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What If an Advisor to the President Had Sworn an Oath of Loyalty to a Foreign Power?

posted by janrinok on Monday February 06 2017, @12:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the serving-two-masters dept.

NewNic writes:

In a case that should have the Founders of the USA spinning in their graves, The Intercept has got hold of documents relating to Peter Thiel's NZ citizenship. These documents reveal that Thiel would not normally qualify for citizenship, which requires the holder to actually reside in New Zealand. NZ law provides for citizenship under "exceptional circumstances and public interest" for people who don't plan to live in NZ.

Thiel's extreme wealth was the exceptional circumstance that allowed for citizenship and which in turn allowed Thiel to avoid certain administrative protocols that a non-citizen would have had to follow relating to the purchase of his large estate in NZ.

As part of taking up citizenship, Thiel had to pledge an oath of loyalty to HM Queen Elizabeth II (in her role as Queen of New Zealand), which certainly raises questions about either his sincerity or his fitness to be an advisor to the President.

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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 06 2017, @04:29AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 06 2017, @04:29AM (#463298)

    I'm not seeing the point here.

    None is so blind, as those who just will not see. Open your eyes, jmorris! Wake up, you sheeperson! You have been hornswaggled! Trump was always a plot to turn the United States back over to the British Empire, by way of New Zealand, where there are an awful lot of sheep, by the way, through the influence of foreign agents of influence like blood-sucking, Palantir-watching, Facebook-investing Peter Thiel!!! Come to the right side before it is too late, jmorris! All will be forgiven.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Monday February 06 2017, @03:03PM

    by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Monday February 06 2017, @03:03PM (#463438) Homepage
    > a plot to turn the United States back over to the British Empire

    I hope not, because we certainly don't want you back. Maybe like some drug-addled rock-star who's spent too long drunk on power, justifying everything with nothing more than "because we can", but who has now fallen from grace and become self destructive, you need some comforting arms to nurture you back to health, but I'm afraid the UK isn't it. We're old, cranky, and arthritic, and couldn't carry you even if we wanted to.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday February 06 2017, @04:02PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Monday February 06 2017, @04:02PM (#463469) Journal

      Also, it's still better to be a citizen than a subject. If anything, it's England's pernicious legacy that poisons America today. All those in Wall Street and Washington are striving to set themselves up a House of Lords, and have largely done it. We shall see if history repeats itself in response.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.

      • (Score: 2) by J053 on Monday February 06 2017, @10:58PM

        by J053 (3532) <{dakine} {at} {shangri-la.cx}> on Monday February 06 2017, @10:58PM (#463763) Homepage
        Since 1983, very few people are British Subjects - almost everyone born/naturalized in the UK is a British Citizen these days (the rules are complicated).