Attachment 2586218

Donald Trump has been selling access to himself at private dinners for one million dollars a head. When his new ballroom is done, even the state dinners held there will be fund raisers.

By Lucian K. Truscott IV

They started by banning the teaching of critical race theory. Then they didn’t want to hear the word “slavery” anymore. Then it was DEI, anything that touched on the diverse history of our country. No more Black History month, no more talk about Tuskegee Airmen or the women who were crucial to the Manhattan Project. Whole shelves of books were removed from libraries.

Now the assault on our history by Donald Trump is being done with excavators that are ripping, crushing, and destroying by board and nail and wire and window, the East Wing of the White House.

Here is a list of recent presidents who somehow got through their terms in office without ordering the wholesale destruction of the building where they lived and worked: Harry Truman; Dwight D. Eisenhower; John F. Kennedy; Lyndon Johnson; Richard Nixon; Gerald Ford; Jimmy Carter; George H. W. Bush; Bill Clinton; George W. Bush; Barack Obama; Joe Biden. There were some minor changes—FDR put in an indoor swimming pool that later became the press room; Truman added a bowling alley; Gerald Ford had an outdoor pool installed; Jimmy Carter built an outdoor tennis court; Obama transformed the tennis court into a basketball court.

None of them drove two excavators onto the grounds of the White House and started ripping down its walls and windows, as Donald Trump began doing to the East Wing yesterday.

When Trump announced that he would construct a 90,000 square foot ballroom on White House grounds, he promised that the White House itself would not be touched. “It won’t interfere with the current building. It won’t be. It’ll be near it but not touching it — and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” Trump told reporters in July. “It’s my favorite. It’s my favorite place. I love it.”

He was breathing unassisted at the time of that statement, so of course he lied.

The changes Trump has made to the White House could be charitably termed for recreational purposes. Trump ripped out the grass and flowers from the Rose Garden, paved the place, added outdoor tables with yellow-striped umbrellas and renamed it the “Rose Garden Club” where he has held dinners and lunches for members of the House and Senate from the Republican Party, and a dinner for billionaires who have promised donations to his ballroom.

That last event, by the way, is what is typically called a fund raiser. There has never been a fund raiser held at the White House previous to Trump’s September 15 “Legacy Dinner” for 130 business leaders and wealthy donors.

It’s always been something of an anachronism that the White House serves as both the Executive Branch headquarters of the government and the home of whichever president is in office. Great Britain is the only other country where the leader of its government lives and works in the same building, 10 Downing Street in the nation’s capital, London. You look at photographs of the interior of either the White House or 10 Downing Street and they show a rabbit warren of small offices, some of which are windowless, that house the people who work for the most powerful person in either country.

Trump appears to be in the process of transforming the White House into Mar a Lago North, adding gilded gimcrackery to the Oval Office and other rooms in the building. He bragged recently of replacing the floor of the interior passage leading to the Rose Garden with marble tiles, claiming that the previous floor was made of “Home Depot tiles that were cracking and 30 years old.” The artist’s rendering of the proposed ballroom shows a high-ceilinged space the exterior of which some architects have predicted will “dwarf” the rest of the White House.

The White House, it goes without saying, is not owned by Donald Trump. It belongs to the federal government and has traditionally been referred to as “The People’s House.” Numerous stories about the destruction of the East Wing have pointed out that Trump completely ignored the usual process, involving the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission on Fine Arts, for approving changes to the White House. Believing he can do anything he wants, anytime he wants, to anything or anyone he wants, Trump didn’t ask anyone for permission to alter the building which was built by the second president of the United States, John Adams, and was first occupied by Thomas Jefferson in 1801.

But that’s history, someone else’s history. Donald Trump doesn’t care about history. What he cares about is money. Here is what Trump said today at a luncheon for Republican Senators at the so-called Rose Garden Club: “You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back. You hear that sound? Oh, that’s music to my ears. I love that sound. Other people don’t like it. When I hear that sound, it reminds me of money.”

Then he told another lie, because he is Donald Trump and he was still breathing without assistance: “In this case, it reminds me of lack of money because I’m paying for it,” he said.

What he’s going to use his Big Beautiful Ballroom for is fund raisers and state dinners. For Donald Trump, who has been selling access to himself at private dinners for one million dollars a head, even the state dinners will be fund raisers. He’ll charge countries who want their leaders to be honored at the White House, and he’ll sell tickets to people who want to attend the dinners and kiss his ass. He’s going to tack a gaudy, disgusting display of bad taste onto the history of our country and make billions of it. He’s Donald Trump. It’s what he does.

Attachment 2586214

Top officials confirmed the existence of the Interagency Weaponization Working Group, which has been created to help target the president’s perceived enemies.

By Ja'han Jones

Top officials in Donald Trump’s administration have confirmed that they launched a broad team of government officials that is designed to help target the president’s perceived adversaries over their purported weaponization of the government against him.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital that the administration has established the Interagency Weaponization Working Group. Gabbard said the members have been meeting biweekly since April.

Here’s how Reuters described the effort in a report Monday:

A group of dozens of officials from across the federal government, including U.S. intelligence officers, has been helping to steer President Donald Trump’s drive for retribution against his perceived enemies, according to government records and a source familiar with the effort.

The Interagency Weaponization Working Group, which has been meeting since at least May, has drawn officials from the White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Justice and Defense Departments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Communications Commission, among other agencies, two of the documents show.

The top Trump officials told Fox News that the group is designed to expand on the president’s executive order about ending government “weaponization.” They also peddled false claims that the effort is a necessary response to the Biden administration’s weaponization of the federal government against conservatives.

“I stood up this working group to start the important work of interagency coordination under President Trump’s leadership to deliver accountability,” Gabbard told Fox News, adding: “True accountability is the first step toward lasting change.”

Of course, we already know how Trump and his allies define so-called accountability, and it looks identical to limitless vindictiveness with little to no regard for legality.

The Justice Department has already filed several dubious indictments against people targeted by the president. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has reestablished the government’s relationship with a spy technology company that has built tools used by repressive governments to quash dissent. It has created a controversial interagency hub of Americans’ personal data that has drawn concerns about its potential use to target opponents. And it’s currently trying to portray liberals as “terrorists.”

Needless to say, the idea of this administration credibly rooting out weaponization by the government is an absurd premise, as we see the government currently being weaponized by those in charge.

Attachment 2586207

And government leaders at all levels are not prepared.

Opinion By Julie Margetta Morgan

America is in an affordability crisis. Electricity bills are rising at twice the rate of inflation. Grocery prices are soaring. Tariffs are squeezing families at every turn. And in a few weeks, more than 24 million Americans will see their health care premiums skyrocket. That is, unless Republicans in Congress act to extend tax credits subsidizing plans under the Affordable Care Act.

If the credits expire, the average premium for an ACA marketplace plan will more than double. A 60-year-old couple making $85,000 who get their health insurance through the ACA exchanges will see their out-of-pocket costs exceed $22,000 next year — more than a quarter of their entire income. And all across the country, premiums are increasing for employer-sponsored coverage and Medicare plans as well.

Studies show that the vast majority — close to 80% — of medical debt reports have some sort of error.

The spike in premiums won’t just blow an even bigger hole in families’ future budgets. It will pour gasoline on the already raging fire of medical debt in this country, and government leaders at all levels are not prepared for it.

More than 100 million Americans have some sort of medical debt or dental debt; for more than 15 million, that debt exceeds $1,000. Medical debt is especially pernicious because it almost always comes from circumstances beyond our control — like an illness or injury. No matter how much families plan, save and search for the best health insurance they can afford, a byzantine and profit-maximizing system of hospitals, providers, insurance companies and middlemen leaves Americans scrambling to understand what care they can get and how much they owe — much less how they can afford it.

When millions of people get notices about their premiums doubling on Nov. 1, they’ll be faced with the choice to either go uninsured or enroll in plans with higher deductibles and higher premiums. Both scenarios leave families one fall on the playground or one unexpected trip to the doctor away from massive bills.

When I worked on this issue at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during the Biden administration, we discovered that over half of all debts that were put on credit reports involved medical debt. Even more galling, we found that the medical debts reflected on credit reports are often wrong. Studies show that the vast majority — close to 80% — of medical debt reports have some sort of error. This causes millions of people to be harassed by debt collectors into paying bills they don’t actually owe.

The psychological and financial toll that debt takes means that people worry about incurring more, so they avoid going to the doctor and often end up even sicker and with bigger bills than if they hadn’t had debt in the first place. This creates a spiral of health and economic hardship that has ensnared tens of millions of Americans: Medical debt begets more medical debt.

Large corporations are poised to benefit from Trump’s health care agenda.
Just think, then, of the ticking time bomb created by the unprecedented health care cuts the Republicans and Donald Trump have spent their first year in office enacting, which will push more than 15 million people off their health coverage. Forcing Obamacare costs to spike will throw millions more off their coverage, pushing them closer to the brink of financial ruin just to stay healthy.

Trump’s actions are a slap in the face to the tens of millions of voters who were promised that inflation would be solved on “Day 1.” In poll after poll, Americans list the cost of living and the economy as their No. 1 concern. And Donald Trump and Republicans have done nothing but jack up prices through tariffs, create economic instability that’s brought the job market to a screeching halt and eviscerate the social safety net while giving wealthy corporations a massive tax break.

Now, large corporations are poised to benefit from Trump’s health care agenda. With medical debt set to skyrocket as premium increases and Medicaid cuts take effect, debt collectors, medical credit card providers and companies selling predatory financial products will have even more opportunities to squeeze a few more dollars out of stressed and cash-strapped patients. For the typical family, already struggling to deal with a confusing health care system that’s stacked against them, it could be insurmountable.

It doesn’t have to be this way. America is the only wealthy country in the world in which getting sick can also mean going broke. If Trump and the Republicans really cared about the health and well-being of working families, they would take steps to make health care more affordable and medical debt a thing of the past. At the very least, they wouldn’t be writing a blank check to debt collectors and big corporations.

Attachment 2586205

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid will not go out Nov. 1, raising the stakes for families nationwide as the government shutdown drags on.


By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON

The new notice comes after the Trump administration said it would not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP, flowing into November. That program helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries.

“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA notice says. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”

The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is now the second-longest on record. While the Republican administration took steps leading up to the shutdown to ensure SNAP benefits were paid this month, the cutoff would expand the impact of the impasse to a wider swath of Americans — and some of those most in need — unless a political resolution is found in just a few days.

The administration blames Democrats, who say they will not agree to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate with them on extending expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans say Democrats must first agree to reopen the government before negotiation.

Democratic lawmakers have written to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins requesting to use contingency funds to cover the bulk of next month’s benefits.

But a USDA memo that surfaced Friday says “contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits.” The document says the money is reserved for such things such as helping people in disaster areas.

It cited a storm named Melissa, which has strengthened into a major hurricane, as an example of why it’s important to have the money available to mobilize quickly in the event of a disaster.

The prospect of families not receiving food aid has deeply concerned states run by both parties.

Some states have pledged to keep SNAP benefits flowing even if the federal program halts payments, but there are questions about whether U.S. government directives may allow that to happen. The USDA memo also says states would not be reimbursed for temporarily picking up the cost.

Other states are telling SNAP recipients to be ready for the benefits to stop. Arkansas and Oklahoma, for example, are advising recipients to identify food pantries and other groups that help with food.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., accused Republicans and Trump of not agreeing to negotiate.

“The reality is, if they sat down to try to negotiate, we could probably come up with something pretty quickly,” Murphy said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We could open up the government on Tuesday or Wednesday, and there wouldn’t be any crisis in the food stamp program.”

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Sports betting is a booming business. The FBI’s NBA probe is putting it in the spotlight



By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
Updated 12:56 AM PDT, October 24, 2025





Homeland Security Investigations New York Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel speaks at a news conference announcing numerous arrests in illegal sports betting and poker game schemes at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)



NEW YORK (AP) — The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people, including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures, on charges of illegal sports betting has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of professional sports gambling across the U.S.

Since widespread legalization, the multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy to place wagers on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. It’s just about impossible to go to a basketball, football, baseball or other pro game today — or watch a matchup on TV — without seeing ads for sports betting.

Fans can place wagers from their stadium seats, while “Bet” tickers scroll on TV sports broadcasts. Star athletes are frequently at the center of ads promoting it all.

In Thursday’s indictment, federal investigators accused Rozier and other defendants of breaking the law by exploiting private information about players to win bets on NBA games. Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, said in a statement that his client is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.”

A separate indictment alleges Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and others participated in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games. Billups’ attorney, Chris Heywood, issued a statement denying the allegations, calling his client a “man of integrity.”

Regulating sports wagering has proven to be a challenge — and experts warn about the ramifications for gamblers who typically lose money. Professional leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has raised eyebrows.

Here’s what we know.

Explosion of legalized sports betting
Sports betting is probably as old as sports itself. But in the U.S., legal gambling really took off in 2018.

That’s when the Supreme Court struck down the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act, which barred sports betting in most states. Once allowed only in Nevada, sports betting is now permitted online or in retail locations in 38 states and Washington, D.C. Missouri will become the 39th state on Dec. 1.

Experts say the biggest jump has been online, through smartphone apps and platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel. Through the third quarter of this year, legal sports betting generated $10 billion in revenue, up about 19% from the same period a year ago, according to the American Gaming Association.

The industry argues that legal wagering generates money for states and can deter illegal betting. Major operators point to technology they use to monitor suspicious activity. FanDuel said Thursday’s news illustrates “the stark contrast between legal and illegal betting markets.”

Who benefits?
There is plenty of money on the table both for those who place winning bets and the platforms that make it possible. The NBA and other pro sports leagues have also created revenue streams by partnering with sportsbooks and reaping advertising dollars.

Live game stats provided by leagues are key to the sports world’s relationship with the gambling industry. When you’re able to bet what the next pitch in a baseball game is going to be, that’s because Major League Baseball is selling data to platforms “for a pretty high price,” according to Isaac Rose-Berman, whose research focuses on sports betting as a fellow at the American Institute for Boys and Men.

The NBA has a partnership with Sportradar for its data rights. Sportradar, in turn, provides FanDuel Sportsbook official NBA statistics. When the deal was announced in 2022, Sportradar touted it as a way “to monetize our long-term partnership with the NBA.”

How is sports betting regulated?
Each state has its own regulations and tax rates for sports betting. A handful restrict where you can place bets — allowing users to use mobile apps, but only while they’re physically inside a casino or within a certain radius of a stadium, for example. Others limit which betting platforms you can use or what you can bet on.

“States sort of opened up a can of worms, and now some of them are starting to realize just how crazy this sports betting world sort is,” said Wayne Taylor, a professor of marketing at Southern Methodist University.

An even stickier factor is when players and other team or league personnel are involved. The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL all prohibit employees and players from betting on their own league games, although some gambling in separate areas is allowed.

Legalized betting has certain security advantages in that unusual betting patterns — such as large bets being placed on a random player’s performance — can be immediately flagged. In some cases, sportsbooks have taken down odds on certain events to protect against manipulation.

Still, experts like Taylor note that companies’ own financial interests may bring some of that into question. And across the sports market, he says the large number of players and scope of micro bet possibilities makes potential manipulation “easier to hide.”

What is prop betting?
A prop is a type of wager that allows gamblers to bet on whether a player will exceed a certain statistical number, such as whether a basketball player will finish over or under a certain total of points, rebounds, assists and more.

This kind of bet is key to the sports betting probe announced Thursday. Investigators pointed to a March 23, 2023, game involving Rozier, then playing for the Charlotte Hornets.

Rozier played the first 9 minutes and 36 seconds of that game — and not only did he not return that night, citing a foot issue, but he did not play again that season. He finished with five points, four rebounds and two assists — a productive opening quarter, but well below his usual total output for a full game. At the time, many bettors turned to social media to say that something shady occurred regarding prop bets involving his stats for that night.

More broadly, the NBA has expressed concern about prop bets, while other sports leagues have worried about the potential for manipulation.

Earlier this year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine urged his state’s gambling commission to ban prop bets after Major League Baseball placed two Cleveland Guardians pitchers on leave during a sports betting investigation.

What are other pitfalls and social implications?
Sports betting also faces criticism for opening the door to addictive gambling.

“The fact that it’s normalized, the advertising is aggressive, it’s available 24/7, the micro bets — all of this is adding up to tremendous increase in usage across individuals,” said Taylor, citing algorithms and other incentives betting platforms use to increase engagement.

Rose-Berman notes that platforms make the most off of returning “biggest losers.” Recent research suggests that young men in low-income communities are particularly affected by financial consequences tied to sports gambling.

“Upwards of 90% of sports bettors are not really going to experience significant negative impacts — but it’s really concentrated among those big losers and it’s going to be devastating for them,” he said.


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From OAN
Link: https://www.oann.com/business/sports...the-spotlight/





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Here’s how indictment says Terry Rozier shared information that paid off for bettors


By ED WHITE
Updated 3:06 PM PDT, October 23, 2025



Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier (2) looks on during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Washington Wizards, Sunday, March 31, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)



NBA guard Terry Rozier was averaging nearly 21 points per game for the Charlotte Hornets as the 2022-23 season neared an end. But during a game against the New Orleans Pelicans, he scored only 5 and played less than 10 minutes before claiming he was hurt.

The injury? It was fake and the fix was in as part of a scheme to help sports bettors, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday in New York.

That episode is at the heart of a stunning scandal that is rocking the NBA. Rozier, a pal and others were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

Here’s how authorities say the alleged scheme went down:

Explaining prop bets and how feds say they were used

Those placing prop bets don’t wager on the outcome of a game. Rather, they put money on individual player statistics, such as whether a player finishes over or under a certain total of points, rebounds or assists.

The indictment reveals how the widely popular bets can be exploited with inside information from locker rooms.

Before the Hornets-Pelicans game, Rozier told a longtime friend that he was “going to prematurely remove himself from the game in the first quarter due to a supposed injury and not return,” the indictment states.

That meant bettors who knew Rozier was staying on the bench could easily wager that his point total would be under his typical average. On the flip side, gamblers who took the “over” with no inside information were out of the money when they bet that he would score more than 21 points.

How inside information was allegedly shared

Rozier’s friend, Deniro “Niro” Laster, shared the information with others, who placed more than $250,000 in prop bets — and it paid off, according to the indictment.

Laster collected tens of thousands of dollars from people who cashed in on the inside information and then drove to Rozier’s home in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they “counted the money” a week later, the indictment says.

The indictment also has descriptions of several unnamed NBA players whose availability for certain games was the source of betting activity. Their identities are clear based on a review of injury reports for games mentioned in the indictment. Those players are not accused of wrongdoing, and there is no indication that they would have even known what was being said about their game status. They include LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard.

Damon Jones, who was an unofficial assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2022-23, was also charged. He’s accused of sharing non-public information about the status of players in two Lakers games in 2023 and 2024.

In the 2023 game, Jones is accused of texting others that a certain player who was not on the injury report still would miss the game with a lower body injury. James, who had earlier been listed as questionable, did not play because of ankle issues.

“Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out!” Jones said in a text, according to the indictment.

Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, said Rozier is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.”

It wasn’t immediately known if Laster or Jones had lawyers who could comment on the allegations.


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From OAN
Link: https://www.oann.com/sports/heres-ho...f-for-bettors/





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The NBA hoped to begin its season on a strong note. Now it faces a gambling scandal



By TIM REYNOLDS
Updated 7:15 AM PDT, October 24, 2025



FBI assistant director Christopher Raia speaks at a press conference announcing the arrests of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in connection with a federal investigation into sports betting and illegal gambling, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)



MIAMI (AP) — As a new NBA season opened this week, coach Rick Carlisle and the Indiana Pacers received their annual briefing on the do’s and don’ts of gambling.


Betting in casinos is generally allowed. Betting on other sports, provided it is legal, is also allowed.


Betting on NBA basketball is not.


For veterans of the sport, it’s the type of training that can seem routine — almost boring, perhaps. But the potential repercussions for breaking the rules are now abundantly clear after Portland coach Chauncey Billups and Miami guard Terry Rozier were among nearly three dozen people arrested Thursday for what federal law enforcement officials described as their involvement in various illicit gambling activities.

The developments pose an unexpected challenge for a league that hoped to begin its season on a strong note, fueled by an opening night game watched by millions as it went into a thrilling double overtime. There have been amazing performances already: Victor Wembanyama scoring 40 points in his season debut with San Antonio, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 55 for Oklahoma City, Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Denver’s Aaron Gordon putting on an I-can-top-this show.

Those should be the talk of the league right now. That’s not the case. All that has been overshadowed. The NBA now faces questions about the pervasiveness of gambling in basketball, and uncertainty about what might happen next.

“A shocking day,” said Carlisle, who said he unsuccessfully tried to connect with Billups to offer support. “This is a very serious situation.”

The accusations against Rozier and Billups

Rozier, who was arrested in Orlando, Florida, where the Heat opened the season against the Magic, stands accused of telling an associate that he was going to play sparingly in a game on March 23, 2023, when he was with the Charlotte Hornets. Rozier played just under 10 minutes and fell well short of many of the lines set for prop bets regarding his performance.

More than $200,000 worth of wagers were won, federal officials said, based on the information Rozier shared.

Billups — a Hall of Fame player — was arrested in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and charged with being involved in a poker scheme that federal officials said cheated victims out of at least $7 million. Billups was one of 31 people arrested on the poker-related charges, and some of those arrested were, according to officials, members of three Mafia families.

The indictments for the insider betting and poker cases were separate, but it appears Billups was mentioned — albeit not by name — in the betting one as well. Someone who matches Billups’ resume, an Oregon resident who played in the NBA from 1997 through 2014 and has been a coach since 2021, was alleged to have given insider information to someone who used it to craft wagers involving Trail Blazers’ games in 2023.

That person is described in that document only as Co-Conspirator 8.

Billups and Rozier appeared in court on Thursday and are out of the league indefinitely, being placed on leave by the NBA just hours after their arrests. An attorney for Billups called his client a “man of integrity” while a lawyer for Rozier said the player is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.”

In a statement, the NBA said it takes “these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”

Betting is big in pro sports

Yet betting has become big business for the NBA, as it has with virtually all pro sports leagues in this era where sports wagering is legal in much of the country. The practice is allowed in some form in 38 states now. Missouri will join that list later this year, and it’s also permitted in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

“It’s a world that’s a different world than it was a few years ago with the advent of legalized gambling,” Carlisle noted.

Some leaders in the league encouraged the growth of legalized gambling. In 2014, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wrote an op-ed in The New York Times noting a “thriving underground business” of illegal sports gambling that “operates free from regulation or oversight.” He called for a “different approach.”

A 2018 Supreme Court decision ultimately cleared the way for the modern era of legalized sports gambling. Today, the NBA has two official gaming partners, FanDuel and DraftKings Sportsbook, and has relationships with at least 12 authorized gaming operators. There is even a portion of the NBA’s website devoted to gambling — NBABet.

As legalized gambling has taken off, Silver has expressed some worries about the implications.

“Obviously, I’m very concerned if there’s any illegal activity going on in our league,” he said in July. “But I’d say similar to the way a public financial market works, the fact that there might be insider trading doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to shut down those public markets. Often the way they are catching insider traders is because they have a system, a complex system, that detects aberrational behavior.”

“But,” he added, “anybody in this league, any player who engages in that activity, there’s no question they are putting their livelihood at risk.”

Golden State coach Steve Kerr said an unfortunate reality for players and coaches in this betting era is that fans reach out — often angrily, sometimes while sitting courtside — to complain that this or that happened and they lost their bet or parlay.

Kerr has even gotten emails from people who want to complain about how they believe he has personally cost them money.

“Our guys get nasty social media posts from people who have bet on games,” Kerr said. “And that’s the thing that I don’t like about this the most. Our players should not have to deal with that, but they do. … It’s just kind of the modern life.”

Billups’ arrest hit home for the Denver Nuggets. Rodney Billups, Chauncey’s brother, is a member of Denver’s coaching staff.

Michael Porter Jr. was with the Nuggets in 2024 when his brother, Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter, was banned for life after a league probe found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors and wagered on games — sometimes even betting on the Raptors to lose.

There have been other probes since, none quite like what the NBA finds itself dealing with now.

“This is not how we want to start the season in the NBA,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said.


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From OAN
Link: https://www.oann.com/sports/the-nba-...bling-scandal/





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Democrats’ anti-Trump lawfare is strengthening China





Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser speaks to reporters at the U.S. Supreme Court Building. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)



OAN Commentary by: Col. Robert L. Maness

Colorado Democrat Attorney General Phil Weiser has a problem, and it isn’t just the polls. He’s getting crushed in his early primary race against Sen. Michael Bennet for the Colorado governor’s mansion, and the panic is already starting to show.

Instead of focusing on the needs of Colorado’s families, Weiser has turned his taxpayer-funded office into a campaign headquarters for anti-Trump lawfare.

His latest stunt? Playing anti-Trump politics with national security, even if it means helping China at America’s expense.

Yep, that’s how far today’s Democrat attorneys general have fallen. They’d rather see China eat America alive than admit Donald Trump is right about strengthening America’s ability to compete with — and protect the free world from — the Chinese Communist Party.

Weiser recently led a coalition of Democratic attorneys general to accuse Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump Justice Department of “corruption” for approving a merger between two American telecom companies, HPE and Juniper Networks. He’s even trying to get a judge to undo the deal.

What Weiser didn’t mention: the U.S. Intelligence Community itself urged the Justice Department to advance that merger, since it found the deal critical to containing or defeating Huawei, the CCP-controlled telecom behemoth accused of embedding surveillance backdoors into its technology.

Huawei dominates global telecom infrastructure, powering 5G networks and laying the foundation for future artificial intelligence (AI) systems. To put it another way, it’s dominating everything that’s needed for economic and defense superiority in the future.

National security officials have warned for years that Huawei’s reach gives Beijing an unprecedented ability to spy, steal data, and manipulate communications worldwide.

That’s why Trump’s Justice Department and the Intelligence Community approved the HPE-Juniper deal — to build up U.S. capabilities and prevent China from controlling the backbone of tomorrow’s technology.

Even Axios, often not a friend to conservatives, reported that senior intelligence officials described the merger as “critical to countering Huawei and China.” In other words, this wasn’t about enabling “corporate cronyism,” it was about keeping America safe.

Now, Phil Weiser wants to undo that national security decision. He’s literally asking a judge to overturn a merger that the intelligence community said would strengthen America and protect our technological sovereignty.


Why? Politics.

Weiser knows, already at this early stage, that he’s trailing badly in his primary against Bennet. So, he’s trying to score headlines the Democrat base will approve of by attacking anything with Trump’s fingerprints on it.

If Trump did it, he must oppose it — even if Beijing benefits. That’s called prioritizing ambition at America’s expense, and it’s embarrassing.

The China gambit is just one part of a broader pattern of political lawfare on the part of Weiser.

For example, on immigration, he has repeatedly broken federal law in pursuit of political theater and progressive virtue-signaling.

As Heritage Foundation legal fellow Hans A. von Spakovsky has documented, Weiser sued local deputies in Colorado for sharing immigration information with federal agents. Although this completely violated a law that prohibits the states from restricting communication with federal immigration authorities, he still attacked those who cooperated — all just to burnish his progressive credentials.

Beyond undermining the rule of law, Colorado’s top lawyer also undermined public safety to opportunistically chase a viral moment in a crowded Democrat primary.


Even politically neutral lawyers are calling him out.

Speaking about Weiser’s activism against the HPE-Juniper case, one attorney told a nonpartisan legal reporter, “It seems like a political move from Weiser, who has aspirations of higher office.” The two other attorneys interviewed agreed. None saw a legitimate legal reason for his intervention. This is pure politics — weaponizing the justice system to advance a campaign narrative.

America’s ability to compete with China in telecommunications and artificial intelligence is existential. Whoever controls the next generation of network infrastructure controls the data, the power, and the future.

The HPE-Juniper deal was one of many smart, forward-looking national security moves under Trump — alongside cracking down on Chinese espionage in universities, and semiconductor supply chains, among many other smart tough-on-China policy decisions.

Weiser’s attempt to unravel that progress tells you everything about today’s Democrat Party. They’re so obsessed with erasing Trump’s legacy that they’d rather knife America’s defense than “stay mum” or admit the president was right.


Colorado voters should take note.

If Weiser is willing to jeopardize national security just to score a few primary-season sound bites, just imagine what he’d do with the governor’s office.

Colorado deserves an attorney general who defends America, not China — and a governor who puts the people, not his political ambitions, first.

Until then, the message from voters should be loud and clear: stop using your Trump hatred as an excuse to play politics with taxpayer money. While Phil Weiser keeps the needless Trump hatred going, the Chinese Communist Party is laughing all the way to global dominance.

In response, Colorado should laugh Weiser out of the polls and — when possible — out of public service entirely. He consistently serves China and the Radical Left’s interests, not their own.


Col. Robert L. Maness (Ret), host of The Rob Maness Show, is a 32-year United States Air Force combat veteran, where he served as commander of the 377th Air Base Wing, Kirtland Air Force Base. He was a member of the Trump Campaign’s Veterans and Military Families for Trump Coalition. Follow him on X @RobManess.


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From One America News
Link: https://www.oann.com/commentary/demo...thening-china/






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Antifa Retreats From Portland ICE Facility After Police Dismantle Encampment







by Tyler Durden
Sunday, Oct 26, 2025 - 10:25 AM

The decentralized anti-fascist warriors in the Portland-area cell, aligned with the radical Democratic Party, were in full retreat overnight after officers from the Portland Police Department cleared out their encampment in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the Portland metro area.

Nick Shirley, who is an independent journalist and who met with President Trump at the White House earlier this month for a round table on Antifa, wrote on X, "ANTIFA HAS BEEN DISMANTLED IN PORTLAND After 140 days of controlling and camping on this street in Portland, Antifa has officially been cleared out as the police FINALLY stepped in and cleared the encampment."

"Inside the encampment, they had loads full of medicine, medical gear, party supplies, a fridge, BBQ, etc ANTIFA's 140 days of control have officially come to an end," Shirley said, with an accompanying video showing inside the encampment that housed gender-confused purple-haired people who hate the Western world and capitalism.

🚨ANTIFA HAS BEEN DISMANTLED IN PORTLAND
After 140 days of controlling and camping on this street in Portland, ANTIFA has officially been cleared out as the police FINALLY stepped in and cleared the encampment.

Inside the encampment they had loads full of medicine, medical… pic.twitter.com/NMEnOd1wSV

— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) October 26, 2025

The Post Millennial's Katie Daviscourt also reported that Portland police sent the purple-haired protesters packing after months of camping outside the ICE facility. Antifa was used as a pressure campaign for optics. Remember, Democrats have been waging a color revolution-style operation ('No Kings') for regime change purposes against Trump. Manufacturing artificial protests and riots is a tactic used to shift public sentiment. However, after many months, that strategy has largely failed.

Breaking: Portland Police dismantles illicit Antifa encampment outside the ICE facility in Portland.

Officers order all tents and tarps to be removed. Antifa militants rush to salvage items.

This is day 140 of the occupation. pic.twitter.com/PpoCPHwS0P

— Katie Daviscourt 📸 (@KatieDaviscourt) October 26, 2025

Arrests were made.

Portland Police take black bloc Antifa militant into custody outside the ICE facility, receive praise from ‘patriot’ group for making arrests. pic.twitter.com/88UuQtUgMY

— Katie Daviscourt 📸 (@KatieDaviscourt) October 26, 2025

Daviscourt said Antifa warriors retreated to a safe house down the street.

Breaking: Antifa militants transport supplies into the apartment unit being used as a safehouse near the ICE facility.

The supplies came from the Antifa occupation encampment that police just ordered to be dismantled. pic.twitter.com/kJjogFL68c

— Katie Daviscourt 📸 (@KatieDaviscourt) October 26, 2025

The abrupt dismantling of Antifa outside the ICE facility raises one critical question: What changed among the left-wing city officials who control the metro area?

Hmmm.

🚨 BREAKING: My team has removed and recovered 15-20 fliers of @ICEgov agents being doxed around Portland, Oregon.

Fliers include full names, addresses, and images of ICE agents.

This is what the media WON'T show you. Disgusting. Bring in the troops. pic.twitter.com/stitOG7Emp

— David Medina 🦫🇺🇸 (@davidmedinapdx) October 24, 2025

Certainly, the violent extremism and/or organized violence allowed by local politicians in far-left-controlled metro areas, from West Coast cities to Chicago and others, of rogue groups against ICE facilities, is a major concern. The American people voted by a clear majority for Trump to secure the nation and deport criminal illegal aliens. Yet Democrats have worked to obstruct the White House at every turn. The problem for radical leftists who hate America is that polling data shows most voters support Trump's mass deportation plans.


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From Zero Hedge
Link: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/...tle-encampment







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NEW: Trump Secures New Peace, Trade Deals On First Day Of Asia Trip








Published 7 hours ago
on October 26, 2025
By Cullen McCue

President Donald Trump on Saturday signed three peace and trade deals with the leaders of Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia on Sunday, the first full day of the president’s Asia trip.

All three nations pledged to expand economic ties with the United States and remove existing trade barriers, including tariffs. The president also formally oversaw a peace deal signed between the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand after the two nations were involved in violent border clashes earlier this year.

The two nations appeared to be on a collision course for a wider conflict, at which point Trump intervened as a mediator. The president has credited negotiations on trade with helping both sides come to an agreement.

While speaking after the deal was signed Sunday, Trump said the agreement may save “millions of lives” in the two Southeast Asian nations, which were represented by their respective prime ministers in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. “Millions of people are alive today because of this peace treaty,” Trump declared.

“The United Nations should be doing this, but they don’t do it. They don’t do it. They turned off my teleprompter. When I made a speech, I had to make a speech without a teleprompter. They’re good at that. The escalator wasn’t working too well. It came to a complete halt,” he added.

“But, I mean, the United Nations has such great potential. I wish they could do it. They didn’t get involved with us at all. We just did the deal and reported the deal, and everybody was sort of amazed that we got it done so quickly and so nicely.”

The peace deal formalizes a military pullback from a long-disputed border region and the exchange of prisoners of war after the two nations engaged in intense fighting this past July, which saw exchanges of rocket fire on both sides and claimed at least 66 lives. “I shouldn’t say it’s a hobby, because it’s so much more serious than a hobby, but it’s something that I’m good at, and it’s something I love to do,” Trump said Sunday.

He added that he is currently hoping to resolve ongoing border flareups between Pakistan and Taliban factions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, which have claimed dozens of lives. The administration is also currently working to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“I heard that Pakistan and Afghanistan have started up. But I’ll get that solved very quickly,” he said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was once imprisoned on what he described as politically motivated charges, joked with President Trump ahead of the signing ceremony. “We share lots of things in common. I was in prison, but you almost got there,” Ibrahim said, drawing laughs.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet praised Trump’s direct involvement in mediating the conflict, adding that he would be nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul also offered his “sincere appreciation” to Trump.

After the two sides agreed to a cessation of hostilities back in July, Trump lowered his “reciprocal” tariffs for both Cambodia and Thailand to 19% — down from threatened rates of 49% and 36%, respectively, the New York Post reported. The new trade deals inked Sunday will further lower tariff rates on both countries, as well as Malaysia.

Cambodia has agreed to purchase 10 Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes for its national airline in return for the lower rate, among other things.

The White House did not provide details on the new reciprocal tariff rates for the three countries on Sunday, but suggested that they could be lowered to “zero percent” for certain products. The statement added that similar arraignments have been made with Vietnam, which signed a comprehensive trade deal with the U.S. earlier this year.


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From Trending Politics
Link: https://trendingpoliticsnews.com/new...asia-trip-cmc/






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