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

Welcome, ACLU

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

491–500 of 1001 posts

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#491

Post by andrepd »

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…

> I know this comment will be unpopular, and that's ok.

I would just like to say this kind of bait is agains the guidelines

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#492

Post by SquareWheel »

wootness wrote: post #446
treehau5 wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't donate to the ACLU because I believe in the civil rights for all people, outside the womb, and inside. Is there a similar organization I can donate to?

Jesus, you idiots still think that banning abortion is a good idea? My god, look at the countries that do. It's a mess. Get your religion out of here, please.

Please don't create throwaway accounts just to criticize others. I've flagged your comment.

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#493

Post by mtalantikite »

cidibe wrote: post #273
mtalantikite wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not to SPLC please. I have no idea what they are thinking with regard to criticism of Salafism. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/10/maa...

Thanks for the heads up, wasn't aware of that particular case. Surprised to hear about that, they typically have done good work over the decades.

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#494

Post by TorKlingberg »

chickenfries wrote: post #16

Peter Thiel insists that the immigration EO is does not constitute a religious ban [1], but Rudy Giuliani says this is exactly what the President asked for [2] (Also, we heard him say as much many, many times). [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2017/01/28/peter-thiel-s... [2] http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/316726-giuliani-t...

Peter Thiel also said that we shouldn't take Trump's words literally. Unfortunately nobody told the border guards enforcing his executive order.

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#495

Post by koolba »

pasquinelli wrote: post #396
koolba wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The best time to plant a tree was yesterday. I can personally forgive them, but we need to hold these players accountable in the future. If marketing moves is what incentives them, we need to make it impossible to move us without extended action. I feel like I hear that line on a daily basis but it doesn't factor in reality. To stretch the metaphor further (for illustration), if the lot where you'll be planting the…

and applying that stretched metaphor back to its original context, we shouldn't support civil liberties if they're a lost cause. but what have we actually achieved with all this metaphor stretching?

The point was that yesterday and/or today isn't always the best choice. In the case of sama/YC, it feels like one knee jerk reaction after another without any connective thought:

"Hey the ACLU is suing Trump ... let's add them as a non-profit in the next batch!"

"Yah that'll show em'!"

I don't agree with most of sama's election related comments and am unabashedly pro-Trump, but I mean this objectively: If you're going to pick a battle at least put some thought into it first.

Otherwise this all just looks a silly excuse to demonstrate YC (and particularly sama's) political biases.

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#496

Post by mikeyouse »

problems wrote: post #301
mst wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ACLU sued to protect the rights of neo-nazis. That's not how most "just a left-leaning political organization"s behave.

I had great respect for them when they were doing that kind of thing and standing up for everyone's right to speech. Do they still engage in that? If I recall correctly they haven't had cases like that in decades. All their recent cases in my memory are left-leaning at least, which, while they do represent many good goals in my opinion, is understandably a political slant.

>. Do they still engage in that? If I recall correctly they haven't had cases like that in decades.

From: https://www.aclu.org/defending-our-rights/court-battles

Some recent cases;

* The ACLU filed a motion in Michigan state court challenging the constitutionality of a subpoena issued to the website PubPeer demanding that it turn over the identities of anonymous commenters

* The ACLU has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s mass interception and searching of Americans’ international communications.

* Whether a cause of action is available under the Constitution for violations of prisoners’ due process and equal protection rights when the prisoners were abused in immigration custody and when the government.

* Whether North Carolina can prohibit individuals who are registered sex offenders from “accessing” any social media websites.

* In a Freedom of Information Act request filed on January 13, 2010, the ACLU asked the government to disclose the legal and factual basis for its use of predator drones to conduct "targeted killings" overseas.

They do a lot of good work.

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#497

Post by [deleted] »

jaypaulynice wrote: post #385
katm wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can be cynical about us bringing in the ACLU, but in the words of Maya Angelou: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

But where is the response to homelessness in SF right in YC's backyard? This sounds like PR more than anything! Why take advantage of a bad situation?

[deleted]

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#498

Post by dragonwriter »

beaconstudios wrote: post #312
rqebmm wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that's because he's publicly backed Trump, who is as un-libertarian as you can get.

that depends entirely on whether you view a global job market as intrinsic to libertarianism. For nationalist libertarians, Trump's economic focus would presumably be a good thing. as far as I've seen, a global job market has resulted in more exploitation than prosperity. Most of the profit seems to go to international businesses that have little interest in giving back to their host nation in the form of jobs or tax…

> nationalist libertarians

That's not entirely a coherent combination of labels; the closest thing in the real USA to that seems to be bog-standard conservatives who selectively deploy libertarian rhetoric against programs they oppose.

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#499

Post by ajamesm »

beaconstudios wrote: post #420
ajamesm wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ACLU, in the past week, received as much $ in online donation as it has over the past six years. Cash talks and bullshit walks. Tell me, if you're a free-market conservative, why YC or the ACLU should disregard such a resonating and clear message from the market.

one opinion: there's nothing wrong with YC supporting the ACLU or even openly opposing Trump, but consider any Trump supporters (either public or private) that they currently work with. How can they be sure that they won't be discriminated against if YC has taken a stance against their political beliefs? And for those supporters who were planning on applying to YC, how can they know that YC will treat them neutrally?…

I don't think there's any neutrality in the process and we shouldn't pretend there is.

Participating in YC is assenting to American capitalism and working to enrich YC investors, which is a political act. Cooperating with Peter Thiel is a political act. Expanding the labor supply in markets with unions is a political act. Disrupting healthcare is a political act. Employment under H1B visas is political.

YC can admit [your candidate here] supporters and say 'we won't discriminate based upon your political affiliations or your vote' but they will absolutely discriminate against each other's political aims because of the political ramifications of the any work done by technologists.

Re: Welcome, ACLU

#500

Post by lpolovets »

It upsets me to read negative comments about initiatives like this. My assumption is that most people agree that it'd be good for the ACLU to have more funding and to operate in a more efficient, higher leverage manner. If YC can help with that, great! They could be backing other areas instead, or they could be backing nothing. I, for one, am glad they're backing something good.

I don't understand why people often bring up other areas where private money and resources could have gone. When someone says "I support X" (e.g. X = ACLU), they are not saying "I don't support anything that's not X." They are just saying they care about X. If you would prefer to donate your time and resources to another cause, that's great! I'm sure you'd be disappointed if you dedicated yourself to curing diabetes and someone complained because they thought cancer research should be higher priority, or if you offered to hire 10k refugees around the world and people suggested a boycott because they preferred that you hire Americans instead.

Let's not discourage people from trying to make the world better.

Post reply on HN