Get a load of this, this was uploaded to NBC Chicago's YouTube channel. A documentary about a movement for the rest of the state of Illinois to separate themselves from Cook County & Chicago. Legitimate gripes is for example continued control over Illinois by the politicians of the Chicago area.
Might be more to it than that certainly complaints about quality of life, taxes, even mentions of Chicago being less of a goldmine than a financial disaster. Perhaps the divide depicted in this documentary are between the rural and small towns of this state and a big city like Chicago. [VIDEO]
Question to be asked here, how can we make Illinois a better state?
[VIDEO] Another look at the Presidential running mates for 2024 U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) running with former Pres. Donald Trump vs. Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) running with Vice President Kamala Harris. This documentary looks at the evolution of both men.
It was reported when Sen. Vance became Trump's pick how he used to be very opposed to President Trump and then later he came around. And it was enough for him to be the VP running mate.
And then Walz as a school teacher and then later a congressman and Governor of Minnesota.
Is there anything you got from the story of both men?
[VIDEO] One goal I have at least for my own YouTube channel is to take a day trip to Springfield, ILL. At the least I do want to visit the Illinois State Capitol and perhaps one day visit the Illinois State Fair.
Stormy Kara who is another YouTuber I follow took Amtrak down there - one of the midwest regional services Amtrak offers - and then took a local bus to the state fair. He definitely has an opinion on the Sangamon Mass Transit District and how they do things. While Springfield is Illinois' state capital city it's still not the "metropolis" Chicago is.
You see what I did there.
Anyway, his visit to the state fair has sparked my interest though the only time I know about is when political events occur there as often covered by the Capitol Fax. Politicians from the Democrats to the Republicans will have their days there and of course what happens there will have consequences as far as elections. For example, there is a hotly contested race downstate going on between former 2022 GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey who hopes to take a congressional seat away from incumbent Republican Congressman Michael Bost.
Of course there will be more press if there is a Gubernatorial race as there was last year in 2022 and certainly in the Presidential race next year in 2024.
Regardless there is still plenty to do there at the state fair beyond politics. There are rides things to eat and of course agricultural exhibits which may well include a cow made of butter.
[VIDEO] One guilty pleasure for the last few months have been watching German in Venice. He's known for documenting the scenes around his native Los Angeles, Calif. It's a place I've only visited three times in my own life.
So he arrives on the scene of where deceased celebrities have made their marks. He did so most recently with Paul Reubens who played Pee Wee Herman - and children of the 1980s & 1990s would know who he is. He went to the Hospital where he passed away and he went to sits where Rueben had started performing as a stand-up comedian. He also went to a house where the film Pee Wee's Big Adventure was filmed.
So this video shares some of the sites of Bob Barker who passed away over the past weekend. So he went to Barker's home, visited his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, went to where the Bob Barker Studio is located. And as an aside as of June 2023 Barker's former game show The Price is Rightis moving to a new studio so they're no longer at Bob Barker Studio.
And of course he visits Barker's future grave. His wife Dorothy Jo Gideon had passed away in 1981 way too young and Barker himself lived another 40 years and about 26 of those years he was still hosting The Price is Right. He already had his headstone next to his late wife so as the GiV states it's weird that Barker would visit his late wife at the cemetary knowing that one day he himself would be buried there and was looking at his own headstone minus the date of his demise.
Either way just another person from my earliest memories of watching TV that has most recently passed away.
[VIDEO] Now wait a minute Ron DeSantis is the governor of Florida what is he doing in California? Well, I haven't really discussed the presidential race here on this blog and as soon as the midterms last year it began in earnest.
DeSantis announced via Twitter just last month where he'll compete against the 45th POTUS Donald Trump, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, US Senator Tim Scott, former radio host Larry Elder, former Vice President Mike Pence to name a few prominent names. We still have a long way between now and the primaries before we see how this race shakes out, Trump is considered the front runner to reclaim the presidency after claiming voter fraud after losing to the 46th and current POTUS Joe Biden.
I suppose I wonder why did Ron DeSantis visit San Francisco? I think of DeSantis as one of those culture warriors as he's taken strong stances at least against the idea of minors making very permanent decisions regarding transitioning genders or even allowing them to be educated at a very young age on LGBTQ+ issues (remember the line don't say gay).
He's also taken strong stances against illegal immigration and this does affect Chicago as many illegals from Texas especially has been sent via bus to the Chicago area. Most of these immigrants have been housed in temporary shelters in closed public schools or even in the district police stations here in our city. As you will see in this video he hits what he calls left-wing policies such as illegal immigration.
And of course in the beginning he shakes hands with San Francisco Police officers saying they need more support in dealing with the ramping crime which has caused many businesses there to leave the city. The issue of smash and grabs have been highlighted in the internet in recent years and combine that with there's very lenient prosecution and let's remember San Franciscans had recalled their district attorney in recent years.
IMHO, perhaps DeSantis went to California to highlight how his state works and how the Golden State doesn't. The question he tries to answer is to help cities like San Francisco what would his policies be at the federal level?
Now as I mention the other candidates in this race Donald Trump's strongest opponent is Gov. Ron DeSantis. I knew he could be a future presidential candidate and Trump is a target - he's got ongoing court cases in both New York and with the Federal Gov't. It's amazing that people are talking about him being under indictment or even in jail and still running for President.
Trump did run a strong country at least before the pandemic which I do think hurt him badly in 2020. Is Ron DeSantis a better alternative to deny Joe Biden a second term?
Time to bring back the Shedd School of Political Science.
[VIDEO] I didn't realize Cairo (Kay-ro) was at the southern most point of the State of Illinois. It's a city characterized as a ghost town and perhaps a sign of how well the rest of the state is doing compared to Chicago. The Chicagoland area is the most populous area of this state, that's where most of this state's people are.
It's also why in spite of what some in downstate might want that they can force Chicago out of Illinois.
Either way this was a very interesting recent visit to Cairo. In my recollection I've only passed through Cairo once and then it was on a Greyhound bus and I barely remember it. This town just seems so rural and almost in another state like Kentucky or even Mississippi. As we see here however there are some landmarks worth seeing.
It was interesting to see Lord Spoda visit some levies that protect the town from flooding by the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
[VIDEO] Wow! These young people can't answer questions about basic history, math, money, or even geography. Some of these aren't that hard.
How many stars are on the US flag?
How many states are in the US?
What is the capital of Chicago
What state is Utah located in?
How many dimes are in a dollar?
How many minutes are in a quarter of an hour?
If you travel 60 MPH how far do you travel in an hour? Honestly this would vex me.
Who fought in the Civil War?
What year was the US founded?
What countries border the US?
Name three countries.
How many seasons are there?
What is 3x3x3?
I think this is a representative samples of questions and many of them couldn't even come close to the right answer. Only one question on this list could someone adequately answer which is the seasons. Again not difficult questions, but these young people of varying ages - some of these surely are in high school and others much older - can't answer them.
What have our schools been teacher these young people? How does a geography question quickly become a history question? How can one girl easily identify the Kardashians instead of being able to answer these questions?
I see one young lady carrying around a pride flag but she has difficulty with these questions. I don't care if she's into that what I do care about is if she's adequately educated. I might care if she knows the value of the dollar she might use to buy things.
The implication here is to ask whether or not these young people are adequately prepared for the real world. It seems they're not....
[VIDEO] The above is the backstory to the documentary Being Blago from WLS-TV Chicago.
During the Holiday Season I finally had the opportunity to check out the Hulu docu-series about the 40th Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich. I had shared that this was coming over the past fall and I'm sure some have already made up their mind on this based upon the history and how Blago's story would be presented
To start, of course we get a rundown of how Blagojevich started becoming politically active. His father-in-law was a longtime Chicago Alderman Dick Mell who wanted him to run for a state house seat to compete with candidates of other local politicos. Blagojevich was a lawyer having worked for the Cook County State's Attorney. From the state legislature in Springfield he later became a congressman where he defeated a Republican incumbent in 1996.
Yes we're talking about a Chicago-centric congressional district. Republicans don't always win those districts unless a Democrat really fouls up. In the case of that Republican Michael Flanagan he defeated powerful Congressman Dan Rostenkowski who ran afoul of the law at that point.
Anyway winning his congressional seat and then successfully winning re-elected that allowed Blagojevich to make a run for Governor in 2002 and win!
I don't remember much was said about his governorship other than how it ended. What I can say is that it explored the family relationships with Blagojevich, his wife Patti, and Dick Mell. I do know that in the news we found out that the Governor basically turned on Dick Mell who helped his son-in-law make it to the dance. We know that Blagojevich came from working class roots and without some type of support would he ever have made it as Governor of one America's largests states?
Eventually we go to the day he got arrested by federal authorities on charges of corruption. He ultimately gets impeached and removed from office. All of this occurs after Barack Obama wins the Presidency, since Obama was a U.S. Senator for Illinois this surely was an embarrassment for him.
We know that there was some drama of some sort in the Blagojevich household and I can only imagine the stress the pressures. The man of the house is going to go to jail and of course the media scrutiny. The real drama might be more day-to-day like how will they afford the house note. We know that both Patti and Rod Blagojevich had overtime made their rounds on the talk circuit and the reality TV circuit. Rod himself made it onto the TV program of a future President of the United States Donald Trump.
Patti herself was on Survivor and made pleas on FOX News for President Trump to intervene in Blagojevich's case. And as you see Blago is free though his federal conviction wasn't wiped away however his 14-year sentence was commuted. So we see him make speeches at various events it seems there are those who view him as a politician who fights for the common man. We see him about to perform with a band, Rod Blagojevich and the Jailhouse Rockers. We see him getting ready to clean up after their dog does his business.
Blagojevich does a rather long winded Cameo to a client can't help but mention that he was wrongfully convicted of what politician have been doing for who knows how long. He was gearing up to challenge the judgement of the Illinois state senate who voted to remove him from office and bar him from holding any state office (he wants to challenge being barred from holding any state office). Patti his wife on the other hand had her fill of politics and wishes her husband would leave it alone.
I just have to add one job he was seen holding which was revealed in the first episode of this series is part of a logistics company. So at least he's found a job outside of the media, I recently saw him on an edition of th FOX News program Gutfeld. An odd fit but now it causes me to wonder.
I hate to dump on our former Governor because he already got it probably from his performance in public office to his impeachment and to his conviction. Although one thing was analyzed here is whether or not the public has had enough of him. It does seem as if he craves attention and he is clearly an engaging figure. I would say now he's just positioned himself as being against the power structure both his fellow Democrats and Republicans, though certainly his fellow Democrats. When he got released from federal custody he even referred to himself as a Trump-ocrat aligning himself with the man who commuted his sentence.
Overall I enjoyed watching this. It seemed a bit balanced however we get the other component of this story which is the man who had to go through this. The start of his political career to his fall. We see what he has been up to since he left federal custody, we also know his thoughts about being in federal custody. He hasn't really entirely left his more political personality aside. We see the impact on his family and we also know that Dick Mell didn't participate in this at all.
Perhaps you've seen this docuseries and have your own thoughts. Please share them.
I hope to do WBEZ's own podcast series about the Rod Blagojevich story.
This post is actually about our former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He was impeached and removed from office in 2009 because of a corruption scandal and later served time in federal prison until President Donald Trump commuted his sentence.
[VIDEO] 150 years ago a major fire raged across the city of Chicago and as you see the city not only rebuilt in the wake of that it expanded to the limits you see now.
There were some legends to this fire, for example Ms. O'Leary's cow kicked a lantern and the fire went out of control from there. You can see a monument to that at the city's fire academy near Jefferson and DeKoven two blocks north of Roosevelt Road. Hard to believe that in the 19th Century that area had farms with cows.
The site of Ms. O'Leary's farm
You see how this city has changed after 150 years....
[VIDEO] Today is the 21st anniversary of this lethal terrorist attack on U.S. soil. I saw it unfold live on TV and was listen to the radio when another plane hit the World Trade Center in New York. I was going to school in downtown Chicago at the time, and was headed for class on that day. The reaction of my professor when in class on that day was seemingly stunned and I went home early that day.
Had a class in the evening that I opted to not attend was no longer in the mood for it. I couldn't exactly process what happened it was truly stunning to find out that the World Trade Center were destroyed and many more were stuck in those buildings when they collapsed. It was also stunning that one plane hit the Pentagon in Virginia and another plane crash in a farm field in Pennsylvania.
In this video which Mr. Beat premiered on Friday he discusses the many events and responses as a result of Sept. 11, 2001. The "War on Terror", the Afghanistan campaign, the Patriot Act, etc. The War on Terror is still ongoing and to inject some world affairs onto this blog.
Afghanistan has made the news a lot as of late when Biden withdrew from that trouble nation last month. Depending on what news sources you follow you hear that American's and various Afghan allies were left behind over there amidst the chaos of the American withdrawal and the insurgency of an insurgent group known as the Taliban.
In late 2001, President George W. Bush announced the start of military operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan and in a short time perhaps a month or so American-led forces gained control of Afghan terrority. The Taliban never went away even as ultimately an American backed regime was put into place over Afghanistan. Of course there have been charges of corruption as far as this goes, and besides to install a regime doesn't always seem to go without a hitch.
Either way the Taliban never went away and had an ongoing insurgency against the American led forces there. And 20 years later they've regained control of the country as the President of the American backed regime left the nation. 20 years earlier the Taliban effectively had control over most of the Afghan nation fighting a civil war against the Northern Alliance who wanted to restore the original gov't.
The Taliban then as now seek to install a regime with a very strict adherence to Islamic law. Perhaps like their neighbors in Iran or even like Saudi Arabia. There are videos of Taliban authorities seemingly using whips against women in public.
And that's another thing the reason why we went to Afghanistan in the first place was because there was a connection with the group named Al-Qaida who were responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.A. Have you had enough of the history lesson?
[VIDEO] I have always been fascinated by the CTA L trains, especially the operations. Geoffrey Baer of WTTW goes a bit further and explores the various parts of Chicago that the L travels through. The city is very large and expansive with many places to visit not just downtown but various neighborhoods.
I've only recently visited Florida - Jacksonville more specifically - and perhaps I can find other places in the sunshine state. Perhaps see a taping of NXT in Orlando. Perhaps check out Miami or even Key West. And then there's yet another National Park to visit - the Everglades. Another national treasure to record on my YouTube channel.
This time around however, YouTuuba beats me to it sharing online three videos of his trip there. Yesterday I shared his visit to Ft. Zachary Taylor when he was in the Florida Keys.
This first video he takes an airboat ride, think a floating raft with a huge fan propelling it through the swamplands - because I think the Everglades is mostly swamps, however, it's just so much more. And these airboat rides aren't exactly in the national park itself however [VIDEO]
[VIDEO] On this day in 1903 the Wright Brothers flew the world's first airplane (heavier than air aircraft) at this site in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. See YouTuuba has brought you to yet another site that you had no idea existed, the Wright Bros National Memorial.
How many of us heard of the exploited of Orville and Wilbur Wright and the work that led them to invent the world's first airplane. They were known for their work on bicycles - well if I recall off hand that's what their work had been and it influenced their idea as far as how to fly a plane. Though they were able to hone their skills by working on printing presses, bicycles, motors, and other machines. They created their aircraft after a number of experiments at Kitty Hawk as you will hear as YouTuuba visits the exhibits there.
Also note that a replica of the Wright Bros. Wright Flyer aircraft is on display there although one of the original propellers from that aircraft is also there on display. The original Flyer is actually at the Smithsonian which is another place on the agenda.
I wonder how many aspiring pilots are reading this blog right now!
[VIDEO] I posted this to The Sixth Ward's YouTube channel earlier this month. It shows my visit back in 2014 to the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool in Lincoln Park. It's a great place within a busy metropolis to chill for a moment. You might forget you're not too far away from the busy Lake Shore Drive.
You're actually within the confines of a major public park and you're actually steps away from Lincoln Park Zoo of which this area was once a part. Of course this place fell into disrepair at one point in the past and then received the TLC it deserves in recent years.
It's one of the many things I would like to share on my YouTube channel since I liken usage of that service to taking you places you never knew existed. I expressed this in my plans to visit Springfield, Illinois in the near future - especially to see the Illinois General Assembly in action.
I have a list of places within the city I like to share with you all especially if you've never been.
Easy places to visit off the top of my head and hopefully once we get out of this pandemic. I'm thinking of other places to share without not just within Chicago or Illinois but around the nation as well. Because I like to share with you places I've visited and certainly to bring you places you've either never been or never knew existed.
So I hope you enjoy my presentation of the Caldwell Lily Pool on one summer day over six years ago.
Detroit is a tourist attraction for those who like to do urban explorations and me personally I wouldn't mind checkout out the sites of the automobile industry and of Motown Records. Regardless the Ford Museum is one place I would like to visit and ride around on the train around the complex. YouTuuba takes us there.
Here are the four videos of his excursion from earlier this summer and during a pandemic. YouTube will take you places you never knew existed or you knew existed but never had the chance to visit.
[VIDEO] Artistmac takes a walk in downtown weeks after the easing of stay-at-home orders and restrictions and after the unrest of the last weekend of May. We still see some buildings boarded up as he walks along State Street, however, it's come a long way from during the time of great restrictions. That and the craziness of the unrest.
One of the things I'd like to do for this blog is pay a visit to Springfield, Illinois. It was something of a goal to see Illinois state government in action. Although to be fair I've never had the chance to look at a government that actually does affect me which is Chicago city government. The only thing I've been able to do in Springfield so far is pass through.
I already announced in March that any potential plans to visit Springfield has been put on hold due to the coronavirus. Thankfully we're at a point now where restrictions have been eased to the point where people can dine outdoors for example. I want to note that instead of this ongoing pandemic the headless has been dominated by the unrest due to issues involved police brutality and misconduct towards minority citizens.
This has only served to strengthen my resolve to see some aspects of how at the very least state government works in Illinois. As was my plan even back in March, in the near future my goal is to visit Springfield, IL and document my experiences on the YouTube channel for The Sixth Ward.
On another note another thing I'd like to do in Springfield is to visit the Illinois State Fair. Although Chicago politically dominates Illinois, the rest of the state is largely agricultural. Unfortunately due to the ongoing concerns by state government with regards to the coronavirus, any state fairs have been cancelled for this year.
It's probably a blow to both parties since well in an election year this is a major event for this state's political establishment. However, because we're still within the limits of a pandemic regardless of where the numbers are as far as infections or deaths this unprecedented crisis has caused plenty of plans to change.
We’ve continued to listen to our epidemiologists and follow the data. Illinois is on the right track because all of you are #AllInIllinois. Let's keep it up!
[VIDEO] A protest in Lake County regarding the case of the late George Floyd. I'll allow artistmac to describe (SIC) what we're watching here.
On June 7, 2020, in light of the recent killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman, citzens of north suburban Lake County, IL participated in a peaceful protest, "Say His Name", along Route 83 from Antioch on the north to Rollins Road on the south.
Patrick Krook, one of the organizers, explains the inspiration for this protest.
[VIDEO] I wanted share this with you yesterday. Dan Mace is a filmmaker you might see in some of the videos by YouTuber Casey Neistat. He was the 67th case of the coronavirus in his native South Africa. Check out his experience.
