Quote from: Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat on August 05, 2022, 02:28:49 PM
So I took a wag at using the Noir Raven Herald's base. I'm looking for some feedback before I get in too deep  ;D



- OAF

I actually rather like the badge that uses just the central tower, the last one you have uploaded, though both of them are good.

- TLF

Quote from: Breneir Tzaracomprada on August 05, 2022, 11:13:13 AM
I am grateful for the Minister's professional, prompt response and for the good news of burgeoning foreign relations. This is a credit to Minister Autofil's previously described anti-isolationism which is an outlook I share. I hope that the Honorable Tuischac'h will permit a follow-up concerning ambassadors.

This is a snippet of text from the wiki, I am assuming based on the Organic Law and/or Statute, concerning the Foreign Ministry's structure:

QuoteThe Ministry consists of the Foreign Minister, Deputy Foreign Minister and the Ambassadors-General along with the Bureau for Humanitarian Aid and International Development (BHAID) and the Office of Structural Assistance (OSA). The Ministry has structured its embassies through establishment of the posts of Ambassadors-General to each continent, who are empowered to appoint ambassadors to individual nations, should the Ambassador-General require.

Currently, the posts of Ambassadors-General are as follows:

Australia and Oceania  :
The Americas  :
Europe  :
Asia :
Other Extra-Talossan Realms (including Africa, Antarctica) : TO BE ANNOUNCED

Can the Minister confirm, based on his most recent terpelaziun reply, that the Ministry plans only to appoint ambassadors as actual relations are established rather than appoint regionally-based ambassadors-general as the above-quoted text describes?

That was my intent, yes, though if the Senator wishes to discuss in the Ziu the benefits of also maintaining a regional Ambassador-General program I would certainly be open to such a discussion. Such a program does not appear to be mandated in either Organic Law or El Lexhatx, but neither is it prohibited, so we have some flexibility.

Count me in

Quote from: Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat on August 04, 2022, 09:59:54 PM
This would be awesome! I've played lots of games in play by post format and a few in person and over Roll20.

I've only ever played over Roll20, but can second it as a good way to do so if not in-person.

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on August 03, 2022, 02:32:38 AM
Anything on the results of the 2022 Talossan Music Top 20 or Naziun Cjovani winning the first Talossan Cycling Association Tour? (The second edition, TCAT Vuelta, will start August 19th with registrations open the week before)

I will admit the TMT20 and TCAT completely slipped my mind -- since I was not particularly active with either, it did make them easier to overlook. Mea culpa, I'm sorry.

As to the Maricopan Poker Tournament, that one actually occurred after I had gotten this all together, so it was more of a deadline issue than anything else.

Expect all three to be mentioned next month.

I thank the Senator for his question.

In providing a response, I feel it may be useful to provide a bit of context as to how the establishment of relations is going between Talossa and the initial states to which I reached out:

• Duke Bertjens, the Foreign Minister of Ladonia, is quite glad to work on setting up relations between our two nations. He and I are planning on having a Zoom call next weekend, pending his final confirmation of which day would work better for his schedule. Being that he is in Belgium and I am in Wisconsin, weekends are pretty much our only option. I will be going over my goals in this conversation with the Cabinet in the coming days.
• President Baugh of Molossia has stated that while he currently keeps all Molossian foreign relations informal, that we "may most certainly consider Molossia to be an informal friend to Talossa." His schedule is a bit busier -- given his status as a president, homeowner, husband, father, and likely more -- but we are likewise trying to find a time that fits both our schedules for an informal discussion. I expect this to be slightly easier now that my own schedule is back on a regular 9-5 job.
• The main contact for Liberland has referred me to their representative in the territory of the United States, who has not yet returned my email.
• No response yet from either Seborga or Westarctica.

With that in mind, allow me to go through each point of your question in order:

• Appointment of ambassadors shall resume once we have nations with which we have established relations.
• Design for letters of credence is, at least for my concepts, subsumed under design for letters patent on the whole. I have a few designs there that I am mulling over, but as most have likely gathered by now, I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist with my design work, so please excuse my hemming and hawing over getting them just right. I would think this perfectionism is more justifiable when one considers that this is something we will be presenting to others as representatives of Talossa.
• While I have tried not to place too much of a workload on our good Secretary of State, I would agree that the time is either fast approaching -- or is arriving now -- for the creation of some sort of Diplomat role and an associated board for the conduct of foreign relations. I think there the big question is determining what boards of those currently extant we would want to permit diplomats to see.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on August 02, 2022, 06:16:43 PMI support the Unicameral MMP Cosa on general principle, if for no other reason than the difficulty of finding 8 active Senators and at least that many MCs. The Túischac'h of the 56th Cosa quit politics lamenting that the Cosa didn't function, and one of the reason why the Cosa doesn't function is that at least half its members (and this is on all sides of politics) are only there to vote, they don't participate in debates, and they need a cattle prod up them to remember to vote half the time. Actually, the same is increasingly true for the Senäts. (I should note here that I'm no longer necessarily in favour of a Real Cosa because the new system of single seats for new citizens is working well so far.)

But given that, I'm not sure how an MMP Cosa in a bicameral system would solve that problem. The easiest way to imagine an MMP Cosa is: every province gets 12 "winner take all" seats, with the remaining 104 seats being appointed from the national party list. But would people be able to take both provincial seats and national-party-list seats? If not you'd be increasing the number of people the Cosa would require, to probably 12 or 13 from the current 9-10.

This is actually exactly as I currently envision it happening: Right now, 12 seats per province would get us as close as possible to half the nominal size of the Cosa without going over. And yes, since active citizens are currently stretched thin between the Cosa and Senäts, the idea was that people would be eligible both for provincial and proportional seats, which would reduce the number of people necessary for the Cosa to function and free up others. There would still be a limit of 10*(total seats)/(votes cast), same as there is now, but with more people to spread seats between, parties could (but would not be required to) dilute the power some amongst themselves -- which also avoids, as an example, the problems of someone who has a large number of fairly crucial seats missing a Clark.

QuoteAlthough given that, I'm intrigued by this bit:

QuoteProvinces can and
should be merged – those whose governments are completely non-existent should frankly be
held as abolished, demoted to territorial status, and merged with provinces that are at least
attempting to provide for the good government of their jurisdictions.

Can we do that? I'm pretty sure there's no law specifically authorising it, but OrgLaw IX.1 states that a Province "is administered by constitutional governments elected democratically within the Province." So theoretically if a Province doesn't have a functioning government, you could argue that it's devolved to Territory status (OrgLaw IX.9), and thus could be force-merged or whatever. That would be quite a stretch, but amusing if the CpI would accept it. Short of that, however, Provinces will only merge if they want to merge. And provinces massively don't want to merge. Even the ones with no government.

This is sort of the catch of the argument. I'm actually not particularly for force-merging things if we can avoid it, there should always be some democratic process involved. But under our laws as they currently stand -- laws that were democratically adopted, mind you -- there are several provinces not currently fulfilling their constitutional obligations. I'm struggling to come up with another possible solution there, if I'm honest. There are a few macronational parallels to this, where by law if an incorporated area loses all its citizens, its government is automatically unincorporated and the place ceases to exist from a legal standpoint.

QuoteMy personal viewpoint is that monarchical political power + a life term is a recipe for corruption. King Robert I wasn't always an abusive cult leader. King John wasn't always inactive and apathetic. But I wonder whether the Directorate model is necessary proof against that. The evidence that a multi-person committee is not necessarily immune to just dissolving into apathy unless periodically renewed is, sadly, evident in the current Uppermost Cort.

That's just it, a staggered term allows for that renewal you mentioned -- obviously I would want to include a recall mechanism as well, an impeachment of sorts, not just "oh well we elected this person so there they are for the next year or two". Ideally though the only types who would run for the office in the first place are the types who would remain active, but obviously there's no good way to guarantee that beforehand.

QuoteBut the real problem here is that all these questions are totally theoretical without a 2/3 majority in the Cosa - and even that isn't enough if it's something that will rouse the King from his torpor to veto it.  It's part of Talossa's essential character is that big political changes are nearly impossible to make. Some call that "stability". Basically I fear that the chance of any fundamental reforms in this Cosa are gone because there is so much bad blood between the major parties. We don't like each other and we don't trust each other. As the PdR leader rightly points out, the last, best chance we had for change was stymied by the current Opposition Leader for no reason he ever explained - it can only be ascribed to either personal spite, or naked political calculations. Even if - for example - some new monarchical reform proposition came out of the TNC (even one for replacing the King!) the experiences of the last few Cosas would make the Free Democrats, in particular, wonder "what's the catch? surely they're just going to renege on this at the last moment if they see some political advantage in it?" The precondition for a lasting constitutional reform is political trust.

I will say that I am willing to give people a chance to work together on something. Given what I understand to be some of their past actions, I'm not sure about multiple chances, but one? Yes. It's a hell of a lot more productive than zero.

57TH COSA SECOND CLARK RESULTS
Budget and creation of two new holidays pass: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1540.0

WAKING UP WITH "DAYS OF OBSERVANCE"
Second of "Seneschal's Days of Observance" celebrated; Bråneu Excelsio requests dedication to his favorite beverage: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1612.0

TFA PLAYOFFS BEGIN
L'Aßociù da Futbol Talossan holds quarterfinals; Atatürk, Cjovaní, M-M, Péngöpäts advance: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1176.60

CULTURE NEWS
"This Month in Talossan History" series continues with August video released early: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1481.0
Fora Talossa starts new culinary vlog series: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1620.0
FT also taking questions for AMA episode with Seneschal: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1639.0

PERMANENT REPLACEMENT BURGERMEISTER IN THE WORKS
The Finance Ministry is seeking possible candidates to replace Istefan Perþonest as Burgermeister of Inland Revenue. In the interim, Secretary of State dal Nordselva will serve: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1616.0

IDENTIFICATION CARDS AWARDED BY MINSTUFF
Talossan ID cards are being awarded to those who successfully pass a Civics Test. The first batch has been sent out, with successful deliveries being reported: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1461.0

IMMIGRATION NEWS
One new citizen -- Bråneu Excelsio -- was naturalized during July.

New application for Talossan citizenship was received from Hormazd Dastur: https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?board=2.0
---

La C'hronică is the monthly news summary provided by the Ministry of Stuff, for the enlightenment and interest of Talossan citizens and all other interested parties.

Thank you Mr. Secretary -- on the ball as always.

Quote from: Dr. Txec Róibeard dal Nordselvă, Esq., O.SPM, SMM on August 01, 2022, 01:28:20 AM

Quote from: Mic'haglh Autófil, MoFA on July 31, 2022, 10:22:47 PM
As a registered political party, el Parti da Reformaziun hereby requests creation of its own sub-board under "Registered Political Parties".

Mr. Secretary @Dr. Txec Róibeard dal Nordselvă, Esq., O.SPM, SMM -- does this entail creation of a private board as well? Looking back over old posts on the idea, I'm not certain whether a private Witt board is included or not.

I will work to add a public board for your party as well as a private board. Give me a day or two as it requires a little "behind the curtain" work.

Thank you! Take your time, no rush.

Took a moment to expand on my thoughts and positions with respect to systemic reforms (both concerning the monarchy and otherwise), as initially expressed way back in February in the PdR's Statement of Beliefs. See attached.

This thread can be used for any respectful discussion on the topic, regardless of your level of support or opposition to the concept.

As a registered political party, el Parti da Reformaziun hereby requests creation of its own sub-board under "Registered Political Parties".

Mr. Secretary @Dr. Txec Róibeard dal Nordselvă, Esq., O.SPM, SMM -- does this entail creation of a private board as well? Looking back over old posts on the idea, I'm not certain whether a private Witt board is included or not.

Squilats finally beat their intra-provincial rivals this season, and they saved it for when it really counted. Well played, Ohioans.


Playoff Performance Odds:
click to enlarge

Quote from: Dr. Txec Róibeard dal Nordselvă, Esq., O.SPM, SMM on July 27, 2022, 02:57:18 PMWhen can I expect mine?

Yours is still a WIP, I'm trying to get my rendering of your arms something that will look good at this small resolution and still obviously be yours. (I will admit to being somewhat of a perfectionist in this regard; it is my fervent belief that Talossans deserve quality TalossaWare.) The arms only come out to about 3/4" tall when the card is printed, so having them print clearly is important -- after all, arms are supposed to readily be identifiable, as the Rouge Elephant Herald knows. :P

As to when it will go to the printer -- ideally we print nine at a time (the maximum we can squeeze from a single piece of paper) but if there aren't quite that many I would rather do a partial order than have people wait too long.

Of course, the more people get their tests taken, the sooner I can turn around a full order. I would point out that there are multiple prominent members of Talossan society who have yet to take their tests -- I'm not pointing fingers at anyone specific, just stating a fact, for reference. I would encourage everyone to contact the Minister of STUFF for their tests ASAP -- it's seriously pretty easy, open book, everything.

The following IDs were just picked up by the mail. Please let me know when they arrive!

@Ian Plätschisch
@Miestră Schivă, UrN
@xpb
@Iason Taiwos
@Tric'hard Lenxheir
@Caleb Frenibuerg
Mitchel Paul