No. 268: Back on the Ballot Again, The Return of Starbuck

Good morning, everyone.

Spent part of the weekend at the Demolition Derby at the Dickson County Fair. A gloriously patriotic affair that was blessed by a prayer, coronated by a stirring rendition of the national anthem, and punctuated by one of the dirtier Joe Biden jokes I've ever heard.

We'll be collecting donations soon enough to fund The Pamphleteer's entry into the demo derby. There's a $2,000 cash prize for the winner and, well, we're a business after all. Have to make money somehow!

Onward.

Today, we look at how Starbuck found his way back onto TN's 5th Congressional ballot, look at the Herculean undertaking the Biden administration has shouldered to sell more electric vehicles, and drop a new podcast episode.

You can follow us on Twitter (@realpamphleteer), LinkedIn (@realpamphleteer), or Instagram (@realpamphleteer) for additional content.

Also, be sure to check out our podcast. New episodes every Monday. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for reading.

NEW PODCAST EPISODE!

➫ ROBBY STARBUCK IS BACK ON THE BALLOT, WHAT’S NEXT?

The big Nashville news this weekend was that Robby Starbuck won his court case granting him a temporary injunction and putting him back on the 5th district August primary ballot as a Republican candidate for the US Congressional seat. The court ruling came on Friday evening from Judge Perkins who delivered his order which outlined that the closed door State Executive Committee (SEC) meeting in which Robby Starbuck was disqualified as a Republican candidate was in violation of the Tennessee Open Meetings Act (TOMO).

Tennessee Journal reported that “According to the Attorney General’s Office, the deadline to finalize ballots is June 10.” This is the same date as stated in the previous Federal court case where Starbuck’s motion was denied by Chief District Judge Crenshaw who posed the question to the State Election Commission; a defendant in the case.

ARE MORGAN ORTAGUS AND BAXTER LEE ON THE BALLOT?

Since this court ruling found the SEC in violation of TOMA and voided their decision made behind closed doors, this ruling also has implications for Trump-endorsed Morgan Ortagus and Baxter Lee. Both candidates were stripped of their place on the ballot during the same meeting. It is unclear if the two candidates have a choice of whether or not they are placed back on the ballot. It is also worth noting that Morgan Ortagus has since backed 5th district US Congressional candidate Kurt Winstead as co-chair of his national security advisory committee.

TIME CRUNCH

The August 4th primary is still 2 months away, but ballot printing and preparation are done in advance. The June 10th deadline is largely due to the fact that correct ballots must be sent out to Tennesseans overseas (military service members being an example) in a timely fashion so their votes are properly counted. This time crunch becomes even more daunting when looking at whether or not the Tennessee Republican Party (TRP) will file an appeal. Just because an appeal is filed does not hinder the court decision made by Judge Perkins in favor of Robby Starbuck reinstating him to the ballot. The TRP’s lawyer must first file an appeal which would have to have proper grounds to be heard.

Even if the appeal is accepted, this does not pause the order given by Judge Perkins voiding the SEC decision and placing Robby Starbuck, Morgan Ortagus, and Baxter Lee back on the ballot. The only way the order can be paused is if the TRP’s lawyer motions to stay (meaning the temporary injunction that places the candidates back on the ballot would be paused) and a judge approves this motion.

WHO ARE THE SEC MEMBERS?

The Starbuck case has exposed the closed door meeting where the State Executive Committee decided to disqualify the three candidates. These candidates originally didn’t meet party qualifications due to the fact that they did not vote in 3 of the last 4 Republican primaries. The candidates then had an opportunity to make their case that they are, in fact, bona fide Republicans. The closed SEC meeting where the final decision was made included 17 SEC members. According to The TN Star, this was how they voted:

• The vote against restoring Robby Starbuck to the ballot was 13 to 3.
• The vote against restoring Morgan Ortagus to the ballot was 13 to 3.
• The vote against restoring Baxter Lee to the ballot was 10 to 6.

SEC MEMBERS ARE ON THE BALLOT, TOO

The State Executive Committee positions are voted on by the public. In fact, there are 10 Republicans running for SEC positions this year.

It is worth noting that Davidson County's ballot is extraordinarily long for the August primary due to an abundance of 5th district candidates and 4 Charter amendments. The ballot is so long that the Davidson County Election Commission voted to add an extra day to early voting. It’ll look like this:

1. If you are voting using an absentee ballot, your ballot will be 4 pages, covered front and back.
2. If you are voting in person, you will have to input two pieces of paper when scanning your vote.

Buckle up, we’re in for an unprecedented primary election.

☗ TRACT HOUSING IN DRAG ☗

Our semi-regular segment admiring Nashville's latest architectural achievements (More Info)

HEADLINES

• TN Firefighter Suffering From PTSD Demoted And Dismissed 4 Years Before Retirement (TCN) Roy Brooks, who served as a Firefighter Captain in the city of Columbia, was questioned during a meeting earlier this year by a Chief Officer asking if he was in a “dark place?”
• The Metro Schools budget is $22.6M short. Here's how Nashville may fill the gap (Tennessean) The proposal includes a $92 million funding increase for MNPS, encompassing pay increases for school bus drivers, cafeteria workers and support staff, as well as paid family leave and 4% cost-of-living increases for all MNPS education employees.
• Austin Peay corpse flower expected to bloom soon, visiting hours expanded (Channel 5) Austin Peay State University's corpse flower, named Zeus, could bloom any day now, which is a very rare event. Because of this, the university has extended the hours the public can see the plant.

POLITICS

• Tennessee's Lee signs 1-year moratorium on vehicle, motorcycle registration fees (Center Square) The bill will have a total impact of $121.6 million and bill sponsor Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, said when it was discussed in the Legislature that it was intentionally done to give a direct tax break to those who live and drive vehicles in Tennessee. A $100 registration fee for electric vehicles, however, will not be waived.
• Tennessee’s Truth-In-Sentencing Law Goes Into Effect On July 1st (TCN) The bill requires that a person convicted of certain offenses serve 100 percent of the sentence imposed and that a person convicted of certain other offenses serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed before becoming eligible for release.

DEVELOPMENT

• Proposed 25-Story Tower Continues The Pie Town Transformation In Nashville (Now Next)
• Hotel tower eyed for high-activity SoBro intersection (Post)
• Shriners pay $3.9M for future home (Post)
• Corkdorks owner buys Midtown property for $3M (Post)
• The Picnic Cafe lease won't be renewed after 40 years (Channel 5)
• Global company pays $62.3M for Wilson County industrial development (Post)

ↂ WHO'S AFRAID OF AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE?

The Biden administration continues its suicidal grift of shilling electric vehicles to unwitting customers. By the end of the decade, the goal is to have 50% of all vehicles in the country run on electricity or alternative fuels. At present, we're at just under one percent.

Additionally, in order to support the massive influx of new electric vehicles, the US power grid will have to roughly double its capacity — a goal that will be nearly unachievable unless there is a sensible turn towards nuclear power as governments slowly phase out hydrocarbons.

The next step to impoverishing the nation in order to sell more electric Fords is to install a whole bunch of charging stations. Right now, there are about 93,000 charging stations. It's estimated that about 1.2 million are needed to support the 50% by 2030 goal mentioned above. Because there aren't enough electric vehicles on the road yet, these charging stations do not turn a profit, thus, they rely heavily on government subsidies. So, that earmarked $7.5 billion for charging stations in the Infrastructure Bill will come in handy.

In a recent op-ed in the WSJ attributed to Joe Biden that he couldn't possibly have written himself (too old), the writer parrots a bunch of misinformation about how Biden is handling inflation. Notably, for this present discussion of EVs, the writer attributes the skyrocketing gas prices to the war in Ukraine which anyone with memories that go back more than a week knows is a straight-up lie.

In another article, the WSJ mentions:

U.S. sales of EV and plug-in hybrids doubled to more than 600,000 last year, and sales figures show that EVs have reached 6.6% of total cars sold in recent weeks as gasoline prices rise to their highest levels in years, according to Atlas Public Policy.

Depending on how serious the Biden administration is about getting to 50% electric vehicles by 2030, it's obvious that rising gas prices can only help their efforts on this front. Aside from the obvious inflationary concerns from subsidizing the creation of a bunch of charging stations, the administration's nihilistic pursuit of metrics on this front — 50% by 2030 — will wreak serious havoc on the people.

It doesn't have to be this way. The US government could sensibly approach environmental concerns without impoverishing its citizens in the process. What we are reminded of here is the absolute disconnect between the rulers and the ruled. Jennifer Granholm, Biden's Secretary of Energy, famously stated last week that if you have an EV, rising gas prices shouldn't affect you.

⚔ MISSIVES ⚔

• 📄 New York’s legislature passed a bill on Thursday to raise the age limit to buy or possess a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21.
• 📉 Over 70 percent of Americans disapprove of President Biden’s handling of soaring inflation and gas prices, indicating that economic security remains a high priority for the voting population.
• 🗳 Former hedge-fund manager Dave McCormick conceded Friday evening to celebrity surgeon and Trump favorite Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s Senate GOP primary race.
• 📲 Operators of the messenger app Telegram transferred personal information of its users to the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), deviating from the company’s earlier claims of shielding such data from governments.
• 🔔 Catholic parishioners were physically accosted by pro-abortion protesters during the monthly ‘Witness for Life’ procession, a pro-life event held in New York City on Saturday
• 📊 Economists forecast that employers added 328,000 new jobs, less than the 428,000 added in April. Average hourly wages are expected to have risen by 0.4%, up from April’s 0.3% increase. Year-over-year, wage growth is expected to fall slightly to 5.2%, from 5.4% in April.
• 🏭 Futures for coal delivered to northwestern Europe have risen 137% so far this year, to $323.50 a metric ton as of Wednesday. The benchmark price in the Pacific region, set at an Australian export facility, is up more than 140% this year.
• 🏛 A federal grand jury has indicted Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House adviser, on criminal contempt of Congress charges over his refusal to cooperate in the House investigation of the January 6th attack.

THINGS TO DO

View our full event calendar here.

🎪 Check out our favorite driving distance festivals this summer - Redneck Rumble in Lebanon this weekend, see us there.

👨🏻‍🌾 The Pamphleteer farmer's market guide.

👂 Listen to The Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of the bands featured in this week's calendar.

⚾️ The Sounds are playing the Norfolk Tides this week, June 7-12 at 7p.

TONIGHT

🎩  History Class @ Bold Patriot Brewing, 5p, Info

🎺 Jazz in the Park @ Church Street Park, 5p, Free, Info

🎸 Harry Fontana @ American Legion Post 82, 7p, Free, Info

💀 Mostly Dead @ Acme Feed & Seed, 7p, Free, Info

💃 Swing Dancing Lessons @ The Bold Patriot, 8p, Free, Info

🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info

🎹 Jazz Jam @ The Villager, 11p, Free, Info

ON THE RADAR

🚨 Eprom @ Eastside Bowl, (6/25), $25.50, Info

🎹 Steely Dan @ First Bank Amphitheater, (7/13), $34+, Info

🏎 Nascar Ally 400 @ Nashville Superspeedway, (6/24-26) $11+, Info

🏜 Hiatus Kaiyote @ Marathon Music Works, (8/14), $35+, Info

🐂 Professional Bull Riding @ Bridgestone, (8/19-21), $20+ Info

🐖 Roger Waters @ Bridgestone, (8/27), $39, Info

🎹 Stereolab @ Marathon Music Works, (9/6), $35, Info

🎸 My Morning Jacket @ Ascend Amphitheater, (9/23), $22.88, Info

🎸 Smashing Pumpkins @ Bridgestone Arena, (10/10), $133+, Info

⏚ Transmissions from the Ground: Beethoven's 9th at the Schermerhorn

The lack of reverence in the hall on Friday was distracting. Athletic shorts and a t-shirt were not uncommon and two cell phones went off in dead quiet moments — one for 8 or so seconds. It's hard not to notice the contrast between some kid shuffling around in his leisure clothes and the great hall that surrounds him.

I'm going to have to make a habit out of these. I found myself staring wide-eyed at the stage. It was like that scene in A Clockwork Orange when Alex flips on Beethoven's 9th and stares off into the distance as images flash through his head. "Oh it was gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh." My imaginings were far less violent, of course.

An excellent weekend of entertainment. Beethoven's 9th was followed by the demolition derby at the Dickson County Fair the next night. Both moving in their own way.

FROM LAST WEEK

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Around the Web

♬ The Noble Art of Dissidents Why music deserves far more attention from dissident corners.

✺ The media's role in creating mass shooters gets less attention than it deserves Two criminologists talk about the media's role in mass shootings.

➡ The Man Who Shot Osama bin Laden Faces Civilian Life He was a member of SEAL Team 6 and recognized as the man who shot Osama bin Laden, but after 16 years of service, the man known as "The Shooter" might be facing his biggest foe yet -- finding a life for himself outside the military.

Political Theater Highlight Reel

1. Elon Musk asks a question millions want answered about Epstein and the DOJ

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Words of Wisdom

"And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again: a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;
All earth was but one thought—and that was death"

Lord Byron, 'Darkness'

Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Edward Landstreet (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).