Hacker News: burntbridge

New comment by burntbridge in "China blocks Meta's acquisition of AI startup Manus"

burntbridge — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 22:20:06 +0000

Dan Duggan

New comment by burntbridge in "TikTok Deal Is the Shittiest Possible Outcome, Making Everything Worse"

burntbridge — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 22:01:02 +0000

lol when is the US going to withdraw from Texas, New Mexico and California

New comment by burntbridge in "US pauses all federal aid and grants"

burntbridge — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 04:19:51 +0000

Isn't this just saying taxation should be optional? Should paying for the military, police or roads be optional? Or are you suggesting the amount you have to pay is fixed and then you get a choice to allocate it to different budget areas you favor.

New comment by burntbridge in "China installed a record capacity of solar and wind in 2024 – in numbers"

burntbridge — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 22:36:18 +0000

China also eats far more food than a lot of countries too. The only fair comparison is per capita.

New comment by burntbridge in "China installed a record capacity of solar and wind in 2024 – in numbers"

burntbridge — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 10:13:27 +0000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...

Way less than the US though

New comment by burntbridge in "Flatpack field hospitals that can be airdropped to disaster zones"

burntbridge — Sat, 09 Dec 2023 22:13:11 +0000

Pretty sure this is just a PR exercise for the very gullible. Anyone who has seen a real operating theater and had experience of being outside will know this is nonsense. That tent is simply not big enough for one thing.

New comment by burntbridge in "The Hostile Forces of Beijing"

burntbridge — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 23:53:20 +0000

>The Americans are the central power that keeps the world from falling into insane tyranny.

The U.S. has an actual history of creating and supporting tyrannical regimes. Just look to your history.

New comment by burntbridge in "India lifted 415M out of poverty in 15 years, says UN"

burntbridge — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 20:10:25 +0000

And when there is a war?

New comment by burntbridge in "India lifted 415M out of poverty in 15 years, says UN"

burntbridge — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 19:46:36 +0000

Forced sterilization is something India did do.

New comment by burntbridge in "Saudi Arabia sentences tribesmen to death for resisting displacement"

burntbridge — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 22:00:12 +0000

This should be a reminder that the U.S. cares nothing for human rights violations and whenever it voices such complaints it does so for other selfish Geopolitical reasons that are maybe not revealed. This goes for any of the other Geopolitical powers as well. Let's not be useful idiots.

New comment by burntbridge in "As TikTok grows, so does suspicion"

burntbridge — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 01:43:07 +0000

>Presumably, if the CCP wanted to do so, they could put an end to the groups shipping this deadly substance into the United States.

Presumably, if the United States wanted to do so, they could put an end to the groups shipping this deadly substance from the China.

Just changed the wording a little to show the bias in this sentence. Why do think China would be more successful than the U.S. in prohibiting illegal drugs?

New comment by burntbridge in "Mental illness, mass shootings, and the politics of American firearms (2015)"

burntbridge — Thu, 26 May 2022 04:29:30 +0000

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9715182/

Guns in a home actually lead to greater dangers especially for women. Most people are actually murdered by someone they know, quite often a close relative of friend. It may not feel that way but you are actually safer not owning a gun.

New comment by burntbridge in "Mental illness, mass shootings, and the politics of American firearms (2015)"

burntbridge — Thu, 26 May 2022 04:12:11 +0000

But the U.S. accepts other things that are regulated, a couple of examples:

Speed limits: Speed doesn't cause accidents just people who go faster than their ability to control the vehicle. Many people are sensible and wouldn't do this.

Drugs: Many people can take drugs and enjoy them and not descend into anti-social and criminal behavior.

New comment by burntbridge in "US Federal Reserve raises interest rates for first time since 2018"

burntbridge — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 22:29:18 +0000

The "uninhabited farmland" is just an analogy for some area of the economic landscape that when you spend money on it, can absorb labor and return a tangible benefit that is equal or more than what you spend. Maybe for example repairing worn out infrastructure or creating new infrastructure.

>The vast majority of the money the Fed prints goes to financial institutions

You maybe thinking of Quantitative Easing. In which case financial institutions are just incentivized to cash in their Government Bonds, whereby they need to look for some place else to put the money, hence perhaps asset inflation. The Government doesn't just print a whole lot of money and give it away to someone.

New comment by burntbridge in "A simple proposal to humankind. Global Peace Dividend"

burntbridge — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 02:36:49 +0000

>I don’t pay taxes to help other people. I pay taxes to protect myself.

Helping people in other countries does protect yourself. Having stable regional neighbors for example is very desirable. Any money used to keep things this way is very well spent. Trying to stem the flow of thousands of refugees or dealing with conflict is hugely expensive.

New comment by burntbridge in "China pressures Germany's Continental to cut out Lithuania – sources"

burntbridge — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:31:21 +0000

China claims Taiwan, Taiwan claims China. Both claim to be China. I don't think you understand the actual political situation.

New comment by burntbridge in "Chickpeas, a neglected crop, may soon get a high-tech makeover"

burntbridge — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 10:24:07 +0000

https://archive.md/kqX6Z

New comment by burntbridge in "20 year study of global wealth demolishes the myth of ‘trickle-down’"

burntbridge — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 12:16:09 +0000

You seem incredibly naive. People who earn $1m+ salaries do not work long hours or make sacrifices. You will never be wealthy if this is what you think. Most CEOs that I've known are out the door well before everyone else.

New comment by burntbridge in "Young Dems more likely to despise the other party"

burntbridge — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 08:37:29 +0000

The asymmetry here is really interesting. Seems maybe Democrats take things more seriously.

Not passing judgement either way I'm a left wing Australian.

New comment by burntbridge in "Nearly 3/4 of the World’s Dictators Receive US Weapons and Military Assistance"

burntbridge — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 23:28:37 +0000

>When the US supported South Vietnam, it's not that they condoned everything south vietnam did, but had to make a tactical choice between lesser evils.

But why get involved at all? The US didn't have to do anything.

Most of the reason the U.S. gets involved in anything has to do with geopolitics. If there are human rights issues or "freedom" issues then this is just a bonus for justification purposes.

I highly recommend the Ken Burns documentary "The Vietnam War". I'm old enough to remember all the propaganda we were fed, it is just amazing how much we were lied to.