The Truth Hurts
🚨 Will the libs ever "get it" about crime · Blackburn roots out foreign subversives · Schwinn steps aside · Echoes of Riley Strain · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone. Will the left ever accept that keeping violent criminals in jail reduces crime… Blackburn takes on foreign espionage… Penny Schwinn removes herself from consideration… Man assaulted after Coldplay concert, local media silent, echoes of Riley Strain.
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The fracas over how and why crime has dropped this year compared to last year continues with broadsides coming from the left launched against conservatives who claim that America is not safe. Once again, we are being asked to ignore our instincts and consult the data.
It is possible for crime to both decrease and for a place to feel still less safe. Let’s say, for example, that there is a Dollar General – like the one Councilmember Terry Vo attached her infamous “resource apartheid” label to – where crime concentrates. Eventually, people learn not to go there, and so, in that area, with fewer potential victims, crime will decrease. But that doesn't correlate with a rise in feeling safe because you've now mentally associated an entire area with crime.
Every single one of us takes measures to ensure we are not the victim of a crime. And since the Summer of Floyd, I’d wager that between notable crimes like the abduction and murder of Eliza Fletcher in Memphis, the random killing of Jillian Ludwig in Nashville, and recently, the mob beatdown of a white woman at the Cincinnati Jazz Festival, Americans have started to really make efforts to avoid certain situations.
First, many are leaving crime-ridden cities, a migratory pattern we’ve observed since the first month of the pandemic lockdowns. And second, those who remain in said cities are forced to adopt behavior patterns that keep them out of harm’s way.
The NYC subway has yet to fully recover pre-pandemic levels of ridership even as the city has instituted congestion pricing to encourage more people to ride. There have been a litany of public and private incidents on the subway that have created a negative PR situation that certainly doesn't help in combination with remote work and people leaving the city.
The progressives in the audience will hand-wave this away as anti-NYC or anti-transit propaganda, but even then, that same person will be conscious of where he sits on the subway and when he rides it in order to avoid putting himself in a precarious position.
Perhaps realizing all too late that people actually do modify their behavior to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, cities like Baltimore have started to lock up more repeat offenders, which, unsurprisingly, has resulted in a decline in violent crime. We wrote about this.
In Nashville, we observe a similar pattern as violent crime has fallen ten percent year over year. The prison population in the city has steadily climbed since it bottomed out in the Spring of 2020. The average daily population in May 2025 was 2,486, 17.6% higher than in May 2024. Compared to the average ADP in 2023 of 1,977, we’ve incarcerated 25 percent more people over the past two years.
Another interesting data point likely clarifying why crime is down is that pre-trial releases are down 20 percent compared to last year. On the 2026 gubernatorial ballot, a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution that would remove the right to pretrial bail for people accused of committing certain crimes will be up for vote. As we’ve observed in our Repeat Criminal All-Star series, it is not uncommon for a criminal to commit a crime while awaiting trial for another. I’d wager that there is a pattern there.
You pair rising incarceration, an increasingly vigilant population, and more frequent bail denials for dangerous offenders with a return to sanity regarding traffic enforcement and federal deportation operations, and an environment more hostile to crime emerges.
City officials in Nashville have been mum about who is owed credit for the ten percent decrease in violent crime, but I think that’s because if you tell the liberals what’s really going on, they’ll flit around like moths in a porchlight and disturb a nice evening as they shout about restorative justice or something. DAVIS HUNT
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🔍 Blackburn Runs Interference On Espionage Senator Marsha Blackburn has introduced a trio of bills to address “national security risks posed by foreign adversaries who are leveraging Sister City partnerships, opaque real estate purchases, and agricultural land acquisitions to embed themselves in U.S. communities.” The legislation includes the District of Columbia Sister City Integrity Act, the Foreign Property Ownership Transparency Act, and the Prohibition of Agricultural Land for Foreign Adversaries Act.
“The United States cannot allow foreign adversaries like Communist China to quietly embed themselves in our communities and near our critical infrastructure,” said Blackburn in a press release. “From Sister City agreements that legitimize hostile regimes, to opaque real estate purchases that demand greater transparency, to buying up farmland near our military bases, we have a responsibility to identify and address these threats.”
You may recognize the term “sister city” because Metro Nashville has quite a few sister city partnerships. Federal officials, including President Biden's Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, have expressed concerns that the Chinese Communist Party might exploit sister city relationships for espionage and to exert influence.
🪪 Tap To Ride You can now use your contactless credit card, debit card, or mobile wallet to ride WeGo buses and the WeGo Star passenger train. Tap-to-pay is now accepted from Visa, Mastercard, and Discover cards, as well as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.
According to WeGo, the new system tracks each tap and will calculate the cheapest fare to cover your trips: “This method of charging you the lowest fare for riding is called ‘fare capping.’” It’s also worth noting that if you consistently use the same payment method, the system can track your use and won’t charge you over $65 in one month since that’s the cost of a monthly pass.
🎓 Schwinn Takes DOE Consulting Role Former Tennessee Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn sidestepped an appointment to fill the number two position with the U.S. Department of Education to become a paid consultant for the department instead. You may recall that Schwinn has been undergoing Congressional confirmation hearings after being tapped as President Trump’s pick for Deputy Secretary of Education back in January.
The appointment became controversial as conservative leaders questioned her track record and her financial interests. At one point, Schwinn even promised to cut ties with a Tennessee lobbying firm and step down from a number of board positions to “avoid any real or perceived conflicts of interest.”
Though the Senate has dragged its feet in making a decision about Schwinn's appointment, Jim Blew of the Defense of Freedom Institute told The 74 that the timing of her withdrawal couldn’t be worse. “Her decision to remove herself from consideration to become deputy secretary hurts students, educators, and the Trump administration,” he said. “Secretary McMahon has been charged by Congress and the president with huge tasks under the One Big Beautiful Bill and several urgent executive orders.”
DEVELOPMENT
- Ex-Piggly Wiggly site on city’s west side listed for sale (Post)
- Music Row church sues development company (Post)
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✹ HOMELESS MOB TAKES A VICTIM
Speaking of criminal incidents, after the Coldplay concert last week, a man claimed on Facebook he was jumped by a mob of homeless who stole everything he had on him, stabbed him in the hand, and threw him naked into the Cumberland River where he floated for three hours before being rescued. He then spent three days in VUMC. The incident has received zero coverage from local media. Echoes of Riley Strain who was discovered without his boots…
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🎸 Jerry Garcia's 83rd Birthday Celebration @ The Basement East, 8p, $27.27, Info
+ feat. Past & Current Members of Los Colognes, Moon Taxi, Futurebirds & Stolen Faces and performances by Marty Schwartz, Trevor Terndrup and more
🎸 Abbie Callahan @ Dee's Lounge, 3p, $10, Info
🎸 Emily Hines @ The Blue Room, 7p, $26, Info
🎸 First Fridays @ The Underdog, 7p, $10, Info
🪕 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Jerod Hollyfield (Crowd Corner), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).