Quote from: Iason Taiwos on July 03, 2026, 11:03:16 AMCornhole is immensely popular in my area. I guess because a cornhole set is cheap and the skill level required is good for all ages. I never expected to turn on the tv and see "Championship Cornhole", tho.

Up here in WI they just call it "bags", but it's pretty much the pastime when tailgating, hanging out in the backyard, etc. I'm alright, but I think I picked up table shuffleboard easier.

Quote from: Iason Taiwos on July 03, 2026, 04:49:22 PMI discovered hurling last year, and I've actually watched full games of it. I found it immensely enjoyable as a spectator. The rules were instantly easier to grasp, as compared to cricket. (The first time I watched a hurling match, I instantly wondered why it isn't more well known. I felt like that viral video of the black guy seeing a hockey match for the first time and saying "Why have y'all been hiding this from us the whole time? This shit is lit!"

One, I know exactly which hockey tweet you're referring to, lol, and two, hurling is a hell of a lot of fun to play. I was actually a member of northeastern Wisconsin's club for a season or two when I first moved here. Honestly probably the best shape I've ever been in, the running is good mandatory conditioning. Maybe I should get back into it...right after I get back into broomball, lol

Esqipă reviént!

Quote from: Iason Taiwos on July 02, 2026, 10:25:43 AM

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on July 02, 2026, 10:00:19 AMWow! That's super interesting. That would be the second Talossan sport, and it sounds like a pretty good one!

I did come up with another game not long after I became a Talossan, and thankfully no one remembers it. It was called "Lencularh" ("Lancerat" in English.) The gist of it was tossing a rope with a weight on the end into a series of stacked boxes to score points. I actually field tested that one and wrote out several pages of rules. The family members I coaxed into playing it seemed to enjoy it while we played, but it must have been fairly lame, because no one ever mentioned it again. (I know I posted about it on the old Witt.)

Take this with a grain of salt as I have never actually played this game, but having watched it several times, you may find the game of kubb fairly similar to what you were doing, just without the rope?

For my part, having recently been introduce to the tabletop version of shuffleboard, it's quite fun IMO, more so than bags/cornhole/etc.

If we're going to be sticking with Talossan-language titles (which we should) then if I may request of the good @Sir Lüc the Witt badge title of Tanaischteu. I find "Omnicanerie"'s meaning of "one who makes white noise" a bit demeaning to what is supposed to be an important office, if I'm honest...

Quote from: Sir Lüc on July 01, 2026, 05:38:47 AMI will grant this request, despite major doubts. I will post a full reasoning later - I worked at it for over two hours, including researching precedents, and I simply must move on now.

But in short - you can argue for either decision, depending on precedent and the extremely vague statutory provisions. I strongly object to the timeline of CRL review, because for a bill that was in the Hopper for a whole month, giving the CRL 1 day and 23 hours to review it is not an attempt at receiving a fair review. But, again, the law is so vague that time isn't a factor at all, and depending on how you look at precedent, one can easily argue that one positive review is enough for Clarking. (A dangerous precedent to set!)

I will therefore accept the bill for Clarking under something akin to Speaker Denison's Rule, ie, that when in doubt, one should allow for debate to continue, which in this instance means letting the bill on the Clark instead of "pocket vetoing" it by having it die in committee.

The law as written means that any instance when operation strays from a clean full approval from a full panel of reviewers is an opportunity for bad precedent and unintended consequences. This is one of those instances.

You have my apologies for putting you in an awkward spot; for what it's worth, had you declined this bill under Lexh.H.2.1.7.5, I would have understood completely, with no offence taken.

On the broader issue of the CRL's governing provisions being inadequate, however, I will say you and I are in full agreement. I still think the proposal you put forth last term was a good one; I know you wanted to rework it some, and  I'd be happy to help with that. Frankly, after the Avocat-Xheneral's abuse of the CRL's position in our legislative process earlier this term, I've been further convinced that the current model is ultimately unsustainable, so this is something we should look at fixing sooner rather than later.

At the beginning of this term, the incoming Government faced several crises of confidence stemming from its ill-considered deal with the monarchist fringe: first, a coalition deal that collapsed before it even had a chance to install a government, then a confidence and supply deal from which the junior partner briefly withdrew.

Enter the Agreement between the Government and the Union of Free Reformists. This agreement was a mutually-beneficial arrangement in which each side got something quite nice for very little cost at all:

• The Government, of course, was able to effectively ensure that their term of office would run its full length. On top of that, they were able to ensure that they would not be denied supply for the term.
• For our part, the URL secured the passage of the Pseudo-Real Cosă Act and the Broosking Swing Mitigation Amendment, two key pieces to start our Democracy Agenda. We were also able to put one of our party's principles into practice, namely that Talossa deserves a stable government as opposed to turmoil.

As we have now entered the sixth and final Clark of the 62nd Cosă, each party to the Agreement has attained their goals, and after confirming with the Seneschal, we have agreed that this Agreement can be declared successfully concluded, releasing URL MCs from their obligation to abstain on the final Vote of Confidence.

@Sir Lüc if you will forgive the 11th-hour request, please Clark the Caretaker Clarification Act. Under Lexh.H.2.1.5, one CRL member has recommended to accept the bill for Clarking, none have voted to reject, and there have been no amendments suggested.

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on June 30, 2026, 01:22:21 PMI don't quite understand the possible triggers here... So no one can be appointed unless someone has presented a petition for appointment of a seneschal or unless no one has and the Clark is being put together? Was that your intention with this bill?

The "caretaker" period, we'll call it, begins when the Ziu dissolves. It ends when either (a) a petition to appoint a Seneschal is presented to the King, or (b), the First Clark opens, whichever happens first.

Actually rather surprising that only two people seem to have had Germany advancing past France (also I just noticed the title of Gluc's bracket, lol).

If the next Government wishes to offer new Permanent Secretary positions for the outgoing Ministers to continue their duties that they held before joining the Cabinet, that's all well and good. But that ought to be their call.

@Sir Lüc , please move this bill to the CRL.

I'm amenable to cosponsoring, yes.

Apart from the US, I've been to Canada, the Bahamas, the UK, Ireland (RoI), and now Catalonia for work -- I did head down to Barcelona while there, logged around 15 km walking the city one day. No visit to Camp Nou though, sorry. :P

Bucket list countries would probably include:

• Switzerland
• Germany -- yes, including a trip to Wolfsburg to visit Autostadt and the VW factory, but also perhaps to catch a Grizzlys Wolfsburg game
• Italy, especially if I can get some good tours in of Palladian architecture
• Finland
• Russia, at least as a hypothetical. In my undergrad years I minored in Russian Language and Culture, and it would be very nice to put some of what I learned into practice. Rather let them get their stuff shaped up a bit before going over though, I think.
• Japan: between traditional architecture in places like Kyoto, a desire to hike Mt. Fuji, and the food...pretty much anywhere...this is probably one I'm going to want to save up a good bit of PTO for.
• Singapore -- not so much a "bucket list" country, but I'll likely be headed there for a wedding next year? That should be fun, I've heard good things about Singapore.

Obviously the CRL has already voted to approve this bill, but if the Scribery may request a point of clarification, so that I understand what would be required of me if this bill passes:

Under "Part II: Standards of the Cosa", if I understand correctly, should 62RZ14 pass referendum, then this text:

QuoteThe Cosa may impeach any of its members from the Chamber with a two-thirds majority vote and with the approval of the King. Following impeachment, a replacement will be chosen according to the third section of this article, and the impeached member shall not be eligible for reassignment of seats under the terms of this article. Following a failed impeachment, the accused Member of the Cosa may not again be impeached for the same offence, pursuant to the Seventh Covenant of the Covenant of Rights and Freedoms. The former Member of the Cosa is not barred from running for office in future elections as long as the former Member of the Cosa maintains citizenship.

would, if itself ratified, become the new wording of Org.IV.4.2. If 62RZ14 fails its referendum, the same text would become Org.IV.4.3 instead. Correct?

Quote from: Breneir Tzaracomprada on June 17, 2026, 09:31:42 PMWelp, with no word from the PA senator I hope to get to the Governor's comments this weekend.

Good evening - have you been able to alter your proposal to address any of those comments?

As the Government has continued to provide no leadership on legislation, on this most recent Clark there was a single bill at vote, the Freedom of Conscience Act. This bill would have removed the mention of the Government from the citizenship oath, freeing new citizens of their obligation to swear allegiance to a government they may not support. Such a thing is unbecoming of a democratic nation such as Talossa, and the bill's preface included an acknowledgement of this, repudiating oaths of allegiance to the government as hallmarks of strongman rule and democratic backsliding.

Unfortunately, it seems this repudiation was more timely than we would've liked. That the incumbent Government would reject a bill that affirms the right to dissent is not surprising. What was surprising was the Seneschal's blatant disrespect for Talossan convention throughout the legislative process. As the Attorney General, the Seneschal serves on the CRL, helping to proofread legislative proposals for technical accuracy. The CRL reviews bills' form; judging the bills' content is a political question properly left to the Ziu. In the case of the Freedom of Conscience Act, after the Seneschal openly lying about the bill's preface did not prevent it from moving to the CRL, he used his position there to ensure that the bill would not be added to the May Clark. Because he felt personally offended by a bill, he ignored our customs and usurped the proper role of the legislature to judge a bill's principles.

He could have claimed his party shared in our denunciation of corrupt, self-serving government. Instead, he chose to exemplify the very behavior the bill condemns. It's the sort of thing we might expect to hear from Washington; we don't need to see it on Wittenberg too.

My best wishes and condolences, Baron, for both you and your family.

Quote from: Barclamïu da Miéletz on June 02, 2026, 07:53:06 AM

Quote from: Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be on June 02, 2026, 01:00:09 AMHowever, there was one citizen who was waiting on their ID from a previous round

Can said citizen update their photo? Asking for them.

The citizen in question is free to submit an updated photo if they would like, yes. :P

Quote from: Moinul Moin on June 02, 2026, 10:47:13 AMCan any citizen request for ID card now?

Citizens are welcome to fill out the application and take the Civics Test whenever they would like. However, in order to keep things moving on the current batch of ID cards, applications received after the deadline will simply make up part of the next group of IDs.

Ah, see, had you been at the March Informal Session you would have been present for the Baron stating that he intended to re-appoint several Permanent Secretaries on the way out the door. Not "paranoia-based" when it's based on explicit statement of intention.

That being said, in many parliamentary democracies, caretaker status does in fact restrict certain government decisions, and rightfully so. With no legislature in session, the question of whether a caretaker government truly retains its mandate is unresolved until the electoral results are known. With the status of that mandate in question, it is inappropriate for the Government to make major policy decisions, including creation of Permanent Secretary offices within its ministries.

As we begin to look towards the end of this Cosă term, we in the URL want to take stock of the issues currently facing the nation. Make no mistake, we still intend to campaign on the Democracy Agenda, our package of long-overdue reform. But we're not going to campaign solely on the Democracy Agenda -- we need a Government that can work towards its goals while also addressing the problems of the day. And what are some of these problems? Well, to be blunt, a lot of them can be boiled down to double standards. In this 62nd Cosă term, the Government of Baron Davinescu has repeatedly acted in direct opposition to his campaign promises.

On Transparency: The Baron and his party made "transparency" one of the main themes of the last election. He made claims that the previous Government was hiding something over immigration, and he made promises to be open and honest in government; both the claims and the promises clearly resonated with voters. But when it comes to who sits in the Cosă for the current government, the Baron has gone before the Cort pü Inalt to argue that the transparency to voters only extends to the election itself -- after that, what the party boss says, the party boss gets. We in the URL feel that if you saw the list of Progressive Alliance candidates in the last election, decided you supported those people representing you in the Cosă, and voted for them, that's your right as a voter -- but that's the list you should get as your representation!

To be clear, the Government can't be blamed for two of its leading Cosă members dropping out, but we believe their voters should have had a say in who would replace them. We're also not disputing the outcome of the Cort's advisory opinion -- we think it makes sense given the current wording of the Organic Law, to the point that URL Secretary Miestră Schivă noted this possible result in a brief to the Cort. What we're saying is that the opinion shows the need for drastic reform. The law as worded allows for party leaders to make a mockery of accountability to voters between elections -- and that's a good reason to change the law. Regardless of which party list you vote for on the ballot, the URL has long advocated for your right to be represented by those people in the Cosă -- not whoever the party boss says you'll get.

On Immigration: Another key theme of the Baron's campaign in November was immigration. Unfortunately, since taking office, the Baron has managed to lose more citizens than we've had immigrate.
- Seven new citizens have been naturalized since the Baron's government was appointed in mid-December.
- We are now past two full months without any naturalizations.
- Eight former citizens lost their citizenship after failing to vote in recent elections.
- Two more have renounced their citizenship, including the Baron's Attorney General, who renounced in solidarity with a sexual harasser unanimously condemned by the Ziu.

That's a net loss of citizens so far this term. For a guy who spent most of the previous term comparing Talossa's population trends to a house on fire, the Baron seems to be taking the current decline awfully coolly.

In the last term, we argued that levels of immigration are not the direct result of Government action or inaction. The current Seneschal disagreed, and won over many voters by falsely accusing the previous Government of deliberately ignoring immigration and recruitment. A few months ago, he even met concerns about the lack of election candidates by blithely assuring us that there would be no problem keeping the Ziu properly staffed if we doubled the population – something he seemed to consider realistic, with the right government. We are now further from the Baron's own population goals than we were when he took office -- can he claim to be that "right government"?

Now that immigration is his responsibility, however, he has claimed that immigration levels are based on luck -- effectively admitting that everything he blamed the previous Government for was wrong. There is no shame in being wrong. There is shame in winning an election by telling a simple untruth, and then not correcting the record when found out.

On top of this, when the URL suggests possible remedies for the nation's stagnating immigration, they are evidently ignored. We argue that one valuable source of prospective citizens would be political simulationists -- people who engage in sort of "model government"-type situations online. Some of these people are already part of the micronational world, some may be participants in online games such as NationStates, but wherever these people can be found, we ought to be trying to recruit them with the appeal of Talossa's long-running and substantial political system. Why aren't we? Well, it's apparent that these folks and their political interest would go against the Baron's desire to keep Talossan politics apolitical. We've called him out on this contradiction before, and it is apparent his apolitical desires are now choking the country of citizens.

On Active Leadership: One of the duties of a leader is fixing things that don't work. Sometimes this means changing policy within the boundaries of current law; sometimes it means changing the law to allow for better policy. As it is, legislative activity from the Government has dried up completely. Should we take this to mean the Government thinks the nation is in fine shape as it is, or do they intend to put out policy changes to address our problems? If the latter, why have they not done so?

On Concentrating Power: Perhaps the worst of the Seneschal's double standards so far has been the concentration of power. In the last election, he criticized the previous Government for "stacking" -- people holding multiple Cabinet portfolios in order to balance manpower and workload. Some stacking, of course, is understandable, especially when the work is divided among many positions. However, the Seneschal is now into the territory we've said he's been aiming for all along: "Government by One Person". Of the ten Cabinet posts, he now holds five of them personally -- half the Government in one man's hands.

- Seneschal (obviously)
- Minister of Immigration (officially appointed himself to the role)
- Minister of Defence (holding de facto as he never appointed anyone else)
- Minister of Public Records (holding de facto as he never appointed anyone else)
- Avocat-Xheneral (holding de facto after his previous A-X resigned in solidarity with the sexual harasser as noted above)

We in the URL believe that democracy should be a "team sport"; that a successful party should be a team rather than a one-man band. This is why we defend party lists and call for other Ziu reforms, to make sure the voters are choosing a team for government, rather than placing the power into the hands of a strongman. In contrast, when the Baron is in power, to paraphrase an old French saying: el parti, es el Governamaintsch, c'è lo.

To sum up, these are the key issues currently facing the nation, on which the Union of Free Reformists will campaign for a Cosă majority in the next election:

• Ziu reform to shift to a system where voters chose candidates as well as parties.
• Immigration to target sources like politics simulators, and to target quality (which we can control) rather than quantity (which we cannot).
• Team government rather than the dominance of a single personality.

Estimat Túischac'h, I rise today with a Terpelaziun for the Immigration Minister, @Baron Alexandreu Davinescu .

The nation last welcomed a new citizen on the 23rd of March, over ten weeks ago. On top of this, the nation's population has actually declined since the current Government has taken office, with seven citizens immigrating and ten emigrating (including two outright renunciations).

In past terms, the incumbent Immigration Minister has compared multi-month spans with no immigrants, such as the one in which we currently find ourselves, to a house on fire. He also criticized the previous Government on immigration, at one point noting "Talossa is losing citizens faster than she's gaining them", the same situation in which his Immigration Ministry now finds itself.

In his response to a different Member's Terpelaziun on May 5th, the Minister stated:

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on May 05, 2026, 11:57:06 AMI thank the MZ for his question.  In response, I think I'd like to hold off until a few more people are confirmed as possible assistants.

I don't feel there's any immediate time pressure, since we've already been implementing a lot of the other Royal Commission recommendations in extraordinary form:

• The Prime Minister's Patriotic Award has been restored, and we actually have produced a bunch of physical awards that can be sent out to recipients.  They are designed to be displayed on the lapel, collar, or pocket, and that will make them visible in pictures or on Zoom and unusually prestigious (as the only physical award).
• The New Citizen's Guide has been updated, reformatted, and restored in collaboration with the Secretary of State, and will soon be formally unveiled.  You can see a preview here.
  
• Our diplomatic efforts have been very fruitful, with a lot of communications both formal and informal.

We will continue to do even more, of course.  If the MZ hears of anyone of good character who is interested in volunteering for the TalossAssistant program, please send them my way.

To begin with, I would like to follow up on each of these responses, namely:

• Have any Prime Minister's Patriotic Awards been awarded to date?
• It has now been a month since the Minister noted an updated New Citizen's Guide had been completed. Can he state why it has not yet been "formally unveiled"?
• Can the Minister provide to the Ziu or public any evidence or results of the "very fruitful" diplomatic efforts he has described?
• Given that zero new citizens have been naturalized since the above response was given, is the Ministry re-assessing the situation to acknowledge any "immediate time pressure"?

Thank you.