Wind. Falling trees. Executive orders.,

It’s a fine sunny but very windy day:here. Storm Éowyn is blowing stuff around but so far that’s all she’s doing … here at any rate. A tree has been blown down on my running route and there are lots of bits of tree all over the place but that seems to be all, for the time being at least.

Granddaughter Number One reports that she and her housemate decided to leave the bathroom window open after one of them showered late last night. They wanted to air the room a little. During the night Éowyn sneaked in through the window, tore down the shower curtain and generally created a bit of havoc!  So it goes.

Donald Trump has been signing executive orders on all sorts of matters. Here’s the reaction to one of them: 

“Judge blocks Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s executive order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional”.

US district judge John Coughenour ruled in the case brought by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, which argue the 14th amendment and supreme court case law have cemented birthright citizenship.

That executive order, which Trump signed on Monday after taking office, directs US agencies to refuse to recognise the citizenship of children born in the US if neither their mother nor father is a US citizen or legal permanent resident.

The executive order has already become the subject of multiple lawsuits, with civil rights groups and Democratic attorney’s general from 22 states calling it blatantly unconstitutional.”

Here’s a bit of background information on birthright citizenship: 

“As a concept, jus soli comes from English common law, which held centuries ago that people born in England were natural subjects.

But unrestricted birthright citizenship in the US that includes people of color - not must white Americans – derives from the US constitution. In 1857, the supreme court ruled that Black descendants of enslaved people could not be US citizens. To right this injustice, just over a decade later, the US ratified the 14th amendment.

The first line of the 14th amendment reads: “All persons 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.” Known as the Citizenship Clause, this phrase  - alongside a number of related statutes and regulations – establishes the modern basis for birthright citizenship.”

There you go!

I’ve just had lunch with an old friend, a Bruce Springsteen fan. She told me that she had heard that Bruce Springsteen and Robert de Niro were planning to leave the USA and maybe move to Canada, to Italy, to who knows where. So far there is no confirmation of this but now I am imagining a mass protest where lots of rich and famous folk move away!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!