Drugs and gas are hella dystopian

be a man, let them have some dignity, let yourself have some dignity, and hang them

1/27/2024 1:54:44 PM

Giles Corey up in hurr!

1/27/2024 2:16:24 PM

1/27/2024 3:05:08 PM

Lol, I would love to see Grumpy's thoughts on this now. Reading through this is a hoot

1/27/2024 4:14:17 PM

I thought the same yesterday.

1/27/2024 4:25:57 PM

I've been in a hypobaric chamber and experienced hypoxia, and also flown in the simulator with the "ROBD" (Reduced Oxygen Breathing Device). It's basically...an O2 mask where they increase the partial pressure of nitrogen and decrease that of oxygen. We didn't go until we passed out, and certainly not until we subsequently died, but it's a little like having too much to drink and getting groggy.

You can debate whether or not we should have the death penalty; that's a separate debate. Nitrogen hypoxia (or CO or whatever) seems to me like it would be damned near foolproof and not at all unpleasant, let alone cruel, other than the whole knowing you're about to die thing.

1/27/2024 5:19:26 PM

Don't sleep on pressing, guys. It has been proven!

1/27/2024 6:56:18 PM

^^

But it's so cold (figuratively).


comment for my own reference, doesn't mean anything:
the B may change, the L doesn't

[Edited on January 27, 2024 at 7:03 PM. Reason : -]

1/27/2024 7:00:02 PM

Drugs and gas are hella efficient

1/28/2024 12:44:55 AM

Since 2005 my opinions on this haven’t changed much and my logic is impeccable

1/28/2024 1:13:07 AM

Quote :

"I would love to see Grumpy's thoughts on this now"

I've done a 180 on a lot of political beliefs, but not so much this one, so my thoughts are probably a little stale:

The death penalty is not properly applied in this country, but that is not to say that it cannot ever be properly applied, or that we're better off banning it. I think it is an option that should be retained and applied where appropriate.

Appropriate use would be on people whose existence continues to pose a serious threat to society at large. This would include:

1) Leadership in criminal organizations, who may continue to direct activities from within prison or who may inspire attempts to break them out of prison;
2) People guilty of repeated homicide/attempted homicide or other very violent offenses;
3) People whose mental health status indicates a proclivity towards continued offenses;
4) People who continue to carry out violent crimes in prison, against prisoners or COs

These categories obviously require more thorough definition but what's important is that a majority of people currently on death row probably wouldn't qualify, including this guy in Alabama. I'm not familiar with the details of his case but from what I understand he's just kind of a rube who got paid to off someone one time. He's not a professional contract killer, hardly a criminal mastermind, and though he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer he doesn't seem to be a psychopath. This guy could have stayed locked up and posed no ongoing threat to society at large. Under the right circumstances he probably could have been released into society.

On the other hand, there are a range of people who aren't on death row who would meet the GrumpyGOP standard. Whether the result of applying that standard would result in a net increase or decrease in executions, I don't know.

As far as the method of execution, this seems like a pretty silly thing to get worked up about. The modern methods are all fine. By far the most traumatic part of an execution must be the anticipation and dread, which much necessarily dwell in the person to be killed for some time. Whatever variance exists in the trauma levels of the various means is small by comparison, and the fact of the trauma itself is likely unavoidable. I'd say different if we were still entertaining, like, crucifixion, which is obviously much more agonizing than many of the other choices available. Since my support for the death penalty is divorced from any desire for retribution, there's no upside in maximizing suffering while there are potential drawbacks. Macabre though it is, we've refined this process pretty thoroughly by 2024. There's not a lot of daylight between the current choices.

If you were going to drop someone off the Empire State Building, there's no point arguing whether to do it head- or feet-first. Either way they're going to be dead pretty soon and the part that's going to suck the most is seeing the ground rush up at them.

1/29/2024 10:07:36 AM

Quote :

"1) Leadership in criminal organizations, who may continue to direct activities from within prison or who may inspire attempts to break them out of prison;"

nah, gotta go with Batman on this one

1/29/2024 12:38:46 PM