Author:

AL Republicans aim to curb absentee ballot applications, Democrats say it discourages voting

Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday advanced legislation to restrict assistance with absentee ballot applications, a measure Republicans said is needed to combat voter fraud but that opponents argued would discourage voting. The Alabama Senate approved the bill on a 27-8 vote that broke down along party lines. The bill now moves to the Alabama House of Representatives. Senate Republicans, who called the bill a priority for the session, said it is aimed at stopping “ballot harvesting,” a pejorative term for dropping off completed ballots for other people. Republicans said they want to get the legislation in place before the November election. WHAT IS RANKED CHOICE VOTING, THE CONTENTIOUS ELECTION METHOD EXPANDING ACROSS THE NATION? The legislation would make it a misdemeanor to return someone else’s absentee ballot application or distribute applications prefilled with a voter’s name or other information. It would become a felony to pay a person or receive payment to “distribute, order, request, collect, prefill, complete, obtain, or deliver a voter’s absentee ballot application.” “This is a bill about voting rights and the integrity of our elections in the state of Alabama,” Sen. Garlan Gudger, the bill’s sponsor, said. The bill is before lawmakers after a 2023 proposal that would have largely banned any type of assistance in voting by absentee ballot failed to win approval. Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton said the bill invokes the state’s history of restricting voting. “People in my community died for the right to vote. … My great-grandmother used to have to tell how many jellybeans were in the jar just to be able to register to vote,” Singleton said. Opposed lawmakers and groups said they were concerned the stiff penalties would make people afraid to help others with ballots. Several Republican-led states have looked to restrict absentee ballot assistance. A federal judge last year blocked a Mississippi law that would have restricted who could help a person with an absentee ballot.

Alabama lottery, casino bill faces first hurdle as GOP aims to get it before voters this fall

Casino and lottery legislation is headed to its first test in the Alabama Legislature as Republican supporters aim to get the proposal before voters this fall. The sweeping proposal would authorize up to 10 casino sites with table games and slot machines, a state lottery, and allow sports betting at in-person locations and through online platforms. The House Economic Development and Tourism Committee will vote on the legislation Wednesday afternoon, Committee Chairman Andy Whitt said. If approved, it could be up for a key vote on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives as soon as Thursday. ALABAMA GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR GAMBLING VOTE, EDUCATION VOUCHERS, ABSENTEE BALLOT CRACKDOWN If passed by the Legislature, the proposal would go before Alabama voters in the November general election, the first such public vote on gambling since a proposed lottery was rejected in 1999. “It’s been a quarter of a century since the last time the citizens got to express their opinion on this matter,” Rep. Chris Blackshear, the sponsor of the bill, told the committee. Preston Roberts, a lobbyist for the Alabama Farmers Federation, which opposes legalized gambling, told the committee during a Tuesday hearing that the proposal does not do enough to regulate gambling. “We have more than 150 pages of painstaking detail about how to protect gambling businesses and virtually nothing to protect Alabamians,” Roberts said. Don Siegelman, who was the last Alabama governor to obtain a statewide vote on a lottery, said he believes lawmakers should separate the casino and lottery proposals. Siegelman’s 1999 proposal would have created a lottery to fund college scholarships and pre-kindergarten programs. State Treasurer Young Boozer said Alabama is “late to the game” on legalizing gambling, noting that 45 states have lotteries and most also have some sort of casino gambling. “Gaming will work in Alabama and it will be worth it,” Boozer told the committee. The Legislative Services Agency estimated that taxes on the three forms of gambling would generate up to $912 million in revenue annually. That revenue would largely be steered to two new funds for lawmakers to decide how to use. While the legislation names uses, such as scholarships for students attending two-year and technical colleges, it does not guarantee a funding level. A representative of the Alabama Community College System, which is not taking a position on the bill, said the scholarships would help students attend college who otherwise “might not have the opportunity.” The legislation allows for up to 10 casinos, including at the Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ three existing bingo operations in Atmore, Wetumpka and Montgomery. The bill would also extend an opportunity to the tribe to operate a new site in northeast Alabama. Robbie McGhee, vice-chairman of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians Tribal Council, told the committee that the tribe can’t support the legislation in its current form. McGhee wrote in prepared remarks for the committee that it “stymies our ability to operate competitive gaming enterprises.”

Haley blames Trump for GOP loss in key special election as South Carolina showdown intensifies

Tuesday night’s set back for the GOP in a closely watched special congressional election in the suburbs of New York City armed GOP presidential contender Nikki Haley with more ammunition against current frontrunner, former President Trump. “Let’s just say the quiet part out loud. Donald Trump continues to be a huge weight against Republican candidates,” Haley campaign national spokesperson Olvia Perez-Cubas argued in a statement. “Despite the enormous and obvious failings of Joe Biden, we just lost another winnable Republican House seat because voters overwhelmingly reject Donald Trump.” Perez-Cubas claimed that “until Republicans wake up, we will continue to lose. Time for a new generation of conservative leadership that doesn’t turn off the American people.” TRUMP RIPS BLACK FEMALE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE WHO LOST KEY SPECIAL CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION Pointing to GOP setbacks in the 2018, 2020 and 2022 elections, Haley has long made the argument that Republicans are tired of losing under Trump a key part of her campaign trail stump speech. She has been campaigning in South Carolina, where she was a two-term governor before joining the Trump administration as ambassador to the U.N. In the special election, former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi defeated GOP county lawmaker Mazi Pilip to fill a vacant House seat once held by former Republican Rep. George Santos, who was expelled from the chamber in December. Trump returns to South Carolina on Wednesday to hold a rally in North Charleston with 10 days to go until the state’s Republican presidential primary. After double-digit victories in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, and landslide wins in Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the former president is moving closer to locking up the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Polls suggest he holds a very large double-digit lead in the latest public opinion polls in the Palmetto State over Haley, his last remaining major rival. Haley, as she faces a steep uphill climb to upset Trump, has been turning up the volume on her attacks on the former president in recent weeks. On Tuesday, her campaign launched a new TV ad emphasizing the “chaos” that will ensue if Trump returns to the White House. Haley is also reiterating her claims that Trump is “unhinged.” DEMS FLIP SEAT AS SUOZZI WINS CRUCIAL SPECIAL CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION IN NEW YORK With the GOP hanging on to a razor-thin majority in the House, national Republicans and Democrats poured big bucks into a race where immigration and border security, crime and abortion were the top issues, and where the election was seen as a bellwether ahead of the all-but-certain November White House rematch between Trump and President Biden. The Long Island district, held for a decade by Democrats, was flipped by Santos in the 2022 midterms. However, Santos was kicked out of Congress less than a year into his tenure, after he was exposed for lying about his background and indicted for a slew of financial crimes. Suozzi, who represented the district for six years before running unsuccessfully for governor, repeatedly tied Pilip to Santos, as well as to Trump. With the Republican majority in the House slipping to 219-213 once Suozzi is sworn in, the pickup by the Democrats now puts the GOP’s grip on the chamber further in peril. Pilip, an Ethiopian Jew who fled to Israel at age 12 to escape persecution and later enlisted and served in the Israeli military before immigrating to the United States, was a former Democrat who argued the party “left me and many others” She repeatedly tied Suozzi to Biden and blamed her opponent for the migrant crisis. While Pilip was praised by Nassau County Republicans on Tuesday evening after her defeat, Trump slammed her in a late night social media posting, calling her a “foolish woman” and claiming she lost on Tuesday because she did not endorse him. “Republicans just don’t learn, but maybe she was still a Democrat? I have an almost 99% Endorsement Success Rate in Primaries, and a very good number in the General Elections, as well, but just watched this very foolish woman, Mazi Melesa Pilip, running in a race where she didn’t endorse me and tried to ‘straddle the fence,’ when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America,” Trump argued on his Truth Social platform. After not campaigning in person in South Carolina for two months, Wednesday’s rally is Trump’s second in the state in four days. Haley has been campaigning vigorously in her home state and kicked off a bus tour this past weekend. However, she is heading to Texas on Thursday and Friday for fundraisers and to campaign in one of the 15 states holding Republican nominating contests on Super Tuesday in early March. Haley raised money and campaigned last week in California, another large Super Tuesday state. The swings through Texas and California appear in part to be a marker for Haley as she pushes back against calls by some Republicans to drop out of the race and allow Trump to focus on facing off with Biden in November. Fox News’ Chris Pandolofo, Deirdre Heavey and Kirill Clark contributed to this report. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Mother, two children among Lebanese killed by Israel in air raids

Others wounded in attacks on Lebanon towns of Souaneh and Aadchit while a woman was killed in Israel. Israeli air raids in southern Lebanon have killed at least four people, including two children, the Lebanese Civil Defence says. At least 11 people were wounded in the raids on the towns of Souaneh and Aadchit. One woman and her two children were killed in Souaneh while a Hezbollah fighter, named by the group as Hassan Ali Najm, was killed in Aadchit. Wednesday’s attacks targeted several towns in southern Lebanon, including areas in Nabatieh governorate. The strikes occurred deep inside Lebanese territory, raising fears of a new escalation. The Israeli army said Wednesday that it had launched an “extensive wave” of air strikes in Lebanon. The attacks came after a barrage of rockets from southern Lebanon hit a military base in Safed in northern Israel, killing an Israeli solder named by the army as Sergeant Omer Sarah Benjo. “It is being described as the biggest escalation in the ongoing confrontations between the Israeli army and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah,” Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said, reporting from Beirut. She added, however, that the escalation was still “controlled” and both sides were “sending messages” to the other party with their attacks. While the “battleground” has been along the 120km (75-mile) border, about 4km to 5km (2.5 to 3 miles) deep on both sides, Israel “struck deeper” this time, she said. In Israel, a rocket fired from Lebanon killed an Israeli woman, a government spokesperson said. The barrage hit a military base and wounded several other people on Wednesday, the spokesperson said. Military and political analyst Elijah Maginer said Israel has targeted villages that are considered “very sensitive”, such as those in Nabatieh. It is “attacking villages that have not been hit before”, Maginer told Al Jazeera. “So it is an escalation, and I think Hezbollah will respond by the same intensity of the bombardment but without enlarging too much the war,” he said. This means Hezbollah would likely respect “more or less the limit of the engagement” and not opt for an all-out war, which is also not in the interests of the Israelis, Maginer added. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that his armed group’s cross-border shelling into Israel would end only when Israel’s “aggression” on the Gaza Strip stops. The group has been trading fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon’s southern border in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, which launched a cross-border assault from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, which was followed by heavy Israeli bombardment of Gaza from the land, air and sea. There are growing fears of another full-blown conflict between Israel and Hezbollah with tens of thousands displaced on both sides of the border and regional tensions soaring. Cross-border attacks have killed at least 200 people in Lebanon, including more than 170 Hezbollah fighters, as well as 10 Israeli soldiers and five Israeli civilians. Adblock test (Why?)

Prabowo Subianto claims victory in Indonesian presidential election

Sample counts show defence minister winning about 58 percent of the vote in first round of presidential election. Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto has declared victory in the presidential election after unofficial vote counts showed him with a significant lead ahead of his rivals. The 72-year-old former special forces commander, who had run for president twice before, had about 58 percent of the votes, according to four pollsters, based on “quick count” ballots at samples of voting stations nationwide. The number of ballots tallied ranged from about 86 to 95 percent as of 14:00 GMT on Wednesday. Rivals Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo trailed with about 25 percent and 17 percent, respectively, according to the independent pollsters conducting the counts, which have provided an accurate picture of the results of previous presidential elections held in the country since it began direct voting in 2004. A preliminary count by the election commission was far slower and showed Prabowo securing 57.7 percent of votes, with about 6 percent of ballots recorded. Prabowo addressed his supporters after announcing his success and said he was “grateful” for the quick results. “We should not be arrogant, we should not be proud, we should not be euphoric, we still have to be humble, this victory must be a victory for all Indonesian people,” he said in a speech broadcast on national television. Ganjar and Anies urged the public to await the official result, which is expected by March 20 at the latest. Their campaign teams said they were investigating reports of electoral violations, both calling it “structural, systematic and massive fraud” without providing evidence to back up their claim. To win in a single round, a candidate needs more than 50 percent of votes cast and at least 20 percent of the ballot in half of the country’s provinces. If no candidate wins a majority, a run-off between the top two finishers will be held in June. The election pitted the two popular former governors against the pre-election frontrunner, Prabowo, who crucially had the backing of the popular incumbent Joko Widodo. Widodo bet on Prabowo as a continuity candidate to preserve his legacy, including a role for his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as the defence minister’s running mate. Now, his successor will inherit an economy with impressive growth and ambitious infrastructure projects, including transferring capital from Jakarta to the island of Borneo. Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto (L) addresses supporters next to vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka [Bay Ismoyo/AFP] However, some critics have accused Widodo of trying to build a political dynasty despite him being the first president to emerge from outside the political and military elite since the 1998 end of the dictatorial rule of Suharto, whom Prabowo served as military commander for. Prabowo was discharged as commander of the army’s special forces, called Kopassus, in 1998 after claims that the group kidnapped and tortured political opponents of the former dictator. Ian Wilison, a senior political lecturer at Murdoch University’s Indo-Pacific Research Centre in Australia, told Al Jazeera that the former commander changed his approach during this election. “He targeted a younger demographic by remaking his image through cartoon figures, as a cuddly uncle, casting a kind of a doubt over his human rights record, which for a younger generation is sort of an ancient history for the most part,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)

Addis summit raises questions about AU’s muted stance on Ethiopia rifts

From Thursday, African leaders will gather in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, home of the African Union (AU), for the continental body’s annual summit. According to AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, regional integration and “maintaining momentum in addressing issues of peace and security” is high on the agenda. But in an ironic twist, the host of the summit has either initiated or been involved in multiple conflicts in the last three years. Ethiopia’s two-year civil war with the state of Tigray may have ended in November 2022 after a Pretoria pact, but federal troops are currently upping drone strikes against rebels known as Fano militia in the state of Amhara, next door to Tigray. This week, the Ethiopian Human Rights Council said “at least 45 civilians” had been killed by federal troops in Amhara. Within the Horn of Africa, Addis Ababa’s relations with neighbouring Mogadishu are frosty after Abiy Ahmed’s government announced a port deal this January with the autonomous region of Somaliland in return for recognition of its statehood – a development that has immensely angered Somalia. Last month, Mahamat addressed a presummit session of the AU’s Permanent Representative’s Committee, stressing the importance of continent-wide solidarity and unity, citing conflicts in Sudan and Chad. He also called for a humanitarian ceasefire to end the war in Gaza. But there was no mention of Ethiopia. For years, AU officials have refrained from addressing atrocities in their host nation, maintaining a somewhat passive stance – or even supporting it. Two months after Prime Minister Abiy sent troops into Tigray in 2020 – the advent of a war some researchers are now calling the deadliest of the 21st century due to an estimated 600,000 civilian deaths – Mahamat seemingly applauded the deployment, describing it as a bold step “to preserve the unity, stability, and respect for the constitutional order of the country”. The comments came shortly after the AU dismissed a Tigrayan serving the bloc as a security adviser, acquiescing to a request by Abiy’s government that he be fired for “disloyalty to the country”. Nearly a year later, in a post it deleted and apologised for, the AU’s official X account (then Twitter) slammed the United States for urging the warring factions to consider dialogue. “We’ve documented lots of massacres and worked to inform the outside world about such events,” explains Jan Nyssen, a geographer at Ghent University who led its research into the war’s casualties. “But the reaction of the African Union was very weak. The only [African leader] to express concern was Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame who had asked the international community to prioritise the Tigray war in early 2021.” No scrutiny Formally established in 2002, the AU’s precursor, the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) was founded in Addis Ababa in 1963 to lobby for the independence of African states from European colonial powers – and economic empowerment. Ethiopia had long been identified as a home for Pan-Africanism, as the only African country to have fended off European colonisation, militarily. The OAU’s founders, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and Ghana’s President Kwame Nkrumah are widely credited as visionaries for an integrated Africa, and statues commemorating both men are outside the AU’s Chinese-built headquarters in Addis Ababa today. Their ideals were passed onto the AU when it launched in the 2000s, with the added objective of fostering democracy. But the body has been frequently criticised for propping up ageing dictators, often at the expense of the civil liberties of millions of young Africans. Indeed, Ethiopia, enshrined in African history for its 19th-century battlefield victories over invading Italy, its role in the OAU’s establishment, and key diplomatic influence on the continent, has rarely come under scrutiny of any kind from the AU. This, despite a history of domestic turmoil: for example mass arrests of street hawkers and the homeless in Addis Ababa, to keep out of view of visiting dignitaries and release after their departure, has gone unnoticed. In the hotly contested 2005 elections, then-Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared victory for his Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party amid opposition complaints of vote rigging. Despite allegations of fraud and killings of opposition demonstrators, AU observers declared the election results valid, much to the chagrin of observers from the European Union and human rights researchers. In 2016, following a year of antigovernment demonstrations and police killings of hundreds of unarmed protesters in the Oromia and Amhara regions, home to two-thirds of the country’s 119 million people, the then AU Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma issued a muted call for restraint while shying away from condemning the violence. Strategic alignment Indeed Ethiopia has often gotten a pass from the international community despite several human rights violations and questionable foreign policies. In the post-9/11 counterinsurgency era, Ethiopia gained influence as a strategic partner to the US and some analysts say that may have contributed to a reluctance within and outside the continent to confront Addis Ababa on domestic matters. It was one of only two African countries to support US President George W Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. The US returned the favour a few years later, offering air support for Ethiopia’s 2006 military incursion into neighbouring Somalia to eliminate rebels of the Islamic Courts Union. Reports of war crimes by Ethiopian troops in Somalia resulted in no diplomatic repercussions: instead, within a few years, the US was operating a drone base from Ethiopia for counterinsurgency operations against Somalia-based al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab; in 2013, reports emerged that the United Kingdom was funding an Ethiopian paramilitary force, despite its implication in war crimes in Ethiopia’s Somali region. In 2015, US President Barack Obama visited the country and praised its democratic process, which helped the governing party win 100 percent of contested seats in elections marred by irregularities that year. Proximity to China enhanced Ethiopia’s infrastructural development and led to its emergence as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. That, its strategic alignment with the West on security issues, and its status as a leading

Mike Pence’s think tank rebuts JD Vance’s ‘impeachment time bomb’ claim in foreign aid package

FIRST ON FOX: Former Vice President Mike Pence’s policy think tank, Advancing American Freedom (AAF), sent a memo to senators Wednesday pushing back against Sen. JD Vance’s theory that the $95 billion foreign aid package contains an “impeachment” clause for the next administration hidden in its text. AAF’s memo comes after Vance circulated a memo ahead of the national security supplemental package vote Monday arguing the bill includes a provision that could be grounds to impeach former President Donald Trump if he wins the White House again.  The text assures the delivery of $1.6 billion to finance Ukraine’s military as well as just under $14 billion for Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through Sept. 30, 2025 – the same aid mechanism that Trump temporarily paused while pushing for an investigation into Biden family foreign business dealings.  “The president’s duty to faithfully execute the law is written into the Constitution,” AAF’s memo reads. “It’s not an ‘impeachment time bomb’ created by the foreign aid package.” According to the memo, AAF argues that the Constitution mandates the president to faithfully execute laws, rejecting attempts from lawmakers to interpret this as permission to ignore statutes.  The Impoundment Control Act ensures Congress controls funding, requiring presidential notification and approval for cuts within a 45-day timeframe. Congress wields the power of the purse, the AAF memo states, despite changes in administrations.  SENATOR PAUL ASSERTS UKRAINE AID PACKAGE WOULD ‘TIE THE HANDS’ OF FUTURE ADMINISTRATIONS “Congress routinely appropriates funds across presidential terms,” the memo reads. “Following the argument to its logical conclusion, all advance appropriations are ‘impeachment time bombs.’” “The Trump-Pence administration sold weapons to Ukraine that the Obama-Biden administration refused to,” the memo continued. “It also countered Putin’s influence by blocking Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which President Biden green-lighted.” Meanwhile, Vance’s memo claimed that the supplemental bill “represents an attempt by the foreign policy blob/deep state to stop President Trump from pursuing his desired policy, and if he does so anyways, to provide grounds to impeach him and undermine his administration.” Trump has promised he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours if he is elected president.  SEN. VANCE MEMO WARNS GOP COLLEAGUES OF ‘SYSTEMIC FAILURES’ IN US AID TO UKRAINE The Trump administration, through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), withheld a total of about $400 million in security assistance from Ukraine in 2019. This came just before Trump asked Ukrainian President Voldomyr Zelenskyy to investigate the family of his 2020 rival, Joe Biden, and while the White House allegedly was withholding an Oval Office visit from Zelenskyy in exchange for an investigation. These actions are what fueled the impeachment effort against Trump, in which he was ultimately acquitted.  Mark Paoletta, former OMB general counsel during the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital in a statement this week that the clause in the bill text is an “effort to inappropriately tie President Trump’s hands in his next term by locking in Ukraine funding for multiple years.”  SENATE PASSES CONTROVERSIAL FOREIGN AID BILL SENDING BILLIONS TO UKRAINE, ISRAEL AND TAIWAN Last week, AAF praised the bill for its continued assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but bashed the billions of dollars earmarked for “non-lethal” aid, such as “direct budget support” to Ukraine. It also criticized the bill for not including H.R 2, the House’s border security policy passed last year that would crack down on asylum screenings and restore most Trump-era restrictions at the southern border. 

Former Georgia House rep is elected state senator, current House race goes to runoff

Voters in west Georgia chose a former state House member as their new state senator on Tuesday, while a race in a state House seat near Augusta is headed for a March 12 runoff. In state Senate District 30, Republican Tim Bearden of Carrollton won the majority of votes, according to final unofficial results. Four candidates had run to replace former state Sen. Mike Dugan, who resigned to run for Congress. In state House District 125, Columbia County Commissioner Gary Richardson of Evans and conservative commentator C.J. Pearson of Grovetown will face each other in a runoff on the same day as Georgia’s presidential primary. They finished first and second in five-candidate field. GEORGIA GOVERNOR SENDING TROOPS TO TEXAS BECAUSE BIDEN WON’T ACT: HE COULD ‘FIX THIS’ Bearden, 56, was elected to the state House four times before former Gov. Nathan Deal appointed him as director of the Georgia Public Safety Training Center. Bearden is now the government affairs manager for a billboard company. “I am honored and humbled by the outpouring of support to make this happen,” Bearden said in a statement Tuesday night. Bearden beat fellow Republicans Renae Bell of Tallapoosa and Robert “Bob” Smith, as well as Democrat Ashley Kecskes Godwin of Carrollton. The district covers all of Haralson County and parts of Carroll, Douglas and Paulding counties. Richardson and Pearson are vying to replace Republican Rep. Barry Fleming, who stepped down to become a superior court judge. They bested Republican and farmer James Steed of Grovetown, Democrat and cosmetologist Kay Turner of Grovetown and Libertarian and software developer John Turpish of Grovetown. The district covers parts of Columbia and McDuffie counties. Richardson a car wash owner who can’t run again for county commission because of term limits, touted his experience in public service. “We still have more ground to cover,” Richardson told supporters. “You can count on my continued commitment and determination.” Pearson overcame a residency challenge while winning endorsements from hard-right conservatives and campaigning on a Trump aligned-platform. The 21-year-old Pearson has been opposed by Gov. Brian Kemp’s political organization after Pearson helped manage the primary campaign of Kemp challenger Vernon Jones in 2022. “Now more than ever, our state is in need of a new generation of conservative leadership who will take on the radical left, stand up for Georgians and fight for America’s next generation,” Pearson said in a statement.

Lara Trump says ‘every single penny’ of RNC funds will go to electing Donald Trump if she is made co-chair

Former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law is promising that all the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) finances will be poured into getting him re-elected if she is made co-chair of the committee. Lara Trump, who the former president has pushed as a potential co-chair of the RNC, told reporters on Tuesday that “every single penny” would go to the campaign effort if she were appointed.  “The RNC needs to be the leanest, most lethal political fighting machine we’ve ever seen in American history,” Lara Trump told Newsmax. “That is the goal over the next nine-and-a-half months. If I am elected to this position, I can assure you, there will not be any more $70,000 – or whatever exorbitant amount of money it was – spent on flowers.” TRUMP ENDORSES NEW RNC CHAIR, ANNOUNCES DAUGHTER-IN-LAW’S RUN FOR VICE-CHAIR “Every single penny will go to the No. 1 and the only job of the RNC – that is electing Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country,” she added. As he moves closer to locking up the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Trump has increasingly been pushing to exert control and install loyalists at the national party committee. Last week, Trump announced plans for his daughter-in-law to run as co-chair of the RNC. TRUMP RECOMMENDS NORTH CAROLINA GOP CHAIR WHATLEY TO REPLACE MCDANIEL AT RNC: SOURCE “Lara is an extremely talented communicator and is dedicated to all that MAGA stands for,” the former president said. “She has told me she wants to accept this challenge and would be GREAT!” Lara Trump is the wife of the former president’s second son, Eric Trump. As Trump seeks to win back his old job in the White House, he stated on Monday how crucial it was for the RNC to be a good partner during the election. “That means helping to ensure fair and transparent elections across the country, getting out the vote everywhere – even in parts of the country where it won’t be easy – and working with my campaign, as the Republican presumptive nominee for President, to win this election and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” he exclaimed. Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

UAE’s First Hindu Temple: Ten interesting facts about Rs 700 crore BAPS Mandir that was inaugurated by PM Modi

The inauguration of the BAPS temple, built for Rs 700 crore, is being perceived as a crucial moment for the Hindu community in UAE and for the relations between the two countries.