by Rod Williams, July 19, 2023- Wow! The more I learn about Ginny Welsch the more I am convinced she must have a screw loose. I knew she was radical, but I think she is nuts. To see more of her words of wisdom, follow her on Twitter.
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Wednesday, July 19, 2023
How Council Members voted on taking $ from police, parks, and health to grant $ to Planned Parenthood.
by Rod Williams, July 19, 2023- In October 2022 the Metro Council voted to take $90,000 from Police, $60,000 from Parks, and $60,000 from Health to put towards a half million-dollar grant to Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi.
Some opposed to the grant voiced their support for Planned Parenthood but felt the use of funds was better spent on Nashville resources, such as expanding services within our own health department and in addition, as some said in discussion, Planned Parenthood is not short on donations in light of current events. Others in favor said “the time is now” and it was “sending a message.”
CM Freddie O’Connell, who is running for Mayor, sponsored the appropriations for funding the grant which passed 19-13.
As you consider for whom to vote in the upcoming Council elections, you may want to consider how council members voted. The picture above shows the results of the roll-call vote. The recorded vote is to the right of the CM's name.
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Nashville CM Ginny Welsch racial comment
by Rod Williams, July 19, 2023- In the above video Council Member Ginny Welsch interrogates Jay Servais, Director of Metro Homeless Impact Division and references Reclaim Brookmeade Park, a community group which advocates for removing a homeless encampment from the park and reclaiming the Park for community use, as "loud white voices."
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Council Member Ginny Welsch says the Tennessee General Assembly is "Fascist."
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| Ginny Welsch, Council member, calls State General Assembly "Fascist." She also likes to drop the other "F-bomb." |
Ginny Welsch likes to call those with whom she disagrees 'Fascist," and she also likes dropping the "F-bomb" on those with whom she disagrees. To read of her doing both read this article from The Tennessean, Metro Council member to Trump-backing colleague: ‘(Expletive) off’.
In the occasion referenced above, she was reprimanded by the Vice Mayor who said the following at a Council meeting:
At the beginning of our last Council meeting (less than 48 hours ago) I started the meeting by requesting that all members of the Council show professional courtesy and respect towards each other and to the people that we serve. With this country divided, we need to step up and help lead the way towards bringing people together. Some of the emails on this chain do not reflect that request. I believe you can disagree with others without using inappropriate language and without being disrespectful. I expect the members of the Metropolitan Council to carry out their duties in a professional and appropriate way.
Ginny Welsch simply does not have the demeanor nor temperament to serve in the Metro Council. She does not play well with others. In the upcoming Council election please retire Ginny Welsch and vote for Alexa Little.
Alexa Little will never drop the F-bomb and have to be reprimanded by the Vice Mayor. She is unlikely to call the General Assembly "Fascist." She will exhibit professionalism, courtesy and respect. She will not embarrass you.
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Tuesday, July 18, 2023
I was not the only Republican to skip the Statesman's Dinner. Lee, Hagerty, Blackburn were no-shows.
With something like 76% of Republicans supporting Trump, and probably more than that in Tennessee, and it being a cold day in hell before I will ever vote for Trump again, I just can't work up the enthusiasm for hanging with Republicans like I used to. You see, I believe in the peaceful transfer of power and I don't think many Republicans do any longer. I am still a Republican and hope someday the party returns to sanity and its conservative roots but right now I really am a "disgruntled" republican.
Upon reflection, I am sure I would have enjoyed it had I gone. There are people I don't see that often, that I would have liked to have seen. But I am experiencing a serious Republican enthusiasm gap and with tickets being $300 and then overpriced drinks on top of that, I just didn't feel motivated.
I certainly would not have gone if Donald Trump would have been the keynote speaker. I could not have stomached being in the room with hundreds of cheering Trumpinistas. But, when I heard the speaker this year was going to be DeSantis, I was at first pleased and planned to go. I was pleased it was not Trump who was going to be the speaker and with DeSantis being the leading challenger to Trump, I initially looked forward to attending. Since then, however, my enthusiasm for DeSantis has waned.
I think DeSantis was a good governor and I have liked him, but recently I have liked him less and less. For one thing, he seems soft on support for Ukraine. I don't want to hear Republicans criticize Biden for his administration's commitment to support for Ukraine; I want Republicans to criticize Biden for foot-dragging on weapons delivery. Ever since DeSantis described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute” I have cooled toward him.
Also, while I at first welcomed DeSantis for standing up against wokeism, it is getting tiresome. One can stand up for traditional values and call out the left's wokeness without being mean-spirited. I know it is fine nettle to thread but in my view DeSantis's has gone overboard. And some of it seems manufactured like he is trying to keep people riled. While we need to push back against the gay and transgender agenda, it does not need to be the primary focus of a campaign. So due to these two factors, I could not work up much enthusiasm to attend the Stateman's Dinner.
It turns out that I was not the only Republican who did not attend. None of Tennessee’s three statewide elected officials, Gov. Bill Lee, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, nor Sen Bill Hagerty attended the event. In previous years I seem to recall that they were all speakers at the event. And before Lee was the governor, I seem to recall previous Republican governors were always speakers at the event. I can only assume that out of fear of Trump or loyalty to Trump they did not want to be present where people stood and applauded Trump's leading opponent. All three lawmakers sent in videos rather than appearing in person. That does not speak well for the state of the Party. The Republican Party is more and more seeming to be the Trump Party.
For The Tennessean's coverage of the event, follow this link.
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BACK ON THE DOCKET: GIDEON’S ARMY
The Pamphleteer, July 18, 2023- The council has plenty on its agenda tonight, but most notable is a resolution to renew Gideon’s Army’s violence interruption program—again. .... From our point of view, it’s interesting that Gideon’s Army is still being considered for this grant, especially given their reputation for instigating “potentially violent conflicts” rather than interrupting them. (link)
#
If we had the right people serving in the Metro Council, stuff like this could be stopped. For more on Gideon's Army, see the below. Rod
Thursday, December 30, 2021
Gideon's Army 'violence interrupter' pleads guilty, faces four years in federal prison for firearms charges
by Rod Williams, Dec. 30, 2021- Charles Brooks, convicted in 2006 on state charges for voluntary
The shoot-out occurred at the Cumberland View public housing project where Gideon's Army was supposedly working to end violence. This housing project has long had a reputation as one of the worst and is sometimes referred to as "Dodge City," or at least it used to be referred to by that name back some years ago when I working as a social worker in the area. My understanding is that it has continued to be a violent neighborhood. Gideon's Army had claimed it had completely eliminated violence in the neighborhood before the shoot-out involving their 'violence interrupter' occurred.
Gideon's Army is a favored political activist organization among Nashville's progressive elites. Despite exaggerating their success in ending violence and despite anti-White racism rhetoric and calling Meharry College president a "house nigger," the white-guilt-ridden progressive of our city love them. They have received city funding and their views are taken seriously. As this incident was unfolding the organization was mounting a public-relations campaign to get over $1 million in Metro funding included in the city's 2021-2022 budget for violence interruption. I will not be surprised if they still do not get funded.
The above story comes from Channel 5 reporting by Phil Williams. Thank you Phil Williams for bringing this to light. To see a video and read more follow this and this link.
Below is a previous blog post on Gideon's Army.
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Gideon's Army tells the public that it's all about justice, peace and harmony. But, buried among social media posts by some of the group's front-line leaders, NewsChannel 5 Investigates discovered a controversial side of the politically connected group that most of the public has never seen.Those posts include descriptions of white people as being a "pestilence" accidentally unleashed on the world by an ancient scientist, suggestions that police should be made to fear going into Black neighborhoods, even descriptions of Meharry Medical College's highly respected president, Dr. James Hildreth, as a "house n****r." (Read more)Related:
Many may be mystified that white and middle or upper-class people kowtow, romanticize, and fund radical violent activists, racist thugs. This is nothing new. The current era is much like the era of the mid 60's to mid 70's. At that time Hollywood elites and other hip new leftists, what we would now call progressives, did the same thing. The radical Black Panther Party was a favorite of that era's new leftist. For an interesting and entertaining work addressing this phenomenon read Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers by Tom Wolfe.
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Jim Garrett, former Chair of the Davidson County GOP, announces his endorsements and candidate research.
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| James Garrett |
To me there appears to be four candidates running for Council-At-Large worth considering:
- Tony Chapman, 4760 Bowfield Drive Antioch, TN 37013 615-878-8756
- Stephen Downs, 256 Madison Drive Madison, TN 37115 615-647-7586
- Gilbert Ramirez, 13153 Old Hickory Blvd. Antioch, TN 37013 615-853-3284
- Deloris Vandivort, 5515 Rome Avenue Nashville, TN 37209 615-306-5624
I would recommend Republicans not vote for a fifth AT-LARGE candidate. Since this race is a top five voter getters election, a vote for any democrat candidate nullifies four votes for Republican candidates (one for each recommended candidate.) There is no penalty to the voters for not voting for all five positions on the ballot. Leave that one selection blank.
There is one candidate I personally feel we should not even consider for one second and that is
Chris Crofton. Someone who does not take the opportunity to vote (as is a citizen’s major responsibility) has some nerve trying to tell any of us how to run a city. In all fairness, his
registered address is different from his filing address – 1116 Sharpe Avenue, Nashville 37206
vs. 216 Garner Avenue, Madison 37115 – but the phone number matches so I feel I have reported upon the correct Chris Crofton.
Jim Garrett is the immediate past Chairman of the Davidson County Republican Party. He is a thoughtful person and someone whose opinion I value. Rod
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Monday, July 17, 2023
Nashville mayoral election: Gingrich suspends campaign after spending nearly $2M on race
The Tennessean. July 17, 2023- Jim Gingrich announced Monday he is suspending his 2023 Nashville mayoral campaign.
Jim Gingrich
"After deciding what was best for my family, how to honor my campaign team, respect every single supporter we have gained, and in consultation with the electoral data available we have decided to put the best interest of Nashvillians first and allow voters to rally behind another candidate," Gingrich said in a statement.
Gingrich, a former AllianceBernstein executive who played a key role in moving the company to Nashville in 2018, largely self-funded his campaign with a $2 million personal loan, most of which he spent on advertising through a series of television spots and several mailers. ...
Rod's Comment: Wow! This is big news.
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Report from the Davidson County Republican Party Picnic
by Rod Williams, July 15, 2023- Davidson County Republicans held their annual picnic today in a grassy cove on the banks of the Little Harpeth River in Percy Warner Park at "Shelter 6." Actually, shelter 6 is two rustic shelters. One served as the entertainment and speaker shelter and the other the dining shelter.
Attendees heard live musical performances provided by Baste Records artists and speeches by elected officials and candidates. We enjoyed generous portions of a delicious barbeque and the sides and iced tea and a shaved ice desert, sort of like a snow cone, but better.
I called this the "annual" picnic but sometimes it doesn't happen. It is almost an annual picnic. The party skipped a couple years due to Covid and some years it just doesn't happen, but it is mostly annual.
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| Council Member at-large candidate Gilbert Ramirez, Tony Roberts and (me) Rod Williams |
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| Congressman Mark Green |
It is hard to say how many people were in attendance because the crowd was moving around and there was some turnover of the crowd. Some people arrived early and left early and other arrived late. I would say at the midpoint of the event about 130 people were there but all together maybe 200 attended.
The event included a straw poll. No surprise, the winner of the presidential straw poll was Donald Trump who got more votes than all of the other candidates combined and more than twice as many votes as his closest rival Ron DeSantis.
Elected officials addressing the crowd included U. S. Congressmen Mark Green, Andy Ogles, and John Rose who all represent portions of Davidson County.
.jpg) |
| Gene Wisdom and Rod Williams |
Alice Rolli and Natisha Brooks candidates for mayor addressed the group as did several candidates for Council Member at-large.
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| Former DCRP Chair Jim Garrett and Council Member at-large candidate Stephen Downs |
I really enjoyed getting to see people I had not seen in a while, and I met a lot of new people. It was an fun event. Despite Davidson County being a Democrat strong-hold in Tennessee, Davidson County Republicans are alive and well and kicking and eternally optimistic.
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Sunday, July 16, 2023
The Pamphleteer's endorsements.
has issued its voter guide. The Pamphleteer provides considerable information on each candidate. You can see the full guide at this link. Below are the recommendations of The Pamphleteer:
- MAYORAL RACE: ✰✰✰ Alice Rolli
- Vice Mayor: ✰✰✰ Jim Shulman
- COUNCIL AT-LARGE RACE: ✰✰✰ Russ Pulley, ✰✰✰ Burkley Allen
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Mailer critical of incumbent Council Member Ginny Welch hits District 16 mailboxes
By Rod Williams, July 16, 2023- Below is a copy of a flyer mailed to residents of the 16th district critical of the incumbent councilmember Ginny Welch. The below was posted to the Facebook group 16th District Nashville. I had no knowledge of and no role in the mailing of these flyers.
I do not know if Ginny Welch did in fact tweet the image above to a member of Congress, but it reflects her style. See below:
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
"F**k Off" Council member Ginny Welsch tells Council member Robert Swope in mass email posting.
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| Ginny Welsch |
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| Robert Swope |
"At the beginning of our last Council meeting (less than 48 hours ago) I started the meeting by requesting that all members of the Council show professional courtesy and respect towards each other and to the people that we serve. With this country divided, we need to step up and help lead the way towards bringing people together. Some of the emails on this chain do not reflect that request. I believe you can disagree with others without using inappropriate language and without being disrespectful. I expect the members of the Metropolitan Council to carry out their duties in a professional and appropriate way."
Welch defending herself and refused to back down. She dropped another F-word commonly used by liberals to describe viewpoints with which they do not agree: "Fascism." She said those who don't see things the way she does do not deserve respect or civility.
For more on this story see, Metro Council member to Trump-backing colleague: ‘(Expletive) off’ by Nate Rau, published in Nashville Lookout.
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