No. 104: The Lesser of Two Weevils
Good morning, everyone.
We've got a cloudy and cool October day with a slight chance of rain ahead of us here in Nashville, playoff baseball began last night and continues tonight, and the official winner of the Fat Bear Week is Otis who pulled a reverse Al Sharpton.
Thanks for reading.
Nashville
🤿 STILL MORE TO SAY ABOUT MASKS
Williamson and Davidson County school board meetings tend to steal the headlines, but mask showdowns and Covid call-outs are overtaking school board meetings across the state. Here’s what’s going on over in Wilson County where they extended their in-school mask mandates Monday.
During the school board meeting, over a dozen parents and students addressed the mandate. The majority of speakers were, in fact, against the masking mandates. Those who came forward with pro-mask sentiments cited that the number of cases dropped in Wilson County schools since the mandate was imposed. Curiously, a 9th grade Wilson County student came forward and gave insight into the actual classroom conditions since the mandate was implemented and stated that only about 8 of the 100 students in his class wear a mask. The 9th-grade student also stated that children get dropped off wearing masks, then take them off as soon as they’re inside the building. In simpler times, a bright young scholar may have left the house with combed hair, shoes tied, and shirt tucked-in only to dishevel himself as soon as he was out of mom’s view. Oh, how the times have changed.
🥼 OH, THE POOR DOCTORS!
In a new development, working in a hospital is apparently difficult. Tensions running high amidst the COVID-19 viral pandemic have frayed everyone's nerves, patients and medical workers alike. In Tennessee, our own ICU doctors and nurses have had a particularly difficult time with the great mass of unwashed citizens haunting their beds, and apparently, their heads. So, here's to our doctors. No one said it would be easy, but their complaints get run by our town paper, oh, so greasy. We should build them a castle in which they can hide, from the great prying masses and their sickly, bloodshot eyes.
DEVELOPMENT
- Home of city’s oldest privately held business sells for $5.9M (Post)
- Builders group property sells for $2.8M (Post)
- Rents in Nashville rocket 18.3% in a year (Biz Journal)
National
🔥 THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL
Things are looking up for those pursuing a career blowing whistles. Frances Haugen, the recently knighted and rubber stamp approved "whistleblower" vowing to "improve Facebook", looks and talks like a walking PR campaign rolled out of some Political Action Committee like a Stepford Wife. She's got the backers to prove it too, guided as she is by former Obama advisor Bill Burton.
Lawmakers are hoping Haugen can successfully build public consensus for more stringent regulation of social media platforms. Simply put, the US government wants more control of the flow of information. It is not satisfied by the current touch and go arrangement wherein platforms respond only to suggestions and threats when prodded. In a New York Times article from earlier this year titled 'How the Biden Administration Can Help Solve Our Reality Crisis', author Kevin Roose lays out the framework for a "truth commission" headed by a "reality czar" and instead of asking why people might have become radicalized, seeks to expel them from society. Admirable stuff that captures the most common critique of the regime, namely that they do not care about their subjects.
Is Facebook the root of all evil? No. Does it expose fragile and upsetting aspects of the human psyche and lay them out for all of us to observe, complete with data points to confirm or deny our misguided Freudian theories? Yes. This latest attempt to push for regulation starts by saying "Facebook is harmful to children" and builds the case from there. Let's be clear, this is not about the children just like COVID-19 policy is not about health and the Green New Deal is not about the environment.
We may complain a lot over here about how old, out-of-touch politicians who type with two fingers drive us crazy, but imagine when government is fully entangled with social media and staffed by woke millennials who have an even tighter hold on what is and is not "sanctioned" information. If legislators create a regulatory body to achieve this agenda, the good news is that such a governing body is more accessible to political capture than Facebook itself is. The bad news is that Orwellian newspeak like "reality czar"—or something like it—would enter the lexicon and we'd have to listen to everyone talk about George Orwell and 1984 more than we already do.
💎 JUST ANOTHER GLASS CEILING
As the deadline to raise the debt ceiling races towards us, Chuck Schumer is pulling out all the stops, even considering a measure that would eliminate the filibuster for all future votes on the debt ceiling. The initiative would require support from all 50 Democratic senators which seems unlikely as Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema continue to stand athwart progressive policies like Sid and Nancy. Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell offered what can only be described as an olive branch, offering to let Democrats temporarily raise the debt ceiling until December.
Entertainment
THINGS TO DO
You can view our full weekly event calendar here.
Tonight
🍷 Whiskey, Wine and Cider Festival @ The Bedford Nashville, 5:30p, $50 (Info)
ON YOUR RADAR
🥘 The Dutch Opens today
Chef Andrew Carmellini’s casual neighborhood hang starts service in the W today. New American Food made using fresh, seasonal ingredients.
🤵 No Time To Die Opens tonight
The new James Bond flick and Daniel Craig's last as Brittain's finest MI6 agent sees 007's tranquil retirement in Jamaica interrupted by an old CIA agent asking a favor.
🐑 Lamb Opens tonight
The new flick from A24 follows a childless couple who discover a strange and unnatural newborn in their sheep barn. They decide to raise her as their own, but sinister forces are determined to return the creature to the wilderness that birthed her.
COVID Gutter
Trends and news concerning everyone's favorite viral pandemic.
HEADLINES
- University Of Chicago Demands New Level Of COVID Compliance: Mental Submission (Federalist)
- Pfizer Scientists in Undercover Videos Say Natural Immunity Likely Better Than COVID-19 Vaccination (Epoch Times)
- ‘No justification' for ‘discriminatory' Covid passports (Caterer)
- Sweden, Denmark pause Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for younger age groups (Reuters)
Around the Web
🏢 The Great Office Refusal Executives say workers are ‘pining’ to return to in-person work. Migration patterns say otherwise.
🐺 Oregon wolf’s epic trip to Southern California could be among the century’s longest An Oregon gray wolf’s epic walkabout in Southern California is pushing the boundaries of the endangered species’ range.
📜 3 Classical Works That Inspire Us A Comic, a Journal, and a Defense Speech
Political Theater Highlight Reel
- American Psychological Association officially labels Traditional masculinity harmful
- Only 2% of blue plaques in London commemorate black people because, well, only 3% of the UK is black.
- Bill Gates never said ‘3 billion people need to die’, he just said they need to have fewer children.
- US Federal Government is secretly ordering Google and other search engines to track and provide data on anyone who searches certain terms through “keyword warrants”
- FBI admits it doesn't track leftist violence from groups like BLM and Antifa
Good to Know
💨 7 Reasons Why Breathing Improperly Is Destroying Your Health (Read):
1) Acidity & Mineral Depletion
2) HPA Axis Dysfunction
3) Under-active Vagus Nerve
4) CO2 vs O2
5) Improper Breathing Depletes Nitric Oxide
6) Hypertension, Sleep Apnea & Snoring
7) Destroys Your Jawline
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Have a great Thursday