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Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

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Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#341

Post by tsimionescu »

_heimdall wrote: post #189
pizza wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are some new concrete developments that I doubt the founders of the democracy would say are fine: - the Executive Branch now has presumptive - if not absolute - immunity against all criminal official acts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_v._United_States_%282024... - universities must obey Trump's culture war agenda, otherwise they will be de-accredited and a fine equal to the value of the entire university…

Impoundment, or rather the idea that it is an issue, is a weird concept in general. Congress legislates executive directives that should be acted upon and provides a budget. They don't say "spend every dollar we give" and they rarely define metrics for success to know if the executive branch is meeting their goals. The fact that the Trump administration is able to so easily chest the game and roll back agencies is a…

No, this is quite wrong. It is well understood in American law that "spend every dollar we give" is exactly what the budget approved by Congress means. It is then the duty of the executive branch to do so in an effective manner.

Laws shouldn't need to go into details on exactly how every last dollar is to be spent, they set the amount and the goals, and the executive exists to handle the details.

The problem is that the Trump administration is ignoring the laws they don't like. They're even trying to ignore a very explicit constitutional amendment (birthright citizenship). Writing more detailed laws would do nothing to make the Trump team follow the law.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#342

Post by watwut »

throw939449 wrote: post #304
trhway wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We're looking at the US wilfully letting go of the possibiility of remaining the most powerful nation in the world. many here see it way (me too, though i'm well aware that many times whenever i was critical of Musk, he happened to be right, and in this case - Musk is naturally not anti-science guy, so i'd guess there must be some other reason for him doing that which i'm just not able to see). I wonder whether some…

> opposing side can provide a reasonable logical explanation for the Musk/Trump actions Maybe it is like with Mozilla. You send money to Firefox development, but it pays for Marxist get-away conference in Africa. Once academia gets rid of bloat, there will be far more money for science and engineering!

They slashed grants that pay science. Science ia going to be cut.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#343

Post by RealityVoid »

readthenotes1 wrote: post #5

[flagged]

I did not live through it, but Ceaușescu in the 80's had gotten it stuck in his mind to pay Romanian national debt. So they enforced a set of draconic measures that decreased the quality of life of the populace immensely.

Not saying that is what will happen here, but this is the first thing I associate in my mind when I hear of some "decisive" leader trying to pay the country's debts.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#344

Post by panta »

rayiner wrote: post #250
andix wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot "wilfully letting go of democracy". US democracy is far away from dying, but who knows how much longer it can keep holding up.

This is democracy! You can say it’s a bad idea or whatever. But Trump had Musk on stage promising to do this then we elected him. That’s democracy. Tyranny of the majority. Also people like it: https://harvardharrispoll.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/HHP... (pp. 29-32)

There have been electoral fraud and a massive disinformation campaign operated by a foreign country. This is not democracy.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#345

Post by mise_en_place »

jltsiren wrote: post #305
rayiner wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is Orwellian double-speak. You’re defining “democracy” to mean “not democracy.” Nor does the “constitution” support your view. Article II says: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” What you’re calling “democracy” and the “constitution” is neither. It’s Wilsonianism, an idea invented by a eugenicist who hated the constitution as well as democracy: https://fedsoc.or…

I don't see how your reply is related to my comment. I was not defining democracy. I was describing the common real-world usage of the term, which has a more specific meaning than simple majority rule. It is commonly used as a shorthand for "liberal democracy". Some Americans use "republic" for the same concept, but that's misleading in other ways. Partly because some countries that are commonly understood to be libe…

I think he took issue with your framing that democracy is interpreted. Judges don't interpret "democracy", that would be silly. Judges interpret the law.

I do agree with the general gist of the point you are making however. The Constitution itself holds no special power, it is the State's monopoly on violence that does.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#346

Post by Braxton1980 »

cyberax wrote: post #337
Braxton1980 wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are states exactly flush with cash to plug even small gaps in school budgets? You mentioned CA which is rebuilding from massive fires, can they afford that? What about Arizona, 2021 to 2022 19% of their schools budget was federal funding. What happens if there is a natural disaster, Trump can withhold funds to force changes. Can a state turn down that level of assistance? They would have to prioritize recovery I assu…

> You mentioned CA which is rebuilding from massive fires, can they afford that? Yes. > What about Arizona, 2021 to 2022 19% of their schools budget was federal funding. They are an outlier, but mostly because they spend so little: https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statisti... > What happens if there is a natural disaster, Trump can withhold funds to force changes. Can a state turn down that level o…

> yes

Can you explain why you think this?

The financial outlook isn't good, not terrible but still.

"No Capacity for New Commitments State Faces Annual Multiyear Deficits of Around $20b" [1]

>Indeed. And the Blue States have way more money than most of the Red states.

Based on what? Note that GDP doesn't represent available funds to state governments

>But many sides can play this game once the can of worms is open

Trump has already threatened this to California. Two days ago Newsom asked congress for $20b and ..

"Ric Grenell, a Trump ally serving as his envoy for special missions, said Friday that “there will be conditions” to any federal aid for the state.

He said one of the possible conditions being discussed was defunding the California Coastal Commission, which regulates coastal development and protects public beach access. Trump has criticized the agency as overly restrictive, bureaucratic and a hindrance to timely rebuilding efforts."

>What do you think the Florida delegation in the Congress will do when faced with a prospect of not getting help?

Why would you assume the Democrats would do that?

[1] https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4939#:~:text=The%20st...

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#347

Post by Garvi »

01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote: post #68
Kindra wrote: post #32

Notwithstanding the other awful aspects of all of this, there’s a certain vibe of, “people who don’t understand how a system works attempting to act like they know how the system works and are too cowardly to admit they are breaking everything.” This just reads like “Character Limit” except replace Twitter with the federal government.

To repeat popular quotes, there's a lot of walking up to fences gaily and then tearing them down, and a lot of "Government doesn't work, vote for us and we'll prove it" Not much to say. If anyone is truly on the fence, please remember this and vote against it in 2026. Vote early, vote often. Vote local. I promise that killing trans people and defunding science is not going to make gas cheaper or anything.

[flagged]

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#348

Post by robomartin »

intermerda wrote: post #42
robomartin wrote: post #25

[flagged]

The relevant programs, objectives, results over time are trivially googlable. Details on who were let go, etc. would require transparency from the administration. You could have answered your own questions (to some degree) in half the time it required to make the comment. Even if you didn't take the time, we have enough priors to make a judgment. Your comment just feels like sealioning.

> Your comment just feels like sealioning.

Thanks for taking the time to insult me.

The easiest way to know your thinking might be sensible is if you get mobbed, flagged and personally attacked.

Moderators should have a way to prevent this but, having run online groups myself, I know how hard it is. Maybe one day AI will be used to --hopefully-- bring reason to online conversations.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#349

Post by try_the_bass »

Braxton1980 wrote: post #325
bruce511 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, to the degree in which I expect there to be an election in 2 years, and 4 years, I suppose that counts as optimism. I've not seen any indication that elections themselves are under threat. Given that elections would happen at state level anyway (and absent disbandment of congress) those elections would elect senators and representatives. Which in turn have the power to remove a president. So yes, I see nothin…

What about constant attacks by Republicans on whose votes counts? It's happening again right now https://www.propublica.org/article/north-carolina-voters-jef... They justify these actions to their voters by lying about election fraud or exaggerating the issue.

Did you read this article?

> The state election board and a Donald Trump-appointed federal judge have dismissed Griffin’s argument that the missing information should invalidate votes.

The protests you speak of have already been dismissed (the last link in the quoted section).

Seems like the system is working as intended, even under ostensibly adversarial conditions?

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#350

Post by Braxton1980 »

cyberax wrote: post #337
Braxton1980 wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are states exactly flush with cash to plug even small gaps in school budgets? You mentioned CA which is rebuilding from massive fires, can they afford that? What about Arizona, 2021 to 2022 19% of their schools budget was federal funding. What happens if there is a natural disaster, Trump can withhold funds to force changes. Can a state turn down that level of assistance? They would have to prioritize recovery I assu…

> You mentioned CA which is rebuilding from massive fires, can they afford that? Yes. > What about Arizona, 2021 to 2022 19% of their schools budget was federal funding. They are an outlier, but mostly because they spend so little: https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statisti... > What happens if there is a natural disaster, Trump can withhold funds to force changes. Can a state turn down that level o…

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