Post Archive
Region: The Thaecian Senate
Adjourned or something.
Election for Senate Chair
The standing period is now open. Senators, please declare your intent or non-intent to stand for Chair (as applicable) within 24 hours.
[spoiler=Senators]
Snowflame[/spoiler]
I motion for unanimous consent
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1842792
We all saw quite frankly the disaster of last term in the Senate which requires truly no introduction, and also the House where the Speaker didn't really want it and only did it because there was nobody else who could. It's evident that we need to get this passed now so we can actually have a range of options.
I acknowledge the motion
[spoiler=Senators]
Snowflame[/spoiler]
Toerana V
I could have vetoed to have debate on this but really, there's nothing *to* debate here.
I acknowledge this motion
(also I'm not running for chair, will just say it here one more time)
I acknowledge this motion
I acknowledge the motion
I guess as acting Chair, it falls to me to announce that the UC motion has passed.
Toerana V
I declare my intent to run for Chair
Marvinville, Santa Marana, The Ambis
i intend to run for chair
The standing period is now over.
The candidates for Chair are:
[list][*]Brototh
[*]New Central Iowa[/list]
The discussion and statements period is now open, and will last at most 48 hours.
[spoiler=Senators]
Snowflame[/spoiler]
I have a question to both candidates
What do you think makes a good chairman?
someone who faithfully fulfils their duties and is transparent when asked questions.
Santa Marana
A good chair expands beyond just fulfilling their duties and being transparent, and while this is true, a good chair also works to maintain efficiency throughout the entire chamber. A good chair ensures that votes are conducted swiftly, that all Senators vote, and that debates last only as long as they need to. A good Chair is one that understands the balance between time spent on debating and chamber efficiency, which I have displayed very well during my prior time as Speaker and prior time as Chair- both of which have been rated highly as great times in Thaecian legislative history. If a Chair allows votes to run on for too long after everyone has voted, they are inactive. If they allow silent debates to continue, they are incompetent. I have the experience to help bring this chamber and Congress back from a period of criticisation with my years long and we'll storied understanding of how to lead a chamber.
Toerana V, Santa Marana, The Ambis
sorry it was very late for me when i posted that response, will expound on it in a bit
I vote brototh
Brototh, Marvinville, Santa Marana
Voting is now open.
The candidates are:
[list][*]Brototh
[*]New Central Iowa[/list]
[spoiler=Senators]
Snowflame[/spoiler]
I vote for Brototh
Brototh
I vote NCI.
I vote for NCI
Brototh
I vote for Brototh
Brototh
I vote for Brototh
Brototh
I invite Sevae to serve as my Senior Deputy Chair and I invite Santa Marana and Obalostan to serve as my Junior Deputy Chairs; please get back to me as soon as possible for whether or not you would like to accept or decline these positions.
With this in mind, I encourage Shadow Chair New Central Iowa to nominate a Deputy Shadow Chair.
Senators, we are now undertaking the confirmation hearings of the appointed Minister of Domestic Affairs The Ambis and the appointed Minister of Culture Toerana V.
Senators should use this time to voice their approval/concerns with the nominees and/or ask questions of the nominee.
As always, the nominees are permitted to speak on the Senate floor during this time. Prime Minister Marvinville is invited to comment on his nominees.
[spoiler=Senators]
Brototh [FREE]
New Central Iowa [PHX]
Obalostan [IND]
Saltmore [ALT]
Santa Marana [FREE]
Sevae [PHX]
Snowflame [FREE][/spoiler]
Toerana V
Hi Senators! Im rather busy atm, but ask questions and concerns and Ill address them (and probably more) tomorrow! Thank you
"I invite literally half of the Senate to serve as my underlings"
In other news, hi Senate, ask away with any questions you may have, I'm more than happy to give non well thought out answers.
New Central Iowa
I formally decline the invitation to be Junior Deputy Chair.
With Obalostan's declination to serve as Junior Chair, I invite Snowflame to take up the position.
The Ambis, Obalostan
The Ambis, congratulations on your renomination; please tell us what you accomplished in your time as Home Affairs Minister.
Further, the Thaecian population has been declining rather rapidly (or at least was until very recently). I have seen, however, that many people have signed up to be recruiters recently. Have those people actually been recruiting and are recruitment numbers up? How are other forms of recruitment going, how many stamps do we have; and I heard there were some problems with API recruitment, have those been fixed?
Finally, how is engagement with the nations already in Thaecia going? Has the RMB been sufficiently active and what has the HA ministry been doing to increase that activity and to get people to join the discord?
Toerana V, you seem to have had a successful term as Minister of Culture, congratulations on that.
How has engagement been on the game nights, how many people have joined? I would also ask about regularity but it seems like you want to stick to the "every week" schedule this term so I guess the question isn't relevant, correct me if I'm wrong.
Apart from the game nights and Hunger Games, will there be anything more the Culture ministry will be involved in organising? More interregional festivals for instance? Or just anything really
EDIT: Also how has staffing been, have there been enough people to host the game nights?
Brototh, Toerana V, The Ambis
Post self-deleted by Sevae.
I would like to state to the Senate in the matter of the renomination of The Ambis, that Thaecia's almost continuous decline only ceased and the region began to stagnate around the 3rd March 2023, which is when I was (to my personal nation) very kindly gifted 15 000 telegram stamps by Of Altonianic Islands to use for recruitment for the region (which I have been doing now continuously for 2 weeks). I do not recall the Minister ever taking much action to resolve the decline situation- if he did, then it could not have been effective as it is clear from my personal usage of stamps that the what turned the region's recruitment around was the new usage of stamps. I also do not recall the Minister asking much for stamp donations: it was me that reached out to Of Altonianic Islands personally, and he instantaneously agreed to donate, so I must conclude the Minister did not ask around much- one would think he would discuss it with his obviously close friend the prior mentioned Alto.
I would like to hear from the Minister what it is that he will actually do this term: in his previous term, Thaecia went below 300 nations and reached her lowest member count since October 2020. He was not in office for the first 3 months and so I do not blame him for the declines then, but I do blame him for his inaction in resolving the future decline, as it was clear that the decline was easy enough to halt (as evidenced by the stamps I had sent out). I feel as though an excuse the Minister has used before is that all of NationStates is in a recruitment slump right now- and while this is partially true, it most certainly cannot be used as an excuse for our decline as, again, this could have been stopped much earlier.
~~
That concludes my question to the Minister, but as another word for the Senate when considering how to vote on this matter, I would like to raise the circumstances surrounding his nomination in the first place. As World Assembly Delegate he resigned to take up a position in the Prime Minister's government having become apparently bored with being WAD I assume, despite him claiming it was his initial dream job when joining Thaecia. How long is it now, before he becomes bored of serving as Minister of Domestic Affairs? His initial appointment was part of a rather backhanded move that seemed to be an attempt to elevate Cerdenia to the position of World Assembly Delegate to avoid an election- and it was an entirely scummy situation as a whole that has led to our Delegate's endorsement count falling from 120 to a new low of 93, a number on our Delegate I cannot recall seeing for greater than three years. Senators, I must request you to ask yourselves thusly: with his mishandling of recruitment in the region, shady circumstances to his first appointment, and resignation from the WA that lost us ~30 endorsements on our WA vote, is this who we wish to lead our region's domestic department for four months? I for one have not made up my mind yet, but I am most certainly considering these factors.
Sevae, Obalostan
Thank you for the questions Seva.
Before I answer them, I'd just like to say that I believe last term went well and was a success by all metrics. There are always things to improve on but the Ministry under my tenure has continued to strive forward, grow and take a greater and greater role in Thaecia as time progresses. I hope to continue this work throughout this term and beyond. For full transparency purposes, I will be sitting some very important end of year examinations during the latter half of the term, however this has already been discussed with the Prime Minister and I am confident that while it will impact my activity, it will not have a significant impact on the Ministry.
Question One: Participation varies wildly and is reliant on a multitude of factors. Our most reliable turnouts are our paradox games, which usually see 5ish of us turning up. Our free game nights are more hit and miss, one of the reasons I personally haven't pushed mid week game nights as much is because of their typical poor to non-existent turnout. It's an area I feel like we need to experiment more in, as I do very much believe we're at risk of narrowing down into one or two things and neglecting everything else. Regularity for game nights will continue to be weekly, but as with everything I'm always up for looking at widening the field.
Question Two: I have no intention or plans to initiate an interregional event going into this term. My focus has always been on Thaecia, but if a partner reaches out to the government I am happy to play my part, although I have historically not been involved in anything interregional Thaecia has done. As for larger scale events, all I can do at the moment is pay lip service to the idea. An in the works chess tournament fell through as its' host had to pull out due to real world obligations, and a potential DnD campaign has not shown any signs of progress unfortunately, leaving last term's only real larger scale event as the Thaecia Awards towards the start of the year, which I do believe were a resounding success. I would like to look into something a bit bigger but cannot promise anyone anything, namely something in the vein of a competition.
Question Three: We got hit fairly badly when Altys stepped back, particularly given his near single handed management of our Paradox nights and our Hunger Games, but I'm quite pleased to say that several members of the staff have stepped up to help fill gaps, notably Snall, Shadow (I do see you offering!!) and one of our most recent members of staff, Obalostan. While more staff is always better, I am not concerned about staffing at this current time. What I am concerned about is a lack of ideas, which is why what I need the most is for Thaecians to talk to the Ministry about what they want to see from it. My dms are always open, and if you're interested in just putting the idea out there then gaming or general are two channels I read practically habitually.
Last term cannot be attributed to me alone, over half a dozen individuals were active within the staff throughout last term at various points, but I think under my tenure for the past 8ish months the Ministry has been transformed from a relative afterthought in Thaecia to one of the pillars of our Executive Government and I hope to continue to push culture forward and keep making every new term the best one we've had yet.
No promises though
Sevae, The Ambis, Obalostan
Thanks for the detailed response! You have my vote
Toerana V
First off, yes, Thaecia is on a decline. It's easy enough to see either on the history page or through the population factbook I maintain. Yes, I do admit that the steepest drop happened around the same time I became a minister. What do I intend to do? A lot of the same, plus being slightly more aggressive, and reaching out to more people. I have API running at all times, and I managed to conscript several people to recruit. Marv and I are going to work on an incentive program for recruiting, which as soon as I get confirmed, I will start badgering him about. I'm envisioning some sort of RMB shoutout, along with some sort of award, which I will work with Marv, and perhaps other members of the government to accomplish.
First off, thank you for not blaming me for the first three months. But as to your thing about inaction - I'm confused. I was doing almost all I could. I got API running, I manually recruited before that, I sent out stamp calls, and I conscripted several others to recruit. I cannot force anyone to recruit. I can only incentivize them, which is something I will work on. Sunipi recently donated 8,000 stamps, which have been running. Alto also advised that he mainly ignores resident pings, which is something that Bow pointed out after I sent out my second stamp call through a mass TG. He recommended, and I intend to follow through, to DM people who have donated before, personally asking for stamps, and I will also ask people who I know to be active members. The goal this term for me is to reduce white noise and focus on specifically targeting people who I believe will help us.
Err, apologies, but when have I said this? I don't recall using this excuse. If I have, I apologize, but please, point it out to me.
I did not get bored. I've stated this several times. I think that my services to Thaecia can be better used in other places, besides just being an MP and doing WA recommendations, a thing at which I will admit I was never the best. You are correct in saying it was my dream job. It was hard giving it up, but after Pap's resignation I felt as though I could better utilize my skills and time that I have as the Domestic Affairs minister.
A very long time. If I do, I would simply ask the next PM to not nominate me. I promise right now that if I resign this term for non-IRL reasons (ie. family emergency, personal issues, etc.) I will donate 100,000 stamps. This is my promise to you all.
Yet, a number that you wanted lower? I tried to elevate Cerdenia to avoid a messy transition period. Was it my best moment ever? Absolutely not. I apologized later, and I do hope you all accepted that. But Cinema, one thing that facinates me is that you wanted a delegate with even lower endorsements. You DM'ed me, speaking as our FA minister, about comments I had made and now regret, that you wanted me to resign when Ray had only 10 more endorsements than Cerd, which would have been in the 80's. Should I have resigned that early? Probably not. But I think we were all eager to see Ray in his rightful place as the delegate. So Senators, while I do not deny that I went about it in the wrong way, please do keep in mind that Cinema did want the endo count lower.
How have I been mishandling it? I've stated before, I did all I could. Thank you. Now Seva, your turn!
Certainly! I first got all the dispatches updated within a week, something that past HAM's have slightly struggled with. I am running API recruitment, have put out stamp calls, and have recruited (ha!) many manual recruiters, as mentioned below.
You are correct. I've conscripted many people, and while they have not been the most active, I do intend to work on fixing this as one of the first things this term. To the second question, as I've mentioned, API is running, and for stamps, Alto donated 15,000 stamps to Cinema apparently, and, as I'm sure you saw, Sunipi donated 8,000 stamps to myself. Also, don't worry, all API issues have been fixed!
As for engagement, that's definitely something to work on. I intend to work with Bow (assuming he gets confirmed) to increase RMB activity. Because your second statement "to get people to join the discord" is folly in my opinion. Some people, like myself, either cannot, or choose not to, join the discord. This is OK, but we need to work on RMB engagement. So, yes. I intend to work with Bow on things to help engage.
One thing that I have been working on in the background, is rebooting education! I have a discord server created (which I would encourage you all to join, discord.gg/hky6GE3Ej4 ) and will be working on dispatches! If people know what to do, we should have less of an issue with engagement.
Thank you all for your questions, and I do hope that you will confirm me!
Sevae
Per the request of another Senator, I should inform the Senate that this is not something I have been asked about or reached out to about by Ambis, during their term or otherwise.
Brototh
As Toerana V states - https://www.nationstates.net/page=rmb/postid=51395466 -, you did not tell him that you intended to work with him on RMB engagement. Have you asked Marv either? Or 'other members of the government'. Also, you are already the Acting Minister now- why have you not begun badgering the Prime Minister already, or putting out messages in #cabinet or #domestic-affairs, or even privately asked the people you plan to work with? Your previous term hasn't ended yet- but we have already entered the Doctor Dolittle phase. Although to be fair- he can speak to animals, but I think the Minister has refrained from speaking to anyone on his plans. And how well have 'awards' worked in the past either: they have been tried, tested, and failed, for example my own incentive to endorse the Delegate through shoutouts and awards. They didn't work for something as simple as endorsing- if they work for manual recruitment I am prepared to be happily surprised. But I know that it doesn't have my confidence.
I responded to this statement last, but I develop later on some of the failures of the manual recruitment program, and how little you are actually telling us about your plans, and more about what you aim to do. Also- if it took an unsuccessful resident ping and unsuccessful two telegrams for you to not even realise that mass-media doesn't work for getting stamps, but instead to be told by others that you should try something else- you aren't doing anything near to 'almost all you could'. You tried the same thing at least 3 times and got no success out of it, and have not moved to another method yet but only 'intend to follow through' on. I would not call that seriously hard work.
I apologise; from checking, it appears to be Seva that said something along these lines (that NS was in a wider decline)- although maybe it is a little bit more concerning that there has been no excuse for what is going on in the region right now. I don't think anyone can disagree with that, really.
You can say that you did not get bored- but ultimately, you were elected by the Thaecian people to represent them in the World Assembly. You were enticed away with a job opportunity with different responsibilities that sounded more interesting than what you were doing at the time: that is pretty much the definition of being bored with your previous role and moving on to the next one.
And what is this supposed to be- a bribe of sorts? It wouldn't really fit the definition of a bribe- but I don't now what to call it otherwise. "I will give $100 if I resign"- what else can I read that as? Nobody is asking for your money- yes, we kindly ask for donations occasionally from members, but nobody is saying if you want to be DAM you have to make promises of giving money. This doesn't reassure me that you won't resign- it just worries me more, in other ways.
The fact that you are trying to convince me to vote in favour of your confirmation hearing by arguing with me and aiming to make me look perhaps poor or wrong in front of other Senators is just downright insulting. You are here to provide the merits of your skills and why you are the best person in the region for this job right now, and you seem to prefer to use the time to argue and fight. Will your time as DAM be spent more on fighting over recruitment than recruiting, too? It does not matter what I told you- in fact, I did not actually immediately contact you after Rayekka came 10 above Cerdenia, I did not contact you or discuss your resignation once that had occurred at all. You took the initiative yourself, without consulting me despite I am the one that has seemingly led you on to do this. And I think that your attempt to take responsibility for your bad judgement on an early resignation with 'I do not deny I went about it in the wrong way' is absolutely backhanded because you immediately go to attack me straight after. I am pretty upset that instead of taking responsibility for your one-man solo cowboy-style resignation, you prefer to fight me over it. You can dispute my facts and bring up that I had previously asked something different- using this confirmation hearing is
Evidently, 'all you could', has not been good enough, because it was my own personal actions that seem to have reversed the continuous decline. Surely if I have put the region into stagnation, the Domestic Affairs Minister should be able to turn that into growth, and no, I do not consider 10 nations in 15 days a true growth. You have absolutely mishandled this situation- 'all you could' has not been anywhere near effective enough. I want to hear your actual plans for the office, not just this bluster of 'I will engage people, and clear up white noise, and target people'. What does that actually mean? You have told me nothing about what you plan to do- all you have told me is what your aims are. How are we actually going to get to that state?
If you take a look at L.R.018 the source formatting has actually left two sections out of the article. Does the Minister know how to use spoilers? These two sections were evidently just copied and pasted in from a bill - I should know, I wrote that bill - without much careful examination as to where they went. I am pretty confident that this is an issue that arisen with the last update of the dispatch - I cannot recall seeing it beforehand. I also would not really call updating dispatches any kind of achievement- that is quite literally the bare minimum. Now running API recruitment is an accomplishment, putting out stamp calls that have seemingly not done that well, perhaps not one you would want to boast of, and recruiting manual recruiters that hardly recruit is not either.
Anyone can check the recruitment thread, there has been no recruitment in 2 days, then 40 minutes of recruitment, then one recruitment message the prior day (without any use of 'I cast t'- there has been seemingly no recruitment training for some recruiters), then none for 3 days (which was me, I was not recruited by Ambis- in fact I am the one who recently proposed updates to the recruitment TG, not the Minister), then one message 4 days before that, then no messages for 3 days. So all in all, that's about 12 days of no recruitment at all- and considering the low quantity of recruitment when there is any, about 2 weeks really missed. That's half of the Minister's term.
Because the last 4 iterations of the Education Ministry / Secretariat / etc., went so well, it is now a good idea to, in a time where we struggle to get people into the region in the first place, divert resources, manpower, and time, to folding the long-deceased Education arm of the government, into Domestic Affairs. I do not condemn the idea of educating newcomers to get them involved, it is a noble cause- I take issue with the fact that this has failed several times in the past, and it is a pretty proven fact that very few newcomers read reams and reams of information piled together into dispatches. Additionally, what are these dispatches? This is another classic case of being told what your aims are, not what your plans are.
~~
Additionally, I have realised I did not ask anything of the appointed Minister of Culture- I have no qualms with the nominee Toerana V whatsoever, he has run an excellent department over the past 4 months. I intend to vote in favour of his nomination.
i would like to ask Saltmore to serve as deputy shadow chair
Yes
You have a point. I will admit I forgot about the acting minister and should have clarified that I intended to ask Bow. That first part is on me. As for the incentives, you are correct, they have been finicky in the past, but I intend to work with the Prime Minister, in fact, I will send a DM once I finish responding here, on something that we think will work. Once I get confirmed, I will get my deputy minister involved. I intend to follow through with this, and if it doesn't work, I'll pivot, but it's better to try and have it fail.
First off, I apologize. I did not realize that you wanted a step-by-step plan. Had you asked, like you are now, I'll give it to you. Check the bottom of the post for a spoiler. Second, I was not "told by Alto" what to do. He simply gave advice on something he believed would work, coming from his perspective, and I thought it was smart. In my mind, there's quite a difference. Also, I have not followed through on it because he suggested it last night. I was awake very late the night before and needed sleep. I have been busy all day today, though I did manage to find time to respond here. So I do not think that it is an entirely fair assessment.
It's because there is no excuse. I don't disagree with that. I am incredibly alarmed at the state of our region and have been running API, conscripting new recruiters, and using stamps sent to me. I am incredibly thankful for everyone's hard work, especially yours for making some small tweaks to our template.
This is true. I did not view it in this way. There's nothing really I can say except I apologize and assure you this will not happen.
This isn't a bribe. It's a promise. By putting an incentive on the line, it gives me a reason to not resign, and if I do, it also gives some benefit to Thaecia.
I'm not arguing. Simply stating a fact. You have a point that you did not follow up on it, but I am just letting the Senators know the facts.
As mentioned, I will put the plans below. Also, any amount of new nations can be considered growth.
I- you're right. Apologies. I didn't realize I forgot to put it into the spoiler. Also, yes, I do just copy+paste from the source dispatch, unless I can't get the [raw] form. It takes less time, and allows for me to do more things. I evidently skipped over that when reviewing it. It should be fixed now. Again, sorry about that.
You are correct that some have not been thoroughly trained. This is a mistake on my part. I don't get your point about not being recruited by me. You were already an active recruiter. Also, about the recruitment TG, after a discussion not long back, we made slight tweaks, and no one brought it to my attention that it needed further updating. To your point about little to no active recruiting, I am, as stated, running an API telegram, so recruitment is always going on in the background.
If it becomes clear that it is not working, I will abandon it. It will not take much effort on anyone's part. Only the occasional lesson in the discord when asked for it, and writing dispatches and compiling them. But if it is not working then the discord server will be discontinued, as I see no reason to take down the dispatches. Again, I was not aware you needed a step by step process, but here you are:
[spoiler=Ministry Plans]
DM Marv about incentives / DM people about stamp donations
Continue to pester Marv
Set up incentives
Run them through some people (my deputy, Alto, You, Bow, maybe Altys)
Announce them to the region
Make a thorough guide on how to manually recruit using Dot. (Andy has a fantastic onsite one that I see no need to change)
Continue to run API
Talk with Bow on regional engagement
Make sure people are recruiting, and give pokes daily if not.
Run incentives in the background
Make sure all dispatches are updated
Rinse and repeat![/spoiler]
[spoiler=Education Plans]
Announce the server to the world
Get people on
Try to get some teachers
Set up courses
Make a dispatch hub for education (using Dep Admin Account)
Make dispatches for all courses
Advertise them (add to Thaecia simplified, ask Zon to mention it in his welcome post, etc)
Continue![/spoiler]
Cinema, at the end of the day, I cannot force you to vote for me. If you choose not to, I understand. But please, I know I may not have done the best job, but I can improve, and I will get better. That's what life is about. So do consider it. Thank you. Unless any more comments/ questions are directed at me, I'll let you all vote. My DM's are open if you have private questions, and give me a ping here. I can't guarantee I'll see them and respond to them immediately, but I will try. Thank you all.
Post by Of Altonianic Islands suppressed by Brototh Forniseimeda.
Hi, my name is being mentioned a lot and I'm sorry to butt in.
Ambis has expanded manual recruitment and Sunipi sent 8 thousand stamps to Ambis, so Brototh taking all the credit for the reversal is a bit iffy in my opinion.
As I stated in my PM campaign, the recruitment issue is hard and multifaceted, with numerous different problems to solve.
In chatting with Ambis, I likened it to a Treasury minister presiding over a recession.
You can't just "fix" a recession with one action, and I think Brototh is confusing causation and correlation. Yes, those 15 thousand stamps that I donated almost certainly helped, but it's not like Ambis did nothing, and I'd like to see actual posted recruitment numbers from the Madame Senator before I give full credit to her.
At the end of the day, Ambis is the current HAM in a long line of god awful mismanagers. While recruitment might be down, he's trying to fix it and he's active. All dispatches are kept updated. Things are relatively well oiled.
I must ask who the Madame Senator thinks would be better before she attempts to sink the nomination. If she can offer up a nominee the Prime Minister can successfully convince to take the job who would be better, that would be a far better starting place then simply tearing Ambis to shreds for something that isn't his fault in the same way a recession isn't usually the fault of the Treasury minister.
Carry on and try not to shout loud enough the MPs can hear you over in the House of Commons
o7
The Ambis
Of Altonianic Islands you were not authorised to speak on this floor. If you wanted to have something to say then you should have had a Senator sponsor you on the RMB. If you were sponsored I cannot see it anywhere. You raise interesting points but I have absolutely no reason to reply to you because you really have just butted in. If I give you leave to speak here then anyone has permission to speak here. Seriously, if you want to debate, you have pretty good reason to get sponsored because your name keeps getting mentioned.
But this is a Senate for people who have been elected to it. You have not. You are not welcome here without permission.
I will respond to two comments made by the intruding MP:
1. It is not anyone here's responsibility to state who would be better, who would be a greater nominee. That is the responsibility of the PM. The responsibility of Senators is to vet said nominees and decide whether or not they are the correct person for the position as nominated. Insofar this debate has been conducted, The Ambis has not provided me with that reassurance. It is not my problem to find who is the best, nor any other Senator's- that is the responsibility of the Prime Minister alone. If he wishes to ask for my advice, I will give it to him, but I am not here to debate who the PM should pick- he was elected to do the picking, I was elected to do the vetting.
2. I will post recruitment numbers. I used two telegrams as the template was updated:
First telegram;
12,198 Delivered
- 843 Read (6.91%)
- 19 Recruits (conversion rate: 0.85%)
Second telegram (with the changes that I suggested);
2,224 Delivered
- 198 Read (8.90%)
- 19 Recruits (conversion rate: 0.85%)
25 Queued
1,065 Waiting for Recipient
Additionally, I feel as though there is not much conversation going on beside myself and the nominee for Domestic Affairs, and there is not much else he has posted that I intend to reply to, so Senators, we will begin voting on the nominees now.
Please state the name of the nominee, then what your vote is.
The nominees are:
- Minister of Domestic Affairs The Ambis
- Minister of Culture Toerana V
My votes are:
The Ambis - Abstain
Toerana V - Aye
[spoiler=Senators]Brototh [FREE]
New Central Iowa [PHX]
Obalostan [IND]
Saltmore [ALT]
Santa Marana [FREE]
Sevae [PHX]
Snowflame [FREE][/spoiler]
My votes are:
The Ambis - Aye
Toerana V - Aye
Aye
Nay
Toerana V - Aye
Alright, with that out of the way, let me comment on The Ambis' and Cinema's discussion. It does seem like both have their own good points. Let's start with the obvious one - whatever Ambis did as WA delegate has nothing to do with the current situation. If he was being elected WA delegate I would definitely be sceptical whether he can commit to a full term. Now, however, he's in a different position and his answers aren't letting me doubt that he can serve a full term (or we can recall him). Also, his awful handling of the resignation and resigning way too early and costing us endorsements also has to do with the position of WA delegate and not Domestic Affairs Minister. He's as much at fault as the voters who decided to elect someone who had a very low endorsement count.
Next to the question of who can be credited with somewhat stabilising our population (although it still decreased from 312 to 283 since the start of Ambis' term). First of all, Cinema has interfered in the work of the ministry by making all recruiters register with her. While it may have been good policy I have no idea why she was the one to take action. On the other hand, Ambis didn't take any action which paints him in a bad light. It seems like Ambis hasn't been a strong enough leader and has let other people interfere with his work, and that concerns me a lot. In reality, population itself isn't that good of a metric, the number of telegrams sent is (manual and the fact that we should at all times be running API and stamps, ideally from the same nation).
About other comments, Ambis seems to have suggested default retention ideas that haven't really worked in the past. That said, I have seen nobody suggest better ideas, and there may not be anyone with those ideas.
In any case, I'm not convinced by Ambis' answers but I do think he has potential and passion to work as the minister.
I will vote for but I want Ambis to provide unofficial updates about the ministry's state every 2 weeks, and if he fails to do so or I'm not satisfied, I'll be introducing motions to recall him according to Constitution Article III Section IV Sub-section II.
The Ambis - Aye
The Ambis
Ambis - Aye
Toerana V - Aye
Aye to both nominees
Senators, we are now undertaking the confirmation hearings of the appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs Brototh and the appointed Minister of Defence Snowflame.
Senators should use this time to voice their approval/concerns with the nominees and/or ask questions of the nominee.
As always, the nominees are permitted to speak on the Senate floor during this time. Prime Minister Marvinville is invited to comment on his nominees.
Within the vote period, myself and Snowflame will automatically abstain on our own votes, as is required by the Constitution.
[spoiler=Senators]
Brototh [FREE]
New Central Iowa [PHX]
Obalostan [IND]
Saltmore [ALT]
Santa Marana [FREE]
Sevae [PHX]
Snowflame [FREE][/spoiler]
Snowflame
I would like to thank the Senate for welcoming here today. I wanted to quickly make an opening statement so that you all may ask any questions that you want.
[Spoiler=Experience]My experience: Although I'm sure most senators know, there are some newer ones who do not know my background with R/D. I have been a known member of The Black Hawks since around 2018, having served on TBH leadership for about 2 years. In doing so, I have achieved the rank of Major, one of the highest ranks in the military behind colonel and general. I have led occupations and large-scale raids, amongst many others things.
In Thaecia, I attended raid and occupations whenever I was able to, and have been promoted to officer and later Polemarchos. Needless to say, I have more experience with this topic than the average person.[/spoiler]
[Spoiler=Plans]My primary focus for the military will be to rebuild it. There are many aspects of it that I believe are outdated and I believe with my R/D experience, I can establish some newer reforms.
These reforms mainly consist of revamping how we train new soldiers. I believe a new set of training guides that detail the unaligned nature of Thaecia's military is what we need in order to garner enthusiasm amongst new Thaecians who may not know what R/D is. What we need is to create a document that describes how to raid and defend, give a quick quiz/rundown to the recruit, and then give them practical experience. We need to make the training process as engaging as possible and as interactive as possible, and its something's officers would very much be encouraged to help out with.
I will also be stepping up recruitment efforts. I haven't seen the military advertised as much as I would like. In R/D operations, usually the same people are participating. This needs to greatly improve, and so I will be really stepping up efforts to recruit.[/spoiler]
Now, let's discuss the obvious topic that normally comes up whenever I go for a position similar to this: My role in The Black Hawks.
It is true that I'm a raider, I'm pretty open about that. Most people who have participated in R/D for years have a bias, but my focus as MoD is rebuilding Thaecia's unaligned military, not creating a raider military. I want to make R/D fun and more accessible to members of Thaecia who want to participate. As a raider for many years, I believe that R/D is one of the best aspects of Nationstates, and I want to rebuild the military so that others can participate.
New Central Iowa
BREAKING NEWS SNOWFLAME SAYS HE WILL LIBERATE!!!!
Toerana V, New Central Iowa
i would agree with snow here, as a member of the thaecian military, R/D is indeed an important aspect of Nationstates, if not one of the most important aspects of nationstates, although i do not know quite what snow means by rebuilding the military, as it is already effective, and fun to participate in, if you (Snow) could give some examples of what you noticed that needs fixed, then i may agree with you.
Thank you for sponsoring me Honourable Chairperson Senator Brototh (II)
I have a question of critical importance for the Nominee for Minister of Defence:
Why do you hate natives?
The Second Question I have to ask is as follows:
What position(s) do you currently hold in the Black Hawks or any other R/D organisation, and if you hold any do you intend to maintain those positions during your tenure?
The Third and Final Question is:
TSP?
1. I like natives! They're cool😁
2. Aside from Thaecia and TBH, I'm in no other R/D organizations. In The Black Hawks, I am a council advisor, if you even consider that a position since in practice the role doesnt do anything of importance. And yes, I do intend to maintain said position during my tenure.
3. Anything specific about TSP? Loll
I didnt disagree that the military wasnt fun. My point was that a few aspects of it are outdated, such as a well-developed training guide, which is something you can see in any bigger region with an established military. Not to mention that in terms of numbers, the military isn't doing as good as it can. As I mentioned prior, many R/D operations consist of the same few Thaecians, which maybe a few newer ones, but we could be doing so much better in that aspect, which is why I plan on stepping up recruitment. I also hope to step up in the amount of operations we conduct to improve activity.
Toerana V, New Central Iowa
I haven't been asked anything at all, so I will just say that we have about 3 regions we are currently pursuing closer relationships with. For privacy I can't say much else in this public forum, but we aim to develop closer relationships with our friends and allies over the coming few weeks and months, to a greater extent than we have ever successfully done so before. The goal of the coming 4 months is to put Thaecia back hard on the international map in all aspects foreign and military. It's not incorrect to say Thaecia has been in a decline, and that's true in all aspects, population, domestic, and although I consider the FA's work in dealing with these problems as very successful, let's not kid ourselves- we have had a pretty inactive army for some time and that puts a big dent in FA. We have been low on manpower due to recruitment, but the goals for the coming few weeks especially are to pull closer with our allies in tough times for many of us.
Senators, we will begin voting on the nominees now.
Please state the name of the nominee, then what your vote is.
The nominees are:
- Minister of Foreign Affairs Brototh
- Minister of Defence Snowflame
My votes are:
Brototh - Abstain
Snowflame - Aye
[spoiler=Senators]Brototh [FREE]
New Central Iowa [PHX]
Obalostan [IND]
Saltmore [ALT]
Santa Marana [FREE]
Sevae [PHX]
Snowflame [FREE][/spoiler]
I had no questions unfortunately so here's my votes:
Brototh - Aye
Snowflame - Abstain
Aye to both candidates
Sorry, didn't ask any questions because I don't really see any alternatives to the two candidates right now
Brototh - Aye, Snowflame - Abstain
Nay
Aye
aye
aye - i like the way snow is thinking.
Aye to Brototh.
Abstain to me obviously
Both nominees are confirmed.
Brototh:
5-1-1-0
Snowflame:
4-0-3-0
Senators, we are now undertaking the confirmation hearing of the appointed Minister of Communications Santa Marana.
Senators should use this time to voice their approval/concerns with the nominees and/or ask questions of the nominee.
As always, the nominee is permitted to speak on the Senate floor during this time. Prime Minister Marvinville is invited to comment on his nominee.
[spoiler=Senators]
Brototh [FREE]
New Central Iowa [PHX]
Obalostan [IND]
Saltmore [ALT]
Santa Marana [FREE]
Sevae [PHX]
Snowflame [FREE][/spoiler]
Is a hot dog a sandwich? The answer to this question will completely determine my vote.
Thank you once again Brototh for allowing me to larp as a Senator
Santa Marana, first of all congratulations on your appointment, now it's question time
1. You were one of the founding members of TNN, Thaecia News Network. With Ttyxious stepping back from the role of Minister, do you intend to continue the podcast, and if so could you lay out your plans for it for us?
2. The Thaecian Tribune is a famously tricky beast, it published once and has not published since. Do you have any plans for the Tribune or do you intend to leave it in its currents state?
3. When you look back on your term in 4 months, how will you know if it was a "success" or not? I.E. What are you hoping to achieve
I would like to say that while I am not a Senator, Santa does have my support as Communications has a solid staff and Santa has a track record of activity in the Executive. I am looking forward to seeing what their term will accomplish.
1. I do wish to continue with the Service. I aim to run weekly programs and interviews which provide a full description of the weeks happenings. But overall, I do wish to get the service fully operational and producing content as soon as possible.
2. I am always open to ideas on what to do with it. If nobody wishes to take it on it will remain in it's current dormant state.
3. I hoping to keep the Ministry steadily running just as it has been over the last term. I personally think i've inherited a well organized and well run Ministry from Green who I personally will miss working with. If the Ministry is still going steadily in 4 months I will be pleased with my work.
Toerana V
Senators, we will begin voting on the nominee now.
There is only one nominee so you only need to state your vote.
The nominee is:
- Minister of Communications Santa Marana
My vote is Aye
[spoiler=Senators]Brototh [FREE]
New Central Iowa [PHX]
Obalostan [IND]
Saltmore [ALT]
Santa Marana [FREE]
Sevae [PHX]
Snowflame [FREE][/spoiler]
Abstain
Aye
Santa Marana
Aye
Santa Marana
Nay
Aye
Santa Marana
aye
The nominee is confirmed.
5-1-1-0
We are now debating this bill, the Recall Requirements Reduction Act https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1853246
I sponsored it and I also support it, I think lowering the requirements makes our system more democratic (because it increases accountability) and efficient because recall petitions won't be prone to being a waste of time on the recaller's side
The Ambis
From my point of view, I do also see this "Recall Requirements Reduction Act", progression towards a more democratic system. So therefore, I will also support this new bill.
This bill is a clear and obvious fix to the recall problems we have been having; furthermore it provides a better essence of direct democracy by giving the people more say in their representatives while not actually installing direct democracy. This is all around good, I have not much to comment.
Senators, we are now voting on the Recall Requirements Reduction Act. Assuming all Senators vote, the bill requires five (5) votes to pass rather than four (4) as it is a Constitutional amendment. https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1853246
My vote is Aye
[spoiler=Senators]
Brototh [FREE]
New Central Iowa [PHX]
Obalostan [IND]
Saltmore [ALT]
Santa Marana [FREE]
Sevae [PHX]
Snowflame [FREE][/spoiler]
aye
Aye
Aye
Aye
Aye
aye
The above bill has passed 7-0-0-0.
Senators, we are now debating the following bill.
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1826563
I intend to submit amendments.
[spoiler=Senators]
Brototh [FREE]
New Central Iowa [PHX]
Obalostan [IND]
Saltmore [ALT]
Santa Marana [FREE]
Sevae [PHX]
Snowflame [FREE][/spoiler]
Apologies for the delay. I will submit this amendment and begin voting on it at the same time- it is pretty uncontroversial.
[spoiler=Amendment A]Removes Article I, renumbers following content appropriately.[/spoiler]
The reasoning for this is that the House of Commons is currently doing a bill that does the same thing (plus a little extra). If they pass that, this article is useless, if they reject it, they won't pass this article either. The only difference between this bill and the House bill is that this bill would retain the Senate's right to veto an operation- but they wouldn't know about the operation beforehand, so it is still redundant imo. Either way, the House looks poised to reject any deregulation of the military, so retaining this is a waste of time.
Senators, we are now voting on the above Amendment A.
My vote is Aye
[spoiler=Senators]
Brototh [FREE]
New Central Iowa [PHX]
Obalostan [IND]
Saltmore [ALT]
Santa Marana [FREE]
Sevae [PHX]
Snowflame [FREE][/spoiler]
Aye.
Abstain
Aye
aye
aye
The amendment has passed by a vote of 5-0-1-1
Senators, we are now voting on the bill as amended.
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1860734
My vote is Aye
[spoiler=Senators]
Brototh [FREE]
New Central Iowa [PHX]
Obalostan [IND]
Saltmore [ALT]
Santa Marana [FREE]
Sevae [PHX]
Snowflame [FREE][/spoiler]
aye
Assembled with Dot's Region Saver.
Written by Refuge Isle.