Free Republic

Nashville Police Chief: Secret Service Tried to Fool Armed Homeowner with Fake Search Warrant By Robert Farago on October 16, 2014 “Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson recently sent a letter to Congress alleging that Secret Service agents asked Nashville police to falsify a warrant so that the agents could search the home of a Nashville resident who had posted about President Obama on Facebook,” benswann.com reports. More specifically, “in January of 2013, Secret Service agents working out of the Nashville field office visited the home of the resident who made the Facebook postings and knocked on his door. Then, an...

In this case reported from Antioch, Tennessee, a domestic argument ends with a stranger being drawn into a potentially deadly encounter.     The accused and a woman were arguing, and the accused told her to to get out of the car on the Interstate.   A stranger, seeing a woman walking on the Interstate, stopped to ask if she needed help.   Shortly after, the accused came back, stopped, drew a pistol and pointed it at the two.   The stranger drew his own gun, words were exchanged, and the accused drove off.   No shots were fired. Talk to any police officer, and...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — When federal immigration agents surrounded a south Nashville apartment and began banging on doors, the men inside were within their rights to turn off the lights and refuse to answer. The officers did not have warrants, either to search the apartment or to arrest anyone inside, according to court documents

One of the most universal lessons of sports prediction is that margins matter. An NFL team that wins a number of games by less than a touchdown might get banner headlines for its clutch performance. But a team’s record in close games is mostly just luck. A football team that thrives on winning close games is likely to see its luck revert to the mean and start losing its fair share of them. The same is true in baseball, basketball and most other sports. (SNIP) In fact, the average share of the primary vote received by Republican incumbent senators so...

This sign is posted on three doors of the Shiloh Brew and Chew in Maryville, TN A Tennessee restaurant is welcoming armed citizens.   The decision was made after the owner read about a convenience store manager that was shot after putting up a "No Weapons Allowed" sign, and after she lost business because some customers thought that she did not allow armed citizens inside.   From wbir.com: "They had put up a sign that said 'No Weapons Allowed' and they were robbed at gunpoint two days later. The convenience store manager was shot," said Floyd. "And that got me thinking....

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Police found a child restrained in a southeast Memphis home Thursday. Police say a girl inside the home called them and said her brother was chained up. Officers arrived and found an 8-year-old boy restrained inside the home. Neighbors say the girl got a hold of a cellphone when her mother went to the grocery store. Valerie Golden lives nearby and said her son played at the home and returned home to say the children there were hungry and one boy was chained to a fence one day and locked inside a shed another. “My son has...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A disabled veteran and father is living out of his car, because he said the Memphis VA will not help him. Lonnie Whitfield was living with a friend, but ran out of options when that person decided to move. The VA sent WREG a statement explaining the programs they have in place to help people like Whitfield. They have vouchers for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and VA Supportive Housing Program, or HUD-VASH as it is called. However, they only had 380 vouchers for the Memphis and Jackson areas, and said they are currently...

As a direct descendent of Tennessee Patriots who were veterans of every major conflict in defense of American Liberty from the American Revolution forward, I stand in reverence of my home state’s distinguished list of Patriot sons and daughters. From 19th-century notables like Andrew Jackson*, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Nathan Bedford Forrest** and Sam Davis, to a long list of 20th-century Patriots headed by Alvin York, warriors from the “Volunteer State” have distinguished themselves in battle with honor and courage. Even our state’s nickname was earned in recognition of the valiant service of volunteer soldiers during the War of 1812,...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A Metro police officer and two of his supervisors were decommissioned after he reportedly showed up to work drunk. Nathan Silvers, 33, was taken into custody on a $2,000 bond Saturday afternoon. He has been charged with DUI for driving his personal vehicle to work while reportedly intoxicated, unlawful gun possession while under the influence of alcohol, and violation of the implied consent law for refusing to submit to a blood alcohol test. According to a press release, Silvers went to the South Precinct at 10:45 p.m. Friday night for his midnight shift. He was supposed to...

US Senate Candidate Representative Joe Carr will be the featured speaker Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Chattanooga Tea Party monthly meeting. The meeting will take place at The Century Club Banquet Hall, 3221 Harrison Pike (off Access Road, just south of the Highway 153-Amnicola Highway intersection, next to The Lighting Gallery). Rep. Carr is a conservative state representative from Lascassas in Middle Tennessee who has served three terms in the Tennessee state legislature. "Rep. Carr is a strong advocate for limited government, the Constitution and states’ rights and has established a steady reputation for life and the 2nd Amendment,"...

Today, the Tennessee Senate passed SB2424, a Vermont* style, permit-less open-carry bill. This bill would further restore the basic human right to self-defense in Tennessee. The question is, will the House follow suit? The companion bill, HB2409, if passed, would give Governor Haslam the opportunity to make good on the promise he made in a Tennessee Firearms Association (TFA) meeting on October 18, 2010, on Vermont Style Carry.Here is a transcription of part of that meeting:TFA member, If the legislature were to pass a Vermont style carry, and bring it to you, would you sign it? Candidate (Knoxville Mayor) Haslam,...

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn will consider running for president in 2016 -- if she sees an opportunity to do so, an aide to the 7th District Republican told RealClearPolitics. Blackburn is scheduled to be one of the speakers at a New Hampshire Republican rally this weekend but was not previously known to be mulling a White House bid. "If there's a door to kick down, she's willing to kick it down," the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said. "These are the kinds of events you go to -- test the waters, and see what...

If you’re hoping to escape from big city crime, look elsewhere. These places actually defy the stereotype of smaller cities being safer. When you see small towns on TV and in movies, they’re almost always idyllic places where the American dream is thriving and neighbors all know each other. That, and unless you’re watching a whodunnit, no one’s ever the victim of a crime. In reality, small cities are surprisingly similar to all the others, meaning that there are good ones and bad. While the Movoto Real Estate Blog has been writing lately about America’s safest places, we thought we’d...

Knives are arms protected by the second amendment. In  1958 the U.S. government banned the interstate sale of switchblade  knives.   It was a stupid law that accomplished nothing but to inconvenience law abiding people while setting another in a long line of incremental precedents toward unlimited federal power.  In 1958, the federal government still recognized that the commerce clause in the constitution did not grant it unlimited power, so the ban was only on interstate commerce, not on manufacture or possession.  Not surprisingly, its major proponent was a New York representative from New York City. In recent years,...

SEYMOUR, Tenn. (WVLT) -- A man accused of trying to rob an elderly Seymour woman, only to have the victim's son hold a gun to his head, has been charged. Colin Patrick Lynch, 29, of Knoxville, is charged with especially aggravated burglary and two counts of aggravated assault. Bond amounts and the court date have not yet been set. Kenny Guffey said he was driving home from work around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday when he called is 83-year-old mother, Christine Guffey. "We were talking probably ten minutes and then all of the sudden her voice panicked and she said, 'What...

This was the flag of slave holding states in the United States that seceded in 1861, causing Civil War. Today the symbol is used by the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi groups, and other organizations who are hostile to African-Americans. For the last several decades, protests have continued, demanding that this flag not be displayed in public places. Many people were greatly disturbed to see that the Confederate Flag is now being displayed, not in the United States, but in Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. Larry Holmes, a civil rights activist in New York City, explained why the flag is...

A 35-year old Murfreesboro man has been charged with Aggravated Child Abuse. The case started from a call to the Department of Children Services advising that Antonio Moreno-Martinez had abused a small child that he was with after becoming angry. While we cannot release details of who that child was, we can say he is not related to the child. In the report that WGNS obtained, it states that the 35-year old was mad at the child because the child was not counting numbers correctly. The child had multiple bruises on his back, buttocks, face and neck when police got...

Labor: Union bosses have contended for some time that a secret ballot isn't needed to unionize a workplace. All that's needed, they said, was employees' signatures on cards. But Chattanooga proved them wrong. For months the United Auto Workers have said a majority of workers at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee had signed cards expressing their interest in unionizing. Why bother with a secret ballot when the workers had already spoken through the "card check" approval process? Before a much-anticipated and widely followed union-representation vote held last week, the AP reported that Gary Casteel, Tennessee-based regional director for the UAW,...

Workers at a Volkswagen factory in Tennessee have voted against union representation in a devastating defeat for the United Auto Workers union's effort to make inroads in the South. The 712-626 vote released late Friday was surprising for many labor experts and union supporters who expected a UAW win because Volkswagen tacitly endorsed the union and even allowed organizers into the Chattanooga factory to make sales pitches. "This is like an alternate universe where everything is turned upside down," Cliff Hammond, a labor lawyer at in Detroit, told The Wall Street Journal, noting that companies usually fight union drives. "This...

P resident Barack Obama on Friday waded into a high-stakes union vote at Volkswagen AG's plant in Tennessee, accusing Republican politicians who oppose unionization of being more concerned about German shareholders than U.S. workers. Obama's interjection in the war of words on Friday, albeit behind closed doors, underscored how much is stake in the three-day vote by VW's 1,550 hourly workers. The vote is due to end at 8:30 p.m. ET and the results could be announced soon after that. Obama said everyone was in favor of the UAW representing Volkswagen except for local politicians who "are more concerned about...