See, I'm not the one who should be embarassed, because you know there is no magic lever that the Government could pull to turn more prospectives into citizens. To hope that you can win an election by making people believe there is, and you're going to pull it, is pretty dishonest.

@Baron Alexandreu Davinescu @Dr. Pôl dal Nordselvă @þerxh Sant-Enogat for your attention

@Baron Alexandreu Davinescu @Dr. Pôl dal Nordselvă @þerxh Sant-Enogat for your attention

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC on June 26, 2025, 05:00:08 PMI seem to recall a past conversation in which he told me that he prides himself on never, ever backing down on anything.

Ah, I've found the reference. His precise words were "a zero-tolerance approach to threats and intimidation", and I'll admit that my memory made that sound worse than it actually was.

But in looking that up, the context was the breakdown of the 57th Cosa coalition, and in this text, Brenéir was stating that he couldn't rejoin the coalition with Txoteu Davinescu "without (Txoteu) acknowledging what he had actually done which would be the core of a restorative apology."

Let's repeat that for emphasis

Quotewithout acknowledging what he had actually done which would be the core of a restorative apology.

G'day from across the ditch, mate. Kei Tāmaki Makaurau ahau e noho ana. Up the Wahs and up the Port :D

More seriously, when I was first involved in micronationalism lo these many years ago there was a chocolate-themed micronation based in NSW/ACT, if I remember right, with whose citizens I became great friends. Honestly, micronationalism is a young person's game and I don't know why I'm still doing it, sometimes - but in the absence of trustworthy written history, personal continuity is the main thing that prevents a micronation crumbling up in the wind like so much other internet ephemera.

Our Foreign Minister has tried to explain to us something about the Austenasia coup but I couldn't make head or tail of it, so I back the King in inviting you to explain!

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on June 26, 2025, 01:19:08 PMWe are sorry you had to go through that. I am hopeful that this resolution will pass with wide support, to show you that we are not going to allow this kind of behavior. It's clear that Breneir won't stop unless we make him stop.

100% agreed. The big problem is - as is apparent by this very thread - that I don't think this SotZ will make Breneir stop. He seems impervious to shame, and I seem to recall a past conversation in which he told me that he prides himself on never, ever backing down on anything.

Can we move this to CRL @Sir Lüc ?

Can we CRL this @Sir Lüc ?

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on June 24, 2025, 07:11:08 PMIt is possible to think something is a good idea even if you don't think you're likely to benefit from it in the near future.

I mean, you have to decide whether your argument is one for legislative quality; or a "philosophical conservative" argument that anything which stops the majority passing legislation is a good one. And you just can't argue with the latter.

If the former, then there is an excellent case the House of Review option, in that currently, a bill shot down by the Senäts is finished for the rest of the term. I think it would be excellent for legislative quality for such a bill to be able to be re-presented by the Cosa, after sober second thought with amendments or otherwise.

THEY PROVED ME RIGHT
THEY PROVED ME WRONG
BUT THEY COULD NEVER LAST THIS LONG


Not bad for the first person actually rejected for Talossan citizenship. 

You can do a lot of that stuff from opposition, you know

To which Government Ministry should the Director of STUFF be responsible under El Lexhatx C.2?

Quote from: xpb on June 24, 2025, 11:59:50 AMI support keeping the Senate with powers that exist today.  Perhaps the notable efforts being made in this activity could be redirected to other issues.

Do you like the set of super-legislators overwhelmingly dominated by one party which can trash anything your party puts forward, despite majority opinion, because you think one day you'll get that majority?

WHEREAS there is a long and venerable tradition of applicants for Talossan citizenship being required to produce an essay along the lines of "What Talossa Means To Me", for fellow citizens to judge their character and bona fides;

AND WHEREAS recent advances in Large Language Model technologies such as ChatGPT now allow essays to be "autogenerated", without any thought on the part of the applicant;

AND WHEREAS, while even AI-generated essays may be informative, the current provision that requires an essay to be written as a form of "gatekeeping" is therefore no longer useful;

AND WHEREAS if applicants decide to post essays (even AI-generated) on Wittenberg after their application has been successful, it will be a better test of their real interest in becoming Talossan;

AND WHEREAS a more useful means to weeding out "spam" applicants will be requiring applications to be made in one of our national languages, and perhaps a very brief multiple-choice test on basic Talossan facts on the application form;

AND WHEREAS the requirement that the Immigration Minister sign off on prospectives' cultural competence has never been used, and it should be citizens which make that determination

BE IT ENACTED by the King, Cosa and Senäts of Talossa in Ziu assembled as follows:

1. El Lexhatx E.2, which currently reads:

Quote2.1 The Minister of Immigration shall ascertain to his own satisfaction, through correspondence or conversation, that the prospective immigrant is a real human being with genuine interest in becoming a citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa. The Minister shall be free to inquire of the applicant on any and every subject, and shall be required to collect the legal name or name used in daily life, postal address (optional if the applicant is under 18 years of age, except for information needed to assign the applicant to a province), telephone number, and e-mail address(es) of the candidate, which information the Minister shall communicate to the Secretary of State. The applicant shall affirm or swear, under penalty of perjury and under the provisions of Lexh.A.16.1., that this information is accurate, and shall provide documentary evidence of the same if the Minister thinks it appropriate.

    2.2 Additionally, the Immigration Minister shall be required to collect an essay, written by the applicant, entitled "Why I am Interested in Becoming a Talossan." If the Immigration Minister considers that this essay misunderstands the nature of Talossa or the rights and duties of Talossan citizenship, or gives insufficient information to enable citizens to ask meaningful questions of the prospective, they may require the applicant to submit a rewritten essay before proceeding to the next stage. When doing so, the Immigration Minister shall provide the applicant with sufficient information to do so successfully, or indicate where to find such information.

    2.3 The Immigration Minister shall also allow every applicant to indicate, whether in the essay described elsewhere in this section or otherwise, what part or parts of Talossan life are the Special Interests of the applicant. These may include Politics, Language, Culture, Heraldry, or any other categories as the Minister may see fit or that may be suggested by the applicant.

    2.4 The Immigration Minister shall make a monthly report to the Ziu reporting the number of immigration applications received in that month which did not proceed because failing to fulfil the requirements of this section. For each failed application the Minister shall note which part or part of the requirements of this section were lacking in the application

shall be amended to read:

Quote2.1 The Minister of Immigration shall ascertain to their own satisfaction, through correspondence, conversation, or a simple test of basic knowledge about Talossa, that the prospective immigrant is a real human being with genuine interest in becoming a citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa. The Minister shall be free to inquire of the applicant on any and every subject, and shall be required to collect the legal name or name used in daily life, postal address (optional if the applicant is under 18 years of age, except for information needed to assign the applicant to a province), telephone number, and e-mail address(es) of the candidate, which information the Minister shall communicate to the Secretary of State. The applicant shall affirm or swear, under penalty of perjury and under the provisions of Lexh.A.16.1., that this information is accurate, and shall provide documentary evidence of the same if the Minister thinks it appropriate.

2.2. All Immigration applications shall be written in one of the official languages of the Kingdom

2.3 The Immigration Minister shall also allow every applicant to indicate what part or parts of Talossan life are the Special Interests of the applicant. These may include Politics, Language, Culture, Heraldry, or any other categories as the Minister may see fit or that may be suggested by the applicant.

2.4 The Immigration Minister shall report, at least monthly, to the Ziu the number of any immigration applications received since the last report which did not proceed because failing to fulfil the requirements of this section. For each failed application the Minister shall note which part or part of the requirements of this section were lacking in the application.

2. El Lexhatx E.7, which currently reads:

Quote7. The Secretary of State shall, on a date of his choosing, but within a period of ten days after receiving a petition from at least two citizens, neither of whom shall be the Minister of Immigration or anyone to whom they have delegated their powers, to issue a Grant of Citizenship as described in clause 4, and upon certification from the Ministry of Immigration that the prospective citizen has sufficient understanding of Talossan life and culture for full participation determine the provincial assignment of the prospective immigrant and issue a Royal Grant of Citizenship to the immigrant. This Grant shall be issued under the Royal Seal, either as applied by the Chancery, or, should the Majesty request, by the Sovereign under his or her own hand. If requested by the Government, the Grant may also bear the signatures of the Seneschal and/or Immigration Minister. The Royal Grant shall be promptly issued coincident with the candidate affirming his fealty to the Royal House and his allegiance to the Kingdom by taking any Oath of Talossan Citizenship specified by law. At the time this Royal Grant is issued, and from that point forward, the applicant shall be a full citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa. The fact of the issuance of this Grant shall be posted on Wittenberg by the Secretary of State, that the new citizen may be welcomed by his compatriots. Any and all objections raised to the immigration made after this Royal Grant will be moot.

shall be amended by deletion of the phrase "upon certification from the Ministry of Immigration that the prospective citizen has sufficient understanding of Talossan life and culture for full participation". Subsections 7.1 through 7.12 shall remain in their current form.

Uréu q'estadra så: Miestră Schivă (MC-AVANT)

WHEREAS the Túischac'h of the Cosa has requested amendments to the law on Terpelaziuns to enable him to more effectively moderate official questions to the Government, responses, supplementary questions, and to maintain decorum therein:

BE IT ENACTED by the King, Cosa and Senäts of Talossa in Ziu assembled that:

1. El Lexhatx H.1.2.3.2, which currently reads:

Quote1.2.3.2 Once the first (round of) supplementary question(s) have been answered, the floor shall be considered open to contributions from other Members of the Cosă and Senators. Any questions posed in this stage shall not be bound by any formal time constraints.

is hereby deleted in its entirety.

2. A new section to be added to El Lexhatx, numbered H.1.2.5, as follows:

Quote1.2.5. The presiding officer of the questioner's House shall enforce decorum in both Terpelaziuns and answers to Terpelaziuns. The presiding Officer may require questioners to rephrase Terpelaziuns, or Ministers or their substitutes to rephrase answers to Terpelaziuns, to maintain decorum. In cases of continued violations, the presiding Officer may instruct the questioner or the Minister or their substitute to withdraw or apologise for a statement or comment, and remove any such statement or comment from the record in the absence of such withdrawal or apology; or disallow any further supplementary questions and responses to the Terpelaziun at issue.

Uréu q'estadra så: Miestră Schivă (MC-AVANT)