Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on September 24, 2020, 08:15:40 PM
I humbly suggest GV for Regent, or failing that, myself, just for the heart attacks it would cause :D

The first-ever Regent was JJ in 2001.  I believe it was because of the trip Ben & Amy made to Europe which happened at the same time as 9-11.

Quote from: NRB on September 25, 2020, 10:26:48 AM
isn't there like a hand of the king or some shit

Nope!  haha

May I congratulate S:reu Istefan Perþonest  on the unique honor of being nominated to the Uppermost Cort. To be considered worthy of a functionally lifetime appointment to the highest judicial body of our nation is by itself humbling. I would like to acknowledge and compliment his contributions to the nation of Talossa over the many years, and I wish him well on his nomination.

As Mençei, I would like to see continue the importance and prestige of the Senate through the political process. As such, I believe, it is incumbent on this body to carry on the very novel but still monumentally crucial tradition of scrutiny of judicial nominees,  no less in the form of a public hearing.

This hearing by the Senate will be conducted in a similar - albeit slightly modified - manner as the previous one done just some months ago in January. For example, we will be using a Special Committee rather than a Committee of the Whole. I have enumerated below the actual rules, and I intend that the hearing will commence in earnest not later than Monday 12 October 2020.

I invite cordially that fellow Members of this House make their communications here in this Committee exclusively in place of any other medium, if not to each other then at least to me.

Any other Citizen of Talossa may speak here without qualification, provided that they first seek and receive confirmation of that privilege from myself or the Deputy Mençei. For this purpose, a PM is preferred.

To my esteemed colleagues of this right honorable House, greetings:

Having received of Istefan Perþonest

a nomination of S:reu Alexandreu Davinescu
to the Uppermost Cort of the Kingdom of Talossa;

and,

Seeing the necessity of a hearing on the matter,
In respect of our traditions,
By veneration for our Duties to this Nation, and
For the purpose to see due process and undertake just scrutiny;

I, as our Mençei, do hereby convene

a Special Committee
to consider and report upon the qualifications of the Nominee.


Rules of this Special Committee [REVISED per my post to that effect found later on in this thread.  You will know it when you see it. - GV]:

1. The Members of the Committee shall be exclusively the duly elected and seated Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Talossa. None else shall have equal privileges.

2. The business of the Committee shall not preclude the Senate from conducting its normal business.

3. The Mençei shall be the Chairman of the Committee, and the Deputy Mençei the Deputy Chairman, who shall have plenary and conclusive powers upon and during all its business.

4. The sole purpose of the Committee is to realize a public hearing of the nomination of S:reuIstefan Perþonest  to the Uppermost Cort of the Kingdom of Talossa, and its powers shall extend not beyond the scope or the bona fide interests thereof.

5. The sole goal of the hearing of the Committee is to scrutinize the qualifications of the nominee and ascertain his ability or fitness to service as a Puisne Justice of the Uppermost Cort. The Committee shall report its findings on those matters to both the entire Senate and the public of Talossa at large.

6. The Committee may elect in its ultimate report whether to endorse for or to endorse against the nomination, but it shall be not requisite or binding. The Committee shall be adjourned sine die upon the deliverance of its report to the Mençei or Deputy Mençei.

7. A Quorum shall be unnecessary, but the power to make finals decisions with respect to the Committee or its business shall be reserved to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

8. The Chairman or Deputy Chairman shall publish and maintain a schedule for the hearing, which shall control the sequence, time, and privileges of speeches. The schedule shall be impermanent and respond accordingly to ongoing circumstances.

9. Any Member of the Committee or non-Member who may wish to speak during the hearing shall make a request for it to this Wittenberg thread at least two (2) days in advance to the Chairman or Deputy Chairman, who shall approve, modify, or deny the request publicly on this Wittenberg thread.

10. Members of the Committee shall have precedence in all manners over non-Members with regard to the sequence, time, and privileges of their speeches. Each Member shall have no less than one equal opportunity to speak with regard to other Members.

11. Speeches shall be germane, and shall be inquisitive of and directed to the nominee. Questions shall be asked of the nominee and answers provided by him, and the dialogue between the nominee and the speaker shall remain courteous.

12. A Member of the Committee may invite guests to use up some or all of a scheduled speech, but sufficient notice thereof shall be given in advance to the Chairman or Deputy Chairman. Guest speakers shall respect this privilege, which may be denied by the Chairman or Deputy Chairman in whichever manner they find proper.

13. The Committee shall begin its business immediately, but the first scheduled speech of the hearing shall occur not sooner than Monday 12 October 2020.

14. The first speech of the hearing shall be reserved to the nominee himself, unless he reject this privilege knowingly and willfully, so that he may make his own introduction. The Chairman or Deputy Chairman may invite that the nominee make the final speech.

15. The Committee shall finish its business and submit its report to the Senate and the public of Talossa at least before if not sooner than Thursday 29 October 2020 235959 Talossan time.

Thank you all very much!

GV, Mençei

I would use a Lüc-clone if I could, but any of you will do.  Who would like to be our secretary to keep your presiding officer (me) on-point?  Many thanks in advance!

Thanks, all, for your confidence in me being our presiding officer for a second time.  Having been made such the last time was odd, and I did not think I would have the post again.

In the next few days, I will get an Senäts Order Paper together for the October 2020 Clark.

GV, Mençéi

Copy/pasted from his memberpage:


Date Registered:
    Witt XIV 06 December 2019, 17:48:56
Local Time:
    Witt XIV 24 September 2020, 20:06:28
Last Active:
    Witt XIV 01 August 2020, 17:58:21

John, we know you are in good health, and we hope there is not a personal / family issue keeping you from being able to do your job as monarch.

If you are unable to do your job as King right now, appoint a regent.  A simple email or witt post will suffice.

Many thanks!

GV, Senator-Fiôvâ

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on September 22, 2020, 05:24:09 PM

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on September 22, 2020, 05:09:37 PM
Benedict Stamford was an idiot and a charicature. I don't think people took him seriously at all.

I hate to break it to you, but being abused and insulted by an idiot and a caricature happens to me quite often in Talossa and in other places, and it still hurts, badly. Just making sure that - even in your version of history where ESB was mainly motivated to help my party win - you don't think I was "in on it", or approved of it.

I vouch for Miestra here.  None of us had any clue as to just how ephemeral a number of our voters really were.  As for ESB himself, everyone can vouch for his good behavior since making his return to Talossa. 

And ESB did something a number of other 'villans' from Talossan history failed to do: he came clean with his mistakes and offenses and turned over a new leaf.  Both this point and his prior mistakes should be a part of any objective written history of Talossa.  I am glad he is with us now, and I have no problems doing Talossa with him.

Quote
It wouldn't be that hard to have a revolution in Talossa, and would mostly revolve around internet security issues.  Seize the domain name and associated properties and you'd basically be done.  Someone tried to do that once before (2009 or 2010, I think) and got caught because he was bad at it, but we've mostly gotten lucky.

Been there.  Done that.  ;-)

Quote from: Açafat del Val on September 17, 2020, 10:52:23 AM
For the sake of clarity: this appointment shall coincide with the resignation of the incumbent Scribe, S:reu Gödafrïeu Válcadác'h, who has indicated a desire to resign. His resignation shall take effect upon the installation of his successor.

It has been an honor to serve as Scribe this past three years and for the second time overall.  I had a brief stint ca. 2002 between two more permanent Scribes.  I am glad to hand things off to another, and I look forward to exciting things from Txec!

GV, Scribe (for a little bit longer)

https://wiki.talossa.com/Law:The_Diplomacy_With_Penguinea_Act is the closest thing I could find by way of a Wiki search for 'Penguinea'. 

Quote from: Dr. Txec Róibeard dal Nordselvă, Esq., O.SPM, SMM on August 31, 2020, 09:31:16 AM
It certainly has been a bit quieter except for one or two small kerfuffles here and there. Clark Zero starts tomorrow and I'm ironing out the kinks with MPF so it runs smooth. Of course, being the first time this has happened I'm sure it won't be completely snag free but fingers crossed!

I keep wanting to read it as 'Coke Zero'.

Quote from: Sir Alexandreu Davinescu on June 18, 2020, 06:25:07 PM

Quote from: Eiric S. Bornatfiglheu on June 18, 2020, 07:36:06 AM

4.)  Whoa-Boy, the Infrastructure- Sleek websites and forums are very nice.  But they're also a huge pain in the tuckus.  Talossa will always be beholden to its nerds to keep things running, but I often think back to the geocities era of micronationalism and wonder if there wasn't something to the "quick and dirty" method of hanging out your shingle.  From what I've gathered, maintaining this stuff has been a thankless job.  This can be extended to a lot of stuff handled by the overall civil service.  You hear from the requisite minister when you miss a deadline, but not otherwise.  Do we have too much STUFF?

I agree.  This is one reason why I think the wiki is the best platform for most of our records and the like.  It's transparent, keeps records innately, it's very easy to understand and edit, and it operates based on very widely-used software.  The database is kicking up errors and has things that just can't be fixed without its specialist designer.  It's very impressive and cool, but it's also made us wholly dependent on MPF for most things to do with it.  That's just the way it is, and it's not a problem now, but it might be in the future.  Plans should be made for a future time when the database breaks and MPF is unable to help.

I came to enjoy using the Wiki.  It will continue to be ubiquitous, and I continually make backups with the functionality Lüc set up.  (I'll get everyone the link tomorrow.)

Our dependence on MPF is a real Achilles' heel (and yes, I periodically back up the Database), even as dependable as he has been.

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on September 12, 2020, 06:21:17 PM

Quote from: GV on September 12, 2020, 05:47:10 PM
More than any other political party in the past five-to-ten years, the Free Democrats are actually doing something.  We have revolutionized governance and put into action an agenda for the future.  For more information: https://freedemstalossa.wordpress.com/

That's mostly just empty phrasing. Last ten years? I doubt it. A lot of things happened 5-10 years ago, the creation of the wiki, creation of Talossa.com codifying of our law. More recently? Probably true, but then there many large or active parties left these days.

True, a lot of energy has been spent on legislation and institutional reforms, but how much of that has translated into actual activity? (Other than the efforts made to implement it all, often by people outside the FreeDems, and to fix the various holes and problems already arising from flawed bills that were passed with not enough discussion).

Fair enough, actually, especially as my period of real inactivity was...2009 to sometime in 2011.

Quote from: Sir Alexandreu Davinescu on September 12, 2020, 03:20:39 PM
Unfortunately, while it used to be an option to start participating in national politics in a substantive way, currently you have to wait for party leadership to put you on their list for next election. </quote>

Huh?  Anyone could start a one-man party straightaway. 

<quote>But if you're interested in that sort of thing, I think you should jump right in in your new province. </quote>

Or even on a national level.  The Free Democrats are happily recruiting.  ;-)

<quote>I'm not currently sure whether or not you can get a seat in the assembly, but if you can't, then I will work on changing a lot so that you can! and you can still join a political party if you're so inclined on the national level. There are currently three active ones, although I will let the various politicians who represent them speak for themselves.

Beyond that, there is I think only one media organization currently in existence, a news magazine published by Ian P. You can read some of those back issues and even write for it yourself, since he's very glad to print submissions.

I believe there is only one member of the College of Arms these days, but if you wanted to request a coat of arms for yourself, that's also still an option and something interesting a lot of new citizens like to do.

There has previously been a branch of the military devoted to cultural service that could have guided you, but it is not active right now. That might change soon though, hopefully.

There is also the national wiki, where you can request an account and start contributing. If you're not sure about how to edit a wiki, there is a tutorial that I made available specific to our own.

More than any other political party in the past five-to-ten years, the Free Democrats are actually doing something.  We have revolutionized governance and put into action an agenda for the future.  For more information: https://freedemstalossa.wordpress.com/

I would be glad to talk to you about it.  Direct-message me.

Alexandreu, you paint a picture of a Kingdom in which no-one does anything.  I beg to differ. 

Perhaps if you got to it and started things up in regard to the language again, you could get things revved up, here, if things are as moribound as you think they are.

I accept the nomination.  :-)

I'll nominate myself in a bit.