A True October Surprise: The Added Surprises
- Thread starter lord caedus
- Start date
Is this implying that the Socreds are still around in 2016 ITTL? Or is another party making up the 'half' in the two-and-a-half party system?
Nope, New Zealand uses FPTP.
Well, at least during the Anderton-Clark years, they didn't.
The "half" party is the Democratic Alliance, which is an electoral alliance of minor left-wing parties including Social Credit that has principally become the main protest vote within the past decade ITTL after National was able to cleave into Liberal Alliance support after their 2005 victory.
David Miscavige
David Miscavige is the former leader of Church of Scientology who has been imprisoned for several crimes related to his leadership of that organization since 2001. Miscavige joined the Church of Scientology alongside his family as a young man and his impressive organizational skills and intellectual ability soon made him the confidant of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard as a teenager. Following the devastation of the Church leadership following the legal proceedings from the group's theft of government documents (Operation Snow White), Miscavige ruthlessly exploited the power vacuum and assumed the role as Hubbard's (who had gone into hiding to prevent being arrested by the FBI) messenger and de facto leader of the group.
Following Hubbard’s death in seclusion in 1986, Miscavige's total control over the Church was cemented and he began purging his opponents within the organization. Miscavige continued the push for tax-exempt status for the Church of Scientology, both by legal means and by burying the Internal Revenue Service in paperwork in an attempt to force them to acquiesce. However, the Justice Department and the administration of California Governor (and future president) Pete Wilson had begun separate investigations of the Hollywood-based group and began uncovering evidence of beatings of disciples, harassment of ex-members as well as reporters and government investigators, and false imprisonment by Miscavige and other Scientologist leaders. Invoking the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) and the Finch-Ryan Act (which outlined the definition of a malicious cult and means the federal government could use to prosecute cult leaders), the federal government arrested Miscavige and several other Scientology leaders in 1998 on a bevy of charges and froze the Church's assets.
Miscavige briefly used the influence of notable Scientologist celebrities, including actors John Travolta and Mimi Spickler, to tilt public opinion his favor while his lawyers worked furiously to insulate him from the damage the arrests. However, brutalized subordinates, facing extended jail sentences of their own, began to turn on Miscavige and the reputation of Scientology fell even further, with Spickler leaving the organization over the revelations from the evidence presented by federal prosecutors. In the end, Miscavige managed to drag his trial out until 2000, when his lawyers were able to convince federal authorities to drop several charges in return for pleading guilty to several counts of assault and battery. His trial in California resulted in further charges by the time his long trial sentence ended and he begun to serve his sentence in 2001, with a total combined sentence of 20 years.
Following his conviction, the Church of Scientology has effectively splintered into several groups, with different members of the group have asserted their rights to the copyrights to Hubbard's works, including the Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (which explains the concept of dianetics, a major component of Scientologist beliefs). Miscavige has been repeatedly denied parole owing to his violations of no-contact orders towards current and former Church of Scientology leaders that were included in his sentence and he is scheduled to be released and begin his ten-year probation sentence in 2021.
Following Hubbard’s death in seclusion in 1986, Miscavige's total control over the Church was cemented and he began purging his opponents within the organization. Miscavige continued the push for tax-exempt status for the Church of Scientology, both by legal means and by burying the Internal Revenue Service in paperwork in an attempt to force them to acquiesce. However, the Justice Department and the administration of California Governor (and future president) Pete Wilson had begun separate investigations of the Hollywood-based group and began uncovering evidence of beatings of disciples, harassment of ex-members as well as reporters and government investigators, and false imprisonment by Miscavige and other Scientologist leaders. Invoking the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) and the Finch-Ryan Act (which outlined the definition of a malicious cult and means the federal government could use to prosecute cult leaders), the federal government arrested Miscavige and several other Scientology leaders in 1998 on a bevy of charges and froze the Church's assets.
Miscavige briefly used the influence of notable Scientologist celebrities, including actors John Travolta and Mimi Spickler, to tilt public opinion his favor while his lawyers worked furiously to insulate him from the damage the arrests. However, brutalized subordinates, facing extended jail sentences of their own, began to turn on Miscavige and the reputation of Scientology fell even further, with Spickler leaving the organization over the revelations from the evidence presented by federal prosecutors. In the end, Miscavige managed to drag his trial out until 2000, when his lawyers were able to convince federal authorities to drop several charges in return for pleading guilty to several counts of assault and battery. His trial in California resulted in further charges by the time his long trial sentence ended and he begun to serve his sentence in 2001, with a total combined sentence of 20 years.
Following his conviction, the Church of Scientology has effectively splintered into several groups, with different members of the group have asserted their rights to the copyrights to Hubbard's works, including the Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (which explains the concept of dianetics, a major component of Scientologist beliefs). Miscavige has been repeatedly denied parole owing to his violations of no-contact orders towards current and former Church of Scientology leaders that were included in his sentence and he is scheduled to be released and begin his ten-year probation sentence in 2021.
Skylab program
The Skylab program was the next step in NASA history following the success of the Apollo program. Launched just before Apollo 18 (the penultimate Apollo mission), Skylab was the first American space station and it took over as NASA's flagship program following Apollo 19's return in April 1974. The first Skylab (sometimes referred to as Skylab A) resulted in several scientific breakthroughs, including the confirmation of coronal holes in the Sun, as well as gathering plenty of data from scans of the Earth. Skylab B, which was initially held in reserve in case something went wrong with Skylab, eventually launched in 1977, after Skylab's orbit had begun to decay (it would eventually fall back to Earth in 1979). Skylab B itself continued the original's scientific gains, notably conducting more detailed scans of the Earth and studying the effects of long-term spaceflight on both humans and other organisms.
Skylab was viewed initially by NASA as a precursor to the establishment of a lunar base and eventually landing a man on Mars, something that was enthusiastically supported by the Humphrey administration (Humphrey famously proclaimed that the Apollo missions had opened a "larger frontier" and that his administration would work to put a man on Mars by the year 2000). However, after a decade of funding the expensive Apollo program, congressional opposition to another massive space endeavor forced Humphrey's hand on the NASA budget, accelerating the end of the Apollo program (the Saturn rocket that would have been used for Apollo 20 was instead used to bring Skylab into orbit) and the beginning of the development of the Space Shuttle, a reusable rocket that would be used for the final Skylab B missions. Subsequent administrations' cutbacks to the NASA budget scrapped both the lunar base and possibility of a Mars landing, forcing NASA to rely on probes to explore space as well as the Martian surface. Despite the push of several prominent NASA alumni, including former presidential candidate and senator John Glenn, for an eventual return to human exploration, very little change has occurred in Washington, and while President Patrick has pledged to increase NASA's budget, Capitol watchers remain skeptical that it will amount to more than an increase in climate science research.
Skylab was viewed initially by NASA as a precursor to the establishment of a lunar base and eventually landing a man on Mars, something that was enthusiastically supported by the Humphrey administration (Humphrey famously proclaimed that the Apollo missions had opened a "larger frontier" and that his administration would work to put a man on Mars by the year 2000). However, after a decade of funding the expensive Apollo program, congressional opposition to another massive space endeavor forced Humphrey's hand on the NASA budget, accelerating the end of the Apollo program (the Saturn rocket that would have been used for Apollo 20 was instead used to bring Skylab into orbit) and the beginning of the development of the Space Shuttle, a reusable rocket that would be used for the final Skylab B missions. Subsequent administrations' cutbacks to the NASA budget scrapped both the lunar base and possibility of a Mars landing, forcing NASA to rely on probes to explore space as well as the Martian surface. Despite the push of several prominent NASA alumni, including former presidential candidate and senator John Glenn, for an eventual return to human exploration, very little change has occurred in Washington, and while President Patrick has pledged to increase NASA's budget, Capitol watchers remain skeptical that it will amount to more than an increase in climate science research.
Quebec general election, 2015
The 2015 Quebec general election has been seen as a political realignment in the politics of the province, with the Parti Québécois (PQ) under François Legault winning a majority of seats despite a very narrow plurality of the popular vote over the Liberal Party and incumbent premier Line Beauchamp. Beauchamp, the first female premier in Quebec, had inherited a government increasingly at odds with itself as tensions within the broad-tent party erupted into multiple cabinet resignations under Beauchamp's predecessor, Stéphane Dion.
The election of Legault as PQ leader in 2013 was seen as a turning point in the history of the PQ. Traditionally a social democratic, sovereigntist party that previously pushed a 1981 referendum on Quebec independence while in government, Legault's vision of the party has been characterized as economically nationalist with a strong fiscal conservative streak, and that pushes for more autonomy within Canada than leaving it. The shake-up of the guiding ideology of the PQ resulted in an increase in support for the Rassemblement démocrate pour Québéc ("Democratic Rally for Quebec" or RDQ), the province's left-wing alternative to two major parties led by former union leader Nycole Turmel and played a key role in the shift away from several minor parties like the Parti Vert (the province's Green Party affiliate) and Alliance nationale (an attempt by conservatives to revive the old Union Nationale for modern Quebec) towards the two main parties.
Legault would lead the PQ to a solid majority in large part due to the inefficiency of Liberal vote distribution, with that party being heavily concentrated in Montreal at the expense of the rest of the province. His government has already proven controversial for many of the PQ old guard, including voting to accede to new federal pipelines despite their unpopularity in the province, a reduction of taxes for province-based businesses and relaxations of provincial environmental standards to attract companies from the rest of Canada. Persistent rumors of a breakaway party of old-line social democratic sovereigntists have continually dogged the Legault-era PQ and it is unknown if Quebec will have a fourth party in its assembly after the next elections.
The election of Legault as PQ leader in 2013 was seen as a turning point in the history of the PQ. Traditionally a social democratic, sovereigntist party that previously pushed a 1981 referendum on Quebec independence while in government, Legault's vision of the party has been characterized as economically nationalist with a strong fiscal conservative streak, and that pushes for more autonomy within Canada than leaving it. The shake-up of the guiding ideology of the PQ resulted in an increase in support for the Rassemblement démocrate pour Québéc ("Democratic Rally for Quebec" or RDQ), the province's left-wing alternative to two major parties led by former union leader Nycole Turmel and played a key role in the shift away from several minor parties like the Parti Vert (the province's Green Party affiliate) and Alliance nationale (an attempt by conservatives to revive the old Union Nationale for modern Quebec) towards the two main parties.
Legault would lead the PQ to a solid majority in large part due to the inefficiency of Liberal vote distribution, with that party being heavily concentrated in Montreal at the expense of the rest of the province. His government has already proven controversial for many of the PQ old guard, including voting to accede to new federal pipelines despite their unpopularity in the province, a reduction of taxes for province-based businesses and relaxations of provincial environmental standards to attract companies from the rest of Canada. Persistent rumors of a breakaway party of old-line social democratic sovereigntists have continually dogged the Legault-era PQ and it is unknown if Quebec will have a fourth party in its assembly after the next elections.
Note for readers- there are only four more entries left in ATOS:TAS, which will wrap up either later today (Halloween) or tomorrow (November 1).
That makes it sound like you're glad that TAS is almost over, kohai.
Mario Dumont doesn't exist ITTL since he was born after the POD.
Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 1972
The Conservative Party leadership election in 1972 was second election in three years to decide the leader of the Conservative Party. The winner of the previous election, Reginald Maudling, had taken over after the party's failure to unseat Harold Wilson's Labour government in 1970 and had begun to lay the groundwork for unseating Wilson at the next general election. However, Maudling's financial dealings with John Poulson, an architectural designer under investigation by the Metropolitan Police for bribery and fraud came to light after Poulson declared bankruptcy in mid-1972 and records of his business with the Leader of the Opposition made public. Reading the tea leaves, Maudling acceded to a leadership election to replace him as Conservative leader in September.
William Whitelaw, the Shadow Home Secretary, soon emerged as the front-runner to succeed Maudling, attracting most support among the 1922 Committee of party leaders. Competing against Whitelaw were Shadow Secretary of Northern Ireland Keith Joseph, Shadow Secretary of Education Margaret Thatcher, and Shadow Minister of Transport John Peyton. All of Whitelaw's challengers belonged to the right-wing of the party, with Joseph and Thatcher advocating monetarist economic solutions to Britain's economic woes. Thatcher, while the first female candidate to be considered a serious contender for the leadership of a major party in Britain, lagged well behind Joseph in gathering support from MPs from the party's right-wing while Peyton was essentially a non-factor throughout.
The rules of the contest necessitated that, to avoid a second round, the winner would have needed to win both a majority of all votes cast as well as having 15 percent or more than the first runner-up. With the right-wing vote divided among Joseph and Thatcher supporters, Joseph hoped to draw enough undecided back-benchers to his side in order to deny Whitelaw a majority by promising a "new way forward" to break from the Heath policies that had failed to unseat Wilson.
The effort failed and Whitelaw was elected on the first ballot, with a majority of 12 and a large margin between him and Joseph, who won 71 votes, more than double that of Thatcher's total (30) and several times that of John Peyton (11). Whitelaw would go on to lead the party for 14 years, and the last seven of them as prime minister. Joseph and Thatcher both would serve in the Whitelaw government, while Peyton opted to retire in the 1979 election that brought the Conservatives into power for the first time since 1964.
William Whitelaw, the Shadow Home Secretary, soon emerged as the front-runner to succeed Maudling, attracting most support among the 1922 Committee of party leaders. Competing against Whitelaw were Shadow Secretary of Northern Ireland Keith Joseph, Shadow Secretary of Education Margaret Thatcher, and Shadow Minister of Transport John Peyton. All of Whitelaw's challengers belonged to the right-wing of the party, with Joseph and Thatcher advocating monetarist economic solutions to Britain's economic woes. Thatcher, while the first female candidate to be considered a serious contender for the leadership of a major party in Britain, lagged well behind Joseph in gathering support from MPs from the party's right-wing while Peyton was essentially a non-factor throughout.
The rules of the contest necessitated that, to avoid a second round, the winner would have needed to win both a majority of all votes cast as well as having 15 percent or more than the first runner-up. With the right-wing vote divided among Joseph and Thatcher supporters, Joseph hoped to draw enough undecided back-benchers to his side in order to deny Whitelaw a majority by promising a "new way forward" to break from the Heath policies that had failed to unseat Wilson.
The effort failed and Whitelaw was elected on the first ballot, with a majority of 12 and a large margin between him and Joseph, who won 71 votes, more than double that of Thatcher's total (30) and several times that of John Peyton (11). Whitelaw would go on to lead the party for 14 years, and the last seven of them as prime minister. Joseph and Thatcher both would serve in the Whitelaw government, while Peyton opted to retire in the 1979 election that brought the Conservatives into power for the first time since 1964.
Author's note: I originally intended for Maudling to be the Conservative leader for the 1975 election, lead them to victory and then have the Poulson scandal break, but that was changed after reader criticism. This formally lays out what was implied in the UK election boxes with Whitelaw as leader, that he succeeded Maudling (who took over from Edward Heath following Labour winning the 1970 elections) after the Poulson scandal.
"Dr. Thatcher, I feel like my family, friends, and no one in society cares about me."
"Well, there's no such thing as society, but there is prescription I'm writing you for Prozac."
"Dr. Thatcher, I feel like my family, friends, and no one in society cares about me."
"Well, there's no such thing as society, but there is prescription I'm writing you for Prozac."
No, because:
1. TAS is ending soon and I'm not going to make another infobox for it.
2. It would end with a ridiculously lopsided Haslam victory because every contest after Super Tuesday was essentially uncontested.