Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

projects.propublica.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 411 posts

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#261

Post by spankalee »

spicyusername wrote: post #80

I want to believe these changes can be positive, but the people in charge of enacting them have done nothing but disabuse me of trust and good faith.

What changes and what's any indication that they would ever have been positive regardless of these people?

Unilaterally taking a chainsaw to federal agencies, against their congressional establishment, in a rush in the first three weeks of the administration, is a terrible idea no matter who's running the show.

Even if that were somehow a positive thing, the goals range from ridiculously dubious to outright evil.

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#262

Post by rayiner »

swat535 wrote: post #236
relaxing wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ve neglected any discussion of democracy beyond the executive branch.

Can you expand? I keep hearing on HN about how the US is being "taken over", that there is a "coup in place" and Musk is a "fascist" and so on (I'm not making these up, these are genuine HN comments in this thread and elsewhere). I'd like someone to clearly explain to me, an outsider about why such hostility has been ushered in this community ? Please point me to specifics so that I can understand what law(s) are bei…

I think we’re seeing a lot of culturally rooted assumptions about the nature of government bubbling to the surface. There’s a lot of people who subscribe to progressive managerialism, which was championed by Woodrow Wilson. This is the dominant culture of knowledge workers. What Trump is doing is deeply upsetting to them. They will invoke things like records laws or the Impoundment Act or whatever, but nobody gets this worked up about laws requiring paperwork. They’re upset at the idea that you could just have a president who runs the executive branch however he wants regardless of what the civil service wants.

Most Americans, by contrast, are populists, either left-populists or right-populists. The breach of orderly practices doesn’t get them worked up. Look at how AOC frames what’s going on. She doesn’t talk about paperwork violations—her supporters wouldn’t care. She accuses Musk of robbing the Treasury, threatening to stop social security payments, etc. I don’t think those things are true, but it’s the kind of thing that would move her populist supporters to action.

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#264

Post by dialup_sounds »

emseetech wrote: post #237
Keyframe wrote: post #116

Apparently, DOGE is also meddling with FAA's air traffic control system. I wonder what could go wrong here? https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1887233566263967812

They're going to rewrite it in Nodejs and React aren't they?

Certainly not! They're going to tell a chatbot rewrite it in node.js and React.

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#265

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

derangedHorse wrote: post #187
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I speak from personal history, but it's really easy to take a bunch of theoretically smart, high-achieving young people, give them a singular purpose, and have them work in overdrive with a level of arrogance that fits their lack of wisdom. It's essentially exactly how Mao was able to create the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution.

The Cultural Revolution did not have theoretically smart, high-achieving young people. Most of the atrocities were done by people who hated the "theoretically smart, high-achieving young people"

Not at all - I feel like you're saying that since the Cultural Revolution was anti-intellectual, it was thus against "theoretically smart, high-achieving young people".

But that analogy is even more apt for today - these young, energetic, just-out-of-school people want to tear down "elitist" institutions, just like students in the Red Guard did the same. One of the founders of the Red Guard who kicked off the Cultural Revolution was Nie Yuanzi, a Vice Chair of the Department of Economics at Peking University. I hope her Wikipedia page clarifies the analogy I was making: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nie_Yuanzi

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#266

Post by [deleted] »

rdtsc wrote: post #240
tomrod wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet Trump claimed they (Haitian immigrants) were eating people's dogs and cats. So your first part of the comment could have been an exercise towards food faith, and your latter part, perhaps mildly excusable as an ill attempt at humor in normal times, is for most who read it an attempt to muddy the very clear facts that Trump lies all the time.

[flagged]

[deleted]

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#267

Post by motorest »

derangedHorse wrote: post #232
motorest wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most of the atrocities were done by people who hated the "theoretically smart, high-achieving young people" No, most of the atrocities were done to eliminate political threats by targeting everyone who had a semblance of power and did not fell in line. Academia was targeted not because of an anti-intellectual push but because they could counter the influence of the new totalitarian regime trying to establish itself…

> No, most of the atrocities were done to eliminate political threats by targeting everyone who had a semblance of power And what power did most of these professors have if not their minds? This does not go against my assertion, it sounds like a "no" just to say "no" Read what it was actually like: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001275005.pdf

> And what power did most of these professors have if not their minds?

You're completely missing the point. Their academic careers put them in a position where their role was literally to shape and influence the next generation. As they were not fervent supporters, their role posed a threat to the regime. They could be profoundly dumb or grossly incompetent professors for what its worth. It's just that they didn't lockstep with the regime and the regime didn't wanted to risk it.

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#269

Post by tomrod »

realdjtthrow wrote: post #257
tomrod wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fox has testified in court that they are entertainment, not news. Consider more factual sources. Yes, deficit spending has been high due to Covid and recovery. Of course it was started by Trump"s tax cuts. Perhaps we consider taxing wealthier people.

[flagged]

Yes, the economist trends towards more factual reporting and less propaganda. Great call.

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#270

Post by tomrod »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #203
tomrod wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The access that DOGE and Elon has is strictly legal via standard government processes. Nope, you are mistaken. The EO gave access for DOGE and unclassified systems. Treasury has quite a bit that is classified. This is why the lawsuits to stop them have merit. https://home.treasury.gov/about/general-information/orders-a...

[flagged]

Cite the regs. Cure what you feel is inaccurate.
Post reply on HN