Matthew Chapman

Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA) received a sharp clapback on Friday from the former Democratic congresswoman she ousted in 2022, who is now seeking a rematch.

The controversy began when Kiggans took to X in the evening to vow to be a watchdog against the newly elected Democratic trifecta in the state government of Virginia.

"During my Black Friday shopping, I found this 3-subject notebook which I will use to track 'What happens in the Virginia General Assembly' starting in January….!" wrote Kiggans. "One section for the Virginia House, one for the Virginia Senate, and one for new Virginia laws signed by the new governor. Stay tuned Virginia….. elections have consequences!"

Kiggans' post got a swift response from former Rep. Elaine Luria.

"Jen- if you are more interested in Richmond than what’s going on in Washington, you are in the wrong line of work, and bluntly, the wrong office right now," she replied.

Luria, a Navy veteran, was first elected to Congress in 2018 as part of the Democratic wave of backlash against President Donald Trump's first term, and played a key role in the House January 6 Investigative Committee.

She was one of a handful of Democratic lawmakers unseated in 2022, where Republicans managed to win back control of the House, and is now running to try to reclaim it.

Donald Trump Jr. is not happy with the Wall Street Journal after its editorial board published an urgent plea for Americans not to resort to "collective punishment" against Afghan immigrants.

"The fate of Afghans, men and women, who worked with the U.S. has often been brutal," wrote the board in the article, first published on Thursday in response to an Afghan national on a special immigrant visa being arrested in connection with a shooting of National Guard troops. "You can be sure Americans will fight overseas again, and our troops will need allies on the ground to succeed. How many will assist us if they believe there will be no exit for them if the U.S. leaves with the enemy triumphant?"

All those Afghans who helped U.S. soldiers, the board concluded, "shouldn’t be blamed for the violent act of one man. Collective punishment of all Afghans in the U.S. won’t make America safer and it might embitter more against the United States."

But this plea for levelheadedness enraged the president's eldest son.

"Give me a f------ break," Trump Jr. wrote on X. "The RINOs [Republicans In Name Only] at the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board want us to be flooded with millions of America hating migrants who don't share our values. This is a good reminder that it's not just Democrats responsible for this - It's the globalist RINOs too."

This comes at a moment when the Trump administration is vowing not just to subject all Afghan nationals on special immigrant visas to a review, but to try to force a mass "denaturalization" of U.S. citizens who emigrated from elsewhere, which could lay the ground work for mass deportations on a scale not yet seen.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth refused to back down or apologize amid explosive new reporting that on his orders, military officials went out of their way to fire on survivors of suspected drug trafficking ships that were already taken out, which legal experts have said would be an open-and-shut war crime if true.

Hegseth, who calls himself the "Secretary of War" under an unofficial department name change instituted by an executive order from President Donald Trump, issued a statement attacking the media, but also not denying anything that was reported.

"As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland," wrote Hegseth on X. "As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be 'lethal, kinetic strikes.' The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization."

"The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence," Hegseth continued. "The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narco-terrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them. Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command."

"Our warriors in SOUTHCOM put their lives on the line every day to protect the Homeland from narco-terrorists — and I will ALWAYS have their back," Hegseth concluded.

All of this is occurring as Trump supporters push outrage against half a dozen Democratic members of Congress with military backgrounds, for publishing a video reminding servicemembers they have a legal duty to refuse unlawful orders.

Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL), who is currently facing a barrage of scandals and ethics allegations, spent tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions on expenses like casino trips, limousines, and private jet charters, the conservative Washington Examiner reported on Friday.

"The reelection campaign for Mills ... spent nearly $80,000 on fine dining, luxury lodging, private jets, and limos between February 2023 and December 2024, a Washington Examiner review of campaign finance records found," said the report. "In addition to his campaign spending, Mills, who has an estimated net worth of over $20 million, took advantage of an optional program intended to help less well-off members of Congress afford the high cost of maintaining a second residence in D.C., billing taxpayers for over $15,000 in lodging and meal expenses during the first half of 2025."

Additionally, flagged Roger Sollenberger of The Daily Beast, "Mills’s campaign filings this year have also effectively hidden more than $14,000 in donor refunds — reporting them only as negative donations instead of listing them on the 'refund' line."

This follows an avalanche of other bad press that has followed Mills this year, including an allegation that he physically abused a woman he was involved with; an eviction from his Washington, D.C. penthouse for failing to pay $85,000 in back rent; an ethics investigation in Congress for unprofessional conduct, stolen valor, and failing to disclose gifts; and a report that Mills hired a number of sex workers during his mission in Afghanistan.

Democrats initially pushed a resolution to censure Mills, but backed off in exchange for a censure against Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) also being tabled.

After this news was reported, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) pledged to introduce her own censure measure against Mills.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued an order on Friday demanding the Trump administration file affidavits from every official involved in the decision to carry out mass deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, despite Boasberg's standing order to turn the planes around.

The order, which gives the administration one week to comply, is a major step toward a potential criminal prosecution of Trump administration officials for contempt of court.

"Defendants ... maintain, relying heavily on Judge Katsas’s concurring opinion for the D.C. Circuit panel, that [Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's] decision was proper and not contumacious. As a result, the Government posits that 'no further steps are warranted' because 'Defendants did not violate this Court’s order,' wrote Boasberg. However, he continued, "Given that the other two panel members (plus the majority of the en banc court) did not agree with J. Katsas, the Court is not prepared at this juncture to terminate its inquiry."

"Instead, it must determine whether Secretary Noem or anyone else should be referred for potential contempt prosecution," Boasberg continued.

This comes as Republicans in Congress allied with Trump have launched a series of misconduct allegations against Boasberg, questioning his impartiality and even trying to get him removed from office.

Earlier this month, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) filed articles of impeachment against Boasberg for his role in authorizing nondisclosure orders for special counsel Jack Smith's criminal investigation, which involved seizing phone records from various GOP U.S. senators who were in contact with Trump over his coup plot in 2020. Republicans have attacked this as an abuse of power, even though such phone record reviews are commonplace in investigations of this scope.

Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI) sent out a bizarre fundraising call to action for his supporters on Friday, headlined, "the furries are coming for me."

"I'd heard of furries, but to be honest, I didn't think they were real. Then one filed to run against me for Congress," stated the email. "Samuel Smeltzer, whose furry name is Elyon Badger, announced he's running against me, in costume, on a far left progressive platform."

"Never seen a fundraising appeal quite like this one," wrote Axios' Andrew Solender on X.

The campaign page of Smeltzer, which advertises him under his "fursona," introduces him as "a Michigan Army National Guard veteran, LGBTQIA+ activist, and small business owner running to represent Michigan’s 7th District in Congress. I’ve experienced the failings of our system firsthand and I’m running to build a government that finally works for the people, NOT THE BILLIONAIRES."

The furry community is known for creating anthropomorphic animal avatars of themselves, which they perform in often elaborate and expensive fursuits. The community is not inherently sexual, but there is a not-safe-for-work and sexualized subculture within it that has gotten them labeled as deviants in some conservative political circles.

In particular, there has been a persistent myth, often promoted by GOP lawmakers, that schools around the country have provided litter boxes to students who "identify as animals" to do their business in class. While it is unclear where this myth started, there is one documented case of a school district in Colorado providing cat litter in kits — not to help students satisfy a kink, but as emergency supplies in case a mass shooter forces them to barricade in classrooms for extended periods of time.

Indiana Republicans are convening at the end of the year to consider a mid-decade gerrymander, but there's no indication anything has changed from the past few weeks when Senate President Pro Tempore Roderic Bray said the votes weren't there to move ahead, a Politico reporter said Friday.

The meeting comes after months of President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Gov. Mike Braun, and the whole GOP congressional delegation demanding they do so, Politico reporter Adam Wren told MS NOW's Richard Lui on Friday. Trump has publicly turned his fury on Indiana lawmakers for defying his orders to rig congressional maps for him, and as multiple state senators face threats and swatting attempts — even as polling shows a strong majority of Indiana voters oppose redrawing their maps to give Republicans extra seats.

"Just last week, you had other reporting that there was no sign that Bray would back down," said Lui. "What's happened in that gap?"

"Essentially, what I believe is happening here, and they haven't said it publicly, but I believe that they feel like they have a duty to consider whatever the House passes out in terms of a new map," said Wren. "And essentially, you know, I think that they could consider a new map and assign it to a rules committee or an elections committee that never actually passes it out. So, I don't actually think that the Senate in Indiana has new votes here to pass something substantively, but I think that they just feel that they have a duty to at least show that they're considering it and that they're listening, and that's what they're going to do. The actual political standing here in terms of the votes hasn't really changed over the last week, I'm told."

"Do you think, though, based on your reporting, that this may change?" asked Lui. "You're saying you don't believe they're going to be able to garner enough support for this?"

"It's possible," said Wren. "The White House has always planned on this going to the floor and being able to twist arms when they have people actually considering this. And I think at this point, the pressure campaign is possible, but they could withstand it. Again, look, a lot of these senators who are on the fence are not up for primaries until 2028. They feel safe here. They think that they can withstand the pressure; they already have up until this point. I mean, this has been a three-month process."

"And so, you know, my sense from talking with Republican senators and people close to the process, is that the Indiana Senate isn't moving on this issue," he added. "And, they are going to, you know, consider the maps when they come out of the House, as we imagine they will on December 8th. And at that point, they'll decide. But, but again, my sense is that they're going to continue to resist White House pressure here."

"Why are they resisting where, in other states, they may not?" asked Lui. "What is the common thread between these Republican senators as to why they're saying we are not going to change outside of the typical decennial reconsideration of maps?"

"Well, Indiana is a red state, it's a Trump state, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a MAGA state," said Wren. "There's a sense in Indiana of common fairness. It's a basketball state. You know, they believe it's important to enforce fairness whenever possible and abide by a rules system. And so, they look at this order coming out of Washington, essentially from President Donald Trump, and they don't like it, just as they wouldn't like a federal order coming out of, you know, what was the then Biden White House. They don't believe that Washington has the best answers for what's happening in Indiana, and so they're sort of nationally resistant to that."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

President Donald Trump is being "taken for a ride" by Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Guardian editorial board wrote in a scathing analysis published on Friday.

This comes as U.S. diplomats move toward pushing for a peace plan that pressures Ukraine to give Russia much of what it wants — and amid reporting that White House adviser Steve Witkoff went behind Secretary of State Marco Rubio's back to coach Russian counterparts on how to persuade Trump of their view.

"Mr Putin has no interest in a ceasefire followed by talks where Ukraine’s rights as a sovereign nation would be defended and reasserted. He seeks the capitulation and reabsorption of Russia’s neighbour into Moscow’s orbit," wrote the board. "Whether that is achieved through battlefield attrition, or through a Trump-backed deal imposed on Ukraine, is a matter of relative indifference. On Thursday, the Russian president reiterated his demand that Ukraine surrender further territory in its east, adding that the alternative would be to lose it through 'force of arms'. Once again, he described Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government as 'illegitimate', and questioned the legally binding nature of any future agreement."

This is nothing new; however, the board noted, there is a unique danger at this moment of Trump trying to help Putin accomplish this objective.

"Mr Trump is being strung along again," wrote the board. "But the clear and present danger is that a combination of 'peacemaker-in-chief' presidential vanity, a desire to do business with Russia and Mr Zelenskyy’s sudden political vulnerability will tempt him to do Mr Putin’s dirty work for him. After four years of resistance, sacrifice and suffering, Ukraine must not be bullied into a cynical carve-up, which would leave it permanently vulnerable to Russia’s aggression, jeopardise Europe’s future security and inspire authoritarian regimes worldwide."

Trump has always expressed sympathies toward Putin, who was found by an extensive federal investigation to have interfered on Trump's behalf in the 2016 election. But in recent months, Trump has grown more conflicted, expressing frustration that Putin is uninterested in peace.

President Donald Trump's latest threat to extend mass deportations to naturalized U.S. citizens would lead Republicans into disaster in the midterms, a conservative legal scholar warned on Friday.

Trump's proposal came in a rant on Thanksgiving, in response to the shooting of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., allegedly carried out by an Afghan national who was granted a special immigrant visa for helping the U.S. military and CIA.

"I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions ... end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country, denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization," said Trump.

"These goals will be pursued with the aim of achieving a major reduction in illegal and disruptive populations, including those admitted through an unauthorized and illegal Autopen approval process," Trump continued. "Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation."

"Denaturalize" means stripping citizenship from immigrants who have already been granted it, potentially years or decades ago — and that will lead to utter chaos that will get the GOP wiped out in elections, wrote Daniel Di Martino, a conservative Manhattan Institute scholar who fled tyranny in his homeland.

"If legal immigrants begin to be deported without having committed any crime, get ready for Republicans to lose the midterms by a landslide," Martino wrote on X. "In addition to the havoc and economic destruction a large travel ban would cause ahead of the World Soccer Cup next year."

"There are ways to do this, and ways not to," he continued. Rather than "retroactively harming people," he argued, it would be better to reform regulations that determine whether an immigrant is a "public charge," or net recipient of federal assistance, during the naturalization process.

President Donald Trump and his supporters are already calling for a broad reinvestigation and reversal of asylum grants to Afghan nationals who helped the U.S. military, after one of them was arrested in connection with the horrific ambush shooting of two National Guard troops in D.C. But this call for "collective punishment" is only going to make things worse, warned the Wall Street Journal editorial board on Thursday evening.

"The motive of 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal isn’t known at this writing. But U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said he drove from his home in Bellingham, Wash., with a goal of staging an attack in Washington, D.C.," wrote the board. "Officials are calling it a terror attack, yet the CIA said the man had been part of a CIA-backed Afghan 'partner force' in Kandahar province, one of the most dangerous places during the war. As such he was a Taliban target and thus he and his family were candidates for evacuation after the chaotic U.S. retreat from Afghanistan in 2021."

The fact is, the board wrote, this man checked all the boxes to be granted resettlement in the United States, and everyone involved did their due diligence. "Even careful vetting is imperfect, and Rahmanullah Lakanwal may have become radicalized in the U.S. This has been known to happen even with the children of refugees who grow up in America."

Moreover, the board wrote, the calls to shut the door on people who helped the U.S. military and face reprisal in their home country, will cause far more problems than it solves.

"The fate of Afghans, men and women, who worked with the U.S. has often been brutal," wrote the board. "You can be sure Americans will fight overseas again, and our troops will need allies on the ground to succeed. How many will assist us if they believe there will be no exit for them if the U.S. leaves with the enemy triumphant?"

The bottom line, the board concluded, is that "tens of thousands are building new lives here in peace and are contributing to their communities. They shouldn’t be blamed for the violent act of one man. Collective punishment of all Afghans in the U.S. won’t make America safer and it might embitter more against the United States."

As President Donald Trump fielded questions at a press conference about the deadly Washington, D.C. shooting against two National Guard troops, he went off into a strange non-sequitur attacking Somalians — and had to be reminded by reporters that this was in no way relevant to the discussion.

"If you look at Somalia, they are taking over Minnesota," said Trump.

"What do the Somalians have to do with this Afghan guy who shot the National Guard members?" a reporter challenged him.

"Ah, nothing," Trump admitted. "But Somalians have caused a lot of trouble. They're ripping us off."

The Somali community in Minneapolis, which grew in the 1990s from immigrants who fled a civil war in their home country, has been a particular sore point for Trump and the MAGA movement ever since the election in Trump's first term of Somali-American Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who fled East Africa as a child and is one of the first ever Muslim women elected to Congress.

Trump has claimed he tried to have her deported to Somalia, to which Omar responded by calling him a "lying buffoon."

President Donald Trump was asked at a press conference on Thursday whether he intends to go to the funeral of the murdered National Guardswoman, Sarah Beckstrom — and Trump detoured from the question into bragging about how popular he is in Beckstrom's home state of West Virginia.

"It's in the early stages, obviously, but do you plan to attend Sarah's funeral?" asked a reporter.

"I haven't thought about it yet, but it's certainly something I could conceive of," said Trump. "I love West Virginia. You know, I won West Virginia by one of the biggest margins of any president anywhere. And it's, you know, these are great people. I love the people of West Virginia. I love the people of our country."

"But I haven't given it any thought, but it sounds like something I could do, yeah," Trump added.

Beckstrom and another National Guardsman, who as of press time remains in critical condition, were ambushed and shot in an attack while on deployment to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, as part of Trump's move to take over law enforcement in that city.

The suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, has been identified as an Afghan national who assisted the CIA in an elite security unit in the final days of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. He was paroled into the country in 2021 under former President Joe Biden's administration, and formally granted asylum in April of this year under the Trump administration. Authorities have still not revealed a suspected motive.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained indigenous actress Elaine Miles in Redmond, Washington while she was heading to the bus stop for a shopping run — then accused her of faking her tribal ID, reported The Seattle Times on Thursday.

"Miles, an Indigenous actor best known for her roles in 'Northern Exposure,' 'Smoke Signals,' 'Wyvern' and 'The Last of Us,' handed them her tribal ID from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon," said the report. "Federal government agencies recognize tribal ID as a valid form of identification, and Miles has used it to travel back and forth to Canada and Mexico without any issues."

But these agents, who were all wearing vests and masks and driving in a pair of black SUVs without front license plates, refused to accept the ID, claiming it was "fake" and that "anyone can make that."

According to Miles, her son and her uncle have had similar issues, being temporarily detained by ICE agents who refused to acknowledge their tribal IDs as legitimate.

“What we’re talking about here is racial profiling,” Gabriel Galanda, a tribal rights attorney in Seattle told The Times. “People are getting pulled over or detained on the street because of the dark color of their skin.” (Galanda is not representing Miles.)

This comes at a moment when the Trump administration's policies around ICE and Border Patrol arrests are coming under increasing public scrutiny, and at a moment when the Supreme Court issued a ruling that made racial profiling by immigration officers far easier.

In another recent incident in September, federal DHS agents threatened to deport a Delaware woman back to her native country, identified only as a country in Central America, to within contact of her abusive ex-husband, who was already deported due to her own cooperation with police.

As Americans around the country settled down to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with family, far-right Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) workshopped an idea for how to disrupt one of those family's dinners next year for a political stunt.

"Next year, I think I’m going to hold a contest to show up at someone’s Thanksgiving day dinner to debate their leftist family members," Luna suggested on X. "What do you think?"

Her idea was largely not met with enthusiasm.

"That it's time to touch grass?" wrote Democratic strategist and author Lis Smith.

"I think I would absolutely wreck you," wrote Texas Democratic legislative candidate Sara McGee.

"Or you could just be a normal person and enjoy the god damn holiday instead of ruining someone else’s," wrote Democratic strategist Mike Nellis.

"It would be an accurate representation of conservative politics at the moment, going out of your way to bother those who are minding their business to ruin their day," wrote former Ohio state senator turned progressive activist Nina Turner. "You could always consider letting people have nice things and even try to find common ground. People are tired."

"I — and I cannot state this enough — have been attending family thanksgiving dinners for DECADES, and have never once heard a political argument. Ever. And it’s not because we’re a hive mind," wrote religion reporter Maggie Phillips.

"It is a funny idea, but if politics needs a contest and a special guest at Thanksgiving, you already lost the room," wrote one account identified as @BtcBlackthorn. "Better contest: who can turn one political opponent into a genuine friend over the next year, without cameras, without viral clips. America is already way too addicted to performative fights, maybe the win is showing people that conservatives can lower the temperature and still stand firm on what they believe."

Kalshi, one of the nation's largest "prediction markets," has been hit with a nationwide class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, alleging that the platform has predominantly become an illegal sports betting site that secretly tricks consumers into rigged bets against the house, when they think they're betting against other users on the platform.

The suit, filed this week, was reported on X by sports betting and gaming attorney Daniel Wallach.

"Consumers on Kalshi do not only bet against each other — they also bet against the House. Kalshi operates institutional market makers, which also gamble against the consumer," stated the lawsuit. "Kalshi also partners with hedge funds, such as Susquehanna International Group, to provide a sophisticated 'market making' service for Kalshi by being on the other side of consumers’ bets."

"As a result, individual consumers hardly stand a chance, all the while thinking they are just betting against other consumers," the suit said.

Even worse, the suit argued, the platform targets underage users.

"Kalshi enables addictive gambling behavior by underage adults, problem gamblers, and others by enticing them to gamble with 'free' money while ensuring them that they are legally gambling against peers. For example, Kalshi runs advertisements through sponsored influencers," including one who is 15 years old, said the suit. "On September 19, 2025, Kalshi also announced that it was targeting college campuses. Kalshi publicly announced that it was partnering with college clubs as part of 'KalshiU' to bring in 'the next 100M users.'"

The suit alleges violations of gaming laws in a number of states, including New York, California, and Florida.

This comes amid a yearslong debate about the legalization of sports betting, which has seen an explosion around the country through both generalized betting platforms and so-called "Daily Fantasy" platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel, who have argued various loopholes to avoid officially calling themselves gambling. A number of politicians have grown alarmed about the negative impacts, with Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) saying he regrets legalizing sports betting in his own state.