
Peter Thiel: Ban is not religious test - woofyman
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/01/28/peter-thiel-joins-tech-execs-refugee-ban/97202584/
======
danjoc
Obama kills Muslims with drones, even an American kid, without due process.
Nobody bats an eye. Trump refuses entry to countries where we already ban
encryption exports and block trade. Everybody loses their minds.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Obama kills Muslims with drones, even an American kid, without due process.
> Nobody bats an eye.

The second sentence is not grounded in reality, which is ko d of fatal to the
entire argument you are trying to build on that premise.

~~~
danjoc
Sure it is. Ask anyone you know if they know who Abdulrahman is. You'll get a
blank stare.

~~~
JasonInSeattle
So what's your point?

~~~
danjoc
If you get this enraged over temporary travel bans from nations that sponsor
terrorism against the US, what are you going to do if Trump starts droning
American kids with the precedent Obama set? It's a bit like the boy who cries
wolf. Blowing something small out of proportion is stupid, because nobody is
going to listen when the big stuff starts happening.

It's not a Muslim ban. People who say that are only burning their own
credibility. Indonesia isn't banned. Bangladesh isn't banned.

Libya, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, and Syria. Somalia is infamous for
its pirates, Libya for Benghazi, Iran for its nuclear program, do I even need
to continue?

~~~
judahmeek
Yes. Please explain how a blanket travel ban on entire countries helps
national security.

~~~
danjoc
After you explain how incorrectly characterizing it as a Muslim ban isn't
going to be used as terrorist propaganda. Who's actually hurting nation
security here?

~~~
judahmeek
Characterizing it as a Muslim ban isn't wrong. It's a travel ban that will
mainly effect Muslims.

It would be much easier to defend this ban as not targeting Muslims from
countries that don't have the political capital to defend themselves if
blanket bans like this one actually improved national security. Can you
honestly make the claim that it does?

~~~
danjoc
There are more people in majority Muslim Indonesia than there are in all seven
of the other countries combined. Add in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and you
easily have double the number of Muslims. If Trump wanted to ban Muslims, he'd
ban Indonesia. Instead, he banned those seven countries because they are known
to have connections with terrorists.

If a pipe bursts, temporarily turning off the water main while you figure out
how to fix the problem isn't a bad strategy.

~~~
judahmeek
You're making a No True Scotsman argument by saying that it's not a Muslim ban
because Trump didn't ban enough muslims. You're also completely ignoring the
fact that Bannon very likely spent some time determining what sort of ban
would and wouldn't be defensible. The use of 8 U.S. Code § 1187 wasn't by
accident.

Also, your excuse about connections to terrorists needs citations because,
from what I've read, these connections don't actually exist.

------
andriesm
Peter Thiel remains an epic and inspirational figure, brave enough to zag when
others zig. And become a billionaire by doing this. A real hero to me.

------
dhfhduk
Thank you, Peter, for clearing that up. We were all waiting for your rational
and level-headed insight to know what to think about these sorts of matters.
The language of the EO mentioned religion, but obviously if you think that's
not what was meant, that's not what was meant. Now we can all sigh a breath of
relief and go about our lives. What would we do without people like Peter?

~~~
afewgoodman
It's not a religion ban. Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims on
earth, at 200+ million. Not one of them is banned from America. Only
immigrants from countries with direct ties to terrorism are banned,
temporarily.

Once gain, it has nothing to do with religion. It's geographical. You can be a
Christian in Iraq, and you would be ban too.

------
draw_down
Come on.

------
nickthemagicman
Fuck you Peter Thiel. I realized you were a major douche when you supported
Trump's madness while simultaneously BECOMING A NEW ZEALAND CITIZEN.

After you guys rob the country blind y'all have a nice escape hatch and just
leave the mess y'all made to the rest of us.

