Stenson family history

 

Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a 1976 novel written by Alex Haley. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent, sold into slavery in Africa, and transported to North America; it follows his life and the lives of his descendants in the United States down to Haley. The release of the novel, combined with its hugely popular television adaptation, Roots (1977), led to a cultural sensation in the United States. The novel spent forty-six weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List, including twenty-two weeks at number one. The last seven chapters of the novel were later adapted in the form of a second miniseries, Roots: The Next Generations (1979). It stimulated interest in African American genealogy and an appreciation for African American history.

The book was originally described as "fiction", yet it sold in the non-fiction section of bookstores. Haley spent the last chapter of the book describing his research in archives and libraries to support his family's oral tradition with written records.

In recent years, there has been an effort made by certain groups to either cover up or change our shared history. Critical Race Theory has been a hot topic for the past couple of years, even though most people do not know what it is. If you need help, the quiz below can help.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2022/11/critical-race-theory-quiz.html

Florida seems to be the leader in the suppression of accurate information about our past. African-American studies was recently dropped as an AP because it was not considered to be a serious course of study.

Even more recently, the state is cancelling all social studies courses at 12 universities. The Republican governor’s hand-picked board of education voted in January, 2024 to replace the established course on the principles of sociology at its 12 public universities with its own US history curriculum, incorporating an “historically accurate account of America’s founding [and] the horrors of slavery”.

The board faced a backlash last summer for requiring public schools to teach that forced labor was beneficial to enslaved Black people because it taught them useful skills.

  

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/26/florida-sociology-classes-ron-desantis-condemned

Florida is also the home of Moms for Liberty, the group that is behind the recent increase in book bans

Because our mutual heritage is under attack, it’s important to know what are roots are.

I’m a descendent of both the Brennans and the Irish clans in Ireland. Although I will eventually consolidate more information about the Brennan side, this article will focus on the Stenson side, starting in the 1870’s. and continuing until today.

The records that all of us have of the Stenson lineage go back to 11/24/1882, when Martin Stenson was born in County Sligo to Edward Stenson. And Katherine Cavaghan. When Martin was 6 years old, both of his parents died from the plague, and some of his siblings perished also. If you wanted to go back further, the Genealogy center in Ireland can help. 

Times were tough for the Irish in the 19^th century. The Irish potato famine lasted from 1845 to 1852, and caused the death of one million Irish, and the forced emigration of at least another more. Based on the information I have, it appears that only Martin and an older sister were the only survivors of the six children in the family.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2022/12/god-bless-irish.html

If Martin could tell you his story today, it would sound a lot like the story below:

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2009/10/voice-from-grave.html

After working in the coal mines in England, Martin later joined a cousin in Minnesota, and started farming. In Minnesota, he met Amelia Karnick, who was born on 9/16/1885.They married in the fall of 1911, and lived long enough to celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary in 1961. Martin passed away in 1964, and Emilia passed away in 1969.

Their marriage produced 6 children (Grace, Edward, Mae, Fern, Mae and Bernard). Mae (my mother) was born on 10/23/13, and married her neighbor, Larry Brennan, on 9/2/1946. Their marriage produced Tom (8/28/37) and Mary (4/12/1950. Mary and Michael had 2 daughters (Alex and Lauren), who have three children between them

Tom and Sharon had two children (Brian and Kelly, which led to two grandchildren (Alexander and Saoirse)

As a young immigrant, Martin did not have a lot of money, so his first home with Emilia (more frequently known as Milly) was a rented farm just up the hill from the Mississippi river. The farm had no electricity or running water, but they managed to live there until the fall of 1929, when they borrowed some money from a relative so they would have room for their growing family. That home also did not have electricity or running water, but they both were added eventually.

You can view the larger house at the link below:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7431976391999907996/2849788827767552372

Before her marriage to Norbert Schiltgen, Grace was a school teacher. Eventually she saved up enough money to buy her parents a model T Ford, which was their first car.

The first child of their marriage died in infancy, but Grace and Norbie had 5 more children (Kathy, Jon, Jerome, Mary Jean, and Elizabeth (Betty)

Kathy married Dr. Frank Ogle, Jon married Maxine, Mary Jean married Jim Bobzien, and Betty married Mike Quayle.

Edward and Katy had no children, but I have two memories of him:

(1)          He always smoked White Owl cigars

(2)         At some point in the early 1960’s he took me and a few cousins to a Minnesota Twins game at original stadium, which is now the site of the Mall of America

Jerry and Kari live in Mendota Heights, and have 3 children, all boys, but no grandchildren. Although Jerry is now retired, he was one of the thousands of air traffic controllers who were fired by Ronald Reagan in 1981. Mike Quayle helped him get his job back

Mary Jean is a nurse, and lives in St Paul

Harold was marred twice, and both of this wives were named Bernie. The marriage of Harold and the former Bernie St. Marie produce five children (Steve, Mary, Joni, Kay, and Patrick. Patrick, the younger, was only six months old when his mom died of a brain aneurysm in 1963. She was 27 years old.

Betty and Mike have 2 children, but no grandchildren.

Fern and George had three children (Jim, Bob and Ann)

Jim married Eileen white, and they had three children

Bob married Sang, but they had no children

Ann married Mark Meyer, who sells insurance for State Farm.

Bernard married Loid Pribnow in 1955. Although they had no children, they had a fairy tale romance until Lois passed in 2011. Their story is posted below:

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2023/06/till-death-do-you-part.html

   Until today, I was not aware that was such a thing as a Stenson family crest - but one exists. For some reason, the music to "Batman" comes to mind almost immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

at what age should you stop learning?

 

When I was a college professor in China, I used to ask the students at what age they should stop learning.

The correct answer was always “88”.

In a way, that answer explains why I still work as a substitute teacher on basically a full-time basis.

Most of the time, there is little to do in the classroom after I take attendance and briefly discussing the assignment of the day. Occasionally, I’ll get a class that is a little rowdy, but that is actually pretty rate.

 

All but one of the schools that I go to provide with either a laptop or a desktop, which I use to take attendance. Having access to those tools allows to finish the papers I had not finished before going in, or to do research on topic that I want to do further research on.

After that, I have plenty of time to read books.

Beyond the fact that I remind the classes of the lesson for the day, I frequently teach them something beyond the lesson plan. Many times, I wound up learning something myself. Since I am already 76, it looks like I need to continue learning for another 12 years or so.

Yesterday, I monitored an ELL (English learner class). The assignment for the day was to read portions of a book titled “La Linea”, by Ann Jaramillo. It describes the struggles of a young Mexican boy and his sister who are trying to join their  parents in California, nearly 7 years after they were left alone in Mexico.

https://www.amazon.com/Linea-Novel-Ann-Jaramillo/dp/0312373546/ref=asc_df_0312373546&mcid=c064250f648a39ff86fbc7bd3449565c?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=79852087642129&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583451663528283&psc=1

 

 

It’s a fairly short book, so I put a reserve on it at the local highway.

It reminded me of “The Devil’s Highway”, a book by Luis Alberto Urrea that was assigned reading for another class I monitored a couple of years ago, since I also describes the struggles of immigrants trying to escape crime, and almost certain death, in their native country.

 

I’ve written extensively about immigration before. The most recent articles were published on November 8, 2023 and June 3, 2022.

 

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2023/11/what-do-experts-say-about-immigration.html

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2022/06/thoughts-on-border-crisis.html

Strangely enough, the main concern for Republican voters in Both Iowa and New Hampshire is immigration, even though both states are nowhere near the southern border.

There is a reason for that.

After the Supreme court decision of Dobbs v. Mississippi, numerous states have passed laws to make reproductive freedom EASIER. Since the majority of the American public feels that abortion should be more readily available, it’s a losing battle for the Republican party, who have lost virtually every battle about it since June of 2022.

 

In order to improve their chances against Joe Biden in November, they have seized on immigration as their weapon. Ironically, the folks who considers themselves Christian are the LEAST likely people to ACT as Christians.

 

There are NUMEROUS passages in the Bible that refer to immigrants, and some of them can be found in the link below:

https://www.christianity.com/christian-life/political-and-social-issues/what-does-the-bible-say-about-immigration.html

 

The Biden administration has done a better job on immigration that it is given credit for. In fact, his administration has sone a better job than the Trump administration did, but the Republicans are not interested in helping his reelection chances.

 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/01/23/opinion/biden-immigration-policies-2024-election/

 

FOX “news” has helped them by claiming that the border has been a crisis for at least three years.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-admin-facing-third-year-crisis-southern-border-uncertain-immigration-policies-2023

Both Greg Abbot and Ron DeSantis have instituted policies that are needlessly cruel, including installing razor wire near the Rio Grande, sending migrants to Minnesota in the winter without coats, or bussing them to Martha’s Vineyard or New York City without notifying local officials.

 

“La Linea” translates into “the line” but also refers to “the border”.

I’d recommend reading it.

 

 

 

 

Steve Benson

 

My favorite part of the paper (I read 7 on a daily basis) has been the cartoons, particularly the editorial cartoons.

 

Doonesbury has long been a favorite, but I also enjoy Bramhall (New York Daily News) and Mike Luckovich (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) and several others. 

https://www.gocomics.com/bill-bramhall

https://www.gocomics.com/mikeluckovich

When we moved to Arizona, I discovered Steve Benson, who spent most of his career with the Arizona Republic until parent company Gannett forced his layoff in 2019. At that point, he started to draw cartoons for the Freedom from Religion Foundation

Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Steve Benson to draw for FFRF - Freethought Today

 

Shortly after that, he then wound up with the Arizona Mirror, but he recently announced his retirement (he turned 70 on January 2)

 

https://www.azmirror.com/2024/01/10/after-more-than-40-years-we-say-a-loving-goodbye-to-steve-benson/

Benson was awarded the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, was a Pulitzer finalist in 1984, 1989, 1992, and 1994, and has received a variety of other awards.^[ He has served as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists^[ His cartoons have been collected in a number of books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Benson_(cartoonist)

Like many editorial cartoonists, he has generated some controversy over the years.

In the late 1980s he was at first a supporter, then a prominent critic, of Evan Mecham, the first Mormon to be elected governor of Arizona. Benson's criticism stirred controversy among Arizona's Mormon population, leading some LDS Church members to seek the intervention of Benson's grandfather in the matter. In the midst of the scandal, Governor Mecham telephoned Benson and told him to stop drawing critical cartoons about him, or his eternal soul would be in jeopardy. 

In 1993 Benson faced further controversy within the LDS Church, when he stated that his grandfather, then nearing his 94th birthday, was suffering from senility that was being concealed by church leadership, Later that year, Benson publicly left the church.

He has since become a critic of religious belief, appearing at Freedom From Religion Foundation's annual conventions and stating in its paper Freethought Today, "If, as the true believers claim, the word 'gospel' means good news, then the good news for me is that there is no gospel, other than what I can define for myself, by observation and conscience. As a freethinking human being, I have come not to favor or fear religion, but to face and fight it as an impediment to civilized advancement.

In 1997, a Benson cartoon used the image of a firefighter carrying a dead child to comment on the death sentence that had just been imposed on Oklahoma City bombing defendant Timothy McVeigh. Benson forcefully defended his work against some readers' contentions that the cartoon was insensitive.

In 1999, Benson released a political cartoon titled "Texas Bonfire Traditions." In the cartoon, he compared the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse to the Waco siege of 1993 and the murder of James Byrd Jr. in 1998. This prompted negative reactions and criticism from Texas A&M, and forced The Arizona Republic to remove the cartoon.

I wrote about cartoons a little more than 5 years ago, but my closing paragraph still applied today.

“We all receive far too much news on a daily basis, so it’s refreshing to note that we will always have the comic strips to take us in a more enjoyable direction, even it is only for a few minutes a day.”

 

So long, Steve.

We’ll miss you.

 

 

 

why the velveteen rabbit, and Calvin and Hobbes, are still relevant today

 

 

The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Toys Become Real) is a British children's book written by Margery Williams (also known as Margery Williams Bianco) and illustrated by William Nicholson. It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit's desire to become real through the love of his owner. The story was first published in Harper's Bazaar in 1921 featuring illustrations from Williams' daughter Pamela Bianco It was published as a book in 1922 and has been republished many times since.

The Velveteen Rabbit was Williams' first children's book. It has been awarded the IRA/CBC Children's Choice award. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association voted the book #28 on the "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children

Making inanimate objects real is a theme that still resonates today, and the best example of that is Calvin and Hobbes, a comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly described as "the last great newspaper comic", Calvin and Hobbes has enjoyed broad and enduring popularity, influence, and academic and philosophical interest.

Calvin and Hobbes follows the humorous antics of the title characters: Calvin, a precocious, mischievous, and adventurous six-year-old boy; and Hobbes, his sardonic stuffed tiger. Set in the contemporary suburban United States of the 1980s and 1990s, the strip depicts Calvin's frequent flights of fancy and friendship with Hobbes. It also examines Calvin's relationships with his long-suffering parents and with his classmates, especially his neighbor Susie Derkins. Hobbes's dual nature is a defining motif for the strip: to Calvin, Hobbes is a living anthropomorphic tiger, while all the other characters seem to see Hobbes as an inanimate stuffed toy—though Watterson has not clarified exactly how Hobbes is perceived by others. Though the series does not frequently mention specific political figures or ongoing events, it does explore broad issues like environmentalism, public education, and philosophical quandaries.

At the height of its popularity, Calvin and Hobbes was featured in over 2,400 newspapers worldwide. In 2010, reruns of the strip appeared in more than 50 countries, and nearly 45 million copies of the Calvin and Hobbes books had been sold worldwide

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_and_Hobbes

There is an official Calvin Hobbes on Facebook, but daily updates are available on GoComics:

https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2024/01/14

Why are the velveteen rabbit and Calvin and Hobbes relevant today?

 Artificial intelligence

For more than a decade, Apple was the stock market’s undisputed king. It first overtook Exxon Mobil as the world’s most valuable public company in 2011 and held the title almost without interruption.

But a transfer of power has begun.

On Friday, Microsoft surpassed Apple, claiming the crown after its market value surged by more than $1 trillion over the past year. Microsoft finished the day at $2.89 trillion, higher than Apple’s $2.87 trillion, according to Bloomberg.

The change is part of a reordering of the stock market that was set in motion by the advent of generative artificial intelligence. The technology, which can answer questions, create images and write code, has been heralded for its potential to disrupt businesses and create trillions of dollars in economic value.

When Apple replaced Exxon, it ushered in an era of tech supremacy. The values of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Google dwarfed former market leaders like Walmart, JPMorgan Chase and General Motors.

  

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/technology/microsoft-apple-most-valuable-company.html

Microsoft owns Bing, which provides the technology to use artificial intelligence to create images. As of today, Apple does not have the technology.

 

It may surprise you to know that Microsoft has rules for the use of artificial intelligence

While the use of Image Creator is governed by the Code of Conduct section of the Microsoft Services Agreement, this document provides another level of explanation about how the Code of Conduct applies within Image Creator.

By using Image Creator, you agree:

• Not to engage in activity that is harmful to you, or others. Do not attempt to create or share content that could be used to harass, bully, abuse, threaten, or intimidate other individuals, or otherwise cause harm to individuals, organizations, or society.
• Not to engage in activity that is harmful to Image Creator, including bot/scraping behaviors, technical attacks, excess usage, prompt-based manipulation, and other off-platform abuses.
• Not to engage in activity that violates the privacy of others. Do not attempt to create or share content that could violate the privacy of others, including disclosure of private information (sometimes known as "doxing"). Do not attempt to use Image Creator for facial identification, or identification verification purposes. Do not input photographs or video/audio recordings of others taken without their consent for the processing of an individual's biometric identifiers or biometric information.
• Not to engage in activity that is fraudulent, false, or misleading. Do not attempt to create or share content that could mislead or deceive others, including for example creation of disinformation, content enabling fraud, or deceptive impersonation.
• Not to infringe on the rights of others. Do not attempt to use Image Creator to infringe on others' legal rights, including intellectual property rights.
• Not to use the service to create or share inappropriate content or material. Bing does not permit the use of Image Creator to create or share adult content, violence or gore, hateful content, terrorism and violent extremist content, glorification of violence, child sexual exploitation or abuse material, or content that is otherwise disturbing or offensive.
• Not to do anything illegal. Your use of Image Creator must comply with applicable laws.

 

One of Brian’s high school friends just posted a picture of Donald Trump and Joe Biden having ice cream together. Although he used artificial intelligence to create the image, it was not created by Bing.

Using BING, I tried to get an image of Trump and Obama having a beer together, but it got rejected, but it DID paint me a picture of a 1932 Ford hot rod.

 

https://www.bing.com/new/termsofuseimagecreator#content-policy

 

Artists in various fields are rightly concerned about the threat posed by artificial intelligence.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/01/13/davos-ai-risk-finra/

 

Silicon Valley figures have long warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence. Now their anxiety has migrated to other halls of power: the legal system, global gatherings of business leaders and top Wall Street regulators.

 

In the past week, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the securities industry self-regulator, labeled AI an “emerging risk” and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, released a survey that concluded AI-fueled misinformation poses the biggest near-term threat to the global economy.

Those reports came just weeks after the Financial Stability Oversight Council in Washington said AI could result in “direct consumer harm” and Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), warned publicly of the threat to financial stability from numerous investment firms relying on similar AI models to make buy and sell decisions.

 

Dan Brown published a book titled “Origin” in 2017. The short version is that it is a novel about the powers of artificial intelligence, Like all good novels, it refers to places and things that actually exist.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_(Brown_novel)

 

The use of artificial intelligence it not going to go away, but it needs to be monitored carefully to that it does not get abused. For example, artificial intelligence can create a reasonably decent term paper in less than 20 minutes.

 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ai-can-write-a-passing-college-paper-in-20-minutes/

 

Do you think that artificial intelligence will replace humans entirely?

Get real, man.

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

Four Freedoms

 

 

FDR, considered by many historians to be one of our greatest presidents, gave a speech on this day in 1941.

https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2021/?page=overall

Officially, it was his state of the union speech, but it quickly became know as the Four Freedoms speech. If you click on the website below, you can find a link that will allow you to hear the entire speech.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms

 

The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Monday, January 6, 1941. In an address known as the Four Freedoms speech (technically the 1941 State of the Union address), he proposed four fundamental freedoms that people "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy:

1.     Freedom of speech

2.    Freedom of worship

3.    Freedom from want

4.    Freedom from fear

Roosevelt delivered his speech 11 months before the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that caused the United States to declare war on Japan, December 8, 1941. The State of the Union speech before Congress was largely about the national security of the United States and the threat to other democracies from world war. In the speech, he made a break with the long-held tradition of United States non-interventionism. He outlined the U.S. role in helping allies already engaged in warfare, especially Great Britain and China.

In that context, he summarized the values of democracy behind the bipartisan consensus on international involvement that existed at the time. A famous quote from the speech prefaces those values: "As men do not live by bread alone, they do not fight by armaments alone." In the second half of the speech, he lists the benefits of democracy, which include economic opportunity, employment, social security, and the promise of "adequate health care". The first two freedoms, of speech and religion, are protected by the First Amendment in the United States Constitution. His inclusion of the latter two freedoms went beyond the traditional Constitutional values protected by the U.S. Bill of Rights. Roosevelt endorsed a broader human right to economic security and anticipated what would become known decades later as the "human security" paradigm in studies of economic development. He also included the "freedom from fear" against national aggression and took it to the new United Nations he was setting up.

Inspired by FDR’s speech, the United Nations released the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages. The UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired, and paved the way for, the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties, applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels (all containing references to it in their preambles). 

In the 1930s many Americans, arguing that the involvement in World War I had been a mistake, were adamantly against continued intervention in European affairs. With the Neutrality Acts established after 1935, U.S. law banned the sale of armaments to countries that were at war and placed restrictions on travel with belligerent vessels.

When World War II began in September 1939, the neutrality laws were still in effect and ensured that no substantial support could be given to Britain and France. With the revision of the Neutrality Act in 1939, Roosevelt adopted a "methods-short-of-war policy" whereby supplies and armaments could be given to European Allies, provided no declaration of war could be made and no troops committed. By December 1940, Europe was largely at the mercy of Adolf Hitler and Germany's Nazi regime. With Germany's defeat of France in June 1940, Britain and its overseas Empire stood alone against the military alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Winston Churchill, as Prime Minister of Britain, called for Roosevelt and the United States to supply them with armaments in order to continue with the war effort.

The 1939 New York World's Fair had celebrated Four Freedoms – religion, speech, press, and assembly – and commissioned Leo Friedlander to create sculptures representing them. Mayor of New York City Fiorello La Guardia described the resulting statues as the "heart of the fair". Later Roosevelt would declare his own "Four Essential Freedoms" and call on Walter Russell to create a Four Freedoms Monument that was eventually dedicated at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

They also appeared on the reverse of the AM-lira, the Allied Military Currency note issue that was issued in Italy during WWII, by the Americans, that was in effect occupation currency, guaranteed by the American dollar.

The Four Freedoms Speech was given on January 6, 1941. Roosevelt's hope was to provide a rationale for why the United States should abandon the isolationist policies that emerged from World War I. In the address, Roosevelt critiqued Isolationism, saying: "No realistic American can expect from a dictator's peace international generosity, or return of true independence, or world disarmament, or freedom of expression, or freedom of religion–or even good business. Such a peace would bring no security for us or for our neighbors. "Those, who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

The speech coincided with the introduction of the Lend-Lease Act, which promoted Roosevelt's plan to become the "arsenal of democracy" and support the Allies (mainly the British) with much-needed supplies. Furthermore, the speech established what would become the ideological basis for America's involvement in World War II, all framed in terms of individual rights and liberties that are the hallmark of American politics.

 

Not long after the speech, Norman Rockwell illustrated the four freedoms for the covers of the Saturday Evening Post:

 

 

 

 

It's often been said that those who do not study history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

The “America First” policy actually originated in the 1850’s, but became more prominent again during the 1916 presidential race. It resurfaces again in the early days of WWII, and famed aviator Charles Lindbergh was one of its chief proponents.

In recent years, it was embraced by Donald Trump.

Following his election to the presidency, "America First" became the official foreign policy doctrine of the Trump administration.  It was a theme of Trump's inaugural address, and a Politico/Morning Consult poll released on January 25, 2017, stated that 65% of Americans responded positively to President Trump's "America First" inaugural message, with 39% viewing the speech as poor.

(George W. Bush, though was not impressed, and he said “that was some weird shit”)

Trump embraced American unilateralism abroad and introduced policies aimed at undermining transnational organizations such as the European Union, and often critiquing them on economic terms. In 2017, the administration proposed a federal budget for 2018 with both Make America Great Again and America First in its title, with the latter referencing its increases to military, homeland security, and veteran spending, cuts to spending that goes towards foreign countries, and 10-year objective of achieving a balanced budget

The administration branded its 2017 National Security Strategy of the U.S. as "an America First National Security Strategy". The introduction to that document reads "This National Security Strategy puts America first. An America First National Security Strategy is based on American principles, a clear-eyed assessment of U.S. interests, and a determination to tackle the challenges that we face. It is a strategy of principled realism that is guided by outcomes, not ideology.

Trump's use of the slogan was criticized by some for carrying comparisons to the America First Committee; however, Trump denied being an isolationist, and said, "I like the expression."^] A number of scholars (such as Deborah Dash Moore), commentators (such as Bill Kristol) and Jewish organizations (including the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Council for Public Affairs) criticized Trump's use of the slogan because of its historical association with nativism and antisemitism. Others have argued that Trump was never a non-interventionist. Columnist Daniel Larison from The American Conservative wrote that "Trump was quick to denounce previous wars as disasters, but his complaint about these wars was that the U.S. wasn't 'getting' anything tangible from them. He didn't see anything wrong in attacking other countries, but lamented that the U.S. didn't 'take' their resources" and that "he never called for an end to the wars that were still ongoing, but talked only about 'winning' them."

Trump's "America First" policy has been described as a major factor in the perceived increase in the international isolation of the U.S. in the late 2010s, and various media critics such as The New Yorker have described the policy as "America Alone".

 

The Vietnam War lasted from 1954 until 1975, but active combat troops were not introduced until 1965.The Vietnam Veterans wall in D.C. has 57,939 names etched into the granite, but recent additions now total roughly 58,200. The war in Afghanistan lasted from 2001 to 2021, and result in the deaths of 2401 Americans.

In terms of dollars, the Vietnam War cost $168 billion (I trillion in today’s dollars) and the war in Afghanistan, and the world-wide war on terror, resulted in costs of $8 trillion.

The lessons learned from these wars is that America can’t wage wars on its own, and needs to rely on its allies, precisely why our NATO partnerships are more important than ever.

Above all, America needs to be a leader in diplomacy in current and future conflict, which is why Anthony Blinken has been making a lot of trips to the middle east lately. Although U.S. money and weapons are vital for both Israel and Ukraine, a peaceful outcome for both conflicts does not mean the sacrifice of American lives.

During his recent speech near Valley Forge, president Biden said this: “Today, I make this sacred pledge to you,” he said. “The defense, protection, and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency.”

What the GOP  extremists in the House of Representatives fail to understand is that supporting the democracy in Ukraine also helps strengthen our democracy in American and other countries.

Today, our freedom of speech is threatened by those who want to ban books and cut funding to our universities.

Our freedom to worship is threatened by Chrisitan Nationalists, who want to impose THEIR beliefs on the rest of us (Speaker of the House Mike Johnson recently gave a speech to a Christian nationalist group)

Freedom from want has been enhanced by the Biden admonition, which has rebuilt our economy from the bottom up, not the top down, which has made our economy the strongest in the world.

FDR said that “we have nothing to feat buy fear itself”. Freedom from fear has come, not from blaming others (as Trump did) but from working hard to ensure that ALL of us can participate in our democracy.