Free Republic

Warning that these are "extraordinary" and "dangerous" times, former President Barack Obama on Friday unleashed his most direct and forceful attack on President Donald Trump and said internal resistance in the administration is not the right way to stop him. During a speech at the University of Illinois, Obama slammed "crazy stuff" coming out of the Trump White House and blasted the president for trying to politicize the Justice Department.

In an urgent and defining speech today, former President Barack Obama set himself up as a heavyweight counterpoint on the campaign trail to President Donald Trump -- as both men make plans to vigorously support their party’s candidates in the final two months of the midterm elections. Obama delivered his message at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign campus, and implored students to vote, saying that a look at recent headlines shows that "this moment is different.”

Former U.S. President Barack Obama assailed President Donald Trump and Republicans on Friday, urging Democrats to deliver a vital check on their “abuses of power” and restore a sense of sanity to politics by voting in November’s elections.

Representatives for Barack Obama have threatened to cancel the former president’s upcoming paid speech at a Denmark university if details of his speaking contract are released to the public. Obama will participate in a moderated question and answer session on Sept. 28 at the University of Southern Denmark before local business leaders, university students and local dignitaries, according to Business Kolding, the event’s organizer.

The White House did not invite the most senior American official charged with preventing terrorist attacks — the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey — to the three-day conference this week on countering violent extremism in the United States and abroad because the administration did not want the event too focused on law enforcement issues, according to senior American officials. But Mr. Comey’s Russian counterpart — Aleksandr V. Bortnikov, the director of the Russian Federal Security Service, the post-Soviet K.G.B. — was at the meeting, even though international human rights groups have repeatedly accused the Russian security service of unjustly detaining...

Do you know what Obama did in South Africa? You're not going to believe it. It's the biggest disgrace in the history of the U.S. presidency. But the mainstream media won't say a word- it's a total blackout. This is (as Obama would say) a "teachable moment." Ninety-plus percent of President TrumpÂ’s coverage by the U.S. mainstream media is negative. Terribly negative. Horribly negative. Remarkably negative. That same media adores and idolizes former President Obama. The difference in the way they are treated is remarkable. Remember it was Obama who first separated illegal alien parents from children. The media said...

The human animal seems hard-wired for tribalism, and the ties that bind are shaped by our compelling need to group together, obeying calls for loyalties and exclusions. Some groupings not only contribute to the gratifications of bonding, whether in family, clubs, choirs or loyalty to sports teams, but also provide the glue that holds a community together. But tribes become the "factions" that former President George Washington warned against in his Farewell Address, heightening differences and rivalries that the Founding Fathers hoped to dilute through checks and balances in the three branches of government. In the age of the internet,...

The corporate media has overwhelmingly praised Barack Obama’s speech in Johannesburg on Tuesday at an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela, calling it an “impassioned” defense of democracy, tolerance, equality and the liberal capitalist world order established after World War II. The reports have singled out Obama’s muted and indirect criticisms of Donald Trump’s “strongman politics” and the “utter loss of shame among political leaders” who are “caught in a lie and just double down and lie some more.” No notice is being taken in the press reports of two points in the rambling, 90-minute...

Today You Tube set their "Home" button not to take you to the home page but to hijack you to Obama's speech in South Africa about how much he hates America. Currently the video has 16,000 upvotes and 42,000 downvotes. Please help You Tube understand how much we love Obama!

Former President Barack Obama says he aspires to create "a million young Barack Obamas or Michelle Obamas" who will pick up the baton in what he describes as the "relay race that is human progress." At a conference in Japan on Sunday, the former president spoke about how he hopes the Obama Foundation, a nonprofit formed in January 2014, will help achieve his post-presidential aims. "After I left office, what I realized is that the Obama Foundation could potentially create a platform for young, up-and-coming leaders, both in the United States and all around the world to come together, meet...

Former President Barack Obama told attendees at a conference in Japan on Sunday that he is looking to shape “a million” young leaders in his image to help the human race. “If I could do that effectively, then—you know—I would create a hundred or a thousand or a million young Barack Obamas or Michelle Obamas,” Obama told the attendees. “Or, the next group of people who could take that baton in that relay race that is human progress.” Obama reportedly made the remarks while discussing the Obama Foundation’s efforts to help young people around the world get connected to each...

Former President Barack Obama talked about his future plans for his post-presidency life at a conference Sunday in Japan, addressing how he might shape "a million" new, young leaders in his mold. The wide-ranging discussion repeatedly touched on the Obama Foundation's efforts to engage the digital space to help young people in the U.S. and across the world get connected. "If I could do that effectively, then -- you know -- I would create a hundred or a thousand or a million young Barack Obamas or Michelle Obamas," Obama said. "Or, the next group of people who could take that...

Former President Barack Obama denied that his administration had any scandals that embarrassed him or his team. It is unclear why Obama clarified that there were no scandals “that embarrassed us.” “There were mistakes,” he admitted. “We’d screw up, but there wasn’t anything venal during eight years. I know that seems like a low bar, but you look at the presidency; that’s no small thing.” Conservatives remember the Obama years differently, citing the Fast and Furious scandal, the IRS scandal, wiretapping journalists, the terror attacks in Benghazi, delivering pallets of cash to Iran, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s...

RUSH: How many are you are aware that Barack Hussein O was in Boston over the weekend and made a private speech, an off-the-record speech? Did you hear about this? MIT’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference invited Obama to come make a speech, reflections on his presidency and thoughts on other things. And the command went out that Obama’s speech was to be off-the-record, that nobody but nobody was to record it. Nobody but nobody was to report it! Even though they invited journalists in there, nobody was supposed to leak it. Nobody was supposed to say a word about what...

Thanks, Obama. The former president appeared at a sports analytics conference hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Friday. But if you were not an attendee at the event, don’t expect to hear much about what Barack Obama shared. Officials managing the 12th annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center put strict rules in place that extended beyond barring the media from divulging Obama’s insights. An e-mail sent to those heading to the venue for the “conversation with Obama” read like a line from the movie “Fight Club”: The first rule of seeing the...

American democracy is fragile, and unless care is taken it could follow the path of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Mixed in with many softer comments, that was the somewhat jaw-dropping bottom line of Barack Obama last night as, in a Q&A session before the Economic Club of Chicago, the Chicagoan who used to be president dropped a bit of red meat to a hometown crowd that likely is a lot closer to him than the man whose name never was mentioned: President Donald Trump. Obama's comments came after a series of playful questions from moderator and Ariel Investments President...

Former president Barack Obama jokingly congratulated himself Tuesday for strong employment numbers in the U.S. this year during an address to a global conference of mayors convened in Chicago to discuss climate change. "As we took these actions, we saw the U.S. economy grow consistently. We saw the longest streak of job creation in American history by far, a streak that still continues by the way," Obama told attendees of the North American Climate Summit Chicago, referring to clean energy priorities and carbon pollution regulations he introduced during his two terms in the White House.

Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush have voiced concern about the current political climate in the US, in comments seen as a veiled rebuke of Donald Trump's leadership. Mr. Obama urged Americans to reject the politics of "division" and "fear", while Mr. Bush criticized "bullying and prejudice" in public life. They were speaking separately. Neither mentioned President Trump by name.......

(CNN)Former President Barack Obama championed global leaders' commitment to the Paris Agreement Monday despite the US' withdrawal from the accord. "The Paris agreement, even with the temporary absence of US leadership, will still be a critical factor in helping our children solve the enormous challenge in civilization," Obama said at a Seoul conference organized by South Korea's Chosun Ilbo media group. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement in June was criticized by some as shifting leadership of global efforts to limit climate change to Asia. Trump said last month he was open to renegotiating aspects...

(rest of headline)...as he warns – in Canada – that America could descend into 'extreme nationalism and xenophobia and the politics of us-versus-them'Former U.S. president (Barack Obama) delivered an extended, vicious coded critique of his successor Donald Trump on Tuesday in (Canada) speaking to an audience of 6,000 fans at an event hosted by the Montreal Board of Trade. He bashed the rise of 'extreme nationalism and xenophobia and the politics of "us-versus-them",' a clear slap at Trump in the preferred language of American liberals. 'In times of disruption we may go backward instead of forward,' he warned. 'We're going...