Firing Squad? Why not Crucifiction?
"Blessed are the war makers, for they will be called the favorites of Trump. Blessed are the weak, for they will be shown the door."
"Bring it on."
That was how a friend punctuated a post that he made when he shared a news article outlining the plan to execute the mass shooter/terrorist Nidal Hasan via a firing squad. While being live-streamed.
And then the comments poured in.
"Let it be a deterrent."
"...a lethal injection is too humane!"
"...the death penalty is a just punishment for the worst crimes, we shouldn't hide it behind closed doors!"
"...the human race now is too soft and run on feelings!"
"Some lawyer will muddy up the water and a commie judge will back it up."
There were others that chimed in on the barbarity of it, how it degrades us, how we are going backwards in civility, etc. Several pointed out how many MORE terrorists it would create. I noticed that a bunch of those comments were deleted at some point. Too soft and touchy-feely, I guess.
Eleanor Watson and Joe Walsh
Now I semi-regularly attend the church that this fellow attends even less often. But I know that he loves this church... Oddly enough, it's a very left-of-center church pastored by several left-of-center preacher-types. Never have I heard the Sermon on the Mount preached as The Beatifueds.
"Blessed are the war makers,
for they will be called the favorites of Trump.
Blessed are the weak,
for they will be shown the door.
Hegsethians 5:9-10
But there are plenty of MAGA pastors around that are only too happy to wheel out the big video screen into the sanctuary so the congregation can share a bit of Old Testament vengeance.
"Capital punishment is commanded by God in Genesis 9:6 to remind people of the sanctity of human life," Jeffress wrote on the social media platform. "The more people that can see that truth illustrated through a public execution, the better." pastor Robert "Hang 'Em High" Jeffress
Doug Myers
The conversion of a conservative strand of Christianity into a white nationalist political force that backs the most immoral, unprincipled, and corrupt president (and his enablers) in American history will be studied for years. The antebellum South certainly "interpreted" the Christian faith in a way that promoted slavery and defended the cruelty of that "peculiar institution." Arguably, Southerners (and many Northerners as well) were simply amoral... actually believing in the superiority of the white race. But in 21st-century America, it was to be assumed (?) that the country should have finally come to understand the meaning of "all men are created equal."
Ha ha! I kid you!
Nothing has changed. And in the spirit of that recognition - then how about an old-fashioned lynching? Lynchings were real crowd pleasers in their day. There are hundreds of historic accounts of public hangings, burnings, and other barbaric tortures being the center of family entertainment. The good and Godly folk of yesteryear would travel for miles on train or horseback, carrying picnic lunches, excited kids, and generally treat the event like a county fair. The condemned were often carefully escorted to the gallows lest the crowd rip them to pieces beforehand. Sometimes, the crowd had their way - hanging, burning, and/or torturing the victim before the "official" execution could be carried out.
A very typical example: a 23-year-old Jesse Thomas was killed in 1923 Waco, Texas, for an alleged murder. When located later, he was shot a half dozen times by the victim's father. When townspeople heard of the situation, they pulled his body out of the funeral home, dragged it by truck through the streets of Waco and set it on a pyre in the town's square. The crowd of 6000 cheered, and his charred remains were dragged again through the Black section of town. The white mob followed along, tearing at the body to claim charred pieces of the remains as trophies.
"Just before the body was taken on its final trip over the city, there was general rush of the frenzied crowd to obtain fingers, or other pieces of the skeleton as souvenirs." -The Brownsville Herald, May 27, 1922
Waco, it's always Waco.
By the way, Jesse Waters and his family had offered solid evidence that he was home at the time of the crime. He was later proven innocent when a known serial killer was found to be the murderer.
Mistakes were made. So it goes...
These were small-town Texas crowds barely 100 years ago. Now we have the luxury of tremendous sports stadiums in massive cities and social media and digital streaming. Imagine the public execution advertising potential here. With the blessing of the grifting Trump administration, the money would flow. How about paid-for signage on the gallows? Think about the pricing of luxury VIP boxes sitting next to the Trump!
Giving the public what they want.
BUT SUDDENLY, TRUMP CHANGED HEGSETH'S MIND.
Former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was the mass shooter who shot 13 unarmed military personnel at Fort Hood in 2009. 32 more were injured. It was a horrific crime. He was an active Army officer when he went on his killing spree; he was court-martialed and sentenced to death. Secretary "of War" Hegseth, who refers to the ranks as "warfighters and still believes that they are too 'woke,' thought that a firing squad would be an excellent send-off for Hasan. (What a morale booster!) It would mark the first military execution in more than 60 years. Trump approved the idea, and after Hegseth put forth the idea that the execution should be made public, Trump backed that idea, too.
And except for the MAGA regulars, the idea went over like a lead balloon.
"...a poll by the Washington Post, ABC News, and Ipsos showed that the only demographic polled in which a majority wanted a livestream of the execution was MAGA Republican men, of whom 57% wanted the event livestreamed and 42% were opposed. Veterans, Democrats, non-MAGA Republicans, Independents, and MAGA Republican women all opposed the livestream by overwhelming amounts."
Even Trump couldn't deal with that much shock and outrage. Several reports indicated that he did not know that Hasan was in a wheelchair (he had been shot in the spine during his crime spree). The thought of shooting a person in a wheelchair on live television sickened almost everyone, terrorist or not.
I mean, have some respect! We're killing a guy here! I mean, we're still gonna kill him, but not on TV.
I'm a bit agnostic on the death penalty. I'm the son of a murder victim. As a video freelancer in the news space, I found myself inside The Walls Unit (where death row was located in those years, and the so-called 'death house' is still located) several times. I served on video crews that interviewed condemned inmates, their victims, various lawyers and law enforcement officers, family members on both sides, and prison wardens. What did I learn? Oh, the usual... It's mostly the poor and (seemingly) lower IQ folks on death row; many (not all) maintain their innocence, and it's an awful place to be. Rich murderers? Not too many there... (shout out to the ghost of OJ Simpson!)
I tend to agree with the late humorist, songwriter, and Texas gubernatorial candidate (2006), Kinky Friedman, when he said, "I'm not anti-death penalty, I'm anti-killing-the-wrong-guy!" Which seems to happen a lot more than you'd like to admit in Texas. And let's not pretend it's for deterrence. No study has shown that it deters crime.
According to analysis by DPI based on FBI Uniform Crime Reports, in every year between 1990 to 2020, the murder rate in non-death penalty states was lower than in death penalty states. A 2023 study by Stephen Oliphant found a similar pattern in states whose governors paused its use.
There is also a call to execute more criminals because it would be cheaper than housing them for the rest of their lives. Nope. Much more expensive when you factor in the numerous appeals, years of special accommodations, and the personnel to guard them.
The late handlebar-mustached, popular DA of Harris County (Johnny Holmes) was frequently asked why we had the death penalty in Texas. His one-word answer was simple and honest. "Retribution," he would always reply. "If people don't like it, change the law." He averaged 12 death sentences per year. In one county.
So let's quit worrying about firing squads and lynchings. The needle and the electric chair. It's expensive. It's "over too fast," and "it's too good for them."
Just bring back crucifixion.
It checks every box for the populist party of pseudo-Christians. Long considered one of the most inhuman and torturous of tortures - slow, cruel, public, inexpensive, and exceedingly painful. Trump can cos-play the emperor he's always wanted to be and give a great big thumbs down to the condemned as the crowd cheers. Maybe stage some undercard gladiator fights on the White House front lawn. Build a mini-Colosseum. Or a Big, Beautiful one. Pardon Joe Exotic in return for a few of his lions and tigers. Throw the condemned prisoners in with a wild bull. You know how Texas loves a rodeo! Trump could make the cabinet members wear Centurion outfits and carry spears. Hegseth would swoon. ("Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?")
Mel Gibson could narrate the final act, the crucifixion of Nidal Hasan. Drive the spikes in himself, or auction that duty off to the highest bidder. Stick Hasan up on a cross outside the Oval Office, alongside a couple of Democrats or disloyal Republicans.
No more namby-pamby Woke, lethal injection executions. And with plenty of time for commercial breaks!
In the end, it's pretty wild that the most fundamentally religious group in America is the one most excited by the public performance of a state-sponsored execution. Considering they have, as their theological core centerpiece, a public, state-sponsored execution. Which occurred around, say, 33 A.D.