U.S. News

2322 readers

94 users here now

News about and pertaining to the United States and its people.

Please read what's functionally the mission statement before posting for the first time. We have a narrower definition of news than you might be accustomed to.

Guidelines for submissions:

Post the original source of information as the link.
If there is any Nazi imagery in the linked story, mark your post NSFW.
Advocating violence is not allowed on Beehaw in general.
If there is a paywall, provide an archive link in the body.
Post using the original headline; edits for clarity (as in providing crucial info a clickbait hed omits) are fine.
Social media is not a news source.

For World News, see the News community.

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

alyaza@beehaw.org

rs5th@beehaw.org

Powderhorn@beehaw.org

Louisiana to use nitrogen execution method it bans for cats and dogs (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/usnews@beehaw.org

6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Last year the Guardian revealed that three of the biggest manufacturers of medical-grade nitrogen in the US had put a block on their products being used in executions. Airgas, Air Products and Matheson Gas all took steps to prevent their nitrogen reaching departments of correction in death penalty states.

Airgas, which is owned by the French multinational Air Liquide, told the Guardian that it would not supply nitrogen or other inert gases “for the purpose of human execution”.

top 6 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] remington@beehaw.org 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Nearly two thirds of the world's countries have abolished the death penalty. I don't understand why the USA is so ass-backwards on certain issues such as this.

[–] Powderhorn@beehaw.org 6 points 2 weeks ago

Because our government is not about leading and helping, but rather subjugation and obedience. Orwell would be proud.

[–] don@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago

I believe I can help. It’s because American conservatives, having been psychologically modified to be highly resistant to diversity, have a stratospherically high level of consanguinity with their family members.

[–] Droechai@lemm.ee 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I'm against the death sentence but why use nitrogen rather than a slowly increasing of carbon monoxide?

[–] TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org 8 points 2 weeks ago

Proponents say that that it should be a relatively humane method of execution: Nitrogen is inert and the body doesn't react to breathing pure Nitrogen with a feeling of suffocation the way that it does with CO~2~, and suddenly replacing the air a person is breathing with pure inert gas can lead to unconsciousness within just one or two breaths. In practice, though, the first Nitrogen Gas execution that was carried out in Alabama last year did not go that smoothly. I'm not sure about subsequent executions, there have been a handful.

[–] Powderhorn@beehaw.org 5 points 2 weeks ago

The cruelty is the point.