capital punishment

— Former CIA director James Woolsey, telling CNN that leaker Edward Snowden should be convicted of treason and given the death penalty in the wake of the terrorist attack on Paris.

It just doesn’t pay to anger Kim Jong Un,
And nodding off in his presence simply is not done.
When it’s time to execute you,
They don’t just shoot you.
They stand you in front of an anti-aircraft gun.

McCain: Lethal Injection Should Be Lethal

July 25, 2014 Buck Banks

The lethal injection needs to be an indeed lethal injection and not the bollocks-upped situation that just prevailed. That’s torture.

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by Politico.

Rather than Give Up Capital Punishment, Majority Would Opt for Alternate Methods of Execution

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014 Buck Banks

8%

Of respondents in a new NBC News poll suggested hanging as an alternative to lethal injection, while 20% favored the gas chamber, 18% were for the electric chair and 12% for firing squad. One in three said that if lethal injections are no longer viable — because of drug shortages or other problems — executions should be stopped altogether rather than returning to more primitive forms of execution.

Perry: Execution ‘Botched,’ Not ‘Inhumane’

May 5, 2014 Buck Banks

I don’t know whether it was inhumane or not, but it was botched.

— Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), quoted by The Hill, on Oklahoma’s trouble carrying out the death penalty last week for a convicted murderer.

Oxymoronic Quest for ‘Humane Execution’ is Moronic

December 16, 2013December 16, 2013 Buck Banks

The oxymoronic quest for humane executions only accentuates the absurdity of allowing the death penalty in a civilized society. It’s understandable that Supreme Court Justices have tried to make the process a little more palatable; and there is a meagre kind of progress in moving from the chair to the gurney. But the essential fact about both is that they come with leather straps to restrain a human being so that the state can kill him. No technology can render that process any less grotesque.

Tag: capital punishment

Woolsey: Hang Snowden High

It’s still a capital crime, and I would give him the death sentence, and I would prefer to see him hanged by the neck until he’s dead, rather than merely electrocuted.

— Former CIA director James Woolsey, telling CNN that leaker Edward Snowden should be convicted of treason and given the death penalty in the wake of the terrorist attack on Paris.

North Korean Smithereens

McCain: Lethal Injection Should Be Lethal

The lethal injection needs to be an indeed lethal injection and not the bollocks-upped situation that just prevailed. That’s torture.

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by Politico.

Rather than Give Up Capital Punishment, Majority Would Opt for Alternate Methods of Execution

8%

Perry: Execution ‘Botched,’ Not ‘Inhumane’

I don’t know whether it was inhumane or not, but it was botched.

— Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), quoted by The Hill, on Oklahoma’s trouble carrying out the death penalty last week for a convicted murderer.

Oxymoronic Quest for ‘Humane Execution’ is Moronic

— Jeffrey Toobin, writing in the New Yorker.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

— Rick Wilson

“The worst thing you can do is raise false expectations and then watch them get dashed – then, they begin to lose confidence in their leadership. So we should just tell the truth as best we know it, as best the scientists know it. We should let them speak.”

— Joe Biden, in an interview with NBC News.

“Breaking news: Congressman Massie has tested positive for being an asshole. He must be quarantined to prevent the spread of his massive stupidity.”

— Former Secretary of State John Kerry, on Twitter, in response to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) stalling House approval of the $2.2 trillion economic relief package.

— David Corn

“I just think these numbers right now are not relevant. Whether they’re bigger or smaller in the short term… the good thing about this bill is, the president is protecting these people.”

— Asked on CNBC about the record joblessness report, which totaled nearly 3.3 million people, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin downplayed the report.

Numerati

32%

Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis project total employment reductions of 47 million, which would translate to a 32.1% unemployment rate, CNBC reports.

100%

Many states have requested ventilators, face masks and other essential equipment from the federal emergency stockpile as their hospitals ramp up for the coronavirus pandemic, but only Florida has gotten 100 percent of what it asked for, the Washington Post reports.

71%

24% to 53%

53% to 34%