Hillary Clinton's E-mails and Other Updates

This is a continuation of my fictional blog President John McCain.

One of President McCain's first actions upon being sworn into office was surprisingly to look into the OTHER e-mail controversy which derailed the presidential election. In addition to the Russian Hacking, many media outlets (though not this blog) spent a lot of time focusing on the difficulties former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had with her government-issued e-mail account. Upon hearing about the number of public sector employees who continue to use their private e-mail addresses while serving the United States of America's Government, McCain, a security hawk, immediately announced a panel to review what could be done. The panel is expected to report back next week.

Yesterday, President McCain met with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to discuss the Office of Congressional Ethics. The discussion was fruitful, including discussion of the problems discussed last week in this blog. Speaker Ryan agreed to let the OCE report to President McCain until a more permanent fix could be applied, rather than reporting to the House Ethics Committee, agreeing that that was tantamount to letting congress police themselves.

The ObamaCare Repeal is going slower than expected, partially because of the efforts of Senator Rand Paul. Though Senator Paul wants to repeal the law, he has concerns about repealing it without an immediate replacement plan. President McCain's press secretary Julie Tarallo accused Paul of grandstanding, given the animosity between the two when they were colleagues in the senate.

The last bit of policy that President McCain is working on is getting congress to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade treaty which was designed to give the United States a leg up in any upcoming trade or military wars with china. The bill's support defies party lines, with legislators on the left and the right supporting it, and other legislators on either side opposing it. If it were brought to a vote right now, it is likely that ratification would fail, but President McCain is currently working with Utah Republican Orrin Hatch to drum up support from congress.

Below are some basic numbers to help you understand the country right now.
• S&P 500: $2,283.18
• GDP: $16,770,000,000,000
• Unemployment: 4.7%
• Price of Gas: $2.338 per gallon
• Estimated number of protests this weekend of the unusual circumstances bringing out president to power: 32,000
• Number of immigrants currently living freely in this country: 38 million
• Number of prisoners in Guantanimo Bay Cuba: 55

I won't be including these numbers every week, but on weeks that there are noticeable changes, they will be updated.

A Mostly-Ignored Congress

This continues my fictional blog about president-elect McCain.

In all the chaos surrounding the presidency, a lot of the major news sources have neglected their coverage of congress. Knowing that they would have one of their own as president, the Republicans in the house of Representatives have taken up two initiatives to move the country in what they consider to be the right direction.

First, they have neutered the independent ethics board which is tasked with keeping them in line. Many Republicans have complained that the ethics board is partisan in its investigations, and that they have no right to look their accuser in the eye. Therefore the ethics board no longer has the right to pursue a complaint without permission from the House Ethics committee. President-elect McCain, upon being briefed on this action, has scheduled a meeting with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to discuss the issue.

Second, the House of Representatives has put forth a bill to repeal ObamaCare, the sitting president's signature healthcare bill. Because ObamaCare's individual provisions are popular, but the bill itself is not, the House has put a delay into the bill, so that the repeal will not occur until 2019, the year after the midterm elections. This gives them three years to write a replacement, or one year to smooth over the preventable deaths of millions of Americans who will be stripped of healthcare.

President-Elect McCain has put forward a piece of legislation called the Empowering Patients First Act. According to John McCain's Senate website, where he first posted the outline of the bill last year, the EPFA would:

• Establish "age-adjusted tax credits" instead of subsidies
• Continue to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions
• Eliminate the "individual coverage" mandate
• Make extensive use of "Economic incentives"
• Gut the ability to sue doctors for malpractice
• Allow people to buy healthcare coverage which does not cover as much
• Eliminate state boundaries for healthcare coverage
• Encourage people to spend less by making them pay for their own healthcare.

Proponents of the EPFA say that it will lower costs, and increase the number of insured individuals. Critics of the plan say that it would crumble, like the Texas plan after which it was based, because it lacks the individual mandate.

A Flurry of Activity Before Inauguration Day!

This is a fictional blog, set in a better world where the votes for television show characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Trump, and G.I. Joe were thrown out. In the resulting chaos, John McCain was selected as president by the House of Representatives, with his friend and colleague Lindsey Graham as vice president.

Wow, what a crazy week.

John McCain revealed this week that his own personal connections with a former member of the United Kingdom's MI-6 intelligence agency led to the revelations about Russia's hacking of the presidential election. It is widely believed that this hacking, though it did not directly target the polling stations or machines, was an important factor in why a Republican is now the president-elect. McCain is being praised for his actions to investigate the events which led to his own presidency.

In addition, McCain has increased the level of his rhetoric against Russia, saying that the United States needs to stand up to Vladimir Putin. McCain was sharply critical of the Obama administration's treatment of Syria, as Putin has allowed the Assad regime to level major cities like Aleppo.

Because McCain has a reputation as a maverick and a moderate, it was surprising to many who do not know him personally that he appointed a number of very conservative people to his cabinet. Because he only had fourteen days between being selected as president and inauguration day (only fourteen days between January 6 and January 20!), McCain selected a group of well-respected figures to his cabinet. Here are a few.

• Sandy Baruah was picked as secretary of Housing and Urban Development. As the head of the Small Business Association under president George W. Bush, the Republican congress has no reason to question his qualifications.
• Admiral Robert Schumaker, a retired rear admiral from the Navy, was also a prisoner of war in Vietnam at the same time that McCain was, thought they never met. Because he retired in 1988, there are no apparent conflicts of interest in his nomination.

Also, because of the limited time to put replacements in place, and McCain's desire for stability in the world, President-Elect McCain has extended a greater waiver than is typical to diplomats serving overseas. He will replace them as he is able, but there are higher priorities.

President-Elect John McCain

This is a fictional blog, set in a better world where the votes for television show characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Trump, and G.I. Joe were thrown out. In the resulting chaos, no one won the electoral college.

Today, for the first time in history, the House of Representatives selected the president because the Electoral College failed to do so. In November's election, Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but was unable to win the electoral college.

Because the congress of the United States is run by the Republican Party, the chief rival of the Democrat party, Congress refused to elect Clinton, instead choosing one of their own. The president-elect is now Senator and war hero John McCain. In a separate vote, the Senate selected McCain's friend and colleague, Lindsay Graham, to be his vice president.

McCain has already begun assembling his cabinet. Below is his pick for Secretary of State. In articles to come, I will detail some of his other picks.

Secretary of State - Douglas E. Lute

Douglas Lute is the sitting ambassador to NATO. He is a decorated war hero, but pundits seem to think that his position within NATO is a message: McCain intends to have a firm hand against Russia, but intends to use diplomacy when possible.