Friday, October 9th Edition
 

Today’s Big Story

A Firing Squad

 

Fort Hood attacker’s execution will be livestreamed, Pentagon says

 

The Pentagon plans to livestream an execution. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Nidal Hasan—the former Army major and psychiatrist who killed 13 people and wounded dozens at Fort Hood in 2009—will face a firing squad of soldiers at the Texas post, and that the whole thing will be carried live. Hegseth laid it out in an interview with Real America’s Voice.

The scheduled time is 1 p.m. on Dec. 3, a slot ABC News reported was chosen to roughly coincide with when the shooting began. The Verge lists it as 2 p.m. ET, so even the clock is unsettled. Earlier this week, President Donald Trump ordered the firing squad method.

It would be the Army's first execution since 1961 and the first U.S. military firing squad since 1945. The Army’s firing squad procedures date to 1959 and are currently being rewritten. Legal experts told the BBC that a livestreamed execution is unprecedented in the modern era.

But it may also not happen on schedule. Defense lawyer John Galligan said a habeas petition is “a distinct possibility,” which could push the date. Sources conflict on where Hasan’s case actually stands: The Guardian reported he exhausted his appeals last year, while attorney John Mills told the BBC the appellate process isn’t over. ABC reported the Supreme Court declined review but habeas relief remains available.

One logistical detail remains conspicuously missing: nobody has said where this would stream. No platform responded to The Verge, and the White House hasn't confirmed whether Trump endorses the public format at all. A broadcast with no broadcaster, eight weeks out.

 
FYI:

While a few countries still conduct public executions, government-sanctioned executions in the United States have long been hidden from public view.
 

Sparks Fly During Michigan Senate Debate

 

Even mothers were not exempt in a fierce debate in the race for a critical congressional seat

Michigan’s Senate candidates shared a stage for the first time Thursday night in Grand Rapids, and it took about a minute for the hourlong debate to curdle. Republican Mike Rogers called Democrat Abdul El-Sayed a “con man” and a “glitchy AI chatbot.” El-Sayed called Rogers “weak,” “cowardly" and a “sock puppet for the Trump administration.” Moderator Rick Albin spent much of the night asking for order, and said the two kept arguing through the commercial break.

The sharpest personal shot was over a title. Rogers disputed El-Sayed’s use of doctor, branding him a “fake doctor”—El-Sayed holds a medical degree from Columbia but no medical license. Rogers also leveled claims tying El-Sayed’s donors and family to extremist groups. El-Sayed disputed them.

Underneath the noise, there was actual agreement. Both men backed pausing the gas tax. Both questioned the tariff fight with Canada—a live issue in a state that builds cars. And both said the war with Iran should end, though El-Sayed went further, calling it a “stupid war” and pushing diplomacy.

 
FYI:

The seat, open with Democrat Gary Peters retiring, could decide control of the Senate.
 

Fruits and vegetables 50% less nutritious than in the 1960s

 

Experts are calling it a ‘hollowing out our food’

You might’ve been thinking this already, but your salad isn’t what it used to be. A new report from UK-based Deep Science Ventures found that American fruits and vegetables are roughly half as nutritious as they were 60 years ago, with degraded soil quality draining vitamin C, calcium and iron out of the food supply.

Bread, cereals, apples, peas and carrots have lost 20% to 50% of several key nutrients, researchers told the New York Post. To hit 1960s levels of copper, magnesium and potassium, you'd need to eat twice as much produce. The team analyzed historical food datasets and crop archives, including wheat samples spanning 160 years, and estimated micronutrient deficiencies cost countries up to 3% of GDP annually. Will Summers, one of the researchers, called it a hollowing out of our food.

What can you do? Not a whole lot. Keep eating those vegetables—just know the math may have changed.

 
FYI:

Watercress is ranked as the most nutrient-dense vegetable, loaded with vitamins K, C and A, along with antioxidants, calcium, potassium and fiber.

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