Attention to the Unseen

How the AI data center blitzkrieg advances through secrecy and backroom deals

From elsewhere — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:46:07 +0000

The New York Times reports: A Louisiana state legislative committee was about to consider a bill in April 2024 when Richard Nelson, then the state’s revenue secretary, received an urgent message from Gov. Jeff Landry. Get the bill passed, the newly elected Republican governor told him, because they needed it for something else. Mr. Nelson walked across a room in Baton Rouge’s towering State Capitol to the bill’s author, Chris Turner, a Republican state representative. “‘Hey, we need to hijack...

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AI industry struggles with the real stupidity of tech overlords who fail to take public opposition seriously

From elsewhere — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:45:49 +0000

Futurism reports: The tech overlords pushing the AI boom are quickly wearing out what little welcome they had. You may have noticed big-name AI labs pushing new commercials lately. Meta’s new 60-second ad spot insists that the “future is for everyone,” even as CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal net worth eclipses the GDP of Hungary. Anthropic’s new commercial for Claude assures viewers that there’s “hope in hard questions,” seemingly embracing the discomfort that comes when your software is used to bomb...

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Iran says it still controls Strait of Hormuz, not seeking talks, after Trump halts bombing

From elsewhere — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:45:32 +0000

Reuters reports: Iran said on Monday it was still in control of the Strait of Hormuz and not seeking to resume peace talks ‌with the United States, after President Donald Trump halted a two-week bombing campaign that his top brass told him had run its course. Following 13 successive nights of intensifying bombing that provoked Tehran to fire on U.S. bases in response, Trump halted the campaign over the weekend. Iran said it would suspend its own attacks for as...

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GOP senators warn of growing crisis of confidence in Hegseth as Iran war drags on

From elsewhere — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:45:11 +0000

The Hill reports: Republican senators say that confidence is waning in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership of the U.S. armed forces as the war with Iran drags on without an end in sight. They are also warning that the success of a possible “massive attack” against Iran could be critical to shoring up support for the unpopular conflict. Some GOP lawmakers are questioning the administration’s failure to anticipate the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz — which has caused...

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In Memphis, an ‘anti-crime’ task force quietly turned into an ICE crackdown

From elsewhere — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:44:50 +0000

NPR reports: When President Trump announced an anti-crime task force for Memphis last fall, federal and local officials never mentioned immigration enforcement as a goal. But the influx of federal agents into the city has led to widespread immigration arrests — a majority without criminal convictions, according to an Institute for Public Service Reporting data analysis. NPR reviewed arrest data and spoke with lawyers, immigrants, activists and community members to piece together the task force’s impact on Memphis over the...

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Why are Democrats so quiet about the Tate brothers?

From elsewhere — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:44:33 +0000

Moira Donegan writes: It’s not exactly strange that elements of the Magaverse have embraced Andrew Tate. What’s strange is that the Democrats do not seem interested in holding the Trump movement to account for it. Andrew Tate, the misogynist influencer who is accused by numerous women around the world and now British prosecutors of rape and strangulation, as well as assault, sex trafficking, possession of child abuse images and extreme pornography, and various other forms of gender violence and exploitation,...

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France had never seen a ‘fire cloud’ until this month’s record-smashing blazes

From elsewhere — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:44:13 +0000

Wired reports: Firefighters in France are confronting a phenomenon never seen in the region before: fire clouds. It’s a sign of the intensity of the blazes burning—and how climate change is upping the odds that they appear. A wave of fires has swept over France and Spain, sending hundreds of thousands fleeing. Firefighters on the frontlines are facing what a spokesperson for the French firefighter association told AFP called an “operational impossibility”—in other words, a “natural force beyond our control.”...

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Music: Rainer Brüninghaus, Markus Stockhausen, Fredy Studer — ‘Continuum’

From elsewhere — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:43:47 +0000

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Millions of farmers around the globe are contending with scarcity and higher prices for fuel

From elsewhere — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 23:58:14 +0000

The New York Times reports: For three days, he waited at the gas station in a crush of hundreds of villagers, as the temperature rose to 104 degrees. People tried to cut the line, and fights broke out, drawing police officers wielding batons. This, Dulal Hossain endured for the chance to buy diesel fuel. He was tormented by worries about his rice plants, the source of most of his livelihood. The diesel he eventually carried home by bicycle, in a...

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Gulf countries want the war to end, but can’t agree on how. ‘The GCC is nonfunctional’

From elsewhere — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 23:57:52 +0000

Politico reports: As the U.S. continues daily strikes on Iran, the Arab states battered by Tehran’s retaliatory attacks are trying to unite to chart a path toward peace. Longstanding tensions are getting in the way. In recent weeks, top ministers in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have posed for a photo showing their countries are reconciling; Jordan and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council have had meetings at the State Department and on Capitol Hill; and the GCC has...

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