Thiel Met With The Racist Fringe As He Went All In On Trump

Buzzfeed, 11 Sept 2020, Rosie Gray and Ryan Mac:

The venture capitalist and Facebook board member staked his reputation on a Trump presidency. Now what does he have to show for it?

Four years ago, billionaire venture capitalist and Facebook board member Peter Thiel made one of his biggest bets: He went all in on Donald Trump. The normally tight-lipped and enigmatic Thiel gave a very public imprimatur as a prominent speaker at the Republican convention, tying his reputation as one of the most successful figures in modern tech to a presidential candidate despised throughout Silicon Valley.

“Tonight,” he said in a nationally televised address at the convention, “I urge all of my fellow Americans to stand up and vote for Donald Trump.” He made history as the convention’s first speaker to declare himself “proud to be gay” and he extolled Trump not as “a return to the past” but rather a return to “that bright future.”

Thiel was used to making risky bets. He was a startup veteran, a PayPal cofounder who wrote Facebook a check for $500,000 months after it launched. But Trump was different. Few in Silicon Valley wanted in on that round. Still, just a week after the Access Hollywood tape leaked of Trump boasting about sexually assaulting women — a clip that sent other prominent Republicans fleeing — Thiel ponied up $1.25 million.

The donation was well known. But what has not been previously reported is just how much Thiel was willing to gamble on Trump’s MAGA movement during the 2016 election. His bet went far beyond money, speeches, or even mainstream Republican politics. Even as Thiel staked his reputation on the candidate in public, he met in private with the racist fringe that felt emboldened by Trump’s rise to power.

BuzzFeed News can reveal that in at least one instance during the summer of 2016, Thiel hosted a dinner with one of the most influential and vocal white nationalists in modern-day America — a man who has called for the creation of a white ethnostate and played a key role in an effort to mainstream white nationalism as the “alt-right.” And then Thiel emailed the next day to say how much he’d enjoyed his company.

Among those on the racist right, Thiel’s outreach raised hopes that his financial bet on Trump would extend into the ascendant alt-right movement, which despite its prominence was a collection of small and often cash-strapped organizations. One avowed white nationalist privately speculated that Thiel’s money and influence could have made him “our George Soros.”

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TeamCandaceOwens 6 Sept 2020

The full list is below and it includes at least one statement per company:

23andme: https://archive.is/Mjbwk

72andSunny: https://archive.is/B1x7Y

AbbVie: https://archive.is/Q2Vqj

Abbey Road Studios: https://archive.is/AJlrg

The Academy (the Oscars): https://archive.is/cNRYf

Activision Blizzard: https://archive.is/qfRJ1

Adidas: https://archive.is/ezQ22

Airbnb: https://archive.is/GmMjl

Alaska Airlines: https://archive.is/wnICf

Amazon: https://archive.is/lBR4u

AMD: https://archive.is/i3krt

American Airlines: https://archive.is/XBwhw

American Express: https://archive.is/kzWXa

American Apparel: https://archive.is/ETfYw

Apple Music: https://archive.is/cj97E

Ancestry: https://archive.is/5Q9JW

Armani: https://archive.is/hX6Yw

Astro Gaming: https://archive.is/9aWhf

AT&T: https://archive.is/OzC04

Atlantic Records: https://archive.is/65QQq

AWS: https://archive.is/NXNAG

AXE: https://archive.is/Xpxhw

Barclays Bank: https://archive.is/9EAl4

Barnes & Noble: https://archive.is/PCPKn

Bandcamp: https://archive.is/5QQBT

Bank of America: https://archive.is/FH1O0

Bayer: https://archive.is/iT3EG

Bergdorf Goodman: https://archive.is/nQiPA

Bethesda: https://archive.is/2xeNE

Ben & Jerry’s: https://archive.is/BqHRv

Billboard: https://archive.is/Ruuv8

BMW: https://archive.is/lRN51

BP: https://archive.is/0qSwy

Booking.com: https://archive.is/CZAs7

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A few of the latest stories:

The epistemic grounds to reject Hitler should be clear enough to anyone proposing that they are qualified for a leadership role in WN. But these two are apparently carrying-on as if they are pragmatists. How do they propose that their explicitly unapologetic Hitler/Nazi coddling will be anything but terribly divisive of White Nationalism in addition to being epistemologically unnecessary?

If one is to exercise 20/20 hindsight, why not wish that Hitler didn’t attack other European nations; putting efforts instead toward cooperative deportation of non-Europeans?

This is not so much addressed to Enoch-Peinovich, as he has already been quarantined from this platform as an eminently dubious actor. However, Collett…

I won’t elaborate on this much here, as I have an article coming up regarding apparent triangulation against WN in the appeal to Hitler/Nazism, but to address a few absurdities by Collett in this podcast…

First of all, Collett invoked this rule that WN bandies about, which does not make perfect sense: i.e, “never apologize.”

Well, what if you’re terribly wrong? I remember people from the White Voice (guest Heimbach high-fiving host Adams for) refusing to apologize when they mistook Elin Krantz with the actor who posed mounted on top of a black in the mock Swedish National Anthem commercial: therefore “she got what she deserved”. Why not apologize for Elin’s sake?

But this is different. Not asking for an apology from Collett but rather for signs of intelligence enough (or honesty enough) that he can see things better now.

       
Carolyn Yeager once described this image (of a Polish woman killed by a Luftwaffe strafing) as “a wounded Polish woman.”

Collett invokes the long ago BBC ambush report which finds him now confirming that he’d still rather his daughter be born in 1930s Germany than some parts of England because she would be “more safe.”

And would his daughter be more safe still, in 1940s Germany, once the Nazi regime got through with murdering millions of people, including millions of civilian women and children, thus provoking revenge and violent retribution upon her?

Would it not be a better idea to find a way to move to a safer part of England while fairly assured that your parenting would give your daughter a better chance to not be groomed, and that you’d have some time for community activism, the kind you engage now, to root-out the problem?

Adding to the foible that he’d rather his daughter be born in 1930’s Germany, while that remark was initiated a long time ago, this one wasn’t: Listing his three favorite books - firstly Mein Kampf. Was that long ago Mark? Sure as reliable Mike Enoch set in motion the whole stiff arm thing that made Richard Spencer Fuhrer for a day…

..now you’ve got Enoch (who thinks he’s proved that he deserves to participate in European advocacy - he thinks so), running interference for you. He says that he’s not going to apologize for his admiration for certain figures of the Nazi era, “they’re going to call everyone Nazis anyway.”....

....“and look at the gun shows”, how the Nazi memorabilia is snapped up (therefore, it’s really ok to see Hitler’s as just another voice in our round table.) He challenges any of us “optics cucks” (the marketing campaign that Enoch is part of calls for him to suggest that there is no profound reason to reject Hitler, that the argument boils down to how Nazi imagery will look to the “brainwashed” normies), he believes that he can out-verbalize any of us in terms of winning over the “normies.” ...confident in his kosher verbal skills, he is.

“...but in terms of who is going to be a part of this movement, it’s got to be White people and really, Jews should be excluded; and, and if you’re going to let in a mixed Jewish person then they really have to have done something to earn that - you know, and I think that in my case, I did.” - Michael ‘Enoch’ Peinovich

SkyNews 7 Sept 2020:

Detectives urge people not to approach the man and admit they have “no indication of a motive”.

Birmingham stabbings: Police want to find this man. People are warned not to approach the suspect

Police investigating a series of stabbings in Birmingham - one of them fatal - say they have had a “strong response” after releasing CCTV footage of a suspect. The video shows a man wearing a baseball cap and a dark hoodie with white drawstrings, dark trousers and shoes.

West Midlands Police tweeted that detectives are “following up several new lines of enquiry”.

A team is working through the night and anyone with information is urged to call a hotline on 0800 056 0944.

Chief Superintendent Steve Graham said witnesses had been interviewed to “ensure we release the best possible video and image of the man we want to speak to”.

The force said extra officers had “flooded the city centre”, adding that “four scenes have been held throughout the day and forensic experts have examined each area”.

Detectives said there was “no suggestion” the attacks were linked to terrorism.

White House memo calls for ban on federal agencies conducting training on “critical race theory,” “white privilege” with taxpayer dollars.

CBS News 4 Sept 2020:

President Trump is ordering federal agencies to stop funding training on topics including “critical race theory” and “white privilege” with taxpayer dollars, according to a memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought that was released on Friday.

“It has come to the President’s attention that Executive Branch agencies have spent millions of taxpayer dollars to date ‘training’ government workers to believe divisive, anti-American propaganda,” Vought wrote in a letter to the heads of executive departments and agencies.

Citing press reports that agencies have conducted training where employees are told that “virtually all white people contribute to racism” or that racism is “embedded in the belief that America is the land of opportunity,” Vought said trainings of that nature “run counter to the fundamental beliefs for which our nation has stood since its inception.”

In the letter, Vought told the agency heads to identify contracts or other spending related to training on “critical race theory,” “white privilege,” “or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either (1) that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or (2) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil.”

He further instructed the leaders to find ways to cancel the contracts and move federal dollars away from “these un-American propaganda training sessions.”

‘Black Lives Matter,’ declare groups representing majority of US Jews in NYT ad.

Over 600 Jewish organizations sign letter, published on anniversary of March on Washington, backing ‘current day Civil Rights Movement’.

Times of Israel 29 Aug 2020

An ad taken out in the New York Times by over 600 Jewish organizations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. (Courtesy)

NEW YORK — Over 600 Jewish organizations, representing the majority of American Jews, signed a letter in support of the Black Lives Matter movement that was published in a full-page New York Times ad on Friday.

“We support the Black-led movement in this country that is calling for accountability and transparency from the government and law enforcement. We know that freedom and safety for any of us depends on the freedom and safety of all of us,” reads the letter, which was published on page A17 of the print edition of The New York Times.

“As Jews, we know how dangerous this is: when politicians target Jewish people and blame us for problems, it leads directly to violence against us. When Black movements are undermined, it leads to more violence against Black people, including Black Jews,” the letter says.

The 627 groups that signed the letter included the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist denominational movements, which make up 35 percent, 18% and 1% of American Jewry, respectively, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center study.

The list also includes several Orthodox groups such as the Uri L’Tzedek social justice organization and Yaffed, an advocacy group that seeks to improve secular education in Hasidic schools.

The letter’s signatories include ardently Zionist, mainstream organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Federations of North America local chapters, along with several groups that support the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, including Jewish Voice for Peace and Anti-Zionist Shabbat.

A group of Jewish activists penned the letter and first posted it on the publishing platform Medium on June 25, against the backdrop of nationwide protests that erupted following the police killing of George Floyd in late May.

It garnered the backing of over 400 organizations within its first 48 hours, according to Audrey Sasson, the executive director of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

“We were starting to see the far-right concoct conspiracy theories that Black Lives Matter was being manipulated by Globalists and Marxists in an anti-Semitic attempt to undermine the Black-led movement,” Sasson said. “This brought an opportunity to unequivocally state as a large swath of Jewish community organizations that we stand behind Black Lives Matter and that any attempt to divide that movement will not land.”

A decision was made to re-publish the missive as a New York Times ad on Friday to mark the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington, the 1963 mass-rally for the civil and economic rights of Black Americans.

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HUB.JHU.com 3 Sept 2020:

Johns Hopkins begins process of establishing new diversity and inclusion goals

Roadmap 2020 Task Force will review university’s progress to date, develop recommendations that incorporate community feedback.

Hub staff report: Five years ago, Johns Hopkins University launched its Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion in order to state its commitments in those areas explicitly and in concrete terms. Now the institution is preparing to assess numerous programs and activities across its divisions and develop a set of recommendations for the next five years.

In a message to the university community today, JHU President Ronald J. Daniels and Provost Sunil Kumar wrote, “this work is foundational to our community, and it has taken on ever-greater urgency in these past few months as the nation continues to grapple with the impact of systemic racism and the brutal reality of violence against Black and brown Americans.”

They acknowledged the “profound anger and sadness” in the community as the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, became “yet another chapter in a devastating summer of recurring police violence that has unleashed protests across the nation.” They added, “It is clear that the anti-racist, equity-seeking, and inclusive values we espouse must continue to guide our capacity to support our community and our efforts to achieve concrete and tangible change in our institution.”

The Roadmap 2020 Task Force, announced in July along with several other initiatives, will lead the process of reviewing the Roadmap and setting new goals. Students, faculty, and staff from across university divisions as well as members of the Baltimore community have agreed to serve on the task force; the full roster is on the Diversity and Inclusion website. Three co-chairs—Katrina Caldwell, vice provost and chief diversity officer; Ashley Llorens, chair of the Johns Hopkins Diversity Leadership Council; and Patricia Davidson, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing—will guide the process, which will include convening theme-based working groups to gather knowledge and surface ideas in a way that promotes broad transparency, includes all voices, and provides opportunities to shape the final recommendations to leadership.

“For the task force to succeed, it must draw upon the perspectives and experiences of a wide-ranging representation of stakeholders from across our institution, including faculty, staff, and students, as well as the broader Baltimore community,” Daniels and Kumar said in their message. “We were fortunate to have had significant interest from many people at all levels of our institution.”

The task force will commence its work with a retreat, co-sponsored by the Diversity Leadership Council, on Sept. 10 and continue throughout the year. University leadership has asked the task force to produce preliminary recommendations this spring to be shared with the JHU community for input. The final report, which will incorporate community feedback, will be shared with leadership by June with the recommendations shared with the board of trustees for consideration and endorsement. The final report will be released to the community in fall 2021.

The group plans to hold two leadership town halls, one on Sept. 18 at 9 a.m. to kick off the process and one in early 2021 to discuss preliminary recommendations, as well as a series of listening sessions focused on strategic priorities beginning in October and continuing through early 2021. There will be an open comment period before the full report is finalized, and individuals are invited to share ideas, feedback, and insights at any time through a feedback form on the Diversity and Inclusion website.

While the task force is starting its work, the university is releasing its third Roadmap progress report recounting diversity and inclusion efforts across the institution. This regular sharing of data and stories “embodies our belief that systemic change demands an articulation of values accompanied by a clear action plan and the willingness to shine a light on both our accomplishments and the areas in which we have fallen short,” Daniels and Kumar said.

Among the highlights:

- A $1.8 billion gift from Michael Bloomberg in 2018 boosted the university’s existing upward trajectory in the diversity of the incoming class with the percentage of underrepresented racial minorities (URM) increasing from 14.9% to 32.5% between 2010 and 2019, and the percentage of students eligible for Pell grants increasing from 11.1% to 19.1% in that time

- The university regularly publishes composition reports regarding Johns Hopkins faculty, staff, and graduate students, and the latest editions show there has been growth over several years in the number of female and URM affiliates

- The HopkinsLocal economic inclusion initiative has driven substantial investments in the Baltimore community by focusing on local and minority-owned businesses and city residents when Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health System build, hire, and buy

- The loss of university leaders in two key areas—the Office of Institutional Equity and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion—was a setback to the pace and consistency of the university’s work last year. However, nationwide searches yielded strong candidates for both positions, both of whom joined Hopkins this summer—Caldwell as JHU’s second vice provost and chief diversity officer and Shanon Shumpert as vice provost for Institutional Equity.