Wittenberg

I'm calling you out, Mr Senator from Florencia and Talossan National Congress leader. A debate between candidates for Seneschal.. Prove your mettle.

As the challenged party, it's your call as to format and moderator. Best to do it before people start voting, though.

Clock's ticking, va amic. "If you want to be the champ, you've got to whup the champ" - Muhammad Ali

So, no response? Really?

Probably Breneir's getting some "advice" backstage that he shouldn't make himself vulnerable in this way. I don't think such people have a high opinion of his ability to hold his own in a free debate.

The Senator is prepared to sign his name to a campaign email written for him by the actual TNC leader, the Baron*, making personal attacks, but not prepared to debate the issues in real time.

(* We can tell, dude, you've got a very distinctive writing style)

I mean, let's just start with this bit from your 50 words, which for some reason has not been publicised:

Quoteworking with King John to implement monarchical reform

You realise that that makes as much sense as "working with Vladimir Putin to protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine"?

If the TNC have adopted a platform of simply refusing to respond to Free Democrat criticisms of their platform (or lack of it), I might as well use this thread to put forward questions that need to be answered - regardless of if they're ignored or not, at least the people have a right to know.

For example, it seems that the TNC believe that the Government should simply be sacking/replacing members of the Royal Civil Service who drop the ball for whatever reason. Certainly this could be easily done, assuming you have a replacement in mind. So can we confirm the Burgermeister of Internal Revenue would be on the chopping block under a TNC government? Who else?

Do the TNC have a policy of "spamming" threads on Wittenberg so as to push Free Democrat campaign messages down, without having the nerve to even respond to them?

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on March 16, 2022, 07:43:45 PM
Do the TNC have a policy of "spamming" threads on Wittenberg so as to push Free Democrat campaign messages down, without having the nerve to even respond to them?

This seems to be the case based on recent activity and evidence, which is honestly shameful

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump both know the power of a "projection" strategy - accuse your opponents of exactly what you're going to do yourselves (a "nasty personalised campaign")

Why should people put trust in someone who operates in an underhanded way, and who doesn't have enough strength in their convictions to have an honest debate? ITs because the opposition is nothing but an empty shell front, who has the ideas of one person, who isnt at the forefront of politics, and that they have little to no intention of winning seats honestly, nor do they have a platform or policies of their own to counter ours. So if this isnt true, why is the opposition leader trying to bury our election views, and why wont they engage in honest debate?
As it just seems like their a coward on the run, who only cares about winning because they hate the FreeDem's and our Senchal nomination pick, which is ridiculous, as Miestra does more to hold together the FreeDems, government, and country, than any talossan i know. And what does she get in reward? Ridicule and distain from the side opposite, just because she presented ideas and a path that they didnt like. Do talossa a favor, and stop it, before you on the opposite side, sit in the ruins of a great country, which will be entirely your own fault.

So grow up, act responsibly, and engage in a good, honest, and decent debate, than hiding in the shadows, using underhanded tactics, and pretending you own the place, when Talossa belongs to its people.

At a guess, what's happened is that the TNC leader has been told by the TNC "Chief of Staff" to minimise how much political debate he gets involved in - because, when he does get involved, he can't keep a civil tongue in his head and resorts to nasty personal insults. And the TNC "Chief of Staff" knows that makes his party look bad. So best if the leader smiles and waves and avoids showing off that side of his personality?

It's as if he doesn't think we see the posts he deletes or edits to be more polite after the fact

Color me shocked that the one-man dictator of Florencia is too chickenshit to have an open debate.

He likes and prefers to work in the shadows, because that's where he can win. Ethics tend to be below him!

A week has passed and the TNC are still not interested in defending their programme - aside from acidic personal abuse against yours truly. No, Brenéir, we won't forget "bottomless maw" for a long time, if ever.

I also notice that most of their programme is things they could do themselves of their own private initiative. They don't need to get elected to issue cookbooks and run a lottery.

In contrast, Free Democrats will:

• cut red-and-green tape to make the Talossan Government less labour-intensive, boring and annoying;
• make the King accountable to the people for his inactivity and blatant partisanship. I suppose it's not a mistake that the pro-King party are as adverse to fronting up as their monarch.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on March 22, 2022, 02:35:28 PM
I also notice that most of their programme is things they could do themselves of their own private initiative. They don't need to get elected to issue cookbooks and run a lottery.

Um.  Sometimes things are just what they appear, not some sort of hidden campaign promise.  Breneir made a cookbook because he likes Talossa and doing Talossan things, and he thought it would be fun.  I like the idea of a lottery because I like Talossa and I like doing Talossan things, and I thought it would be fun.

It's actually okay to just do fun stuff, I promise.  No one's going to get upset at you.  You might even have a good time.  Talossa is supposed to something you enjoy doing, not an "annoying, onerous chore" like you've said it's become for you.  You used to like doing language stuff... maybe pick something fun to translate and mess around with it?  Geek out on diacriticals like Tafi and Iac like to do?  Or you make music: you could make some music about Talossa.  You could join our tradition of Berber-themed musicals, for that matter.

Do something fun!

We do have a programme, though, and I'm happy to post it.

• We will issue ID cards for everyone.  Have a piece of Talossa to hold in your hands  -- and maybe even to show off to friends and family who might be interested!
• We will be open with the Talossan people when government officials are not able to perform their duties.  When someone can't do their job, we'll let you know.  If there's some particular difficulty, we'll let you know.  We will remember that we work for you, not the other way around.
• We will remove officials who fail to perform their duties so that we don't have large moribund pieces of government.  A lot of things can come up that get in the way of executing complex or even simple duties, and everyone understands that.  But things still need to get done.  While being kind and understanding, we'll still focus on results.
• We will provide regular updates to the nation on our efforts to address the crises of immigration and inactivity.  The Government should be transparent about what it's trying to do.  Some things won't work out and may not happen, and that's fine, but no one should be left wondering what's happening in the country as it tries to solve its greatest crises.
• We will set up TalossaWare so people can order Talossa-themed goods again.  Citizens should be able to purchase flags, shirts, and coffee mugs.  It's a way to show off our patriotic pride, it can earn a small amount of revenue for the state, and it provides a talking point for potential new immigrants.
• We will get the Zuavs active to honour and promote achievement.  It's an organization devoted to promoting and recognizing activity, and that's just what we need.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on March 22, 2022, 02:35:28 PMcut red-and-green tape to make the Talossan Government less labour-intensive, boring and annoying;

You've been making this excuse a lot.  I'm not sure it holds up to any scrutiny.  You may have missed where I responded to this repeated claim elsewhere, but again I'm happy to help:

The Free Democrats promised to do a bunch of things when they took office.  Very few of them happened.  Some of the ones that did happen, like the redesign of ID cards or the New Citizen's Information packet, happened just because citizens started trying to work around their own do-nothing Government.  Could you tell us which restrictions you're talking about?  What needs to go in the "bonfire?"

Which restrictions prevented the Government from running any sort of advertising campaign?  This seems like a pretty obvious priority... what "red-and-green tape" got in the way of making this actually happen?

Which restrictions prevented the Government from creating any kind of memorial, including the promised stamp, for Art Verbotten?

Which restrictions prevented the Government from firing inactive ministers, as repeatedly and explicitly promised?

Which restrictions prevented the Government from being honest about the Seneschal's inactivity?  The guy was understandably unable to do his job, so why did the Government explicitly keep announcing that he was still very active and busily running things?

Which restrictions prevented the Government from relaunching TalossaWare?  Not even flags can be purchased right now, nor anything else.

Which restrictions prevented the Government from reforming or moving on from the database?  I don't think there were even any attempts to find a Talossan (or non-Talossan) who could devise a replacement.

Which restrictions prevented the Government from doing anything at all with the Zuavs, as promised?

Which restrictions prevented the Government from using the Talossan Job Centre at all?  Which restrictions prevented the Government investigation and appointment of a registered agent for Talossa?  Which restrictions prevented the Government from creating new learning materials for our language?  Which restrictions prevented the Government from creating tournaments, gaming streams, a "battle of the bands", or online quizzes?  Working more on their official state history?  Creating a formal military awards structure?  Reviving BHAID?  Setting up a Landing Pier?  Creating ambassadors?  Raising funds for charity in the GTA?

I think some of these things were good ideas, and some were not.  But they're all things that this Government promised to do, yet they never happened.  And I don't think the problem was any sort of "red-and-green tape."

The problem is that you tried to take a step back this past term, since you said you wanted to see if the Free Democrats were a "real political party or just a Miestra Schiva fan club."  That didn't work.  So you basically had to do most things yourself, and you're just one person, and you mostly focused on remaking the laws the way you want.

I mean, firstly, I don't see where you get off criticising my covering for Txoteu when you're doing exactly the same thing for Brenéir. Txoteu's term as Seneschál was not successful, but at least he got through it without doing any unexplained 180 degree turnabouts on things he'd solemnly promised during the election. The person you are proposing as head of government is not credible because not honest; but I suppose you figure you can fix that if you give him a list of jobs and threaten him if he doesn't do them?

As for the remainder of your list of places where the Government dropped the ball: I really wish more outgoing Cabinet ministers would chime in here to answer your questions about why they didn't do what they'd promised, because you know what? I'd kind of like to know what happened, in particular re: the Verbotten stamp. (Txoteu has done so, to his credit.) But that line about you basically had to do most things yourself, and you're just one person is a perfect prediction of what any TNC government would be like. And that one person is you, my dear Baron. Look, you're even having to do Breneir's campaigning for him! We wonder whether it's your usual micromanaging I-alone-can-fix-it style; or whether you've had to tell him that the more he responds to challenges with misogynist slurs, the worst it looks.

The whole TNC campaign is based on the idea that a different team, working with exactly the same bureaucratic apparatus, and having the usual amount of "interference from real life" will somehow do much better. It's possible. But the TNC don't have a team - they have a Baron pulling the strings of the barely-active and the barely-involved. Not credible. In contrast, Free Democrats want to streamline the apparatus.

Reposting this here

Quote from: Ian Plätschisch on March 19, 2022, 09:09:25 AM

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on March 18, 2022, 09:30:41 AM
Which restrictions prevented the Government from creating any kind of memorial, including the promised stamp, for Art Verbotten?

The Patriot Points program did not raise enough money for us to think that producing the stamp was prudent at this time.

Quote from: Ian Plätschisch on September 29, 2021, 09:09:42 PM

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on September 29, 2021, 02:27:17 PM
So if I understand S;reu Perþonest correctly, about 50 usd was raised in stamp sales/donations last year.

On what basis does the government think it is realistic that 200 dollars will be raised this term (noting that a cosa term is less than a year)?

Also, what is the government's plan regarding the stamps now that it turns out 50 dollars for stamps may not be feasible?

Depending on the amount of donations received, we may deem it worthwhile to request the extra money for the full run of stamps, or we may decide now is not the right time to purchase that many stamps.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on March 23, 2022, 06:32:39 PM
I mean, firstly, I don't see where you get off criticising my covering for Txoteu when you're doing exactly the same thing for Brenéir.

Well, I guess one main difference is that Breneir is actively campaigning and leading the party -- plus he actually likes Talossa and does stuff.  He's doing things for fun, plus he's in charge of the party.  I mean, he came up with half of our platform and the video, he's organized the party and made all the "swag"... this is all public on Witt.  You know this, of course, and you're just being creative with the truth... but come on, you can see why this isn't going to work, right?  Txoteu only appears every month or so to make confident empty statements -- and he's still the Seneschal!

You guys lied to the people for months about Txoteu's leadership, as well as the other inactive ministers.  You propped up these people because it was embarrassing to admit it was all falling apart.  That's dishonest and wrong.  The Government works for the people, not the other way around.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on March 23, 2022, 06:32:39 PMTxoteu's term as Seneschál was not successful

Agreed!  This past term has not been a success.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on March 23, 2022, 06:32:39 PMAs for the remainder of your list of places where the Government dropped the ball: I really wish more outgoing Cabinet ministers would chime in here to answer your questions about why they didn't do what they'd promised, because you know what? I'd kind of like to know what happened, in particular re: the Verbotten stamp.

Whoa whoa now, I was assured that the real impediment here was vague "red-and-green tape!"  What happened to that?  Give us some examples.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on March 23, 2022, 06:32:39 PM
(Txoteu has done so, to his credit.) But that line about you basically had to do most things yourself, and you're just one person is a perfect prediction of what any TNC government would be like.

I'm not sure that "a TNC government would be almost as bad as this one" is quite the selling point you imagine, but I guess it's better for you than "this hasn't been a success" or "we have collectively failed."

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on March 22, 2022, 06:18:49 PM

• We will issue ID cards for everyone.  Have a piece of Talossa to hold in your hands  -- and maybe even to show off to friends and family who might be interested!

...snipped, but only for brevity's sake

I'll own my part of last term yet again: in classic GV fashion, as Minister of Culture, I was not nearly as communicative to Cabinet about being more utterly burned out with Talossa than I thought I actually was.

As Minister of Defence, once I was informed - by you no less - the Zuaves genuinely didn't need much help at all from Defence, I let it go at that and didn't worry over it any more.

As for Minister of Culture, I was good until about July when I completely fell off the rails.  This is when I should have resigned from Culture, though I was right to keep Defence.

Betrayed.  Stolen.  Kept.

AD, I've always appreciated your enthusiasm for Talossa.  Since you first came to us ca. 2006(!), you have not, I think, ceased to be active in at least some way.  I still look to El Lex, as imperfect as some might rightly say it was, as your greatest achievement in Talossa - taking the bull by the horns to get done a project that JJ himself should have thought about doing back in the 1990s, though to be fair to JJ, he was still the greatest administrator Talossa ever had until MPF came along.

The reason why we rail at you so much, Alexander, is because we see you as nothing more than a mouthpiece for a mostly-absentee monarch who has since 2007 refused to engage with the liberal wing of Talossan society on any basis more than a cursory professional level, his generous handling of Reunision notwithstanding, but even that is seen in some quarters is not being so much as altruistic, but done simply because the Kingdom was incredibly stagnant at that time. 

And guess what?  It was the same reason why the Republic-other-than-GV said 'yes' to Reunision.  It was getting to the point we were considering outright dissolution.  Rightly, the Kingdom had won the 'war' of the internet.

AD, you have always seemed to me to be an intelligent person.  You have read my diatribes of the past where I raged about King John.  You know the reasons why we didn't come back in 2005-2007, a terrible mistake in retrospect, but the Republic had good reasons to stay away.  After all, your mantra of 'Betrayed.  Stolen.  Kept.' fanned the flames of animosity towards us and actually kept us from returning the domains to the whole of the Talossan nation.

Imagine what might have happened had you not decided to follow your correct perception of the pathway to power in Talossa being being the avatar of Talossan Woollerianism.  You might have been the midwife of a 2008-ish Reunision or earlier.  We might have even had the opportunity to vote John in as King in March 2007.

And Talossa would have been far stronger.

To be fair, I well remember the broad strokes of your 2008 attempt at getting a Republic Wittenberg account.  You were rebuffed, and I still regret my small part in that.  I should have stood up for you.

And to be fair, I cannot and do not put this all at your doorstep.  The present king had to power to repair Talossa in one Wittenberg post, yet he refused to do so - a power you've never quite had through no fault of your own.  The quirks in our constitution prevent hasty wholesale change in giant scales, but as the country has found out, a few people are all it takes to be a mountain of obstruction.

In my opinion, you did the job as Regent you were supposed to.  The fact you were enobled for doing the job you should have done is not a travesty, but certain is a minor scandal.  You never should have been made a Baron, but you rightly received the appreciation of a grateful nation.

And I should never have been given Për la Naziun.  My work with the archives was epic (it really was), but did it truly save the country?  The PM at the time recommended me for a knightly order that had been defunct for many years.  I was not raised to that order, and I seriously considered outright refusing the honour altogether, as I felt not being made Order of the Flag was a spiteful move by the monarch - at least it sure looked that way.

I really do think John Woolley has always disliked all of us 'down south'.  I really do.  We don't need to be his best-buddy, but he never truly respected us.  I hope I'm wrong on all of this, by the way.

You and I in Talossa are getting old.  The day is coming when the country won't give a rat's a$% about the war for the soul of Talossa that has been raging since 1 June 2004.  I only ask the people of this country to remember the mistakes that were made - some worse than others - Ben's worst of all - and learn from them.

VOTEZ FREEDEMS - and show up GV and GET F&#(* INVOLVED!!

GV

[/list]

Quote from: GV on March 23, 2022, 09:04:52 PM
As Minister of Defence, once I was informed - by you no less - the Zuaves genuinely didn't need much help at all from Defence, I let it go at that and didn't worry over it any more.

My goodness!  I told you that there wasn't anything you should do?  I really thought I gave you some specific suggestions, offered to help you further, and linked you to the available resources.  In fact, I'm fairly certain of that.  In fact, here's the quote.

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on August 21, 2021, 10:27:02 PM

Quote from: GV on August 21, 2021, 10:05:22 PM

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on August 21, 2021, 09:56:37 PM

@GV , the program for this Government lists a more active Zuavs as your first priority.  I know you have a lot going on, but I'd love to hear some initial thoughts on how that will look.

To be honest, how MinDef can help the Zuaves baffles me.  Who is the person (yes, I should know this!) with whom I can best discuss things?  The last thing I want to do is to go ahead unilaterally with some weird programme no-else else really wants.

I can tell you my intentions and how I operated, if it helps.  Here (https://talossa.proboards.com/thread/13728/hello-welcome-new-laltah-rexh) was my founding speech and here (https://talossa.proboards.com/thread/13747/zu-recruitment-open-apply?page=1) is the first recruitment thread, and here (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=17.0) is the Witt thread I was using on this Witt after we moved over here.  The Wikipedia page (http://wiki.talossa.com/Zu%C3%A1vs_da_l%27Altah%C3%A1l_Rexhit%C3%A1l) also has a lot of this info, plus the list of enlisted when I left office.  I was replaced by ESB, and the current Capitan is our Secretary of State, who has more than enough to do around here already.

What I think needs to happen is just for someone to directly write each of the people enlisted, letting them know where to submit their achievements, and begin visibly awarding promotions and recruiting once more.  Obviously, not a lot will happen immediately, since it's a system based around rewarding activity.  But think of it like a big wind -- not enough to lift anyone into the air, but enough to give each set of wings a boost towards the sky whenever someone gives a flutter.

All of that aside, I have to say that I think this speech is a little misplaced.  I mean, it's interesting to hear this story in a new way, but I don't think this discussion was going quite so badly that it needed a rescue squad to change the subject.  I know the routine -- she gets to ditch the embarrassing bits and just reply to you with something personally insulting to me.  It's not great.  We were discussing the actual election and the actual issues, and you really need to swoop in to try to stop that?

No one needs to wonder what I thought of the Republic: I'm on the record for many years.  I thought that it was very justified for you guys to leave, and it was really lousy to take the website and forum when you did so.  And I was an enthusiastic supporter of Reunision, both then and now.  Since my private emails were even leaked publicly, you actually know what I said in confidence about the Republic and those who reunited with the Kingdom!  No one has to guess what I thought, since I made speeches lauding Miestra, you, and others in detail to members of the RUMP.

Neither the past nor this conversation is so malleable as all that, GV.

Wow, I forgot more than I know.  I stand corrected AD, re the Zuaves, but stand firm in the roots of the Talossan divide and our role in it.  Both yours...and mine.  :-)

Upon coming to Talossa, you took to John's narrative as a duck takes to water.  This issue is still unresolved and is still at the very heart of why I think Miestra has had a beef with you for so long.  :-)

I mean, I heartily agree with this statement:

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on March 23, 2022, 09:17:10 PM
The new Talossan Renaissance keeps on building up steam!

But it totally flies in the face of this statement:

Quote from: TNC campaign email
something needs to change.  We can't afford another two years of this grim slog.

I suppose the truly shameless and dishonest would suggest "oh, all these people are coming back into action because they're being galvanised by the TNC election campaign! And they'll go away again if we're not elected!"

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on March 24, 2022, 04:14:35 PM
I mean, I heartily agree with this statement:

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on March 23, 2022, 09:17:10 PM
The new Talossan Renaissance keeps on building up steam!

But it totally flies in the face of this statement:

Quote from: TNC campaign email
something needs to change.  We can't afford another two years of this grim slog.

I suppose the truly shameless and dishonest would suggest "oh, all these people are coming back into action because they're being galvanised by the TNC election campaign! And they'll go away again if we're not elected!"

It is true that I'm a booster for the country, no matter who's in charge.  I'm always going to root for Talossa and urge people to join and do fun things, because I love it and I believe in it.

But it's kind of silly to pretend that suddenly everything is okay, or suddenly decide you guys actually did a good job.

Activity always picks up at election time.  It's been an ironclad rule of Talossa for decades: when it's time to vote, people remember to come visit and chat and do stuff.  It's great to see people like Antaglha and Afacat back here and active -- I'm glad to see them and glad when they get busy at doing Talossa.  But they've been gone since basically just during the last election.  There's nothing wrong with that, but it's part of a larger pattern in the country.

I mean, it was just last election when we went through this same thing, remember?  After a very quiet term and when immigration was at a dead stop, you decided that actually activity levels were very high and we didn't have any problems.  You said I was "gaslighting" about the problem.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on May 23, 2021, 08:27:41 PM
Our activity levels that are higher than at any time since the Free Democrats have been leading government, as shown by the huge turnout of parties in the election?

I thought you'd stopped this gaslighting about how Talossa sucks these days and no-one comes here any more

But of course, you were singing a different tune right before the campaign, when you were talking about "a crisis of activity."

And not long after the campaign, when you admitted that "the Government we lead has dropped the ball. Seriously, and collectively. We have failed to actively pursue most of our programme. The country is now in a serious crisis of activity, and it is possible that Talossa will die within 6 months if something doesn't change."

The only thing that seems to change your perception of a crisis of activity is... well, your re-election campaigns!  Just as soon as you're running for re-election, you suddenly realize our problems have all been solved and the country should be grateful.

But people are getting active again because it's election time and some folks are pouring their energy into trying to do things and encourage others.  It is just plain foolish to waste opportunities like this, when the tide rises and we can furl our sails.  If we return to another term of do-nothing and broken promises, then we risk losing our chance to set sail for better waters.  And who knows how many more chances we'll get?  Someday, if we don't change things, the tide may not be able to lift us off the rocks.

By the way, and I know this is just an oversight, but you completely forgot to get into any of that red-and-green tape that tied your party's hands this past term.