Opinion
Overnight sensation known as Oliver Anthony says “I’m not a good musician, I’m not a very good person” as he turns down multi million dollar offer

His real name is Christopher Lunsford. Friends and family just call him Chris. But over the last week or so, millions of people around the world have been introduced to him as Oliver Anthony. That’s because Chris records music under the name of his grandfather, Oliver Anthony, for a youtube channel called RadioWv (Radio West Virginia). Back on August 8, Chris was creating music as a hobby he practiced after work and on days off. But on August 9, a video he recorded for his original song “Rich Men North of Richmond” was loaded on the RadioWv channel. Within hours, Lunsford’s life was turned upside-down.
Chris Lunsford and “Draven” from RadioWv were sure this was a special song and they were hoping maybe something this good could get a few hundred thousands views. Well… 21 million views later, Lunsford has reportedly had to contend with about 50,000 online comments, and consider an 8 million dollar recording contract. Something about this song has touched a nerve.
In case you haven’t heard it yet, here it is on the youtube channel RadioWv. And this is the description put up by RadioWv.
“When I first came across Oliver Anthony and his music, I was blown away to say the least. He had a whole collection of songs that I could listen to for hours. Oliver resides in Farmville, VA with his 3 dogs and a plot of land he plans on turning into a small farm to raise livestock. We have a whole mess of songs set to release of Oliver for your viewing and listening pleasure, he is truly special and notes his biggest influence as Hank Williams Jr. Oliver wants to give hope to the working class and your average hard working young man who may have lost hope in the grind of trying to get by.”
The song is written about the struggles of regular folk in Appalachia, but millions of Americans have adopted it as an anthem for their own lives. The secret sauce behind the success of “Rich Men North of Richmond” certainly has to do with a brilliant title and the haunting melody. But it’s the heartfelt lyrics that strongly challenge political and corporate power structures which seem to be taking the world by storm. It’s kicking up a little storm of controversy too. While many media outlets are calling the song a ‘conservative anthem’, the BBC goes as far as to say the song is “the latest in a series of cultural flashpoints that reflect a deeply divided America.“
As a songwriter, Lunsford has called on a bitter period in his life to come up with lines like these:
“Livin’ in the new world/ With an old soul/
These rich men north of Richmond/ Lord knows they all just wanna have total control/
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do/ And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do/
‘Cause your dollar ain’t s**t and it’s taxed to no end/ ‘Cause of rich men north of Richmond.”
Like it or hate it, the song has rocketed to the top of Country Music charts. For his part Christopher Lunsford has made two public statements which are no where near as political as his lyrics. Lunsford recorded the first statement as an update to his sudden success.
Then with the pressure building to address his new audience again, Thursday, Chris Lunsford wrote this thoughtful update on his Oliver Anthony facebook page.
From the Facebook page of Oliver Anthony Music
It will be interesting to see what happens to Chris Lunsford. Certainly at some point soon he’ll accept a contract to make enough money to live a comfortable life far removed from the struggling Appalachian behind “Rich Men North of Richmond”. Millions of new fans affected by his song will hope he never moves too far away.
Indigenous
Constitutional lawyer calls for ‘false’ claims to end in Canadian residential schools burials

From LifeSiteNews
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms founder John Carpay said unsubstantiated claims foster a hatred that led to churches being destroyed by arson, vandalized and desecrated.
One of Canada’s top constitutional lawyers blasted what he said are “false” and “virtue-signaling” displays of “truth and reconciliation” goals pushed by the federal government and media when it comes to indigenous “land acknowledgments.”
In a recent opinion piece, John Carpay, founder and president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), said the “unsubstantiated claim” that thousands of indigenous kids were buried and disregarded by Catholic priests and nuns who ran some Canadian residential schools must be countered.
“Truth and reconciliation are goals worth pursuing,” wrote Carpay, adding, “which is why all Canadians, whether Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal, should not settle for the hypocritical virtue-signaling displayed through land acknowledgments.”
“Nor should we embrace false claims that foster division, or race-based laws that generate strife,” he noted.
In 2021 and 2022, the mainstream media ran with inflammatory and dubious claims that hundreds of children were buried and disregarded by Catholic priests and nuns who ran some Canadian residential schools. The reality is, after four years, there have been no mass graves discovered at residential schools.
However, as the claims went unfounded, since the spring of 2021, over 120 churches, most of them Catholic, many of them on indigenous lands that serve the local population, have been burned to the ground, vandalized, or defiled in Canada.
Carpay observed how the “inflammatory assertion” of the graves claims was based on ground penetrating radar, “which can only locate soil disturbances beneath the ground, and cannot locate human remains.”
He noted that the only way to find out for certain is for “excavation” to take place, to uncover the “truth.”
To date, the reality, as stated by Carpay, is “no field work has been conducted.”
“Rather, this unsubstantiated claim fosters the hatred that was on display when, following the May 2021 allegation, dozens of churches in Canada were burned and destroyed by arson, with dozens more vandalized and desecrated,” he said.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, retired Manitoba judge Brian Giesbrecht said in October 2024 that Canadians are being “deliberately deceived by their own government” after blasting the now former federal government of Justin Trudeau for “actively pursuing” a policy that blames the Catholic Church for the unfounded “deaths and secret burials” of Indigenous children.
Carpay noted how the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations has “censored all details of what became of” some $12.1 million the k’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation received to conduct yet to be done excavations.
“This strongly suggests — but does not prove — that the claim about buried bodies is false,” Carpay wrote.
“Do the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc fear embarrassment and humiliation if an excavation fails to turn up the remains of 215 children? Where is their respect for the taxpayers’ money that was provided to them for a specific purpose? How is this refusal to conduct an excavation helpful to the goal of reconciliation?”
Carpay: ‘True’ reconciliation will only come once laws based on race or ancestry are ‘abolished’
Residential schools, although run by both the Catholic Church and other Christian churches, were mandated and established by the federal government. They were in operation from the late 19th century until the last school closed in 1996.
While some children did tragically die at the once-mandatory boarding schools, evidence has revealed that many of the children passed away as a result of unsanitary conditions due to underfunding by the federal government, not the Catholic Church.
Carpay said the only way for reconciliation among Canadians to happen is if everyone to truly has equal status under the law.
“Ultimately, true reconciliation among Canadians can only be achieved after we have abolished laws that are based on race, ethnicity, ancestry, or descent,” he wrote.
“When some Canadians — based on their ancestry or descent — have special, different, or superior rights, it necessarily leads to friction, strife, and resentment.”
Carpay added that the “best way” to achieve reconciliation is for all “Canadians to pay the same taxes, for all Canadians to have equal access to public spaces, for all Canadians to enjoy the same hunting and fishing opportunities, and for all Canadians to be equal before the law.”
“Anything else is, quite simply, racist,” he added.
Recent polling has shown that over two-thirds of Canadians want some kind of proof of the “unmarked graves” before believing the claims that Indigenous children were secretly murdered and buried at residential schools by Catholic clergy.
Business
‘Taxation Without Representation’: Trump Admin Battles UN Over Global Carbon Tax

From the Daily Caller News Foundation
The Trump administration is fighting to block a global carbon tax that a United Nations (UN) agency is attempting to pass quietly this week.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN body based in London, is meeting this week to adopt a so-called “Net-Zero Framework,” which would levy significant penalties on carbon dioxide emissions from ships that exceed certain limits. The Trump administration argues the proposal could raise global shipping costs by as much as 10%, ultimately driving up prices for American consumers.
“President Trump has made it clear that the United States will not accept any international environmental agreement that unduly or unfairly burdens the United States or harms the interests of the American people,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a joint statement Friday.
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“The Administration unequivocally rejects this proposal before the IMO and will not tolerate any action that increases costs for our citizens, energy providers, shipping companies and their customers, or tourists,” the cabinet secretaries wrote.
This week, the UN is attempting to pass the first global carbon tax , which will increase energy, food, and fuel costs across the world. We will not allow the UN to tax American citizens and companies.
Under the leadership of @POTUS, the U.S. will be a hard NO. We call on…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) October 15, 2025
The proposed tax is part of the IMO’s broader goal to bring global shipping to net-zero emissions “by or around” 2050. Qualifying ships that fall short of emissions targets would face taxes ranging from $100 to $380 per ton of CO2.
Notably, the tax would be paid directly by shipowners rather than governments.
The Net-Zero Framework could generate between $11 billion and $12 billion annually from 2028 through 2030, paid into a UN-controlled fund, according to University College London. Meanwhile, other estimates warn that if the global fleet misses the IMO’s targets by even 10%, the annual cost of emissions could climb to $20 to $30 billion by 2030 and potentially exceed $300 billion by 2035.
Some critics equated the proposal to “taxation without representation,” noting that an unelected committee would have the authority to set and potentially raise the tax.
The Trump administration is urging member states to reject the proposal and has threatened retaliatory measures against countries that support it. These include investigations into anti-competitive practices, visa restrictions for maritime crews, commercial and financial penalties, higher port fees for ships tied to those nations, and possible sanctions on officials promoting climate policies.
“The Trump administration is right to draw a hard line against the UN’s latest scheme to export its climate agenda through global taxes and trade barriers,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Isaac said the proposed carbon tax, along with other measures — including the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which requires companies to disclose environmental and social impacts — “represent an alarming attempt to impose costly, extraterritorial regulations on American businesses and consumers.”
“These measures threaten U.S. sovereignty, inflate energy and transport costs, and weaponize climate policy as a tool of economic coercion,” Isaac said. “The United States must not tolerate foreign governments using environmental pretexts to dictate how we trade, build, and move goods. President Trump’s firm stance puts American workers and energy security first, where they belong.”
Steve Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, also commended the administration’s efforts to block the UN measure.
“Not only does [Trump] oppose the UN carbon tax, but he has instructed his administration to take action against nations that try to implement it against the U.S.,” Milloy told the DCNF. “I am simply in awe of his commitment to ending the international climate hoax, which has long been aimed at stealing from and otherwise crippling our country’s economy and national security.”
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