Tag: republicans

Ex-Republican South Carolina House member admits to distributing hundreds of child sex abuse videos

Former Republican South Carolina Rep. RJ May admitted in court Monday that he sent hundreds of videos of children being sexually abused to people across the country on social media.

May pleaded guilty to what prosecutors in court papers called a “five-day child pornography spree” in the spring of 2024.

May, who resigned earlier this year, is accused of using the screen name “joebidennnn69” to exchange 220 different files of toddlers and young children involved in sex acts on the Kik social media network, according to court documents that graphically detailed the videos.

“Bear with me. This is very hard to read,” U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling said as he haltingly read a brief description of each video for television reporters outside of court since cameras aren’t allowed in federal courtrooms.

May, 38, pleaded guilty to five counts of distributing the videos and faces five to 20 years in prison on each charge. He will have to register as a sex offender and could be fined up to $250,000, according to his plea agreement.

The five counts represented the worst videos May shared, Stirling said.

Felony convictions bar May from voting or having a weapon

The felony convictions means the political consultant and National Rifle Association member cannot vote, hold public office, carry a gun or serve on a jury the rest of his life.

May’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 14 — the second day of the South Carolina legislature’s 2026 session.

The evidence against May included logs of his laptop and cellphone use, showing he was uploading and downloading the child sexual abuse videos at the same time he was emailing work files, making phone calls, doing web searches and messaging someone on Kik asking for “Bad moms. Bad dads. Bad pre teens.”

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Drops Chilling Warning: ‘I’m Not Suicidal — If Something Happens to Me, Find Out Which Foreign Government or Powerful People Would Take Heinous Actions to Stop the Information from Coming Out’

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) issued a stunning and ominous warning on Saturday, saying that she is “not suicidal” and calling on Americans to demand answers if “foreign governments or powerful people” try to stop her from exposing the truth about the Jeffrey Epstein pedophile network and the political establishment that protected it.

Earlier this month, Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) vowed to publicly expose the names of the pedophiles, enablers, and conspirators involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring after victims deliver a list to lawmakers.

A group of victims, hosted by Greene, Massie, and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), broke decades of silence at a press conference, stepping forward to demand justice, transparency, and accountability from the government.

Rep. Massie filed a discharge petition to force a full House vote on the Epstein Transparency Act. This would force the Department of Justice to release almost all documents related to the Epstein investigation, with certain information redacted, including victims’ personal identifying information.

Greene took to X to make her position crystal clear on her support for the Massie–Epstein discharge petition, which calls for a full release of Epstein-related documents.

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Massie Secures House Vote to Release Epstein Files, Defying GOP Leadership and Unleashing Grassroots Fury

Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie is turning up the heat on Washington’s most sensitive secrets, claiming he’s just shy of forcing a public vote to release the federal investigation files on Jeffrey Epstein—the notorious sex offender and financier whose web of blackmail left the country’s ruling class sweating bullets.

Massie’s campaign, derided by party bosses but cheered by Epstein’s victims, now rides the momentum of the Arizona special election which sent Democratic candidate Adelita Grijalva to Congress—Grijalva promised to sign Massie’s petition, giving him the magic number: 218.

Washington Panic Over Epstein Files

At a community forum in northeastern Kentucky, Massie didn’t mince words. Both Arizona candidates pledged their support, and with Grijalva’s victory, the discharge petition is locked and loaded. Now, as Massie put it, not even Republican leadership can duck responsibility: “We’re going to force a vote on releasing those files.”

But the Republican congressional brass, led by Speaker Mike Johnson and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, want no part of this grassroots insurrection. Massie says party leadership is “in full panic,” with pressure and threats raining down on co-signers.

According to Massie, any attempt to use obscure parliamentary gimmicks to block the vote would itself require 218 representatives—throwing everyone into the headlights: “If you participate in that vote to sideline the discharge petition, now you’re part of the coverup.”

Hall passes? “This is an 80-20 issue,” Massie said, suggesting Speaker Johnson might let some members side with transparency—if only to save face with angry constituents.

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WI Republican Linked To Explicit Trans Account Was A Trump-Dissing RINO Who Pushed Leftist Election Rules

AWisconsin RINO who appears to have a penchant for “sexually explicit” material — and a connection to a trans porn site — has dropped out of the Badger State governor’s race. 

Whitefish Bay businessman Bill Berrien, who also had a past dalliance with the disastrously kinky election method known as ranked-choice voting, quit Friday following reports linking the candidate to several “sexually explicit accounts” on social media. He apparently connected to said accounts through the platform Medium, where he followed Jiz Lee, a “trans” sex peddler, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported earlier this week. 

Berrien reportedly followed “publications” on Medium such as “Sexography,” which bills itself as “An inclusive place for people to talk about and explore #sexuality from all orientations, cultures, and perspectives.” 

‘Very Intellectually Curious’

Announcing his decision to leave the race, Berrien said his campaign was “gaining traction” until “the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published this week two articles clearly targeted to force me out of the race.”

It’s all a misunderstanding, the former candidate claimed after his connections to many of the “sexually explicit social media accounts” were reportedly scrubbed. He’s a “very intellectually curious” guy. He said he listens to podcasts and is “constantly trying to take in new information, trying to learn something new.” To that end, Berrien said he follows more than 5,000 people across many platforms, subscribes to more than 100 newsletters, and has liked “perhaps 20,000 different articles or postings.” 

“I thought it was a strength to read very widely and show a broad intellectual interest,” Berrien wrote in his farewell. “[T]he media cherry-picked a handful of individuals and written articles that came across my feed that I then followed (without the faintest clue as to an author’s lifestyle choices!) 6 or 7 years ago …”

“Lee, the trans porn star … has been on Medium since 2015 and has 1,500 followers,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Lee only has one post on Medium from 2015 titled “Ethical Porn Starts When We Pay for It,” an article for which Berrien reportedly expressed support on the platform. Lee’s Medium page currently “directs people to [his] personal website,” which is updated “fairly regularly.”

Berrien’s campaign officials confirmed to the Journal Sentinel that the former candidate set up his Medium account in 2018 but used it “rarely” since 2019. However, his spectrum of learning apparently took Berrien to “Polyamory Today,” a forum that celebrates multiple sexual partners, presumably outside their primary relationship. 

On Tuesday, Lee, who “identifies” as nonbinary, posted an angry message on Bluesky above an article on Berrien. 

“It’s okay to follow trans porn stars. It’s okay to read articles about sex and relationships. What’s not okay is the hypocrisy of backing forceful legislation that restricts what people, trans and otherwise, can do with their own bodies. That is shameful,” scolded the porn pusher.

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Bipartisan Lawmakers Say Hemp THC Ban In Spending Bill Violates Congressional Rules, As They Prepare New Measure To Regulate Market

Bipartisan House lawmakers are pushing back against attempts to ban hemp THC products, arguing that it would “deal a fatal blow” to the industry and, as currently included in a spending bill, violates congressional rules. To that end, the members say there are plans in the works to introduce an alternative measure to regulate the market.

In a letter sent to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Friday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and 26 other members said the appropriations legislation that’s advancing in the House with the hemp ban provisions intact would upend the industry that’s emerged since the crop was legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.

While the Senate ultimately stripped similar language from its version of the agriculture spending measure following a procedural protest from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), there’s still concern among stakeholders that it could wind up in the final package delivered to the president following bicameral negotiations.

If that were to happen, the lawmakers wrote that “it would deal a fatal blow to American farmers supplying the regulated hemp industry and small businesses, and jeopardize tens of billions of dollars in economic activity around the country.”

“Additionally, there are serious procedural concerns with how the language ended up in these bills,” they said. “This language has not been considered in a markup or hearing by any relevant authorizing committee and there was no public forum for members to express concerns with this language and preferred alternative legislation more appropriate for the relevant authorizing committees.”

Specifically, the letter says the inclusion of the hemp provisions in the House bill “clearly violates” a rule prohibiting language that changes existing law through general appropriations legislation.

“Perhaps most concerning is the characterization by proponents of this language that the bill will not negatively impact the industrial hemp industry,” it says, referring to comments from certain legislators such as Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who have championed the controversial proposal.

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Free Speech Reparations? Lawmaker introduces bill making feds personally liable for quashing speech

Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., said Wednesday that she is introducing legislation that would allow Americans to file a lawsuit against employees of the federal government for violating their First Amendment rights. 

“I have introduced the First Amendment Accountability Act,” Hageman said on the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show.

The legislation would allow federal employees who violate citizens’ freedom of religion, press, assembly or speech to be held personally liable for damages, an injunction or attorneys’ fees. 

“A Federal employee who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of the United States, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or any person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the First Amendment, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress,” H.R. 162 reads. 

The catch: Immunity for responsible government actors

Currently, Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act says that every person who, under color of government, subjects any citizen of the United States to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law.

Thus, a deprivation of First Amendment rights — an enumerated right in the Constitution — is often redressed through civil suits. One notable example is Tinker v. DesMoines, where school officials punished students for wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. Supreme Court Justice Fortas famously said in the 1969 case that “students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech at the schoolhouse gate. Students had the right to freedom of expression of their views, even controversial views, as long as it remained peaceful.”

But there’s a catch: the doctrine of “qualified immunity” generally protects state and local officials, including law enforcement officers, from individual liability. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in 1967, the Supreme Court recognized qualified immunity as a defense to §1983 claims. 

So, while the DesMoines School District could be held liable, the individual school administrators who issued the unconstitutional orders got off without facing personal liability.

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Mother of Alleged Sniper Who Attacked Dallas ICE Criticized Republicans for Not Supporting Gun Control

The mother of the 29-year-old alleged sniper who opened fire on Dallas ICE Wednesday morning “posted a series of anti-gun rants against Republicans” years ago, according to the New York Post.

Breitbart News noted that the shooting occurred Wednesday morning, around 6:40 a.m., leaving one victim dead and two injured.

The alleged shooter, the aforementioned 29-year-old, took his own life.

On Wednesday afternoon, the New York Post reported that the 29-year-old’s mother allegedly “posted a series of anti-gun rants on Facebook aimed at Republican lawmakers just a few years ago.”

The Post pointed to a Facebook post the 29-year-old’s mother allegedly posted days after the May 24, 2022 Uvalde school shooting, blasting the lack of gun control support from Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Sens. Ted Cruz (R) and John Cornyn (R).

She allegedly wrote: “May be you be reminded of the deaths every time you spend that precious blood money you have received from the gun lobby. Hope you think of it 100% when you attend the NRA meeting in a few days.”

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Tim Walz: ‘Not Acceptable’ that Minnesota Republicans Refuse to ‘Vote on Gun Bans’

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) gave an update on his most recent state-level gun control push, claiming it is “not acceptable” that Republican members of the legislature refuse to “vote on gun bans.”

FOX 9 reported Walz’s comments, in which he said, “I guess there is a line in the sand. I was told by Republican leadership that there would never be a vote on guns, there wouldn’t be a vote on gun bans.”

He said the Republican position is “not acceptable” and not the kind of “compromise” he wanted from lawmakers.

Walz went on to say he believes the Republican legislators are now being called by families from Annunciation Catholic school–which was attacked by a transgender shooter August 27–and he hopes that results in Republicans coming to the table.

Breitbart News noted that Walz held a presser outside a Minnesota elementary school on September 2 where he said he would be calling up the legislature for an emergency gun control session. FOX 9 quoted Walz saying, “The thing that makes America unique in terms of shootings is we just have more guns and the wrong types of guns are on the streets.”

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“We’re Done Discussing”: Biden Civil Rights Chair Clings to Power With Help From GOP Appointee

A Joe Biden appointee, with the help of fellow Democrat commissioners and one Republican-appointed commissioner, clung to power as chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, blocking a vote Friday on President Donald Trump’s designees to lead the commission.

In January, Trump designated two-decade veteran Republican commissioner Peter Kirsanow to be the new chairman of the Civil Rights Commission, replacing Rochelle Garza, who was appointed chair by Biden in 2023. Garza was the losing Democrat candidate for Texas attorney general in 2022.

The president also designated Commissioner Stephen Gilchrist to be the vice chair and named Carissa Mulder, a staffer for Kirsanow, to be the new staff director of the commission.

However, Garza has declined to step down as chair and didn’t allow a vote on a new chairman and vice chairman. While the president designates who among the commissioners he wants to lead the commission, the commissioners actually vote on the two positions.

The commission has eight members, split evenly among Republican and Democrat appointees. Four members are appointed by the president, two are appointed by the House, and two are appointed by the Senate. The commission was established in 1957 with the task of investigating and reporting on important civil rights issues.

At Friday’s meeting, Republican-appointed Commissioner J. Christian Adams moved to vote on all three Trump designees—Kirsanow, Gilchrist, and Mulder. He first moved to vote on Mulder.

“On Aug. 6, we received word that the president has nominated Carissa Mulder to be the staff director,” Adams said. “As everybody knows, there’s been a vacancy in this position all year long, since the inauguration.”

Garza cited procedural grounds to block Adams’ motion.

“We’re done discussing. I’ve already ruled the motion out of order,” Garza said. “The statute requires that the president request a concurrence from the commissioners, and our policies, our procedures, the statute requires a formal communication that indicates that.”

Adams responded that the White House did, in fact, notify the commission.

Vice Chair Victoria Nourse, also a Biden appointee, jumped in to say, “Everybody who’s on this commission knows it’s a first-year class that requires actual official notice, not just hearing through the grapevine.”

Adams, the president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, took exception to the characterization, saying, “That isn’t what happened. Come on. There was a written notice.”

“If we want to pretend that we didn’t hear about it, let’s just keep pretending, and we’ll let consequences fall where we might,” Adams said.

Garza appeared to grow upset and replied, “That sounds very threatening.”

“It wasn’t a threat. It’s reality,” Adams said. “The president has designated a staff director. But you don’t even want to allow a vote.”

The three other Democrat appointees on the commission voted to support Garza’s ruling to not vote for Trump’s choice of Mulder for staff director. Gail Heriot—appointed to the commission by Senate Republican leadership—abstained.

Though appointed and reappointed by Republicans since 2007, Heriot is listed as an independent on the commission website.

Adams made another motion to add a vote for the chair and vice chair to the agenda. This time, Heriot went a step further and voted with Democrats to kill the motion.

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Democratic Congresswoman Calls Out GOP Colleague’s Marijuana Arrest As He Works To Upend D.C. Sentencing Reform Law

A Democratic congresswoman is accusing a Republican lawmaker of hypocrisy for sponsoring legislation to upend a Washington, D.C. sentencing reform law when his own charge for marijuana possession in his youth was dismissed under a court’s discretion.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday took up bills targeting D.C. policies that recently advanced through the Oversight and Government Accountability. That included a measure titled the DC Crimes Act from Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), which would restrict the District’s ability to enact sentencing reform.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) said the GOP congressman’s push for the legislation represents a double standard given his own personal history with cannabis criminalization as a young adult and whose case was dismissed, enabling him to reach Capitol Hill.

“As a young man, he went through pretrial diversion for misdemeanor marijuana possession,” Crockett said. “As an adult yet younger than 24, he was placed on felony robbery charges, which ultimately, too, were expunged.”

“As I sat and listened to the beginning of this debate, my heart simply broke. And many people know me for being able to do alliterations, and all I could think about was ‘amnesia allows adolescent accountability avoidance, agility from across the aisle,’” she said.

“Work with me for a second: Imagine being a young man born to Jamaican and Panamanian parents who messed up not once but twice. Imagine standing in front of a judge with your life hanging in balance, and instead of prison you’re given a promise of mercy. Your record is wiped clean, and you’ve got a second chance at life. Imagine turning that into a promotion and you go to college and get a job and even become a member of Congress. That’s what redemption looks like.”

“That’s what America is supposed to be about. And that is exactly the story of the next wannabe governor from Florida, as a young man, he went through,” the congresswoman said, referring to Donalds.

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