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Elections elections elections soon

[begins vibrating]

Good news, everyone! The Death Penalty Assembly has taken a recess, and the next GA vote will not concern the issue. Instead, we're going to be looking at Repeal: Freedom of Assembly.

Proposal: https://www.nationstates.net/page=UN_view_proposal/id=wymondham_1611757405

Forum thread: https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=495769

Target: https://www.nationstates.net/page=WA_past_resolution/id=27/council=1

Summary

First, what's the target about? GAR#27: Freedom of Assembly secures for everyone the right to peacefully assemble, associate, and protest for any cause. No group may infringe on these rights except in cases of trespassing or a lack of safety to those organizing. These rights are not extended to riots or violent protests, or actions which would cause harm to innocent people. Pretty straightforward.

The repeal makes the case that there are a number of loopholes. First, that "harm" is much too vague and allows governments to crack down based on financial harms or tax increases. Second, that by granting these rights to all individuals regardless of criminal status, they can be used to evade punishment for crimes. Third, that protests which pose risks to members of the public can't be stopped based on the wording in clause 2. Concern is also expressed over protests' ability to all for harmful inaction, and that clause 3 only extends protections to "innocent people" and leaves room for discrimination against convicts.

Analysis

So let's dig into these a little bit. I want to start with the more convincing arguments. I think it's fair to assert that clause 3's vague use of "harm" does leave room for abuse - it's obviously unintentional to interpret the law in that way, but a government could technically do so. The question of clause 3's use of "innocent people" is less clear. I can see how someone could potentially argue for that literal reading, but I don't think it's an especially reasonable concern.

The rest of the claims here are a lot harder to forgive. First, the "concerned" clause about criminals. This seems to be arguing that by granting freedom of assembly to persons who are imprisoned, they'll be able to leave prison under the pretense of protest and escape custody; this is, of course, ridiculous, as the freedom to assemble does not grant you total freedom to go anywhere you wish. I'm not 100% certain this is their claim, but it's the most charitable reading I can find and it still doesn't follow from the actual text.

The arguments regarding calls for inaction and risks to the public - the "saddened" and "worried" clauses, respectively - both indicate a fundamental lack of understanding of the target text. One argues that protests which seek to do harm by preaching inaction are allowed; the other argues that protests which harm the public are not disallowed by clause 2. In both cases, clause 3 of GAR#27 is ignored. It reads:

Under this guidance, it's clear beyond all reasonable doubt that protests which seek to harm a minority group by lifting protections are still causing harm, as are restrictions of medical personnel, etc.

You get the sense from all of this that the author either doesn't have a firm grasp of the law they're trying to repeal (in the best case), or is actively trying to misrepresent it. This is also apparent in GenSec's decision to withdraw the original submission based on a misrepresentation of GAR#27's impact on the disruption of governments. With this in mind, and the lack of a strong silver bullet argument to weigh against it, I'm leaning against this one.

Thank you!

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!

Awww happy birthday Refugia!!

Ayy, happy anniversary/birthday to this amazing region which we’re all lucky enough to call home! May Refugia prosper for years to come!

Happy birthday, Refugia!

Happy birthday Refugia!

Happy birthday to the place we call home :)

Happy BDay Refugia!

Happy Refugia day!

Thought I should share this... Ongmonnif got a capital city!

Good morning (or evening or night) to all you guys! I've talked about my intentions to run for Ops Councillor for a little while now and I would like to officially announce that candidacy here. I've always been strongly interested in regional security and keeping all the inevitable bad of NationStates at bay. I also hope that my term would last to the point where I can lead the region in this year's N-day but that's quite a long ways away. My main goal would just be to continue to keep the region safe, happy, and comfortable for all. I love this region and all the people inside it and I'd love to be able to help keep it the home it is for me today.

My biggest advantage in this position I think is just activity. I'm on the discord a lot and I'm around the region a pretty decent amount. I hope this would allow me to better be at hand when a disaster strikes or a spammer/bad person decides to take a visit.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day

-Ara 🌺🐉

PS:

Indimu makes the best chocolate in the world, of course vegan and dairy/gluten free, how else could it be called the best in the world? 😌

EDIT: I have just noticed I put vegan and dairy free... the dangers of a barely awake brain...

Pantala has a special type of barbecued meat made with local spices and gluten free, and Pyrrhia offers various world class rice dishes to bring to the banquet!

Accepted!

*dabs frantically*

no >:(

Fully agreed.

hai guys and gals and ghouls, i'm new to this region but i gotta say i really like the runes

Welcome! Can you perform dark magic? The government can pay well...

I wouldn't use the term "black magic", but yes, we can do some things that would be considered... unconventional

Thank you!

How much would you charge? If we need, diplomatic measures will be considered.

waves enthusiastically

Howdy Folkens! Everyone's favorite paranoid kook here. I'm also announcing my candidacy for to run for Ops Councillor. This would be my second term serving Refugia in this position, one that I find incredibly rewarding, and that serves a major role in maintaining a safe community here. I wish to continue helping to ensure the safety of our region from both external and internal threats, be they living or dead. I thank you for your time, and wish you a wonderful rest of your day.

-Maddie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBoiADgTJEs

Happy Birthday Jubilee!

Nice! How did you name it, and why?

On other news,

Apologies to all my endorsers and those endorsed by me.

I had to resign from the WA and join another puppet of mine to the WA to Defend a region.

Will resume WA membership as soon as this op is over, no idea how long it might take.

P.S. This is my first time participating in such things.

We have a decent uranium mining industry if that will work for you.

Thank you!

As a high schooler, I don't own much, but definitely my cat. I've not had the easiest life, but he's always been a great companion- In my mind, his value greatly exceeds that of anything which is purely monetary.

My computer, I spent waaaaay too much time on it, and it's what I use to play NationStates!

I don't really take a lot of pride in things I own, or at least I try not to. Ignoring things with emotional significance, I do have a very cool hat that I like a lot

Notice:

The vote has begun for the Operations Councillor election. I received two valid candidate declarations, both delivered in the RMB. One from Indimu, and one from Chacapoya. Their announcement messages are available for your consideration, here for Indimu's announcement, and here for Chacapoya's announement. The elected Councillor for this term will be responsible for handling whatever security threats may target this region. For this term, they will be responsible for leading any necessary response to this year's April Fools event, if it turns out that such an event happens to be a crisis.

You all have five days of voting, beginning now and ending at the end of the day on the 7th. If you are a member state (meaning a nation which has been a World Assembly member in this region for at least a week), you can vote in this election. Head to Vote.CalRef and your name is on the list, pop in a vote: https://vote.calref.network/vote/11

Oh wow, I'm not sure who to vote for... Could Indimu and Chacapoya please give me a reason(s) to vote for them?

I think both of our announcement posts were linked at the start of the vote. I know I at least put why I wanted the position/why I think I’d be good at it there and I believe Maddie did as well ^-^

Finally! Marriage Equality!

Insanely Vexed Goblins. The whole point of this nationstates game is that we're in a perpetual war against each other

I just want to point out he moved here from balder, cussed me, then moved back to balder

Morning. We may as well get this out of the way sooner rather than later, so let's acknowledge the existence of Repeal: "Death Penalty Ban", the GA vote that goes up in two days.

Proposal: https://www.nationstates.net/page=UN_view_proposal/id=dalmyria_1611854548

Forum thread: https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=497496

Target: https://www.nationstates.net/page=WA_past_resolution/id=535/council=1

This is yet another continuation of the Death Penalty frenzy the General Assembly is experiencing. This repeal targets the ban that was passed about a week ago, the one that only allows for executions under military penal codes. Here are summaries of the clauses that make arguments:

"Believing" - They don't like that the preamble advocates for spending execution money on useful criminal policy because this isn't a matter where we should be talking about cutting costs.

"Appreciative," "Determined," "Satisfied" - Extant WA legislation and the goodness of our hearts ensures that all trials are completely fair.

"Perplexed," "Further concerned" - The fact that the target makes a concession regarding military crimes shows that the death penalty is useful and good, actually, but also this concession creates a loophole which will undermine all those fair trials somehow?

"Feeling," "Concerned [again]," "Disappointed," "Remaining open" - NatSov.

I hope this comprehensive guide serves you well in navigating this complicated and deeply nuanced piece of legislation.

I like the attention... You can't blame me

Hello my friends! I come bearing gifts! Or more specifically, I present to you January's edition of XKI's Monthly Update Report. The report summarizes what we've been up to in XKI for the past month, including our election and several fun cultural events. I hope you all enjoy it and thank you for reading!

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1500566

Meanwhile in LFG, the state believes that nature-oriented summer camps will somehow solve youth crime.

Apparently, NS thinks so too, since this decision led to a significant drop in our Youth Rebelliousness.

We must be doing generally good on other issues too: the Lower French Gregballistic Economy rose from Powerhouse to All-Consuming.

I see you... sending this message to every region 10000 islands has an embassy with... And I support it! Hello!

They're now 'average' ^-^

My economy is getting better. It’s almost back in the moderate range :-)

Furries.

Leftism :-)

That's a mood.

Travelling... :(

I know this is not today's question, but I had an answer for it but didn't have time to write it.

There's kind of two answers to this question depending on how you look at things. The first one is my Pikachu blanket because I've had it ever since I was six, and over the last 21 years, it's been with me through every one of the (fifteen?) times that I've moved since then. Tossing those into Google, without doing travel routes or anything, says that it's around 23,000km of distance. So it's neat that it's still around and basically in the same condition that it was originally, just a little less fluffy.

The second answer is there's a flash drive on my desk. It's always around somewhere nearby and has a regular update of everything that's on my computer, and all the databases and server backups from CalRef. Basically it amounts to my life's work. So it's basically important to me because it's all our community stuff being in one tangible location that I can restore things if anything breaks or is destroyed.