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Peter Thiel Gave Money to Attorney General Going After Google

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Re: Peter Thiel Gave Money to Attorney General Going After Google

#81

Post by rockinghigh »

adventured wrote: post #51
mrpopo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is how our system of government works, and there is nothing wrong with that. For most of the world population, wealthy people buying off politicians to serve their interests is seen as unethical, and it is flat illegal in many countries.

There is no country in the developed world where politicians aren't constantly bribed, pandered to, influenced via wealth & power from the private sector, and so on. There are no exceptions. Routine scandals - only the things that get caught - over the last three or four decades, from Canada to France to Western Europe to Australia to South Korea to China to Japan prove this point dramatically.

The distinction is whether the bribery is legal or not. The US, unlike the countries you listed, has created legal means to bribe government officials.

Re: Peter Thiel Gave Money to Attorney General Going After Google

#82

Post by [deleted] »

rdtsc wrote: post #68
VeejayRampay wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazing comment, you somehow manage to give Thiel excuses ("it's the way it is") and shift the topic to Google's lobbying at the same time.

> Amazing comment Thanks! > you somehow manage to give Thiel excuses And what is he guilty of again? > and shift the topic to Google's lobbying The article is about Google and lobbying, so pointing out what Google is doing is interesting. Besides your complement and meta-comment what do you think about the article?

[deleted]

Re: Peter Thiel Gave Money to Attorney General Going After Google

#83

Post by jrs95 »

smhost wrote: post #36
downandout wrote: post #23

While this headline is factual, this is like saying " Man With Pre-Existing Health Conditions Donated to the Obama Campaign, and Now We Have Obamacare ". People shop for candidates that will serve their interests and then try to help get them elected. That is how our system of government works, and there is nothing wrong with that. The article strives to imply that Thiel paid this guy off to bring the action, but pro…

> That is how our system of government works, and there is nothing wrong with that. The system you described naturally consolidates power, and most of society finds it acceptable only if it coexists with a mechanism to redistribute some of that power to the underprivileged class. So there are some things wrong with it. > a man hated by liberals for his support of Donald Trump Liberals hate him for his conservative vi…

> most of society finds it acceptable only if it coexists with a mechanism to redistribute some of that power to the underprivileged class

That mechanism exists. It's called voting. The problem mostly lies with how difficult it is to get underprivileged people to turn out and vote. Of course there are also voter suppression efforts, but those mostly amount to a 'nudge' to make it a little more difficult so less people turn out. It's a much smaller overall effect than general voter apathy. That's part of why Democrats were able to have so much success this year -- anti-Trump sentiment seems to have gotten their voters to turn out in an off year when they didn't used to.

Re: Peter Thiel Gave Money to Attorney General Going After Google

#84

Post by jrs95 »

natecavanaugh wrote: post #47
smhost wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is how our system of government works, and there is nothing wrong with that. The system you described naturally consolidates power, and most of society finds it acceptable only if it coexists with a mechanism to redistribute some of that power to the underprivileged class. So there are some things wrong with it. > a man hated by liberals for his support of Donald Trump Liberals hate him for his conservative vi…

> Textbook conservative gaslighting to downplay the prevalence of an issue that they find to be inconvenient. I think depending on your experiences, it may come off as gaslighting, but as a conservative (who loathes Trump and a lot of what Thiel champions), I can tell you that even the word racist is a heavy handed social weapon that has sometimes been used wrongly, or, and this is what triggers conservative anger, i…

>a heavy handed social weapon that has sometimes been used wrongly

You mean like those pro-Northam ads in VA with the Gillespie voter in a pickup truck running over minority children?

Re: Peter Thiel Gave Money to Attorney General Going After Google

#85

Post by CodeWriter23 »

flexie wrote: post #40
CodeWriter23 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EU Courts already found Google guilty of antitrust activities. So the sound assumption here is US Courts will rule similarly. So why would a State AG pass on such an opportunity to fill the state coffers and defend their citizens? Check out followthemoney.org to learn why California isn’t filing the suit.

American antitrust legislation is completely different from European competition law. It's by no means given that the result will be the same in the US or that the fines would be similar. Also, I doubt that most Missourian voters care nearly as much about fighting Google as they care about jailing local criminals.

Tell that to Microsoft.

Re: Peter Thiel Gave Money to Attorney General Going After Google

#86

Post by rayiner »

maxxxxx wrote: post #79
rayiner wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There isn't more than $15 million worth of things a company like Google could be lobbying over?

They may be already getting what's politically feasible.

That's one inference, but is it plausible? It's not exactly like courts and prosecutors are cracking down on lobbying right now. Also, the National Association of Realtors is spending about double what Google and AT&T are spending now. There is headroom to spend more without ending up at the top of the list. Also, have you ever even seen these lobbying figures cited in any news media? What mechanism is creating this backpressure?

Re: Peter Thiel Gave Money to Attorney General Going After Google

#87

Post by maxxxxx »

rayiner wrote: post #86
maxxxxx wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They may be already getting what's politically feasible.

That's one inference, but is it plausible? It's not exactly like courts and prosecutors are cracking down on lobbying right now. Also, the National Association of Realtors is spending about double what Google and AT&T are spending now. There is headroom to spend more without ending up at the top of the list. Also, have you ever even seen these lobbying figures cited in any news media? What mechanism is creating this…

Politicians can't favor one group too blatantly without backlash,. There also need to be PR campaigns that sway public opinion. I bet a lot of money goes there.

Re: Peter Thiel Gave Money to Attorney General Going After Google

#88

Post by 0xbear »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #32
0xbear wrote: post #24

It’s only fair. Google goes after conservatives, conservatives go after Google. Don’t want your fortunes to depend on politics? Easy solution: stay out of politics. Be neutral and above the fray, declare political discourse (all of it, not just conservative points of view) socially unacceptable at work.

Is there any real evidence of Google going after conservatives? Is it not just a result of the fact that younger and better educated people are less likely to be conservative that gives this impression?

Google is very “Chinese Revolution” on the inside. You can totally have negative career and social consequences for being public at work about your conservative viewpoints and voting preferences. At the same time you can have positive consequences for signaling virtue to liberals. You could say “that’s not Google” doing this, but the thing is, Google totally supports, condones, and encourages this behavior.

But those are internal affairs, so you might argue this is irrelevant. But recently this attitude slipped outside with YouTube demonetization of conservative commentators, forced de-trending of popular conservative videos and forced trending of liberal ones?

If you want to play this ball, expect defense to get involved.

Re: Peter Thiel Gave Money to Attorney General Going After Google

#89

Post by [deleted] »

PeachPlum wrote: post #64
3pt14159 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Monsanto is evil for tricking farmers or for unfair business practices, not for lobbying. This is a false equivalency. Google advocates for things that are generally in the public interest and does not abuse those position as many companies of their size do.

11 Sep 2017 · Google today appealed the record €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion USD) antitrust fine levied against it by the EU

[deleted]

Re: Peter Thiel Gave Money to Attorney General Going After Google

#90

Post by imustbeevil »

jrs95 wrote: post #84
natecavanaugh wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Textbook conservative gaslighting to downplay the prevalence of an issue that they find to be inconvenient. I think depending on your experiences, it may come off as gaslighting, but as a conservative (who loathes Trump and a lot of what Thiel champions), I can tell you that even the word racist is a heavy handed social weapon that has sometimes been used wrongly, or, and this is what triggers conservative anger, i…

>a heavy handed social weapon that has sometimes been used wrongly You mean like those pro-Northam ads in VA with the Gillespie voter in a pickup truck running over minority children?

Why can't they both be bad? People who are racist are assholes. People who wield victimhood as a weapon are assholes. Neither of those groups are most people in their respective demographic.

Is this really such a difficult position to hold?

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