“In one sense, public backlash to data centers in the United States shouldn’t be surprising: Their construction and deployment have skyrocketed across the country, creating—not to get all goopy on you—a highly visible target for American angst about AI, Big Tech, U.S. politics, the turbulent economy, male-pattern baldness, and surely more. A recent New York Times op-ed captures the mood on the left well: These giant bricks guzzle water, gobble electricity, buzz loudly 24/7, and enrich Silicon Valley billionaires at regular folks’ expense. Opposition, however, isn’t just on the left: You’ll find similar takes from MAGA types on Facebook and NextDoor, and—as I just saw myself when driving outside Raleigh last week—big ‘NO DATA CENTER’ signs along many a rural roadside. Yet most of the common objections to data centers collapse under scrutiny.” (08/06/26)
“A British sociologist who became famous as the youngest [b]lack professor ever at the University of Cambridge has resigned after the university opened an investigation into ‘new information’ about his academic qualifications. Professor Jason Arday, who was 37 when he became a Cambridge professor in 2023, announced his decision late Wednesday following weeks of allegations about plagiarism in his academic work and questions surrounding claims about his athletic and fundraising accomplishments. … Questions about his qualifications were raised publicly last month by Nathan Cofnas, a one-time Cambridge philosophy researcher who left the university after his critique of diversity, equity and inclusion programs sparked widespread protests.” (08/06/26)
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Yale professor Samuel Moyn suggesting that American children should be indirectly given voting power by assigning their votes to young people over the age of 18.” (08/06/26)
“Occasionally, President Trump takes an anti-capitalist rhetorical turn. He apparently supposes his unleashing of an Inner Mamdani will help him through a political rough patch. Or perhaps he is just momentarily confused. The president recently asserted that oil companies are making too much money right now and ‘ought to give back’ some of it to the public. This, although ‘I’m a big free enterprise guy.’ But oil companies don’t owe buyers anything more than the oil they supply. Nor, when prices are low, do buyers owe oil companies or gas stations more money than what they pay.” (08/06/26)
“A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that some federal gun restrictions can no longer stand after Republicans last year zeroed out the taxes that justified their [entirely fake in the first place] constitutionality. Congress relied on its taxing authority to pass the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA), which established a $200 fee to transfer or make certain firearms. But last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated the tax for short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles and silencers. U.S. District Judge Wesley Hendrix said that has ‘constitutional consequences.’ The law’s registration and recordkeeping requirements for those guns can’t continue, he ruled. ‘Because today’s NFA does not generate any revenue from untaxed firearms, its regulatory provisions cannot be upheld under the taxing power,’ Hendrix wrote in his 66-page opinion.” (08/06/26)
“The Federal Communications Commission, the government agency that regulates the broadcast airwaves, voted Thursday to eliminate a cap on the share of U.S. television households a single company can reach, a major move that could pave the way for more corporate consolidation in the media industry. In a 2-1 vote, the FCC repealed a 22-year-old rule holding that a company cannot own stations that reach more than a combined 39% of the U.S. television audience. The ownership limit will be replaced by a case-by-case approach.” [editor’s note: It should be replaced by a “none of the government’s business” approach – TLK] (08/06/26)
