Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming • Hacker News Board

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#181

Post by honkhonkpants » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 8:52 PM UTC

SilasX wrote: post #179

honkhonkpants wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cordon just means an imaginary area patrolled by guards. Anyone can declare a cordon without building anything or deploying anybody.

The Guatemala-Mexico security cordon has no structures or deployed patrols?

Here's a Federal checkpoint that's made out of grass and sticks.

https://www.google.com/maps/@16.0751514,-91.0688863,3a,75y,1...

How much of a wall were you hoping for? Most of their border consists of nothing but a graded road through the forest, much like the American border with Canada.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#182

Post by SilasX » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 8:59 PM UTC

honkhonkpants wrote: post #181

SilasX wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Guatemala-Mexico security cordon has no structures or deployed patrols?

Here's a Federal checkpoint that's made out of grass and sticks. https://www.google.com/maps/@16.0751514,-91.0688863,3a,75y,1... How much of a wall were you hoping for? Most of their border consists of nothing but a graded road through the forest, much like the American border with Canada.

I don't know where I hoped for any kind of wall. I was asking for an internally consistent criticism of Trump's proposal so as to understand the logic behind it -- ideally, a worldmodel under which Trump's proposal is atrocious, but which doesn't generalize to criticism of all expenditure on border protection.

Can you help me with that point? I'm not interested in getting into the woods of what is or isn't "a wall" or what people can or can't call a "cordon".

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#183

Post by actsasbuffoon » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 8:59 PM UTC

aliston wrote: post #96

dforrestwilson wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not more Gary Johnson supporters?

Personally, I'd probably align most with Gary Johnson, but feel like he has virtually no chance of winning, so there's no point in wasting my vote. Like most Americans in this election cycle, I'm voting for the lesser of two evils. I think there are lots and lots of folks in Silicon Valley that feel the same way. One thing that I've never really understood is why the valley apparently leans so far left. On its face,…

I appreciate the frank nature of your post. As a left leaning person (though I lean right on nuclear power, drugs, and a few other issues) I'll try to answer as honestly as possible.

> higher taxes

I'm fine with higher taxes for some purposes. As a fairly high income earner, my tax bill hurts quite a bit. Still, when I was a kid I had a single mom. She had to go on welfare for a little while, and it was rough on her. I think it's the first time I ever saw her cry.

Obviously there are some people who abuse the system, but I feel like we have to keep providing anyway. The money that we collected for those few months kept us from being homeless. I like to think it as an investment in my future by the tax payers. I've paid more in now than I took, so it worked out.

> more regulation of businesses

Not always a good thing, but I can get behind some regulations. I think the repeal of Glass-Steagall was probably a mistake (thanks, Bill), and likely contributed to the 2008 bubble burst. Things like the FDA, and OSHA seem like examples of good regulation. They're certainly imperfect, and have made mistakes. On the whole though, I think they've been a net positive.

> more intervention in housing markets

Not much of an opinion on this one.

> higher marginal tax rates on "the rich" (AKA a middle class salary here) etc.

Hillary's plan calls for a 4% tax hike on incomes over $5 million. Software developer salary is pretty good, but I don't think anyone's salary is that high.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#184

Post by honkhonkpants » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 9:06 PM UTC

SilasX wrote: post #182

honkhonkpants wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a Federal checkpoint that's made out of grass and sticks. https://www.google.com/maps/@16.0751514,-91.0688863,3a,75y,1... How much of a wall were you hoping for? Most of their border consists of nothing but a graded road through the forest, much like the American border with Canada.

I don't know where I hoped for any kind of wall. I was asking for an internally consistent criticism of Trump's proposal so as to understand the logic behind it -- ideally, a worldmodel under which Trump's proposal is atrocious, but which doesn't generalize to criticism of all expenditure on border protection. Can you help me with that point? I'm not interested in getting into the woods of what is or isn't "a wall" o…

I don't give a hoot about any of that stuff you want. I'm responding to some dupe who has fallen for an Internet hoax claiming to show a gigantic wall on the Mexico/Guatemala border. There is no such wall.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#185

Post by googlryas » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 9:20 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #175

googlryas wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP was giving reasons why what Trump said in that case was not racism. I'm guessing 5 is related because it shows a sitting supreme court justice saying that her "race"(if we are defining heritage/ethnicity as race) plays an important role in her judicial decisions.

> I'm guessing 5 is related because it shows a sitting supreme court justice saying that her "race"(if we are defining heritage/ethnicity as race) plays an important role in her judicial decisions Specifically on issues of race or gender discrimination, she holds out that her background -- largely through life experiences, though she is expressly less eager to completely discount the possibility of an inherent or cul…

Key quote is "a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging."

I don't think it's fair to argue that gender/national origin can only make a positive impact on judgement, and not a negative impact as well.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#186

Post by googlryas » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 9:23 PM UTC

honkhonkpants wrote: post #184

SilasX wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know where I hoped for any kind of wall. I was asking for an internally consistent criticism of Trump's proposal so as to understand the logic behind it -- ideally, a worldmodel under which Trump's proposal is atrocious, but which doesn't generalize to criticism of all expenditure on border protection. Can you help me with that point? I'm not interested in getting into the woods of what is or isn't "a wall" o…

I don't give a hoot about any of that stuff you want. I'm responding to some dupe who has fallen for an Internet hoax claiming to show a gigantic wall on the Mexico/Guatemala border. There is no such wall.

I already admitted I was mistaken about the wall, and there is just a military cordon there instead.

As I asked in another post, does that negate my entire post?

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#187

Post by dragonwriter » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 9:42 PM UTC

googlryas wrote: post #185

dragonwriter wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm guessing 5 is related because it shows a sitting supreme court justice saying that her "race"(if we are defining heritage/ethnicity as race) plays an important role in her judicial decisions Specifically on issues of race or gender discrimination, she holds out that her background -- largely through life experiences, though she is expressly less eager to completely discount the possibility of an inherent or cul…

Key quote is "a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging." I don't think it's fair to argue that gender/national origin can only make a positive impact on judgement, and not a negative impact as well.

> I don't think it's fair to argue that gender/national origin can only make a positive impact on judgement, and not a negative impact as well.

Sotomayor does not argue that. She only argues that personal experience and perhaps cultural/innate differences (she doesn't argue for the latter, just notes that she is less opposed to the idea that it is possible than another who has addressed the issue) make a difference in judging, while stating that she hopes that the difference in the experiences she has due to her background (from those of a white male) would lead to a positive outcome on a particular class of issues.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#188

Post by josephlord » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 9:43 PM UTC

trobertson wrote: post #180

josephlord wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But he lies so much and makes so many factual errors how can you trust him on anything? His pro-torture position seems to show disregard of the 8th amendment is he really going to protect the others and is the 2A that much more important to you than all the others? I'm no saying that you should like Hillary but congress will probably block gun reform as always and while she spins and dissembles at times it isn't the…

> But he lies so much and makes so many factual errors how can you trust him on anything? This applies to Hillary too, you know? The most awful thing about this election is that neither candidate is trustworthy. They are both blatant liars.

I still feel that there is a real difference in the shamelessness of Trump's lies. Many easily contradictable.

At least Hillary would care if she was caught out, that puts some constraint on her.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#189

Post by serge2k » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 9:56 PM UTC

crusso wrote: post #138

sevenless wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a reasonable point if you consider Brexit is a hard-to-reverse decision. Older voters have to live with the consequence of their vote for much less long, and unlike an ordinary political vote, the outcome can't be reversed in another five years. Older voters have a different balance of interests between "Stick it up the bureaucrats to blow steam off" and "Irreversibly change the UK's relationship with Europe"…

If older people make voting decisions based upon a decreased impact in long-term consequences, how does that square with the statistically provable riskier behavior engaged in by younger people? If anything, I find that older people care more about the long term because they tend to think in terms of impacts on their progeny. It's just as likely that older people have decades of experience from when the UK was not a…

> If anything, I find that older people care more about the long term because they tend to think in terms of impacts on their progeny

That's why Millenials are currently thriving and have such immense gratitude to the boomer generation for forward thinking policies that ensured prosperity going forward.

Or not.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#190

Post by pbreit » Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 9:59 PM UTC

pbreit wrote: post #36

carsongross wrote: post #4

There are quite a few Trump supporters in the Valley, but they simply stay quiet because they will get 'racist' yelled at them and it will potentially hurt their careers.

Don't you think being a Trump supporter =should= hurt most people's careers? It's pretty poor judgment, for starters.

I didn't mean to suggest employers should consider it. I meant, for example, voters and consumers holding Trump-supporting politicians and public figures in lower regard and voting with their votes & dollars.