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Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker donations

reuters.com

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Re: Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker donations

#81

Post by ameminator »

dgabriel wrote: post #50
ameminator wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as you may dislike "fascists", you don't get to tell other people who they can or cannot send money to.

GoFundMe tells a lot of people who they can or cannot send money to via their platform. First, there are laws around sending money to designated terrorist organizations, then there are restrictions around violence, pornography and sex work, and many more. The giant list can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/c/terms If you want to mail a check to these truckers, have at it, but GoFundMe is not obligated to colle…

They weren't obligated to continue to collect money on their behalf, but once they started collecting that money, they are obligated to handle it responsibly. They do not get to decide to withhold money unilaterally and give it to other charities (as GoFundMe has stated they intend to do).

A telephone company can't decide to give me a phone number then tell me who I can or cannot call. My ISP cannot tell me which websites I can or cannot access (without a court order). If GoFundMe allowed the convoy to open a charity drive, they cannot unilaterally close it and confiscate the money.

Re: Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker donations

#82

Post by jsploit »

throwawaysea wrote: post #4

Apparently Elon Musk also got involved and called GoFundMe “professional thieves”, because they were going to redirect donations intended for Canadian protesters to other (likely left leaning) causes: https://nypost.com/2022/02/05/elon-musk-gofundme-professiona... He also called out their double standard for claiming to not support protests that aren’t peaceful after they funded so many violent riots and illegal acti…

> they were going to redirect donations intended for Canadian protesters to other (likely left leaning) causes

Per the article you linked, donors have two weeks to request a refund, and any remaining funds will be redirected to causes chosen by the Freedom Convoy organizers:

> Donors have until Feb. 19 to ask for a refund, and the rest of the money the group raised would be allocated to “credible and established charities” chosen by Freedom Convoy organizers, the site said.

Re: Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker donations

#83

Post by behringer »

bigodbiel wrote: post #63
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even more stupid: Canadian media and Twitter users saying they are “fringe” because by a poll (totally no incentive to lie on those), 85% of truckers are vaccinated. To which I say: A. I bet more than 15% are unvaccinated because why answer honestly with Canada’s level of restrictions and penalties? B. If it is actually 15%, that’s not fringe, and also that’s low enough that dropping the mandate should be reasonable…

I can’t understand this dichotomy. Just because one is vaccinated, does not mean they are pro-mandates.

I'm pro vaccine but the mandates and access cards and testing requirements makes me sick to my stomach

Re: Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker donations

#84

Post by fourneau »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #40
Mikeb85 wrote: post #27

Also keep in mind that in the backdrop of all this is the fact that our Prime Minister has called the protesters racists and misogynists. Probably inspiring someone who ran over some protesters in Winnipeg. Canadian news and politicians are desperately trying to denounce the protesters while ignoring the fact that Canada has some of the harshest Covid restrictions in the world at the moment, while the US has hardly a…

Even more stupid: Canadian media and Twitter users saying they are “fringe” because by a poll (totally no incentive to lie on those), 85% of truckers are vaccinated. To which I say: A. I bet more than 15% are unvaccinated because why answer honestly with Canada’s level of restrictions and penalties? B. If it is actually 15%, that’s not fringe, and also that’s low enough that dropping the mandate should be reasonable…

Others have already highlighted that you can be vaccinated and anti-mandate, which is what many people are focusing on.

From a numbers perspective, 91.54% of Canadians 18+ have received at least one dose. 88.91% of 18+ have received two.

It's /possible/ that truckers are widely unvaccinated (perhaps they all subscribe to the same train of thought), but it's unlikely.

Re: Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker donations

#85

Post by nobodyandproud »

astraloverflow wrote: post #80
nobodyandproud wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t buy that the neo-liberals sold-out the rust belt: This was a slow death march over decades and across party lines. After all, slave labor is cheap and lets the wealthy pool wealth, while feeling good about pouring money and industry into third-world countries. Best of all, it left the purchasing power of the middle class intact. For a time. I do agree though, that the liberals turned a blind eye when things w…

It might be more accurate to say that the democrats started taking the rust belt for granted. And it's hard to ignore the left's shift (in primary focus) from blue collar workers issues towards race and gender issues.

This I agree with.

I cringed when my co-workers talked about “fly-over” country, but I was equally shocked when Hillary Clinton lost.

As much as I hate to say it, Trump getting elected (wrong person, but gets a point across) shows the system sort of works.

Edit: Just to be clear, I’m a liberal at the end of the day but anyone who thinks “their side” doesn’t have problems, I can’t really agree with.

Re: Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker donations

#86

Post by [deleted] »

scythe wrote: post #61
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even more stupid: Canadian media and Twitter users saying they are “fringe” because by a poll (totally no incentive to lie on those), 85% of truckers are vaccinated. To which I say: A. I bet more than 15% are unvaccinated because why answer honestly with Canada’s level of restrictions and penalties? B. If it is actually 15%, that’s not fringe, and also that’s low enough that dropping the mandate should be reasonable…

>why answer honestly with Canada’s level of restrictions and penalties? Surely you jest. Polls are anonymous. And even if the security is bad, nobody is scrutinizing IP logs of poll respondents. Maybe in Kazakhstan or something, but freedom in the West has not fallen that far. People do lie on polls, of course, but it's usually about self-expression, not self-protection. I'd imagine that vaccinated truckers are more…

[deleted]

Re: Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker donations

#87

Post by fourneau »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #6

Why do people have to request refunds? Shouldn't they able to do that automatically?

My gut feeling is that GFM wanted to keep their tips, and this was a "good" way of doing so.

However it's also a little complicated since some of the money has been dispersed to the organizers (most of which went to Tamara Lich, according to the GFM page.) I guess they'll prorate the refunds or absorb the loss?

Re: Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker donations

#88

Post by [deleted] »

throwawaysea wrote: post #42
16012022 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a private company, it absolutely does not need to be neutral. They can choose any side they want. If you don’t like it, don’t use their platform. Gosh, when did the notion of private firms got so mixed up with so-called political neutrality? Are people this naïve?

In a free society, businesses shouldn’t be able to suppress or punish customers for their political views. We already require businesses to not just do whatever they want in many ways. That’s what anti discrimination laws do, for example. We just need to make political viewpoint a protected class as well. Apart from that, we also regulate a lot of private companies to be neutral. Your power utility may be private but…

[deleted]

Re: Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker donations

#89

Post by gjsman-1000 »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #76
scythe wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>why answer honestly with Canada’s level of restrictions and penalties? Surely you jest. Polls are anonymous. And even if the security is bad, nobody is scrutinizing IP logs of poll respondents. Maybe in Kazakhstan or something, but freedom in the West has not fallen that far. People do lie on polls, of course, but it's usually about self-expression, not self-protection. I'd imagine that vaccinated truckers are more…

You also have to consider that unvaccinated answering the poll honestly would be admitting to something that puts their livelihood on the line. I imagine that a disproportionate number would refuse to respond at all.

Imagine if I ran a nationwide poll asking if you’d ever had a felony conviction.

I bet the numbers for that poll would be way lower than the real statistics.

People don’t answer honestly on polls if they feel there is any way (even a perception) that this could come back and hurt them.

Re: Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker donations

#90

Post by dang »

dangerwill wrote: post #21

If you send money to fascists be prepared for the money to be intercepted. Simple as that

Please do not take HN threads further into hellish ideological flamewar. We want curious conversation here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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