Kentucky Fried Politics: A Colonel Sanders Timeline

Seems like that heart attack Grammer had in 2008 otl has finally caught up to him. I'm guessing those years in office meant he wasn't straining himself as much compared to otl until the stress of this financial crisis pushed him over
 
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What a chapter! First thank you for including Australia saying sorry for the Stolen Generation that I suggested to you :) I liked Mondale giving advice to Grammer. I also liked Grammer firing Paulson showed he's not afraid to make unpopular decisions. I was sad to hear Hendrix had died. And nooo please don't kill Grammer I was just beginning to like him over his refusal to bail out the banks and then he has a heart attack?! Way to keep us on edge x'D
 
Chapter 106: June 2013 – December 2013
Chapter 106: June 2013 – December 2013

“Tough times don’t last – tough people do!”

– Trace Adkins, (2020 IOTL, 2013 ITTL)



Press Secretary Charlotte SCHULTZ: “The President has experienced a very mild myocardial infarction.”

Press Member, THN: “So he’s had a heart attack.”

SCHULTZ: “If you want to dumb it down, sure, but do note that the President is in stable condition and is recuperating in a recovery room at George Washington University Hospital.”

Press Member, KNN: “Do we know what caused the attack?”

SCHULTZ: “Yes, it was caused by a blockage of blood flow to the heart muscle, probably from a blood clot.”

Press Member, TON: “Has the President ever had a heart attack before?”

SCHULTZ: “He may or may not have experienced a miniature heart attack, also known as a silent heart attack, in October 2004.” [1]

Press Member THN: “Well, which is it?”

SCHULTZ: “His physicians can you give more details when they are available – ”

Press Member THN: “And is it possible his poor health is the long-term result of the President’s cocaine use in the ’80s and ’90s?”

SCHULTZ: “While cocaine use has been linked to cardiovascular issues, rest assured that the President has not touched the stuff in 25 years.”

Press Member, ABC: “When can we expect him to resume Presidential duties?”

SCHULTZ: “Very soon.”

– White House Press briefing, 6/25/2013



Harley Davidson Brown served as Acting President for almost three hours, from 9:15 AM to 11:58 AM, E.S.T., while the President underwent emergency medical treatment. When he was being escorted to the hospital, President Grammer was informed that he may require emergency surgery or sedation if his medical emergency was more serious than expected. Understanding the situation, Grammer voluntarily transferred his authority to his Vice President.

During this three-hour window of exercising the powers and duties of the Presidency, Harley Brown, together with “Acting First Lady” Joni Brown, as Harley called his wife, comforted First Lady Marissa and the President’s children and his sister Karen Grammer-Smith. Harley Brown then made several additional phone calls before balking at “security concerns” and driving his Harley-Davidson motorcycle around Potomac’s Rock Creek Park to clear his head. His Secret Service agents followed close behind him on standard-issue motorcycles of their own.

The APOTUS stopped at the border to Maryland to stretch his legs and take in the scenery near the edge of the park. “I didn’t want to think about Kelsey, about what the hell could be happening to him over in the ER,” he later said in an interview. “It all just came at me very fast. I wasn’t sure what to do. And I said this to my head of security, Dominick. Crazy Dom got off his own bike, walked over to me, I told him what was what, what was going through my mind, and he just said, ‘Do what’s right.’ I decided that if I was going to be Pretend-POTUS, that I’d make the most out of it. I told Crazy Dom, ‘I’m heading back to the capital building. McMaster and I are going to have a little…talk.’”

– historian Jane Mackaman’s What Principles Endure: An Examination of The Grammer Presidency, Vintage E-Books, 2022



BREAKING: Congress Passes Stimulus Package Just Hours Before Breaking For Summer Recess!

…libertarians on the hill tacitly backed the bill due to its stripping some social program funds to keep the federal budget balanced, much to the consternation of many liberal Democrats…

– knn.co.usa, 6/27/2013



BROWN: Hey.

GRAMMER: Hey.

BROWN: I uh, I’m not catching you at a bad time, am I?

GRAMMER: No, no, uh, Karen just stopped by, and you just missed her. You’ve met my sister, right?

BROWN: More than a few times now.

GRAMMER: Really?

BROWN: She’s at the White House practically all the time, Kels.

GRAMMER: She’s a good aunt to my kids. Spoils them, really.

BROWN: [chuckle] Nothing wrong with spoilin’ your kids. I do that to my own, and most of them have turned out just fine.

GRAMMER: Huh. Well, um, call me The Amazing Criswell, but I get a nearly-clairvoyant feeling that you’re not here entirely on a social call.

BROWN: You’ve got me all wrong, Kelsey. I think. I, uh, I was told you were doing better and I wanted to check in on you.

GRAMMER: Oh. Um, thanks.

BROWN: Don’t mention it. I heard it wasn’t too bad, anyway.

GRAMMER: You heard wrong, Harley. My heart frickin’ stopped at one point!

BROWN: Nah, really? People don’t tell me anything!

GRAMMER: They had to blast me twice and get me started all over again. And in the moment I kept thinking, ‘Oh gosh, I have got to hang on. I’ve got too much junk I’ve got to take care of. I’ve got to take care of my family. I’ve got to take care of, well, everything. And the moments between states of unconsciousness felt like somebody was actually trying to tear my chest apart with, like, the jaws of life. [2]

BROWN: Aw, jeez, man! That sounds like it really sucked.

GRAMMER: Hmm. Well, did you also know that, usually, heart attack victims stay cooped up in places like this for as long as a week? I’m heading out tomorrow! Aren’t I lucky? The President with a weak heart.

BROWN: Ah, don’t feel so sorry for yourself, Kelsey. You got lots of millions of people out there all hoping and wishing you a full recovery.

GRAMMER: Of course they are. They all are counting on me to sign the stimulus package into law.

BROWN: There’s also some people ’round who genuinely care about you and your health and you know it. Mr. President.

GRAMMER: Eh, I guess you’re right.

BROWN: Tell me something I don’t know.

GRAMMER: Like what?

BROWN: Oh. Em, eh, like, uh, what’s going to happen now? You’re going to take it easy for a while or something, right?

GRAMMER: Heh. Well, the doctors want me to rest up for a few weeks. While Europe burns away in a flame of financial fury, I’m supposed to laze about popping pills and sipping diet shakes.

BROWN: And I’m guessin’ you’re not gonna want to do that.

GRAMMER: I can’t, I’m the President. I don’t have the privilege of relaxation.

BROWN: Well, if you don’t take it easy on yourself you’ll get another heart attack and maybe then you won’t have the privilege of life.

GRAMMER: [groan]

BROWN: My offer still stands, you know. Remember what I said yesterday? Over the phone? You can let me take on some more of the little stuff. Let me be the guy who has to meet with the Senators and Congressmen, be your go-between, while you chatter away with those pesky posh Europeans. Just because you can try and take care of everything on your own doesn’t mean that you should.

GRAMMER: [pause] Tell me, is what I’m hearing true? Did you really play a role in getting those senators off their asses to finally pass the stimulus bill yesterday?

BROWN: I may have talked to some folks. Threatened to make their lives a living hell, especially if you didn’t make it. Either way, if they didn’t put it to a vote I may have suggested bringing the wrath of the populists in the party down onto them the next time their name’s on a Republican primary ballot. That twisted a few arms – not literally, mind you, though some of those snobby s#!theads deserve even more than that.

GRAMMER: [chuckle] You’re preaching to the choir, Harley.

BROWN: Yeah, you get it! So how’s ’bout it?

GRAMMER: [pause] I’ll start you off with a big fish. The Governor of American Samoa next month. Give him a tour of the city. Do your homework.

BROWN: No sweat! You can depend on me, Kels!

GRAMMER: Here’s hopin,’ Harley, here’s hopin.’

– George Washington University Hospital, President’s private recovery room, security recording, recorded 6/28/2013 (leaked 2/2/2020)



“…There, you can see the President’s entourage behind us, he’s being wheeled out of the hospital, the First Lady is with him there, and he’s heading to the Presidential limousine. …Reliable sources have told us President Grammer plans on maintaining a very light schedule for the next few days, with only a few VidCall meetings per days, in order to adhere to the orders of his doctors, who have told him to, essentially, just take it easy for a few weeks, and follow his new medication plan, cardio workout schedule and dietary guidelines…”

– KNN, 6/29/2013 broadcast



…The 2010s saw a renewed focus on the effects of one’s Digital Footprint. Technet user actions have consequences, for every action can be tracked, traced and monetized on most “common public” sites, meaning that the dark web is more “secure,” but also more nefarious. Furthermore, sitebuilding in the early half of this decade was increasingly costly as technet connection speeds increased. Netsites also began to become more open with its data-collecting policies in the name of transparency and combating e-threats. However, this led to the term “thoughtsharing” becoming a derisive term for some places. And yet, most users of e-devices agreed to site terms and conditions due to how the technet helps people connect to one another, look things up, buy things online, perform acts of e-commerce, e-banking, and networking, and perform ontech jobs that were never thought to even be possible just twenty years prior...

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– Joy Lisi Rankin’s Computers: A People’s History of the Information Machine, Westview Press, 2018



…Reports indicated that the President was recovering nicely, but his schedule was kept light, and did not return to its pre-attack level of activity until roughly two weeks after leaving the hospital. During that time, Grammer took the “opportunity” to spend more time with his younger children and grandchildren. He also took the experience to briefly break from the libertarians to actually praise America’s healthcare system, saying “the American version of universal healthcare is the best version of UHC on this planet.”…

– historian Jane Mackaman’s What Principles Endure: An Examination of The Grammer Presidency, Vintage E-Books, 2022



DISNEY DOES IT AGAIN!: Decorous “Dinosaur Days” Delivers Decent Delights!

…CRI has come such a long way in such a short number of years…

Variety, film review section, 7/1/2013 article



“Rich or poor, we all have a responsibility to turn the woes that ail us into opportunities for good. Americans are resilient and resourceful. They do not need an oppressive government system to tell them to do what is right. What they need is a government system that uses the money of the American taxpayer to help the American taxpayer when times are tough. Tax money is the money of the American citizenry. And so, my dear fellow Americans, consider this to be a rebate of sorts.”

– US President Kelsey Grammer, upon signing the 2013 Emergency Economic Relief Bill into law, 7/2/2013



YESTERNIGHT: The Second Korean War

Premiered: July 4, 2013

Genre (s): action/thriller/suspense/war

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Written by: Randall Wallace and John Rice

Produced by: Terence Chang, Bruce Davey and Stephen McEveety

Cast:

Michael Shannon as Gary Luck

Adam Beach as Eric Shinseki

Evan C. Kim as Kim Jung-Il

Steven Yeun as Kim Jung-Nam

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Ann Dunwoody

Djimoun Hounsou as Larry R. Ellis

James Hong as NK General O Kuk-ryol

Robin Williams as Anthony Zinni

Randy Quaid as Harley Davidson Brown (cameo)

Ken Armstrong as himself (cameo)

Steve Buschemi as Larry Dinger (cameo)

See Full List Here

Synopsis:

The film covers the final days of the Second Korea War from the perspectives of military personnel on both sides of the conflict, and the glory and horrors of war they experienced.

Reception:

The film received positive reviews from critics and was well-received both at the box office and from audiences… Special praise was also given to the acting of Robin Williams and Steve Buschemi, both of whom were cast against type but nevertheless gave positively-received dramatic perfromances…

– mediarchives.co.usa



…When the effects of Germany’s market crash finally reached the shores of Australia, Prime Minister Varvaris’s government responded by pushing for a large economic stimulus package to shield Australian businesses from the effects of the far-reaching recession. However, more liberal members of his government opposed the package due to it doing little to help working families in Australia, bailing out large companies and failing to provide much for laid-off owrkers. This led to debate that put the stimulus package on hold for several weeks, until a compromise could be reached between Liberal and Labour MPs…

– Barbara A. West’s The Political History of Modern Australia, Infobase Publishing, 2020



“I am concerned that the current administration appears to be overlooking how self-driving trucks are becoming a big thing now, especially since the current president’s libertarian-leaning deregulation policies only promotes such so-called ‘technological innovation’ at the expense of low-skilled workers.”

– former US Secretary of Energy and Technology Chase Peterson, 7/14/2013 interview



“…The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations today announced that it is expanding its emergency operations to Germany and Spain and families across Europe beginning to feel the long-term effects of the widespread market downturn…”

– CBS Evening News, 7/19/2013 broadcast



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– A small SpongeBob’s Undersea Cuisine located in Albemarle, North Carolina, c. July 2013



“…In northern Darfur, the Rezeigat tribe and the Beni Hussein group have signed a peace deal in order for the two groups to better fight their shared enemy, the military of Sudan…”

– BBC News, 23/7/2013 broadcast



…The Minerva Building in London, standing at 712 feet tall, was designed in 2001, in the lull between the recession of the late 1990s and the near-depression of the SARS years of the early 2000s decade. Upon its initial design being revised and its construction put under new management (after the original architects were caught up in financial scandal), the building was almost done being built when the 2013 recession set in. Construction was put on hold, leaving the building half done. Its image, of large, seemingly-hollowed-out edifice, become an iconic symbolic for the UK’s “hard times”…

– clickopedia.co.usa



“…the international community was stunned by the UN’s announcement today that Somalian government agents hired former members of defunct Mexican recreadrug cartel to try and assassinate a Somali opposition leader last month. Ontech, many are calling for major buyers of Somali products to halt all purchases in protest of the Somalian President Muhammad Ali Samatar’s latest illegal and impeachable actions committed since entering office in 1995…”

– BBC News, 25/7/2013 broadcast



UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS DROPPING AS STIMULUS PACKAGE, N.I.T.R. “BOOSTER REBATES” BEGIN TO KICK INTO EFFECT

– knn.co.usa, 7/26/2013 report



President Grammer’s Approval Ratings:

APPROVE: 57%

DISAPPROVE: 32%

UNCERTAIN: 11%

– Gallup polling, 7/27/2013 report



FORMER V.P. WILLIAM SCRANTON IS DEAD AT 96

…According to a spokesperson for the family, the moderate Republican died from a cerebral hemorrhage… A descendent of the family that gave Scranton, Pennsylvania its name, Scranton could trace his lineage back to the Mayflower. His deep ties and connections to the uppermost classes of political society contrasted against the humble origins of The Colonel… A loyal ally of President Colonel Sanders, Scranton followed the example of VP Richard Nixon in being an active member of the administration, leading efforts to improve American health and food choices, combat Big Tobacco, and investigate the merits of the proposed policy referred to as “busing.” …Despite his best efforts, Scranton narrowly lost the 1972 Presidential election to Walter Mondale. He never ran for elected office again, and entered private business soon after, serving as a board member of corporations and service organizations and as a trustee of Yale University, his alma mater. Also in his post-VP life, Scranton served as an unofficial advisor to many state and national politicians, including as an unofficial advisor for the Denton White House during its earlier years. However, he declined serving in major official positions such as GOP National Committee Chair in 1977, and as the US Ambassador to the UN. …Scranton is survived by his wife, former Second Lady of the US Mary Scranton, who served in the Denton and Kemp administrations, and four children, including former Pennsylvania Governor and former Presidential candidate William Scranton III…

The Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/28/2013



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– clickopedia.co.usa



…On July 29, following weeks of fighting, a coalition that included SLA and JEM reported that they had taken Um Rawaba in North Kordofan, outside Darfur, and that they were headed for Khartoum to topple the President of Sudan. The head of an SLA faction, Abdel Wahid Mohammed al-Nur, called it “a significant shift in the war,” which was what many were calling the conflict by then. …An estimated 300,000 were displaced by violence from March 2013 to July 2013… [3]

– clickopedia.co.usa




30 July 2013: on this day in history, the US Department of Defense’s Domestic Security Agency founds its Domestic Dangers Division, meant to combat home-grown extremism, radicalization, and other forms of domestic terrorism; the DDD aims to monitor for potential signs of ideological and political radicalization in an effort to combat cyber-terrorists targeting school netsites, defend verbally harassed technetters, and investigate e-threats whenever reported; the DDD initially received a very small budget when compared to other divisions of the department’s agency, but was nevertheless heavily criticized by populists in the US as being used as a tool to invade people’s privacy…

– onthisdayinhistory.co.uk



Anthony Avella Jr. (Democratic/Conservative) – 44%

Anthony Weiner (Progressive) – 29%

Malcolm Smith (Republican) – 12%

Jimmy McMillan (Working Families/Liberal) – 8%

Undecided/Other – 7%

– Quinnipiac Poll for the 2013 NYC Mayoral election, 8/1/2013



…In August 2013, conservatives and some liberals on the hill finally began supporting the proposed special temporary FAD program, a federal pilot program based on earlier state-level programs, for pregnant women who are financially insecure, in order to promote adoption over abortion. Former President Jesse Jackson came out in support of it, which surprised many, but given his early stances on abortion in the 1970s, researchers, historians and analysts were not at all surprised by his endorsement of the proposed program [4].

Due to the efforts of many people and organizations of the years, adoption was losing its negative stigmas. This was helped along by the likes of adopted people or adoptive parents such as Dave Thomas, Tom Vilsack, Lando Sanders, Barack McCain, Cheri Jo Bates and other prominent Americans.

However, in the wake of economic recession, the so-called “money-for-life” program was put on hold until early 2014, but in the meantime, Vice President Brown proved to be a fierce supporter of the program, saying that it was one of the very few times where government intervention into the American People’s lives was warranted…

– historian Jane Mackaman’s What Principles Endure: An Examination of The Grammer Presidency, Vintage E-Books, 2022



…When a recession probability index has substantially decreased and the fiscal quarters have ceased their downward trends, the recession has likely ended. For example, when the US entered recession in early 2013, the economic “bleeding” did not officially stop until early August, when the Federal Reserve announced that the Sahm indicator had peaked, leading to the US Stock Market suddenly becoming much healthier over the next several days. However, the impact of a recession typically lasts for much longer, for several months if not over a year, depending on how widespread was its impact. Furthermore, while large corporations tend to escape recessions unscathed, most low-income workers and small businesses bear the brunt of the recession’s effects…

– Investopedia.co.usa



D.C. DECLARES RECESSION OFFICIALLY OVER, BUT ITS EFFECTS STILL LINGER

The Washington Post, 8/6/2013



…The user-friendly interface of modern video downloading and video sharing sites allows for larger companies such as Canada’s OurVids and the US’s smaller counterpart, Vidhub, to acquire millions of users and visitors. By 2013, OurVids was reporting a revenue off $10billion and roughly 1.2billion users. Also in 2013, roughly 38% of the world’s population had access to the technet, through either dial-up or, more commonly, the faster and more modern coax-band technology...

– Joy Lisi Rankin’s Computers: A People’s History of the Information Machine, Westview Press, 2018



August 8, 2013: the Federal Reserve again elects not to raise interest rates despite continued pleas from Wall Street [5]

– washingtonpost.co.usa/timelines/the_unlucky_recession




“…As the search for missing politician Lloyd Havaw Reese continues, the FBI has now gotten involved in investigating the disappearance due to suspicion of conspiracy or, quite possibly, treason, as state authorities have found no evidence of kidnapping but have discovered evidence suggesting that Mr. Reese has in fact fled the state, if not the country…”

– ABC News, 8/9/2013 broadcast



…I guess I should have taken my pocketcomp with me, instead of deleting its search history. That must have looked suspicion. On the other hand, they probably could have tracked me down with the pocketcomp. Then perhaps I should have taken it with me, and had then destroyed it somehow. Any way, it is possible that the FEC charges were just a front to investigate me for stirring up so much anti-establishment sentiment after that gubernatorial debate. Just look at that populist I debated there, Garrison, a clear and obvious hack. He is not investigated, and I’m not surprised why not – he didn’t do or say anything to inspire a generation of political activists...

– Lee Harvey Oswald’s autobiography Call Me By My Real Name: Confessions From a Fallen Hero, published posthumously



Forward to: Gen. Milley

Hashaba, 100km NW of Al-Fashir, has burned to the ground. Group C currently taking Tabit, reporting back encountering, liberating “dozens upon dozens” of woman, children held hostage, abused.

– US Army Internal Report, 8/11/2013 (leaked 2/10/2021)



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– Former Vice President James Howard “Jim” Meredith and his wife at the University of Mississippi, smiling at the unveiling of a statue of Meredith as a young man attending said university, 8/12/2013



WHY IS THE E.U. STILL IN RECESSION?

The Financial Times, 8/14/2013 special issue



THE PRC IS TRYING TO CREATE ITS OWN TECHNET

…the People’s Republic of China is attempting to launch the nation’s own, separate, isolated version of the technet in the face of rising calls for freedom of speech and other democratic ideals among the nation’s citizens. “Such an alt-technet will most definitely be heavily censored,” says former US Secretary of Energy and Technology Rod Driver, “and it is not frivolous to postulate that if they are successful, Russia could soon follow.” Indeed, Russia’s controversial President has been highly critical of technet-based criticism about himself and his policies, opening investigations into netsites and orchestrating media blacklisting operations…

Associated Press, 8/16/2013



“…In order to help get American workers back on their feet, South Dakota Governor Stephanie Herseth has announced her support for a proposal to complete the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Apparently, Mount Rushmore was originally meant to depict the entire bodies of four US Presidents sticking out of the ground, not just their faces sticking out of the mountain. However, while some ontech believe that the completion of the project would allow for the hiring of several hundred workers and increase tourism for the state, the Lakota and Sioux Native Americans who claim to have been cheated out of the Black Hills land on which Mount Rushmore stands are strongly opposed to any more construction on Rushmore. US Senators from South Dakota Terri McGovern, a Democrat, and SuAnne Big Crow, a Republican, have yet to comment on the controversial proposal…”

– ABC News, 8/17/2013 broadcast



PM ROGERS ANNOUNCES NEW BUDGET LAYOUT

…next year’s budget would include cuts to the CBC, and the laying off of over 20,000 “redundant and/or superfluous” federal jobs, at a time when unemployment is already on the rise... However, the budget cuts would not include the discontinuation of the Penny by the Royal Canadian Mint, as part of a deal with moderate factions within the PC party that support retaining its use...

The Toronto Star, Canadian newspaper, 8/19/2013



MIDDLE EAST REELING FROM ECONOMIC SLIDE LINKED TO E.U. TRADE DEALS

– The Daily Telegraph, UK newspaper, 21/8/2013



REPORT: Israeli Economy Conditions Are At Their Worst Since SARS

– knn.co.usa/international, 8/25/2013 posting



KFC RELEASES THEIR ANSWER TO CULVER’S BUFFALO CHICKEN TENDERS

…KFC has introduced a new chicken sandwich variety that is their answer to a popular poultry dish found at Culver’s. KFC’s new Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, which is set to become available at all US outlets by the end of the week, is a tasty composition of classically-treated chicken fillets topped with a delightfully tangy blue cheese sauce…

– usarightnow.co.usa, 8/26/2013



…As the nation of Morocco produced a whopping 70% of Western Europe’s imports [6], the 2013 crash lead to less people purchasing items, creating economic slump for Morocco as well. …The tightly interwoven international trade community’s impactful blow contributed to a rise in political instability and dissatisfaction in Morocco, too, with Moroccan King Mohammed VI needing to work tirelessly to get his nation back up onto its feet. First, he dealt with growing civil disobedience by promulgating political reform to combat the post-crash corruption unfolding, and in late 2013 introduced a new national constitution, which was passed by a public referendum in early 2014. These legal changes lowered anti-monarchy sentiment and improved the King’s popularity among a people slowly but surely climbing back from the throes of economic decline and the very real threat of economic ruin…

– Hanspeter Kriesi and Takis S. Pappas’ In The Shadow of The Great European Recession, ECPR Press, 2021



THE SUKKOT WAR: What The New Anti-War War Movie Gets Right And Wrong

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Above: Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser (left) is portrayed by Bruce Willis (screenshot from film) (right)

…The film covers the Sukkot War of October 1967 from the perspective of the top leaders involved, and, in a B-story, two families caught in the crossfire, struggling to stay together and survive the conflict. With a large theatrical budget backing the project, the director and producers have managed to create a suspenseful work. Depicting agitators to be the heads of state and the average Egyptian and Israeli citizens as well as well-intentioned people caught up in the furor of government propaganda. The film has picked up some controversy for its portrayal of historical figures, and has not yet been released in theaters in parts of the Middle East...

...But how does the film hold up on its own merits? Well, one can certainly see why it so paradoxically both popular and unpopular. In just 102 total minutes of running time, character development explored and action scenes are expertly filmed, but historians are critical of how it ignores pre-existing hostilities among civilians. In fact, the debate over the film’s treatment of regional conflict is quite similar to the one about the chicken and the egg: did 20th-century people influence policy, or did government policy influence the notions of the people? Most believe the former, and some historians disagree...

…But regardless of the film’s historical accuracy, it cannot be denied that the film keeps you on the edge of your seat!

– film editorial, Variety magazine e-article, 8/29/2013



FLOTUS AND POTUS EXPECTING BABY! …First Lady Marissa Joan Hart-Grammer went onto social media to announce that she and the President are expecting a heavy. The message announcing her pregnancy did not specify due date…

Associated Press, 8/30/2013



“…A civil crisis is erupting in Spain as part of the domino effect of the European Crisis of the continent’s economy collapsing. Spanish citizens are rioting in the streets of cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, and anti-government sentiment is on the rise in places such as Catalonia and the Basque Country, leading to rising concerns that these trying times could encourage a resurgence in separatist activism in both of the aforementioned regions…”

– BBC News, 1/9/2013 broadcast



TEL-AVIV MAN ARRESTED IN FOILED SUICIDE BOMBING ATTEMPT

The Miami Herald, 9/2/2013



TEL-AVIV POLICE REVEALS AWFUL TRUTH: Acts of Hatred Numbers In Israel Are “The Highest In 30 years”

The New York Times, side article, 9/4/2013



…For the first time in my life, I was scared to go to school. A welcoming place of diversity and education had taken on a troubling and foreboding aura of danger, amid fears that some kind of Act of Hatred would occur at the sight of some student gathering. Whether the rumors were the result of paranoia or were merited, Uncle Yosef did not help matters with his insistence that in this case they match the latter theory. Violence was indeed on the rise in the Middle East, like what he had described to us now and again for the past two year, but while he beamed with pride at the thought of vindication, Mother and Father fretted. For the first time ever, when began actually using the deadbolts on the house doors.

But through it all, through the fear that the era of Our Delicate Peace was indeed at an end, our mother continued her friendship with Suhana down the street. She knew that an attempted suicide bombing on the other side of the country was not her friend’s doing. She was smart enough to know that guilty-by-association was the biggest trap that a society can fall into. The societies of the Middle East had been falling into those kind of traps for decades, until a chicken salesman from across the seas helped us out. He didn’t remove the traps, he didn’t teach us how to avoid the traps. But he did set us on the course to realizing the traps were there, that attacking friends and neighbors simply cannot yield a properly functioning civilization.

It’s a shame we couldn’t figure that out until after the 2020 Olympics were selected. That was a real disappointment. If anything, it delayed Middle Eastern morale and productivity from improving by several weeks, maybe months…

– Tamar Kohen’s A Mix of Flavors, 2021 autobiography



IOC Session No. 126

Date: September 7, 2013

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Subject 1 of 1: bidding for hosting the 7/24/2020-8/9/2020 (or XXXII) Summer Olympics

Description:

Due to the members of the IOC electing cities in Europe for hosting duties in 1992 (Barcelona), 2000 (Manchester) and 2008 (Berlin); one in Africa for duties in 1996 (Cairo); two in Asia for duties in 2004 (Beijing) and 2012 (Tehran); and one in North America for duties in 2016 (New York City), there were calls for the members to elect a city in South America for hosting duties, as the continent had never hosted a Summer Olympiad, or Australia, which had not hosted a Summer Olympiad since 1988.

Jakarta, Indonesia; Rome, Italy; Paris, France; Annam, Jordan; Sydney, Australia; Prague, Czechoslovakia; Rio de Janiero, Brazil; and Nairobi, Kenya had all sought to host the Olympic Games in the past, but due to growing economic problems, only Jakarta submitted a bid.

Ahead of the hosting process, much media attention had been on Jerusalem, a city submitted in a joint Israel-Palestinian entry, for hosting duties. The city was considered to be a leading candidate, until rising violence in the Middle East soured efforts to promote the city at the last minute. As a result, Santiago, Chile, a city with warm weather, amply accommodations, the best medical services on the continent, widespread public support, and a thriving economy in a country that had not been significantly impacted by the 2013 EU Recession, became the surprise winner of the hosting duties.

Results Breakdown: 97

Santiago, Chile – 13 (Round 1) – 16 (Round 2) – 24 (Round 3) – 26 (Round 4) – 35 (Round 5) – N/A (Runoff) – 56 (Round 6)

Baku, Azerbaijan – 18 (Round 1) – 21 (Round 2) – 23 (Round 3) – 25 (Round 4) – 31 (Round 5) – 33 (Runoff) – 41 (Round 6)

Jakarta, Indonesia – 19 (Round 1) – 23 (Round 2) – 26 (Round 3) – 28 (Round 4) – 31 (Round 5) – 30 (Runoff)

Tokyo, Japan – 16 (Round 1) – 14 (Round 2) – 13 (Round 3) – 18 (Round 4)

Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine – 8 (Round 1) – 15 (Round 2) – 11 (Round 3)

Toronto, Canada – 11 (Round 1) – 12 (Round 2)

Madrid, Spain – 7 (Round 1, withdrew ahead of Round 2)

Doha, Qatar – 5 (Round 1)

End Result:

Santiago, Chile won hosting duties on the 6th round

– aldaver.co.usa/votes.html



…Then, in September of that same year, a CIA report to President Grammer confirmed AP reports that the PRC was trying to clamp down on free-market-oriented netsites exposing their citizens to the benefits of unionizing and democratization. The CIA explained that China’s ruling class was using the effects of the 2013 recession sweeping the western world as an excuse to shut down various netsites. President Grammer responded by meeting with not his State Department but his Treasury Department. Grammer believed that the sooner the economy recovered, the sooner China would either lessen its grip on their users of the technet, or be forced to confront their actions at the UN…

– historian Jane Mackaman’s What Principles Endure: An Examination of The Grammer Presidency, Vintage E-Books, 2022



…The “European Crisis” arguably hit Spain the worst in terms of civil violence. Already dealing with a mild recession since early 2012, that nation saw civil order nearly fall apart as unemployment skyrocketed. The nation’s monarch, King Juan Carlos I, began seriously contemplating abdicating over these issues, as public perception of him began to dip. Despite Spanish parliament having more power than he on such matters, he was a central figurehead during all of this disarray…

– Paul van den Noord’s A Continent In Crisis: Europe During The 2013-2014 Recession Era, Routledge, 2018



…The tide of the war continued to go against the Sudanese military as Darfur and South Sudan increased their foothold in Sudan territory. On September 14, it was reported that the President of Sudan had successfully struck down a coup-d’état against him, as the officials of his army began to question if the opposing and approaching coalition of troops were capable of taking the capital…

– clickopedia.co.usa



Anthony Avella Jr. (Democratic/Conservative) – 43%

Anthony Weiner (Progressive) – 31%

Jimmy McMillan (Working Families/Liberal) – 17%

Malcolm Smith (Republican) – 8%

Undecided/Other – 3%

– Quinnipiac Poll for the 2013 NYC Mayoral election, 9/15/2013



Headbuster Hotel

Premiered: September 16, 2013

Genre(s): romantic comedy

Premise:

A movie about finding love in the weirdest places. An undercover FBI agent/informant in the mob (trying to get away from the gangsters he ratted out) and a head gangster (trying to get away from the FBI agents after her) each fake their own deaths. Having rhinoplasty and beginning new lives for themselves, the two coincidently decide to move to the same town. The two soon meet each other, and, falling for each other, agree to spend a weekend at a hotel. Soon after arriving, a storm blows in. Trapped indoors, the two consummate their growing love for each other only to slowly begin to realize the true identity of the other.

Reception:

The film received praise from critics and audiences and was a major box-office success.

– mediarchives.co.usa



...In a significant act that many credited with contributing to the curbing and ultimate decline in violence in the Middle East in the immediate aftermath of the Great European Recession, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, together with several major imams, issued a series of fatwas condemning honor killings and domestic violence. Concurrently, rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Aryeh Stern ordered all practicing Jews in the city to “throw hope instead of stones” and remember “a cart can’t work if you throw away the wheels to spite the axle.” Stern pleaded for all residents to calm down and stay united in order to improve the economy during “these trying but temporary times.”

Additionally, in an effort to minimize the damage the rise in hostilities could have on the Middle East functioning as a single united economic bloc on the world stage, King Abdullah II of Jordan held a press meeting with the leading rabbis and imams of Amman, Jordan to condemn “violence against strangers and friends,” distinguishing “admirable violence against enemies” by stating “you must know who a person is. You cannot judge someone blindly, you cannot assume the worst of your neighbors, coworkers, friends, schoolmates and fellow patriots. One Jewish saying tells us that a drowning man will grab anything, even a sword. But to grab the sword when a rope is closer makes a drowning man and drowning fool.” The King reiterated that the economic contraction would subside, and called on all residents to “work together” until the economy returned to pre-recession conditions…

– Madawi al-Rasheed’s The History of Modern Saudi Arabia, Sunrise Books, 2019 edition



REGIONAL LEADERS STAND FIRM AGAINST MIDDLE EAST STRIFE

..In what many have dubbed the most important Chicken Dinner Summit in years, community leaders from across the Middle East converged on Jerusalem for annual talks, speeches and breaking bread over a beloved food staple. …Predictably, the Syrian delegation made the most controversial remarks, with the lead delegate making the vague proclamation, “The greatest nation on the map has not right to try and erase any other nations off the map.” …All attendees retained a united front in calls for cooler heads to prevail amid the ongoing economic crisis affecting countries across the western world.

– The New York Times, 9/23/2013



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– former US President Paul Wellstone expresses his thoughts on developments unfolding in the Middle East, NBC News segment, 9/24/2013 broadcast



…On September 26, the US House voted down a controversial bill that would have made techsite owners, moderators and service providers liable for certain things that their users post. “It is arguable that self-censorship can’t be trusted to function as it should all the time, but moderators are already doing a good job monitoring and cracking down on things,” observed William Sorrell (D-VT). Moreover, the bill was rejected out of fear that the costs of enforcing such legislation would be staggering and severely cut into the federal budget, along with the fear that legal liability would run technet-related companies out of business, especially small sites and companies. Additional concerns of the bill directly or indirectly oppressing freedom of speech and other parts of the First Amendment led to some conservative DC lawmakers expressing concern that if the bill was not nipped in the bud, the issue could go to the courts, possibly all the way up to liberal composition of the US Supreme Court…

– Luis Gutierrez and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s Getting Your Act Together: Our Time In Congress During The 2010s, Simon & Schuster, 2022



…Netsite Monetization was a major ontech issue during the 2010s. Monetization, meaning the process of converting something into money, found its way to the technet at the close of the 1990s and boomed during and after the SARS pandemic, as technetters sought to entertain people during the trying months of safezoning. As netsites can generate revenue through ontech advertising, subscription fees, and merchandise purchases, this trend saw more businesses big and small invest in ontech promotion and customer-connecting. In the ontech music industry, for example, companies such as TuneStore and Omega-Point dominate ontech purchases and downloading options and capabilities. Gone are the peer-to-peer file sharing days of Pepvibes from the mainstream technet, as the post-SARS technet landscape became increasingly commercial, capitalistic and personalized as the 2010s dawned.

…Failing to properly monetize netsites via poor revenue modeling can at times lead to technet-based businesses folding, though this trend of netsites going “permanently off-tech” (i.e., “dead”) occurred most prominently during the “European Crisis” of 2013, only for them to be replaced by other sites, filling in the void they had left behind. …Noosphere and other companies, though, still promote the notion that “globalized thought” can still be a secure and private experience while yielding profits for companies via monetization…

– Joy Lisi Rankin’s Computers: A People’s History of the Information Machine, Westview Press, 2018



PM ROGERS MEETS WITH OPPOSITION LEADERS AMID “MARKET ADJUSTMENT” EFFORTS

…MP Gareth Bacon (ON-PC), formerly in charge of the Treasury of London during his time in the UK’s parliament, has joined Rogers in addressing “frivolous, redundant and wasteful” financial programs allegedly putting a strain on the national economy…

The Toronto Star, Canadian newspaper, 9/30/2013



JERUSALEM MAYOR SUGGESTS ISRAEL-EU TRADE REFORM

…“Our connections to the continent took us down. We need to make sure that that can’t happen again, but in a way that still promotes international trade.”…

The Daily Telegraph, UK newspaper, 1/10/2013



President Grammer’s Approval Ratings:

APPROVE: 57%

DISAPPROVE: 33%

UNCERTAIN: 10%

– Gallup polling, 10/2/2013 report



…Due to their special “observer” status in the EU, Yugoslavia was not impacted by the 2013 Recession as severely as the nations of Western Europe. …Greece and Turkey, however, did experience unemployment rates skyrocket in the face of the effects of the recession. With both of those countries suffering, some members of their populations blamed outsiders for the job losses, leading to a rise in xenophobic sentiment. Ahead of the 2013 Turkish parliamentary elections, Turkish activists and populist candidates blamed their connection to Greece and Europe for the nation’s economic woes, with the opposition leader calling for a rejection of westernization for a shift to maintaining closer ties to the “Middle Eastern bloc.”

On 2 October, the party of the Prime Minister of Turkey survived the closer-than-expected challenge at the polls, winning another term in what the media labeled a “clear rejection” of bigotry and negativity in favor of stability and sensible numbers-based economic recovery...

– Frederick B. Chary’s The Modern Balkans: The History of Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania and Turkey After The End of the Cold War Era, Greenwood Publishers, 2018 edition



McMILLAN WINS MAJOR VETERANS GROUP ENDORSEMENT

jrnhoWW.png

[pic: imgur.com/jrnhoWW.png ]
Above: a young Jimmy McMillan during his military service in the Indochina Wars

– The New York Times, 10/3/2013



“…Months later, it still felt like a recession. Business was slow because people were still having trouble finding work. Families were still struggling – not nearly as badly as before the stimulus package, NITR boosters and tax cuts went out – but still, people were struggling. So I did what I could. I hired as many people as we could. We slashed our prices, some as low as 50%, from October 2013 to March 2014. I personally donated to several charities. Why? Because it was the right thing to do. When you have the ability to help, you have the responsibility to help. That goes for strangers and for customers. Yeah, the Board of Directors didn’t like it at first, but that was because we were losing money at first. But because of the positive media coverage, our sales practically skyrocketed once the economy got back into shape…”

– Stephen Hillenburg, 2017 interview



…As NASA Director, McAfee pushed forward several ambitious plans to expand America’s presence in space exploration. In October 2013, he launched a campaign to accrue private donations from individuals, groups and businesses to help NASA finance the building and launching a lunar station that he called “The Sog,” which was short for “Sustained Orbital Gateway.” The Sog would remain in lunar orbit and serve as a solar-powered communication hub for future colonies on Mars, as well as serve as a short-term habitation module for humans and as a holding area for lunar rovers and other ROLAs (Robotic Lunar Assistants). Calling it “an International Space Station and Bot Garage for The Moon,” the plan, dubbed Project Postman, aimed for The Sog to be completed within the next ten years and cost over $50billion to construct on Earth before being launched and assembled in space. That did not account for trips ROLAs would have to take to get to and from the Sog/the Moon for maintenance and repairs. The cost, however, shifted when factoring in amenities for human “guests” to what some described as a lar phone tower manned by robots.

Given its size and cost, some at NASA proposed that The Sog be made into an international endeavor, which McAfee rejected on a matter of principle, arguing that, at the very least, the US should “indisputably lead” the effort if it was made into an multi-national effort. In a rare moment of agreement, Deputy Director Jeffrey Bezos sided with McAfee’s Sog ideas, taking up an “America First” position on the subject. According to McAfee’s autobiography, McAfee did not trust this “truce” between them, writing “I suspected he was either brown-nosing, up tying a noose around my neck. Either way, I shook his cold and wet hand for the camera but consistently kept him at arm’s length.”

Project Postman had financing issues from the very start, with the Grammer Administration refusing to increase NASA’s budget to instead endorse McAfee’s donation drives. However, as the nation was still recovering from the economic recession of 2013, progress on acquire the necessary funds to build The Sog were slow...

– clickopedia.co.usa/Project_Postman



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– A modern KFC outlet in Quito, Ecuador, c. October 2013



IN DEFENSE OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

…the Electoral College should be kept around as a backup in case of future electorate issues. The more obvious example of this would be what would occur if the Popular Vote of a Presidential election was too close to call – debate over discrepancies, allegations of voter fraud, and the potential for massive, extensive and time-consuming recounts that drag out past Inauguration Day. …If the process through which we elect our Presidents is to be reformed, it should be reformed so that the Electoral College still exists, but has less of an influence on the election outcome unless an emergency situation unfolds. If such a situation arises, then the good ol’ tried-and-true Electoral College can be picked up and dusted off to confirm the latest President-Elect and kept electorate chaos and disarray down to a minimum. …The E.C. would be a formality instead of a key part of campaign strategy that nevertheless still upholds our Founding Father’s idea for selecting America’s Commander-in-Chief...

National Review, op-ed, October 2013 issue



…As the 2000s decade came to a close, though, the 1990s trend of Japanese VG companies dominating the industry began to subside. The US’ Microsoft, Epix, and Glassgames, as well as France’s Ubisoft, grew to become fierce challengers to the likes of Sega, Sony, and Nintendo. The saturated competition contributed to the emergence of eighth-generation consoles, according to an October 2013 report.

The 2010s saw ontech gaming become a much more prominent part of technet culture, as the industry expanded its advertising focus onto pocketcomp games. This action was a successful endeavor to reach out to people either initially uninterested in video games or unable to afford expensive gaming console hardware…

– Steven L. Kent’s The Complete History of Video Games, Random House, 2019 edition



SUDAN PRESIDENT CAPTURED!

…after successfully fleeing from the nation’s conquered capital of Khartoum, Omar al-Bashir was apprehended as his private yacht, the vessel in which he was traveling to Eritrea of sanctuary, accidently traveled into Saudi Arabian waters, allowing UN authorities to converge on his location. …al-Bashir will face trial in the UNITC and will likely be sent to the UN Detention Unit in Helmond, the Netherlands, if found guilty of any war crimes. The fallen leader can be trialed by the UN because Saudi Arabia accepts ICC jurisdiction under special circumstances such as these, while Sudan and Eritrea do not…

– The Washington Post, 10/12/2013



“In light of the new President of Sudan suspending genocidal policies, NATO mission will end tomorrow.”

– NATO Commander, 10/15/2013 announcement



…International contributions under U.S. command allowed the leaders of South Sudan (Khalil Ibrahim, Ahmed Diraige and the martyred Gibril Ibrahim) and Darfur (Minni Minnawi and Abdul Wahid al Nur) to accrue the firepower to compliment our fury…

When the fighting was over, roughly 400,000 were dead, and over 2million were displaced across the rest of Africa, with some others fleeing to parts of Europe and the Middle East. The effort of the US-led coalition had been to stabilize a region of the world rife with human rights violations and extremist arms trading in connection to similar black market activities still ongoing in Tajikistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Sierra Leone and Myanmar. Many talking heads were critical of their intervention, believing that the warfare had “opened the floodgates” to regional destabilization and had done more harm than good.

But I was there. I know the before-and-after. My people broke away from a nation bent on destroying them. The bombardment worked. If Sudan is to fall as a consequence of its actions, then so be it.

– Ebet Walleen’s Devils Arrive On Horseback, e-publication, 2017



…In October, the Liberal-majority parliament passed an emergency stimulus package in exchange for lowering the prices that Labour had put on carbon pollution and raising emission caps…

– Barbara A. West’s The Political History of Modern Australia, Infobase Publishing, 2020



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– Colonel Sanders appearing on an episode of the long-running TV series "Futurama" in a character's sepia tone dream sequence, first aired 10/20/2013



MEMBER OF AUSTRIAN PARLIAMENT RESIGNS AMID INSIDER TRADING INVESTIGATION

The Daily Telegraph, UK newspaper, 10/21/2013



JIMMY MCMILLAN (WF): “By bringing the Olympics to New York City, Mayor Hamberg has made a host of things worse for millions of city workers and residents. Because we’re expecting fancier visitors soon, the rent is being artificially heightened to an unacceptable degree. Our next mayor has to fix the easily-fixable complex between inflation, gentrification, and income inequality. With construction work on new sports locations, low-income residents are being pushed to their wit’s end trying to make ends meet. And why? Because high-end projects, and the higher rates that come with them, do not benefit construction workers in the long run. In the long run, they benefit the donor class, the Wall Street sneaks, and the neoliberal do-nothings down in City Hall, among others. They benefit anyone who favors keeping the masses down with a biased economic system that keeps too many people too overworked and too underpaid to stop working, that keeps too many people too tired and too desperate and too busy to even question the machinations dictating their very lives.”

[snip]

TONY AVELLA (D): “I would just like to point out that, unlike the other Democrat in this race, I have never been accused of sexual pestering.”

TONY WEINER (P): “No, white-collar crime is more your style.”

[snip]

MALCOLM SMITH (R): “I think felony disenfranchisement is a bad idea because felons who are allowed to vote will vote for whoever gave them the privilege to vote in the first place.”

JIMMY MCMILLAN (WF): “And what’s so wrong with that?!”

– transcript snippets from NYC Mayoral debate, 10/22/2013



[video: youtube /watch?v=rHEitsYJnmw ]

[Note: the opening announcer mistakenly says Bloomberg instead of Hamberg]

– A "McMillan for Mayor" ad, first posted 2/2/2013, went fervid 10/23/2013



THIRD-PARTY MAYORAL CANDIDATE GAINING IN POLLS

The New York Times, side article, 10/24/2013



“…And in Paris, a member of the French Parliament has been formally indicted for allegedly moving stocks prior to French President Leotard’s announcement proclaiming that the nation of France was poised to enter an economic malaise…”

– BBC News, 25/10/2013 broadcast



“…New York Governor Blase Thomas “Tom” Golisano has officially endorsed Jimmy McMillan for New York City Mayor, in a last-minute announcement that could just prove to be a decisive endorsement for the rising third-party mayoral candidate. Despite McMillan running a rather populist campaign, several of his policies and proposals actually line up with those of Golisano…”

– KNN Breaking News, 10/27/2013 broadcast



“I have pointed out many times before, and, in more detail, in my new book, that the corruption of officials often follows economic decline [7]. So I’m not at all surprised that, now that the economy has collapsed again, this time more so in Europe, we are starting to see more and more news reports from places like the BBC, the Guardian, and the Daily Telegraph all describing corruption charges and allegations being made against political figures across the continent.”

– businessman Andrew Yang, local NYC radio interview, 10/29/2013



Anthony "Tony" Avella Jr. (Democratic/Conservative) – 35%

James "Jimmy" McMillan III (Working Families/Liberal) – 30%

Anthony Weiner (Progressive) – 29%

Malcolm Smith (Republican) – 7%

Undecided/Other – 1%

– Quinnipiac Poll for the 2013 NYC Mayoral election, 10/31/2013



NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR RE-ELECTED

Trenton, NJ – The Garden State’s incumbent Governor Joe Louis Clark (D) won tonight’s gubernatorial election over state senator Joe Kyrillos (R) by a margin of roughly 5.2%. Clark’s administration has dealt with several economic hardships, such as last year’s Hurricane Sandy and this year’s recession, which both led to Clark receiving heavy criticism for failing to address the home ownership crises that immediately followed both disastrous blows… The race’s third-place finisher, at 3.7% of the vote, was Warren Wilhelm (Independent), a left-leaning businessman and real estate developer based in northern New Jersey, who had reached a polling peak of 9.5% in September...

– The Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/5/2013



…In what has been a mixed night for both Democrats and Republicans and a rough and grueling night for incumbent, Republican state senator Jeremiah Heaton was been elected the next Governor of Virginia, over Democratic opponent Dwight Clinton Jones. Incumbent term-limited Democratic Governor Les Steckel had been an early backer of Jones, but that endorsement possibly cost Jones votes from Virginians who disapprove of Steckel’s handling of this year’s economic recession…

– CBS Evening News, 11/5/2013 broadcast



JIMMY MCMILLAN WINS MAYORSHIP IN STUNNING POLITICAL RISE!

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NYC ELECTIONS 2013: Working Families Candidates Secure Big Wins

…former city councilman and political activist Jimmy McMillan, who won the nominations of the Liberal and Working Families parties in upsets earlier with year, has been elected Mayor of New York City in a narrow three-person contest. With 37% of the vote, McMillan, who ran on a platform focusing centrally on implementing a cap on rent for city apartments, has won over state senator Anthony “Tony” Avella Jr. of the Democratic and Conservative parties (who received roughly 32% of the vote), and former US Representative Anthony Weiner of the local Progressive party (who received roughly 24.5% of the vote). Republican nominee Malcolm Smith received roughly 5.5% of the vote…

The New York Times, 11/5/2013



FORMER WNBA PRESIDENT WINS MAYOR’S SEAT

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia newspaper, 11/5/2013



Mayors of ATLANTA

1942-1961: 49) William Berry Hartsfield (D, 1890-1971) – developed city’s aviation center and improve city’s water supply; was credited with promoting Atlanta as “the city too busy to hate” during the Civil Rights Era of the 1950s; resigned for a position in the Johnson administration

1961-1962: 50) Roy LeCraw (D, 1895-1985) – previously served in city government for 29 years; ascended as head of the city Chamber of Commerce; retired

1962-1966: 51) Ivan Earnest Allen Jr. (D, 1911-2003) – businessman; “progressive” anti-segregation; improved city economy by modernizing infrastructure, business, and education; lost re-election in an upset over rising taxes
1961: Lester Garfield Maddox Sr. (D, 1915-2003)

1966-1970: 52) Samuel A. “Sam” Massell Jr. (D, b. 1927) – city’s first Jewish mayor; former realtor, city councilman, city Executive Committee member and city Alderman Board President; lost re-election in a bad year for Democrats
1965: Ivan Allen Jr. (D)

1970-1974: 53) Rodney Mims Cook (R, 1924-2013) – former city alderman; served in the state House from 1966 to 1969 and again from 1976 to 1989; won in an upset contributed to regional support for Republican President Sanders; established term limits, expanded civil rights, reformed zoning laws, and improved urban renewal efforts; lost re-election in an upset
1969: Sam Massell (D)

1974-1982: 54) Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. (D, 1938-2003) – former vice mayor/city council presiding officer/president; previously ran for the US Senate in 1968, raising his profile and prominence; city’s first African-American Mayor; modernized city’s airport and highway system; term-limited; lost later bids for a third term in 1985, 1989 and 1993
1973: Rodney M. Cook (R)
1977: Horace E. Tate (D, 1922-2002)

1982-1983: 55) Sidney Julius Marcus (D, 1928-1983) – served in the state House from 1968 to 1981; focused on health, community, and ecology issues; died in office from cancer at the age of 55
1981: Harold Dye (R)

1983-1986: 56) Leroy Reginald Johnson (D, 1928-2019) – African-American; ascended to office as City Council President; previously served in the state Senate from 1963 to 1975; lost election to a full term

1986-1990: 57) Charles Longstreet Weltner (D, 1927-1992) – city’s most recent white Mayor; notably anti-segregationist during the early 1960s; previously served in the U.S. House from 1963 to 1965 and again from 1969 to 1981; lost re-election; was diagnosed with esophageal cancer 6 weeks after the election
1985: Leroy Johnson (D)

1990-1998: 58) Leroy Reginald Johnson (D, 1928-2019) – combat crime rates by lowering unemployment rates with public works projects and rail transit service expansion; term-limited
1989: Charles L. Weltner (D)
1993: Michael Lucius Lomax (D, b. 1947)

1998-2006: 59) Shirley Clarke Franklin (D, b. 1945) – city’s first female Mayor; African-American; previously served as City Manager under Leroy Johnson from 1990 to 1998; term-limited; later elected Governor
1997: Gloria Bromell-Tinubu (D, b. 1953)
2001: Robb Pitts (D)

2006-2014: 60) Marvin S. Arrington (D, b. 1941) – African-American; previously served as a judge in the Superior Court of Fulton County from 2002 to 2006; previously served on the Board of Aldermen from 1969 to 1994, and on the city council from 1995 to 2001; term-limited
2005: William Craig “Bill” Campbell (D, b. 1953)
2009: Jesse Spikes (I)

2014-present: 61) Lisa Michelle Borders (D, b. 1958) – city’s second African-American female mayor; businessperson; former WNBA President; former President of the City Council from 2004 to 2014; incumbent
2013: Elbert “Al” Bartell (R, b. 1956)
2017: Keisha Lance Bottoms (D, b. 1970)

– clickopedia.co.usa, c. 7/4/2021



CUSHINGBERRY RE-ELECTED MAYOR, 53%-41%-6%

…The incumbent celebrated his victory with a speech at the Kwame Kilpatrick Memorial Civic Center…

The Detroit Free Press, Michigan newspaper, 11/5/2013



Mayors of DETROIT

1962-1973: 68) Jerome Patrick Cavanagh (D, 1928-2011) – previously served as an administrative assistant at the Michigan State Fair Authority and as a member of the Metropolitan Airport Board of Zoning Appeals; implemented reforms to most city agencies to address race issues such as police brutality; worked to improve the city’s standard of living; resigned for a position in the Mondale administration; later unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate
1961: Louis C. Miriani (R, 1897-1987)
1965: Walter C. Shamie (I)
1969: Richard H. Austin (D, 1913-2001)

1973-1974: 69) William George “Billy” Rogell (D, 1904-2003) – former MLB shortstop for the Detroit Tigers; ascended to office as City Council President, having served on the council continuously since the 1950s; city’s most recent white mayor; retired

1974-1994: 70) Coleman Alexander Young I (D, 1918-1997) – city’s first African-American mayor; previously served in the state senate from 1965 to 1973; tenure focused on retaining the productivity of downtown business sectors marred by “white flight” and rising crime rates related to recreadrug abuse and gang warfare; retired
1973: Mary V. Beck (D, 1908-2005)
1977: John Nichols (I)
1981: Ernest Browne Jr. (I)
1985: Thomas Barrow (D, b. 1949)
1989: John James Conyers Jr. (D, 1929-2019)

1994-2006: 71) George Cushingberry Jr. (D, b. 1953) – African-American; previously served in the state House from 1975 to 1982, in the state Senate from 1983 to 1986, and on the city council from 1989 to 1993; attempted to bridge the widening gap between the city’s suburban and urban, middle-class and lower-class, and white and non-white populations; retired
1993: Clifford Brookins II (I)
1997: Dennis Wayne Archer (D, b. 1942)
2001: Gilbert Roland “Gil” Hill (D, 1931-2016)

2006-2007: 72) Kwame Malik Kilpatrick (D, 1970-2007) – African-American; previously served in the state House from 1997 to 2005; took an aggressive stance against crime and corruption; was considered by some pundits to be a potential candidate for governor in 2010, and possibly even for the Presidency someday; died in office at the age of 37 when he was fatally struck by a stray bullet fired by either police or perps during a bank heist that unfolded across the street from a restaurant from which the Mayor was exiting; subsequent investigations blamed the Mayor’s “dreadfully unprofessional” security personnel and members of the police for failing to follow basic safety and warning procedures; the media circus around the 2007-2009 trials and probes worsened city living conditions, after the lack of a clear shooter sparked riots in 2009 and spawned many conspiracy theories ontech; looked back on fondly
2005: Freman Hendrix (D, b. 1950)

2007-2008: 73) Kenneth Vern Cockrel Jr. (D, b. 1965) – ascended to office as City Council President; African-American; failed to cool tensions in the aftermath of Kilpatrick’s death; lost bid to complete predecessor’s term

2008-2010: 74) Ella M. Bully-Cummings (D, b. 1958) – city’s first female Mayor; African-American; was the city’s Chief of Police from 2003 to 2005, and served on the city council from 2005 to 2008; lost re-election in the aftermath of 2009 riots and amid worsening living conditions
2008 (special): Kenneth Cockrel Jr. (D), Sharon McPhail (D), Sarella S. Johnson (I), Angelo Scott Brown (D) and Clayton C. Johnson (I)

2010-2018: 75) George Cushingberry Jr. (D, b. 1953) – drafted out of retirement by the local Democratic party establishment; lost re-election
2009: Ella M. Bully-Cummings (D)
2013: Phil Cavanagh (D) and Krystal Crittendon (I; unrecognized write-in)

2018-present: 76) Coleman Alexander Young II (D, b. 1982) – is the son of the city’s 70th Mayor; African-American; previously served as a Member of the Michigan Senate from the 1st district from 2011 to 2017 and as a Member of the Michigan House of Representatives from the 4th district from 2007 to 2010; elected on a progressive reformist platform; incumbent
2017: George Cushingberry Jr. (D)

– clickopedia.co.usa, c. 7/4/2021



EX-NFL PLAYER ELECTED MAYOR OF PITTSBURGH!

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania newspaper, 11/5/2013



Mayors of PITTSBURGH

1959-1970: 53) Joseph M. Barr (D) – former salesman, former state senator from 1941 to 1959, and former state party chair from 1954 to 1959; modernized city infrastructure, including street lights, water services, and new stadiums; retired
1959 (special): Paul Reinhold (R)
1961: William Crehan (R)
1965: Vince Rovitto (R)

1970-1977: 54) Peter Francis “Mayor Pete” Flaherty (D) – former city councilman; resigned for a position in the Mondale administration
1969: John K. Tabor (R)
1973: Thomas A. Livingston (R)

1977-1978: 55) Richard S. Caliguiri (D) – former City Council President; retired after initially considering running for a full term

1978-1986: 56) Thomas J. Foerster (D) – moderate; previously served as a Member of the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners from 1968 to 1978 and as a member of the state House from 1959 to 1967; lost re-nomination in an upset
1977: Barney Cook (R)
1981: Fred Goehringer (R)

1986-2009: 57) James E. “Jim” Simms (D) – former city councilman; aggressively combated crime and recreadrugs by founding after-school programs and mental wellness centers; worked with President Bellamy and city’s U.S. Representatives to bring Federally Guaranteed jobs to the city but also worked with businesses to develop private sector jobs in the city as well; improved roads and public transportation; praised for his handling of the SARS pandemic; resigned for a position in the Wellstone administration
1985: Henry Sneath (R) and Thomas J. Foerster (D (write-in))
1989: Kathy Matta (R)
1993: Duane Darkins (I)
1997: Edwin B. Fruit (Workers’)
2001: James Carmine (R)
2005: Joe Weinroth (R)

2009-2010: 58) Doug Shields (D, b. 1953) – former City Council President; retired after initially considering running for a full term

2010-2014: 59) Jake Wheatley Jr. (D) – previously served in the state House from 2003 to 2009; lost re-nomination
2009: Mark F. DeSantis (R)

2014-2018: 60) Franco Harris (D) – former NFL player; previously served as a state senator from 2009 to 2014; criticized for alleged government inexperience; lost re-nomination
2013: Joshua “Josh” Wander (R)

2018-present: 61) Rich Fitzgerald (D) – previously served as the Chief Executive of Allegheny County from 2012 to 2017; incumbent
2017: Darlene M. Harris (I)

– clickopedia.co.usa, c. 7/4/2021



ANCHOR: “We have breaking news coming out of Barcelona, Spain, where we can confirm that an explosion of some kind has just occurred at the site of the Sagrada Familia basilica there. We take you now to our Spanish correspondent, who has just arrived at the scene.”

CORRESPONDENT: “There is pandemonium here as the people of this city look to the pillar of smoke rising up from the corner of the Sagrada Familia. For those watching who are unaware of this church’s significance, the Sagrada Familia is a large and uniquely designed basilica that, due to construction relying solely on private donations, is still in the process of being built despite its groundbreaking occurring over 130 years ago, in 1882.”

ANCHOR: “Can you give us any idea what the extent of the damage is and what or who could possibly be behind this?”

CORRESPONDENT: “Theories still abound at the moment, but I spoke to a local police officer who had been to the scene who swore the explosion was a planned bombing and not a construction accident of some kind. Right now, the most prominent theory – and I must stress that it is just theoretical at this time – is that the attack may be the result of Catalonian separatists, or, alternatively, an extremist reaction to the city’s promotion of the church at a time when many in the city are suffering from economic malaise. Regardless of the cause behind it, though, according to the officers we have spoken to, the explosion has damaged a large corner of the church, so much that repairing the damage could end up delaying the basilica’s estimated time of completion by no less than three or four more years, but that is an unconfirmed estimate at this time.”

– KNN Breaking News, 11/9/2013 broadcast



>MOTHER-POST: Who Bombed The Sagrada Familia?

EuN6NXf.png

[pic: imgur.com/EuN6NXf.png ]

>REPLY 1:

I bet it was a false flag attack orchestrated by the Spanish government to turn public opinion against the Catalonian Independence Movement. Euro-Disneyland, located in Catalonia’s Barcelona, is too big of a cash cow for them to lose and they know it!

>REPLY 1 to REPLY 1:
Well if it wasn’t a domestic terror attack, the government failed to rally the nation against the Catalonians. According to latest poll, sympathy for the separatists has only risen due to Spain’s economy still being in the tank!

>REPLY 2 to REPLY 1:
Or maybe it’s a domestic terror attack meant to look like a government job!

>REPLY 1 to REPLY 2 to REPLY 1:
Now why would they bomb their own church?

>REPLY 1 to REPLY 1 to REPLY 2 to REPLY 1:
It’s the perfect crime? They still haven’t figured out who did it, you know!

>REPLY 2:

Personally, I have a feeling it was just some nut who thought the city was building the church with city funds, or someone who got laid off from the nearby Disneyland Barcelona and for whatever reason blamed his or her misery on the church. When times are hard, people tend to lose their minds, you know.

– conspiracytheoriesforum.co.usa, 1/1/2014 thread



SO JUST WHO IS MAYOR-ELECT MCMILLAN?

…James McMillan III was born on December 1, 1946 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. After graduating from high school there in 1965, McMillan joined the US Army, and served in Vietnam, where he participated in the fall of Hanoi in 1967. A year later, after being transferred to Laos, his hands were burned while rescuing fellow soldiers from a bombed convoy, an action that gave him a Bronze Star and psychological trauma; he still wears gloves to hide his hands’ scars. After receiving two more stars in the line of duty, McMillan was honorably discharged in 1972 and moved to New York City later that year, where he found work as a letter carrier. He worked for the NYC Postal Service from 1973 until winning public office twenty years later in 1993. During the 1970s, McMillan expanded his interests into numerous careers. He earned a Black Belt in karate, tried to become a professional R&B recording artist, and even worked as a male stripper for a brief period to pay the rent on his East Village apartment.

McMillan developed an interest in politics in the 1980s in response to the tax spending policies of then-Mayor of New York City Carol Bellamy, which he what he saw as “irresponsible overspending of the people’s money.” After years of political activism, he joined the Democratic Party and ran for city council, first in 1989 and again in 1991. He finally won election to the NY City Council for the Second District (the Lower East Side) in 1993, and won re-election in 1997. He lost a bid for a third term in 2001 but won back the seat in 2005 and once more in 2009. As a city councilman, McMillan often feuded with other Democrats over taxation issues, and developed a populist voting record, opposing tax raises but supporting BLUTAG protection laws. McMillan was also known for organizing publicity stunts; for example, in 2001, as he has been an ordained minister since 1992, McMillan married off a woman to her left shoe in a publicity stunt meant to criticize the wording of an anti-BLUTAG marriage bill that at the time was being proposed by a Republican state lawmaker. In 2010, he finally broke from the Democratic Party and became an Independent. In early 2011, he resigned from his seat to unsuccessfully run as a Republican for a vacant US House seat via Special Election. He switched back to being an Independent later that year…

…McMillan plans to reign in wasteful spending and lower taxes in order to promote businesses and increase job numbers. “Cutting taxes and lowering rent will ease this city’s financial stress and help eradicate hunger and poverty from our streets and back alleys. We need to get the homeless out of the dumpsters and unemployment offices and into apartments and work stations.” McMillan aims to have the city legally seize unoccupied apartment buildings and create free college tuition to address homelessness, along with making the city’s anti-addiction programs more efficient without investing further funds into them “It’s not that the city doesn’t have enough money. It’s that the city doesn’t have the ability to use money wisely.” However, despite being fiscally conservative, he opposes cutting funding for children and seniors…

– tumbleweed.co.usa, 11/11/2013 e-article



3RD FISCAL QUARTER REBOUND STUDIED: Supports “Slow But Sure” Market Recovery Notion

The Wall Street Journal, 11/12/2013



…And in political news, the Jesse Jackson Presidential Library and Museum formally and officially opened today in the former Commander-in-Chief’s home town and birthplace of Greenville, South Carolina…

– The Overmyer Network, 11/19/2013 broadcast



HOST: “Earlier today, yet another Human Rights Watch Group made the formal claim that the De Beers diamond mining-and-trading corporation is up to its old tricks again in Botswana, and with a vengeance. The Saan Bushmen of the country are allegedly experiencing even further persecution in their own land, of either the ethnic cleansing, forced servitude, or outright genocidal variety.”

GUEST 1: “It is obvious that something needs to be done, but nobody seems to want to pay attention to thing amid the economic issues at home.”

HOST: “Well what can be done about this?”

GUEST 2: “I would suggest political reform.”

GUEST 1: “The Saan People tried that, and failed.”

HOST: “Alright, maybe foreign intervention, then?”

GUEST 1: “Yes, but not of the military kind. There’s too much bloodshed over there already.”

GUEST 2: “Oh, I agree, internal opposition can be externally supported. It worked with China and their treatment of the Uyghurs back in the 1980s, before China became such an economic juggernaut.”

GUEST 1: “But De Beers is a multinational corporation. They may just take their nefarious business elsewhere, so it’s not enough to end the suffering in Botswana. The actions of De Beers itself must be stopped, period.”

GUEST 2: “Well that’s much easier said than done, but I agree, something has to happen, and I believe that something will happen.”

HOST: “What do you mean by that?”

GUEST 2: “I mean it is inevitable that that corporation’s immoral and illegal policies will catch up to them someday. Maybe.”

– NBC roundtable discussion, 11/23/2013 broadcast



November 25, 2013: the FBI launches an investigation into whether or not fraud played a role in the collapse of AIG [8]

– washingtonpost.co.usa/timelines/the_unlucky_recession




…Over in the European Union’s headquarters, the organization’s Common Agricultural Policy was failing to alleviate rural farming conditions, prompting widespread criticism of the effectiveness of its subsidies and development programs. EU leaders responding by planning to reform and increase the CAP’s budget to return it to the efficiency it had in the 1980s without resorting to that era’s cost. In 1984, the CAP took up 74% of the EEC annual budget, but in 2012, the policy took up 35% of the EU budget. Outlining a more efficient CAP was instigated by UK PM Mary Creagh as overseas markets began to recover faster than those of the EU countries due to their closely-linked economies. Concurrently, more populist-leaning politicians on the continent supported calls for a new or reformed organization within the EU that would bind all EU nations to a looser free trade policy, one that would in theory be a “bigger, better, and stronger” version of the European Single Market that came into existence in 1993 via the Maastricht Treaty of 1992…

– Paul van den Noord’s A Continent In Crisis: Europe During The 2013-2014 Recession Era, Routledge, 2018



…in entertainment news, comedians Bobcat Goldthwait, Ernie Sabela, Jeff Garlin and Seth Rogen are all going to be in a movie together...

– ABC Morning News, 12/1/2013 broadcast



UNITED TURKESTAN RE-ELECTS ITS PRESIDENT

…the incumbent President in office since January 5, 2011, Roza Otunbayeva of Kyrgystan (of the Social Democratic Party) has won her nation’s Presidential election…

The Daily Telegraph, 2/12/2013



President Grammer’s Approval Ratings:

APPROVE: 57%

DISAPPROVE: 29%

UNCERTAIN: 14%

– Gallup polling, 12/4/2013 report



STATE ETHICS PANEL CLEARS CAROLYN GOODMAN ON FILED COMPLAINT

…currently serving as both the Mayor of Las Vegas and as the First Lady of Nevada, Carolyn Goodman’s recent clash with the state Ethics Commission is the latest in a string of controversies surrounding the state’s dynamic “power couple”…

– The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 12/5/2013



Mayors of LAS VEGAS

1959-1975: 17) Oran Kenneth Gragson (R, 1911-2002) – previously worked as small business owner; first elected on a pro-reform platform; opposed police corruption; his efforts to combat systemic racism but also support small businesses led to him being considered a “compassionate conservative,” also known as a “Colonel Conservative;” played an integral role in the construction of the US-95 freeway; retired
1959: Wendell Bunker (I)
1963: Myron E. Leavitt (D, 1930-2004)
1967: Joseph M. Kadans (D)
1971: William H. Briare (D, 1930-2006)

1975-1991: 18) Harry Mason Reid (D, b. 1939) – previously served as the City Attorney of Henderson from 1964 to 1966 and as a member of the Nevada Assembly from the 4th district from 1969 to 1974; lost bid for US Senate in 1982; retired; unsuccessfully ran for higher office in 1992, 1994, 1996, and 2002
1975: Ronald P. “Ron” Lurie (D, 1941-2020)
1979: John W. Grayson Jr. (R)
1983: Bob Stupak (D, 1942-2009)
1987: Thalia M. Dondero (D, 1920-2016)

1991-1999: 19) Janis Lyle “Jan” Laverty Jones (D, b. 1949) – previously worked as a car dealership owner and businessperson; addressed city issues such as homelessness, special education programs, vocational schools, and BLUTAGO rights protections; lost a bid for governor in 1998; retired and later served on the board of directors for several organizations
1991: John M. Bonaventura (D, b. 1962)
1995: John 3:16 Cook (D)

1999-2010: 20) Oscar Baylin Goodman (D, b. 1939) – previously worked as a high-profile defense attorney; repeatedly accused of corruption by ethics watchdogs; resigned to become Governor
1999: Robert Thomas Bigelow (D, b. 1945)
2003: Tom McGowan (Country)
2007: Beatrice Denise Turner (R)

2010-2011: Acting) James Robert Coffin (D, b. 1942) – selected by city council to serve the remainder of Goodman’s term; retired

2011-present: 21) Carolyn Goldmark Goodman (D, b. 1939) – founded and previously served as the president of The Meadows School; concurrently served as First Lady of Nevada from 2011 to 2015; repeatedly accused of corruption; incumbent; her son Ross Carl Goodman (D, b. 1970), a prominent attorney, is considered to be the leading candidate to succeed her in 2023
2011: Christina Giunchigliani (D, b. 1954)
2015: Stavros Anthony (R)
2019: Philip Andrew Collins (Prohibition, b. 1967)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa, c. July 2021



ROBIN WILLIAMS ORDERED TO ATTEND LEWY BODY DEMENTIA SUPPORT GROUP

…The order reveals publicly for the first time that Williams was diagnosed with the ailment in October after showing signs similar to Parkinson’s Disease earlier in the year. According to a source close to the celebrated comedian, Williams is also set to begin taking medication to combat the effects of Lewy bodies damaging nerve cells in the brain…

– thehollywoodreporter.co.usa, 12/6/2013



…Notably, while the major talking heads of the liberal media were kind and professional to the posh President Grammer, many were scornful and juvenile in their attacks on the Vice President. Their contemptuous attacks, however, lacked substance due to the lack of them having anything meaningful with which they could attack Brown, policy-wise. As a result, much of the anti-Brown publishing was of a dilettantish nature, essentially harassing and mocking the VP whenever he mispronounced a word, misinterpreted legalese, or uttered one of his colorful “Harleyisms.” One running gag during the early years of the Grammer/Brown era was cartoonish depicting Harley Brown as Charlie Brown from the Peanuts comic strip, rolling eyes or being worried after some “gaffe,” with a comment such as “that’s offensive, Harley Brown!” or a tagline like “That’s not how that works, Harley Brown!”

zEk4O2k.png

[pic: imgur.com/zEk4O2k ]

Above: one of many Charlie/Harley lafpics circulated ontech during the mid-2010s

– Anne Meagher Northup’s Chicken and Politickin’: the Rise of Colonel Sanders and Rational Conservatism in the Republican Party, 2015



ANCHOR: The FBI have made a shocking announcement concerning the disappearance of Montana politician

FBI PRESS SECRETARY (in footage): We have ample and sufficient evidence suggesting beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Lloyd Havaw Reese is in fact a one Lee Harvey Oswald, an American expatriate presumed to have been killed in the Cuba War after reportedly assassinating Chet Guevara...

– THN News, 12/9/2013 broadcast



Before coming up with Lloyd Havaw Reese, I originally went by Harold Swavey until late 1989 and then by Roy Shale De La Vew until early 1990... Even so many years later, I still was not certain if I would be forgiven by the US government for siding with the Soviets and then the Cuban Communists, and I still was afraid that bitter Cuban Communist veteran extremists would assassinate me to avenge Guevara. At that point, even if anyone believed me when I told them it was a horrid accident, they could still decide to kill me on a matter of principle. It’s hard reasoning with extremists after all.

…Of course, the only people that I truly hurt were my second wife and our children. They deserved better from me. Robert and Irina had to go through college while I was AWOL, again. I remember being in a bar in Lethbridge when I saw my wife on TV, trying to get away from the microphone mutts. To get them to leave her alone (I had always found her shyness around cameras to be quite cute), she told them that she thought I had been abducted, never once considering one reporter’s notion that I had suffered an attack of PTSD and had simply wandered off or something.

I didn’t see her on TV when the FBI discovered my pre-Montana life. When I left, it pained me to just imagine what she would go through, but I just knew that I had to go. Staying around to be arrested and trialed would have hurt her even more that me turning tail and running away like a coward. At least, that’s what I told myself at the time. I told myself I was like a wild tiger, that I could never be kept in a cage labelled a federal pen. I told myself a lot of things...

I left without a specific destination in mind. After skedaddling from Missoula, I headed north through the Flathead National Forest that I had travelled through many times before until I made it to Alberta. I stopped momentarily at Lethbridge before deciding to turn west, to British Columbia. I did not stop running until I came across a small town in Jasper National Park, using cash to rent out a small cabin where an old man could, with a bitter cold slamming the windows like a federal agent trying to break in, could rest beside a warm fire and think. Think about choices, think about fate, think about his history, his life, his present, his future. And think about how thinking is pretty much the only thing this old man has left to do.

– Lee Harvey Oswald’s autobiography Call Me By My Real Name: Confessions From a Fallen Hero, published posthumously



“We have lost, on average, roughly 70,000 jobs a month since April. If President Grammer had bailed out the big banks that number would have been half as much!”

– business analyst Ben Bernanke, 12/12/2013



“You know, I think I may have lost some political capital here. Oh well.”

– Kelsey Grammer, 12/13/2013 (allegedly, possibly anecdotal)



In the last cabinet meeting of the year, Grammer’s department leaders, inner circle members, and trusted advisors touched on a plethora of issues. There was the managing of the federal budget, Brown’s continued calls to improve the nation’s road-and-rail transportation maintenance nationwide to lower unemployment, the recently proposed notion of passing “Livable Income Checks” (a new term for the “Federal Aid Dividend” policies of yesteryear) until the economy returned to pre-recession conditions, the continued rumblings coming from Wall Street and its scandals, and rising calls to improve urban sanitation conditions that had fallen by the wayside in the ten years that had passed since SARS scared the world into washing its 15 million hands. Nearly all in attendance agreed that more tax cuts were to be worked on in the year ahead, but the room was split on giving federal assistance to the EU, with one half claiming their poor situation did not involve the US and the other half stating that theirs in fact did.

One subject that was also discussed at length was wage theft. “Illegal immigration has been on the decline for years and outsourcing is still being discouraged but still practiced,” observed Labor Secretary Gunderson, “Most people hit by management malpractice are born-and-raised red-blooded American workers.” Gunderson then proposed that the White House host a series of meetings with business executives, labor organizers and state government leaders to determine how to protect workers from wage theft without inhibiting the freedoms, rights and privileges of private business. The proposal was noted, and scheduled to be revisited early in the New Year.

Secretary of Energy and Technology Harold Hamm and Secretary of Community Development Patricia Consolatrix Hilliard “Doc” Robertson sparred over how to best respond to the long-term damaging effects of Hurricane Sandy on the Eastern Seaboard of the US. Robertson, in a somewhat contrarian move, called for a “smart” tax hike, prompting Hamm to immediately complain “the feds shouldn’t pay for the repair of low-income homes damaged in an Act of God. It bucks libertarian principle right on its ear!”

Robertson countered by noting what the raised tax money would go to: ODERA, the National Hurricane Center, early warning systems, schools built as shelters, fire and police departments, rescue services, National Guard mobilization, and other government-led disaster relief elements. To all of them, Hamm scoffed, saying that businesses and state governments should instead be encouraged to implement these and/or similar ideas.

The final subject of the cabinet meeting was the proposed stripping of the US’s Autogun Restrictions laws passed in the 1980s and 1990s. Vice President Brown believed that the sharp decline in school shootings after 1995 demonstrated that the US no longer needed such “draconian and backwards” laws, and that gun restrictions were best left as a “home rule” (read: states’ rights) state-by-state decision. However, a majority of those present disagreed with the Vice President’s assessment of the situation. Nevertheless, his comments did lead to some such as Secretary Martinez calling for loopholes in the laws to be closed.

As the people left the Cabinet Room, the President said to “First Mate” Brown, “Now, Harley, I do think the road improvement proposal of yours would work.”

“Thanks!”

“It could even reach bipartisan approval, but as you’re the Senate leader, that could depend on you. I think you should try to win over some Senators on the other side of the aisle.” Smiling slightly, he asked, “You think you can do that?”

“Heh! You know I can, bud!” Brown bellowed as he playfully but strongly patted his boss on the back.

– historian Jane Mackaman’s What Principles Endure: An Examination of The Grammer Presidency, Vintage E-Books, 2022



“PERSEVERANCE IS KEY”: First Couple Share Uplifting Words In Christmas Message Vid

Washington, D.C. – President Kelsey Grammer and First Lady Marissa Joan Hart today released a heartfelt “video message” onto the First Lady’s homesite and the official White House netsite in an effort to boost up American morale this holiday season. Sitting on a couch with a surprisingly humbly-decorated Christmas Tree behind them, the Frist Couple of the United States wished all American well this winter, at a time when many are still looking for work and are struggling to pay for food and rent… President Grammer concluded, “Rest assured that this is not forever. Better times are right around the corner…”

– usarightnow.co.usa, 12/23/2013



United States Presidential Pets


United States President have often either kept pets while in office, or have had family members living in the White House with them who had their own pets. Only Presidents James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson did not have presidential pets in the White House while serving in office.

[snip]

Dwight D. EISENHOWER – a parakeet named Gabby; a Weimaraner hunting dog named Heidi

Lyndon B. JOHNSON – two beagles named Him and Her; a white Collie named Blanco; two turtledoves named Pa and Ma; and a Mongrel dog named Yuki

Harland D. SANDERS – two bloodhounds named Corbin and Florence, originally puppies a friend gave to him and Claudia as a present while the Colonel was the Governor of Kentucky [9]

Walter F. MONDALE – his daughter Joan had a puppy named Digger [10] and a pony named Maybelline, the latter being a 1973 birthday gift from Robert and Ethel Kennedy that Joan frequently rode [11]

Jeremiah A. DENTON – an old mutt named Koala, adopted from a shelter in 1981 and died in 1984; two cats, with no official names, both belonging to the First Couple’s youngest two children

Jack F. KEMP – a bulldog named Kroywen (New York spelled backwards); First Lady Joanne kept a parrot named Harold for the last five months of his time in office.

Carol BELLAMY – two sheepdogs named Sweeper and Sal, and two cats named Freckles and Tabitha; all four got along well, making Bellamy once comment on wanting to always see the same sort of harmonious cooperation in congress

Lido A. IACOCCA – a one-legged parrot named Skippy and a macaw named Snippy; his late wife’s mix-breed dog; two golden retrievers, a Dalmatian, and three mix-breed hunting dogs; a mustang horse named Roamer that was a gift from the Governor of Turkmenistan, a region of United Turkestan

Larry M. DINGER – none himself, but his children had a plethora of cats, dogs, parrots and, most notably, two hamsters and a teacup pig named Monstrosity

Jesse L. JACKSON – a pug named Graham; his son Jesse Jr. adopted a 1-year-old foster pup named Marbles in 2007

Paul D. WELLSTONE – a bloodhound named DeForest, a Scottish Terrier named Epaphroditus (or “Epap” for short), and a donkey named Tiger that was a July 2009 gift from Republican politician Doug Wead

A. Kelsey GRAMMER – three cats, named Zenobian, Cherubusco, and Moose, and a Jack Russel Terrier named Not-Eddie that was a December 2013 gift from California Governor Cruz Bustamante

– clickopedia.co.usa [12]



KFC-AFRICA SETS TO DOUBLE STAFF, JOBS AS FRANCHISE PREPS FOR EXPANSION PLANS

S8UuV5z.png

[pic: imgur.com/S8UuV5z.png ]

The Guardian, UK newspaper, 28/12/2013



REPORT: Jobs Are Already Coming Back, Just Slower Than Expected

…as the year comes to a close, the US government is optimistic, expecting a return to pre-recession employment levels within the next three months…

The Wall Street Journal, 12/30/2013



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] IOTL, Grammer did not have any attack in 2004, and instead had a major heart attack on May 31, 2008
[2] Italicized lines pulled from here: https://www.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-34651320080724?edition-redirect=in
[3] Passage is lifted almost verbatim from the Wikipedia article on the OTL conflict
[4] According to several sources found on his wiki page, OTL Jesse Jackson actually started off being pro-life and shifted to the left during his Presidential campaigns of the 1980s
[5] Line pulled almost verbatim from here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/economy-watch/timeline/
[6] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_in_Morocco#Trade_with_the_EU !
[7] IOTL, mentions this in his 2018 book “The War on Normal People”
[8] This passage was pulled almost verbatim from here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/economy-watch/timeline/
[9] The 1970 New Yorker article mentioned in several previous chapters ends with him saying that OTL’s KFC gravy “ain’t fit for my dogs,” suggesting he owned at least 2 dogs IOTL if he was being literal there
[10] As mentioned in the June 19, 1983 NYT article “Understanding Mondale”
[11] Joan was a horse rider IOTL according to her obituary
[12] The entries on list from Johnson to Bellamy were from an earlier posting found here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ents-and-pms-ii.407398/page-463#post-20349860

The next chapter’s E.T.A.: March 11, but hopefully sooner!

Also: a thousand thanks for everyone who voted or considered voting for my timeline in the Turtledove Awards thread! What an honor!

Oh shit. Worst. Possible. Time.
Indeed
Seems like that heart attack Grammer had in 2008 otl has finally caught up to him. I'm guessing those years in office meant he wasn't straining himself as much compared to otl until the stress of this financial crisis pushed him over
Yep!
What a chapter! First thank you for including Australia saying sorry for the Stolen Generation that I suggested to you :) I liked Mondale giving advice to Grammer. I also liked Grammer firing Paulson showed he's not afraid to make unpopular decisions. I was sad to hear Hendrix had died. And nooo please don't kill Grammer I was just beginning to like him over his refusal to bail out the banks and then he has a heart attack?! Way to keep us on edge x'D
Glad you liked it! Your welcome! Thank you for the compliment!
What, if anything, will Mayor McMillan do about the Olympics?
We'll see what he can and can't do in the next chapter!
Ah I'm glad Grammer didn't die I was worried for a second. Grammer's approval ratings are up I noticed too. Rip former VP Scranton :( Mayor McMillan is definitely a rising star keep an eye on him
Sorry for getting you worried there, buddy!

Good to see Robin Williams getting a proper diagnosis here. Even if he ends up retiring from acting, its nice knowing he'll have a better few years ahead. Also nice to see Brown being an effective VP and bucking expectations
Definitely :)
Thank you both! I just wish I could write jokes like the ones Williams could make. :( I can only imagine the things he'd have to say in this universe!
will you cover this in a future post?
I will cover it in 2016!
has TTL USA seen more or less immigration than OTL, does it have a higher or lower GDP per capita, and does it have a higher, lower or the same population?
Excellent question! I'll cover it in the next chapter!
Also, I find it kind of funny that a Frasier reboot was just announced: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cn...er-reboot-paramount-plus-scli-intl/index.html
 
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Ah I'm glad Grammer didn't die I was worried for a second. Grammer's approval ratings are up I noticed too. Rip former VP Scranton :( Mayor McMillan is definitely a rising star keep an eye on him
 
Good to see Robin Williams getting a proper diagnosis here. Even if he ends up retiring from acting, its nice knowing he'll have a better few years ahead. Also nice to see Brown being an effective VP and bucking expectations
 
And that is how Sanders, a foulmouthed mountain man, a hot-tempered old coot whom once had “an insatiable libido” in his younger years, a sixth-grade dropout who worked as a farmhand, army mule-tender, fireman, railroad hand, lawyer, insurance salesman, ferryboat operator, Chamber of Commerce secretary, tire salesman, midwife, gas station owner, motel owner, and restauranteur because he couldn’t hold down a job, ended up becoming President of the United States.

– narration from political activist Cris Ericson in her allegedly unbiased documentary Feathers and Blood: The Myth of Colonel Sanders, 2016
will you cover this in a future post?
 
Little bit of a random question:

But has TTL USA seen more or less immigration than OTL, does it have a higher or lower GDP per capita, and does it have a higher, lower or the same population?
 

PNWKing

Banned
Interesting Grammer Administration! Although where is the Democrats for 2016. How about Ross, some wildcard like Bob Beckel, Nader, & Locke. They all seem like solid candidates.
 
Chapter 107: January 2014 – June 2014
Chapter 107: January 2014 – June 2014

“You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard. We reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.”

– William Jennings Bryan, 1896



Grammer began 2014 by calling for a second “wave” of tax cuts in order to give economy “one more additional boost” in the face of an economy that was recovering “too damn slow[ly],” as the new Mayor of New York City kept saying.

The White House communications team spun the situation in order to cast the new legislation as being libertarian in nature, claiming it would “release” millions of “economic hostages.” White House Communications Director Armstrong Williams coined the terms “economic patriotism” and “patriotic spending” to simplify the concept of freeing up tax money to allow more people to invest in the re-growing markets, in order to bring the said markets back to their pre-recession levels.

The Grammer administration also discreetly sought to work with Democrats to address the Big Banks having fooled around loopholes to get past Jackson-era regulations in the years leading up to the recession. MF Global’s actions were especially heinous to the President, who had reportedly told the pro-bailout RNC Chair “As far as I am concerned their chicken have come home to roost!”

– Kathryn Millstone’s The Grammer Administration, Borders Books, 2021



Chaffetz concluded, “I know I said I’ve been working here for too long, but now that it’s all over, I actually think I’m going to miss this place.”

His boss sighed, “Well I’d be lying if I said I won’t miss you. I hate to see you go, but I understand you just have to do this. Farewell, good sir” Standing up, he reached his hand out, “Once again, don’t think I don’t appreciate all that you’ve done for us.” As the two men shook hands, the President added, “And good luck running for Congress.”

“Will I have your vote?” Asked the outgoing Secret Serviceman.

“Given that I don’t live in your district, how about I give you my endorsement?”

“That might actually be more helpful than your vote!”

With a smile and wave, Grammer bid farewell to the serviceman and returned to his office to face even more national issues rearing their ugly heads, starting with the new Mayor of New York’s “crusade” against landlords…

– historian Jane Mackaman’s What Principles Endure: An Examination of The Grammer Presidency, Vintage E-Books, 2022



McMillan was a man of many adversaries, but in 2014, his biggest opponents were the landlords and the International Olympics Committee, neither of whom appreciated the new Mayors policy goals.

“The expensive infrastructure developments of buildings that immediately fall into disuse is not worth the increase in global stature. Let other countries keep their prestigious global economic organizations. We don’t need to spend millions of dollars on swimming pools when public housing is a growing concern,” McMillan ranted during one of his many mayoral press conferences.

Behind closed doors, McMillan proposed repurposing Olympic event locations into affordable housing centers once the Olympics left town in order to justify their construction costs. “We’ll have all this space, I say rent it out to whoever wants to live in Hamberg’s mistakes.”

Meanwhile, McMillan pressed forward with a proposed rent freeze, eviction limits, and a free school lunch and free school breakfast, paid through a “humanity tax” of 0.1% on the top 5% of NYC residents. When wealthy New Yorkers went on TV to suggest that the Olympics could bring in enough revenue to cover anti-poverty measures, McMillan was quick to point out how unlikely it would be: “We can’t rely on games. They have historically been nothing but money pits. We have to invest in NYC businesses to better look out for NYC families.”

Announcing a “Capital commitment” of $1.5billion for affordable housing in his first month in office, McMillan sought to work with “all community leaders, Black and White, Yellow and Red, Blue and Green and Purple and Brown, because we can’t have it so that every time a Black family moves in to one neighborhood, eventually all the white neighbors move out,” as he explained in the second week of his mayoral tenure. He clarified that “This voluntary segregation is not the fault of the white people moving out, but the fault of the white racists who spread lies and stereotypes to trick them into not loving they neighbor. Don’t be tricked. Think for yourselves. You’re New Yorkers, you should be good at that.”

By his third week in office, weekly press meeting for "professional rants" were practically becoming expected from him. The one for late January began with McMillan explaining how “Developers care about profitability, but two-thirds of this city is renters, so the city’s new affordable housing program will require all land developers to set aside 33% of all housing units for low-income residents in exchange for tax exempt financing. And that rate fluctuates – the more you provide for the poor, the less you have to pay in taxes! Because taxes are supposed to go to helping the people and to helping the poor, so the more you contribute to their plight, the less time we the government have to spend playing the middleman! …We’re also working with city council to ease the process of getting an apartment. We’re starting by removing the housing lottery system. It’s dehumanizing. We’re not cattle. Getting a home shouldn’t feel like an auction. You need a home, you get a good home. You have money you, get a good home, too.” To do this, McMillan bolstered the capabilities of the Tenant Protection Agency.

As a city councilman, McMillan had wanted to update the city’s zoning laws to allow more than half of his own district to be zoned for public housing. Now, he wanted to pass it again in order to get warehouses and factories converted into homes and shops. “Those Olympic buildings won’t be empty until 2017. Poor people can’t wait that long for new homes,” McMillan reportedly told his Chief of Staff Kris Davis and his Communication Director Christialle Felix.

– Maria Stevenson and John Capozzi’s RITDH: The Jimmy McMillan Story, Vagabond Books, 2021



The point I’m trying to make here is that it was easy for me to sneak around. I have a pretty genetic face. I can be anywhere. I can be anyone. You wouldn’t know. You wouldn’t assume I was an international gun smuggler. But I am. And once Sudan’s breakaway states began to stabilize, their respective governments fortunately turned a blind eye to black markets, provided that some of the revenue went to the tax payrolls. Even still, the industry was seeing tighter clampdowns and I felt like my work there was done anyway. The warfare was over and the cops had me listed as a “Person of Interest.” I love that term. It sounds vague but it so isn’t. So, where next? Why, Eritrea of course! The hideaway for soldiers of fortune, the oasis for those like me who make a living off of what isn’t legal. I provide services for those put down by their governments. I’m a tool-provider, a giver of hope to all who wish to someday cause some beautiful horror.

– Tommy Gun Thompson’s With Cold, Dead Eyes: A Gun Runner’s Confessions, Borders Books, 2015 [1]



…The rioting, protests, and down-spiraling approval ratings convinced the German Chancellor to reverse his stance. In order to alleviate the people, and protect his political future, Schroder finally signed off on a proposed deal to guarantee all private bank accounts…

– Paul van den Noord’s A Continent In Crisis: Europe During The 2013-2014 Recession Era, Routledge, 2018



EUROPEAN CRISIS UPDATE: Slow Uptick Bringing Hope To Consumers

…European governments are investing hundreds of billions of euros into their banking systems, and are beginning to express more sincere confidence that aggressive financial moves will restore consumer confidence in international financial markets. Financial leaders on the continent are also confident that the slowly-but-surely improving situation over there will cool tensions in riotous places in Germany and Spain…

The Toronto Star, Canadian newspaper, 1/24/2014



The moment of change came before the end of his first month into office, when McMillan convinced city council to sign off on the establishing of a one-year (12-month) freeze on rent in order to help the city’s budget office better stabilize financial issues, citing the Unlucky Recession. “It’s not just for elderly residents, the disabled, the poorest of the people, but for everyone. This is for all the people, even the ones who don’t like me.”

McMillan also sought to implement higher tax credits and tax break to combat rising housing costs.

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[pic: imgur.com/iyH18UG.png ]

Mayor McMillan was a captivating speaker who butted heads with state and local government officials in his crusade to lower rent in New York City

Almost immediately, lobbyists and TV mouthpieces for the wealthy began to try and hammer in the claims that “rent control appears to help affordability in the short run for tenants, but in the long-run decreases affordability, fuels gentrification, and creates negative externalities on the surrounding neighborhood” [2] and that rent control can make a “bubble of ignorance” (“as inflation still continues, the longer things are frozen and locked into place, the worst it will be when the bubble “pops,” argued libertarian John Stossel on ABC). Of course, McMillan dismissed these concerns, saying that “the people are not going to be okay starving now because some out-of-touch rich person says that if they eat now, they’ll starve later.”

McMillan also pushed for rent caps, which are “caps” on how high landlords can charge for rent, while still allowing landlords to earn the market price for their real estate. A counterpoint made was that rent also covers repairs, to which McMillan replied by encouraging “the people” to learn home upkeep skills, saying, in an informal ontech video posted to the official Mayoral netsite, “teach yourself a skill, get licensed to fix your own home, or hire someone poorer than you to clean your house. We could all hire each other to clean another’s home in a long chain of inter-relying employment.”

However, in an act of politics leveraging, McMillan did agree with city council to back a program raising insurance benefits for landlord.

…In regards to city issues not connected to rent, McMillan ended felony disenfranchisement of certain ex-cons, restoring voting rights for those who have completed their sentences and paroles/probation periods, via a Mayoral order that was upheld by local and then later state-level courts…

– Maria Stevenson and John Capozzi’s RITDH: The Jimmy McMillan Story, Vagabond Books, 2021



SENATE SIGNS OFF ON “MONEY-FOR-LIFE” BILL

Washington, DC – On partisan lines, the US Senate today approved of a controversial bill to promote adoption over abortion, with the vote being 56 “yea” to 48 “nay.” Introduced in the Senate last August at the urging of President Grammer and the enthusiastic urging of Vice President Brown, the bill, if passed by the House, will create a federal program that will pay single and/or “financially distressed” expected mothers, who express wanting to have an abortion due to financial or emotional concerns, roughly $1,000 for every month they keep the pregnancy, with the final payment being double upon child being born and then placed into foster care. The bill aims to encourage women to carry unwanted pregnancies to term instead of aborting them, with the monthly payments being meant to cover financial losses or emotional distress not covered by their employer’s maternity leave program or by the maternal care aspects of American UHC. The bill controversial due to it implying that one can pay people to do what is “the morally correct thing to do,” as put by US Senator Helen Chenoweth (R-ID)...

The Washington Post, 1/29/2014



…Prime Minister Rogers’ cabinet included a diverse collection of PC rising stars, including Jim Prentice, Jason Kenney, Alanna Koch and André Bachand…

– Richard Johnston’s The Canadian Party System: An Analytic History, UBC Press, 2017



MCAFEE TO TRAVEL TO THE I.S.S.!

Cape Canaveral, FL – NASA Director John McAfee has received a security clearance pass to travel onboard the next shuttleplane heading to the International Space Station. McAfee is heading to the international habitable artificial satellite in order to oversee the implementation of software protection coding that he himself wrote several years ago and personally updated as part of NASA’s Wellstone-era efforts to help the international scientific community upgrade and modernize the ISS’s technology.

When asked if it was wise to take the trip at today’s news conference, McAfee replied “This might be the only chance I get to ever go up there, so you better believe I’m taking it!”

His voyage will mark the first time that a sitting NASA Director has travelled to outer space…

– popularmechanics.co.usa/space/news, 2/1/2014



LARRY WILLIAMS TO RUN FOR RE-ELECTION AFTER INITIALLY DECLINING INTEREST

…the moderate Republican has decided to make a late entry into the GOP primary race and pursue for a seventh term, he says, because he disagrees with the direction that both the Democratic and Republican parties are heading. “Limited government does not mean sitting around and doing nothing while other people suffer. Republicans are not doing enough to help people… It is immoral and irresponsible to view people through the lenses of numbers, statistics, and profit potential.” Williams, whose daughter is Democratic activist and award-winning TV/film actress Michelle Williams, has critical comments to make about the Democratic party as well. “Democrats are becoming the opposite extreme of libertarianism by suffocating people with help – to the point that the help can’t honestly be called help anymore.”…

– usarightnow.co.usa, 2/2/2014



…Ironically, Yugoslavia being more economically isolated than its economically interconnected European neighbors made the nation better-off during the 2013 Crisis. In fact, some Italians actually moved the regions of Croatia and Albania to find work in 2013 and 2014, reversing a trend of Croatians and Albanian s moving to Italy to either seek more fruitful employment or to be more “westernized” in a rejection of Yugoslavia’s continued “and somewhat outdated third way” stance...

– Frederick B. Chary’s The Modern Balkans: The History of Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania and Turkey After The End of the Cold War Era, Greenwood Publishers, 2018 edition



JIM EDGAR BEGINS TENURE AS FINANCIAL CORRUPTION COMMISSION CHAIR

…former Governor and US Senator Jim Edgar (R-IL) today became the inaugural Chair of a new commission meant to advise the Grammer administration on combating financial misconduct and illegal market activities…

– The Washington Post, 2/5/2014



VP BROWN MEETS WITH NYC MAYOR MCMILLAN: Taxes, Rent, and Sea Barrier Discussed

– usarightnow.co.usa, 2/6/2014



…Brown another supporter was NYC native Valerie Percy. A daughter of Republic politician Charles Percy, who served as the Governor of Illinois from 1965 to 1973, Valerie helped evacuate Manhattan hospitals during Hurricane Sandy and had the connections to bring more media attention to the proposal. During an early 2014 meeting with Brown in D.C., Percy praised the proposal’s potential to encourage research and innovation in industrial design in “the engineering feat of a generation.”

Due to his experience as the Governor of Idaho, Vice President Brown understood very well the importance of balancing a budget. As a result, he also understood the reluctance his fellow Republicans had to proceeding along with what could be an incredibly expensive public works project, costing no less than US$20billion by even the least generous estimates. After meeting with NYC Mayor McMillan in February 2014, Brown told reporters, “I’m a bit disappointed in the slow progress I’m being. This is a great dam-barrier proposal, and I was hoping Jimmy [McMillan] could speed things along.”

In the meeting, McMillan reportedly remarked, “We have to ensure it will provide work for New Yorkers,” before shifting the conversation over to his efforts to ensure children had “breakfast, lunch and dinner” by easing job burdens on city families. “Parents already spend too much time struggling to make ends meet – time they could be spent raising and feeding their children they instead spend slaving away behind grills, cranes, assembly lines, custodial mops and steering wheels. The barrier would make more competition because it will be a project not just for New York but for the surrounding areas, too.” McMillan expressed concern that other cities would benefit more from the immediate construction than from NYC residents.

“He said he’d look into it, but he wasn’t really enthusiastic about it,” said VP Brown. “He seemed like a liberal, but at the end of the meeting, he gave me a very anti-liberal reason for his reluctance – government overreach. He was concerned that government coordination with state and local governments would be chaotic. He said that you’d, for instance, have the New York and New Jersey governors each trying to take credit for success and blame each other for any SNAFUs along the way. There’d be tension between groups, between overlapping government agencies. He was concerned that it could go from being a cautionary plan to protect the city from the next Hurricane Sandy and turn into the greatest money pit the country had ever seen. But you know what? There’s a solution to that – we give it up to the private sector! You streamline the government agencies – get them in order, get them to fall in line – and you keep them out of the way of the businesses and enterprises that can build these barriers.”

Despite the enthusiasm of Brown and other supporters of the barrier proposals, it was acknowledged that the project would still take years to be built once finalized, and as a result of the controversy of such a “long term” project, the Grammer administration shifted its focus towards more immediate and more nationwide concerns. However, Brown was certain to make the barrier project a talking point during the next several election cycles, whether it remained on the administration’s backburner or not…

– historian Jane Mackaman’s What Principles Endure: An Examination of The Grammer Presidency, Vintage E-Books, 2022



ALL EYES ON (THE MARKETS OF) TURKEY AS WINTER OLYMPICS BEGIN

…with the economic crisis impacting Greek and Turkish markets, the success of the city of Ankara hosting these Winter Olympic Games could make or break them financially. Due to this, financial analysts are taking notes as the games officially begin today…

The Financial Times, UK newspaper, 2/7/2014



…In 2014, the Yemeni Houthi tribe, allied with the Zaidi tribe, began to wage war with the Wahhabists of Saudi Arabia over territory dispute, as the nations of Saudi Arabia had not established a clearly-defined border with the nations of North Yemen and South Yemen (nor with Oman, Qatar, and the U.A.E. for that matter). This regional warfare lacked air support but did have exceptional infantry power. However, due to its small numbers and remote location, it was ignored by most media outlets. Western sources were still invested in covering the steps taken to improve economies, while Saudi Arabian outlets simply downplayed the deadlines of the “local spat”…

– Madawi al-Rasheed’s The History of Modern Saudi Arabia, Sunrise Books, 2019 edition



FLOTUS GIVES BIRTH TO HEALTHY BABY BOY!

Washington, DC – First Lady of the United States Marissa Joan Hart Grammer announced that today she gave birth to a healthy baby boy at George Washington Hospital, which lies on the border of Foggy Bottom Potomac. The newborn, weighing in at a hefty 7.4 lbs, is Joan’s fourth baby, and her fourth with President Grammer, but is the President’s eighth child overall; the newest member of the Grammar family will grow up with two brothers and five sisters – three are older siblings and four are older half-siblings born between 1983 and 1998. Hart, 37, and Grammer, who turns 59 in 11 days, have also announced, via social media updates posted by their staff members, that the boy has been given the name William Franklin Grammer, after his mother’s father William Hart and his paternal grandfather Frank Grammer.

The birth makes Kelsey Grammer the first President to father a child with the First Lady while serving in office in 121 years. This kind of event last occurred in 1893, when President Cleveland fathered Esther Cleveland with First Lady Frances Folsom Cleveland.

The Hartford Courant, Connecticut newspaper, 2/10/2014



…after three years of declining health, Monroe passed away on February 15, 2014, the day after Valentine’s Day, at the age of 87. Her husband Harry Belafonte was reportedly at her bedside at her passing. …She was survived by her husband and several stepchildren from her previous marriages…

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[pic: imgur.com/euKqKlI.png ]

– clickopedia.co.usa



…With Ted Kennedy dead, the remaining and less famous co-founder of Kennedy-Turner Broadcasting and the Kennedy News Network became more prominent in media, taking complete control of the company from Ted’s wealthy Kennedy family in Massachusetts in the aftermath of Ted’s passing. Turner shook up internal workings of the company to promote more “catchy” material in the face of rival networks.

Outside the board room, Turner increased the visibility of his philanthropic work, giving millions to various organizations and efforts aiming to combat Global Climate Disruption. Turner considers GCD to be “highly dangerous,” and in a PBS interview that aired on February 16, Turner suggested that, if GCD was not properly addressed and rectified, “have of us will die and the remaining half will become cannibals.” Turner also suggested, in another issue, that all American couples should not be allowed to have any more than two kids in order to cut down on overpopulation…

– Michael O’Connor’s A Tale of Two Teds: How Kennedy And Turner Built A Media Empire, Greenwood Press, 2017



“Hi, I’m Kristy Swanson. I used to slay vampires in the ’90s, but nowadays I slay hunger by buying my family Chick-fil-A, the best chicken on the market. Because when it comes to chicken, Chick-fil-A will fill you up.”

– Kristy Swanson, Chick-fil-A commercial, first aired 2/17/2014



PRESIDENT AGREES TO “EXTENDED CAMEO” IN FRASIER REUNION SPECIAL!

...before gaining access to the nuclear launch codes, Kelsey Grammer starred as radio psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the hit TV show “Frasier” from 1993 to 2004… According to the White House Press Secretary, Charlotte Schultz, the President has been in contact with the producers of the reunion special, and has agreed to record a brief exchange, as Dr. Crane, with the other characters of the series for two brief scenes, and appear in several brief VidCall messages.

Neither NBC nor the White House have disclosed the special’s plot details. All that is currently known about the reunion special is that all other members of the original series have agreed to resume their respective roles for the primetime TV one-hour-long spot, and that it is set to be filmed in the summer and then air sometime in mid-November...

The Los Angeles Times, 2/21/2014



“WATCH: Incredible Celebrations At The Ankara Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony”

Description: Turkey wows the crowd with stunning special effects and fireworks display, ending the games with a bang!

– video uploaded to OurVids.co.can, a video-sharing netsite, on 2/23/2014



The Unlucky Recession of 2013 inhibited consumer confidence, causing a brief halt in foreign purchasing. This impacted China’s trade with other nations, and was complicated further by unfortunate developments along the Yangtze River. Accounting for 70% of China’s rice production, recent floods in the Yangtze River basin had damaged millions of acres of cropland. The country’s National Bureau of Statistics subsequently recorded a 9% increase in average food prices. Pestilence resurges, most notably armyworms invading wheat fields and swine fever infecting hogs, also added to the politburo’s worry that another Great Famine was on the horizon.

In order to avoid this, Beijing was forced to release and use over 40 tons of rice, 30 tons of corn, and 500,000 tons of soybeans from China’s Strategic Reserve. And to ensure their people would be fed (and thus, not revolt), China turned to several nations, hoping to open exclusive trade treaties with one of them in order to speed up the global markets impacted by the recession.

– Carl Krosinsky’s Modern China: A Complex Recent History, Borders Books, 2020 [3]



The fried poultry arms race is getting more intense! With upgraded sandwiches rolling out of the industry across America, Burger Chef is now unveiling its all-new selection of high-quality Big Chef chicken sandwiches. Now available at all Burger Chef locations and ontech, pick up some of this deliciousness today! Burger Chef – Better Than The Rest!

– Burger Chef ad, paid promo space on various techsites, first “air-posted” 3/1/2014



US Senate, Texas

Primary Elections, 3/4/2014:

Democratic Party Primary Results:

Nancy Nathanson – 52.7%
Dr. HyeTae “Harry” Kim – 35.9%
Yvonne Davis – 11.4%

Republican Party Primary Results:

Mac Thornberry (incumbent) – 70.1%
George Strake Jr. – 11.6%
Dwayne Stovall – 9.8%
Linda Vega – 5.9%
Jerome Corsi – 2.6%

– ourcampaigns.co.usa



…UK PM Creagh worked hard with her secretaries to keep their nation’s national debt from growing faster than their GDP. Because the level of debt as a percentage of the total economy is more important than the total level of debt on its own, Creagh approved an amount of deficit spending not seen since the days of PM Dingle Foot...

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– Hanspeter Kriesi and Takis S. Pappas’ In The Shadow of The Great European Recession, ECPR Press, 2021



…Wellstone re-entered the main news cycle for a while in early 2014, when he collapsed at a fundraiser for the Mayo Clinic. He was rushed to the hospital and left the next day, looking tired a worn out, but still better than he had looked in his last year in office.

Democrats often overlook just how much Wellstone had major health issues during what would have been his second term. His multiple sclerosis led to him experiencing a stiffening pain in his legs that led to him sometimes relaying on a cane to walk, and occasionally even using a wheelchair on particularly bad days. The former President, though, was optimistic that his freed-up schedule would allow him to spend more time on physical therapies and other treatments…

– Billie Lofi’s The Wellstone Way: The Life of a Passionate Progressive, University of Minnesota Press, first edition, 2017



IRISH COURT RULES AGAINST TECH COMPANY

…the Anglo-French IT services company Sema Group, which has a production facility near Galway, must pay Ireland 7 billion euros in back taxes on “foreign sovereignty” grounds. Sema Group will likely try to appeal the ruling…

The Daily Telegraph, UK newspaper, 13/3/2014



POPEYES CLOSES MORE LOCATIONS IN SPITE OF ECONOMIC UPTICK

…10% of the chain’s locations, closed to make up for lost revenue during recession, making hundreds of their worker either out of work or furloughed, have failed to re-open. Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, usually referred as just “Popeyes,” is a regional fast food chain sprawled out across the Sun Belt of the southern United States and concentrated around the Deep South and Texas. The chain continuing its scale-down is likely linked to its recent leadership shakeups as the company struggles to establish a healthy and stable workplace environment, especially in light of a recent sexual pestering accusation made against one of the former members of the company’s Board of Directors… While some diehard fans of Popeyes claim ontech that Popeyes’ chicken is even better than KFCs, that is debatable to say the least, given KFC outpolling its competitors in most ontech polls…

The Wall Street Journal, 3/15/2014



…Kelsey explained his idea to Secretary of State Dick Morningstar. “In the 1950s, the United States government would invite the Heads of State of other countries over to the US, treat them to a dinner hosted by the President, and give them a tour of our plants and factories. Even give them a ticker tape parade and a key to some city sometimes. Long gone are those days.” He continued, “Nowadays, most Presidents or Prime Ministers or whatever they’re called will just sit in at the UN General Assembly and, maybe, meet with the leader of State the Department.”

Morningstar chimed in with “Yes, Mr. President. In fact, I just met with King Vong Savang of Laos.”

“Now see, that’s what I’m talking about – we should have invited him to the White House! Colonel Sanders famously hosted a dinner at the White House for that old man’s father. Julia Child was involved, for Pete’s sake! And that dinner completely shifted Laotian foreign policy.”

“So what are you getting at, Kelsey?”
“This: we need to strengthen our ties with other governments beyond mere impersonal lip service. We have to improve our image and reputation abroad, and prove to the rest of the world that Americans are not overweight foul-mouth slobs.”

Harley burped as he finished his burrito with a satisfied grin. “Hey, listen, is this gonna take long? I want to work on my motorcycle this weekend.”

“Please be more patient and less poignant, Harley, especially since you should strongly support this. You always talk about how great thing were in the ’50s.”

“Yeah, because Americans were respected back then,” Brown noted.

“And why?” Grammer quizzed the Vice President.

“We had freedom, we had rock-and-roll, and we nukes.”

Grammer shook his head slightly, “We also had diplomacy that went above and beyond for visiting Heads-of-state.” Turning back to Morningstar, the President continued. “We need to be more generous with other heads of state to encourage them to adopt the democratic values we have in the hopes that it will encourage them to try and replicate our success.”

“Well that’s just it, isn’t it?” sighed Secretary Hamm.

“What?” Morningstar asked.

“Why we stopped pulling out all the stops. We’re running out of things to be proud of. The liberal media keeps on harping about our racist past, highlighting the worst parts of our history instead of celebrating the best parts of today. Manufacturing’s being lost to China and India, two countries that are becoming way too big for their britches if you ask me. Some countries don’t like us intervening overseas all the time, and. apart from the Chicago Spire, we’ve got no big projects worth showcasing anymore. You can only look at wind turbines a certain number of times before you start to get bored by them.”

“Well then we’ve got to put an end to all that,” Grammer proclaimed. “There’s still plenty of thing in this country to be proud of. Police reform, urban renewal, exciting clean energy projects like Harry Braun’s hydrogen thing, conservation and environmental protection efforts led by Harley.”

“Sorry, what?” The Vice President was unwrapping another burrito.

“Harley, are the roads of America not better than they were 30 years ago?” Grammer addressed Brown.

“So yeah, we have some smooth roads all over this country,” Brown answered, reflecting on his experience of driving motorcycle across the nation’s landscape, roughing the patchy, chipped and cracked surfaces of roads in need of repair. Having a tendency to “go for a ride” – across miles upon miles of roads during when Congress was not in session, the VP could proudly report back that things were looking up for America’s vehicular infrastructure, at least overall. “Potholes are still a bitch, though. We need to come up with a new type of gravel that doesn’t collapse like that whenever cold snaps sweep through the northern states like that. Creates nothing but busywork jobs and clogged-up traffic.”

“Harold, have someone look into that,” Grammer directed Energy and Technology Secretary Hamm.

Morningstar continued Grammer’s list of symbols of Modern American Pride. “We’ve also got NASA, Disneyland, Arlington National Cemetery, the TVA, the graves of Ralph Abernathy and Hosea Williams – those all highlight the American struggle for liberty, the benefits of capitalism, and our success at innovation.”

“We could also begin to show foreign leaders the success of our economic, and sports stadiums and cattle ranches and feed lots,” Grammar nodded, rather excited that Morningstar was warming up to the idea. “We need to encourage countries to, well, not necessarily westernized, but, say, to democratize, and maybe improve trade and relations with us along the way.”

“Oh, so that’s how it would benefit us – trade deals,” Hamm nodded in understanding.

Grammer nodded, “Right. At the moment, Africa makes up less than 5% of all of America’s foreign investment. Back in the day, diplomatic trips outside the Beltway promised some pomp and circumstance sorely missed in official Washington itineraries, often with local flair that could deepen a visiting diplomat or leader’s understanding of our politics and forges lasting positive impressions about us.”

“Of course, this renewed focus on diplomatic trips would not just be about trade,” noted the stoic Secretary of Defense Eileen Collins. “It’s also be our way of combatting China and India.”

Morningstar said, “I get what you mean. China’s picking up where we at some point left off, and India’s not too far behind. Just last month, China’s Premier treated the leader of South Africa to a trip to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and to their latest industrial parks, factories, and universities and research centers.”

Grammer remarked contemplatively, “When the newly-sworn-in President of Uganda visited Lubbock, Texas in 1977, he was the guest of honor at a college football match. The band struck up his country’s national anthem. The student section held up colored pieces of cardboard to represent the country’s flag. The whole thing brought tears to the man’s eyes. And why? Because we cared enough about developing countries to give the red carpet treatment. It contributed to them becoming our allies and forming stable governments of their own. It’s high time we bring back that kind of diplomacy.”

– historian Jane Mackaman’s What Principles Endure: An Examination of The Grammer Presidency, Vintage E-Books, 2022 [4]



AMERICA FOR SALE?!: Asian Banks Are Buying Out Ours!

…Chinese and Indian banks are investing in banks struggling to survive while gobbling up the remains of those who have fallen apart in the past year…

Associated Press, 3/19/2014 exposé



“It’s finger lickin’ good because nobody does chicken like KFC”

– famous A-list actor Rob Lowe, KFC commercial, first aired 3/22/2014



“I don’t want to impeach my President, but the fact that let down the American people, causing millions of people to suffer by letting the big banks falter, possibly in violation of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, leads me to believe that maybe he did commit impeachable offenses back in May of last year. …No, we haven’t opened a committee on it or anything, but given the President’s reckless behavior regarding the banks last year, maybe we should. Maybe.”

– US Senator Allen West (R-FL), TON segment, 3/27/2014 broadcast



CHI-CHI’S REPORTS FIRST FQ SALES DROP IN TEN YEARS

…When the SARS pandemic broke out in 2002, the company was quick to establish many outlets with multiple pickup lanes and closed-off dine-in seating in its wake, and that kind of investing in customer safety finally yielded positive financial results for the company more a year later, in early 2004. Like all industries involving people being less than several feet apart, food services were upended by the SARS pandemic, leading to the need for innovative amendments to how Americans eat fast food. Deliveries and pre-order pickups replaced dine-in accommodations, and many companies have maintained such amenities due to the subsequent financial benefits.

Chi-Chi’s joined these companies in adjusting to the changed ways of customer interactions, trying the drive-thru only business model locally in the Southwest before successfully expanding it nationwide as customers increasingly used their computers, lar phones, pocketcomps or other device to simply place orders and then drive through to pick them up.

However, the Unlucky Recession, combined with the rising prominence of taco chain competitors such as Taco John’s, seems to be cutting into Chi-Chi’s profit margin. A newly released study (found here) found that Americans’ top taco pickup spots are Zantigo’s in first place, Chi-Chi’s in second, and Taco John’s rising into third place, to the detriment of Chi-Chi’s numbers. The study also confirmed that Americans’ taco consumption increased 15% during the pandemic and has only dropped 5% since, with roughly 1 in 5 Americans eating at least 1 taco per day on average…

– businessinsider.co.usa, 4/2/2014 e-article [5]



…Things were finally starting to look up for the continent in April, when the US sent a generous “relief package” to several Western European countries such as Spain, France, Germany and the UK. Before too long, other countries began contributing to donation boxes meant to help raise relief for the people of the countries hit worst. …In an ironic twist, Eastern Europe essentially bailed out Western Europe…

– Hanspeter Kriesi and Takis S. Pappas’ In The Shadow of The Great European Recession, ECPR Press, 2021



…After weeks of the Stimulus Package working its way through the GOP-held House’s committees, the bill only passed after conservatives successfully attached the “adoption-over-abortion” bill to it, essentially merging the two legislative proposals to create another large omnibus spending package. Less prominently featured in this omnibus package were FJG occupations covering transportation and infrastructure improvements, as well as the controversial Employee Non-Discrimination Act, and a deregulation of federal overtime rules…

– Kathryn Millstone’s The Grammer Administration, Borders Books, 2021



…While passing the 2014 Omnibus Stimulus Package improved how conservatives in the party viewed Grammer, with even Pastor Dale Huckabee praising Grammer for passing the bill, the President’s boosted numbers were overshadowed by praise given to Harley Brown. While both men were religious and pro-life, Brown was more open about it, consistently flaunting his faith and beliefs. As a result, Brown received even more praise from the far right than before. On one hand, this praise helped to bring back voters lost to the waning Boulderite party, lowering the chances of that populist third party spoiling narrow congressional elections in November. On the other hand, some of the praise was inaccurate, with many claiming that Brown had pushed Grammer to sign it into effect despite Grammer being both publicly and privately enthusiastic for it, and the two men agreeing on the issue of abortion as well…

– Gary C. Jacobson’s The Power and the Politics of Congressional Elections, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015



NARRATOR: “While Wiseau was working on securing a better special effects team to accommodate Trump’s requested script changes, The Don took a month off for a marriage and honeymoon.”

MINNILLO: “I just thought he was a fun guy at the time.”

NARRATOR: “Vanessa Minnillo was the former Miss Teen USA of 1998 and was a struggling actress, appearing in several small roles before dating the three-time divorcé. The two married on April 10, 2014. Trump was roughly twice her age.”

MINNILLO: “I remember asking him, Donald, why isn’t Wiseau on the guest list? He said he wasn’t going to be able to make it and wouldn’t say more than that. But right after we came back from the honeymoon, I get a call from Wiseau, and he’s complaining about Donald abandoning their film project. So I ask Donald about it, and he says Tommy’s acting like a baby. Each one was claiming the other is not pulling their own weight. It started to get even uglier from there...”

– Scott Neustadter’s Horrificent: The Trump-Wiseau Film Trilogy, TON Movies documentary, 2021



MCAFEE SENDS NASA HIS REGARDS FROM THE I.S.S.!

…his voyage comes at an exciting time for the agency. McAfee’s ambitious plans for a lunar robot hub to be built ahead of any further missions to Mars and beyond could re-energize American interests in space exploration. …McAfee’s trip comes six months after the Japanese space agency JAXA announced that their unscrewed space probe “Falcon 3,” launched in 2010 from the Tanegashima Space Center on a six-year (round-trip) mission to collect rock samples, had landed on the near-Earth and potentially hazardous asteroid Ryugu…

– popularmechanics.co.usa/space/news, 4/12/2014



…That was a wild wide – the most intense experience that I have ever had! I know it is a cliché to say, but I’ll say it nonetheless – if I had to do that all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing!...

– John McAfee’s autobiography Outer Space Deserves More Iguanas: My Life Being Me, numerous on-net publication sites, 2022



A YEAR LATER: How Are We Doing Now?

…In the one year that has passed since it was officially declared on April 15, 2013, many Americans are still feeling the effects of the Unlucky Recession…

Time magazine, mid-April 2014 issue



MEXICO ON THE RISE?

…Another report on Mexico’s handling of the 2013 wave of nationwide recessions seems to confirm that, when comparing ratios, percentages and rates, Mexico got through the economic contraction better than did the US. More jobs became available in the immediate aftermath, and more positions were either retained or were kept at typical employment rates in certain sectors of Mexico’s economy. This suggests that the government has learned its lessons from their bankruptcy crisis of the 1980s…

Business Weekly, mid-April 2014 issue



…Botswana’s Central Province contained the Orapa Mine, and the nearby Damtshaa Mine and Letlhakane Mine; farther to the southeast was the Tswapong Mine, not far from the South African border. It was at these mines that the men of Saan People, abducted and threatened, were forced to toil as diamond mine workers. The Diamond profits allowed for prolonged conflicts and increased human rights abuses in conflict zones such as Sudan and the DRC.

But the spark that ignited the revolution was the fatal beating of a ten-year-old boy named Xan Sanawi. The child of the Saan People had been put to work in the diamond fields, and when he protested to working on a particularly hot day, they promised him food and water if he found any diamonds. The boy worked for seven straight hours and unearthed three small diamonds. Then he asked if he could have some water. The guards laughed at him. Enraged by the welching of the deal, the boy bit into one of the guards’ leg, leading to said guard hitting him with the butt of his rifle. The guards, either five or seven depending on the source, converged onto the boy and proceeded to beat him with their rifles. Xan’s injuries were so severe that he passed away from internal organ damage.

Children had been killed before, but never so shamefully, and never so blatantly in front of so many workers on such a hot day. The image of the beating prompted several workers to raid the manager’s office, killing two “supervisors” and holding “the boss” hostage. And when they failed to get a reply from his superiors, he too was killed.

News of child murder at labor mining camps spread, and with each retelling the atrocities of Xan’s demise only grew more distorted, exaggerated, numerous and grotesque. It was one child, ten two, then ten children being tortured to death. Riots at the camps led to more “managers” being killed as waves of workers stormed the HQ of their “employers.”

With weapons seized the Saan People would tolerate the corruption permeating the diamond companies no more. And neither would they tolerate their corrupt government any more. Botswana had in the past twenty years become one of the most corrupt countries on the continent. After the nation’s founder Seretse Khama died in office in 1980, the nation experienced one disastrous President after another, with each one either proving himself to be corrupt, incompetent, or both, mismanaging budget and responding abysmally to drought crises. Because of these inept leaders, the 2013 recession was particularly hard on the hard-working people of Botswana.

Frustrations finally came to a head with Botswana’s corrupt President Otsweletse Moupo being overthrown on April 22. Interim co-leaders Duma Boko and Mokgweetsi Masisi then asked former South Africa President Steve Biko, aged 68 in 2014, to serve as Acting President until a new government could be established, in order to give the now-nationwide revolution a sense of legitimacy. Biko was highly popular in the country for living there during the late 1970s and early 1980s, using his location as the base of anti-Apartheid operations and then moving back to south Africa once Apartheid collapsed in the early 1980s. After much contemplation, Biko agreed.

– Davi Kowe and Roy Sesana’s Vulture, Trees And Blood: The Botswana Revolution, Borderless Books, 2020



…Grammer purportedly concluded, “We have to uphold this administration to the three Ds of good governing – democracy, diplomacy, and deregulation. We’ll offer to negotiate peace, and if that fails, we’ll send the freedom fighters support. Experts, weapons, medicine, food, whatever supplies and other backup they need, but we will stop short of sending in our own men unless absolutely necessary. And even then, it will be like in Sudan – we won’t go in alone, we’ll bring back up in the form of allies. That way, if intervening militarily turns out to be a stupid idea, we won’t be the only government with egg on its face”…

– historian Jane Mackaman’s What Principles Endure: An Examination of The Grammer Presidency, Vintage E-Books, 2022



…Under Kelsey Grammer, the IRS’s lax approach to groups seeking tax-free status was increasingly criticized on the left, especially in regards to VP Brown’s “chummy” relationship with certain religious groups, including major organizations such as the Church of LDS, and multiple evangelical and Pentecostal groups…

– Kathryn Millstone’s The Grammer Administration, Borders Books, 2021



“Today, in the nation’s capitol, Congressman Brian Calley was sworn in as the new US Secretary of Commerce, replacing Acting Secretary Heidi Nelson. Now, some are calling the promotion sexist given that only a third of the positions in the White House Cabinet and inner circle are currently held by non-male individuals, but, I dunno, I think that maybe Kelsey Grammer’s just nostalgic for his acting days. I mean, Congressman Calley does look a bit like Niles Crane, doesn’t he?”

unOasrs.png

[pic: imgur.com/unOasrs.png ]

– Seth Meyers, “Weekend Update” segment, SNL, Saturday 4/26/2014 broadcast



“...And in religious news, the Catholic Church today simultaneously canonized Popes John the 23rd and John Paul the 2nd…”

– CBS Evening News, 4/27/2014 broadcast



“Now available at KFC – it’s the brand-new KFC Chicken Katsu Sandwich, the tried-and-true classic KFC original herbs-and-spices recipe together with a fresh Japanese style. It’s a tasty Kentucky Fried Chicken cutlet coated in a rich soy sauce-filed teriyaki sauce and topped with thin-sliced cabbage, mayo, and a sunny fired side-up egg omelet. All new at KFC – the place where chicken’s done right. It’s finger-lickin’ good!”

– transcript of KFC-US advertisement, first aired 4/28/2014 (the Katsu Sandwich was first introduced in KFC Japan in 2009)



…The general election was held on 5 May 2014 and pitted the majority Labour party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Mary Creagh, again the minority Conservative party, led by Jacob Rees-Mogg (a member of Parliament since the conservative “wave” of 2006). Other prominent parties in the election were the Liberal Democrats (led by Greg Mulholland), the Scottish People’s (led by Blair Jenkins), and the Green Party (led by Caroline Lucas).

…PM Creagh’s response to foreign affairs in Sudan was widely praised leading up to the election. Most prominently, though, was her strong “helping-hand” government policies lifting many Britons out of dire straits and allowing the UK to recover from the Unlucky Recession faster than many other European nations such as Germany, France and Spain. For these reasons, Labour increased the size of their majority by 17 seats, with the Tories losing 18 and the LDs gaining 1. Ergo, Creagh stayed on as Prime Minister…

– clickopedia.co.usa



United States:

[snip]

National GDP per capita: $61,022.35 USD

Unemployment rate: 4.5%

Life expectancy: 79.8 (average)

– statistica.co.uk, c. May 2014



SPAIN SIGNS TRADE DEAL WITH AMERICAN ENGINEERING COMPANY

…Pullmantur Cruises, the largest cruise line company in Spain, plans to construct a fleet of small cruise ships in ports found in both American and Spain in order to encourage travelling and spending, following President Grammer’s model for economic recovery…

The New York Times, 5/7/2014



“It looks like we’re saving Europe’s ass once again!”

– US Vice President Harley Brown, 5/8/2014 (Brown apologized for the remark on 5/10/2014)



…The US established restrictive immigration polices under Iacocca and Dinger that were then relaxed under the twelve years of Jackson and Wellstone. …The US is still a favored destination for people in other countries due to our reputation as a land of opportunity; one common sentiment among immigrants to the US is wanting to go to a land “where even the poor are overweight,” highlighting the notion that “American poverty” is of comparatively better quality than poverty found in other countries. …The easing of legal immigration has curbed illegal immigration but has seemingly not significantly increased the rate of immigration… [6] …Currently, a plurality of people who come to live in the US are coming from Africa, where the wars in the DRC, Sudan nations, and Sierra Leone America have led to refugee crises. It is important to understand the difference between immigrants and refugees, though. Immigrants move from their nation voluntarily, while refugees flee from their nation in order to not be killed. Currently, a plurality of those immigrating to the US hail from South America due to the effects of the Unlucky Recession, while a plurality of those seeking refuge in the US hail from parts of Africa and parts of Asia…

– migrationpolicy.org.usa/date-hub, c. May 2014



>MOTHER-POST: Just Announced: Alex Hirsh’s “Mystery Shack” Season 2 Will Premier September 12!

The next season will contain 15 episodes, each roughly 22 minutes long. This is really exciting news for me because I just this series. Thoughts?

>REPLY 1:

Eh, I liked Hirsch’s “Imaginary Friend” series better. It only lasted from 2008 to 2010 but it was fun!

>REPLY 1 to REPLY 1:
You mean that one about the idiot kid who can’t make up his mind who or what he wants his imaginary to be/look like so it’s a different thing each episode all while he doesn’t realize his imaginary friends are all the same shapeshifting alien who just wants to have a friend? I thought that show was weird!

>REPLY 1 to REPLY 1 to REPLY 1:
I think it’s where Hirsch got to think out a lot of idea and learn what works comedy-wise and what doesn’t. Mystery Shack is a lot more fine-tuned.

>REPLY 2:

I can’t wait for it to come out!

>REPLY 1 to REPLY 2:
Same! My favorite character is Graunty Lois, she and Grandpa Stan have good comedic chemistry.

>REPLY 3:

Looking forward to watching this! Season 1’s cliffhanger with the abducted pigs was surprisingly good for a kids’ show.

>REPLY 1 to REPLY 3:
It’s not just a kids’ show! Mystery Shack appeals to lots of people – I watched Season 1 with my dad and he’s an old guy and he loved it! He said it reminded him of Futurama and Life In Heck And Other Fun Places, and some Mark Frost show called The North.

>REPLY 1 to REPLY 1 to REPLY 3:
Hirsh actually grew up watching all three of those shows. That last one was made in 1988 after Hill Street Blues was cancelled and Frost wanted to make a dark, supernatural version of the kooky St. Olaf town mentioned in The Golden Girls (1985-1994), BTW.

>REPLY 4:

Which one of his shows was the one that had the Homestar Runner reference as show within a show?

>REPLY 1 to REPLY 4:
That was the weird show “Laika,” about unsung animal heroes or something like that. Even Hirsch said it’s like his least favorite of the like three or four shows he’s worked on.

>REPLY 1 to REPLY 1 to REPLY 4:
Our wrong. It was Imaginary Friend, the same crossover episode with some other short-lived DisneyToon Channel show. Hirsh wanted to work with Disney from the get-go but got his start/got his foot in the door by working for the people behind Homestead Runner. You can remember by remembering that both I.F. and H.R. were released under Disney’s Touchstone label.

>REPLY 5:

Yes we finally got a release date! I can hardly wait!

– euphoria.co.usa, a public pop-culture news-sharing and chat-forum-hosting netsite, 5/12/2014 posting



PRIMARY RESULTS SET THE STAGE FOR MIDTERM ELECTIONS

…In Nebraska, incumbent Orrin Hatch easily won the Republican nomination in tonight’s GOP primary over challengers Sid Dinsdale, Shane Osborn, Bart McLeay and Clifton Johnson. In the Democratic primary, David Domina defeated Larry Marvin by a decent margin.

…The primary races in West Virginia were more contentious, with the incumbent US Senator Nick Rahall, a liberal Republican known for often siding with Democrats on legislation on occasion, fended off more conservative challengers Matthew Dodrill and Larry Butcher in tonight’s GOP contest. Concurrently, WV Democratic voters selected Paul T. Farrell Jr. to be their nominee over two other candidates, Dennis Melton and David Wamsley…

– usarightnow.co.usa, 5/13/2014



POLAND’S KRYSTYNA BOCHENCK RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT

The Daily Telegraph, side article, 14/5/2014



ANCHOR 1: “…And in political news, the final primary election of the night can now be called – while Oregon Democrats voted to renominate incumbent Democratic US Jefferson Smith over primary challenger Pavel Goberman, the GOP primary for that state was narrow – very narrow – coming in at a margin of 1%, and requiring a recount in one county. But the state Secretary of State has finally confirmed that controversial political activist Jo Rae Perkins, a former member of the Boulder Party of Oregon and a strong supporter of Vice President Harley Brown, has won the Republican nomination for US Senate over challengers Jason Conger and Time Crawley.”

ANCHOR 2: “Perkins’ nomination is an upset for sure, but it is not as shocking as the results we saw unfold earlier tonight in Idaho.”

ANCHOR 1: “That’s right. For those of you who weren’t watching earlier tonight, incumbent US Senator Helen Chenoweth, a populist conservative Republican from Idaho, has lost re-nomination to her sole primary challenger, the controversial constitutionalist Dr. Rex Floyd Rammell.”

ANALYST 1: “Yes, those results were a stunning upset, and was a bit reminiscent of a very similar upset in the state four years ago, when incumbent US Senator Bo Gritz lost re-nomination to state lawmaker Carlos Bilbao. Here, however, there’s one very noticeable difference. In 2010, the primary victory was of the more moderate, traditionally-conservative lane of Republicanism. But tonight, the victor was someone who was even further into the populist right wing of the GOP than was Chenoweth. Rammell attacked Chenoweth’s mixed voting record, claiming she was not conservative enough for the state of Idaho, and that she had been in Washington D.C. for too long with little to show for it. Rammell also campaigned really heavily, so there are some signs for how he pulled this off, but they’ll be studied in greater detail as time goes on.”

ANCHOR 2: “Also in Idaho, the state Democrats selected Nels Mitchell to be their party’s nominee for US Senate over perennial candidate William Bryk.”

ANCHOR 1: “And earlier in the night, two other states held primary elections as well.”

ANCHOR 2: “Right you are. In Arkansas, incumbent Democratic US Senator Jim Guy Tucker won re-nomination over challenger Bobby Tullis in a landslide, while Republicans nominated US Congressman Tom Cotton (R) over Steve Womack and Nathan LaFrance. Despite that state being heavily pro-Republican, Tucker is still quite popular there, and so is expected to win re-election in the fall.”

ANCHOR 1: “And finally, in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, another incumbent Democratic US Senator, former Governor and former US Presidential candidate Martha Layne Osborne, easily won re-nomination over Burrel Farnsley and Tom Recktenwald, while state lawmaker David Patterson won the Republican nomination over initial frontrunner Shawna Sterling. Osborne’s chances of winning re-election in November are less than Tucker’s, but still favor her. So what do all these mean?”

ANALYST 2: “Well the fact that the incumbents on the ballots tonight underperformed overall suggest there is a case of incumbency fatigue settling in over the nation. But given how heavily Democratic-leaning Oregon is and how heavily Republican-leaning Idaho is, it is very likely that Smith and Rammell are going to win in November. The same may be true for Tucker and Osborne, meaning that while the number of Democrats in the Senate next January may not rest on tonight’s states, their winners – especially Rammell – may still impact things – partake in proceedings, raise awareness on certain issues, et cetera…”

– KNN Evening News, 5/20/2014 broadcast



MIAMI MAYOR FERRE UNHARMED IN MINOR TRAFFIC ACCIDENT

– Miami Tribune, 5/21/2014



List of Mayors of Miami

12/1/1957-1/1/1967: 29) Robert King High (D) – resigned to become Governor

1957: Randall N. “Randy” Christmas (R)

1959: William Wolfarth (R), John M. Gibson (D), Roland Horovitz (I), and George Kalil (I)

1961: Arthur H. Patten Jr. (R), Otis Shiver (I), George B. Collins (I), and George Kalil (I)

1963: George B. Collins (I)

1965: Jerome Stern (I), Jon Carlton (I), and George Thomas (I)

1/1/1967-12/1/1967: Acting) W. E. M. Johnson (R) – interim

12/1/1967-12/1/1969: 30) Robert Lester Floyd (D) – finished in third in the 1969 blanket primary

1967: O. D. “Jack” Henderson (R)

12/1/1969-12/1/1985: 31) Maurice A. Ferre (D) – first Hispanic Mayor; entered office at age 34

1969: Jon Carlton (I)

1971: Carlos De Torres (I) and John Leach (I)

1973: Gloria M. Calhoun (I), James Angleton (I), Roland Horovitz (I), and August J. Savarese (I)

1975: Peter N. Williams (I)

1977: Evaristo “Ever” Marina (R) and Celeste Coonan (I)

1979: Rose Gordon (I)

1981: Rodolfo Nodal Tarafa (I)

1983: Xavier L. Suarez (R), Mike Simonhoff (I), Rose “Jackie” Floyd (Socialist Workers), and Eduardo Lambert (I)

12/1/1985-8/2/1988: 32) Evelio S. Estrella (R) – former US Representative; died in office suddenly from a heart ailment at age 61

1985: Maurice A. Ferre (D), Otis Shiver (I), and Harvey K. McArthur (SW)

1987: Ernest “Ernie” Mailhot (SW), Marvin Dunn (I), and Manuel Benitez (I)

8/2/1988-12/1/1989: Acting) Raul Pablo Masvidal (I) – interim; still alive at age 79 as of 7/4/2021

12/1/1989-12/1/2001: 33) Wellington Rolle (R) – still alive at age 88 as of 7/4/2021

1989: Danny Couch (D), Armando Lacasa (R), and Miriam Alonso (R)

1993: T. Willard Fair (D), Laura Garza (SW)

1997: Janet Post (SW), Kenneth Merker (I), and Juan Miguel Alfonso (I)

12/1/2001-12/1/2013: 34) Maurice A. Ferre (D) – entered office at age 66

2001: Wellington Rolle (R), Michael Italie (SW), and Juan Miguel Alfonso (I)

2005: Evaristo “Ever” Marina (R) and Omari Musa (SW)

2009: Joe Sanchez (R) and Cynthia M. Jaquith (SW)

12/1/2013-present (7/4/2021): 35) Francisco “Pancho” Ferre (D) – incumbent, currently (7/4/2021) age 58; son of Mayor Maurice A. Ferre

2013: Jeff Benjamin (R) and Tom Baumann (SW)

2017: Francis X. Suarez (R) and Rose “Jackie” Floyd (SW)

List of Mayors of Miami-Dade County (since 1996)

1996-2000: 5) Alex Penelas (D) – retired to successfully run for a US Senate seat

1996: Xavier Suarez (R)

2000-2005: 6) Arthur E. “Art” Teele Jr. (R) – committed suicide soon after being indicted on corruption charges

2000: Pamela Lynn Cheatham (D)

2004: Jimmy Morales (D)

2005-2006: 7) Jay Love (R) – interim county mayor

2006-2012: 8) Miguel Diaz de la Portilla (R) – finished in third in the 2012 blanket primary

2006 (special): Helen B. Williams (D), Jose Cancela (I), and Jose “Pepe” Cancio (R)

2008: Roosevelt Bradley (D)

2012-2020: 9) Luther Roderick “Uncle Luther” Campbell (D) – unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for a US Senate seat in 2018 and was the nominee for a US House seat in 2020; may run for high office again in 2022 and 2024.

2012: Julio Robaina (R)

2016: Marcelo Llorente (R)

2020-present: 10) Daniella Levine Cava (R) – incumbent; younger brother of Miguel Diaz de la Portilla

2020: Monique Nicole Barley (D)

– clickopedia.co.usa



SUDAN MILITARY LEADER FOUND GUILTY OF WAR CRIMES

Human Rights Violator Unrepentant: “I Feel No Guilt In My Conscience!”

– tumbleweed.co.usa/news, 5/22/2014



…When I saw the footage on TV of the people of Botswana joining in on the overthrowing of their own government, with people passing out so many guns and other people happily accepting them, I was horrified. I thought, “Why on Earth am I there to make money off of all those ammo purchases?” So, within two days, I had relocated the focus of my operations from Eritrea to Botswana. The plight of the bushmen of the country, the Saan People suffering from De Beers diamond company operations, merged with anger all the other Botswanese peons had toward their country’s corrupt government. A revolution decades in the making, except nobody outside of southern Africa really cared so long as the rich got their diamonds.

bj0uBY2.png

[pic: imgur.com/bj0uBY2.png ]

In fact, the revolution was not as harmful as many announced it was. The diamond industry artificially inflating the price of diamonds was not going to be stopped by a bunch of rebels storming their nation’s political offices; that was the responsibility of the UN and multinational trade organizations. Diamonds can be mined by literal slave labor elsewhere; the top diamond producers in the world are Russia, Canada, Botswana, South Africa, Angola, the DRC, and Namibia, with China, India, Australia, Tanzania, and Guinea also contributing to the diamond production side of the industry.

Global corporations were only concerned that their practice of actively politically destabilizing and corrupting local and regional governments to ensure workers can’t seek better treatment would be inhibited by similar revolutions in other countries as well. That is what made me so valuable to people like them. I could supply guns to their allies, to their enemies, or even to both. The higher bidder determined which of those three options I went with.

With my reputation from the good work I had done in the post-KW2 fallout, I was able to easily fly guns into the region from Eritrea through my regular channels.

“The dictator of Tajikistan will just have to find another gun runner until I am available,” I remember telling Moko Johnson, my then-ally in all this…

– Tommy Gun Thompson’s With Cold, Dead Eyes: A Gun Runner’s Confessions, Borders Books, 2015



SENATE PASSES HOUSE-APPROVED ANTI-LOOPHOLE BILL, 54-50

…the bipartisan bill aims to clamp down on corruption in the banking industry...

The Washington Post, 5/26/2014



JUST A QUICK DRIVE

Premiered: May 27, 2014
Genres: buddy comedy/road trip comedy

[snip]

Cast:

Ty Burrell as Frank
Eric Garcetti as Ryan
Treat Williams as Arnold
Selena as Maria
Jessyn Farrell as Hildy the angry bar maid
Robin Williams as The Woodsman (minor role)
Chris Farley as Matt Foley (uncredited cameo)

See Full List Here

Synopsis:

When they learn that an old family heirloom could be worth millions, brothers Ryan and Frank must travel from Maine to Seattle to collect the antique from the old family home’s attic before the house is demolished by developers. However, due to a past incident, neither of them can fly, and so must take trains, then buses, then hotwired vehicles to reach Seattle before it is too late.

Reception:

The film was modestly successful at the box office and received positive views from critics and audiences. Reviews for the film noted it having a “good balance of zaniness and heart.”
Trivia Facts:

Trivia Fact No. 1:

The running gag concerning one character – an out-of-touch woodsman who thinks SARS is still in effect and so continues to practice safezoning measures – was almost cut from the script over concerns that audiences would find it offensive. The film’s director, however, told the writers to take the risk due to her belief that the audience would relate to it, and look back on that awful era without being offended by the comedy pulled from it, believing that enough time had passed that “you can at least chuckle about it, especially viewers too young to remember the era,” as she put it in a post-premier interview.

– mediarchives.co.usa



“When I got to travel to the ISS to oversee software upgrades, the feeling of weightlessness, the ability to see the Earth, this seeming peaceful sphere, from God’s perspective, it was, man, it was just amazing. And the drugs only heightened the experience.”

“Drugs?”

“Yeah, I did some drugs while on board. Brought them along with me up to the ISS. That old thig is falling apart, you know. We need to build a bigger one.”

“You did drugs?”

“Yeah. I smoked this cocaine-marijuana mix, I codenamed it ‘stardust.’ It was surprisingly easy to sneak onboard, and then we I excused myself for a bathroom break, I just lit it up. And let me tell you something. Best – high – ever.”

– NASA Director John McAfee and host, WAMR-FM (107.5 MHz), Florida radio interview, 5/28/2014



CALLS FOR SCOTLAND TO SECEDE WIND DOWN AS REGION’S ECONOMY BOUNCES BACK

…Scotland was struck particularly hard by the efforts of the Unlucky Recession. In order to combat a rise in protests and violent incidents, PM Creagh has spent months working with Scottish leaders to lower unemployment rates and improve consumer spending in Scotland, and it seems those efforts are at last yielding results…

– theguardian.co.uk, 5/29/2014 report



“…The President’s leading advisor on financial corruption Jim Edgar has returned to full-time office activities after recovering from heart surgery last month, humorously proclaiming to reporters today, quote, ‘I’m as fit as the fiddle my voice sounds like,’ end quote...”

– ABC Morning News, 6/1/2014 broadcast



ROCKEFELLER TOWER FINALLY OPENS

…the former Senator added, “and I think my father would be very proud of what we have accomplished here, too”…

The New York Times, 6/2/2014



LIST OF TALLEST BUILDINGS

Key: 1 – Name – City, Country – year of completion – height (feet) – notes

1 – Dubai Tower – Dubai, UAE – 2009 – 2,626

2 – Nakheel Tower – Dubai, UAE – 2018 – 2,460 – located next to Nakheel Harbor

3 – Shanghai Office Building – Shanghai, PRC – 2020 – 2,073 – tallest “twisted” building in the world; tallest building in the PRC

4 – The Chicago Spire – Chicago, IL – 2012 – 2,000 – built at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive; tallest building in the US

5 – Shenzhen Financial Center – Shenzhen, PRC – 2019 – 1,975 – second tallest building in the PRC

6 – Bashnya Rossiya (Russia Tower) – Moscow, Russia – 2013 – 1,919 – part of the Russia Tower Office Complex of Moscow’s International Business Center

7 – Unity Tower – Dan-Ilseong, United Korea – 2021 – 1,875 – located on the former DMZ/North-South border; tallest building in United Korea

8 – Rockefeller Tower – New York City, US – 2014 – 1,776 – designed by Emery Roth & Sons and co-funded by former US Senator Michael Rockefeller

9 – Tianjin CTF Finance Center – Tianjin, PRC – 2017 – 1,739 – third tallest building in the PRC

10 – China Zun – Beijing, PRC – 2016 – 1,732 – fourth tallest building in the PRC

11 – Tapei 101 – Tapei, Taiwan – 2004 – 1,667

12 – International Commerce Center – Hong Kong – 2009 – 1,590

13 – Central Park Tower – NYC, US – 2019 – 1,575 – third tallest building in the US

14 – Saigon Center – Saigon, United Vietnam – 1999 – 1,525

15 – Petronas Tower 1 and Petronas Tower 2 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 1998 – 1,500 – tallest “twin” towers in the world

[snip]

19 – Sears Tower – Chicago, IL – 1974 – 1,450 – fifth tallest building in the US

20 – Guangdong Tower – Guangdong, PRC – 2015 – 1,445 – also known as “Canton Tower”; fifth tallest building in the PRC

[snip]

27 – Princess Farahnaz Memorial Tower – 2011 – 1,400 – also known as “Princess Tower”

[snip]

31 – 1 World Trade Center – New York City, US – 1972 – 1,368 – the “North Tower” half of the WTC building complex’s “Twin Towers”

32 – 2 World Trade Center – New York City, US – 1973 – 1,362 – the “South Tower” half of the WTC building complex’s “Twin Towers”

33 – Al Hamera Tower – Kuwait City, Kuwait – 2001 – 1,354

34 – Marina Tower – Dubai, UAE – 2012 – 1,350 – eighth tallest building in the UAE

[snip]

39 – Trump Sunrise Tower – Santa Monica, US – 1997 – 1,331 – tallest building constructed by The Trump Organization

41 – City Plaza Center – Guangzhou – 1996 – 1,325

42 – Nanning International – Nanning, PRC – 2008 – 1,321

43 – Golden Eagle Tower – Cairo, Egypt – 2019 – 1,300

44 – Tour Sans Fin (Endless Tower) – Paris, France – 2018 – 1,296 – office building

[snip]

56 – Empire State Building – New York City, US – 1931 – 1,250 – 16th tallest building in the US

[snip]

68 – The Stratosphere Tower – Las Vegas, US – 1999 – 1,175 – more commonly known as “The Strat”; hotel/casino; tallest observation tower in the world

[snip]

85 – Signature Tower – Nashville, TN – 2012 – 1,000

– clickopedia.co.usa, c. 7/4/2021



PRIMARY NIGHT 2014: Moderate Dems Prevail As GOP Incumbents Stand Firm

…In Alabama, incumbent US Senator Spencer T. Bachus III (R) won re-nomination unopposed, while in the Democratic primary, African-American state lawmaker Quinton T. Ross Jr. bested two conservative former Republicans, Harris Garner and Suzelle Josey.

…Republican Iowans chose to re-nominate incumbent US Senator Terry Branstad over challengers Sam Clovis and Matthew Whitaker. Concurrently, Democratic Iowans selected Stephen N. Six over initial frontrunner Bob Quast, progressive “rising star” Ako Abdul-Samad, and freshman state lawmaker Leonard Boswell. Meanwhile, the primaries in Mississippi resulted in incumbent US Senator Peter H. “Pete” Johnson (R) besting challengers Thomas Carey and Chris McDaniel in a landslide, while state senator Travis Childers (D) won his party’s nomination over Bill Marcy, William Compton, and Jonathan Rawl with 50.1%, and thus narrowly avoiding a runoff…

…Incumbent US Senator Larry R. Williams (R-MT) won re-nomination tonight over Susan Cundiff and Champ Edwards with a plurality, while Montana Democrats selected Amanda Curtis over John Bohlinger and Dirk Adams…

…The Garden State saw former EPA Director Lisa Perez Jackson win the Democratic nomination for US Senate over Eugene Martin Lavergne in a landslide, after most state politicians opted to not challenge her in order to maintain a united front. The NJ Dems reportedly believe that they can flip this seat for the Democrats after being held for many years by a liberal Republican. This may be the case come November given who the Republicans have nominated – the controversial conservative Steve Lonegan, who bested moderate Richard J. Pezzullo, liberal Brian D. Goldberg, and libertarian Murray Sabrin in tonight’s primary. The US Senator currently holding the seat, Mary V. Mochary, is retiring, make this a race for an “open” seat…

…In South Dakota, Native-American advocate and incumbent US Senator SuAnne Big Crow (R) easily won over challengers Larry Rhodan, Stace Nelson and Dr. Annette Bosworth, while R. J. Volesky (D) won his party’s nomination over Democratic state senator Rick Weiland…

– The Washington Post, 6/3/2014



CIVIL RIGHTS ACT PROTECTS TRANSGENDER WORKERS, SUPREME COURT RULES

…With Chief Justice Alan Cedric Page leading the majority, with Associate Justices Aida M. Delgado-Colon, William Joseph Nealon Jr., Sylvia Bacon, Michael Joseph Sandel, Check Kong “Denny” Chin and Mary Murphy Schroeder agreeing and only Larry Dean Thompson and Emilio Miller Garza dissenting, the US Supreme Court today ruled that the language of the Civil Rights Act of 1962, which prohibits sex discrimination, applies to discrimination that is based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity. The ruling comes roughly 11 years after the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal in all 50 states…

The Los Angeles Times, 6/4/2014



Total World Population By Half-Decade:

1990: 5,280,911,000 [7]

1995: 5,704,380,000

The Global Population reaches 6 billion in late 1998

2000: 6,134,581,000

2005: 6,592,342,000

The Global Population reaches 7 billion in early 2010

2010: 7,022,794,000

Current Population (June 2014): 7,375,789,000

– clickopedia.co.usa/world_population/history, c. June 2014



Current US Population, including citizens, student visa users, dual citizenship holders, undocumented immigrants and all other applicable residents: 327,928,000 [8]

– census.gov.usa/US_population/by_year, c. June 2014




“…After several days of internal debate, the House Ethics Committee has decided to launch a formal investigation into NASA Director John McAfee’s reported actions on board the I.S.S. this past April. McAfee claimed in a radio interview last month to have smoked a cocaine-marijuana mix onboard the ISS, which, if true, was a violation of international conduct regulations. The equivalent of smuggling contraband onto an airplane, McAfee could face serious charges as a consequence…”

– CBS Evening News, 6/7/2014 broadcast



LOSE IT

Premiered: June 10, 2014
Genres: horror/drama/suspense/thriller
Directed by: J. J. Burrows
Written by: Jurgen Wolff
Produced by: Steven Levitan and Paula Buckley

Cast:

“James Blunt” as Hogan Mayfield
“Andrew Fields” as Marty Isaacson
Treat Williams as Texas Tremaine
Amanda Donohue as Lily Garmen
Jeffrey Hirschfield as Jack LeRoy

See Full List Here

Tagline: There’s a surprise in store for you…and you’re not going to like it!

Synopsis:

A seemingly typical horror movie where the main character is an average man (seemingly played by an actor in his film debut) living in a small town in the Mojave Desert that is attacked by a masked maniac. Trying to survive the slaughter of his coworkers, he loses his medication, which turns out to be antipsychotic medication, causing him to snap and eventually attack the attacker, leaving the audience to wonder how far the average person can be pushed before they “lose it.” The “Starring” part during the end credits reveals – via the actors peeling off makeup – that Pauly Shore and Brock Pierce were playing the two main roles the whole time.

Reception:

Released in the mid-2010s, at the height of late ’80s nostalgia period in popular culture, the audiences who remembered that time period were initially shocked but retrospectively impressed by the range shown by Shore and Pierce in the film. As Shore and Pierce were starred in several films during that time period, the film led to a renewed interest in them, and indirectly helped resurrect Shore’s and Pierce’s respective long-dormant film careers.

– mediarchives.co.usa



INDEX

[snip]

List of Heads of State of ROMANIA (1945-present)

As GENERAL SECRETARY (1945-1982)

10/16/1945-4/19/1954: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (Communist) – stepped down

4/19/1954-9/30/1955: Gheorghe Apostol (Communist) – stepped down

9/30/1955-3/19/1965: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (Communist) – died in office from lung cancer

3/19/1965-3/29/1971: Gheorghe Apostol (Communist) – ousted in a coup

3/29/1971-7/21/1971: Ion Gheorghe Maurer (Communist) – assassinated by an unknown sniper

7/21/1971-4/28/1981: Elena Ceausescu (Communist) – fled the capitol during riots but continued to claim office until her capture and execution in July 1982

4/28/1981-7/25/1982: Ilie Verdet (Communist) – stepped down

7/25/1982-12/12/1982: Gheorghe Apostol (Communist)

As PRESIDENT (1982-present)

1) 7/25/1982-12/12/1991: Gheorghe Apostol (Communist, then Independent after June 1983) – resigned after holding Moldovan unification referendums

2) 12/12/1991-1/7/1993: Alexandra Barladeanu (Independent) – led the unofficial “transitional government”

3) 1/7/1993-1/7/1998: Michael I (Independent) – former King of Romania; retired after one term, as promised; officially called “Michael Romanescu”
1992: Mircea Snegur (Independent) and Petre Roman (Democratic (big-tent centrist))

4) 1/7/1998-1/7/2003: Nicolae Manolescu (Liberal Democratic (left-wing centrist)) – retired after one term, as promised
1997: Gyorgy Frunda (Christian Democratic)

5) 1/7/2003-1/7/2013: Theodor Stolojan (Christian Democratic (right-wing centrist)) – term-limited
2002: Neculai Ontanu (Social Democratic (far-left)) and Dumitru Braghis (Liberal Democratic)
2007 (first round): Corneliu Vadim Tudor (National Democratic (far-right)), Eugen Plesca (Social Democratic (far-left)) and Traian Basecu (Liberal Democratic)
2007 (runoff): Corneliu Vadim Tudor (National Democratic)

6) 1/7/2013-present: Dumitru Ciubasenco (Liberal Democratic (endorsed by Social Democratic)) – incumbent; first President from the former Moldova
2012: Sorin Paliga (Christian Democratic) and Emil Strainu (National Democratic)

– Frederick B. Chary’s The Modern Balkans: The History of Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania and Turkey After The End of the Cold War Era, Greenwood Publishers, first edition, 2014



Filmography:

Film

Date: Title – Role – Note(s)

1992: Galaxies are Colliding – Peter

1996: Down Periscope – Lt. Commander Thomas “Tom” Dodge

1997: Disney’s The Twelve Dancing Princesses – The King and The Court Jester – voice (two roles)

1998: The Real Howard Spitz – Howard Spitz

1999: Standing on Fishes – Verk

1999: Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas – Narrator – voice; direct-to-MLD

2001: 15 Minutes of Fame – Robert Hawkins

2001: Star Wars: Episode III: Guardians of The Force – General Daygn Vindigadge – minor role

2001: Just Visiting – narrator – voice; uncredited

2001: God Lives Underwater: Fame – Robert Hawkins – short film

2002: Bandito: The Life of Patton – General George S. Patton – nominated for an Academy Award for Best Thespian, 2003 (lost)

2003: The Big Empty – Agent Banks

2003: Barbie of Swan Lake – Rothbart – voice; direct-to-MLD

2004: Stewie: The Dog Boy: The Movie – Dr. Ivan Krank – voice; direct-to-MLD

2005: The Good Humor Man – Mr. Skibness

2006: Even Money – Detective Brunner

Television

Year: Title – Role – Note(s)

1979: Ryan’s Hope – Waiter – 1 episode; uncredited

1982: Another World – Head Paramedic – 1 episode

1982: Macbeth – Lennox – TV film

1983: Mondale – Minister Lester Mondale – TV film; minor role in flashback

1984: Kate & Allie – David Hamill – 1 episode

1984: George Washington – Lt. Stewart – 1 episode

1984-1993: Cheers – Dr. Frasier Crane – 203 episodes; nominated twice for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (1988, 1990)

1986: Crossings – Craig Lawson – 2 episodes

1987: You Are The Jury – Stuart Cooper – 1 episode

1987: J. J. Starbuck – Pierce Morgan – 1 episode

1988: Disney Presents: Mickey’s 60th Birthday – Dr. Frasier Crane – TV Special

1988: Dance ‘til Dawn – Ed Strull – TV film

1989: 227 – Mr. Anderson – 1 episode

1989-1990: Star Trek: Excelsior – Captain Morgan Bateman Sr. – 3 episodes

1990: Disney’s Earth Day Special – Dr. Frasier Crane – TV special

1991: Baby Talk – Russell – 1 episode

1991, 1995, 2003, 2005, 2011: SNL – himself – 5 episodes (host, 3; cameo, 2)

1992: Wings – Dr. Frasier Crane – 1 episode (crossover episode); nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

1993-2005, 2010: Futurama – Dr. Whitemarsh Telesphore Cherubusco Schwarzchild – 29 episodes; won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (2003)

1993: Roc – Detective Rush – 1 episode

1993-2004: Frasier – Dr. Frasier Crane – 263 episodes; nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award nine times, won four times; nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Thespian in a Television Series Comedy six times, won twice; nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award 17 times, won once; won 2 out of 3 nominations for the People’s Choice Award, won 2 out of 3 nominations for the Satellite Award, and nominated twice for the Television Critics Association Award; nominated for the American Comedy Award twice, won twice

1994: The Innocent – Detective Frank Barlow – TV film

1995: Biography – George Washington – documentary; 1 segment

1996: London Suite – Sydney Nichols – TV film

1997: Fired Up – Tom Whitman – 2 episodes

1998: Just Shoot Me! – narrator – voice

1998: The Pentagon Wars – General Partridge – HBO TV film

1999-2000: Star Trek: Deep Space Seven – Captain Morgan Bateman Jr. – 6 episode; recurring role

1999: Animal Farm – Snowball – voice; TV film

2000: Stark Raving Mad – Professor Ted Muttle – 1 episode

2001: The Sports Pages – Howard Greene – TV film; 1 segment

2002: Mr. St. Nick – Nick St. Nicholas – TV film

2003: Becker – Rick Cooper – 1 episode

2003: Gary The Rat – Gary Andrews – voice; 13 episodes

2004: A Christmas Carol: The Musical – Ebenezer Scrooge – TV film

2005: Star Trek: Liftoff – Mordecai Bateman – 1 episode

2005: Sesame Street – himself – 1 episode

2014: Frasier: The Reunion – Dr. Frasier Crane – cameo; TV special (pre-production)

Theater

Year: Title – Role – Venue (note(s))

1981: Macbeth – Lennox – Vivian Beaumont Theatre

1982: Othello – Michael Cassio – Winter Garden Theatre

1982: Plenty – Codename Lazar – The Public Theater

1983: Quartermaine’s Terms – Mark Sackling – Playhouse 91

1983: Sunday in The Park with George – Young Man on the Bank and soldier – Playwrights Horizons (two roles)

2000: Macbeth – Macbeth – Colonial Theater and Music Box Theatre (two venues)

2000: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Sweeney Todd – Ahmanson Theatre

– mediarchives.co.usa/Kelsey_Grammer/filmography, June 2014



“You know, it really says something about our society, like modern society, we’re a lot more accepting of things. I mean, we never would have elected an actor, to like, to the Presidency, you know back in the day, like when I was growing up I mean, you know what I mean?”

– TON Nighttime News co-anchor Sarah Heath, 6/17/2014



…In political news, the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Oklahoma have held primary elections for their respective US Senate seats. In North Carolina, Dan Clodfelter won the Democratic primary over Ernest T. Reeves, while the incumbent US Senator, Margaret A. “Meg” Ryan, who should not to be confused with and is not related to the actress Meg Ryan, who re-nomination over Will Stewart, Greg Brannon, Heather Grant, Ted Alexander, Alex Lee Bradshaw and Edward Kyrn.

In Oklahoma, incumbent Republican US Senator Steve Largent has easily bested primary challengers Erick Wyatt, Randy Brogdon and Eric McCray, while a big name in state politics, US Congressman and “legacy” candidate Dan Boren, has won the Democratic nomination over Matt Silverstein and Patrick Hayes. Boren’s political weight in the state could make this election the first competitive general US Senate election in Oklahoma in several years. No Democrat has been to the US Senate from Oklahoma since the “blue wave” year of 2004, but state senator Boren could change that.

And finally, in the contests held in South Carolina, Republicans held a runoff between J. Gary Simrill and Lee Bright, the top-two finishers of the state’s June 10 primary contest, where Simrill and Bright finished ahead of Republican candidates two candidates Bill Connor, Randall Young, and Benjamin Dunn. Simrill, who was strongly endorsed and supported by House leader Dargan McMaster, edged out a victory over Bright. This means that Simrill will face off in November against incumbent US Senator Mike Thurmond, a Democrat, who won his party’s nomination on June 10 in a landslide over challengers Brad Hutto, Joyce Dickerson, Sidney Moore, Harry Pavilack and Jay Stamper…

– CBS Evening News, 6/22/2014 broadcast



ANNOUNCER: “The American Veterans Committee, together with the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, is pleased to welcome Vice President of the United States Harley Davidson Brown.”

aQaHfFP.png

[pic: imgur.com/aQaHfFP.png ]

BROWN: “Thank you, heh, thank you! Yeah! Wow, what a great turnout. Which is good because this is a noble cause we have here, supporting our troops, our brave men and women coming back from Sudan. You guys and gals have sure put together a great veteran charity dinner thing here. …[snip]… My heart goes out to all the veterans who suffer from the sneakiest of scars, the one that can’t be treated with some bandages and gauze – PTSD. …[snip]… It is inherently messed up for those who risk their lives, and kind of sacrifices their sanity, to have their patriotism be criticized by sheltered privileged upper-class college snobs who haven’t worked a real day in their lives. And I am sincere when I say that military veterans get discriminating looks from some people when they go onto certain liberal campuses. And I can relate to that. As a person who has been discriminated against, as a motorcycle guy, I’ve experienced firsthand tremendous discrimination by police forces. It seems like if you’re riding a Harley-Davidson and you’re wearing black leathers, they automatically got you pegged as a bad guy. And I can empathize [sic] with the tremendous, I say again, the tremendous discrimination against gays. Those poor people have been walked on by society”. Trans people, too. So to be gay and to be a combat veteran is to have two kinds of bravery at once. I’m very proud of the BLUTAGOs who served under me in Korea – or should I say the former North Korea? Heh-heh! – and I will always defend their rights and uphold the libertarian and deeply American philosophy of individual freedom and keeping the government out of the bedroom. Unless that’s your kink. Because, hey, to each their own, right?” [9]

– remarks made at a Veterans of Sudan dinner function, Washington D.C., 6/24/2014




…The successful deployment of US military personnel to lead a coalition of “concerned nations” into war-torn Sudan was a badly-needed shot in the arm for the Grammer White House. Claims that President Grammer had worsened the economic recession by breaking from the non-libertarian wing of the GOP and refusing the bail out the big banks was plaguing his approval ratings within the GOP. The Commander-in-Chief’s perceived strength at handling foreign affairs led to a nearly 10% uptick in interparty support for the President, allowed his inner circle to breathe a sigh of relief, albeit small one, as the midterm elections began to take form…

– Gary C. Jacobson’s The Power and the Politics of Congressional Elections, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Credit must go to @ajm8888 for reminding me about this guy (he was last mentioned in March 2009)
[2] Pulled almost verbatim from an OTL article from brookings.edu: “What does economic evidence tell us about the effects of rent control?”
[3] Concept for this segment pulled from here: https://thehill.com/opinion/interna...ng-china-struggles-to-meet-basic-food-demands
[4] Several passages, not just the ones in italics, were pulled from the 11/18/2020 csis.org article “Rediscovering America: Why African Leader Tours Benefit U.S. Foreign Policy”
[5] Segment based on this article that @ajm8888 brought to my attention: “Brooklyn Park is first to get Taco Bell’s new drive-through prototype,” the startribune.com, 2/25/2021
[6] This is because, without the destabilizing of the Middle East, and Mexico doing much better ITTL due to the destructive but effective activities of the Cartel Wars of the 1990s lowering the destructiveness of drug cartels, those countries are doing better than IOTL, and thus, immigrant to the US from those countries is lower than it is in OTL.
[7] In the late 1990 Chapter, I explained in detail how the world population in TTL’s 1990 has 17,318,000 more people than OTL’s 1990 (roughly 5,263,593,000, depending on what source you use (I used the one listed on the wikipedia article for the year 1990)). Basically, it was because several wars played out differently, and TTL’s version of Roe-v-Wade did not happen until roughly twenty years later than did in OTL. With the continuation of that rate of 17million more people – but also factoring in the higher number of deaths in Korea and the implementation of TTL’s version of Roe v. Wade – I added 30 million more to OTL’s 1995 total and 64 million more to OTL’s 2000 total. The SARS pandemic killed hundreds of thousands of people, so I only added 80 million more to OTL’s 2005 total, and due to the OTL stagnation of the world population growth rate, added only 100 million more to OTL’s 2010 total. For 2014, I add 120 million more than there are in OTL.
[8] The US population is equivalent to 4.25% of the total world population in OTL. ITTL the US has had UHC since 1990, likely saving thousands of lives at the very least. The twenty-year delay in a Roe-v-Wade case lead to 15,000,000 Americans not being aborted. More successful foreign policy spared thousands more as covers in the footnotes of the late 1990 chapter. Gun violence became less prominent due to the gun laws passed in the wake of the Iacocca assassination, sparing roughly 400,000 lives at the very least (IOTL, roughly 1.4 million people died from firearms in the US between 1968 and 2011, many of whom were suicides). All in all, I estimate that this means that the US has roughly 16,000,000 more people in it than in OTL’s 2014 (318,000,000, meaning here that number should be 334,000,000 in TTL’s 2014). To check this, I calculated that 4.25% of TTL’s total world population in 2014 (7,375,789,000, see the above Note for further information) and got 313,471,033. I split the difference and got 323,735,517, roughly 5million more people than in OTL. But I thought this “felt” a little low, so a sort of rounded it up as I felt more people would be immigrating to TTL due to its less archaic immigration policies and many other variables. Plus butterflies, of course.
[H1] Italicized lines here were pulled from the OTL time.com article “Idaho GOP’s Biker Candidate on Life as a Viral Sensation”

The next chapter’s E.T.A.: soon!
 
Last edited:
Chapter 108: July 2014 – January 2015
Chapter 108: July 2014 – January 2015

“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try”

– John F. Kennedy (OTL/TTL)



BIPARTISAN COALITION ALLOWS FELONY VOTING BILL TO NARROWLY PASS HOUSE

…The End to Felony Disenfranchisement Bill, also known as the Ex-Con Voting Rights Bill, has narrowly passed in the U.S. House, 226-215. The victory for disenfranchised former felons arrived after 16 Republicans, led by conservative Congressman Rick Santorum (R-PA), broke ranks and sided with all but three House Democrats voting “yea.” Calls for the bill to pass were spurred by NYC Mayor Jimmy McMillan’s felon voting rights reform. However, this bill, if passed by the Senate, would only restore voting rights to those found guilty of committing “both nonviolent and victimless felonies” who have already completed their sentences and/or parole/probation periods. Nevertheless, Mayor McMillan declared the work being done on the bill’s passing to be “excellent progress.”

However, the bill could die in the majority-Republican Senate, where US Senator George Deukmejian (R-CA), a longtime champion of “law-and-order” policies is calling for the bill to be struck down. He is joined by US Senator Steve Largent (R-OK), who stated today that “issues concerning felonious criminals must remain at the state level”…

The Washington Post, 7/2/2014



…The interparty backlash to libertarian Republicans crossing party lines was led by wealthy party donors and their lobbyists, especially banks that lost millions when Grammer refused to send them said. Even US House Speaker H. Dorgan McMaster was criticized by conservative talking heads on TV and ontech, accusing him of poor leadership for failing to keep the “hedgehog bloc” in line with national party policy. McMaster was taken aback by the attacks, and after so many years of party loyalty and dedication to hard-c conservative ideology. McMaster countered the remarks by working with the RNC and GOP PACs to target libertarian candidates during the primary season.

However, by having several Libertarian Republicans be attacked on the right in their respective primaries just for occasionally backing Democratic policy, McMaster only widened the rift between the libertarian wing and non-libertarian wings of the party. He and other leading conservatives endorsing more conservative candidates in GOP primaries against libertarian incumbents in turn led to libertarians opposing him being re-nominated for Speaker should the GOP retain the house come January 2015…

– Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin’s Leadership In Turbulent Times, Simon & Schuster, 2018



“When I’m not starring in the next blockbuster I’m spending time with my family. And as a Dad, I want what’s best for kids’ health. That’s why the Ruffalos eat at Culver’s, where they use top-quality ingredients for meals that are healthy and tasty. Culver’s – Welcome to delicious”

– actor Mark Ruffalo, Culver’s commercial, first aired 7/5/2014



CO-ANCHOR: “…In Keystone, South Dakota, Native American activists from across the country have converged onto Mount Rushmore to protest Governor Stephanie Herseth’s plans to complete the famous sculpture. We now take you live to our South Dakota correspondent, who has more for us on this developing story.”

CORRESPONDENT: “Hi, I’m here in the Black Hills’ Mount Rushmore National Memorial with Mr. Richard Oakes, a longtime Native American Rights activist and a Mohawk Native American, who has co-led some of the nearly one thousand Native Americans here. Mr. Oakes, can you tell you a little about yourself and why you and the rest of these people are here?”

OAKES: “Thank you. I got into fighting for the rights of all Native Americans back in the 1960s. I started working as a high steelworker after turning 16, a job that had a lot of traveling in it. In 1963 I was drafted into the Army and fought in the Cuba War, where I was sent behind enemy lines more because of my skin color than my handling of Spanish. I lot of my Native American brothers and sister died in that war. In fact, Native Americans serve in the military at a higher rate than any other US demographic [1]. But still we go unsung. So much so that now Governor Herseth thinks she can easily ignore us and destroy even more of this sacred land. It’s not enough they carved faces into the Six Grandfathers, now they plan to carve out the bodies as is they are sticking out of the ground. It is a disgrace, it is an injustice, and it is something that all Native American groups and cultures can relate to, for it is a history and a tragedy that all of us Native Americans share.”

CORRESPONDENT: “So what exactly do you plan to do with these protests?”

OAKES: “Raise awareness of this injustice, and mobilize activists elsewhere to demand that this project is cancelled. We are reaching out to Americans of all ethnicities to stand with us in solidarity.”

CORRESPONDENT: “Yes, you told me before we began taping that you have been involved in mobilization efforts for decades. Can you tell anything about that and how it relates to this protest?”

OAKES: “Well after the war I was accepted into Minnesota U, where I fought to change the university curricula to include more Native American courses. I also helped to change the US federal government’s ‘Indian Termination Policy’ policies of Native American peoples and culture during the 1970s, and contributed to organizations that have been promoting a sense of unity among all Native American tribes starting in the 1980s. Most recently, I worked with the Navajo Nation to try a get US educational maps be printed with Native American nations more prominently outlined on them. So many Americans do not realize how many reservations still exist because they are not placed on typical maps. Just the states, and sometimes, the territories, but never the reservations. We worked on changing that, and we’re now working to halt the further desecration of these sacred lands…”

– NBC News, 7/7/2014 segment



Management decided to inform the workers the day after Independence Day, purportedly to “soften the blow.” When the laborers of Milliken & Company’s textile fabrics factory, the largest employer in Spartanburg, South Carolina, learned that 25% of them would be laid off due to rising production costs, and the rest would have their pay reduced, they were naturally upset. Meeting with their weak labor representatives led to the discovery of a flagrantly obvious loophole in their CBA contract, which was not scheduled to expire for another five months.

The layoffs led to the remaining workers organizing in protest of the drop in wages, along with ongoing issues with the factory’s work culture. Accusations of wage theft soon found their way to the media. On July 9, the Moment of Truth arrived in the form of a massive worker strike – all ground floor workers exiting the factory to form a picket line in the parking lot, and a second row of protesting families and friends across the street.

“Better conditions means less strikes, means less time lost, means more productivity! We know how powerful this is! We know they can’t afford this!” shouted one fiery laborer through a microphone as the local news began broadcast the footage of several hundred workers taking to the lot.

Soon local politicians began to comment on the Spartanburg Textile Strike as it entered its tenth hour. The “bravery” of the workers, 55% of whom were Black, were strongly backed by US Senator Mike Thurmond (D-SC), an African-American lawmaker, and the white progressive Mayor of the City...

…In Washington, D.C., President Grammer decided to send his Attorney General, Susana Martinez (R-NM), down to the factory to try and negotiate an agreement between management and the workers...

– Andrew Boyd and Diane Osmond’s Beautiful Trouble: A History of The Modern Labor Movement, Oregon Press, 2021



BERTA SOLER ELECTED PRESIDENT OF CUBA

…Berta Soler of the National Coalition, defeated challenger Miguel Faria (officially Independent) in a landslide at a time of political party reorganizing for the island nation of Cuba. With the traditional two-and-a-half party system collapsing in Cuba, the National Coalition and several smaller parties are filling in the void. Soler (b. 1963), a Cuban Senator and human rights advocate, was a member of the Stability Party before she joined the NC. Her opponent, Miguel Faria (b. 1952) was a professor and lecturer with reportedly encyclopedic knowledge on socioeconomics, politics, medicine, and world affairs; he was endorsed by several parties currently at odds with the nation’s new dominant “big tent” party that is the National Coalition…

The Miami Herald, 7/10/2014



LATIN AMERICAN LEADERS ATTEND INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT

The Houston Chronicle, side article, 7/11/2014



Presidents of Colombia

1958-1962: 20) Alberto Lleras Camargo (Liberal) – term-limited

1962-1966: 21) Guillermo Leon Valencia Munoz (Conservative) – term-limited

1966-1970: 22) Carlos Lleras Restrepo (Liberal) – term-limited

1970-1974: 23) Misael Pastrana Borrero (Conservative) – term-limited

1974-1978: 24) Alfonso Lopez Michelsen (Liberal) – term-limited

1978-1982: 25) Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala (Liberal) – term-limited

1982-1986: 26) Belisario Betancur (Conservative)
– term-limited

1986-1990: 27) Virgillio Barco Vargas (Liberal)
– survived 1988 explosion from bomb planted on orders of Pablo Escobar; term-limited

1990-1994: 28) Luis Carlos Galán (Liberal) – nearly assassinated twice; term-limited

1994-1998: 29) Antonio Navarro Wolff (Peace) – adjusted term limits but declined running for re-election

1998-2006: 30) Andres Pastrana Arango (Conservative) – co-led 2001-2003 peace talks that led to the 2003 Peace Accords that finally ended the Colombian Civil War; oversaw US troops leave country in 2003 after being station in Colombia since 1984 (making the US intervention the longest “war” in US history); term-limited

2006-2014: 31) Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa (Patriotic Union) – term-limited

2014-present: 32) Carlos Pizarro Leongómez (Democratic) – incumbent

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa, c. 2021



Presidents of COSTA RICA

1962-1966: 34) Francisco Orlich (PLN)

1966-1970: 35) Jose Trejos (UN)

1970-1974: 36) Daniel Oduber Quirós (PLN)

1974-1978: 37) Rodrigo Carazo (Independent)

1978-1982: 38) Manuel Mora (PVP)

1982-1986: 39) Luis Alberto Monge (PLN)

1986-1990: 40) Carlos Manuel Castillo (PLN)

1990-1994: 41) Alejandra Calderon Fournier (PUSC)

1994-1998: 42) José Figueres (PLN)

1998-2002: 43) José Miguel Corrales Bolaños (PLN)

2002-2006: 44) Luis Fishman Zonzinski (PUSC)

2006-2010: 45) Laura Chinchilla (PLN)

2010-2014: 46) Otto Guevara (Libertarian)

2014-2018: 47) Astrid Fischel Volio (Independent)

2018-present: 48) Rolando Araya Monge (PLN)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa, c. 2021



Presidents of EL SALVADOR

1967-1972: 32) Fidel Sanchez Hernandez (Military/NC) – pressured into allowing winner of the 1972 election to enter office

1972-1977: 33) Jose Napoleon Duarte (CDP) – gradually introduced democratic reform; retired

1977-1981: 34) Ernesto Antonio Claramount Roseville (CDP) – overthrown in military coup

1981-1987: 35) Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez (Military/NC) – overthrown in civilian-based counter-coup

1987-1988: 36) Adolfo Arnoldo Majano (Military/Independent) – essentially served on an interim basis while free elections were held in November 1987

1988-1993: 37) Álvaro Magaña (Democratic) – term-limited

1993-1998: 38) Rubén Zamora (Democratic) – term-limited

1998-2003: 39) Carlos Quintanilla Schmidt (Republican) – term-limited

2003-2008: 40)
Schafik Handal (Democratic) – the son of Palestinian immigrants; barely survived a massive heart attack in 2005 and died from another one in 2010; term-limited

2008-2013: 41) Rodrigo Ávila (Republican) – term-limited

2013-2018: 42)
Hugo Roger Martínez Bonilla (Democratic) – term-limited

2018-present: 43) Estevan Montenegro (Republican) – won election in November 2017, entered office in January 2018 at the age of 36; incumbent

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa, c. 2021



SOUTH CAROLINA STRIKERS ADAMANT THAT “WAGE THEFT” CLAIMS BE ADDRESSED IN PROPOSED TALKS

The Washington Post, 7/14/2014



Maryland State Party Gubernatorial Primaries, 7/16/2014:

Democratic Primary Results:

Kumar P. Barve – 26.7%
Jon S. Cardin – 24.5%
Douglas F. Gansler – 21.4%
Heather R. Mizeur – 18.1%
Charles U. Smith – 5.7%
James P. Cusick Sr. – 2.4%
Ralph Jaffe – 1.2%

Republican Primary Results:

Daniel Bongino – 36.7%
Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. – 35.9%
David R. Craig – 11.6%
Charles Lollar – 10.3%
Ron George – 5.5%

– ourcampaigns.co.usa



SOUTH CAROLINA STRIKE SET TO END AFTER AG MARTINEZ LEADS NEGOTIATIONS!

The Washington Post, 7/22/2014



…Martinez convinced management to renew the workers’ Collective Bargaining Agreement, with the City’s Deputy Mayor joining her in moderating the discussions. A new CBA was announced that guaranteed a “living wage” for the next five years of employment, in a major win for the US Labor Movement. After 14 days of striking, the factory reopened on the 23rd… The strike was a part of a bigger underlying issue. Deregulation meant managers were becoming bolder in either efforts to exploit their workers, while the use of social media to be strikers informed and united demonstrated the mobilization possibilities of modern technology. Politically, the image of the abandoned work stations energized the GOP into blaming the “incident” on the Democratic lawmakers involved, especially US Senator Mike Thurmond (D-SC), while completely ignoring the positive long-term results gained by the workers through their short-term halt in production...

– Andrew Boyd and Diane Osmond’s Beautiful Trouble: A History of The Modern Labor Movement, Oregon Press, 2021



...The rebels fought against the militaries of the ousted government and the mining corporations. Fighting was most intense in the eastern and northern parts of the country, with the eastern towns of Serowe and Selebi-Phikwe seeing vicious battles that resulted in the freedom-loving patriots prevail. The Kalahari Desert in the southwest of the nation also saw intense fighting and bloodshed. Meanwhile, in the Okavango Delta swamplands, retribution from the diamond companies concluded with battles, shoot-outs, and even hand-to-hand combat. I, Davi, had to drown a man, a guard for the local oil company who jumped me from behind, in the Boteti River, on which rests the town of Maun, the site of a terrible massacre instigated by the mining companies...

…The Battle of Kanye centered on the city of the same name, which is in the southern part of the country, near the South African border and near the Botswanan capital of Gaborone. The Battle was over the local government aiding militia groups terrorizing the innocent. Much blood was spilled…

…All the while, Acting President Biko sought to receive military support from South Africa in a conflict most outsider observers declared to be a civil war. How can that be when the mining of the blood diamonds that began this conflict in the first place are sold in markets around the world, including the western world? No, this was an internal reaction to external influencers, thus explaining Biko’s willingness to accept foreign funds, food and medical supplies, and his great reluctance to accept foreign troops and weaponry…

– Davi Kowe and Roy Sesana’s Vulture, Trees And Blood: The Botswana Revolution, Borderless Books, 2020



OLD-FASIONED DIPLOMACY AT HOME: Can Grammer Pull It Off?

…Bangladeshi Prime Minister Mohammad Ali (not to be confused for the famous boxing champion of the same name) was given a “classic tour” of America during his visit to the US this month. President Grammer is trying to bring back old-fashioned promotions of the US to diplomats in the hopes of improving America’s reputation abroad and to strengthen western connections to developing countries. Ali, the new leader of his third world country, was taken beyond the Beltway and the UN Building for a tour of a shipbuilding facility in North Carolina and a textile company in Ohio before finishing off in Boston with a tribute to his country’s culture at the Carol Bellamy World Arts Performance Center at MIT.

As Grammer had hoped, Ali returned to Bengladesh to sing America’s praises…

Time Magazine, late July 2014 issue



GRAMMER SACKS NASA DIRECTOR JOHN MCAFEE!

…Sources have confirmed that President Grammer has fired NASA Director John McAfee for breaking international regulations in connection to a House Committee Panel’s recent findings. McAfee was at the center of controversy throughout this year, after he admitted in a radio interview to smoking federally-illicit narcotics onboard the International Space Station.

Barely 18 months into office (his term began on February 12, 2013), McAfee, age 69, had trouble with more seasoned veterans of the agency, butted heads with numerous departments, and tried to redirect funding from some departments to others without clearing it with the proper channels. On the other hand, he also engaged and interacted with many young space enthusiasts ontech and at conventions, and used his position to promote private donations to NAA in the hopes of funding a lunar “Robot Hub,” a sort of pit stop for future expeditions to other celestial bodies.

McAfee doing drugs on the I.S.S. in order to “see if getting high in zero gravity is as cool as I dreamed it is” was apparently the final straw. The fatal blow to his tenure, however, has been met with McAfee supporters online defending his actions. “What harm did he do exactly when nothing got blown up,” posts one such defender on euphoria.co.usa; another, a technetter on ourvids, writes “I thought this administration was supposed to be soft on drugs! This is oppression.”

McAfee is expected to hand in a letter of resignation at noon tomorrow, ending what has been a short and tumultuous but memorable era in NASA’s history.

The Houston Chronicle, 8/4/2014



THE TOP TEN CELEBS OF THE CHICKEN WARS, RANKED

With KFC competing with their “evil twin” Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s facing rising star Culver’s, even the smaller chains like Popeyes’s, Whataburger and Burger Chef are scrambling for celebrity endorsements as the huge ad campaigns of The Chicken Wars escalate. Here are our picks for the best celebrities endorsements to come out of this competition:

1) Nickelback, Whataburger (July 2012) – the band sings an altered version of the first sixty-second of their hit song “What A Good Time” while pretending to ride GRI horses made out of fries to direct a herd of burger-shaped steers in one fun and trippy music Super Bowl music video

2) Michelle Rodriguez and Jeb Bush, Chick-fil-A (October 2013) – the professional survivalist searches the woods for food only for the actress to direct him to a “Chick-fil-A cave”; the funny bit is a surprisingly trippy ad from a famously conservatively-run company

3) Rob Lowe, KFC (June 2014) – the star of several dramas and thrillers of late gave his promo spot a sense of dread – that something terrible (or terribly clichéd) would happen if we didn’t eat “America’s favorite” chicken

4) Shaquille O’Neil, McDonald’s (June 2014) – running in the same week as the Lowe ad, this spot sharply contrasts Lowe’s serious presence, as Shaq appears as an overly enthusiastic KFC manager is a comedic promo that shows off both the products and O’Neil’s acting range

5) Randall Darius Jackson, Popeyes (February 2014) – going all out budget-wise, this musical gig aired during this year’s Superbowl and gave us all catchy tune to sing and, probably, gave Popeyes more customers to serve

6) Jay Scott Greenspan, KFC (September 2013) – the award-winning thespian describes how he “grew up on KFC” while ordering at an outlet in a promo filmed in his home town for that wholesome “family values” feel

7) The Farley Brothers, Culver’s (April 2012) – Chris, Kevin and the rest tour the Culver’s of their hometown of Madison, Wisconsin in a shaky-cam documentary style that gives a sense of raw, home-video honesty to what could have easily been a typical “back to your roots” segment

8) Kristy Swanson, Chick-fil-A (March 2014) – A quick ad calling back to over two decades ago, when she was still relevant; still, she gets the job done with nostalgia for a zanier era in American pop-culture history, and does her best to tie it to chicken fillets

9) Randy Quaid, KFC (April 2013) – the former voice of The Cartoon Colonel returned for his first on-screen advertisement, reflecting on the behind-the-scenes of the gig, all while praising both the Colonel integrity and his food’s high quality and taste

10) Donald Trump, KFC (January 2014) – demanding only “the best” for himself, the former MLB player brings his wildly jingoistic attitude and wooden acting skills to KFC, reminded us all why we’re both dreading and anticipating the third Trump-Wiseau film

– usarightnow.co.usa/culture/food, 8/6/2014



GRAMMER WELCOMES DARFUR PRESIDENT TO WHITE HOUSE

…Suliman Arcua “Minni” Minnawi of the Saharan Zaghawa people co-led the land of Darfur during its war for independence from Sudan, and has served as its President ever since. Minnawi, a former educator born in 1968 in Furawiyya, North Darfur, is highly popular among the Darfur people. Regardless, the State Department is urging Minnawi to hold elections in Darfur in order to ensure political stability in the region.

Grammer believes showing Minnawi the benefits of the democratic process will convince him to pursue such political reform in Darfur. As such, the new head-of-state’s two-day visit to the US is only beginning at the White House. Tomorrow, Grammar will travel with him to a public high school in Philadelphia before flying out to a cattle ranch in Texas. These trips are a part of Grammar’s ongoing efforts to give leaders of developing nations “the red carpet treatment” in order to better promote American ideals abroad…

lcuT1Q5.png

[pic: imgur.com/lcuT1Q5.png ]

Above: Presidents Grammer and Minnawi in the White House

The Washington Post, 8/7/2014



“This is all just bread and circuses. Some fanfare here, some spectacle there. The President needs to stop treating the highly revered office of the Presidency like it is another role in some shoddy TV movie. He needs to quit with the fancy distractions and photogenic photo-ops with obscure foreign leaders and get back to working with congress on the important issues at hand!”

– US Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL), 8/8/2014 TV spot



“I think it was irresponsible and wrong for President Grammer to put the lives of our fellow Americans in danger by intervening in the human rights violations in Sudan. We can’t be the leading referee to the world.”

– political activist and perennial candidate Tulsi Tamayo (R-HI), 8/9/2014



Why Is Wellstone So Silent On Grammer’s Success In Sudan?

…the progressive darling must be stewing in sour grapes for failing to do in four years what his successor managed to accomplish in less than two…

– National Review, mid-August 2014 issue



GRAMMER MAY VETO POLICE REFORM BILL!

…The President has suggested that the legislation may be too lenient to criminals and may also violate state-level voting registration laws...

The Chicago Tribune, 8/12/2014



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[pic: imgur / l1QEj2A.png ]

– Former US Vice President James Howard Meredith (R-MS) looking over his speech notes with his wife by his side at the unveiling of the James Meredith Multi-Issue Outreach Center in Jackson, Mississippi, 8/14/2014




DEPUTY DIRECTOR JEFFREY BEZOS TAKES OVER AS THE NEW HEAD OF NASA

The Houston Chronicle, 8/15/2014



“TRADE-OFF DEAL” REACHED: Grammer Will Back Prison Reform Bill In Exchange For Victims’ Rights Bill Receiving Vote

…“It’s important to understand that Kelsey is crime victim and has had serious trauma in his life,” says the White House Press Secretary. “This is very important to him to make sure crime victims rights are a part of our moral fabric and part of our national laws.”

At the national level, “crime victims have no legal recourse when one of these rights is violated,” says US Rep. Jennifer Storm (R-PA). “Should a crime victim not be afforded the right to give their impact statement to the court at sentencing, for example, they have no standing to assert that right in court. The case is simply over. In order to remedy this, crime victims need the opportunity to petition the court, should these rights be violated. We seek to remedy this by elevating these current rights, from the statutory level, to the constitutional level; thus, creating a balance between the rights of the accused and the rights of the crime victim. This bill is a step in that direction.” The bill would also compel authorities to notify crime victims of upcoming court proceedings involving the crime defendant and to notify crime victims when defendants or convicted felons are released from prison. If passed, this legislation will also give victims the ability to file motions to challenge instances in which they believe their rights are being violated…

The Washington Post, 8/17/2014 [2]



HARLAND MORRISON ADAMS, GRANDSON OF COLONEL SANDERS, IS DEAD AT 81

KjpumsQ.png

[pic: imgur.com/KjpumsQ.png ]

Denver, CO - Harland Morrison Adams, born on November 26, 1932, passed away yesterday from natural causes at the age of 81, a spokesperson for his family announced earlier today. Adams was the son of Margaret Josephine Sanders and James Trigg Adams and the older brother of Francis Josephine Adams Wurster and James Trigg Adams III. Adams’ maternal grandfather and namesake was KFC founder Harland David “Colonel” Sanders. Adams was 32 when his famous grandfather was elected President, and Adams often visited the White House so his young children could spend time playing with their great-grandfather. Much like The Colonel, Adams was an entrepreneur, albeit one in the athletics and sports industries; Adams operated a string ski resorts in the Rocky Mountains, rang from New Mexico to Montana. Adams even attempted to open seasonal operations in the coldest regions of Appalachia during the 1990s. Adams passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home in Denver, Colorado. A “lovable, kind-hearted, energetic and fun-loving” man beloved by his family and friends, as his nephew William S. Adams puts it, the family of Harland has yet to announce the funeral arrangements. Adams is survived by his sister and brother, along with his wife of 60 years, Donna Smith, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Rhett. He will surely be missed.

The Louisville Times, Kentucky newspaper, 8/18/2014



…Grammer’s personal experience with criminals made him very reluctant to allow even non-violent criminals to regain voting rights after serving their sentences. Seeking out a way to appeal to undecided voters critical of apparent congressional gridlock, Grammer threw his weight behind another House-approved bill that was still in committee in the Senate. “This bill,” he told reporters at the White House, “gives crime victims a voice in the process and the equal rights they deserve.” Grammer, a crime victim, spoke somberly about his experience: His father was gunned down at the age of 38. “When I learned in 2005 that my father’s killer had released from prison, it was through a tabloid newspaper. It seemed like a cruel joke.”

Due to being deeply committed to the victims’ rights cause, Grammar often volunteered his time and energy wherever he felt he could make a difference, by sharing his powerful personal story… …Grammer also sought to walk a middle ground by promoting shorter prison sentences for victimless crimes but longer sentences for crimes in which there was a victim or victims…

– Kathryn Millstone’s The Grammer Administration, Borders Books, 2021 [3]



Next Week’s Meeting, Subject 1 of 1:

We need to implement additional sanitation efforts at all outlets in all US states and territories. After the implementation of new cleanliness initiatives, we would send out sanitation inspectors 50% more frequently. This action would in fact be a reaction to reputation to cleanliness upheld by Culver’s.

When I cut the ribbon at a new outlet that opened in Casper, Wyoming last month, one parent – a mother of two young daughters – came up to me and said that after the SARS global pandemic she partied like the rest of us. But now she has young children, and she does not want them to grow up, live through and experience the horrors of those months, which seem to have been most forgotten by most people, she says.

According to the head of our sanitation division, many of the restaurants that experience minor outbreaks of SARS every autumn belong to the same restaurant chains that have repealed all safezoning practices in their outlets. But at Culver’s, their alleged mentality of “understanding of the need to have a clean establishment” never really went away.

These people, the customers – the mothers spending their money wisely, the young technetters spreading information faster than any grapevine of yesteryear ever could – they take note of these things, from the condiment racks to the pop filling stations to the undersides of the tables.

Thus, we need to discuss how to best enhance our own cleanliness standards. I am convinced that it will be an economically and financially beneficial idea for us to improve our sanitation conditions in all of our locations.

– KFC-US internal email, from CEO Collins to DoB members, 8/25/2014 (leaked 10/10/2020)



SENATE NARROWLY PASSES BOTH CRIME REFORM BILLS IN RARE SHOWING OF D.C. COMPROMISE

The New York Times, 8/27/2014



“…In political news, US Congressman Piyush ’Harland’ Jindal, a Republican who has represented one of Louisiana’s most conservative House Districts since 2001, is facing backlash after coming out against the Water Resources Penalties Reform Bill. The proposed bill, which is receiving bipartisan support, aims to ‘shift’ fines so that instead of them being ‘flat,’ they will better correspond with the offender’s net worth. In other words, the wealthier you are, the bigger your fine will be for any polluting, littering or any other rule-breaking you make while in federally-controlled parks, nature reserves and water resources...”

– ABC Morning News, 8/30/2014 broadcast



…The annual federal budget once again adhered to the restrictive requirements of the BBA. To compensate for an increase in military funding, cutbacks wee made to other departments such as Interior, Energy and Community Development...

– Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin’s Leadership In Turbulent Times, Simon & Schuster, 2018



“…It’s imperative that the people turn out and vote in these states holding referendums on how we should proceed, uh, going forward with reforming the Electoral College so that ‘runner-up winner’ elections like 2008 and 2012 can never happen again. …I will be voting yes on Proposition 70 in November, which would cause California to shift to allocating their votes in the Electoral College by Congressional District, instead of our current winner-take-all allocation method that suffocates the will of whoever is not in the majority...”

– US Senator Mike Gravel (D-CA), 9/5/2014 interview



SENATE PASSES COMPROMISE BILL EXPANDING RIGHTS FOR BOTH FELONS AND VICTIMS

…President Grammer will reportedly sign the bill into law next week …

– The Washington Post, 9/6/2014



“Oh, this frickin’ job,” Grammer crashed onto the coach. With a long, deep sigh he seemed to deflate like a balloon letting out air, slumping down into the seat. “Political opponents on the left and right. Countries abroad grinning with big smiles as they mount plans for economic superiority. Half the planet likes you for playing referee all the time, and the other half hates you for doing that exact same thing.”

Brown walked over, with the heaving of his body weight, sat into the chair next to him and began to slowly break the seat, one stretched stitch at a time. “Oh come on, Kelsey, it’s not so bad.” Snapping off a cold one from the six-pack he had pulled out from the mini-fridge behind his desk, he offered “Want one?”

“Can’t,” the President politely declined, “Doctor’s orders.”

“What the doctor don’t know won’t hurt him.”

“Yes, it’ll hurt the patient instead.”

“Alright, fair enough.” The Vice President’s West Wing office was small but comfortable, and in the case of this particular Vice President was overwhelmed this paraphernalia showing off Brown’s love of biker culture and the bible. A scale model of his beloved Harley Davidson rested on his desk next to a photograph of Brown with the President of said motorcycle company, all smiles. The walls were covered with Bible quotes, with a giant cross fixed directly behind Brown’s extra-large office chair.

“If people knew just how troublesome with office is, less people would run for it. So that career hacks trying to get something from you, like you’re some mind of genie in an oval bottle.” Grammer confessed, “Speaker McMaster has become a particular bete noire of mine.”

“A what?”

“He’s an ass, Harley.”

“Oh,” Brown said cautiously, “Not to sound too much like Paul Wellstone, but, eh, Kelsey, quit your kvetching already, huh? You’re the President for Christ’s sake. Take charge!”

“Heh. Yes, I should make them rue the day they went onto TON to rant about not caving in to the lobbyists’ demands.” The President ranted, “Those stubbornly insular snobs should have their underhanded tactics circumscribed, but alas, it won’t happen, Harely. Republicans want to deregulate everything, especially things at the top like billionaires oppressing workers, while the idiot Democrats want to bind up everyone and everything with so much red tape you’d think Edith Head went on a designing spree after suffering a stroke!”

“Okay, I only got most of that,” said the VP, “But the way I see it, if you don’t lay down the law around here, they’ll lay down the law out there.”

“Harley, you political parvenu, you. You’ve underscored the main issue. McMaster is unwilling to reach across aisle! I had had to do that last month or nothing good would have gotten passed. Being willing to compromise doesn’t mean comprising your beliefs!”

“No, it means you’re not a d!ck!”

“Exactly!”

– historian Jane Mackaman’s What Principles Endure: An Examination of The Grammer Presidency, Vintage E-Books, 2022



CLAIM: Chik-fil-A Has Been Serving Us Mutated Chicken For Years

Footage posted ontech and widely circulated in the late summer of 2014 claims to show leaked archival documented udio-visual evidence “Chik-fil-A food scientists” studying chickens grown in a science lab do develop without heads, too many bones or even that many feathers, but are still breathing and thus are technically “alive.”

VERDICT: Irrevocably FALSE!

EXPLANATION: The “leaked footage” of mutated chickens is in fact footage from the 1960s Italian horror film La Morte ha fatto l’uovo (“Death Laid An Egg”), in which scientists grow/breed headless chickens with small bones and fewer feathers, obly for his creations to be destroyed at the scene of that very same scene. [4]

ZqOd8d8.png

[pic: imgur.com/ZqOd8d8.png ]

Pictured: stills from the alleged leaked footage of lab-grown headless-but-alive chickens

EXTRA BIT: The “headless chickens” rumor may have contributed to the pro-healthy eating “fast food scare” of the mid-2010s

– factorfiction.co.uk, a rumor/conspiracy theory debunking website, 11/21/2017 entry



“…On Capitol Hill, President Grammar today signed a bill into law that will allow car buyers to deduct the interest on car loans and sales tax from their income taxes as a way to help the U.S. auto industry. The bill was enthusiastically supported by Michigan Governor Michael Moore and several Democratic and Republican politicians on the hill from The Rust Belt…”

– The Overmyer Network, 9/9/2014 news broadcast



US HOUSE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE STRIKES DOWN MOVE TO IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT

…The article of impeachment will not receive a vote due to the committee finding “absolutely no evidence” of possible wrongdoing on the President’s part in regards to not bailing out America’s largest banks during last year’s economic contraction…

The Washington Post, 9/12/2014



COULD NINA HUDSON BE OUR FIRST BLACK FEMALE PRESIDENT?
…currently running for a U.S. House seat, Cleveland Mayor Hudson lost bids for higher office in 2010 and 2012, but is still considered to be a rising star among the most progressive members of the Democratic party…

The Atlantic, monthly magazine, September 2014 issue



NARRATOR: “While Donald and Tommy feuding over the growing size of Trump’s role on-screen, and his shrinking number of contributions off-screen, was growing more intense, it was the trouble with The Don’s marriage that came to a head first.

MINNILLO: “I just wouldn’t tolerate it. The lying, the rudeness… [pause] …the affair Donald was having… [pause] I wouldn’t stand for it any longer.”

NARRATOR: “After only five months and two days of marriage, Vanessa Minnillo and Donald Trump signed divorce papers.”

MINNILLO: “I know he didn’t put up a fight because he wanted to be free. I know I unleashed him. But I was not willing to take on the burden of trying to hold down such a, well, person. I wouldn’t call him a man. He thought himself to be a man of a man, but he only kid himself – well, himself, and foolish young women like me.”

– Scott Neustadter’s Horrificent: The Trump-Wiseau Film Trilogy, TON Movies documentary, 2021



OHIO DINER WITH “HORRIFYING” CONDITIONS GOES FERVID ONTECH, IMPACTING FOOD TRENDS

…a diner-and-bar establishment in Akron, Ohio has been ordered to shut down after USDA and state officials discovered “horrifying” sanitation conditions in its kitchen. Images leaked to the press showing a blatant disregard for even the most basic aspects of cleanliness and food-handling are circulating widely, and could be having an impact on the fast food industry. “In the week since the story broke out, sales are down 20%,” says an anonymous manager of one of the McDonald’s outlets found in the same county, “This is one of those cases where the irresponsible behavior of one bad apple gives the illusion of spoiling the bunch.”…

– usarightnow.co.usa, 9/17/2014



…As the western world steadily recovered from the economic debacle of 2013, China was poised to try and improve their own markets’ growth after years of relative stagnation by supplying funds to American and European banks in order to boost Europe’s economy and, in doing, so improve China’s own economy by strengthening companies abroad doing business with China’s manufacturing facilities in order to meet the demands of the western consumer markets…

– Carl Krosinsky’s Modern China: A Complex Recent History, Borders Books, 2020



ALL ABOUT ADAM

Premiered: September 24, 2014

Genre(s): comedy

Cast:

MAIN CAST:

Adam Sandler as SNL’s Cajun Man, Conehead’s Carmine Weiner, Airhead’s Pip, Mixed Nuts’ Louie, Billy Madison’s Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore’s Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer’s Robbie Hart, The Waterboy’s Bobby Bouche, Big Daddy’s Sonny Koufax, Punch Drunk Love’s Barry Egan, Punch-Drunk Love’s Barry Egan, Mr. Deeds’ Longfellow Deeds, The Hot Chick’s Mambuza Bongo Guy, Anger Management’s Dave Buznik, 50 First Dates’ Henry Roth, Click’s Michael Newman, Reign Over Me’s Charlie Fineman, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’s Zohan Dvir, and Grown Ups’ Lenny Feder.

SECONDARY CAST:

Chris Farley as SNL’s Matt Foley, Wayne’s World/Wayne’s World 2/Wayne’s World 3’s Milton Conover, Coneheads’ Ronnie the Mechanic, Airheads’ Officer Wilson, Billy Madison’s Bus Driver, Tommy Boy’s Thomas Callahan III, Black Sheep’s Mike Donnelly, Beverly Hills Ninja’s Haru, Dirty Work’s Jimmy No-Nose, Kneel Before Ed’s Edward Miller, Arbuckle’s Fatty Arbuckle, Kingpin’s Ishmael, and Ghostbusters 3’s David Fasbender

Rob Schneider as Home Alone 2’s Cedric, Down Periscope’s Martin Pascal, Knock Off’s Tommy Hendricks, Susan's Plan’s Steve Stevenson, The Waterboy’s The “You Can Do It” Guy, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo/Due Bigalow 2’s Deuce Bigalow, Big Daddy/Mr. Deeds’s Nazo, The Animal’s Marvin Mange, The Hot Chick’s Clive Maxtone, 50 First Dates’ Ula, The Benchwarmers’ Gus Matthews, You Don't Mess with the Zohan’s Salim, and Grown Ups’ Rob Hilliard

TERTIARY CAST:

David Spade, Kevin Nealon, Eddie Griffin, Chris Rock, Drew Barrymore, John Mostel, Paul Shore, Yasmine Bleeth, Salina, and Jennifer Aniston all play at least two minor roles in the film

Synopsis:

Described as an Adam Sandler “shared universes” movie (poking fun at the “multiverse” trope found in many TV shows and films made by the same networks during the 2000s decade), Sandler reprises a majority of previous film roles for a “sequel” to all of them. A running gag in the film is that none of the characters notice the visual similarities between one another except for a homeless man (played by Paulie Shore) who grows paranoid from it.

Reception:

The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, fairly positive reviews from general audiences, and praise from fans of his prior work. The film was also a modest financial success.

– mediarchives.co.usa



IN THE SPIRIT OF SANDERS AND KROC: The Offerings of The Fast Food Cold War 2.0

…The Chicken Wars – the recent escalation in chicken sandwich advertising – are not just clucking along, they’re heating up with new entrants from America’s most popular fast-food chains. This week one, McDonald’s and KFC kicked off the summer with their own takes on the crispy concoction that is the chicken sandwich. KFC went first with a tasty and affordable, extra-crispy filet on a buttered brioche bun with pickles and classic spicy mayonnaise – a product dubbed “Crunchy Chicken Special.” McDonald’s similarly-named “Crispy Chicken Special” – which tops chicken, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo with pickles and a spicy pepper sauce, all on a potato roll – soon followed...

– knn.co.usa/culture/food, 9/29/2014



…I disagreed with most of Bezos’s plans for NASA. I appreciated his decision to retain the Lunar Robot Hub idea, albeit on a smaller scale, in an overall effort for humanity to “return to outer space and stay there this time.” He called for another Marstronaut expedition, this time one meant to establish a permanent colony on the Red Planet by the year 2030. His plans were colonialist, but understandable – the more people we have on this planet, the less resources we have to share. We need to spread out if we are to survive as a species in the long term. So on that note, Jeffrey and I could see eye-to-creepy-eye.

But I never stopped not trusting the man. I just could not shake off this bad and foreboding vibe that came with the statement “NASA Director Jeffrey Bezos.” Honestly, I would have preferred having Acting Director of NASA, who served before him, taking the post. I liked Jerome Apt – the very physical definition of a nerd, looking even goofier than Eddie Deezan – he had a more sincere and humane head on his shoulders, and should not have been passed over for the job in favor of Bezos. But Bezos was put in charge of NASA nevertheless, and I could do nothing about it. I just took my generous severance package and left to settle legal affairs out of court and then plan my next move…

– John McAfee’s autobiography Outer Space Deserves More Iguanas: My Life Being Me, numerous on-net publication sites, 2022



MCMILLAN DOES IT AGAIN!: Mayor Cuts Property Taxes For Low-Income Homeowners, Convinces City Council To Offer Tax Credits For Certain Commuters

– The Staten Island Advance, NYC newspaper, 10/4/2014



…of course, not all of Ross’ post-VP activities were apolitical. In 2014, he encouraged urban and sunburn residents of neighboring stares to visit West Virginia during the autumn to enjoy the lavish colors of the changing trees during that time of year. The emphasis, however, was part of a much larger effort by West Virginia’s Governor Charlotte Pritt it make her state “the Vermont of Appalachia.” Governor Pritt’s ambitious plans called for improving industrial towns with open-air markets and transforming vacant, decaying, and underutilized properties into thriving business centers and housing complexes. Most prominently, though, was her environmental renewal efforts to reclaim land damaged by mining companies and improve the state’s air quality and state parks and forests in order to bring in both more tourists and more residents.

WFRuJSC.png

[pic: imgur.com/WFRuJSC.png ]

Above: Wheeling, WV, the site of several urban revitalization efforts in the state

Another famous artist who supported Pritt’s efforts was the apolitical musician John Denver (b. 1943). The skilled singer-songwriter, who had recorded the single “Easy To Talk, Easy To Listen” with Bob Ross in 1997, co-hosted a charity event in Hurricane, WV, with several West Virginia musicians to raise money for sufferers of Coal Lung, a.k.a. black lung disease, in October 2014. The event helped raise awareness in other parts of the country of the negative aspects of coalmining, and helped contribute to Pritt’s efforts to shift the state’s economy away from coal…

– Kristin G. Congdon, Doug Blandy, and Danny Coeyman’s Happy Clouds, Happy Trees: The Bob Ross Phenomenon, University Press of Mississippi, Second edition, 2021



THERE’S A GOODLAD! Former PM Regains Tory Leadership

…Tonight’s election for Conservative Party leadership saw former PM Alastair Goodlad, Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal since 2005, win the position in a landslide. His selection comes after all but one candidate bowed out upon him declaring himself a candidate; only musician Brian May, a candidate for an MP seat in 2011, remained in the race in protest of Goodlad’s “coronation,” but received only 11.9% of the vote. Goodlad won the remaining 88.1%.

Goodlad succeeding the retiring Rees-Mogg reflects the internal upheavals of the party in recent years. When Rees-Mogg won the last party leadership election, on 9 September 2012, it was on a “for the future” message that he bested fellow candidates Alex Macmillan (an MP since 2005) and Sandra Rivett (MP since 1895). Rees-Mogg’s underperformance earlier this year was enough to convince the Tories to return to the style and policies of Goodlad, who entered the race at the last minute as a “unity” candidate…

The Guardian, UK newspaper, 10/10/2014



ELIZABETH HERRING APOLOGIZES FOR PRIOR NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE CLAIMS

…the “Wellstonian” Democratic nominee’s long-shot bid for Governor of Oklahoma has become an even longer shot amid controversy over false Native American heritage claims. Herring, who was born in Oklahoma in 1949 and has lived and worked here for most of her life in academia, identified as “American Indian” on a registration card for the State Bar of Oklahoma back 1979. To quell claims of “leeching off of programs meant to help minorities,” as one of her Democratic primary opponents put it, Herring announced she would have her DNA tested. After the results came back, Herring delayed announcing them for nearly a month, raising suspicions that were confirmed upon her releasing them – it turned out Ms. Herring actually has less Native American DNA than the average Caucasian-American…

The Lawton Constitution, Oklahoma newspaper, 10/12/2014



“I can understand her mindset during all of this. I can relate to it. My parents lived in Chicago, see? Then Gary, Indiana, then finally moved to Colorado, where grandma had moved to years earlier due to wanderlust and a want for a change of scenery. Grandmother Gertrude, now, she was from Alabama and she claimed to be part Cherokee because many Blacks back then had to claim to have Native American heritage. And why? Because it was considered better than being black.” It’s possible something like this happened earlier in her family history. Should we condemn her stories told before she was born? No. But maybe she should criticize her for not ever getting the story verified.”

– former Governor Wellington Marion Webb (D-CO), KXKL Radio Denver, local talk/news program, 10/14/2014 broadcast [5]



19 October 2014: on this day in history, the Roman Catholic Church beautifies Pope Paul VI

– onthisdayinhistory.co.uk



...As the midterms neared, the role of government in regards to private employment became a leading issue for debates. In the final the debate for a US Senate seat from North Carolina, for example, the two candidates in the race, challenger Dan Clodfelter (D) and incumbent Margaret A. “Meg” Ryan (R) upheld the standard positions of their respective parties.

“The more Americans need to consume, the more they should produce in order to be more self-reliant,” stated Ryan in order to win over libertarians in her party.

Clodfelter countered, “But self-reliance is only possible if workers given freedom to make a decent living, which includes higher take-home pay, better job security, and better job opportunities in the public and private sectors.”…

– Gary C. Jacobson’s The Power and the Politics of Congressional Elections, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015



GRAMMER SIGNS PARKS AND WATER RESOURCES PENALTIES REFORM BILL INTO LAW

The Washington Post, 10/21/2014



“LLOYD REESE” LIKELY FLED THE US, CIA REPORT FINDS

…The CIA concludes that there is “more than enough” evidence to suggest that the man known as Lloyd Havaw Reese has fled the United States. According to the spokesperson for the CIA, Mr. Reese, whose real name is Lee Harvey Oswald, most likely fled American authorities to either Canada, Mexico or Cuba. All three of those nations are working with the CIA and INTERPOL to try and find him for his connection to alleged misuse of campaign funds connected to his surprising but unsuccessful run for Governor of Montana two years ago…

– The Billings Gazette, Montana newspaper, 10/23/2014



…Of course, there were times when Harley showed his dangerously aggressive side, too. I recall one incident on the eve of the 2014 midterms, when we were discussing the continued rioting in the Catalonia and Basque regions of Spain. Things were only just starting to simmer down, but at the time that did not appear to be the case. As such, Harley pushed for further action in Asia and Europe, even wanting to use Air Force superiority if necessary. A military man for much of his life, Harley basically balked at the libertarian notion of non-military intervention if even greenlighting any intervention at all, and remarked, I quote, “Maybe we should just the bomb Basque region into submission!”

“That might be too far, Harley,” I told him.

“How? They’re causing trouble, let’s show them that when they act like some backwards hellhole like North Korea, we won’t treat them any better than some backwards hellhole like North Korea.”

It took a while to convince him that Spain was a first-world nation with deep economic ties to the rest of Europe. …Personally, I found the notion of American planes bombing a part of Europe to be abhorrent, absurd, and – when considering the fact that, at one point in world history, European nations were invading North America – quite ironic…

– Kelsey Grammer’s second autobiography “So Far, So Good,” Dutton Press, 2021



Political consultant Max A. BOOT: “The stock market is back to being healthy again!”

Former US Secretary of Labor ROBERT REICH: “But the stock market is not truly reflective of the actual economy, but reflective of how well-off the top 5% of the economy is. Even after efforts instigated under Presidents Jackson and Wellstone, efforts that I played a role in, even after those efforts, the number of people in this country who actually own stock is at a historic high, but even still, a wide majority of Americans still do not own any stock at all.”

– CBS roundtable discussion, 10/29/2014



November United States Senate election results, 2014

Date: November 4, 2014

Seats: 35 of 104

Seats needed for majority: 53

New Senate majority leader: Webb Franklin (R-MS)
New Senate minority leader: Gary Locke (D-WA)

Seats before election: 56 (R), 47 (D), 1 (I)
Seats after election: 52 (R), 51 (D), 1 (I)
Seat change: R v 4, D ^ 4, I - 0

Full List:
Alabama: incumbent Spencer T. Bachus III (R) over Quinton T. Ross Jr. (D)
Alaska: incumbent Kevin Meyer (R) over Ray Metcalfe (D) and Susan Lindauer (Country)
Arkansas: incumbent Jim Guy Tucker (D) over Tom Cotton (R) and Susan Benjamin (Green)
Colorado: incumbent Langhorne “Lang” Sias (R) over Tom Strickland (D)
Delaware: incumbent Marjorie “Midge” Osterlund (D) over Kevin Wade (R)
Georgia: incumbent Bob Barr (R) over Edward Jerome Tarver (D)
Idaho: Dr. Rex Floyd Rammell (R) over Nels Mitchell (D); incumbent Helen Chenoweth (R) lost re-nomination
Illinois: incumbent Kwame Raoul (D) over Evelyn Sanguinetti (R)
Iowa: incumbent Terry Branstad (R) over Stephen N. Six (D)
Kansas: incumbent Carla J. Stovall (R) over Chad Taylor (D)
Kentucky: incumbent Martha Layne Osborne (D) over David Patterson (R)
Louisiana: incumbent Clyde Cecil Holloway (R) over Troyce Guice (D)
Maine: incumbent Angus King (I) over Shenna Bellows (D) and Scott D’Amboise (R)
Massachusetts: Demetrius J. Atsalis (D) over incumbent appointee Lewis George “Lew” Evangelidis (R)
Michigan: Terry Lynn Stern Rakolta (R) over Mark Schauer (D); incumbent Jack R. Lousma (R) retired
Minnesota: incumbent Sharon Sayles Belton (D) over Tim Penny (R)
Mississippi: incumbent Peter H. “Pete” Johnson (R) over Travis Childers (D)
Montana: incumbent Larry R. Williams (R) over Amanda Curtis (D) and Roger Roots (Liberty)
Nebraska: incumbent Orrin Hatch (R) over David Domina (D) and Jim Jenkins (Independent)
New Hampshire: Yvonne Katrina Lantos (D) over incumbent Kelley Ashby (R)
New Jersey: Lisa Perez Jackson (D) over Steve Lonegan (R); incumbent Mary V. Mochary (R) retired
New Mexico: incumbent Roberto Mondragon (D) over David Clements (R)
North Carolina: Dan Clodfelter (D) over incumbent Margaret A. “Meg” Ryan (R)
Oklahoma: incumbent Steve Largent (R) over Dan Boren (D)
Oregon: incumbent Jefferson Smith (D) over Jo Rae Perkins (R (and endorsed by the Boulder Party of Oregon))
Potomac: Anthony A. Williams (D) over Bruce Majors (R); incumbent David Schwartzman (D) retired
Puerto Rico: incumbent Norma Burgos (R) over Margarita Nolasco Santiago (D)
Rhode Island: incumbent Elizabeth H. Roberts (D) over Mark Zaccaria (R)
South Carolina: J. Gary Simrill (R) over incumbent Mike Thurmond (D)
South Dakota: incumbent SuAnne Big Crow (R) over R. J. Volesky (D)
Tennessee: incumbent Hillary Rodham-Clinton (R) over Lincoln Davis (D)
Texas: incumbent Mac Thornberry (R) over Nancy Nathanson (D), David Alameel (La Raza Unida) and Steve Stockman (Liberty)
Virginia: Donald McEachin (D) over incumbent George Allen (R)
West Virginia: incumbent Nick Rahall (liberal R) over Paul T. Farrell Jr. (D)
Wyoming: Foster Stephen Friess (R) over Mary Throne (D); incumbent Barbara Cubin (R) retired

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



United States House of Representatives results, 2014

Date: November 4, 2014

Seats: All 441

Seats needed for majority: 221

New House majority leader: H. Dargan McMaster (R-SC)
New House minority leader: Barbara B. Kennelly (D-CT)

Last election: 239 (R), 202 (D)
Seats won: 225 (R), 216 (D)
Seat change: R v 14, D ^ 14

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



LIBERTARIAN ACTIVIST ELECTED TO CONGRESS

…Representative-Elect Milton R. Wolf (b. 1971), a libertarian Republican, is board-certified radiologist who strongly supported President Grammer’s handling of the Unlucky Recession, but had organized a small protest outside the White House over the President’s actions concerning Sudan in early 2013. Wolf, a noninterventionist activist critical of America’s Universal Healthcare system, is the second cousin, once removed of Republican Montana Governor Barry McCain. The more centrist McCain who endorsed Wolf and campaigned for him in the weeks prior to the election despite their differing views on foreign policy…

The Wichita Eagle, Kansas newspaper, 11/4/2014



FORMER SECRET SERVICEMAN JASON CHAFFETZ WINS U.S. HOUSE SEAT

– The Deseret News, Utah newspaper, 11/4/2014



United States Governor election results, 2014

Date: November 4, 2014

Number of state gubernatorial elections held: 37

Seats before: 27 (R), 23 (D), 2 (I), 0 (G)
Seats after: 25 (R), 25 (D), 1 (I), 1 (G)
Seat change: R v 2, D ^ 2, I v 1, G ^ 1

Full list:
Alabama: Richmond McDavid Flowers Jr. (D) over Adelbert Carl “Del” Marsh (R); David Woods (R) was term-limited
Alaska: Lesil Lynn “Lizzie” McGuire (Liberty-Republican-Alliance) over incumbent Willie Hensley (Democratic-Green-Union) and Jerry Ward (Boulder)
Arizona: Tina Flint Smith (D) over incumbent Don Goldwater (Liberty)
Arkansas: Connor Eldridge (D) over incumbent Mark Darr (R)
California: incumbent Cruz Bustamante (D) over George Radanovich (R), Tom Campbell (Liberty) and Judy May Eng (Green)
Colorado: incumbent William “Bill” Thiebaut Jr. (D) over Patricia Elaine Miller (R)
Connecticut: incumbent Nancy Lee Johnson (R) over Susan Bysiewicz (D) and Nancy S. Wyman (Independent Democratic)
Florida: Alex Sink (D) over incumbent Bob Smith (R) and Pam Iorio (Independent Democratic)
Georgia: incumbent Shirley Franklin (D) over John Barge (R)
Hawaii: Douglas S. “Doug” Chin (D) over Jeff Davis (R); incumbent Muliufi Francis “Frank” Hannemann (D) retired
Idaho: Butch Otter (R) over Brian C. Cronin (D); incumbent Sharon L. Block (R) retired
Illinois: Al Giannoulias (D) over Christine Radogno (R); incumbent Roland Burris (D) retired
Iowa: Kimberly Ann McFadden (R) over Jack Hatch (D) and Christopher Reed (Independent Republican); incumbent Fred Grandy (R) retired
Kansas: Susan Wagle (R) over Carl Brewer (D); incumbent Lynn Jenkins (R) retired
Maine: Patricia LaMarche (Green) over Mike Michaud (D) and Hannah Pingree (R); incumbent Peter E. Cianchette (R) retired
Maryland: Kumar P. Barve (D) over Daniel Bongino (R); incumbent John Peter Sarbanes (D) retired
Massachusetts: Maura Healey (D) over Kerry Healey (R); incumbent Michael Dukakis (D) retired
Michigan: incumbent Michael Moore (D) over Pete Hoekstra (R)
Minnesota: incumbent Alex Kozinski (IRL) over Margaret Anderson Kelliher (D)
Nebraska: David K. Karnes (R) over Kim Robak (D) and incumbent Ernie Chambers (I)
Nevada: Randy Quaid (R) over incumbent Oscar Goodman (D)
New Hampshire: incumbent Rushern L. Baker III (D) over Walt Havenstein (R)
New Mexico: Allen Edward Weh (R) over Gary King (D); incumbent Gary Earl Johnson (R) was term-limited
New York: Michael Gianaris (D) over John M. Kennedy Jr. (R); incumbent Tom Golisano (I) retired
Ohio: James M. “Jim” Petro (R) over Robert “Bob” Fitrakis (D); incumbent Maureen O’Connor (R) retired
Oklahoma: incumbent Rebecca Hamilton (R) over Elizabeth Herring (D) and R. J. Harris (Liberty)
Oregon: incumbent Tina Kotek (D) over Suzanne Bonamici (R) and Frances Lappe (Independent)
Pennsylvania: incumbent Barry Goldberg (D) over Everett A. Stern (R) and Lynne Abraham (Boulder)
Potomac: Linda Washington Cropp (D) over Kris Hammond (R); incumbent Vincent Bernard Orange Sr. (D) retired
Rhode Island: Bob Healey (Independent) over Angel Taveras (D) and Brendan Doherty (R); incumbent Lincoln Davenport Chafee (R) retired
South Carolina: incumbent Andre Bauer (R) over Tony Krajewski Thurmond (D)
South Dakota: incumbent Stephanie Herseth (D) over Lora L. Hubbel (R)
Tennessee: Monica Wehby (R) over Sara Kyle (D); incumbent Dave Ramsey (R) was term-limited
Texas: incumbent Bill Owens (R) over Debra Medina (D/La Raza Unida)
Vermont: Jeffrey “Jeff” Weaver (D) over incumbent Bernard Peters (R), Dan Feliciano (Liberty) and Cris Ericson (Independent)
Wisconsin: incumbent Mark Green (R) over Ed Garvey (D) and David A. Clarke Jr. (Boulder)
Wyoming: Cynthia Jo “Cindy” Hill (R) over Michael Allen Green (D); incumbent W. Richard West (D) retired

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



ALASKA DELEGATION

Senators:

Class 2: Kevin Meyer (R) since 2009

Class 3: J. R. Myers (R) since 2011

> List of Congresspersons (hide - show)

Representative:

District At-large: Ramona Gail McIver Phillips (R) since 2004

> List of Congresspersons (hide - show)

1959-1965: Ralph Julian Rivers (D) – lost re-election

1965-1967: Lowell Thomas Jr. (R)
– lost re-election

1967-1970: Mike Gravel (D) – resigned upon election to a US Senate seat

1970-1979: William L. Hensley (D)

1979-1989: Jalmar Kerttula (R)
– retired to run for Governor in the 1988 recall election

1989-2003: Ramona Lee Etta Barnes (R) – died in office

2004-present: Ramona Gail McIver Phillips (R) – incumbent
2004 (sp): over Ernie Hall (D)
2004: over Dennis Egan (D) and Alvin A. Anders (Action)
2006: over Sarah J. “Sally” Smith (D)
2008: over Diane E. Benson (D) and Lydia Darby-O’Callahan (Independent)
2010: over Bruce M. Botelho (D)
2012: over Daniel DeNardo (D)
2014: over Dawn Mendias (D)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa/US_Congress/composition/date:11_11_2014



Mayors of CLEVELAND

1/1/1954-12/31/1965: 49) Anthony Joseph Celebrezze Sr. (D, 1910-1998) – previously served in the state senate from 1951 to 1953; improved the city’s infrastructure with urban renewal and rapid-transit system programs; lost re-election in an upset; later served in the U.S. House
1953: William J. McDermott (R)
1955: unopposed
1957: unopposed
1959: Tom Ireland (R)
1961: Albina Cermak (R)
1963: Willard W. Brown (R)

1/1/1966-12/31/1967: 50) Ralph Joseph Perk Sr. (R, 1914-1999) – previously worked in real estate and previously served on the city council from 1954 to 1966; city’s first Republican Mayor since 1941; banned certain musicians from holding concerts at city-owned venues following a riot breaking out at a Rolling Stones performance in 1965; called certain civil rights activists “extremists” and called certain shoutnik leaders “traitors” for criticizing President Sander’s handling of Vietnam prior to the invasion of Hanoi; lost re-election by a narrow margin despite it being a good year for Republicans
1965: Anthony J. Celebrezze (D)

1/1/1968-12/31/1971: 51) Carl Burton Stokes (D, 1927-1996) – city’s first African-American Mayor; sought to revitalize low-income neighborhoods; addressed industrial pollution concerns and root causes after the Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969; retired to successfully run for a U.S. House seat in 1972; later served in the US Senate
1967: Ralph Joseph Perk Sr. (R)
1969: Seth Taft (R) and Sydney Stapleton (I)

1/1/1972-12/31/1975: 52) Ralph Joseph Perk Sr. (R, 1914-1999) – won over the Eastern European vote in both elections; cracked down on city crime and expanded cities international ties; accidently set the top of his hair on fire with a welder’s torch in a well-publicized 1972 incident; lost re-election over his handling of deteriorating racial relations despite the improving economy
1971: Anthony Garofoli (D) and Arnold R. Pinkney (I)
1973: Patrick L. Gerity (D)

1/1/1976-12/31/1977: 53) Mercedes Cotner (D, 1905-1998) – city’s first female Mayor and city’s second African-American Mayor; served on the city council for 25 years and was often the bridge between conflicting factions on the council; retired after one term due to declining health
1975: Ralph Joseph Perk Sr. (R)

1/1/1978-12/31/1985: 54) Ralph Joseph Perk Sr. (R, 1914-1999) – early supporter of President Denton, and reportedly sought a position in his cabinet during the Buz Lukens Hush Money Scandal; lost re-election amid rising unemployment and public utility issues; decided against running for an unprecedented eighth term in 1991 after being diagnosed with cancer, and subsequently retired from public life
1977: Ed Feighan (D), Arnold R. Pinkney (I) and Alyson Kennedy (Workers’)
1979: Charles Lewis “Charlie” Butts (D)
1981: Patrick Sweney (D)
1983: Basil Russo (D)

1/1/1986-12/31/1991: 55) Gary Kucinich (D, b. 1951) – previously served on the School Board and on the city council from 1976 to 1985; city’s youngest mayor, entering office at the age of 34; is the younger brother of U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D); had the city hire and train unemployed citizens to become utility workers, and reformed the city’s tax system to have wealthier residents cover rising costs for education and utility work; reformed the city’s election process to a blanket primary-runoff system; retired to unsuccessfully run for a U.S. House seat in 1992
1985: Ralph Joseph Perk Sr. (R)
1987: James W. Barrett (I)
1989: Benny Bonanno (D)

1/1/1992-12/31/2001: 56) Michael R. White (D, b. 1951) – African-American; served in the state senate from 1984 to 1991; was pro-business and pro-police; retired to successfully run for a U.S. House seat in 2002, and later ran an alpaca farm and Ohio-based winery company
1991: Tim Hagan (D)
1993: David Rock (D)
1995: Helen Knipe Smith (D)
1997: Ralph Joseph Perk Jr. (R)
1999: Raymond C. Pierce (D)

1/1/2002-12/31/2009: 57) Bill Patmon (D, b. 1946) – African-American; city council from 1989 to 2001; close ally of his predecessor, though was noticeably further to the left of him on numerous issues, including education and healthcare, but not taxation and regulations; lost re-election amid allegations of corruption
2001: Mary Rose Oakar (D)
2003: James Draper (D)
2005: Nelson Cintron Jr. (D)
2007: Rick Nagin (Communist)

1/1/2010-12/31/2015: 58) Nina Hudson (D, b. 1967) – African-American female; progressive and strong supporter of women’s rights; first elected in an upset; served on the city council from 2002 to 2009; struggled to work well with the city council; known for criticizing many fellow Ohio Democrats; lost re-election after alienating multiple local officials, who endorsed her runoff opponent, as did several prominent Democratic party leaders from the statewide and national levels; lost bids for higher office in 2010, 2012, and 2014 due to failing to gather support from major party leaders; currently (July 4, 2021) serving as a university professor; has expressed interest in re-entering politics someday, and so it is speculated that she may run for public office again in 2022 or 2023
2009: Bill Patmon (D)
2011: Laverne Jones-Gore (R)
2013: Robert M. Kilo (I)

1/1/2016-present: 59) Shirley A. Smith (D, b. 1950) – African-American female; previously worked as a radio talk-show host; previously served in state house from 1999 to 2007 and in the state senate from 2007 to 2015; incumbent
2015: Nina Hudson (D)
2017: Jeffrey D. Johnson (D)
2019: John E. Barnes Jr. (D)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa, 7/4/2021



…Gabriela Barron Cuevas was born on April 3, 1979 in El Paso, Texas to Mexican immigrants seeking employment in the wake of the 1978 recession. Barron Cuevas graduated from Texas A&M with degrees in law and political science in 2001, and became shortly afterwards became a journalist for The Houston Chronicle. Her coverage of post-KW2 reconciliation efforts won her the prestigious Charles E. Green award in 2008. In 2012, Barron Cuevas was admitted to the bar and soon after was hired by a Houston-based law firm, where she specialized in media-based cases. As writing op-eds for local papers boosted her local presence, she was considered the favorite upon announcing a bid for congress in early 2014...

– clickopedia.co.usa



CALIFORNIA VOTERS REJECT PROPOSITION 70, 55.9%-to-44.1%

The New York Times, 11/5/2014



THE LATEST SARS VACCINE: Who Should Get It First And Why

…SARS has gone from being a world-stopping plague to an annual seasonal “allergy” of a virus, deadly than the flu but thankfully and relatively less common. However, as the years pass, we have noted (see our reports here) a steady decline in sanitation practices. Because of these trends, we still urge all to get the latest version of the SARS vaccinations, especially in light of other reports (see here) having found that the number of people getting vaccinated nationwide has dropped significantly from last year’s numbers…

– healthline.co.usa, 11/12/2014



STATE REFERENDUMS ON ELECTORAL COLLEGE SEND CLEAR BUT MIXED SIGNALS

...In addition to several non-binding referendums, several liberal states have also signed onto a pact to cast their votes for whoever wins the popular vote. The “NPV Bloc” conflicts with support expressed for other EC-reforming ideas, such as implementing a two-round system, or even adding to the EC a stateless “bloc” of 30 electoral votes that goes to whoever wins the popular vote…

The Boston Globe, 11/14/2014



KFC’S PETE HARMAN DIES AT AGE 95

The humble Utah businessman who helped bring "Finger-Lickin' Good" chicken to Utah and the world died at 95 on Wednesday. Utah native Leon W. "Pete" Harman passed away early Wednesday morning, James D. Olson, CEO of Harman Management Corp., confirmed.

"Simply put, neither the Harman system nor the KFC brand would exist as we know them today without Pete's selfless leadership, commitment or passion," Olson said in a statement.

Harman will be remembered as "an innovator" throughout the company, Olson said, from his idea to package complete meals for families on the go to a business model that allowed management teams to own significant interests in the restaurants where they worked in order to share in the profits. He was known for heading back to introduce himself to the cooks as soon as he entered one of the restaurants.


Harman began selling business and future US President Colonel Harland Sanders’ signature chicken by the bucket in 1952, roughly a year after The Colonel began selling his birds in Kentucky, marking the first successful launching of The Colonel's offerings outside of The Bluegrass State.

In an interview with The Deseret News in 2002, 50 years after that KFC outlet opened, Harman credited the positive atmosphere in Utah as part of the restaurant's success.

"What really worked was the delightful labor force in Utah," he said at the time. "People believe in working, and they're friendly — that's the culture that got KFC off the ground and into the whole world."

Harman was born in Granger, which is now part of West Valley City. His mother, Grace, died of pneumonia two days later, leaving his father with nine children. A year later, Pete's father married his brother's widow, Caroline Hemenway Harmon, who already had six children.

Four years later, Pete's father died, and "Aunt Carrie" pulled the family together to make a living on the farm. Years later, Harman donated a building on the BYU campus named in her honor.

Harman met and married his wife, Arline Harman, while working in restaurants in San Francisco. The couple moved to Salt Lake City in 1941 and opened their first restaurant together, the "Do Drop Inn." They met Sanders at a restaurant convention in Chicago in 1951. The rest is history, recounted in the book "Secret Recipe."

Pete and Arline Harman relocated to Los Altos, California, in the 1960s, where they established their business headquarters.
Harmon was not involved in the Sanders administration, but remained a close friend of The Colonel until his death in 1990. Arline Harmon died in January 2013 just before her 97th birthday.

The Deseret News, Utah newspaper, 11/19/2014 [6]



THE FRASIER THANKSGIVING SPECIAL: Little Frasier, Lots of Laughs

…while former US Presidents have certainly lent their faces to a TV show or two in the past – Colonel Sanders being the most prominent – today’s entry into the annals of Reunion Special History marks the first time that a production company could truthfully boast that the incumbent US President agreed to an extended cameo for them, appearing for several scene involving phone calls, VidCalls, and two important scenes near the end of the 70-minute-long “mini movie” special... ...The premise of the special is that the Crane clan head out to Chicago to support Frasier, who has been hosting a regional TV talk show that is set to air its final episode. However, each causes trouble on the plane, causing them to be kicked off of it; with Martin’s RV totaled in a previous incident, and Niles having developed a fear of trains, the group has to hitch a ride to The Windy City, to Martin and Daphne’s enjoyment and Niles’ horror... The writers wisely avoided making too many political jokes, allowing anyone who enjoys witty humor and catching up on old friends to enjoy watching this special and check in one last time on these crazy and lovable tossed salads and scrambled eggs…

– Variety magazine, TV/film review/editorial section, 11/25/2014



UNHCR REPORTS 50K STILL STATELESS FROM SUDAN CONFLICTS

…UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN agency responsible for aiding and assisting refugees, forcibly displaced peoples and the stateless, today revealed that over 50,000 people are still displaced from the Darfurian and South Sudanese Wars of Independence. …Most people who fled from the destruction and carnage of the warfare fled into neighboring countries such as Chad, with a majority of those fleeing being women and children. The UNHCR and many other organizations are working to assist these displaced individuals into finding statehood, while efforts to develop the two new African nation are worked on at the same time…

W5C1U44.png

[pic: imgur.com/W5C1U44.png ]

Above: an aerial view of a part of Darfur

The New York Times, 12/1/2014



UNITC FINDS ALI KUSHAYB GUILTY OF 51 CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, WAR CRIMES

…the former Sudan military leader was arrested near the end of the war after fleeing to the Central African Republic…

The Guardian, 5/12/2014



“…Former President of Sudan Omar Al-Bashir has been found guilty of war crimes by the UN International Tribunal Court, and has been sentenced to life in prison at Helmond…”

– NBC, 12/9/2014 news broadcast



“Great! Maybe he and Gaddafi can get to be cellmates!”

– comedian Dave Chappelle, reply-comment posted on buddytalk.co.usa, a popular social media netsite, 12/10/2014 post



…while focused primarily on pragmatic short-term action, McMillan did plan ahead in some respects. For example, he used Turkey’s handling of the 2014 Winter Olympics as a reference point, along with Greece’s plans for the 2018 Winter Olympics, for how to best handle the post-2016 economic fallout of the city having stadiums and other amenities that were no longer in use. While the King of Greece showcased optimism, Jimmy McMillan expressed dread.

“The city will take a hit long-term, but you can help by spending your money in your city. Don’t travel out of NYC to spend your money, don’t give up your money to some other town, and then wonder why your own town has no money,” the Mayor proclaimed at a press conference in December 2, as his one-year rent freeze neared its end. “Think smart – think local.”

As 2015 approached, a rising issue for the Mayor’s office was the future city budget. The budget question was an important nor because the Governor and state legislature are the ones that authorize Empire state cities to take on debt, much to the consternation of McMillan. “We can’t go into debt without the state government’s approval, and it doesn’t look like this new idiot,” McMillan referred to then-Governor-Elect Gianaris during a meeting with his inner circle. “He’s not going to be working with us to solve the city’s budget problems. We’re in this alone.”

Sitting in the Mayor’s office, McMillan was flanked by budget overseer Maria Doulis, head speechwriter Kim Phillips-Fein, and city councilpersons and political allies Liz Krueger and Kris Davis.

“In a single block, diners, dry cleaners, hardware stores, beauty salons and other shops are all within walking distance, sharing spaces and foot traffic and all surviving together. Too many landlords hate that, the sense of community and people helping each other not to get money out of it, but because they’re not d!cks to one another,” McMillan lamented failing to lower the rent cap any more than $2,000 a month, but was hopeful that the past eleven months would be remembered in the 2015 “midterm” elections in the city – the rent freeze had been credited with contributing to the rise in employment rites, and several organizations were crediting it with noticeable drops in reports of depression and domestic disturbances.

Economist James Parrott, another member of McMillan’s inner circle, suggested that the city close its budget gap by raise taxes on the riches residents.

“Ever heard of white flight? Rich flight’s even faster,” was McMillan’s reply. “We’ll do that if absolutely necessary, but I think it’s not absolutely necessary at the moment.”

“Well, at least one thing is working in our favor,” Phillips-Fein observed, “The city’s creditors, the once-major Big Banks, are still in shambles. I mean, yeah, they’re picking themselves back up, but only slowly.”

McMillan contemplated for a moment, then sighed, breathed deeply, and exclaimed, “Berlin generated $3.6billion and spent more than $40billion for the Summer Olympics in 2008. As of 2013, Los Angeles, the host of the 1976 Summer Games, is the only host city that realized a profit from the games, mostly because the required infrastructure already existed, and all the construction work of the past several years tells you that we did not already have the right infrastructure to host the games. [7] But I’ve been told it’s too late to call them off now, so, what can be done? I’ll tell you what can be done, it’s something the Republicans will like – we are going to milk the games for all they’ve got. Charges, taxation, payments, fines, et cetera, for everything, from technet provider services to hotel mini-fridges to walking on our sidewalks. If an Olympian is doing something, we’re charging him for it. Because New Yorkers should not have to foot this bill. They should not have to suffer for the stupidity of the officials they elect. And they should not have to pay for the amenities of visitors. They’re already paying too much because, even with the rent freeze, the rent is still too damn high!”

– Maria Stevenson and John Capozzi’s TRITDH: The Jimmy McMillan Story, Vagabond Books, 2021



“Yes, yes, I remember him. I drove him around about six, seven years ago I think. Very odd little man. He asked to be driven to this certain spot near town, way up on a hill overlooking the valley. Good scenic spot. I remember he walked around, and knelt down to look at this very old tree branch sticking out of ground. He asked in perfect Spanish for how old the tree was, and I told him, ‘older than you, probably.’ And he just nodded and muttered to himself, ‘Yeah, this is what did it. This f@#kin’ tree.’ He was a very odd fella.”

– Cuban tour guide, segment for documentary on Lee Harvey Oswald, 2022



…Ahead of the 2014 Christmas Mass, Pope Patrick I had privately and publicly expressed strong opposition to the proposed removal of certain restrictions on clerical marriage in the Eastern Catholic Churches’ diaspora. However, with his relationship with the growing liberal base of the church, the Pope reluctantly approved of such measures before the start of the New Year in order to better appease to the more liberal, “modernizing” and “westernizing” factions of the Catholic Church…

– Robert Blair Kaiser’s Church In Search of Itself: Pope Patrick And The Battle For The Future, Knopf Books, 2019



“When the economy is good, people fear when it will go back to being bad. This locks people into a perpetual state of worry. That has to change.”

– media mogul Bernard “Bern” Sanders, NYC radio discussion, 12/23/2014



SEASON’S GREETINGS: The First Family’s Christmas Vid Featured Baby Billy Grammer And The Technet Can’t Get Enough of Him!

– usarightnow.co.usa, 12/26/2014



QUkjhxx.png

[pic: imgur.com/QUkjhxx.png ]

– KFC Special Offer in KFC Kuwait, 12/30/2014



TEXAS DELEGATION

Senators:
Class 1: Kay Granger (R) in office since 2007
Class 3: Mac Thornberry (R) in office since 2009

Representatives:
District 1: Wayne Christian (R, b. 1950) in office since 2005
District 2: Thad Heartfield (R, b. 1940) in office since 1979
District 3: Gabriela Barron Cuevas (D, b. 1979) in office since 2015
District 4: John Kevin Ellzey Sr. (R, b. 1970) in office since 2015
District 5: Ken Ashby (R) in office since 1997
District 6: Dr. Laura G. Murillo (R) in office since 2013
District 7: Sylvester Turner (D) in office since 2005
District 8: George Brenneman (R) in office since 2007
District 9: Royce Barry West (D, b. 1952) in office since 1999
District 10: Brewster McCracken (R) in office since 2007
District 11: Jeff Drost (R) in office since 2007
District 12: Florence Shapiro (R, b. 1948) in office since 1999
District 13: Kathy Whitmire (D, b. 1946) in office since 2013
District 14: Chris Peden (R) in office since 2009
District 15: James Byrd Jr. (D) in office since 2015
District 16: Carol Alvarado (D, b. 1967) in office since 2013
District 17: Kip Averitt (R) in office since 2011
District 18: Marvin Bush (R, b. 1956) in office since 2015
District 19: Arlene Wohlgemuth (R, b. 1947) in office since 2005
District 20: Laura Lane Welch (R, b. 1946) in office since 1991
District 21: James Arthur Strohm (R) in office since 2007
District 22: Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R, b. 1953) in office since 2006
District 23: David Gordon Wallace (R) in office since 2009
District 24: Steve Stockman (R, b. 1956) in office since 1995
District 25: Raul Torres (R, b. 1955) in office since 2013
District 26: Frederick Edgar Ferguson (R) in office since 1991
District 27: Geanie Williams Morrison (R) in office since 2003
District 28: Enrique Roberto "Henry" Cuellar (D, b. 1955) in office since 1999
District 29: Clifford Messina (R) in office since 2005
District 30: Eddie Bernice Johnson (D, b. 1935) in office since 1993
District 31: Larry Gonzales (R) in office since 2015
District 32: Steve Bartlett (R) in office since 1995
District 33: William Patrick "Will" Wynn (D, b. 1961) in office since 2009
District 34: Laura Miller (D, b. 1958) in office since 2007
District 35: Ahmad Hassan (R) in office since 2011
District 36: Lloyd Alton Doggett II (D, b. 1946) in office since 1995

Composition: 25 Republicans, 11 Democrats

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa, January 2015



Republican House leadership election, 2015:

Date: January 10, 2015

Seats: All 225 Republican-held seats

Seats needed to win: 113

MINORITY LEADER:

Description:

Party infighting was seen as a major cause for the party losing 14 seats in the 2014 midterms, only allowing them to retain the House by a mere 4 seats. The GOP House’s libertarian “Hedgehog Caucus” blamed these election losses on McMaster’s “underhanded” tactics during the 2014 midterm primary elections, and subsequently sought an alternative candidate. After several higher-profile Representatives declined interest, the caucus members rallied behind moderate libertarian Rep. Larry Householder of Ohio in an effort to win moderates away from McMaster. Fearing that he would lose the election, McMaster promised to “reverse court and play ball” in the new legislative session, and swore that he would have “no qualms” with any Representatives that voted against him.

Results:

(Inc.) Dorgan McMaster (SC) – 149

Larry Lee Householder (OH) – 72

Tom Campbell (CA) (not a candidate) – 4

Despite the efforts of the party’s libertarians to oust the incumbent Speaker, McMaster managed to hold on to power thanks to winning over more support from the moderate, the deeply religious, and the “country conservative” factions of the party.

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



…In the same hopeful vein as the UN Framework Convention on Global Climate Disruption and the 1996 Kiev Protocol, the Global Climate Disruption Intergovernmental Panel of 2015, also known as the GCD Zagreb Agreement, was signed in Zagreb Yugoslavia in January 2015 by the national leaders of all but 2 of the top 25 nations on Earth producing carbon emissions. The international agreement was a plan to cut carbon emissions in half by the year 2024, an ambitious plan led by France and the UK. The two holdouts, Saudi Arabia and the United States, opposed the agreement on the grounds that ten years was simply not enough time for their respective nations to convert to renewable energy. Environmentalists criticized President Grammer for this decision, noting that solar and wind power had in recent years become some of the largest providers of energy in the US, largely thanks to the “go green” efforts of the Jackson and Wellstone administrations…

– clickopedia.co.usa



“Well, actually, I do have to hand it to Michigan’s Governor, Michael Moore. He may be struggling to raise unemployment and bring back jobs from overseas, but he’s making up for it by getting at least some to work cleaning the water systems in his state. I just saw a CBS segment yesterday covering how some water sanitation experts are now calling Michigan’s tap water ‘The Best in the Midwest’ because he had several water disinfecting plants built all over the place. That, I have to admit, has been very impressive.”

– former Governor Paul Soglin (D-WI), CBS News roundtable discussion, 1/17/2015



CARLOS I TO ABDICATE

Madrid, SPAIN – The King of Spain, Carlos I, has announced his decision to abdicate the throne in June of this year, a move that will make his son and heir apparent, Felipe VI, the new King of Spain. King Carlos I reportedly wanted to abdicate last year, but decided to wait until his nation was on the road to recovery before making his announcement...

The Guardian, UK newspaper, 22/1/2015



…Grammer went fervid ontech upon being spotted sporting a salt-and-pepper beard while attending a political fundraiser in late January 2015:

ikXBvfw.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/ikXBvfw.png ]

Technetters across party lines seemed to occur that the "fresh" face-cover suited him, and that he should keep it on.

Behind closeted doors, Grammer’s political analysts were surprised by the positive reception, even more so by Grammer’s decision to grow it out in the first place. Several of his “optics” experts had been concerned that the President wearing facial hair would lead to complaint of alleged Republican hypocrisy, as, suddenly, Republicans would think that bearded Presidents look good, after spending roughly four years criticizing President Wellstone for sporting a beard.

“This isn’t a callback to the dignified days of Lincoln,” Grammar told his optics analysts prior to attending the fundraiser, “I just think it looks good. Gives my jaw an even stronger sense of… well, of strength. And yes, I know Wellstone got nothing but flak for wearing a beard, but none of that flak was from me.”

Privately, Grammer had actually decided to grow out the beard to buck said optics team and prove that their 2008 analysis of beard popularity in the US was wrong. Others have also observed that his decision to grow out a beard arose after Republicans lost seats in both chambers but retained both the US House and US Senate.

“I like it,” reportedly said Vice President Brown about his boss’s new facial presentation. “I think he’s finally starting to embrace my philosophy of ‘to hell with perception, be honest with yourself!’” There was some wholesomeness to the Vice President’s candor, which is probably how he gained such a large following in the first place, from simply speaking his mind unfiltered, but there was also a kernel of truth to his comment as well. The President had survived a serious heart attack. It is very likely that Grammar had decided to have a more fulfilling time in office, and that went beyond policy to include how he presented himself.

…Grammer was right in regards to American attitudes toward beards: just days after the fundraiser, an extensive study was published by Gallup that showed that the number of Americans wearing beards had risen considerably in the past eight years (2006-2014), indicating a return in popularity that preceded Wellstone becoming President…

– Kathryn Millstone’s The Grammer Administration, Borders Books, 2021



RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS OF PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

1) Washington – Episcopalian and Deist

2) J. Adams – Unitarian

[snip]

31) Hoover – Quaker

32) F. Roosevelt – Episcopalian

33) Truman – Baptist

34) Eisenhower – Presbyterian – note: had no formal church affiliation until he became President, and was baptized, confirmed and became a communicant in the Presbyterian church 12 days after being sworn into office

35) L. Johnson – Disciples of Christ

36) Sanders – Assemblies of God – note: converted from Presbyterian in 1969; raised Advent Christian

37) Mondale – Methodist

38) Denton – Catholic

39) Kemp – Presbyterian

40) Bellamy – Episcopalian

41) Iacocca – Catholic

42) Dinger – Presbyterian

43) J. Jackson – Baptist

44) Wellstone – Jewish

45) Grammer – Presbyterian – note: converted from Christian Science in 2003

– clickopedia.co.usa, c. January 2015



WHICH E.C. REFORM IDEA IS BEST?

We are going nowhere, but we’re getting there fast. The movement to replace our current Presidential Election system with one that is more reflective of the people’s choices and voices is gaining momentum on both sides of the political aisle, but is still essentially directionless, with lots of options going through but no clear consensus at the moment. Organizers need to mobilize, get together, and agree to united and rally behind one idea, or these reformists will not succeed in their efforts to avoid another 2008 or 2012 [8]

– tumbleweed.co.usa, 1/29/2015 op-ed



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] OTL, according to the OTL militarytimes.com article “A ‘Warrior Tradition’: Why Native Americans continue fighting for the same government that tried to wipe them out,” 11/15/2019
[2] Italicized passages were pulled from here: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/10/kelsey-grammer-pushes-for-marsys-law-what-does-that-cost.html
[3] Ibid.
[4] This movie is available on youtube (youtube /watch?v=kEFGYydIvkE); the scene is from 1:00:01 to 1:03:48
[5] The backstory, and the italicized line, were both pulled from his OTL autobiography: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Wellington_Webb/nYw_NaCgJuMC?hl=en&gbpv=0
[6] The italicized passages were all pulled from here: https://www.deseret.com/2014/11/20/20553178/utah-man-who-founded-first-kfc-dies-at-95
[7] The italicized parts of this passage were lifted from the Investopedia.com article “The Economic Impact of Hosting The Olympics”



[8] Speaking of which, here’s a poll to determine how the EC reform process effort turns out in this timeline – “Which process is best for electing Presidents in the US?”: https://www.strawpoll.me/42718641

And here’s the nine options in the poll:

1) Direct Popular Vote And Runoff Without The Electoral College – Abandon the EC via Constitutional Amendment. Electors, which the Founding Fathers called “enlightened gatekeepers,” are no longer necessary in the modern, nationalized, educated US, and thus reasons for them existing no longer exist. The two-round system would be modeled off that of France, where a runoff is held if no candidate receives a simple majority. On one hand, this would eliminate “second-place Presidents” from ever happened again. On the other hand, it could shut out third-party candidates who would likely fail to ever make it to the second round, and it would cause small states and rural concerns to be ignored as more people live in big states and urban areas, despite rural jobs such as growing food being vital for human existence (everyone knows you need food to live). Plus, if the voices of farmers and rural voters are basically snuffed out at the Presidential level, then the populist movement in the northern Rockies could go into overdrive.

2) Direct Popular Vote And Runoff With The Electoral College – Similar to the above proposal and also done via Constitutional Amendment, except with this one, the EC is retained as a backup, in case the first-round election or runoff is too close to call ahead of Inauguration Day. But it would otherwise serve as ceremonial procedure, as important as is the VP certifying the EC results in January just ahead of the inauguration.

3) Popular Vote “Bloc” Added to The Electoral College – the Electoral College Is amended via NIA to include a hefty “bloc” of several Electoral Votes, with proposals ranging from just 20 to a whopping 60, all of which are rewarded to the winner of the popular vote. This way, the current system remains in place but is nevertheless altered without needing to pass a Constitutional Amendment. Also with this addendum, the winner of the popular vote has a far greater chance of achieving victory, though it is not a guarantee; for example, in 2008, Snowe would have needed a bloc of 77 EVs to win, but in 2012 Wellstone would have needed a bloc of 32 EVs to win.

4) National Popular Vote Compact – In lieu of instigating the long and complex process of removing the EC via Constitutional Amendment, a.k.a. “amending” it through the NIA, a binding agreement is made among several states to allocate their EVs to the Presidential election’s national popular vote winner. Already, efforts are underway in several states on both sides of the political aisle to establish this ahead of their the 2016 election or the 2020 election.

5) Proportional Popular Vote In The Electoral College – Promoted by some members of congress in D.C. on both sides of the political aisle, using an NIA to divide the state EVs by vote share in a manner similar to the methods used by many presidential primary contests would resolve the EC’s winner-take-all nature, and eliminate major solidly left or solidly right states, such as Texas and California, from taking overly large shares of the EV total. However, this would possibly complicate things. For example, in the last Presidential election, no candidate won a majority, arguably due to third-party presence. Under this process, no candidate would have received a majority in the EC, and thus the election winner would have been determined in the House via a Contingency Election. Another issue around this proposal is the Twelfth Amendment, which specifies “a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed,” meaning that “fractional” Electoral Votes cannot ever be used for states with odd numbers that are too close to call ahead of Inauguration Day.

6) Congressional District Allocation In The Electoral College – Change the allocation method for the EC, via NIA, to that currently used by only Nebraska and Maine, which allocates EVs by Congressional District. This would cuts down on the winner-takes-all aspect of the current form of allocating EVs. The new allocation would also be at the state level, which makes this appealing to some, as states determine their own allocation methods. Some state congresses are supportive of this as an alternative to the NPV Compact. The biggest problem with it is gerrymandering, which could impede the fairness of this system.

7) Ranked Choice Voting Without The Electoral College – Implemented via NIA, voters would rank their candidate preferences, then their votes are reallocated to their next choice if their initial preference is eliminated in the first round. This would eliminate a messy “second election” runoff situation while still requiring votes to be counted more than once – in fact, the votes are “added up” again and again until a majority is formed. Some such as political activist Glenn Beck argue that it is too complicated of a process for Americans to follow, which is just kinder way of saying that Americans might be too dumb to use it correctly, and thus will lead to a surge in “unreadable” (and thus uncountable) ballots.

8) Ranked Choice Voting With The Electoral College – Similar to the above proposal, and also implemented via NIA, except, similar second option on this list, the Electoral College is retained in case of emergencies, such as complications with the multiple-voting process and other incidents or situations that may unfold prior to Inauguration Day that would be resolved with the EC. The EC will otherwise serve a ceremonial position and would not impact the RCV.

9) The Electoral College As It Currently Is – Leave the Electoral College alone. It has only failed America 5 times out of a total of 57 times, making for a success rate of 88.6%. Rejecting proposals to change the current process would allow US citizens to focus more of their time on addressing other important matters in the United States. This “do nothing” proposal is supported by some Republicans on the Hill.



The next chapter’s E.T.A.: March 19 at the very latest (hopefully…)
 
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Like how you used a quote from William Jennings bryan in the beginning :) Congratulations to the First Lady giving birth! And sad to hear Monroe has passed away :( I low key worry about President Grammer the stress of the Oval Office is well known and the guy already has had a heart attack. I get the feeling VP Brown is just waiting for another heart attack to happen so he can take over instead. Also I like how you have the VP west wing office full of Harley Davison pictures hahah
 
Jeez,NASA,grow a sense of fun. McAfee did nothing wrong.
If nothing else, having burning material in a tightly enclosed space like the ISS is incredibly stupid. Not only does fire behave weirdly in space, ash and smoke could contaminate the air and experiments. NASA has its own panel for making sure anything they send up doesn’t contaminate the air too badly cause of how difficult it can be to get rid of smells
The beard really does suit him. I can see a fair amount of comedians trying material about Grammer trying to be more like Brown. If nothing else, he’ll have the Bears vote.

And if Browns comments about the situation in Spain are any indication, let’s hope he’s never left in charge of a major national security matter. Even if he never acts on those thoughts, comments like those can ruin diplomatic relations.

And real shame the Cheers idea never made it into the Fraiser reunion. Oh well ;)

Aaaand Ranked Voting gets my...well...vote
 
It would be interesting to see the full congressional district allotment of electoral votes. Would have to have some reform on district drawing though.
 
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