My smallpox scar

     Smallpox inoculations began in the early 1700s.  Cotton Mather, the Puritan minister, promoted them.  At this time this was a dangerous practice, since the doctor would lance open a wound and put in scabs or even pus from a smallpox victim.  The procedure gave you smallpox, but usually a mild form.  Some people died, but not nearly as many as those who were not inoculated and caught the disease.

     Ben Franklin, concerned about the cost of the procedure, established a society to inoculate the poor for free.  Washington ordered his troops inoculated, and Jefferson inoculated himself and his children.

     In 1796 an English doctor named Jenner realized that people infected with cowpox, a different disease, were also immunized against smallpox, and those inoculations were not dangerous.  

     The UN and other organizations launched a world-wide effort to eradicate the disease, and in 1980 the World Health Organization announced that smallpox had been eliminated.  I got my immunization long before that .  My grandson doesn’t have a smallpox vaccination scar.  There’s no need.

     Measles has not been eradicated.  A kid just died from measles in Texas because his parents believed that Robert Kennedy, Jr., was correct in saying the vaccine was dangerous.  

    A majority of the United States Senate approved Robert Kennedy, Jr., to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  He was nominated by the current President of the United States.  A plurality of Americans voters elected that President.

Trump signs along the highway

Today I drove drove to the nearby town of Palmerton, about 12 miles away.  I saw at least five Trump yard signs or flags in front yards, and I couldn’t help but wonder what these people liked about Donald Trump:

  his renaming the Gulf of Mexico.

  his betrayal of Ukraine.

  the appointment of completely unqualified people to run the government.

  the continuous stream of lies.

  the tariffs.

  the discarded environmental rules.

  the price of eggs.

  voting with Russia at the UN.

  Elon Musk.

I’ll stop there, but you know I could continue in that vein.

These people are living in a bubble.  They either don’t know what is happening or are worshipping Trump in some kind of “cult of personality.”

At least the signs give us the location of the people who are a threat to America’s future.

The Little Red Card

The Little Red Cards are printed by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Jose, CA.  The cards are available in 19 languages including Spanish, Haitian Creole, Punjabi, Tagalog, and Korean.  The card lists rights found in the 5th and 4th amendments of the Bill of Rights.  If you are stopped by an ICE agent, you show him the card.  Don’t say anything.  Just show the card.

They have been very effective.  You can get them on line from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center or from the UFW Foundation.  You, of course, can print them on any kind of paper you want, but it is best to use red card stock.

The card is a fold over.  On the one side is the language of the immigrant; on the other side is the English translation.  Even if you are a citizen, if you look Mexican, or Asian, or Haitian, or even Ukrainian (in other words, if you live in the United States today), you should have one in your wallet.  Also the number of an immigration attorney.  Yes, it has come to this.

The U.S. votes with Russia and North Korea

I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on the efforts by the U.N. to end colonialism.  I was working on it in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Most of the French, British, Spanish, and Belgian colonies had become independent by the time I completed my research.  At that time Puerto Rico and Russian client states were not considered colonies.  The Portuguese colonies, Southern Rhodesia, and South West Africa were colonies and the main focus of U.N. efforts.

The idea that one country could simply seize territory from another sovereign country was an antiquated idea.  When Iraq did attempt to conquer Kuwait, a large coalition of countries joined together in a successful attempt to roll back the conquest.  The U.S. was a leader in that effort.

Now we are marking the third anniversary of the attempt by Russia to conquer Ukraine.  Ukraine introduced a resolution to condemn Russian’s aggression and demand Russia’s withdrawal.  93 counties voted in favor of the resolution.  65  countries, including many African countries, China, and India, abstained.  Only 18 U.N. members voted against the resolution.  Some I can’t understand.  Why the Marshall Islands, why Palau, why Eritrea or Mali?  I can, of course, understand Russia, Belarus, and North Korea opposing the resolution.

The one that I will never understand, the one that makes me ashamed, the one that belies the reason the U.N. was brought into being in San Francisco in 1945, the one that betrays every ideal of international law was the U.S. vote.   

Paddington goes to London

 When Aunt Lucy sends Paddington to London with a tag around his neck, he is understandably worried.  All the tag says is “Please take care of this bear.”

Aunt Lucy then tells him about the War.  “Thousands of children were sent away for safety, left at railway stations with tags around their necks, and unknown families took them in and loved them like their own.”

Aunt Lucy was referring to the “Kindertransport,” a rescue operation that brought thousands of Jewish children from Germany, sent by their families who, correctly, feared for their lives.  The program stopped when Hitler invaded Poland.

Now we have a President who would say Poland invaded Germany.  After all, that is what Hitler claimed.  And we have Elon Musk, who thinks it is ok to give a Nazi salute.  And we have Steve Bannon who goes to a conservative conference and grins and gives the Nazi salute.  And we have J.D. Vance who goes to Europe and praises fascist parties.

What will you do if you know undocumented immigrants in your neighborhood who have kids, and one of them asks if you will care for one of their children when they are deported?

If you haven’t seen the first Paddington movie, I don’t think I’m spoiling anything to tell you that Paddington did find a family to take him in.

The leopards are on the prowl

I will now quote an entire paragraph from an article by Patricia Mazzei in today’s New York Times, p. A13:

So far, few Venezuelans who voted for Mr. Trump are abandoning him.  Instead they are walking a fine line, supporting his fight against illegal immigration but contending that most Venezuelans with T.P.S. should not get caught up in it.  [T.P.S. is Temporary Protected Status, which allows certain immigrants from unstable countries to live and work in the U.S.]  Even though Mr. Trump derided programs like T.P.S. on the campaign trail, many Venezuelan America voters say they expected any crackdown to focus on unauthorized immigrants with criminal records.

I won’t say any more about that.

Going to hell in a high-speed handbasket

I knew it was going to be bad.  I knew our system of government could be changed forever.  What I didn’t know was how fast it would happen or how blatant it would be.

Supporting Russia over Ukraine and saying Ukraine started the war.

Laying off government employees protected under the rules of civil service.

Interfering with local policies, like New York’s congestion law.

Going after media outlets that are critical of the administration.

Allowing people without credentials to examine our personal files.

Insulting and threatening allies.

Using the military against American civilians.

I’ll stop there, but that list could be extended and extended again.

I also thought some of the members of his own party, some of his billionaire friends, even public opinion would limit his actions.  It is not happening.  It seems we live in a country full of weak and spineless people.