#file under: statements I still cannot believe ARE CANON

[50calmadeuce]

Ch. 41: Court - Dorian Again Con't

Warning: Mention of miscarriage. Some chapters have sex.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Top Gun: Maverick world, trademarked by Paramount Pictures Corporation. I do not claim ownership of the characters and the world that I am borrowing.

The story and situation I am creating are a work of my imagination and I do not ascribe them to official story canon. This work is for entertainment only and is not a part of the storyline.

I am not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story, but I do hope it gives you happy thoughts.

These stories are my own, so please do not take them and use them for yourself without my permission. If you see them somewhere else, please let me know. :)

Dorian's attorney slowly approached the witness stand. "Dr. Stryker. You stated in your last statement that you and Dr. Seresin are married and the child she is currently carrying is yours."

"Yes," Dorian agreed.

Mr. Rowe walked over to his desk and grabbed a piece of paper. "I'd like to submit the marriage certificate of Dr. Stryker and Dr. Seresin."

Your eyes widened in surprise, and Dunby glanced at you. You shrugged and shook your head, equally astonished.

Mr. Rowe handed the marriage certificate to the judge, who examined it carefully before raising an eyebrow. "Mr. Rowe, this document claims that Dr. Seresin is married to Dr. Stryker, but this contradicts the testimony we’ve already heard. Do you have any explanation for this?"

Mr. Dunby stood up, visibly irritated. "Your Honor, this is clearly fraudulent. Dr. Seresin has already testified about her marriage to Lieutenant Jake Seresin. This document cannot be legitimate. I have right here the marriage certificate of Jake and Y/N Seresin."

The judge nodded as the bailiff walked over and grabbed the paper from Mr. Dunby and walked it over to the judge.

Dorian’s attorney remained calm. "Your Honor, we believe that this document will prove to be genuine and that it was obtained under legally binding circumstances."

The judge reviewed both marriage certificates, his expression growing more serious with each passing moment. "Mr. Rowe, I now have two conflicting marriage certificates in front of me. One for Dr. Y/N Seresin and Lieutenant Jake Seresin, and another for Dr. Y/N Seresin and Dr. Dorian Stryker. This is a serious matter, and we will need to resolve this discrepancy immediately."

Mr. Dunby stepped forward. "Your Honor, we request that the so-called marriage certificate between Dr. Stryker and Dr. Seresin be reviewed by a forensic document expert. It’s clear to me that Dr. Stryker is attempting to manipulate this court, and my client has already testified to the truth."

Dorian sat quietly, his eyes fixed on you, while his attorney tried to regain control of the situation. "Your Honor, we are confident that the authenticity of this document will hold up under scrutiny. Dr. Stryker and Dr. Seresin have a complicated history, and we ask that the court consider all the facts before passing judgment."

The judge leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. "Very well. I will order an immediate review of these documents. Until we have clarity on this issue, we will adjourn for the day. Court will reconvene tomorrow at 9 AM."

With that, he banged his gavel, and the tension in the room broke as people began to file out. You, still in shock, couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to get even more complicated.

You walked out of the courthouse with Mr. Dunby, Max and Chuck right behind.

Dunby stopped and looked at you. "Where the hell did he get a marriage certificate with your name on it?"

You shrugged. "I have no clue. I know I signed a lot of stuff during the first time we worked together and when we created the book."

Mr. Dunby rubbed his temples, clearly frustrated. "We’ll need to go over everything you signed back then. He might have slipped something in without you realizing."

Max stepped in. "If he forged your signature or tricked you into signing something, we’ll find out. Dorian's desperate, and he's trying to pull every trick in the book."

Chuck chimed in, his voice steady. "We’ll get to the bottom of this, Doc. No way he can get away with something like this."

You nodded, feeling a mix of frustration and disbelief. "I just don’t understand how he managed to pull this off. I mean, I’ve only ever been married to Jake."

Dunby sighed, his expression growing more determined. "We’ll look into every document tied to that time. If he slipped something into the paperwork, we'll catch it. You’re only married to Jake, and we'll prove that in court." He pat your shoulder. "I'll stop by later and we'll go over some things."

"You might as well just come over for dinner. I know how much you enjoy Chuck's cooking." You took a deep breath, grateful for the support from all of them. "Thanks, all of you. I’m just ready to put this nightmare behind me."

Max added, "And we will. One step at a time."

Dunby looked at you. "Have you spoken to Jake lately?"

You shook your head. "No and I have no clue where he is or what he's doing. Welcome to being married to a fighter pilot."

Dunby reached out and placed his hand on your shoulder. "It's okay. We may not need him, but if you talk to him, give him my information."

You nodded. "I will."

"Now. Go and get some rest. I'll see you later."

As you nodded and walked away from the courthouse, you felt the weight of everything that had happened so far. The day had been overwhelming, but you knew that rest was necessary if you were going to continue fighting tomorrow.

Later that evening, Dunby stopped by and the two of you sat on the couch. He pulled some papers out of his brief case and set them down in front of you.

"Do you recognize these?"

You looked at one that said Wyoming Marriage Certificate. It had your signature along with Dorian's.

You shook your head. "No. I don't."

You looked at the date. "This apparently was done while I was working on the grant then."

"And what about this one?" he asked as he set another marriage certificate in front of her. This one said Texas Marriage certificate.

"Yeah! I had to sign that after the officiant married Jake and I."

Dunby nodded, his brow furrowed in thought as he studied both documents. "The Texas certificate is legitimate, no doubt about that. But this Wyoming one… it looks convincing, but if you don't remember signing it, something's not right."

You stared at the Wyoming certificate, feeling a mix of confusion and anger. "I never married Dorian. I would remember something like that."

Dunby leaned back, tapping his fingers on the arm of the couch. "I believe you. But we’ll need to prove that this Wyoming certificate was forged or obtained under false pretenses. The timing, with you working on the grant, could have been when he slipped this in without your knowledge."

You sighed, rubbing your temples. "It makes sense, I signed so many things back then. I didn’t read every little thing, and I trusted him professionally."

"We’ll dig deeper," Dunby assured you.

Your cellphone rang and you looked to see who it was. It was Jake!

You answered and placed him on speaker phone.

"Hey, babe!" you answered excitedly. "You're on speaker phone and you called at the perfect time. Mr. Dunby wants to talk to you.

"Hey, darlin'. That's fine."

You held the phone out towards Mr. Dunby.

"Hello, Lieutenant Seresin," he said.

"Mr. Dunby. How is the case going?" Jake asked curiously.

"Well, that's what I want to talk about. I know you and Y/N didn't really talk much for four years, but Dr. Stryker brought up a marriage certificate between him and Y/N while she was in Wyoming."

Jake sighed and you could tell he was upset. "Is it legit?"

"It looks like it, but we also have your marriage certificate from Texas."

"Then you should be fine."

"Yes and I hate to ask this, but you didn't file for a divorce while separated, did you?"

"No. I wouldn't do that. I may have been a shitty husband for four years, but I would've talked to Y/N if I wanted that."

Mr. Dunby nodded, clearly relieved. "That’s good to hear, Jake. We just needed to be sure. This whole situation with Dr. Stryker is complicated enough, and the last thing we need is any confusion about your marriage."

Jake's jaw tightened, clearly frustrated. "I can't believe this guy is pulling this kind of stunt. How did he even manage to get her signature?"

"That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Y/N doesn’t remember signing anything like that. It might have been slipped in with other documents when they were working together," Dunby explained.

Jake sighed.

"Lieutenant. Is there any way you could come to the hearing? Even if it's virtual?"

"I can talk to my superior and let you know."

"That would be great. I'll let you talk to Y/N now." Mr. Dunby stood up and went to the kitchen.

You took the phone off of speaker and placed it to your ear. "Ok. It's just me now."

"How are you holding up, Y/N?"

You sighed. "As best as I can."

Jake's voice softened. "I wish I could be there with you. This whole thing sounds like a mess."

You nodded, even though he couldn’t see you. "It is. I never expected Dorian to pull something like this, especially not with a fake marriage certificate. It's exhausting."

"I know," Jake replied, his tone filled with concern. "But you’re strong, and we’ll figure it out. I hate that I can’t be there right now, but you’re not alone in this."

"Thanks," you whispered. "It helps to hear you say that. I just want all of this to be over."

"I meant what I said, Y/N. I may have been a douche of a husband for four years, but if I did want a divorce, I would've talked to you in person."

"I know, Jake," you acknowledged.

"I don't know how I got so lucky to have someone like you in my life."

You smiled. "You're not the only lucky one, Jake," you said softly.

"I love you, Y/N. I'm going to go talk to Maverick and see what I can do to help with this trial," he said.

"I love you, too. Let me know what you find out."

"I will. Talk to you later."

With that, he hung up his phone.

Tags: @buckysteveloki-me @bellyliveslife @tgmreader @callsign-barbelle @86laura11 @dizzybee03 @kmc1989 @guacam011y @nerdgirljen @hookslove1592 @dempy @djs8891 @smoothdogsgirl @devil-angel-winchester

[goatsandgangsters]

Diversity win! The Darkling's sister is a mermaid, and also a lesbian

[hotchley]

11 from angst with hotchniss romantic

This... is appallingly cliche and sounds exactly the same as "lauren" and "the date." I apologise. I have one mood when it comes to Hotchniss. Clearly. But this is under 1.5k! Very proud of myself

I've given up on proofreading. I also have no idea where in canon this is, so I need everyone to forget about the timeline and events that occur. Yeah. If anyone picks up on the headcanon I threw in... I love you <3 and my arm hurts an insane amount, so... there may need to be a break from writing these!

11: “what happened to us?”

Trigger Warnings: implied past domestic violence (Hotch's parents), past child abuse, self destructive behaviour, implied past panic attacks, relationship breakdown, negative self image, no happy ending

read on ao3!

He knows what she's doing. He knows because he has done the same thing. He still does. They're similar in a lot of ways, him and Emily Prentiss, but in this, they are identical.

They both believe that they are not worthy of being loved. That nobody is capable of loving them unless they hide something. Unless they pretend to be someone else. Unless they fit a certain view that is held of them. They both believe that the moment somebody sees them for who they really are, they will leave.

And so they test the boundary. They push and they manipulate and they act out and they do a thousand different things to work out what the limit is. To work out just what they need to decide that they aren't worth it. To leave. Aaron stopped doing it a while ago, because it wasn't fair to Haley or to himself.

Emily has never stopped, no matter how few lies she now tells her therapist, or how many anniversaries her and Aaron make it to. Aaron wonders every day if she even realises she’s doing it. She does. Sometimes. She doesn’t care enough to stop.

She’s testing his boundaries again. He’s trying to be patient but it’s difficult. No amount of breathing exercises or rational thought seems to be helping because deep down, he is annoyed. Secretly. Quietly. Not because he’s manipulating her, but because he can’t let himself be angry. Not with her. His father got angry with his wife and nothing fixed the damage. He can’t repeat that mistake. He won’t. He’ll die before he does that.

They’re arguing. Again. It seems to be the only thing they do these days. And Aaron knows that it’s just her trying to test him the same way she has always done, but he’s so tired. He wants to love her the way he always has. He wants her to love him the way she used to. Without this fear, that didn’t exist before Ian Doyle. It makes him want to kill the man again.

Emily has no idea why she’s arguing with him. Or over what. It’s more than likely that it's a combination of all the things that have been hurting her since she was born. Almost all of them were not the direct result of his actions. She doesn't care though. Because her and Aaron may be alike in many ways, but not in this. He will always fight. She will always run.

"Em, just tell me the truth. I won't be angry. I promise."

Emily looks away. Jack was the first one to call her Em. As she turns, she sees a photo. And suddenly, she knows what to say. She knows what will make him leave her, of his own free will. Because she needs him to leave. Before she destroys him and everything she loves. Because she will. It's all she's ever done. It's all she is good for.

"Yes you will," she says. Because she knows how to hurt him.

She watches him clench and unclench his jaw. "No, I won't. I just want to help you."

Her last thought before she speaks is a prayer. To a woman that deserved better. Forgive me, is the thought.

"You don't want to help me. You're only with me because you can't have Haley."

There is no truth in the statement. It is an insult to Haley's final wish for her husband. To Aaron and his heart. To Jack and the lessons his father has taught him. To everything they have built together.

Aaron keeps his promise though. He isn't angry. He's devastated. Emily watches his face crumple, but remains rooted in place as he leaves the room. It feels like a weight has been lifted from her chest, and that can't be normal or healthy, but it's how she feels.

Time passes. She cannot say how much. But it passes. And Aaron does not return. So despite everything, she leaves the room to find him. Before she does, she presses her fingers to her mouth, and then to the photo of Haley. She also whispers an apology.

Aaron is sitting in their bedroom, head buried between his knees. A soft sound leaves her throat, and he raises his head enough to shake it. It does little to soothe her.

Emily sits beside him. He shifts away, not even realising. She tries to let it not sting. It's her own doing.

"What happened to us?" She asks, after a silence that is nothing like their usual comfortable ones.

The short answer is they've changed. The long answer is that they want different things from life. That he is tired, and she is exhausted. That she no longer wants him and he no longer needs her. That they aren't right together. Not anymore. The truth is that he is fighting for something she no longer believes in.

"Life," he spits, not even caring that he's being cruel.

Emily doesn't even blink. Her comments about needing to know that she can be human, which still hurt him in that moment the same way they did when she first spat them in his face, make all the more sense. She just sits there.

They sleep in the same bed, and she even kisses him on the cheek when he leaves for his morning class. The BAU were given some leave because they did successive cases, but Aaron couldn't cancel on his seniors when he only found out two days before. There was a time when she would have driven him, or sat in his office doing her own paperwork. Not today though. She just watches him leave.

Aaron's been married before. Emily hasn't. There's been a few longer relationships here and there, but Aaron is her only spouse. It's why she doesn't quite understand the look on his face. Neither do his students. They can't quite tell where his mind is, only that it's not where it should be.

Aaron is thinking about his feelings. The sense of dread that pricks at the back of his neck and makes his whole body tense. The nerves that are causing him to make silly mistakes. The pit in his stomach that tells him something bad is going to happen. And he is thinking about Emily. The look on her face as he walked out the front door matched the look Haley had worn when he'd walked out of their bedroom. And she had been gone when he returned.

Emily is also gone when he walks through the door that evening. In some sad way, he had been expecting it. But unlike Haley, she has only taken the bare necessities. He phones Derek, saying that he doesn't expect anything more than a confirmation of her safety. He gets that. As well as a promise to support both of them, no matter what happens.

Aaron is the one that files for divorce. He asked Emily if she was going to come home, and when she didn't reply, simply reading the message, he knew that this time, he had to do it. He had to be brave. He had to give them both a chance at happiness. If such a thing existed for people like them.

He sends them to the sixth floor too. Not to be hurtful, but because he had no other option. And Emily signs them after unintentionally endangering the life of a subordinate of someone so much younger than her- too young to be with the BAU.

And as the world kept spinning, taking some people with it and leaving others behind, the two of them kept searching for a love that would last. Neither of them found it. They were both just too doubtful of everyone.

[tsskyx]

Unmeta

You know what’s ridiculous? This post was originally supposed to be an essay, an entire thesis backed with unshakable logic that I wanted to become my magnum opus. But as it turns out, I’m pretty terrible at doing that sort of thing. The first day I’m full of enthusiasm, while the next day I reread what I wrote and I delete it all again. It’s terrible.

For this reason, I’ve decided to just start with the opinion part. Instead of laying out the facts and easing the reader into it, I’ll just blurt everything out in one go. Instead of neatly organizing everything, I’ll write my thoughts as they come to me.

(Update for 2/Oct/2021: I no longer remember when I made the first draft of this post. Maybe it was in 2018, maybe even as early as 2017. Who knows. This post existed in my drafts since forever. It is time to finally publish it. It contains very little information, very little evidence for anything or logic or facts, it’s just a one big opinion piece that I began writing years ago out of frustration. Frustration not aimed at the game itself, nor at Toby or anyone else, but at my inability to decouple the “meta” from Undertale and thus causing me to disassociate from the characters that I loved, when I didn’t plan to do so. All I ever wanted is to make sense of the Undertale world, instead of giving its inhabitants a meta-existential dread. In a nutshell, for the Undertale world to be self-contained, the 4th wall must stay intact, and the mechanics of the UT world mustn’t resemble a video game. That’s basically the gist of this post. Proceed with reading.)

You know Undertale meta? All the 4th wall breaking stuff and whatnot? The stuff that makes the game so awesome?

What about it you say?

It’s not real. I don’t think it is. It cannot be.

Tell me, has Undertale personally impacted you? Was it more than just a game to you? I know for a fact that for many people, it was much more than that. So tell me, is it fine by you that despite presenting itself in this way to us, it still sort of cops out of this at the very end? (By which I mean, when we learn that we aren’t Frisk. That we’re just someone controlling them.)

Some say that this cop-out, this act of “disassociation”, is necessary for our psychological journey to end. And I agree. We cannot dwell on this forever, else we lose our minds. But what I meant is something much more... materialistic.

Let’s take Oneshot, a game that’s arguably even more meta than Undertale. Oneshot embraces the 4th wall. It labels us a god. It portrays the game itself as an in-game machine. And yet, it feels real. Despite all this ridiculousness, the story feels real and possible. Kind of like The Matrix. Perhaps think of everyone in Oneshot except for the main character as a Matrix program, while Niko is the only user hooked up to it. It still feels real, because Niko is real, because there exists a real world they can to return to.

But Undertale floats somewhere between being real and being a fairy tale, a mere bedtime story. The reason is its lax handling of the 4th wall. Say, if Undertale were to be considered a “real” possibility, as in, entirely fictional, but still believable, kinda like The Matrix, kinda like any science fiction, or just fiction in general, what would it be like?

I’ll tell you, everything would have to be real, everything would have to look exactly how we see it. There’d need to be turns, there’d need to be save files, there’d need to be so many bizarre things, it probably wouldn’t take long before the NPCs themselves realized their own nonexistence, probably around the time they developed computers and video games. It’d be so similar, they’d have to be either stupid or under some kind of spell to not realize that their entire world is just one giant video game. Especially Flowey. Some say that he has already realized this, as his dialogue hints towards this. Which puts a super unfortunate spin on his condition. Furthermore, the entire game could be described through its Game Maker code. No need for laws of physics, just observe the if-else statements!

It would also mean that Frisk is controlled by a third unknown entity. If we were to take everything we do to Frisk at face value, it must all be them. Except... after a true reset, everything gets reset, even things about Frisk, such as them expecting the whoopee cushion prank. So... Frisk isn’t in control. But Chara isn’t either. Take for example the final fight against Asriel. Chara appeared pretty enthusiastic during it. What if someone were to reset the timeline during the fight? Either it wasn’t them who did so, or they were just pretending to be entertained, or perhaps they aren’t the narrator in the first place even.

No matter what, there will always be an instance where Frisk forgets, and where Chara doesn’t do something when they could have. Once you mess with the game enough, their personalities stop making sense.

This gradual breakdown of the narrative as I keep attacking the logic of it from every direction imaginable is a symptom of something far bigger. The fact that unlike The Matrix or Oneshot, there is no “real world” in this game. The virtual part of it is what the game is trying to make us focus on. It’s all there is. There is not even a hint of “another” world in the game, a world that wouldn’t be governed by these terrible rules. And even if there was one, even if you consider what Sans said to be that world, even if you considered Deltarune to be that world, there is still no guarantee that everything will be okay. What if the characters - your friends, aren’t real in this actual real world, what if they’re all just computer simulations? There’d have to be an entire population hooked up to a virtual reality for everyone to be “safe” as I’m putting it in this hypothetical real world, which sounds not only ridiculous, but like a direct ripoff of The Matrix.

The game has made Frisk the main character. Why, when making Sans the main one, the one who at least has a possibility of coming from a “real” real world, would be far more logical?

Because it lacks logic. Undertale is an experiment. Toby Fox is not a genius. He was just messing around, he didn’t think of literally every tiny little logical detail (contrary to what some individuals would like to think), he just explained enough for most of the story to make sense. But, no matter how you spin it, this fundamental flaw will always be there. The story tries to merge you and the protagonist, before disassociating you from them. Even if you always were disassociated from them, how can the in-game world be real, when other aspects of your reality weren’t disassociated yet? Where’s the disassociation for battles and turns, for save files and time travel, for stats and everything? How can Undertale claim to be complete, when it isn’t? ... Perhaps because it is not claiming to be. It’s an experiment after all. And I don’t mean “incomplete” as in a single update / new game can fix it. I mean the premise itself is already broken from the start. And while there are many fictional worlds which function on a similar level of meta, Undertale is the only one that appears to irk me mad. I don’t know why. Maybe I love the characters. Maybe I love them very much. Maybe I love them so much, that I wanna write a fan fiction about them. And maybe, just maybe, this tiny little issue is making this dream of mine impossible. Undertale is a story conveyed through game mechanics. Choosing any other medium breaks everything down and the author needs to invent their own rules. There’s simply no way around it. Unless someone has the balls to program a fan game of their own, there’s just no way to resolve this without adjusting the canon a little bit, to make it “a little bit more sensible” as some would put it. Just a small nudge, a lil’ nudgie wudgie to the canon mechanics AAAAAND we’re in fanon territory. Excellent, better go all out.

Here’s my head canon, my little “adjustment” of the canon rules. Thanks to it, I can once again think about Undertale as a real world, I no longer need to philosophize over the meta like I did above, I can all put it past me:

Saving, loading, resetting? Regular sci-fi time travel.

The save file? The parameters of the time machine.

LV and EXP? Another set of properties of the machine, though it could be properties of the soul too. I’m undecided on that note. But either works, that’s what’s important.

Chara destroying the world through LV? No, screw that, Chara merely tuned Frisk out. And the black void was the inside of their mind as Chara denied them access to their own body.

The intro? Literally never happened, no one “saw” it. (The past was still real. It’s just the intro that never existed.) The outro? Literally never physically occurred, Frisk wasn’t “stuck” on the ending credits, unable to go further, fuck that.

Flowey? No screw everything meta about Flowey, there exists a perfectly logical explanation to everything he says, and if not, such as in the genocide run with him hinting towards people watching but not acting... he never said that in the first place!

Same with turns, the battles don’t actually look that way, there are no turns, what Sans perceives and abuses as such is just an illusion, the actual battle against Sans is absolutely fluid. And him pausing at the end and not letting us go is him keeping his guard up, until falling asleep and giving us an opportunity to sneak near him and strike. We don’t need turns to explain it. And what he said about turns... just ignore it! Ignore everything that directly proves me wrong! Because resolving that fucking conundrum IS more important than being logically consistent, and you can’t change my mind on that. Screw logic when the foundation of the entire fandom, of every UT-related fiction, is at stake here.

And I shall call this philosophy... the Unmeta. Because it attempts to undo the meta. Hence, “unmeta” for short.

[vsplusonline]

Coronavirus: Developing a rapid COVID-19 test is in the works in Canada, globally

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/coronavirus-developing-a-rapid-covid-19-test-is-in-the-works-in-canada-globally/

Coronavirus: Developing a rapid COVID-19 test is in the works in Canada, globally

As novel coronavirus cases rise globally, along with deaths, developing a rapid test for COVID-19 is one of the key areas that researchers in Canada and around the world are targeting.

Related News

Experts have said widespread testing is necessary because it allows for better management of an outbreak. The British government, for instance, bought 3.5 million antibody testing kits from various suppliers in late March, with the intention of making sure they work before distributing them.

READ MORE: Social distancing is crucial, but Canada also needs more coronavirus testing: experts

“The sooner you know if someone’s positive or negative, then the more infection control and outbreak control you can put in place,” said Dr. Anna Banerji, an associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. 

“Because in that time period, when someone may not be sure, they could be potentially spreading the virus. I think people practise more infection control when they know that someone has a condition.”

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1:49 Coronavirus: Alberta Health Services explains why there is less testing in South Zone

Coronavirus: Alberta Health Services explains why there is less testing in South Zone

World Health Organization director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also urged this: “You can’t win a football game by defending, you have to attack as well.”

Countries must “test, test, test, test” in order to know who is infected and who needs to be isolated, he said earlier this month.

READ MORE: Virus science — a look at coronavirus research around the globe

In Canada

As of March 28, more than 184,000 people in Canada had been tested at provincial and national labs across the country. The total number of confirmed cases across the country have exceeded 5,500, with 61 deaths and 472 recoveries. But getting tested can be slow, with more than 8,600 people in Ontario still awaiting test results as of March 28.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Canada to ban sick travellers from domestic flights, intercity trains

Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam has previously said testing centres have to “be smart” about who they test, due to supply issues.

Testing in Canada has been slow in getting set up, but Banerji said she expects it to increase.

“I expect in the next few weeks that the testing will be a lot more streamlined,” she said in a recent interview with Global News.

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1:55 Coronavirus outbreak: New antibody test could be key in COVID-19 fight

Coronavirus outbreak: New antibody test could be key in COVID-19 fight

Current testing for COVID-19 in Canada varies by jurisdiction, according to infectious disease expert Dr. Alon Vaisman.

In Toronto, University Health Network’s lab has a “fairly good” turnaround time of less than 24 hours, sometimes shorter, he said. But more remote areas might have a longer turnaround time. So it depends, he said.

2:25 Coronavirus outbreak: Trump says FDA has approved Chloroquine for COVID-19 testing

Coronavirus outbreak: Trump says FDA has approved Chloroquine for COVID-19 testing

“But in the places where they’re doing it rapidly and efficiently, it could be even as short as less than 12 hours, actually,” Vaisman said.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: I just had my COVID-19 test — here’s how it went

A rapid point-of-care test for COVID-19 would be “great,” he said. But until it’s published in a peer-reviewed journal, “it’s hard to know what exactly is the reality.”

[ Sign up for our Health IQ newsletter for the latest coronavirus updates ]

Point-of-care testing is essentially “medical diagnostic testing performed outside the clinical laboratory, at or near, where a patient is receiving care,” according to the College of Medical Laboratory Technologists of Ontario.

1:40 Nova Scotia biologists working around the clock to test COVID-19

Nova Scotia biologists working around the clock to test COVID-19

It may or may not be carried out by lab personnel, with the results used for “clinical decision making.”

Point-of-care testing exists for HIV, for instance, where a nurse can draw a sample, place it in a testing tray and run the test right then and there, Vaisman said.

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“It would help hospitals make decisions regarding isolation and movement of patients and treatment,” he said. “So it’d be a pretty significant development.”

2:07 Coronavirus outbreak: Canada approves 2 new COVID-19 tests

Coronavirus outbreak: Canada approves 2 new COVID-19 tests

Developments in Canada

Canada has allocated millions in research dollars towards the new coronavirus, including a rapid point-of-care diagnostic test for the “quick isolation of those infected.”

Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu signed an interim order around mid-March to expedite access to two new diagnostic tests to allow provincial labs to speed up testing.

The government’s plan to mobilize industry has also tapped into an Ottawa firm called Spartan that makes diagnostic equipment. The company has signed a letter of intent with the federal government.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Canadian company working with Ottawa to boost ventilator production

Spartan is developing a portable device that could provide rapid COVID-19 test results, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office.

The firm is in “discussions” with Health Canada as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval for the device, which could provide results within 30 minutes. A commercial test could be eight to 12 weeks away, according to Spartan.

2:00 Coronavirus outbreak: Ontario hoping to increase to 5,000 tests per day says Williams

Coronavirus outbreak: Ontario hoping to increase to 5,000 tests per day says Williams

“There’s a portable DNA analyzer, so you take that swab sample, you put it in the cartridge, the cartridge goes into the device and then it gives you results,” Spartan CEO Paul Lem told Global News Radio.

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It’s a diagnostic test that can detect infection in a person, and could be used in health-care facilities, community centres, airports or border crossings, he said.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Testing backlog linked to shortage of essential chemicals

Around the world

From Ireland to Japan, there have been new developments in recent weeks when it come to rapid tests for COVID-19.

For instance, an Irish company called Assay Genie says it has a rapid test for COVID-19.

“Using a rapid COVID-19 test can identify more people who do not know they have been infected,” the website says, describing the test as for research use only.

READ MORE: Close to 40% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the U.S. are aged 20 to 54: report

A disclaimer adds: “While we believe this kit is to be an effective indicator of infection, we cannot guarantee 100% accuracy.”

1:21 Coronavirus: Manitoba’s first drive-thru testing site opens in Selkirk

Coronavirus: Manitoba’s first drive-thru testing site opens in Selkirk

Company co-founder Seán Mac Fhearraigh told Global News the rapid point-of-care test would use a drop of blood. The company began working on the test kits as soon as they heard about the new coronavirus, which first appeared in Wuhan in December 2019. 

“We can see that every health-care system is under a terrible burden at the moment,” he said. A rapid test for COVID-19 could mean quicker decision-making for nurses and doctors.

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In the next few days we will have 100 assays that we are looking to provide to a testing lab to help validate our data and ensure that accuracy can be met before we roll out on scale, if you have any connections in the @hselive

— Seán Mac Fhearraigh (@MacFhearraigh) March 13, 2020

He says the test kit detects an immune response, and that the company is starting to test with a hospital in Ireland this week.

“Say we have an incredibly sick person,” Mac Fhearraigh said. “You have a fast result, 15 minutes, we can say: ‘Go isolate first for the six or seven hours that it might take to get a test result by the traditional method.’”

In the U.S., two rapid tests were recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Health minister signs order for faster access to COVID-19 test kits

One developer, Cepheid, received emergency use authorization from the U.S. FDA on March 21 and says the tests, with an approximate detection time of 45 minutes, will be shipped for use in hospitals.

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The second, Abbott Laboratories, says its tests can give results within 15 minutes.

In Japan, researchers have developed a test kit that, from start to finish, takes 40 minutes, according to the Nikkei Asian Review. Canon Medical started developing the kit in late February.

2:10 Italy’s coronavirus death toll jumps by nearly 800 in single day

Italy’s coronavirus death toll jumps by nearly 800 in single day

Researchers at Oxford University have touted a rapid COVID-19 test. The university’s engineering science department has teamed up with the Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research (OSCAR).

The university says the new test is “much faster” — with results in just half an hour — and negates the need for a complex instrument. Researchers there are arranging clinical validation trials soon.

— With files by Reuters, Global News reporter Leslie Young

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© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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MINNEAPOLIS | Catholic faithful demand change after sex abuse scandals

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MINNEAPOLIS | Catholic faithful demand change after sex abuse scandals

MINNEAPOLIS — The day after a grand jury report revealed that Roman Catholic clergy in Pennsylvania molested more than 1,000 children over decades, Adrienne Alexander went to Mass at a Chicago church and waited for the priest to say something about the situation.

He didn’t. And that left Alexander fuming. So she went on Facebook to vent — then organized a prayer vigil in Chicago that became the catalyst for similar laity-led vigils in Boston, Philadelphia and other cities nationwide.

Alexander is among countless Catholics in the U.S. who are raising their voices in prayer and protest to demand change amid new revelations of sex abuse by priests and allegations of widespread cover-ups. They are doing letter-writing campaigns and holding prayer vigils and listening sessions in an effort to bring about change from the pews, realizing it’s up to them to confront the problem and save the church they love after years of empty promises from leadership.

“I think it’s important that the large body hears from us,” Alexander said. “We actually make up the church.”

Their grassroots efforts are gaining momentum. In the last week more than 39,000 people have signed their names to a letter demanding answers from Pope Francis himself.

Another effort, sponsored by reform groups, has seized upon the “Time’s Up” and #MeToo movements and is organizing events across the country this weekend under the CatholicToo hash tag.

Some of the efforts are calling for specific reforms, such as laity-led investigations and transparency, while others are still brainstorming solutions. One woman in Michigan founded a website to make it easy for anyone to speak up and write to church officials.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Marjorie Murphy Campbell, a civil and canon lawyer in Park City, Utah, said of the laity’s engagement. She said many Catholics feel they have no choice.

“You either have to get involved now, because you cannot trust the bishops to solve this themselves, or you leave. … It’s our job to help the mother church get through this.”

The actions come as the church is facing a global crisis over clergy abuse following the scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report and the pope’s removal of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick from public ministry amid allegations McCarrick sexually abused a teenage altar boy and preyed upon adult seminarians decades ago.

Francis wrote a letter to Catholics in August, saying the laity must help end the clerical culture that has placed priests above reproach.

He then found himself immersed in the scandal amid claims that he knew about allegations against McCarrick in 2013, but rehabilitated him anyway.

A collective of individual Catholic women last week wrote a letter urging Francis to deliver answers. The letter, which had more than 39,000 signatures by Friday, declared “we are not second-class Catholics to be brushed off while bishops and cardinals handle matters privately.”

“In short, we are the Church, every bit as much as the cardinals and bishops around you,” the letter said.

Robert Shine, a Catholic in Boston and vice president of the Women’s Ordination Conference, said he believes Catholics are now ready to confront what’s been happening in the church and talk about how they can be involved in reform, reflecting a broader trend in the U.S. with people getting more active in protests. Other denominations have been struggling with the issue as well.

“People are less willing to look the other way … This new consciousness and new honesty about politics is sort of being transferred to the Catholic Church as well.”

Miriel Thomas Reneau of Ann Arbor, Michigan, founded a website to make letter-writing easy. Her site lists the names and addresses of local dioceses and includes templates for people to write letters to church leaders.

Others are withholding donations in protest. Legatus, an association of Catholic businessmen, announced it would put its annual tithe to the Holy See in escrow. Thousands of people have also signed a statement that calls on Catholic bishops in the U.S. to consider resigning as a public act of repentance.

There are examples of laity forcing change in other countries. In the city of Osorno, Chile, a group of lay members organized themselves to raise attention to the sex abuse crisis, and their movement helped throw out a bishop. It took more than three years, but they decided it was necessary to try to change their church from within.

Lori Carter of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and two other women started a “Wear Gray” campaign in which they are urging “prayer warriors” like themselves to wear gray to Mass and fast as a symbol of repentance. They are also asking people to write letters to the pope and local bishops.

“I’m assuming it’s going to have to go back to sort of how it was — a church of the people and prayer and holiness,” she said.

In Minneapolis, Chris Damian believes having more nuanced conversations can bring about change. Damian, 27, organized a group of Catholic young adults to respond to the church crisis. The group has held a public prayer session, which St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda attended, as well as a discussion session where more than 100 people gathered to learn about the issue and brainstorm solutions.

The group is sending a letter to Hebda that urges pastors to listen to lay people, instead of telling them what to do. The letter also lists concrete recommendations, such as waiving confidentiality agreements for all past settlements and reopening the investigation into a former St. Paul-Minneapolis archbishop who resigned in 2015 after prosecutors filed criminal charges against the archdiocese for failing to protect children from an abusive priest.

“We’re all really frustrated because things continue to pop up and that’s just not acceptable,” Damian said. “I think we can spend all this time complaining about how churches aren’t being more proactive …

but there’s no reason why we can’t take this issue and make the solution our own responsibility.”

By AMY FORLITI, Associated Press

[seenashwrite]

Conversations with The Commissioner: Canon Fodder, Round 1

Originally posted on that blog we ditched ‘cause we liked y’all better. And listen, straight up skip this if you (A) don’t give a rip about the story and/or (B) don’t give a crap about a painfully detailed assessment of Azazel & the Special Children. We’re just cleaning out folders here, folks.

Carry on - Nash.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016 A Very Special Canon Fodder Post: The Special Children of SPN

The Commissioner:  I found a canon mistake.  Well, two actually.

Me: Hit me.

The Commissioner: First chapter - Sam's loading dishes into the dishwasher. A non-existent dishwasher. 

Me: [stares] You don't think that they'll have gotten a dishwasher by season whatever-the-hell we're idealizing this to be?

The Commissioner: .....

Me: Noted. Next?

The Commissioner: Also chapter one, you have Sam saying if Jane were a Special Child, it'd be the first time there was two in one family.  There were those twins.

Me: Hell's bells, I cannot believe I'm having to explain this.

The Commissioner:  You can just edit the chapter.

Me:  No.  I'm not wrong.

The Commissioner:  You're wrong, I re-watched the episode.

Me:  I'm not wrong.

The Commissioner:  You're a mule.

Me: [sigh]  Pull up the notes file.

The Commissioner:  You have ten thousand, what's it called?

Me: "Plot Hole Dumpster Fires"

The Commissioner:  Wow.

Me: I'm subtle, it's why you adore me.

In the spirit of pushing daisies, the facts are these:

(A)  We get hip to Azazel making pacts with randos that if he can show up to their homes in ten years without them freaking out, then he won't do fill-in-the-blank to them now.

Why he assumes that any of these people will definitely have a baby old enough to get the dose - because for whatever the hell reason they can't be a newborn but can't be like, a year old - in exactly ten years is beyond me.

Why demons can leap into a person without consent and he can't zip into a baby's room is way beyond me.

Why he thinks it's going to take more than ten seconds to rub a toothless infant's gums with his bloody finger is also really, really beyond me.

Why he thinks the parents or siblings or meemaw or whoever's there pose any sort of threat to him that requires the use of fireballs is, you guessed it, so far the hell beyond me that I can't even.

.......

The Commissioner:  But they apparently did and that's why some of the parents died.

Me:  Yeah, some - not all.  So he's capable of somehow managing to not be Inspector Clouseau'ing the bejeezus out of it.

You're busting into my next point.

The Commissioner: Continue.

.......

(B) At some point Zaza tells Dean that his purpose for going into the homes is giving the babies the blood and alludes to having something bigger in mind than just having a demon army or whatever. We, of course, come to learn it's because Lucy's in the cage with kaleidoscope eyes, dreaming for freedom, waiting for his vessel.

Which, P.S.?  

No way has Azkaban only been at this in the past decade.  That would make him the shittiest henchman ever, if he's not been pounding the pavement and getting after it hardcore since the moment our favorite morningstar got wrecked.

And this is proven, we'll get to that in a minute.

.......

The Commissioner:  Wait.  All the special kids were around the same age, that's part of the reason I think -

Me: Nope.

The Commissioner:  Not just the twins, though, that's the other -

Me: Nope.

The Commissioner:  FINE. Go ahead.

.......

( C ) And bless my heart, I actually looked this up:  it's in season five, ep #21 - Castiel says specifically that Lou-Lou's vessel has to be prepped with demon blood.  Otherwise it'll just... I don't know.

I don't know.

Implode if they're on a Nickelback level?  Last as long as Rick Springfield if they're kinda up for it, then sort've dissolve?  Kick it into the next century if they're of Willie Nelson caliber and seem to not have aged since, oh, 1970?

.......

The Commissioner:  You're digressing.

Me: It's so, so annoying.

The Commissioner:  Maybe. I still think you're wrong.

.......

(D)  The backdraft nursery side show featuring your dead mom wasn't routine across the board.

Here's that breakdown:

The Kids & the Blood / Extreme Makeover: Nursery Edition

    Sam - y/y

    Andy - probably/y

    Ava - ?/?

    Jake - ?/?

    Lily, a.k.a."Hey writers, that's just blonde Rogue" - ?/?

    Max - y/y

    Scott - y/y

    Baby Rosie - it's a toss-up/y *

    Magda - ?/? *

* Those two are proof Hepatitis Az was for sure monkeying around with this routine up til around the time he died, cause, you know, Baby Rosie.  Which, again, good on ya - don't blow your wad on one group of kids.

My guess?  He was going through at least one group of kids per year, likely more than one group, and they always turned out to be duds.

.......

The Commissioner:  But what would he do with them?  Death match them?

Me: Who cares?

The Commissioner:  But their families and their jobs... I mean, they'd be missed.

Me: Who cares?

The Commissioner:  Do you think maybe he just gave them over to his demon friends to use as meat suits once they didn't work out?

Me: WHO CARES?!

The Commissioner:  This is one of those times I wish you were a fan.

.......

(E) Now we get to-----

.......

The Commissioner:  Wait.

Me: I'm going to have a stroke.

The Commissioner:  Why'd you list Magda?

Me: Because the "THEN" on that ep was all heavy with the special snowflake Sam blah-blah.

The Commissioner:  Hold on, I'm going to look for a transcript.

Me: [goes to get snack, possibly vodka]

The Commissioner:  [reads] Okay.

Me: Okay, what?

The Commissioner:  Okay, you were... right.  About that.  The line about more than one in a family, you're still wrong.

Me: [sighs, again]

The Commissioner:  Go ahead.

.......

(E) Now we get to the twins, specifically Ansem Weems / Weber, a.k.a. All My Names Are Garbage.  He and his twin brother (Andy) were adopted as babies.  Andy got the full Zuzu's petals midnight special.

There is *zero* indication to think that Weemie did.

There is, however, *every* indication to think the Weemster is an effing psychopath.  Ol' Azzie visited him in his dreams, we know that, and we know the kid legit had the psychic thing going on.  

None of the other kids (well, technically, jury's still out on the baby) show indications of not playing with a full deck -  the abused kid had every reason to be messed up, but that's not what I mean.

I'm talking about Weem-dog's blatant sociopathy.  You know, has to fake basic emotions, shows lack of remorse, has inflated ego, wouldn't know empathy if it walked up and bit him in the ass.

And while I think Uncle Zaz was manipulating him, I have no idea why exactly.  Best I can tell, it was to light a fire under Andy, a.k.a. live action Shaggy doll, Mystery Machine van and weed sold separately.

Because Andy's the kid he wanted.

.......

The Commissioner:  Wait.  How do you know that?

Me: Because that's the twin that didn't get dead.

The Commissioner: But-

Me: Lookit, if he wanted Weem-a-licious, that's who would've ended up at B-list hunger games.  He didn't.  He wanted Andy.  Because Andy wasn't a g.d. sociopath, and because Lucifer is, and Lu's not going to be stuck in the same body with someone just like him.

The Commissioner:  How do you-

Me: Think about the personalities of the vessels he's chosen thus far.  I mean, the ones he didn't just essentially in-and-out.  They're all actually fairly mellow people.

The Commissioner: Hmmmm....

.......

To sum up:

I think all the kids on that list (except the baby, because they might have saved her in time) got the blood.  Period.  It's a moot point if they didn't, because they wouldn't be prepped to be the host.

I think all these kids had something dormant in them.  I don't know how he knew.  I speculate in the story in later chapters, but we just don't know.

We do know it's not like he's making the rounds like Santa Claus and visiting every house with a baby.  There has to be some sort of screening process, beyond just him thinking the parents are cool enough to let him in the house, or whatever b.s. reasoning they give.

.......

The Commissioner:  Deep breath.

Me: I know.

.......

And just because siblings are twins, that doesn't mean a damn thing when it comes to their every tendency.  Then when it comes to fraternal twins, well, they're just siblings who were born at the same time.  That's it.  They have no more in common genetically than, oh I dunno, an older brother and a younger brother by about, say, four years.  I'd have bought into it more if they were identical twins because there, you have a genetic mirror image.

I also submit that those two were no more family than you and I are; they did not grow up in the same house, with the same parents and cousins and siblings and schoolmates and blah blah blah blah.  To say that adopted children's biological ties are by default stronger than the bonds they have with the people who wanted them and took them in and loved them as if they'd given birth to them?  That's pretty effin' reductive.

I stand by my statement - We haven't seen 2 special children in the same family.

Because having "gifts" does not equate to receiving demon blood - the first administration of which had to be as a baby - and that's the primary qualifier for the special children.  Wee-Wee had a gift, so have probably eight thousand other characters we've seen, but he doesn't meet Special Child criteria for me any more than they would.  Being a gifted person and being a sibling to a special child just isn't making a strong enough case.

.......

The Commissioner:  What if the showrunner or whoever said that yes, Weems was a special child?

Me: Then they need to hire better writers, turn back time and be clearer.

The Commissioner:  Dude.

Me: And give him a new name.

The Commissioner:  Dude.

Me: I'm cranky.

The Commissioner: Well, for what it's worth, you sold me.

Me: Aw.  Good.  Now I need to not think about the story or this show for at least a day.

The Commissioner:  That's perfect!  Because---

Me:  Don't.  Don't say it.

The Commissioner: ---it's WEDNESDAY!