What Happened Today - 23 Oct 2025
What Happened Today – 23 Oct 2025
MAGA Mike’s Morning Press Conference
Follow the Ballroom Money
The East Wing Demolition Drama
Trump just took our tax payer money and set it on fire….$40B worth of it
NOT Political Related – but the NBA scandal explained…
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MAGA Mike’s Morning Press Conference
Mike Johnson kicked off his Thursday with one of his signature blame-fests, this time doubling down on what he’s calling the “Democrat Shutdown.” He stood at the podium accusing Democrats of hiding a $200 billion “health care giveaway to illegal immigrants” in their funding bill — which, of course, is straight-up fiction. The so-called “provision” he claimed repealed safeguards and redirected subsidies doesn’t exist in the text of the continuing resolution. Independent analyses earlier this month already proved his talking point was a recycled lie from his October 3 presser — one debunked by policy experts and even flagged by the Congressional Budget Office, which confirmed no such funding mechanism ever existed. In short: the $200 billion lie is one he knows is false, but keeps repeating to rile his base.
Then came his favorite soundbite of the morning: calling the government shutdown “the Democrat Shutdown.” Fact check — the holdup started because Johnson refused to bring the bipartisan Senate continuing resolution to the floor. That’s like burning down your own house and blaming your neighbor for handing you a fire extinguisher.
Johnson also claimed air traffic controllers were being “used as leverage” by Democrats, but the actual FAA budget has been held up because he won’t allow the CR to pass without right-wing amendments slashing healthcare and education funding. So if there’s leverage, Mike’s the one pulling the strings.
And finally, when pressed about his continued defense of Trump’s AI-generated “King of America” sewage video from earlier this week, he repeated that it was “satire.” The footage, which shows Trump dumping waste on protesters, was labeled by Johnson as “humor” — a statement that even conservative commentators have said crossed way past satire into indecency. All in all — this morning’s presser was a cocktail of projection, half-truths, and outright lies.
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Follow the Ballroom Money
Oh, and let’s talk about Trump’s gilded new obsession: the 90,000-square-foot “White House Ballroom” he’s ripping the East Wing down to build. The White House officially released the donor list today — and it’s like a who’s who of corporate America trying to kiss the gold ring.
The major money folks include: Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Coinbase, Palantir, Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, Altria Group (yes, Big Tobacco), NextEra Energy, Ripple, T-Mobile, and Union Pacific. Then come the billionaires and foundations: Stephen Schwarzman, Harold Hamm, the Adelson Family Foundation, the Perlmutter Foundation, Kelly Loeffler & Jeff Sprecher, the Winklevoss twins, and Paolo Tiramani. The amount of lobbying power attached to this ballroom could probably light up the thing without electricity.
Karoline Leavitt, ever the Trump hype woman, told press today that “no taxpayer funds are being used,” but multiple watchdogs are pointing out that these companies have government contracts worth billions — meaning taxpayers indirectly are propping up the gold dome.
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The East Wing Demolition Drama
Here’s where things get legally dicey. The entire East Wing is now gone. Bulldozed. Concrete, rubble, and dust — according to new AP photos taken this morning. And yes, this is the same East Wing that held the First Lady’s office, the East Colonnade, and the Family Theater. Trump’s been brushing off preservation law like it’s lint, insisting the National Capital Planning Commission “has no jurisdiction,” even though half its own members and former chairs flat-out disagree.
Congressional Democrats are already sniffing for blood. The House Oversight Committee and the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee both hinted today that they’re exploring whether the demolition violated federal preservation statutes under the Antiquities Act and the Public Buildings Act. Key point: those require administrative review for any architectural change to federally-owned heritage property — which Trump never sought. Expect subpoenas flying soon.
Preservation groups are furious, calling it “the most destructive act against White House history ever undertaken by a sitting president.” One former NCPC official even noted that “site prep” itself — i.e., tearing down a 123-year-old wing — is part of any plan that needs approval. But Trump’s camp is plowing full steam ahead, boasting the $300 million “Magnificent Ballroom” will “make the People’s House shine again.”
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Trump just took our tax payer money and set it on fire….$40B worth of it
Yeah, Argentina’s economy is crashing hard right now — and that “$40 billion lifeline” Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent poured down south is looking more like we set fire to taxpayer cash than an investment in stability. The whole thing was pitched as a “currency stabilization” deal to prop up Javier Milei’s far‑right government, but the peso’s in freefall anyway, inflation’s back in triple digits, and public unrest is rising.
Here’s the mess: in two separate chunks, the U.S. Treasury handed over $20 billion earlier this month through a dollar‑peso “swap line,” then pledged another $20 billion from private banks and sovereign wealth funds — cash that still carries federal guarantees. That means if (or rather, when) Argentina defaults, U.S. taxpayers eat the loss. The stated goal was to keep Argentina’s reserves from collapsing before their October 26 midterms. Instead, the peso tanked further, Buenos Aires bled dollars out of its central‑bank coffers, and Milei’s approval nosedived.
Argentina’s underlying economy was already a basket case: inflation north of 200 percent last year, poverty above 40 percent, and IMF loans worth another $20 billion stacked on top of this Trump‑backed deal. IMF officials are now quietly admitting the program hasn’t stabilized anything — the so‑called “reform surge” Milei promised has stalled thanks to political infighting and corruption allegations inside his own cabinet. Markets reacted with panic this week; Argentinian bonds crashed, the blue‑market dollar hit 1,400 pesos, and the country risk spread blew past 2,600 basis points — basically screaming “default incoming.”
Inside Washington, this bailout has become toxic fast. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are demanding hearings into why the Treasury prioritized a foreign bailout during a U.S. government shutdown. Even conservative deficit hawks are furious, saying Trump violated every “America First” promise by approving what amounts to an IMF‑style rescue for a foreign ally. Trump’s line yesterday was that it’s “mission‑critical to protect Western Hemisphere stability,” but critics are calling it what it is: a geopolitical favor to a libertarian showman who can’t balance his own books.
Milei’s economic fantasy collapsed, the peso’s imploding, and Washington just torched $40 billion trying to keep it afloat. Taxpayers are holding the bag, and the “America First” crowd just financed another foreign disaster of their own making.
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NOT Political Related – but the NBA scandal explained…
The NBA’s having its ugliest day in years — the Feds just blew the lid off a full-on gambling scandal that ties players, coaches, and even the Mafia into a multimillion-dollar conspiracy.
Here’s what’s gone down: the FBI arrested over 30 people this morning, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former Cavs player Damon Jones. They’re facing a laundry list of federal charges — wire fraud, money laundering, illegal betting, racketeering, and conspiracy. The Bureau says there were *two* parallel schemes in play: one centered on insider sports betting using game information, and another involving rigged poker nights run by members of New York’s Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese crime families.
In the sports-betting piece, Rozier allegedly tipped off co‑conspirators with injury info before games — for example, that March 2023 matchup with the Pelicans when he left the game early citing “foot discomfort.” Prosecutors claim he told an associate he’d be pulling out, and the crew placed huge bets knowing he wouldn’t meet stat lines. Those wagers paid off big, and Rozier allegedly pocketed a cut of the winnings.
Billups, meanwhile, is accused of collaborating with Damon Jones to lure high‑rollers into “celebrity poker nights” that were fixed with hacked shuffling machines and Mafia oversight. According to court docs, the mob took a slice off the top and enforced debts with threats. Reports say Billups allegedly tipped off friends before certain Blazers games, with one charge tied to a 124‑96 loss to the Bulls that prosecutors say was “tanked for betting profits.”
The Justice Department calls this an “NBA insider‑trading saga.” Commissioner Adam Silver suspended both Billups and Rozier indefinitely pending investigation, while league sponsors are already in panic mode. Seven games from 2023 and 2024 are now under official probe. Between the mounting indictments, organized crime links, and questions about sports‑book oversight, this is shaping up to be the NBA’s biggest integrity scandal since the Tim Donaghy days — only this time it’s bigger, dirtier, and sitting courtside.
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Sorry for late post today – busy Thursday.
Speak Truth! Keep speaking TRUTH!
Go Cause Good Trouble, with Your Elbows Up!
**These are facts that I researched and verified – AI helped put together some sentence structure, but the words and tone are mine. These are my views based upon facts, research and thoughtful consideration using logic. I own the copyright to any images used. I’m comfortable to stand alone to uphold truth. Feel free to check me, but do not attack me. I am only causing good trouble.**