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!
[VIDEO] The four astronaut crew of Artemis II aboard their Orion capsule Integrity will break the distance record set by Apollo 13. They will be the furthest distance from Earth any human beings have been, a record set by the ill-fated crew of Apollo 13 that suffered a castrophic failure that cancelled an attempt to land on the moon.
Hope you enjoy, even if you only watch the replay. At the time I wrote this the crew was about 27 minutes before they reach the far side of the moon, where they will lose contact with the Earth for about 40 minutes.
Now I want to pop Apollo 13 the movie into the old VCR....err get with the times I can stream it now!
He's about to make history as being the first Black American to orbit the moon. Of course he was quoted as saying it shouldn't be about his race, to go to the Moon as we had during the 1960s with the Apollo missions is a human achievement.
Artemis II launched Wednesday sending four people which also includes the first Canadian and woman to orbit the moon. The design is like an Apollo Command capsule, although there is a much differently designed service module that will propel them around the moon and return them to the earth.
Glover before becoming an astronaut served as a pilot in the US Navy and according to this NY Post article was formerly a two-sport athlete in football and wrestling in his college years.
NASA is live streaming coverage of the Artemis II mission here. [VIDEO]
[VIDEO] One thing I do recall he never mentioned is that he left out that J.D. Vance is the first millennial to be elected to the Vice Presidency. For the record I consider myself a xillennial my birthdate straddles the line between millennial and Gen. X.
I'm sure there are other things I don't recall but if you have some time you have about two hours to watch this live stream from President's Day 2025. Perhaps there are some things not mentioned here that didn't get mentioned as far as the 2024 race.
You can watch Mr. Beat's 2024 Presidential Election video here.
This shows how in tune I am with the political scene right now.
This time four years ago, outgoing President Donald Trump held a rally where he asked his supporters to go to the U.S. Capitol to protest the count of those electoral votes in a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Which quickly became an "insurrection". It was a very scary day and I just couldn't believe that our democracy, our republic seemed to be underseige by "mob violence".
It seemed one side had to defend themselves and the other side played offense trying to paint the insurrectionists as anti-democracy or traitors. January 6 for some became a day of great rememberance. However, seemingly this day was also forgotten by a number of Americans.
Furthermore the man who won the Presidential Election for 2024 was not supposed to be in that race. There were court cases, even an impeachment trial commenced even before he left office. And guess what on this day, in 2024 he's the one who's vote are being certified in front of Congress.
If the so-called insurrection was used to try to keep him out of the White House, it helped to bring him right back in. I'm sure someone out there is protesting this. I see the incumbent President who beat him in 2020 isn't exactly organizing a rally to fight this. And the woman, the 2024 winner vanquished has to preside over the count to certify the 2024 electoral votes.
Barring any news reports of any "trouble" this should go relatively smooth. Though since President-elect Donald Trump is definitely a very polarizing figure there probably will be some protests from some members of Congress trying to object..
And just think with the "insurrection" of 2020, whatever objections to that race between President Trump and then President-elect Joe Biden fell apart once the U.S. Capitol was secured.
At this point whatever unfolds, you can see on C-Span if you don't want any editorializing of the proceedings. Or you can watch this live stream via FOX News. [VIDEO]
[VIDEO] Time to re-activate the Shedd School of Pol. Sci.
The GOP Nat'l Convention is this week in Milwaukee, WI and we got the excitement of former President Trump - oh and remember he had just narrowly survived an assassination attempt on Saturday - making his pick for a VP running mate. His pick is freshman Republican US Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio who has been in his seat since 2023.
I know he made the rounds on FOX News and remember him making a number of appearances on the program of one Tucker Carlson before he had been released from that network. There are some dredging up his "anti-Trump" rhetoric from the past. However, he has often been painted as a "populist" sort of like Trump himself. Especially the 2016 campaign was viewed as a populist campaign.
Some other interesting facts about Vance. He's currently only 39 years old born in 1984. He also currently sports a beard. The last president to have any facial hair - beard or mustache at least - was William Howard Taft. Although I can't say the last V.P. to have any facial hair, have to do some research on this.
Thus as you see Mr. Beat above in a live stream point this out, he's the first "millennial" V.P. candidate. And time will tell how the public will further view Sen. Vance once he hits the campaign trail.
So far what is your take on the 2024 race?
Via the Steel Highway YouTube Channel
We can start with this view of the Ogilvie Transportation Center. Metra trains leaving that station and watching CTA's Green & Pink line trains leaving the Clinton Station nearby. [VIDEO]
This view is looking east along Lake Street. We're looking at trains coming to and from Clark & Lake and possibly looking at trains entering and leaving the loop via Wells Street. [VIDEO]
In this live stream we see trains leaving Ogilvie and yet another track at grade, those track at grade (on the ground as opposed to elevated) are leaving Union Station. You will see more Metra trains and Amtrak trains especially the Hiawatha & Empire Builder on those ground level tracks.
UPDATED May 26, 2024 and we can add Amtrak's new service to St. Paul, Minnesota the Borealis will also be running this way. [VIDEO]
And finally here we're looking at the elevated track from Ogilvie and that means more Metra trains [VIDEO]
[VIDEO] Yeah I know this is America and we don't care about those royals we broke away from them over two centuries ago. Either way this is a fascinating look at how the British does things.
As you know Charles' mother the Queen Elizabeth II passed away last September and by right the throne of the United Kingdom fell to Charles III who was the Prince of Wales. His coronation as King took place on May 6, 2023 some eight months after his own ascension to the throne.
The snippets I have seen is almost part governmental and part religious services. Charles III is not only the head of the British state, he's also head of the state churches of England ( that is the Church of England and the Church of Scotland). He has both a temporal and a governmental or secular role in the United Kingdom.
As you see his Queen Camilla was also crowned, however, she's only the Queen Consort as she is the wife of King Charles III.
Well, anyone have any thoughts?
[VIDEO] On Sunday, Mr. Beat did a two-hour livestream talking about the recent decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States - aka SCOTUS. He especially talks about the recent decision that overturns the very controversial decision of Roe Vs. Wade - the recent decision basically returns the abortion issue back to the states and many states have passed laws regarding abortion.
One thing I do know is that the Supreme Court as he discussed early in the stream has a very limited schedule. They operate largely in secret which is why the Roe Vs. Wade leak in May was so controversial. They might have lawyers argue cases in front of the SCOTUS and then of course they deliberate those cases. They may spend time to draft the decision of the court.
And yet SCOTUS is a very important branch of the US Federal Gov't. This is why there is great debate over who gets to become a Justice as we had with the first Black female Supreme Court Justice who was sworn in just last month. And you might have heard a callback to the confirmation process of Justice Clarence Thomas who has been on the court since the 1990s.
For those of you with the interest one non-biased source to follow the work of SCOTUS is the SCOTUSblog.com which should allow you to follow the work of the court. I wish I followed that site more and especially after that leak at the court.
[VIDEO] Mr. Beat in two livestreams contacted all 50 U.S. Senators and the President of the Senate who is also Vice President Kamala Harris. He never talked to a Senator got a video message from one, got more or less chain messages from at least a couple. Got one response lecturing him on instant runoff voting. However not even a quarter of all U.S. Senators responded to him.
Some staffers were uncomfortable with being recorded. Some have heard of Mr. Beat. Others seemed underwhelmed and not very interested in what Mr. Beat was calling about. A few stated that they're only recording comments for constituents from their respective states.
And as for that last statement I wonder how they do treat their own constituents. Mr. Beat could conclude that the U.S. Senate offices are probably more into the opinions of special interests and lobbyists than the voter.
Has anyone out there contacted their elected representatives?
[VIDEO] I want to share this with you all to celebrate the journey of these young men who will be joining the ranks of Morehouse College alum around the world. They will walk across the stage to become Morehouse Men. Who knows perhaps a billionaire will allow them a grant to pay off their student loans? It has happened, either way I want to see young Black men take this huge step and move forward successfully in their lives.
The stream of this graduation will begin at 9 AM Eastern time on May 15, 2022. Enjoy!
[VIDEO] Sharing this with you on this wonderful Sunday, May 1, 2022. I've shared a number of Mr. Beat videos over at least the last three years. This is where you will learn more about him and since we're talking political beliefs what are his beliefs. And perhaps you want to share yours below here.
This is a live stream scheduled for 7 PM Chicago time TODAY. Enjoy!
[VIDEO] I believe this started at 9:00 AM this morning and as I write this at 10:32 AM he's still going. So far he's contacted U.S. Senators from Montana and I as write this Mr. Beat contacted New York Democrat U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Sorry go for part one if you want to see him contact Illinois' U.S. Senators.
This should be a fun exercise as far as contacting your elected representatives.
[VIDEO] This stream actually started as I post this. I posted this at 11:28 AM although I timestamp this at 9:00 AM. That means the stream itself started at 10:00 A.M. This should be an interesting exercise in getting into contact with your public officials. He's calling them all with regards to the Freedom to Vote Act that's under consideration of the U.S. Senate.
[VIDEO] For your viewing pleasure today at least through 3:00 PM. Prager U is a YouTube channel that has a conservative slant. I view that channel as very informative on social issues, history, and even politics on occasion.
As with all things we consume for news/information whether a newspaper, a cable news network, a YouTube video, a History channel documentary, etc they all have a slant/bias. When you consume the news/information you might find yourself wondering if what you may read or hear is factually correct.
[VIDEO] This video is scheduled to go live at 7:30 PM. Of course he's stating he would vote all the way through the 2000 presidential election. 2000 was the first time he voted, but I'd be curious what his vote would be even as the issues and the nation begins to change throughout our history. Perhaps you would be also.
[VIDEO] Mr. Beat is going to further discuss his 2020 election video in a livestream which is going on as I type this as of 4:20 PM - and yes I will timestamp this post at 2:30 PM. He talks about things he leaves out in his video from Friday morning such as further discussion of voter fraud which is where I got keyed in when I clicked on this stream.