That High Carbon Lifestyle
⛽️ We need more energy, not less · Bon Jovi Saves · Transit Maps · Review of The Great Wave · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Looks like rain's in the forecast as Hurricane Francine heads our way. Much needed. Today, Megan talks with Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, about the state's forward-looking nuclear efforts and broader concerns about the nation's energy policy.
Onward.
In light of Tennessee's recent work to encourage statewide nuclear energy production, we sat down with Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, to discuss the country’s energy landscape. A staunch supporter of free-market energy solutions, Isaac has testified in front of Congress four times about the dangers of ESG and the importance of energy security. You may recognize him from his appearances on Fox News and PragerU, and his articles published in the Daily Wire.
Thanks for joining me, Mr. Isaac. As a former legislator in the Texas House of Representatives, you have insight into a myriad of things, but today we're here to talk about nuclear energy. I hear that you self-identify as the Carbon King. Some say you have a long history of climate denial. How did you get the nickname, and what did you do to earn it?
I really owe the credit to Congressman Jamie Raskin, from Maryland, who referred to me as that during a congressional testimony in which I introduced myself as “I'm Jason Isaac, I live a high carbon lifestyle and I think the rest of the world should, too.” I followed that by saying places that have high per capita CO2 emissions are the places that have the most economic prosperity, and those countries are the ones that have the best environmental leadership, just like the United States. We're number one when it comes to access to clean and safe drinking water, and wouldn't that be great if the rest of the world could get to experience what we do? Instead, we take it for granted and worry about made-up problems, and that's just a concern that I have. Congressman Raskin didn't like the fact that I was advocating for a high-carbon lifestyle, but I do unapologetically. He thought it was a bad thing to call me the Carbon King, and I embraced it.
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🤘 I’ll Be There For You Jon Bon Jovi was in the right place at the right time on Tuesday; while shooting a music video on Nashville’s Pedestrian Bridge, the rock star and his production assistant encouraged a woman to step back from the ledge as she contemplated plummeting into the Cumberland River. After helping her back over the railing, Bon Jovi embraced the woman in a hug, earning himself a shout-out from Chief Drake. "It takes all of us to help keep each other safe," Drake affirmed in a post by MNPD.
According to the Tennessean, the bridge is named after their legendary former editor John Seigenthaler, who “prevented a man from jumping off the bridge in the 1950s.” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK
🗺️ New Transit Map This morning, Mayor O’Connell unveiled new interactive maps for his Choose How You Move transit plan. “These maps show Nashvillians exactly what would be coming to their neighborhood,” the mayor said in a press release. “Choose How You Move improves connections to where we want to go no matter how we travel, and you can see that in the new interactive maps which detail how social connections are made between transportation and assets like schools, parks, and libraries.”
Though it’s unclear exactly where the 12 new transit centers and 17 new park & ride facilities will be located, the maps reveal new service routes, locations the MHDA deem unaffordable, and the proximity of hospitals, colleges, and churches. While O’Connell has acknowledged that “no is usually the easiest answer,” he once again emphasized the “critical choice” voters will face on November 5th: “It’s time to turn plans into action and give Nashvillians back time with their friends and family instead of spending it just trying to get to them.” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK
DEVELOPMENT
- In-N-Out breaks ground on Tennessee office, sets opening date for Nashville locations (WSMV)
- Peter Demos closes all PDK Southern Kitchen & Pantry locations due to inflation since Covid-19 (NBJ)
- Del Webb reveals next development (NBJ)
- West Nashville apartment building opens (Post)
✹ REVIEW: MICHIKO KAKUTANI'S THE GREAT WAVE
As the chief critic for The New York Times Book Review from 1983-2017, Michiko Kakutani anointed a host of 20th century literary titans like Zadie Smith, Ian McEwan, and David Foster Wallace, who continue to shape the book world on a global scale. Like many an Ivy-educated coastal elite, she caught a long case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that spurred her early retirement and shift to books and essays about The Donald and his demagoguery. She cut her teeth with her 2018 bestseller The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump, easily the best of the embattled liberal screeds thanks to its shrewd application of postmodern theory to the MAGA world.
Yet, her new book The Great Wave: The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider displays little of the intelligence of its more explicitly political predecessor. Gone is the writer who changed the landscape of book criticism by writing in the voice of Holden Caulfield and who could go toe-to-toe with the last of the Great American Novelists, Jonathan Franzen, on any random Sunday. All that’s left is a case of deplorable paranoia that has infected every facet of the once-great writer’s critical acumen.
Taking its title from 19th-century Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai’s inescapable print The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Kakutani argues that Americans have developed an aversion to the top-down systems of authority after the early 21st century's onslaught of crises. The result is that, “The democratizing effects of the internet have given outsiders of every sort—from climate activists, to white nationalists to would-be social media ‘influencers’—the ability to circumvent old-school gatekeepers.”
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
🪕 Caleb Caudle & The Sweet Critters @ Station Inn, 9p, $20, Info
🎸 Something Corporate @ Ryman Auditorium, 8p, Info
🎸 Florry @ The Blue Room, 7p, $23.30, Info
+ Philly-based country rock outfit
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelly’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
🎸 Open Mic @ Fox & Locke, 6:30p, Free, Info
+ vet community here
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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