Can we agree that Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant man? Can we also agree that Cesare Beccaria was also brilliant when it came to crimes and punishment?

Well... here's what ol' Tommy had to say when speaking of Beccaria's treatise on crimes and punishment...

"A principal source of errors and injustice are false ideas of utility. For example: that legislator has false ideas of utility who considers particular more than general conveniencies, who had rather command the sentiments of mankind than excite them, who dares say to reason, "Be thou a slave;" who would sacrifice a thousand real advantages to the fear of an imaginary or trifling inconvenience; who would deprive men of the use of fire for fear of their being burnt, and of water for fear of their being drowned; and who knows of no means of preventing evil but by destroying it.

The laws of this nature are those which forbid to bear arms, disarming those only who are not disposed to commit the crime which the laws mean to prevent. Can it be supposed, that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, and the most important of the code, will respect the less considerable and arbitrary injunctions, the violation of which is so easy, and of so little comparative importance? Does not the execution of this law deprive the subject of that personal liberty, so dear to mankind and to the wise legislator? and does it not subject the innocent to all the disagreeable circumstances that should only fall on the guilty? It certainly makes the situation of the assaulted worse, and of the assailants better, and rather encourages than prevents murder, as it requires less courage to attack unarmed than armed persons."

But some folks believe they're smarter than the smartest men. Fools, I tell ya... fools.

MACS wrote:

And there we have it. Guns are not the problem.

It takes people to use a gun so people must be the problem.

Or maybe bullets are the problem, I mean guns themselves don't actually kill people - it's the bullets, and the people who fire them.

No, that's too grainy. let's stick with people are the problem. Bad people.

And laws don't work on bad people, so no need to have laws about people being bad.

So in the end, 450+ shootings is all because of bad people. And there is really nothing you can do about that.

And you really can't tell if someone is bad - till they shoot someone - so no way to stop bad people from - uh, being bad. With a gun.

No, not a thing you could do....

Brewha wrote:

8track could be pushing fake news, ya know....

Brewha wrote:

At least you are helping to keep the government small.

Brewha wrote:

I believe that the proliferation of gun in the hands of common people, out and about, escalates the violence needlessly.

Brewha wrote:

What do “common people” look like?

8trackdisco wrote:

News Nation. Morning in America. You can find the stories on cable and likely through app and the interweb.

8trackdisco wrote:

Peeps like you and me 8.

Not so sure about Ray….

Brewha wrote:

Remember when the UN said, in 1989, that because of global warming sea rise would bury some countries by the year 2000?

Yeeeeaahhhh... over 2 decades ago. No countries sank or were covered by water. Clearly that was some fake news. Lie and lie and lie trying to scare people and they will think your full of chit.

MACS wrote:

Former Vice President Al Gore said Sunday that even if President Joe Biden hesitated on declaring a national emergency to address climate change, Mother Nature had already done so and the planet was feeling the effects of a warming world with dire consequences.

Gore made the comments on ABC’s “This Week,” telling host Jonathan Karl shattered heat records, Antarctic ice melt and the ongoing devastation of drought, flooding and wildfires were hitting the world “hard” and with immediate effect.

“We’re seeing this global emergency play out and it’s getting worse more quickly than was predicted,” Gore said Sunday. “This should be a moment for a global epiphany and the voters and the publics in countries around the world need to put a lot more pressure on their political leaders.”

https://news.yahoo.com/al-gore-mother-nature-already-074925127.html 

Remember when the UN said, in 1989, that because of global warming sea rise would bury some countries by the year 2000.

MACS wrote:

That one really is one which damages the case worst of all.
Can recall all of the shrieking about Armageddon if we don’t do something big to combat climate change by year 2000.

Now it’s 22 years later, and now the left is really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really serious.

That is Chicken Little or the Boy Who Called Wolf x22 sealed both their fate and the fate of the planet.

For me, I do believe in climate change/unsustainable heating of the planet.
Believe it is a combination of natural and man made causes getting us here.
Old rich people probably know it is real too, but they know they will be dead ahead of the planet dying.

And their spoiled brat kids will all have yachts, so wtf do they care?

8trackdisco wrote:

I've always been under the opinion that natural advancement in tech would lead us in better directions overall. I still think that.

bgz wrote:

Are you floating the idea that Progressive=good?

Brewha wrote:

Progressive technology and progressive politics are not related.

HockeyDad wrote: