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Noem Can't Explain Why She Hired 8-Day-Old Company for Ad Campaign
- shablulman 7mo ago[flagged]
- lawn 7mo agoNothing to see here, just a regular $143 million corruption deal made completely in the open. The US is operated like a banana republic.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- fzeroracer 7mo agoI'm sure DOGE and all of its fans have a lot to say about this. After all, we all know fighting waste and corruption in the government is exactly why it was formed.
- Xmd5a 7mo ago[flagged]
- imcritic 7mo agoOh, so you don't like corruption? Too bad they didn't follow the legal way and instead lobby that decision. This way it would be so much different!
- bulbar 7mo agoThat the proper way is not good is no reason to do it in an even worse way.
- marky1991 7mo agoAre you literally defending corruption? Why?
- Moomoomoo309 7mo agoNo, they're pointing out the "right" way is also corrupt and the problem is deeper-rooted. It being done plainly is obviously worse, but the corruption runs deeper than just this.
- analognoise 7mo agoDid it though? Supposedly DOGE was to fight corruption. We were all going to get checks back! Not only did they find zero cases of corruption that were referred to prosecution, they ended up costing us MORE money even than they hypothetically “saved”. That’s before we even add in “stupid wars of choice” to the “savings” mix. The idea that “well everything is corrupt so it doesn’t matter” really needs to be confronted, especially when it’s so easily dismantled as an argument. (I agree though that this administration has massive corruption, and see how you were explaining the above, so I’m talking generally.)
- actionfromafar 7mo agoWhere we are going, approved media like Fox will explain how everything is just fine and how much we are winning.
- mcphage 7mo agoYou don’t even need to go so far—plenty of posters here are happy to carry water for this administration.
- ta9000 7mo agoThis happened much sooner than I expected and living through it, believe me it can happen to you.
- arunabha 7mo agoI'm suprised the powers that be on HN allowed this to reach the frontpage. Usually these kind of stories are flagged off the front page in seconds.
- pamcake 7mo agoHush, now.
- PunchyHamster 7mo agojust wait few minutes
- beaker52 7mo agoI imagine that it’s because the rug is becoming insufficient to cover the growing dirt pile. I’m here for it. Corruption is a problem worth solving, so I’m happy to bother the ycombinator readership with it.
- Alejandro9R 7mo agoMe being a non-US reader, it’s honestly a bit frustrating to see how often people from the US forget that a large portion of HN readers are from other countries and don’t share the same context for posts like this. It ends up assuming US context as universal. And don’t get me wrong. I agree that corruption is horrible. I live in a country where corruption was and still is rampant. Political discussions related more closely to, let’s say, AI companies such as OpenAI or Anthropic when it comes to the Pentagon do spark interest, since they are somewhat more directly connected to decisions we can make as tech professionals in other countries, whether for moral, ethical, or practical reasons. That is not really the case for posts like these, however. To your point, I would love to see the tech/hacker community come up with ideas about solving corruption, even if it’s just philosophical discussion. If my point still doesn’t make sense, imagine seeing posts about corruption cases from any other non-US country being posted on HN. What would you think about those?
- danaris 7mo ago
- huddert 7mo ago[flagged]
- bulbar 7mo agoWhat's in for you to downplay obvious corruption?
- nandomrumber 7mo ago> including having once employed her alleged beau What does this sentence mean?
- noelwelsh 7mo agoEmployed her boyfriend
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- 28304283409234 7mo ago"Drain the swamp." Uhuh.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- ElProlactin 7mo agoInto a new one.
- Natfan 7mo agoa bigger one with more sewage
- mothballed 7mo agoAt some point the government is corrupted enough that you realize the people there just to fleece the people with favored contracts and affair force one are the most rational actors involved. Our government is now essentially another private corporation, just one the people are brainwashed to obey through a religious like belief that their taxation isnt in practice theft and their law enforcement in practice isn't a mobster racket.
- bulbar 7mo agoCorruption is a lot about ties between politics and companies. I always found it weird how many people believed that having the government run by the very same business people that have corrupted the government would improve the situation. It only makes corruption more efficient, as we can beautifully see in this case.
- mohragk 7mo agoWhen will the current administration be punished for their corruption and illegal activities? Trump is prosecuted for 34 felonies. His ICE regime is unlawful. Tariffs are deemed illegal. They siphon tax payer money to their own friends and family. When will the people rise up against this?
- hackingonempty 7mo agoTrump is going to pardon every single person in his administration and his entire family on his way out of office. They will all ride off into the sunset with the millions they made. There will be no punishment. Nobody is going to rise up against it, because "both sides." Biden pardoned his son.
- jiggawatts 7mo ago> Biden pardoned his son. Yes, that's bad. It's not even remotely the same. Biden pardoned his son to protect him from being hounded for the rest of his life by rabid Republicans that still can't shut up about Hillary's emails (despite Trump doing 10x worse with the top secret files in his toilet), Benghazi (with 4 deaths, far less than the current Iran boondogle), etc... Trump has weaponised the pardon power, which was previously used by other presidents to pardon people who didn't deserve their punishment. Non-violent drug crimes like possession of a bit of weed, life imprisonment over a technicality, that kind of thing. Trump instead enables rampant corruption coupled with blind obedience with the promise of a pardon as the get-out-of-jail-free card. He's also made pardons pay-for-play, letting out crypto scammers, drug lords, and anyone else willing to pay him a few million each. It's obscene. It's corrosive. It's destroying your democracy, so very very visibly that the rest of the world is staring with slack-jawed horror. Seriously. Over here on the other side of the little pond we call the Pacific, we're worried about you yanks.
- rootsudo 7mo agoPacific, or Atlantic… I can’t tell if you’re a Brit or an Australian.
- josefritzishere 7mo agoWhen government procurement bypasses the GSA process it should immediately be considered suspicious. The GSA exists to prevent this exact problem.
- sigwinch 7mo agoMy understanding is that Trump in early 2025 pushed all procurement toward GSA. For Noem to demand spending authority seemed prone to self-dealing.