October 22, 2025

amgwin777 - Built to Order

Construction has begun on a $250 million ballroom in the East Wing of the White House, a space that had included a movie theater—built by U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt and renovated by Pres. Ronald Reagan—and the East Room, historically used for large events such as bill signings and press conferences. The 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) ballroom was announced by Pres. Donald Trump in July.
amgwin777 - The facade of the East Wing of the White House is demolished by work crews on October 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The demolition is part of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to build a ballroom reportedly costing $250 million on the eastern side of the White House. construction, renovation
Major White House Renovations of the 21st Century
© Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
amgwin777 - Richard M. Nixon. Bowling. Richard M. Nixon bowling at the White House bowling alley, March 10, 1970. Sports in the White House.
A Brief History of White House Construction
Karl H. Schumacher—White House Photo/Nixon Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
amgwin777 - Work continues in paving over the White House Rose Garden lawn on July 23, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump today signed executive orders related to his AI "Action Plan" intended to promote U.S. dominance of the technology. Donald Trump. White House, Washington, D.C.
How the White House Rose Garden Has Changed Over Time
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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amgwin777 - Figures of Speech

Today is International Stuttering Awareness Day, which promotes understanding of the speech disorder to help remove its stigma. While stuttering can be debilitating, it can be managed, as the following movie stars, politicians and athletes proved.

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Acting

You may be surprised to learn that James Earl Jones (pictured below, in King Lear)—whose distinctive voice infused such characters as Darth Vader and Mufasa in the original Lion King—had a severe stutter as a child and rarely spoke until overcoming it in high school. Other notable thespians who stuttered include Marilyn Monroe, Emily Blunt, Samuel L. Jackson, and Bruce Willis.

amgwin777 - James Earl Jones 'King Lear' 1973 American actor James Earl Jones in the titular role of Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival production of 'King Lear' in Central Park, New York, New York, July 1973. With Rosalind Cash and Ellen Holly. Politics

Anyone who has seen the movie The King’s Speech knows that George VI learned to manage his stutter while being thrust into the spotlight after his brother Edward VIII renounced the throne in 1936. The speech disorder also affected U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Joe Biden.

Sports

Some of the greatest players in their respective sports dealt with a stutter at some point in their life, including golfer Tiger Woods, baseball players George Springer and Tommy John, and NBA stars Bill Walton, Bob Love, and Kenyon Martin. And two-sport athlete Bo Jackson, who was an All-Star in both the NFL and MLB, overcame a childhood stutter.

© Jack Mitchell—Archive Photos/Getty Images

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John Wayne Gacy original Artwork, "Pogo the Clown", self-portrait. Photographed in 1993. While isolated on death row, Gacy began to paint. Original painting by John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 - May 10, 1994) an American serial killer who murdered at least 33 young men and boys between 1972 and 1978 in Norwood Park Township, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Known as the "Killer Clown" due to his public performances as a clown named Pogo prior to the discovery of his crimes.
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