Recent kwiples

Sunday 28th of April 2024

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2016 Presidential election Regrettably, it appears that the platforms may have misrepresented or evaded in some of their statements to Congress. From a report published by the Senate Intelligence Committee about the responses submitted by Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms to its requests for data about Russia's attempts to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election © 2018 Kwiple.com
Christmas Nobody would come see Santa. Your mind starts going, why? Do I have something in my beard? You have to get yourself snapped out of that. Wall Street Journal, December 18, 2018, quoting a professional Santa Claus  describing what it's like working in a dying mall  © 2018 Kwiple.com
Cocks of the walk say I think nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do because I'm the biggest contributor. Donald Trump © 2018 Kwiple.com
Democracy Public apathy and political ignorance are a fundamental fact today, beyond any possible dispute; decisions are made by political leaders, not by popular vote, which at best has only an occasional veto power after the fact. The issue is whether this state of affairs is, under modern conditions, a necessary and desirabe one, or whether new forms of popular participation, in the Athenian spirit though not in the Athenian substance, if I may phrase it that way, need to be invented. M. I. Finley, Democracy Ancient and Modern  [1973] © 2018 Kwiple.com
Dysfunction in government There is the assumption  – pioneered by Newt Gingrich himself, as early as the 1970s – that the minority wins when Congress accomplishes less. Steny Hoyer © 2018 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations Here Angela. Don't say I never gave you anything. Donald Trump, after throwing two Starburst candies on the table as he left a meeting with Angela Merkel of Germany  © 2017 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. While the US remains the indispensible nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and having respect for those allies. James Mattis, letter of resignation, December 20, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
0 What do Kwiplers say? © 2016 Kwiple.com
Freedom of the press To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression. James Madison © 2018 Kwiple.com
Global warming For the past few years, a tide of optimistic thinking has held that conditions for human beings around the globe have been improving. Wars are scarcer, poverty and hunger are less severe, and there are better prospects for wide-scale literacy and education. But there are newer signs that human progress has begun to flag. In the face of our environmental deterioration, it's now reasonable to ask whether the human game has begun to falter–perhaps even to play itself out. Bill McKibben, New Yorker, November 26, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Global warming The reality is that society places extraordinary value on any medical intervention that will extend or improve life, even if only by a fraction. The same intense demand is not in evidence for innovations that reduce carbon emissions. Since it is costless to emit carbon for most companies in most places, there is almost no market for products that set out to capture it. Countless forlorn Project Bs [to capture it] have died or gone unfunded, even if the technology shows promise. Today, only idealists and optimists will back “cleantech” projects. Robin Harding, Financial Times, Nov. 27, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Enhance America's infrastructure (1) without privatizing it (2) without giving tax breaks and windfall profits to private investors (3) without issuing government bonds, which increases government debt and income inequality resulting from paying interest to bondholders by (1) contracting to build or improve assets of long-lasting public value, like roads, schools, parks, housing (2) printing money and paying for work as it's done © 2017 Kwiple.com
Oligarchy Democracy leads to oligarchy and necessarily contains an oligarchic nucleus. In making this assertion, it is far from the author's intention to pass a moral judgment upon any political party or system of government, to level an accusation of hypocrisy. The law that it is an essential characteristic of all human aggregates to constitute cliques and sub-classes is, like every other sociological law, beyond good and evil. Robert Michels, Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy  © 2018 Kwiple.com
Partisanship In 1992, 38 percent of Americans lived in “landslide counties,” which went for a presidential candidate by a margin of 20 percentage points or more, the Times  has reported; in 2016, the number reached 60 percent. Sasha Issenberg, “Divided We Stand,” New York magazine, November 12-25, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Partisanship Political scientists who study our era of extreme polarization will tell you that the driving force behind American politics today is not actually partisanship, but negative partisanship –that is, hatred of the other team more than loyalty to one's own. McKay Coppins, The Atlantic, November 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
0 What about Republicans? © 2016 Kwiple.com
Politics A genuinely political society, in which discusssion and debate are an essential technique, is a society full of risks. It is inevitable that, from time to time, the debate will move from tactics to fundamentals, that there will be a challenge not merely to the immediate policies of those who hold governmental power but to the underlying principles, that there will be a radical challenge. That is not only inevitable, it is desirable. It is also inevitable that those interest- groups who prefer the status quo will resist the challenge, among other means by appealing to traditional, deeply rooted beliefs, myths, values, by playing on (and summoning up) fears. M. I. Finley, Democracy Ancient and Modern  © 2018 Kwiple.com
Post-2018 Senate shituation 15 states (Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming) 2018 population: 40,056,961 Senators: 30 Republicans 1 Senator per 1,335,232 people — 1 state (California) 2018 population: 39,776,830 Senators: 2 Democrats 1 Senator per 19,888,415 people 19,888,415 / 1,335,232 = 16, therefore: average 15er's vote is worth 16 times a Californian's, a Californian's vote is worth 6% of an average 15er's — 1 state (Wyoming) 2018 population = 573,720, therefore: 1 Senator per 286,860 Wyomians, a Wyomian's vote is worth 69 times a Californian's, a Californian's vote is worth 1.4% of a Wyomian's © 2016 Kwiple.com
Public discourse I thought it was demeaning to have to answer questions on serious issues in thirty seconds. Now I know you have to do it in a tweet. Adam Schiff © 2018 Kwiple.com
Selfie I was blinded by your looks and sex and so I tried to ignore what my brain was telling me. So I drank more and read less and my world telescoped down to yours – sex, looks and money.  Marie Colvin, diary entry on learning of her longtiime partner's many affairs © 2018 Kwiple.com
Selfie I want to be associated with interesting quotes. Donald Trump,  explaining why he retweeted a quotation from Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator © 2018 Kwiple.com
Selfie One of the greatest of all terms I've come up with is “fake.” Donald Trump © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell portrayed by Christopher Browning © 2018 Kwiple.com
0 What about the Constitution? © 2016 Kwiple.com
Snapshot Donald Trump is the grizzly bear in The Revenant. If you get his attention, he will get awake. He will walk over, bite your face off, and sit on you. Donald Trump portrayed by Newt Gingrich © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot He hates the press, and yet cannot live without it. It is his oxygen; it is what keeps him alive, emotionally and politically.  Donald Trump portrayed by Marvin Kalb © 2018 Kwiple.com
State of the union Let's just admit that this arranged marriage isn't really working anymore, is it? … If we are already living in two political geographies, why not generate a system of government to match? Sasha Issenberg, “Divided We Stand,” New York magazine, November 12-25, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpism He [Ryan Zinke] had so many scandals that the White House officials told him he had until the end of the year to leave or be fired. That is impressive. Getting fired for ethics violations in the Trump administration is like being fired from the Rockettes for kicking. Stephen Colbert, The Late Show, December 17, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I like to think that I helped get Donald Trump elected President. Maybe I helped a little, maybe a lot.  Michael Flynn © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say The problem the Democrats are gonna have is really simple. Everything they're gonna charge Trump with will be irrelevant to most Americans. You're driving your kids to soccer, you're worried about your mom in the nursing home, and you're thinking about your job, and you're going, This is Washington crap. Newt Gingrich © 2018 Kwiple.com
Yachts Seventy to 80 million – that would be a yacht. This would be a lot more fun than a yacht! Donald Trump, responding to Newt Gingrich, who answered Trump's question about the cost of running for president, that it would cost about $70 to $80 million to fund a competitive campaign through the South Carolina primary © 2018 Kwiple.com