John Kennedy, Georgia's top Senate Republican, joins race for lieutenant governor
ATLANTA — John Kennedy, the top-ranking Republican in Georgia's state Senate, on Monday joined a growing field of GOP candidates seeking to become the state's next lieutenant governor in 2026.
Kennedy, a Macon lawyer, is banking on the support of Georgia's business community after helping pass a law this year limiting lawsuits and civil verdicts .
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26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Opinion - Democrats' delusions go far deeper than Biden — but will the party ever learn?
If you haven't read the new book by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios's Alex Thompson, 'Original Sin,' you should. The book details how former President Biden's top aides, advisers and media contacts lied to the American people about the president's fitness for office and his suitability as a candidate, and argues that this series of cover-ups is ultimately responsible for President Trump's 2024 victory. If its revelations are even half true (and there is every reason to believe they are truer than that), this book should chill and sober Democrats, independents and anyone else who would prefer an alternative to Trump's GOP. 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again' raises one profound question with implications that extend far beyond 2024 or even 2028: Why did top Democrats think that they not only could but should shoehorn a sadly diminished and dangerously unfit Biden into a second presidential term? Here's one answer: Democrats' perception of their own virtue has somehow become inextricable from their unwillingness to acknowledge reality as it actually is, rather than as they would like it to be. It would have been quite convenient if Biden circa 2024 was in fact indistinguishable from Biden circa 2016 or even 2020. The fact that this was obviously not the case did not deter Democrats' insistence on it as not just true but unquestionable. The depth of this problem for the party cannot be overstated. The definitional tic of today's Democrats is a belligerent unwillingness (which ultimately seems to beget a helpless inability) to acknowledge any truth that they find inconvenient or troubling. Here's what I'm talking about: Many Democrats will still maintain that Michael Brown had his hands up when Darren Wilson shot him. They will still argue that coronavirus could not have come from a lab in China, and they will maintain that it fully warranted the closing of schools. They hold fast to the idea that traditional masculinity and 'cisgender' normativity are social constructs that can ultimately be eradicated via progressive social programming. They will not abandon the notion that biologically male transgender athletes may fairly compete as female athletes. Many influential Democrats remain unwilling or unable to acknowledge that each of these statements has been proven demonstrably false. The sad irony, of course, is that elite Democrats' insistence on collective delusion with respect to such matters leads, inevitably, exactly where their lies about Biden did: to reactionary backlash. Because they did not insist on a timely, competitive primary to replace Biden, the U.S is stuck with Trump. Because they did not correct the lies and check the excesses of Black Lives Matter and its apologists in K-12 and higher education, we are left with decreased public safety and increased racial tensions. Because they did not ask the correct questions about COVID but parroted the mantra 'trust the science' in response to answers from those who did, we are left with an academic achievement gap that will disproportionately affect low-income, non-white students for the rest of their lives. Because they did not concede the biological facts of dimorphic sex and of characterological and psychological differences between most men and most women, we are left with decreasing societal acceptance for homosexual Americans and misogynistic attempts to regressively erase intragroup variance among women. I know that many of my fellow Democrats are primed to reply: 'But that's not fair! They are the ones who elected Trump, and who are harboring these racists and misogynists, and you blame us?' Well, yes. Here's why: By denying realities they find unsavory, Democrats leave any legitimate claim of truth to Republicans. And MAGA embraces that truth — with a literal vengeance. The Republicans' manner of denying reality is to wildly overstate it. So, for today's manosphere, for example, women are not just different from men on average, but so entirely unlike men that they should all, when possible, reflexively eschew any professional ambition in favor of 'tradwifery.' If Democrats did not deny fundamental truths altogether, fewer people would accept Republicans' bastardizations of them. Can Tapper and Thompson's book be positioned as one that uses Biden as a case study to help Democrats see that we gain nothing by denying reality, and behave accordingly? I hope so. Because the truth will out. And it would be really good for the country if that most fundamental reality of all did not so overwhelmingly favor today's patently cruel and often incompetent Republican Party. Elizabeth Grace Matthew is based in Philadelphia. She writes about books, education, and culture, including on Substack. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
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LA immigration riots ‘preventable' if Sacramento Dems had acted, failed policies caused chaos, GOP says
The ongoing Los Angeles riots could have been stopped in Sacramento and not have reached the point of federal intervention if Democrats had passed a Republican effort to improve coordination between state, local and federal law enforcement in terms of immigration, GOP leaders said. "Federal authorities doing the vital work of immigration enforcement have been met with obstruction and violence on the streets in Los Angeles," California Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, told Fox News Digital on Monday. "Make no mistake: These agitators and failed California policies caused this chaos. It will not be tolerated and many of them have already found out," Gallagher said. In that regard, Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-San Diego, said his caucus had a fix for the issues that led to the immigration raids that sparked the rioting. Maxine Waters Taunts Armed Agents After Feds Slam Door In Her Face "California Republicans had a solution in our Senate Bill 554, but the sanctuary city crowd brought this on themselves by prohibiting state and local law enforcement from cooperating with the feds to identify violent illegal immigrants in prisons and jails," Jones said. Read On The Fox News App SB 554 would have adjusted existing California law under the California Values Act, which generally prohibits state law enforcement from investigating, detaining or questioning suspects for immigration-related purposes. Instead, the bill, which Jones said Democrats had tanked, would have allowed for improved communication with federal immigration and law enforcement agencies. Ak Natives Sound Off On Biden Energy Bans As Trump Officials Tour Tundra "Now the feds have to run broader raids, like what we're seeing in LA, which sweep up way more people," Jones said. "This whole thing was easily preventable." Just north of Jones' hometown, he said the ICE raids that occurred leading up to the unrest were characterized by an increase in "collateral arrests," a term used to describe illegal immigrants not specifically targeted by the feds in any particular operation who are also detained. That has happened, he said, because state and local authorities hadn't handed over some of the targeted suspects in the first place. Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared to blame President Donald Trump for the unrest, saying it is "exactly what [he] wanted." "He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard." Fox News Digital reached out to California Senate President Pro-Tempore Mike McGuire, R-Healdsburg, for response to Republicans' article source: LA immigration riots 'preventable' if Sacramento Dems had acted, failed policies caused chaos, GOP says
Los Angeles Times
27 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Home Depot caught in the crosshairs of L.A. immigrations raids
America's best-known hardware store chain, Home Depot, has found itself at the center of the federal immigration raids in Los Angeles, and the subsequent protests. On Friday, a Home Depot in the Westlake neighborhood was among several locations hit by federal agents, who also raided Ambiance Apparel in the garment district in downtown L.A. as part of a crackdown that led to the arrests of dozens of people. The arrests outside Home Depot targeted day laborers hired by the chain's customers, including homeowners and contractors who rely on undocumented workers for home repair and construction jobs. Day laborers have been crucial to rebuilding efforts after Los Angeles County's devastating January firestorms. On Saturday, a Home Depot in the predominantly Latino suburb of Paramount, which is south of Los Angeles, also became the site of clashes between protesters and authorities. After a weekend of protests, officials also carried out raids at Home Depot locations in Whittier and Huntington Park on Monday morning, and reports of additional raids at other Southern California Home Depot locations spread across social media. A spokesperson for Home Depot confirmed Monday that the company had not been notified of any of the raids at its locations ahead of time and that the company was not involved in any of the operations. The Atlanta-based chain now faces a difficult situation, with its locations serving as a frequent site of raids, potentially turning away customers. Home Depot shares closed at $36.20, down 0.6%, on Monday. The company reported revenue of nearly $40 billion in its fiscal first quarter this year, up 9% from a year earlier. Net earnings for the quarter were $3.4 billion, down from $3.6 billion during the same period last year. It's not the first time the company has made headlines as the subject of controversy. Home Depot's co-founder Bernie Marcus donated at least $14 million to support Donald Trump's first presidency and pledged to support his reelection bid. Marcus, who died in 2024, had a reputation as a Republican megadonor. Protesters called for a boycott of the company in 2019 over his donations. The chain has tried to distance itself from its founder, stressing that he left the company in 2002 and that his donations and statements were not on behalf of Home Depot. Home Depot locations have been for decades convenient spots for contractors and those embarking on home improvement projects to hire skilled laborers. The construction industry in Southern California depends heavily on immigrants and day laborers, a reliance that has been highlighted by recent fire recovery efforts in the region. Jorge Nicolás, a senior organizer at a day labor center run by the Central American Resource Center, or CARECEN, said day laborers often take on undesirable jobs or jobs with tough conditions, making them crucial to many construction jobs. 'The majority of immigrant workers usually are used to help developers control construction costs and stay within the timelines that they have projected,' he said. 'Those are the extra hands that are needed.' Nicolás was in Westlake on Friday when immigration officials carried out a sweep outside of the Home Depot there. CARECEN's day labor center is just minutes away from the store. He described the scene as chaotic, and even workers who he knows have legal status were fleeing in fear, he said. 'We felt powerless,' Nicolás said. 'They're not arresting motorcycle gang members. They're not arresting international drug dealers. They're arresting grandpas. They're just arresting people that are very humble and looking for an opportunity, just trying to get a decent living.' By Monday afternoon, the parking lot of the Home Depot in Huntington Park was busy, with nearly 100 cars and pickup trucks filling the lot. There were few signs that a raid had taken place just hours earlier, but Bradley Cortez and his friends stood in the lot, keeping their eyes peeled. They came shortly after they got word of the raid, but Cortez said they were too late. He drove from Bellflower, roughly 10 miles south of Huntington Park, in hopes of helping the 'hardworking men' who were being targeted by immigration officials. 'I'll put my life at risk because I've I got papers. I was born here, so if I'm able to help somebody, of course I'll help them,' said the 23-year-old, who works in construction and frequents Home Depot locations himself to find jobs. 'It is a little scary being out here, but that's what is being brave about,' he said. 'Being brave is when you're scared. And I'm being brave for my people.' Times staff writer Ruben Vives contributed to this report.
