultimately in volunteering to protect a business during the night of August 25th in Kenosha.

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) November 11, 2021

Bill Ackman’s account unfolded in seven subsequent tweets, beginning with a description of the “material differences” between the couple’s first impressions of Rittenhouse after seeing and hearing him and those they had first formed as a result of media reports.

Our first-hand impressions of Kyle were materially different from those we had previously formed based on media reports and opinion pieces that we had consumed.

I have always been frustrated to read an inaccurate press report about a subject I know well, yet somehow I continue to believe other articles in the same newspaper about subjects I know less well.

To Ackman’s credit, he lay the blame directly at the feet of political bias — before making a prediction.

Media and political bias are dividing our country and destroying lives. While we have not heard the entire trial, based on our assessment of Kyle on the stand, we believe that he will be found innocent by the jury.

Ackman also worries about the reaction in the street after, as he predicted, Rittenhouse is not convicted.

Oftentimes, communities react negatively and even violently after a jury verdict where they are surprised by the outcome based on what they have previously read in the newspaper, seen on TV or more likely been served on social media.

I encourage you to watch the trial, or at a minimum his testimony and cross examination, before you form a view of his guilt or innocence.

While Rittenhouse admitted his political bias — a herculean challenge for many of us who only see the biases of the other side in respect to favoring stronger “gun regulations,” he fears that society’s view of whether or not Rittenhouse is innocent depends more on one’s view of guns.

With respect to my own political bias, I am not a gun owner, nor a member of the NRA. On balance, I support stronger gun regulations and respect to removing loopholes in the sale of guns.

Unfortunately, it seems that society’s view of Kyle’s innocence depends more on one’s views about gun control rather than on what actually took place last August.

“Kyle Rittenhouse’s life is at risk,” writes Ackman. “Justice demands a fair trial. Society would benefit greatly if politics did not enter the courtroom and convict innocent people.”

And then the headline:

Just got a call from the media asking if my Twitter account was hacked. That is, the reporter couldn’t conceive of the idea that I could believe that Kyle is innocent because I am not a right winger. Crazy.

As I read and reread Bill Ackman’s tweets I was continually struck by his reference to “Kyle,” almost as if, as a father, he fears for the injustices already heaped on Kyle Rittenhouse, but as he says, what happens to the young man after the trial is over.

Just got a call from the media asking if my Twitter account was hacked. That is, the reporter couldn’t conceive of the idea that I could believe that Kyle is innocent because I am not a right winger. Crazy.

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) November 11, 2021

Here’s the bottom line.

I know zero more about the politics of Bill Ackman than I wrote about in this article, and I intend to keep it that way, given that it matters not in the proverbial big picture. But what I do know about Mr. Ackman is that we need more people like him on both sides of the aisle — which has become a chasm, and that if that were the case, political discourse in America might just be a bit more honest and humane.

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