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Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

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Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#461

Post by sintaxi »

betolink wrote: post #342
paulsutter wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's Peter's speech at the National Press Club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob-LJqPQEJ4 Could you point out anywhere that Peter supports bigotry? Or even, a single crazy statement in Peter's speech? (I wouldn't defend Trump. I'm defending Peter, who I respect a lot). The speech runs from 2:40 to 15:50, and can be watched in 7 minutes if you change speed to 2x. (Thomas, I respect you a lot too. I've never seen o…

He supports bigotry I think on minute 0:00... by calling to vote for a racist bigot who thinks that climate change is a hoax.

Do you then also suggest that those who called to vote for HRC support the destruction of government data, lying under oath, and support the unlawful invasion of Iraq?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#462

Post by couchand »

NhanH wrote: post #395
tptacek wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He just said Trump will be President. You're rebutting an argument he didn't make. Nobody is obligated to support the President. That's why it's called "the loyal opposition".

> Whether you respect the Electoral College or don't, Trump should not be the President. I was saying that this statement doesn't follow from his 2 previous paragraphs. On the other hand, if this was a personal statement against Trump (rather than a logical conclusion of the previous paragraphs), then my comment doesn't apply. In other words, I just wanted to emphasize that I believe in the statement "if you respect…

I would argue it is correct and good to not have respect for the Electoral College. It is a hair-brained, anachronistic, undemocratic institution.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#463

Post by internaut »

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #23
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?

Oddly, both the title and the article skip over the fact that Thiel was a founder of Palantir Technologies (which has plenty of government contracts). Conflicts of interest be damned

Not this again. This just so wrong.

Palantir worked for the Clinton Foundation.

https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/45010

For at least several years and definitely before Trump was on the map politically.

The Podesta Emails literally have Alex Karp, the CEO, paying 100k to talk to Bill Clinton.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/11/05/02/3A142FF40000057...

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#464

Post by lloyddobbler »

billiam wrote: post #460
pmorici wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you guys are describing isn't cronyism. The definition of cronyism is, "the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, _without proper regard to their qualifications._" I'm not seeing anyone arguing that Peter Theil isn't qualified. Bush nominating Harriet Miers is an example of cronyism. This really isn't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Miers_Supreme_Court_no...

Here, this guy. Thiel isn't qualified. He knows nothing about running a real business, just investing in them. He knows nothing about economic policy. And clearly he knows nothing about governance.

You apparently haven't read up on the history of Paypal...?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#466

Post by School-Cotton »

the_decider wrote: post #446
School-Cotton wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be the morally correct choice (I reserve judgment on that) for California to secede from the US, but it's certainly not a good idea pragmatically. Trump doesn't really have any consistent ideology about most things, but the one thing he never wavers on is his commitment to protectionist trade policy. If California seceded from the US to spite Trump, Trump will do everything in his power to block commerce bet…

California has access to all the West Coast trade-ports between the US and China. With these ports in place, we don't need to rust-belt states to ship-in goods. An our economy is centered information technology and entertainment, so we don't really need to worry about reduction of economically viable exported goods (all farmed and manufactured products will be consumed internally, thus bolstering that aspect of the C…

Commerce isn't as simple as importing and exporting physical goods. Broad sanctions could, for example, prevent American companies from spending money on ads with Google, or American engineers from moving to California to work for them.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#467

Post by pmorici »

billiam wrote: post #460
pmorici wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you guys are describing isn't cronyism. The definition of cronyism is, "the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, _without proper regard to their qualifications._" I'm not seeing anyone arguing that Peter Theil isn't qualified. Bush nominating Harriet Miers is an example of cronyism. This really isn't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Miers_Supreme_Court_no...

Here, this guy. Thiel isn't qualified. He knows nothing about running a real business, just investing in them. He knows nothing about economic policy. And clearly he knows nothing about governance.

What evidence do you have that that is true? Looking at his career experience on Wikipedia suggests the exact opposite. Not to mention it's a win for LGBT causes which he is known to be a supporter of.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#468

Post by tn13 »

meritt wrote: post #21

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…

Still better than President Hillary Cliton who was taking money directly from Saudi Barberia.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#470

Post by comex »

meric wrote: post #403
yolesaber wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://youtu.be/CoxxGhLFbw4?t=2m30s He argues that "climate science" is not real science because it has "science" in the name. I'm serious.

Christian science is not real science because it has "science" in the name either. If climate science is real science, it's because another reason than because it's labeled science.

The claim is not "climate science isn't (real because it has science in the name)", but "(climate science isn't real) (because it has science in the name)". That is, the name is being used as a reason to discount it.
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