Thursday, September 12, 2024

Blog pages in a series, part 4

Public School Horror Stories

Each of the pages in this series has quotes of news stories and sometimes informal articles that document the bad behavior of teachers and administrators in America's public schools.  The 4th and 5th pages in this series are focused on one topic within the general topic of American public education.
  1. This page documents the hypocrisy of the Michigan chapter of C.A.I.R., which demanded that Muslim students be allowed to take time away from classes to pray and which also demanded that Christian students could not participate in a Bible Study during school time.  This page also has 30+ links to news stories about teachers who were arrested for sexual activity with their students plus another 30+ links to news stories about teachers who were convicted of these crimes.

  2. This page has a story about an elementary school in Manhattan that required its' students to learn the Arabic language.  Teachers in different states were arrested for soliciting a prostitute.  A school in Colorado criticized 7th grade students who had conservative political attitudes.  Two schools sent students out in handcuffs.

  3. This page includes the story of a satanic group that wanted to distribute literature in a school system, various public schools that discouraged patriotism, one school that encouraged the desecration of an American flag, a teacher who forced a student to use his bare hands to unclog a urinal, and a section about dual-language public schools.  A police officer used a taser on a violent student at a Utah public high school.  A school nurse stole prescription medicine from students.  One boy was not allowed to read his personal Bible during free time at school.  A teacher showed an erotic film to her students.  A teacher and his roommate were arrested for possession of illegal drugs that had a street value of $6.2 million.

  4. This page shows how some public schools, typically run by leftist activists, have overreacted when a young boy pretends to have a gun.  Students have been suspended for activities that are clearly legal, including wearing an N.R.A. t-shirt.

  5. This page is about Common Core.  It begins with a summary of the three categories of objections to it.  Then, the page includes a YouTube video that shows how first-graders in one school district were taught how to write like a political activist.

  6. This extra page, published in September 2013, before the publication of the second page in this series, has 23 YouTube videos.  Most of them are a news story about a public school horror story.


Reelect Ted Cruz

The first page in this set was written in March 2017, although Google misdated it.  Other pages were added later.
  1. This page is about his basic biography and his early career.  It includes a few articles about one of his professors at Harvard Law School, Alan Dershowitz, who called him "brilliant".  There is a 2003 press release about the end of his job as the Director of the Federal Trade Commission's Office of Policy Planning.  There is a section about his personal faith and how he, as a U.S. Senator, helped a Christian woman who was being persecuted in the Sudan.  Another section is about a dispute he had with the openly lesbian Mayor of Houston.  Another section has videos of him listening to criticism.

  2. This page, written in March 2017, is about him as an author.  There are quotes from many of the articles he's written for journals that include Real Clear Politics, the Wall Street Journal, and the National Review.  There is a large section about his best-selling book, "A Time for Truth", which the New York Times denied was a best-seller until the evidence was shown to them by many publishing professionals.

  3. This page, written in March 2017, is about the November 2009 murder of some soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas and the fact that other soldiers were wounded.  President Obama called it "workplace violence" and denied the wounded soldiers the medical benefits that they would've received if they had been awarded the Purple Heart, but Senator Cruz, who represents Texas in the Senate, began a multi-year project, with the help of other legislators, to change the law that President Obama had relied upon.  He was successful.  This page also shows some of his visits to military bases and one Navy ship in Texas.

  4. This page, written in March 2017, is about his dedication to the Rule of Law, Due Process, and other principles that are embedded into the U.S. Constitution.  He will support and defend these principles even when they're unpopular.  He introduced a Constitutional amendment to prevent the U.S. Government from overturning state laws on marriage.  This page also includes a section about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server, which he criticized in the Senate.

  5. This page, written in April 2017, is about his principled opposition to legislation that claimed to give financial help to people who were hurt by Superstorm Sandy.  This legislation included many unrelated financial benefits, sometimes called pork.  The page also mentions his effort to get financial help for his home state of Texas when it was victimized by flooding.

  6. This page has copies of tweets that he has made that show him interacting with various individuals and groups in his official capacity as a U.S. Senator.  These groups include the March for Life (January 2017), Texas Wheat Producers (February 2017), the British Ambassador Kim Daroch (February 2017), and the Customs and Border Protection agency (February 2017), and some Boy Scouts (March 2017.  This page was published in April 2017, but I have added many more tweets since then.

  7. This page has copies of tweets that thanked Senator Cruz for helping them in some way.  This page also has tweets from VIPs who complimented him.  In May 2016, the Governor of Texas said that Ted was "the most conservative of all with a No. 1 ranking by American Conservative Union."  The police chief in Pasadena, Texas said, "Had the opportunity to met Senator Ted Cruz, who has always been an advocate of law enforcement on the national level." This page was published in May 2017, but I have added a lot of tweets to it, also.

  8. This page is about his effort to repair Obamacare early in 2017.  Its' exchanges were failing.  This was a clear sign that the law had created an unsustainable medical economy.  A July 2017 Christian News Service article is quoted with this headline "Cruz: Free Health Care Is Wonderful in 'World' of 'Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and Pixie Fairies’".

  9. This page is about the Senator's commitment to the religious liberty of all Americans.  There are subsections.  One is about a Supreme Court case based on a business called Hobby Lobby.  The second section is about the Washington, D.C. City Council, which passed two City Ordinances that restricted the rights of religious-based health-care organizations.  The third is about his support for a county clerk in Kentucky who refused to process marriage licenses from two men or two women. The fourth section shows how he used religious liberty effectively as a campaign issue, and a companion section about the Democrat Party's hatred for organized religion.  Thee is a brief section about a conversation between the Senator and a gay business owner, followed by his support for Pro-Life causes.  The last section is a Supreme Court case involving a Lutheran Church.

In August 2017, a hurricane came into Texas.  The first large city it hit was Houston.  While it was still in the Gulf of Mexico, Senator Ted Cruz sent out, on his Twitter account, a series of tweets, some of them written in Spanish, to prepare the people of Texas, who he loves, for that disaster.  They're copied onto these two blog pages.

Page 1 covers the time period from August 17, 2017 to August 26, 2017.

Page 2 covers the time period from August 27, 2017 to August 31, 2017, but I added more tweets that were made by Senator Cruz, starting in July 2018.

End

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

My Twitter info


Introduction

I have had a Twitter account since March 2012, but it's not my favorite literary style.  I prefer to write essays, not short 140-character messages or even 280-character messages.  I don't read my tweets every day, but there's a good chance that I'll see your messages.  My e-mail address is available on my Blogger "about me" page.

If you want to send me a tweet, send it to @BennyTheKite, named in honor of Benjamin Franklin.

About Mr. Franklin

He was:



My personal standards for retweeting other people's messages

This is a repeat of an announcement that I have already made on Twitter.  As my personal policy on Twitter, I will not retweet certain messages.  Any message that has strong swear words will not be retweeted.  I have reluctantly retweeted messages from people who called someone else "an ass" or "a jackass", but stronger language is not acceptable to me.  Twitter may allow other swear words, but I do not.

Also, in accordance with my personal racial policy (I am color-blind), I will not retweet any message that includes a description of an individual or a group as being a member of a race.  No descriptions of anyone or any group as a "white person" or a "black person" are allowed.  No color-coded descriptions of a group of people are allowed, either.  I recently had a conversation with someone who had been a political candidate of a congressional district that he said was "majority black".  I did not retweet that message because it goes against the color-blindness that has been a part of my life for decades.


New retweeting policy as of December 2, 2015

Today, I found out that another person followed me whose Twitter account was strictly commercial.  There were no messages about any of my favorite subjects: politics, political science, or economics.  None of his messages interested me at all.  It seems that the only reason he followed me was because he believed that I would eventually retweet some of his messages, and he would get some free publicity

That was my policy for well over a year, but as of today, December 2, 2015, I am changing this policy.

Anyone is welcome to follow me on Twitter.  Anyone at all, including singers, writers, graphic artists, and anyone else who has a product to sell, but I will not retweet messages from Twitter accounts that are set up exclusively for a commercial purpose.

I will make exceptions at my own personal discretion.


The threats against the jury

I have only made one exception to this policy of not retweeting messages that include color descriptions of people or groups.  During the 2013 trial of George Zimmerman, I found a person who was tweeting threats against the jury.  As soon as I saw these messages, I looked for some way to report him to Twitter, but I didn't see any way to do it, so I began retweeting the messages verbatim, one after another, hoping that someone else knew how to notify Twitter and some law enforcement authority of the threat to this jury.

Fortunately, someone else that was reading my retweets retweeted them again to the Twitter support staff and to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Less than a half-hour later, the Twitter account of the person who was making the threats was suspended.  I can only hope that someone in the F.B.I. has arrested him, but I don't have a lot of confidence that this has happened, because the F.B.I. reports to the U.S. Department of Justice, which was headed by Eric Holder at that time.  He is well-known for not prosecuting certain kinds of people.


The names of some of my followers

All of these people follow my account.

Two U.S. Senators

Note: Senator Cruz followed me before Senator Schmitt did, so Senator Cruz is listed before Senator Schmitt.
Name Other Information Twitter Handle
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz He represents Texas Senate office website.  He has followed me with this account and the next one since April 2013. SenTedCruz
Ted Cruz This is his personal Twitter account, sometimes called "a campaign account". tedcruz
Eric Schmitt
He was sworn-in as a U.S. Senator in January 2023.  He began following me when he was a Missouri State Senator.  campaign website. Eric_Schmitt


Six U.S. Representatives

Note: They are listed in the order that they began following me.
Name Other Information Twitter Handle
Ann Wagner She represents Missouri's 2nd District.  This is her House office website.  She has followed me since July 2013. RepAnnWagner
Brian Mast He has been a member of the U.S. House, representing Florida's 21st Congressional district, since 2017.  This was the 18th District until the district map was redrawn in 2022.  This is his House office website. BrianMastFL
Nicole Malliotakis She represents the 11th Congressional district in New York.  She was the Republican candidate for the Mayor of New York City in 2017.  Campaign website NMalliotakis
Matt Rosedale His state, Montana, has only one seat in the U.S. House.  He represents the whole state.  Campaign website. MattForMontana
Claudia Tenney She represents the 24th Congressional district in New York.  She is an attorney and the owner of a small business.  Campaign website. claudiatenney
Marianette Miller-Meeks, M.D. She represents Iowa's first Congressional District.  This is her Congressional website.  She is also a licensed physician.  Campaign website. millermeeks


Four Candidates for the U.S. Senate

All of these Twitter accounts follow my Twitter account.

Name State Twitter Handle
Aaron L. Packard Massachusetts AaronLPackard1
Bob Antonellis Massachusetts BobForSenateMA
Thomas Murphy South Carolina tommurphy8485
Alexander Gaaserud West Virginia AlexGaaserud4WV
Alexander's election will be in 2026.


Eight Candidates for the U.S. House

All of these Twitter accounts follow my Twitter account.

Name Other Information Twitter Handle
Yvette Herrell
She was a member of the U.S. House from 2021 to 2023.  She is running again fro New Mexico's 2nd District.  Campaign website.
Yvette4congress
Tim Fazenbaker Candidate for Congress in Maryland's 2nd Congressional district.  Campaign website. america1timfaze
Elbert Guillory Candidate for the 6th Congressional district in Louisiana.  He was a State Senator and an Executive Member of the Louisiana Republican Party. ElbertGuillory
Chrris Bright He is a graduate of West Point and a candidate for New Hampshire's 1st District.  Campaign website ChrisBrightNH
Riley Moore
He is the current West Virginia State Treasurer.  He is a candidate for West Virginia's   Campaign website
RileyMooreWV
Lily Tang Williams She escaped from Maoist China and started a business in New Hampshire. Lily4Liberty
Mike Zimblaskas The Republican candidate in NY-12.  The incumbent is a Democrat named Jerry Nadler. MikeZumblaskas
Alfe Goodwin The Republican candidate in PA-05.  The incumbent is Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon. AlfeGood89159


Nine State Legislators

All of these Twitter accounts follow my Twitter account

Name Other Information Twitter Handle
Texas State Senator Brandon Creighton TX Senate website. SenCreighton
Missouri State Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman She represents Missouri Senate District 22.  She is a candidate for Secretary of State. MO Senate website. meacoleman
Virginia Delegate Paul Milde He represents Virginia House District 64.  VA House website. PaulvMilde
Virginia Delegate Emily Jordan Member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 64th District.  She was elected in 2017.  She was reelected in 2019, 2021, and 2023.  Campaign website. EmilyJordan4VA
Virginia Delegate Terry Gilgore Member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 45th District.  Campaign website. delterrykilgore
New York State Representative Joe Angelino He represents Arkansas Senate District 27.  New York House website. JosephAngelino
Arkansas State Representative Jim Dotson Member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, representing the 93rd District.  His page on the website of the AR Legislature. RepJimDotson
Missouri State Representative Melanie Stinnett She represents Missouri House District 133.  campaign website. MStinnettSWMO
Missouri State Representative Louis Riggs He represents Missouri House District 5.  campaign website. riggs4missouri


Former legislators

All of these Twitter accounts follow my Twitter account.

A former member of the U.S. Senate

Roy Blunt He represented Missouri in the U.S. Senate for two 6-yr terms, from January 2011 until January 2023. RoyBluntMO

Three former members of the U.S. House of Representatives

Scott Rigel
Former Congressman for VA-02 until 2017. RepScottRigell
Steve Stockman He represented two Congressional districts (at different times) in Texas from 1995-1997 and from 2013-2015. SteveWorks4You
Diane Black Represented Tennessee's 6th District in the U.S. House until January 2019.  She was elected in 2010.  She was also a candidate for the Governor of TennesseeCampaign website. DianeBlackTN

Six former members of state legislatures

Bob Ballinger He represented an Arkansas Senate District from January 2019 to Januasry 2023.  Before that, he was a member of their House of Representatives. Bob_Ballinger
John MacDonald He represented the 1st Middlesex district in the Massachusetts State Senate.  Campaign website. jmacforstatesen1
Garrett Love Former State Senator from Kansas. Garrett_Love
Bob Thorpe He represented a District in Arizona's House of Representatives from January 2013 until January 2021. azrepbobthorpe
Richard Corcoran He was a Florida State Representative in their 37th House District and he was their House Speaker.  He was also the Commissioner of Edication in their state.  He was unable to run for reelection in 2018 due to term limits. richardcorcoran
Geoff Diehl He represented the 7th Plymouth District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.  He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2018 and for Governor in 2022. RepGeoffDiehl
Gates Lucas He represented the 2nd Sullivan District in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. GatesLucasNH


Former Candidates for the U.S. House

All of these Twitter accounts follow my Twitter account.
Eric Essshaki He was a candidate for Michigan's 10th Congressional district. EsshakiCongress
Tre Pennie
President, Fallen Officer's Foundation.  Candidate for Congress in Texas.  Campaign website. RealOmarNavarro
DeAnna Lorraine Candidate for the 12th Congressional district in California.  She tried to replace Nancy Palosi in the U.S. House of Representatives. DeAnna4Congress
Tiffany Shedd Candidate for the 1st Congressional district in Arizona.  Tiffany grew up in Pinal County, and worked her way through college and law school at the University of Arizona. Tiffany_Shedd
Joe Profit Candidate for the 6th Congressional district in Georgia.  He is a former NFL playerCampaign website. JoeProfitGA_06
Nick Moutos Candidate for the 35th Congressional district in Texas.  He is a licensed attorney and a veteran.  Campaign website. votenickmoutos
Patrice Kimbler Candidate for the 36th Congressional district in California.  He is a licensed attorney and a veteran.  Campaign website. pkforca36
Lerah Lee Former Candidate for the 7th Congressional district in Georgia.  Her campaign website LerahLeeforGA7
John Hugo Former Republican candidate for the U.S. House, in the 5th Congressional District in the state of Massachusetts.  Campaign website on Facebook. HugoCongress
Willie Billups Former Republican candidate for the U.S. House in Tennessee's 9th Congressional District. VoteBillups
Lori Bartley 2016 Candidate for the U.S. House in Texas's 18th Congressional district. Campaign website.  She didn't win her race, and she deleted her old Twitter account.  She used to use @LoriBartleyTX18 AVFTVoiceless
Pina Prinzivalli Former Republican candidate for the 19th Middlesex district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.  Campaign website. PinaForYou
Claire Malaguti Former Republican candidate for the 30th Middlesex district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. claire_malaguti
John Cruz Former Republican candidate for the 10th Plymouth district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. JCruz4Rep
Rob Maness Former candidate for the Louisiana House of Representatives, District 77, and a retired Air Force Colonel. Campaign website.  Unfortunately, he lost his race. RobManess
Former Texas State Senator Don Huffines He represents Texas Senate District 16.  TX Senate website.  He lost his reelection race in November 2018. DonHuffines

Other very important people

Name Other Information Twitter Handle
John Kasich Former Governor of Ohio (until January 2019) and 2016 presidential candidate website JohnKasich
Debbie Georgatos Member, Reppblican National Committee.  She is also the host of a radio talk show in Texas. DebbieCanWeTalk
Ryan Fournier Founder, Students for Trump RyanAFournier
Jessie Jane Duff
275,000
Executive Director, Veterans for Trump.  Retired Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. @JessieJaneDuff
Michael Bars Former White House Sr. Sommunications Advisor and Spokesman, Deputy Asst. Secretary, Homeland Security MichaelBars_
Governor Abbott's reelection campaign Greg Abbott is the Governor of Texas. AbbottCampaign
Keri Ingraham Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute KeriDIngraham
Ed Krassenstein Lefty with 1m followers
EdKrassen
Texas Tribune
Online Newspaper
TexasTrubune
Don Bulduc
Retired Four-Star General and former candidate for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshiire GenDonBolduc
Debbie Georgatos Member, Republican National Committee, Texas.  She is also a radio talk show host. DebbieCanWeTalk
David E. Biddle Chair, Gilchrist County (Florida) Republican Party davidebiddle
Joey Bautista Former professional baseball player with a million followers JoeyBats19
Scott Brown The U.S. Senate confirmed him June 8, 2017 as the U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand.  Before that, he was a U.S. Senator from January 2011 until his confirmation as a U.S. Ambassador. SenScottBrown
Oil and Gas Worker's Association
OGWA is working to secure and advance oil and gas jobs.
ogwausa
Jeff Kuhner WRKO Radio Talk Show Host TheKiknerReport
Conservative Republican Alliance of New York
A grassroots political club.  They also have a GETTR account.
CRANewYorkState
Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Florida
A grassroots political club.  They also have a GETTR account.
CRANewYorkState
Michael Johns Tea Party Leader & former White House Speechwriter michaeljohns
Matt Batzel National Executive Director of American Majority MattBatzel

Advocacy groups and journalists

All of these Twitter accounts follow my Twitter account.  "AFP is the acronym of an advocacy group called Americans For Prosperity.
The Massachusetts Tea Party my oldest follower (thanks) MAteaparty
The Daily Caller Politics Their main page is @DailyCaller TheDCPolitics
The Mass GOP Muni PAC The full name is The Massachusetts Republican Municipal Coalition PAC.  Their last tweet was in July 2017. MassGOPMuniPAC
AFP, North Carolina
A strong voice in opposition to Obama's policies
AFPNC
AFP, Tennessee
A strong voice in opposition to Obama's policies
AFPTN
AFP, Colorado
A strong voice in opposition to Obama's policies
AFPColorado
AFP, Iowa
A strong voice in opposition to Obama's policies
AFPIowa
AFP, New Hampshire
A strong voice in opposition to Obama's policies
AFP_NH
AFP, Florida
A strong voice in opposition to Obama's policies
AFPFFlorida
AFP, Maine
A strong voice in opposition to Obama's policies
AFPFMaine
AFP, Pennsylvania
A strong voice in opposition to Obama's policies
AFPFPennsylvania
AFP, Georgia
A strong voice in opposition to Obama's policies
AFPFGeorgia
American Spectator
Their Twitter profile says that they "provide witty political and cultural commentary from the nation's capital." Website.
AmSpectator
The National Center for Public Policy Research Chairman @AmyRidenour also follows me NationalCenter


Other Individuals

All of these Twitter accounts follow my Twitter account.
Jesse Columbo Forbes online columnist  His bio. thebubblebubble
MS Operator
Protection Detail Operator at Mexico Executive Protection Group
MSOperator1
Barbara Boland CNS News Reporter BBatdc
Melody Himel Clarke Regional Coordinator, Heritage Action TheRightMelody
Andrew Malcolm Columnist at Investor's Business Daily AHMalcolm
Sarah Steelman Former Commissioner of the Office of Administration in Missouri's State Government.  Link to her office website, which mentions her name. Sarah_Steelman
Jesse Lee Peterson
The host of a radio talk show.  Video and audio podcasts are available.
JLPtalk
Note: Lori Bartley and Rob Maness lost their elections.  Lori deleted her Twitter account a day or two after the election was over.  I wish that she had used it to thank her supporters and to listen to the well-wishes of the people who voted for her, but she chose not to do that.  I think it was a bad decision, but it's her decision.

Followers with a lot of followers

All of these people follow me, and they all have more than 100,000 followers.  They are listed by the number of their followers, highest first.  Most of these people appear in other categories.
Name & Twitter Handle Other Information Followers
Ted Cruz
@tedcruz
his personal Twitter account 6.4 million
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz
@SenTedCruz
represents Texas Senate office website 3.7 million
Ryan Fournier
@RyanAFournier
Chairman of Students for Trump and former political commentator on Fox News.  Link to his Instagram account. 1.1 million
Joey Bautista
@JoeyBats19
Former professional baseball player 1 million
Former Governor John Kasich
@JohnKasich
Former Governor of Ohio and 2016 presidential candidate website 883,000
Artem Klyushin
@ARTEM_KLYUSHI
No self-description 763,000
Taye Diggs
@TayeDiggs
Actor IMDb listing 624,000
Kevin Green
@MySOdotCom
Owner of My SO.  It offers digital content management. 583,000
Kevin Green
@FixedOpsGenius
Paid speaker 495,000
Eric Matheny
@ericmatheny
Co-host of "Bob and Eric Save America" Apple podcast 394,000
Life News
@LifeNewsHQ
They write news about Pro-Life topics. 339,000
Texas Tribune
@TexasTribune
Member-supported, non-profit, and non-partisan newsroom.. 317,000
Deanna Lorraine
@DeAnnaCongress
Former candidate for Congress in California.  She is now a radio talk show host. 296,000
Daniel F. Baranowski
@LifeNewsHQ
Retired Harvard Professor of Public Health. 299,000
Jessie Jane Duff
@JessieJaneDuff
Executive Director, Veterans for Trump.  Retired Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. 275,000
Spencer Rayner
@spencerrayner
Digital consultant in the U.K. SP Digital Consultants 270,000
Lennar
@Lennar
This is a national homebuilding company.. 239,000
Michael Johns
@michaeljohns
National Tea Party movement co-founder and leader. Former White House speechwriter and Heritage policy analyst. 231,000
Steve Fergusom
@lsferguson
This former Massachusetts legislator posts frequently about national political issues. 205,000
Dr. Lynn J. Anderson
@andersonDrLJA
Retired Colonel, U.S. Army, Christian.  Descendant of a Revolutionary War soldier. 200,000
The Gay Republican
@GayRepublicanSwag
A member of @againstgrmrs 162,000
Susan Gaeta
@GaetaSusan
Executive Board Member, 1791 Society. 153,000
Nah Baby Nah
@NahBabyNah
A patriot whose heart bleeds red, white, and blue. 152,000
Nat Shupe
@NatShupe
Affiliated with the U.S. Freedom Army 152,000
LessGovMoreFun
@LessGovMoreFun
A common American. 144,000
Eric Schmitt
@Eric_Schmitt
United States Senator, representing Missouri 142,000
Jesse Lee Peterson
@JLPTalk
Host of the JLP Show 137,000
Chris Stamper
@CStamper_
His self-description doesn't mention it, but I think he's a contributor to Wired Magazine. 144,000
Andres Malcolm
@AHMalcolm
Contributor to Red State and Co-Host of The Ed Morrisey Show on Hot Air. 138,000
Michael Moates
@FreedomMoates
Contributor to the Washington Examiner.  Link to his most recent articles. 111,000
Robert Cahaly
@RobertCahaly
Chief Pollster for The Trafalgar Group. 110,000
Matt Batzel
@MattBatzel
National Executive Director of American Majority 110,000
Montgomery Granger
@mjgranger1
Author, "Saving Grace at Guantanamo Bay" His books 110,000
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, representing the 24th District in New York, has 97,000 followers. @claudiatenney

Inactive followers

These people follow me, but they haven't posted anything in more than a year.
The late Amy Ridenour @AmyRidenour
Scott Rigell Former U.S. Representative from Virginia's 2nd District until January 2017. @RepScottRigell
Jesse-Jane McParland
2016 Junior World Champion, World Association of Kickboxing Organizations
@JJmcparland

These people and organizations have followed me in the past.

Montel Williams The host of one of the longest-running talk shows on television.  Emmy winner in 1996. @Montel_Williams
MUma Pemmearaju Fox News Reporter @Montel_Williams
The Washington Examiner Recent headline: Carson: No Syrian Refugees in the U.S., should help Jordan instead @DCExaminer
Dave Brown Senior Editor at the Washington Examiner @dave_brown24
Nick Short Chief TEchnology Officer, Thomas Klingenstein @PoliticalShort
Anthony Scaramucci He is a founder of a hedge fund, and he was a member of Donald Trump's transition team in 2016.  Link to his IMDb biography. @Scaramucci
American Majority They train people to become politically active. @Am_National
Modern Masons "Integrating Modern times with Freemasonry" Website of their oldest lodge @ModernMasons
The Thomas More Society A national not-for-profit law firm that provides pro-bono legal services. Website @ThomasMoreSoc
Barnstable County (MA) Commissioner Ron Beaty List of the County Commissioners.  He ran for election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2018 but lost. @ronbeatyjr
J. J. Koch Dallas County Commissioner, District 2.  Campaign website.  He was elected in 2018. @JJKoch
Beth Lindstrom
A former Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, representing the state of Massachusetts.  Campaign website. @BethLindstrom
Kevin Nicholson Former Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, representing the state of Wisconsin.  Campaign website. @KevinMNicholson
Dan DeBono The Republican candidate for the U.S. House in New York's 3rd Congressional District.  Campaign website. @DanDeBono
Phoenix, AZ City Councillor Sal DiCiccio His reelection websiteHe was reelected in August 2017. @Sal_DiCiccio
Team Santorum Rick Santorum was a 2012 presidential candidate.  The last tweet posted by this account was made January 2016. @TeamSantorum
Derek Cressman Former Democrat candidate for the 6th district in the California State Senate.  Campaign website. @DerekCressman
Gavi Shapiro Former Republican candidate for State Representative in Georgia House District 52.  Campaign website. @GaviShapiro
U.S. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Service part of the Interior Department @USFWS
Jenny Beth Martin Co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots @jennybethm
Leslie Marshall Nationally syndicated radio talk show host who streams her show on LeslieMarshall.com @LeslieMarshall
Kris Gutierrez Former national correspondent for Fox News, now working for KXAS-TV in Fort Worth, Texas. @KrisGutierrez
John Grisham Best-selling author.  He followed me twice. @JohnGrisham
The Daily Caller Recent headline: Media rushes to blame Christians, Republicans for Planned Parenthood shooting @DailyCaller
Team Ted Cruz 2016
This account was controlled by his campaign staff.  The last post was July 20, 2016.
@TeamTedCruz2016
Linda Wang Professional actress.  IMDB listing. @LoveLindaWang
Aurelia Scheppers Professional actress.  IMDB listing. @aureliasaid
Alfons LĂ´pez Tena The current leader of the separatist movement in Spain.  An Op-Ed he wrote about Catalonia. @alfonslopeztena
Michele McPhee Emmy-nominated Investigative Reporter, Author, ABC News Producer. @MicheleMcPhee
Everette Taylor Chief Marketing Officer for Skurt  More information about him is here. @Everette



The number of my followers is accurate

In the middle of December 2013, I had about 235 followers.  They were following me at the rate of about two or three a day.  I was happy with this.  I have been rewarding new followers by retweeting some of their messages, and if I get 2-3 new followers a day, I can keep up with that pace and thank each one individually.

But then, I was away from Twitter for a few days.

When I came back and logged back on, I saw that I had over ten thousand new followers.  I tried hard to think what I could have done on Twitter or this blog to earn ten thousand new followers in a few days.

In a desperate effort to learn more, I started looking at some of these followers, and I started seeing two patterns.
  1. Many of these new followers had not sent out an original tweet in years.
  2. Many of these people had names that sounded Spanish.
I came to the conclusion that many of these people, perhaps even the overwhelming majority of them, had died, and that someone else had figured out some way to get the Twitter account of a dead person to "follow" someone.

Few of these strange new followers have corresponded sent me any tweets, and none of them have replied to anything I've written, which gives me even more reason to believe that they're literally the account of a dead person.

Since December 2013, I still get about two or three new followers a day, on average, and I still reward them by retweeting some of their recent messages, but I would really like to have a private talk with whoever dumped those ten thousand dead accounts on me.

In early August 2018, Twitter removed many inactive followers from many people.  The number of my own followers dropped overnight from about 11,500 to 4,500, but I'm gaining one or two new followers on most days.

July 2018 update

Twitter's administrators and support staff have been removing accounts that they believe were registered improperly.  The number of accounts that followed me dropped overnight from about 11,400 to 4,500.  That number is now climbing slowly, as I expect it would.

However, some accounts that belong to people who are politically conservative have been targeted for abuse, some of which is hidden.  Tweets made by conservatives are sometimes seen by the people who posted them and simultaneously unviewable by others.  This practice is called shadow banning.

These are the first three paragraphs of a July 25, 2018 article in Vice News.
Twitter is limiting the visibility of prominent Republicans in search results — a technique known as “shadow banning” — in what it says is a side effect of its attempts to improve the quality of discourse on the platform.

The Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel, several conservative Republican congressmen, and Donald Trump Jr.’s spokesman no longer appear in the auto-populated drop-down search box on Twitter, VICE News has learned.  It’s a shift that diminishes their reach on the platform — and it's the same one being deployed against prominent racists to limit their visibility.  The profiles continue to appear when conducting a full search, but not in the more convenient and visible drop-down bar. (The accounts appear to also populate if you already follow the person.)

Democrats are not being “shadow banned” in the same way, according to a VICE News review.  McDaniel’s counterpart, Democratic Party chair Tom Perez, and liberal members of Congress — including Reps. Maxine Waters, Joe Kennedy III, Keith Ellison, and Mark Pocan — all continue to appear in drop-down search results.  Not a single member of the 78-person Progressive Caucus faces the same situation in Twitter’s search.
This article was updated the next day, and Vice News wrote a new article. The updated material says that the Twitter Corporation fixed the problem, but without making any announcement that they had done so.  This is an inadequate solution because there is no statement of Twitter's policy to be fair to both sides of the political spectrum.  In fact, this July 26, 2018 statement claims that they don't shadow-ban, but this statement was made the day after they appeared to halt this practice.  Their lack of a clear long-term policy means that Twitter's politically leftist administrators could still try to hurt people unfairly just because they're on the right side of the spectrum.




David

Monday, April 6, 2020

Principles are more important than politics


This might be my last blog page for awhile, maybe my last one ever.  Ever since the Chinese Virus was released from a bio-weapons lab in the city of Wuhan, various governments around the world have used whatever legal authority they have, and in some cases, assuming legal powers that they don't have, with thegoal of containing this viurs.

There are several problems with this approach.  The expectated numbers of confirmed cases and deaths from this disease were wildly inflated at the start of this health crisis, yet many national presidents and the lower-ranking governmental officials, such as Governors and Mayors, used these false numbers as the basis for taking away the freedom of their people to do a wide variety of activities, including shopping for food, having parties in private homes, and even attending worship services at Christian churches and Jewish temples.

The rights that were stolen from the American people in particular are named explicitly in a document that has a very special place in American history for two reasons.  It's a list of amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and the ratification of this document was deliberately delayed in order to secure the votes that were needed to ratify the Constitution itself.  This is a copy of a painting that depicts the moment when America declared itself to be a new nation.


Because the British Empire still considered us to be thirteen colonies, when they heard the news, much later, they sent armed troops to enforce the harsh laws that we had just rebelled against.  Our own people trained and armed ourselves as much as we could, and it was good enigh to win a war that cost many lives on both sides, but we did win, so we began the process of establishing a new government, based on the best principles that we knew.  Fortunately for us, many of our leaders were highly-educated and faithful to a religion that taught good principles, like personal humillity and the love of others..

The United States Constitution has seven parts to it, called Articles.  The first three Articles explicitly give some power to three separate parts of a brand-new government.  America needed a new government because we had fought and won a war against the world's strongest army and navy at that time, the British Empire.

Any power that hasn't been given to one of the three branches of the U.S. Government is a power that the people retain.  This is explicitly mentioned in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.

It isn't well-known, but the original proposal to add amendments to the U.S. Constitution was a list of 12 propsed amendments.  The elected representatives of the new American government voted on these proposals, one at a time, and 10 out of the 12 proposals received a majority of the votes that were cast.

I have seen enthusiasm growing among America's elected Mayors and Governors for political power that the U.S. Constitution doesn't give them.  In short, they have become dictators, which I wrote about in this essay, written in July 2012 and in this essay, written two years later, in August 2014.  The first page states some universal political science principles tnat can be applidd to any country.  The second page applies those prinvciples to the United States.

These are the first paragraphs of an April 5, 2020 news story published by the NBC affiliate in Boston.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on Sunday issued a recommended curfew of 9 p.m. and asked all residents to wear a mask when leaving the house after the city saw its largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases.
The recommended curfew extends through 6 a.m. each morning and applies to all residents except essential workers, the mayor said. People are encouraged to utilize delivery services as much as possible after 9 p.m.
As evidence of the enthusiasm of the Mayor of Boston for the power of a dictator, this is the 11th paragraph of the same news story.
There is nothing that I won't do as Mayor of the City of Boston to protect our residents, and at this very critical time, we must do everything we can as Bostonians to protect one another. This is bigger than any one person - this is about the greater good of our people. Stay safe, stay inside, and let's get through this together." 
He has no self-imposed limits on his power, which means he has no self-discipline.  In addition, he has no respect for his own Oath of Office, which requires him to support and defend the United States Constitution

Just like a shocking number of other Mayors and Governors in America, he has either forgotten or deliberately ignored the immortal words of one of America's greatest Presidents, who has the honor of being one of only four men whose face is carved into Mt. Rushmore.  These are the last sentences from a speech he gave at the dedication of a new cemetary whose first bodies came from a rencent battle.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate-we can not consecrate-we can not hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
"... we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Government of, by, and for the people must sometimes be fought for because dictators like the Mayor of Boston are eager to have power that they should never have.

This is one of many links to the text of this speech.  The full text is also carved into the back wall of the memorial to this great man, whose actions I am not worthy to try to copy.
Tonight, I will defy this dictator.  I will walk through Boston and the next-door city of Cambridge, the home of Harvard University and  the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.).  I will do it after 9pm, which is a violation of the Mayor's curfew, and I will blow a coach's whistle, similar to the one on the right.
I do not know whether I will be safe, walking through the streets of Boston and Cambridge tonight.  A lot of things can happen, including the possibility that I could be arrested or killed, but whatever happens, I am doing this because I must do it.  I named my Twitter account (@BennyTheKite) so that it would honor this man, who has been called the greatest American who was never  a U.S. president.


This is his biography on the Biography Channel website.

Friday, February 28, 2020

Blog pages in a series, part 3


The series in this set have a lot of pages.  The first set has five pages plus one page with videos.  The second set has nine pages, and a tenth page is more than half-finished.  The third set has five pages plus an extra two pages that are related. 

Factions within America's political parties

Every major political party is like a large group that is formed for any reason.  There will always be minor disagreements among its' members.  Because the Democrat Party and the Republican Party have so many members, it would be impossible for every member of either party to agree on the best presidential candidate or to agree on the best policies for its' platform.


Factions in general

According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, a faction is
a situation in which a group forms within a larger group, especially one with slightly different ideas from the main group.
For example, most of the presidential elections in American history included multiple candidates from the same party.  In 2008, there was a heated rivalry between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama for the Democrat nomination.  On June 21, 2014, the New York Post published a story titled The feud between the Obamas and ‘Hildebeest’.  On June 9, 2016, National Public Radio published a story titled Bitter Rivals To Allies: How President Obama Evolved On Hillary Clinton.

In 2016, 1Donald Trump beat 16 other Republican candidates during primary elections and caucuses to become the Republican nominee and eventually, the President of the United States.  A bitter rivalry between Senator Cruz and businessman Donald Trump evolved into a mutually beneficial friendship.

The men who founded our country using ideas

American history - 1776 to 1787

These are the first two paragraphs of an undated page on the website of the Encyclopedia Britannica.  The links were on their page.  The image, showing the signing of the U.S. Constitution by 39 members of the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787, is a painting by Howard Chandler Christy.
Founding Fathers, the most prominent statesmen of America’s Revolutionary generation, responsible for the successful war for colonial independence from Great Britain, the liberal ideas celebrated in the Declaration of Independence, and the republican form of government defined in the United States Constitution. While there are no agreed-upon criteria for inclusion, membership in this select group customarily requires conspicuous contributions at one or both of the foundings of the United States: during the American Revolution, when independence was won, or during the Constitutional Convention, when nationhood was achieved.

Although the list of members can expand and contract in response to political pressures and ideological prejudices of the moment, the following 10, presented alphabetically, represent the “gallery of greats” that has stood the test of time: John Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Marshall, George Mason, and George Washington. There is a nearly unanimous consensus that George Washington was the Foundingest Father of them all.
The Articles of Confederation were an early attempt to produce a document that the nation's leaders would all obey.  It organized governmental functions into groups, but it failed to give the President enough power to mediate disputes between the 13 states that we had at the time.

In 1787, when they abandoned the Articles and talked about writing the U.S. Constitution, these men saw, first-hand, that their small group had two smaller groups who disagreed with each other's basic principles.  One faction, called Federalists, wanted to divide the government into groups that had some oversight over the other groups.  A different faction, called Anti-federalists, wanted a straightforward hierarchy of government, with one very strong leader at the top, able to give orders to all of the other government employees.  This was the structure of the British Government that they had left.



The Federalist Papers

The Founding Fathers were highly educated men and usually good friends.  They wrote letters to each other to exchange political ideas with each other.  These letters are called the Federalist Papers because most of them discussed the principle of a Federalist government.


The current political parties

The pages listed below are arranged by the name of the party.  These pages were written in a different order.  The pages about Republican factions are labeled 1a, 1b, and 1c.  The pages about Democrat factions are labeled 2a through 2g.  Links to all of these pages are embedded.

Republican factions

Page 1a

This page starts with a brief history of the party and then discusses the faction that represents Donald Trump's family and their supporters, some of whom are so loyal, they would forgive him if he shot someone in cold blood on the streets of New York City.

The Republican Party has other factions, some of whom are loyal to the traditional Republican respect for law and order, and the Rule of Law, which states that everyone, even people who have a lot of charisma and supporters, need to obey the laws passed by state governments and the U.S. Government.
The law that he says he could disobey without any consequences in this video, recorded in Iowa on 2016, is the law that makes it a crime to murder people.

CNN video of the same event

CBS News video of the same event

the NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio
Some of his supporters are still so loyal to him today, they will forgive him for anything, even cold-blooded murder.

Page 1a also includes some information about another Republican family that has more conservative values.  This is the Koch family, which was headed by two brothers, although one of them died in August 2019.

In August 2017, I attended the last of 11 one-day events that were organized by one of the Koch brother's lobbying organizations, called Americans for Prosperity.

This event was held in Richmond, Virginia.  The speakers included Steve Forbes, the GOP candidate for Governor of Virginia, a U.S. Representative in Virginia, and one of the five F.C.C. Commissioners.

I recorded videos of all of them and this video.

Page 1a also has information about another conservative faction within the Republican Party, the Tea Party.  It is a movement, not a political party that is registered with the U.S. Federal Elections Commission.

Conservative principles were mentioned in a 2009 CNBC video on the page and explained in more detail in a 2010 video of a speech given by Michelle Bachmann, who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives at the time.  Both videos are on the page.

Page 1a continues with a long discussion of "Republicans who have been in office for along time", a group that is sometimes called "the Republican Establishment", then a discussion of the Mormon Church, a group that has many politically-conservative members, and then a discussion of Republicans like Booker T. Washington and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who were advocates of civil rights within the party.

Page 1a continues with a discussion of a well-known Republican Governor, pictured on the right, who threatened to leave the party because his political views were more moderate than he saw within the party.  This section also names a well-known conservative Republican commentator who did leave the party.  Other people I know on Twitter describe themselves as having left the party.  This section names a wealthy man who also left the Republican Party.

This page ends with my commentary about the corruption of the former Chairman of the Republican Party, Reince Priebus, by presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Page 1b

This page begins with a look at the most effective Republican lobbying groups.  It continues with the 2018 dispute between President Trump and the Chamber of Commerce over tariffs.  The Chamber is a traditional Republican group because they represent business owners.

This page then mentions a small faction called the Log Cabin Republicans, a 2018 spending bill in the House of Representatives, a dispute between the Club for Growth and a Republican member of the Senate. who was a big fan of President Trump.  The Club tried to have another Republican challenge the sitting Senator.

This page then mentions the fact that President Trump campaigned for the reelection of Senator Ted Cruz.  His efforts were successful.  The Senator was reelected in November 2018.

Page 1c

This page has more information about the Log Cabin Republicans and another group of gay Republicans.  The page also examines the complex relationship between gays and a pedophile group called the North American Man-Boy Love Association.

This page includes a tweet from James Woods, who used to be a Democrat, and it finishes with a large section about a Democrat who used to be a Governor.  Because of his strong patriotism and his moderate political views on foreign policy and other issues, I recommended to the Democrat Party in 2014 that they make him a presidential candidate.


Democrat factions

Page 2a

This page begins with a clickable outline of all of the pages in this series, including the three pages about Republican factions.  I then give a short description of the history of the Democrat Party, and I name some patriotic Democrats because they are one small but important faction in this party.

The image on the left was sewn into the inside of clothing during the 1930s, when the U.S. President was Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, and when there was high unemployment in America.  There is a large section about him.

A large section on Page 2a also names F.D.R.'s successor, Harry Truman, as a patriotic Democrat.  Another large section is about President John F. Kennedy, another patriotic Democrat because he defended America against Russian military aggression in Cuba in 1962.  There is also a small section about President James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, who was an officer in the U.S. Navy, and a quote from a February 2019 article about former Vice-President Joe Biden, who was quoted as saying that he wanted a strong relationship between America and "her traditional allies".

The page includes a tweet from a patriotic American who has millions of followers on Twitter, and then it ends with a large section about a former Governor pictured on the right, who is very patriotic and who has moderate views about foreign policy and other issues.  He even has an N.R.A. membership.

Because of these factors, I wrote a page in 2014 that asked the Democrat Party to nominate him for President.



Page 2b

This page begins with evidence that the Democrat Party has many factions.  One piece of evidence is a late November 2018 Op-Ed in the Sacramento Bee that includes this sentence.  "And these intraparty rivalries are often quite nasty."  The page includes a large section about the rivalry between the Clinton family and the Obama family, as described by this best-selling book.

There is a small section that says that these two families settled their differences after the 2016 election by uniting to attack Donald Trump, who they correctly believed would be the presidential nominee of the Republican Party.

This page has a large section about Classic Liberals, a group that is defined by their willingness to be open-minded to new ideas.  For contrast, the page documents how some people have attacked the supporters of Donald Trump by grabbing MAGA hats from their heads, sometimes without any resistance, which shows the violently intolerant nature of these people.

The page continues with a large section about Democrats who have moderate economic views.  Some of them are part of a well-organized group called the Blue Dog Democrats.  This section has a sub-section about 2013 legislation called Wall Street Reform.  It was co-sponsored by a moderate Republican Senator named Chris Dodd and a moderate Democrat U.S. Representative named Barney Frank.

This page ends with a large section about the efforts of a new Republican President and the Republican Congress to reform the Wall Street Reform law.  A March 2018 Bloomberg story about this effort has a section headline titled "Divided Democrats".

Page 2c

This page has more information about the Blue Dog Democrats, who have moderate economic views.  There is a large section about Democrats who are forced by reelection pressure to soften their views because a lot of their voters are Republicans.  There is also a small section about the first Thanksgiving, because good harvests of food depended on a capitalist economy.

This page has a large section about individual Democrats who have had public disagreements with the policies of their party.  Each of these people has a small section.  They include Zell Miller. seen on the left, Roseanne Barr, and there is a very long section about President Bill Clinton, who reformed welfare and deregulated America's banks.

Page 2d

This page is about Democrats who don't like Capitalism because they prefer Socialism or Communism.  Capitalism and Socialism are compared early in the page, and then there is a section about Democratic Socialists, who secretly admire Karl Marx

There is a large section about the U.N. because their Agenda 21 is unmistakably anti-capitalist.  This program states that people have a right to eat, which turns farmers and other food producers into slaves who must keep working, regardless of the economic conditions that they live with.

There is a section about a Socialist website that is misnamed because many of their issues and many of the headlines on their printed newspaper are political, not economic.  An accurate description of them is that they are a Marxist organization.
This page has a large section about a freshman House member called Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a section about an organization called World Hunger, which like the U.N.'s Agenda 21, insists that people have a right to eat.

The page also names, as an anti-capitalist organization, a college in California that invited members of the Venezuelan Government to speak about their economic initiatives.  This subsection includes two tweets from U.S .Senator Marco Rubio, who criticized this college for their invitation.
The page also names other Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, and Bernie Sanders, who have been advocates for Socialism.  Thee is a short section about college students who were interviewed on-camera.  A YouTube video shows their satisfaction with Socialism and then their inability to define the word.

This page shows how some poor people have gained wealth.  There is a short section about the current Chinese dictator and another small section about the empty promises of Socialism.

Page 2e

This page is about Democrats who don't like democracy because they prefer street violence that is led by unelected radicals.  The page begins with a dictionary definition of the word "democracy", which emphasizes leadership by the people "Demos" in Greek.  When radicals plan a protest demonstration or a march, there is no input by any large group of voters on their plan, so there is no democracy, which was first developed in Ancient Greece.


The page mentions an alternative to a democracy, in the form of a dictatorship, including the explicit "dictatorship of the proletariat", which was stated by Karl Marx.  There is a section about U.S .Senator Elizabeth Warren, who publicly stated her support for a street demonstration called Occupy Wall Street.

Page 2f

This page names some organizations, usually supportive of the Democrat Party, that don't approve of the basic principles of a democracy, which are named in the previous page.

The city council in one California city allowed each of their members to choose members of various commissions, thus violating the right of the people to vote for people to serve on those commissions.

Some colleges have refused to provide adequate protection when a conservative student group invites a conservative to speak to their group.  Planned protests have resulted in the President of that college cancelling the appearances of those speakers.

Students have assaulted other students without any consequences.  This is documented by videos of the violence.

Free speech was enforced by actions taken by the U.S. President a U.S. Senator, a U.S. Governor, and the U.S. Justice Department.

There are sections about these organizations.
  • the American Civil Liberties Union, which often ignores the civil liberties of political conservatives,

  • the Democratic Socialists of America,

  • Antifa, a group of vigilantes,

  • the Sunrise Movement, a new group on the political left, and

  • two students of a high school in Florida who became anti-gun activists when someone murdered some of their fellow students
This page ends with a discussion of the future of the Democrat Party.


Page 2g

This page begins with news stories that show how two radical Democrats, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, lost some of the popularity that they had in 2016.  The page continues with more information about the Blue Dog Democrats, who have moderate views on economic issues.  Finally, a well-known gay man asks all of the factions in the Democrat Party to stop fighting with each other.  This plea is similar to one made by Rodney King, whose 1991 arrest led to riots in Los Angeles, mostly because his arrest was videotaped.


Future pages in this series

An unfinished page will show that at least three of America's minor parties also have factions.  These parties are the Green Party, the Socialist Party, and the Communist Party.  When I publish this page, it will be labeled Page 3.

Friday, February 21, 2020

Blog pages in a series, part 2


These pages have YouTube videos that are part of a theme.  Sometimes, the whole theme is contained on one page, but other times, the theme shows up on multiple pages.  These pages are arranged in chronological order.  The first page listed was published the earliest.

I try to update the viewer numbers for the videos in each set after a year has passed since the last update, but sometimes a year and a half passes since the last update.  If one video has had a large percentage change in its' viewership since the last update, I will keep a record of the viewer numbers during each update.

Sometimes, a video will have such a large increase in its' viewership, it will end up with more viewers than other videos that were listed higher on the page.  When that happens, I will adjust the order of the videos to maintain the ranking.



International Talent Shows

The pages in this section show people competing in shows like America's Got Talent and the X-Factor, except that they're competing all around the world.  Some of these videos show the contestants talking with the judges in languages other than English.  Some of these videos show people dancing, doing magic tricks, working as a ventriloquist, and showing other talents.

I try to update the viewer numbers once a year for these pages, but sometimes, the updates are made more than a year after the last update.

Page 1

All of the 21 videos on this page have been watched more than 40 million times.  The most-watched video has been watched 241 million times. as of the February 2020 update.

Page 2

All of the 21 videos on this page have been watched a minimum of 4 million times.  Any video that has more than 40 million viewers will be moved to the first page.



Popular Videos

The pages in this section have videos with a wide variety of subjects.  Some are homemade and planned, some are the records of unplanned events, and some are scenes from Hollywood movies.

I try to update the viewer numbers once a year for these pages, but sometimes, the updates are made more than a year after the last update.

Page 1

All of the 23 videos on this page have been watched from 5 million to 15 million times, although there are links at the bottom of the page to videos that have less readership.  I still recommend those videos.

The topics on this page include Saddam Hussein's last moments before he was hung, trick shots performed on a pool table, a store security camera that recorded the unsuccessful attempt to rob a gas station, and a woman who briefly came out of a long coma with the help of a new drug.

Page 2

All of the 21 videos on this page have been watched from 15 to 30 million times.  The topics include a woman in England who weighs 610 lbs. (her 11-year-old daughter performs some grooming on her), a collection of short videos of babies who taste lemons and limes, Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, a U.S. Marine Corps sniper doing his job, and an Uber driver who registered a Mercedes car but who sometimes uses a two-seat Lamborghini to pick up passengers.

Page 3

All of the 32 videos on this page have been watched more than 30 million times.

These topics include a 6-year-old girl that has played the piano at the White House, a 6-year-old boy who has played the violin at an André Rieu concert, two surprise marriage proposals, a woman with two heads, an expert belly dancer, a 60-year-old man who is friends with a polar bear, and a python that eats a whole alligator.

The most-watched video in this set of three pages is a one-man show about the evolution of dance.  This 6-minute video has been watched over 300 million times.



My Favorite Music

The videos on these four pages are all music videos.  Some of them are live performances.  Others are heavily-edited collections of film clips and still photos.  Others, however, simply combine one still photo of an album cover with music from a store-bought CD.

Most of the music in this collection is early Rock and Roll, but I also like late 1950s Doo-Wop music, some country songs, some jazz music, and some classical music, typically played by an orchestra.  Some of the songs on these pages are deliberately funny and even silly, such as a song that is often heard on Halloween about a party with Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman.  A few music videos are copied from movies.  One of the most watched videos was taken from the movie "Grease", starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

Any performer or group who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or the Country Music Hall of Fame has a link to that page in the description of the video.  Some songs on these lists appear on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  The bottom of Page 1 of this series names and links to the top five songs on this list.

The #1 song on Rolling Stone's list is Like a Rolling Stone, sung by Bob Dylan.  The description of this song was written by Jay-Z.  I disagree with him.  I think the song is too serious.  I prefer songs that can be listened to as entertainment, not because they inspire social change.

Every video on every page has been watched millions of times.


Page 1

All of the music videos on this page have been watched from one to five million times each.  The performers include Sam Cooke, Whitney Houston (pictured on the right), Anne Murray, Brenda Lee, Ray Charles, and Pat Boone.  The Beach Boys have three songs on this page.  One video shows an unusual song because the "music" is played by a manual typewriter, with the help of an orchestra.

The description of the Connie Francis video includes her page on the Biography Channel and her IMDb page.  The description of Mahalia Jackson's music video also includes a link to her page on the Biography Channel.

Page 2

All of the music videos on this page has been watched five to ten million times each.  The performers include Roger Miller, Ray Charles, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Chicago, and Ricky Nelson.  Two Doo-Wop groups, The Isley Brothers and The Platters, pictured on the left, have a video on this page.

A live performance of God Bless America, sung by Kate Smith, is also on the page.  A silly song called Popcorn is also on the page.

Page 3

All of the music videos on this page have been watched from ten to twenty-five million times each.  The Beatles and The Beach Boys have three songs each on this page.  There are two videos of the song "Proud Mary", sung once by Tina Turner with her husband Ike and a live 2009 performance by Tina without her husband.  Other performers include Diana Ross, Charley Pride, Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra, The Monkees, and a man who plays boogie on a piano inside a shopping mall.  The #1 song on this page is a famous song from the 1938 movie "The Wizard of Oz".

Page 4

All of the 38 music videos on this page have been watched more than 25 million times.  This page includes four Beatles songs and five Elvis Presley songs.  There are five Doo-Wop songs on this list, one each from The Temptations, The Drifters, The Ronettes, The Platters, and The Crystals.  Other performers include Aretha Franklin, The Righteous Brothers, Chuck Berry, Led Zeppelin, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, The Doors, and Johnny Cash.

One music video, with 31 million views as of March 2019, was recorded during a live performance by Simon and Garfunkel in New York City's Central Park.

One music video, with 60 million views as of March 2019, is a small-band jazz group headed by Dave Brubeck (see the photo on the right) that plays a quiet tune without any singers.  This song, "Take Five", was on the jazz charts and the popular music charts for a long time.

One music video on this page, with over 127 million views as of March 2019, was sung by Frank Sinatra's daughter.

The most-watched video in this set is the last scene of the movie "Grease".   It has over 330 million views as of March 2019.



Christmas Music

This series was published in December 2013.  Most of the music is copied from a CD.  I update the viewer numbers once every year, and usually in early December, but one year, I did the update in late November.  Some of the music is sacred music, appropriate for a church service, but other music was recorded by individuals and groups who wanted to sell extra records and CDs in December.  Two videos show Christmas music sung inside a shopping mall.

This set of videos also includes some silly songs, including one recorded by The Chipmunks, one about Snoopy fighting in a biplane battle, one about a woman who sings, tongue-in-cheek, about Santa giving her some very nice presents, and one about someone's grandmother who was in an accident that involved Santa's sleigh.

One woman, who was a regular performer in a Las Vegas hotel many years ago, sang "The Twelve Days of Christmas", with altered lyrics.  One of her early presents in the song was an alcoholic beverage, so every time she sang a verse, she pretended to get more drunk. 

The best-selling song in human history was first recorded in December 1941 by Bing Crosby, shown on the right.  One reason why it sold so well then and still sells now is because it gives comfort to deployed servicemen who miss their families.  Wikipedia's page that lists the best-selling singles proves this.  This page of the History Channel commemorates the first time this song was released, on Christmas in that year as his gift to the world.


Page 1

Every video on this page has been watched from one to five million times.  The description of "Sleigh Ride", an instrumental song (no vocals) includes links to seven other videos of the same song, performed by other people.  One video shows a parade during December at Disney World in Florida.

Another video shows President Obama's dog walking through part of the White House.  President Obama and Michelle spent seven of their eight Christmases in Hawaii.  This is documented on this blog page.  Two songs on this page, "Silver Bells" and "An Old Christmas Card", were sung by a country singer named Jim Reeves, shown on the left.  This is his page on the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Page 2

Every video on this page has been watched between five and fifteen million times.  This page includes the music that is heard during a half-hour movie, starting the characters in the Peanuts comic strip.  This page also includes another song that is the basis for a much-loved half-hour children's television show, called "Frosty the Snowman".

There are two videos that have songs sung by Gene Autry, shown on the right.  He wrote and sang "Here Comes Santa Claus" in 1947, and he sang a song written by Johnny Marks, who is in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame because he wrote a lot of much-loved Christmas music.  That song is "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

One video on this page has a traditional Christmas carol called "Silent Night", which was originally intended to be sung during a Catholic mass.  The video shows BeyoncĂ© singing it during a network television show that airs every morning, but the bottom of the page has links to videos of 24 other people, including Elvis, the Boy's Choir of Harlem, the New York City Children's Chorus, Andy Williams, Whitney Houston, Connie Francis, Aretha Franklin, and Connie Francis, all singing the same song.

Page 3

All of the 17 songs on this page have been watched more than fifteen million times.  The most-watched video, a song sung by Mariah Carey, was been watched almost 400 million times as of the last annual update in December 2019.  The performers include Nat King Cole, The Jackson 5, Elvis, JosĂ© Feliciano, and Brenda Lee.  One video, with 16 million views as of the December 2019 update, has a collection of 15 songs.  One video shows a light-hearted performance of "The 12 Days of Christmas" by an all-male group called Straight No Chaser, shown below.


One video shows a flash mob that sang "The Halleluliah Chorus" inside a shopping mall.  That video has been watched 53 million times since it was uploaded in November 2010.  A video of "Let it Snow", sung by Dean Martin, has been watched 121 million times as of the December 2019 update, but because this song is now "controversial", that video has been watched seven million more times in the last two months.


Other pages that have videos

These pages don't have enough videos to be shown on multiple pages, but each page has many videos.


Happy Valentine's Day!

This page was published on February 14, 2013.  It has a set of four videos about military life.
  • a video of a surprise to a sailor who was commissioned as an officer without any advance notice

  • a video of the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon performing in front of a large crowd

  • a video, produced by the Army National Guard, of part of the Ranger school

  • a video of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbird pilots
This page also includes a short video, less than a minute and a half, that has some inspiring words from President Ronald Reagan, as well as a printed copy of a soldier's prayer and this photo of a soldier who is praying.


Happy Mother's Day!

This page, written on Mother's Day in 2013, has four videos of female members of the U.S. military making a surprise reunion with their families in a public place.  Two of those four videos were recorded in a football stadium.  The page also shows two reunions between women who were adopted and the women who gave birth to them.


Surprise Reunions in Military Families

Thee are 16 YouTube videos on this page that show military families who didn't know that one of their family members, who has been deployed to another country, would be visiting them.  One video shows a woman who had no idea that her brother was able to obtain a one-day leave of absence so that he could attend her wedding.

Sometime after the 2020 President's State of the Union speech, I added a short video that shows the reunion, in the House Chamber, between this U.S. Serviceman and the wife and child who thought that he was still out of the country.

One more reunion video is also on the page.  It shows a surprise reunion that took place in England between a girl who sang a song with other girls, with the Queen watching, followed by the surprise reunion with her father, who is a member of the British military.

This page has a special section at the bottom of the page.  I ask discharged U.S. Servicemen and -women to consider running for public office.  Brian Mast, pictured on the left, was discharged from the U.S. Army when a bomb took both of his legs, but after he was released from Walter Reed Military Hospital, he decided to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This video was produced by his 2016 campaign for the U.S. House.  It shows him literally running, with two prosthetic running blades.

He won that election and was reelected in 2018.  This is a link to a November 2018 article in the Palm Beach Post.


Animal videos

I wrote this page in October 2017.  It has 25 videos.  Three of them show animals (a snake, a hermit crab, and a lobster) throwing off their outside skin or shell.  Three other videos show animals (a tiger, a dolphin, and a giraffe) giving birth.

Other videos show animals in unusual environments.  One shows a young fox who had its' head stuck in a tin can.  Another videos show two foxes on a backyard trampoline.  Another video shows a young deer that accidentally went into a backyard swimming pool.  Another video shows how a young woman in Cambodia catches eels for her family to eat.

Two videos are about a fish that is sometimes caught by Japanese fishermen (see the photo).  Parts of its' body contains a poison that is deadly in very small amounts, yet it is sometimes served in Japanese restaurants after being cooked by experts who have a special license.  Some Japanese fishermen catch this fish and bring it to their wives, who cook it without this special training.  Sometimes, the results are tragic.

The top of this page states that wild animals often have a violent death.  Some of these videos show it, but the video with the largest viewership on this page shows a man giving a banana to a monkey.  That video has been watched 276 million times as of the February 2020 update.


Television Commercials

There are 26 videos on this page.  All of them were made to advertise a product or a service offered by a company.  Most of these companies are based in countries outside of the United States.  Two of these companies are an insurance company, based in the Netherlands, whose corporate logo is shown on the right.

Most of these commercials are very entertaining.  Some of them don't tell you what the product is until the last seconds.  My description of some of these videos doesn't announce the name of the advertiser because I don't want to spoil your fun when you watch the video.

A few of the commercials involve sexual situations, but they always do it with humor.  For example, at the beginning of one commercial, a woman is lying in bed, alone, when a dog enters and licks one of her feet.  This excites the woman because she thinks that her husband is doing the licking.  In another commercial, a woman sits on an office copier, with her skirt raised, to take a picture of her bottom, but when the copier malfunctions, she kicks it with the back of her feet while she still sits on top of it.  This commercial is for a company that repairs copiers.



Politics

All of the 20 videos on this page have a political theme. Four of them are about Michelle Obama, four others are about Ronald Reagan, and six of them are about Barak Obama, but other videos are about politics without mentioning politicians.  These 20 videos have all been watched a minimum of one million times.  The most-watched video has been watched 20 million times.

For example, one video has a scene from the television show All in the Family, which was on the air from 1971-79.  In this video, the character called Archie Bunker discusses politics with his wife.  In another video, a Louisiana State Senator explains why he switched from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party.  He has since left public office, but he is now part of the executive team inside the Louisiana Republican Party.

Another video shows brief interviews with Sarah Palin, who was a Vice-Presidential candidate in 2008.  Another video shows an on-air comment made by Bill Maher on his own show soon after the 9/11 attack.  His network cancelled his show soon afterward.  Another video shows a comedian named Red Skelton, who is in the International Clown Hall of Fame and the Radio Hall of Fame.  He hosted a show which premiered in 1951 on one network, but it moved to another network.  One day, he explained the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance.



Reasons to Home-School Your Child

This page is part of a six-page set of essays about public-school horror stories, but this page is the only page that has videos.  There are currently 23 YouTube videos on the page.  They all show inappropriate behavior by teachers or other public school personnel.  Similar stories are shown in the form of quoted news stories on the other pages in that series.  You can find that series by clicking the "Education" tag at the bottom of the page.

At the moment, one video in this set is unavailable, but every so often, I find more videos to replace the ones that cannot be shown for whatever reason.



Special Note

A third page in this series will be added soon.  It will have links to a series about factions within the two main political parties in America and links to a nine-page set of essays that helped to reelect Senator Ted Cruz to his second term.

When a hurricane was approaching Houston in 2017, the Senator sent out many tweets, some of them written in Spanish, to prepare the people of Texas for this disaster.  Those tweets are copied onto two extra blog pages.  All of these pages will be linked in the next page in this series.