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- Wake Up Right - October 24, 2025
Wake Up Right - October 24, 2025
Wake Up Right
October 24, 2025
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Happy Friday, folks! We often say Democrats are the “party of hate.” But to be fair, they do love a few things. This week alone, we learned Democrats love:
The bar was low… but somehow they found a shovel.
📉 TK
🌐 On this day in 1845, the United Nations was created
✝️ Christians are expected to drop to 46% in U.S. by 2070
📊 Trump approval avg: 45.3% approve, 51.7% disapprove
Sources: TK, History, The National Pulse, RCP
A game of Chaunce
NBA champion and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested Thursday in what prosecutors call a “complex fraud scheme” involving the mafia and high-stakes poker games across the U.S.
The details: Federal prosecutors charged Billups and 30 others – including former NBA player Damon Jones and current player Terry Rozier – with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering tied to rigged poker games that allegedly cheated victims out of millions.
The DOJ says Billups and co-defendants used modified card-shuffling machines capable of reading decks, X-ray poker tables, and hidden camera lenses to cheat their victims.
The poker operation stretched from Las Vegas to New York, Miami, and the Hamptons.
What was Billups’ role? Prosecutors say Billups’ celebrity status was key: his presence lured victims eager to play alongside an NBA legend.
The mafia? Yes, the mafia. The scams were often overseen by four Italian crime families – Bonanno, Lucchese, Gambino, and Genovese – who took a cut of proceeds and enforced payments through intimidation.
This ain't your daddy's mafia: The case shows how organized crime has modernized - merging technology, celebrity, and sports culture to fuel modern gambling schemes.
What's next? Billups, a Hall of Famer and 2004 NBA Finals MVP, faces decades in prison if convicted.
Big picture: With the rise of legal sports gambling, the stakes are higher for sports leagues to ensure players, coaches, or team officials are above water.
[Source: NY Post, Daily Wire]
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TikTok algorithm secretly boosts socialist Mamdani
A new study found that TikTok’s algorithm favors posts for socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani while suppressing ones backing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The details: Researchers at Spring AI say their artificial intelligence model reverse-engineered TikTok’s recommendation system and detected when videos are getting “hidden promotion” from the platform’s algorithm – they define this as “excessive publicity.”
Baseline: Across all TikTok videos, SpringAI estimates that about 17% get excessive publicity.
One topic jumps off the chart: 55% of political videos get excessive publicity.
Where it gets shady: Inside the political set, they found two names that dominated: Mamdani and Cuomo. When compared to the excessive publicity baseline:
Anti-Cuomo content was +54%
Pro-Mamdani was +3%
Anti-Mamdani content was -22%
Pro-Cuomo content was -22%
Zoom out: These findings add fuel to existing concerns that TikTok – still owned and controlled by China – could influence U.S. politics, especially with younger Americans.
Back up: Last month, President Trump secured a deal that will eventually see TikTok's U.S. arm sold off to a group of American companies that will control the algorithm.
What is Spring AI? The company's Chief Technology Officer, Yehonatan Dodeles, says its mission is to uncover "the hidden mechanics of social media algorithms to defend democracies from weaponized AI."
The numbers: The latest polling has Mamdani ahead of the pack with 43.2%, while Cuomo [running as an Independent] has 28.9% and Republican Curtis Sliwa has 19.4%. Unfortunately Cuomo and Sliwa are splitting the Mamdani opposition.
The last word goes to Dodeles, who wrote on X: "The algorithm that shapes what we see may also shape what we believe."
[Source: The National Pulse, Breitbart]
💩 Senate Democrats blocked a Republican-sponsored bill to pay active-duty members of the military and other essential federal employees who have been required to work during the government shutdown. Read more.
🤡 Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi encouraged California cops to "arrest" ICE agents, leading to the Department of Justice warning state officials to "stand down or face prosecution." Read more.
✅ Walmart stopped hiring individuals who require an H-1B temporary work visa due to the Trump administration’s decision to impose a $100,000 fee. Read more.
🚚 The semi-truck driver behind an 8-car accident in California has been identified as Jashanpreet Singh, an illegal alien from India. Read more.
🇨🇦 President Trump abruptly called off trade negotiations with Canada on Thursday after the Ontario government funded an anti-tariff ad campaign featuring the voice of President Ronald Reagan. Read more.
🎯 Target said Thursday that it’s cutting 1,800 roles across the company, or roughly 8% of its corporate workforce. Read more.
☠️ Maine Democrat Graham Platner is facing calls to drop out of the Senate race after it was revealed he has a Nazi tattoo. Read more.
🪙 President Trump pardoned CZ Zhao, the convicted founder of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. Read more.
🆘 An illegal alien charged with the murder of a Texas woman entered the United States using the former Biden government’s CBP One app. Read more.
🔎 Top Biden regime officials – AG Merrick Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray – personally signed off on an FBI investigation that targeted nearly 100 Republican-linked groups and may have even “spied” on members of Congress. Read more.
🇩🇪 Five Syrians are being investigated for the alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in Germany. An astonishing one in 20 Syrians is now believed to reside in Germany, with over half on welfare. Read more.
👼 A new Boulder, Colorado clinic now performs abortions up to 34 weeks “for any reason,” extending ten weeks past viability and roughly six weeks before full term. Read more.
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🎥 Trump asking for Congress’s approval to blow up drug boats: "I think we're just going to kill people." Watch.
🎥 Bernie Sanders admits Trump fixed the border. Watch.
🔥 Trump is taking out the corrupt IRS officials embedded in his own government. See it.
*🎥 One of the hags on The View defends a Democratic candidate with a Nazi tattoo. Watch.
🎥 JD Vance responds to Jen "Raggedy Ann" Psaki's comments about his wife. Watch.
🎥 Ted Cruz and John Kennedy roast each other. Watch.
🎥 A look inside Trump's new Air Force One Golden Palace. Watch.
🎥 Nike unveiled robotic shoes to help you jump higher. Watch.
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