The Witness movie of 1985 and the Amish people

When I saw this movie with Harrison Ford, I was about 14 years old. 

It was probably the most important trigger for my lasting interest in the Amish and Mennonite people living in America (here Lancaster county, Pennsylvania).

I was left speechless in disbelief about the simple life of the Amish people in America. I was very impressed! It was one of my motivations to immigrate to the US from Germany in 1995.

Let the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia ring! "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof"

The Amish and the Mennonites are an expression of American Exceptionalism! Or only in America!

Source [Unfortunately, neither Google nor Bing found better photos depicting this movie]

US Supreme Court said “No” to the State of New York’s attempt to force an Amish community to vaccinate their school-age children.

Good news! Bravo!

The Amish and Mennonite communities of America are one of the reasons for American Exceptionalism!

"... For religious reasons, the Amish educate their children in private Amish schools and have done so for hundreds of years without vaccinations.

And for over 50 years, New York accommodated their religious belief by granting religious exemptions from the State’s school vaccination requirements. But in 2019, the State repealed its religious exemption for vaccine mandates for school children.

In 2022, the State imposed catastrophic penalties on the Amish community in its attempt to force them to comply.

This Supreme Court decision sends a clear message to the government that it can no longer force parents to comply with policies that substantially interfere with their ability to raise their children according to their religious beliefs. ..."

First Liberty Institute

Image of the day

Wind blown! Two ladies with an immigrant background!

First lady Melania Trump, right, and second lady Usha Vance arrive at Albert J. Ellis Airport in Richlands, North Carolina, en route to Camp Lejeune, on Wednesday. Melania Trump, Usha Vance visit military families in North Carolina (Source)

The Amish Exception: The Story of Wisconsin v. Yoder (a famous US Supreme Court decision)

Recommendable! An example of American Exceptionalism!

Strange, this video did not even mention conscientious objector in the context of the Amish people! Nor did it mention the Quakers nor the Mennonites.

Make America Great Again (MAGA) requires the entire federal government to make the exclusive use of the International System of Units (SI) mandatory

It is very long overdue for the US to abandon their medieval measurement system! This is American Exceptionalism of the wrong kind!

Please President Trump make it happen! A legal immigrant to the US from Germany would be so much happier! My feet would go miles and miles for it to happen! 😊

E.g. have mercy on US scientists & engineers, who have to deal with this mess of dual measurement systems every day! I believe, there was at least one infamous deadly accident caused by the confusion of these two systems.

First Black Republican congresswoman Mia Love from Utah dies at 49

R.I.P.  Born to Haitian immigrant parents, living in an interracial marriage in the Mormon state. She embodied American exceptionalism.

When the 46th President, his weirdo Secretary Mayorkas and the FEMA fail, citizen volunteers step up using private Helicopters to Deliver 500,000 Pounds of Supplies to hurricane Helene Victims

This is part of the American Exceptionalism! Americans do not wait for government to act!

Private Helicopters Deliver 500,000 Pounds of Supplies to Helene Victims "Over half-a-million pounds of supplies have been delivered to western North Carolina by volunteers flying private helicopters after Hurricane Helene, local reports have said."

Bloomberg Philanthropies is donating $600 million to four historically Black medical schools

Good news! American greatness/exceptionalism is expressed by American generosity and benevolence!

"The amount Bloomberg Philanthropies is donating to four historically Black medical schools: Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C.; Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn.; Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta; and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science in L.A. "

The Wall Street Journal What's news

A female Sikh student at MIT, a Rhodes Scholar, and a U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer

American exceptionalism! What a combination! Amazing stuff!

We presume she was chosen on her merits and not because she checks the DEI boxes, but you never know in these times!

You wonder whether she also wears that little dagger (called a Kirpan) or does she grow her hair (called Kesh)? 😊 Memories of the great movie The English Patient!

"... While Singh was growing up in Southern California, her family instilled in her the value of service to one’s community and often volunteered at Sikh Gurdwara community kitchens and religious retreats. ..."

Jupneet Singh: Finding purpose through service | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jupneet Singh

Richard Henry Greene was the first Black graduate of Yale College in 1857 who went on to fight in the Civil War

American exceptionalism!

Question: Was Yale college back then considered an elite school?

History, found. | Features | Yale Alumni Magazine

Singin' in the Rain (Full Song/Dance - '52) - Gene Kelly

Enjoy! One of the greatest and most famous Broadway Musical scenes of all times! American exceptionalism!

The world’s most famous Black Latter-day Saint Gladys Knight honored with lifetime achievement award

I did not know or I forgot that Gladys Knight (Empress of Soul, better known with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips) was a Mormon!

Supreme poetic justice for alleged white supremacy! (Caution: irony)
Fine American exceptionalism!

"... Previously a Baptist and later a Catholic, in 1997 she was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, following her son and daughter leaving Catholicism to join. She had occasionally teased LDS president Gordon B. Hinckley, saying his flock needed to inject some "pep" into their music. ..."

The world’s most famous Black Latter-day Saint is honored

A popular oxymoron: Gun violence

Where does indoctrination and brainwashing begin? Why do the purveyors of propaganda and demagoguery use oxymorons like this one?

There is no such thing as "gun violence"! Cogito ergo sum!

It is human violence against other humans! Humans commit violence with all kinds of tools. A gun is only one of many tools. Criminals prefer the best tools available: they are usually cowards and not that stupid!

Every time you see or hear that oxymoron "gun violence" you should be immediately on high alert! 

Remember the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and why it was included as a priority: To prevent tyranny and to provide self defense!
If you forgot about American Exceptionalism you need to look no further for an example!

Will the American Experiment and Exceptionalism survive?

Given the recent and unprecedented government raid on the private residence of a former president and potential contender of the current (demented and senile) president in 2024 for no good reason, the question becomes more urgent and very relevant!

This outrageous scandal plus the endless previous and vicious unlawful attacks on President Trump by an unaccountable deep state affiliated with the Dimocratic Party have created a very serious situation. Apparently, the leadership of the Dimocratic Party is unwilling or unable to take appropriate action to restore the tenets of the U.S. Constitution and to uphold law and order to hold the perpetrators accountable!

Add to that, too many Americans have become dependent on the sweet poison of government handouts instead of private and volunteer initiatives!

There is talk about secession, civil war and the like! We the people of this great historical experiment have to come together! 

How the First American Meme Became an Embattled Symbol of Liberty: Don't tread on me!

Very recommendable!

Why did Phillis Wheatley disappear?

Very recommendable! The purchasers of this teenage slave, the presumably white Wheatley family of Boston, taught her how to read and write and encouraged her talent for poetry! 

"On a 1773 trip to London with her master's son, seeking publication of her work, Wheatley met prominent people who became patrons. The publication in London of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies. Figures such as George Washington praised her work. A few years later, African-American poet Jupiter Hammon praised her work in a poem of his own.

Wheatley was emancipated by her masters shortly after the publication of her book. ..." (Source)

Henry Flipper Rose From Slavery to Become West Point’s First Black Graduate—and a Staunch Anti-New Dealer by Lawrence Reed

Very recommendable! An extraordinary American!

"... His parents taught Henry and his four younger brothers to lift themselves up and never let anybody else get them down. This emphasis on hard work and character from an early age worked in every case. One brother became a successful farmer; another, a college president and bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church; another, a college professor; and the fourth, a physician. To the Flipper family, what we call “the American Dream” was as real and personal as it gets. ...
What did this man of sterling character do to prompt a court-martial by the Army? In 1881, he was falsely accused of embezzling funds while a quartermaster at Fort Davis, Texas. He was acquitted of that offense but found guilty of “conduct unbecoming an officer” and dismissed. Nearly a hundred years later, in 1976, the Army’s Board for the Correction of Military Records overturned the second, racially motivated charge and in 1999, Flipper was granted a posthumous presidential pardon. ...
Henry Flipper loved America. He was a first-rate scholar of history. He knew America didn’t invent slavery. He understood that while some Americans enslaved his parents, other Americans helped free them. One—a white Georgia Republican congressman named J. C. Freeman—judged Henry on his character and abilities and secured his appointment to West Point. ...

these words from Henry Flipper’s pen in 1936:

No civilized people is so ignorant of their Constitution and functioning of their government as the American people, and this ignorance runs all the way from the college graduate to the most illiterate clodhopper. In our schools…we are taught everything except the language we imagine we speak and the Constitution of our country. ...

Of America’s 32nd president, Flipper wrote,

Roosevelt has led the people, the unthinking element, to believe the federal government would take care of them under all circumstances, guarantee them jobs or take care of them when no jobs were to be had, thus lowering their morale.

His perspective on the size and role of the federal government was perhaps best distilled in this passage from one of his letters:

You see, I believe in the States. They existed long before the Federal government, which they themselves made. We do not want a strong central government in this country. History has shown the numberless evils of such government."

"... Flipper was the seventh African American to enter West Point and, as a member of the Class of 1877, was the first to graduate and be commissioned as an Army officer. This was quite an accomplishment since from 1870 to 1898, twelve African Americans entered the Academy and only six stayed longer than one semester. ..."

"... Throughout his life, Flipper was a prolific author, writing about scientific topics, the history of the Southwest, and his own experiences. In The Colored Cadet at West Point (1878) he describes his experiences at the military academy. In the posthumous Negro Frontiersman: The Western Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper (1963), he describes his life in Texas and Arizona after his discharge from the Army." (Source)

Henry Flipper Rose From Slavery to Become West Point’s First Black Graduate—and a Staunch Anti-New Dealer - Foundation for Economic Education Despite experiencing the bitter fruits of racism, he never gave up on America—or its Constitution.

The Legacy of Henry O. Flipper in the U.S. Army

Walter Williams: Why the Founders Did Not Want a Democracy

Very recommendable! He also explains very well why there is a 2nd Amendment and why it is perhaps the most important of all amendments!

George Washington and Cato

An example, why George Washington (together with his wife Martha) was called the indispensable man!

"In May 1778, Colonel William Bradford, Jr. wrote to his sister from Valley Forge: "The Camp could now afford you some entertainment: ... the Theatre is opened—Last Monday Cato was performed before a very numerous & splendid audience." At the end of the hard winter at Valley Forge, General George Washington defied a congressional ban on theatrical productions and entertained his men with a production of Joseph Addison's 1713 tragedy Cato.
Addison's play is a dramatization of the last days of the Roman Senator Marcus Porcius Cato (95-46 BCE), who for Addison served as an exemplar of republican virtue and opposition to tyranny. In the Roman Civil War that followed Caesar's famous crossing of the Rubicon in 49 BCE, the patrician Cato joined the senatorial opposition to Caesar's tyranny. After the defeat of Pompey in the Battle of Pharsalus (48 BCE), Cato continued to hold out against Caesar at Utica in northern Africa, where he found an ally in the Numidian King Juba I. After a decisive defeat in the Battle of Thapsus (46 BCE), Cato committed suicide, as was considered proper for an adherent of Stoic philosophy...."

Was George Washington's wife even present at this theatrical performance since she frequently visited him at his Winter encampments for extended periods. "... As the wife of the Commander-in-Chief, Martha Washington had more responsibility than the other wives. She was the General’s sounding board and closest confidant. She acted as his secretary and representative, copying letters and representing him at official functions. She comforted sick or wounded soldiers and sponsored social activities that brightened the darkness of the long winter days. Her presence not only fortified her husband but helped boost the morale of the entire camp. ..."

Cato · George Washington's Mount Vernon

Somali refugee running in Minnesota to unseat U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar

Bravo Shukri Abdullahi Abdirahman! Impressive candidate! Wish her good luck and success! The GOP version of diversity, equity, and inclusion!

Final word of the host: You are the American dream!