5 ms·

Implying that DOGE bozo is law-compliant while breaking laws and destroying trust is...humor too soon?

by jonahbenton 2y ago

raverbashing 2y ago
Seems like a case of "a broken clock is right twice a day"
- addicted 2y ago
  Similarly, wearing a seatbelt on your way to assassinate somebody.
selfhoster 2y ago
[flagged]
- a12k 2y ago
  “Bozo” is pretty lightweight for someone actively trying to destroy the foundations of this country’s government and democratic policies.
  - FreebasingLLMs 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
      > administrative state (created during FDR) is going away Created by FDR through acts of the Congress. DOGE is ironically recapitulating the lawlessness that tanked Sourh Africa’s economy. Also, we’re seeing a breathless expansion of federal executive power. The administrative state isn’t going away. It’s being subsumed. The size of the government is being increased, not decreased—that’s why the GOP budget calls for $2 trillion in new deficits over ten years. One can celebrate cost cutting. But other than USAID, there is no sign anything durable is being done. The power of the central government is being expanded in ways that should be obviously problematic for anyone thinking ahead: next cycle, a Dem President can just cancel student debts by firing everyone in loan collections and shredding the loan documents.
    - a12k 2y ago
      > Calm down...You're behaving in a histrionic way. This sort of condescension is characteristic of people who hold the opinions you do. The rest of your post is complete nonsense.
      - FreebasingLLMs 2y ago
        [flagged]
  - Jtsummers 2y ago
    You're responding to someone who believes DOGE is getting rid of corruption in government while Musk is capturing contracts for his own companies. There's no point in responding to people like them. They aren't based in reality. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43036122 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43036122
    - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago
      Hard disagree with this take. There is certainly a purpose responding to them. Whether or not their opinion is changed comes down to them.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      - Jtsummers 2y ago
        If the individual is living in a fantasy land, then any responses here will be discarded by them as fantasy themselves. Someone who legitimately believes that Musk is fighting corruption when Musk is also directing contracts to his own businesses is in a fantasy land. If the individual is trolling, which could be the case here, then responding is just feeding the troll. It encourages them. The better thing in both cases is to ignore them. At most, respond to the comment, but not the individual, with facts (like that Musk is directing contracts to his own companies) so that others don't fall into the same fantasy land.
        lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago
        It does not seem like we disagree. > At most, respond to the comment, but not the individual, with facts There is still a purpose for the response. It may not be for a particular reader, but there are other readers. It would be worth it to flag and move on if there is nothing to engage with but that’s not the case here.
  - tomcam 2y ago
    I feel they are actively shoring up the country’s foundations. For decades, since the Church committee in the 1970s and under Vice President Gore’s Reinventing Government initiative (which IIRC resulted in the removal of 100,000 government employees), disclosure of questionable or hidden programs was a core progressive value.
    - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago
      > disclosure of questionable or hidden programs We’re seeing more “claims” than “disclosures”. Can you point me any examples of the latter?
      - tomcam 2y ago
        Feed here: https://doge.gov/ https://doge.gov/
        kelnos 2y ago
        Those are claims.
- Swenrekcah 2y ago
  When Elon became the role model probably
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  They’re calling a public figure a bozo. That’s always been fine. Name calling other HN users is against the guidelines.
  - Lichtso 2y ago
    > They’re calling a public figure a bozo. That’s always been fine. Not in Germany. Public insults are punishable. Doing so in a permanent way with lots of outreach (like the web is) increases the consequences.
    - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
      > Not in Germany Not sure why anyone should be emulating Germany right now.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
agilob 2y ago
>humor too soon? C'mon USA, do something funny.
- whynotmaybe 2y ago
  "Funny", since yesterday I can't get out of my head the clip "You think I'm funny" from the goodfellas Except the second half never happened. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d2LAs-WL_4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d2LAs-WL_4
tomcam 2y ago
What laws are being broken?
- asveikau 2y ago
  Someone interested in filtering employees by union status seems highly suspicious to me that that someone is interested in breaking labor laws.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > What laws are being broken? In this specific case? Unclear. Will wait for the lawsuits. In the last weeks, the DOGE bros have broken the Privacy Act of 1974 [1] and numerous court orders [2]. [1] https://epic.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/EPIC-v-OPM-25-cv-255-complaint-021025.pdf https://epic.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/EPIC-v-OPM-25-cv... [2] https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/19-state-ags-file-suit-against-doge-treasury-access-judge-blocks-new-policy/ https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/19-state-ags-file-suit-a...
  - slashdev 2y ago
    Given they have to be vetted the same way as any other government employee with that access, including security clearances, I’m not sure these will succeed. At least to my mind it’s not clear how a government employee can have access but for doge it’s breaking the law. The devil is in the specific details.
    - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
      > they have to be vetted the same way as any other government employee with that access, including security clearances We know this wasn’t done when they were rummaging around the Treasury. Courts are granting restraining orders because the DOGE bros acted so incompetently. (It’s generally incredibly hard to restrain government employees.) > it’s not clear how a government employee can have access but for doge it’s breaking the law Same way a park ranger can’t walk onto a military base and start rummaging through documents. Or start tweeting them. (Or hell, the President himself tweet your tax return.)
anonym29 2y ago
What functional, diplomatic purpose exists for calling him a "bozo"? What problems does this solve? Which tensions does this ease? Which conflicts does this stop? What sensitive government data does this un-leak? Which broken laws does this adjudicate? What usurped power is being brought back under control with this? Or is it just contributing to a one-way ratchet that only ever increases partisan polarization and hostility for no reason at all, instead of seeking to de-escalate and solve problems? P.S. this goes for Trump/Musk/DOGE supporters too. Name calling and vindictive personal attacks aren't decreasing the deficit, they're not paying off the debt, they're not reducing weaponization of government against conservatives, they're doing nothing to address border and immigration concerns, and they aren't reducing crime. So I ask you, too, what problems are being solved with vindictive, spiteful namecalling?
- marxisttemp 2y ago
  How dare we call the vindictive, spiteful, name calling president currently destroying our country names! > weaponization of government against conservatives The government is clearly being weaponized against anyone who has ever opposed Trump in any way. You are in a reality tunnel.
  - InTheArena 2y ago
    The OP is not. He’s calling someone working on a project, posting his code to GitHub names. The correct response in a democratic society to people attacking political enemies as enemies of the state, spreading untruths, attacking the rule of law, and acting like assholes is _to not do these these things_.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - marxisttemp 2y ago
      Okay
    - KerrAvon 2y ago
rdtsc 2y ago
How do we know he is a bozo?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- throw16180339 2y ago
  He's taking orders from bad actors. That's reason enough to call him a bozo, although collaborator might be more appropriate.

Implying that DOGE bozo is law-compliant while breaking laws and destroying trust is...humor too soon?

raverbashing 2y ago

Seems like a case of "a broken clock is right twice a day"

addicted 2y ago
Similarly, wearing a seatbelt on your way to assassinate somebody.

selfhoster 2y ago

[flagged]

a12k 2y ago
“Bozo” is pretty lightweight for someone actively trying to destroy the foundations of this country’s government and democratic policies.
- FreebasingLLMs 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > administrative state (created during FDR) is going away Created by FDR through acts of the Congress. DOGE is ironically recapitulating the lawlessness that tanked Sourh Africa’s economy. Also, we’re seeing a breathless expansion of federal executive power. The administrative state isn’t going away. It’s being subsumed. The size of the government is being increased, not decreased—that’s why the GOP budget calls for $2 trillion in new deficits over ten years. One can celebrate cost cutting. But other than USAID, there is no sign anything durable is being done. The power of the central government is being expanded in ways that should be obviously problematic for anyone thinking ahead: next cycle, a Dem President can just cancel student debts by firing everyone in loan collections and shredding the loan documents.
  - a12k 2y ago
    > Calm down...You're behaving in a histrionic way. This sort of condescension is characteristic of people who hold the opinions you do. The rest of your post is complete nonsense.
    - FreebasingLLMs 2y ago
      [flagged]
- Jtsummers 2y ago
  You're responding to someone who believes DOGE is getting rid of corruption in government while Musk is capturing contracts for his own companies. There's no point in responding to people like them. They aren't based in reality. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43036122 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43036122
  - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago
    Hard disagree with this take. There is certainly a purpose responding to them. Whether or not their opinion is changed comes down to them.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - Jtsummers 2y ago
      If the individual is living in a fantasy land, then any responses here will be discarded by them as fantasy themselves. Someone who legitimately believes that Musk is fighting corruption when Musk is also directing contracts to his own businesses is in a fantasy land. If the individual is trolling, which could be the case here, then responding is just feeding the troll. It encourages them. The better thing in both cases is to ignore them. At most, respond to the comment, but not the individual, with facts (like that Musk is directing contracts to his own companies) so that others don't fall into the same fantasy land.
      - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago
        It does not seem like we disagree. > At most, respond to the comment, but not the individual, with facts There is still a purpose for the response. It may not be for a particular reader, but there are other readers. It would be worth it to flag and move on if there is nothing to engage with but that’s not the case here.
- tomcam 2y ago
  I feel they are actively shoring up the country’s foundations. For decades, since the Church committee in the 1970s and under Vice President Gore’s Reinventing Government initiative (which IIRC resulted in the removal of 100,000 government employees), disclosure of questionable or hidden programs was a core progressive value.
  - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago
    > disclosure of questionable or hidden programs We’re seeing more “claims” than “disclosures”. Can you point me any examples of the latter?
    - tomcam 2y ago
      Feed here: https://doge.gov/ https://doge.gov/
      - kelnos 2y ago
        Those are claims.
Swenrekcah 2y ago
When Elon became the role model probably
JumpCrisscross 2y ago
They’re calling a public figure a bozo. That’s always been fine. Name calling other HN users is against the guidelines.
- Lichtso 2y ago
  > They’re calling a public figure a bozo. That’s always been fine. Not in Germany. Public insults are punishable. Doing so in a permanent way with lots of outreach (like the web is) increases the consequences.
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > Not in Germany Not sure why anyone should be emulating Germany right now.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

agilob 2y ago

>humor too soon? C'mon USA, do something funny.

whynotmaybe 2y ago
"Funny", since yesterday I can't get out of my head the clip "You think I'm funny" from the goodfellas Except the second half never happened. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d2LAs-WL_4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d2LAs-WL_4

tomcam 2y ago

What laws are being broken?

asveikau 2y ago
Someone interested in filtering employees by union status seems highly suspicious to me that that someone is interested in breaking labor laws.
JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> What laws are being broken? In this specific case? Unclear. Will wait for the lawsuits. In the last weeks, the DOGE bros have broken the Privacy Act of 1974 [1] and numerous court orders [2]. [1] https://epic.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/EPIC-v-OPM-25-cv-255-complaint-021025.pdf https://epic.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/EPIC-v-OPM-25-cv... [2] https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/19-state-ags-file-suit-against-doge-treasury-access-judge-blocks-new-policy/ https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/19-state-ags-file-suit-a...
- slashdev 2y ago
  Given they have to be vetted the same way as any other government employee with that access, including security clearances, I’m not sure these will succeed. At least to my mind it’s not clear how a government employee can have access but for doge it’s breaking the law. The devil is in the specific details.
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > they have to be vetted the same way as any other government employee with that access, including security clearances We know this wasn’t done when they were rummaging around the Treasury. Courts are granting restraining orders because the DOGE bros acted so incompetently. (It’s generally incredibly hard to restrain government employees.) > it’s not clear how a government employee can have access but for doge it’s breaking the law Same way a park ranger can’t walk onto a military base and start rummaging through documents. Or start tweeting them. (Or hell, the President himself tweet your tax return.)

anonym29 2y ago

What functional, diplomatic purpose exists for calling him a "bozo"? What problems does this solve? Which tensions does this ease? Which conflicts does this stop? What sensitive government data does this un-leak? Which broken laws does this adjudicate? What usurped power is being brought back under control with this? Or is it just contributing to a one-way ratchet that only ever increases partisan polarization and hostility for no reason at all, instead of seeking to de-escalate and solve problems? P.S. this goes for Trump/Musk/DOGE supporters too. Name calling and vindictive personal attacks aren't decreasing the deficit, they're not paying off the debt, they're not reducing weaponization of government against conservatives, they're doing nothing to address border and immigration concerns, and they aren't reducing crime. So I ask you, too, what problems are being solved with vindictive, spiteful namecalling?

marxisttemp 2y ago
How dare we call the vindictive, spiteful, name calling president currently destroying our country names! > weaponization of government against conservatives The government is clearly being weaponized against anyone who has ever opposed Trump in any way. You are in a reality tunnel.
- InTheArena 2y ago
  The OP is not. He’s calling someone working on a project, posting his code to GitHub names. The correct response in a democratic society to people attacking political enemies as enemies of the state, spreading untruths, attacking the rule of law, and acting like assholes is _to not do these these things_.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - marxisttemp 2y ago
    Okay
  - KerrAvon 2y ago

rdtsc 2y ago

How do we know he is a bozo?

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
throw16180339 2y ago
He's taking orders from bad actors. That's reason enough to call him a bozo, although collaborator might be more appropriate.