No. 336: All the Important Local Weirdos
⁂ Nashville's Alt-Daily ⁂ Localism · Bar Hours Recap · WMDs in TN · Buses · Much More!
- Intro Davis sounds off on localism and last night's Bar Hours.
- Nashville Megan details the latest efforts of TN's new AG.
- Elsewhere We dash off a quick note on the immigrant busing ordeal.
- And More We consider the trailer for what appears to be an instant cult classic.
Good morning, everyone.
Many buzzwords have picked up steam over the past few years—one of them being localism, which I heard bandied about quite a bit at the National Conservatism Conference in Miami earlier this week. To take it from a few of the speakers at NatCon, localism is an integral component of the conservative political platform. What we do at The Pamphleteer is real localism.
We are not a group of air-dropped journalists shipped here from an Ivy League school to lecture you on why you need to adopt our perspective of the world. We are all people that live and operate within the city. Most of the people you read here are either native to the area or have lived here long enough to be considered naturalized Nashvillians. It's an important aspect of what we do that distinguishes us from our more corporate counterparts.
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We had an excellent crowd out at Bar Hours last night. As one friend put it, we've gathered "all the important local weirdos" in one place. "Weird" is one of those words that has taken on a different meaning as social mores tend to favor what I would've traditionally described as weird, so understand his assessment with that in mind.
In other news, if you happened to tune into The Tennessee Star Report on 98.3 this morning, you would've caught our very own Megan Podsiedlik discussing everything from our state's new Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti, to the inner workings of the Metro Council. We'll be releasing an exclusive conversation with AG Skrmetti later this afternoon.
Onward.
You can follow us on Twitter (@realpamphleteer), Facebook (@realpamphleteer), or Instagram (@realpamphleteer) for additional content.
Also, be sure to check out our podcast. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
Thanks for reading.
☤ WMDS IN TENNESSEE
New Tennessee Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti, joined a multistate effort urging President Biden to classify fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction.
GENERAL SKRMETTI’S PRESS RELEASE
General Skrmetti, along with eighteen other state attorneys general, are demanding the president take decisive action in response to the record increase in overdose deaths related to fentanyl.
“Fentanyl has caused too many tragic deaths on an individual level and, as we have seen overseas, it can also be weaponized to cause mass casualties,” said General Skrmetti in the press release outlining the formal letter they sent to the administration. “Our governments at every level must take a broad-spectrum approach to protecting American lives from the harms of fentanyl.”
This is the second decisive action taken by the new AG who is only two weeks into his eight year term. On Monday, General Skrmetti also addressed the Department of Education and the efforts to redefine the term “sex” in Title IX to include “gender identity.”
FENTANYL AND DAVIDSON COUNTY
America has seen drug overdoses skyrocket over the past few years. In Tennessee, the most fatal substance is, indeed, fentanyl. To put things into perspective, the Nashville Scene reported that there were 1,070 deaths from drug overdoses compared to 1,113 deaths due to Covid in Davidson County from March 2020 to October 2021.
When it comes to politics, the fentanyl issue goes hand-in-hand with the border crisis. A 2022 Report from the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking stated, "The dominant source of illegally sourced fentanyl has been Mexico. The drug is manufactured in illegal laboratories and is trafficked, principally by land, into the U.S..”
Read the full press release from the Attorney General’s office and stay tuned for our exclusive interview with General Skrmetti later today. (More Info)
HEADLINES
- BNA sees record-breaking year for the number of firearms at security checkpoints (WKRN) Firearms have now set the city apart from some of the biggest airports in the country. So far this year, 136 guns have been stopped. That’s compared to the 104 this time last year.
POLITICS
- Democratic Caucus chair, House Speaker trade barbs in run-up to session (Lookout) The 113th General Assembly is four months away, and Democrats and Republicans are sparring already. Well, a more realistic term would be street fighting.
- Democrats vow push to 'fully fund' TBI following Memphis violence, lab backlog (Tennessean) Top Tennessee Democrats − including the party's gubernatorial nominee − on Thursday called on lawmakers to provide the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation with enough funding to process sexual assault evidence in a timely manner.
- SBA official LaTanya Channel named Metro's new economic development chief (NBJ) Mayor John Cooper is repositioning what used to be called the Mayor's Office of Economic and Community Development. LaTanya Channel will run what is now named the Mayor's Office of Economic Growth and Small Business Development.
DEVELOPMENT
- 16 Story Tower Proposed Next To Centennial Park In Midtown Nashville (Now Next)
- Start date set, new images released for North Gulch project (Post)
- Would-be theme park developer buys brewery-area site (Post)
- Marathon Village-area site eyed for residential building (Post)
- Sports media entrepreneur buys nears brewery (Post)
- Brewery owner part of LLC that buys east side property (Post)
✱ QUICK NOTE: IMMIGRATION WARFARE
What's especially ironic about the busing of immigrants into Democrat strongholds is that in a truly bipartisan, unified nation that agreed to the terms of accepting and caring for refugees, this would be common practice—that is, transporting refugees to the places that most ardently advocate for their import.
Of course, it doesn't work that way. The advocates tend to live in wealthy enclaves—like Martha's Vineyard—and when confronted with the actual people they so aggressively defend, complain like everyone else.
❏ CHART OF THE DAY: RIVERS RUNNING DRY
⚔ MISSIVES ⚔
- 🌱 A brand-new market for green tax credits is taking shape as bankers and advisers figure out how to funnel tax breaks from energy companies that generate them to profitable corporations eager for smaller tax bills.
- 🚌 An accelerating campaign by Republican governors to send migrants to Democratic strongholds, initially seen by many Democratic officials as a political stunt, now has those officials scrambling as migrants unexpectedly arrive in a widening number of locales.
- 🏚 Mortgage rates topped 6% this week, their highest level since 2008, giving a jolt to home buyers who last year were paying less than half that. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage climbed to 6.02% this week, up from 5.89% last week and 2.86% a year ago.
- 🪙 The Justice Department has tapped more than 150 federal prosecutors across the country to bolster law enforcement’s efforts to combat the rise in crime linked to the use of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, officials said.
- 🇭🇺 Hungary can no longer be considered a full democracy, the European parliament has said in a powerful symbolic vote against Viktor Orbán’s government. In a resolution backed by 81% of MEPs present to vote, the parliament stated that Hungary had become a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy.”
THINGS TO DO
View the full calendar and learn about upcoming shows here.
🎙 This is a huge week for music in Nashville as tons of artists descend on our city for The Americana Fest. Walk into any live music bar or venue this week and chances are you'll have walked in on a festival event. Both below – marked (AF) – and on our Pamphleteer's Picks playlist, you'll find our favorite artists from the lineup this year.
🍺 The Pamphleteer hosts Bar Hours on the third Thursday of every month (the next meeting is this Thursday, September 15th) at Lucky's 3 Star Bar from 6-8 PM. The first ten guests get drinks on the company tab.
🎪 Check out our favorite driving distance festivals this summer.
👨🏻🌾 The Pamphleteer farmer's market guide.
⚔️ The Knights in Armor exhibit is running till October 10th at the Frist: European arms and armor from the renowned collection of the Museo Stibbert in Florence, Italy.
🎡 The first annual Nashville Fair is running every day from the 9th to the 18th at the fairgrounds.
🎧 Listen to the Pamphleteer's Picks on Spotify, our playlist of the best bands playing in town this week.
TONIGHT
🎻 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🍸 Nashville Cocktail Fest @ Centennial Park, 4p, $65, Info
+ "Luau"
🏛 Musicians Corner @ Centennial Park, 5p, Free, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🌕 Full Moon Pickin' Party @ Percy Warner, 6p, $25, Info
🎙 Nikki Lane Record Release @ Grimey's, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelly’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
🎙 Rachel Brooke & Hannah Juanita (AF) @ The 5 Spot, 7p, $10, Info
+ Two steppin music
⚫️ Pearl Jam @ Bridgestone, 7:30p, Sold Out, Info
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Words of Wisdom
“If you want to have order in the commonwealth, you first have to have order in the individual soul.”
Russell Kirk
Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Edward Landstreet (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).