Friday, December 2nd, 2011: Jon Corzine, the former Governor of New Jersey, is subpoenaed by the House Agriculture Committee to testify about the collapse of MF Global and the disappearance of customer funds.
Saturday, December 3rd, 2011: The Green Party hosts a presidential debate in San Francisco that is televised on C-SPAN 2. Attending are Mayor Rocky Anderson, Doctor Jill Stein, and activist Kent Mesplay. Potential candidate Roseanne Barr was extended an invitation but declined, citing scheduling conflicts.
Sunday, December 4th, 2011: Former presidential candidate Herman Cain comes under fire after Gloria Allred and a number of women who now are her clients come forward with sexual harassment allegations.
Monday, December 5th, 2011: French President Nicholas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel call for a new, stronger European Union treaty to adequately handle the simmering debt crises across the continent.
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011: The Democratic National Committee announces CNN will host a single debate ahead of the Iowa Caucuses, followed by a second debate hosted by NBC ahead of the New Hampshire primary.
Friday, December 9th, 2011: After being barred from three impending Republican debates, Governor Gary Johnson tells Fox News’s Neil Cavutto that he is considering running as a Libertarian candidate instead.
Saturday, December 10th, 2011: ABC hosts Iowa debate.
DES MOINES, IA: The Republican candidates clashed again in the first of three debates scheduled over the next ten days. The debate began with questions surrounding Rick Perry’s recent “oops” incident. While Perry was given a second chance to (successfully) answer the question, Donald Trump took the opportunity to pounce on his floundering rival.
“Look at him, wearing glasses now” wisecracked a testy Trump,
“he thinks people will believe he’s smart.” When Mitt Romney tried to intervene in defense of Governor Perry, Trump quickly quieted him by simply yelling over him
“here comes the tough guy” to the delight of an entertained audience. The debate took a religious turn, with Governor Huckabee calling out Trump in a serious manner for the first time.
“We need a candidate whom we are not embarrassed of if Jesus asked us who we voted for” warned the former Arkansas Governor, leading an angry Trump to lambast Huckabee:
“he used to like me, wow!” exclaimed Trump,
“but now I’m doing better than him and he’s running scared.”ABC’s debate was notable for making a point to give greater time to some of the middling candidates. John Bolton, Newt Gingrich, George Pataki, and Rick Santorum were given a larger proportion of the allocated time, something that the candidates noted gratefully. Santorum delivered an emotional response to a question about abortion, noting the birth and subsequent death of one of his children along with his daughter’s struggle with Trisomy 13, widely praised in the press in the aftermath of the debate as the highlight of the broadcast.
Sunday, December 11th, 2011: North Korea warns of “unprecedented consequences” in response to a South Korean plan to light a Christmas tree near the DMZ; the threat is widely mocked in western media.
Thursday, December 15th, 2011: -With 27 hours left to go before a government shutdown, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announce a budget agreement has been reached. The deal would extend the payroll tax’s suspension for two months while Congress investigates the fiscal consequences of such a tax break. In exchange for keeping President Obama’s wishes to extend the payroll tax holiday, the Republicans manage to get the Democrats to drop several proposals that would increase taxes on the wealthy.
-The US flag is lowered in Baghdad’s Green Zone for the last time, marking the official end of American combat operations in Iraq.
Saturday, December 17th, 2011: Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer – whose campaign for the Republican nomination has gone virtually ignored – announces he will seek the Reform Party ballot line in 2012 instead, and encourages his remaining supporters in the GOP to instead support Donald Trump’s candidacy.
Monday, September 19th, 2011: Kim Jong Il dies suddenly.
PYONGYANG, DPRK: The North Korean people were informed via a state television broadcast of the sudden death of the country's enigmatic leader Kim Jong Il. The news sent thousands of citizens into the streets of the capital of Pyongyang to profusely express their sorrow. In the official announcement released by state media, a news reader clad in black traditional mourning garb, read the official statement approved by the ruling Korean Workers Party through choked sobs and referenced Kim Jong Un, the youngest son of the late dictator, as "the Great Successor." This is the first clear sign that the North Korean establishment has rallied around the young and untested heir, and signals that Kim dynasty remains in complete control of the country.
Born in Siberia in 1942, where his father Kim Il Sung was training with the Red Army, who supported his armed movement against the Japanese occupation in Korea. Following the end of the war, Kim would brutally assert his authority over the communist North, culminating with the Korean War and the subsequent ceasefire that remains unresolved. In the decades afterwards, as Kim consolidated his authority, his son inserted himself into the heart of the Worker's Party and took over complete control of propaganda efforts, which resulted in one of the world's most effective cults of personality being created around the father by the son.
In 1994, Kim Il Sung died, reportedly during a heated argument with his heir and successor. Since his predecessors death, the younger Kim had ruthlessly consolidated authority and purged, exiled, executed many of his father's allies and replaced them with a new generation of yes-men who answered exclusively to him. The collapse of the USSR and communism in the late eighties and early nineties left North Korea an isolated state, and subsequently the North Korean constitution was amended to replace the Marxist-Leninist cold war ethos with a new, hyper militaristic and nationalistic ideology of Juche that repeatedly threatened to release an "onslaught of despair" against the South in repeated communiques. The rhetoric was more than bluff; under the late Kim, North Korea aggressively pursued nuclear weapons as the citizens of the Democratic People's Republic starved for years as North Korea's economy was put on a military footing; though the army was stronger than ever before, the agricultural output fell sharply, and famine plagued the country.
With the ascension of Kim Jong Un to the highest posts in the North Korean army and the ruling Worker's Party, analysts are keeping a sharp high for purges and executions of former allies of Kim Jong Il as the new leadership clique of the country enters a new period of uncertainty. Little is known of the younger Kim, including his age - it is widely believed he is only in his mid to late twenties, making him the youngest leader of the world stage. Though the party, army, and the state run media have all pledged loyalty to the new Kim, the prospect of internal upheaval and power struggles make the future prospects of the secretive rogue state likely.
Hillary.
Saturday, December 25th, 2011:
Waterloo, IA.
A light, slushy snow rained down from the grey sky as the sun set over Iowa. The former Secretary of State was exhausted and exasperated. She and Bill sat next to each other in the waiting room of a private hanger while they awaited for the arrival of the private jet that would soon be taking them back to Chappaqua, where they hoped to enjoy a quiet Christmas before returning to the Hawkeye State the day after.
Things were not going as smoothly as Hillary had hoped for; though she was the far and away frontrunner for 2016, she had hardly made any serious moves to cobble together any serious political organization. Her work at the State Department and her….side interests…..at the Clinton Foundation were the focus of her time and energy. Though the President had informed her of his intention to not seek another term in office days before he announced it to the general public, it was still not nearly enough warning for her tastes. Though it was extremely easy to attract qualified consultants, speechwriters, and pollsters to her campaign by virtue of her name alone, it was not so easy for Hillary to trust them. Her 2008 candidacy had been a clusterfINKs of epic proportions, with inner-campaign rivalries and faction infighting plaguing her long before she was routed by Obama for the first time in Iowa.
That was not to happen again; with only a few weeks to put together a campaign team, Clinton opted for a smaller, closer knit organization. Her campaign manager was a longtime friend of hers and her most trusted aide, Huma Abedin, by the name of Neera Tanden. Neera, who was a longtime Democratic Party functionary and Clinton ally, had given up a prestigious job as President of the Center for American Progress to take on the role of campaign manager. Though a thoroughly loyal Clinton supporter, Tanden had developed critical links to Obamaworld since 2008, which opened up a whole new pool of talent for Clinton to draw from. It was from here that Joel Benenson, a famous pollster, was hired. John Podesta, the former White House Chief of Staff, became the leading adviser to Hillary, while Huma Abedin remained in her position as advancewoman and trusted confidante. Cheryl Mills agreed to serve as General Counsel, and Hillary was already eying her for the position of White House counsel, or perhaps even Attorney General. All in all, Hillaryland was considerably more progressive than it was in 2008, and the campaign would reflect this.
Of course, to appoint an Attorney General, one has to be elected first. And that wasn’t as easy as Hillary had thought it would be. She sat there pensively next to Bill, who had buried his head behind the latest copy of
USA Today, feeling a slight sensation of embarrassment. Had she really learned nothing from 2008?
“Why can’t I get this right?” she again asked herself in her mind. Huma Abedin walked around the corner with a vanilla envelope and handed it to the former Secretary.
“What’s this?” asked Hillary as Bill put down his paper.
“It’s the advance copy of the Des Moines Register poll that’s due out tomorrow morning.” The former Secretary put down the paper and exhaled, betraying her annoyance.
“They’re releasing a poll on Christmas for Christ’s sake?” asked Hillary sarcastically as she opened the envelope. Her eyes darted downward past the boring details of methodology towards the numbers. They were not what she was hoping for.
2012 Iowa Democratic Caucus: 1,500 Registered Voters (Statewide).
Joe Biden: 30.7%Hillary Clinton: 30.5%Bernie Sanders: 30.3%Brian Schweitzer: 6.0%Martin O’Malley: 1.0%Dennis Kucinich: 1.0%Artur Davis: 0.5%“Jesus Christ” she sighed,
“it’s 2008 all over again!”
NOTE: For God, Crown, and Country is not dead, but while I procrastinate from making the wikiboxes necessary for the next update, I thought I'd might as well revisit this. I'm going to go through this entire timeline, amend some of the format, correct grammatical errors and plot inconsistencies, and restore some pictures that have been deleted. The next update (mostly a debate transcript) is already ready to be posted, but I want to make these corrections first before I post it tonight or tomorrow. Thank you for your kind words and suggestions.
