Heartbreaking to see what the wildfires are doing to Spokane and other WA communities. A proposal for leaders in the "other Washington": send our National Guard troops to help out. It would make a material difference and show other states what a responsible deployment of these troops looks like.

I’ve been screening our documentary with organizing communities in the South. So far, the organizers mention data centers first at every single event. From racial justice orgs to old school activists who don’t usually think about tech policy. This has legs.

Super excited about what @wewill2026.bsky.social accomplished last night - and what he will achieve in the general election this fall, uniting the ideologically diverse people in his district who share a concern for their environment and a desire to end Big Tech's abuses.

WIRED@wired.com · 3h ago

Activist and grassroots organizer Will Lawrence has won the Democratic primary election in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, with a campaign focused on data centers’ regulation and demanding accountability for big tech and AI companies. www.wired.com/story/anti-d...

Trump's rollback of air pollution rules is really bad news for communities who live near the gas plants being built to power data centers. It's especially bad news for Texans, where state regulators are fast-tracking approvals at an "alarming" pace.

Not sure if everyone appreciates the difference. Rooftop solar hardwires into your main panel via a dedicated breaker, so it requires a permit, an installer, an electrician, and a utility agreement. Balcony solar just plugs into a wall outlet, sharing an existing circuit with no permits or rewiring.

A new deal on balcony solar just dropped in the US

Plug-in panels can lower your bills. To boost the American market for the tech, nonprofit Bright Saver is selling kits with no markup, starting at around…

canarymedia.com

Wondering who in the financial press agrees with what Ed is saying here, that you can't celebrate supposed AI revenues earned by Microsoft, Google and Amazon unless and until they report them.

Ed Zitron@edzitron.com · 22h ago

Analysts estimate that 70%+ of Microsoft, Google and Amazon's present and future AI revenues are from Anthropic and OpenAI's compute spend and model sales. Outside of two unsustainable AI labs, demand barely exists, and they've massively overbuilt capacity. www.wheresyoured.at/the-ai-deman...

Hey Bluesky CEO, maybe the “liberal bubble” is not the big problem after all

Senator Ron Wyden@wyden.senate.gov · yesterday

One more interesting point: this spring I sat down with Sharyn Alfonsi of 60 Minutes for an extensive interview about my Epstein investigation. Subsequently, CBS pulled the segment and fired the reporter. The MAGA buyout of media has unquestionably aided the Trump administration’s cover up here.

In case you weren’t already motivated to vote this fall…

Senator Ron Wyden@wyden.senate.gov · yesterday

If Democrats retake the majority in the Senate and I become chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, one of my first acts will be to subpoena the bankers that helped Epstein carry out his crimes and help deliver real accountability.

Excellent thread. The digital sovereignty movement as the key to preserving human rights in the face of rising authoritarianism.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · yesterday

Obviously, the non-American world has a digital sovereignty problem - Trump has means, motive and opportunity to order his tech companies to shut down any public official, large corporation, or individual who displeases him: pluralistic.net/2026/06/18/t... 1/

When are moral and personal failures "poisonous enough to merit the harsh medicine of shame and shaming"? A critical question for all of us who hope to stop the rise of the fascists without masking the reality that we ourselves are deeply flawed.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · yesterday

bring back shame www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

@mollytaft.com on the diverse mix of ideologies that make up the data center opposition. It's a pretty wide range of views, intersecting around a deep distrust of Big Tech. The headline says data centers "broke" US politics, I'd say they've created an opening for a long overdue shakeup.

How Data Centers Broke American Politics

What the Unabomber, Steve Bannon’s tech guy, and Bernie Sanders taught me about the great data center backlash of 2026.

wired.com

A great read for those trying to understand what it means to say we're in "an AI race with China." China has been implementing an "all hands on deck" AI development strategy since Trump first instituted his tariffs 10 years ago. It has made incredible strides but the regime has big blind spots.

Evan Osnos@eosnos.bsky.social · 2d ago

1/5 I went back to China to parse what is real tech from what is hype. The clearest fact: the depth of an alternative technological universe: ubiquitous E.V.s, more clinical trials than the U.S.; A.I. systems reaching into workplaces, schools, and even neighborhood trash bins.

Texas is the place where data center developers who want to build behind-the-meter gas plants are heading. So someone please explain why Gov. Abbott is saying no data centers "that connect to the ERCOT grid" will be approved until the state completes an audit. www.citizen.org/news/abbotts...

Abbott’s Latest Data Center Declaration Is a Faux Pause - Public Citizen

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest attempt to address the state’s data center crisis is so vague that…

citizen.org

!

charjaebug@jael.bsky.social · 2d ago

ICYMI heatmap journalism seems to have stopped a data center and gas fired power plant

There's no reason to believe this ends with NAACP and xAI. Since Big Tech chooses not to disclose what happens inside its data centers, any data center that wants to avoid accountability for its community impacts can now take advantage of the "national security Trump card."

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 2d ago

“According to the Justice Department, the NAACP’s lawsuit [against xAI] threatens ‘artificial intelligence innovation’ and national security.”

I too sense that most people would prefer not pay - or don't have the means to pay - for fossil-fuel guzzling data centers just as much as they don't want to, or can't, pay for those big trucks. Yet the US tech industry is as clueless about this as the US auto industry.

Ernie Smith@ernie.tedium.co · 2d ago

A frontier model that eats up tokens inefficiently and indiscriminately has a lot in common with a giant gas-guzzling truck. Yes, you can do more impressive things with that giant truck, but most people would be fine with a sedan.

It will depress you! Sorry about that but it’s kind of my jam. I selected well-written books, some of them are even wryly funny at times — if you come from a culture with macabre humor. Still, the issue is big, complex, and scary. All the more reason for us to face it together.

John Robinson@jrobin.bsky.social · 2d ago

A reading list that I know will depress me, but one that also seems vital to understand (and fight this version of) the future. From the brilliant @tressiemcphd.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...

@justinjpearson.bsky.social: We are in “the fight for our lives,” speaking on behalf of neighbors and family members with respiratory conditions worsened by xAI's data center pollution.

Anger Over Data Centers Is Fueling a New Political Movement

Justin Pearson, a Tennessee lawmaker, has become one of the loudest voices amid a growing national backlash against the pollution and politics of America's AI buildout.

politico.com

@tressiemcphd.bsky.social offers a reading list for those trying to figure out what to do about Big Tech's "regressive politics with unchecked economic power in the guise of technological innovation."

Opinion | Want to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here. (Gift Article)

A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.

nytimes.com

NYU's Porfiri on fossil redeployment: "Legacy energy assets ... leave behind grid and transmission infrastructure designed for large, continuous loads that may now be ready for data center development... [R]etired generation assets may be repowered and mothballed electrical stations reactivated."

The Data Center Treasure Hunt

This study was sparked by a family drive through upstate New York and evolved into an integrated, multidimensional investigation of the spatial distribution and environmental implications of data cent...

communities.springernature.com

John Kostyack@kostyack.bsky.social · 3d ago

What does this mean for the IRA's vision of helping these communities transition to ones that thrive in a clean energy economy? Given the trends so far, it looks like that vision is being turned on its head, with data center developers reviving coal plants and powering up new gas plants there.

@matthewstoller.bsky.social To protect us from a burst AI bubble, policy makers need to require that the big AI players open their books.

Monopoly Round-Up: Are Big AI Firms Cooking the Books?

If we're going to dump trillions into AI, it's time to audit the books of the big AI companies to see how the business actually works. That's how New Dealers would have done it.

substack.com

Who is NOT bearing the risk of a burst AI bubble? Wall Street. @agranato42.bsky.social & @pranjal-drall.bsky.social on how private credit firms are shifting the risk of their insane AI gambles to life insurance companies, with state guaranty funds (i.e., taxpayers) on the hook to clean up the mess.

Private credit companies are key owners of AI-related assets. Many of their parent private equity firms own life insurers that are dumping grounds for bad loans—and subject to state bailouts.

Instead of passing through bankruptcy, insolvent life insurers have all their liabilities—in particular the policyholder claims—paid for by state guaranty funds.

prospect.org

Great piece on Oracle, the most highly leveraged of the hyperscalers and the one most vulnerable to a burst AI bubble. @asad09.bsky.social: “We are making trillions of dollars in investments on the back of tens of billions of dollars in revenues.”

Larry Ellison Bet It All on the A.I. Boom. Will He Be the Face of the A.I. Bubble?

Inside the 81-year-old billionaire’s risky, debt-fueled scramble to transform his data empire into an A.I. juggernaut.

nytimes.com

New paper in Nature Cities assesses the drivers of data center siting decisions to date, finds that the primary driver is capacity of local power plants. Others are broadband quality, retired coal plants, information technology employment and natural hazards.

Urban infrastructure and fossil fuel industrial legacy drive US data center siting - Nature Cities

Data centers predominantly occupy urban areas, influenced by local power capacity, information technology employment and broadband quality. This study highlights the impact of infrastructure and indus...

nature.com

Startups building open-weight AI models are making investors in OpenAI and Anthropic nervous. How many other investors & businesses connected to the closed models are also threatened? There may be a data center angle to this story, not discussed here...

The Race to Build an American Alternative to Cheap AI From China

Silicon Valley startups are setting up open models, with some operating on shoestring budgets because of limited interest from venture capitalists.

wsj.com

@alfredosaadfilho.bsky.social & @jacktaggart.bsky.social defense procurement is "a preemptive subsidy for the AI sector that has yet to fully demonstrate its commercial viability," raising the prospect of public bailouts on national security grounds.

Alfredo Saad-Filho & Jack Taggart | Defense Dividends

The interpenetration of private finance and the military

phenomenalworld.org

Data Center Coalition CEO Levi on why a national ad campaign will make communities more accepting of their projects? “Silence breeds mistrust." Actually, what breeds mistrust is deceptive ad campaigns and secret data center deals designed to bypass community input.

charjaebug@jael.bsky.social · 5d ago

Scoop: You know all those AI generated pro-data center ads you’re seeing on TV, YouTube and Facebook? I was able to confirm for the first time it’s all a big national campaign by the data center lobby — one with a total black box of finances. Take a look inside “America Connects”

Elon is worried that his brand as the world's leading supervillain is at risk so he's opening up his checkbook to help prop up MAGA again.

Musk Investing Up To $120 Million To Help GOP In Midterms, Report Says—Despite Saying He’ll Step Back From Politics

Musk told The Economist last week he thinks he “got a little too involved in politics.”

forbes.com

We've got a long list of well-known harms caused by data centers, so it's important for community leaders wrestling w tradeoffs to understand the local benefits - and they'll only get dumber on this by listening to Trump's talking heads. Ga Tech is studying this. Other research projects underway?

Philip Bump@pbump.com · 5d ago

As I've said before: What high-paying long-term jobs do they pretend exist here? A data center isn't a place where execs come and do Big Deals. Go to the server room at your workplace; are there lots of rich people in there spending money?

Agree w Nathan, it's important not to confuse AI / data centers' effects on local economies, macroeconomic effects & financial stability risks. Re the latter, the enormous resources of the 4 big hyperscalers means that the risk of a burst AI bubble doesn't imply global financial instability.

Nathan Tankus@nathantankus.bsky.social · 6d ago

NEW @crisesnotes.bsky.social PIECE: In this piece I critique a recent piece from @edzitron.com comparing the AI(LLM) boom to the "Subprime" Mortgage Crisis (and implicitly the GFC of 2007-2009). The ? is:"How big of a macrofinancial threat is the AI(LLM) Boom?" www.crisesnotes.com/sigh-no-ed-z...