Statistically, You Have a Better Chance of Being Executed by Rick Perry Than Dying in an Airplane Crash

OK, maybe not you – you may well live in a state other than Texas. And if you do live in the Lone Star State but you’re white, that’ll also decrease your odds of taking the needle. But in terms of overall population, Texans are more likely to have their execution order signed by Rick Perry than they are to die in an airplane crash.

That’s via This Is Hell Radio with Chuck Mertz, which is probably my favorite political talk-show — Chicagoans shouldn’t miss it.

A couple of nerds on Twitter (follow me!) fact-checked this claim — cautioning that it was “napkin math” — and came up with the following:

For TX residents, the odds are: plane crash 5.85*10^-5%, Perry execution: 8.33*10^-5%.

Now, to be fair to Perry, Texans have always been pretty keen on hanging ‘em high. They tended towards bloodlust long before Rick Perry came along, and will no doubt continue to long after that nice hair has faded into a distant memory.