Categories
Government

President Mump’s Script Kiddies Government

Comment at Substack

Several of us watched in horror and anger as President Musk/Trump turned loose script kiddies with nicknames like “BigBalls” onto the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the General Services Administration (GSA), and USAID.

We sat appalled when reading how these same script kiddies locked out government employees, accessed top-secret information, and then were given the keys to the Treasury’s payment system—the government’s checkbook.

Musk bragged about his efforts, talking about shredding USAID and cutting off payments—a man who doesn’t work for the government, doesn’t know how governments actually work, doesn’t care if they work, and is stupid enough to think the deficit would be magically erased if we just used a blockchain.

And Congressional Republicans? Though it’s difficult for them to stand in front of a camera without a spine, several did manage to prop themselves up against a wall long enough to swear loyalty to The Mump.

Good, respected long-time civil servants have been forced to resign solely because they tried to protect our systems from the naughty children and their demented leader. Other employees have been confused and threatened by Musk messages sent from OPM demanding they basically resign—no matter who they are or how important their work. After all, a working government isn’t important to Musk: only tax breaks and unlimited funds from NASA.

The other Presidential half took a break from destroying our economy with ill-considered and thoughtless tariffs against this country’s closest friends…and two days of golf…to celebrate the damage his better half has done. Without Ivanka, Trump doesn’t know what to do and he needs someone to ghost act the Presidency for him.

What’s needed now is for Democrats to stand up, and by this I don’t mean writing pained letters expressing their concern to someone like waterboy Rubio, who was off threatening other countries.

Get out of the Congressional building, and go to the USAID building, the OPM buildings, the Treasury, press cameras in tow and tell the American people that our country is under attack, and it’s not happening at the border.

(I understand this might be difficult for Congressional Democrats, after recently pledging themselves to be The Grownups in The Room, but I know there are members who are just as mad as the rest of us.)

Another hope is the flood of lawsuits I hope will be hitting the courts starting today, because of the script kiddie violations of several privacy and security laws—not to mention lawsuits by organizations tasked with work by the USAID and now being cut adrift.

Oh, and taking down the USAID government website, and delisting it from name servers? Even a 14 year old would sneer at the childishness of this action.

You can’t erase the government because you’re rich think you and can do anything you want.

Sources

Turmoil inside USAID: DOGE reps take over offices, senior officials placed on leave

Elon Musk says President Donald Trump has ‘agreed’ USAID should be shut down

There are several reasons Musk wants to control Treasury payments. None of them are good.

Elon Musk’s task force has gained access to sensitive Treasury payment systems, sources say

Exclusive: Musk aides lock workers out of OPM computer systems

Musk associates given unfettered access to private data of government employees

Breaking Down OPM’s ‘Fork in the Road’ Email to Federal Workers

Elon’s Twitter Destruction Playbook Hits The US Government, And It’s Even More Dangerous

The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover

Trump says USAID run by “lunatics” as Dems demand answers on DOGE visit

Header image by DonkeyHokey CC BY-SA 2.0

Categories
Constitution Immigration

Subject to the jurisdiction…Trump just stated no one can enforce migration law against migrant mothers

Among the appalling, thoughtless, reckless, and inane executive orders trump issued on Day One, the one considered the most *bonkers is the one to end birthright citizenship.

Yes, is it is true that for over a 130 years, courts have deemed that birthright citizenship is protected by the 14th Amendment, which states:

All people born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

According to Trump’s executive order:

Among the categories of individuals born in the United States and not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States:  (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.

A lawsuit has already been filed on this order, and I expect others—many others, and not filed in Texas—to follow.

But let’s take a moment to look at Trump’s action another way.

What Trump is saying is that the parents of the child are not subject to jurisdiction, and therefore the the child isn’t a citizen. Technically, the ‘not subject to jurisdiction’ has meant that children of certain foreign diplomats who have immunity from our legal jurisdiction aren’t automatically made citizens when born in the US. According to USCIS:

A person born in the United States to a foreign diplomatic officer accredited to the United States is not subject to the jurisdiction of United States law. Therefore, that person cannot be considered a U.S. citizen at birth under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. This person may, however, be considered a permanent resident at birth and able to receive a Green Card through creation of record.

The person born to a foreign diplomat is not a US citizen by birth because the child’s parent or parents are not subject to jurisdiction. So, what does that subject to jurisdiction mean, exactly?

What it means is the parent or parents can’t be arrested,  handcuffed,  detained, or charged with a crime—no matter how serious their actions—unless the country that sent the diplomat waives immunity.

Though the immigrant parent or parents are not diplomats, the concept of not subject to jurisdiction doesn’t mysteriously attain a new meaning in our legal system. It is a plainly understood concept that disdains wiggle room.

So, Trump is saying. is that the parents are not subject to jurisdiction. This means the parent or parents can’t be handcuffed, arrested, detained, charged with any crime, or taken to court. Our immigration laws would have no impact on these individuals, because they’re not subject to jurisdiction.

Ipso facto if Trump’s administration wants to continue removing birthright citizenship from the children of these immigrants, then his administration must agree not to handcuff, arrest, detain, charge, or take any other legal action against the child’s parent or parents. Since deportation is a legal action, the **US could not deport the parent.

Could the administration deport the children, instead? I don’t see how, according to our laws. If the administration wants to arrest, detain, and/or deport the child, they’d have to demonstrate the child was here in violation of immigration law,  but how could they do so?

According to Cornell Law:

Infancy is an affirmative defense offered by a defendant in a criminal proceeding that the defendant did not have the mens rea necessary to be charged with the crime on account of their age. In other words, the defendant was too young to possess the capacity to understand the wrongfulness of their actions.

In other words, the child did not have the criminal intent to violate the law, and therefore hasn’t broken any law. Even without the infant defense,  the baby did not enter the country illegally, they did not cross the border to our country illegally, they did not overstay their visa illegally…they’re just here. As if by magic. And we have no laws on magic.

Still, if Trump wishes to up his deportation numbers, he could deport the children…to the country of their birth. We can live with this.

*Most bonkers, if you ignore that whole Gulf of America thing.

**The executive branch can declare an individual as persona non grata and ask them to leave the country, but this concept is based on the fact that they were originally welcomed to the country, and it gets more twisty from there.

Substack link for commenting

Categories
Photography Places

Silent Sunday Jan 19 2025

Categories
Social Media

Zuckerberg leaves us with one question

It wasn’t difficult to quit X-witter years ago, and I really haven’t missed it.

It also wasn’t difficult to quit Threads, and I’ve never been interested in Instagram.

So far, Bluesky isn’t evil and I hope it stays this way. And Mastodon’s purely distributed and open nature prevents Mordor from claiming it.

But Facebook…

Zuckerberg has always been a smarmy self-serving asshole of the first degree. Now, with his Trump ass-kissing to a humiliating degree, I, like many of you,  are left having to make a decision about staying or going.

After some thought, I decided I’m both staying and going.

The ways I’m staying

I co-admin for a group, New Savannah Town Square. The good thing about being admin for this group is I and the other co-admin are boss.

Zuckerberg can let all sorts of MAGA crap into Facebook, but that doesn’t mean they can come into our group. As I posted recently:

  • Lies will be blocked
  • Misinformation will be deleted
  • Bigots will be banned

Zuckerberg doesn’t care if he’s crawling in the dung heap but the rest of us do. I can’t control Facebook generally, but I can control what happens in this group.

In addition, I have friends I keep in contact with on Facebook. Currently, I’m trying to locate them in Mastodon and Bluesky and creating lists in both services so I can actually go out and see a feed with just my friends and not a lot else. It’s easier to keep in contact with folks using this approach than Facebook with all the ads and cruft.

BUT…not everyone is in Mastodon and Bluesky and I’m not willing to abandon my connections to them in Facebook. Yet.

The Ways I’m going

I’m keeping my posts private, no longer commenting on any posts other than those belonging to friends, and I will block with wild abandon and glee.

I won’t read the comments to posts of public officials. I learned this by reading the comments on Savannah Mayor Van Johnson’s posts (a lot of really nasty racists in this area). Frankly, I think every government and public official account should close comments to all their posts considering the filth coming their way. However, their choice. Mine is to not engage.

In addition, I will spend less time on Facebook, more time here at Burningbird. And for those folks who like posts in an email, I copy my Bb posts to Substack (which has its own issues but does provide rent-free commenting and email support).

However, just because I’m not closing down my Facebook account doesn’t mean I’m not keeping my bags packed, ready to bug out. There’s always that question in the back of my mind:

Should I stay or should I go?

Leave a comment at my Substack account

Categories
Doctors Government Health Insurance Just Shelley Medical Medicare Political

Well now, 2024 didn’t go quite as we planned

I was, and I was not, surprised by Trump’s re-election.

I knew there were too many men who would normally vote Democrat who balk at electing a women to be Commander-in-Chief; particularly a Black/Asian woman. I knew that thanks to the rebound from COVID that prices are high—aided and abetted by corporations using COVID as an excuse to squeeze even more profits from the masses. I also knew that the media had done a poor job of holding Trump accountable, while at the same time blowing up any and all perceived Democratic weakness.

Still, I was not emotionally or mentally prepared for Trump to win again. Worse, to actually get the popular vote, though he ended up with less than 50% of the vote.

So, OK. It is what it is. So what am I planning on doing about it?

Speak truth. Or, more comprehensively, tap into any and all changes reflected in Trump’s administration and be prepared to write about as many as possible. And to continue monitoring court cases, especially in courts tainted by Trump-appointed judges.

However, on the way to this writing goal, real life intruded. Suddenly, a month ago, I started getting a visual distortion in the center of my ‘good’ eye (the one that doesn’t have the cataract that needed removing).

I first saw my optometrist, since I had a previously scheduled appointment. She noted I needed cataract surgery but couldn’t tell, or hesitated to tell me, what was happening to my central vision. She referred me to an eye clinic.

When the clinic didn’t call by week’s end, I called up and said, this is something that can’t wait and I needed to come in. They got me in that afternoon.

Evidently, I have a hole in my macula (macular hole). This is a rare occurrence, impacting on 7.8 people per 100,000. It happens when the vitreous pulls aware from the retina—very common with older folk—but instead of pulling away cleanly, it rips a hole in the macula.

We caught it small and the usual procedure is to wait a few months to see if it closes back up naturally (unfortunately, unlikely to happen). In addition, I have to have cataracts in both eyes removed: the one because it’s pretty bad, the other because the retinal surgeon needs a clear view of my eye for retinal surgery (don’t ask for details on this one).

For now, I have my monitor set to 300% resolution, and I can read and write, but it’s not always easy. It should improve with the first cataract removal, but vision may be a challenge after surgery to fix the macula for a few months at least. We’ll have to see.

I still plan on watchdogging the Trump administration and the courts as much as possible, but I’m also adding in some coverage of our medical industry, particularly in Georgia. Knowledge is power, and it’s too easy to feel powerless when you’re hit with a serious medical condition.

Besides, there’s nothing more wonky than exploring the depths of Medicare, medicine, doctors, and health insurance. And I enjoy the wonky.