Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Data center caught using 30 million gallons of ‘unbilled’ water as Georgia residents’ taps drizzle


Data center caught using 30 million gallons of ‘unbilled’ water as Georgia residents’ taps drizzle


Georgia residents were left outraged when they discovered a massive data center had been guzzling up nearly 30 million gallons of water without paying for it.

The issue began last year when residents in the affluent subdivision of Annelise Park in Fayetteville noticed their water pressure was unusually low, Politico reports.

When the county utility then investigated the problem, officials discovered that developer Quality Technology Services (QTS) had installed two industrial-scale water hookups to the approximately 6.2 million square foot data center campus – located about 20 miles south of downtown Atlanta.

One of the water connections appeared to have been installed without anyone at the water utility knowing, while the other was not linked to the company’s account – and it therefore was not being billed.

By May 15, 2025, the Fayette County Water System sent a letter to QTS, saying it owed nearly $150,000 for using more than 29 million gallons of water – the equivalent of 44 Olympic-size swimming pools, far exceeding the limit agreed to during the planning process.

QTS, which is owned by private equity firm Blackstone, eventually paid off the $147,474 debt and was not charged any extra fines.

But the company’s massive water usage only came to light last week when resident James Clifton obtained the 2025 letter to QTS from a public records request, and posted it to Facebook.

Meanwhile, the entire state of Georgia is experiencing moderate to high levels of drought. Governor Brian Kemp has even declared a state of emergency in response to one of the state’sworst wildfire outbreaks in years.

Developer Quality Technology Services installed two industrial-scale water hookups without officials at the Fayette County water authority’s knowledge.

In May 2025, the Fayette County Water System sent a letter to QTS, saying it owed nearly $150,000 for using more than 29 million gallons of water at its data center (pictured) – the equivalent of 44 Olympic-size swimming pools

When residents were then told to scale back their own water usage, their frustrations with the data center reached a boiling point.

‘We get this notification from Fayette County water system saying you need to stop watering your lawns to help conserve water,’ said Clifton, a local attorney who is now running for county office.

‘So the first thing they do is lean on the individuals and the citizens to stop water consumption, when we have QTS that’s just absolutely draining us – most months it’s the number one consumer of water in the county.

‘It’s just frustrating to see them come into our community and run all over us, like the citizens don’t matter, and then they’re above the law when they do break it,’ Clifton added as he railed against the fact that the water utility did not penalize or fine the data center.

He also shared on Facebook on Sunday that the data center – one of the largest in the country – has been watering its landscape ‘nearly continuously’ for four days.





The Saudi 'No' Puts Abraham Accords Into Deep Freeze


The Saudi 'No' Puts Abraham Accords Into Deep Freeze
PIERRE REHOV/



Riyadh has chosen its words with care, yet the meaning could hardly be more clear. Saudi Arabia will not recognize the State of Israel -- not under the present Israeli government and -- here comes the poison pill -- not before the creation of an independent Palestinian state along the 1949 "Auschwitz" armistice lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Saudi foreign minister has framed this stance as a strategic principle rather than a negotiating position. A 2025 survey conducted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy revealed that 99% of Saudi citizens view normalization with Israel as a negative development. The Abraham Accords, once touted as a breakthrough, have quietly moved, in Saudi political conversation, into the deep freeze.

Once US President Donald J. Trump, without Saudi Arabia lifting a finger, relieved the kingdom of its foremost adversary, Iran, and removed the major threat to the kingdom, what would Saudi Arabia need Israel for anyway? To the Saudis, the Abraham Accords doubtless look like an agreement signed by others, but never embraced by the one Arab power that truly mattered.

Only the packaging has changed. After the UN adopted the 1947 partition plan, the Arab League and the Arab states rejected it and opposed any form of Jewish sovereignty on any part of the land, and chose war instead of the two-state solution on offer from the international community.

In September 1967, the Arab League, at its summit in Khartoum, delivered the famous three "no's": no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel. Notably, the declaration made no mention of a Palestinian state, which the late senior PLO official Zuheir Mohsen significantly pointed out in 1977, had not yet been invented:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality, today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

Today's Saudi position, cloaked in the vocabulary of international law and Palestinian self-determination, serves the same purpose: to make any recognition of Israel conditional on terms Riyadh knows Jerusalem cannot accept. Where Khartoum was blunt and openly hostile, the contemporary version is polished, presentable and "politically correct" in Western foreign ministries -- and therefore more potent.

The kingdom no longer conceals its antisemitic undertones that accompany this repositioning. In January 2026, the Anti-Defamation League took the unusual step of issuing a public statement highlighting its alarm over the sharp rise in antisemitic rhetoric in Saudi Arabia and the growing public attacks on the Abraham Accords by prominent Saudi figures. Two weeks later, the front page of the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah labeled the United Arab Emirates a "Zionist Trojan horse" in the Arab world. Such commentary appears in outlets operating under close royal supervision, signaling what the leadership wishes to be heard.




Fear As A Weapon


Fear And Psychological Bioterrorism


Fear is one of the most powerful drugs ever invented.


Unlike antibiotics or antivirals, it requires no FDA approval, no manufacturing plant, and no cold-chain shipping. Fear spreads itself. All it takes is a headline, a few experts on television, ominous music behind a news segment, and suddenly millions of people begin scanning their bodies for symptoms they did not know they had ten minutes earlier.


Psychological Bioterrorism is the weaponization of fear about disease in order to manipulate individuals, populations, markets, and governments. Sometimes the objective is political. Sometimes financial. Sometimes bureaucratic. Often, it is all three at once.


This is not a conspiracy theory. It is a recognized form of psychological warfare. We have written about it extensively in our book Psywar.


In that book, we write about Dr. Alexander Kouzminov, a former Soviet-Russian intelligence officer with deep experience in biological espionage and biosecurity operations, who in 2017, described how fear of infectious disease can be strategically amplified to shape public behavior, influence governments, and create opportunities for those positioned to benefit from the panic. That process is called psychological bioterrorism.


Once you understand the framework, you start seeing the pattern everywhere.


The media shifts into apocalyptic mode. Experts appear to be predicting catastrophe. Computer models project millions dead, if the right circumstances coalesce. Politicians declare emergencies. Pharmaceutical companies announce new products. Social media turns into a digital panic attack. And ordinary people, who just wanted to buy eggs and walk the dog, suddenly feel like civilization is one cough away from collapse.


But if you watched the recent media cycle unfold, you would think half the country was moments away from dying in a cloud of mouse droppings drifting through the HVAC system at Tractor Supply.


The reality is far less cinematic.


This is how psychological bioterrorism works. The pathogen itself matters less than the emotional payload attached to it.


Fear scales faster than facts.


The reason these campaigns work so well is simple. Human beings are biologically wired to fear invisible threats. A wolf outside the cave is frightening. But an invisible virus floating through the air? That activates something much deeper in the human nervous system. You cannot see it. You cannot smell it. You cannot negotiate with it. Every stranger becomes a potential threat. Every cough becomes suspicious.


That loss of control is the point.


More....



Monday, May 11, 2026

Pentagon reveals location of secret Navy submarine capable of launching nukes after Trump rejects Iran peace offer


Pentagon reveals location of secret Navy submarine capable of launching nukes after Trump rejects Iran peace offer


The Pentagon revealed the location Monday of one of the US Navy’s most secretive vessels – a stealthy, nuclear-armed submarine – a day after President Trump rejected Iran’s latest peace offer

The Navy’s Sixth Fleet shared an image of the Ohio-class submarine and its crew docked Sunday in Gibraltar, a British territory off Spain’s southern coast.  

“The port visit demonstrates US capability, flexibility, and continuing commitment to its NATO allies,” the Sixth Fleet said in a press release. 

“Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines are undetectable launch platforms for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, providing the US with its most survivable leg of the nuclear triad,” the fleet added. 

The Navy, which operates 14 nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed Ohio-class submarines, did not share the name of the vessel docked in Gibraltar. 

The submarine’s Trident II ballistic missiles have a range of over 4,500 miles. 

The Pentagon rarely discloses the locations of its nuclear subs, which is considered highly classified information.  

The disclosure came hours after Trump slammed Iran’s latest peace offer as “totally unacceptable.”

“I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” the president wrote on Truth Social Sunday. 

Trump further accused the Islamic Republic of “playing games” with the United States and the rest of the world. 

The Iranian regime has refused to accept terms that would require it to abandon its nuclear program and turn over enriched uranium to the US. 

The president has repeatedly warned that he will restart military operations against the regime if a peace deal is not agreed to soon. 


UAE Becomes Active Combatant in Iran War, Secretly Launching Strikes Against Islamic Regime


UAE Becomes Active Combatant in Iran War, Secretly Launching Strikes Against Islamic Regime


The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been secretly carrying out attacks against Iran, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The attacks included a strike on an oil refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in early April, triggering a major fire and knocking much of the facility offline for months.

Iran acknowledged at the time that the refinery had been struck in what it described as an enemy attack.

Tehran later responded with missile and drone strikes against the UAE and Kuwait.

While Gulf states publicly insisted before the war that they would not allow their territory or airspace to be used for attacks on Iran, the UAE became an active participant in the conflict after coming under sustained Iranian attack.

Iran launched more than 2,800 missiles and drones at the UAE during the war, more than against any other country besides Israel.

The attacks disrupted tourism, aviation, and property markets across the Emirates and reportedly triggered a major shift in Abu Dhabi’s strategic outlook toward Tehran.

U.S. officials are said to have quietly welcomed the UAE’s participation in the war effort, according to the report.

The UAE has not publicly acknowledged carrying out strikes inside Iran. However, its foreign ministry pointed to previous statements asserting the country’s right to respond militarily to hostile acts.

Open-source researchers and analysts have increasingly linked UAE military assets to operations inside Iran.

The UAE possesses one of the most advanced air forces in the Middle East, including fleets of F-16s, Mirage fighters, surveillance aircraft, refueling planes, and armed drones.

However, the country remains at serious risk of economic catastrophe as a result of the conflict given its dependency on the Strait of Hormuz for importing goods and exporting its vast oil reserves.