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    Alex CJ.K. Trotter
    5/26/16 10:03am

    Well, you took it upon yourselves to publicly out him. What should have been a very personal choice, you stole from him. So I'm rooting for Thiel. Hope you guys crash and burn. Then you'll all be unemployed because none of you can actually write for shit.

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      MiniatureamericanflagsforothersAlex C
      5/26/16 10:04am

      And if the first amendment’s public figure doctrine has to die with Gawker, no big deal right?

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      PrettyLegitAlex C
      5/26/16 10:05am

      Well. . .uhhh. . .that was everything I had. Guess I can just. . .go home now. Huh.

      *douses torches*

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    Flying Squid (I hate me more than you do.)J.K. Trotter
    5/26/16 10:02am

    The number of people who are cool with a billionaire on a single-minded mission to quash another entity’s speech entirely because that entity once hurt him because said entity is Gawker scares the shit out of me. Especially the “it’s his money, he can do what he wants with it” people.

    What the fuck is this bronze age “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” bullshit? What is wrong with your moral compass?

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      asdfoasdkjflaksdjflkFlying Squid (I hate me more than you do.)
      5/26/16 10:06am

      Corporations are not people. They do not have speech.

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      Flying Squid (I hate me more than you do.)asdfoasdkjflaksdjflk
      5/26/16 10:06am

      The Supreme Court doesn’t agree with you, and their job is to interpret the constitution. Sorry.

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    gramercypoliceJ.K. Trotter
    5/26/16 10:24am

    Thiel’s mission isn’t just to destroy Gawker. It’s to provide a template for any wealthy, thin-skinned coward who feels aggrieved over nothing to put any news outlet out of business. There’s a reason the Valley has publications like Techcrunch and Pando Daily, publications created, staffed, and funded exclusively to extol the virtues of the very people and industry that pays their bills. Nobody in the Valley believes they should be subject to scrutiny, criticism, or oversight. By anyone. And Thiel, well, he’s on the Boar of Facebook. Facebook is trying to become the primary outlet for news organizations to get content in front of distracted readers.

    Anyone who thinks this is about Thiel being outed is a fool. Thiel is just as mad about the time ValleyWag pointed out that he wrote an op-Ed saying America stopped being free and great once women got the vote. He’s mad that anyone has the temerity to question his imbecilic ideas at all. No wonder he’s all in for Trump.

    http://gawker.com/5231390/facebo…

    And remember this kind of thing. At least in this case, Mother Jones knew who was suing them and knew the plaintiff wasn’t paying for anyone who wanted to destroy their magazine. Now, however, Thiel had shown billionaires a cheap, easy way to bring any rogue reporter to heel.

    http://m.motherjones.com/media/2015/10/…

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      j4x_gramercypolice
      5/26/16 10:33am

      ughhhn techcrunch.

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      swag-4daysgramercypolice
      5/26/16 10:38am

      Hahah like how you wrote so many words yet with no mention of the actual merits of the case or even the case itself. Haha amazing.

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    XrdsAlumJ.K. Trotter
    5/26/16 10:24am

    Gawker provided the opportunity for Thiel to get his revenge on Gawker for “outing” him, but it’s about more than that for Thiel. For context:

    “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”

    “A startup is basically structured as a monarchy. We don’t call it that, of course. That would seem weirdly outdated, and anything that’s not democracy makes people uncomfortable. We are biased toward the democratic-republican side of the spectrum. That’s what we’re used to from civics classes”

    The same civics classes that discuss how a free press is an essential democratic institution in that it creates an informed electorate - not needed in his view because it’s an impediment to a benevolent billionaire tech overlord. If Gawker can create an opportunity for him to fund a lawsuit that promotes chilling effects in the press, he’s all for it - especially if his own lawsuit failed.

    Thiel is basically a right-wing accelerationist, a techno-utopian Objectivist who wants to undermine democracy in favor of an unelected corporate aristocracy. In addition to now supporting a GOP candidate who’s bound to create uncertainty across the political spectrum about democracy, he also funds truly noxious Dark Enlightenment and neoReactionary figures like Curtis Yarvin and people trying to mainstream it like Balaji Srinivasan.

    Whatever your opinion of the merits of the Bollea vs Gawker case, it’s important to look at the deeper motives for Thiel handing $10 million to Hulk Hogan. This is opening the door for the creation of a cowed, self-censoring, Russian-style press, where the behavior of billionaires is off limits.

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      j4x_XrdsAlum
      5/26/16 10:34am

      From a pure game-theory perspective, I don’t entirely disagree.

      The best path for progress doesn’t necessarily involve democracy or a lot of civil rights.

      Of course, in the context and wording he is presenting, he is just a POS.

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      This corn is special, Isn't it?XrdsAlum
      5/26/16 10:41am

      Russian style press manipulation is pretty shady stuff, especially when your organization takes “investment” money from a shady billionaire Russian businessman in order to pay for your defense in a lawsuit.

      http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/01/2…

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    ZukkaJ.K. Trotter
    5/26/16 10:09am

    I spent all day yesterday trying to debate about how this is really fucking bad, but people just want to shit all over Gawker, all “haha this is what you get for fucking with people you piece of shit organization” as if GM has engaged in mass atrocities.

    People, this is REALLY FUCKING BAD. I get it, Gawker fucked up with Conde Nast, no doubt, and honestly, fucked up outing this guy too. The Hogan thing..... Ehh, it was boneheaded, but whatever. But Gawker does a lot of good too. This is just another example of a rich white wing megalomaniac bullying people who speak up against him.

    Why does no one sue fucking Brietbart or Fox News, or some right wing publications that actively support violence & discrimination against disenfranchised groups?

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      sulkamaniaZukka
      5/26/16 10:10am

      ill just sit here and wait for you to elaborate on the “good” that gawker does

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      PrettyLegitZukka
      5/26/16 10:12am

      “But Gawker does a lot of good too.”

      Go on.

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    ArdenJ.K. Trotter
    5/26/16 10:22am

    The hypocrisy of people here is astounding. So you cheer and swing from the rafters when some anti-abortion nut gets outed pressuring his mistress into getting an abortion, or an anti-gay person found out to be gay themsleves, but heaven forbid gawker report on a story like Hogan’, made 100% newsworthy by his own actions of going out of his way to drag his bedroom into the public spotlight.

    Get a clue. If you hate being here so much, the door’s right over there.

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      El Oso PeligrosoArden
      5/26/16 10:32am

      But how are we supposed to troll if we leave?

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      Kill Gawker DeadArden
      5/26/16 10:40am

      Eat shit and die, crybaby.

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    MiniatureamericanflagsforothersJ.K. Trotter
    5/26/16 10:02am

    Libertarians: fighting for the right to be private tyrants!

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      benjaminalloverMiniatureamericanflagsforothers
      5/26/16 10:15am

      Thiel is unfortunately correct about some of the stories that Gawker has published, which profoundly breach privacy with only the most tenuous excuses for public interest value. Certainly the Conde Nast story, and probably the Hogan post as well. But seeing as how Thiel is actually a gay man funding anti-gay politicians and agendas his case does not fit that category whatsoever. Gawker deserves all the vitriol in the world over those breaches, but Thiel somehow manages to be the bigger asshole here, threatening the public discourse in a much scarier way.

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      Hobbylobbyistbenjaminallover
      5/26/16 10:18am

      This. There isn’t always a good guy— Thiel and Gawker can BOTH suck simultaneously.

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    cooterbaldwinJ.K. Trotter
    5/26/16 10:04am

    I hate to judge before all the facts are in but I’m guessing this guy is an asshole. Anyone that wears a pin stripe jacket with no tie and and an unbuttoned collar is an asshole.

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      Flying Squid (I hate me more than you do.)cooterbaldwin
      5/26/16 10:06am

      I know plenty of facts about him and ‘asshole’ is an understatement. I honestly would not be surprised if I checked the news one day and cops had raided his home and found a stack of bodies in the cellar next to a bunch of weird surgical tools.

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      seeveepeecooterbaldwin
      5/26/16 10:07am

      But the pinstripes and white shirt say he’s a captain of industry, while the lack of tie and open collar say he’s cool and casual!

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    Masshole JamesJ.K. Trotter
    5/26/16 10:07am

    You mean a psycho Libertarian who funds anti-gay politicians (Ted Cruz was his preferred bitch until he “flamed” out) even though he loooooooves dick might be emotionally unstable and trying to take out his enemies like a cartoon villain? I’m shocked! Shocked!!

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      Sluicer's ghostMasshole James
      5/26/16 10:17am

      Maybe it is like my wanting to hate fuck some blonde Republican bitch... you know, perverse delight.

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      Masshole JamesSluicer's ghost
      5/26/16 10:40am

      Hate-fucking I understand but what Thiel has with the GOP is some kind of twisted, long-term marriage.

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    Sluicer's ghostJ.K. Trotter
    5/26/16 10:09am

    Let us be perfectly clear... yes, Gawker was “excessive” in the past, but Thiel is a Donald Trump supporting Libertarian asshole. That is all one needs to know.

    Oh, and also, Fuck Hulk Hogan... dude lived off his goddamned public persona for years and suddenly he claims privacy?!? And also, again, so we are clear, Hogan/Bollea is a racist asshole. Full On Racist.

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      Sean BrodySluicer's ghost
      5/26/16 10:15am

      Let us be perfectly clear... yes, Gawker was “excessive” in the past, but Thiel is a Donald Trump supporting Libertarian asshole. That is all one needs to know.

      I personally think David Geithner’s name is all you need to know.

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      querulousSean Brody
      5/26/16 12:38pm

      Eh yeah sorry as a gay man Thiel’s evil trumps (no pun intended) that situation. Granted I’m also the type of gay that has absolutely no sympathy or tolerance for any discreet/down low nonsense in this day and age. At the very least feel bad for the guy for getting (figuratively) fucked by that crazy escort, and can say maybe it was messy and intrusive to air that. But people keep bringing that up as justification as to why GSM deserve to be fucked so hard by Thiel and Hogan’s vindictive bullshit and I just don’t see it.

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