  Earlier this month, the head of Alabama’s corrections department revealed in a court filing that the agency is “nearing completion of the initial physical build for the nitrogen hypoxia system.” In other words: It is almost ready to use lethal gas to execute people on the state’s death row.
Alabama is one of several states creating new — and untested — ways of legally killing people. In recent years, the drugs used to execute people by lethal injection have become both increasingly difficult to obtain and subject to legal scrutiny in the courts. States that are determined to continue applying capital punishment have therefore set out in search of new methods to end a human life, from firing squads to bringing back electric chairs to gas.
Alabama became the third state to legalize execution by nitrogen gas in 2018, a process in which the individual inhales nitrogen through a gas chamber or a gas mask and dies of asphyxiation. Until recently, this process was hypothetical. No state has ever executed a prisoner this way and even states that allow it haven’t had the capability to carry out such a killing.
Proponents of capital punishment claim the process will result in a fast, humane death. In fact, nitrogen hypoxia executions carry the same moral problems as other death penalty practices. There is no medical or scientific evidence to back the claim that any execution method is reliably painless. There probably never will be, because it is medically unethical for a doctor to study the best way to kill a person who does not want to die.
Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, who routinely rails against the mainstream media, is reportedly a secret and frequent source for reporters in the very organizations he attacks, according to The New York Times. "Mr. Carlson, a proud traitor to the elite political class, spends his time when he’s not denouncing the liberal media trading gossip with them,” wrote media columnist Ben Smith. “He’s the go-to guy for sometimes-unflattering stories about Donald J. Trump and for coverage of the internal politics of Fox News (not to mention stories about Mr. Carlson himself).” Carlson’s willingness to dish is an “open secret” in Washington, according to Smith. Every single Democratic lawmaker in the Arizona House refused to show up for legislative business on Tuesday, preventing their GOP colleagues from moving forward on a budget that includes a $1.7 billion tax cut that would mainly benefit the wealthy. The Arizona Legislature is furiously working to pass a budget by June 30 to avoid a government shutdown. Democrats say that Republicans, who hold the majority, are trying to quickly push through the package without their input and without enough public debate. Feeling like they were left with no other good options, Democratic members didn’t come to the floor Tuesday, denying Republican leaders a quorum to proceed.
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