Geography King - Gerrymandering: How to Manipulate Maps for Political Gain (With Tutorial!)

 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.

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]

Daily Dose of Internet and some other newsworthy updates

 

[VIDEO] How about a Daily Dose of Internet today? How about scientists using the extinct wooly mammoth DNA to create a meatball? How about a student pilot accidently opening up the plane door during flight? How about a remote car finding and purchasing pet food?

And we're already three months into April. We just got through WrestleMania weekend. The WWE aka The World Wrestling Federation was sold to a company that owns the UFC.

Back here in Chicago, there will be a runoff election to determine who the next mayor of Chicago will be. That's important information if you haven't voted or otherwise missed early voting which ends today.

Anyway I hope you enjoy the above video.

Constitution Day

 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.

Chicago Tonight: New podcast explores how Madigan ruled state politics

 

[VIDEO] In today's edition of the "Shedd School of Political Science" on a recent edition of Chicago Tonight Paris Schutz interviews Justin Kaufman of the Better Gov't Association talks about his new podcast "The Madigan Rule" exploring how Michael Madigan - who was a long serving speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives up until 2021 - rose through the ranks of Chicago politics to eventually rise to be a powerful politician in this state. I think I need to listen to this.

As with anything in life, all you need to do is get started. Madigan may have had some advantages especially being the son of a city precinct captain, however, he got started and look where he ended up.

BTW, I just heard the first episode of "The Madigan Rule" podcast entiled Up from the Garbage Truck which illustrated his rise in Chicago politics. Very fascinating to hear about his background, how he took care of his constituents, what he asks of the team around him, how he takes care of freshman members of his caucus, even how he got business in his real side gig as a tax-appeals attorney. Another aspect about Madigan I do admire is his political acumen especially as he rose through the ranks to become Speaker which will be subjects in future editions.

How does Illinois Governors work with Chicago Mayors

We get a bit of a history lesson Jim Edgar was Governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999 and he had to work with Mayor Richard M. Daley during that time who was Chicago Mayor from 1989 to 2011. In Edgar's own words as far as his relationship with Daley.

Daley and Edgar had other flash points as well. Daley wanted the state to pay for a Soldier Field rehab for the Bears but Edgar refused, preferring a multi-purpose facility at McCormick Place. Daley wanted to close Meigs Field (which he eventually did after Edgar left office) but Edgar fought to keep it open. After the infamous Loop flood, Daley wanted Edgar to promise to pay half the repair costs. Not knowing what the costs were and unwilling to sign a blank check with the state practically broke, Edgar refused. And Daley wanted Edgar to sign off on a bill rushed through the statehouse limiting the power of rebellious City Treasurer Miriam Santos. Edgar again declined.

“Daley told me, I really need you to sign this bill,” Edgar said. “I said, Mayor, I got all the Hispanic leaders leaning on me. They feel like this bill is an attack against them. I got half the Hispanic votes in a close election. I felt pretty close to the Hispanic community. I vetoed the bill. He thought it was a personal slap. From then on, things were pretty tense.”

Then we have Governor Pat Quinn who served from 2009 to 2015 and his relationship with Mayor Rahm Emanuel who served from 2011 to 2019. At least in the above case we're talking about a Chicago Mayor and Illinois Governor from different parties Edgar is a Republican and Daley is a Democrat. Gov. Quinn and Mayor Emanuel are both Democrats and they didn't get along great either

Quinn had known Emanuel since 1980 but the initial meeting between Quinn as governor and Emanuel as mayor got off to a rocky start.

“I invited him to the governor’s office. He was name dropping and all that. Talking about experiences in Washington,” said Quinn. “But then he started swearing at my budget director, Jerry Stermer, with other top staff in the room. I thought that was way out of line. I told him to stop it. He was highly disrespectful. He certainly never suffered from modesty.”

In Springfield, Emanuel chose to work around Quinn rather than work with him. Often, Emanuel would run his legislative agenda through Senate president John Cullerton, a close friend.

In 2014, said Quinn, “Cullerton was having breakfast at the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield and said, 'I’m going to run a bill this week raising property taxes for Chicago. The state legislature will vote for it. It will be veto proof whether you like it or not. I’ve run it by Madigan, too. It’s going to be the law.'”

Quinn hardly wanted to raise Chicago property taxes in 2014 when he was running for re-election. “That was on a Monday. By the end of the week, the whole plan had fallen apart. That was typical of Rahm and Cullerton to try to bypass my administration. But it generally wasn’t a successful proposal. It’s a big state. I had more friends in the legislature than he did, especially as time went on,” said Quinn.

As I saw from the press reports of that period of time I got the impression they didn't get along very well. I got the idea that Mayor Daley didn't get along very well with another Democrat Governor Rod Blagojevich. If the Gov of Illinois and Mayor of Chicago are of the same party and without a "political boss" you're going to have a situation where both of those two important leaders of this state will bump heads.

Yeah the Mayor of Chicago represents the city and is himself (or in the current case herself) a very important and visible public figure not just in the state, nationally also as we are the third largest city in America. However in this state the Mayor of Chicago isn't only chief executive of a local gov't unit. In that I'm counting municipalities (cities or villages), counties, or even townships for example. In contrast there is only one Governor of this state.

As I see in the comments to the article as it was shared on CapFax this morning everyone seem to point to the Governor for anything as a fulcrum of a bigger picture or they own. The Mayor of Chicago or any city mayor for that matter have to look out for their municipality. The Governor has to look out for the whole state.

I would urge you to read this piece written by a former Chicago political reporter Derrick Blakley who goes into the relationship between Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot. I won't say their relationship is rocky but it's not solid either. They've also reportedly not seeing eye-to-eye on everything. I'll let you read Blakley's article to find out what he says about that.

Springfield Project restart?

TerryFarmer.com

 Since I'm attempting to come up with places to visit for The Sixth Ward YouTube channel whether The Field Museum (which is reopening soon) or U.S. Capitol, I'm looking into the "Springfield Project" again. It's something I had tentatively planned for last year then coronavirus shutdown things.

I found this website ILStatehouse.com through Capitol Fax years ago and though it seems it hasn't been updated since 2010, this history of the Illinois State Capitol is quite fascinating. I wish there was more about the authors of that site however.

Regardless when I do my Springfield Project this is one of those places I would like to visit to see our General Assembly in action. It's just very rare to see how Illinois state gov't works.

Silent City

[VIDEO] I found this video via WBBM-AM's website. It shows a city in shutdown, especially since life had changed in light of the coronavirus. Social distancing has become the normal in addition to business shutting down for the protection of customers and workers.

Will the city be back to normal after that stay-at-home order is scheduled to be lifted after April 7, 2020?

Want to do a Pullman strike tour?

Credit: The Chicago Neighborhoods

I was awfully slow in sharing this. On July 13, 2019 there was a tour in Pullman related to the 125th anniversary of the Great Strike of 1894 and there are more scheduled through October. I believe this strike caused the President of the time a man by the name of Grover Cleveland to sent federal forces to end it.

I found out about this event through Curbed Chicago earlier this month, however, all I did was retweet this information. It would've been cool for me to take part in this as I know more about Pullman's story and architecture, but very little of some of the labor drama that took place there.

Tour the site of the Great Pullman Strike on its 125th anniversary https://t.co/IxFHGZDoQo pic.twitter.com/NkOtsl9jWh

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) July 5, 2019

According to the above link:

Labor history tends to get short shrift in history books.

The Pullman National Monument Preservation Society, created by Barack Obama’s presidential proclamation in 2015, is trying to change that. During the Great Pullman Strike’s 125th anniversary, the group is giving guided tours each month through October.
...
The next tour is scheduled for July 13 at noon. Admission is $25, and each ticket includes post-tour reception and dessert.

WTTW has more on the history of this strike in 1894 with regards to the perfect company town that was Pullman.

Maggio News: Top 10 most violent Chicago neighborhoods from last year

Last year I posted a video with regards to Roseland from Maggio News who's website seeks to engage in citizen journalism. Victor Maggio's journalism sends him to the hot spots of the city's violence. He records the gritty action as you will see on his YouTube channel.

Regardless what I failed to do both here and at The Sixth Ward is show all ten of his vids that show Chicago's most violent neighborhoods. Here on this blog I did show his video on Roseland which is at #8. And I also noted the reaction to at least two of his videos, that I had shared on Nextdoor.

Especially those affected by the violence on the city's streets I understand the passionate reaction to these videos. Also it should be noted for this series he utilized this website HeyJackass.com to determine the most violent areas of Chicago.

I want to share Maggio News' top 10 violent neighborhoods. The plan is to share all 10 videos not every single day, but over weeks. Since these videos are from last year I'll post them at 9:00 AM though I haven't decided on what day exactly. However my plan is to start as soon as next week.

It's up to you if you want to continue to follow Maggio, but then I want your feedback on these videos and his reporting. Is he right? Is he talking about something he knows nothing about? Are there solutions to the issues of violence? Send me your thoughts.

2019 race for 9th Ward Alderman #Ward09

Recently I procured a flyer for Paul Collins who is running for Alderman in Ward 9. He seeks to challenge Alderman Anthony Beale in 2019.

Visit his under construction website at www.friendsofpaulcollins.com and he also has a FB page Paul Collins for 9th Ward Aldermen

The Sixth Ward: Van Dyke - guilty! #laquanmcdonald

[VIDEO] Above I will share coverage from the CBS network which was live streamed on their YouTube channel yesterday. Below will be a tweet that shares the link to "The Sixth Ward" that attempted to compile various video stories about the reaction to the verdict of the Jason Van Dyke trial.

In late 2014, Officer Van Dyke shot LaQuan McDonald 16 times and McDonald died from his wounds. Yesterday among other charges, Van Dyke was convicted by a jury of second degree murder.

Van Dyke - guilty! https://t.co/6FPUQDZGsl pic.twitter.com/NnSidgglUe

— The Sixth Ward (@TheSixthWard) October 6, 2018

I'm relieved that there will be no rioting as the city was on high alert for any disturbances although there were protests around the city after the verdict was read.

CTA celebrates 70 years

On Sunday in downtown Chicago there will be activities and will include rides on vintage CTA vehicles, especially buses and trains. You can see more details here. Posters marking CTA's 70th anniversary will be handed out at a "Community Connection" bus and at select CTA stations you will find a commemorative Ventra paper ticket. The ig post below from CTA shows an example of the poster.

A post shared by Chicago Transit Authority (@chicagocta) on Sep 28, 2017 at 1:50pm PDT

Many of us take CTA for granted and yes even complains about the service or even the projects that slow down our commutes. At the same time it's a vital part of getting around our city, as easily as the streets and expressways and especially more recently our bicycles.

Buzzfeed: Could You Pass A 1954 Home Economics Class?

 When I was in high school, a teacher mentioned that home economics was considered obsolete. I suspect it was replaced in favor of consumer education which was a unit in most social studies or business classes. Never really saw the point and wasn't taught very well when it was taught in a psychology class back in those days.

With this buzzfeed quiz, I learn more about home economics. It seems as much how to take care of the items at home, how to cook, and then other is more social ettiquette. Now that I see this I can't believe it was taught in school.

Having taken this quiz I only got 3 out of 19 right. How well can you do?

BTW, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Bennett School has a new website

http://bennettes.org/

I'm ecstatic that somehow I found a new website for Bennett School after a Google search. Over six years ago I found a different iteration of this website which has long since went offline.

This website has a lot more information about the staff of Bennett School and hopefully they will continue to add more information regarding the neighborhood elementary school in the future. So far I like and especially emphasized some of the architectural details of Bennett.

If they need any help with content I would be happy to volunteer. They'll probably never ask though. :P

BTW, I will say sometimes I wish the many public schools in Chicago utilize the many tools available to alert the public about their activities. Bennett now has a website but they could also use a Twitter, Instagram or a Facebook page. The surrounding neighborhood should know what's going on there even if they don't have any children going to school their. The local school is a neighbor after all.

ALSO another school neighbor has also updated their website, Harlan High School which is reflective of a new principal change as well. Harlan - GO FALCONS - also developed more of a social networking presence and then mysteriously stopped. This is definitely an example where they should use these various tools to let the community know what's going on there, especially some of the good news involving students.

Straight outta...Bennett-Shedd

Even if we were too young to listen to them back in the day my generation likely heard the music of the rap group N.W.A. This month a movie - Straight Outta Compton - about that group will be released in theaters everywhere. In the meanwhile, you can rep your neighborhood or hometown with this link I discovered recently.

I used it to rep my old elementary school and did a post using it as a opportunity to rep other southside areas and even my old high school over at sixthward.us. You're more that free to create your own take on this sign.

Chicago-L.org

Not long ago I posted CTA video that documents a trip on the red line from 95th Street all the way to Howard Street on the north side. Main reason was to show the scenes after the train leaves 95th and there's a much larger city than what you see on the South Side.

Now I want to share Chicago-L.org which chronicles the long history of Chicago's L system. It's a fascinating site that I have followed since attending one of the City Colleges of Chicago. Hopefully it's of great interest to you.

BTW, here's a history of the Dan Ryan line of the CTA Red Line.

NOTE: The banner above is old, but the best possible I could find from that site. It just shows how old the site truly is.

I've added some government links in the sidebar

US Capitol - Washington, DC via sierragt2k/flickr

When I was an 8th grader at Bennett School years and years and years ago I took Public Law 194 which is basically a requirement before passing beyond elementary school. What's required is a passing grade on an examination on both the US and Illinois Constitutions.

When I went to Harold Washington College & Morehouse College years ago it was taught that a constitutions is a written framework as to how a government is expected to operate.

In the 7th grade under a teacher - Mr. Albrecht - he gave us a little taste of what we'd learn when we pass into the 8th grade. However, I must admit that it didn't click until it was time to take this test and our 8th grade teacher drilled us on what we should know so that we passed the test.

In a way, I'm glad he did although he shall remain nameless for the moment. Still if it wasn't for that period of time perhaps politics would never have been my interest!

As a result lately one task for this blog was to compile some government links to the sidebar here. Hopefully a young person in school right now can use these links to gain an understanding of our system of government. I try to keep them basic because over at my other blog - The Sixth Ward - there are more links than you shall know what to do with.

All the same, yeah the links are to the many governments which are critical and under whom we live. Yeah we live in the City of Chicago and the city operates many departments that will directly affect many of us - especially the Chicago Public Schools for example. In addition to that we do live in the United States of America and the State of Illinois.

In addition to that, if you haven't taken a test yet on not only the US Constitution or Illinois Constitution there are links to those documents to be provided here. What this means is that you won't have to merely depend on the materials that your respective teachers will give you. Hopefully they will appreciate the effort you're taking to understand the material you might find yourself tested on.

Here's hoping that you will find yourself as interested in politics as I was at 14-years-old. Hopefully many of you will become our future leaders!

BTW, an example of the test 8th Graders took back in the 1950s posted here in January 2011 . Do you think you could've passed that test?

ALSO, you may be interested in who represents you both in Washington as a Representative or Senator or in Springfield as your state legislators.

Should there be links for local businesses here?

I had this idea for this blog. While it's not exactly heavily trafficked, it just hits me that this blog could be as much a neighborhood blog as it is for the school that partially made me who I am. So the idea here is whether or not neighborhood businesses should have links on this blog.

I could include many nearby businesses on this blog. I could include two local banks with a neighborhood presence mainly Seaway Bank & Trust and Urban Partnership Bank (they have a branch in the Pullman Walmart store). Over the years I have shared events that involve Seaway Bank especially with their Kidsfest program held every July. Also should I limit links only to neighborhood banks why not include such major banks as Chase or US Bank who also have branches in the area?

Also, is it OK to include the Chatham 14 Theaters - soon to become a Studio Movie Grill in the near future in the links? It would be included because it's the only movie theaters located nearby in the city. Over the years many events that go on there have been posted here even when they were under the black-owned ICE Theaters chain.

Walmart recently opened in the nearby Pullman neighborhood is a national retail chain and therefore the question is should a national chain be included? If Walmart is listed, then why not Walgreen's or Target (another business located much further north in Chatham and is the only store nearby in the city). Of course there are several Walgreen's located nearby the neighborhoods where Bennett/Shedd are located.

BTW, I almost forgot the add that Target did a makeover in the library of a neighborhood school in Chatham back in October 2012.

Of course the possibilities are endless as to what businesses with a internet presence should have links here. The next question to ask is what do I hope to accomplish by compiling such a listing here?

The Cartel

[VIDEO] Close to a year ago I wrote about the documentary about public education entitled The Cartel. Now you can watch this film in its entirety on Hulu! Just click the word video within the brackets at the start of this paragraph and you will be able to watch all of the roughly one and a half hours of it. Although there will be several brief breaks for advertisements.

Hat-tip Newsalert!

Help CPS: External Affairs & Partnerships

Discovered this website that provides information for individuals and groups to support Chicago's public schools. I was interested in information for starting an alumni/friends of organization for individual schools. Alas the link on that website was broken and instead I had to rely on archive.org to give me a glimpse.

If you are interested in creating an Alumni Association or “Friends Of” group to support a CPS school, we can give you some ideas that will help you lay the foundation for a successful start. If you already have a group, we would love to know about your activities and help you promote your events when possible.

A great resource for Alumni Associations and “Friends Of” groups is www.CPSalumni.org, where you can post information about events and fund raisers, and use the online donation page to accept credit card donations.

Needless to say there's not much, however, this is something that may be beneficial an alumni or friends of organization. Let's hope that CPS is interested in encouraging the growth of such groups.