UN US Midterm Elections 2018 Megathread - Blue Wave or Red Tsunami? Because you know we need one.

Antipathy · Nov 7, 2018

Poiseon said:
No one will use nukes except terrorists. The damage it does to a region renders the resources there entirely useless.
Official prediction; The US in around fifty years will go to war with China, northern Africa, and the newly formed Islamic European Union. Russia, being vastly Christian will side with the US along with south American nations. US naval power will regulate the fighting mostly to Europe and north Africa, with a secondary front opening up along China's northern border once the Islamic European Union starts to buckle under the might of the US, Russo alliance.

My prediction:
In fifty years the United States will enter another civil war, while Saudi Arabia starts creating a Neo-Ottoman Empire. The EU will implode and the Russians will permanently occupy the Ukraine, seeking to re-establish the Soviet Union. China will become even more authoritarian, and help North Korea invade South Korea during the Second American Civil War. The Neo Ottoman empire (not called that), will start influencing Islamic governments in Africa and the Balkans, using the last of their oil money (oil will run dry 2040-2060) to acquire some other form of material. China will assault India over territorial disputes, and fierce fighting will break out in the Himalayas. Who wins? I don't know.

Kari Kamiya · Nov 7, 2018

Poiseon said:
Depends on the severity of the criminal charges. What are the specifics? Did they give voting rights back to people who got arrested on things like pot charges, or did they go as far as rapists and the like?

Screen shot 2018-11-07 at 12.25.53 PM.png

Okay, so felons that are severe like murder and sexual offense still have no voting rights. I think having it restored immediately after parole and probation is a bit iffy, like there should still be time in between that before being able to register again, like six months or so depending on severity.

Vox in the meantime continues to shoot themselves in the goddamn foot over this:

Screen shot 2018-11-07 at 12.30.16 PM.png

Admitting to be a party of criminals sure as hell looks good at face-value, don't it.

Poiseon · Nov 7, 2018

Dr W said:
My prediction:
In fifty years the United States will enter another civil war, while Saudi Arabia starts creating a Neo-Ottoman Empire. The EU will implode and the Russians will permanently occupy the Ukraine, seeking to re-establish the Soviet Union. China will become even more authoritarian, and help North Korea invade South Korea during the Second American Civil War. The Neo Ottoman empire (not called that), will start influencing Islamic governments in Africa and the Balkans, using the last of their oil money (oil will run dry 2040-2060) to acquire some other form of material. China will assault India over territorial disputes, and fierce fighting will break out in the Himalayas. Who wins? I don't know.

We need to contact Alternate History Hub and pitch our ideas.

Ponderous Pillock · Nov 7, 2018

RodgerDodger said:
A large part of that was built into the American Constitution as a reaction to being ruled exclusively by the whims of not simply England, but a very narrow portion of London.

The slapfights the 13 colonies got into during the revolutionary war also played a huge factor. Shay's rebellion was the biggest wake up call as Boston twatted about their hinterland to the point they nearly lost half their state due to pissed off farmers.

Ultimately it was the rotten boroughs which played a huge part in how the Empire conducted the war as giving the colonies representative seats in exchange for similar tax rates would dilute the Tory Party considerably (the original party, not the current Tories) which was the obvious solution and one recommend by people at the time but bitterly opposed thanks to the people Lord North had to keep in post to run a functioning government. Sadly it's be another 40 years and the breaking of the Tory Party thanks to the Catholic emancipation in 1829 which saw enormous changes, including the reform act of 1832 and the abolishment of slavery in the UK in 1833.

Rotten boroughs are something which I am surprised the Dems haven't begin to use as a stick to beat Republicans with. Some districts on both sides reek thanks to redistricting and their proposals.

Corbin Dallas Multipass · Nov 7, 2018

Yeah, that's all fun fanfiction and all but what does it have to do with anything?

So the US actually is functional now, but it won't be in 50 years. OK, but you were previously talking about the past and present, not the future.

The same old repeated media talking points just get old after a while. Trump Bad. America Dumb. Europe progressive paradise.
So when I see them, I just yell out "CITATION NEEDED".

Poiseon · Nov 7, 2018

Corbin Dallas Multipass said:
Yeah, that's all fun fanfiction and all but what does it have to do with anything?

So the US actually is functional now, but it won't be in 50 years. OK, but you were previously talking about the past and present, not the future.

The same old repeated media talking points just get old after a while. Trump Bad. America Dumb. Europe progressive paradise.
So when I see them, I just yell out "CITATION NEEDED".

But yelling 'citation needed' is racist

Antipathy · Nov 7, 2018

Corbin Dallas Multipass said:
Yeah, that's all fun fanfiction and all but what does it have to do with anything?

So the US actually is functional now, but it won't be in 50 years. OK, but you were previously talking about the past and present, not the future.

The same old repeated media talking points just get old after a while. Trump Bad. America Dumb. Europe progressive paradise.
So when I see them, I just yell out "CITATION NEEDED".

My position here is:
Trump bad. America Dumb. Europe Dumb. Everyone's dumb and wrong, and we need new blood and new ideas in order to fix things. That and politicians who aren't sucking the dick of Saudi Arabia for the petrodollar.

Buer · Nov 7, 2018

^The only way that'll happen is when the petro dries up which I heard is happening in 2040-2060. It'll kinda suck living in America then considering most people travel a long distance to go to work here.

BubbleButt · Nov 7, 2018

I think there should be a trophy given out to all of us for surviving this horrifying Blue Wave.

Keystone · Nov 7, 2018

You all remember that brothel owner in Nevada who was running for office but died last month? He still won.

Orange//Net · Nov 7, 2018

Nancy Polosi overplaying winning the house as some sort of revolutionary act.
:story:

Who's she kidding?
At most she's just going to be an annoyance to Trump, unless she can dig actual dirt on him (which she won't)

RodgerDodger · Nov 7, 2018

In looking at the overall results the one other thought I am left with is just how staggeringly low the Dems ROI was on spending. Yeah they flipped the House, barely, but dear lord the amount of California money pissed away fruitlessly was staggering. Between Beto, Abrams and Gillum Hollywood must have erased half a Billion $? At what point does even the Dems Campaign spending become in sustainable? (Ok the answer there was 2016 when Hillary literally bought them lock stock and barrel at Fire Sale prices.)

Jigglyjogglers · Nov 7, 2018

RodgerDodger said:
In looking at the overall results the one other thought I am left with is just how staggeringly low the Dems ROI was on spending. Yeah they flipped the House, barely, but dear lord the amount of California money pissed away fruitlessly was staggering. Between Beto, Abrams and Gillum Hollywood must have erased half a Billion $? At what point does even the Dems Campaign spending become in sustainable? (Ok the answer there was 2016 when Hillary literally bought them lock stock and barrel at Fire Sale prices.)

Even with the amount of celebrity dollars being poured into these campaigns the amount they're spending is suspicious, and an audit of the DNC's finances would no doubt turn up some interesting stuff. They just keep spending record-setting amounts on elections they keep losing, and following that money trail would make for some interesting revelations, no doubt.

Ginger Piglet · Nov 7, 2018

Poiseon said:
No one will use nukes except terrorists. The damage it does to a region renders the resources there entirely useless.
Official prediction; The US in around fifty years will go to war with China, northern Africa, and the newly formed Islamic European Union. Russia, being vastly Christian will side with the US along with south American nations. US naval power will regulate the fighting mostly to Europe and north Africa, with a secondary front opening up along China's northern border once the Islamic European Union starts to buckle under the might of the American-Russo alliance.

Ah, the "clash of civilisations" hypothesis. This makes the mistake of assuming I. that there are enough Islamists who would convert Europe to Sharia, there are not; II. that Islam is monolithic. Saudi and Iran have been sniping and proxy-warring at each other for centuries over sectarian differences, and many Islamic governments are more interested in purging the heretic than expanding the Caliphate. Oh, and III. the Russians still are salty at the West and mistrust American military and economic power regardless.

My prediction:

In 50 years, the EU will have collapsed as the outer member states realise that being pay pigs for France, Germany, and Benelux isn't the way forward. Global warming will be expanding the Sahara and other deserts and climate refugees will scramble across the now heavily militarised Med, which is all but unnavigable thanks to Italian and Spanish mines. There will probably be a regional shooting war in the Middle East as the Saudis and their proxies battle the Iranians. With a sectarian undercurrent, this will not be a nice war to get stuck in. Imagine Iran/Iraq times ten. The US and China will probably be arming both sides in exchange for rapidly depleting oil concessions. Probably at the same time. Despite both sides pledging to wipe it off the map, Israel carries on regardless by playing off the Iranian-backed Hezbollah against Hamas, as by this time the various Muslim factions hate each other more than anything else. Many of the Palestinians give up violence when they realise that Israel is pretty much the only stable government in the region. Ironically, this war aids the Israel/Palestine peace process more than any number of summits.

More pressing than oil, though, is the need for rare earth metals and uraniam. Maybe optimistic here, but nuclear power is now a fact of life, especially in Europe. Thanks to Brexit, Britain leads the way in this (the lack of overregulation as to same helps) and has reactors running on the thorium cycle. Most of Devon and South Wales is strip-mined for this metal, despite huge environmental protests. The French re-colonised parts of Africa, effectively, to get their hands on the uranium in Niger. The Chinese, however, need those rare earth metals for their heavy industry and have effectively colonised Uganda, Kenya, and the DRC, buying off the locals with infrastructure projects and the promise of well paid jobs in industry, but at the price of their not electing leaders that will attempt to break free of the beneficence of the Middle Kingdom or rock the boat too much. The Second Scramble for Africa is well underway.

Venezuela collapsed totally by 2030. The runoff from its collapse brought down the governments of Bolivia and Colombia as well in the decade following, and for the past 25 years the region is effectively in the hands of whichever warlord has control of the oilfields that week, as they can trade the increasingly scarce oil to the major powers in exchange for guns and military hardware. As bad as this de facto government is, the rebels (who fund their rebellion via the cocaine trade) are even worse. A steady stream of refugees heads either north up Central America. Mexico, despite being riven with corruption and part-owned by the cartels, elected a strongman leader in 2035 who actually did build a wall, and caused a minor scandal when he attempted to serve the Venezuelan government in exile's representative with an invoice for it on the floor of the UN. Unfortunately it didn't help; entire populations all but climbed over it in the form of a human pyramid. The Mexican middle classes found themselves suffering the worst effects of a migrant crisis and all headed north to the US, which is now a predominantly Spanish-speaking nation.

The rest of the refugees try to get into Brazil, which is burgeoning economically thanks to a concerted effort to drive out corruption, through the rainforest. Many vanish without a trace.

Russia sees the semi-collapse of the EU as an opportunity. Eastern Ukraine is formally annexed. Belarus volunteers to be annexed. The Baltic states fear they will be gobbled up one by one but the Russians find that the damage caused to their economies and infrastructure by mounting an invasion and the risk of guerilla warfare would make it a net loss. Instead they are coercively entered into a "Eurasian Union" with a line of tanks on the horizon.

Canada is doing really well for itself. Global warming is actually being of a net benefit to it as the tundra becomes increasingly fertile. Ditto Norway. Sweden, however, collapsed as its policy of uncontrolled climate- and war-refugee welcoming led to waves of violence rebounding around the place. In 2051 a man claiming to be a distant descendent of Charles XII formed a hardline monarchist faction, Divine Right of Kings and all that. He seized power, had the previous King and the Prime Minister hanged as usurpers, and set up an absolute monarchy and went into strict isolationism. Charles XVII contines to rule by decree.

France and Germany and Benelux remain as the European Union. By now effectively a singular state, ever closer union has been achieved at last. Unfortunately nobody else is in it. Their hyper-regulated and deeply bureaucratic régime is widely considered all talk and no tackle. President Amira abdel Mannaf, nicknamed the Hijabi Heckler, makes constant statements condemning almost everything in the wider world, and flinging anathemas at anyone and everyone, who roundly ignore her. The European Union remains in a stagnant low-growth economy reliant on importing migrants to do the scutwork while the middle classes shuffle paper around. Industry is regulated to fuck and taxes are high. Yet despite this, and exceptionally generous social programs, emigration to Britain or Italy or Spain is a constant underhum.

Japan continues apace though tensions with China remain high. It is almost as isolationist now as it was in the 19th century, though it maintains trade agreements around the world.

Right, that's my autism over for today.

Creep3r · Nov 7, 2018

Dr W said:
we need politicians who aren't sucking the dick

You ask for the impossible. The majority of politicians (and just about anyone in a position of power) suck the dicks of their investors and do whatever the investors/big businesses who pay most say as long as they serve as a good source of income for their party. Its like how Dems stopped giving a shit about the poor and the workers and now only give a shit about IDpol/diversity, Hollywood celebrities and rich white/LGBwhatever fucks in NY and CA, because said groups are ~~paying~~ "investing" good money to have only their interests and views protected (with even the likes of Matt Groening and Joss Whedon will fork over thousands, if not millions, to see their interests shilled) while leaving middle America to rot for not being more liberal. Its no wonder so many worker-hating rich Republicans have gone over to their side since that's where the money and good press is at. Even if new blood did show up that actually cared about the values, beliefs and interests of their supporters/true party ideals more than good press and money, they'd eventually cave to either greed, stress, peer pressure and/or threats. Politics is like a jungle with mafia-like elements.

From what I understand, when most young people vote now, its not because they think the party or candidate will make too much of a difference (although they hope) since the parties will always be changing their tune depending on who's paying more, but because they're simply voting to stick it to the investors and supporters on the opposing side as part of the "culture war".

Lensherr · Nov 7, 2018

Well I'm just glad that I won't be getting assblasted with more taxes in my state and legal weed has made gains.

Super-Chevy454 · Nov 7, 2018

Ginger Piglet said:
Ah, the "clash of civilisations" hypothesis. This makes the mistake of assuming I. that there are enough Islamists who would convert Europe to Sharia, there are not; II. that Islam is monolithic. Saudi and Iran have been sniping and proxy-warring at each other for centuries over sectarian differences, and many Islamic governments are more interested in purging the heretic than expanding the Caliphate. Oh, and III. the Russians still are salty at the West and mistrust American military and economic power regardless.

It could be interesting to compare with what that lolcow Tom Kratman had written in his dystopian novel "Caliphate". ;-)

Btw, Styx posted a vlog about the Midterms aftermath.

SuperDeeDuper · Nov 7, 2018

well, i think it's safe to say this was a purple nothing. democrats are so dumb that they're celebrating a continuation of gridlock. the only real win for them would have been to regain control of both houses, instead we just have two years of getting nothing done.

i think the real news of the night is the passage of amendment 4 in florida... 1.5 million florida felons can now vote, which is more than enough to turn florida solid blue. unless kanye is going to reprogram them all into based black guys.

XYZpdq · Nov 7, 2018

SuperDeeDuper said:
well, i think it's safe to say this was a purple nothing. democrats are so dumb that they're celebrating a continuation of gridlock. the only real win for them would have been to regain control of both houses, instead we just have two years of getting nothing done.

i think the real news of the night is the passage of amendment 4 in florida... 1.5 million florida felons can now vote, which is more than enough to turn florida solid blue. unless kanye is going to reprogram them all into based black guys.

Keep in mind also these felons are Florida Mans. I think assuming they all vote dem is like the assumption any random hispanic is going to vote that way too. Not impossible but more than a bit presumptuous.

SuperDeeDuper · Nov 7, 2018

XYZpdq said:
Keep in mind also these felons are Florida Mans. I think assuming they all vote dem is like the assumption any random hispanic is going to vote that way too. Not impossible but more than a bit presumptuous.

yeah, to be fair, it's unlikely that the majority of them will even vote, but overall it's going to favor democrats. one of their reasons for the measure was that 'felons are disproportionately black and latino and that's mean and racist,' and those demographics tend to vote democrat. blacks go 90-95% dem, latinos go 60-70% dem.

it may not be the end of the world but it certainly doesn't help trump 2020.

UN US Midterm Elections 2018 Megathread - Blue Wave or Red Tsunami? Because you know we need one.

Antipathy

Extreme Repugnance

Kari Kamiya

Be My Familiar

Poiseon

I am literal poison.

Ponderous Pillock

Welcome to Triple T, Tards, Troons and Trolls!

Corbin Dallas Multipass

Poiseon

I am literal poison.

Antipathy

Extreme Repugnance

Buer

The God of Tits and Wine

BubbleButt

Negromancer

Keystone

Orange//Net

Offically doxxed by the Antifa Furry Army

RodgerDodger

Jigglyjogglers

The Doctor Bashir guy

Ginger Piglet

Burglar of Jess Phillips MP

Creep3r

Jack Ryder

Lensherr

Super-Chevy454

SuperDeeDuper

it's a show stoppin' Zany kind of popcorn!

XYZpdq

fbi most wanted sskealeaton

SuperDeeDuper

it's a show stoppin' Zany kind of popcorn!