Fridays with Nicole Sandler, Thanksgiving Wednesday Edition!

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  1. Matt Foley says:

    Happy Thanksgiving!

    Here’s another reason to resist the AI juggernaut.

    https://www.inquirer.com/business/new-ai-data-centers-philadelphia-nj-jobs-electricity-20251123.html?query=%22data%20centers%22

    How are data centers impacting my electric bill?

    Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E are major drivers behind the dramatic increase in energy demand. Every ChatGPT query, for example, is estimated to use five times more electricity than a simple web search.

    An average query uses about the power that an oven would use in a little over one second or a high-efficiency light bulb would use in a couple of minutes, according to Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.

    How many people think about the pollution caused by AI searches? Very few, I’ll bet. I’ll be sticking with simple web searches.

    • bloopie2 says:

      Agreed. Also, there’s the cost of building new power plants needed for the data centers, and upgrading the grid to accommodate them. Do the data centers pay for that?

      I give thanks that, at least for now, my native intelligence has been enough to let me keep my job, no AI needed.

      • Allagashed says:

        A Minnesota based company, Liquid Cool Solutions, is building Maine’s first AI data center on the former Loring Air Force base. They, Liquid Cool people, say that liquid cooling will reduce energy demands more than the air-cooled systems. As always, these centers will be situated in the forgotten places. The area surrounding Loring is a malignant stew of toxicity from decades of fuel dumps and other assorted missuses. The landscape here is pockmarked with empty missile silos that were filled in with every sort of poisoned refuse when they shuttered the base. This new energy sink-hole won’t help.

    • Kope a Pia says:

      I will now follow your advice and use a web search not AI to get the correct IRS address to send my filing with a payment. I received it back marked as could not deliver at this address, maybe they would have forwarded it was not during the Gov. shutdown.
      My takeaway is don’t trust AI with anything important.

      • Matt Foley says:

        Advocates say data centers are inevitable and we should just let it happen. Comply in advance. If we don’t let them build one in our neighborhood then they’ll just build it somewhere else. I can’t even find out what the proposed data center near me would be used for because the buyer is keeping such details secret. Tech bros want to get us hooked on their toy until it becomes a necessity. The lost jobs, pollution, and grid overload aren’t their problem.

      • Rayne says:

        Do NOT use a simple web search to find an address for something as important as an IRS mailbox. Go directly to the IRS.gov site and look there.

        The most commonly used browsers and search engines rely on AI now as part of their business model. They’re serving monetized results and even criminals are willing to pay for the top slots.

        If you must use Google, add -ai to your search criteria, ex. a search for emptywheel’s site without AI will look like the terms inside these brackets: [emptywheel -ai].

        Or use search engine StartPage — go to https://www.startpage.com

    • P J Evans says:

      They refuse to recognize that what she did was illegal, and that they’d be screaming for blood if a Dem had done it.

      • BRUCE F COLE says:

        The Federal govt is being run by a cabal of dis-inhibited, conspiracy-addled misanthropes with delusions of religio-fascistic grandeur. What could go wrong?

        • Matt___B says:

          Why, tens of millions of humans in the U.S. who are inhibited, conspiracy-susceptible, cultural racists whose mega-pastors have informed them numerous times that the orange president should be trusted with no questions asked, and believing the gates of paradise will be opened for them to walk through…will do whatever they do. Violence? Mass hysteria? Zombie Apocalypse with a political slant? An impenetrable wall of cognitive dissonance that will wake them up? I dunno.

        • BRUCE F COLE says:

          A Stepford Apocalypse is more like what’s going on now. The explosively outgassing Epstein insanity/depravity is like the smell of ammonia to some of those who’ve been struck disenchanted by it recently. Eyes are being rubbed.

          I sent money to Sen Kelly; I hope he takes this shit-show on directly (both senses). He could insist that there be an immediate military trial where he can present the case for war crimes in the Caribbean and S Pacific. It has to be about why he and the other 5 made that joint statement to the troops — presenting the actual receipts, with demands for reparations to the victims, like with Mai Lai. He could say “I will voluntarily submit to a court-martial if you guarantee that I’ll be able to present my defense as to why the boat strikes in the Caribbean and S Pacific waters constitute war crimes, infractions of international law and the Constitution that require US Service members to stand down from executing such orders.”

          …and with clear explication for why America’s drug problems cannot be solved by murdering for agitprop spectacle. If Kelley sticks his hands out in front of him for cuffs and says to Hegseth, “Give me your precious perp walk, asshole. I can’t wait to confront you in a court martial setting, to explain to the world how clearly criminal you and your leader are acting and ordering.”

          If Kelly does step into that breach, I’ll send him as much as I can spare for the expense of doing it for the country. It could be the biggest gofundme-kine event in history so far, I’m guessing.

    • xyxyxyxy says:

      Rayne,
      I tried to post this three times this morning and when I hit “post”, the post disappeared.
      This may be the fourth time.

    • RipNoLonger says:

      That is horrific. And so expected from those types. Their base is some 30+ percent but they seem to feel that they’ll never pay the price.

  7. harpie says:

    Statement of the “Former JAGs Working Group” on Media Reports of
    Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/former-jag-working-group-no-quarter-statement.pdf
    29 November 2025 [emphasis original]

    [pdf1/5][…] We call upon Congress to investigate and the American people
    to oppose     any use of the U.S. military that involves the intentional targeting of anyone – enemy combatants, non-combatants, or civilians –rendered hors de combat (“out of the fight”) as a result of their wounds or the destruction of the ship or aircraft carrying them.

    We also advise our fellow citizens that orders like those described above are the kinds of “patently illegal orders” all military members have a duty to disobey.

    Since orders to kill survivors of an attack at sea are “patently illegal,” anyone who issues or follows such orders can and should be prosecuted
    for war crimes, murder, or both.     […]

    • xyxyxyxy says:

      meidastouch led me to Peleus affair, The sinking Peleus left a large debris field, amongst which were several survivors clinging to rafts and wreckage. This debris could betray the presence of U-852 to enemy aircraft and shipping patrolling the area. Eck[, tried, convicted, condemned and executed] decided to sink the wreckage with hand grenades and automatic weapons. The question of whether this “dispersal” order explicitly or implicitly encouraged the killing of the sailors in the water, or whether this was an unfortunate example of collateral damage, was the subject of a post-war trial. During the trial, Eck acknowledged he realized that by sinking the rafts, he was denying the seamen a chance of survival.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz-Wilhelm_Eck

  8. Savage Librarian says:

    Piece Deal

    Let there be piece of worth
    And let it be given me
    Let there be piece of worth
    My piece to be spent carefree

    We’re MAGA defrauders
    Covers endlessly
    We each stalk with our cover
    In search of the money

    Let piece be given me
    Let’s see the bestowment now
    With each goose-step we take
    Let there be hauls & cash-cows

    To take bestowment
    Receive bestowment
    Each piece in villainy

    Let there be piece of worth
    And let it be given me

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJajuUnm1Og

    “Let there be Peace on Earth arr. Dan Coates”

  9. Rugger_9 says:

    It appears Lane Kiffin took the money again to leave Mississippi for LSU. However, IIRC Governor Landry (known to the First Draft team as Clownfish) was supposed to approve the new HC when Kelly was sent packing. First, the state tried to claim Kelly was fired for cause (which would invalidate his buyout clause) and realized they couldn’t do it and will cough up the (IIRC) 50 million dollars.

    I look forward to the take over at First Draft, they don’t pull punches.

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