The secret U.S. stockpile meant to save us all in a bioterror attack • Hacker News Board

Re: The secret U.S. stockpile meant to save us all in a bioterror attack

#41

Post by Mountain_Skies » Sun, Mar 01, 2020, 1:15 AM UTC

mijowi wrote: post #40

skinnymuch wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s insane. Do you know the reasoning for wastefully leaving supplies to rot? Is it laziness? It’s one thing to keep supplies or money for yourself. But this isn’t the case here.

I have heard speculation that it was to make the federal government look bad. Or perhaps the local government benefits from maintaining a crisis situation. I’m not Puerto Rican.

Probably some of both with the added bonus that the supplies could be sold slowly over time as the demand never collapsed.

Re: The secret U.S. stockpile meant to save us all in a bioterror attack

#42

Post by blotter_paper » Sun, Mar 01, 2020, 5:42 AM UTC

teesnee wrote: post #24

CameronBanga wrote: post #5

This story is really interesting to me. Clearly, it’s to give people a sense of security and calmness given a potential virus outbreak. But also feels like government PR to other governments, with a message of “If you’re trying something, watch yourself.” Not trying to insinuate propaganda or elevate conspiracy. But anyone with a security background or who worked in disaster preparedness have any insight as to why an…

> Dr. Strangelove: Of course, the whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost, if you keep it a secret! Why didn't you tell the world, eh? > Ambassador de Sadesky: It was to be announced at the Party Congress on Monday. As you know, the Premier loves surprises. --------------------------- An adversary can only be deterred by what they know. Publicizing stockpiled healthcare supplies informs adversaries that a chemical…

> In real life, however, many Mondays and many party congresses passed after Perimeter was created. So why didn't the Soviets tell the world, or at least the White House, about it? No evidence exists that top Reagan administration officials knew anything about a Soviet doomsday plan. George Shultz, secretary of state for most of Reagan's presidency, told me that he had never heard of it. [...] The silence can be attributed partly to fears that the US would figure out how to disable the system. But the principal reason is more complicated and surprising. According to both Yarynich and Zheleznyakov, Perimeter was never meant as a traditional doomsday machine. The Soviets had taken game theory one step further than Kubrick, Szilard, and everyone else: They built a system to deter themselves. [...] By guaranteeing that Moscow could hit back, Perimeter was actually designed to keep an overeager Soviet military or civilian leader from launching prematurely during a crisis.

https://www.wired.com/2009/09/mf-deadhand/amp

Re: The secret U.S. stockpile meant to save us all in a bioterror attack

#43

Post by masonic » Sun, Mar 01, 2020, 8:24 AM UTC

belltaco wrote: post #32

vanniv wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire analysis starts from the assumption that any administration goal is inherently either a fabrication or misguided. "efficiencies" is clearly just code word for destroying all things good, obviously, and totally not worth even considering whether there is any meaning to the idea. I mean, if Trump wants it, it must be bad amirite? Occasionally, they quote folks, like Irwin Redlener, director of the National C…

Trump's budget proposals always include big cuts to CDC's budget. After recent criticism of this, the administration said it is just a negotiation opening tactic. i.e Basically, "Hey democrats, if you want more funds to fight pandemics to stop us all from dying, you gotta give us something else, like even bigger increases to the military budget and Space Force, or even more tax cuts to companies". There used to be a…

This Snopes article, in fact, contradicts you. Quoting:

"funding for the CDC’s global disease outbreak prevention efforts had been reduced by 80%, including funding for the agency’s efforts in China. But that was the result of the anticipated depletion of previously allotted funding, not a direct cut by the Trump administration.

Re: The secret U.S. stockpile meant to save us all in a bioterror attack

#44

Post by ta999999171 » Sun, Mar 01, 2020, 8:30 AM UTC

skinnymuch wrote: post #36

ta999999171 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, because New Orleans is known as being an area to exercise their 2nd Amendment right!

The OP said if something similar happened in the mainland. Is NO not the mainland? It’s fine if you’re shifting the goal posts (you weren’t OP after all). But some more details should be provided then.

They also said "at a larger scale" - so, the goalposts seem pretty stable.

One medium-sized city of PR wasn't devastated. Most of the territory was.

Re: The secret U.S. stockpile meant to save us all in a bioterror attack

#45

Post by skinnymuch » Sun, Mar 01, 2020, 4:15 PM UTC

ta999999171 wrote: post #44

skinnymuch wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OP said if something similar happened in the mainland. Is NO not the mainland? It’s fine if you’re shifting the goal posts (you weren’t OP after all). But some more details should be provided then.

They also said "at a larger scale" - so, the goalposts seem pretty stable. One medium-sized city of PR wasn't devastated. Most of the territory was.

You’re right there. Though PR doesn’t really have many cities/towns that can be equivalent to San Juan, but even if it was only San Juan or the second most populous city in PR, that would be more equivalent to NO.

I don’t agree with the OP, regardless, of any coup happening if the help to some analogous US mainland situation happens.

I’ll pick some swing states so the mainstream politics isn’t too onesided: Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina. They are all top 10 by population, PA top 5, decent sizes (though none except Michigan are in top half of state sizes).

Arizona would fit as a swing state that is top 15 in population and size (top 10)

New York and LA have too much power for stuff to go too wrong with them. City-wise that leaves Dallas - Fort Worth, Houston, Chicago for cities close to PR population, but all below still.