Thanks to @KingCrawa for his help and for creating these great profiles for the candidates to become the new pope!
2018 Presidential Election
- Thread starter Marky Bunny
- Start date
Atlantis Cable News
Hale to go before Senate Committees next week
Washington D.C.- During the morning press briefing, White House Press Secretary Cassie Tatum announced that former West Virginia Governor and HHS Secretary nominee Stan Hale will go before the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions) and Senate Finance Committees next week following the completion of his FBI background check. Hale is expected to easily clear the Senate, with Senate Majority Leader Cody Riley (R-AL) stating "Governor Hale is a fine choice. My only regret is that the President didn't choose Governor Hale to begin with"
Six months before Riley Begins an investigation into the Seaborn WH.
OOC: There was a concern about the thread becoming America centric so no
I mean, the president has suffered a rebuke that no newly-elected president has suffered before ITTL (IOTL, the last Senate rejection of a cabinet nominee was GHW Bush's initial choice for Secretary of Defense, John Tower) and was clearly humbled into picking a nominee more to the Senate majority's liking than his party's grassroots (WV politicians are generally great on health issues relating to coal mining and publicly advocating holding those companies responsible) so I'm not really sure what more we could do on that front.
President Seaborn is going to really regret snapping "Shut up, Riley!" at him during a tense meeting.
OOC: That and that Law would be really young for a pope and it just didn't seem realistic that the College of Cardinals would pick someone who would probably be pope for 30-40 years immediately after Victor's very long papacy.
Probably.
They want a guy that is unhealthy and will die in a few years. So a John XXIII over a John Paul II, though John Paul I would not be bad for the Curia.
nbs.com
Friday, March 1st 2019
Tanner confirmed as Energy Secretary
After what initially appeared to long odds to confirmation, former Environmental Protection Agency director Joan Tanner was confirmed for the position of Secretary of Energy today in a voice vote by the Senate after Republican opposition to her collapsed in dramatic fashion. Pilloried by conservative activists for her stances on coal and climate change, Tanner's hearings and private meetings with senators resulted in what a Republican official familiar with the Senate leadership's internal deliberations say was a "embarrassing" defection from the party's line by senators from states in the Great Plains who stand to gain from an increased investment in solar and wind energy.
While Democrats Calvin Bowles of Kentucky and Rachel Mears of West Virginia reportedly were going to vote with the Republicans to block Tanner's nomination, Senate Majority Whip Max Lobell III (R-GA) is reported to have told Senate Majority Leader Cody Riley (R-AL) that the sizable defections from several conservative stalwarts would damage the party's messaging on energy and climate issues and make it difficult for those senators up in 2020 and 2022 to avoid fundraising difficulties from industry and conservative activists. That the leadership moved for a voice vote, which does not record the votes of individual senators, seems to confirm those reports.
The White House released a statement congratulating Tanner on becoming the first African-American to become Secretary of Energy and praised the spirit of "bipartisan cooperation" of Senate leadership in confirming her. Chief of Staff Will Bailey said that the administration was "thrilled" to welcome another talented member to its ranks. "Secretary Tanner is a talented public servant who understands the urgent need to change our nation's energy policy to move away from fossil fuels and towards a green, renewable future," Bailey said. "We are thrilled that the Republican-led Senate has given its stamp of approval towards helping the country achieve those goals."
Tanner is the second female African-American in a cabinet position, alongside Secretary of the Treasury Meredith Payne. The current cabinet currently has a record three African-Americans (Tanner, Payne and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mark Richardson), three women of color (Tanner, Payne and Secretary of Education Valeria Quintero) and five women leading Cabinet departments (Tanner, Payne, Quintero, Secretary of Agriculture Karen Kroft and Secretary of Veterans' Affairs Kate Harper) with another woman (Shannon Frost) currently nominated to lead a Cabinet department (the Department of Commerce).
Friday, March 1st 2019
Tanner confirmed as Energy Secretary
After what initially appeared to long odds to confirmation, former Environmental Protection Agency director Joan Tanner was confirmed for the position of Secretary of Energy today in a voice vote by the Senate after Republican opposition to her collapsed in dramatic fashion. Pilloried by conservative activists for her stances on coal and climate change, Tanner's hearings and private meetings with senators resulted in what a Republican official familiar with the Senate leadership's internal deliberations say was a "embarrassing" defection from the party's line by senators from states in the Great Plains who stand to gain from an increased investment in solar and wind energy.
While Democrats Calvin Bowles of Kentucky and Rachel Mears of West Virginia reportedly were going to vote with the Republicans to block Tanner's nomination, Senate Majority Whip Max Lobell III (R-GA) is reported to have told Senate Majority Leader Cody Riley (R-AL) that the sizable defections from several conservative stalwarts would damage the party's messaging on energy and climate issues and make it difficult for those senators up in 2020 and 2022 to avoid fundraising difficulties from industry and conservative activists. That the leadership moved for a voice vote, which does not record the votes of individual senators, seems to confirm those reports.
The White House released a statement congratulating Tanner on becoming the first African-American to become Secretary of Energy and praised the spirit of "bipartisan cooperation" of Senate leadership in confirming her. Chief of Staff Will Bailey said that the administration was "thrilled" to welcome another talented member to its ranks. "Secretary Tanner is a talented public servant who understands the urgent need to change our nation's energy policy to move away from fossil fuels and towards a green, renewable future," Bailey said. "We are thrilled that the Republican-led Senate has given its stamp of approval towards helping the country achieve those goals."
Tanner is the second female African-American in a cabinet position, alongside Secretary of the Treasury Meredith Payne. The current cabinet currently has a record three African-Americans (Tanner, Payne and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mark Richardson), three women of color (Tanner, Payne and Secretary of Education Valeria Quintero) and five women leading Cabinet departments (Tanner, Payne, Quintero, Secretary of Agriculture Karen Kroft and Secretary of Veterans' Affairs Kate Harper) with another woman (Shannon Frost) currently nominated to lead a Cabinet department (the Department of Commerce).
I'm not going to write-up another story for it, but the conclave to elect the new pope will begin on Monday, March 3.
I won't be posting what color smoke arises from the Sistine Chapel chimney in "real-time" because of the time difference between my location and Rome (7 hours) and RL commitments. But there will be a picture of the new pope, plus an infobox when his election is announced.
...no they don't. Being unhealthy is pretty much an automatic disqualification in the eyes of the College of Cardinals and the oldest papabile (Fabbri) is 73—roughly five years under the average life expectancy of a man in Western Europe. Whoever gets elected will have a term at least that long, most likely much longer.
I won't be posting what color smoke arises from the Sistine Chapel chimney in "real-time" because of the time difference between my location and Rome (7 hours) and RL commitments. But there will be a picture of the new pope, plus an infobox when his election is announced.
...no they don't. Being unhealthy is pretty much an automatic disqualification in the eyes of the College of Cardinals and the oldest papabile (Fabbri) is 73—roughly five years under the average life expectancy of a man in Western Europe. Whoever gets elected will have a term at least that long, most likely much longer.
Can we get like a chart of something that's shows all the cabinet secretaries who've been confirmed and those who've yet to be confirmed?
Sure.
Key said:
Cabinet of President Sam Seaborn (as of March 1, 2019)
Vice President: Jack Hunter
---
Secretary of Treasury: Meredith Payne
Secretary of Defense: Jack Shannon
Attorney General: George Montgomery
Secretary of the Interior: Sean Boone
Secretary of Agriculture: Karen Kroft
Secretary of Commerce: Shannon Frost
Secretary of Labor: Gael Cordova
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Stan Hale
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Mark Richardson
Secretary of Transportation: Matt Skinner
Secretary of Energy: Joan Tanner
Secretary of Education: Valeria Quintero
Secretary of Veterans' Affairs: Kate Harper
---
Ambassador to the United Nations: Paris Stray
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: Mary-Beth Shotten
United States Trade Representative: Charlie Young
Director of the Office of Management and Budget: Andrew Delaney
Director of National Intelligence: Sarah Sanchez
Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers: Randy Broughton
Administrator of the Small Business Administration: Damon Matteo
Before the papal voting starts on Monday, here's Minnesota's governors ITTL.
Casting
Rudy Perpich as himself
Harve Persnell as Charles Dawkins
Randy Savage as Harry Kimble (previously cast)
Mark Derwin as Michael Jack (previously cast)
John Cusack as Jarrod Daniels
Rudy Perpich as himself
Harve Persnell as Charles Dawkins
Randy Savage as Harry Kimble (previously cast)
Mark Derwin as Michael Jack (previously cast)
John Cusack as Jarrod Daniels
- Quick refresher on Minnesota party names:
- The state Democratic Party is called the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party because it is the result of a merger of the original state Democratic Party and the Farmer-Labor Party in the 1940s.
- The state Republican Party was named the Independent Republican Party from 1975 to 1995 in an attempt to escape the backlash from Watergate. Dawkins was governor when they changed their name ITTL.
- The Independence Party was IOTL created by Minnesotan supporters of Ross Perot in 1992 and was named the Reform Party of Minnesota when it affiliated with the federal Reform Party from 1995 to 2000. ITTL it never seems to have affiliated with the national party (Reform was established to have existed, but clearly never achieved the same level of success as it did with Perot IOTL). Like the OTL party of the same name, it is essentially dead after its heyday in the late 1990s.
- The state Democratic Party is called the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party because it is the result of a merger of the original state Democratic Party and the Farmer-Labor Party in the 1940s.
- Somehow, the only entirely new person is Goetz (the current lieutenant governor who succeeded Jones when she replaced Hunter in the Senate).
- The 1986 election was the most recent election for a two-year term (Minnesota governors originally served two-year terms, with it only changing to four years with the 1962 election) as part of the realignment brought about by the change in the presidential election cycle.
- Perpich (the last governor shared with OTL) served non-consecutive terms (the only MN governor to do so), which means that Daniels is the 40th governor, but the 39th person to be governor. Also, Rudy was kind of a character.
- Dawkins' party was never established, but I figured that he would be a liberal Republican like Arne Carlson, the governor who preceded Ventura OTL.
- As I mentioned in the most recent news story with Kimble, he named his own daughter as his lieutenant governor and both left the Independence Party and joined the DFL and ran on that party's ticket in 2004, but lost to Jack/Anders.
- Cusack was previously established as first the actor for Michael Jack way back in the old thread before being switched to Jack Hunter, where he served ably for most of the Walken administration until Hunter was recasted as Ed Helms during the last election. So he's now on his third Minnesota politician.
- In Minnesota, when the lieutenant governor becomes vacant, the president of the state senate (which is separate from the LG) automatically succeeds to the office. The state senate is elected in an odd system—in years ending in "2" or "6", they are elected for 4-year terms, but in years ending in "0" they are elected for a two-year term. Since 2016 TTL is a midterm instead of a general election, I calculated the results to be similar to how they would react in a midterm with a Republican president (albeit not the wave election that the most recent IOTL midterm was), which resulted in a DFL majority. So Jones' successor as LG is a DFLer instead of a Republican, who control the MN state senate ITTL.
I am very much doubting the liberal will get it. (It is easy as there is only one truely liberal candidate.
On a side issue I watched the Series 6 episode "A Good Day" last night for research ahead of the Oregon GOP Congressional Primary debate today (I'll post tomorrow BTW). It's the one with Cody Zucker in, forgotten what a great episode it is, very funny in places.....
Kate Harper: Do we even have a map of Canada? is a great line as is...Will Bailey: The Vice President advocates a hard line. Kate Harper: Permanent lockout in the NHL? Maple syrup embargo? Turn off Niagara Falls?
Also the Santos/Calley plan to outwit Speaker Haffley by pretending everyone was away for the vote was used in real life in Jan 2006 by then the Conservative opposition in the UK to win a vote against the Labour Government, they admitted they copied by the idea used in this episode and it worked. Art imitating life perfectly.
Kate Harper: Do we even have a map of Canada? is a great line as is...Will Bailey: The Vice President advocates a hard line. Kate Harper: Permanent lockout in the NHL? Maple syrup embargo? Turn off Niagara Falls?
Also the Santos/Calley plan to outwit Speaker Haffley by pretending everyone was away for the vote was used in real life in Jan 2006 by then the Conservative opposition in the UK to win a vote against the Labour Government, they admitted they copied by the idea used in this episode and it worked. Art imitating life perfectly.
THis episode has some good one liners:
Kate: We have a plan to invade Canada
General: Would you like to be briefed.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
usatoday.com
Habemus Papam? Extra Facts and Figures
As Catholic Church leaders prepare to meet and begin the process to elect the successor to Pope Victor IV, here are a few extra facts and figures:
1). As Pope, Victor's successor will be the spiritual leader to some 1.2 billion Catholics. This includes the members of the Roman Catholic Church, headquartered in Rome, and of which most Catholics worldwide are members of, and the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, largely headquartered in various cities in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, India, and the United States.
2). The Pope's official title is Bishop of Rome, as Rome was originally the center of the early Catholic church. Pope comes from the Latin word for father, as the pope is the spiritual father to the world's catholics.
3). Since the election of Pope John II, who was born Mercurius, most popes have changed their names, usually to the name of a saint or previous pope. The last pope to not change his name was Marcellus II in 1555.
4). John has been the most commonly selected name by popes-elect, having been used 23 times. John is followed by Gregory, which has been used 16 times, and then Benedict, at 15. Clement (14), Innocent (13), Leo (13), and Pius (12) are other favorites, although Innocent and Pius will likely never make a comeback.
5). There is one name that will most likely not be used: Peter. Out of deference to the first Pope, none since then have taken his name, not wanting to seem as though they are comparing themselves to him.
6). Most popes have been from Europe. Italy leads the tally with a staggering 196 popes born within its borders. Pope Victor IV was the first non-European pope since Gregory III, who was born in Syria. Of the nine papabile, Cardinals considered most likely to be elected, four are from outside of Europe.
7). Although it is the church where he will be announced and celebrate his inauguration, Saint Peter's Basilica, which holds the final resting place of the saint it is named for, as well as several other popes, is not the official seat of the pope. That honor goes to the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, located outside the Holy See's walls. Even though it is physically in Italy, it holds extraterritorial status, meaning its grounds are under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. This designation is shared by the two other major basilicas outside of the Vatican, the Basilica of St. Paul and the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
usatoday.com
Habemus Papam? Extra Facts and Figures
As Catholic Church leaders prepare to meet and begin the process to elect the successor to Pope Victor IV, here are a few extra facts and figures:
1). As Pope, Victor's successor will be the spiritual leader to some 1.2 billion Catholics. This includes the members of the Roman Catholic Church, headquartered in Rome, and of which most Catholics worldwide are members of, and the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, largely headquartered in various cities in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, India, and the United States.
2). The Pope's official title is Bishop of Rome, as Rome was originally the center of the early Catholic church. Pope comes from the Latin word for father, as the pope is the spiritual father to the world's catholics.
3). Since the election of Pope John II, who was born Mercurius, most popes have changed their names, usually to the name of a saint or previous pope. The last pope to not change his name was Marcellus II in 1555.
4). John has been the most commonly selected name by popes-elect, having been used 23 times. John is followed by Gregory, which has been used 16 times, and then Benedict, at 15. Clement (14), Innocent (13), Leo (13), and Pius (12) are other favorites, although Innocent and Pius will likely never make a comeback.
5). There is one name that will most likely not be used: Peter. Out of deference to the first Pope, none since then have taken his name, not wanting to seem as though they are comparing themselves to him.
6). Most popes have been from Europe. Italy leads the tally with a staggering 196 popes born within its borders. Pope Victor IV was the first non-European pope since Gregory III, who was born in Syria. Of the nine papabile, Cardinals considered most likely to be elected, four are from outside of Europe.
7). Although it is the church where he will be announced and celebrate his inauguration, Saint Peter's Basilica, which holds the final resting place of the saint it is named for, as well as several other popes, is not the official seat of the pope. That honor goes to the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, located outside the Holy See's walls. Even though it is physically in Italy, it holds extraterritorial status, meaning its grounds are under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. This designation is shared by the two other major basilicas outside of the Vatican, the Basilica of St. Paul and the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
Monday March 4th 2019
Zucker clear winner in Oregon Congressional Primary Debate
Cody Zucker, the twenty six year old, Children's activist and GOP party activist was the clear winner in the GOP Oregon 4th Congressional primary debate. The debate took place ahead of the primary election taking place tomorrow.
Zucker who faced state representative Dan Baxter and former state senator Leslie Carlisle in the hour long hour debate produced a performance which produced much comment on social media. Baxter and Carlisle are experienced party politicians and they basically between them attempted to ignore him and then patronise Zucker with Carlisle calling him "boy" on three occasions early on in the debate. Baxter tried to say that Zucker was not ready to go to Washington because "he had no life experience" which Zucker unleashed a zinger reply " well I have questioned the President of the United states on national television, doesn't that count".
In a another heated segment the three candidates where questioned why at the Presidential election in the Congressional district that Green party nominee Haydn Strauss was able to poll 10% of the vote, mainly it was suggested by targeting young voters. Zucker said "the GOP is regarded by younger voters as the old, stuffy party, and that Haydn Strauss although despite his age, was taking about issues that appealed to them, college tuition fees and the environment, and of course loads of free stuff" which drew laughs from the audience. "We are not a old party look at people like Secretary Boone, Senate Majority Leader Riley and Governor Butler of South Carolina, but it is a image we not shaking off, and we can only do it by electing officials that can appeal to those voters, otherwise we are as a party effectively writing off a large block of voters for not just this election cycle but the coming decades".
On social media, the praise for Zucker was universal "God this young lad Zucker is impressive" was one comment left on the live messaging during the NBS live coverage as was "Cody Zucker kicks ass" and "A 26 year old non-politician has just wiped the floor with two so called experienced party hacks". A poll on the NBS website gave Zucker the win in the debate with 87% voting for him as the winner.
Leading into the debate Zucker was in third place behind Baxter and Carlisle, but one suspects the whole race changed last night and he is now the clear favourite to win the nomination ahead of the special election on April 30th.
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