Wisconsin gubernatorial hopeful Francesca Hong finds herself scrambling for damage control after receiving backlash for describing Thanksgiving as a ‘celebration of colonialism.’

As the Democratic socialist front-runner in the upcoming primary on Tuesday, Hong was asked about an X post from 2020, during the height of the Covid pandemic, where she criticized the holiday tradition. Her response was perceived as muddled and evasive.

Hong, who is widely anticipated to secure the Democratic nomination, backtracked on her previous comments regarding Thanksgiving during a recent interview. She clarified her stance, stating she supports the holiday and doesn’t seek to ‘cancel’ it.

“Thanksgiving is actually my favorite holiday,” Hong confessed to Politico. “So just to clear the air, I love it and have no intention of canceling it.”

Admitting her general antipathy towards holidays, the 37-year-old candidate, endorsed by luminaries like Hasan Piker and Ilhan Omar, tried to steer the conversation back towards her campaign agenda.

Social media quickly picked up on the obvious flip-flop. 

‘Less than 48 hours ago, she told CNN that Thanksgiving is a “painful time,”‘ wrote Greg Price.

‘The media’s attempts to help this woman whitewash her image are so obvious. No way they’d give a conservative multiple tries to “correct” a gaffe and let them just laugh it off,’ added Corey Walker.

Dan O’Donnell wrote: ‘I am increasingly becoming convinced that Francesca Hong is a conservative patriot who has gone deep undercover to destroy the socialist movement by making it sound as stupid and unserious as humanly possible.’

A spokesperson for Hong took a jab at the media frenzy around her take in a statement to The Daily Mail. 

‘There’s already plenty of coverage about a 6 year old tweet. There are however 111 pieces of policy on our website to address permanent affordability so working families can celebrate holidays as they wish without worrying so much about overwhelming inflation under MAGA leadership,’ Hong campaign manager Becky Cooper said.

‘We’d be happy to share more about any of those, so please reach out if you have questions on universal childcare, paid leave, fully funded public schools, healthcare, or Rep. Hong’s data center moratorium.’ 

Hong has been facing derision and criticism after her anti-Thanksgiving tweets were unearthed.  

The since-deleted tweet read: ‘Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621.

‘If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed indigenous folx and women, so be it.’ ‘Folx’ is a woke gender-neutral term meant to include transgender and non-binary people. 

When asked by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins over whether she still wants to cancel Thanksgiving celebrations, Hong failed to give a yes or no answer. 

She gave a meandering response instead, replying: ‘I’m a chef, and one of the first meals that I made that was for the community when I was 16 was a Thanksgiving meal. 

‘I always think my hospitality background and owning a restaurant for 7-8 years, that bringing folks around the table to share conversation and build community is always a good thing.

‘But Thanksgiving is also a time that’s incredibly painful for many people in our communities. So I think there I wanted to make sure people understood there are multiple views, but views can evolve.

‘And the position I’m running for right now — and I think my background as a chef will actually help me become a better governor that’s able to bring more people to the table.’

Hong’s refusal to say she wouldn’t try to ‘cancel Thanksgiving’ drew mockery and backlash on social media, with even her own supporters saying they felt it was unnecessarily divisive.

Her since-deleted post about Thanksgiving is among a number of extreme policy positions the socialist has come under scrutiny for amid her bid for the governor’s office. 

She has repeatedly called to ‘defund the police’, and has gone as far as saying she wants to ‘abolish’ the police. 

Hong has also said in a social media post: ‘Police exist to uphold white supremacy. Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be a option.’

As recently as January 2026, Hong completed a candidate questionnaire re-affirming her ‘commitment to police and prison abolition’, as well as the ‘liberation of the Palestinian people.’ 

But with her gubernatorial campaign gaining traction, Hong has attempted to walk back some of these positions, and last month said on X: ‘Once again: I am not running to defund the police. And to be clear, the governor cannot defund the police. My administration will prioritize public safety & justice for victims.’

When asked by Collins this week if she was still intent on abolishing police or prisons, Hong said she was ‘not interested in abolishing prisons’ or police, if she is elected.

Despite her extreme policy views, Hong has emerged as a front runner in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor. 

A recent Marquette University Law School poll of Wisconsin voters found Hong came in first with 38 percent support, far ahead of former Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes at 16 percent. 

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley came in a distant third at seven percent. 

Another of Hong’s questionable social media posts came in 2019, when she declared to her followers that she left a restaurant because there were ‘too many old white people’ inside. 

Hong, 37, posted on X in 2019 that anxiety drove her to leave the fast-food restaurant Culver’s after the ‘white people’ allegedly thought she and her son didn’t speak English. 

‘I ate two bites of my kid’s cheeseburger at a Culver’s in Black River Falls and told him they ran out of ice cream,’ she wrote.

‘Mostly just wanted to leave because I was on the verge of an anxiety attack… too many old white people who didn’t think we spoke English.’

The Daily Mail has contacted Hong’s campaign for comment. 

The Department of Homeland Security has announced plans to revoke the green cards of two Dominican nationals involved in a fatal home invasion in Connecticut, as reported by News Media.

DHS revealed on Thursday that the suspects, Ivan Antonio Barias-Florimon, 24, and Stuar Jose Lopez-Reyes, 25, both hail from the Dominican Republic. Each has been labeled a “criminal alien” by the authorities.

Investigators allege that Barias-Florimon and Lopez-Reyes forcibly entered a beach house in Milford, Connecticut, resulting in the shooting of a couple. Fredrick Werner, 69, succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds, while his wife is hospitalized, enduring a gunshot wound to her head.

This unsettling home invasion transpired on June 3.

The two suspects were arrested days apart after law enforcement secured warrants for their arrests on July 28. U.S. Marshals, along with Milford and New Haven police, arrested Lopez-Reyes two days later.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force (NYNJRFTF) announced they had arrested Barias-Florimon, 24, in the Bronx.

According to DHS, Barias-Florimon entered the United States in 2007 as the son of a lawful permanent resident.

Lopez-Reyes entered the country on a visa in November 2016 during the Obama administration. DHS said he was arrested in 2021 on charges of criminal mischief and criminal obstruction of breathing and was ultimately convicted of disorderly conduct.

DHS said Lopez-Reyes was granted lawful permanent resident status in October 2022 during the Biden administration.

“Possessing a green card is a privilege, not a right,” DHS said. “Under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused.”

Emma Roberts is offering a glimpse into her enchanting Idaho nuptials with Cody John.

The actress took to Instagram on Thursday to unveil heartwarming behind-the-scenes photos. Her post, succinctly tagged “lately,” opens with a touching snapshot of the couple’s marriage license.

In the photograph, the 35-year-old star of “Unfabulous” and her groom, aged 36, are seen beneath a sign marked “Auditor and Recorder.”

Exchanging smiles, the beloved pair stood in the office of the clerk.

Roberts donned a floor-skimming pink gown, paired with chic white sunglasses and slingback heels, her hair cascading elegantly.

John, for his part, paired a Sun Valley jacket with colorful shorts and green sneakers.

In the social media upload’s second slide, the duo packed on the PDA in a photobooth strip — and closed the slideshow with sweet shots cozied up to each other.

Roberts’ 5-year-old son, Rhodes, also appeared in the post as well, with the “Scream Queens” alum holding him in her arms after the July wedding ceremony.

The little one, notably, walked Roberts down the aisle — as her dad, Eric Roberts, was not present for the last month’s nuptials.

“I love my daughter, always have, always will,” the actor, 70, subsequently told Page Six in an exclusive statement.

“It is perfectly wonderful for her to celebrate however she wants, with whomever she wants,” Eric continued.

His sister Julia Roberts was present when Emma and John said “I do” — and shared her “love” for the newlyweds in an Instagram comment Thursday.

The “American Horror Story” alum started dating John in 2022 after being set up by a mutual friend, and he proposed two years later.

When they tied the knot at John’s family’s Idaho home, the bride stunned in four dresses, including a black one.

“I love[d] the idea of wearing black for the after-party,” Emma told Vogue, quipping that she wanted to do “something that’s a little unexpected.”

In a surprising development, the Trump administration has unveiled a new batch of previously classified UFO documents, bringing to light numerous reports and intriguing videos that had been obscured from public view.

This recent release, marking the fifth installment which arrived on Friday, features spine-chilling descriptions of massive triangular crafts, enigmatic high-speed orbs, and even a metallic sphere rumored to be harboring a human body.

One of the most remarkable accounts comes from a military pilot, who reported an encounter with a silent, 500-foot triangular object that silently glided over Bagram Airfield, a base operated by the United States, back in 2002.

The report details how the pilot, along with a fellow aviator, was engaged in stargazing at around 4:30 a.m., when they suddenly noticed that the stars began to vanish from sight above them.

“It felt as though an enormous object passed overhead,” the summary of the FBI interview reveals.

The pilot described the object as an equilateral triangle that moved silently across the sky at a steady speed and altitude, despite displaying no visible lights.

Another file recounts claims that a large metal sphere crashed into the center of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro in 1963, gouging a hole 13 feet deep.

The mysterious object reportedly had window-shaped openings covered with thick glass, and contained a human body dressed in heavy clothing bearing inscriptions that could not be deciphered.

However, the records preserve witness statements and media reports rather than verified government findings, and they offer no evidence that either object was extraterrestrial.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a statement: ‘The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. 

‘These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation, and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. 

‘This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.’

One of the records, a three-page FBI interview summary, details the pilot’s alleged encounter with the enormous triangular craft over Bagram.

The witness said he and another pilot were watching the night sky when stars began disappearing from view, as though they were being obscured by something passing overhead.

‘It appeared as if something huge went overhead,’ the interview summary states.

He estimated that the equilateral object measured approximately 500 feet across and was traveling at around 173mph.

Despite its enormous size, it allegedly maintained a steady speed and altitude without making any sound or displaying visible lights.

The second pilot reportedly witnessed it too, asking: ‘Did you see that?’ as it passed above them.

The witness said he did not report the encounter at the time and later failed to find anything that could explain what they had observed.

The same file reveals that the pilot subsequently reported unexplained lights during commercial flights beginning in October 2023.

He first noticed them while flying from Boston to Dublin at 37,000 feet and believed they were hovering at least 13,000 feet above his aircraft.

The lights reportedly brightened and faded in cycles lasting between 10 seconds and one minute. Some remained stationary while others traveled in straight lines or suddenly changed direction.

Although they resembled aircraft landing lights, the pilot said their behavior did not match planes, meteors, satellites or Starlink.

He claimed to have witnessed the phenomenon approximately 10 times, with individual encounters lasting from 45 minutes to two hours.

During a flight in February 2024, he recorded more than 10 lights moving and changing brightness as his aircraft traveled at approximately Mach 0.80 near Sioux Falls.

The pilot said he never felt threatened and believed the lights remained at least 100 miles away.

A separate FBI file describes an even more dramatic encounter involving a giant black triangle over Colorado Springs in October 2023.

The witness told agents that he was standing outside with a co-worker on a clear night when a strange, dark-gray cloud appeared in the sky.

He described the cloud as stationary and seemingly ‘pixelated or distorted’ before a red light emerged from it.

As he watched, an enormous solid-black triangle reportedly came into view, displaying a diffuse red light at each of its three corners.

The witness estimated that the object was as large as the parking lot where he was standing and measured between three and five stories thick.

It initially traveled at a speed comparable to a helicopter before ‘almost instantaneously’ accelerating to what he believed was Mach 1 or Mach 2.

He claimed waves appeared to radiate from the craft, producing a shimmering distortion similar to the mirage seen above a hot road.

Despite its apparent size and speed, the triangle allegedly generated no noise, displayed no visible propulsion and produced no unusual odor.

The witness said it then abruptly rolled 90 degrees onto its left side while veering right, the opposite direction in which a conventional aircraft would normally bank, before quickly returning to level flight.

After the object disappeared to the south, he looked back and discovered that the strange cloud from which it had emerged had also vanished.

Around a minute later, he called his wife to describe what he had seen, but she told him his voice sounded ‘robotic,’ as though electronic interference was disrupting the call.

The FBI report records the witness’s account but offers no conclusion about what he saw and does not independently verify his estimates of the object’s size, speed or altitude. 

Another newly released study analyzed films of unidentified objects recorded over Utah and Montana in the early 1950s.

The objects appeared disk-shaped and blue-white, with analysts calculating that those in the Utah footage traveled at up to 2,457mph and endured acceleration reaching 965 times the force of gravity.

The report concluded that birds, balloons and conventional aircraft could not explain the calculated movements, describing the objects as neither identifiable natural phenomena nor ‘commonly known man-made objects.’

But those figures relied on assumptions about the objects’ distance from the camera, which analysts acknowledged was arbitrary.

In a bizarre 2026 encounter, two witnesses reported red lights descending over a remote area of the western US, with one allegedly hovering just six feet above the ground.

Another glow appeared to move through a dry wash around 330 feet behind them.

Afterward, one witness discovered that his mechanical watch had jumped 25 minutes ahead, while his phone, vehicle clock and his companion’s digital watch continued showing the correct time.

The watch allegedly continued running normally afterward, but remained 25 minutes fast.

This is a developing story… More updates to come.