"Off topic" Daily Event for March 31, 2019

Just a thought, a bit off topic. As we all know on Mar. 15, 2019 a man killed 50 people in Christchurch, New Zealand. Fifty fellow human beings gunned down for no reason. This person will not receive the death penalty for his actions. He conducted a cold and calculated mass murder, knowing all along his actions were wrong.

On Mar. 12th California governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order placing a moratorium on the state's death penalty. In a written statement he said "It has provided no public safety benefit or value as a deterrent. It has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars. But most of all, the death penalty is absolute, irreversible and irreparable in the event of a human error."

So no matter what the crime, no matter who you kill, no matter how many you kill, in California (or in 20 other states) you will not be put to death.

It was reported that on Mar. 25th that wildlife officers from Washington State (which abolished the death penalty in Oct. 2018) hunted down and killed a cougar, which had allegedly killed and eaten a dog. A photo of the dead cougar was published in the press. I would point out that the cougar did nothing wrong, it just did what cougars do, hunt for food. It did nothing evil or malicious. It did nothing unnatural, it just did what a cougar does to survive. The cougar also was not given a trial, there was no video of the cougar and therefore a positive identification can not be assumed. They could do an autopsy on the cougar to see if the remains of the dog are inside which would confirm that this was indeed the cougar that killed the dog.

Unlike the human criminal, who commits evil, which can be proven in court after a trial, the cougar received the death penalty. Strange that we find it acceptable to kill an animal for doing what is natural, but can not bring ourselves to execute evil people.

Well now you know what I think, it's your turn to tell me how I am wrong.
© 2019 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com


Message Board
1.
Mar. 31, 2019

Although whilst I have long advocated the DP as a retribution and a deterrent, sadly with the UK history during the last two centuries there have been occasional cases of an executed person having had their conviction overturned on subsequent evidence etc etc. It has been said that the death penalty is irrevocable once carried out and thereby hangs (oops) a different thread.

My wife and I are often offended/ astonished/disbelieving/angry when an individual in British law convicted of the most egregious homicide is sentenced to "life" but we know that the sentence will only result in actual incarceration for at most 10 years and often release on "licence" after a much shorter term.

We frequently look at each other and exclaim "where is the justice in that." We can quote a number of cases where the parole board (which considers the prisoner for release back into the community and civilised society has decided that the miscreant has become no longer a threat to other citizens and allows return to a normal civilised lifestyle. That option is denied the victim the family friends etc.|

We are currently going through a terrible spate of knife crime (dare I say it) mostly committed by young blacks.  Of the dozens nay hundreds of victims killed all but a couple have been blacks or "persons of colour" (is that still a description I am allowed to use).  Those few arrested, in court,  display an insouciance and arrogance difficult for dinosaurs like me to understand. A couple of years "inside" only provides them with a spell of better social environment amongst their peers - it seems.  Before long they are back on the streets. It may be that the knifings were "only" intended to wound not kill, but kill they do and, it would seem, with impunity. It is quite possible that those committing the deed have no thought to the future whilst in the act. However if DP did follow  then a few could encourager les autres.

The executed noble beast was the subject of instinctive and ill thought through human process. Vide many similar situations in India and the Far East when a creature in its natural habitat encroaches into the field of human activity occasionally to the detriment of humans thereby...........guess what happens.

Name withheld


2.
Apr. 8, 2019

Here's one for the animal kingdom. It seems that animals can quickly determine right and wrong. On Apr. 7, 2019 Louis Casiano of Fox News reported that a suspected rhino poacher was trampled to death by an elephant in the Kruger National Park in South Africa. The body was then eaten by a pride of lions. What was left, which was not much, was recovered by his fellow poachers and taken to a nearby road and left so it could be found.

Michael W. Pocock
Webmaster