- “You Will Own Nothing, And You Will Love It”-- Says The Fascist, Klaus Schwab And His Globalist “World Economic Forum” - Part 2
- From Sea to Shining Sea, Federal Land Control?
- The Morgan and Timmons Firey Faceoff in SC’s 4th Congressional District Race
- Is US Rep. William Timmons Bloating His Voting Record with Out-of-State Proxies?
- “You Will Own Nothing, And You Will Love It”-- Says The Fascist, Klaus Schwab And His Globalist “World Economic Forum” - Part 1
- Fourth District Republican Club Hosts British Consul General
- Audacy Announces All-Star Lineup on 98.9 WORD
- Tucker Carlson Interview of Vladimir Putin - Part 5
- 2024 Election Interference
- Tucker Carlson Interview of Vladimir Putin - Part 7
- Are We Living In Taylor Caldwell’s “Honoria”? It Appears We Are!
- Tucker Carlson Interview of Vladimir Putin - Part 6
- Satan’s War On People Of Faith Is Still Raging!
- Biden Administration Crushes Religious Freedom and the 1st Amendment by Banning Religious Symbols and Religious Themes at Annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House on Monday
- Mr. Howell Clyborne of Integral Leaders in Health will be First Monday's Speaker April 8th at 12 noon at the Poinsett Club
Zoned Out: Why a Small SC Business Might be Forced to Close
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
In less than three months, Jeremy Sark’s U-Haul dealership on North Main Street in the city of Mauldin could close after nine years in operation.
But it’s not by choice.
Although his automotive repair shop, called Sarks Automotive, can stay open at the same location, a city zoning change would require him to move his U-Haul business to another part of the city of about 26,000 residents, located between Greenville and Simpsonville.
The current zoning ordinance, which the Mauldin City Council approved amending in January, would ban the rental or sale of “moving trucks, trailers, intermodal containers and temporary portable storage units” in areas not zoned “S-1” after Dec. 31 of this year. Sark’s U-Haul truck-and-trailer rental business currently is in a different zoning district.
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Businesses with ‘Deep Pockets’ Targeted in SC Lawsuits
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
A longstanding South Carolina law can result in big verdicts against defendants in civil cases, with critics contending it often is used to target successful businesses that had relatively little fault.
Attention to the “joint-and-several” liability law has been heightened in recent months with a high-profile, wrongful-death case involving once-prominent Hampton County attorney Alex Murdaugh, who also is facing murder charges in the shooting deaths of his wife and son – part of an ongoing legal saga that has captivated the nation.
Critics say the state law, which was last amended in 2005, is unfair to businesses named as defendants in lawsuits because they can be required to pay entire verdicts even if they were far less than responsible for the alleged wrongs. Supporters contend the law was intended to allow plaintiffs to collect the full amount of awarded damages.
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Many SC Voters Favor Bigger State Reserves. Will They Approve It This Year?
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
South Carolina voters in November will decide whether to approve constitutional amendments to increase the state’s two “rainy-day” funds, though a just-released poll casts doubt on their passage.
The statewide poll by the South Carolina Policy Council – The Nerve’s parent organization – found that a plurality of voters indicated general support for the proposals when explained in plain language.
But the total expressed support didn’t break the 50% mark and dropped noticeably when voters were given the exact text of the amendments as it will appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
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SC Joins National Battles Over ESG Power Plays
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
South Carolina is among a group of states investigating a major investment management and ratings company for potential violations connected to liberal environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities, The Nerve has confirmed.
Last week, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced that 18 other state attorneys general had joined his state’s investigation of Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. and its subsidiary, Sustainalytics.
“These ESG investing firms are playing politics with pensions and real people’s livelihoods,” Schmitt said in a prepared statement.
The release didn’t identify the 18 other states. In a written statement last week to The Nerve, Robert Kittle, spokesman for Republican S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson, said the S.C. Attorney General’s Office “signed onto that,” though he declined further comment, citing the pending investigation and referring The Nerve to Schmitt’s release.
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Idaho Supreme Court Will Allow Abortion Bans to Take Effect
- By Christian Newswire
BOISE, Idaho -- The Idaho Supreme Court ruled it will not block Idaho's abortion bans while legal challenges continue to play out.
The civil enforcement mechanism of Idaho's Heartbeat Law takes effect immediately with Idaho's Trigger Law set to take effect on August 25.
Stanton CEO and Founder, Brandi Swindell, states:
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Scott Pushes Unspent Covid Funds for School Choice Options
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
More than a year after the federal government’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus-relief plan became law, South Carolina’s public school districts have spent relatively little of their share of the money, state records show.
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott believes lower-income parents nationwide should be able to use the unspent federal education dollars to help their children recover from learning losses resulting from the pandemic. That would include covering tuition at private schools under his bill introduced last week.
“States and school districts have only spent a fraction of the education funds they received through the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan – leaving kids helpless as they struggle to recover from academic setbacks,” the South Carolina Republican said in a prepared statement. “It’s clear that big-government bailouts won’t solve our education crisis.”
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Short-term Rental Owners, Managers Worry About Discrimination
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Editor’s Note: Today’s story is the second of two initial articles on short-term rentals in South Carolina. The other story can be found here.
For Graeme Moore, the city of Columbia’s proposal to effectively ban short-term rentals in residential areas is personal to him.
Moore, who operates a Columbia real estate firm, says he’s watching the debate closely because he owns a short-term rental house next to his Columbia home.
“A lot of people do this for primary income,” Moore told The Nerve when contacted recently. “That’s not why we do it necessarily, but it helps pay for the house.”
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Property Rights at Center of Battles Over Short-term Rentals
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Editor’s Note: The Nerve today is featuring the first of two initial stories on short-term rentals in South Carolina.
With South Carolina’s tourism season in full swing, many summer visitors are looking for short-term rentals through popular sites such as Airbnb and Vrbo.
As of May, there were 41,715 Airbnb or Vrbo available rentals in South Carolina, a 17% increase over the previous year and a 27% jump from May 2019, according to information provided to The Nerve by AirDNA, which tracks short-term rentals worldwide.
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SC Gov. Henry McMaster's Response to US Supreme Court Decision
- By SC Gov. Henry McMaster
"Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a resounding victory for the Constitution and for those who have worked for so many years to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us. By the end of the day, we will file motions so that the Fetal Heartbeat Act will go into effect in South Carolina and immediately begin working with members of the General Assembly to determine the best solution for protecting the lives of unborn South Carolinians."
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Voters Back School Choice Bill - Can Lawmakers Get It Across The Finish Line?
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
SC residents generally support using public money to allow children to attend private schools, a South Carolina Policy Council poll shows – and a key negotiator on a related school-choice bill says he’s pushing to get it passed.
It remains to be seen whether the Republican-dominated, 46-member Senate will give final approval to the compromise bill – known as the “Put Parents in Charge Act” – when the Legislature reconvenes Tuesday.
But Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, an attorney who is the Senate Education Committee chairman and a member of the conference committee on the Senate bill, said he’s working with other “legal minds” in the Legislature to find a way.
“It’s not going away; we’re not quitting,” Hembree said when contacted by The Nerve last week after the bill stalled in the Senate. “We are razor close.”
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Compromise Bill Reflects SCPC Poll Results on Tax Relief
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Just days before a legislative conference committee approved a compromise tax-cut bill, South Carolinians expressed strong support for tax relief in a poll released by the South Carolina Policy Council – The Nerve’s parent organization.
Contacted last week by The Nerve before the deal was announced, several senators who co-sponsored the original bill were asked about their views on the poll results and the legislation. A Democratic senator recommended, for example, that part of the state’s massive surplus be used to cut corporate income taxes to attract companies to small counties that have lost population.
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Feds Pushing Liberal Investment Schemes in Local Government, Business Sectors
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
The Biden administration and Democratic-controlled U.S. House collectively have been focusing on local municipalities, publicly traded companies and private retirement plans to promote the environmental, social and governance movement that is popular among liberal groups, records show.
Republican state and federal officials in South Carolina are opposing those efforts, contending, among other things, that mandating ESG factors will hurt taxpayers, businesses and individuals financially.
Critics say ESG scores are being used by banks, investment and accounting firms, and credit rating agencies to grade companies on how well they have adopted certain liberal values or policies, such as reducing the effects of climate change, increasing diversity on their governing boards, and supporting social justice causes.
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Critics Fear ESG Factors Could Diminish State Pension Investments
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Two major investment management firms that handle a large chunk of South Carolina’s pension plan for state retirees are big proponents of the controversial environmental, social and governance (ESG) movement, The Nerve found in a review of pension and other records.
Of the approximately $39 billion market value of all investments by the pension plan at the end of last fiscal year, about $18.5 billion, or nearly half of the total, was managed by two of the world’s largest asset managers – New York-based BlackRock and Boston-based State Street Corporation, pension records show.
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Serious Business: How ESG Mandates Can Hurt Small SC Firms
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
In a letter last year to Cromer Food Services, one of the Anderson-based company’s hundreds of customers – a foreign-headquartered corporation – said it was drafting a “Business Partner Code of Conduct that expresses all our essential requirements for sustainable cooperation.”
The letter asked the company to complete a questionnaire as “one of the methods of ensuring compliance with the standards” – which included broad categories of “social responsibility” and “environmental protection and resource conservation.”
“We have started to get feelers – nothing required as of yet – questionnaires sent to us from companies asking us what our demographics are, what our environmental impact is, what we are doing to lower our environmental impact – all the things you find in an ESG score,” Cromer president Brent Cromer said in a recent interview with The Nerve.
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A Whole New World for Disney after Florida Retaliates
- By Family Research Council
If Disney didn't know conservatives meant business, they do now. Four weeks into this national drama between Florida and CEO Bob Chapek, state leaders aren't just speaking out -- they're hitting back. After years of sitting down and taking it when corporate bullies stick their noses in social issues, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) is finally making an example out of a company that took their war against parents too far. And to most Americans, who are sick of having their values mocked and shamed by Big Business, it's about time.
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Kentucky Legislature Overrides Governor’s Veto of Pro-life Bill
- By Bob Adelmann - The New American
Five days after Kentucky’s Democrat Governor Andy Beshear vetoed the most protective pro-life bill in the country, the state’s Republican-controlled legislature overturned it. The state’s house voted 76-21 on Wednesday and the state’s senate followed later the same day, voting 31-6, to quash his veto.
The override allowed the law to become effective immediately, with Reuters declaring that it “makes Kentucky the first U.S. state without legal abortion access since the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade established [a mother’s] right to end a pregnancy.”
The law models the Mississippi abortion law that is pending before the Supreme Court — Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The high court will rule on “whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional” with its decision due in June.
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