#but i think it's so entitled of people to be demanding that the BB members speak up about seungri

[bonefall]

So why's BB!Skystar like That? I'm not looking for a justification or excuse mind you, and I understand he completely refuses to better himself, but not even someone like him is born evil.

I'll get to his origin and tell you exactly how he grew up, but lemmie be clear about something. I don't think people respond to what they experience in a proportionate, 1:1, "hard times go in, bad guy comes out" sort of way.

People aren't bread and yeast. We don't follow a recipe for "becoming a bad person." You don't add trauma and then from there they choose to be a bad person because of their pain or not. No one is born evil, and the other side of that coin is that EVERYONE has the capacity for it.

Extremely privileged, charmed, blessed people with wonderful home lives can also become awful people. Violent, demanding, murderous ones. The "why" is "choice."

That answer's not satisfying because we want it to be deep and interesting. Like it makes it "mean" something, or adds some kind of "logic" to it. But you won't get it.

EVIL is simple. It feels good to get what you want. It feels good to hurt the people who keep it from you. POWER is even simpler. It is the act of making others do what you want. It's as simple as childish entitlement, indifference, or spite. Gratification that outweighs guilt.

If you're looking for some grand tragedy, you won't find it here. Nothing he went through was particularly unique and there was no grand ideology at play. His dad vanished when he was young and so did Gray Wing's. The Tribe dealt with a famine and several people died, including members of Bright Storm's family.

The only thing special about his birth and upbringing, in particular, was that he was quite privileged from the start.

Clear Sky and Gray Wing in the Tribe

From their very birth, both kits were welcomed and celebrated. They were destined for greatness from the start. Their mother was Quiet Wing, a direct descendant of the Stoneteller, Half Moon, and the father was a respected leader and political figure, Tempest Sky.

(This was before the Tribe would eventually become three camps, "Wards," united by a river. Tempest might have been considered an early leader of such a Ward.)

The older kit, a perfect image of xeir mother, was said to be the inheritor of her legacy as a relative of their founder and holy speaker. Xey were named Gray Wing. The younger, who would surely become the natural leader his father was, got the name Clear Sky. In their language, Koof Yaawrl-- Not just a sky without clouds. A perfect, flawless sky.

The two of them grew up with great opportunities. Connections are everything to their culture, and they had their pick of any amount of interests they wanted a paw in. The hunters would happily bring them along if asked. The crafters had extra patience set aside just for them. A good deployment of a mew and baby eyes could get them some extra scraps at dinner. Everyone wanted to make their little mark on such special, talented kits.

Clear Sky was a little general type. He wanted to be a leader right away. He loved hunts, he loved being in charge of other kids, he loved the way people listened to him. He wasn't familiar with the word No and was almost always the top banana of a group of other children. Even if they were older.

(Gray Wing in contrast was more of the game-creator, the "old soul," the kid who got along better with adults than other kids. Less of a leader and more of the guru, good at networking and settling disputes between people.)

While they were still kids, Tempest Sky vanished.

He was missing for days, and was assumed dead. There's plenty of ways to vanish in the mountains, but no remains were found. The Stoneteller tried to contact his spirit over and over to confirm his death, and he never came. So it was most likely that he just... left. Or maybe was taken.

Either way, they didn't really get closure for it. It was an awful thing to happen to a little kid, and Clear Sky took it really hard. A while after that, their stepdad entered the equation. Stone Peak wasn't big or strong or special, he just made their mom happy.

Gray Wing LOVED this man. After some friction, him and Stone Peak became excellent friends. They had a deep sense of respect and camaraderie. Clear Sky hated this. It was like Tempest Sky was being replaced before his eyes.

It was years before Stone Peak and Quiet Rain had a litter, well into Clear Sky and Gray Wing's adulthoods. It burned Clear Sky a new one to think that she was moving on from his father, who could still be alive. Maybe it's part of why he was so willing to throw his half-brother out into the snow, that fateful winter.

When Jagged Peak and Fluttering Wing were about half a year old, there was a terrible drought. It wasn't "overpopulation." It was a bad season. NOTHING could have stopped it. Lots of cats died.

Fluttering Wing was one of them-- along with some of Bright Storm's immediate family, Fox Claw and Petal Claw's mother during a hunting accident, and many more.

At the height of this drought, the southern river's level was so low that it became a scorched, crackled path with only a wet scratch of mud running along the middle. This dry riverbed beckoned to be followed downwards, until the water could be found again. THIS is the "Sun Trail;" a path carved by the sun.

It was Gray Wing the Wise who interpreted this as an omen. Xey believed it was their ancestors showing them the way to safety. The rest is history.

But the bottom line is...

Skystar's upbringing wasn't a supreme tragedy. He faced adversity just like everyone else, but he'd NEVER bring up the privilege that he had when he was young as something unfair to be examined. Tempest being a respected leader whose connections gave Clear Sky lots of opportunities is only spoken about in terms of Clear Sky being a "born leader" or "coming from greatness."

All of his charisma, his achievements, his command over other cats, that's all something he's "worked for." All of the adversities are examples of how strong HE is, in contrast to other cats, even if they went through the same exact struggles.

Why is he the way he is? Why is he so controlling? Why is he violent? Because he will take what he wants, and no one can stop him. He likes power more than he cares about the consequences of treating people poorly, so he cries "unfair!" if you take his toys away.

Stand by him and the rewards are sweet and delicious. Deny him what he wants, and he will crush you. He chooses how he treats you based on how much he likes you, and at the rotten heart of his behavior, is the simple choice to be this way.

[stupendousfoxthing]

throwing my theory on what went down at TK Inkigayo:

TK agreed to spend the loooong waiting time together at Inkigayo. It's the only show JK attended where he waited for the awarding part as well, which meant he had to spend the whole day there. Tae never did this during Layover btw. It was perform, pack up and go. JK's consecutive music show appearances where in a similar manner, except for Inkigayo.

I got a feeling they talked about Tae coming over to while away the waiting hours with JK . Tae didn't go with him together, but promised to follow at some point in the day. Tae won't be doing anything from early morning til late so it makes sense that he goes after JK recorded his performance already and he will just join for the waiting period.

JK prepared for his main precorded performance while Tae did his own thing. I have a feeling that Tae was pushing the limits on how he can shorten the time spent there. Not because he doesn't want to spend time with Jungkook but to avoid the mental toll of having to regulate and second guess your actions around many staffs/people. The lesser time they have to do that, the better. I think JK just wanted him to come over and just spend the free time with him.

When Tae still didn't show up by the time JK expected Tae to arrive, I have a strong feeling JK got sulky. Hence the live.. he was bored, got nothing else to do while waiting and the person he was gonna spend that free time with was not yet there. He was constantly mentioning Tae that time and I feel it was his "warning call" to make Tae come over already.

When Tae came, he wasn't surprised but he, instead, welcomed him with the words "What? Where have you been?" And Tae was softly talking and explaining to him what he did during the hours he wasn't there. Tae can be seen appeasing him as well.

What gags me every time is the level of entitlement JK has to call Tae out. This isn't the first time. He has done this maaany times, and the one that stands out to me the most is when Tae was insisting to still join their rehearsals even with his injury in 2022, members and staffs were discouraging him and he kept insisting. Until JK spoke up and told him he shouldn't join.. did Tae try to reason like he did with others advising him? NOPE. He kept quiet and stopped insisting when it was JK who spoke up already. JK has time and time again demonstrated the authority he has over Taehyung. And it's so weird coz firstly, he is younger. Secondly, you're bandmates. Besties at most, but why are you so confident that this person will listen to you? Tae also exercises this level of authority to JK. Tho JK shows this more.

He shows so much sassiness towards Tae because he can and he knows Tae lets him. But, the moment Tae says reaches a level of "enough" and start activating his diva mode to Jungkook, rest assured JK's sass evaporates and he gets so bothered when Tae starts ignoring him. Anyway, my point is.. they both DEMAND from eo. Demands that aren't normal between bros or even bestfriends. They act as if they have a say on some aspects of their lives and they know the other will do something about it.

First of all, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. This BB has added some interesting context to the whole thing. I'm still curious how they snuck Tae in, but it's obvious from JK's reaction to Tae's arrival that he was expecting him and mayyyybe even expecting him to get there earlier. He was not at all surprised by him being there. I noticed when Tae walked in Jungkook had his phone in hand while he appeared to be taking a bit of a nap, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had been texting. You ever taken a nap with phone in hand waiting for someone to text back? 😂 The whole interaction just screams boyfriends. They really can't hide it. Like, even if you don't believe they are romantically involved their interactions are SO different from every other pair in the group. I think they have a healthy balance with their own lives apart from each other while obviously making as much time to spend together as possible. For them to work and live together all day every day for the better part of a decade, and still spend so much time together that they get pouty when the other has been absent longer than expected... I don't even know what to say about that because that's such a beautiful and rare thing to me.

[bangriseyo]

-

[theexecutionerssong]

I’m replying to everyone who’s sent me a message regarding the being nicer thing from yesterday under the cut because I don’t want to be annoying by publishing so many asks. thank you, all of you ♥

Honestly, I think it’s ridiculous that people are accusing you of sounding mean/rude etc. sometimes I think you’re still too nice to the rude anons and I feel like a lot of this is passive aggressive on their part. They come at you because they think you’re an ‘insider’ fan and they’re jealous, and if you come back defensively, then they accuse you of being rude blah blah blah. If these people are making your experience on tumblr a negative one then just ignore those asks and enjoy yourself bb! 

Hmm idk I mean it wouldn’t cross my mind to go after someone because they know some things I don’t? So they probably have a point somewhere in telling me I should be kinder, I know I can be short when I answers asks because I get so many and sometimes the same ones every other day so it gets a bit tiring...

hello! for sounding "nicer" i know when it comes to like texting friends and stuff. i always over use emojis and 'lol' bc i think when you don't it makes people (including myself) read it in a kind of boring/unimpressed tone in my head. LIKE HOW CAPS MAKES ME YELL IN MY HEAD LOL. (disclaimer: i'm a recent follower and find you nothing but nice. and you definitely don't owe any of us to go out of your way to type differently so you come across as 'nicer'. your english is fantastic!)

if I ever use lol then it’s because I find the thing extremely not funny and it’s ironic ahah I try to use emoji but when on my computer I can’t really be bothered... Thank you very much for your message!

I don’t think you’re rude, I think sometimes you get defensive because you’ve been getting the same questions over and over again and you must get tired. And you’ve talked about having insomnia so you must also be physically tired on top of mentally. That’s normal, we’re all humans. Don’t worry about it.

Yeah it’s true, I do get defensive when I’m more tired. Sometimes when I need to vent, I read my inbox outloud to a friend - the asks I don’t publish I mean - and it helps but sometimes I don’t have anyone next to me to do that with so I get cranky when I see people prying into the cast’s lives, asking personal questions, things like that. It’s hard to ignore when you read the same disturbing things every couple of days. Thank you ♥

You're not annoying at all, on the contrary, you're the sweetest! It's just that I think people are frustrated that you know so much without sharing, and maybe also the fact that you continue to think you're a normal fan, even though you're clearly "in". I don't know, I'm trying to understand... I think it might be jealousy as well.

The thing is, I can’t say for now how I’ve come to know some stuff because it would spoil way too much and I don’t know if I’ll even be able to ever. I’m not really “in”, that’s the thing. I am a normal fan, as normal as a fan who’s lucky enough to live in Paris and who could go to a lot of events - and that’s a couple hundreds of us. I don’t know how much the international fandom is aware of that but David and Niels and the cast know hundreds of us by name just because we were lucky enough to meet them several times. I’m not really more “in” than those other people. Some from the cast have not a clue who I am at all and others only know my @ on instagram because I send them the pics. I’m a bit closer to some for reasons I can’t talk about. The team got a lot of complaints about everything always happening in Paris and some fans ending up being more priviledged than others. I’m hoping there will be more events outside of Paris, maybe screenings or something in the future so it doesn’t feel as ~Parisian elite~ as last year.

I think you’ve always been receptive when people came to you with a different opinion and from what I saw, you’re always willing to learn. Some people are just too entitled and come barging in and that’s when you raise you hackles. It’s not really on you, it’s hard to be kind to everyone when people don’t always deserve it.

Hmmm yeah, my friends have told me I have strong opinions and don’t change my mind easily so... idk. I could maybe be more receptive, like you said, at times. I went from getting one ask every six months to dozens a day in a few weeks last year and it still blows my mind. I wasn’t ready for that. There must be people who disagree with me in my followers. Idk. Something I need to think about. Thanks ♥

bonsoir tumblr grandma! 💫 in my humble opinion, you do not come off as rude. I just think sometimes people tend to read what they wanna read and make the worst out of it. Plus, the whole Even season is a really touchy subject because everyone would love one and when such announcements of possibles seasons happen, they can't help but be hopeful. So of course they don't like it when they're told it's not gonna happen. You're not rude, you're just saying things they don't want to hear. 🤷‍♀️ ily!

I know how much people must be upset to see their hopes crushed, I was disappointed too back when I first heard about it, and my hopes were not that high to begin with since David had said before Eliott wasn’t considered as main. I get asks every week about Eliott being main, almost every gifset I make will have a tag about how whatever is clearly a reference to Eliott being main and I’m just like... let it go. Or talk about it on your own posts. I’m sad it���s not happening. Don’t rub it in my face, you know? I didn’t say anything for months and accepted it was the way it would be so I couldn’t complain but then Henrik mentioned it to someone at HOS2 and I thought that finally those asks and comments would stop but they don’t and it’s very tiring. Anyway, thank you as always!

I don't think you're rude and i don't know you irl it's just that some of your anons are creepy and acted so demanding like you owe us something and it pissed me off actually. Like those anon who asked something like you know this right? How you know abt this? Why you know the cast? It sounds so suspicious that you know them etc. these anons are so nosy like why so negative. Istg i thought they would interrogate you yesterday after you mentioned abt working with assa before skamfr.

I’m gonna say something I haven’t really shared in details before but it’s weighting on me. Some anons are really creepy, so I don’t publish them. For exemple, somebody found my spotify recently and through it found my old Facebook. My friends have sent me screenshots of people following them on their instagram after being tagged in my stories and they are always Skam stans, even when my friends have never posted about anything Skam related. Someone once went digging into my personal life so far that they could have ruined the theme of season 5 in september if they had decided to make what they had found public instead of sending me an ask about it. That shit is not okay. I blew up about this once last year and somebody told me “why do you make it sounds like we’re creepy fans of yours” and well, because some stuff IS creepy. I understand being curious but I will never share anything about the personal lives of the cast or anything that could spoil the seasons so I’d just like it if people stopped asking, you know? Thank you for reaching out ♥

gaëlle you never even once came off as rude (i started following you in february-march when s3 was airing). you're always helpful and patient. it's obvious when ppl go to cons/projos/meet the cast they might unintentionally find out smth that's not public knowledge. and it's a good thing actually that you don't immediately run here to share bc maybe a cast member didn't mean to reveal smth etc. in any case you don't owe us any information and those who demand answers are the rude ones

Thank you, love. yeah I’ve lost counts of how many times they’ve accidentally spoiled something at cons or screenings or in the background of ig stories, especially in the beginning. They are more careful now and some even let slip fake spoilers to see if it will spread (and by some I mean Axel after his play when he stays to talk to fans lmao). The fans who’ve learned stuff that way are usually super protective of the show though so nothing really spreads and that’s really nice to see - sorry Axel, joke’s on you ahah

Hi Gaëlle! Just want to say that I followed you because you always sound soooo sweet and sincere when answering asks. Never thought you're rude, even sometimes I thought you could be ruder because the ask was rude😂 Anyway, just thought let you know my opinion on the last ask, have a good day!🥰

Thank you darling. I’m sure I must have been rude at some point, I don’t think the anon from yesterday would have said that out of the blue, and I’m very sorry that I don’t realize it. Unless when people are REALLY rude then I allow myself to tell them to fuck off dfghjk

You don’t know me but I saw you a lot at HOS2, I recognized you from your instagram. Every time I saw you, you were cuddling people, laughing, singing - I heard you sing with your friends and Maxence joining in, it was adorable! The cheers the cast let out when they saw you come up for the group pictures weren’t fake. You have an aura around you that brightens the room. I really hope this isn’t too weird of me to say. I don’t think you could ever be unkind. You wouldn’t have so many friends otherwise - I mean, it looked like you do - and the cast wouldn’t have reacted like that upon seeing you. That alone convinced me you were a good person.

Oh my god I don’t know what to say. This is very unexpected, why didn’t you come say hi if you knew who I was? I wouldn’t have minded at all! Thank you, I don’t know what to say, really this is so kind. Have a lovely day. Thank you. thank you.

You're one of the nicest people I know, you're a literal bundle of love and sunshine (I'm not even kidding, really). And you're always so considerate about everybody when you're responding to asks that are asked NICELY... so really I don't know how you can come across as rude. And you deserve all the love 💕

Merci @littlhedgehog love you so so much and I’m so happy Skam brought us together. It’s been way too long since I gave you a hug ♥♥♥

and at 3 parts anon with advice who told me not to publish, thank you too, I’ll remember everything you said ♥

[prorevenge]

Tried to give shitty neighbour a taste of his own medicine. Ended up getting him some hefty fines.

My initial plan should have resulted in an @petty-revenge-stories worthy post, but I inadvertently ended up going a lot further. (long story: tl;dr at the end)

Some background:

My neighbour, let's call him Dave, is a twat. Literally everyone on the street hates him. The previous owners of our house left because of him: we gave them a lowball offer on the house which they accepted straight away because Dave drove them crazy. We initially didn't pay much mind because, for 10/12 years that we've lived here he's been pretty courteous, even very helpful. His attitude changed over the past 2 years. He's started complaining about the volume of my guitar playing even though his dog is yapping away 24/7 - bear in mind this is a dog which he doesn't even let out of the house. He forced us to reposition our CCTV cameras so they didn't look into his gardens, then put up his own which look into ours claiming it's his property so he can do what he wants. Some craftsmen came to do work on our roof, and he complained about them to the council on a small technicality with their scaffolding, causing them to get fined.

But the problem at hand here is about parking. Dave works for a local utility so he has a big pickup truck supplied by his work that he parks in such a way that half of it takes up space in front of our house. You see, for a long time, we had a old banger Toyota as the family car, and his parking was not an issue as we only had the one car in the driveway. Dave also loved to take the piss out of this car. He was the kind of guy who would buy a 4x4 in the winter then sell it in the summer for a convertible. Two years ago, the banger was complemented with a shiny new Toyota, and that too for me. Not only did he not have anything witty to say about our new car, his much cherished truck's parking space was at threat. So, he buys a van, parks it in front of his house, then parks the entirety of his pickup truck in front of our house, so much so that his truck's trailer hitch would be over the exit to our driveway. Unfortunately, as much of a dick move as this is, he's perfectly entitled to do that as it's a public road. Any requests to ask him to move and he'd say that he'd been parking there since before we moved, and that he needs to keep his driveway clear wide to get his other cars out as the people opposite park a car outside their house. When I pointed out that we have the same issue, he said I "need the practice cause I'm a new driver". Thankfully the people on our other side and across the road (both having a long standing hatred of Dave) suggested we park my dad's car outside their houses if there was space - mine lived in the drive for insurance reasons.

Luckily for Dave, my dad got a new job abroad so he had to sell the banger, and I got an internship at a big company halfway across the country so my car wouldn't be there. However, my dad purchased another shiny new Toyota for my mum as she'd have to drive herself around (and his new job was a pretty big promotion). This is the situation until last Sunday.

Now starts the real bullshit. Because of Eid, so I took a week off work to spend it with my mum. When I arrived home after the long journey, I was in luck: Dave was still at work and his other van wasn't there. I guess he'd sold it now that he didn't need an excuse to occupy the front of our house. Thus, I parked squarely in front of our house, with about a metre between the front of my car and the imaginary line between our house and Dave's. Later that night, I go out to throw the trash and I see that this fucker has parked his truck under 2 inches away from my car. This is an issue for me because we're on a hill, and I drive a manual so there's a good chance of my car rolling into his trailer hitch unless I'm really careful. The next day, I actually saw him park in the same way. From my window it looked like he'd actually hit my car so I decided to go out and have a look. As I kneeled down to check the front bumper he goes "what do you think you're looking at?". I said "Oh, it seemed to me you've parked really close, I was just checking to see if you've it my car". His reply was "I've got parking sensors so get the hell back inside".

Now, I read @petty-revenge-stories a bit so I thought I'd give Dave a taste of his own medicine. After a day out with the mates, I saw that he was at work, so I decided to park outside his house, being very considerate, following the Highway Code and leaving a wide berth for the car in the driveway to exit. I just thought I'd fuck with him a little, piss him off and then move the car after a few hours just to see how quickly he runs out to park his truck in the usual spot again. What I didn't expect was that he'd be a stubborn cunt.

Dave flips his shit as soon as he arrives. He parks inches away from my car with the bay of his truck over our driveway, throws the gate open right into the bumper of my mum's car and nearly bangs the door off its hinges. He demands that I move my car "right fucking now". The lovely Irish guy opposite us, Mick (not actually being racist, that's his real name), saw him open the gate into my mum's car and takes this moment to come and tell us what Dave did. I take a look while Dave keeps shoving me and shouting at me: he's left a dent and scratched the paint. My mum goes ballistic at this point. Seeing as all 5'1" of her is about to deck Dave at this point, I tell him, calmly, that I'm perfectly entitled to park where I currently am, and that I'd very much appreciate it if he would pay for the repair to my mum's car and go park his truck somewhere else in the meantime. He blatantly refuses and says he wont pay shit, calling us pakis, terrorists, ungrateful cunts, and all kinds of lovely compliments before storming back inside, telling us he'd like to see what we can do.

So, I hit up the non-emergency police hotline, with some traffic cops coming over about an hour later. Remember the CCTV cameras he had us reposition? They captured a lovely 1080p/60fps rendition of the gate bouncing off my mum's car and Dave shoving me. Unfortunately there was no sound, but Mick and the family to our other side basically told the traffic cops what was said to me and my mum. As luck would have it, Dave had gone out for the night with his girlfriend. Because they couldn't contact him, his blocking of our driveway, and me and my mum saying we needed to go out that night, the cops had his truck towed. Along with the fine and collection information which they posted through his door, they also left a note saying possible charges could be pressed for assault, anti-social behaviour, hate speech and vandalism.

The police called earlier today to say that his workplace had left them with insurance information for a claim for the repairs. Off the record, they said that, although the company would foot the bill for the tow, the fine and the repairs, Dave would be paying those out of his own pocket and would be penalised even more heavily for his conduct and making the company look bad.

No fully happy ending though: now I'm afraid he might do some shit to my mum while I'm away for work... I'll take what I can get for now...

TL;DR - Neighbour parks like a twat. I give him a taste of his own medicine to troll him. End up getting his work truck towed.

Edit: I might as well add some more context here.

Re. the family on our other side: he's wolfwhistled at their underage daughter, and fought hard against their new extension claiming some bullshit - the council overturned his objections on account of there being a whole house (i.e. ours) between Dave and the other neighbours.

Re. the pensioners (Mick and his wife) opposite: he's been a general cunt to them for about 20 years, apparently. I'm pretty sure he's shot their windows with a BB gun - bragged about his air rifle when we complained to him about the neighbourhood cats shitting in our garden. Hell, one of the families even came up to us and asked us if we knew who injured their cat. Unfortunately we were still on good terms with Dave then so we didn't want to throw accusations around without being sure.

One of my aunties is a social worker who deals with a family on our street who adopts a lot of kids. Apparently the family and the kids all complained about Dave to her.

Edit2: well quite a lot of interest in this story. Just had a quick skin through the comments, so here's what's going on:

pressing charges fully: according to the police, the utility company is looking to compensate us for all the shit Dave pulled, and should be contacting us soon. As this incident involves their vehicle and their employee, they'd rather it not get taken to court. We have some relatives who are lawyers and they suggest also taking an offer from the company, especially as bringing hate speech accusations against someone without sufficient proof is dangerous: other people's testimony is probably not enough. Our family members are all over the place, and we're all far too busy with work at the moment.

we must have pissed Dave off for him to change after 10 years: Yes we did, by repeatedly asking him to park his truck in such a way that he doesn't have his truck almost across our driveway while most of the front of his house remains clean.

Edit3: Anticlimactic ending to the story. He just knocked and apologized. Said he got a bollocking at work and regrets saying all that stuff to me and my mum. Also did he didn't actually think we'd call the police, and that if we did nothing would have happened. Still, we're staying vigilant, but I guess it's a happy ish ending?

(source) (story by deleted)

[orbemnews]

Why Archegos was allowed to operate in the shadows It’s also a wake-up call to regulators about hidden risks within the financial system. “It is a dereliction of duty for regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and elsewhere, including most prominently the members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, to allow these systemic risks to continue to build up unseen and unregulated,” Dennis Kelleher, CEO of financial reform group Better Markets, said in a statement Monday. What’s happening: Few people had heard of Archegos before this week. But the investment firm is in the spotlight after its bets on media companies using tons of borrowed money and complex derivatives backfired. That forced lenders on Wall Street to step in and demand that Archegos unwind its positions. Major banks, including Credit Suisse (CS) and Nomura (NMR), now face huge losses from their exposure. Some market watchers expect fallout from the episode will be relatively contained. “This is likely not Long-Term Capital,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities Corporation, told my CNN Business colleague Matt Egan. The failure of that massive hedge fund in 1998 threatened the financial system, forcing the US government to intervene. Others aren’t so sure, reflecting on the collapse of Bear Stearns hedge funds in the summer of 2007. “We don’t know how far the tentacles go,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of trading at Themis Trading. “Early in the Bear Stearns crisis, the market was fine — until it wasn’t.” Driving these concerns is the fact that there’s no paper trail for Archegos’ holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bill Hwang, the firm’s founder, ran it as a family office, a type of financial entity that receives little scrutiny from regulators. Family offices — which were pioneered by finance titan John Pierpont Morgan — are used by the wealthy to manage fortunes and pass money from generation to generation. Ernst & Young estimates that that private family capital is now bigger than private equity and venture capital put together, and that there are at least 10,000 single family offices around the world. Historically, family offices were not compelled to register with the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 because of an exemption granted to firms with fewer than 15 clients. The Dodd-Frank reforms passed after the 2008 financial crisis gave the SEC more power to monitor hedge funds and other private fund advisers. But the legislation also allowed family offices to continue to be excluded from the Advisers Act if they are “wholly owned” and “exclusively controlled” by family clients. There could be pressure to change that rule after the blow-up of Archegos, which has rippled across markets. “I think the marketplace is entitled to understand what positions they have and what they’re doing,” Doug Cifu, the CEO of Virtu Financial, said Monday in a Bloomberg TV interview. Watch this space: Greater regulation of hedge funds is already being discussed after the huge run-up in GameStop (GME) shares earlier this year slammed Melvin Capital. Hedge fund activity is on the agenda when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen presides over a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council on Wednesday. Thanks to Archegos, perhaps family offices should be, too. What could happen next with Amazon’s big union vote One year after workers first stepped inside a new Amazon (AMZN) warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, a milestone union vote at the facility has come to an end. Monday was the final day for ballots to be received by the National Labor Relations Board in order to be counted in the election. The vote — a tally of which begins Tuesday — will determine whether the Bessemer workers form the first US union in Amazon’s 27-year history, my CNN Business colleague Sara Ashley O’Brien reports. For nearly two months, thousands of Amazon warehouse workers have been eligible to vote by mail on whether to unionize. Workers have had to make the decision while sifting through competing messages from union organizers, celebrities and politicians, as well as from Amazon itself, which posted signs in bathroom stalls and pulled workers into meetings before the start of the election period. The heated back-and-forth around the election intensified in recent days. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long been critical of Amazon’s pay policies, rallied with workers at the union headquarters in Birmingham Friday as part of a last-minute push. “The reason Amazon is putting so much energy to try to defeat you is they know if you succeed here, it will spread all over this country,” Sanders said. Amazon has maintained that it delivers a “progressive workplace,” touting its $15 hourly minimum wage as proof. What comes next: If the vote is successful, Amazon would need to come to an agreement with the union on a contract, something that the e-commerce giant could draw out. If it fails, the union may seek to file unfair labor practice claims against Amazon. “We can already start to see the legal strategy on both sides depending on the outcome,” said Rebecca Givan, a labor expert and associate professor at Rutgers University. Vaccine passport apps have a trust problem The next time you attend a wedding or concert, visit a place of worship, eat indoors at a restaurant or even go to work, you may need to show digital proof of vaccination or negative Covid-19 test results. New York has become the first state in the United States to roll out a vaccine verification app, often referred to as a digital vaccine passport. It’s using IBM’s Excelsior Pass, which leans on the blockchain and displays a personalized QR code to verify health status. The state tested the app earlier this month at a Brooklyn Nets basketball game at the Barclays Center and a New York Rangers hockey game at Madison Square Garden. Vaccine verification apps could play a key role in helping us get back to normal. But the companies behind them may first need to convince millions of Americans — scarred from years of headlines about data scandals — that these apps don’t pose significant privacy risks, my CNN Business colleague Samantha Murphy Kelly reports. “Some of these everyday life apps will create a new layer of digital infrastructure that was previously anonymous,” said Albert Fox Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project and a fellow at the NYU School of Law. “You don’t need that type of surveillance to pick up a quart of milk from a bodega.” Up next BioNTech (BNTX) and FactSet report results before US markets open. BlackBerry (BB) and Chewy (CHWY) follow after the close. Also today: The latest S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index arrives at 9 a.m. ET. US consumer confidence data for March posts at 10 a.m. ET. Coming tomorrow: The ADP private employment report for March provides an important preview of official jobs figures coming Friday. Source link Orbem News #Allowed #Archegos #investing #operate #Premarketstocks:WhyArchegoswasallowedtooperateintheshadows-CNN #shadows

[dipulb3]

Why Archegos was allowed to operate in the shadows

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/why-archegos-was-allowed-to-operate-in-the-shadows/

Why Archegos was allowed to operate in the shadows

It’s also a wake-up call to regulators about hidden risks within the financial system.

“It is a dereliction of duty for regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and elsewhere, including most prominently the members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, to allow these systemic risks to continue to build up unseen and unregulated,” Dennis Kelleher, CEO of financial reform group Better Markets, said in a statement Monday.

What’s happening: Few people had heard of Archegos before this week. But the investment firm is in the spotlight after its bets on media companies using tons of borrowed money and complex derivatives backfired. That forced lenders on Wall Street to step in and demand that Archegos unwind its positions. Major banks, including Credit Suisse (CS) and Nomura (NMR), now face huge losses from their exposure.

Some market watchers expect fallout from the episode will be relatively contained.

“This is likely not Long-Term Capital,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities Corporation, told my Appradab Business colleague Matt Egan. The failure of that massive hedge fund in 1998 threatened the financial system, forcing the US government to intervene.

Others aren’t so sure, reflecting on the collapse of Bear Stearns hedge funds in the summer of 2007.

“We don’t know how far the tentacles go,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of trading at Themis Trading. “Early in the Bear Stearns crisis, the market was fine — until it wasn’t.”

Driving these concerns is the fact that there’s no paper trail for Archegos’ holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bill Hwang, the firm’s founder, ran it as a family office, a type of financial entity that receives little scrutiny from regulators.

Family offices — which were pioneered by finance titan John Pierpont Morgan — are used by the wealthy to manage fortunes and pass money from generation to generation.

Ernst & Young estimates that that private family capital is now bigger than private equity and venture capital put together, and that there are at least 10,000 single family offices around the world.

Historically, family offices were not compelled to register with the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 because of an exemption granted to firms with fewer than 15 clients.

The Dodd-Frank reforms passed after the 2008 financial crisis gave the SEC more power to monitor hedge funds and other private fund advisers. But the legislation also allowed family offices to continue to be excluded from the Advisers Act if they are “wholly owned” and “exclusively controlled” by family clients.

There could be pressure to change that rule after the blow-up of Archegos, which has rippled across markets.

“I think the marketplace is entitled to understand what positions they have and what they’re doing,” Doug Cifu, the CEO of Virtu Financial, said Monday in a Bloomberg TV interview.

Watch this space: Greater regulation of hedge funds is already being discussed after the huge run-up in GameStop (GME) shares earlier this year slammed Melvin Capital.

Hedge fund activity is on the agenda when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen presides over a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council on Wednesday. Thanks to Archegos, perhaps family offices should be, too.

What could happen next with Amazon’s big union vote

One year after workers first stepped inside a new Amazon (AMZN) warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, a milestone union vote at the facility has come to an end.

Monday was the final day for ballots to be received by the National Labor Relations Board in order to be counted in the election. The vote — a tally of which begins Tuesday — will determine whether the Bessemer workers form the first US union in Amazon’s 27-year history, my Appradab Business colleague Sara Ashley O’Brien reports.

For nearly two months, thousands of Amazon warehouse workers have been eligible to vote by mail on whether to unionize. Workers have had to make the decision while sifting through competing messages from union organizers, celebrities and politicians, as well as from Amazon itself, which posted signs in bathroom stalls and pulled workers into meetings before the start of the election period.

The heated back-and-forth around the election intensified in recent days. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long been critical of Amazon’s pay policies, rallied with workers at the union headquarters in Birmingham Friday as part of a last-minute push.

“The reason Amazon is putting so much energy to try to defeat you is they know if you succeed here, it will spread all over this country,” Sanders said.

Amazon has maintained that it delivers a “progressive workplace,” touting its $15 hourly minimum wage as proof.

What comes next: If the vote is successful, Amazon would need to come to an agreement with the union on a contract, something that the e-commerce giant could draw out. If it fails, the union may seek to file unfair labor practice claims against Amazon.

“We can already start to see the legal strategy on both sides depending on the outcome,” said Rebecca Givan, a labor expert and associate professor at Rutgers University.

Vaccine passport apps have a trust problem

The next time you attend a wedding or concert, visit a place of worship, eat indoors at a restaurant or even go to work, you may need to show digital proof of vaccination or negative Covid-19 test results.

New York has become the first state in the United States to roll out a vaccine verification app, often referred to as a digital vaccine passport. It’s using IBM’s Excelsior Pass, which leans on the blockchain and displays a personalized QR code to verify health status.

The state tested the app earlier this month at a Brooklyn Nets basketball game at the Barclays Center and a New York Rangers hockey game at Madison Square Garden.

Vaccine verification apps could play a key role in helping us get back to normal. But the companies behind them may first need to convince millions of Americans — scarred from years of headlines about data scandals — that these apps don’t pose significant privacy risks, my Appradab Business colleague Samantha Murphy Kelly reports.

“Some of these everyday life apps will create a new layer of digital infrastructure that was previously anonymous,” said Albert Fox Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project and a fellow at the NYU School of Law. “You don’t need that type of surveillance to pick up a quart of milk from a bodega.”

Up next

BioNTech (BNTX) and FactSet report results before US markets open. BlackBerry (BB) and Chewy (CHWY) follow after the close.

Also today:

The latest S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index arrives at 9 a.m. ET.

US consumer confidence data for March posts at 10 a.m. ET.

Coming tomorrow: The ADP private employment report for March provides an important preview of official jobs figures coming Friday.