Trump Says Those Who Leak Military Plans Should Be Shot
At a rally in Arizona, the president dramatically escalated his attacks on news gathering and those willing to speak to the press. More
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If the US livestreams an execution, it will be an act of terror | Brief letters
Pete Hegseth | Pre-loved | Marlborough man | Canterbury tale | Newt kids on the blockPete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has authorised the livestreaming of an execution by firing squad (Report, 9 October). Morally this is no different from a terrorist group posting a video of a beheading. It marks yet another step in the brutalising of American society under the second Trump administration. Britain stopped holding public executions in 1868.John BoalerCalne, Wiltshire• I find nearly all the “pre-” expressions irritating, but the term pre-loved (Letters, 7 October) is, in this one instance, justifiable. Items that have been passed on due to the owner’s lack of affection are exactly in a state of “pre‑lovedness”, waiting for the buyer who will truly cherish them.Paola McClureDundee Continue reading… More
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‘Not Pleasant’ but ‘Necessary’: Support at Trump Rally for Public Execution
A sample of people at the president’s midterm stump speech in Tennessee defended the Pentagon’s announcement that it would livestream the execution of a mass shooter. More
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I saw Iran execute a man in public. Is this what the US wants? | Robert Tait
It is odd for the US defense secretary to be laying the groundwork for an event that could be organized by TehranPete Hegseth’s plans to stage a public execution resemble a grotesque Iran-imitation game.Having failed over the past seven months to defeat the Tehran regime on the battlefield, the self-styled “secretary of war” now proposes to mirror its notorious practice of enforcing the death penalty as a grand public spectacle. Continue reading… More
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Execution TV? Pete Hegseth has taken the once ‘greatest democracy’ to a horrific new low | Paul Daley
A proposal to livestream the killing of Nidal Hasan by firing squad opens a window ever wider to the Trump administration’s complete moral vacuityMore fool me! Here I was thinking nothing that America’s Trump administration could do or say, no matter how politically and morally bankrupt, no matter how venal or violent, was capable of shocking me any longer.Then I woke to today’s news that one of the Trump cabinet’s bigger boofheads – the uber Christian nationalist, crusader-fantasist and “secretary of war” Pete Hegseth had announced that America would have a public firing squad execution of murderer Nidal Hasan.Paul Daley is a Guardian Australia columnist Continue reading… More
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Newsom Mulls Sparing Lives of All 563 Prisoners on Death Row in California
Gov. Gavin Newsom ramped up talks after a botched execution in Tennessee. More
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Tennessee’s top prison official resigning after botched execution of Christa Pike
Frank Strada leaving position as state launches independent investigation into what went wrongTennessee’s top prison official is stepping down in the aftermath of the failed execution of death row prisoner Christa Pike, the state’s governor Bill Lee announced Saturday.Frank Strada, the department of correction commissioner, will leave his position later in October as the state launches an independent investigation into what went wrong during Wednesday’s botched execution of Pike, according to Lee. Continue reading… More
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Trump doesn’t rule out sending ICE to polling sites; US supreme court to review policy to detain immigrants challenging deportation – as it happened
This blog is now closed.Sign up for the Breaking News US emailThe White House has, again, blocked CNN from covering Donald Trump as part of the rotating press pool.The outlet was scheduled to be a part of the group of media traveling to Texas and Oklahoma with the president today, but was removed from list of newsrooms in place for the trip, per the White House schedule. Continue reading… More
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The Guardian view on the death penalty: Christa Pike’s execution was botched, but cruelty is inherent | Editorial
Three-quarters of nations have rightly abolished capital punishment in law or practice, but killing by the state has surged in the USWhat is the kindest way to kill? That’s the question being asked once more following Tennessee’s failed attempts to execute Christa Pike for the brutal murder of a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, when she was 18. The 50-year-old was taken to a medical facility, her condition unknown, with witnesses describing her snoring loudly around 40 minutes after receiving two injections of pentobarbital on Wednesday. It is the second botched killing in months, prompting Tennessee’s governor to order a halt to executions.Lethal injection was supposed to be the humane alternative to firing squads and electric chairs. They in turn were seen as an improvement on hanging, which looked much like lynching in a system disproportionately handing the death penalty to black men. The age and ill health of those executed, and the ethical refusal of most medical staff to be involved, may contribute to botched injections. But analysis of autopsy results has provided compelling evidence that suffering is inherent; injections – especially those involving paralytic drugs – have merely disguised it. What is described as safeguarding the dignity of prisoners is really about reducing the discomfort of witnesses who would otherwise see their suffering.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading… More
