Re: The World

To be honest, I'm more worried about getting in and out of the US. Ian has his ESTA, but you can be turned away with one. He's concerned that something he said on social media would flag him up. I'll go through the long queues with him rather than taking the fast track for citizens, and I'll stay quiet unless necessary.

Remember that, in 2004, because he had an expired Iranian work visa in his passport, he was stopped three times leaving Newark Airport -- when we checked in, at X-ray, and at the gate. When I asked, as a US citizen, why my British husband (with then-blond hair and still blue eyes) was being interrogated again. The response: "How many times has your husband been to Iran, Ma'am?" The answer was once -- for work -- in a plant operated by the South Koreans with an international work force, as I recall. And I reminded the man that it wasn't illegal for UK citizens to travel to Iran.

I also remember checking on my mother in late October 2001 during half term and how surreal the US seemed then. I fear it's going to be even more surreal this time. :(

Ellen



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Ellen Rawson
ellenr@fastmail.com

On Sun, 23 Feb 2025, at 5:08 PM, Katrina Knight wrote:
> I don't know what the British media is saying, but if you're
> asking about it I think it is safe to say they're exagerating.
> You're not trans or brown-skinned so you're not going to be
> targetted by individuals or government authorities. And you're
> not pregnant so you probably won't die if you need medical care.
>
>
> I live in a very red part of a very blue state. Nothing bad is
> happening to anyone on a person-to-person level. People arem't
> attacking each other or anything like that, at least not any
> more than normal. It is all at the government level. The local
> governments are rushing to do all the awful things they've been
> wanting to do. Franklin County, on the other side of the river
> from me, is trying to demand that the local health department
> stop offering covid vaccines. One of the local school districts
> wants to disobey state law, and the instructions send out by the
> state education department, about not cooperating with ICE when
> it comes to immigrant children. This kind of crap doesn't really
> affect white, English-speaking visitors though.
>
> At some point, things are going to start falling apart if the
> federal funds that have been blocked don't go here they should
> be going, but a couple months isn't enough for the highways to
> fall apart or anything like that.
>
> I do strongly recommend making sure your vaccinations are all
> current and taking reasonable precautions since there are
> outbreaks of diseases (measles, TB, and bird flu are the ones I
> know about) that the federal government is trying to hide.
>
> At 06:24 AM 2/23/2025 Ellen Rawson wrote:
>>No worries -- I was thinking more Boston area. :)
>>
>>But about the world... how scary is the US right now? Or is the
>>British media exaggerating?
>>
>>Ellen
>
> --
> Katrina Knight
> kknight@fastmail.fm
>
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