"The Balooist Legacy & The Baloominati"

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Motto: "Look for the Bare Necessities..."

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Founder & Leader: B. Loo (Baloo Kingdom)

Pope & Co-owner: B. Loaves (Barlyy)

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Official founding date: 3rd of December, 2020

Preceded by: The Democratic Torch

Branches: Stronghold (Callista), Polka (Institute of Cellulose), Hammock (Just relax), Hexagon (Laraniem)

• Status in the Stronghold: Under controversy

• Status in the Polka: Weak

• Status in the Hammock: Excellent

• Status in the Hexagon: Expanding

Announcements

• Because of my resignation from the PM position from Callista and following my departure from Callista, the history portion of the dispatch will never be updated again.

Introduction, The Baloominati & Its Core Beliefs

Hello, and welcome to the official Baloominati dispatch. This dispatch is where we will add our latest announcements, the latest developments in Balooist history, our newest promises, our current goals, etc. I hope you enjoy the dispatch - lots of work went into it, I can tell you that. The dispatch's contents, formatting, etc. are all handled by Barlyy, the current co-owner and the Pope of the Baloominati.

Now, it's time to talk about the Baloominati & its core beliefs. The Baloominati could be considered a mix of serious and sarcastic - comedic propaganda such as memes are utilized heavily by the Baloominati. When it comes to being serious, however, the Baloominati's core doctrine could be summarized by the following sentence:

The implementation of this policy & its success is easily proven by Callista's current success. The Tsardom of Callista is currently a small/medium UCR with a member count of around ~65 at the moment and has around 80 or more posts posted on its RMB per day. Callista is known for being a very stable and rather peaceful and laid-back region, and this success could be attributed to the Baloominati and its monopoly over Callistan politics. The regions that came before Callista, namely Bluecrown Keep and The Vincence Kingdom are known for being unstable regions that were both short-lived compared to Callista because of the rapid changes that commenced in them and their radical political systems (TVK suffered from authoritarianism and autocracy while BCK suffered from insufficient checks & almost non-existent policing on the RMB). This core belief, along with the charisma the leaders of the Baloominati display, has kept the Callistan people united for more than a year. The Baloominati's honesty, transparency, realism, and efficiency could also be included as other factors to Callista's success. This core doctrine "small reforms over radical revolutions but there are some exceptions" could easily be implemented in other regions as well, which shows the universality and the compatibility of the Baloominati's policies with regions that are different than Callista.

It cannot be said that the Baloominati is "conservative" (or "centrist") since the Baloominati is open to reforms (and revolutions if need be). This is a common misunderstanding of the Baloominati's policies and this misunderstanding should be avoided at all costs. The Baloominati has no distinct "political standing" (such as "leftist", "rightist", "authoritarian", etc.) since its policies adapt to the current situation at all times. The Baloominati aims for a suitable, compatible, and beneficial status quo - one that the majority of the population can be satisfied with - and it will do everything it can do to reach that status quo. That's the reason that the core doctrine includes "[...]no rapid revolutions unless necessary". If the population is not satisfied with the current status quo, it shall be changed. Those are the Baloominati's beliefs.

The Baloominati Branches & Members

• The Callistan Baloominati ("The Baloominati Stronghold")

  • The Callistan Baloominati, officially called "Stronghold", "the Stronghold" or "the Baloominati Stronghold", is the oldest & the most influential branch of the Baloominati (hence the name). It was founded on 03.12.2020 (the same date that the Baloominati as a whole was founded) by Baloo Kingdom and is currently led by Baloo Kingdom and Barlyy.

  • The Stronghold was the only branch of the Baloominati until recently when different branches started to be founded.

  • The Stronghold currently controls all positions in the Cabinet in Callista.

  • The Stronghold has won four elections in a row in Callista.

  • The Stronghold is made up of the following nations: Baloo Kingdom, Barlyy, Nooooooooooooooo, Caesar Von Bingen, Haroldiaistan, Dominioan, Blitzton, Messenger A, Poskukune, Milt the Hippo, Sorianora, Underfallen, Cormoe

• The IOC Baloominati ("The Baloominati Polka")

  • The IOC Baloominati, officially called "Polka", "the Polka" or "the Baloominati Polka", is the second-largest branch of the Baloominati. It has officially been founded on 18.01.2022, more than a year after the original founding date of the Baloominati, and is currently led by Barlyy and Zarbik.

  • The Polka is the most controversial branch of the Baloominati, and has never won an election but is currently campaigning for PM in the 02.02.2022 elections.

  • The Polka has seen the most backlash out of any other branch of the Baloominati after proposing some controversial policies in the 02.02.2022 campaign.

  • The Polka is made up of the following nations: Briteannia (a puppet of Barlyy), Zarbik, Socialist States of Ludistan, Sorianora, New Ryansville, and The Joeanian Republic.

• The Just Relax Baloominati ("The Baloominati Hammock")

  • The Just Relax Baloominati, officially known as "Hammock", "the Hammock" or "the Baloominati Hammock", is rather undocumented and a minuscule branch of the Baloominati. Its official founding date could be considered the time this dispatch is written, 2_.01.2022, and is solely handled by Zarbik.

  • The Hammock currently handles WA Affairs in Just relax.

• The Laraniem Baloominati ("The Baloominati Hexagon")

  • The Laraniem Baloominati, officially known as "Hexagon", "the Hexagon" or "the Baloominati Hexagon", is a relatively new and small branch of the Baloominati and could be compared to the Baloominati Hammock. Its official founding date could be considered 15.01.2022 (the release of the Laraniem-Callistan collaboration event dispatch) and is solely handled by Jp morgann (who is a puppet of Barlyy) and Hagston.

  • The Hexagon currently handles foreign affairs and diplomatic relations between Callista and Laraniem.

The Baloominati: Current Goals & Promises

(DISCLAIMER: This dispatch only includes the current goals and promises of the Callistan Baloominati ("the Baloominati Stronghold") and general policies of the Baloominati. The other branches' individual promises will be included in their own, separate dispatches. X.P means that it is a promise, X.G means that it is a goal.)

1. P.) Start using APIs

APIs are automatic scripts that allow you to send telegrams, perform other actions, etc., and are the only legal way to automatically send telegrams to certain groups of people (except welcome telegrams). After discussing APIs with Cerata, a person who is somewhat experienced with APIs, we have decided that it is a good idea to start using APIs in order to recruit people without having to spend money on recruitment telegrams (most of which get ignored anyway). This is also the only policy that was promised in Barlyy's 01.01.2022 campaign that has not been fulfilled yet.

2. G.)Gain more influence in Institute of Cellulose

IOC could be considered the region that the Callistan government is the friendliest with which makes it an attractive place for the Baloominati to expand its influence. There are already plans in action to further our influence in IOC, most notably the founding of the Baloominati Polka and its 02.02.2022 PM campaign. Several other plans could work as well such as getting a nation in Parliament or the Cabinet.

The Baloominati's History, Month-For-Month

Some Backstory

It could be said that the Baloominati's history starts in Bluecrown Keep. In Bluecrown Keep, there was a very strong and influential political party called The Democratic Torch (but usually shortened to "TDT"). It was the strongest party in the region, and it had almost never lost an election until I, Barlyy, came. The party included lots of then-influential names, such as Sorianora, Plus Nova Imperii, and most relevant to this story, Baloo Kingdom. TDT was a monarchist party that believed in some sort of centrist constitutional monarchy. However, things started going south for the TDT when I joined the political stage.

October 2020 - TDT won the closest election in Callistan history. November 2020 - TDT lost the election to The Prosperity Party (which was led by me). That was the very first loss that TDT has faced in a long time, and it somewhat contributed to Bluecrown Keep's collapse- and, in turn, led to the Baloominati's creation.

November 2020 ---> Turmoil in Bluecrown Keep

After losing the election, Sorianora, the TDT candidate for the November 2020 election, decided to execute "Order Callista", which was something that he apparently was planning on executing for a very long time, and left Bluecrown Keep in order to found his own region, Callista. This led to further instability in BCK, and after some unfortunate events, Barlyy decided to resign as Prime Minister and leave the region. This caused even more instability in BCK, but after a while, Barlyy returned and everything seemed like it was returning back to normal until Barlyy decided to leave BCK once and for all - and this is where the Baloominati starts.

After Barlyy left BCK for the second time, the Cabinet decided that they needed a new Prime Minister and so a "snap election" was held. Baloo created the first iteration of the Baloominati, the "Baloo Party", in order to have a better chance at winning - and he won indeed, but it was too late. Later that day, Dominioan announced that he would completely close down Bluecrown Keep. This made many players grieve over the loss of such a memorable and active region, but after a while everyone calmed down. After being ejected from the region, most members decided to move over to Callista since that's where the majority of BCK immigrated to. Baloo, however, did not join to Callista right away. Baloo did "a tour around the NSVerse" in order to explore other regions but moved to Callista after the tour ended.

December 2020 ---> The Reborn Phoenix

On 08.12.2020, Baloo Kingdom decided that he would make the Baloo Party into a meme and created "the Baloominati" - its logo was, and still is, the Illuminati triangle with the arms and legs of Baloo from the Jungle Book, and Noooooooooo instantly joined the party. People absolutely LOVED the meme - everyone was already talking about how they should expand its influence, make it so that it is mandatory, etc. During this time period, MU and Rome started arguing and after they kept telling each other they should resign one of them resigned (go check Baloo's history dispatch if you want more details), which led to some instability in the region - but nothing too major, thankfully. Barlyy created his own joke party called the "Mafia Party" where the whole premise was that you "had to give Barlyy all of your cards or else you'd be banned". The Baloominati officially proposed an alliance between the two parties, and Barlyy accepted, thus marking the beginning of the Baloo-Barlyy friendship.

January 2021 ---> The Hell Is Going On??

The Baloominati was still a rather small party compared to the Tsarists, the strongest party during that time period which was lead mostly by Plus Nova Imperii - but the Baloominati was certainly growing larger thanks to all of the memes and Baloo getting people to join the party "as a joke" ;). Baloo's cult of personality was also growing thanks to all of the credit he got for not leaving Bluecrown Keep alone during its darkest hours and also for just being a likeable person overall. Folks like Arisyan believed that Baloo was "by far the best regional officer" at the time, and the polls prove that. At the start of January, another election was held which was won by Haruhi Japan... but some of the things here are confusing. According to the waybackmachine, Baloo was instated as Haruhi's LPM, but on the "list of political leaders in Callista", it says that Mathuvan Union was the LPM during Jan 1-Jan 20. I have decided that I will trust the waybackmachine, and I'm just going to say that "Baloo became LPM during January", which certainly contributed to the Baloominati's rapid expansion in Callista. Sadly, the Baloominati was still considered a "joke party", which meant that Baloominati members were not allowed to run under the Baloominati party.

February (and maybe some January) 2021 ---> The Hell Is Going On, Vol. 2 & The Lord And Saviour

Early Callistan politics were absolutely chaotic, and this is just another proof of that. After Haruhi Japan left Callista because of some form of argument and moved over to The Vincence Empire, Mathuvan Union was elected as Prime Minister while Baloo was instated as his Deputy. After some disagreements between then-Judge Arisyan and PM Mathuvan Union, Mathuvan Union suggested that Arisyan be impeached, but this was rejected by literally every citizen in Callista except for Mathuvan Union himself. However, after some disagreements on the dilemma about the embassy Callista had with Old Zealand, and with both the Tsar, Sorianora, and Haruhi Japan, leader of TVE, publically disaggreeing with Mathuvan Union on this dilemma, Mathuvan Union resigned from his position as Prime Minister in Callista, but chose Baloo Kingdom as the PM to replace him - his "interim prime minister". With Baloo finally inside the room where it happens, the Baloominati had all the power in its hands. Baloo Kingdom appointed Caesar Von Binger as his Deputy after a short time passed; however, the beginning of the term is one filled with inactivity in the government. After some sleepy Joseph action, Baloo decided that he would add "sub-ministries" - ministers who are not regional officers but instead deal with smaller affairs such as cards, recruitment, roleplay, etc., and the proposal won a landslide victory even though we never really got to see the sub-ministries in action (except the Cards Council). It was also during this period that Barlyy started personally giving advice to Baloo and telling him how he should deal with particular issues; plus, the cards aspect of the game started getting much more popular here in Callista. February was hard to research, but all you need to know is that Baloo became PM.

March 2021 ---> "Only Here For The Ending"

This might be one of the most boring months for the Baloominati except for the elections which were held on the very last day of March. There were lots of telegrams sent between Baloo and Barlyy over who Baloo should appoint as his DPM - Barlyy or Nooooooooo? After some discussion, Barlyy suggested that Baloo do a coin flip and choose his running mate that way, and Nooooooooooo won the coinflip. On the 31st of March, the elections were held, and Baloo won the election against Plus Nova Imperii - a rather influential candidate. This win meant that Baloo was going to be Prime Minister for 3 more months, a rather large time period. (Apologies for the short section, but March was very much boring for the Baloominati except for the discussions between me and Baloo.)

April 2021 ---> Sleepy Joe! Sleepy Joe!

Another boring month for the Baloominati yet again. Not much happened in the political stage in Callista in April except for the Head Justice elections. Poskukune won the head justice elections with zero opposition - the biggest landslide in Callistan history, all-0. Other than that, not much happened. Again, I apologize for the short section, but March and April really were not interesting from a political standpoint - just the Baloominati gaining more power by passively sitting there.

May 2021 ---> The Hell Is Going On, Vol. 3

May is, unlike the two months that came before it, incredibly chaotic. At around the 9th of May, some (respectful) arguments about roleplay could be seen. There was an attempt to revive roleplay in Callista, and it turned out that some people were actually willing to join the roleplay - however, after a shaky start, it started to fade out.

On the 19th of May, an election for the new Minister of Culture position was held which was won by Arisyan. The Minister of Culture's main duties were promoting culture (duh) and policing the RMB. Arisyan's win was crucial because it meant that an opposition member was in the Cabinet.

May was a very spammy month for Callista because of certain members (e. g. Cerata, maybe Noooooooo, Swedish-Norwegian Kingdoms, etc.) constantly spamming the RMB. Nooooooooo came under some fire on 19.05.2021 because he was "encouraging spam" and Plus Nova Imperii commented that "making Nooooooooooo LPM was a terrible idea". There were some OOC arguments as well between Plus Nova Imperii and Arisyan, but we will not talk about those here, but here is the post that ignited the political arguments that started on 19.05.2021:

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

Prime Minister ≠ Personal Spam Firewall

During the spam crisis, I did not need to step in. We had like literally four ROs and even some non-ROs more than happy to suppress spam efforts. I mean, we literally made a RO just to handle spam, with other duties attached as well. Kirby made a spam region virtually on his own, I didn’t need to help. Handling spam isn’t my duty. In fact, me doing so disrespects the aspects of a self-autonomous government. Of course, this doesn’t mean that a PM shouldn’t do anything. You brought up the mention of my inactivity in government meetings and other various government events. This I’m sorry for. However, I cannot attend all events, and until I find that my absence is dangerous to the region, I will not force myself to attend them all. On the topic of roleplay, this is also not related to my role as Prime Minister. It is not my job to prop up roleplay. In fact, with the same logic, it would be possible to make me look the most horrible leader by simply making a bunch of roleplay maps and having them not catch on. My existence as Prime Minister should not be made responsible for private affairs such as roleplay. And until roleplay is considered a government-mandated right and requirement of the citizenry, I will not prop up a roleplay as my job or at least be considered responsible for it. This is my official response to all criticism related to the subject matter suggested.

Needless to say, the populace was dissatisfied with the government and the government was dissatisfied with the populace.

Responses to this post quickly followed.

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

Bro, I’ve been serious since the start. I just talk and post weird.

To quote the Callistan Constitution:

- The Prime Minister will serve as delegate of the region, if the Prime Minister is not in the WA, then the Vice Minister will serve as delegate, if the Vice Minister is not in the WA, the Tsar will serve as Delegate

- The Prime Minister has emergency power, a state of emergency must be issued by the Tsar

- The Prime Minister will select a Vice Minister as a campaign partner

- After winning the position the Prime Minister will select their cabinet consisting of Secretary of Defence, State, Foreign Affairs, Secretary of the press, and a Private Secretary(s)

- The Prime Minister and Vice Minister will be given all permissions

These are the roles and powers of the Prime Minister. There is also a mention of me appointing roleplay moderators, but they have already been appointed for a while now. No mention of handling spam or other roleplay responsibilities.

Barlyy wrote:

True, but considering many of them have not done their jobs properly (even I'm faulty), the spam problem is still here. Just because there are a lot of regional officers does not mean you don't have to take action fast.

We only recently made an RO dedicated to handle spam. We had to take action faster, in my opinion.
Kirby's spam region doesn't seem to help a lot. You saw what Cerata did a few hours ago, correct?

This makes no sense whatsoever. The PM has to take action in times of crisis. You did that in BCK, why can't you do the same thing here?
Nobody is forcing you to attend to all meetings, Baloo. Everyone has their own personal live, and we respect that. However, I believe an RO, ESPECIALLY the Prime Minister, should try their best to attend to meetings.
Your absence was somewhat dangerous. The spam was a regional crisis. Sure, we managed to come up with a plan ourselves, but it took us a long time. Your help would've helped a lot here.

I completely agree with everything you said here. Maintaining roleplay is not and should not be a prime minister's job.

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

I'm only responding to three of these, the one about meetings can be put under the umbrella of my other responses.

1. The spam problem is being blown out of proportion. Sure, random posts can be annoying. But really though, is spam really a crisis? We have significantly reduced it from its previous form, and even then, it wasn't more than bothersome.

2. The majority of spam that still exists is mostly made by the same person and their puppets. In my opinion, if this was really as much of a problem as it is claimed to be, you would have temp banned him a long time ago. I don't necessarily believe that this should have happened, but I surprised it hasn't. Spam will always be a problem so long as ten-year-olds can get their hands on NationStates accounts. It shouldn't be expected of a single figurehead to handle a problem such as that.

3. Yes, I agree, the Prime Minister should take action in times of crisis. In things such as foreign affairs, the WA, and raiding. But spam posts? No. We have a slew of RO's. If I take action on almost everything, why even have other people in office? Does the President of the United States of America have to go onto his cell phone and block every robocall for the country? No. We have companies and other private and government programs to help with that.

4. I was Prime Minister of BCK for like one day after the interim elections before everybody left. All I did was sit there.

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

I just don't want people to call me out for not handling something that they themselves are completely cable of handling without the Prime Minister there. Each RO has very, very specific jobs to do. My job is to fill in the cracks. If the cracks to fill seem to be filling in well or are progressing at a pace in which it would be wasteful of my time that I could be using to fill other cracks, I don't do anything. No matter what, however, I do still do something. People vote on me or whoever else is a candidate because they think that I could choose the right people to handle things. The Prime Minister oversees those people, making sure that any mistakes they make, I can correct to the best of my ability. But even the Prime Minister can make mistakes. The LPM fills that crack. The same crack that a Vice-President would fill.

Barlyy wrote:

1 - Do you think we would appoint a RO whose main purpose is to combat spam if the spam problem was just exaggaration? You saw Cerata, they posted 4 times in a row. You yourself said it's bothersome, then why not help stop it
2 - If I did have border control, I would ban them. I don't have BC though, so I can't. We don't expect you to completely handle the spam by yourself, either. We're just saying you need to help.

3 - Would the United States of America not do that when everyone else is slacking on the job? Would the president not do anything if the economy crashed and nobody did something about it?
I did my part in trying to stop spam. Some people didn't do anything about it for a long time.

The main thing I'm trying to say here is you just needed to help when we needed it.

Arguments ensued between Baloo and the rest of the populace, even including the Head Justice:

Poskukune wrote:

Look Baloo I'm gonna put this straight to you. The Prime Minister is supposed to. Take charge. Ever since you took over from MU you have let other RO's take charge. In this past term I have had to take charge and more or less run to government. If it was not for sori I would not have survived this term,and i certainly can't survive another one unless you got off your Butt and did something. I'm fine helping you do your job, but i will. Not survive another term of doing your job for you. If you want, i can point out specific examples of me doing your job In The past 2 months.

It's clear why Baloo faced so much backlash during May: the populace did not like how the Baloo-Noooooooooo administration handled the spam situation and thought that the Prime Minister should be more active instead of "sitting around all day".

Poskukune wrote:

Baloo, you only have as much power as you feel you have. A prime minister should not only appoint a cabinet, but it should supervise it. You claim that the constitiution gives you no choice but to do nothing. The constitiution is a framework, a mere skeleton of an actual government, in addition you failed in your Stated job which is to intervene in a crisis. Sori saw off the raid, I persued them and got the facts about the raid, I tried to Figure out the deal with Krasnaya, and when i screwed up, it was Rome that defended me. Where were you during all this, where were you on Saturday during the big government meeting? The prime minister is the leader of our government, And yet when have you lead.

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

I don't blame you for being faster than me Mr. Judge. You have done very well in fields where I have seemed stagnant. Clearly, you have the traits of a good Prime Minister. However, I too have done things. And the things that I didn't, people like you already have their hand in. There are four ways this can end. 1. We drop it right now. 2. I go hardcore government. 3. You call up an impeachment hearing or referenda. Or 4. Beat me in the next election. Your legitimate choice.

Poskukune wrote:

4 is the easiest way. Number 5. Is you fix your act, apologise for the last term, and do better in the next number 6 may be a last resort, If neither 4 nor 5 happen I will resign.

Even the Tsar, Sorianora, started getting involved after a while:

Sorianora wrote:

Apologise for what? The only 2 controversies have been the spam, which is being combated as we speak, and the Krasnaya problem which you started and Rome and I got us out of

After all of this arguing, Baloo decided to "formally apologize":

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

I formally apologize for my inactions on matters of foreign security in regards to the Kraysana-The Vincence Empire Affair, The West Pacific raid on Callista, the bubbling spam situation, and attendance to some to important government meetings within the last few months and weeks of my extended term. I do not yield the assumed responsibilities of the Prime Ministership, nor do I withhold myself from running for public office in the June 31st Prime Minister Election.

Some people such as Plus Nova Imperii and Barlyy were not happy that people forced Baloo to "apologize" stating that Baloo had nothing to be sorry for:

Plus Nova Imperii wrote:

Baloo you don't have to apologize. You have other things to do than this video game.

Barlyy wrote:

Ok, apologizing is just insanity. Poskukune, you are not entitled to an apology. Baloo has been very good at stabilizing. There are just some things where I believe he can improve.

Also, Cerata was getting on a lot of the ROs' nerves:

Arisyan wrote:

Cerata: FINAL WARNING. ONE MORE VIOLATION OF SPAM RULES WILL RESULT IN A 24 HOUR RMB BAN.

Things seemed to calm down after the above post, with the RMB turning back to normal (or so we thought...)Barlyy made his beliefs clear with a couple of posts stating that he "wanted quality, not quantity" and said that he "did not care about the population of the region" but instead wanted to "keep the number low but keep the friendships strong" - also, the populace was already preparing for the June elections in which Baloo would be running for Prime Minister (again). The Tsarists party, led by Plus Nova Imperii, endorsed Baloo's campaign which further proved that the Baloominati was much more influential than the Tsarists.

We all thought the RMB calmed down but then Cerata started becoming spammy once again (with a nation called "Isle of Waifu" as their sidekick) which made Arisyan give out even more warnings:

Arisyan wrote:

Barrow Cove, Cerata, Isle Of Waifu: WARNED FOR SPAM. TAKE A SECOND TO READ THE SPAM RULES AGAIN.

This period could be considered the most oppressive period of Callista because of regional officers such as Barlyy and Arisyan cracking down on "spam" mercilessly by suppressing anything & everything that they considered spam (and their definitions of spam were very broad - anything that wasn't relevant to the current conversation was "spam" for them).

Arisyan wrote:

I regret everything and nothing.

Anyways: Isle Of Waifu, FINAL WARNING FOR SPAMMING. ONE MORE STRIKE AND YOU'RE OUT. THE SAME GOES TO GOD BLESS DEMOCRACY.

ALSO, I AM EXTREMELY CLOSE TO BANJECTING THE BOTH OF YOU. IF YOU CONTINUE TO VIOLATE SPAM RULES AND MAKE THE RMB UNPLEASANT FOR OTHERS WHO ACTUALLY FOLLOW THEM, YOU ARE BOTH GOING TO THE REJECTED REALMS WITHOUT TRIAL. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?

Arisyan wrote:

Cerata: FINAL WARNING FOR SPAM. YOUR SITUATION IS NOW IDENTICAL TO THAT OF WAIFU AND GBD. ONE MORE VIOLATION OF RULES, YOU ARE TO BE BANJECTED WITHOUT TRIAL. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?

It could easily be said that they were both going insane. :P

Barlyy wrote:

I'll admit, I've been a bit angrier than normal today. Forgive me if I came off as rude, it's just that it's annoying to just sit here, suppress posts and warn people over and over.

Things seemed to calm down again, and after some government meetings the following rules were put in place:

• All current warnings that have been issued to previous spammers will be cleared.

• Almost all spam will lead to suppression and a warning (check Arisyan's dispatch for more details).

• All members are allowed 3 warnings before they receive a one-day RMB ban.

• After this one-day RMB ban, if the mentioned member spams one more time, they will receive a seven-day RMB ban.

• After this seven-day RMB ban, if the member still continues to spam, they will be banned/banjected INDEFINITELY.

During this time period (oh my goodness, it's still 20.05.2021??) Plus Nova Imperii's party, the Tsarists, and the Baloominati decided to form the Tsarist-Baloominati Coalition. The Tsarist's voice was not heard that much in this coalition, I must admit, because of how loud and influential the Baloominati was.

With more warnings being handed out to Cerata, Nooooooooo, and Isle of Waifu^[1][2], people became rather disillusioned with the government's handling of the spam situation, an old-time member decided to leave the region^[3]. This caused Barlyy to interrogate them on the matter^[4]. Cerata also received another warning which meant that he only had 1 warning left - if he received that warning, he was going to get banned. Barlyy warns LPM Nooooooo as well^[5] and Barlyy suppresses so many posts that it ignites even more arguments:

Cerata wrote:

If you think about this, it's actually killing the region more. Somebody just left, and soon more are to follow unless you lax the rules. What fun is it? We don't have a utopia, but we shouldn't have a dystopia really too. The system is flawed, and therefore it should be fixed. If you say spam is destroying the region, that's kinda biased. Sure, seriousness will help, but that's temporary. If you want permanent change, you need something people can agree in in the long term. ALL the people. You can't just agree to disagree against spam, people need it to crack a joke, and I'm sure arisyan could take a break, and maybe joke around himself. This is purely optional, but it's your choice.

Barlyy wrote:

I understand where you're coming from, but your "fun can only be achieved by spam" perception is flawed in my opinion. There are other ways to have fun than to spam "Turkey" or "Ukraine" or "owo uwu". If you think that's the only thing that's fun, go ahead. You can joke around in anyway possible in Callistic Missle, yet you use it for "<br>" spam. We can joke around by forming coherent sentences, you know?

More people leave:

Isle of waifu wrote:

I was already planning on leaving anyway tbh. I just didn’t know where to go. It has nothing to do with barly or arisyan suppressing, it really has to do with the fact that I constantly fill the RMB and people generally don’t seem to like it when I do that.

The arguments eventually get to Arisyan, and following this post, Arisyan leaves the region...

Arisyan wrote:

EVERYONE QUIET! Jesus Christ! I-I CANT EVEN! I CANT! I ACTUALLY CANT ANYMORE OK. JUST-JUST STOP. I CANT ANYMORE. GOOD DAY. THIS IS ENOUGH. I WILL BE TAKING A BREAK FROM CALLISTA AND NS IN GENERAL. ITS TAKEN A TOLL ON MY MENTAL HEALTH. ILL COME BACK IN A FEW DAYS.

...but the arguments continue:

Nooooooooooooooo wrote:

Nothing's gonna happen you know. Look at Waifu and GBD and Cerata, they've constantly been warned for the past 3 days and yet they haven't been banned.

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

It's because they cheated the system in a way. We've only had strong anti-spam legislation for less than 24 hours. Previously, it was a madhouse. Their offenses were reset for the new legislation. They were about to be banned previous to legislation. Now the same will happen if the trend continues.

Cerata wrote:

Barlyy, the issue is, why is spam such a big issue with you? Spam is a way to let people relax, and a ton of people have fun with it. It's not my liberty, it's everyone's liberty. The regional mods can't take it, and everyone ends up in a lose-lose situation. When I first posted on callista, it was a vibrant region, with everyone spamming, but now, I don't feel like it has anything anymore.

Barlyy wrote:

I have lost care for activity anymore. If I had to sacrifice activity for meaningful posts, I'd do it. I do not care.

Barlyy wrote:

"Spam is fun"?... How many times do I have to tell you "go spam in callistic missile"? Go to Lardyland, go somewhere else. There are so many regions you can spam in, and yet you choose to spam here?

What is it with you and spam? I've lost my "spam is fun" perception a long time ago. Believe me, I still cringe at my old days at BCK.

Eventually, people start suggesting that everyone takes a break from posting for a while:

Plus Nova Imperii wrote:

alright. I'd say that everyone take a break from NS or the Callista RMB for an Hour or 2.

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

Agreed. Posting after and within the recognition of this message is strongly discouraged unless extremely necessary. Other posts may be temporarily surpressed.

After a small break, everyone goes back to arguing:

Nooooooooooooooo wrote:

(response to Barlyy's post)
I don't cringe. You know why? Because I have a sense of humor that can actually handle a few spam posts here and there. Don't act like no one got suppressed or warned back then. Sure, there may have been a few instances where it was over the line, but people still need to have fun. People can say E if they want to beause it has meaning. People can say "no" if they want because it has meaning. In fact you were the one who started it. So all I'm saying is just ease up on the rules a bit, man.

The Dream of Kirby wrote:

(response to to Cerata's post)
You weren’t in Bluecrown keep. The spam in it created this region, and after callista, the “Spam Free BCK” was created bluecrown keep crumbled to rubble. Now, the spam has gotten to callista, if we don’t do anything about it, then it could end us again. Spam is a real problem.

Nooooooooooooooo wrote:

(response to Kirby)
Sure, spam is a real problem, but banning E and uwu and no? That's a little too far. The exact reason I came to BCK was because XKI had a strict no-spam policy and they banjected me. I was looking for a region that was much more laid back. Not one where we devolve into arguments about birds or letters of the alphabet every 5 seconds.

Barlyy wrote:

I'll leave my post here - I'll need to go before the lockdown ends as I need to send my phone to a mechanic. (Response to the above post from Nooooooooooo)

1 - Sure, you're correct, but people change. I was comfortable with it before, I'm no longer comfortable with it now. This has gone full circle to the late-BCK shenanigans that made me leave the region, and I don't want to lose another region to this. I was on the verge of leaving, and I don't think I'd be able to emotionally handle a BCK 2.0.
2 - Ah yes, back to the "spam is fun" argument. I've already told the same thing to Cerata, and I'll say it here. In my world, in my view, spam does not equal "fun". If you think it is, we made a region exclusively for you people, for god's sake! If you want to spam so much, GO. TO. CALLISTIC. MISSILE. I mean that in the nicest way possible.
What about people who don't like spam? Are they just supposed to leave? Not have any form of their own fun? No. That's not how Callista will be.
3 - I answered this in section 1 of this very post.
4 - Go ahead, then. Propose something. Have you done a single thing as LPM? No. You've just sat there for pretty much your entire term.

Nooooooooooooooo wrote:

(Response to the above post from Barlyy)

1 - Well if you're not comfortable with it, that's fine. I've got nothing against regret.
2 - I'm not saying spam is fun. And I also said that there were instances that were over the line that weren't fun.
3 - That's fine. If you don't like it, then you don't like it.
4 - Really? I may have done some small jobs like supressing here and there, but my main concern was the happiness of our citizens.

Barlyy wrote:

Have you people not got any consideration for others? Do you really think you're entitled to upset people who actually want to have a normal conversation? If you want to spam, go to the region that was pretty much SPECIFICALLY MADE for you people.

The arguments continued... After a while, on 21.05.2021 (wait, it's STILL the 21st?), Barlyy lodged this post on the RMB and then left Callista to move over to Bluecrown Keep:

Barlyy wrote:

I'm out. I'm out, I'm done.

I must congratulate most of you for ruining my experience of this community. Your input was extremely valuable. Also, why don't you people just go completely over the line while you're here? Go spam "758291" in the RMB here, I have lost all care. I'll keep in contact with people I'm actually willing to keep any sort of relationship with. The others, don't try to contact me.

This could very much be considered the "climax" of the late-May Callistan crack and was certainly a surprise to many people. People did not expect Barlyy to get this angry and to leave the region, but hey - it happened. This instantly caused a lockdown in the RMB^[6] and the RMB went quiet for a little while. After some silence, the Baloo administration came up with a new spam policy which was passed rather quickly and won a landslide. Things calmed down a little more, and even though Barlyy told people that he "would not rejoin Callista", this turned out to be incorrect [Barlyy did indeed create his own region (called "Bar Vegas"), but this region did not last and Barlyy joined Callista not too long after]. Callistans remained strong through the rest of May, Barlyy made a campaign for the June 30th PM elections for Baloo, and everything went back to normal.

This was by far the most chaotic and unstable period of time that Callista has ever faced, but thanks to Baloo's charisma the region did not collapse. Needless to say, the late-May cracks boosted Baloo's popularity.

June 2021 ---> Some Peace At Last & Cerata v. Callista

After the chaotic month of May, June (aka Pride Month) started off with chaos as well. On the 2nd of June, Poskukune made some OOC comments that will not be mentioned here for your eyes' sake. All you need to know is that he was expelled from the Callistan Prosperity Party, lost his Head Justice position, and left Callista for a little while. Plus Nova Imperii was appointed Head Justice until the next election. Poskukune came back around a week later, though, so this was not that big of a deal - but it is safe to say that this event somewhat tarnished Poskukune's reputation in Callista.

After this, on 10.06.2021, Cerata was banned again from Callista by Barlyy. This was carried over to the Head Justice, Plus Nova Imperii. Barlyy represented Callista, so the case's official name is Cerata v. Callista. The following quotes are from the court case. Churchill 1 is Cerata and Barlyy represents Callista:

Churchill 1 wrote:

At around 9:00 AM PST, I was banned from Callista by Barlyy for posting "Mc Mc mc". (with the last one uncapitalized, of course). I do realize this might be slightly annoying to the regional members, but the callistan rules have nothing against this. The only one that even comes vaguely close is the single post ban. Even though it was not formally stated in the dispatch, and might be later, it is currently not, which means it is legal, under the right circumstances. No regional officer has clearly stated that repeated posts are illegal. So they aren't until proven otherwise. This is my case.

Plus Nova Imperii wrote:

Was they're a Conversation going on when you posted it, because that would classify as interruption

Churchill 1 wrote:

It wasn't an interruption, as Caedmare clearly had an error, that could've been pointed out.

Barlyy wrote:

As Cerata has presented their case, I will present mine.

Since Cerata has gone through all of the regional procedure, including getting banned from the RMB for 1 day, 1 week and getting banned indefinitely, they should not have been spared. However, we decided to give them a second chance. Our terms were that after one warning, Cerata would get rebanned for infinity.

The offending post in question, which is "Mc Mc mc", was considered to violate the section "Random and pointless posts that interrupt an important discussion. Results in warning, but not suppression." in Arisyan's current "Defining Spam" dispatch, even if it wasn't an interruption, but considered "pointless". So therefore, the post in question clearly violates our regional RMB rules.

Churchill 1 wrote:

(response to their own post)Even if it was not, it did not interrupt the conversation, as he merely ignored it, and as for the proponent, Barlyy, actually caused a larger RMB disruption by banning me from the region.

Plus Nova Imperii wrote:

(response to Barlyy's post) But was there a Conversation. If so what page number was the Mc mc mc located

Barlyy wrote:

region=callista/page=display_region_rmb?postid=44249177#p44249177

I deemed the post here pointless and random, even if KFC and McChicken were mentioned before. My reasoning here is that there is absolutely no point in just repeating the word "Mc" three times.

Churchill 1 wrote:

I was attempting to empathize the "Mc" part, which I was trying to make a pun out of, as "BFC" is clearly not "Mc", a whole different franchise.

Barlyy wrote:

That is completely unnecessary, and it really does not change the fact that it was pointless, even if it was trying to be a pun.

Plus Nova Imperii wrote:

Hmmm. When reviewing the Spam Policy, it says that the discussions has too be important. Would you call that conversation important.

Churchill 1 wrote:

(response to Plus Nova Imperii)
Barlyy's conversation with Caedmare did not benefit the RMB, as it was also pointless. Talking about fictional fast food restaurants and eating food from them is not considered RMB fuel.

Barlyy wrote:

(response to Plus Nova Imperii)No, but we should remember that our citizens have voted for the relaxation of the rules, including "fun little conversations are legal". Also, the "Defining Spam" dispatch does *not* include a section like that.
(response to Churchill 1)
It's not about *contribution*, it's about *pointlessness*. Say, someone was to say "guys you guys suck lololol amogus!!! uwu owo" when there are a bunch of people also talking about it. It doesn't change the fact that it is pointless.

Plus Nova Imperii wrote:

(response to Barlyy)
This is true. Give me a couple of minutes to think. The defendant may give a rebuttal

Churchill 1 wrote:

(response to Barlyy)
Yes, but what if we think about the fact that it is not pointless, and while the case you stated is true, if nobody contributed, wouldn't the conversation... just.. die? I wasn't expecting backlash because of a single post with 3 "Mc"s in it. It did contribute to the conversation, just no one replied to it. It was clearly related to the topic you had stated earlier, and you were also making some fun out of that too. Just because I contributed to it in a different term that you thought was spammy didn't mean it did not contribute.

Barlyy wrote:

No. There WERE other ways to contribute. Example: "Yeah, I really like [FAST FOOD RESTARUANT]'s food." The reason it got suppressed, as I said, is because of it being considered "pointless".
No, that is not how it works. Just because a post "contributes to the conversation" (which is debatable) does not mean it cannot be "pointless", and therefore, "spammy".

Churchill 1 wrote:

But does that mean no one else can post? Just because someone wasn't the one to start a conversation doesn't mean they can't post anything out of the ordinary in the conversation. Conversations are meant to branch out, and random interruptions are meant to do that. Just because someone posted something else that wasn't too related to the conversation doesn't justify the fact that it's bad. Are we just going to keep talking about chicken wings forever? No! The "Mc mc mc" post could have lead to something else branching out from the original conversation, such as maybe corporations, or maybe even zombie chickens!

Barlyy wrote:

No, no, no... You can obviously branch out from conversations. That has always been a privilege all of our residents and people who post in our RMBs have had, and we are not here to violate that. The flaw here is that "Pointless" =/= "stick to something forever". If you have something interesting to share, or even just talk about, you can talk about it with being *too* interruptive and/or spammy.

Churchill 1 wrote:

Yes, but I can defend myself by going back to the previous point: You didn't exactly define what was "spammy". So spam can basically be what you don't like. I clearly followed the other stated rules. My post also did not impact the RMB much, as it flowed smoothly as usual afterwards. If you had just ignored the post and went on, you could've kept the conversation going with the other person.

Barlyy wrote:

The problem with "Mc Mc mc" is that it is considered pointless, even if it "tried to divert from the conversation" which sounds like a stretch.

Churchill 1 wrote:

read my previous post

Barlyy wrote:

Spam HAS been defined. We have a whole dispatch for that. And we are not like other regions, we don't "just ignore" rule-breaking posts.

I am now going to sleep. I recommend that this case is postponed until tomorrow.

Churchill 1 wrote:

You did not clearly state it. If you want someone to not do it, put it in the dispatch. New players won't see the post from hundreds of days ago stating the word "banana" is illegal.

Barlyy wrote:

The dispatch has slight flaws that we are working on, but these flaws do not include the your post, that rule is clear as day.

If they do post "banana", we'll make them read the defining spam dispatch.

Churchill 1 wrote:

(this is a few posts combined)
Yes, but I read it. And the thing is, I did not know that it was illegal. I knew that single word posts were illegal, as well as the other rules, and I respected that. Why don't you put it in then, eh? If you argue that you didn't, I know that I only had one warning left, but you did not clearly state that warning, showing that it was not properly jurisdicted as a formal law. If you're so serious about rules, list them out. I did an RMB search, and you never clearly stated that rule. If you didn't state it, then it doesn't count.

If you use moral excuses for everything, then stop stating the formal rules and move on to moral rules.
Barlyy if you think about it and ponder it some more, morally correct decisions for the collective good, if ever used, will be beneficial, straying from the already preestablished rules and customs. However, morally correct decisions made for small misdemeanors and trouble that could easily be enforced via rules are simply not logical. While, sure, you could spend an entire hour sentimentally talking to a nation about how his single word post could kill the entire universe, it could be easily added into the rules, as it is a commonly mistaken and enforced rule. If you do want this minor abrasion of the rules to be harshly punished for no reason, I see it as a fault of you, that you have not correctly stated it in any blatant way, making it not legal. You can't really argue with the moral side of this, as most people would've just ignored the post and moved on, the only effector being Caedmare, who I responded to. As I previously stated (as well), your ban announcement actually caused more damage to the efficiency of the RMB. If you are criticizing my wrongings, consider yours instead.
As this states, sometimes being too overprotective of a certain subject can lead to its death. Your case. Take it or leave it.
It wasn't spam that killed BCK. It was the opposite of spam, in fact.

Being too protective of your beliefs in the spamless callista, and clinging to your rock in the middle of the lake will get you nowhere. You say you're "changing", but it'll be too late to help.

You're not the only one who's experienced region death. Believe me, I've seen my fair share. Almost all caused by rules that were too strict.

Sure, I know that I'm probably the spammiest person ever, but take my point. Almost all new nations are spammers. Deal with it. You can't make a region grow by staying in the past.

Barlyy wrote:

(combined posts)
I know, that's why it's getting suppressed and SPLEENS warned.

I was sleeping. Jesus.

We will put "don't spam a word again and again" as a rule. BUT, that does not mean your post is safe. It STILL violates the "pointless" rule.
WE. DID.

Stop talking about the repeated use. We are talking about the "pointlessness" rule. It's not "moral rules", it is very much formal.
Aand more filler. Just what I expected.

This is NOT about morality. Your post very much violated formal rules.

Well, one word posts are on the dispatch. Stop talking about stuff that you have no proof to back up.

You have literally violated the rules 10 times. That's not a "minor mishap".

"Efficiency of the RMB"? What the hell does that even mean? If you're talking about activity, like I have stated before, I do not want filler posts to be considered "activity". They're Schrödinger's posts, they exist and don't exist at the same time. I'd rather kill the RMB than to allow people to break rules.

Your regions "died" of strict rules, BCK died because of voter fraud and people not wanting so much spam. I would rather kill this region than to allow another BCK.

I will cling onto my past, thank you very much. I've learned from my past. What caused what. I know that, because I am partially stuck in my past. I'm not "clinging onto a rock" just because 5 guys are spamming. You don't have any rights here.

Your liberties end where others' begin. So quit with your "strict rules!!! literally 1984" arguments.

Tell me this.

Is it fair for 5/6 people to ruin the experience of 50/60 people? No. Is it fair for us to ignore people when they break *formal* rules? No. Is it fair to make exceptions? No.

We don't make exceptions.

Even if the rules will be softened, as the time you getting banned, the same rules still apply. Your post very much broke the rules.

After all of this going back-and-forth, the Head Justice finally ruled a decision:

Plus Nova Imperii wrote:

Hmmm alright I have made my decision

I find Cerata Guilty

This meant that Cerata was going to be banned forever unless someone decided to overrule that decision (spoiler alert: Cerata gets unbanned).

The rest of June was a peaceful period for Callistan politics. Barlyy promised that he would write a brand-new constitution and that the new constitution would be implemented if the Baloo-Barlyy/Arisyan campaign was victorious in the June 30th elections. The Baloominati did indeed win the 30.06.2021 elections - with Baloo as PM and Arisyan as his LPM - and a new constitution was implemented in July.

July 2021 ---> Peace At Last!

The month of July was rather peaceful. The constitution written by Barlyy was implemented and this new, updated version greatly improved Callistan politics. Barlyy reentered the Baloominati after a short hiatus from Callistan politics which meant that the Baloominati would continue being active in governmental affairs thanks to his charisma (totally not biased writing, folks). Other than these constitutional changes, and the Head Justice elections which concluded with Plus Nova Imperii winning.

August 2021 ---> Peace At Last, Vol. 2

August, too, was a peaceful period for the region. It was so peaceful that I was unable to find anything that's worth putting in this section, and I must admit I am getting a little tired, so this section will be super short. There is not much that happened in August except the slow and steady deregulation of the RMB - this is somewhat important as deregulation originally started right after the late-May arguments reached their climax but started getting more and more apparent in August and the months after it.

September 2021 ---> The Status Quo

September started off with Arisyan, the LPM at the time, telling the region that he'd be logging on less frequently than before (the promise was only once per day but he never really kept that promise :p)... and nothing else really happened. Once again, the apathetic population was not getting any less apathetic. With the October elections coming up, Barlyy created yet another Baloominati campaign with Baloo running for PM and Barlyy running as Baloo's running mate. The CPP put forward Yes Humans Are Recyclable as their candidate against Baloo - unlike the previous elections, this one was not going to be an uncontested win for the Baloominati. The deregulation of the RMB continued in September as well.

October 2021 ---> Banishment of YHAR, Puppet Fraud Stikes Back, Baloominati 2.0

September was certainly more exciting than July or August. To start things off, The Baloominati won 75% of the vote in the PM elections but voter turnout was super low for this election. Just a few days after the election, the Callistan government (namely Barlyy and Sorianora) started to realize that a new member, 8000, was acting rather... odd. This was made very clear by Barlyy who led the investigations against 8000, and after some investigations, concluded that Yes Humans Are Recyclable and 8000 were led by the same user. This meant that the user behind Yes Humans Are Recyclable not only lied in their citizenship form(s) on two separate occasions, it also meant that he attempted puppet fraud in the elections - both of those were unforgivable. After some discussion, the government decided that it should be a 3-month ban, and so he was banned for 3 months:

Barlyy wrote:

Another one bites the dust, folks!

Yes Humans Are Recyclable and his puppet, 8000, have been banished from Callista for 3 months for the following reason(s): Lying in citizenship form, lying in citizenship form, attempted puppet fraud in the October 2021 PM election. Here's how we found this out:

• Both logged in at approximately same time

• Similar posting habits

• Both nations voted for Yes Humans Are Recyclable almost instantly and almost at the exact same time

• 8000 joined the region in less than a day after joining NS, which is suspicious

He is able to take this into court if and only if he has conclusive evidence that 8000 is not his puppet.
We shall also close embassies with Time Clock (Sori, do your thing) as Time Clock is his puppet region. All new members will be monitored.

Glory to Callistortzka.

- Barlyy

This shocked some people - they did not expect such a veteran member to do something this reckless about the community's future - but what had to be done was done, and it was too late. This meant that the opposition lost one of its only members - a big blow to the CPP, this was.

After that was done with, on 08.10.2021, the Head Justice elections were held which was another landslide victory for the Baloominati with 80% of the vote. Plus Nova Imperii was instated as the Head Justice after their victory.

On 11.10.2021, Komahina (AKA Haruhi Japan) announced that they were going to create a new party called the Regional Triumvirate Party. This was the very first party to be founded in a long time ever since the Baloominati's founding. On 13.10.2021, Dominioan's new "Centralist Meritocratic Party" was also founded - it was clear that interest in politics was on the rise in Callista. Some debates about the current political system were held with some differing opinions: Barlyy defended the current status quo, Komahina wanted to make it so that all officers were to be elected democratically, and Dominioan proposed that the whole governmental structure is scrapped and people start being chosen & appointed by the Tsar. During this time period, foreigners (namely Zarbik) started joining the Baloominati and were appointed as "prophets" whose duties were to promote Balooist culture in foreign regions (namely IOC). Respectful debates continued to be held during the following days which meant that, for the first time in a long while, politics were actually generating lots of activity. On 14.10.2021, the CPP, the CMP (Dominioan's party) and the RTP (Haruhi's party) decided to form a "coalition" in order to have a better chance at toppling the Baloominati. - but after some... ahem... secret deals between Barlyy and Dominioan, Dominioan decided to leave the coalition and announced that he'd be running by himself with the Baloominati backing him.
It was certainly a shock to some folks - why would the Baloominati endorse Dominioan? Why doesn't the Baloominati simply run on its own platform? Well, there were some secrets that the public did not know yet - and that was the fact that something completely unexpected was on the horizon, and Barlyy (and the Baloominati as a whole) had to adapt. Here is the big revelation:

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

Big Baloo is stepping back from the PM role in the future...for now???

Yes, you heard that right - Baloo was not going to run for PM in the 01.01.2022 elections. This completely shocked some folks - well, can you blame them? Baloo has been so strong for so long and it just seems nonsensical that they'd surrender all of that power to someone else - but hey, he did what he wanted to do, and we cannot change that as observers. This certainly ignited interest in politics ever more since people realized that they finally had a chance. There were discussions between Barlyy and Dominioan and the two concluded that Dom should run for Prime Minister in the 01.01.2022 elections (certainly nothing sketchy here lol :P).

November 2021 ---> He'll Be Back..?

To start things off, on 08.11.2021, two things happen:

• Dominioan announces that he won't be running in the 01.01.2022 election and that the Baloominati "needs to find another candidate". This was a surprise to some, but not to Barlyy.

• Cerata is dubbed "forgiven" by Barlyy and is unbanned from Callista. Thankfully there was not a lot of backlash that spawned from this decision.

On 11.11.2021, a new amendment is added to the constitution:

Callista Dispatches wrote:

ANNOUNCEMENT:

There is a new amendment that has just been added to the constitution which states that users with their main nation in a foreign region cannot run for PM or LPM. People such as Haruhi Japan (Komahina) or Dollystana (Tsardom of Alaska) will not be able to run for PM/LPM unless they move their mains here.

Signed,
- Sorianora, Baloo Kingdom, Barlyy

Even though it was "signed by Baloo, Sorianora, and Barlyy", it could be said that Barlyy was the man who came up with the idea. This sparked some controversy, as expected:

Arisyan wrote:

Im gonna be honest here and say that this includes me..but why? what is the point of said amendment? I would like to be briefed on the reasoning behind banning people from running if their "main" (which is difficult to define) is in another region. I'd like to say I even have two mains, Arisyan (OOC) and Anatoliyanskiy (IC).

Haruhi Japan wrote:

Seems very "democratic" to me.

Arisyan wrote:

I believe instead we should merge the two. We have similar goals and were gonna run in an electoral coalition for the January election anyways.
However, I am still against banning people from running for office who have mains in other regions. Sounds pretty much like a political maneuver to get rid of the opposition, but like actually banning them from running.

Haruhi Japan wrote:

Now you will believe me when I say the Baloominati is a threat.

Sorianora wrote:

Just because it says signed by doesn’t mean it says approved of by

Haruhi Japan wrote:

They will pass because the Baloominati dominates the government. There is no opposition.

Dollystana wrote:

Seems kinda unfair, also why didn't you consult your judge on this?

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

What Dom said
No silly, saying you have a bomb is a threat
There could be
It ain’t unfair, it just seems unfair. The law isn’t final in my opinion anyway. A revised version would replace the word “main” and replace it with a term that involves not allowing RO’s of other regions to become Prime Minister. All other RO positions are free to whoever wants them. I think it makes sense to have this as a rule. We wouldn’t want a foreign entity to be pulling the strings from a different region. You, Dolly, are kinda an exception to the rule, however, it would be expected for you to move your Dollystana account here if you were to win; the same going for anyone else of a similar scenario to you. I’m open to questions and suggestions.
Read above post

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

If such a thing were to occur, changes could be made

Arisyan wrote:

I wholeheartedly agree with it being for ROs of another region not to be able to run for PM or LPM. I mean, "main" nation is difficult to define as is.
Possibly we should put it up to poll as well, but it might not be necessary.

Despite all the backlash, the law was still passed - a huge victory for the Baloominati.

On 14.11.2021, Barlyy made a dispatch telling people that he would be taking a break from NationStates due to personal issues. I'll spare you the details of my departure, but this basically meant that

• The Baloominati will have no candidate for the 01.01.2022 election unless Barlyy comes back

• The government needs a new LPM this instant

The second bulleted point is what we'll be talking about; since, as you'll see later, the first bulleted point will be deemed irrelevant after Barlyy's return. On 15.11.2021, Baloo chose Plus Nova Imperii to be his new LPM, and held a poll on the same day asking the populace whether or not they approve of this decision. However, this decision caused some arguments:

Haruhi Japan wrote:

Voting for yourself is an act of corruption.

Bruxxa wrote:

Seems to me that a vote with one candidate isn't an election at all

Ethics Committee of the SCPF wrote:

That isn’t a good example, irl elections have millions of voters while Callista has as much people as a unincorporated community in the US west.

Bruxxa wrote:

The fact that there isn't a real election and baloo just picks someone and everyone automatically agrees reinforces this. I believe the political term for this is body packing

Arisyan wrote:

You make a fair point actually, but on the other hand if candidates could not vote then we would lose a significant voter base because of this. Still, I'll think about what you've said.

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

I believe there may have been a misunderstanding on what this poll is. Barlyy was my LPM, but now he's taking a break. Technically speaking, I could have just chosen a new LPM without a vote, as that's how it goes in an election (you don't vote for a Prime Minister and a Lieutenant Prime Minister, you just vote for a Prime Minister who then chooses an LPM). However, my fellow officers and I opted to rather allow me to choose a replacement and give the people an extra bit of choice. It is not an election, it is a formal acceptance poll. If Plus Nova Imperii does not win the LPM poll, I will move on to another choice and we will vote again. The original poll had more information on it, but was cut for time.

tl;dr

This isn't an election, this is a formal acceptance poll. This isn't a right, this is a privilege of the citizens. Apologies for the confusion.
Assuming that said theoretical political monopoly is a bad thing, which it doesn't have to be. Not to mention, I'm willingly giving up my power at the end of this term so there won't be anything to worry about (unless plans change).

Dominioan wrote:

Abandon the Baloominati then. Leave behind the greatest power of this region. But don't expect an apology when we withdraw it all, and you realize how much the region relies on this organization and the prickly pear black market.

Kingdom of Englands wrote:

Dont Give up power because outside forces kick up a fuss

Arisyan wrote:

america moment.

*ahem*

Without Baloo and Barlyy running for office, im not sure the Baloominati can stir up enough support to win the presidency. The opposition is a very, very broad coalition (almost too broad) but we are united in the sense that we want change. But we don't want pointless progress, and if elected we will work with Balooists to govern. And regional collapse is not going to happen because we're just gonna make a new region, everyone joins said region and we're back to the beginning.

Dominioan wrote:

Nothing changes. You can't change anything, I don't know how many times I'm going to have to say this. There is no opposition, everyone wants the same thing. The more we turn away from the established order, the less stable things are without anything actually improving, and eventually we collapse and it all repeats over and over. I'm so tired of it.

Callista is the best region this "line" has had. It can't die.

Ethics Committee of the SCPF wrote:

I think your really overestimating the regions reliance on the Baloominati, it’s not like the political process can’t run without it.

Dominioan wrote:

Of course it can. But every single time the established status quo is challenged, it all goes downhill.

But hey, maybe it wont be that bad. Everythings homogenized, no one has dissenting opinions. The "opposition" wants the same things but they call it more liberal. So if nothing changes, maybe it will be alright

Ethics Committee of the SCPF wrote:

What are even policies of three parties at this point? They seem content letting things stay the same.

Dominioan wrote:

Well there the Baloominati. Basically content with how things are. The recent developments involving the foreigner law and Barlyy are…complicated, but from the information I have been given I am sure that it was more a personal thing than an organization one. Basically how Callista has always been.

The CPP wants more democracy. They always forget to mention how this “more democracy” would come into play. Usually it’s on the lines of making things incessantly complicated or hand waving it and saying “more polls I guess”. Basically they are literally the same except they pretend not to be.

There’s no mainstream third party right now I think. Currently there’s a few anarchist or anti-democracy parties around I think, but that’s it

Ethics Committee of the SCPF wrote:

What happen to your party?

Dominioan wrote:

Withdrew for personal reasons involving my partnership with the Baloominati. Now it’s just them and the weird CPP+Everyone else alliance. But at this rate, who cares? Nothings gonna happen until Nooooooooooo and the Mario Party get elected

Ethics Committee of the SCPF wrote:

Weren’t you opposed to them and partnered with the opposition?

Dominioan wrote:

No. Barlyy decided he liked my platform and proposed that we partner, so we did. Im pretty sure it was mostly Barlyy on that decision, since he’s never really been a centrist and just wants to be on the side of power. Other things got in the way of it though, so I pulled out.

Ethics Committee of the SCPF wrote:

Classic barlyy, of course he didn’t like your platform, it wanted to abolish the government.

Dominioan wrote:

He liked it, he thought it was interesting and that it could revitalize Callista. At least that’s what he told me. It didn’t work out for reasons outside of the actual platform itself, that’s it

Ethics Committee of the SCPF wrote:

You actually believe him? Like you said he’s always on the side of power and abolishing the government puts his power at risk.

Dominioan wrote:

You don’t know all of the things I know right now. Barlyy has some weird ideas that he’s told me about, I’m pretty sure that him supporting my platform was definitely part of his ulterior motives.

I don’t care about what he believed though. He was the most active member of Callista and a really great guy, no one can take that away.

Arisyan wrote:

Yeah, I guess you could say that it's pretty much the Baloominati-Tsarist Coalition and CPP-RTP-KWSE Coalition at this point. There's also Posks Tigerist Party but that's pretty small I'd say.

Once again, despite the small arguments, Plus Nova Imperii won the poll - another win for the Baloominati. A problem was on the horizon, however - now that the Head Justice is the LPM, the region needed a new Head Justice - so ANOTHER flash election had to be held.

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

Oh yeah, by the way Sorianora, make Plus Nova Imperii LPM.

We also need to hold a flash election for Head Judge

Plus Nova Imperii wrote:

Who wants to run for judge

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

We'll have to wait and see, the Baloominati candidate is...uh...Nooooooooooooooo or CVB

Cerata announced his candidacy:

Cerata wrote:

i wish to join
you cannot stop me
or i need to see your manager

...and so did Haruhi Japan/Komahina:

Komahina wrote:

I will run under the CPP-RTP merger.

Komahina wrote:

What you will expect from me as Head Justice:

• Professionalism

• Integrity

• Objective Judgment

• Listens to all sides of debate

• Promoting education and the pursuit of happiness

• Protection of privacy, and the rights of political and civil freedoms

• Complete separation of Church and State in the courts

• The right to a fair trial and a federal lawyer provided for every citizen if they cannot afford to hire one themselves

• Elimination of corruption and bribery in the court system

• Upholding righteousness and Callistan ideals

Komahina was endorsed by the opposition (CPP-RTP merger, AKA "UCO"):

Arisyan wrote:

I endorse Haruhi Japan, who will be running as the candidate for the United Callistan Opposition (working title)

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

So according to my intel, Komahina and Cerata are running for judge. Is there anyone else? If not the poll will go up tommorrow

Plus Nova Imperii wrote:

Cerata would be great for the Head Justice role, he has been on trial the most

After the poll lasts for a little while (I cannot find the poll since it probably was deleted), Haruhi Japan concedes and Cerata wins:

Haruhi Japan wrote:

You win fair and square. It's the people's will.

Cerata wrote:

Alright, thanks mate. Good game.

...though some people are somewhat opposed to this:

Arisyan wrote:

Cerata winning is a new low point in Callistan politics. Do they even have a campaign? I don't even know what they're running for. Also turnout is an abysmal 40%.

Haruhi Japan wrote:

The Baloomimati will vote for anyone to keep themselves in power.

Dominioan wrote:

They might just not like you. Its not like the Justice does anything anyway, most people who do bad things around this region deserve an immediate ban.

Haruhi Japan wrote:

True. I tarnished my reputation here so that is completely understandable.

Arisyan wrote:

I do agree. If anything, Cerata winning just shows how little the population is interested in change.

Haruhi Japan wrote:

Disband the "Opposition" since it serves no purpose.

Cerata wrote:

You hate me. Understandable.

Haruhi Japan wrote:

You abandoned the region, took our API, and are now running for public office in a region I consider in many ways to be a rival. No, I don't hate you.

Cerata wrote:

I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that.. :(

Haruhi Japan wrote:

It's all good. In fact, I'd like to officially announce my resignation from Callistan politics from here on out. Congratulations to Cerata for winning the election for Head Justice! *he steps down and shakes his hand*

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

Do you think I or my followers are going to vote for a political party whose focus is specifically to undermine all attempts to make my final moments as Prime Minister as productive as possible? These statements highlight a critical flaw in the ideology of your opposition; it seems to be that not enough people want change. Need you not be reminded that the Baloominati is not an elitist organization, that it accepts all new members, that it does not promote unhealthy practices in government, that it bolsters this region's core social structure, is supported by far more than just those in power as clearly indicated by non-party and non-officer voting habits, is not a stifling block to change, in fact, facilitates the flexibility needed for change in the future, has a history and is fundamentally based on the idea of accurately representing the diversification of regional political alignments in government, has never discounted the need for alterations in the systems currently and previously instated as critical features of this region, and has always stood as a sign of interregional community since its unsuspecting founding. I would then consider it unreasonable to claim that change is necessary to keep an already stable region from dying. I will not and have never attempted to prevent the opposition from existing. I do not think that is a stretch to say that eventually, the political landscape of this region will change, and parties will switch, so don't worry. Plus, it is only a judiciary role; the Judge normally doesn't see very much action these days anyway.

Arisyan wrote:

You make a very good point, but still, politics is a very important part of Callista and there should be more parties than just the Baloominati.

Furthermore, I've never actually been against the Baloominati, I just don't want to join them because I don't believe in any sort of organization that is based around a single person, no matter how much I agree with their ideals. This is more of a personal decision than anything against you, and is the main reason why I made the CPP. Plus, I have some differences in opinion on regional policy such as the Tsar (which I believe should be a solely figurehead role) and democracy (more referendums, no matter how minor this is different from the current status quo). If you don't run for re-election, then who knows, I could win, I might not, depends on who you nominate. But, I don't believe in pointless progress and I would only tweak a few things to make Callista in my head better, and all these "tweaks", per se, would be voted upon.

That said, congrats to Cerata for winning the judicial election, it's quite the 360 from your situation a few months ago lol.

Dominioan wrote:

It’s going to be interesting seeing what’s going to happen after you (Baloo) step down. No one really has the influence like you do to become such a powerful community figure.

Baloo Kingdom wrote:

Fair (to Arisyan) and fair (to Dominioan)

After all the arguments, Cerata was instated as Head Justice. Plus, Barlyy said "I'll be back" [inspired by the Terminator] to Cerata:

Cerata wrote:

Barlyy just sent this. He's coming back.
"I thought Dom told this region that I would return eventually. You can tell the rest of Callista this. I'll be back in at least a month, things are getting better."

December 2020 ---> He's Back!

After a rather silent start to December, on 04.12.2021, I, Barlyy, returned to NationStates - and needless to say, I was bustling with atmosphere. I felt pretty bored after not checking in on the RMB, I got bored after not talking to those online strangers. I thought that NS was a burden when I decided to quit but then I realized that I was incorrect - NS was not a burden to me. So instead of trying to fix family problems that I am absolutely unable to fix no matter how much I try and thinking that almost completely disconnecting from the Internet is somehow good for me, I returned. I had a thirst I needed to quench - I had not talked to anybody for a long while after my departure, and needless to say, I missed all of you lads. I did not want to make anybody feel upset near me - I did not want to, and still don't want to, be a burden to others in any way, shape, or form.

Instantly after my arrival, Cerata resigned from their Head Justice position (because I'm too intimidating :P):

Cerata wrote:

ok sori can me and barlyy switch

Cerata wrote:

I felt that a more mature person should have a government position, so I actually resigned.

So now we have to go through yet another election. I made a dispatch right away but this dispatch was not serious since everybody already knew what my beliefs were - however, my eyes were not really set on the Head Justice position but rather pm the Prime Minister position. After some discussions with Baloo, he told me that he would be my running mate and that I should run for Prime Minister - and I started writing like we're running out of time. On 05.12.2021, just a day after my arrival, I published my PM campaign dispatch which was completed in almost no time. I won the Head Justice elections with no opposition.

Other than some secret discussions between me and Baloo about how the Baloominati should approach the 01.01.2022 election, the rest of December was rather sleepy.

January 2022 ---> ?????

????????

Closing Statements

Wow, that took a long time to write. I've been writing this dispatch on a secret Baloominati account but that account shall not be leaked. There are some Hamilton references here and there, so if you know the songs, you'll be able to enjoy the dispatch a little more. The dispatch has been both fun AND exhausting to write - having to scroll through basically the ENTIRE RMB was not fun, but putting little references here and there and scrolling past some funny jokes certainly helped improve my mood over the past week. I decided to write this dispatch after writing the Baloominati Polka 02.02.2022 election campaign since that was fun to write and I am glad that I did it. People called me insane for doing this, and that is true, but I do not care. By the way, if you didn't read it fully, I will personally hold you accountable for anything negative that happens to the Baloominati in the future. Go and read the whole thing, a lot of effort went into this abomination.

I'd like to give a shoutout to Baloo Kingdom and Dominioan for helping me write this, and I would also like to thank every single one of you that are & were friendly to me in NS. Y'all are the best, especially the Callistans. <3

The dispatch will get updated monthly (or maybe even more frequently depending on whether or not there is an announcement to make) and the history section of the dispatch will be updated on the first week of every month unless I am super busy and/or unable to update it.

Peace out,

-Barlyy