Minister of Information:

• I recommend voting FOR the current GA resolution "Repeal: 'World Assembly Headquarters'". This was proposed by TLA's Kavagrad, a good friend of TCB.
  

Deputy Chief Justice:

• Comrades, it's sign up time for the October Executive election. There are six positions open, they are;

  First Minister, the Head of Government and State, representative of the region and it's values.

  Minister of Domestic Affairs, responsible for processing citizenships and recruitment.

  Minister of Foreign Affairs, responsible for conducting interregional diplomacy.

  Minister of Information, responsible for the relay of information to the region and it's members.

  Minister of Culture, responsible for organising events and competitions.

  Minister of World Assembly Affairs, responsible for how our delegate votes through regional polls.

  The Sign-Up period will be open for seven days and will be followed by a 48 hour voting period. All citizens have the right to run for a position (excluding the Chief Justice and Speaker.)

  SIGN UP HERE
  
  

TCB Card Factory:

• Spoopy Month is upon us, so y'all better make halloween themed flags or you wont be entered into the competition to win 3 Legendary Cards! Simply Telegram me (Radicalania) once your halloween themed flag is on your nation before the 26th of October (GMT), and on the 26th I'll open a vote on our forum which will be ongoing until Halloween- with the winner taking all 3 cards.
  

The Executive election begins tomorrow, which means you have until then to sign up if you are interested. After this, the poll will be open for 48 hours.

Those currently running for each position are listed below in order of sign-up, and their campaign is linked where available, including Karl's campaign which was published yesterday.

First Minister:

• Ant (Pajonia) *
  

Minister of Foreign Affairs:

• Iota (New Astri)

• Callum (Sonaro)
  

Minister of Domestic Affairs:

• Wasc (Wascoitan) *
  

Minister of World Assembly Affairs:

• Sylphy Kristelle Azure (Feyrisshire)
  

Minister of Information:

• Sam (The Passerine Islands) *
  

Minister of Culture:

• Karl Kuznetsov von Habsburg (The Workers Union of Habsburg-Lorraine)

• Arsa (Arsa)
  

(*Incumbent)

You can also read Tarrin's NoTA/Not A Campaign in which he details his concerns in regard to various candidates (including what some may call a scandal.)

Remember, the standing period ends on Friday, 22 October, so if you are interested in running, be sure to sign up.

Per the Election Standards Act 2020,

Should a candidate ask for it, the Minister of Information will be responsible for sharing one campaign telegram per candidate via Telegram on the NationStates website.

What Is Going On?

It is clear that the last few weeks have drawn a fair degree of grumbling and general discontent, not least from myself, about the direction TLA has been headed. A community that has firmly leaned anti-WA for the last two years has been dragged into WA affairs well beyond our level of interest. If rumours I've heard and alleged leaks that I've seen over the last couple of days are correct, there may well have been discussions that could've led to this becoming even worse. I shan't spread the unsubstantiated further, nor can I speak on certain matters whilst maintaining a sound legal footing, but given that I would've never believed such things just six weeks ago, and yet I found myself believing them upon hearing them in the last few days, it is clear that things have gone too far.

Conversations in our community on WA matters are rarely productive as of late. This is to be expected when a community that leans anti-WA is discussing the WA with a WA Minister, you don't have to be a genius to see where conflicts may arise. Should these snippy disagreements be allowed to turn into substantive divisions in our community, we will be worse for it. As a Founder and the community server's Head Admin, it is my job to be sensitive to these issues, and I am speaking out in hope of nipping them in the bud before things go any further.

I suspect that the resignation of Cesnica also marks the Secretary's intention to scale back his MoWAA project. It seems reasonable to assume that the introduction of a Deputy Minister is off the table, for example. This is good news, but it isn't enough.

The MoWAA Project Is A Dead End

There is a fundamental conflict between the MoWAA project and the views of our community on the WA that simply cannot be resolved, and as such this project will never see the results that Secretary Greylyn is hoping for. This is a region whose only contributions of note to the WA side of NS in the last two years have been joke proposals designed to annoy people that take the WA too seriously. Most Assemblians are either anti-WA or simply do not care. We are not going to turn around and start taking it seriously ourselves, and a project based on the assumption that we might is doomed from the start. Even if you were able to do so, that process would rely on a long-term executive dedication to the project that simply wouldn't have the necessary staying power in a democratic region that doesn't like the WA to begin with, and the attempt itself would cause the development of the unnecessary divisions noted above.

Put simply, trying to shift the leanings of an entire community is the sort of process that takes months, if not years, and the downsides of the attempt simply aren't worth any perceived gains. This isn't working, and it would be even worse if it was.

Respect Our Community

This should never have been attempted to the extent that it has in the first place. Not only creating a Ministerial post that is inherently in conflict with the instincts of our community, but also appointing a relative newcomer with many WA-related ties outside of TLA, and then sanctioning the creation of a Deputy Minister position (a completely foreign concept to TLA) with the intended nominee being a complete outsider that arrived in TLA less than two hours before the creation of the post was announced. These are not decisions that would be made by a government that was genuinely considering what our community needs, rather it shows a lack of respect for Assemblian culture, with preference instead given to one's own poorly-evaluated policy aims.

Along with a complete lack of communication from the Grey on these concerns, this suggests to me that the Secretary needs to reconsider his approach to government-citizen relations in the remainder of his term. I wrote in The Leftist Times during the last election that Grey had the opportunity to be a "truly Assemblian Secretary". Six weeks later, I can't see it. The Secretary needs to step up, be the public face of the executive, and govern for Assemblians, rather than against our interests.

Moving Forward

Our government now has the opportunity to reconsider this project in the absence of a Minister of World Assembly Affairs.

My suggestion is simple: Don't appoint a new one. End this here. I've made mistakes during my time as Secretary, I've appointed unnecessary Ministers. Those mistakes were never held against me because I recognised those mistakes and eliminated those positions before my term ended. The Secretary now has the opportunity to do the same.

Combine this with an increased level of communication with the electorate, and a governing philosophy that respects the community at large.

This executive term is far from over. It can be salvaged, but we as a community must start seeing change, and that has to begin now.

Politics:

• If you’re not endorsing our delegate Kethania, you should do that straight away! Every endorsement on our delegate protects our regional security as well as amplifies our voice on WA resolutions. You should also endorse our vice delegates, Marxmeans, Shamian, The Workers Union of Habsburg-Lorraine and Ubertas!

• Become a citizen! This allows you to participate in regional politics, pick your representatives, and join the Regional Discord server. More information can be found here.

• Check out the Law Archive. It is an easy way to navigate and keep track of all our laws. This document is updated as new laws get passed.

• If you are interested in getting involved, consider volunteering with one of the Ministries. You can sign up here. We greatly appreciate the work all our volunteers do!
  

NationStates:

• Want some endorsements? Run the Revolutionary Endorsement Program! It's simple and doesn't take very much time. Endorse comrades, get endorsed back. If you run into any trouble, send a telegram to The Passerine Islands on NationStates or post in Discord, and we can help troubleshoot. Alternatively, post the following to the RMB:

  [nation]ink_cloud[/nation], rep

• The TCB Card Factory is open and churning out cards! This program includes regional giveaways, a regional art museum, card requests, and of course, shiny 1% International Artwork badges. TCBs Card Factory is asking for a team of volunteers to help operate card farms to ensure a steady supply of cards are being printed. Think you can help? Sign up today.

• We created a glossary of NationStates terms! We hope this helps anyone who is unsure of what different acronyms and slang mean.

• We have published the Master Dispatch. This should be the first place you go if you are looking for information on TCB or NationStates. It contains links to every major resource, and it is pinned under the WFE.

Other:

• Our forums are online, but unfortunately, we have lost a whole year of data. If you applied for citizenship between February 2020 and December 2020, make sure to reapply. You may also have to recreate your account. Apologies for this inconvenience. The government will be working as quickly as possible to re-accept citizenship applications. (Disclaimer: this only applies if you were registered as a citizen in-between February 2020 and December 2020. If you have joined TCB after this time period you do not need to re-apply for citizenship)
  Please also make an account at https://theredand.black/ so the transition to the NSLeft forum goes as smoothly as possible.

• We have created a list of leftist resources! This is an ongoing project, and if you think there is something missing from this list, please telegram or DM me. I am The Passerine Islands here and Sam on Discord.