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CDC gets list of forbidden words

(www.washingtonpost.com)
382 points js2 | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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tptacek ◴[] No.15937484[source]
If I understand this well, and it's likely I don't, but for the sake of argument assume I do? Then the most important thing to know about this story is that it's about the President's budget document (which is assembled with input from all the Executive Branch departments).

That budget is one of the more elaborate charades in Washington. Congress controls the budget by passing laws allocating funds to departments. The President can't not spend money allocated to those departments. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of the budget goes to stuff that is effectively non-discretionary; for instance, to Medicare and Social Security entitlements spending.

Banning words, and these words in particular, is batshit. I'm probably not alarming many people on HN when I say this is a batshit administration.

But this is about the words the administration is soliciting from a department for an elaborate marketing document. Someone tell me why, apart from the principles and precedents of it all, any of this matters?

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1. downandout ◴[] No.15938458[source]
This is being done for the sake of political expediency in a Republican-controlled government that has many people in it who do not like the issues that these words represent. It's not "batshit" to try to word things in a way that minimizes political holy wars. In fact, it's somewhat logical, and seems to me to be aimed at ensuring CDC gets all of the funding it needs.