Tag: republicans

Congress Pushes for Nationwide Internet Age Verification Plan.

Republican lawmakers are proposing a new way to enforce accountability on tech companies to comply with age verification laws, despite resistance from websites like Pornhub. The App Store Accountability Act (ASA), introduced by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Representative John James (R-MI), proposes a different model: requiring app stores themselves to verify users’ ages and pass that information to apps when they are downloaded.

The bill is part of a broader push in Congress to tighten safeguards for minors online and has earned support from major tech companies, including Facebook parent company Meta, Pinterest, and Snap. Pinterest CEO Bill Ready argues that one standard would simplify the process and reduce the confusion created by a patchwork of state requirements. “The need for a federal standard is urgent,” he said.

“I think most people at most of these companies probably do want to protect kids,” Sen. Lee said, adding that support from tech companies like Pinterest “makes a big difference.”

However, the proposal faces resistance from civil liberties groups and digital rights advocates. Critics warn that compulsory age verification could limit access to lawful online content, raising First Amendment concerns. They also cite significant privacy risks, arguing that systems requiring users to submit sensitive personal information could expose them to data breaches or misuse.

Some major websites have rejected attempts to enforce online age verification. Pornhub has withdrawn its services from states that require government-issued ID or similar credentials for access to adult material. The company argued that these laws push users toward unregulated platforms while forcing supposedly legitimate sites to collect data they would prefer not to hold.

In 2025, the Supreme Court upheld a state age-verification law for explicit content in Texas, with the majority concluding that states may require age checks to prevent minors from viewing harmful material.

Supporters of federal action contend that the ASA would avoid the growing compliance difficulties posed by differing state regulations. Sen. Lee has stated, “I don’t believe that there’s anything unlawful, unconstitutional, or otherwise problematic about this legislation,” arguing that an app-store-centered approach would reduce repeated verification across multiple platforms.

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Feds Launch New Marijuana-Focused Ad Campaign To ‘Challenge The Dangerous Belief’ That People Drive Better While High

The Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Ad Council are rolling out a new campaign to “challenge the dangerous belief that it’s safe to drive after consuming marijuana,” with a disturbing ad that they say depicts a real-life story of a child killed by a driver who was under the influence of cannabis.

In an announcement on Tuesday, the Ad Council promoted the “Tell That to Them” initiative, which includes a 60-second ad showing a person claiming they “focus” better when driving while high and then causing a fatal car accident.

“I actually drive better when I’m high,” the man says. “If anything, I’m more careful, more chill, more relaxed.”

He is then shown driving head-on into an incoming car.

DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) partnered with the Ad Council for the campaign.

“Too many young men think marijuana doesn’t affect their driving ability or even makes them safer drivers,” NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said in a press release. “That couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“Marijuana slows down a driver’s reaction time and impairs their coordination and judgement,” he said. “This new PSA reminds motorists that driving high puts us all at risk and can have deadly consequences.”

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Federal Judges Allow North Carolina to Use New GOP-Drawn Congressional Map

Federal judges in North Carolina allowed the state to use the newly drawn congressional map, which gives Republicans one extra seat in the House.

Two lawsuits were filed to block the North Carolina legislature from enacting the newly drawn map.

A three-judge panel of the US District Court of the Middle District of North Carolina denied requests for a preliminary injunction.

NBC News reported:

A federal court in North Carolina is allowing the state to use a new Republican-drawn congressional map that would help the GOP pick up another seat in the House during next year’s midterm elections.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina unanimously denied preliminary injunction requests brought by a pair of lawsuits that said in part that the new map was aimed at diluting the voting strength of Black voters, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The judges found that the challengers “presented no direct evidence” that the North Carola Legislature enacted the map for racially discriminatory purposes.

“Instead, the direct evidence shows that the 2025 redistricting was motivated by partisan purposes,” the panel wrote Wednesday in a 57-page opinion.

Wednesday’s ruling comes after the Republican-controlled North Carolina Legislature last month approved a map aimed at expanding the number of Republican seats in the House. North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, does not have the power to veto the map.

The challengers, in a pair of consolidated lawsuits, asked the court to block the state from using the new borders of two congressional districts for next year’s midterms.

Texas is also battling its newly redrawn congressional map in court and has asked the Supreme Court to halt the lower court’s ruling that blocked the new redraw.

Last Friday, Justice Alito paused the lower court’s ruling and temporarily restored Texas’s new congressional map.

In response to Texas’s redraw, California eliminated 5 House GOP seats.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against California and argued that its new congressional map is a result of unconstitutional race-based gerrymandering.

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Rep. Maria Salazar Says US Needs To Invade Venezuela So US Oil Companies Can Have a ‘Field Day’

Amid the US push toward a war to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) has made the argument that the US must “go in” to Venezuela so American oil companies can have a “field day” since the country sits on the largest proven oil reserves in the world.

“Venezuela, for those Americans who do not understand why we need to go in … Venezuela, for the American oil companies, will be a field day, because it will be more than a trillion dollars in economic activity,” Salazar, a Miami-born daughter of Cuban exiles, told Fox Business.

Salazar also said that the US must go to war with Venezuela because it has become the “launching pad” for people who “hate” the US, claiming Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas are active in the country. In one of the more absurd claims she made in the interview, Salazar said Maduro was “giving uranium to Hamas, and to Iran, and to North Korea, and Nicaragua.”

Salazar’s third reason for going to war with Venezuela is the claim that Maduro is the leader of the so-called Cartel of the Suns, or Cartel de los Soles, a group that doesn’t actually exist. The term was first used in the early 1990s to describe Venezuelan generals with sun insignias on their uniforms who were involved in cocaine trafficking and were actually working with the CIA at the time.

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GOP-Controlled Senate Committee Warns DC That Marijuana Is Federally Illegal, With ‘Enhanced Penalties’ For Sales Near Schools

GOP members of a powerful Senate committee are issuing a reminder that marijuana remains illegal under federal law and that the sale of cannabis near public schools and playgrounds can carry “enhanced penalties”—an issue they are specifically highlighting in relation to the location of dispensaries in Washington, D.C.

The Republican majority in the Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of a Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) spending bill and an attached report on Tuesday. As expected, the legislation itself retains a rider long championed by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) barring D.C. from using its tax dollars to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana sales, despite voters approving a ballot initiative to allow possession and home cultivation more than a decade ago.

In the report, a section on funding for “emergency planning and security costs” associated with the federal government’s presence in the District includes additional language related to cannabis enforcement and zoning issues.

Here’s the text of that section:

“Marijuana Dispensary Proximity to Schools—The Committee reminds the District that the distribution, manufacturing, and sale of marijuana remains illegal under Federal law, which includes enhanced penalties for such distribution within one thousand feet of a public or private elementary, vocational, or secondary school or public or private college, junior college, or university, or a playground, among other real property where children frequent.”

The report language is being released months after anti-marijuana organizations formally narced on several locally licensed cannabis businesses in D.C.—sending a letter to President Donald Trump, the U.S. attorney general and a federal prosecutor that identifies dispensaries they allege are too close to schools despite approval from District officials.

The groups said that while they were “pleased” to see former interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin “take initial steps against one of the worst offenders” by threatening a locally licensed medical marijuana dispensary with criminal prosecution back in March, “we have not seen any public progress since then.”

Martin, for his part, has since been tapped by Trump to serve as U.S. pardon attorney.

Meanwhile, the underlying FSGG spending bill put forward by the committee’s GOP majority would continue to prohibit D.C. from creating a regulated, commercial cannabis market.

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Amid fraud claims, campaign to end Mass. adult-use cannabis claims win

The controversial bid to end Massachusetts’ $1.6 billion annual adult-use marijuana industry claimed yet another significant early victory.

Amid widening accusations of voter fraud, the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts “is confident it has submitted enough signatures to put the question on the ballot” ahead of a Nov. 19 deadline, a campaign spokesperson told The Cannabis Business Times.

Ballot questions filed over the summer by lead sponsor Caroline Cunningham, a member of the state Republican Committee, seek to repeal Chapters 94G and 64N of the state’s General Laws.

If the “Act to Restore a Sensible Marijuana Policy” qualifies for the 2026 ballot and is approved by voters, adult-use cannabis retail sales would be outlawed in Massachusetts- though medical marijuana sales, home cultivation, and “gifting” between adults 21 and over would still be allowed.

Will Massachusetts vote to stop adult-use cannabis sales?

The campaign successfully collected a minimum of 74,574 signatures by Nov. 19 in order to qualify for a local vetting process ahead of another filing deadline Dec. 3, campaign spokesperson Wendy Wakeman told the Business Times.

Organizers have vowed to collect as many as 100,000 signatures.

And that’s despite mounting claims that signature-gatherers are using deceptive tactics to convince voters to sign the petition.

As MJBizDaily reported earlier this month, there are several accounts of campaign workers approaching voters while claiming the petition does something else, such as combat fentanyl or create housing.

Wakeman claimed in an MJBizDaily interview to have no knowledge or involvement with the alleged deceptive tactics. Campaign workers engaging in such behavior are volunteers and not paid signature gatherers, she said.

Cannabis industry advocates aren’t convinced.

Bid to stop Massachusetts adult-use marijuana sales accused of fraud

Such acts constitute voter fraud, according to the Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association, a statewide trade group.

It remains unclear what recourse cannabis advocates could pursue if the repeal campaign does indeed advance.

Using false claims to woo voters to sign is a protected free-speech activity under Massachusetts state law.

However, voters could petition local authorities to have their signatures removed and the petition disqualified if they feel they signed under false pretenses, elections observers have said.

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Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls

Elon Musk’s social media site X has rolled out a new feature in an effort to increase transparency—and unwittingly revealed that many of the site’s top MAGA influencers are actually foreign actors.

The new “About This Account” feature, which became available to X users on Friday, allows others to see where an account is based, when they joined the platform, how often they have changed their username, and how they downloaded the X app.

Upon rollout, rival factions began to inspect just where their online adversaries were really based on the combative social platform—with dozens of major MAGA and right-wing influencer accounts revealed to be based overseas.

“This is easily one of the greatest days on this platform,” wrote Democratic influencer Harry Sisson.

“Seeing all of these MAGA accounts get exposed as foreign actors trying to destroy the United States is a complete vindication of Democrats, like myself and many on here, who have been warning about this”.

Dozens of major accounts masquerading as “America First” or “MAGA” proponents have been identified as originating in places such as Russia, India, and Nigeria.

In one example, the account MAGANationX—with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading “Patriot Voice for We The People”—is actually based in Eastern Europe.

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Turning Point leader pleads guilty to attempted election fraud

Former Republican state legislator Austin Smith pleaded guilty Monday to what he previously called “ludicrous” charges that he personally forged more than 100 signatures on his petitions for reelection last year. 

The Republican from Surprise was a member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, which has a history of spreading false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election and pushed for election law changes in the state legislature. 

“As a part of his guilty plea today, Smith admitted signing the name of a deceased woman on one of his candidate nomination petitions in March of 2024,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement. “He also admitted that he attempted to deceive the Secretary of State’s Office by knowingly filing petitions containing forged signatures of purported supporters of his nomination for the Republican primary for State Representative from LD 29.”

Smith pleaded guilty to one count of attempted fraudulent schemes and practices, an undesignated offense, and to one count of illegal signing of an election petition, a misdemeanor. 

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North Dakota court reverses judge’s ruling that legalized abortion

The North Dakota Supreme Court has reinstated the state’s abortion ban, overturning a previous ruling from a judge finding it unconstitutional.

The new decision makes it a felony crime to perform an abortion, with abortion providers facing as many as five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Patients are protected from prosecution, however.

North Dakota initially moved to ban abortion after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade. This prompted the state’s one abortion provider, Red River Women’s Clinic, to move from Fargo to Moorhead, Minnesota.

The state passed a near-total ban in 2023, before it was struck down by State District Judge Bruce Romanick, ruling that it was unconstitutionally vague.

According to the North Dakota Constitution, at least four of the five justices to agree for a law to be deemed unconstitutional. Three justices believed that the law was vague on whether it was constitutional. The other two said that the law is not unconstitutional.

Justice Jerod Tufte wrote in his opinion that the natural rights granted by the state constitution do not extend to abortion, and that the law “provides adequate and fair warning to those attempting to comply.”

Those who opposed the higher court’s decision ironically called it “a devastating loss for pregnant North Dakotans.”

“As a majority of the Court found, this cruel and confusing ban is incomprehensible to physicians. The ban forces doctors to choose between providing care and going to prison,” Center for Reproductive Rights senior staff attorney Meetra Mehdizadeh said. “Abortion is healthcare, and North Dakotans deserve to be able to access this care without delay caused by confusion about what the law allows.”

Republicans praised the decision, however.

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An Intriguing Detail Emerges that Likely Explains the Exact Date Marjorie Taylor Greene has Chosen to Officially Resign from Congress

A fascinating detail has come into focus that almost certainly explains the exact timing of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation from Congress and raises questions about her true motivations for quitting.

As The Gateway Pundit’s Cassandra Macdonald reported, MTG declared in a stunning Friday night announcement that she is resigning from Congress effective January 5, 2026.

MTG posted a nearly 11-minute video and a four-page signed resignation letter to X, confirming the end of her five-year tenure representing Georgia’s 14th District.

The dramatic exit comes after Greene repeatedly demanded the immediate public release of the Jeffrey Epstein client list and files, which led to her being scolded and unendorsed by President Donald Trump in a series of posts to Truth Social.

“I’m going back to the people I love, to live life to the fullest as I always have, and look forward to a new path ahead. I will be resigning from office with my last day being January 5, 2026,” she said.

Following the news of MTG’s announcement, several Capitol Hill reporters noted that she timed her announcement JUST IN TIME for her to receive her federal pension.

Was it really just all about the money?

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