In a program devoted to the topic of AI, Ralph welcomes first, Tyson Slocum, director of the energy group at Public Citizen, who tells us about the local backlash against the construction of data centers. Then New York Times climate writer, David Wallace-Wells, explains how the Big Tech CEOs did not count on human beings possibly rising up against them and their machines.

Tyson Slocum is director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, covering the regulation of petroleum, natural gas and power markets. He serves on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s “Energy & Environmental Markets Advisory Committee,” and frequently intervenes before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) representing the interests of household consumers.

The basic question is they (Big Tech companies) are developing essentially governmental powers— governmental powers— not market powers or corporate powers. They’ve reached a level now where they are our government, the corporate government. And we have to escalate our urgencies to that level. It’s more than just the hour is late. The hour is over. So we have to go back and respond with a completely unprecedented level of public interest, standards, etc., including whether this technology (AI) should be allowed at all.

Ralph Nader

I definitely see that we are in a speculative bubble. That bubble will burst. And folks within the AI industry, like Sam Altman, have been very clear where they have publicly said, when the bubble breaks, we expect to get a financial bailout because our AI applications are so important to the national interest.

Tyson Slocum

And the backlash to data centers isn’t just about, oh, I’m concerned about my power rates going up or I’m concerned about the noise or the water usage. It’s also a civil rights and human rights issue where people are saying, I don’t like this vision that Big Tech is laying out for us that is going to be produced in this building down the street from our community.

Tyson Slocum

David Wallace-Wells is a columnist and staff writer at the New York Times, where he writes a weekly newsletter on climate change, technology, and the future of the planet. He is the author of the book, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. His recent feature in the New York Times Magazine is “AI Populism is Here. And No One is Ready.”

Just over the last six months, there’s been a huge surge in anti-AI and in particular anti-data center organizing and activism in the U.S. And you can see that on the ground where you see huge crowds coming to town halls to protest new data centers that are being proposed. You see some towns that have approved those data centers literally having their entire city council voted out of office as a result. And you see it in these surveys where within the span of just a few months. Huge sentiment flips among the American public from being basically agnostic about AI with some misgivings and some optimism to pretty striking majority opposition to the technology and the infrastructure build out that it requires.

David Wallace-Wells

This (AI) is a technological revolution that has been designed and is being built by an extremely small number of people with very particular idiosyncratic, in certain ways, I think, somewhat sociopathic worldviews.

David Wallace-Wells

News 6/5/26

* Our top story this week comes from Congress, where the House has, at long last, successfully pushed through a War Powers Resolution on Iran. As NPR notes “The resolution had originally been set for a vote two weeks ago, but Republican leaders sent House members home early for a May recess when it appeared the largely Democratic-backed measure had enough Republican votes for passage.” However, this did not substantially erode Republican support and the resolution passed by a margin of 215 to 208, with four Republicans, led by Thomas Massie, voting for a cessation of hostilities. The measure now heads to the Senate, where Democrats have been pressing the matter as well but face an uphill battle, and even if it passes through the upper chamber, President Trump is likely to veto the measure if it arrives on his desk. Moreover, House progressives are now pushing a new War Powers Resolution, this one focusing on Lebanon. POLITICO reports Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib forced a vote this Thursday on a resolution calling for the removal of U.S. troops from Lebanon in seven days, despite opposition from the leadership of her own party. The resolution failed by a wide margin, but still garnered a respectable 92 votes, including support from Congressman Massie. Symbolic though they may be, these votes show a growing backlash to Trump’s military adventurism abroad, particularly in the Middle East. With oil prices continuing to rise, this discontent shows no sign of abating.

* The main news this week however were the primaires. Tuesday saw a wave of major Democratic primaries across the country. Faiz Shakir, longtime advisor to Bernie Sanders and Executive Director of More Perfect Union, reports that election night was a “clean sweep for Bernie’s endorsements” with five out of five of these candidates set to win the Democratic nomination in their respective races. One race Shakir highlighted was Sam Forstag’s bid for Congress in Montana’s 1st congressional district. Forstag, a firefighter – technically a “smokejumper,” who parachutes into remote areas to extinguish wildfires – earned the endorsements of AOC, Jamie Raskin, Pramila Jayapal and others, as well as many unions, in addition to that of Senator Sanders. Meanwhile in the Montana Senate race, Alani Bankhead has triumphed in the Democratic primary. According to Semafor, “Republicans suspect Bankhead will essentially cede the race to [independent candidate Seth] Bodnar (despite her denials), which would make the general election more competitive.” Bodnar is the former president of the University of Montana and his campaign is backed by former Democratic Senator Jon Tester. One recent poll of a head-to-head match up of Bodnar against Republican nominee Kurt Alme shows the candidates in a dead heat.

* In New Jersey, two more Sanders-endorsed candidates have emerged victorious: Analilia Mejia and Dr. Adam Hamawy. Mejia won the special election to replace now-Governor Mikie Sherill in April, beating out former Congressman Tom Malinowksi, the heavy favorite in that race. Mejia is very likely to win this seat again in November, as she already defeated the Republican nominee, Joe Hathaway, in the special election. This from MorristownGreen. Perhaps more surprisingly is the victory of Dr. Adam Hamawy. Now a plastic surgeon, he has distinguished himself for his heroism: saving the life of now-Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth when her Blackhawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq, serving as a first responder to the 9/11 attacks, and most recently, for his work in Gaza. As the Intercept puts it, “In 2024, [Hamawy]...went to Gaza to provide medical aid to Palestinians wounded by Israeli forces and was temporarily trapped there after Israel closed the Rafah border crossing. When the crossing was reopened, Hamawy was among a small group who refused to leave on demands that more medical workers be let in.” Hamawy’s progressive policy platform includes support for Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, and opposing military aid to Israel. He is almost guaranteed to win this D+13 seat, succeeding Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman.

* The candidates Bernie endorsed in California also prevailed, with Randy Villegas poised to win his primary in the state’s 22nd congressional district and Jane Kim winning her race for California Insurance Commissioner, but the results from the state overall are more mixed. As of now, Republican Gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton leads in the count, with centrist Democrat and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra in a close second and progressive billionaire Tom Steyer in third. However, as the count continues, Steyer’s margin continues to improve while Hilton’s ebbs away – meaning the runoff could end up being Becerra vs. Steyer, though it is still too early to say. A similar dynamic is unfolding in Los Angeles, where incumbent Mayor Karen Bass is ensured a slot in the general election while her opponents – Councilwoman Nithya Raman to her left and former ...