#boondoggle — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #boondoggle, aggregated by home.social.
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More like a 1.1 million dollar exercise in sticking your head in the sand.
Spoiler climate change has made lancelin uninhabitable and folk dont want to accept it.
#climatechange #boondoggle #auspol
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-12/lancelin-erosion-seawall-state-government-funding/107027526 -
boondoggle. n. wasteful or impractical project or activity often involving graft.
(per Merriam-Webster)
The Reflecting Pool is not wasteful but definitely impractical. Involves graft it does.
https://us.cnn.com/2026/07/03/politics/reflecting-pool-new-maintenance-plan
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According to ABC News, #SpaceX, now (over) valued at $2T, HAS YET TO TURN A PROFIT.
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Trump, Musk, Lutnick, and Bezos Hijacked Infrastructure Bill Broadband Grant Money, Causing A Giant Mess
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#Maine - Democratic Governor Candidates Break with Mills on Data Centers
Four out of five candidates running to replace #JanetMills said she was wrong to veto a temporary moratorium.
By Alex Seitz-Wald, April 28, 2026
"Four of the five Democrats running to replace Gov. Janet Mills said she was wrong to veto a first-in-the-nation moratorium on large data center construction at candidate forum moderated by the #MidcoastVillager Saturday.
All but one candidate on the June 9 primary ballot — clean energy executive #AngusKingIII — said they support the temporary moratorium, citing data centers' potential impacts on electricity rates, water usage and limited job creation, among other concerns.
"Mills, locked in a Democratic U.S. Senate primary against oyster farmer Graham Platner, said she largely supports the goals of #LD307. But in her veto message, she said felt compelled to nix the ban because it could have killed a proposed $550 million data center to a former mill complex in #JayME. [Mills has since dropped out of the race]
"At the forum, sponsored by the Knox and Lincoln County Democratic Parties at Watts Hall, the Democrats looking to replace Mills said the Jay project was not worth the sacrifice of the entire moratorium.
" 'I think the governor’s veto on Friday was unfortunate,' said former Maine House Speaker #HannahPingree, who left a top role in Mills administration ahead of her run for governor. 'We have seen in Virginia and in Texas, the kind of significant damage that these centers have been doing. And I think it's incredibly urgent that Maines passes the moratorium and then we put the kind of guardrail in place that will protect Maine people, protect our environment, but especially protect rate payers.'
"Dr. #NiravShah, the former head of the Maine Centers for Disease Control who is seen as frontrunner in the primary, said data centers do not create enough jobs to outweigh their potential negative impacts.
" 'I think Governor Mills's veto was in error, and I would have signed the legislation had I been governor,' Shah said. 'If we are going to have data centers in Maine — and that’s a big if, I want to be clear — then my general approach is let's do it, right, not do it fast. If we are going to do it. And right now, there are just too many unanswered questions about the impact of data centers on rural electricity rates, which are already high enough. On our water use, which is a precious resource. And on our health.'
"Secretary of State #ShennaBellows was more blunt, calling data centers 'a #boondoggle perpetrated by #CryptoBillionaires who are gobbling up everything in sight.' She said the moratorium is 'prudent' and that the legislature had constructed it thoughtfully.
"Former Maine Senate President #TroyJackson, who is closely aligned with labor unions, said he supports development that creates good-paying jobs — but does not see data centers as delivering on that promise.
" 'It's a false narrative what she’s telling us about jobs,' Jackson said of Mills' justification for the veto.
"Pointing to a pin on his lapel for a local electrician union, Jackson said: 'There's a lot of #UnionWorkers that are electricians in the state that do want jobs, but not really those jobs.'
"And Jackson, who clashed with Mills at times when he led the upper chamber of the Legislature, said Mills should have found another way to protect the Jay project. 'I would have signed that bill and I think the governor should have gotten involved way, way before to try to make her points known or at least come up with a compromise,' Jackson said.
"King, the son of independent U.S. Sen. Angus King and the only candidate not to back the moratorium outright, declined to say whether he would have signed the bill. When pressed, he called the question a 'hypothetical' and argued the measure would not have passed as written if he were governor."Archived version:
https://archive.ph/8gpML#MainePol #Datacenters #DatacenterMoratoriums #MaineCandidates
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Ukraine update from Dylan Combellick.
Friend link bypasses the paywall and helps defeat ignorance: https://medium.com/@dylan_combellick/ukraine-update-april-30-19c0e6c892cd?sk=ae79006c48be4c50f66f6a18f626a52c
#ukraine #journalism #news #war #warcrimes #russia #russiaIsATerroristState #USA #putinPuppet #trump #shame #mage #corrupt #fiends #greed #idiocy #iran #china #israel #boondoggle
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/116324995800817999
No one ever could really explain why #NASA needed a #SpaceStation around the Moon.
#NASA was giving billions 💰 of dollars to #Boeing to build a more powerful upper stage for the #SLS. And this new rocket required a $2 billion launch tower. The only purpose of this #boondoggle (besides political pork, of course) was to bring #Gateway modules to lunar orbit.
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"After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today. I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/17/joe-kent-resigns-trump-iran-israel-threat
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In a ‘Did you know…’ article featured today, @wikipedia reminds us that an independent panel of expert scientists found no evidence that ‘cold fusion’ had ever occurred at the National Institute for Cold #Fusion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cold_Fusion_Institute
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Even if these new #cruise #ships are powered by #electric, they're still a #boondoggle. And by the way, what about #lightpollution? Do #birds and #sea life have any rights in this equation, and did anyone see fit to bring that up earlier?
https://www.cruisehive.com/nyc-unveils-major-overhaul-of-manhattan-cruise-terminal/191898 #wildlife #marinewildlife #sealife
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Agree: no more #boondoggle #Borg - like "#affordable" #housing in #toxic #Gowanus #floodplain
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🚀 The F-35, that flying money pit, is now losing the trade war too! 😂 Who knew a trillion-dollar #boondoggle couldn't outmaneuver the complexities of global economics? Maybe it needs a GPS. 📉
https://www.jalopnik.com/1945910/f-35-fighter-jet-losing-trade-war/ #F35 #TradeWar #GlobalEconomics #MilitarySpending #EconomicChallenges #HackerNews #ngated -
No #mafia #environmental #boondoggle #bridge endangering #migratory #birds in Strait of #Messina
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/08/10/thousands-march-against-the-plan-to-build-a-massive-bridge-linking-sicily-to-italy-s-mainland_6744232_4.html
Not to mention #Chiloé Bicentennial Bridge endangering #wildlife my take here
https://nkozphoto.com/index.php/2025/07/14/darwins-fox-and-south-americas-unique-canine-evolutionary-laboratory/ #darwin #chile #fox #foxes #evolution #science #canid #canids -
No more #car everything #bagel #transportation plans allowing for #boondoggle #car expansion!
https://gothamist.com/news/fewer-cars-or-expanded-highways-a-battle-for-new-yorks-future-on-the-road #climate #climatechange #brooklyn #flooding #floods -
@iwein And in a dessert with zero liquid water. #Mars #boondoggle
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A #GoldenDome is no defense against a #Spiderweb. #Boondoggle #Resist
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Scientists explain why Trump’s $175 Billion “Golden (formerly Iron) Dome” is a Fantasy”
https://www.404media.co/scientists-explain-why-trumps-175-billion-golden-dome-is-a-fantasy/
#trump #starwars #goldendome #irondome #boondoggle #usa #canada
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Note: when the bragging point is not about specifics on what your spending the #budget on, but on the number of zeroes in the budget, I guarantee you won't be #spending in a wise or cost-conscious manner.
It's like being asked what you're looking for in a new house and replying "It should cost a million dollars."
#Trump #defense #doge #boondoggle
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/07/hegseth-trump-1-trillion-defense-budget-00007147
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CW: Politics USA Canada
Agree with others, it should not be controversial at all to say that we should not buy military equipment from a now-hostile foreign power. That's just common sense.
The F-35 never made sense (for us, or others) - it's just another USA defence project which is very, very efficient at siphoning dollars from US taxpayers into the coffers of a defence contractor. Jane's estimates the per-flying-hour cost of operating the F-35 at between USD 21,000 - 31,000. Even the Eurofighter boondoggle is only about half of that. The Saab Gripen is supposedly less than USD 5,000 per flying hour.
#boondoggle #defence #defense #contractor #military #F35 #Eurofighter #Gripen #Saab #Canada #purchase
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Let's not get carried away with the #Copenhagen analogy: #Gowanus is in a #flood plain, which has not deterred a #boondoggle #realestate boom
https://secretnyc.co/gowanus-become-mini-copenhagen/ #brooklyn #Climate #climatechange -
@arstechnica The #Fusion energy #boondoggle has been stringing along taxpayers for over 60 years, and it looks like they’re planning at least a century-long con job.
Still not on par with the millennia-long con jobs of organized #religion. 🤷🏻♂️
