Odds and Ends

The Blondie film series on a classic channel circled back to the beginning, giving me a shot to watch a few I missed. 

The episodes annoyed me with multiple Blondie jealous plots, mixed in with them (at times as a result of both of their stupidity) money issues. The latest involved a mink coat that was over $180. That wouldn't be that cheap for a family on a budget today for a coat! Imagine in the early 1940s. 

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Stephen Colbert made a joke in the consistently blah "meanwhile" segment about this serious story:

Long Island baker investigated for reselling Dunkin’ doughnuts as own vegan, gluten-free treats

The tale of a vegan baker/supplier is not as amusing especially when you mix in that last part. Sometime back, there was a story about someone suing regarding fries cooked in animal fat or some such thing. This was against their ethical and perhaps religious values. This is not too funny.

This story has an additional component that "posed a major risk to endangering people with sensitivities or life-threatening allergies to wheat or dairy." Anyway, Colbert joked that the donuts were discovered because they were tasty. Vegan donuts can be tasty. Also, Dunkin' in my view is not very good. Some donuts are decent. They aren't like delicious or something.

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The Alabama legislature passed a bill to provide immunity to providers of IVF. Some people and institutions providing related services will only be liable for "compensatory damages calculated as the price paid for the impacted in vitro cycle." 

The legislation is a holding action until other complications related to the recent ruling can be addressed. The legislature along with Republicans overall wanted to show they were not monsters who opposed IVF. They admit that the ruling left open various troubling issues. 

Two things. First, it is unclear how much simple legislation can address what the opinion said was based on the state constitution. Second, total immunity for providers seems wrong, since "death of an embryo" can still be a civil wrong on the occasion of negligence or whatnot. The problem is treating it like an unborn child.

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A good find in a WWI Supreme Court case rejecting a constitutional challenge to conscription. The Chief Justice (who fought in the Civil War on the Confederate side) referenced a "suggestion made by the Government that because of impertinent and scandalous passages contained in the brief of the appellant the brief should be stricken from the files." 

The passage is not explicitly cited. The opinion agrees with the sentiment but leaves it in as a warning to others. This sort of thing invites people to really want to know what is being referenced. The Internet helps, even before the professor can research the question.  

I found a copy of a 1918 book on fighting German spies noting:

In his brief before that Court Hannis Taylor used language so violent that the counsel for the Government asked that it be expunged from the record. Taylor in his brief accused the President of being a “dictator,” of seizing powers “in open defiance of the judgments” of the Supreme Court, and of demanding “such an aggregation of powers as no monarch ever wielded in any constitutional government that ever existed.”

Hannis Taylor (who -- everything is connected! -- has Alabama connections) has an interesting biography. I suppose it is the same guy. As to challenging conscription, that was done during the Civil War too. It does appear logical that when the Constitution specifically cites the purposes of the militia, it is the only reason the federal government can call it up. 

The Selective Draft Cases provided the main argument upholding the draft, including for foreign wars. Arguments based on religious liberty and the Thirteenth Amendment were dismissed as not worthy of comment.

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I checked a local library for DVDs and found the third season of the British mystery show Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators.

The series takes place in the actual Shakespeare's old haunts though it takes place in the current day. Frank Hathaway is a retired police detective now in private service. The series began with Luella Shakespeare hiring him. She later joined his firm. I will try to see the first episode and find out if she is supposedly a descendant of William.

I have seen half (five episodes) of the season so far. The episodes are around forty minutes (PBS British mysteries tend to be around fifty minutes long). They were light enjoyment. It was a decent way to wile the evening away as it rained outside.