240 Comments
User's avatar
Kelvin Hobbs's avatar

Pentagon to use $130 million donation from anonymous Trump ‘friend’ to pay military members. The Trump administration plans to funnel a $130 million donation from an anonymous ally of Trump toward paying military service members during the government shutdown. Trump on Thursday had touted the $130 million donation, which he said came from “a friend of mine.” CNN, 24-Oct-25 https://tinyurl.com/mryukaub

The Antideficiency Act prohibits federal agencies from obligating or expending federal funds in advance or in excess of an appropriation, and from accepting voluntary services. The Antideficiency Act prohibits federal employees from ... accepting voluntary services for the United States, or employing personal services not authorized by law, except in cases of emergency involving the safety of human life or the protection of property. 31 U.S.C. § 1342. [U.S. Government Accountability Office https://tinyurl.com/2e8urme8]

Expand full comment
Living in the upside down's avatar

how far would $130 million go paying service members? 2 days?

Expand full comment
Kelvin Hobbs's avatar

The largest category of defense spending in FY 2024 was operation and maintenance: at $332.0 billion, it made up 38.0% of defense spending. This was followed by compensation for military personnel with $191.9 billion, or 22.0% of spending to pay the 2.1 million active duty and reserve troops (counted on June 2025). Combined, these categories accounted for 60.0% ($524.0 billion) of the total national defense budget. USAFacts (undated) https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-does-the-us-spend-on-defense/country/united-states/

$191.9 billion / 365 days = $525,753,424 per day, so using 2024 data, maybe 6 hours

Expand full comment
Living in the upside down's avatar

Bingo. Another Trump/Levitt BS

Expand full comment
Nancy Lent Lanoue's avatar

Maybe the billionaires will wake when he starts to bleed them dry too.

Expand full comment
Kelvin Hobbs's avatar

Imagine the reverse. What if there were a massive, protracted boycott or general strike where companies such as Amazon (to pick one of many) were forced to choose between (a) currying political favor and avoiding political punishment by using unbridled sycophancy; and (b) no biz because people decide to shop locally or choose not to buy? What's a poor bookseller to do?

Expand full comment
Nancy Lent Lanoue's avatar

“Art of the deal”- seriously, Kelvin.

Expand full comment
Kelvin Hobbs's avatar

Reminds me of the Louvre (steal of the art) caper on a much grander, more kingly (art of the steal) scale. Thanks, Nancy

Expand full comment
Becca's avatar

This in my opinion are the only ways! Have to hit the 1%, Wall Street, profits of the wealthy supporting and submitting to fascist, cruel, Gilded Age oligarchs. Widespread BOYCOTTS, Strikes, Sick-outs, General Strikes-anything to disrupt profits of big businesses, wealthy.

Expand full comment
Kelvin Hobbs's avatar

Active, persistent, all-inclusive, escalating in breadth and depth, but peacefully

Expand full comment
Terry's avatar

Amazon is a huge donator to trumps ballroom. Why anyone still buys from Amazon, is a mystery to me. You can purchase any of the products sold there directly from the manufacturer or any other 3rd party site.

Expand full comment
Kelvin Hobbs's avatar

Habit. Convenience (click to order, delivered to your door). Laziness.

Expand full comment
dan's avatar

that is the entire problem -he is giving them large amounts of money disguised as tax cuts at the expense of every other taxpayer

Expand full comment
Joanne Walen's avatar

About $100 per person

Expand full comment
John Thomas Peck's avatar

Fox News can go pound salt for all I care about their constant propaganda!! 🤢

Expand full comment
WJB Motown's avatar

Cancel the cable.....You have MTN.

Expand full comment
Kelvin Hobbs's avatar

Yes, but they are not alone. Google “conservative podcasters” and “conservative blogs.” No paucity of either. Outliers such as Rogan, Musk, and Bannon put their quarters in the slot for another play at the bally table. Deaf and blind (but not “dumb” in a different sense of that word) Pinball Wizards, one and all. Bari Weiss made CBS a Mini-Me Fox. Twinned crap on X and Truth Social are chunder. Noem TSA and Hegseth DOD guano propaganda videos, Miller Reich ordure and from the Shite Pilot King, WH policy piffle.

Expand full comment
Patti War's avatar

NO anonymous donation ! Why would anyone do this. Please tell us !

Expand full comment
Kelvin Hobbs's avatar

Of course I have no way to know the "correct" answer, but my guess would be to curry favor and buy influence, and maybe to provide a distraction from THE EPSTEIN FILES.

Expand full comment
patricia montague's avatar

Yes, America is up for sale. He’s a realtor …. Get him out!

Expand full comment
Linda's avatar

Only sure way to control the beast is to vote Dems in nationwide…

Expand full comment
Bea's avatar

There is more to it they just saying right now. $130 million what’s in return?

Expand full comment
Kelvin Hobbs's avatar

Defense officials said they have accepted an anonymous gift of $130 million from a wealthy donor to help pay military salaries during the government shutdown, but they would not release any additional details about the unusual move. “This sounds like a half baked idea that hasn’t been vetted or implemented,” [Todd Harrison, a defense budget analyst at the American Enterprise Institute] said. Politico, October 24, 2025 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/24/dod-accepts-anonymous-130-million-donation-to-partially-cover-troop-pay-00622219

The DOD won't tell us. Quelle surprise! Shut down. Gerrymandering. VRA Section 2. Epstein. East Wing. Venezuela. Fishing boat drones. Indicting politicians, foreign countries enriching elected and appointed American officials and their relatives. etc. Optics, optics, optics ...

Expand full comment
Bonnie Boyce's avatar

Thanks, Vlad!!

Expand full comment
Mickey8255's avatar

We WANT FULL TRANSPARENCY!!

Expand full comment
Jackson McKinney's avatar

Sounds like the US military is basically mercenaries at this point.

Expand full comment
Kathryn's avatar

No link to anything.

Expand full comment
Kelvin Hobbs's avatar

Both links in the post work (I checked them from the post), but in case not for you:

CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/politics/anonymous-donor-military-pay-shutdown

GAO: https://www.gao.gov/legal/appropriations-law/resources

Expand full comment
Kathryn's avatar

Thank you for that.

Curiously, I tried it several times and it came up as “no page found”. After you sent the new link, I went back and tried again and it worked. Silly internet!

Expand full comment
TheVeiledInktress's avatar

Don’t click on links from people you don’t know. Research on your own.😊 That being said, I did research and there are articles out there about this. I’d like to know where are the taxpayers money? What are they doing with our money other than building ballrooms, buying jets, and put it in their pockets?

Expand full comment
Kelvin Hobbs's avatar

Here is one answer (yes, please do your own research without relying on my link, since I am among the "people you don't know" (good advice). 😉 Here was my (no quotes) Google search query: "where is taxpayers' money going under trump"

Trump Is Cutting Your Healthcare and Using the Money to Invade American Cities, Common Cause 10-Sep-25 https://www.commoncause.org/articles/trump-is-cutting-your-healthcare-and-using-the-money-to-invade-american-cities/#:~:text=This%20summer%2C%20the%20Trump%20administration,that%20educates%20and%20connects%20us.

Expand full comment
Terry's avatar

I did a search for 'trump says he's just gonna kill people', and found many sites.

Including this one at bottom, with this quote:

'We're just gonna kill people': Trump says he doesn't need a declaration of war for strikes on suspected drug smugglers

Donald Trump’s statement on Thursday that he has no intention of asking Congress for a declaration of war ahead of possible strikes on suspected drug smugglers in Venezuela, “we’re just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country”, thrilled his supporters but disturbed many Americans.....'

‘We’re just gonna kill people’: Trump says he does not need declaration of war for Venezuela strikes – as it happened | US immigration | The Guardian https://share.google/GAFTiqaBx6HjNm1fo

Expand full comment
Linda's avatar

Notice that Trump never says that it’s our own American Drug Dealers bringing this crap in…

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Oct 25
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Terry's avatar

It's a shame there's no lawyers in his regime that can correct him on his thinking.

Expand full comment
dan's avatar

Fox is worthless

Expand full comment
Oaktown's avatar

Worse. They're toxic.

Expand full comment
Happy Happy's avatar

Toxic indeed! How can anyone w a brain.. oh wait I just answered my own question.. MAGA sycophants have no brain. They sit in a room with the lights off because “ daddy,” said they were on.. 🤮

Expand full comment
Linda's avatar

I have an Aunt who is in her 80s and is a MAGA and it’s a telling sign because the era she comes from is full of bigotry was acceptable…I will correct her of her misinformation and she questions it…Sad

Expand full comment
Living in the upside down's avatar

Everything...Gaza, Russian sanctions (a laugher), blowing up foreign vessels, the demolition of the East Wing...Everything he does, including the government shut down is to distract people from the Epstein files. It is so much more (but not worse than) pedo-sex trafficking, its decades of laundering Russian money through Florida and NY real estate.

Expand full comment
Cathy Wray's avatar

The trump crime family cares nothing about the American family or the welfare of children. I am so sick of sleazy people running our government into the ground.

Expand full comment
Mary Lou Nesson's avatar

I am sick of them,

too. I am sure when we finally get rid of them and begin criminal process as it should be, they will all flee America and live in one of their companion countries.

Expand full comment
Jamesina Hamilton's avatar

One can only hope! Or maybe deport?

Expand full comment
Keifer Allan's avatar

They only care about protecting the CHILD rapists and traffickers that would LOVE to meet our 16 yr old daughters.

Expand full comment
Doreen Littlefield's avatar

Stay strong and be safe MTN … I appreciate you so very much.

Expand full comment
David Holst-Grubbe's avatar

The way to respond is to eviscerate the hate and rage machine at FOX strategically. We need a leader to do this and you know someone who can get it done. If you believe as we do that MAGA fails without FOX and that destroying honest media makes it even worse defund the FOX rage and hate machine.

Eviscerate FOX with an indirect strategy that works fast. Deny FOX ad $ by denying the ad buying company CEO and execs bonuses. For example Home Depot. Boycott them for a full fiscal quarter and maybe more while keeping Wall Street analysts apprised. Get all on line influencers to post every day for the entire time ending every post every day with “Don’t forget - boycott Home Depot, they fund the FOX rage and hate machine.” See how fast CEO’s stop buying ads - do only ONE brand - do it implacably for an entire fiscal quarter. See how quickly you become the new sheriff in town and how fast other CEO’s quit buying ads. See how fast FOX changes content. All they care about is $. Oh - and next generation FOX CEO will be a decent human being if you do this.

Execution details matter. Talk to me. See Target, Bud Light and Tesla for examples. Companies are people, not paper. Make it personal.

Expand full comment
David Holst-Grubbe's avatar

48% of FOX revenue is ad buys. They’ll change messaging so fast it’ll make your head spin when that revenue is cut.

Expand full comment
WJB Motown's avatar

Boycott..Boycott...Boycott..........General Strike.....General Strike.

Expand full comment
Lauren Tyson's avatar

I can't find any evidence that Home Depot funds Fox News. I'm certainly willing to boycott if that's the case. I cancelled my Amazon Prime membership today and am going to cancel my T Mobile account, too, since they are both contributors to the new White House "ballroom."

Expand full comment
David Holst-Grubbe's avatar

HD buys ads all the time on FOX. I don’t recommend doing what I did and watching and logging the ads as I did though…

Expand full comment
Nancy Lent Lanoue's avatar

Lauren, I cancelled Amazon about four months ago. I haven’t missed it. We rural folks have to find alternatives on line because it saves a lot of⏰ and 💰💵.

Expand full comment
Nancy Lent Lanoue's avatar

David- I think the one-company-at-a-time for a quarter ( 1-25! )is an excellent strategy. Much more targeted than a “general strike”.

Expand full comment
David Holst-Grubbe's avatar

It’s a big reason why this strategy will succeed. All it will take is a phone call to the next batch of CEO’s to end the ad buys.

Expand full comment
patricia montague's avatar

Excellent! Elon is a leach.

Expand full comment
Leslie Goodman-Malamuth's avatar

Fight Fox disinformation! When Donald the First and all the king’s persons lie their heads off, non-Democrats flock to fact-based independent media. That’s what the Republicans and Independents have been saying, as they smother Aaron Parnas in person with thanks.

Expand full comment
Nina Lydia Olff's avatar

Wait until the hospitals close in rural areas and red states need blue states, to cover them as they always have. Think they might connect the dots?

Expand full comment
Mary Lou Nesson's avatar

Right. Everyone will be hurting, but the rural red states will the most. That's what happens when you follow a conman.

Expand full comment
Leslie Goodman-Malamuth's avatar

No. But the residents of Taker States will whine for treats & extras regardless.

Expand full comment
Nancy Lent Lanoue's avatar

Interesting question, Nina. My first thought is Will the Blue states and democratic congress people resist just folding. This would be a golden opportunity to be tough and negotiate for health care , health research, CDC and get back most programs that the big ugly bill defunded.

Expand full comment
pamela's avatar

No I honestly think their to stupid. I SAY WE JUST SIT BACK AND LET THEM FALL ON THEIR ASSES and dont come running to mama cuz we're going to say we told you so

Expand full comment
WJB Motown's avatar

No.......TacoTits is blowing up fishing boats, randomly slaughtering innocent human beings. He is not going to stop. Suffering, hate, revenge.raping children, mass destruction are the drugs that keep the Orange Satanic Narcissit alive.

Expand full comment
Nicole B's avatar

Fox isn’t even news, but rather entertainment for maga small minds.

Expand full comment
Nina Lydia Olff's avatar

It's a form of brainwashing.

Expand full comment
dan's avatar

it's not even entertaining... it is mind numbing ignorance that repeats and exaggerates every possible aspect of the news to influence people who are unwilling to acknowledge facts or truth

Expand full comment
Larry Struck's avatar

F**k Fox

Expand full comment
Mauimom's avatar

When I first read this ["Leavitt: At this moment in time, the ballroom is really the president’s main priority.”], I thought you/she said, ". . . the ball room is really the PREDATOR's main priority ".

Expand full comment
Amanda's avatar

That's an understandable mix-up. KKKaroline may have had a Freudian slip?

Expand full comment
Nancy Lent Lanoue's avatar

🤣🤡

Expand full comment
Mike Hammer's avatar

Leavitt by Lisandra Vasquez on You Tube helps keep me sane. We’re all in with you Ben et al.

Expand full comment
Terry's avatar

Lisandra is absolutely chef's kiss 🤌🏻💋 as Leavitt! The various crosses she wears, to the way to she says Biden, to calling on Kaitlyn 😂 It's not a day without Lisandra and her most perfect impersonation! 🤣

Expand full comment
Larry J Eiben's avatar

Fox is fake news!

Expand full comment
Larry Salsberry's avatar

ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING 💙

Expand full comment
Trina Mason's avatar

We gotchu💙💙💙💙

Expand full comment
Truth Be Told's avatar

Of Course it’s his top priority 🙄 Something he thinks will glorify Him as opposed to let’s say ending the government shutdown 🙄

Expand full comment
ET's avatar

Crowd numbers matter, 7+ million folks mattered💪🏼💪🏿💪🏻💪🏾💪🏽 Fox should be Boycotted and protested daily, Fox protests matter💪🏼💪🏽💪🏾💪🏻💪🏿

Expand full comment
WJB Motown's avatar

Cancel the cable day should happen all accross America. All you need is MTN...IHIPNEWS......Cable is a jet-stream of bullshit.

Expand full comment
Ione G Grimm's avatar

Truth sometimes hurts.

Expand full comment