Office of Leinad, At-Large Senator (ConCon Address--vote AYE!)

[Leinad]

I hereby resign my position as Southern Judicial Overlord, Effective Immediately.

Thanx.
TexasGurl.

Sad to see you go, but thanks for your service to the region!

Unless I'm mistaken, by the time I'm done making appointments Spiral will be the only person in the regional government to be in the same seat as he was before the election.

[Leinad]

I'm happy to announce my appointment for the Judicial Overlord post recently vacated is Small L! He's been in the legislature before, and is eager to take up his new role. And he has a pretty nice signature, if I do say so myself.

    -Leinad

[Leinad]

Since my appointment of Small L, I've asked two more people regarding the Legislature vacancy. One declined, the other is yet to respond. In the meantime, I think we should start getting back to work, and will contact the Legislature to do just that.

See, part of being in a leadership position is making appointments to fill vacancies, and another part is informing the public on the status of things. I mean, it's not like anyone important has been slacking off in those areas or anything...

    -Leinad

[Leinad]

I'm pleased to announce that the Small Business Growth Act of 2015 is now law!

As previously passed into law, Atlasian businesses will receive tax credits for hiring new employees, but now that only applies to Atlasian citizens or permanent residents. It's a common sense measure to help domestic job growth.

    -Leinad

[Leinad]

And now I have a new Legislator! I'm happy to announce that Former Senator Goldwater will fill the second and so far only remaining vacancy in the Legislature!

So the South government is filled completely, with no vacancies, after about a week of appointing. It wasn't that easy, I guess, but it wasn't that hard either. Ask enough people and eventually you're good.

    -Leinad

[CLARENCE 2015!]

Wonderful choice, Gov!

[Leinad]

I want to remind everyone that the Southern Legislature election is this weekend! No one has yet declared, which I'm afraid to say isn't a great sign for activity in the region.

Also, I recently introduced some new legislation:

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A crime is a crime. People should be judged proportionally for specific crimes. If they've served the punishment of a previous offence, there's no need to add any extra to later sentences, as they've already served the punishment.

    -Leinad

[Leinad]

The Legislative Election voting booth is up: here's the link! Hopefully I did everything right. All citizens of the South should head over and vote today or this weekend.

No one declared (sigh), so it's entirely a write-in election. This means there's still time for anyone to run, if they'd like. I will contact people on whether they're planning to run or not, and then endorse the 3 candidates I'd like to see get seats from here. For anyone planning to vote, I encourage you to put several candidates on your ballot--given that we have no clue who's wanting to be legislators or not.

In other news: the Constitutional Convention is coming up, and people are declaring to run for a seat in that. Including, as probably expected, yours truly. I've been unhealthily active in Atlasia ever since I joined, and have been a public backer of the ConCon since not too long after the petition started (I was skeptical at first--but that's also a good sign, showing that I'm not one to jump on bandwagons, preferring careful consideration to make sure we think with our brains, not our emotions) so I think it makes sense to have me as one of the 25 delegates. Anyway, I'd be glad to have your vote!

Elsewhere, I think Cris and Classic Conservative are two no-brainer choices for the convention, given that no one did more to help start this than them. And PiT was in the last Constitutional Convention, way back in 2009--his experience will be a vital asset, so I encourage the Senate to choose him. There are other good choices that have declared, and that will declare, but I'll keep it to endorsing those 4.

   -Leinad

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Enthusiastically endorsed for Convention Delegate!

[Leinad]

Enthusiastically endorsed for Convention Delegate!

Thanks, and the same to you!

[Leinad]

Election Results:

Talleyrand's vote doesn't count as A) he hasn't been a citizen for 7 days. However, that wouldn't change the results, unless I'm incorrectly tabulating them.

The newly elected Southern Legislators are: Clarence, ElectionsGuy, and AHDuke99.

    -Leinad

[Leinad]

And it's confirmed, I will be a delegate at the Constitutional Convention! Huzzah! I certainly look forward to working together with the other delegates to restore Atlasia to the wonderful nation it was meant to be. And I also congratulate Senator Yankee and Registrar General Adam Griffin on their elections to the convention--two great Atlasians who have the experience and ideas that we need at the ConCon.

I wasn't able to post much Thursday because I was attending the ConConConcert in Atlanta. We had several great musical performances in a variety of genres: Bruno Mars, Maroon 5, U2, Hilltop Hoods, Sir Elton John, Snoop Dogg, and Georgia natives Jason Aldean, Outkast, Little Richard, and Childish Gambino. Guests included former Legislator Speakers Spiral and Darthebearnc, former Governors JBrase and Duke, former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, Dr. Ron and Carol Paul, and a few thousand other citizens of this wonderful region. In between Rocket Man and 3005 the speech by South American Speaker Barnes was displayed live on two large screens around the stage.

Speaking of which, I think Speaker Barnes got it just about right, and so did Atlasia's Senate Speaker, Cris, when he addressed the South American Parliament. It would be great if we can co-exist peacefully, and I'd like to help make that happen on both sides. And no, that's not a flip-flop--I've never been anti-South America, it's just that I'm more skeptical about it than some, given the views of a loud minority over there, and that's magnified when I'm arguing with people who are unreservedly pro-South America. But I think it was a bit reactionary to boycott Barnes' speech--the Speaker is certainly not among the previously mentioned loud minority with an irrational hatred of Atlasia, but rather someone who I trust to help positively develop our nations' relationship.

Back to the matter at hand, the Constitutional Convention! Also, is there anything you, my fellow citizens of the South, would like to see done at the Convention? While only 25 people are selected as delegates, we're all Atlasians, and this is the convention for Atlasia--as your representative I will certainly consider input from any of my fellow citizens on these incredibly important times ahead.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Well said - congratulations on your election!

[Leinad]

I would personally like to see some sort of decrease in the number of federal offices to account for inactivity and make elections more meaningful.

I agree, and I think most, if not all, of my fellow delegates would agree with that as well. The only question is how we'll go about that. Will it be a radical reform, like Bore's 2-region plan, or a more moderate approach? Either way, I'm confident we'll bring productive reform.

And I notice that you specifically say "federal offices," while most of the planned reforms are specifically targeted towards regional offices. Heck, Adam's plan (and Duke's original plan as well) actually adds another house of the federal government, although it does decrease the overall offices. As much as bicameralism would be fun, I think we need to reduce offices by more than that, so I'm reluctantly skeptical.

Overall, I'll be open to hearing whatever plans people may have. As long as we reduce offices by some and don't hurt the game via the law of unintended consequences (i.e. we abolish too many offices), I'm willing to hear it, and I think it's important that we stay open-minded--don't get overly married to a system unless it truly is the only way, or we'll end up with a worse result in the end.

Well said - congratulations on your election!

Thanks, and congratulations on your election via the Senate!

[Leinad]

Passing observation regarding the elections a week or so ago: I'm now the longest-serving member of the regional government. Not just overall, including my month in the legislature, but as Governor.

Not that the turnover is necessarily a bad thing, but in this case it's clearly a testament to the inactivity of the region, and the country (except the Northeast, to a degree). Atlasia will be improved if we can improve the activity-to-offices ratio. This can obviously be done in two ways: increasing the activity, or decreasing the amount of offices. If the Convention is successful, it will do both.

    -Leinad

[Leinad]

First of all, I'd like to point out that I misspelled the word "Constitutional" as "Consitutional"--omitting the first "t." Spelling has never been a strongsuit of mine, which is why I unashamedly love spellcheck. That being said, I apologize for making an error like that, especially on such an important word.

Second of all, I'm a bit confused as to Kalwejt's sudden departure. I have no idea why he did this. If it's something bad in his personal life, I certainly wish him well. A great Atlasian who, with the Rise and Fall of Tender Branson, made one of the few things on the internet that are actually funny. Selfishly, I want him to come back just to finish that!

Regarding his departure from the Senate, I encourage running as an option for anyone who wants to help Atlasia achieve what we all want it to achieve. While we already have a couple good candidates, there aren't any members of major parties, so the race is there to be won.

And regarding his departure from the Constitutional Convention, I support the measure proposed by Senator Truman (another active Senator) to make Duke a delegate. I'll quote myself from the Senate floor:

As former President Duke has expressed an interest in joining the Convention as a delegate from the South, I would like to nominate Senator Yankee to replace Kalwejt as the fifth Senatorial delegate. This would create a vacancy in the Southern delegation, allowing Duke to join the convention.

I suppose I don't get to officially appoint him to take the role until you guys vote on it or something--but I'd just like to publically state that I endorse this plan and will appoint him when the time comes. Duke should totally be at the ConCon.

To any doubters, I think this is the legal way of doing it. Technically there were no rules in place for replacing delegates selected by the senate, so we go British Constitution on this issue: make it up and call it "precedent." Here's my reasoning (I know I don't need to make this argument, but there should be as much confidence as possible that we're doing this right and not Calvinball-ing it): regional vacancies are filled by the region that appointed them (specifically the Governor)--therefore, as I figure it, senatorial vacancies should logically be filled by the entity that appointed them--in this case, the Senate.

I reasoned that correctly, right? I mean, I know this is what's going to happen, and what should happen, so it's not really a point worth arguing that much. But I think it is worth making to a degree. Here's why: there are a lot of people opposed to the ConCon, or the Senate, or just stuff in general. Most are well-intentioned, some are just trolls. Either way, a house divided will fall, so it's important to not make this a stumbling block. Similar to what Truman said regarding the Senate vote that mistakenly left Justice Oakvale off the ballot, we can't let some minor thing like this be ammunition against progress, or a banana peel for our best opportunity to save the nation.

I suppose I could see this precedent being used to shuffle the delegates for ill in an evil conspiracy, but I think Duke is eager, deserved, and more than qualified enough to make his appointment be worth the risk of that unlikely scenario.

   -Leinad

[Senator Cris]

Mr. Governor,
ConCon delegate Yankee from South has been selected by the Senate, so there is a vacancy and you should appoint another delegate.

Thanks.

[Leinad]

Mr. Governor,
ConCon delegate Yankee from South has been selected by the Senate, so there is a vacancy and you should appoint another delegate.

Thanks.

Thank you Mr. Speaker.

I hereby appoint former President Duke to the Constitutional Convention.

    -Leinad

[Leinad]

I am officially endorsing Pikachu for the Senate Special election to replace Kalwejt! I recently came back from the polls where I voted for him, and I encourage every one of you to do the same. As I explained in his thread:

We may have some differences, but the most important thing is the future of this nation, and I frankly don't trust Talleyrand to help that--in the past he's quite clearly opposed the continuation of Atlasia. That's not in the Federalist Party platform, but that doesn't mean it isn't a big deal. Also, Pikachu doesn't go around insulting everyone, and civility is important if we want to grow Atlasia.

Don't be fooled by the "Federalist" next to his name. I mean, if Classic Conservative registered as NNP without changing his views, I wouldn't expect Clyde and Evergreen to be behind him. Even if he has conservative views, I don't think that makes up for his dissolutionism. And even if he's genuinely changed on all of that, do you really want a flip-flopper in the Senate?

Meanwhile, I've decided I should start providing weekly updates to my gubernatorial activities, as an effort to boost activity in this great region.

    -Leinad

[Leinad]

I've been busy this week as Governor! I couldn't update this on the weekend (I was attending the Atlasian National Soccer Team's 3-2 win over Mexico--what a goal from Benny Feilhaber!) but Monday's close enough. From what I can tell there was enough activity over the last couple days to make up for my relative lull in posting.

Speaking of which, congratulations to fellow Southerner Talleyrand for winning the senate seat! He ran the most active campaign. However, he's now going around calling me a "joke" at the Federalist Party's Convention floor. To channel my inner ESPN, come on, man! At least try to be nice. I frankly don't care what you call me, but the toxic atmosphere of name-calling and negativity hurts the game. Let's have some fun! FUN! I COMMAND YOU ALL: FUN!!!!!

Ahem...anyway, I've been making several TV appearances, discussing both the Constitutional Convention and regional matters.

Logo of a local TV station in Atlanta (kind of...).

On CNN, we talked about economics, abortion, and President Bore's 2-region plan. I was the token conservative.

Fair and Balanced.

On Fox News we talked about war, gay marriage, marijuana, and Speaker Conservative's proposal to oppose any secession in all cases. I was the token liberal.

Apollo XI launch in 1969. I was not yet governor then.

I spoke at a space exploration convention in Huntsville, Alabama. I've always been interested in astronomy, spacecraft, and flight, and the South has been a leader in that--be it the Marshall Space Flight Center that I went to, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Johnson Space Center in Texas, or another place--heck, as far back as the first controlled powered airplane flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina! The Atlasian space program relies on this region more than any other, and I look forward to seeing that continue for years to come.

A pencil sketch of recent storms I drew in 5 minutes.

Regarding the recent storms in South Carolina, I must say that the work of emergency crews in the area has been excellent. That being said, there's been heavy flooding, and I encourage all of you to stay safe and don't drive your car into deep water unless your car is one of those cool ones that doubles as a boat.


Anyway, I look forward to hearing any ideas/comments/compliments/criticism/epic poems/etc. you people may have, regarding the Convention, the region, or anything else.

    -Leinad

[Leinad]

Action will be taken regarding the weather situation that is affecting some parts of the South:

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[Leinad]

I am appointing Spiral as Judicial Overlord to replace Small L.

[Leinad]

Alright, we have three different things on the ballot this weekend:

Southern Legislature - We have a good election here, with two Federalists and two Laborites running. If two write-in candidates receive multiple first-preference votes, it will trigger a five-member Legislature--although I doubt that will happen, as much as I would want to have a five-member Legislature in my last month as Governor. I look forward to working with whoever gets elected for the next month!

Judicial Overlord - Small L deregistered, so I appointed Spiral to take his place. I encourage all of you to vote to confirm him to the job. He was Speaker in my first month as Governor, and is experienced in Atlasian politics.

People's Government Amendment - Currently, a bill requires either a Legislator, the Governor, or two Southern citizens to be brought up for debate and voting in the Southern Legislature. This will amend our region's Constitution to only require a single citizen to sponsor a bill. I'm sort of torn on this--I think the status quo here is a helpful safeguard to require either multiple people or an elected official to make the Legislature debate something, but at the same time, I don't see too much potential for troll-ish behavior bogging us down, and it might actually help us with extra bills to vote on. Unless someone convinces me otherwise, I'll vote "Aye" despite my doubts. This will require 2/3rds of the vote, so it will only pass if enough of you agree with that assessment--it's the people's decision, quite appropriately.

I encourage every Southern citizen to go to the voting booth, and I look forward to once again practicing effective representative democracy in the great region of the South!


Address on the Pacific Terrorist Attack

March 17th
Memphis, TN, South

My condolences are with the Pacific region after the terrorist attack that recently took place. It's terrible that these things happen in modern times, but alas, they do. Hopefully we can find a solution to put a stop to terrorism with as few lives lost as possible.

I commend the leadership that Governor Bessell and President Griffin have shown in this tragedy--their quick action and words of encouragement in the face of adversity are how we win against the scourge of terrorism.

However, I condemn the anti-Islamic sentiments that have risen in the wake of the attacks. I understand why people are upset, but taking out the actions of extremists against an entire community is uncalled for. I reassure Muslims throughout the South that your governor is on your side, and that we need to end the era of radical violence in the name of your religion through cooperation and smart defense, not racism and more hatred.

Lastly, as Governor Blair did in the Northeast, I will take action to protect the South from a similar attack. The National Guard of the South will be ready to deal with further violence, and we will work together to ensure that the citizens of the South don't live in fear, but can focus on making their own lives the best as can be in this great nation of freedom and opportunity.

May peace and liberty win over violence and tyranny, may we all stay #PacificStrong, and may Dave bless the nation of Atlasia!

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[Leinad]

Tomorrow I will be in Dallas, Texas for a benefit concert related to the St. Patrick's Day terrorist attacks in the pacific. Musicians from all across the South will be there to perform. A third of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross, another third will aid refugees from the Middle East, while the other third will go to charities helping to promote religious tolerance. This isn't a government function, of course, I'm merely using the bully pulpit of the Governor's office to help spread the word.

Monday I will speak at a mosque in Florida reiterating my statement from earlier and echoing Governor Bessell's statements on the matter.

Once again, I commend the Governor's leadership and condemn violence from all sides. Discrimination and hatred, whether acted out in killings or less violent means, is one of the worst things that happens when people are seen in groups, not as individuals. I ask that every Southerner remember that every person is responsible for their actions, but they are not responsible for actions of those who happen to share the same demographic label as them.

[Mike Thick]

Tomorrow I will be in Dallas, Texas for a benefit concert related to the St. Patrick's Day terrorist attacks in the pacific. Musicians from all across the South will be there to perform. A third of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross, another third will aid refugees from the Middle East, while the other third will go to charities helping to promote religious tolerance. This isn't a government function, of course, I'm merely using the bully pulpit of the Governor's office to help spread the word.

Monday I will speak at a mosque in Florida reiterating my statement from earlier and echoing Governor Bessell's statements on the matter.

Once again, I commend the Governor's leadership and condemn violence from all sides. Discrimination and hatred, whether acted out in killings or less violent means, is one of the worst things that happens when people are seen in groups, not as individuals. I ask that every Southerner remember that every person is responsible for their actions, but they are not responsible for actions of those who happen to share the same demographic label as them.

Your efforts are duly noted and much appreciated. I'd like to attend, but I'll be busy making sure that the protest in San Fran doesn't get out of hand and overseeing efforts to keep things safe. Again, thank you.