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@willardk.bsky.social

Newspaperman, editor, publisher, mayoral assistant. Taking the Matson steamer from San Francisco to Honolulu. "Notorious" - Senator James O. Eastland

303 followers321 following572 posts

Pinned

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@willardk.bsky.social

That sonofabitch is still alive.

1WAG@1wag.bsky.social

TIL that there's an Edwin Meese Center for Legal & Judicial Studies. Meese helped decide to 'crack down' on student protesters at People's Park in Berkeley in 1969. Officers killed one student on his way to class & injured hundreds of others, including bystanders. Meese shouldn't be emulated.

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Phil Lewis
@phillewis.bsky.social

I spoke to the mom of the 3-year-old soccer star who was left "thinking he did something wrong" after a league official called police "due to a disturbance between parents" The youth sports league said they launched a review and reached out to the family

huffpost.comViral 3-Year-Old Soccer Star ‘Traumatized’ After Police Were Called In The Middle Of The Game“They called the police on a 3-year-old because he’s too good,” Nevada’s father, Don, can be heard saying in the video.

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Jake Grumbach
@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social

A helpfully clear exchange here Hasan: "So your argument is that [Minnesota ICE protesters] should stay at home because immigration is a salient issue for Donald Trump. Opposing ICE is only going to help Trump. Wait until we win the election in 2028." Yglesias: "Yes that is what I would have said"

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Jonathan Cohn
@jonathancohn.bsky.social

In a democracy, having many good candidates should be a blessing. Under the top-two “jungle primary” system of Question 3, having many good candidates becomes a curse. Here’s how. This isn’t voter choice. It’s voter suppression. Vote NO on 3.

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Sean Casten
@seancasten.bsky.social

We have to think about collapsing Trump poll numbers and Rs turning on him the same way we'd think about finally being able to corner a rabid raccoon in your garage. Good news: he's out of options. Bad news: he's a rabid raccoon.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

😳 Trump loses it and SNAPS at a string of reporters, says Ilhan Omar might "go to jail," calls Somalia "a shit house," and boasts that thanks to a new program he announced today Americans "will make millions of dollars by turning others in" during absolutely deranged Oval Office event Supercut:

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Abdul El-Sayed
@abdulelsayed.bsky.social

Tomorrow, on October 1, the biggest transfer of wealth from the working class to the wealthy hits a critical milestone. Many of the provisions from the Big Ugly Bill will go into effect, harming hundreds of thousands of Michiganders in order to create tax cuts for the richest people in America.

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🗽LOLGOP🗽
@lolgop.bsky.social

I cannot find a single TV news story on this.

Anat Shenker-Osorio@anatosaurus.bsky.social

The torture and trafficking of immigrant kids continues apace, with plans to remove the 2,500 unaccompanied kids presently held captive. We need a relentless drumbeat: What are they doing to the children? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

theguardian.comTrump ally Stephen Miller leads sweeping push to accelerate removal of migrant childrenExclusive: key White House loyalist orchestrating multi-agency effort condemned by critics as cruel and racist

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Jeff Sharlet
@jeffsharlet.bsky.social

This is good! Also, I can’t tell if Norwegian accents are just funny or if I think they’re funny because of Norsemen, a show that is very funny

Nicolas Hénin@nicolashenin.net

Nice campaign by the Norwegian Consumer Council about the declining lifespan of products. Enjoy!

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@willardk.bsky.social

Preview of what's to come stateside. I hope I am wrong, but this is what authoritarians do.

Sven-Erik Volberg@volberg.bsky.social

The electoral farce in occupied Ukraine is so absurdly sinister it reads like evil satire

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@willardk.bsky.social

SEND THE FILE! DID YOU SEND THE FILE YET? OH WAIT, WHY DID YOU SEND THE FILE? This is why your health insurance is so unaffordable. It is operating in 1980s process with 1990s technology.

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@willardk.bsky.social

Sounds like a board afraid of recall or electoral defeat. Good.

Blue Virginia@bluevirginia.bsky.social

"The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to put a pause on new data center development" (in the "data center capital of the world" (with 233 data centers in Loudoun) bluevirginia.us/2026/09/wedn... h/t @nbcwashington.com

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Zach D Roberts
@zdroberts.bsky.social

The military towed sailors cars while they were at sea. Incredible. "Roughly 90 sailors from USS Kearsarge recently came home from 10 days underway to find their cars were towed from a fenced lot at Pier 14 on Naval Station Norfolk." www.whro.org/military-vet...

whro.orgDozens of sailors’ cars were impounded on Naval Station Norfolk while they were at seaMWR towed the cars as part of Aug. 29 Teddy Swims and Miranda Lambert concert on base.
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@willardk.bsky.social

Major Major's father worked without rest at not growing alfalfa. On long winter evenings he remained indoors and did not mend harness, and he sprang out of bed at the crack of noon every day just to make certain that the chores would not be done.

John Gramlich@johngramlich.bsky.social

"The Trump administration paid federal employees $9.5 billion not to work during 2025, part of the president’s plan to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy and government spending, according to a new estimate from a congressional watchdog." (via @nytimes.com)

nytimes.comFederal Employees Were Paid $9.5 Billion Not to Work in 2025 Under DOGE EffortAs part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s program to shrink the federal work force, paid administrative leave costs rose by 435 percent.

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Sven-Erik Volberg
@volberg.bsky.social

It gets better: Top executive from companies linked to russian security services attended Trump son’s wedding. Alexei Vlasov 2011 to 2016, served in the #GRU and is registered at the address of a GRU-linked facility in Moscow. www.agents.media/top-executiv...

agents.mediaTop executive from companies linked to Russian security services attended Trump son’s wedding • «Агентство»Русский язык The wedding of Donald Trump Jr. was partly financed by Umar Kremlev, the head of the International Boxing Association (IBA) and a friend of the chief of the Russian president’s security s...
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@willardk.bsky.social

Fuck your feelings, bro.

60 Minutes@60minutes.bsky.social

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tells 60 Minutes that news of a U.S. fighter jet being shot down over Iran woke him in the middle of the night. His first thought: “S***.”

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@willardk.bsky.social

Yep. NPR had a piece discussing how 60 Minutes needed to compete with podcasts. And my first thought was PTFO as a model, not whatever Bari W has in mind.

Alex Ip 葉清霖@alexip718.com

In a world of Weijia Jiangs and Kristen Welkers, be a Pablo Torre

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@willardk.bsky.social

I really don't know what to do here. A data center *will* be built about a mile away from where I live. I failed in my due diligence here with Virginia, things are run by a cabal of shadows. #Roanoke

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Scottobear
@scottobear.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

https://svonberg.org/2026/09/11/131597/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

svonberg.orgsvonberg.org## The True Cost of the Cloud: Why a Data Center is a Bad Deal for the Roanoke Valley Living here in Salem, it is easy to appreciate the natural beauty and resources of the Roanoke Valley. But our local environment and our wallets are facing a massive new threat. You have probably heard the buzz about the proposed Google artificial intelligence data center campus in neighboring Botetourt County. While the promise of tech development sounds great on paper, a closer look reveals that this project is a terrible idea for our community. Here is a breakdown of why this industrial expansion is a bad deal for Southwest Virginia. ### Draining Carvins Cove Our region relies heavily on Carvins Cove for drinking water. This proposed facility will require an astronomical amount of water for its cooling systems. According to reports from WSLS 10 News, the campus could consume between 2 million and 8 million gallons of drinking water every single day. To put that in perspective, Cardinal News noted that if the facility reaches that 8 million gallon maximum, the Botetourt site would become the largest data center complex in the world by water usage for Google. The Sierra Club Virginia Chapter has warned that this extreme consumption poses a severe threat to our fresh water, especially as western Virginia continues to face worsening drought conditions. ### Ratepayers Footing the Bill Massive water consumption means our municipal infrastructure will age and reach capacity much faster than planned. Initially, the region was not expected to need a new water supply until the 2060s. This project could push that timeline up to the 2030s. Cardinal News reported that Botetourt County’s agreement with the regional water authority could financially obligate the county for up to $400 million if the data center demands require a completely new reservoir. As local residents, we are the ratepayers. We have every right to worry that we will end up paying for infrastructure expansions that we never asked for. ### Grid Overload and Rising Electric Costs Artificial intelligence data centers require staggering amounts of electricity. Yes, Google agreed to buy 79 megawatts of wind energy from the upcoming Rocky Forge Wind farm in Botetourt County. However, the Sierra Club points out that this local renewable energy is completely insufficient for a facility of this immense scale. The data center will inevitably pull massive amounts of power directly from the main electrical grid. This causes extreme grid strain and forces utility companies to expand power generation. Those massive infrastructure costs are ultimately passed down to Virginia residents through higher electric bills. ### Air Pollution in Our Backyard To ensure their servers never go offline during power dips, data centers rely heavily on backup diesel generators. The Sierra Club data center impact report highlights that these facilities often utilize cheap, highly polluting Tier 2 models. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality permits these backup generators to run for up to 500 hours per year. That introduces a significant amount of daily diesel exhaust and hazardous air pollution directly into our neighboring communities. ### Backroom Deals Over Public Interest Perhaps the most frustrating part of this entire situation is how it has been handled. Local advocacy groups like the Southwest Virginia Data Center Transparency Alliance have been protesting the secretive nature of the planning process. Even the Botetourt County Government FAQ page acknowledges that Non-Disclosure Agreements were used to protect sensitive information during negotiations. Citizens have rightly spoken out at Western Virginia Water Authority meetings to protest these secret deals. The public deserves total transparency when a corporate entity threatens the municipal water supply and the Carvins Cove ecosystem. We should not be forced to sacrifice our natural resources and pay higher utility rates just to subsidize global tech corporations. It is time we prioritize our community over server farms. ### _Related_

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Cardinal News
@cardinalnews.org

Land sale confirmed at Wood Haven park in Roanoke County, with no other details announced

cardinalnews.orgLand sale confirmed at Wood Haven park in Roanoke County, with no other details announced" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/cardinalnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IMG_2825-scaled.jpeg?fit=780%2C585&ssl=1" /> Numerous people criticized the park's board and said they believe a data center is planned. The post Land sale confirmed at Wood Haven park in Roanoke County, with no other details announced appeared first on Cardinal News.