Recent kwiples

Wednesday 8th of May 2024

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Asslickers America's National Association of Manufacturers gave Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter, its prestigious Alexander Hamilton award this year. “Like no one in government has ever done, she has provided singular leadership and shown an unwavering commitmwent to manufacturing,” said the industry group, in what ought to have earned it the Order of Sycophancy. Edward Luce, Financial Times, July 16, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Asslickers say Ivanka Trump embodies the collaborative spirit and relentless drive needed to solve manufacturers' most pressing challenge – the workforce crisis. Like no one in government has ever done, she has provided singular leadership and shown an unwavering commitment to modern manufacturing in America. From the February 1, 2020, National Association of Manufacturers' press release announcing that “Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump will be the inaugural recipient of the association's Alexander Hamilton Award.” © 2020 Kwiple.com
Bullshitters say Target stands with our Black team members, guests and families. A spokesman for Target, which blocks its online ads from appearing with stories about  Black Lives Matter and George Floyd's murder [Quoted by Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2020] © 2020 Kwiple.com
China To be in Washington is to sense a nation sliding into open-ended conflict against China with eerily little debate. Politicians who can be counted on to dispute the colour of the sky or the sum of two plus two are of a piece on the necessity of a superpower duel. Janan Ganesh, Financial Times, July 15, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
COVID-19 coronavirus Every day when I walk into work as a public-school teacher, I am prepared to take a bullet to save a child. In the age of school shootings, that's what the job requires. But asking me to return to the classroom amid a pandemic and epose myself and my family to Covid-19 is like askiing me to take that bullet home to my own family. I won't do it, and you shouldn't want me to. From an op-ed piece in the New York Times, July 18, 2920, by a high school teacher in Mount Vernon, WA © 2020 Kwiple.com
COVID-19 coronavirus I think I made a mistake. I thought this was a hoax, but it's not. Last words of a 30-year-old who died at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio after attending a “COVID party” © 2020 Kwiple.com
COVID-19 coronavirus OUTSIDE WITH NO MASK? FUGGEDABOUTIT! Digital highway signs throughout New York City during the pandemic © 2020 Kwiple.com
Ethics Someone with an ethics of responsibility feels no right to foist the (predictable) consequences of his own actions onto others — he will say these consequenes are part and parcel of the actions themselves. Whereas under an ethics of personal conviction, one feels “responsible” for nothing but preserving the flame of pure conviction — for example, of protest against the injustice of the social order. … your actions are meant to have only exemplary value. Max Weber, “The Politician's Work” in Charisma and Disenchantment, translated by Damion Searls © 2020 Kwiple.com
Ethics We need to be clear that all ethically oriented action is guided by one of two  fundamentally different, irredeemably opposed maxims: either an “ethics of personal conviction” or an “ethics of responsibility.” … there is a deep chasm between acting according to normative demands [acting rightly, leaving the rest to God] … and … acting in a way that takes account of, and takes responsibility for, the (forseeable) consequences of one's actions. Max Weber, “The Politician's Work” in Charisma and Disenchantment, translated by Damion Searls © 2020 Kwiple.com
Freedom of speech Free speech involves both the mouth and the ear. Timothy Garton Ash, Financial Times, July 13, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Global warming Some readers, I have learned, hate hearing this, but no carbon-saving measure can compare with having fewer children. Janan Ganesh, Financial Times, July 18/19, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Higher education “I recall the day that I took Trump's SATs as clearly as if it were yesterday” Putin said. “I totally aced them.” As the years rolled by, Putin followed with intense interest the career of the man whose SATs he took. “I often asked myself, ‘How will Donald Trump every repay me for putting him on the path to Wharton?’” Putin said, with a devilish smile. “As it turned out, I found a way.” Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker, July 7, 2020 [Satire - his sister Mary says Joe Shapiro, “a smart kid with a reputation for being a good test taker,” sat in for Trump] © 2020 Kwiple.com
Higher education Ms Trump and her older brother, Donald Jnr, were admitted to the University of Pennsylvania after her her father had pledged a $1.4m gift. Both were legacy students – their father went to the same school. Mr Kushner was admitted to Harvard after his father, Charles, had donated $2.5m. These are familiar stories. A study last week showed that 43 per cent of Harvard's white under- graduates were legacy students, children of donors or staff, or athletics scholars. Edward Luce, Financial Times, July 16, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Calculate the minimum wage as follows: MW = CMHI / CMHS × WPY × HPW where: MW = Minimum Wage CMHI = Current Median Household Income, e.g., $65,000 CMHS = Current Median Household Size, e.g., 2.1 people WPY = Workdays Per Year, e.g., 240 HPW = Hours Per Workday, e.g., 8 [MW would be $16.12 using data above] © 2019 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Count votes in Congress by: 1. Calculating a Member's Proportional Vote (MPV) for each member, as follows: MPV = SPNP / NLRS where: SPNP = State's Percentage of the National Population NLRS = Number of Legislators Representing the State (in that legislature) 2. Totaling “yes” MPVs and “no” MPVs 3. Passing if total MPV is more than 50 OTHERWISE Abolish the Senate © 2019 Kwiple.com
Political parties All  party struggles are not just for objective goals but, first and foremost, for the power to hand out offices. Max Weber, “The Politician's Work” in Charisma and Disenchantment, translated by Damion Searls © 2020 Kwiple.com
Politicians In fact, there are ultimately only two kinds of deadly sin in the political realm, lack of objectivity and lack of responsibility. Vanity — the need to put oneself at center stage as much as possible — is what most tempts the politician into either or both of these sins, all the more so as the demagogue has to try to “be effective,” “make an impression,” and thus is always at risk of turning into a mere actor and minimizing his own responsibility for the consequenes of his own actions. Max Weber, “The Politician's Work” in Charisma and Disenchantment, translated by Damion Searls © 2020 Kwiple.com
Politicians The single most important psychological quality a poltiician needs is the ability to keep people and things at a certain distance. The lack of such detachment is, by itself, a kiss of death for any politician; encouraging our young intellectuals to avoid this “distance” condemns them to be politically useless. Max Weber, “The Politician's Work” in Charisma and Disenchantment, translated by Damion Searls [1919 lecture] © 2020 Kwiple.com
Politics Someone either lives “for”politics or lives “from” it. These are by no means mutually exclusive — a person generally does both, or at least he tries to. The person who lives “for” politics “organizes his life around it” — he makes  it his life's work, psychologically  speaking. … Those who make politics their permanent source of income  are those who live “from” the work of politics; those who do not are the ones who live “for” politics. Max Weber, “The Politician's Work” in Charisma and Disenchantment, translated by Damion Searls © 2020 Kwiple.com
Politics What generates the particular moral problems of politics is, pure and simple, the legitimate use of violence by some groups of people against others. Max Weber, “The Politician's Work” in Charisma and Disenchantment, translated by Damion Searls © 2020 Kwiple.com
Populists This, far more than Mr Trump, is the liberal nightmare: a populist agenda in the hands of insiders. As long as it was wild cards and eccentrics who espoused these views – Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor, was a droll example – they were more or less containable. Lacking the guile to navigate Washing- ton's checks and balances, populists would be, as Mr Trump now seems, in office but not in power. The trouble starts when those with institutional knowledge embrace the same programme. Janan Ganesh, Financial Time, July 8, 2020 © 2020 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
Snapshot A wolf circling sheep. Vladimir Putin portrayed by Christopher Steele © 2020 Kwiple.com
Snapshot  If lying was his means for using power, corruption was his end. Donald Trump portrayed by George Packer © 2016 Kwiple.com
Snapshot This week, America's self-named First Daughter urged America's almost 30m unemployed to “find something new”. Learn another skill, Ms Trump advised. Look for a different job. … No one wants to hear they are to blame for being unemployed. … As a benchmark of disconnectedness, Marie Antoinette could hardly have done better. … It would be tempting to treat Ms Trump's “find something new” campaign as a Freudian slip about her father's job. Ivanka Trump portrayed by Edward Luce, July 16, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Social media In an era of social media and nonstop news from endless outlets, the politicians who get the most attention are those who create unusual, supposedly “authentic” characters for themselves. This system rewards narcissists and what the philosopher Harry Frankfurt calls “bullshitters”: people distinct from liars in that they have no interest in what's true or not. They just say what sounds good. Their high verbal intelligence reduces their need for analytic intelligence. Simon Kuper, Financial Times, July 2, 2020,  on the rise of the attention economy and mediagenic rightwing nationalists  © 2020 Kwiple.com
 
Trumpists say Only God could deliver such a savior to our nation. Brad Parscale, Trump's reelection campaign manager © 2020 Kwiple.com