Chock Full O' Nuts and Crooks

 You can say a lot of things about the republican party, but you'll never be able to deny that when it comes to finding corrupt and downright bat shit crazy candidates, they know how to do it. Obviously, American democrats can and have done it too--Graham Platner up in Maine comes to mind--but republicans have it honed into a real science.

We all know about the Texas GOP senatorial nominee, Ken Paxton. He is a man so wildly corrupt that when he was serving as the state's Attorney General his own staff ratted him out to the FBI. When there was a move to impeach him from that office, it didn't come from the democrats, but republicans themselves. 

Now word comes that in a 2022 interview he spoke about the Uvalde, TX mass shooting which killed 19 students and two teachers. Paxton was asked by radio host/pastor, Trey Graham what he would say to the parents of all those murdered children to comfort them. His response was, "I would just have to say, if I had the opportunity to talk to the people I'd have to say, look there's always a plan. I believe God has a plan. Life is short no matter what it is. And certainly, we're not going to make sense of, you know, a young child being shot and killed way before their life expectancy."

Ah yes, comforting indeed Mr. Attorney General. 

Out in Colorado, the republican nominee for governor is, Victor Marx. Raw Story reports Mr. Marx recently called for 21 days of fasting and prayer to, "shift ideologies before election day." Not his ideology mind you, but that of his opponent, Phil Weiser and his supporters. Mr. Marx (Has anyone else noticed the irony in that name? A MAGA republican named, Marx.) claimed, "The election will be determined by prayer." He also says, "It (the election) is a spiritual battle against the forces of wickedness." Raw Story notes, Marx has previously claimed he was, "forced to commit a murder when he was a child," although he has never said who, when, or where. In addition, the candidate maintains he has literally fought with, "demons and supernatural creatures," while performing missionary work. It remains unclear what mode of mortal combat it was. You know, was it guns, knives, or bare knuckles? Maybe karate, or even bull whips, ala Indiana Jones. 

Whatever the case, Raw Story also reports Marx isn't the first MAGA gubernatorial candidate to try praying his way into office. In 2022, Pennsylvania republican, Doug Mastriano urged his supporters to fast and pray for 40 days prior to the election. Previously he had publicly prayed for MAGA to "seize the power," right before Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6th. That didn't work out, at least the way it was originally planned, and Josh Shapiro became Governor of Pennsylvania. So, make of it what you will. 

However, getting back, if only briefly, to our demon slayer, Victor Marx. It is also being reported that the candidate attempted to get around election finance laws by operating a campaign merchandise store through a shell company. It's an act most Colorado experts say is completely illegal. Raw Story says Marx is considered so far out there, some GOP state party officials have resigned rather than support him. 

Finally, we get to Maine Senator, Susan Collins. She has been in the Senate for three decades. She has gained a reputation for moaning and groaning about Donald Trump's crazed policies, but then, in the end, almost always voting for them. Now we might know why. 

On Tuesday ProPublica reported that early in her 2020 re-election bid she was losing in the fundraising department and behind in the polls. The gist of the story is that in exchange for a bunch hefty donations from the executives of a Hawaii based defense contractor, Navatek, Collins made sure the company was awarded millions in DOD contracts. In some quarters this is known as, "pay for play." in others it's known as bribery.  

Collins vehemently denies the allegations and has called it, "clearly a political hit job." The Senator's chief of staff called the allegations, "categorically false." ProPublica stands by the story and maintains Navatek CEO Martin Kao met with a Collins campaign fundraiser and agreed to write out a check in exchange for multi-million-dollar contracts steered their way.  The outlet has a photo of a sizable check made out to a pro-Collins PAC from a company called, "Society of Young Women Scientists and Engineers LLC." The Society was created in November 2019. The Hawaii Department of Commerce lists the, "registered agent," of the company as, you guessed it, Martin Kao. 

The FBI admits it investigated the allegations when they first surfaced in 2020, but after finding nothing dropped it. What they didn't say is that they didn't decide there was nothing until 2025, when Donald Trump began his second term and ordered the case closed. He then made sure all the agents involved were fired--one supposes just to be on the safe side. 

While no one can be sure if there is a connection between Trump's intervention and Collins' bizarre voting record, we do know that when Donald J. Trump does you a favor, he fully expects it to be repaid, with interest. Hey, he might not be a mobster in the traditional sense, but he certainly likes to act like one.     

And that, ladies and gentlemen, sums up the entire 21st century American republican party. From top to bottom, Chock full O' Nuts and Crooks--and sometimes they're both at the same time.

9-25-26

Natalie Harp Pushes the Old Geezer's Big Fat Button

 First things first. A lot of old men are easily triggered when things don't go their way. They have spent decades on this blue ball and when failure strikes it is particularly maddening because they know deep down, they have an ever-shrinking amount of time to, as they say, fight again another day. There are other reasons of course. They mostly fall under the headings of, "things I wanted to do, but never got to," and, "why do I have to take a leak every 45 minutes?" Add them all up and you get what might be called, "the grumpy old man syndrome." 

For the most part this behavior, while a pain in the ass for those stuck having to deal with an old man, is harmless enough. That's because most crotchety old geezers aren't the President of the United States of America. However, as we are all too aware, Donald Trump is and when he goes into an old guy snit it isn't just the family, friends, and nurses he screws with, it's the nation and whole world. 

All of which might explain why Mr. Trump, who was a tad out there even in his prime, has been in a really bad mood the last few days. First, you have the whole mail-in ballot thing. The Supreme Court voted not just no on his postal service election interference scheme, they voted resoundingly NO! It is the only way to describe a 7-2 decision, especially when you thought you owned five of those seven Justices who voted against what you wanted. 

Then there was Kevin Walsh, the chair of the Federal Reserve. Trump appointed him in May and as with all Trump appointees we can assume the Donald expected him to be totally loyal. However, last week instead, of lowering interest rates, like Trump wanted, Walsh raised them by a quarter of one percentage point. The reason cited for the hike was, "stubbornly high inflation," a subject the President wants everyone to be oblivious to in his, "great economy."

The news about the Kennedy Center hasn't gone well either. It has been so frustrating for Trump that he even said he'd tear the building down unless his name went on it out front. It was a threat that lands somewhere between, "If you don't let me play quarterback, I'll take my ball and go home," and, "Make me your partner and I can guarantee this beautiful business of yours won't burn down." According to the Daily Beast, at a recent meeting in the Oval Office the President went off on staff members because they hadn't "publicly praised his attempts to overhaul the Kennedy Center." In fact, the report went on to say that during the meeting Brother Don complained that he wasn't being, "publicly thanked enough by key figures in his administration," for everything he has done. 

Now that's an old man tantrum if there ever was one.

Finally, last week, into this maelstrom of senile rage, frustration, and self-pity stepped, Natalie Harp. To begin with it is hard to explain her presence anywhere near the White House, much less within constant arm's reach of the President. Does she remind Don Trump of the salad days when he used to appear on Howard Stern's show. You know, bragging he was just as brave as any of those guys fighting in Vietnam because of all the unprotected sex he had with strange women? Is she some sort of weird female version of Grigori Rasputin? Whichever the case, she has Trump's ear, not to mention the eyes and maniacal smile of a women capable of boiling bunnies. According to reports, last week, Ms. Harp showed El Don clips of coverage and a graphic from Politico that pushed his big old fat button. 

Within hours the President of the United States summarily banned Politico, MS Now, and CNN from the White House. There were a number of reasons given for the ban, but in the end what they all added up to was, "They keep saying bad things about me."

The three news organizations immediately sued and others, including FOX are boycotting White House coverage, at least for now. Trump, meanwhile, is threatening to ban the New York Times, Washington Post and others for their negative coverage of, well, pretty much everything he says and does. When the President showed up at the U.N. today, he was confronted by a CNN reporter asking him pointed questions about the war with Iran. Trump, seemingly surprised, said something along the lines of, "What are you doing here?" The reporter, Kaitlin Collins responded, "The U.N. invited us, sir."

Oops, a flaw in the plan.

Not to worry though, when it comes to the actual grounds of the White House, our man, Don has promised an alternative to Collins and the rest of her gang of radical leftists. It's extended White House, "news," coverage over Trump TV on the internet. No one is sure if Natalie Harp will be able to pull herself away from the President long enough to provide commentary on current events there. However, we can be assured, that no matter who is doing the reporting, the, "news," will be to Donald Trump's liking and all things will be coming up trimmed in gold and smelling like roses. That's right ladies and gentlemen, as far as this President, is concerned the only news fit to read, hear, and see is news that makes him look good. 

Hey, the first amendment says congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech and the press. It doesn't say Donald John Trump can't.

9-22-26

Charles Haywood: Shampoo, Conditioner, Gel, and Ultra-Right-Wing Politics

 Charles Haywood is a false prophet...and he is infiltrating everything.

Glenn Beck, conservative commentator

 

According to Wikipedia Charles Haywood graduated from the University of Chicago with a law degree, plus a degree from the school of business. In 2005 he founded a company in Indianapolis, called Mansfield-King which manufactured shampoo, hair conditioner, and gels. Apparently, they sold a lot of it. By 2018 the company's reported revenue was well over $34 million. The predicted revenue for 2020 was $50 million, but Haywood sold the place for what we can assume was a boatload of money. 

So, Charlie, now flush with cash, decides to get involved in politics. And not just your run of the mill politics. He named his personal political philosophy, Foundationalism. According to Foundationalism and Charles Haywood the current system of government in the United States is headed for collapse and should be replaced with an authoritarian regime. Haywood doesn't say he wants to run that regime, however he has expressed the desire to become a, "warlord, of an armed patronage network." 

Wikipedia also says the same year he sold his hair care company Charles Haywood founded a quasi-fraternal organization named, the, "Society for American Civic Renewal," or SACR. Since it is fraternal, it is a male only group and membership is by invitation only. The Guardian reports it currently has four, "lodges," three in Idaho and one in Dallas. 

SACR's website says the society wants to, "build thriving communities of free citizens who will rebuild the frontier-conquering spirit of America." They also want to, "counter and conquer the poison of those who rule today," and reject, "modernist philosophies and heresies." At least one of their members, Charlie Haywood himself, steadfastly opposes careers for women and believes women in the workforce should be socially ostracized. In addition, Wikipedia says Haywood, "blames mixed sex education for a lack of male masculinity." 

The Society's logo, which they call, "the mark,"--and you know where this is going don't you--is meant to, in the site's words, "evoke two versions of the Cross used in early Christianity: Saint Peter's Cross and the Anchor Cross."  

That's right, baby--give me some of that old time white/Christian nationalism.

Then, once again, comes the weird part. Charles Haywood, thanks to his big bucks, is a major donor to the Claremont Foundation. in fact, according to conservative commentator and writer, Erick Erickson things have gotten so cozy between Haywood and the Foundation, its current President and CFO are both members of SACR. For those not familiar with right-wing organizations, the Claremont Foundation was created in 1979 as a conservative think tank. It became an early supporter and defender of one Donald J. Trump. The Daily Beast has said it's responsible for, "having done more than any other organization to build a philosophical case for Trump's brand of conservatism." According to Wikipedia the foundation has played significant roles in the Trump administrations and in 2019 Trump awarded it the National Humanities Medal.

In 2020 when the shit hit the fan, John Eastman was a major player in trying to get the election overturned. He is a senior fellow at the Claremont Foundation. (Our pal, Charlie Haywood called the January 6th insurrection an electoral justice protest, but hey, what else would you expect from a guy who has openly admired the way Augusto Pinochet and Francisco Franco dealt with leftists.) 

Erickson wrote an essay accusing Haywood of helping to fund a group that is slowly working its way into different conservative think tanks and church organizations. Wikipedia notes that besides founding SACR and donating to Claremont, Haywood bankrolls The American Conservative magazine. In 2021 he put together what he calls American Moment. It is an organization which recruits, help train, then place jr. staffers in the administration and congress. It then had and one supposes still does have the full backing of none other than J.D. Vance.

To paraphrase an old line, well, isn't that all just special. 

Two days ago, Joel Borkert, a deputy coordinator for the State Department's Bureau of Counter Terrorism told a House subcommittee that left-wing extremism was one of the top three threats to American security. When asked about right-wing extremism by Florida Congressman, Jared Moskowitz, it took a full three minutes of prodding before Borkert would admit that such a thing even existed.

And now, we know why.

9-18-26

When it Comes to the AI Apocalypse, Donald Trump Says Full Speed Ahead

 There is this 27-year-old guy named Jacob Coxon who spent two plus years working for OpenAI. Eary this year he moved over to Anthropic which is another AI developer. The Wall Street Journal reported the reason Coxon made the move was because Anthropic's reputation for safety was better. Not worker safety in the labs, mind you, but in the AI models they are building. Apparently that reputation was undeserved--at least in Jacob Coxon's mind. When he quit last week he wrote a post on social media, which in part read, "Neither company (OpenAI and Anthropic) is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives." 

In another post, Coxon wrote, "The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade." 

That would be the end of this decade. As in the next four years. 

Some might think that seems a little, let's say, overwrought. So, what do other Anthropic employees say--the ones who are still there and haven't quit in a frantic alarmist huff? Evan Hubinger, Anthropic's lead in alignment science is far more optimistic. He told the media the chance of AI wiping out all of humanity in the next decade is only a little more than 10%. Hubinger says the main problem is that Anthropic can't figure out a way to keep a superintelligent system, "aligned," with what human beings want out of it. Another Anthropic developer, Samuel Marks, claims the longer a person works in research labs, the more frightened of AI he, or she becomes. 

Yahoo News reports over 1,000 AI researchers have signed a statement saying they want, "global coordination," on a way to stop AI if it begins to spin out of control. Proving Samuel Marks right, the Wall Street Journal reports, OpenAI lead scientist, Jakub Pachocki wants a, "coordinated AI slowdown backed by government rules." 

People have grown so alarmed--this anxiety was already bubbling, Coxon and the rest just popped the cork on the bottle--now even AI corporate CEOs are advocating for an industry wide development slowdown due to, "safety concerns."   

There is one guy though who isn't buying into all this caution shit. That's right, our man in the White House, Donald Trump wants, full speed ahead on AI. The other day, after being told by OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman things needed to slow down, the President told everyone, in no uncertain terms, where he stands on the issue. On social media he wrote, "The only control or guardrails that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ) PRESIDENT and the U.S.A. has that in spades. We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies. There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI WINS! We are leading over China, and all others, and will continue to do so. Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE!"

While no one, not even Claude, is familiar with the term, "Treasonists," it didn't take long for one of Trump's congressional lap dogs to pick up on his lead. Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson told CNN, "If Congress races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose this race to China. And that is a threat to every single American. So, we've got to have a chance. We got to have steady hands at the wheel." 

 It is unclear at this time if the Speaker understands that when the Titanic slammed into the iceberg, the general consensus was that the hands at the wheel were steady, but the fucking boat was going too fast.  

So, here we are. Everyone involved in AI development--from the ones actually programming it to those in top management--say we need to at least slow things down until we are sure of what is happening. Or, we need to have the government regulate the bejeezus out of it, so it doesn't turn into a real-life version of Skynet. But, the President of the United States and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who don't know squat about AI, say we don't need anything to keep it under control except Donald Trump's brain.

Is it just me, or does anyone else see the flaw in this plan?

9-15-26

Kevin Stitt and Jeff Starling: The Big Men on Oklahoma's Nuclear Campus

 Back here in Oklahoma, republican Governor, Kevin Stitt is all fired up. Even though he can't run for the seat again thanks to term limits, he has decided he is going to leave his lasting mark on the state. According to reports the U.S. Department of Energy is looking for a place to build what it calls, a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus, or, NLIC. Stitt has made a big push for it and now Oklahoma, along with Utah, Idaho, Tennessee, and Louisiana is a finalist for the grand prize. 

One might reasonably ask, just what is a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus. The Department of Energy's short answer is that it is a center which will fabricate, enrich, and reprocess nuclear fuel. Oh, and dispose of the waste. That would be the sort of waste that can remain dangerously toxic for over 100,000 years, depending on the isotopes involved. 

Oops. No wonder the No wonder the DOE is only considering red states. They're the only ones crazy enough to actually want anything that includes a nuclear waste dump. 

Look at Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma Secretary of Energy and Environment, Jeff Starling, they aren't worried about that shit. Starling breathlessly told one media outlet, "One campus could attract $50 billion worth of investment with capital investment, tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer state and local taxes, tax revenue generated for the state and localities, and then also 25,000 jobs." In other words, the state will rake in a lot of money and there will be more new jobs than people living in places like Wewoka, so don't dwell on that whole waste disposal thing. Besides, none of us will be alive in 100,000 years anyway. 

Since the campus will deploy, "advanced nuclear reactors," there will be the opportunity to greatly increase the production of electric power. Governor Stitt believes all that power production will open up a whole new business opportunity--the construction of nearby data centers. You know, the type of things that use up more than half the water the entire Oklahoma City metro area (17 communities) does in a day. But hey, at least we won't crash the grid. 

There hasn't been any specific site in Oklahoma picked out yet. In fact, at least one report says Stitt would prefer the campus to be scattered among various communities rather than build one colossal complex that is the home to everything. Of course, that still leaves the question of who gets the disposal site, which is the equivalent of the, "Let's Make a Deal," door that, instead of a new car, reveals giant chickens laying the square eggs that glow green. 

Even Kevin Stitt and his boys admit there will be push back from some communities and the tribal nations, not to mention national screaming liberal environmental groups. The plan is to work with the University of Oklahoma to conduct opinion research. In addition, there are also plans in the works to hold town halls and meetings with tribal leaders in order to be, "transparent," about the process. 

What they already know is that research shows four out of five Americans prefer radioactive waste buried underground, the deeper the better, rather than on the surface. In addition, they want it buried close to where it it's processed. They really don't like it hauled around in trucks, or trains that come through their towns. 

While Kevin Stitt and Jeff Starling make their cheery, Chamber of Commerce style pitches, for those of a certain age it sounds eerily familiar.  We still remember all the promises of great jobs and new energy opportunities made by the now non-existent Kerr-McGee Corporation decades ago. They built a nuclear facility just south of Crescent, OK which was decommissioned in 1975. 51 years later crews are still up there, cleaning radioactive material out of the local groundwater. 

Oklahoma City's ABC affiliate reporter, Chantelle Navarro mentioned the Crescent nightmare to Starling who seemingly became incensed. He responded, "First of all, we'll never negotiate away Oklahoma's safety or environmental protections. That will never happen. The other thing is the nuclear industry today is not the nuclear industry 50 years ago. Right? Nuclear reactors themselves are much, much safer. They're advanced small modular reactors." 

Yes, nothing goes wrong these days--well, until it does. It's called, Murphy's Law and no human, or technology in the world can render it null and void. Beyond that, Mr. Secretary--given the Rah-Rah attitude you and the Governor are displaying--when you say you'll never negotiate away Oklahoma's safety and environmental protections, it sounds suspiciously like you already have.

9-8-26

Treasonous Scum, More Biden Excuses, a Vacancy in the Pentagon, and an Armchair Diagnosis From a Shrink

 For the treasonous SCUM that refuses to accurately report on our Military Operation in Iran, we have virtually unlimited amounts of Mid to High Grade Ammunition, far more than we could ever use for this, or any other war(which is highly unlikely!), that could improbably take place. In addition, we are producing Munitions at levels never seen before.

The opening two lines of a recent social media post written by Donald Trump--or maybe Natalie Harp, who knows any more. 

Indeed, who are these scum--these communist sons of bitches? Well, one of the reports Donald Trump was responding to came from The Wall Street Journal. You know, one of the papers owned by Rupert Murdoch, a man who could be described with some accuracy as the, Anti-George Soros.  Last week it reported that the Iran war has depleted, "stocks of key weapons, including Patriot interceptors and other precision-guided munitions. According to the Journal this has raised the concerns of Pentagon officials over the military's readiness to respond to potential conflicts in other areas of the world. 

Then there was a report by Reuters which said the DOD just awarded a new $22.9 billion contract to Raytheon to up its production of Tomahawk missiles from 60 to over 1,000. The increase was directly linked to the supply of Tomahawks dwindling to dangerous levels thanks to the war in Iran. 

Nor to worry though, our man in the White House says all is well, but just in case it isn't. as always, Donald Trump has an excuse. In the same post he wrote, "Also let it be known, that the Biden Administration gave far more Munitions away to Ukraine, at no cost to them, whatsoever, than we have used in Iran. Hundreds of billions of Dollars was given to Ukraine and NATO, free of charge that Europe would have paid for..."

Yeah, Don, but Russia invaded Ukraine.  The war in Iran started only because of your hubris and apparently a smooth con job run by Benjamin Netanyahu. 

As all of this is happening the Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll quit, although CNN reports the resignation has more to do with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth than it does with Trump's war of choice. According to CNN Driscoll believes Hegseth is, "...damaging the Army's efforts to adapt to the modern battlefield." The report says Hegseth (who always keeps his wife close by, because the rumors are she is the only one who can keep him off the sauce) is too focused on culture wars for Driscoll's tastes. In addition, Driscoll was also upset by Hegseth's willingness to get rid of experienced officers just because they don't agree with his vision of what the Army should look like. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Henry Abraham went on a radio show hosted by Dean Obeidallah Wednesday. Abraham is a psychiatrist who admits he hasn't personally examined Donald Trump but says he watches and listens to him carefully. Back in April of this year Abraham, along with other shrinks, signed an open letter saying that Donald Trump should be removed from office because he is mentally unfit. Obeidallah asked him if Trump's condition had changed since the letter was published. The response was, " Yeah, if anything it's worse."

Dr, Abraham citied as red flags the usual suspects. The "tangential speech," "rambling digressions," and "grandiose and delusional beliefs, including posting AI imagery of himself as the Pope, a combat pilot, and Jesus Christ." According to Abraham if airline pilots and neurosurgeons displayed the same symptoms as Donald Trump they wouldn't be allowed anywhere near planes and ORs.   

Abraham, who shared a Nobel Peace Prize back in the 1980's, added, "I think we're in even more danger of Donald Trump using a nuclear weapon in a fit of pique or rage or confusion or poor impulse control than ever before."             

How comforting.

White House spokesperson, Davis Ingle claimed Abrahham is a, "Trump-deranged loser engaging in armchair diagnosis for political purposes." He then said the doc was a "disgrace to the medical profession." Of course, Ingle's job is to say things like that and his Master's degree is in Business Administration. Abraham got his post graduate degree in pediatrics from John Hopkins and served his residency in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. 

Besides, Abraham isn't saying anything different than a lot of us are thinking or saying ourselves. He just has the better credentials--oh and that Nobel Peace Prize Donald Trump tried so hard to buy but couldn't.   

Yes, here we are--waist deep in Iran without a Secretary of the Army, but stuck with a DOD head who is more interested in images than consequences and a Commander in Chief who might be just as nuts as the fictional Air Force General, Jack D. Ripper. 

So, praise the Lord and if there's any left, pass the ammunition.  Hey, who says America isn't great? 

9-4-26

AI Data Centers Say, Feed Us--A Lot

 There are a lot of things Americans don't agree on these days. In fact, many of these disagreements run so deep the prospect of a second Civil War doesn't seem that far-fetched. Of course, some pessimists were also saying the same thing back in the 1960's, but no one actually took the doomsday prediction that seriously.  Then once we got out of Vietnam and ran Nixon out of office, everyone settled down to more reasonable levels of discord. Now, however it feels different. In the 1960's we were all pissed off at each other. Now, we genuinely seem to hate many of our fellow Americans. 

That being said, it is surprising and not just a little refreshing to find an issue that most Americans, no matter their politics, agree on.  It isn't hard to figure out what it is, especially when even the amoral bastards developing it admit it could end life on the planet as we know it.  That's right, even though AI has been described as in what is known as, "the frontier stage," no one trusts it.  Why should we? It feels like every time we turn around there are reports of some AI program creeping out of its, "sandbox," and hacking into a rival system all on its own.

That's just the tip of the AI iceberg though. It isn't what a HAL-9000 might do tomorrow that angers and unites the left and right--at least mostly. It's what it takes to keep AI up and whirring along in their hometowns.  

Indeed, according to an April 2026 Gallup poll, 75% of democrats and 74% of republicans oppose the construction of AI data centers. In an August 2026 RealClearPolitics poll 70% of Americans across the board oppose them. The main concern of those opposing their construction isn't the prospect of AI taking over the world--that came in third. The opposition is rooted more in the here and now, as in the staggering amounts of water and energy being consumed to keep these digital beasts running. 

Copilot Search reports in 2024 data centers in the U.S. ate up 192 terawatt hours of electricity. For those not familiar with the term, a terawatt hour is equal to one trillion of watthours. 192 of them represented 4.7% of all the electricity produced in the United States. Estimates are, that if the AI greed heads get what they want, by 2030--not quite four years from now--data centers will consume up to 15.3% of America's generated electricity. 

Can you say sky rocketing rate hikes? Not to mention possible rolling brown and black outs. 

But wait. As they say on the TV ads, there is more. The same site says a medium-size data center uses up to 110million gallons of water per year to keep it all nice and cool. A hyperscale data center--like the one that is reportedly proposed for Yukon, OK--can use up to 528,000 gallons of water a day. 80% of that water is lost due to evaporation, the other 20% is flushed down the nearest wastewater system.  That sort of usage in this part of the country is simply not sustainable--at least not as long as people are also living here. 

As for the number of jobs added to the community because of a data center, it isn't that many. A medium-sized center typically employs 20 to 30 people. A Hyperscale center employs more, but how many depends on the level of automation and the size of the security staff. In short, any sort of economic growth gained by getting an AI data center next door isn't worth the drain on the power and water resources it creates.

All of which leads us to a rather large and potent case of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) that unites both political parties. No one wants these things close to them and with the mid-term elections barely two months away they've become a political hot potato. No politician in his or her right mind wants to publicly support their construction. Even the Texas MAGA republican Governor, Greg Abbott is running fast and far from them.   

However, as we all know, there is this one guy who hasn't been his right mind for quite some time. He wants to build the damned things all over the place.  Yesterday, President Donald Trump posted this message on social media: "The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame." 

Ah yes, that's our man Don--always the diplomat.  

Even Trump's Vice President, J.D. Vance had the brains to acknowledge reality. Yesterday, Vance told the media, "I think probably 99% of the backlash to data centers has come in areas where building a data center means higher utility and electricity for the people on the ground." It is unclear if Mr. Vance understands those, "areas," mean everyone everywhere a data center is built.  But hey, at least he didn't tell millions of American voters, "If you don't embrace data centers, you want to be stupid and broke and it's all your fault," which is exactly what his boss just did. 

Well, what should we expect from a testy old man who has become exasperated by the criticism he constantly gets. After all, he might not have fulfilled all his promises to the millions of rubes who voted for him--or actually any of them--but he certainly has and is to those tech billionaires who sat in the box seats at his second inauguration. 

And let's admit it. To Donald J. Trump, other than himself, they're the only Americans who count.

9-1-26