by ben_w | 2026-01-03 22:33:58+00:00
> You're correct. The list has been the same for thousands of years, not hundreds. Since the great Hammurabi.

No it hasn't.

First, I've read some of the code of Hammurabi. Fun stuff like this:

7. If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man, without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he take it in charge, he is considered a thief and shall be put to death.

…

110. If a "sister of a god" open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death.

…

282. If a slave say to his master: "You are not my master," if they convict him his master shall cut off his ear.

- https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamcode.asp

(Also, bit of fun, number 6: "If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death." - to which I point at the photos of all those documents he was supposed to return after his first term in a bathroom in Mar a Lago).

Second, I've also read Leviticus. Fun stuff like this:

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.

and

Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.

To quote others on this:

The "Law of Moses" in ancient Israel was different from other legal codes in the ancient Near East because transgressions were seen as offences against God rather than solely as offences against society (civil law).[6] This contrasts with the Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2100–2050 BCE), and the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1760 BCE, of which almost half concerns contract law).

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Moses#Law_in_the_Ancien...

> Then it has been added on to, and very rarely redefined.

Oh gods no. Even the Christian Bible has seen significant politicised re-translations, famously with the King James Bible, but also fundamentally the New Testament itself is a refutation of almost all Torah law.

Even just within European Christian nations, there's been huge variations of what was allowed. 1066 England, Normans became a ruling military elite over the now-conquered Anglo-Saxon population, a native Englander killing a Norman triggered severe penalties, but a Norman killing an Englander did not.

And I've not even touched on Islamic law, the range of things in pre-contact Americas, across Africa, across the east Indies, in Asia.

Not all cultures even have a concept of personal property for theft to be a coherent concept. You may object that you said "countries", but go back pre-Westphalia and you don't even find something we'd really recognise as countries.

> Usury is still a crime, but has been redefined away by legislators.

That's tautologically false: if something is "still" a crime it cannot also "have been redefined away by legislators".

> Just as rape is again being redefined away in some countries right now.

"Away"?

At most, I'm seeing a return to the old definition (IIRC, this would include Russia?)

> If you go to walk the streets in Washington DC, would you be afraid of Mr. Trump charging out of the White House to sexually abuse you, perhaps grabbing you by your genitals?

Given I'm not his type, too old and too male, that's a silly question.

If I had a teenage daughter, I'd avoid DC just in case.

> Or stealing your purse? Or would you be more concerned about your more common criminal doing something like that?

I would not fear a common criminal stealing my purse before or now.

Trump, however, I would fear ordering his people locking me up with a demand that I hand over money to make the problem go away.

It's not like he's obeying the constitution or anything.

Just look at the subject of this very thread: he's essentially just stolen an entire nation.