I write a blog that focuses on public information, public health, and policy: https://pimento-mori.ghost.io/
well when that happens, I guess lil’ king Jeffy can sleep easy knowing he was directly responsible for mass murder (even more so than the whole Angola prison pipeline thing) when his teeny weenie lil ego made him undo the project JBE had already started building to protect it.
100% agree with you
https://debeaumont.org/programs/made-for-health-justice/
https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/27/medical-ai-needs-patient-community-engagement/
https://sojo.net/articles/opinion/pope-leo-thinks-nehemiah-can-lead-us-through-ai-age
The titans building towers will keep building. That is what Babel does. But for those of us who believe that the rejected stone is the cornerstone—that the child going hungry in Mississippi matters infinitely, that each of us has been given a calling and a section of wall—there is another project. Older, humbler, and far more durable.
Pick up your tools. Your section of wall is waiting.
I mean “Louisiana legal” has always enjoyed a rich tapestry of loose interpretations.
Like they still haven’t done anything to actually undo any of the harm caused by directing dangerous factories to come to the state and build cancer alley on top of communities.
Even as people are well aware it was discriminatory and unconstitutional, and residents are continuing to try to fight the machine of corporate greed and local corruption, not only do they plan to continue the same bullshit, they also want to roll out a new and expanded version for the digital age. Because progress.
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-shocking-hazards-of-louisianas-cancer-alley
New research shows that the industrial pollution—and the risk to human health—on Louisiana’s Cancer Alley have been significantly underestimated.
Victory for Black Residents of Cancer Alley as Court Rules Landmark Lawsuit Seeking Moratorium on Toxic Industry Can Proceed on All Counts Court finds lawsuit plausibly alleges St. James Parish’s discriminatory land use system has roots in slavery, violates the Constitution
He believes the new Digital Cancer alley he’s creating via a $50B Meta Data center means no longer having to rely on New Orleans. Not an unreasonable scheme.
But the success vs becoming a $50B hole in the ground seems to depend in large part on the ability to provide better data for better AI training and then sell that data to other corporations who then sell those products to the public.
Which depends on being able to continue to further exploit people and communities (such as New Orleans) in the form of harvesting data for the data center to sell.
So if people in communities (such as New Orleans or anywhere in LA) were to say, idk “fuck you pay me” instead of allowing their data to be exploited, it could create quite a pickle in terms of the state no longer needing to depend on money generated by New Orleans for its own economic success…
Yep, A $50B dollar investment incentivized by state tax breaks and no actual job requirements, that will steal our data, pollute land further, drain natural resources and hire
::drumroll:: Dozens of people 🎉
And it is requiring several more industrial plants be built in some of the hardest hit parts of cancer alley to provide the data centers with the resources it will need.
In a state that’s somehow 6th highest in the country in terms of GDP growth but dead last in health and economic social benefits.
Exactly, so why not demand ownership of our data?
When you look at data sovereignty in indigenous communities people are already establishing ways to do this.
What’s even more concerning than social networks, jobs, daily commutes, shopping habits, sexual preferences, political views etc. is health data. Not only is that extremely private, corporations recognize the monetary value is incredibly high.
Artificial intelligence models are ever-hungry black boxes that need boatloads of bits and bytes from a wide stream of real-world data in order to produce insights about patients and their care. To satisfy this need, a trove of companies have popped up to buy patient data from hospitals and sell it to those wanting to train AI or do research.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667321525001775
In today’s digital era, data has evolved into an invaluable asset often described as the new oil making its governance especially consequential for Indigenous communities. Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov) affirms the rights of Indigenous peoples to govern, control, access, and benefit from data that derive from their peoples, lands, and knowledge systems (Carroll et al., 2020). This principle has direct implications for population health because data governance influences how priorities are defined, how prevention and care strategies are implemented, and how health outcomes are assessed across communities (Rhodes et al., 2023). A long history of exclusion from decisions about data collection and use has produced exploitation, misrepresentation, and persistent mistrust in data-driven health initiatives (Fox, 2020; Mello and Wolf, 2010).
There are some models of data sovereignty where people are being given direct control of their health data, and it cannot be legally used for anything without their permission. Even if it’s granted permission to be used once for a certain piece of research, it’s then locked away again afterwards.
There’s also examples where people are paid directly/individually for allowing access to their data.
Imagine the value to be leveraged by people if all data (civic, digital, health) was locked away from corporations. And not sold, temporarily leased to whoever individuals or communities choose to lease if to.
Seriously, the author is a digital humanities prof at Dartmouth. If there is any hope, it’s going to come from people like her:
https://faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu/roopika-risam
Risam received the Massachusetts Library Association Civil Liberties Champion Award (2018) for her work promoting equity and justice in the digital cultural record and the 2023 International Association for Research in Service Learning and Community Engagement Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award for her work on anti-racist community engagement.
Honestly have to wonder sometimes is it all well meaning but misinformed knee jerk reactions? Or is some of it targeted propaganda/misinformation aimed at undermining people who are the most dangerous to the future plans of oligarchs
what do you mean false? the idea of people taking control of data?
This isn’t saying sit back and let it happen, it’s saying it doesn’t have to be an either or Luddite rejection of technology or dystopian skynet, but it requires people demand control instead of allowing giant tech companies to just take it while making us believe we’re powerless and have no say in our own data
I’m head over heels in love with the idea of communities taking back control of their data and using it to leverage power.
But I also think we should be thinking in terms of how do we achieve this before 2126 bc we need to establish and gain control before it can be used to train anymore shitty oligarchy controlled AI that keeps failing to perform in the real world.
Even if this is just step one of a marathon, it seems like something most cities should be aiming to catch up with sooner rather than later:
https://debeaumont.org/programs/made-for-health-justice/
About MADE for Health Justice Modernized Anti-racist Data Ecosystems (MADE) for Health Justice partners with communities who are creating, using, and governing civic data on their own terms to advance health equity and more just decision making.
It’s not really seceding but a lot of blue cities in red states have had to consider legal action against overbearing state authority trying to encroach on local government in recent years
Nashville has actually had to do something similar a few times now
https://tennesseelookout.com/2026/06/10/metro-sues-state-again-to-block-airport-board-takeover/
So since the state can’t just stay out of their business, Nashville keeps suing the state, and state tax payers keep having to pay for it.
He was a populist but hated by most of Louisiana for authoritarian strong arming.
He had a vendetta against New Orleans in particular, and actually had the idea to try and take over a city run by his political enemies by deploying the national guard, a little under a century before Trump and Landry came up with the same idea.
And he is the only person to ever hold the office of both governor and senator, which some people have suggested is also the reason Landry (and Trump) have such a strong interest in making sure Landry’s candidate wins the Louisiana Senate seat this fall.
Her main Republican opponent said he believed Landry’s plan is to have her step down as soon as she’s elected
Fleming said he believes Landry wants Letlow to win the Senate seat, only to give it up late in her first term so Landry can appoint himself to the Senate with a promise to appoint Letlow to a plum job in higher education.
Moreno, a Democrat, asked to meet one-on-one with Landry, but the governor has shunned the mayor so far. On Monday, he said he would only meet with Moreno once “she understands that they have to get their fiscal house in order.”
🙄 omg the audacity of Cajun Yosemite sam and his little man syndrome
Moreno responded in her written statement by saying: “We’re stronger together. My door remains open.”
Damn, I’m sure he doesn’t see it this way but that’s some genuine class which kinda translates into low key shade.
The Louisiana Department of Revenue tax collection report for the 2024-2025 state fiscal year, the latest data available, shows the New Orleans region was still the powerhouse generator of tax revenue that year.
Money talks bullshit walks. So get to stepping bb Huey
I must confess to this not being in my wheelhouse at all. I just started reading about the. esterday and I’m very interested in them as a people empowerment middle finger to the oligarchy
No idea how realistic this is but I find the idea of people eventually using these to achieve complete data sovereignty very interesting.
I do appreciate hearing from people who actually understand what it’s saying though
Ah, so that explains it
In addition to propaganda campaigns? It’s the same reason people try to shift the blame for most societal issues (financial, health, relationships) to a failure of personal responsibility.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pulling-through/202505/why-we-blame-the-sick
It’s a comforting lie people tell themselves because it gives them a false sense of control. Honestly, kind of the same reason people start doing drugs.
Drugs or other habits can help people cope when they can’t keep believing a comforting lie, but also feel driven to their breaking point by too much reality/need to find a way to escape from the pressure.
The hallucinating, gaslighting, sycophantic chatbots that were hyped via propaganda campaigns that promoted them as the future and key to efficiency, are now destroying humanity and locking people in addictive cycles of delusion.
“Ya better hop on board! Don’t wanna get left behind…”
The hallucinating sycophantic chatbots are not only destroying the capacity for human relationships and interactions, they’re not even “efficient” and have destroyed most of the companies that have embraced them.
The economy is absolute shit. “AI” companies aren’t even making any money but the chatbot addicts are still throwing endless piles of cash at them to burn while chasing the high that will never deliver (the cycle of desperate delusions common to any addiction), because the chatbots have them convinced (deluded) they’re always on the edge of the big breakthrough that will finally make it all worthwhile.
And as the number of data centers increases, people are starting to take notice it sure does seem to be getting hot in this pot of boiling water… “Wonder what that’s all about? I’ll ask the company that owns the data center if it’s anything I should be concerned about?”
“… Nope, turns out there’s a reassuring explanation for why this is all fine and nothing is as it seems… It just feels like this pot of water is getting hotter to you, but facts don’t care about your feelings. You can’t argue with facts…”
“Just relax and come on in, the water’s fine!”
What’s your suggestion? Bend over and say thank you?
I love the idea of corporations breathing a sigh of relief now that Nader and Sanders are getting too old to really be a threat. But then some millennial epidemiologist from Michigan comes out of left feld, just so fucking over the bullshit and lack of consequences, like “actually I think we should be a little more aggressive about demanding compensation for our continued exploitation.”
No, I was responding to the discussion about losing a loved one who was brainwashed. Based on the full discussion it’s unclear if he even supported Trump or was just brainwashed by homeopathic and or antivax propaganda, which is not explicitly link him to a political party.
You’re getting oddly defensive about this though. Tubular. 🤙🏄♀️
Oh of course they do 🙄
Communists? Really? It’s been over 50 years since the Powell memo was released.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell_Jr.
Stop with the flowery language and just come out and say you represent corporate interests, and will ensure anybody who gets in the way of those interests will be labeled either a communist/terrorist/antifa or some kind of combined threat: commterroant
I feel like we should all stop using the term antifa and demand they stop using the term antifa. Bc they need to be forced to acknowledge in all official documents that their targets are now officially antifascists.
Oh btw how’s it going prosecuting LITERALLY ANYBODY in the Epstein files? 🦗🦗🦗