Executions Are Back On The Table

I don’t understand why there’s no guillotine. Really, I just don’t. I mean if the Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, is going to start executing people, then the least he could do is put some thought into it or add a lil flair. Just out of respect, you know what I mean. But no, instead, Governor Landry is reportedly mulling over resurrecting the same old warmed over ways – lethal injection, electrocution, gas, blah, blah, blah. But no guillotine, in a city that claims French ancestry at that.

Presently, there are about 60 people in state prison scheduled to be killed, most of them black. Housed on death row – what a name- these people are jut sitting there waiting, twiddling their thumbs. Louisiana last executed a citizen 14 years ago..

Related: Jeff Landry NOLA Complications

Towards the end of his last term, former governor John Bel Edwards came out of the closet. He admitted that he had been anti death penalty all along. Before him, former, former governor Bobby Jindal was too busy murdering the state budget and educational system to worry about executing citizens. Enter Governor Landry, with a backlog of black people on death row before him. Supposedly, he is anxious to resurrect executions.

Louisiana Should Execute by Guillotine

With the drug used for lethal injections still in a shortage, other means are necessary if Governor Landry wants to execute these black men as soon as possible. One of his allies in the state senate stepped forward with a few suggestions.

Senator Stewart Cathey plans to introduce a bill that enables the state to execute people by other means. These means include fentanyl or a firing squad. The firing squad is becoming cliche in Republican state legislatures these days. Utah, Oklahoma, and Mississippi have death-by-firing-squad on their books. Legislators in Tennessee, and South Carolina tried but failed. 

Fentanyl, though, that is a new one. One must wonder, will there be an accompanying bill that allows the state to negotiate cheaper prices with Mexican drug cartels? Through our tax dollars, we citizens pay the state to execute other citizens. So why not make sure we get the best deal possible?

Louisiana Should Execute by Guillotine

That’s the type of absurdity this system suggests. Guillotines, firing squads, stonings, all in a public square broadcast live on local channels. Put it all on the table. Governor Landry is already trending in that direction. For the upcoming special legislative session, his crime committee already proposed publicly shaming juveniles who commit crimes. But we’ll see in the upcoming months if they have the guts to go full absurd.

In closing, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that poor king cake that was murdered on national TV last week. If you didn’t see it, (video here), four ravenous women repeatedly stabbed it to death. This execution took place before the LSU Lady Tigers game against South Carolina. It was savage, inefficient, and just downright disrespectful. Watch it. When it comes to executions, it possessed the qualities Governor Landry and state legislators can only hope to embody.