Mr. Beat: The Truth About Tariffs

 

[VIDEO] While I did a poor job of really getting at the issues of this election other than perhaps how I believed the Biden/Harris administration was running America and perhaps the economic and crime issues that many Americans are concerned about. Also the immigration issue which President-elect Donald Trump pledged to take on day one. The one thing Trump was on record discussing were on tariffs which is a tax on exports/imports.

We'd have to go back to the 2016 election on which 45th President Trump successfully ran on the idea of America first. Bringing back manufacturing jobs to America as opposed to allowing those jobs to be sent to those nations that offer cheaper labor. And Trump wasn't the only one who had some "protectionist" rhetoric and proved to say some of the same things that President Trump is talking about today.

"Edu-tuber" Mr. Beat looks at what is a tariff and the times they have been used and why tariffs generally aren't beneficial to those nations that issues them. One thing I could see with tariffs is that other countries - as noted in this video - could retaliate with their own tariffs. Also the idea that while goods for consumers are cheaper than ever before the concern could be how expensive these goods could become once a tariff could become issues.

Do you think President-elect Trump's usage of tariffs are a great idea or do you think they may prove problematic in the future?

Proposed designs for the Illinois state flag

 

[VIDEO] I have my own favorites, but what are yours? Some of these designs catch my eye, I'm sorry it's too late for me to submit my own design.

I think simplicity is key but in keeping with my idea for an Illinois Republic, the new state flag should be something of a Tri-Color like the French flag although not necessarily the same colors and not a mere replication.

Visit this site: www.ilsos.gov/stateflag

I wish I could see the other proposed designs that didn't make the top ten you will see at the link above.

The White House 1600 Sessions: Making the Presidential Seal

 

[VIDEO] Fascinating to see the White House Historical Association visit with the Institute of Heraldry to look at all the symbols of the presidency. From the seal, coat of arms, and the medals the President can issue to military personnel and deserving civilians.

An Illinois Republic

For the moment we're going back to the "Shedd School of Pol. Sci."

I've often flirting with the idea of posting a political platform of some sort. This time my goal is to think about longterm what my vision would be let's say for a particular position within the U.S. gov't. My attention in this case is turned to the State of Illinois.

It's almost fitting given that we've just gotten out of a Presidential Election and the President-elect (Donald J. Trump) is looking to make significant changes to the US Gov't. He even brought in an industrialist and a very vocal, articulate activist to head this new Department of Gov't Efficency (DOGE) to cut as much of the nat'l debt as possible.

Also consider that in this state we're less than two years away from the next Gubernatorial race and we don't yet know who's running. Could Gov. Pritzker run for a third term? We already know his vision since he's been in office since 2018. What could anyone who wants to run for Governor bring to the table once they throw their hat in the ring for 2026?

Well to be honest I'm a long way from thinking I can jump into that ring and be successful. I'm just a citizen and chances are I'm on no one's radar. A blog is something of a soapbox and also in sharing these ideas, the door is open for someone to take advantage of them.

Not worried about it, I have no crystal ball. Besides these are just theories. And I do look forward to sharing them with you all in the near future.

So let's start with this and give you a teaser.

What is my vision for an Illinois Republic?

Illinois was admitted to the Union on this day in 1818

 I almost missed out on marking this most important day for this state and the Governor's post on IG helped to remind me.

Resyndicated: Grover Cleveland and Donald Trump - The Only Double Presidents Compared

 

[VIDEO] I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

The YouTube channel Resyndicated (the voice over artist sounds a lot like former Republican nominee for Governor Darren Bailey) did a recent video discussing the historical notes of Grover Cleveland & Donald Trump. They were the only two men who were elected to two non-consecutive Presidents in American history.

Donald Trump achieved that feat earlier this month after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 Presidential race. Trump had earlier served from 2017 to 2021 and will become the 47th President in 2025.

For Grover Cleveland he served one term from 1885 to 1889. However, after losing the 1892 race he again one the race against the man who defeated him in 1892 - Benjamin Harrison - and won another term from 1893 to 1897.

Of course there were other candidates who not only sought their party's nomination for President multiple times although they weren't successful in their bids for the Presidency. However, there were other Presidents who had sought non-consecutive terms from Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, to Theodore Roosevelt. The most likely man to have been able to won another term as President was Roosevelt who ran again in 1912 though the winner of that election was ultimately Woodrow Wilson.

Anyway I hope you enjoy the history shared in this video.

Harlan Weekly Updates

 

[VIDEO] This caught my eye from John Marshall Harlan High School's YouTube channel.

We get a quick update about what's going on there and what this week's goals are and certainly schedule of events such as sporting events. We also see some staff get notice in this recent update.

I don't want to criticize what they're doing here it's great to see this YouTube channel get updated. I would like to see more people in these vids though granted we may not see students as much as we'd see staff. Perhaps in an earlier weekly update we know some of the staff and hear them speak.

Of course I'd like to see a lot more of what the students are doing. Perhaps something remarkable about a particular student such as their creativity or even their academic plans or even a science project. Perhaps such things were in earlier updates that I have yet to see.

I just view this as very text heavy and perhaps it would be OK if the public sees a lot more about what's going on with Harlan in 2024-25. These are just some suggestions I come up with.