3 years later is too late for me to send hate mail but for real. come on.

"Steven’s book is, against all odds, a hopeful one. It isn’t that Tennessee will stop killing people any time soon. But while covering these executions, Steven found a flicker of decency and humanity in the community of people who visit, comfort, and have forged bonds with the condemned. This community tends to be older, white, and Christian. And they take their faith very seriously.

[...]

The community Steven writes about in his book ... have quietly, determinedly, and persistently provided comfort, solace, and companionship to the most loathed and least loved among us. And they’ve done so knowing there’s a decent chance the friendships they’ve forged will be abruptly ended when the state decides to kill again.

Most of the men on Tennessee’s Death Row — and all but one are men— lived unimaginably harrowing lives. Most were themselves victims of relentless abuse. Many were failed by parents, teachers, caretakers, clergy, community and the state more generally long before they committed their crimes. In some cases, the fellowship group Steven writes about provided the first genuine kindness these prisoners experienced in their lives. It wasn’t until they’d been condemned to die for taking a life that someone offered them the sort of human connection that makes life so worth living."

She Was Set to Be Executed in Daughter's Death. Now Prosecutors and Judge Say It Was Accident, Not Murder

One more reason to end the Death Penalty. At the very least, those responsible for suppressing evidence which could have cleared this woman should face serious penalties.

New study shows more botched executions for Black prisoners https://www.npr.org/2024/04/18/1245290751/botched-exections-black-race-death-penalty

Executions in May

Only one execution scheduled for next month:

Letter/phone info for alabama residents:

Will Africa be the next continent to abolish the death penalty?

When a young independence fighter called Emmerson Mnangagwa was caught and tried in 1965 in what was then Rhodesia, the judge made it clear his youth alone would not save him from the hangman. He might have said he was only 18 when his gang of saboteurs bombed a train in Fort Victoria, now Masvingo, but the court still had the discretion to execute him. However, opting to spare him, the judge…

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tbh i think the dealth penalty argument is fucking stupid. no, i don’t generally think the state should have the power to execute people (war criminals the notable exception IMHO), but let’s not pretend here that there aren’t some heinous motherfuckers on this earth that we’d be better off without. and not to put too fine a point on this or anything, but for a very small minority of a minority (at this time, perhaps 12 people nationwide), you gotta lock em up or you gotta execute them. so. are you a strict prison abolitionist or strict anti-death penalty.

ik that extremes shouldn’t be used to make a general rule, but people are gonna bludgeon you with those extremes until you take a stance, and we do actually have to decide what to do with those dozen or so people at any given time. for every bloodthirsty weirdo who would volunteer to be an executioner, there’s some dumb bleeding heart that thinks every single person ever can be rehabilitated and that there’s never a scenario in which it’s just to execute someone (call me crazy, but literal post-WW2 nazi brass not only deserved but HAD to hang, and many war criminals are in the same boat; the My Lai Massacre guys, the guards at Abu Ghraib—I don’t think it’s state overreach or morally wrong to give those people the death penalty ┐⁠(⁠ ⁠∵⁠ ⁠)⁠┌).

The Savage King Henry VIII

As an American I can’t explain my obsession with Tudor England, except that there’s so much scandal and murder involved. And y’all already know that I do love me some scandal and murder! King Henry VII King Henry VIII had only been the second of the Tudor dynasty; his father, Henry VII, who had held very few ties to the crown, won the throne from Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485…

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Executions: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) [source]

"John Oliver reveals new information about the methods used to carry out the death penalty, explains why there is no good way to do lethal injections, and offers a new, unexpected use for peanuts. John swears it’s normal, we beg to differ." [28 min 30 sec]

I'm not a fan of capital punishment. But if we're stuck with it, perhaps we should include certain high-value white collar crimes among those eligible for the penalty.

Death for those convicted of mass fraud. Not a bad idea.

Just think of all those banking cartel executives who would be six feet under if the US instituted this type of law.

Background: Most of the members of the US banking cartel have been serially CONVICTED of committing felonies in the US. Yet those same firms (JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, et al), continue to operate with immunity distorting markets and ruining society at large.

john oliver’s research team figured out what company made and sold the drugs used for death penalty cases under trump and named them (Absolute Standards) and they have not been cleared by the FDA for human drugs.

john talks about why they keep that information private and why they are once again stirring shit up by sharing it here, along with discussing other issues with the death penalty in the united states.

Executions: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Executions: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

This week, John revisits the issue of Lethal Injections, and it's a blistering condemnation of how the US continues to push forward with them besides their danger and purchasing drugs illegally to do so. (They did some actual journalism on this one, as John puts it.)

In case you thought this show might let up on its supreme weirdness this season, John also talks about wanting to eat cat food. Y’know, normal shit.