Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The 2016 Election

blog.samaltman.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

561–570 of 646 posts

Re: The 2016 Election

#561

Post by AlexandrB »

strato wrote: post #523
holman wrote: post #177

I think a lot of the problems with the YC/Thiel discussion stems from the difference between how people view it: is it a political disagreement, or is it an ethical disagreement? In a "normal" election, this would be pretty cut-and-dry: it'd primarily be a political disagreement over taxes or something, and letting someone go because of their political beliefs would be viewed by many as being pretty extreme. Many peo…

Who's the arbiter on what's an -ism and an -obia? Just feels like another tactic by the left to create a safe space for itself by demonizing anything that might undermine its arguments.

The guy bragged about committing sexual assault with impunity. If that's not sexism I don't know what is. You don't have to dig deep here.

Re: The 2016 Election

#562

Post by douche »

tedajax wrote: post #186
mejari wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I encourage you to watch one of his recent rallies. It is not hyperbole.

Seriously I feel like I'm taking crazy pills on HN the way people are apologizing for Trump in this thread. This is a man that has sexually assaulted women and actively campaigned on kicking out all the "others". Trump is not worthy of defense.

The whole sexual assault angle is bizarre to me, because there is no moral high ground to seize here. It's not like Bill Clinton was a monk and kept his Johnson in his pants during his years in the limelight. And it's not like Hillary didn't discredit and do her part in persecuting women who stood up and blew the whistle on his indiscretions.

Yeah, Trump is a frigging billionaire who officiated at Miss Universe contests. If it had turned out that he had never made a pass at any of those beautiful women, I'd be suspecting that he's really a closet case, or else he is the saintliest man in human existence. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it doesn't fit his brand.

Re: The 2016 Election

#563

Post by AlexandrB »

sysk wrote: post #552
holman wrote: post #177

I think a lot of the problems with the YC/Thiel discussion stems from the difference between how people view it: is it a political disagreement, or is it an ethical disagreement? In a "normal" election, this would be pretty cut-and-dry: it'd primarily be a political disagreement over taxes or something, and letting someone go because of their political beliefs would be viewed by many as being pretty extreme. Many peo…

This is 900% rationalization. > When you see him and his followers advocating misogyny, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, aggressiveness, and basically all the other -isms and -obias, it becomes much harder to "see the other side" of the debate The exact same argument could be convincingly used to discriminate against members of the two largest organized religions. Are you also going to ask potential hires who they vot…

Thiel is not simply voting for Trump, he's actively trying to help get him elected (first with an appearance at the RNC and then to the tune of 1.25m). And that's after the "hot mic" tape. Which means that Thiel thinks the propensity for commiting sexual assault should not be a disqualifying feature of a presidential candidate.

Re: The 2016 Election

#564

Post by douche »

joshmanders wrote: post #148
blfr wrote: post #28

I already made this point today but Hillary Clinton, whom sama is endorsing, has directly contributed to starting two wars (in Syria and Libya). While Trump threatened to ban Muslims from entering the US, her actions have already led to thousands of Muslims being killed. Isn't that strictly worse?

Yeah I'm not quite sure I understand the whole "I'm voting Clinton because it's the only way to stop Trump" argument. No it's not. If enough people who are voting Clinton purely to stop Trump voted 3rd party, 3rd party would actually have a chance. In this overflowing toilet bowl we call the 2016 Presidential Election, your best bet to unclog it is to use a plunger, now throw another turd in. Vote for the plunger, no…

It is truly Giant Douche vs Turd Sandwich. Unfortunately, we don't have a real candidate who is effectively Drain-O. I wonder why Romney, or McCain, or Biden, or, to be partisan to my birth state, Susan Collins, didn't try to be a reasonable option.

Re: The 2016 Election

#565

Post by chasing »

MicroBerto wrote: post #547
chasing wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sam, just so you know, many of your sentences could exchange Trump for Hillary and be exactly what Trump supporters I know say. Especially this one: > > [Hillary] shows little respect for the Constitution, the Republic, or for human decency, and I fear for national security if [she] becomes our president. Except one is based on a set of statements made by the candidate and his own campaign, the other is mostly buil…

> built upon the massive pile of conspiracy theories and mountains-made-from-molehills that constitute the argument against Hillary. Like the "conspiracy theories" that Hillary's campaign was behind the violence at this year's Trump rallies? Seems like they're no longer 'theories'... ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IuJGHuIkzY&feature=youtu.be... )

A Project Veritas Action video? Project Veritas is James O'Keefe's new project, right? The guy who's whole MO is releasing questionable videos to attack liberal organizations?

Trustworthy.

Re: The 2016 Election

#566

Post by douche »

dragonwriter wrote: post #454
dllthomas wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> third party candidates are never going to happen More than two parties will never be stable unless elections are other than FPTP. But which two parties has changed more than once through US history. I don't see a reason it couldn't possibly happen again.

It happened twice, both in the first century of US independence; whole there have been subsequent realignments, the identity of the two nationally-competitive parties have been stable for more than a century and a half. It's not implausible that the basic factors which promoted the relative fluidity of the party system in the early Republic are gone. (Direct election of senators and the near universal norm of assigni…

It would be possible to consider the post-Nixon Southern Strategy flop of anti-civil-rights Democrats to form the new-look Republican party a third occurrence. That fundamentally changed the direction and outlook of both parties.

Re: The 2016 Election

#567

Post by douche »

eppsilon wrote: post #335
adamnemecek wrote: post #63

As much as I hate Trump, I'm kind of hoping for him to win. Fundamentally, I think that 4 years of Trump might be better than 8 years of Hillary. Also, if Hillary wins, the DNC won't have to change. If Trump wins, in 2020, they will be forced to nominate maybe someone like Sanders. Trump winning will also really underscore how broken the US political system is and I'm hoping that him winning could be a catalyst for s…

Four years of Trump would allow him / the GOP to appoint at least one SCOTUS justice. That alone is enough for me to vote against him.

See, that is the whole reason I vote for him. I cannot abide the thought of a liberal who has a hard-on for suppressing the 2nd Amendment and other integral parts of the Bill of Rights appointing at least two supreme court judges (RBD is in her 80s). I could hope that the GOP holds enough of a majority to block those appointments until the tide changes, as they have this year, but that is possibly akin to playing Russian roulette.

Re: The 2016 Election

#568

Post by eternalban »

rtx wrote: post #479
eternalban wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noted a moderation and more nuanced position lately. To be perfectly frank, sometimes I wonder if DJT is not the establishment's strawman designed to keep us with the globalist agenda. The globalists' agenda is directly responsible for the death of millions of Muslims and likely a substantial number of Iraqi and Syrian Christians, with Sam's choice of president being very much in the loop, starting with her husb…

Since you understand both cultures, why are people in USA not able to see the threat posed by Hillary.

The cultures I identify with are American and Iranian. But what does it have to do with culture?

> the threat posed by Hillary.

The Americans who are clued into the geopolitical equation recognize that either America accepts getting demoted from world hegemon to ex-Anglo-Empire Deux, or, the "world" will need to duke it out "one last time" ... again.

I have a feeling The Donald will not react pleasantly when Putin and company (not who you think, imo) tell him "You're fired!"

Re: The 2016 Election

#569

Post by Uhhrrr »

foota wrote: post #480
ZenoArrow wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me what you know about Johnson and Stein's policy proposals.

Johnson thinks we should eliminate income taxes and replace them with high consumption taxes and Stein thinks we should cancel student debt. I've admittedly cherry picked some things I don't like.

Like Europe's VAT? Hardly a wild, crazy idea.

Re: The 2016 Election

#570

Post by chirau »

Aloha wrote: post #513
monk_e_boy wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not from the US, so take this as an outsiders view. Clinton says different things in public than she does to her friends. She also flip flops. This is not trustworthy. Trump is unpleasant, but at least he talks straight. I think this could be the last election of its kind in the USA, a two party system that works to produce these two candidates? Someone (Facebook, google, twitter) will come up with a better way o…

Clinton talks like a professional politician, Trump says whatever comes to mind at the time. I'm not sure I like how professional politicians talk, but I'm a little nervous that "comes to mind at the time" might lead us into a very bad place.

You might enjoy this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUBE4YlTXvE
Post reply on HN