Oct. 9, 2026
Pentagon Planning Public Livestream Of Firing Squad Execution
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RSS Feed After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the public would be able to watch a firing squad execute Fort Hood mass killer Nidal Hasan, the Pentagon got specific, saying the execution would be live-streamed. Hassan’s planned, public execution is scheduled for December 3rd at 1pm, on the same day of the week and the same time Hasan killed 13 and wounded 30 others back in 2009. Hasan was wounded in the attack and is paralyzed, and there are many questions about the legality and morality of a public execution. The execution by firing squad would be the first of its kind carried out by the Army since World War II.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks, it is Friday, October 9th, and just a week after we had a botched execution, now word comes we're gonna get a public one in the United States of America. Yes, everybody, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Did you think it was for real when you heard that Pete Hegseth said we are going to publicly execute Nadal Hassan?
00:00:27
Speaker 2: When he said it, yes, and I was, frankly, I was disgusted. I was wondering if this was Iran or the countries that we condemn for their barbaric actions suddenly were now taking on their mode of operation.
00:00:43
Speaker 1: But when you heard it, you didn't think, nah, he's just popping off at the mouth. Did you immediately think, man, they're for real?
00:00:48
Speaker 2: Look, I have said this from the beginning, and it's always been a little frightening, but believe them when they say what they're going to do.
00:00:56
Speaker 1: Trump especially. This is why. Yes, people, we are... This is for real. Robes, this has been a hell of a week because we only got word at the beginning of this week that the president signed off on a firing squad execution for Nadal Hassan, the man convicted of that 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting. We got that word and then we hear, Robes, now from Pete Hexeth that this is going to be public and it's going to be live streamed. Robes, let the legal debates and the briefings fly. But it's coming, December 3rd, Robes. This is coming. They planned it for as soon a date as they legally could, and now he says he's going to live stream it. For what purpose?
00:01:44
Speaker 2: He claims because people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things. That was a direct quote from Pete Hegseth in terms of why he wants this to be a public event, a live stream, yes. But all I could think about I just remember all of that string of public executions, and I say public executions because they, yes, were put up on the internet by ISIS, Zarqawi. Remember all of those horrific beheadings that they would put on the internet for all to see?
00:02:19
Speaker 3: That's what it feels like we're doing. Am I wrong? I mean, is that a stretch?
00:02:24
Speaker 1: Well, because, I mean, the justification will be because this is.
00:02:29
Speaker 1: This was a legal proceeding and there was a legal, he went through the legal process. So this is not that. They will make that argument. And now when we get to the next part of that, what authority do we have to make it public? That is where the fight is going to be with all kinds of scholars, babe. We're in uncharted territory. Nobody alive has dealt with this before. We don't do public executions. And we, what's it, 1936 is the last one they believe, they think was on record in Kentucky. But Robes after that, we don't do this. So there are international laws, Robes, governing, what do they call it, being demeaning to someone, degrading to someone. Is that not humiliation and a degradation of someone if you put them on display in to be executed like this? Yes.
00:03:24
Speaker 2: It also feels like a slight form of entertainment. It also feels like exploitation. And I worry about just.
00:03:36
Speaker 3: A couple of things.
00:03:37
Speaker 2: I worry about not, I mean, the backlash in that other countries might feel like they can reciprocate. This, this sets the, off a dangerous precedent, I believe, when you have the leader of the free world, when you have the United States, which is supposed to stand for a lot of things, but none of them, I would think, point to public executions of our enemies.
00:04:05
Speaker 3: I feel like this just sets dangerous precedent.
00:04:08
Speaker 2: It speaks volumes about who we are, and it makes us look like barbaric brutes and the exact type of people who we are supposed to be standing up against.
00:04:19
Speaker 1: This isn't necessary. So why do they want to do it, baby? Obviously, this isn't necessary.
00:04:24
Speaker 3: For show, to show everyone how strong we are, to show.
00:04:27
Speaker 2: Everyone how- We are, baby.
00:04:29
Speaker 1: We just wiped out Iran damn near. I mean, what are we trying to prove?
00:04:31
Speaker 3: What do we have to prove? Exactly.
00:04:33
Speaker 2: So I feel, when I think about this, I actually feel, and I'm not just being dramatic here, I actually feel physically sick to my stomach when I think about this, what it represents, what it says about who we are as a country, and how people will continue to view us what this does to our reputation, and I'm serious, what this does going forward to Americans who are being held in foreign prisons, Americans who are convicted in that country's whatever legal proceedings, however they do their.
00:05:08
Speaker 1: A public execution, baby. I can't get my head around this. You know what? Maybe they suspect legal delays. Maybe they suspect we won't really get to this day. Maybe they're trying to prove some other point.
00:05:33
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
00:05:34
Speaker 1: There's also an argument. Excuse me. Is it a public execution if it's on the internet?
00:05:41
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:05:41
Speaker 1: These are some of the legal ins and outs. Because now you're making an execution available worldwide.
00:05:48
Speaker 3: A live stream.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:05:50
Speaker 1: Instead of just in a room with certain victims or A town square. Even that. Rose, we are in uncharted and unbelievable territory.
00:05:59
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:06:00
Speaker 2: And they've gotten specific in terms of when this execution is taking place. Pete Hegseth, and we heard this announcement from the Pentagon, that this is going to be taking place on December 3rd at 1 p.m. And specifically, I believe they chose that date because Pete Hegseth said this, it is the same day of the week that And time of the attack.
00:06:22
Speaker 3: So that is when.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: Nadal Hassan began his mass shooting in Fort Hood at 1 p.m. where he killed 13, wounded 30 others. Look, this was a horrific, heinous crime. But as you pointed out, babe, we talked about this on our morning run.
00:06:42
Speaker 3: Nadal Hassan was injured.
00:06:46
Speaker 2: In the takedown of him after he was apprehended, he was shot and he was injured and he was actually rendered.
00:06:53
Speaker 3: He's paralyzed.
00:06:57
Speaker 2: Paraplegic.
00:06:58
Speaker 3: I was trying to make sure I said it correctly. He's paralyzed. He's in a wheelchair. Yeah. So let's just envision this.
00:07:03
Speaker 2: A man in a wheelchair being wheeled out to his death and then shot. Mm-hmm.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: By members of the U.S. military on a live stream.
00:07:18
Speaker 2: That is jaw-droppingly sickening and horrific, and who wants to see that?
00:07:25
Speaker 1: Rose, there's a population that's saying, yes, he's getting exactly what he deserves. Absolutely, make an example out of him. Put him out there. Humiliate him. I assume there has to be, baby, some segment of the population that they believe this works for. Because the lethal injection is the designated method that the military is supposed to use. They're making an exception here. They're changing and choosing to do firing squad. They're choosing to make a spectacle. Robes, a badass. We are going to line them up and shoot them. And make it a click here. Your live stream will start in 10 minutes. What? So Robes, he's saying he wants everybody, the public, to be able to see this. Not just I mean, there's some question of it. Maybe they could only have it open to certain people. Can anyone literally in the world tune in to watch the United States military kill a guy?
00:08:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, that'll be a question that needs to be answered.
00:08:24
Speaker 2: And I'm concerned because if you look at Nidal Hassan's prior statements, He makes it very clear he wanted to die in that shooting. He wanted to die by, what do they call it, suicide by cop. He wanted to be killed in the shootout after he took out as many people as he possibly could because he wanted to, quote.
00:08:47
Speaker 3: Die a martyr. What better way for, he's probably relishing this. He wanted to die. He doesn't want to be sitting on, I don't know.
00:08:56
Speaker 2: Death row, military death row, whatever that looks like. And he probably welcomes this as a public display of his martyrdom. And what is that going to do for certain groups who will actually take this and use it to radicalize more young men against our country? I feel like this is going to 100% backfire on us and play right into the hands of their playbook. Here, our enemies operate differently than we do. many of them want to die, live to die. That is the actual goal. And it's a badge of honor to do so for their families, for their community, for their cause. And so by doing this publicly, we're actually just feeding right into.
00:09:43
Speaker 1: All of that. Maybe it'll never happen. Maybe it'll be enough legal wrangling and all kinds of stuff that'll go on and on and on, and we never get to that day. But that day is less than two months away at this point The last time we've been talking about this since we heard the announcement that there was going to be a firing squad execution, the last time the military had an execution was in 1961. This was a hanging, actually. This was for an Army private who had been accused of raping and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl. But the last military firing squad execution was in 1945. A guy who was convicted of desertion in World War II.
00:10:25
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:10:26
Speaker 3: That seems extreme. 1940.
00:10:28
Speaker 1: He went AWOL? Well, during a time of war. Kind of a big.
00:10:34
Speaker 3: I get it, but I kind of understand it, too.
00:10:37
Speaker 2: That's when I would want to go AWOL during the time of war.
00:10:40
Speaker 1: Let me take it. You never thought about signing up.
00:10:43
Speaker 2: No. No, but there was drafts back then, too, so maybe he never wanted to fight in the war. I just think that's remarkable that you would.
00:10:51
Speaker 1: Desertion wasâ yeah, desertion's a big deal. Desertion's a very big deal in the military historically, and I guess you can understand why. But yes, he was the last firing squad execution in 1945. As we said, they have protocol now for lethal injection. They're supposed to be writing new rules now about protocol for a firing squad execution because we haven't done one since 1945. They need to update the protocol. This was the protocol, Robes, for the military firing squad.
00:11:23
Speaker 3: It is the protocol, correct?
00:11:25
Speaker 1: It currently is. They're going to have to create something new. So imagine this on your live stream. You have to line up eight riflemen. And they are all going to have to be volunteers from the military. They form a straight line. And Robes, it's written so long ago that it's written as they're going to be 15 paces away from the condemned prisoner. That prisoner. In this case, Robes is going to be seated in a wheelchair, apparently.
00:11:52
Speaker 3: Well, they'll take him out of a wheelchair.
00:11:54
Speaker 1: And put him in what?
00:11:55
Speaker 3: A regular chair.
00:11:56
Speaker 2: There's no way they're going to have him in a wheelchair.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: But he's going to have to be sitting. Are they going to prop him up? Yeah, they'll have to.
00:12:05
Speaker 3: They'll seat him on a regular chair. And they'll handcuff.
00:12:08
Speaker 2: Like, yes, they actually are supposed to have his ankles and wrists restrained. And he's supposed to be dressed in his military uniform.
00:12:16
Speaker 1: But with any medals, anything, literally taken off. Just a bare uniform. Everything is supposed to be taken off. So just his military uniform. I thought that was interesting. And this is something you were talking about the other day. One to three of the rifles... have blanks.
00:12:32
Speaker 3: So no one knows.
00:12:33
Speaker 1: One to three. And so the eight riflemen will then go and they will just randomly pick up rifles that are laid out for them. They don't know who has what. The prisoner who will have a chaplain right next to him gets to say a final statement. At that point, a hood is put on the prisoner's head. The chaplain then moves away. There's a five inch target that's put over the person's chest. And at that point wrote the classic ready, aim, fire. Now, on the chance that after firing, this person did not die, the protocol right now says that the senior officer in that line of riflemen pulls out a pistol, walks up to that prisoner, aims over the ear 12 inches away, and fires into that person's head. That is our current military firing squad protocol. Oh, my goodness.
00:13:30
Speaker 3: Again, I felt sick before. Now I feel even sicker.
00:13:33
Speaker 1: They probably have to update that, don't they?
00:13:36
Speaker 2: I don't know. What are they going to update it to? What's going to feel less icky, less awful, less terrible?
00:13:44
Speaker 1: We covered a firing squad execution in South Carolina. They had three volunteers. All three had loaded rifles. All three aimed at the heart. And it worked. They are rewriting and trying to come up with new protocols, but that is where it stands. Where do we stand in this country, though, folks? The moods of Americans favoring and not favoring the death penalty have been up and down over the years. Stay here. We'll tell you where it is right now. And we have to ask the question, where do we go from here with so many conversations happening right now in this country about the death penalty?
00:14:32
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone to Amy and TJ as we talk about this planned public execution of Fort Hood shooter Nadal Hassan. Yes, it's apparently going to be live streamed on December 3rd at 1 p.m.
00:14:47
Speaker 1: And look, the.
00:14:53
Speaker 2: The tolerance, or I guess the appetite for the death penalty in this country has changed dramatically over the years.
00:15:00
Speaker 3: It's gone up, it's gone down.
00:15:02
Speaker 2: And look, we've just all been talking about the botched execution of Krista Pike. Wonder how much that may influence how people feel about the death penalty.
00:15:13
Speaker 3: One way or the other. But right now we're Pretty damn well near split in this country. Shocking.
00:15:19
Speaker 2: It feels like we are in just about every issue when it comes to the death penalty. We're not even talking about public executions or firing squads. I don't know if that, I would imagine that might elicit a different response.
00:15:30
Speaker 1: I wonder, you know, I didn't look that up if there are specific firing squad numbers, if you will, like which method people like.
00:15:37
Speaker 2: But generally speaking, the last known, how did they come up with this in terms of?
00:15:43
Speaker 1: This is Gallup.
00:15:43
Speaker 2: Okay, Gallup.
00:15:44
Speaker 3: They do it.
00:15:46
Speaker 2: The question, are you in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder? That's the question that was asked. And the most recent polling is from actually just not that long ago, exactly.
00:15:58
Speaker 3: A year ago.
00:15:59
Speaker 2: And 52% of Americans were in favor of the death penalty and 44% were not in favor. 4% had no opinion at all. So that's, that's pretty, that's about as close as it gets.
00:16:12
Speaker 1: You know, but over the years, do you go through over the years? Do you see how the numbers have changed? I guess we got up to close to 70 or 80% at one point of people favored the death penalty.
00:16:21
Speaker 3: I was actually looking back.
00:16:23
Speaker 2: This is the time when I was in college. And I, at that point, college student, felt really strongly against the death penalty, did a whole persuasive speech. Quoting Sister Helen Prejean, which is actually the nun that the movie Dead Man Walking was made. If you guys watch that movie, that movie was based on her story. She was a chaplain who ministered to death row inmates, and I was fascinated by her. But at that point, September of 1994, 80% of Americans were in favor of the death penalty.
00:16:51
Speaker 3: Only 16% were against it.
00:16:56
Speaker 2: Maybe that's why I felt the need to speak so passionately about it because, yes, I didn't realize that it was thatâ there was that big of a difference. But that's how far we've come. 1994, 80% of Americans in favor.
00:17:07
Speaker 3: Now today in 2026, 64%. I mean stillâ no, sorry. I went up to 2008. Sorry.
00:17:09
Speaker 2: 52%.
00:17:09
Speaker 3: So that's a big drop from 80% to 52%.
00:17:21
Speaker 1: And I guess the past 10 years, I guess we've been dropping maybe about 10 percentage points, but it has been steadily dropping robes as far as people being in favor of the death penalty. Just what does it do now to have a botched execution, this high-profile robes, and the horror of it being talked about every day, and now the idea of a public execution is just... But what does that do to moods and this debate? I don't know, maybe, because we still got Florida doing gangbusters with all of their executions, all of them going off without a hitch, quite frankly. And Krista Pike, what happens to her? We're having some great debates, I believe, Robes. But something's going to happen, I think.
00:18:06
Speaker 2: It seems like it's just reached a fever pitch. And I think the other thing to point out, which is... important, and I've seen headlines talk about this as well. When you think about public executions, there are only a handful of countries, first of all, that even still have the death penalty. That's important to note. But which countries actually sanction and have public executions?
00:18:31
Speaker 3: There's three of them that we know of.
00:18:34
Speaker 1: Do we want to be like North Korea? Want to be like Iran? Want to be like Saudi Arabia? Yeah. I mean, okay, we want to all day long. No, we're different because we're Americans. But we don't want to point out how we're the same because we do the same stuff. Yes, we got different values. We're supposed to have different values and whatnot. And we do. So why are we doing this? Look, we can talk about it. We should talk about it. I got no problem with that, babe. And I love to hear other people's arguments for why this is positive or good or we should do it. Even though I would like to hear that it's legal. I want to hear all that, but right now this feels awful. It feels, here we go once again. You're the one that uses that accent. America, we can do it. Like, what are we, what is this? We want to shoot a guy in public. For what, baby? To show that we can, how tough we are, how disgusting were we in all those videos popping up on the internet, babe? Can't believe these barbarians are doing this to Americans, doing this to innocent people. No, Nadal Hassan's not innocent. But I thought we were supposed to be better than... him.
00:19:50
Speaker 2: This goes in line with all of, you know, you just made me think about the imagery that the president has put up on his Truth Social page of us bombing Iran. And obviously, I mean there areâ I hate to even use the word that they use in terms of when civilians are killed by accident in military operations, collateral damage. But he was using videos of us bombing Iran like it was a video game and like making light of, making it seem like entertainment to shoot and kill and blow up civilians. buildings and people and threatening, wiping out civilization. So this all goes in line with it, but it doesn't make any of it okay. And look, I want to point out, we were talking about a firing squad when it came to an alternative to the lethal injection, which clearly is not reliable in this country, or it's proven not to be specifically in Tennessee, but that that would be a quicker, more effective death. That's, I understand that concept, but This isn't what that's about. This isn't about being more humane or making sure he dies quickly. This is about a show of force. This is about having high testosterone. This is about proving to the world something that we don't need to prove. And I think that is what's disturbing. We don't need to prove anything.
00:21:18
Speaker 3: So why are we?
00:21:21
Speaker 1: We as a country feel like we're, we're always overcompensating for something like collectively the United States. overcompensating for something. What are we, like, we don't have to prove. What are we doing? We're the biggest, baddest boys on the block. Not because we do that.
00:21:39
Speaker 2: This makes us look terrible. This makes us look like the bullies some people think we are.
00:21:44
Speaker 1: But again, I just have to leave room for maybe some folks who are supportive of this, think it's a good idea. We haven't heard a lot this morning, at least of this recording of people defending. I don't know who the president has out there defending this outside of his administration, but We shall see, Robes. Oh, yeah. By the way, we got what? Next week, Florida has an execution next week. Then they have another one seven days after that. And then I think 15 days after, November 5th, we got three.
00:22:15
Speaker 3: In one day.
00:22:16
Speaker 1: In one day.
00:22:16
Speaker 3: Three different states.
00:22:17
Speaker 1: Yeah. We'll be talking about this a lot over the next few weeks, folks. But once again, I always appreciate you spending a little time with us. I'm TJ. That's Robes. We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks, it is Friday, October 9th, and just a week after we had a botched execution, now word comes we're gonna get a public one in the United States of America. Yes, everybody, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Did you think it was for real when you heard that Pete Hegseth said we are going to publicly execute Nadal Hassan?
00:00:27
Speaker 2: When he said it, yes, and I was, frankly, I was disgusted. I was wondering if this was Iran or the countries that we condemn for their barbaric actions suddenly were now taking on their mode of operation.
00:00:43
Speaker 1: But when you heard it, you didn't think, nah, he's just popping off at the mouth. Did you immediately think, man, they're for real?
00:00:48
Speaker 2: Look, I have said this from the beginning, and it's always been a little frightening, but believe them when they say what they're going to do.
00:00:56
Speaker 1: Trump especially. This is why. Yes, people, we are... This is for real. Robes, this has been a hell of a week because we only got word at the beginning of this week that the president signed off on a firing squad execution for Nadal Hassan, the man convicted of that 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting. We got that word and then we hear, Robes, now from Pete Hexeth that this is going to be public and it's going to be live streamed. Robes, let the legal debates and the briefings fly. But it's coming, December 3rd, Robes. This is coming. They planned it for as soon a date as they legally could, and now he says he's going to live stream it. For what purpose?
00:01:44
Speaker 2: He claims because people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things. That was a direct quote from Pete Hegseth in terms of why he wants this to be a public event, a live stream, yes. But all I could think about I just remember all of that string of public executions, and I say public executions because they, yes, were put up on the internet by ISIS, Zarqawi. Remember all of those horrific beheadings that they would put on the internet for all to see?
00:02:19
Speaker 3: That's what it feels like we're doing. Am I wrong? I mean, is that a stretch?
00:02:24
Speaker 1: Well, because, I mean, the justification will be because this is.
00:02:29
Speaker 1: This was a legal proceeding and there was a legal, he went through the legal process. So this is not that. They will make that argument. And now when we get to the next part of that, what authority do we have to make it public? That is where the fight is going to be with all kinds of scholars, babe. We're in uncharted territory. Nobody alive has dealt with this before. We don't do public executions. And we, what's it, 1936 is the last one they believe, they think was on record in Kentucky. But Robes after that, we don't do this. So there are international laws, Robes, governing, what do they call it, being demeaning to someone, degrading to someone. Is that not humiliation and a degradation of someone if you put them on display in to be executed like this? Yes.
00:03:24
Speaker 2: It also feels like a slight form of entertainment. It also feels like exploitation. And I worry about just.
00:03:36
Speaker 3: A couple of things.
00:03:37
Speaker 2: I worry about not, I mean, the backlash in that other countries might feel like they can reciprocate. This, this sets the, off a dangerous precedent, I believe, when you have the leader of the free world, when you have the United States, which is supposed to stand for a lot of things, but none of them, I would think, point to public executions of our enemies.
00:04:05
Speaker 3: I feel like this just sets dangerous precedent.
00:04:08
Speaker 2: It speaks volumes about who we are, and it makes us look like barbaric brutes and the exact type of people who we are supposed to be standing up against.
00:04:19
Speaker 1: This isn't necessary. So why do they want to do it, baby? Obviously, this isn't necessary.
00:04:24
Speaker 3: For show, to show everyone how strong we are, to show.
00:04:27
Speaker 2: Everyone how- We are, baby.
00:04:29
Speaker 1: We just wiped out Iran damn near. I mean, what are we trying to prove?
00:04:31
Speaker 3: What do we have to prove? Exactly.
00:04:33
Speaker 2: So I feel, when I think about this, I actually feel, and I'm not just being dramatic here, I actually feel physically sick to my stomach when I think about this, what it represents, what it says about who we are as a country, and how people will continue to view us what this does to our reputation, and I'm serious, what this does going forward to Americans who are being held in foreign prisons, Americans who are convicted in that country's whatever legal proceedings, however they do their.
00:05:08
Speaker 1: A public execution, baby. I can't get my head around this. You know what? Maybe they suspect legal delays. Maybe they suspect we won't really get to this day. Maybe they're trying to prove some other point.
00:05:33
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
00:05:34
Speaker 1: There's also an argument. Excuse me. Is it a public execution if it's on the internet?
00:05:41
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:05:41
Speaker 1: These are some of the legal ins and outs. Because now you're making an execution available worldwide.
00:05:48
Speaker 3: A live stream.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:05:50
Speaker 1: Instead of just in a room with certain victims or A town square. Even that. Rose, we are in uncharted and unbelievable territory.
00:05:59
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:06:00
Speaker 2: And they've gotten specific in terms of when this execution is taking place. Pete Hegseth, and we heard this announcement from the Pentagon, that this is going to be taking place on December 3rd at 1 p.m. And specifically, I believe they chose that date because Pete Hegseth said this, it is the same day of the week that And time of the attack.
00:06:22
Speaker 3: So that is when.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: Nadal Hassan began his mass shooting in Fort Hood at 1 p.m. where he killed 13, wounded 30 others. Look, this was a horrific, heinous crime. But as you pointed out, babe, we talked about this on our morning run.
00:06:42
Speaker 3: Nadal Hassan was injured.
00:06:46
Speaker 2: In the takedown of him after he was apprehended, he was shot and he was injured and he was actually rendered.
00:06:53
Speaker 3: He's paralyzed.
00:06:57
Speaker 2: Paraplegic.
00:06:58
Speaker 3: I was trying to make sure I said it correctly. He's paralyzed. He's in a wheelchair. Yeah. So let's just envision this.
00:07:03
Speaker 2: A man in a wheelchair being wheeled out to his death and then shot. Mm-hmm.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: By members of the U.S. military on a live stream.
00:07:18
Speaker 2: That is jaw-droppingly sickening and horrific, and who wants to see that?
00:07:25
Speaker 1: Rose, there's a population that's saying, yes, he's getting exactly what he deserves. Absolutely, make an example out of him. Put him out there. Humiliate him. I assume there has to be, baby, some segment of the population that they believe this works for. Because the lethal injection is the designated method that the military is supposed to use. They're making an exception here. They're changing and choosing to do firing squad. They're choosing to make a spectacle. Robes, a badass. We are going to line them up and shoot them. And make it a click here. Your live stream will start in 10 minutes. What? So Robes, he's saying he wants everybody, the public, to be able to see this. Not just I mean, there's some question of it. Maybe they could only have it open to certain people. Can anyone literally in the world tune in to watch the United States military kill a guy?
00:08:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, that'll be a question that needs to be answered.
00:08:24
Speaker 2: And I'm concerned because if you look at Nidal Hassan's prior statements, He makes it very clear he wanted to die in that shooting. He wanted to die by, what do they call it, suicide by cop. He wanted to be killed in the shootout after he took out as many people as he possibly could because he wanted to, quote.
00:08:47
Speaker 3: Die a martyr. What better way for, he's probably relishing this. He wanted to die. He doesn't want to be sitting on, I don't know.
00:08:56
Speaker 2: Death row, military death row, whatever that looks like. And he probably welcomes this as a public display of his martyrdom. And what is that going to do for certain groups who will actually take this and use it to radicalize more young men against our country? I feel like this is going to 100% backfire on us and play right into the hands of their playbook. Here, our enemies operate differently than we do. many of them want to die, live to die. That is the actual goal. And it's a badge of honor to do so for their families, for their community, for their cause. And so by doing this publicly, we're actually just feeding right into.
00:09:43
Speaker 1: All of that. Maybe it'll never happen. Maybe it'll be enough legal wrangling and all kinds of stuff that'll go on and on and on, and we never get to that day. But that day is less than two months away at this point The last time we've been talking about this since we heard the announcement that there was going to be a firing squad execution, the last time the military had an execution was in 1961. This was a hanging, actually. This was for an Army private who had been accused of raping and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl. But the last military firing squad execution was in 1945. A guy who was convicted of desertion in World War II.
00:10:25
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:10:26
Speaker 3: That seems extreme. 1940.
00:10:28
Speaker 1: He went AWOL? Well, during a time of war. Kind of a big.
00:10:34
Speaker 3: I get it, but I kind of understand it, too.
00:10:37
Speaker 2: That's when I would want to go AWOL during the time of war.
00:10:40
Speaker 1: Let me take it. You never thought about signing up.
00:10:43
Speaker 2: No. No, but there was drafts back then, too, so maybe he never wanted to fight in the war. I just think that's remarkable that you would.
00:10:51
Speaker 1: Desertion wasâ yeah, desertion's a big deal. Desertion's a very big deal in the military historically, and I guess you can understand why. But yes, he was the last firing squad execution in 1945. As we said, they have protocol now for lethal injection. They're supposed to be writing new rules now about protocol for a firing squad execution because we haven't done one since 1945. They need to update the protocol. This was the protocol, Robes, for the military firing squad.
00:11:23
Speaker 3: It is the protocol, correct?
00:11:25
Speaker 1: It currently is. They're going to have to create something new. So imagine this on your live stream. You have to line up eight riflemen. And they are all going to have to be volunteers from the military. They form a straight line. And Robes, it's written so long ago that it's written as they're going to be 15 paces away from the condemned prisoner. That prisoner. In this case, Robes is going to be seated in a wheelchair, apparently.
00:11:52
Speaker 3: Well, they'll take him out of a wheelchair.
00:11:54
Speaker 1: And put him in what?
00:11:55
Speaker 3: A regular chair.
00:11:56
Speaker 2: There's no way they're going to have him in a wheelchair.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: But he's going to have to be sitting. Are they going to prop him up? Yeah, they'll have to.
00:12:05
Speaker 3: They'll seat him on a regular chair. And they'll handcuff.
00:12:08
Speaker 2: Like, yes, they actually are supposed to have his ankles and wrists restrained. And he's supposed to be dressed in his military uniform.
00:12:16
Speaker 1: But with any medals, anything, literally taken off. Just a bare uniform. Everything is supposed to be taken off. So just his military uniform. I thought that was interesting. And this is something you were talking about the other day. One to three of the rifles... have blanks.
00:12:32
Speaker 3: So no one knows.
00:12:33
Speaker 1: One to three. And so the eight riflemen will then go and they will just randomly pick up rifles that are laid out for them. They don't know who has what. The prisoner who will have a chaplain right next to him gets to say a final statement. At that point, a hood is put on the prisoner's head. The chaplain then moves away. There's a five inch target that's put over the person's chest. And at that point wrote the classic ready, aim, fire. Now, on the chance that after firing, this person did not die, the protocol right now says that the senior officer in that line of riflemen pulls out a pistol, walks up to that prisoner, aims over the ear 12 inches away, and fires into that person's head. That is our current military firing squad protocol. Oh, my goodness.
00:13:30
Speaker 3: Again, I felt sick before. Now I feel even sicker.
00:13:33
Speaker 1: They probably have to update that, don't they?
00:13:36
Speaker 2: I don't know. What are they going to update it to? What's going to feel less icky, less awful, less terrible?
00:13:44
Speaker 1: We covered a firing squad execution in South Carolina. They had three volunteers. All three had loaded rifles. All three aimed at the heart. And it worked. They are rewriting and trying to come up with new protocols, but that is where it stands. Where do we stand in this country, though, folks? The moods of Americans favoring and not favoring the death penalty have been up and down over the years. Stay here. We'll tell you where it is right now. And we have to ask the question, where do we go from here with so many conversations happening right now in this country about the death penalty?
00:14:32
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone to Amy and TJ as we talk about this planned public execution of Fort Hood shooter Nadal Hassan. Yes, it's apparently going to be live streamed on December 3rd at 1 p.m.
00:14:47
Speaker 1: And look, the.
00:14:53
Speaker 2: The tolerance, or I guess the appetite for the death penalty in this country has changed dramatically over the years.
00:15:00
Speaker 3: It's gone up, it's gone down.
00:15:02
Speaker 2: And look, we've just all been talking about the botched execution of Krista Pike. Wonder how much that may influence how people feel about the death penalty.
00:15:13
Speaker 3: One way or the other. But right now we're Pretty damn well near split in this country. Shocking.
00:15:19
Speaker 2: It feels like we are in just about every issue when it comes to the death penalty. We're not even talking about public executions or firing squads. I don't know if that, I would imagine that might elicit a different response.
00:15:30
Speaker 1: I wonder, you know, I didn't look that up if there are specific firing squad numbers, if you will, like which method people like.
00:15:37
Speaker 2: But generally speaking, the last known, how did they come up with this in terms of?
00:15:43
Speaker 1: This is Gallup.
00:15:43
Speaker 2: Okay, Gallup.
00:15:44
Speaker 3: They do it.
00:15:46
Speaker 2: The question, are you in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder? That's the question that was asked. And the most recent polling is from actually just not that long ago, exactly.
00:15:58
Speaker 3: A year ago.
00:15:59
Speaker 2: And 52% of Americans were in favor of the death penalty and 44% were not in favor. 4% had no opinion at all. So that's, that's pretty, that's about as close as it gets.
00:16:12
Speaker 1: You know, but over the years, do you go through over the years? Do you see how the numbers have changed? I guess we got up to close to 70 or 80% at one point of people favored the death penalty.
00:16:21
Speaker 3: I was actually looking back.
00:16:23
Speaker 2: This is the time when I was in college. And I, at that point, college student, felt really strongly against the death penalty, did a whole persuasive speech. Quoting Sister Helen Prejean, which is actually the nun that the movie Dead Man Walking was made. If you guys watch that movie, that movie was based on her story. She was a chaplain who ministered to death row inmates, and I was fascinated by her. But at that point, September of 1994, 80% of Americans were in favor of the death penalty.
00:16:51
Speaker 3: Only 16% were against it.
00:16:56
Speaker 2: Maybe that's why I felt the need to speak so passionately about it because, yes, I didn't realize that it was thatâ there was that big of a difference. But that's how far we've come. 1994, 80% of Americans in favor.
00:17:07
Speaker 3: Now today in 2026, 64%. I mean stillâ no, sorry. I went up to 2008. Sorry.
00:17:09
Speaker 2: 52%.
00:17:09
Speaker 3: So that's a big drop from 80% to 52%.
00:17:21
Speaker 1: And I guess the past 10 years, I guess we've been dropping maybe about 10 percentage points, but it has been steadily dropping robes as far as people being in favor of the death penalty. Just what does it do now to have a botched execution, this high-profile robes, and the horror of it being talked about every day, and now the idea of a public execution is just... But what does that do to moods and this debate? I don't know, maybe, because we still got Florida doing gangbusters with all of their executions, all of them going off without a hitch, quite frankly. And Krista Pike, what happens to her? We're having some great debates, I believe, Robes. But something's going to happen, I think.
00:18:06
Speaker 2: It seems like it's just reached a fever pitch. And I think the other thing to point out, which is... important, and I've seen headlines talk about this as well. When you think about public executions, there are only a handful of countries, first of all, that even still have the death penalty. That's important to note. But which countries actually sanction and have public executions?
00:18:31
Speaker 3: There's three of them that we know of.
00:18:34
Speaker 1: Do we want to be like North Korea? Want to be like Iran? Want to be like Saudi Arabia? Yeah. I mean, okay, we want to all day long. No, we're different because we're Americans. But we don't want to point out how we're the same because we do the same stuff. Yes, we got different values. We're supposed to have different values and whatnot. And we do. So why are we doing this? Look, we can talk about it. We should talk about it. I got no problem with that, babe. And I love to hear other people's arguments for why this is positive or good or we should do it. Even though I would like to hear that it's legal. I want to hear all that, but right now this feels awful. It feels, here we go once again. You're the one that uses that accent. America, we can do it. Like, what are we, what is this? We want to shoot a guy in public. For what, baby? To show that we can, how tough we are, how disgusting were we in all those videos popping up on the internet, babe? Can't believe these barbarians are doing this to Americans, doing this to innocent people. No, Nadal Hassan's not innocent. But I thought we were supposed to be better than... him.
00:19:50
Speaker 2: This goes in line with all of, you know, you just made me think about the imagery that the president has put up on his Truth Social page of us bombing Iran. And obviously, I mean there areâ I hate to even use the word that they use in terms of when civilians are killed by accident in military operations, collateral damage. But he was using videos of us bombing Iran like it was a video game and like making light of, making it seem like entertainment to shoot and kill and blow up civilians. buildings and people and threatening, wiping out civilization. So this all goes in line with it, but it doesn't make any of it okay. And look, I want to point out, we were talking about a firing squad when it came to an alternative to the lethal injection, which clearly is not reliable in this country, or it's proven not to be specifically in Tennessee, but that that would be a quicker, more effective death. That's, I understand that concept, but This isn't what that's about. This isn't about being more humane or making sure he dies quickly. This is about a show of force. This is about having high testosterone. This is about proving to the world something that we don't need to prove. And I think that is what's disturbing. We don't need to prove anything.
00:21:18
Speaker 3: So why are we?
00:21:21
Speaker 1: We as a country feel like we're, we're always overcompensating for something like collectively the United States. overcompensating for something. What are we, like, we don't have to prove. What are we doing? We're the biggest, baddest boys on the block. Not because we do that.
00:21:39
Speaker 2: This makes us look terrible. This makes us look like the bullies some people think we are.
00:21:44
Speaker 1: But again, I just have to leave room for maybe some folks who are supportive of this, think it's a good idea. We haven't heard a lot this morning, at least of this recording of people defending. I don't know who the president has out there defending this outside of his administration, but We shall see, Robes. Oh, yeah. By the way, we got what? Next week, Florida has an execution next week. Then they have another one seven days after that. And then I think 15 days after, November 5th, we got three.
00:22:15
Speaker 3: In one day.
00:22:16
Speaker 1: In one day.
00:22:16
Speaker 3: Three different states.
00:22:17
Speaker 1: Yeah. We'll be talking about this a lot over the next few weeks, folks. But once again, I always appreciate you spending a little time with us. I'm TJ. That's Robes. We'll talk soon.