A new documentary film that explores the historical basis of cultural stereotypes about people from Appalachia, is set to make its worldwide debut during the Nashville Film Festival on May 19th.
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Mayoral candidate Carol Swain called on Acting Mayor David Briley to “terminate Metro Chief Operating Officer Rich Riebeling for misappropration of funds” in a statement released by her campaign on Tuesday. “Today, I am calling for acting Mayor David Briley to terminate Metro COO Rich Riebeling for misappropriation of funds. If he does not fire Riebeling it will show he is truly committed to ‘continuity’ of a system that has rewarded big business and developers at the expense of the citizens of Nashville,” Swain said in the statement. “I would also like to state my unequivocal support for the Fairgrounds. I think it is important and necessary to honor the Rains family’s wishes that the Tennessee State Fair would be held on the land they gave to the city,” she added. “Over the last decade, there has been a concerted effort by members of the Metropolitan government to fundamentally change the character of the Fairgrounds. Men like Rich Riebeling and Larry Atema have misappropriated funds that were earmarked for much needed improvements,” the former Vanderbilt professor continued. “It is time to move on from crony contracts and backroom deals of the Dean, Barry, and now Briley administrations. As Mayor, I…
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Ahead of the May 12th deadline and against the many requests from European allies, President Trump announced Tuesday afternoon the United States will withdraw from the Obama-era “Iran Deal.” The president announced his decision in a speech at the White House in the Diplomatic Room as Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Vice President Mike Pence looked on, Breitbart reported. In his remarks, Mr. Trump revisited the many atrocities against the West and the United States by the theocratic regime. “Over the years, Iran and its proxies have bombed American embassies and military installations, murdered hundreds of American service members, and kidnapped, imprisoned, and tortured American citizens,” he said. After a summarizing the short history of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – commonly known as the “Iran Deal” he President Trump noted: Since the Agreement, Iran’s bloody ambitions have grown only more brazen. In light of these glaring flaws, I announced last October that the Iran Deal must wither be renegotiated or terminated. Three months later on January 12th, I repeated these conditions. I made clear that if the Deal cannot be fixed, the United States would no longer be a party to the…
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Acting Mayor David Briley appeared sullen and disengaged on NewsChannel5’s ‘Inside Politics’ with Political Analyst Pat Nolan Sunday in his interview to recap the State of the Metro address and attendant budget issues. To his credit, Inside Politics host Nolan started off the half-hour interview on what should have been a heartwarming moment. “On a personal note,” he began, “the address you gave Friday morning – the Star of the Metro address – was one that your grandfather, Mayor Beverly Briley, gave for twelve years, including the very first State of the Metro fifty-five years ago on April 1st 1963 – which is Metro’s original birthday. As you put this speech together and as you gave it, did that come back to you because the first thing your started out in your speech was a quote from your grandfather.” Briley replied flatly, “It did. We wanted to look back at what people were saying fifty years ago, and that was a good place to look.” Nolan – seeming to sense Briley’s lost opportunity jumped in, “It was about bringing people together and addressing things that were problems today, but address them in a way helps for tomorrow.” “Yep,” Briley said, nodding. He…
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by Dr. Mark McDonald, Professor of the Practice of Civil Engineering at Lipscomb University There is no doubt after the transit referendum that the proposed master plan was found to be a train wreck by almost two of three voters. This is a most unfortunate situation, as the window of time to manage Nashville’s rapid growth is shrinking and if not managed competently, Nashville will pay dearly for it. In this article I will provide my insight as to why the plan failed, what I think is good and bad about the result, and where I believe Nashville should go from here. Let’s first of all establish a few baseline facts. Nashville’s surface streets in the urban core are approaching gridlock at peak hours. Nashville’s interstates are operating regularly at level of service F at peak times, when most of our citizens need the network to be reliable and efficient. Our primary arterials are operating at capacity, and we will have a very large number of people moving to middle Tennessee in the next 20 years. Our city’s infrastructure is totally unprepared to handle this population explosion, and to make matters worse, the additional motorists expected on our highways will…
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The innocuous sounding Highlander Research and Education Center located in Jefferson County, Tennessee, is dedicated to creating radical activists that will change the social, economic and political order of the South. Beginning in 2007, the Center provided critical training to leaders and members from the TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), which is now using that training to try and convince Governor Haslam to veto the anti-sanctuary city bill passed by the Tennessee General Assembly. Under the guise of championing “social justice,” Highlander provided Justice School for TIRRC‘s leaders and members beginning in 2007, with “sessions combin[ing] nuts-and-bolts training on organizing and leadership skills with broader discussions of social, political, and economic issues related to immigration and the immigrant rights movement.” The following year, TIRRC was named “Advocacy Affiliate of the Year” by the National Council of La Raza. TIRRC lists the Highlander Center among its coalition members. The formerly named Highlander Folk School was co-founded in 1932, by Tennessee socialists and anti-capitalists Myles Horton and Don West who modeled the school after socialist training centers they had visited in Denmark. The school was established in Monteagle, Tennessee but was shut down by the state for alleged violations of it’s charter. The school…
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by CHQ Staff Despite President Trump’s expressions of outrage, seventy men, women and children poured through a U.S. port of entry early Friday to seek asylum, the largest single group yet accepted by U.S. officials from the caravan of Central American aliens demanding unrestricted entry into the United States. The aliens, from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, were among the last who had planned to ask for asylum, bringing the total to 228 who have crossed the border in the past ten days. Just after 9 a.m., the phony asylum-seekers lined up to enter the long passageway between the countries reported Reuters. In single file, they walked straight through, with photo-op ready mothers carrying teddy bears in one hand and small children in another. In Mexico outside the port of entry, reports Reuters, the remaining migrants were joined in a makeshift camp by other would-be asylum-seekers who had come seeking information and donations. Meanwhile, says Reuters, the caravan’s organizers scrambled to collect migrants’ names to track their dispersal across U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) centers after they exit the port of entry’s detention facility in coming days. Conservatives are outraged that Soros-backed organizations are aiding and abetting the…
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Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett submitted his final budget for the County Monday as he prepares to leave office this Fall after two terms in office. Burchett is term-limited and is currently running for Congress in the Second Congressional District Republican Primary to succeed Congressman Jimmy Duncan, who announced his retirement several months ago. The final Burchett budget proposal spends $819 million and includes no tax increases. The budget is a small increase of 2.6 percent ($20.8 million) from 2017-18 and would pay down $9.1 million in county debt. Burchett pointed out in his presentation that the county has paid down some $45 million in debt since he took office. The budget also focuses on provided some additional funds to law enforcement, with raises for the Sheriff’s Deputies that will be higher than what will be allocated to other county employees. There is also some targeted spending in the $35.4 million capital budget, with the Sheriff’s Department receiving $2.1 million for new equipment, which includes forty six new vehicles, body cameras and tasers. The Burchett proposal includes one year of funding for magnet schools and the Project GRAD program, which helps lower-performing, poorer students, subject to the School Board assisting…
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by Ginny Montalbano Andrew Puzder, former CEO of the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. restaurants, last week spoke to The Daily Signal’s Ginny Montalbano about his new book, “The Capitalist Comeback: The Trump Boom and the Left’s Plot to Stop It.” President Donald Trump tweeted about the book Friday night. [Puzder now lives in Franklin, Tennessee.] A lightly edited transcript of the interview follows. Great book just out by very successful businessman @AndyPuzder. Always known as somebody who knows how to win, “Capitalist Comeback” will be a big hit! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2018 [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Ginny Montalbano: Thank you so much for being with us today. You have a new book out called “The Capitalist Comeback: The Trump Boom and the Left’s Plot to Stop It.” Can you preview it for us? Andrew Puzder: It’s a book that covers a lot of the history of the progressive movement, and the strength of our American capitalist system, what a benefit it’s been, not only for this country but for the world. But more particularly, how the…
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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democratic women’s rights advocate, resigned Monday over allegations of physical violence against four women. “While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office’s work at this critical time,” Schneiderman said as reported by The New Yorker. “I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018.” The publication’s Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow spoke to two accusers on the record: Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam. They allege that Schneiderman “repeatedly hit them, often after drinking, frequently in bed and never with their consent,” the story said. In response, Republican Attorneys General Association Chairman (RAGA) and Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said, for RAGA, “The allegations against Eric Schneiderman are sickening. With devastating detail, the courageous women involved shared the horror and abuse they endured at the hands of a disturbed monster. I commend these strong women for standing up, speaking out and sharing their stories which will hopefully empower other victims to speak out against violence. These women will be the ones who are remembered, not this sick man. While Schneiderman has…
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Legendary stock market and business tycoon Warren Buffet declared at the Berkshire Hathway annual meeting over the weekend that only three American newspapers were viable, long-term. “No one except the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and now probably the Washington Post has come up with a digital product that really in any significant way will replace the revenue that is being lost as print newspapers lose both circulation and advertising,” the company chief said during the question-and-answer period of the presentation. “It is very difficult to see – with a lack of success in terms of important dollars rising from digital – it’s difficult to see how the print product survives over time.” Buffet added that the fiscal impact to Berkshire Hathaway – despite its holding in the newspaper markets – will be minuscule. “The economic significance to Berkshire is almost negligible, but the significance to the society I think actually is enormous,” he said. Show business and media news outlet The Wrap reported: Buffett’s prediction was precipitated by a question from former Fortune magazine journalist Carol Loomis, who noted that circulation for the 28 newspapers Buffett purchased in 2011 had all fallen sharply. Buffett’s latest pronouncement on the newspapers was actually an improvement from…
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by Jason Hopkins A recently released study suggests those less concerned with climate change practice more eco-friendly habits than those who are more alarmed about the issue. In an April study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, University of Michigan psychology graduate student Michael Hall researched the behavioral differences between people who hold varying degrees of concern toward climate change. Hall, over the course of one year, examined 600 different Americans who “regularly reported their climate change beliefs, pro-environmental behavior, and other climate-change related measures.” The report divided subjects into three groups: “Highly Concerned,” “Cautiously Worried” and “Skeptical.” Additionally, the report measured how frequently subjects participated in “green” behavior: using public transportation, purchasing environmentally friendly products, using reusable shopping bags, and recycling. Unsurprisingly, Americans in the “skeptical” category were most opposed to enacting government regulations to address climate change. Those in the “Highly Concerned” category were much more in favor of government intervention. A surprising find in the study, however, was these same skeptics were “most likely to report engaging in individual-level pro-environmental behaviors.” Hall and his colleagues found these behaviors to be consistent throughout the year. While it is difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons for someone to be strongly supportive of environmental…
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by Ethan Barton Admitted drug addicts and dealers were among the hundreds of thousands of people and businesses the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) licensed to manufacture, distribute or prescribe pharmaceuticals over the past 12 years, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation has found. The agency stripped only 240 licenses for wrong-doing over the same period. The DEA’s Office of Diversion Control, which is responsible for issuing and revoking the permits, is, by law, fully funded by the licenses’ application fees. More than 1.7 million individuals and organizations held licenses as of March 2018 — an increase of more than 510,000 since August 2006, the earliest publicly available data, TheDCNF’s review found. “The office … has not been very aggressive in hunting down doctors [who] are prescribing in inappropriate ways,” said Carnegie Mellon University Professor Jonathan Caulkins, who’s worked extensively in drug policy. “The DEA does not aggressively try to find corrupt or incompetent health care providers in the health care system.” Effective enforcement is especially important given the growing opioid epidemic, Caulkins added. More than 200,000 Americans died from prescription drug overdoses between 1999 and 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most heroin users begin their addiction with such…
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The culture of corruption that has permeated Metro Nashville Government for years revolves around Chief Operating Officer Rich Riebeling, the man who appears to be in control of all the reins of power, while Acting Mayor David Briley joylessly slogs through the ceremonial duties of his temporary job. On Monday, The Tennessee Star documented three specific opportunities Briley has had since March 6, when he was sworn in as Acting Mayor of Nashville, to ask for Riebeling’s resignation. On all three occasions, Briley failed to act. Over the next two weeks, The Star will document additional instances of Riebeling’s conduct during his decade plus tenure as a key official in Metro Nashville Government that constitutes a conflict of interest that in any other public or private setting would be sufficient for a leader of the organization for which he works to call for his resignation. Some of these instances will represent original reporting by The Star. Other instances will simply entail our reminding residents of Nashville/Davidson County of facts that are in the public record and have been previously reported by other news organizations. Riebeling has an impressive bio, and is not a man to be taken lightly, nor should his…
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