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Lyft donates $1M to the ACLU, condemns Trump’s immigration actions

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Re: Lyft donates $1M to the ACLU, condemns Trump’s immigration actions

#201
post #5
post #2

Uber undermining the taxi strike [1] yesterday was pretty visible -- at least in my social circle here in Seattle -- and when Lyft made this announcement we all deleted our Uber accounts. Will that have a material impact on anyone's bottom line? Who knows, but I'd love to see the graphs for new account signups/account deletions. [1] Taxis were not servicing JFK in support of those who were being detained there.

I think there's a pro-Uber case to be made here. Uber suspended surge pricing at a time when many people were trying to get to the protest at the airport, and while the airtrain was shut down which is what connects the subway system to the airport. Furthermore Uber offered to compensate its drivers who are affected by the ban, if they get stuck outside of the country. Edit: Maybe Uber mis-stepped by honoring requests…

> Uber suspended surge pricing at a time when many people were trying to get to the protest at the airport

That means less people could travel to airport for protests. Suspending surge pricing reduces availability of cabs. You understand that right ?

Re: Lyft donates $1M to the ACLU, condemns Trump’s immigration actions

#202
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that the American election system is such that only 20% of Americans (or 30% of eligible voters) voted for Trump in order to get him into office. So it really does not follow that a move against Trump would anger half the country. Trump famously lost the popular vote as well, and he has one of the lowest approval ratings on entering office of any President in modern history. Finally, who's more likely to…

Using your math/logic, what percentage of Americans voted for Obama?

Good point.

30.79% in 2008 [0]

28.05% in 2012 [1]

[0] 0.582 x 0.529 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_ele...

[1] 0.511 x 0.549 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_ele...

Re: Lyft donates $1M to the ACLU, condemns Trump’s immigration actions

#203
post #2

Uber undermining the taxi strike [1] yesterday was pretty visible -- at least in my social circle here in Seattle -- and when Lyft made this announcement we all deleted our Uber accounts. Will that have a material impact on anyone's bottom line? Who knows, but I'd love to see the graphs for new account signups/account deletions. [1] Taxis were not servicing JFK in support of those who were being detained there.

Kudos to Uber and Lyft both here. I had to travel to SFO yday and I managed to find an Uber. Despite protests and all, we need transportation people. I donated money to ACLU.

Re: Lyft donates $1M to the ACLU, condemns Trump’s immigration actions

#204
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that the American election system is such that only 20% of Americans (or 30% of eligible voters) voted for Trump in order to get him into office. So it really does not follow that a move against Trump would anger half the country. Trump famously lost the popular vote as well, and he has one of the lowest approval ratings on entering office of any President in modern history. Finally, who's more likely to…

Using your math/logic, what percentage of Americans voted for Obama?

Per http://bipartisanpolicy.org/library/2012-voter-turnout/ in 2008 there voted 62.3% of eligible voters in total; Obama won with 52.92% of this (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_Barack_Ob...), that makes 32.96% of all eligible voters.

In 2012, turnout was 57.5%, of which Obama won 51.06%. That makes 29.36% of all eligible voters.

The problem is that it's really, really hard to get numbers on the question "how many people did not register themselves for voting rights, even if they could legally have done so?".

Re: Lyft donates $1M to the ACLU, condemns Trump’s immigration actions

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it doesn't. Uber reducing prices means that less drivers will be available, making it harder to get a ride.

There's supposed to be zero drivers available during a strike

Zero union drivers.

No-one outside their club needs to comply.

Re: Lyft donates $1M to the ACLU, condemns Trump’s immigration actions

#206
post #59
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the other half of the country?

Lyft and services like it seem to be intrinsically tied to urban centers, which also overwhelmingly lean liberal.

Overwhelmingly liberal is not 99%. It's more like 66-80%. For example,in very liberal San Jose, Trump got 20% of the vote. It's still a large percentage of the potential customers.

Re: Lyft donates $1M to the ACLU, condemns Trump’s immigration actions

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Some protestors are unhappy" is a really interesting way of phrasing "the federal government is embarking on a concerted attack on 1.7% of the population for reasons at best murky." Be better, please.

Come on. Trump is doing lots of bad things, but if he weren't people would still be striking. The largest protest in American history happened before he even took office. Let's not pretend that people's emotions are less of a driving factor than the facts. Get over yourself.

Or maybe you should "get over yourself". If you care so much for the facts perhaps you should make sure to get them right. I suppose you're referring to the Women's March, which took place the day after Trump assumed office.

And it's remarkable if your claim is that without Trump's Muslim Ban there would still be protests at JFK this weekend. Are you really arguing that?

Re: Lyft donates $1M to the ACLU, condemns Trump’s immigration actions

#208
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a Muslim ban when it affects majority-Muslim countries and has a minority exemption. That's pretty clear to me.

The top 6 countries [1] with the highest Muslim populations are not (temp) banned, yet somehow it's a "Muslim Ban". [1] http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/muslims/pf_15-04-02_proje...

Yes, 'muslim ban' is fake news. Too bad democrats can't think to themselves and have to offshore thinking to MSM who push this fake narrative.

Re: Lyft donates $1M to the ACLU, condemns Trump’s immigration actions

#209
post #69
post #6

Why is a company that is losing money and having what's left of their lunch taken by a gorilla of a competitor (Uber) throwing away $1M like this? If I were an investor in Lyft I'd sue them.

Deserved or not, Uber has (and perhaps even takes pride in) a reputation for being amoral and Ayn-Rand-inspired. And this is a topic which has a strong moral component. Lyft would have been fools not to capitalize on the moment. (FWIW I think Uber deserves that reputation and I consider the strike a legitimate protest against an immoral action. But my statement above is dispassionate and should stand even if you have…

Personally, I had already been favoring Lyft over Uber for just that reason for long-term consumer self-interest and this issue as well as Ubers involvement with the Trump administration just personally justifies doubling-down on my preference.

Re: Lyft donates $1M to the ACLU, condemns Trump’s immigration actions

#210

Lyft operates in Malaysia, where Israelis are banned from entering unless they get a letter of approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is nearly impossible for the average Israeli. I'm curious if Lyft has any qualms about operating in Malaysia? I understand their disgust with Trump's action but I do hope they're consistent with their views.

To clarify, lyft does not operate outside of the states. They partner with Grab and DiDi.

For lyft to stay consistent with their views, they'd have to cease partnership with Grab. With the claimed $1MM donation they paint a positive picture for us(fellow HN users reactions show they are more likely to use lyft, lyft will thus earn off us), but it would simply be loss of potential revenue in the case of Malaysia.

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