Those Engaged in a Pattern of killing Lack Moral even Lawful Standing to call out, castigate, cast blame, or lay charges

Battle of Executioners

Since the dawn of “civilizations,” man has executed “criminals and dissidents.” Contemporary Global instruments dealing death under law (alphabetically) 

Decapitation	Lethal injection (or gas chamber)
Electric chair	Shooting
Hanging	Stoning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As of 2022 more than 60 percent of the world’s population lived in death penalty countries. Among the United Nations’ 193 Member States plus two Observer States is this record:

• Death penalty legal and practiced: 53 countries (27 percent)

• Death penalty abolished under law (de facto or not practiced and believed to employ a prohibition policy) though permitted for ordinary crimes: 25 countries (13 percent)

• Death penalty abolished for “all crimes except those committed under exceptional circumstances”: 7 countries (4 percent)

• Death penalty in 2020-2022 completely abolished 110 countries (56 percent)
  

Chad (2020)	Central African Republic (2022)
Kazakhstan (2021)	Papua New Guinea (2022)
Sierra Leone (2021)	Equatorial Guinea (2022)

 
Death Penalty in the United States of America depends on which State a person lives in. Over the past four decades, death penalty State leaders have been “Texas followed by Virginia, Oklahoma and Florida.”

Death Sentences increased between 2020 and 2021

Year end (estimated) total: 

• 28,670 individuals known to be living under a sentence of death 2020: 1,477 new death sentences issued

• 2021: 2,052 death sentences issued

• Nine countries warehouse 82 percent of individuals (each estimated in the 1000s, here listed alphabetically) known to be living under a sentence of death
  

Algeria	Malaysia	Sri Lanka
Bangladesh	Nigeria	USA
Iraq	Pakistan	Viet Nam

Countries with Most Confirmed Executions 2017-2020

2020: Somalia, USA, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, Iran
2019: Somalia, Pakistan, USA, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran
2018: Japan, USA, Egypt, Iraq, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Iran
2017: USA, Somalia, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran


Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
U.S. ally, agent, master
U.S. military industries’ partner
U.S. military arms (aid, lethal weaponry) buyer

In the News December 5, 2022

MEHR News Agency December 5, 2022 “S Arabia hands down death sentences to 6 political dissidents”; and according to the SANAD the “verdicts were passed irrespective of the international outcry and criticisms over arbitrary executions of Saudi citizens at the hands of the government.” https://en.mehrnews.com/news/194507/S-Arabia-hands-down-death-sentences-to-6-political-dissidents

Sanad is a human rights organization officially registered in the UK that, according to its website, “defends political and civil rights in Saudi Arabia, and monitors human rights violations and exposes them to human rights bodies and media, civil and political institutions around the world.” https://sanad.uk/who-are-we/

The news source reported Sanad’s statements that saying the death sentences issued against Mohammed Al Tahnoon, Mustafa Abu Shaheen, Abdullah Ghazwi, Zuhair Al Samkhan, Mohammed Al Masbah, and Razi al-Shayib “take the number of jailed dissidents (in Saudi Arabia) who face imminent execution to 59.” 

 

Battle of blame

Worse than(s) 

Better than(s)

USA attacks

Iran International December 12, 2022, reports “US Slams ‘Draconian’ Execution of Iranian Protester.” United States Department of State spokesman Ned Price was quoted characterizing “the execution of a 23-year-old Iranian (as evidence of) ‘Iran’s leadership fears (of) its own people and fears (of) the truth.’”— “‘the latest tactic in the Iranian regime’s ongoing, brutal crackdown on peaceful protestors … meant to intimidate people and suppress dissent ….’”

Iran International is a “privately-owned UK entity” established in 2017 that, according to its website, is “programmed to attract a wide audience, especially younger people.”https://www.iranintl.com/en/abouten

Iran counters

West in no position to comment on law enforcement in Iran— Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani TEHRAN, December 9, 2022

“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers preserving public security as one of its main responsibilities…; the country recognizes people’s legal rights for peaceful criticism and protest.… Enforcement of law and establishment of public security is the duty of governments.”

And “governments that suppress protesters violently are in no position to comment on the actions of Iran regarding the implementation of law and maintaining public order and security…” Moreover, “many European governments have directly and indirectly violated the human rights of the Iranian nation by supporting the cruel and illegal sanctions of the US regime.” MEHR News Agency https://en.mehrnews.com/news/194691/West-in-no-position-to-comment-on-law-enforcement-in-Iran

Non-allied Executioners in the News

RT News December 4, 2022, “Iran executes four on spying charges.” The men had been “accused of undermining the national security” of Iran (Discovery presented at court: “Mossad paid” the accused “in cryptocurrency” for “criminal intelligence,” “kidnapping,” and “aid in procuring weapons and equipment.) https://www.rt.com/news/567638-iran-execute-spy-israel/

Washington Examiner December 18, 2022 by Rachel Schilke “US carried out 18 executions in 2022 as support for death penalty dwindles”  https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/18-executions-support-death-penalty-dwindles

Reuters December 16, 2022 by Julia Harte “Botched executions in United States reach record high in 2022, report says.”

“Seven of the 20 executions attempted this year were ‘visibly problematic,’ including one attempt at lethal injection that led to an unprecedented three-hour struggle to insert an intravenous (IV) line into an Alabama man” (original data from annual report of Death Penalty Information Center) https://www.reuters.com/world/us/botched-executions-united-states-reach-record-high-2022-report-says-2022-12-16/


More Sources

Death Penalty Information Center “Executions around the World”
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/international/executions-around-the-world

World data info “Death Penalties by country,” https://www.worlddata.info/deathpenalty.php#:~:text=Death%20penalties%20by%20country%20in%202021%20%20,%20%202000%20%2056%20more%20rows%20

Wikipedia
Capital Punishment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_country

World Population Review
Death penalties by country in 2021, Execution of the death penalty by country: “In 2021 alone, 3,000 people were sentenced to death and at least 1,571 were actually executed,”
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-death-penalty

Death Penalty Info (sourcing USA twitter posts) “Iran Executes Two Prisoners Arrested in Ongoing Protests, Threatens More to Follow,” December 12, 2022 https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/iran-executes-two-prisoners-arrested-in-ongoing-protests-threatens-more-to-follow

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images
Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett
Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com
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https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/
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US Politicians Prefer Pandering to Governing

Public Officials Posture for the Masses while Following (policy) Orders of their (pay) Masters.

In the United States of America, seats in public office are bought, purchased like so much rank meat or cheap dirt. U.S. politicians and public office holders do not govern, they do not provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare of the people of the United States of America and its people—these people and principles are irrelevant to the common crop gerontocrats. 

The bought meat that populates the offices of state in the United States pander to narrow interests (the interests of their paymasters) who revolve in, out and around Washington and states houses, who lobby, direct policy, and purchase the meat and seat of the unprincipled people who are permitted to hold public office.

When everything's for sale, nothing has substantive value. 

Case of Black Gold and public Officials’ failure of due diligence

Failure to set about the hard work of envisioning and planning for the all-round health of the United States; its basic broad-based economy, its workforce and workers, and life sources (air, land, water, protection of all aspects and elements of the natural environment) 

“S

outh Dakota’s Keystone pipeline, the controversial structure whose extension triggered the Standing Rock protests, has leaked 200,000 gallons of oil, or about 5,000 barrels.”  Bold Nebraska has documented at least 22 spills on TC Energy’s (formerly TransCanada) original “Keystone 1” pipeline since 2010.  https://boldnebraska.org/bolds-jane-kleeb-statement-on-keystone-pipelines-22nd-spill-on-dec-8th/       #1: May 21, 2010: Keystone pipeline leaks 2 gallons at Carpenter Pump Station in Clark County, South Dakota. Spill is blamed on a “leaking valve body.”

·         #1: May 21, 2010: Keystone pipeline leaks 2 gallons at Carpenter Pump Station in Clark County, South Dakota. Spill is blamed on a “leaking valve body.”

·         #2: June 23, 2010: Keystone pipeline leaks 20 gallons at Roswell Pump Station in North Dakota blamed on “equipment failure.”

·         #3: August 10, 2010: Keystone pipeline leaks 5 gallons near Freeman, South Dakota, “cause unknown.”

·         #4: August 19, 2010: Keystone pipeline leaks 10 gallons near Hartington, Nebraska after “a check valve on a pressure transmitter located on the suction side of a line pump stuck open.”

·         #5: January 5, 2011: Keystone pipeline leaks 10 gallons at a Pump Station near Andover, South Dakota. Spill blamed on “faulty seal.”

·         #6: January 31, 2011: Keystone pipeline leaks 10 gallons at a Pump Station near Turney, Missouri after a “seal on a pump failed.”

·         #7: February 3, 2011: Keystone pipeline leaks 15 gallons “from a vapor separator which caused an overflow” at a Pump Station near Cushing, Oklahoma.

·         #8: February 23, 2011: Keystone pipeline leaks 10 gallons from Rock Pump Station near Udall, Kansas “on a drain valve line possibly due to a leaky fitting.”

·         #9: March 8, 2011: Keystone pipeline leaks 5 gallons from Ludden Pump Station near Brampton, North Dakota “due to equipment failure on a seal on a main pump.”

·         #10: March 16, 2011: Keystone pipeline leaks 126 gallons at Seneca Pump Station in Nemaha County, Kansas, after “a seal on the #4 unit failed releasing crude oil onto the piping, the pump and the ground.”

 

·         #11: May 7, 2011: Keystone pipeline leaks 16,800 gallons (400 barrels) at Ludden Pump Station onto private land in North Dakota. The spill spewed up 60 feet in the air “like a geyser” and was discovered by local rancher smelling it on his land; he’s still dealing with TransCanada over cleanup. The spill was caused by “a threaded connection on small diameter station piping at a 1-inch x 3/4-inch swaged nipple. Respondent performed metallurgical analysis of the nipple and identified the presence of cracks at the root of the thread likely as a result of over-torque during installation. Respondent determined that the cyclic bending stress fatigue due to normal operational vibration propagated the cracks to failure.”

·         #12 May 25, 2011: Keystone pipeline leaks unknown volume at Roswell Pump Station due to a “transmitter fitting leak” that “failed due to cyclical fatigue.” (This spill is only reported in the context of a separate Corrective Action Order related to the May 7th 16,800-gallon Keystone spill where the same cause “cyclical fatigue” was reported.)

·         #13: May 29, 2011: Keystone pipeline leaks 14,000 gallons after “valve failure” at Severance Pump Station in southeastern North Dakota, which saw “a 1/2-inch diameter nipple at the pressure transmitter manifold. Preliminary metallurgical testing provided by the Respondent of this nipple indicates cyclical fatigue.”

·         #14: March 7, 2013: Keystone pipeline leaks 15 gallons near Potwin, Kansas.

June 28, 2011: PHMSA issues Corrective Action Order to TransCanada re: May 7 & May 29 leaks.

·         #15: July 24, 2014: Keystone pipeline leaks 30 gallons in Nederland, Texas.

·         #16: April 2, 2016: Keystone pipeline leaks 16,800 gallons in Hutchinson County, South Dakota, cause found to be a “faulty girth weld,” the point of a transition weld connecting smaller and larger pipe together. TransCanada whistleblower and former company engineer Evan Vokes has repeatedly sounded the alarm about TransCanada’s use of transition welds.

April 2015: A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made to PHMSA in 2013 returns documents uncovering an alarming rate of corrosion on TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline: “a section of the pipeline’s wall had corroded 95%, leaving it paper-thin in one area (one-third the thickness of a dime) and dangerously thin in three other places.” PHMSA did not disclose a cause for the corrosion at the time, saying it “might impact an ongoing compliance review the agency is conducting of TransCanada.”

·         #17: December 27, 2016: Keystone pipeline spilled 10 gallons at a Pump Station near Tina, Missouri.

May 2016: TransCanada announces plans to “dig up and replace sections of its Keystone pipeline found to not meet federal strength standards.”

April 9, 2016: PHMSA issues Corrective Action Order to TransCanada re: the April 2 spill.

·         #18: November 16, 2017: Keystone pipeline leaks 407,000 gallons on farmland near Amherst, South Dakota. Spill was originally underreported as 210,000 gallons, and was attributed to “the installation of a weight upon its construction in 2008” that is “used to keep pipelines in place and reduce the risk of damage to the line if water levels rise,” but instead “caused mechanical damage to the company’s corrosion-resistant coating, leading to the rupture.”

·         #19: February 20, 2018: Keystone pipeline spills 15 gallons from a Pump Station in Steele City, Nebraska, blamed on “a leaking float control valve.”

November 28, 2017: PHMSA issues Corrective Action Order to TransCanada re: Nov. 17 spill.

·         #20: February 6, 2019: Keystone pipeline spills 1,800 gallons in St. Charles County, Missouri. After metallurgical analysis of the spill’s cause: “The composite wrap was inadequately designed for the metal loss feature it was to protect, as the applicator’s interpretation of the feature as mechanical damage led to fewer wraps than corrosion given the naming convention used in the composite vendor’s software. Feature direct examination concluded blunt metal loss with no evidence of sharp edges or stress concentrators, and the feature root cause analysis determined the accelerated rate of corrosion was primarily caused by stray direct current interference and was subsequently repaired. The RCFA indicated the primary cause of the leak was a through-wall crack that exhibited signs of fatigue, initiated from localized stress concentrations in the irregular pitted surface of the repaired metal loss feature.” Of note: A 2015 investigation in the same county found Keystone pipe there had “suffered from corrosion so severe that it was worn through 95 percent in some places after being in service for less than two years. In one spot, inspectors found the pipeline was down to a metal layer just one third the thickness of a dime.”

·         #21: October 31, 2019: TransCanada’s (“TC Energy”) Keystone pipeline leaked at least 380,000 gallons of tarsands oil and toxic diluents that affected wetlands in northeastern North Dakota. No cause has yet been established.

·         #22: Dec. 7, 2022: TC Energy shut down its Keystone pipeline after detecting a leak of an unknown volume into a creek about 20 miles south of Steele City, NE. “An emergency shutdown and response was initiated at about 9 p.m. CT on Dec. 7 after alarms and a pressure drop in the system, the company said in a release, adding booms were deployed to control downstream migration of the release.”

November 5, 2019: PHMSA issues Corrective Action Order to TransCanada re: Oct. 30 spill.

 
Before the Keystone pipeline began construction in 2010, “TransCanada stated to public, state and federal agencies and elected officials… (risk assessment estimate prepared by ENSR / AECOM): (the pipeline) would spill eleven (11) times over the course of its expected lifetime (approx. 50-100 years).”

A separate independent analysis on “potential risks of spills on the Keystone pipeline” by Professor John Stansbury of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln “concluded that safety assessments provided by TransCanada (were) misleading.” Stansbury projected “‘no fewer than two major spills per state during the 50-year period.’”

News sources and reporting 2011-2022

Bold Nebraska “New Report: Analysis of Frequency and Worst Case Spills for TransCanada Pipeline” by Jane Kleeb July 11, 2011https://boldnebraska.org/water/


National Geographic November 16, 2017 by Sarah Gibbens and Craig Welch “Keystone Pipeline Spills 200,000 Gallons of Oil: Spills were among the major concerns listed by protestors of the pipeline’s controversial XL extension.” “The leaking pipe section ran along a right-of-way 35 miles south of a pumping station in rural Marshall County, South Dakota.” “South Dakota’s Keystone pipeline, the controversial structure whose extension triggered the Standing Rock protests, has leaked 200,000 gallons of oil, or about 5,000 barrels” https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/keystone-oil-spill-south-dakota-spd

“Fracking, tar sands and crude oil pipeline spills, radioactive frack waste, and the associated chemicals being spilled and dumped into our rivers and aquifers have resulted in the largest public health experiment on Earth.” Standing Rock protestor Sarah Jumping Eagle told National Geographic writer Saul Elbein last January.

Government and their paymasters “don’t even follow their own regulations. They just do what they want.” Douglas Yankton, vice-chair of the Spirit Lake Tribe, northeast of Bismarck in neighboring North Dakota

Even if it is not close to water, these projects are damaging the land. “The land is just as sacred as the water,” Yankton said.

Bold Nebraska “Keystone Pipeline Spill History” by Mark Hefflinger News November 7, 2019
https://boldnebraska.org/keystone-pipeline-spill-history/

Miami Herald December 11, 2022 “Federal data: Kansas oil spill biggest in Keystone history” by John Hanna, Ryan J. Foley, and Heather Hollingsworth Associated Press Updated December 11, 2022

Lobbyist for the Sierra Club at the Kansas Statehouse (Zack Pistora): “‘This is going to be months, maybe even years before we get the full handle on this disaster and know the extent of the damage and get it all cleaned up,’”

TOPEKA, KAN. A ruptured pipe dumped enough oil this week into a northeastern Kansas creek to nearly fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, becoming the largest onshore crude pipeline spill in nine years and surpassing all the previous ones on the same pipeline system combined, according to federal data.

“The Keystone pipeline spill in a creek running through rural pastureland in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City, also was the biggest in the system’s history, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. The operator, Canada-based TC Energy, said the pipeline that runs from Canada to Oklahoma lost about 14,000 barrels, or 588,000 gallons.”

“The nearly 2,700-mile (4345-kilometer) Keystone pipeline carries thick, Canadian tar-sands oil to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas, with about 600,000 barrels moving per day from Canada to Cushing, Oklahoma.” https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article269815702.html

Reference
Wikipedia latest update December 10, 2022 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline

C

RS report on Keystone XL pipeline

Congressional Research Service Report “Keystone XL Pipeline Project: Key Issues” by Paul W. Parfomak Specialist in Energy and Infrastructure Policy, Robert Pirog Specialist in Energy Economics, Linda Luther Analyst in Environmental Policy, Adam Vann Legislative Attorney December 2, 2013

Excerpt

“In light of the State Department’s denial of the 2008 permit application, some in Congress seek other means to support development of the pipeline.”

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

Final EIS Issued: “On August 26, 2011, the State Department issued the final EIS for the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline …. 

In October 2011, fourteen Members of Congress wrote to the State Department’s Office of Inspector General requesting an investigation of the department’s handling of the EIS and national interest determination for the Keystone XL project.

“The request was prompted, in part, by press reports suggesting bias or potential conflicts of interest in the State Department’s hiring of an outside contractor to perform the EIS and in its communications with the pipeline’s developer, TransCanada.

“On November 4, the Inspector General’s Office (IG) announced that, in response to this request, it was initiating a special review ‘to determine to what extent the Department and all other parties involved complied with Federal laws and regulations relating to the Keystone XL pipeline permit process.’

“On February 9, 2012, the IG released its findings, reporting that the State Department ‘did not violate its role as an unbiased oversight agency,’ among other specific findings generally supportive of the department’s Keystone XL-permit review process.” https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R41668.pdf

 

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images
Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett
Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com; https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett; https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/; https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett;
https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/828689-epitaph