Culture Wars

[BDKJMU]

An across party lines HELL NO? Many on the left are against them for environmental reasons. People across the political spectrum are pissed about the skyrocketing electricity prices caused by data centers..

Here's Why Local Elections Matter - Half of Town's City Council Voted Out Over Data Center

Festus, Missouri, is a small town of around 14,000 people about a half hour south of St. Louis. Tuesday was election day in Missouri for things like school boards, sales taxes, and small-town mayors. In Festus, there was a city council election, and voters spoke loud and clear by ousting four members of the eight-member city council for their support of a proposed AI data center to be built nearby….

……Other communities around the nation have also voted on putting data centers in their area. On Tuesday, voters in Port Washington, Wisconsin, voted by a two-to-one margin to approve a first-of-its-kind in the country ballot initiative opposing a $15 billion OpenAI Vantage data center, and there have been similar protests of data centers in Alabama, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida…..

1/15/26
Many Pa. residents don’t want data centers in their communities. State leaders are welcoming them.
https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2026/0 ... vironment/


Yesterday:

The fight against data centers is escalating

….Maine and other states are pushing back

The state known for lobster and “oh, you mean that Portland” is expected to pass legislation this spring that would place a moratorium on data centers that consume more than 20 megawatts—a rebuke of the swelling energy costs that come with these computing factories. Other states are considering similar measures:

Statewide bans are on the table in nine states; Pennsylvania would make 10 if it proposes one of its own, which is expected.

Activists in Ohio are collecting signatures to get a statewide ban on the ballot in November.
Two states—South Dakota and Wisconsin—have rejected proposed bans on new data centers.

And that’s not all. Residents in Port Washington, WI, voted yesterday on a measure that would stop future data center development in the town of ~12,000 people. There are at least three other municipalities around the country that will consider something similar this year.

Big picture: While evidence shows that data centers can be environmental hazards (a new study says that they create heat islands within a 6-mile radius that can cause pollution and deaths), they are also job creators. The response to the bill in Maine, where a Senate seat is up for grabs in November, could serve as a “canary in the coal mine” for officials in other locales, according to a construction trade group that spoke to the Wall Street Journal

Yesterday
Locals Are Using AI to Fight Data Centers Being Built in Their Backyards
Community activists in rural regions are leveraging artificial intelligence to assist in their battle against technology hyperscalers
https://www.wsj.com/pro/sustainable-bus ... s-d0642630

[UNI88]

The Christian right’s victim complex fuels Trump’s Iran war

For over a decade now, the Christian right has deflected criticism of Trump’s immorality and sadism by insisting they are facing persecution for their religious beliefs. In their minds, they are the real victims of a culture gone to hell, and they see the president as their only hope to beat back these imaginary forces of oppression. Nothing, it seems, can shatter this persecution complex. As the Iran war continues to become an ever-bigger disaster, evangelicals are clinging harder than ever to the notion that because they need to defeat their fictional persecutors, Trump’s myriad flaws are excusable and forgivable.
...
Doug Wilson, who heads the denomination Hegseth belongs to, demonstrated how valuable the phony Christian persecution narrative is for conservatives who need an excuse to stick by the administration amid the Iran debacle. On Thursday, the pastor published a defensive blog post about the war and his church’s proximity to it. A frustrating writer, Wilson buries the indefensibility of his far-right positions under piles of pseudo-intellectual pondering. Still, even in a post laden with ten-dollar phrases like “jus in bello,” “ad bellum considerations” and “appropriate authority,” it’s clear that even he is wary of defending this war outright, likely because he’s smart enough to know it’s bound for failure.
...
That’s the magic of the Christian right’s persecution complex in a nutshell. In the real world, Hegseth is a belligerent official who relishes threatening Iranians with “death and destruction from above.” But in Wilson’s telling, the defense secretary is a humble servant of God, besieged on all sides by the faithless in their ongoing war against Christ’s followers.

[kalm]

The Christian right’s victim complex fuels Trump’s Iran war

For over a decade now, the Christian right has deflected criticism of Trump’s immorality and sadism by insisting they are facing persecution for their religious beliefs. In their minds, they are the real victims of a culture gone to hell, and they see the president as their only hope to beat back these imaginary forces of oppression. Nothing, it seems, can shatter this persecution complex. As the Iran war continues to become an ever-bigger disaster, evangelicals are clinging harder than ever to the notion that because they need to defeat their fictional persecutors, Trump’s myriad flaws are excusable and forgivable.
...
Doug Wilson, who heads the denomination Hegseth belongs to, demonstrated how valuable the phony Christian persecution narrative is for conservatives who need an excuse to stick by the administration amid the Iran debacle. On Thursday, the pastor published a defensive blog post about the war and his church’s proximity to it. A frustrating writer, Wilson buries the indefensibility of his far-right positions under piles of pseudo-intellectual pondering. Still, even in a post laden with ten-dollar phrases like “jus in bello,” “ad bellum considerations” and “appropriate authority,” it’s clear that even he is wary of defending this war outright, likely because he’s smart enough to know it’s bound for failure.
...
That’s the magic of the Christian right’s persecution complex in a nutshell. In the real world, Hegseth is a belligerent official who relishes threatening Iranians with “death and destruction from above.” But in Wilson’s telling, the defense secretary is a humble servant of God, besieged on all sides by the faithless in their ongoing war against Christ’s followers.

Moscow’s finest.

[UNI88]

The Christian right’s victim complex fuels Trump’s Iran war

Moscow’s finest.

His crusader name is ... pete the Chickenhearted. Deus vult!

[kalm]

Moscow’s finest.

His crusader name is ... pete the Chickenhearted. Deus vult!

Who nearly wet himself at the Battle of Baden Hill.

[UNI88]

His crusader name is ... pete the Chickenhearted. Deus vult!

Who nearly wet himself at the Battle of Baden Hill.

Nearly?

The Secretary of War Crimes is no Richard the Lionhearted despite his own delusions.

[kalm]

Who nearly wet himself at the Battle of Baden Hill.

Nearly?

The Secretary of War Crimes is no Richard the Lionhearted despite his own delusions.

But he nearly stood up to the Viscious Chicken of Bristol!

[UNI88]

Nearly?

The Secretary of War Crimes is no Richard the Lionhearted despite his own delusions.

But he nearly stood up to the Viscious Chicken of Bristol!

But does he know the capital of Assyria?

[kalm]

But he nearly stood up to the Viscious Chicken of Bristol!

But does he know the capital of Assyria?

I’m not sure. He probably hasn’t even traveled through snows of Mercia.

[UNI88]

But does he know the capital of Assyria?

I’m not sure. He probably hasn’t even traveled through snows of Mercia.

Poor, poor Sir pete will likely be thrown into the Gorge of Eternal Peril.

Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem!

[kalm]

“News”



And no one claims to watch it…

[kalm]

[UNI88]

[SeattleGriz]

You see this? Girl is a piece of shit liar.

[UNI88]

[kalm]

Yeah! Keep the predators out!

[kalm]

JFC!

[kalm]

Being the Savior requires long hours and late nights.

[Caribbean Hen]

Being the Savior requires long hours and late nights.

Gordito Harry all dressed up in a suit and tie couldn’t wait for the next one

[kalm]

Being the Savior requires long hours and late nights.

Gordito Harry all dressed up in a suit and tie couldn’t wait for the next one

He doesn’t look heavy in his profile pic.

False Idol Jesus on the other hand….

[UNI88]

Being the Savior requires long hours and late nights.

sisson forgot to put "another" before "mental health".

[kalm]

This is a great point:

They have a ritual called the Pledge of Allegiance.

They make children recite it.

Every morning. In school. Standing, hand over heart, facing the flag.

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

They start doing this when children are five years old. Before children can read. Before children can form political opinions. Before children have any framework for evaluating what they are pledging or to whom or why.

They are trained in devotion before they are capable of skepticism.

And then, twenty years later, when someone presents them with evidence that the nation they pledged themselves to at five years old has committed systematic atrocities across the world, people are surprised that rational argument doesn't land cleanly.

You are not arguing with an adult's political opinions.

You are arguing with something that was installed before the adult existed.

This is not an accident.

A population capable of genuine critical thought about its own government's actions is a population that is harder to send to war.

Harder to tax for military budgets.

Harder to keep quiet when the next intervention begins.

So they start early.

Every morning. Hand over heart.

Before the questions can form.

[UNI88]

JFC!

He's attempting to co-opt Christianity and evangelicals aren't just watching it happen, many of them are willing and active participants.

[UNI88]

[Caribbean Hen]

Another suit and tie with no place to go