October 25, 2025

Trump's ballroom design a 'hurried process' that includes stairs to nowhere: report

Source: Raw Story

October 25, 2025 8:54AM ET


President Donald Trump’s plans to construct a 90,000 square-foot ballroom where the White House’s East Wing once stood appear to be ever-changing and done in “a hurried process,” with one design document showing the project to have a staircase leading to nowhere, according to a report Saturday from the New York Times.

“Architects and historians say that it is not unusual for designs to change during a project like this, but that Mr. Trump has not followed the typical process for White House renovations, which normally involve reviews by organizations like the National Capital Planning Commission,” the report reads. “And the various plans Mr. Trump has shared have suggested a hurried process.”

Trump revealed more details on the plans for the proposed ballroom this week, including new design renderings of the facility’s exterior. The Times, however, noted in its report that there were “some mistakes” in at least one of the design renderings, including a staircase “leading up to no clear landing,” and “colliding windows.”

The price of the ballroom ballooned this week from $200 million to $300 million, and construction on the project – originally slated to begin last month – has been delayed to an undetermined date.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/white-house-2674232645/

October 25, 2025

Donor Who Gave $130 Million to Pay Troops Is Reclusive Heir to Mellon Fortune

Source: New York Times

Oct. 25, 2025


Timothy Mellon, a reclusive billionaire and a major financial backer of President Trump, is the anonymous private donor who gave $130 million to the U.S. government to help pay troops during the shutdown, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Trump announced the donation on Thursday night, but he declined to name the person who provided the funds, only calling him a “patriot” and a friend. But the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the donation was private, identified him as Mr. Mellon.

Shortly after departing Washington on Friday, Mr. Trump again declined to identify Mr. Mellon while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One. He only said the individual was “a great American citizen” and a “substantial man.”

“He doesn’t want publicity,” Mr. Trump said as he headed to Malaysia. “He prefer that his name not be mentioned which is pretty unusual in the world I come from, and in the world of politics, you want your name mentioned.” The White House declined to comment. Multiple attempts to reach Mr. Mellon and representatives for him were unsuccessful.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/us/politics/timothy-mellon-donation-troops.html

October 25, 2025

TIME Photo Secretly Subverts Trump Cover With Nazi Reference

Source: Daily Beast

Updated Oct. 25 2025 3:33AM EDT
Published Oct. 24 2025 3:00PM EDT


President Donald Trump’s latest TIME magazine cover owes its visual language to one of the most chilling portraits of the 20th century, the Daily Beast has learned.

The TIME image—released online ahead of next week’s print issue—depicts the 79-year-old president behind the Resolute Desk. He is leaning forward into a power pose that obscures his often bruised right hand and loose neck skin. Above the image, which was shot by Washington-based photographer Stephen Voss, the headline declares, “TRUMP’S WORLD.”

The cover was unveiled just days after Trump himself lashed out at a TIME cover picture of him, which showed an unflattering perspective on his 79-year-old neck. He has yet to give his take on the new image, but his chief communications officer is clearly enamored. “TRUMP’S WORLD,” Steven Cheung wrote on X, sharing the image.


Other photographers on Instagram were quick to recognize the homage to an infamous photo Photo composition by The Daily Beast/Images from TIME Magazine (left) and Arnold Newman (right)

It comes as TIME’s billionaire owner, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, outed himself as a Trump super-fan, declaring that he “fully supports” the president’s plot to send National Guard troops to San Francisco. “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it,” he said. The Daily Beast has learned that the composition on the new TIME cover is inspired by Arnold Newman’s 1963 photograph of Alfried Krupp, the German industrialist and convicted Nazi war criminal.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-newest-time-covers-nazi-inspiration-revealed/

October 25, 2025

Trump Administration Plans a Shake-Up at ICE to Speed Deportations

Source: New York Times

Oct. 24, 2025, 9:46 p.m. ET


The Trump administration is drawing up plans for a shake-up at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with officials looking to replace several senior leaders in field offices across the country, according to three people familiar with the plans. The proposal stems from frustration in the White House and the Department of Homeland Security over the pace of deportations, which are lagging behind President Trump’s goal of more than a million by the end of the first year of his second term.

The people cautioned that the plans, which involve reassigning about a half dozen field office leaders, had not been finalized. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ideas still under consideration. The proposed shake-up illustrates how the administration is still scrambling to satisfy Mr. Trump’s demand to crack down on immigration, an issue at the heart of his political agenda, even as the president and his top aides have promoted their efforts to secure the border and deport hundreds of thousands of people.

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, would not comment on the plans for a shake-up. But she said in a statement that “the president’s entire team is working in lock step to implement the president’s policy agenda, and the tremendous results from securing the border to deporting criminal illegal aliens speak for themselves.”

There are more than two dozen field office directors overseeing deportation efforts across the country. Each officer’s region can be expansive, encompassing multiple states or large territories such as Northern California. The regional directors have been under pressure to help ICE boost arrests. The agency has already removed its acting director and top deportation officials — twice.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/us/politics/trump-deportations-ice.html

October 25, 2025

Trump administration aims to auction offshore oil leases along U.S. coastlines that have been off-limits for decades

Source: CBS News

October 24, 2025 / 9:20 PM EDT / CBS News


The Trump administration is proposing to auction offshore oil drilling leases across new portions of the U.S. coast as soon as 2026, according to internal Department of Interior draft documents viewed by CBS News. New leases would include waters off New England, the Carolinas and California.

Offshore oil leases are common along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana, as well as parts of Alaska, but there are currently no active oil leases on the Atlantic coast, and California has not had a new oil lease since 1984.

This comes as the Department of Interior formally announced plans this week to reopen 1.56 million aces in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing, reversing a Biden administration decision to limit oil drilling in the Arctic.

That decision drew a strong rebuke from Democrats, including Sen. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, who accused the administration of rewarding the fossil fuel industry for its support of the president. "This decision is not about energy dominance—it's about donor dominance," Markey said in a statement. "The Trump administration must immediately reverse its shortsighted decision. The Arctic Refuge is not for sale."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-offshore-oil-leases-us-coastlines/

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RELATED - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143552457

October 25, 2025

Rand Paul Says 20 GOP Senators Are 'Grumbling' Over Trump Policy -- But 'Don't Have the Guts' to Criticize the President

Source: MEDIAite

Oct 24th, 2025, 8:43 pm


In an interview released late on Thursday, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) told Politico’s Dasha Burns that 20 GOP senators are “grumbling” over President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, but that they “don’t have the guts” to criticize the president.

“There are probably eight farm states — maybe there are ten farm states. That means 20 senators have always believed in free trade,” Paul said, “and they’re all grumbling, and they’re all like, ‘China’s not buying any of our soybeans this year!'”

Trump’s aggressive tariff strategy has hit U.S. farmers particularly hard, with China essentially cutting off U.S. soybean purchases outright. In September 2025, Beijing imported no U.S. soybeans, marking the first time since 2018 that the figure hit zero.

“The tariff war with China has led to this,” continued Paul on Burns’ The Conversation. “They don’t have the guts, because it’s their president, and frankly, they’re afraid. They’re afraid that he will do to them what he’s trying to do to me. That’s too bad.”

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/rand-paul-says-20-gop-senators-are-grumbling-over-trump-policy-but-dont-have-the-guts-to-criticize-the-president/

October 25, 2025

Witnesses say CBP agents deployed tear gas in a Chicago neighborhood following arrest operation

Source: Scripps News

Posted 8:41 PM, Oct 24, 2025


Chicago residents say ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents carried out multiple operations across the city on Friday. In one incident, neighbors in the Lakeview neighborhood told Scripps News that agents detained a man who was working on construction outside of a home.

Neighbors say that four men were part of a construction crew that was working on the home and that one man was detained. Dozens of people nearby gathered at the scene — some drawn by others who blew whistles to draw attention to what was happening.

"I think it's important that everybody stay vigilant." said Bennett Lawson, the Alderman of Chicago's 44th Ward, which includes the neighborhood in which the incident happened. "The more noise you make, the more likely that others are going to join you, so you're not going to be alone, and certainly I think in every neighborhood around this city no one is alone when it comes to what ICE is doing."

Abbey Nystedt lives across the street from where the operation took place and came outside when she heard the commotion. She and other neighbors say that agents deployed tear gas about a block away from the site of the arrest. "We were yelling. We were protesting, but there wasn't any physical altercations happening," Nystedt said. "It was really frustrating to see people who were close to the tear gas were in front yards using hoses to get it out of their faces and eyes."

Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/immigration/witnesses-say-cbp-agents-deployed-tear-gas-in-a-chicago-neighborhood-following-arrest-operation

October 25, 2025

Federal appeals court temporarily bars Portland troop deployment

Source: Oregon Public Broadcasting/NPR

Oct. 24, 2025 8:02 p.m. Updated: Oct. 24, 2025 9:22 p.m.


An appeals court’s ruling that Oregon National Guard troops can be sent into Portland is now on hold, as judges take a closer look at the matter. On Friday afternoon, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the order issued Monday by a panel of three judges within the circuit. The stay expires at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28. According to the newly issued order, it is necessary to allow a broader swathe of appeals judges to decide whether to rehear the matter.

The order is the latest in a flurry of legal action in the fight over whether President Donald Trump can deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to protect a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland that has been the focus of protests. It likely puts off any such deployment until next week, at the earliest.

The ruling comes the same day a lower court took up a separate but related matter. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut held a hearing Friday morning on whether to dissolve a temporary restraining order barring troops from being sent to Portland. The Trump administration had argued the restraining order was legally impermissible, following Monday’s ruling that the president was within his rights to deploy Oregon National Guard troops in Portland.

Immergut said she planned to rule on the matter by Monday — potentially opening the door to a troop deployment. The new 9th Circuit order alters that timeline. The Oregon Department of Justice confirmed Friday that the new appeals court order would block any deployment of troops until it expires next week.

Read more: https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/24/portland-oregon-ice-building-donald-trump-national-guard-troops-protest/

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Link to ORDER (PDF viewer) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26197093-9thcircuit/

Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26197093/9thcircuit.pdf

(this is an Administrative stay)

October 25, 2025

House Democrat Declares, 'Mike Johnson Has Effectively Dissolved the United States House of Representatives'

Source: MEDIAite

Oct 24th, 2025, 9:11 pm


Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has “effectively dissolved” the House. The House remains out of session amid the ongoing shutdown that began on Oct. 1. Ahead of the shutdown, the House passed a continuing resolution to fund the government beyond that date, but the legislation stalled in the Senate, where it failed to notch the necessary 60-vote procedural threshold.

Seven votes are needed from Democrats, who are demanding an extension of healthcare premium subsidies for Obamacare recipients. So far, congressional Republicans have not budged. Johnson said on Thursday that bringing the House back into session until an agreement is reached would “be a waste of our time.”

On Friday, Smith appeared on MSNBC, where Jason Johnson asked about the Trump administration’s ongoing bombing of Venezuelan boats in international waters. Trump officials allege the boats were carrying drugs. The administration has provided no evidence to justify the bombings, which are legally suspect, according to experts.

“Once you start just randomly killing people from other countries and coming up with a crime to throw on them later, doesn’t that destabilize our relationships with the rest of South America? Doesn’t it make business more difficult?” the host asked. “What are some of the ripple effects of this current insane foreign policy by the administration?” Smith used the question to pivot to House oversight, which is currently nonexistent, thanks to the speaker keeping the chamber out of session.

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/house-democrat-declares-mike-johnson-has-effectively-dissolved-the-united-states-house-of-representatives/

October 25, 2025

Trump admin is 'funneling $10 billion through the US Navy' to ramp up migrant detention center construction

Source: The Independent

Friday 24 October 2025 18:55 EDT


The Trump administration is funneling $10 billion from the Department of Homeland Security through the U.S. Navy to ramp up its construction of migrant detention centers across the country, according to a report.

Construction on the facilities, which could hold up to 10,000 migrants each, could begin as soon as next month, sources close to the project told CNN.

The DHS is leaning on the Navy to hire companies for the construction and maintenance of the detention facilities, which will reportedly be spread across Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania.

The construction plans are the latest example of how the Trump administration is wielding the power of the U.S. military to carry out its anti-immigration agenda.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-dhs-navy-migrant-detention-center-contracts-b2851925.html

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Instead of taking that $10 billion and building hospitals and clinics in rural areas and urban areas (where vulture capitalists sucked the life out of a number of hospital systems and then closed them), they are wasting money on concentration camps.



No, it's the latest example of his obscene Waste. Fraud. Abuse.