Juneteenth has been a holiday since about 2021 and it was in the wake of the unrest and pandemic of 2020.
Juneteenth is a day June 19th that reputedly celebrates the day that slaves were freed in the state of Texas in 1865. It's considered America's 2nd Independence Day.
Here's a quick story from CBS News with regards to today's holiday. Showing how communities around America celebrates this holiday [VIDEO]
[VIDEO] CTA runs holiday trains every year and I'm sorry I didn't do a great job of following any trains running this holiday season 2023 (as would be normal at The Sixth Ward or could also be done on Ninth Ward Chicago). However, allow me to share this video about Metra trains.
Metra also does Holiday Trains for which they do sell tickets which as you see will sell out quickly. This holiday season they did this on other Metra routes in addition to the Metra Electric which this YouTube channel Trains are Awesome had actually chronicled last year in 2022.
Though in addition those scheduled Holiday Train runs there are some regular trains that are holiday themed. I promise next year I will make sure to catch the Holiday Train on CTA & Metra.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and happy new year. See you in 2024
[VIDEO] I'm sorry to have not shared more videos from Daily Dose of Internet (also Does =/= Dose). Anyway it's the end of the year and allow me to share this yearly roundup of videos posted to that YouTube channel during the past year.
See you in 2024!
[VIDEO] The kids today don't know anything about "Schoolhouse Rock"
Schoolhouse Rock are animated shorts that might air during commercial breaks typically on ABC during Saturday morning cartoons - wait what are those? Between say 7 AM to about 12 Noon on Saturdays the big four TV networks ABC, CBS, NBC, & FOX would air children's programming usually cartoons during that time. These days you're more likely to find educational/informative programming on those networks during that time on Saturday mornings.
Anyway they would typically take on educational topics in this case this video would look at the Declaration of Independence. That is the document where these United States our nation declared their independence from the British Empire. So this was the holiday we celebrate today with BBQ and fireworks.
I hope you have a happy and safe one.
[VIDEO] Pulaski Day is a holiday in Illinois and is yet another holiday I used to take for granted back in the day as we get the day off from school for it. I do understand that at one point in time - and perhaps still is true - that there is a sizeable Polish population in Illinois.
Pulaski is a Polish nobleman who is said to be the father of the America cavalry. If you don't know what that means, he's dealing with horses. Think of a cavalry charge involving horses in a military sense. Of course what has replaced cavalry these days since warfare has changed a lot since the American Revolution of the 1770s & 1780s is the tank. So ultimately cavalry gave way to armor though they may still use the same tactics and even some armor units use cavalry as their designations.
So an Illinois resident The History Guy discusses further the life of Count Pulaski. For those who got yesterday off I hope you all had a restful one.
[VIDEO] This is for you wrestling fans out there on this Christmas Day. Wrestle Talk is what I consider a bit of a "dirt sheet" basically a place to get daily wrestling news from anywhere from the independents to the major promotions around the globe including WWE and All Elite Wrestling.
So the duration of this video is about and hour and one half of a special Christmas Day podcast. So I hope you all enjoy if you're on your computer on Christmas. :)
I'm only posting this because there will be another post coming at 2:30 PM with regards to the British Monarchy.
Still today is the day that the US Constitution was enacted on Sept. 17, 1787. This day is also known as Citizenship Day to celebrate American citizenship. Kind of interesting since we've had a few days recently where illegal immigrants were sent to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions such as Washington, DC or Martha's Vineyard.
I would encourage you to celebrate your citizen ship and of course have a look at the US Constitution while you're at it.
[VIDEO] Wow! Been a while since I've posted twice in one day.
Today is a federal holiday Juneteenth. It seems to have a long history long before the unrest of 2020. In 2021 this day well actually June 19th became a federal holiday. If you work today you might get time and a half from your job - depending upon your company or industry. If you work for the gov't then you have a day off...
Regardless from the YouTube channel of AL.com we see a basic history for this holiday which is described as America's second independence day. However, my understand of Juneteenth is that is celebrates the abolition of slavery in America during the Civil War.
[VIDEO] Allow me to share Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I have a dream speech from August 1963 to celebrate this holiday. I hope his words will continue to reign true for a long time to come even in these uncertain times.
I didn't always appreciate this holiday when I was in school. Perhaps many students knew who MLK Jr was, though not always thought much about his impact. For me I was always happy to get a day off from school and many others too surely.
I hope you had a very restful or reflective day on this holiday.
[VIDEO] Giving you this treat for those of you who are comic book fans. I consider myself more of a fan of the DC Universe anyway. Batman is my favorite comic book character of all time having been a real fan since the Batman Animated Series aired on the FOX network in the early 1990s. It changed my perception of that character from the more hilarious direction of Adam West and the 1960s Batman series.
Either way 10 hours of a fire set by the Man of Steel himself, Superman. And this is a bit of a treat on the morning of Xmas day. Although hopefully you're also spending this with people you care about.
Once again I hope you are having a happy and wonderful holiday season so far.
[VIDEO] This latest video from "edu-tuber" Mr. Beat just dropped this morning and fitting for the holiday season. It goes through the ancient and religious roots of Christmas - and who know Christmas is a portmanteau of Christ's Mass. It goes through how many cultures around the world celebrated Christmas, I didn't know about Epiphany which would be celebrated through January 6th and between Dec. 25 to Jan. 6 are the 12 Days of Christmas.
We also see how American Christmas traditions began to develop and how it began to spread around the world. Also we see indications of the commercialization and the secularization of Christmas. While for many it's a religious Christian holiday it's generally a very joyous holiday for all regardless of their faith.
I do hope you all are having a safe and festive holiday season! And enjoy this video.
[VIDEO] From Daily Dose of Internet a daily recap of videos shared with YouTube viewers during the course of 2021. I hope this not only makes your day, I hope your learned something new.
It's Christmas Eve and I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season.
I found this animated gif on Twitter from a local reporter this morning which showed Snoopy and that bird Woodstock cutting into a sweet potato pie. Therefore for you all following this blog I couldn't let this day go by without sharing this with you. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. pic.twitter.com/jkkBvNnqIz
— Joanie Lum FOX 32 (@JoanieLum) November 25, 2021
[VIDEO] I breezed by yet another Columbus Day holiday and that's because I'm grown and no longer in school that recognizes that holiday. Holidays were the things I looked forward to in school although once you go to college you might go to a school that doesn't recognize Columbus Day as a holiday.
In the video above Bill O'Reilly goes over the history of Christopher Columbus and his exploration of the New World. It's a history that I took for granted and certainly finds itself under attack today under the guise of racial & social justice.
Last year in Chicago there was dramatic footage of an assault against police on a Columbus statue located in a Chicago park on Roosevelt Road near Soldier Field. The statue itself was later removed but it was part of a larger movement around America removing statues that a fringe group considered insensitive or offensive. It started with Confederate statues and then other American icons such as Presidents or even Columbus for example.
Let's be clear here, I don't believe Columbus was the first European to discover America. In fact when he landed in a part of the Bahamas he was actually trying to get to Asia. He was trying to go west as opposed to what other European sailors did which is travel along the west coast of Africa and then head east into Asia. I do believe Columbus' exploration of the New World ultimately did lead to colonization of the Western Hemisphere and unfortunately that meant friction between the native peoples of this part of the world.
While I didn't really know this back when I was in school, Columbus is actually an icon for Italian Americans. Columbus though he embarked on his expedition under the flag of Spain, he is actually of Italian descent.
Also for the holiday I have no issue with referring to Columbus Day as Indigenous People Day. Here in Chicago there still was a Columbus Day Parade. However the history of Columbus I do believe is still important and shouldn't just be simplified to how Columbus was horrible to the various native peoples he encountered. This is something we should research ourselves, the materials are out there to consumer, and then we can come to our conclusions as far as what happened when Columbus' expedition first met the Carib tribe in the Bahamas.
Is now a state and federal holiday in this nation. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill making it a holiday in Illinois and President Joe Biden made it a federal holiday. Capitol Fax has decided to take today off as June 19, 2021 falls on the weekend.
Either way I first heard of this holiday not during grade school but during that era. It seemed there used to be festivals in the neighborhood around this time where there were carnivals and some flyers were being handed around discussing "Juneteenth". It probably didn't connect what that meant at the time, but I'm sure Juneteenth marked the end of slavery in America.
As you might see in this Newsalert post Juneteenth was actually when the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed which was on December 6, 1865. The 13th Amendment to the constitution codified the end of slavery in the United States. So now it begs the question where did Juneteeth come from?
Well this Washington Post article sheds some light on this which you will find in the above Newsalert link:
The National Archives on Thursday located what appears to be an original handwritten “Juneteenth” military order informing thousands of people held in bondage in Texas they were free.
The decree, in the ornate handwriting of a general’s aide, was found in a formal order book stored in the Archives headquarters building in Washington. It is dated June 19, 1865, and signed by Maj. F.W. Emery, on behalf of Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger.
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, ‘all slaves are free,’ ” the order reads.
“This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
I suggest you read the whole article, basically this Juneteenth celebration is really a Texas thing. Not a national thing at least at first then it became widespread.
We've been hearing a lot about this as of late especially during the unrest of the past summer. It seems public attention are on the racial issues and to pay respects to the Black community and perhaps more so than in my memory. Juneteenth I believe was discussed last year more so than in my memory and now it's a public holiday. So back to that Newsalert post Juneteenth is now considered another "woke" scam.
These days you hear about "Critical Race Theory" and "systemic racism". You're hearing from our President and Vice-President rail against the issues of systemic racism. Much more recently Gov. Pritzker discussed it as around America it's getting a look and some more conservative states are moving to ban its teaching in K-12 classrooms.
Perhaps the "wokeness" of Juneteenth is more or less about placating Black Americans to the extent that they're able to. I have no issue with this being a holiday if I was still in school this would be just another day off and I enjoy those. I just hope it encourages people to do some historical research on racial issues in America.
Don't just focus on what's been said in the press for example. We have this world wide web to look up information on Juneteenth and the end of slavery in America and certainly the successes of the 1950-60s Civil Rights movement.
I would also encourage you to check out this op/ed from the New York Daily News which views this focus on Juneteenth as a distraction and the focus should be on the 13th Amendment.
[VIDEO] Well although Christmas is now over, we can still explore some semblance of Santa Claus lore. Remember Santa supposed to reside at the North Pole. We also learn here there are a number of places around the world named North Pole although none are at the North Pole.
Of course the South Pole is actually in the largely uninhabited continent of Antarctica. It would be a better place for Santa to have his base of operations there since there the North Pole is actually in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.
I know I referred to Antarctica as uninhabited, however, just note that there are places there which were build for scientific research. Also it is a hope to wildlife though usually they don't go anywhere near the actual south pole. And we also learn from Mr. Beat that people will pay a good sum of cash visit the south pole which is physically marked however with the movement of the ice sometimes has to be brought back to the actual location of the south pole.
Well, I hope everyone is having a very festive and happy holidays! And I don't know about you, but I hope we can go very happily into 2021 where I hope we can get out of this pandemic.
[VIDEO] I would like to first off wish you all a happy holidays and hope you all have one during this tumultuous year. It's been one hell of a ride going from a pandemic to riots and then this odd presidential race where there is some irregularities and the incumbent President won't concede.
Either way here's Daily Dose of Internet giving you a quick wrap-up for the year 2020 showing you some of the best clips he's found online. As usual he hopes it's something that made your day. And I hope it does make you day.
[VIDEO] I wanted to share this with you all when it first premiered on YouTube on Wednesday. So it's here for your viewing pleasure today as you will see the treats of both the Morehouse and Spelman College's respective Glee Clubs. I suppose due to the pandemic this year they had to do something different especially since students at both schools are likely doing remote learning as of now.
I hope you enjoy.