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I can't decide which is worse: - Closing the Dept. of Education - An anti-vaxx, anti-flouridation nut for HHS - A traitorous Putin-lover for DNI - Head of D

I can't decide which is worse: - Closing the Dept. of Education - An anti-vaxx, anti-flouridation nut for HHS - A traitorous Putin-lover for DNI - Head of DOD throwing Ret. Gen. Kellogg's work and Ukraine under the bus - The world's richest man ransacking government with unvetted persons on a plan to commit maximum chaos and destruction - HN flagging, censoring, and condoning what amounts to fascism rather than promoting rule of law, common sense, and freedom of speech

archagon 2y ago
Migrants getting sent to Guantanamo's high-security prison without access to lawyers or media is pretty high on the list for me: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/13/immigration-flights-elpaso-guantanamo/ https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/13/immigration-flights-... When ICE starts detaining people who go up against them online (https://theintercept.com/2025/02/11/ice-immigration-social-media-surveillance https://theintercept.com/2025/02/11/ice-immigration-social-m...), it won't just be poor brown folks being memory-holed.
- cantrecallmypwd 2y ago
  This is another absurd, brutal act. Also some countries are denying landing of removal flights because, from what I hear, the current removals contain people with violent criminal records in nations other than America but may well include non-violent people being thrown out for reasons of paperwork simply to make mandated quotas.
basementcat 2y ago
Taking away life saving medication from over 20 million people takes the cake for me. After having visited Auschwitz and Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I'm really having trouble relating to friends and colleagues who are with the administration on this. This is not to say the other concerns aren't valid.
- cantrecallmypwd 2y ago
  Agreed. That's pretty craptastic. And the cutting of ongoing AIDS treatment in South Africa and the oxygen bottles in places like Myanmar and Bangladesh. People have already died because their previously stable medical management resources have been cut.
  - andsoitis 2y ago
    < And the cutting of ongoing AIDS treatment in South Africa South Africa has largely decided to align itself with countries who act against the US interest and there is also a not insignificant sentiment against American intervention / involvement in other countries ("empire"). This is what withdrawal looks like. Assistance often comes with strings attached. In my view, the withdrawal by America of intervention and support of liberal democracy around the world would be a detriment all around, but this is apparently what the American voter and many people from other countries prefer. That means in many cases throwing out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak.
basementcat 2y ago
> HN flagging, censoring, and condoning what amounts to fascism rather than promoting rule of law, common sense, and freedom of speech To be fair, HN kind of has to do this. Y Combinator has close ties with the world's richest man; he is even scheduled to speak at AI Startup School. Otherwise, people like dang and others may be subject to retaliation.
- kccoder 2y ago
  They don't HAVE to, but they do choose to allow it. We'll all likely have to make choices in the coming years regarding principles, morality, ethics, empathy vs profit, safety, and security. They've chosen one path, hopefully many others choose the other.
  - cantrecallmypwd 2y ago
    Exactly. It's a choice to de-prioritize ethics by mechanical application of policies rather than choosing the greater good with critical thinking skills and integrity. It becomes foot-gunning in the long term since history won't be kind to the [insert future pejorative label] sympathizers. More broadly, I hope SV cleans up its act and rejects the MAANG megacorp surrender to the current ideological faction because it didn't align to the other side the same way previously when the winds went the other way. (I don't have a horse in this fight but I can see what is happening now is objectively bad. I think we can choose to step back from the red vs. blue team sports nonsense and have objective discussions of what's likely to lead to more failure or more success for a given polity.)
- dang 2y ago
  HN moderation has zero to do with "ties" to the world's richest men. Sorry, but this one of the few things I'm in a position to be confident of. We're just trying to make an internet forum that doesn't suck and doesn't burn itself to a crisp—same as it ever was. I know that's not very hot and exciting, but it's how it is.
hagbard_c 2y ago
Why do you use a new handle to post this? Please use your normal account and accept whatever karma hits or - more likely - gains you expect to get instead of hiding behind the excuse that you do not know your password. Also, politics is supposed to be off-limits here but I sure noticed a change in tolerance for blatantly political posts after the elections. Maybe Dang can give a reason for why it suddenly is acceptable to criticise the sitting government where such posts where hidden with warnings about 'only using HN for political purposes' during the last regime. Is it simply because those posts got flagged while posts like this one get upvoted? If so it shows where the voting system fails in creating an open environment for wide-ranging discussion on topics of interest since it creates an echo chamber where only certain political ideas are tolerated while the rest is greyed out.

archagon 2y ago

Migrants getting sent to Guantanamo's high-security prison without access to lawyers or media is pretty high on the list for me: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/13/immigration-flights-elpaso-guantanamo/ https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/13/immigration-flights-... When ICE starts detaining people who go up against them online (https://theintercept.com/2025/02/11/ice-immigration-social-media-surveillance https://theintercept.com/2025/02/11/ice-immigration-social-m...), it won't just be poor brown folks being memory-holed.

cantrecallmypwd 2y ago
This is another absurd, brutal act. Also some countries are denying landing of removal flights because, from what I hear, the current removals contain people with violent criminal records in nations other than America but may well include non-violent people being thrown out for reasons of paperwork simply to make mandated quotas.

basementcat 2y ago

Taking away life saving medication from over 20 million people takes the cake for me. After having visited Auschwitz and Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I'm really having trouble relating to friends and colleagues who are with the administration on this. This is not to say the other concerns aren't valid.

cantrecallmypwd 2y ago
Agreed. That's pretty craptastic. And the cutting of ongoing AIDS treatment in South Africa and the oxygen bottles in places like Myanmar and Bangladesh. People have already died because their previously stable medical management resources have been cut.
- andsoitis 2y ago
  < And the cutting of ongoing AIDS treatment in South Africa South Africa has largely decided to align itself with countries who act against the US interest and there is also a not insignificant sentiment against American intervention / involvement in other countries ("empire"). This is what withdrawal looks like. Assistance often comes with strings attached. In my view, the withdrawal by America of intervention and support of liberal democracy around the world would be a detriment all around, but this is apparently what the American voter and many people from other countries prefer. That means in many cases throwing out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak.

basementcat 2y ago

> HN flagging, censoring, and condoning what amounts to fascism rather than promoting rule of law, common sense, and freedom of speech To be fair, HN kind of has to do this. Y Combinator has close ties with the world's richest man; he is even scheduled to speak at AI Startup School. Otherwise, people like dang and others may be subject to retaliation.

kccoder 2y ago
They don't HAVE to, but they do choose to allow it. We'll all likely have to make choices in the coming years regarding principles, morality, ethics, empathy vs profit, safety, and security. They've chosen one path, hopefully many others choose the other.
- cantrecallmypwd 2y ago
  Exactly. It's a choice to de-prioritize ethics by mechanical application of policies rather than choosing the greater good with critical thinking skills and integrity. It becomes foot-gunning in the long term since history won't be kind to the [insert future pejorative label] sympathizers. More broadly, I hope SV cleans up its act and rejects the MAANG megacorp surrender to the current ideological faction because it didn't align to the other side the same way previously when the winds went the other way. (I don't have a horse in this fight but I can see what is happening now is objectively bad. I think we can choose to step back from the red vs. blue team sports nonsense and have objective discussions of what's likely to lead to more failure or more success for a given polity.)
dang 2y ago
HN moderation has zero to do with "ties" to the world's richest men. Sorry, but this one of the few things I'm in a position to be confident of. We're just trying to make an internet forum that doesn't suck and doesn't burn itself to a crisp—same as it ever was. I know that's not very hot and exciting, but it's how it is.

hagbard_c 2y ago

Why do you use a new handle to post this? Please use your normal account and accept whatever karma hits or - more likely - gains you expect to get instead of hiding behind the excuse that you do not know your password. Also, politics is supposed to be off-limits here but I sure noticed a change in tolerance for blatantly political posts after the elections. Maybe Dang can give a reason for why it suddenly is acceptable to criticise the sitting government where such posts where hidden with warnings about 'only using HN for political purposes' during the last regime. Is it simply because those posts got flagged while posts like this one get upvoted? If so it shows where the voting system fails in creating an open environment for wide-ranging discussion on topics of interest since it creates an echo chamber where only certain political ideas are tolerated while the rest is greyed out.