Rep. Tim Burchett: "I Guess I'm Backward and Poor."

by Rod Williams, Set 1, 2026 - I am still undecided on data centers. I stay well informed, but I have not seen any balanced, factual, dispassionate discussion of them. It seems everyone who has something to say about them is pushing a narrative. I want to know, just how loud is the hum they admit? Is it worse than living near a busy interstate? Do data centers really use a lot of water, and if they do, does it raise water rates for everyone else? I have the same questions about electricity. When it comes to water and electricity, are there solutions to these problems, if this is in fact a problem?

When it comes to the large controversial data center proposed for property near the zoo, I adamantly oppose the government using eminent domain to take the property. I favor property rights and think eminent domain should only be used for things like widening a roadway or building a school, but only when an exhaustive effort to find a willing seller fails. Mayor O’Connell filed eminent domain legislation to acquire the zoo site for public use, including a health center and fire station. This was purely designed to stop the data center. This is a targeted taking attempt, not a legitimate use of eminent domain. The Metro Council has also passed a moratorium on data centers to stop the one near the zoo.

The company building the data center is not gracefully withdrawing from the fight; they are fighting back. They assert that they are already vested in the property and they have received their permits and are in compliance with existing zoning requirements and other requirements in place at the time, and have already spent money to build it. If this goes to court, I suspect Metro will pay DC Blox millions to compensate them for their loss. To stop this approved development will cost Nashville taxpayers a pretty penny.

A petition against the zoo site data center surpassed 360,000 signatures. I am sure that when someone approaches the average person and says, "There is a proposal to build a data center near the zoo, and it will cause anxiety for the elephants. Will you sign our petition to stop it," that many will sign without thinking. I have been a part of petition drives, and people will sign anything. Simply getting a large number of people to sign a petition should not carry the day. Even if a majority oppose it, that does not mean it should be stopped. We, including companies and other entities, have rights, not subject to the opinion of a large number of people or a majority of the people. DC Blox had a right to build the data center, and then that right was taken away. 

Fights like the one is Nashville are taking place all over the country. I think that people fear AI and the AI future, as perhaps they should, and opposing data centers is a way to express that fear. I think the opposition to data centers is more of a concern about AI than the actual facility of a data center. Data centers will be built, if not in the US, then in China. Stopping a data center in Nashville is not going to slow AI. However, if data centers are not built in the US, it disadvantages the US and helps China. 

President Trump has weighed in on data centers, and for once I tend to think the President is right. I wish he would be more diplomatic in the way he says things, but that is not the Trump way. 

President Trump has lashed out at communities that are protesting data centers, suggesting that residents who oppose them must prefer to be “backwards and poor.” “The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”

Representative Tim Burchett of Knoxville has been a Trump cheerleader and also, from time to time, says some cringe-worthy, embarrassing things. He also promotes various conspiracy theories. I do not have a favorable opinion of Tim Burchett. Nevertheless, I am pleased to see Tim Burchett push back against Donald Trump on the data center issue, despite thinking Donald Trump is more right than Burchett, even if I think Donald Trump expresses things crudely. I guess I just like to see two people I don't like disagree. 

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FIRE Just Won a Huge First Amendment Victory.

by Rod Williams, Aug. 31, 2026- The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has just won an important free-speech case. Here are the details from FIRE.

A federal court ruled on Friday that the provisions Secretary of State Marco Rubio used in an attempt to deport legal noncitizens for their speech are unconstitutional and violate the First Amendment.

FIRE challenged the provisions in 2025, which grant the federal government unchecked power to censor under this administration, and others to follow. The ruling affirms a bedrock constitutional principle: The government cannot punish people for protected speech simply because officials dislike their views. 

We are thrilled by the result, and by the judge's clear ruling. She noted, "The language of the Amendment makes clear that it is not the government that gives freedom of speech to the people. Instead, that freedom is imbued in the people, and 'Congress shall make no law' to abridge it."

To be clear, FIRE takes no position on immigration, and this ruling does not say that the government must admit anyone, issue anyone a visa, or grant anyone citizenship. It says that once a person is lawfully here, the government cannot deport them because they engaged in protected speech.

That's for good reason. Imagine two protesters at a public park — one a citizen and one a legally-present student on a visa. Should one face deportation for holding the exact same sign? 

At FIRE, we defend free speech on principle — no matter who is in power, whose speech is under attack, or the politics involved. That's what it means to defend the First Amendment, and thanks to your support, it's a fight we can take on and win.

I am pleased to see this ruling and also agree that free speech should be defended on principle, no matter who is in power. The Trump administration has been violating freedom of speech rights and other of our constitutional liberties since the first Trump term but has stepped up its war on free speech since the start of Trump II.

I know some Trump supporters will denounce FIRE as a liberal organization for taking a stand for free speech and bringing suit against the Trump administration. In today's political discourse, Trump supporters give a knee-jerk label of "liberal" to anyone who stands up against Trump. They routinely denounce the courts and judges as "liberal" any time they rule against Trump, even if the judge was an appointee of Bush or Reagan.

FIRE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought. Its mission is to protect freedom of speech, academic freedom, due process, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and religious liberty across the United States.

 
Originally founded in 1999 as the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, FIRE focused on defending free speech and freedom of religion on college campuses. At the time, it was the rights of conservative professors and students who were most often defended by FIRE.  Wokeness was rampant, and illiberal liberals tried to ban conservative groups from campus, prevent conservative voices from being heard on campus, and impose speech codes and ban speech with which they disagreed by labeling it "hate speech." Because FIRE was most often defending the free-speech rights of conservatives, the organization was considered a conservative organization. Of course, when they began opposing Trump's illiberal policies, Trumpinistas started calling them a liberal organization. FIRE has been a consistent defender of liberty; it is Trump "conservatives" who have changed their views. 

In 2022, FIRE expanded its scope to advocate for free speech throughout society, changing its name to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. I have been a long-time supporter of FIRE.  To learn more about the organization, follow this link. If you support their mission, please consider making a donation. 

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