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Obama Center embeds ‘Indigenous’ land message on controversial site
Illinois GOP chair says Obama Center is political operation on public land
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Bob Grogan says the Obama Presidential Center functions as a political operation and headquarters for the Obama Foundation rather than a traditional presidential library. Grogan discusses public land, taxpayer-funded infrastructure, the Center’s endowment shortfall and why critics continue to oppose the project.
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Following its Juneteenth opening, the Obama Presidential Center is embracing a message tied to one of the modern left’s most contentious ideas: that America was built on land «stolen» from Indians.
During Thursday’s dedication ceremony, Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett opened proceedings by acknowledging the American Indian tribes who originally inhabited the land where the center now stands.
But the acknowledgment extends well beyond the opening ceremony.
Just a few feet from the center’s landmark museum tower and near the Obama statue, visitors encounter a permanent display titled «Acknowledging Indigenous Peoples’ Land and Territory.»
OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER’S OPENING CEREMONY RIDICULED FOR ‘LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT’ BEFORE STAR-STUDDED SHOW
Composite image showing Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett speaking during the Obama Presidential Center opening ceremony, the Center’s museum tower and a permanent Indigenous land acknowledgment display located on the campus in Chicago. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital; Fox Flight Team; Mustafa Hussain/Bloomberg via Getty)
The sign states that the Obama Foundation acknowledges «the sovereign Indigenous peoples who have, since time immemorial, inhabited and stewarded the lands many of us call home.»
Another section of the sign states that «Indigenous peoples» have worked to «combat and rightfully reverse the forces of settler colonialism» and features a 2009 Obama quote reflecting on broken treaties, lost lands and the treatment of Native Americans.
«Treaties were violated. Promises were broken,» Obama said.
Land acknowledgments have become common at universities, museums and public events, but critics often mock them as performative exercises associated with the view that America was built on «stolen land.» Supporters argue they serve as an important recognition of the history of American Indians and their connection to the land.
SUBCONTRACTORS SAY THEY’RE OWED MILLIONS, FACE FINANCIAL RUIN, AFTER HELPING BUILD OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER
A permanent Indigenous land acknowledgment display inside the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago includes a quote from former President Barack Obama about broken treaties and lost lands, as well as text recognizing Native American tribes historically connected to the area. The display is located near the museum tower and Obama statue. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
But the land acknowledgment also underlines a glaring irony, one that was largely absent from Thursday’s opening ceremony, according to some critics. The Obama Presidential Center, operated by the private Obama Foundation, sits on public land transferred to the foundation by the city of Chicago for just $10 under a controversial agreement.
«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 a presidential library evolved into a campus that serves as the home of the Obama Foundation.
A map graphic shows the footprint of the Obama Presidential Center inside Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side along Lake Michigan. (Fox News Digital)
Grogan said visitors should view the display through the lens of the Center’s own history. He argued the land was created after the Great Chicago Fire through landfill and public works projects and therefore belongs to Chicago taxpayers.
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«This land actually was recaptured from the Great Chicago Fire. They took a bunch of rubble and actually created this land,» he said. «So it has nothing to do with the Native Americans, but it has everything to do with stealing it from the taxpayers of the city of Chicago.»
Grogan argued the land fight cannot be separated from the broader controversy surrounding the Center, which has seen construction costs approach $1 billion and required millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded infrastructure improvements around Jackson Park. He also pointed to the Obama Foundation’s unfulfilled pledge to build a $470 million endowment fund intended to protect taxpayers from future operating costs.
Barack Obama speaks during the dedication of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Illinois. (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
Critics point to another irony.
In addition, the Center was promoted as a catalyst for economic opportunity on Chicago’s South Side and a vehicle for supporting minority-owned businesses. Yet a recent Fox News Digital investigation found several subcontractors — including minority-owned firms — claiming they are owed millions of dollars for work performed on the project.
The Obama Foundation did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News’ Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.
barack obama, heritage, chicago, land, treaties, parks, culture opinion, republicans elections
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Kelley Paul is no stranger to the American political scene. As the wife of Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and the daughter-in-law of longtime former Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas), she has seen her fair share of the campaign trail, emerging as a powerful surrogate during her husband’s 2016 presidential run.
She is also an accomplished writer, speaker, and public relations professional. As America ushers in its 250th anniversary, Paul saw the perfect opportunity to branch out into the world of children’s literature. Recently she sat down with Fox News Digital in Las Vegas at Freedom Fest to discuss her new book, «Good Night, Young American.»
Kelley Paul is the wife of Sen. Rand Paul and author of two books. (Courtesy Kelley Paul)
Paul credits her family for giving her the inspiration for the new project:
«I have to give a lot of credit to my daughter-in-law, Kate. She and our son were over for dinner last summer with our grandson, who was only six months old at the time. And Kate was like, you know, we need more patriotic books for babies. She wasn’t really happy with a lot of the book options she was seeing. And that night at dinner, we kind of played around with some ideas. And I came up with ‘Good Night Young American.’ And a year later, here it is.»
EXCLUSIVE: RAND AND KELLEY PAUL OPEN UP ABOUT 2016 RACE
«Good Night, Young American,» recommended for children ages 4–8, takes kids on a visually and thematically engaging journey through early and colonial history.
«Well, our revolutionary history is such a great adventure, right? So when I came up with the concept that my little boy would start out on the 4th of July with his parents, asking, what is it all about? I knew we’d be celebrating the 250th. Kids ask, what are we really celebrating?
And his dad describes the Declaration of Independence to him in the signing. So I tried to think what is going to appeal to children in this great adventure of our revolution. So when he falls asleep that night, he’s in the crow’s nest of the Mayflower. He is a pilgrim, he’s a colonist, and then he makes friends with all the great revolutionary heroes that we know. So he makes friends with Sam Adams, he joins the Sons of Liberty, he meets at the Green Dragon. This is so exciting for children, right?
It’s visual stuff. He makes friends with Ben Franklin, and he’s flying the kite. Dramatically rides on the midnight ride with Paul Revere. He and his dog, his little dog, are with him for all the adventures. And of course, he crosses the Delaware with George Washington. And I wanted to make the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the writing of it something that was dynamic and exciting visually. So I have him swinging on the Liberty Bell when the declaration is signed.»
Paul worked closely with the illustrator, Marika Monesi, to bring the events of America’s founding to life in an engaging and visually appealing way for children.
The Liberty Bell, originally saved from the British by Lynnport farmer Frederick Leaser, sits in its Philadelphia shrine. (iStock)
«She really captured the excitement on the little boy’s face, his personality, but I worked very close with her,» Paul said. «I wanted there to be a lot of movement, a lot of dynamic images. So, for example, with the Liberty Bell, for kids, a bunch of men standing around writing a document…I wanted to bring it to life. So I said, let’s have him running up to the top of the bell tower in Philadelphia at Freedom Hall and swinging on the Liberty Bell. And she was just such a great artist. With the George Washington scenes, he’s crossing the Delaware because that, again, is so visual. I wanted drive home to children the incredible bravery and courage of our founders, how cold and miserable and hard that war was.
«Also, I love the illustration that she did of the King of England reading the Declaration of Independence. I have to give my husband Rand a little credit there. On the first couple of drafts that she did, Rand was like, ‘He needs to be fatter. King George was famously fat!’ So it was a lot of fun. It was very collaborative.»
KELLEY PAUL ‘EXHAUSTED AND ANGRY’ THAT THOSE WHO HARASSED HER AND HER HUSBAND FACE NO CHARGES
Part of Paul’s motivation for the book was related to the teaching of American history today, and the controversies therein:
«I do think that we’ve gotten away from really celebrating our founders and our heroes. What they were doing in 1776 was incredibly radical, if you think about it. At that time, everyone accepted the divine right of kings. Everyone accepted hereditary rule. And our founders took Enlightenment ideas from John Locke and philosophers, and they turned it into the framework for a government. The idea of self-government and that our rights come from our Creator, that we have inalienable rights that are given to us by God and not from a king. Those were radical ideas of the time.
Historians say an early draft of the Declaration of Independence offered new insight into how Thomas Jefferson refined the nation’s founding document. (Stock Montage/Stock Montage/Getty Images)
I like to say our founders were the first civil rights heroes, the first civil libertarians. And I think our education system has gotten away from that. They don’t view them in the time that they existed, and suddenly now everything is oppressor versus oppressed narrative. And they are labeled more like colonizers or enslavers, and that’s the only view that they’re looked at, and not as human beings who sacrificed their very lives to write the Declaration of Independence, to form this country…it was an incredible, bold, and courageous act, but it was also an act of moral courage and philosophical courage.»
Ultimately, Paul hopes that her books will stimulate the natural curiosity of America’s youth to learn more about their rich history:
Participants carry the City of Cumberland’s «America 250» parade banner down Baltimore Street during the America 250 parade in downtown Cumberland, Maryland, on June 27, 2026. Spectators line both sides of the street as American and Maryland flags lead the procession. (Fox News Digital/ David Marcus)
«Well, I hope that my books, especially with America’s 250, will spark a lot of questions and that they will give a framework for parents to talk to their kids about the founding of this country. And I hope children from a very, very young age will come away with this idea that they are a part of America’s story, that they as Americans can take pride in the heroism of our revolutionary founders. That as Americans, this is all of our story. So that’s really my goal with the books.»
One of the biggest challenges Paul faced was taking big ideas that may be hard for a four or five-year-old to grasp, like the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, and distilling them down into an accessible format for kids:
«Well, I try to use language that kids could understand, and very much use simple terms. But if you think about it, it is simple. Our rights come from God. And when he makes friends with Thomas Jefferson, he says, Thomas Jefferson has written this amazing document that says that we can all be free to live our lives the way we choose, and no government can take our rights to, you know, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness away from us.
He also talks about James Madison and the Bill of Rights and the most important right is freedom of speech. That is that no government can tell you what to say or what not to say.»
Rand Paul, who famously puts Constitutional principles front and center in the public square, also played a key role in the book’s thematic development.
Kelley Paul and her husband Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul. (Courtesy Kelley Paul)
«Rand has been incredibly supportive. I’m just so grateful and blessed to have had an amazing, now 36-year marriage to Rand Paul. And he was very involved. He would read over the drafts and gave me a lot of, like I said, good advice about things in history that he thought I should include.
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And I’m also just very grateful to be the daughter-in-law of Ron Paul. And so, I wanted these books to be there for our little grandson who I call ‘my favorite little American’ and help him from an early age be educated in the legacy that, the Paul family has in this country.»
politics, education, history, american stories
La Dirección General de Aduanas (DGA) de República Dominicana reportó un incremento en sus ingresos durante los primeros seis meses de 2026, alcanzando RD$129.236 millones (USD 2,209 millones), lo que representa un aumento absoluto de RD$3,290 millones (USD 56.2 millones) respecto al mismo periodo del año anterior.
Este desempeño se produce en un contexto internacional marcado por tensiones geopolíticas que han impactado el comercio exterior, según detalló la entidad recaudadora.
De acuerdo con la información oficial de la DGA, los resultados de junio muestran un nivel de cumplimiento de 100.9% en sus metas de recaudación, con un superávit de RD$218 millones (USD 3.73 millones).
En ese mes, la institución registró ingresos por RD$24,162 millones (US$413 millones), lo que equivale a un crecimiento interanual de 15.4%, es decir, RD$3,225 millones (USD 55.2 millones) adicionales en comparación con junio de 2025. Esta cifra marca un avance relevante para la gestión aduanera dominicana.
Un dato destacado por la institución es que durante el periodo analizado se registró el día de mayor recaudación en la historia de la entidad, con RD$1,880.91 millones (USD 32.1 millones), superando el récord anterior de RD$1,853.72 millones (US$31.7 millones) alcanzado en 2022. Este hecho refuerza la tendencia positiva de los ingresos aduaneros en el país caribeño.
El director de la DGA, Nelson Arroyo, atribuyó estos resultados al compromiso de impulsar medidas para facilitar y agilizar el despacho de mercancías en los principales puertos y aeropuertos del país. Según sus palabras, “este aumento en las recaudaciones de la entidad que dirige es producto del compromiso que asumimos de continuar impulsando iniciativas dirigidas a facilitar y agilizar el despacho de mercancías en los puertos y aeropuertos del país”.
Arroyo precisó que, entre enero y junio de 2026, los contenedores importados bajo el régimen de consumo aumentaron en 1.5% respecto al mismo periodo del año anterior, una variación que consideró relevante dadas las condiciones internacionales adversas.
Por su parte, según la DGA, las tensiones geopolíticas internacionales han condicionado el desempeño del comercio exterior dominicano durante este semestre. A pesar de dicho entorno desafiante, la DGA sostuvo su capacidad recaudatoria y mantuvo la eficiencia en el control aduanero, según las declaraciones recogidas en la comunicación oficial.
La entidad aduanera también enfatizó la importancia de las estrategias implementadas para mejorar la gestión y el control tributario en las fronteras, aspecto que contribuyó a sostener y elevar los niveles de recaudación. El balance presentado por la institución indica que las metas propuestas para el semestre no solo se cumplieron, sino que se superaron, lo cual refuerza la confianza en los procesos internos adoptados por la administración actual.
Los datos publicados por la DGA reflejan, además, el impacto que las decisiones administrativas y operativas han tenido sobre el flujo de mercancías y el ingreso fiscal. El incremento en la entrada de contenedores, aunque moderado, se percibe como un resultado positivo dadas las circunstancias internacionales que afectan el comercio global. Las autoridades aduaneras han reiterado su intención de seguir fortaleciendo los mecanismos de supervisión y facilitación del comercio, con el propósito de mantener el ritmo de crecimiento observado hasta la fecha.
Apple acusó el viernes a OpenAI de robar secretos sobre productos aún en desarrollo, lo que ha dado pie a un enfrentamiento legal entre dos de las mayores empresas tecnológicas del mundo.
En una demanda presentada ante el Tribunal de Distrito de los Estados Unidos para el Distrito Norte de California, el gigante tecnológico de consumo afirmó que OpenAI, líder en inteligencia artificial que cuenta con una nueva división de hardware, había solicitado a los candidatos a puestos de trabajo de Apple que compartieran detalles sobre proyectos secretos y que llevaran componentes y prototipos de dispositivos a sus entrevistas.
Apple también acusó a un empleado de OpenAI de descargar documentos internos de un ordenador portátil propiedad del fabricante del iPhone.
Según la demanda, OpenAI utilizó la información confidencial para contactar con los socios fabricantes de Apple, llegando incluso a pedirle a uno de ellos que demostrara la técnica de Apple para el acabado de metales en sus dispositivos.
Según la demanda, Apple envió una carta a OpenAI en febrero para expresar su preocupación de que información confidencial pudiera estar llegando a OpenAI de forma indebida. Apple afirmó que OpenAI no respondió.
“El incipiente negocio de hardware de OpenAI se asienta ahora sobre cimientos sumamente inestables, podrido hasta la médula por su dependencia ilegal de secretos comerciales malversados”, escribió Apple en su demanda.
OpenAI no respondió de inmediato a la solicitud de comentarios.
(El New York Times ha demandado a OpenAI y Microsoft, alegando infracción de derechos de autor por contenido informativo relacionado con sistemas de IA. Ambas compañías han negado dichas acusaciones).
La demanda de Apple contra OpenAI agrava el deterioro de la relación entre estos gigantes tecnológicos. Apple se ha mantenido al margen de la IA, incluso mientras otros gigantes tecnológicos invierten cientos de miles de millones de dólares en la creación de modelos de IA y centros de datos, y mientras las empresas emergentes impulsan los límites de esta tecnología.
Para ponerse al día, Apple llegó a un acuerdo con OpenAI en 2024 para utilizar la tecnología de la startup de IA y renovar sus productos, incluido su asistente digital Siri. Sin embargo, OpenAI se mostró decepcionada por la forma en que Apple integró ChatGPT e incluso consideró emprender acciones legales. En enero, Apple anunció su colaboración con Google para impulsar Siri y sus otros productos de IA.
Para colmo de males, OpenAI, que ha presentado de forma confidencial una solicitud para salir a bolsa, está creando por sí misma una nueva familia de productos de hardware.
El año pasado, OpenAI pagó 6.500 millones de dólares para adquirir IO , que en aquel entonces era un estudio de diseño con apenas un año de existencia, fundado por Jony Ive, antiguo jefe de diseño de Apple. Desde entonces, ingenieros y diseñadores han abandonado Apple progresivamente para unirse a OpenAI.
En su demanda del viernes, Apple acusó a Tang Tan, director de hardware de OpenAI y ex ejecutivo de Apple, de instruir a sus nuevos empleados procedentes de Apple sobre cómo eludir los procesos de seguridad de Apple para los empleados que abandonan la empresa.
El señor Tan no respondió de inmediato a la solicitud de comentarios.
Apple acusó a otro exempleado, Chang Liu, de usar la computadora portátil de Apple de una excompañera para acceder y descargar documentos técnicos mientras trabajaba en OpenAI. Según Apple, Liu le indicó a esa empleada qué información sobre productos no anunciados debía estudiar antes de las entrevistas de trabajo.
Según la demanda, el Sr. Liu también planeaba acceder a documentos internos a través de una computadora portátil propiedad de Apple que no devolvió cuando dejó la empresa.
El señor Liu no respondió de inmediato a la solicitud de comentarios.
Según la demanda, OpenAI engañó a la empresa fabricante a la que se dirigió para obtener información sobre la técnica de acabado de metales, haciéndole creer que tenía el permiso de Apple para verla.
Apple solicita una orden judicial que impida a OpenAI poseer, usar o compartir los secretos comerciales de Apple, así como una orden que obligue a OpenAI a devolver la propiedad intelectual de Apple.
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