The Nyman Questioner (DFW BOMBSHELL)

[Wells]

You mean to tell me this pseudo journalistic backwater rag is still in operation?

No offence of course.

I am offended that you would you would use the same insult twice. Be more creative pls. I would suggest calling us the "epitome of fraudulent 'reporting'" next time.

As for the oakvale story, it turns out our source may have been a bit exaggerative. Good thing we didn't like run an entire smear story.

Yankee's most recent post above was also fantastic. He could write for the Questioner if he wasn't an icky lying swamp creature. ; )

[Lincoln Republican]

You mean to tell me this pseudo journalistic backwater rag is still in operation?

No offence of course.

I am offended that you would you would use the same insult twice. Be more creative pls. I would suggest calling us the "epitome of fraudulent 'reporting'" next time.

As for the oakvale story, it turns out our source may have been a bit exaggerative. Good thing we didn't like run an entire smear story.

Yankee's most recent post above was also fantastic. He could write for the Questioner if he wasn't an icky lying swamp creature. ; )

But it was so good I had to use it at least twice.

No offence of course.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

You mean to tell me this pseudo journalistic backwater rag is still in operation?

No offence of course.

I am offended that you would you would use the same insult twice. Be more creative pls. I would suggest calling us the "epitome of fraudulent 'reporting'" next time.

As for the oakvale story, it turns out our source may have been a bit exaggerative. Good thing we didn't like run an entire smear story.

Yankee's most recent post above was also fantastic. He could write for the Questioner if he wasn't an icky lying swamp creature. ; )

Swamp King to you, I killed a lot of people to get this title. I deserve to called such.

[Wells]

Category: Serious News

ADAM BOMB DROPPED ON LUMINE CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS

Written By: Mike Wells

Adam Griffin, member of a political organization much more sinister than anything the swamp could ever hope being, has recently emerged from deep within the depths of the ***** ********** ******** (the organization has threatened to punish us if we reveal the location). Upon taking a quick glance at the state of political affairs in Atlasia, he realized this was something so hopelessly messed up that no amount of whining could fix it. Not for lack of trying on the part of many people, whose names we will not reveal but do rhyme with "Blue Mean" and "Are Higher".

So, Adam did what most people would do and have done in this dreadful scenario: consume a regulated substance. While the Rock/Wells ticket would prefer some tainted brownies, we can respect that Adam went old school and drowned his sorrows until his BAC rose to the level where only AtlasCare could help him. At the point where he would get an F- on a breathalyzer test, he entered the campaign headquarters of Lumine/Rpryor (A New Dawn For Atlasia, though A More Perfect Union would be a much better slogan) and mumbled to himself about various legitimate conspiracy theories The Questioner has floated in the past.

Yet when the name "Frank Taggin" was whispered by Lumine across the room, Adam snapped. One witness told us: "There was this freaking insane look in his eyes. I got legit spooked. I ran out of there." That did not stop him from hearing what was said, as our interview with a deaf woman down the street attests. "I'm only deaf in one ear, but without my hearing aid I can only hear jet plane crashes, which only ever happened once around here." Yet she herself very clearly heard Adam say, "THAT DIRTY SLUT! FAKE FEDERALIST! GODDAMN OPPORTUNISTIC. . . " (There was much more but you start to get the idea of those Frank Taggin attacks after a while.)

The initial blast radius of the Adam Bomb affected the entire city of San Francisco, but Lumine's campaign headquarters were especially devastated. The destruction drew the attention of President Frank Taggin, who attempted to negotiate with Griffin, but every time she stopped to take a breath, he set off another Adam Bomb. After a conversation that led to her becoming an expert in learning how to identify Derangement Syndrome firsthand, she decided that the best way to defeat Adam Griffin is to ignore him, a rookie mistake.

At this point, Doof F. W. L. Lover, an expert in how to deal with Adam Bombs, stepped in. Once the city had been evacuated and the citizens were being treated for hearing loss and PTSD, he began an argument. As now there was DFW-mite in addition to the Adam Bombs, the city became less safe to enter, but the tried and true tactic of quarantining it to a remote location was eventually accomplished by Former President Lover.

The city is now safe to enter once again, but many of the citizens confess that rebuilding is going to be difficult. "The Yankee Cells that have been dumping uncountable inches of paragraphs of text all across Atlasia aren't stopping." Says meteorologist Claudio Vernight. "Usually this activity is regulated to Nyman, but there has been this recent surge of activity in the AFE region due to an upcoming election, which of course means Yankee Cells are going to make appearances anywhere and everywhere. Lumine's headquarters were hit by nearly a foot of Yankee's text before the Adam Bombs, and it does not seem like they will end anytime soon. It also looks like he dumped some on The Questioner headquarters a few days ago as well."

Experts are advising Atlasians to stay inside if there are reports of Yankee nearby, and to evacuate if you catch an inkling of an Adam Griffin coming near you. So far, Adam Bombs and Yankee Cells are hard to predict, but many towns and cities across Atlasia have been installing alarms which will sound a siren every time something like "People's Speaker North Carolina Yankee   04:26:24 pm   Posting in The real Rpryor (thread paid for by dfw flamewar consulting Inc.) ." appears on the radar.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Now I just need to find 17 and 18....

[Adam Griffin]

Great coverage - very flattering!

ENDORSED

[Wells]

Category: Editorial

A ONE PARTY STATE

By Isaac Cummings

Let us consider for a moment, the point of politics in a Representative Democracy. We elect people to represent us in higher offices; and on behalf of the country they vote on what laws we should have, what people we should have in particular offices, and what countries we should invade. Prior to elections we ought to have diverse campaigns, where people who wish to submit themselves to the public will explain their positions and show that they are the best person to serve in that office. In a modern democracy like ours; candidates band together in political parties; to both allow themselves to work together to win election and also to indicate to voters that these people are all broadly similar politically.

Some of you may ask why I started this piece explaining what we already know. Well, it's because in Atlasia we have seriously moved away from that model. I’m not saying that we’ve moved away from Representative Democracy - although there is a strong history of direct democracy in Atlasia, both under earlier constitutions and with initiatives and referenda a regular occurrence, we fundamentally remain a representative state - but that our institutions no longer enable and allow the strong debate that a good, thriving democracy needs. Indeed, it almost seems that at the moment the only real debates going on in the country are in the press and on television; with the vast majority of legislation passed at both federal and regional level goes through without a dissenting voice against it. I think that a big factor in this is one quite obvious thing - that although we have two big parties that seem to offer choice; it is an illusionary one at best, and that in all intents and purposes, Atlasia is now a One Party State.

Let us look at the facts that prove that. The de facto leader of the Federalist Party, their Presidential candidate, was as recently as this time last year on the left of the Labor Party. The de jure leader of the ALP, the party chair, was until very recently on the right of the Federalist Party. Mr Truman, who seems to be playing an odd game of Pokémon by needing to have every position at once, is standing against a President under whom he is serving. I mean I am not the man to start saying that dramatic swings in stated political positions or partisan affiliation aren’t real and from the heart, but what they have fundamentally left us with is two broadly centrist, libertarian parties that agree on 95% of issues.

That is unhealthy for Democracy; it means that patriotic, upstanding citizens of Atlasia are not given the choice that is needed for a Democratic state to grow, and flourish. It also means that citizens aren’t able to chuck out a government that they don’t like; since in all likelihood a significant number of executive office holders will be from the party that they’ve voted again - consider now that a majority of the first Taggin cabinet are members of the ALP - although cross-party cabinets are nothing new, it seems incredibly odd that a President would not trust her own party enough to at least give them half the places in it. Some will explain this away as “bi-partisanship” and “consensus-making” or whatever; but the fact is that when both major party candidates seem to stand for the same policies that isn’t making a consensus, it's forcing one down the throats of the Atlasian people.

But the impacts of this awful centrist consensus isn’t just at the Presidential level; if you look at lower levels you can see the toxic impact that this has on politics. Let's take the South; for that is the region that I am from. In this term of the Southern legislature there have been zero bills where there has been a contrary vote in final passage. The infrastructure bill heavily advocated for by  was debated for precisely two minutes before being voted down unanimously for being “too expensive” - with no discussion on any way of raising that money, no discussion even of an alternative ways of funding infrastructure. All of the bills introduced have been entirely non-controversial, and do very little to encourage debate or discussion on them. Let's also look at what has not been discussed, for example. No budget has been introduced in the South this term, the regional healthcare legislation required by the Federal reform bill has not even been mentioned by any member of the Chamber, never mind there being a bill drafted or discussed. I recently spoke to a Southern delegate and asked him about the health care matter - with a hard deadline on New Year's Day - and got a curt “we are working on other things at this time” in reply - no policy, no ideas, not even any mention as to when they’d finally get to this important issue. In this determined measure to get “bipartisan” agreement on every issue; all we have ended up with is an inactive, complacent Chamber of Deputies which fosters political apathy amongst the people of the South - and indeed, even delegates!

What are the solutions to this? Well, I don’t think it's necessarily good to have a divided, polarised partisan split (although some of the arguments would suggest that would be better than our current Grand Coalition), but actually having parties with significantly different policy differences would be great; but the main thing we need is brave people willing to stand up to the Nyman elites and vote against the leaderships of both parties. We need radical thinkers, people who can bring new solutions to Atlasia, people who are willing to offer change. Naturally; this means that The Questioner applauds the decision of Mr Wells and Mr Lumine to run for office. But we don’t just need those people in the Presidency; we need them throughout our political system - indeed, arguably its more important for people like that to be working in the legislature! But we also need people who are willing to vote purely on the issues and not based on personal relationships with other people.  Right now we have too many people who’ll vote with the crowd in the name of “bipartisanship”: and whilst that is necessary at times, we need independent thinkings with a backbone in our offices.

Indeed, I think this is a big part of the reason backlash against both major candidates, but especially President Taggin. It's not necessarily the President - certainly, by all accounts she is a very nice person - but a feeling that no real, legitimate choice is being offered to voters. Although I may personally disagree with the characteristically aggressive approach of President Griffin; I feel that his anger matches those of other people in Atlasia; a feeling that candidates have to fit the incredibly narrow Nyman Consensus on all policy matters in order to get anywhere near a high office. That has to change, and the upcoming elections are our chance to change it.



[DISCLOSURE: Mr Cummings is a candidate for the Chamber of Delegates in the South]

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I actually like a lot of this article, but I think we probably disagree on the solutions.

For one thing I would note, the present Chamber is I think overwhelmingly an appointed body because the last election had so many candidates that it spiked the size of the legislature beyond what the region could sustain. Several resignations happened and the end result is a chamber is mostly appointed and therefore all basically coming from the same mindset.

Now I am not sure who said that line about "other priorities" this is where the voters need to step up and say you can spend a couple weeks and put an arrangement in place for healthcare. My polls with Survey Atlasia just finished and there is a lot of different opinions on how to approach this. Regional Legislators need to start looking into this issue now and people need to rise up and demand that they do or run themselves for such office.

People are making a big mistake though, laying blame for this at the hands of the System and this is where Lumine and I fundamentally disagree. The same problem was present in the unicameral Chamber between 2009 and 2013 (I WAS THERE DAMN IT, I SAW IT!!!).  The problem with echo chamber consensus will be made worse if you cut the number of House seats, because it raises the quota beyond where more partisan candidates can compete, favoring moderates. And Regional Senate elections have always favored a narrow range of candidates in the center, with the exception being the Midwest where demographics where overwhelming to the left.

Removing the House, or cutting the house is the most counter productive thing you can do to address echo-chamber consensus.

[Terry the Fat Shark]

storms the premises I WORK HERE NOW!!!! As a gossip columnist!

[IceAgeComing]

I actually like a lot of this article, but I think we probably disagree on the solutions.

For one thing I would note, the present Chamber is I think overwhelmingly an appointed body because the last election had so many candidates that it spiked the size of the legislature beyond what the region could sustain. Several resignations happened and the end result is a chamber is mostly appointed and therefore all basically coming from the same mindset.

Now I am not sure who said that line about "other priorities" this is where the voters need to step up and say you can spend a couple weeks and put an arrangement in place for healthcare. My polls with Survey Atlasia just finished and there is a lot of different opinions on how to approach this. Regional Legislators need to start looking into this issue now and people need to rise up and demand that they do or run themselves for such office.

People are making a big mistake though, laying blame for this at the hands of the System and this is where Lumine and I fundamentally disagree. The same problem was present in the unicameral Chamber between 2009 and 2013 (I WAS THERE DAMN IT, I SAW IT!!!).  The problem with echo chamber consensus will be made worse if you cut the number of House seats, because it raises the quota beyond where more partisan candidates can compete, favoring moderates. And Regional Senate elections have always favored a narrow range of candidates in the center, with the exception being the Midwest where demographics where overwhelming to the left.

Removing the House, or cutting the house is the most counter productive thing you can do to address echo-chamber consensus.

I don't wish to disclose who said that since it was asked without being clear that I would use it for the Questioner so I'd feel uncomfortable (it was a question of genuine interest really) but that was someone who was elected, not an appointed member.

The problem of there being just an odd consensus on everything in Atlasia at the moment isn't just the South though; Wells did a study on it and found that there hadn't been a negative vote at all in the game - counting House, Senate and all four regions - in over a week; and that just these lengthy periods of seemingly no one disagreeing with anything surely can't be healthy.  The more concerning thing about the South isn't so much the consensus; its the fact that there have been several bills which have been introduced with support mentioned; then as soon as another delegate mentions their opposition there has been instant moves to table them.  That isn't good for the reasons that I think are very clear in the article.

I don't wish to talk about constitutional or institutional solutions since I wonder how effective they'll be - incidentally I also don't want to be the person moaning about all of this while not trying to fix it, hence why I'm running with a commitment for a full term if elected.  There is certainly a case for it though; considering the amount of double jobbing going around which is fundamentally a bad thing.  I think the fundamental thing is more that, well, its honestly not very interesting if everyone believes the same things and votes the same way, and just that lack of excitement drags away people.  I'd support reducing the number of offices if it also came along with a ban on double jobbing, or certainly having both a state and federal office at the same time.  I do think that its something that we need to have a game-wide debate involving everyone on though; rather than it being a decision of all of the institutions separately.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I actually like a lot of this article, but I think we probably disagree on the solutions.

For one thing I would note, the present Chamber is I think overwhelmingly an appointed body because the last election had so many candidates that it spiked the size of the legislature beyond what the region could sustain. Several resignations happened and the end result is a chamber is mostly appointed and therefore all basically coming from the same mindset.

Now I am not sure who said that line about "other priorities" this is where the voters need to step up and say you can spend a couple weeks and put an arrangement in place for healthcare. My polls with Survey Atlasia just finished and there is a lot of different opinions on how to approach this. Regional Legislators need to start looking into this issue now and people need to rise up and demand that they do or run themselves for such office.

People are making a big mistake though, laying blame for this at the hands of the System and this is where Lumine and I fundamentally disagree. The same problem was present in the unicameral Chamber between 2009 and 2013 (I WAS THERE DAMN IT, I SAW IT!!!).  The problem with echo chamber consensus will be made worse if you cut the number of House seats, because it raises the quota beyond where more partisan candidates can compete, favoring moderates. And Regional Senate elections have always favored a narrow range of candidates in the center, with the exception being the Midwest where demographics where overwhelming to the left.

Removing the House, or cutting the house is the most counter productive thing you can do to address echo-chamber consensus.

I don't wish to disclose who said that since it was asked without being clear that I would use it for the Questioner so I'd feel uncomfortable (it was a question of genuine interest really) but that was someone who was elected, not an appointed member.

The problem of there being just an odd consensus on everything in Atlasia at the moment isn't just the South though; Wells did a study on it and found that there hadn't been a negative vote at all in the game - counting House, Senate and all four regions - in over a week; and that just these lengthy periods of seemingly no one disagreeing with anything surely can't be healthy.  The more concerning thing about the South isn't so much the consensus; its the fact that there have been several bills which have been introduced with support mentioned; then as soon as another delegate mentions their opposition there has been instant moves to table them.  That isn't good for the reasons that I think are very clear in the article.

I don't wish to talk about constitutional or institutional solutions since I wonder how effective they'll be - incidentally I also don't want to be the person moaning about all of this while not trying to fix it, hence why I'm running with a commitment for a full term if elected.  There is certainly a case for it though; considering the amount of double jobbing going around which is fundamentally a bad thing.  I think the fundamental thing is more that, well, its honestly not very interesting if everyone believes the same things and votes the same way, and just that lack of excitement drags away people.  I'd support reducing the number of offices if it also came along with a ban on double jobbing, or certainly having both a state and federal office at the same time.  I do think that its something that we need to have a game-wide debate involving everyone on though; rather than it being a decision of all of the institutions separately.

I applaud you in deciding to run and force a debate on healthcare.

I think it is matter of also the closeness. A lot of people are close to each other and there isn't the kind of passionate opposition because no one wants that to get in the way of shooting the sh**t on Southern chat at the end of the day.

[Blair]

This has actually been a problem that the game has faced for a long time; and is a large reason why people tend to lose interest in serving in the legislative branches of government.

The only major legislative battle; with rival groups being formed, intense whipping, public debates etc that I can recall has been when the federalists (and one former member of Labor) tried to introduce a constitutional amendment to ban abortion; and before that when a very restrictive anti-abortion bill passed through the House on a party vote (but was then heavily amendmended by Cris winning the senate seat)

There's a lack of civic society, or extra activity (pressure groups, trade unions etc) which has always blighted the two party system.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Does this mean there is hope for my medical cocaine or gun freedom bills?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This has actually been a problem that the game has faced for a long time; and is a large reason why people tend to lose interest in serving in the legislative branches of government.

The only major legislative battle; with rival groups being formed, intense whipping, public debates etc that I can recall has been when the federalists (and one former member of Labor) tried to introduce a constitutional amendment to ban abortion; and before that when a very restrictive anti-abortion bill passed through the House on a party vote (but was then heavily amendmended by Cris winning the senate seat)

There's a lack of civic society, or extra activity (pressure groups, trade unions etc) which has always blighted the two party system.

Frankly until a few days ago there has been a lack of any kind of activity on the AFE board and that is not healthy for the game. I have long pinned some of the blame for that on IRC as a lot of the back and forth that would have occurred previously in party threads or poll threads or newspaper threads gets exhausted on IRC.

Even during the first years of Mibbit Chat being a thing, this was not the case. It only came about in early 2015 when the active participants decline in number and those who remained were essentially the same people who frequently posted on Atlasforum. I made several posts noting the deadness of AFE board in early 2015 and the problems that it would lead to if not addressed. Perhaps you might recall them and how they were met with the same scorn and dismissive attitude most everything I did at time was met with by the establishment politics of the day.

[Wells]

Category: Factz

Literally No Choices

By Isaac Cummings

When I went to vote yesterday morning in the Southern Senate election; I was faced with a really remarkable sight. A ballot paper, with no names on it.

Frankly, I endorse this. This is the way that elections should be run. A rather unique way of clearing the Nyman swamp; by ensuring that no one could get elected. But then I looked down, and saw the rather side sight of many rows of write-in columns.

Oh. They still want us to vote for someone.

As much as I have criticised the terrible nature of Nyman Politics before: I actually like democracy, and having choices of candidates. However; the parties seem to have decided that the best way to deal with the Nyman Consensus ensuring that there are no real choices available to voters is to literally provide them with no choices. A rather bold strategy, although one that is rather perplexing.

One also has to consider the mind of Senator Spiral: who has campaigning for an election that he never declared himself a candidate for. I thought that to be a rather interesting strategy – present oneself as a write in candidate to demonstrate anti-establishment credentials, whilst retaining the advantage of incumbency. However, surely this strategy relies on someone else; the agent of the swamp, to actually also be on the ballot paper? At least I think that is what the Senator’s strategy was – it surely can’t be because he forgot to send in his nomination papers?

The trend for small numbers of candidates continues for lower offices: one for the Governorship (former enemy and now bestie D.F.W. Liberty-Lover); and seven for the Chamber of Delegates (includes yours truly) – with the legislature majority mathematically guaranteed to be a Federalist one, putting Mr Turner’s career (and boosted wage) as Speaker on life support. While I’m normally a person that supports cutting down on waste and needless expenses, I feel that this goes a little too far. I think it also shows how little the parties actually care outside of the White House: apparently neither party cared to stand a candidate in the Southern regional race; or did the ALP bother to find literally anyone to stand for governor or to provide a competitive Chamber slate. This proves that the parties don’t care about ideas or policies or anything actually important; and more about their little internecine conflicts.

Well, I think that elections like these are a great opportunity for the voters to demonstrate the farcical nature of this affair. I endorse in all such scenarios that voters give themselves their own first preference: before numbering from there. Will that likely have an impact to the overall result? No, Senator Spiral has won re-election at this point. However; it will only help to prove the farcical nature of these elections: ones where voters were literally provided with no choices.

[Wells]

Category: Serious News

Doof F. W. Liberty Lover is a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Person

By Mike Wells

For the past year, I constantly heard the same despicable, defamatory, debasing, and degrading lies about the Labor Party. It was said on numerous occasions that it was a cult controlled by Blair and Truman, and that they were evil people who would stop at nothing to crush internal opposition and win elections. This is simply false. The truth is that Labor is a cult controlled by Adam Griffin.

Likewise, I have to recognize that my beliefs about the Federalist Party were so very wrong. All this time I thought Yankee was an evil swamp creature who pulled all the strings of the Federalist Party, and at least in some part, Nyman to reach his slimy and swampy goals. While I still believe is is a swamp creature, it appears to me that he is a largely ineffective one. Numerous bombshells reported by the Crusader have shown me that Doof F. W. L. Lover is the one who pulls all the strings - and is indeed the Swamp King.

Yet a story like this would not be complete without our own anonymous sources to share their harrowing experiences with Mr. Doof over the months. Our first source approached us shortly after the Crusader article was published and alleged that Doof was a bad person. "dfw sux," They told us. We here at The Questioner were stunned to hear such disturbing allegations about a respected public official. Yet the barrage of allegations did not slow down. One Federalist insider told us that, "Dfwlibertylover touched me in the heart without my consent." We were appalled to hear such flagrant disregard for a someone else's personal space by him, and there is much more where that came from.

In what is very clearly the worst offense, we asked a Nyman insider to share their Doof story. They very quickly, and very nervously, said, " i don't have one." It was clear to us that they were being forced into silence. We did not expect such disgusting tactics from an esteemed official such as former president Doof F. W. Liberty Lover, but we believe all anonymous sources that have come forward about his gross antics.

Of course, all this is ignoring all the murders Doof has committed. His body count extends from NeverAgain and Clyde to the entire Labor Party and the sanity of Atlasia (yet we also believe that he had accomplices for the last one). He and Frank have single handedly murdered more people than anyone else in Atlasia.

When we reached out to Mr. Doof for a statement, he ignored us, but a spokeman did say, "Doof thinks your wrong and he's great." To which we respond with, "*You're."

Our final thought is that Yankee might have been the one to leak to the Crusader to retake his position as the most prominent Federalist in Atlasia and the Swamp King. We have a special sale on flimsy hats with a metallic shine to it for believers of this theory.

[Lumine]

Now that is truly brilliant satire!

[Terry the Fat Shark]

Now that is truly brilliant satire!

That's not what you were trying for in your paper???

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I love how if you talk to one group, Yankee is the evil, crazy, manipulative SOB while DFW is the reasonable guy in the room.

If you talk to another group, Yankee is an ineffective old man completely out of touch with facts on the ground or willing selling himself out to the evil manipulative SOB that is DFW. This is the one that creates the odd couple of Adam and Lumine. And you thought the Love Tales of Hagrid and Griffin were bad, wait till you see Lumine-Griffin: 50 shades of Grey Addition!

Both seem to think they are 100% correct and both are willing to collaborate and support each other, despite the fact that these are incompatible theories.

[Enduro]

I just binge read this thread. This is probably the greatest thing to ever happen to Atlasia.