This livestream has been going on since about 7:00 AM Saturday morning on America's Semiquincentennial or 250th Birthday. I publish this post on the 4th of July aka Independence Day.
As I post the livestream Mr. Beat had arrived on the 1900s. He's going decade by decade.
Check it out here at your leisure [VIDEO]
Happy 4th to you all!
Education innovator Graham Frey, known for his work with Primer micro-schools and previously Alpha School, appeared on a recent Dad Saves America episode titled “Falling Behind” Is Public School Propaganda. In a wide-ranging discussion, Frey challenges conventional thinking about what schools should prioritize—including the common goal of producing "well-rounded" students.
Frey poses a key question for parents evaluating educational options (around the 1hr 30 min mark): "Do I want them to be really well-rounded? Do I want them to be specialized?"
This isn't a blanket rejection of breadth, but a call to make intentional choices rather than defaulting to the idea that every child must excel equally across academics, sports, arts, extracurriculars, and more.
I had to attributed this to another YouTube channel - No Cap Fund - because I don't want to see this blog go on a Mr. Beat overload. He had talked about this in the past and have one video to show about it.
Mr. Beat wants to uncap the number of members in the US House of Representatives and he goes through the history of apportionment of representatives. Uncapping the number of representatives doesn't involve a constitutional amendment, it involves an act of Congress.
Mr. Beat has been attempting to get his congressman to take a stand on this issue although it appears a candidate for Congress is willing to take this issue on. And also it appears an Illinois Congresman Sean Casten seems ready to take on this issue as discussed in a live stream.
Here's the most recent video on this topic that Mr. Beat made [VIDEO]
My position on this is ambiguous.
I can believe as stated in this video that polarization is a very serious thing that's worth putting a damper on. Does this necessarily mean more representatives? Does this mean a far more ideologically diverse representatives?
I do like the idea of bringing down the number of people in each district. Say perhaps instead of the 800K population per district we instead create more districts that perhaps could be about half that or less.
Another thing noted is that if you mess with the number of representatives, you may also mess with the Electoral College count - now that's in the constitution (electoral votes are no. of representatives + Senators). Perhaps this means a recalcuation of the Electoral College math.
How could I sell this for say minority districts perhaps this might mean it would be easier in this state at least to create districts for Hispanics, Blacks, and others depending on where they may reside. I want to eliminate gerrymandering and who knows if this may address that. However, the states control drawing congressional maps more than the federal gov't does.
I think this is worth a discussion as opposed to killing this because reflexively we may decide there shouldn't be more politicians. Should we have more than 435 representatives? What do you think?
[VIDEO] This was sort discussed in a previous video shared here on this blog by Spectacles. The common thread is basically the unrest and the inequalities of wealth.
Do you agree or disagree with the assertions of Mr. Beat & Spectacles?
I found this video on Sunday, and before that I saw the collab with Mr. Beat. Well both videos are actually collabs, however, the Mr. Beat video will be shared here at a later time.
Wow, I haven't posted here since November 2025. It's not January 2025.
I wanted to share this video from Mr. Beat talking about the potentially 7 party systems. We're living in the 7th party system which started with the 2016 race and the election of Donald Trump.
The six other party systems or political eras are established based on the issues of the day and the shifting positions of the major parties. And even then the actually parties sometimes haven't always been consistent.
Check it out [VIDEO]
I saw a YouTube short with Mr. Beat where he shows himself returning to his old high school to open his own time capsule dating to his senior year. And it was amazing to see the look on his face, when he found the time capsule and all the things him and his classmates put into it.
Then I got to thinking what would I have put in my own time capsule. Well my own senior year of high school had long passed so I can only speculate. Assuming no other classmates were involved with this, I'm sure I'd leave in it stuff that I was most interested in.
Mostly popular culture I was into such as music, TV, movies, etc. Perhaps a written note (ideally printed from a computer certainly written by hand too). Perhaps a floppy disk as Mr. Beat left one in his time capsule - what would be on it would be a good question and who knew diskettes were on the way out a decade later. That would be the start but I don't want it to be as unwieldy as the one opened in Seward, Nebraska as you see depicted in Mr. Beat's video below. [VIDEO]
Another great video on gerrymandering. While Geography King does look at Illinois' Congressional map and other states such as Kentucky & Louisiana to see how their maps appear to be drawn to insure political power.
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| Current Illinois Congressional Districts |
One example he gives is looking at the neighboring state of Indiana. That state's congressional map is actually drawn by a computer. However, he uses this site https://davesredistricting.org/ to gerrymander Indiana's districts insuring that no Democrats can get elected to Congress.
I suppose that's the thing about gerrymandering. You have to know which areas will vote for whom. Cities generally will tilt Democrat while rural areas will generally tilt Republican. Indiana is basically a red state thought with blue or liberal enclaves such as Indianapolis in addition to areas like Gary, Lafayette, or even Bloomington - the latter two are college towns.
The trick is to dilute their strength and basically drown them out with those areas that are solidly Republican or conservative. And if nothing else create a district that is competitive where a Democrat would have to fight to win that district.
That's the thing about gerrymandering, as he puts it the politician chooses his voters and not the other way around.
Check out his almost hour long presentation [VIDEO]
Gerrymandering has been in the news lately. Texas recently approved a mid-decade redistricting plan thought not without controversy and states like Illinois and California are looking at creating their own plan. The ongoing controversy is partisan in practice with Republicans assuring they remain in control of the house while Democrats want to insure their own political power.
With this said when you watch the video below, consider this video I posted last year from Mr. Beat where there is an argument to expand the US House of Representatives. Let's add to this the possibility of using proportional representation that insures minority parties doesn't get shut out.
Most other nations on the globe either elect their legislatures this way or at least form their governments via proportional representation. And with this to work to determine members of the US House of Representatives what might help this along is expanding the members of the House as Mr. Beat discusses.
First watch the video [VIDEO]
Thomas Jefferson was one of America's Founding Fathers and our 3rd P.O.T.U.S. As you see in this recent Mr. Beat video he was a man of contradictions. Let's start with his apparent opposition to slavery and yet he held slaves.
What's mentioned here is his relationship with one of his slaves Sally Hemmings - with whom he had many children. Because he was her owner this fact should be very shocking and as Mr. Beat points out we don't fully know if this "relationship" was consensual.
At his death, he still didn't free Ms. Sally, his daughter had to free her - well emancipate her.
Still, his many ideas aside from that main contradiction provide the philosophical basis for the American Republic. And one thing noted in this video was in 1800 he chose to wear his regular clothes to his inauguration. He was the first President to attempt to connect with the common man in America. Even though the first president to be elected by the common man was another controversial President Andrew Jackson.
Check out Mr. Beat's video. [VIDEO]
Also it should be noted that Mr. Beat filmed this video at Jefferson's country estate, Monticello. It's now a museum which is available for tours outside of Charlottesville, Virginia.
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| Check out Voyager 1's position here. |
Voyager 1 was launched on Sept 5, 1977 and is currently still sending data back to Earth even in what is called interstellar space. It is the further man-made object away from Earth.
Voyager 1 is further away from Earth than its sister probe Voyager 2 (launched August 20, 1977) and also Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 (currently derelict in space though also far away from Earth).
Both of the Voyager probes have golden records which I have linked to on this blog in the past. They were designed to be found by any extraterrestrial species that may run across these probes. The records are like time capsules and who knows they may well outlast human civilizations.
Of course here's the deal. While Voyager 1 at least has left the heliopause which is the boundary between the solar wind of our Sun and the plasma of other stars in our galaxy. So whatever instruments the probes still have and certainly whatever energy it has remaining has been used to collect data outside of our solar system.
Beyond the heliopause is a region known as the Oort cloud and Voyager 1 is expected to reach that area of space in about 300 years. Of course a lot can happen in that time, to Earth especially. And as a huge science fiction fan, I would expect that humanity could beat Voyager 1 to the Oort cloud well before that.
And it would take about 30,000 years to for the probe to pass through it. Again, it's possible that we may beat that probe through that area of space. That is unless "warp drive" - a future faster than light propulsion system actually being studied by physicists - becomes a reality and bridges the vast distances within our galaxy.
As far as any extraterrestrial visitors. Who knows? Perhaps the idea of a UFO - and thus alien visitors - are a reality. And it's also possible that any other advanced lifeforms like ourselves - humanity - might not have yet figured out how to bridge the vast distances in our galaxy as of yet. Who knows if as long as the Voyagers remain out there if they will encounter any other life forms.
When was the last time this blog had a look at what's going on with the Chicago Public Schools. The Dept. of Education under 47th President Donald J. Trump is having a look at CPS' "Black Student Success Plan" citing the possibility that it is discriminatory under the Civil Rights Act.
From the Chicago Tribune:
The federal government launched an investigation into Chicago Public Schools on Tuesday related to allegations of discrimination in the district’s Black Student Success Plan.
The plan to improve the educational experiences and outcomes of the district’s Black students was solidified in 2021 legislation that remade Chicago’s school board into an elected body, following decades of mayoral appointees. Activists who championed it argued that Black students were uniquely positioned to fail because of longstanding racial inequalities in Chicago and the result of historic and ongoing discrimination in the United States.
But students of all races struggle academically in Chicago, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
“Rather than address its record honestly, CPS seeks to allocate additional resources to favored students on the basis of race,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, is quoted as saying in the release.
It cites a complaint by Parents Defending Education, a group with a history of interrogating race-based policies. That group’s complaint alleges that the district’s Black Student Success Plan “violates Title VI by focusing on remedial measures only for Black students.” Parents Defending Education also filed a complaint against a similar initiative in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The group’s complaint against CPS acknowledges that the district had organized dozens of meetings with community members to implement the plan. The complaint also includes a graphic from early December 2023 on a slide at a community meeting that showed 6 percent of Black students read at a mid- or above-grade level. But the graphic shows Latino students “face even greater difficulties: (five) percent are (at) mid or above grade level.”
Part of a greater effort by the 2nd Trump Administration to fight DEI policies. Fighting against Diversity Equity and Inclusion policies has been one initiative undertaken by the new administration. Well not so new since we're past the 100 day mark.
I suppose for this I'm torn. Perhaps to help certain disadvantaged students is of no issue to me. Of course I may question how a school may go about it. What exactly makes this discriminatory to other disadvantaged students?
If you can get past the paywall, this is worth your attention.
[VIDEO] How did every president spend their retirement?
A few of them didn't get retirements as eight had died while in office. Someone like a James K. Polk has died a short time after leaving office - President Polk had the shortest retirement of any president.
Many had devoted their time to writing and speaking. And especially now many former Presidents stay active in someway. Being President is like a very special fraternity - well only men so far have been President - the current President has his predecssor Presidents to lean on.
Regardless after working such a stressful job for four years or longer, a President has earned their retirement once they leave office. Another fact noted the earlier Presidents lost money once they serve. The only recent reported example has been Donald Trump who is said to be a billionaire.
Either aren't you curious how every President has spent their retirement. Check out this recent vid by Mr. Beat.
[VIDEO] Well Inauguration Day has passed in America.
Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States on Monday - which also just so happens to be the MLK holiday.
In this video, Mr. Beat recites an amalgamated inaugual address taken from past presidents. And also goes over a bit of the history of presidential inaugurations. Like all things in America politics related the festivities of inauguration day has evolved.
I would like to share what happened after President Trump was sworn in on Monday.
[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?
[VIDEO] The term October surprise originated during the 1980 Presidential race between Pres. Jimmy Carter and future President Ronald Reagan. Basically the surprise would be beneficial to Pres. Carter especially if it involved the release of the hostages in Iran which didn't happen after Carter was out of office. The Iranian hostage crisis was the story of that day.
Basically October surprises as Mr. Beat explains seems to be aimed to be beneficial to a candidate or often very negative towards another candidate. And we learn October surprises have a long history in American politics even if it wasn't always known as such.
The original term for October surprises before 1980 and certainly during the 19th Century - the first "October surprise" was during the 1840 Presidential Race between Pres. Martin Van Buren and future President William Henry Harrison..
After the election of 1844, October Surprises were known as "roorbacking". Based on a book that implied that future Pres. James K. Polk had branded his slaves which was proven false and force a newspaper that published the story to apologize. The book "Roorback's Tour Through the Southern and Western States in the year 1836".
A current example of an October surprise in the 2024 race might be allegations of former Pres. Donald Trump's alleged affinity for Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party. That's been going around during the last few weeks of October. Also the comments of a comedian at a Trump rally making a distasteful joke about the American territory of Puerto Rico. It remains to be seen if that will make an impact in next week's Presidential election.
We're less than one week away!
[VIDEO] We're in an election year and this subject will likely come up depending upon the outcome.
I could see this election being a situation where like in 2016 or 2000 the popular vote winner loses in the Electoral College. How does that happen because the President of the United States isn't elected directly by the people. He (or she) is elected by the Electoral College.
As Monsieur Z explains in most states when we vote for our choice for President in November (or when you early vote) you're actually voting for the slate of electors who will actually vote for the President. Usually these slate of electors are pledged to vote for their party's nominee for President. Whichever candidate wins the popular vote in a given state they win their party's slate of electors.
Of course as Mr. Z explains that practice had evolved overtime. The system was conceived at a time when political parties weren't even a consideration and once they became important then the politicians tried to game the system and get it to benefit them.
So, what to do when the nation as a whole is polarized? Also what about the polarization of different states?
In that second question let's say a state is a lot like Illinois downstate may vote Republican, however, the Chicago area votes heavily Democrat. And the Chicago area has most of the state's population. Meaning odds are the state will vote heavily Democrat for President.
What if to mitigate some of these nuances from state-to-state you redraw the states. You attempt to evenly distribute the regional differences of each state to ensure better representation of these differences. That's the Utahism Mr. Z is discussing?
Regardless this Electoral College is something that we will be discussing as we get closer to Election Day. Are you voting?
I read through this and found this interesting. Should police be called for disciplinary issues at school?
This district is in downstate Illinois and it's a small district and often has far more arrests than they have students. I may also recognize that many of these students come from backgrounds that isn't exactly conducive to better behavior.
What makes sense to me is that a school should be equipped to handle behaviorial issues and not have to rely on police to intervew.
Via CapFaxIllinois school district that called police on students “every other day” agrees to reform disciplinary practices https://t.co/qdAaZkBTng
— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) September 6, 2024
[VIDEO] Let's start with this, the number of Representatives in the lower house of Congress is set by statute the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929. Check out this apportionment sheet from visitthecapitol.gov
In the beginning when the nation only had 13 states - 13 colonies, 13 states - the expectation was 1 Representative for every 30,000 citizen. Of course now America is about 300 million people since the constitution was enacted in 1789.
America's population has grown and the point of this recent video by Mr. Beat is that the number of representatives doesn't represent the vast population of this nation and perhaps we need a lot more than 435 members of the U.S. House of Reps.
Another part of this argument is that the bureaucracy has grown to the point that many executive agencies have taken on some duties that would normally be taken up by the US Congress - both houses. To increase the number of representatives would probably allow the Congress to function the way it was designed to.
Here's a website called No Cap Fund that advocates for increasing the number of Representives in Congress.
And just for the record the number of US Senators is 100. Two per state, regardless of population while the U.S. House the number of Representatives each state has is determined by population. Which is why some states lose Representatives while other states gain Representatives. If your state drops in population as Illinois had in 2020 that that extra representative gets sent to another state.
I would say states that grow in population which would I would say are such states such as Texas, Florida, Georgia to name a few off the top of my head. They would gain more representatives from those states which have lost population.
Having watch this video or even read up on this subject do you think there needs to be more Representatives in the US Congress?
[VIDEO] This video just dropped on Monday and I forgot about the 33rd President Harry S. Truman. In this most recent video President Truman's life was chronicled from childhood, adulthood, his military service, and then his political career.
Truman is well known for being the first person and only person so far to order the use of nuclear weapons (the A-Bombs used on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima & Nagasaki). He was the first President of the Cold War a mostly geopolitical conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States.
One thing that's striking about President Truman is that his highest education was only a high school diploma, yet in spite of his very humble beginnings became leader of the free world. He was Vice President to another well known President in Franklin D. Roosevelt who had already served over 12 years in office before his death and somehow still rose the occasion.
He led a very ordinary life and his connections to a Midwestern political machine - the Pendergast machine out of Kansas City, Missouri enabled Truman to embark on a course that led him unexpectedly to the Presidency. I'd say the true American success story he didn't tick off some boxes that would lead to such a high position primarily he was wealthy or he attended an Ivy League school. He was never on course to make it to high places at a later point in his life. However, it happened and he was in the right place at the right time.
Is he just the most average person to become President? Or was he just able to tap into the experiences of the average voter? From the farmer to the small business owner to the military veteran. Just everyday folks doing everyday things. I often look at his background and where he came from, but then politics is about connecting with the voter also. Truman knew how to do that and some may say we're still living in his world today!