2018 Presidential Election

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ajm8888

ajm8888

lord caedus said:
I call this set "Two Senators, a Dog and a Guy in Charge of Most Federal Places"

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Casting (all previously established)
Patrick Dempsey as Andrew Thorn
Natalie Portman as Nicole Kershaw
Hayden Christensen as Sean Boone

  • Most of Marty (Seaborn)'s infobox is based off that of RL former First Dog Bo (Obama). His predecessor as First Dog was President Walken's dog Martha, who he got after his previous dogs Bess (who appeared in the show) and Margaret passed away.
  • Nothing needed to be added to Thorn and Kershaw's biographies for the infobox. Really the only thing needed to add to Boone's was his immediate successor as lieutenant governor. Leo Carr had been established as the lieutenant governor in 2018, but when Boone was nominated, it was Daniel Edmonds. So I'm retconning what is clearly just an error to be that Carr was nominated by Boone after he succeeded Folan (a Democrat) as a show of bipartisanship and then won a term of his own in 2012 before retiring in 2016 when Edmonds was elected as lieutenant governor.
  • Since Harrison Ford (Haydn Straus) and Mark Hamill (Ryan Lyndell) had their infoboxes done, most of the main trio of both the Prequel and Original Star Wars trilogies have had their infoboxes done. Carrie Fisher (Justine Avery) was previously shown in the SF mayor infobox (which Portman/Kershaw also appeared in), and Ewan McGregor hasn't been cast as anyone that I'm aware of.
Click to expand...
Regarding McGregor, maybe some one should change that? ;)
 
ajm8888

ajm8888

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Friday March 23rd, 2019

North Korea to launch new rockets for Choi Ji-hoon birthday.

In celebration for Choi Ji-hoon’s birthday on April 18th, the Korean Central News Agency announced they would fire three rockets in birthday celebration. One is for Choi, the other for his wife and the other for his sister. These rockets will fly over japan and land in the Pacific Ocean. Choi Ji-hoon released a statement saying, “This is my gift to the nation, showing my willingness to protect them.” The US and Japan state this aggressive action will not be tolerated if the rockets hit any land targets.

Bangkok Furious, Promotional stunt lands two Americans in Jail.

In Bangkok, the people of the Thai capital thought there was missiles attacking the city late last night when to “balls of fire rocketed through the Bang Ram District. At least fifteen car accidents and a hundred fifteen injured in the panicked mob they ran the direct away from where the balls of fire were going. Fortunately for Bangkok it was two professional skydivers in jet powered wingsuits. They were arrested at the Mega-World Hotel, which had just opened in Bangkok and the skydivers were preforming for, and arrested by a traffic control officer in an auto-rickshaw. The Americans are Kerri Unger (29) and Dave Reston (37), The Royal Thai Police are refusing to let them go.
 

lord caedus

Worked on these recently:

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Casting (all previously established)
Carrie Fisher as Justine Avery
Catherine Keener as Carol Gelsey
Milo O'Shea as Roy Ashland
Stephen Culp as Jeff Haffley
Kirk Douglas as Joseph Furman
Reggie Miller as Rudi Robinson
Ang Lee as Kang Sun-u
Timothy Dalton as Ricky Meyer

  • I don't know if it was intentional, but Avery and Kershaw both going from SF Mayor to Senator is a pretty reference to how their Star Wars characters are both monarchs and senators.
  • With Gelsey and Haffley having their infoboxes done, this means four TTL's Speakers have had their infoboxes done. The other two are current speaker Daniel Maddox and of course, former President Glen Allen Walken (who also is only the second Speaker to become president after James Polk).
  • Ashland, despite being a noted liberal, got appointed twice by Republican presidents--once by Nixon (not explained, but probably because he could get through the Democratic-controlled Senate and he hadn't been shown to be as overwhelmingly liberal as he was by the time he appears on the show) and then by Lassiter to replace Staub. This means all three ATL chief justices (Staub, Ashland & Baker Lang) have had their infoboxes done. He was established as being from Massachusetts when he was first appointed to the Court, so I had him be born in Boston and attend Harvard. His wife was mentioned to have died when he appeared in the show (2004) and his son was mentioned to have been "shot down over Hanoi", so

    Ashland's military service wasn't ever established, but given that he was established as being born in 1920 and would be in his senior year of college when Pearl Harbor is attacked, it stands to reason that he would be commissioned as an officer during World War II.
  • Haffley's biography had several conflicting events happen in 1990- he somehow quit the state senate to run a gubernatorial campaign, then was elected to the state house and became speaker and then won the primary for the 5th district seat he would hold for the next 20 years. I opted to go with him staying in the state senate, then becoming president pro tempore briefly (not shown, but as a result of his campaign skills) before winning the primary for the 5th district seat.
  • Furman's alma mater is now known as Texas A&M (it was renamed in 1963). Also, with his infobox, every presidential nominee since 1986 has had their infobox done.
  • Since Robinson is played by and based on Reggie Miller, most of his biography is just lifted from Miller's. His NBA stats and awards are the same as Miller's from 1987 to 2000 (Robinson retired five years before Miller did in real life). The most notable thing is that his sister Carol is similar to Miller's sister Cheryl in being considered one of the best women's basketball players of all-time.

    The TTL 1996 Olympics were held in Athens, Greece instead of Atlanta.
  • Kang's successors in the top three offices that the North Korean supreme leaders have haven't been listed, but I thought it was easiest to give formal control over the Workers' Party to one Choi sibling and the North Korean military to the other. This wouldn't really be that practical under normal circumstances, except for that the two are siblings and presumably have a much closer political and personal relationship than most duumvirates.

    For his personal biography, Kang was said to have been born at Mount Paekdu (which has been considered sacred by Koreans) like Kim Jong-il. But like Kim, he really wasn't born there--Kim was born in the Soviet Union while his father was a guerrilla leader against Japan in World War II while Kang was born in Sinuiju, where the North Korean government fled after the United Nations overran Pyongchang in autumn 1950 during the Korean War.

    He also was established as having three wives. Kim Kyong-hui was Kim Jong-il's sister who I figured would have a "mysterious accident" as a result of Kang's paranoia about her seeking her vengeance for her brother (who Kang overthrew in the backstory). His second one wasn't named, but had to be out of the picture before his third wife came along, so I figured Kang was more willing to "just" divorce her and send her to a reeducation camp. His third wife was established in the thread as an American actress named Ellen Trudy who defected to North Korea, then married Kang before being executed for trying to escape (it was clear from other entries that she had several personal issues that influenced her decision to defect to North Korea).
  • Meyer is the third UK PM to have their infobox done (after Reed and Samuels). Even though he's not Welsh, he's the only Welsh-born PM IOTL or ITTL (the only Welsh PM David Lloyd George was born in Manchester, England) and also is the only PM that served as a foreign head of state owing to his tenure as being part of the triad that ruled the Free City of Jerusalem on an interim basis before the first President was elected. He was killed in the 2011 Jerusalem terrorist attack at the inauguration ceremony for President Sawahili making him only the second UK prime minister to be assassinated, albeit after he left office. The name of his successor as Bristol South MP is also totally not inspired by his successor for the role of James Bond.
 

Marky Bunny

Politico.com
Monday March 25th 2019

"Zeigler and Son" podcast with Cody Zucker crashes I tunes

Former White House Communications Director Toby Zeigler presented his Friday podcast "Zeigler" with his fifteen year old son Huck this past Friday, giving it the new name of "Zeigler and Son". Their guest was GOP Congressional candidate Cody Zucker, the man who back in 2006 was famously challenged Ziegler at the White House about Youth votes and children's issues. Zeigler who was impressed by then thirteen year old Zucker he got him into a nationalised televised press conference with President Bartlet.

Thirteen years on from that now famous event, Zeigler discussed that day and Zucker's up coming Special Congressional for the Oregon 4th on April 30th and his son Huck. Huck Zeigler admitted that Zucker was "a bit of hero" to him "saying he gave all young people whatever party they supported, that younger voices could be heard". Zucker replied saying that he was "no hero, but would always be thankful for the chance that Toby had given me to get my message out". Huck Zeigler said he despite his Mother and Father being "life long Democrats" he was "open minded over party politics, I look at the candidates, and the issues" adding "if I could Vote on April 30th I would for you" to Zucker.

Zucker was asked about the campaign against former Lt Governor Callum Hinchcliffe "He is a decent man, I have meet him a couple of times, but he is a career politician, something I am not, I think it is going to be difficult, I am new at this, I am finding my way", he also hoped that the election campaign would be "clean but frank exchange of views and opinions" and that he was hoping for at least one debate with Hinchcliffe" to which Toby Zeigler added laughing "Having taken you on in a debate, and saw your primary debate performance the other week, Lt Governor Hinchcliffe might be better in staying away".

On National issues, Zucker said that Former First Lady Abby Bartlet's nomination of Health Secretary "had been a terrible error in judgement by the President" and that the budget proposal "had some merit, but had far two much un-controlled spending for my liking".

The podcast proved a hit, with I tunes actually crashing on Sunday with people listening and downloading it. Cody Zucker and Huck Zeigler are certainly two young men on the up.
 
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lord caedus

OOC: It could be iTunes crashed because it's garbage instead of Toby's podcast :p

Also, there's no way Huck Ziegler is old enough to be on a podca-

*remembers Huck and Molly were born in 2003, so he'll turn 16 this year*

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lord caedus

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Monday, March 25th 2019

Hale confirmed, Frost vote set for Wednesday

The United States Senate has confirmed former governor Stan Hale (D-WV) to the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services and scheduled the vote on President Sam Seaborn's nominee for the Secretary of Commerce, Shannon Frost, for Wednesday. Hale, the replacement nominee after the Senate rejected the president's nomination of former First Lady Abigail Bartlet, sailed through with 86 senators voting in favor, while only nine senators voted against (five senators were absent or voted "present"). The former two-term governor of West Virginia said he was "thrilled" at the large vote in favor of his nomination and said he took it as a vote of confidence for the policies he advocated in his confirmation hearings, including making it easier for states and municipalities hit hard by the opioid epidemic to access federal funds for substance abuse programs.

Debate on Frost's nomination began today, with several Republicans expressing support for Frost's nomination. "I'm in favor of someone with a track record of creating jobs being at the head of the cabinet department tasked with encouraging economic growth," Senator Jasper Irving (R-IL) said, expressing the views of several more moderate members of the Republican caucus who spoke on the Senate floor today. "I can't see why some in my party wish to turn away from this nominee simply because she is a registered Democrat."

Frost, considered the riskiest nominee the president submitted after Bartlet, has seen her nomination's odds improve dramatically after meeting with senators and after compelling testimony in front of the Senate Commerce, Science and Technology Committee. With five Republicans having voted for her nomination in committee, sources close to the Senate Republican leadership have said that the leadership is "resigned" to Frost being confirmed on Wednesday.

Besides the position of Secretary of Commerce, only two Cabinet-level positions have not had a nominee confirmed yet: the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) and Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA). Both of President Seaborn's nominees for those positions, former governor Randy Broughton of Nevada (for chair of the CEA) and former Indiana senator Damon Matteo (SBA administrator) are scheduled to have the relevant Senate committee vote on their nominations on Wednesday and are expected to be confirmed by most political observers.
 

lord caedus

The 2018 Mexican presidential election was held on 1 July to elect a new President of Mexico for a term of five years and ten months (shortened from six years following a 2014 change to the electoral code that will see every president elected on or after 2024 to be inaugurated on 1 October instead of 1 December). Incumbent president Enrique Rodriguez was barred from seeking re-election, having served a six-year term (sexenio) after winning the 2012 election. The election was between former Secretary of Finance Agustín Gumaro of the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional—"Institutional Revolutionary Party"), former head of government of Mexico City Manuel Vargas running on the MORENA (Movimiento Regeneración Nacional—"National Regeneration Movement") ticket and Senator Lucía Bárcenas of Guanajuato on the PAN (Partido Acción Nacional—"National Action Party") ticket, plus several other minor party candidates.

Rodriguez's presidency had begun on a high note with the charismatic young president drawing hopes that PRI, which had ruled Mexico without interruption from 1929 to 2000, had shed the culture of corruption that had permeated the party by the time free elections had begun in 1994. But voters were quickly disappointed as Rodriguez's administration quickly became engulfed in scandal after scandal. The goodwill that the administration had after inheriting taking office dissipated after fundraising scandals came to light and several northern states saw very little of the funds promised to combat drug cartels. Frustration with the PRI and the downturn of oil prices resulting in lower state revenues generated by Pemex (the state-owned petroleum company) resulted in a drubbing in the 2015 midterm elections. Rodriguez's relationship with American President Glen Allen Walken also suffered after it became clear that the president lacked the ability (or will) to rein in the endemic corruption in Mexican law enforcement that was supposed to be targeting the cartels that had usurped control in large parts of several states.

It was with this backdrop that the election took place. Gumaro won the PRI nomination that many regarded as a poisoned chalice given the basement-level popularity of Rodriguez and the PRI in general and proved to be an uninspiring candidate. Bárcenas hoped to make history in becoming Mexico's first female president, but faced what many felt was patronizing and sexist coverage in national media and questions over her family's involvement with a local cartel boss depressed her poll numbers even further. Vargas, who had started MORENA after losing the 2012 election to Rodriguez, spent the entire campaign as the front-runner. His brand of folksy left-wing populism, which had not connected in either of his two previous presidential runs, found a fertile home in this election and at points he led both of his opponents by nearly fifty percentage points. News stories emerged relatively late in the campaign recycling allegations of fundraising irregularities within MORENA, and Vargas' connections with several known associates of various cartel leaders, but they made little difference. He would win with nearly 43 percent of the vote and lose only seven states, the best performance by any candidate since 1994. His coattails were long and MORENA and its allied parties won a majority in both houses of the federal Congress.

Vargas' proposals to negotiate with the cartels instead of continuing his predecessors' efforts to destroy them via military and police action has resulted in disagreements with the United States early into his term. Both the Walken and Seaborn administrations have expressed alarm and concern about this strategy to end Mexico's low-level conflict with the cartels. The increasing cartel violence along the American-Mexico border has led to several American politicians to express support for using American military or law enforcement to eliminate the cartels who are fighting in those border cities, a step that Seaborn and Vargas have both denied is a possibility.

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Casting (all new)
Damián Alcázar as Manuel Vargas
Silvia Navarro as Lucía Bárcenas
Joaquín Cosío as Agustín Gumaro

  • Quite a bit of this obviously is lifted from OTL Mexican politics.
  • The politicians and actors who portray them are "inspired by" Mexican political television shows, with Vargas and Gumaro being "similar" to characters from The Perfect Dictatorship and Bárcenas from La candidata.
  • The results are taking from the most recent OTL Mexican Senate elections, which I figured was more appropriate since Vargas' shadiness (a reference to both his character in The Perfect Dictatorship and that he portrays a leader of the Cali Cartel in Narcos) would mean he wouldn't win a majority of votes like AMLO did IOTL, but still would romp to victory given Mexico's political situation.
  • Alcázar is IRL an actual deputy for MORENA in the constitutional assembly tasked with writing a new constitution for Mexico City, which I learned after deciding that he should be the one to portray Mexico's president.
  • Note that the possibility of American military/law enforcement intervention in Mexico isn't actually closed. For political and legal concerns, both presidents of course deny that it's a possibility, but of course if the violence spills over the border, circumstances could change.
[/SPOILERS]
 

Marky Bunny

Public Service Announcement
I have just entered a very busy time for stuff I do away from this thread. It has just started and will last until the middle/end of May.
You will see less stuff from me, probably around a post a week. I will still be keeping an eye on things of course.
Of course the brilliant @lord caedus and @MountainDew17 will still be on hand keeping things moving along.
I should be able though to give you some "live" coverage of the two UK by-elections that are taking place this Thursday (March 28th). At the moment assume I will be from around midnight UK time into Friday. If I cannot do it, I will let everyone know by then.
Cheers
Mark
 
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