As a speechwriting geek, I want to talk about the state of the union. Just where were all those hecklers from?  But we must also talk about the strange spherical object in the sky...

Hot topics this week:
Chinese Spy Balloon!
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene!
Social Security!
President Joe Biden!
The State of the Union!
And heckling!

The death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, is the latest high-profile incident involving Black men and law enforcement. In this episode, we explore what's different about Memphis by looking at the violent, death-strewn and musically brilliant history of a city on a hill.

Memphis is a classic port city, with plenty of smuggling, violence and power plays.  Sort of a Tortuga or Mos Eisley of the Mississippi. The elite ruling class, faced with difficulties, frequently threw up its hands and even left town. The underclass, especially those in civil service – people like police officers and fire fighters – were sometimes left to fend for themselves. 

That dynamic has worked to Memphis’ advantage sometimes, but just as often wrecked huge amounts of suffering on the people of Memphis, especially the poor.

Today we're going to talk about The Whale because it received multiple Oscar nominations. Brendan Fraser for his role as the (terribly fat) estranged dad. Hong Chau for her role as the angry sister-in-law. 

But it was written by Samuel Hunter, of Moscow, Idaho, and set right there on the Palouse. In same year the small Idaho farm/university town has a nation-shocking quadruple murder, it serves as the backdrop for a legit Hollywood movie, the Academy Awards! Odd combo, right?

This is the Compass of Power podcast, so we're gonna talk about the place of this movie. That involves politics because as we say here on the compass of power, place is politics.

We will talk about the role of religion in the film. The role of academia, of art and sexuality in the film. And how every one of those themes is reflective of the culture of the Palouse in general, of Idaho, and Moscow in particular. 

Two Department of Justice special counsels are investigating both President Joe Biden and former President Joe Biden. Both men apparently had classified documents at their homes, dating from their time in the White House. What's the difference? We look at how Wilmington, Delaware and Mar-a-Lago, Florida stack up as places that can explain these cases.
 

Right now, today, times have never been better for the Black middle class.

And that golden age is centered in the former Confederacy. Black families are moving to the South in big numbers, where they are finding good jobs and presumably enjoying their lives.

That dynamic -- the upshot of a new analysis of census data by Stateline -- has big implications for the future of American liberalism. 

As educated young Black people move south to take up jobs, they may be building a new political power base for Democrats -- the kind that elected Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia. But their departure is also weakening the Democrats in the Midwest and North.

Here are the two reports I mention in the podcast:
Migrating Professionals Grow Black Middle Class in the South and West | The Pew Charitable Trusts (pewtrusts.org)

How the American middle class has changed in the past five decades | Pew Research Center

Who are the 20 Republicans holding a first-in-a-century block on Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy's bid to become Speaker? We look at WHERE each of these "far right" politicians come from to better understand their motivations.  

Almost all are from regional cultures that form the Southern coalition, which mainstream American media and politicos view as the conservative coalition. It is not a case of Republicans in the North standing in McCarthy's way.  Cultural Appalachians from Illinois to Texas, and Westerners doing battle with the Hispanic culture of El Norte form the bulk of the "Freedom Caucus" members.  

This episode relies on the cultural/political maps of Colin Woodard in his book American Nations. 

If you want to hear more about the curious connection between New Yorker Donald Trump and the Appalachians, check out this episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1761762/9950415-the-new-civil-war-and-the-compass-of-power.mp3?download=true

No sooner did I record an episode about the unsolved quadruple homicide at the University of Idaho, than I returned to my old home on the Palouse. I talk about what folks there told me about the murders, the national media and the investigation into the killings. It seems like everyone knows a little something about the case, but what no one can quite grasp is why they happened. And, as someone who grew up on the Palouse, it made me wonder -- are we culturally blind to evil? Is the idea that someone could kill just because they wanted to kill so foreign to us, that we can't see it or accept it?

The murder of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21,  Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kernodle's boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, in the early hours of Nov. 13 has shocked and fascinated the nation. They all seemed like fun-loving college kids in a quaint little college town -- Moscow, Idaho, home of the University of Idaho.

In this episode, we look at how both the University of Idaho and Washington State University came to be located right next to each other in the far-flung reaches of their state, and how the culture that developed on the Palouse formed the backdrop for the tragedy. Having lived and worked and studied in Moscow, I explain a place where going to the bars at night and coming home without fear is a daily routine, and sadly made it possible for someone to sneak in and murder these students as they slept.

The one thing Donald Trump talks about consistently is winning.  People like winning. And when you beat expectations -- even low expectations -- you come out looking like a winner. Which is what happened for Democrats in 2022. Guess that, and Trump's campaign, takes us straight to election 2024.

If you look at the 2022 midterms from the perspective of place, it was a resounding victory for the elites. In the North, Democrats booted Republicans in places like Massachusetts, Maine and Minnesota. But in the South Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas did the kicking.