Rendered at 09:40:16 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Cloudflare Workers.
joshka 11 hours ago [-]
I think this belongs on hacker news (and unflagged) mainly because of who Tim Bray is. Notably co-inventor of XML, worked on a bunch of web standards etc.
Whether you agree or disagree with non-US citizens coming to America to engage in the advancement of technology, the important thing is to have discourse on the topic. That is in line with aims and goals of this site. This story is much less politics and much more about the impact of social policy on technologists.
As a non-US citizen myself but who has lived there for some time, I find that having and expressing an opinion on things like this is difficult due to the danger of such retaliation mentioned during border crossings and my daily life.
hattmall 5 hours ago [-]
It's pretty light on both content and logic. Plus the title is somewhat of clickbait. It should be titled "Declining to visit America". The provocative title here makes it seem like there's going to be some sort of meaningful, possibly interesting, content.
Instead, it's basically just political whining.
sometimes_all 54 minutes ago [-]
There used to be a time when it was just accepted that most of the good conferences/gatherings would be in the US, and it would either be important to go to, or be relatively straightforward to reach and attend (especially for Canadians), and nobody would think twice about it.
Now you have some very talented/consequential people just refusing to visit the country. Regardless of any qualms about the "content and logic", this should set off alarm bells for any American. Plus, this would've been a whine if he'd complained and had gone anyway. But he is not going, and has explained his decision. That makes it more of a statement.
ciconia 4 hours ago [-]
I think the title is appropriate and is probably meant as a double entendre. The US does seem to be declining in many ways. Personally, visiting the US under the present government just feels too risky, they seem really hostile to foreigners.
rjrjrjrj 5 hours ago [-]
The whining you hear is you.
WarOnPrivacy 9 hours ago [-]
> I think this belongs on hacker news (and unflagged) mainly because of who Tim Bray is.
A vouch option for Flagged submissions would be appreciated. I wonder if it used to be there but was removed.
AnonC 5 hours ago [-]
> A vouch option for Flagged submissions would be appreciated.
AFAIK, upvoting a flagged submission cancels out the flagging to some extent. I don’t know the internals of how this process works. I’ve upvoted the submission in an effort to get it unflagged (it still may not get to the front page or may rapidly drop down though).
Freedom2 9 hours ago [-]
I spoke to a few HNers who I know flagged this post. They mentioned that they flagged it because it goes against the HN guidelines - a holy grail of sorts - and that the post does not invite "curious discussion". When prompted, they mentioned they would much rather read about pro-Musk technological exploits than anything against the US.
GJim 54 minutes ago [-]
Unfortunately, flagging is heavily abused here on HN. Criticism of adtech and attempts to defend privacy laws will bring out flagging in droves; almost as if some HN'ers salaries are dependent on opposing such laws!
Some sort of meta-moderation system to prevent abuse of flagging would be welcome.
xingped 26 minutes ago [-]
Unfortunately HN is likely astroturfed just as much as any other forum, despite the otherwise seemingly substantiveness of HN compared to sites like Reddit. And unfortunately there's no way to cancel out bad faith flagging and downvoting the same way you can reply to bad faith commenting. It's more invisible and easier to abuse (once the karma thresholds have been reached, which isn't hard).
insane_dreamer 6 hours ago [-]
there are tons of posts on HN that don't invite "curious discussion"
this is one that would actually invite curious discussion if some people weren't clutching onto their "God Bless America (We're #1!)" pearls quite so tightly
Teever 5 hours ago [-]
More and more I'm finding that the most interesting conversation about America isn't coming from Americans anymore.
There was a time where I was quite interested in listening to people from America talk about their fascinating and crazy sounding country, but as time goes on I find that to be much more repetitive and not insightful.
Now I'm more interested in what people from other countries have to say about America, and I find it fascinating how Americans online find this unsettling and sometimes get snippy about it really weird ways.
Sometimes I wonder what political threads on HN would be like if Americans weren't allowed to participate in them. For the people in the crowd who take things more literally in know this isn't possible, it's just an interesting thought experiment.
Would that result in more 'creative' conversation?
Maybe for a while until new patterns/tropes/memes were built up by the users that could comment on them. Maybe the issue with the political discussions that too often the people talking about them are too close to them, too immersed in them?
atoav 2 hours ago [-]
As another non-US citizen I feel similar. My profile as a maker and software dev with extensive infrastructure knowledge should be exactly what the US is looking for, but I already decided the US isn't a country I am going to police my own speech for.
First watching the tearing up of the societal contract in the US over the past decades turned this into a country that feels like it is on the brink of a collapse. No longer can regular Americans rely that working hard will give them a good or even decent life. This means intense pressures are at work with some very desperate people, bringing out the ugliest (but also sometimes the most beautiful) bits of humanity, all while you have richer folks at the top who act like how their country operates at large is none of their business as long as there is a cut in it for them. Why should I care about the US if you guys don't even care about it yourselves?
Second the US is highly unreliable. Laws, democracy, human rights, treaties, consumer rights — all are treated as negotiable, optional things that you use against your enemies and ignore when it affects your own. With enough money everything can be bent around. There are no principles at work that one could rely on and that is no foundation to build a life on unless you are literally ready to join the ranks of people acting like cartoon villains — something only people do who have no self-respect for their limited time on earth.
Yeah, I don't see myself even visiting the US in my lifetime.
RetroTechie 1 minutes ago [-]
> First watching the tearing up of the societal contract in the US over the past decades turned this into a country that feels like it is on the brink of a collapse.
Hehe, reminds me about a video I saw some years ago.
They asked ordinary citizens what a reasonable distribution of wealth should be. Like the share of overall wealth owned by the richest 10% (or 1% or whatever), vs wealth owned by the rest of the population. Let's call this ratio "X".
Then those citizens were asked what they thought the wealth distribution was actually like (let's call that "Y"). No surprise: people thought wealth was much more UNevenly distributed than it should be.
Then they showed what the distribution was like in reality (let's call that "Z"): way more extreme.
So, wealth distributed way more uneven than people thought, and that in turn way more uneven than what people thought it should be.
That alone explains a lot of what's wrong with the US imho: broken/corrupt politics, outsized influence of tech bros (including outside US), a health problem bankrupting people, people turning to drugs, a militarized police force, incarceration ratios, homeless epidemic, etc etc.
Especially in a highly developed country where total wealth is enough to have everybody live comfortably & care-free.
As opposed to some poor war-torn country where wealth is also unevenly distributed, but it's obvious and everybody knows it. And overall wealth is a lot less to begin with (so people being desperate isn't surprising).
US' downfall turning it into a banana republic, its erosion of democratic institutions, human rights etc, is a logical result from the above. I'm not expecting that to improve sadly :-(. Things will probably get worse & there will be blood in the streets.
jonahbenton 11 hours ago [-]
Can't believe this is flagged. As a USer, it is the letter I would advise anyone outside the US to write. It is the only rational response.
THIS IS NOT A PLACE OF HONOR.
timbray 9 hours ago [-]
My pieces usually get flagged. Presumably I have annoyed some of the wrong people.
piloto_ciego 7 hours ago [-]
I'd like to say that as an American to your north, I think you're right to not come? Things are weird here presently, so I suspect you probably made the right call for a wide variety of reasons.
But also, I tire of the nationalist rhetoric wherever I see it. I'm tired of this idea that countries are anything more than a shared historical hallucination, and that we're all somehow different from one another. Or as my father often put it, "we all bleed red and we all shit brown." I never chose to be born here, and because I am sick (through no fault of my own) so called tolerant countries wouldn't have me. So I am stuck here.
Regardless, I get why you didn't come, I can't say I blame you, but I also am sick of these damn countries ruining things. Perhaps we should abandon the idea entirely and replace it with the spirit of brotherhood and respect for one's fellow human.
prewett 5 hours ago [-]
Have you spent any serious time with other cultures? Yes, we all have the same colored blood and excrement, and we have a lot of similarities. Yet at the same time, we are very different. England's traditional dignity culture (the virtuous man can overlook slights) is very different than Africa's honor culture (honor is zero-sum, and you must fight to maintain it), for instance. Japanese values and American values are frequently opposite (Japan values group membership, America values individuality; Japan honors someone by setting them apart, America honors someone by engaging with them.)
In an ideal world we could celebrate each other's differences. But trying to get rid of conflict by getting rid of national borders is naive. Why are the borders where they are? Generally because those are ethno-cultural boundaries. Nations that encompass multiple ethno-cultural groups tend to be somewhat unstable: for instance, Yugoslavia broke up violently, and Iraq has conflict between the Kurds and the rest.
This is not a support of nationalism (although I encourage patriotism, which is different), but "countries are [nothing] more than a shared historical hallucination" is just incorrect.
dijksterhuis 2 hours ago [-]
> England's traditional dignity culture (the virtuous man can overlook slights)
i’m english and i have no idea what you’re on about there mate.
are you talking about having basic tolerance for other people? that’s a pretty universal skill not exclusive to england.
> but "countries are [nothing] more than a shared historical hallucination" is just incorrect.
countries are mostly lines drawn on a map.
cultures, which i think is what you’re trying to get at in your post generally, differ everywhere to varying degrees.
dundee (where i currently am) has a different culture to glasgow, which has a different culture to edinburgh, which has a different culture to york, which has a different culture to liverpool, which has a different culture to manchester, which has a different culture to leeds leeds leeds, which has a different culture to oxford, which has a different culture to reading, which has …
the lines are imaginary.
(although yes i live on a massive island so there is a non-imaginary physical boundary where you have to get on a boat or a plane or a train to travel to here).
piloto_ciego 3 hours ago [-]
I have spent a lot of time in other cultures, I’ve lived overseas as ann exchange student and speak 3 languages.
Countries are bullshit and the belief that people are that intrinsically different is silly. Go back to 1940 with that noise.
vuurmot 43 minutes ago [-]
he literally says people are intrinsically the same, but extrinsically different (due to culture)
why are you misrepresenting what he says?
vogelke 3 hours ago [-]
Probably. As an American, I have to agree with you -- it's been the case for many years (WAY before Trump) that within 50 miles of our border, your rights go to wherever last year's snow went.
It's too bad so few people can say "My country, if right to be supported, if wrong to be corrected."
insane_dreamer 6 hours ago [-]
Keep at it.
defrost 9 hours ago [-]
Good line to save for the epitaph shortlist.
jay_kyburz 3 hours ago [-]
I think its funny that the top comment on the blog from ConcernedCitizen is a half troll, half serious, in exactly the same way Trump approaches everything.
Do you think they are trying to do a Trump voice as a joke? I can't even tell anymore.
hattmall 5 hours ago [-]
Not really, it's pretty ridiculous. Unless you have a solid history of strongly supporting terrorist groups or plan to violate immigration law there's really no precedence to assume you would have any issues visiting the US. Literally millions of people do so each month without problems.
y-curious 4 hours ago [-]
We here in America have Fox News that drums up scary boogeymen to keep people fearing liberal California. The rest of the world has their equivalents, but instead of crime in California, it’s “you will be shot on sight at the airport when you enter the US”.
telchior 5 hours ago [-]
I think you've misunderstood the idea. Tim Bray and the OP of this thread aren't afraid to visit the US; the key phrase used in the post is "as a matter of principle".
hattmall 4 hours ago [-]
>there’s a significant risk of an extremely negative outcome. I have a family to support and really can’t afford that risk.
I can understand the principles and the bit of Canadian pride, but ultimately it's rather hyperbolic. Even on principle, the fact is Canada and the US are strong and long lasting allies with a very obvious power imbalance, and this sort of pouting over commentary is more fitting to members of an elementary school kickball team than a professional organization on the cutting edge of technology.
ahartmetz 26 minutes ago [-]
How would US citizens feel about Mexico if it had 3 billion people, 20x the military size, a history of annexations, and a deranged president joking about annexing the US? Still funny?
lava_pidgeon 3 hours ago [-]
Canadians on the internet point out that many American don't understand the severe damage Trump has done.
Your post is a great example for this.
watwut 3 hours ago [-]
US and Canada are not strong allies anymore. They are former allies with ongoing hostility between them.
As an example, US walked away from joint defense board just few days ago.
thisisit 2 hours ago [-]
Did you miss the point above that?
> But there’s also the issue of entering the US; if I roll up at the border and am asked to disclose my social media output, there’s a significant risk of an extremely negative outcome.
Its no longer the question of supporting "terrorists", we have seen what people can critcizing Trump, the dear leader, might have to go through.
Trump is are destroying American credibility all over the world and its others who are being hyperbolic?
georgemcbay 4 hours ago [-]
> Can't believe this is flagged.
On Hacker News? I can. I'm surprised it got unflagged.
> As a USer, it is the letter I would advise anyone outside the US to write. It is the only rational response.
Seconded.
I'm a US citizen and fully support any person of any country that protests the Trump administration in any form.
_as_text 2 hours ago [-]
damn, the rhetoric in this thread put out by (I presume) Americans is like in 2006 when I got my first Neostrada and I first joined Mac vs PC wars
dont mean to offend, just didnt realize things were this rabid over the big pond
LogicFailsMe 12 hours ago [-]
Elections have consequences.
GolfPopper 12 hours ago [-]
The election outcome itself was the consequence of gross, systemic failure throughout the entirety of the United States' citizenry, society, institutions, and government.
The best thing for the States to do at this point would be to hold a Constitutional Convention and dissolve the government of the United States as unfit for any purpose, after which their citizens can decide how they wish to proceed.
prewett 5 hours ago [-]
Have you seen countries without a government? The US government is definitely fit for purpose. It successfully keeps order, for one thing. The government in a representative government isn't the problem, the people are the problem. In this case we have an intransigent Left and an incompetent Right wanting not-Left. Both sides want to "win", and in that situation, everybody loses. I think the ancient Greeks called this "stasis", and if the polis couldn't get out of stasis, the state failed. I believe the failure modes were either getting conquered or getting a tyrant. But we could choose to work together.
watwut 3 hours ago [-]
The issue is entirely om the right side here. This is simply not both side issu. America has far right party and center party. It keeps to blame left whenever its far right push for own goals.
The anti democratic and heavily corrup republicam goverment is product of right wing bubble. It has little to do with left.
imtringued 50 minutes ago [-]
The American left is cannibilizing itself. It's a very real problem.
Right-wing incompetence is winning, because to the voters something on the left is even worse than incompetence.
It may be counterintuitive, but there is a lot of anti white male messaging on the extreme left that essentially promotes and encourages male conservatism through exclusion of positive views of men. A lot of men aren't really right-wing, rather, they're in left-wing exile.
Leftist beliefs include the following:
* Men do not need external validation, they should rely exclusively on internal validation
* Supporting men undermines women's support
* Men must be independent and must get themselves out of their own mess
* Men must win or they are losers
* Male winners deserve everything they can get their hands on, while losers deserve nothing
* Male winners are only bad because they are male
* Male losers are twice as bad, because they are male and losers
* If the male loser steps out of line, punch down as hard as you can
These things aren't necessarily said out loud, but they're strongly implied if you read the room.
These deeply conservative undertones simultaneously drive people away from leftwing extremism, but the regular leftwingers often don't even notice the undertones and downplay the problem and push you further out, which means being in "center of left" exile becomes deeply unappealing.
Meanwhile being in the "right of center" exile means you can get away with as little conservatism as you like. Basically the left is giving men extremely tough lessons in conservatism and is instead looking for an external cause on the other side that doesn't really exist.
notarobot123 22 minutes ago [-]
We're off-topic but it's genuinely interesting that you see these as "leftist" beliefs about men. Isn't this mostly the set of views on masculinity in the "manosphere" which is very much aligned with "rightist" beliefs?
I agree there is an apparent tone of misandry in some of the rhetoric of the left but the actual beliefs you cite are (with the exception of a few) things men on the right say about other men.
ahartmetz 17 minutes ago [-]
This is "identity politics leftism", which is an incredibly useful (to political donors) distraction from economic leftism. Economic leftism is not what the donors want, hence the center party with added idpol bullshit distraction and the right wing party.
zulux 10 hours ago [-]
Not an easy idea when about ten states have enough nuclear weapons to glass the earth.
12 hours ago [-]
hattmall 5 hours ago [-]
Damn, a few years of Trump and your solution is to dissolve the US? Really?
defrost 5 hours ago [-]
That was essentially the advice given by Benjamin Franklin, although he suggested turning it off and then on again before a Despot appears otherwise it would be inevitable that a Despot would appear.
hattmall 5 hours ago [-]
Ah, good old Benjamin "Fake News" Franklin, or should I say SILENCE DOGOOD.
collingreen 4 hours ago [-]
Really.
Going back to the drawing board after watching some major issues break the country is how we got this constitution in the first (second) place. The founders clearly suggested this as an intentional pressure valve to avoid the terrible catastrophe that is civil war or the dissolution of the union.
When values diverge in such extreme ways (values, not politics or preferences) it is very hard to continue to see each other as fellow citizens working toward some shared future. Mix in severe inequality and a broken, corrupt justice system and there is a very real sense of impending escalation. With the failure of the judicial and legislative branches to control corruption, we might be risking everything by NOT trying to find new middle ground.
There was a pew research poll in March [0] showing half of Americans think people in the opposing political party are morally bad people, not just people with different views or priorities. People openly tell each other they are "ruining the country" over things like "should the US spend tax money helping illegal immigrants in any way" or "should trans people have the same rights as they were born with" or "should the government protect known pedophiles from consequences" or "should women have to put their life on the line carrying a rape pregnancy to full term" or "should there be investigations when protesters are shot and killed by immigration agents" or "should the president be above the law". Both sides think their take on these questions is the only reasonable one and anyone on the other side is either delusional or downright evil.
Last time values diverged until the breaking point was because a huge chunk of people were willing to die in order to keep owning other people and another huge chunk of people were willing to die to prevent it. The resulting war caused more American deaths than all the others combined. Despite this, plenty of people still proudly fly the rebel flag today.
Another continental Congress to reauthor (renegotiate?) the Union is a monumental undertaking that is extremely dangerous for the stability of the country so it shouldn't be considered lightly. Civil war is far worse though so hopefully we can collectively navigate our way back to calmer waters.
Even not participating in elections have consecuences, at least for proper democratic countries.
But in countries where participation is mandatory, at least you can say that most of the (national) negatively affected people got what they voted for.
For improper "democratic" countries where elections are rigged or participation is biased towards some population sectors in a way or another, they are not really elections by the population.
jonahbenton 11 hours ago [-]
No, not this story.
This story is that of Netflix' Chaos Monkey attacking the state most rhetorically aligned/proud of The Rule Of Law and showing in myriad ways how absolutely hollow that pride was and how vulnerable The Law is.
Are these bugs that get fixed or...if that was The Last Election, maybe not.
throwawaypath 7 hours ago [-]
Pushing an unpopular platform loss after loss also has consequencess.
jmye 6 hours ago [-]
As if the people who say that could name a single thing on the “platform”. Go on though, tell me about Magic Socialism or what the fuck ever.
jmclnx 12 hours ago [-]
yes and the results and actions taken after the Nov 6 US elections may undo some of the damage. But no other country will ever trust the foreign policy of the US no matter what happens.
baggachipz 12 hours ago [-]
> yes and the results and actions taken after the Nov 6 US elections may undo some of the damage
You're assuming that 1) the elections will actually occur on Nov 6, 2) the elections will be fair, and 3) that the winners of said elections would take action and actually enforce the rule of law.
I'm not confident in any of those.
HerbManic 12 hours ago [-]
It will be interesting to see what happens. Many are hoping that there is a very strong turn out for the Democrat's so that any rigging cannot over come it, but this sounds like fan fiction to me. That said Trump hitting Iran may be the single biggest blunder of his political career, media influence can only go so far when there is a direct impact on all prices and potential stock availability in the coming months.
Hopefully a lot of the fears don't pan out but we won't know until it gets closer.
I'm not saying that there aren't better options but both major parties are complicit in how the system is organised. The US electoral system gets ever more distorted with every minor adjustment in the hopes of swinging various seats in their favour and now it just looks ridiculous.
HerbManic 12 hours ago [-]
There is the military saying "Once is an accident, twice is an attack", this is how a lot of folks see it.
I think it is deeper, that these actions were taken at the top and a sizable amount of the people sided with them, that sends the message that the US cannot be trusted long term, it has become cultural. I get that it isnt a majority of people but it is big enough that it cannot be ignored.
boricj 12 hours ago [-]
"We cannot leave the security of Europe in the hands of voters in Wisconsin every four years."
Not trusting the Americans was a French thing ever since De Gaulle. It just took the rest of the Europeans 50 years after his death to pick up on it.
HerbManic 12 hours ago [-]
That is a brilliant line. And yes Emanuel Macron has been taking this treat seriously as he is very well versed on Da Gaulle.
He might not have the best domestic moves but when it comes to Geopolitics, he is all over it.
rockskon 12 hours ago [-]
Never say never.
Germany seems to have recovered quite a lot of trust following World War 2, to provide an extreme example of bad foreign policy.
guyzero 12 hours ago [-]
Do you think the US is going to have Nuremberg trials? Do you think there will be a deep national reckoning about what happened?
throwawaypath 8 hours ago [-]
>Do you think there will be a deep national reckoning about what happened?
You're witnessing one. This is the national reckoning on the open borders the left implemented, and the anti-White/Asian/male moral panic that was DEI/wokeism.
MisterTea 12 hours ago [-]
Never say never.
> Do you think there will be a deep national reckoning about what happened?
About half of the people I know who voted for Trump this past election have deep regrets.
xethos 9 hours ago [-]
Do they regret voting Republican, or do they regret voting for this particular Republican candidate?
Steltek 8 hours ago [-]
I have regrets when I say something dumb or drive through an intersection on a not-quite-yellow light.
Innocent people, including children, are dead. Republicans have done irreparable harm to this country on every imaginable level: civil liberties, trade, global power, economics. Open and naked corruption is so off the charts it can only be described with comparisons to the post-Soviet era.
"Regret" is, quite frankly, insulting.
rjrjrjrj 5 hours ago [-]
"Deep regrets"
L-fucking-O-L
What did they expect?
jmye 6 hours ago [-]
I hope they are suffering deeply for it. They got exactly what they voted for.
9 hours ago [-]
iamtheworstdev 12 hours ago [-]
they're also on the cusp of throwing it all away, again.
HerbManic 12 hours ago [-]
It is wild seeing the elctorial maps of Germany and you can almost exactly recreate the East-West split. Decades later and it is coming back to haunt them.
apothegm 12 hours ago [-]
Tbf, the east/west split is the one part that wasn’t the Nazis’ fault unless indirectly as a consequence of starting and losing a second World War in a row.
kakacik 12 hours ago [-]
Through selfless deeds, hard work and admitting their failures to the fullest, for generations till now. Somehow I don't see that happening easily with american ego
hattmall 5 hours ago [-]
Really? Like Italy, Germany, Japan, etc can be trusted but after, I'm not even sure what exactly, the US is fully and forever untrustworthy??
sscaryterry 12 hours ago [-]
This. Once bitten, twice shy
drcongo 2 hours ago [-]
Fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me... you can't get fooled again.
dyauspitr 12 hours ago [-]
I don’t think November 6 is going to be a reprieve. They have rigged the system so much that I don’t think it’s actually possible for the Democrats to make a comeback.
GolfPopper 12 hours ago [-]
Even if the Democrats do make a comeback, they have spent half a century demonstrating that they are an, at best, an inadequate counter to America's awful political tendencies.
dyauspitr 9 hours ago [-]
I actually like what they have done in the past, they’re level headed and reasonable. What I can’t stand and it makes my blood boil that they are completely ineffective without a political mandate. It’s a bunch of career politician cowards that may do well when everything is by the book but they remain completely emasculated when it comes to getting their agenda through. The Republicans even without a mandate will shuck and jive their way into getting their way.
billfor 12 hours ago [-]
If they lose it will be because they don’t track unfavorabilty ratings for your democrats as much as they do the current admin. It’s not enough (for moderates) to just say you hate the other guy.
dyauspitr 12 hours ago [-]
The thing is a lot of people hate the other guy. It’s just that all this rigging just means they’re going to be disenfranchised.
throwaway-blaze 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
smaudet 12 hours ago [-]
Oh, don't worry, the way it's going other countries will be fast motivated to defend themselves from said foreign policy...or perish.
EB-BarringtonII 12 hours ago [-]
US protection can be valuable, but US dependence is dangerous.
The world is moving on.
HerbManic 12 hours ago [-]
It is a combination of moving fast and slow. A lot of Canadians now avoid purchasing products from the US were possible. Mean while their government while still dependent on the US is making the moves that will minimise their dependence on them over the coming decades.
I am seeing similar positions in other countries now.
etchalon 12 hours ago [-]
It's absolutely shocking how many people believe other countries lack the means to defend themselves.
cyanydeez 12 hours ago [-]
no one thought the consequences would include giving 1.8 billion dollars of American taxes to the people who tried to violently overthrow the government and to those who are successfully leading a bloodless coupe.
Trump and all his appointees still refuse to say that Trump lost.
nba456_ 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
bigyabai 12 hours ago [-]
Then enumerate them.
ponkyrisen 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
bigyabai 12 hours ago [-]
But not too scared to import Chinese EVs, apparently. Maybe a trade agreement would be a better coercive tool?
12 hours ago [-]
profsummergig 12 hours ago [-]
Serious questions:
1) I use "socials" anonymously. Have anon accounts on X, IG, FB. If asked to disclose them at the border (am US citizen, but it's happening to them too), do I disclose the anon accounts?
2) Nothing too controversial in my "socials" (I'm careful), but there's still stuff there that could embarrass me (e.g. mocking or abusing people on X). What would happen if I scrubbed my socials before a trip? Would they be able to find out that I scrubbed, and then construe something about me?
3) Relatedly, is there a recommended way to scrub one's socials?
4) Is something like HN considered part of "socials"? I assume Reddit is. So HN must be too? I've had multiple accounts on HN over the years (been serially banned until I stopped leaving controversial comments). What am I expected to do in such an instance? Do I disclose all the HN accounts?
5) Relatedly, I have multiple X accounts (squatting on usernames). Do I disclose all the accounts?
hattmall 5 hours ago [-]
No, if they ask just give them the handle of any accounts that are currently on your phone. Just remove anything from your phone or computer if you think it might be an issue, like if you are sharing ISIS videos and stuff. As a citizen you don't have to do anything, but if they ask and you don't let them look at a device they can keep it to inspect it and let you go.
GJim 45 minutes ago [-]
> Just remove anything from your phone or computer if you think it might be an issue,
Read this line back to yourself a few times.
Now tell me where your democracy went.
stop50 12 hours ago [-]
1. If you don't and they find out, then you committed an felony. It is the same as the "Are you an terrorist?" questions. Once they want you for more serious stuff like blasphemy against king donald, then they can pull out the convicted felon card and increase the sentence.
2. + 4. It depends
3. If you plan to go to the us while Trump and his chronies are in an position of power, then the best way to scrub them is not to post it.
5. See 1. if you don't disclose all, they can pull the lie on a form card
gib444 4 hours ago [-]
"anonymous" should be quoted too, unless you're a flawless security expert?
Have you only ever logged onto them on burner devices / qubes and over eg Tor?
jamie_ca 12 hours ago [-]
My understanding is (1) yes. (2) maybe, maybe no, depends on if they're looking up people tagging you in threads? If there's signs you're scrubbing yourself out of politically controversial threads that might become problematic. (4) yes, yes, yes. (5) yes.
Assuming they do ask in the first place.
12 hours ago [-]
yearesadpeople 12 hours ago [-]
It would appear rage has well and truly been bated. My word.
HerbManic 12 hours ago [-]
Yeah I usually expect better of the comments here but it looks like a nerve has been hit.
breve 12 hours ago [-]
Bated means the opposite of what you mean.
atoav 2 hours ago [-]
Yep. If you want foreigners to contribute to your country, you may wanna avoid electing a known geriatric narcissist that has the impulse control of an angry toddler and creates a huge cloud of unpredictablity.
Not that US borders were predictable before that men came into office. But when I enter the EU or Japan for example I have fundamental trust in the fact that even if I was not a citizen, my rights would be clear and not violated by some lunatic border officer that had a bad day. Being expected to disclose your social media accounts while them potentially holding you for weeks without any reason? Nah thanks.
When I was traveling on the Balkans a decade ago I also had weird border encounters, with Serbian officers expecting bribes. I felt safer there than the expectation of crossing into the US makes me feel. Don't eant people with half a brain coming over? Then we don't. Your choice.
gortok 12 hours ago [-]
The comments on this HN post nicely color the problem Tim points out, from the comments that assume the exceptionalism of the USA, to comments that say “stay in Canada”, to comments that call the post “moral preening”.
I grew up in a very conservative household, and until the tea party/Trumpian alliance would have called myself a small-l libertarian.
Now? I won’t vote republican for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is that it rhymes with the worst parts of the political parties we destroyed in world wars.
There’s something new almost every day that should, in a sane culture, cause folks to abandon the Republican Party en masse. Today’s example? The 1.776 Billion “anti-weaponization” fund that is a slush fund for Trump and his allies, including folks that stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The grift of this administration is shocking, but the fact that rank-and-file conservatives aren’t abandoning it by the millions gives away the game. It isn’t about principles, it’s about one party winning, no matter what.
We used to fight for what’s right, but we have become the villain. Tim is right about the declination of America (realizing his title is a double-entendre), and I can’t help but wonder if there is even a line that Trump could cross to the modern “Republican” party.
WarOnPrivacy 12 hours ago [-]
> I won’t vote republican for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is that it rhymes with the worst parts of the political parties we destroyed in world wars.
As a former right winger, now recovering conservative, I'm inclined to agree. The greater issue for me is the right became every single thing they accused the left of (being easily hurt, mandated viewpoints, group think).
I said in another response, Trump has shown the cards to world that there is a sizable portion of the country that can not be trusted. Other nations have realised this is an embedded problem and cannot be fixed with another election. At least not on a long scale.
insane_dreamer 6 hours ago [-]
Yeah, setting policies and even cultural differences aside, the level of blatant corruption in this administration is simply beyond the pale. In any other western country, this admin would have been gone by now.
And there's so much of it that it's almost become the norm. It's shocking that anyone -- no matter their political views -- can continue to support that.
We literally went from "drain the swamp" to "fill the swamp"
I honestly do not want my kids to grow up in this country. Which is too bad because it has a lot going for it otherwise. I'm actively looking for an exit strategy.
atoav 1 hours ago [-]
The one truly astonishing aspect in US politics for my european mind is the degree to which many US voters appear to have given up their agency in favour of party loyalty.
Some may think supporting their own party no matter what is a smart move that will let them win, but the only thing it achieves is that the party can now stop representing your interest. One of the few levers you have as a voter is the threat of not voting for a party or even voting against them. By swearing blind loyalty no matter what, you're giving up that single lever you had. The power of a voter isn't to vote people into office, it is to vote them out of it.
Trump has seen time and time again that he can promise X and then get away with doing the polar opposite of X, just because Republican representatives and voters think towing the line is more important than everything else.
In an actual democracy the politicians are afraid of the voters, not the other way around.
candu 36 minutes ago [-]
As a Canadian / American who now lives in Europe: IMHO the two-party system and current constitutional structure in the US is an unfortunate local maximum.
It was very definitely better than the centuries of militaristic monarchic feudalism Europe waded through from medieval times until the mid-1900s. It is very definitely worse than modern pluralistic coalition-based democracies with proportional representation, which offer a wider range of choices to voters, and make it possible to launch competing parties / movements to counter institutional stagnation.
Until recently, the one counterargument I would hear to this second assertion is "but coalition governments have a hard time getting anything done". Now that we see a prime example of a government that alternates between a) not getting anything done and b) getting things done that belong somewhere in a timeframe from the 1890s to the 1940s, I no longer hear people making that counterargument.
Re: constitutional structure, one Irish friend I have made an interesting point: in his lifetime, there have been many changes and amendments to the Irish constitution. This is next to impossible in the US system, both because of the party loyalty dynamic mentioned above _and_ because of the incredibly high procedural bar to doing so. (And not least because of the current predominance of originalist thinking in the judicial branch, as though the constitution were an infallible document handed down from gods among men, eternally to be interpreted as the Founding Fathers intended back over 200 years ago in a completely different social, political, and technological context.)
ponkyrisen 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
Sabinus 12 hours ago [-]
Use your main account. Go on.
L-boog 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
kesor 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
ravenstine 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
throwawaypath 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
ronnier 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
Felger 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
siliconc0w 12 hours ago [-]
EU equities outperformed US in 2025. The Iran war will probably shift this back to the US but launching a new poorly defined war (and arguably losing it) is also a pretty good indicator of decline.
smileson2 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
ArchieScrivener 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
throwaway-blaze 12 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
nchmy 12 hours ago [-]
People - Canadians included - have literally been sent to a gulag at the border crossing, for social media posts and otherwise. Can you really not see why that would cause someone to not want to enter?
Moreover, he literally said he continues to be a supporter of that org.
fylo 12 hours ago [-]
I believe the UK is doing a similar thing with regards to social media posts.
GJim 39 minutes ago [-]
If 'WhatAboutism' is your best defence, then you are in a desperate place.
How is that relevant? He wasn't invited to an unconference in the UK.
kesor 12 hours ago [-]
People have been sent to the gulag by the Canadian government as well, not too long ago. Governments are disgusting.
HerbManic 12 hours ago [-]
Terrance McKenna once said something like "The worst government is the one in power, regardless of the time."
Essentially, regardless of who is in, they rarely teardown the injustices of the past but merely build on them. They will rip out like 20% of things that are socially changing but after that it is a ratchet upwards on things that cement in further power.
nchmy 11 hours ago [-]
Have a link to share about it?
throwawaypath 12 hours ago [-]
>for social media posts
That was fake news, didn't happen.
andyjohnson0 12 hours ago [-]
> "I won't engage with interesting people in a country whose leadership I don't like"
I dont know where you got that quote from, but it doesnt occur in the submitted blog post.
It seems to me that the important actual quote is:
"I’m Canadian and as a matter of principle feeling negative about visiting a neighboring country whose leader has repeatedly threatened our sovereignty and shown massive disrespect for our nationhood."
I live in Europe and I agree with the author's misgivings.
cdrnsf 12 hours ago [-]
People have already been harassed for social media posts and citizens have been murdered in broad daylight simply for observing law enforcement.
Underphil 12 hours ago [-]
Whether it would happen or not is immaterial. The perceived threat is enough. I've been here on a green card since 2016 and haven't left the country since his second term since I share the exact same fears.
dsr_ 12 hours ago [-]
Don't be ridiculous. The US operates gulags in other countries, so that they don't have to pretend to follow our own laws.
simonw 12 hours ago [-]
> Also love he thinks his social media posts will cause him to be sent to a gulag at the border crossing.
> Effective March 30, the Department of State will expand online presence review to include applicants in the following additional nonimmigrant visa classifications [...] To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for A-3, C-3 (if a domestic worker), G-5, H-3, H-4 dependents of H-3, K-1, K-2, K-3, Q, R-1, R-2, S, T, U, H-1B, H-4, F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas are instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to “public” or “open.”
> A French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration, said a French minister. [...]
> The same source said that messages discussing the Trump administration’s treatment of scientists had been found. The researcher was reportedly then accused of writings “that reflect hatred toward Trump and can be described as terrorism”.
> An Australian man who was detained upon arrival at Los Angeles airport and deported back to Melbourne says United States border officials told him it was due to his writing on pro-Palestine protests by university students.
throwawaypath 12 hours ago [-]
>A French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration
That was fake news.
“The French researcher in question was in possession of confidential information on his electronic device from Los Alamos National Laboratory — in violation of a nondisclosure agreement — something he admitted to taking without permission and attempted to conceal,”
The only evidence we have it was fake news is a statement from the Department of Homeland Security itself - a department which has been repeatedly caught lying in courts of law under this administration.
But I'm sure the statement they gave to a journalist, which hasn't been confirmed by any third-party reporting, was absolutely factual.
throwawaypath 11 hours ago [-]
The only evidence we have it was real news is a statement from scientists - which have been repeatedly caught lying in courts of law under this administration.
But I'm sure the statement they gave to a journalist, which hasn't been confirmed by any third-party reporting, was absolutely factual.
etchalon 11 hours ago [-]
I think you think that was clever.
throwawaypath 10 hours ago [-]
You thinking that I think that was clever is telling.
etchalon 12 hours ago [-]
Plenty of people have had their social media posts result in extended detention by our border security.
Whether you agree or disagree with non-US citizens coming to America to engage in the advancement of technology, the important thing is to have discourse on the topic. That is in line with aims and goals of this site. This story is much less politics and much more about the impact of social policy on technologists.
As a non-US citizen myself but who has lived there for some time, I find that having and expressing an opinion on things like this is difficult due to the danger of such retaliation mentioned during border crossings and my daily life.
Instead, it's basically just political whining.
Now you have some very talented/consequential people just refusing to visit the country. Regardless of any qualms about the "content and logic", this should set off alarm bells for any American. Plus, this would've been a whine if he'd complained and had gone anyway. But he is not going, and has explained his decision. That makes it more of a statement.
A vouch option for Flagged submissions would be appreciated. I wonder if it used to be there but was removed.
AFAIK, upvoting a flagged submission cancels out the flagging to some extent. I don’t know the internals of how this process works. I’ve upvoted the submission in an effort to get it unflagged (it still may not get to the front page or may rapidly drop down though).
Some sort of meta-moderation system to prevent abuse of flagging would be welcome.
this is one that would actually invite curious discussion if some people weren't clutching onto their "God Bless America (We're #1!)" pearls quite so tightly
There was a time where I was quite interested in listening to people from America talk about their fascinating and crazy sounding country, but as time goes on I find that to be much more repetitive and not insightful.
Now I'm more interested in what people from other countries have to say about America, and I find it fascinating how Americans online find this unsettling and sometimes get snippy about it really weird ways.
Sometimes I wonder what political threads on HN would be like if Americans weren't allowed to participate in them. For the people in the crowd who take things more literally in know this isn't possible, it's just an interesting thought experiment.
Would that result in more 'creative' conversation?
Maybe for a while until new patterns/tropes/memes were built up by the users that could comment on them. Maybe the issue with the political discussions that too often the people talking about them are too close to them, too immersed in them?
First watching the tearing up of the societal contract in the US over the past decades turned this into a country that feels like it is on the brink of a collapse. No longer can regular Americans rely that working hard will give them a good or even decent life. This means intense pressures are at work with some very desperate people, bringing out the ugliest (but also sometimes the most beautiful) bits of humanity, all while you have richer folks at the top who act like how their country operates at large is none of their business as long as there is a cut in it for them. Why should I care about the US if you guys don't even care about it yourselves?
Second the US is highly unreliable. Laws, democracy, human rights, treaties, consumer rights — all are treated as negotiable, optional things that you use against your enemies and ignore when it affects your own. With enough money everything can be bent around. There are no principles at work that one could rely on and that is no foundation to build a life on unless you are literally ready to join the ranks of people acting like cartoon villains — something only people do who have no self-respect for their limited time on earth.
Yeah, I don't see myself even visiting the US in my lifetime.
Hehe, reminds me about a video I saw some years ago.
They asked ordinary citizens what a reasonable distribution of wealth should be. Like the share of overall wealth owned by the richest 10% (or 1% or whatever), vs wealth owned by the rest of the population. Let's call this ratio "X".
Then those citizens were asked what they thought the wealth distribution was actually like (let's call that "Y"). No surprise: people thought wealth was much more UNevenly distributed than it should be.
Then they showed what the distribution was like in reality (let's call that "Z"): way more extreme.
So, wealth distributed way more uneven than people thought, and that in turn way more uneven than what people thought it should be.
That alone explains a lot of what's wrong with the US imho: broken/corrupt politics, outsized influence of tech bros (including outside US), a health problem bankrupting people, people turning to drugs, a militarized police force, incarceration ratios, homeless epidemic, etc etc.
Especially in a highly developed country where total wealth is enough to have everybody live comfortably & care-free.
As opposed to some poor war-torn country where wealth is also unevenly distributed, but it's obvious and everybody knows it. And overall wealth is a lot less to begin with (so people being desperate isn't surprising).
US' downfall turning it into a banana republic, its erosion of democratic institutions, human rights etc, is a logical result from the above. I'm not expecting that to improve sadly :-(. Things will probably get worse & there will be blood in the streets.
THIS IS NOT A PLACE OF HONOR.
But also, I tire of the nationalist rhetoric wherever I see it. I'm tired of this idea that countries are anything more than a shared historical hallucination, and that we're all somehow different from one another. Or as my father often put it, "we all bleed red and we all shit brown." I never chose to be born here, and because I am sick (through no fault of my own) so called tolerant countries wouldn't have me. So I am stuck here.
Regardless, I get why you didn't come, I can't say I blame you, but I also am sick of these damn countries ruining things. Perhaps we should abandon the idea entirely and replace it with the spirit of brotherhood and respect for one's fellow human.
In an ideal world we could celebrate each other's differences. But trying to get rid of conflict by getting rid of national borders is naive. Why are the borders where they are? Generally because those are ethno-cultural boundaries. Nations that encompass multiple ethno-cultural groups tend to be somewhat unstable: for instance, Yugoslavia broke up violently, and Iraq has conflict between the Kurds and the rest.
This is not a support of nationalism (although I encourage patriotism, which is different), but "countries are [nothing] more than a shared historical hallucination" is just incorrect.
i’m english and i have no idea what you’re on about there mate.
are you talking about having basic tolerance for other people? that’s a pretty universal skill not exclusive to england.
> but "countries are [nothing] more than a shared historical hallucination" is just incorrect.
countries are mostly lines drawn on a map.
cultures, which i think is what you’re trying to get at in your post generally, differ everywhere to varying degrees.
dundee (where i currently am) has a different culture to glasgow, which has a different culture to edinburgh, which has a different culture to york, which has a different culture to liverpool, which has a different culture to manchester, which has a different culture to leeds leeds leeds, which has a different culture to oxford, which has a different culture to reading, which has …
the lines are imaginary.
(although yes i live on a massive island so there is a non-imaginary physical boundary where you have to get on a boat or a plane or a train to travel to here).
Countries are bullshit and the belief that people are that intrinsically different is silly. Go back to 1940 with that noise.
why are you misrepresenting what he says?
It's too bad so few people can say "My country, if right to be supported, if wrong to be corrected."
Do you think they are trying to do a Trump voice as a joke? I can't even tell anymore.
I can understand the principles and the bit of Canadian pride, but ultimately it's rather hyperbolic. Even on principle, the fact is Canada and the US are strong and long lasting allies with a very obvious power imbalance, and this sort of pouting over commentary is more fitting to members of an elementary school kickball team than a professional organization on the cutting edge of technology.
As an example, US walked away from joint defense board just few days ago.
> But there’s also the issue of entering the US; if I roll up at the border and am asked to disclose my social media output, there’s a significant risk of an extremely negative outcome.
Its no longer the question of supporting "terrorists", we have seen what people can critcizing Trump, the dear leader, might have to go through.
Trump is are destroying American credibility all over the world and its others who are being hyperbolic?
On Hacker News? I can. I'm surprised it got unflagged.
> As a USer, it is the letter I would advise anyone outside the US to write. It is the only rational response.
Seconded.
I'm a US citizen and fully support any person of any country that protests the Trump administration in any form.
dont mean to offend, just didnt realize things were this rabid over the big pond
The best thing for the States to do at this point would be to hold a Constitutional Convention and dissolve the government of the United States as unfit for any purpose, after which their citizens can decide how they wish to proceed.
The anti democratic and heavily corrup republicam goverment is product of right wing bubble. It has little to do with left.
Right-wing incompetence is winning, because to the voters something on the left is even worse than incompetence.
It may be counterintuitive, but there is a lot of anti white male messaging on the extreme left that essentially promotes and encourages male conservatism through exclusion of positive views of men. A lot of men aren't really right-wing, rather, they're in left-wing exile.
Leftist beliefs include the following:
* Men do not need external validation, they should rely exclusively on internal validation
* Supporting men undermines women's support
* Men must be independent and must get themselves out of their own mess
* Men must win or they are losers
* Male winners deserve everything they can get their hands on, while losers deserve nothing
* Male winners are only bad because they are male
* Male losers are twice as bad, because they are male and losers
* If the male loser steps out of line, punch down as hard as you can
These things aren't necessarily said out loud, but they're strongly implied if you read the room.
These deeply conservative undertones simultaneously drive people away from leftwing extremism, but the regular leftwingers often don't even notice the undertones and downplay the problem and push you further out, which means being in "center of left" exile becomes deeply unappealing.
Meanwhile being in the "right of center" exile means you can get away with as little conservatism as you like. Basically the left is giving men extremely tough lessons in conservatism and is instead looking for an external cause on the other side that doesn't really exist.
I agree there is an apparent tone of misandry in some of the rhetoric of the left but the actual beliefs you cite are (with the exception of a few) things men on the right say about other men.
Going back to the drawing board after watching some major issues break the country is how we got this constitution in the first (second) place. The founders clearly suggested this as an intentional pressure valve to avoid the terrible catastrophe that is civil war or the dissolution of the union.
When values diverge in such extreme ways (values, not politics or preferences) it is very hard to continue to see each other as fellow citizens working toward some shared future. Mix in severe inequality and a broken, corrupt justice system and there is a very real sense of impending escalation. With the failure of the judicial and legislative branches to control corruption, we might be risking everything by NOT trying to find new middle ground.
There was a pew research poll in March [0] showing half of Americans think people in the opposing political party are morally bad people, not just people with different views or priorities. People openly tell each other they are "ruining the country" over things like "should the US spend tax money helping illegal immigrants in any way" or "should trans people have the same rights as they were born with" or "should the government protect known pedophiles from consequences" or "should women have to put their life on the line carrying a rape pregnancy to full term" or "should there be investigations when protesters are shot and killed by immigration agents" or "should the president be above the law". Both sides think their take on these questions is the only reasonable one and anyone on the other side is either delusional or downright evil.
Last time values diverged until the breaking point was because a huge chunk of people were willing to die in order to keep owning other people and another huge chunk of people were willing to die to prevent it. The resulting war caused more American deaths than all the others combined. Despite this, plenty of people still proudly fly the rebel flag today.
Another continental Congress to reauthor (renegotiate?) the Union is a monumental undertaking that is extremely dangerous for the stability of the country so it shouldn't be considered lightly. Civil war is far worse though so hopefully we can collectively navigate our way back to calmer waters.
[0] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/03/05/in-25-countr...
But in countries where participation is mandatory, at least you can say that most of the (national) negatively affected people got what they voted for.
For improper "democratic" countries where elections are rigged or participation is biased towards some population sectors in a way or another, they are not really elections by the population.
This story is that of Netflix' Chaos Monkey attacking the state most rhetorically aligned/proud of The Rule Of Law and showing in myriad ways how absolutely hollow that pride was and how vulnerable The Law is.
Are these bugs that get fixed or...if that was The Last Election, maybe not.
You're assuming that 1) the elections will actually occur on Nov 6, 2) the elections will be fair, and 3) that the winners of said elections would take action and actually enforce the rule of law.
I'm not confident in any of those.
Hopefully a lot of the fears don't pan out but we won't know until it gets closer.
I'm not saying that there aren't better options but both major parties are complicit in how the system is organised. The US electoral system gets ever more distorted with every minor adjustment in the hopes of swinging various seats in their favour and now it just looks ridiculous.
I think it is deeper, that these actions were taken at the top and a sizable amount of the people sided with them, that sends the message that the US cannot be trusted long term, it has become cultural. I get that it isnt a majority of people but it is big enough that it cannot be ignored.
Not trusting the Americans was a French thing ever since De Gaulle. It just took the rest of the Europeans 50 years after his death to pick up on it.
He might not have the best domestic moves but when it comes to Geopolitics, he is all over it.
Germany seems to have recovered quite a lot of trust following World War 2, to provide an extreme example of bad foreign policy.
You're witnessing one. This is the national reckoning on the open borders the left implemented, and the anti-White/Asian/male moral panic that was DEI/wokeism.
> Do you think there will be a deep national reckoning about what happened?
About half of the people I know who voted for Trump this past election have deep regrets.
Innocent people, including children, are dead. Republicans have done irreparable harm to this country on every imaginable level: civil liberties, trade, global power, economics. Open and naked corruption is so off the charts it can only be described with comparisons to the post-Soviet era.
"Regret" is, quite frankly, insulting.
L-fucking-O-L
What did they expect?
The world is moving on.
I am seeing similar positions in other countries now.
Well, most people, obviously.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_fake_electors_plot
Trump and all his appointees still refuse to say that Trump lost.
1) I use "socials" anonymously. Have anon accounts on X, IG, FB. If asked to disclose them at the border (am US citizen, but it's happening to them too), do I disclose the anon accounts?
2) Nothing too controversial in my "socials" (I'm careful), but there's still stuff there that could embarrass me (e.g. mocking or abusing people on X). What would happen if I scrubbed my socials before a trip? Would they be able to find out that I scrubbed, and then construe something about me?
3) Relatedly, is there a recommended way to scrub one's socials?
4) Is something like HN considered part of "socials"? I assume Reddit is. So HN must be too? I've had multiple accounts on HN over the years (been serially banned until I stopped leaving controversial comments). What am I expected to do in such an instance? Do I disclose all the HN accounts?
5) Relatedly, I have multiple X accounts (squatting on usernames). Do I disclose all the accounts?
Read this line back to yourself a few times.
Now tell me where your democracy went.
2. + 4. It depends
3. If you plan to go to the us while Trump and his chronies are in an position of power, then the best way to scrub them is not to post it.
5. See 1. if you don't disclose all, they can pull the lie on a form card
Have you only ever logged onto them on burner devices / qubes and over eg Tor?
Assuming they do ask in the first place.
Not that US borders were predictable before that men came into office. But when I enter the EU or Japan for example I have fundamental trust in the fact that even if I was not a citizen, my rights would be clear and not violated by some lunatic border officer that had a bad day. Being expected to disclose your social media accounts while them potentially holding you for weeks without any reason? Nah thanks.
When I was traveling on the Balkans a decade ago I also had weird border encounters, with Serbian officers expecting bribes. I felt safer there than the expectation of crossing into the US makes me feel. Don't eant people with half a brain coming over? Then we don't. Your choice.
I grew up in a very conservative household, and until the tea party/Trumpian alliance would have called myself a small-l libertarian.
Now? I won’t vote republican for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is that it rhymes with the worst parts of the political parties we destroyed in world wars.
There’s something new almost every day that should, in a sane culture, cause folks to abandon the Republican Party en masse. Today’s example? The 1.776 Billion “anti-weaponization” fund that is a slush fund for Trump and his allies, including folks that stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The grift of this administration is shocking, but the fact that rank-and-file conservatives aren’t abandoning it by the millions gives away the game. It isn’t about principles, it’s about one party winning, no matter what.
We used to fight for what’s right, but we have become the villain. Tim is right about the declination of America (realizing his title is a double-entendre), and I can’t help but wonder if there is even a line that Trump could cross to the modern “Republican” party.
As a former right winger, now recovering conservative, I'm inclined to agree. The greater issue for me is the right became every single thing they accused the left of (being easily hurt, mandated viewpoints, group think).
It's all the natural progression of the animosity campaigns Newt Gingrich launched a generation ago. ref: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/662/where-there-is-a-will/a...
And there's so much of it that it's almost become the norm. It's shocking that anyone -- no matter their political views -- can continue to support that.
We literally went from "drain the swamp" to "fill the swamp"
I honestly do not want my kids to grow up in this country. Which is too bad because it has a lot going for it otherwise. I'm actively looking for an exit strategy.
Some may think supporting their own party no matter what is a smart move that will let them win, but the only thing it achieves is that the party can now stop representing your interest. One of the few levers you have as a voter is the threat of not voting for a party or even voting against them. By swearing blind loyalty no matter what, you're giving up that single lever you had. The power of a voter isn't to vote people into office, it is to vote them out of it.
Trump has seen time and time again that he can promise X and then get away with doing the polar opposite of X, just because Republican representatives and voters think towing the line is more important than everything else.
In an actual democracy the politicians are afraid of the voters, not the other way around.
It was very definitely better than the centuries of militaristic monarchic feudalism Europe waded through from medieval times until the mid-1900s. It is very definitely worse than modern pluralistic coalition-based democracies with proportional representation, which offer a wider range of choices to voters, and make it possible to launch competing parties / movements to counter institutional stagnation.
Until recently, the one counterargument I would hear to this second assertion is "but coalition governments have a hard time getting anything done". Now that we see a prime example of a government that alternates between a) not getting anything done and b) getting things done that belong somewhere in a timeframe from the 1890s to the 1940s, I no longer hear people making that counterargument.
Re: constitutional structure, one Irish friend I have made an interesting point: in his lifetime, there have been many changes and amendments to the Irish constitution. This is next to impossible in the US system, both because of the party loyalty dynamic mentioned above _and_ because of the incredibly high procedural bar to doing so. (And not least because of the current predominance of originalist thinking in the judicial branch, as though the constitution were an infallible document handed down from gods among men, eternally to be interpreted as the Founding Fathers intended back over 200 years ago in a completely different social, political, and technological context.)
Moreover, he literally said he continues to be a supporter of that org.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
Essentially, regardless of who is in, they rarely teardown the injustices of the past but merely build on them. They will rip out like 20% of things that are socially changing but after that it is a ratchet upwards on things that cement in further power.
That was fake news, didn't happen.
I dont know where you got that quote from, but it doesnt occur in the submitted blog post.
It seems to me that the important actual quote is:
"I’m Canadian and as a matter of principle feeling negative about visiting a neighboring country whose leader has repeatedly threatened our sovereignty and shown massive disrespect for our nationhood."
I live in Europe and I agree with the author's misgivings.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/a...
> Effective March 30, the Department of State will expand online presence review to include applicants in the following additional nonimmigrant visa classifications [...] To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for A-3, C-3 (if a domestic worker), G-5, H-3, H-4 dependents of H-3, K-1, K-2, K-3, Q, R-1, R-2, S, T, U, H-1B, H-4, F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas are instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to “public” or “open.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/trump-musk-f...
> A French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration, said a French minister. [...]
> The same source said that messages discussing the Trump administration’s treatment of scientists had been found. The researcher was reportedly then accused of writings “that reflect hatred toward Trump and can be described as terrorism”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/15/austr...
> An Australian man who was detained upon arrival at Los Angeles airport and deported back to Melbourne says United States border officials told him it was due to his writing on pro-Palestine protests by university students.
That was fake news.
“The French researcher in question was in possession of confidential information on his electronic device from Los Alamos National Laboratory — in violation of a nondisclosure agreement — something he admitted to taking without permission and attempted to conceal,”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/world/europe/us-france-sc...
But I'm sure the statement they gave to a journalist, which hasn't been confirmed by any third-party reporting, was absolutely factual.
But I'm sure the statement they gave to a journalist, which hasn't been confirmed by any third-party reporting, was absolutely factual.