Should Executions be Live-Streamed?

It is Monday, October 12th, and the Defense Department announced Thursday the execution of Nidal Hasan, who is the ex-Army major who was convicted in the 2009 killings of 13 people at Fort Hood, will be live-streamed on December 3rd.

So, uh, executions themselves, uh, apparently the death penalty is still somewhat controversial in the United States.

Uh, but among conservatives, uh, we all recognize, uh, Romans 13, the government carries the sword.

The death penalty, of course, is allowed after due process, and it's in, in fact, in, in my opinion and in reading of scripture, the, um, the mainstream, stream Orthodox position of Christianity is that the death penalty, um, is absolutely appropriate for the state to impose after due process, uh, for the, uh, the seriousness of crimes like, uh, premeditated murder.

So, uh, so that part of it, um, is, is less controversial within Christian and conservative circles.

But what is controversial still, uh, is this issue of live-streaming.

And so, uh, this will be the first, uh, person to be publicly executed in the United States in nearly a century, but certainly the first one to be live-streamed.

And a live stream, you know, according to some, is the new public square.

This is a way, uh, that there can be, um, be accountability and deterrence and for people, uh, in the United States to see that their government is taking this seriously.

So Trump was asked as he was headed toward, uh, Marine One earlier, uh, last weekend if he approved the live-stream execution.

This is what he had to say.

Cut one.

Did you personally authorize or approve, uh, the execution, the live-stream execution of Nidal Hasan? Did I approve? Did you ap- Absolutely, I do.

The live stream.

The live streaming.

And then Vice President JD Vance also responded to the controversy of the live-stream execution.

This is what he had to say.

Cut two.

Well, first of all, I've seen these announcements.

I don't know that that's actually gonna happen.

Let's, let's sort of see what ...

I, I think it's gonna happen in December when, when he's executed.

But what I try to remind people is, look, this is a guy who committed, in, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11.

The people that he was meant to treat, the Army soldiers that he was meant to treat for mental illness and other problems, he took them at their most vulnerable and gunned down these people where they lived.

So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don't forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people.

It is Monday, October 12th, and the Defense Department announced Thursday the execution of Nidal Hasan, who is the ex-Army major who was convicted in the 2009 killings of 13 people at Fort Hood, will be live-streamed on December 3rd.

So, uh, executions themselves, uh, apparently the death penalty is still somewhat controversial in the United States.

Uh, but among conservatives, uh, we all recognize, uh, Romans 13, the government carries the sword.

The death penalty, of course, is allowed after due process, and it's in, in fact, in, in my opinion and in reading of scripture, the, um, the mainstream, stream Orthodox position of Christianity is that the death penalty, um, is absolutely appropriate for the state to impose after due process, uh, for the, uh, the seriousness of crimes like, uh, premeditated murder.

So, uh, so that part of it, um, is, is less controversial within Christian and conservative circles.

But what is controversial still, uh, is this issue of live-streaming.

And so, uh, this will be the first, uh, person to be publicly executed in the United States in nearly a century, but certainly the first one to be live-streamed.

And a live stream, you know, according to some, is the new public square.

This is a way, uh, that there can be, um, be accountability and deterrence and for people, uh, in the United States to see that their government is taking this seriously.

So Trump was asked as he was headed toward, uh, Marine One earlier, uh, last weekend if he approved the live-stream execution.

This is what he had to say.

Cut one.

Did you personally authorize or approve, uh, the execution, the live-stream execution of Nidal Hasan? Did I approve? Did you ap- Absolutely, I do.

The live stream.

The live streaming.

And then Vice President JD Vance also responded to the controversy of the live-stream execution.

This is what he had to say.

Cut two.

Well, first of all, I've seen these announcements.

I don't know that that's actually gonna happen.

Let's, let's sort of see what ...

I, I think it's gonna happen in December when, when he's executed.

But what I try to remind people is, look, this is a guy who committed, in, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11.

The people that he was meant to treat, the Army soldiers that he was meant to treat for mental illness and other problems, he took them at their most vulnerable and gunned down these people where they lived.

So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don't forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people.