I write a blog that focuses on public information, public health, and policy: https://pimento-mori.ghost.io/
I have to say I’m a bit worried he’s banking on receiving unlimited access to an insane level of surveillance data to use in the the $50B digital prison he’s building in Louisiana
Jeff Landry’s Intelligence Chief is Spying on New Orleans with Project NOLA
Louisiana’s use of NDAs in AI data center push raises questions over transparency
Needs more data centers
I mean, like everything, the ultimate goal is privatize, control/eliminate competition and profit via exploitation.
Nobody chooses academia over industry for the money. They do it so they’re not forced to compromise their values under the thumb of some micromanaging nepo baby demanding results they want to believe no matter what the data actually says. Investors not inventors.
If you get rid of publicly funded research, you leave a lot of talented scientists with no choice. It’s either industry, leave the country, or leave science entirely and start a new career.
And keep in mind, this is in addition to what OMB already proposed to do to all federal funding. Maybe they plan to hand Republicans a get out of jail free card by actually stopping the Vought/OMB proposed changes to federal grants just before the deadline in October, then achieve the original goal anyway after the midterms.
The memo directs agencies to rebalance their portfolios toward foundational research, and prioritize physical science over life science.
I mean yeah, why not. Listening to Peter Thiel’s hand puppet has certainly made America great so far.
Who needs funding for life science research when we got parasites and diarrhea outbreaks? Every American a walking incubator at this point.
I’m no legal beagle but I think this means he’s legally got to change his name now. 👩⚖️
What about community data ecosystems, and community AI partnerships?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002965542500199X
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? 🦗🦗🦗
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.
And there are plenty of restaurants and catering companies that routinely just throw huge amounts of unsold/uneaten food away at the end of each business day.