This is good news, I think? Thiel has some extremish views, but I generally regard him as intelligent and thoughtful. And he's in close contact with other smart, influential people (e.g. Musk, Sam Altman, etc.), which gives them some indirect influence. Not that this makes things substantially better. But maybe a little bit? Hopefully?
> I generally regard him as intelligent and thoughtful
Based on a YouTube video mentioned in another comment thread (https://youtu.be/CoxxGhLFbw4?t=2m30s), I wouldn't regard him as intelligent by any means.
If this is the last election it guarantees Thiel not just 4 years of crony paydays but a lifetime. Trump doesn't have to make good on promises when there will never be another election. He can simply gave any one killed who complains about the inequality they nearly have fully autonomous killing drones and Trump will be legally empowered to have anyone he wants out to death at any time without trial.
As much as Tuesday night felt like the end of days, this seems a bit extreme. I won't say utterly impossible, as I already can't believe what's happened, but still very, very unlikely.
Given the choice between Thiel (favors reconstitution of our political establishment and believes in science and technology) and the rest of the Trump hangers-on (are ambivalent towards reconstitution of the establishment and are anti-science), this is a decent outcome.
Tolerance means you aren't jailing people with different views than your own. Tolerance means you aren't out beating people up for having different views. Tolerance isn't about putting on a happy face and doing business with someone whose views you find odious. If people are no longer free to use words or social stigma to advance their views and opinion, because "tolerance," then what do we have left?
Tolerance is compassion. It means seeking the deeper truth beneath the words and actions, to understand the fundamental reasons. It's true that few of us have the time and energy to dig through all the bullshit and achieve understanding of everyone we find abhorrent. But where we are able to do so, we usually learn some important things about others and about ourselves - mostly, that when it comes down to it, we all…
More Democrats voted and caucused for her than for Bernie. I don't know where the notion that his nomination was stolen comes from other than maybe Trump himself.
Independents, needed to win the general, were not permitted to participate in several major Democratic primaries. Those Independents did not go for Clinton (clearly). Nor did Millennials, who also sat out for Clinton. If you need people outside your party to vote for you, you don't restrict caucusing to just your party. Otherwise, you get the proverbial brick in the face. Must be a terrible legacy to lose to the pers…
Primary rules aren't decided on a case-by-case, election by election basis, and they're not a strategic tool for positioning oneself for the general campaign. They're an internal process that is supposed to be consistent and knowable beforehand--and the reason Obama was able to upset Hillary in 2008 was because his campaign bothered to learn the rules for all 50 primaries/caucuses, while hers didn't.
Tolerance means you aren't jailing people with different views than your own. Tolerance means you aren't out beating people up for having different views. Tolerance isn't about putting on a happy face and doing business with someone whose views you find odious. If people are no longer free to use words or social stigma to advance their views and opinion, because "tolerance," then what do we have left?
Why the implicit equation of "words" with "shouting at people that they're bad"? (Or at least, that's how I'm reading your comment based on the context.) The alternative is actual argument rather than punishment, something overgard in no way ruled out. ...which unfortunately may not be a great tool given the current situation. I think we are at the point where playing nice may no longer be a serious option. But that…
Also, there is the fact that Trump isn't Pinochet. At this stage, he's not even Bill Clinton (pushed the party hard to the right, locked up hundreds of thousands of poor black people to court skittish suburbanites). He'll get there but he's a pure virgin soul compared to pretty much any modern President besides Carter.
This was obvious from the RNC speech and further reinforced when Thiel donated $1M to Trump. A contrarian bet, sure, but $1M is a pretty small price to pay to have a 50/50 shot at CTO of the USA. I'm sure he'll see a very significant ROI on his $1M once the government starts awarding contracts very conveniently to companies of which he owns a portion. I had very negative feelings about Thiel, and those were magnified…
I really hope that's the case. More so because that will kick out the awful Megan Smith from her current position.
I had to sit through the most excruciating long presentation from her about how white men are basically the devil incarnate and how women essentially invented tech but its because they're totally oppressed that we are just discovering this now.
Thiel has some extremish views, but I generally regard him as intelligent and thoughtful. "He seems intelligent and thoughtful, but has scarily extremist views" might be a better angle to take.