Nashville Unseen https://nashvilleunseen.com/ What the Scene Misses. Independent, center-right commentary and original field coverage from Nashville and Tennessee. en-us (c) 2026 Nashville Unseen Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:54:07 -0500 editor@nashvilleunseen.com (Nashville Unseen) editor@nashvilleunseen.com (Nashville Unseen) https://nashvilleunseen.com/assets/logo-mark.pngNashville Unseenhttps://nashvilleunseen.com/ Judge the Tunnel on the Geology, Not on Who Owns It. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/boring-company-karst-scene-counterpoint.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/boring-company-karst-scene-counterpoint.html Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:00:00 -0500 The Scene reports a new sinkhole warning on the Music City Loop. Fair questions deserve evidence, not a verdict based on who owns the machine. The Scene's Midterm Guide Deserves a Second Opinion https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/midterm-ballot-guide-scene-counterpoint.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/midterm-ballot-guide-scene-counterpoint.html Thu, 22 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0500 Early voting runs through Oct. 29. Where the Scene's midterm coverage leans, and the conservative case on affordability, immigration, bail, taxes and the governor's race. ICE Is Hiring Lawyers in Nashville. There Is a Strong Case for Supporting Them. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/ice-attorneys-nashville-counterpoint.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/ice-attorneys-nashville-counterpoint.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 23:00:00 -0500 The Scene's story asks readers to see attorney recruitment through enforcement controversies. A separate question: what, specifically, is wrong with hiring lawyers to represent the government? Kid Rock Doesn’t Need Permission to Speak His Mind. Neither Do You. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/kid-rock-clarksville-scene-counterpoint.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/kid-rock-clarksville-scene-counterpoint.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 22:30:00 -0500 The Scene called a rally speech fear-stoking. We say a label is not a rebuttal. Trump Showed Up for Tennessee. Clarksville Showed Up for Trump. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/trump-clarksville-rally-recap.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/trump-clarksville-rally-recap.html Sun, 11 Oct 2026 18:30:00 -0500 The President spoke for about 90 minutes in Clarksville, celebrating Middle Tennessee investment, Fort Campbell, and a pitch to vote. Early voting opens Wednesday. Trump Is Coming to Clarksville. We'll Be There Live. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/trump-clarksville-rally.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/trump-clarksville-rally.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 09:00:00 -0500 The President holds a midterm rally in Clarksville this Saturday, an hour up I-24 from Nashville. We're covering it live. Here's how to get a free ticket, and why it's worth the drive. Nashville Doesn't Have an ICE Problem. It Has a Cheap-Labor Problem. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/nashville-cheap-labor-problem.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/nashville-cheap-labor-problem.html Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0500 The Scene's cover story is well reported and its numbers are real. But it asks the wrong question. If enforcing the law breaks your housing economy, look harder at what the economy was built on. The Party That Got Fined $270,000 for Its Own Books Would Like to Protect Your Vote https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/tndp-voter-protection-fec-fine.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/tndp-voter-protection-fec-fine.html Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0500 Tennessee Democrats launched an 'election integrity' program and warned Republicans will 'lie, cheat, and steal.' Same party that paid a federal fine for misreporting $3.6 million. We Teach the Victims of Fascism Without Scare Quotes. Why Not the Victims of Communism? https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/teaching-communism-victims-double-standard.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/teaching-communism-victims-double-standard.html Wed, 02 Sep 2026 14:00:00 -0500 The Scene calls teaching communism's victims 'a solution looking for a problem.' Around 100 million dead would disagree. The double standard is the story. Dolly Parton Spent 50 Years Refusing to Be a Political Weapon. The Scene Made Her One in a Week. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/dolly-parton-political-weapon-scene.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/dolly-parton-political-weapon-scene.html Sat, 29 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0500 Phillips found a rare moment of unity over Dolly, then couldn't resist turning it into proof that conservatives are frauds. Dolly spent her life refusing exactly that. The Scene Found Three Versions of the Ten Commandments. It Missed the One Argument That Matters. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/ten-commandments-scene-counterpoint.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/ten-commandments-scene-counterpoint.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0500 Phillips is right about the law. She's using a real technicality to dodge the actual debate, and invoking a keep-government-out principle the Scene abandons everywhere else. Why Does Everyone Pretend AI Is a Left-Right Fight? Nashville Proves It Isn't. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/ai-not-left-right-nashville.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/ai-not-left-right-nashville.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:00:00 -0500 Democrats and Republicans both distrust AI and both hate data centers. The partisan war is an elite artifact. And Metro just started deleting the prompt records. You Don't Have to Defend Your Great-Great-Grandfather. The Scene's Own Historian Said So. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/inherited-guilt-scene-historian.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/inherited-guilt-scene-historian.html Fri, 31 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0500 A Scene cover story quoted a historian rejecting inherited guilt. It's the right principle. It also contradicts half the politics the Scene champions. The Distinction Nashville Keeps Refusing to Make https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/china-government-people-distinction.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/china-government-people-distinction.html Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0500 A government is not a people. Blackburn's ad blurs the line one way. The Scene blurs it the other. Both erase the people the Communist Party hurt first. The Scene Called Concern About Chinese Land 'Racist.' Then Quoted a Democrat Raising It. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/scene-china-land-racist-conflation.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/scene-china-land-racist-conflation.html Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0500 The ad is cheap and coded. But 'anti-CCP' is not 'anti-Chinese,' and the Scene's own column proves it knows the difference. Reclaiming Pride in America Amid the Voices of Shame https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/gratitude-america-250-editors-note.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/gratitude-america-250-editors-note.html Sat, 04 Jul 2026 07:00:00 -0500 America turns 250. A Democratic president once said there's nothing wrong with America that can't be cured by what's right with it. Somewhere in between, one side traded gratitude for grievance. The Art of the Deal Comes to Grassmere Park https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/art-of-the-deal-grassmere-park.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/art-of-the-deal-grassmere-park.html Tue, 30 Jun 2026 09:00:00 -0500 O'Connell filed to seize the data-center site by eminent domain. The most coercive power a government holds, and Trump's favorite, now in a blue rosette. The Scene Gave a Hackberry Tree More Charity Than It Gave Riley Gaines https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/hackberry-charity-phillips-counterpoint.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/hackberry-charity-phillips-counterpoint.html Mon, 22 Jun 2026 17:00:00 -0500 Phillips wrote 300 words on why a 'trash tree' deserves curiosity, then declared two named people incapable of meaning. The tree got the benefit of the doubt. Phillips Wrote 1,000 Words on the TIRRC Fight Without Saying TCA 7-68 Once https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/phillips-tirrc-deflection-counterpoint.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/phillips-tirrc-deflection-counterpoint.html Mon, 08 Jun 2026 16:00:00 -0500 The Scene asked the wrong question. Sexton raised a statute. Phillips responded with where he sleeps. Neither answers what Metro Council has to. Before Metro Votes $735K to TIRRC, It Owes Nashville an Answer on the Sanctuary-Cities Statute https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/tirrc-metro-funding-sanctuary-cities-question.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/tirrc-metro-funding-sanctuary-cities-question.html Sat, 06 Jun 2026 12:00:00 -0500 The Scene framed Sexton and Blackburn as 'blasting' Metro over a TIRRC line item. They asked a real legal question Metro hasn't answered. TCA 7-68 is still on the books. The Scene Built Four Cover Stories on a Legal Theory a Court Had Already Rejected https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/seeing-red-court-ruling-counterpoint.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/seeing-red-court-ruling-counterpoint.html Thu, 28 May 2026 12:00:00 -0500 The 'Seeing Red' package says the Memphis maps are illegal and should not be enforced. A unanimous three-judge panel disagreed two days before it ran. The Memphis Outrage Is Choreographed From Washington https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/memphis-outrage-choreographed-from-washington.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/memphis-outrage-choreographed-from-washington.html Tue, 12 May 2026 11:00:00 -0500 The anger is real. The script around it is being written in DC. Motycka's piece accidentally tells you who's coordinating Tennessee Democrats' redistricting messaging. Tennessee Republicans Aren't Trump Loyalists. They're Just Winning. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/tn-republicans-arent-trump-loyalists.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/tn-republicans-arent-trump-loyalists.html Mon, 11 May 2026 11:00:00 -0500 Phillips' theory is that the special session proves the TN GOP is in Trump's pocket. The simpler theory: partisan opportunity, not religious devotion. Nashville Scene's Gerrymandering Panic Ignores One Inconvenient Truth https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/redistricting-counterpoint-betsy-phillips.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/redistricting-counterpoint-betsy-phillips.html Fri, 08 May 2026 11:00:00 -0500 The left suddenly discovered partisan redistricting exists. But only after Tennessee Republicans started winning with it. What the Scene's Gavel Down Coverage Carefully Avoids https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/scene-gavel-down-2026-counterpoint.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/scene-gavel-down-2026-counterpoint.html Fri, 08 May 2026 11:00:00 -0500 Six articles, one frame: Republicans bad. The actual 2026 session was more interesting than that. Outrage Is Not an Argument https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/outrage-is-not-an-argument.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/outrage-is-not-an-argument.html Tennessee Democrats' frustration is legitimate. Spectacle is a separate question. A center-right counterpoint to the Sexton committee-stripping coverage. The Cover Story Calls Traditional Christianity Fringe. In Tennessee, It's Still the Clear Majority. https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/scene-progressive-clergy-counterpoint.html https://nashvilleunseen.com/posts/scene-progressive-clergy-counterpoint.html Evangelicals are 45% of Tennessee. Mainline Protestants are 12%. The Scene's Cover Story treats the smaller tradition as the moral voice.