DEM VOTER REGISTRATIONS DECLINING: From the “Maybe There Is Justice” file – Democratic voter registration is down in 93 percent of the 1,400+ counties in states that allow partisan filings, even as the GOP’s are up in 77 percent of them. And in several states, Colorado most notably, the Independent/Minor Party line is now bigger than either of the two major parties.

 

TRUMP IS RIGHT TO PUT HIS NECK ON THE LINE FOR DATA CENTERS:

On Wednesday, speaking at the White House alongside crypto executives, President Trump noted that he would “absolutely” want a data center in his community.

“If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center, I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous,” he said.

It was a rare and refreshing defense of infrastructure that has become a bête noire for Republicans and Democrats alike, despite the fact that data centers have dramatically improved life in communities where they’re built — think $50K teacher bonuses, reduced tax burdens for residents and the creation of high-paying jobs.

These facilities are powering a revolution, providing the necessary energy for the huge amounts of compute needed for LLMs to work — and for America to beat China in the AI race.

In a midterm environment where politicians across the board are running from data centers, Trump is right to push back against the anti-data center hysteria and give them some “public relations help” as he put it.

In today’s Commentary newsletter, Abe Greenwald explores “Why People Hate Data Centers:”

When it comes to data centers and AI more generally, it’s not growth alone that can make us feel powerless. The architects and titans behind it all have risen up as dreamlike figures of global consequence. We hang on their pronouncements as if they were a new, self-elected class of remote lawgivers. There’s also the bewildering speed at which this technology is overtaking so many aspects of our lives. Finally, there’s the looming mystery of the technology itself. The more it encroaches on us, the less we understand what it portends.

Whatever arguments are proffered about rising energy prices, water consumption, and sound pollution, I suspect that the deeper objection to AI data centers is that they are hulking concrete monuments to our individual displacement in a world of strange new gods. They may contribute to an unimaginably bright future or something like its opposite. But either way, I understand why people don’t want to look at them every day.

Perhaps though, there’s a way to reframe the issue:

CONSCIOUSNESS OF GUILT:

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: Friends, Romans, Florida Man, Lend Me Your Ear. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week, we’ll learn that the human body is not an ATM, what not to wave at the police, and that there is at least one cowboy left in California.”

ASTROTURF ALL THE WAY DOWN (COLORADO EDITION): Over $620K spent on signatures for Initiative 195 tax hike effort.

What has been billed as a “grassroots” movement to implement a progressive income tax in Colorado has proven one thing: the effort behind the signatures turned in to put Initiative 195 on the November ballot was definitely green. Greenbacks, that is.

A paid circulator report obtained by Complete Colorado from the secretary of state’s office shows that organizers behind the proposed ballot measure, who at first appeared to be leaning heavily on a volunteer effort, actually paid petition circulators more than $620,000 to help gather the over 150,000 signatures turned in just as the deadline was closing.

About 150 circulators came from as far away as California, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and North Carolina.

They had to bring in more Californians?

IT’S TIME FOR VICTORIA TAFT’S West Coast, Messed Coast™: Harry and Meghan Think California Schools Suck Too. “Welcome to your weekly West Coast, Messed Coast™ update, where today we’ll cover yet another reason why Harry and Meghan are leaving California and booking it back to the British Empire. California Gov. Gavin Newsom appears to be shorting out before our very eyes — especially in response to a reporter’s question about the collapse of California schools.”

KEEP DIGGING: ‘Where’s the bottom’: Economics professor addresses Seattle area’s shrinking job market.

Layoffs at Starbucks’ Seattle headquarters is the latest sign of continuing job losses in western Washington.

Other major employers, including Amazon, Microsoft, META and Expedia have announced hundreds of local job cuts in recent months. The cuts come as King County saw its unemployment rate dip to nearly 5% in June.

Seattle University associate professor of economics Nick Huntington-Klein said the area is seeing a “sustained issue,” with big companies doing sweeping cuts at the same time.

There are several factors at play, he said. These companies cite AI as the potential to replace some employees. There was also over-hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, higher taxes in Washington state and Seattle specifically has been a reason for reductions in force or for some companies to relocate.

Previously: Socialist mayor’s blunt 1-word message to fleeing millionaires sparks outrage: ‘We’re doomed.’ “‘Bye,’ Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said to millionaires leaving her state.”

NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU DESPISE THE MEDIA…:

IRAN IS VIP BUT DON’T FORGET LEBANON: Secretary of State Marco Rubio certainly hasn’t forgotten Lebanon or the Hezbollah, which just happens to be Iran’s most powerfully armed terrorist puppet. Richard Pollock reveals details behind the barely-noticed special talks launched by Rubio between Israel and the Lebanese government.

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS STUCK LIKE THAT: