Tag: republicans

J.D. Vance Did Not Have Sex With a Couch

Let’s cut right to the chase: J.D. Vance has not fucked a couch. Or, if he has, he did not write about it in Hillbilly Elegy. If you had not yet heard this false rumor, (1) I’m jealous, but (2) that means I can drag you down to my level by explaining what’s going on.

On July 15, Vance was announced as Donald Trump’s running mate. Shortly after, X user @rickrudescalves (whose account is now private) wrote, “can’t say for sure but he might be the first vp pick to have admitted in a ny times bestseller to fucking an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions (vance, hillbilly elegy, pp. 179-181).” It’s an indictment on Vance’s demeanor that so many people believed this without question, but it is, in fact, a lie. Sorry to Kathy Griffin and everyone else who fell for misinformation.

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Ohio GOP Lawmakers File Bills To Restrict And Regulate Intoxicating Hemp Products, Including Delta-8 THC

As Ohioans wait to legally purchase recreational-use marijuana, Republican lawmakers in both chambers of the General Assembly are trying to regulate adult-use hemp products.

State Rep. Sara Carruthers (R-Hamilton) introduced House Bill 642 on Thursday which would require the Ohio Director of Agriculture to issue recommendations for adult-use hemp products.

If the bill were to pass, the Director of Agriculture (who is currently Brian Baldridge) would conduct and issue a report to the General Assembly about the “sale and use of hemp products that could be used for intoxicating purposes.” The report would be in consultation with the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

The report could include:

  • A definition of adult-use hemp products that could include restrictions on the amount of THC allowed in adult-use hemp products based on serving size.
  • Where adult-use hemp products may be sold and how those products are stored.
  • Minimum age requirements to purchase adult-use hemp.
  • Penalties for selling adult-use hemp products to someone who is underage.
  • Testing standards and requirements for adult-use hemp products.
  • Advertising restrictions and labeling requirements for adult-use hemp products.
  • How to enforce these recommendations, which could be giving inspection authority to the Ohio Investigative Unit in the Department of Public Safety.

If the recommendations are adopted, they would be in effect for one year.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) called on lawmakers earlier this year to ban or regulate delta-8, which he called “intoxicating hemp.”

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Gaetz Ethics Inquiry Takes Dubious Turn

Amid the hurly-burly of presidential dropouts, attempted presidential assassinations, and novel presidential conventions, the gears of Washington grind on. 

A sideline moment of the winding last week in Wisconsin was a direct confrontation between Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and his pet aversion, the former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. 

“What night are you speaking?” Gaetz quizzed McCarthy. “Are you speaking tonight?” 

“If you took that stage, you would get booed off of it,” he added. “You would get booed off the stage.” In a game-after interview with CNN, McCarthy shot back: “[Gaetz] looks very unhinged.” 

The representative from Florida’s First District, of course, led the successful charge last autumn to defenestrate the then-speaker. Gaetz alleged a panoply of heresies—spending issues, foreign policy, etc—where McCarthy was said to be deficient in comparison to alternatives. 

Gaetz eventually backed now-Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). 

McCarthy, as of late, has said the story is simpler. The Californian wouldn’t stop a House Ethics Committee investigation into years-old allegations against Gaetz (allegations for which he was never charged). But from the outside looking in, McCarthy’s side of the story would seem no clean tale of moral probity. 

Far from being above the fray, McCarthy in private life has initiated a “revenge tour” of sorts, attempting to primary his former foes in Congress. 

Perhaps most prominently, Charleston-area Congresswoman Nancy Mace—a former McCarthy acolyte turned ally of Gaetz et al.—survived a primary challenge in June. “I want to send him back to the rock he’s living under right now. He’s not part of America.… I hope I drive Kevin McCarthy crazy,” Mace told the Times.

Now the primary effort of the hardliners and the ethics investigation against Gaetz have apparently merged. 

Congressman David Joyce (R-OH) is a member of the House Ethics Committee, which is probing Gaetz. The American Conservative found financial disclosures that reveal Rep. Joyce’s campaign and his leadership PAC donated a combined $7,000 to Gaetz’s primary challenger, Aaron Dimmock.  

For his part, Gaetz told TAC: “It is no surprise to see Mr. Joyce, a stock-trading member of the ethics committee, funding my opponent. The ethics committee was hand picked by McCarthy and they will do his bidding in elections and in their witch hunt coming after me.” 

There is evidence here of a $2,000 transaction from Friends of Dave Joyce (his campaign committee) and then $5,000 from Defending American Values Everywhere PAC (DAVE PAC)—his leadership committee.

What comes next is unclear. 

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GOP Congressman Says ‘I Don’t Care’ If Rolling Back Marijuana Rescheduling Would Hurt Republican Party

A GOP congressman says “I don’t care” whether rolling back the Biden administration’s marijuana rescheduling move under a potential Trump presidency would hurt the Republican party, because he feels more strongly that the modest reform would endanger public health.

At the Republican National Committee conference last week, longtime prohibitionist Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) was asked about the potential political ramifications of a rescheduling reversal under a second Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress.

He put it bluntly: “I don’t care whether it’s good for the party or not. I don’t care. It’s not good for your health.”

“My opinion is always the same: It’s not healthy for you. It’s bad. I think it’s bad policy,” Harris told Marijuana Moment.

The congressman is well known for his opposition to cannabis reform. In addition to championing a long-standing appropriations rider that’s blocked Washington, D.C. from legalizing marijuana sales for a decade, he’s also pushed the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reject the Justice Department proposal to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), for example.

But while Harris suggested that the rescheduling move would increase access to a substance he views as dangerous, a Schedule III reclassification would not federally legalize marijuana. The main effects of the policy change would be removing research barriers linked to Schedule I drugs and allowing state-licensed cannabis businesses to take federal tax deductions available to other industries.

The congressman said in the new interview with Marijuana Moment that he has “no idea” how former President Donald Trump, who was officially named the party’s presidential nominee for the third time at the GOP convention, will approach marijuana policy issues. “You’ve got to ask Mr. Trump,” he said.

Pressed on the fact that red and blue states alike have increasingly moved to enact legalization, Harris claimed that he’s “in the company” of experts such as National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow in opposing the policy.

“If we’re outliers, well, you know, sometimes outliers are right,” he said.

Harris has previously suggested that the NIDA director “adamantly opposed” the rescheduling proposal—despite the fact that her agency officially concurred with the recommended policy change, as well as the Volkow’s repeated public comments criticizing research barriers imposed by cannabis’s current Schedule I status.

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GOP Senator Probing Trump Assassination Attempt Floats Second Shooter Theory

Republican Senator Ron Johnson has released preliminary findings of his office’s investigation into the assassination attempt of Donald Trump, also floating the idea that there may have been more than one shooter.

Johnson appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss the findings, and noted “Was it one rifle? Was it more than one? I’ve seen some pretty interesting video on the internet by experts that does certainly call into question what the FBI is telling us about a single shooter.”

Johnson did not say which video he was specifically referring to, but there has been speculation that a figure was filmed atop the water tower close to the rally site.

“So, are you questioning whether or not there was a second shooter?” host Maria Bartiromo asked, adding “Is that what you’re questioning, or if the shooter had a different gun?”

“I saw an extremely convincing video online, I know it’s all over the place,” Johnson replied, adding “There were three distinct shots early on, followed by another five in more staccato, more rapidly fired, and then the final one, which we believe took the shooter out.”

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GOP Lawmakers Push Justice Department To Reverse Course On Marijuana Rescheduling

Republicans in Congress sent a public comment letter this week opposing the Biden administration’s planned rescheduling of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), alleging the government’s recommendation was based on politics rather than science.

Led by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), the letter opposing the move of cannabis to Schedule III was signed 23 other House and Senate GOP congressional lawmakers. It was addressed to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland at the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“The decision to disregard public safety and medical concerns to reclassify marijuana is strictly political,” Sessions claimed in a press release about the letter. “This egregious proposed rule fails to provide sufficient science and data in support. Senator Lankford and I are leading the charge in raising the alarm from Congress.”

The letter itself says it should be irrelevant to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) analysis of marijuana that 38 states and Washington, D.C. have legalized medical cannabis under state law.

“It is clear that HHS and DOJ chose the desired conclusion first and worked backwards, since the rule does not provide sufficient reason to move marijuana to schedule III,” the letter says, further alleging that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) “was not properly consulted in the drafting of the Proposed Rule.”

To that end, the letter amplified rumors that DEA is not on board with the administration’s rescheduling plan.

“DEA Administrator [Ann] Milgram did not sign the rule, and it states many times that DEA believes additional information is needed regarding the appropriate schedule for marijuana,” it says. “The Proposed Rule references DEA’s findings from 2016, when it rejected two petitions to remove marijuana from schedule I. It seems that DEA stands by its findings from 2016- all the more reason why this rule should not have been published without sign off from the DEA Administrator.”

Since the government’s rescheduling plan was made public in April, SAM and others have amplified rumors that DEA officials might oppose the proposed change—rumors that a top Biden administration official appeared to acknowledge last month.

Asked by a reporter whether there was resistance to the move at DEA, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra responded: “Talk to the DEA.”

“Our scientists reviewed the evidence,” he added. “FDA bases its action on the science and the evidence before us. We took action.”

The GOP lawmakers claim in the new letter that despite the popularity of medical marijuana nationwide, cannabis isn’t medicine.

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Georgia GOP (.Inc) Hiding Their List Of RNC Delegates

The Georgia Record has received confirmed information that the Georgia GOP, Inc. is withholding their list of delegates who will attend the RNC Convention in the next few days.

This follows the GOP,Inc., through their Nominating Committee attempting to place a former Dominion Voting systems lobbyist, John Garst, on the proposed list of delegates during the State Convention.

What are they now trying to hide?

In recent days, reports of certain delegates being forced out of various delegations have surfaced. Why would the Georgia GOP,Inc. fail to provide at least a list of those who will represent Georgia’s interests during the Republican National Convention?

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“GAY FURRY HACKERS” CLAIM CREDIT FOR HACKING HERITAGE FOUNDATION FILES OVER PROJECT 2025

SIEGEDSEC, A COLLECTIVE of self-proclaimed “gay furry hackers,” has claimed credit for breaching online databases of the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank that spearheaded the right-wing Project 2025 playbook. SiegedSec released a cache of Heritage Foundation material as part of a string of hacks aimed at organizations that oppose transgender rights, although Heritage disputed that its own systems were breached.

In a post to Telegram announcing the hack, SiegedSec called Project 2025 “an authoritarian Christian nationalist plan to reform the United States government.” The attack was part of the group’s #OpTransRights campaign, which recently targeted right-wing media outlet Real America’s Voice, the Hillsong megachurch, and a Minnesota pastor.

In his foreword to the Project 2025 manifesto, the Heritage Foundation’s president, Kevin Roberts, rails against “the toxic normalization of transgenderism” and “the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology.” The playbook’s other contributors call on “the next conservative administration” to roll back certain policies, including allowing trans people to serve in the military.

“We’re strongly against Project 2025 and everything the Heritage Foundation stands for,” one of SiegedSec’s leaders, who goes by the handle “vio,” told The Intercept.

In its Telegram post, SiegedSec said it obtained passwords and other user information for “every user” of a Heritage Foundation database, including Roberts and some U.S. government employees. Heritage Foundation said in statement Wednesday that SiegedSec only obtained incomplete password information.

The remainder of more than 200GB of files the hackers obtained were “mostly useless,” SiegedSec said.

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GOP Congressional Committee Approves Bill To Block Marijuana Rescheduling, While Rejecting State Cannabis Protections Amendment

A key GOP-led House committee has approved a large-scale spending bill that would block the Justice Department from rescheduling marijuana, while also amending a longstanding rider protecting medical cannabis states from federal interference by adding new language to authorize enhanced penalties for sales near schools and parks. Members also rejected an amendment that would have extended those protections to all state and tribal cannabis programs, including those allowing recreational use and sales.

At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, the panel passed the legislation covering Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) with the hostile marijuana provisions attached.

The bill as approved in committee would block the Justice Department from using its funds to reschedule or deschedule marijuana. This comes amid an active rulemaking process to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), as DOJ formally proposed earlier this year.

SEC. 623. None of the funds appropriated or other wise made available by this Act may be used to reschedule marijuana (as such term is defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) or to remove marijuana from the schedules established under section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812).

GOP senators have separately tried to block the administration from rescheduling cannabis as part of a standalone bill filed last September, but that proposal has not received a hearing or vote. Including such a ban in key annual spending legislation is a way for opponents to force the issue forward. It’s far from clear that the Democratic-controlled Senate would go along with proposal, however.

The legislation as approved by the panel on Tuesday still includes a longstanding rider to prevent DOJ from using its funds to interfere in the implementation of state medical marijuana programs that has been part of federal law since 2014, but the committee added new language stipulating that the Justice Department can still enforce a section of U.S. code that calls for increased penalties for distributing cannabis within 1,000 feet of an elementary school, vocational school, college, playground or public housing unit.

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Lynchburg City Council Candidate Challenges Legitimacy of Republican Primary Results, Citing Irregularities and Potential Tampering

Peter Alexander, a candidate for the City Council of Lynchburg, Virginia, has lodged a formal complaint in the Lynchburg Circuit Court, questioning the legitimacy of the recent Republican primary election results.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported the campaigns of Peter Alexander and Chris Faraldi, both candidates in the June 18th primary for City Council in Ward 4, have reported multiple irregularities, including issues with mail-in ballots and potential breaches in the chain of custody.

There are significant concerns regarding the chain-of-custody of ballots collected from drop boxes. Additionally, absentee ballot processing began before observers were permitted to monitor the process. Records also show that ballot box seals were broken before observers could watch, suggesting potential tampering or mishandling of ballots.

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