Instead of attacking the person (ad-hominem), how about discussing the technical merits and deficiencies of the proposed solution to a real problem that no Linux distro has tackled so far?
I'm sure the NSA is happy about unauthenticated initrds. I'd be very surprised if such manipulation was never used in practice.
I don't think it's an ad hominem, because this is a viable attack vector. What better way to get access to countless systems than by compromising the supply chain?
Instead of discussing the ideas presented, the _person_ behind the ideas is discussed. In my book, that's pretty close to an ad-hominem, even if the accusations are only implied.
I'm sure the NSA is happy about unauthenticated initrds. I'd be very surprised if such manipulation was never used in practice.