The Obama Presidential Center is breaking its silence after years of criticism over its unconventional design, with an Obama Foundation official now addressing public questions about the project.
Construction began in 2021, and Chicagoans have had mixed reviews about the design for the 225-foot-tall structure. The gray, mostly windowless building is on Chicago’s South Side and will serve as a presidential center and museum.
Obama Foundation Deputy Director Kim Patterson said the design of the building was a specific choice, including its lack of windows.
In addition to being well over budget, it’s also butt ugly. But that’s just ‘my’ opinion.
Over the years there have been a number of ‘questionable’ decisions apparently made by various folks involved with the foundation, including some interesting disbursements of funds and the lack of certain supposedly inviolate funds to back the whole mess.
And since it’s in Chiraq, I won’t ever be visiting in, so let them do what they want, I don’t care…
I wish each of you joy and happiness in this Christmas season. Enjoy the time with family and friends.
Please take a moment and remember those who serve, not only the military; but the law enforcement, fire and EMS personnel who are out there today. They serve to protect us and help us live in freedom another day.
A Sailor’s Christmas-
Twas the night before Christmas, and he lived in a crowd,
In a 40 man berthing, with shipmates so loud.
I had come down the exhaust stack with presents to give,
And to see just who in this rack did live.
I looked all about, and a strange sight I did see,
No tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stockings were hung, just boots close at hand,
On the bulkhead hung pictures ………of far distant lands.
He had medals and badges and awards of all kinds,
and a sobering thought came into my mind.
For this place was different, it was so dark and dreary,
I had found the home of a Sailor, this I could see clearly.
The Sailor lay sleeping, silent and alone,
Curled up in his rack, dreaming of home.
The face was so gentle, the berthing in such good order,
But not how I pictured a United States Sailor.
Was this the hero whom I saw on TV?
Defending his country so we all could be free?
I realized the families that I’ve seen this night,
Owed their lives to these Sailors who were willing to fight.
Soon round the world, the children would play,
And grownups would celebrate a new Christmas Day.
They all enjoyed freedom each month of the year,
Because of the Sailors, like the one lying here.
I couldn’t help but wonder how many lay alone,
On a cold Christmas Eve, on a sea far from home.
The very thought brought a tear to my eye,
I dropped to my knees and started to cry.
The sailor awakened and I heard a rough voice,
“Santa, don’t cry, for this life is my choice.”
“Defend the seas this day, the peace do I keep.”
The sailor then rolled over and drifted to sleep,
I kept watch for hours so silent, so still,
And we both shivered from the night’s cold chill.
I didn’t want to leave on that cold, dark night,
This guardian of honor so willing to fight.
Then the Sailor rolled over and with a voice soft and pure,
Whispered, “Carry on Santa, it’s Christmas..All is Secure”
Jeff MacNelly was a friend of the military, and especially of the Navy. He did a number of ‘special’ cartoons over the years for those of us who served…
This is one of my favorites… Sadly he passed way too young in 2000 due to lymphoma.
Author unknown, but a damn good one…
This one goes out to Brigid, Frito, Flake, Juvat, JP, JimJim, Wing, Joe and all the other aviators out there…
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp,
Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ.
The aircraft were fastened to tiedowns with care,
In hopes that come morning, they all would be there.
The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots,
With gusts from two-forty at 39 knots.
I slumped at the fuel desk, now finally caught up,
And settled down comfortably, resting my butt.
When the radio lit up with noise and with chatter,
I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter.
A voice clearly heard over static and snow,
Called for clearance to land at the airport below.
He barked his transmission so lively and quick,
I’d have sworn that the call sign he used was “St. Nick”;
I ran to the panel to turn up the lights,
The better to welcome this magical flight.
He called his position, no room for denial,
“St. Nicholas One, turnin’ left onto final.”
And what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a Rutan-built sleigh, with eight Rotax Reindeer!
With vectors to final, down the glideslope he came,
As he passed all fixes, he called them by name:
“Now Ringo! Now Tolga! Now Trini and Bacun!
On Comet! On Cupid!” What pills was he takin’?
While controllers were sittin’, and scratchin’ their head,
They phoned to my office, and I heard it with dread,
The message they left was both urgent and dour:
“When Santa pulls in, have him please call the tower.”
He landed like silk, with the sled runners sparking,
Then I heard “Left at Charlie,” and “Taxi to parking.”
He slowed to a taxi, turned off of three-oh
And stopped on the ramp with a “Ho, ho-ho- ho…”
He stepped out of the sleigh, but before he could talk,
I ran out to meet him with my best set of chocks.
His red helmet and goggles were covered with frost
And his beard was all blackened from Reindeer exhaust.
His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale,
And he puffed on a pipe, but he didn’t inhale.
His cheeks were all rosy and jiggled like jelly,
His boots were as black as a cropduster’s belly.
He was chubby and plump, in his suit of bright red,
And he asked me to “fill it, with hundred low-lead.”
He came dashing in from the snow-covered pump,
I knew he was anxious for drainin’ the sump.
I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work,
And I filled up the sleigh, but I spilled like a jerk.
He came out of the restroom, and sighed in relief,
Then he picked up a phone for a Flight Service brief.
And I thought as he silently scribed in his log,
These reindeer could land in an eighth-mile fog.
He completed his pre-flight, from the front to the rear,
Then he put on his headset, and I heard him yell, “Clear!”
And laying a finger on his push-to-talk,
He called up the tower for clearance and squawk.
“Take taxiway Charlie, the southbound direction,
Turn right three-two-zero at pilot’s discretion.”
He sped down the runway, the best of the best,
“Your traffic’s a Grumman, inbound from the west.”
Then I heard him proclaim, as he climbed through the night,
“Merry Christmas to all! I have traffic in sight.”
TSO brings the goodness…
I hope this night finds you safe in home and hearth with family. Say a prayer for those in the military on duty world-wide who protect our freedoms…
Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
See the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas – no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people’s feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a ‘Holiday’.
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe’s the word Christmas – was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny’s and Sears
You won’t hear the word Christmas; it won’t touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
; Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate ‘Winter Break’ under your ‘Dream Tree’
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
The Hatch Restore alarm clock, which retails for $169, can light up your bedroom in every hue, soothe you to sleep with audio meditation sessions, and keep you in a REM cycle with a full catalogue of white noise options. To utilize these features, though, you need to pay an additional $4.99 per month, in perpetuity.
Welcome to the age of subscription captivity, where an increasing share of the things you pay for actually own you.
<snip>
Subscription-based business models are great for businesses because they amount to consistent revenue streams. They’re often bad for consumers for the same reason: You have to pay companies, consistently. We’re effectively being $5 per month-ed (or more) to death, and it’s only going to get worse. Industry research suggests the average customer spent $219 per month on subscriptions in 2023. In 2024, the global subscription market was an estimated $492 billion. By 2033, that figure is expected to triple.
Full article, HERE from Mother Jones and additional from CBS HERE.
Grumble… I went through my subscriptions last night and I’m spending almost $150 a month between Amazon, Adobe, Weather.com, and Apple… dammit…
But my vehicle is old enough that nothing on it requires a subscrip…crap…forgot about Sirius, make that $168 a month… Well, that one I’ll keep.
My magazines are all based on life memberships, so at least that’s not a monthly and I dropped all the normal mags I used to get.
But I wonder about how many people are paying for all the apps on their phones? I only have the weather app on mine that has a subscription. Apparently most of the games DO have subscription hooks in them, along with a lot of the ‘shopping’ apps that require subscriptions.
Subscriptions is also one of the reasons I didn’t buy into a lot of the ‘writing’ programs, because I do well enough with MS Word.
Let’s talk homicides in Chicago. After all, the city has a reputation for a reason, right? We wanted to get to the truth about murders in the Windy City, and wrote a report comparing it to other cities, while also analyzing trends over the years.
We also compared Chicago to smaller cities and analyzed the most dangerous neighborhoods. Please read the report and share it with others who may be interested.
Chicago’s average homicide rate is 27.1 per 100,000 residents (excluding justifiable homicide and involuntary manslaughter).
64% of Chicago’s neighborhoods (49 of 77) had homicide rates above the national average between October 2024 and 2025.
Chicago’s murder rate declined by 7.95% in 2024, but its peer cities had steeper declines.
Many thanks to Sam Jacobs and the folks at ammo.com for putting this together. For those who followed 2nd City Cop, we heard the stories from the inside, and routinely checked on the weekend body counts in Chiraq, we ‘knew’ it was bad. Folks poo pooed our comments, saying it wasn’t true, it wasn’t that bad, yada, yada.
Well, now we have the proof, and yes, it really IS that bad. Funny how the top three cities with the worst rates are all blue cities…
And if you go to the bottom of the page, they have a list of their previous infographics you can look at or link to.
In other news, the projections are this will be the most heavily travelled Christmas in years, so if you are travelling, please take care out there! Be safe, and enjoy the time wherever you’re going!
I was watching this one to see which way it was going to go, it is Wisconsin after all…
A jury found Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan guilty of obstructing federal immigration agents during an attempt to serve a warrant at a courthouse earlier this year.
She faces up to five years in prison on the felony obstruction count.
Dugan was arrested in April after helping Eduardo Flores-Ruiz avoid plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who were trying to serve him a warrant. Prosecutors said Dugan helped Flores-Ruiz and his attorney exit her courtroom through a back door on April 18, after learning that ICE agents were in the building to arrest him.
I know the verdict will be appealed, but maybe, just maybe, this will be a wakeup call to the judges/DAs/others that you can and will be taken to trial and the jury may find you guilty when you try to play games with ICE/CBP!
Now if they would do the same to these protesters that think they are above the law…
