Chapter 100: July 2010 – December 2010
“Finality is not the language of politics.”
– Benjamin Disraeli, Speech to the House of Commons, London, 1859
…The state of Washington became the first state in the union to legally recognize non-binary people today, with Governor Lisa Brown signing documentation making it official that non-binary is a valid option on driver’s licenses in the state. The move in a major step in the increasingly prominent transgender rights movement…
– CBS Evening News, 7/2/2010 broadcast
[pic: imgur / TMkkLUB.png ]
– Bob Ross with some young members of his Vice Presidential staff, c. July 2010
IT’S TIME TO HANG UP THE CAPES, HOLLYWOOD, UNTIL YOU LEARN HOW TO FLY AGAIN
…just to be clear, I do not blame Elisa Donovan for the failure of “Poison Ivy: The Injustice Gang.” The starring actress made the best that she could out of what little this spinoff film’s script had to offer. Not even the recast roles of Batman (David Boreanaz) and Bane (Bill Goldberg) could improve it. No, I blame the directing and the writing. This filming environmentalist message is too over-the-top to be taken seriously, and its anti-war emphasis is so heavy-handed that it should make Tom Laughlin blush. And the thing is, we should have seen this coming – you know you have a terrible (in this case, bland, passé, trope-filled, convoluted, confusing, nonsensical, and so very, very boring) script when not even Nicolas Cage will resume his role as Batman for it (though, admittedly, maybe the Ethan Hawke version, or even the Eion Bailey version, would have been more suitable, given this film’s usually-dark tone).
One positive thing that could be said about this box office bomb of a movie, though, is that its disastrous execution and reception may finally be what gets Hollywood to pump the brakes on making more superhero movies. Maybe now, studios can take a step back to recognize the very real “superhero fatigue” that has overtaken popular culture. Perhaps this film will finally lead to a long-needed break from these types of movies and allow the movie magic makers to actually put in the hard work necessary to finally make a superhero movie that actually excites us again...
– Variety magazine, TV/film review/editorial section, 7/5/2010 op-ed
US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO “STAY OUT” OF HAITI MISSIONARY KIDNAPPING CASE
– The Orlando Sentinel, 7/7/2010
ROYAL, LEOTARD ADVANCE TO RUNOFF ELECTION
Paris, FRANCE – Marie-Segolene Royal, the Socialist incumbent President of France since 2003, and Francois Leotard, a conservative from France’s Republican party, came in first and second place, respectively, in tonight’s first-round contest of the French Presidential election. As neither won a majority, the two will advance to a runoff election, which will be held on the 23rd.
Several candidates failed to qualify for the runoff election, including the far-left, eco-socialist, Jean-Luc Melenchon, the Democratic Socialist Party’s nominee, who came in third place; the center-right nationalist Charles M. J. V. Napoleon, the Mayor of Nemours and the Centrist Party’s nominee, who came in fourth place; and right-wing activist Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the center-right Sensible Party’s nominee, who came in fifth place.
– The Daily Telegraph, UK newspaper, 9/7/2010
MOTHER-POST by @CuriouserCarmen: What Does “F.R.A.T.” Mean?
I’ve been seeing this term pop up on a few sites but I’m not quite sure what it means. I think it has something to do with trans rights. What does it stand for?
>REPLY 1:
It’s a new term
>REPLY 1 to REPLY 1:
Yes, but what does it mean?
>REPLY 2:
It’s short for “Feminist Radicals Against Transwomen.” It’s a fringe part of feminist radicalism, split from the main group over concerns that transwomen are somehow detrimental to feminist causes.
>REPLY 1 to REPLY 2:
‘Detrimental to feminist causes’? How does that make any sense? The more the merrier – if more people want to support your cause, I say let them in. Especially if you’re already a group like the R.F.s!
>REPLY 3:
The FRATs – or Feminist Radicals Against Transwomen – are not anything you should concern yourself with, dearie. They’re centered primarily on the technet, with little actual activities in the real world. Little to no recognition in mainstream media, either. Most often, they spend their time feuding on chat forums with other feminist radicals. Where did you even learn about them, @CuriouserCarmen ?
>REPLY 1 to REPLY 3 (by MOTHER-POSTER):
I, um, I went to a feminist radical chat forum. I was curious because my college roommate is an RF. I don’t think I’ll be joining their local chapter.
>REPLY 2 to REPLY 3:
I actually saw a bit about these radicals on TV the other day, they were angrily protesting outside of some government building in Seattle. They were claiming that the state government had recently done something that unfairly addressed the rights of ‘brand-new genders’ ahead of addressing the rights of the female gender or some s#!t like that.
– euphoria.co.usa, a public pop-culture news-sharing and chat-forum-hosting netsite, 7/18/2010 posting
THE FRENCH CHOOSE THE LEOTARD! Francois Leotard Wins French Presidential Election
…the right-leaning centrist politician has defeated incumbent President Marie-Segolene Royal by a margin of roughly 4%... …the brother of French actor and singer Philippe Leotard, Francois Leotard’s political career began with his election to Mayor of Frejus in 1977, a position he held for nearly twenty years before joining the French Parliament and briefly serving as Prime Minister from 2007 to 2008. ...Leotard, age 68, will be sworn in as France’s newest President on July 30...
– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 23/7/2010
…which brings us to the latest Russian election. Despite political opponents accusing him of abusing the powers of his office to break up the gas industry’s workers’ strike in 2008, incumbent President Oleg Malyshkin, a member of the right-wing National Party, and endorsed by the far-right Iron Fist party, remained overall popular, and was expected to win re-election as the year began.
However, as the criticisms mounted, his standing in the polls began to drop. Soon, Valentina Matviyenko was within striking distance of him. Matviyenko, b. 1949, was the Motherland Party’s nominee; a conservative nationalist, she ran in 2005 and underperformed, but had since developed more name recognition and thus fared much better than five years prior. Right behind Malyshkin and Matviyenko was Viktor Aleksandrovich Tolokonsky, b. 1953, the Democratic Party’s nominee from Novosibirsk, Siberia, who ran a conservative nationalist ticket that was more moderate than Matviyenko’s. Three prominent “second tier” candidates impacted the polls and threatened to siphon votes away from thru three main candidates. Anatoly Kvashnin, b. 1946, the retired Army General and former Chief of the Russian General Staff was the Strong Arm party’s nominee; Ella Aleksandrovna Pamfilova, b. 1953, the most left-wing candidate in the race, ran under the Progressive party banner; and Sherig-ool Oorzhak, b. 1942), the leader of Tuva Province from 1990 to 2007, ran on the centrist National party ticket.
In the first round of voting, on July 13, Malyshkin unexpectedly came in second place, with Matviyenko besting Tolokonsky for the opportunity to face the incumbent in the subsequent runoff round. With Malyshkin seemingly losing momentum, he was suddenly being expected to lose the runoff round. However, “Uncle Oleg” was not one to give up so easily. The incumbent reacted by releasing a string of no-budget videos onto OurVids and RusVids, Russia’s answer to the larger, more western-oriented OurVids video-hosting site. These videos were each under a thirty seconds, and consisted of the President meeting with various citizens from across the working classes and industries while noting how he’d improved their lives. While Matviyenko repeated attacks on Oleg’s actions during a feud with Poland over pipeline uses in 2008, Malyshkin’v videos successfully portrayed him a leader responsible for the rising economy and thus worthy of re-election.
In the July 27 runoff round, Oleg Malyshkin defeated Valentina Matviyenko in a slight upset, obtaining a second five-year term with roughly 5% of the vote…
– Maskim Gorky’s After the Iron Curtain: Eastern Europe, 1984-to-Today, Academic International Press, 2010 edition
Baptist Minister and political activist DALE HUCKABEE: “These Trans Rights people are complicating too many things. The need to have to redo so much documentation – immigration records, military service records, taxes, marriage licenses, numerous identity documents – it’s setting a dangerous precedence. Before you know it, ex-cons will go through the same channels so they can trick employers into hiring them under a new identity.
US Rep. FRED KARGER (R-CA): “I highly doubt that this all will lead to that.”
HUCKABEE: “Ho-ho, just wait, it’ll happen.”
KARGER: “Dale, most of what is being proposed on the hill right now is the bare-bones important stuff – protection of reproductive rights, protection from discrimination, the whole restroom access debate we’re hearing so much about nowadays – ”
HUCKABEE: “And I have plenty to say on that subject.”
KARGER: “I’m sure you do, but what I’m getting at is that we’re talking about hate crime legislation, protecting Americans from hatred and harm, and other aspects of T-life, such as ensuring they have access to UHC once they get their new ID documentation.”
HUCKABEE: “But you know what all this lawmaking and document amending will lead to, though, right?”
KARGER: “What?”
HUCKABEE: “Complete and total justification for the Democrats to inflate big government even further, and require all American people, both BLUTAG and regular, to document and record for the feds every single aspect of their lives! This is how we get Big Brother – by letting him dress up as a Little Sister.”
KARGER: “Dale, hold up. Okay? Okay, firstly, I don’t know how to respond to that Little Sister comment. But, secondly, what about one’s own right to freedom of expression? I get that you’re on the country conservative side of the party, but we’re both Republicans, and I have to say, as a Republican, the idea of denying these things to trans people goes against the core of libertarianism. The idea of letting people be people.”
HUCKABEE: “But that’s exactly my point. Minimum government, maximum freedom. So how on Earth is requiring all these documentation changes not a violation of the pro-American stance of less government interference in people’s lives?”
KARGER: “It’s a protection of people’s rights, to protect BLUTAGOs like me from persecution from non-government groups like religious fanatics and bigots.”
HUCKABEE: “Hogwash. People can wear whatever they want to in their own homes and use whatever pronouns they want to behind closed doors. There just needs to be a clarification on what is appropriate to be expressed in public places. First we’ll have BLUTAGOs in dresses, then they’ll demand to walk around in public without anything on at all! It’s a slippery slope, my gay friend!”
KARGER: “Okay, let’s cross that nudism bridge when we come to it – ”
HUCKABEE: “And another thing – what about parental rights?”
KARGER: “Yes! Let’s talk about that.”
HUCKABEE: “Why shouldn’t parents have a say in what their BLUTAG kids want to do to themselves? I say do as your parents say until you’re 18 and then hit the road, Jack!”
KARGER: “Oh. I thought you meant the parental rights of trans people. As in, you know, trans people wanting to adopt and/or raise children?”
HUCKABEE: “They want to do what?!”
– The Herring Network, news "expert examination" debate segment, 7/28/2010 broadcast
Sudan had been a minor player in the formation of the “delicate peace” of the Middle East, and had otherwise maintained a relatively small presence on the world stage until the late aughts, when government-led action against the indigenous people of eastern Sudan brought the nation to the headlines of newspapers worldwide.
Non-Arab members of the Zaghawa tribe of Sudan had been claiming since the 1990s that they and others were victims of a system instigated by the Arab-led Sudanese government and military that aimed to segregate Arabs and non-Arabs. Stemming from water scarcity and land disputes between farmers and nomadic herders, the conflict coincided with a breakdown in relations between the north-based Arab government and the non-Arab groups and communities of the nation’s southern half. This essentially made for a three-sided situation between the persecuted Darfur people of the east, the non-Arab “rebels” of the south, and the Arab-led government of the north.
After years of on-again, off-again waves of massacres and attempts at ethnic cleansing, Israeli officials attempt to intervene with peace negotiations in early 2008, but talks slows as all sides were critical of Israel’s “delayed” response. “They ignored our suffering in exchange for having good relations with the wealthier people of the Middle East,” alleged Dr. Khalil Ibrahim in a 2012 interview. “Peace is a two-sided sword. To forgive your enemies when your enemies attack others is not worthy of praise or honor. But I will concede that Israel’s efforts at assistance, as little as they were, were still better than not receiving any assistance at all.” According to The Associated Press, coverage of “NoKo2,” the Global Pandemic, warfare in the DRC, and the 2008 Presidential election all overshadowed Sudan’s civil strife, causing coverage of it to become lost in the news cycles, and in turn prompting politicians to continuously put addressing the issue on the backburner.
Even the Wellstone administration did not begin to address the conflicts in Darfur and Southern Sudan until roughly a year and a half into his time in office…
[snip]
[pic: imgur.com/9PsFB05.png ]
Above: The three regions of Shamal Darfur, Gharb Darfur, and Janub Darfur, while together form the region of Darfur, with the city of Al Fashir being at the geographic center of the civil conflict.
– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy After the Cold War: Globalization & Technological Modernization, Routledge, 2020
…“The Darfur Crisis” caught the attention of the Wellstone White House in the summer of 2010, after The Daily Telegraph published an expose on the level and extent of human rights violations occurring in eastern Sudan. With mainstream media discussing trans rights and not Darfur, Wellstone believed that he could address the situation without garnering the attention of critics. In late July, Wellstone sent US Secretary of State Harvey Gantt to Cairo to try and lead peace talk negotiations between representatives for the Sudanese government and the Darfur and South Sudan people, who were each threatening to secede by this point.
With the Sudanese government being reluctant to end their policies, Gantt saw a long and grueling process ahead for all involved. The complexity of the situation was heightened after rumors of the Israeli and Libyan governments quietly backing business boycotts of Sudan began to spread around. Not even threats of economic attack, real or fabled, could get the Sudanese government to agree to the demands of the Darfur people (primarily, relinquishing of traditional Darfur land back to the local people, and ending the “apartheid”-like system separating Arabs and non-Arabs at public amenities). The bickering among delegates continued on both sides, with both Sudan and South Sudan representatives at one point actually siding with one another to criticize the United States for trying to be “a referee for the world.”
Back in Washington, D.C., Wellstone contemplated if more than just foreign aid would be needed in Sudan in the near future. Herein was the downside to American noninterventionist policy – a line had to be drawn on how far atrocities that had little effect on the US could be allowed to occur before morality and common decency demand that something simply has to be done to end the human suffering of strangers...
– Billie Lofi’s The Wellstone Way: The Life of a Passionate Progressive, University of Minnesota Press, first edition, 2017
PAKISTAN ASKS U.N. FOR HELP AMID “HISTORIC” FLOODING
…harsh rain has created flash floods across Pakistan for the third day in a row, overwhelming the nation’s infrastructure…
– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 31/7/2010
UTAH CONGRESSMAN SWITCHES TO GOETZ’S BOULDER PARTY TO CONTINUE RUN FOR SENATE
…after losing a bid for the Republican nomination for a US Senate seat in June, retiring US Representative Jason Buck believes that he can still win the upper chamber seat – by running under the populist label used by Bernie Goetz during his third-party bid for President in 2008. …Prior to entering politics, Jason Ogden Buck was a defensive lineman in the NFL from 1987 to 1993...
– The Washington Post, side article, 8/2/2010
“Pancreatic cancer’s a b!tch,” she’d say. Millie was on, as she put it, “her last legs,” but despite her ailing health – or, perhaps, because of its waning quality – she was greatly concerned over the future of the company. As automation continued to crawl across the payrolls of industries, debate over quality control and employee training was intensifying.
“The process is too long and time consuming,” argued one member of the FLG Inc. Board of Directors. “The articulate process put into making the birds requires careful and extensive training, gobbling up time and resources. This was acceptable thirty years ago, but the social dynamics have changed. Customers are more impatient than ever.”
“I know what you mean,” chimed in one of the older directors. “There used to be one-hour photo drop-offs; yesterday my grandson complained when his larphone took, I want to say, about four seconds to develop a picture he took. Couldn’t even wait four seconds,” the man shook his head, almost in a shame manner.
“Exactly,” the younger director continued his pitch, “We need to modernize to keep up with the modern public’s demands for instantaneity. We need to replace these training excursions with technicians who repair and operate automated machinery that will prep and pressure-fry the birds. Such machinery would cut down on time spent on employee training, and in the long run save the company time and money. Furthermore, the new machinery would potentially create additional tech service jobs, mooting claims of our corporation killing jobs, when it would in fact be making new ones.”
“There’s just two problems,” Millie observed. “What will become of the employees already trained to prep the meat?”
“They could apply to work as the new machinery maintainers.”
“What if they can’t handle modern tech. Who here knows how to code? Show your hands,” she asked as she scanned the room. Only one Director raised hers. “What if cooking is all they knows because they didn’t plan on becoming mechanics or coders?”
“Well, um, they could always be trained, uh – ”
“So you want to replace the grueling process of teaching people how to put egg wash and eleven herbs and spices onto chicken and pressure fry it, with the grueling process of teaching people how to operate robots? You want to replace one process with another process? Sonny, if you want to keep yourself busy, I suggest getting some kind of hobby.”
“But ma’am, the new process would free up time, make the process more efficient, and speed up customer service, which would improve customer satisfaction.”
“I’m not too sure about that, which brings me to the second problem – customers might not like knowing that a bot is making their food. Where’s the heart? Where’s the love and care that goes into each batch of KFC? Other companies may be trying to cash in on robotification of the American workforce, but here at KFC, we put people before ’puters. Because people like knowing that their fellow people are at the core of our company’s ideals and goals. Even outside of the charity work, it is a vital part of our reputation.”
The suggested automation had been in response to more recent efforts to create a cheaper alternative to “the Harland method” for making Kentucky Fried Chicken. In a 2009 R&D tryout at select KFC locations, an “Original Recipe 2.0” was offered, and veteran customers were quick to tell the difference. Immediately, an overwhelming amount of feedback was negative, with comments essentially forming a consensus – that the original variant from the beginning was still superior, that the Colonel’s process was, tried and true, the better process.
Millie managed to put the question down for the time being, but what about tomorrow? As the last surviving child of The Colonel, she had much influential and sway over the board. But dead people aren’t so persuasive.
In the subsequent weeks, between hospital visits and checkups, Millie divided her time between family, friends, and meetings with company loyalists. In July 2010, on a hot summer night in Kentucky, Millie sat down with several adult family members whom were also involved in FLG, Inc. With all sincerity, she asked “the next generation of preservers” to promise to maintain quality control at KFC. “The Colonel did not build with company from out the side room of a gas station for it go back to turn to s#!t. I know keeping a board of rich folk in line is a big task, it’s a big thing to ask of you, but here’s the thing. This isn’t about my legacy anymore, or my father’s. It’s about your lives. You’re the ones who are going to be living through the next several decades. You have the ability to keep this company on the straight and narrow. You have the power to make sure the right things are done. It’s not a birthright but an opportunity that few people can get handed to them on a Kentucky-fried platter. All I ask is – will you choose to accept such an important responsibility?”
Much to the old giantess’ delight, nearly all of those assembled agreed to become more involved in the company’s inner workings and its relationship to its employees and customers.
– Marlona Ruggles Ice’s A Kentucky-Fried Phoenix: The Post-Colonel History of Most Famous Birds In The World, Hawkins E-Publications, 2020
“Are you sure it’s medically necessary?” Wellstone asked.
“Who’s the doctor, here?” replied the head of the President’s team of physicians and experts. Wellstone began taking physical therapy sessions in mid-2010, shortly after his MS health scare in the Cabinet Room. He had assumed that the stretching and exercising of his legs would be enough, but his doctors were not so optimistic. “We do not want to take any chances with you. You’re an important client, don’t you know?”
“But a walker? I’m only 66.”
“I know, I was at you’re birthday party last month. Such a small shindig.”
“You don’t have to use it 24/7,” explained the head therapist, “Just whenever you feel physically stressed. Do not overextend yourself.”
“That’s kind of a tall order, ma’am,” Wellstone said, “but, I guess I can keep it on standby. Use it on the upstairs residence and whenever the press isn’t around. You know, I’m starting to understand how FDR felt.”
Before the checkup ended, the President once more shied away from medication because he wanted to “keep a clear head while on this job, which is practically a 24/7 one.” He noted that even top-tier MS medication were only modestly effective anyway, can often have adverse side effects, or can even be poorly tolerated by the patient’s body. “It’s just too risky,” Wellstone concluded.
– Billie Lofi’s The Wellstone Way: The Life of a Passionate Progressive, University of Minnesota Press, first edition, 2017
…As the 2010 midterms approached, most Republicans increased their reactionary push for what they dubbed a “National Popular Vote Interstate Compact,” an agreement where states joined a compact to pledge their Electoral College electors to the winner of the national popular vote in the next Presidential Election. Questions over the legality of the compact ranged from whether or not joining the compact – via governor order, statewide referendum, or state legislation action – was legally binding to whether or not the compact would even be effective if the compact did not receive a pledge from enough states to control a majority (273) of the Electoral College’s 545 electors.
Furthermore, several scholars suggested that Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the US Constitution suggests that this “NPVIC Plan” may not be enforceable or even legal, as it requires congressional consent due to it impacting the Electoral College. This theory simply added the NPVIC Plan to the reasons that many Republicans gave for why the GOP had to reclaim both chambers of congress in November. The theory also gave fodder to the many Democratic counterpoints that defended the Electoral College, such as the counterpoint that the political apparatus served as a bulwark against dangerous and unqualified candidates from winning the election on a plurality, individuals such as Bernie Goetz and other neo-hippies…
– Roberta Gillespie’s Watershed: An Assessment of The Wellstone White House, Princeton University Press, 2016
“You know, the other day I was confronted by one of those Bernie Bros, someone with one of those eldritch-like neo-hippy radio programs. He actually complained that the proposed Capital Gains Tax Reform Bill would disproportionately impact higher-earning individuals. Like you, he asked me if I was okay with this, and, like now, I said, ‘Of course I am!’ Why would I not support this bill? It cuts the Average Joe some slack and shifts more of the burden of taxes onto those who can afford it – and can afford to work harder to make up for the money they’ll lose with this bill – the rich, especially the stinkin’ rich!”
– US Senator Mike Gravel to reporters, 8/8/2010
“One thing that very much concerns me, um, more and more every day, is this phenomenon that’s been dubbed ‘greenwashing.’”
“What’s that, Mr. Nader?”
“It’s a form of marketing spin where companies falsely claim to support ‘green values.’ They use green packaging or misleading slogans and phrases to make consumers think that they care about the environment while they continue to do more to damage the ozone layer and make more contributions to pollution in one fiscal quarter than the average American can make over the course of their entire lifespan.”
“Oh hey, yeah, I’ve heard about this.”
“No doubt. The rise in this is an increasingly serious problem. It is contributing to a rise in consumer skepticism of all green claims, and this can only curtail the power of consumers to push companies to retain true green values in their business operations.”
“Well you can do something about it, right?”
“Yes. As the Attorney General of the United States, I can direct the Justice Department to look into the legality of these actions. That’s why, next week, I will be back in D.C. to call for more corporate disclosure laws. I will also be backing efforts being made by a growing number of independent researchers to obtain reform on external company monitoring policies and claim verification policies at the state and federal levels. Because this goes beyond mere bottled water and low-emission SUVs. We’re talking about the fate of the planet here.”
“You take your job very seriously, Mr. Nader, sir.”
“Well, if you were in my shoes and you saw and knew just how greatly corporate action can damage communities, you’d take this job seriously, too.”
– Ralph Nader and host, WEDW-FM, 88.5 FM, Connecticut radio interview, 8/12/2010
KFC LAUNCHES CHARITY DRIVE FOR VICTIMS OF THE DARFUR CRISIS: “Donate For Darfur” Will Accept Food, Clothing For Refugees, Victims
– The New York Times, 8/14/2010
…even with assistance from the U.N. and several nations, the government of Pakistan fears that recent flooding may have left behind lasting damage, inhibiting food production next year and impacting Pakistani life as waters recede from over 17 million acres of once-fertile crop land…
– CBS Evening News, 8/16/2010 broadcast
THN NEWS ANCHOR SARAH HEATH TO APPEAR IN AMERICANA OVERDRIVE SEQUEL
…the independently-made follow-up to the 2008 cult film is expected to release in 2011 or 2012…
– The Hollywood Reporter, 8/17/2010
US MISSIONARY LEADER SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR KIDNAPPING 45 CHILDREN IN HAITI COURT CASE
– The Miami Herald, 8/20/2010
DAVE RAMSEY WINS GOP NOMINATION FOR GOVERNOR
– The Kingsport Times-News, Tennessee newspaper, 8/21/2010
SENATE PASSES K-12 IMPROVEMENT BILL, 56-48
– The Washington Post, 8/23/2010
SECRETARY OF STATE GANTT BACK IN CAIRO AFTER CLOSELY-GUARDED TALKS WITH SUDANESE OFFICIALS “RESTART”
– Associated Press, 8/25/2010
CDC CLEARS NEW SARS VACCINE
…Because the SARS virus can mutate quickly, vaccines will have to be updated yearly and given regularly, especially if – everyone knock on wood – we ever see a massive return of SARS. Even still, the effective distribution of just one vaccine can significantly temper off another SARS pandemic. …Scientists believe that within another decade or two, infection and fatality rates will likely be much lower thanks to both shots and antibodies protecting survivors of the 2002 pandemic. …The past several years have proven that early scientific predictions were correct; in most parts of the world, SARS has become very much like the seasonal flu in regards to how commonly it occurs and how it is treated...
– The Ledger-Enquirer, Georgia newspaper, 8/27/2010
TOBY KEITH KICKS BACK WITH LATEST ALBUM
…“I’m in a good place right now. I think I’ve written somewhere around 30 or 40 songs in the past year or so. Now some of the songs are a bit more political than usual, but their positive, not pushy. I got some real fun ones in here too, some real happy ones. And overall, this is the kind of album that you can just kick back to, probably because I was just kickin’ back when I wrote most of them.”…
– billboard.co.usa, 8/30/2010
CAMMIE KING DIES AT 76; Former Child Actress Had Served In Congress Since 1975
Fort Bragg, CA – Eleanor Cammack “Cammie” King (D-CA), a child actress who turned to public relations and then politics as an adult, today passed away from lung cancer at the age of 76. As a child, King was known for portraying Bonnie Blue Butler in the 1939 film “Gone With The Wind,” and for voicing Feline (the fawn varsion) in Disney’s 1942 film “Bambi.” In Congress, King was known for her support of copyright extension laws, tourism reform, and child star payment protection laws. However, King is possibly best known for coming to the defense of US Secretary of Defense Don Dunagan in 1988, when it became public knowledge that he had not disclosed to a US Senate committee – either unintentionally, or out of embarrassment – that he was the original voice of Disney’s Bambi character. Dunagan later praised King for her “bravery before the court of public opinion.” …King is survived by her two children and three grandchildren…
– The Sacramento Union, 9/1/2010
…Ahead of the midterms, one more major work of legislation – the Mental Health Treatment Improvement Bill – was narrowly pushed through both chambers of congress. “We all owe a great deal of debt and gratitude to Terri McGovern and the rest of the activist humanitarians and hard workers out there who have helped shatter the stigma surrounding mental illness to make this country more receptive to taking mental health as seriously as cancer and broken bones,” Wellstone noted upon its passage in the Senate. “Poor mental health can affect anyone regardless of party affiliation or material wealth. It is something where the sooner we improve how it is viewed, the better it can be addressed.”
For the President, protecting the rights of the mentally impacted is a personal mission – his older brother was diagnosed with severe mental illness at the age of 18. As a 12-year-old boy, as the story was told on the campaign trail, the future President would visit his brother at the mental hospital, calling it a ‘snake pit.’ That experience led him to vow he would change the way the mentally ill are mistreated in this country. [1]
Unfortunately, the proposed passage of this bill did nothing to fend off the GOP message of taxes being just too high for The American Worker already, and that additional federal worker protection would be at the taxpayers’ expense...
– Billie Lofi’s The Wellstone Way: The Life of a Passionate Progressive, University of Minnesota Press, first edition, 2017
…we can now confirm that, late last night, central New Zealand was in fact struck by an earthquake that is measuring in at roughly 7.1 on the Moment magnitude scale…
– KNN Breaking News, 9/5/2010 broadcast
“Listen, I understand why some people are concerned. There have been lots of earthquakes this year. But the thing is, the average earthquake rate means that some years have more earthquakes than others. This is just one of those years. It’s not a sign of the end-times, it’s a sign of the law of averages.”
– Jeff Markley, Administrator of the Overwhelming Disaster Emergency Response Coordination Agency (ODERCA), 9/6/2010
LEGO UNVEILS LIMITED-EDITION COLONEL SANDERS MINIFIGURE
…The Lego Group is celebrating the 120th birthday of Colonel Sanders in two days with the limited release of a special-edition minifigure...
[pic: imgur.com/jpsi9pE.png ]
Above: an image of the elusive new Lego minifigure
– usarightnow.co.usa, 9/7/2010
ROGERS MAKES HISTORY: BLACK CANADIAN MO WINS P.C. LEADERSHIP
…Tonight’s Progressive Conservative leadership election saw Rogers defeat four fellow MPs. Lisa Raitt (NS) came in last place in the first round, with Alison M. Redford (AB) coming in last place in the second round. Rogers defeated Tony Clement in the final round. …George Arthur Rogers, an MP for Leduc, Alberta since 2001 and the Mayor of Leduc, Alberta from 1994 to 2001, is the first Black Canadian to be elected leader of a major federal party in Canada…
– The Toronto Sun, 9/9/2010
SpongeBob’s Undersea Cuisine began to increase its rate of expansion at the start of the 2010s. Between 2005 and 2010, its number of locations grew from 118 in 29 states to 357 in all 52 states; between 2005 and 2015, the number of countries with SBUC locations grew from just two (the US and Canada) to 25 (North America and most of Europe, plus some countries in Asia and the Middle East).
Domestically, the SBUC brand compete primarily with Red Lobster and Boston Sea Party, but maintained the advantage of being seen as the most kid-friendly. “We never aimed for high-end clientele,” co-founder Bryan Hillenburg once explained in an interview, “We instead treated the families that walked through our doors with dignity, like they were high-end clientele. And they liked that so they come back for it – and the good food – again and again. That’s why we have so many repeat customers.”
[pic: imgur.com/
eXH8m.png ]Above: a waiter delivers food to the rooftop section of a SpongeBob’s outlet in Seattle, Washington, overseeing the city’s scenic waterfront skyline.
– clickopedia.co.usa/SpongeBob’s/disambiguation/restaurant_franchise
HOUSE PASSES K-12 IMPROVEMENT BILL; Wellstone Pledges To Sign It Into Law “Within A Month”
– The Washington Post, 9/20/2010
…In what has been a busy week for D.C., the House today passed the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Bill introduced and passed in the Senate earlier this year. The bill, which was strongly endorsed by Attorney General Ralph Nadler among many other advocates of free speech, government accountability and privacy rights, will most likely be signed into law by President Wellstone relatively soon…
– CBS Evening News, 9/22/2010 broadcast
“Every day is a gift. To live to see the next new day while others lie in the ground is a blessing regardless of how that day goes or what you do in it. A bad day or a boring day is better than no day at all. So cherish every day. Be thankful for every moment of life that you get here on this beautiful Earth of ours. Because life itself is infinite, but you yourself are not.”
– Mildred “Millie” Sanders Ruggles, 9/23/2010 (multiple sources)
MILLIE SANDERS RUGGLES, THE LAST “GREAT ELDER” AT KFC, DIES AT 91
…Mildred Sanders “Millie” Ruggles passed away from the long-term effects of pancreatic cancer at the Harland David Sanders Memorial Hospital in Florence, Kentucky. The youngest daughter of The Colonel and Josephine King, Mildred was instrumental in starting the Ruggles Sign Company and was responsible for training KFC franchisees and restaurant promotion in the early decades of the company’s growth and development. Much like her stepmother, US First Lady Claudia Sanders, Mildred was an embodiment of Southern hospitality, a host of everything from small social gatherings to international charity drives. Her daughter, Marlona Ice, describes her as “the life of the party” as well as being the more studious and “workaholic” of the three children of Colonel Sanders, especially in her older years. “She was driven, she was passionate, and she was very compassionate, too.” …Mildred was the wife of the late John F. Ruggles Jr.; she is survived by her daughters Marlona and Ariela, her son John III, five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and several nieces, nephews and cousins. Private funeral services will be held at Central Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky…
– The New York Times, 9/25/2010
…In the days immediately following my mother’s passing, Finger Licking’ Good, Inc. Presented itself as being more confident in its future. The messaging that its financial status could only continue to improve in the 2010s was backed by reports that the company had been prepared for this inevitable day for years, even more so than how they have been ahead of my grandfather’s passing nearly twenty years earlier. However, financial planning did not lessen Millie’s impact on work culture. A general sense of sadness was still felt among labor and management, from company headquarters to the farthest reaches of the KFC World Family. And that was no exaggeration, either – while locations around the world lowered their flags to half-mast to honor Millie’s passing, KFC’s lone outlet in Antarctica held a moment of silence. Footage of the moment, of four KFC employees standing outside the entrance to the Antarctic food court of McMurdo Base, with the giant image of the smiling Colonel behind them and a mountain of snow to their side, was widely shared on OurVids.
It was the end of an era, and the start of a new one. And everyone involved and invested in my grandfather’s brainchild were uncertain if the start of this new era – a giantess’ passing – would be an apt or ironic start-off.
– Marlona Ruggles Ice’s A Kentucky-Fried Phoenix: The Post-Colonel History of Most Famous Birds In The World, Hawkins E-Publications, 2020
[pic: imgur.com/RY2U9YR.png ]
– Jesse Jackson Sr., Jesse Jackson Jr., and one of the President’s grandchildren, c. autumn 2010
WELLSTONE SIGNS K-12 REFORM BILL, WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION BILL INTO LAW
– The Washington Post, 10/3/2010
“Our state’s nickname is The Golden state, but right up until Grammer got on the case and started helping Californians from the bottom up, the only thing golden in our cities was the little puddles left behind by all the publicly urinating drunks and druggies. Grammer helped vagrants get jobs and got the addicts to go to these new places that are like halfway houses. I think they’re called Withdrawal Centers. It’s like rehab, but better. Before, an addict would go get sober, get a little card of something to celebrate getting clean, and they’d go ‘Bye, have a good life,’ and close the door. The guy’d have no direction, no clue what to do next, so twenty minutes later he’s around the corner getting high again. WCs, though, have a second have, where after you’re flushed out, they reintroduce you into society. They help you learn a skill or a trade, they help you find housing and a job. They stay in regular contact with the bums for up to two years, maybe more if needed. And you know what? I think it’s working! I’m seeing less homelessness on the streets than I used to!”
– populist talk radio host William Edward “Bill” Simon Jr., endorsing Governor Kelsey Grammer (R-CA)’s re-election bid, 10/5/2010
JERUSALEM CHICKEN DINNER SUMMIT PAYS TRIBUTE TO MILLIE SANDERS
…the 35th annual Chicken Dinner Summit in Jerusalem tonight honored the recently-deceased Millie Sanders, the daughter of Colonel Sanders, with a moment of silence and a short film celebrating her years contributing to the organizing of these multinational summits. Attendees also gave speeches praising Millie Sanders’ work behind the scenes, meeting with dignitaries to help find common ground among the diverse people and cultures of the Middle East. The yearly gathering of local community leaders for a simple sharing of food, drink and ideas in an “international community conference” has become a tradition of sorts for this city. Merchants capitalized on the event with commemorative paraphernalia, and schools mark the occasion with a host of activities meant to promote the concept of “the delicate peace”…
…However, not all of the speeches were of a panegyric tone. The Libyan delegation broke the good but somber spirits of the summit with a scathing condemnation of the Sudanese government for the atrocities escalating in Darfur and the rising civil war-like conflict brewing in South Sudan. The summit was on tenterhooks until the Sudanese delegation spoke. To the relief of all present, the head of the Sudan delegation, the current Deputy Mayor of Khartoum, agreed with the Libyan delegation’s summation. Furthermore, he added that “my nation’s government has abandoned the core point of a national government – to promote, protect and defend all of the people of its nation. There is no doubt in my mind that I will be fired for saying this, and I may even be arrested for saying this, but this needs to be said – what the Sudanese government is doing to its own citizens is a national disgrace that puts me and all peace-looking Sudanese people to shame.”
– The New York Times, 10/7/2010
MANSON AND JONES
Paramount Pictures
Premiered: October 10, 2010
Genre(s): drama/action
Directed by: David Jacobson
Written by: David Jacobson
Produced by: Emma Thomas
Cast:
Ashton Kutcher as Charles Manson
Bobby Cannavale as Jim Jones
Celeste Heche as Marceline Jones
Ryan Gosling as John Lennon
Shiri Maimon as Cynthia Powell Lennon
Taylor Kitsch as Paul McCartney
Adriana Lima as Leslie Van Houten
Allison Tolman as Patricia Krenwinkel
Kim Bledel as Susan Atkins
Simon Helberg as Ringo Starr
Thomas Middleditch as George Harrison
See Full List Here
Synopsis:
Bared on real events, the film portrays the chance meeting and subsequent acquaintanceship of two disturbed men and their impact on the lives around them, culminating in an explosive confrontation. After failing to have The Beatles assassinated, aspiring musician Charles Manson and his cult flee to a compound in Brazil where former pastor Jim Jones and his followers await the End of Days. Tensions rise between the followers of Manson and Jones as INTERPOL closes in and the two deranged would-be Messiahs prepare for their next and final move.
Reception:
While audiences were generally positive, critics gave the film higher ratings on most netsites. The film’s directing, camerawork and acting were praised, especially that of Ashton Kutcher, whose casting was a gamble as it was against type. Others, however, criticized its pacing, with the general consensus being that it lost steam during the second act before picking up in speed and excitement during the third. At the box office, the film nearly doubled what it cost to make, and thus Paramount considered it to be a success.
Trivia Facts:
Trivia Fact No. 1:
For his portrayal of Charles Manson, Kutcher won an Academy Award for Best Lead Thespian at the 83rd Academy Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles, California, on February 27, 2011.
Trivia Fact No. 2:
While the film is generally considered to be a faithful portrayal of real-life events, one of the more noticeable inaccuracies is Manson’s height in the film. The actor portraying Manson is 6-foot-2, but in real life Manson was actually only 5-foot-2.
– mediarchives.co.usa
…Wellstone may have been right to describe the Balanced Budget Amendment as a “millstone…a chain around the neck of progress.” While the Mental Health Bill of 2010 was finally passed in October of that year, this happened only after adjustments were made to spending projections for it, and after once again scraping more money off of the military’s budget to cover for it. It was either that, or raise taxes. However, either option would still garner a negative reaction from the GOP. Thus, when Wellstone turned the bill into a law with the simple stroke of a pen, Republicans used the military budget cutbacks as yet another anti-Wellstone talking point. The President naturally found this to be quite irritating, especially given the fact that it was that Republicans who lead the charge for the BBA to be implemented. However, many Republican lawmakers did praise fiscally conservative Democrats such as US Senator Paul Simon of Illinois for backing the BBA when it was in its infancy; this only made the anguish of the Democrats ironic…
– Billie Lofi’s The Wellstone Way: The Life of a Passionate Progressive, University of Minnesota Press, first edition, 2017
Even as October drew to a close, Jesse Jackson was still very reluctant to maintain a low profile. He disliked taking a step back at such an important time in his party’s history. He believed he could do more harm than good on the campaign trail. “Black turnout is expected to drop sharply next month, and for the first time since 1996, too,” he explained to the DNC Chairman in an October teleconference.
But the party leadership was firm. “Yes, we understand that you could shore up African-American voters,” said the Chairman, “But so can all the other surrogates we have lined up. Senators Hall, Wheat, and Thurmond, and even former President Mondale are all great at fundraising. And we even have celebrity endorsements.”
“Poor people don’t care what celebrities have to say about politics,” countered the former President, “Would you buy a jalopy just because a mechanic tells you it’s actually a Rolls-Royce? No, because you care more about what you see with your own eyes than what’s flying out of the mouth of just another guy going wallet-fishing on you.”
The party leaders were not convinced. “Polling and hypothetical analysis suggests that for every minority vote you’d bring in, we’d lost at least two white votes and three Jewish votes. You are still building the bridge you burned with those comments, Mr. President, sir.” The Chairman said sternly but not insultingly. “Your donations and private fundraising are way more effective than running the risk of Republicans returning the spotlight to you and your comments. That would only hurt.”
Jackson rolled his eyes, “So how much longer will I be in exile, huh? How many times can someone apologize before it becomes a numb and meaningless routine? You can’t keep me silent forever!”
“Just until after these midterms,” answered the DNC Chairman. “Please, sir,” he pleaded, “Just a few more weeks.”
With great reluctance, Jackson agreed to comply with the party’s request. “You say it is for the best, but I still personally think that I would be a benefit, not a determine. Mark my words, Black turnout will underperform next month. But what do I know? I’m just a former President!”
– researcher Brenda J. Hargis’ Emboldening: The Jesse Jackson Presidency, Sunrise Publications, 2017
RUSSIA’S ROSCOSMOS RESPONDS TO RECENT ROCKETRY RECOMMENDATIONS
[pic: imgur.com/n5iOvOi.png ]
Above: the Baikonur Cosmodrome Spaceport in southern Kazakhstan, United Turkestan; good Russian-UT relations allow cosmonauts to launch from here, while Russian relations with Saudi Arabia may inhibit collaborative space efforts with the SSC.
…with last week’s launching of Russia’s newest rocket (the details of its test flight in nighttime liftoff can be found here), the head of Star City is in contact with leading scientists from NASA and the Saudi Space Center of the future of collaborative international space projects. …the Director of Roscosmos is skeptical of Middle Eastern efforts to someday return to the Moon on its own. “I doubt they will push on ahead with further programs in the immediate future. They were lucky more weren’t hurt or killed in their ’08 mission,” she says. The Director emphasizes that the priorities of the Saudi Space Center “should be redirected to safety” and that their long term goal of establishing a permanent base on the moon should be pushed back to a later date. “I am hopeful that world space agencies will ultimately conglomerate data and work with each other and with other organizations to create and launch a common lunar base and some common orbital vehicles and stations. Maybe even a common Martian base. At the moment, though, the Middle Easterners have to earn how to build a better Saudi spacecraft.” …The Director also reiterated the policy implemented by the current President of Russia – that Roscosmos only takes part in projects concerning lunar or Martian base on parity terms with NASA, similar to the current collaborative experiments and other projects being done on the International Space Station...
– popularmechanics.co.usa/space/news, 10/21/2010
ANDERSON COOPER: “…With the latest polls suggesting that this Tuesday’s midterm elections heavily favor Republicans, Democrats across the country are scrambling to minimize their losses. While some seats are considered safe – for example, the Senate race in Vermont will most likely go to popular incumbent Democrat Will Sorrell, and Republican nominee Sherry Sealy Martschink is expected to win the race to replace retiring incumbent Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings in South Carolina – these are most likely not demonstrative of the Democratic Party’s prospects next week, are they, Tim?”
TIM RUSSERT: “Not at all. In fact, it seems that the Democrats have run on the defense most of the time this year, because of the concern that many of the party’s higher-ups reportedly have; they are bracing for more defeats than pick-ups. Ten years in control of the White House and a majority control of at least one congressional chamber each session since 1999 could very well end on Tuesday due to party fatigue.”
MARLENE WILLIAMS: “These races are about more than party fatigue, though. This is also a mandate on the Wellstone administration. An administration that lost the popular vote in 2008 and has been accused by the right of damaging the country with high taxes. Next week will show if the American people agree with these statements.”
JANICE FINE: “Well I’m less apprehensive about all of this, personally, I don’t think they have anything to worry about because the Cult of Bernie Goetz’s War on Progressivism has so far been a complete and total failure. Not a single congressional candidate of the Boulder party has stood out this whole election cycle! Furthermore, consider this – people don’t vote along a party line so much as they vote for a specific candidate that speaks to them, and then they vote for that candidate’s party. That’s why voter registration is at a historic high, but party affiliation is still as low as it was in 1980. And since Wellstone is not on the ballot, the Democrats will have to rely on the charisma and messages of their congressional candidates this year, and I think they have a good very assortment of candidates, especially for the governor races.”
MARLENE WILLIAMS: “Well I do agree with you there, the Democrats are polling better at the gubernatorial levels than at the Congressional levels…”
– CBS News, round-table discussion, 10/29/2010
November United States Senate election results, 2010
Date: November 2, 2010
Seats: 37 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: 47 (R), 56 (D), 1 (I)
Seats after election: 55 (R), 48 (D), 1 (I)
Seat change: R ^ 8, D v 8, I - 0
Full List:
Alabama: incumbent Doug Jones (D) over Clint Moser (R)
Alaska: J. R. Myers (R) over incumbent Kevin Danaher (D)
Arizona: Jan Brewer (R) over Cathy Eden (D); incumbent Eddie Najeeb Basha Jr. (D) retired
Arkansas: incumbent F. Winford Boozman III (R) over Bill Halter (D)
California: incumbent Mike Gravel (D) over Elizabeth Emken (R)
Colorado: incumbent Mark Udall (D) over Jane Norton (R)
Connecticut: William Tong (D) over Daniel E. “Dan” Carter (R); incumbent Chris Dodd (D) retired
Florida: Gus Bilirakis (R) over Janet Cruz (D); incumbent Michael Bilirakis (R) retired
Georgia: incumbent Herman Cain (R) over Michelle Nunn (D)
Hawaii: incumbent Daniel Inouye (D) over John Roco (R)
Idaho: Carlos Bilbao (R) over Tom Sullivan (D) and incumbent Bo Gritz (R) (write-in); Gritz lost re-nomination
Illinois: incumbent appointee Sheila Simon (D) over Kathleen Thomas (R)
Indiana: incumbent Evan Bayh (D) over Becky Skillman (R)
Iowa: Robert Lee Vander Plaats (R) over incumbent Patty Jean Poole (D)
Kansas: incumbent Bob Dole (R) over Lisa Johnston (D)
Kentucky: Daniel Mongiardo (D) over incumbent Patrick “Kelly” Downard (R)
Louisiana: incumbent Chris John (D) over Chet Traylor (R), Neeson Chauvin (D) and Nick Accardo (R)
Maryland: incumbent Barbara Mikulski (D) over Jim Rutledge (R)
Missouri: incumbent Wayne Cryts (D) over Chuck Purgason (R)
Nevada: incumbent Dina Titus (D) over Sue Lowden (R)
New Hampshire: Ted Gatsas (R) over incumbent Lou D’Allesandro (D)
New Mexico (special): incumbent appointee over Debbie Jaramillo (D) over Retta Ward (R)
New York: incumbent Allyson Schwartz (D) over Gary Berntsen (R), Colia Clark (Green/Natural Mind) and Randy Credico (Liberty)
North Carolina: Rand Paul (R) over Elaine Marshall (D); incumbent Nick Galifianakis (D) retired
North Dakota: Kelly Schmidt (R) over Joan Heckaman (D); incumbent Kent Conrad (D) retired
Ohio: Randy Brock (R) over incumbent Peter Lawson Jones (D) and Eric Deaton (Constitutionalists’)
Oklahoma: Evelyn Rogers (R) over incumbent Brad Carson (D)
Oregon: incumbent Walter Leslie “Les” AuCoin (D) over Jim Huffman (R)
Pennsylvania: incumbent Bob Casey Jr. (D) over John Kennedy (R)
South Carolina: Sherry Sealy Martschink (R) over A. Victor “Vic” Rawl (D); incumbent Fritz Hollings (D) retired
South Dakota: incumbent Teresa McGovern (D) over James A. “Jim” Lintz (R)
Utah: incumbent Lyle Hillyard (R) over Jason Buck (Boulder) and Sam Granato (D)
Vermont: incumbent William Sorrell (D) over Len Britton (R) and Darcy Troville (LU)
Washington: incumbent Gary Locke (D) over Paul Akers (R)
West Virginia: incumbent appointee Betty Ireland (R) over Brooks F. McCabe Jr. (D)
Wisconsin: incumbent Bronson La Follette (D) over David Westlake (R)
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa
112TH CONGRESS SET TO BE THE MOST DIVERSE YET
…With the election of four more women to the Senate, the total number of women who will be serving in upper chamber after January 3rd will be a record-breaking 31. 17 Republican female Senators (Brewer, Chenoweth, Stovall, Snowe, Cafferata, Ashby, Mochary, Ryan, Schmidt, Rogers, Burgos, Martschink, Big-Crow, Rodham-Clinton, Granger, Ireland and Cubin) and 14 Democratic female Senators (Hirono, Simon, Hall, Osborne, Mikulski, Kennedy-Roosevelt, Belton, Titus, Jaramillo, Schwartz, Norton, York, Roberts, and McGovern)… [snip] …The next session of the Senate will also be the most ethnically diverse session in American history. Ten US Senators will be Black (Cain, Raoul, Hall, Steel, Belton, Wheat, Brock, Norton, Thurmond, and Rice), seven will be Hispanic (Penelas, Bilbao, Mongiardo, Jaramillo, Mondragon, Fortuno, and Burgos), six will be Asian (Deukmejian (Armenian), Tong, Hirono, Inouye, Locke, and Rahall (Lebanese)), five will be Jewish (Osterlund, Schwartz, Schwartzman, Sorrell, and Feingold), and four will be Greek (Bilirakis, Snowe, Titus, and Gatsas)...
– The Los Angeles Times, 11/2/2010
United States House of Representatives results, 2010
Date: November 2, 2010
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: 215 (R), 226 (D)
Seats won: 249 (R), 192 (D)
Seat change: R ^ 34, D v 34
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa
[pic: imgur.com/ZlsaR5j.png ]
– US President Paul Wellstone, upon hearing the extent of Democrat losses, 11/3/2010
US House of Representatives, California, District 23
General Election, 11/2/2010:
Turnout (30.27% Total Population):
Monica Lewinsky (Democrat) – 67,692 (52.9%)
Darrell M. Stafford (Republican) – 55,664 (43.5%)
John V. Hager (Independent) – 4,607 (3.6%)
Total Votes: 127,963 (100.0%)
– ourcampaigns.co.usa
VIRGINIANS GIVE BLUTAG EX-CONGRESSMAN A SECOND CHANCE IN COMEBACK BID
…Congressman-Elect Jon Clifton Hinson (b. 1942) originally served in the US House from Mississippi, from his election in 1978 until his resignation in 1981 over his attempts to hide his sexual presence in an incident deemed scandalous at the time. After this, he became an activist in D.C. and Virginia… Hinson’s election may mark the longest period between non-consecutive terms served in the US House, and makes Hinson the first openly-BLUTAG politician elected to federal office from Virginia…
– roanoketimes.co.usa, 11/2/2010 e-article
29-YEAR-OLD ACTIVIST ELECTED YOUNGEST US HOUSE MEMBER
…Last night, Democratic political neophyte Alexandra Lugaro, who was born in San Juan on June 10, 1981, defeated 75-year-old incumbent US Representative Baltasar Corrada del Rio (b. 1935, R/New Progressive) for the seat of the 51st State’s Fifth US Congressional District. …Lugaro was prompted by the anti-immigration rhetoric of the Bernie Goetz campaign of 2004 to become a political activist, working on several Democratic campaigns in 2004 and 2006. …Lugaro received a college bachelor’s degree in business administration with minors in finance, marketing, and economics, and is still working on a master’s degree in constitutional law, though she has also been an attorney practicing law since 2006. …At the age of 29, she is the youngest woman ever elected to congress; she ran on a progressive platform that appealed to and mobilized young voters at a grassroots level. Her campaign also emphasized education and economic development. Despite praising President Wellstone for his smooth handling of this year’s destructive earthquake in Haiti, she has voiced support for working “across the aisle” on a multitude of issues, blaming partisanship for worsening economic woes in the past and in the present. Mobilized youngsters. …She supported Puerto Rican independence early in her career, but has since moderated... Given that she is currently expecting her first child, she will most likely join the small list of US Congresswomen who have given birth while serving in office…
– The Orlando Sentinel, 11/3/2010
United States Governor election results, 2010
Date: November 2, 2010
Number of state gubernatorial elections held: 37
Seats before: 22 (R), 30 (D), 0 (I)
Seats after: 28 (R), 22 (D), 2 (I)
Seat change: R ^ 6, D v 8, I ^ 2
Full list:
Alabama: David Woods (R) over Beth Killough Chapman (Boulder) and Sadie Moore Stewart (D); incumbent Jim Folsom Jr. (D) was term-limited
Alaska: Willie Hensley (Democratic-Green-Union) over Jerry Ward (LRA) and Clyde Baxley (AIP); incumbent Niilo Emil Koponen (DGU) retired
Arizona: Russell K. Pearce (R) over incumbent Debbie McCune Davis (D)
Arkansas: incumbent Mark Darr (R) over Jim Lendall (D) and Elvis D. Presley (I)
California: incumbent Kelsey Grammer (R) over Steve Peace (D) and Tommy Chong (Green)
Colorado: William “Bill” Thiebaut Jr. (D) over Sandra D. Johnson (R); incumbent Jane E. Norton (R) retired
Connecticut: Nancy Lee Johnson (R) over incumbent Nancy S. Wyman (D)
Florida: Bob Smith (R) over Katherine Castor (D) and Nancy Argenziano (I); incumbent Antoinette “Toni” Jennings (R) retired
Georgia: Shirley Franklin (D) over Alveda King (R); incumbent Karen Christine Walker (R) retired
Hawaii: incumbent Muliufi Francis “Frank” Hannemann (D) over George G. Peabody (R)
Idaho: incumbent Harley Davidson Brown (R) over Robert C. Huntley (D)
Illinois: incumbent Roland Burris (D) over Kirk W. Dillard (R)
Iowa: incumbent Fred Grandy (R) over Pam Jochum (D)
Kansas: incumbent Lynn Jenkins (R) over Jill Docking (D)
Maine: incumbent Peter E. Cianchette (R) over Barbara Merrill (D) and Lynne Williams (I)
Maryland: incumbent John Peter Sarbanes (D) over Dean Ahmad (R/L) and Dan Bongino (I)
Massachusetts: incumbent Michael Dukakis (D) over Patrick Guerriero (R)
Michigan: Michael Moore (D) over Cornelius Pieter “Pete” Hoekstra (R); incumbent Ronna Romney (R) retired
Minnesota: Alex Kozinski (IRL) over Rick Nolan (DFL), D. J. Tomassoni (Green) & Rick Staneck (Boulder); incumbent Nancy Elizabeth Lee Johnson (DFL) retired
Nebraska: Ernie Chambers (I) over John W. DeCamp (R) and Brenda J. Council (D); incumbent Lowen Kruse (D) retired
Nevada: Oscar Goodman (D) over incumbent Dennis Hof (R)
New Hampshire: Rushern L. Baker III (D) over incumbent Sherman Packard (R)
New Mexico: Gary Earl Johnson (R/L) over Jim Baca (D/LRU); incumbent Martin Chavez (D) was term-limited
New York: Tom Golisano (I) over incumbent Matthew Driscoll (D/Liberal), Andrea Stewart-Cousins (Working Families/Green), William Christie Samuels (Progressive), John Edward Sweeney (R/Conservative), and Robert “Naked Cowboy” Burck (Independence/Natural Mind)
Ohio: incumbent Maureen O’Connor (R) over Robert L. Burch Jr. (D)
Oklahoma: Rebecca Hamilton (R) over Randy William Bass (Boulder) and Susan Savage (D); incumbent Gary Richardson (R) retired
Oregon: incumbent Mary Starrett (R) over John Kitzhaber (D)
Pennsylvania: Barry Goldberg (D) over Jane M. Earll (R); incumbent Lynn Swann (R) retired
Potomac: incumbent Vincent Bernard Orange Sr. (D) over David William Kranich (R)
Rhode Island: incumbent Lincoln Davenport Chafee (R) over Frank Caprio (D)
South Carolina: Andre Bauer (R) over Jim Rex (D); incumbent Lindsey Graham (R) was term-limited
South Dakota: Stephanie Herseth (D) over Mike Rounds (R); incumbent George S. Mickelson (R) retired
Tennessee: Dave Ramsey (R) over Jim Henry (Independent), Mark E. Clayton (D) and Daniel T. Lewis (Liberty); incumbent Jim Bryson (R) was term-limited
Texas: incumbent Bill Owens (R) over Felix Alvarado (D/LRU)
Vermont: incumbent Deborah L. “Deb” Markowitz (D) over Mark Snelling (R) and Michael Parenti (Liberty Union)
Wisconsin: Mark Green (R) over Barbara Lawton (D); incumbent Kathleen Falk (D) retired
Wyoming: incumbent W. Richard West (D) over Matthew Hansen Mead (R)
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa
“Heh. I told them that Black voter turnout would not stay up without me.”
– Former US President Jesse Jackson Sr., 11/9/2010 (allegedly)
ST. LOUIS MAYOR RESIGNS: Ted Brown Preps For New Career In D.C.
– The Springfield News-Leader, Missouri newspaper, side article, 11/11/2010
List of Mayors of ST. LOUIS (Missouri)
1953-1970: 38) Raymond Tucker (D, 1896-1970) – former mechanical engineering educator from 1921 to 1934; worked in various city government positions from 1934 to 1953; previously served as Chair of Washington University in St. Louis’s mechanical engineering department from 1921 to 1951; oversaw city improvements through a bond issue in his first term; increased city’s Earnings Tax in his second term; signed civil rights legislation concerning employment and housing into law during his third term; won an unprecedented fourth term by getting work started on a new airport close to downtown, lowering city’s unemployment rate; won a fifth term narrowly; died in office suddenly on November 23, less than two week before he could turn 74; longest-serving mayor
1953: Carl G. Stifel (R)
1957: Richard J. Mehan (R)
1961: Ben Lindenbusch (R)
1965: Maurice R. Zumwalt (R)
1969: Gerald “Jerry” Fischer (R)
1970-1981: 39) John Noel (D, 1914-1998) – previously worked in city government from 1961 to 1970; ascended to the office because the president of the Board of Aldermen becomes mayor when the office becomes vacant until a special mayoral election can be held; focused on race relations, community housing, crime, and city finance; updated city street lighting and founded several after-school, weekend, and summer programs for at-risk youth; often feuded with the city’s comptroller over multiple issues; raised taxes to cover civil servant wages and city’s losses during the 1978 economic crash; retired due to waning popularity but continued to be involved in city politics by commenting on local affairs and donating to campaigns throughout the 1980s and 1990s
1971 (special): Jerry Fischer (R), John H. Poelker (D, 1913-1990), Alfonso Cervantes (D, 1920-1983) and James F. Conway (D, b. 1932)
1973: Joseph L. Badaracco (R) and Dudley C. Higginson (I)
1977: William “Bill” Clay Sr. (I, b. 1931), James A. Stemmler (R) and Helen Savio (Natural Mind, 1922-1988)
1981-1993: 40) Vincent C. Schoemehl Jr. (D, b. 1946) – previously served as a city alderman from 1975 to 1981; promoted “public-private partnerships” for urban development projects and beautification programs; amid rising crime rates in his first term, strongly advocated “home safety” measures in order to avoid shifting funds away from social programs to police precincts without losing the support of the police unions; encouraged small business development in his second term; despite supporting historic preservation, approved the demolition of historic buildings, leading to claims that his ZED-style “gentrification” projects were behind the rise in the city’s homeless population during his third term; implemented the city’s current blanket primary election system in 1991; resigned after being elected Lieutenant Governor in November 1992; served as Lieutenant Governor from 1993 until resigning in 1996 over allegations of violating campaign finance laws; briefly ran for the 1996 Democratic nomination for US President; city’s most recent non-African-American mayor; has served as a Member of the Tri-State Development Agency Board of Commissioners since 2007
1981: Jerry B. Wamser (R, 1946-2012) and Lewis F. Rolen (I)
1985: Curtis C. Crawford (R, 1921-2021), Eugene Camp (I), Bruce Kimball (Workers’) and William Jackson (I)
1989: Bernard Elking (R), Michael V. Roberts (I), Ron Gregory (Natural Mind) and Dennis Lang (I)
1993-1993: 41) Fred E. Williams (D, 1935-1994) – city’s first African-American mayor; ascended to the office because the president of the Board of Aldermen becomes mayor when the office becomes vacant until a special mayoral election can be held; previously served in the state House from 1969 to 1987 before entering municipal politics; completed predecessor’s term; retired due to poor health
1993-2005: 42) Freeman Bosley Jr. (D, b. 1954) – city’s first elected African-American mayor; was previously the first African-American St. Louis Circuit Clerk for the city’s 22nd Judicial Circuit for ten years; also served as the 3rd Ward Democratic Committeeman, Chair of the St. Louis City Democratic Central Association, and the first African-American Chair of the Democratic Party of St. Louis; almost lost the 1997 over tax increases and almost lost the 2001 election over him laying off civil servants during the late 1990s recession; his tenure during the SARS pandemic was controversial; retired to successfully run for a US House seat; served in the US House from 2007 until 2011 (he lost re-election in 2010, a bad year for Democrats overall, in a narrow upset); currently operates his own law firm in St. Louis
1993 (primary): Thomas Albert “Tom” Villa (D, b. 1945), John P. O’Gorman (R), Clarence Harmon (D, b. 1940) and James A. Garrison Jr. (Workers’)
1993 (runoff): Tom Villa (D)
1997 (primary): Marit Clark (D) and Jay Dearing (R)
1997 (runoff): Marit Clark (D)
2001 (primary): Michael A. “Mike” Chance (R) and Anthony D. “Tony” Ribaudo (D, 1941-2020)
2001 (runoff): Mike Chance (R)
2005-2010: 43) Theodis “Ted” Brown Sr. (R) – previously worked as the city’s sheriff from 1989 to 1997; previously served as a city alderman from 2001 to 2005; first Republican mayor since 1949; elected due to backlash to “restrictive” safezoning laws and high taxes; ran a moderate libertarian administration; supported small businesses and gun rights; negotiated the construction of the city’s new sports stadium; cut taxes overall, affecting social services in his second term, but struggled to implement other efforts due to opposition from the city government; resigned after narrowly winning a seat in the US House of Representatives; served in the US House from 2011 until 2019 (he lost re-election in 2018); currently works as a senior advisor for a St. Louis-based security systems company
2005 (primary): Irene J. Smith (D), Willie Marshall (G), Paul J. M. Wekenborg (I) and Maida Coleman (Boulder, b. 1954)
2005 (runoff): Irene J. Smith (D)
2009 (primary): Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman (D), Elston K. McCowan (G), Don De Vivo (Natural Mind) and Robb E. Cunningham (Liberty)
2009 (runoff): Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman (D)
2010-2021: 44) Lewis E. Reed (D, b. 1962) – ascended to the office because the president of the Board of Aldermen becomes mayor when the office becomes vacant until a special mayoral election can be held; previously served as an alderman of the city's sixth ward from 1999 to 2010; oversaw residential redevelopment efforts; improved city’s “green space” areas; known for taking up several controversial positions and for making several controversial comments; retired due to several scandals that were negatively impacting his approval ratings
2011 (special): Michael V. “Mike” Roberts Jr. (D), James Osher (R), James Eldon McNeely (G), Doyle Samuel “Sam” Dotson III (D) and Jimmie Mathews (D)
2013 (primary): Andrew M. Jones Jr. (R), Larry Rice (I), Johnathan McFarland (G) and Tyrone Austin (I)
2013 (runoff): Andrew Jones (R)
2017 (primary): Antonio French (D, b. 1977), Jeffrey L. Boyd (D), Robert P. “Bob” McCulloch (D, b. 1951), Andrew “Andy” Karandzieff and Wesley Bell (D)
2017 (runoff): Antonio French (D)
2021-present: 45) Jamilah Nasheed (D, b. 1972) – city’s first female mayor and city’s first Muslin mayor; previously served in city government from 2007 to 2021; incumbent
2021 (primary): John Collins-Muhammad, Jr. (D, b. 1991), Jeanette Mott Oxford (D, b. 1954) and Bryan Spencer (R, b. 1967)
2021 (runoff): John Collins-Muhammad, Jr. (D, b. 1991)
– clickopedia.co.usa, c. 7/4/2021
GOP GOVERNOR-ELECTS CLASH OVER ATTITUDES TO WELLSTONE
…David Woods (b. 1957), a conservative broadcaster and former Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, whose father was Alabama Governor Charles Woods, opposes Wellstone’s approach to law enforcement, and won election to the Alabama governorship on an anti-crime campaign that involved supporting Crime Victim Rights. Despite all that, his stance that governors are “obliged to respect the President” is being challenged by fellow Governor-elect Russell K. Pearce of Arizona. Pearce is even further to the right than Woods, calling for Congress to establish a Cabinet position for a “Secretary of Domestic Defense” and a complete shutdown of the US-Mexican border and of nearly all immigration to the US “until domestic unemployment reaches 0%.” Additionally, Pearce has publicly stated that he refuses to work with President Wellstone, and has more than once declared that Wellstone “is not a legitimate President” due to him losing the popular vote in 2008. “If he visits my state, I will not welcome him. If he somehow passes something through congress that hurts Arizona, I will fight him on it.”
…Woods has entered ontech arguments with Pierce and Governor-Elect Alex Kozinski (R-MN) in recent months, with Woods defending his views on political courtesies and centrist immigration policies. Years prior to running for Governor, Woods partook in several church mission trips to Latin America, leading to him learning how to speak Spanish and being able to appeal to Hispanic voters as well as former Bernie Bros in the general election last month...
– The Washington Post, 11/21/2010
KHARTOUM DEPUTY MAYOR, CRITIC OF SUDAN GOVERNMENT AT THIS YEAR’S CHICKEN DINNER SUMMIT, DIES IN CAR ACCIDENT
– Associated Press, 11/29/2010
STOCKS TORN AMID GOP PROMISES OF “BOLD CHANGES”
…with rumors abound that the incoming Republican-majority congress will seek to reverse the past ten years of legislation led by the Jackson and Wellstone administrations, stockholders and shareholders of hundreds of companies are responding in a myriad of ways. Investments into oil and gas companies have risen, while companies focused on renewable energy are gripping with the fear that Republicans in the House and Senate will oppose their business efforts. However, overall, Wall Street responding more positively than negatively to the upcoming changing of the legislative guard..
– The Wall Street Journal, 12/2/2010
KENNELLY TO STEP DOWN AS LEADER OF THE HOUSE DEMOCRATS
…after her party lost the majority share of members of the US House of Representatives in last month’s midterm elections, outgoing House Speaker Barbara Kennelly (D-CT) today announced that she will not be a candidate for House Minority Leader in January. However, she will not resign from her congressional seat. …House Democrat Whip Ed Markey, who is notably to the left of Kennelly, is considered to be the frontrunner candidate to succeed her as leader of the Democratic Party in the House…
– The Washington Post, 12/7/2010
IN DEFENSE OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
All Incoming Republican Senators Back Abolishing The Electoral College – Here’s Why They’re Wrong
– The Huffington Post, 12/11/2010
UNITED TURKESTAN ELECTS ITS FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT
[pic: imgur.com/EjQbgRp.png ]
Above: Roza Otunbayeva
…Roza Otunbayeva of Kyrgystan (and of the Social Democratic party) bested former Kazakhstan Governor Zharmakhan Tuyakbay of the center-left Unity Party, Mukhtar Ablyazov of the Democratic Choice Party, and Galymzhab Zhakiyanov of the Bright Path Party for the position, making her the first-ever head of state for the country… …In the time that has passed since the assassination of President Karimov on July 7, 2008, internal divisions within United Turkestan have cooled considerably, thanks to the leadership of President Tasmagambetov, who declined to run for a full term of his own this year. Tasmagambetov, hailing from Kazakhstan and a member of the Unity party, ascended to the Presidency due to being Head of the National Gathering at the time of Karimov’s death… …Otunbayeva will enter office on January 5…
– Kommersant (The Businessman), Russian newspaper, 12/14/2010
WILL WE EVER GET ANOTHER FEMALE PRESIDENT?
…It is a tragedy that Carol Bellamy is increasingly being seen less as a competent voice of the progressive early 1990s and more as an enigma brought into office on a wave of feminist rage against the Denton administration’s sexism, a condition symbolized by the campaign of third-party candidate Glen Bell. Bellamy was not an exception to the nonexistent rule of law in D.C. – that only men can sit behind the Resolute Desk. She was a trailblazer, and while the likes of Snowe, Rodham-Clinton and Richards all lost in their endeavors to follow her trail, this is no excuse for The American Woman to give up hope. We can reclaim the White House and set forth another example of woman leadership for another generation of American Women.
The rights of all women – including transgender women – is an issue that spans across the political spectrum, and thus, no female leaders should be discounted or disqualified because of their political affiliation. With this in mind, debate over who will be America’s next female president should not limited the view of prospective candidates to just The Party of Carol, Jesse and Paul – or even the Party of Maureen, Olympia and Hillary, either! One cannot rule out the hard work and ideals of the female leaders found in the Democratic and Republican parties, or of the female leaders found in the Liberty, Green, Country, Boulder, and Natural Mind parties. After all, Carol Bellamy was just a city councilman in early 1981 – eight years later, she was sworn into the Presidency. So who knows where the next female President is right now, in this moment? She could be a celebrated politician titan right now. She could be a rising third-party organizer right now. She could be an aspiring activist right now. She even could be reading this very article right now…
– Radical feminist Catharine Alice MacKinnon, The Atlantic, 12/21/2010 op-ed
Fast food trends as the start of this decade are a mix of worrisome and promising developments. Liquid accompaniments to the pre-made meals of our times are taking a nutritional hit with the rise of energy drinks, with the most prominent brands at the moment being “Gatorade” and “Brisk,” the latter being a much newer brand that has adopted the term for a cold but fresh and enlivening wind for a drink that only tastes slightly better than Gatorade because it uses more sugars and artificial sweeteners than Gatorade.
Endeavors to promote drinks that provide consumers with quick and sharp energy appear to be the attempts of companies to placate health concerns. A host of studies show that the more fast-food one consumes, the less one exercises. But in an industry of such inelastic demand – especially in the US, where fast-food demands continued to stay steady during the prosperous 1990s, the troubling turn of the century, and even the SARS pandemic – little can scare the corporate giants into believing that customers will walk away from tasty food at affordable prices.
Not even the processes made at healthier fast food menu options has significantly shaken up the industry. Salads and no-cal options are available and are even promoted, but studies show that an overwhelming majority of fast-food customers still purchase the less-healthy items.
[snip]
Pizza, burgers and chicken still dominate this landscape, but other groups have their share of the industry. While Ollie’s Trollies seems to be fading in both prominence and in the public’s mi d, other artisanal joints are filling up its unique niche, with the spices of Indian food and the rising appearance of Kebab Houses leading the charge in that endeavor. Kebab House are at the front of the recent rise in the ethnic food lane as well, alongside East Asian noodle shops. Hopefully, these newer entries into the fast food world will play a part in improving the healthiness of the pre-prepared meals of Americana…
– Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation Revisited: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012
2010: total world population: 7,125,276,000
– clickopedia.co.usa/world_populations/history [2]
SOURCE(S)/NOTE(S)
[1] Italicized passages are from this OTL article: https://www.mankatofreepress.com/ne...cle_aa260a30-c13a-11e8-9890-53af31a782f5.html
[2] I combined OTL population growth trends with what the world population was in this TL's 1990 to get this number; if it seems too high or too low, given other factors (KW2, SARS, advances made in medicine and warfare/diplomacy), etc., please let me know.
As mentioned in previous chapters:
Joe Biden lost the 1972 US Senate race, but then served as Delaware's Governor from 1977 to 1985 before winning that Senate seat in 1984. He declined to run for President 1988 after a health scare and won re-election in 1990, but lost a bid for a third term in the Red Wave of 1996. His political career over, he currently works for the political "think tank"/lobbying group "Centrist Circle," is on the Amtrak Board of Directors, and is a part-time lecturer for the University of Delaware.
Barack "Rocky" McCain has been a centrist Republican state senator from Montana since 2007, but is considering running for either the Governorship or the US Congress.
Bill Clinton, inspired by Mike Gravel's quick ascension to the Vice Presidency in 1972, moved to Alaska in 1973, and served as Governor from 1978 to 1986. His administration was rocked by scandal after scandal, and he failed to even come close to winning the Democratic nomination for President in 1984. Reaching a dead-end, politics-wise, he moved to California in 1985 and joined a law firm. Maintaining a low profile, he's amassed considerable wealth despite two divorces, and in 2010, unsuccessfully tried to return to politics with a bid for an open US Congressional seat.
Sure! Ask away!
- Determining the exact circumstances of the birth of someone who is basically a stranger is very tricky business. You really must know how their parents met, and the factors and events that led up to them coming into existence in order to have a better understanding of whether or not they would exist in an alternate timeline.
For example, Dwayne Johnson’s parents lived on opposite ends of the world, but met because his dad became a pro wrestler, and his maternal grandfather is one as well (“Maivia and Johnson were tag team partners in a match on the independent circuit” (Wikipedia)); thus, is it very possible that The Rock was born in TTL, because the POD doesn’t affect professional wrestling until the 1980s (I mentioned Hulk Hogan being more prominent due to the collapse of the USSR in 1984 being “written into” wrestler “storylines”). In another example, Andrew Yang’s “parents emigrated from Taiwan to the U.S. in the 1960s, and met while they were both in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley” (Wikipedia). It is very likely that they still would have emigrated ITTL, but whether they still would have met is unclear; the defeat of the Viet Cong and the earlier student activism era could have affected who teaches at the school and want students apply. Less soldiers dead in Vietnam could equal more students applying for college classes; thus, until the circumstances of how they met are disclosed, the odds of Yang existing ITTL are, I’d say, 50/50. A third example: my parents possibly never met ITTL because their meeting was a chance encounter with multiple variables at play – my Dad, after immigrating from Greece in 1971, found work in New Jersey despite entering the US via Maryland because that is where his brother had moved to years earlier; my mother, an introvert who disliked going to places unfamiliar to hear, agreed to go out with friends to a restaurant, where my Dad just so happened to be working; the two met just as my Dad was exiting from the kitchen and my mother was entering through the front entrance. They were not in the same social circles and did not live or work near to one another. Only if it were destiny for me to be born would them meeting, marrying and multiplying still occur ITTL.
But I’m getting off-topic. My point is that for the Columbine shooters in this particular timeline, we’re talking about a POD of 1932 and perpetrators who were born in 1981, 49 years later, though things don’t really begin to change until the early 1950s. Nevertheless, the fact remains that there’s little info on how Eric and Dylan’s respective parents met (according to Wikipedia, Harris’ “parents were both born and raised in Colorado,” and Klebold’s “parents had met when they were both studying art at Ohio State University. The two quickly became smitten. After they both graduated, they married in 1971,” meaning Klebold’s parents could have not met ITTL (maybe they went to different colleges or classes for reasons similar to those given for Yang’s parents in the previous paragrpah). So let’s just assume for the sake of argument that they were born anyway. Because Harris’ father worked “in the United States Air Force as a transport pilot,” the family moved “around the country sporadically.” Because of the wars in Libya, Nicaragua, and the militant response to recreadrug-related crime in Mexico (“the Reacredrug Wars”), Harris’ career may look much different here. He could have died in a plane crash, or saved up enough for early retirement, allowing them to move to Colorado sooner than 1992, and thus possibly affecting Harris’ psychological development. The lives of the Klebolds may have also been affected by the butterflies of the POD; they may not have moved to Colorado in 1980, given that the US was still bouncing back from the Recession of 1978-1979 at that point in the TL. Possibly different employment ITTL means that Klebold could have grown up in Ohio or even Wisconsin, where his mother went to college in 1975. With all the factors at play here, it’s very possible that the two never meet in the seventh grade in CO. And even if they somehow do, they are still not likely going to shoot up a school due to the lower odds of school shootings occurring in general due to the conditions of this TL’s developments. They may not feel so persecuted; they may be bullied less; they may have more helpful school therapists or stronger supportive groups of friends and families; again, lots of factors at play here.
School shootings in general were affected by the attack on the US President’s life in 1986, and by the 1995 assassination of Lee Iacocca. These two events were the catalysts necessary for tighter gun control measures to be implemented under Presidents Denton, Kemp and Dinger. Mental health reform also was big development of these events as well, with California having the strongest mental health state laws, as covering in the corresponding chapters. As a result, educators and students are more informed of how to take preventative measures.
Thus, we can come to the following conclusions. It is unlikely that they were born. If Eric and Dylan were born, they likely never met. If either of them attempt to shoot up their respective schools, the anti-gun scare, and the mental health awareness frenzy of the latter half of the 1990s would have likely nipped the incident in the bud, or at least have been more successful at addressing their psychoses (if they even have them here) than the “diversionary program which included community service and psychiatric treatment” they agreed to take part in after a legal incident in January 1998 in OTL (Wikipedia).
Now as for a Columbine equivalent, I believe that shootings or violent incidents at schools would still happen because of how often it happens worldwide and because such incidents have been around for decades if not centuries. However, due to the aforementioned reforms concerning guns and mental health awareness, the numbers ITTL are way lower than in OTL. Thus, school campuses are not so dangerous in TTL.
And finally, to answer your question. There was no Columbine School Shooting, but the odds are that there were smaller, far less deadly school shooting incidents ITTL than there were in OTL. And to answer the second half of your question, if Eric and Dylan exist, they likely were sent to mental health centers/therapy if they are suspected to be a threat to the other students, and/or they could end up in jail for assault or attempted murder when they are adults. But hey, maybe things turned out all right for them in the end ITTL. Maybe the circumstances of their upbringing was more supportive of their mental health. Maybe they have channeled their anger into more constructive activities. Harris was apparently very good a soccer; maybe he goes pro (but doesn’t end up like that Aaron Hernandez guy). Maybe they become professional bowlers, or demolition derby champions, or demolitions experts/weapons specialists for the military. Since Harris was IOTL diagnosed as a psychopath with narcissistic traits, and “often bragged about his ability to deceive others” (Wikipedia), maybe he becomes a politician, or a lawyer, or a TV network executive.
With a POD that is 68 years old at this point in the TL, the possibilities are endless.
- I mentioned Selena Quintanilla-Perez near the end of Chapter 65 as playing Mary Jane Watson in a 1992 Spiderman movie; it’s her film debut. She’s had supporting roles in other US films and a few starring roles in some US and Mexican movies as well since then, but at the moment she is mostly sticking to music. Currently (2010) 49 years old, she married in 1993 (but not to Chris Perez, who she never met (ITTL, he died in the 1991 DUI incident for which he was arrested IOTL)), and has one son (Abraham, b. 1995) and two daughters (Marcelina, b. 2000, and Susanna, b. 2003).
- Right.
- Yep!
- D’oh! I knew I forgot something from November. I’ve gone back and edited a bit to that month (just below the picture of Wellstone). Thanks for pointing that out!
Maybe when he gets to a certain age he'll hand the reigns of the show over to his family and apprentices, similar to OTL, and then turn to politics if not political activism. It worked for TTL's Bob Ross, after all! For which seat in Australian parliament would he run?
As for Canada, well...does Leslie Nielsen's brother Erik serving as Prime Minister count?
Shucks, thanks for the compliment!
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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 
