Hacker News with Generative AI: Politics

Russia's nostalgia machine works for strongman Putin (japantimes.co.jp)
Walk around any Russian city, from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Yekaterinburg and Kazan, and you will come across people wearing dark blue or red sweatshirts emblazoned with that unmistakable Soviet emblem — hammer, sickle and star. You will also see plenty of traditional fur hats — often topped with a red star — even though recent winters have been the warmest on record.
Russia, Politics, Culture, History
6 points by PaulHoule 1 hour ago | 0 comments
Russian Oligarch Held Stake in SpaceX Through Trust While He Was Sanctioned (bloomberg.com)
A Russian senator who is one of the country’s richest men held a stake in Elon Musk-led SpaceX via a trust even after he was sanctioned by the first Trump administration, exposing gaps in the enforcement of rules intended to target elites who enable Kremlin policies, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
SpaceX, Sanctions, Russia, Oligarchs, Politics
9 points by type0 2 hours ago | 0 comments
Airbus CEO says company could prioritize deliveries to non-U.S. customers (cnbc.com)
Airbus, Aviation, Business, Politics, International Relations
8 points by belter 2 hours ago | 0 comments
The Plot Against America (notesfromthecircus.com)
As I write this in early 2025, a quiet revolution is unfolding within the U.S. government. Inside the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), teams of young tech operatives are systematically dismantling democratic institutions and replacing them with proprietary artificial intelligence systems.
Politics, Government, Artificial Intelligence, Technology
11 points by _hao 5 hours ago | 1 comments
IRS to fire 6,700 staff (independent.co.uk)
The Internal Revenue Service will lay off more than 6,000 employees Thursday as part of President Donald Trump’s push to slash federal spending, a source familiar with the move told Reuters.
Government, Politics, Economy, Layoffs
14 points by Havoc 5 hours ago | 13 comments
Ask HN: Thoughts on using American-based cloud vendors in the Trump era? (ycombinator.com)
I think American cloud providers offer state‐of‐the‐art infrastructure but it's fair to question whether the current U.S. political environment—and the unpredictability it sometimes brings—could affect data sovereignty and regulatory stability.
Politics, Cloud Computing, Data Security, United States
9 points by kakoni 5 hours ago | 16 comments
Germany: Far-right political bias ahead of federal elections in X and TikTok (techcrunch.com)
Recommendation algorithms operated by social media giants TikTok and X have shown evidence of substantial far-right political bias in Germany ahead of a federal election that takes place Sunday, according to new research carried out by Global Witness.
Social Media, Politics, Germany, Elections, Research
13 points by doener 9 hours ago | 9 comments
Elon Musk's Man in Treasury Is Still Holding Down His Day Job as Software CEO (wired.com)
This morning, workers at the US Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) received an email announcing that Tom Krause, a software executive and Elon Musk ally, was "appointed to perform the delegated duties of the Fiscal Assistant Secretary."
Politics, Business, Software
13 points by isaacfrond 10 hours ago | 0 comments
Trump administration yanks CDC flu vaccine campaign (npr.org)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stopping a successful flu vaccination campaign that juxtaposed images of wild animals, such as a lion, with cute counterparts, like a kitten, as an analogy for how immunization can help tame the flu.
Health, Politics, Public Health, Government, CDC
16 points by perihelions 12 hours ago | 0 comments
Britain dances to JD Vance's tune as it renames AI institute (politico.eu)
“The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety,” Vance said.
Artificial Intelligence, Politics, United Kingdom
46 points by mellosouls 12 hours ago | 33 comments
Trump says he will check amount of gold stored at Fort Knox (bloomberg.com)
President Donald Trump said his administration intends to ensure that the significant amount of US gold reserves held at Fort Knox is accounted for and accurate.
Politics, Gold, Fort Knox
15 points by blindriver 14 hours ago | 16 comments
Mexico issues legal threat to Google (thecomeback.com)
On Jan. 20, United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming the “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America.”
Mexico, Google, Law, Politics
106 points by thund 17 hours ago | 138 comments
Trump: "Long Live the King" (twitter.com)
Politics, Social Media, Donald Trump
88 points by babelfish 22 hours ago | 49 comments
Trump Team Plans Mass Firings at Key Agency for AI and Chips (bgov.com)
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a lab housed under the Commerce Department, is preparing to fire as many as roughly 500 probationary staffers as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts to the federal government.
Politics, Artificial Intelligence, Government, Technology, Employment
24 points by apical_dendrite 1 day ago | 9 comments
Did DOGE Take Credit for Spending Cuts Related to President Carter's Death? (lawfaremedia.org)
Inaccuracies on DOGE’s website raise questions about DOGE’s activities and transparency.
Cryptocurrency, Politics, Misinformation, Transparency
16 points by hn_acker 1 day ago | 1 comments
National Science Foundation fires roughly 10% of its workforce (npr.org)
The National Science Foundation fired 168 employees on Tuesday. According to an NSF spokesperson, the firings are to ensure compliance with President Trump's executive order aimed at reducing the federal workforce in the name of efficiency.
Government, Employment, Science, Politics
82 points by pseudolus 1 day ago | 131 comments
Trump Administration Moves to End New York's Congestion Pricing Tolls (nytimes.com)
President Trump intends to revoke federal approval of New York City’s congestion pricing program, fulfilling a campaign promise to reverse the policy that tolls drivers who enter Manhattan’s busiest streets to finance repairs to mass transit.
Politics, Transportation, Infrastructure
39 points by mikhael 1 day ago | 61 comments
America Needs a Working-Class Media (cjr.org)
Catering to rich audiences is not serving us.
Media, Journalism, Politics, Social Class
13 points by leotravis10 1 day ago | 2 comments
America stopped caring how poor kids do in school (slowboring.com)
My local government here in DC celebrated the release of new national test score data in late January, with the District’s state superintendent of schools telling the Washington Post, “We’ve got momentum happening here in the District of Columbia, and we’re committed to building on that momentum and excited about all the work that we have yet to do.”
Education, Politics, Social Issues
33 points by JumpCrisscross 1 day ago | 55 comments
Trump Enforcers Affirm Lina Khan's Approach to Antitrust (thebignewsletter.com)
Some big news today on the political antitrust front. The most consequential antitrust power struggle you’ve never heard of has been won… by the good guys. The short story is the Trump administration just said they will enforce antitrust law to stop harmful mergers using the guidelines that Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter helped create in 2023.
Politics, Antitrust, Law, Mergers, Government
7 points by toomuchtodo 1 day ago | 0 comments
The irony of Elon Musk's attack on public broadcasters (indexoncensorship.org)
Once lauded as bastions of American patriotism, media outlets such as Radio Free Europe and Voice of America are now being labelled enemies of the state
Media, Politics, Journalism, United States
10 points by robtherobber 1 day ago | 3 comments
Libra Token's Co-Creator Claimed He Paid Argentinian President Milei's Sister (coindesk.com)
A key player behind the Libra token bragged about buying access to Argentine President Javier Milei's inner circle months before the memecoin's scandalous launch and crash.
Cryptocurrency, Argentina, Politics, Finance, Scandals
8 points by locallost 1 day ago | 3 comments
Iliberal right culture replaces iliberal left culture (theatlantic.com)
One of the defining features of the social-justice orthodoxy that swept through American culture between roughly the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 to Hamas’s assault on Israel in 2023 was the policing of language.
Politics, Culture, Social Justice
10 points by ashoeafoot 2 days ago | 2 comments
Trump threatens 25 percent 'and higher' tariff on chips (c-span.org)
Politics, Economics, Tariffs, Technology
19 points by shscs911 2 days ago | 2 comments
Trump's Pivot Toward Putin's Russia Upends Generations of U.S. Policy (nytimes.com)
As peace talks opened in Saudi Arabia, President Trump made clear that the days of isolating Russia are over and suggested that Ukraine was to blame for being invaded.
Politics, International Relations, Russia, Ukraine, United States
50 points by consumer451 2 days ago | 36 comments
Visualized: Presidential Executive Orders (opicdata.com)
I am hearing more about Executive Orders right now than I have in my lifetime. Given, I am only 25 years old, so maybe this happens every time we get a new president. However, on the airwaves I listen to (mainly Reddit, Google, and what my fiance tells me) there is a lot more discourse and hate towards Executive Orders.
Politics, Government, Social Media
13 points by bigshirtjonny 2 days ago | 18 comments
In a last-minute decision, White House decides not to terminate NASA employees (arstechnica.com)
Unlike workers at many other federal agencies this week, probationary employees at NASA were not terminated on Tuesday.
Government, NASA, Politics
65 points by toomuchtodo 2 days ago | 40 comments
Elon Musk is failing to cut American spending (economist.com)
It all seems to add up to something big. On a daily, sometimes hourly, basis, Elon Musk claims that his team of fiscal commandos has found yet more government fraud, terminated another wasteful contract or even scrapped an entire agency. Mr Musk’s supporters believe that, through tech wizardry and sheer willpower, he is slashing the federal deficit in a way that has eluded politicians for years.
Government Spending, Elon Musk, Politics, Economics
40 points by rurp 2 days ago | 12 comments
Western Civilization in the Intelligence Age (praxisnation.com)
We are fighting a war for the soul of the West.
Western Civilization, Philosophy, Politics
4 points by gscott 2 days ago | 0 comments
US and Russia agree to try to end war without Ukraine at the table (abcnews.go.com)
High-level delegations from the U.S. and Russia held talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday over the fate of Ukraine, the negotiations taking place without Kyiv's participation.
International Relations, Politics, Ukraine, Russia, United States
13 points by talldayo 2 days ago | 4 comments