> Not one of these things has the least to do with civic freedoms.

These things have to do with whether democracies follow the rule of law. Civic freedoms tend to go away when democracies become authoritarian regimes.

> USAid didn't even exist before 1961

It was created by Congress in 1961, but destroyed by the ire of one man in 2025, without any Congressional approval. Does it feel like democracy to you?

> It was created by Congress in 1961, but destroyed by the ire of one man in 2025, without any Congressional approval. Does it feel like democracy to you?

Are you suggesting what he did was unconstitutional? If so, Congress can (and should) absolutely impeach him for it and make him defend his actions in court. The President is not above the law.

Or did Congress give the President the authority he needed to do exactly what he did? In which case, what is more democratic than a body of democratically elected represetitives voting democratically to pass a law which establishes something under the control (and disgression) of a democratically elected executive?

Have you not been paying attention? The president is above the law according to the current Supreme Court, and Congress is stuffed full of sycophants that will never impeach him.

Apparently I'm not paying attention because I seem to have missed that Supreme Court ruling. Can you link it for me?

If our democratically elected representatives in Congress will not impeach the President, then they are evidently content with how he has performed his duties. Of course, the next Congress is free to have a different opinion and proceed with an impeachment. They can even impeach Supreme Court justices who have failed in their duties. If that is what you want, I suggest you vote in accordance with that in the 2026 election.

Also, impeachment is not the only mechanism which members of Congress can use to hold the President accountable. They are free to try and convict the President of criminal misconduct in court.

You should pay more attention: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40847963

Congress won't do any of those other actions either, because as mentioned, they're chock-full of sycophants.

>These things have to do with whether democracies follow the rule of law. Civic freedoms tend to go away when democracies become authoritarian regimes.

Nobody complained when Woodrow Wilson and FDR destroyed the rule of law to remake the federal government. Do you understand that what the progress movement stands for is fundamentally at odds with the constitution, which has for some time only been the de-jure rule of law?

>It was created by Congress in 1961, but destroyed by the ire of one man in 2025, without any Congressional approval. Does it feel like democracy to you?

Who won the election?

I emailed hn@ycombinator.com asking why this was flagged and did not get an answer.

For context, the author is a historian specialized in the mechanisms of authoritarianism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Snyder

This is not a drill, folks. It is happening in front of our eyes.

Call your congressperson today.

I have a daily reminder set up in Apple’s Reminders app and it didn’t trigger today.

There are two problems:

1. It's not clear whether exchanges like Coinbase could technically comply with the rules for running a securities exchange, because the fine print of "what to do" doesn't fit well at all with the technical reality of "what does it mean to hold a cryptoasset" [1]

2. The SEC want token "creators" to register them as securities. Which they could do, but they would then be subject to SEC oversight, which is precisely what they're trying to avoid. ICOs are really a way of raising money from retail investors like a public company, without following any of the regulation around public companies.

So even if we solved 1., there might not be many tokens left to legally trade on a registered securities exchange.

[1] From a nonpartisan research organization: https://capmktsreg.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CCMR-Crypt...

So… no Linux in FedRAMP?

I think OP's point is that convenience becomes the default rather than an active choice.

Once people have forgot about the less-convenient alternatives, they can't accurately price convenience anymore and will just pay whatever is the market rate for the convenience product (be it coffee pods or razor cartridges).

Automated trains / subways. They are reliable enough for millions of people to trust them with their life, every day. That's an incredible achievement.

If you're ever in Paris, get a front-row seat on subway line 14 and feel the magic.

> Not only will I never fly this plane again, but I'll do my best to avoid Boeing altogether.

Seems excessive. Most of Boeing plane families have been flying for decades. We're unlikely to discover new major failure modes in them at this point.

If anything, I'd wait before flying any recent Boeing designs.

It's a matter of principle