Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis - The O'Reilly Update. September 1, 2026

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

The Supreme Court clears the way for Trump’s White House ballroom, Google Maps renames Lake Ontario “Lake America,” a UN report says half the world’s democracies are in decline, and a new survey ranks America’s rudest states. Plus, the Message of the Day, why soaring tuition, dependence on international students, party-school culture, and a loss of purpose are hollowing out American universities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill O'Reilly here. You are listening to the O'Reilly update. Coming up next, the news with Mike Slater. Thank you, Bill. It is Tuesday, September 1st. September? September. 2026. Here's what's happening. Today in America, the Supreme Court, green lights Donald Trump's ballroom. Lake America replaces Lake Ontario. A U.N. report finds half the world's democracies are in decline, and a new survey ranks the rudest states in America.

And I'll be here with your message of the day about Syracuse University, but really the fall and decline of most of our universities in America. That's coming up. But first, the Supreme Court ruled on Donald Trump's side. His plan to build a new ballroom at the White House, which is well underway at the moment. A five to four ruling stated that a historic preservation group that wanted to block the project had no legal standing. The 90,000 square foot facility began construction in October 25.

It is scheduled for completion September 28. The most popular search engine in America, they capitulated. They replaced the name Lake Ontario with Lake America. That is Google Maps. They made the swap after the president issued an executive order. A spokesperson for Google said people using maps in the U.S. will see Lake America. Those in Canada will continue to see Lake Ontario.

and those outside the United States and Canada will see both names. They did the same thing with the Gulf of America as well. A report from the United Nations finds half the world's democracies are in decline. The phenomenon is called backsliding. It shows a number of countries flirting with authoritarianism, most in the former Soviet bloc and South America. Nations on the backsliding list from the UN include Brazil, Hungary, India, Poland, and Guatemala. Now, do we believe this analysis from the United Nations,

How do they determine if a nation is backsliding towards authoritarianism? Well, one of their criteria is unfettered access to abortion. And I'm sure the reason that Poland got on the list is because they don't accept Muslim migrants from the third world. A new polluted by UGov ranks the rudest states in the nation. Places are judged by overall politeness, courtesy towards strangers, and willingness to help others. The worst states in the Northeast, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island. Charming, though, isn't it?

It's a charming rudeness. The friendliest people in the U.S. live in the Dakotas, Montana, Vermont, Maine, and number one, Hawaii. But that's, they maybe asked people when they were in all-inclusive resorts if the people of Hawaii are friendly. Maybe a different data set.

The message of the day about Syracuse University and then what happened in Gary, Indiana. Why were there people there without power for two weeks? It's all coming up. I'm Mike Slater, filling up for Bill O'Reilly. Now it's time for the O'Reilly update. message of the day. Is college worth it? Well, it depends by what you mean by worth it. The Wall Street Journal wrote an article about Syracuse University, how it's to be my hometown, and about how

enrollment is way down. They can't pay their bills. I can think of five reasons why this might be the case. This is not an exhaustive list and not in any particular order, and it's not just about Syracuse University. It's about universities across the country. This article starts off with, to quote, the director of international student services at Syracuse University, there's your first mistake. Right there. Problem number one. I get no particular order, but problem number one is the very first sentence of the article. 15% of the student body is international.

Columbia University, it's almost 50% of the undergraduate population, is foreigner. At a certain point, it stops feeling like an American university. It stops being a place that people want to be. This international affairs person said that Syracuse, tried to pretend that it was an Ivy League school. No one ever thought that. My point is, I don't think it ever thought of itself as an American school. Second reason why I believe many universities are going downhill.

In this article, it says, because Syracuse spent a lot of money building new dorms. It's not that they spent a lot of money, it's that the dorms are really ugly. All of these college campuses, you have beautiful buildings. Those are all the original buildings. Those are the ones they put on the brochures. And then you have every building built from 1970 on. So the problem with these dorms is not that they're expensive is that they look like prisons. No one wants to go to an ugly school, especially when it costs.

Well, how much do you think Syracuse University costs? Every year, how much you think it costs? $100,000 a year. In no way. Does that financial decision ever, ever, ever make sense? It barely makes sense for an Ivy School. But for a school that's ranked 70th in the country, no, $100,000. Listen, if it's going to be $100,000,

This is my fourth point. It better be fun. What college has become for a vast majority of young people is a giant party with football games a couple times a year and some basketball games to round out the academic calendar. With sororities and fraternities jammed throughout it all. That's it. Now, if that's all college is, and that's all it is for most students. I'm going to get an email for someone who's like, my daughter is pre-med.

Great. I'm not talking about your daughter. Talk about everyone else. and if that's all the college is, then of course the SEC schools are going to thrive. College is a four to six year all-inclusive resort. It's an extended party delaying adulthood and responsibility. Maybe a couple times a semester you maybe go to class and then you have AI write your paper and you graduate because they just want your money so no one ever fails. So if your college doesn't have a winning football team, it's not going to exist.

Why would you suffer through Syracuse winters at a mediocre school? for $100,000 a year when you could go to an Alabama football game a couple times a year and tan on the quad. So first, many schools are too focused on international students. Second, they got ugly campuses. Third, $100,000 a year. And fourth, college is just a reason to party. So you better at least be fun and good at football.

I predict there'll be two tiers of colleges moving forward. You'll have the big college football schools that are fun, and then a few smaller schools that are there for academics, and a vast majority of the middle just crashes out. My final point is these schools have lost their purpose. Syracuse University started as a seminary. All the ivies, except for Cornell, were too. And after you lose a purpose like that,

you can only hang off for so long before everyone realizes, what are we doing here? I hate it for the towns and cities that really need these colleges to thrive, but for the most part, these universities did it to themselves. I'm Mike Slater, something you might not know. Coming up next. later filling her for Bill O'Reilly. Now it's time for something you might not know. The lights were off in Gary, Indiana for two weeks. They had a really bad storm, and it took a long time to get the

electricity back on. Imagine going out without power for two weeks. Well, Don Lemon talked to the mayor of Gary, Indiana, and he asked if it took so long because Gary is a black city. And Gary was neglected because it was a black city with mostly black residents and the mayor said 100% yes. Now, it's worth noting that the mayor of Gary Indiana is black. Also worth noting that the entire city government of Gary, Indiana is black. All of it. The chief of staff, the chief of police, chief of fire, building commissioner, controller, city engineer. you name the entire nine person city council they're all black there's not one token white guy

on the gary indiana website all of the standing committees finance public safety parks and wreck ways and means every single person involved is black the electric company nisource the president and chief executive officer is black the executive vice president is black i can't find a white person We're near this story. Yet somehow racism is still to blame. Now, to make it even a little bit sweeter, the Friday after this happened, just a couple days into it, a utility truck was working hard in Gary, Indiana at 1220 in the morning, the middle of the night.

And someone shot a bullet at the utility truck. Now, I don't know if they did it on purpose or if it was just a random, errant. flying bullet in Gary, Indiana at 1220 in the morning. But two bullets hit the van. So the utility company had to stop restoring power. And from that point on, they needed a police escort to do any work in case people shot at them. The mayor had to release a memo telling people to stop shooting at utility workers. And then he goes on Don Lemon show and says racism is to blame for their two weeks

without power. Is there any point where something isn't the fault of racism? I'm Mike Slater. Filling for Bill O'Reilly more coming up next. Thank you for letting me fill in for Bill O'Reilly today. You can listen to my podcast, wherever you listen to your podcast, Politics by Faith. Spread the word.