Republicans are not pro-life. It's a gimmick - nothing but political theater and pretense.
Oct 15, 2025
We Told Ya
The planet has entered a ‘new reality’ as it hits its first climate tipping point, landmark report finds
The planet is grappling with a “new reality” as it reaches the first in a series of catastrophic and potentially irreversible climate tipping points: the widespread death of coral reefs, according to a landmark report produced by 160 scientists across the world.
As humans burn fossil fuels and ratchet up temperatures, it’s already driving more severe heat waves, floods, droughts, and wildfires. But there are even bigger impacts on the horizon. Climate change may also be pushing Earth’s crucial systems — from the Amazon rainforest to polar ice sheets — so far out of balance they collapse, sending catastrophic ripples across the planet.
“We are rapidly approaching multiple Earth system tipping points that could transform our world, with devastating consequences for people and nature,” said Tim Lenton, a professor at the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter and an author of the report published Sunday.
Warm water corals are the first, according to the report.
Since 2023, the world’s reefs have been enduring the worst mass bleaching event on record as oceans reach record high temperatures, with more than 80% affected. What was an underwater riot of color and life is being replaced with a bleached, seaweed-dominated landscape.
“We have now pushed (coral reefs) beyond what they can cope with,” said Mike Barrett, chief scientific advisor at the World Wildlife Fund UK and co-author of the report. Unless global warming is reversed “extensive reefs as we know them will be lost,” the authors wrote.
The impacts will have far-reaching consequences. Coral reefs are an essential habitat for marine species, vital for food security, contribute trillions to the global economy and buffer coastal areas from storms.
There’s even worse to come if temperatures continue to rise. The planet is on the brink of several more tipping points as it’s all but certain to breach the globally agreed goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to the report.
One of the most alarming of these is the potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, a crucial network of ocean currents known as the AMOC. This would have catastrophic global consequences, pushing parts of the world into a deep freeze, heating up others, disrupting monsoon seasons and raising sea levels.
“There is now a risk that collapse could occur within the lifetime of people born and living on the planet today,” Barrett said.
The world is not prepared for the impacts of crossing these tipping points, said Manjana Milkoreit, a researcher at the University of Oslo’s Department of Sociology and Human Geography and a report author.
Current policies and international agreements are “designed for gradual changes, not for these kinds of abrupt, irreversible and interconnected shifts,” she said. How governments respond now “could shape the Earth system for very long time,” she added.
Actions the report calls for include rapidly reducing planet-heating pollution and scaling up carbon removal from the atmosphere.
The world will overshoot 1.5 degrees, Lenton said, but the key will be minimizing further warming above this level and bringing the temperature back down as rapidly as possible.
Amid its alarming findings, the report also pulled out some positive news, including the “radical global acceleration” of solar power and electric vehicles, as well as batteries and heat pumps. Once replaced, polluting technologies are unlikely to come back as cleaner options are cheaper and better, it found.
The report comes just a month before governments gather in Brazil for COP30, the annual United Nations climate conference. This year is particularly important as countries are supposed to set out their goals for bringing down emissions over the next decade.
“This grim situation must be a wake-up call that unless we act decisively now, we will also lose the Amazon rainforest, the ice sheets and vital ocean currents,” Barrett said. “In that scenario, we would be looking at a truly catastrophic outcome for all humanity.”
No Kings 10-18-2025
October 18, 2025
Denver No Kings Protest: When, Where, What to Know
The first No Kings protest in Denver brought more than 5,000 people to the Colorado State Capitol.
Denver protest attendance started leveling off during the summer, but controversial policies from President Donald Trump targeting everyone from immigrants to federal employees to universities have people eager to return in force on Saturday, October 18, for the second No Kings protest.
“The fight isn’t over,” reads an online description for the upcoming No Kings demonstrations across the country. “President Trump has doubled down—sending masked agents into our streets, terrorizing immigrant families, silencing voters, dismantling protections, and handing our future to billionaire allies while everyday people struggle. He wants us to believe his rule is absolute. We’re here to remind him: it’s not.”
Part of a national string of protests in June, the first No Kings protest in Denver brought out more than 5,000 people to the Colorado State Capitol, and was the last major anti-Trump protest in Denver before a clear downturn in attendance in July, August and September. Nationally, the first No Kings day of protests saw a reported turnout of 5 million people.
According to local organizers, Denver’s second No Kings demonstration will feature live music, speeches, chalk art, chants and sign making, in a format that sounds similar to the “activists fairs” hosted at recent protests in front of the State Capitol. However, there are more No Kings events scheduled across Colorado, including one in Colorado Springs expected to draw thousands.
Where is the No Kings Protest in Denver?
The upcoming No Kings protest in Denver will take place at the Colorado State Capitol. According to the Capitol permit for the event, protesters will gather on the West Steps and at Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park across the street.
According to an online billing for the protest, the main action will take place on at Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park, and “activities like sign-making and sidewalk chalking will be on the west steps.”
When is the No Kings Protest?
According to online fliers for No Kings, the protest in Denver will take place from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 18.
Similar protests in Denver have gone on past the posted stop time when turnout is large and have carried on into the night or spilled into other parts of town. The permit for the event allows protesters on the Capitol west steps and Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Will There Be a March?
Yes, online descriptions of No Kings promise “a march through the heart of our city” from 1 to 2 p.m., but the exact route hasn’t been shared.
How to Get There
Denver’s protest is along major roads, like East Colfax Avenue and Broadway. Parking a few blocks away from the Capitol is a good idea, as large turnouts can back up traffic.
RTD bus lines like the 0, 15 and the 83D/L have stops on East Colfax Avenue, Lincoln Street and Broadway that are a block or two from the action. Capitol Hill doesn’t have any light rail stations, but stops at 10th Avenue and Osage Street and downtown on 16th Street are about a thirty-minute walk from the Capitol. And you can always scoop an e-bike or scooter along the way.
Who is Organizing Denver’s No Kings Protest?
Multiple local groups have put out information on the upcoming No Kings protest, including 50501 Colorado, Solidarity Warriors, the Indivisible Action Network, Pulse Colorado and the Service Employees International Union, among others. Most of the Denver groups spreading the word on No Kings have been involved in organizing protests against President Donald Trump all year, with many of them forming shortly after he returned to office in January.
The permit holder for the event is Indivisible Colorado, a local branch of a national progressive activist network.
Other No Kings Protests in Colorado
No Kings 2 protests are planned around the Denver area and throughout Colorado on October 18. Find details about your closest protest on a national map by No Kings and an online list of events in Colorado.
In northern Colorado, a rally and food donation drive is planned for 9 a.m. at the Fort Collins Civic Center Park, according to Indivisible Northern Colorado, which will host alongside the League of Women Voters of Larimer County and the American Association of University Professors.
Anyone driving to or from the mountains via Interstate 70 instead on October 18 will likely see protesters on the Genesee Overpass near exit 254 in Golden, according to an online description. The protesters expected to hold up signs for get support from passing motorists from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. that Saturday.
In addition to the main event at the State Capitol, Denver protesters are planning to wave anti-Trump signs at traffic on Colorado Boulevard from 1 to 3 p.m. with gatherings expected at major intersections with Alameda, Mexico and 8th avenues.
Oct 14, 2025
Today's Robert
"... and if the lights go out for a while, fuck it. So be it. The truth shines brightest in the dark anyway."
Who They Are
These are the kind of assholes who showed up in Charlottesville iin 2017.
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
NEW YORK — Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.
They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.
William Hendrix, the Kansas Young Republicans’ vice chair, used the words “n--ga” and “n--guh,” variations of a racial slur, more than a dozen times in the chat. Bobby Walker, the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans at the time, referred to rape as “epic.” Peter Giunta, who at the time was chair of the same organization, wrote in a message sent in June that “everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.”
Giunta was referring to an upcoming vote on whether he should become chair of the Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s 15,000-member political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40 years old.
“Im going to create some of the greatest physiological torture methods known to man. We only want true believers,” he continued.
Two members of the chat responded.
“Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic,” Joe Maligno, who previously identified himself as the general counsel for the New York State Young Republicans, wrote back.
“I’m ready to watch people burn now,” Annie Kaykaty, New York’s national committee member, said.
The exchange is part of a trove of Telegram chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than seven months of messages among Young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont. The chat offers an unfiltered look at how a new generation of GOP activists talk when they think no one is listening.
Since POLITICO began making inquiries, one member of the group chat is no longer employed at their job and another’s job offer was rescinded. Prominent New York Republicans, including Rep. Elise Stefanik and state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, have denounced the chat. And festering resentments among Young Republicans have now turned into public recriminations, including allegations of character assassination and extortion.
A liberating atmosphere
The 2,900 pages of chats, shared among a dozen millennial and Gen Z Republicans between early January and mid-August, chronicle their campaign to seize control of the national Young Republican organization on a hardline pro-Donald Trump platform. Many of the chat members already work inside government or party politics, and one serves as a state senator.
Together, the messages reveal a culture where racist, antisemitic and violent rhetoric circulate freely — and where the Trump-era loosening of political norms has made such talk feel less taboo among those positioning themselves as the party’s next leaders.
“The more the political atmosphere is open and liberating — like it has been with the emergence of Trump and a more right wing GOP even before him — it opens up young people and older people to telling racist jokes, making racist commentaries in private and public,” said Joe Feagin, a Texas A&M sociology professor who has studied racism for the last 60 years. He’s also concerned the words would be applied to public policy. “It’s chilling, of course, because they will act on these views.”
The dynamic of easy racism and casual cruelty played out in often dark, vivid fashion inside the chats, where campaign talk and party gossip blurred into streams of slurs and violent fantasies.
The group chat members spoke freely about the pressure to cow to Trump to avoid being called a RINO, the love of Nazis within their party’s right wing and the president’s alleged work to suppress documents related to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex crimes.
'They're causing real harm': Kevin Hassett on the Dems' shutdown strategy
“Trumps too busy burning the Epstein files,” Alex Dwyer, the chair of the Kansas Young Republicans, wrote in one instance.
Dwyer and Kaykaty declined to comment. Maligno and Hendrix did not return requests for comment.
But some involved in the chat did respond publicly.
Giunta claimed the release of the chat is part of “a highly-coordinated year-long character assassination led by Gavin Wax and the New York City Young Republican Club” — an allusion to a once obscured internecine war that has now spilled into the open.
“These logs were sourced by way of extortion and provided to POLITICO by the very same people conspiring against me,” he said. “What’s most disheartening is that, despite my unwavering support of President Trump since 2016, rouge [sic] members of his administration — including Gavin Wax — have participated in this conspiracy to ruin me publicly simply because I challenged them privately.”
Wax, a staffer in Trump’s State Department, formerly led the New York Young Republican Club — a separate, city-based group that is at odds with the state organization, the New York State Young Republicans. He declined to comment.
Despite his allusions to infighting, Giunta still apologized.
“I am so sorry to those offended by the insensitive and inexcusable language found within the more than 28,000 messages of a private group chat that I created during my campaign to lead the Young Republicans,” he said. “While I take complete responsibility, I have had no way of verifying their accuracy and am deeply concerned that the message logs in question may have been deceptively doctored.”
At least one person in the Telegram chat works in the Trump administration: Michael Bartels, who, according to his LinkedIn account, serves as a senior adviser in the office of general counsel within the U.S. Small Business Administration. Bartels did not have much to say in the chat, but he didn’t offer any pushback against the offensive rhetoric in it either. He declined to comment.
A notarized affidavit signed by Bartels and obtained by POLITICO also sheds light on the intraparty rivalry that led the “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM” Telegram chat to be made public. Bartels references Wax as well. He wrote that he did not give POLITICO the chat and that Wax “demanded” in a phone call that he provide the full chat log.
“When I attempted to resist that demand, after providing some of the requested information, Wax threatened my professional standing, and raised the possibility of potential legal action related to an alleged breach of a non-disclosure agreement,” Bartels claimed in the affidavit. “My position within the New York Young Republican Club was directly threatened.”
Walker, who now leads the New York State Young Republicans, touched on a similar theme, saying that he believes portions of the chat “may have been altered, taken out of context, or otherwise manipulated” and that the “private exchanges were obtained and released in a way clearly intended to inflict harm.”
He also apologized.
“There is no excuse for the language and tone in messages attributed to me. The language is wrong and hurtful, and I sincerely apologize,” Walker said. “This has been a painful lesson about judgment and trust, and I am committed to moving forward with greater care, respect, and accountability in everything I say and do.”
251 times
Mixed into formal conversations about whipping votes, social media strategy and logistics, the members of the chat slung around an array of slurs — which POLITICO is republishing to show how they spoke. Epithets like “f----t,” “retarded” and “n--ga” appeared more than 251 times combined.
In one instance, Walker — who at the time was a staffer for Ortt — talked about how a mutual friend of some in the chat “dated this very obese Indian woman for a period of time.”
Giunta responded that the woman “was not Indian.”
“She just didn’t bathe often,” Samuel Douglass, a state senator from northern Vermont and the head of the state’s Young Republicans, replied to Giunta.
In a separate conversation, Giunta shared that his flight to Charleston, South Carolina, landed safely. Then, he offered some advice for his fellow Young Republicans.
“If your pilot is a she and she looks ten shades darker than someone from Sicily, just end it there. Scream the no no word,” Giunta wrote.
Douglass did not respond to requests for comment.
In a statement, Ortt called for members of the chat to resign.
“I was shocked and disgusted to learn about the racist, anti-Semitic, and misogynistic comments attributed to members of the New York State Young Republicans,” Ortt said. “This behavior is indefensible and has no place in our party or anywhere in public life.”
Walker had been in line to manage Republican Peter Oberacker’s campaign for Congress in upstate New York, but a spokesperson for the campaign said Walker won’t be brought on in light of the comments in the chat.
Seeking Trump’s endorsement
The private rhetoric isn’t happening in a vacuum. It comes amid a widespread coarsening of the broader political discourse and as incendiary and racially offensive tropes from the right become increasingly common in public debate. Last month, Trump posted an artificial intelligence-generated video that showed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero beside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, whose fabricated remarks were about trading free health care for immigrant votes — a false, long-running GOP trope. The sombrero meme has been widely used to mock Democrats as the government shutdown wears on.
In his 2024 campaign, Trump spread false reports of Haitian migrants eating pets and, at one of his rallies, welcomed comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and joked about Black people “carving watermelons” on Halloween.
Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, rejected the idea that Trump’s rhetoric had anything to do with the chat members’ language.
“Only an activist, left-wing reporter would desperately try to tie President Trump into a story about a random groupchat he has no affiliation with, while failing to mention the dangerous smears coming from Democrat politicians who have fantasized about murdering their opponent and called Republicans Nazis and Fascists,” she said. “No one has been subjected to more vicious rhetoric and violence than President Trump and his supporters.”
In the “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM” chat, Giunta tells his fellow Republicans that he spoke with the White House about an endorsement from Trump for his bid to become chairman of the national federation. Trump and the Republican National Committee ultimately decided to stay neutral in the race.
A White House official said that it has no affiliation with Restore YR and that hundreds of groups ask the White House for its endorsement.
Giunta was the most prominent voice in the chat spreading racist messages — often encouraged or “liked” by other members.
When Luke Mosiman, the chair of the Arizona Young Republicans, asked if the New Yorkers in the chat were watching an NBA playoff game, Giunta responded, “I’d go to the zoo if I wanted to watch monkey play ball.” Giunta elsewhere refers to Black people as “the watermelon people.”
Hendrix made a similar remark in July: “Bro is at a chicken restaurant ordering his food. Would he like some watermelon and kool aid with that?”
Hendrix was a communications assistant for Kansas’ Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach until Thursday. He also said in the chat that, despite political differences, he’s drawn to Missouri’s Young Republican organization because “Missouri doesn’t like f--s.”
POLITICO reached out to Danedri Herbert, a spokesperson for the attorney general who also serves as the Kansas GOP chair, and shared with her excerpts of the chat involving Hendrix. In response, Herbert said that “we are aware of the issues raised in your article” and that Hendrix is “no longer employed” in Kobach’s office.
In another exchange, Dwyer, the Kansas’ chair, informs Giunta that one of Michigan’s Young Republicans promised him the group “will vote for the most right wing person” to lead the national organization.
“Great. I love Hitler,” Giunta responded.
Dwyer reacted with a smiley face.
Few minority groups spared
Giunta, who serves as chief of staff to New York state Assemblymember Mike Reilly, ultimately fell six points short of winning the chairship to lead the Young Republican National Federation earlier this year — despite earning endorsements from Stefanik and longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone.
Reilly did not respond to requests for comment.
Earlier this year, Stefanik accepted an award from the New York State Young Republicans. She lauded Giunta for his “tremendous leadership” in August and had her campaign and the political PAC she leads donate to that state organization. Alex deGrasse, a senior adviser for Stefanik, said the congresswoman “was absolutely appalled to learn about the alleged comments made by leaders of the New York State Young Republicans and other state YRs in a large national group chat.”
“According to the description provided by Politico, the comments were heinous, antisemitic, racist and unacceptable,” he continued, noting Stefanik has never employed anyone in the chat. “If the description by Politico is accurate, Congresswoman Stefanik calls for any NY Young Republicans responsible for these horrific comments in this chat to step down immediately.”
Stone also condemned the comments in a statement.
“I of course, have never seen this alleged chat room thread,” he said. “If it is authentic, I would, of course, denounce any such comments in the strongest possible terms, This would surprise me as it is inconsistent with Peter that I know, although I only know him in his capacity as the head of the New York Young Republicans, where I thought he did a good job.”
Few minority groups are spared from the Young Republican group’s chat. Their rhetoric — normalized at most points as dark humor — mirrors some popular conservative political commentators, podcasters and comedians amid a national erosion of what’s considered acceptable discourse.
Giunta’s line on a darker-skinned pilot, for example, echoes one used by slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year when he said, “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.” Kirk was discussing how diversity hiring “invites unwholesome thinking.”
Walker also uses the moniker “eyepatch McCain” (originally coined by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson) in an apparent reference to GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw. Crenshaw lost his eye while serving as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan. Walker also makes the remark, “I prefer my war heroes not captured,” a repeat of a similar 2015 line from Trump.
Art Jipson, a professor at the University of Dayton who specializes in white racial extremism, surmised the Young Republicans in the chat were influenced by Trump’s language, which he said is often hyperbolic and emotionally charged.
“Trump’s persistent use of hostile, often inflammatory language that normalizes aggressive discourse in conservative circles can be incredibly influential on young operatives who are still trying to figure out, ‘What is that political discourse?’” Jipson said.
White supremacist symbols
Jipson reviewed multiple excerpts of the Young Republicans’ chat provided by POLITICO. One was a late July message where Mosiman, the chair of the Arizona Young Republicans, mused about how the group could win support for their preferred candidate by linking an opponent to white supremacist groups. But Mosiman then realized the plan could backfire — Kansas’ Young Republicans could end up becoming attracted to that opponent.
“Can we get them to start releasing Nazi edits with her… Like pro Nazi and faciam [sic] propaganda,” he asked the group.
“Omg I love this plan,” Rachel Hope, the Arizona Young Republicans events chair, responded.
“The only problem is we will lose the Kansas delegation,” Mosiman said. Hope and the two Kansas Young Republicans in the chat reacted with a laughing face to the message. Hope did not respond to requests for comment. Mosiman declined to comment.
Jipson said the Young Republicans’ conversations reminded him of online discussions between members of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups.
“You say it once or twice, it’s a joke, but you say it 251 times, it’s no longer a joke,” Jipson said. “The more we repeat certain ideas, the more real they become to us.”
Weeks later, someone in the chat staying in a hotel asks its members to “GUESS WHAT ROOM WE’RE IN.”
“1488,” Dwyer responds. White supremacists use the number 1488 because 14 is the number of words in the white supremacist slogan “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” H is the eighth letter in the alphabet, and 88 is often used as a shorthand for “Heil Hitler.”
In another conversation in February, Giunta talks approvingly about the Orange County Teenage Republican organization in New York — which appears to be part of the network of national Teen Age Republicans — and how he was pleased with its young members’ ideological bent.
“They support slavery and all that shit. Mega based,” he said. The term “based” in internet culture is used to express approval with an idea, often one that’s bold or controversial.
In a statement, Orange County GOP Chair Courtney Canfield Greene said the party was disappointed to learn its teen group was mentioned in the chat.
“Our teen volunteers have no affiliation with the NYSYR’s or the YRNF,” she said. “This behavior has no home within the Republican Party in Orange County.”
Ed Cox, the chair of the New York State GOP, also condemned the remarks made in the chat.
“I was shocked and disgusted to learn about the reports of comments made by a small group of Young Republicans,” he said. “Just as we call out vile racist and anti-Semetic rhetoric on the far left, we must not tolerate it within our ranks.”
Vicious words for enemies
Members of the Telegram chat speak about their personal lives, too. Extensive discussions about their everyday lives include one exchange about how devoutly Catholic some chat members are and how often they attend church.
Many of the slurs, epithets and violent language used in the chat often appear to be intended as jokes.
Mosiman was derided by members of the chat as “beaner” and “sp-c.”
“Stay in the closet f----t,” Walker of New York also jested in July, though he is the group’s main target for the same epithet.
The group used slurs against Asians, too.
“My people built the train tracks with the Chinese,” Walker says at one point, referring to his Italian ancestors.
“Let his people go!” Maligno responds. “Keep the ch--ks, though.”
In another instance, Mosiman tells the group that, “The Spanish came to America and had sex with every single woman.”
“Sex is gay,” Dwyer writes.
“Sex? It was rape,” Mosiman replies.
“Epic,” Walker says.
There’s more explicit malice in some phrases, too, especially when they turn their ire on opponents outside the chat, such as the leader of the rival Grow YR slate, Hayden Padgett, who defeated Giunta and was reelected chairman of the Young Republican National Federation this summer.
“So you mean Hayden F----t wrote the resolution himself?” Giunta asked the group about the National Young Republicans chair in late May.
“RAPE HAYDEN,” Mosiman declared the following month.
“Adolf Padgette is in the F----tbunker as we speak,” Walker said in July.
Padgett responded to the chat’s language in a statement.
“The Young Republican National Federation condemns all forms of racism, antisemitism, and hate,” Padgett said. “I want to be clear that such behavior is entirely inconsistent with our values and has no place within our organization or the broader conservative movement.”
Giunta also had expletive-laden criticism for the Young Republicans in states that were supporting or leaning toward Padgett’s faction.
Minnesota - f----tsArkansas - inbred cow fuckersNebraska - revolt in our favor; blocked their bind and have a majority of their delegatesMaryland - fat stinky Jew …Rhode Island - traitorous c---s who I will eradicate from the face of this planet.
Giunta also said he planned to make one of the competing Young Republicans “unalive himself on the convention floor.”
In another instance, Douglass, the Vermont state senator, describes to the group members how one of Padgett’s Jewish colleagues may have made a procedural error related to the number of Maryland delegates permitted at the national convention.
“I was about to say you’re giving nationals to [sic] much credit and expecting the Jew to be honest,” Brianna Douglass, Sam’s wife and Vermont Young Republican’s national committee member, replied to her husband’s message. Brianna Douglass did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
‘If we ever had a leak of this chat...’
While reporting this article, POLITICO was examining a separate allegation: that Giunta and the Young Republicans mismanaged the New York organization’s finances and hadn’t paid at least one venue for a swanky holiday party it hosted last year. POLITICO’s report detailed how the organization was missing required financial disclosure forms and how their subsequent efforts to file the forms revealed the organization was in more than $28,000 of debt. As of Tuesday, updated records show the organization is in more than $38,000 of debt.
Donations to New York State Young Republicans’ political account must be reported to the state Board of Elections. Expenditures must be reported too.
At the time, Giunta told POLITICO the allegations were “nothing more than a sad and pathetic attempt at a political hit job.” But in their “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM” chat, he and Walker speak flippantly about mishandling the club’s finances.
“NYSYR Account be like: $500 - Balding cream $1,000 - Ozempik,” Walker said in one message. “NYSYR will be declaring bankruptcy after this I just know it,” he said in another.
“I drained $10k tonight to pay for my next vacation to Italy,” Giunta appeared to joke about the organization’s bank account.
“I spent it on massage,” he says of another check that was deposited in the account.
“Great. Can’t wait to get sued by our venue,” Walker replies.
Members of the chat occasionally appeared to be aware of its toxicity and even made remarks that considered the possibility someone outside their tight-knit group could view it.
Walker seemed to consider that possibility the most.
In one instance, he joked about bombing the Young Republican National Federation’s convention in Nashville and then remarked, “Just kidding for our assigned FBI tracker.”
In another, he considered the totality of the thousands of messages he and his peers had written, and what would happen if the public saw them come to light.
“If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr fr,” he wrote.
A TweeXt
Stupidly lame excuse du jour:
Unidentified ICE asshole says he's wearing the mask because he doesn't want to get COVID.
ICE refuses to take off mask and identify himself—"I don't want to get Covid."
— LongTime🤓FirstTime👨💻 (@LongTimeHistory) October 13, 2025
Agent then threatens to arrest U.S citizen driving car—pulls out gun and points at neighbors asking questions.
Directly violates Chicago Mayor's executive order requiring agents to not conceal their… pic.twitter.com/QlhaCGyeFh
How It's Going
It's been going on for a few years.
IMO it was kept going because CEOs discovered they could blame COVID, and Biden, and supply chain problems, etc, and never adjust their prices back down to reflect lower costs once the upward pressure caused by the crisis du jour began to ease.
And now we've got people turning to GoFundMe and Payday Loans to make their rent and buy groceries.
Platform CEO notes trend spans multiple countries despite easing inflation in recent years.
Jaqueline Benitez, who depends on California's SNAP benefits to help pay for food, shops for groceries at a supermarket
More people are turning to the popular fundraising website GoFundMe for help with basic necessities like groceries, rent and utility bills, according to the platform's CEO.
Tim Cadogan said Monday on the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast that users are increasingly seeking assistance for essential needs including car payments and other bills.
"We're seeing that more and more," Cadogan said.
The trend extends beyond the United States to many Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, which include much of North America, Western Europe and East Asia, according to Cadogan.
This pattern has increased over the last three years, even as inflation figures have eased in the U.S. during that time, Cadogan said.
The consumer price index shows costs for the ordinary American increased 2.9% in the 12-month period ending in August. September figures have been delayed due to the ongoing government shutdown.
However, in the four years since August 2021, prices for goods and services in the U.S. increased 18%.
Cadogan noted that in 2024, there was a 6% increase in the amount of money raised by GoFundMe for campaigns. The overall number of donors actually declined during that period.
With potential cuts in government programs, Cadogan sees an opportunity for services like GoFundMe to help fill gaps in assistance.
"As you see this shift in maybe governments doing less, we think there's a real opportunity to help increase that percentage, specifically in the U.S.," Cadogan said.
Oct 13, 2025
Gina Bonanno-Lemos
It occurs to me that with all the bluster and blather about rugged individualism that we've been fed for 50 years, or 80 years, or whatever - everything they've hit us with for as long as I've been alive - it's nothing but a sales pitch, filled with empty promises and illusions designed to keep us in thrall to an unfulfillable dream.
We're not looking for handouts and unearned benefits. All we really need is to feel that somebody has our back. That we'll have some way to bounce back when our inevitable fall comes from being enticed to take the risks that end up destroying most of us while serving no real purpose but putting more dollars in billionaires' pockets that are already overflowing.
We had that kind of backup system once upon a time. But it's been all but completely stripped away, and we're being blamed for the problems created for us by powerful people we're not even allowed to see.
But we may be seeing the beginning of a turnaround now, in favor of some of the old school aspects of a society that knows we have to look out for each other - at least to a certain extent.
Maybe we can get back to arguing about the extent, instead of whether or not we should even give a fuck about each other at all.
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