Free Republic

A local group wants Nashville to focus on marketing to the gay and lesbian communities. Businesses like Tribe say marketing Nashville to the LGBT community could bring a lot of money into the city. Joey Amato of Outreach Public Relations said he got the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau to help him with a press release promoting Nashville as a gay destination. According to Community Marketing, Inc., the LGBT community spends $65 million a year on tourism. Joey Amato says if he can help Nashville get a portion of that, it would be great for the city. "I fell in...

A 94-year-old Polk County man was forced into his own home and robbed of a 1918 Rugar firearm and a cell phone Thursday, but the suspect didn't remain at large for long. According to Polk County Sheriff's detectives, the man answered a knock at the door at his home in Waverly and the suspect asked him for money. The elderly man told the man he only had $5 on him. The suspect allegedly grabbed the victim by the arm, forced him into a back room of his house, asked him again for money and told the victim not to look...

In 2010, influenced by the Tea Party and its focus on fiscal issues, 17 states elected Republican governors. And, according to an Examiner.com analysis, every one of those states saw a drop in their unemployment rates since January of 2011. Furthermore, the average drop in the unemployment rate in these states was 1.35%, compared to the national decline of .9%, which means, according to the analysis, that the job market in these Republican states is improving 50% faster than the national rate.

Memphis may join the growing list of cash-strapped cities that ask nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations to make payments in lieu of tax. The City Council will vote Tuesday on a resolution to form a committee to explore the idea. "We want to see if this is feasible, and if it is feasible, how much revenue it could generate," said council member Janis Fullilove, who sponsored the resolution. Fullilove said the committee, if approved, would focus on tax-exempt and nonprofit entities that gross $15 million or more annually. As municipal budgets have felt the crunch of the economic slowdown, cities across...

The Shelby County Board of Commissioners filed a petition in federal court Tuesday to block Aug. 2 elections that could create six new suburban school districts, arguing that those who sought the elections are deliberately discriminating against black residents. The lawsuit alleges that "race was a motivating factor behind the enactment of the Shelby County Municipal School Acts and that such Acts are purposefully discriminatory." The filing is the latest step in a dispute over the proposed merger of the area's two largest school systems, the majority-black Memphis City Schools and the smaller, majority-white Shelby County Schools. The systems are...

MEMPHIS, TN - (WMC-TV)- This year's summer vacation has been anything but boring for a family driving through Memphis. A Texas dad thought his kids were kidnapped Monday morning when they left him behind at a gas station. The man, who did not want to give his name, said he was left behind after stopping on New Brunswick Road to eat and fill up the gas tank near the LaQuinta Inn. According to the father, "Somebody had been sleeping all night in the back and they were going to drive and I was going to get in the back and...

Why is it such a big deal that a Muslim community is simply trying to build a house of worship? Let’s start with a little math. Murfreesboro, TN is located in Rutherford County which has just over 100,000 residents. According to estimates provided by the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, there are 200 to 300 Muslim families living in the area. When they announced their plans to build a 53,000 square foot mega mosque, a lot of questions came up. One subject of concern was why they needed such a huge compound for so few families. What is particularly disconcerting is...

Metro-Kiwanis Park hosted a variety of faith-based citizens Thursday night for the Stand Up for Religious Freedom rally. The outdoor event held at the gazebo to the right of the play area began packing in the people around 6:15 p.m., toting lawn chairs and signs in support of the movement. Several local churches have openly opposed the Department of Health and Human Services mandate stating that all insurance must cover birth control and abortion-causing drugs and chose to attend the rally as one unifying body. Sheila Bedford, rally committee member, said the rally was not just about getting together in...

NASHVILLE -- As many as 5,000 people were evacuated on Tuesday night after an explosion at the Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville -- where hundreds of the nation's sheriffs are attending a conference. The blast occurred in a mechanical room at the convention center about 8:30pm local time, WSMV-TV reported, adding that no injuries had been reported. The convention center suffered significant damage from the blast and a Nashville Fire Department spokesperson told the station there was a smell of natural gas in the area. Gas was switched off in the building as officials responded to the scene.

A self-described homophobic Christian posed as a gay man for an entire year, even “coming out” to family and friends in the process, all to reform his beliefs. “[I wanted] to see if there was any justification in the fear I had,” Timothy Kurek, of Nashville, told MSNBC. Kurek, 26, who says his religious upbringing taught him that homosexuality was a sin, launched the experiment in January 2009 after a close female friend broke down in tears and admitted she was gay. “She had just come out to her family and been brutally disowned,” Kurek said. “She had been excommunicated...

As your sheriff, I am writing this open letter to the citizens of Hamilton County. In recent days, I have been taking a lot of heat from some in the print media regarding my stand on commission cards, special deputies and the Sheriff’s Posse. I normally refrain from commenting publicly about such articles, because I realize everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Also, as an elected individual, I know I am fair game. This time, however; I feel I need to defend this matter more vigorously. Unfortunately, there are those in our community who strongly oppose our Second Amendment...

Local churches in the area have decided to rally for a cause that is near and dear to their beliefs –– religious freedom. Many religious institutions and organizations within the Tri-Cities feel as though the HSS mandate set forth under the current ObamaCare law, requiring that employers, including faith-based institutions, fund and provide for certain medical procedures would violate their religious and ethical beliefs. “They ruled recently that all insurance, no matter what the individual holder wants, must carry birth control and abortion-causing drugs as a priority,” said Julianne Wiley, one of the organizers of the event and representative of...

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – On Sunday, a 911 call was made to the Clarksville Police Department that 110,000 records of students and employees had been hacked. The Police Department contacted CMCSS, which deployed its technology specialists to begin investigating what might have been accessed. It was determined that a group of hackers has made a direct threat with plans to release a portion of the data. As a result of the hacking, all school system websites have been shut down. CMCSS is currently seeking outside expertise in additional web security, and have requested law enforcement assistance. The Clarksville Police Department, the...

Fantastic 2-channel live feed available for nothing on YouTube.http://www.youtube.com/bonnaroomusicfest?feature=inp-hs-music I just watched Charles Bradley do a fantastic old time soul set. Right now, watching/listening to Sam Bush and his band on channel 2. Das Racist is on channel 1, and they're awful!

Regular, long-time readers of SFW may recall a posting from almost exactly 2 years ago in which it was announced that an attorney who had specialized in Shariah Finance had been appointed as a White House fellow by President Barack Obama: http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/2010/06/23/shariah-compliant-finance-specialist-joins-white-house-as-fellow/ The attorney in question is named Samar Ali. At the time she was appointed to the Obama White House, Ali raised some concerns nationwide due to her specialization in Shariah-Compliant Finance and her association with the World Islamic Economic Forum, an organization that has essentially designated Shariah Finance as “missionary operations” to promote Islam and Shariah. Now we...

KNOXVILLE — An order has been filed ordering new trials for the defendants in a January 2007 torture slaying, according to John Gill, special counsel to Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols. This comes despite a request from prosecutors that Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood recuse himself from the case of the killings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23. . . . Late last month, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Blackwood's legal reasoning for granting new trials was faulty but left the door open for him to do so if he found different legal grounds.

MADISON, Tenn. - A man gunned down in a Nashville apartment complex Saturday night appears to be a case of self-defense. Police said 28-year-old Javonte Johnson tried to rob Howard Bridgeforth at in the Mission Apartments on Saturday. That's when Bridgeforth pulled out his own gun, opened fire, killing Johnson. An accomplice took off running. A stray bullet went into a neighbor's apartment, where kids were sitting inside. No one was hurt. But at least one of the four bullets fired went into a nearby apartment with children inside. Phyllis Richardson showed NewsChannel 5 the shattered glass door in her...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Metro police are looking for the person involved in an attempted armed robbery in the Madison area that left one person dead. Police said the incident happened around nine p.m. Saturday night at the Mission Madison Apartments at 501 Heritage Drive. A man walking to his car was approached by two people who then tried rob him. One of the robbers had a gun but so did the victim who shot and killed one of the robbers. The other would-be robber ran off. Police believe the two may have also been involved in another robbery earlier at...

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/06/the-murfreesboro-mosque-built-on-a-foundation-of-lies.html#more

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A judge in Tennessee ruled Tuesday that the public wasn't properly notified about a meeting where local officials approved the plan for a proposed mosque, meaning construction of the disputed project will be stopped. The new facility for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro was one of several Muslim projects in the U.S. that hit a swell of conservative opposition around the same time as the controversy over a plan to build a Muslim community center near New York's ground zero.