Latest news with #Mace
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
How does Myrtle Beach's weekend traffic control work? What we saw downtown
As tourists converge on downtown Myrtle Beach for the summer, the city has implemented its 'flushing' traffic control to keep Ocean Boulevard moving. 'I understand why they have it,' said Uber driver Darin Shaw. 'It's kind of just to help so it's not all clustered, because there'll be over 50 cars, just going in a row. They're all going one mile per hour, and everybody's trying to show off their car.' According to the Myrtle Beach Police Department, the Summer Emergency Vehicle Access Plan re-routes traffic to improve response times, increase visibility and allow officers to address concerns. 'It's nice if they can travel back and forth, the cops have a much faster response time for, like theft, everything,' said Stephen Mace, who works in an Ocean Boulevard storefront. 'They get here so much quicker.' It works like this: from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, the northbound lane on Ocean Boulevard is closed from 9th Avenue North to 16th Avenue North. Additionally, between 8th and 9th Avenue North, all traffic is blocked and re-routed to Kings Highway. Although a road sign alerted motorists of the ban on northbound traffic at 16th Avenue North, and cones with 'no left turn' signs were set up on streets intersecting Ocean Boulevard, some drivers seemed confused. On Friday evening, The Sun News saw more than 20 cars drive northbound on Ocean Boulevard in the flushing zone. Drivers made confused U-turns or pulled right out of oceanside hotels and businesses. 'It's not common,' said Mace. 'Every once in a while, it's typically somebody that's drunk, but also older people that don't see the signs, then it happens, but every once in a while you get a DUI out of it.' No officers were out to direct the flow of traffic, and one unmarked police vehicle–a black Dodge Charger–traveled southbound in the northbound lane around 5:40 p.m. Other than that, there didn't appear to be much of a police presence to enforce the traffic pattern early in the evening. MBPD did not respond to requests for comment on Friday evening. However, around 6 p.m., marked police vehicles began patrolling the area. 'The cops normally hit the beat on the strip around 5,' Mace said. 'You have all the kids revving and people doing whatever the hell they want, and [around] 5, the cops are out here, and everybody kind of settles down a little bit.' Car alarms blared, trash cans toppled and pedestrian traffic slammed to a stop when a brief but powerful summer storm hit around 6:30 p.m. But police presence remained as rain poured down, as patrols continued and a recruitment truck set up between lanes around 14th Avenue North. Over the course of the evening, The Sun News witnessed one traffic stop for a car traveling north in the flushing zone, around 7:20 p.m. By 10 p.m., two officers were set up between lanes on the 900 block of North Ocean's Boulevard near the location of the April 26 shooting where 11 people were injured. In addition to the MBPD cars, The Sun News saw at least one Horry County Sheriff's Office van and one State Trooper vehicle on Ocean Boulevard. But the limited traffic pattern can complicate work for rideshare drivers in the area. 'When this is going on right here, it's hard it's hard to even pick people up off the boulevard, when there's tons of trips on the boulevard,' said Shaw. The city does have designated rideshare pick-up spots adjacent to Ocean Boulevard on Withers Alley, but it's difficult to direct 'clueless' customers unfamiliar with the area and convince them to meet there. To get to customers on the oceanside of the boulevard in the flushing zone, Shaw said he has to 'weasel' his way to their location and turn on his hazards. 'If I were to go to the designated spots that the city has, it's gonna piss off the customer, because they have to walk all the way to the car,' Shaw said. 'It could be frustrating and prevent us from getting tips, and that's pretty much our main source of income, because Uber takes about 50 to 60% of the ride fare.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
EXCLUSIVE: Nancy Mace dismisses 'burner' account allegations as 'bitter exes' tale
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., is firing back at accusations she directed staffers to create so-called "burner" accounts to boost her image online, telling Fox News Digital the claims are from "bitter exes" and lack any real proof. "When a story relies on 'anonymous former staffers,' it's journalist-speak for 'We didn't have anything real, so we called the bitter exes,'" Mace said, responding to a recent article published by Wired magazine. The article cited former aides and consultants, including a deposition from political consultant Wesley Donehue, to allege Mace used burner accounts and even automated bots to amplify her political messaging. Exclusive: Nancy Mace Unloads After Arrest Of Trans Activist Who Allegedly Threatened To 'Assassinate' Her But Mace, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, isn't buying it. "Unlike some folks, I don't need a burner phone to tell the truth," she said. "I say what I mean, I mean what I say, and I post it from my real account, with my name on it. Accountability starts there." Read On The Fox News App At a time when anonymous sources dominate headlines, Mace is leaning into her reputation for saying the quiet part out loud. "I'll keep telling the uncomfortable truth," she added. "And if it makes you squirm, good. That means you're finally paying attention." Nancy Mace Torches Clemson University Over 15-Gender Menu: 'Not On My Watch' Mace has built her brand on fighting for survivors of sexual assault, including her own, and advocating for policies that protect women and parental rights. She has taken public stands on legislation to preserve Title IX protections for biological women and expand access to resources for survivors of violence. Earlier this month, she called out a transgender activist accused of threatening to "assassinate" her, saying, "You don't have to agree with me, but threatening a mother and congresswoman with violence isn't protest, it's criminal." In the interview, Mace pointed to her real-world experience in tech, a rarity in Congress, as a major asset in crafting meaningful policy. "Well, for starters, I actually understand the intricacies of technology, which already puts me ahead of most of Washington," Mace said, referring to her background as a self-taught computer coder. "We're writing policy focused on protecting your data, cracking down on cyber threats, and pushing back against Big Tech censorship." Her hands-on experience, she said, helps her spot both software flaws and political spin. "It turns out writing code teaches you to spot bugs in software and in political BS," Mace said. When asked how she keeps her office's online work grounded in conservative principles like accountability and leadership, Mace didn't miss a beat. "I lead with facts, I speak for the people who sent me here and I don't hide behind consultants or filtered statements," she said. "Being accountable means saying the hard stuff, standing your ground and not running from a fight, even if it makes the media clutch their pearls." As for the viral video online showing what appeared to be a stack of burner phones, Mace had a laugh at the spectacle. "About as many burner phones as Wired has credible sources for 'burner-gate,'" she quipped. She even poked fun at claims on social media with a tongue-in-cheek AI-generated image of herself holding two Bernese Mountain dogs outside the Capitol, captioned it, "It's true. I have multiple berners!" Mace made it clear she sees this controversy as more smoke than fire, one she believes won't distract her from the work of legislating and representing her district. Mace is the first woman to graduate from South Carolina's Citadel and the first woman elected to represent Charleston in article source: EXCLUSIVE: Nancy Mace dismisses 'burner' account allegations as 'bitter exes' tale
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What we know about reports Nancy Mace ordered staffers to create burner accounts to promote her online.
In late May 2025, a rumor spread online that U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, ordered her staffers to create burner accounts on social media to promote her. (A burner account is a social media account created "for the purpose of remaining anonymous.") Claims spread on X, Facebook, Bluesky and Reddit. While some posts presented the claim as an allegation, others presented it as fact. The rumor appeared to originate with reporting from Wired, a reputable tech magazine, which ran a story on May 28 titled, "Nancy Mace's Former Staff Claim She Had Them Create Burner Accounts to Promote Her." The keyword here is claim: The Wired story does not present the statement that Mace ordered her staffers to create burner accounts as 100% factual, instead treating it as an allegation made by anonymous former staff members. Similarly, Snopes cannot put a fact-check rating on this story because there is not enough verifiable public evidence definitively proving or disproving the claim. With that said, here is what we do know about the allegations. Wired's story, written by senior politics writer Jake Lahut, relies on anonymous sources identified as former Mace staffers. These sources requested anonymity "because they fear reprisal from their former boss," per Lahut's article. Snopes could not, as of this writing, independently verify the legitimacy of Lahut's sources; Lahut said via a polite email that he could not make any promises about helping Snopes with its verification process in the immediate future due to his own workload. Here are the claims as presented in the Wired story: A principal—and unusual—use to which Mace put her skills, according to former staffers, was setting up burner accounts on a variety of social media platforms to monitor what people were saying about her and bolster her image. They also claim she requested that staffers make their own burner accounts to defend her online. "We had to make multiple accounts, burner accounts, and go and reply to comments, saying things that weren't true—even Reddit forums," a former staffer says. "We were congressional staff, and there were actual things we could be doing to help the constituents." Mace's communications director, Sydney Long, disputed the allegations. "Nancy Mace's Communications Director here, can confidently say I've never been asked to make a burner account," Long wrote in a May 28 X post. "This isn't the hit y'all think it is." In an email to Snopes, Long wrote, "I would give you an additional comment but we're too busy creating burner accounts, according to former staff. (sarcasm)." "As Congresswoman Mace's Communications Director, I can say with complete confidence: I've never been asked to create a burner account, and the suggestion is laughable," Long's email continued. Long did not provide Mace's reaction to the story, but Mace appeared to acknowledge the Wired story in a May 29 X post, in which she said: "Comment your burner account below." One popular post on Facebook claimed that Mace's former staff "said under oath" they had to create burner accounts to promote Mace. That's a misunderstanding of Wired's reporting, which instead described an April 28 deposition of a former consultant for Mace, Wesley Donehue, who reportedly said under oath that Mace sets up her own burner accounts and bots on social media. The deposition makes no mention of Mace ordering staff to set up burner accounts or bots. As for the legitimacy of the deposition in question: While it does not seem to appear in Charleston's court case search system, a document available in the system mentions the deposition on Page 7, suggesting it is legitimate. Lawyers named in the deposition did not immediately return a request to verify its authenticity. Here is the relevant portion of Donehue's statement on Page 10 — or Page 40, if you're using the page numbers of the original document instead of the PDF — first published by conservative South Carolina news outlet FITSNews on May 21 (emphasis ours): Nancy Mace is quite the -- when I use the word "nerd" or "geek," it's always favorable, but a computer nerd or a computer geek. She programs her own bots, she sets up Twitter burner accounts. This is kind of a thing she does. She sits all night on the couch and programs bots, because she's very, very computer savvy. She controls her own voter database, she programs a lot of her own website, she programs Facebook bots and Instagram bots and Twitter bots. It's what she does for fun. Lawyers representing Mace's former fiance, Patrick Bryant, deposed Donehue after South Carolina law enforcement reportedly interviewed him in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation into sexual assault allegations made by Mace against Bryant. (Bryant has repeatedly denied these allegations.) While Donehue publicly disparaged Mace and said that he fired her as a client, FITSNews reported that Donehue initially refused to give a statement. Snopes previously examined Mace's claim she was physically accosted by a man who shook her hand and a rumor that she vandalized her own home. Bryant, Patrick. "Patrick Bryant - I Categorically Deny the False and Outrageous..." 20 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Byrd, Caitlin. "Here's What We Know about the 4 Men Accused of Sexual Assault in Rep. Nancy Mace Speech." Post and Courier, 12 Feb. 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Donehue, Wesley. "I Was Very Involved in This Entire Nancy Mace Story and Ultimately It's Why I Left Her Campaign. I've Typed up 40 Different Tweets That I Wanted to Send ..." X (Formerly Twitter), 10 Feb. 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. ---. "You Can Stop Texting Me. I Fired Nancy Mace as Client a Few Months Back Because I'm a Political Consultant and Not a Babysitter..." X (formerly Twitter), 20 Dec. 2024, Accessed 29 May 2025. FITSNews. "Bombshell Deposition: Nancy Mace's Former Strategist Unloads." FITSNews - Politics, Sports and Pop Culture, FITSNews, 21 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Friedman, Amanda. "Mace, Alleging Assault, Shares Nude Photo of Herself during House Hearing She Says Was Taken without Her Consent." POLITICO, Politico, 20 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. "Jake Lahut." WIRED, Accessed 29 May 2025. Kinnard, Meg. "Rep. Nancy Mace Accuses Ex-Fiancé, Associates of Misconduct in House Speech." AP News, 11 Feb. 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Lahut, Jake. "Nancy Mace's Former Staff Claim She Had Them Create Burner Accounts to Promote Her." WIRED, 28 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Long, Sydney. "Nancy Mace's Communications Director Here, Can Confidently Say I've Never Been Asked to Make a Burner Account. This Isn't the Hit Y'all Think It Is." X (Formerly Twitter), 28 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Mace, Nancy. "Comment Your Burner Account Below⬇️." X (Formerly Twitter), 29 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. "Merriam-Webster Dictionary | Burner Account." 16 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Mullaney, Marybeth. Jane Doe v. Patrick Bryant, John Osborne, Eric Bowman and Pommer Group LLC. | PLAINTIFF'S MOTION to PROCEED under a PSEUDONYM pursuant to RULE 10 of the SOUTH CAROLINA RULES of CIVIL PROCEDURE. 29 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Nancy Mace's Ex-Staffers Claim She Asked Them to Make 'Burner Accounts' on Social Media to Hype Her
South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace's former staffers spoke out about her alleged strange behavior in a new report from WIRED. Several past staffers claim that they were asked to create burner accounts on social media to monitor comments about Mace and even reply, "saying things that weren't true," in order to boost her image. The reporting, which Mace's office dismissed as "laughable," comes one week after the congresswoman shocked her colleagues by reportedly showing an image of her naked body during a House subcommittee staffers of South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace are accusing the controversial congresswoman of making some questionable requests of her team. In a new report from WIRED, several past staffers spoke out against Mace, 47, under the condition of anonymity in order to avoid retaliation from their former boss. Mace's office dismissed the report as "laughable" when reached for comment by PEOPLE. Some of the former workers alleged to WIRED that the Republican lawmaker would frequently monitor her image on social media, even creating bots to post in support of her. She allegedly also asked staffers to create fake profiles on social media in order to keep an eye on discourse and boost her online image. 'We had to make multiple accounts, burner accounts, and go and reply to comments, saying things that weren't true—even Reddit forums,' a former staffer claimed. 'We were congressional staff, and there were actual things we could be doing to help the constituents.' The congresswoman, once a self-described 'never Trumper,' has become one of the president's most outspoken allies in Congress during his second term. She has touted her tech expertise as a member of the House subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation. In fact, WIRED's sources claimed, Mace would often describe herself as a 'self-taught coder.' 'I would say [it was] at least a weekly comment, if not daily,' another said of the congresswoman's tech boasting. PEOPLE asked Mace's office for comment on the WIRED report, to which spokesperson Sydney Long sarcastically warned that her response would have to be short. "I would give you an additional comment but we're too busy creating burner accounts, according to former staff," she prefaced. Long's official statement read, "As Congresswoman Mace's Communications Director, I can say with complete confidence: I've never been asked to create a burner account, and the suggestion is laughable." The latest reporting from WIRED comes just one week after Mace's latest buzzy appearance on Capitol Hill. Just five months into the congressional term, she has already come under fire for yelling trans slurs on the House floor, hurling profanity at a constituent in an Ulta store, and threatening a fellow congresswoman to "take it outside" during a heated exchange. And most recently, Mace shocked colleagues by showing what she said was a screenshot of her "naked body" during a House subcommittee hearing. On May 20, Mace delivered a speech at a hearing for the House Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee, titled 'Breach of Trust: Surveillance in Private Spaces." During the speech, Mace — who accused her former fiancé, Patrick Bryant, and three other men of rape and sexual misconduct in a nearly hour-long speech on the House floor on Feb. 10 — recalled an alleged incident in which she said Bryant set up a "secret camera" without her knowledge. Speaking in front of a black and white screenshot, Mace pointed out the silhouette of a body circled in yellow standing on the right side of the screen. 'Behind me is a screenshot from one of the videos I found of myself. The yellow circle, this naked silhouette, is my naked body," she claimed. 'I didn't know that I had been filmed. I didn't give my consent. I didn't give my permission." The congresswoman went on to claim that her ex had secretly filmed her and saved the video "for over three years," allegedly without her knowing. She also claimed that he had filmed other women "without their knowledge, without their permission, and without their consent." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Bryant has repeatedly denied Mace's allegations. Following her May 20 remarks, he shared a statement on Facebook, insisting, "I categorically deny the false and outrageous claims made by Nancy Mace. I have never raped anyone. I have never hidden cameras. I have never harmed any woman. These accusations are not just false— they are malicious and deeply personal." "My mistake was loving and trusting someone who later weaponized our relationship," he continued. "Nancy Mace made these claims only while standing in Congress, purportedly shielded by legal immunity. If she believed them to be true and there was evidence to support her accusations, she would say them outside the chamber, away from her public role and protections, and pursue them through proper legal channels. She has not done so, because she cannot." Bryant's statement concluded, "Her allegations are absolutely baseless. And, I will, at the right time, do whatever is necessary and appropriate to clear my name, to prove my integrity, and to restore my reputation in the community." Read the original article on People
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nancy Mace ran bot army, had staff run fake accounts to boost profile, report claims: ‘It's what she does for fun'
South Carolina's most outspoken member of Congress is reportedly putting her techie background to good use. Mace, a third-term House member with reported ambitions to run for governor, directs staffers to run countless bot accounts and fake social media profiles on her behalf — all with the aim of boosting Mace's content and messaging, according to a new report from Wired Wednesday that cited several unnamed former staffers and a consultant who publicly ended his contract with the congresswoman. The report quoted a deposition from Wesley Donehue, a South Carolina-based campaign consultant who previously worked closely with Mace's campaigns. The deposition, first reported a week earlier by a local conservative news blog, FITS News, was taken by attorneys for Mace's ex-fiancee — whom she accused of sexual assault, along with three other men, in a jarring moment during a congressional hearing. Wired's reporting echoed the claim made by Donehue, who told a court: 'She programs her own bots. She sets up Twitter burner accounts. This is the kind of a thing she does. She sits all night on the couch and programs bots, because she's very, very computer savvy. She controls her own voter database, she programs a lot of her own website, she programs Facebook bots and Instagram bots and Twitter bots. It's what she does for fun.' According to a staffer, Mace would allegedly order her underlings to identify criticism of her on social media; a slew of fake accounts would then pile on the offending account. 'We were congressional staff, and there were actual things we could be doing to help the constituents,' one said. The Independent has reached out to the congresswoman's office for comment. A spokesperson for Mace's team told Wired that they would not comment on the congresswoman's personal life. 'The only relationship the congresswoman cares about is her one with South Carolina,' said Sydney Long, according to the outlet. But that wasn't the case earlier this month when Mace showed a blurry image of what she said was her own naked body — an image she said was taken without her consent — during a congressional hearing as she called for stronger penalties for sexual offenders who film people without their knowledge in private spaces. Instead, Mace dragged four men including her ex-fiancee by name into the hearing and labeled them 'predators.' Patrick Bryant, her ex-fiancee, and the three other men have all maintained their innocence in regard to her accusations. Meanwhile, the deposition that Bryant forced Donehue to give revealed that Mace spent so much of her time on her 'relationships,' despite her staffer's denial, that it was the defining factor leading to Donehue abandoning her as a client and publicly disowning her. According to FITS News, Donehue said under oath that the congresswoman wanted him constantly 'to intervene in her relationship problems with Patrick Bryant' and later 'asked me to blackmail Patrick Bryant'. He went on to call her a 'chronic liar who constantly plays the victim card for her own benefit.' 'Nancy talks about her sex life in a way that I've never heard a client or a woman talk,' Donehue added. 'This goes beyond Patrick. This is with multiple partners. She loves talking about sex,' he claimed. According to Donehue, 'every conversation would devolve into what's going on in her sex life…something that she talked about all the time and I always felt uncomfortable with.' The congresswoman has been one of the most polarizing figures on the Hill since she arrived. A onetime 'NeverTrumper', she like others completed an evolution into a pro-Trump believer that saved her from successive primary challenges backed by both Donald Trump and Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker. She was one of a small group of GOP rebels who ousted McCarthy as speaker of the House in 2023. She's no stranger to accusations of her own, with staffers calling her abusive and 'toxic'. Between 2023-2024, her office underwent more staff turnover than any other — with every single staff member quitting and being replaced over the course of one year.
