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

Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

linkedin.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 1001 posts

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#201

Post by white-flame »

ben0x539 wrote: post #118
olioli wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guys who wrote the universal declaration of human rights seem to disagree with you. "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." "All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation o…

Yeah I'm not saying people with abhorrent opinions don't deserve human rights. That doesn't mean tolerance is all about being cool with your hypothetical Nazi neighbor. I'm pretty sure whoever came up with that declaration would be with me on the part where we aren't cool w/ Nazis.

Tolerance would still mean that if Nazi neighbor needs help with his lawnmower, that you don't have a problem giving him a hand.

Don't throw away people's humanity because of one aspect you don't like about them. Even if they're your enemy. Seriously, differences are being treated like kindergarten cooties here. You don't catch Naziism by being civil to your neighbor, and we need civility overall.

But here's a problem: Everybody is labeling everybody else as effectively Nazis for any minor or major difference, thus justifying all civility being withdrawn.

Plus, people can change.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#202

Post by losvedir »

noobermin wrote: post #122
RealGeek wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Wasn't Trump rallying against such crony corruption aka 'pay for play'?

Yes. He lied, as many on the left said he was. Here[0], there is talk Jamie Dimon was considered by his advisors for Treasury. To be fair, Dimon declined, but it shows that Trump at least surrounds himself with people who don't give two shits about his "helping the little man." [0] http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/10/donald-trump-advisors-conside...

I'm not sure what he promised or where the contradiction is, but Jamie Dimon would be a very strong advisor. I think he's considered one of the smartest of the leaders of the wall street banks, and JP Morgan was one of the few banks that was strong going into 2008. I wasn't a Trump supporter, but that at least shows good judgment to me.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#203

Post by dleslie »

user837387 wrote: post #105
toomuchtodo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clinton and her machine threw the only candidate who could beat Trump under the bus. She deserves her loss, and should apologize to the American people for prioritizing her selfish ambition over the good of the country. Hopefully the Democrats learn about running someone electable before 2018. I have already prepared my donation fund for Bernie Sanders' or Tulsi Gabbard's 2020 presidential race (and I'll not vote aga…

That is your opinion and you are entitled to it but I disagree. Put Hillary in a balance with Trump and by far she is the better candidate. When people are willing to believe in the Father of Lies, even after you show them recorded evidence, they are a lost cause. It is really hard to cure willful ignorance. Hillary has also lied, I admit it, but it is not even on the same league of Trump. The Democrats' fault (and m…

It is now objectively true that Clinton could not beat Trump; it is time to accept that the candidate you backed was not a winning choice.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#204

Post by dang »

revelation wrote: post #108
sctb wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We detached this flagged subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12926866 and marked it off-topic.

It is "off-topic" how exactly? This is a misuse of flags, and instead you auto-zapped it.

It was obviously off topic; the topic is the news described in the title.

Veering into most-controversial-generic-tangent-associated-with-controversial-thing is the worst direction politicized threads can take on HN, and they're borderline to begin with. Whimsical or unpredictable tangents are ok, but generic ideological tangents are always off-topic. They're black holes: they suck everything in, including all the oxygen of thoughtful discussion.

Because these things are so generic you can always make a case for their relevance to a specific story, but the proof is in the pudding: what happens when discussions veer off this way? The pudding sucks. This one in particular is embarrassingly terrible. This pudding needs to stop forthwith.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#205

Post by swang »

jerf wrote: post #49
_pius wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great moral courage there. YC has a choice: do what IBM did in the 1930's or not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust And before you say I'm "going Godwin," remember: It was Sam and Paul who've said they think Trump is a threat of similar proportions. If Sam really thinks that, the moral thing to do is cut ties. And yes, it'll be hard. Would have been easier to do before the election. It will only get…

Yes, you went Godwin. Trump isn't Hitler. That's election propaganda, not truth. Election's over. Time to put the election propaganda away. Now, you might still not like him. Heck, let me take a bold step and say you won't like him. He will do things you won't like. Welcome to the real world. My government's been doing things I don't like my entire life. (Along with all the things I do like.) But I rate the odds that…

do you think no one in germany opposed hitler?

hitler was seen to be pretty crazy to most "moderate" germans too and he wasn't voted in as the führer with absolute power. he slowly worked his way up in popularity until he became chancellor. then he worked to slowly build up members of the NSDAP into positions of power until no one could oppose him. then he began suppressing the opposition.

the lesson about hitler in germany is not, "don't vote in an extreme dictator" the lesson about hitler is that a person can assume power legally and still end up with total control without the will of the people.

you "promise" to stand up to trump if he becomes this. but by the time you realize what's going on. it'll be too late.

now i'm not saying trump is going to become hitler. the reason everyone is scared now is because he is following similar blueprints to hitler or other fascists. most of the time these type of leaders just become any other "normal" leader and do their term and let power go democratically and i honestly hope that happens because that's the best case.

but if he goes through with everything he promises. it'll be very scary. trumps call to south korea president assuring her that us forces would remain was very assuring for the stability of asia, so i have some hope.

this is almost a version of the boy who cried wolf. too many people have cried hitler and now no one believes it or just dismisses it outright.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#206

Post by runako »

droopyEyelids wrote: post #25
darawk wrote: post #4

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 always post this but if anyone wants to know why this is remarkable news, Mr Thiel wrote his “manifesto” and made it public. It’s short and to the point. https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/educatio...

"The 1920s were the last decade in American history during which one could be genuinely optimistic about politics."

I wonder if he doesn't know or if he doesn't care how that might sound to people who were legally denied basic citizenship rights in the 1920s, or the descendants of those people. The 1920s were politically bleak for quite a few Americans.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#207

Post by praisewhitey »

noobermin wrote: post #122
RealGeek wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Wasn't Trump rallying against such crony corruption aka 'pay for play'?

Yes. He lied, as many on the left said he was. Here[0], there is talk Jamie Dimon was considered by his advisors for Treasury. To be fair, Dimon declined, but it shows that Trump at least surrounds himself with people who don't give two shits about his "helping the little man." [0] http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/10/donald-trump-advisors-conside...

>He lied, as many on the left said he was

And many on the right.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#208

Post by baddox »

vinay427 wrote: post #138
baddox wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shrewd seems unfair. Political views and ethics aside, it turns out he's a genius.

I think that is what the parent comment meant by using shrewd in contrast with negative : > I had very negative feelings about Thiel, [...] but I'll at least concede he's a very shrewd individual. Also, the Oxford definition for shrewd : > Having or showing sharp powers of judgement; astute: Source: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/shrewd

Correct. I think it's an understatement, considering how much crap he got for joining what looked like a sinking ship.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#209

Post by ktamura »

I still stand by my earlier comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12915345

TL;DR; It's probably a good thing for Silicon Valley, considering the alternative outcome (all other things equal): Trump still winning the election without a single Silicon Valley influencer.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#210

Post by baddox »

stephencanon wrote: post #155
baddox wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shrewd seems unfair. Political views and ethics aside, it turns out he's a genius.

What do you imagine "shrewd" means?

I imagine it means making smart decisions. I think it's an understatement in this case.
Post reply on HN