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Trump's Executions Drive

Vixen

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What do people think of Trump's transitional executions drive? Whilst I have every sympathy with Brandon Bernard's victims, it seems unnecessarily vindictive of Trump.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday carried out its ninth federal execution of the year and the first during a presidential lame-duck period in 130 years, putting to death a Texas street-gang member for his role in the slayings of a religious couple from Iowa more than two decades ago.

Four more federal executions, including one Friday, are planned in the weeks before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
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AP

If executions are to be carried out, it should be promptly, as in mediaeval times, not on average, ten year's after.

The case of Brandon Bernard, who received a lethal injection of phenobarbital inside a death chamber at a U.S. prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, was a rare execution of a person who was in his teens when his crime was committed.
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ibid
 
Adam Serwer nailed it in The Atlantic 2 years ago: The Cruelty Is the Point

Trump’s only true skill is the con; his only fundamental belief is that the United States is the birthright of straight, white, Christian men, and his only real, authentic pleasure is in cruelty. It is that cruelty, and the delight it brings them, that binds his most ardent supporters to him, in shared scorn for those they hate and fear: immigrants, black voters, feminists, and treasonous white men who empathize with any of those who would steal their birthright. The president’s ability to execute that cruelty through word and deed makes them euphoric. It makes them feel good, it makes them feel proud, it makes them feel happy, it makes them feel united. And as long as he makes them feel that way, they will let him get away with anything, no matter what it costs them.
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Do executions upset the left?

Yes?

What possible factor is there left to wonder about or talk about?
 
This is comic book villain stuff. Even in fiction, this kind of cardboard-bad-guy stuff wouldn't ever be put down except maybe ironically.

I must have said this like a hundred times, that Trump's craziness is what it is; his spineless hangers-on's self-serving ways too are what they are; but what makes my jaw drop, even now after having seen this for so long, is how so many millions -- ******* millions! -- still support, still ******* worship, this crazy POS, this cardboard cutout prototype of the lowbrow villain, even as he loots them and literally kills them.
 
It strikes me as someone having a To Do list and skipping to the bottom because the higher priority tasks have become difficult or impossible. They just want to get one more thing done. I doubt there are actually damns given, this is so a "tough on crime" bullet point can be added to summaries of Trump's four years.
 
Also people, especially outside America, need to understand is that Capital Punishment isn't just something that's opposed by the Left and vaguely tolerated by the Right.

A good section of the Right absolutely loves it.
 
JoeMorgue said:
Also people, especially outside America, need to understand is that Capital Punishment isn't just something that's opposed by the Left and vaguely tolerated by the Right.

A good section of the Right absolutely loves it.
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And a good section of the left likes it.

Remember when Bernie Sanders came out opposed to capital punishment in principle there was some significant pushback from some of his followers.
 
Hey, he's just taking back what's rightfully his. He couldn't get the Central Park Five executed, so the world owes him a few *******.

Edited by Agatha: 
Edited for rule 10. Please type all curse words in full. For this particular one, you may use the construction "n-word".
 
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timhau said:
Hey, he's just taking back what's rightfully his. He couldn't get the Central Park Five executed, so the world owes him a few *******.
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Somewhat surprising to me, 5 of the 9 men executed under Trump's watch have been white.

Also kind of interesting, Alan Dershowitz, Ken Starr and Kim Kardashian West all tried to delay or block the execution. Five of the jurors and the original prosecutor supported clemency. He wasn't the shooter and he was only 18 at the time. He appears to had a clean record in prison. He seems like an odd choice to prioritize.

Still. If the death penalty is going to be on the books, it should be taken seriously. But Trump wanting to act tough seems like a crappy reason to resume federal executions after 17 years without them.
 
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In The Godfather, the big mafia don orders killings to instill fear in his rivals and cement his own power. Trumpy wants to be that guy. He thinks the movie is a user guide.
 
Trump hate aside ... like that's possible here.

The death penalty exists for a reason.
As said earlier, if it is on the books then it should be taken seriously.
Don't murder people if you don't want to end up in that situation.

In Brandon Bernard's case and I'm sure most of the others, like the unbelievably awesome woman who cut a baby out of the womb of another woman,
most of the families of the victims and myself, think that the method of execution is too civilized for such uncivilized people.

If they accidentally kill or inadvertently kill circumstances could be different.
But when they go with the express intent of murder ??

**** 'em !



Also, to add, you guys/gals here trip me out.

You have no issue if someone takes 3 guys to rob a house and waits in the car while those 3 guys get shot to death by the homeowner and then that driver gets charged with felony murder.

No murder even occurred.
The homeowner legally defended himself, but she gets hit with felony murder charges.

I guess if convicted you guys are hoping for a light sentence ??

Jeez.
 
Busta Capp said:
Trump hate aside ... like that's possible here.

The death penalty exists for a reason.
As said earlier, if it is on the books then it should be taken seriously.
Don't murder people if you don't want to end up in that situation.

In Brandon Bernard's case and I'm sure most of the others, like the unbelievably awesome woman who cut a baby out of the womb of another woman,
most of the families of the victims and myself, think that the method of execution is too civilized for such uncivilized people.

If they accidentally kill or inadvertently kill circumstances could be different.
But when they go with the express intent of murder ??

**** 'em !



Also, to add, you guys/gals here trip me out.

You have no issue if someone takes 3 guys to rob a house and waits in the car while those 3 guys get shot to death by the homeowner and then that driver gets charged with felony murder.

No murder even occurred.
The homeowner legally defended himself, but she gets hit with felony murder charges.

I guess if convicted you guys are hoping for a light sentence ??

Jeez.
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.

..

...

What?
 
Busta Capp said:
The death penalty exists for a reason.
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Because a society decided that it is appropriate in some circumstances, because revenge is a primal desire most humans have. There is a reason the death penalty doesn't exist anymore in 130+ other countries. There is a good reason to suppress that desire, even if you believe the death penalty is just.

Busta Capp said:
Also, to add, you guys/gals here trip me out.

You have no issue if someone takes 3 guys to rob a house and waits in the car while those 3 guys get shot to death by the homeowner and then that driver gets charged with felony murder.
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Yawn.

No murder even occurred.
The homeowner legally defended himself, but she gets hit with felony murder charges.

I guess if convicted you guys are hoping for a light sentence ??

Jeez.
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I don't know if that's an appropriate charge but retaliation isn't and never will be self defense.
 
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I especially like how that entire stream of consciousness rant wasn't even about the case being discussed but just general "Oh so if you came home and found your family murdered" theatrics.
 
Busta Capp said:
Trump hate aside ... like that's possible here.

The death penalty exists for a reason.
As said earlier, if it is on the books then it should be taken seriously.
Don't murder people if you don't want to end up in that situation.

In Brandon Bernard's case and I'm sure most of the others, like the unbelievably awesome woman who cut a baby out of the womb of another woman,
most of the families of the victims and myself, think that the method of execution is too civilized for such uncivilized people.

If they accidentally kill or inadvertently kill circumstances could be different.
But when they go with the express intent of murder ??

**** 'em !



Also, to add, you guys/gals here trip me out.

You have no issue if someone takes 3 guys to rob a house and waits in the car while those 3 guys get shot to death by the homeowner and then that driver gets charged with felony murder.

No murder even occurred.
The homeowner legally defended himself, but she gets hit with felony murder charges.

I guess if convicted you guys are hoping for a light sentence ??

Jeez.
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You are perhaps thinking of the Elizabeth Rodriguez* case which we discussed here:

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=11775751#post11775751

As I recall, I was really shocked by this because of the young age of the persons shot but it's OK you'll be happy to know everybody jumped down my throat. I guess with US gun culture, it is too easy for a person to just shoot someone during the course of a crime and you could say the fact that prison sentences are so severe in the USA means perpetrators of crime are even more determined to escape justice (cf the EU where 'life' means you get out on parole after eight years, depending on the category of murder; only about 70 prisoners in all have 'whole life' tariffs).

In the case of Brandon Bernard, he was an eighteen-year-old at the time. His co-partner pulled the trigger on the couple, ordering Bernard to set fire to the car they were in. Now soot was found in the female's windpipe indicated she was alive at the time and had breathed in the fumes. However, with a shot to the head she is unlikely to have been little more than a cabbage were she to have been rescued. I am not defending Bernard. However, I do feel his young age at the time, 18, and his otherwise good character should hae been mitigation for a prison term instead. I also think it is barbaric to keep prisoners on Death Row for years on end before execution. To my mind that counts as a double punishment: ten years in a top security jail and then execution (= 2 punishments).

I do think people who kill small children should get tougher sentences than average, thus Darlie Routier who killed her two little boys savagely and cruelly deserves a much harsher sentence than the average murderer IMV. [Ah, I see she is scheduled for the lethal injection on 4 Feb 21.]

I get that there is a long appeals process which can go to as many as fifteen different hearings.

So, next up on Trump's list is a childkiller, who smashed his two-year-old's head into a car windscreen.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The Trump administration plans to continue its unprecedented series of post-election federal executions Friday by putting to death a Louisiana truck driver who severely abused his 2-year-old daughter for weeks in 2002, then killed her by slamming her head against a truck’s windows and dashboard.

Lawyers for 56-year-old Alfred Bourgeois argue he has an IQ that puts him in the intellectually disabled category, saying that should have made him ineligible for the death penalty under federal law.
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APhttps://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-us-news-executions-terre-haute-indiana-32f7e296aba11d7d749bb996cffe623b

To us in Europe, these executions seem mediaeval and belong to a different era. That is another issue. For now, it comes across as petty and spiteful of Trump rushing to get it done in his final days, rather than as a genuine justice issue, and despite it not being conventional to do so in the last 130 days of presidency when pardons are more the norm.

*To save people looking this up this is what happened to Rodriguez:

Rodriguez was alleged to have orchestrated the March 27, 2017, burglary of a home in the 9100 block of Clearview Drive, near Broken Arrow. She was sentenced to 45 years in prison with all but the first 32 years suspended, according to court minutes.
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Tulsa World Com
 
So, childkiller Bourgeois has been despatched. Next up:

Lisa Montgomery strangled a pregnant woman in Missouri before cutting out and kidnapping the baby in 2004. She is scheduled for execution on 12 January. Her lawyers have said she experienced brain damage from beatings as a child and suffers from serious mental illness. She will be the first woman to face federal execution in the US since 1953.
Cory Johnson was convicted for the murder of seven people, related to his involvement with the drug trade in Richmond, Virginia. Johnson's legal team has argued that he suffers from an intellectual disability, related to physical and emotional abuse he experienced as a child. His execution is scheduled for 14 January.
Dustin John Higgs was convicted in the 1996 kidnapping and murder of three young women in the Washington, DC area. Higgs did not kill any of his victims, but instructed his co-defendant Willis Haynes to do so. Haynes has said in court documents that Higgs did not threaten him, or force him to shoot. Higgs is scheduled for execution on 15 January.
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BBC NEWS

Alfred Bourgeois was executed some twenty years after his conviction.
 
This spate of executions - killings by any other name - at Trump's behest look a lot like a temper tantrum being taken out on people who cannot avoid the consequences. Trump has not liked where the election results have gone - he is a nationwide loser as a result. So he wants to kill somebody...ANYBODY! Disposing of Barr's great fat body, for example, would be too obvious. So these people who are already condemned will have to do.
 
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