JOHN KASS on Dick Durbin and George Ryan: “It was as if the Combine reached out and grabbed the people of Illinois and slapped us hard with a backhand across the mouth, letting us know who runs things, the sting of the knuckles on our nose to remind us that Illinois is not Camelot. . . . In what universe does redemption come without cost, where cynicism so casually dresses itself up as mercy and compassion? Here. In this place. In Illinois.” Read the whole thing.