No. 214: The Handshake Makes the Man

⁂ Nashville's Alt-Daily ⁂ Vision · Nashvillians Want · COVID Holes · Handshakes · Grip Strength · Much More!

By The Pamphleteer

Newsletter • 21 Mar 2022

Good morning, everyone.

The inflation narrative has gone through many iterations since the onset. What started out as "inflation is not happening" quickly evolved into "inflation is happening but it's temporary" which then morphed into "inflation is actually good for you" and has finally settled into "fine inflation is real, and here to stay." The Federal Reserves' slow ramp up of interest rates is about as close to a tacit admission that things are quickly swirling out of control as you'll get. Add to this the overseas conflict in Ukraine and any number of supply blockages emerging from pandemic-related hiccups, and indeed, you have a recipe for runaway inflation.

One thing that's frequently advisable when inflation begins to cut into your wallet is to stock up on goods ahead of price increases. In a new narrative twist, Bloomberg, presumably in an effort to curtail panic-buying, penned the following tweet:

Inflation stings most if you earn less than $300K. Here's how to deal:

➡️ Take the bus
➡️ Don’t buy in bulk
➡️ Try lentils instead of meat
➡️ Nobody said this would be fun

@bopinion, 19 March 2022, View Online

Tone-deaf would be one way to describe it. Dishonest might be another. But mostly, what messaging around inflation indicates is that large media outlets have yet to learn the lessons imparted by the past five years. Presumably, whether their readers believe them or not is of no consequence, and outlets like Bloomberg will continue to hammer against the bulwark of their readers' presumed ignorance for profit.

Today, we look at some bills floating through the Tennessee Chamber, see what Nashvillians want going forward, check-in on an effort to plug some of the holes left in the COVID omnibus bill, and celebrate the virtues of a firm handshake.

You can follow us on Twitter (@realpamphleteer), LinkedIn (@realpamphleteer), or Instagram (@realpamphleteer) for additional content.

Thanks for reading.

➫ Perfect Vision: Hindsight’s 20/20

LAST WEEK

Republicans are notably upset about the failure of HB2074 in the House’s Election and Campaign Finance Subcommittee last week. The bill is a response to ongoing fears over electoral fraud. While this was not an issue across the state of Tennessee, election integrity is a topic constituents find important to tackle before it’s too late. This particular bill would have required the entire state to use paper ballots. There are various ways to watermark and protect the integrity of a paper ballot without having to call into question the integrity of what some think of as an archaic form of vote tabulation. Watch the vote on the floor here.

THIS WEEK

A few Senate Committees meet for their final time this week. A bill up for review in both the House and the Senate today will require gender neutral terms when referring to council members. HB2900/SB2916 truly represents the groundbreaking and meaningful work that needs our utmost attention in the Tennessee legislature. Bravo. It’s right up there with Rep. Gloria Johnson's HB2691 allowing birth certificates to reflect a person’s gender identity.

LOOKING AHEAD

March’s Power Poll is in, and Middle Tennesseans are looking for vision. Questions/answers include:

Q: Do you feel Nashville has a clear vision for what it wants to be in 15 to 20 years?
A: Overwhelmingly, no.

Q: The NashvilleNext plan was designed to last us until 2040. In your judgment, are circumstances such that we should start another process to define the city's mission or should we stick with the plans that have come before?
A: We should undertake a new process.

To grasp how truly important it is for Republicans to claim some of this space, look at the numbers from our “Guiding Nashville’s Growth” overview on Friday. Right now, one of the strongest visionaries named by this Power Poll piece is Bob Mendes. Mendes is a Democrat who currently serves on the progressive-leaning Metro City Council and has Mayoral aspirations.

✘ Patching the Vaxx Passport Crack in the COVID Omnibus

Four months ago, the passage of the COVID Omnibus Bill seemed like a states’ rights coup over the Biden Administration's mealymouthed encroachment on individual freedoms. Yet, for anyone scrutinizing the law, much seemed amiss almost immediately. Tennessee may have effectively acted as a fly in the ointment for corporations like Chase, Kroger, and Carhartt who were apoplectic that their vaccine requirements would have to carve out exceptions for employees in the Volunteer State.

But, beyond the bill putting the kibosh on mandatory vaccinations for employees (which would be moot had SCOTUS not smacked down Biden’s OSHA workaround), not much has changed. Posturing venues from Bridgestone Arena to the Five Spot and the Nashville Symphony held the proof-of-vaxx line until diminished attendance and the threat of irrelevance forced them to reverse course, alienating consumers whose vaccine concerns are now largely vindicated and leading to further anxiety for the COVID-obsessed quislings any gathering would be better off without. While the General Assembly seemed largely ready to move beyond the pandemic, officials like Representative Terri Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster) have remained dedicated both to definitively ending the state’s COVID hysteria and calling attention to the Omnibus Bill’s numerous shortcomings.

Last Tuesday, the Weaver-sponsored HB2452 passed in the House Civil Justice Subcommittee on its way to the full committee later this week. Like its companion bill (SB2151 by Senator Joey Hensley [R-Hohenwald]), the legislation makes it illegal for any public entity, private business, or public-facing institution to deny employment or service to an individual based on their vaccine or immunity status. As Weaver told her colleagues at the hearing, other states such as Montana have succeeded in explicitly barring vaccine passports. In contrast, Tennessee’s law remains mired in exceptions and loopholes that ultimately provide even more protection to entities most vocal about excluding the unvaccinated.

HEADLINES

TN House Passes Bill To Create More Sentencing Transparency For Crime Victims (TCN) House Bill 2657, dubbed the Transparency in Sentencing for Victims Act, requires the court to orally state or write out the estimated length of a sentence, along with the reasons for the sentence and any enhancing or mitigating factors.
Ex-Sen. Robinson sentenced to time served, supervised release (TNJ) Former state Sen. Katrina Robinson (D-Memphis) has been sentenced to time served and one year of supervised release following her conviction on federal wire fraud charges. Senate Republicans ousted Robinson last month in a move she denounced as a “procedural lynching.”
Nashville coffee shop seeks to unionize (Channel 5) The unionization effort is happening at Three Brothers Coffee.
Calfee says he heard Casada offer generalship during voucher impasse (TNJ) Rep. Kent Calfee tells the Tennessee Lookout’s Sam Stockard he heard then-House Speaker Glen Casada propose a generalship to Democratic Rep. John Mark Windle in return for backing a controversial school voucher proposal in 2019.

DEVELOPMENT

Sourceland LLC snags 62 acres for Lebanon subdivision (NBJ)
Start looms for Wedgewood-Houston-area tower project (NBJ)
Broadwest condos fully sold for $211M (Post)
Oracle Corp. leases interim office space downtown as riverfront tech campus planning continues (NBJ)
JPMorgan announces investment in Nashville health startup (Post)
What’s Now & Next Along Platform Way At Nashville Yards (Now Next)

⌘ ON THE VIRTUES OF A FIRM HANDSHAKE

A seldom mentioned aspect of modern life is the decline in grip strength of millennial men. As my grandfather imparted to me early on, eye contact and a firm handshake — in addition to not filling up on free table bread — were essential parts of being a respectable man. If you've had the misfortune of shaking hands with a man who has the grip strength of a dead fish, you'll be familiar with the instinctual revulsion that washes over you.

Similarly, if you're in, let's say, a seedy part of town and a physical confrontation seems possible, you'd do well to judge your potential assailants by the circumference of their wrist which is an indicator of a whole bevy of physical characteristics that portend poorly for you in a street scrap and additionally indicate the strength of the man's grip. Stay away from those cauliflower ears and thick wrists. As a former wrestler, I can attest to this.

For modern men, having a firm grip makes you an outlier. In 2016, a study showed that the grip strength of a sample of college men had declined precipitously — from 117 lbs. to 98 lbs. — between 1985 and 2016 and had sunk so low that 2016's male college students' grip strength matched that of older millennial women. As David French expresses in a 2016 article about his nerdy upbringing, "Being a guy meant doing manual labor. That was just part of growing up — no matter your social class." Even French, who professedly spent the majority of his time with his nose in a book, understands the link between basic masculinity and using and developing strength. There have even been some studies that reveal a relationship between grip strength and intelligence.

In prior ages, cultivating the basic elements of a masculine upbringing came about effortlessly. Life was less mediated by digital interfaces and the demands of physical labor were more common for those who could not afford the now ubiquitous lawn service or the perks of an urban life deprived of the labors typically associated with owning and caring for a plot of land. To inculcate masculine virtues in yourself or your children today requires a deliberate effort to steal them away from the allure of video games, social media, and any number of digital diversions.

These kinds of things used to require no effort to cultivate, but for better or worse, today one must constantly be on guard against the more corrosive and seductive aspects of modernity. The decline in grip strength among men is a good indicator of this.

The good news is that grip strength can be trained. Below we include some information on this.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

🎥 Juha Harju grip strength maestro YouTube channel (Watch)
Getting a Grip: An online subculture is obsessed with a question: "How hard can I squeeze?" (Read)
People gather at GripBoard Forum to share ways of improving grip strength (Explore)
CliffHanger Challenge workout (Info)

⚔︎ MISSIVES ⚔︎

🇺🇦 Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a measure that bans 11 opposition political parties, alleging they have ties to Russia, he announced. “Any activity of politicians aimed at splitting or collaborating will not succeed,” he said. The Neo-Nazi Azov battalion continues to receive NATO funding and Ukrainian government support.
📡 Russia has reiterated its threat to target arms shipments to Ukraine, with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying Friday that any cargo believed to be carrying weapons are “fair game” while vowing to block the transfer of Soviet-era S-300 air defense systems to Kyiv.
🏛 Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and her supporters plan to highlight her legal experience and history of working with Republicans during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings this week, as GOP senators prepare to question her record on sentences for people convicted of crimes.
🤡 New York City’s private employer vaccine mandate and the school mask mandate imposed on children five-and-under will remain in place indefinitely, the city’s new health commissioner announced Friday.
🦠 The CDC has removed tens of thousands of deaths linked to COVID-19, including nearly a quarter of deaths it had listed in those under 18 years old. The health agency quietly made the change on its data tracker website on March 15. “Data on deaths were adjusted after resolving a coding logic error. This resulted in decreased death counts across all demographic categories,” the CDC says on the site.

THINGS TO DO

View the full calendar here.

🖌 At the Cheekwood, Spanning the Atlantic, The Arts and Crafts Movement, an international trend in the decorative arts that originated in the British Isles during the 19th century.

TONIGHT

🎩 History Class @ Bold Patriot Brewing, 5:00, Info

🎸 Harry Fontana @ American Legion Post 82, 7p, Free, Info

💃 Swing Dancing Lessons @ The Bold Patriot, 8p, Free, Info

🎹 Jazz Jam @ The Villager, 11p, Free, Info

GET ‘EM WHILE YOU CAN

😂 Tim Dillon (3/24) @ The Ryman, $29.75+, 7p, Info

🎸 Buddy Guy (3/26) @ The Ryman, 7:30p, $80, Info

🎸 Jerry Cantrell (4/17) @ The Ryman, $35, 7p, Info

🎻 Billy Strings (5/6 -5/8) @ The Ryman, $39.50+, 8:30, Info for 3/6, 3/7, 3/8

🐷 Primus a Farewell to Kings tour (05/09) @ The Ryman, 7:30p, $55+, Info

FROM LAST WEEK

DEEP CUTS

Around the Web

↻ The Myth of the Chemical Imbalance What psychiatrists really believe about mood disorders.

♀ Gen Tokophobia Girls Just Wanna Have Anything but Babies

✶ Why we stopped making Einsteins Geniuses of the past were aristocratically tutored

Damn, that's crazy...

Accountability For Thee, But Not For Me Spies who lie: 51 ‘intelligence’ experts refuse to apologize for discrediting true Hunter Biden story
NYT Headline Don't Play With Your Kids. Seriously.
Pandemic Hangover Amid rising cases, Austria hastily reintroduces an indoor mask mandate

Political Theater Highlight Reel

Anne Tyler: ‘It would be foolish but I should be allowed to write from the viewpoint of a black man’
Anthony Fauci says he's considering retiring

Words of Wisdom

"We gain the strength of the temptation we resist."

Ralph Waldo Emerson