Recent kwiples

Sunday 19th of May 2024

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2020 Presidential election An honorable man receiving the information and advice that Mr.Trump received from his campaign experts and his staff — a man who loved his country more than himself — would have conceded this election. Indeed, we know that a number of President Trump's closest aides urged him to do so. Liz Cheney, June 16, 2022, during the third public hearing of the  Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol © 2022 Kwiple.com
2020 Presidential election Because they promise to be an event, the Jan. 6 hearings give Biden a chance to take another approach: to fan emotion and use conflict, not conciliation, to make his case. There are no guarantees of success, but at the very least, both he and the Democratic Party have a chance to seize the initiative. They should take it. Jamelle Bouie, New York Times, June 10, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
2020 Presidential election Biden-voting counties in 2020 accounted for 70 percent of the national GDP. Stephen Marche, The Next Civil War  © 2022 Kwiple.com
2020 Presidential election I was somewhat demoralized because I thought, boy, if he really believes this stuff, he has, you know, lost contact with — detached from reality. … There was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were. William Barr, testimony presented to the Select Committee to Investigate the Attack on the United States Capitol concerning Trump's professed belief in allegations of widespread voter fraud and vote flipping by machines from Dominion Voting Systems, which Barr called “bullshit”  © 2022 Kwiple.com
2020 Presidential election In perhaps the most chilling moment of the hearing, Cheney spoke of former White House officials' testimony about Trump's bloodthirstiness toward his own vice president. “Aware of the rioters' chants to hang Mike Pence, the president responded with this sentiment, quote, ‘Maybe our supporters have the right idea.’ Mike Pence, quote, ‘deserves it.’” Dana Milbank, Washington Post, June 9 2022, on the opening public hearing of the  Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol © 2022 Kwiple.com
2020 Presidential election The insurrection may be over, but the plot to steal the presidency is intact. Jamelle Bouie, New York Times, June 10, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
2020 Presidential election Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated, seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power. Liz Cheney, June 9, 2022, during the opening public hearing of the  Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol © 2022 Kwiple.com
Civil wars But political polarization does not increase the likelihood of civil war. What increases the likelihood of civil war is factionalization — when citizens form groups based on ethnic, religious, or geographic distinctions — and a country's political parties become predatory, cutting out rivals and enacting policies that primarily benefit them and their constituents. And nothing abets and accelerates factionalization as much as social media. … A central driver to factionalism has always been conspiracy theories. If you want to incite people to action, give them an “other” to target. Barbara F. Walter, How Civil Wars Start  © 2022 Kwiple.com
Civil wars One study revealed that all of the democracies that experienced civil war between 1960 abd 1995 had majoritarian or presidential systems. None of them were based on proportional representation. Barbara F. Walter, How Civil Wars Start  © 2022 Kwiple.com
Civil wars That a kidnapping attempt by a group of far-right extremists is a sign of impending civil war might strike you as preposterous. But modern civil wars start with vigilantes just like these — armed miitants who take violence directly to the people. Militias are now the defining feature of conflicts around the world. Barbara F. Walter, How Civil Wars Start  [Refers to the arrest of 13 men in October 2020 for attempting to kidnap and perhaps kill Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer] © 2022 Kwiple.com
Civil wars This isn't the first time in modern history that populists with anti-democratic leanings have come to power. It is also not the first time that democracies have experienced backsliding. What's different is the mechanism: before, autocracy came about when military generals launched coups. But now it's being ushered in by the voters themselves. This is happening in large part because social media allows candidates to sow or capitalize on, doubts that citizens might have about democracy as a form of government. … To make good decisions about candidates in democracies, voters must have good information, and social media has flooded voters with bad information. Barbara F. Walter, How Civil Wars Start  © 2022 Kwiple.com
Guns What moves a weapon, what really makes a gun sell, is the promise that the government is going to ban it. Stephen Marche, The Next Civil War  © 2022 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
The military  In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military. I foresee no role for the U.S armed forces in this process. --> General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, August 28, 2020  © 2022 Kwiple.com
Polarization Today, the rural-urban divide is really a divide between citizens whose orientation is national and citizens whose orientation is global. Barbara F. Walter, How Civil Wars Start  © 2022 Kwiple.com
Polarization What should we make of the fact that America's TV channels all carried the live jubilee festivities of an elderly monarch but will part ways on this week's hearings into an assault on US democracy? The light-hearted take is that the British crown is above politics, including in America. The darker interpretation is that the survival of US democracy itself is now a partisan issue. Edward Luce, Financial Times, June 8, 2022 © 2022 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
Presidency The hyper-partisan environment means that any American president will be a symbol with double meaning. She will be an icon of American leadership for half the country and an icon of oppression and illegitimacy for the other half. Symbolism matters. Countries live and die by symbols. No American president of either party, now and for the foreseeable future, can be an icon of unity, only of division. Stephen Marche, The Next Civil War  [2022] © 2022 Kwiple.com
Presidency A self-coup is well underway in America aleady. The rise of executive power is the rare case of a truly bipartisan trend. The use of executive legislation, by  bypassing Congress, began in earnest with Ronald Reagan, continued under Clinton, expanded under Bush, and became standard under Obama and Trump.  What was once an exception made for cases of national emergency now goes unremarked. Stephen Marche, The Next Civil War  © 2022 Kwiple.com
Republicans I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible. There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone. But your dishonor will remain.  Liz Cheney, June 9, 2022, during the opening public hearing of the  Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol © 2022 Kwiple.com
Resisters say Pay Trump Bribes Here Message periodically projected in light onto the facade of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC © 2022 Kwiple.com
Social media Social media doesn't just drive countries down the democratic ladder. It also heightens the ethnic, social, religious and geographic divisions that can be the first step in the creation of factions. That is, of course, because myth, emotion, and the politics of grievance — all of which drive factionalism — make for incredibly engaging content. Barbara F. Walter, How Civil Wars Start  © 2022 Kwiple.com
Socio-economic mobility The more an underclass peacefully approaches economic and political equality, the more violent and resentful the overclass grows. Stephen Marche, The Next Civil War  © 2022 Kwiple.com
State of the union The United States is an anocracy for the first time in more than two hundred years. Let that sink in. We are no longer the world's oldest continuous democracy. That honor is now held by Switzerland, followed by New Zealand and then Canada. We are no longer a peer to nations like Canada, Costa Rica, and Japan, which are all rated +10 on the polity index. Barbara F. Walter, How Civil Wars Start [The Polity Score rates countries from -10 (most autocratic) to +10 (most democratic). Countries with scores between -6 and -10 are considered to be autocracies. Countries with  scores between +6 and +10 are considered to be democracies. Anocracies have scores between -5 and +5 (the U.S.'s 2020 score). Citizens have some democratic rights; leaders have lots of authoritarian powers. Civil strife is likely.] © 2022 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say They [“little Twitter trolls”] like to say: “Oh, Jesus didn’t need an AR-15. How many AR-15s do you think Jesus would have had?” Well, he didn’t have enough to keep his government from killing him. Lauren Boebert © 2022 Kwiple.com
Ukraine The more Russians we kill now, the fewer Russians our children will have to kill. Roman Ratushny, renowned 24-year-old Ukrainian environmental and civic activist who was killed June 9, 2022, fighting against  Russian invaders in Izyum, not far from Khardiv; in a tweet widely shared after his death © 2022 Kwiple.com
 
War  Though the object of being a Great Power is to be able to fight a Great War,  the only way of remaining a Great Power is not to fight one. A. J. P. Taylor © 2022 Kwiple.com