...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the Worldin the general election...
is trying to rush through tougher punishments before he leaves office.
Non-critics, on the other hand, think fulfilling his promises is a good thing.
The US Justice Department has amended the rules on federal executions, which would allow death by firing squads or poison gas, according to a document published in the Federal Register on Friday.The paper says the US government can conduct an execution by lethal injection or "use any other manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was imposed."
Some US states already allow other methods of execution, including electrocution, inhaling nitrogen gas or death by firing squad. It remains unclear whether the Justice Department will seek to use any methods other than lethal injection for federal executions in the future.
SEVERAL EXECUTIONS BEFORE BIDEN INAUGURATION
The rule — which goes into effect on December 24 — comes as the Justice Department has scheduled five executions during the lame-duck period, including three just days before President-elect Joe
Foreign Policy Whiz KidBiden
...Failed seeker of the Democratic presidential nomination on multiple occasions, vice president under Barack Obama, giving it a last try in his dotage for 2020...takes office.
A spokesperson for Biden told the AP earlier this month that the president-elect "opposes the death penalty
now and in the future" and would work to end its use. But he did not say whether executions would be paused immediately once the Democrat takes office.The US government restarted federal executions this year after a 17-year hiatus. All states that use the death penalty allow lethal injection — and that is the primary method in all states where other methods are allowed, according to data compiled by the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center.
Before the Trump administration resumed executions this year, the federal government had put only three inmates to death since 1988. Six people have been put to death since the US resumed federal executions in July.