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[–] 159 points 1 week ago (6 children)

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.

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  • [–] 72 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    I believe they can sue though. Might depend on the law there but I was literally just watching a video of a lawyer going over what to do if your property is seized and or used in violation of your right to enjoy your property and there's an avenue for land owners to sue.

    https://youtube.com/shorts/xSlpDry0gms?is=Lr7vflRiMWBUaTVr

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  • [–] 50 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    Could also track down the CEO, trap them in their own dwellings, and set them on fire.

    That requires slightly more work though

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  • [–] 12 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    You never get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose.

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  • [–] 19 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    The trick is to use a proper flamethrower. Then you don't have to worry about being close enough to smell it.

    Besides, it's the skin hair and fat that smells bad, the muscle itself smells... Not good, but like... Not gross or anything.

    Source of smell: accidents from my past.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago*

    The last proper flame thrower designed as a weapon was the M202 FLASH, it's a flame-rocket-launcher (with 4 tubes.) Jonathan Wild, who built and licensed one, has videos and a book about it. Total waste of time, but still entertaining.

    cnmbk5BKJI0pqpy.png

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  • [–] 6 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    Lucifer! No compensation for that?!

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  • [–] 24 points 1 week ago (3 children)

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

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  • [–] 28 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    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

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  • [–] 25 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Some lawyers work on commission!

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  • [–] 7 points 1 week 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

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago (5 children)

    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

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    It's sort of the risk you take when buying a property with an easement though. Their realtor should have disclosed that.

    If it wasn't there when they bought it the utility company should have had to at least pay market value for the land.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 week ago*

    I think in this case they are actually using eminent domain for it.

    Basically they are reaching out to families, asking for permission, and then when denied that permission going through the state/town and getting permission that way.

    The easement taking up half their land was the "compromise" that the utility company gave them, because they already had a notice/permission from the town/state on the entire property. They were going to have the line no matter what, it was whether the current owners wanting to have part of the property, or none of the property. its pretty sickening.

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  • [–] 112 points 1 week ago (5 children)
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    [–] 51 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    Well, datacenters are pretty much Eminent Domaining people then.

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  • [+] 41 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (6 children)
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    [–] 23 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    Damn, Georgia too? I thought this was mainly a US American thing at this point.

    😉

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    [–] 20 points 1 week ago

    Clown ass country.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Cannot wait for this AI bubble to pop as these corrupt politicians are so obviously doing this at our expense, while they pocket all the profit

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  • [–] 16 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    Here's the thing. The bubble will pop, people will loose billions, the prices of everything will go into flux, the economy will crash, and the people who still have enough money to make serious investments during that time will be able to buy so much more stuff simply because so much more will be for sale.

    We saw it happen in 2008, we saw it happen in 2020, and it will happen again when the bubble pops, and we'll just let the people who crashed the economy off the hook, and borrow more money from our future selves to pay them to fix it now.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    well that doesn't sound as good, i never even considered this to be a possibility, but thinking about it logically makes sense

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  • [–] 6 points 1 week ago

    Happens every time. Realistically, the only thing that would "level" the playing field is a complete collapse of all currency. Unrealistically, it could be leveled through progressive taxes on obscene incomes, a recurring tax of accumulated wealth over a certain value, and closing of tax loopholes.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 week ago (6 children)

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

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  • [–] 32 points 1 week ago (5 children)

    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

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  • [–] 41 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 26 points 1 week 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.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    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.

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    [–] 4 points 1 week ago

    I keep seeing this story all over my news feeds and YouTube recommendations. Glad it's being put out there, at least!

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