It’s the ultimate in irony: The world’s most famous ex-community organizer is facing a minor uprising from the community where his presidential center is supposed to be built—the same community, in fact, where he got his start in politics. The center’s troubles became clear last September, when Jeanette Taylor, the education director of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, walked into the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago with something on her mind. She was there for a public meeting with officials from the Obama Foundation, the entity that is building the Obama Center—a monument to the career of former President Barack Obama for which construction is scheduled to begin later this year in Woodlawn, a neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. Taylor so wanted to be first in line for the microphone that nearly a dozen of her fellow community organizers had camped out overnight to save her a spot at the front of the line to get into the … [Read more...] about Meet the Community Organizers Fighting Against … Barack Obama
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Barack Obama calls on Facebook and Google to change approach amid exploitation by ‘Isil and neo-Nazis’
Barack Obama has demanded Facebook and Google change their business models after warning the platforms are being exploited by jihadists and “neo-Nazis”. The former US president called on the internet giants to realise they are a “public good” rather than simply commercial companies seeking profits. Mr Obama’s comments, given in a closed-doors university discussion, were never meant to be public but a recording of the conversation has leaked. The intervention carries particular weight because Mr Obama’s use of social media was credited with helping secure his two election victories. Mr Obama once did a convivial joint appearance with Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder, where he joked he was the man who got Mr Zuckerberg "to wear a jacket and tie". A recording of Mr Obama’s recent appearance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan Sports Analytics Conference was published on Reason magazine’s … [Read more...] about Barack Obama calls on Facebook and Google to change approach amid exploitation by ‘Isil and neo-Nazis’
Barack Obama: America will take the giant leap to Mars
Story highlights Barack Obama: Space program shows America's boundary-pushing curiosity. We do what's possible before anyone else He says next step is to reach for Mars: learn to build new habitats that can sustain astronauts on long missions Barack Obama is President of the United States. (CNN)One of my earliest memories is sitting on my grandfather's shoulders, waving a flag as our astronauts returned to Hawaii. This was years before we'd set foot on the moon. Decades before we'd land a rover on Mars. A generation before photos from the International Space Station would show up in our social media feeds. I still have the same sense of wonder about our space program that I did as a child. It represents an essential part of our character -- curiosity and exploration, innovation and ingenuity, pushing the boundaries of what's possible and doing it before anybody else. The space race we won not only contributed immeasurably important technological and medical advances, … [Read more...] about Barack Obama: America will take the giant leap to Mars
Warriors’ Stephen Curry Considered Meeting with Barack Obama and Ditching Trump White House Visit
President Trump decided not to invite the Golden State Warriors to the White House to celebrate their 2016 NBA championship. However, before he made that announcement was made, Warriors star Stephen Curry was contemplating meeting with ex-President Barack Obama instead of visiting Trump’s White House.Curry was one of those Warriors who engaged in constant criticism of Trump in near-weekly verbal attacks, and his constant fusillades were some of the factors that caused the president to withhold an invitation to visit the White House. Indeed, as his teammates dithered on whether they would accept an invitation from Trump, and as Trump mulled revoking the traditional invite altogether, Curry apparently began making plans to take a meeting with Obama.It appears that Curry reached out to Obama to discuss what the team could to instead of visiting with Trump, ESPN reported: Over the coming months, Curry and former President Barack Obama had a discussion about what the Warriors could do … [Read more...] about Warriors’ Stephen Curry Considered Meeting with Barack Obama and Ditching Trump White House Visit
Barack Obama Suggests NBA Create Junior League, Critiques Current NCAA Structure
With controversy swirling around the NCAA as a result of an ongoing FBI corruption probe, former President Barack Obama offered a possible solution to the structural problems associated with college basketball. While addressing a recent sports-policy conference at MIT, Obama suggested that the NBA could alleviate much of the burden on the NCAA by creating a farm system for professional basketball.Obama said, “It’s just not a sustainable way of doing business. Then when everybody acts shocked that some kid from extraordinarily poor circumstances who’s got 5, 10, 15 million dollars waiting for him is going to be circled by everybody in a context in which people are making billions of dollars, it’s not good.” According to Bleacher Report, “Obama did note the creation of a new junior league for the NBA ‘won’t solve all the problems’ but will make it easier to stop acting as if all student-athletes are handling both roles in … [Read more...] about Barack Obama Suggests NBA Create Junior League, Critiques Current NCAA Structure