//The Wire// 2100Z November 15, 2024//

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//BLUF: ELECTION WOES CONTINUE IN BUCKS COUNTY, PA. SHADOW GOVERNMENT IDEA PROPOSED IN CONGRESS.//

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-International Events-

Brazil: Wednesday evening a man wearing an explosive vest conducted an attack on the front steps of the Brazilian Supreme Court. AC: Since the incident, specific details have been hard to verify, but this event is more in line with an extreme act of protest rather than a deliberate attack intended to cause mass destruction. In any case, the only life taken by the bombers actions was his own.

-HomeFront-

Pennsylvania: Open election fraud continues as the Bucks County Board of Commissioners has decided to count illegal votes, in direct violation of a previous court order. The Commissioners acknowledged they are breaking the law and violating a court order, but they will continue doing so anyway, with Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia stating that “I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country” and that “people violate laws anytime they want”.

Washington D.C. – As the incoming Trump administration continues to nominate various positions, opposition movements are beginning to take formation. North Carolina Representative Wiley Nickel has proposed the idea of a “Shadow Cabinet”, an unelected body of ministers who will serve to counter any moves the Trump administration may make.

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Analyst Comments: The idea of a “Shadow Cabinet” is interesting in that this idea likely originated from a variety of sources. For one, most European political systems include the use of a Shadow Cabinet as part of official governance measures. In short, in systems of governance that take the form of proportional representation, a very common aspect of that is for a potential Prime Minister to create a Shadow Cabinet, which essentially serves to show the public what that hopeful Prime Minister’s cabinet would look like. Having names and faces already established before the election, instead of appointments being made afterwards, is fairly common throughout Europe. However, what is common in Parliamentary systems is sometimes classified as sedition and treason in the political system we have in the United States. Having an “opposing team” of unelected Shadow Secretaries is also very likely to be perceived by the American people as the “deep state” freely coming out in the open to oppose anything Trump’s cabinet might do. Whether or not this idea will stick remains to be seen as this proposal seems to largely be a result of a visit from the ‘good idea fairy’ and not something that the true power players in Congress would actually need to resort to. Nevertheless, the intricacies of how law remains selectively applied will be cause for concern over the next few years.

Analyst: S2A1

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