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Welcome, ACLU

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Re: Welcome, ACLU

#211

Post by mtalantikite »

muninn_ wrote: post #41

Although I think the American Civil Liberties Union is incredibly valuable and I'm glad they have a lot more money now to fight for the American people, I'm questioning all of this. Where was the outpouring of funding when black people were being gunned down by cops from West Coast organizations? Where has YCombinator been as our own impoverished African-Americans are getting slaughtered in the streets of Chicago? Wh…

They can show their intentions by not just stopping with their support of the ACLU. They can move to support other organizations, like the Southern Poverty Law Center, Earth Justice, Planned Parenthood, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, National Immigration Law Center, EFF, RAINN, and so many more.

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#212

Post by [deleted] »

muninn_ wrote: post #41

Although I think the American Civil Liberties Union is incredibly valuable and I'm glad they have a lot more money now to fight for the American people, I'm questioning all of this. Where was the outpouring of funding when black people were being gunned down by cops from West Coast organizations? Where has YCombinator been as our own impoverished African-Americans are getting slaughtered in the streets of Chicago? Wh…

[deleted]

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#213

Post by jackmott »

ErikVandeWater wrote: post #87
rexreed wrote: post #21

Does YC have a page of their particular positions on various political matters which guides their decisions on which non-profits to support and which ones not to? I'm genuinely interested in reading a "platform" as it were on what YC believes and is willing to support.

Yes this is somewhat dangerous for YC. I would like to see that this was planned before November and their support was not determined by who the president turned out to be. Combined with the outspoken politics of Paul Graham1, I get the feeling people who identify as conservatives may not feel welcome at YC. 1 http://twitter.com/paulg EDIT: I changed "conservatives" to "people who identify as conservatives" to clarif…

>I get the feeling conservatives may not feel welcome at YC.

Among most people with an education conservatives are not really welcome right now. If you feel welcome, people are being polite, but we are all really really mad at you right now.

-honest feelings.

-Honest feelings, sorry.

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#214

Post by brandonb »

muninn_ wrote: post #41

Although I think the American Civil Liberties Union is incredibly valuable and I'm glad they have a lot more money now to fight for the American people, I'm questioning all of this. Where was the outpouring of funding when black people were being gunned down by cops from West Coast organizations? Where has YCombinator been as our own impoverished African-Americans are getting slaughtered in the streets of Chicago? Wh…

Here are a few efforts from the Y Combinator and broader tech communities that help with those goals.

On veterans, several YC alumni, after working on the healthcare.gov rescue team, went on to help start the US Digital Service (https://www.usds.gov/) and Nava (navahq.com), which are working on the VA backlog. Both organizations are hiring.

Within the broader tech community, companies like Nuna are working on Medicaid and the VA backlog. On policing, DJ Patil--former Greylock Data Scientist and one of the founders of Color, FFS--launched an initiative around police data and criminal justice during his time at the White House: https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/13/dj-patil-criminal-justice/

And, of course, Code for America in SOMA does lots of work with local governments and you can apply to be a Fellow: https://www.codeforamerica.org/

There's a lot more to do, and not all of these efforts are as well-known as they should be. But if you're looking to help, people in tech are working on these problems.

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#215

Post by sp332 »

justin66 wrote: post #102
CydeWeys wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ACLU is involved in protecting civil liberties, not politics.

In fairness, they are an advocacy group whose activities include political lobbying. No idea how accurate these figures are, but: https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D00003147...

This confuses me, but "only donations to the 501(c)(3) foundation are tax deductible, and only the 501(c)(4) group can engage in unlimited political lobbying. The two organizations share office space and employees." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#216

Post by jMyles »

wnevets wrote: post #15

Is this the first time ycombinator.com has funded a group involved in politics?

Looking through last year's class, it's fairly easy to see a political bent to 50% of the groups or more.

Increasingly - and assuringly IMO - it's difficult to coherently distinguish "groups involved in politics" from other groups (ie, there is no other type of group).

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#218

Post by MK999 »

del82 wrote: post #61
monochromatic wrote: post #33

The ACLU sometimes supports a worthy cause, but it's basically just a left-leaning political organization. I understand that's particularly trendy right now, and anyone who supports Trump is a pariah in Silicon Valley... but come on. Would YC be donating directly to the Democratic party if that got the same favorable tax treatment?

Can you explain specifically how the ACLU is a left-leaning political organization, rather than an apolitical nonprofit?

They sue anything that looks like Christianity, that makes them "left-leaning".

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#219

Post by iamatworknow »

cloakandswagger wrote: post #39
mcphage wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LOL at all the liberals giving money to a group that defends the constitution, how silly is that amirite?

They defend every part of the Constitution except the Second Amendment. That hypocrisy is why the ACLU will never see a penny from me.

>In a report issued in February, the Texas affiliate of the National Rifle Association joined the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition “to spotlight unlawful, unnecessary governmental encroachment on average law-abiding citizens.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/us/politics/05guns.html

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#220

Post by facetube »

muninn_ wrote: post #158
becarefulyo wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So your argument is that if you didn't do what was right before, you shouldn't do what's right now?

The other problems still exist and in my opinion are far worse. My argument is that we should prioritize problems like those over the current outcry.

People often support the ACLU because they believe that threats to free speech and free assembly are systemic and have potentially catastrophic future consequences. Doing so does not imply an absence of action in other arenas, and IMO it's dangerous to assume that.
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