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Topics - Ian Plätschisch

#1
El Viestül/The Lobby / [TERPELAZIUN] Defense
March 26, 2024, 08:42:36 PM
Azul,

May the Minister of Defense provide an update on any activities related to the Zouaves? They appear to have become dormant last year.
#2
Senators,

Please cast your vote here.
#3
Senators,

Please cast your votes here.
#4
El Viestül/The Lobby / [TERP] Finance
November 28, 2023, 09:46:11 PM
I rise with a question for the Finance Minister.

The Budget is required to be presented by the second Clark. We are all aware of the unfortunate circumstances which have prevented the budget from yet being introduced. My question is not so much "where is the budget" and more so whether there are any plans (such as a month of recess) to allow the Budget to be prepared in time.
#5
Wittenberg / 2023 TMT20 Final Results Show
October 01, 2023, 01:54:16 PM
Get ready for today's most important results reveal.

15:30 TST in the Discord voice chat.

#6
Estimat Túischac'h,

Would the Most Honourable Seneschal please inform the Ziu whether he is planning to declare a month of recess at some point during this Cosa term? The planners of the Kingdom's foremost cultural institution, the Talossan Music Top 20, would like to coordinate the timing of the 2023 edition with the next election.

By my estimation, the 59th Cosa election will end October 1 if there is no recess, or November 1 if there is.
#7
Estimat Túischac'h,

May the Honourable Minister inform the Ziu of any plans to attend the upcoming MicroCon 2023 in Chicago?
#8
Estimat Túischac'h,

May the Minister of STUFF please provide an update on any sort of incentive program for updating TalossaWiki that the Government intends to introduce? It appears the current, wildly popular incentive program ("Seneschal's Days of Observance") is being discontinued.
#9
Estimat Túischac'h,

May the Seneschal please provide an update on the status of the "Succession Solution Amendment"?
#10
Wittenberg / 57PD10: Tuischac'h Correction
February 06, 2023, 05:52:35 PM
WHEREAS It appears the method of electing the Tuischac'h was recently inadvertently deleted, and

WHEREAS Guess who is still Seneschal

THEREFORE H.21 of el Lexhatx is added, which reads:

The Cosa shall elect the Túischac'h as follows. (54RZ21) repealing both (50PD01) (52RZ3)
21.1. 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)
21.2. 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)
21.3. 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)
21.4. 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)
21.5. 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)
#11
Wittenberg / Concession & Semi-Retirement
February 01, 2023, 08:45:17 PM
Well, that did not go great.

I don't understand why a party that thinks King John's activity level is acceptable or "trending up" in any meaningful way is getting 106 seats.

I don't understand why a party that thinks more bureaucracy and reports is a part of the solution to the Kingdom's ills is getting 106 seats.

But I do understand why a party with a legitimately active and enthusiastic team of contributors is getting 106 seats. Most of what a Government does day-to-day is not particularly legislative; rather, it's a series of largely uncontroversial projects that just require energy. And if the TNC has one thing, it's energy. I'm honestly a bit excited to see what the TNC can do (it helps that the FreeDems and our allies still have a Senate majority  :) ).

Unfortunately, if there is one thing I am running low on, it's energy for Talossa. Don't worry, I'll still be around to run all the TMT20s you can stand, and I'll still be in the Senate (I realized recently that once my current term expires at the end of the 59th Cosa, I will have surpassed the esteemed Ián von Metáiriâ as the longest-serving Senator from Maritiimi-Maxhestic). But my time as a major political figure in Talossa has come to an end.

I have been in some sort of political leadership position ever since the end of the 48th Cosa (December 2015), 1/3 of my life ago. During that span, I have variously been Prime Minister, Distain, Minister of STUFF, Minister of Finance, Minister of Immigration, Leader of the Opposition, Community Jurist, member of four different political parties, magazine publisher, essayist, election prognosticator, and probably some other things I can't remember.

By no means is this anywhere close to the longest or most distinguished career in Talossan society. But, it is long and distinguished enough for me to be satisfied with my contributions and comfortable taking a step back.

Talossa has taught me lessons about leadership, management, teamwork, communication, Microsoft Publisher, etc. that I will probably carry with me for the rest of my life. It has been preparation for a lot of things I am heavily involved with now; remote work, being Chairman of my local chapter of the Libertarian Party, seriously considering running for city council in a few years, and various other civic and social engagements. Looking at this list of commitments, though, I can't devote the same bandwidth to Talossa that I used to.

So, best of luck to the TNC, long live the King, long live Talossa, make sure to nominate songs released since October 30, 2019, and hit me up the next time you want to do something fun.

Ian Plätschisch
Seneschal
#12
Wittenberg / Voting Almost Over!
February 01, 2023, 09:27:09 AM
Just a reminder that voting on Group 5 of the Comedy category of the 2023 TMT20 Special Edition concludes tonight around 7PM TST.

I don't think anything else important is going on then.
#13
Wittenberg / The King's Inactivity is Not a New Problem
January 05, 2023, 08:47:37 PM




This was over seven years ago. Sadly, we still find ourselves in the same situation re: the King's overall inactivity
#14
Wittenberg / Debate Me, TNC!
January 03, 2023, 09:15:37 PM

Do you accept the challenge?
#15
Wittenberg / Response to TNC Platform
December 19, 2022, 07:17:54 PM
Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on December 19, 2022, 09:30:44 AM
Better Know a Platform:
Talossa's Checkbook

We will direct the Ministry of Finance to create an online 'Talossa's Checkbook' site where citizens can see where our Treasury is budgeting funds and where actual spending is occurring. This information is available, but it should be obvious and accessible.

How is your country spending your money?  Where are those louise going?  How much more did we spend this term, compared to last?  How much money do we have, and how has the balance changed over time?

Two or three people may know the answers to these questions.  A larger handful could figure out the answers (if they needed to – no one will bother).  But for most of the country, they don't know and can't really find out.  This information is published in different places on Wittenberg, at different times, and by different people.  Unless you know the procedures, you probably don't even know that the budget information even exists!  Zooks!  We at the TNC think that the people deserve to know.

Reports from the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue, budgets from the Ziu, and actual expenditures should be available to the people of Talossa through an easy-to-read interface online, consistently published each term.  Just like with basic statistics about our country or an inventory of skills, this doesn't need to be any fancier than a simple spreadsheet.  Once we make the baseline information available, our citizens will have the access and resources to take care of the rest.  And maybe a future project could make this information more visual.  For now, we need to just let the people know how we're spending their money!

You'll notice that this has a similar vibe to our proposal to begin publishing some of the most basic statistics about our country for our citizens – things like immigration data, Wittenberg use, etc.  This is partially because we believe that Talossans deserve to be more informed about what's happening in their country.  But it's important to remember that making this information available will help encourage our citizens to use it.  Journalism, research, and politics will all benefit from data availability. C'e utzil es divertat.  And since it's pretty easy to just slap this stuff on a spreadsheet, it's crazy that we're not already doing it.

Vote for the TNC, and find out where your money is going!

The budget is easily accessible to everyone. It is a single thread in the Hopper.

Any extraordinary expenditure must be authorized by a Prime Dictate, which are always quickly added to the Digest of Laws if you happen to miss one.

The only thing that it might be hard to find out about is if there is budgeted money that isn't spent. Surely this situation is much less nefarious than non-budgeted money that is spent. Anyhow, if there is a lot of money not being spent, surely anyone who was interested would find out about via the overall lack of government initiatives happening.

This is just more mostly pointless reporting. If the TNC forms a government and wants to publish all this, more power to them, but I do wonder how long they could keep this tedium up.
#16
WHEREAS The Bureau of Humanitarian Aid and International Development is currently undertaking a fundraiser for the Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity, and

WHEREAS We hope many citizens are able to contribute, and

WHEREAS The Kingdom as a whole is in a position to contribute

THEREFORE I authorize the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue to disburse $25 to the Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity

Signed,
Ian Plätschisch
Seneschal
#17
Wittenberg / 57PD09: Talossan Coffee Day II
December 18, 2022, 09:11:09 AM
WHEREAS @Sir Txec dal Nordselvă has made 20 updates to TalossaWiki, and

WHEREAS he has requested a Day of Observance in honor of coffee, and

WHEREAS I don't know what it says about Talossa that two people have now requested such a day

THEREFORE I declare Monday, December 19th 2022, to be Talossan Coffee Day II

Signed,
Ian Plätschisch
Seneschal
#18
Azul all,

As we enter campaign season, I thought now is a good time to go over the 57th Cosa Cabinet's record:

-We have conducted a trial run of Google ads to promote immigration
-We have successfully encouraged updates to TalossaWiki and made various improvements to talossa.com
-We have produced Talossan ID cards and certificates to commemorate citizenship anniversaries
-We have established communication with other micronations and starting coordinating with a documentary film crew
-We have demonstrated an ability to work "across the aisle", appointing S:reu Bråneu Excelsio as Defense Minister
-We have kept immigration running smoothly

We also have a variety of legislative accomplishments:
-RZ13, which removed the micronational "blacklist"
-RZ19, which simplified the method of electing the Seneschal
-RZ22, which cleaned up confusing finance law
-RZ27, which prevents Dandelions from becoming citizens without their consent
-And, perhaps most importantly, we finally got the TNC to engage meaningfully on Monarchy reform

I urge voters to compare what the TNC promises to what the FreeDems have actually achieved. Governing is harder that it looks and requires more than one or two people.

Ian Plätschisch,
Seneschal
#19
Wittenberg / 57PD08: Humble Potato Day
December 10, 2022, 10:11:09 AM
WHEREAS @Baron Alexandreu Davinescu has made 20 additional edits to TalossaWiki, and

WHEREAS He has requested a Day of Observance honoring the humble potato


THEREFORE I hereby declare Saturday, December 10th, 2022 to be Humble Potato Day

Signed,
Ian Plätschisch
Seneschal
#20
Wittenberg / [IMMIGRATION] Update
December 01, 2022, 05:24:05 PM
Over the past 48 hours I have received 17 immigration applications. This is more than I usually receive in an entire month.

One has to think that we got a big boost of publicity from somewhere, but I can't tell from where. I have combed through the applications to see if there is any commonality but I didn't find one. Perhaps we will find out once I approve all of their accounts.

All this to say, all hands on deck! Please welcome them as best you can.