Loose ends...

[WilliamPitt]

I guess the best way to put it is I'm at loose ends today. Part of me would love five minutes alone in a locked room with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and a nice length of lead pipe for what he did, and almost did, to my friends and my town and our favorite day. Part of me is horrified at that part of me. Most of me wishes they had sentenced him to life instead of death. The rest of me is just exhausted.

And at the end of it all...it's just so sad. Just so terribly, unfathomably sad. I hope the verdict brought a measure of closure to the victims and their families...but Jesus, "closure," what a contrived word. When you get your legs blown off, or see your kid dead on the sidewalk with his guts in his lap, what is "closure"? It's a catchphrase, not a reality. It's a word the lawyers use at press conferences.

What an utter God damned waste. What an asshole. What a mess.

Anyway, I'm going to go hug my kid and try for a day to not think about the casual savagery humans visit upon other humans for vengeance or "God" or profit. We really are going to die of stupid if we're not careful. It's a lethal disease, and it's spreading like wildfire.

[jwirr]

1. Take it easy and let your better half rule.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Will...

This is for you ------>

[roamer65]

3. I honestly believe the tide is turning on the death penalty.

Illinois got rid of it because too many innocent people were being put on death row. Nebraska is on the verge of ending it and I really do believe it will be struck down eventually by the SCOTUS. To me it should be struck down as cruel and unusual punishment.

I really do believe Tsarnaev should have had the rest of his life to think about his actions, the same place where the Unabomber is now thinking about his actions...Supermax.

I hear what you are saying but am confident your better half will rule, Will.

[greatlaurel]

4. Well said, it is just so heartbreakingly senseless.

What a complete waste of the Tsarnaev's lives and the lives of their victims. Their acts were so utterly stupid it is beyond comprehension.

The parents of Martin Richard have conducted themselves with extreme dignity. We should strive to emulate their grace, dignity and humanity.

Stupidity really is a lethal disease.

[KingCharlemagne]

5. After you've had a day or two to rest and reflect, I'd be very interested to

hear your opinion of the ideas expressed in the piece below. I bring it to your attention because polling shows that well over 60% of Massachusetts residents oppose the death penalty:

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-01-08/boston-bombing-jury-is-already-biased?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign

[WilliamPitt]

8. Thanks.

I'll take a look at it tomorrow. Today I have a date with a pile of mulch and a garden.

[WilliamPitt]

11. Fascinating article.

I somehow missed it completely.

I have kind of a more meta problem with the jury, insofar as I think they should never ever ever ever have held this trial in Boston with a 617-area-code jury. Dead-bang grounds for appeal on its face, because everyone around here felt it acutely, but more to the point, was saturation-bombed with HE IS GUILTY HE IS GUILTY coverage from the press. I know my Boston peeps, and the idea of fielding an "unbiased jury" was laughable from the jump.

I wanted this prick to be tried on Neptune, just to make sure everything was on the level and grounds for appeal were not presented. Alas.

[KingCharlemagne]

12. I have not followed the matter closely since the original sadness of the

attack itself. But did Tsarnaev's attorneys request a change of venue? It would seem ordinary common sense to do so, unless they were deliberately hoping to stack the deck for appeal with grounds to reverse (on either jury selection or ineffective assistance of counsel).

[WilliamPitt]

13. Four separate requests for a change of venue.

All denied.

[senseandsensibility]

6. But still...

you're against the death penalty under all circumstances, right? I mean, that is the position of the Catholic Church, and all good progressives. I am struggling with this, too.

[Warren DeMontague]

7. You are right. There is no "closure".

And he's an asshole. A pathetic, twisted little shit.

My opposition to the DP- and I still do have it- is predicated mainly on the fact that the justice system is weighted disproportionately against poor minorities, and the fact that sometimes innocent people get convicted, and in a DP situation there is no way to rectify that, after the fact.

In this case, obviously, he's not innocent.

I'd have no problem with that fucker spending the next 70 years in a small concrete room.

Either way, it will be a long time before his sentence is carried out, if at all. I know I've written his name far more times and given his sorry ass far more mental energy than he deserves, far better to remember the families and the town and all that is good and forget him.

[WilliamPitt]

9. "...far more mental energy than he deserves..."

Read this Cullen piece from today's Globe: http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/16/choosing-focus-boston-marathon-heroes/g0fA1w58iajb4U0XFGvREI/story.html

It is a superb piece of writing, but more to the point, is bang-on parallel to your sentiments.

[DinahMoeHum]

10. When I hear the word "closure". . .

. . .I reach for my lead pipe.

(Apologies to the "Godwin rule" - it's a paraphrase of what Hermann Goering once said about culture and reaching for a pistol)