🚨 HAPPENING RIGHT NOW 🚨
Asian markets cratered overnight, with South Korea’s KOSPI plunging more than 8% and briefly halting trading, Japan’s Nikkei sinking about 6%, and Taiwan’s benchmark dropping over 8%, as the global sell-off in AI and chip stocks that hammered Wall Street on Thursday — the Dow’s worst day since April, the Nasdaq entering correction territory — spread into Friday’s trading. Investors are weighing fears that Tuesday’s Democratic sweep of Congress could bring tighter AI regulation and slower data-center growth, while President Trump blamed the “Dumocrats” for the drop in Americans’ 401(k)s on Truth Social.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6th, 2026
a scrappy group of Rutgers players beat their bitter rivals from Princeton 6-4 on November 6, 1869, in what’s now recognized as the first college football game, a contest that looked far more like rugby than today’s version, played with a soccer ball in front of roughly 100 spectators in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The rivalry had grown out of an 1866 baseball blowout in which Princeton trounced Rutgers 40-2, and Rutgers challenged its neighbor to a three-game football series in return. Princeton won the rematch and the decisive third game was never played, leaving the two schools to split their inaugural season 1-1.
Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax was born on November 6, 1814, the son of a court instrument builder, and would go on to patent an entirely new family of instruments bridging the woodwind and brass sections of the orchestra. Sax unveiled his invention in Paris in the 1840s, winning an early champion in composer Hector Berlioz, though rival instrument makers spent years contesting his patents in court. More than a century and a half later, the instrument that bears his name remains a fixture of jazz, military, and marching bands worldwide.
🗳️ Mississippi Senate Race Hangs by ~2,000 Votes as GOP Demands Ballots Be Preserved
Mississippi’s Senate race remained unresolved Thursday night as Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith trailed Democrat Scott Colom by just under 2,000 votes with 96% counted, prompting the National Republican Senatorial Committee to demand all 82 counties preserve and document every affidavit ballot ahead of the state’s certification deadline.
About 3,600 ballots remained outstanding Thursday night; Mississippi accepts ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive within five days, and Secretary of State Michael Watson said counties have until Nov. 13 to submit certified results.
A Colom win would make him the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Mississippi since the 1980s and the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction-era Sen. Blanche Bruce.
The fight echoes a separate Supreme Court case over a Mississippi law letting ballots postmarked by Election Day count if received up to five days later — a challenge the RNC has waged for nearly two years.
🕵️ DOJ’s ‘Decoy Dan’ Probe Widens as Alaska Awaits a Nov. 18 Ranked-Choice Count
Alaska’s Senate race remained too close to call Thursday, with Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan clinging to a narrow lead over Democrat Mary Peltola as the state heads toward a ranked-choice tabulation set for Nov. 18, even as the DOJ’s investigation into whether Peltola’s campaign recruited a same-named ‘Decoy Dan’ Sullivan to siphon votes keeps expanding.
Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman said the administration issued more than 30 subpoenas in 24 hours investigating whether Democratic operatives illegally coordinated with the decoy candidate, who pulled thousands of votes as of midweek.
A former FEC chairman argued the 2023 indictment of President Trump set the legal precedent DOJ prosecutors could lean on to bring conspiracy charges in the Alaska case.
Critics, including Common Cause, say the DOJ has no role in state election law and have questioned the timing of the investigation so close to the election.
💰 Hegseth’s $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget Left ‘On Life Support’ After Democrats’ Sweep
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s $1.5 trillion budget request — which he’s touted as a “generational investment” — looks increasingly unlikely to survive intact after Tuesday’s midterm results handed Democrats control of both chambers, forcing the Pentagon to rethink a proposal built around a $1.15 trillion base budget and a $350 billion reconciliation package.
The administration is also seeking a separate $87 billion supplemental package first announced in June, including $67 billion earmarked for the costs of the war in Iran.
The $350 billion reconciliation piece could still pass with only Republican votes before Democrats are sworn in, giving the Pentagon a narrow window to lock in some funding.
The budget fight adds to a wave of post-election uncertainty already reshaping Washington’s spending priorities heading into next year.
😤 Trump ‘Not at All’ Worried About a Third Impeachment Push After Democrats Retake Congress
President Trump dismissed any concern about a renewed impeachment effort after Democrats won majorities in both the House and Senate, telling the Washington Examiner he’s “not even a little bit” worried and predicting the attempt would backfire on Democrats.
“I think it would destroy the Democrat Party if they did that,” Trump said, calling any such push “impeachment for no reason.”
He argued the country is “more successful now than at any time in its history,” pushing back on the idea that the midterm results reflect dissatisfaction with his administration.
The comments come as some Democrats have already signaled plans to ramp up investigations once the new Congress is seated in January.
⚠️ DeSantis Calls GOP’s Midterm Wipeout ‘Close to an Extinction Level Event’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivered one of the bluntest Republican post-mortems yet on Tuesday’s losses, warning at a Wednesday press conference that the party’s defeat in Texas in particular could cripple the GOP’s national viability for a decade or more.
DeSantis pointed to Texas Democrat James Talarico’s Senate win, Gina Hinojosa’s defeat of Gov. Greg Abbott, and the loss of four state Supreme Court seats as signs the GOP’s “crown jewel” is slipping away.
He predicted that after January, Florida will be the only one of the 10 largest states still under full Republican control.
“If the Republican Party doesn’t have Texas as an anchor,” DeSantis warned, the party won’t be able to remain viable nationally.