The “Obamalisk”: A monument to a lost America
Posted By: NorthernDog, 6/13/2026 6:38:20 PM
Chicago’s South Side has an unusual new neighbour. It is 70-metres tall, dressed in grey granite and largely faceless. Rising from verdant Jackson Park, this mass of stone is capped with a message in tall concrete letters: “You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, because you’re ready to seize what ought to be.” (Snip) This glitch is symptomatic of the Obama Center, a place that’s encumbered with its own contradictions. The lavish US$850-million project stands apart from the surrounding low-income neighbourhoods. It honours a leader whose career began with community organizing, but delivers architecture that
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "NorthernDog"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Most Recent Articles posted by
NorthernDog"
Chicago’s South Side has an unusual new neighbour. It is 70-metres tall, dressed in grey granite and largely faceless. Rising from verdant Jackson Park, this mass of stone is capped with a message in tall concrete letters: “You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, because you’re ready to seize what ought to be.” (Snip) This glitch is symptomatic of the Obama Center, a place that’s encumbered with its own contradictions. The lavish US$850-million project stands apart from the surrounding low-income neighbourhoods. It honours a leader whose career began with community organizing, but delivers architecture that
A new state law goes into effect on Aug. 1 in Minnesota, which will no longer allow 10-, 11- and 12-year-old children to be criminally prosecuted. The law, passed two years ago by state legislators, now requires children under 13 who are considered delinquent, or who have broken a state law, be redirected to social services. The Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators (MACSSA) represents social service staff across the state's 87 counties and is asking the state to step in and make changes to the law. Anne Broskoff is the Human Services Director in Brown County; she's also
The Los Angeles County ballot measure to increase the county sales tax by a half-cent has passed, with the "yes" vote surpassing "no" by some 24,000 ballots. With the majority of the votes tabulated as of Wednesday, over 50% of voters approved the sales tax increase while more than 49% opposed the proposal. The passage of the ballot measure means the sales tax increase will take effect on Oct. 1, 2026. (Snip) The county sales tax currently stands at 9.75%. The proposed hike would increase it to 10.25%. Kathryn Barger, the lone supervisor whose opposed placing Measure ER on the
FIFA has been left with egg on its face, with almost 180,000 tickets still available just days before the World Cup kicks off. The World Cup begins on Thursday amid a backdrop of sociopolitical issues. While there have been security concerns with several incidents, including a shooting near England’s training camp, top referee Omar Artan was denied a visa despite having valid documentation. Ticket pricing has also been a major talking point, with exceptionally high prices leaving fans on the outside looking in unless they pay an extortionate amount. Seats for the final were reportedly listed at close to $33,000
Neighbors of George Floyd Square say they’re
feeling sticker shock from special assessments 12 replies
feeling sticker shock from special assessments 12 replies
Construction signs and no-parking notices are at the ready around George Floyd Square. The $15 million reconstruction of the square starts Monday, shortly after the sixth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. The project will reopen streets, while keeping the memorial area closed to traffic. But some neighbors are feeling sticker shock. “ This tax assessment of $636,000 is going to harm our neighborhood and harm the local businesses,” resident Julia Johnson told a Minneapolis City Council committee this week. “It’s probably going to make my rent go up. It’s going to cause people to be displaced; to be disconnected from
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman is roughly one percentage point away from leapfrogging Republican candidate Spencer Pratt in the L.A. mayoral race with 78% of votes counted. After slowly gaining on Pratt for several days, Raman, a Democrat, is still sitting in third with 26.21% of the vote, Saturday night’s latest election numbers show. Pratt, a reality TV star, is now clinging to second with 27.32% of the vote. (Snip) On Saturday morning, Pratt held 28.24% of the vote in the June primary, while Raman trailed by multiple points at 24.89%. She has since gained significant ground in the
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is facing allegations of unsettling and in least one case physically threatening behavior toward women he dated, according to a report published Thursday by The New York Times. The report, which is based on interviews with six women who previously dated Platner, comes amid intensified scrutiny of his candidacy and raises new questions about the viability of a candidate who has become his party’s presumptive nominee against Republican Sen. Susan Collins. (Snip) Fifield also alleged to the Times that during an argument, she recalled Platner twisting her arm behind her back, shoving her into
After months of campaigning, millions of dollars’ worth of advertisements and a 61-candidate ballot for governor that included names such as LivingForGod AndCountry DeMott and Barack D. Obama Shaw, California voters have arrived at the next phase of the election:
The wait. (Snip) When voters wait until close to Election Day to return their ballots, as many Democrats did in this race, those ballots can pile up in election offices — only to be processed and added to the count days later, especially in large counties with millions of votes to tally. Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is leading in new polling on a hypothetical Democratic presidential primary as the party seeks a new path after 2024 losses. An Emerson College Polling survey released Thursday found Buttigieg at the top of the pack with 18 percent support, followed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) at 16 percent. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) notched 11 percent support, while Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and former Vice President Kamala Harris — the party’s 2024 nominee — earned 10 percent each. Another 9 percent of survey respondents backed Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D), and 18 percent
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is gaining a reputation for penning nonsensical solo dissents in what should otherwise be unanimous Supreme Court decisions. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that her colleagues are no longer shy about putting such incoherence in its place. The latest incident came on Thursday in the Supreme Court’s Fernandez v. United States decision, in which the 8-1 majority held that “the supposed invalidity” of a prisoner’s conviction “is not among the ‘extraordinary and compelling reasons’ that justify compassionate release.” (Compassionate release is a process by which convicted individuals may seek a reduced sentence or early release due
Here's the latest • Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will defeat incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican Senate primary runoff, CNN’s Decision Desk projects. Paxton will advance as the GOP nominee to face Democrat James Talarico in November in one of the country’s highest-profile US Senate races. • Paxton secured President Donald Trump’s endorsement just a week out from the runoff election. While Paxton has a strong following in the state’s Republican grassroots, Trump’s endorsement likely helped seal Cornyn’s fate. • There are several other notable races on the ballot that highlight deep divides within the two major parties.
"American Sniper" widow Taya Kyle shredded Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner's "cowardly" comments, calling out the progressive Democrat for alleging her late husband inflated his kill numbers by shooting innocent civilians. "Nothing says, I want attention more than disparaging a national hero who's also dead..." Kyle responded on "The Sunday Briefing." "It is cowardly, it's lowbrow to lie about somebody else, and it distracts from what you've probably said..." Kyle accused Platner, a controversial challenger of incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, of employing a "cheap political trick" to attach his name to someone who is "beloved". "That's working for him
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Britain’s minister for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, delivers a warning to those who complain on social media about their stabbing or beheading. Minister Benn notes the danger created by people online sharing information from Belfast after two days of civic unrest in the city following a migrant stabbing and slicing a local resident.
The need for control is always a reaction to fear. Apparently, the government of Great Britain is very fearful.
“Social media companies have a very heavy responsibility. It’s why we’re going to bring forward new powers next week to make it clear that social media companies need to take down illegal content,
Convicted killer Karmelo Anthony has claimed he’s “penniless” and can’t afford a lawyer for his appeal — despite his family collecting $625,000 in crowdfunding for his legal defense and “living expenses,” according to a report.
Anthony, 19, made the assertion in a notice of appeal filed after he was found guilty of fatally stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years behind bars, according to a report by ABC WFAA.
Anthony — who was moved to a Texas state prison Wednesday — is “penniless, destitute, and indigent person, too poor to employ counsel to represent me on the appeal,” reads the appeal form.
The Karmelo Anthony Problem
20 replies
On April 2, 2025, Karmelo Anthony went to Memorial High School looking for a fight. Though he was participating in a track meet, he felt the need to bring a knife in his backpack. Once at the school, he sat in the tent of the opposing team. When confronted by Austin Metcalf, who told him to leave, Anthony reached into his backpack and said, “Touch me and see what happens.” Metcalf then grabbed Anthony in an attempt to forcibly move him out of the tent. Anthony then used his knife to stab Metcalf in the heart, killing him almost instantly.
Touch me and see what happens. This is the ethos
Hillary Clinton Is Back and Lying Again
19 replies
Disgraced Democrat Hillary Clinton is continuing to perpetuate an old lie pushed by liberals to prevent election security. (X) “They’re trying to kick people off of voter rolls,” Clinton said of Republicans promoting basic election integrity measures. “They’re trying to demand…you know…forms of identification most real people don’t have, and most older people, and most rural people don’t have. They are certainly redistricting to make it difficult to elect black representatives or Latino representatives or Democrats. So, that means that we have to be even more intentional in showing up and voting.”
So most “real people” (whatever that means) don’t have a REAL ID driver’s license or a passport?
Elon Musk Becomes the First Trillionaire
in Human History — and the Left Immediately
Lost Its Mind 17 replies
in Human History — and the Left Immediately
Lost Its Mind 17 replies
On Friday morning, Elon Musk became the first trillionaire in recorded human history. SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq, opened 11 percent above its suggested IPO price, and Forbes estimated its net worth had crossed $1.1 trillion before noon Eastern. No person had ever done this before. Not even close.
SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 per share on Thursday night, locking in a valuation of roughly $1.77 trillion before a single share changed hands.
That made it the largest IPO in history, surpassing Saudi Aramco's $29 billion raise in 2019 by more than $45 billion.
The company set its price before
Supporters of Karmelo Anthony are now allegedly turning to violence following his murder conviction, while family members of Austin Metcalf, the teen who Anthony stabbed and killed, have been receiving death threats following the verdic (snip)Reports have circulated of Anthony supporters threatening violence. In one recent video posted on X, apparently by a user from Jacksonville, Florida, someone riding a bike appeared to assault a man. The video was taken from the rider's vantage point.
On her way out, DNI Tulsi Gabbard drops
a bio-labs truth bomb on Mitt Romney and
news media 15 replies
a bio-labs truth bomb on Mitt Romney and
news media 15 replies
Back in 2022, then-former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard got blistered for raising concerns that the United States might be funding bio-research labs with dangerous pathogens in foreign countries like war-torn Ukraine.
Republican Mitt Romney – like Gabbard a former presidential candidate – accused her of spreading "treasonous lies" and "Russian propaganda," and many in the news media joined the chorus in a concerted effort to diminish the threat that U.S. tax dollars could one day lead to an accidental virus outbreak from one of those foreign labs.
Four years later, Gabbard turned the tables in epic fashion.
The evidence speaks for itself.The mother of Karmelo Anthony has some serious explaining to do. (snip)There is a major talking point going around on social media, and people want answers. Since last year, social media has accused the Anthony family of using funds donated to them to buy a house and a new car.
Anthony’s family has been using the Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo. None of the claims were ever verified. Now, social media is going after Kayla Hayes. There are a number of posts that accuse Karmelo Anthony’s mother of using funds to get a nose job.
Scott Pelley’s CBS Complaint Backfires
15 replies
OK, let’s go to Scott Pelley. Here’s the headline from the Daily Mail. “Teary-eyed Scott Pelley goes scorched earth on Bari Weiss as he calls for her removal and describes CBS firings like his family being murdered.”
He says at one point he started to tear up when talking about his former colleague, executive producer Tanya Simon, being fired an,d said it felt like “your spouse being murdered.”
Victor Davis Hanson: They always do that. I mean, anybody who’s in the arena and espouses political views, “I was almost murdered, Jack. I was swatted.
Radical left-wing actress Jane Fonda will headline a so-called “free speech” event to counter President Donald Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 event on June 14.
The actress, known as “Hanoi Jane” for supporting America’s communist enemies in the 1970s, is hosting her “Rise Up, Sing Out” event in New York City on the same day as Trump’s big UFC event planned for Washington D.C.
“This is our documentary moment,” Fonda told Reuters. “History is going to write about this, and I don’t want to be on the side of people who said, ‘Oh my God, things are so bad, what am I going to do?’ No. I want to be
Trump announces Iran deal expected to
be signed Sunday, Hormuz Strait to reopen
immediately after 13 replies
be signed Sunday, Hormuz Strait to reopen
immediately after 13 replies
President Trump announced the finalized Iran deal is expected Sunday.
"Barack Hussein Obama’s Deal with Iran, the JCPOA, was an easy, beautiful, smooth road to a Nuclear Weapon, which Iran would have had six years ago, and would have used long before now. My Agreement with Iran is the exact opposite, A WALL TO NO NUCLEAR WEAPON! In fact, they no longer want a Nuclear Weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement," he wrote on Truth Social.
There is growing momentum within the Democratic Party to find its next ObamaCare heading into the midterms, as healthcare costs become more untenable and American anger over affordability persists.
Healthcare has consistently ranked as a top issue for voters heading into this year’s midterm elections. June polling from Emerson College found that healthcare ranked in the top five issues for voters, behind the economy, threats to democracy and immigration. The expiration of the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits dealt a heavy blow to Democrats in Congress, who carried out the longest government shutdown in history to get a vote on extending the subsidies.
Comments:
Author is straining to be complimentary. He tries to heap praise but calls it oppressively monumental, a shaft of grey stone, and a tombstone.