This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Good. While infrastructure like data centers is necessary, they should go through environmental and zoning considerations, alongside the consent of neighboring communities. The reckless construction of these places is also suspicious as fuck. Why do the wealthy need them NOW?
Personally, I feel that the rushing of datacenters is in service to Palantir, the ICE war machine, and the bunkers that the elite reside in.
There were tax breaks for a thing that exclusively harms the surrounding citizens? Wow. Good to see lobbyists for evil corpos are still convincing people.
Where are the "buh inevitable, buh just run someone else's local" bros when stuff like this goes down?
About goddamn time.
This is one reason why we need fewer billionaires in government. This should have happened a year ago.
Not that I disagree, but he's worth about $3.9B.
"Your data center free trial period has ended. To continue building or using your data center, you will need to pay a subscription of [taxes, utilities, fines for noise violations....]"
🤌🍾🌈👌🤤😂
Blowing with the wind, is he? Someone inform me if this isn't just pure posturing for voters.
Edit: Holy crap! What an interesting split on this comment. Look people, all I was trying to do was glean more info on what type of billionaire behavior this guy's been exhibiting, and perhaps have a measured discussion on the subject. Truth be told, no billionaire or person of such excessive means can be trusted until separated from such wealth and means, and certainly all high profile politicians say the favorable thing and then do something else. I'd rather folks share what they know etc even just to approximate where this guy is on that scale; it's interesting (and somewhat disappointing) that the middle ground I imagined (ie: has done some good, still don't trust him) just really not represented here. I just don't know where the bar is anymore. I do know that getting vitriolic and irrational, or conversely strongly supporting establishment types is ultimately distracting and a useful tool to those in power.
He recently did an interview with Heather Cox Richardson that lays his ideas out pretty clearly. He's an interesting guy, and they talk a lot about what he's already done and how and why, not about what he's going to do. Which is to say it's not the usual load of jam tomorrow political bullshit because he's already done what he talked about doing. Listen (or read the transcript) for yourself.
For myself, I don't want another fucking billionaire in power. But if it's Pritzker I would make an exception, because while he's not perfect he's demonstrably worked (and is still working) very hard for his state and its people in the ways that matter right now. I am sure there are things he could do better or more of, but he's doing a lot of things right, especially when it comes to building Illinois' economy and protecting individual rights.
He's also trying to make it as difficult as possible for the orange hitler to fuck with Illinois, and right now that's a huge plus in my eyes, as it speaks to character: does a politician actually see all citizens as equal, and immigrants deserving of all their rights under the law in this country? Pritzker does, which is admittedly a low bar in itself but jesus fuck do some people currently in power manage to limbo under it these days. Or I could just say, "He's not a fascist," but it's the same thing. Ten years ago I'd have laughed; today it's at the top of my list of necessary qualifications for public office.
Or to put it another way, we regular Americans have never been so hated by those in power as we are right now, especially in the midwest and southeast: take a look at some of those governors and senators and appointees and tell me they don't fucking loathe their own voter base. Pritzker is genuinely not among those that hate their own constituents: he seems to love Illinois and its people and it's been working out well for Illinois.
He's a billionaire, and therefore, almost certainly invested in LLM's himself. Probably needed time to adjust his portfolio before making the move.
This should have happened a year ago at least.
Nah, Pritzker has been pretty good about enacting policies that are actually meaningfully effective. He's likely prepping for a 2028 presidential run, but he's still getting good stuff done in Illinois.
JB has an excellent track record of passing legislation that benefits the working class and protects marginalized people. It's evident that he cares for the people of IL and is trying to do what's best.
Should have never happened to begin with. Charge the data center more for being there and give tax breaks to the local citizens. Screw this guy
Didn't read the article and don't know how state government works?
Pritzker called on state lawmakers this year to suspend incentives for two years while they hammer out a comprehensive review of the impact centers are having on communities.
Pritzker is making the move after lawmakers did not act. The governor cannot unilaterally halt the program, but the executive branch does wield some control over processing applications, according to his office.
