More Local News

Here in Wisconsin, strange things are afoot.

You see, for the better part of the last two decades, the state imprisoned a man named Steven Avery for a rape and attempted murder that, it turns out, he didn't commit.

Thanks to the efforts of groups like the Innocence Project, Avery secured his release from the joint in 2003.

And, recently, he was arrested for the rape and murder of a woman named Theresa Halbach. He hasn't gone to trial yet, but damn, it doesn't look good for him.

Now, a rational human being might think: Damn. Those 18 years he spent upstate must have seriously fucked with him. What he did (if, as it seems, he actually did it) was awful, but maybe, just maybe, we should consider the effect of those missing two decades on his psyche. At any rate, if he is guilty, he needs to go back to prison, this time justly.

However, if you were a Wisconsin state legislator who also happened to be a Republican, you'd think: Woo hoo! Time to get the death penalty reinstated! Yee-haw!

Wisconsin has not executed anyone in over 150 years. That's since before the fucking Civil War.

And these assholes can't wait to turn the clock back that far.

Standard disclaimer: I am not excusing what it seems like Avery did. I'm just saying that using these events to advance a regressive agenda might be called, oh, politicizing the death of Theresa Halbach. That's all.