Having the death penalty is barbaric enough. Now the defense secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered that the execution Nidal Hasan, the former army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, be by firing squad and livestreamed to the public.
“It was a radical Islamist attack in uniform inside the ranks, and so he’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, and we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said.
People like Hegseth have this sick belief that seeing someone gunned down in public will somehow deter potential killers. Hegseth thinks that he is being tough. But no person with any scruples or sensitivity will want to watch such a sickening thing. I suspect that the only people who will watch are fans of horror and the macabre and such people actually get a thrill from seeing it. It might actually increase their bloodlust rather than reduce it.
The US is in dubious company when it comes to countries that still have firing squads: Afghanistan, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
The US sinks deeper and deeper into depravity.
And Americans still believe they live in the greatest country in the world.
You know, there are ways of killing someone which are instantaneous or very merciful, but we don’t do any of them. Instead it’s “you have to experience dying, but not suffer too much in the process”. Because it’s not about getting rid of someone permanently and instead about some abstract ideal of “justice” which not everyone subscribes to. Unfortunately every known method of doing this has a chance of resulting in the person dying in a truly agonizing manner, or surviving it, or worst of all, being tortured and not dying.
This is why I favor rehabilitation, or where this is not realistic, memory-holing them into a moderately comfortable gated community where the gates are meant to keep the residents in. Unfortunately the bloodlust contingent makes that an unrealistic idea at present, so what we have is a compromise which *would* be acceptable if it wasn’t for the occasional failures.
Maybe they could play footage of Charlie Kirk’s death in conjunction.
😐
Hegseth should give top priority to terrorists who order attacks on schools and hospitals.
Wikipedia: 2026 Minab school attack
Another list that the USA has joined: Russia, Belarus, Georgia, and Tajikistan.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/09/25/us-trump-administration-rejects-external-election-observers
Trump administration’s preparations for the mid-term elections are progressing as planned.
P.S. Himmler wanted to see an execution. He fainted. What would Hegseth do?
I actually happened to see Charlie Kirk shot, live. That was a heck of a surprise. But it was over so quick I didn’t register what I saw until seconds later.
A deliberate execution is all about the build-up. Michel Foucalt correctly identifies such things as the opposite of the social contract: it is the state showing the citizen that it should be afraid of their rulers, that this is what happens to those who challenge it. I would volunteer to participate in the shooting party, mostly in hopes that I might find myself holding a gun with live rounds somewhere within a few hundred yards of some of these trumpist pawns. I am actually curious how they are going to vet the squad. (for the military parade in DC there was a huge amount of going around disabling weapons before they were paraded)
I suspect the direction of travel Hegseth is looking for is not so much “public hangings and the guillotine” as public stonings and crucifixion. They should talk to the Taliban, I believe they have some experience in such matters…
As soon as I heard of this, before the victim’s name and face were shown, I knew he was not white.
Dubious company -- Trump is best buddies (or at least he thinks he is) with Xi, Kim, MBS. UAE is still an ally of the US, AFAICT. You shall be known by the company you keep. And he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled with it.
One thought occurred to me. Not making it public sanitizes it. It allows the public to disconnect themselves from the actual act. I am reminded of people who will eagerly grab a packet of steaks from the grocery store but who would be unwilling to kill and slaughter a cow. As long as someone else does the killing out of sight, it’s easily ignored. Maybe facing the reality of a public execution by firing squad will change some people’s minds.
Or maybe not. I don’t have much respect for the general populace.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Hegseth’s cuckoo public torture murder show gets cancelled.
It is simply sadistic low class barbarism.
Then again, this is the USA and these are the Rethuglicans.
I wouldn’t be too surprised if they don’t cancel it either, even though most Americans likely favor it.
It’s more humane than what just happened in TN??
“Radical Islamist attack.” He doesn’t realize this would probably encourage other radical Islamists?
For the sake of spectacle, they will have to keep the cameras out/off while they lift Maj. Hasan out of his wheelchair and onto whatever stake/framework they will tie (or nail) him to beforehand. (Our “free” media rarely mentions that he’s been paraplegic ever since he was shot on The Day When.)
And they will further need to keep Hegseth off camera, at least from the waist up.
(Most likely, Hasan will file another appeal -- he hasn’t used up all his chances -- and that will prolong the proceedings until the next presidency.)
It’s appalling, but not surprising to me. People on the right end of the political spectrum have been talking about publicizing executions for years, probably decades. As with other things, this administration is the one to actually do it.
(Most likely, Hasan will file another appeal — he hasn’t used up all his chances — and that will prolong the proceedings until the next presidency.)