Our Agreement with the Department of War • Hacker News Board

Re: Our Agreement with the Department of War

#301

Post by Cytobit » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:37 AM UTC

eduction wrote: post #285

Darvon wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use its real name, the one orange shitler renamed it to: the department of war. Why the fuck does the department of war get to dictate anything to a private organization? Why does the constitution say that you have to let the government murder schoolgirls with your tools?

Calm down, reactionary. Yes our democratically appointed government gets to tell contractors what to do not vice versa. I’d much rather that than have the contractors run things. You think Blackwater, Lockheed, Mark Zuckerberg should dictate how our military works? Who is the fascist here?

If they just tell them what to do, then there wouldn't need to be a contract, would there?

Re: Our Agreement with the Department of War

#302

Post by DustinKlent » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 6:01 PM UTC

solenoid0937 wrote: post #160

Any OAI employee with >$2M NW that chooses to stick around is simply devoid of a moral compass. No different than working for xAI or Palantir now. I get you have tens of millions vesting. Hope you find it within you to be a good person instead of just a successful one.

Right. If you are wealthy enough to go retire and live off interest, but STILL choose to work for a company you morally disagree with...then what sort of person are you?

Re: Our Agreement with the Department of War

#303

Post by daveguy » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #294

daveguy wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He can make the executive branch call it The Dumpty Bowl if he wants. That doesn't mean he has renamed it. He has zero power outside the executive branch. Fortunately the United States isn't yet ruled by decree.

The names are decided by the United States Board on Geographic Names, which is under the Department of the Interior, which is part of the executive branch. So yeah, he can make them rename it for the US. Sure, you can pedantically say that he can only force the entirety of the federal government to respect the name, and the State governments could refuse to abide by that, but what would be the point? AFAIK none have…

The point is accuracy. He literally can only mandate the federal government. Everyone else knows it's the Gulf of Mexico in every state in the US and every English speaking country in the world.

I haven't heard of any states bothering to reprint maps. They all know his whole clown show charade will be over in the blink of an eye.

You could pretend he has more power than he does, but what would be the point?

Re: Our Agreement with the Department of War

#304

Post by nicwolff » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:46 PM UTC

code_duck wrote: post #247

Darvon wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use its real name, the one orange shitler renamed it to: the department of war. Why the fuck does the department of war get to dictate anything to a private organization? Why does the constitution say that you have to let the government murder schoolgirls with your tools?

He doesn’t actually have the authority to rename the department. That would be up to Congress.

The "funniest" thing about this is that in any other context, this administration absolutely insists that everyone should be called only by their legal name, not any other name that they prefer because they think it better suits their identity.

Re: Our Agreement with the Department of War

#305

Post by 5o1ecist » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 1:03 PM UTC

conartist6 wrote: post #251

5o1ecist wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Sure sounds like congress renamed it. Those damn masses, exercising democratic power. Trump will put a stop to that! Loyalty to the constitution third, loyalty to the party second, loyalty to the president first. That's the order of things in a fascist society and Trump has made very exceptionally clear that he thinks that should be the way of it in the US...

[flagged]

Re: Our Agreement with the Department of War

#306

Post by spwa4 » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 3:25 PM UTC

ekidd wrote: post #245

jonnybgood wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

War Powers Resolution. Obviously, there’s a law of which multiple presidents have used. Congress can change this law but there is a law that does give the POTUS this authority.

Nope, the War Powers Resolution gives the president broad authority to respond to an active attack on the United States (which makes sense). But it does not allow the President to unilaterally start an aggressive war against some random country without Congressional approval. Not that we live in country where laws or the Constitution matter much right now. It's theoretically possible that some people might someday be…

What about the argument that Congress has always gone along with this in the past?

I mean it isn't quite that stark, but the last president that actually asked congress for and got a declaration of war was Roosevelt. The last president that asked for and got permission for the use of military force was George Bush (junior) after 9/11 (obv. he meant against the Taliban).

Which means all US conflicts are "based on" George Bush's approval for use of military force, about 1 per presidential term: military intervention in Lybia, the campaign against ISIS, campaign against Syria and Iraq militias/continuation against ISIS, and now Iran. Iran is a different scale I guess, but ...