alternatehistory.com
McCain Administration- Summer 2016
Summer 2016
"Making it harder to get an abortion won't solve anything..."
"I don't think anyone expected this... game is changed now..."
"Good grief, Louisiana. Really gives the comparisons between McCain and Gore when you remember Katrina..."
Political turmoil boiled to it speak over in the summer of 2016 for the United States. While election season tended to grasp at plenty of attention, there was a greater sense of urgency and even excitement. Of course, framing the entire affair were several events going in the US and in the world. June would see a rise of violent crime along with a flood in West Virginia. However, the large commotion would be over near in the end of June, with a court case coming over from Texas. Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt became a rather prominent case in regards to abortions. Namely, that Texas cannot place restrictions on the delivery of abortion services that create an undue burden for women seeking an abortion. It was the result of Texas attempting to instate restrictions on abortions back in 2013, specifically by having requiring ranges for hospitals along with stricter requirements. While initially presented as a good thing, it did not take long for skeptics to dig in and uncover the vairous consequences and technicalities. Whole Woman's Health called the requirements unnecessary and expensive, viewing the whole thing more as a way to restrict access to safe abortion, which coincided with the decrease of abortion centers in the states. Furthermore, the fact that Texas had waived some or all of the surgical-center requirements for 336 of the 433 (78%) licensed ambulatory surgical centers in Texas while leaving the ones for abortion centers intact reeked hypocrisy. The court case found the ordeal a grand victory and opened a new political discussion in regards to the indirect ways certian state governments would try and deny safe abortion. Others mocked the reasoning of protecting women's health when examining the overall health problems and the lack of funding related to it.
Photograph of protestors over the abortion restriction
Of course, what became the talk of the Summer of 2016 was the Democratic Primaries. Election season became hotter than ever this year due to the prolific rise of independent running as Democrat, Senator Bernie Sanders. Being touted as a populist, his discussions on Medicare For All, on taxing the rich and break up large corporations among various other leftist positions that few other politicians were running on. Viewed with an initial range of suspicion and annoyance by most of his fellow Democrats, it turned into quite a large surprise when Senator Sanders began gather large rallies and attentions, along with plenty of small donations from a growing number of supporters. Besides him running would be most prominently Senator Obama and Hiliary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Initially, the media framed the two as the going ehads while ignoring Sanders for the most part. And then the primaries began happening. Sanders' strong support and message resonating with many people, allowing him to win various primaries. But perhaps no other was the case on Super Tuesday where he managed to clinch California and even Texas. The ordeal served as an earthquake to the Democratic estasblihment and Sanders used the growing hype to call attention to state primaries regarding represenatives, senators and governors, with many fresh faces and newbies jumping onto the bandwago to support Sanders. Many have noted that a large reasoning for Sanders' victory was also on how a large number of voters were split between Obama and Clinton. Furthermore, the latter two's positions were largely the same in comparison to Sanders. Clinton would end up dropping out of the race to endorse Obama though the big shock came when Sanders would be endorsed by former President Gore. This was due to Sanders' cooperation and support among the Green party. Wile Obama's support grew, it was too late to match Sanders' pace and Gore's endorsement was the push Sanders needed. By the end of July, the DNC would be forced to accept Senator Bernie Sanders as Democrat's candidate for presidency.
Bernie Sanders at the 2016 DNC Convention regarding become the Democrats' presidential candidacy
With the stage set over for the presidential race itself, perhaps the first hall mark came in near the end of summer. Prolonged rainfall in August would cause catastrophic flooding over in Louisiana, causing the governor to declare a state of emergancy. Many rivers and waterways, particularly the Amite and Comite rivers, reached record levels, and rainfall exceeded 20 inches (510 mm) in multiple parishes. Many have noted that there was more than double the water put onto the state than Katrina and most of all, there was the presence of climate change within the discussions. Namely that human-caused climate change increased the likelihood of potential repeats or similar storms to happen in the future. In fact, regional simulations suggest that the climate warming since 1985 may have increased the event precipitation (August 11–14, 2016) on the order of 20%. The lack of preparation led to alot of misfortune for the people, where the rest of the nation went to help out their neighbors. However, federal resources were strained to help the nation, which just led to greater frustrations at the financial policies of the McCain Administration. This fed into the elections as people were noting the conservatvie fiscal policies were turning out to be duds in such emergancies and Sanders' cries for the govenment to do more became much more receptive among skeptics. This along with the news and potential concerns of climate change began having people begin normalizing that more radical actions would be needed. Moreover, the lack of proper media coverage by the large newstations led to growing disappointment in them and a greater leanings toward independent enws as well as cries to reform the large news networks to do their jobs better. The storm and its mishandlings seemed to show the true troubles of America... along with the opportunities for the people to choose better and make the changes that would be needed.
US Coast Guard rescuing Baton Rouge residents following the floods
"Making it harder to get an abortion won't solve anything..."
"I don't think anyone expected this... game is changed now..."
"Good grief, Louisiana. Really gives the comparisons between McCain and Gore when you remember Katrina..."
Political turmoil boiled to it speak over in the summer of 2016 for the United States. While election season tended to grasp at plenty of attention, there was a greater sense of urgency and even excitement. Of course, framing the entire affair were several events going in the US and in the world. June would see a rise of violent crime along with a flood in West Virginia. However, the large commotion would be over near in the end of June, with a court case coming over from Texas. Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt became a rather prominent case in regards to abortions. Namely, that Texas cannot place restrictions on the delivery of abortion services that create an undue burden for women seeking an abortion. It was the result of Texas attempting to instate restrictions on abortions back in 2013, specifically by having requiring ranges for hospitals along with stricter requirements. While initially presented as a good thing, it did not take long for skeptics to dig in and uncover the vairous consequences and technicalities. Whole Woman's Health called the requirements unnecessary and expensive, viewing the whole thing more as a way to restrict access to safe abortion, which coincided with the decrease of abortion centers in the states. Furthermore, the fact that Texas had waived some or all of the surgical-center requirements for 336 of the 433 (78%) licensed ambulatory surgical centers in Texas while leaving the ones for abortion centers intact reeked hypocrisy. The court case found the ordeal a grand victory and opened a new political discussion in regards to the indirect ways certian state governments would try and deny safe abortion. Others mocked the reasoning of protecting women's health when examining the overall health problems and the lack of funding related to it.
Photograph of protestors over the abortion restriction
Of course, what became the talk of the Summer of 2016 was the Democratic Primaries. Election season became hotter than ever this year due to the prolific rise of independent running as Democrat, Senator Bernie Sanders. Being touted as a populist, his discussions on Medicare For All, on taxing the rich and break up large corporations among various other leftist positions that few other politicians were running on. Viewed with an initial range of suspicion and annoyance by most of his fellow Democrats, it turned into quite a large surprise when Senator Sanders began gather large rallies and attentions, along with plenty of small donations from a growing number of supporters. Besides him running would be most prominently Senator Obama and Hiliary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Initially, the media framed the two as the going ehads while ignoring Sanders for the most part. And then the primaries began happening. Sanders' strong support and message resonating with many people, allowing him to win various primaries. But perhaps no other was the case on Super Tuesday where he managed to clinch California and even Texas. The ordeal served as an earthquake to the Democratic estasblihment and Sanders used the growing hype to call attention to state primaries regarding represenatives, senators and governors, with many fresh faces and newbies jumping onto the bandwago to support Sanders. Many have noted that a large reasoning for Sanders' victory was also on how a large number of voters were split between Obama and Clinton. Furthermore, the latter two's positions were largely the same in comparison to Sanders. Clinton would end up dropping out of the race to endorse Obama though the big shock came when Sanders would be endorsed by former President Gore. This was due to Sanders' cooperation and support among the Green party. Wile Obama's support grew, it was too late to match Sanders' pace and Gore's endorsement was the push Sanders needed. By the end of July, the DNC would be forced to accept Senator Bernie Sanders as Democrat's candidate for presidency.
Bernie Sanders at the 2016 DNC Convention regarding become the Democrats' presidential candidacy
With the stage set over for the presidential race itself, perhaps the first hall mark came in near the end of summer. Prolonged rainfall in August would cause catastrophic flooding over in Louisiana, causing the governor to declare a state of emergancy. Many rivers and waterways, particularly the Amite and Comite rivers, reached record levels, and rainfall exceeded 20 inches (510 mm) in multiple parishes. Many have noted that there was more than double the water put onto the state than Katrina and most of all, there was the presence of climate change within the discussions. Namely that human-caused climate change increased the likelihood of potential repeats or similar storms to happen in the future. In fact, regional simulations suggest that the climate warming since 1985 may have increased the event precipitation (August 11–14, 2016) on the order of 20%. The lack of preparation led to alot of misfortune for the people, where the rest of the nation went to help out their neighbors. However, federal resources were strained to help the nation, which just led to greater frustrations at the financial policies of the McCain Administration. This fed into the elections as people were noting the conservatvie fiscal policies were turning out to be duds in such emergancies and Sanders' cries for the govenment to do more became much more receptive among skeptics. This along with the news and potential concerns of climate change began having people begin normalizing that more radical actions would be needed. Moreover, the lack of proper media coverage by the large newstations led to growing disappointment in them and a greater leanings toward independent enws as well as cries to reform the large news networks to do their jobs better. The storm and its mishandlings seemed to show the true troubles of America... along with the opportunities for the people to choose better and make the changes that would be needed.
US Coast Guard rescuing Baton Rouge residents following the floods
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