At what point when you’re paying troops with your own private money do they not just become mercenaries

On a deadly serious note, the President cannot rely on external, private sources to fund spending as an end-run around Congress’ constitutional power of the purse. If he can, we no longer have a republic.

Our military is being paid by an anonymous donor. Our WH East Wing was demolished for a ballroom - paid for by donors. These aren’t acts of benevolence or patriotism. This is the oligarchy assuming control, insidiously becoming part of how we function. Every American should reject it.

🚨 oh look! Jack Smith is calling Marsha Blackburn’s bluff. Surely she should want him to testify publicly if she isn’t entirely full of 💩, right? Right?? www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/p...

“Nothing will be torn down.” — Karoline Leavitt “It won’t interfere with the current building. It pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.” — Donald Trump

ICE now has a budget bigger than most militaries around the world and has increased spending on weapons. It's also engaging in a race to recruit 10,000 new agents who will eventually be out in American streets. Some will be vetted, but how many unqualified recruits will fall through the cracks?

WOW: The White House says the president's MAIN PRIORITY is his BALLROOM. SNAP is ending. Subsidies for health care are gong to double and in some instances quadruple plan premiums. The government is shut down. The cost of living is through the roof. And his priority is his ballroom.

NBC News finds that: -- ICE has shortened its training from 13 weeks to six. -- Nearly half of recruits couldn’t pass an open-book written exam. -- Recruits "are supposed to attest" they can pass the physical-fitness test, which requires them to run ... 6 mph. www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

A right-wing press corps is not a press corps — it's a propaganda machine for an authoritarian president. Grateful for the journalists who refused to bend the knee to this lawless regime. Our democracy depends on them continuing to speak truth to power.

A Cuban man deported by the United States to Eswatini is on a hunger strike at a maximum-security prison having been held there for more than three months without being charged or having access to legal counsel under the Trump administration’s third-country program. https://to.pbs.org/4hnLSwE

He bulldozed the White House during a government shutdown to build himself a ballroom, then sent a letter to the states saying that SNAP benefits for 42 million people may not go out in November to those who rely on it to eat.

4 YA Novels for Native American Heritage Month www.slj.com/story/4-ya-n...

Cartoon by @billbramhall.bsky.social.

😕 We are all paying for this vanity project

If North Carolina enacts this new map, it will be sued. I don't bluff and I usually win.

🎯🎯

Ignore all laws about altering historic properties ✅ Pave over Rose Garden for tacky Mar-A-Lardo Patio ✅ Demolish East Wing after lying that "It won't interfere with the current building. It'll be near it but not touching it" ✅ Build gaudy $250M Ballroom as public struggles financially ✅ #Ugh🤢✅

Oh man, the New York Young Republicans implicated in the Nazi groupchat scandal ran up a $23,000 tab eating filet mignon and drinking at a hotel in Syracuse -- a city with one of the highest child poverty rates *in the nation* -- and then refused to pay the bill.

The Treasury Department instructed employees not to share to share photos of the demolition of parts of the White House’s East Wing

It looks even worse by video 😢

Tonight marks a milestone for all of us at the PBS News Hour. On this day 50 years ago, we aired our first broadcast. The show had a different name, but the same mission to deliver thoughtful & trustworthy journalism. Half a century later, we're still at it & guided by the same principles & mission.

Exclusive: Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised to betray MS-13 informants in exchange for access to El Salvador’s most notorious prison. Justice Department officials say Rubio threatened to undercut years of work to secure the cooperation of high-ranking gang members. wapo.st/4qk3Hkn

Scoop: Trump has started demolishing the White House's East Wing facade to build his ballroom. The president had claimed construction of the $250 million building wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure. /W @ddiamond.bsky.social wapo.st/4hqBNiU

shocked to learn that the president lied about this and also this is a horrible defacing of a building that belongs to the people of the United States, not donald trump

omg! "Demolition crews have begun tearing down part of the White House... "Construction teams Monday were demolishing a portion of the East Wing, with a backhoe ripping through the structure..." www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

No kidding…

Prime example of white privilege in plain sight. Black kids get called adults to justify blame, while white adults get called “kids” to excuse their hate. They’re not boys and girls, they’re grown-ass men and women, and the receipts are in writing.

If you are confident that a boat near Venezuela is carrying drugs, you stop it and board it. That way, you have evidence. If you don't really care if a boat near Venezuela is carrying drugs, but you just want to kill people, you blow the boat up. That way, the irrelevant evidence is gone.

Rand Paul: "When you kill someone, if you're not in a declared war, you really need to know someone's name at least. You have to accuse them of something. You have to present evidence. So all of these people have been blown up without any evidence of a crime."

No notes

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

#A_NewHope ✊

MSNBC captured the crowd from the Boston "No Kings" rally:

CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow embodied what a journalist should be: someone who holds power to account instead of capitulating to it. Over 70 years later, his segment denouncing Joe McCarthy’s congressional witch hunts rings truer than ever.

Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning star of “Annie Hall,” “The Godfather” films and “Father of the Bride,” whose quirky, vibrant manner and depth made her one of the most singular actors of a generation, has died. She was 79. https://to.pbs.org/490XOlZ

Congratulations to new Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado for her courageous struggle to bring democracy to Venezuela.

Nothing says “America First” like letting another country put an Air Force base in Idaho

“This is a movement…This is an achievement of a whole society…I am just one person.” The beautiful humility of Venezuelan pro-democracy leader, Maria Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

"This is supposed to be an oversight hearing" -- Schiff helpfully ticks through all of the incriminating questions -- and there are many of them -- that Bondi refused to answer during today's hearing

This is Adelita Grijalva. She was elected to Congress two weeks ago, officially making her the final vote needed to force the release of the Epstein files. She has still not been sworn in because Mike Johnson refuses to do so.

Durbin: "What has taken place since January 20, 2025, would make even President Nixon recoil. This is your legacy, AG Bondi."