Who gets the jobs
✍️ A professiont to die for · Metro overpowered by ICE · Settlement Authority · Bulso sues TDOE · Repeat offender all-star · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
The ICE deportations continue to color local news as Fox17 reports that nine more arrests were made over the weekend. Mayor O'Connell has been getting national attention online for his erection of the Belonging Fund last week. And it looks like it might rain later today. To start us off, a little ditty on the profession of journalism.
Onward, Davis
In 1927, famed American journalist H.L. Mencken was already lamenting the death of journalism, pining for the time when a journalist made "as much as a bartender or a police sergeant" instead of his present situation, during which "he [made] as much as the average doctor or lawyer." Today, of course, the industry has bloated even more.
At the local level, the dynamics are a bit different; however, for those seeking a career in national journalism, the incentives are massive. Climbing the ladder can lead to an illustrious career of celebrity denied the journalists of the past, not to mention a nice salary and a public role at CNN, Fox, or up-and-comers like the Daily Wire.
At the top of the field, the modern journalist sits somewhere between a Hollywood celebrity and a public intellectual. A kind of purgatory that ensures he will never be as desirable as a Hollywood A-lister or as sought after for real input as a public intellectual except to his audience.
In this state of affliction, he can affect a certain amount of intelligence without tending to its less attractive realities, which typically require much time and devotion outside of the public eye without direct feedback from bosses or viewers. As French intellectual Renaud Camus said of his work, "There are two social or professional categories one can rest assured their members have never read me: mass murderers and journalists."
It's been noted many times in the past ten or so years that journalism has become a profession available only to those of wealthy parentage and elite education. For a field that requires no formal certifications, the predominant filter has become class. The same phenomenon is true in entertainment; rarely do we see stars from humble backgrounds like Britney Spears—who hails from a Louisiana trailer park—or Michael Caine anymore. Instead, stars like Ariana Grande, with her CEO mother, and Dakota Johnson, whose parents are considered Hollywood royalty, tend to be more common.
In the case of the entertainment industry, sequestering such roles to a single class isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But the same can't be said of journalism, in which reporters have started to look more and more like the people they cover and less and less like the people who read or watch them. This fact probably explains why critical journalism becomes rarer and rarer with each passing year. If it is highly critical, it is of the weaponized variety against a common enemy or tepidly so with loads of caveats.
You no longer get passages like Mencken's assessment of the dull lives of America's politicians — criticism that today would be as self-critical as it would be critical of its subject.
There comes a day of public ceremonial, and a chance to make a speech... A million voters with IQs below 60 have their ears glued to the radio. It takes four days' hard work to concoct a speech without a sensible word in it. Next a dam must be opened somewhere. Four dry Senators get drunk and make a painful scene. The Presidential automobile runs over a dog. It rains.
Another of Mencken's insights regarded the general priorities of Americans since the founding of the country. He notes, "Setting aside religion, [politics] was literally the only concern of the people. All men of ability and ambition turned to it for self-expression." This searing insight underscores the present dilemma laid out above. Whereas in France, one may turn to the canvas, or in Germany to scholarship, in America, the primary mode of self-expression is through politics.
What’s the best description of a system whose politics— and their expression through the press and popular culture— are confined to only one kind of person, who predominantly lives in one location and generally sneers at those outside of this small bubble? It’s surely not democracy. DAVIS HUNT
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🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.
🧊 Metro Powerless Regarding ICE Operations On Friday, Mayor O’Connell and Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz clarified that there’s really nothing more the city could have done had they known about last week’s immigration enforcement operations in advance. “There is a federal statute about interfering with an enforcement action,” explained Director Dietz.
“Yes, we are powerless,” he continued when asked about the limitations on Metro’s authority. “We have absolutely no authority to instruct ICE not to carry out their enforcement actions. We have no authority to tell [Tennessee Highway Patrol] they cannot cooperate with ICE….Federal, state, and local governments often share authority. This is one of those areas where it is purely a federal enforcement matter.”
Though their hands are tied, O’Connell responded by updating Executive Order 30 to tighten up the reporting timeline for communication between Metro departments whenever there is an interaction or request initiated by federal immigration authorities. Along with setting up an expedited internal ICE alarm system, the mayor also encouraged people to shop at immigrant-owned businesses and give to local fundraising efforts: “More than 280 Nashvillians have already donated more than $200,000 to the Belonging Fund we announced in partnership with the Community Foundation this week.”
Meanwhile, council members have already kicked around a few ideas in response to the ICE operations. According to Axios, Councilmember Emily Benedict wants to throw some taxpayer dollars at the problem by reallocating $10 million of the Metro Nashville Police Department budget to legal aid for immigrants. During last week’s special called meeting on Public Health and Safety, Councilmember Terry Vo suggested establishing immigrant community safety plans, and others encouraged displaying an immigrants’ bill of rights on government buildings.
💸 Metro Legal Settlement Authority During last week’s council meeting, members passed a bill that increases the Department of Law’s autonomy when settling and reporting claims against Metro. The changes include a provision that extends the department's reporting deadlines; increases the threshold allowing Metro Legal to settle claims without council approval from $5,000 to $25,000 (with department notification stipulations regarding property damage); and significantly increases Metro employee protection against lawsuits related to their official duties (from $50,000 to $250,000 per person or for property damaged in an incident or accident and from $100,000 to $400,000 for the total personal injuries/property damage resulting from an incident or accident). The mayor signed the legislation on Wednesday.
🎓 Rep. Bulso Sues TDOE Practicing attorney and Tennessee Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) is acting as lead counsel in a lawsuit filed by members of the Williamson County Board of Education and the Williamson County Commission against the Tennessee Department of Education. According to the Williamson Herald, the plaintiffs argue the TDOE underfunded Williamson County Schools under the new Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) formula.
Ironically, Representative Bulso also sued the Williamson County Board of Education back in 2023 on behalf of a group of parents alleging the board violated 2022’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act by not enforcing the review or removal of certain books in the school library. Williamson County Chancery Court Judge Deanna Hood ruled partially in favor of the parents in October and ordered the board to reconsider the five books that were in question regarding content like nudity, sexual conduct, or excessive violence.
DEVELOPMENT
- Canadian restaurant Moxies to open its largest location in downtown Nashville (NBJ)
- Music Row building to be razed (Post)
- Belle Meade church buys nearby prominent property (Post)
✹ REPEAT OFFENDER ALL-STAR OF THE DAY
Chance Vaugh was party to shooting up our Bar To Avoid Like the Plague from a few weeks back. As is tradition, Chance's career as a criminal is long and well-documented, full of dismissed charges, suspended sentences, and all manner of judicial judo that ensured he'd be able to continue sharing his talents with our community. (More Info)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week 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.
TONIGHT
🎸 Converge @ The Basement East, 8p, $39.36, Info
🎸 The Beast St Band Plays Bruce Springsteen @ City Winery, 7:30p, $15, Info
🎸 Timbo & Lonesome Country @ Jane's Hideaway, 8p, Info
+ modern take on classic country, bluegrass & hillbilly Jazz
🪕 Val Storey, Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle & New Monday @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
💀 Grateful Monday @ Acme Feed & Seed, 7p, Free, Info
🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).