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CDC data are disappearing

theatlantic.com

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Re: CDC data are disappearing

#31

Post by CalRobert »

diggan wrote: post #23
paulyy_y wrote: post #13

What's more depressing is this was completely predictable, totally avoidable, but half the country welcomed this wave of oppression with open arms.

> but half the country welcomed this wave of oppression with open arms. And the other half? They seem to welcome this as well, but with crossed arms. Where are the protests? Seems most people end up writing upset messages on Twitter/Bluesky, but also seems there are no grassroots movements to actually protest the borderline coup that is happening?

Protest doesn't do anything. I marched plenty and it accomplished nothing except letting like-minded people blow off a bit of steam and feel like something we did mattered. If anything it was just a distraction.

Re: CDC data are disappearing

#32

Post by vharuck »

deadbabe wrote: post #19

If people really cared they would have stored copies of this data, not just relied on a single source.

That only makes sense if everyone downloads every data set in case they need it one day. I unhappily agree that's the case with private companies' data, because any company's not guaranteed to be around tomorrow. But the government should be a steward of the data it collects.

I also wonder how many of these data sets were required by law.

Re: CDC data are disappearing

#34

Post by CalRobert »

Applejinx wrote: post #30
diggan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Musk is evidently seizing control of the Office of Personnel Management Suddenly I feel out of the loop when it comes to US politics, how come Musk is suddenly seemingly seizing control of parts of the US government? I don't recall him being on any ballots or anything?

The trouble is, to talk about WHY Musk is attempting to seize control of parts of the US government and why the Trump administration is attempting to censor mass quantities of data would be a political conversation. Hacker News isn't designed for this. The point at which it becomes mass censorship that computer hackers (in their capacity as The Internet) might take an active role in routing around, is more or less th…

Hacking includes systems, not just code, and what Musk is doing certainly counts as systems hacking I would say.

Hell, Captain Crunch didn't even use a computer.

Re: CDC data are disappearing

#35

Post by nimbius »

hypeatei wrote: post #21
CalRobert wrote: post #5

This is part of a broader rolling catastrophe. Musk is evidently seizing control of the Office of Personnel Management https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-01-31/exclus... Nasa took down their applied sciences page and is evidently scrubbing the data https://www.reddit.com/r/gis/comments/1icqchv/why_is_the_nas... ( https://appliedsciences.nasa.gov/ ) Lots of other data sets are disappearing too: https://ma…

I would just like to point out that Musk is the richest man in the world and is now directing critical areas of the U.S. government. Surely he doesn't have ulterior motives and is looking out for the average person?

If you look back at Germany in the 19th century, nations like Prussia and Austria had this sort of power struggle between the merchant class and the nobility at the advent of steam power.

in this case the de-facto US nobility (rank-and-file career politicians) are being usurped by the bourgeouise (billionaires like Musk) at the advent of AI and tech by promising the working class a combination of culture war policy and relief from the very capitalist excess they themselves endorse. by reducing congress and senate to a simple debate team (conversely similar to the German National Asssembly) the tech-elite are able to seize power once reserved for the crown.

the question will be, after four years, will they abdicate their power or concentrate it?

Re: CDC data are disappearing

#36

Post by Applejinx »

diggan wrote: post #23
paulyy_y wrote: post #13

What's more depressing is this was completely predictable, totally avoidable, but half the country welcomed this wave of oppression with open arms.

> but half the country welcomed this wave of oppression with open arms. And the other half? They seem to welcome this as well, but with crossed arms. Where are the protests? Seems most people end up writing upset messages on Twitter/Bluesky, but also seems there are no grassroots movements to actually protest the borderline coup that is happening?

That's not how that works. The situation is set up to attempt to produce 'wild crazy radicals' who can be acted against super-aggressively. Failing to run about throwing rocks is a refusal to provide the guilty parties with exoneration for their acts. In effect, 'grassroots movements' directed by adversaries is what got us here, and is overwhelmingly unlikely to get us out.

Re: CDC data are disappearing

#37

Post by duxup »

hypeatei wrote: post #21
CalRobert wrote: post #5

This is part of a broader rolling catastrophe. Musk is evidently seizing control of the Office of Personnel Management https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-01-31/exclus... Nasa took down their applied sciences page and is evidently scrubbing the data https://www.reddit.com/r/gis/comments/1icqchv/why_is_the_nas... ( https://appliedsciences.nasa.gov/ ) Lots of other data sets are disappearing too: https://ma…

I would just like to point out that Musk is the richest man in the world and is now directing critical areas of the U.S. government. Surely he doesn't have ulterior motives and is looking out for the average person?

As far as things like ending EV tax credits musk noted it would hurt his competitors more than him.

It’s all obvious corruption.

Re: CDC data are disappearing

#38

Post by Dalewyn »

diggan wrote: post #20
CalRobert wrote: post #5

This is part of a broader rolling catastrophe. Musk is evidently seizing control of the Office of Personnel Management https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-01-31/exclus... Nasa took down their applied sciences page and is evidently scrubbing the data https://www.reddit.com/r/gis/comments/1icqchv/why_is_the_nas... ( https://appliedsciences.nasa.gov/ ) Lots of other data sets are disappearing too: https://ma…

> Musk is evidently seizing control of the Office of Personnel Management Suddenly I feel out of the loop when it comes to US politics, how come Musk is suddenly seemingly seizing control of parts of the US government? I don't recall him being on any ballots or anything?

Musk was appointed as the administrator of DOGE, itself a subordinate "temporary organization" under the United States DOGE Service (formerly the United States Digital Service).

All of this is happening within the Executive Office of the President, which is essentially fancyspeak to mean the government employees working the Executive Branch of the federal government. Those government employees serve at the pleasure of the President; Congress only has very limited influence (namely budgetary influences from the House and certain positions that require Senate confirmation).

So Musk, being appointed as a part of the Executive Branch, derives authority vested in the President of which Trump has delegated some to Musk for the purposes of implementing and enforcing DOGE policies.

Musk for his part also serves at the pleasure of the President, so whatever he does is ostensibly what Trump wants regardless of who actually does it.

Re: CDC data are disappearing

#39

Post by tomohawk »

It's too early to tell, but I would not be surprised if later at least a portion of this is found to be "malicious compliance".

For example, President Truman ordered the US military to be (re)integrated. Through malicious compliance, racist officers put their own spin on the orders.

"Well, he didn't say that black officers would get equal access to the officers club, so we won't let them in."

It too a former 5 star general (President Eisenhower) to stamp out the malicious compliance and make it stick.

There was already a case of malicious compliance with the DEI EO on the part of certain US air force personnel taking down material about the Tuskugee Airmen. The new sec def stomped that out within 4 hours.

Re: CDC data are disappearing

#40

Post by jmward01 »

linuxftw wrote: post #24
bandrami wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think we can all agree that depending on which administration is in charge, "Government Science" is anything but unbiased. Nope, but you've just made it clear you're susceptible to propaganda.

Will you trust the 'science' that is performed via the CDC under the Trump administration? Did you trust the 'science' performed under past administrations? Now, imagine someone holding the reverse position. Who's right? Which government institutions do you find generally trustworthy, and which do you find generally untrustworthy? Has this changed from administration to administration? Do you think your ideological v…

These types of false equivalence arguments need to go away. Under Trump norms of career civil servants loyal to doing a good job for the country is being shattered. Institutions that we could trust to be resistant politics are now being weaponized. I would have trusted the CDC under every administration except this one. This administration is demonstrably different.
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