Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
Many people living in the early days of an authoritarian government didn’t realize they were in an authoritarian country. Democracy often slips away over time, rather than ending in one dramatic coup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ged_bdGix28
“La Porte, Indiana, is a small city between South Bend, Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois. The recent announcement that Microsoft is investing over a billion dollars into a vast new data center campus in La Porte is expected to be transformational for the town of 22,000 people.
Microsoft was given a 40-year tax abatement on equipment, a renewable state sales tax exemption through 2068, and just $2.5 million of payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) over four years—roughly 30 percent of what it would normally owe. After that? Nothing. Local utilities would cover the infrastructure.”
…
“there’s infrastructure. Data centers demand massive utility upgrades: power lines, substations, water lines, fiber, and roads. These are usually paid for by local utilities, state infrastructure grants, or ratepayers. In Kansas City, Evergy announced it would build two new power plants largely to meet data center demand—costs to be passed on to customers. In Northern Virginia, Dominion Energy’s data center grid upgrades are now a line item in statewide electric rate hikes.”
…
“these deals are struck behind closed doors, insulated from scrutiny, and built on the assumption that any growth is good—even if it’s paid for by reaching into your neighbor’s wallet.”
…
“Analysts project that data center capacity will more than triple by 2030 and estimate the U.S. will need to reach 35 gigawatts of capacity by then—double today’s total. The surge is largely driven by artificial intelligence (AI), which alone could account for 70 percent of all data center demand by 2030. These facilities already draw more electricity than some nations, and Goldman Sachs projects they’ll consume up to 9 percent of U.S. power by decade’s end. New builds are booming—yet much of that construction is being underwritten, piece by piece, by state and local governments chasing the illusion of growth.
Data centers are not a menace. Left to the market, they’re a genuine asset—critical infrastructure in a country trying to stay competitive in the age of AI. We don’t need to bribe the richest companies on earth to build them.”
https://reason.com/2025/05/06/the-new-stadium-scam-is-a-server-farm/
“Under Trump, who promised to implement a policy “where no windmills are being built,” the federal government has bolstered fossil fuel projects and deterred renewable energy development. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management recently halted the construction of an offshore wind project that would power 500,000 homes, whose federal lease was approved in 2017 under the first Trump administration. The Environmental Protection Agency has also rescinded Clean Air Act permits for a New Jersey offshore wind project, which had “devoted extensive time and resources to follow a complex, multi-year permitting process, resulting in final project approvals that conform with the law,” according to the project’s developer.”
https://reason.com/2025/05/06/17-states-sue-trump-administration-for-its-anti-wind-energy-policy/
“E.V. batteries carry a much heavier burden than their traditional counterparts, powering not just the car’s electronics but also the motor. Slate plans to build its truck with batteries made from nickel, manganese, and cobalt (NMC). NMC batteries were common for many years, but automakers are starting to switch to lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Each has benefits, but overall, LFP batteries are cheaper, they charge faster and last longer, and their components are more easily sourced.
Still, Slate plans to use more expensive and less efficient NMC batteries because it’s the only way to qualify for the federal rebate.”
…
“The Inflation Reduction Act established very particular sourcing requirements for the E.V. tax credits: By the end of the decade, a vehicle can only qualify for the credit if 100 percent of its battery’s components are “manufactured or assembled in North America” and 80 percent of the battery’s critical minerals are “extracted or processed in the United States or a U.S. free-trade agreement partner or recycled in North America.””
https://reason.com/2025/05/06/both-bidens-and-trumps-policies-are-making-e-v-s-more-expensive/
“Skype’s consumer service was shut down by its parent company Microsoft…Though President Donald Trump’s overzealous antitrust enforcers think popular platforms with large user bases imbue firms with incontestable market power, the rise and fall of Skype contradicts this theory. Federal trustbusters should keep this case in mind before deeming Big Tech companies monopolies, breaking them up, and decreasing American innovation, growth, and dynamism.
Skype launched in 2003 and had 150 million monthly users by the time of its acquisition in 2011. Microsoft bought the internet calling service for $12 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars in May 2011, which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved in June of that year. Salvatore Cantale, a professor of finance at INSEAD, a global business school, explained in 2013 that Microsoft paid “roughly ten times Skype’s revenues in 2010 [and] around twice its recent valuation.””
“Considering the network effects—which Reason’s Elizabeth Nolan Brown explains as the advantages that accrue to tech platforms that already have a strong user base—experienced by telecommunications services, many would predict that this dramatic increase in demand would increase Skype’s market share as new users flocked to the most-used videoconferencing platform. But the opposite happened: In 2021, Skype’s market share fell to a measly 6 percent while Zoom’s skyrocketed to nearly 50 percent. Skype’s market share recovered only seven percentage points by 2024 and was discontinued by Microsoft, which transitioned accounts to Microsoft Teams, an application that facilitates workplace communication and collaboration.”
https://reason.com/2025/05/07/skypes-shutdown-proves-bigger-isnt-always-better/
After WWII, the other manufacturing centers of the world were rebuilding from the war, leaving the U.S. as a manufacturing superpower. Post-war Americans had pent up demand and bought lots of goods. This allowed U.S. manufacturing to flourish. Later, those countries rebuilt and third world countries developed manufacturing. Allowing low-value manufacturing to be done in places like China allowed the U.S. to invest the money made into high-value things. Now, manufacturing is highly automated, so if low-value manufacturing returned, it would make everything more expensive and not bring many jobs because manufacturing doesn’t require many laborers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxu37dqVR90
Anti-fertility terrorism.
Also, guy go crazy.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/18/suspect-identified-in-explosion-at-california-fertility-clinic-00356306
The global south’s response to Russia’s invasion has been disappointing because it is not just a European issue. The invasion violates the global norm that you don’t change borders by force.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BlVVXH_qpU
Many young people have an attraction toward Trump based on concerns about immigration, prices, and perceiving him as a badass. Some support an openly pro-Hitler MMA fighter who has said that before Hitler got on Meth he was a good guy who just wanted to get the Jews who were ruining his country out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePbMNq8m7Jw
“The court emphasized that the men — whom the Trump administration has labeled “alien enemies” — are entitled to more due process than the administration has so far provided. That means advance notice of their deportations and a meaningful opportunity to challenge the deportations in court, the justices wrote in an unsigned opinion.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/16/supreme-court-extends-block-trump-deportations-00355210