The Senator from Florencia, the TNC leader, the person who posted this Joint Statement, has voted against 55RZ21.

I really look forward to those suggested amendments. Just "bumping" this to remind people - am keen to Clark in August.

Quote from: Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial on August 04, 2021, 04:02:30 PM
To my knowledge there's nothing in the books that says the King isn't allowed into the Ziu,

Surely no-one is allowed into the Cosa apart from members of the Cosa? And you have moderator power over this forum for this precise purpose?

Quote from: King John on August 04, 2021, 10:04:28 AM
The Distain said it.  "Silly and paranoid."  If she had any *actual* doubts about my existence (instead of this silliness she's trying to foist off on wavering MCs), she would have sent me a text message

When the King "disappeared without leave" in the last Cosa term, Senator Válcadác'h got the King's phone number from me so GV could do just that - perform a "welfare check". By GV's report, the King was very annoyed at being contacted by anyone from Talossa. Now he's very annoyed that we're not checking up on him all the time.

The King is obviously checking up on Talossa and can become active when anything affects him personally. The question of to what extent he's "delegating" those royal functions in which he's not interested to the unelected and unaccountable "Baron" is an open one....

Quote from: King John on August 04, 2021, 10:04:28 AM
Sure, I've accepted some help preparing various posts.

... or perhaps not that open. When one person prepares a document for another person to sign, we may wonder who, exactly, is speaking to us.

This is what the current Talossan monarchy means - the whole nation hinges on what one grumpy gentleman feels like doing on any given day, or what his "trusted advisor" is given licence to do for him.

I am very grateful by the implied licence given for, not only the Government, but for the whole country to contact His Majesty directly as and when necessary or helpful. But so much of the animus between the Monarchy and the current political majority could be put aside if His Majesty could answer two questions:

• Why did you go "absent without warning" during the 55th Cosa?
• Why did you appoint as Regent the person you knew would infuriate the political majority the most?

I believe I know the answer to both those questions: "sheer spite at the political majority, a Royal-sized political tantrum"; and that is why I believe the King's time is at an end. I really doubt that, should I have rung the Woolley household in the last year or so and asked those questions, I would have gotten a courteous and satisfying answer.

Estimat Túischac'h, the King just isn't allowed to bust in here like that, is he?

I will respond to him elsewhere.

Estimat Túischac'h, és ocså v'amici Membreux dal Cosa:

The argument over this bill, the Talossa Shall Choose Its King Act, has been done to death. There is very little to update you with from the statement that the Free Democrats of Talossa recently made outside the Chamber. In summary: if everyone votes as they say they were going to vote, I do not have much hope that this bill will pass with the requisite 2/3 of this Chamber.

However, let me take another tack. My Cabinet colleague, the Senator from Maritiimi-Maxhestic, has been heard to comment many times that many current critiques of the Talossan Monarchy are not directed at that entity itself, but at the behaviour of the current King. A King who was well-behaved, active, sensitive to public opinion and not blatantly politically partisan would face far less opposition. His Majesty has rightly said, in refusing assent to this Bill the first time it passed, that it is an instrument of abdication - although my other Cabinet colleague, the Senator from Fiova, has rightly said that it would not prevent His Majesty from reassuming the throne, if given a popular mandate.

I want to put it to my monarchist colleagues in this Chamber. The current King of Talossa has brought not only his own reign, but the institution of the monarchy itself, to the brink, through his own behaviour - in particular, his scandalous "absence without leave" in which he handed over the powers of the monarchy to one of the most divisive people in the country, someone who stinks in the nostrils of the political majority.

Now I just want to harp on this point for a moment. How do you, personally, know that the King ever came back?

This isn't as crazy as it seems. The former Regent let slip more than he intended when he stated that he's responsible for translating the King's proclamations into the national language. Why would that be necessary? His Majesty has long been one of the prominent Ladintschen of his Kingdom. Perusing the glheþ board on Old Wittenberg will show you that his Talossan is pretty good. Maybe better than mine. Definitely better, in fact, than the former Regent's.

Don't be silly, Miestra! you might say. Of course the King's back, he's posting on Wittenberg, isn't he? Funny thing, there. When the Government was taking control over talossa.com and the national domain names, the King handed his logins to the domain name registrar over to me to carry out the changeover. This was of course very convenient and everything got done quicker. But I remembered feeling at the time that something wasn't quite right with that. That it was extremely problematic from a security point of view.

I put it to you, members of the Cosa! If King John had simply handed his Wittenberg login to the former Regent, how would you know?

Of course, if His Majesty finds it within himself to appear on video delivering the Speech from the Throne, then these speculations will seem silly and paranoid. But the way that His Majesty has operated has - in my own opinion - made these speculations all too plausible. The way the current King operates shows how dangerous the Talossan monarchy is, if it falls into the hands of someone who only cares about preserving his own status and power - or if he passes it over, either openly or covertly, to an eminençă grischun, to do what he wants with it? Without any public accountability?

I can't honestly fathom how anyone thinks a Monarchy without public accountability for its decisions is a good thing. Dominance/submission lifestyles are cool between consenting adults, but I don't consent to this one.

Anyway, this bill is the best chance we have had for a long time to put the Talossan Monarchy under any kind of public accountability. A vote against this bill is saying - not that you have confidence in the current Talossan monarchy - but that you support the way the current King, to quote from the classics, fäts qet o volt, contra ben és contra tradiziun. I don't expect to get through to the romantic monarchists of the Balançéu party with this line of thought - but I implore all the rest of you to think. What would you do if you had good reason to think that the King is not actually acting as King, but has "handed over the keys" to someone else, in a manner which can't even be proven to be true or not, let alone held up to political accountability?

If this bill fails, you have at least six months more of never being able to be sure who is actually "driving" the Talossan monarchy. Think about that.

Grült meirçi për ascultar.

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on August 02, 2021, 11:42:40 PM
Apparently the Seneschal is on vacation and thus presumably unavailable

No, the Seneschál is available and enthusiastic for all his official duties re: the State Opening; he only delegated the legislative stuff to me.

The Seneschál is celebrating his new job by going on holiday, lol (so I suppose I have to take back my digs at the Balançéu leader, lol), so I will be speaking for the Free Democrats on these bills.

Terps really should be the responsibility of the Opposition parties to organise. There is a regrettable tradition in Talossan politics of the Opposition just not playing a role between elections - it's much easier to complain about the Government than to actually hold the Government to account through this constitutional measure.

Back in KR1's day, the main opposition parties had a notorious tendency to act as "do-nothing vote sponges" - collect anti-Government votes in the elections but not act as an opposition between times. I must say I was gobsmacked to hear the (presumptive) Leader of the Opposition saying that he had no idea of his role in the State Opening of the Ziu and was otherwise engaged. I would heartily encourage the Opposition Parties (including that party which joined and then deserted the Government for no adequately arranged reason) to get their act together, choose a leader who will actually hold my/our feet to the fire, and act like you want to be the Government next time.

Anyway, what was I saying? In other countries there's a weekly slot for Question Time in Parliament. Seeing as we're all in different time zones, we could declare (for example) Wednesday to be the day that Terps should be submitted, and that they should be answered the following Wednesday unless the Túischac'h/Mençéi (as applicable) gives leave otherwise.

Estimat Túischac'h! The Free Democrats wish to speak to both bills before the Chamber, I'm just sorting out with our party president who from our side will rise to give the speech.

Also, will there be a set Timp për Terpelaziuns/Question Time?

This is a Senäts vote, lol

Anyway, I am extremely upset that we have not had the State Opening of the Ziu before the First Clark went out. This is not the fault of the SoS, who is doing his job right; nor of the Seneschál, who's written the Speech from the Throne. But people say that the justification for the Talossan Monarchy rests on ceremonial stuff like this.

Yeah, but why, Brenéir. No satisfactory explanation has even been given about how you flipped from volunteering yourself for Cabinet positions to turning against us. It is actually personally hurtful to me, who had to do some fast talking to get the TNC involved in the coalition in the first place. I feel like I got kicked in the face and I don't even know why.

Objection. Under El Lexhatx H.23, the Opposition are those members of the Cosa who vote CONTRA on the VoC.

Of course there's an option for amendments in between, but then it would have to go back to the first chamber for those amendments to be approved.