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Alternate Wikibox Thread

I assume the SNP are doing well up in Scotland as basically the only third party option given the Greens merging with the Lib Dems.

My idea was that Scotland becomes a Lib Dem stronghold, possibly with the Lib Dems saying they'd hold a referendum on independence if they got into power as a way to gain the support of pro-indy types.

But an SNP surge is also possible.
 
This is a map for a project I'm working on the Other Place - thanks to @BClick for the pointers!

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I don't know the backstory here but prima facie Udall is almost bound to lose the entire South, as a Liberal, non-southerner and former Mormon - this being the seventies. Particularly against a Southern Republican like Baker. In this era the electoral college really favoured the Republicans and it's an uphill job for any Dem nominee, particularly if they can't break open the south.
 
My idea was that Scotland becomes a Lib Dem stronghold, possibly with the Lib Dems saying they'd hold a referendum on independence if they got into power as a way to gain the support of pro-indy types.

But an SNP surge is also possible.

I feel like the SNP surging in the central belt while the Libs have a stranglehold on all the rural bits is plausible. Edinburgh and the Glasgow suburbs as marginal between them. Labour hanging on a little in Aberdeen perhaps?
 
This is a map for a project I'm working on the Other Place - thanks to @BClick for the pointers!

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I don't know the backstory here but prima facie Udall is almost bound to lose the entire South, as a Liberal, non-southerner and former Mormon - this being the seventies. Particularly against a Southern Republican like Baker. In this era the electoral college really favoured the Republicans and it's an uphill job for any Dem nominee, particularly if they can't break open the south.

I think it's entirely reasonable for Udall to *win* especially under the circumstances you laid out - Carter pissed away his general election lead on an almost Dukakian scale and most other Dems aren't going to have Carter's not-standing-for-anything-and-giving-interviews-to-playboy problem. That said, Veej is right that Udall / Stevenson beating Baker / Buckley in any seriously southern states is just not going to happen - Nixon beat McGovern literally more than 3 to 1 in Georgia, I don't see where Udall gets those votes from. Carter was a crap President and not a good fit for the party but I think people do understate how much he single-handedly gave the ticket a chance in the South.

For what it's worth, just taking 1972 and doing a universal swing of 16.3% so that McGovern beats Nixon 53.8% to 44.3% gives us a 364 to 174 EV victory for Udall and:

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Obviously it could be tinkered with in places, but this strikes me as a pretty reasonably starting point for Udall v. Baker without getting muddled in Carter's significantly different path to victory in OTL.
 
I don't think Carter was ever leading by an actual thirty-five points which was ever going to actually manifest on election day. Nor that Dukakis was ever 'really' leading by sixteen points, or whatever the figure that is usually touted on that race. You get these kind of phantom leads in elections - Reagan was leading Carter by twenty-eight points at one stage after the Republican convention. I don't think that means that Reagan ran an appalling campaign.

This obviously means that working out alternate results involves a heavy amount of feelz and rune-reading. But the OTL result is obviously the best place to start, and with that in mind, I don't think the Democratic nominee was likely to sweep the country outside the south.

It's plausible though to have a close-ish final result where the Democratic nominee takes California narrowly off its Republican habit of this era, and gets some good results in the rustbelt.
 
This is a map for a project I'm working on the Other Place - thanks to @BClick for the pointers!

View attachment 19313
So, red states and blue states never actually become a thing in this scenario?

Also, this map just shows just show strong Carter was in the South in 1976 relative to other Democrats. Of course, he was lucky to be faced against a Northerner such as Ford instead of another Southerner such as Baker.
 
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The “Doomsday Incident” (also popularly known as “The Death of Superman” or “The Destruction of Metropolis” occurred midday on January 21st, 1993, when the alien bio-weapon “Doomsday” teleported within the Earth's atmosphere, crashed in the Delaware River, and began rampaging throughout the city.

Several heroes engaged the frenzied monster, including Blue Beetle, Green Lantern, and both of Superman's sons, Superman II and Nightwing, all of whom were heavily injured during the fight. After they were defeated, the original Superman arrived and fought the monster, killing it, but dying in the process.

The total number of wounded and dead reached 26,000, with experts speculating the death toll potentially reaching over 60,000 had the creature landed in the center of the city instead of the river, giving time for superheroes to evacuate and confront the monster.

An investigation by the US Government revealed that Doomsday was a heavily modified Parademon from the Darkseid Army, and that the reason it was able to avoid detection was due to the use of a Boom Tube to drop it within Earth's atmosphere.

 
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The 1988 Gotham diplomatic incidents refer to the twin deaths of Felipe and Jose Garzonas in Gotham City, New Jersey in October and November of that year. These incidents lead to a diplomatic break between the United States and Colombia for several years, as well as a mediated agreement between both countries in 1993.

According to the Colombian Government, two violent and dangerous vigilantes operating in Gotham, Batman and Robin, murdered Felipe Garzonas, son of Colombian Ambassador Jose Garzonas who fell nearly 20 stories to his death, and later murdered the Ambassador himself. They demanded not only restitution, but for vigilantes and Gotham city's leadership to be charged (as they accused them of being complicit in the actions of the vigilantes).

The Gotham PD responded, in an extraordinary measure, by publicly revealing all their evidence they had amassed on the two: Felipe Garzonas of drug smuggling, drug dealing, kidnapping, rape, and attempted murder of his rape victim; and Jose Garzonas' complicity in his son's actions, as well as his involvement in the kidnapping of their Police Commissioner, Margaret Sawyer, in an attempt to draw out and murder Batman and Robin.

The US government, already investigating the Garzonas family for drug trafficking, instead demanded the Colombian government offer restitution to the American citizens affected by their ambassadorial staff's actions, and openly refused to offer the Colombian Government an apology nor “one single dime” until they do.

This incident lead to a breakdown between the US and Colombian Governments, with both asking their respective embassies to leave. During the early crisis, anti-American protests broke out in Colombia's biggest cities, most notably Bogotá, and anti-Colombian protests broke out across the United States. Both the mayor of Gotham and the Governor of New Jersey denounced the Colombian government, and stated they had no intention of allowing them to house the embassy in the state should relations ever be restored.

In 1993, an agreement was reached where the United States and Gotham would be compensated for the actions of the Colombian embassy, both countries would mutually apologize for their actions, and both countries would sign an agreement regarding ambassadorial conduct. The public of both countries found the compromise to be unsatisfactory, and relations would remain functional albeit troubled for years to come.

In 2020, during the “Batman leak,” it was revealed the Robin accused by the Colombian government of throwing Felipe Garzonas to his death was the then-17-year old Jason Todd, and that the Batman at the time was former UN and South African Ambassador Richard Grayson.
 
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Sandra Knight Borden was an American socialite, vigilante, and politician. For most of the 1940's she held the public persona as the fabulous daughter of Senator Henry Knight, while she secretly battled Nazi saboteurs, arsonists, serial killers, and other criminals in Washington D.C. and her native Maryland as “The Phantom Lady.” Her fiancé, and later husband, Don Borden was an agent of the State Department's counter-intelligence division and occasionally assisted her. Her cousin, Ted Knight, was the original Starman. Despite both operating as superheroes at the same time and relative place as each other, neither knew about the other's secret identity until the late 1960's.

In 1949, after the death of her father, she retired as The Phantom Lady. While intending for it to be a temporary measure until she finished dealing with her grief and her father's estate, she later decided to make it permanent after she was appointed to her father's Senate seat. She was Maryland's first female Senator, and at the time of her retirement was the second-longest serving female Senator, behind only Maine's Margaret Chase Smith.

As a Senator she proved to be outspoken, liberal, integrationist, and internationalist in outlook, frustrating and embarrassing the conservative Democratic establishment that had intended for her to be a pretty face and a seatwarmer. Her feuds with Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy and fellow Maryland Senator John Marshall Butler, support of civil rights in America and abroad, and opposition to the Vietnam War earned her the condemnations of conservatives and accolades from leftist groups.

In 1987, two years before her death, she published an autobiography, “I Was The Phantom Lady,” detailing her exploits as one of America's first superheroines, her time in the All Star Squadron, her loss in 1968 to Republican congressman Lawrence Hogan and their subsequent friendship, and her role in supporting (unnamed) successors to the Phantom Lady moniker.

 
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Dudley Higginsworth Dudley was an American actor, businessman, and satirical superhero, being the manager to the "Marvel Family" (including Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Ms. Marvel, and himself as the fourth "Uncle Marvel") for most of the 1940's and 1950's. He licenced out their name and brand to various enterprises, including advertisements, comics, radio shows, toys, and movie serials, among others. He often appeared in advertisements as himself, wearing shoddy knock-off outfits that only loosely resembled Captain Marvel's attire. He is considered to be one of the first people to monetize the images of superheroes and achieve mass market success.

His adopted children, Billy Batson and Freddy Freeman were in fact the two Captain Marvel's. He adopted the pair in the early 1940's after he learned of their secret identities and saved their lives from the supervillain known as Black Adam. He divided the profits from his enterprises between the three of them and Mary Bromfield, the then-Ms. Marvel.

 
From my AH.com crossover timeline:
Zombie outbreaks are, unfortunately, not a rarity in history. A myriad of strains have appeared over the years ranging from the famous undead sorts created by the Nazis' Trioxin and the Umbrella Corporation's T-virus to the demonically-driven Deadites, Crossed and Meideros' syndrome infectees to the quick-paced mutant undead that resulted from the Rage virus and the Green Flu. There were even a few instances of sentient, non-malevolent undead emerging-the 'dead generation' and the 'domesticated' inhabitants of Zombietown being the most famous. Zombie outbreaks have had a range of impacts. In some cases, such as the London outbreak of 2003, the 2006 Willamette outbreak, the 2019 Pleasant Valley outbreak and the 1968 Midwestern outbreak were contained relatively quickly with low casualties. Other outbreaks had ebbs and flows in containment-for instance the 1983 Louisville outbreak worsened after the city was destroyed with a nuclear weapon, inadvertently contaminating the countryside. Still others produced nationwide or near-nationwide apocalypses-the South Hun Chiu outbreak of 2016 and the Japan outbreak of 2023 being the most notable pre-Great War instances of this. Post-Great War, of course, zombie outbreaks got far, far worse, culminating in the bulk of what had been the southern US ending up contaminated by a heavily modified strain of Trioxin.

However, almost all zombie viruses (as opposed to the ones resulting from demonic possession or alien parasites) can trace their origins to a natural virus known as Solanum. Those infected with Solanum must be bitten by a Solanum-infected zombie and not have damage taken to the head prior to the conclusion of a 24-hour incubation period. Slight natural mutations over the years were documented (such as the 'dreadfuls' that plagued Britain in the early 19th century), but overall pre-World War II accounts of zombie outbreaks fit the standard mold of Solanum. Solanum outbreaks are known to have plagued the Romans and 8th century Byzantium along with other ancient civilizations. Paleontologists have found evidence indicating Solanum may have originated as a mutated strain of a virus carried by woolly mammoths that passed over to humans in the Stone Age, though this has not been confirmed. Still, overall, pre-Second World War zombie outbreaks are clearly identifiable as either Solanum strain outbreaks or the result of demonic/occult influences.

The Joseon outbreak of the 16th century stands apart from these other examples, however, as accounts of the outbreak indicate the undead were certainly not demonic, but differed greatly from the standard Solanum infectees. Accounts are sparse owing to the efforts of the Joseon Dynasty to hide the outbreak from history, but was has been gathered is the outbreak originated due to the use of a certain herb in efforts to revive the dead. These methods were not unheard of (the legendary Utnapishtim plant was often-sought by numerous societies in the Middle East for instance and the alchemists' Philosopher's stone can be considered in line with this tradition), but in this case, use of this herb evidently resulted in those who were given it developing a cannibalistic hunger. However, while this was similar to most Solanum infectees, in other respects the undead who plagued Joseon differed greatly. Most notably, they were wary of heat and during the warmer months of the year would hide during the day, only attacking the living at night (though during the winter this would change). This has led to some theorizing the Joseon outbreak was not a zombie outbreak at all, but rather a 'low-bloodline' vampire'outbreak like the kind that devastated Barrow or Jerusalem's Lot. However, the depiction of the undead in the Joseon outbreak differs greatly from low-bloodline vampire outbreaks as the undead ate the flesh of the living (while not unheard of for vampires to do so, it is rather rare). Another theorized possibility is the Joseon outbreak was a result of one vampire strain mixing with Solanum and then becoming more widespread. If so, it would predate the 2011 'vambie' outbreak by more than 4 centuries.

Call of Duty: Nazi Zombies, Night of the Living Dead, Resident Evil, Evil Dead, Crossed, [REC], 28 Days Later, Left 4 Dead, Generation Dead, Disney's Zombies, Shaun of the Dead, Dead Rising, Little Monsters, Return of the Living Dead, Train to Busan, Designated Survivor, High School of the Dead, The Walking Dead, The Zombie Survival Guide, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Zombies of Byzantium, The Reluctant Prometheus, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Flamel myth, Kingdom 2019, Anno Dracula, 30 Days of Night, 'Salem's Lot, Deadliest Warrior
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The End of History
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Francis Fukuyama is an American political scientist and politician who is best known for his role as the 43rd and final President of the United States. Fukuyama was born to Japanese parents in Chicago, Illinois and studied at various prestigious universities amidst the turmoil of the Cold War. Fukuyama gravitated to the so-called 'neoconservative' movement during his time in college-that is he supported both conservative stances on economics and foreign policy, but moderation on social issues and the restoration of democratic government rather than the 'emergency rule' by generals that had persisted since the 1958 coup against President Stevenson. The neoconservatives, framing themselves as a 'loyal opposition' as opposed to the 'traitors' that left-wing anti-government groups were labeled as, were the most successful pressure group against the Walker and LeMay administrations. Ultimately, the triumph of Alexander Haig in the contest to succeed LeMay paved the way for the partial restoration of democracy. Fukuyama would be among the neoconservatives who formed the American Liberty Party which contested the 1984 presidential elections. However, the ALP nominee Donald Rumsfeld was defeated by the National Front candidate Larry MacDonald.

However, MacDonald's incompetence would allow for the ALP to regain ground and triumph in 1988 under the leadership of George HW Bush, who made Fukuyama his Secretary of State. However, by the time Bush took office, it was becoming increasingly clear the American political system was not doing so well. Despite being illegal, labor strikes, civil rights protests and other acts of resistance to the American government were becoming increasingly common. Drug use and crime rates were both skyrocketing as Bush entered the Oval Office. Meanwhile, living standards in the Soviet Union and its allies across Eurasia were visibly improving and Soviet prestige was overtaking America's as the USSR landed on Mars in 1991. Socialist revolts in Latin America were gaining traction and threatening to oust US-aligned governments in the region. The US allies of South Africa and Rhodesia outright saw their governments collapse amidst revolt. Within the American government, there was considerable debate about what to do about this issue. The National Front and the right wing of the ALP favored harsh measures to crack down on domestic unrest and tackling major social problems via increased militarization of society. They blamed the ills afflicting America on communist subversion and felt strong enough measures could reverse American decline.

On the other hand, Fukuyama and fellow 'compassionate conservatives' had a different solution. They traced the issues of American decline back to the insistence on pure capitalism and the erosion of the New Deal that had been implemented under Franklin Roosevelt, as well as some of the earlier progressive reforms of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Furthermore, Fukuyama and his allies argued, the suppression of leftist, libertarian and anti-racist groups in America had not in fact dealt with the increase in anti-government sentiment, but actually served to increase it and make it more violent. The compassionate conservatives thus held that major political and economic reforms would be needed to ensure America's revival and the restoration of prosperity. The clash between these 2 visions would be seen during the ALP primaries of 1996, where Fukuyama faced off against the right-ALP candidates Wesley Clark, Antonin Scalia and John Tower. Despite fierce attacks (including some race-baiting towards Fukuyama), he managed to triumph in the primary and secured the endorsement of Bush in the general election, where Fukuyama managed to dispatch the National Front ticket of Pat Buchanan and Evan Mecham. Fukuyama, upon taking office, famously declared that 'America is at a crossroads' and that it had to choose the right road to secure its long-term future.

Fukuyama's reforms began almost immediately. He began with a series of over 4 dozen pardons for high-profile political prisoners, including major enemies of the US government such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Harold Stassen, Ted Kennedy and Noam Chomsky. He next unveiled his 'Contract With America,' a series of major economic reforms that sought to place limits on the size of major corporations and limit their influence, restored the right of labor unions to organize and be recognized by the government and brought back governmental pension programs that had been abolished during the Walker years. He additionally took things a step further by implementing a government-backed healthcare program and implementing civil rights programs. In 1998, Fukuyama shocked observers by declaring that 8 banned political parties would have their bans lifted and be permitted to run in elections in that midterm cycle so long as all candidates signed a statement renouncing violence and affirming the legitimacy of the American federal government. Fukuyama's reforms were criticized by his right-wing opponents and the rightmost wing of the ALP would defect en masse to the National Front shortly before the midterms. However, Fukuyama's reforms were extraordinarily popular with American youth and the public as a whole. Fukuyama's foreign policy was likewise rather popular and he sought to pursue negotiation and nuclear disarmament with the Soviet Union and China.

By the early 2000's, it seemed that Fukuyama had succeeded in his reform efforts and secured America's continued existence. However, a series of events from 2001 to 2003 would ultimately cause things to unravel. First was the 2001 May Day protests organized by American leftist groups. While Fukuyama supported the rights of these groups to assemble, in over a dozen states the National Guard cracked down on the protests, killing 38 and injuring over a hundred. Fukuyama's efforts to balance the demand for justice from the public and the reluctance of even those within his government to punish the perpetrators. Ultimately, only one governor (David Duke of Louisiana) was forced to leave office and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The next controversy to erupt came when the Mexican guerilla leader Rafael Sebastian Guillien Vincente (commonly known as Subcommandante Marcos) seized control of Mexico City with his forces. Members of the American government demanded Fukuyama send troops to restore the US-aligned regime of Francisco Labastida, but much of the public opposed an American intervention in Mexico. Fukuyama ultimately elected not to deploy troops. This caused major discontent among hardliners and in early 2002 a group of three generals (Michael Flynn, David Petraeus and Robert Gates) organized a coup against Fukuyama. The coup initially successfully trapped Fukuyama within his New York residence while Flynn declared himself acting president. However, before the military's hold on power could be solidified and Fukuyama disposed of, mass protests erupted across the nation.

These protesters were a varied lot-compassionate conservatives and communists, liberals and Luddites, members of all races and religions. What united them was the simple demand of 'Free Fukuyama!' Efforts by state governments to crush them failed as elements of the police and armed forces defected. The period (later dubbed the 'Messy March' by historians) ultimately would see General James Mattis lead a group of Fukuyama loyalist forces on the White House, capturing Flynn after a brief exchange of gunfire. The troops holding Fukuyama under house arrest were compelled to release the president and Fukuyama returned to power. However, he would face the fact much of his power had been shaken as a result of this attempted coup. Fukuyama's return to power was characterized by an initial optimism, but that would be crushed by the final blow: a pandemic. The plague, dubbed the swine flu despite technically not being an influenze strain, emerged in the American southwest before spreading thanks in large part due to the state government of Arizona's failure to notice it until it was too late. By the time the outbreak was noticed, it was a national crisis. Fukuyama initially attempted to coordinate a national quarantine, but ultimately the bulk of the pandemic response would be left up to the individual states thanks to the increasing paranoia of Fukuyama causing mass inefficiency at a federal level. Various states formed regional pacts to combat the virus and much of the country began to complain the national government had failed to handle the outbreak. Ultimately, the outbreak would burn itself out by the beginning of 2003, but by this point Fukuyama's reputation was in tatters and political radicalism was on the rise.

Fukuyama ultimately did realize this. He moved his State of the Union address ahead to late January to address the situation During that address, Fukuyama declared that the US as it had existed had de facto become a failed state. As a result, he was going to sign an executive order abolishing the totality of the federal government, with each interstate bloc becoming (at least temporarily) their own country, free to pursue their own destiny. Fukuyama's order went into effect on February 3rd, which is the day he officially ceased to be the president. However, Fukuyama remained in Washington DC and the White House for several months afterwards, helping negotiate what was to become of American governmental infrastructure, military equipment, former US currency and the national debt. The process of devolving power and managing disputes as some states sought to separate from the blocs they had formed the previous year took 5 years, at which point the post-US North America had finally taken shape. Fukuyama would, after this, become a college professor, something he had said was what he had previously hoped to become before entering politics. As an academic post-politics, Fukuyama notably contributed the 'end of history' hypothesis, citing that given most US successor states have adopted some form of socialism and the ongoing crisis of climate change generally being blamed on capitalist modes of production, the triumph of socialism over the world is now almost inevitab
 
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Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane is a psychiatric hospital for the Gotham City metropolitan area, housing patients who are deemed criminally insane. From the 1910's to the 1940's, Arkham Asylum was considered a well-run, if draconian institution under the administration of Amadeus Arkham. Throughout the later 1940's and early 1950's, due to the mental and physical decline of Amadeus Arkham, it became synonymous with a lax security, abusive staff, and a high recidivism rate. From 1956 to 1968, after an investigation by the state government, and new management under Jeremiah Arkham, nephew of Amadeus, the standards of the asylum improved tremendously. Coinciding with the opening of several other locations, and advancements in mental health research, this made Arkham Asylum considered one of the United States' best mental health institutes.

Today, Arkham Asylum is known for their successful rehabilitation of many of Gotham's supervillains over the years, including Edward Nigma, Pamela Isley, Jervis Tetch, and Arnold Wesker. Despite this, most of Arkham Asylum's patients are considered to be non-superpowered individuals, and merely people with severe mental health issues.


 
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