Can they stoop any lower? Surely this is inhuman?

[Touchwood2654]

From The Washington Post

I think the administration has been watching too much Hand Maids Tale if the last few years are anything to go by!

I don’t know the numbers, but I’d imagine the number of people killed by execution, is less in the U.S than in Middle Eastern countries. Probably a good few others as well. Also, the man who is the subject of this execution was categorically a murderer (13 people, I think). It is one of these cases where you know he did the crime. One of the problems with execution, is that the person might be innocent. In Iran they are executing girls/women who simply protested against their lack of freedom, and being forced to cover their hair. The last reason for capital punishment in Ireland was if you killed a police officer (maybe the army, too, but not sure).

I suppose they could keep him in prison for life. Was this a military trial, though? I read somewhere he could look for a review of the case, and maybe that would bide for time.

It’s not the death penalty itself that’s t(e issue here (I disagree with it fundamentally, but it’s US law, so that’s that). It’s the live streaming. Are you really ok with that?

Absolutely this

It's called ChopChop square and has a special drain for the blood.

My friend who worked in Saudi said people would casually stop by on a shopping trip.

(she didn't)

I have had to actively work to avoid seeing the Charlie Kirk and Alex Pretti murders repeatedly on social media. I can't see why they'd draw the line here? And it's a fact that they are not actively interested in protecting children and young people from online harm, so again, not sure I see them drawing this line. Do we really think Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are suddenly going to go all socially responsible?

I would say that from a lot of the posts on this thread it has become crystal clear that the American right wing has a strong presence on Mumsnet. If you are reading the more shocking posts here, please do remember that this site can be used by people all over the world, and that some of them will be interested in exposing you to attitudes that you will find abhorrent.

It stopped executions in 2019 apparently

I agree, I get that some states in the US have the death penalty, ok fine, but to live stream an execution is morbid beyond words, it's like going back to medeval times...

Are you OK for your children to watch a human being deliberately shot to death?

Because once live streamed it will be out there.

Children will see.

Fucking grim. They should go the whole hog and make it pay-per-view.

If people think that prison is a soft option then just show an empathy for someone who is confined behind four walls. With very little opportunity to enjoy social intercourse. Whose highlight of the week is a religous service. Whose monotony is broken only by mundane tasks or classes. While any skills learned or knowledge digested will never to be put to any practical use. Nor receive any praise.
Imagine that this is your life. That you will never, ever, feel fresh wind or see green fields. That your family will grow or die without you. That your old friends disappear from your life. That you will never have a daughter or son. That you have no control over your life. That you are forgotten.
Then tell me that prison as opposed to execution is a soft option.

backwards as the countries in the Middle East that they condemn

Which are these backwards countries?

I think it's a bit late to worry about that. Children have been exposed to horrific stuff on line for years.

Public beheadings, yes.
Good.
They still executed the equivalent of one person a day last year,

I don’t know about backwards (for certain sectors there has been use of the oil money to install the latest technology), but it can most certainly be brutal. You don’t need to be American, or right wing, or Christian to call a spade, a spade.

Granted, Saudi Arabia doesn’t carry out public beheadings at that site any longer, but one of the squares they were fond of using, was unofficially called ‘chop chop square’.

Lots of different things can be true at the same time.

I would imagine there are efforts to stop the live streaming itself. They still have that viewing room, or whatever it’s called though.

Well I do worry and complacency is not enough

Children watching porn is a safeguarding issue

This too.

IMO

Oh well that makes it ok then doesn't it? ffs

It’s odd isn’t it ?

Maybe they want witnesses so that everyone knows it was done correctly as behind closed door executions don’t seem to go well.

That said I don’t agree with the death penalty but I can understand why some do.

I guess it depends on how you define "backwards". Certainly, I think with regards to human rights both Saudi Arabia and Iran would meet my personal definition of "backwards". It looks like Trump would like to see USA #1 in this sphere as well, or at least globally competitive.

It is utterly grotesque and encourages the worst sort of voyeurism

Don't give them ideas.

Even Saudi Arabia makes its executions private these days.

Oh absolutely, I’m not here to champion Saudi Arabia, Iran or Afghanistan. They all have barbaric and brutal regimes. I’m simply pointing out the hypocrisy of some Americans seeing themselves as so much better than the ME while then cheering on practices which look to the outside world like pretty much the same thing.

I also have tremendous sympathy for the people who have to carry the executions out. It must come with a huge amount of trauma and potential for life-long PTSD for them. In all the online discussion about the death penalty last week, after the botched Christa Pike execution, I read (I think in the Guardian) that firing squad executions often have many "misses", where bullets don't hit the heart. Given that the people firing the guns are all trained marksmen, firing from a short distance, this can only suggest that they miss deliberately.

It's never the judge, or the lawyer, or the governor, or the president, who has to perform the fatal act.

Whereas Iran has reverted to public executions

Bringing cranes into the public square to hoist people up - slow strangulation.

While regime supporters are whipped up into a frenzy of righteous zeal and loyalty.

And this is what the U.S is up to - whipping up vengeful bloodlust amongst supporters. NIdal Malik Hasan is the perfect bait - his victims being military.

His crime was heinous and unforgivable on many levels - the deaths, the terrorist aspect etc - no one could be devoid of utmost sympathy for the victims and their families.

But this is a cynical political move.