New government to be sworn in on VIDEO LIVESTREAM

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

It is my great pleasure to announce that, after discussions with the Head of State King John and with PengöTimes honcho Munditenens Tresplet, we have made tentative arrangements that my swearing-in as the 38th Seneschál of the Kingdom of Talossa will take place on video livestream on Tuesday 30th April, Talossan time. I'm sure Dien will fill in the details when they're worked out.

I hope to give a short speech indicating the priorities of the incoming government while I'm at it. Hope you're all watching.

(P.S. I will be the third Seneschál of the Talossan Republic to rise to the same rank in the Kingdom, and the first former President.)

[Gödafrïeu Válcadác’h]

Too cool... I've no idea if I will be able to tune in live, but I hope it will be recorded.

[Ián Tamorán S.H.]

Am I correct in assuming that "Talossan Time" here, so far refers only to the date, and not the clock time? Since I don't have the whole of the 30th, through its whole 24 hours (*) free, to wait, watching my screen, I trust that a clock time will be published?

(*) 50 hours and 2 seconds ... but I'm in a minority here 

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

The stream will be recorded.

We're still sorting out the time, but it will be Tuesday evening Talossan standard time = Tuesday quite late European time.

[Munditenens Tresplet]

I'm pleased to announce that we have a time:

The swearing in ceremony and speech to follow will take place at 5 PM TST on Tuesday.
(The stream itself will be up at 4 PM TST if you want to come early and hang out.)

Same link as always: live.pengotimes.com

The stream will be recorded, and I'm giving myself a deadline of no more than a week to make it available on our archive. Along those same lines, our election night coverage stream featuring the Talossan Music Top 20 will be posted later today or tomorrow, so you can rewatch and relive all the dramatic moments of the election results.

[Lüc da Schir]

The ceremony will begin shortly! Head on to live.pengotimes.com to catch it.

[Lüc da Schir]

The Prime Minister and Cabinet have just been appointed live. Congratulations to all! Miestra currently giving her speech.

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

COMPLETE TEXT OF THE SENESCHÁL'S INAUGURAL SPEECH

Voastra Maxhestà; estimadas és estimats cüncitaxhiêns Talossáes, és toct I amici da Talossa circüm el mundeu. Eu voi gráiteu sür aceasta ziua auspicaval és þistoric.

Your majesty; esteemed fellow Talossan citizens, and all the friends of Talossa worldwide. I greet you on this auspicious and historic day.

It is sometimes said that if you sit by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will come floating down it. Or, to put it slightly less gruesomely, persistence is the key to success. It is now 22 years since I found the website of the Kingdom of Talossa and applied for citizenship with a letter entitled, if I remember right, “New meat to be browned on Talossa’s grill.”

It is slightly less than 22 years since the Uppermost Court rejected my application for Talossan citizenship, because I was too mouthy, confrontational and full of ideas for King Robert I; upon which a couple of my closest Talossan allies resigned in protest, and together we formed the Free Commonwealth of Penguinea as an alternative micronation. It was fun while it lasted.

It is 15 years since the mighty events of Calondâ Gün, the first of June 2004, in which a much larger secession of Talossan citizens rejected the increasingly bullying and tyrannical regime of King Robert I and founded the Talossan Republic; with which I threw my lot in, becoming its first Seneschál, and its last President.

It is just over 7 years since Reunision, when Kingdom and Republic joined together as one again. You may have seen the King wearing the sash which was made by Audrada Roibeardét for the President of the Republic, and which I wore before him. That’s almost an overdose of appropriate symbolism.

I’ve just done the mathematics in my head, and I realise that I have actually spent half my life on this Earth as a Talossan, or as part of a “Talossan diaspora”. You may have your own thoughts on whether this is persistence, or some variety of mental illness.

Anyway; when I came around Talossa the first time, my good friend and political ally Adiêns Glaça was Secretary of State. He told me that King Robert I offered him the Seneschálsqåb, back in the day when the King’s party had a guaranteed absolute majority and that office was in the power of the King to give. My friend declined the offer, saying he wanted to achieve the office by his own efforts. In retrospect, that profession of a naïve belief that anyone could happen in KR1’s Talossa which KR1 didn’t make happen was an efficient way to make an enemy of the King.

Today, though, I stand before you as proof that this is now possible. I was painted as an enemy of Talossa – and later, as an enemy of the Kingdom of Talossa, which some would try to tell you was the same thing – for 15 years. I was smeared, I was outed, I was queer-baited and trans-baited, I was satirised, I was declared to be political anathema. Nevertheless, I persisted.

Though I still describe myself as a Talossan Republican, and am proud of what we achieved from 2004-2012, I have not always been so. The question of the Talossan monarchy has for me always been subservient to the question of political and cultural democracy – whether Talossa will always be what it was under King Robert I, a personal possession of one person to shape according to his whims; or whether it belongs to all of its people, as a collective work of art as well as a thriving democratic community. My government’s platform is that very platform, which is also the platform of my party, the Free Democrats of Talossa – that of political and cultural democracy. And if we can achieve that without necessarily having to abolish the institution of the Monarchy, then that will truly be – as the old Republican slogan had it – daring something worthy. I acknowledge and respect Talossa’s head of state, the King, and look forward to building a strong working relationship with him.

It now remains to give a brief summary of what the people of Talossa can expect from their Government over the next eight months.

As a symbol of our commitment to democracy, the new Government will prioritise setting up a new national web forum, to replace the current “Wittenberg XI” which is owned and operated by the King. This forum will follow rules for civilised debate, set by, enforced by, and adjudicated upon by the authorities designated by Talossan law. It will truly be “our forum”.

This will, however, only be the beginning of a re-organisation of Talossa’s web presence. We will organise new, less expensive webhosting, and subsequently rationalise our national websites. We will also make a priority of better exploitation of social media, to keep in touch with all Talossan citizens, prospective citizens, our friends and the wider world. I hope to explore the possibility of a regular Talossan News Blog, briefly summarising important developments, so that less-frequently-active citizens don’t get left behind, also operating as the first draft of history.

La precedença cultural top da va governamaintsch serà l'útzil del glheþ Talossan. 'N naziun sînc glheþ c'e'n naziun sînc coraziun. El glheþ esteva viensa dals cosas qi me atractevent à Talossa pirmeis, ja pü qe vaintsch ars; mas l'útzil dað ár glheþ naziunal tent trascurat. C'e'n bain da nhoua dove l'estrambord dels noveux citaxhiéns füt contenescu par l'ignhaveschaziun es l'obstrucziun dels vells. Ár organ uficial per el glheþ, la CÚG, tent ceßat àð existar àð ingen façiun piensençal; es els Ladintschen pü xhovaes füvent reprimençeschti cadascu fäts q'os tiennent atentat à remplaçar-en. Acest governamaintsch sta teßeradamînt pa la sida d'acestilor qi volent úçar el glheþ. Per aceasta raziun, noi reformarhent eda remplaçarhent la CÚG es zonarhent àls Ladintschen actuais la libertà es l'auþorità à fináliçar dals reformaziuns dal speliçaziun es reviénar àð parlar es scríuar à fäts ár bela glheþ.

My government's top cultural priority will be the use of the Talossan language. A nation without a language is a nation without a heart. Language was one of the things which drew me to Talossa in the first place, more than 20 years ago; but the use of our national language has decayed. This is another area where the enthusiasm of new citizens has been held back by the inactivity and obstruction of the old. Our official language body, the CÚG, has ceased to exist in any meaningful sense; and younger Talossan-speakers have been slapped down every time they have tried to replace it. This Government stands squarely on the side of those who want to use the language. We will therefore reform or replace the CÚG and give actual Talossan-speakers the freedom and authority to finalise spelling reforms and to get back to actually speaking and writing in our beautiful tongue.

Finding more economic webhosting is only one of the ways in which the new Government pledges to minimise or eliminate the Budget deficit. We also will explore options for increasing revenue, including "voluntary taxation" – that is, calling for donations from patriotic citizens - investments to produce passive income. We also hope to open another round of Cultural Development grants, limited to an affordable total sum.

The new Government will create a plan to not only increase immigration, but to increase engagement and activity in Talossa by new immigrants, and even to attract inactive citizens back to activity. The foreshadowed revival of the New Citizens’ Council is one step towards that.

As to foreign policy, we intend to continue the policy of the previous government. We will continue to investigate serious, "like minded" "micronations" that are currently active and to evaluate the potential risks and benefits associated with various forms of diplomatic contacts with such nations. We will attempt to increase our visibility in the micronational world., and move towards a leadership stance in founding of an International diplomatic body for legitimate micronational states similar to the U.N.

Finally, the new Government will prioritise removing any legislative, social or institutional roadblocks to activity and participation in Talossa. We will not tolerate those who can't or won't act, having a veto over those who can and will.

We recognize, of course, that one roadblock to activity has been the nastiness of political debate in Talossa. Let me be quite clear: I am totally in favour of debate, in the sense where good-faith Talossan citizens who disagree with each other engage in point and counterpoint in order to persuade a majority of their case. I am not in favour of personal abuse, the politics of smear and demagoguery, the politics of trying to make your opponent give up in disgust or to drive a certain stream of opinion out of the Kingdom altogether. All I can tell people is that anything that you’ve seen in the last 10 years in Talossa is a tea party compared to the culture which prevailed under King Robert I, which could be compared to an abusive marriage or even a mind-control cult. But Talossa survived.

If we need proof that anything is possible in our ImagiNation, I present to you the prospect of Miestra Schiva working as Seneschál under King John. So let’s united as a nation to make it work.

¡Sa vivadra Talossa! ¡Sa vivadra Talossa liverada! ¡Sa vivadra Talossa democrätic!

[King John]

Thank you, Miestra! That was an awesome speech. I very much look forward to working with you. Sa vivadra Talossa, indeed.

— John R

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

Very nice :-)

[Lüc da Schir]

The livestream just ended. If you missed it, and the discussion that came after (and Dien calling me the Ron Paul of the Senate), we hope to have VODs available soon.

In the meantime, why not consider donating to PengoTimes TV? All donations will go towards the cost of running the stream -- and you'll get to take home some neat custom commemorative poker chips. Visit live.pengotimes.com to learn more. Any amount is welcome.

[Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă]

I misinterpreted what TST time meant in my time zone so I missed it!

[Gödafrïeu Válcadác’h]

Apr 30, 2019 17:21:11 GMT -6 Lüc da Schir said:

The livestream just ended. If you missed it, and the discussion that came after (and Dien calling me the Ron Paul of the Senate), we hope to have VODs available soon.

In the meantime, why not consider donating to PengoTimes TV? All donations will go towards the cost of running the stream -- and you'll get to take home some neat custom commemorative poker chips. Visit live.pengotimes.com to learn more. Any amount is welcome.

Above link takes me to this thread. I was unable to watch the livestream, and I hope I can download it from somewhere. :-)

[Lüc da Schir]

Apr 30, 2019 21:21:06 GMT -6 Gödafrïeu Válcadác’h said:

Above link takes me to this thread.

Apparently Proboards have changed the handling of url tags in BBCode. I've fixed the link now.

I was unable to watch the livestream, and I hope I can download it from somewhere. :-)

The video will be made available in the coming week.

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

HAY U GUIZE, what's the ETA on putting up the recording of this?