Tracking The Data Centers: A Handy Visual Reminder

 <https://brockovichdatacenter.com/>

Want to track the Super Sniffer Dog Surveillance State that all those feral edgelords -- I mean, tech bros, sorry -- are rushing to build, but don't know where to start? If you don't know already, the famed environmental lawyer, Erin Brokovich, offers an interactive map on a website that she's launched to shine a light on this unwholesome phenomenon, which represents that political unicorn -- a development that's aroused enough public antipathy to cross every conceivable party line.

Getting a handle on where they're popping up, however, has been slippery, since data center proponents aren't exactly shouting their arrival from the rooftops. If you look at the maps that some well-intentioned volunteers on the Open Streets public data site, for instance -- there's so few dots, it's enough to make you ask, "What's all the fuss about?"

A quick scan and click across the Brokovich map will part you from those notions pretty fast. As the old saying holds, "knowledge is power," and getting a handle on trends -- since some regions are, shall we say, more overwhelmed by data centers than others -- is the first stop toward stopping them.

And it certainly beats being treated how their proponents envision -- like mushrooms (i.e., fed shit, and kept in the dark), as they swarm our communities, armed with blizzards of non-disclosure agreements, and wild promises dangling from their lips. Which is why it's probably worth filling out the reporting form on Brokovich's website, among many other nifty features, should the need arise.

Another type of map worth checking out is one that shows which states host the most data centers, which you can get from Visual Capitalist (see link below). I was going to include it here, until I saw the "2025" portion of the headline. So, presumably, it's a bit dated, though you can still glean some useful info -- starting with the top data center states.

As you can see, Virginia (665*), Texas (413), California (321), Illinois (244) and Ohio (203) are the top five data hosting states, with others seemingly closing in on a secondary role (such as Oregon and Washington, with 137 and 134 centers, respectively). Even in 2025 terms, they're sobering numbers to view, though necessary, if we want to frame the most relevant lines of protest and resistance.

If nothing else, it's worth having a snappy visual to summarize the problem, which helps in figuring out how to tackle it. After all, what's that equally appropriate old saying? "One picture is worth a thousand words" (or 10,000 words, apparently, because its lineage is somewhat disputed, as the link below will show you), which feels eerily apropos, in this particular context.

Because, as we all know, it's a little bit late when you wake up one day, and find a data center shoehorned onto your doorstep. So let's send the data profiteers packing, wherever they show up, with a different old saying ringing in their tinny, tone deaf ears: "You're bringing coals to Newcastle, and we want it to stop!" Getting the right information, visually speaking, is the first place to start. -- The Reckoner

Links To Go: Hurry, Hurry (Before You Find

A Monster Data Center Squatting In The Backyard)

Brokovich AI Data Center Reporting:
https://brockovichdatacenter.com/

Grammar-Monster.com
A Picture Paints A Thousand Words (Origin):
https://www.grammar-monster.com/sayings_proverbs/a_picture_paints_a_thousand_words.htm

Visual Capitalist: Mapped: States
With The Most Data Centers In 2025:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-u-s-states-with-the-most-data-centers-in-2025/

(*As dated as the map is by now, it's a grimly amusing figure, being only digit one away from that dreaded Biblical number, 666. Go figure, eh?)

Time For Action: Tell Republicans, "Hands Off Heat Standards!"

<i.>

When it comes to mindless cruelty, Republicans never seem to run out of ideas. When it comes to things that folk actually want -- y'know, one job that pays decently, housing that doesn't vaporize your entire check, or groceries you can actually afford -- they hem, haw, and change the subject.

Or else they take a leaf from arch-cruel autocrat wannabes like Texas's imperial-minded Governor, Greg Abbot, who's crusading against foot-washing stations at airports. Yes, you read that right. So long as a single Muslim traveler can take advantage of that religious practice while they're on the go, Abbot won't rest a single minute (see below). 

Still, as bizarre as Abbot's foot-washing jihad sounds, he may feel hard-pressed to match his Congressional counterparts' zeal to prevent the US Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) from setting standards for heat, water and rest breaks in extreme temperatures. (Actually, he's ahead of this cruelty curve, too, but we'll get to that shortly.)

First, though, let's pause for a few words from the AFL-CIO, to set the scene:

"Cities coast to coast are breaking all-time heat records this July, as the extreme heat continues.

 

"But while workers continue to face dangerous and potentially deadly working conditions, anti-worker leaders in Congress are quietly attempting to stop any heat safety protection laws from being passed, now or in the future.

 

"HR 6213, the misnamed Heat Workforce Standards Act, would prohibit the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from creating or enforcing any national heat safety law. 

"Working in extreme heat, both inside and outside, makes workers vulnerable to heat-related illness and even death. It’s difficult to track as heat-related deaths and illnesses are not always recorded as such. As a result, this is a serious problem that is undercounted.

 

"Working in hot environments also impacts a worker’s ability to think clearly, concentrate and react quickly, all of which can lead to further risk and harm.

 

"Please make a call in favor of heat safety standards and to protect workers from heat at work. Call 844-937-2517 now.

 

"In 2024, OSHA proposed the nation’s first heat safety standard. The Trump administration has yet to implement these much-needed protections. But the truth is, leaving heat exposure at work unaddressed doesn’t help big corporations—it costs them $7.8 billion each year and additionally would prevent more than 500 worker fatalities a year. What’s good for workers is what’s good for businesses, and many heat safety measures are common sense, widely accepted and necessary to save lives. 

 

"Workers are facing increasingly hot temperatures across the country, year after year. And all workers are at serious risk of harm from the heat. Thank you for standing with workers this summer and every day."

 

So what's at stake? According to For Construction Pros magazine, OSHA proposed two thresholds in August 2024. If the heat index hits 80 degrees, employers would supply one quart of cool drinking water per worker per hour; air-conditioned or shaded break areas; paid rest breaks, as needed; and an acclimatization plan for new and returning workers. At 90 degrees, employers would add a paid 15-minute break every two hours, a pre-shift hazard alert, and a buddy system, or supervisor observation.

Sounds pretty straightforward, right? As the article notes: "Water, shade, and a break. A few small changes intended to protect our vulnerable workforce in the field. That's it." Who, in their right mind, would oppose measures designed to protect asphalt and construction workers -- or counterparts who work outside, like fruit pickers -- from small things like heat stroke?

Not to worry, as House Republicans are taking up the cudgel against heat protections. They recently advanced -- on a party-line vote, of course -- a bill (HR 6123) that would essentially ban OSHA from ever implementing its proposed standard, or any "substantially similar" rule. 

Equally notable is what the proposed law doesn't do, as the magazine observes: "It carries no sunset date and no mechanism for Congress to revisit the question if heat related injury or death continue to rise. It does not amend the standard or send OSHA back to rewrite it. It functionally closes the door and takes the handle off." 

Which, of course, is the intent. Why go to these lengths, otherwise? It reminds us of the old joke about the scorpion stinging the frog, as they're crossing a river. (If you haven't heard it, no worries -- it's one of the classic moments from the 1992 film, The Crying Game.) 

"Why did you sting me?" the frog plaintively asks, as they start sinking. "You promised me you wouldn't do that."

"I can't help it," the scorpion responds. "it's my nature." We'll revisit that point, too, because it's more pertinent to our discussion than you might think.

<ii.>

As extreme as HR 6123 sounds, its future path remains uncertain. Sixty-three House Republicans have signed onto it, but no Democrat has done so. Nor have any Democrats joined a similar version co-sponsored by US Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and 11 of his cohorts. 

Even if the House passes HR 6123, it faces an uphill future in US Senate, where Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's Decaying Gravedigger of Democracy, long ago cemented 60 votes as the price of doing business there. That means convincing seven Democrats, and all 53 Republicans -- which is hardly a given, with more than a few Elephant Party water carriers (Collins, Husted) facing tough re-election races this fall.

The proposed OSHA rule isn't going anywhere, either. It's sat on the shelf since the original public comment period closed on October 30, 2025. No proposal for a final rule has been announced, again, most likely by design.

But even if Congressional Republicans don't succeed, Abbot -- and his maniacal twin, Governor Ron DeSantis, of Florida -- are way ahead of them, as Construction Pros reported last September (see link below). Both states have passed sweeping measures to prevent local governments from imposing their own restrictions; this, even though Texas leads the nation in heat-related fatalities, at 334, while Florida isn't far behind (84).

Reading the GOP 101 Clichespeak of HR 6123's mastermind, Indiana Congressman Mark Messmer, is an even more surreal experience -- as he rails against "rolling back more of the unnecessary Biden-era regulations," and "reducing trivial red tape." 

Last time we checked, you can get cold water for free, out of the tap -- unless Abbot plans to start charging his subjects for it, once the Islamic foot-washing areas are safely removed. How much more would those 15-minute breaks cost for construction and road workers, who typically earn wages above the local norm?

But there's another irony worth noting. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association opposed OSHA's proposal as burdensome, and expensive -- citing the potential crew costs of mandated rest breaks, among other concerns, Construction Pros reports. "But ARTBA never asked Congress to eliminate federal heat rulemaking entirely," the magazine asserts, in its August update. "HR 6123 forecloses that outcome. The 'substantially similar' language would block a performance-based heat standard as thoroughly as a prescriptive one."

The betrayed tone is impossible to miss, particularly in Construction Pros's September 2025 article, when it reported on the groundswell to get moving on HR 6123. The article focuses on the irony of states like Texas cracking down on heat restrictions, amid their participation in such glitzy, high-profile celebrations, as Work Zone Awareness Week:

"While the focus on work zone safety in this manner is absolutely critical to raising awareness, only focusing on the aspect related to drivers and auto accidents does potentially cast an empty and performative light on all the press releases, Facebook posts, and Instagram reels from various State officials, while they actively pass legislation that increases work zone danger."

If nothing else, these negative passion projects remind us all of the need for unions. What kind of darkness thrives in somebody who'd deny their worker bees a drink of water, and a brief rest break, especially since extreme weather is now the norm?

It's one tendency that unites all these Trump prostrating edgelords -- from Bezos, to Ellison, to Musk, Zuckerberg and back again. They're all virulently anti-union, and they all can't wait to tell us what to do. As long as we don't try to flip the script on them, and tell them what to do -- because that's when the face falls off, with a clang, and a thud. And the ugliness lurking behind it is truly a sight for the sorest of eyeballs!

<iii.>

When you consider the growing unease with immigration policies that have drastically hurt the agricultural and construction industries -- both of whom went all-in for the 2024 Trump Restoration, with campaign contributions, and full-throated support -- the urge to scratch that schadenfreude itch becomes irresistible. 

But for now, let's focus on simpler objectives, starting with calls to the 844-937-2517 number that the AFL-CIO has set up. That line connects you to your Congressional representative, without having to look up the number. If that line's busy, you could try the Congressional switchboard (202-224-3121).

And maybe, just maybe, it's worth dropping a proverbial dime to Congressman Messmer. A quick check at opensecrets.org shows him raising $1.16 million, with half of it ($457,000) coming from PACs. The profile of a typical corporate politician, right? But still, it's worth reminding him that we're aware of what he's doing, and don't support it, so call: (202) 225-4636.

Considering the political headwinds blowing so heavily on Messmer and company, it shouldn't be too hard to get their attention. As for the industries that supported Trump? Maybe you know someone who's a contractor, or a paver, or a roofer. Or a fruit picker, or a landscaper, or anyone who works outside.

Show them the Construction Pros articles, and ask: "What happened here? They thought these guys were their friends, but look at what they're planning. Is that what friends do? Maybe it's time you started looking for some different friends, too."

And then, if all else fails? You can tell the story of the scorpion, and the frog. Because it's one thing to end up drowning, once the stinger does its thing. Especially if you willingly put yourself there, by choice. Remember, they can't help it. It's their nature. --The Reckoner

Guess what? 

Sometimes, it just pays 

to trust your instincts...

<pic: janellehardy.com>

Links To Go, Or... (Do Republicans 
Really Have It Made In The Shade?)

Chron.com: Why A Muslim Airport Amenity
Open Since 2024 Has Drawn The Ire Of Republicans:
Why a Muslim airport amenity open since 2024 has the ire of Texas Republicans

For Construction Pros: House Republicans
Advance Ban On Heat Safety Standard...:
https://www.forconstructionpros.com/asphalt/business/safety/article/22972616/house-republicans-advance-ban-on-heat-standard-workers-to-absorb-the-risk

For Construction Pros: When The Heat Is On:
Safety Rollbacks Endanger Road Crews In The Sunbelt:
https://www.forconstructionpros.com/business/construction-safety/article/22947582/heat-safety-rollbacks-endanger-road-crews-in-the-sunbelt

National Federation of Independent Businesses:
NFIB Supports Committee Passage
Of The Heat Workforce Standards Act:
https://www.nfib.com/news/press-release/nfib-supports-committee-passage-of-the-heat-workforce-standards-act/

(Included for completeness. It's so much blather, because -- hey, that free cup of cold water is just too much to offer during a busy roadwork day -- but it's worth a look, if only to view how the promoters of this notion are going about imposing it on everyone else.)

This is the time for action,

Time to be seen...

To Be Continued...

<YouTube capture> 

A Glimpse Of The Future? Of Smartphones, Social Networks & Reading Rates (Cabbages & Kings Optional)

 

<LA Times, 7/13/26: A glimpse of the future?>

I stumbled across the above clipping on Facebook, which certainly offers plenty of food for thought. Start with the stat on smartphone ownership. I'm not among the two-thirds who owned one by 2015, which makes me an outlier, on some level. The flipside? My longtime associate, The Squawker, does have one, and uses it regularly, for the usual boring reasons (i,.e., it makes certain mindless tasks easier). So if I want to scratch that particular itch, it's not difficult.

That being said, it's hard to argue with the author's assertion that our ongoing decline in literacy picked up steam the moment that smartphones became universal. The five and seven hours per day that adults and young spend, respectively, starting into their gadgets is also time that doesn't go into reading books.

Nor does it seem especially surprising to see the steepest declines logged among the usual suspects -- from men and boys, to rural residents, and those with lower education levels (translated: high school dropouts, presumably, and also those who never finished college). Unsurprisingly, declines in reading rates are less steeper among girls, and women. 

Obviously, this is a complicated subject. If you're using a smartphone to make speech more understandable, then I'll say, "More power to you." I wouldn't tell you to junk it. Even if we somehow gained the capability of instantly vaporizing smartphones tomorrow, it wouldn't necessarily raise our declining literacy rates overnight. But the LA Times columnist, David Shelley, hits on an often-overlooked point in the Great Literacy Debate -- why it's so important, and not for the most commonly cited reason, of sweeping the sclerosis from the veins of our sagging democracy:

"Reading offers unique benefits and pleasure. Sometimes that pleasure can be hard-won -- it's not a simple, instant dopamine hit -- but it's enduring and long-lasting. We remember the books we loved as a child for the rest of our lives. Can we say the same for a meme we enjoyed, or a social media post?"

I know that feeling well. One of my strongest formative childhood experiences came from my mom, who would read to me -- and encourage me to do likewise, for her ( a habit that continued for entertainment, into her twilight years). But we didn't just bond over The Jungle Book.

She would buy me more advanced fare, like every book written by the French explorer, Jacques Cousteau -- who, along with his son, Phillippe, seemed to be everywhere on '70s TV screens -- and then quiz me on the vocabulary. Or it might be key concepts, or key details, whatever she'd pick out. And if I didn't hit the mark, we'd run down those items, again -- and again, and again -- until she felt I had them down.

My dad was a heavyweight reader himself, gliding from all the classics of literature, to more esoteric subject matter, like those classic Ballantine paperbacks on World War II -- which eventually filled an entire bookcase on their own -- and tomes on history, politics, sociology, you name it.

On top of all that, he read several news magazines regularly, week after week -- including Newsweek, TIME, US News & World Report -- which he'd then hand over to me, once he finished. Without TIME, that arch-establishment bastion, I'd never have learned about the Martin Beck mystery series, to which they devoted a two-page spread -- complete with images of the classic Pantheon hardcover editions -- on August 11, 1975.

The publication date is noteworthy, because it happened just over two months after the death of Per Wahloo -- who co-authored the books with his companion, Maj Sjowall, from 1965-75. Thankfully, the first of its major predictions proved wrong ("Unhappily, few of their works are likely to make their way to the screen?"), though not the second: "As time passes, the novels will probably be taken more seriously as literature because of their biting social comment and the shrewdness with which it animates the plots."

My curiosity piqued, I went down to one of our local libraries, which -- lo and behold! -- had practically the entire series, except for a book or two. I started reading them, and have never stopped. And they have aged well, whether you enjoy them purely as police procedurals, or social commentaries. I like both approaches, which suits me fine, if I ever start writing mysteries.

Still, when you consider that Wahloo and his other half remained largely unknown at the time, outside of their native Sweden -- and Europe, perhaps, once their books started getting translated into the relevant homegrown languages -- to see them covered in such depth felt impressive. TIME magazine was "on it!"

You can read the article for yourself (see below) and judge, though completists should track down the original -- because seeing those cover illustrations really grabbed me. And that's just one of many, many examples. I never would have learned about the British punk rock explosion without the August 11, 1977 roundup ("Anthems Of The Blank Generation"), whose leadoff paragraph is a classic blast of incomprehension:

"ITEM: In London, Singer Johnny Rotten spits at the audience and cries out, 'I hate you!' Sizing up Johnny’s four-letter words, tattered clothing and generally repugnant personal deportment, the British Establishment decides that it hates him. Johnny and his band, the Sex Pistols, are regularly banned from British radio, concert halls and clubs. Nonetheless, the Pistols’ latest single, a Jubilee diatribe against royalty called God Save the Queen, is currently a bestselling record in Britain."

Again, if you can track down the original article, it's well worth the effort, for the visuals alone. By the time I read the article -- which included quotes from "Blank Generation" (Richard Hell), and "Venus de Milo" (Television), along with grainy black and white shots of the Clash, the Sex Pistols, and so on -- I wanted to get my hands on this music, and experience it myself.

My dad, God bless him, might finally forgive me for that one. Especially if I told him that these days, the man who was Rotten, who wrote that anti-monarchist classic, "God Save The Queen," -- plain old John Lydon -- loves the Queen. Can't get enough of her, in fact. Or so it seems, judging from whatever mood he's feeling that week. With him, it's hard to tell where the act ends, and the real person takes over again.

My other most important formative experience came from the Great Books Program, which I joined around fifth or sixth grade. An outside person -- or "coordinator," as they called it, I think -- came in two or three times a week, and we'd discuss whatever reading we'd been assigned (usually from  an abridged version, if I recall correctly). The fare ranged from the esoteric likes of Bartleby The Scrivener (Herman Melville), to classics like The Iliad, The Odyssey, and milestone works from Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald -- I could go on forever, but you get the idea. 

Without those experiences, it's hard to imagine what I would have become. I've always had a natural curiosity about the world around me, so the ingraining of reading may well have happened, anyway -- but might have taken a lot longer, without the input from my parents, or Great Books. And maybe I'd have hit a few speed bumps along the way, taste-wise, who knows?

Suffice to say, those experiences offer something tangible and meaningful, which I don't see happening as often in the virtual world. The bloom is well and truly off the rose from the wide-eyed, golly-gee-whiz vision that Rush's drummer/lyricist Neal Peart, expresses in a song like "Virtuality": "Net boy, net girl/Send your signal around the world/Let your fingers walk and talk/And set you free."

Who would write a song like that nowadays, especially after all the negative revelations about the tech bullies, and their nonstop efforts to manipulate, track, and enslave us -- hence, their pell-mell rush to throw up the data centers needed to build their surveillance state? Or the Facebook whistleblower scandal, or the UK tabloid phone hacking scandal, or the tsunami of cyberbullying reports (now gaining additional legs, after the Jason Arday story)?

If there's any justice at all -- and if the long arc truly bends toward it -- then that AI bubble will blow up in the edgelords' faces, with the data centers going bust as fast as they arrived. Because I don't know about you, but I'm way past tired of seeing a bunch of feral overgrown little boys make the world suffer, because they got cut from their dodgeball team. 

Again, I recognize that it's a complicated subject. I know a lot of people with disabilities, and shut-ins, who would disagree with me, and that's fine. If you aren't able to get around easily, or it's too expensive to travel widely, the digital world might offer your only shot at learning about Japanese cooking, or the crown jewel of Uruguayan direct to video filmmaking (profiled in Straight To VHS).

So duly noted, seconded, and all that. But if we really want to push the literacy curve back in our direction, we not only need to take back our tech, but a more robust discussion about what we expect from it -- and what we can do differently, to avoid rehashing the errors of our past.

That call feels even more urgent, when I read the equally wide-eyed, golly-gee-whiz comments of Aaron Sorkin, writer-director of The Social Reckoning -- the sequel to The Social Network (2020), who finds it "dangerous" that a third of US adults now regularly get their news from it:

"And by the way, let me be clear: I don't think Mark Zuckerberg ever intended for it to have a corrosive effect. I think his intentions were good. He was somebody who, like a lot of people, had difficulty fitting into the social structure of college life and probably high school. He invented his own social structure, and he got to be the mayor of it and couldn't be excluded from it. His brilliance is undeniable, and that was a cool thing and it got way out of hand. It's gone completely out of control."

To which I can only respond with New Musical Express's withering summary of the blame it hung on the Clash's late lead singer, Joe Strummer, for producing the Clash's oft-mocked swan song, Cut The Crap: "Perhaps naively, I don't doubt Strummer's sincerity, but a big question mark has got to hang over his marbles, Ron."

And likewise, I'd ask the same question of Sorkin. How can someone who did the deep dive through the darkest corners of Big Tech's origin story ever emerge from it, waxing so naively about it? Is he really that simple-minded? Sadly, and evidently, yes.

Because if you read The Social Network's printed incarnation, before it hit the big screen, you'll find that "Zuck" -- as they called him, then and now -- wasn't trying to find the cure for cancer, or writing fanboy letters to Mother Teresa, or plotting how to grow a super-grain capable of feeding the starving millions for zero dollars. Nope, none of those things.

Instead, he spent much of his time drinking, partying, and chasing women, amid endless hours and hours and hours of coding, all in pursuit of an endless mountain of loot -- all the things that lead to the dreaded malady of "Billionaire Brain," just as his robber baron predecessors have done before him -- the only difference being, at least the Gilded Age bad boys pretended to feel grateful for all their ill-gotten gains.

Whether they pulled it off is an altogether different matter entirely. But, suffice to say, I don't think we can trust the Aaron Sorkins of the world to lead us to the promised land, anymore than the techno-robber barons he's spent his last half-decade or so chronicling.

And, more than ever, I'm convinced that the next counterculture will owe little or nothing to this insufferable Silicon Gulch that we find ourselves stuck inhabiting, if ever so unhappily. And reading, and improved literacy, will have to be part of that recipe, to reclaim ourselves from it. And if it's not?

Then I think the cartoon below tells us everything we need to know. Just imagine a Communist Bloc-style uber-culture, devoid of any spirit or spark, only backed up by a more wide-ranging and malign apparatus than the drearily bland tinhorn likes of Eric Honecker could ever have dreamed up, one that stands ready to snap its digital cage into place over you.

It's the kind of scenario that gives new meaning to the concept of a "captive audience," one that has the likes of David Ellison dreaming about a future with "everyone on their best behavior" -- as if people are merely dogs who can be trained by snapping the right leash into place, or dangling the biggest biscuit safely out of reach.

Maybe he, and all of his kind, find the only air-conditioned cells in Hell awaiting their arrival, once the local fire department has finally cleared away the vast puffs of sulfur they've left behind, once they've finally shuffled off.

Now, imagine how you might muddle along through a morass -- and you can take it mentally from there. We'll be revisiting this subject plenty more times, before the next turn of the wheel comes along. So let us gear up, and step up, before there is no margin for error anymore. And history will never forgive us, if we don't get the recipe right. Or, at least, a better sense of the balance. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry, Yank The Plug
On The Techlord's Great Anti-Rock 'N' Roll Swindle):

The Hollywood Reporter:
Aaron Sorkin Says "Facebook is Completely Out Of Control":
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/aaron-sorkin-says-facebook-completely-173335255.html

TIME: Martin Beck Passes:
https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,917703-1,00.html

TIME: Music: Anthems From The Blank Generation:
https://time.com/archive/6853029/music-anthems-of-the-blank-generation/

Time For Action: Urge Your Attorney General (Stop Paramount's Mega-Media Monopoly) (UPDATED: 7/14/26)

 

<Bari Weiss (l) and Donald Trump: 

The world's oddest couple?

Spotted on Facebook, no source credited

(but we'll credit where it's due, or 

take it down, if the creator objects...>

Suggested Soundtrack: "Time For Action," Secret Affair (1979)

At Ramen Noodle Nation, we don't just copy and paste what somebody else has created. If we had a motto, it might well be, "All original, all the time," which seems only fair -- especially in an age of people being conditioned to accept whatever AI slop rolls off the algorithmic conveyer belt. It's a vow well in keeping with our punk rock heritage, where a full-on set of originals sounds more appealing than a strict set of covers ("Brown-Eyed Girl," "In The Midnight Hour," "Route 66," and so on).

But sometimes, it's just simpler to post content from a non-original source that seems relevant, and on target, as you've seen here -- especially since last winter, when we posted various appeals that offered avenues for action. So it goes with Robert Reich's suggestion on how to weigh in against the proposed Paramount-Skydance merger, which the "Justice" Department has recently approved.

Without further ado, here's Reich's post, and the specific avenue you can take to roll one more log, so to speak, against the idea:

"Paramount is on the verge of becoming the largest pro-Trump media monopoly in America. 

"Two of the nation's biggest news organizations -- CBS News and CNN -- along with CBS Entertainment (home to Stephen Colbert), Comedy Central (home to Jon Stewart), HBO (John Oliver), and TikTok (where 1 out of 5 Americans now get their news) -- are all about to become one giant mega-media monopoly under the control of Trump allies and suck-ups: multibillionaire Larry Ellison and Ellison's son, David.

"It could make Rupert Murdoch's media empire of Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post look scrupulous by comparison.

"Trump is now on the verge of having effective control over a gigantic media company.

"Billionaires are flipping media companies like playing cards. They don't give a fig for the common good, or about the producers, correspondents, journalists, and investigative reporters whose lives are being turned upside down. 

"To them, it's all about accumulating more wealth and power.

"But it's bad for the economy, bad for our democracy, and bad for America.

"All this has happened since so suddenly that most Americans still haven't even noticed the emergency of this new pro-Trump media empire all under the control of one family of Trump cronies.

"The Ellisons' new mega-media monopoly would never pass muster if America still had antitrust enforcers. Media mergers and acquisitions deserve even stricter scrutiny than normal deals. But Trump's Department of Justice is as likely to stop this deal as it is to enforce criminal laws against ICE agents.

"You know who can stop this from happening? State attorneys general. They have the power to enforce antitrust laws and sue to stop this merger. They have legal standing and necessary resources to challenge this monstrosity.

"California's attorney general, Rob Bonta, has already made clear he will take it on. We're asking every Californian to send him a message of support. And for the rest of our country, we're asking everyone to urge their state attorney general to join California's lawsuit or launch a separate lawsuit.

"This is how you can help stop this merger. Click 'START WRITING' to sign and send your message now!"

So what are we waiting for? Head over to the relevant link, and start writing:

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/stop-paramounts-mega-media-monopoly/?source=group-Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawSqvAhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFGc09VT1JFMFM4U1gzMWxZc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHtvrpBlq29L0LvDI6PEwaMtzHGJQM-sDlk0adoQi_kMdBosQsDdpxjoslIb0_aem_x6mA39rgWVTarb94rSeVbA

If you're not comfortable with getting emails from the campaign sponsors mentioned below the link, you can presumably contact your state AG the old-fashioned way -- as in, writing a letter -- or using whatever email contact info they display on their website.

Either way, you should be to whip up a crisp summary of why "this monstrosity," as Reich calls it, shouldn't proceed. There are ample reasons for just saying no to the idea, starting with the obvious -- monopolies stifle competition, and slow innovation. Imagine how the '60s fiercely competitive cultural landscape would have played out if today's reality -- in which the so-called "Big Six" have now shrunk to the "Big Three" -- had taken hold then.

And, of course, why should Trump -- or any of his allies -- be allowed so much more outsized control and influence than they already enjoy? We are, in a real sense, paying the price for the mantra that accelerated during the Clinton era ("Corporations are people, too, so let big companies grow bigger").

Funny how we no longer hear that golden GOP oldie anymore about "the liberal media," once they sink their hooks into it, isn't it? Amazing how that works.

Keep in mind, the final innings haven't been played in this game yet. A coalition of state AGs is currently suing to block the settlement of the federal antitrust case involving the LiveNation-Ticketmaster merger. UK regulators have also announced plans to review the Paramount deal, and Bonta's counterpart, Letitia James, is weighing whether to join the suit. 

Time will tell how all this activity plays out, but at least it'll prevent the Paramount merger from turning into a walkover. Overdogs of all shapes and sizes thrive on cultivating an aura of invincibility and inevitability; it's a huge part of their PR shtick, so they can save the energy that it would take to actually quash some foe who put up a halfway decent fight.

Going beyond this immediate business, the need for reforming Big Tech and Big Media has never been plainer. As admirable as the state AGs' efforts have been, they shouldn't have to fill a yawning antitrust chasm that's more or less existed since the Clinton era.

And don't automatically assume that Democrats are immune from the "corporations are people, too" ethos that plagues their Republican counterparts -- as I never tire of reminding people, it was Obama's Justice Department that approved the same LiveNation-Ticketmaster merger, the one that sent Bruce Springsteen's fans into a UFO (Unanimous Fierce Outcry, not those little green men!). So what are you waiting for?

Start writing, raise your voice now, and let it be heard, while you crank up some classic Secret Affair. Because -- as the song says -- this is the time, the time for action, time to be seen. --The Reckoner

<https://act.freepress.net/sign/block-paramount-warner-bros-merger/>

Links To Go: (Hurry, Hurry,
Before Dr. Evil & Company Buy The Entire Media Landscape!)

Block The Merger: The Open Letter:

https://blockthemerger.com/openletter

Mediate: "I'm Not Working For You Hacks!":
Kara Swisher Vows To Leave CNN If The Ellisons Buy It:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/im-not-working-for-you-hacks-kara-swisher-vows-to-leave-cnn-if-the-ellisons-buy-it/ 
(Worth reading -- for her comments alone!)

NBC News: Hollywood Stars Sign Open Letter:
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/hollywood-letter-paramount-warner-bros-merger-rcna331499

NBC News: The Fight To Stop
A Hollywood Mergamerger Is Far From Over:
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/paramount-skydance-warner-bros-discovery-merger-state-ags-rcna350304

The Independent: Anderson Cooper Makes His Feelings Crystal Clear...:
https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/anderson-cooper-cnn-cbs-merger-paramount-b3004333.html

Secret Affair: Time For Action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZCOwnMEVvE

The Wrap: Kara Swisher Doubles Down...:
https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/journalism/kara-swisher-plans-to-leave-cnn-ellisons/


UPDATE (7/14/26): Twelve states, led by California and New York, are now banding to challenge the mega-merger, which is also drawing askance looks across the pond, too, in the UK (at last report). Obviously, from a distance, this move seems like the longest of long shots.

However, given the healthy skepticism from the federal branch of anything with Trump's fingerprints on it -- or those of his cronies, like the Ellisons -- I'd say that it stands a fair chance. At a minimum, it will slow down the momentum, and who knows? Maybe some smoking gun piece of evidence will emerge to throw the whole project into chaos.

We can only hope, but for now, let's keep the momentum going, and keep the pressure on, as these links show:

PBS Newshour:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/12-states-challenge-paramounts-takeover-of-warner-say-merger-would-extinguish-competition

Yahoo Finance:

https://finance.yahoo.com/media-advertising/articles/states-sue-block-paramounts-111-155502784.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9sb2dpbi55YWhvby5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAIeAyPq8WK_Q2VmXzx78gFmwjbDlW2-ch04QgcRIP5Lc_fWWxbAmVXaN08wPP9Az1d0J72S-QomY9qDDoaU82imRTa89BrSsWivlctZnrX2HYYcGPrOkJt6HgrvbmExEZEiC49w0EF88_G3yz9Lwmp3HjdqD0Jt4-s8wPaukIal

<Secret Affair's lead singer, Ian Page,

 keeps it up close 'n' personal:

  "Time For Action" video (YouTube capture)>

...They can laugh in our face
'Cause we know we're right
Looking good's the answer,
And living by night...

So take me to your leader,

Because it's time you realized...

...That this is the time

This is the time for action (time for action)
This is the time to be seen (time to be seen)...

This is the time for action,

Time to be seen...

To Be Continued...

<YouTube capture> 

Mad King Watch (Take XIV): No Kings #3 Happening Today

 

Sums up the current mood, doesn't it?

The No Kings protests return today, after a roughly six-month hiatus, to confront a President who seems ever more unmoored to any kind of objective reality., especially in light of his unilateral crusade for remote control regime change. Over 90 events are planned in Michigan alone, most spanning the 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift, though "local listings may vary," as TV Guide used to tell us. So check the particulars of any event before you go (see link below).

This third installment promises to be the largest one yet, with organizers forecasting seven to nine million participants at some 3,000-odd events nationwide. By any measure, today's events amount to a major display of defiance, as the Trump regime continues its slow, but steady, unraveling.

Nowhere is the disconnect more glaringly apparent than the ever-shifting rationales  for the Iran War, now entering its fifth week. The predictions of a quick finish are a distant memory, one that makes mincemeat out of this Trumpian boast: "We figured it will be four weeks or so. It's always been about a four-week process, so -- as strong as it is, it's a big country, it'll take four weeks -- or less." 

And, presumably, hash of this one: "It won't be difficult." Or this one, tossed out to CNN: "I don't want to see it go on too long." (How long, of course, wasn't specified.) Or this one, via "War Secretary" Hegseth Ham Sandwich: "This is not a so-called regime change war." So much for that idea, apparently, though even that has a conditional contingency, as Trump sees it: "If they rise, they rise." 

Glad we cleared all that up, eh? All jokes apart, however, it's worth pondering the mental disconnect that's deposited us in this most miserable of places, and why it bears addressing -- however, whenever, wherever we correct our national course. Imagine the mental thought process that prompted all those Black, Gen Z and Latino voters, among the more obvious suspects, to give Trump another try in 2024:

"Donald or Kamala? Hmm, looks like a tough one. How can I vote for a chick who hasn't worn a dress since 'Silver Spoons' went off the air? She does seem more stable than Trump, though. I can't imagine her leading us to war with Russia, or China, or any of those rogue nation states.

"But my eggs and my gas have never cost more! Just like Biden, she keeps saying, 'Look at those charts, look at those graphs! Why all the bitching? You've never had it so good!' Guess I'll just go for the man-baby. He'll blow up everything, and gas will be back at two bucks a gallon, before you know it. At least he's not boring, right?"

Obviously, I'm exaggerating for effect, but not by much. The scary thing is, this imagined rundown is probably more complex than the reasoning most voters likely employed to give Trump another bite at the apple. Essentially, as we've suggested before, economics played the greatest tipping point.

Sadly, Biden nor Harris never understood the reality that macro stats don't pay the bills, politically speaking, nor do they win affection in the voting booth. Learning that the official unemployment rate has never been lower offers cold comfort when you can't afford the food on your table. 

But neither should we allow those proverbial broken clocks -- the ones who finally admit that giving Trump another turn at the wheel might not have been the greatest idea, from Marjorie Taylor Greene, to Joe Rogan, and all the rest of them -- off the hook, either. Another reminder of this idea crossed my mind, via this sentence from this MSN article (see link below):

"Wall Street is sounding the alarm as Trump's Iran war threatens to crater an already fragile economy, with financial analysts warning the protective guardrails shielding the U.S. from economic catastrophe are rapidly eroding."

The effect further snowballs, as we see from these words, a few paragraphs later: "Gregory Daco, EY-Parthenon's chief economist, warned of systemic vulnerability. 'The U.S. is now confronting inherent fragilities,' he said. 'The typical buffers that would prevent any type of external shock -- like an oil price shock -- from disproportionately affecting the economy are smaller than usual.'

"'Downside risks are rising, and this is an extremely fluid situation,' Daco added.

"The financial sector is rapidly losing confidence in the administration's economic stewardship, Politico reported. A Bank of America survey of global fund managers released Tuesday found inflation expectations surging, with 28 percent now expecting Democrats to retake both houses of Congress in the midterms -- up from just 20 percent a month ago."

To which I can only respond, "Gee, guys. Guess what? Did any of these possibilities ever cross your mind, before you lined up on the dais on Inauguration Day, and began prostrating to your preferred golden calf? Apparently not. So what am I supposed to feel here? Because of all the emotions, sympathy is not among them."

You can guffaw through the rest as you wish. Whoever wrote those sentences surely has a bright future as a standup comedian, even if it's an unintentional one.

But we must not lose sight of how deep the need for accountability runs, whenever this madness finally, mercifully, and thankfully runs its course. We can talk about "Trump-proofing" our increasingly sclerotic democratic system, so that someone else like him cannot bend and break its rusting guardrails beyond repair, and beyond redemption.

We can pass whatever reforms are needed, to give people a long-overdue modicum of relief from the implicit dictatorship of make believe money, so they can regain a real and meaningful measure of control over their lives once more.

We can work on retaking our media landscape back from the feral tech bros and amoral billionaires wishing to twist it around their grimy little fingers, as the likes of Bari Weiss are already demonstrating -- in vying to soft sell their Dear Leader's worst attributes, Tiger Beat-style. The only difference being, of course, that Tiger Beat didn't pass off its '70s pop idol promotional blitzes as actual shoe leather journalism.

We can do any or all of those things. But unless we start a conversation with those who enabled this madness -- starting with, "Just what did you see in this man?" -- none of those objectives will matter. Without that conversation, we will simply end up duking it out again, four years now -- if not with JD Vance, Trump's hopeful heir apparent, then someone who sounds just like him.

With those thoughts in mind, I'm leaning towards these words from Polly Toynbee in The Guardian, as a more pertinent and relevant point of inspiration:

"Trump calls on the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow their religious dictatorship. The rest of the world is willing the American people to rise up – progressives, Magas and stock marketeers alike – against their wildly out-of-control president who has no exit strategy because he never had an entry purpose. This world-changing conflagration will cost his citizens dear and they need to frighten him out of war: unpopularity is all he fears."

That is what today's third round of national actions are all about. There is a reason why Abraham Lincoln said, "Public sentiment is everything." And it's about time that the ruling class found that out, however they end up learning that particular lesson. --The Reckoner

Links To Go: Hurry, Hurry, 
Before "King Lear" Reads Like A Documentary:

MSN: Wall Street Sounds Alarm
That Trump May Be Leading US To Economic Catastrophe:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/wall-street-sounds-alarm-that-trump-may-be-leading-us-to-economic-catastrophe-report/ar-AA1YYvPi?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=69bc7c52f62a4665bcab5b933bfa65c6&ei=14

No Kings: Find An Event Near You:
https://www.nokings.org/

The Guardian: Polly Toynbee: It's Trump's Mania,
But Now All Of Us Will Pay The Price:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/23/war-unprecedented-depression-trump-mania-iran

Yahoo News: A Running List Of
The Most Inspirational Trump Quotes About The Iran War:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/running-list-most-inspirational-trump-200211377.html

Mad King Watch (Take XIII): Notes On The (Apparent) Eve Of World War III

 

<"Missing In Action..."/The Reckoner
Pahlavi Head Shot:
European Union, 1998-2026>

<i.>

A maximalist-minded President launches a series of strikes against a nonwhite-governed enemy, in its latest saber-rattling display of its endless appetite for controlling others. Rather than rallying around the flag, however, the overall effect is closer to the sound of one hand clapping, or the sudden implosion of a damp wet paper bag, amid rampant levels of social and political inequity. To steal a rhetorical flourish from Winston Churchill, never have so many toiled for so little, and never have so few owned so much more than the rest, always at their expense.

If you think you're living in the world of 1896 -- or going from zero to 1939, in 10 seconds or class -- welcome to the club. if you're still harboring any doubts, this weekend's strikes against Iran should finally settle them. What's most remarkable about our latest bout of Middle East madness is how little the governing classes  have learned from calamities like the endless Iraq war of 2003, and the chaotic August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, that finally climaxed our 20-year military adventurism there.

Suffice to say, neither instance proved the satirical proposition that I remember seeing in one of Tom Tomorrow's cartoons on this very subject: "They'll be too busy making cheap oil for their new American friends to stay mad at us for long." We'll revisit that idea shortly, but it's a thesis worth repeating, as Trump sleepwalks into the same box canyon that derailed his Biden and Bush-era counterparts -- that nations can never be created, nor managed, by remote control.

Nevertheless, we seem ready to repeat that mistake once more, if Trump's scarlet-coated rhetorical flourishes to Iran's beleaguered masses are any indication: "America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach." Yet bombing alone has never proven enough to generate regime change all by itself, as the Allies learned in World War II, for example. Or should have learned, perhaps, in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The other basic problem, as experts cited by the Wall Street Journal suggest (see link below), is that no matter how the dust settles, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will still hold all the guns. Without boots on the ground, or some other event  forcing their hand, they won't be going anywhere -- nor switching sides -- any time soon. "There is no organized opposition ready to seize this moment,"  as one of those experts, Mohammed Albasha, told the Journal. "The likely outcome is not reform, but consolidation, closer to a closed military state."

Indeed. Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's death has already spurred the emergence of a collectivist leadership that can hold the reins until the situation stabilizes, and eventually, choose a successor. If Iran's military fortunes fall further -- which isn't yet a given -- that same group could head for the hills, and coordinate some type of insurgency, if need be, similar to the Afghan or Iraqi experiences. 

Whatever scenario unfolds, neither seems likely to include a job opening for Iran's former crown prince. Judging by Reza Pahlavi's initial public statements, he seems afflicted by the same wishful thinking bouncing around the halls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: "This is a humanitarian intervention; and its target is the Islamic Republic, its repressive apparatus, and its machinery of slaughter -- not the country and great nation of Iran."

For all the richly justified hatred that Iranians harbor toward their government, we doubt that "humanitarian" will be the word they associate with the missiles and munitions raining down on their country. Nor is the same brutal regime that instigated over 7,000 verified deaths in its latest crackdown likely to post a Craigslist-style ad ("Wanted: New Leader To Usher Transition Away From Theocracy. Unlimited Potential And Benefits"), nor a billboard in downtown Tehran ("Reza, Where Are You? Phone Home").

<Simply drowning in the devil's excrement? 
Edwin Drake, the first man to succeed in drilling for oil:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49499443>

<ii.>

So where does this latest twitch of the Trump circus leave us? Undoubtedly, some of it's driven by petrostate nostalgia, since few blocs exert such outsized influence as the fossil fuel industry -- which accounts for just eight percent of the US economy, even by its own figures alone Yet that statistic doesn't tell the whole story, for the industry "is also woven into the U.S. political fabric in ways that resemble the structure of petrostates," as Inside Climate News suggests:

"Wyoming gets 59 percent of its state budget from fossil fuel revenue; North Dakota, 29 percent; and Alaska, 21 percent. Other states, though less reliant, take in staggering sums, led by Texas, at $14.6 billion annually; California, $7.8 billion; and Pennsylvania, $4.4 billion. And the money going into state coffers reflects the far larger impact the industry is having on state economies and jobs.

"Because institutions like the Electoral College and the U.S. Senate give states outsized power compared to their populations, fossil fuel-reliant regions can hold considerable sway over national politics and policy." It's the reason, the Climate News piece goes on venture, that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris shied away discussing from the Biden administration's attempts to move toward renewable energy, and pledged not to ban fracking, in "a vain effort to win the swing state of Pennsylvania, the nation’s No. 2 natural gas producer."

Such skewed petro-politics are also the reason why Pennsylvania's newly-minted Senator, John Fetterman, has gone from denouncing fracking as a "stain" on his state, to an aggressive proponent of it; why industry-backed boondoggles like clean coal and carbon capture continue to get federal funding; and why oil and gas interests rooted so openly for a Trump restoration, one that promised a golden opportunity to line their pockets like never before.

The only losers, of course, are the rest of us -- who will be cheerfully expected to pay more at the pump, which ends up being the most common collateral consequences of any prolonged conflict. I still hold vivid memories of the spring 2005 price spikes -- when gas soared from $1.60, to almost $3.50 per gallon -- and people at my newspaper of the time openly shed tears over the implications: "Whatever happened to the national interest?" 

I remember thinking, maybe we should have asked that question before we slapped an endless war on the national credit card. While those spikes came a couple years after the Iraq chaos, they still unfolded in a market that was still struggling to find its feet. 

Whatever or whoever was to blame, I couldn't overlook the consequences for my wallet, since I drove a 40- to 50-mile round trip to work every day at the time. When the Squawker and I worked out the math, we figured that I was losing about $20 a day, before I even got out of bed.

Even now, I struggle to describe how demoralized it felt, of heading to work, knowing you're going to lose money -- which is a far cry from the angst that oil and gas interests feel at failing to extract every last egg from the golden goose. It's the reason, I imagine, for the celebrated quote uttered in 1975 by Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo, who'd been Venezuela's petroleum minister during the 1960s:

"It is the devil's excrement.
We are drowning
in the devil's excrement."

<Time to swap out that fancy linen, perhaps?

The ethically challenged Mr. Jorkin ponders his options...

"A Christmas Carol," 1951: YouTube capture>

<iii.>

Having been largely relegated to the dust of  scholarly obscurity, Alfonzo's lacerating observation has gained new life in recent years, notably after the Trump-sponsored snatching of Venezuela's tinpot strongman, Nicholas Maduro. On a more basic level, it reflects what those on the losing side of the petro-political divide know all too well -when the deck feels stacked.

Time will tell how the Iran crisis fits into that equation, though -- honestly -- the effect on oil prices is only one of many reasons to oppose the Orange Man's latest off-kilter gambit. Start with his 2024 victory speech pledge: "I'm not going to start a war. I'm going to stop wars." So much for that idea in a two-month period that's already seen three foreign entanglements.

Follow with the notion, ingrained since our beginnings, that only Congress can authorize any sort of military actions -- but don't linger endlessly on the "technical" or "management" arguments, as I call them, since they won't save us from this man's excesses, anymore than they did Bush's or Biden's Middle East missteps. "But you can't do that!" is catnip to any bad actor's ears, and Trump is no exception; alas, it's going to take much stronger medicine to finish the job.

However, what makes this outburst of Iranian interventionism feel especially egregious is the social backdrop it's unfolding against. Never have Americans felt more economically battered and beleaguered, yet received so little social support, in coping with the myriad of social ills they face (see the Hill link below).

Half now struggle to pay bills on time, which isn't impacting the stealth purchasing of warehouses needed to ramp up Trump's deportation machine, at a reported cost of $45 billion -- on top of an $11.25 billion increase for operating it, plus $100 million to acquire all these structures in the first place, amid record levels of homelessness (an estimated 771,840 on any given night), and housing costs exploding beyond any reasonable level.

Or we might focus on proposals announced last month for the Pentagon's first-ever $1.5 trillion budget, for an agency that has now failed eight consecutive audits (the only one among 24 departments that has been unable to meet that metric). Other ill effects will make themselves felt in other ways that not may be readily apparent at the time, but still come with a cost.

A good example is last week's announcement of the Pentagon's decision to cut off Anthropic at the knees -- because its CEO didn't want its AI products deployed for mass surveillance. Not to worry, though, since OpenAI's feral tech bro, Sam Altman, tripped over himself to fill the gap -- striking a deal only hours after Anthropic had been elbowed aside (see MSN link below). Altman's indecent haste to help the Trump regime build its long-cherished surveillance state recalls a nifty exchange from the 1951 adaptation of A Christmas Carol:

"We're all cutthroats
under this fancy linen,
Mr. Snedrig."

"I must ask you
to speak for yourself,
Mr. Jorkin."

And that's before we get to these massive data center projects -- including 32 alone threatened for Michigan -- that Altman and his kind seek to impose on the rest of us, in all their infrastructure-straining, job-draining, utility bill-jacking, wallet-busting glory, But that is the greater picture staring down at us. For affordable food, housing or utilities, the political class claims that it simply cannot rummage enough coins from under the ouch -- a reluctance that completely deserts them when they roll out their pet projects.

Giant holding pens, for real or imagined "others"? Open the checkbook; money's no object! Data centers and defense contractors? You wouldn't want them shivering in the rain and snow, do you? Innocent Americans potentially targeted as terrorists, or enemies of the state, thereby impacting their ability to make a living? Sorry, can't rethink the blueprint. Our republic would simply fall apart!

If this disconnect doesn't mobilize people, then nothing will, though it will undoubtedly take a sustained campaign to turn back this latest tide of madness. Whether that happens with the November midterms -- or, to coin the Doobie Brothers' phrase, "taking it to the streets," if Trump actively tries to derail or interfere with them -- remains to be seen.

Easy answers will hardly abound, as the risks continue to pile up. Yet this is, paradoxically, when we must find our greatest resolve, and steel ourselves for the enormous task that lies ahead, as the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists noted, in assessing the aftermath of Trump's 2024 victory:

"We do this not because our success is guaranteed. Given the forces mobilized against us, we are clearly the underdog. No white wizard will come to our rescue. But we have truth and justice on our side. And the stakes simply couldn’t be greater. We continue to fight for a livable planet, for us, our children, and future generations. Because it’s worth fighting for."

We couldn't have said it better. When all is said and done, let us hope that we're up to the task. --The Reckoner

Links To Go

Associated Press: Trump Statement On Iran:

https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-trump-address-f662a4f3378535d81197be699fb35a3e

Bulletin Of Atomic Scientists:
Welcome To The American Petrostate:
https://thebulletin.org/2024/11/welcome-to-the-american-petrostate/

Inside Climate News:
Trump's "Energy Dominance Agenda"
Sounds Like A Petrostate Plan To Some:
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26112024/will-the-united-states-be-a-petrostate-under-trump/

MSN: Cancel ChatGPT Movement 
Goes Big After Open AI's Latest Move:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/cancel-chatgpt-movement-goes-big-after-openai-s-latest-move/ar-AA1XfZpY?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=69a48ece529343999b303c0471c868a2&ei=67

The Hill: America's Cost-of-Living Crisis
Is Entering its Most Brutal Phase:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/opinion-america-s-cost-of-living-crisis-is-entering-its-most-brutal-phase/ar-AA1XjvPt?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=69a48bae4e1944f0a4e93208a8bffa9f&cvpid=2ad3332b7eeb40e6982228ecc305e935&ei=127

Wall Street Journal:

The Iranian Force Built To Defend The Regime...:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-iranian-force-built-to-defend-the-regime-now-faces-the-ultimate-test/ar-AA1Xiy27?ocid=BingNewsSerp

<Suggested Soundtrack: "For My Country," the A-side

of this 1983 single released by UK Decay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF9Dn9bb98o&list=RDXF9Dn9bb98o&start_radio=1>

Smashing and crashing,
Disguised as terrain:
Count up the memories,
We'll go back again

For the honor I don't ask why,
His majesty's pleasure my honor to die:
For -- my -- country!
For -- my -- country!