• tristynalxander@mander.xyz
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    32 minutes ago

    As for who is behind the data centers, the company [Georgia Power] said it doesn’t publish lists of customers to protect safety and security.

    America is not a democracy. You know who’s making the decisions in a democracy, and the populous can recall them. It’s one of the four required mechanisms for democracy. A democracy can certainly find legitimate uses for eminent domain (i.e. in natural monopolies like trains or utilities), but I’d hope they’d pay a premium and socialize the natural monopoly rather than allowing some private organization to take advantage of people. This just sounds like Georgia Power bullying people.

      • tristynalxander@mander.xyz
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        6 minutes ago

        Sure, but it’s something we can change from the bottom up. Whether in private organizations or single small-towns, we can and should start entrenching democracy and establishing norms and standards. Start with the mechanisms required for electoral democracy: Ranked Voting, Lottery Option, Recall Mechanism, Randomized Districting. Then, combat external forces by tax political donations and tax political advertising – even if the Supreme Court says we can’t ban political donations, it’d be very hard try justify a taxation exemption with breaking the whole economy. Move on to public information campaigns that inform citizens about democratic mechanisms. Start creating incentives and advantages for democratically run organizations and cooperation with other democracies.

        There is a path to change, and we have a responsibility - to ourselves, our peers, and those who come after us - to pursue a more democratic society.

  • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works
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    6 hours ago

    I just saw a video from a local news channel about a different patch of land in Georgia where Georgia Power was given an easement across a bunch of people’s land, essentially cutting these people’s property in half, then they clear cut the forest at the back of their properties and installed some giant transmission line towers also to power datacenters. One young couple interviewed had just bought their property and were planning on using the land to grow food but now they can’t and they also can’t sell because only half their property is usable despite them having paid for the entire plot.

      • NekoKoneko@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        They need to sue right away, eminent domain without compensation is a violation of the Fifth Amendment.

        • roofuskit@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          I’m sure some young couple in rural Georgia that just made the biggest purchase of their entire life will jump right on that. I’m sure they’ve got a huge reserve fund for legal expenses set aside. /s

          • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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            3 hours ago

            Absolutely this.

            While lawsuits seem to drive the American economy, maybe we don’t all have a lawsuit fund to go alongside our medical expense account, because we’re too busy paying for housing and heat and light and food and gas.

            …and maybe we shouldn’t feel like the credible threat of a lawsuit is the only thing keeping people in line.

            • xilophor@lemmy.world
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              2 hours ago

              Like AstralPath said, the take a fairly large portion of the final payout, but more than that, when they are working on commission, they pay for all the costs, which isn’t very tempting. For most laywers, if not all, working on commision, the have to be fairly certain of two things:

              1. They have a good chance of winning the case
              2. Their portion payout will cover (and preferably more than cover) the costs they put into it

              Unfortunately, not both are true that often. So, many people are just left screwed over with no way to recover anything

            • AstralPath@lemmy.ca
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              3 hours ago

              True, but your settlement to recoup costs gets eaten by the lawyer, likely to leave you with very little at the end of the day. So the defendant gets a slap on the wrist, you get a pittance and you’re still fucked.

              I’d sue no matter what just out of principle, but just sayin’ lol

  • DFX4509B
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    6 hours ago

    Well, datacenters are pretty much Eminent Domaining people then.

    • 🇨🇦 tunetardis@piefed.ca
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      2 hours ago

      I once visited a city called Savannah and was very disappointed to not find a savannah biome anywhere in the vicinity. It was far too forested! But maybe I was in that imaginary Georgia? I need to visit the real one.

  • Ekybio@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    Remember that feelings of compassion should be contingent on the question: “Who do you vote for?”

    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      6 hours ago

      It’s deranged to create a class of people that it’s okay to steal houses from and pollute the place they live no matter how they voted, actually

      • Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 hours ago

        Having a lack of compassion towards someone who voted for this getting their face eaten by leopards is not the same as approval of what’s happening. Are you able to discern the difference?

      • Chulk@lemmy.ml
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        2 hours ago

        Straight-up. I really don’t care who these people voted for. If they’re pissed that datacenters are stealing their family home, that’s actually a perfect opportunity to win right-wing votes that doesn’t compromise values. At the minimum, It’s an opportunity to fight back against big tech and data centers. Punishing them for who they presumably voted for is deranged on multiple levels, but unfortunately normalized among liberals.

        Liberals will insist on adopting centrist and right wing policies in the hope of winning over jetski dads in the suburbs. They’ll do anything they can to win over these voters. They do it every election. It leads to a cynicism among voters that nothing can ever change for the better (and they’re fucking right). So people stay home or vote for someone else. The jetski dads predictably vote for the most fascist politician possible, because that’s what they want. They don’t want fascism lite, they want fascism done right. The centrist eats shit and blames the left (who often work tirelessly to elect their dumbass as a harm reduction measure, but whatever).

        Then, when the Republican wins and starts doing Republican shit, liberals offer only condascending quips about a process that never works out for people. They insist that suffering is payment to them from the poorest and least educated people in the USA for not playing their little game correctly. And in the same fucking breath, they’ll propose more dead-end centrist garbage to the same jetski dads as last time.

        Stop conceding to the right. Run on populist left policies that improve the material lives of everyone, and you’ll naturally win over voters. That includes saving rural Georgian families from data centers even if they don’t like you or vote for you. If you do enough for them you will eventually win them over. Fighting data centers is a net win for environmentalism and labor.

      • OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        It’s wrong to steal people’s houses and to pollute the place they live, no matter who they voted for.

        But I’ll be damned if I shed a single tear if these people happily voted in the regime which brazenly supports stealing people’s houses and polluting where they live.

        • moustachio@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          You can still empathize with people who were uninformed and subsequently exploited / harmed.

          Giving into the “me vs them” team mentality is giving the oligarchs exactly what they want: divide and conquer.

          • OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            They were informed. They were warned. They were told about “project 2025” and how bad it would be. They’ve been through one trump presidency. They knew what they signed up for.

            My stance on trump voters:

            If you voted for him the first time, you made a foolish/uninformed decision. But forgivable.

            If you voted for him the second time, you’re a dumb person and I don’t trust you.

            If you voted for him this third time, after the insurrection, after how horrible he has proven to be, fuck you. You’re evil. No pity from me.

          • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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            2 hours ago

            It is frustrating that a person can be as willfully idiotic as they can and if they get taken for fools by the fascists, that the left is right there with a safety net preventing them from finding out after they fucked around. I think at some point you are enabling idiots to go on being idiots without consequences.

            Largely I agree, but at some point kindness in the face of hatred becomes its own kind of idiocy. You can’t be allies with someone who is ambivalent or worse about whether you live or die.

    • TIEPilot@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      I doubt who you voted for would have stopped this. AI is the new .com / housing bubble that every big company has to jump on board for.

      • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        On a federal basis, you are likely correct. On a local basis, I highly disagree. Many politicians in areas that are left-leaning are putting in place data center bans. Local elections matter.

    • OfCourseNot@fedia.io
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      3 hours ago

      Do you deprive these people of your compassion because you think they are evil? Because I sincerely don’t believe in evil. I believe in stupidity, folly, shortsightedness… and the people affected by them do have my compassion and my empathy.

      Also, given what you said I’d bet you voted for a billionaire-friendly, genocide supporter, fucking cop. So you, in that case, too have my compassion and empathy.

      • AstralPath@lemmy.ca
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        3 hours ago

        You don’t believe in evil even though you shared a planet with Epstein? That my friend is folly and I highly recommend you set a new definition of evil for yourself with his and his co-conspirators’ names.

        • OfCourseNot@fedia.io
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          2 hours ago

          Well, I believe in sickness too. And, yes, I also feel pity for Epstein and company, look at them, do you think those are happy people?

          Don’t get me wrong, I ain’t no saint and this isn’t any of that ‘other cheek’ crap. I do hate to live in a world full of sick, dumb, fool, shortsighted people, but in a more ‘hate the game and not the player’ way, specially since playing it is not really a choice.

          To solve this issues, or any problem really, it’s needed some understanding. I’m not very good with people or with social matters, nor do I like them much, but I think the attitude on your comment of ‘I’m glad this bad thing is happening because it’s hurting the other people more’ isn’t helping.