The Puritans put into place The Body of Liberties, which was the foundation of the Fifth Amendment.(c) Palace of Westminster; Supplied by The Public Catalogue FoundationHappy Valentine’s Day! Yeah, I really don’t care about this holiday. I made pancakes today for Brian. Nothing is really known about St. Valentine. Just looks like another Pagan holiday we stole. Thanks, Hallmark.
My Country – The Body of Liberties and the Fifth Amendment
Freeborn John Lilburne bought self-incrimination immunity to England. The immunity protected people who were charged with a crime to testify against themselves and protected any witnesses from incriminating themselves in future proceedings.
The colonies also accepted this right. The Puritans adopted The Body of Liberties in 1641, which afforded protection against self-incrimination and torture. Of course, Douglas does not mention that The Body of Liberties also included, “If any man or woeman be a witch, (that is hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit,) They shall be put to death.”
According to Justice Douglas, the legal scholars broadly interpret the immunity provisions of the Fifth Amendment. It has extended to all manner of proceedings in which testimoney is taken, including legislative committees. He states that the Supreme Court early held that to give immunity from testifying not only to acts or events which themselves constitute a crime or which are elements of a crime but also to anything that tends to incriminate the person testifying.
Daily Briefing
- Cancer rates are dropping but not in Appalachia. It explains all the take home colon cancer screening kit commercials.
- The ground game did not cause Hillary Clinton to lose. Continuing 538’s breakdown of the 2016 election. The midwest got redder – it is whiter and less educated. Fit into Trump’s wheelhouse of buffoonery.
- Archie comics and Mark Waid! Looking forward to more TV endeavors.
- Teaching birth control in West Africa is not easy.
- The immoral majority. No better name for the current Republican Party. Cruelness is their flavor of the day.
- I highly believe that if Obamacare ends, universal health care will begin. Millions will lose what they had and Democrats will be able to argue to reinstate it with all of the perks they wanted before. And they will win. But people still have to figure out how to get by in the meantime.
- Once upon a time, people cared if their politicians lied and lied and lied. Then white people decided to vote for Donald Trump. And they didn’t care and didn’t care and didn’t care.
- The opiod epidemic is getting worse. Nothing coming out of any level of government confronts the issues.
- When Alison Parker was murdered, right wing fanatics attacked her and her boyfriend. Now, he is running for office on an anti-gun violence ticket. I wish him luck and will be contributing to his campaign in Virginia.
How Trump Worked with the Russians
- The Trump campaign was in constant contact with the Russians.
- Michael Flynn, Donald Trump, and the entire Republican Party do not seem to care about the optics. Or our country. They won’t even investigate Flynn. If Obama sneezed, there were three years of investigations. To truly ensure our government is working properly, Democrats need to control the House in 2019.
- Sally Yates told the White House counsel that Michael Flynn mislead officials about his communications with Russia. She was fired. The media had to discover the story. Three weeks in and we have the most corrupt White House ever.
Daily Distraction
Today, I found out that the deal between Viacom and Hulu expired for many of their shows. In other words, many of the Comedy Central shows I watch on Hulu are gone. Instead, I have to watch them through their app. And all of this would be fine, if Time Warner wasn’t becoming Spectrum, which means that logging into the cable websites is near impossible.
Each Friday, Brian and I catch up on @Midnight. If you have not watched the show, Chris Hardwick hosts a fake game show. Each episode has three comedians and they go through daily internet stories. Unlike the Soup, they make up the jokes, in theory, right on the spot. In most cases, the comedians are really funny and we laugh. However, I will never be able to stay up late enough to watch the show.
Hopefully, Spectrum On-Demand gets better. Hopefully, I can sign into my cable accounts accurately. Or if nothing else, Viacom will discover how crappy all cable companies are and will return to Hulu.
One Sentence Story
Unless you leave now, it takes five minutes to get the chai, another five get your order, then another five to bring it back, and then you have to drive to work, and then you’re late.
