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Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

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Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#681

Post by burkaman »

thecopy wrote: post #676
BurningFrog wrote: post #669

Relevant column: "I don't see a moral obligation for anyone to serve in a Trump administration. But people who opposed Donald Trump, on both the left and right, should commit right now to one thing: We will not tar good people for joining the Trump administration. Their motives will not be questioned, and if things do turn out as some of his critics fear, the people in his foreign and domestic policy apparatus will n…

>He has built no ideological framework for future policies Sounds like a positive thing

Why?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#682

Post by masondixon »

cyphax wrote: post #650
masondixon wrote: post #632

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Same sex marriage Trump: The Supreme Court has issued an opinion on this. Same-sex marriage is an issue that should have been decided by the states. There are many LGBT supporters of Trump. Milo Yiannopolous is a hero amongst all Trump supporters, and he is gay. The world has moved on - Democrats just want something to be angry about. > Freedom of religion It is about terrorism and not about religion. > He would "s…

I don't understand why you've started throwing in words like "vitriol". See, I'm not an American, nor do I live there. I don't really watch American news, and what I say about Trump is based on his own words. If this were about terrorism and not religion, he wouldn't want to close the border for muslims but for terrorists, I would presume? Replacing Scalia with a less conservative judge would be a win for democrats b…

> If this were about terrorism and not religion, he wouldn't want to close the border for muslims but for terrorists, I would presume?

Something like 98% of suicide bombings were by muslims this year. And he said that it should be closed until we can vet them properly.

Its a bad idea. And he refined it to muslims from countries with lots of terrorism.

I mean...if you were part of stoning a women to death in Saudi Arabia...should we welcome you with open arms? If you come from a country where homosexuality is punishable by death...I really don't get why liberals want to let these people in, and then go and protest for them.

If we are tougher at the border, then the ones who are here will live happier lives because people will stop suspecting them of being terrorists. Try talking to a liberal about an idea like that...no chance.

> Trump did support the Iraq-war, unless he was lying when he replied "Yeah I guess so" when he was asked the question.

Yes on Howard Stern. Far from a glowing endorsement. And he is on record against it just after it started.

> I said "possibly rich businessman" -- which I cannot for the LIFE of me understand why you'd call those words "dripping in vitriol" -- because I personally find it very suspicious that on the one hand he boasts about how succesful and how rich he is, and on the other hand he keeps the evidence firmly hidden. You're free to not find that shady, obviously.

Ok maybe I read it differently in my head. Its one of those things that is quite irrelevant, but the media deciding to push this narrative to discredit him. And if you only read an article in the news about it, its what you would think. When the story of Trumps fortune is incredibly long and complex and he has without question done incredibly well for himself.

> I'm sorry if you lost friends over your political preference;

It would not be worth losing friends over it - so I just nod my head and try to nudge them to a rationale position. Political preference is not what any of my friendships are based on. But I think for a lot of people, its becoming an integral part. Bonds forming at protests, etc.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#683

Post by masondixon »

zimpenfish wrote: post #638
masondixon wrote: post #634

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a public figure so there should be free reign. "lock that bitch up" - Her gender is irrelevant to her corruption so it does not make sense for it to be here. People are not chanting "lock that bitch up". They are chanting "lock her up". "crooked Hillary" - She has been under active investigation for almost the entire campaign, and the Clintons have been their entire careers. I don't see any problem with this.…

> She has been under active investigation for almost the entire campaign Noting that it has all been Republican-driven and hasn't yet found a single thing in decades. But it is definitely an excellent "poison the well" tactic.

FBI is part of the Republican party now is it?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#684

Post by dopamean »

thecopy wrote: post #676
BurningFrog wrote: post #669

Relevant column: "I don't see a moral obligation for anyone to serve in a Trump administration. But people who opposed Donald Trump, on both the left and right, should commit right now to one thing: We will not tar good people for joining the Trump administration. Their motives will not be questioned, and if things do turn out as some of his critics fear, the people in his foreign and domestic policy apparatus will n…

>He has built no ideological framework for future policies Sounds like a positive thing

Choosing not to build an ideological framework because you want to sort of wait and see what happens is different from not building one because you are too ignorant to do so. I'd agree with you that this is a positive thing if it was the former but I think it's pretty clear that it is in fact the latter.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#685

Post by dangerlibrary »

chronic6l wrote: post #554
mlangdon wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prove it. Let's see some tax returns. In the absence of evidence, it is reasonable to assume that he is heavily in debt with no liquid assets and effectively poor. He paid a 7 dollar boy scout fee for his son from his "charity."

You think someone in debt would be smart enough to prod half the country as sheep into voting for him? Ha. America got trolled and was given the middle finger. We get it, you're upset. But listen to what the Democrat thought leaders are saying: stop dividing the country with your continued rhetoric in your comment. - Software engineer at Google in Mountain View, California

Trump has been bankrupt four times and relies heavily on debt to finance his real estate ventures. It's well documented that he took on hundreds of millions of debt in the form of "junk bonds" (so called because of the high risk of default and the resulting high interest rate - 14%) in order to pay for his casinos in Atlantic city, for example. He defaulted on many of those obligations, in some cases ultimately paying only pennies on the dollar. This is what Trump is talking about when he says things like "I love debt." Because of some tax loopholes for real estate investors that existed at the time (they were closed in the 90's under Clinton, actually), he was also allowed to claim the losses as his own, rather than those of his creditors - that's how he managed to claim nearly a $1 billion net operating loss in a single year.

Piecing together information from his financial disclosures (total revenue) and leaked documents (revenue net expenses), it appears at least one of his properties in NY has been modestly successful in recent years - but that property had well below $5 million in profit in 2014 and was losing money before that. We know nothing at all about his personal obligations to creditors. That lack of information, along with his refusal to release his tax returns, is what has lead to so much speculation about what may be in those returns.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#686

Post by tkxxx7 »

return0 wrote: post #679
tkxxx7 wrote: post #629

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That could easily be a rational decision.

> And they decide that based on emotions No it could not. What you just said defies reason.

I am saying what you just quoted is not always the case. To say "and they decide that based on emotions" is entirely unfounded. Plenty of people do, sure, but plenty do not.

As an aside, I should note that weighing ones' emotions in a decision is not an inherently irrational process.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#687

Post by peterclary »

masondixon wrote: post #658
hamax wrote: post #644

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One side is for freedom of speech, the other side is for controlling what you can say. There was just one candidate in this election that wants to control what you can say. And it wasn't Hillary. “We’re going to open up those libel laws. So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace, or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win…

> There was just one candidate in this election that wants to control what you can say. And it wasn't Hillary. I don't agree Trump here. But I am not talking about the candidates. I am talking about BLM, SJWs, and Feminists vs. everyone else. With a racist, sexist, misogynist, xenophobe in the White House now, they must now show prove that his actions reflect their fears...or realise that they were misguided and tone…

I recognise that you are trying to engage and explain your point of view. I respect that, even though I disagree with you.

You may have grievances (legitimate or otherwise) but you have to weigh up the pros and cons.

In 1920s Italy you might have been daily frustrated by the poor reliability of the railways but that didn't mean that voting for Mussolini would have been a good idea overall.

Also, not that I ascribe this to you, personally, but apparently 22% of Trump's supporters think he would start a Nuclear War. I'm struggling to understand what pros they think would outweigh that particular con.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#688

Post by davidw »

dang wrote: post #477
davidw wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You guys are going to need to find a way to back off on the US politics. I have no idea how... it's all I can think about myself right now, but it's a poisonous topic.

HN can't be immune from macro trends, and this is a doozy.

Yep. It's way more important than, say, how to write and maintain a large code base in Elixir. Politics can easily crowd out that kind of thing from the front page. I don't know what to say. I can't think about much else, but sooner or later, maybe things will return to some semblance of normalcy, and I do like the tech/startup discussions here.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#689

Post by masondixon »

mch82 wrote: post #645
masondixon wrote: post #634

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a public figure so there should be free reign. "lock that bitch up" - Her gender is irrelevant to her corruption so it does not make sense for it to be here. People are not chanting "lock that bitch up". They are chanting "lock her up". "crooked Hillary" - She has been under active investigation for almost the entire campaign, and the Clintons have been their entire careers. I don't see any problem with this.…

One example of "lock that bitch up" - http://mashable.com/2016/11/09/trump-victory-celebrations/#y... Do you agree that (1) investigation is not the same as conviction, and (2) that repeating the phrase "crooked Hillary" ceaselessly is a marketing tactic designed to encourage a belief that Clinton is a criminal in order to undermine her legitimacy as a candidate?

> (1) investigation is not the same as conviction, and

No.

> (2) that repeating the phrase "crooked Hillary" ceaselessly is a marketing tactic

Yes.

> designed to encourage a belief that Clinton is a criminal

No, it brings to light the fact that she was under investigation and has many shady dealings in the past. It is to raise doubt. To be a criminal she must be convicted.

> in order to undermine her legitimacy as a candidate?

Partly. I think more so to raise doubts about what she would be like in power.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#690

Post by notahacker »

BurningFrog wrote: post #669

Relevant column: "I don't see a moral obligation for anyone to serve in a Trump administration. But people who opposed Donald Trump, on both the left and right, should commit right now to one thing: We will not tar good people for joining the Trump administration. Their motives will not be questioned, and if things do turn out as some of his critics fear, the people in his foreign and domestic policy apparatus will n…

I don't think we can assume that just because somebody accepts a job working for the President necessarily means they necessarily condone the tone of his campaign or ever judged him to be a good choice for president. They can of course be judged on how they influence and shape policy proposals, and their participation in the process might well be much better or much worse than a principled boycott.

Peter Thiel is not somebody who has simply refused to rule himself out of serving, however. I do think we can judge people for donating large sums of money to the Trump election campaign and subsequently being appointed to a position of power, both because they signalled strong approval of Trump and his campaign with their wallet and because (like major donors appointed to high office in other administrations) they can readily be accused of paying for positions of power.

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