US's big bet on quantum computing may not be legal • Hacker News Board

Re: US's big bet on quantum computing may not be legal

#91

Post by msandford » Thu, May 28, 2026, 7:43 PM UTC

gchamonlive wrote: post #65

stymaar wrote: post #49

For the past year and a half, the US administration have plunged the country in a rule of law twilight zone: the rule of law still exists, and there are still independent jurisdictions to enforce it, but the administration decided they didn't care, and they just overcome any court dismissal of their orders with a new illegal order that courts will have to push back a few month later. Which means that, in practice, th…

Bernie Sanders warned right when the second Trump admin started that the country was effectively an olygarchy https://youtu.be/79KDKWEOJ1s . I wrote https://xd1.dev/2025/09/not-buying-american-anymore that made frontpage here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45277346 discussing the consequences of an irresponsible admin through the lenses of consumer rights. It's nice that now we are seeing more widespread accept…

Are you new to the club? I saw these problems you're talking about with Biden, Trump1, Obama and Bush Jr. Of course I'm not old enough to really know about what Clinton or Bush Sr or Reagan or anyone before that did.

I know it's super annoying to have someone rain on your "but THIS stuff is REALLY bad!" parade, but that the rulers are corrupt isn't new. It's just new to a lot of people.

Re: US's big bet on quantum computing may not be legal

#92

Post by mw888 » Thu, May 28, 2026, 7:44 PM UTC

hdndjsbbs wrote: post #89

mc32 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The previous admin also ruled via executive order. It said it would find ways to do things even if struck down by the SCOTUS such as the school loan forgiveness, firearms controls, speech suppression via “embeds” etc.

The myth of the Supreme Court having any check on executive power was disproven by the "switch in time to save 9", where Owen Roberts agreed to stop obstructing The New Deal so FDR wouldn't implement court-packing and term limits. That was almost 90 years ago.

If only the conversation could be rooted with this understanding, rather than it being a leaf.

Re: US's big bet on quantum computing may not be legal

#93

Post by pessimizer » Thu, May 28, 2026, 7:48 PM UTC

stymaar wrote: post #49

For the past year and a half, the US administration have plunged the country in a rule of law twilight zone: the rule of law still exists, and there are still independent jurisdictions to enforce it, but the administration decided they didn't care, and they just overcome any court dismissal of their orders with a new illegal order that courts will have to push back a few month later. Which means that, in practice, th…

2001. Pretending that all of this was started by the game show host wrestling valet is dumb, and the kind of thing that got us into this situation. Every evil thing that Trump is doing is something that Democrats support. Every evil thing that W. Bush was doing was something that Democrats supported.

The Democrats haven't even run a real primary since 2008, and H. Clinton makes a good case that that one wasn't even real; Democratic elites had got together and decided that a black face would be perfect to make sure that no one was punished for the financial fraud and worldwide torture program that had just occurred - Clinton was simply too personally repellent to get away with pardoning, even rewarding, evil.

What happened after 2001 is that the country was turned over to the executive and the judiciary, and congress just decided it was going to act as a passive conduit of billionaire wishes. Both parties deciding that votes needed 60% to pass made the job something you could nap through. It's no coincidence that they're so old they're barely sentient now. Clever Hans could do the job.

The only people dumber than extreme Republican partisans in this country are extreme Democratic partisans. They are all treating this as sports while people are dying, because they're doing better than they ever have. Democrats shoved an ancient confabulating corrupt racist into the White House as the reply to an ancient confabulating corrupt racist. The first time in history that the public asked for the last president back, it was the least popular president that had ever been elected, and Democratic partisans still stand around with their fingers in their ears blaming the celebrity.

Re: US's big bet on quantum computing may not be legal

#94

Post by 47282847 » Thu, May 28, 2026, 7:50 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #79

stymaar wrote: post #49

For the past year and a half, the US administration have plunged the country in a rule of law twilight zone: the rule of law still exists, and there are still independent jurisdictions to enforce it, but the administration decided they didn't care, and they just overcome any court dismissal of their orders with a new illegal order that courts will have to push back a few month later. Which means that, in practice, th…

The previous admin also ruled via executive order. It said it would find ways to do things even if struck down by the SCOTUS such as the school loan forgiveness, firearms controls, speech suppression via “embeds” etc.

That’s like saying we shouldn’t hold a drunk driver accountable for his driving because we all had a beer sometimes.

Re: US's big bet on quantum computing may not be legal

#95

Post by mkw5053 » Thu, May 28, 2026, 7:52 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #79

stymaar wrote: post #49

For the past year and a half, the US administration have plunged the country in a rule of law twilight zone: the rule of law still exists, and there are still independent jurisdictions to enforce it, but the administration decided they didn't care, and they just overcome any court dismissal of their orders with a new illegal order that courts will have to push back a few month later. Which means that, in practice, th…

The previous admin also ruled via executive order. It said it would find ways to do things even if struck down by the SCOTUS such as the school loan forgiveness, firearms controls, speech suppression via “embeds” etc.

[dead]

Re: US's big bet on quantum computing may not be legal

#96

Post by mkw5053 » Thu, May 28, 2026, 7:53 PM UTC

wingspar wrote: post #75

stymaar wrote: post #49

For the past year and a half, the US administration have plunged the country in a rule of law twilight zone: the rule of law still exists, and there are still independent jurisdictions to enforce it, but the administration decided they didn't care, and they just overcome any court dismissal of their orders with a new illegal order that courts will have to push back a few month later. Which means that, in practice, th…

I recall this precedent was set previously under Biden (likely sooner). Biden admin lost CDC eviction prohibitions case and immediately enacted new slightly different prohibition and Biden defended the effort as it would take time to be stopped. “Whether that option will pass constitutional measure with this administration, I can’t tell you. I don’t know,” Biden said. “There are a few scholars who say it will, and ot…

The eviction moratorium is probably the strongest example available, and I don't think it's a good one for Biden. But one controversial episode doesn't establish a precedent for systematic noncompliance with court orders. If anything, it stands out precisely because it was unusual enough to generate criticism across the political spectrum.

Sources:

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anatomy-screw-biden-evi...

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/21a23_ap6c.pdf

Re: US's big bet on quantum computing may not be legal

#97

Post by ClarityJones » Thu, May 28, 2026, 7:54 PM UTC

pavon wrote: post #73

upofadown wrote: post #24

>That technology overlaps only partially, at best, with what’s used in quantum processors. Dunno, how can you say that for sure when we don't actually know how to make a practical quantum processor? The bigger issue is that we are scaling up manufacturing of approaches that have not been made to work. I remember a meeting where the project manager pointed out that we were due to send some test boards to a customer. I…

The funding isn't going towards some hypothetical future practical quantum processor, it is going towards existing approaches that we know have different technology, manufacturing processes, and most importantly different applications than the Chips Act was targeting. Funding quantum computing research might be a good thing, but it doesn't make us any less dependent on foreign silicon manufacturing for the countless…

> ... the US government announced $2 billion in investments in ... a range of startups ... could be make-or-break investments for many companies that are likely years away from a product that could see widespread use. ...

The article doesn't make it sound like this is "going towards existing approaches". I totally get that you may not support these company's approaches to quantum processer design, but we'd be getting rather into the weeds if that's the hair we're splicing.

Re: US's big bet on quantum computing may not be legal

#98

Post by dylan604 » Thu, May 28, 2026, 7:55 PM UTC

airstrike wrote: post #71

dylan604 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SCOTUS has already given POTUS immunity in any form other than impeachment followed by a conviction. The problem with that is that just removes POTUS from office. It does nothing to punish for those crimes that were deemed worthy enough of being impeached/convicted. SCOTUS said that POTUS cannot be held accountable for things done as official acts of office. So Congress cannot hold POTUS criminally accountable, but r…

> SCOTUS has already given POTUS immunity in any form other than impeachment followed by a conviction. That's not exactly accurate and that nuanced difference may be the key to holding the executive branch accountable, now that we're in this disastrous state of the world.

Should have added IANAL, so any inaccuracies are definitely introduced by my layman's explanation.

What nuances are left then? What small amount of hope can be gleaned from the ruling?

Re: US's big bet on quantum computing may not be legal

#99

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 28, 2026, 7:55 PM UTC

potatototoo99 wrote: post #82

dylan604 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SCOTUS has already given POTUS immunity in any form other than impeachment followed by a conviction. The problem with that is that just removes POTUS from office. It does nothing to punish for those crimes that were deemed worthy enough of being impeached/convicted. SCOTUS said that POTUS cannot be held accountable for things done as official acts of office. So Congress cannot hold POTUS criminally accountable, but r…

There are many people to prosecute besides the POTUS.

[deleted]

Re: US's big bet on quantum computing may not be legal

#100

Post by pessimizer » Thu, May 28, 2026, 7:56 PM UTC

mostlysimilar wrote: post #54

stymaar wrote: post #49

For the past year and a half, the US administration have plunged the country in a rule of law twilight zone: the rule of law still exists, and there are still independent jurisdictions to enforce it, but the administration decided they didn't care, and they just overcome any court dismissal of their orders with a new illegal order that courts will have to push back a few month later. Which means that, in practice, th…

The future of the US depends on these people being held accountable by the next administration, and structural reforms to make their abuses harder to do again in the future.

The future of the US depends on political candidates attempting to win the public over on the merits of their argument and the quality of their character instead of being conmen on billionaire payrolls or billionaires themselves.

Instead, we're ruled by these two dumb, evil political parties that radical centrists treat like elemental forces of nature. It's a play being put on for your benefit. Your vote changes nothing. The Heel W. Bush administration had presided over the most consciously evil things done in both foreign and domestic policy, with the full knowledge that it was illegal, and then Golden Boy Obama came and indemnified everyone. The person who illegally destroyed the CIA torture videotapes became the head of the CIA.

The country is a joke and quickly turning into a failed state, and upper middle-class people are being distracted by sock puppets because as the top 20%, they aren't suffering in the least.

edit: advocating for the prosecution of the last administration by the next is simply advocacy for dictatorship. There is no reason for anyone to leave the presidency if civic intellectual thought has degenerated so much that they think that this is a wise or democratic thing to do. If you vote in a criminal, there's no clawback after you get robbed. The reason this is a failed state is because we're exclusively putting criminals on the ballot, from President to dog catcher. Turns out that non-criminals can't raise millions of dollars to get a job.