Unreal Bird #1: I'm Starting A Newsletter

It's 2026, and I'm starting a newsletter.

Why? ̶B̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶e̶l̶s̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ Because there's more to write about than I can reasonably publish in any given week, and because I think writing about it more regularly will gradually, inevitably make me a better at it.

If you are reading this first issue, you are probably familiar with me and my work. These days, I mostly write about political debates over technology's role in shaping society--and how the people behind those debates, not the tech itself, contribute to outcomes on the ground. I've also done a fair bit of writing on trust & safety, election security, and digital propaganda. My background is mostly in research nonprofits with stints on Capitol Hill, journalism, and international development consulting.

I hope to publish every couple of weeks. Mostly I will share updates about what I am working on, as well as any reactions to recent events and a few pieces of worthwhile reading material.

You might be wondering about the title. It's a reference to the satirical conspiracy theory "birds aren't real"(At least, I hope it's still satirical). There's also a dash of T.S. Eliot; if you know, you know.

Let's dive in.

In this issue:

• I'm working on a piece about data center development.
• The January 6th Insurrection is five years old.
• Will anyone stop Elon Musk? Will tech companies help or hinder press freedom? And what is the "Fascintern?"
• Scroll to the bottom to see dogs!

What I'm Up To

Data centers! They're big, they're unpopular, and they're seemingly everywhere.

This is especially true in Ohio, where I live, and where the state capital of Columbus is by some counts the fourth largest concentration of data center operating capacity in the world.

I expect my next piece in Tech Policy Press to be a longform look at data center development across the state. I was privileged to be able to interview residents, local development officials, elected leaders, and researchers to take a holistic look at the question:

What do Ohio cities stand to gain and lose when Big Tech comes to town?

I've learned a lot working on this piece, and I can't wait to share it. Primarily, I looked into the use of tax abatements and other incentives for data center projects. This is standard fare in economic development, but a few things make data centers different. They are basically big boxes full of computers. They don't produce many jobs outside their initial construction. They use a lot of power and sometimes, a lot of water. Many residents are also concerned about environmental pollution.

This issue has started to boil over, with municipalities passing moratoriums on development and an apparent schism between the Republican-controlled legislature and Mike DeWine, Ohio's Republican governor.

When industry leaders and politicians promise that data centers will bring the so-called "Rust Belt" into the 21st century economy, we should interrogate whether or not that economy is one we want in the first place. I hope to continue working on this issue in some form throughout the year. I also fully expect it to be a feature in the Ohio gubernatorial election next year, in which Vivek Ramaswamy (of short-lived DOGE fame) is the Republican front-runner.

If you have thoughts on data centers, please reach out.

The January 6th insurrection was five years ago.

If I'm going to write a newsletter, people probably expect it to mention this, given my affiliation with the January Six Committee. There has been less public reflection on the anniversary than I'd expected, but maybe that's not surprising given the rate at which our crises are compounding each week.

The truth is that I have already said most of what I have to say. Anything else, others have already said, and probably better. Donald Trump defeated every force for accountability in public life. The consequences will be generational.

And while it's tempting to call January 6 a low point in contemporary American politics, I think it's closer to the top of our downward spiral than the bottom.

Perhaps the thing that makes me saddest is that younger generations will never have the same expectation of justice that many Americans held in the past. Is it harder to be disabused of your ideals, or never to have believed in them at all? (This is of course not to disregard those whose perspective on American justice has always been fundamentally different; idealism is often its own sort of privilege, but cynicism is antithetical to progress.)

Over the last year, I've wrestled with a transition from advocacy to observation. I've lost hope for near-term change; the challenge is to retain faith in long-term possibilities and to believe that recording and preserving history for future generations is worthwhile in its own right.

Some of the best reflections I've seen this week:

• "There Is a Sickness Eating Away at American Democracy," by Jamelle Bouie.
  • "The truth is that as a country, we have often found one reason or another to let the powerful escape the consequences of their actions."
• "Jan. 6 was our failure," by Hannah Gais.
  • "What do terms like 'bipartisanship' even mean when someone strings up a noose on the Capitol lawn in a riot in support of one party’s leader?"
• "The Long Shadow of January 6th," by Dave Karpf.
  • "This will not last, but it is bound to get much worse before it gets better... it’s important, on the anniversary of January 6th, to recall that it also was not inevitable."

Finally, yes, of course we've all seen the official White House J6 commemoration. It led me to revisit this thread from 2020 about the role of propaganda and hopelessness in authoritarianism. The whole thing is worth reading but especially the end:

this is not our concern. we have work to do, irons in the fire, and faith in the effort. faith is the substance of things not seen which tells me not to let myself get too overheated about seen things when their only purpose is to try to undermine my resolve.

Soldier on.

Odds & Ends

• "Why won't someone do something about Elon Musk?" by Max Read. Sure, no one expects much out of the US government these days, but as the State Department occasionally needs to be reminded, other countries have laws too. If a European government, or Brazil, or Australia decides to take action against Musk's open-air CSAM carnival, will Marco Rubio and JD Vance jump to his defense as they have in the past? (Tech Policy Press is tracking regulatory responses to Grok-gate.)
• "Are Tech Companies Allies or Threats to Press Freedom?" by Emily Bell. I'm less interested in the main question here—so many parallel sectors are asking a similar question—than in whether or not independent media can truly detach themselves from Big Tech in a sustainable fashion. What would that look like?
• "Fascintern Media," by Robin Berjon. I initially read this hoping it'd make a plea for the term "Fascintern" (the right-wing equivalent of "Comintern") to take off, because I believe the ideological alliance of Washington, the European far right, and even, to an extent, Moscow is the gravest threat to democracy in our time. Instead, I found a compelling (if in some spots overly simplistic) argument that we must all abandon X because there's no meaningful way to engage there without bolstering fascism. Read it and decide for yourself.

Snoot Watch

Humble Plea

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