[NotTheBee] There is one power in America before which all others must bow.Only one that can command the fate of nations.
The obese black woman.
Taylor Frazier McCollum is a single mom who fought hard over the past two years to keep a data center from being built in her community, based on the popular misconception that modern data centers will use a bunch of water.
While communities may have very valid reasons for not wanting Big Tech to set up Skynet next door (and Americans overwhelmingly voted against data centers at the ballot box), McCollum's case highlights the absurdity in the mix as well.
Built in the 1970s, the Landover Mall in Landover, Maryland, closed its doors in 2002. It has been a decaying lot for a quarter of a century - a reminder of America's slow, then sudden, cultural decline.
NPR celebrates McCollum (because of course), but it also gave away the plot:
In 2024, the developer that built the mall won approval from county planners for a $5 billion data center campus, and word began spreading through the largely Black community nearby.
"I was like, 'Oh, hell no,'" said Taylor Frazier McCollum, describing the moment she learned about the project. She lived less than a mile away from it. "Why would you want to bring water-polluting, diesel-generating data centers right down the street from where people live, work, play? It just didn't make sense to me."
Frazier McCollum is one of a number of Americans whose political awakening was triggered by data center development.
See, this begs the question: Why did so many Americans have a "political awakening" this year around data center development?
Well, you might not be surprised to learn that McCollum was a useful idiot for the folks over at the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a literal communist group connected to China-based tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, who has been accused of spending $278 million to fund anti-American nonprofits as part of an "extensive Chinese propaganda network."
Related:
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Party for Socialism and Liberation: 2026-09-22 Socialist, communist groups coordinate, promote 'spontaneous' anti-ICE protests in Austin
Party for Socialism and Liberation: 2026-09-04 ‘No Kings' protest network behind fight against AI data centers and Flock cameras
Party for Socialism and Liberation: 2026-10-07 US court dismisses federal case against New Jersey synagogue protesters, Justice Dept can refile
Party for Socialism and Liberation: 2026-09-22 Socialist, communist groups coordinate, promote 'spontaneous' anti-ICE protests in Austin
Party for Socialism and Liberation: 2026-09-04 ‘No Kings' protest network behind fight against AI data centers and Flock cameras