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Stacy Kranitz for POLITICO | Nashville, Tennessee has been booming. It surpassed Austin, Texas, to take the top spot as the Wall Street Journal’s “hottest job market” of 2022. According to research from the Greater Nashville Technology Council, Middle Tennessee’s tech job growth grew by over 50 percent between 2015 and 2020. The “Silicon Valley of the South,” as Nashville has been called, accounts for some 40 percent of the GDP of the entire state. It’s a draw for talent and industry, a boon to the state’s coffers and a cultural gem of the American South. So why does Tennessee seem so hostile to its own capital city — and greatest economic engine? The Republican supermajority that has held Tennessee squirmed under national attention over the expulsion — and, now, reinstatement — of two young Black Democrats representing cities: Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis and Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville. But the aggression toward the state’s already disempowered Democrats, whom Republicans can essentially ignore on party-line votes, long precedes the expulsions. And while Nashville is hardly the most liberal place in America — self-identified moderates outnumber hardline liberals and conservatives — the political gap between a slightly blue-ing city and a deep red state legislature is a recipe for resentment. “This is a version of something happening all over the country, at every level of government, in which the preferences of voters often filter through representative bodies whose lopsided majorities don't really represent the electorate of the state around them,” writes Kathy Gilsinan, who went to Nashville in the wake of Rep. Jones’ expulsion to find out how Tennessee politics had fractured so spectacularly that it shocked the nation. “In Tennessee’s case, the metro area of Nashville … finds itself with little policy influence inside a gun-friendly legislature, while also being the site of three anguishing mass shootings in just over five years: at a church, at a Waffle House and now at a Christian school. But it’s not just a Nashville problem — public opinion across Tennessee actually favors some tightening of gun laws, even while the legislature prior to the Covenant shooting was using the unassailable power of its supermajority to move in the opposite direction, notably with a law allowing people over 21 to carry a gun without a permit.” What happens when a state goes to war against itself? Read the story.
| | | |  | “Macron, who’s a friend of mine, is over with China, kissing [President Xi Jinping’s] ass, OK? In China!” Can you guess who said this about French President Emmanuel Macron this week? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.**
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Daniel Snyder’s looming exit represents a neat bookend to a quarter-century or so when Washington’s civic boosters allowed themselves to fantasize that their city had joined the ranks of America’s high-flying business hubs. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo | D.C.’s Business Bust … Yesterday’s sale of the Washington Commanders to Josh Harris, the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, made big news in D.C. But there was something missing: D.C. money. Not one of the serious bidders for the team came from the district. Washington may have hoped to become a booming business center on par with Silicon Valley, but the lack of hometown buyers lining up to replace Commanders owner Dan Snyder wasn’t exactly a sign of a booming class of tycoons. This is still a city of government and politics, lawyers and journalists — not earth-moving big biz types, writes Michael Schaffer in this week’s Capital City column. “In fact, Snyder’s looming exit represents a neat bookend to a quarter-century or so when Washington’s civic boosters allowed themselves to fantasize that their city had somehow transcended its federal origins and joined the ranks of America’s high-flying business hubs.”
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| Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-year old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested yesterday for allegedly leaking secret U.S. intel over the course of months. Not exactly sure why the Department of Defense is freaking out, or why some foreign allies are so pissed? Use these unclassified talking points as your secret weapon next time the topic comes up (from POLITICO's Matt Berg): - Everyone is asking how a guy who just turned the legal drinking age could get away with posting government secrets online for so long — possibly since January! — without officials knocking on his door. Go ahead and join in on the befuddlement with an obligatory “when I was 21” joke of your own. - As an insider yourself, you got your info from Bellingcat. They’ve been at the forefront of much of the leak reporting, beating the Washington Post to a major scoop revealing Teixeira was behind it all. - Definitely do not dismiss Discord as nothing more than a place for young gamers to play Call of Duty and Minecraft together. The eight-year-old social media and messaging platform where Teixeira allegedly leaked intel has become more mainstream among young people in recent years, and it’s not going anywhere. - Your friends will probably compare this leak to Edward Snowden’s or Chelsea Manning’s. But if you really want to sound insightful, you’ll point out that what makes this different is the “freshness” of the intel, some of which includes information about allies from as recent as a month ago.
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| |  Bella DuBalle, who hosts drag events at Atomic Rose full-time, gets ready for drag brunch. | Photos by Houston Cofield for POLITICO | This Brunch Could Be Illegal … This past Easter Sunday, drag queen Bella Duballe hosted a brunch at the Atomic Rose in Memphis, Tennessee. People showed up with their kids, enjoyed mimosas and Celine Dion numbers. By next month, it could be illegal. The Tennessee statehouse passed a ban on “adult cabaret performances” that take place in public or in front of minors, which could affect drag performers like Duballe. A federal judge halted the controversial law, but when that order expires on May 26, first-offenders would face a misdemeanor, while any subsequent violations would be a felony. Duballe, a longtime drag host and outspoken critic of the law, says she will not be moved. “We aren’t going anywhere, y’all,” she proclaimed in front of a backdrop that read “Drag is not a crime” on Easter. We sent photographer Houston Cofield to the Atomic Rose to document the artists — and their all-ages audience — at the center of a new culture war.
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POLITICO illustration/Photos by Senate Judiciary Committee via AP, Creative Commons | This 19th Century Obscenity Law Could Change Abortion Forever … Last week, a Trump-appointed judge made a stunning ruling that challenged the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, a drug used in abortions, as well as rules allowing it to be sent in the mail. The 5th Circuit blocked that part of the ruling, but the ultimate fate of the law will likely be determined by the Supreme Court, which Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked to review the case. In that initial ruling, judge Matthew Kacsmaryk cited the Comstock laws that were first passed in the 1870s — a set of rules that prohibited abortifacients, pornography, sexually explicit letters, sex toys, even, at one point, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass from being sent through the mail. Motivated by Christian moral and political campaigns in the wake of the Civil War, the laws were controversial enough in their time, writes Joshua Zeitz. In reaching back to a time when evangelicals tried to impose their morality on the rest of the country via the powers of the state, the judge has made a hugely controversial decision. And even if evangelical activists have luck with the conservative majority at the Supreme Court, they could face intense backlash in the court of public opinion.
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| |  ebay, outweststv | | The blockbuster story by ProPublica describing the long history of Clarence Thomas's friendship with Texas realtor Harlan Crow included many stories within the story, unusual gifts of high value (a Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass, valued at $19,000) and visits to luxurious compounds, shrouded in secrecy. One of these was Camp Topridge, a huge compound sprawling across Franklin County in upstate New York, shown here from an aerial view in a postcard. Marjorie Meriweather Post, the cereal heiress who built it, is also known for a more famous home in Florida — Mar-a-Lago. She once described Topridge as a “rural retreat,” but it is almost a city unto itself, with at least 68 buildings and a network of cabins, each staffed with its own butler to take the sting out of any rural discomfort that may arise. New buildings are still being added, including a structure said to resemble Hagrid’s hut in the Harry Potter books. Among the many quirky structures is a “Dacha,” so named because Post’s third husband, Joseph Davies, was ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1937 to 1938. Despite the great care that was taken by Thomas to avoid disclosing these trips, or to reveal any information about his exotic destinations, it is not difficult to find images of Camp Topridge online. As usual, eBay is generous, offering two postcards of Camp Topridge for $7.63 and a view of the “Dacha” in an old photograph, which can be yours for 10 bucks. (From historian Ted Widmer.)
| | | **Who Dissed answer: It was former President Donald Trump, discussing foreign policy with Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “You got this crazy world that’s blowing up, and the U.S. has no say,” Trump said. His comments follow Macron’s recent visit to China, where the French president told POLITICO in an interview that Europe should avoid getting pulled into a conflict between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan. politicoweekend@email.politico.com | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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