Tag: south carolina

‘The People Showed Up’: South Carolina Lawmakers Side With Parental Choice in Two Vaccine Votes

South Carolina senators clashed Wednesday over childhood vaccination policy, but ultimately sided with parental choice in two key votes, the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported.

A Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee voted 7-1 to advance legislation prohibiting vaccine mandates for children under age 2.

Minutes later, the panel voted 6-2 to reject a separate proposal that would have removed religious exemptions for the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Advocacy groups supporting parental rights called the outcome a major statement on constitutional protections.

“Yesterday was a remarkable day for South Carolinians — and a reminder to the rest of the nation and the world that constitutional rights still matter,” Andrea Lamont Nazarenko, Ph.D., of the South Carolina Health Rights Cooperative said in a joint statement with Ashley Jones and Christi Dixon of South Carolina Family First.

“At a time when inalienable liberties are increasingly restricted in the name of public health, the South Carolina Senate made it clear: not here,” the groups said.

Dawn Richardson, director of advocacy for the National Vaccine Information Center, said the decision to halt the MMR proposal sends a broader message about vaccine mandates.

“It sends a strong message nationally that forced vaccination with the MMR or any vaccine holds no legitimate place in health policy or law in the U.S.,” she said. “Vaccine mandates need to be repealed, not entrenched.”

The debate unfolded amid South Carolina’s largest measles outbreak in decades. State health officials reported 990 measles cases as of March 3.

Linda Bell, the state’s epidemiologist, told lawmakers that about 95% of measles cases involve unvaccinated people. She said infections appear to be slowing after a surge in vaccinations last month, which rose about 70% compared with February 2025.

Federal health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected to arrive next week to help contain the outbreak, according to Reuters.

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A Barely Coherent Joe Biden Tells South Carolina Crowd That HE Closed the Border – NOT Trump 

Joe Biden slammed President Trump on Friday evening during a political event in South Carolina.

“We’re honored to welcome President Joe Biden to Columbia on Friday, February 27, for a reception commemorating his pivotal 2020 South Carolina primary victory and thank him for a lifetime of public service,” The South Carolina Democrat Party said.

Joe Biden was a mess when he deplaned in South Carolina.

He wandered over to a woman in a wheelchair, took her phone and froze up before an aide intervened.

Later Friday evening Joe Biden delivered remarks at an event hosted by the South Carolina Democrat Party at the Columbia Museum of Art.

Biden slammed President Trump and blamed Covid for the border crisis during his speech.

Joe Biden absurdly claimed that HE closed the border – NOT President Trump.

“The day I left office, border crossings in the United States were lower than the day that I entered that office and inherited from Trump. He’s – I won’t say it,” Biden said.

“On the day I left office, I handed Trump the strongest economy in the world! In the world! And that’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact!” Biden said even though near record inflation was crushing Americans in January 2025.

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50,000-Year-Old Artifacts Unearthed at Controversial Archaeological Site Could Rewrite the Early Prehistory of the Americas

American archaeology is a discipline in constant flux. Over the last half-century, conventional attitudes about the arrival of humans in North America have undergone repeated shifts, with estimates of the earliest human activity continually pushed back to more distant times.

However, discoveries stemming from one controversial archaeological site in the American Southeast, if confirmed, could extend present timelines for human arrival in the New World by several tens of thousands of years, adding to a growing number of findings in recent years that are reshaping our understanding of the early Americas.

The First Americans

For many decades, the long-established chronological marker for America’s first arrivals centered on discoveries made near Clovis, New Mexico, including expertly crafted “fluted” spear points and other artifacts, which served as the type site for America’s earliest definitive cultural manifestation. The resulting “Clovis First” theory reigned for most of the 20th century, arguing that America’s first inhabitants made their way across an ice-free Beringian land corridor somewhere around 13,000 years ago.

However, by the 1970s, a new phenomenon in American archaeology had begun to emerge: sites suggesting that even earlier arrivals may have occurred. With time, locations like Meadowcroft Rock Shelter in Washington County, Pennsylvania, the Monte Verde site in Chile, and several others in North and South America would carry the idea of a “pre-Clovis” presence in the Americas from being an anachronistic gadfly for archaeologists, to eventually becoming an accepted reality.

Today, more recent discoveries, including ancient human fossil footprints at sites like White Sands in New Mexico, have extended the now well-accepted earlier-than-Clovis timeline even further back, with confirmed dates revealing a human presence there by as early as 21,000 to 23,000 years ago. This, along with growing genetic evidence, new models of possible coastal migration routes, and other data, continues to help archaeologists assemble a broader picture of America’s first inhabitants and a far deeper timeline for their arrival than most would have ever expected.

Yet while discoveries like those at White Sands unequivocally demonstrate a human presence in the Americas by around 23,000 years ago, there are still other sites that challenge even those remarkably early dates for human arrivals in the New World—dates which, if ever confirmed, would introduce even greater challenges to our existing knowledge of the ancient Americas.

The Topper Site

Few other proposed pre-Clovis archaeological sites have aroused as much controversy as the Topper Site in Allendale County, South Carolina.

An ancient chert quarry, the site was initially identified by Albert Goodyear, Ph.D., now a semi-retired professor of archaeology at the University of South Carolina, more than four decades ago. During the late Pleistocene American Paleoindian period, some of America’s earliest inhabitants relied on the abundant Allendale Coastal Plain chert rock nodules at the location for crafting ancient stone tools, which included the distinctive fluted projectiles now associated with the Clovis cultural manifestation.

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Republican who said trans healthcare ‘harms’ kids gets lengthy sentence for child sex abuse imagery

A former South Carolina Republican lawmaker and member of the ultra-Conservative Freedom Caucus, who supported drag and trans healthcare bans “to protect childhood innocence”, has been handed a nearly two decade prison sentence for distributing vile child sexual abuse material.

Robert John May III, known as ‘RJ’ , 38, had represented the state’s 88th district in the House of Representatives since November 2020 but resigned from his seat in August 2025 after he was arrested and charged two months earlier with 10 counts of distributing sexual abuse material involving children. In September, May subsequently pleaded guilty to the charges.

During his time in office May was outspoken against gender-affirming care, trans inclusion in sports and drag performances, and was listed as a speaker at Mom’s for Liberty’s Reclaiming Education in America event in 2022. Many of his concerns about LGBTQ+ topics were cited in regards to child safety.

On Wednesday (14 January), May was handed a 17.5 year sentence in federal prison by US District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, a term that was slightly less than the 20 years prosecutors requested but much longer than the five years the former lawmaker requested for himself.

Currie said May was given a higher sentence than the average for similar charges because the content he disseminated was the “most severe the court had seen”.

Following his release from prison, May will have to spend another 20 years under supervised release, with federal parole officers monitoring his actions to be sure he doesn’t reoffend. He was also ordered to pay $58,500 in restitution to eight victims who the authorities identified and will be required to register as a sex offender for life.

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OUTRAGEOUS! Illegal Alien From El Salvador Gets Only One Year in Prison After Killing University of South Carolina Student

An illegal alien from El Salvador was sentenced to only one year in prison after he killed a University of South Carolina student in a hit-and-run crash.

On April 2, Rosali Fernandez-Cruz, 24, struck 21-year-old Nathaniel Baker, who was riding a motorcycle. Fernandez-Cruz reportedly did not yield, struck Baker and took off.

Baker’s family reportedly forgave Fernandez-Cruz and were consulted about the light sentence, Robert Kittle, spokesperson for the state attorney general’s office told Fox News.

A judge imposed a lenient sentence of only one year in prison.

The family did not want the case to be “politicized” or “publicized,” according to Kittle.

Fernandez-Cruz will be deported to El Salvador after he serves his sentence.

Fox News reported:

An illegal immigrant who pleaded guilty to killing a South Carolina college student in a hit-and-run will be released next year after completing his one-year sentence.

Rosali Fernandez-Cruz was admitted to the state Department of Corrections on Aug. 14, 2025, according to South Carolina Department of Corrections records.

His projected release date is March 2, 2026. Fernandez-Cruz pleaded guilty to hit-and-run resulting in death — the most serious charge against him — according to Robert Kittle, communications director for the state attorney general’s office, who spoke with Fox News Digital.

There was no plea agreement, and prosecutors informed the judge of other traffic-related charges against Fernandez-Cruz, Kittle said.

“The judge decided the sentence, which was one year,” he said.

Fernandez-Cruz, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, received the light sentence for the April 2 death of Nathaniel Baker, 21, in Columbia. Baker was a junior at the University of South Carolina and a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

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South Carolina Authorities Say There is “No Evidence” of Arson as Democrats Blame Trump, Stephen Miller and MAGA After Judge’s House Explodes, Burns Down

There is no evidence of arson as Democrats blamed President Trump, Stephen Miller and MAGA after South Carolina circuit court judge Diane Goodstein’s house exploded and burned down over the weekend.

“At this time, there is no evidence to indicate the fire was intentionally set. SLED agents have preliminarily found there is no evidence to support a pre-fire explosion,” a statement from State Law Enforcement Division said.

South Carolina Judge Diane Goodstein and Former State Senator Arnold Goodstein’s beachfront home in Edisto Island was burned to the ground on Saturday, sending three family members to the hospital.

St. Paul’s Fire District released a statement on the fire:

The SPFD received reports of a structure with entrapment on Edisto Island from our automatic aid partners, Edisto Beach Fire Department. Engine 1403 and Tender 1403 along with Battalion 1407 were first due followed by Edisto Beach Engine 14 and Ladder 14.

Due to our strong working relationship with the EBFD, crews went right to work extinguishing the fire and looking for occupants. This area is located on a barrier island with significant challenges such as limited water supply and tight areas.

The first arriving crews worked flawlessly together to ensure the safety of the occupants which escaped via jumping from and elevated first floor. Due to the remoteness and layout of the lot, the occupants had to be rescued from the backyard via kayaks and brought to Colleton County EMS where they received medical aid.

Democrat hacks like Rep. Dan Goldman immediately blamed Stephen Miller and “MAGA world” for the house fire.

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“You Pissed Off the Wrong Daddy!” – Father of College Coed Logan Federico Who Was Executed by Career Criminal GOES OFF on Democrats 

Steve Federico, father of Logan Federico, the young woman who was executed by a career criminal in a South Carolina home earlier this year, went off on Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies during a testimony on Monday morning.

As previously reported, a beautiful 22-year-old college student was fatally shot inside a Columbia, South Carolina, rental home earlier this year by a career criminal who was “on a spree of thefts, break-ins and credit card fraud,” the Columbia Police Department said.

In May, Logan Federico, a college student from Waxhaw, North Carolina, was spending the weekend at a rental home with friends in South Carolina when she was senselessly murdered by a career criminal.

After stealing firearms and credit cards from a nearby home, 30-year-old Alexander Dickey broke into the Columbia rental home, entered Logan Federico’s room, and executed her while she was on her knees begging for her life.

Dickey fled the scene in a stolen vehicle and allegedly used stolen credit cards taken from the nearby home.

Police pursued Dickey after he fled into the woods. He reportedly broke into another home and set it on fire before police took him into custody after a standoff in Gaston.

Dickey was charged with murder, two counts of first-degree burglary, weapons possession, and larceny.

Alexander Dickey is a convicted felon with a lengthy criminal rap sheet.

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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. Mace’s office bombarded with threats after Charlie Kirk’s assassination

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace reported Friday that her office was inundated with “hundreds of hateful and threatening phone calls” over the last two days following the assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

Mace, a Republican who represents South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, said the surge of calls began within hours of Kirk’s killing and has continued. She attributed the threats to people upset about her political views and said her staff is documenting and reporting all of the calls to the U.S. Capitol Police.

“The hate pouring into our office from Democrats is vile, evil, and unhinged,” Mace said in a statement. “Instead of serving veterans, seniors, and families who need real help, our office is stuck listening to deranged rants from the party of hate. Every threat is being recorded, every threat is being reported, and no amount of rage from the left will silence us.”

The volume of threats has forced her office to send all incoming calls to voicemail, Mace said, which has limited [the] staff’s ability to return calls or process new casework requests for constituents needing federal services such as help with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the IRS, Social Security or Medicare.

“No staff member should have to sit in fear, wondering if the next call is a constituent needing help or another unhinged extremist making threats,” Mace’s office said in a statement. “This harassment isn’t just hurting the office; it’s hurting the people of the Lowcountry.”

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Supreme Court rejects South Carolina’s bid to enforce transgender bathroom ban

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to take up an application from South Carolina seeking to enforce its ban on students using public school bathrooms that match their gender identity.

The brief, unsigned order represents a small setback for the state in its bid to tighten policies related to transgender people. However, a lawsuit on the matter will still proceed in the lower courts. Three Republican-appointed justices, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, would have granted South Carolina’s request.

The order from the high court comes after a federal appeals court had temporarily enjoined the state from enforcing its law while the case plays out. The state wanted the Supreme Court to lift that injunction temporarily.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit had granted the injunction at the request of a ninth-grader who wanted to use the boys’ bathroom, which didn’t correspond to the student’s sex.

Attorneys for the student, identified as John Doe in the lawsuit, argued to the high court that an emergency pause on the Fourth Circuit’s order was not warranted given the lawsuit centered on only one student. No other students have taken issue with John Doe using the boys’ restroom, the attorneys noted.

“Indeed, no student has ever complained about sharing boys’ restrooms with John, who has dressed and presented as a boy since he was a young child,” the attorneys wrote.

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