I'd take a Minnesota Grandma over Elon Musk Any Day of the Week

I think about this ProPublica article at least once a day. By 2060, the entire Gulf coast is under 15 feet of water, including New Orleans and Miami. Between 2040 and 2060, Southern states includingTennessee will spend more and more of their GDP on damage caused by climate disasters.

Nashville is in survival mode after Winter Storm Fern thrashed its icy wrath across the city and the state, splitting thousands of electric poles, smashing regal trees into oblivion, and forcing hundreds of thousands to live without power, with updates that it could take up to two weeks for full grid recovery. Despite our downstairs unit being broken, we had a family of four living with us for six days, including two kids under the age of two (photo below…my little CHONK!!!!). The house dipped to 40 degrees in some rooms, and we were the lucky ones.

Then, yesterday, Elon Musk — the tech oligarch and Epstein file case number — announced that his company, xAI, was coming to the rescue. Ah, our benevolent tech overlord! Our Governor thanked him publicly and praised the partnership. Elon’s a hair tuft of hot air, so I remain skeptical. However, when billionaires and multi-national corporations show up as saviors in a crisis, it’s usually because the systems AND GOVERNMENT that were supposed to protect us were deliberately neglected, underfunded, or set up to fail…and then, of course, be privatized. Speaking of…

Meanwhile, Marsha Blackburn decided this is the moment to pick a fight with our extremely apolitical public utility. Suddenly, Nashville Electric Services is “woke AF,” and, as much as she thinks she’s being slick, the quiet part about privatizing the Tennessee Valley Authority is getting louder. All of the histrionics are because her tech-bro donor base wants cheap power for data centers to be built along the Cumberland River.

And then there’s Minnesota. You sweet, ungovernable, pro-labor Vikings. I could kiss you. I’ve sobbed watching videos of retirees huddled in sub-freezing temperatures, yelling in thick midwestern accents at armed ICE agents, showing up again…and again…and again. Your fearless solidarity in the wake of state-sponsored murder has inspired me and our country. (cue Wayne’s World “WE’RE NOT WORTHY” montage)

“This is an extraordinary time, full of vital, transformative movements that could not be foreseen,” writes Rebecca Solnit. “It’s also a nightmarish time. Full engagement requires the ability to perceive both.” Solnit is a longtime chronicler of movements under authoritarian pressure.

We are living in a deluge of both transformation and nightmares, of collapse and possibility, just like our forebearers. The American Revolutionaries….suffragettes…abolitionists…reconstructionists….Civil Rights organizers. At no moment during the decades of struggle were they handed a stable, functioning democracy; but they learned by deciding not to comply, by organizing, by breaking unjust rules, and by being in solidarity with one another.

That is the lineage we are lucky to stand in

This week, my city showed up for each other: they ran generators for days so their neighbors could eat; they used their trucks and chainsaws to ensure their neighbors' safety; they showed up when our government wouldn’t. Responses like this show that we have the skills and are capable of caring loudly for each other; the question is whether we’re willing to sharpen, coordinate, and carry them forward when the crises are darker and require more sacrifice.

I’m still working through a broader landscape assessment—political, legal, and material—but for those of you asking how to get involved now, we need people trained and ready on non-compliance, legal observing, mutual aid, and knowing your rights in the face of a government that is murdering you for expressing them. More to come on that later.

In the meantime, if you live in Tennessee, volunteered for my campaign, and know nothing about the Tennessee Legislature, please consider signing up for our bi-weekly Cordell Hull Club starting Tuesday, February 17th from 6-7 PM CT and ending in April.

If there’s one thing I hope to pass on, it’s a clearer understanding of how our government has been co-opted—and the confidence that ordinary people can still change it.

The horrors persist—but so do we,

Aftyn

P.S. I was rushing to publish my Substack last month miscommunicated a few items.

• No, the Miss Universe Pageant did not sponsor the Opening Day of the Legislature. I meant to say, “The opening night of the session, aka the Miss Universe pageant of corporations,…”

• Also, I researched the wrong type of license, and the Tennessee license created just for immigrants last year has a special color palette, not a yellow star to indicate they are immigrants. (Although some Tennessee licenses still have yellow stars.)

Announcements

Join Rep. Behn for a bi-weekly political education series about the Tennessee Legislature starting on Tuesday, February 17th, from 6-7 PM CT until Tuesday, April 28th. During this six-part series, you will learn about our legislature’s history, how bills are made, and how you can best advocate for the Tennessee you want to see! This course is available to anyone 18+ who lives in Tennessee. Have questions? E-mail [email protected].

REGISTER

Legislative Updates

Constituent Services

• Birthday Cards

  • I’m so sorry, but the January birthday postcards will be late. We’re setting up new systems with new team members, so please provide us with grace during this interim period. February cards, hopefully, will be on time!

• Shadow me at the legislature, request a resolution, submit an event request!

  • As I’m always trying to emulate Senator Oliver, and the individual requests and messages are a bit too much, our office has launched this form where you can submit a myriad of requests. This protocol is important so our office can keep track of the influx of requests.

    SUBMIT REQUEST

• COMING SOON

  • House District and Metro Townhalls: We’ve been busy responding to the storm, but I plan to hold joint townhalls this year with the Councilmembers nested in House District 51. Many of you told me how much you enjoy these, and I love them too!

  • I have my diligent social work interns working on easy-to-read one-pagers on my legislation that you can eventually find on my website. I’ll add ongoing legislation to this page and hope to complete these by mid-February. You can also find my legislation for this session on the Tennessee General Assembly’s website by clicking here.

    • Lastly, a new “Legislature” sub-section has been added to my Substack. I plan to share specific updates about legislation and aim to record videos that will also be posted there.

Session Housekeeping

• Committees and Bill Filing Deadline

  • The 114th Tennessee General Assembly (TGA) began its weekly committee schedule three-ish weeks ago. Remember, this is the second year of two year term. I sit on the Transportation, Agriculture, and Naming and Designating committees.

    • This year, I’m focused on, once again, drawing a contrast to the breathtakingly audacious policy decisions wrought by the Republican supermajority. Remember, they want to tax you and your small business out of existence, while continuing to give a pass to the most profitable companies in the world.

    • Additionally, since I won’t be able to pass bills this year as I ran for Congress, my best and highest use of self is building your political education to start organizing and speaking out. Additionally, if I’m a bit quieter this year and not engaged in the internecine political jockeying of both caucuses, it’s I’m doggedly strategizing and organizing.

    • For those familiarizing themselves with the TGA, committees historically meet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between the Floor Sessions on Monday night and Thursday morning. These committees will meet through early April, when most bills have completed the legislative process.

      • You can view the committee schedules by clicking this link.

      • If you are interested in speaking on a House bill during the Committee process, you can do so 24 hours before the committee starts by clicking this link.

        • Please be aware that Committee Chairs have complete discretion over who gets to speak and may decide at the last minute that your testimony is no longer needed.

  • Today, despite the hellacious winter storm, is the bill filing deadline. Bills require a House and Senate sponsor to advance through the legislative process.

    • House members this year could sponsor up to 10 bills (I think), while Senate members can sponsor unlimited bills. This disparity caused many tantrums as organizations, lobbyists, and members scrambled to find “open spots” to ensure their bills would progress.

  • YOU ASKED, I WILL TRY TO DELIVER: Many of you enjoyed my “Pink Chair Playback and Preview,” where I record an update while sitting in my infamous pink office chair below the matron saint of the Smokies, Dolly Parton. These video recaps will live under the “Legislature” section of my Substack and will be posted (hopedfully) weekly

Helpful Links for the Legislative Session

See below for various information outlets to understand what’s happening at the Tennessee Legislature. If you have others, please respond to this e-mail, as I’ll keep adding them!

• Senator Charlane Oliver’s The Senator’s Source e-mail: way more thorough and professional than my Substack 🤣… she’s doing it better than anyone!

• Our grassroots organization, the East Nashtivists’ People’s Pulse, features invaluable insights from Michele Flynn’s Substack, who thoroughly highlights the latest antics

• Keel Hunt’s Field Notes substack: Keel served under former Governor Lamar Alexander and is a prolific author documenting Tennessee politics

Winter Storm Fern Resources

Here are the major updates as of 2.3:

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency continues to urge Tennesseans whose homes have been damaged due to Winter Storm Fern to report their damages through TEMA’s Damage Assessment Survey. Examples of reportable damage include burst pipes, water damage, and trees that have fallen on your home. These survey results are a critical step in the validation process for FEMA Individual Assistance but does not guarantee assistance.

On January 31st, NES developed and launched a specially created web-based tool – My Outage Tracker - that provides residential customers with individual household information about the status of their outage so they can know from remote places when their power has been restored.

To access My Outage Tracker, residential customers should do the following:

· Access My Outage Tracker at NESpower.com

· Enter your residential address

· Status will show if power is on or off and whether a crew is currently assigned

Commercial customers can check on the status of restoration to businesses at 615-736-6900.

You can find all winter storm Fern resources by clicking below!

Resources

If you want to see anything in this newsletter, please e-mail us at [email protected]. We aim to please and give the people what they want!