#he died while protecting the village…. of diabetes

[chradi]

Few things better for the soul than the whole ttrpg table laughing at a dumb joke together

[laura-elizabeth91]

"Theresa May's Style: Put Your Head Down and Get to Work" By STEVEN ERLANGER for the New York Times JULY 13, 2016 LONDON — Her beloved father, an Anglican vicar, died in a car crash when she was 25, after she had been married only a year, and her mother, who had multiple sclerosis, died a few months later. For Theresa May, a cherished only child, the shock was devastating. It brought her even closer to her husband, Philip, two years younger, whom she had met at Oxford, at a Conservative Party disco. They bonded over cricket and silly university debates, like the one where Philip induced her to speak for the motion “That sex is good… but success is better.” Both became bankers, and Ms. May threw herself into the Conservative politics that had entranced her since the age of 12, when she liked to argue with her father and he asked her, in order to maintain neutrality in his parish, not to parade her Tory colors in public. “Politics captured me,” Ms. May said in 2014. “That sounds terribly trite,” she said, but “I wanted to make a difference, I wanted to be part of the debate.” On Wednesday, Ms. May, 59, became Britain’s prime minister, the last adult standing after other senior members of her party — the clever younger men from Britain’s elite schools, like her predecessor, David Cameron — schemed each other out of contention. For Ms. May, only Britain’s second female prime minister, it is a job she never publicly acknowledged wanting, until Mr. Cameron, bluff and self-confident, pushed his luck once too often,lost the referendum on keeping Britain in the European Union and quit. Ms. May, who had been home secretary, is considered “a safe pair of hands,” not flashy and even dull, who seems to be a candidate of continuity. But the country’s dire circumstances may demand more. And Ms. May, a traditional economic and social conservative in many respects, has signaled a desire to give her party a new focus on the need to build a fairer society. With Britain deeply divided over its decision to leave the European Union, its place in the world in flux, its unity threatened by calls for Scottish independence and its economy at risk, the times may require that Ms. May be both steady and bold. Her six-year tenure at the Home Office showed her to be a tough operator and put her in charge of a number of flash-point issues. She demanded police reforms to reduce racial profiling. She helped push through surveillance policies that had to balance fears of terrorism against civil liberties and confronted public pressure to reduce immigration, failing to meet government targets for doing so. If sometimes at odds with Mr. Cameron’s inner circle — she was a quiet critic of the government’s budget austerity — she nonetheless built a reputation as smart and competent. Damian Green, who worked for her as Home Office minister until 2014, said that “Theresa doesn’t do verbiage, doesn’t do speeches for the sake of making speeches. One of her virtues is that when she says something today she means it tomorrow.” But she will have to bind a badly torn party in which she has won esteem but few close friends. She will also have to juggle competing priorities in negotiating the withdrawal from the European Union under the watchful eye of Brexit supporters who remain wary of her commitment to their cause. Even though she publicly if tepidly supported remaining in Europe out of loyalty to Mr. Cameron, saying it would be best for the nation’s security, at heart “she is a Euroskeptic,” said Catherine Meyer, a former treasurer of the Conservative Party and a friend of the Mays’. “When she says Brexit means out, she means it.” While respected within the European Union as a tough and unpretentious negotiator, Ms. May will have to find the right balance between more controls on immigration that the voters demanded and at least partial access, if she can manage it, to the single market of the European Union. Friends say that her early religious upbringing — she is an Anglican but went to a Roman Catholic school — has given Ms. May a moral base, a steady personality and a feeling for the disadvantaged. “Her background has shaped her into somebody who is not going to feel sorry for herself or blame others for her mistakes, and who finds solace in moving forward, not to sit but to fight,” said Ms. Meyer, who worked with Ms. May on a charity for abducted children. A young woman who hunched her shoulders at school to seem less tall has grown into a proud master of her responsibilities. She lives for her work and her husband, a well-off investment banker, and their time together in their neat house in Sonning-on-Thames, in Berkshire, in the heart of her Maidenhead constituency, a village she shares with better-known types like the guitarist Jimmy Page and George and Amal Clooney. She likes to cook and owns more than 100 cookbooks, and will likely be glad that the Camerons took the heat for remodeling the ancient kitchen at 10 Downing Street. Mr. Cameron valued her workaholic talents, naming her Home Office secretary, one of the four senior cabinet posts, only the second woman to hold the job. Wary of her quiet ambition and wanting to protect his own favorite, George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, he never promoted her further. But he did not demote her, either, even as she failed to deliver on one of the government’s key pledges, to curb immigration. She was famous for fighting her corner, knowing her subject and keeping clear of the Cameron “chumocracy.” Ms. May is polite but not chummy, works late and does not hang around Parliament’s bars. Her lack of a “set of friends” was considered one of her great liabilities in the race to succeed Mr. Cameron, said Crispin Blunt, a Conservative member of Parliament who is one of her supporters. “There wasn’t an army of mates for her,” he said, but it allows her now to make appointments to her government on the basis of her own priorities and assessments. “In government, sometimes it’s difficult to be a woman surrounded by lots of men,” said Ms. Meyer. “Like Margaret Thatcher, she likes the company of men, but she’s capable of putting her fist down.” Ms. May was co-founder in 2005 of a group called “Women2Win,” to elect more women to Parliament and then nurture them, something that Mrs. Thatcher, the first woman to lead Britain, was often criticized for failing to do. In office, Ms. May has been rigorous, largely sticking to her brief, which she knew in depth, and not often consulting cabinet colleagues. One former minister, Kenneth Clarke, called her “a bloody difficult woman,” a description she embraced. She tends to work alone or with a small number of aides, like Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, and has a tendency to micromanage, a senior civil servant said, asking anonymity. After two failed attempts, she was elected to Parliament in 1997. In 2002, when chosen to chair the party, Ms. May gave a speech about the need to reach out to the less fortunate. “Our base is too narrow and so, occasionally, are our sympathies,” she said. “You know what some people call us? The nasty party. I know that’s unfair, you know that’s unfair, but it’s the people out there that we have to convince.” In 2014, she again earned attention for taking on the powerful police union, the Police Federation, limiting “stop and search” because of racial bias and imposing elected oversight commissions on the police. To a stunned conference of police, shesaid: “The federation was created by an act of Parliament and it can be reformed by an act of Parliament. If you do not change of your own accord we will impose change on you.” Among her most controversial acts was helping to push through a so-called “snooper’s charter,” giving the police and security services new powers in a world of digital communications and terrorism. After criticism that the measure impinged too much on civil liberties and individual rights, she agreed to some changes. Ms. May has been compared to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany – both daughters of Protestant clergymen, both with quiet, private husbands, both without children, both hardworking and rather distant. Ms. May clearly sees the similarities, including being underestimated by men. “If you look at somebody like Angela Merkel and think of what she’s actually achieved, you know, there are still people who don’t rate her, are a bit dismissive, perhaps because of the way she looks and dresses,” Ms. May said in a 2012 interview with the Daily Telegraph. “What matters is, what has she actually done? And, when you look at her abilities in terms of negotiation, and steering Germany through a difficult time, then hats off to her.” She has only rarely spoken publicly about her personal life, though it briefly became a campaign issue when one of her challengers, Angela Leadsom, seemed to suggest that she had a greater stake in Britain’s future because she has children and Ms. May does not. “You look at families all the time and you see there is something there that you don’t have,” Ms. May said in the 2012 interview with The Daily Telegraph, when asked about not having children. “You accept the hand life deals you.” Ms. May took the same attitude to her diagnosis of diabetes, for which she said she gave herself four injections a day. “Just get on and deal with it,” she said. She has made a calculated effort to show some inner life and spark by her choice of clothes, especially her kitten-heeled animal-print shoes, which the British press chronicles avidly. “You can be clever and like clothes,” she has said. “One of the challenges for women in politics is to be ourselves.” When asked on Desert Island Discs what single novel she wanted as a castaway, she answered, “Pride and Prejudice.” And her single luxury? “A lifetime subscription to Vogue.”

[dcnativegal]

Day 9 of a National Emergency

Day 11 of a Pandemic

It’s Day 9 of a National Emergency, as declared by President #45. (On March 21, 2020)

There are many creative memes floating around the interwebs: this might be my favorite:

“Kinda feeling like the earth just sent us all to our rooms to think about what we’ve done.”

Valerie and I are in the house in Paisley, with Griffey the poodle and Moe the cat. We have fabric and yarn for making masks to protect people, including us, from the novel coronavirus known as Covid19, which popped out of the animal kingdom to the bipedal mammalian one known as humanity, in Wuhan China, in December of 2019. The deaths from covid19 in Italy have surpassed the ones in China where many more people were infected.

“A staggering 793 people died TODAY alone in Italy from the Coronavirus. That makes it the single deadliest day for any nation in the entire pandemic.” (Shaun King, Instagram.)

Although the medical system in Italy is sophisticated, the people and public health system were too slow. And the average age is higher than average? Iran is also devastated, while the USA screws down tighter with sanctions. The countries that have dealt with the virus while ‘flattening the curve’? South Korea, Singapore, and finally, China.

There are no positive tests in Lake County because there are no tests. There are a few people reporting the symptoms of sore throat, fever, shortness of breath, and fatigue. Valerie’s friend, who is also Valerie’s second husband’s eighth wife, but who’s counting, had a sore throat and just didn’t feel well, and went walking with Valerie and Griffey on the desert road by the Paisley airport, to my consternation. Valerie is 72, and is hale and hearty most of the time, but has this little flaw: an autoimmune disorder that kicks her butt, or rather the myelin sheath of her nerves, following any immune battle. I wasn’t around to forbid it, so all I can do is point out that Valerie is at higher risk than the average 60+ year old.

I might be, too, given my general lack of aerobic fitness and, um, insulin dependent diabetes. Also, sleep apnea and hypertension.

The person I worry most about is Toni’s husband, Al, who has been smoking cigarettes for 50+ years and uses oxygen now. He had just resurrected community theater in Paisley and we were rehearsing when the ‘social distancing’ directive from Governor Brown came down. I am to play Cora, a busy body and gossip in a small New England town, foil to the proper but also gossiping member of the welcome committee, Reba. And we both apparently dislike Willa Mae, played by Valerie.

The play will happen at some point. But I refuse to memorize my lines until I know when we start up rehearsals again.

Covid 19 would take out Al in a New York minute.

Schools are closed, restaurants are ‘take out only’. No one is traveling, with the exception of my sister’s youngest child, 19 year old Makoto, who flew east from Japan, to Los Angeles, to Philadelphia, cutting short his adventure as a student abroad. He became fluent in Japanese, and posted daily on Instagram. Now he’s in quarantine at his father’s home, just to be safe.

I have had moments in the past two weeks where I had trouble feeling at all safe or grounded. Join the club, Miss Lincoln. I sat in a meeting in a large circle of mostly women who all have an interest in helping ‘senior citizens’: the Aging Services Collaborative. And for me, there was a large elephant in the room that had my attention the entire time called ‘Coronavirus.’ It was Thursday, March 12. We were meeting in the Lakeview Senior Center, and the director got rather defensive when someone asked if she had shut down the lunch program. She said there’s be a serious backlash if she shut it ‘too soon.’  No such thing as too soon in the pandemic: by the next day, the senior lunch program was shuttered.

I was cranky and agitated in that meeting, and the younger women, new to the Collaborative, probably though I was a menopausal bitch. I wonder if they look back now, a week later, and think me prescient. Maybe a prescient menopausal bitch. At one point I said something to the effect of, we can choose to be South Korea or Italy. Let’s be like South Korea.

I also still get really wound up when the conservative Trumpian assholes in this county pipe up on Facebook about how the whole thing is a fraud, a hoax, a tactic to get to “Marshall Law.” Omigod. Like this guy:

Snowflake waving wildly here. If I could address this man directly, I would say the following:

Except we are not paying for it equally. Poor people always have a harder time.

Someone pointed out that, when this is all over, it will not be the CEOs and billionaires who saved us, but the nurses and janitors and grocery store clerks. Also, the truckers, the doctors and family nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants.

I can’t retort to the delusion MAGA Lake county resident because we who work for Lake Health District are frequently scolded about posting anything in social media about Covid 19 because we ‘represent the hospital.’ Hmf, I’ve been muzzled. I try to read less of ‘Lakeview Announcements’ and more NYTimes. Still, I overhear bullshit at work. It’s not good for my blood pressure.

I am trying to figure out how to be useful at work, and I’m signed up to be a ‘greeter’ at the front entrance, and staff the ‘hotline’ which means I call folks who have symptoms to see how they’re doing, and wait for calls. The clinics are closed, the acute care is cleared out for the most part, the Operating Room where Hope works is ‘emergencies only.’ People drive up to a tent in front of the hospital and get their temperature taken. They’re asked, by a medical assistant who has a high school education and some extra training, whether they’ve been traveling, have a sore throat or any other symptoms. If they answer no to all and have no fever, they may be allowed to proceed to the emergency room, clinic, or to an appointment with the staff, like the head of corrections who came by on my greeter shift. He’s an enormous man, married to a pretty woman who holds at least 3 jobs in Lakeview including a part time Area Agency on Aging gig that’s directed by the Klamath group. Many non profit or governmental entities are based in Klamath and have a partial oversight in Lake County, the red-headed step child of Klamath County. This woman, and a south Asian man nicknamed “avatar’ by the BLM staff because they couldn’t remember “Arvinder”, and I were to start working on developing a “Village” volunteer effort in Lakeview. Then, the virus.

There are some volunteer activities spontaneously springing up in Lakeview; one facebook group is called Helping Hands of Lakeview. There are helpful things going on in Paisley through informal networks. I have one primary volunteer job: to pick up books at the Lakeview Library that sit in canvas bags labeled Paisley. And drop them off to Jan, who I think is the informal town mayor. She knows everyone, and everything, and reared her kids here.

I saw this on twitter: 

Most of the volunteer stuff seems to happen via Facebook, a group called Lakeview Announcements. That’s where a lot of political bickering also happens. Missing dogs. Reports of ‘tweakers’ thieving around. Well of course they’re stealing, when no one will hire them, when the US of A punishes what is actually an illness, not a crime. An illness born of childhood trauma. But I digress.

No more crochet/ knitting/ rug hooking at the cavernous Bowling Alley’s party room. No more church, either.

We watched the marvelous Presiding Bishop Curry preach on our computers last Sunday, and listened to gorgeous church music and sonorous prayers, online from the Washington National Cathedral, one of my favorite Episcopal places. We’ll see what’s streaming again tomorrow, Sunday morning.  

The knitting group is contemplating making face masks. So is Valerie. I’ve been looking at ‘the literature’ and there is one and only one study, in 2013, looking at the efficacy of homemade masks versus ‘respirators’ or ‘surgical masks.’ Of course, they are not as good but they are better than nothing. And corvid 19 seems to go straight for the throat. I’m thinking, those Safeway employees have been working really hard, and they are more at risk at the moment than health care workers at Lake Health District.

It’s a very strange time, full of opportunity for goodness and for greed. I’m glad my kids are safe, we are healthy so far, and I still receive a paycheck. We’ll see how this evolves.

"Nothing has prepared us for this moment. All we have is each other. Your safety is my safety. Protecting myself means protecting you, too. We are one race. Human race." - Jose Antonio Vargas

[kakasaku-shipper]

Natural Progression (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3

Kakashi sipped his sake quietly through his mask as he watched Tsunade chugged her 10th bottle of the night. He was really impressed - Tsunade should be the same age as his parents and she still managed to pull such a feat. And he knew for a fact that Tsunade must have gone wild yesterday, when alcohol was free for all. He wondered about how her liver was coping, but reminded himself that she was the best medic the shinobi world have ever seen, so that should be the least of anyone’s worry.

“So Hatake,” Tsunade began. “When can you start?”

“I believe that there are still things I should learn before taking over..”

“Bullshit,” Tsunade cut him while fixing him a glare.“ I know that you know all there were to know about being a Hokage. You’ve basically shadowed Minato throughout his whole stint, and you know all there were to know about the village’s secrets and innerworkings. You were the ANBU captain, and you are still deeply entrenched in their affairs. You’ve investigated Root to the core after Danzo’s death. Hell, you probably know more than I do about most of the shinobi in the active roster, and I knew you always read the file of whichever shinobi was assigned to be your partner,” she said with an accusing look. It was a hefty, very punishable offense to intrude on someone’s personal file without the Hokage’s order, but the fact that all the Hokages since Minato had allowed him that leeway meant something. Kakashi knew that Minato was lenient just because he was his student, and Hiruzen.. The old Hokage did try to groom him into a potential candidate, since both Jiraiya and Tsunade’s whereabouts were unknown, and the possibility of Danzo rising to power was just too terrifying and destabilising.

“I haven’t found everything there is to know about Root yet,” Kakashi replied quietly.

“Do you think there is a need to investigate before you take up the position?”

“Yes. I believe investigating it and uprooting the organisation now would be for the best. I have more flexibility, and if anything should happen, you can still cover up for me. It will look better on the Hokages track record..” Kakashi hummed with an innocent smile.

At his words, Tsunade snorted and put her sake bottle away. “Smartass, you sound more and more like your dad each day..”

“Ah..”

“Are you still affected by what happened?” Tsunade asked gently. Any trace of drunken stupor was gone as she stared at him intently.

“No.. Not really,” Kakashi said softly. After a deafening pause that seemed to go on forever, Kakashi cleared his voice and started again, “I had a talk with him.”

Tsunade was quiet. She had burning questions to ask, when? what happened? how? But she knew that he needed space. When he was ready to talk, he will. If he was willing to talk to her about this.

“During Pein’s attack, I died.” Kakashi spoke, as he reached for a bottle instead of his sake cup. He took a sip of the poisonous, flammable liquid. The burning sensation and the buzz was good. “In what seemed like the afterlife, I met Otou-san. We talked.”

Tsunade’s continued silence and complete attention prompted him to go on. “He apologised for what he did, for leaving me. And I.. I have forgiven him for a long time.” Kakashi took a big gulp. He needed more buzz. “I told him that, and also how proud I was at him. For doing what he did, for not abandoning a comrade,” Kakashi finished as he emptied the bottle he was holding.

“Your father was a good man,” Tsunade said. “He was stronger than me, and smarter than Orochimaru. He was a gentleman too, unlike Jiraiya,” Tsunade reminisced, her last sentence barely above a whisper.

“Ah..”

“Do you remember much about him?”

“I remembered him always being present in my life. Despite his missions, I felt that he was always.. there. I don’t know how he does it but he was a good father,” Kakashi mused as he swirled his now empty bottle. It felt nice, to finally being able to talk about his father. He had thought that with Jiraiya dead, there was no one else he could talk about him with.

“Gaki, if you buy me more sake, I may just share more stories about him,” Tsunade said teasingly. Her tone was playful, but Kakashi could see her softening features, something that almost never happened with the current Hokage.

“I’ll be looking forward to it then, Hokage-sama,” Kakashi said as he got up from his table. He left a few ryo bills before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

“Brat,” Tsunade muttered with a smile, as she opened and chugged another bottle. Kakashi was one of his most trusted soldiers, just after Shizune and Sakura. Seeing him having life returning to his eyes was a good thing. She did not know how he was like in his youth, but that sparkle that he had, that she had only seen when he was still a kid had been missing for a long, long time. She was glad that her friend’s son was finally getting back on track.

…

As Sakura’s double shift was ending, Kakashi decided to buy her some food. He knew that she will not be eating during her shift or between the shifts, as she was too busy and too in-demand to catch any breaks. After purchasing an assortment of tempuras; three pieces of fried ebi, two matsutake mushrooms, two pumpkins, a piece of carrot, lotus root and bamboo shoot each, and also what seemed to be a diabetes inducing syrupy dango, he headed towards the hospital. Just as he was walking out of the dango shop, a soft voice greeted him, “Good afternoon, Kakashi-sensei.”

“Hinata-chan,” Kakashi greeted. “A shift, or visiting Neji?”

“Both,” Hinata replied softly. “I’m currently filling in more shifts because Ino-chan still needed some time to herself.”

“Ah..” That explains why Sakura was so swamped at work. Ino was afterall, the second best medic in her generation after Sakura. “How is Neji?”

“Nii-san is stable. He hasn’t woken up yet but according to Tsunade-sama and Sakura-san, he should be waking up in a few days,” Hinata answered softly.

“You know Hinata-chan, Neji-kun will not be happy if he knows that you are still blaming yourself. He did protect you out of his own volition. It is not your fault,” Kakashi reminded.

“I know that, Kakashi-sensei. It’s just that.. if I was stronger, if I was more useful..”

“You were useful during the war, and you are strong. Besides, Neji-kun will be fine, wouldn’t he?” Kakashi asked as his eyes creased into his trademark smile.

“Thank you, Kakashi-sensei,” Hinata said gratefully. “Is that lunch for Sakura-san? I could take it to her..”

“Maa.. She probably needs to be dragged away from her work, and I think you’re too nice to scold her for working to hard..”

Hinata giggled at that. “She only listens to Tsunade-sama..”

“Or threats involving telling Tsunade that she has been overworking.”

Hinata laughed at his words. “Thank you, Kakashi-sensei.”

“You already thanked me, Hinata-chan,” Kakashi said bemusedly.

Hinata was glad that she had bumped into Kakashi. Despite never really talking to him much, she had known from observing others’ interactions with him that Kakashi seemed to always know what to say in any situations. She did feel so much better after Kakashi’s reassurance that Neji’s almost fatal injury was really not because of her incompetence. And it was also really nice to finally be able to laugh again.

After a few minutes of walking in a companionable silence, Hinata braved herself to ask the burning questions she had had since she had peeked into the contents of the take-out Kakashi was holding.

“Ano.. Sensei? Can I ask a question?”

“You’re asking it now aren’t you?” Kakashi asked teasingly, amusement clearly sparkling in his eyes.

“Ah.. ano..” Hinata blushed as she did not have a response. As she was silently berating herself for saying something so stupid, Kakashi’s chuckle broke her thoughts. As she saw his encouraging look, Hinata tried again, “How do you know that those are exactly what Sakura-san always gets?”

“The same reason you know her exact order. I don’t think she eats anything else,” Kakashi said conspiringly.

With a laugh, Hinata bowed at Kakashi as she turned into Neji’s ICU room while Kakashi continued his trek towards Sakura’s office.

“One minute!” Sakura bellowed at the knocks on her door. She was so swamped with work. It wasn’t until ten minutes ago that she had finally been able to sit down in her 16 hours shift. And now she had to organise her patients’ files after writing down as much details as she could remember. As for the things she had forgotten, she had scribbled little notes for the interns to follow up and ask the patients on the details she had missed…

“Your shift is over,” Kakashi’s reminded as he set her late lunch on her desk.

“I know.. It’s just that I still have these to be sorted. Details to write down, and organising the stack back alphabetically..” Sakura mumbled as she glanced at the food he brought. She could feel her stomach rumbling when she caught a whiff on the delicious smell of the food.

“Get the interns to organise it.”

“But we’re very understaffed right now, even the interns are busy..” Sakura pouted. She would usually gladly delegate such menial tasks, but there was no one to delegate to with the hospital overflowing with patients.

With a sigh, Kakashi slowly pushed himself off the door frame he was leaning on. “All you need is for that pile on the floor to be organised alphabetically, right?” Kakashi asked as he walked towards the mess of papers on the floor. Sakura had picked up Tsunade’s bad habit of laying important documents on the floor, disorganised, only for someone else to put them back on order. As Sakura’s head bobbed absentmindedly in response to his question, Kakashi sat on the floor and began to sort through the files.

“You don’t have to do that, sensei! I can do it once I’ve finished writing.. ” Sakura squeaked as she realised what he was doing. She was really glad for his help, but she felt really bad making Kakashi work on something he didn’t have to. Plus, he already bought her lunch..

“Don’t worry about it,” Kakashi said as his eyes creased. “While the medics are busy, ordinary shinobi have nothing better to do than to get drunk, get into brawls or read porn..” At Sakura’s stiffening posture and redness of her cheeks, Kakashi smirked as he counted to three, when Sakura finally fixed him with a glare that would be terrifying if not for how red her face was. “Would you like me to read Icha-Icha here instead?” Kakashi asked innocently.

Sakura huffed and get back to her work. “Organise the file,” Sakura told him briskly. Kakashi chuckled in response as he continued to stack the files in order.

“Thank you, Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura said gratefully as she handed the last file. Kakashi hummed in acknowledgement as he stood up, arms full of papers.

As Sakura reached for her stethoscope and looped it around her neck, Kakashi spoke, “What are you doing, Sakura?”

“I’m just going for one last round.”

“Go home,” Kakashi ordered as he placed the stack of papers on her desk and plucked the stethoscope from her.

“But..”

“No buts, go home.”

“Kakashi-sensei!”

“Go home or I’ll tell Tsunade.”

“You can’t do that!” Sakura complained indignantly. Tsunade will wring her neck and strap her into a bed on forced time off.

“I can, and I will if you don’t go home now.”

“But..”

“Hinata’s here. And I saw Shizune when I came up.” Kakashi said as he continued to stare down at her.

“Fine.” Sakura sighed as she took off her white coat and placed it around her chair. As she was reaching for the take-out Kakashi had gotten her, Sakura staggered, and a hand shot up to hold on to her elbow to steady her.

Go find Naruto on your way home.” Kakashi advised as he took a closer look on her face. While she looked perfectly fine on the surface, he saw her slightly dilated pupil and stiffness on her upper and lower eyelids, which caused her eyes to be open slightly wider than its normal size. “Get Naruto to transfer some chakra for you, and just how many hyorogans have you had?”

“I only had two,” Sakura answered in a petulant tone. At Kakashi’s unbelieving stare and a raise of eyebrow, Sakura sighed, “I didn’t count. Maybe I had five or six..”

"Why did you need so many? I thought you said that most patients were stable?"

"Two teams returned severely injured yesterday. A group of nuke-nin tried to incite a rebellion in one of Fire's border near Wave since they thought that Konoha would not even have enough intelligence personnel to know of their activities," Sakura said with a sigh. "So among other things, I had to put back a lot of innards into place."

"Hmm.. Were they poisoned too? Wave shinobi are famous for it," Kakashi cringed as he recalled their first mission in wave.  

At Sakura's nod, Kakashi sighed as he placed a hand on top of her head. No wonder she was exhausted. He knew that dealing with poisons were troublesome and very tiring. “Go find Naruto now. I won’t tell Tsunade this time, but the next time I caught you taking three times the recommended amount, I’ll haul you personally to her and watch as she wring your neck.”

Sakura gave him a wry look as she hoisted both the take out and her bag into her forearm. She nodded at his salute as he walked off to drop the files at the nurse station, while she dragged her feet towards the hospital exit. Kakashi was right, as he always was. She really needed the extra chakra she could get Naruto to give her.

…

A/N:

1. Neji’s death is the most ridiculous death in Naruto, because I don’t see the need and much of the impact, since it is not explored in the series. And since Neji is well loved, why not let him live in this fic? :)

2. I think poisons will take a lot of effort to deal with. Because you have to extract it from pretty much every cells in the body and it’s going to be a long and exhaustive process. That’s why antidotes are more effective. I’d assume that since the teams were brought in for emergency, Sakura would have to start on the extraction process while identifying the process and wait for someone to concoct the antidote.

[drilovskyclan]

SITS MC Bios And Faces

Aria Nunikiya

Faceclaim: Sora Amamiya

Literal angel okay

Like she never has a mean word to say about anyone

Thinks REVANCE are pains in the butt but loves them anyway

Originally from a tiny little village just outside Osaka

Grandparents raised her

Dad ran away from home when he was 17

Mom was a drug addicted prostitute (big time differant than a sex worker though) in Osaka

 Was left at the hospital after she was born

Homeschooled till she was 16 then forced to go to a boarding school in Tokyo

Biggest virgin to ever virgin

Addicted to showtunes

Can hold a note for almost a minute as long as it’s not too high

Deep voice when singing

Like Christina Aguilera deep

Met the Ena’s several times while growing up

Always has headphones on, like Taka

Sae Akimatra

Faceclaim: Deborah Ann Woll

The Dancer 

Has been dancing ballet since before she could walk

Third child of the wealthy Akimatra family

Older sisters Sari and Seiso

Younger brother (practically twins, only a month apart) Prestley

Younger sisters Seaka and Shae

All the siblings are half siblings

Father is the ultimate man-whore

Stepmom is evil

“Sometimes I forget my middle name, then I remember I don’t have one.”

Schizophrenia

Dated Ritsuto for 3.5 seconds to help their careers then decided that was stupid and stopped

As intelligent as a brick wall but also as tough as one

Is barely 5′ 2′’ but will fight you 

Mother is a Polish choreographer

Says Ritsuto “sold me to REVANCE like a damn dancing slave” even though she agrees to help them

The Boss in the dance studio

If Iori and her are in a room alone for more than 2 minutes they’ll either kill each other or kiss each other 

Voice is like Jordan Sparks

Manihu “Mani” Okiyaki

Faceclaim: Malia Bautista

Half Hawaiian Half Japanese

Grew up in Hawaii

Mom died when she was 5 from complications from diabetes

Ran away to Japan when she was 19

Wanted to be a screenwriter soooo bad

Over-protective father

Hates the name Manihu

Father says Mani sounds like he has a son

Never even touched a video game before she dated Kota

Didn’t know she could sing till she met REVANCE

Good at making friends

Had bulimia and anorexia in highschool

Hasn’t been in America since she left when she was 19

Hasn’t been to Hawaii since she left when she was 19

Is 26 in season 1

Always has a notebook on her and an iPod

Doesn’t understand how the “Mani looks like Mayu” argument works but would rather have Kota hugging her than Mayu

Thinks Mayu is creepy tbh

Queen of the emoji :P

Voice is like Taylor Swift

Winoki Romituna

Faceclaim: Emily Browning

Our sweet little broadway starlett

Long notes can give Aria a run for her money

A quarter French and three-quarters Japanese

Last name is pronounced Rome-eee-toon-ay

It’s French not really

Father is an abusive asshole

Like that son of a bitch is disgusting

Ran away as soon as she turned 18

Adores Barbara Streisand

Nose is slightly crooked from being broken so often

Just don’t piss her off

Bunny grows poisonous spikes if she’s mad lol

Voice is like Ellie Goulding

Aiko Natuka

Faceclaim: Satomi Ishihara

Absolutely gorgeous 

Sweetest thing in the world but still makes other girls jealous

Model

Besties with Akina 

Father is a member of diet and mother is the daughter of a retiered member of diet

Rich girl

Identical twin sister named Midori

Aiko is older

Younger brother named Rikito

Acts completely oblivious to the guys that watch her constantly

Actually completely aware of their presence

Went to New York for college

Grew up between Japan and Germany

Dated a creep in college who had a Asian fetish

Dumped his ass immediately

DON’T SCREW WITH AIKO

Amazing singer but hates singing around REVANCE

Voice sounds like Jamie Lynn Spears

Chia Nao-Fujisawa

Faceclaim: Chiaki Kuriyama

Lyricist of the year award

Kai’s little sister (yes yes I know)

Adopted

Grew up with Aiko in Germany

Went to college with Aiko in New York

Has Lupis

Likes dark clothing and highlights in her hair

If you see them walking down the street together, her and Ryo are complete opposites

Feels inferior to Aiko

Always has a notebook 

Brainstorms with Mani and Ryo all the time

Gets on really well with Takashi

Voice sounds like Kely Clarkson

Seaka Akimatra

Faceclaim: Rina Aizawa

Full Japanese, like her oldest sister Sari

Learned about clothing from her sister Seiso

Expected to be the innocent one

She kinda is but doesn’t really act like it

Smartest kid in the family, besides Sari

Constantly jealous of Sae and Seiso

Ignores the fact that Ritsy and Sae dated

Calls Sae and Shae “whity” when mad at them

Calls Prestley “Chinatown” when mad at him

Calls Seiso “Korea” when mad at her

Calls Sari “The Original” when mad at her due to the fact that they look so much alike

Tells people she isn’t related to Shae and Sae

Now owns up to being related to Sae not Shae

Sounds like Hilary Duff

Seiso Akimatra

Faceclaim: Jung So Min

Half Korean half Japanese

The responsible sister

Secretly bullies Prestley

Argues with Shae on a daily basis

Only child her stepmom can sorta stand

Slept with  girl once while drunk in college

Very unclear about being bi or not

Went goth for a month when she was 14

Had a pregnancy scare at 15

Swore off boys till she was 28

Voice sounds like Katy Perry

[automaticpostinfluencer]

‘Off The Charts’: Coronavirus Hot Spots Grow In Midwest

DETROIT (AP) — The coronavirus continued its unrelenting spread across the United States with fatalities doubling in two days and authorities saying Saturday that an infant who tested positive had died. It pummeled big cities like New York, Detroit, New Orleans and Chicago, and made its way, too, into rural America as hotspots erupted in small Midwestern towns and Rocky Mountain ski havens.

Elsewhere, Russia announced a full border closure while in parts of Africa, pandemic prevention measures took a violent turn, with Kenyan police firing tear gas and officers elsewhere seen on video hitting people with batons.

Worldwide infections surpassed the 660,000 mark with more than 30,000 deaths as new cases also stacked up quickly in Europe, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world in reported cases with more than 120,000. Confirmed deaths surpassed 2,000 on Saturday, twice the number just two days before, highlighting how quickly infections are escalating. Still, five countries have higher death tolls: Italy, Spain, China, Iran and France. Italy has more than 10,000 deaths, the most of any country.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Saturday that an infant with COVID-19 died in Chicago and the cause of death is under investigation. Officials didn’t release other information, including whether the child had other health issues.

“If you haven’t been paying attention, maybe this is your wake-up call,” said Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike.

New York remained the worst-hit U.S. city. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said defeating the virus will take “weeks and weeks and weeks.” The U.N. donated 250,000 face masks to the city, and Cuomo delayed the state’s presidential primary from April 28 to June 23.

As President Donald Trump made his way to Norfolk, Virginia, to see off a U.S. Navy medical ship sent to New York City to help, he suggested imposing some kind of quarantine for New York and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, all hit hard by the coronavirus. But he later tweeted that he intended to issue a “strong travel advisory” instead.

It wasn’t entirely clear whether he had the power to impose such a quarantine for the three states, and the idea was met with confusion and anger from their governors. Cuomo said on CNN that it would be illegal, economically catastrophic and unproductive since other areas are already seeing a surge.

Still, some states without known widespread infections began to try to limit exposure from visitors from harder-hit areas.

Rhode Island National Guard troops were instructed to go door to door in coastal communities to find New Yorkers and advise them about a mandatory 14-day quarantine for people from the state.

And in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered anyone arriving from Louisiana to self-quarantine and said law enforcement officers would set up checkpoints to screen cars from the state.

Louisiana has surpassed 3,300 infections with 137 dead from COVID-19, according to the health department. Gov. John Bel Edwards said the region was on track to run out of ventilators by the first week of April.

Cases also have been rising rapidly in Detroit, where poverty and poor health have been problems for years. The number of infections surged to 1,381, with 31 deaths, as of noon Saturday. The city’s homeless population is especially vulnerable, officials said.

“At this time, the trajectory of Detroit is unfortunately even more steep than that of New York,” said Dr. Teena Chopra, the medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at the Detroit Medical Center.

“This is off the charts,” she said.

Chopra said many patients have ailments like asthma, heart disease, diabetes and hypertension. She also acknowledged that in Detroit, one of the nation’s largest African American cities, there is a distrust among some in the community of the medical system and government due to systemic racism.

“In Detroit, we are seeing a lot of patients that are presenting to us with severe disease, rather than minor disease,” said Chopra, who worried about a “tsunami” of patients.

Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Michigan, providing money for the outbreak. He has done the same for New York, Louisiana and Illinois.

Cases in Chicago and suburban Cook County accounted for about three-fourths of Illinois’ 3,026 total as of Friday. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot closed popular lakeshore parks after people failed to practice social distancing, despite a statewide shelter-at-home order.

The governor of Kansas also issued a stay-at-home order to begin Monday, as the virus takes hold in more rural areas where doctors worry about the lack of ICU beds.

A cluster of three counties in rural Indiana have surging rates of confirmed cases. One of them, Decatur, population 26,000, has 30 cases with one confirmed death and another suspected, said Sean Durbin, the county’s public health emergency preparedness coordinator. Several cases were traced to large gatherings earlier in the month, including a religious retreat and a high school basketball tournament.

The disease threatens to be devastating for close-knit communities where everyone knows everyone, Durbin said, adding that he was a friend of the person believed to have died from the virus as well as others currently in critical condition.

The county health department has already run out of personal protective equipment, Durbin said. The last supply from the federal stockpile arrived more than a week ago and contained just 77 N95 masks and two dozen face shields.

“I wish there was a stronger word for disappointed,” he said. “I’m calling on them to do better.”

Blaine County, Idaho, a scenic ski haven for wealthy tourists, now has around 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the highest rate per capita outside the New York area. Two people have died.

The virus continues to strain health systems in Italy, Spain and France. Lockdowns of varying degrees have been introduced across Europe, nearly emptying streets in normally bustling cities.

Germany has fewer deaths than some neighboring countries but has closed nonessential shops and banned public gatherings of more than two people until April 20. It still had its share of grim news: 12 residents of a nursing home in the northern town of Wolfsburg have died since Monday after being infected, news agency dpa reported.

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte announced he had signed a decree freeing up 400 million euros ($440 million) for coupons and packages of food aid, to be delivered door-to-door if necessary.

“People are suffering psychologically. They’re not used to staying in their homes. But they are also suffering economically,” Conte said. Italy has almost completed a three-week lockdown, with no end in sight.

In Spain, where stay-at-home restrictions have been in place for nearly two weeks, the death toll rose to 5,812.

Another 8,000 confirmed infections pushed that count above 72,000 cases. But Spain’s director of emergencies, Fernando Simón, saw hope in that the rate of infection is slowing and figures “indicate that the outbreak is stabilizing and may be reaching its peak in some areas.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for a more vigorous response from the European Union. Spain, Italy, France and six other members have asked the union to share the burden of European debt, dubbed “coronabonds” in the media, to help fight the virus. But the idea has met resistance from other members, led by Germany and the Netherlands.

“It is the most difficult moment for the EU since its foundation and it has to be ready to rise to the challenge,” Sánchez said.

As the epicenter has shifted westward, the situation has calmed in China, where some restrictions have been lifted. Some subway service was restored in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December, after the city of 11 million had its virus risk evaluation reduced from high to medium.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and lead to death.

More than 135,000 people have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins.

Countries are still trying to bring home citizens stranded abroad. On Saturday, 174 foreign tourists and four Nepali nationals in the foothills of Mount Everest were flown out days after being stranded at the only airstrip serving the world’s highest mountain.

Indian authorities sent buses to the outskirts of New Delhi to meet an exodus of migrant workers desperately trying to reach their home villages amid the world’s largest lockdown, which effectively put millions out of work.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin ordered his country’s borders fully closed as of Monday, exempting diplomats as well as residents of the exclave of the Kaliningrad region.

Irvine reported from Chicago. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed.

Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://ift.tt/2ueWXx8 and https://ift.tt/2wrCaXK

A HuffPost Guide To Coronavirus

Calling all HuffPost superfans!

Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost’s next chapter

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[newssplashy]

Zik prevailed on my brother to allow me marry a Yoruba man –Ajayi-Obe

Ninety-year-old Mrs. Phoebe Ajayi-Obe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, shares the story of her life with OLUFEMI ATOYEBI

Which schools did you attend?

I attended St. Monica Girls School, Ogbunike, near Onitsha, Anambra State, and Women Training College, Umuahia, Abia State. I later attended the Obafemi Awolowo University, which was then called the University of Ife, after I got married. The school was in Ibadan then but it was moved to Ile-Ife soon after I got the admission. I was the first female graduate from the Faculty of Law in the school. There was another woman who graduated same day with me but my name was called before her.

My fifth son was born while I was in the Law School in Lagos. I thank God that my husband supported me. He bought a Volkswagen Beetle for me and it eased my movement. Each time I had family commitment in Onitsha, I would drive there from Ibadan with my sister. I preferred driving such long distance at night. The road was safe and the weather was cool; so, driving was pleasant. I did that regularly.

My father was a parishioner. He established churches and watched them grow. He would not baptise anyone that could not read the Bible. That showed he valued education. In his churches, illiterates were educated and taught the moral expectations of a Christian. That enabled my parents to raise God-fearing children.

Why didn’t you complete your education before you got married?

My education did not follow a straight pattern. I trained as a teacher and while I was teaching, the then Eastern Region gave many women scholarships to study the teaching of Home Economics in England. We were 15 in my set. After completing the study, my late brother encouraged me to do my Advanced Level for one more year before I returned to Nigeria to take up a teaching job.

Your husband was a Yoruba man and you grew up in the East. How did you meet him?

While I was studying in England, he was also there studying medicine. We met in Edinburgh where we both studied. When we arrived in Edinburgh, the African students held a reception for us. That was where he showed interest in me. I was not interested anyway; but later, I developed interest because of who he was.

Was there any objection from your parents at home?

My parents had died but my brother, who sponsored my further stay in England, disagreed with the union. He sent someone to see if I was broke or if the cold was too much for me because he could not understand why marriage to a Yoruba man suddenly became my interest. The two people he sent gave him good report about my husband but he was adamant.

What about your husband’s family?

My husband tricked me to dress well for an outing but on the way, he stopped at a photographer’s shop and said I was too beautiful, so I must take a photograph. That was the picture he sent to his father and the father approved of me. But he told his father that my family did not agree. My father-in-law was a senator on the platform of the defunct National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon.

He contacted one of the chieftains of the party, Michael Okpara, who also called the party founder, Nnamdi Azikiwe. They invited my brother and told him that my would-be husband was a good man because his father (my father-in-law) was also a good man. We got married in Edinburgh immediately. He told me after we returned home that he decided to marry me in England because he wanted to avoid a situation where several Igbo doctors, accountants and so on would line up asking for my hand in marriage.

Where did you work when you returned to Nigeria?

I got a teaching job with the then Western Region. My husband was also employed by the government of the region.  When he was in Osogbo, Osun State, I was teaching in Queen’s School, Ede. From there, he was transferred to Oyo and later Abeokuta. But the Western Region refused to transfer me to where my husband was transferred. When he was transferred to Warri, I had three children. I thought that there was no way I would train the children alone without their father beside them. I opted to resign from my job and follow my husband to Warri. Since then, I lost interest in teaching and decided to read law.

As a female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, what responsibility does this place on you?

I did not have the ambition of becoming a SAN. I had a habit of sitting by my husband whenever we went to a party. One day, we were at a party with the late Justice Kayode Eso and others. Someone suddenly asked why Eso had not given me SAN title because I was better than those who got it. Eso said I did not apply for it. He told Chief Olowofoyeku to tutor me on the process. I was qualified after my cases were reviewed and I got it. But it is not a burden in any way. I accepted it as a product of my commitment to my work.

Are you satisfied with how SAN is awarded today?

I am not part of those who screen people for SAN but I notice that it is easier to get SAN today. I understand that a lawyer from Ibadan went to Abuja and lobbied to get SAN and he got it. I can say it is no longer on merit but that is not saying that some do not merit it.  From the performance of some of our SANs, you will doubt their qualifications.

Can you mention some of the celebrated cases you handled?

After the civil war, the Igbo, who left Ibadan, came back to find out that their houses had been taken over by some people. I felt that they should be protected. Some of them were arraigned in a customary court charged for wandering. I represented them in the court. They told me that because they had no where to stay, they were sleeping in front of Kingsway Store at night when they were arrested. The charge sheet read that they were arrested because they were people of questionable character.

In court, I asked the prosecutor the fact of the case. He said the investigating police officer found them in front of Kingsway sleeping. I then told the magistrate how it was possible for someone to be sleeping and still wander at the same time. He dismissed the case. Journalists were there and they captured the pictures of the freed persons; many running away from the court. The second day, the story was celebrated in major newspapers.

I also remember winning a case for some traders whose shops were demolished by the Africa Continental Bank and the United Bank for Africa because they felt the shops were too close to their offices in Dugbe. The fact was that the traders had permits from the local government. The court awarded damages against the bank. It was also a celebrated case in the media.

How would you compare the law profession in your days and now?

The legal system has not changed but the practice has changed. When I was in practice, you would be sure of favourable judgment if you had a good case. It was a joy to get ready for court because you were sure of getting justice.

Were there cases you lost but which you considered unfair based on the ruling?

Because the judges could make mistake, there is Appeal Court. Once I am suspicious that the judge could be too lazy to cite relevant authorities on my case, I would be prepared for an appeal even when he had not made the ruling.

Do you have children who are lawyers?

One of them is a lawyer practising in the US. When she got there, she had to be retrained for her to be called to the American bar. That was not possible until two years ago when the system was reviewed to absorb those who studied law outside the US. My daughter is a professor in law with chambers in Georgia, US.

At 90, what is the secret of your good eyesight and sharp memory?

It is God’s grace because I should not be alive today considering what happened to me in the past. After a walk with some of my friends, I was on my way home when a car hit me. I was taken to the University College Hospital, Ibadan. I was sent to an orthopaedic surgeon and I was told that I had a torn in my shoulder.

I was in a great pain. I could not lift my hands. Surgery was recommended but my children took me to the US and exercise was used to correct it. I recovered from it by the grace of God without surgery. I had a stroke in 1999. My children came and took me to the US for treatment. I was nursed back to normal life. It is God’s plan in my life to still be alive.

What is your favourite food?

Because of old age, I take a lot of fruit, eggs and so on but I must not take too much of carbohydrate.  Although you may not notice it in me, I am diabetic. I obey the dos and don’ts as directed by my doctors.

How difficult was it for you to learn Yoruba?

My mother-in-law lived with us for 25 years. He saw our children grow up. She did not speak a word of English; so, the responsibility was on me to quickly understand Yoruba so that I could communicate with her and I did.

What differences did you notice in Nigeria now compared to your youthful days?

My youthful days were quite different from what is happening today. When I was growing up in Okija, Anambra State, women displayed their goods beside the road and buyers bought and put the money beside the goods even when the sellers were not there.

The owner would come intermittently to collect the money until the goods were sold out. You cannot do that today. If you do it, someone will steal everything and run away. In those days, people did not just leave the village and come back after a year with much wealth. People would ask questions about your wealth and tell you not to bring evil omen on the village. Today, people celebrate people who make wealth through evil means and give then chieftaincy titles they do not deserve.

If young people misbehave in those days, you didn’t have to wait for their parents to discipline them. Any elder can discipline a child who misbehaved and the children knew it. Today, we do not care anymore for other people’s children because we don’t want the parents to abuse us for disciplining their children.

In those days, young people listened to the advice of older people, but today, young people don’t take advice from older people. There is a huge moral deficit today.

What do you think is responsible for this moral rot? 

Today, young people want to get rich overnight. All that they care for is money. In the past, people who got rich overnight were questioned and efforts were made to know the source of such money.

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[stephaniefchase]

Bajan Newscap 3/19/2017

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is your daily news cap for Sunday 19th March 2017. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Today (BT), or by purchasing a Sunday Sun Newspaper (SS).

CIVIL SERVICE UNEASE - Government has revised the qualification requirements for the civil service at all levels, creating uncertainty among officers who do not meet them.  The Public Service (Qualifications) Order 2016, which was published last December, has implemented changes to the educational requirements for senior public officers as well as those at the bottom of the scale, such as cleaners, drivers, security guards and traffic wardens. For example, the holders of some top jobs will now require a postgraduate degree, rather than a minimum undergraduate degree as under the previous order. An official in the public service said it was only the third time since Independence that there had been a major revision of qualifications. The others were in 1976 and 2001. (SS)

UNEARNED PAY A CONCERN – IN ONE STATUTORY corporation alone, Government is paying almost 80 workers for jobs they cannot perform while also battling cases where employees are on sick leave for as many as 300 days in a year.  But this could be just the tip of the iceberg in the public service and state-owned corporations. The matter came to light on Friday night during debate in the House of Assembly on a $9.2 million supplementary for the Ministry of the Environment as the amount assigned in the 2016/2017 Estimates fell short. Minister of the Environment Dr Denis Lowe revealed that $6 million was going to pay wages and salaries for Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) employees for the period January to March 2017, as well as pay down on money owed to the National Insurance Scheme. An additional $3.1 million is going for a similar purpose to the National Conservation Commission (NCC). (SS)

EX-GOVERNORS NEXT MOVE – Dr. Delisle Worrell won’t be going to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) after all. The sacked governor of the Central Bank of Barbados is, however, still intent on waging a battle with the Government through a substantive case in the High Court that claims he was unlawfully dismissed by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler on February 24. Attorney at law for Worrell, Gregory Nicholls, told the SUNDAY SUN that the timeline within which he could have filed the matter with the CCJ had passed, and he would instead be going ahead with the High Court challenge. That matter, set to be heard on May 17, names the former governor as the claimant and Sinckler as the lone defendant, and seeks costs and monetary damages equivalent to Worrell’s pecuniary losses occasioned by the minister’s actions when he demanded Worrell resign from his position, or be fired. (SS)

POSITIVE TURN IN UWI NUMBERS – Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler believes the enrollment numbers at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus are beginning to “stabilize”. In fact, Sinckler said Government is on course to realize its prediction that the number of students entering the institution would start to return to previous figures within a four-year period. Effective academic year 2014/2015 students were asked to pay a portion of their tuition fees and officials of the learning institution have since reported a decline in student enrollment a result of the new policy. Principal Eudine Barriteau reported at the end of August 2015 that the enrollment for that year plummeted to about 4,772, down from the 6,936 students when the policy was first introduced in 2014, and 8,711 in 2013. Speaking in Parliament Friday, as the Estimates debate shifted to the education sector, Sinckler admitted that the decision to ask students to pay was a “painful” one. However, he said it was better than limiting the number of students for whom the Government would foot the entire bill, adding that Government took the decision after “wrestling with all the ideas” of how to address the high costs it was faced with. “Yes, some people have fallen through and we have to find a way to get more of them back in. I believe the numbers are beginning to stabilize and you are beginning to see them now come back up a little bit. We expected that it would take about four [or] five years for that to settle down and I think we are on a trajectory where we can improve that,” Sinckler said. “This is not a callous, wild, indifferent or insensitive decision by the Democratic Labour Party. I believe the decision we took to ask students to pay a little bit for their tuition eventually will show, many decades from now, to have been the correct decision in saving an overall system of tertiary education at university level and has allowed us to buy some time to do some more engineering as is required to ensure we get the right [number] of graduates out in the right areas that we desire at the right levels that are required,” he added. Sinckler said it would also give Government time to continue with “specific development of education for all”. (BT)

GROUP DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM DEPUTY SPEAKER - The Gender Affairs Committee of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) is demanding an apology from the Deputy Speaker of the House, Mara Thompson, after the Member of Parliament for St John attacked the “childless” status of two female Opposition members of the House. In a statement today, the Committee said Thompson grossly disrespected the two female parliamentarians with her “discriminatory remarks”. “These remarks must and should not go unnoticed, as you are seen by the public to be not only a mother yourself but a representative for all women of this country at a leadership level. These comments are disrespectful not only to women who have no children but also to the women who have played the role of mother to children that were not their own,” the statement said. “No matter the circumstances, it is the individual right of any woman if she so desires, to bear a child or not, and to refer to any woman as a “childless mother” whether she be a Parliamentarian or not, Madam Deputy Speaker is distasteful and hurtful and your derogatory selfless remarks demand an apology.” The Committee said to hear and witness such shameless behaviour displayed by a female sitting MP and Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly is totally unacceptable, especially coming on the heels of International Women’s Day Celebrations which encouraged all women to “Be Bold For Change” and also when women are already under pressure from society to prove their worth at leadership levels. “We demand an apology not only for the women across the political divide that you have disrespected but to all women in Barbados that you have offended with such callous irresponsible comments,” the Committee said. (BT)

ROCK HALL BURSTING WITH SQUATTERS – Land is being sold and leased and houses rented at the ever expanding squatters’ village at Rock Hall in St Philip. The last remaining acres of the former dump site, which is not far from Grantley Adams International Airport, was cleared about two years ago but more squatters have since moved in and built illegal structures on every remaining square foot. SUNDAY SUN investigations revealed that one occupier sold her selected spot in frustration after thieves made off with $10 000 worth of building materials she had bought. Others have built houses and are renting them for between $50 and $75 a week to people desperate for housing. The majority of residents in the newest subsection are said to be non-nationals, some of who have brought in their friends and families from Jamaica, St Vincent and Guyana. (SS)

ROAD SAFETY ASSOCIATION: FIX THOSE LIGHTS – Some highways across Barbados are still pitch black at night.  Road safety officials have already noticed a marked increase in vehicular accidents for 2017, including a record number of fatalities in the first three months of the year. And on three of the country’s main highways, darkness still abounds. President of the Road Safety Association, Sharmane Roland-Bowen, is upset that so many areas remain dark, and she is hoping no more lives are lost due to a lack of visibility on the country’s most used highways. She is also pleading with Government to fast-track the repairs of lights, especially along the troublesome ABC Highway. (SS)

FISHERMEN SAY WATER POLLUTION KILLING MARINE LIFE – Proposals to establish protected marine zones which would form a Barbados Marine Management Area (BMMA) along Barbados’ west coast are leaving a bad taste in the mouths of fishermen.  Members of the fisher folk community were involved in a heated meeting with officials from the Coastal Zone Management Unit (CZMU) last week, the second in as many weeks in which officials sought to explain details of the proposed BMMA. The special zones would see two areas along Barbados’ west coast come under special protection, and prevent fishing or entertainment activity in a further attempt to protect the west coast’s fragile coral reefs. One management area would stretch from the mouth of the area near the Bridgetown Port southward to Accra Beach, Christ Church, and the other from Paynes Bay, northward to Weston, St James, inclusive of the Folkestone Park and Reserve Marine Reserve. (SS)

BARBADIANS URGED TO SCREEN FOR GLAUCOMA – Residents are being urged to get screened for glaucoma, a disease which can cause blindness if left untreated. “Unlike in other countries, where the risk is less and people say check when you are over 40 or check when you are 65, in Barbados, anyone 21 and over should have a check for glaucoma,” Dr Dawn Grosvenor told Barbados TODAY. She said that “the silent killer of sight” was equivalent to non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. “People get into trouble with glaucoma and lose their vision from it if it is not treated adequately or if it is not picked up early enough. This is something you should be checking, not just high blood pressure and diabetes . . . but also glaucoma because that has a very high prevalence here in Barbados and the Caribbean,” Dr Grosvenor, the sole glaucoma specialist on the island, said at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Glaucoma Testing Day held this morning. She explained that as a hereditary disease, those with a family history were likely to get glaucoma earlier; and she advised individuals experiencing blurry vision to get tested. “Family history is so important. If a parent has glaucoma and their child is going to develop it, usually that child will develop it 10 years earlier than the parent,” Dr Grosvenor said. “It is really imperative that people come in to get checked before they notice something is wrong with their vision,” she said. (BT)

PRIDE OF PLACE – Barbados Pride have put themselves in an excellent position to press for a second successive victory in the Digicel Regional 4-Day Tournament. They outplayed Windward Islands Volcanoes on the second day of their seventh round match at Kensington and look likely to complete a win inside three days. Responding to the visitors’ 293, Barbados, resuming on 22 without loss, made 324. By the close, Windwards were reeling on 34 for five in their second innings and staring defeat in the face. Barbados Pride captain Kevin Stoute hit the topscore of 61 in an innings in which seven other batsman crossed 20. (SS)

That’s all for today folks. There are 288 days left in the year Shalom! #thechasefiles #dailynewscaps Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for your daily news. #bajannewscaps #newscapsbystephaniefchase