Estimat Túischac'h, I rise to deliver a Terpelaziun to the Minister of Technology, as authorised by El Lexhatx H.2.

Given the Minister's comments elsewhere on Wittenberg that he does not see his role as a political one, can I ask for:

a) an explanation of who in Cabinet sets the political priorities for the Ministry of Technology, i.e. who decides what is to be done, rather than how it will be done?

b) a description of the working relationship between the Minister and the Permanent Secretary of Backend Admin? I am aware that the Minister and the PermSec get on well and there's no friction: what I am asking for is how responsibility for 'doing the work' is shared between the two, or whether there is a duplication of roles.

Grült méirci.

Estimat Túischac'h, I rise once more to deliver a Terpelaziun to the Minister of Immigration, as authorised by El Lexhatx H.2.

My question relates to the current law on provincial assignments, El Lexhatx E.7, and recent debates in the Hopper on possible reforms. I am asking for the Immigration Minister's opinion:

1) in particular: about how to remedy the anomalous place of Mexico in our provincial assignments.
2) what he thinks about our current system of provincial assignment overall, given that it seems to have led to the underpopulation of Vuode among other inconsistencies and unbalances.

Estimat Túischac'h, I rise to deliver another Terpelaziun to the Minister of STUFF, as authorised by El Lexhatx H.2. Apologies for the pile-on, nothing personal!

My question relates to the new Government's intentions for issuing ID cards. Can the Minister confirm for me:

a) whether the Government's policy is to issue Talossan ID cards to any citizens who requests them, and therefore to abolish the Civics Test, as I believe they announced pre-election?
b) in light of the answer to a), what the intention of the Distáin was when he approached me this week for the list of questions for the Civics Test?
c) what the Finance Minister meant by his somewhat threatening-sounding mention in the Financial Report of "Once state assets are recovered from private hands and the ID program can continue..."?

Grült méirci à toct.

Estimat Túischac'h, I rise to deliver a Terpelaziun to the Minister of STUFF, as authorised by El Lexhatx H.2.

My question relates to the new Government's use of social media. Can the Minister please inform me:
a) who, precisely, that is, which individual, is updating Talossa's social media account?
b) whether the Seneschál was accurate when he recently said on Discord that "several dozen posts" have already been scheduled "over the next three to four months [at] a rate of about two or so a week"?
c) given that I follow Twitter regularly but only read Facebook when I have to, does this apply to all our social media accounts?
d) exactly what the Government aims to achieve through this near-"spam" level of postings, apart from getting annoyed citizens to unsubscribe?
e) because I know the Government loves KPIs, what will be the KPIs for success on whatever (d) turns out to be?

Grült méirci à toct.

test

WHEREAS potential Dandelions should have the right, if their parents/guardians and the Kingdom agree, to participate in Talossan cultural life on a limited basis to see whether citizenship appeals to them;

El Lexhatx E.13, including subsections 13.1-3, to be replaced by the following text:

QuoteAny child or ward of a Talossan citizen under the age of 14 years may be registered by their Talossan parent or guardian as a "Dandelion-In-Waiting" or Implind, by application to the Secretary of State. To assist them in their future decision as to whether to become Talossan citizens, Implinds may avail themselves of the rights and privileges of prospective citizens, subject to any limits agreed by their Talossan parent or guardian and the Secretary of State.

Estimadas es estimats MCs: I intended at this point to be calling for the election of a Túischac'h, as required by OrgLaw IV.12. However, the procedure for electing a Túischac'h - as previously provided in El Lexhatx - was deleted, by accident. A stuff-up which I take partial responsibility for, because I honestly didn't read that the procedure for electing the Túischac'h was in the part of El Lexh I wanted deleted.

Since we have to elect a Túischac'h anyway, does anyone mind if we use the previous method? I understand that maybe the incoming Cosa majority might have different ideas of how to do it, but I thought it worked well.

QuoteThe Cosa shall elect the Túischac'h as follows. (54RZ21) repealing both (50PD01) (52RZ3)

17.1. At any time between the Election Deadline and the following Dissolution of the Cosa, any Member of the Cosa shall be empowered to publish and open for signatures a petition nominating an eligible person for the office of Túischac'h. (54RZ21) repealing both (50PD01) (52RZ3)
17.2. Once a petition is published, any eligible Member of the Cosa shall be empowered to second the nomination by countersigning the petition in public. (54RZ21) repealing both (50PD01) (52RZ3)
17.3. Members may not second multiple nominations concurrently; if a Member wishes to support a different petition, he/she shall first publicly retract the earlier countersignature. (54RZ21) repealing both (50PD01) (52RZ3)
17.4. Following any number of petitions, presented as above and supporting the same candidate, being signed or counter-signed by members currently representing an absolute majority of seats in the Cosa, the candidate named in the petition(s) shall be declared by the Secretary of State to be the Túischac'h. (54RZ21) repealing both (50PD01) (52RZ3)
17.5. Petitions may not be carried over from one vacancy in the office of Seneschal to Túischac'h. Once a Túischac'h is elected as above, all petitions shall be made moot. (54RZ21) repealing both (50PD01) (52RZ3)

Q'en-pensetz-voi?

Elefen – "lingua franca nova" o "lfn" – es un lingua simple, desiniada per comunica internasional. Sua vocabulo es fundida en catalan, espaniol, franses, italian e portuges. La gramatica es multe reduida, simil a la creoles romanica. La lingua es speleda como lo sona, usante 22 leteras de la alfabeta latina. Aprende lo e deveni un elefeniste!

WHEREAS we just had a delay of 3 months to adopt a new member;

AND WHEREAS the way that SIGN's rules are currently written, ár Società may well grind to a total halt if enough members become inactive;

I propose Rule 3 of SIGN be amended by the addition of the text in bold:

QuoteRule 3 Anyone who is interested can ask to join SIGN. If a majority of members support this, or if at least one positive vote and no contrary votes are received from any member within 2 months, the applicant becomes a full member. If the applicant was a member of the Comità per l'Útzil del Glheþ as of Llimbaziuă 2019/XL, the voting is skipped and they become a full member immediately.

The SoS may well be taking a well deserved break right now, but as far as I can tell, we'll be voting in referendums on 2 OrgLaw amendments next month, right?

• 57RZ19, The Seneschal Selection and Re-Selection Amendment
• 57RZ27, The Dandelions Start at Fourteen Amendment

Felică 44-laiset Ziuă dàl Indepenciă a toct i va cüncitaxhiens; es, ben sigur, feliceu Natal a toct qi o celebratent.

The leadership of the Free Democrats of Talossa are taking a well-deserved break at the moment. So I'm filling the gap, lest the Talossan information space this holiday be filled (like all other spaces seem to be at the moment) by the TNC leadership. I want to run through a brief series of observations and arguments relevant to the central theme around which the Free Democrats will be running in next month's election: that is, The King Must Go.

It is necessary, as always, to preface these arguments with a declaration that this is not intended as a personal attack. I've always admired John Woolley, in particular for his role in finally ending King Robert I's autocratic and cultish rule. I encourage all to read my interview with him in Qator Itrìns of October 2005. Brings back fond memories.

But - whether you are a die-hard Republican or a Monarchist stickler - he should not be King any more. Here are the basic reasons which the Free Democrats want you to consider.

• He is only intermittently active. The King of Talossa should be a continuous presence in the Kingdom, as an inspiration to culture and a figurehead of unity for our national community.
• He only exercises his constitutional functions rarely, and scarcely ever in a prompt fashion, after much prodding.
• He is far too closely identified with one political party. A vicious circle of corruption has emerged between the King and the leadership of the TNC, just as it existed with the old RUMP party. The TNC flatters the King and makes political arguments for his panoply of Royal powers - and in return, the King uses those powers to benefit the TNC's agenda, and even worse, to bestow honours and favours on the TNC leadership.

This last is in particular a reason why the King should not be permitted a free hand in choosing his successor. Because - isn't it obvious? - his successor will be the same person as he appointed Regent when he absented himself from Talossa altogether during the 56th Cosă. And for the same reason as the King explicitly gave at the time - because Sir A. Davinescù (as he was at the time) was a devoted defender of the existing status and power of the Monarchy. And now he's a Baron, for "keeping the seat warm" while he was away.

Perhaps many newer citizens might not remember that - that following the election where the Free Democrats got a memorable 99 seats in the Cosă, and the hereditary monarchy was abolished, the King simply walked away from Talossa until the next election, and gave his powers to the biggest supporter of the Monarchy while he was gone. It was a pretty obvious sulk, or "ragequit" as the kids these days say. And there wasn't much we could do about it.

For all Talossans who think that having a King is an important part of Talossan life, we need a better King than this one. We have learned our lesson from the last time we attempted constitutional reform - it's too easy to get bogged down in the precise details of how things should change. Instead, let's learn from how we abolished the hereditary succession - the Free Democrats will introduce a simple amendment to OrgLaw II.3 proclaiming that "The Throne is currently vacant." At that stage, the Uppermost Cort will become a Council of Regency, and we can all discuss how the Throne might be filled.

We can avoid this unpleasantness if the King agrees to abdicate of his own free will during term of the next Cosă, and to discuss with the incoming Ziu majority to form a consensus on his successor. The Free Democrats are putting our cards on the table now, and centring the demand of The King Must Go in this election campaign. John Woolley must be given a decent and honourable retirement - or a chance to serve Talossa in other ways, in culture or even on the Uppermost Cort.

Questions? Comments?

What is the procedure for responding to things put on opponent parties' boards?

The live issue is that I want to respond to the TNC's programme for "Open Government", which I would categorise in four words as "bureaucracy and pointless busywork". But I'm not just going to barge into the TNC's house and start throwing things. Similarly, we would like to hear a TNC response to our own post re: The King Must Go!, but maybe they're being similarly polite.

So the options are:
a) engage on opponent parties' boards, but be polite (because of course they wield the banhammer);
b) put any replies on Witt public boards?

In accordance with the Constitution of Fiova s.3 and Standing Orders of the General Assembly s.7, I am very pleased to nominate myself to succeed Gödafrieu Valcádac'h as Túischac'h (president or chair of the General Assembly) of the Free Province of Fiova, in charge of organising votes.

You have seven days to vote PER, CONTRA or AUSTÁNEU on this.

So currently Talossa's social media presence (such as it is) includes Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. All these social media outlets are problematic, for reasons of data privacy and/or being run by reactionary billionaire tyrants who can't be trusted.

So, should Talossa set up a presence on the open-source social media network Mastodon?

The interesting thing is that, given Mastodon's decentralised structure, we would be able to turn our Wordpress setup on talossa.com into a Mastodon "instance" (server).

The Tech PermSec assures me that all this is possible... if we can be bothered.

Comments? Questions?

The way the law is currently written, by the legal argument given by Dama Litz (which honestly I considered persuasive if not definitive), it's impossible to delay a Living Cosa held during the last Clark. Also, by the legal argument given by me, which I do consider definitive, there is nothing suggesting that a vote of the Cosa to hold an LC is legally binding

Also, looking at it, I think the bit about "special PDs" is unconstitutional. You can't add restrictions to the PD power which is granted by the OrgLaw. In any case, a properly worded PD could simply delete this part of the law, if the King went along with it!

So a few suggestions for amendments:
- require the Cosa vote to suggest one or more indicative times/places for the LC, just so the MCs can have a discussion on who might be available when;
- put the responsibility for organising in the hands of the Túischac'h, rather than the Seneschál;
- if no date in the specific month can get a quorum of 1/2 MCs, then the Túischac'h may delay to the next month; and the month after that, if necessary, up to dissolution;
- if the Túischac'h doesn't do so for whatever reason, a quorum of MCs can just declare a Living Cosa "over his head" and elect a new Túischac'h at the Living Cosa;
- make explicit the implication of H.1.1 that an LC can always be held as part of a State Opening of the Cosa during the First Clark without need for a vote to authorise
- delete the stuff about PDs

What do others think?

So El Lexhatx E.7, and in particular 7.4-7.11, needs to be reformed to fix the discrepancy of Mexico. Considering that KR1 himself wrote the basis of the current provincial assignments, and once wrote a manifesto entitled BLOW UP MEXICO SOON!, perhaps it's a psychologically symptomatic omission.

Are there any other amendments to provincial assignment law we'd like to make while we're at it?

(because the SoS excluded this from the current bill to be Clarked)

WHEREAS potential Dandelions should have the right, if their parents/guardians and the Kingdom agree, to participate in Talossan cultural life on a limited basis to see whether citizenship appeals to them;

El Lexhatx E.13 to be replaced by the following text:

QuoteAny child or ward of a Talossan citizen under the age of 14 years may be registered by their Talossan parent or guardian as a "Dandelion-In-Waiting" or Implind, by application to the Secretary of State. To assist them in their future decision as to whether to become Talossan citizens, Implinds may avail themselves of the rights and privileges of prospective citizens, subject to any limits agreed by their Talossan parent or guardian and the Secretary of State.

WHEREAS current Talossan law as embodied in Organic Law X.3 states that all children of Talossan citizens are themselves natural-born Talossan citizens from birth, known as Dandelions;

AND WHEREAS there is a problem whereby the parents of Dandelions renounce or lose their citizenships, and the Kingdom is unable to contact the Dandelions to determine whether they themselves are interested in continuing to be Talossan citizens;

AND WHEREAS there is a broader problem considering the involvement in Talossa of those under the age of 14 and their ability to consent to citizenship;

AND WHEREAS this Bill shall have no direct impact on the citizenship status of existing Dandelions, trapped or otherwise; but, by virtue of the removal of the El Lexhatx E.13.2, shall "strike out" naturally; and yet will, by virtue of this amendment, be able to recover their citizenship at any time they may choose to do so;

AND WHEREAS potential Dandelions should have the right, if their parents/guardians and the Kingdom agree, to participate in Talossan cultural life on a limited basis to see whether citizenship appeals to them;


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

1. Article X Section 3 of the Organic Law shall be amended to read as follows:

QuoteChildren born after 1 January 1989/X, one (or both) of whose biological or adoptive parents is a Talossan citizen at the time of the birth ("Dandelions") shall automatically be granted Talossan citizenship when they register themselves with the Secretary of State on or after their 14th birthday.

2. El Lexhatx E.13 and all its subsections shall be replaced in their entirety with the following text:

QuoteAny child or ward of a Talossan citizen under the age of 14 years may be registered by their Talossan parent or guardian as a "Dandelion-In-Waiting" or Implind, by application to the Secretary of State. To assist them in their future decision as to whether to become Talossan citizens, Implinds may avail themselves of the rights and privileges of prospective citizens, subject to any limits agreed by their Talossan parent or guardian and the Secretary of State.

Change OrgLaw X.3 to read:

QuoteChildren born after 1 January 1989/X, one (or both) of whose biological or adoptive parents is a Talossan citizen at the time of the birth ("Dandelions") shall automatically be granted Talossan citizenship when they register themselves with the Secretary of State on or after their 14th birthday.

... and delete El Lexhatx E.13.

25 years ago today, the Uppermost Cort of Talossa rejected my application for citizenship, on the instigation of King Robert I, who correctly intuited that I would be a political thorn in his side.

That led to sympathy renunciations; the creation of the Free Commonwealth of Penguinea; the descent of KR1 into paranoid quasi-fascist isolationism, whereby he tried to make it illegal for Talossans to even talk to Penguineans; and the febrile atmosphere whereby he ended up turning on former allies like Tamorán dal Navâ or Tomás Garicéir for being insufficiently hateful; leading to the National Schism, the foundation of the Republic, and the process that led towards the more-or-less-democratic more-or-less-constitutional monarchy we have today.

What can I say except, you're welcome  8)