Liberty Democratic AllianceBoard

🌹 The Region That Has No Big Banks 🌹
Regional Constitution 〣 Regional Parties 〣 Regional Legislation 〣 Roleplay Map 〣 Regional History 〣 Regional Parliament 〣 Regional Forum 〣 Regional Seals 〣 News and Updates 〣 WFE Archives 〣 Endotarting Initiative

---

New to NationStates? Check this guide out!〣Want to get involved in the community and chat with us? Join our Discord Server!〣Interested in Regional Politics? Register for our Parliament and Join the WA!

April 1st, 2024
Thirteenth Edition
Edited by Mjau

1: Tearful Resignation
Authored by the Cabinet, Fact

Recently, we the Cabinet have been feeling tired. TRTHNBB has developed greatly recently, but this has sapped us of all energy, leaving us in a constant state of miserably defeat and lack of motivation, even for in-real-life ordeals. It’s been a great run, but all too weakening and laborious. The entire cabinet will resign today. What’s next for TRTHNBB? The residents can decide within themselves, as Yodle will be resigning as well.

We can all say that NationStates has helped us develop our leadership skills, work ethic, and charisma (believe it or not), and has even made us friends along the way. NationStates is a fun and sizeable hobby or game, but it’s just too hard to keep going, we’ve worn ourselves to a shadow. The responsibilities and deadlines are simply too much when paired without our already busy lives, there’s only so much human beings can accomplish simultaneously, without being filled too full and bursting.

We’re friends with all of you, feel free to contact us at your heart’s content via our Discord, we will still be active there. Some of us may continue to answer telegrams, but many of us are abandoning NationStates as a whole. Best wishes to TRTHNBB and all of NationStates. Quick note, make sure to check the date of this article, and we hope we fooled you! We promise the next article will be more serious.

-The Cabinet

Related: April Fools Day
Original: Above

2: Big Banks Take Over
Authored by The Washington Federation, Fact

In a recent raid organized by regions associated with JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and various others, the regional government would be overthrown, with the joint conglomerate proclaiming The Region That Is A Big Bank (TRTIABB). Regional natives would be forced into exile as a hyper-capitalistic frontier would begin to form.

Fortunately, the defenders would undertake liberation efforts to restore the native government, called Operation April. After several days of vying for control, the liberators would be victorious in their efforts, being praised by the regional natives who would reinhabit the region. Never again will the big banks be able to take over our fair region.

Related: April Fools Day

3: State of the Region Adress - Spring 2024
Authored by The Washington Federation, Opinion

Members of the esteemed regional parliament, you have been brought here today in what can be considered a peculiar circumstance up to this point. Rather than being gathered to commence another standard parliamentary session, this is instead the first State of the Region address, where I, as your Prime Minister, will recall all that has occurred throughout the winter season, along with what is to come. This address will be documented, as the regional public will be able to readily access this address through the Social Reformer initiative. Now then, with that being said…

(Government): Fellow citizens of this fair region with no big banks, I would like to start off this address by celebrating the new administration in their work so far. Mjau, my deputy as well as the first minister of communications, has been active in his work in the executive, helping bring new faces into the government. That’s where our newly-appointed minor officers, Western Arba Fir, The Kaverian, and Vordoslavia have come in, working within the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Culture respectively.

(Legislature): In regards to the legislature, the revival of the parliament has gone without a hitch, especially with America the Greater, our Speaker of Parliament, at the helm. In the time since he was elected speaker in late November, he has brought consistent activity to the halls of parliament, with six sessions worth of bills having been passed, consisting of nine new laws being enacted, with the rest relating to either amendments, repeals, or titles. Including the speaker, we currently have twenty-four voting members of parliament (MPs), fourteen of which currently represent political parties. Given that the parliament is open to willing citizens, this statistic can fluctuate.

Along with that, we’ve recently had our first veto, against an amendment that deceptively sought to remove the executive’s power to veto amendments by framing it as a textual discrepancy. Though it is quite a landmark moment for parliament in itself, it would turn out to be quite controversial given how it was initially carried out. Despite that, the result was seven votes in favor of overturning the veto, and nine votes opposed, thus the veto was upheld due to not reaching a three-quarters majority. As the one to carry out the veto, I would like to clarify that this is the first instance of a veto in The Region That Has No Big Banks’ modern history (post-2020), thus how the process was to be carried out was uncertain given that Article XII is somewhat vague in terms of said process. Should other vetoes be carried out in the future, expect a more streamlined affair.

(Foreign Affairs): Other than that, we have had sweeping reforms to our foreign affairs sector under New United Common-lands’ ministry, loosening embassy ties with regions that weren’t actively involved within the community of the region. We have also officially sent out ambassadors to other regions, all falling within the range of small to medium-sized in terms of population. In what we see as a diplomatic achievement, we’ve also established ties with some game-created regions (G.C.R.’s), establishing embassies with Lazarus and The South Pacific. A couple of these game-created regions also joined us in the face of nuclear warfare (N-Day), those being the Rejected Realms and the aforementioned South Pacific. We’ve also had unofficial partnerships with a few of the other Pacific regions through chess tournaments and gatherings involving the “Civilization” games.

In other news, in an incident from January, we cut ties with the region known as Gravy, under the “Third Gravy Republic” at this time, due to homophobic incidents that were allegedly encouraged by their regional administration at the time, most present in their regional Discord server. Krayo29 and Puttt, former citizens of Gravy, would immigrate into the region as whistleblowers, being the main catalyst that would lead to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs making this decision. A government investigation had confirmed the region to create a hostile environment for LGBTQ+ nations. The region would soon find itself diplomatically isolated due to its misdeeds toward the LGBTQ+ community on the site.

(Domestic Affairs): Carrying on, let’s get to the domestic side of things. In an incident in late January, a border crisis would be declared by Yodle, the esteemed head of state, on the 26th. The crisis involved an RMB spammer under the pseudonyms of "Blue penguin”, "New amphorinia”, and variations thereof. As a side note, the name “Blue Penguin”, verbatim, had been claimed by Unat, the Director of External Affairs of our allies in the Region of Golden-Black Nations, or RGBN for short, with the decision being taken to prevent the spammer from taking it. The crisis would die down as time marched on into February, with site moderators tying up the loose ends as the spammer and their puppets attempted to retreat into a couple of storage regions. However, the crisis would not come to an official end until March 3rd (de jure).

On a brighter note, our first census of the year provided fruitful results, with nearly 40 nations having responded, allowing for diversity in the statistics. Of all nations who partook in the census, a majority have been in the region for under a year, with half of the respondents also expressing interest in participating in the regional government. A vast majority, nearly 90% of all those who filled out the census, are currently in the World Assembly. The main aspect of the region that citizens wanted the government to address was regional roleplay at 34%, with aspects such as the Social Reformer, the Parliament, and community events also being popular focus points. As expected, many of the respondents would be satisfied with the games nights we’ve been holding, with 60% preferring them over other community-based events. Some respondents have even voiced their own opinions, which I have responses for, as is my duty as prime minister, leading this address to the people:

“Our Prime Minister is not making enough effort to lead our nation, and our region's activity will suffer without a greater push of leadership” - While this stance is somewhat understandable, this is the aftermath of New United Common-Lands’ premiership we are considering here, no-one could truly succeed him without it feeling bare in comparison. I am trying the best that I can to make such a transition somewhat seamless, though that would be a tall order considering what all NUCL had done for the region as prime minister.

“Our government is not active enough.” - As my deputy previously stated in this regard, we in the government spend quite a bit of our day on the regional Discord server (the only exception being Lemona, an RP admin, who is on-site full-time), though we can address something in the on-site message board or telegrams if needed. If you have anything to ask us or tell us about, don’t be shy, we’ll be sure to answer!

“Our government doesn't have enough foreign affairs.” - While the anonymous respondent certainly has some ambition in this regard, we’re already in a golden age as is in terms of foreign affairs. Since the start of the new year, we’ve constructed on-site embassies with two GCRs and made ourselves known to the multiverse that makes up NationStates, what more must we do?

(Cultural Affairs): Meanwhile, the cultural affairs of the region have been as lively as ever, having held the Twelve Days of No Big Banks event throughout December. We’ve also held four game nights since the start of the new year, with an extra game night being played in February prior to N-Day. Having noticed that our fellow comrades in the InterLeft alliance have considered hosting their own game nights, we encourage them in their endeavors.

In other areas in the broad field of cultural affairs, the world map roleplaying initiative would see reform in how in-game scientific advancement statistics would affect the technologies that nations have access to in character. The problem stemmed from Vordoslavia, currently working as a roleplay administrator within the Ministry of Culture, who objected to the advancement chart as initially conceived in late October 2023. At the time, Vordoslavia was estimated to score around fifty on the Kurzweil Singularity Index (KSI), which would only be enough for Napoleonic-era technologies. This would continue to be a hot topic within the region’s roleplaying community until Socialistic Britain, the incumbent Minister of Culture, addressed the issue in late February 2024. Now, a nation with an estimated 50 on the KSI would have access to technologies that nations would have access to in World War 2.

In a niche yet relatively broad part of what makes up the region’s roleplaying community, sports roleplaying has gathered some steam throughout the past couple of years, starting with the establishment of the Bankless Football League. The BFL has completed four seasons to date and is about to begin its fifth, with seasons being played twice a year. The idea of sports roleplaying would catch on since then, even expanding to an interregional scale with the conception of the Battle of the Banks.

(Conclusion): May it please the parliament to know that their full attendance at this address will be appreciated. Along with it, to those who have read this address in full on the Social Reformer, we appreciate you for taking the time to read this. Expect to see another address in the summer. Until then, we hope you have a good time here in this region!

Related: The TRTHNBB Constitution

4: The Veto Crisis
Authored by New United Common-lands, Fact

On February 23rd, The Kaverian proposed an amendment to the constitution, in an effort to help clarify an inconsistency. The issue at hand revolved around the conflicting powers within the constitution: the constitution stated amendments would be ‘immediately ratified’, yet this clashed with the Prime Minister’s authority to veto legislation. If amendments were indeed immediately ratified, it left no room for the exercise of veto power, with no identified regional process for vetoing legislation.

The proposed solution put forward by The Kaverian was to eliminate the Executive Veto altogether. This caused predominantly government officials to show their opposition, who raised two main arguments against its removal. Firstly, they argued that eliminating the veto would disrupt the balance of powers among the three branches of government. Secondly, it was pointed out that the bill failed to justify the removal of the veto when a simpler amendment could have been suggested to clarify the process. Yet despite these concerns from government members, Members of Parliament overwhelmingly supported the amendment to the constitution, when called to a vote on March 1st. On the penultimate day of voting, the bill had received 12 votes in favor, and 5 votes against, meaning the bill was on track to become ratified.

On March 6th, in frantic fashion, The Washington Federation (TWF), Prime Minister declared their intention to veto the bill, in order to ensure the new amendment wasn’t ratified, due to the aforementioned concerns. This unprecedented use of the executive veto in the TRTHNBB stirred confusion regarding the proper veto process. In addition, after announcing the veto TWF began coordinating a vote on whether MPs wished to uphold or overturn the veto. Administration of a vote in Parliament is usually entrusted to the Speaker of Parliament, and TWF’s vote was deemed by The Kaverian and America the Greater, as an ‘overstep’ in the PM’s responsibilities. This led to America the Greater (ATG), Speaker of Parliament, requesting that Members of Parliament disregard TWF’s telegram/discord calling for a vote. ATG instead organized a vote through the official parliamentary channels. TWF later, explained they were themself unclear of the veto process and sorry for the confusion they’d caused.

Ultimately, on March 14th, ATG announced that TWF’s veto was upheld by a vote of 9 to 7, maintaining the status quo. However, the veto crisis prompted constructive discussions within Parliament. As a result, a revised bill, proposed by The Kaverian, is currently being voted upon in the TRTHNBB’s ongoing voting session, which proposes granting the Prime Minister a 48-hour window after a bill's successful passage to exercise their veto.

Related: The TRTHNBB Constitution

5: Parliament Activity Report
Authored by America the Greater, Fact

Here’s a brief look at all of the bills that were voted on in our Voting Session that concluded on March 7th:

For all vote tallies, my format will be For - Against - Abstain. Also, keep in mind that Constitutional amendments can only pass with a ⅔ majority, while all other bills pass with a simple majority.

Let’s begin with the extensive list of legislation by The Kaverian!

- The Amendment to Article VI, which allowed the Speaker of Parliament to create committees, passed with a total vote of 15 - 2 - 1.

The Amendment to Article XII, which sought to remove the veto power from the PM, initially passed with a vote of 12 - 5 - 1. Ironically, this bill was vetoed by the PM. Parliament voted on whether to overturn the veto in an Emergency Voting Session, but this motion failed with a vote of 7 - 9. The veto has been upheld.

- The Census Act, which established regulations for the regional Census including a required timeframe, passed with a vote of 13 - 3 - 2.

Moving on, let’s look at a bill by Western Arba Fir, a brand-new author of legislation!

- The Amendment to Article IX, which attempted to establish term limits for the Deputy Prime Minister, failed with a vote of 8 - 8 - 2.

Finally, let’s look at the legislation authored by yours truly, America the Greater.

- The Amendment to the Minor Officer Act, a simple rewording, passed with a vote of 17 - 1 - 0.

- The Amendment to the Defendership Accords, another minor rewording, passed with a vote of 16 - 0 - 2.

- The Amendment to the Establishment of The Bankless Liberation Forces, which clarified the nomination procedure for the Commissar General, head of the BLF, passed with a vote of 16 - 0 - 2.

I’ll let the story of the veto be covered in another article, but regardless, this was an excellent turnout! During my term as Speaker, Parliament has been consistently active, with 18 or more MPs voting each time. So thank you, MPs, for casting your vote and making your voice heard.

America the Greater,
Speaker of Parliament

Related: The TRTHNBB Constitution, TRTHNBB - Parliament
Original: Parliament Activity Report - March 2024

6: The Art of Legislation
Authored by The Kaverian, Opinion

I am honored to be one of the few in this region of hundreds of nations to have passed legislation. I am also saddened to be one of the few in this region of hundreds of nations to have passed legislation. Whether you’re either too overwhelmed or scared by the prospect of writing legislation for the reason or you just don’t have any idea how to start despite ATG’s detailed legislation guide, which you should also check out if you haven’t, I get it. However, over my 3 years on NationStates, I have learned that it isn’t actually that hard to create legislation. There are 3 steps: finding a topic, composition, and revision.

Finding a topic isn’t as hard as you think, all you have to do is either use a recent event as inspiration, such as me using the February census as the inspiration for the Census Act. The alternative is that you can look in the constitution and the regional law, and nitpick it to find problems or unaddressed issues and legislate based on that (which is my more favored way to get a topic actually).

Composition is the easiest part. You just have to write a policy to support your opinion on what the solution to your topic/issue is. If you have a difficult time articulating that, however, ask someone who has already written a bill to help you: there’s no shame in asking for help. Speaking of which, this is a good transition into the part that’s hardest for me: revision. Asking people what they think and compromising are not generally two things I want to do, but to make everyone happy and pass your legislation, you most likely will have to compromise. Stick to your opinions, but don’t be closed off to compromise.

If you follow these steps, I’d hope that you’ll be our next legislator.

Well, kind of…

Because there is always the chance that your bill fails, and that sucks. That’s happened to me several times, but if it fails, see why and fix it or compromise (even if you don’t want to). You can always improve, and you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

Related: The TRTHNBB Constitution
Original: The Art of Legislation

7: Foreign Affairs Update
Authored by New United Common-lands, Fact

Upon my appointment to the role of Minister of Foreign Affairs, I recognized the importance of Foreign Affairs within the region, whilst Prime Minister we achieved many Foreign Affairs successes, as highlighted in my landmark “A new chapter for TRTHNBB’s Foreign Affairs” statement. Since this statement, we have appointed 11 ambassadors, made better use of our forum page, closed 12 embassies with either inactive or isolationist regions, and started planning joint events. In addition, we have recently appointed Western Arba Fir as Diplomacy Officer, and on March 22nd we hosted our first Foreign Affairs Committee meeting.

Our recent participation in the NS Gameplay alliance Jellyfish Elite Fighting Force (JEFF), has helped us establish two new embassies. Firstly with Alcris (UCR), a 100+ nation region with great community activity and active government council. Secondly with the South Pacific (GCR), a 5900+ nation, highly active, highly influential region with similar defender principles as TRTHNBB. These will bring about exciting opportunities for TRTHNBB, I look forward to working with both regions over the next few months.

In addition, we have recently agreed to host a joint Chess Arena with the Forest. The ‘Bankless Forest Chess Arena’ will bring together Chess players across our two regions and more widely across NS with 10 other regions agreeing to participate. Furthermore, back last year we signed a Treaty of Friendship with Sol Aeternalis, which also set out our desire to jointly host a TRTHNBB/SA Festival, planning for the event is now underway with a provisional date set for late July. These show our ambitions for hosting joint events with our embassy partners, which I am keen to continue as we move forward.

We also continue our participation in the inter-regional organizations the InterLeft and JEFF. In recent months Mjau was re-elected as the Chancellor of the InterLeft, after successfully managing to pass the Solidarity Charter, helping to boost their re-election campaign. On the InterLeft server, we now have regular Civilisation 6 game nights and TTRPG events taking place. We also appointed our four Comrade Reps with Ardeyn, The Washington Federation, Mjau, and Western Arba Fir being elected to represent TRTHNBB. In addition, InterLeft and TRTHNBB participated in the 4000-nation strong Nday faction JEFF, which successfully finished 3rd place with an astonishing 20 regions participating. We are now looking forward to joining JEFF in the upcoming Trades fair event taking place on May 11th.

Furthermore, TRTHNBB recently established our Bankless Liberation Forces, our defender-aligned R/D organization. Over the past months, we have seen 6 liberators from our region participating in a number of operations on Libcord including the liberations of UEPU, The Vincence Pact, HC Republic, United Democratic Nations, The Rhineland, and Mandala, with the following nations participating; Socialistic Britain, Mjau, Astravica, Western Arba Fir, Gine Caruttiva and New United Common-lands.

Related: TRTHNBB - Foreign Policy
Original: March 2024 Foreign Affairs Update

8: Election Time Change Announcement
Authored by America the Greater, Opinion

Citizens,
It appears that my Amendment to Article IX of the Constitution is on track to pass and become law. Unless the bill receives a large number of votes against it, which is still possible and shouldn’t be ruled out, the timeframe of our elections could change soon. I want to quickly announce the exact change that will take place if my bill passes:

TRTHNBB Elections will be held in January, May, and September. With an election in May, this means that our next campaign season would begin shortly after the passing of the bill. Our three elected positions are Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Speaker of Parliament. If you have any interest in running for any of these positions, I recommend that you start preparing your campaign and deciding on a platform now, so you’re prepared for the next election. It seems that we may see a large government shakeup this time, so this election could be a great opportunity for all citizens.

Related: Amendment to Article IX of the Constitution

9: InterLeft Update
Authored by Mjau, Fact

InterLeft is an interregional organization governed by a general assembly and a small executive branch, consisting of a Chancellor who appoints a Vice-Chancellor. Just recently, InterLeft has ratified their charter, the InterLeft Solidarity Charter! This new document will help guide InterLeft in its endeavors, which in turn helps and aids its member regions, which include The Region That Has No Big Banks!

Also, InterLeft has just had another election, with TRTHNBB candidate Mjau winning a majority of votes, and being re-elected as Chancellor of InterLeft. The cabinet has not changed minus the nomination of S.F. Eurasia of Aurora as Vice-Chancellor, the candidate with the second most votes, as is tradition. Rumours say that Mjau plans to appoint Tea Island Systems as Speaker of the General Assembly, once every member region has appointed their general assembly representatives.

For more information on how InterLeft operates, read the InterLeft Solidarity Charter, we’re an active member of JEFF as well. If your region is interested in joining, just telegram Mjau!

Related: InterLeft Solidarity Charter

10: Meme Showcase!
Authored by Socialistic Britain, Meme

Mashed potato anybody?
Discord post from Washington, RMB post however made by Dantek:

Ami go home!
Screenshot taken by SB, Post made by Washington:

Oi Bruv
Screenshot taken and posted by SB:

Artwork from Socialistic Britain!
29/2/24 | 2/29/24
Written by Yodle

I am proud to present to you today, the COMPLETED Season 3 Regional Collection of Declansburg (linked above), which contains 501 total cards and has been worked on in close cooperation with both myself (Yodle) and Declansburg’s founder New Bradfordsburg! After approaching New Bradfordsburg in mid-December 2023, we embarked on creating Declansburg’s definitive collection, which only consists of Season 3 since they were first established in 2021. TRTHNBB’s contribution to the collection consists of 387 cards (77.25%) and Declansburg’s contribution consists of 114 cards (22.75%)! As the first major cultural collaboration between NBB and Declansburg, it has been and still is a pleasure working with New Bradfordsburg in having completed the collection of this piece of history for our friends in Declansburg! 😄

Future collaborations are in the works, with the next one on the list being for RGBN, who don’t currently have any completed Regional Collections, as well as The Free Nations Region, but more in an advisory role to help them complete their existing collections which will ultimately make up the different components of The Free Nations Realm Definitive Collections. We’ve done a lot of great work so far, and I am very excited to continue my work in creating new additions to cultural history for our friends!

Conclusion

I hope you had fun reading this edition, our team would love it if you submitted something for the next edition (May 1st!), and please telegram me (Mjau) with any feedback!

Have an excellent April Fools Day,
DPM and Minister of Communications,
Mjau

TRTHNBB Games Night on Saturday 13th April

All timings (below) are based on US Central (CDT) Time, check here to convert to your time zone.

1. Join us on the TRTHNBB Discord: from 2:45pm - https://discord.gg/8wkvwabtBc
Join us in Voice Chat or just in our general chats whichever you prefer!

2. Gartic Phone: 3pm - 4pm

3. Skribbl.io: 4pm - 5pm

4. Jackbox Party Packs 5 & 7: 5pm-6pm

5. Variety of Discord Games / Territorial.io: 6pm onwards

All Embassy regions are more than welcome to participate in this event. Contact The Washington Federation with any questions!

_{(This format was borrowed from fellow TRTHNBBer New United Common-lands, you may contact him with questions as well!)}