Rep. Brandon Guffey: Combating Teen Sextortion | EP 28

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Our guest today is South
Carolina House Representative

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Brandon Guffey.
Representative Guffey is one of

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the top voices when it comes to
combating teen sexploitation and

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has made it his life mission to
protect children here in our

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state.
Previously a small business

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owner, Representative Guffy has
dedicated a significant portion

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of his life to this cause and we
are grateful he's willing to

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share some of his story with us
today.

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Representative, thank you so
much.

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Thank you for having me on
Heath.

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I will say when we met the echo
ball a couple weeks ago and I

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had just reached out to you, I
think it was like that week and

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when we were signing in, my last
name, Gerald was very close to

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Guffy.
And so I saw your name tag.

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I was oh, shoot, brother, this
guppy's here.

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Yeah.
I meet him inside.

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My eyes peeled the whole night
looking for you, and then you

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came in like right at the end.
Well, I always enjoy that echo

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ball.
And, you know, I think what

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they're doing really is
beneficial to the state.

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And with the private donations
and everything that come in,

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it's amazing how they can put
that event together and raise so

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much and do so much.
Absolutely.

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Yeah, that was that was one of
the first like I guess like big

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events, some small school, like
I'm from middle of nowhere, my

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parents from middle of nowhere.
Well, I should say I'm from

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middle of nowhere, but I haven't
been to a lot of those big like

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time events, I guess you could
say.

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So it was a little nerve
wracking for me.

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I will say my wife would laugh
at me if she was here.

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The first one I showed up to, I
showed up in jeans and AT shirt.

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I didn't know what was going on
and it was a black tie event and

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I didn't have a clue.
But Mark Smith pulled and he was

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like, hey, are you in town?
I was like, yeah, he's like,

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come with me.
So myself and Brandon Cox from

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Goose Creek and Mark Smith, we
come rolling up in there and

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they had their suits on there
always, like in black suits.

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I'm in jeans and AT shirt.
If you're running a small to mid

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size business, you know there's
simply not enough hours in a day

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to take care of all your
business needs.

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From managing health insurance
to pay your role, procurement,

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advertising, you're going to
need some help to get that

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initial momentum going.
That's why I would partner with

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Questco.
They take care of all the behind

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the scenes administrative and HR
work, letting you focus on what

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truly matters, which is running
your business.

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That's QUESTCO.
Questco.

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Visit questco.net or call your
local Questco representative,

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Thomas Owens at 864-477-0843 to
get started today.

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Kudos for you for staying
through that.

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I didn't.
I didn't stay for the.

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Whole thing I was, I would
bounce out of there so quick.

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But I've been listening to some
of your podcasts.

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I will say Pints and Politics.
I want to give them a shout out.

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Over here.
Because y'all do some good

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stuff.
If anyone out there just wanted

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to know about the insurance and
outs of the South Carolina House

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Congress and what they're going
through, I mean, that's a great,

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great resource for it.
It's a good way for us to

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discuss how we get to a thought
process on how we vote.

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And myself and He Sessions, who
I record with both Republicans

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from York County.
But we don't always agree on

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certain bills.
And sometimes, you know, just

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through the conversation.
The good thing is both of us

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like to play devil's advocate.
So if one is on one side, we

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like to kind of question to make
sure that they're thinking

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through all the scenarios.
But it's been good.

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You know, I thought that the
best thing would have been to

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just mic up two freshmen as they
come in and a.

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Freshman is.
A freshman legislator and let

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them learn the process because
in politics it's not just about

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you have people that are really
good fundraisers, you have

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people that are really good at
running a campaign or the stump

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speeches.
But whenever it comes to

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actually getting things done,
which is what we should measure

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on, they don't want to go
through the process in order to

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get things done.
Why do you think that is?

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I think it's the narrative.
And whenever I walked in, like

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my first impression, I walked in
all I'd heard.

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I think I'm, I'm walking into
the swamp, right?

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That's, that's the way I looked
at it.

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Everything is swampy and
everybody's padding their

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pockets and whatever the worst
case narrative that there is.

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And I'm not saying that there
isn't swamp, but I walked in and

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even the speaker of the House at
the time, you know, I was told,

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don't say that you like Ralph
Norman and don't say that you

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like W Climber.
And he said, so tell me a little

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bit about yourself.
And I was like, well, I'm really

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good friends with W Climber.
And in York County, there's

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three types of Republicans.
I'm more of the Ralph Norman

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type.
And as soon as I said that, it

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was kind of like my way of
saying, this is who I am.

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I'm going to be that bull in a
China shop.

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I learned mistakes throughout
the way.

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No one's ever forced me to be
anything other than what I am,

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but you also have to show
respect to people that have

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worked to get in those positions
as well.

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I feel like with politics
there's a lot of people you're

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obviously not this case, but are
maybe 2 faced, yes.

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How do you combat that?
Or how do you stay true to

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yourself when you're surrounded
by some of.

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That I mean, you know, my haters
would say that I'm two faced

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too.
But what I find, I call it being

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disingenuous, like my campaign
slogan was genuine.

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I have people tell me, you know,
hey, your ideas are out there,

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but at least you believe what
you're saying.

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And, you know, I lean a little
bit more libertarian on a lot of

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issues.
And so I know that my voice

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isn't always the voice of all of
my people.

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And I have to look at what is
best for my people at the time.

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Unless it's something I said,
no, this is where I'm going to

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be and this is how I'm going to
vote.

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Nice.
I'll say you're obviously very

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involved with the community,
with the States with like we

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talked about earlier,
sexploitation.

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I first heard your story on The
Morning Wire a couple weeks back

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and that was incredibly moving
and I wasn't aware of how much

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it hit home with like being here
in the state without me putting

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words in your mouth.
Can you share a little bit about

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your story and the journey
you've been through these past

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couple years?
So July 27th of 2022 I just won

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my primary but I have not been
elected yet.

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I lost my oldest son Gavin
Guffey to suicide and I didn't

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know why.
I come to find that he was being

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extorted online.
So someone pretended to be a

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girl on Instagram, reached out
to him around midnight.

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He jumped off of a game with
friends and said, hey, I'm going

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to chat with this girl.
They began sharing images back

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and forth with one another.
And then this girl supposedly

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started to blackmail him for
money and said, I'm going to

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make these pictures go viral if
you don't pay me.

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And whenever that happened, you
know, I started questioning, did

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this happen because I'm in
politics or trying to run for

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the statehouse because there's a
just put a target before.

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You found out what the cause
was.

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Right.
But what I found, we found out

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it was a mid 20s year old in
Nigeria that was doing this.

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And not only that, but Nigeria,
Lagos, Nigeria is a hotspot for

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these sextortionists.
So it's a business there.

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It is a major business.
So the sextortionists and Lagos

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are you would equate them to the
cartel in Mexico?

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OK.
Like that's how much power they

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have.
To give you an example of how

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large it is, Meta in August of
2024 pulled down 63,000

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sextortion accounts in one day
just off of Instagram and just

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in Lagos, Nigeria.
Wow.

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So it is a significant industry
there.

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Yeah, I mean, since my son's
death and my goal, you know, I

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wanted to quit politics.
It's like, hey, this is not what

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I signed up for.
Why'd you want to quit?

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Well, I mean, because I didn't
know if this is just by me going

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for the statehouse seat, if
because of all the rumors and

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lies and everything that
happened in politics, like you

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didn't know, I didn't know if
this only happened to my son

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because of politics.
Gotcha.

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I didn't know enough about
sextortion, you know, And my

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wife said absolutely not.
You're one of the few people

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with a voice, you know, get up
and fight and make this happen,

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make things happen so the next
Gavin doesn't feel this way.

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And so my goal has been to try
and save kids.

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And it will be my mission to the
day that I die is to save as

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many kids as I possibly can from
these online crimes.

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And unfortunately, there's over
45 teams in the US alone.

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And these are just the public
reports that have taken their

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life since then.
And I would say well over 100 as

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far as people that aren't even
discussing it.

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And then you also got to think
about the teenagers that parents

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just didn't know why.
And not just that I'd even say

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adults.
I mean, I've seen one of the

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most savvy business people I
would say in South Carolina that

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I would think this guy's super
bright but yet struggling in a

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marriage and decided he was
going to jump on a date now

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ended up getting 6 sorted.
Gave away $50,000 to try and

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keep this from becoming public
because then him and his wife

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started working things out and
didn't want to ruin his life and

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ruin his reputation.
So we see a lot of adults.

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That happens too as well.
How are you specifically or what

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are some of the actions that you
all have been taking to help

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protect kids from this?
Well, so within the first four

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months we've been in the State
House and I get a lot of credit

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for it, but it wasn't just me.
And I say it's a Tri party

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effort because it wasn't just a
Republican, Democrat or Freedom

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Party.
All of us work together as

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freshmen and we had the second
largest freshman class in the

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history of South Carolina.
We all came in and worked.

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We would meet at my desk Tuesday
before we got into session.

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Often people would pray.
We would leverage anything and

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everything that we could to get
the bill moving.

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And we got the bill passed
within four months in South

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Carolina.
That's fast.

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And as what is now known as
Gavin's Law, so it creates it as

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a crime, is now a federal
offense up to 15 years in

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prison, and it's stackable.
That's per offense.

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Life in prison for this.
You can dependent.

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I mean like the people who were
targeting my son or the group of

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the Yahoo boys at a Lagos, I
mean they might be targeting 20

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to 30 people in a single night.
So and the US kids are the ones

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that get targeted because
there's nothing for AUS kid to

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have a hundred $200 and whenever
they run out of money they just

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turn them into money mules of
transferring money from cash app

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to another cash app to make it
difficult to track them down.

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That is terrifying it.
Is a criminal network.

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How are you able to track down
the specific group or the

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specific person in your case?
Well, once again, that's

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something I get credit for, but
that's not me.

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That's FBI and Homeland doing
their due diligence.

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But it started started with
tracking from where Gavin sent

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money.
And you go to the person that

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they sent money to, and then you
find out that person was being

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extorted.
And then you go to, well, who

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did they send money to?
Oh, well, that person was being

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extorted.
Yeah.

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Oh, and they sent it to another
person that was being extorted.

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And then you have to trace it
down that way or you have to,

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because of VPNs, you can't
really track down.

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You can, but it's very
difficult.

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And then as you start dealing
with not just state lines but

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international lines, it becomes
very.

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Difficult.
Yeah, where it gets really

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messy.
I know that this past week the

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President signed the Take It
Down Act.

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Yes.
Can you share some a little bit

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about that because you were
there when it happened?

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What kind of propelled that and
what's sparking this movement?

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00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:09,640
So Take it down Act and and I
say, you know, Gavin's law to me

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00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:11,680
was the snowball that started
rolling.

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We passed another 4 laws.
As a matter of fact, one of the

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reasons I was late today is
because we signed revenge porn

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00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:21,320
law in South Carolina.
But the Take it Down Act, what

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00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:25,280
it does is it criminalizes
someone posting images online

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without your consent.
So it's up to three years in

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prison if it's a minor, up to
two years in prison if it's an

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adult, and the companies only
have 48 hours to take it down or

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they will face fines.
And now that's in law.

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That is now in law I.
Think that is incredible.

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I don't get too much into
politics in a public setting,

237
00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,000
but yeah, that's needed,
especially with AI.

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Yes, and this this includes
morphed images.

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00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:50,680
Yes, because this this blew my
mind.

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00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:56,560
With AI, you could literally
make a pornographic movie using

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the face of two eight-year olds
and you're watching child

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00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:02,160
pornography and everybody says,
oh, well, that should just be

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00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,240
illegal.
OK, well, how do we write that

244
00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:06,560
in law?
Because you if you have to be

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00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:11,560
very careful, because if you if
you aren't very explicit in what

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00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:13,960
can be charged and what can't,
well, are you going to be able

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00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:16,400
to charge Wiley the coyote for
dropping the boulder on the

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Roadrunner?
You know, is that attempted

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00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:20,000
murder because someone drew
that.

250
00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:23,000
So you have to be very careful
on what lines crawl.

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00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,840
So we had to make sure that it's
intimate images of sexual

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nature, identifiable child.
Those are key factors because in

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a lot of these child sex abuse
material cases, you have to find

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00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:40,880
the victim to say this was a
victim that was underage.

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00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:43,800
And that makes charging a lot of
these people.

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00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:45,880
You'll see this person's house
gets raided.

257
00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:51,000
The news article today come out,
Lexington County man facing up

258
00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:55,200
to 17 years in prison because
child sex abuse material on

259
00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:59,080
devices.
But they have to track down who

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00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:01,320
are these victims.
That can take time.

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00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,280
There's a reason it took even in
the ditty case was what, 10

262
00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:09,480
months from the time initially?
I mean, it's not closed but

263
00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:11,080
during the trial.
But I'm talking about before he

264
00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:15,120
was indicted.
And once you start getting on a

265
00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,120
federal level like that, I mean,
the federal government isn't

266
00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:21,760
going to waste the resources to
get a search warrant.

267
00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,960
A federal judge isn't going to
sign off on it unless there is

268
00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,080
already a fire there.
What did it mean to you to have

269
00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:29,840
the ticket down axe signed into
law?

270
00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:35,080
I don't know if it was as much
me as surreal being there at the

271
00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:38,040
White House.
But to think that 2 1/2 years

272
00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,760
ago, whenever we started this
fight, that I would be sitting

273
00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:47,080
at the White House and I made
sure I put my two other boys up

274
00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:49,760
front, 19 year old and my 7 year
old.

275
00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:56,480
And to see their face like that
is they know their brother's

276
00:14:56,760 --> 00:15:00,240
death was not in vain.
And to know that they're the

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00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,800
ones that I'm trying to fight
for, that's what makes a

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00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:04,720
difference.
And it's not the perfect law.

279
00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:06,800
And the Take It Down Act wasn't
my bill.

280
00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:11,320
I just became an advocate for it
through Senator Cruz and Senator

281
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,320
Klobuchar's office.
They're the ones who were really

282
00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:17,360
ushering this through.
And then First lady Melania

283
00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:22,080
Trump, as soon as she took come
in, she called a round table

284
00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:26,000
discussion and I was invited up
there myself and two other

285
00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:30,240
teenage girls that were AI
morphed images.

286
00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:33,000
That.
That were victims, that people

287
00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,440
created these nude photos of
them and was sharing them online

288
00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:38,640
and ruining their reputation.
And the tech companies won't

289
00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:40,600
take them down.
That is insane to me.

290
00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:42,200
Yeah, because I can see it in
school.

291
00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:44,440
Bullying is obviously so in
high.

292
00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,640
School you just create whatever.
It's too easy for kids, so I've

293
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:49,280
always thought that this was
going to be an issue.

294
00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:52,120
I'm so glad that this is now
being addressed.

295
00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:57,040
I was talking to their AG's
office or AG staff after the

296
00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:00,000
revenge porn law signing today
and I was telling them I said

297
00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:05,200
we've got a major problem with
AI and just look at it

298
00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:08,280
politically.
All of a sudden you see a video

299
00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,520
and it shows me just smacking
like a 5 year old or something

300
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:13,920
fake.
How do you know if it's real or

301
00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:15,840
fake?
That is crazy, you know, but.

302
00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:20,720
You're also involved Cyber Dive?
Is that the name of the company?

303
00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:26,280
Cyber Dive is group of guys,
basically one guy, Jeff, he's

304
00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:29,360
the one with the idea.
So he was a day trader out of

305
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,320
California, very successful,
lived in Silicon Valley.

306
00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:39,720
But he is a goal setter.
He's the guy who is always

307
00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:43,200
striving to do something better.
So he summited all peaks.

308
00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:47,520
But whenever he come down from
Everest, he summited the seven

309
00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:48,440
peaks.
That's crazy.

310
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:51,240
So him and like, Doctor Tom
Mulligan would get along great,

311
00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,040
you know, But Jeff is just that
guy.

312
00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:59,320
And he come down and I'm trying
to think of the, I cannot

313
00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:02,200
remember the girl's name, but it
was a teenager in California

314
00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:07,560
that took her life due to online
bullying and intimate images

315
00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:12,400
being posted of her online.
Amanda Todd, that's who it was.

316
00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:14,560
And he was not far away from
her.

317
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,359
And he said, this is wrong.
We've got to do something to fix

318
00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:20,119
it.
He got out of day trading.

319
00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:23,040
He moved his family to Phoenix.
That way he could afford

320
00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:27,160
engineers a little bit better, a
little bit cheaper, and began to

321
00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:31,160
build a cell phone that will
mirror.

322
00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:34,560
A parent can see everything.
Because if it's app to app, then

323
00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:38,720
you have to have app permission.
But imagine if you had a phone

324
00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:43,400
and you could pull up like TiVo
or DVR and see exactly what your

325
00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:48,480
kid is looking at on the screen.
So they reached out to me and

326
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:50,560
now he brought in a lot of
military guys.

327
00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,080
Like for employee.
As employee so Jeff's partner

328
00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:59,520
became I think he was an Army
Ranger, but he was in military

329
00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:05,520
intelligence within the military
brought him on which that

330
00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:09,680
brought in other military guys.
So a couple of guys came out to

331
00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:12,320
Colombia with me one day and
everyone's always wanting

332
00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:15,960
something and they just said
they wanted to meet with me I

333
00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:20,080
met with them and I was like
what are you guys trying to do?

334
00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:22,440
What do you want and they're
like, we don't want anything we

335
00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,680
just wanted to meet you.
Your calls resignates.

336
00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,000
And so I ended up giving them a
tour of the capital, kind of

337
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,160
stayed in touch, began they they
would have questions about

338
00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:34,360
stuff.
Well, hey, if we had this, would

339
00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:38,280
it help in your son's case?
And I said yeah.

340
00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:43,960
And then at the end of 2024,
they reached out to me and asked

341
00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:49,760
me about AI.
And my suggestion was to create

342
00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:53,160
an AI nudity filter on the
phone.

343
00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:57,000
So.
And I believe that Cyberdive has

344
00:18:57,040 --> 00:19:00,960
the ability with their phone,
Aqua One, which launched on

345
00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:07,960
Black Friday of 24, the Aqua One
phone in the way that they're

346
00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:10,800
programmed because of trying to
communicate between the two.

347
00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:13,680
They're very unique, but they
they are one of the few

348
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:17,560
companies that have the ability
to train an AI model without it

349
00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:22,160
being corrupted because only
parents are the ones replying to

350
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:23,680
it.
You're not going to have

351
00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:26,400
pedophiles.
Like if if Facebook tried to do

352
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:28,320
it and said is this C Sam or
not?

353
00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:29,640
Yeah.
You'd have all kinds of just.

354
00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,680
You could train AI to say every
cat is a dog or every dog is a

355
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:35,880
cat and I'll use this as the
example.

356
00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:41,040
So one of the first photos that
comes through is like middle

357
00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,280
school, middle school girl.
She's like playing in mud

358
00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:49,080
bathing suit but covered in mud.
The filter pings it and says

359
00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:51,560
this is nudity.
So what happens at that time?

360
00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:54,200
Because the phone thinks that
it's nudity, it locks down the

361
00:19:54,200 --> 00:20:00,040
child's phone and it shows the
parent what is on, what is on

362
00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,720
there, and then the parent says
this is C Sam or this is not and

363
00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,360
they can report it.
And that and then model trains.

364
00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:11,080
And it's training the AI model.
So I think that they have they.

365
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:12,960
Yeah.
And no one else can do that

366
00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:15,040
because no one else has that
technology.

367
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,800
And parents, that's a good like
truth, truth value.

368
00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:21,760
Right.
And it's not built out yet, the

369
00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:24,200
models not trained yet.
But what they did do to start

370
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:27,440
off with was they went ahead and
made it to where if a camera

371
00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:32,800
points at nudity, so they train
the device itself front or back,

372
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:35,400
not even not the screen, the
camera.

373
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,960
So someone tries to take a
picture of themselves or if it

374
00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,840
comes through as an image, the
phone locks and notifies the

375
00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:47,400
parent.
So it it it will help combat

376
00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:51,120
that.
And I would equate it to is it

377
00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:54,560
the perfect solution?
No, but it is in my mind it's

378
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,240
the perfect solution because
parents can't control everything

379
00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:00,320
that they're.
Doing and at some point you have

380
00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:03,760
to release your kids to
obviously go into the real

381
00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:05,360
world.
And this gives them freedom.

382
00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:08,400
You're not going to take a 16
year old that's already had an

383
00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:11,120
iPhone and give them an Aqua one
and then be OK with it.

384
00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:18,000
But if your child's first phone
at 10 or 11 is an Aqua one cyber

385
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:21,280
dive phone, they know that
everything that they do, their

386
00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:24,600
parents can see.
And it also another thing it

387
00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,160
does is like it's picking up on
the algorithms.

388
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:33,240
So if your kid is watching, say,
suicide ideology videos or

389
00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,960
another good example was one of
the parents called and one of

390
00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:40,200
the testimonials was I never
knew that my daughter liked

391
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:42,440
softball.
I had her playing, I had her

392
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:46,920
playing soccer, basketball and
soccer and all these things.

393
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,800
And the daughter never came to
the dad and said, I want to play

394
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:52,920
softball.
She was just playing their

395
00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,000
sports.
And then the phone was like,

396
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,040
hey, she spent 20 minutes
watching softball videos this

397
00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:01,920
day and then 20 minutes the next
day and 20 minutes the next day.

398
00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:04,240
So the dad goes to the daughter
and says, hey, we've been

399
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,720
watching a lot of softball
videos and she's like, yeah, I

400
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,520
really want to play softball.
He's like, well, what about

401
00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:12,880
basketball?
I don't really like those.

402
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:15,600
OK, that's awesome.
So it's just that.

403
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:19,440
But it's if you got a kid young
enough, like whenever we pass

404
00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,800
the seat belt law, if you didn't
grow up with a seat belt and

405
00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,520
you're 1617, whenever they pass
the law, you're not putting on a

406
00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,800
seat belt.
But if you grew up your entire

407
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:30,680
life wearing a seat belt, then
it helps you.

408
00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:34,200
Why do you think that culture is
so late to this?

409
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:38,440
I mean, iPhones came out 2007,
you know, and kids were getting

410
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:40,280
them in their pockets easily
2010.

411
00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:42,880
I mean, I have one in 8th grade.
Why is this?

412
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:45,480
This is over 10 years later that
we're just now.

413
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:50,360
I'll blow your mind even more
that the prior to take it down,

414
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,160
the last law passed to protect
kids online at a federal level

415
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,800
was 1996.
Was there?

416
00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,720
I I tell people in 1996 it took
me an hour to download a Wu Tang

417
00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:10,800
Clan.
That is the Children's Online

418
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,200
Protection Act, which is known
as Copa.

419
00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:16,680
Now Copa, in my mind, is the
biggest mistake this country's

420
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:17,280
ever made.
I don't.

421
00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:19,480
Know anything about?
It because they allowed the big

422
00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:23,840
tech lobby or the Internet lobby
at the time to, to help them

423
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:26,440
with the wording and what they
did instead of having an adult

424
00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:28,600
minor.
They said that Internet

425
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:32,120
companies cannot be held
responsible, cannot be sued.

426
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,560
These are the world's richest
companies since the inception of

427
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:39,960
man, but they cannot be sued for
anyone that is 13 years or older

428
00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:42,760
on their device.
Well, social media didn't exist

429
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,080
then, but now you've got social
media companies.

430
00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:48,680
I can tell you bad things about
every one of them, but let's

431
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,560
just say YouTube your kids
sitting there watching YouTube

432
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,720
and before they had YouTube Kids
and everything else, they're

433
00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:57,800
watching videos.
Well, then the algorithm throws

434
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:01,040
in a choking challenge video or
a tide pod eating challenge

435
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,960
video.
You got a 12 year old, 13 year

436
00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,120
old watching this and all of a
sudden they're like, oh, I'm

437
00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:10,280
going to do this with my friend
and they go and choke their

438
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:14,000
friend.
Their friend dies like this.

439
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,280
This is the problem.
And there's thousands of kids

440
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,000
that have died just due to
algorithms.

441
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:22,840
Just from what they're seeing on
the Internet.

442
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:28,240
Another, if you were to buy a
phone right now and you open it

443
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:30,960
up just pretending you are a 13
year old girl.

444
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:37,040
And let's say if it's asking you
and you identify as LGBTQ plus

445
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:41,120
on TikTok, whenever you're going
through your profile and under

446
00:24:41,120 --> 00:24:45,120
90 seconds, you will get
homophobic videos shown to you.

447
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:50,240
You will get suicide
gratification videos sent to you

448
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:55,760
under 90 seconds of a brand new
account on TikTok because the

449
00:24:55,760 --> 00:25:00,120
algorithm is saying because you
identify as LGBTQ plus, this is

450
00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:02,280
going to elicit the most emotion
out.

451
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:05,080
Of the stuff that's watched by
those identify.

452
00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:08,040
Yeah, that's why big tech
companies should be able to be

453
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,880
held.
Speaking about big tech, how are

454
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,080
you?
How do we enforce?

455
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:14,600
I guess I don't know where I'm
going with this.

456
00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:18,440
How does the government enforce
the 48 hour rule with this?

457
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:21,280
Well.
Because if I see something, if

458
00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,960
I'm a parent and I see an image
of my child that's been up for

459
00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:28,640
72 hours and I contact a local
police and then they contact so

460
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:30,200
and so and then it could take
two weeks.

461
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:34,800
No, they've got to have a spot
on their page that is easily

462
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:38,800
found to report.
Okay, so if you report it to

463
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,600
take it down, it starts from the
time they have 48 hours and if

464
00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:45,680
they don't then they are fined
by the FTC.

465
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,000
So we can't sue them still.
But they get fined.

466
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,560
But they get fined, and those
fines can compound.

467
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,520
Yeah, especially when you have
millions of users.

468
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:54,680
On it, right?
That's.

469
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,280
Pretty nice.
So that that was the only way to

470
00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,840
approach it.
Now, I believe that the solution

471
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,960
to get Big Tech held
responsible, just as with

472
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,400
anything else, is we have to
treat this as a product, not a

473
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:10,600
company or not a service.
And if you have a product, you

474
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:14,160
have children's protection laws
already in place.

475
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,200
This is dangerous.
Why do they exist?

476
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,680
They exist because of civil
lawsuits.

477
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:23,600
These companies can't be sued,
but if Meta could be sued, they

478
00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:24,920
would fix their problem
tomorrow.

479
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:27,280
They can't, so they're not
worried about.

480
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:29,440
It so they're not worried about
it because they've made over a

481
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:33,680
trillion dollars from the 13 to
17 year old age range.

482
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:38,320
Each person that's 1317 I think
it's like 260 something dollars

483
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,800
is their advertising value per
user I am suing.

484
00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:46,360
You.
It's just caught up in court but

485
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,520
doesn't mean I'm going to win.
But maybe your.

486
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:51,040
Voice heard.
They're going to hear it, right?

487
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,240
That's the goal, yeah.
I'm looking at your opinion on

488
00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,560
this too.
So Meta is famously launched

489
00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:00,040
their Messenger app with end to
end encryption, so they say they

490
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,560
can't see what's on there.
They did that because of my

491
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,760
voice.
So my argument in in my son's

492
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:08,400
case, it wasn't end to end
encryption.

493
00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:10,920
It didn't become end to end
encryption until 2024.

494
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:17,520
And prior to that you could see
it was a problem anybody if you

495
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:19,560
pulled a search warrant, you
could see the messages.

496
00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:22,640
So like in my son's case, we're
able to get those messages

497
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:26,080
because we could file that
search warrant and get the

498
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,840
discovery to get the messages.
So it's not suddenly protected

499
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,600
yet.
But then we go in January of 24

500
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:37,080
and Mark Zuckerberg and all of
them come to DC and that's

501
00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:40,360
whenever Lindsey Graham opened
up the meeting with Gavin's

502
00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:43,400
story and said, Mr. Zuckerberg,
you have blood on your hands.

503
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:48,480
And they they show to where
people were sending child sex

504
00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:51,400
abuse material via messenger.
Yes.

505
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:52,760
And that, that's where I was
going with that.

506
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:54,240
That's tons of that on
Messenger.

507
00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,320
Meta blurs it What?
Do you mean they blur it?

508
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:00,000
It's a blurred image to when
they.

509
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,760
Warning us to.
Whoever it was going to So if

510
00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:05,360
you're sending it they're
they're.

511
00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:08,640
So they protected it.
Right, they detect it and then

512
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,800
say this may contain child sex
abuse material and you can still

513
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:13,640
choose to.
Open it.

514
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:15,800
Wow.
And there's.

515
00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:18,720
Wow.
That mean that that becomes the

516
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,440
problem.
So that's brought up and that's

517
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,840
brought up one of the lawsuits.
Well, what Meta did was they

518
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:29,400
went and said, well, we're going
to end, end encryption because

519
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,040
all they're doing is trying to
eliminate their liability.

520
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:33,800
They're not.
They have no interest in

521
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,040
protecting kids.
They're saying we don't.

522
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,360
Want anything to do with it?
Y'all send what you want, use

523
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:39,920
our tool.
But we're not monitoring it.

524
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,560
We can't be homeless.
To quote Dave Chappelle, I would

525
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:46,280
say Mark Zuckerberg is a
habitual line stepper, always

526
00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:49,840
has been.
The problem is whenever you know

527
00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:53,960
that children are dying from
this and you have the technology

528
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:58,040
and the ability to stop it and
you refuse to the, the reason

529
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:01,520
that I'm suing Meta, the person
that contacted my son was Bella

530
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:04,280
Janet 28.
That was the messages.

531
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,040
So whenever he died, law
enforcement got the phone

532
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,720
because they always have to
investigate a minor's death in

533
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:13,880
South Carolina.
So they start going through the

534
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,480
phone just to make sure
nothing's nefarious and the

535
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:20,440
message pops up right.
So then they follow subpoena

536
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,240
with Meta to say, hey, we need
this.

537
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:26,160
And they report it as this is a
crime that happened.

538
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,120
We need all of this data.
Well, Meta pulls down Bella

539
00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:33,320
Janet, 28, immediately.
They take the countdown.

540
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,240
They took the account down,
right, which that should be

541
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:38,200
good.
But yeah, but here's the

542
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,440
difference.
If I send you a friend request,

543
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:42,960
I can say block this account and
any new accounts that they

544
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:46,360
create.
Well, Bella Janet, 30, same

545
00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:49,880
images, same friends list is
right behind it.

546
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,960
Messaging on my son's Last Post,
which was the less than three

547
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:56,440
signs like a heart to tell his
friends that he loves them,

548
00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:59,000
saying hey Gavin, do you have
what we talked about?

549
00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:03,280
They are extorting my 14 year
old cousin who lives an hour

550
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:07,000
north of me.
They are extorting my 16 year

551
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:08,560
old son.
This is all during the week that

552
00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,680
I'm trying to bury my son.
And then I get my message.

553
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,600
They're trying to extort me.
And this is all coming from

554
00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,200
Bella Janet, 30.
So the Facebook account reached

555
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:21,160
out to you directly.
The the Instagram, yeah, but

556
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,280
that is the entire problem.
They could have blocked this

557
00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:27,840
user with all the accounts that
they had created.

558
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:30,720
So they said no, we're just
pulling down this one.

559
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:33,760
Only this one account violated
it, not the individual that's

560
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:35,280
responsible for all these
accounts.

561
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:38,920
It's the same person behind.
And that person continued to

562
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:43,360
extort additional kids could
have caused additional deaths

563
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:49,320
and Meta didn't give a damn and
they had the ability to block

564
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:50,960
it.
So meta is not doing anything

565
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:52,800
about any.
Of this no meta is so

566
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,640
disingenuous.
Like I I was telling you before,

567
00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:59,240
in August of last year they
pulled down 63,000 extortion

568
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:02,040
accounts just off Instagram,
just in Lagos, just in one day.

569
00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:03,680
Just in one city, yes, that's.
Crazy.

570
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:06,560
Did they do that?
And think about it, Did they

571
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:11,760
collect all these extortionists
to get a good PR stunt while

572
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,960
they continue to harm children?
They get their PR stunt.

573
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:18,240
Or let's give them the benefit
of the doubt.

574
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,000
No, they rolled out a task force
and they said we're going to

575
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:25,200
take down 63,000 accounts and
one day one country one platform

576
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:30,280
but haven't done shit since.
Either way, they're a bad actor.

577
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:35,520
So I don't see any other way
than to say that this is and not

578
00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:40,640
to mention the whistleblowers
that have left Meta and talked

579
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,840
about these harms.
So in your ideal solution or

580
00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:46,960
your ideal world, what is the
solution to?

581
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:51,560
This the solution is repealing
section 2:30 or Copa that says

582
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:54,160
that they can't be sued.
So that people can sue them.

583
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,720
Yeah, because if you're
intentionally and you're you're

584
00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:58,800
made aware.
I mean, how do we deal with big

585
00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:01,800
Tobacco?
Big Tech is the big tobacco of

586
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:05,120
this generation.
Well, we put warning labor

587
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:09,400
labels on things.
We started age gating it, saying

588
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:14,800
you got to prove your age right.
And then we opened up legal

589
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:20,200
lawsuits once we found out that
they had the information and hid

590
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:24,200
it and they were aware that it
was causing cancer.

591
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,240
They were aware that it's
causing emphysema.

592
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:28,360
Not only that, they're paying
doctors to promote it.

593
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:32,240
Well, what do you think Meta and
TikTok and Google and all these

594
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:35,480
other people are doing?
It's the exact same method.

595
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,680
The difference is is they're a
lot richer than Big Tobacco is.

596
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:40,960
Now, yeah.
Yeah, I mean.

597
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:42,360
Back in the day, tobacco.
Was not.

598
00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:46,720
Now Big Tech is the world's
richest industry in the history

599
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,000
of mankind.
History.

600
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:52,600
Yeah, we're not.
I mean Big Tobacco at any point

601
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,080
was not as big as Big Tech is.
They can't be sued for.

602
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,560
This they can't be.
Sued as their biggest liability.

603
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:02,240
Yeah, I mean, you got AI chat
bots that they're creating that

604
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:05,280
are telling kids to kill
themselves so they can spend

605
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:09,400
eternity with the chat bot.
Whoa, that's dark.

606
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:11,000
Right.
And they're they're rolling them

607
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:14,280
out and they can't be sued.
And what it says is they can't

608
00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:16,360
be.
It's it's being treated as like

609
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:19,840
a public forum.
So you can't be held responsible

610
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,200
for someone else.
I think the intent was right.

611
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,480
If I host a website and someone
goes and posts something stupid

612
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:28,680
on there, should I be sued?
Yeah.

613
00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:30,960
Or not.
But once you're big in the

614
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:34,840
social media and you're creating
an algorithm, well, that

615
00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:38,880
algorithm says, hey Heath, you
want to see baseball and I start

616
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,120
showing you baseball.
That's me speaking.

617
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:44,760
That's not a public.
That's a good point that I've

618
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:47,040
not thought of before.
Yeah, because I remember the big

619
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:49,680
debate whenever President Trump
got taken off of Twitter years

620
00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:51,600
back, and it was like, free
speech, Not free speech.

621
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,280
It's like, it's private company.
Yeah, again, private companies.

622
00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:56,000
So there's nothing.
You could do about the reason

623
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:58,960
the argument was there is
because the only protection they

624
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:02,920
have is the free Peach free
speech public forum.

625
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:06,560
So once they take them off they
should be able to be sued.

626
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,880
Yeah, this is so interesting.
They're they're pulling away the

627
00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:12,360
free speech.
That is so crazy to me.

628
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:15,800
Just so I mean like I'll use
this example.

629
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:20,080
I had every every protection on
Gavin's device.

630
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,920
He would get so pissed at me
because he's in class and he has

631
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:27,560
to look up something and can't
because he has to have parental

632
00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:31,120
permission to go to this website
that really had no pornography

633
00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:34,120
or anything else.
But the filter called it so

634
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:36,719
strongly.
I said this, this may contain

635
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:39,840
adult content.
So I was confident he was not

636
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:42,760
looking at pornography after I
got his phone back after his

637
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:46,760
death.
He had Twitter, he had one real

638
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:49,800
account, 2 accounts that were
just full pornography.

639
00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:53,600
There's no, there's no parental
rights.

640
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:57,560
Your kid can go into Walmart if
they're thirteen years or older.

641
00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:00,280
It doesn't even matter if
they're 13, they can buy a

642
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:02,560
phone.
Nothing stops them from buying a

643
00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:04,480
phone.
With Internet access.

644
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,920
And all they got to do is
connect to a Wi-Fi, they don't

645
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:11,520
have to activate a cell cell
phone carrier and they can

646
00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:15,280
download Instagram.
Now let me ask you this, how

647
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,880
many other places do we allow 13
year olds to agree to legal

648
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:23,880
binding contracts, but in every
App Store they're able to hit

649
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:28,040
accept what happened to parental
rights for me saying this is a

650
00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,200
13 year old and no they can't
download it.

651
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,080
You bring up some valid points
here, stuff I haven't thought

652
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,080
of, which I'm sure you discuss
this kind of stuff all the time,

653
00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:37,680
which I'm glad people are going
to hear this.

654
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:40,200
That's insane actually.
I've never thought about a kid

655
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:42,080
going and buying his own phone
and just downloading whatever.

656
00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:45,520
Yeah, I mean, because I got a
lot of old ignorant people that

657
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:49,000
are mainly their their Freedom
Caucus groupies and they hate me

658
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:50,720
because I speak out against
Freedom Caucus.

659
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:54,600
It becomes that issue like
that's it's all politics and

660
00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:57,480
then say, oh, well, you know,
just don't give your kid a

661
00:35:57,480 --> 00:35:59,480
phone.
Yeah, do you know how many

662
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:01,680
parents I deal with that?
Oh, it come on the school

663
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:03,680
laptop.
They can download it on the

664
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:04,680
school laptop.
Jeez.

665
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:10,000
Like there's no you cannot stop
your kid from getting online

666
00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:14,280
unless you're living like the
Amish, if you're sending your

667
00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:15,720
kids, if you're.
Sending a public school?

668
00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:18,200
Yeah, yeah, they're all around.
Like you just really can't.

669
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:23,840
And and we have to educate.
And I go back to like,

670
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,960
sextortion.
It's very easy for my generation

671
00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:29,320
to say, what do you think?
Like, you don't send pictures

672
00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:30,960
like that.
Why would you do that?

673
00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:35,520
But at the same time, in the
80s, we preached abstinence.

674
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:39,760
Everybody was having sex.
The one girl gets pregnant,

675
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:41,400
everybody points at her and
calls her a whore.

676
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:43,360
It's no different than sex
tortion.

677
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:46,800
The stats are up to 1 out of 17
kids.

678
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:51,240
One out of 17 kids have been
targeted for sextortion.

679
00:36:51,240 --> 00:36:53,920
Targeted.
That's every middle school,

680
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:59,040
every high school class in the
entire country has a kid sitting

681
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:01,560
in it that has been targeted for
sextortion.

682
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:04,520
Wow, targeted by I guess.
By the.

683
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,000
Scammers, scammers out there,
Nigeria or even yeah.

684
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:09,040
Anywhere.
We're not even talking about the

685
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,440
pedos out there.
Geez that is dark.

686
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,240
I mean I've dealt with an 8 year
old that was on the game

687
00:37:15,240 --> 00:37:17,600
roadblocks.
Yeah, 8 year olds parent.

688
00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:19,920
I've heard of Roblox.
The other huge roadblocks

689
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:22,520
doesn't have a platform to where
they can communicate.

690
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:25,040
So what do people do?
They go and get on Discord.

691
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:26,760
Yeah, that's the way they
communicate.

692
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:30,040
So they talk on Discord so they
that way they can communicate.

693
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:32,440
So they allow that
implementation in there.

694
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:37,640
Well this 8 year old ends up
sending a photo or something to

695
00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:40,640
the person.
They used an AI video to create

696
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:44,640
a naked 8 year old and told them
to send me more pictures or I'm

697
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:46,000
going to tell your mommy and
daddy.

698
00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:51,680
This 8 year old within a 2 month
period began to insert same

699
00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:58,000
things in themselves, all to be
recorded to satisfy this pedo

700
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:00,760
and the parents had no clue
whatsoever.

701
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:02,680
What?
Can the kids just plan Roblox?

702
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:05,200
What can parents do today to be
protecting their children?

703
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:07,960
I mean, you've obviously
mentioned tons already, but is

704
00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:11,440
there like I mean, there's, is
there a bulletproof solution to

705
00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:13,680
it?
The bulletproof solution would

706
00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:15,520
be liability.
Yeah, that's.

707
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:21,080
Without liability there isn't
and parents need to be demanding

708
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:25,040
that.
You know, my first conversation

709
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:28,000
with Meta, whenever I got
elected and I walked into the

710
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:33,080
statehouse and to me, the balls
of the VP or whoever it was come

711
00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:37,000
up to me talking about we want
to work with you and I make a

712
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:38,400
suggestion.
They're like, yeah, that's not

713
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:41,840
something we can do.
My response was either get in

714
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:46,680
line or you can get offline.
That's the options.

715
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,640
If you're going to allow
children on your platform, you

716
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:52,480
have to ensure that it is safe
for children.

717
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:55,400
Absolutely.
And, and politically people,

718
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:59,160
whenever I say we passed the age
verification bill in South

719
00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:02,640
Carolina, more of a parental
rights bill, it doesn't say that

720
00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:04,480
everyone's age has to be
verified.

721
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:09,200
What it says is if your child's
on a platform and you can prove

722
00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:12,600
that you are the parent.
So if I want to turn over a

723
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:16,000
birth certificate or a driver's
license to the company to prove

724
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:22,000
that I'm the parent to say, hey,
this IMDI or IMEDI number to

725
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:25,960
this device, this is my child's
device and I deleted this app.

726
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:27,640
I don't want them to have it
anymore.

727
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:29,040
And then they'll finally take it
down.

728
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:34,000
Then they could block that
device from accessing their

729
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,520
platform.
But yet the political pressure

730
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:40,560
because big tech put almost a
billion dollars into lobbying

731
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:44,320
against any changes.
It's probably one of the reasons

732
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:47,920
I've had 30 plus text messages
sent out over me against me and

733
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:50,920
then the past what, 5 months
now.

734
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:55,160
But the political ramifications
for that is they are funding so

735
00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:58,880
heavily just to shut it down, to
scare people to say, oh, they

736
00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,480
want they want everyone's ID.
They want to create this big

737
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:03,400
government database.
No.

738
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:10,560
I mean, you're an engineer.
There's many ways to create a

739
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:12,080
token.
Yeah.

740
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:13,400
Is it perfect?
No.

741
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:15,840
Yeah.
Whenever we first did license,

742
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:18,160
it was a pitcher and a laminated
card.

743
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:21,680
And people go walk in like
license have gradually gotten

744
00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:24,320
stronger and stronger.
There's always going to be bad

745
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,040
actors that are going to get
through.

746
00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:29,400
But I think we can all agree
it's better than just selecting

747
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:34,680
your age on a drop down box or
whenever you buy a phone.

748
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:37,800
Why can't you say I want the if
we?

749
00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:40,400
So one of the bills I have is
the App Store Accountability

750
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:42,760
Act.
What that says you basically

751
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:46,320
have three app stores.
You have Apple, Google and

752
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:47,360
Amazon.
That's it.

753
00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:53,720
Only thing we're saying is that
Apple, Google and Amazon tell

754
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:58,040
all of your makers you need to
say whether this is safe for

755
00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:02,520
children or not.
What do you think that social

756
00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:05,080
media companies would say?
Well, social media companies

757
00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,320
would have to put an age because
if you look at it right now, it

758
00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:09,560
says Facebook and Instagram is
OK for 13 and up.

759
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:14,280
Every one of them say 13 and up.
So if they're saying 13 and up,

760
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:20,600
it's safe for and yet you're
showing them full pornography on

761
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:24,640
your site.
And we've got ages that these

762
00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:27,360
things are legal for.
But if you're saying it's safe

763
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:31,560
for 13 and up, well, now the App
Store should be able to go after

764
00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:37,120
or pull the app right off.
They pulled, I think it was Whiz

765
00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:41,080
was the app.
You know, Apple pulled them down

766
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:45,080
or Google put them off the store
because too many kids were being

767
00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:46,560
attacked.
But now they let them back on.

768
00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:51,120
But yet they didn't do shit
about Facebook because they get

769
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:55,920
40% of all the money I think.
They changed that, that Google,

770
00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:58,240
if you're going with the App
Store tax law, I think they

771
00:41:58,240 --> 00:42:00,600
changed that where app stores
could take like 15% or

772
00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:04,240
something, all purchases made.
I think that's in the books of

773
00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:07,080
being changed, but you know.
Better if they just did it to to

774
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:10,080
hold the companies responsible.
And what the App Store

775
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:12,680
Accountability Act says is that
you must.

776
00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:17,040
You're doing the age gating.
Because whenever I sign up for a

777
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:20,880
new phone, I have to put in my
credit card information I have

778
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:23,640
to verify.
So I mean, you verify your age 4

779
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:25,360
times every time you get a
device.

780
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:27,760
They know if it's a child or
not.

781
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:31,520
I don't have to do any of this,
but yet you're allowing me to

782
00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:35,840
agree to a contract with your
App Store that if I just click

783
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:38,560
the button, I'm going to have to
pay 499 a month?

784
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,120
This is definitely an issue that
needs to be addressed.

785
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:44,360
I'm glad you're addressing it
because this sounds like a

786
00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:46,840
monster.
We're taking one bite out of the

787
00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:48,920
elephant at a time.
Yeah, that's all you can do.

788
00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:51,520
When it's this big of a problem
and people aren't really aware

789
00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:53,000
of it, people aren't talking
about it.

790
00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:56,440
I know that, dear.
A part of your story is you

791
00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:59,080
previously you owned a business
and when you're going through

792
00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:02,560
the time of of your son's
passing of all the, I guess the

793
00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:05,200
attention that was going towards
you, you got to close your

794
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:06,920
businesses during that time as
well.

795
00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:11,760
Yeah, so I, I started off my
career in advertising and that's

796
00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:14,760
one of the reasons I know so
much about tech is because I was

797
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:19,440
part of the Web 2 Point O launch
and the creation of algorithms

798
00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:23,440
for marketing purpose.
So we could track your data and

799
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:26,720
using the data analytics.
So the company I used to work

800
00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:30,240
for is Dominion.
So we could track as you're

801
00:43:30,240 --> 00:43:32,520
purchasing through loyalty cards
and then we could market

802
00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:36,280
directly to you.
I walked away from that in 2007

803
00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:40,160
because I felt like it was a
little too much of Mark of the

804
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:42,400
Beast.
We were controlling people.

805
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:46,600
It was propaganda.
I ran a beta test with Harris

806
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:51,520
Teeter at the time with their
beta store and it was to change

807
00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:56,040
their top selling toilet paper
just by using their Victoria

808
00:43:56,320 --> 00:44:01,400
data and we were able to do that
in 28 days for that one store.

809
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:05,320
This was just right.
Whenever RFID chips come out,

810
00:44:05,720 --> 00:44:09,160
like you walk by a coupon reader
and it spits out and it says hey

811
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:13,680
Heath, Truscott's today for free
or Truscott's Today for $4.00

812
00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:16,200
off.
And if I can.

813
00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:18,560
Get you to try it twice?
If I can get you to try it

814
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:21,200
twice, well then that became
your choice.

815
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:24,240
But then you moved on to owning
a smaller.

816
00:44:24,240 --> 00:44:25,800
Business.
Whenever I walked away from

817
00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:29,560
that, I started cutting grass
for a living and I felt like,

818
00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:31,720
you know, I've been wearing
suits and ties and traveling the

819
00:44:31,720 --> 00:44:34,640
country and I was like, I want
to be home.

820
00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:37,440
I want to coach my kids.
I want to be in control.

821
00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:40,400
Not going to make a whole lot of
money, but I was making so much

822
00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:41,920
money before.
A matter of fact, I didn't pay

823
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:46,080
myself for five years building
my lawn care company and but I

824
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:49,920
was there for my kids build it
up and it became a larger

825
00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:52,400
company while I was building it
up.

826
00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:56,240
I ended up buying a heat and air
company and I opened a landscape

827
00:44:56,240 --> 00:45:00,400
supply store.
Am I my focus become on the

828
00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:03,480
landscape supply?
I enjoyed doing that because all

829
00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:06,480
the pitfalls that I was hitting
starting my landscaping company,

830
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:09,360
I could help coach some of the
younger guys that were coming in

831
00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:13,560
because there's very small
margins and low maintenance.

832
00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:15,960
Everyone thinks that you're
making all this money, but

833
00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:19,280
they're not counting on how much
they spent on gas and Oh well,

834
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:21,080
you, you went the long way
around.

835
00:45:21,080 --> 00:45:25,120
So now you just cost yourself so
much money and time or

836
00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:28,880
fertilizer, you know, you threw
out a 10th of a bag that could

837
00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:32,400
have covered this amount.
Like just just showing all of

838
00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:34,480
those things.
And I enjoyed it.

839
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:38,960
And then I ran, I was on County
Council and I was working local

840
00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:42,520
for just over a year before I
decided to run for the

841
00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:47,880
statehouse.
And it was everything was going

842
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:51,080
good.
We had just got through COVID.

843
00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:55,400
So COVID about killed me because
we weren't considered essential.

844
00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:59,080
I mean, I was still open, but
everybody else didn't want you

845
00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:01,320
at their property and doing
these jobs.

846
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:03,440
And yet I still have all this
overhead for equipment.

847
00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:07,920
So we hit a little bit of a lull
there and we were able to just

848
00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:11,320
kind of come out of it and start
to build back up.

849
00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:13,960
And then every and everything
happened.

850
00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:18,360
My son, well not only that, the
land that I was on leasing the

851
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:20,880
family that owned it decided
they wanted to sell the land.

852
00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:25,840
So now I've got to move my
business and I'd saved up a

853
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:28,920
bunch of money to move it.
But whenever everything

854
00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:32,560
happened, my son, we lost 3/4 of
$1,000,000 within 90 days

855
00:46:33,200 --> 00:46:37,240
because I built the business too
much around me instead of around

856
00:46:37,240 --> 00:46:40,800
the system.
So whenever I was not there and

857
00:46:40,800 --> 00:46:44,360
and I got mad at 1st and I was
thinking these people want to

858
00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:46,160
support me like why aren't they
coming out?

859
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:48,920
And I thought back to one of my
you.

860
00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:52,280
Mean why they're not coming now.
Coming out to the store to buy

861
00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:53,920
their products.
Yeah.

862
00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:57,160
So like my top ten clients just
basically like fell off.

863
00:46:59,120 --> 00:47:02,240
I mean, and this this was a
store that was doing, you know,

864
00:47:02,240 --> 00:47:08,520
120 two $100,000 a month.
And whenever they they're my top

865
00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:12,400
ten clients and they're gone,
well, I've got $50,000 of

866
00:47:12,400 --> 00:47:13,760
overhead.
I got to cover everyone.

867
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:15,280
Why did they leave?
Why are they going?

868
00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:18,880
It was due to me losing my son
and their mind.

869
00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:21,840
Their business has to come
first, right?

870
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:27,080
If I'm not there, they don't
want to bug me on, hey, I'm

871
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:30,320
trying to work on this project.
You know this takeoff didn't end

872
00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:33,160
up right.
How you know I need to get this

873
00:47:33,160 --> 00:47:35,280
or can you work out a deal with
me on this?

874
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:37,720
They didn't want to bug me.
So they just went somewhere

875
00:47:37,720 --> 00:47:39,360
else.
So they went somewhere else

876
00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:42,880
thinking that they're helping me
by giving me some space, but the

877
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:45,160
money's not there.
And it pissed me off at first.

878
00:47:45,160 --> 00:47:47,760
But then I started thinking back
to whenever one of my suppliers

879
00:47:48,240 --> 00:47:51,800
lost a child and I used to buy
all of my seed from him.

880
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:57,320
And after his child died,
because I couldn't call him the

881
00:47:57,320 --> 00:48:00,960
way that I'd always worked with
him and everything else, I went

882
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:02,560
somewhere else to buy seed that
year.

883
00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:04,080
Well, then that became my
supplier.

884
00:48:05,720 --> 00:48:10,520
Jeez, so you were, you just lost
your son, your business is

885
00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:13,080
tanking.
You got to get move your

886
00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:15,720
business and all that.
You're running for the house as

887
00:48:15,720 --> 00:48:18,560
well during that time.
Yeah, I cannot imagine how.

888
00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:21,000
Well, I quit running after I
lost my son.

889
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:24,280
Like I quit, I didn't drop out,
but I didn't do any campaign.

890
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:25,240
You're.
Just like we're not touching.

891
00:48:25,240 --> 00:48:27,960
That I still had a Democrat
candidate and I didn't really

892
00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:29,360
care whether I was elected or
not.

893
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:32,640
You know, every bit of money
that was in my campaign account

894
00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:34,640
was spent just on mailers and
that was it.

895
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:37,640
And then I got elected, came
into office, and I didn't get to

896
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:40,160
move my business until after my
first year.

897
00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:42,760
So I had that six months in
office.

898
00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:46,160
And then right afterwards, I had
to move the business that was on

899
00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:48,240
the landscape supply side.
So I had to sell the

900
00:48:48,240 --> 00:48:51,880
landscaping, the heat and air
the first year and then

901
00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:55,840
landscape supply.
And whenever I say sell them, it

902
00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:58,120
wasn't to make any money.
It was to keep from going

903
00:48:58,120 --> 00:49:00,800
bankrupt.
It was just juggling everything.

904
00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:04,920
I mean, I'm still paying off
debt, but I walked in my first

905
00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:07,200
year.
And then as a legislator, you

906
00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:10,600
get 10,800 up front.
Well after they take out taxes

907
00:49:10,600 --> 00:49:12,760
and insurance, a little over
$3000.

908
00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:14,720
And then you get a per diem per
day.

909
00:49:15,120 --> 00:49:20,000
But it's still, I think it comes
out like 20-5, maybe total 2530.

910
00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:22,280
It's it's if it was enough to
make a difference.

911
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:23,800
I could tell you the exact
numbers.

912
00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:27,080
But if you're going to serve,
and I think it's one of the

913
00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:30,280
problems in South Carolina
politics, is that it's set up

914
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:32,720
for only the rich to represent.
Yeah, because you don't get.

915
00:49:32,720 --> 00:49:33,760
Paid.
That's the reason you have so

916
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:38,800
many attorneys there.
It was probably the most

917
00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:42,640
stressful time, but I learned I
leaned a lot more on my faith,

918
00:49:43,360 --> 00:49:48,120
my belief in life and still to
this day is don't anticipate,

919
00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:50,360
participate.
I'll be wherever God wants me,

920
00:49:50,720 --> 00:49:53,320
good or bad.
It took me 30 years to become a

921
00:49:53,320 --> 00:49:55,240
Christian because I thought
everyone was either perfect or a

922
00:49:55,240 --> 00:49:56,800
hypocrite.
And it went until I learned that

923
00:49:56,800 --> 00:49:59,600
we all fall short.
We're all that I can, that I can

924
00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:03,240
move forward.
And you know, I even opened up

925
00:50:03,240 --> 00:50:06,240
my campaign with, you know, not
only have I messed up, I will

926
00:50:06,240 --> 00:50:08,440
continue to mess up, but I'll
strive to be a better man

927
00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:12,080
tomorrow than I am today.
And really, what we've lost in

928
00:50:12,080 --> 00:50:17,440
this entire country is grace.
So if we showed more grace and

929
00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:19,560
that goes back, why did my son
take his life?

930
00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:27,600
Shame there's no grace, right?
He's seen teenagers lose college

931
00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:30,760
scholarships because something
they said stupid whenever they

932
00:50:30,760 --> 00:50:33,720
were 13.
Same thing politically.

933
00:50:33,720 --> 00:50:37,520
Like my approach is that I'm
here, this is the people seat.

934
00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:40,840
I'm here as long as I possibly
can be that they want me here.

935
00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:44,880
But whenever they don't want me
here, I'm not going to cry about

936
00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:48,280
it one bit.
I made a lot more money before I

937
00:50:48,280 --> 00:50:51,640
ever got involved in politics.
It was a lot more successful.

938
00:50:52,120 --> 00:50:54,760
I feel like I'm more effective
than I ever thought I would be

939
00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:57,640
in politics.
And I think the people support

940
00:50:57,640 --> 00:51:01,680
me because of that.
But you know, it might just be

941
00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:03,440
the flavor this month.
I'll say.

942
00:51:03,440 --> 00:51:06,360
That it is next month I.
Will say, when Christina and I

943
00:51:06,360 --> 00:51:10,360
met you, we agreed that you're a
very down to earth politician.

944
00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:12,040
Like she said, he's not like the
rest of them.

945
00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:14,920
Like he really like, I don't
know, he doesn't think he's too

946
00:51:14,920 --> 00:51:17,480
good for you.
Like he just seems more convert

947
00:51:17,760 --> 00:51:19,840
personable I guess is the word
I'm looking for.

948
00:51:20,400 --> 00:51:22,640
I think one of your good
neighbor, one of the problems

949
00:51:22,640 --> 00:51:24,960
that we have in the State House
too, there's not enough people

950
00:51:24,960 --> 00:51:29,640
that know what it's like to have
to use the bathroom in a pot or

951
00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:32,600
go without power on the House.
I was raised by a teenage mom,

952
00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:35,120
always worked three jobs,
struggled.

953
00:51:35,120 --> 00:51:40,000
Like I was never unhappy because
I didn't know any other way.

954
00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:43,960
But I know what it's like for
people that are struggling.

955
00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:48,000
And whenever you have people
down there that you know they

956
00:51:48,000 --> 00:51:50,920
could care less, they'll walk
over and drop 100 bucks on a

957
00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:53,880
lunch.
They don't understand how it's

958
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:57,280
so detrimental to somebody to
just have to pay an extra $50.00

959
00:51:57,280 --> 00:52:00,000
for a fee to do something or a
business.

960
00:52:00,920 --> 00:52:05,320
Like I remember whenever I was
first in business, we were

961
00:52:05,320 --> 00:52:09,640
struggling and I get into a
fight with my wife and I had

962
00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:12,600
like five guys working for me.
I get into a fight with my wife

963
00:52:12,600 --> 00:52:15,240
because I was taking my
children's Christmas money that

964
00:52:15,240 --> 00:52:18,480
she had been taking a little bit
out and she built up to be able

965
00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:21,760
to buy their Christmas.
Well, their Christmas was like

966
00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:25,600
500 bucks apiece.
Hefty, right?

967
00:52:25,920 --> 00:52:29,080
But I had.
No money to give my guys a bonus

968
00:52:29,080 --> 00:52:32,240
for Christmas so I knocked it
down.

969
00:52:32,240 --> 00:52:37,280
I think each kid got like 150
and each one of my guys got $100

970
00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:39,960
bonus.
And I remember fighting with my

971
00:52:39,960 --> 00:52:43,720
wife and then I go and I give it
to these guys and me, I mean,

972
00:52:43,720 --> 00:52:46,360
I'm making peanut butter and
Jelly sandwiches for lunch, you

973
00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:51,920
know, And I give it to the guys.
And I had guys complaining that

974
00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:54,880
this was a slap in the face or
anything else.

975
00:52:55,720 --> 00:52:59,880
And I made a a a point from
there forward, like nobody gets

976
00:52:59,880 --> 00:53:03,760
bonuses in your compensation.
There's no bonus.

977
00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:07,520
Your bonus will be swag.
I'm not giving you money, just.

978
00:53:08,160 --> 00:53:10,320
Just for you to turn around and
complain about me giving you

979
00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:12,360
extra money.
Well, we we've dipped dove into

980
00:53:12,360 --> 00:53:13,960
a lot here.
To jump around SO.

981
00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:17,120
Yeah, I do want to, and I love
to ask our guests.

982
00:53:17,760 --> 00:53:19,680
Looking back on your career,
you've been through tons of

983
00:53:19,680 --> 00:53:21,640
obstacles, you've been through
the UPS and the downs.

984
00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:25,000
What is the best advice you
would give to someone in their

985
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:29,680
mid 20s, young 30s trying to get
started in their career and make

986
00:53:29,680 --> 00:53:32,480
an impact in this community?
I think some of the best advice

987
00:53:32,480 --> 00:53:34,800
I ever had is you're always the
average of the five people

988
00:53:34,800 --> 00:53:38,600
you're around the most,
regardless of whether you want

989
00:53:38,600 --> 00:53:41,760
to increase your faith.
If you're around 5 people that

990
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:44,000
have stronger faith in you, then
your faith will increase.

991
00:53:44,560 --> 00:53:48,680
If you want to increase your
financial power, then if you're

992
00:53:48,680 --> 00:53:51,760
around 5 people that make more
money than you, you will make

993
00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:54,760
more money.
You will learn because what is

994
00:53:54,760 --> 00:53:57,480
important to the people that
you're around the most becomes

995
00:53:57,480 --> 00:54:00,040
important to you and bleeds out
to you.

996
00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:04,160
Now, we all got that one friend
that you just can't seem to get

997
00:54:04,160 --> 00:54:08,400
rid of, but just know that those
people do weigh you down.

998
00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:11,440
Whenever your parents said you
know you, you are who you hang

999
00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:13,520
with.
I mean, there, there's truth in

1000
00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:16,280
that.
I 100% agree everywhere to that.

1001
00:54:17,080 --> 00:54:19,720
Well, especially for young
couples.

1002
00:54:19,720 --> 00:54:21,360
And then you're in accumulation
phase.

1003
00:54:21,800 --> 00:54:25,320
You once realize, you will
eventually realize you don't

1004
00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:28,200
need all this stuff.
None of this stuff matters.

1005
00:54:29,400 --> 00:54:32,160
Oh, Representative Guffey,
you're obviously very wise, man,

1006
00:54:32,240 --> 00:54:34,520
Very impactful.
And might be the first time I've

1007
00:54:34,520 --> 00:54:36,640
been.
But thank you so much for

1008
00:54:36,640 --> 00:54:37,480
joining us.
Today.

1009
00:54:37,480 --> 00:54:37,840
Thank you.