Living in the U.S.A.

That’s the title of a book I found in the shed tonight.  I probably mentioned this in an earlier post, but I am “deaccessioning” my library.  I’m finding books on the shelves I didn’t even know I owned.  Tonight I came across Living in the U.S.A. by  Alison R. Lanier, first published in 1973 and revised by Charles William Gay for an edition published in 1996.

It is a guide for immigrants, and it has chapter such as “Some Dominant American Attitudes,” “Doing Business in the United States,” and “Manners and Courtesies in Social Life.”  The book is completely useless.

Today I had a conversation with the mother of an immigration lawyer.  He told her there was no path to citizenship at the present time.  An attorney can’t even bring a client along to court; he or she might get arrested.  

I suppose Living in the U.S.A. might have some historical value, like a repair guide for a ’57 Chevy or an etiquette book for teenagers in the 1920s.  

Maybe I’ll keep it.

Cotton Mather and Smallpox

Cotton Mather (1663-1728) was a Puritan minister in Massachusetts.  He read about experiments with smallpox inoculation in a publication from Britain in 1716.  That, and information from his slave who had been inoculated in West Africa, convinced him to advocate for inoculation.  

At that time it was a dangerous procedure; you were exposed to live infectious smallpox matter.  (I won’t describe the “matter.”)  Some of the inoculated people did die, but far fewer than the people who were not inoculated.

I have been unable to find any evidence that the inoculated Bostonians became autistic.

American Death Count Drops in Iran War

The Pentagon announced that the death toll of American service members in the Iran War had dropped from 18 to 14.  Four of these service members had died in action during one of the “cease fires,” so they don’t count as war dead, because we weren’t technically at war.

The injured count is over 100, but the Pentagon isn’t releasing those figures.  Pentagon spokespeople say they are obligated to release figures of deaths, but not injuries.

See Helene Cooper, Lara Jakes, and John Ismay, Pentagon Abruptly Lowers Online Tally of Service Members Killed in the Iran War,” New York Times, (25 July 2026), p. A-6.

Movie Night

I’m taking the night off.  First I watched “The Magnificent Seven” with my cousin’s family.  It was based on a Kurosawa film “The Seven SamuraI.”   Now I’d watching “Ran,” a Kurosawa film based sort of on “Macbeth.”  I needed a break.

Turning Point and Domestic Violence

Today I attended a meeting of the Carbon County Commissioners.  It was a fairly routine meeting; Item #4 on the agenda was correspondence.  This caught my eye:

A letter was received from Turning Point of Lehigh Valley informing the County Turning Point of Lehigh Valley, Inc. has been awarded the contract through the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV) to provide comprehensive domestic violence services for Carbon County residents.

Turning Point is a right-wing organization.  It believes women should have lots of babies and be “trad wives.”  In a recent fundraising letter the American flag was contrasted with the “Pride Flag,” which was presented as unpatriotic.  The letter went on to decry the lack of American flags flying for the 250th anniversary.

And the reason...?

That’s because the Left worked hard to hijack Main Street American when they imported millions of illegal immigrants to “fundamentally change” [sic] our country.    

They worked even harder to hijack the minds of millions of young people.  

My question:  Are we paying public funds to this group?  This bigoted group that is right now trying to set up chapters in American high schools to preach the hateful ideology of Charlie Kirk?  This needs to be brought into the public spotlight. 

Who will take care of our dementia patients?

This was so predictable, and yes, it affects my own family.  Who takes care of our elderly?  Who staffs facilities for “memory care,” as it is euphemistically called?  Who serves the food in those facilities, cleans the bathrooms, and empties the bedpans?  And does all those tasks with kindness and for little money.

You know the answers.  Immigrants.  The people being deported.  

Check out the front page of today’s Times.  The article is by Miriam Jordan and is titled “Migrant Policy Creating Crisis for Elder Care.”  I hope you don’t have any relatives or friends who are affected.  I do.

Targeting your enemy's mom

A favorite tactic of dictators is to threaten the families of dissidents.  You yourself might be brave and even willing to die for the cause, but are you willing to sacrifice your mom and dad or your children?

So, when the New York Times reporters wrote about leaks in the security system, the federal government did not immediately question federal employees to find the whistleblowers, which is what the feds usually do, but they went after the reporters.  That is wrong on many levels.  We have a free press.  Well, we once had a free press.  

And they did more.  They went after a reporter’s mom and another relative.  And it was the FBI that was sent to investigate.  With guns on hips.  

This is where we live now.

ERRATA.  Last night I posted a blurb on an article about the decline of reading in the United States.  I said the article was in the latest issue of Harpers.   It was in the latest issue of The Atlantic.