There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally. ― Don Miguel Ruiz

Welcome to the big column to end the week, “Caught My Eye” (CME)!

If you are a first-time visitor, welcome! CME is the once a week column that is posted here every Friday morning. This is when I take a look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week. There may be some sarcasm and pointed independent commentary so be warned!

Here are the topics that “Caught My Eye” this week:

• New Citizenship Rules
• James Comey
• Football Season
• One More Thing

NEW CITIZENSHIP RULES:

One of these days we might wake up and find that the Trump Administration has decided that only those who practice Christianity and are Caucasian can become U.S. citizens.

This week there were changes to how children born to U.S. government employees and military members overseas can become citizens.

Click HERE to read the USCIS factsheet.

The current policy, as explained by an article from Reuters says:

Under current policy, children of service members and other officials stationed abroad are considered to be “residing in” the United States, so they receive the same automatic citizenship as if they were born on U.S. soil. 

As for the new policy, Reuters reports:

But under a policy USCIS announced on Wednesday, effective Oct. 29, certain parents will be required to go through a formal application process seeking U.S. citizenship on their children’s behalf by their 18th birthday.
USCIS officials said the policy may affect children born to non-citizens serving in the military, as well as children adopted by U.S. citizens stationed abroad. The policy could also affect children born to two U.S. citizens who do not meet requirements for showing a physical presence in the United States, the officials said.

I was in the military and our military members serving overseas don’t need to jump through any more hoops when they have children. It seems the Trump Administration thinks that someone might game the system.

This is a silly rule change.

JAMES COMEY:

When former FBI Director James Comey announced that they were reopening the Clinton email investigation, he became a Donald Trump favorite. A few days later when the FBI decided not to prosecute Clinton, Comey fell from Trump’s grace.

He’s kind of been a target of Trump’s ever since then.

Today it was announced that the U.S. Justice Department has decided not to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey despite an internal investigation that found he improperly leaked information to the news media, the department’s internal watchdog said on Thursday. (Reuters)

So now we are back with Trump hating on Comey again, via Twitter:

Perhaps never in the history of our Country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated than James Comey in the just released Inspector General’s Report. He should be ashamed of himself! 

So in Comey’s professional life, he managed to piss off both Democrats and Republicans. Sure he made some missteps, but maybe the country needs someone who can piss off those on both sides of the fence while adhering to the rule of law.

There are still investigations that may harm Comey. I never trust nor do I respect “Inspector General” investigations. Although the people doing them are supposedly “independent,” they are still members of the organization.

In my opinion, the sad thing about this whole mess is that our U.S. Department of Justice has been politicized more under the Trump administration than any other. That’s not good for our country.

FOOTBALL SEASON:

It’s that time again – for the best sport to take center stage! From middle school to the NFL football is back! The NFL finished their preseason games last night. The NFL season kicks off (Thursday) September 5 with the Packers and Bears. The rest of the league plays Sunday and Monday. There are two games on the first Monday night of the season.(NFL.com)

On Saturday, August 31, at 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) all NFL teams will need to cut their rosters from 90 players to 53. If all 32 teams are carrying 90 players, when they cut their roster down to 53 that means almost 1,200 players will be without a job come Saturday night.

According to an article I read in the Sporting News, each NFL team can keep up to 10 players for their practice squad. The minimum salary for a practice squad player is $8,000 per week during the regular season and postseason – not a bad gig for being a practice dummy.

Don’t forget to put fresh batteries in your remote!

ONE MORE THING:

Yesterday I wrote about a New Hampshire woman named Wendy Auger, who is fighting the state Department of Motor Vehicles over her 15-year-old vanity license plate that shows a common parental phrase:

PB4WEGO

There’s good news – New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu said Wednesday he reached out to the Department of Motor Vehicles and “strongly urged them” to allow the Auger to keep the plate. (AP)

Who knows, maybe the Governor read The Western Word and decided to get involved. #Influence #Powerful

Have a great weekend!

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