Turning Point, USA
đď¸ Honoring Charlie Kirk ¡ MTSU dean fired for comments ¡ More Boring stuff ¡ Casada/Cothren update ¡ Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone. Charlie Kirk was assassinated yesterday during a campus event in Utah, where do we go from here... An MTSU dean fired for her callous comments... The mayor's office gives boring answers... And much more!
Big Goal 2,000 new newsletter subscribers by September 30. Could you help us get there by forwarding this email to a friend (or five) who cares about independent journalism? Tell them to sign up here.
Like what we do? Forward us to a friend.
The tragic murder of Charlie Kirk yesterday is at the top of everyone's mind today. Though I didn't know Charlie personally, anyone who circulates in conservative politics has touched his work. Charlie's organization, Turning Point USA, is arguably the most influential conservative organization on the planet.
"His murder is all the worse when you consider that Charlie Kirkâmore than anyone else in America on the right or the leftâbuilt his platform making a good faith effort to model civil political discourse and debate in the public square," writes William Wolfe. "His entire project was built on reaching across the divide and using speech, not violence, to address and resolve the issues."
Progressives like to take tragedies like this and translate them into political slogans. We saw this up close with the Covenant tragedy, where, before the bodies of the three children and three adults who died that day were buried, calls for gun control, cries not to condemn the trans community, and all manner of political sloganeering flooded social media and dominated the newscycle, quickly papering over the lives lost. I don't want to do that today.
Whatever follows from this will demand us a different approach to politics and, especially, how we organize, communicate, and what we prioritize. But for the time being, mourning is the appropriate response.
Charlie was a loyal, god-fearing man who loved the Lord. He was also a passionate political man, a rare type of politico who could not accept that things had gotten so bad in this country that we could no longer talk directly to one another. Kirk was set to speak at a Christian conference in Murfreesboro next Friday.
We mourn not only him, but the vision of the country that Charlie fought for and that now hangs delicately in the balance. It feels as if something shifted yesterday. I'm not sure what, exactly. I heard someone describe it as a wasp's nest hitting the ground and exploding. That captured it well for me. DAVIS HUNT
â§â§â§ WHAT'S NEXT FOR BUSINESS? â§â§â§
Ask nine experts and youâll get ten answers. Bull market, bear market, rates up, rates downâeveryoneâs guessing. No oneâs got a crystal ball.
Meanwhile, over 42,000 businesses have done the obviousâfuture-proofed with NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 AI Cloud ERP, rolling accounting, inventory, HR, and financial management into one platform.
One suite, one source of truth. Real-time data and forecasting turn guesswork into strategy. Close the books in days, not weeks, and spend less time looking back, more time moving forward.
Whether youâre pulling in millions or hundreds of millions, NetSuite helps you handle whatâs now and seize whatâs next.
Speaking of whatâs nextâgrab the free CFOâs Guide to AI and Machine Learning at NetSuite.com/pamphleteer
SUPPORTED BY
đď¸ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.
đ MTSU Teacher Fired for Comments Less than eight hours after Charlie Kirkâs assassination, Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro became the first college in the country to oust an employee over social media posts celebrating the death of the Turning Point USA Founder. Yesterday evening, Libs of TikTok began circulating a Facebook post from the page of Laura Sosh-Lightsy, the recently promoted Dean of Students.
âLooks like olâ Charlie spoke his fate into existence. Hate begats hate. ZERO sympathy,â she wrote early yesterday afternoon. After initial pushback, she later posted, âIâm not celebrating the loss of Charlie Kirkâs life. Violence is not the answer. I am celebrating the loss of his message of violence in an increasingly violent world, which is partially because of him.â
An employee of MTSU since 2004, Sosh-Lightsy worked up the ranks of the Student Life bureaucracy in charge of student welfare. Since her termination, she has deleted her LinkedIn and Facebook accounts.
đ Mayor Boring And The Latest Update Yesterday, we published part of an email exchange between The Boring Companyâs Vice President of Business Development James Fitzgerald, would and the mayorâs Director of Performance Management,, Clifton Peay in which it appeared that TBC had invited Metro into productive discussions regarding the Music City Loop to no avail.
This is the response we received from the Mayorâs office when we asked whether the Mayorâs Office or other Metro Department officials would had meet with The Boring Company regarding the Music City Loop, and if previous requests have been rejected.
The mayor's office is focused on implementation of the actual transportation program Nashville voters overwhelmingly supported, which is Choose How You Move.
Representatives from Metro have met with The Boring Company team previously several times. We've reiterated on each occasion that we want to review their answersâin writingâbefore we consider any review of their Las Vegas operations. The answers received 6 days ago are now being vetted through multiple Metro departments to determine where we need clarification on their response and what additional questions their response may have prompted.
The Boring Company is one of many entities with proposals in Nashville. They have not yet filed a permit application or made a request of Metro. We're simply working to understand the impact this project may have on Nashville residents.
OâConnellâs office also shared his reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which was focused on gun reform. âToday's event is a reminder that gun violenceâincluding for political reasonsâis horrific and should have no place as a part of our discourse or society,â said Mayor Freddie OâConnell.
âď¸ Casada/Cothren Update This week, U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson acquitted former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his ex-chief of staff Cade Cothren on three federal corruption charges due to insufficient evidence. Casada's remaining convictions have been reduced to 14 counts and Cothren's to 16, including fraud, bribery, theft, conspiracy, and money laundering.
Yesterday, Richardson denied the defense's motion for a new trial, rejecting claims of prosecutorial errors, and rescheduled the joint sentencing hearing from September 12 to September 16 to allow for additional preparation. Both men, who are free on bond, face maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
DEVELOPMENT
- Green Hills steakhouse to open third Nashville-area location (NBJ)
- 12South property listed for sale (Post)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here.
đ Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
đ§ On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
đ¨đťâđž Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
đ¸ AMERICANAFEST @ Multiple Venues, $125, Info
đ¸ Twang City Honky Tonk Happy Hour @ The Underdog, 4p, Free, Info
đ Live Irish Music @ McNamaraâs Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
đ¸ Kellyâs Heroes @ Robertâs Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
đ¸ Open Mic @ Fox & Locke, 6:30p, Free, Info
+ vet community here
đ° Check out the full newsletter archive here.
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik, Camelia Brennan, and Davis Hunt.