Letter to San Angelo City Council: Data Center & Lords of Capital

June 2, 2026

Dear Mayor and Members of City Council,

In December 2025 I filed a public information request re: incentives and subsidies for the Skybox Data Center. It remains with the Texas Attorney General’s office.

The City has partnered with Skybox and its developer, Emergent Data Centers, since early 2025. This “exceptional municipal partnership built for speed”, Emergent’s promotional description, strangely has no documents associated with it from the city side.

Emergent CEO Chris Sumter informed the audience at the April public meeting that he has developed numerous data centers and sold them (making handsome profits). He named several private equity firms, which I will generally refer to as the Lords of Capital for the remainder of this letter. The Lords desire big profits and frequently need public subsidies for those to occur.

A data center power generation project outside of Pecos. Texas is “contingent upon several forms of economic development” to achieve the project’s “attractive returns.” It’s called a hurdle rate and the Lords don’t provide capital funding unless that is achieved.

The economic development agreement with Skybox is under negotiation. Skybox won’t go ahead with the project without ERCOT approval and a committed tenant. Financing for the project depends on those as well. That means three different hurdle rates need to be met, Skybox’s, the tenant’s and the Lords of Capital’s. Blue Owl financed a number of prior Skybox projects.

Time will reveal if there are local incentives or subsidies for Skybox on top of massive State tax breaks. Whoever is negotiating the 380 economic development agreement should have some idea as to the types and size of incentives offered by other Texas communities. The City researched data center zoning and shared that with citizens. It is yet to do so re: incentives.

The tenant gets a state sales tax break on the expensive hardware and many building systems it needs to operate their data center.

https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/data-centers/ 

The following items, if necessary and essential to the operation of a qualifying large data center project, are eligible for the exemption when purchased by a qualifying owner, operator or occupant: 

• electricity;* 

• an electrical system; 

• a cooling system; 

• an emergency generator; 

• hardware or a distributed mainframe computer or server; 

• a data storage device; 

• network connectivity equipment; 

• a rack, cabinet and raised floor system; 

• a peripheral component or system; 

• software; 

• a mechanical, electrical or plumbing system that is necessary to operate any tangible personal property described above; 

• any other item of equipment or system necessary to operate any tangible personal property described above, including a fixture; and 

• a component part of any tangible personal property described above.

Predatory TechGods will occupy this data center. Will it be Meta who allowed child sexual predators seventeen strikes before banning them?  Will it be Microsoft who plotted to make its AI more addictive?

High hurdle rate on profits, low propensity to protect children, tech offerings designed to maximize addiction – these are the organizations you are inviting to set up in San Angelo proper. 

Once the three hurdles are achieved, this project will flood forth as a fait accompli. It will come down from Twin Mountain as a divine offering from the Lords of Capital and their TechGod occupant. And in five years or less it will be sold or refinanced, because that is the real business going on here, the buying and selling of companies. 

It is not unheard of for the Lords of Capital to abandon their liege, to walk away, to not throw good money after bad, to hand the keys back to creditors (who may or may not want them). Thus, the City should be prepared to take possession of such a building. 

It wouldn’t be the first time something with great promise did not pan out. Does anyone remember MedHab, former Mayor Alvin New’s investment and future creator of some 400 San Angelo jobs? That future never arrived. 

Just as the city funds the closure of a landfill cell, it should consider setting aside money to safely manage down the facility and its contents, should both the developer and TechGod occupant walk away. 

As an over twenty year resident of District #1, I currently reside in a community just outside Tom Green County. It happens to be in the impact zone of the proposed Beacon Data Center in Dove Creek. Our water and electricity will be directly impacted and air quality will depend on the wind direction.

We have solar power with battery backup, installed after Winter Storm Uri when we went without power for five days in bitter cold. None of the initial financial projections came true. 

The State of Texas allowed electrical providers to add delivery charges and Reliant pays us half of the amount they did just a year and half ago for power we send to the grid. There is no competition for our solar/battery power.  We take whatever the Texas electrical cartel gives, an ever shrinking amount, while their fees to us soar. 

I imagine the city will be treated likewise by Skybox/Emergent/Lords of Capital. It’s their hurdle rate the State of Texas is subsidizing.  The city may do likewise. 

My prayer is the Lords of Capital lose interest in funding these projects. No financing, no project. 

Thank you for the opportunity to share these thoughts.

Note:  I posted this on my other blog, StateoftheDivision, a local focused blog for San Angelo and the surrounding area in West Texas.  This is evidence of the Lords of Capital, which includes private equity underwriters (PEU), discovering our area.  They seek massive financial returns while citizens get burdens.   

Unserious People for Serious Work

Trump II enforcer Bill Pulte will head U.S. intelligence despite having no background or experience in the field.   In addition he will gut the agency from a position of leadership ignorance.

The public witnessed something similar under Elon Musk and DOGE, which applied the "takeover model" of jettisoning federal staff in favor of incapable technology.  TechGods call it "disruption" while private equity underrwriters (PEU) refer to it as their new "operating model."  Both are designed to funnel huge sums to founders and executives.

Trump II has added a blatantly political dimension to any downsizing with his demand that all staff be 100% in support and alignment with him or be rooted out.

I have written my congressperson numerous times on the severe damage being done to important government operations by Trump II, a nightmarish executive who manages by savage whim.  I received a series of replies indicating that their relationship with Trump II benefits everyone, which of course is complete bladerdash.

Trump II decides on one criteria, whatever he believes maximizes his image/pocketbook in each and every present moment.  So he lies and he fibs and he flip-flops, attacking when any of these are questioned.  Trump can attack anyone, anywhere and anytime.  The thought just needs to enter his mind.

And that's where the cascade of White House creeps come in.  They know offense is the best defense so the game is to pin Trump's rage on the other.  

It is in Trump's nature to destroy that which is good, to hurt as many people as possible with callous acts and to fatten his pocketbook at the same time.  Thus we now have Trump designed Trump coins for America 250.

Trump coins are official coins of the professional wrestling event to be held at the White House.

And they come at a premium price, much like stadium eats at a professional sporting event.

Get ready to pay roughly an $8,000 premium for packaging.  That's quite a load.  

This is the fleece Trump II allows the public to see.  I can't imagine what he has going in the shadows alongside his TechGod/PEU backers.

We have so many unserious people serving the world's greatest usurper, when the whole lot should be serving the American people.  Instead they serve themselves, over and over and over.

I am sick and tired of it.  

For decades politicians Red & Blue loved PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more were one. Trump II is trying to crowd out the Blues and make it the Red PEUniparty.  I trust the American people to steer back this obscene overreach.   Act...

Update 6-11-26:  Trump II's ravaging of the FBI is a precursor to his plans for the overall intelligence community.  Trump's nipple fetish must continue to be hidden and protected.  

Blackstone and Apollo Throw Billions at AI Chips

A Blackstone press release stated:

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO), a global technology leader that designs, develops, and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions, today announced the establishment of the AI XPV Platform with Apollo (NYSE: APO) and Blackstone’s (NYSE: BX) Credit & Insurance Business as initial anchor investors. 

The Platform is designed to enable more than 20 gigawatts in compute capacity using Broadcom’s XPUs and networking solutions customized for leading frontier AI labs, including Anthropic and OpenAI, through 2028. 

The Platform launches today with an initial tranche of $35 billion led by Apollo, in partnership with Blackstone, to facilitate Anthropic’s previously announced capacity expansion of more than 1 gigawatt of compute infrastructure expected to deploy in Fluidstack-based sites starting in mid-2026.

Apollo's press release said global banks would play a role as well.

The funding is for expensive chips that go into AI data centers owned by Fluidstack.

Cipher Mining recently signed a ten year AI hosting agreement with Fluidstack and Google.  In the same press release Cipher announced its Colchis site just outside San Angelo city limits in West Texas.  It is not clear if Colchis is part of that AI hosting arrangement with Fluidstack.  That remains to be seen.

Fluidstack "builds gigawatt scale data centers from the ground up, delivered in months..."

If private equity underwriter (PEU) funding is behind the expensive chips that go into Colchis that's another political push for ERCOT to approve Cipher Mining's AI data center in our area.  A tie to Anthropic and its use of Fluidstack would add an established TechGod dimension.

BlackRock's Larry Fink wants your retirement fund to backstop the data centers people do not want in their backyards.  Blackstone Credit & Insurance Business may do just that with your annuity and Apollo's Athene could do likewise.

“We’re in this unique time where we need multiple trillions of dollars, for AI, power, infrastructure, chips and all of that requires very bespoke, long-duration capital that’s not traditional to the CUSIP market.” John Zito, Co-President, Apollo Asset Management

Long duration capital for short lived assets?  That usually means bagholder.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

TechGods 007 Villain Gold-Dingus

TechGods need access to our pension/retirement funds, at least BlackRock CEO Larry Fink recently made that appeal.

Bloomberg ran an opinion piece comparing AI leaders to villains from James Bond movies.  TechGod Peter Thiel and Palantir CEO Alex Karp sound like 007 antagonists in their daily speech.  

With Elon Musk controlling 85% of SPAC-EX after going public, the IPO looks engineered to make Musk the first trillionaire on earth while he retains complete control of the company..  

This is the class that self medicates with ketamine, advocates for government free zones where they make the rules, locates data centers in drought stricken areas and pushes next word predictors as intelligence.  

No real industry would go forward with a product that has significant error rates and is unreliable.  

Robot cars interfere with police and fireman responding to an accident, fire or crime scene.  AI commits what would be a crime if done by a human and nothing happens.  It tells a child to commit suicide.  It facilitates the undressing of underage girls.  

It, like its twisted social media uncle, seeks to addict users.  It furthers irreality, the profane and the grotesque.  It spies as it controls.  

NYPost ran a story on sex workers that can speak tech and the premiums paid by TechGods and their servants for such services.  The story ended with:

“In the future, being able to afford human contact, and to afford settings where there is genuine human contact, will be the ultimate luxury.”

How much will breathable air and drinkable water cost in this "future?"

America has an absurd vision that most do not want, the further obscene enrichment of the TechGod/PEU (private equity underwriter) class at our expense as everything is monetized.  We see which way the resources flow and it is not in our direction.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Update:  Jesse wrote:

The sickness of the world is being spread like a pandemic of lawlessness by a small but powerful crowd of well-funded sociopaths. Those who are easily seduced by money and power are quickly falling in line with it. 

It will be hard for future generations to understand this, just as we have struggled to understand the middle of the last century and the madness that overtook it.

Madness is as madness does... 

Update 6-9-26:  Trump II, the digital Caligula, encouraged the United Kingdom to not ban social media for children under 16 years of age.

Cipher Digital's Annual Report Covers Colchis LLC

Cipher Digital's 2025 annual report had much to say about their Colchis project, Tom Green County's third possible data center.   It is a joint venture although Cipher Digital never shares their joint venture partner(s) or from whom they purchased their majority interest.

The Tom Green County Appraisal District shows four tracts of land owned by Colchis.  They are next to the land currently leased by SkyBox Data Centers for their project, which is currently being marketed by Emergent Data Centers as SA1.  Both sited in that location to access a large AEP electrical substation.  

Texas electricity regulator ERCOT is running a Batch Zero competition for the state's data center explosion.  That means SkyBox and Cipher are competing for the same monstrous amount of electricity.  

Cipher's Annual Report states: 

Colchis Site 

In November 2025, we purchased a majority interest in a joint venture entity to develop a new HPC site in West Texas capable of providing 1-GW, referred to as Colchis (the “Colchis Site”), under which we expect to hold a majority equity interest subject to final lease and development terms. The Colchis Site includes a fully executed direct interconnection agreement with American Electric Power (“AEP”) for a dual interconnection facility targeting energization in 2028 and options to buy approximately 620 acres of land adjacent to an existing substation.

Redeemable noncontrolling interest 

Redeemable noncontrolling interest represent a 47% noncontrolling ownership in Colchis, variable interest entity (“VIE”), and a consolidated subsidiary of the Company. The entity is deemed a VIE as it does not have sufficient equity-at-risk to finance its activities. As the managing member, the Company has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact Colchis’s economic performance. Accordingly, the Company was determined to be the primary beneficiary of the VIE and therefore consolidates the entity in its consolidated financial statements. Redeemable noncontrolling interests are presented outside of permanent equity on the consolidated balance sheets as they are redeemable by the holders of the noncontrolling interest and the redemption is outside the control of the Company. The redeemable noncontrolling interests were initially recorded at their issuance date fair value of $30.3 million. The Company subsequently measures the carrying amount of the redeemable noncontrolling interests at the greater of (i) the initial carrying amount, increased or decreased for the noncontrolling interest’s share of net income or loss and its share of other comprehensive income or loss, and dividends or (ii) the redemption value. For interests that are  redeemable in the future, we recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur.

Note 8:  Investment in Joint Ventures

In October 2025, the Company purchased 53% of the equity in Colchis LLC (“Colchis”), a joint venture of a potential 1 GW site in Texas, the “Colchis Site.” The Company is the managing member and consolidates Colchis, and records redeemable noncontrolling interest for the minority interest in the site. The Company deems the noncontrolling interest to be redeemable due to certain clauses in the agreement, which could trigger the redemption of the noncontrolling shares upon events outside of the Company's control. 

There were no changes in ownership of Colchis LLC for the year ended December 31, 2025 after the Company’s original investment.

Note 9:  Intangible Assets

 

The Company recorded amortization expense related to intangible assets of $0.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, and $0.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. During the year ended December 31, 2025, the Company acquired strategic contracts for $56.6 million and $12.6 million related to the development of the Colchis and Ulysses sites, respectively, and wrote off $1.2 million of capitalized software related to software projects the Company is no longer pursuing.

There are mixed messages between the Annual Report and other Cipher corporate communications.  A November 3, 2025 press release stated:

In addition, Cipher today announced the formation of a joint entity to develop a 1-gigawatt (“GW”) site, named “Colchis”, in West Texas. Under the terms of the agreement, Cipher is expected to provide the majority of the financing, which would result in approximately 95% equity ownership assuming standard lease and development terms in a future HPC lease. 

The Colchis site includes a fully executed 1-GW Direct Connect Agreement with American Electric Power (“AEP”), under which AEP will construct the necessary dual interconnection facility for a targeted energization in 2028. Construction of the interconnection facility will proceed in parallel with ERCOT's final review and approval. The 620-acres of land under option sit adjacent to the existing substation, and the site has all the necessary characteristics for development of an HPC data center.

One said "purchased" the joint venture while the other said "formed."  One said 53% equity while the other said 95%.

I wonder if AEP's dual interconnection facility garners them an equity stake in Colchis.  It seems strange that AEP would pick one data center over another at this stage.  Shouldn't they work with whichever was approved by ERCOT via Batch Zero?  It feels like a thumb on the scale.  

However it is Texas where there are lots of thumbs and even more scales.  

Update 6-11-26:  It appears even more political heavyweights are behind Colchis and Cipher Digital.  The Lords of Capital have arrived with expensive chip financing.  Apollo amd Blackstone will fund Broadcom chips for Fluidstack in Texas.  Fluidstack is a major Cipher Digital customer.  Anthropic is in the political mix as well for Fluidstack.

"DDD" Show in Tom Green County

Data Center #3 has been identified for Tom Green County in West Texas.  

#1 is Skybox Data Centers which hired Emergent Data Centers to develop the project within the City of San Angelo.  

#2 is Beacon Data Centers which has their WestLine project in the Dove Creek area of the county.  

#3 is Cipher Digital using land "a quarter mile east" of the Skybox site, but outside city limits. 

#4 and higher   ?    

As of now TechGods and private equity underwriters (PEU) are driving the development and funding of rapid data center expansion.  Because this is all so enticing, I used the graphic art for the three breasted woman in the Total Recall remake.  

My wise friend noted:

You have to ask yourself, how many times are we going to be taken by the same cartel of scumbags?  They have set up AI as the demand center for the economy funded by circular arrangements with private credit, private equity, Wall Street & venture capitalists feasting on the flow. 

They have also set it up AI as a national security vital interest to combat the world. This means the billionaires class are the recipients of the fiscal push and probably the next bailout (yet again). 

The industry food chain and their CEOs (with their options and everything else) has a secured tokenized seat on the bubble ride and care not what happens at the end of the ride.  What happens to all the towns and counties that staked their future on failed mega data centers?  

My friend expects a cascading series of bankruptcies as the leverage that drove up local asset prices becomes a blender, shredding nearly everything financially on the way down with Uncle Sam saving those who need no assistance but can't stand to see their wealth go down. 

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.   Increasingly, more are one.  Cryptbros are currently on the outs. 

Dominari Markets Drone Portfolio

Dominari Holdings press release included a letter to shareholders on their drone related assets.

The rise of the American drone industry is an important factor in our country's new economy, and we are honored to be a part of that rise. 

Drone dominance was described as a "presidential priority" in President Trump's $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal year 2027.

Don Jr. and Eric recently exercised warrants on Dominari shares.  The company discounted the price of those warrants.  

....having an original exercise price of $4.22 per share. 

Exercise Price of such Exercised Warrants shall be reduced to $2.50.

That's a 40% discount for shares that are in a prime positioned to make bank from Trump II's war machine.

Shameless is as shameless does.  The Trumps must have it in their genes.