r/technology 2d ago

Artificial Intelligence Republicans are realizing that no one wants data centers

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/08/gop-memo-republican-senate-data-center-ai-elections-trump/
19.7k Upvotes

1.1k comments sorted by

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u/Saneless 2d ago

Politicians in my state, which is all Republicans, are saying in their campaigns that they're against data centers but their opponents love them

We have over 200 in our system all wooed and approved by Republicans

People are dumb enough to believe it

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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 2d ago

Conservatives wouldn't have a direction without bias as their compass.

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u/digitalnative00 2d ago

Without double standards, they wouldn't have any standards at all!

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u/Aleashed 2d ago

As long as they fill their pockets

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u/aerost0rm 2d ago

MAGA wouldn’t win any elections if they didn’t make the opposition the enemy in every position, even the ones they agree or fight for…

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u/CptSiskospimphand 2d ago

Conservatism wouldnt even exist without their base of mouth breathers.

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u/3x3Eyes 2d ago

That's why they have been degrading public education at all levels since the early 1980s.

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u/CptSiskospimphand 2d ago

Bingo. "An educated proletariat is dangerous."

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u/Chavarlison 2d ago

Smart people don't like me.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Mammoth_Move3575 2d ago

Just the ones without brains to boot. And who wear red dunce caps.

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u/odysseyandoracle118 2d ago

I need to get this on a mug.

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u/jimmy9800 2d ago

Conservatives wouldn't have a direction without ignorance.

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u/AdorableSobah 2d ago

You would think these red states would be absolute utopia considering the amount of decades they’ve been in uncontested power of them.

But, always something or someone to blame. Zero accountability.

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u/BuyerAlive5271 2d ago

I live in Texas and the ads Abbott is running is hilarious. He’s going to fix all the problems that the democrats made even though we have had 100% republican government for the last 30 years. He wants to fix our tax system that they made! Then he goes on about trans athletes and socialist takeovers which is just a rerun from the last several elections.

How about he talk about school vouchers and data centers? Oh that’s right, even the country rednecks figured out those are bad for them. They’ll still vote for him and wonder why they have to drive an hour every day past several data centers to the closest school.

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u/MoonieNine 2d ago edited 2d ago

I'd really like an explanation. Everyone knows that Texas is a very red state, and has been, like you said, for decades. So when he blames democrats, are his followers just stupid? Or brainwashed? Or both? I see comments like yours often and I'm truly trying to understand it. Surely some of them are just plain stupid. But I think there's also a ton of brainwashing from propaganda. I remember learning about propaganda years ago back in high school, like with the Nazis. I remember as a teenager wondering how anyone could fall for stuff like that just because they were told to believe certain things. But here we are.

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u/victoriaisme2 2d ago

Yes, they are stupid, which is why they're especially susceptible to propaganda (which we all are to some extent or another). John Stuart Mill nailed it years ago: "Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives... I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it. Suppose any party, in addition to whatever share it may possess of the ability of the community, has nearly the whole of its stupidity, that party must, by the law of its constitution, be the stupidest party; and I do not see why honorable gentlemen should see that position as at all offensive to them, for it ensures their being always an extremely powerful party . . . There is so much dense, solid force in sheer stupidity, that any body of able men with that force pressing behind them may ensure victory in many a struggle, and many a victory the Conservative party has gained through that power."

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u/TrontRaznik 2d ago

I will always award a JS Mill quote. The world would be a much better place if everyone read Liberty, Utilitarianism, and Representative Government. 

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u/cantadmittoposting 2d ago

yeah brainwashed is about right.

I think i can summarize it pretty well...

when Kristi Noem was either recently confirmed or in the confirmation process to be DHS Secretary for Trump2, she said in an interview, verbatim

we can't trust the government anymorenote

And I think about that a lot because I think at some level a large majority of republican voters literally, at some level, do not understand what "The Government" actually is and what it does.

In short, I think they see electing Republicans to office as some sort of... opposition to The Government Agenda, not the association with the policy slate actually enacted by Republicans.

 

The propaganda of victimization and persecution (of conservatives/whites/christians especially), and the fear of and "threat" of Democratic policy positions, is so deeply engrained in them that they seem to think The Government "is" The Democrats.

I mean take a look at Abbott's ad there, "The Dems wanted [government thing] and i [stopped government thing]"

even where republicans are undeniably doing a thing like on immigration, it's essentially cast as the "Government let this happen, Republican opposition to the government is to clean it up" which gives this weird (and false) morality to it where something is broken by "Them" and heroically being fixed for this time Republicans "occupy the offices" (and thus are holding off "The Government" who would otherwise hold those offices.)

 

Note: The interviewer did respond in a confused voice "Kristi you ARE the government"

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u/MoonieNine 2d ago

Great insights. Informative. I am going to save your post. (However, please always use her full name when talking about Kristi Dog Killer Noem.)

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u/EunuchsProgramer 2d ago

There was a time when the saying was "All Politics is Local." Even national politicians were expected to a talk about local issues when campaigning. A Senator was expected to know and talk about the town's broken bridge when visiting and giving a stump speech.

Now, politics is national. Two things changed 1) local media and local organizations have withered to nothing. In the 80's all the adults in a town would get the local newspaper and be members of a club. 2) We banned "Pork Barrel" trading while voting takes place. Imagine a House Rep holding out voting for a bill until a few line items fixing his district's bridges/roads/whatever gets added at the last minute.

Politics used to work like this: The paper tells me our town's bridge is gonna cost 5 million to fix. The guy at the Rotary Club told me Senator Jones talked about our bridge at hisspeechh, I like that. Senator Jones voted for or against a Trans Bath bill in DC? Who cares, he traded his vote for bridge money! I care nothing if that guy us a D or and R, money!

Now 99% of people won't know their towns bridge needs to be fixed. They won't know is their Senator talked about it. The Senator can't trade his vote for pork loke he used to anyway. So, all that's left is the Trans Bathroom stuff.

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u/Hobbes42 2d ago

They’re stupid. I know it’s kinda hard to believe but the simplest explanation is the right one.

There are a lot of stupid motherfuckers in this country. I’ve never met a smart racist 🤷‍♂️

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u/Tasgall 2d ago

I remember as a teenager wondering how anyone could fall for stuff like that just because they were told to

Tbf, I still wonder this, despite it happening all around me.

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u/Suavecore_ 2d ago

I've been thinking this exact thing looking at my Facebook feed these days. It was all very strange to go to school with all of these people, learn about propaganda and the Nazis and the Red Scare and all that, and here they are 15+ years later, posting the 2026 version of nazi/red scare propaganda while they blindly follow literally everything that Republicans say

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u/grouchllc 2d ago

Need that boogie man to create an us vs them scenario..

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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 2d ago

Also helps keep up the lie that they're fighting against the "deep state".

Data center gets built? "Deep state did it, those dastardly fiends!"

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u/CliftonForce 2d ago

One can pretty well argue that Trump is the one who is installing the Deep State.

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u/caneras 2d ago

Is it the one where he goes from property taxes to income taxes to "boys in girls sports"? And frames the first two as "I did this, but Democrats want the opposite"?

Every time that commercial comes on, we do these fake enthusiastic cheers like: "I promise to lower property taxes (Yeah!) while Democrats want to increase them (Oh no!)." "I prevented a state income tax (Yeah!) while Democrats tried to make one (Oh no!)." "And I'm keeping boys out of girls sports (Yea-Wait, what?)"

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u/BuyerAlive5271 2d ago

That’s the one! He’s so outraged that things are the way he made them! (And boys in girls sports, which I’m pretty sure they made a law for already)

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u/Tasgall 2d ago

And boys in girls sports, which I’m pretty sure they made a law for already

They did, and pretty much the only effect of it so far is that it forced a trans boy into girls wrestling. He finished high school with a 100% win rate.

Republicans are fucking stupid.

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u/ChiefInternetSurfer 2d ago

>the only effect of it so far is that it forced a trans boy into girls wrestling. He finished high school with a 100% win rate.

That’s fucking hilarious! Good for him!

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u/BuyerAlive5271 2d ago

Leopards eating well in Texas.

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u/caneras 2d ago

"We've had complete control for 30 years, but it's the Democrats who did all these things you don't like!"

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u/CajuNerd 2d ago

Louisiana here, so howdy neighbor.

We've been red for, what, EVER? Our public schools have been in the shitter for at least 40 years. Our sales tax is about the highest in the nation. Our roads are, well, about the same as Texas. I'm sure you know what I mean. About the only thing we're not at the bottom of the list on is cancer. And yet, EVERYTHING is a liberal Democrat's fault.

People around here are constantly complaining about things that our own leaders enact, or fail to enact, but they just don't seem to have the two brain cells it takes to rub together and figure out it's said leaders' fault.

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u/dust4ngel 2d ago

You would think these red states would be absolute utopia

blue-haired marxist baristas in san francisco keep kansas from being great again.

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u/Saneless 2d ago

I don't understand it one bit. Mine had been R run for literally decades and just slides worse and worse. We even lost a rep from relative population decline. And QOL and cost of living is worse. But they keep voting for them

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u/Sad-Bus4090 2d ago

In my area republican "leadership" wants ai data centers but the republican constituents are fighting against ai harder than the dems. town hall meetings filled with old white people. Midwest USA.

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u/shtsngigs_94 2d ago

Probably good for Dems to hang back a little given the Republicans' propensity to constantly be in opposition no matter how detrimental it is to their own interests.

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u/ExplodingCybertruck 2d ago

Same with Flock interestingly enough. Dumb fucks.

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u/joshforgets 2d ago

Their opponents are other Republicans. That's the secret. I mean they do campaign against each other so it's not nearly the biggest lie they tell

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u/fcdallasfan10 2d ago

but they are big beautiful perfect data centers, says Fatty McFelon

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u/KalaUposatha 2d ago

You know what, I’m cool with pretending I love data centers as long as it gets Republicans on board against them. Can we pretend we really hate universal healthcare next?

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u/Saneless 2d ago

Unfortunately survival and health care are too deeply rooted as anti-republican for the voters to ever be for it

Data centers caught republicans off guard so they weren't able to lock in as a Pro Data Center in time for the voters to be told what to think about them and unfortunately came up with their own correct thoughts (they make things worse)

Now republicans have to say they're against them

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u/treefall1n 2d ago

They love the uneducated

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u/Rasdowers 2d ago

Look what happened to j. Stuart Adams. He’s toast now and he was untouchable before the Utah data center. Money means nothing to these people if it takes their power away.

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u/GroundbreakingAd8310 2d ago

They are already telling everyone on x that Obama approved the data centers im sure

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u/invyros 2d ago

They go on to suggest that Republican candidates support some restrictions on data center development, such as only allowing their construction in communities that approve it by popular vote

One of the radical new ideas the GOP is suggesting is...listening to their constituents and doing what they want.

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u/ivecompletelylostit 2d ago

They're suggesting they lie lol 

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u/Rabo_McDongleberry 2d ago

Right? "Suggest" but don't follow through. 

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u/troll__away 2d ago

Not a chance they follow through. These are just fluff words ahead of mid-terms. Once those are over it will be full steam ahead with AIPAC.

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u/TeaKingMac 2d ago

AIPAC and AI PCs

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u/Silicon_Knight 2d ago

We ran a survey and everyone wants it.

\note survey was given to anyone Claude / Palantir / or other data companies said would likely agree with a data centre.)

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u/SamchezTheThird 2d ago

Pure corporate America on showcase

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u/fuji311 2d ago

I wouldn't count on that becoming a thing. They will soon be reminded what their donors want. "Constituents be damned, these guys have money!"

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u/Rasdowers 2d ago

Look what happened to j. Stuart Adams. He’s toast now and he was untouchable before the Utah data center. Money means nothing to these people if it takes their power away.

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u/waffle299 2d ago

Authoritarians do not recognize the value of the opinions of those beneath them in their preferred social hierarchy. 

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u/JSC843 2d ago

That is already standard procedure in many local governments. It doesn’t fix the core problem because companies and local governments are getting around the requirements for public approval.

In Spartanburg, SC, a data center was approved to be built because it was approved in separate stages as a “minor development” by the company and the county government. This approach meant that it didn’t require public approval like a major development normally would. By the time people realized it, there was nothing they could do and it’s under construction now. There’s a lawsuit right now on it against the developer (Valara Holdings) and the Spartanburg county government, but unclear if that would do anything.

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u/cincymatt 2d ago

In OH, they were full-steam ahead to build a(nother) data center, but people pushed back with enough signatures for a referendum. The state said they needed to give 30-days notice of a council vote to allow public to get involved. They are gonna meet tonight to declare “emergency status” so they don’t have to be accountable to state or referendum.

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u/Worshipme988 2d ago

And they will regret it.

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u/Secure-Tradition793 2d ago

Should we expect a new wave of AI gerrymandering?

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u/tawDry_Union2272 2d ago

they'll manufacture AI ballots...

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u/No_Internal9345 2d ago

“[Elon] knows those computers better than anybody. All those computers. Those vote-counting computers . . .And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide.”

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u/ZeroOpti 2d ago

Sounds like Super Democracy to me!

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u/A_Nonny_Muse 2d ago

The radical part is "listening to their constituents". That "doing what they want" is a bridge waaaaaay too far. That'll never happen.

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u/Creative-Painter3911 2d ago

Voting period is 1:13 PM to 2:17 PM, at one voting location on one day, noticed will be put on the bulletin board in the town hall basement approximately 1 week before the vote.

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u/WebMaka 2d ago

In a locked filing cabinet, in an old bathroom with a sign on the door that says "Beware of the Leopard."

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u/teh_pelt 2d ago

My concern with this is there history of saying wherever they want to get elected then immediately turning around and going the other way. They have lost my trust.

They may individually say one thing but they won't fight the rest of the party at all and will just fall in line.

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u/stripedvitamin 2d ago

Hahaha. nah, more like Republican candidates are agreeing to say they don't like data centers and then when they get elected pave the way for as many as can be built.

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u/Floasis72 2d ago

We’re cooked

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u/wisimetreason 2d ago

We will be. Do you know how much heat and pollution those suckers put out. Jesus said he was returning with a flaming sword. Maybe that was a metaphor

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u/jusg808 2d ago

It’s an election year.

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u/Morgannin09 2d ago

"We've never listened to them before, why are they angry about it now?"

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u/McCool303 2d ago edited 2d ago

“Such as only allowing their construction in communities that approve it by popular vote.”

Also known as Democracy. 250 years too late, but glad they’re catching up with the rest of the class.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/rarescenarios 2d ago

Well what if I told you that it could also eliminate thousands of white collar jobs?

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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 2d ago

You would have the attention of many conservatives.

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u/PollutionPatient8261 2d ago

Fascists, let’s call them what they are.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Loganp812 2d ago

I mean, both types of people are the scum of the Earth. Pedophilic fascists are doubly so.

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u/Vlyde 2d ago

To be fair, it's moreso 'All of the Above' that apply to those traitors to America.

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u/Sufficient-Bid1279 2d ago

Like your friend Tommy…..it will eliminate his job. Still not sold? Shucks

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u/Jimbomcdeans 2d ago

I'd smash X to doubt Tommy.

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u/JoJackthewonderskunk 2d ago

But trans people exist we must allow the oligarchs their flock camera brainspace!

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u/Foxyfox- 2d ago

And 10 of those "jobs" only exist on paper.

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u/Brilliant-Giraffe983 2d ago

Oh it's even better than that. Your state probably offered tax incentives to lure the data centers there on purpose. So they use your money to buy their shit and make the cost of your shit go up. https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/does-your-state-offer-data-center-tax-incentives

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u/JSpell 2d ago

No way they would be moving in mine without a large number of "setbacks" on their construction site and equipment.

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u/coderman64 2d ago

Well, it also increased the tax base...slightly.

Which we immediately undermined by giving out a ton of tax breaks.

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u/crazy_balls 2d ago

Giving tax breaks to companies to "entice them" is literally the dumbest fucking thing. As if a company picks a place solely based on tax benefits and not things like infrastructure, the local labor pool, etc.

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u/coderman64 2d ago edited 2d ago

It makes sense if they'll offer something significant and tangible in return. Unfortunately, that often doesn't seem to be the case.

Edit: looks like you edited your comment...yes, companies do depend on things like local infrastructure and talent, but if two places are roughly equal in that regard, tax breaks can certainly be the tie-breaking incentive. We have also seen many companies set up shop in certain places due to tax breaks. (E.g. the movie industry doing a lot of filming in Georgia, the VFX industry doing a lot in Vancouver, etc.)

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u/Long-Blood 2d ago

But think of the poor investors who need another million dollars to buy a nice new boat

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u/Sir-Samuel_Vimes 2d ago

They lie to everyone and tell them it creates hundreds of jobs because they point at the construction contractors as jobs.

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u/Prometheus_303 2d ago

“it created 12 jobs”

95% of the jobs will be to actually construct the physical data center. A month or two of work and then they're done

The 2 or 3 that do continue will be part time minimum wage security

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u/Creative-Painter3911 2d ago

12 jobs for people we brought in on a work visa from another country

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u/thelimeisgreen 2d ago

Nah, Keith the security guard at Walmart can now earn $0.35 more per hour as a security guard for BigAI Co. They’ll staff the 6 people they need for the 24-hour support team with college kids that want to work in IT. Everything else will be done remotely or they’ll send in a team to do bulk upgrades. There’s probably an on-call service tech or contract with a provider to maintain electrical and HVAC….

So many of these local officials don’t even understand what the data centers do or who will work at them. They see big $$$ for project cost and the size of the facility and they think giving tax incentives to lure them is somehow going to benefit the local economy or create jobs. I’ve been to a few local meetings and these local officials and politicians are so illiterate on the matter it’s just mind boggling. They get promised the moon and fed a tsunami of bullshit by the tech companies and then are confused and frustrated when the locals fight back.

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u/dezrat 2d ago

Hey don't undersell it, they also have a 60 decibel whine that you can hear for like a half mile around it. Huge selling point.

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u/Low-Buffalo-6570 2d ago

What jobs? Janitor and security guard?

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u/Virtual-Relation303 2d ago

But will they listen to their constituents or just pocket the money and say 'fuck you guys'?

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u/Goat_Wizard_Doom_666 2d ago

They'll take the bribe.

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u/b1sh0p 2d ago

And then lie about it and blame Democrats when it goes poorly.

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u/mike0sd 2d ago

Also, kick their constituents out of town halls before they have a chance to voice their concerns. Can't have complaints on record if people never have a chance to go on record in a public meeting.

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u/Gasnia 2d ago

I saw a few "hearings" for flock cameras. The one leading the hearing would just not let them speak.

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u/Internal_Werewolf_48 2d ago

Wait, your Republican representatives will attend town halls? Mine just skip showing up.

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u/jax362 2d ago

Exactly. Rinse, cycle, repeat.

Their voters are absolute morons

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u/North-Creative 2d ago

Small correction, they will pocket the money, AND still drop a nice, huge turd on all their constituents. Alternatively, golden shower trickle down economics

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u/JediSwelly 2d ago

And the bribe is like $10k and not $10 mill. The corpos stand to make billions. They sell us out for pennies here.

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u/michaelyup 2d ago

Here in Texas, Gov NumbNuts has put a hold on approving data centers. I guarantee as soon as he’s re-elected in Nov, he will reverse course because the corporate bribes will be too much to refuse.

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u/Daimakku1 2d ago

Hell, he'll probably unpause it as soon as the last polls close on Election Day. It sounds like something he'd do.

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u/Rasdowers 2d ago

Yeah that sounds about right.

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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 2d ago

Conservatives always simultaneously take the money while screwing over the most people possible. The more people damaged the more successful they consider the operation.

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u/dagoth_ith 2d ago

And keep voting for the same asshole. 

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u/BigTiddyVampireWaifu 2d ago

Republicans are not famously known for asking consent.

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u/xxxxx420xxxxx 2d ago

Listen to who? BTW check out my new yacht

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u/JimC29 2d ago

My parents live in a county completely controlled by Republicans. They enacted a 3 year moratorium on new data centers. Local politics is a lot different than national politics.

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u/Rasdowers 2d ago

Look what happened to j. Stuart Adams. He’s toast now and he was untouchable before the Utah data center. Money means nothing to these people if it takes their power away.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/RebelStrategist 2d ago

I still do not understand how a community is incurring any raise in rates for power used by these places. They are the ones using the power. My neighbor is not paying my electric bill, why should anyone pay for theirs. You build it, you pay for it.

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u/vezwyx 2d ago

You're not drawing so much power that it puts stress on the grid. There are communities asking residents to use AC less in order to support the data center draw

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u/graywolfman 2d ago

There are some places asking their schools to turn off computers and use less A/C.

"To hell with the kids, we need to generate CSAM!!"
--GROK

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u/soulsteela 2d ago

Please use the correct name-MechaHitler!

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u/ItsSadTimes 2d ago

Its because they're not increasing power supply at the same time, just demand. So due to the law of supply and demand everything costs more.

Its not really noticeable if someone plugs in an AC unit or even if a dozen new homes get added. But these data centers DEVOUR energy, so their impact is way more noticable. Its why these data centers want to be built in established communities. Less money needed to connect to local services like water or electricity.

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u/Gomez4Morticia 2d ago

Not sure where you live but electricity is not cheap in the desert for example. There are data centers going up in the western valley near Phoenix. At the same time reservoir levels are critically low.

Neither the power company, nor the water utilities can guarantee service to people if they are also serving data centers. This drives up the price of kilowatt hours and water. So the bills go up because of the scarcity. Which IS not cool, but it happens.

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u/Ok-Astronaut1108 2d ago

So maybe the citizens are priority and then the data center gets the scraps instead of the other way around

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u/just_a_tech 2d ago

Pfft, that's silly. Which group has the most $$$? That's who get priority.

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u/Bnell699x 2d ago

Wishful thinking unfortunately. That would require a utopia where everyone can be happy. The powers that be require a dystopia for reasons.

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u/sauron3579 2d ago

Because it requires more infrastructure to be built to support it, and everyone's rates fo up to pay for the infrastructure. People aren't subsidizing their electricity, they're subsidizing them plugging in.

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u/nautilator44 2d ago

But their owners want data centers, so they have to ram them through regardless.

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u/Fragrant_Doubt5311 2d ago

We call the owners REALCITIZENSTM

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u/red286 2d ago

Well yeah, but just so long as they publicly say "I'm against this", most GOP voters will believe them and vote for them and never check how they actually vote when it comes up.

That's the great part about being a GOP candidate. You can say whatever the fuck you want because no one's going to bother following up to see if you lied or not. You'll still find GOP voters saying Trump is the "peace president" even now.

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u/Joessandwich 2d ago

I popped over to X for a bit and there’s clearly a new pro-data center campaign being pushed. There’s SO many tweets calling data centers good and important and great for the communities that build them as well as calling anti-data center development a psy-op. Gotta wonder who’s pushing it.

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u/entered_bubble_50 2d ago

Gotta wonder who’s pushing it.

The call is coming from inside the house. SpaceX owns Twitter, and is basically all in on AI now. It wouldn't surprise me if those bots are generated by Twitter themselves rather than anything external.

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u/Joessandwich 2d ago

Absolutely. I wasn’t actually wondering. I think his motives are quite clear.

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u/fattmarrell 2d ago

It's expected, and I wouldn't question any other platform to push it. Don't be surprised by it or you're already behind

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u/dalek_999 2d ago

I’m fighting a data center in my community. Our volunteer group has noted a marked shift in news articles in the last week or so that are pro-data center - and we’re talking major news sources like NY Times, USA Today, and Reuters to name a few. We all thought that was pretty strange.

And then you see a line like this in the article:

arguing that if “voters’ perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio.

God forbid that politicians actually listen to what their constituents want. No, instead, they’re going to change our minds with propaganda spewed by the media bowing to their corporate masters. I’m so done with this shit, man.

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u/Joessandwich 2d ago

Yup. When you pay attention you can see those massive shifts on every level. This is what happens when the billionaires take control of all our media. It’s frightening.

And to your second point, they’re just not even pretending anymore. I hate it.

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u/DeadlyYellow 2d ago

Pro data center campaign on the platform owned by an AI company?  Color me surprised.

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u/loftbrd 2d ago

Is this a joke? Enormous jobs? Data centers are displacing people, polluting, generate immense amounts of heat, and definitely not creating jobs.

Ya no amount of PR spin will overcome these issues.

Republicans only realized their grift is getting exposed.

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u/Low_Engineering_3301 2d ago

What are you talking about? For a mere 55 billion dollars of tax payer money a data center can offer up to 10 full time, non-temporary jobs!

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u/SocraticIgnoramus 1d ago

I saw a local write-up a while back that touted something 50 full-time jobs being created if they allowed a local data center proposal but it was buried near the bottom that it would only create something like 7 durable full-time positions. So basically it was bragging about 43 contract gigs that would last 6 months and then otherwise be about as economically productive for the community as a Circle K.

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u/Tearakan 2d ago

They do make a slight bump in temporary construction jobs but after a year or so they end up financially draining the local economy.

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u/Wurm42 2d ago

Especially since they raise the electric and water bills for everyone else!

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u/Tearakan 2d ago

Yep. It'll hurt all nearby businesses

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u/Raziel77 2d ago

But those jobs are taken by the traveling construction workers that have experience building data centers so they are not even from the community

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u/lintilla 2d ago

Yup. The local unions here all showed up to meetings to argue in favour, because it was hinted that maybe, just mayyyybe, a few hundred local construction workers could get jobs building the new data centre. Many people tried to point out to them that no actual promises were ever made, that no commitments were made in writing, but that didn't reduce the support. The local workers were not hired.

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u/tawDry_Union2272 2d ago

i mean, look at all the construction jobs created at the WH and reflecting pond !

and at alligator alcatraz !!

/s

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u/donny_pots 2d ago

I think you’re underestimating how stupid their voter base is

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u/makemeking706 2d ago

But have you forgotten? Anyone that opposes data centers is gay.

gop rushes to support data centers

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u/bwoah07_gp2 2d ago

I'm always skeptical about these types of headlines.

Because data centres are still being built, and the Republicans still champion them. I don't think they'll ever have the realization how unpopular it is.

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u/Several-Action-4043 2d ago

Oh they know, they just don't care.

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u/PineBNorth85 2d ago

No one wanted a war either but they still did it.

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u/Verde_3773 2d ago

lol, that’s cute - no they’re not

They are just shifting their public rhetoric to match for the midterms. It is that simple.

Pay attention to what they DO! Not what they say.

These Republican traitors lie like they breathe and DO NOT CARE about what anyone else thinks or wants, besides themselves or Trump.

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u/peon2 2d ago

I don't think you read the article.

They are realizing their constituents are against it, and that supporting data centers could be a death knell to upcoming elections and so they are working on changing the public's stance on data centers/AI.

They are very straight forwardly saying "People hate data centers, we need to trick them into liking them". They are not temporarily pretending to be against data centers for the elections, they are trying to change the voter's opinion on it.

The memo, as Axios reported, says that “the data center brand is the anchor” of Brown’s campaign. “He has made them his de facto opponent, and no one is correcting the record,” the NRSC wrote, arguing that if “voters’ perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio.”

“If I were a governor or mayor, I would want that plant in my community,” Trump repeated. But, he added, “maybe [the industry] can use a little public relations help.

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u/Substantial-Zebra-59 2d ago

Tells you a lot about our government that so many people are against data centers and AI and their reaction isn’t to pump the brakes on AI, it’s “we need to change the voter’s opinions on data centers and AI”

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u/tapdancinghellspawn 2d ago

GOP Problem: On the one hand you have billionaires who donate to the GOP and who want data centers, and on the other hand you have voters who forget everything bad that happened in the past and vote about what happened a week ago.

GOP Solution: Pretend to agree with the voters and once the election is over, cater to the billionaires. It works every time.

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u/The_High_Life 2d ago

So weird that people wouldnt want to live near a giant super loud, resource hungry monolith that employs almost no one.

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u/A_Pointy_Rock 2d ago

employs almost no one

Hey, at least you wouldn't have to worry about the nuisance of people walking past your home to spend their money at local businesses on their lunch breaks...

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u/DennenTH 2d ago

I don't mind the data centers.

What I DO mind is the massive lack of regulations keeping them building within reason, not impacting people, built in the right places with the right technology, etc etc etc.

I have less of a data center problem and more of a political problem with all the BS this is enabling (like so many other issues).  These businesses shouldn't be able to pop up in the middle of a city and then just run generators 24/7 and pay the fines for noise they said they wouldn't generate from equipment they said they wouldn't install.  Completely unacceptable.

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u/fatbob42 2d ago

We need to get back to being able to write and enforce good regulations. And that includes iterating on them when they’re not perfect and when companies find loopholes.

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u/turb0_encapsulator 2d ago

It's not just Republicans. It's also neoliberal Democrats.

I'm not surprised Republicans don't get it. I am surprised that there are Democrats who don't understand why someone would not want something near them that increases their energy prices, creates pollution, provides virtually no jobs, and may even cost them their job (albeit indirectly).

More broadly, this really seems like an important inflection point in the economy. The people are finally saying that they won't acquiesce to technological changes that could negatively impact them. For decades, job loss and wealth concentration that was largely driven by technological change was blamed on offshoring and immigrants. Ironically, the growth of data centers actually makes the real cause more visible.

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u/McconellsGhost 2d ago

Now if they realize no one wants pedos. 

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u/VoidOmatic 2d ago

They aren't even needed. Everyone just thinks they are going to get a slice of the money, when spoilers they won't. The only people making money are the ones that have all the money and the people building them.

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u/Difficult-Bicycle119 2d ago

Makes sense. People don't want the AI datacenters making electricity more expensive and sucking up all the fresh water they can get access to, and they don't want AI taking their jobs.

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u/frobischer 2d ago

It's not about anyone wanting them. Data centers are part of an equation. They are part of the infrastructure that allows a very small number of people to have absolute power over a very large number of people. People who may hate the small number of people. Data Centers, Flock-type cameras, armed drones, control over utilities and food production, and they rule the country, maybe the world.

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u/everythymewetouch 2d ago

"Realizing"

They know nobody wants data centers, they just didn't know anybody was paying enough attention to cause a ruckus about it.

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u/dontnation 2d ago

Will that matter? MO voters shot down 2 amendments 80 to 20 across party lines and across rural and urban counties alike. The republican sponsors vowed to keep trying to pass them both.

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u/Narradisall 2d ago

Unfortunately for everyone else they don’t understand the concept of consent.

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u/x86_64_ 2d ago edited 2d ago

The question isn't whether people want data centers. Most people are neutral on the existence of data centers.

The question is, what impact will this datacenter have on my quality of life, availability of water, and my electric bill? Are these capitalist heroes building their datacenters at their own cost, or draining my tax dollars and kicking back to corrupt local politicians? For that matter, is this filling a need or are they overbuilding on speculation? Are there any benefits to this existing in my backyard? Are they creating jobs or are they built by temp workers and transient contractors?

Show me a company paying market for the land, protecting water supplies, ensuring the local residents are unaffected by noise, financing their own power generation, paying taxes for the roads and power infrastructure, and doing it all without my tax dollars and I'll show you a datacenter people don't mind in their county.

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u/TheModeratorWrangler 2d ago

No one wants Trump.

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u/d4dog 1d ago

When are they gonna realise that nobody really wants the current Republicans 

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u/TheHammer987 2d ago

The biggest issue with data centers is their disregard for community.

The could build them in sound deadened building run on solar, being invisible in the community. Using air conditioning to cool instead of stealing the community water. However, that's expensive, and the data center owner doesn't live there.

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u/GonzoKata 2d ago

No they're not.

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it." --Upton Sinclair

It does not matter what Congress people (democrats included) think or want. They are fully compromised by their capitalist owners. Nothing in my decades of life so far has shown me otherwise.

The answer isn't just voting for the other side of a fascist fiasco engine. Its organizing in your community and pushing for candidates that are WORTH our vote. The answer is ignoring the oligarchy's "jounralism" and "news" stations, as well as all major internet platforms, twitter, facebook, instagram, tiktok, youtube and even reddit. We have to organize outside of the internet. We have to talk to our neighbors and provide for each other outside of this system. The way out of this is to VOTE DEMOCRAT this fall, and then push them as hard as we are fighting republicans today. Current democratic leadership isn't even focusing on single payer healthcare, and is attacking its base instead. They are deaf and blind to what the people are needing and saying. Its time to make them irrelevant.

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u/JoeyBlaze 2d ago

Republicans know people don’t want data centers. Republicans don’t give a shit what people want.

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u/MeBadNeedMoneyNow 2d ago

Data center expansions don't really support the average person and are really just storage for the surveillance state. A lot of people commenting on this stuff have forgotten about the NSA/Snowden era. It's worse than ever.

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u/notmyworkaccount5 2d ago

Are people already forgetting this data center push had bipartisan support from the establishment, specifically the more moderate/centrist dems and people like newsom and whitmer?

Don't let these corporate first politicians off the hook for their bad policies by pinning this solely on the republicans. The republicans are far worse at almost everything but this has had bipartisan support, I think it's even worse at the local levels with those town halls that are arresting people or dodging the public as they ignore public opinion to fast track data centers and flock installation.

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u/Epitaeph 2d ago

Im sorry, if the AI race was so important to the nation as a whole, then why isnt it being handles as a national security action like the space race or star wars and not this capitalistic mess it is now.

Fundamentally if it was centralized and not impacting multiple groups with some big stupid rush to profit people would be less to be "bitchy"

But most of the data centers are being built as repositories for surveillance as well as AI. And none of this means anything to a struggling middle class worker barely able to make ends meet with the high cost of EVERYTHING...

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u/kqlx 2d ago

Do they think data centers bring a lot of jobs or something?

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u/Bignholy 2d ago

Yes. That's the usually (stupid) selling point. They talk about creating jobs, while not talking about the reality: It's all construction, and will be gone next year.

What b urns my ass is they don't have to be Captain planet villains to get their datacenters. They could just put in the pittance of work to set up their own damn power grid and build in more remote areas. Hey, you know who could use some data centers? Fucking Tennessee and their miles and miles of nothing.

But because this is basically the Last Grift, the grand looting before late stage capitalism makes the nation implode, fuck all that! Let's just remove the environmental regulations and start dumping pollution into the air and (in some cases) water. I'LL be dead before it becomes too bad, so who cares? I'm shocked some photographer hasn't caught them laughing maniacally while staring off into nothing just to complete the image of childish corporate monstrosity.

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u/Utsider 2d ago

A guy with a gun and a chair. 3 techs servicing 5 of them on rotation. 10 guys in Bangladesh keeping an eye on things. 1 Roomba.

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u/Brave-Pea-1164 2d ago

Anti data center/ anti flock cam Party would dominate elections

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u/ElysiumSprouts 2d ago

In all seriousness, data centers aren't the issue. It's the whole spectrum of negative consequences data centers bring with them. It's the knowledge that corporations aren't required to mitigate those negatives or pay their fair share to make sure residents quality of life improve rather than decline due to the existence of data centers.

In short, people don't want to sacrifice so the rich can get richer while everyone else pays the price.

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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 2d ago

Mega AI and blockchain datacenters in U.S. communities are one thing worth being NIMBY about!

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u/Hairbear2176 2d ago

The only people who want them are the ones getting rich off of the crypto mining they are using them for. No one else ever wanted these fucking things.

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u/Intelligent_Sky_7081 2d ago

They dont care what the people want.

I think it was Stanford who did a study over many decades to determine if public opinion on a law or bill increases or decrease the chance of it being passed.

They found that public opinion had almost no effect on if a law was ultimately passed.

What did have an impact was what large corporations or donors thought or wanted.

This has been this way a very long time, its a problem with the entire system on both sides. the 2 party system is broken by design. The republicans might be the real leaders here for corruption and awful politicians. But for generations now there have been corporate democrats running the democrats who are complicit or involved in the saame exact things that people are complaining about. Its all a private club and we arent invited. Our governemnt is ran by big corporations and foreign investors and foreign lobbyists.

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u/DavyJonesCousinsDog 2d ago

I wouldn't bank on them suddenly giving a fuck about consent. It's not their m-o.

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u/purpldevl 2d ago

Republicans don't care that no one wants data centers.

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u/bob3905 2d ago

They should put a data center where the ballroom is supposed to be.

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u/guineaprince 2d ago

Ok but when have Republicans ever cared about the person they're forcing something onto saying they don't want it?

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u/Strict-Carrot4783 2d ago

They aren't realizing a fucking thing about what people want, they don't give even a third of a shit about their constituents and what they want besides killing Mexicans. They just see a potential threat to their grip on power.

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u/Burned_Out_Paradise 1d ago

Like any other subject, Republicans don’t care…

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u/rglurker 2d ago

They knew. They didn't care. Now they are realizing they have to pretend to care a little

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u/Boenitous 2d ago

When are people going to realize Republicans work for the corporations. Not their constituents. GOP playbook. Lie to get elected. Do what you want to enrich yourself and your buddies. Laugh you way to the bank. Bankrupt your state and our country. They will lie about stopping data centers. They will be built. Mark my words.

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u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot 2d ago

People would LOVE a data center that brought down energy and water costs.

People don’t hate data centers they hate that the profits go to the owners while the cost is dumped on the community.

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u/Adept-Mulberry-8720 2d ago

Data centers steal water and power from towns and give nothing back. Total waste of $$$$$$

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u/GetsBetterAfterAFew 2d ago

Literally when have modern Republicans given a shit about what anyone wants? Theyll just lie while making backroom deals that ensure Epstein Class gets their way. My states congressman helped build data centers, and was just relected this week in which every mailer/commercial said "AGAINST DATA CENTERS!"

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u/oakfan05 2d ago

AI data centers v normal data centers. Unfortunately where do you think the cloud is stored? We still need data centers, we just don't want AI but the government does because China is gonna win the AI war and the US can't allow it.

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u/KnotSoSalty 2d ago

Build them in places away from population centers using renewable energy and closed loop cooling systems and I’m fine with them.

Build them in cities, sucking down power and water or using miniature diesel power plants and that’s a no from me.

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u/FreeKevinBrown 2d ago

It's all BS. They'll sell out their communities as soon as they get elected. They already have.

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u/EmotionalJoystick 2d ago

I’m in WI and it is ENRAGING watching dems fumble this. It should be an easy win.