Devastating damage from Typhoon Sinlaku in the US Territory — Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Cat 5! Thank you to @RepKimKingHinds@WhiteHouse@realDonaldTrump for all your support and the quick emergency declaration! No power and limited connectivity.
.@BudgetHawks President Maya MacGuineas: "Social Security…it's going to be insolvent in 6 years…It's going to cause a generational resentment, and younger people are going to be right to be angry about it."
It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir. We send him off the way he sent so many of us on our way: with a farewell that isn’t an ending, but a blessing. A reward for a life worth livin'. https://t.co/2qdBbh80v1
📸 Chloe Weir
The neighbors call the cops on my dad every six months. They think he’s running a fighting ring or flipping pets for profit. For years, I wasn't sure they were wrong.
My father, Frank, is a man of few words and even fewer friends. He lives on a fixed income in a small, weathered house just outside of town. He’s 68, walks with a limp he got in ’71, and spends most of his day in his garage.
But his most controversial habit involves the local animal shelter.
Like clockwork, Dad brings home a dog. Not the cute puppies everyone wants. He picks the "unadoptables." The three-legged pit bulls, the senior labs with gray muzzles, the curs that cower in the corner. For six months, that dog lives like royalty. I’d visit and see Dad hand-feeding them steak scraps, walking them for hours, talking to them in a soft voice he never used with me.
Then, six months later? Gone.
The dog vanishes. No photos, no collar left behind. Just an empty bowl and Dad driving his rusted pickup truck to the shelter to get another one.
"Where’s Barnaby?" I asked last Sunday. Barnaby was a one-eyed Golden Retriever mix he’d had since spring. That dog worshipped the ground Dad walked on.
"Moved on," Dad grunted, staring at his coffee.
"Moved on? Did you sell him, Dad? The neighbors are talking. They say you’re sick."
"Let them talk."
I couldn't take it anymore. I loved Barnaby. The thought of my father selling that sweet soul to some stranger for a few hundred bucks made my stomach turn. So, when I saw him load a bag of high-grade kibble and a new leash into his truck the next morning, I followed him.
I expected him to drive to a breeder or a shady parking lot exchange. Instead, he drove two towns over to a drab apartment complex near the VA hospital.
He pulled up to a ground-floor unit. I watched from my car, phone ready to record evidence, as he knocked on the door.
A young man answered. He couldn't have been older than 25, but he looked 50. He was missing his right arm, and the way he stood—tense, scanning the perimeter—screamed PTSD. I recognized that look. I’d seen it in Dad’s old photos.
Dad didn't say a word. He just whistled.
From the passenger seat of Dad’s truck, a dog jumped out. It wasn't Barnaby. It was "Duke," a German Shepherd he’d had last year. Duke looked incredible. Focused. Calm. He trotted right up to the young man and sat by his left leg, leaning his weight against the boy’s thigh.
The young man crumpled. He fell to his knees, burying his face in Duke’s fur, sobbing. Duke didn't flinch. He just held his ground, anchoring the boy to reality.
Dad handed the young man a thick envelope. Not money—paperwork. Vaccination records. Training logs.
I got out of my car. "Dad?"
He jumped, looking more terrified than I’d ever seen him. He walked me away from the boy, lowering his voice.
"You weren't supposed to see this."
"You trained him," I realized. "You didn't get rid of them. You trained them."
Dad sighed, lighting a cigarette with shaking hands. "A fully trained PTSD service dog costs anywhere from fifteen to thirty thousand dollars. The insurance doesn't cover it. The VA has a waiting list a mile long. These boys... they come home, and they can't sleep, they can't go to the grocery store, they can't breathe."
He looked back at the young man, who was now smiling through tears, throwing a ball for Duke with his left hand.
"I can't give them money," Dad said, his voice cracking. "I don't have any. But I know dogs. And I have time."
"But why the secrecy? Why every six months?"
"Because that’s how long it takes to turn a scared shelter dog into a soldier’s lifeline," he said. "Basic obedience, task training, desensitization. I take the broken dogs nobody wants, and I turn them into the partners these kids need."
"And Barnaby?" I asked, my throat tight.
"Delivered him yesterday to a female marine in Ohio. She hadn't left her house in two years. She went to the park this morning."
🐾 on my ❤️ Please share if this moved you.
This is the unfortunate reality about some in the press — nuance and context is so important and so very often ignored by folks looking for a scoop! Susie has never sought the attention so many in this profession do. She understands the assignment and does it with perfection.
The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.
Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story. I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.
The truth is the Trump White House has already accomplished more in eleven months than any other President has accomplished in eight years and that is due to the unmatched leadership and vision of President Trump, for whom I have been honored to work for the better part of a decade.
None of this will stop our relentless pursuit of Making America Great Again!
We are seeking the public's help in identifying this person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.
1-800-CALL-FBI
Digital media tips: https://t.co/8x77cwCBnr
We are asking for the public's help identifying this person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.
1-800-CALL-FBI
Digital media tips: https://t.co/K7maX81TjJ
Despicable hit piece on @JohnFetterman - I wish I was surprised anyone would publish an obvious vendetta re: a man’s medical journey. What a weird medical stalker.
To the former staffer:
My advice to you is to do what your parents did. Get a job, sir.
@MichaelRCaputo@benschilibowl 15 minute club — Best place in DC — at night you had a great bar and in the morning the breakfast buffet had cream of wheat!