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Comment by pjc50

9 days ago

At the moment it's simply weird discriminatory cutting of grants by internet trolls, but it's quite likely that all Federal research funding will vanish at the next budget. Leaving that to China to catch up.

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pjc50

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vkou  9 days ago

The firehose of money won't go away, but you can bet dollars to donuts that it will be redirected right towards a spoils system, where the administration's friends and supporters will be reaping the rewards of victory.

And it won't even be coy about it.

  • GJim  9 days ago

    But, but, but..... he had an election promise to "drain the swamp" and get rid of such corruption!

  • mmaniac  9 days ago

    Nothing new under the sun.

    • vkou  9 days ago

      I was expecting someone to chime in with this.

      It is new in living memory. The scale and sheer audacity of it is staggering.

      Prior to this year, you could say with a straight face that the US is mostly a low-corruption, rule of law sort of country. Even the veneer of that has been thrown completely out the window, in favor of rule-by-law. This government is petty, vindictive, and is openly peddling access to groups that are passing loyalty and purity tests.

      Meanwhile, all the watchmen have been fired, and replaced with party loyalists.

      I present Exhibit A: The shitshow around the cessation of the prosecution of Eric Adams. It's literal quid-pro-quo political horse trading, where he'll be shilling for Trump, in exchange for not going to prison.

      I also present Exhibit B: Every tech firm literally tripping over itself to virtue signal and comply with whatever nonsense is coming out of the White House. Showing up in person to kiss the ring helps too, see, in particular - TikTok magically getting a stay of execution, in exchange for some secret, undisclosed backroom deal.

      If your boss at work behaved this way to you, anyone here would be livid.

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