Crucial Hamilton County

[Cicada]

((Welcome to the politics of the SOTFverse, a journey none of you asked for or deserve.

For the sake of compiling all general information that may crop up whether it be from us, Staff, or others, this first post will serve as a dossier on all roughly canonized information concerning the custom made political figures that now exist in the backstory of SOTF as a universe, barring any of this information being stricken from canon by the smiting from the heavens called Staff Disapproval. So this information is all subject to being rewritten as needed.

Participation is welcome, be it in the form of tossing ideas around or of writing content.))

[+] Crucial Hamilton County Events

Meeting Between Democratic Senators
Meeting Between Various Republican Congressmen

[+] Local to Tennessee

Beau Dupree (Republican Senator from Tennessee, Junior) - Because this guy appeared in pregame we of course have to give him some preferential treatment. So, contrary to what actually happened in the real life Tennessee (Dupree as the SOTF version of the cucked Bob Corker IRL), this guy is a rising star in the Republican party, famous for his ability to come off as bipartisan and civil in the Canon era while still satisfying his base with plenty of red meat.

• Chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Senate committee. The HELP, as Goose likes to call it. He's quite young to have the position.

Morgan Jennings (Republican Senator from Tennessee, Senior) - Essentially exists to be the Bob Corker of SOTFverse, so, controversial for his verbal stances against Canon and retires in the 2018 election season.

Bree Kowalski (Democratic Mayor of Chattanooga) - The first female African American mayor in the state of Tennessee. Elected in a wave of liberal activism that essentially canonically explains why GHHS was arbitrarily teleported out of some super blue San Francisco school district and into the heart of the South.

• Denounced the current governor of Tennessee for being too 'passive', in his decision to not draft the National Guard as part of the manhunt efforts following the kidnappings.
• Will become the Pete Buttigeg of SOTFs 2020 Democratic Primaries, only without the racial baggage (duh) and most critique and commentary aimed at her opportunism surrounding SOTF having happened in her town.

Teddy Cundall (Republican Governor of Tennessee) - Standard businessman who randomly broke into politics for some reason story.

[+] Rest of America

Carol Susans (Democratic Senator from Washington, Senior) - Was a senator during V4, so she's lived through the nightmare from the politics side. She's commonly cited Aurora in her progressive proposals that include mental health initiatives and gun control.

• Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Senate committee. Her seniority is way less notable than Beau's since she's actually old and experienced, so on.

Quyền Tran (Democratic Representative from Washington's 7th District) - The outspoken soon to be co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Was an immigrant rights activist active in Seattle during the time of the Aurora High School kidnappings.

Eric Caulfield (Republican Senator from Arizona, Senior) - Was Arizona's senator during V6. A famed war veteran who was tortured as a POW, and is famous for interventionist neoconservativeism and for having a failed run for the Republican nomination in 2008 against Jeff Bridges. Is as of the V7 months on medical from the Senate leave due to complications from colorectal cancer.

Jacob Gustafson (Democratic Senator from Montana, Senior) - One of the longest career Democrats in the Senate, who runs something of his own machine in his home state, with tactics that people on his side would call pragmatic and critics would decry as flagrantly corrupt. Ranking member of Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Diana O'Shaughnessy (Democratic Senator from Missouri, Senior) - The 'Senate Witch', the sole surviving state-level democrat in the growing Republican stronghold of Missouri, who combines mostly moderate policymaking with sympathy for social justice issues. Ranking member of Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

Greg Forbes (Republican Representative from New York's 2nd District) - Committee chair of House Committee of Homeland Security. Famously bipartisan and moderate save for his leadership in congressional anti-abortion initiatives.

Grady Holland (Democratic Representative from North Carolina's 1st District) - Ranking member of the House Committee of Homeland Security. Notably has led the effort to discharge responsibility of the US legislative investigations into SOTF from the jurisdiction of Homeland Security. Advocate for switching the SOTF responsibilities to the Canon-ally heavy Judiciary Committee.

Jared Schweitzer (Republican Representative from Ohio's 5th District) - Member of the House Committee of Homeland Security, ally of Congressman Holland. Advocate for switching the SOTF responsibilities to a special committee, with himself in a leadership position.

Claudia Tenorio (Democratic Representative from Texas's 29th District) - Member of the House Committee of Homeland Security. Advocate for switching the SOTF responsibilities to an intersectional collaboration between several committees.

Adam Simpson (Republican Representative from Nebraska's 3rd District) - Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Seeks exclusive jurisdiction to the SOTF investigations.

Michael Bromley (Republican Representative from California's 48th District) - Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Famously pro-Russia.

Saul Enright (Republican Representative from Pennsylvania's 11th District) - Member of the House Committee of Homeland Security, former businessman, famous for being beloved in his district despite a notorious lack of results due to general disinterest in the day-to-day of his job.

Josh Chipman (Republican Representative from Missouri's 4th District) - Member of the House Committee of Armed Services. Rising star in Missouri for his rock-ribbed conservative views that are strictly aligned with Canonism, challenger to Senator O'Shaughnessy in the 2018 midterms. Current go-to media figure for the Republican House for matters related to SOTF.

Dirk Kernell (Republican Representative from Georgia's 14th District) - Member of the House Committee of Appropriations.

[Cicada]

Photo: Senators Beau Dupree and Carol Susans quietly speaking and captivated by their phones, as a committee meeting is interrupted with news of the return of Survival Of The Fittest. | Pamela Cox/AP Photo

Washington And The World
Washington stunned as the return of Survival Of The Fittest is confirmed
By Bradley Jamal | 07/13/2018 12:10 PM EDT

Few events bring the electorate of the United States together as quickly as national tragedy, though in recent years even this truth has rung thin. The cynical politicking over the aftermath of Hurricane Maria remains a stark sign of how deep the divisions have become, both within Washington and without.

But the confirmed return of Survival Of The Fittest, now on its seventh version, may prove to overcome even the most bitterly entrenched of partisanship.

The Friday morning anonymous leaking of information and eventual links to the grotesque footage of the Survival Of The Fittest has already been confirmed by the Pentagon to be legitimate, in a rushed press conference at roughly 11 AM. This also confirms its likely conclusion, already implying the failure of the United States government to prevent the most horrific act of domestic terrorism in American history from claiming yet more innocent adolescent lives.

Extensive amounts of information concerning the version have already been released on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Mainstream media outlets are rushing to confirm various unverified accounts of the fates of students abducted from Chattanooga’s George Hunter High School, among them the children of powerful local figures such as regional oil tycoon Steven Lorenzen and real estate developer Christopher Langley.

On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, veteran legislators face a disquietingly familiar time of crisis.

One anonymous staffer candidly described it as, “a funeral mood. It’s totally different from any other national crisis, it’s already over when you learn about it. There’s nothing to fix and no emergency resolutions except the grandstanding ones.”

Scheduled committee hearings have ground to a halt, and more private behind-doors meetings are now primarily dedicated to following developments on Survival Of The Fittest news. The White House is besieged by inquiries and requests for follow up, most of which go unanswered as the Canon Administration scrambles to prepare an official press release, scheduled for later this afternoon. Survival Of The Fittest has taken most of the oxygen for other matters out of the room.

Senator Beau Dupree (R-Tn) is chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Senate committee, and was hearing testimony from private sector experts on student debt relief. News of Survival Of The Fittest had allegedly weighed heavily on his mind in the prior weeks since the disappearance of the George Hunter High School buses, according to Dupree’s chief of staff Faith Argyle. “He couldn’t believe it, he really couldn’t. Once he mentioned wanting to call Eric [Senator Caulfield], but…”

Senator Eric Caulfield (R-Az), currently on medical leave for treatment related to advanced colorectal cancer, was the senior Senator during the 2015 Survival Of The Fittest kidnappings of Kingman’s Cochise High School junior and senior classes.

Senator Dupree’s ranking member counterpart in Senator Carol Susans (D-Wa) famously butted heads with President Canon when Canon insisted on pushing increased CIA surveillance including extended privileges and permissions to the Patriot Act as part of an overhaul of American security and counterintelligence efforts to thwart the perpetrators of the Survival Of The Fittest attacks. The formative bill was ultimately quashed in committee due to public backlash.

Senators Dupree and Susans took time to commiserate as the hearing dissolved into sombreness. Senator Susans is well familiar with Survival Of The Fittest, having been serving during the Aurora High School kidnappings, and having donated generously from her own election war chest to memorial funds, along with since co-sponsoring several bills named for Aurora High School that have included national funding for police de-escalation training and mental health in public high schools. Dupree and Susans were observed to be deep in conversation, and Dupree and Susans hugged several times, sharing a rare across-the-aisle moment of humanity often only observed in times of national grief.

Politico reached out to other congressional delegations who represented school districts struck by the Survival Of The Fittest tragedy. Rep. Quyền Tran (D-Wa) currently represents Wa-7, the district containing Aurora High School, and was active in the community during those kidnappings. When asked for comment, she said:

“It’s something you can never really be prepared for. We always do our best to make sure it will never happen again, but so far it just doesn’t seem to work. It is inhumane, and abhorrent, and we are letting the youth of the United States down.”

The Progressive Caucus that Rep. Tran has been rumored to be on the shortlist of leadership for has been critiqued by Republicans in the past for their promotion of anti-interventionist foreign policy, which certain Republican critiquers believe will lead to a reduction of American power globally and will increase the ability of Survival Of The Fittest terrorists to act with impunity. Rep. Tran has, in the past, argued back that American interventionism creates destabilization in areas that can create safe havens for the so-called Artho Taskforce to operate in.

These fierce debates, of course, will for now be set aside. Rep. Tran was observed to be out to lunch with the representatives from other Washington districts, and all were solemnly watching the news, Democrat and Republican alike.

Dupree has several times in the past few weeks reached out to Mayor Bree Kowalski, the current Democratic mayor of Chattanooga, to discuss options for federal assistance. Mayor Kowalski, who is also famously the first female African American mayor elected in the state of Tennessee, has been cordial and accepted help from the mostly Republican state political apparatus that surrounds her, including emergency funding quickly approved by almost unanimous consent by both chambers of the state’s General Assembly for additional traffic enforcers to handle the massive influx of traffic that has followed interest in the medium-size city.

Mayor Kowalski, however, has also publicly denounced state Governor Teddy Cundall (R) for his refusal to commit to a drafting of the National Guard to assist in the hunt for the George Hunter High School students during the manhunt that followed the initial week of the kidnappings.

Tennessee’s senior Senator Morgan Jennings has not responded to requests for comment.

[General Goose]

Photo: Representatives Greg Forbes and Grady Holland briefly converse before a committee hearing. | Nigel Carradine/AP Photo

HEARD ON THE HILL
Committee Leaders Battle Over SOTF Jurisdiction
By Curtis Ashford | 07/19/2018 17:35 PM EDT

Traditionally, discussions about Survival of the Fittest - the sadistic terrorist attack that seems to recur every few years - have fallen under the broad remit of Congress’s Homeland Security committees. Though other committees have had roles to play, Homeland Security has provided a bulk of the direction and focus. For years, Homeland Security bosses have zealously guarded this jurisdiction. For the time being, that looks to be the same in the Senate.

This time around, however, the bosses of the House Committee on Homeland Security are pushing back against being assigned jurisdiction over committee hearings and oversight operations regarding the newest likely SOTF attack. They are arguing that the oversight processes that traditionally run through their committee - such as evaluating relevant programs and drafting up legislation in response - should instead hail from other committees instead.

The committee chair, New York Republican Greg Forbes, had already prepared a schedule of committee hearings on the new attack. He has since cancelled those events, reportedly at the suggestion of his opposite number, North Carolina Democrat Grady Holland. A veteran of the Homeland Security Committee who has been the ranking Democrat since its creation, Holland has been a key player in congressional discussions on SOTF since the beginning.

According to a source in the committee, “[Holland] just gets depressed whenever it pops up. He feels powerless about it, doesn’t want the committee bogged down in it forever, wants to move onto topics where he actually can make a difference. He thinks he's going to retake the gavel come next January - he doesn't want this albatross around his neck.” Forbes, who like Holland prefers to focus on other issues, has agreed with his counterpart’s proposal, and is reportedly drafting a press statement officially confirming a change in jurisdiction.

Jared Shweitzer, a Republican of Ohio, has been an unusual ally for Holland’s efforts. Shweitzer is a former chairman of the whole committee and now chairman of the subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery. During his chairmanship of the committee as a whole, the 2015 SOTF attacks took place. Shweitzer conducted many hearings into the US government’s response and drafted a legislative package that would, in his words, “put a stop to this evil once and for all.”

For the rest of his chairmanship, no further SOTF attacks took place, and Shweitzer had made it a centrepiece of his political profile. When he was considering running for Ohio’s Senate seat earlier this year, he was billing himself as the man who stopped SOTF. Shweitzer is understood to agree with Holland that the committee has, in the words of a friend familiar with Shweitzer’s thinking, “exhausted what it can achieve with SOTF.”

The source denied suggestions Shweitzer was embarrassed by the issue, but “acknowledged that this clearly wasn’t something Homeland Security can handle. [Shweitzer] clearly achieved something, he clearly slowed down the rate of SOTF, but he knows this is the time for other committees and other structures to take charge. He’ll happily continue playing a leading role in such discussions, but HS is no longer the right organ for that.”

As to where jurisdiction shifts to, the alliance between Holland and Shweitzer ends. Holland has privately been lobbying his Republican counterparts to shift it to the Judiciary Committee. The move is reportedly unpopular with Holland’s allies in Democratic leadership, with the Judiciary Committee leadership perceived as being more right-wing and Canon-aligned than the average Republican chairman. The House Minority Leader has reportedly described Holland’s suggestion as “naive”, fearing that Judiciary Republicans will interpret their new mandate in an overly broad and politicised sense.

Though Forbes has backed Holland on this, and a formal transfer of jurisdiction would be especially appreciated by those on the Judiciary Committee, House Republican leadership is also understood to oppose the move. Allies of the Speaker fear that the move is likely to overwhelm the Judiciary Committee schedule for months to come. With much of President Canon’s agenda likely to run through Judiciary, the Speaker reportedly views it as an obstructionist move by Democrats.

Shweitzer, meanwhile, has been pushing for more “out-of-the-box” thinking, and has reportedly made allies in both parties with such a call. Both Republican and Democratic House leadership are reportedly more sympathetic to such a strategy, though for different reasons. Shweitzer has advocated moving it to a special committee, in the model of the Benghazi committee, and has reportedly offered to serve as vice chairman.

Democratic Representative Claudia Tenorio of Texas favours Shweitzer’s approach of moving it away from the traditional “law and order” committees, but favours what she called an “intersectional approach”: dividing jurisdiction between Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Reform, and Education and Labor.

Republican Representative Adam Simpson of Nebraska, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, has asked for exclusive jurisdiction for his committee in a meeting of Republican committee heads. Simpson has dismissed Tenorio’s calls as “overcomplicated hogwash”, and said that while a shakeup in perspective is needed, staying within the realm of national security is the logical approach.

Representatives from the Republican and Democratic leadership teams are set to meet next Monday to discuss this issue. What everyone agrees is essential, one Representative told us on condition of anonymity, is that “we pick a way to do it, and we stick to it. There’s gotta be an obvious chain of command on this, a clear place for whistleblowers and the like to go to, a clear point-man. We can’t just have the parties throwing it around committees when gavels pass between the sides.”

Asked if they would lobby for their own committee to take up the matter, the lawmaker said “oh, god no. It’s a poisoned chalice. The policy equivalent of bashing your head against a brick wall.”