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Scientific conferences are leaving the US amid border fears
- kelseyfrog 1y ago[flagged]
- actionfromafar 1y ago?
- kelseyfrog 1y agoHalf of politics can be explained by framing it around the idea that for a sizable chunk of the population the last 50 years have inflicted a wound to status. The civil rights era changes, demographic changes, and the consequences of the Triffin dilemma leave a large group of people with the living memory that they had more status in the past than they do now. The natural urge to find a cause results in externalizing blame, elites being one targeted group. It makes sense that lashing out at them is an attempt to heal the status wound, even though the chance that this succeeds is zero.
- tupac_speedrap 1y agoMate, not everything in the world is some 4D chess conspiracy. I think it's more likely they just don't want to get send to Guantanamo Bay or El Salvador tbh.
- i80and 1y agoIf I'm reading the user right, and I'm not positive I am, they're more framing the people who support the administration's (reprehensible) agenda as being on a revenge kick for losing a small amount of their original privileged status. I think it's a fine argument to make, and I'd even agree -- it's just put really obliquely.
- kelseyfrog 1y agoYou read it correctly. In an attempt to appear less partisan, I made the writing too oblique. My apologies. A revised version would read: Over the past half-century, shaped by civil-rights gains, demographic shifts, and the dollar’s reserve-currency burdens, one once-dominant segment of the population has felt its social standing erode. Its members still remember when the political, social, and economic order tilted decisively in their favor. Politics now orbits the "status wound" this group carries. To soothe it, they cast blame outward, at elites, newcomers, or any symbol of the new order. Each target offers momentary relief, but none can restore what was lost.
- ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 1y agoEdit: I misinterpreted the parent comment, apologies.
- jfengel 1y agoHe's not referring to the scientists. He's referring to a large subset of supporters of the present administration, stereotypically lower middle class white men. They have seen other groups (women, black people, Hispanics, gay people, etc) gaining rights over the last half century or so, while they are no better off and often worse off. This group also has a grievance against scientists, whom they see as complicit because of their campaign against climate change, among other things. The present administration is heavily weighted towards supporting the backlash from this group. This weighs heavily on scientists, and is seen as a win for the former group.
- roxolotl 1y agoThe parent is saying the status wound is being experienced by those doing the firing and detaining. Another way to state this is that those in power today are out for revenge because they feel as though the past ~50 years has been punishing to them. So they are lashing out against those who’ve gained in that period of time. Science and intellectualism in general is one of those gains.
- mindslight 1y ago
- zmgsabst 1y agoCounterpoint: You’re displaying a form of racism by portraying this as about “lost status” rather than the decreasing material well-being of the public and the collapse of technocratic systems benefitting people in a regime of inflated credentials. Your theory doesn’t explain, eg, why Trump is more popular than a typical Republican with minorities. Nor does it explain Obama voters who switched to Trump. While you dressed up the language, you’re still just calling others “istaphobes” to avoid contending with real class issues — and making an ad hominem argument rather than contending with their legitimate disagreement.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- Larrikin 1y agoObama voters who switched to Trump are not a portion worth talking about. They are in the same vein as talking about no votes for genocide hardcore Palestinian supporters who sat out or people dating immigrants that had their partners deported. Interesting news stories that are nothing more than a distraction from the huge percentage of people that voted fully unconflicted and knew exactly what they wanted. When you see those black and white photos of people hanging black people, or read stories about kids putting glass in the food and chairs of children going to an integrated school, so many of those people are still alive. Trump was in his second year of college when the civil rights act passed and it was official policy black people were supposed to be treated like people. The civil rights act passing wasn't some official decree where the whole of the US respected that.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- itsjustaclock 1y agoIt’s fascinating that people still see these things as new or unique to our current administration. This has been an issue for decades that were often ignored or minimized because it only affected smaller more marginalized groups of people. For example conferences involving HIV/AIDS had to contend with these issues for decades due to the blanket ban on HIV+ individuals from entering the country, even for a scientific conference. Often the conferences would continue leading to schisms in the communities and competing conferences that would ultimately disagree on fundamental principles in science and policy.
- ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 1y agoIt seems new and unique, given that conferences (and scientists) are leaving?
- mlindner 1y ago[flagged]
- rcpt 1y agoDo you have some statistics? Because there really does seem to be a change in immigration enforcement lately and multiple universities have issued guidance accordingly.
- ygjb 1y agoYou know how if you pile lots of flammable things in the corner of your garage and it's fine for years, and then a toddler strolls through with a book of matches, then suddenly you get a new and unique fire? The conferences and scientists leaving are the results of decades of policy undermining education and human rights, coupled with the rise of the alt-right, normalization of racism and misogyny, with a soupçon of neo-nazism that allowed a populist regime to rise to power. All of that was the pile of flammable things. The extrajudicial deportations, conferences and scientists leaving, and tourism crashing are the first tendrils of smoke rising in the corner. It's not too late for America to fix it.
- YZF 1y agoCan't read the whole thing because paywall. I thought nature was about publishing research. This reads like a political opinion piece but is published as "news"? The author has other similar articles like these about the "US brain drain": https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01540-y https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01540-y https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01489-y https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01489-y What would help me get an accurate picture is how many conferences are typically held per month in the US and how has that number changed but instead we get fluff like: "Some meetings have been put on hold" - which meetings? "Several academic and scientific conferences in the United States have been postponed, cancelled or moved elsewhere" - Which conferences, what % of the total? more specifics? "Organizers of these meetings say that tougher rules around visas and border control — alongside other policies introduced by US President Donald Trump’s administration — are discouraging international scholars from attending events on US soil. In response, they are moving the conferences to countries such as Canada, in a bid to boost attendance." - Which organizers? EDIT: I found this resource which would be interesting to examine for trends: https://conferenceindex.org/conferences/science https://conferenceindex.org/conferences/science EDIT2: there are some specific anecdotal examples towards the bottom of the paywalled article. This is still not meeting what I would consider accurate non-opinionated reporting.
- mgraczyk 1y agoWould you mind explaining where in the article the author gives an opinion, as opposed to stating uncontested facts that would be newsworthy to scientists? Or would you mind sharing a snippet that expressed any political belief of the authors? I could not find either As for your specific questions, they are answered even in the paywalled version. Just keep reading past the first sentence
- YZF 1y ago[flagged]
- 0xdde 1y agoSo no acknowledgement of the fact that your questions are answered even before the paywall? The conferences (and organizers thereof) listed also include International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA), the International Conference on Comparative Cognition, and then the article goes on to add "The International Association of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has cancelled its conference, originally planned for August 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee, because cuts to federal funding meant it was “no longer financially viable”. The 2026 Cities on Volcanoes conference in Bend, Oregon, has been postponed to 2030 or 2032. The International X-ray Absorption Society cancelled its upcoming 19th conference in Chicago, Illinois, which was scheduled for July this year. “ Your argument that there is an agenda is not compelling.
- MegaDeKay 1y agoThis is bound to happen for a lot of other events besides scientific conferences. I know of a guy that wouldn't go to a retrogaming convention for fears of being detained at the border.
- abnercoimbre 1y agoYes, I run tech conferences and international attendance is dropping rapidly this year (we're shifting to aggressive local marketing, but it's still sad.)
- braaaahp 1y agoWon’t be attending local conferences anymore. My colleagues outside the US say that a big part of why they are bailing on the US is the public response. They see France protest over their own internal retirement politics. They don’t see the US public protest over global destabilization through our politics. It isn’t just Trump. The American people are completely failing to read the room. So I am done supporting my fellow Americans as much as possible too. Enjoy your conference randos, but fuck me food and shelter and healthcare seem a bit more essential.
- Spooky23 1y agoIt’s hard to protest. There’s no single movement, it’s just a bunch of different people. Stuff needs to get a lot worse.
- braaaahp 1y agoI don’t mean protest. I mean consume less media. Stuff. Take burden off workers in the sweatshops and learn to sew a shirt. How many new shirts does a person need a year? 2-3? That’s like what, a cold December? Be a human not a battery in a Matrix pod propping up ad companies and Hollywood. We live in a Newspeak bubble; it’s freedom to stare at screen. Local culture in the US is hyper-normalized around money making metrics. Boomers did all the drugs and lived. They convinced GenX and Millennials to Netflix chill, order grubhub and watch AI content It’s so bizarre Edit: this is what gets attention not blocking roads https://finance.yahoo.com/news/target-badly-misses-on-earnings-slashes-guidance-as-it-battles-dei-backlash-and-reinvigorated-walmart-103038522.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/target-badly-misses-on-earnin...
- mlindner 1y ago[flagged]
- cobertos 1y agoA friend's relative was detained at the border and had their phone searched on political grounds. There are multiple videos of people being whisked away by masked police and government. Not to mention all the other screws that have been turned on academia that I've heard in countless stories from people in my circle. The media is not doing us any good, but the fear is not imagined.
- mlindner 1y ago[flagged]
- dennis_jeeves2 1y ago>The media is not doing us any good, but the fear is not imagined. Statistically nothing has changed. Source: I and many acquaintances I know have crossed the border multiple times. It's completely the media.
- const_cast 1y ago> Source: I and many acquaintances I know have crossed the border multiple times. Well that's not a source.
- dennis_jeeves2 1y agoWhy not? What is an unbiased source in your opinion?
- nullstyle 1y ago> The laws haven't changed. It’s really amazing how ignorant people can be despite the evidence. No laws needed to change for the risk of abuse by the border authority to go up. Tell me about your opinions on civil asset forfeiture.
- molticrystal 1y agoIsn't there a history of security researchers and open source programmers being detained or threatened when visiting the US? So the same thing is being done to the US's domestic researchers as well now?
- robwwilliams 1y agoTrue, not much data yet, but a cery real day to day factor for conference organizers. We have had two Canadians skip a US conference last month due to the dramatical worse general climate. Zoom instead. This is NOT just about immigration and passport control. It is the new ugly American zeitgeist that changes enthusiasm. We will probably be skipping the US for two international conferences I have helped organize. Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Halifax are all great alternatives for larger meetings from 2027 ti 20??.
- mjevans 1y agoThe 2nd, and supposed to be final, term of the current US President is scheduled to end on Jan 20th, 2029. I am hopeful that my fellow Americans will elect a responsible, intelligent, virtuous leader in 2028 to be sworn into office on that day. I know I'm asking a LOT. However that's one of, if not the most, important jobs in the world. We all deserve to have someone at least that qualified there.
- Spooky23 1y agoThe genie is out of the bottle, the die is cast, etc. We’re not going back to what was before. I’d only put 60/40 odds on the 2028 election not being temporarily suspended due to a state of emergency.
- rogerrogerr 1y ago60/40 feels very pessimistic to me (meaning I think the election is more than 60% likely to occur on Nov 7, 2028 and the results heeded more or less as usual). If you think 60/40 is the right odds, you have some opportunities available - to make fake dollars, at least: https://manifold.markets/AndrewG/will-donald-trump-attempt-to-suspen?r=cm9icGVyeQ https://manifold.markets/AndrewG/will-donald-trump-attempt-t... I bet you could find more than a few people here to take the other side of 60/40 odds in a $100 bet.
- rogerrogerr 1y ago
- userbinator 1y ago[flagged]
- burnt-resistor 1y agoThis, Harvard, WHO, NIH, and NSF changes create that sucking sound you hear, a brain drain, and people deciding not to go to the US or to leave. Such myopic stupidity in the White House weakening America's power and reputation.
- api 1y agoWhen he started talking about a golden age I knew he was going to drive it straight into the ground.
- xyzal 1y agoGolden age for broligarchs
- BLKNSLVR 1y agoThe New Amish: a society based on the ideals, behaviours, and technologies gleaned from severely rose-tinted memories of the 1950s. Plus cryptocurrency.
- AlecSchueler 1y agoGolden showers.
- tgv 1y agoIt's on purpose, at least according to some observers (Slobodian, Stiglitz). The clique behind Trump and Project 2025 want small (special) economic zones with as little interference as possible. Basically laying the ground work for exploitation, 19th century style. That requires dismantling the federal state. They don't care about the other consequences, because they don't have to bear them.
- fireflash38 1y agoSounds like feudalism
- api 1y agoThey’re fairly explicit about the idea that the last 100-200 years need to be undone. By that they don’t mean the technical progress. They mean human equality. The idea that there might be a connection between those two things is lost on them.
- anonymousiam 1y agoThis article seems like political flamebait. Most scientists are rational people. If they obey US immigration rules, they SHOULD never have a problem. There have recently been a few horrifying stories where this wasn't the case, but those are the exception and not the rule.
- sorcerer-mar 1y ago> A rational person would totally be fine with a non-zero chance of being sent to an El Salvadorean torture camp for the rest of their lives with no due process even when directly ordered by the Supreme Court of the United States... the chance of it happening to you is probably pretty low (though of course we actually don't have a good way to know since people are being whisked away without even chances to contact their lawyers)! It's crazy how common the meme of "aloofness signals intelligence" has become among the folks at the top of the bell curve.
- eschaton 1y agoFolks who believe themselves to be at the top of the bell curve.
- sorcerer-mar 1y agoAh sorry, maybe unclear. I meant "top" on the y-axis. The most average-est of thinkers!
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- cma 1y agoHow much can you assure them there will be minimal due process if there is a problem?
- anonymousiam 1y agoWhat you should be asking is; what would happen if I illegally immigrated to some country other than the US, where they have no guarantee of due process?
- United857 1y agohttps://archive.ph/iYdBT https://archive.ph/iYdBT
- ericye16 1y agoI'm a Canadian who moved to the SF bay area after graduating. A lot of my smartest friends who came with me at the same time are actively taking steps to move back due to the political environment.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- mlindner 1y agoI have several Canadian friends in the bay area and only one is considering moving back. The rest have bought houses here and are working toward permanent residency or citizenship.
- refurb 1y ago[flagged]
- lazyeye 1y agoYes agreed. So much ridiculous hyperbole in this thread that says way more about the political affiliation of the commenter, than it does about any real or imagined threat.
- tgv 1y agoErgo, you're a Trump supporter, or worse. There is a real threat for people traveling to the US. And there is a growing threat to academics as well. I know two academics who are considering returning to Europe, after only just having acquired US citizenship. The ship is sinking, and calling it fake news (ridiculous hyperbole) isn't going to stop it.
- lazyeye 1y agoYour response is just more of the same ridiculous hyperbole I was describing in my original comment.
- rl3 1y agohttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/science/petrova-scientist-harvard-russia-charges.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/science/petrova-scientist... For her it's life and death, but perhaps you'd prefer to classify it as ridiculous hyperbole as well.
- refurb 1y agoA Russian immigrant is caught smuggling biological material. She claims she didn't know she had to declare it, yet her phone had messages from colleagues saying "you need to declare it!". I don't know too many countries who don't deport people who break the laws in that country.
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- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- assimpleaspossi 1y agoThere seems to be more fear mongering than reality here. Why would a scientist coming to the US for a conference be picked up and sent to El Salvador (or some such)? Do they really believe these things are happening to everyone? Are they spending too much time on Reddit instead of doing research? This makes no sense to me whatsoever.
- GenerocUsername 1y agoI had to scroll to far too find sanity in this thread. I suspect the opposition party is literally just fear-bombing social media with what ifs and AI slop to further divide folks. But if some conferences or even colleges full of people susceptible to that kind of misinformation begin to fail, I'm all for it.
- basket_horse 1y agoIts not fear mongering to acknowledge that this administration is anti-science, or at least less pro-science than previous administrations. Hundreds of grants are frozen due to the Harvard shenanigans - its not just Harvard, as many grants flow through there on their way to other universities. Are the chances of getting deported high? No of course not, but America is certainly not rolling out the red carpet for international scientists right now.
- mrbombastic 1y agohttps://www.cntraveler.com/story/which-countries-have-issued-travel-advisories-for-the-us-1#:~:text=Uruguay%20and%20Japan%20both%20issued,regarding%20US%20travel%20so%20far. https://www.cntraveler.com/story/which-countries-have-issued... Yes the rest of the world is wrong and Trump has the truth.
- GenerocUsername 1y agoYes, I do believe the global majority can infact be wrong and misled.
- vultour 1y ago
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- ETH_start 1y agoYears ago, I would have found this deeply dismaying. Today, I still see it as a negative development, but far less so, because my regard for the sciences has declined with the growing ideological capture of many disciplines. It’s become typical for political narratives to take center stage at scientific conferences. For example: e.g. https://healthjournalism.internews.org/article/decolonizing-science-at-the-world-conference-for-science-journalists-why-does-it-matter/ https://healthjournalism.internews.org/article/decolonizing-...
- PeterStuer 1y agoAttending US conferences was always more a hassle than most other places. The 'interrogation' before even boarding the flight was just ridiculous. And the process repeated after landing. Jeez.
- bamboozled 1y agoI have friends and colleagues based in South America, when conferences are held in the USA, they never can attend, or want to. When they're held in Europe, they just appear with little hassle, it's quit perplexing to me how hard the USA makes it for them. It's been this way forever, according to them, they're never going to even bother now.
- seydor 1y agoI ve heard about these problems for many years. In particular, many indian phd students were reluctant to travel to European conferences for fear that there might be complications when returning back to America. The unreliable current administration must have turbocharged these fears
- giardini 1y ago[flagged]
- intermerda 1y ago> One of those is the International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA), which announced last month that it would relocate its 2026 meeting from New Jersey to St. Catharines, Canada, after a survey of its members suggested that many international researchers would not attend a US meeting. > Organizers of the International Conference on Comparative Cognition have made a similar call. Its 33rd annual conference next year will take place outside the United States for the first time in the society’s history, in Montreal, Canada. > The Northwest Cognition & Memory (NOWCAM) meeting relocated its meeting earlier this month from Western Washington University in Bellingham to Victoria, Canada. > The International Association of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has cancelled its conference, originally planned for August 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee, because cuts to federal funding meant it was “no longer financially viable”. > The 2026 Cities on Volcanoes conference in Bend, Oregon, has been postponed to 2030 or 2032. > The International X-ray Absorption Society cancelled its upcoming 19th conference in Chicago, Illinois Your comment should be taken down for being a crock. This is further evidence that Trump's very existence causes some people to blindly worship him.
- tdeck 1y agoI love that the International Society for Research on Aggression conference was going to be in New Jersey.
- hereme888 1y ago[flagged]
- p_j_w 1y agoLaw abiding people always have something to fear when due process is being thrown out the window. If the government can just assert criminality without having to prove it then they can mete out punishment to any law abiding people. > Trump derangement syndrome. The only people deranged about Trump are the people supporting him.
- hereme888 1y agoGot a single specific example of law-abiding citizens or visa holders having their due process thrown out the window?
- rickandmorty99 1y agohttps://eu.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2025/04/21/german-tourists-turned-away-us-border/83195396007/ https://eu.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2025/04/21/german-... https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/05/02/citizens-caught-trump-immigration-crackdown/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/05/02/citize...
- admissionsguy 1y ago> Both claimed they were touring California but later admitted they intended to work yeah...
- hereme888 1y agoThose two German teenagers, Charlotte Pohl and Maria Lepère, were denied entry because they broke immigration law and visa terms by misrepresenting work intentions. I won't spend time researching the second article. One was enough waste of time.
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- interestoo 1y agoI was travelling to the US a few times during previous administration and each time somebody from the team was taken into little dark room for questioning, I was not travelling to the US much before so I was of opinion the way how US border treats travellers was weird to say the least, at least compared to other countries I was travelling to. Sometimes it was worse depending on particular border agent. Interestingly I travelled recently during new administration and did not notice much of a change.
- illiac786 1y agoMay I ask, was it for work, which country were you traveling from, what nationality do you and your colleagues have? I may have to travel to the US this year with my family, for familial reasons, and it makes me more nervous than usual I must admit. I am just trying to gauge if there are some criteria for pulling people in closed rooms.
- interestoo 1y agoWe were travelling for business from EU. My feeling was that those of us who were travelling most frequently were pulled, but apart from slight inconvenience it ended OK. We started placing bets who will it be this time :) I always had paperwork ready, letter from business I was visiting, hotel booking, phone number to business rep who would confirm my credentials, but I was never asked to produce them. Though, I don't know about travelling with family, I am not much of a touristy guy..
- mlindner 1y agoMy own brother had a Canadian border agent screaming and shouting at him when he went on a business trip to Canada from the US. Screaming at him about why couldn't a Canadian do his job instead of having to fly in an American. Canada is no better, if anything they're worse in this regard.
- Anamon 1y agoOne anecdote doesn't support that conclusion. Talk to anyone who travelled to Canada and the U.S. frequently, about how the two compare. I used to work in academia, and know many people who travelled to both places every year for the past 20. Of course there are exceptions on both sides, but the default is overwhelmingly: Canadian border is friendly and welcoming, U.S. border is hostile and depressing.
- geraltofrivia 1y agoIn 2015 a PhD scholar attending a security conference was sent back citing national security concerns. This was absurd as she was an Indian, studying in Montreal and has no past involvement in any untoward thing. In 2017, a friend doing his PhD in artifical intelligence in Germany was made to undergo a thorough interview at the border to determine if he is a threat on account of his work. Again, this was absurd to say the least. In this March, my SO (French) chose to not attend a tier 1 conference in AI where she was going to present her work. She, having the brains for both of us, was prescient enough to cancel her trip in Feb-March, a bit before the current border policies came into full force and europeans were detained. I have never gone, nor will I ever go to the United States. Not for scientific purposes or leisure. For over a decade I have been voicing concerns about hosting conferences in a country which is inaccessible or hostile to a vast section of the scientific community. I am glad to see this shift.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- csomar 1y ago[flagged]
- buran77 1y agoThis kind of false equivalence only brings the quality of conversation down and also waters down the gravity of what's really happening. I just never expected anyone would go so low as to equate people being turned away at the border or worse, be detained, questioned, and a pile of other abuses, with a pigeon detained for carrying what was suspected to be a spy message. No, it's not the same everywhere. No, it's not because some countries are too dumb to be criminally abusive. And no, this is not just an inevitable outcome from "being too capable at detecting real threats". If you go so far out of your way to water down and defend the indefensible you make it close to impossible to find any charitable interpretation, instead of moral complicity or trolling.
- buyucu 1y agoPerfectly reasonable. Nobody wants to get arrested by border agents on an ego trip.
- rob_c 1y agoYes, nothing to do with the absurd costs of arranging such events in the US, let's not beat on a different drum rather than try to bring down total costs. It's already half way around the world for most and it's absurd to the rest of the world to pay $200 for a meal which can be beaten by most of the developed world... But no, clearly tsa border control or political wind of the week...
- StrauXX 1y agoI am going to the Defcon CTF Finals at the Defcon conference this year. Coming from Europe, I know of multiple people who will participate remotely because of the political climate. I would have to lie if I said that I didn't think about skipping the USA either. In the cybersecurity space especially things have always been difficult.
- kernaussage 1y agoI am competing as well. Coming from Europe, it's still a bit uncertain which team members can and are willing to travel to the USA in the current political climate.
- hnthrowaway0315 1y agoI wish more computer security conferences go to Canada (Montreal if possible) which is cheaper (for me). We do have Recon but that's it.
- freen 1y agoCIO of $20B/year ARR company: “I was going to send my kid to the US for college. Now? Never in a million years. I’m not even going to go to the US!” Well done everyone. Well done. For those without a choice, no threat of punishment/deportation will deter them. For those with a choice? Arguably the people a country would want to visit/do business with/etc? The choice is clear: the US is hostile and to be avoided.
- TedHerman 1y agoThe one science not rejected by the current US administration is Ballistics. The problem is that China can probably do it better than America. (I do realize that Nature does not have a specialty topic journal on ballistics and weapons.)
- guywithahat 1y agoThe left has a serious misinformation issue nobody is tackling. Just yesterday I was in a coffee shop and the guy next to me was saying Ukraine had to beg Starlink for service, when in reality Starlink gave them 100 million in free service. The immigration crackdown is exclusively for illegal immigrants, in particular illegal immigrants who have been charged with crimes. Unless your conference is for illegal MS13 gang members you have nothing to worry about.
- mystified5016 1y agoMusk publicly and explicitly threatened to cut off Ukraine's starlink access during the opening months of the war
- guywithahat 1y agoYes, after giving them hundreds of millions in free services, he wanted to start getting paid. Not only is this entirely reasonable, but it was generous of him to give them a year of service with no payment or even promise of one.
- aceazzameen 1y agoThis completely ignores the non-gang members who were detained and not allowed to travel back to their home country (Canada, Germany). Of course that makes quite the world news headline so it's only natural for people to not want to travel to the US anymore. Then there's the other issue where the PUSA continues to demonize allied countries. Clearly something is wrong. So why bother travelling to the US again?
- guywithahat 1y agoI have yet to see a story about someone who was detained and not allowed to return to their home country of Canada or Germany who wasn't also either accused of a legitimate crime or otherwise violate the terms of their visa in a clear and obvious fashion. Even in those cases though, you are usually sent back to your home country as the punishment. It seems reasonable that border control will someday make a mistake, detain someone, and then let them go, but this is rare enough that there aren't any recent instances of it, and it's not an ongoing problem.
- justcallmejm 1y agoThe scientific community inherently has their eyes wide open to seeing reality as it is, and the assessment that the US is a hostile place to the reality-based community is a no-brainer. I was born in the Midwest, have lived my entire adult life in SF, and recently was relieved to get my permanent residency in Canada - moving to Vancouver, BC soon. My co-founder (who is Canadian but has lived in California for 25 years) and I know we won’t be able to attract world-class talent to a country that is trying to go back in time to pre-Enlightenment era.