Most Cities Would Welcome a Tech Billionaire, But Peter Thiel? (bloomberg.com) 283
Sarah McBride, writing for Bloomberg: Tech billionaire Peter Thiel is moving to Los Angeles from San Francisco, adding another dose of legitimacy to a burgeoning startup scene in Southern California -- along with some controversy. The co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, Thiel runs Founders Fund, one of the more-respected venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. He comes with a little baggage, though, including his staunch support for President Donald Trump, his secretive funding of the legal battle between Hulk Hogan and Gawker.com, and comments some people say have been derogatory toward women. "I'm not sure why Peter Thiel believes he'll receive a warmer reception on the L.A. tech scene than he's had in Silicon Valley," said Tracy DiNunzio, chief executive officer of Tradesy, a fashion-reselling company based in Santa Monica, California. "Our venture and startup ecosystem is fairly left-leaning."
Why do his politics matter? (Score:5, Insightful)
If you're a startup and you need funding and you've got a demonstrably astute tech investor with a deep rolodex and sacks of money to invest, why do you care who he votes for?
I certainly wouldn't.
This politicization of every aspect of life is way out of hand.
Re: Why do his politics matter? (Score:3)
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Ok, the Trump association, I can sort of understand.
But putting out of business a tabloid (with other questionable practices) that published a full sex tape of a celebrity without his consent (a sex tape which had no redeeming news value of any kind, other than the fact that some guy gave consent for his wife to have sex with a celebrity while he was videotaping it).
How is that bad? Is the porn industry in LA really upset over this? Or is it the tabloids or the papparrazis?
Re: Why do his politics matter? (Score:2)
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That was nothing more than a pretext and you know it. Peter Thiel never gave a flying shit about Hulk Hogan. He was nursing a (Totally nonsensical, considering he lived in California, and for now in the Bay Area no less.) years-long grudge against Gawker for mentioning that he's gay in an article last decade. Pretending that the lawsuit was really just about the sex tape is purposefully obtuse at best, really more like intellectual dishonesty, and at worst nothing more than trolling.
Re:Why do his politics matter? (Score:5, Insightful)
You don't care who he votes for. You do care what his involvement in your startup will mean for PR, partnering, hiring, acquisition and other aspects of business. He was an early and public supporter of Trump and bankrolled the anti-Gawker lawsuit. Because of this, him being involved in your company may make it harder to get other people's attention that you need.
Or not. Maybe he'll help direct attention to your start up in a way that adds something.
But you have to accept it will have both positives and negatives.
Re:Why do his politics matter? (Score:5, Insightful)
The anti-Gawker lawsuit? You mean the one concerning whether or not it is okay to publish someone's private sex tape after a judge had ordered it to be taken down? That anti-Gawker lawsuit?
I don't know anything about the guy's politics, but that one sounds about right to me.
Re: Why do his politics matter? (Score:2)
Equality before the law is and always has been a lie.
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If I used my gobs of money to bankrupt you, would you have a problem with it then? There's probably someone out there who thinks you're evil.
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The parent claimed that his actions were justified because the results were positive, I said that isn't how it works.
Re:Why do his politics matter? (Score:5, Insightful)
70 years ago when interracial marriages were frowned upon by the majority, you would've been OK with businesses shunning interracial couples?
100 years ago when women didn't have the right to vote, you would've been OK with businesses shunning people who thought women should be able to vote?
160 years ago when slavery was the norm in half the country, you would've been OK with businesses shunning anyone advocating freeing the slaves?
See, the problem with basing acceptance on what's deemed "normal" by the masses is that "normal" changes over time. People are fickle, and tend to follow what's popular, not necessarily what's right. What's normal today won't be what's normal 25, 50, 100 years from now.
Democracy's strength doesn't come from the majority imposing its will upon the minority. Its strength comes from allowing a wide variety of viewpoints to coexist. That allows it to find and take advantage of better ideas more quickly. Other systems of government may not even consider that idea because they've suppressed and subjugated the minority who would've brought it up for consideration. Minorities like people who were anti-slavery in the early 1800s, pro women's suffrage in the late 1800s, for racial integration in the first half of the 20th century, and opposed to discrimination against GLBT people in the second half of the 20th century.
Democracy's strength comes from preserving that minority, even if you disagree with it. Especially if you disagree with it. If democracy hadn't protected people with those ideas when they were unpopular, those reforms never would've happened. That's why we don't discriminate against people based on how they voted (secret ballot), or their political opinions, or their religious views, or their race, or gender, or a myriad of other things which simply aren't relevant to running a business. Sure if you don't like that racist, you don't have to go camping with him. But discriminating against people in an activity which is completely orthogonal to the reason you dislike them - that is destroying the fundamental basis of democracy.
The whole point of democracy is protecting and preserving people's right to disagree. Advocating discrimination against people who hold a different opinion than yours, for no other reason than because they hold a different opinion, makes you a bigot. What, you thought that term only applied to racists? Perhaps you should look up its definition in the dictionary [merriam-webster.com]. Take away the right to disagree (while still living a normal life) and you've gutted democracy.
Tolerance doesn't mean accepting only people who hold the same beliefs you do. It means accepting and coexisting with and even defending people who hold different beliefs than you do.
"'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall
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The problem, both with your examples and with your argument, is that they mix morality and money.
Now I'm all for morality. God knows I've been a strong supporter of LGBT causes and my (Scots-Irish) father in another era spent some of his misspent youth in Memphis protesting for black equality. I'm also all for money--and using money to build an organization, to hire people, to create wealth and to build something that adds to the economic gestalt. I'm even for consumers being picky with their money, decidi
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Re:Why do his politics matter? (Score:4, Interesting)
If I had to define "tolerance" it would be something like "respect and kindness toward members of an outgroup".
The Emperor summons before him Bodhidharma and asks: "Master, I have been tolerant of innumerable gays, lesbians, bisexuals, asexuals, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, transgender people, and Jews. How many Virtue Points have I earned for my meritorious deeds?"
Bodhidharma answers: "None at all".
The Emperor, somewhat put out, demands to know why.
Bodhidharma asks: "Well, what do you think of gay people?"
The Emperor answers: "What do you think I am, some kind of homophobic bigot? Of course I have nothing against gay people!"
And Bodhidharma answers: "Thus do you gain no merit by tolerating them!"
-- I can tolerate anything except the outgroup [slatestarcodex.com]
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>bankrolled the anti-Gawker lawsuit
WHy suddenly people saying that like it was a bad thing to do?
Gawker, that piece of shit tabloid sleezy crapball yellow crap deserved to die.
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I'm not opposed to Gawker going out of business. I am opposed to billionaires secretly funding revenge lawsuits against people who have wronged them. See also: I'm not opposed to the KKK going out of business. I am opposed to the government arresting them all just for advocating their idiocy.
Concise an well said (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd care about the character (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: Why do his politics matter? (Score:2)
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This politicization of every aspect of life is way out of hand.
Absolutely, doing something unethical is absolutely fine if you do it for money.
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If you're trying to set up a Conservative friendly social media or video sharing service his politics are actually a plus.
The interesting thing is that Sam Altman is probably a libertarian type too.
http://blog.samaltman.com/e-pu... [samaltman.com]
You can't tell which seemingly wacky ideas are going to turn out to be right, and nearly all ideas that turn out to be great breakthroughs start out sounding like terrible ideas. So if you want a culture that innovates, you can't have a culture where you allow the concept of heresy-if you allow the concept at all, it tends to spread. When we move from strenuous debate about ideas to casting the people behind the ideas as heretics, we gradually stop debate on all controversial ideas.
This is uncomfortable, but it's possible we have to allow people to say disparaging things about gay people if we want them to be able to say novel things about physics. Of course we can and should say that ideas are mistaken, but we can't just call the person a heretic. We need to debate the actual idea.
Political correctness often comes from a good place-I think we should all be willing to make accommodations to treat others well. But too often it ends up being used as a club for something orthogonal to protecting actual victims. The best ideas are barely possible to express at all, and if you're constantly thinking about how everything you say might be misinterpreted, you won't let the best ideas get past the fragment stage.
I don't know who Satoshi is, but I'm skeptical that he, she, or they would have been able to come up with the idea for bitcoin immersed in the current culture of San Francisco-it would have seemed too crazy and too dangerous, with too many ways to go wrong. If SpaceX started in San Francisco in 2017, I assume they would have been attacked for focusing on problems of the 1%, or for doing something the government had already decided was too hard. I can picture Galileo looking up at the sky and whispering "E pur si muove" here today.
I.e. what the SJWs who infest Google and FB (and Reddit, whose board Altman was on) are scared of is that the people who have haven't drunk the Koolaid and may - horror of horrors - fund people who want to start companies who challenge their control of The Narrative.
Odd really,
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Yes. We would ask that question today. Most leftists today would say that making everything about religion is foolish. Yet somehow they can make everything about politics.
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Typical gutless passive-aggressive response from the left making such remarks while hiding behind AC.
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Most "conservatives" today aren't really conservative by the classical definition. They are classical liberals. The Left usurped the term "liberal" when the label "progressive" got a bad reputation due to its association with socialism, fascism, eugenics, and racism in the early 20th century. They've worked really hard since then to push the worst of those associations onto the right, but originally everyone knew they were associated with the left, and "progressives" in particular.
Ironic that when conserva
Re:Why do his politics matter? (Score:5, Insightful)
Most "conservatives" today aren't really conservative by the classical definition. They are classical liberals.
Libertarians are classical liberals. Conservatives are classical authoritarians. Classical liberals didn't build walls, start trade wars, vote for massive debt increases, and cozy up to foreign dictators.
They've worked really hard since then to push the worst of those associations onto the right.
They had a lot of help with that from the right.
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Try to grow up a little and stop simply relying on the stereotypes
I am not relying on stereotypes. I am relying on the official actions and stated policies of the party and their national leaders:
A majority of the Republican party (74%) supports building the wall [pewresearch.org].
Congressional Republicans just voted for a budget that adds $1.5 trillion to the national debt.
Several Republicans have been indicted for colluding with Putin and Russian hackers.
Does any of this sound like "classical liberalism"?
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So it's conservatives that want to:
Control what you eat (salt, beverage size, etc),
Take away your guns,
Indoctrinate your children in meaningless head-start programs as soon as they're potty-trained,
Regulate waterways that only exist after heavy rains,
Force everyone to buy healthcare coverage as dictated by government,
Bans books from libraries because they deal factually with historic race relation,
What's your point? Libertarians don't want to do any of those things either. But self-described "conservatives" want to do plenty of authoritarian crap that is the antithesis of "classical liberalism".
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Doesn't american left look authoritarian to you?
Yes. What's your point? That doesn't mean conservatives are "classical liberals".
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As an aside, in the State of California, political affiliation and belief are protected classes.
So, from a legal perspective, it is in fact illegal to discriminate against conservatives. Just as it is illegal to discriminate against liberals.
Re: Why do his politics matter? (Score:2)
Says the fellow that can't imagine liberals remaining in the minority.
If shunning conservatives is OK, then do is shunning liberals... "What's good for the goose..."
The real reason (Score:5, Funny)
The real reason why he wants to move out of Silicon Valley is that he can't afford housing in this area. All others are just excuses.
Of course LA will receive him better (Score:2)
in LA money is king, no matter what your views.
In SF money is also king, but you don't have to like it.
Re:Of course LA will receive him better (Score:5, Informative)
The story got a lot of traction and got repeated in the tech press and well known blogs, but after some tech journalists looked into it, it turned out to be bogus. [techcrunch.com] However, it's one of those things that seems to have stuck around probably because it's both interesting as well as silly.
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It's adorable that you think Peter Thiel's lawsuit against Gawker had anything to do with a tape of a sad has-been having depressing sex with the coke-whore wife of his friend as a radio stunt.
Say, how's your blood, anyway? Would you like to make a few bucks?
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My fans...I love 'em. Think of the time he put into this.
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None of which was false.
Some bint who owns a dress shop (Score:4, Funny)
Who?
What?
Yeah, I'm sure he like totally cares what she thinks.
Texas... (Score:2)
Is always welcoming to entrepreneurs and has no state sales tax.
To hell with California, come to a free country where you can do just about anything you want.
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Texas has a 6.25% state sales tax. Maybe you meant it has no state income tax?
I actually agree with the Politburo on this one (Score:4, Insightful)
Thiel would not be a good fit for Los Angeles. He should come to Arizona, where we love his politics and where he would appreciate the lower rents and cost of housing for workers. The Phoenix area is a burgeoning tech scene that has grown up around Arizona State, Intel, Honeywell, and a host of newer and smaller tech enterprises. Hardly a Silicon Valley yet, but he can help make it one.
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The advantage of gay neighbors is that their garage sales rock. Their stuff is higher quality, and it matches.
So the question is does money trump decency? (Score:3)
In the end I expect it will, because most people that have or want power or money use "decency" only for virtue signalling, but do not actually believe in it. Thiel may just be more honest in his evil than others. Which, paradoxically, makes him a little less evil.
Admission by liberals ... (Score:2)
... that they are intolerant of any views other than their own.
Tolerance (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would there be an article like this?
"Our venture and startup ecosystem is fairly left-leaning."
So intolerant then. If Peter Thiel wouldn't be welcomed because he's not like you, what does that make you? I guess it has finally become obvious to everyone how intolerant and exclusionary "left-leaning" cultures are.
Taxes (Score:3)
So he should stay in SF and not contribute to LA tax base?
One woman's baggage (Score:2)
Isn't he a Kiwi? (Score:3)
Peter Thiel is a New Zealand citizen [stuff.co.nz].
I didn't vote for him... :)
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Yes, he owns property in New Zealand and was granted citizenship under controversial circumstances.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/... [radionz.co.nz]
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/... [radionz.co.nz]
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/busi... [nzherald.co.nz]
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/medi... [nzherald.co.nz]
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nation... [stuff.co.nz]
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If Sadat, used commas, they way you, do I'd say, it was, justified.
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"If Sadat, used commas, they way you, do I'd say, it was, justified."
Alas, you have, a point. :-)
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It's an example, of the the use of the so called Shatnerian, comma. Indicates a pause, for dramatic, purposes.
You gotta love sed (Score:2)
It's, possible, to, overdo, it, though.
I, ,m,e,a,n, ,r,e,a,l,l,y,
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sed, is incapable, of knowing when Shatner, would put a dramatic pause, in.
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He's a supporter of Donald Trump, who wants a military parade, like the ones the French have, to celebrate the day when the 99% began cutting off the heads of the 1%. Sadat was also fond of military parades, until the day, when a couple of the tens of thousands of armed people walking by, shot him dead. Perhaps Peter can stand beside him during the parade.
He is? I read that he was one of the people potentially backing Steve Bannon after the Mercers withdrew their support to the latter. That would put him at odds w/ the president, not endear him to the White House or for that matter, the mainstream GOP
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Re: Why not? (Score:4, Insightful)
You subsidize them? Who builds your cars, grows your food, makes your clothes? Here's a hint - it's not f'ing you. Skipping over the fact that third world countries subsidize most of the developed world, in terms of actual tangible work, the "podunk" states you so despise do much more to maintain your standard of living than you think. Try heating your home or feeding your family with HTML5, AI, blockchain, or whatever it is you clowns rave about these days. Fact is most of the crap coming out of silicon valley is less than useless, distracting the rest of the world with constant noise while reducing their productivity and ability to solve problems themselves, and turning future generations' brains to mush. That's not economic value creation, it's destruction, and the world is finally starting to come around to that realization. So get off your high horse and wake up to the fact that it is you that is subsidized by actual hard working people, and their views matter as much as yours.
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Who builds your cars, grows your food, makes your clothes?
Last time I checked it was...Japan, Mexico, Vietnam.
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You keep using that word. It doesn't mean what you think it means.
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A bunch of retarded hicks that are easy to manipulate. Thanks Cleetus.
And the Committee to Re-elect Trump fires off their favorite line, which will ensure his victory in 2020.
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You snowflakes are so funny.
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IIRC, Mr. Thiel went to Stanford which is where it hooked up with some friends or acquaintances and together built a company that got him that fortune. So he's not exactly a new import into Silicon Valley.
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The actions of his that I have noticed do not signify someone who's trying to get rid of or minimize the state, but rather someone who's trying to use it to his own advantage.
I may well claim to be a libertarian, I haven't read anything he's written, but that's not what the actions of his that I have notices show. What actions has he taken that cause you to believe he is trying to eliminate or minimize the state rather than to use it to his own advantage?
Fix error in post: (Score:2)
Not:
I may well claim to be a libertarian (I used to, but now I'm a minarchist),
but rather:
He may well claim to be a libertarian
"coming to California"???? (Score:2, Insightful)
we're already here and have been all along.
California is the state of Ronald Reagan, Bob Dornan, etc.
The left was only able to hijack the state and make it one-party-rule by super-majorities in the state house by importing millions of immigrants from leftist countries. Now we have the highest gas taxes in the nation, while our trasportation infrastructure crumbles. We now have some of the highest income taxes in the nation, while we hae the worst income inequality. We now have some of the highest business t
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What's striking is driving across from Arizona and seeing gasoline a full dollar higher on the California side.
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Re:Because. (Score:4, Insightful)
Personally I wouldn't choose to live the lifestyle that working for Google etc forces on you, no matter what they paid me.
Apart from anything else, being surrounded by the obligatory bunch of neckbearded hipster millennials who all think they're "alternative" yet all look, dress, speak, think and act exactly the same, and all march lock-step according to extreme peecee liberal brainwashing, would drive me nuts.
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Apart from anything else, being surrounded by the obligatory bunch of neckbearded hipster millennials who all think they're "alternative" yet all look, dress, speak, think and act exactly the same, and all march lock-step according to extreme peecee liberal brainwashing, would drive me nuts.
Like most older generations, you misconstrue what "alternative" means. They don't mean alternative to each other, they mean alternative to you. They've seen what you are like, what you have done with the world, and have decided, collectively as a group, it was all a mistake and needs to be changed.
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> what you have done with the world
Don;t blame me. I didn't do anything with it.
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> what you have done with the world
Don;t blame me. I didn't do anything with it.
And like every generation tells the one before, "Your failure to do anything is why it is crap."
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I look forward to your response when kids start telling you this.
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You've had fun living on the industrial legacy of your state's early innovators, but it's not going to be easy to live like the Jetsons when today's California requires ten years of impact studies and a hundred-lawyer HR staff before you can back your Prius out of your own driveway.
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Yeah; free national health car is one of the things that your so-called left brings us.
Our right wing party (National) is to the left of the Democrats in many ways but Thiel still wanted citizenship here.
Any foreigners allowed in your 'burb or do you just shoot them?
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Thiel still wanted citizenship here.
Yes, in very dubious circumstances.
How much did he "donate" to the National party to be granted citizenship in New Zealand despite having been here for a total of 12 whole days, then never returning or investing the money he said he would.
I imagine there was a payoff to the Labour party as well, because I can't imagine why there has never been an inquiry about the whole matter.
Not that it's an isolated incident, no-one is really sure what this criminal is called, but [nzherald.co.nz] the minister of immigration gave
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Imagine all you like, there is no indication of anything improper for Mr Thiel's citizenship application. We do not have a history of bribery here of public officials esp. political parties.
That said you don't need money if you just play to the vanities of politicians.
Yeah Bill Yan is also a dody s**t and that was under Labour in 2001 (?). So a decade between drinks.
The Immigration Minister made the call for Thiel who was recommended I beleive but with no real information and apparently does not recall the
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Although Mr. Banks was found not guilty on appeal, the circumstances of the new evidence were extremely odd, and it also cost Mr. Banks his marriage.
You are probably correct about Mr. Thiel's ability to charm which just raises a whole host of further questions about various senior National party people's
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If I recall correctly Our Fat German was found to be an unreliable witness regarding Banks being asked to spit the donation into 2 x $25,000 cheques. Last time that he trusted the Tories I am sure!
And Banks did not help out Dotcom after he got arrested; with the recent paternity suit Banks lost it puts a new light on the law 'n' order scumbag that Banks traded on with National as Minister of Police (and talkback radio).
NZ does not suffer from bribery so much as ' a mate doing a favour for a mate' and, of co
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Yeah; free national health car is one of the things that your so-called left brings us.
TANSTAAFL
Nothing is free (as in beer). Not even free beer. They just shuffle things around so you don't notice (over)paying for it. And if it's run by the government, it's wasting your people's money, time, and resources to do a barely-passable at best job of it.
Strat
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Umm I know you are right wing enough not to be running on oxygen however our Governments balanced budget is paid from general taxation.
Can you spell b-a-l-a-n-c-e-d 'Merkins?
We could privatise it and then pay twice as much - once again 'Merkins show the way.
That is what tax is for to pay for things the private sector cannot/ will not provide.
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people need to stop suppressing the beliefs of others simply because you disagree with them.
The problem is that so many Leftists adamantly believe in an ideological/political structure that cannot hold up to logical, intellectually-honest debate or comparisons with others. If such were widely allowed in public discourse, they would not gain adherents and would lose nearly all support.
Strat
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Since that part of our government is a piece of shit, that's since when.
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Supporting Trump is not supporting the government, it is supporting a mentally unstable narcissist that cares for nothing but himself, and that reflects on Thiel, at least in the part of the community with brains.
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And if L.A. wasn't constantly trying to play Keep Up With San Francisco, it wouldn't be nearly as liberal as it is. I've had the thought that we might all be better off (especially Californians) if S.F. was split off and became functionally the American Hong Kong.
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And yet Gawker lost their court case.
Its weird how a not breaking the law gets a court to find against you.
Oh wait, you're wrong.
Re:He can stay out of L.A.... (Score:4, Informative)
Ignoring a judge's order to take down a sex tape isn't a very good idea
http://gawker.com/a-judge-told... [gawker.com]
It's also hypocritical given they'd earlier criticised people for not taking down Jennifer Lawrence's nudes. Jezebel and Gawker were both owned by Gawker Media.
https://imgur.com/a/ULIA4 [imgur.com]
Gawker pissed of Thiel by running this
http://gawker.com/335894/peter... [gawker.com]
Apparently they outed him when he was on a business trip to Saudi Arabia.
So Thiel backed Hogan's lawsuit, and that bankrupted Gawker media.
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But in Arizona, you can be a libertarian who golfs and hikes year round.
So, (Score:3)