Arizona plans to execute prisoners with a lethal gas the Nazis used at Auschwitz

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

Arizona is taking steps to use hydrogen cyanide, the deadly gas used during the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis at Auschwitz and other extermination camps, to kill inmates on death row.

Corrections officials have refurbished a gas chamber that hasn’t been used in more than 20 years and have procured ingredients for the lethal gas, also known as Zyklon B, according to partially redacted documents obtained by the Guardian. Invoices show that the state purchased a brick of potassium cyanide, sodium hydroxide pellets and sulfuric acid, and a report details the considerable efforts taken to deem the gas chamber at a prison in Florence, Ariz., “operationally ready.”

Critics of the gas method say that in addition to hydrogen cyanide’s infamous use in the mass killings of Jewish people by the Nazis, it has produced some of the most botched, disturbing executions in the United States.

“You have to wonder what Arizona was thinking in believing that in 2021 it is acceptable to execute people in a gas chamber with cyanide gas,” Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told the British outlet. “Did they have anybody study the history of the Holocaust?”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/01/arizona-gas-chamber-execution/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

[bearsfootball516]

1. "Did they have anybody study the history of the Holocaust?"

Oh yes, I promise you they did.

[PJMcK]

2. Of course they're using the Nazi's gas

From one fascist regime to another.

[marble falls]

3. They take one fucking lesson from the evil of the Holocaust, and it's the wrong fucking thing ...

One cannot help but feel this was the result of two inbreds having a reverie about how ol' Adolf'd handle the capital punishment "problem". And this little horror was their 'final solution'.

Stop the death penalty.

[Swede]

4. THe USA is going nuts.

The lunatics really are running the asylum.

[apnu]

13. They usually run the asylum.

Look through the whole history. Its rare when sane people run things here.

[not fooled]

6. Arizona keeps coming up with

new and creative ways to humiliate itself.

Or, I should clarify, Arizona pukes.

This is disgusting. The sun bakes their brains.

[apnu]

14. Ain't gonna change until the state purples like NM.

I was recently in Tucson, the MAGA crowd there is small, but loud and parades the stupid around for all to see.

You can't fix that, but you can vote it out, which takes time.

[twodogsbarking]

7. America is great at killing people;

tradition.

[keithbvadu2]

8. MTG will be proud. Along with Madison Cawthorn.

MTG will be proud. Along with Madison Cawthorn.

[twodogsbarking]

9. Tiny nuclear bombs were originally considered.

I think I made that up but ............

[byronius]

10. Joe Arpaio may have retired but his minions still vibrate with pure primate.

There were many good reasons I left that state. Thanks for the reminder.

Brutal and barbaric -- come visit Arizona!

[not fooled]

11. Congratulations

on your escape. I'm currently planning mine--no reason to stay, mounting list of reasons to get out.

[Old Okie]

12. Arizona

AZ is a good example of a minority white state where those in power intend to do everything they can to retain power, democracy be dammed.

[DENVERPOPS]

15. Colorado

has the honor of being the last state to use a gas chamber to execute prisoners sentenced to death.......

Watch out, Bang Bang Boebert and her sheep might try to re-instate that method sometime in the future.....

The Actual Gas Chamber used is now in a museum here in Colorado.

[NH Ethylene]

16. I don't see how the history of its use matters, except for optics.

What really matters is how is the death? If they must execute people, it should be quick and painless. Looking at the ingredients the state purchased, it looks like a painful and scary way to go.

Is it really that hard to find a drug that would just lull somebody off to sleep? What about an overdose of the drugs used in anaesthesia? Or an opiate?

[Mosby]

18. What i don't get

Is that vets put aminals to sleep without pain but the state uses all these weird drugs and still botch it.

Eta the vet uses two drugs, the first one makes them really sleepy, almost catatonic and the next one stops the heart.

[PoliticAverse]

21. "we feared a one-drug method would appear as though we were treating people no better than animals.

So far, Ohio and Washington are the only states to actually adopt a one-drug execution formula. The other 33 death-penalty states all use the three-drug formula as their main method of execution. They’re incredibly reluctant to change their protocols, because doing so opens up new avenues for legal challenges by condemned inmates.

The irony of it all, as Alper points out, is that we developed the three-drug protocol in the first place because we feared a one-drug method would appear as though we were treating people no better than animals. Thirty years later, the opposite turns out to be true.

From: https://www.thedailybeast.com/oklahoma-to-use-animal-euthanisia-drug-in-human-executions

[llashram]

17. with all the nazis2.0

revealing themselves since lardo hitler showed up in D.C in 2016, this does not surprise me in the least.

[Marrah_Goodman]

19. This is absolutely mindblowing

I am horrified.

[Warpy]

20. Nitrogen, you dumb, homicidal bastards, nitrogen

It's abundant, cheap, effective, has a low potential for accidents and zero potential for pollution.

Unfortunately, the sadists want to inflict pain and terror, so they don't care about anything else.

So they're going Final Solution against their own citizens. Lovely. I hope the backlash is enough to get them out of office forever.

They get rid of the GOP, they might join NM in abolishing the DP.

[PoliticAverse]

22. "evidence suggests gassed dogs and cats can actually suffer horribly before dying."

It should be noted that nitrogen was previously used to kill animals, but it's not a method that's used anymore—the American Veterinary Medical Association does not recommend nitrogen euthanasia because evidence suggests gassed dogs and cats can actually suffer horribly before dying.

From: https://www.newsweek.com/death-nitrogen-should-not-be-americas-new-capital-punishment-method-opinion-940211

[ProfessorGAC]

23. This Is A Poorly Sourced Article

Zyklon B is hydrogen cyanide sequestered in various adsorbents, like silica gel, vermiculite, kieselguhr, etc.
The deadly gas slowly desorbs. It's original use was as a fumigant for lice, fleas, and other verminous creatures. In fact, it contained a tiny amount of a sulfur based ophthalmic irritant, that was a warning to get away & minimize exposure.
This is what the Nazis used in the death camps. They turned it from an agricultural tool into a weapon of mass destruction.
The gas chamber does not use Zyklon B.
The toxic gas is the same, but it's created in situ, by dropping potassium cyanide solid into 50% sulfuric acid.
This liberates the hydrogen cyanide and leaves behind benign potassium sulfate solution.
So, Arizona did NOT buy the same thing used in the holocaust. They did not get Zyklon B. It's right in the article!!
In fact, they mention the sodium hydroxide purchased, though this has nothing to do with the execution process. It's used to neutralize any remaining sulfuric for safe drainage.
But, simply saying they bought the materials needed for the gas chamber doesn't make for an attention grabbing headline. So, they went "Nazi"
The fact that it's inaccurate must not matter to the author or the editors.

[Rollo]

26. My thoughts exactly...

Although I wasn't aware of the particulars about Zyklon B, I agree that it's inaccurate to say that it's the same product that Arizona likely will use if and when it recommissions its gas chamber. Thank you for your informational post.

As for the gas chamber, I am reminded of Susan Hayward's portrayal of condemned inmate Barbara Graham in the 1950's in Arizona. Although the plot of that movie also distorted the facts, according to Wikipedia, it was very accurate in portraying how her execution in the San Quentin gas chamber was carried out.

Personally I am opposed to the death penalty and am saddened by Arizona's plans to resume executions. It just perpetuates evil.

I Want To Live!

[COL Mustard]

24. So....

As long as their papers are in order...what is the problem?


(Asked in my best Gestapo accent.......)

[GulfCoast66]

25. Any method of execution is barbaric. That's my message.

Hanging, gassing, electrocution, lethal injection, Guillotine, etc. It’s all the same. I guess it’s better than drawing and quartering, but the result is the same.

Civilized societies do not do it.

Too bad Americans can’t reach a consensus that we are all safer if we all agree the state can’t kill us under color of the law.

I love Florida and will live here the rest of my life. The gulf is in my soul. But how I wish we did not legally kill people.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

27. Arizona wants to use cyanide, South Carolina is going to start using a firing squad --

What's next? Is North Carolina going to run prisoners through a wood chipper?

[myohmy2]

28. if...

...a method of killing people is more gruesome than another are states free to torture people?

...or have the Supremes already ruled that's a 'who gives a shit' question?

...let me guess...