New official NPC thread (August polls coming, campaigning open)

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

This is why nobody wants to be GM, folks! Everybody wants an active game engine in theory, but when they get one they do nothing all day but bitch and moan when a story is unfavorable to them! Retroactively claiming your racist governor is black to avoid the consequences of a GM story is exactly the kind of cowardice we have come to expect from Low-Energy LT!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

This is why nobody wants to be GM, folks! Everybody wants an active game engine in theory, but when they get one they do nothing all day but bitch and moan when a story is unfavorable to them! Retroactively claiming your racist governor is black to avoid the consequences of a GM story is exactly the kind of cowardice we have come to expect from Low-Energy LT!

I never had a complaint with Lumine. He was transparent and fair.

I never said I was only talking about you, though tbf, "Feds can't be racist, they are nice moderates!" has to be one of the most ridiculous criticisms of a GM story I have ever seen in six years in the game. But this is just the most recent example of a long history of players blowing their lids whenever a remotely adverse or difficult story is published. Yankee will remember how hard we had to fight to get people to engage with the Korea storyline back in 2017: most people just wanted to ignore it! You gotta take the good with the bad, or we might as well abolish the GM altogether.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

some Laborites must be corrupt union thugs or have links to organised crime

I for one would relish the opportunity to make a spirited defense of Governor Jimmy Hoffa. It would be great fun!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

For the record: Fianna Frémont will endorse the Peace & Labor—Beauty & Bread slate in all states up for election Frémont in this and future cycles.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I wonder that Labor should not have a majority in the Alaska HoC at least, if not the Senate as well? We were only one seat away from the majority before the Green collapse, and Lumine made clear that well over 80% of the Green MPs defected to Labor —it would be extraordinary if none of the Alaska Greens joined Labor after September 2020.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

what exactly are we supposed to do about the pensions thing, then? We haven't had a comptroller general for over a month now, so we can't ask them. This is a serious issue. This isn't about being partisan, or looking for a new line of attack, it's about actually having numbers straight, and if Fremont's numbers are similar to what you reported, then that's a really big issue that will just get worse with time.

Indeed it would be, if the published figures were accurate. But no-one can show me any evidence that they are. When I approached Peanut last week asking for clarification, he was unable to provide me with a source for the published figures. Apparently a "private citizen" messaged him claiming Frémont was not paying for these pensions, but gave no sources except to link to some old fantasyland bills. (At least that is what I am told.) So there is no actual evidence backing this up: just the private opinion of an anonymous informant. Needless to say, this is a very frustrating position for me to be in: how am I supposed to address a potential budget shortfall if I can't actually see the numbers?

Frémont derives its HHS budget directly from the 21 IRL constituent state and territorial budgets: we look at what each state spends and add the numbers. I have been over the figures twice in the last week, and I was not able to establish that there is a significant deviation between what the states spend IRL and what we appropriated in the FY2021 budget. When you account for the significant share of state HHS expenditures that are funded with federal money, it is actually more likely that we are overfunding HHS compared to IRL.

But even if the GM had some reason to believe that there was a budget shortfall in FT, the situation in the other regions would be much worse. The South's education budget, for example, is only enough to match the expenditures of Virginia and Texas. The whole point of the Dispatch story was that the states were having to pick up the slack for the regional government; but even if those figures are correct (and they probably aren't), this is nothing compared to the shortfall in the South or Lincoln. If we have a funding gap, they have a funding chasm. So I am calling BS on this story.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

what exactly are we supposed to do about the pensions thing, then? We haven't had a comptroller general for over a month now, so we can't ask them. This is a serious issue. This isn't about being partisan, or looking for a new line of attack, it's about actually having numbers straight, and if Fremont's numbers are similar to what you reported, then that's a really big issue that will just get worse with time.

Indeed it would be, if the published figures were accurate. But no-one can show me any evidence that they are. When I approached Peanut last week asking for clarification, he was unable to provide me with a source for the published figures. Apparently a "private citizen" messaged him claiming Frémont was not paying for these pensions, but gave no sources except to link to some old fantasyland bills. (At least that is what I am told.) So there is no actual evidence backing this up: just the private opinion of an anonymous informant. Needless to say, this is a very frustrating position for me to be in: how am I supposed to address a potential budget shortfall if I can't actually see the numbers?

Frémont derives its HHS budget directly from the 21 IRL constituent state and territorial budgets: we look at what each state spends and add the numbers. I have been over the figures twice in the last week, and I was not able to establish that there is a significant deviation between what the states spend IRL and what we appropriated in the FY2021 budget. When you account for the significant share of state HHS expenditures that are funded with federal money, it is actually more likely that we are overfunding HHS compared to IRL.

But even if the GM had some reason to believe that there was a budget shortfall in FT, the situation in the other regions would be much worse. The South's education budget, for example, is only enough to match the expenditures of Virginia and Texas. The whole point of the Dispatch story was that the states were having to pick up the slack for the regional government; but even if those figures are correct (and they probably aren't), this is nothing compared to the shortfall in the South or Lincoln. If we have a funding gap, they have a funding chasm. So I am calling BS on this story.

Can you give me a source on that, too?

Anyway, I know who said informant is, and I think he knows what he's doing.

Yes, I can.

For instance, the South spends roughly $80b less on education than Frémont despite having a significantly larger population. Texas and Virginia together spend $92.945b on public education every year, while the Southern budget allocates only $105.83b for the entire South.

If your friend is in fact acting in good faith and wants to help us fix our budget, I would love to talk with them. I know I have a reputation for ferocity, but I'm actually pretty approachable and always willing to hear from knowledgeable people. Going through the GM like this, it sort-of feels like they have a grudge against my region and are getting God to make alternative facts for them so they can score some cheap points in NPC elections. But I am happy to be wrong!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Okay, but if there is 170% turnout in Idaho it is martial law time.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

With posters, it obviously gets trickier to grade art objectively, but if the art was taken from somewhere else (like with my and Truman's posters), they shouldn't receive full credit for not being original.

Hard disagree —originality has nothing to do with effectiveness. It's the message (and the quality of the delivery) that matters.

Otherwise, I'm not really sure how events are graded, but my understanding of Lumine's system was that he just looked at how many events there were in a state without caring too much about quality. If that's not how Peanut does it, maybe the limits aren't necessary.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

GLORIOUS NEWS!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Once again, Missouri border ruffians have made a mockery of democracy in Kansas. FASCIST DOGS in Topeka are stealing the election, hid results that showed the Labor–Fianna Frémont candidates winning, then "found" more votes days later that put the Dishonest Alliance over the top. When only legal votes are counted, Labor wins a historic landslide!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

or I'm eating a sock.

We've heard that before!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Yes. I really am very, very sorry for the delay. PA campaigning closes at midnight Eastern. Results will be out soon after. Polling and events coming today as well or I'm eating a sock.

Like Donald Wilders?

OBD made a solemn vow to eat a sock four months ago if Ishan voted for Windjammer but REFUSED to honor his word! You can never trust an Easterner!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Yes. I really am very, very sorry for the delay. PA campaigning closes at midnight Eastern. Results will be out soon after. Polling and events coming today as well or I'm eating a sock.

Like Donald Wilders?

OBD made a solemn vow to eat a sock four months ago if Ishan voted for Windjammer but REFUSED to honor his word! You can never trust an Easterner!

@

We're still waiting for this, by the way!

why did you let him become VP and chair of Labor then!?

A warm bucket of piss is a fitting reward for dishonesty.