basementcat

Recently discussed here

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43029164

Wasn’t that part of the plot of Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon?

So $55 billion in exchange for denying life saving medication to 20 million souls.

For those who aren’t familiar, VDARE is "an anti-immigration hate website" which "regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites" according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VDARE

What level of financial savings would justify threatening the lives of 20 million souls?

https://pepfarreport.org/

throwawaydpresd 1 minute ago [dead] | root | parent [–]

I feel guilty that I'm still using hacker news. I feel like I'm supporting the regime

Can someone explain why this is downvoted?

I would agree that protests alone are less effective than if they are combined with other things.

If the number of threats of physical harm (death, disfigurement, rape, etc) my colleagues are receiving are an indication, I feel the protests are having an effect.

Why is this person still invited to speak at AI Startup School?

Why is this person still invited to speak at AI Startup School?

Garry Tan and Paul Graham are lauding DOGE (I, like pretty much everyone else, am also all for employing new technology to optimize business and government) but have not expressed concern about the 20 million people who have lost access to lifesaving medicine except for possibly vague suggestions about "proceeding cautiously" with respect to dismantling USAID. Why would anyone want to associate with people who have such disregard for human life? Do Elon and Trump possess personally compromising information on Paul and Garry? Or is this, as you suggest, just Paul and Garry revealing their true colors?

Before this is flagged, I would appreciate it if someone could explain the benefit of removing educational videos and/or how it saves taxpayers money

I would appreciate it if someone could explain the benefit of removing educational videos and/or how it saves taxpayers money.

Pausing their work now, while there are no elections occurring, to ensure the work they are doing is inline with their statutory responsibilities seems like a good idea.

I really hope you're being sarcastic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_elections

This sounds like an unserious answer but I'll try to give you the benefit of the doubt.

First of all, the way CDC works, it's just a board of directors from many pharmaceutical corporations.

Citation needed. This is very much as odds with what is described at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centers_for_Disease_Control_an...

CDC also plays a role here by promoting drugs/vaccines in cases you only need a change of habits (like eating well to minimize flu severity)

What fields of medicine did you specialize in?

I find it puzzling that there are people out there like you who want to dismantle public health infrastructure when we have active outbreaks of measles, bird flu and who knows what else.

I'm all for improving and optimizing public health services (or all government services for that matter) but I don't understand this willingness to threaten people's safety. Does Google just take down their search engine when they want to merge in a PR?

I would be interested in hearing arguments for why it is helpful to gut the CDC’s globally recognized applied epidemiology training program

It is a 2 year fellowship. Assuming hires are uniformly distributed, it would stand to reason that approximately half were hired in the within the past year.

https://www.cdc.gov/eis/php/participants/index.html

I would be interested in hearing arguments for why it is helpful to gut the CDC’s globally recognized applied epidemiology training program

if people really wanted to boycott Elon, they shouldn't just focus on the company's products, but boycott the stock.

I would agree the equity valuation is essentially the "life force" that gives him power. However he has the advantage of having many wealthy and powerful friends who can invest sovereign wealth funds to keep the valuation high.

The bubble can last a long time. Trump Media & Technology Group has always traded well above fundamentals and likely will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Arguably this leads to less thoughtful discussion as participants are under the gun to quickly post their thoughts before the story is flagged. I have been guilty of this.

Many of my friends voted for the current administration because they believed Trump was the "peace candidate". Perhaps this is him fulfilling the campaign promise by attempting to denuclearize the USA military.

The President will just say he declassified the information in his head before the data was disclosed. Even if he didn’t, he may argue this is an "official act" and cannot be subject to prosecution.

First, I would appreciate a citation for each of these.

Second, perhaps you can explain to me why it is necessary to threaten the health and safety of 20 million people instead of specific targeted cuts?

https://www.devex.com/news/scoop-usaid-kenya-partner-has-no-...

I don't think it would be unpopular for me to say that most taxpayers believe there is huge waste in government, up to and including the government's spending.

No one wants wasteful spending. The difference is that DOGE proponents are totally okay with threatening the lives of over 20 million people.

https://www.devex.com/news/scoop-usaid-kenya-partner-has-no-...

While DOGE is not a good long-term solution, it's so far better than literally any other major effort by a US government entity to combat waste at the federal level - which is to say that it's literally the only one that I've ever heard about in my lifetime.

Perhaps you're very young. Every few years there have been "Hoover-style" commissions that have resulted in bipartisan efficiency optimizations, without the mass disruptions (that will end up costing taxpayers even more money) and threats to safety of millions of people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Commission

One of your three remaining bingo spaces is in committee.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/792

Around 2016 Zuck ordered the installation of cameras in front of some blackboards in an effort to identify those who attempted to erase the words "Black Lives Matter"

https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/02/26/46...

Part of it is many technically inclined people may have trust, respect and admiration for other technically inclined people, especially those who are famous and appear to be successful from an entrepreneurial perspective. When some of these famous people start expressing extreme political views and "awkward" hand gestures, it moves the Overton window to a point that these previously objectionable perspectives now appear to be reasonable. It wouldn't be a stretch for them to then express concern and react passionately when they see others criticize their "heroes".

I think it is true that a subset of HN readers don't want to see stories about politics. This subset may intersect with another subset that is happy to see the things described in these stories happen.

Fortunately tech bros like Peter Thiel are backing an "All Drug Olympics"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/01/31/billionai...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAdG-iTilWU

Why did he lie about the deaths of 83 Samoan children in front of the Senate?

https://apnews.com/article/rfk-jr-samoa-measles-kennedy-vacc...