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Gone are the days of university freshmen reading classical philosophers like Plato or contemporary pedagogues like Ta-Nehisi Coates. These days, incoming college students are lucky if they can get through Judy Blume’s “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.” According to a new “Survey of Adult Skills” conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development — a forum for 38 high-income, predominantly Western countries — a not insignificant number of adult students enrolled in higher education are now reading and doing math at a level which, in a more functional society, would be alarming for a middle schooler. The survey,...

Although Donald Trump’s defenders describe the Russia hoax and other efforts to frame the president as a "grand conspiracy," RealClearInvestigations has learned that the man now leading the probe of that scandal is pursuing multiple conspiracy prosecutions that are smaller and more manageable, according to several sources with direct knowledge of the probe. Since taking over the Justice Department’s far-flung investigation in April, veteran prosecutor Joseph diGenova and his team quickly concluded that combining all of the alleged wrongdoing, which ranges from falsifying evidence and committing perjury to leaking classified information and obstructing justice, into one unified plot and trying...

There was a crooked man and he had a crooked smile he had a crooked legend and he built a crooked house

ransomnote: TRANSCRIPT is presented below the x.com post, and inserted between various related images captured from the 6 minute video.Tony Seruga@TonySeruga·6hThe Obama Deadman’s SSNThis isn’t really about one SSN. It’s about a much deeper phenomenon:Barack Obama’s entire personal history is a hall of mirrors. Sealed academic records. A literary agent’s bio that listed his birthplace as Kenya (later blamed on a “fact-checking error”).A birth certificate that took years to release and was immediately challenged by forensic document examiners.A Social Security number with a Connecticut prefix when he lived in Hawaii. A Selective Service registration card that shows signs of alteration....

The project was sold to the community – despite massive opposition from all sides, originally – as a huge influx of construction jobs for the community. When you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a building project, that money doesn’t all go to an architect; the vast majority gets spread around among small businesses, employing building materials vendors and plumbers, drywallers and carpenters, electricians and glaziers, carpet layers and escalator installers. This should have been a godsend for the area; it simply wasn’t. According to the African American Contractors Association, there’s a long list of such small businesses who...

In one of the latest examples of political extremes converging over Israel, Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie joined forces this week to challenge a provision expanding US-Israel defense cooperation. Khanna, a progressive California Democrat, and Massie, a Kentucky Republican, both said over the weekend that they would seek to remove a provision from the House’s annual defense bill that would expand US-Israeli defense technology cooperation. The section of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2027 that Khanna and Massie have taken aim at would require the Secretary of Defense to designate an “executive agent responsible for synchronizing cooperative efforts...

"People here in future years are going to hear about how this land was stolen from the Native Americans," Illinois GOP Chair Bob Grogan told Fox News Digital outside the center last week. "But, underneath, you should all be reading into this, that it was actually stolen from the citizens of Illinois, not from the Native Americans." The criticism stems from a yearslong legal and political battle over the transfer of 19.3 acres of Jackson Park public land to the Obama Foundation under a 99-year agreement requiring the one-time $10 payment. Critics also argue that what was originally presented as...

After officials kicked off the opening weekend of the Barack Obama Presidential Center with a widely mocked “land acknowledgment” — a nod to the political far left that believes the United States was built on “stolen land” — a traditional Native American dance show was featured during Saturday’s scheduled events. The Black Hawk Performance Company is a Native American dance troupe based in the Chicago area, composed of dancers from several Indigenous tribes. Saturday marked the third day of the Obama Presidential Center’s grand opening, which featured musical and cultural performances ranging from international superstars like John Legend to local...

Pastor Jeffery Campbell has deep ties to Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood. He was raised in the South Side neighborhood, and has served as pastor at Woodlawn Baptist Church for 22 years. And for the past decade, he’s attempted to protect its residents from displacement and gentrification. He’s seen rising rents, residents squeezed by university development and life becoming more unaffordable. Now, there’s a new challenge: the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center – part of a 19-acre, $850m campus – that has transformed life in the neighborhood, as well as the adjacent South Shore and Hyde Park, long before this...

The long-delayed and over-budget Obama Presidential Center opened Thursday in Chicago with a stolen land acknowledgment. “We’d also like to take a moment to recognize the original inhabitants of the land upon which we are gathered today,” Valerie Jarrett, chief executive officer of the Obama Foundation, said. “We honor the Anishinaabe, the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi nations.” A who’s who of liberal donors and political elites attended the opening ceremony, including former Presidents Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush; their First Ladies; and former Vice President Kamala Harris. Video circulating on...

As of the latest available information, the Obama Presidential Center campus in Chicago has not yet displayed the American flag outside. Multiple reports from June 2026 note that while the center is designed to reflect American values and history, there is currently no visible American flag on display, and some visitors have not even spotted flagpoles on the property The center, which opened to the public on June 19, 2026, is a 19.3‑acre campus combining a museum, library, community spaces, and a Chicago Public Library branch Wikipedia+1. It is intended to be a public space that embodies American heritage, but...

Cost to taxpayers for Obama Center keep piling up Illinois taxpayers may be on the hook for millions in unpaid contractor fees for the Obama Presidential Center as the foundation's promised $420 million "safety net" fund to prevent a taxpayer bailout has yet to materialize and many black-owned contractors are being left unpaid. Meanwhile, multiple contractors are now saying that the Obama Center hasn't paid them for millions of dollars for their work. And some are wondering if taxpayers will be forced to pay up, according to Fox News. Some of these subcontractors say they are locked in payment disputes...

The Obama Presidential Center was billed as a lasting legacy to former President Barack Obama, and its construction was touted as an ambitious model built with aggressive goals for minority-owned and local businesses. But now, some of the very subcontractors who helped build the 19.3-acre campus on Chicago’s South Side say they are facing financial ruin as they race to recover millions of dollars they claim remain unpaid ahead of the center's grand opening Friday. Overall construction costs were reported to be $830 million in 2021, and have likely climbed past the $1 billion mark. A Fox News Digital investigation...

Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder and U2's Bono and the Edge are among the music stars who will perform on Thursday at the grand opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, where the former president spent years working as a community organizer and politician. "We are bringing together some of today's most prominent voices and global icons for the Obama Presidential Center Grand Opening Ceremony," the Obama Foundation announced in a Wednesday social media post, which you can see below. "The festivities will livestream globally at 11 a.m. CT, Thursday, June 18 — don’t miss it!" Other performers helping...

Former Presidents Biden, Clinton and Bush are set to attend the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, according to a new report. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday that the three presidents intend to be at a ceremony to commemorate the center’s opening, a source familiar with the event told the outlet. Former first ladies Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton and Jill Biden will also be in attendance, per the Sun-Times. The Obama Presidential Center is set to open Thursday, with its grand opening ceremony featuring a lineup of award-winning performers. Valerie Jarett, the Obama Foundation’s chief executive, said that the event...

Lynch and DOJ Civil Rights Division head Vanita Gupta have appeared at gala events for an organization called Muslim Advocates. The George Soros-funded charity has badgered the New York City Police Department away from monitoring the most radical mosques in the city.

Former President Barack Obama's $850 million presidential library in Chicago has been plunged into a fresh controversy as contractors say they still haven't been paid just days before its grand opening. African American Contractors Association president Omar Shareef said seven workers contacted him to complaint about missed payments, Front Page Mag reports. 'It's to the point that they wished they had never done [the project],' Shareef told the outlet. Some subcontractors are missing as much as seven figures in payment, and many are feeling the pressure of keeping their businesses afloat. The 225-foot tall library dubbed the 'Obamalisk' is also...

Karoline :(05:03)On another matter, over the past few days, Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has unveiled shocking new evidence that former President Barack Obama and top aides in the Obama administration conspired to subvert President Trump's 2016 election victory and undermine the democratic will of the American people. While publicly pretending to engage in a peaceful transfer of power, in private, former President Obama went to great and nefarious lengths to try to sow discord among the public and sabotage his successor, President Trump.(05:39)The new evidence released by the Director of National Intelligence, who is here with me today,...

CHICAGO - The Obama Foundation has assembled a star-studded lineup of musicians and entertainers for the grand opening ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center on Thursday. What we know: The Obama Foundation on Tuesday announced the performers who will take part in the presidential center's grand opening celebration at John Lewis Plaza. According to the foundation, the event will bring together global leaders, artists, changemakers and community members to celebrate the values that shaped former President Barack Obama's administration and continue to inspire civic engagement across generations. Scheduled performers include: The Roots, Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, Common, Eddie Vedder, Jennifer...

After building an ugly, overprice, monstrosity marring the design of a famous Chicago park, anybody surprised to learn that the Obama Presidential Center has failed to pay the help? Multiple little-guy contractors have told Fox News that they've been stiffed on the payments for their goods and services. (snip) Salaries and benefits soared from $18.5 million in 2018 to $43.7 million in 2024, as staffing expanded to 337 employees and annual revenue reached nearly $210 million. But the little guy who smooths the cement or does the gardening or catering or windows and floors gets nothing, and as the video...