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Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

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Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#961

Post by rayiner »

pcwalton wrote: post #959
rayiner wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, there is the fact that Trump isn't Pinochet. At this stage, he's not even Bill Clinton (pushed the party hard to the right, locked up hundreds of thousands of poor black people to court skittish suburbanites). He'll get there but he's a pure virgin soul compared to pretty much any modern President besides Carter.

> locked up hundreds of thousands of poor black people to court skittish suburbanites That's an utterly meaningless comparison. Bill Clinton was a governor with terrible policies concerning minorities [1], while Donald Trump was a real estate mogul with terrible policies concerning minorities. The fact that their different leadership positions meant that Trump could harm a statistically fewer number of people means e…

> "Didn't lock up any black people" isn't exactly an achievement for someone who hasn't served in government.

If you are talking about the cosmic tally of bad deeds, opportunity isn't relevant.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#962

Post by rayiner »

tptacek wrote: post #957
rayiner wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, there is the fact that Trump isn't Pinochet. At this stage, he's not even Bill Clinton (pushed the party hard to the right, locked up hundreds of thousands of poor black people to court skittish suburbanites). He'll get there but he's a pure virgin soul compared to pretty much any modern President besides Carter.

Give it a few months.

I have no doubt Giuliani will reverse even the half-assed[1] attempts at criminal justice reform that Obama has attempted.

[1] Calling it "half-assed" doesn't even do it justice because the measures are far less than half of what's needed.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#963

Post by rubberstamp »

masondixon wrote: post #939
sosuke wrote: post #819

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There isn't any contact info, your account is green (meaning shiny new) so this comment isn't related to your thread. However I just wanted to compliment you on your seemingly boundless reserves of patience while still taking the time to respond to questions. I've personally taken a silent stance on everything until I know enough to have a good discussion about things. It has been refreshing to read a perspective, yo…

Thank you. Honestly, there is no way I would ever publicly say any of the things I have commented here for fear of retribution. Going anywhere near topics like racism, sexism, and xenophobia is outright scary in today's political landscape - especially in the tech world. Imagine living in a world where what you say could lose you friends, your reputation, your job, etc. The attacks on Thiel epitomise this. The US fee…

We are now unable to discuss certain topics because the many of the words of language necessary to communicate on the topics are considered offensive. Communicating properly via talking is hard in the sense of transferring the exact same thought on my mind into your mind without loosing the context in which that thought is valid. It takes many to and fro clarification from both parties that are trying to communicate. If you add getting offended to anything, then the process of communication looses almost all of the original signal. I came across Milo's videos a week or two before election. It was in some article that reports it as being rude and offensive, so I went and watched the video. People are getting offended just because he support Trump. The reporter trying to interview him was trying their best to get him to admit what he says is wrong but could not. He stood his ground. Milo is also a human, he could get somethings wrong like all people, but he is genuinely trying to correct the problem of oversensitivity.

I was tracking both candidate's campaign and I couldn't even remotely say the results of polls published by media was correct. They all said Hillary leads. All most all traditional media channels and news papers all said Hillary leads. I live in a different country and even the media here were having occasional articles saying Hillary is leading. Each time I say in my mind "No its not true". I cannot blame the media in my country as they get the information from media in USA. Only in quora did I see someone almost accurately predict what the outcome of election will look like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG6rNcsVOaA

The woman being interviewed in CNN describes many of the problems. But the CNN anchor is not interested in getting into any details on any topic. Its like the media has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and jumps from one topic to another within seconds and does a poor job being a news channel.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#964

Post by snaily »

edblarney wrote: post #590
snaily wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your example of Sweden having an official religion is no longer current. The Church of Sweden is since 2000 no longer a state church. That said, it's been possible to opt-out since 1868, and since 1996 membership is opt-in (upon baptizing) and not inherited based on the membership of the parents. Slightly less than two thirds of the population are still members, and it is losing members far faster than simple attriti…

" the state will help collect membership taxes for it, but that should be taken more as a measure of Nordic efficiency than as a tacit endorsement of any particular belief." I take it as neither. I take it that the 'Church' is a cultural epitaph, not even so much a religious one. It doesn't matter 'what one believes'. It matters a little bit that colocated people share some common faith, and the rituals, prayers, hol…

As you rightly point out, my reply was not meant as more than a factual rebuttal - which of course is valuable in and of itself if you want to make a coherent and sound argument.

You also conveniently cut out the point that the state will collect membership taxes for the Church of Sweden, just as happily as it will for the local catholic branch or one of two registered islamic congregations.

I'm not sure what the rest of your post has to do with mine.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#965

Post by ch4s3 »

akamaka wrote: post #958
ch4s3 wrote: post #699

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't quote him, I made an assumption about the quote. He said the country was better before women got the vote. He doesn't say that libertarians should try to figure out how to earn women's vote, but rather that women don't vote for libertarian policies/candidates and that is in his view the problem. Its a very short logical jump to infer that he thinks women shouldn't vote. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not sure he's…

I see what you're saying. Would it be fair to compare this to saying "I think architecture was better in the ancient times, when low-paid craftmen fashioned each stone by hand"? If I said this, I don't think it should be assumed that I'm in favour of eliminating living wages for laborers. I agree with you on your last point. I don't think Thiel is too concerned with people misunderstanding him, and he certainly could…

Yeah, who knows. They guy just kind of throws out these seemingly outrageous statements and moves on.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#966

Post by killedbydeath »

tptacek wrote: post #851
killedbydeath wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should value tolerance towards minority (in our circles) opinions. Unless you believe half of the country are bigots, you would conclude many people who voted for Trump did so reluctantly and despite all the stupid things he said, and not thanks to them. They prioritized his economic policies or felt Clinton is too indebted to the current establishment to be able to change anything. I know some people who did that…

This comment isn't responsive to mine. The comment I replied to actually used the word "McCarthyism", inappropriately.

I don't think the definition of "McCarthyism" is as narrow as you define it. I used that word because I though the analogy was appropriate and illustrated well what I was trying to express. Accepted definitions do not tie it to the use of government force, see e.g. "the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially in order to restrict dissent or political criticism." from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mccarthyism?s=t

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#967

Post by rubberstamp »

prairiedogg wrote: post #893
rubberstamp wrote: post #750

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi prairiedogg, Well this thread is basically nitpicking each other. Let me tell you one thing. If you are a citizen of USA, you could run for president and be one as long as you are win a majority in a majority of states. Now, if you are interested in politics you, like me, would be following political decisions from a variety of sources and try to analyze it(see if its truth and try to understand if its fair to the…

Hi rubberstamp! I disagree that this thread is "just nitpicking each other" - I think it's been both educational and civil. For instance, when masondixon learned that Reagan had a political career before his presidency, masondixon thanked dbmikus for pointing it out. It's hard to find that level of candor on an internet discussion board - and masondixon seemed to want a genuine dialog that was free of the ad-hominem…

What I meant by 'as long as you have a working brain' is that "you are competent as long as you are willing to do rational analysis on your own and come to conclusions". You are perfectly fit for the office of president so long as you are willing to learn. You do not have any inherent limitation. Even most of the economists do not know what they are talking about. Most mainstream economic theories are not even proven to to be correct. Its just like anyone willing enough to learn to code can eventually write beautiful and accurate code so long as they remain enthusiastic learners.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#968

Post by tptacek »

killedbydeath wrote: post #966
tptacek wrote: post #851

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment isn't responsive to mine. The comment I replied to actually used the word "McCarthyism", inappropriately.

I don't think the definition of "McCarthyism" is as narrow as you define it. I used that word because I though the analogy was appropriate and illustrated well what I was trying to express. Accepted definitions do not tie it to the use of government force, see e.g. "the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially in order to restrict dissent or political criticism." from…

Words mean things. In the same way that people aren't being "lynched" when dozens of other people berate them online, calls to divest from bigots and their enablers don't constitute "McCarthyism".

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#969

Post by random_upvoter »

FullMtlAlcoholc wrote: post #787
BurningFrog wrote: post #724

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can only imagine he will bow down to both Russian and Chinese demands My worry is the opposite. Trump's style is furious counter attack at the slightest provocation. That's obnoxious when you're a jerk billionaire. It's more serious when you control the deadliest military machine in history.

I still dont see why people refer to Trump as some negotiating savant. Time after time, its been shown that hes notoriously thin skinned and easy to rattle. During the 3rd debate he was not doing terrible until Hillary commented that he's only successful because daddy gave him money. Trump's inherent identity and belief that he was responsible for all of his own success being under attack in a public forum caused him…

> Hillary commented that he's only successful because daddy gave him money.

Well to be fair that was a pretty low blow. Tons of people inherit a lot of money. Not everyone becomes Trump.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#970

Post by white-flame »

Frondo wrote: post #866
white-flame wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people would equate "tolerance" with "non-antagonizing" in the general case. It's hard to claim that actively antagonizing & stigmatizing somebody for their beliefs (not just reasonably arguing against the beliefs themselves) counts as tolerant of others' beliefs. It exactly means that no matter how subjectively and personally odious somebody's beliefs are to you, you can still respect their personhood,…

Of course I get to deem and enforce what I think is right and wrong, using tools like words and association. What on earth kind of law do you want to set up where I can't preferentially trade with people whose opinions I like, or preferentially not trade with people whose opinions I don't? Again, tolerance means I don't want to imprison or kill people with distasteful opinions; it doesn't mean I have to like them or…

> Some people have no place in my life, and the beliefs they hold are a big determining factor in that decision.

That is pretty much the definition of not tolerating a person, to remove a person from your life, not tolerating having their existence in your sphere. If it's mostly based on their beliefs, then it's an example of not tolerating that belief.

You're perfectly fine to do that, as people do, but then you can't claim that you're tolerant of others' beliefs just because you happen not to be killing or imprisoning them.

> it doesn't mean I have to like them or their distasteful opinions.

Tolerance does NOT mean liking them! I keep hearing false dichotomy over and over. To be decent and civil to a person, to tolerate their beliefs existing around you, does not require condoning them. It's simply being a decent human being and not being an overprovoked reactionary, intolerantly policing all others around themselves, determining what others are not allowed to be like.

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