1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Congress needs to act before December 3rd to stop the Pentagon from turning a military execution into a public spectacle. Pete Hegseth has announced that the execution of Nidal Hasan will be livestreamed — a firing squad broadcast for public consumption. This would be the first U.S. military execution in over 60 years, and it should not debut as entertainment. Whatever one thinks of Hasan's crimes, the state carrying out a sentence is not the same as the state putting it on display. Hegseth's own words — "we'll make sure that people are able to watch it" — make clear this is about performance, not justice. No other democratic nation treats executions as spectator events. The countries that still use public firing squads include North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia. That is not company we should be keeping. I want my representative to use every available tool — legislation, oversight hearings, appropriations restrictions — to prevent this execution from being broadcast. The victims of the Fort Hood attack deserve solemn justice, not a televised moment designed to score political points.