death penalty

After trying - and failing - to kill him via lethal injection, Alabama is planning to execute death row inmate Kenneth Smith next week using an untested method - nitrogen suffocation. But why are they resorting to this? And could he get a last minute reprieve?

Today's episode contains descriptions of death and execution, right from the start - so do consider if you want to listen.

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During the highest turkey consumption period of the year, we bring you a This American Life tradition: stories of turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, fowl of all kinds—real and imagined—and their mysterious hold over us.

• Prologue: Ira Glass talks with Scharlette Holdman, who works with defense teams on high profile death row cases, and who has not talked to a reporter in more than 25 years. Why did she suddenly end the moratorium on press? Because her story is about something important: namely, a beautiful chicken. (2 minutes)
• Act One: Scharlette Holdman's story continues, in which she and the rest of a legal defense team try to save a man on death row by finding a star witness — a chicken with a specific skill. (10 minutes)
• Act Two: Yet another testimony to the power chickens have over our hearts and minds.  Jack Hitt reports on an opera about Chicken Little.  It's performed with dressed-up styrofoam balls, it's sung in Italian and, no kidding, able to make grown men cry. (14 minutes)
• Act Three: Ira accompanies photographer Tamara Staples as she attempts to photograph chickens in the style of high fashion photography. The chickens are not very cooperative. (15 minutes)
• Act Four: Kathie Russo's husband was Spalding Gray,  who was best known for delivering monologues onstage—like "Monster in a Box," and "Swimming to Cambodia." On January 10, 2004, he went missing. Witnesses said they saw him on the Staten Island Ferry that night. Two months later, his body was pulled out of the East River. Kathie tells the story of the night he disappeared, and about how, in the weeks following, she and each of their three children were visited by a bird, who seemed to be delivering a message to them. (9 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org

The last meal of the executed is a longstanding tradition. Listen in today to learn about the dark history and modern practice of this culinary curiosity. 

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Today on the Matt Walsh Show, the ACLU honors the anniversary of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death by erasing women. Also, whip-gate enters its fourth day, with the Democrats and the media sticking to the false narrative, no matter how many times it is debunked. And several late night hosts all teamed up last night to bring our attention to the alleged climate crisis. It was hilarious comedy, as always from that group. Plus, Kim Kardashian is leading the charge to free another murderer from prison. And Vice publishes an article claiming that natural immunity doesn’t exist at all. Isn’t that medical misinformation?  

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Today on the Matt Walsh Show, the Left is in mourning over the execution of a convicted murdered by the federal government. They accuse pro-lifers of being hypocrites because some of us support the death penalty. But today we’ll talk about why their position — that the death penalty is okay for babies but not for criminals — is really deranged and incoherent. Also Five Headlines, including Rush Limbaugh causing waves by bringing up the possibility of secession. I think that secession would not be a terrible idea, and I’ll explain why. Plus our Daily Cancellation and more.

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Today on the Matt Walsh Show, Donald Trump is pushing back against mail-in voting because he’s concerned about voter fraud. But I think the real problem with mail in voting — and with our system of voting generally — is different, though it is far more politically incorrect to discuss. Also Five Headlines including murderers and other dangerous felons now having their cases dropped in Oklahoma after the Supreme Court ruled that wide swaths of the state are Indian territory. And in our Daily Cancellation, we’ll talk about the pro-lifers who were arrested in DC for writing a pro-life message in chalk on the sidewalk. Meanwhile the mayor has had her own preferred political messages painted in huge letters across entire city blocks.

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Pope Francis is attempting to overturn 2,000 years of Church teaching on the death penalty. Christianity has always taught, and Scripture says, and men like Aquinas and Augustine have affirmed, that the death penalty is morally permissible. The Pope disagrees. Is he wrong? We'll talk about that on the show today. (But yes, he's wrong).

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