by Dennis Ferrier, Mon, WZTV Fox 17, May 16, 2026 - The property tax hikes in Nashville have reached crisis levels, according to 300 Nashville businesses.
The Nashville Property Tax Coalition believes more than 100 local businesses could fail within the next two years because of historic increases in property taxes.
This is a list of 300 Nashville businesses.
Small businesses that survived recessions, inflation, labor shortages, and the day-to-day struggle of entrepreneurship.
But many now say they are facing a threat that their hard work and ingenuity cannot solve.
That threat, they say, is Metro Nashville government. (read more)
by Rod Williams, May 15, 2026 - Please watch this story.
Andy Ogle is a disgusting, humane being, but that is the kind of people Trump likes. That is the kind of person Republican voters like. Morality is for suckers. It is all about getting what you can. It is all about power. If you are a Trump loyalist, Trump has your back. If Trump likes you, Trump voters like you.
What did he do with the money? He lies and lies and lies. This is the world we live in.
There was a time, a long time ago, before Trump, when America was different. Sure, we have always had scandals and charlatans and crooks, but they were the exception, and inflating your resume and making money off of dead babies would have been frowned upon. Lying was frowned upon. There was a time when people who abused their office and did reprehensible things did it in secret. Now, they do it in the open for all the world to see with the smallest of fig leaf. There was a time when decency mattered. Andy Ogles is the face of the politician for the age of Trump. Unfortunately, I am not sure we are going back to a time when decency mattered.
by Rod Williams, May 15, 2026-The redrawn newly adopted Tennessee Congressional maps have shifted the 5th Congressional seat to the west of Nashville, running through rural west Tennessee to the Mississippi River and south along the river to the outskirts of Memphis. As reported by The Tennessean, the new 5th Congressional district has only 17% of the same people as the current district. It looks like the district was purposely redrawn to improve Ogles chances for reelection. The new 5th includes none of Davidson County, where Ogles is unpopular and cuts Ogles ' strongest challenger out of the district. The new lines split Maury County and Columbia, putting Ogles in the district and cutting Columbia mayor Chaz Molder out of the district.
This is disappointing and disturbing. Politicians should not get to select their voters. I do not live in the 5th and cannot vote against Ogles even if the district lines had not changed, but would if I could. I had already sent Molder a modest contribution and was prepared to send more.
Ogles is pathetic. It looks like he stays up late at night reading Trump's Truth Social post, so he can be the first to propose legislation the next morning to enact into law whatever insane weird thought Trump had at 2:30 AM during the night. Luckly none of it makes it into law, but Ogles gets some face time on Fox news and a pat on the head from Trump. Ogles has got to be Trump's number one lapdog, bootlicker, or whatever term you want to use to describe such subservient sycophant behavior.
The Current 5th
I was excited that it was looking like Ogles could be defeated. I was excited that it looked like Democrats were going to choose a sensible moderate to challenge Ogles as opposed to some progressive woke nut-job, like they did when they chose Aftyn Behn as their candidate for the 7th Congressional District last year. Democrats had a chance to take the 7th but threw it away.
Some time ago, I reached the conclusion that to stop Trump's authoritarian agenda, Democrats needed to retake the House. I live in the 7th and when there was a special election to fill the vacant seat for this district, I was prepared to vote for a Democrat and then the Democrat nominee turned out to be Aftyn Behn, and I just couldn't do it. I voted for Republican Van Epps.
It looks like in the race against Ogles, Democrats were not going to make the same mistake they made in nominating Behn in the 7th. Molder looks like the kind of candidate that disaffected Republicans and independents could support. Unfortunately, Republican lawmakers have chosen a new set of voters for Ogles, and it will now be much harder to unseat him.
Molder has been gaining momentum, and the more I have learned about him, the more I like him. He has raised more than $1.8 million since he announced his candidacy and more that 85% of it came from Tennesseans. That is a lot of money. Congressman Ogles has only raised about $440,000. It was looking like Molder could actually beat Ogles.
Molder has announced that he is still running for Congress in the 5th. Good for him. U.S. representatives are not required to live in the districts they represent. I am glad Ogles will have a strong challenger. Unfortunately, it is going to be even more of an uphill battle for Molder. The new district looks a lot safer for a Trumpinista Republican than did the old district. I will keep following this campaign and hope for Trump's popularity to continue to drop and that there is a blue wave big enough to sweep Andy Ogles out of office, but the new maps make it much harder to unseat America's worst congressman.
by Rod Williams, May 13, 2026- Megan Barry, the former disgraced mayor of Nashville, has picked up a petition to run for the newly redrawn Tennessee Congressional District 6, the one Rep. John Rose currently occupies. Since John Rose is running for governor, there will be no incumbent running in that district.
You may recall the Barry scandal. She was caught having an affair with her police bodyguard. They had gone on lavish trips together on the taxpayer's dime, and he had been paid a lot of overtime for providing security for the mayor. In March 2018, following weeks of news coverage and speculation regarding her future, Barry pleaded guilty to a Class C felony in Nashville criminal court as part of a plea bargain. Following her guilty plea, Barry resigned as mayor.
Barry has since tried to resurrect her political career several times. In 2023, Barry announced that she would run in Tennessee's 7th congressional district against incumbent Republican Mark Green. Green had announced that he would not run for reelection following accusations of infidelity during his divorce proceedings but changed his mind after Donald Trump urged him to stay in the race. He won the general election over Barry with approximately 60% of the votes.
I am not sure that Barry's previous felony conviction and her sordid affair would hinder her political resurrection. Americans in general are much less concerned about sexual morality or marital infidelity than they once were. Also, Americans have become accustomed to massive corruption, as exemplified by Donald Trump. Many voters love Trump despite his lack of morality. Barry's affair and related crimes seem quaint by comparison. Trump has kind of made all politicians scandal-proof.
I don't know what her chances of victory in a race would be. As of now, we don't even know who her opponent would be. The district is mostly rural, and all districts are drawn to be Republican majority districts. I don't know how she would be received among rural conservative voters. Time having passed since her scandal will make her less of a pariah; however, the passage of time dampens her name recognition and the depth of political connections.
by Rod Williams, May 12, 2026- Last week the state legislature voted to adopt new Congressional maps, which eliminated Tennessee's only Congressional seat held by a Democrat. On the one hand, I am disappointed. I want to see Dems take the House in the midterm because I want Donald Trump's authoritarian agenda and policies to be derailed and I want to see Congressional oversight and investigation of Trump's massive corruption and other misdeeds. On the other hand, I think it is time to end racial gerrymandering. I want to see racial preferences and carve-outs end. It is time to stop discriminating on account of race. This post is not about the merits of that issue, however.
If you watch the news, you have seen reports of the disruptions in the Tennessee House chambers during the proceedings. This is a disgrace. Any sympathy I had for those who felt the adoption of these new maps was a reimposition of Jim Crow evaporated in light of the disgraceful demonstrations in the House, both from guests in the gallery and in the halls outside the chamber, and from legislators inside the chamber. In the chambers of the legislative body, there is no place for foghorns, banners, marches, or standing on one's desk with banners.
Legislative deliberations should occur in a calm, dignified, respectful manner. Robert's Rules and House protocol should be observed. The rules exist for a reason. Those who violate the rules of the House should be expelled. When observers become participants and unruly, they should be removed. I know the House has expelled members before for inappropriate behavior, and the legislator was reelected. So be it. Expel them again.
Years ago, I had to sit in court numerous times due to an ongoing battle with my crazy ex-wife, who wanted to deny me visitation with my daughter and make my life miserable. While awaiting my case to be heard, I had a bailiff make me put away a newspaper I was reading. I have seen people expelled from the courtroom and their cases rescheduled because they were dressed inappropriately.
While serving in the Metro Council, I have seen large crowds of agitated spectators in the chamber, passionate over a zoning proposal, a budget cut, or a tax increase. Order was maintained. Waving signs was prohibited and an outburst would lead to an admonition from the Chair and a threat to clear the chamber. Even applause was prohibited.
I would like to see the House impose the same kind of decorum as I witness in a courtroom or the Metro Council chamber. Democracy requires the ability to conduct business in a calm, deliberative manner. A deliberative body should not have to function in a climate of mob hysteria.
by Mitch Daniels, The Washington Post, May 12, 2026 - For years, I kept a favorite cartoon in my desk and pulled it out to open the annual business-plan meeting at the unit I led. It showed a frazzled executive standing in front of a screen displaying his multiyear sales projections. The line ran straight horizontally, close and parallel to the x-axis, almost to the right edge, where it leaped steeply upward, next to a label that said, “Miracle happens here!”
No impulse is more human than wishfulness, the tendency to grasp at any straw that enables us to avert our eyes from difficult realities and put off facing them. Members of America’s national political class personify this failing, in their continuing practice of fiscal denialism. Even as the inexorable arithmetic piles up, those responsible for the nation’s economic future and national security fasten on imaginary miracles to justify a gross default of their duty of stewardship.
A decade ago, as the national debt surged toward the once unthinkable level of $20 trillion (now nearing $40 trillion), denialists took brief refuge in an alchemist fantasy that called itself Modern Monetary Theory. The notion that a nation could borrow without limit, forever, in its own fiat currency was quickly demolished by full-spectrum critiques, in venues ranging from the Cato Institute to the Review of Keynesian Economics. ...
In our post-truth world, facts aren’t as stubborn as they used to be, but the most obstinate of all are the mathematical ones. They tell us not to rely on even the powerfully positive impact of these new technologies to spare us the radical adjustments that a generation of procrastination has now made inevitable.
... What’s not credible is the idea that even an AI-led productivity surge can suffice to offset our decades of dereliction. ... This is no time to be touting miracle cures to justify further procrastination. Until America acts to make major changes in laws on the books, the right side of our national business-plan chart will continue to show a sharp downward line and the label, “Big trouble happens here.” (read it all)
Mitch Daniels is a senior adviser to the Liberty Fund, president emeritus of Purdue University, a co-chair of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and a former governor of Indiana.
by Mark Rogers, Facebook, April 11, 2026- Reason wades into the debate over the true nature of America with a rousing defense of Justice Gorsuch and his comments about America being a 'creedal' nation. That is to say, America is based on certain propositions such as 'Equality,' 'Inalienable Rights,' and 'self-rule.' It is, in this view, not about race or religion, or land or language or culture.
I do take some issue with Justice Gorsuch on the question of 'culture.' I think that while America was not based on one specific culture, that has more to do with the diversity of cultures within the nations that first came here from Europe. The English brought the cultures of various peoples from the city of London to the moors of Scotland and the forests of Wales and the green fields of Ireland. (For more information on this, read Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer.)
Germans came here well before the Revolution from the various states of that area, bringing their own cultures. French Protestants and Catholics were here along with the Spanish and Portuguese.
While all these featured highly individualistic local cultures, all were, at their cores, profoundly shaped by Western Civilization. In that sense, America was dramatically shaped by one culture but one with many faces. And one of the West's greatest achievements by 1787 was the idea that successful nations needed to generally tolerate different cultures and religions.
What America wasn't in its beginning and never has been is the property of one group, not based on birth or religion or language or philosophy. Like Western Civilization itself, America absorbs new People and new Ideas and new Beliefs and moves on while remaining true to our fundamental creedal Ideas.
Right-Wing Influencers Don't Understand What Makes America Great
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch
by Stephanie Slade, Reason, May 9, 2026 -The Dissident Right is furious after Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch told Reason and several other outlets that America is a "creedal nation."
"The Declaration of Independence had three great ideas in it," Gorsuch said in a recent interview with Nick Gillespie. "That all of us are equal; that each of us has inalienable rights given to us by God, not government; and that we have the right to rule ourselves. Our nation is not founded on a religion. It's not based on a common culture, even, or heritage. It's based on those ideas. We're a creedal nation."
... The belief in a "civic" nationalism—the idea that the United States is a "propositional nation," as the Catholic theologian John Courtney Murray put it, rather than one based on blood and soil—is mainstream among Americans of all stripes, including conservatives. ...
.... there are elements of culture that must represent a consensus if the Republic that the Founders bequeathed us is to endure. First and foremost, we need a culture of mutual forbearance, where people want to coexist peacefully even with those who see things differently, and where people take pride in the ideals of human liberty and equal treatment under law, recognizing that America's commitment to those ideals is a large part of what makes it great.
... the Dissident Right, which rejects the very notion of mutual forbearance in favor of a "will-to-power" political approach, doesn't have the answer. You can't save America's culture by sacrificing its creed. (read more)
Mark Rogers has long been active in Republican Party politics and is an astute observer of political trends and events and Republican politics. He is well known as a successful Republican campaign manager and political consultant. He has also served in government and the non-profit sector. He is currently exiled from the Republican Party. He lives in Nashville.
by Rod Williams, May 10, 2026- Yesterday, when my Facebook feed first showed the image of the golden statue of Donald Trump and the evangelical leaders blessing or dedicating the statue, I thought it was a fake. I didn't share it. It was simply too outrageous. Well, as we all now know, it was real.
Ever since Donald Trump appeared on the scene, I have been mystified that he could take positions contrary to what Republicans, conservatives, or Christians believed, and yet people would not disavow him. He took the party that was the stronger advocate of America's leadership role in the world, most likely to support the aspirations of freedom-loving people resisting tyranny, the party most committed to collective security, and turned it into a party committed to weakening NATO. The Trump administration even refuses to acknowledge Russian President Putin as a war criminal and seems to be siding with Putin in his unprovoked war against Ukraine and yet his supporters love him.
Prior to Trump, the Republican Party was the party of free enterprise and free trade, and yet Republicans supported Trump's insane tariff wars. Republicans often accused Democrats of being socialist, and yet Trump has the government take ownership interest in businesses and Republicans think that is a grand idea.
When it comes to support for the Constitution, the rule of law, states' rights, and separations of powers, Trump's followers now support positions they would have railed against.
The block of voters most supportive of Trump is evangelical Christians. Why? Trump is no doubt the most immoral president we have ever had. He cheated on all his wives, cheated in business, is extremely corrupt, is profane, and shows no signs of piety or compassion or even humane decency. He appears ignorant of the Bible and does not even pretend to have a strong religious faith.
I grew up in an evangelical household, and my father had a singing ministry. I grew up falling asleep on church pews. As an adult, for a few years, I attended an evangelical church. I thought I knew how the more fundamentalist or evangelical Christians viewed things. I thought I knew their values. I was as wrong about this group of people as I was about pro-Constitution conservatives or pro-market conservatives.
One would think that Christian fundamentalists would disavow Trump. This is not the first thing Trump has done that should have dampened their enthusiasm for the man. One would think his personal morality would concern this block of voters, yet he can get caught paying off a porn star, and they don't have second thoughts. Recently, Trump has done several things that look an awful lot like blasphemy, yet his Christians love him. From the Trump Bible, to his spiritual advisor Paula White comparing him to Christ in an Easter sermon, to the meme Trump posted on Truth Social depicting himself as Christ healing the sick, and now something that looks an awful lot like idolatry. It doesn't matter. They stand by their man. I guess their religious values are no different from their economic and political values. If they have to choose between their values and Trump, they choose Trump.
The above video is one of the best pieces I have read or viewed on the topic. I regularly watch Professor Gerdes ' videos. His usual topic is the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and anything related to that but sometimes he will veer off into other topics. Like me, he is an old school, pre-Trump conservative. I highly recommend his YouTube channel. I am less familiar with Greg Terry, but he is sometimes a guest on Gerde's video channel.
As the author of A Disgruntled Republican I often post items which I think may be of interest to the conservative, Republican, libertarian or the greater community. Posting of a press release or an announcement of an event does not necessarily indicate an endorsement. Rod
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