5 ms·
> The CDC Has a Cyclospora Lab. DOGE Downsized It Last Year [1] [1] https://www.wired.com/story/cdc-cyclospora-lab-doge-downsized-it-last-year/ https://www.wir
by wnevets 2mo ago
> The CDC Has a Cyclospora Lab. DOGE Downsized It Last Year [1]
[1] https://www.wired.com/story/cdc-cyclospora-lab-doge-downsized-it-last-year/ https://www.wired.com/story/cdc-cyclospora-lab-doge-downsize...
- dgellow 2mo agoDOGE will be seen by historians as the cause of so many crisis…
- bamboozled 2mo agoImagine how frustrated the laid off staff must be, especially if they end up either the illness themselves.
- cyanydeez 2mo agooptimistic, this requires the arc of history to bend towards non-fascism.
- dgellow 2mo agoFair. Though based on previous experiments fascist regimes aren’t that stable and competent, they have a tendency to self-destruct once they are in power. It’s a sad state of affairs that is considered optimistic
- epistasis 2mo agoWell, there will at least be historians in other countries covering the downfall in detail, if there is indeed a bigger downfall than has already happened. Democracies are pretty good at studying the failures of other countries and learning about them.
- lostlogin 2mo ago‘and learning about them’ I’m not at all convinced about this part.
- EdwardDiego 2mo agoTo be fair, they said learning _about_ them, not learning _from_ them.
- ElProlactin 2mo agoOptimistic, this requires a civilization to have a history.
- solid_fuel 2mo agoFascism always collapses, the question is only how much will remain by the time that occurs.
- z3c0 2mo agoAnd whether or not what replaces it is any better. Historically speaking, widespread democracy is still a recent development.
- solid_fuel 2mo agoThat's always an open question. Fascism does frequently collapse into other authoritarian regimes, too. But fascism itself will always fail. It is a movement motivated by the petty grievances of cowards and fools, and the same hate and violence they project outward always turns inward at the end.
- cindyllm 2mo ago[dead]
- criddell 2mo agoWhat definition of fascism are you using? Is China fascist?
- solid_fuel 2mo ago> What definition of fascism are you using? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism > Is China fascist? What a strange and completely irrelevant question.
- ndsipa_pomu 2mo agoChina is also fascist by the usual four measures (cult-like worship, hyper-nationalism, a merciless surveillance apparatus and the glorification of military strength), but that has nothing to do with fascism in the USA.
- ryandvm 2mo agoYeah, as Norm Macdonald put it: > “It says here in this history book that luckily, the good guys have won every single time. What are the odds?”
- gruez 2mo ago>the arc of history to bend towards non-fascism. From wikipedia: "Fascism [...] rose to prominence primarily in Europe of the interwar period" So what were humans doing for all the thousands of years after the advent of recorded history but before that?
- CookieCrisp 2mo agoFascism with a different name
- shimman 2mo agoYou don't need historians to see the crisis as it was happening and as it's ongoing, the only question we need to ask is how long should the people held accountable be in prison for? For abusing democratic offices the penalty should be at least one decade in keeping up with ancient Athenian democratic traditions.
- dgellow 2mo agoWell, I said historians because I don’t think that will happen anytime soon. The US is almost completely captured. The time to send people to prison was during the previous administration. I still cannot believe that Americans re-elected a literal failed insurrectionist
- bamboozled 2mo agoI agree, if people voted for this I wouldn’t expect any ramifications at all. People have to be so far gone to have actually wanted this that they’re not just going to change their mind.
- RunSet 2mo agoIt is the government equivalent of El Muskito buying Twitter and then wantonly disabling components with the assumption they do nothing.
- davidw 2mo agoExcept no one died because Twitter malfunctions here and there.
- dzhiurgis 2mo agoTBF the companies that failed to contain the disease are at fault, not the agency. You can't reasonably expect government to protect everyone from everything.
- ssl-3 2mo agoHow would we know which companies to blame without organizations like the CDC? What would they even be blamed for in the first place if there were no regulatory expectations for them to adhere to?
- lymbo 2mo agoExactly, and profit is too great a drug for 99% of companies. Consumers just aren’t going to be willing or able to collectively buy up research and regulatory bodies themselves or we would already have a replacement.
- sixothree 2mo agoTo be fair to whom exactly? The organization tasked with disease protection and which claims they exist for "saving lives"?
- Gud 2mo agoOnly in some libertarian fever dream. Functional societies has central functions to ensure that safety of its people.
- 2mo ago
- thrance 2mo agoDOGE is simply a tool of global capital, and shouldn't be singled out as the root cause of anything. Its purpose was to cut money from being redistributed through government programs, so it could go to the financial markets instead via tax cuts for the wealthiests and inefficient defense contracts. It achieved its goal wonderfully.
- smegger001 2mo agoMore than that it was an enabling tool. Republicans for decades have claimed that the government cant do anythingright/good and that we must deregulate and let the free market do everything. Problem is the government is actually pretty good at doing somethings, so Republicans break things until they can use them as examples of government inefficiency then privatize it for there own profit. Doge was made to break the government so Republicans could point at what was left and say "see government is broken" But Musk ran it and he's and idiot that had no idea what he doing so istead of it slowly all going to shit so no one would remember it all working as intended it started to fall apart to soon. So we still have people that will point to the real cause.
- pbnjeh 2mo agoIn explanations I believe, over the decades government programs have been difficult to deal with in good part because Republicans and their like (sorry if this seems political, but they’re the ones doing it) while they can’t stop all the legislation, they have enough influence even then to make the administration structure and requirements deliberately horrible and underfunded. One of the first big bullets they put into the Affordable Care Act after it became effective, was to zero out funding of its provisions that were/are mandated by law. The “government can’t do shit” people should spend some time looking at the reasons why. Government isn’t perfect — it’s made up of the same humans that compose the rest of society — but it often isn’t half bad, and many people going into it have good-hearted and honorable intentions. Some turn bitter or disengaged at the experience — as designed — but many fight such negativity to the bitter end. Oh, and regarding the ACA, many don’t know or have forgotten that businesses were clamoring for it or some/any solution, facing 25% year over year premium increases for their insured employees. And the ACA has and continues to provide many substantial improvements and benefits to group policy insurance holders that have no ready optics and hype like the healthcare marketplace. Have insurance through your employer and think the ACA does nothing for you? You’re wrong. So, thanks, gub’mint!
- a3mrouter1 2mo ago[flagged]
- limagnolia 2mo ago[flagged]
- bix6 2mo agoYou think an agency with less people can more capably do its job? Come on now.
- frumper 2mo agoJust wait until 1 of those 3 employees left has surgery and needs FMLA, or out on maternity leave. Then it'll be even more capable. /s
- bix6 2mo agoMaternity leave? Women aren’t allowed to work in the Hegseth era!
- dzhiurgis 2mo agoWhenever I work for large corporations or government I wanna blow my brain how slow things move. Literally days work in a month. Yes, small teams can be more productive. I've took a ~2x pay cut just not to sit in those unproductive meetings and grind instead.
- limagnolia 2mo agoYes! I have no idea if that is the case here, but absolutely yes.
- collingreen 2mo agoBoy have I got a bridge to sell you!
- tantalor 2mo agoIt's in the subheading: > “Based on simple math, these outbreak responses—which require rapid, timely responses—are going to be greatly diminished,” the former CDC lab director tells WIRED.
- BoingBoomTschak 2mo agoFrom 11 to 3 employees. Doesn't seem that outrageous outside of such a time of crisis (since this lab seem dedicated solely to outbreaks, not research), which is when the parent entity should temporarily allocate more people.
- wnevets 2mo ago> From 11 to 3 employees. Doesn't seem that outrageous outside I hope I never have you as my manager If you think a ~70% reduction in head count isn't outrageous.
- BoingBoomTschak 2mo agoI've worked along scientists a few times, many twiddling their thumbs and coasting along on the back of their PhD. No idea if this applies here, mind you, but I don't see an innate need for that many people, even if this disease has major outbreaks (let's say > 50 cases) every few years. 3 does seem a bit low, though.
- georgemcbay 2mo ago> I've worked along scientists a few times You should have mentioned this up front so we all knew you were fully qualified to understand the staffing needs of critical governmental health organizations.
- flatline 2mo agoImpressive judgment from someone who presumably has no knowledge of the types of problems the lab was addressing, the scope of research, the actual individuals employed, or the prior and anticipated impact of their work. This was the whole problem with DOGE: cuts were indiscriminate and based more on feels than factual data. I won't posit that those cuts were all downside - but we will be paying to discover which were really needed for years to come.
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- Maxion 2mo agoWell, shit in peace i guess.
- ebbi 2mo agoWell it's definitely not in piece/s I guess