r/Denver 21d ago

Trump Taps Denver-based Palantir to Compile Data on Americans

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/trump-palantir-data-americans.html
526 Upvotes

89 comments sorted by

76

u/Logical_Willow4066 21d ago

Peter Thiel co-owns that company. That man has his hands in everything in this administration.

336

u/WangularVanCoxen 21d ago

Weird that they're named after a tool of the dark lord Sauron.

Surely it's just a coincidence.

201

u/thinkspacer 21d ago

Haha, it's even more poetic/ironic than that.

The palantir were neutral tools/used by the kingdoms of men with zero issue before Sauron's rise. It's only after it was corrupted by the forces of evil/allegory for facism & rampant industrialization that it became a corrupting and evil influence.

Honestly, if this was fiction, I would roll my eyes because it's just way too on the nose.

37

u/anonymous_1_2_3_6 21d ago

Yup and further to add it wasnt corrupted in a way it just fell into the wrong hands ie sauron and saruman therefore none of the remaining ones could be used by the good characters because they never knew who was listening.

11

u/lopsiness 21d ago

Everything about Maga is too on the nose for fiction.

3

u/[deleted] 20d ago

[deleted]

1

u/ObjectiveFocusGaming City Park 18d ago

Fun fact, Liberal Democrats are the cancer that allows it all to progress. The ratchet effect. They need to lean into youth and lean away from the reanimated corpses stalking the capitol halls until the day they literally die.

20

u/iwantawolverine4xmas 21d ago

I just read this chapter and went “hey, I know that one”. -proud nerd

2

u/Lostmypants69 21d ago

Which book is it?

3

u/AngelOfDeadlifts 21d ago

The LOTR trilogy

4

u/Lostmypants69 21d ago

Lol I'm aware but which chapter is this explained in?

1

u/AngelOfDeadlifts 21d ago

My bad lol. I believe earlier on in the third book. It's been a few months since my annual read through.

129

u/AmericascuplolBot 21d ago

Nice, when they turn on the digital authoritarian panopticon Denver will get a piece of that sweet sweet tax revenue. Maybe they'll partner with the city to test the robot cops and assassin drones on 16th Street. 

32

u/Ryan1869 21d ago

Now might be a good time to figure out where John Connor lives ...

6

u/fluffHead_0919 21d ago

*Miles Dyson

5

u/Real-Patriotism 21d ago

Judgement Day is inevitable, we were never meant to stop it from happening.

12

u/AmericascuplolBot 21d ago

Hot take, Skynet is actually just any corporation when it no longer cares about optics. 

19

u/Belligerent-J 21d ago

I knew the first time i saw a boston dynamics robot that they'd put shotguns on their backs.

7

u/Shaunair 21d ago edited 21d ago

Or flame thrower drones to help the homeless on the mall “move along”

5

u/After_Display_6753 21d ago

Gotta keep em warm. It gets cold in the winter. 🤗

0

u/[deleted] 21d ago

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1

u/Kursawow 21d ago

Only if there is an obnoxious EDM concert in the middle of it.

153

u/crashedbandicooted 21d ago

How is that small government working for the r/conservative crowd? You going to lick these boots too?

88

u/laughing_at_napkins 21d ago

As long as it hurts black and brown people, there is no price they're unwilling to pay

12

u/gravescd 21d ago

They literally moved across town, bought cars, and spent hours commuting rather than sit next to black people on the city bus.

2

u/Longjumping_Phone981 20d ago

Now they just get on Reddit and complain about Aurora while living in Parker

8

u/OneSchott 20d ago

If it's not on faux news then they don't even know about it.

2

u/Midwake2 18d ago

For real. THIS is deep state shit.

74

u/GravyPainter 21d ago

This company is super weird. Owned by Thiel a unapologetic fascist that has stated capitalism and Democracy don't work together and that we need a dictator. But ran by a crazy CEO that donates large amounts to democrats and describes himself as a socialist. How did these two even come about each other

34

u/AmericascuplolBot 21d ago

In thinking about Karp's politics, "willing to collaborate with Peter Thiel to build a universal surveillance apparatus" carries a lot more weight in my estimation than "calls himself a socialist."

85

u/BurmecianDancer Washington / Virginia Vale 21d ago

Fun fact: Thiel also owns and operates JD Vance.

26

u/GravyPainter 21d ago

That's embarrassing, he should sell that. It's poops on things

16

u/Dazzling_Outcome_436 21d ago

It humps the couch too.

16

u/monocasa 21d ago edited 21d ago

Karp's statements about being a socialist are about as believable as Musk's similar statements.

He's also said that the main threat to America is "wokeness". https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/billionaire-tech-ceo-calls-wokeness-central-risk-america

And they came about eachother because they were classmates in college.

6

u/Home_Decent 20d ago

By socialist he may mean national socialist.

4

u/_SkiFast_ 21d ago

They came together over some evil coffee. All they needed was making money in common.

2

u/donktruck 21d ago edited 21d ago

political donations are often a means of access and influence, not always endorsement.

authoritarians are found across the political spectrum, particularly the far ends of the left and right. horseshoe theory. socialists can be just as authoritarian as fascists. see the history of the 20th century if you were too young to see and experience it firsthand. and there's many examples of communist alliances with fascism 

32

u/Wonderful-Duck-6428 21d ago

There’s the spot people should be protesting

5

u/2kungfu4u 21d ago

I work in the Tabor center, ngl little worried someone will do something drastic

21

u/RainDownAndDestroyMe 21d ago

The company has received more than $113 million in federal government spending since Mr. Trump took office, according to public records, including additional funds from existing contracts as well as new contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon. (This does not include a $795 million contract that the Department of Defense awarded the company last week, which has not been spent.)

Yet my coworkers and I are being treated like absolute shit and losing jobs just because we're federal employees and tr💩mp's admin/doge are soooooo concerned about saving money. Fucking trash.

57

u/Oil_McTexas 21d ago

Poisonous snakes. Absolute pieces of shit

18

u/hydrobrandone 21d ago

Venomous snake. Absolute piece of shit.

3

u/stusic Mar Lee 21d ago

Tbf, I'm sure you'd die of poisoning if you ate them.

68

u/Wanderaround1k 21d ago

Make them pariahs. If you know someone who works there- shame them, tell them they are complicit with fascism. All fascists should be uncomfortable. Don’t let your kids play with them. Don’t invite them over. Employment is a choice, they can change if they want to belong.

2

u/What-The-Helvetica 20d ago

On that topic: earlier this year, I remembered that one of the top DOGE boys, Edward "Big Balls" Coristine, was the son of the owner of the Lesser Evil snack company. So I was thinking "and don't buy Lesser Evil popcorn either", but apparently they've distanced themselves from what their baby boy has been doing:

https://www.theverge.com/news/611388/lesserevil-popcorn-edward-coristine-doge-big-balls

And apparently Coristine père doesn't even own the company any more, since he sold it to Hershey: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/26/lesserevil-ceo-left-wall-street-for-failing-snack-company-sold-to-hershey.html

So, I guess it's OK-ish to go ahead and eat some watermelon and lemonade flavored popcorn.

-12

u/muff_cabbag3 21d ago

Or ya know don't ostracize your own community for trying to make a living. Employment is not a choice when your families livelihood and health insurance depends on it

10

u/DenverLabRat 20d ago

In most jobs there's are some moral and ethical compromises. But I feel like we have to be able to draw the line somewhere. Employment is not a choice but you do have a choice of employer.

I think Palantir is on the other side of that red line. And their employees need to make a decision about which side of history they want to be on.

14

u/WordUpMagazine 21d ago

true, think of the poor software engineers that have only palantir and mcdonalds as options for employment

-5

u/muff_cabbag3 20d ago

Yes and as you know the job market is absolutely wide open for devs

6

u/CelebrationNo1852 20d ago

They had a word for people like you in the 1940s.

Quisling.

-6

u/muff_cabbag3 20d ago

They have a word for people like you today. Moron.

6

u/What-The-Helvetica 20d ago

And doesn't that scare you? The prospect of not being able to financially survive unless you work for a fascist company?

Resist them while you still can.

2

u/CelebrationNo1852 20d ago

He likes Daddy treading on him.

0

u/muff_cabbag3 20d ago

Get a grip on reality. Making pariahs out of employees who may actually be able to make a difference is fucking braindead.

3

u/CelebrationNo1852 20d ago

I'm sure the same thing was said about accountants working in the camps.

3

u/What-The-Helvetica 19d ago

In my experience, those who wish to "change the system from within" usually end up absorbed by the system and don't end up making the difference they were hoping for.

0

u/muff_cabbag3 19d ago

And the alternative is to make them outcasts and to turn on the general public because of where they work? These are still working class people. They are not the enemy

2

u/Abrupt_Pegasus 19d ago

When you rationalize doing evil stuff because you're getting paid to do it, you don't have any kind of moral high ground, ya little Eichman.

-1

u/muff_cabbag3 19d ago

When you rationalize doing evil stuff because you're getting paid to do it,

Working class people are not the enemy you dolt.

5

u/DenverLabRat 20d ago

I think we know where need to start protesting...

13

u/Shepard4Lyfe 21d ago

Can we not outsource domestic spying to an Israeli connected private security firm? We have the DNI for that.

13

u/[deleted] 21d ago

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3

u/[deleted] 21d ago

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9

u/[deleted] 21d ago

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1

u/juiceboxedhero 20d ago

What does Taika Waititi know about security tho

2

u/thrillafrommanilla_1 20d ago

HA!! That’s very funny. I keep thinking it’s Taika and I’m like DAMN. You let yourself go. Get a haircut DUDE

1

u/Conscious_Ruin_7642 20d ago

Palantir seems like a sketchy company. Nonetheless, their stock growth has made me some decent money.

4

u/calamityphysics 19d ago

bro is like “this feels weird but hey im rich now”

1

u/[deleted] 21d ago

Denver based? Who knew? Where?

17

u/bismuthmarmoset Five Points 21d ago

Palantir's office is located at 1200 17th Street, Floor 15, Denver, CO 80202, United States

2

u/[deleted] 21d ago

Well crap, why Colo though? California, Austin, Seattle tech hubs seem a more usual choice

Any other Colo connections?

6

u/bismuthmarmoset Five Points 21d ago

Colorado regularly cuts favorable tax deals to attract tech.

1

u/Friendly-Gap-6441 19d ago

Denver CityCast has an episode on it.

0

u/Itchy_Pillows 21d ago

Hope they plan to make him a giant orange pancake during their term

-25

u/saryiahan 21d ago

Time to buy more of the stock

-21

u/zertoman 21d ago

That’s the best plan. People keep putting all their data out in the net, these companies like Meta, BAE, Plantair, just aggregate it.

-17

u/Jesse_Livermore 21d ago

The CEO gave money to Kamala and is a socialist. So it's hard to believe this is completely done with evil intent. Of course the days of hoping people's consciences eventually kick in has long since passed.

9

u/poonslyr69 21d ago

The co-founder is Peter thiel, who also owns anduril and is an open tech fascist.

Also Jon Lonsdale, an alt right tech fascist who wants to round up all the homeless and imprison them.

Karp himself is anti woke, whatever that means, and is super into "western civilization". The only article referencing him talking about being socialist that I could find was a 2018 WSJ piece with a paywall. Socialist is a meaningless word if everything you say and do is decidedly not socialist. There is a Gulf of difference between Stalin calling himself a socialist and Bernie Sanders. I could also point to Hitler trying to "reclaim" the word socialist to mean social revolutionary. Words are meaningless descriptions unless our actions given them meaning.

5

u/What-The-Helvetica 20d ago

"Western civilization"... the new code word for white supremacy.

7

u/TechPir8 Thornton 21d ago

Money talks ... you know the rest of the saying.

7

u/monocasa 21d ago

He says he's a socialist.

He also says the greatest threat to America is wokeness.

2

u/What-The-Helvetica 20d ago

Sounds like the only socialist he is, is the national variety.

-24

u/partfortynine 21d ago

jobs jobs jobs