Well after all, it is Chicago.
[FoxNews] The Obama Foundation was required to create the fund in order to take control of a sprawling 19.3-acre section of a public park
When the Obama Foundation snagged a sweetheart deal to build its beleaguered Obama Presidential Center in a Chicago public park, it pledged to create a $470 million reserve fund to spare taxpayers should the project ever go belly up.
But new tax filings show the foundation has only deposited $1 million into the fund and has not added to it in years, with critics saying the empty promise could potentially leave Chicagoans on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars.
Under its agreement with the city, the foundation was required to create the fund, known as an endowment, to take control of a sprawling 19.3-acre section of Jackson Park — often described as Chicago’s Central Park equivalent — where the complex is now slowly rising.
The foundation ultimately secured the public land for just $10 in 2018 under a 99-year deal.
But when former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama turned the sod at the site in September 2021, just $1 million — or 0.21% of the pledged funds — had been deposited into the endowment, and that figure has remained unchanged ever since.
With construction progressing at a snail’s pace and costs ballooning from an original estimate of $330 million to at least $850 million, the lack of progress on the promised endowment has fueled fears the Obama Presidential Center could leave taxpayers holding the can if finances spiral into the red.
It comes as the Obama Foundation’s latest tax return shows its finances under strain with revenue swinging wildly year to year, fundraising shortfalls and unfulfilled donor pledges.
SCHOLAR SOUNDS ALARM
Richard Epstein, a University of Chicago law professor emeritus and a New York University law professor, has raised concerns about the endowment for years and advised the local nonprofit Protect Our Parks with legal challenges to try to stop the Obama Center’s construction.
Epstein argues the foundation’s failure to fund its endowment confirms his long-held view that the city never should have signed over the large section of Jackson Park.
"They put a million dollars into a $400 million endowment, so it’s endowed. That gets you in jail as a securities matter," Epstein told Fox News Digital. "An endowment means that you have the money in hand. But they have nothing. They just have the same $1 million that they put in in 2021 as far as I can tell. So, I regard this as something of a public calamity."
An endowment is a pot of money meant to earn enough interest each year to cover operating costs without touching the principle in order to avoid the taxpayer stepping in.
"Without an endowment, they’ll have to scramble every year to cover $30 million in operating costs," Epstein said. "The whole point of an endowment is to avoid that volatility. They just haven’t endowed it. Of that I’m 100% sure."
Epstein argues that if the foundation or center falters, the public could be saddled with traffic rerouting costs, environmental impacts or even the bill for an incomplete building.
"Nobody knows exactly who is responsible for what if the project is abandoned or incomplete," Epstein said. "There is a risk that the public will then have to bear that loss because the foundation won’t have the money."
Epstein said the city has effectively looked the other way, declaring the foundation "compliant" on the endowment despite only $1 million ever being deposited. It's proof, he argues, that officials never intended to enforce the requirement.
The Obama Foundation told Fox News Digital that it will be making "significant investments in the endowment in the coming years" as it has been prioritizing fundraising for the center and leadership programs.
"The Obama Presidential Center is fully funded, and it will open in the spring of 2026," a spokesperson for the foundation said.
CharityWatch, a nonprofit watchdog, told Fox News Digital that the foundation technically complied with its agreement by creating an endowment because the deal never set a dollar figure. The group also said that the foundation remains "well-funded" overall while also acknowledging the pledge risks, volatility and lack of a real endowment.
Take aim at reaction (read whites)
From your flak tower flat! ["Open sights!"]
Get your Mau-Mauing on
Every night until dawn!
[Jackson Park, dark at noon, and bright lights]
Mrs. Uluque and I visited the Reagan Library and it was quite impressive. Dunno what all Obama has in mind for his library but it seems his plans might be a bit too grandiose.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
09/28/2025 14:50 Comments ||
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#10
it seems his plans might be a bit too grandiose.
"We will fundamentally change America Presidential Libraries"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/28/2025 16:07 Comments ||
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#11
The Missus and I have visited both Bush libraries in Texas (at SMU and A&M) and found both well worth a few hours of our time.
Neither as tall as the Chicago structure, of course.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/28/2025 17:22 Comments ||
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[AMERICANTHINKER] One of President Trump's most valuable cabinet members, Marco Rubio, who wears both the Secretary of State cap, and the National Security Advisor cap, gets called on to perform a lot of duties.
One of them is the equivalent of barroom bouncer.
At the United Nations, he threw out the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro from the U.S. premises.
That was after a string of leftwing buffooneries and outrages.
Two days ago, it was buffooneries:
It should be noted that this was the assessment of Colombians who also believed he had not just been drinking but snorting cocaine.
It ought to be compared and contrasted with the speech delivered the same day, from President Trump. Leftists, of course, didn't like the impromptu statements done without a teleprompter based on U.N. incompetence or worse, with Trump hitting Europe heavily for its open borders policies and the United Nations itself for its failure to bring peace to war-torn nations, but everyone paid attention.
Petro, in contrast, emptied the room when he started blatehering on in a drunken stupor about the wonders of Stalin, which not even the Russians are stupid enough or drunk enough, to do.
Petro kept the idiocies going the next day, when Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made a speech before the General Assembly. Many nations' delegations walked out, disgustingly so, but none quite so disgustingly as Petro, who had to make a '60s Black Panther-style spectacle on the way out, Palestinian headrag in tow, embarrassing many Colombians.
Having gotten into the spirit of his youth some 50 years ago, where he had been an M-19 guerrilla himself, he couldn't help himself, and got progressively worse as the day went on.
Outside the United Nations, he picked up a bullhorn.
And he began bellowing to U.S. soldiers to disobey their orders and start a mutiny.
What kind of person does that as a guest in another country?
Rubio, like the good bouncer he is, sprang into action and threw the inebriated payaso out of the country.
[FoxNews] Current FBI Director Kash Patel said the agents were sent to the US Capitol for 'crowd control' after it had been declared a riot
The FBI responded on Saturday to a report that 274 plainclothes agents were at the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, clarifying the role of bureau personnel while still blasting former Director Christopher Wray.
While the agents were on hand, they were sent in after the riot had begun to try to control the unruly crowd, officials told Fox News Digital. That is not the proper role of FBI agents, and Wray was not forthcoming about what happened when he testified numerous times on Capitol Hill, Director Kash Patel said.
"Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police – something that goes against FBI standards," Patel told Fox News Digital. "This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened."
He added, "Thanks to agents coming forward, we are now uncovering the truth. We are fully committed to transparency, and justice and accountability continues with this FBI."
There’s no indication any FBI agents were involved in any events related to Trump’s speech on the morning of Jan. 6 at the Ellipse, an FBI official told Fox News Digital, adding that Wray should have disclosed that agents were there when he was asked by congressional leaders.
A report released last December by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said: "We found no evidence in the materials we reviewed or the testimony we received showing or suggesting that the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol, on January 6," although he acknowledged there were 26 paid informants, but only three of them were assigned by the FBI to be there.
The report also said that FBI personnel were sent to the Capitol at the request of overwhelmed Capitol Police to help with crowd control.
Horowitz said that none of the informants were allowed to incite the crowd, break the law or enter the U.S. Capitol.
In its reporting, Blaze noted that there may have been confusion regarding "plainclothes" and "undercover," meaning both the inspector general and the FBI could be telling the truth.
Many of the agents weren't happy to have been sent to the Capitol to do crowd control, another official told Fox News Digital. It was a chaotic scene with no pre-planning that contradicted the agency's original plan to not get involved in the event. The official said that agents are not trained to do crowd control.
The first agents arrived at the Capitol around 2:30 p.m. — there's no evidence there were any there before a riot was declared — and agents continued to arrive after that, the official added. Patel is limping along on one engine and losing altitude. I suspect he'll be gone soon.
[GP] The Justice Department issued a grand jury subpoena for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ travel records. Looking at her, you know it wasn't by foot
According to The New York Times, the travel records relate to Fani Willis’s travel last Fall, leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
Details about the federal investigation are unclear. The Times said it is unclear if Fani Willis is the target of the DOJ’s investigation.
In August 2023, Fani Willis indicted President Trump and 18 co-defendants for daring to challenge the 2020 election.
Willis hit President Trump and the co-defendants with RICO and other charges.
Last year, after a fierce court battle, Fani Willis and her entire office were disqualified from prosecuting Trump in their lawfare RICO case.
The appeals court did not throw out the charges; however, Fani Willis and her office have “no authority to proceed.”
What can they offer him better than the opportunity to fire everyone he wants on the executive branch payroll?
[NYPOST] President Trump agreed to hear out House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ...Senator-for-life from New York, renowned for his love of standing in front of cameras and microphones. Schumer has been a professional politician since 1975, when disco was in flower, which is NaN years. Senate minority leader as of 2017... in a meeting set for Monday amid the looming government shutdown.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will also join the sit-down as leaders on both sides of the aisle scramble to avert a partial shutdown ahead of the 11:59 p.m. Tuesday deadline.
''Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... will meet anywhere, at any time and with anyone to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people,'' Jeffries and Schumer said in a joint statement.
''We are resolute in our determination to avoid a government shutdown and address the Republican healthcare crisis. Time is running out.''
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2025 11:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
Here's the deal. We'll shut down the government and get to blame you. Then when you want to reopen because you tank faster in the polls than I (who is not worried about reelection), my demands will be for more cuts.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...every time you hear the phrase 
