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Friday 19th of April 2024

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Dead-in-the-heads say Someone's going to leak this whole damn speech to the media. Donald Trump, in a speech to the National Republican Congressional Committee that was broadcast live by C-SPAN © 2019 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say We can't take you anymore. We can't take you. Our country is full.  Donald Trump, to Latin American immigrants and asylum seekers © 2019 Kwiple.com
Global warming The solution to climate change won't be found in political posturing or virtue signaling. It won't be found in the federal government at all. You know where the solution can be found? In churches. In wedding chapels. In matermity wards … The solution to so many of or problems is to fall in love, get married and have some babies. Mike Lee © 2019 Kwiple.com
Housing If you have a windmill anywhere near your home, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer. Donald Trump © 2019 Kwiple.com
Middle class The middle-class share of the population now ranges from around 50% in the U.S. and Israel to around 70% in Nordic and some other European countries. The U.S. stands out in having a relatively small middle class given its high median income. Among other countries, a higher median income tends to be associated with a larger middle class. Wall Street Journal, April 11, 2019 [The OECD defines middle class as individuals with incomes between 75% and 200% of the median] © 2019 Kwiple.com
Participation in politics The shortage of people from the working class in our legislatures and the overrepresentation of white-collar Americans means that tax policies are more regressive, business regulations are more probusiness, and social safety net programs are thinner. Who wins and who loses in this country depends in large part on who governs. Nicholas Carnes, White-collar Government © 2019 Kwiple.com
Participation in politics When [E. E.] Schattschneider analyzed these processes more than a half century ago [1960], he famously concluded that “the flaw in the pluralist heaven is that the heavenly chorus sings with a strong upper-class accent.” Since then, the accent has only gotten thicker: unions have declined, business lobbies have become more numerous and more sophisticated, and campaign donations and spending have reached all-time highs. Nicholas Carnes, White-collar Government © 2019 Kwiple.com
Political inequality [T]he unequal social class makeup of our political institutions affects who wins and who loses in the policy-making process. Like ordinary Americans, lawmakers from different classes tend to think, vote, and advocate differently on economic issues. The numerical underrepresentation of the working class in our legislatures consequenly skews economic policy- making toward outcomes that are more in line with what more privileged Americans want. Nicholas Carnes, White-Collar Government © 2019 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
Presidency In the United States, anybody can be president. That is the problem. George Carlin © 2019 Kwiple.com
Privacy The idea of an unconsidered thought, a youthful indiscretion, a forgotten mistake – these are things that no longer exist. Edward Snowden © 2019 Kwiple.com
Punt returners say I've always wanted to live in Odessa, Texas. Barbara Bush, debutante from Rye, New York, responding to George H. W. Bush, her husband, who told her he decided to go into the oil business in Texas to lessen dependence on family ties on the eastern seaboard © 2019 Kwiple.com
Sexual harassment I've gotta use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful–I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything. Donald Trump © 2019 Kwiple.com
Snapshot Donald Trump has altered what it means to run for high office. No White House contender ever came near his blend of fantasy and falsehood. He won all the same. He may well do so again. The least bad thing you could say about Mr Trump's fabulism is that he paid no price for it. But the truth is uglier: it may well have brought him victory. Donald Trump portrayed by Edward Luce in Financial Times, March 21, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Social media We now have to reckon that any election we have is actually being subverted before it begins. I fear for democracy. It's being made unworkable. Onora O'Neill © 2019 Kwiple.com
Southern border wall I believe defense of the southwest border really starts about 1,500 miles south. John F. Kelly, referring to Central America, the source of most asylum seekers © 2019 Kwiple.com
State of the union What we have now could be called creeping authoritarianism. Marvin Kalb © 2018 Kwiple.com
Surely you jest Every cow I spoke to said the same thing: “Boo!” Senator Mike Lee, reporting to the Senate on his survey of Utah's bovines to discover what they think about the Green New Deal, which he claims calls for the elimination of all cows © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpism However much resurgent liberals detest America's 45th president, they can thank him for sweeping away the mindset of systemic caution that has mesmerized Democratic leaders for a generation. … Mr Trump now has Republican lawmakers eating out of his hand. Those who still believed it would be possible to work across the aisle – and who pined for the days of Rockefeller Republicans – were robbed of any remaining force. Trump has done a service for the American left. Edward Luce, Financial Times, Jan. 13, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpism Keep reminding yourself: this is not normal. Write it on a Post-it note and stick it on your refrigerator, hire a skywriter once a month, tattoo it on your ass. Because a Klan-backed internet troll is going to be delivering the next State of the Union address. And that is not normal: it is fucked up. John Oliver © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpism No one in the Trump administration was likely to ever come right out and say: “We want to let kids and old people go hungry.” But, obviously, they might run the program so ineptly that it lost its political support. And then kids and old people would go hungry. Michael Lewis, The Fifth Risk © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I think spying did occur. Yes, I think spying did occur. William “Whitewash Willie” Barr, Trump's self-proclaimed Exonerator General, legitimizing conspiracy theories propular with Trumpists that his 2016 campaign was subjected to unlawful surveillance by the FBI and intelligence agencies as part of their investigation into Russian meddling in the election © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say  If you're a CEO or a leader, that's what you want your team to be, a bunch of people who are loyal to the team. Steve Doocy, defending Trump's demand for a pledge of personal loyalty from FBI director James Comey © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Never in my life did I think I'd like to see a dictator, but if there's going to be one, I want it to be Trump. Attendee at rally featuring Steve Bannon, who led the ensuing applause © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say So-shull-izz -ummm! Chant when Trump mentions it at rallies © 2019 Kwiple.com
White-collar government Because our legislatures are so imbalanced along social class lines, the opinions of the blue-collar workers who make up a majority of the population are all but excluded from this process. The views lawmakers refine and enlarge are not those of the public: they are those of white-collar Americans. Nicholas Carnes, White-Collar Government © 2019 Kwiple.com
Working class If even just half a percent of working-class Americans had what it takes to govern, there would be there would be enough qualified blue-collar workers to fill every seat in Congress and every seat on every state legislature more than forty times over  — with enough savvy workers left over to run a few thousand city councils. Nicholas Carnes,White-Collar Government © 2019 Kwiple.com