US Government Uptime Monitor
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After all, when I look at my W2 (yeah, I'm a working stiff), they sure as hell are taking out taxes still. That aint "shut down". It's a scam.
Something about "taxation without representation". I think we went to war over that before.
There is no serious incentive to avoid this in the US. In fact, you're incentivised to be complicit in the shutdown and then blame the other party.
This means the public backlash from shutting down the government is significantly muted, and it gives the opportunity for some less intelligent people to point to it as proof the government doesn't actually do anything. But it only works because the government basically forces employees in those roles to work for free with the promise of being eventually paid at some point, which is pretty weird when you really think about it.
Consider an alternate version of events where the government running out of money means all government functions immediately cease. No airport security, no air traffic control. Federal law enforcement goes home. The military stands down. Every federal government function stops October 1st since there was no longer any money to pay for it. Not only would the government not still be shut down, it never would have shut down since the impact would be so immediate and so significant that politicians would never risk it actually happening.
[0] https://thediplomat.com/2020/07/new-light-shed-on-australias...
I am not quite sure why an action with such a clear established precedent be considered foreign interference? or was it the case that there WAS a suitable candidate with a possible majority but they were NOT invited by the govgen to try and win a trust vote in parliament?
Whitlam did move to call an election (rather than be sacked) which likely would have removed the blocked supply threat as he was at the time an extremely popular PM in Australia (loved by the common masses, despised by many elites) .. and when attending the Queens Repreresentative (the Governor General) to advise about calling an election .. he was removed by the G-G.
Strictly speaking the "as intended" outcome should have been to resolve a looming (not yet happened) supply crisis by allowing the people of Australia to vote, instead the government of the day (Whitlam's) was removed on a technical reading against the spirit of intended resolution.
There's a peer comment here that linked to a 2020 article on the finally released royal correspondance that's worth a read. The US influence angle has merit also, they had weight in the game for sure, how much and whether it tipped the balance is debatable.
Literally reams of contraversay here, the G-G acted autonomously and likely to save his own neck as Whitlam intended to replace the G-G, additionally many outside powers (the UK and the US) were whispering in the ears of those with levers to pull seeking to dump Whitlam; he was returning real power to the people, providing socialised health and education to the masses, asking questions about the role of secret American bases on AU soil, etc.
This was, indeed, extremely serious stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4jfR2u_9Kk
The system is setup to prevent political opportunism and provide predictability and rigidity of the system at the expense of being slower to respond to constituents.
The incentive is still there, it’s just a few years off in the next election.
(That being said… sighing loudly as he gestures around him at all the political opportunism…)
Which is precisely what's happening.
Im frankly done with the children bickering. But in all seriousness, neither party really cares about us. Republicans are engorged with the tech neofascists, and the democrats are caught up with special interest du jour, with a healthy smattering of surveillance as well.
Ive seen how the governments (local, state, federal) operate. It's fucked, and its going to be a long time to fix it, if possible.
Not sure what my plans are, honestly. Take it as I can, i guess.
There's no fixing this. We've allowed the most psychotic lunatics on planet Earth control over the most absolutely insane weapons of mass destruction and all the armies and police, and those people have already decided amongst themselves that their little game of "he who dies with the most money wins" is far more important than all the life on Earth.
Such a person would ignore any issue short of, say, their paychecks or SSA benefits not arriving on time. After that, who knows who they would support?
Democrats have a lot less to lose than the GOP right now. The party is unpopular and locked out of power. There's only upside to shutting the government down, if you ignore the very serious impacts on normal people.
Trump is not capable of seeing this because he reflexively has to win every conflict he's involved in.
The only road bump in place is the Senate filibuster rule - but that's a rule that can be (and has been) tossed aside when inconvenient. Recall that Republicans removed the filibuster from judicial appointments when they wanted to ram through multiple Supreme Court justices and hundreds of lower court judges.
The underlying problem is that the current Republican party wants this shutdown because it reinforces their half-century-long message that government is broken and gives them cover to remove federal workers.
It also doesn't help that the House is remaining closed to delay seating an incoming Democrat representative from an Arizona special election.
Expect this shutdown to continue for a while.
I think the median voter looks at what a politician says they are going to do, assumes they are going to do it, and votes based on that. Say what you will about the Trump administration, they are doing exactly what they were shouting from the rooftops that they would do. Grief people they don't like, sow chaos and division, start a devastating trade war on multiple fronts, and cause daily chaos and drama. They said it loud and clear for years before the election. They got elected. And, then they did it!
If I had anything good to say about these guys it's that they were 100% transparent about their plans and they followed up on them right out of the gate. Exactly zero people should be surprised at what they delivered. It's actually pretty impressive how faithfully they are delivering on all of their promises of destruction and chaos! In fact, polls of Republicans show consistent, strong and enthusiastic approval of the administrations actions, as they themselves fall deeper into poverty and hopelessness.
You mean lower prices on day 1?
Unfortunately some of us still remember those outlandish promises which we knew will remain just promises.
Doesn’t matter how much you push his promises under the rug, but we will not forget - how big of a fraud and scammer the current sitting president is.
Did they also shout - 51st state, crypto scams, private funding deals etc etc?
Of course, he does! That’s why in the first place he ran for the office! He’s the most corrupt MF in the history of our planet. But, here’s your confusion - did he ever say he accepts or asks for bribes? No!! He wraps it all up in patriotism and his stupid followers suck it all up.
Um.
Yes that’s basically true, to the best of science’s reckoning, anyway. Like, you pretty much nailed it.
Political scientists had figured that out with very solid evidence by around the middle of the 20th century (solid evidence in part because this is obviously alarming so they did a lot of double-checking) then spent several decades trying to figure out an angle by which they could say “but it’s, uh, fine somehow?” or maybe even “but actually that’s good” before finally giving up on that and admitting it’s kind of amazing democracy works at all, and the whole thing’s scary-fragile.
Unless that changes, you just get back to the same situation.
I find these takes very tiresome. What kind of insight can you draw from this all or nothing thinking? It’s reductive and uninteresting.
Not all elected representatives are refusing to work. Collective punishment creates an opportunity for bad actors to force an election and remove their colleagues from office.
> After all, when I look at my W2 (yeah, I'm a working stiff), they sure as hell are taking out taxes still. That aint "shut down". It's a scam.
Well yeah, of course they are. You still owe taxes. When the government reopens the taxes you pay will still be allocated.
> Something about "taxation without representation". I think we went to war over that before.
This is not what was meant by taxation without representation. We do have elected representation, even in a government shutdown. Congress refusing to work is not a consequence of the government shutdown, it is a political choice made by elected representatives.
I think you missed the point. If the government is doing less due to shutdown, taxes should be less.
That doesn't make any sense. A politically manufactured government shutdown isn't the only way to reduce government or taxes.
But regardless, fear of poor incentives hasn't stopped us from getting to where we are now. Bad incentives are everywhere. This shutdown itself is the result of bad incentives.
Your argument is the one that doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
This is because a significant amount of the government is still running. [1] Around 50% of gov employees are currently working without pay (but with expected backpay). If _everyone_ stopped working major systems would immediately be disrupted: The military would stop all operations. Planes would be grounded. Weather predictions would cease to exist. Food & pharmaceuticals wouldn't be screened. Participants in medical studies would stop getting treatments. etc.
Contractors are also capable covering expenses with overhead. But soon, many will run out. For example, the contractors who perform nuclear weapons research [2]. At which time, they will have to shut down and employees will be furloughed without guarantee of backpay. (The current expectation is unpaid leave) As someone who works in a related civilian field this would severely impact our mission and the folks who work here. Especially the newer ones like postdocs who may not have much savings.
[1]: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/who-is-still-workin...
[2]: https://sourcenm.com/2025/10/17/doe-secretary-nnsa-to-furlou...
How is this a hot take? The debt ceiling is statute. Electeds are doing what their voters want them to do. Until shutdowns result in a bipartisan anti-incumbency wave, they won’t go away. (The electoral consequences of shutting down the government are mixed at best.)
0: https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finan...
1: https://www.npr.org/2025/09/19/nx-s1-5545929/house-stopgap-f...
Thank you for catching. Mixed up my fuckups. I’m sure the administration that’s been illegally impounding mandated spending is absolutely constrained by the law in this case…
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Are you claiming there is a EU-wide firewall that EU could use (not the countries themselves) to block arbitrary websites? The EU hate on HN is reaching conspiracy-type levels now it seems.
I often see it on sports broadcasts, or anything with a counter where the number changes and makes the rest of the line ‘jiggle’.
1: https://old.reddit.com/r/Fauxmoi/comments/1oaemj3/trump_post...
To be fair though, this shutdown was brought about by Congress. The Senate has not approved a bill, so the POTUS has nothing to sign.
0: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-kill-b...
> In a private exchange picked up by microphones, the Indonesian leader asked to meet Eric Trump, to which the president answered, “I’ll have Eric call you,”
> We’re building a great hotel, and that’s going to start very soon. And I never met the president, and I used to go over there quite a bit. And obviously we manage teams over there, and it’s pretty amazing that he knew who I was. And, you know, it’s obviously — I don’t get involved in politics in Indonesia — but when I heard that, I started laughing. ‘Can I please meet Eric?’ He must know the projects very well.
0: https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/eric-trump-indonesi...
Hilariously, prior to that law, the executive branch would overspend early in the year, forcing more spending from congress in order to meet their contracts [2].
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdowns_in_the_Un...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antideficiency_Act#Provisions, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coercive_deficiency
I’d really like to know when things are shifting without having to watch the stupid news every day.
- All US workers need to go on strike until you get a government that works for the whole population ;)
It would be a bit cooler if it went all the way back to the first government shutdown under Carter.
Should we be concerned about that being shut down?