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The article mentions, oddly enough at literally the very bottom, that one of the main laws being used is the 'Wolf Amendment' [1], passed in 2011. It's what pre

The article mentions, oddly enough at literally the very bottom, that one of the main laws being used is the 'Wolf Amendment' [1], passed in 2011. It's what prevented Chinese from working on the ISS and arguably is why China now has its own space station. It's an extremely dumb law that's been passed and reauthorized repeatedly by every single administration and Congress since Obama who it was passed under. Just quoting Wiki since it's quite succinct and accurate on this: "[The Wolf Amendment] prohibits the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from using government funds to engage in direct, bilateral cooperation with the Chinese government and China-affiliated organizations from its activities without explicit authorization from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Congress." For another consequence of this law, when China relatively recently carried out a sample return from the Moon, they sought to share the resultant rocks/material with countries worldwide, much like NASA did in the 60s. Except Americans couldn't accept them, at least not without jumping through a million hoops first, due to this law. It's one of the ever more frequent 'I'm going to punch myself in the face because I don't like you' acts by governments. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Amendment

ajross 5mo ago
[flagged]
- casey2 5mo ago
  [flagged]
  - ajross 5mo ago
    The space station thing is a side quest that has nothing to do with the linked article. I'll happily concede the point, even though it seems pretty questionable to me. It's still not remotely true that (sigh) "Obummer" was using the law to threaten grants and censor research. Trump did that. Only Trump did that. And that's a whole lot worse than wasted effort on a dumb space station.
    - snayan 5mo ago
      I think the dude above was just explaining the Wolf amendment origins, I don't think it was an attempt to shift blame away from Trump for the current policies or both sides it. Just giving more context as to one specific item listed in the original article, and the ridiculous knock on effects it's had. Which, in itself, is interesting, and is something that I wasn't aware of. Think it's just an innocuous tangent in this case.
      - dylan604 5mo ago
        Did the use of Obummer give you that sense?
        eduction 5mo ago
        Oh we have to worship our ex presidents like kings? It’s possible to criticize both Trump and Obama. For example my top criticism of Obama is that he killed a 15 year old American child without trial. His press secretary was not only was unapologetic he said “ I would suggest that you should have a far more responsible father if they are truly concerned about the well-being of their children.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Abdulrahman_al-Awla... That father incidentally was another American killed without due process by Obummer’s personal order. What’s your favorite Obama criticism?
        dylan604 5mo ago
        Drone strikes would be my top Obama criticism, followed by not closing Guantanamo, but I can use the man's name without some clever nickname. That's just not worthy of the actual conversation. It a very Trumpian thing to do
        kortilla 5mo ago
        >It a very Trumpian thing to do “Drumpf” and “Cheeto” would beg to differ
  - antonvs 5mo ago
    > Obummers Did I stumble into the Youtube or Quora comment section somehow?
picsao 5mo ago
[dead]
rayiner 5mo ago
You act like these scientists and engineers are all above reproach. A mayor in the LA area was just charged for acting as a Chinese agent: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/14/nx-s1-5819933/china-trump-trip-la-agent-mayor-arcardia https://www.npr.org/2026/05/14/nx-s1-5819933/china-trump-tri.... A Navy engineer and his wife (who was a teacher at my kids' school) were convicted a few years ago for trying to sell nuclear submarine secrets to foreign governments. Scientists and engineers aren't any more moral than the rest of us, and interactions between them across national boundaries raises security risks.
- ChoGGi 5mo ago
  > You act like these scientists and engineers are all above reproach Where does he say that?
  - rayiner 5mo ago
    It’s implicit in his reasoning. His statements imply that there’s not a legitimate concern these laws are trying to address.
    - somenameforme 5mo ago
      No it's not. You're not stopping any bad behavior with this law, but you're imperiling a vast amount of cooperative and good behavior, or like I said - it's a 'I'm going to punch myself in the face because I don't like you' law. In your scenario, the person in question was a US citizen so this sort of law would not apply. And that generalizes broadly. Obviously China is engaging in espionage and related activities in the US and, equally obviously, the US is doing so within China. This law does absolutely nothing to shift the ball there whatsoever, but it imposes major hurdles to collaboration that is not only wholly on the up-and-up but directly in the US' best interests to pursue. Governments are increasingly often engaging in acts with lofty spoken ambitions behind them, but the acts not only fail to do absolutely anything whatsoever to realistically advance those ambitions, but even directly hurt the governments in question. It's absolutely bizarre and I think can only be explained by governments having leadership that surrounds itself with nothing but yes-men, or idiots. Though I suppose, what's the difference?

ajross 5mo ago

[flagged]

casey2 5mo ago
[flagged]
- ajross 5mo ago
  The space station thing is a side quest that has nothing to do with the linked article. I'll happily concede the point, even though it seems pretty questionable to me. It's still not remotely true that (sigh) "Obummer" was using the law to threaten grants and censor research. Trump did that. Only Trump did that. And that's a whole lot worse than wasted effort on a dumb space station.
  - snayan 5mo ago
    I think the dude above was just explaining the Wolf amendment origins, I don't think it was an attempt to shift blame away from Trump for the current policies or both sides it. Just giving more context as to one specific item listed in the original article, and the ridiculous knock on effects it's had. Which, in itself, is interesting, and is something that I wasn't aware of. Think it's just an innocuous tangent in this case.
    - dylan604 5mo ago
      Did the use of Obummer give you that sense?
      - eduction 5mo ago
        Oh we have to worship our ex presidents like kings? It’s possible to criticize both Trump and Obama. For example my top criticism of Obama is that he killed a 15 year old American child without trial. His press secretary was not only was unapologetic he said “ I would suggest that you should have a far more responsible father if they are truly concerned about the well-being of their children.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Abdulrahman_al-Awla... That father incidentally was another American killed without due process by Obummer’s personal order. What’s your favorite Obama criticism?
        dylan604 5mo ago
        Drone strikes would be my top Obama criticism, followed by not closing Guantanamo, but I can use the man's name without some clever nickname. That's just not worthy of the actual conversation. It a very Trumpian thing to do
        kortilla 5mo ago
        >It a very Trumpian thing to do “Drumpf” and “Cheeto” would beg to differ
- antonvs 5mo ago
  > Obummers Did I stumble into the Youtube or Quora comment section somehow?

picsao 5mo ago

[dead]

rayiner 5mo ago

You act like these scientists and engineers are all above reproach. A mayor in the LA area was just charged for acting as a Chinese agent: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/14/nx-s1-5819933/china-trump-trip-la-agent-mayor-arcardia https://www.npr.org/2026/05/14/nx-s1-5819933/china-trump-tri.... A Navy engineer and his wife (who was a teacher at my kids' school) were convicted a few years ago for trying to sell nuclear submarine secrets to foreign governments. Scientists and engineers aren't any more moral than the rest of us, and interactions between them across national boundaries raises security risks.

ChoGGi 5mo ago
> You act like these scientists and engineers are all above reproach Where does he say that?
- rayiner 5mo ago
  It’s implicit in his reasoning. His statements imply that there’s not a legitimate concern these laws are trying to address.
  - somenameforme 5mo ago
    No it's not. You're not stopping any bad behavior with this law, but you're imperiling a vast amount of cooperative and good behavior, or like I said - it's a 'I'm going to punch myself in the face because I don't like you' law. In your scenario, the person in question was a US citizen so this sort of law would not apply. And that generalizes broadly. Obviously China is engaging in espionage and related activities in the US and, equally obviously, the US is doing so within China. This law does absolutely nothing to shift the ball there whatsoever, but it imposes major hurdles to collaboration that is not only wholly on the up-and-up but directly in the US' best interests to pursue. Governments are increasingly often engaging in acts with lofty spoken ambitions behind them, but the acts not only fail to do absolutely anything whatsoever to realistically advance those ambitions, but even directly hurt the governments in question. It's absolutely bizarre and I think can only be explained by governments having leadership that surrounds itself with nothing but yes-men, or idiots. Though I suppose, what's the difference?