A proposal to livestream the killing of Nidal Hasan by firing squad opens a window ever wider to the Trump administration’s complete moral vacuity

More fool me! Here I was thinking nothing that America’s Trump administration could do or say, no matter how politically and morally bankrupt, no matter how venal or violent, was capable of shocking me any longer.

Then I woke to today’s news that one of the Trump cabinet’s bigger boofheads – the uber Christian nationalist, crusader-fantasist and “secretary of war” Pete Hegseth had announced that America would have a public firing squad execution of murderer Nidal Hasan.

Paul Daley is a Guardian Australia columnist

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© Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

If carried out, the public execution of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad set for Dec. 3 would be the first in modern U.S. history.

© Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

Flowers, tried six times over 1996 murders of four people, faced execution before supreme court tossed his conviction

Curtis Flowers, a Black man who spent more than 22 years in prison and was on death row in Mississippi before the US supreme court threw out his conviction and death sentence, has died. He was 56.

Flowers’ family confirmed that he died on Wednesday at his home in Mississippi, attorney Rob McDuff told the Associated Press on Thursday.

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© Photograph: Rogelio V Solis/AP

© Photograph: Rogelio V Solis/AP

© Photograph: Rogelio V Solis/AP

Recovery marks a dramatic turnaround for Pike, who remains in hospital after a botched execution in Tennessee

Christa Pike is “up and walking” in hospital, her lawyer said, just more than a week after she survived two lethal injections during a botched execution in Tennessee.

The recovery marks a dramatic turnaround after Pike was declared brain dead on Monday, before waking up and beginning to speak on Tuesday. Her ordeal has shocked many in the US and overseas and galvanized critics of the death penalty.

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© Photograph: J Miles Cary/Reuters

© Photograph: J Miles Cary/Reuters

© Photograph: J Miles Cary/Reuters

A warning for this episode - it covers details of a murder and an execution that some might find distressing.

In this episode of Guardian Australia’s US politics podcast, co-hosts Jonathan Yerushalmy and Reged Ahmad examine what happened when the state of Tennessee tried to execute prisoner Christa Pike. They also look at the controversy over taxpayer-funded ads promoting US president Donald Trump, midterm AI attack ads and the Elon Musk-Trump bromance that appears to be back on.

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© Photograph: Guardian Design

© Photograph: Guardian Design

© Photograph: Guardian Design

Gov. Gavin Newsom ramped up talks after a botched execution in Tennessee.

© Max Whittaker for The New York Times

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, will be shot to death on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, where he killed 13 and wounded 32 in 2009.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

Her awareness and condition deepen ethical and legal questions after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her for murdering a classmate decades ago.

© Seth Herald/Reuters

Jamaal Howard, 46, executed by fatal dose of pentobarbital after lawyers’ bid for stay had been denied

A Texas man was put to death Wednesday in the first US execution since the botched lethal injection of Christa Pike in Tennessee last week.

Jamaal Howard, 46, was pronounced dead at 8.03pm after receiving a fatal dose of pentobarbital, a sedative, at the state prison in Huntsville.

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© Photograph: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

© Photograph: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

© Photograph: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

Attorneys say Pike was set to be taken off life support before she woke up, as judge orders officials to preserve evidence

Christa Pike awoke “angry and confused” after surviving two lethal injections, her attorneys said on Wednesday, as a judge ordered Tennessee state officials to preserve all evidence related to the failed execution.

Pike, 50, was taken to hospital unconscious but alive from Tennessee’s execution chamber last Wednesday after two supposedly lethal doses of the barbiturate pentobarbital.

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© Photograph: Dipti Vaidya/IMAGN IMAGES/Reuters Connect

© Photograph: Dipti Vaidya/IMAGN IMAGES/Reuters Connect

© Photograph: Dipti Vaidya/IMAGN IMAGES/Reuters Connect

Christa Pike, a death row inmate who survived the state of Tennessee’s attempt to execute her last week, is conscious and speaking. The 50-year-old is recovering in hospital after surviving two lethal injections in a case that has shocked many in the US and prompted a debate about the death penalty. She was due to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Michael Safi speaks to the chief reporter for Guardian US, Ed Pilkington – watch on YouTube

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© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

They believe that records of her failed execution in Tennessee will show “incompetent and reckless actions.”

© Denny Simmons/The Tennessean, via Reuters

This blog is now closed. You can read our full story here:

• Judge orders officials to preserve all evidence tied to Christa Pike’s botched execution

Christa Pike’s lawyers said that Pike remains shackled to her hospital bed.

“Based on our understanding, medical staff have asked that the shackles be removed and have been denied that request by [the Tennessee corrections department],” they said, adding: “We would also amend our request and ask for that relief.”

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© Photograph: J Miles Cary/Reuters

© Photograph: J Miles Cary/Reuters

© Photograph: J Miles Cary/Reuters

Jamaal Howard was put to death after courts rejected his lawyers’ requests to delay the execution over concerns about the drug.

© Pat Sullivan/Associated Press

Lawyers seek preservation of evidence after prisoner received two doses of pentobarbital on 30 September

Christa Pike, a Tennessee prisoner who survived the state’s attempt to execute her, is awake and speaking as she receives treatment at a hospital, her attorneys said, as they head to court on Wednesday seeking a court order requiring preservation of all evidence relating to the botched exercise by the state.

Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital, a sedative, as Tennessee officials attempted to put her to death last Wednesday in a case that shocked many in America and created headlines around the world. She was set to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

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© Photograph: J Miles Cary/Reuters

© Photograph: J Miles Cary/Reuters

© Photograph: J Miles Cary/Reuters

The death row inmate in Tennessee received two doses of a lethal injection drug last week but lived. She was taken from the execution chamber in an ambulance.

© George Walker IV/Associated Press

Tennessee’s unsuccessful attempt to end the life of Christa Pike is spurring more scrutiny over capital punishment techniques, and whether the death penalty should exist at all.

© South Carolina Department of Corrections, via Associated Press

The Pentagon said that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who carried out the deadliest mass shooting at an American military base, would be executed by firing squad.

© Bell County Sheriff's Office

Ex-lawyer for woman Tennessee attempted to execute says defense filings said she was at risk for ‘exactly what happened’

A former lawyer for Christa Pike says he was not surprised that Tennessee botched its attempt to execute her because attorneys had warned that problems accessing her veins could make the procedure dangerous and potentially cruel.

James Crowson, who represented Pike during part of her post-conviction appeals, said he had followed the case from afar before the failed execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on 30 September.

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© Photograph: Dipti Vaidya/IMAGN IMAGES/Reuters Connect

© Photograph: Dipti Vaidya/IMAGN IMAGES/Reuters Connect

© Photograph: Dipti Vaidya/IMAGN IMAGES/Reuters Connect

Frank Strada, who oversaw the process that left Christa Pike unconscious and hospitalized, quit as an independent review began.

© Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Frank Strada, who oversaw the process that left Christa Pike unconscious and hospitalized, quit as an independent review begins.

© Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Her legal team had repeatedly warned that her execution could go wrong. On Wednesday, they were proven right.

© Denny Simmons/The Tennessean, via USA Today Network, via Reuters

The failed execution of Christa Pike, which left her clinging to life in Tennessee, was the latest grisly error to take place in an American execution chamber.

© Denny Simmons / The Tennessean/USA TODAY NETWORK, via Reuters

The failed execution of Christa Pike has prompted new scrutiny of Frank Strada, who resigned as the state’s top prison official on Saturday, and his past role overseeing executions in Arizona.

© Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Her condition raises questions about whether Tennessee could attempt to execute her again if she is incapable of understanding what is happening.

© Denny Simmons/The Tennessean/USA TODAY NETWORK, via Reuters

Prosecutors want remote testimony for witnesses unable or unwilling to travel to Guantánamo. The defense wants jurors to be told that, guilty or innocent, the defendant will not go free.

© Marisa Schwartz Taylor/The New York Times

The failed attempt with Christa Pike has intensified bipartisan concerns about Tennessee’s ability to effectively carry out lethal injections.

© Denny Simmons/The Tennessean, via USA TODAY NETWORK, via Reuters

What happened to Pike was gruesome. No one deserves what she went through, not even those who commit horrible crimes

Botched executions are nothing new in US history. In the era when hangings were common, some condemned people were decapitated. Later, when the electric chair was in vogue, every now and again, someone would catch fire during an electrocution. And nitrogen hypoxia, the US’s newest execution method, has already proven notoriously unreliable.

But, of all of the ways we have tried to execute people, lethal injection has the worst track record. More than 8% of all lethal injection executions have been botched. Most of them resulted when those charged with carrying them out could not find a usable vein.

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© Photograph: Joe Howell/Knoxville News-Sentinel/Reuters

© Photograph: Joe Howell/Knoxville News-Sentinel/Reuters

© Photograph: Joe Howell/Knoxville News-Sentinel/Reuters

Ms. Slemmer was killed in 1995 by Christa Pike, whose execution in Tennessee was botched on Wednesday. Her family celebrated what would have been her 51st birthday last month.

© Zack Wittman for The New York Times

It was not clear on Thursday what had gone wrong with the lethal injection. The governor said an investigation is underway.

© George Walker Iv/Associated Press

Tennessee’s attempt to end Christa Pike’s life did not succeed. No method of execution has been foolproof.

© George Walker Iv/Associated Press

May Martinez, who waited outside the prison for an execution that didn’t happen, said she could not fathom Christa Pike changing.

© Zack Wittman for The New York Times

Gov. Bill Lee ordered a review of the state’s lethal injection process after the botched attempt to execute the lone woman on Tennessee’s death row.

© George Walker Iv/Associated Press

Ms. Pike, 50, survived two doses of a lethal injection in Tennessee. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of a classmate.

© George Walker IV/Associated Press