*Delivered on a Death Penalty Action vigil immediately following the October 5, 2022 Execution of John Ramirez in Texas I’m tired of these vigils. Really tired. We show up. We try to do what we’re supposed to do. We try to be present. We feel like we’ve accomplished something. Then, a few weeks later we do the same thing all over again. Why? Why are we so comfortable going through the motions? The truth is, you can get... Read more
The Executioner. : On the Executioners of John Ramirez Tonight, John Ramirez is scheduled be executed in Texas. Close your eyes. Imagine for a second that you are one of the ones tasked with killing him. Evenings aren’t what they used to be. The kids run around laughing. Your spouse keeps talking. All you can do is stare off into space. The questions haunt your every thought. Grace? Mercy? Judgment? Eternity? You’d heard these... Read more
Football is Evil: Tua Tagovailoa & Our Addiction to Watching the Destruction of Others Over the last few days, I’ve followed the injuries of Miami Dolphins’ Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Last Sunday in a game against the Buffalo Bills, Tagovailoa was injured and, despite stumbling around disoriented and needing to go back to the locker room, was ultimately put back in the game. Fast forward to tonight, Tagovailoa was slammed hard to the ground by a large defensive player. Immediately,... Read more
Lamentations: On John Henry Ramirez In South Texas, John Henry Ramirez robbed and murdered Pablo Castro in 2004. In fact, Ramirez stabbed him 29 times. A short time later, Ramirez robbed a second victim. Then, Ramirez fled to Mexico where he was able to avoid capture for a little over three and a half years. No one disputes these facts…not even Ramirez himself. For his crimes, Ramirez was sentenced to death in Nueces County. Truthfully, most were... Read more
The Dead Queen, The Dead King/Royal Family & Black Lives Matter in London Mere days before Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8 (September 5), London, UK Metropolitan Police Force (the MET) encountered a car that had been flagged as having been involved in a gun crime (for most, the mere possession of a gun in the UK is a crime). After a short chase, MET officers boxed the driver of the car (an Audi) in the Streatham... Read more
September 13, 2022 Alabama Insanity: On the Potential Gas Chamber Execution of Alan Eugene Miller Before government officials in Alabama go ahead with an untested gas chamber execution of Alan Eugene Miller (nitrogen hypoxia), it might be wise to consider a few experiential facts… Millions upon millions of people were killed in Nazi gas chambers during the Holocaust. On September 2, 1983, Jimmy Lee Gray was tightly restrained inside Mississippi’s gas chamber. At the... Read more
Pull Back The Curtains on Executions!!! crossposted @ Death Penalty Action, https://deathpenaltyaction.org/blog/pull-back-the-curtains-on-executions/ By Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood On July 28, 2022 at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama Department of Corrections officials strapped Joe James, Jr. to a gurney and prepared him to be executed. Normally this should take minutes. For over three hours beyond his scheduled execution time, gathered reporters, witnesses and other interested parties waited and waited and waited. Two states over, I was... Read more
The Dawn of a New Resistance: Words of Intentional Division in a Time of Apathy *Sermon Delivered on August 28, 2022 at Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas +Tried to clean it up as best I could…but this is a transcript. Thank y’all. Good morning. Man…you know, it’s usually hot in this sanctuary, but I can tell you when I said I was going to wear this robe, I forgot about that.... Read more
On the Need for Honest Abolitionists. Throughout my work of abolition, I’ve committed to standing with those that nobody else will. The ones who have no remorse. The ones who wish they could kill again. The ones that you would never want to meet on the street. While such statements are not true of all of the guys I work with, they are true of some of them. I do not believe in progress without truth. If... Read more
Prosperity theology teaches that those who follow God are automatically blessed with abundance. Like there is a contract with God that will pay dividends. There are few more popular…or for that matter evil…heresies that have infected the mind of the modern seeker. Often, those who teach such heresy use the teachings as a smokescreen to be able to do all sorts of evil…i.e. I’m blessed and therefore anointed by God and therefore can do whatever I want…which of course is... Read more
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