James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Jun 14, 2021 18:27:01 GMT
Part Seven – Last one standing
141 – America’s real president
On March 6th 2029, the senior senator from Oklahoma, William (Bill) Green, announced that he was stepping down from his position as Senate Majority Leader. Green intended too to vacate his US Senate seat and declared in the statement released to the media that he had already began the legal process of doing so. There was no press conference, no speaking either on-the-record or off-the-record to the media. Few colleagues managed to get to speak to him. Those who did were told what the statement said as to the reason as to why Green would no longer represent Oklahoma at the federal political level nor lead the Republicans in Congress’ higher chamber either. His cancer had returned and he needed to concentrate on his health: he had a wife, children and grandchildren to think of. Green had been beset by cancer two years before and there was a return to that for him. Therefore, he thought it best to let someone else take his duties as he fought against that killer disease.
What Green did that morning was completely unexpected. His previous illness was known about but there had been no hint that the cancer was back. Those who heard the news thought that that was rather uncharacteristic of him. Green was a fighter. He’d beaten cancer the first time only for him to do an about-turn and make what was seen as a retreat. His sudden withdrawal from politics was also something that left many dumbstruck for an immediate response. Like with his health, Green was a fighter in the political arena. He was just walking away, he said, with haste too. After a bit, comments and reactions came aplenty throughout that day from congressional colleagues: friends and enemies alike. Media commentators had a lot to say too. The White House released a statement with the president thanking him for his service and wishing him success in fighting the disease which threatened his well-being. It was a short but to the point reaction.
The man who many had long called ‘America’s real president’ departed the stage just like that.
Such a sobriquet had been given to Green when his party had regained control of the Senate in 2022. He had come from behind to be elected by his colleagues as Majority Leader and led the Republicans since then: presidential candidates came and went but he stayed where he was. As to the Democrats, they fought him on everything that they could. A few wins were scored here and there yet Green won the war. With the 46th and then 47th Presidents, neither of them could get anything through Congress when Green had control there. It was the same when President Walsh was elected. He’d won the ‘24 election promising reform of the Senate – along with so much else – and been roundly put in his place by Green. A vacancy on the US Supreme Court was left open for such a long time because Green wanted it that way and when it was finally filled, only someone amiable to the Republicans could be nominated & confirmed. In the aftermath of the Taiwan Conflict, despite Green and the Republicans pushing Walsh to try to defend the Taiwanese, when China struck back as decisively as it did, Green made sure that all blame for that fiasco fell upon Walsh and the Democrats. New secretaries of defence & state were hand-picked by Green for Walsh to put into place. Economic and social initiatives coming out of the Walsh White House were treated with contempt while Green led the Republicans to completely set the agenda. Any battle which the 48th President tried to fight, and contrary to his own party’s detractors he did fight, was defeated by Green in his ascendency. He had been more of a president in terms of getting things done than Walsh or the two Democrats before him had ever dreamed of being able to do when he kept them impotent over in the White House.
Presidents Roberts & Mitchell may have been Republicans but they had to bow to the king who’d entrenched himself in the Senate. With sixty Republican senators over there, Green led an army that could make sure that they did whatever he said… within reason anyway. For their ‘28 presidential election campaign – Roberts for POTUS and Mitchell running as his VP –, Green had made sure that the two of them had access to the donor base which he had built and dominated. So much of their agendas, including that of fighting against the secessionists in the West, had been crafted by him. Going up against him was a foolish mistake which neither of them made. Congressional gridlock and political hand grenades from their own side weren’t what those two Republican presidents sought when Green had so thoroughly done all that he had to smash apart the presidencies of the trio of Democratic ones. Roberts had used wartime emergency executive orders to make key appointments during his ten days in office to national security posts and Mitchell had done the same. None of those went against Green’s wishes though, just like all the other nominations which went through the Senate either. If he’d wanted to see off any appointee or nominee, he would have been able to due to his control of the Senate – which was left absent sixteen Democrats as well, giving the Republicans a two-thirds majority – as well as his domination extending into the US House where his firm ally Speaker Fraser ruled the roost.
All of that was over with when he stepped off the stage. There were other senators who at once got over their shock at Green’s departure and moved to take his place. None had the gravitas that he did though, none of them would be worthy of the sobriquet which Green had gained during his time as the most powerful man in America.
Green did have cancer of the stomach but there was no return of that when he stepped away from his position as Senate Majority Leader. His medical records were secret and no doctor in the know was going to speak up to contradict him. Green lied to all but his wife about why he was stepping down, thus by extension making his adult children and his grandchildren worry as well. The truth was something he could naturally shy away from and so it was easy for him to trick & deceive. Only to his wife he never lied, about anything either including the most sensitive political matters. She was also his personal lawyer with a one-client practice representing just him. Other legal professionals might have found that unethical and a conflict of interest, but Mrs. Green didn’t. She knew everything and was bound by both attorney-client privilege as well as martial vows taken decades beforehand. Green’s wife was there the day before when at an afternoon meeting in his office in the McCain Building, the then Senate Majority Leader met with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the head of the FBI. They requested that she leave but Green nor his wife wouldn’t have it. An intended three-person meeting had been one for four instead.
Admiral Miller and the FBI Director had confronted Green with everything they knew about his connection to the terrorist group known as the American Insurgent Army. What the DHS had gotten out of the captive Boatswain’s Mate Noel Reed, that former SEAL who had committed so many of those infamous acts before an inglorious capture, had come alongside other information all pointing to Green. He was asked if he had created the AIA himself or just hi-jacked the movement once it had been established? Furthermore, the two who came to confront him had asked what was his end goal: had he really intended to bring down the entire US Government and allow for an anarchist nation, of a far left nature too, to rise in its place? Where would someone like him have fitted into all of that at the end? Or, instead, was it the case that Green had manipulated the footsoldiers, the true-believers of the AIA, to his own end so that he could gain all the power that he had off their backs? Why had Green allowed the AIA to kill a vice presidential candidate, a Cabinet secretary & all those Members of Congress during the assault on the Capitol as well as nearly having President Walsh twice (once by poison, the second in a failed shooting attempt at Camp David) assassinated?
Green had given them nothing. He hadn’t said a thing when presented with allegations and evidence was added to support that. His wife had joined him in staring down Miller and the FBI’s head. No denials, no outrage, no admission. Just nothing had been their reply to such a series of questions and the charge laid against Green that he had done all that he had for what could only have been personal gain rather than any political ideological position. There had been a pause, a stony silence afterwards. Mrs. Green had finally broken the stand-off of wills by asking whether any of what had been said to her and her husband was going to be made public. She had speculated that the uproar that might cause would be worse than anything which the AIA had apparently done. Perhaps it would all have been better if everything just went away, if there was no fuss made... and everyone forgot about the whole thing. Her off-hand demeanour drove the Director of the FBI to want to throttle her. Her husband’s treason was considered by her to be something that could be ignored. As to Miller, who had Reed in his hands, he had realised that either Green’s wife was the most unflappable person he’d ever met or she had known all along as to what her husband had been up to. Which was true, he hadn’t been able to gauge. Finally, after saying nothing for so long, Green had spoken up. He talked about the possibility that he might take a turn for the worst with his fight against his cancer he’d long been battling. Perhaps it was time for him to move on from his role in politics and retire back to Oklahoma? The head of the FBI had been pretty mad before that cynical charade was proffered and that almost sent him over the deep end, especially when Green’s wife sat beside her husband and told him that he did look run down and perhaps needed a quiet life. Miller didn’t give into his emotions. He did what he had been sent by the president to get Green to do: go quietly and be never heard from again.
The DHS Secretary agreed that Green retiring for health reasons, with pretty much immediate effect, was a desirable outcome. As Mitchell had said, Green and the AIA might in fact bring down the whole US Government should the truth be revealed. There were others who would be punished, those who had done all of the killing and inflicted the terror, even people who it was believed had relayed Green’s orders, but to have his role & leadership revealed in public would be what the president’s chief-of-staff had called ‘unsurvivable’ for the United States. Green would skate, for a while anyway.
Green walked the next morning, his wife leaving DC with him when they went back to Oklahoma. Those in the know about why that happened were very few. The identity of the uncovered suspected figure behind the AIA was classified as above Top Secret. In the DHS, the FBI, the Justice Department and across the US Government, a lot of questions were asked about the outcome of getting at the figure known as ‘K’ but the eventual truth wasn’t revealed beyond a select few. Speaker Fraser and Vice President-designate Cruz were told after Green had stepped off the stage, each of them furious at how Green was able to walk away but understanding, once they let their emotions cool, as to why that was done. Mitchell did promise to many, including them both, that while Green had escaped public and legal exposure, that wasn’t the end of things with regard to him. He wouldn’t and couldn’t get away with that from the moment he resigned his positions and left DC based on a lie about his health. The president didn’t say what the outcome would be, didn’t even drop a hint about that. He didn’t need to though. To those who heard him make a promise about ‘eventual justice’, they didn’t think about lawyers nor courts… something else, something accidental was thought likely to happen.
They weren’t wrong but that accident, at the hands of people who would report to Admiral Miller, and whose actions would be blessed with presidential approval, would take some time to occur.
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gillan1220
Fleet admiral
I've been depressed recently. Slow replies coming in the next few days.
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Post by gillan1220 on Jun 15, 2021 13:25:49 GMT
Next chapter, I will be writing about my Republican online friend living in California. I doubt she would hate to be in DAR territory. She's one of the Reds in a sea of Blue.
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Brky2020
Sub-lieutenant
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Post by Brky2020 on Jun 15, 2021 14:59:42 GMT
Why do I have the feeling that the adage 'no plan survives contact with the enemy' is going to kick in, and the accident is going to go sideways?
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Jun 15, 2021 18:14:02 GMT
Next chapter, I will be writing about my Republican online friend living in California. I doubt she would hate to be in DAR territory. She's one of the Reds in a sea of Blue. Whenever you are ready. Looking forward to it. Why do I have the feeling that the adage 'no plan survives contact with the enemy' is going to kick in, and the accident is going to go sideways? That might be the case indeed. Before then though, those in DC will have so much more to worry about. (The Five Eyes spying mentioned in the update below - where the UK spies on Americans at US request and for example Canadians spy on Australians & New Zealanders etc - is reportedly something real too, not something I made up.) |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
Posts: 7,608
Likes: 8,833
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Post by James G on Jun 15, 2021 18:18:30 GMT
142 – First amendment
At the beginning of the Second American Civil War, the United States had been faced with an outrageous, ongoing and grave breach of their Operational Security. OPSEC was violated time and time again by civilians and military personnel alike. Only because there was so much information put into the public arena, at the prodigious rate it was, was there less damage done than might have been expected: there was too much chaff to wade through among all the goodies for secessionist military forces in the West to take advantage. Everyone with a cellphone saw fit to broadcast footage online while other parts of the web were alive with reams of written information that the curious, the foolish and those seeking to inflict damage put out there for the whole world to see. Those in uniform broke OPSEC mainly for the reason that they didn’t wish to take part in themselves or see comrades-in-arms participate in a war against fellow Americans. Civilians acted the way that they did because they wanted to tell everyone what they knew as well as believing that war wasn’t the answer to solve the political crisis which had grown into the Democratic American Republic. Among both ranks there were just those who acted like idiots too for a wide variety of reasons which they justified to themselves. ‘Traditional’ media outlets restrained themselves significantly in not broadcasting & publishing the military deployments and such like though there were a lot of excuses given for the times when they actually decided to do that. Most of those were that they didn’t believe the particular circumstances should be or were secret. That self-censorship, one which only grew during the conflict, wasn’t copied by social media networks. Plenty of them, the ‘new media’, suffered significantly when they either transferred operations out of the West or lost their supporting infrastructure there. Complaints by the Department of Defence and the National Security Agency (the latter had been given the OPSEC oversight role post-1988) were met with replies that it wasn’t their fault, they were in chaos and couldn’t stop all that was done by users of their platforms. Foremost among them, both YouTube and TikTok went dark for a few days in late January 2029, when President Roberts took office, and thus there were no OPSEC problems with them during that time. No longer was footage broadcast from outside of airbases and along highways leading out of garrisons up online. Lo and behold, when the unexplained outage ceased, a darkness which had fallen worldwide for those two platforms, there was massive use of AI on their services which took down content, even stopped it going up, which did damage to military preparations ahead of the first shots being fired in the war. No one in DC nor at both social media platforms had anything official to say about all that but everyone knew what had happened: the US Government had shut them down until they agreed to behave and be responsible for uploaded content going out. When it came to Facebook, that network, long past what it had started out as all those years past, the problems which they faced before and afterwards weren’t anything to do with the NSA directing massive denial-of-service attacks from outside the country. Instead, Facebook had problems getting up and running again during the madness of losing so much of its physical infrastructure and staff. In the minds of many, especially the organisation’s head, the blame was on the US Government though.
As the war went on past the opening crazy start, OPSEC was violated on many times with regard to what the US Armed Forces were up to. It was done mostly by the big traditional media platforms but in a very different form to what had gone on online at the beginning of the civil war. They didn’t broadcast and print details about when the 1st Infantry Division left Fort Riley, how F-35s from the 20th Fighter Wing were departing from Shaw AFB nor about a convoy of fuel trucks on Interstate-10 through Alabama held up in traffic. Instead, journalists went in search of the real big insightful stories, the ones which mattered, and sought to inform their readers and viewers about those. There were some solid justifications made for part of what was done, less so in other areas. Nonetheless, executives and owners defended those actions which lawyers had signed off upon. The litmus test for so much of that was over two factors. The first was whether putting such information into the public arena would damage the war effort being made by the United States in a manner to cost American lives. As to the second part, on a case-by-case basis, stories were signed off upon if they didn’t violate the First Amendment to the US Constitution. It was a matter of free speech that stories went out about the inability of the Lima Army Tank Plant to manufacture anywhere near the amount of tanks needed to replace maintenance losses, let alone combat damage. The same was said about the number of deserters who hadn’t come home with the US Army Europe and also that several US Navy aircraft carrier groups remained committed to both the North Atlantic (prepared to fight the Russians) and the Middle East. Those stories went out. Media lawyers believed that they didn’t break OPSEC for US troops fighting against the DAR, didn’t damage the war effort and were allowed under constitution protections for the free press.
There was a lot of backlash against many of those stories. Several right-wing media platforms – such as Fox News, Newsmax & OANN – soon cut back on such activities, even ones where they could blame that all on the Democrats (either with evidence or just lies), when their viewer feedback attacked such journalism as unpatriotic. On the centre ground and out on the left with regards to the big US media organisations, some of them followed that approach taken by the right. They came under immense fire less so from viewers and readers but more so the Republican-dominated Congress. Calls of treason and aiding the enemy were made many times There was a bucking of the trend though among organisations such as MSNBC and the Washington Post. Neither of them would roll over and play nice for the politicians who called their activities treasonous. They kept on seeking out the big stories and revealing things that the US Government didn’t want the public to know. Exposures ran on how certain shortages and failings were keeping the war from being won against the DAR: lives were being lost as the fighting continued because of scandals which media outlets such as them deemed to be something that the public should know about… attacking the Republicans in Congress and the White House was an unstated but very important additional goal there.
It was the Washington Post which first got a line on the story about DAR cyber warfare efforts having tremendous effects against the US Armed Forces. Their initial source was a congressman who was followed by a Pentagon general. Neither went on the record and neither had all of the facts. Truth be told, when they talked about the Glow-worm computer virus, they didn’t use that name nor really understand what it was all about either. The NSA had ears everywhere yet were legally unable to do all that they wanted when it came to maintaining complete OPSEC throughout the country by penetrating the US media as much as they liked. As had been done before, a favour returned, Britain’s MI-6 lent a hand. There was no UK law that said – subject to highest approval across the pond – that MI-6 couldn’t spy upon American journalists. They did and passed information to their American allies: Five Eyes countries had been doing that for each other for decades. With that information at-hand from their allies, the NSA attempted to shut down the story. The congressman, a Democrat out of Connecticut, got a talking to by his party’s senior people in the US House who sat on important committees while the Pentagon general (involved in logistics, not operations nor intelligence) found himself in serious hot water. Nonetheless, that news organisation didn’t give up. They knew that that first Tomahawk and then other cruise missiles in US service weren’t being launched any more because they either went wildly off-course or committed harakiri in-flight. Air defence missiles in US Army and US Navy service were afterwards not working before further revelations made by far more cautious sources came that B-2 stealth bombers weren’t flying. From out of Japan and South Korea there then came rumours about concerns from the air forces of each nation about the airworthiness of their F-35 strike-fighters: the Washington Post missed the intervening grounding of US Air Force F-22s. However, they picked up pretty quick on the matter of F-35s in US service no longer flying. Foreign fears were unfounded, to the relief of so many operators, the British included, but domestic F-35s either wouldn’t fly or if they did, their flight computers send them towards the ground regardless of what the pilots wanted.
Meeting on the Virginia bayside within the Delmarva Peninsula, a whistleblower from the NSA and a Washington Post journalist talked away from prying eyes and ears where what was really going on was finally revealed. Glow-worm was explained and how the DAR had used it. What it had done came alongside what the NSA senior staffer believed that it was capable of continuing to do: she said that it would eventually render the entire strategic arsenal of the United States impotent, going further than just conventional weapons. Technically, that wasn’t the case because ‘dumb’ bombs would still be capable of being employed by aircraft without complicated flight computer systems, yet she was right in a general sense. The virus would make ICBMs in their silos and SLBMs aboard strategic missile submarines unable to be employed should the need arise just like aircraft and air-launched cruise missiles were exposed. Where Glow-worm came from was revealed though there was a playing down from the NSA staffer – she was loyal in her own way to her organisation – of the NSA’s blame for it all. Instead, she apportioned all blame upon the Defence Department for not once but twice infecting their own systems with that weapon. It was running through the SIRPNet and JWICS intranets without pause while those in uniform denied the scale of the problem that they kept on inflicting upon themselves: they were unable to stop repeated reinfection because they wouldn’t listen to the NSA on how to stop it.
That source wouldn’t go on the record. She valued her work, loved her country… and feared being disappeared to a black site somewhere should she be in anyway associated with talking to the media. Other bits and pieces of information that a closed team of investigative journalists at the Washington Post had their hands on backed all that up but wasn’t enough proof for the executives to accept as giving the story enough standing. A self-censorship panel was working for the Washington Post: a collection of former respected journalists as well as military analysts (retired) and a former CIA spook too. The matter was taken to them, a body they called their Star Chamber. That retired CIA man was the one who had previously betrayed his employer – for patriotic reasons, such was his justification – and he did so again when the Glow-worm story became something that the Washington Post had sunk its teeth into. Over at the E. Barrett Prettyman US Courthouse, a well-protected federal building in DC, the NSA applied for a federal warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Despite the name, the FISA Court had long been involved in granting the NSA (and others) powers to act in internal affairs. The justification in that case was that a story such as that would threaten United States interests overseas. Federal agents raided the Washington Post’s offices and also the homes of over a dozen journalists. That whistleblower, who thought no one would know what she had revealed, was later arrested when the cellphone of the journalist who had spoken to her was taken into NSA custody and then hacked: the NSA found their own internal leaker and she was in a whole world of trouble.
The story was shut down, hard. It never moved to getting past the first internal test within the Washington Post to move onto whether revealing such a thing as Glow-worm was justifiable under First Amendment grounds. The former spook sitting on the news organisation’s own Star Chamber wasn’t exposed to colleagues for what he had done either. He would continue to be a first line of defence for the US Intelligence Community at the Washington Post. In addition, similar figures such as him who had taken up posts across other US media networks for the duration of the war where they too had such deliberation bodies to decide what might violate OPSEC and what wouldn’t, using supplied Defence Department & NSA guidelines, were also out there ready to act. Shutting down the Glow-worm story was a success which didn’t get to be widely celebrated for those few in the know though. The day after the raid on the newspaper’s HQ by those federal agents, state-controlled media in the West began to run with the same story.
The DAR put a different spin on the whole thing, mixing the truth with a lot of lies. Nonetheless, they put out to the world that so much of the US Armed Forces prime conventional striking power – nuclear forces weren’t mentioned – had been taken out of action via a secretive cyber weapon. That wasn’t something that countries usually did, never had done before in fact. From Las Vegas came proud boasts through where they mentioned the missiles and the aircraft, claiming too that within time warships and even tanks would be likewise effected. The name Glow-worm wasn’t used in those reports nor was the virus’ history or how it worked. Instead, unbound by Star Chambers with duplicitous members nor First Amendment worries, the DAR media focused on the achievements made with more to follow. They had struck a mighty blow for their independence! Out there in the West, Minister Rawlings and General Fuller waited to see how the US media would react to the broadcasts coming out of the DAR. Would they run with the story or keep silent? Could they say nothing when they had constitutional rights to broadcast what truly was important news like that?
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Jun 16, 2021 8:38:24 GMT
Back in Arizona with the next update.
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gillan1220
Fleet admiral
I've been depressed recently. Slow replies coming in the next few days.
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Post by gillan1220 on Jun 16, 2021 12:10:37 GMT
Another what-if scenario on alternate history forums:
What if the Second American Civil War was Blue States vs Red States? Blue States = DAR, Red States = USA.
Imagine the insane amount of logistics since the DAR would be stretched on both coasts.
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gillan1220
Fleet admiral
I've been depressed recently. Slow replies coming in the next few days.
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Post by gillan1220 on Jun 16, 2021 13:44:04 GMT
This is my short self-insert interlude that I decided to write with the approval of James G A Republican in the Sea of BlueEver since the Unilateral Declaration of Independence was made in Las Vegas by the Council of Thirteen by the former president-elect Maria Arreola Rodriguez, things were not easy for Alyssa Theodore, a 30 year-old living in Santa Clarita, California. She was one of those rare Republicans you would find in a state being criticized as a "liberal shithole." She was a staunch supporter of the 45th President, voting for him in the 2016 and the 2020 elections. Her Facebook profile picture had that filter that said "Women for Trump", to the red #MAGA hat, and even her posts on her social media. In 2018, she joined the Facebook group called God Emperor Trump wherein she posted right-wing memes and Elon Musk posts. From there, she met several friends from other countries. Those online friends of hers were mixed. Some of them were just normies who posted memes. Some of them even tried to ask her out on a date. Others followed the cult of Kek (from the fictional country of Kekistan) while others were just people who just wanted to good laugh and were not utterly racists or Trumptards. Neither was Alyssa. She was just a moderate Trump supporter and a moderate Republican. She made it clear that she would gladly respect the other side - in this case the leftists/liberals - as long as they did not impose their will on the right. When the new decade began, Alyssa was confident that the 45th President would win a reelection. Unfortunately, things went the other way. A pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus would see the 45th President downplay these events. In May of the new decade, an African-American died at the hands of police in Minneapolis. That incident was filmed and spread like wildfire throughout the world. It was the last straw for the entire world who at this point were fed-up listening to bad news after bad news in just the first five months of 2020. Protests sprang not only in the United States but in far-flung regions where initially thought that American police brutality is a domestic affair. She continued to denounce the protesters while affirming her loyalty to 45th President. Then came in the elections for 2020. She filled in her ballot and voted for 45th President. She had hoped the riots caused in the summer would bring more to the Republicans. For the next five days, America and the rest of the anxiously watched as the elections became a standstill. All six swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pensylvannia, and Wisconsin were too close to call. Even as the Democrat opponent was appearing to win, she and her like-minded fellow Republicans hoped for a last-minute change. Reality would soon come crashing down though as one-by-one, all the swing states were flipping Blue. Once Georgia flipped blue, the projected winner was called for the Democrat candidate. Alyssa could not believe it. Then 22 years-old at that time, she almost bursted into tears when the truth came that her idol would not be reelected. She along with the rest of the supporters of the outgoing 45th President took part in the counterprotests known as "Stop The Steal" while supporters of the upcoming 46th President celebrated on the streets in major cities across America. The 45th President tried in his power to overturn the election by accusing the other side of election fraud while bringing the case to Supreme Court. What started as the hype to overturning the election eventually fizzled out. During this time, Alyssa met a friend from the Philippines named Gillan. Though they were communicating since 2018 when the God Emperor Trump group was still around (Gillan was not a Trump supporter for he was Filipino, he was only there for the memes), it was only in May 2020 when they became friends. Alyssa vented her frustration that her idol was not going to win. Gillan sympathized for his online friend. He then added her to a group chat comprised of American, British, and Filipino conservatives who were displeased with the election result. From there, she was able to talk to American and British expats on that chat where she learned they were based in Cebu and were also friends with Gillan. They too could not believe what was going on but there was nothing they could do. They knew the upcoming 46th President would not be all rainbows and butterflies. On the fateful day of January 6, 2021, Alyssa and the rest of the world were shocked when rioters stormed the Capitol in an effort to overturn a democratic election. Even though she supported the outgoing 45th President, she was disgusted by the behavior of those insurrectionists. Among them was QAnon, whom she blamed for causing division across the right-wingers and the Republicans. When the 46th President finally took office, she did not agree with him nor his Vice President, the first female and person-of-color to have held that position in the entire history of the United States. While calling for unity, she volunteered to take part in a local Republican Congressman's campaign in the Golden State. The rest of the Years of Lead were not easy for her either. She would see on the news constant fights and riots of both sides. She was right all along that the first female Vice President would become the 47th President due to the death of the 46th on Valentine's Day 2023. Somehow, she did believe that theory that the 47th President was controlling the 46th this whole time. She sympathized with the Taiwanese when their country finally fell to the might of the China after 78 years as a breakaway province. She never did blame President Walsh, rather she blamed the politicians in D.C. for not standing up to China in all those years. Come in 2028, now as a thirty year old and engaged with a fellow businessman who shared the same political views as her, she voted for Robert Edwards. She could remember how eight years prior her idol lost. Now she was seeing that was it about to occur once more...until it was found out that Maria Arreola Rodriguez wasn't a natural-born American. All the memories of her childhood came back when she recalled the birther movement against the 44th President. She never did believe those conspiracy theories but there she and her fiancé stood dumbfounded. For the first time in history, the Office of President had almost been breached by someone not born in the United States. Then came the riots, another flashback of her teen days in 2016. This time it was much worse. It appeared the United States was finally going to erupt into a civil war. Her worst fears were soon confirmed when the UDI was made and huge contingent of the United States Armed Forces in the West, Hawaii, Guam, and the Marianas pledged allegiance to the Democratic American Republic. She saw as several USAF, USN, USMC, and California National Guard defect to the DAR. She had friends in both sides of the conflict. While MAR had not desginated those who identified themselves Americans loyal to D.C. as "enemy civilians", Alyssa and others who had been so vocal in her beliefs had been targeted. Her house was egged several times. Alyssa and her fiancé had to open fire on several rioters. She never thought she could kill someone in her lifetime. Once things became to heated, both of them retreated to Alyssa's horse ranch in the outskirts of Santa Clarita. While tending to her horses, helicopters of the DAR flew overhead. She checked her phone to see messages from Gillan and her other friends she met nine years ago online on that same Instagram group chat. "Hey Alyssa, I just wanted to check on you. I hope you're safe." Gillan said. "Hi Gill. Yeah, I'm alright. Staying in my ranch in Santa Clarita. It's safe here as far as I can tell. Had to leave my home with my fiancé as our house was under attack by DAR supporters." Alyssa replied. "Holy shit, that's terrible." Replied Alex, a Republican friend from Alabama. Alex was one of those American expats who lived in Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines during his childhood and teen years. It was in Cebu when he met Gillan and the other conservative expats and formed a frienship. "Stay safe, Alyssa." Replied Edward, a British conservative living in Cebu. "Thanks guys. I just want this civil war to end." She replied. "Right now, China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Belarus, Venezuela, Bolivia, and the Islamic terrorists are laughing at your country." Edward bluntly added. "I know. What has this country come to?" Alyssa asked. "I got to go, I have to send a message to my in-laws. My wife has a sister living up north in San Francisco." Gillan replied. "I hope they are safe. See ya Gill." Alyssa typed back. She went back to feed her horses. She then approached her fiancé, who had an AR-15 slung at his back. They then embraced each other, tears falling from their eyes. Both did not want to leave their native California, but depending on the course of the war, things may change. One thing was for certain though: they would stand their ground in affirming their loyalty to the United States.
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Post by astrorangerbeans on Jun 17, 2021 14:34:51 GMT
How would the United Nations approach with the DAR?
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gillan1220
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I've been depressed recently. Slow replies coming in the next few days.
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Post by gillan1220 on Jun 17, 2021 14:50:18 GMT
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Jun 17, 2021 17:57:43 GMT
How would the United Nations approach with the DAR? The DAR has tried and not gotten anywhere. Their succession was totally illegal and not supported by outside governments with UN influence. Should they win the war, even then getting somewhere with the UN would be hard: they haven't managed to make any friends, not sought out ones which they have massive ideological differences with. In Las Vegas, they don't want North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba. Belarus etc as a partner. China has shown some trade interest but that is a long way away from getting anywhere with the UN. The Las Vegas regime would love to be part of the world diplomacy yet the way ahead is blocked. |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
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Post by James G on Jun 17, 2021 17:58:44 GMT
143 – Fighting the armies of Mordor
Throughout the US Armed Forces, those involved in the war against the Democratic American Republic – which meant all service-personnel rather than just those at the front – were told through official morale-booster propaganda that they were fighting secessionist traitors. Those in the West, in uniform, had turned their backs on America and were fighting for an illegal, partisan one-party state. Alabama’s governor had first started calling the DAR ‘North Korea writ large’ and that name had bled over from the political arena somewhat into the ranks of the military. However, through early March 2029, when those fighting against the DAR were on the back foot and taking grave losses, the name ‘Mordor’ was given to the DAR by several social media influencers back East with that being picked up slowly but surely by many of those in uniform. One didn’t have to be a fan of The Lord Of The Rings to understand the comparison. An evil, powerful and sometimes seductive enemy who had cast a spell upon so many to get them to fight for their wrong cause was how the Mordor description for the DAR worked for those who bought into it. General Fuller, the traitor-in-chief for the DAR Armed Forces, was deemed the Dark Lord and those waging war against his forces were fighting the armies of Mordor. ‘Dark Lord’ didn’t go down very well with some senior people in uniform, those who looked at the public relations angle, because of Fuller being very much so African-American yet the positives when it came to morale were judged to outweigh any negatives. The Defence Department (no longer at the smashed-up Pentagon) didn’t officially use the Mordor / Dark Lord terminology. Nonetheless, it wasn’t stopped. Every little helped and morale really needed any boost when those on the front-lines were really quite deep in the sticky stuff as mid-March approached.
With skies which their aircraft were free to almost dominate, DAR troops below them in Arizona went on the offensive. The majority of the Arizona Corps consisted of wartime-raised units though almost all of them had seen action before they tried to retake the (about) half of the state which United States forces had set about liberating. There were many problems for those going forward on the ground. Their newly-created units were still not experienced enough operating together and their rear-area supporting infrastructure was far weaker than it should have been. Getting tanks and infantry together was far easier for the DAR Army to do than building, especially equipping, everything else. Nonetheless, with a weakened and exposed opponent ahead of them, the Arizona Corps began their push eastwards. The main effort was in the south, near Casa Grande and the Tohono O’odham Nation once again. Elements of the severely weakened US III Corps were in that area, between the Arizona Corps and Tucson back behind them. The 1st Cavalry Division had been destroyed and only two infantry divisions of national guardsmen (the 36th & 48th) were left. Artillery and air support, particularly as many fast-movers as could give tactical and operational cover, aided the 2nd & 3rd Armored Divisions on the attack. The advance started when night fell and continued through the hours of darkness. Good tank country, lots of semi-barren open ground, was put to use by those going east just as a few weeks beforehand those striking westwards had done so.
Those national guardsmen from out of Texas and the Deep South fell back. There was no foolishness about holding onto every inch of recently liberated ground, not when there wasn’t a friendly fighter in the sky above them. Back, back and back again they fell. When engaging attacking Arizona Corps elements, the III Corps did well enough. However, bombs, rockets and missiles rained down upon them from above. Mississippi-crewed tanks were the prime targets for those above. A-10s came in repeatedly and hit those serving with the 155th Armored Brigade. Maverick missiles and even 30mm shells savaged them as well as other armoured vehicles. There were plentiful F-16s also down low making their own attacks upon the III Corps, but those A-10s really did so much damage. Those on the receiving end of such well-targeted air power were unaware of why there was no fighter cover above them. They had no idea about Glow-worm nor how that weapon had grounded F-22s and F-35s in US Air Force service. All they knew was that enemy fighters got through with ease to attack them. They shouted obscenities at the skies full of enemy aircraft but with their anger directed against those they believed where suddenly cowardly and not showing up.
Tucson had for several years been one of the fastest-growing cities population-wise in America. It was part of the Sun Belt and the population growth had helped Arizona turn from once being a Red state to a Blue one. More than the bigger Phoenix, Tucson had been a hotbed of secessionist activity during January. It had fallen almost without a shot in February though to advancing US III Corps forces. The commander of United States Army North, General Lambert, had been prepared to have the III Corps bypass the city because of the geography around it. There were mountains on all sides and it could have been quite defend-able. Yet, Rangers had seized the international airport and Davis-Monthan AFB (as well as retaking The Boneyard, somewhere almost empty of flyable F-15s & F-16s when seized) and then not met any real resistance on the edges of Tucson. Texan national guardsmen from their beat-up yet capable 71st Airborne Brigade had entered that city slowly and not faced any real resistance from inside nor all of that good defensive ground around it. Lucinda Gibson, once a Republican governor of Arizona, had returned to the state as Acting Governor per presidential executive order – the legality of that was as dubious as could be – and set up shop in Tucson: she’d believed that Phoenix would eventually join Tucson in being liberated. She remained in Tucson when fighting came close to the city for the second time in just a couple of weeks: others left, fleeing from the fear of death. Citizens who had recently returned or who had wanted to get out before departed from Tucson at the thought that it could end up being back under DAR control again. Regardless of what they did, she stayed. In January she had left Arizona and felt terrible afterwards at doing so. That escape wasn’t something that she did again. Whether it was either foolish or brave was a matter of opinion among those closest to her yet so many of them, Arizonians who had come back to try and re-establish legitimate government, fled rather than stay within the city.
The Arizona Corps cut off escape routes from Tucson from the north, the west and the south. 3rd Armored Division tanks tried and failed to loop around the city and cut the eastern exit. Interstate-10 running back towards New Mexico was left open in the face of extensive anti-armour action by dismounted infantry units. It was no real way out for any military force of any significance though, not with the skies in DAR hands… and there was no large military force to try and make a dash down it. III Corps elements engaged in battle hadn’t tried to retreat through Tucson and instead had been defeated outside of the city. There had been efforts made by the national guardsmen to try and move into the higher ground around Tucson where they could gain some cover from the merciless air attacks but that had failed. By the time that Tucson was nearly surrounded, the vast majority of the 36th Infantry Division and over half of the 48th Infantry Division too had been overcome in battle. DAR losses were heavy and their southernmost units beat about a great deal yet they had eliminated the III Corps as a fighting force in the fighting for control over southern Arizona. The cost, the butcher’s bill of dead and injured, was in the thousands when the totals for each side were combined. There were a lot of prisoners too, far more than those who had become casualties. A good number of large-scale surrenders had occurred when cut-off and battered units had given in: one of those had seen most of the 72nd Infantry Brigade (Texans) thrown down their weapons and raise their hands when the fight was clearly lost for them.
The armies of Mordor were elsewhere within Arizona. There were other Arizona Corps elements to the north, who had been pushed all the way back past Flagstaff yet had held on to defend-able ground. Others were right on the western side of the Tonto National Forest, almost within touching distance of where the US VII Corps had pushed them to the edges of Phoenix. When the fight against the III Corps was won, DAR air power swung northwards. No US Air Force F-15s nor F-16s could come into Arizona skies to protect them without being almost assured to be shot down. Significant air attacks were directed their way. A retreat out of Arizona and back into New Mexico was requested by the corps commander. His justification for asking to get his people out of the firing line was that without any air cover, the VII Corps would be destroyed as the III Corps had been. He had beforehand asked whether the V Corps (having returned from Europe) and the XVIII Corps too were to enter Arizona and the reply to that had been that they wouldn’t be moving from out of New Mexico until air cover was available. As to his retreat request, that went all the way up the chain of command: it wasn’t one which Lambert at ARNORTH could make. If it was granted, all of that liberated territory so successfully taken away from the DAR would have to be given up. In addition, a retreat would be one contested too.
The US Armed Forces had entered their darkest days with wholescale defeat staring them right in the face across Arizona because, due to some lines of code active in cyberspace, they had no presence in the skies and those below were left helpless against a seemingly merciless, unstoppable enemy. Mordor’s armies were on the warpath and the Good Guys were getting a beating handed to them.
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Post by astrorangerbeans on Jun 18, 2021 3:10:18 GMT
How would the United Nations approach with the DAR? The DAR has tried and not gotten anywhere. Their succession was totally illegal and not supported by outside governments with UN influence. Should they win the war, even then getting somewhere with the UN would be hard: they haven't managed to make any friends, not sought out ones which they have massive ideological differences with. In Las Vegas, they don't want North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba. Belarus etc as a partner. China has shown some trade interest but that is a long way away from getting anywhere with the UN. The Las Vegas regime would love to be part of the world diplomacy yet the way ahead is blocked. In the post Civil War II, would the United States elect a Bismarckian paternal conservstive politician? |
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gillan1220
Fleet admiral
I've been depressed recently. Slow replies coming in the next few days.
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Post by gillan1220 on Jun 18, 2021 12:42:26 GMT
How would the United Nations approach with the DAR? The DAR has tried and not gotten anywhere. Their succession was totally illegal and not supported by outside governments with UN influence. Should they win the war, even then getting somewhere with the UN would be hard: they haven't managed to make any friends, not sought out ones which they have massive ideological differences with. In Las Vegas, they don't want North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba. Belarus etc as a partner. China has shown some trade interest but that is a long way away from getting anywhere with the UN. The Las Vegas regime would love to be part of the world diplomacy yet the way ahead is blocked. If anything goes as in the DAR wins their secession, it won't go too far. China going to trade with the DAR would be used as an opportunity by the U.S. to take revenge for Taiwan. |
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James G
Squadron vice admiral
Posts: 7,608
Likes: 8,833
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Post by James G on Jun 18, 2021 18:30:58 GMT
The DAR has tried and not gotten anywhere. Their succession was totally illegal and not supported by outside governments with UN influence. Should they win the war, even then getting somewhere with the UN would be hard: they haven't managed to make any friends, not sought out ones which they have massive ideological differences with. In Las Vegas, they don't want North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba. Belarus etc as a partner. China has shown some trade interest but that is a long way away from getting anywhere with the UN. The Las Vegas regime would love to be part of the world diplomacy yet the way ahead is blocked. In the post Civil War II, would the United States elect a Bismarckian paternal conservstive politician? Maybe. They have a president at the minute, one not directly elected to that role, who talks the talk of eventual healing but he would need to be stern, not compassionate, to bring the country back together and hold it so should the war against the West be won. No easy challenge and it would need a strongman. |
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