After two years here, I can say without doubting too much that shootings are happening in Nashville almost every frigging day.
Nashville is a firm Democrat bastion. If my google-fu was not incorrect, we are talking at least 70 uninterrupted years of Democrat mayors and the city is about to get a new Democrat (I believe the Republicans no longer bother to try). When I lived there in the early 80s, the Downtown/Broadway area was blocks of cheap honky-tonks, hookers and building after building abandoned and in danger of collapsing. After what I guess has been a lot of investment, now it is populated with plastic version of old honky-tonks, new hookers, and flashy lures that attracts tourists.
and what about the real bad parts of town? Well, the little I have seen they have not improved, and they have expanded. My old hangouts and neighborhoods where nothing ever happened have, last I checked collected at least a couple of murders and lord knows how many assorted crimes, violent and otherwise in the last year alone.
Nashville is a shithole covered in rhinestones and a made-in-China cowboy hat just as fake as the new generation of “Country” artists it serves as base.
On July 21st, 1861, the first battle of the War of Northern Aggression was fought. Just weeks prior, a Major in the Yankee army wrote a heartfelt letter to his love, his wife, the mother of his children.
Because he was an educated man, his letter is educated. It still pulls at the heart, all these decades later.
He died at the Battle of First Manassas after his legs were shot off with a cannonball. This was a survivable event at the time. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they lost the battle and had to retreat.
Major Sullivan Ballou was left behind along with the other wounded. He died within weeks. His letter was found in his gear and sent back to Rhode Island, where the governor presented it to Sullivan’s wife, Sarah.
The letter was used by Goodnight, Texas for their song Dearest Sarah.
14 July 1861
Camp Clark, Washington
My very dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more…
I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt …
Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field.
The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood, around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness …
But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights … always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again …
We live in a society of people actively attempting to pervert history. We have evolved myths that have no true connection to historical reality.  The uneducated and under educated of the country then make decisions based on myth and emotion. Often to the long-term detriment of our country.
There is a concept of the evil corporation. Evil corporations are a stereotype that has very little relationship to reality.
We hear about the greed of the oil companies, taking advantage of the little guy at the gas pumps. We don’t hear that the oil company is making pennies on the gallon while the state rakes it in. You won’t get the rubes to strike for less fuel taxes.  What they strike for is to get the oil company to pay the taxes instead of them.
No corporation has ever paid a single penny in taxes.
Hard to believe?
Taxes are an expense. For a corporation to survive, they have to have more income than expenses. Since taxes are an expense, those taxes are baked into the price of goods and services. If the state raises taxes on a business/corporation, the business/corporation will just raise the price of their goods and services.
While the rubes have no problem with a company saying “The cost of steel went up 10%, we have to raise the price of our goods by 10% to compensate.” They might grumble, but they don’t get angry.
If a company says, “The state raised the cost of doing business by 10%, we have to raise the price of our goods and services by 10% to compensate.” The rubes have a meltdown. The EVIL corporation/business should just take those taxes out of profits.
If grandma has income based on dividends and the corporation takes the taxes out of their profits, then grandma gets less. Dividends are the corporation sharing the profits with the shareholders/owners. Read More
