I think this is the right number.  Do we have a GGS right now?  Do we have a GSU?

Okay, looks like it's just the two of us.

I want to say thank you to everyone who voted for me.  I last served as your senator in 2009, and it is an honour that you have trusted me once more.  I pledge to represent the interests of our province with the reverence and fervency that she so richly deserves.  If you need anything to do with anything, please make sure you ask me.  I might not be able to help you myself, but I'll probably know who can.

Progressives, there is a vote that will soon start.  Make suggestions on the proposal tonight on our private board, before it goes to a vote this week!

Wow, what an election!  With 41 votes, the Progressive Alliance will end up with an astonishing 87 seats in the Cosa, the largest party by a decent margin.  More than that, candidates affiliated with the Progressive Alliance won Senäts seats in every single contested election: Florencia, Maricopa, and Maritiimi-Maxhestic!  I think it's fair to say that the voters wanted to send a message!

We want to thank the citizens of Talossa for their confidence, and we promise we will vigorously represent our voters.  More than that, we promise we will try to advocate for all Talossans to "do Talossa" how they want to do it.

We will soon be entering into discussions with our members about how to assign seats, with other parties about the best way to form a Government, and with anyone interested in telling us what excites them about Talossa and how we can help them do it.

It's crazy how much of a difference firing a few people and hiring some goalkeepers made!

I have updated the wiki with the new honours.  Congratulations to the new additions to l'Urderi per la Naziun.  There are now eighteen active citizens who have been elevated in recognition of extraordinary service to the Talossan nation or culture.

Welcome back!

When I was elected as the party leader and Seneschal candidate of the Progressive Alliance, I felt a little nervous.  It's been a very long time since I was at the top of the ballot, and I often feel more comfortable as a workhorse: building things like Infoteca or the basics of TalossaWiki.  þerxh started a tiny new party and made it a powerhouse -- could I rise to the occasion and continue that?

We're in the final week of the election, and we don't know the results right now.  But I want to say that I think we're going to do well, and that ultimately it won't be because of me.  It will be because of our amazing team.  And whatever happens, I want to take a moment to thank them directly and publicly.  Win or lose, they deserve nothing but praise and respect.

@þerxh Sant-Enogat ,  @xpb , @Tric'hard Lenxheir , @Françal I. Lux , @mximo , and @Baroness Litz Cjantscheir, UrN-GC ... thank you so much.  Some of you come from very different political traditions, but all of you have contributed in some way to this election.  Thank you to those who have been campaigning for us and our vision of Talossa.  Thank you for your courage -- it's not easy to be part of the crew that refuses to "hit back!"  And thank you for your trust.

For a long time, I was one of the most progressive members of the most conservative party, which was always a weird place to be.  But it turns out to be perfect for the Progressive Alliance.  We're demanding important reforms to change the status quo, but we refuse to pave the way with the corpses of our institutions.  It turns out that both things are important.  And of course, our party culture is vital: volunteerism and positivity.  These are the things with which we will build Talossa's future.

And all of that comes from our extraordinary founder and our extraordinary member-leaders.  It comes from you guys.

Thank you, Progressives.  And let's move Talossa forward, together!

Nifty!  Thanks!

I'm not sure if you're going to get your battle -- as I said, I find it distasteful for the democratic vote to be overturned by the rules of politicians, but it hasn't actually happened.  We have a lot bigger fish to fry!

I will say, Most Honourable Seneschal, I'm afraid that you're just about at the top of any oligarchy, lol.  You've been Seneschal for way longer than anyone else in Talossan history, and it's not even close.  You're the only Talossan to break a thousand days in office in the last 25 years!

I'll be interested in seeing any proposed legislation that you write, though, and I hope that -- no matter what happens with the election -- that you'll remain an active and passionate Talossan.  Your vigor and ideas will always be an asset to our little country.

But any Progressive government would have different priorities.  We have a ton of plans, as you know, and we intend to follow through on our campaign promises to the people.  If we are fortunate enough to win the confidence of our citizens, we're going to focus on reforms aimed at transparency, good government, and moving Talossa forward into the modern age.

I'd be happy to discuss any of these things in more detail, or answer any other questions you might want to ask.

One thing that's hard for a lot of us who immigrated later (I immigrated 19 years ago, shortly after all of this happened) is that former king Robert I lied a fairly significant amount about conflicts, later.  I think he would bend the truth with such vigor that he'd eventually convince even himself.

For example, he used to tell people for years that the new citizens of 2005 who joined the CLP were illegal immigrants, saying that at the time it was the law that you were only allowed to immigrate if you were approved by the Seneschal and Opposition Leader.  That just wasn't true -- the law just said that they had to be consulted, and they were always notified.  The Cort decided as such after a lawsuit.  But that kind of got elided over time, until eventually by 2008, Ben was just flatly asserting the contrary.

There's nothing official to say, I don't think. In my experience, people usually switch to TDT at that time, even if they still call it TST, because it's more convenient.

Also I vaguely recall that someone had some personal animus against daylight savings time?

I don't think they need to be abolished, but I do think the restrictions on people holding seats and party lists are perhaps too strenuous.  If the Progressive Alliance had gotten a larger vote share or had more people in the Senats last term, we'd maybe have not been able to hold our seats.  I am skeptical of rules that over-rule the will of the people when it comes to new or smaller parties.  However, it's near the end of my priority list, and I'm more in the "let's take a close look at this" phase.  At a certain point it makes sense to note that it's never actually subverted the democratic vote of the people, even if it threatened to do so in the past.

Speaking for myself, here's what I think:

Our first priority should be passing the new Public Process Act, since it's really important as a question of civil liberties.  We should not permit the government to have a secret veto over who even gets to apply to immigrate.  I think we'll get broad support for it this time, including significant support from the URL and from other parties.

Our second priority should be issues of good governance.  We'd like to fix the merchandise store so people can buy Talossa-themed goods again, fix the broken links on the website and give it a refresh, and work on some basic infrastructure things.  Some of these tasks will take a short time -- a half hour or so -- and others will be a significant task.

Our third priority should be looking at the immigration process and how we can optimize it.  What should our targets be for a monthly average, or do we think it's inevitably stochastic and we need to rethink it?  How can we meet people where they are with the short-form videos that have been such unexpected boons?  I expect to take a personal hand in this.

Other things that we can reasonably get done in a term include investigating past applications, giving positive regular speeches so that the government doesn't end up seeming like a joyless scold, exploring some new sources of funding, and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting.  And we should look at how our effort is expended.  How many people read L'Chronica, for example, if we total up pageviews on the site and email readers?  Something to think about.

Realistically, other things are likely to crop up.  But with strong and inspirational leadership, I expect we can rise to meet the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Right, but it says Central Standard Time.  Which is not incorrect, since that's the same as TST.  I just thought it would be neat if it referred to TST instead.

If it's a hassle or it doesn't look right, then don't worry about it.  It's truly not at all a big deal, but just something I thought might be cool.

I wonder if the database could give the time in TST, and then clarify with GMT and our detected time zones?  Is that a bad idea?

Well, when I set up the merchandise, I found that we could basically just order based off the design of the Sac and Fox Nation flag.  So you could just buy one of those.

We have a store for merchandise - we get a percentage when it's used. Unfortunately, I'm not sure any of the products are still available.

https://talossaware.printify.me/

You can probably find a similar flag somewhere else.

PROG 99
URL 65
IDT 12
GREEN 12
IND GREEN 12

I claim a seat.