Congressman Andy Ogles Nominates President Trump for 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

Rep. Andy Ogles Press Release, Aug. 19, 2025 - Congressman Andy Ogles (TN-5) sent a letter to the Nobel Commission nominating President Donald J. Trump for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, following Trump’s historic summit last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and Monday’s White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with several other European Leaders.

President Trump’s record of peace speaks for itself: the historic Abraham Accords in the Middle East, peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, de-escalation with North Korea, and now opening the door to end the war in Ukraine. No other leader has delivered so much for global stability.

“Because of President Trump’s leadership, more people are alive today, and there are fewer wars in the world than before. He is a champion of America First statesmanship, proving that strength and prudence—not globalism—are the keys to lasting U.S. foreign policy,” said Congressman Ogles. 

“No other world leader can claim to have halted wars and begun resolving centuries-old disputes. As Christ said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize,” Congressman Ogles said.

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Bellevue Breakfast Club Guest Speaker is TN-07 Candidate State Rep. Gino Bulso, Sept. 6,

State Representative Gino Bulso

State Representative Gino Bulso, candidate for the Republican 7th Congressional District nomination, will be the guest speaker at the Bellevue Breakfast Club on Saturday, September 6th at 8:30 AM. 

The event takes place at The Plantation Pub, 8321 Sawyer Brown Rd., Nashville, TN 37221.

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My Thoughts on the Cracker Barrel Logo Controversy

by Rod Williams, August 28, 2025- Regarding the controversy over the Cracker Barrel logo, I don't care. Of the top 100 things I care about, this is somewhere along about number 99. Taylor Swift's engagement to whatever-his-name-is (the football player) is along about 100. 

With a new daily Trump outrage, troops occupying our nation's capital, Trump taking a major step toward socialism, JFK destroying America's public health system, masked government thugs pulling people from cars and disappearing them, Trump firing people who give him data he doesn't like, Trump raiding the homes of his critics, Trump's sort-of attempt to ban flag burning, Trump's attempt to usurpt the constitution by telling states how to conduct their elections, Trump's attempt to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, Russia's continued unprovoked war against Ukraine and Trump's failure to take the actions he threantened to take aginst Russia if Russia did not agree to a ceasefire, and all else going on in the world, I could care less about the Cracker Barrel logo or Taylor Swift. 

I don't want to waste my time listening to anyone who wants to tell me why I should care about the Cracker Barrel logo. Neither Cracker Barrel's logo nor Taylor Swift's love life holds any interest for me.

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Republican Senators, Conservative Pundits, Think-tanks Sound Alarm on Donald Trump's Right-Wing Socialism

Republican Senators Sound Alarm on Donald Trump's "Step Toward Socialism"

by Andrew Stanton, Newsweek, Aug. 26, 2025-  President Donald Trump's deal with Intel that would give the federal government a 10 percent stake in the company sparked pushback from at least two Republican senators this week.

A White House spokesperson responded to these concerns in a statement to Newsweek, writing that the administration is "ensuring that taxpayers are able to reap the upside of the federal government's investments into safeguarding our national and economic security."

Trump announced the deal with Intel, a computer chip-producing company that has struggled in recent years, last week. It is a rare, but not unprecedented, instance of government intervention into a private business from a Republican administration and marks a shift from typical conservative economic orthodoxy.

The deal is intended to boost Intel, which has faced challenges following years of missteps, reported the Associated Press. But not all Republicans are comfortable with the deal, underscoring tension between Trump and more traditional fiscal conservatives.

What To Know

Trump announced the deal in an August 22 Truth Social post. "The United States paid nothing for these Shares, and the Shares are now valued at approximately $11 Billion Dollars. This is a great Deal for America and, also, a great Deal for INTEL. Building leading edge Semiconductors and Chips, which is what INTEL does, is fundamental to the future of our Nation. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Thank you for your attention to this matter," he wrote in the post.

Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican known as a fiscal conservative, criticized the deal on X.

"If socialism is government owning the means of production, wouldn't the government owning part of Intel be a step toward socialism? Terrible idea," Paul wrote.

Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, also raised concerns about the deal in an interview with journalist Major Garrett.

"I don't care if it's a dollar or a billion dollar stake," Tillis said. "That starts feeling like a semi-state owned enterprise, à la CCCP. I don't believe that the U.S. government should be picking winners and losers because you won't always be right."

He questioned how this "reconciles with true conservatism and true free market capitalism."

"Does anybody really believe that any opinion except the opinion of the administration is really going to matter in boardroom discussions going forward?" he said. (read more)

Trump’s Right-Wing Socialism

By David A. Graham, August 25, 2025- “The era of big government is over,” Bill Clinton declared 29 years ago. Donald Trump never got the memo.

In his second term, the president is embracing perhaps the most sweeping expansion of federal power since that of Franklin D. Roosevelt: bullying state governments, using military force if necessary; telling private institutions, including media corporations and universities, how to operate; extorting law firms into doing free work for the government; and, in the latest escalation, taking a stake in the tech firm Intel.

Conservative pundits and trolls have long used socialist as a ready-made epithet for any left-of-center policy ideas. Trump himself even called Kamala Harris a “communist” during the 2024 campaign. But Trump is offering proof that a government can be both socialist and reactionary. 

... As Wall Street Journal reporting indicates, this was more of a protection racket than a business deal. ...This is just the nightmare that right-wing politicians and thinkers have been warning about for a century, and now their party has made it reality. The era of small government is over. (read it all)

Trump's Intel Deal Is Corporate Socialism in a MAGA Hat

by Joe Lancaster Reason,  August 25, 2025 - President Donald Trump negotiated a deal last week for the U.S. government to take a substantial ownership stake in an American company. Despite his assurances, Trump's socialistic transaction is a terrible deal not only for the parties involved, but for the entire U.S. economy. ...

Every part of this transaction flies in the face of any sincere interpretation of free markets, including the Biden administration's original sin to approve billions of dollars for a struggling company. It is perhaps telling that as Reason's Eric Boehm noted last week, the idea that the U.S. government should take a piece of Intel in exchange for CHIPS Act funding was first floated by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.). Trump and his allies are now issuing talking points that could have come from the socialist senator himself.

If the U.S. government insists upon dishing out taxpayer money to private companies, is there any reason it shouldn't, as U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick put it to CNBC, get "a piece of the action"?

There are many reasons, in fact. "The most immediate risk is that Intel's decisions will increasingly be driven by political rather than commercial considerations," (read it all)

Socialism Without Socialism 

byNick Catoggio, Published August 25, 2025 ... They told me that if I voted for Kamala Harris we’d end up with a command-and-control economy. And they were right....

The president is enough of a socialist to have received a round of applause for his Intel deal from America’s most prominent pinko, Sen. Bernie Sanders.

And he’s enough of a socialist to have roused normally docile conservatives to condemn the Intel news harshly, including a few Reaganite economists who long ago made their peace with Trumpism in other respects. “I hate corporate welfare. That’s privatization in reverse. We want the government to divest of assets, not buy assets,” said Stephen Moore, whom the president once nominated for a seat at the Fed, on Fox Business. “I am very, very uncomfortable with that idea,” host Larry Kudlow agreed—before quickly moving on.

The Intel squeeze is socialist-ist, if that makes sense. But it’s not socialist.

Socialism is an economic theory that prioritizes wealth equality over wealth creation. It calls for the state to control the means of production on behalf of the great working-stiff majority, to ensure that they receive more of the fruits of their labor than rapacious private owners would be willing to share under capitalism.

Putting the state in charge of industry leads to all sorts of funny quirks. Markets grow distorted and inefficient as the government intervenes, slowing growth and producing shortages. The rapacious bourgeoisie gives way to a more rapacious class of racketeering bureaucrats eager to use their new power to enrich their friends and punish their enemies. Government coercion, up to and including mass violence, replaces the profit motive as the primary tool for inducing behavior.

It’s a real peach. And socialism’s theory of how to achieve the greatest good, by devolving wealth from the top of society to the desperate bottom, usually ends up producing greater desperation across all classes rather than greater prosperity. (That’s equality of a sort.) But it does at least have a theory of civic virtue behind it. It’s possible to be a well-meaning socialist, especially if you don’t know a thing about the history of socialism.

There’s no similarly altruistic “theory” behind what Trump is doing with Intel and other companies. (read it all)

US Senator Sanders favors Trump plan to take stake in Intel and other chipmakers

Rod's Comment: 
I am not shocked that Trump would do this. I don't think Trump could do anything that would shock me anymore. I think he has no core convictions. Everything is transactional and about power. I am pleased that this has met resistance. However, I suspect that most of Trump's supporters will not care. On issue after issue, Trump supporters have abandoned long-cherished beliefs and values. Trump can do a one-eighty, and his followers will follow until the next one-eighty.  If Trump is a socialist, well, don't you know, socialism is a good thing. It makes one's head spin. 

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TRUMP REPEALS FIRST COMMANDMENT …of capitalism

by Ralph Bristol, reposted from Facebook, August 26, 2025- Other presidents have suspended the First Commandment of capitalism. President Trump has repealed it.  That-changes-everything.

The first of the Ten Commandments is “No other Gods” and if you don’t respect that one, the rest are meaningless because you could take your moral cues from another God who thinks that one or more of God’s 10 commandments is “eh, who cares?”

I have always been taught, and recently confirmed with every source known to man, that the First Commandment of capitalism, the one which primarily distinguishes capitalism from socialism, like God from the devil, and good from evil, is “Thine government shalt not own the means of producing wealth,” or words to that effect.

Now, our government has taken a 10% equity stake in Intel. It did not purchase a 10% stake. It TOOK a 10% stake, by “renegotiating” the terms attached to the money Intel received from President Biden’s “CHIPS ACT.” 

IS THIS UNIQUE?

...some say 'no'

During the 2008 financial crisis, the government took a controlling stake (60%) in General Motors to prevent its collapse—and later sold it off. I vehemently opposed those moves by both Bush and Obama, moves which became significant whipping boys for the then-nascent Tea Party movement. 

President George W. Bush initiated the GM bailout with loans. That didn't work to save GM, so President Obama restructured the bailout into equity after GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June of 2009. The federal government provided about $30 billion more in financing and took a 60% equity stake in the “new GM.” 

Obama’s auto task force oversaw the restructuring, renegotiating labor contracts, and forcing leadership changes. The government gradually sold off its shares, fully exiting GM by 2013. 

From day one of the Obama-restructuring (May 31, 2009), Treasury stated it was a “reluctant equity owner” and would dispose of its GM stake “as soon as practicable.” That exit intent was written into the administration’s principles for managing the ownership stake. That promise did not quiet the Tea Party – or me!

Even though this was an act to rescue a failing, heritage American manufacturing company and the intention, announced early, was to divest as soon as possible, I opposed it vehemently, as did everyone in the Tea Party movement, demonizing anyone, Republican and Democrat alike, who supported it. 

We ridiculed Sen. Lamar Alexander who reveled in his cleverness when he described it as pulling a car out of the ditch. 

INTEL IS DIFFERENT (but not better)

…Introducing the “strategic subsidy conversion”

The Intel stake is designed as “passive, non-controlling,” and structured as a “strategic subsidy-conversion,” not a rescue of a failing business. 

The government has no plans to sell Intel. Rather, this appears to be the first in a new government venture to create a “Sovereign Wealth Fund” filled with large shares of equities in the most productive wealth producers in the U.S, starting with chips companies who received CHIPS ACT money.

But, don’t worry, the government says, they won’t be “controlling” those industries.

"The government won’t hold board seats or participate in governance. It is required to vote in line with Intel’s board in situations that require shareholder approval," reported Barrons. "The government must hold the shares for at least one year; afterward, it can sell them on the open market," reported the Washington Post.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insists the “non-controlling” clause in the "strategic subsidy conversion" that President Trump negotiated with the Intel CEO (who came to the White House with hat in hand after Trump said he should be fired for his involvement with China) is a wall of separation between “ownership” and “control,” and therefore the deal does not violate the First Commandment of capitalism. 

Color me skeptical. 

I screamed at the TV as I watched the reputed conservative on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” try to convince himself that taking an equity stake in exchange for the “CHIPS” money the Biden administration gave to Intel is “an improvement.”

Biden bribed chips companies to try to solve the alleged crisis that “not enough chips are produced in the U.S.” 

Trump is “renegotiating” Biden’s bribe -- which many companies took only because Biden wanted them to and gave them sweetheart terms to accept the money

In those "renegotiations," Trump is demanding a large equity stake in the companies to compensate the government for Biden’s bribes. 

Why is the First Commandment the First Commandment?  Because without it, the rest are merely suggestions from one of many sources.  You don’t like that suggestion. Pick another from a different source. 

Why is the First Commandment of capitalism the First Commandment?  For the same reason. This changes everything we’ve ever known and relied on about capitalism. And it’s just the start.  I have no idea where it will take us, but I know this.  Without capitalism, the world, and especially the U.S. would be a lot poorer. 

And, we no longer have a capitalist economy. That is not an opinion. That is a fact.

Ralph Bristol is a former popular local conservative radio talk show host with Super Talk 99.7 (WTN 99.7) where he worked for 11 years. He is now semi-retired.

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Andy Ogles is Having a Public Meeting

 

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Trump Signs Executive Order Banning Flag Burning (in rare incidences)

by Rod Williams, August 25, 2025-President Trump today signed an executive order that targets the burning of the American flag. The order does not outright criminalize burning the American flag but directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to prioritize enforcement against cases of "flag desecration" where existing laws were violated.

Those could include violent crimes, crimes against property, illegal discrimination, and other violations, per the order.

"If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail, no early exits, no nothing," Trump said while signing the executive order.

The executive order said that the administration will "act to restore respect and sanctity to the American Flag and prosecute those who incite violence or otherwise violate our laws while desecrating this symbol of our country."

"If the Justice Department, or another executive department or agency," concludes that a case where a flag was set ablaze violates state or local law, such as open burning restrictions, the federal body is directed to refer the matter to state or local authorities, said Trump in signing the EO. This executive order is mostly performative and doesn't do much, thank God.

In a landmark 1989 ruling, the high court decided that flag burning constitutes protected symbolic speech. Among those justices in the majority in that 5-4 was conservative stalwart Antonia Scalia, who said that as a jurist who believes in a pure texualist reading of the Constitution, he has made some tough calls in his career, especially in free-speech cases where his vote went against his personal principles.

"If it were up to me, I would put in jail every sandal-wearing, scruffy-bearded weirdo who burns the American flag," Scalia said. "But I am not king." (link)

That kind of reflects my view of flag burners. They disgust me, but in a free society people have a right to do things that disgust me. If you only support free speech when it is speech you agree with, you do not support free speech. 

Trump's EO does not overturn a Supreme Court decision; it can't and it really doesn't even attempt to. It is meaningless theater for the most part. It is nothing more than virtue signaling, but may have a mild intimidating effect, but not much more. 

For links to the quotations and some of the paraphrased text in the above, follow this link.

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Unemployment rates up in 92 of 95 Tennessee counties

 by Kim Jarrett, The Center Square, Aug 21, 2025 -  Only three of Tennessee's 95 counties did not have an increase in their unemployment rate for July, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The largest climb was in Weakley County, where the rate jumped 3.5 percentage points to 8.5%, according to the department.

The second highest was in Green County at 6.8%, an increase of 1.3% from June.

Labor Department officials said the large decreases were seasonal, which is figured in the state rate but not in individual county figures.

Sevier County, home to popular tourist sites Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, had the lowest rate in the state at 3.3%, followed by Cheatham County at 3.4%, according to the department. Five counties – Wilson, Williamson, Sumner, Dickson and Davidson – had rates of 3.6%.

Tennessee's unemployment rate was 3.6% in July, up from 3.5% in June and from the 2024 July rate of 3.4%. Tennessee remains below the national rate of 4.2%.

The department said the number of jobs declined by 900 in July. The private education and health services sector shed the most jobs, followed by the leisure and hospitality sector.

Overall, the Volunteer State added 21,000 in the past year, most of them in the government sector, the department said.

Average weekly earnings for Tennessee workers increased by 1.1% in July to $1,000.82. The average hourly wage was $24.47.

Rod's Comment: I'm not too concerned about this. Trump knows how to fix it. He can fire the Labor Department official responsible for compiling the data.

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No endorsement from Trump in Tennessee governor's race

By Kim Jarrett, The Center Square, Aug 22, 2025 - President Donald Trump endorsed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Burt Jones but has yet to make a similar endorsement in Tennessee.

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn said on Aug. 6 she would run for the state's top office, following a June announcement from U.S. Rep. John Rose that he would also be a candidate in the Republican primary. Gov. Bill Lee is term-limited and cannot run again.

Trump said Thursday on The Todd Starnes Show that Blackburn and Rose were good friends of his.

"I'll probably be forced to do it," Trump said on the show. "I wish I didn't have to do it but I'll probably be forced to do it."

Endorsements are a key way candidates can help themselves in a primary, according to Dr. Zachary F. Peskowitz, a political science professor with Emory University, in an interview with The Center Square.

"But it's not the end of the campaign, it's not necessary to win," Peskowitz said.

A poll by the Beacon Center of Tennessee shows Blackburn with a significant lead over Rose, months before qualifying takes place.

Cito Pellegra has also announced he will run on the Republican ticket.

Democrats who have formally announced are Memphis City Councilwoman Jerri Green and Adam "Ditch" Kurtz.

Georgia's gubernatorial campaign has attracted a long list of Democratic candidates. Former Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, who also served two terms as DeKalb County CEO, was the latest to enter the race. He joined former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, state Sen. Jason Esteves, state Rep. Derrick Jackson, Olu Brown, Benjamin Turner and Ocean Zotique.

On the Republican side, Jones' biggest rival is Attorney General Chris Carr. Ben Anderson, Gregg Rodney Kirkpatrick, Billy Gene Minter II, Leland J. Olinger II, Walter Paschal Reeves II, and Kenneth Yasger are also listed on the Georgia Campaign Finance System as GOP candidates.

Carr made the first strike in the campaign, suing Jones in federal court for using money from a leadership committee. The case was heard this week in U.S.District Court but a decision has not been made.

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No surprise, but concern about year-end revenue report

By Kim Jarrett, The Center Square, Aug 20, 2025 -  Tennessee's year-end tax revenues are down $75.2 million for fiscal year 2025 when compared to the previous year, according to the July revenue report, but the reason is not a surprise.

Tax breaks passed by the General Assembly in 2024 resulted in $721 million less in corporate tax collections. Even though sales and fuel taxes are up, it was not enough to overcome the deficit.

While the corporate tax collections are down, the numbers exceeded the State Funding Board’s predictions by $53.6 million.

“I’m pleased to report that Tennessee has exceeded its revenue estimates for the year," said Jim Bryson, commissioner of Finance and Administration, in a release. "Final receipts will be subject to accruals, but the outlook remains strong."

Democrats say the picture is not so rosy and have concerns about the $721 million loss.

"Last year, more than 40% of Tennessee’s budget came from the federal government," said Brandon Puttbrese, spokesman for the Senate Democratic Caucus. "Now, with the Trump budget law passed in July slashing funding for health care, food assistance, and education, we’re facing a one-two punch: deep federal cuts on top of a $721.5 million drop in corporate tax collections here at home. The question is: how will Republican leaders in Tennessee fill those gaps?"

The most recent statewide economic data is not showing the benefits of what Puttbrese calls the "trickle-down" theory, which he said Republicans used to support the corporate tax cuts.

"In fact, employers cut payrolls in July for the first time in six months," Puttbrese said. "Tennessee's real GDP decreased in the first quarter. Wages are falling behind inflation and the cost is going up on nearly everything these companies sell."

The drop in corporate revenue comes as the state is facing a $30 billion backlog in road projects.

The General Assembly added $1 billion to the fiscal year 2026 budget, which Gov. Bill Lee said is a step in the right direction.

"We have worked to maintain our roads and our bridges and our highways," Lee said in an interview with The Center Square. "We have not spent the money that we need to to expand those. We put a strong effort in maintaining, which is why we have a good road system that people are fairly satisfied with. We have congestion, however, and that has to be addressed."

The $59.8 billion budget for fiscal year 2026 is a modest 2% growth rate amid financial uncertainties.

"With revenues at more typical levels after years of historic growth, this budget reflects the careful discipline needed to protect Tennessee's financial future," Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, chairman of the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee, said after the committee vote in April.

The July revenue report showed revenues for the general fund for fiscal year 2025 up $23.4 million, which was just part of the good news, according to Bryson.

“Tax revenue growth in July exceeded expectations," Bryson said. "A rise in corporate quarterly estimated tax payments and higher-than-expected gross receipts tax collections boosted overall monthly revenues. Sales tax revenues, though higher than in the same month last year, came in just below July’s estimate. All other taxes combined finished slightly above projections."

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