Free Republic

Construction of former President Barack Obama's long-awaited library and museum in Chicago began with ambitious plans for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) but is now plagued by huge cost overruns, delays and a $40.75-million, racially charged lawsuit filed by a minority contractor. From the outset, the endeavor touted DEI as a key part of enshrining Obama's legacy at the 19.3-acre site, where costs have ballooned from an initial $350 million to $830 million in 2021 based on its previous annual reports, with no publicly available figures available for updated projected costs. The project set out "ambitious goals" for certain construction...

President Trump has vowed to crack down on the extreme left-wing agenda — but a woke stronghold lurks a stone’s throw away. The United States Senate Library — located in the basement of the Russell Senate office building in Washington D.C. — offers a slew of prominently displayed woke titles pumping everything from diversity equity and inclusion, far-left policy manifestos, polemics against Christians, and even deep dives into the long-discredited Russia probe. The taxpayer-funded library — its 21-person payroll expenditures exceed $1.9 million per year — maintains a collection of 45,000 books and serves a population of roughly 6,000, mostly...

The Louisiana Supreme Court has revived a lawsuit between a middle school librarian and furious parents who accused her of promoting pornography and 'erotic content' to children. Amanda Jones, the school librarian at Live Oak Middle School, sued the Citizens for a New Louisiana, its leader Michael Lunsford, and parent Ryan Thames for defamation in 2022. Her lawsuit, seen by DailyMail.com, claimed they publicly accused her of promoting porn and 'erotic contents' to minors by placing 'inappropriate' books in the 'kid's section' of her library. The controversial books involved in the argument include 'Dating and Sex: A Guide for the...

U.S. Archivist Colleen Shogan, whose National Archives and Records Administration operates Presidential libraries, talks about the library in an exclusive Sun-Times interview.By Lynn SweetUpdated Aug 25, 2023, 8:54pm CDTWASHINGTON — When Colleen Shogan, the new archivist of the United States, pulled up in front of the Obama Presidential Library in Hoffman Estates for the first time, “I thought it looked like a wedding center.”The gray brick exterior of 2500 Golf Rd. in the northwest suburb, once a Plunkett Furniture showroom and warehouse, has decorative front and side portico entrances. But there’s no grand architectural detail or even a sign to...

Outgoing President Joe Biden’s move of pardoning his corrupt son, Hunter Biden, is angering some Democrats who are threatening to withhold funding for his future presidential library. The president's decision to pardon his son, despite previously insisting he would not, has sparked mixed reactions—both from the public and within his own party. Some Democratic lawmakers are so angered by the move that they consider directing their "rage" at his library project.

Somebody called in a bomb threat to the Somerville MA central library on Highland Avenue shortly before 2 p.m - the scheduled start of a drag-queen story hour, which was then cancelled as police combed the building for a bomb that didn't exist. In addition to Somerville officers, the Cambridge bomb squad responded - and then left shortly after 3 p.m. after no bomb was found. The Somerville Fire Department was called in as a precaution and the building was cleared. Outside, chanting right-wingers, one carrying a large blue-stripe flag, were significantly outnumbered by story-hour supporters. Somerville City Council President...

I was vilified for criticizing the Dewey Decimal system. We librarians need to stop perpetuating its systemic racism in our libraries. Almost a decade ago, my colleagues and I wrote an article for SLJ entitled “Are Dewey’s Days Numbered?” in which we made the argument that the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system had lost its relevance. We took a bold stance, and the backlash was swift. Fellow librarians would wait outside the rooms I was speaking in at conferences, backing me into corners to demand that I stop talking about alternative systems.

Tompkins High School student Travis Thornton held up a copy of "Mein Kampf," the 1925 manifesto published by Adolf Hitler, saying it had been checked out of the school library. The book written by the former dictator of Germany and leader of the Nazi Party, who started World War II and oversaw the genocide of millions of Jews, is available to students in Katy ISD. As of Monday night, though, students like Thornton must get parental permission to access books that touch on gender identity – while elementary and junior high students in the district will not even be able...

On June 1, the first day of “pride” month, drag queens set a Guinness World Record for attendance when 263 people showed up in Philadelphia to hear one of their infamous story hours. On Aug. 24, one of the hundreds of Americans hosting wholesome story hours in nearly every state across the country hope to dwarf that record on See You at the Library Day.

ransomnote: I copied about 80% of the Justice.gov FOIA Library page (below). About 20% or less of the page is formatted in a way that I can't copy. Anything on the webpage which uses formatted graphics to look like a tab, menu or box did not copy. FOIA LibrarySubscribe for Email UpdatesOIP processes FOIA requests for records of the Office of the Attorney General, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, Office of the Associate Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy, Office of Legislative Affairs, Office Public Affairs, and Office of Information Policy.OIP posts records from these Offices in this FOIA...

A cancer-stricken elderly man and two others were allegedly beaten by an angry anti-Israel mob after they started livestreaming an “anarchist bookfair” event at a North Carolina library. Monica Buckley, David Moritz and Bob Campbell claim they were physically attacked by roughly two dozen people after sitting in on a “Strategic Lessons from the Palestinian Resistance” seminar at the West Asheville Public Library in Asheville on Saturday, WPDE reported. The trio allege the crowd suddenly turned on them when an attendee noticed the talk — organized by the “Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair” — was being filmed and streamed on social...

A small town in Maine held its first ever Pride event where a lewdly-named drag queen performed in front of children. Letta Dicken, the self-proclaimed number one plus size drag queen in the state, lip-synced to songs and read books at Windham-Raymond's Pride celebration on Sunday. The scheduled drag performances were cancelled before the event after organizers received pushback from the community and threats were made to the entertainers. However, Letta was undeterred and gave a performance inside the gym to an audience filled with kids and their parents. Wearing a blonde wig and sparkly rainbow jumpsuit, she lip-synced to...

There was some amusement as well as surprise when somebody walked into Helsinki’s Oodi Central Library on Monday 27 with a book that was overdue. 84 years overdue It’s not unusual to be a little delayed in returning a library book but this one was unusual in as much as it was due back on December 26, 1939 making it just over 84 years late! The person who returned it isn’t the person who first took out the book The Refugees (Pakolaiset in Finnish) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and it is not known whether there was a fine and...

TEXAS A&M, Texas (KBTX) - The George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum unveiled the former President’s 4141 locomotive in its new home Thursday. The locomotive joined the former president’s retired Marine One helicopter in the museum’s new addition, the Marine One/4141 Locomotive Pavilion. After years of collaboration between the Texas A&M University System, Union Pacific, George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, the George and Barbara Bush Foundation and other organizations, the locomotive is now a permanent part of the museum’s collection. The train was renamed in honor of President Bush in 2005, painted to match Air Force One....

ORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) - The Portland Police Bureau has released the names of 30 people arrested Thursday as officers worked to clear out protesters who were occupying a library on the Portland State University’s campus. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators began occupying the Millar Library on the PSU campus Monday evening. Police moved in Thursday morning in an effort to clear protesters from the library and the park area out front. By 10:15 a.m. Thursday, police cleared out the library but protesters remained outside throughout much of the day. FOX 12 witnessed police leave the area outside the PSU library just after 5...

Paint splattered on floors. Spray-painted messages and screeds covering walls. Furniture moved and overturned. Security cameras disabled. Fire extinguishers missing and entrances blocked by stacks of chairs. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” a facilities manager at Portland State University said Thursday as he examined the destruction left behind after a three-day occupation by pro-Palestinian protesters in Millar Library.

A Drag Queen Story Hour event that was scheduled for later this month at a church in Mountville has been canceled. Christopher Paolini, who performs as Miss Amie Vanité, said that the decision was made to cancel the event after a news article by another media outlet was posted Saturday incorrectly saying the event was a reschedule of the canceled March Drag Queen Story Hour at the Lancaster Public Library. “Hate started piling in with comments and shares on social media,” Paolini said. The church hosting the event, the Vision of Hope Metropolitan Community Church, had posted Saturday on its...

A Drag Queen Story Hour event at Lancaster Public Library that sparked both protests and an outpouring of support has been canceled after a suspicious package was discovered nearby. "We regret to inform you that due to unforeseen circumstances, the Lancaster Pride event: Drag Story Hour with Miss Amie in collaboration with the Lancaster Public Library has been canceled," the LGBTQ+ group stated on social media. "The safety and well-being of our community are of utmost importance to us. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding." Lancaster Pride Director Tiffany Shirley said around 9 a.m....

Local roofer barges into drag queen story time for kids (FULL VIDEO) Local roofer goes to library to expose a drag queen story hour. Staff call the police on him but he is police and says he will just sit in the back and film it. Roofer told them he identified as a "12 year old girl" after library workers told him it was a private event only for children. Video is 28 minutes long.

Police arrested a 42-year-old woman March 4 after she allegedly disrobed in the Carmel Clay Public Library and walked around naked while under the influence of marijuana. According to a probable cause affidavit, a library employee told police that the woman, identified as Carmel resident Gwyn Cornell, stood on a bench as she took off all of her clothes and then began walking through the facility. The incident happened at approximately 6 p.m. on the second floor of the library at 425 E. Main St. Another employee told police that she advised Cornell that she needed to be clothed...