Twitter campaign trail got mean and ugly!

There's no doubt that Twitter is a mean place, and has become even meaner since the length of tweets was increased from 140 to 280 characters. During the 2018 election campaign, some of the worst Twitter atrocities @Patriavotes2018 were committed by the right wing, particularly the "Faith, Family, Freedom. Look to the right" tweeters who constantly hammered home the fear of an impending communist takeover should the Social Democrats secure a plurality in the 51st Congress. Which of course the Social Dems did, almost doubling their seat count from 2014! One week after the election, no so-called "leftist rats" and "communist traitors" have been hanging from the lampposts yet. There will not be any violent backlash by so-called "Patriots". Patria decisively rejected right wing populism and the SRM's Patria First nationalism. Patria is not going to go the way of, say, Viktor Orban's Hungary. On the other hand, left wing populism or old-school democratic socialism has been kick-started in the Inner Realm because BERNIE WOULD HAVE WON! (the US presidency in 2016).

The National Union also made a lot of noise on Twitter, promising to bring back the death penalty, supporting the police right or wrong (#BlueLivesMatter) and of course spewing out their he-man appeal of BIG DOGS! TOUGH MEN! According to NU ideology, men who are scared of dogs - particularly big, macho ones like pit bulls and rottweilers - or just prefer to own cats are faggots, cowardly pussies, or at the very least effeminate wimps (even if heterosexual). But on April 21, Patria's voters knocked the NU down a peg and those macho men are scooping the dog poop, winning only 21 seats in the 51st Congress.

While Patria's voters didn't buy the McCarthy-era red-baiting, fear-mongering, hatred of leftists and incitement to commit violence against anyone to the left of Donald Trump, the powers that be at Twitter apparently did react. A day or two after the election, the @Patriavotes2018 account was locked down!

Hi Patria Votes 2018, Your account, @patriavotes2018 has been locked for violating the Twitter Rules. Specifically for: Violating our rules against abusive behavior. You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. We consider abusive behavior an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice. Patria Votes 2018 @patriavotes2018 The Day of the Rope is coming. Communist traitors and leftist rats will be hanging from every lamppost. It will come to blood. FIGHT THE EVIL REDS! STOP THE COMMUNIST MENACE! #Patriavotes2018 Go to Twitter

Patria feels the Bern for the 51st Congress!

Patria awakens on Earth Day - the day after Election Day 2018 - to find the Bernie Sanders-inspired Social Democrats have won the most seats in the 51st Congress-elect. The Social Dems took 96 seats - elected by mixed-member proportional representation - in the 333-seat Congress, up 47 from 2014. The Amrita Party of Amma's "Embracing Patria" devotees finished a strong second with 78 seats (up 10 from 2014). The "Patria First" SRM, despite all the noise they made about taking back the economy and bringing the jobs home, gained only one seat more than 2014, but with 56 seats the SRM is still a strong force that will oppose the likely SD-Amrita-Chakra-Green coalition. Notwithstanding the popularity of right-wing populists and nationalists in the macro-world from Donald Trump's America to Doug Ford's Ontario, voters in Patria just weren't buying the economic nationalism, tariffs and protectionism that the SRM has been pushing for years. Why such a strong surge for the SD? A need for real change? Giving the right wing the middle-finger salute? Not buying the fear-mongering of the "Faith. Family Freedom" types tweeting @Patriavotes2018 who warned against an impending communist takeover? More likely that voters across Patria simply said "FUCK THIS!" and threw their lot in with the so-called Berners or Bernie-crats, hoping that old-school democratic socialism added to the Amrita and Chakra Party's Hindu/yoga/embracing the world mix will improve their economic prospects over the next four years more than building tariff walls and promises to "make Patria great again".

The real losers in 2018 are the macho law-and-order, pit bull-owning, gun-toting, cop-loving National Union, who sink further into irrelevance with only 21 seats (down 5 from 2014) despite running one of the loudest campaigns of 2018, vilifying wimpy soft-on-crime liberal "pussies" (both two legs and four - the NU hates cats and cat owners because real men own big dogs such as pit bulls and rottweilers). Jim Rome's Jungle Party also lost big. The Clones could manage only 11 seats (down a whopping 17 from 2014) as the Rome show has become tired and uninspired over the past four years.

96 seats in the 51st Congress-elect. Because FUCK THIS SHIT!

Party standings in the 51st Congress-elect:

Social Democrats – 96 (+47 from 2014)

Amrita – 78 (+10)

SRM – 56 (+1)

Chakra – 33 (-26)

National Union – 21 (-5)

Green – 16 (+3)

Jungle – 11 (-17)

Lilith – 6 (-1)

Libertarian – 5 (-2)

Chastity – 3 (unchanged)

Family Values – 2 (unchanged)

others* – 6

*one seat each: Pottsylvanian Alliance, Lazurian Independent Party, Patriots Union Nova Columbia (PUNC), Peoples’ Party, Reconstruction Party, Popular Front of Caesarea.

Seats awarded by Precinct:

Fredonia (9)

Amrita – 2

Chakra – 1

Green – 1

NU – 1

SD – 2

SRM – 2

Haldimania (12)

Amrita – 2

Chakra – 1

Green – 1

Jungle – 1

NU – 1

SD – 4

SRM – 2

Pottsylvania (13)

Amrita – 3

Chakra – 2

Green – 1

Libertarian – 1

SD – 3

SRM – 2

Pottsylvanian Alliance – 1

Mauretania (15)

Amrita – 2

Chakra – 1

Green – 1

Lilith – 1

Jungle – 1

NU – 2

SD – 5

SRM – 2

Canardiere (16)

Amrita – 2

Chakra – 1

Chastity – 1

Libertarian – 1

NU – 1

SD – 6

SRM – 4

Ambrosia (17)

Amrita – 3

Chakra – 2

Green – 1

Lilith – 1

NU – 1

SD – 5

SRM – 4

Antioch (19)

Amrita – 4

Chakra – 1

Jungle – 1

NU – 1

SD – 7

SRM – 5

Arboria (21)

Amrita – 5

Chakra – 2

Green – 1

NU – 2

SD – 7

SRM – 3

Reconstruction Party – 1

Aeolia (24)

Amrita – 6

Chakra – 2

Green – 1

Libertarian – 1

Jungle – 1

SD – 7

SRM – 6

Centralia (25)

Amrita – 9

Chakra – 2

Green – 1

Jungle – 1

NU – 2

SD – 6

SRM – 4

Lazuria (27)

Amrita – 6

Chakra – 5

Green – 1

Jungle – 1

NU – 2

SD – 7

SRM – 4

Lazurian Independent Party – 1

Nova Columbia (36)

Amrita – 7

Chakra – 4

Family Values – 1

Green – 1

Jungle – 2

Lilith – 1

NU – 2

SD – 10

SRM – 6

Patriots Union (PUNC) – 1

Peoples’ Party – 1

Federal Dist. of Castoropolis (38)

Amrita – 12

Chakra – 2

Green – 2

Lilith – 1

Jungle – 1

Chastity – 1

Libertarian – 1

NU – 2

SD – 11

SRM – 5

Caesarea (61)

Amrita – 15

Chakra – 7

Chastity – 1

Family Values – 1

Green – 4

Jungle – 2

Libertarian – 1

Lilith – 2

NU – 4

SD – 16

SRM – 7

Popular Front of Caesarea (PFC) – 1

The Fourth Session of the 50th Congress (4·L 2017-18) is about to return for a lame-duck session that will continue until a couple days before Inauguration Day, June 30. There are a number of items on the order paper while the 51st Congress-elect waits out the transition, including Patria's fiscal 2019 budget. Traditionally the budget is the last item to be ratified before Congress adjourns for the summer recess or Inauguration Day.

First in Freedom: Election Day in Fredonia

One week before TROP (The Rest of Patria) goes to the polls, today is election day in the little maverick Precinct of Fredonia. "First in Freedom", Fredonia is always the first Precinct to vote, like the little town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire in the US presidential election. Only nine seats up for grabs, they are awarded as follows:

Amrita: 2
Chakra: 1
Green: 1
National Union: 1
Social Democrats: 2
SRM: 2

Fredonia is not always a good predictor of how the rest of Patria will vote, but if these returns hold for the other 12 Precincts, there could be a tight three-way race between the Amrita Party of Amma's devotees, Bernie Sanders-inspired Social Democrats and the "take back the economy" Patria-first SRM.

Fredonia was annexed by Patria and became the 13th and smallest Precinct following its disastrous war with Sylvania, as documented in the Marx Brothers' classic 1933 film Duck Soup. "If you think this country's bad right now just wait till I get through with it!" - Fredonia's heroic former President Rufus T. Firefly, as played by Groucho Marx.