Fidel Castro

The longtime President Dictator of Cuba passed away over the recent weekend. We heard of a eulogy by the Canadian Prime Minister and then it was also emphasized that he was a very brutal man who claimed lives in his island Caribbean nation consolidating his control.

I want to share this Illinois angle to the death of Castro. In 1999 then Illinois Gov. George Ryan - I'm sorry to add he's a disgraced former governor who served time in prison for crimes committed when he was our former Secretary of State - he paid a visit to Cuba. You can read the full interview at the Daily Herald where he talked about his visit and his interactions with Fidel Castro. He brought a nice care package with him when he went down there especially some religious items for Cuba's Catholics and Jewish community.

Yeah another thing about Fidel Castro, he didn't like religion that much it seems. Though it seems he had to soften his stance as time went on even after he had to retire from his position as Cuba's dictator.

Rich Miller was also on Gov. Ryan's visit to Cuba and had some tense interactions with Castro and is sorry he never had the chance to ask this question:

My greatest regret is that, because he pointed his finger in my face while yelling at me and then cut me off when I asked about the hotel owners, I didn’t get to ask Castro about something I’d witnessed countless times in Havana.

Whenever anybody I talked with in Cuba mentioned Castro, they never used the man’s name. Instead, they’d always slyly stroke their chin to mimic somebody stroking their own beard. People whispered to me that they did this because Castro had spies literally everywhere and nobody was sure who was whom. Saying his name out loud risked perking up somebody’s ears nearby and then draw unwanted attention to the person who was speaking.

Castro talked often during that press conference about how the people loved him and how free they all were. So, I wanted to use that chin-stroking thing as my final question, but I never got to ask it.

And now I never will.

Over the years Cuba by some people who may be leftist activists and probably by some friends when I was in college how Cuba has a good health care system and also high literacy rates. By this poignant example it heightens my belief that high literacy and health care means very little if you're not free. Especially if you can't write what you want to write or read what you want to read or you're taken care of by great doctors regardless you're healthy but you're still not free.

The people who laud these achievement gloss over the freedom angle. They seem to dismiss that the Communists of Cuba had little problem with executing people who threatened their regime.

The Cuban exile community celebrated Castro's demise. I will not celebrate the death of any man, but I will celebrate the eventual fall of the regime that man helped build.

Snapshot on Thanksgiving

It's been years since I posted a mobile image on a blog. I was walking around downtown on Thanksgiving day with my iPad snapping shots. Took this shot of Pizzeria Due through the Blogger mobile app. Perhaps I'll share more from yesterday.

The abandoned Lincoln Mall

[VIDEO] I don't remember the last time being at this Matteson, IL mall before it's closing. Perhaps it was within the last decade and it look largely vacant at the time. In 2015 it was closed and Matteson is charged with finding a new use for the property.

In the meanwhile, this recent video shows us the inside of the mall. The video has an eerie soundtrack to it. The still pics you see at the end makes this abandoned place look even more creepy. I thought they were in there at almost dawn and that would make it more creepy.

Either way seems like a shame this mall lost business to the point where it is now closed.

The President-elect: The world's greatest troll!

[VIDEO] I just have to admit this video was hilarious. The world's greatest troll gets elected President of the United States. I couldn't predict what happened over a week ago and it happened and as this video shows a lot of people are upset.

To be honest, he didn't seem to troll Secretary of State Clinton enough. If he barely trolled her he trolled the media. And having seen other videos where it was apparently Hollywood and media figures didn't take him seriously and the people in key states still chose him. No wonder so many people consider the recent outcome shocking.

BTW, I'll be honest time to change the subject. He still won and we'll be hearing a lot about it until his inaugural on January 20th of next year.

I wonder if the individuals behind Instapundit & Newsalert have seen this yet.

Sometimes it's emotional

Going into election night I had no idea where it would go. My gut feeling was telling me it was going to be Clinton/Kaine, however this was going to be a close election. I felt as if Trump/Pence had enough support to give the Democrats a run for their money. Everyone in this country who paid attention to polls and trends were shocked.

On election night, I missed whatever state put Trump over the top as far as electoral votes. It might have been Pennsylvania or Arizona. Either way I was on the phone with a friend who was absolutely livid that the Republicans were even ahead in this race, he just didn't understand. He as a Black male thinks it's time to move to Canada, it won't be safe here.

He's echoing what was said by protestors in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood where they chanted that they "want a president not a f*cking racist". It's a common belief unfortunately perhaps as a result of statements the candidate has made during the campaign. This leads me to a conclusion I've just realized.

As much as I attempt to approach politics with logic and reason it's often emotional for people. Perhaps many people are passionate when an issue resonates with someone emotionally. Case in point my friend he likes to talk a lot about race, to be honest I'm not that comfortable with that subject but he looked at this election as a Black male. Clearly the issue of race for many people is an emotional issue and we need not look further than our history to realize this.

I'm not going to try to break down this emotion over Trump's surprise victory with anything resembling the scientific method. Everyone has their reason why they seem to have taken this election hard. Fact is neither candidate had been ideal and yes for now America still doesn't have a woman as President. Or indeed America elected a President that didn't reflect the ideals they wanted to prevail.

So to echo a blog post title written here, where do we go from here?

Electoral College if "did not vote" was an option

Brilliant maps said share this map so therefore it's shared. The beige colors represent those states with large numbers of voters who didn't vote. This may have made a different for President-elect Donald Trump and these voters could've elected the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A huge what if admittedly!

I'm glad this wild election season is over though I recognize that this season had some surprising results.

So President Clinton tried to tell his wife's campaign...

It's been almost 16 years since Bill Clinton left office and despite his many flaws as a man or as President I know this of him. He was a gifted person at connecting with people, I couldn't say the same for his wife who became a US Senator or a Secretary of State. She may have been a true believe in leftist policies however she didn't have the same gift at connecting with people.

The President may have been successful in triangulation. He may have signed some Republican legislation into law, but it insured his continued political success. It may well have insured the future political success of the Democrats even if many were unhappy about it.

Too bad that his wife Hillary Clinton and her staff didn't believe him when he said target the white working class. If she wasn't going to win them over, start chipping away at the Donald's margins. The former President may have seen this coming and no one listened to him and those who supported Mrs. Clinton got the shock of their lives.

It's often been said that the many groups that turned out for outgoing President Barack Obama didn't turn out for Mrs. Clinton. Apparently the love many have felt in the past for Obama didn't extend to Clinton. If white working class people turned out in higher numbers then Blacks & Latinos at least didn't turn out for Mrs. Clinton.

For the record, I really didn't pay any attention to the polls. My guess on election day was as good as anyone else's. It seems many expected a President-elect Clinton, but were dismayed by a President-elect Donald Trump. Beyond that whoever won I figured that no one was likely to be happy with the outcome as both cadndiates were unpopular coming into last week's election.

BTW, let me leave you here with something funny. This past Saturday Dave Chappelle hosted SNL and with Chris Rock were involved in a sketch that satirized the dismay Clinton supporters had on election night once it went the direction it did.

2016 elections: Where do we go from here?

The video above is from the fb page of Morehouse College. This was shot at the bell in front of the Sale Hall annex the day after the elections. If you've seen a 20 year old PBS documentary The Morehouse Men, this bell is what a Morehouse Man should answer whenever it rings.

As we see this is one response to Trump's election. It's enough that Dr. John S. Wilson, President of Morehouse College, had to speak on this as you see here. He discussing the fact that of the 600K or so Blacks that reside in Georgia not enough go to the polls.

He's basically responding or has his response to this year's election which saw Donald Trump become the President-elect of the United States. This outcome that many are baffled by has resulted in protests around the nation especially in downtown Chicago.

Does anyone here have any thoughts to offer as far at the recent 2016 elections?

City Journal: Examining the Scorecard

I found this via Instapundit. Exit polling suggested that Trump did well among "minorities" or I should say better than Mitt Romney who ran for POTUS in 2012.

Early Wednesday morning, exit poll data began to circulate that showed Trump improving the GOP’s standing with both African-Americans and Latinos. Less clear was just how central a role this shift played. To see the dramatic effect, compare the 2012 and 2016 exit polls that split the result by race.

In 2012, the electorate was 72 percent white (which went 59 percent Romney / 39 percent Obama) and 28 percent nonwhite (which went 81 percent Obama / 18 percent Romney), yielding a total margin of plus 3.1 percent for Obama. In 2016, the electorate was 70 percent white (which went 58 percent Trump / 37 percent Clinton) and 30 percent nonwhite (which went 73 percent Clinton / 21 percent Trump), yielding a total margin of plus 0.9 percent for Clinton.

The overall result is a 2.3 percent shift toward the Republicans. (Totals won’t sum due to rounding, and they won’t match final vote counts, because these are the exit polls.) We can allocate that shift across three changes: the shift in the mix of white and nonwhite voters; the shift in preferences among white voters; and the shift in preferences among nonwhite voters.

Man I wish my skills include crunching numbers such as these. It would be easy to see these trends and see if they stay consistent or when they stall. Read the whole thing, there's more to it than what's excerpted here.

Donald Trump President-elect

[VIDEO] This most interesting campaign has finally ended and in a Trump victory. Beginning January 20, 2017, we'll be living under a Donald Trump presidency. Unfortunately there are many who aren't happy, there are protests in downtown Chicago and as I've just learned on FOX News TV around the nation.

Considering the President-elect came into this election very unpopular I've figured that he as the victor of the 2016 presidential campaign would be a one-termer. Though I will admit looking only at the states he won, it was an overwhelming victory. He may still lose popular vote against Clinton but it was still an overwhelming victory he broke through in blue states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin for example.

BTW, the whole win electoral college and lose popular vote happened in 2000, 1888, 1876, 1824, and 1800. 2000, 1876, 1824, and 1800 were disputed and ultimately a President was inaugurated.

The question now is whether or not the President-elect will show how ready he is for his new responsibility. Above his victory speech which sounds conciliatory. He didn't beat down Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Although I said enough #Cubs posts...

Sloopin has a post about the championship rally for the Cubs last Friday. An estimated 5 million came to Chicago to see the parade and the rally in downtown Chicago. The 7th largest gathering of humans in the world. A lot of people have been waiting to see the unthinkable - a Cubs world series championship.

Consider this a mental break while we wait for more states to be called in this presidential election. There has been some interesting results, I was never sure what was going to happen but the results was never what was expected.

On election eve...

I wrote a post about voting on Election Day at The Sixth Ward. Often the message of the blog is to get out and vote. The blog is non-partisan, I as a writer - and not the only one there mind you - would not advocate there who you should vote for. At the same time I just had to acknowledge that this has been a polarizing election and at this point it's over. Now all we have to do is wait for the results to come in.

The Commissioner's trophy #cubs #worldseries #postseasn #flythew

Not only for the first time in 108 years did the Cubs win the World Series they also brought home their first Commissioner's trophy. You might have seen that in the post about the White Sox and their World Series victory in 2005 as their championship emblem contained the commissioner's trophy.

BTW, I should add having won two world series themselves in the early 20th century - like the Cubs - in 2005 the Sox also brought home their first commissioner's trophy. So as of 2016 both Chicago teams have their own trophy to show for their respective victories. Not sure what they have to show for their earlier victories before a trophy was devised.

The trophy has a similar meaning as the Stanley Cup or Vince Lombardi trophy. I did posts where I explained the history of both especially the Stanley Cup as far as the Black Hawks. It was first awarded in 1967 and before that time if you won the world series in previous you didn't get a trophy. Basically one would get rings for winning the world series just as most athletes get rings today.

I unfortunately didn't go the parade and rally in Grant Park for the Cubs but many fans got a glimpse of the trophy on Friday. An estimated five million came to Chicago to celebrate the Cubs first world series victory since the early 20th century.

Now that I've take care of this need to write about this it's time to look for other topics. I still can't believe the Cubs finally won one!!!

Also I found this article that questioned some of Cubs Manager Joe Maddon's moves with his bullpen during the final two games of the series. The article will claim that the manager choked but the team itself didn't. That article had the only good photo I could find of any Cub with the trophy in their arms.

Chicago White Sox championship history #postseason #worldseries

I waited until the end of the Cubs/Indians world series to post this. Before the Cubs won last night, the White Sox brought a world series victory to Chicago. It seemed to have been forgotten during the excitement over the Cubs.

Unfortunately I never worked on such a post when the Sox advanced to the World Series and then ultimately swept the Houston Astros. Over the years I did one for both the Bears and Black Hawks when they advanced to their respective World Championship rounds. So this post is really 11 years in the making.

Now with the success of the Cubs not only winning their first pennant in 71 years, but winning their first world series in 108 years. It's time to revisit the Sox who missed the playoffs this year and changed managers. Ironically the new manager is Rick Renteria who managed the Cubs in 2014 the season before Joe Maddon took the reins at Wrigley.

As a charter member of the American League which started in 1901, the Sox also won their first pennant that year. The world series as we know it began in 1903. Thus the Sox also won World Series titles in 1906, 1917, and of course 2005. In addition to 1901 they also won pennants in 1906, 1917, 1919, 1959, and of course 2005.

As a side note in 1906, the Sox faced off against the Cubs in the World Series. The only year both teams faced off against each other in a crosstown world series. And the White Sox claimed their first world series victory in this series.

Also the 1919 White Sox team was the subject of the film Eight Men Out. That movie was basically a dramatization of the Black Sox Scandal which took place during the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnatti Reds. Needless to say eight Sox players were banned for life from baseball after an investigation.

In 1969, Major League Baseball had been realigned where each league had been broken up into two divisions. Each division winner would play in an League Championship Series to determine who will play in the World Series.

By 1995, the major leagues would also be re-aligned again with three divisions per league and an extra round in the baseball postseason - League Division Series. Three division winners or those who clinched division titles with a wild card team with that round determining who advances to the ALCS (or conversely NLCS). In 2012 MLB created another round a one-game playoff between two wild card teams where one will advance to the ALDS (or NLDS).

Since 1969, the White Sox have won division titles in 1983, 1993, 2000, 2005, and 2008. The Sox as of yet have never clinched a wild card berth in the baseball postseason.

Also since we broached the subject of a crosstown series between Cubs and Sox. In 2003 the Cubs and Sox were close to both securing a berth in the postseason, unfortunately the south siders fell out of contention. The Cubs would enjoy a memorable run in 2003 even if they fell short.

In 2008, however, both teams were in the postseason winning their central division in their respective leagues. Unfortunately both teams were eliminated after their respective league division series.

The period between White Sox world series titles had been 88 years between 1917 and 2005. Between world series appearances had been 46 years between 1959 and 2005. Not nearly as long of a drought as the Cubs, however, the Sox were the first to bring a major league world series title back to Chicago.

108 years of waiting is over #cubs #postseason #flythew

71 years of waiting for an NL pennant ended last month. Now 108 years for a World Series championship is over. In 10 innings the Cubs scored the final out in Cleveland against the Indians and clinched a title over a century in waiting. It was a back and forth game between the Indians and Cubs both teams seemed to have wanted it, but in the end it was the Cubs.

2016 as it turns out IS their year!!!

BTW, tomorrow to honor the Chicago White Sox who 11 years ago brought their own world series title back to Chicago I will post a championship history for them. The first Chicago championship history written on this blog was for the Bears. I had the time not sure why it wasn't done in 2005 well they get one now!

For now this blog will "fly the w" for the Cubs. Formally a Cubs world series image will be shown on the blog eventually. Perhaps within the next day or so.

World Series Champions. #FlyTheW

A photo posted by cubs (@cubs) on Nov 2, 2016 at 9:47pm PDT

Wargaming the electoral college

Stephen Green takes a look at polls which show that this election is tightening. It seemed like a sure thing for Hillary Clinton but because we keep hearing about those e-mails and the FBI reopened the investigation into her e-mail server things are slightly changing. Trump is gaining strength but we're still less than a week away from election day.

Via Instapundit

The first ever webcam

[VIDEO] I often enjoy the videos of one 8-bit guy on YouTube. He likes to show us the technology of computers and how they evolved from the time they became available to the general public.

This recent look at a 20 year old webcam underscores how this technology has evolved. It was funny how he described using this device as almost similar to say a 19th century daguerreotype. You have to sit still for such a long exposure and for that reason no one smiled for a picture back in the day.

It was from this webcam that now we seem to use such cameras to monitor our homes for example.