Biden-appointed judge slammed by conservatives for ‘lenient’ 8-year sentence in Kavanaugh assassination plot
The federal judge who sentenced the defendant found guilty of attempting to assassinate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is being criticized by conservatives on social media for the length of the sentence and concerns about Nicholas Roske, who goes by Sophie, identifying as transgender. Judge Deborah Boardman, a Biden appointee, sentenced Roske to eight years in prison Friday for attempting to assassinate Kavanaugh in June 2022 in the weeks before the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision. The sentence is more lenient than what the Department of Justice (DOJ) had sought. Prosecutors said Roske should face at least 30 years, while Roske’s defense team had asked for eight. Boardman said during a sentencing hearing that while Roske’s actions were “reprehensible,” she also considered a string of mitigating factors, including that Roske “spontaneously confessed to and cooperated with police.” BONDI PRAISES RYAN ROUTH VERDICT, SAYS ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT WAS AN ‘AFFRONT TO OUR VERY NATION ITSELF’ “Maryland U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman—a Biden appointee—is a national disgrace,” Mike Davis, a conservative lawyer and strategist and former chief counsel for nominations to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, wrote on X on Friday. “She only sentenced to 8 years, instead of 30, someone who attempted to murder Justice Kavanaugh and his family in their home. Make no mistake: Today’s Democrats want conservatives killed.” Another person wrote that Boardman “needs to be removed from the bench right the f— now,” then shared a screenshot of another post mentioning that Boardman asked if Roske would be sent to a women’s prison. FEDERAL JUDGE RELEASES WOMAN ACCUSED OF THREATENING TO KILL TRUMP Author M.A. Rothman called the sentence “pathetic.” “A guy who showed up at a Supreme Court Justice’s house armed and ready to k*ll him just got a lighter sentence than some people get for tax crimes — and the judge turned it into a trans acceptance story,” he added. “This is beyond parody. The DOJ wanted 30 years. He got 8. And the media barely blinked.” Another person on X balked at Boardman considering the “fact that he now identifies as a woman into giving him a lower sentence.” The DOJ plans to appeal the sentence, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Friday. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “The attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a disgusting attack against our entire judicial system by a profoundly disturbed individual,” she wrote on X. “@TheJusticeDept will be appealing the woefully insufficient sentence imposed by the district court, which does not reflect the horrific facts of this case.” Boardman was appointed as a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Maryland in 2019, until she was nominated by former President Joe Biden to be a U.S. district judge. She was confirmed by the Senate in 2021. She previously worked as a public defender. Fox News’ Ashley Oliver and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
‘Schumer shutdown’ already cost taxpayers $1.2B in pay to employees not working
The government shutdown costs taxpayers $400 million every day to pay federal employees who are not actively working, totaling $1.2 billion as of Friday, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data published by the office of Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, estimates. “Schumer’s Shutdown Shenanigans mean taxpayers will be on the hook for another $400 million today to pay 750,000 non-essential bureaucrats NOT to work,” Ernst said in a comment to Fox News Digital Friday. “Democrats’ political stunt to fight for taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants has officially become a billion-dollar boondoggle,” she added. “Enough has to be enough for the radical left. We must reopen the government and get Washington back to work serving veterans, families and hardworking Americans.” A law passed in 2019 requires furloughed employees receive backpay after a funding agreement is reached and a shutdown ends. The CBO found that the furloughed employees’ daily cost of compensation sits at about $400 million, or a total of $1.2 billion as of Friday. WHITE HOUSE SAYS FEDERAL LAYOFFS COULD HIT ‘THOUSANDS’ AHEAD OF TRUMP, VOUGHT MEETING “Using information from the agencies’ contingency plans and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), CBO estimates that under a lapse in discretionary funding for fiscal year 2026 about 750,000 employees could be furloughed each day; the total daily cost of their compensation would be roughly $400 million,” a letter from the Congressional Budget Office to Ernst stated Tuesday. The data was released after the Iowa Republican requested CBO provide a data cost breakdown of the shutdown in September as the deadline clock ran out. The CBO data was largely based on statistics from a five-week partial shutdown from Dec. 22, 2018, until Jan. 25, 2019, during the first Trump administration, the office noted in its letter to Ernst. The letter added that the number of furloughed federal employees, estimated at about 750,000 staffers, could vary by the day “because some agencies might furlough more employees the longer a shutdown persists and others might recall some initially furloughed employees.” The government shut down early Wednesday morning after Senate lawmakers failed to reach a budget agreement. House lawmakers had approved a short-term extension of fiscal year 2025 funding earlier in September that aimed to keep the government funded through Nov. 21. The Trump administration and Republicans have since pinned blame for the shutdown on Democrats, claiming they sought taxpayer-funded medical benefits for illegal immigrants. Democrats have denied they want to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants and instead have blamed Republicans for the shutdown. Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office for comment on the CBO data and Ernst’s remarks but did not immediately receive a reply. White House spokesman Kush Desai slammed Democrats as “not serious people” when asked about the CBO data Friday morning. HERE’S WHAT TRUMP WANTS TO DO TO RESHAPE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN “Democrats are burning $400 million a day to pay federal workers not to work because they want to spend $200 billion on free health care for illegal aliens,” Desai told Fox News Digital. “These are not serious people.” Trump repeatedly has said he did not want a shutdown to unfold, but noted Tuesday as the clock ran out that some “good” could come from it. “A lot of good can come down from shutdowns,” he told reporters. “We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things. But they want open borders. They want men playing in women’s sports. They want transgender for everybody. They never stop. They don’t learn. We won an election in a landslide.” SOCIAL SECURITY, AIRPORTS, FOOD STAMPS: HOW ARE YOU AFFECTED DURING A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN? The administration is expected to lay off federal employees across various agencies amid the shutdown, with Trump meeting Office of Management and Budget chief Russell Vought Thursday to map out which departments and programs to target for cuts. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that “thousands” of employees will likely be laid off. “Look, it’s likely going to be in the thousands,” Leavitt said. “It’s a very good question. And that’s something that the Office of Management and Budget and the entire team at the White House here, again, is unfortunately having to work on today.”
Mike Johnson rallies House Republicans on government shutdown messaging war during private call
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Republicans are winning the messaging war over the ongoing government shutdown and urged his conference to keep the heat on congressional Democrats during a private call with lawmakers on Saturday. The call came on the fourth day of the shutdown, a day after Senate Democrats again rejected a GOP-led plan to keep federal agencies funded through Nov. 21. During the call, Johnson and other House GOP leaders urged fellow Republicans to use this next week in their districts to tell constituents about what the ongoing shutdown means for them, Fox News Digital was told. The House speaker expressed confidence that the shutdown would end quickly if Republicans “hold the line,” Fox News Digital was told, and praised the House GOP’s unity so far amid the fallout. GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN SPARKS GOP PLAN TO PENALIZE LAWMAKERS WITH NEW SALARY TAX Johnson also told Republicans toward the end of the call that the House would return only after Senate Democrats voted to reopen the government, a source said. House and Senate GOP leaders have signaled that they will not budge from their current federal funding proposal, a short-term spending bill called a continuing resolution (CR) that would keep spending levels roughly flat for seven weeks. That measure passed the House — largely along party lines — Sept. 19. The House has since been out of session in a bid to put pressure on Senate Democrats to accept the plan. It is also why Johnson opted on Friday to designate the next week as a district work period, canceling a previously planned legislative session from Tuesday through Friday. Johnson told House Republicans on the call Saturday that it was the best way to prevent “Democrat disruptions,” Fox News Digital was told. No Republicans voiced disagreement with the plan, Fox News Digital was told, signaling the GOP’s unity on the issue. He told reporters during a press conference Friday morning that the House may not return until Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats agreed with Republicans’ bill. “We passed it, and it’s been rejected by the Senate,” Johnson told reporters during a news conference. “So, the House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government. That’s plain and simple.” Democrats, infuriated by being sidelined in the federal funding negotiations, have been pushing for an extension of Obamacare subsidies enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those enhancements would expire by the end of 2025 without congressional action. Democrats have also introduced a counter-proposal for a CR that would keep the government funded through Oct. 31 while reversing the GOP’s cuts to Medicaid made in their “One Big, Beautiful Bill” (OBBB). HERE’S WHAT TRUMP WANTS TO DO TO RESHAPE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN The counterproposal would have also restored federal funding to NPR and PBS that was cut by the Trump administration earlier this year. Republicans have panned that plan as a non-starter full of partisan demands, while pointing out that Democrats have voted for a “clean” measure similar to the GOP proposal 13 times during former President Biden’s time in office. On Saturday’s call, House GOP leaders encouraged Republicans to emphasize that Democrats’ counterproposal would restore funding for illegal immigrants receiving Medicaid dollars that was cut by the so-called big, beautiful bill, Fox News Digital was told. Democrats have accused Republicans of lying about that line of attack. GOP leaders also emphasized on the call that military members are not paid during government shutdowns, urging Republicans to make that point in their districts, while also warning that federal flood insurance funding is also in danger of drying up. Fox News Digital was also told that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said the next important date in the shutdown fight would be Oct. 15, the date of service members’ next paycheck, which they could be denied if the shutdown continues. Senate Democrats have now rejected the GOP’s funding plan four times since Sept. 19. The Senate is expected to next vote on the bill again on Monday.
Youngkin says Democrat AG candidate Jay Jones must ‘step away in disgrace’ over texts about former GOP leader
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said state Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones should abandon his campaign “in disgrace” after he once remarked about shooting a former Virginia House speaker in texts with another lawmaker. Texts obtained by Fox News Digital Friday showed an August 2022 conversation involving Jones — then a recently departed delegate from Norfolk — and Delegate Carrie Coyner, R-Chester. At one point, Jones, referencing then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, wrote, “Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.” “This violent, disgusting rhetoric targeted at an elected official and his children is beyond disqualifying,” Youngkin wrote in an X post Saturday. “Jay Jones said that ‘Gilbert gets two bullets to the head’ and then hoped his children would die. Read those words again. “There is no ‘Gosh, I’m sorry’ here. Jones doesn’t have the morality or character to drop out of this race, and his running mates, Abigail Spanberger, Ghazala Hashmi and every elected Democrat in Virginia don’t have the courage to call on him to step away from this campaign in disgrace.” VIRGINIA AG FLAMES OPPONENT FOR SUPPORTING SEX-CHANGE ID LAW HE BLAMES FOR LATEST PEDOPHILE CASES A spokesperson for Coyner’s campaign confirmed the veracity of the texts first reported by National Review, saying they were “disturbing and disqualifying for anyone who wants to seek public office.” “Jay Jones wished violence on the children of a colleague and joked about shooting Todd Gilbert. It’s disgusting and unbecoming of any public official,” the spokesperson said. Jones is running against incumbent Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican. The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) also called on Jones to “immediately withdraw” from the race following “his abhorrent text messages.” AFTER DEATH THREAT, VIRGINIA LAWMAKER SAYS ABIGAIL SPANBERGER CAN’T ESCAPE ‘RAGE’ REMARKS “There is no place for political violence, including joking about it — especially from an elected official. Jay Jones should drop out of the Attorney General’s race. His comments are not acceptable from someone who wants to represent law enforcement,” RAGA Chairman Kris Kobach said. In a statement released to the media, Jones said, “I take full responsibility for my actions, and I want to issue my deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family.” “Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry. I have reached out to Speaker Gilbert to apologize directly to him, his wife Jennifer, and their children. I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology. “Virginians deserve honest leaders who admit when they are wrong and own up to their mistakes. This was a grave mistake, and I will work every day to prove to the people of Virginia that I will fight for them as Attorney General,” he added. Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
What we know about Hamas’ response to Trump’s Gaza peace plan
NewsFeed Hamas has announced it accepts parts of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan but wants more talks on several key points. Here’s a breakdown of what we know so far. Published On 4 Oct 20254 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)
Trapped in Tunisia
Caught between two worlds, migrants in Tunisia fight the elements and the authorities as they strive to reach Europe. Thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa wait near the coast in Tunisia for an opportunity to make the treacherous voyage across the Mediterranean. Under an agreement signed with the European Union, the Tunisian government does what it can to stop them. NGOs and migrants accuse the Tunisian coastguard of deliberately sinking migrant boats at sea, leaving those on board to drown. Others say migrants are regularly bused out to the desert and abandoned. We investigate these allegations and meet the humans caught in the crossfire of a political battle over migration. Published On 4 Oct 20254 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)
India vs Pakistan – ICC Women’s World Cup: Match time, handshake row, rain
Who: India vs PakistanWhat: ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025When: Sunday, October 5 at 09:30 GMTWhere: R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri LankaHow to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will have live build-up from 06:30 GMT ahead of our text commentary stream. Cricket could take the backseat on yet another Sunday when India meet Pakistan in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 in Colombo amid lingering political tension between the South Asian neighbours. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The eagerly awaited group-stage fixture will likely be bookended by questions surrounding the now-infamous handshakes between both sides as the captains meet at the pre-match coin toss, and at the end of the match, when both squads traditionally step back on the field. When India and Pakistan’s men’s teams met in the Asia Cup 2025, the Indian team and its captain did not shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts in all three fixtures at the tournament, leading to furore and backlash that marred the tournament. A top official of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has not ruled out a “no handshake” policy for the Women’s World Cup fixture, as well. “Whether there will be handshakes, whether there will be hugging, I cannot assure you of anything,” BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia told the BBC’s Stumped podcast. “I cannot forecast anything, but our relationship with that particular hostile country is the same. There is no change in the last week.” ‘Focus on the game’ While it may seem that cricket has been, once again, pushed into the background, both teams want to overlook the controversial build-up and focus on the game instead. Advertisement “Obviously, we know what’s happening around us, but we try to stay focused on the game because the World Cup is an event every player waits for,” Pakistan’s captain Fatima Sana said on Saturday. Sana, whose team were comprehensively beaten by Bangladesh in their opening match, said Pakistan will “focus on the tournament and on what we have come here for” when asked to comment on the “outside noise”. The last time India played Pakistan at the Women’s World Cup, the players’ off-field interactions left an indelible mark on the game and earned widespread praise from the fans. At the 2022 tournament in New Zealand, Pakistan’s then-captain Bismah Maroof was surrounded by a group of Indian players as they cooed over her six-month-old daughter Fatima. Jokes were shared, selfies were taken, and memories were made as players from the rival nations bonded outside their dressing rooms well after the match was over. Sana, who was part of the Pakistan squad in 2022, was asked whether the players will miss the spirit and camaraderie from three years ago. “We try to maintain healthy relationships with every team,” Sana replied. “What happened with Bismah’s daughter, when everyone mingled and enjoyed together – as players, we all like such moments, but the main thing is to stay focused [on the game].” When the same question was posed to India’s bowling coach Aavishankar Salvi, the journalist was notified that India will not answer it. However, Salvi did say that India – who beat Sri Lanka in their opening game by 59 runs – will also “focus on the cricket” on Sunday. #Throwback to this beautiful moment from the 2022 World Cup involving Bismah Maroof’s daughter and Indian girls ❤️#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/PuxFEC5O1Y — Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) April 25, 2024 ‘The world will be watching’ “We want our girls to take it just as a game because the World Cup is a long campaign and there will be a lot of games coming our way,” he said. “When you enter a big tournament, the area of focus is only cricket, and it’s good to have the players into a good [head] space.” The fixture is expected to draw huge viewing figures and organisers will expect a sizeable crowd at the ground, as well. Sana, who also led Pakistan in their match against India in the T20 World Cup 2024, admitted such factors make it a high-pressure fixture and one that “the whole world will be watching”. “There is pressure but the main thing is how we handle it. We’ll try to focus on our game, execute our plans, and play the way we’ve prepared.” Advertisement What happened in the last India vs Pakistan women’s cricket match? The teams last met in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Dubai, where India emerged victorious by six wickets. When was the last time Pakistan beat India in women’s cricket? Pakistan have only beaten India on three occasions, the last of which came on October 7 at the T20 Women’s Asia Cup 2022. Nida Dar’s all-round performance sealed Pakistan’s 13-run win in Bangladesh. Will it rain in Colombo during the India vs Pakistan match? Rain is expected in the early hours of Sunday in Khettarama, the neighbourhood that houses the R Premadasa Stadium in Sri Lanka’s capital. The weather will remain cloudy throughout the day, with light showers expected to return later in the evening, as well. This could lead to delays or disruption of play. There was plenty of rainfall on Saturday before Sri Lanka’s match against Australia at the same venue. The persistent rain led to the match being called off without any play. The ground at the R Premadasa Stadium remained covered on Saturday as Sri Lanka vs Australia was abandoned due to rain [Ishara S Kodikara/AFP] India vs Pakistan: Head-to-head in women’s ODIs India hold an 11-0 lead over their neighbours in women’s ODIs. All of India’s wins have come with comfortable margins, including the 107-run victory at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 in New Zealand. Players to watch: India Smriti Mandhana: Widely regarded as the best limited-over batters in present-day women’s cricket, Mandhana has swept most women’s ODI records in the past two years. She is the top-ranked ODI batter by a distance and was the leading run-scorer in the format in 2024. The Indian vice-captain has scored
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