Less than 24 hours left to vote!

Normally of course, I would open this by addressing the Tuischac'h, but with the dissolution of the Cosă there is no Tuischac'h to address! However, the relevant Minister to which I would address this question has graciously agreed to answer it anyway, and so if I may pose the following "informal Terpelaziun" to the Minister of Immigration, @Baron Alexandreu Davinescu :

This Government made the passage of the Public Process Act an issue of the last campaign, and after the URL was able to ensure improvements to the bill to render it enforceable, it did indeed pass with bipartisan support. One of those improvements mandated the creation of a "shadow" email address that would allow the Leader of the Opposition to monitor incoming citizenship applications in order to maintain transparency in the process.

The bill passed in January. We are now in the final days of July. The email address has not yet been created. The Government has not yet complied with one of the key pieces of their own legislative agenda.

Does the Minister have any sort of estimate on when this Government will begin following its own laws, or does he anticipate that this will instead be an issue left for the next Government to fix for him?

Has anyone seen Disclosure Day and care to share your review? What I have seen online has been mostly negative.

Quote from: Glüc on Yesterday at 04:29:36 PM
Congratulations to the Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis for winning leg 2 of the 2026 TCAT season!!!

Oh my goodness... I've always loved participating in this amazing Talossan tradition, but this is such a special moment.

We need to get the team together for a group photo!  Wait, why's that president in the photo?  Someone get him out of here.  Gianni, get over here and... oh, well.

Thank you to the TCAT team for another amazing race!

Group 9 Final point could have gone to Björk
Fix You - 3
Enjoy the Silence - 2
No More I Love You's - 1 (nice discovery)

Group 10 Peter Gabriel deserved points as well
Mondscheinsonate - 3
A Quiet Life - 2
Blue - 1

I'm sure there will be more statistics posted, but one very notable thing is this was both a very close and a very high scoring edition (despite several expensive dropouts) with the top 4 teams posting the 2nd to 5th all time highest scores.

We've never had more than two teams above 10K and only 1 team ever scoring more than 11K and now suddenly we have three teams above 11K and a high scoring 10K team as well.

The final points are awarded based on the standings of the riders in classifications. Most points are awarded based on the general classification (yellow jersey), which was of course won by Pogacar, followed by Evenepoel and Del Toro. Then there are points based two side classification: the points classification (green jersey) won by Pedersen, and King of the Mountains classification (polkadot jersey) won by Carapaz. Finally there are assist points based on the team classification. The latter of these is particularly favourable for the Menceis, who picked only riders from the two strongest teams. A very succesful strategy as it turns out and the second time this strategy has lead to a winning result (after Spain 2023).

FINAL STANDINGS:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+2)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	11557	+2020
2nd	(-1)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	11454	+1675
3rd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	11395	+1790
4th	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	10534	+1520
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	9932	+1295
6th	(+1)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	9185	+1820
7th	(+1)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	9015	+1730
8th	(-2)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	8755	+1105
9th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	8265	+210

Congratulations to the Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis for winning leg 2 of the 2026 TCAT season!!!

Quote from: Sir Lüc on Yesterday at 04:20:23 AMHeh, if Zappa was still alive, he'd be welcome at any Alpini parade to witness how winos don't march, and definitely don't harrass anyone either.

You can't fool me, northern Italy is beer country :D

Stage 21 (Final)   »   Paris  ›  Paris

The introduction of climbing Montmartre last year has made the final stage even more exciting. The winner of the tour may have already been decided, but winning the final stage is a massive achievement in its own right. The stage seemed almost designed for Mathieu van der Poel (REX/VFL), but it is a careful balance as a longer climb might favour stronger climbers while a longer stretch the finish might allow the peloton to back and result in a bunch sprints, so the stage promised a battle between climbers, puncheurs and sprinters. And we very much got what was promised.

On the second climb of Montmartre Pogacar (CFA/CJO/BDC/GHS/MMM/CHX) attacked with only Van der Poel being able to follow immediately. Evenepoel (CFA/CJO/REX/VFL) and Pedersen (REX/VFL/MMM) managed to close the gap resulting in a group of four. However the gap was small and the peloton, led by teammates of Kooij (GHS/BDC) chased the quartet down resulting in a reduced peloton with all the favourites starting the third ascent. This time it was Van der Poel who attacked with only Pogacar being able to follow. A chase group formed but was quickly swallowed by the peloton again led by teammates of Kooij, but this time also including Pedersen who also had hopes for the sprint. Van der Poel and Pogacar had a gap of less than 20 seconds and the finish was still far away, so there was no time for hesitation with a peloton steaming ahead behind them. Pogacar never hid behind Van der Poel but was not able to keep up and got dropped in the final stretch. With the finish in sight Van der Poel was only meters ahead of the peloton, already in full sprint. The sprint was won by Van der Poels teammate Philipsen (VFL), but at the finish Philipsen was not cheering for himself, but for Van der Poel, who had held on and finished just barely ahead, winning the stage.

Philipsen got second place ahead of Pedersen in third, Kanter (CHX) in fourth, and Kooij in fifth. Els Talossaes Rexhital won the stage due to Van der Poels efforts and climb to first place before end of tour points are considered. But will it be enough???

Standings after stage 21 (NOT including end of tour points!!!):
These are not the final standings

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	9779	+522
2nd	(-1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	9605	+278
3rd	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	9537	+372
4th	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	9014	+252
5th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	8637	+521
6th	(=)		Esqipă Velocostă (EVC)	7650	+268
7th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	7365	+99
8th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	7285	+114
9th	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	7085	+210

GROUP 9
3 - Marty Robbins - Big Iron
2 - Depeche Model - Enjoy the Silence
1 - Queen - Killer Queen

GROUP 10
3 - Ludwig von Beethoven - Mondscheinsonate, 3rd movement
2 - Derek & the Dominos - Layla
1 - Eiffel 65 - Blue (da ba dee)