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US pauses all federal aid and grants
- mrbluecoat 2y ago> It will mean missed payrolls and rent payments and everything in between: chaos for everything from universities to non-profit charities I'm all for reigning in government spending and our unprecedented deficit, but not sure throwing a stick of dynamite into the grant office is the best approach.
- kccoder 2y agoWhich is something many americans should've realized before re-electing a chaos monkey with a heart of stone.
- nine_zeros 2y agoIt looks like the majority of voting Americans don't care about anything as long as they get to own the other side. In many ways, Americana seem to be voting for the country to devolve into anarchy.
- lapcat 2y ago> It looks like the majority of voting Americans don't care about anything as long as they get to own the other side. I think that's overstating the case. There's a political duopoly, both parties are obviously, blatantly corrupt, and many voters on both sides plug their noses and choose what they believe to be the lesser evil. They might or might not be empirically wrong in their beliefs, but don't mistake voting for enthusiasm. And "the majority" of voting Americans is technically 49.8%. With 63.9% turnout, that's only 31.8% of eligible voters.
- tzs 2y ago> There's a political duopoly, both parties are obviously, blatantly corrupt, and many voters on both sides plug their noses and choose what they believe to be the lesser evil. Even if both parties are obviously, blatantly corrupt to about the same extent there is still large variation among individual politicians in both parties. P.J. O'Rourke, a well known conservative author and journalist, said it well in 2016 when he announced this: > I have a little announcement to make ... I'm voting for Hillary. I am endorsing Hillary. > I am endorsing Hillary, and all her lies and all her empty promises. It's the second-worst thing that can happen to this country, but she's way behind in second place. > She's wrong about absolutely everything, but she's wrong within normal parameters.
- lapcat 2y agoPeople don't want "normal parameters" though. The normal parameters may have worked well for P.J. O'Rourke, a rich and famous dude, but they haven't been working well for normal people. For better or worse, they want to shake things up. People do want a kind of chaos agent. Just look at all of the love for Luigi Mangione. Is Mangione the right chaos agent? Rationally speaking, no. Is Trump? Rationally speaking, no. But the desire for fundamental change is palpable. Those who pearl-clutch the "norms" will continue to lose, and continue to be perplexed about why they lose.
- bsder 2y ago> People do want a kind of chaos agent. Evidence is that they don't. They send the same reps and senators back over and over and over. If they truly wanted a chaos agent, they should be turning over all the offices. They wanted Trump--specifically.
- lapcat 2y ago> They send the same reps and senators back over and over and over. > If they truly wanted a chaos agent, they should be turning over all the offices. I'm primarily talking about the swing voters, who can swing elections only when they're close. Large groups of partisans also exist who vote Democrat or Republican no matter what, no matter the candidate, so it doesn't really matter to them whether the candidate is a chaos agent or not. And of course the House of Representatives is heavily gerrymandered precisely to avoid close elections. Moreover, an individual member of Congress, 1 out of 100 in the Senate, 1 out of 535 in the House, doesn't have much power to change things. Their primary function is to support the President's agenda. That's why people focus more on the Presidential race, because the President makes a lot more of a difference than a member of Congress. In any case, though, Congress does tend to change hands according to how the public feels about the President, especially the House, the entirety of which is up for election every 2 years.
- bagels 2y agoThose people have a severe lack of imagination, because they fail to see how much worse they can make it for themselves.
- thiht 2y ago> There's a political duopoly, both parties are obviously, blatantly corrupt Are you KIDDING? You’re talking about overstating, following with a huge understatement. Trump sells fucking bibles to schools. Trump launched a shitcoin right before his inauguration. Trump took 1 million dollars per CEO for his inauguration. The corruption scales are off the charts with Trump. You can’t talk about "the lesser of 2 evils" when one of them is a literal wannabe dictator / mafia boss / cult leader. Come on.
- ahmeneeroe-v2 2y agoPopular vote disagrees with this.
- DangitBobby 2y agoPopular vote disagrees with the temperature at which water boils.
- thiht 2y agoNo it doesn’t. Popular vote just thinks these are good qualities for their president. One of the failures of democracy is letting people vote themselves into an autocracy, and forgetting that democracy must not become the tyranny of a majority.
- anabab 2y agoAnd apparently this is what Electoral College was supposed to prevent.
- ahmeneeroe-v2 2y agoNo, that's not true at all. The EC was to prevent the interests of more populous states from governing the less populous states.
- Izkata 2y ago
- watwut 2y agoEvery time the republican party does something we do not like, it is both sides are the same. However, when democrats or even progressives not related to democrats do something wrong, it is "liberals are bad and awful". There is no equivalent of Trump or JD Vance on the democratic side.
- ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago[flagged]
- watwut 2y agoI think that many of them genuinely want the chaos and destruction. Unrelated to that, they see this as a rational money saving measure. If you look at intentional harm and destruction that saves nothing but only harms, Trump voters love it too.
- mywittyname 2y ago> I'm all for reigning in government spending and our unprecedented deficit, My bold prediction: the deficit will continue to grow at record levels.
- vdupras 2y agoNot for a long time. We'll keep firing economists in charge until the reported deficit is satisfactory.
- mcmcmc 2y agoMore tax cuts for the rich sure won’t help either
- AlgorithmicTime 2y ago[dead]
- EasyMark 2y agoThis is what happens when an entire nation votes for a pure agent of chaos who has a highly questionable moral code and is easily proven a liar over and over again if he speak for more than 2 minutes. Now only check and balances in the US government can hold back the worst of it. I would have loved to have a new government auditing/ROI office open up and start review departments, instead they started using a sledgehammer to fix the leaks in the plumbing.
- llamaimperative 2y agoAn “entire nation” didn’t vote for him. He won less than a third of eligible voters. He does not have the mandate from the electorate that he claims, so let’s stop acting like he does.
- m463 2y agoI recall the steve jobs method of figuring out if people are good employees... He tells their coworkers "I heard so-and-so is shit", and if the person is loudly defended, he might be ok. If not, he might not be that good. Maybe this is a way of doing the same thing. If people defend funding something strongly, it might deserve it, and if not...
- TrackerFF 2y agoImpeachment speedrun. First the inspectors general firing, and now this - which seems to be illegal impoundment?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- lupusreal 2y agoNot giving money to researchers is hardly a criminal matter. Of course some congressmen could propose impeachment anyway, pretty sure some already have, but they don't have the numbers to kick him out of office so it's just posturing for their constituents.
- TrackerFF 2y agoWell, at this rate, and by his actions, Trump is basically telling congress to get f'ed.
- rbanffy 2y agoHis disregard with what Congress already signed into law is troubling, but he might find sympathy from members who were not in Congress before, as well as members who didn't sign the legislation he's overriding.
- matthewdgreen 2y agoThen those new members can pass a law ratifying these cuts and doing so legally. This is just crime.
- Tadpole9181 2y agoExecutive impoundment is explicitly illegal and unconstitutional, actually. The president does not have the power of the purse, that's congress.
- 2y ago
- exe34 2y ago[flagged]
- ActionHank 2y agoNot weaken, destroy.
- rbanffy 2y agoNo intelligence agency would enlist him. He can't keep secrets.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- silverquiet 2y ago"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." This was said by Grover Norquist, a thought leader amongst Republicans in the early 2010's. I've always thought that China or Russia would appreciate being able to drown us in a bathtub as well.
- throw0101c 2y ago> Grover Norquist See: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast
- 2y ago
- cjrp 2y ago> Given the spending that is now on hold was apportioned by Congress, it is likely this will face legal challenges about the scope of presidential power. So, how quickly will this be overturned?
- nappy-doo 2y agoHave you met the current congress? They have to care first.
- cjrp 2y agoIs it up to congress though? Not the Supreme Court?
- Tadpole9181 2y agoSomeone with standing needs to sue, which is then moved through the court system. We would need a US v Trump. That, or they impeach, which is utterly laughable.
- extra88 2y agoAnyone who's supposed to receive that money has standing and a federal judge can quickly rule that the status quo must remain while the case proceeds. The Trump administration can appeal that ruling but I think it would make it's way through the available steps relatively quickly.
- mywittyname 2y agoThe next steps are probably to cut funding anyway. I have a gut feeling that this is part of a larger power play that demonstrates that (this specific) President has no limitations on his power.
- EasyMark 2y agoIt would be, but they are a rubber stamp for Trump now. Now only judges can stop the madness. Hopefully SCOTUS will actually do their job and make sure that Trump sticks to the law, which does not allow him to just defund programs set up by Congressional vote. Otherwise we wouldn't need a Congress. He's pushing at the walls to see how much he can tear down.
- pards 2y agoHe's rapidly trending into dictator territory
- rbanffy 2y agoHardly a surprise.
- roland35 2y agoIt seems to be what people wanted!
- rbanffy 2y agoThis is the most disheartening part of it all. I have immense respect for the ideals that formed the United States, but I'm increasingly in doubt about the actual implementation.
- trilbyglens 2y ago[flagged]
- highcountess 2y agoAnyone who wants freedom and to control the excesses and abuses of the people in power would support the ideals of the Constitution. Just because white people created it does not mean that non-white people may not want to also be free and protected from abuses of the powerful. Considering how non-white people keep streaming into white countries that have benefited from these white created Constitutional limitations on power, it seems they too desire freedom and liberty even if they are being used and manipulated by the powerful in the white world to essentially break those shackles on the powerful by a kind of civilization fracking, pumping so many people into a system until it collapses and those shackles on the powerful can be removed and the powerful can once again act just like the powerful act in all the non-white countries that have not implemented the white created constitutional limitations on power. People may not realize they are a tool of the rich and powerful to destroy the very freedoms you currently enjoy, but this has never been a white vs non-white issue even though the jealousy has been used to further the aims of the rich and powerful. It has always been a rich and powerful vs the middle class and poor, with the rich and powerful manipulating the middle and lower classes to act against their own interests and in the interests of the rich and powerful. The saddest thing is that people on the “left” and often the poor, are just useful idiots for the rich and powerful, no different than some gang leader uses and abuses people to commit more abuse and crimes to get richer and more powerful. I’m not sure what people imagine will happen when white people, who essentially created everything we all enjoy, including freedoms from tyrannical violence and oppression, have been eradicated, but there is no indication that it will end well. And no, I’m not white since that seems very important to you.
- dkjaudyeqooe 2y ago[flagged]
- amazingamazing 2y agoflag, hide and move on. that being said, I'm not sure what you expect. many of trump's actions for better or worse have tech consequences.
- dkjaudyeqooe 2y ago[flagged]
- amazingamazing 2y agoin that case maybe it's time to move on from HN, and maybe the internet generally until 2028.
- dkjaudyeqooe 2y agoMaybe, but HN is so good when it focuses on concrete tech issues. AI prognostications are almost worse than the politics.
- rbanffy 2y agoI appreciate discussions on politics with smart people that don't always agree with me. I don't want HN to turn into an echo chamber. I understand why people would choose not to see news about politics, and I am also frustrated by how frequently discourse about these important issues turns into personal attacks and uncivil discourse. I second that these developments have immense repercussions in tech and in the lives of many of us (even those who live across the Atlantic such as myself).
- dkjaudyeqooe 2y agoAre there not enough politics forums for that sort of thing already? How does HN became and echo chamber if we limit ourselves to tech discussions? I might agree with you if the discussions were high value, but in the current environment that is essentially impossible.
- csomar 2y agoThe most important detail (the amount) is being left. Is this just a few dollars (in terms of the US budget) or a sizable portion? How is the money split between the different categories?
- drewbug01 2y agoThose details aren’t known; because the order is so broad and vague. That’s part of the problem.
- Tadpole9181 2y agoHave you read it, it's downright insane. "Marxist", "woke", etc. it carves out an exception for Medicare and Social Security, but that's literally it. Even things like Pell grants, food stamps, and Medicaid are up in the other because the wording here is that bad. So, as of this order, the US just had an ~$3 the trillion drop in GDP. Much of it to research and nonprofits.
- absolutelastone 2y agoNot literally: "Medicare and Social Security benefits will not be affected, nor will any programme "that provides direct benefits to individuals", including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, the White House said." I guess the article or link has been updated?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ajsnigrutin 2y ago[flagged]
- FollowingTheDao 2y agoPeople who can compartmentalize like this see to me to be on the fringe of sociopathy.
- rbanffy 2y agoEverything in a society IS politics. From deciding where we order dinner from, to which framework we'll build upon. Politics is how groups decide on issues that affect all individuals in the group. Absence of politics is an illusion. They'll still affect you regardless of you wanting to see it or not.
- miningape 2y agoI'm so tired of this line of reasoning, please dissect the political implications of wiping my ass backwards instead of forwards. Using such a broad definition dilutes the term to the point of meaninglessness.
- mardifoufs 2y agoNot everything is american politics though. It does get tiring to hear about American politics non stop. We aren't talking about general social issues here, but about American politics. I wouldn't want to hear about Chinese local politics non stop either, and I don't think a lot of people browsing Hn would.
- rbanffy 2y agoThis is a good point - not everyone is directly affected by, or interested in, US politics, but, still, I think it's safe to assume most of the HN audience is going to be impacted directly or indirectly by what happens now in the US. I'm also not interested in all popular topics on HN, but I'm OK with seeing a list of posts where only a few interest me. A different matter would be subjects that can be triggering to people, but I haven't seen complains about that.
- amazingamazing 2y agoIgnoring the legality of this, I don't really see what this is trying to accomplish. Even if the spending is not in line with Trump's priorities, it's not like he can unilaterally change the budget (of course, that's not stopping him...). One silver lining of this madness is I expect bipartisan support for clarifying and codifying the scope of executive power into law at some point in the future (sadly likely after Trump is long gone, though).
- mywittyname 2y ago> I don't really see what this is trying to accomplish. Chaos power grab. There is no silver lining here. The USA fell gradually, then all at once. It's over, done. We lost.
- Loughla 2y ago>I expect bipartisan support for clarifying and codifying the scope of executive power into law Absolutely not going to happen. Trump Republicans want him to function more like a supreme executive/king instead of a president with controls on his power. Other Republicans are too scared of losing their jobs to stop this either. Democrats do better with an enemy, so they actually have a perverse incentive here. If we make it through this mess with our democracy intact, I will definitely be surprised. I hope I'm being dramatic, but I'm afraid I'm not.
- amazingamazing 2y agoWe'll see but I believe you're probably wrong. This particular action, e.g. federal aid pause, will affect people from all states. The constitutes will be rightly angry and threaten their congressmen, which will result in the outcome I mentioned earlier.
- Loughla 2y agoI just think that politicians have figured out how to spread whatever lines they want into the public consciousness better than ever. I don't see Republican constituents blaming Republican politicians. They'll find a way to spin it to fit their existing world view. Democrats as well; same story, different words. Division is the name of the game.
- DFHippie 2y agoWe hired someone to manage our obligations who was famous for signing contracts and then stiffing his contractors. It makes perfect sense that, once freed from underlings who were loyal to anyone or anything but him, he would continue this practice. All the entities that were receiving those grants and aid have already obligated it. They have rented office space, hired employees, purchased equipment. And all of the entities they have contracted with using this money have done the same. If they have to dissolve, they won't be there to start up again if the courts manage to compel the administration to execute the laws as written. (And Trump is also famous for protracted lawsuits which he wins by default when some deadline has passed.) Closed storefronts don't tend to open with the same business. I don't mind when rich fools learn hard lessons. Their self-esteem drops but their quality of life doesn't. It sucks when poor people are the blackboard on which this hard lesson is written.
- hypeatei 2y ago> Medicaid and Social Security benefits are not affected That's disappointing, I wonder why those aren't getting paused? If you want to get spending under control and you're already breaking the law then you might as well stop everything.
- matthewdgreen 2y agoBecause no Republican would ever be elected to national office ever again?
- rbanffy 2y agoI don't think societies have such long attention spans, or the rationality, to follow through that.
- lotsofpulp 2y agoEvery single democracy in the world is facing the same problem of gerontocracy. The old people (or about to be old) vote the most, they have the most numbers, and they cannot enact any policies that will help the young by cutting old people entitlements.
- rbanffy 2y agoLuckily, this is a problem that solves itself. Medical science, of course, is delaying it somehow.
- lotsofpulp 2y agoHow does it solve itself if successive generations are smaller and smaller?
- rbanffy 2y agoThe current ones will eventually retire from public life.
- greentxt 2y ago"everything from development assistance to military aid." Was written twice. I appreciated that.
- benterix 2y agoI don't understand one thing. Why is this submission flagged?
- lightbendover 2y ago[dead]
- basementcat 2y agoAlso, why is this not on the front page? This has over 110 points while a post about OpenVMS on the front page has 34 points. While I agree that OpenVMS is cool, I think the fate of over 20 million lives (due to the suspension of PEPFAR) deserves more weight than an obscure 50 year old operating system.
- dang 2y ago> why is this not on the front page? This has over 110 points while a post about OpenVMS on the front page has 34 points. This question, phrased in the general case, is in the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html. (Look for "Why is A ranked below B even though A has more points and is newer?") In the present case, users flagged it and it set off the flamewar detector. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42857139 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42857139.
- tredre3 2y agoSimple: many (perhaps even most?) visitors take the name "hacker news" literally and are not interested in discussing socioeconomic news. At least not on this forum.
- jeanlucas 2y agoI am not the one who flagged it, but here's probably why: users feels this is off topic. Overall as a non-american HN to me is a technical forum. I know everything involves politics, but I honestly don't come to HN to know about about the US budget Federal decisions.
- 2y ago
- basementcat 2y agoOver 20 million lives are at risk after the PEPFAR program was suspended. Within a few weeks viral loads will return to pretreatment levels again. This is a human caused public health catastrophe. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/trump-order-set-halt-supply-hiv-malaria-drugs-poor-countries-sources-say-2025-01-28/ https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/...
- ahmeneeroe-v2 2y agoWhy are US taxpayers on the hook for this?
- Clamchop 2y agoLess disease in the world benefits everyone. Very much a social good. It makes me a little sad just reading your criticism.
- ahmeneeroe-v2 2y agoAt what cost? How much cost should I personally bear to reduce disease worldwide? When we hit a point of diminishing returns do I still need to pay incrementally more into this?
- spaethnl 2y agoOut of curiosity, what cost do you believe that you currently personally bear for this?
- ahmeneeroe-v2 2y agoHow much should I bear or how much do I actually bear? I should bear 0 cost. It looks like US Foreign Aid is ~1% of the Fed budget, so 1% of my taxes. So again, too much.
- 2y ago
- ChrisArchitect 2y agoEarlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42849061 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42849061
- mugivarra69 2y ago[dead]
- hintymad 2y agoIs the title true, though? I thought OMB paused funding to NGOs, foreign governments and large discretionary contracts, but the pause explicitly excluded all aids and benefit programs. And how many NGOs have become too powerful and too meaningless and even detrimental to the US? I simply don't see aligned incentives. For instance, the more homeless are on the street, the more funding an NGO gets. Then how will the NGO have any incentive at all to truly help the homeless? Similarly, the more illegal passing at the border, the more funding NGOs will get. Then, why would they help close the border at all?
- DFHippie 2y ago> I simply don't see aligned incentives. For instance, the more homeless are on the street, the more funding an NGO gets. Then how will the NGO have any incentive at all to truly help the homeless? That assumes the NGOs, like for-profit corporations*, are motivated solely by funding. Have you ever worked for an NGO seeking to help the homeless? Do you know anyone who does? I assure you they are differently motivated from a big-tech CEO. They typically work to achieve a sense of purpose, not power boats. * And of course for-profit corporations almost always have more motivations than just profit. Sometimes they even describe them to shareholders. Cynics label official motivations for a corporation other than profit as "virtue signaling", as though the corporation has both true and feigned feelings, but it has neither. And if the feelings of the officers, employees, and owners of the corporation align with its official "feelings" is immaterial, only whether progress towards the goals they motivate is measurable.
- geenkeuse 2y agoAwesome conversation. Saner heads prevailed in this one. This is going to backfire very badly on the American people if it becomes the norm. Happy that supporters of this madness got their asses kicked out of here today.
- robomartin 2y agoThese discussions never seem to answer important questions. If we never question taxation. And never question spending. Where do we end-up? It is sustainable? Why is it that we can never question either one of these things? Are these things like fundamental laws of gravity? Are politicians never to be questioned for their spending or desire to tax us more? Or how they use our money? Is it wrong to periodically evaluate the results obtained by every dollar spent? If so, why? Does that mean we should allow politicians and agencies to spend as they wish and without supervision or accountability? Is there ever a good time for oversight? Etc. Today it was revealed that we were sending USD $50 million to Gaza for condoms. What? This is insane. And, I suspect, likely the tip of the iceberg. C'mon folks. Questioning how our money is spent and how much money is taken from us by government is what we should be doing all the time. It should not be the exception. Without accountability, politicians (from all political angles) will take and spend as much as they are able to. I have this hypothesis: If the government did not take taxes out of your paycheck every week and people had to write them a check every month, there would be riots in every city of this nation. People are blind to taxation and the related spending because they never see that money, it's magic money. You don't feel the pain. If you did, you'd be up in arms when you learn that $50MM of your dollars are going towards buying condoms on the other side of the planet. And, BTW, those condoms are likely made in China. If they are needed, why doesn't China donate the condoms? Why do US taxpayers have to foot the bill and likely support a healthy profit margin in the process? We are not going to end-up in a good place if we do not clean-up our attic and bring the house to order. I trust Elon/DOGE and, by extension, the current administration, to do just this. Enough is enough. Put a different way: We DESPERATELY need to invest this money on internal growth, education, security, health, etc. We need housing, better health outcomes, much better education and myriad other things. Money is not unlimited. Instead of spending $50MM for condoms in Gaza, we should put that money to work where it will do the most good at home. In order to know where and how much we are wasting, we need to put a microscope on everything and, perhaps, put a number of things on hold while we sort things out. It's a necessary part of the process.
- rexpop 2y ago> we were sending USD $50 million to Gaza for condoms. This is a patently obvious and gross mischaracterization. The US has been providing a broad spectrum of humanitarian assistance addressing urgent needs such as emergency medical aid, food, water. Whether or not you agree with that, you undermine our chances at constructive discourse when you exaggerate or otherwise decontextualize a situation. It's also absurdly disingenuous to claim that "we never question taxation. And never question spending." Of course these concerns are the subject of continuous debate by much more serious people than yourself. Again, whether or not you agree with the outcome, the assertion that "we never question taxation" is utterly, and completely divorced from reality.
- f1ay 2y agoMemo source, though apparently two were released, one with later clarifications. https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/deb7af80-48b6-4b8a-8bfa-3d84fd7c3ec8.pdf https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/deb7af80-48b6-4b8a-... https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25506191-omb-memo-1-27/ https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25506191-omb-memo-1-... Side note the OMB (agency issuing memo in question) website redirects straight to whitehouse.gov, which seemingly was not previously the case.
- geenkeuse 2y agoWith all the megabrains in here, how can some of you not see what's coming? China is making friends at the rate that the US is making enemies. Think about it for a second... Which new friends has the US made? I am talking solid, willing-to-give-you-the-middle-finger-and-go-with-the-other-guy friends (yeah, I know). Now contrast this to the friends China has made. China has secured the most powerful nation in each contested territory. South America, Africa, The Middle East and obviously, it is, itself the biggest power in Asia. Now for effect, The US cannot even keep Europe aligned with them, and the fallout will be that much sharper in the next few years. You have bought cash money the sinking territories of Micronesia (great for UN votes, but not much else) What you have left is The English Speaking Conglomerate of USA, England (Not the UK - because I don't think you can count on Ireland, Scotland and Wales), Canada, Australia and New Zealand. And of these "Five Eyes", in a Sino-American conflict, two of them will be felled very quickly by their neighbour China (Australia and New Zealand) and Canada will have to fend off a massive assault by it's neighbour Russia (China's BFF) That leaves the original "greatest friendship". The enduring Anglo-American powerhouse. Now I would think that England has not done itself any favours with Brexit. How is that going for them? So Europe is not a certain ally for them either. The EU is Europe, ask Turkey :-) What you have left is an Anglo-American vs Sino-Russian battle for the future of humanity. The thing is the rest of humanity has already decided who they are betting on. Hint - It's not Anglo-America. You Anglophones have managed to take control of 3 of the 6 continents. Is that not enough? And if it isn't then expect that there will be hell to pay, because at this point, the world will rather die on it's feet then endure more suffering under your boot. Goeiedag en Dankie.
- trinix912 2y agoAdditionally, raising the import customs for the EU is just going to alienate them even more. Some of the EU countries are already not favorable of the US, while others currently are but might no longer be. The whole Greenland thing is also not helping.
- latexr 2y ago> With all the megabrains in here HN is just another social network, with a bias for programmers and tech enthusiasts. I enjoy it and believe it does a lot right to promote good discussion, but let’s not kid ourselves: there are no “megabrains” here, certainly not in any meaningful way. There are a ton of misguided people who think being passable at coding reveals some type of deeper understanding for how the world works, but that’s just hubris. HN is filled with flawed humans which, if anything, may have a bigger blind spot for their own limitations than most. Don’t idolise HN frequenters, we’re all just people here. People in a community who rightfully gets relentlessly made fun of in other corners or the internet precisely due to using terms like “megabrain” to describe its members.
- ChoGGi 2y agoThe first quarterly profits of the White House will be improved. Businessmen do enjoy their short-term gains afterall.
- geenkeuse 2y agoSo true. In for a penny, in for a pound. Until their money printer breaks down under the sheer weight of their lunacy.
- floppiplopp 2y ago[flagged]