2018 Presidential Election

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Oregon Republicans disavow Duke comments

Tuesday, May 10th, 2022

Members of the Oregon Republican Party moved into damage control after Republican presumptive presidential nominee Alan Duke took a swipe at the women of the state's largest city at a rally in Salem last night.

Duke's stump speech was interrupted by a several people, described by eyewitnesses as mostly women, with one of the women apparently having hair dyed bright red while another was wearing a crop top. The protesters apparently objected to Duke's anti-gay and anti-abortion positions, and the former senator decided to respond to them as they were being escorted out by event security:

"Oh shut up and put some more clothes on," which drew cheers from his audience. Speaking off the cuff, Duke remarked that "I wasn't expecting that here. With those bad manners, and dressed like trollops? Must have come from Portland."

The remarks quickly went viral online, with #dressedliketrollops already trending on Twitter as of 2 AM EST, with women posting photos of themselves wearing "suggestive" clothing like crop tops, shorts, or miniskirts.

"We do not support Senator Duke's remarks about the appearance or behavior of the women of Portland," the Oregon Republican Party said in a statement. Several other prominent Republicans, including Governor Walter Collins, have already condemned Duke's remarks, while Portland Mayor Mitch DiSarro has called on Duke to cancel his planned rally today in Portland.

This controversy comes after multiple news stories revealing tension between the Duke campaign and the state GOP. The main issue, the reports allege, is the Duke campaign's assertion that the Oregon GOP, filled with moderate, socially liberal supporters of Collins and the state's junior senator, Curtis Ryan, has been coordinating with Illinois senator Jasper Irving's campaign. Irving, a member of the same wing of the party as Collins and Ryan, has remained in the race even after Duke won a majority of delegates in part to give voice to the frustration moderate Republicans feel with Duke's nomination. The state GOP has denied those accusations, but the stories also show a profound divide between the majority of the party's executive and leadership, based in the state's urban areas and suburbs, and the minority of members from rural areas who have pledged their support to Duke's agenda.
 
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Tuesday May 10th, 2022

Labour MP Fred Dawes dies aged 74


Veteran Labour back bench MP, Fred Dawes has died, his family have said. He was 74.
A statement said: "We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved Fred passed away very peacefully in hospital after a short illness".

The trade unionist was first elected to the House of Commons for the seat of Newham North East in 1983, before becoming the MP for the new seat of East Ham from 1996. Although a working class Londoner, and a staunch left-winger, he was well known for his anti-EU stanch and campaigned to leave the EU in the 2013 referendum. He also refused offers to join the Socialist Alliance party in 2012 calling them a "bunch of anti-western cranks" and not "true socialist's in any form at all".

His majority in East Ham has fluctuated from it's current majority of 24,411 at the 2018 election, down as low as 2,332 five years earlier. It will be expected to be a Labour hold. It will be one of two by-elections required in the capital in the coming weeks, as a by-election in Vauxhall will be required following the election of Dominic Eames as Mayor on Saturday.
 
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UK General Election Causes (since 1918)

Loss of a vote of no confidence in the government

  • 2011
  • 1979
  • 1924
New PM seeks a mandate
  • 1955
  • 1935
  • 1931
  • 1923
PM without a working majority seeks one
  • 2007
  • 1974 (Oct)
  • 1966
  • 1951
PM's choice of date
  • 2013
  • 2004
  • 2000
  • 1991
  • 1987
  • 1983
  • 1974 (Feb)
  • 1970
  • 1959
  • 1950
  • 1929
Parliament had run it's course
  • 2018
  • 1996
  • 1964
End of World War
  • 1945
  • 1918
Collapse of cooperation within a coalition Government
  • 1922
 
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Thursday May 12th, 2022

Coll starts Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle


Labour leader Jack Coll has started his first major reshuffle of his shadow cabinet today. New incoming deputy Leader Victoria Thorpe will be Shadow Deputy Prime-Minister as well taking that role from Rachel Lilburn, although she does keep her job as shadow leader of the House, and also loses the post of Party chairman to Ryan Arnold

In a major move Shadow Chancellor, and the runner-up for the leadership in 2019, Oliver Kendrick becomes Shadow Home Secretary, Kendrick's other role as Campaign co-coordinator has been given to take man who he replaces Ryan Arnold, who takes on wide ranging brief as party chairman and what is being called as "Shadow Cabinet Chief Secretary" he will also shadow the post First Secretary of State as well, he has become in all but name, number three in the party after Coll and Thorpe.

The new Shadow Chancellor will be Patrick Brazil whose previous job as Shadow Foreign Secretary is taken by Ruth Butler who moves from Shadow Work & Pensions Secretary.

Further roles and changes are epected in the coming days.
 
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Top Stories This Week

Irving tweaks Duke with Blazers jersey reveal

Thursday, May 12th, 2022

Senator Jasper Irving (IL), the only remaining opponent for Republican presumptive nominee Alan Duke (OK) had some fun at his opponent's expense today, revealing a Portland Trail Blazers jersey underneath his suitcoat in a speech in Portland today. Irving, speaking to a gathering of mixed College and Young Republicans at Portland State University, said that unlike Duke, whose remarks about Portland women (characterizing them as having "bad manners" and dressing like "trollops") have resulted in several of his rallies in the city being protested, he liked Portland.

"In fact, I even decided to pick up a souvenir while I'm out here." he said, unbuttoning his jacket to reveal a Blazers jersey underneath. The stunt was met with receptive laughter and applause by the audience. Irving continued the rest of his speech with the jersey visible, and took selfies with several students where the jersey was clearly visible. Duke's campaign did not respond when asked to comment on this story.

John Boyega announced as next Doctor Who
Sunday, May 8th, 2022

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) announced on Monday that John Boyega had been cast as the next actor to play the titular character on the long-running sci-fi series Doctor Who. Boyega, who is most well-known for playing the former stormtrooper Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, will be the first black actor to portray the series' lead in its 59 year-history.

"I'm incredibly excited to take the T.A.R.D.I.S. out for a spin," Boyega said, speaking of the Doctor's iconic spaceship, shaped like a 1960s British police box, "I hope I can do the fans proud."

Boyega will take over the role from current series lead Hayley Atwell, who will helm the role for one last television special airing in October. At 30, Boyega will be the youngest series lead since Russell Tovey, who portrayed the Doctor's eleventh incarnation from 2010 to 2013.

Son of military coup leader wins Philippines presidential election
Monday, May 9th, 2022

Senator Paulo Zumel, whose father Gregorio Zumel served as head of the military junta that briefly overthrew the country's civilian government in 1998, was elected President of the Philippines on Monday. While the official results have not yet been certified, projections indicate that Zumel won with roughly 50 percent of the vote in a field of eight candidates. Zumel's campaign was noted for its revisionist interpretations both of the military junta that his father participated in as well as the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, who was overthrown in a nonviolent revolution in 1986. Members of his campaign also were accused of spreading misinformation over the junta's human rights abuses and role in the death of President Joseph Barrica (whose daughter Renata now serves as Secretary-General of the United Nations). The elder Zumel died shortly after being granted compassionate release from prison in 2005 following a terminal cancer diagnosis.

Presidents in the Philippines serve a six-year, non-renewable term. Zumel is expected to take over from outgoing president James Cayetano on June 30th.

Report recommends new police force for Jerusalem
Wednesday, May 11th, 2022

A report requested by the United Nations (UN) special rapporteur for the Holy City of Jerusalem has recommended the creation of a new police force responsible for enforcing the city-state's laws in most of Jerusalem. A panel, made up of several former jurists and recognized experts on policing reported to Pieter Joost, the UN special rapporteur for the Holy City, that the Swiss Guards, who currently are responsible for security in Jerusalem, retain responsibility for maintaining the safety of "sites of religious and/or political significance" while the rest of their policing duties be turned over to a force comprised of Jerusalem residents.

The report was compiled after several high-profile incidents involving the Guards, with the report saying the Swiss unit's "lack of fluency in the most-commonly spoken languages [Arabic and Hebrew] in the city-state" and "training as a military and protective service...with very little emphasis put on skills or tactics required of a policing body" for the incidents. The report recommends that officers for this new police force be "required to be domiciled in Jerusalem...not under military obligation to either the State of Israel or State of Palestine" and fluent in Arabic or Hebrew (preferably both). The report also recommends that policing power remain a shared responsibility between the Swiss Guards, law enforcement in Israel and Palestine and the proposed new agency, with both Israel and Palestine naming joint commissioners to oversee the agency.
 
I'd been meaning to list out the Philippines' presidents, the election of a new president just gave me the reason to finally do it:

Presidents of the Philippines (since 1986)
1986-1987: Corazon Aquino (UNIDO)
1987-1992: Corazon Aquino (PDP-Laban)
1992-1998: Fidel Ramos (Lakas)
1998: Joseph Barrica (Liberal)†
1998: Gregorio Zumel (military) (de facto)
1998-2004: Manuel Osmeña (Liberal)
2004-2010: Jose Aboganda (Lakas)
2010-2016: Hugo Pamplona (Liberal)
2016-2022: James Cayetano (Lakas-CMD)
2022-0000: Paulo Zumel (PFP) (president-elect)

Basically, everything is the same as OTL until 1998, when things go tits-up. Barrica is killed in attempted military coup, and the country falls apart almost overnight with the coup plotters failing to secure power outside of (most of) Manila's metro area. The plotters' plan to place a sympathetic ally in the presidency after Barrica's death is also foiled when newly-elected Vice President Manuel Osmeña escapes and calls for international assistance from his home province of Cebu. As such, the junta is forced to name themselves as the "Council for National Restoration" with Army general Gregorio Zumel as its chairman. Of course, no one outside the area of junta control recognizes them and the situation rapidly deteriorates as Filipinos recover from the shock and become outraged at having an election overturned less than three months after they chose Barrica as president.

American President Owen Lassiter takes Osmeña's plea as a justification to restore democratic government (and stabilize the Philippines before it can become another sanctuary for extremist groups of the kind that Lassiter is becoming increasingly worried about as he's leaving office). The junta surrenders almost without a shot when American troops start landing in Manila for the first time in 50 years, and Osmeña is sworn in as the nation's next president. With the American military on-hand and working as quickly as possible to pacify the country and remove junta sympathizers from the military ranks, he's essentially de jure president only until troops withdraw a few months into the term of Lassiter's successor, Josiah Bartlet.

Osmeña restores democratic rule to the Philippines and declines to run for a term of his own despite being eligible (since he did not serve all of Barrica's term). His successor Jose Aboganda sees the country join the "Asian Tigers", a group of Asian nations with rapidly growing economies, but Aboganda's presidency is marked by scandal and investigations. The next president, Hugo Pamplona, keeps the economy humming and draws criticism (internationally) and praise (domestically) for his aggressive posture towards China in the South China Sea dispute. James Cayetano's presidency was spent focusing on improving the country's infrastructure, pushing for a stronger system of federalism and more aggressively combating the country's communist insurgency that has been ongoing since 1969.

Zumel, the candidate of the new PFP (Partido Federal Ng Pilipinas or "Federal Party of the Philippines"), has promised to amend the country's constitution to move the country from a unitary to federal system, and campaigned largely as a populist with strong support for law and order. Critics have been alarmed with his whitewashing of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and the military junta his father led, and his failure to disclose his financial assets and liabilities.
 
So if the sequel trilogy exists in the WW universe, can Duel of the Fates be Episode IX instead of Rise of Skywalker ITTL?
Why not a whole New trilogy of thought through and planned films? Duel of the Fates may have been better than TROS (which really isn't a high bar to clear), but it could still be a whole lot better
 
So if the sequel trilogy exists in the WW universe, can Duel of the Fates be Episode IX instead of Rise of Skywalker ITTL?
Why not a whole New trilogy of thought through and planned films? Duel of the Fates may have been better than TROS (which really isn't a high bar to clear), but it could still be a whole lot better
As much as it would be nice to have a better-planned and executed sequel trilogy, we've always just gone with the easiest route of media franchises being the same as OTL in spite of the paradoxes it creates--which we inherited from the show, given that Josh is apparently a huge Trekkie and yet doesn't remark on potential Bartlet Supreme Court nominee E. Bradford Shelton looking an awful lot like the EMH from Star Trek: Voyager.
 
As much as it would be nice to have a better-planned and executed sequel trilogy, we've always just gone with the easiest route of media franchises being the same as OTL in spite of the paradoxes it creates--which we inherited from the show, given that Josh is apparently a huge Trekkie and yet doesn't remark on potential Bartlet Supreme Court nominee E. Bradford Shelton looking an awful lot like the EMH from Star Trek: Voyager.
There is also the established "Matthew Perry" rule. During Season One's "20 hours in LA", Donna remarks that she though she saw Matthew Perry (who was at the height of his popularity on Friends) in the crowd at an event (the same crowd where Secret Service Agent Gina Toscano noticed the people stalking Zoey & Charlie).

Matthew Perry would then appear in the show itself as Associate White House Counsel Joe Quincy.
 
There is also the established "Matthew Perry" rule. During Season One's "20 hours in LA", Donna remarks that she though she saw Matthew Perry (who was at the height of his popularity on Friends) in the crowd at an event (the same crowd where Secret Service Agent Gina Toscano noticed the people stalking Zoey & Charlie).

Matthew Perry would then appear in the show itself as Associate White House Counsel Joe Quincy.
The writers nightmare is if Joe Quincy, meets Matthew Perry, and Matt Albie of Studio 60, alongside Josh Lyman, and Danny Tripp alongside, Danny Concannon, Cal Shanley, and Timothy Busfield. Lord forbid if all of Joshua Malina's characters and actor meet.
 
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I have to tell you. Following Alan Duke and all the things he says, I can honestly say there is not a politician in either ITTL or OTL that I hate more. And that includes Donald Trump.
 
I have to tell you. Following Alan Duke and all the things he says, I can honestly say there is not a politician in either ITTL or OTL that I hate more. And that includes Donald Trump.
While I'm glad that our characterization of Duke as an unlikable bastard has succeeded, I'm going to say that you haven't been looking hard enough if you can't find an OTL politician to hate more than Alan Duke.

The proof is that Ted Cruz exists IOTL, and there's no way we could ever write a character as viscerally repulsive and loathsome as Ted Cruz.

What's the name of Duke's daughter. It would be funny if it was Patty.
Duke has two daughters: Lucy and Beth, the latter of whom he disowned once she came out as gay.
 
and there's no way we could ever write a character as viscerally repulsive and loathsome as Ted Cruz.
I agree Duke isn't even as bad as Cruz, and has been pointed OTL does have some pretty awful GOP Senators and Congressman (Senators Hawley, Lee, Tuberville and in the House we have MTG, Gaetz, Cawthorn) , just to name six!!
 
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Cruz is not as loathsome as Duke. Did Cruz ever pick a fight with a Governor by insulting his wife?
Duke is a gift that keeps on giving and if he thinks being obnoxious and loathsome as he is, is a winning formula, then Seaborn, Democrats and anyone else who see Duke for what he is, give the palooka plenty of rope in which to hang himself. Something tells me that Republican's already have buyers remorse! Seaborn I believe along with anyone and everyone who wants Duke to be gone! By September I can imagine Duke will be trailing badly in all polls. I'm puzzled why Democrats didn't schedule there convention until the end of August. Why so near the Republican party's convention? Seaborn could milk the Vice presidential speculation for all his worth and suck the oxygen out of Duke's campaign. Pull a stunt similar to the one that LBJ pulled in 1964 over the Vice presidential slot! Duke would be eating his liver!
 
Duke is a gift that keeps on giving and if he thinks being obnoxious and loathsome as he is, is a winning formula, then Seaborn, Democrats and anyone else who see Duke for what he is, give the palooka plenty of rope in which to hang himself. Something tells me that Republican's already have buyers remorse! Seaborn I believe along with anyone and everyone who wants Duke to be gone! By September I can imagine Duke will be trailing badly in all polls. I'm puzzled why Democrats didn't schedule there convention until the end of August. Why so near the Republican party's convention? Seaborn could milk the Vice presidential speculation for all his worth and suck the oxygen out of Duke's campaign. Pull a stunt similar to the one that LBJ pulled in 1964 over the Vice presidential slot! Duke would be eating his liver!
That is the result I want to see, but I don't know. The Seaborn campaign is capable of making big mistakes too, as they have demonstrated many times. And this from a guy who all things equal prefers to support the Republican candidate. I was rooting for Wallen in 2010 and 2014 and Shallick in 2018.
 
Cruz is not as loathsome as Duke. Did Cruz ever pick a fight with a Governor by insulting his wife?
Kinda funny you mention that cuz in the story I'm writing about an atheist President, my character punched out Cruz 3 different times while he served with him in the senate and I came up with that story concept in 2013.
 
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