>I'm happy to hear any refutations that aren't character assassinations for daring to publish with controversial figures.
I responded to this statement earlier by saying I thought it was inappropriate, then my comment was both upvoted and flagged. So I'm going to respond again at greater length: I think statements like the above are inappropriate for a venue like HN, since they trivialize complex arguments by pre-biasing them to sound like any possible disagreement is actually about some minor personnel controversy.
At this point I don't exactly know what you're looking for someone to refute, but I assure you that whatever it is: this is a bad-faith way to make your request.
Nobody knows what you're talking about, and whatever it is, it seems like drama for its own sake. Bernstein was one of the earlier post-quantum people; the field has exploded; he's now just one of a (large) bunch of PQC people. It's a pretty simple and banal observation.
If I have a brain tumor, I don't care if the surgeon steals fortune cookies or change from the change tray on their days off, if that surgeon is the best I can get. Don't let your ideals compromise your well-being.
