INTERNACIONAL
GOP speaker claps back after Booker stumps against bid to eradicate red state’s Democrat-held districts
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EXCLUSIVE: Alabama Republicans are moving to force through a new congressional map that could reduce Democratic representation amid a narrow national GOP House majority, while rebuking Yankee Democrats traveling to the Yellowhammer State to gin up opposition.
State leaders argue the new Supreme Court ruling limiting the use of race in redistricting has changed the legal landscape, giving Alabama grounds to revisit and undo a court-imposed map that recently reshaped its congressional districts to help minority voters.
As attention shifted from Louisiana to Alabama after the high bench tossed the Pelican State’s map last week, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., traveled south to stump in Birmingham with fellow Democrats bemoaning legislators’ attempts to force the high bench to reconsider a partially conflicting order from three years prior.
«Well, I’m probably guessing that’s first time Cory Booker’s ever been in Alabama,» Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainville, told Fox News Digital.
BLOCKBUSTER SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING IGNITES REDISTRICTING WAR ACROSS SOUTHERN STATES
Sen. Cory Booker joined civil rights and voting rights advocates at a rally outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 29, 2025, to reintroduce the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
«The thing about it is the people that we represent have lived here most of all of their lives and they’re the ones that ask us to do something for them — not the Cory Bookers,» Ledbetter said. «And he can nationalize it all he wants to, but it’s not going to change facts.»
Booker joined Rep. Terri Sewell of Birmingham, the state’s lone Democrat, until the court-mandated redraw produced a Democratic flip by Rep. Shomari Figures of Mobile.
«We are in a storm right now — the question is, where will you stand, will you hold up your light,» Booker addressed a redistricting town hall in Birmingham, where he declared voting rights are on the ballot, according to the Alabama Reporter.
The Yankee Democrat said he came south out of obligation to recognize that the Supreme Court upended decades of progress made by Alabamians, according to the city’s NBC affiliate.
Late last month, the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s 2-Democrat congressional map, in which Reps. Cleo Fields and Troy Carter’s Democratic districts were drawn with race as a significant factor.
Alabama faced a similar fight after the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Allen v. Milligan forced the state to redraw its map, leading to a court-imposed plan that shifted its delegation from a 6-1 Republican split to 5-2 after Republicans created but were rebuked for the so-called «Livingston map» that gave minorities districts with 55% and 40% representation respectively.
SUPREME COURT RULES ON KEY VOTING RIGHTS ACT RULE AS REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS WAGE REDISTRICTING WAR
The interceding Livingston map, so named for Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, should be revisited and upheld by the Supreme Court in line with its more recent ruling, Ledbetter argued.
In passing the map, Ledbetter said he expects the Supreme Court will be forced to weigh in, via a new legal challenge or otherwise, and that the Louisiana ruling gives Alabama the precedent it needs to undo the high court’s prior ruling and imposed map.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott and William Byron lead the field at the YellaWood 500 — one of Alabama’s premier sporting events — at Talladega Superspeedway. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
«Once that happens, it gives the governor opportunity to call a special election.»
While any action taken by Ledbetter’s legislature would likely spur court action, he suggested quick passage is needed as Alabama’s primaries approach on May 19.
«If we did nothing, we had no shot, and doing this gives us the opportunity to have a ball in the air in case they do overturn [Milligan].»
Gov. Kay Ivey called the legislature to special session Monday to create plans for potential adjustment of upcoming primary elections, if the state is able to force the redistricting issue upon the Supreme Court.
Ledbetter said the Livingston map was fair, and attempted to follow the will of the court originally — adding that he plans to force the issue this week during the special session.
«Our goal is to pass the Livingston map and give the governor the opportunity if the 14th Amendment [provision] is removed; that gives us the opportunity to go forward with it,» he said, arguing the earlier ruling relied on legal standards that may now be affected by the court’s more recent decision.
«That’s really the only shot we got to be able to do this before the November elections is that map that’s existing,» he said.
SUPREME COURT JUST GAVE BLACK VOTERS A SHOT AT REAL POWER BEYOND SAFE SEATS
Pushing back again on Booker and critics of Alabama’s prior attempt to redraw, Ledbetter said the Livingston map, under today’s population footprint, actually gives all voting blocs a better shot.
A Fair Maps Rally was held in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 in Washington, DC. The rally coincides with the U.S. Supreme Court hearings in landmark redistricting cases out of North Carolina and Maryland. The activists sent the message the the Court should declare gerrymandering unconstitutional now. (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)
«When that was redistricted that was a 50-50 seat,» he said of one of the Democrat-friendly districts on the map. «It gives everybody a shot and it’s got all seven seats open.»
He criticized national Democrats for descending on other states like Virginia to try to tip the scale of their own redistricting, noting that Alabamians elected a Republican supermajority in Montgomery and want to reflect that in Congress.
DEMS CIRCLE THE WAGONS BY BLAMING GOP FOR THEIR REDISTRICTING RESPONSE AHEAD OF MIDTERMS: ‘VERY DESPERATE’
«I don’t think it’s right for the courts to overstep their boundary and try to do legislation.»
Families play in the water at Orange Beach, Ala., a popular tourist destination in the Yellowhammer State (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Ivey said in a statement the state has been battling «federal courts and activist groups who think they know Alabama better than Alabama» since the 2020 census.
«By calling the Legislature into a special session, I am ensuring Alabama is prepared should the courts act quickly enough to allow Alabama’s previously drawn congressional and state Senate maps to be used during this election cycle,» she said.
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With Ledbetter and his partners on the Senate side primed to repass the Livingston map, the Supreme Court would have about a week to step in ahead of the May 19 primary, while Secretary of State Wes Allen told the Montgomery Advertiser that no matter the result of the special session, that date is set in stone — setting up a reason for national attention to turn toward the Yellowhammer State.
Fox News Digital reached out to Booker and Ivey for additional comment.
alabama, states rights, republicans elections, democrats, cory booker
INTERNACIONAL
India lanza un fuerte mensaje militar a un año de la crisis con Pakistán y ante la creciente tensión global
A un año de la escalada militar con Pakistán tras el atentado en Pahalgam, el gobierno de India volvió a exponer públicamente los alcances de su respuesta, en lo que analistas interpretan como un mensaje estratégico hacia su vecino y hacia la comunidad internacional en un contexto de fuerte incertidumbre global.
La denominada “Operación Sindoor”, iniciada en mayo de 2025, fue presentada oficialmente como una acción “calibrada y focalizada” contra infraestructura vinculada al terrorismo, con el objetivo de evitar una escalada mayor. Según documentos difundidos por el propio gobierno indio, los ataques se concentraron en campamentos y objetivos considerados de alto valor, evitando blancos civiles o militares convencionales.
El trasfondo del conflicto se remonta al ataque ocurrido el 22 de abril de 2025 en la región de Cachemira administrada por India, donde murieron 26 personas. Nueva Delhi atribuyó la autoría a grupos con respaldo desde territorio pakistaní, lo que derivó en una respuesta militar inédita en alcance y profundidad.
De acuerdo con la información oficial, India llevó a cabo ataques de precisión contra al menos nueve centros vinculados a organizaciones como Lashkar-e-Taiba y Jaish-e-Mohammed, e incluso avanzó sobre instalaciones dentro del territorio pakistaní, algo poco frecuente en conflictos previos entre ambos países. Indian army soldiers demonstrate their artillery near the Line of Control (LoC) between Pakistan and India in Indian-administered Kashmir on May 20, 2025. (Photo by TAUSEEF MUSTAFA / AFP)
Sin embargo, más allá del impacto militar, el nuevo mensaje impulsado por la administración de Narendra Modi parece apuntar a un cambio doctrinario. El gobierno indio sostiene que “no distingue entre grupos armados y Estados que los respalden”, y que “cualquier ataque terrorista será considerado un acto de guerra”. Este enfoque marca un endurecimiento respecto de estrategias anteriores, basadas más en la disuasión que en la respuesta directa.
El mensaje del embajador de la India en la Argentina
La postura india fue reforzada públicamente por el embajador de la India en la Argentina, Ajaneesh Kumar, quien defendió la operación militar como una respuesta “calibrada y precisa” frente al terrorismo transfronterizo. En una declaración difundida en Buenos Aires, sostuvo que “la India no atacó a civiles ni buscó la escalada” y que las acciones estuvieron dirigidas “exclusivamente contra la infraestructura terrorista responsable de orquestar la violencia contra los ciudadanos indios”.
“El terrorismo no puede justificarse, contextualizarse ni idealizarse bajo ningún pretexto político”, afirmó el diplomático, quien además pidió que la comunidad internacional deje de “separar a los terroristas de quienes les dan refugio, les financian o les incentivan”.
El embajador de la India en la Argentina, Ajaneesh Kumar, resaltó la Operación Sindoor y criticó duramente el terrorismo. (Foto X: @AjaneeshK)
Kumar también vinculó la experiencia india con los atentados sufridos por la Argentina, al mencionar los ataques contra la embajada de Israel y la AMIA. “La India y Argentina están unidas por la convicción compartida de que el terrorismo nunca debe normalizarse”, señaló.
La declaración del embajador refuerza la intención de Nueva Delhi de presentar la Operación Sindoor no solo como una respuesta militar, sino también como parte de una narrativa internacional centrada en la lucha contra el terrorismo y en el derecho de los Estados a responder frente a ataques considerados una amenaza directa a su soberanía.
Detalles de un operativo sin precedentes
El operativo Sindoor también incluyó medidas no militares: suspensión de acuerdos bilaterales clave, cierre de fronteras comerciales y restricciones diplomáticas. Entre ellas, la decisión de dejar en suspenso el Tratado de Aguas del Indo, un acuerdo histórico que regula el uso de recursos hídricos compartidos, lo que introduce un elemento de presión adicional en la relación bilateral.
Desde el punto de vista militar, la operación evidenció un alto nivel de coordinación entre el Ejército, la Fuerza Aérea y la Armada de India, en un esquema de acción conjunta que refuerza la tendencia hacia operaciones integradas en múltiples dominios. También mostró avances en defensa aérea, tras la interceptación de drones y ataques no tripulados atribuidos a Pakistán. Indian army soldiers pictured atop a tank at Akhnoor sector near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu region on May 19, 2025. (Photo by Mukesh GUPTA / AFP)
Pese al alto el fuego acordado días después de los enfrentamientos, los incidentes con drones y violaciones puntuales continuaron, lo que refleja la fragilidad de la tregua y la persistencia de tensiones en la región.
En este contexto, la difusión detallada de la operación un año después parece buscar varios objetivos: reafirmar la capacidad de respuesta de India, consolidar su narrativa internacional sobre el combate al terrorismo y advertir sobre los límites que está dispuesto a imponer frente a nuevas provocaciones.
India, Pakistan
INTERNACIONAL
In Trump’s crosshairs, Massie rakes in more than $1M this week while fighting for political life
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Rep. Thomas Massie’s campaign has raked in more than $1 million so far since launching a «Moneybomb» fundraiser on Monday morning, according to a running tally displayed on the fundraising website.
The embattled Republican, who represents Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, is competing in a GOP primary showdown against former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, the candidate backed by vociferous Massie critic President Donald Trump.
«This race has become a national referendum on whether our country is better served by Congressmen like me who keep their promises, or whether Congress needs yet another ‘warm body from central casting’ like Gallrein who pledges to be a rubber stamp for the uniparty,» Massie wrote in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
«He’s like central casting,» Trump said of Gallrein while speaking in Kentucky in March, adding moments later, » … give me somebody with a warm body to beat Massie. And I got somebody with a warm body, but a big, beautiful brain, and a great patriot. He’s unbelievable.»
Massie added in his statement to Fox News Digital on Friday, «We are ahead in the polls, ahead in Kentucky fundraising, and way ahead in national support as shown by our million dollar moneybomb… as long as you don’t count the three liberal out-of-state billionaires propping up my opponent.»
ACTOR ZACHARY LEVI BACKS THOMAS MASSIE AS TRUMP TARGETS THE REPUBLICAN FOR OUSTER: ‘GOOD FOR THIS COUNTRY’
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., leaves to speak with the media after the House voted 427-1 to approve the Epstein Files Transparency Act and the release of documents and files at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 18, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
Gallrein’s campaign fired back, providing Fox News Digital with the following statement from senior advisor Tim Murtaugh: «These are the last gasps of a member of Congress who promised to term limit himself to three terms, but is now seeking his 8th. He’s turned his back on Kentucky, he’s pointlessly antagonized President Trump, and has tried to obstruct the entire America First agenda. Thomas Massie serves only one person — Thomas Massie — and the voters of Kentucky’s 4th District are about to show him the door. Ed Gallrein is a heavily decorated, retired Navy SEAL a solid conservative who will support President Trump and the America First agenda. Massie’s ego and his act are worn out.»
Massie fired back in another statement to Fox News Digital, declaring, «In typical fashion, Ed has a surrogate repeating his lies. Ed is scared to debate me and even afraid to speak to the press.»
Before taking office in 2012, Massie signed a pledge declaring that he would support a term limits amendment to the Constitution. «I, Thomas Massie, pledge that as a member of Congress I will cosponsor and vote for the U.S. Term Limits Amendment of three (3) House terms and two (2) Senate terms and no longer limit,» the pledge read.
MASSIE ALLY SPARKS BACKLASH AFTER ACCUSING TRUMP-BACKED CHALLENGER OF ABUSING VA BENEFITS
Republican congressional candidate for Kentucky, Ed Gallrein speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump looks during an event at Verst Logistics on March 11, 2026 in Hebron, Ky. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
During an appearance on KET’s «Kentucky Tonight,» Massie, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since late 2012, was asked about the issue.
«After 14 years, are you not wading into career politician territory? And for those curious about you re-upping your Washington service, how is that better than honoring the spirit of that pledge you signed back in 2012?» host Renee Shaw asked.
«Well I’ve honored both the spirit and the letter of that pledge. I have cosponsored the bill that I said I would cosponsor and I voted for it. In fact, now I serve on the Judiciary Committee where that bill starts. All Constitutional amendments begin in the Judiciary Committee,» Massie replied. «So I’ve had the opportunity … and taken it, to vote for that … amendment to the Constitution several times.»
MASSIE SAYS MUSK NEVER DONATED TO HIS RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN DESPITE PRIOR PLEDGE
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the U.S. Capitol on June 4, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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The upcoming May 19 primary in Kentucky is less than two weeks away.
politics, fund raising, kentucky, donald trump, house of representatives
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POLITICA2 días agoPatricia Bullrich le pidió a Manuel Adorni que presente su declaración jurada: «No puede quedar la sensación de que somos iguales a los que venimos a correr»
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Marcela Pagano cruzó a Milei por acusarla de “mentirosa compulsiva”: “Confundió rating con grandeza”
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Javier Milei adelantó que Manuel Adorni presentará su declaración jurada, tras la presión de Bullrich
