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[WHPR Day 2327] The IES, PoTUS, American Hero, English Letters, WarMap, BU2SU

Dateline: Wednesday, April 04^th, 2014 (Day 2327)
Location: James S. Brady Press Room, The White House


Today’s WHPR:
: 1: The IES in Crisis
: 2: CP Candidates
: 3: American Hero: March Media Team
: 4: English Letters
: 5: War Map & Analysis
: 6: BU2SU

Editors: CoSecMeds Melissa Rose & George Armstrong Custer
Contributors: Blondeninja, TellUrGrlThx, Alexander_Auctoritas, Phoenix Quinn, Trickstir



The IES in Crisis
_BlondeNinja

As many have heard there has been some shakeups in the immigration sector recently, for those who haven’t; read above (there have been). IES is the Immigration Service for the eUS and it is the agency that manages citizenship requests and monitors Immigration. The goal is to keep the eUS flowing with good people but to check all applicants to prevent PTOers and such through. Every congress person is bound by the IES laws that makes congresspeople check the IES doc(s) to only approve people that have been checked and that are clean. This has worked so far, as well as any system can be expected to, however with changing times much is being revisited.

The first thing to touch on is the big public debate regarding immigration as a whole for the month of April. There is serious consideration for closing immigration altogether for the following month given the current state of affairs. Those being some security issues with the system itself, not within IES itself necessarily. As well as an increase in ‘accidental’ or wrong approvals by congress people. The issues have approached a point where these changes are being considered as well as revisiting the regulations and laws surrounding the approvals to avoid more mistakes and patch any issues. Specifically, one of these issues was the letting in of CG to the US. Lothair (LAP) approved his request after CG went on irc as “Hawie” and got Lothair to make a simple error in not checking the name or circumstances. While hindsight is 20/20 its always good to take prudence in approving and make sure the person has gone through IES formally. Some other approval issues were encountered by Aramec and he has a censure thread up as a result of this. Even more congress people were falling prey to some fake documents; fake approval forms and the like. In talking with some congress people I was not able to link them for you, however I am told they were fairly convincing. Every congressperson was already warned about them, however some made approvals based off of them and created some more issues as well. With these lapses plaguing the system it’s become clear to congress that some revisions and changes are required. If not to improve on the system overall to, at the very least, provide more clear enumeration of exceptions, and handling of accidents and loopholes.

It is unclear if closing Immigration would be the best option; there exist many pros and cons, as one would imagine, and it comes down to maximizing benefit. Closing our borders would surely quell the aforementioned problems, and with a tighter control we could give ourselves time to change the system. A smaller more restricted population is also easier to manage and by mitigating entrance issues we’d be at less risk. The IES restrictions dna requirements are already to an extent where a month off would not be as big of a loss as one might imagine. However, the other side of the coin is sacrificing some ATO power, and losing some damage due to restricting size. This could significantly impact our ranking we’re working on, and if the need to ATO arose again we would certainly run into some issues. Another aspect to consider is the legitimate requests that would get lost; returning players, commune holders, and other valid military or nonmilitary requests. Now in the discussion regarding this some people have brought up crating stipulations for such occurrences but nothing is finalized as of yet. Some of the things proposed fall along the lines of giving only a few more prudent people the power to approve; those who are not easily swayed by people like CG (Walter Bishop). It’s fairly widely accepted by the congress people that a middle ground here is the best course of action:

Congress is also revisiting the regulations and policies of IES in general, in response to the increased frequency of mis-approvals and the holes in the relevant immigration laws. Through recent events some inconsistencies and loop holes have come to light and they need to be fixed through revisions to the current regulations. While these should not be major changes to the policies there will be change to ensure a more clean and all-encompassing set of laws. More radically it has been said that more serious discussions surrounding how IES actually operates and it’s purpose may be called into question. While this is not entirely surprising given recent events it would certainly bring forth a much different Immigration system than what is in place now. This all being said none of these alterations are going to be very permanent fixes: “Really, neither closing immigration or limiting it would present a 'permanent fix.' They're both band-aids on a problem that originates in sloppiness.” - Hawkie (IES Director). The issues are really more centered in the realm of personnel and simply being mindful of approvals. The system is only as good as the people in it, and while we have a good congress there is room for improvement among the congress people themselves.

The Immigration system has served its purpose over the time it has existed. And it continues to provide a valuable service today. However with the problems that have been arising the call for change is nearly unanimous and the discussion has thusly moved to more how then if or when. These proceedings are largely public and I encourage all to read up on them beyond this segment. Stay tuned for these changes as they will affect you, and likely be quite significant. As always, time will tell.



April CP Campaign is Heating Up
_BlondeNinja

This Election cycle has presented us with two great choices for our next Country President. Beyond the articles many people do not know the candidates themselves, rest assured though we did all that work for you! I did some interviews and read up on whatever I could find. Keep in mind these are more condensed and each person's whole bio would be many many pages per. I did all sorting for you. Just read on and hopefully you’ll learn more about the candidates.

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Gnilraps:



Gnilraps has been playing eRep for quite a while now, nearly four and a half years in fact. His time in eRep has spanned a great many events that have long since become history. After getting into the game, his first major draw was the idea of managing press and publishing his own work. It is regarded as what got him noticed in his earlier days of the game. Because of the attention he gained through his articles, he quickly became a good outlet for politicians. Unbeknownst to him at the time was how this would turn into significant political involvement.

He began his climb into the political arena in the Federalist Party where he was able to use his newspapers following to become the Federalist Party President (April 2011 - May 2011). Soon after his first term he was asked to start participating in the national scene. While concurrently working up the EZC chain of command, gaining experience in the national political scene all the while, he eventually became Commanding Officer of the EZC. Gnilraps ran it with a steady hand for some time. He eventually passed it off to the current CO, Deepchill, and as many older players do, receded to two clicking. Eventually he came back into the game in earnest, taking on more positions till he came to consider a Country Presidential run.

As we know, he won the position and is nearing the end of his first term of office. He has had ups and downs much like any CP, as has been commented on much by everyone involved. It is generally regarded there are more positives, even by the other candidates, than negatives in his term. In talking with him he wished to attribute that to his staff, and their dedication and work throughout his term. Much as one would expect, he has an impressive resume and has been around the block more than a few times. It will be interesting to see if it is enough to gain him a second term.

Tyler Bubblar:



Tyler started around the same time as Gnilraps, albeit a bit earlier (if you look at their ID’s). He started in V1 and was not much of a participator in the meta game initially. He explored the political Party scene and decided upon the American Advancement Party (AAP). He got involved more and ended up serving 3 full terms as a Congressman for the AAP before its dissolution in 2010. He remained somewhat removed from the meta game before taking hiatus from eRep for some time. Tyler most recently started up again in 2013 after receiving some mail about a gold mine.

At this point he became more involved from the get-go. He joined the Federalist Party, working in some of the departments there for a bit. He stepped into the national scene through then-President Paul Proteus, as he was chosen for Secretary of Media. After this he campaigned and won Federalist Party President for two months, then began a more serious dedication to national politics. In the six months leading up to now he’s served under various Presidents, as Secretary of State and heading up the DHS, and eventually decided to run for PoTUS last month.

He did end up losing to the current President Gnilraps, however he did put forth a good run. We were never faced with a bad choice as the candidates were all solid. He went through the phase gracefully and was dedicating more effort to the SHIELD MU when he decided to run again-- this, following Gnilraps saying he was not planning on running. He, much as Gnilraps, has a fair amount of experience. Since his leave of absence, he has returned to a very active and good presence within the game. We shall see if this is enough for him to get his first term as CP.

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We have a great set of candidates again this month, and I’m excited to see how it all unfolds on the 5th. They each have their respective set of campaign articles but I hope this segment was able to bring some more background and depth to each candidate. Something their campaign articles may not possess entirely. It’s important to know your choices, and this is but a condensed version of their bios for that very purpose. Please remember to vote on the 5th, its your privilege to do so and I urge you to read up both sides of everything for a good view of what each has to offer. See you on Election Day!



American Hero: March Media Team
_TellUrGrlThx

The end is here. I’m sad to announce this is officially the last WHPR of the term. As Chief of Staff for this month, it is such an honor to praise these American Heroes. This group of Americans work together every week publishing quality articles. This term’s last American Heroes are….



The March WHPR staff! George Armstrong Custer, Melissa Rose, Trekker Tlumac, Phoenix Quinn, Evil_Elvis, George S. Patton Jr, Alexander_Auctoritas, Gnilraps, Talostastic, BeachBunny, TellUrGrlThx, Ashkoort, blondeninja, Harry W. Hill

These writers/heroes dedicated hours of their time weekly to guarantee eUSA had quality media from the government. I know I’m not alone when I say this WHPR staff has been the best staff to run WHPR since the golden days of eRep. None of this would have been possible if it weren’t for the amazing players running WHPR this month, Custer and Melissa Rose. Both amazing writers themselves and former Secretaries of Media, Custer and Melissa were no newbies to making quality Media. We congratulate and honor every single one of you for your dedication and time to eUSA. Thank you all for being true American Heroes!





Today's question is "Does it really have to be all that complicated?".

A famous wag -- maybe it was me -- once sai😛 "One always begins with the simple, then comes the complex, and by superior enlightenment one often reverts in the end to the simple. Such is the course of player intelligence."

Billy Occam (not Billy Ocean!) believed theories should not be any more complex than absolutely necessary. Well. What he actually said was that theories should not "multiply entities unnecessarily". But that's probably more complex than absolutely necessary.

(Billy Ocean, on the other hand, said "If I had to start all over without you I wouldn't know where to begin. 'Cause you are all that I need and I want you bad enough to keep on trying. Stand and deliver." Which is a whole 'nother topic.)

Keep it simple! That's the philosophical principle of parsimony.

Here is an allegory that helps explain it. And why marketing people don't like it.

One evening after dinner, Mother asked Father about their teen-aged son, "Where did Timmy go? I haven't seen him in hours."
Father told her, "Gosh dear. Timmy is playing eRepublik!"
This explanation satisfied Mother for only a moment. Then she asked, "What's eRepublik, dear?"
Father decided a simple explanation would be best. "Well, my love," he said, "in eRepbublik, people sit in front of their computers and insult each other over events in a make-believe world."
Mother burst out laughing, "Come on! What is it really?"

The simple truth is that eRepublik really is a bunch of people sitting in front of their computers insulting each other over events in a make-believe world. But the marketing folks at eRep Labs, deep meta-physicians that they are, would have us believe it's more complex than that.



War Map and Analysis
_{Alexander_Auctoritas}



NORTH USA is still secure.



We've zoomed out a little bit today, as we take note of a couple of things.

1. The United Kingdom started a war with Finland that they have just been unable to close. The UK has managed to regain all their core regions. Whether the United Kingdom can march into Finland's core regions is in doubt, so we shall just wait and see who gains the upper hand.

2. Poland is streaking across the middle of Europe, beatin’ up on Romania as it goes. Romania attacked Poland and have lost five battles in a row. Good move, Romania.

3. Germany and Sweden continue their war. Sweden actually holds a core region of Germany's at this time. In a war that is seventeen battles old, neither side has the upper hand. We'll continue to keep an eye on it.

4. Venezuela might have made a mistake attacking Portugal. At the time, I believe Portugal was fighting on two fronts, but they managed to close one war and get right on top of Venezuela. If they are not careful, Venezuela could find herself on the wrong end of a wipe. And with Portugal's tenacity and eagerness to prove their might, they could keep Venezuela off the map or some time.

5. Chile continues to nom on France, with eight wins in the war. They will be out of food soon, but will most likely be there to stay, for a long time. Out with the old, in with the new, huh France?

6. Albania is going toe-to-toe with Greece and winning? That's pretty amazing. To put it in perspective, Greece is ranked 12th and has 3760 citizens. Albania is ranked 27th and has 1730 citizens. You go, Albania! Would be very impressive to see the Aegean Sea turn red. Hopefully, Albania can repel Serbia in Tirana. Macedonia is being bro and making Greece fight them on another front at the same time.

Asgard continues to impress. From Finland's war with the United Kingdom and Sweden's war with Germany, they have blossomed into a beautiful example of working together for mutual security. As Poland finishes its war with Romania in a couple days, who will tempt the beast next? And Chile and Ireland continue to have fun playing in the European Sandbox. Portugal, Colombia, and Argentina may have a stranglehold on South America for quite some time. Brazil has been denied Congress for the seventh or eighth month. It's very sad for a once towering nation to be in such a situation.



BU2SU
_Trickstir


I have been running the BU2SU program since 3/11/2014 and in the time I have run to program I have pushed everyone participating to receive full bonus. I have spent time on IRC helping people sign up and register their usernames, and even run around topless yelling BU2SU in the halls. We gave out over 100g since 3/10/14 can we continue?

As budget time comes around I know what it takes to run this program successfully, I decided it was time to fund raise and asked a friend for advice. Not only did she give me advice, but she made a donation and challenges you to beat it. MollyEmma donate 1000 Q7 Tanks, what are you going to donate? The prizes will be set by the donations received in the drive.

I will make a list of the donated prizes, and run this fundraiser to the best of my ability. With your help we can fund another month of gold to make our players who are growing and dedicated stronger.

Please see the post on the eUSA Forum, if you make a donation tell us there what you donated.

http://tinyurl.com/k5hrp2s –Forum Link




Your CoSecMeds; George Armstrong Custer and Melissa Rose -|-DepSecMeds: Talostastic and Evil_Elvis
"I would rather rot in hell for all of eternity for standing by my principles, than get into heaven by leaving those principles behind"



Contributors: Blondeninja, TellUrGrlThx, Alexander_Auctoritas, Phoenix Quinn, Trickstir



WHPR Day 2327
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2388701/1/20
The IES, PoTUS, American Hero, English Letters, WarMap, BU2SU

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