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Thursday 2nd of May 2024

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2016 Presidential election It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS. … The money's rolling in and this is fun. I've never seen anything like this, and this going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It's a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going. Leslie Moonves, then CEO of CBS, on round-the-clock coverage of Trump during the election  © 2021 Kwiple.com
Cocks of the walk say What are you going to do about it? William M. “Boss” Tweed © 2021 Kwiple.com
Congress  The House sits, not for serious discussion, but to sanction the conclusions of its Committees as rapidly as possible. It legislates in its committee rooms; not by the determination of majorities, but by the resolutions of specially-commissioned minorities; so that it is not far from the truth to say that Congress in session is Congress on special exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work. Woodrow Wilson, Congressional Government © 2021 Kwiple.com
Corruption The Trump administration spawned such abundant corruption, Bloomberg News launched an interactive guide to keep track if it, sortable by individuals and categories of scandal. Adam Jentleson, Kill Switch © 2021 Kwiple.com
Democracy In our democracy, power is derived from the people, but structures empower some people over others. The Senate empowers a minority of predomi- nantly white conservative voters to elect enough senators to block the will of the majority. Over the past few decades, changes in the Senate's rules have meant that senators representing as little as 11 percent of the population can deliver the obstructionist agenda these white conservative voters desire, blocking progress across most issues. This dynamic renders these voters abnormally powerful. This group is not just a minority, it is a superminority. Adam Jentleson, Kill Switch © 2021 Kwiple.com
Democracy [That] the seven might, in particular instances be right, and the seventeen wrong, is more than possible. But to establish a positive and permanent rule giving such a power to such a minority, over such a majority, would overturn the first principle of free government. James Madison, letter to Edward Everett, August 28, 1830 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Elections Elections are not about finding the truth; if they were, there couldn't be such a thing as a loyal and legitimate opposition. Instead, we would have to assume that losers who persist with their position are simply liars. Jan-Werner Müller, Democracy Rules © 2021 Kwiple.com
Facebook But Facebook is also, effectively, a hostile foreign power. This is plain to see in its single-minded focus on its own expansion; its immunity to any sense of civic obligation; its record of facilitating the undermining of elections; its antipathy toward the free press; its rulers’ callousness and hubris; and its indifference to the endurance of American democracy. Adrienne LaFrance, The Atlantic, September 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Filibusters The ease of use is what made it such a powerful tool for McConnell. Even Richard Russell could not have organized 137 filibusters in two years, which is the number McConnell deployed against Obama from 2009 through 2010. But under the rules of the modern Senate, doing so was as easy as making a sign-up sheet. All it took was a phone call or an email from a single Republican senator and the threshold on any bill or nomination would shoot up from a majority to a supermajority, effectively granting the minority veto power. And there is nothing the majority can do about it. Adam Jentleson, Kill Switch © 2021 Kwiple.com
Filibusters The less sophisticated members of the southern caucus did not seem to understand that the first rule of filibustering on behalf of white supremacy was that there was no filibuster on behalf of white supremacy — only principled stands to protect “minority rights” and “unlimited debate.” Adam Jentleson, Kill Switch © 2021 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
Money in politics Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the controversial Arizona Democrat who threatens to derail President Biden's legislative agenda, received more than $750,000 in donations from the pharma- ceutical and medical device industries. After that, she announced her opposition to a Democratic plan to lower prescription drug costs. … During her successful 2018 Senate campaign, Sinema repeatedly vowed to lower prescription drug prices and drug costs for seniors. Salon, September 23, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Political parties … political parties have no reason to care for those who don't care to vote; this in turn strengthens the impression of the poor (to extent that they can afford any attention at all) that there's nothing in it for them when it comes to politics. Jan-Werner Müller, Democracy Rules © 2021 Kwiple.com
Post-2020 Senate shituation 15 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming) 2020 population: 40,085,414 Senators: 30 Republicans 1 Senator per 1,336,180 people — 1 state (California) 2020 population: 39,368,075 Senators: 2 Democrats 1 Senator per 19,684,037 people 19,684,037 / 1,336,180 = 14.7, therefore: average 15er's vote is worth nearly 15 times a Californian's, a Californian's vote is worth less than 7% of an average 15er's — 1 state (Wyoming) 2020 population = 582,328, therefore: 1 Senator per 291,164 Wyomians, a Wyomian's vote is worth 68 times a Californian's, a Californian's vote is worth 1.5% of a Wyomian's  © 2021 Kwiple.com
Power The more power you have, the fewer consequences you face. Mary Trump, The Reckoning  © 2021 Kwiple.com
Power The way to have power is to take it. William M. “Boss” Tweed © 2021 Kwiple.com
Selfie I should be impeached more often. Donald Trump, after his second impeachment © 2021 Kwiple.com
Sex I'm not into golden showers. Donald Trump, answering a question the GOP donors he was addressing didn't ask © 2021 Kwiple.com
The Senate Because of the way the modern Senate has has evolved, combined with the trends of of polarization and negative partisanship that have shaped America, this faction [of  wealthy white anti-choice conservatives] is able to wield power far out of proportion to its numbers. The modern Senate gives it the power to exercise a veto over policies backed by a majority of the population and makes likely that it will have the power do so in perpetuity. This is not just a minority. This is a superminority. Adam Jentleson, Kill Switch © 2021 Kwiple.com
The Senate By reference to the one person, one vote standard, the Senate is the most malapportioned legislature in the world. Frances E. Lee and Bruce Oppenheimer, Sizing Up the Senate © 2021 Kwiple.com
The Senate McConnell followed generations of  white supremacist southern obstructionists who had come before him. Ever since John Calhoun set foot in the Senate [in 1832], they had fought against Madison's vision of a majority-rule institution, forging new ways to impose their will on a country where progress threatened their power. Under McConnell, the Senate was finally remade in Calhoun's vision of minority rule. The only question that remains is whether it can be saved. Adam Jentleson, Kill Switch © 2021 Kwiple.com
Snapshot What Biden offers voters is much of the substance of populism without the attendant noise and danger. And that very restraint might be the result of never having to prove his Everyman bona fides. Joe Biden portrayed by Janan Ganesh © 2021 Kwiple.com
Snapshot He's a zero-sum game motherfucker from New York. Jared Kushner portrayed by Joe Grogan, director of Trump's Domestic Policy COuncil © 20201 Kwiple.com
Supreme Court During the Trump administration, for instance, the justices issued 28 orders at the request of the administration that blocked adverse lower-court rulings while the government appealed. This had the effect of allowing the government to enforce policies that had been invalidated by every other court rulin on their legality. court ruling on their legality. In contrast, the Supreme Court issued only four such orders during the 16 years spanning the presidencies of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The court is also using these orders far more often to directly block government policies at the outset of litigation, when lower courts have refused to do so. Washington Post, September 3, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Trumpism Two traits have historically marked off European-style fascism from more home- grown American traditions of illiberalism: contempt for legality and the cult of violence. Presidential-era Trumpism operated through at least the forms of law. Presidential-era Trumpism glorified military power, not mob attacks on government institutions. Postpresidentially, those past inhibitions are fast dissolving. The conversion of Ashli Babbitt into a martyr, a sort of Horst Wessel, expresses the transformation. David Frum, The Atlantic, July 13, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say You are living in territory controlled by enemy tribes. You, and all like you, must assume the innocence of anyone remotely like yourself who is charged in any confrontation with those tribes and with their authorities – until proven otherwise beyond a shadow of your  doubt. Take his side. In other words, you must shield others like yourself by practicing and urging “jury nullification.” And, by the way, when the police –a fortiori the FBI – come to talk, you don't know or remember anything – except that they answer to your enemies. Don't be a good German. Angelo Codevilla, October 23, 2020 © 2021 Kwiple.com
 
Veterans Almost a fifth of those arrested for the assault on Capitol Hill this year were former US military personnel — more than 20 times their share of the population. Edward Luce, Financial Times, September 11, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com