Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team • Hacker News Board

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#531

Post by hueving » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 7:45 AM UTC

sangnoir wrote: post #517

hueving wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you scare quoting "illegally"? They are here in violation of the law. If you don't believe in controlled immigration, just state that up front rather than trying to hide behind an appeal to emotion via stories of tearing families apart. Your argument seems to be either that long time violators of a law should gain immunity to the law; or that we should grant citizenship to anyone who enters the country. Which…

> They are here in violation of the law. Serious question: which law?

You need a visa to be here if you're not a US citizen.

https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/law...

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#532

Post by spiritofenter » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 7:45 AM UTC

danm07 wrote: post #387

I don't know why but I've got a sinking feeling in my stomach.

I could guess why:

- Thiel is a founder of Palantir, a.k.a. the private branch of the NSA.

- He also has strong vested interests in the health of hedge funds and the financial industry, as well as strong opinions favoring deregulation.

- He does not believe in global warming or the urgency of combating it.

- His statements in the past have shown lack of respect/consideration for minorities and women.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#533

Post by kriro » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 7:46 AM UTC

Maybe there can be some seasteading experiment after all? I'd be really curious to see how it would play out. Seems like a crazy idea worth trying despite all the counterarguments I can think of simply to collect data/experience as it might be valuable for future "crazy" endeavors like populating a different planet.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#534

Post by rdtsc » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 7:46 AM UTC

postcarnival wrote: post #273

noobermin wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never said people on the left don't do it. Yes, Obama did it too. The point is Trump isn't what he appears to be, in fact he appears very similar to Obama in the sense that he convinced many people there would be change for the better but all evidence points to that he will just perpetuate the system which he rallied against (which Obama did too).

You're criticizing a presidency that hasn't even seen it's first day! All of the "evidence" also pointed to Clinton winning in a landslide, and then a stock market crash after he won... what happened? Ya. Relax.

Interesting isn't it. Just like the media, who just until 2 days ago were sure Trump will never win this one, and now are confidently telling us what the next 4 years would be.

Well I am having a blast watching CNN and NBC and I don't usually watch TV, but now I put it on for entertainment...

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#535

Post by rdtsc » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 7:48 AM UTC

akhilcacharya wrote: post #526

tn13 wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Is that like a country for barbers or something?

A shave and a haircut, and get cut to bits for ... having the wrong sexual orientation.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#536

Post by yaacov » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 7:48 AM UTC

riazrizvi wrote: post #512

kafkaesq wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How about "not afraid to make reasonable insights that run the risk of being misinterpreted as politically incorrect"? I watched his RNC speech for the first time today ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTJB8AkT1dk ). I couldn't fault it. Maybe if we could park our bourgeois principles for a moment and listen to the voices of the economically depressed regions in the country that voted for Trump, we could unite and f…

Income was pretty strongly positively correlated with voting for Trump over Clinton. The 'white working class revolt' narrative is only a small part of what happened on Tuesday.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#537

Post by defgeneric » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 7:49 AM UTC

yolesaber wrote: post #369

Cyph0n wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, what?!

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.

This comes from his philosophy BA at Stanford, which is a department largely of the analytic school. He is, broadly speaking, positivist. The idea of science we have is closer to the German Wissenschaft which has a more encyclopedic meaning, more about the organization of knowledge, and less strict in it epistemology which in the analytic school is very narrow and in its crude expression simply empiricist.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#538

Post by bleamishboy » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 7:49 AM UTC

Is this (post, thread) on-topic for HN? Seems to fall pretty definitively into the politics / TV news category.

(Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.)

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#539

Post by koolba » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 7:50 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #426

edblarney wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Lots of individuals who Trump "owes" through either money or support they provided to him; pure cronyism." Trump is the most 'free' President in modern history. He 'owes' the least, to the fewest people. This is one thing even the center-left press were talking about. As for Thiel - $1M might seem like a lot - but Trump doesn't really 'owe' Thiel anything, because Thiel doesn't have direct future influence etc., and…

Why exactly am I meant to be comforted by the fact that the craven opportunists --- the lowest of the low of the Republican party, discredited outsiders like Newt Gingrich and John Bolton --- are getting the most important positions in the United States government for kowtowing to Trump? There are important thinkers in the Republican Party. People with ideas and a moral core, people who have given years of service to…

In your thought process is the right thing to promote the people who doubted, and in some cases outright campaigned against him?

The country voted and chose Trump. That means that they also chose him to pick the people that he'll be surrounding himself with to make decisions.

GP isn't saying there isn't a rewarding of those that stood by him. He's saying that compared to the unbridled corruption of a candidate that the left was runninng, this is peanuts.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#540

Post by joshkpeterson » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 7:53 AM UTC

bleamishboy wrote: post #538

Is this (post, thread) on-topic for HN? Seems to fall pretty definitively into the politics / TV news category. (Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.)

Are you serious? Thiel is a heavy hitter in tech, and he's an advisor at YC and on the board of FB, one of the largest and most important companies today period. Also, fascism is coming to America, which is relevant for all of us.