Issues You May Know, 10 January 2025.
A list of things you might want to know about - or write your reps about.
Tech tycoons want to hog the power of dedicated power plants from the communities impacted by them.
HEATED AI is guzzling gas Big Tech is paying for gas plants and pipelines to directly power data centers, threatening global climate goals. Arielle Samuelson Dec 19, 2024 And they increasingly propose keeping those projects separate from the grid, fast tracking gas infrastructure at a speed that can’t be matched by renewables or nuclear. New pipelines and gas plants, built specifically for AI The growth of AI has been called the “savior” of the gas industry. In Virginia alone, the data center capital of the world, a new state report found that AI demand could add a new 1.5 gigawatt gas plant every two years for 15 consecutive years. And now, as energy demand for AI rises, oil corporations are planning to build gas plants that specifically serve data centers. Last week, Exxon announced that it is building a large gas plant that will directly supply power to data centers within the next five years. The company claims the gas plant will use technology that captures polluting emissions—despite the fact that the technology has never been used at a commercial scale before.
Letter to Reps:
I don’t think power plants should ever exist solely to provide power to some tech company. The infrastructure needs and the living environment of the local population should always come first.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
Related:
Energy production pollution for no purpose other than cryptocurrency. Power plant is burning coal waste, burning construction debris, and planning to burn rubber. Chloe Humbert Nov 08, 2024
Net neutrality rules struck down by activist federal court that maybe doesn’t like the fact that presidents change at intervals???
The federal court wants to decide on this, and decided it doesn’t like “vacillations” that happen at the FCC because of… democratic elections.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT IN RE: MCP No. 185; FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, IN THE MATTER OF SAFEGUARDING AND SECURING THE OPEN INTERNET, DECLARATORY RULING, ORDER, REPORT AND ORDER, AND ORDER ON RECONSIDERATION, FCC 24-52, 89 FED. REG. 45404, PUBLISHED MAY 22, 2024. OHIO TELECOM ASSOCIATION, et al., Petitioners, v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondents. The Safeguarding Order once more imposes net-neutrality policies on Broadband Internet Service Providers by reclassifying broadband Internet as a telecommunications service subject to common-carrier regulation under Title II. 89 Fed. Reg. at 45404.3 This order—issued during the Biden administration—undoes the order issued during the first Trump administration, which undid the order issued during the Obama administration, which undid orders issued during the Bush and Clinton administrations. Cf. Loper Bright, 144 S. Ct. at 2288 (Gorsuch, J., concurring) (lamenting that “Chevron deference engender[ed] constant uncertainty and convulsive change even when the statute at issue itself remains unchanged”). Applying Loper Bright means we can end the FCC’s vacillations. Various Broadband Internet Service Provider associations filed petitions across the circuits challenging the Safeguarding Order.
Clearly we need to get this done another way I guess. There’s nobody besides telecoms and tech tycoons who don’t like net neutrality. WTF.
My letter to federal and state reps:
Net neutrality should be enforced because having fast lanes and slow lanes are bad for people who depend on the internet for absolutely everything anymore. If people can’t load government websites unless huge amounts of taxpayer money goes into the pockets of tech platform tycoons, that’s not ok. If people can’t access information and life threatening news from public interest organizations, poor municipalities, and news organizations on shoestring budgets, because business interests have paid to throttle those websites, that’s not ok. This isn’t just about playing games online, it’s about the ability of people to get important information fairly and quickly when we need it. Net neutrality may have been opposed by an activist federal judge who works for business interests, but you work for your constituents, we the consumers, the humans who have to use the internet for essential things, and I expect you to do something to rectify this and force the tech companies – which are telecoms by any rational definition – to act with fairness and in the interest of public safety.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
Heard about this on Law and Chaos podcast Jan 3, 2024 Ep 95 — The Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni.
“Allowing carriers to have fast and slow lanes for the internet is super bad for consumers because everyone needs the internet to live and work.”
— Andrew Torrez
Yeah it isn’t like this is just about video games. But you know what, even if it was, I don’t want a slow lane while I’m playing Gran Turismo either. Nobody wants these internet providers to be throttling access. Nobody wants this.
Rejecting Medicare DIS-Advantage.
Privatizing Medicare is where the fraud, waste, and abuse comes in.
KFF Health News - In Settling Fraud Case, New York Medicare Advantage Insurer, CEO Will Pay up to $100M By Fred Schulte December 20, 2024 It also was one of the first to accuse a data mining firm of helping a health plan overcharge. The settlement is the latest in a whirl of whistleblower actions alleging billing fraud by a Medicare Advantage insurer. Medicare Advantage plans are private health plans that cover more than 33 million members, making up over half of all people eligible for Medicare. They are expected to grow further under the incoming Trump administration. But as Medicare Advantage has gained popularity, regulators at the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have struggled to prevent health plans from exaggerating how sick patients are to boost their revenues. Whistleblowers such as Ross, a former medical coding professional, have helped the government claw back hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments tied to alleged coding abuses. Ross will receive at least $8.2 million, according to the Justice Department.
Letter to reps:
More investigations need to be done in light of the Medicare Advantage insurer that used a data mining company to help with overcharging. I want to see Medicare Advantage completely retired as a failed and wasteful system in favour of traditional Medicare.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
Mike Johnson immediately introduces misinformation into the new Congress.
Mike Johnson read some kind of supposedly inspirational prayer upon being elected House speaker, but he inappropriately tried to claim that it was written by Thomas Jefferson, the historic figure so notoriously non-religious that he actually made a version of The Holy Bible that omitted all the miracles, superstitions, and mysticism - including The Resurrection.
The Jefferson Monticello - University of Virginia in Charlottesville - Research & Education - Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia - National Prayer for Peace (Spurious Quotations) Ultimately, it seems unlikely that Jefferson would have composed or delivered a public prayer of this sort. He considered religion a private matter, and when asked to recommend a national day of fasting and prayer, replied, "I consider the government of the US. as interdicted by the constitution from intermedling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises."[3]
My letter to my representative in the House:
I would be very careful about trusting the judgement and leadership of Mike Johnson considering he entered misinformation into the public record immediately upon being elected House speaker when he tried to claim that some prayer was written by Thomas Jefferson, the historic figure so notoriously non-religious that he actually made a version of The Holy Bible that deliberately omitted all miracles and mysticism, including The Resurrection! This lapse in judgement by Speaker Johnson, and his staff in not preventing such an embarrassing gaffe for a Christian, doesn’t really inspire confidence, does it.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
Stephen Miller behind a lawsuit for an anti-vax activist seeking to silence internet researchers.
N2K CSO Perspectives Ep 5574 | 10.9.24 Election Propaganda: Part 2: Modern propaganda efforts. Auto-Transcript from podcast: “lies about two election workers uh Ruby moss and Shay Freeman um claiming that they had done uh I try to remember the specifics either brought in ballots or gotten rid of ballots um but they alleged that they somehow interfered with the vote count Donald Trump tweeted this Rudy Giuliani went after them also and they had to flee their homes because of death threats and things like this so when we did our election research Gateway pundit was one of the um kind of repeat you know repeat spreaders who is very remarkably effective at making things that did not appear to be true go viral and so he had appeared in some of our writing there was also this anti vaccine activist that we just never heard of so all of a sudden we find out we're sued on Breitbart by somebody we've never heard of um and Stephen Miller's firm is is is conducting this this lawsuit and I can't talk about pending litigation but what um winds up happening is that Jim Jordan takes the material that we've turned over under subpoena and give some of it to Stephen Miller he just goes and he gives it to him and um that is a remarkably unprecedented state of affairs like that is an astonishing breach of norms um and procedure and everything else”
Stephen Miller is behind thethreats to local elected representatives in California over “sanctuary cities” — which is understood by some as any city that doesn’t help with rounding up anyone even suspected of being an immigrant. Back in November on an amateur radio channel I heard some guys from my region complaining about the mayors of Nanticoke and Plymouth, and one guy was saying things like that the "democrat mayors who go against Trump" are "going to find out the hard way" and then repeated distorted myths about immigrants. As far as I know there are no "sanctuary cities" per se in northeastern Pennsylvania, Democratic Party mayors in the Wyoming Valley notwithstanding. I couldn’t find any such policies near Nanticoke according to the Center for Immigration Studies whichtracks places that have “sanctuary” policies. I have no idea if anyone tracks disinformation on amateur radio, but there’s quite a bit of it, I’m sure, since I have heard such things a few times and I’m not listening an awful lot. I have not, however, personally heard any vaccine misinformation on the radio. But healthcare issues are definitely political. And in fact, on radio forums, the only thing peoplecomplain about more than political opinions on the radio is people talking about medical stuff over the airwaves.
Far from being satisfied, winning just emboldens the violent Trumpies.
The idea that you can satiate people determined to create havoc and harm is ridiculous on its face. In the wake of the election in 2016 I witnessed harassment myself almost immediately.
Vegas bombing was an act of “MAGA Terrorism”—why won’t media call it that?! This makes us less safe! Dean Obeidallah Jan 4 2024 But the most alarming and sinister parts of his notes have been barely covered by the media. For example, under his call for “Fellow Servicemembers, Veterans, and all Americans” to “wake up,” he urged them to head to Washington, D.C. to “purge” the government and military from those who oppose them. He wrote, “Military and vets move on DC starting now. Militias facilitate and augment this activity.” He demanded them take control of the facilities until “the purge is complete.” Those ominous words are made more concerning by the lines that followed. Livelsberger made it explicitly clear that the target of this purge are Democrats—who if they won’t give up power peacefully, force must be used. He wrote, “Try peaceful means first, but be prepared to fight to get the Dems out of the fed government and military by any means necessary.” He added, “They all must go and a hard reset must occur for our country to avoid collapse.”
David Feldman also reads some of the manifesto on his January 6th 2024 show.
Obviously most Trump voters aren’t actively interested in a Stalinist purge in America. Many just hoped someone, anyone, would do something different — but probably not that different. But while you have to have quite a few people to get voted into office —even here in the US with the bizarrely unfair electoral college system — the fact is, you don’t actually need a lot of people to carry out grim brutality. And there has absolutely been a revving up, and a setting of the stage, and a manufacturing consent among elite tycoons, for weirdos to carry out horrendous plans, and other examples of right-wing disinformation fueled murder.
My letter to reps:
What are you doing to protect doctors, healthcare workers, and public health officials and disabled and senior advocates from violent anti-vaxxers? There have been openly stated plans that county officials are planning to deputize anti-vaxxers to go after people with “swatting raids” and livestream the events. This doesn’t sound legal to me, but we already have seen anti-vaxxers attacking or even killing their own family members because they got vaccinated. Where is the task force to prevent atrocities and prevent healthcare workers from being attacked by vigilantes or local governments?
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
Even Trump voters didn’t sign up for invading Greenland, right?
This has gone too far and it’s not a joke. When the media is manufacturing consent on taking over Greenland, despite the fact that there was no MAGA movement nor Trump campaign platform around wanting to take over Greenland – this wasn’t even mentioned during the campaign.
My letter to reps (because this bonkers timeline we’re in):
I don’t think the U.S. should invade Greenland or cause international incidents over Greenland. The whole Greenland thing should be dropped. Nobody voted for this. It was not on any party platform that I heard about.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
Ditto the other countries the president elect is ranting about.
And don’t assume that your representatives won’t think ‘Well nobody is writing to me about this, they must be on board with this Greenland invasion stuff.’ Some people are saying that South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol who outrageously declared martial law was actually radicalized by a youtube algorithm rabbit hole of misinformation. I believe it. At a town hall some years ago I heard an elected Democrat, a seemingly otherwise rational person who didn’t say racist stuff generally, repeat a local version of a documented racist urban legend. Don’t assume they know what’s up or what’s ridiculous — they’re people who need to hear from people.
Bird flu gets to snow goose flocks in Pennsylvania.
Flocks of snow geese have been infected with avian influenza in the Allentown region of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Game Commission - INFLUENZA SUSPECTED IN SNOW GOOSE MORTALITIES January 02, 2025 Avian influenza (AI) is suspected to have caused the deaths of about 200 snow geese found Monday in the greater Allentown area. Dead birds were recovered from two sites, one in Lower Nazareth Township in Northampton County and another in Upper Macungie Township in Lehigh County. Preliminary in-state testing indicated the presence of highly pathogenic AI (HPAI). While results are yet to be confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) at their National Veterinary Services Laboratories, HPAI is presumed to be the cause of these mortality events. The situation is ongoing as sick wild birds were also observed at both locations. Those encountering other sick or dead wild birds can report them to the Pennsylvania Game Commission by calling 1-833-PGC-WILD (1-833-742-9453)...
