Dark Field Shells and Public Anger

Microscopic shell from Frinton beach, Dark field

Photographing microscopic sea shells and reaction to executive order on US extreme vetting. 

The foraminifera slide from yesterday had been drying for nearly a full day, the microscopic shells taken from Frinton sand barely visible to the naked eye. Using dark field illumination, they glowed under the microscope and the camera came out. It took a number of hours of photography and focus stacking to record 11 of the 12 shells on the slide. Each one unique, from the billions of millions on a beach, and each shell created by a single celled organism without a brain, fingers or tools.

Quite cheered up that there had been a significant reaction against President Trump's executive order on extreme screening of immigrants and banning of travelers from 9 Muslim majority countries. Demonstrations at several airports, legal challenges and messages from disgruntled nations pointing out that the system was a) discriminatory and b) affected a significant number of their citizens who might have dual nationality for one of the excluded countries. PM Theresa May held out criticising Trump directly initially, till the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson announced that US immigration order divisive and wrong.

My favorite quote on the worries about the executive order comes from Sir Mo Farah who originally came from Somalia:

“I am a British citizen who has lived in America for the past six years – working hard, contributing to society, paying my taxes and bringing up our four children in the place they now call home. Now, me and many others like me are being told that we may not be welcome. It’s deeply troubling that I will have to tell my children that Daddy might not be able to come home – to explain why the president has introduced a policy that comes from a place of ignorance and prejudice.

“I was welcomed into Britain from Somalia at eight years old and given the chance to succeed and realise my dreams. I have been proud to represent my country, win medals for the British people and receive the greatest honour of a knighthood. My story is an example of what can happen when you follow polices of compassion and understanding, not hate and isolation.”

Nigel Farage and UKIP, however, would like extreme vetting and similar restrictions imposed in the UK.

Clarification has now been obtained for the UK from US.  The 250,000 persons in UK with dual nationality will be permitted to travel to US, as long as not traveling directly from banned countries.