It's 1832 all over again...
📜 Nullification Part Deux · Abortion on the ballot · Johnston against referendum · TikToking · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone. Nothing to add. How about that weather? Onward.
During this year’s General Assembly, two state sovereignty bills popped up on the docket to establish a process in which the state could address federal overreach. Neither passed, but the clash between them—one creating a procedure to invoke articles of nullification, the other establishing a committee to assess federal overreach—inspired the Tennessee Senate State and Local Government Committee to support a summer study per the request of nullification bill Sponsor Janice Bowling.
The committee held the summer study last week, and senators heard from three expert witnesses; all lawyers and constitutional scholars. Joe Wolverton and Jeff Cobble—who spoke in favor of nullification—staunchly held to the argument that states have the right to reject any federal action that isn’t explicitly enumerated in the Constitution. Mark Pulliam—who spoke against the “fringe” theory of nullification—cited two centuries of precedent in a way that can be chalked up as: we dealt with this in 1832, we don't need to do it again.
Back in March, Senator Adam Lowe sponsored a bill monitoring federal overreach that sought to find common ground between the two views of the issue. At last Thursday’s hearing, Lowe dug into the implications of Senator Bowling’s nullification bill. “I think this bill is an indictment on the will of the legislature more than the process,” he said. “It seems we have a process. I think that the beef is whether or not we've had the will. And most Tennesseans probably would argue, including many in this room, that we don't want to undo everything. Like I said, we have the authority to consent to healthy relationships with our federal counterparts and to the states around us.”
On Monday, we followed up with Lowe to unpack his perspective. Read on to see what he had to say.
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🗳️ Abortion on the Ballot There’s a race for House District 75 up in Clarksville that I briefly want to bring to your attention because I think it captures the essence of 2024’s election season. In short, much like the 2022 midterms, Democrats are betting it all on abortion. The state of the economy and the specter of World War III be damned, women’s right to abortion is on the line. It’s the only thing that Harris-Walz have to run on aside from “Trump bad” and “the economy is actually really good.”
This helps explain Harris’ recent appearance on the podcast Call Her Daddy, which is popular among young women and hosts everyone from pornstars to Heidi Klum to talk about sex and relationships. Host Alex Cooper defended her decision to have Harris on her, until now, non-political podcast, saying, “I couldn’t see a world in which one of the main conversations in this election is women, and I’m not a part of it.”
“Idiocracy was a great film but it was a little off by predicting an idiot future that had the impulses and aesthetics of dumb 14 year old boys,” writes Maarek on Twitter. “This year has pretty much conclusively proven our actual idiot future has the impulses and aesthetics of a dumb 14 year old girl.”
Now, back to Clarksville. Democratic nominee Allie Phillips has recently been at the center of a series of stories after the state GOP sent out a mailer with a still from a video that Phillips posted to TikTok of her daughter at a drag show. The girl’s face is blurred, but she’s identified as her child in the mailer. The Tennessean ran a story on the incident and Phillips has since made it the centerpiece of her campaign as she seeks to unseat incumbent Republican Jeff Burkhart.
The Tennessee Star got in on the action Monday, posting another video from Phillips’ TikTok showing her digging up a phallus shaped root from her yard and commenting within earshot of her daughter, “So if anybody wants my ground penis let me know, I’ll ship it to you or whatever you want, if you want it. If not it’s just going to go in the dirt pile. But yeah, I got a ground d**k, it’s pretty cool.” It’s this kind of “f*ck the patriarchy” humor that feels increasingly dated, and from the mouth of Phillips, just comes off weird.
And then, yesterday morning, the Nashville Banner published the contents of an audio recording from June 2023 in which Rep. Burkhart said that pregnancy complications “mostly occur the first time a person gets pregnant.” Phillips was witness to this conversation and the Banner claims that the incident served as the spark for Phillips’ run for office.
Thus, the race for House District 75 has become even more about abortion than it was initially (if that's even possible given it's the only thing Phillips talks about). It seems that after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, we’re going to be tortured by abortion culture wars at the state level instead of the national level with C-list politicians like Philips leading the charge. Grim. DAVIS HUNT
🚍 I’ll Be Voting No On Transit “If you are tired of sitting in standstill traffic on I-40, [I-65], or I-24, this plan cannot and will not do anything to alleviate this,” wrote Councilmember Courtney Johnston in an email to her South Nashville constituents yesterday. The former Republican candidate for the District 5 Congressional race released her analysis of the mayor’s transit referendum, and she found it wanting. “Anytime a tax increase is mentioned, my ears perk up and eyebrows raise,” said Johnston. “And certainly, a tax increase to finance a 30-year obligation should have us all looking deeply into what our goals are with this investment and what we realistically believe the results will be.”
The veteran council member went on to air out some of her hangups, many of which we’ve heard: the misrepresented long-term cost, the lackluster sidewalk promises, and the unanswered questions. While assessing whether O’Connell’s plan addresses two main concerns—managing traffic and reducing the number of vehicles on the road—Johnston didn’t find much promise in the Choose How You Move proposal. But her most damning indictment, one that we haven’t heard up to this point, was when she exposed Metro’s past indiscretions regarding traffic signal technology. “Most people are probably not aware that Metro purchased software back in 2012 to synchronize our signals,” Johnston revealed. “So, what happened to that? Well, turns out that the software we purchased wasn’t compatible with our hardware.” You can read her full post here.
⏰ The Clock Is TikToking Yesterday, Attorney General Skrmetti filed a motion requesting the court to compel TikTok to “produce relevant evidence in response to the State’s investigation of the company’s possible violation of Tennessee consumer protection laws.” Back in April, the social media company was asked to provide the AG’s office with a number of documents that they never produced.
“Despite a court order and ample time to comply, TikTok continues to cover up the extent of its destruction of evidence and dodge our investigative demands as we fight to reveal the truth about TikTok's impact on kids,” said Skrmetti in a press release. “My Office will not cease our ongoing effort to hold TikTok and other social media companies accountable for their misconduct. Tennessee appreciates the 22 states who filed a brief supporting our effort to hold TikTok accountable.”
DEVELOPMENT
- AT&T drops three floors from lease in downtown's Batman Building (NBJ)
- Sean Brock to open second Joyland in Nashville (NBJ)
- Permit reveals new tenant for Portland Brew 12South site (NBJ)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide and yearly festival guide.
TONIGHT
🪕 The Slocan Ramblers @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
🎸 Nilüfer Yanya @ The Basement East, 8p, $32.87, Info
+ British indie singer-songwriter
🎻 Violent Femmes with the Nashville Symphony @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $77+, Info
🪕 Bluegrass Night @ The American Legion Post 82, 7p, Free, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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