I am in the Horowitz:Hurowitz “clan.” In terms of modern boundaries my recent ancestors immigrated to the USA from Latvia, Hungary, Ukraine and Russia. Some lived in England before heading west. Written records date back pretty far in my family and claim ties to France and Italy. DNA testing backs this up, but the contribution is small. All my great grandparents passed thru Ellis. Few of my immediate family go by the old name...most Americanized it to fit in better. Ellis Island did not do it. Military service in WW2 is what really Americanized us....and the GI Bill.

Hey, Stig. All my grandparents are Ukrainian. Two of them got off the boat at Ellis Island. The other two went first to Canada and then immigrated to Detroit.

What flavor(s) of Eastern Europe are you?

I married into an Italian family and it was great! The food, the parties, the cars, the dancing! I actually do have some Italian blood, but just a few drops, from the 15th Century and Northern at that. The rest of my ‘nome is mostly Eastern European. Most of my parent’s generation lived in NYC and changed the last name....so if somebody yelled out a greeting, 300 people didn’t turn their head...also good for business purposes.

How well has California handled vaccination? Ohio has made a hash of it by offering appointments before before they had enough vaccine. I had 4 cancelled appointments made thru my health care provider. My immediate family started barrage dialing every pharmacy and clinic in the county and I was tipped off to an open slot across town on one hr notice. That locked me into the booster shot one month later. I’m now considered fully immunized. Visited my gym for the first time in about a year. Very restricted, not worth doing for a while.

Then I read this:

"In 1920, England decided to send an army of thugs into Ireland..."

and felt a mild upchucking from the back of my throat, as if I'd quaffed too much beer too quickly. Excuse me - is there any military history in the world where the other side cannot be characterized as "an army of thugs"? Ditto, for paramilitaries and police forces? Wasn't the IRA in 1919 an "army of thugs", from the British and Unionist perspective?

Not defending the British presence in Ireland, long or short term. Just asking why not call US forces in any number of countries today an "army of thugs", or why not refer to the police forces of our various metropolitan areas as "armies of thugs". Because to the recipients of their gentle justice who happen to land on the wrong side of those armies' mission statements, that's just how they appear. Language, especially political language, has a funny habit of rounding about and biting one in the a--, so I advise more moderate language in general when it comes to talking about warfare and law enforcement's various sides.

Got the soda bread in the oven, the boiled dinner on the stove and Irish beers in the fridge.

Now if that leprechaun would just show me where his pot of gold is hidden. Strangely enough it's not raining in PDX, so no rainbow to guide me...