MRT NewsChannel/Stories/Archive/April 2017
| March 2017 | The Archives of MRT NewsChannel April 2017 |
May 2017 |
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City Rank Batch #12 Promotions Announced 2 cities promoted to Senator, 6 to Governor |
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April 30, 2017
On Sunday at about 12:15 PM EDT, Frumple announced the city rank promotions. 2 Senators were promoted as well as 6 Governors. All but one of the 7 players to apply to Governor were accepted, however only 2 of the 7 towns which applied to Senator were. There were no applications for Premier. soso123 was promoted twice, for Stoneedge and Freedon, being the second player to be promoted twice in one batch. For the first time, the feedback document was opened to the public, seen here. The promotions can be seen below.
| Senator | Governor |
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| Titsensaki - frogggggg | Quiris - _HeavenAngel_ |
| Freedon - soso123 | |
| Fort Yaxier - camelfantasy | |
| Stoneedge - soso123 | Pearl Coast - knowmads7 |
| Radiance Square - MindBender 15 | |
| Xilia - Yellowitcher |
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Eye On Coalitions Interviews with DJMC2000, jphgolf4321 released |
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April 30, 2017
MRT NewsChannel conducted interviews with the leaders of the two rising coalitions, DJMC2000, the Director of Party Programme for MRT International, and jphgolf4321, the founder and President of the Great Society Congress. You can read the full text here.
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City Promotion Batch #12 Voting Closes Today Promotions to be announced tomorrow |
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April 29, 2017
Early Sunday morning, at 2:59 AM EDT, voting will close for Batch #12 of City Promotions. Promotion requests closed two weeks ago on Friday, April 14, and were accepted for Senator, Governor, and Premier, and the MRT Staff have had the last two weeks to vote on the promotions of the towns which applied and provided input. It can be confirmed that both of the trial moderators godzilltrain and _Kastle participated following their promotions. The promotions will be announced on Sunday by Frumple; it is unknown what time it will be.
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The Mole 8 Episodes 4 and 5 Completed |
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April 29, 2017
On Saturday afternoon, The Mole season 8 completed Episodes 4 and 5. The two episodes lasted approximately two hours combined, with Cookie46910 eliminated in Episode 4, and FredTheTimeLord (substituting for Soleurs) eliminated in Episode 5. Mr. Yoshi has stated that the next session will be on the next weekend, May the 6th.
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Narnia17, Skelezomperman confirmed as Associate Justices Both nominations passed GA by large margins |
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April 26, 2017
Late Wednesday night, Narnia17 and Skelezomperman were both confirmed to the Court of the United Cities. This completes Court for its third term. Both are Centralists, with Mr. Narnia having previously served two terms as Vice President and Mr. Zomperman having no officer experience. There are no cases currently pending.
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Server back up after issues Power outage at OVH Data Center |
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April 25, 2017
On Tuesday morning at approximately 11 AM EDT, most of the MRT's services went down, including the Minecraft server, website, wiki, and Mumble server. This was due to a power outage at the OVH data center in Montreal, which is where all of the MRT's services except for Discord are run from. The administrators were powerless, and the server waited two hours until the OVH data center started back up at approximately 1 PM EDT. The server has not had any issues since then.
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New Great Society Congress launched by Centralist Party Possible counterbalance to MRT International |
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April 25, 2017
Late Tuesday evening, the Centralist Party launched a new coalition, the Great Society Congress. The GSC is the second coalition in the United Cities after MRT International, and currently its only member is the Centralist Party. Its wikipage states that it aims to "cut back on...environmental guidelines for city building," a clear sign that it is aimed as a counterbalance against MRT International and specifically the Green Party. Rumblings of an anti-MRTI coalition have gone around circles in Central City for days now, but have only become a reality now. No official word has come from MRT International on the Great Society Congress or from the official United Cities government.
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Narnia17 nominated to Associate Justice Skelezomperman well on way to confirmation |
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April 25, 2017 On Tuesday afternoon, Chief Justice cal76 announced his second nomination to the Associate Justice position, Narnia17. The former Vice President was another candidate who was widely seen as a candidate to become an Associate Justice. Voting to confirm the first candidate, Skelezomperman, finishes tonight. Both candidates are on their way to confirmation - Skelezomperman is leading 11-1, with his vote ending later tonight, and Narnia17 has jumped to a 5-0 lead in the GA, his voting ending tomorrow night.
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Tom_Pairs hacked, account banned New Tom_Pairs_ account banned |
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April 24, 2017
Late Monday night, the Head Administrator and second in command of the MRT server, Tom_Pairs, announced that his account had been hacked. The Tom_Pairs account was subsequently banned and demoted from adminstrator, and Mr. Pairs bought a new account with the username Tom_Pairs_, with a new skin. This new account does have administrator privileges now. It is unknown whether a name change will be possible in the future.
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Skelezomperman nominated for Associate Justice Currently leading by comfortable margin |
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| 11 In Favor of Confirmation, 1 Against |
April 24, 2017
Late Monday night, Skelezomperman was nominated for the position of Associate Justice by Chief Justice cal76. Mr. Zomperman has been widely seen as a front runner for Associate Justice. Chief Justice Cal has yet to have nominated a second Associate Justice however MRT NewsChannel will bring that to you when it happens. As of Tuesday afternoon, the resolution to confirm Mr. Zomperman as Associate Justice was leading 11-1, with only one dissenting vote, and he is expected to formally become an Associate Justice later tonight.
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UC Elections End, establishment stays in power _Kastle re-elected as President, jphgolf4321 elected to VP |
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April 23, 2017
The results are in. Voters sweepingly rejected MRT International with the older, conservative base turning out to keep _Kastle in power. The Presidential race where the winner got less than 60%, with _Kastle getting less than 50% in the first round but winning in the second round with a combined 56% of the remaining voters. For Attorney General, KittyCat11231 got 60% of the vote to take the position he created, jphgolf4321 got 65% of the vote to succeed fellow Centralist Narnia17 as Vice President, cal76 got 82% of the vote to be re-elected as Chief Justice, and mine_man_ 85% to be re-elected as Secretary of State. The makeup of the officer positions remains the same, with 1 Centralist, 1 SDP, and 3 independents. The campaign was mild in comparison to January 2017, but still had significant advertising.
Here is a table of results. Note that approximated vote counts have been derived from percentages.
| Voter Turnout | 41 |
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President
| Candidate | Party | Round 1 | Round 2 | Results |
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| _Kastle (INCUMBENT) | (I) | 20 | 23 | WINNER |
| MikeRoma | (✿) | 14 | 18 | RUNNER-UP |
| FredTheTimeLord | (Q) | 3RD PLACE |
Vice President
| Candidate | Party | Round 1 | Results |
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| jphgolf4321 | (C) | 27 | WINNER |
| soso123 | (✿) | 14 | RUNNER-UP |
Secretary of State
| Candidate | Party | Round 1 | Results |
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| mine_man_ (INCUMBENT) | (D) | 35 | WINNER |
| PtldKnight | (C) | 6 | RUNNER-UP |
Attorney General
| Candidate | Party | Round 1 | Results |
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| KittyCat11231 | (I) | 25 | WINNER |
| Skelezomperman | (C) | 16 | RUNNER-UP |
Chief Justice
| Candidate | Party | Round 1 | Results |
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| cal76 (INCUMBENT) | (I) | 34 | WINNER |
| Dragonbloon419 | (M) | 7 | RUNNER-UP |
| Courtesy United Cities |
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CSoK replaces Congress with Parliament, Centralists win Elections Over 100 "votes" cast for 5 parties |
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April 24, 2017
The City-State of Kitania, one of the most influential states on the MRT server, had a shocking governmental change when on Monday the Congress of the City-State of Kitania was replaced by a Parliament. The Parliament is based off of a Westminster system, with an upper house - the House of Nobles - being chosen by the President and the lower house - the House of Peasants - being chosen by parties and allocated proportionally to the parties. The President is still chosen by the unequal electoral college system, which is expected to keep KittyCat11231 as President. In addition, the House of Nobles has final say over the House of Peasants, which again keeps the incumbent President KittyCat11231 as a dictator of the City-State of Kitania with all power in perpetuity, with Mr. Kitty occupying all five seats of the House of Nobles at the moment.
In addition, elections have concluded, with five parties having registered: the Centralist, Labour, Freedom, Kitania Communist, and Independent parties, with the former three being national parties that are also established in the United Cities, the KCP being exclusive to Kitania, and the Independent a spoof party, although the Freedom Party's leader, Ben6331, later withdrew, with MRT NewsChannel believing the entry of his party was by a troll. The KCP in particular is controversial due to its prior militant past and it has been censored by the current Kitanian government, and even though it has renounced militancy the poll says "Don't vote for this one" next to it, with KCP leader Skelezomperman stating at a press conference that this is "an affront to democracy."
Elections lasted only about 3 hours, with 109 "votes" having been cast - leading to the conclusion that the CSoK's election system, which does not require a username, is insecure. KittyCat11231 was re-elected as Presdent over "the other guy" 88-12 in the electoral college, with an outright majority in the popular vote too, 83-26. The Centralist Party was overwhelmingly chosen with 72 votes, receiving 20 seats and making jphgolf4321 the first Prime Minister of the City-State of Kitania, the Independent Party 19 votes and 5 seats, making _Kastle the Leader of the Opposition, the Kitania Communist Party 15 votes and 4 seats, and the Labour Party, 2 votes and 1 seat. It is unknown when the first legislation will be introduced as none of the parties except for the KCP have stated any legislative goals.
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cal76 to nominate new Associate Justices Both Associate Justices elected to new positions |
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April 24, 2017
Both of the Associate Justices that Chief Justice cal76 originally nominated have been elected to positions: KittyCat11231 was elected as Attorney General and jphgolf4321 was elected as Vice President. Chief Justice cal76 would have had to replace at the very least KittyCat11231 due to term limits; his first term as Associate Justice under AlikSong would have counted. At the MBS News town Hall, in regards to who he would nominate as Associate Justice, Mr. Cal said only that it would "depend on the Attorney General race."
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Commissioner of TacoBurritoAThon denies lawsuit against Taco Bell Trademark infringement over recently released "Taco Burrito" |
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April 24, 2017
An inside source told MRT NewsChannel Monday that TacoBurritoAThon is planning on suing Taco Bell of Minecartia. The office of the Commissioner of TacoBurritoAThon has registered a general trademark covering all compound words containing "Taco" and "Burrito," which may cover the Taco Burrito. The plan that has been leaked to MRT NewsChannel is to sue for $10000 in damages. Later on Monday, Commissioner Skelezomperman held a press conference, denying that any such lawsuit was planned to occur. In addition, he called MRT NewsChannel "liars" and stated that he is doing an investigation into the leaks that TacoBurritoAThon would sue Taco Bell.
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dubs17 and MnhttnMdnss win UC HQ Competition Headquarters currently being furnished |
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April 24, 2017
After two weeks, the United Cities Headquarters competition finished. After several hours of deliberation, President _Kastle announced that the headquarters built by dubs17 and MnhttnMdness would win the headquarters competition even though it was unfinished. He stated that most of the builds were "unfinished" and that he "couldn't bring himself" to choose any of the finished ones. It is currently being furnished by the UC officers.. A picture can be seen here:
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Team Bacon Wins V TacoBurritoAThon Fourth win for Team Bacon |
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April 24, 2017
Team Bacon won V TacoBurritoAThon 3-2. It was held in Ravenna on April 22, and after a short delay it commenced. Team Bacon consisted of _Kastle and FredTheTimeLord, and Team Taco of jphgolf4321 and KittyCat11231. Team Bacon won the Marathon, Spleef, and Swimming, and Team Taco won the Sumo and the American Football. Team Bacon continued their dominance, having won four of the five TacoBurritoAThons that have been held. They split a $390 prize. The execution was great, and Commissioner Skelezomperman stated that it was "the best-run TacoBurritoAThon ever." VI TacoBurritoAThon is expected to commence in the summer.