A Rare, Accurate News Story. No Kidding.
And with a whimper, Illinois ended its policy of executing prisoners on Death Row.
No surprise: most Illinois residents will tell you that this was inevitable, and the momentum to do so actually dates back to a troubled Republican governor.
There have been many comments from outside Illinois both in favor of and against the decision. However, pretty much all of them are based on an imperfect knowledge of the troubled history of Capital Punishment here in the Land of Lincoln.
The Czar was impressed with The Chicago Tribune, who published a brief history of the problems that is surprisingly non-judgmental either way. If you would like to read a balanced and accurate treatise of the event—highlighting the problems with keeping it and the problems with ending it—this one will do very nicely.
All the Czar can say is that there probably is no other state in the Union that has so terribly screwed up its application of the Death Penalty. And by banning Capital Punishment, don’t think for a moment that the final chapter has been written.
The Czar suspects we are only halfway through the mess.
Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.