#i was given no explanation for my termination other than “business decision”

[molassified-minipak]

febuwhump is on hold. got a job, worked two weeks, lost the job. thrilled to exist in this postcapitalist era. lmk if anyone's down to start a commune or smth.

[palmtreepalmtree]

Alright, this one is long overdue for an anonymous friend who really wanted me to review The Healer.  So after a short pause, here is another edition of

The Worst Movie on Netflix Right Now™

Heavy sigh.

Alright.  Let’s talk about this one.  

First off, I have to do some pretty serious content warnings, cause I know some people have been receiving some bad news recently and this review goes someplace you might not expect so, I love you guys, but please be aware that this review deals with: cancer, terminal illness, kids with cancer.  

Now back to the bullshit.

This is basically a movie about a fucking dumbass dude who has trouble making obvious decisions.  

SPOILERS AHEAD (are you new here?)

The main character Alec Bailey, begins the film as a total fuckwit.  He lives in England (somewhere about) and owns a failing electronic handyman business that he calls “The Healer” (in the most pathetic stretch of narrative bullshit, but okay) and is in deep gambling debts to the Russian mob. 

As our story begins, Alec discovers that he has a long lost rich uncle who makes him an offer: the uncle will pay off Alec’s debts if he agrees to live in Nova Scotia for a year.  The uncle will make all the arrangements: plane ticket, work visa, place to live, etc.  All Alec has to do is stay in Nova Scotia for a year.

OH NO!  WHATEVER SHALL I DO?!?  WHAT AM I GOING TO DO IN REMOTE NOVA SCOTIA FOR A YEAR AFTER ALL MY FINANCIAL CONCERNS ARE TAKEN CARE OF?  

HOWEVER WILL I SURVIVE IN SUCH A HORRIBLE PLACE?11?!?

I BETTER THINK IT OVER.

*eyeroll*

He finally makes his decision after getting chased by mobsters trying to collect on his debts.  ...like I said.  He’s a fuckwit.

So he moves into this beautiful house in Nova Scotia.  There’s no internet, which is a legit bummer, but his uncle has arranged a car for him to get to town.  Seems like a pretty good gig.  Even if it is going to be brutally cold come the winter months.  

Well as soon as Alec arrives in town, everyone seems to know and be expecting him.  He puts an ad out for his mechanical engineering services, again, under the name “The Healer.”  Well........... that goes awry in ways you would expect.  Suddenly, people start showing up requesting his physical healing services.

The thing is, the people from town seem to expect him to actually be a healer.  They keep referring to a secret and to him being “the chosen one.”  There’s no explanation for this.

Then there’s like... this whole weird interlude where Alec seems to kill the town priest, played by Jorge Ramirez (can someone please find this dude a good acting gig? my dude has decent comedic timing, he’s better than this shit). And Alec gets arrested.  Even though the priest got up and walked away.  All of this seems like a weird spinning of wheels before the actual plot.  Like why is this happening.  Why?  

Eventualllllllly......... his uncle shows back up and fesses up (in the most elaborate way possible).  People in his family have a gift.  Every other generation, someone is chosen.  And they have the gift of healing.  Based solely on being near to someone who is destined to be saved.

The gift can only be activated around their 30th birthday (if this sounds unnecessarily elaborate, that’s because it is -- and I’m even cutting shit out like the secret basement and portraits on the wall, blahblahblah).  The day after the birthday, the chosen one must decide.  They can choose to accept or decline the gift of healing.  Alec is given until midnight that night to make his decision.  WILL HE BE THE CHOSEN ONE?  WILL HE BE THE HEALER?!?!1?1

I mentioned that Alec is a fuckwit right?  

*Hagrid voice* YOU’RE A FUCKWIT, ALEC!

*squints*

Annnnnnyhow.  Alec goes to the town church where everyone is gathered at midnight (with thank you signs and a big round of applause) and he dashes their hopes.  HE WILL NOT BE THE HEALER, NO!  Even though it comes with no readily apparent downsides or costs.  And he’d be able to relieve the suffering of others with no cost to himself.  No, fuck it.  He’s going to go home.

The town takes it pretty well, all things considered.  The few people who had already been healed by being near him make speeches of gratitude.  They all wish him a happy birthday and tell him he’s welcome to stay.  Like these people are insanely understanding about him declining the gift of healing.  INSANE.

It’s worth noting that we’re about halfway through the movie at this point and we haven’t met one of the main characters of the movie.  

IN COMES ABIGAIL.  Cancer kid extraordinaire.  She is 14 years old.  Her parents have driven 7 hours to see Alec.  Their daughter is dying of terminal cancer, and all they want is for Alec to spend some time with her and give it a shot.  But she’s a pretty self-possessed kid.  She convinces the reluctant Alec to just hangout with her for the weekend to buck up her parents and give her parents some hope.  She doesn’t believe in the healing, so no harm, no foul.

And finally we’ve hit the meat of our story.  Will Alec be able to save Abigail now that he’s declined the gift?  Will he regret it?  WHY DID HE DECLINE THE GIFT!?1?

SPOILERS (really can’t discuss this movie without them)

It turns out, Alec had a brother who died of cancer.  And they were incredibly close.  In Alec’s words, “he was my everything.”  But now he deeply regrets giving up the gift.  Now he’s worried he can’t save Abigail.

You know what, man?  Same.

SO WHY THE FUCK DID YOU TURN DOWN THE GIFT!??!?

Listen.  Listen, listen.  I don’t know a single person who has been touched by cancer who wouldn’t jump at the chance to have a healing gift.  I mean, what the fuck.  Death sucks.  Losing someone you love from any kind of illness sucks.  Especially when it feels even remotely too soon.  And cancer is a particular type of FUCKING BULLSHIT.  It sucks.  

So it’s really fucking hard to understand why this FUCKWIT turns down the gift to begin with.  Death and suffering is not abstract for him when this movie starts!  So why we should feel sorry for his resulting anxiety, now that he has met someone who is directly negatively affected by his fucking BAD DECISION.

Anyhow, the rest of the movie is basically an exercise in how charming Abigail is and how much fun we can have with her before she goes off to die. Which like......... OH-FUCKING-KAY!

It should go without saying that this movie has a happy ending.  The music swells where it should.  The romance is consummated.  Abigail is healed.  All is going to be well with the world.

As a movie, this one has some weird fucking choices.  First, all of the music cues in this movie are just wrong.  “Faith” by George Michael is not a song about believing in something --- unless that something is having sex with someone who hurt you before.  And the lighting in this film is so beautiful all the time, it looks like you’re in a fucking ciallis commercial, even when you’re in the freaking police station, wtf?  

And last, the writing is just weird in places.  Like why have the love interest lie about being a lesbian through 90% of the film?  Why?  It’s not a good joke!  And  It is COMPLETELY fucking baffling to me why the good news of this story is delivered off-screen instead of on-screen.  If Abigail is going to be okay, why couldn’t she come back to Nova Scotia to tell him?  Why couldn’t she deliver that news in person!?  That’s just bad writing.  What the fuck is that?

But whatever.  

On the credit side, I think Oliver Jackson Cohen knows what he’s doing as an actor.  He’s not Oscar-worthy yet, but I believed him.  When he talks about his brother, I felt that.  And that could not have been easy in such a fucking weird script.

But as much as I’d like to end this review right here, there’s more.  Cause...

..........that’s not where the movie ends.  Not entirely.

As the end music plays, the movie is dedicated to Paul Newman who established summer camps for seriously ill kids.  And then we see images and videos of the kids all over the world enjoying activities at these camps.  

And that’s where this critique stops.  Sorta.  Paul Newman was a legitimately good person.  And his legacy of caring for sick kids carries on to this day, as was evident from all the footage.

But here’s the thing: healing as it’s depicted in this movie does not exist.  But easing the suffering of others does.  I wish this movie had been about that.  I wish it had been less focused on miracles and weird family legacies and selfish fuckwits and more about the kind of healing that Paul practiced.  But I guess that movie isn’t as fun, and it isn’t as hopeful and uplifting.

In the non-movie version of this story, Abigail Bryant died in 2014 at the age of 20.  Her obituary still appears online.  And it is still receiving comments and photos from cancer survivors and fighters, many of them who found her through the film.  And they talk about how the movie touched them.

On that level, it doesn’t matter what I say here.  It doesn’t matter that there are weird parts of this script or that healing like this is a fantasy.  This movie does its job.  It touches people.  And if it inspires just a few more people to give money to help relieve suffering, then that’s all that matters.

Ronald McDonald House Charities Cancer Research Institute Hole in the Wall Gang (Paul Newman’s org) Serious Fun Children’s Network (established by Paul Newman)

[p4nkow]

Happier - part IX

Here we are! Technically it’s the last part of this fic but practically there still is the epilogue yet! It’ll be my chance to leave to y’all my thank-you-notes and tell you how grateful I am :)

So, enjoy the reading and let me know what you think of it! 

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII

Summary: you work as an assistant at EMI and you meet Roger while organising Queen’s gig at Hyde Park. lots of fluff but then, after months of relationship, Roger admits something that breaks your heart and the two of you break up. You try to move on and so does he, but after two months of being apart you meet at a pub and you both have a date. What will happen? But most importantly, will you and Roger fall in love again after being forced to see each other everyday?

You were so nervous during the ride that you just couldn’t stay still. That’s probably why you gained a few confused looks by your uber.

“You okay, miss?” The old lady seemed worried so you fake a little smile and just nodded.

“Yeah, just a bit nervous.” To say ‘a bit’ was an understatement, actually, but the lady nodded at your words.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking but is something important happening to you today?”

You bit your lower lip at her question. Talking to her helped you not to overthink about what you were about to do and that’s why you gave her a grateful smile before answering. “Something like that, yeah. Could you...” You felt a knot in your throat as you kept talking. “Could you please wait for me? It won’t take long.”

The lady nodded without moving her gaze off the street and you sighed in relief. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Thanks.”

And now, while climbing the stairs of the building, you were more and more sure of your decision, because you’d finally understood what your heart wanted and needed.

But you couldn’t bring yourself to knock at Noah’s door, and while you tried to force yourself to do it, you caught the attention of his neighbour.

“He’s home, if you’re wondering.” A mid-aged lady was looking at you, leaned against the half-opened door of her apartment. You turned towards her, giving her a tight smile and murmuring “Thanks.”

“Are you his girlfriend? The one of the dog?”

You narrowed your brows at her words, secretly hoping Noah wasn’t hearing the conversation. “I’m sorry?”

The smile of lady didn’t change as she narrowed her eyes. “A couple of weeks ago he nicely asked me if I could look after his girlfriend’s dog — which was really an angel, let me say. I think he went to visit her somewhere. Was that you?”

Her explanation left you speechless and that’s why you just nodded your head ‘yes’ at her question. At least you knew Ringo had been in good hands.

Did really Noah call you ‘his girlfriend’ or was it just an assumption of the lady?

“Yeah, it was me”, You softly said, but you felt your heart sank at her words. Noah’s come back heartbroken from that little trip in Montreux.

After reassuring her of the fact that Ringo was just fine, she went back to her flat and you finally knocked at the door, not without taking a deep breath first.

Noah was clearly surprised to see you, given the shocked look on his face. “Y/N.”

“Hey.” You gave him a tight smile, anxiety eating you alive as moments passed. “May I come in?”

He seemed busy — his hair was messy and you noticed he had bags under his green eyes. “Of— Yeah, of course.”

He stepped aside and you walked in the flat, looking at him in silence while he closed the door behind you. You gave a quick look at the flat, which was full of papers and notes. “Are you busy? I hope I’m not bothering.”

“Oh no, no.” He slipped his fingers through his hair and sighed deeply. “I was just working.”

“I won’t stay for long, then.” He nodded towards the couch, silently asking you to sit next to him. While you did that, you turned towards him and said “I’m leaving.”

He narrowed his brows, placing his arm on the back of the couch, his eyes fixed on yours. He seemed tired. “For tour?”

You nodded your head ‘yes’ at his question. “Yeah, I’m joining the band in Paris and then we’ll leave for the US.”

“Yeah, Prenter told me. I called a few days ago to make sure everything was fine.”

There were a few moments of silence, which you decided to break by saying “I’m sorry.”

He narrowed his brows at your words and his lips parted given that he was about to say something, but you interrupted him. “Please, just listen to me.” And when he nodded in agreement you kept going. You took a deep breath, placing your hands on your thighs to stop them from shaking. “Roger and I x- we’ve met in ‘76. I was organising Queen’s gig at Hyde Park and that’s how I’ve known him. We’ve been together for two years before breaking up.”

You could tell Noah wasn’t happy about the subject of the conversation but he nodded at your words, telling you to keep going. “The day we met him during our first official date, we’d broken up for two months. The reason why I... lied to you, it was because he hurt me. He hurt me more than I liked to admit, but I haven’t been fair to you.”

You took a deep breath, raising your gaze to meet his. He was looking at you with attention, following every single one of your words. “You gave me the quietness and lightheartedness I needed and I’ll forever be grateful to you for that.”

Your tone was low and soft  when you placed a hand on his arm, giving him a tight smile when he did the same. “And I know I hurt you, even though I never meant to. I’m so, so sorry.”

“I believe you”, Noah said, speaking for the first time after hearing your explanation. He looked away just for a few moments, taking a deep breath before looking at you again with a sad smile. “And I know you well enough to know this is a goodbye.”

His jaw clenched when you nodded your head ‘yes’ and he sniffled. “Yes”, You whispered and he nodded. A chapter had been closed and another one had still to be opened.

-

It took you and hour and a half — the length of the flight from London to Paris— to find the right words to say to Roger once you’d get to the airport. You knew he’d be there, John had told you so the day before when you called him to check on Michael, and that’s why you were incredibly nervous.

Talking to Noah made you feel like you’d taken a weight off your shoulders but there still was another obstacle to overcome: finally telling Roger that you were still bloody in love with him.

Every step you took to get out of the terminal did nothing but make you more and more nervous. You were holding your baggage so tight that your knuckles turned white.

And there he was, in all his glory. Roger was of course wearing one fur coat of his and the brown shades you’d started to like. His hands rested in his pockets and he was looking towards the terminal to spot you, probably ignoring what Brian was telling him.

Finally his blue eyes met yours and it was like being able to breathe again after weeks. He took a few steps towards you, leaving the boys behind him. It was like you were attracted to each-other with a magnet and when you finally got in front of him you just couldn’t stop smiling. He seemed amazed and extremely excited to see you again, his lips parted as if he was about to say say something but then he changed his mind.

“Hey, Rog”, You softly said as your smile grew wider. He took off his shades and finally his blue eyes met yours.

“Hey, love”, He replied with a grin. You let go of your baggage and threw your arms around his neck, holding him in a tight embrace. He gently caressed your back as he placed the other hand between your hair, whispering in your ear “Missed you.”

You didn’t know how to reply, given that you were still trying to summon up the courage to tell him the truth, so you limited yourself to hold him tighter.

When you leaned back to meet his eyes, you placed your forehead against his, his blue eyes fixed on yours. You gently caressed his cheek, appreciating the familiar feeling of his skin against yours as you noticed that your lips were just a few inches away from his.

“Just give them some privacy!”, You heard Veronica murmur and you chuckled, backing away from Roger as Freddie moved closer to you.

“Oh my dear, everything’s been a mess since you left!” He placed a hand on your shoulder and you were more than happy to notice that he hadn’t changed at all — he was still as dramatic as always.

“But I’m back now.” Your words came muffled to his ears when he hugged you tight and you let out a small laugh.

“And please never leave again.”

“Is it my turn?”, Brian asked, looking at you with the biggest smile as you greeted him.

“Missed you, space boy.”

He gave you an amused look by hearing his old nickname and replied by saying “Missed you too, bossy.”

“Ok that’s enough”, John said by stepping in the conversation. His smile grew wider as he met your gaze and you let out a little squeak of excitement before hugging him tight, murmuring “I’m so sorry. I should’ve been here.”

“Oh hush, Y/N. As you said, you’re here now.” You quickly nodded, trying to hold back the tears while turning towards Veronica.

“Hey, you”, You said with a smile, trying to fight back the knot in your throat.

“Hey, auntie”, She replied and you lowered your gaze to the baby she was holding — little Michael was the most beautiful baby you’d ever seen.

“I wanted to be here for you”, You whispered, meeting again her gaze.

“But you’re here now. You needed your time, Y/N. Don’t apologise for that.” You nodded and gave her a sad smile, so she said in a cheerful tone “Now, I introduce you Michael Deacon.”

Your smile grew wider as you looked at the baby, his little hand wrapped around your index finger. “I already love him.”

“Fine, let’s go”, Roger said after clearing his throat and the look in his eyes when you me this gaze made your heart race. Because all you saw in his deep, blue eyes was love.

You spent most of the ride to the hotel playing with the baby, updating the boys on what was happening in London and hearing their funny stories of their recordings in Paris. You’d leave for the US in the morning and one could easily feel the excitement in the air.

You hadn’t the chance to see much of the city but when you got to the hotel you were amazed by its architecture. Roger noticed your amazed look and asked “You like it?”

“It’s so… posh.”

“Posh?”, He asked with a small laugh and you nodded.

You were about to drop your baggage — it was so heavy you could barely hold it — but he noticed it and quickly grabbed it, his hand touching yours by doing so. “It’s so heavy, you don’t have to do it.”

“I’ve got it. C’mon, I’ll show you your room.”

And as you walked through the hallway of that amazing french hotel, there was a weird silence between the two of you. Roger was lost in his own thoughts and you were desperately trying to find the right moment to confess him everything.

“I went to Noah’s before coming here.” Probably not the best subject of conversation but you wanted to be honest with him.

“Did you?”, He asked and he didn’t seem happy about it.

“I wanted to make things all clear with him before…”

“Before what?” He asked, stopping by the door number 26. He rummaged in his pocket to find the key and shortly after the door opened with a loud ‘click’.

You hadn’t answered his question yet and that’s why he gave you a questioning look. “Would you like to come in?” You asked him instead and he just nodded, his brows narrowed in confusion.

“Yeah, of course.” He placed your bag next the door and took his coat off, placing it on the back of the door in which he seated. “D’ya wanna talk about something?”

“Actually, yes. Just listen to me, ok?” You took a deep breath and you felt like having a déja-vu of when you broke up — but hopefully this time there’d have been a different ending.

“Yeah, love. Go ahead.” He seemed interested and confused at the same time.

You quickly nodded and sat on the feet of the bed, afraid that your legs’d have ceded. “You’re arrogant”, You started.

His brows lifted in surprise and he lifted a corner of his lips in an amused grin. “Strong beginning.”

“Shush just for a second. Please?”

He raised his hands in a silent apology and nodded towards you as to say to keep going. “You’re arrogant and sometimes you’re unbelievably annoying. To be honest I hate the way you drive my car — and by the way, before you say something about it because I know you would, yes. I can drive properly.”

Roger chuckled at your words and you couldn’t help but smile. “I won’t say anything about that.”

“You better”, You quickly replied, pointing at him with your index finger. “And that obsession of yours for your hair… don’t even get me started. I hate the way you smile at me when you know you’re right and I’m wrong and I really don’t like the fact that we the only way we solve our problems is in our bedroom because we can’t keep our hands off each other for just five minutes.”

“Love, where are you going with this? ‘Cause you’re doing nothing but list my flaws”, He asked, honestly confused. And he was right.

“All I wanted to say is… that I’ve loved you since the very first moment also because of your them. We all have flaws, they shape us and I’ve learned to love each and everyone of yours. I love how you give me tips to improve my driving skills, I love when you make me fix your hair, when you smile at me like I’m the only woman around, when you touch me and give me goosebumps. I love when you take care of me, even when I’m piss drunk, or when you share your music with me. I could go on forever but the point is, I love you.”

Roger’s smile grew wider and wider as you kept talking, and you couldn’t help but smile back. “You still do?”, He softly asked and you nodded.

“Always have and probably always will. That’s why I had to make things clear with Noah.”

Roger stood up with a surprised look on his face and took a step towards you. “Y/N, I…”

“But if we’re going to do this”, You quickly added. “I have to be sure that it’s just you and me. No Nicole, no Noah, no other women. Just the two of us.”

“Love”, He said and he was now right in front of you so you stood up, too. “It’s always been just the two of us, y’know that.”

You gave him a tight smile and he surrounded you with his arms, holding you in a gentle embrace. His hand was between your hair and his cheek was leaning against yours. He took a deep breath as you hugged him back and he leaned back to meet your eyes. “There are no other women, princess. You’re the only one I love.”

You slowly nodded and you placed your hand on his neck, gently caressing it. “Do you remember the first time I told you I loved you?”

“Yeah”, You replied with a little laugh. “You said it in french.”

“Je t’aime”, He softly replied with the biggest of the smiles on his face.

“You remembered.” You were more than amazed by the fact that years later he still remembered.

“‘f course.” And there were a few moments of silence before he murmured deadly serious “Marry me.”

“What?” You narrowed your brows in confusion and he nodded as to confirm his words.

“Marry me, Y/N. Make me the happiest bastard of this earth.”

“Are you crazy?” You murmured but you couldn’t help but smile. “We just got back together!”

“Is it too absurd? I just want you to be Mrs. Taylor so bad.”

“Mrs. Taylor”, You repeated in a low tone, looking at him in the eyes to find any trace of doubt. There wasn’t any. “Sounds good.”

“Bloody good”, He confirmed with a toothy smile and you chuckled. When you hesitantly placed your lips on his, he tightened the grip on your waist and pushed your body close to his. And for the first time in months you weren’t just kissing in the throes of passion, anger or frustration.

You could finally feel the love. And you were happier that you’d ever been.

Taglist: @but-legendsneverdie @ohtheseboysilove @xgypsy-witchy-vibes @queen-turtle-boiii @scarsout @hystericaldancingqueen @mercurycrowley @protectrowanwhitethorn @70sarreaga @loveandbeloved29 @radiob-l-a-hblah @rogahloveshiscar @queen-crue @luckytrashgooprebel @16wiishes @rogershoe @rogertaylorsgirlfriend @luvborhap

If you wanna be added in the taglist just tell me 

[daesungindistress]

Sorry for bothering you. I have some questions. I'm new in this fandom. At fist I supported Seungri but now I doubt him. Some vips say that he is victim of media, he run only Aori ramen and Kmedia is lying. I see posts claiming that OT4 won't go on without him. There are so much conflicting information. What exactly did he do? If OT4 had problems with Seungri why were they so nice to him during Last dance tour? Again sorry for bothering I just want to know the whole story.

I’m sorry, I’ve gone over this at length so many times over the last six plus months… do I have the energy to hash it out again in detail? It’s true that there is still confusion over his case, let’s face it, there always will be. It’s also true that there has been misinformation spread on both sides, both for and against him. Accusations that came and went, some that stuck, some that didn’t. All you need to know is that right now, based on the results of the police investigation he underwent this spring, he is currently facing 7 charges (from this article):

Solicitation of prostitution (for himself)

Prostitution mediation (for his foreign investors)

Occupational embezzlement of Burning Sun funds

Occupational embezzlement of attorney’s fees

Instigating destruction of evidence

Violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes (sharing a photo believed to be molka)

Violation of the Food Sanitation Act (this is related to Monkey Museum)

He is also currently under investigation for suspicions of gambling while abroad (which, though few fans seem to have a problem with it, is illegal for Koreans) and violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act (raising gambling funds through “hwanchigi,” a term that refers to illegal practices surrounding foreign exchange transactions). So if you see people saying he’s facing up to 9 charges, that’s where that number comes from. The first 7 charges are currently in the hands of the prosecution. Police have recommended indictment on all 7, however, it’s up to the prosecution to conduct their own supplementary investigation and decide whether or not to formally press charges against him (i.e., indict him), after which, if indicted, his case will go to court. This is just a thought, but they may be waiting for police to finish up their investigation on the gambling suspicions so that they can make a decision on all charges at once. In the meantime, it seems his enlistment has been postponed indefinitely.

For the record, most VIPs defended Seungri against the Burning Sun allegations (not gonna get into that here, but it’s pretty horrific stuff). The Burning Sun situation is still murky, and probably always will be, but it’s worth noting that Seungri was never booked or earnestly investigated on anything related to the club besides embezzlement of club funds. Then, in late February the prostitution chats were released – chats which appear to show him and his business partners arranging for prostitutes for their foreign investors visiting Korea back in late 2015 – and he was officially booked as a suspect for that. Then, as if things weren’t bad enough for him already, there came the molka/spycam chats, in which women were filmed in sex acts without their permission and their photos and videos secretly shared among friends. We later learned that some of these women had been drugged and raped. Besides that, the text content of the chats themselves and they way these men spoke about the women they’d slept with was just vile.

Based on the very limited evidence we have available to us, Seungri’s involvement in those molka chats was admittedly minimal (at least when compared to the other chat members, many of whom are currently standing trial on rape charges). However, some of these men were close friends of his, and for many people, his knowledge of their despicable acts toward these women and his complacency (in neglecting to report, or at the very least condemn them for it) was enough. We know he viewed at least one molka video and seemed unbothered by it, even laughing at it. That was the point at which many (I would argue most) people dropped his ass like a hot potato, horrified that he’d had any part in it at all.

Everyone has to draw the line somewhere. For many, that was the line. As for me? I remember the first time I saw that headline, and how my heart sank. I was still on his side back then, perhaps not yet realizing just how serious the situation had become, but even so, I knew in my heart that it was the end for him. And sure enough, it was later that same day when he announced his retirement from the entertainment industry.

His supporters will swear up and down that he had nothing to do with it, but from his own mouth, in his Chosun Ilbo interview, he knew. And not only that, he apparently helped them dispose of evidence when the news broke by alerting them that they were in trouble and instructing them to change their phones (hence the “instigating destruction of evidence” charge). And this is to say nothing of the ridiculous explanation he came up with for the prostitution chats: that he was just providing girls for his female friend to party and go shopping with, an explanation that was shot down by that very friend who he tried to use as an alibi. So when you said “now I doubt him”? Yeah. Us too.

There’s so much more to this saga. So much more. And it’s ongoing. But I’m so tired of going over it again and again and again. The fact is, Seungri asked to have his contract with YG terminated and announced his withdrawal from the industry. So whether you like him or not, continuing to pledge your support to him is just a massive waste of time. Seungri has been a retired singer for six months now, and the cold hard reality is that since March 2019 Big Bang has been four members. G-Dragon, TOP, Taeyang, Daesung. They are still with us. They are who will stand on the stage before us again. They are who will bring us new music and feature in new videos. They are our future as a fandom. If we want more of Big Bang, if we want to see the band continue on at all, we have to express a willingness to support them as they are, now and for the foreseeable future. Otherwise, it’s like Youngbae said during Last Dance: it will be goodbye for real. And who wants that?

Seungri has been locked in an intense media and legal battle for almost all of 2019 – nearly nine months now. And I don’t see things getting better for him anytime soon. This could easily drag on for another three months, until the end of this year. It could go on for six. It could even stretch on for twelve, if he’s indicted on all charges and his case goes to trial. When you factor in enlistment, the absolute soonest Seungri can even think about being active again as an entertainer is in 2-3 years’ time. It has already been almost 3 years since BB’s last comeback. Does anyone really think they’re going to make themselves and us endure another 2-3 year wait (at best!) for a retired member to return to them before they'll release new music again as a group? When they wanted him to enlist alongside them, but he chose not to? And then became the center of the biggest controversy in kpop history? After they begged him not to get in trouble while they were away?

“If OT4 had problems with Seungri why were they so nice to him during Last dance tour?”

I don’t want you guys to think I’m spreading the message that BB ever hated Seungri. It’s more complex than that. I think they cared for him, but I think they were also frustrated with him. I think they wanted what was best for him and were concerned for him. I think they wanted to put their trust in him, knowing that he alone would be carrying the name Big Bang in their absence, but given how distant he’d become and the questionable connections he’d made, couldn’t help being wary of him.

And more than anything? I think they felt they’d lost him. For several years now. And it’s so damn sad.

Somehow, somewhere along the way, to someone (those friends of his) or to something (money and fame, greed and pride, power and envy, you name it), he slipped through their fingers. It wasn’t always this way between them, I’m sure of it. But sometimes people change, often as a result of their changing circumstances. Seungri, unhappy with his present situation (circa 2015, maybe even earlier), found a new passion and a new social circle (a problematic one)… and the closer he grew to them, the farther he drifted from BB. They said they only ever saw him onstage. Said they made plans together but he’d often cancel at the last minute. Said he was always overseas with his other friends and business associates. Said he was “totally a businessman” and that he “didn’t want to work [as a singer] anymore.” They said it seemed that Big Bang had become “business” to him and that all he ever talked about with them was money. I think they felt that though he stayed with them, he did so for all the wrong reasons, reasons that no longer included a passion for music. He didn’t even invite them to his last birthday party before they all enlisted, his big island resort birthday bash in the Philippines (and we’ve all seen that Last Dance tour behind-the-scenes clip in which GD scolded him harshly for it. In hindsight, they dodged a bullet by not being there, seeing as that party was under scrutiny this year for suspicions of prostitution mediation).

Sorry. At this point I’m just rambling. You say you want to know the whole story? Yeah, well, so do the rest of us. But for now, the best we can hope for is that it’s not over for Big Bang. So please, let’s give all our love to the four who remain.

[kimkimberhelen]

By Dave Philipps July 6, 2018

Recruit Zhang, an immigrant from China, joined the United States military on the promise that enlisting would lead to American citizenship. He swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and was handed an Army T-shirt. But, after two years of delays, there came a sudden discharge that has left him reeling.

“They just said one word: I was ‘unsuitable,’” said the 30-year-old, who has a wife and child and a business management degree. He asked that only his last name be used. “I came here legally, made an agreement to stay legally, and they have not kept the agreement.”

A growing number of foreign-born recruits who joined the United States military through a special program created to recruit immigrant troops with valuable language and medical skills are being terminated before they can qualify for citizenship. Lawyers for the recruits say at least 30 have been discharged in recent weeks and thousands more are stuck in limbo — currently enlisted but unable to serve — and may also be forced out.

They are being cut even as the Army has been unable to meet its 2018 recruiting goals.

Mr. Zhang’s parents, a factory worker and a city official in southeast China, sold their house to support him while he waited two years to be called to boot camp. Now he may be deported, and worries he could be punished by the Chinese government for enlisting in a foreign army.

“There’s no explanation for this except xenophobia,” said Margaret D. Stock, a retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and immigration lawyer who helped create the program. Known as the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest or Mavni, the program, created during the George W. Bush administration, allows legal, nonpermanent resident immigrants to join the military and get fast track citizenship.

More than 10,000 troops have joined the military through the program — almost all of them in the Army. At its start, the Army touted its foreign recruits, holding naturalization ceremonies with top brass in places like Times Square. But in recent years the Defense Department has tightened regulations, and thousands have been caught up in extra layers of security vetting. Increased scrutiny for the program began in the last months of the Obama administration over national security concerns.

To screen out possible terrorist or espionage threats, the military requires extensive background checks that have grown more complex in the last two years. The C.I.A. and F.B.I. do background checks, and screenings include criminal history and credit, a review of at least a decade of finances, an exhaustive questionnaire and numerous lengthy interviews. Relatives, employers and neighbors are also interviewed.

The layers of clearance have grown so complex that a backlog of several thousand cases has piled up. A Defense Department official testified in a recent deposition that it would take 10 years to clear those currently waiting to serve.

“We were told they didn’t have the resources to go through all the investigations,” said Robin Jung, a South Korean immigrant and college student who enlisted through the program. In 2014, his brother went through the program and was given citizenship in just a few months. Mr. Jung has been waiting two years.

A number of recruits have filed lawsuits claiming the delays and denials violate constitutional guarantees of equal protection.

The Defense Department responded to interview requests about the delays and increase in the number of discharges with a short statement, saying that any recruit, including those recruited through the Mavni program, “who receives an unfavorable security screening is deemed unsuitable for military service and is administratively discharged. Each recruit undergoes an individualized suitability review and the length of time for the review is dependent upon each individual’s unique background.”

So far, though, recruits in the 10-year-old program have not posed an undue security threat, according to a 2017 report by the RAND Corporation. The report, which was never officially released, found that the program’s recruits were generally better educated and better performing than the average enlisted soldier. It also found that there had been no instances of terrorism or espionage connected to an immigrant recruit.

Before the Vietnam War, all legal immigrants could enlist regardless of permanent status, and throughout American history a large slice of the troops who fought the nations battles have been immigrants, from Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton to the more than 700 immigrants who have been awarded the Medal of Honor.

Still, very few recruits have made it through the vetting process in the last two years, Ms. Stock said. They are kept waiting, unable to work civilian jobs or go to basic training and start their military careers.

In the past two months, lawyers have seen a stark uptick in troops getting discharged after being notified they have failed background checks. Ms. Stock said it could be a result of an effort to clear the backlog.

Recruits say they are not told why they failed background checks and have no way to appeal.

One Pakistani immigrant, worried about the long wait, was able to get his security report in May through a Freedom of Information Act request. The report noted the immigrant, an electrical engineering student recruited to repair generators, had dreamed of moving to the United States since he was 5, and had an American flag cover on his cellphone.

The recruit, the report stated, “has such a deep and longstanding loyalty to the U.S., that he can be expected to resolve any conflict of interest in favor of the U.S.”

“I jumped for joy, I was literally dancing when I read this because I knew there would be no problem,” said the recruit, who asked not to be named because he fears he could be harmed in Pakistan if he is deported.

In June he was told he had failed his security background check and was being discharged.

“I cried,” he said. “I feel like I have been kicked out of my own home.”

Private Second Class Lucas Calixto, a Brazilian immigrant who moved to the United States with his parents when he was 12, was discharged this spring after enlisting in the Army Reserve two years ago.

Since enlisting, he had been going through drills regularly in Massachusetts, where his unit had supported him, he said.

In June he was abruptly discharged for “personnel security,” according to a form. He was given no other explanation.

Last week he sued the Defense Department in federal court, saying the discharge, with no warning and no explanation, violated department regulations and “the fundamental requirements of due process.”

“It was my dream to serve in the U.S. military. Since America has been so good to me, I wanted to give back and serve in the United States Army,” Private Calixto said in an email. “I know this is not coming from my military unit. They have been very nice to me. It seems as if the decision is being made by higher-ups who don’t know me and are just trying to complicate things.”

[theunknown-ericfanfiction]

Chapter Fifty-Two.

The Unknown Chapter Index.

Unexpected Chapter Index

“I don’t think you understand the repercussions this you’re proposing will have” Christine said with a big angry frown.

“There will be no repercussions, we will scale back to our original faction system, divergent will be taken out off the city towards the colony in the Department and that is it” Morgan tried to reason.

They knew Christine would not take it lightly that the city was going to be closed down. Her faction was the one who lost the most. Expeditions would no longer be, the research the Department provided, the different courses they were setting up to have people in the Department come and teach in the specialized schools in Erudite.

“Not to mention that not once the Department showed any interest or concerns during and after the attack” the Candor leader said.

Eric knew he had them all in the bag, besides giving the currently status and the decision to close the city down, he hadn’t said much. He didn’t need to give explanations.

“And not to mention” Morgan said angry “that they fucking used us, took advantage of out hospitality in dauntless. We trained them for them to help us in cases like this. Amity was decimated”

“And whose fault is that?” Christine tried to spun around on Morgan.

“The department’s. We reached and agreement, the conflict outside the borders were theirs to resolve, had we had a fair warning of what was coming out troops would’ve mobilized and acted fast, avoid casualties.”

Eric stood up from his seat and looked at the leaders.

“This matter will be resolved with a votation after I come back from the settlement. Let’s meet back tomorrow at this hour, make sure all your leaders are briefed of the situation and be ready to cast a vote”

Eric surrounded the table and walked out.

Morgan was going to stay back to talk to the other leaders, specially Amity, but she walked after Eric to see him before he left.

She caught up to him on the hall, holding him by the hand

“Though you were falling back” he said, pulling her closer and holding her by the waist.

“I was, I just wanted to see you out, make sure to remember you that you have a wife and baby waiting for you so don’t do any stupid shit while you’re out there”

Eric let out a little smile and stopped in front of the main door out of Erudite.

“I’ve been voted out of the first wave by every team” he said, pulling Morgan to match her chest with his.

“So you’re not going out there?”

“I will, just later, once I’m being given the confirmation the threat has been put down. I’ll track down any kind of information I can get to bring back. Maybe I’ll scope out the Department while I’m at it. If I’m in the mood I might kill everyone there, we’ll see”

“I’ll like to speak with them before, so please don’t”

Eric nodded and placed a short kiss on Morgan’s lips.

“I’ll be back before dinner. Take care of everything around here okay?”

Morgan nodded, giving Eric another kiss and letting him walk out.

As soon as Eric got in the truck towards the fence, Morgan walked to the nursery to quickly check if Aleks was alright, he didn’t seem to mind baou anything and was quietly playing with moving blocks on top of a mat.

She headed to the control room in Erudite and indicated the dauntless guards that had taken over to do anything they could to establish communications with the Department. She told them to send a distress signal that if they didn’t reply back in the next 12 hours there would be serious repercussions for them.

After that, she waited for a reply.

Eric on the other hand was looking through the binoculars, checking how the dauntless were taking over the settlement in the distance. He could faintly hear the gunshots cut the air, and it wasn’t longer than 10 minutes until he was called and told the settlement had been cleared.

Another team of dauntless rode there first to confirm, and after he got his pass, he traveled down along with another group of dauntless.

“I want the bodies checked, weapons taken, and the camp completely dismantled by the end of the day, check for another possible hiding spots, I don’t want to have to deal with a resurgent group.” He comanded while holstering his weapon to his front.

He walked inside the biggest tent he found in the middle of the compound.

They had computers, camera surveillance in the city, files upon files of intel, he began to search through them and found some special ones that unnerved him.

The binders were a different color, and while he motioned at one team of dauntless to pack the Intel to take it back to the city, he fisted the different colored files and opened them, an extensive listen of names along with a ‘Terminated’ or 'active’ tag presented itself in front of him. He began to read through the names and recognized only two, Four and Tris’, along with an 'Active’ tag.

He switched files, and when he opened the next one he froze, it was a file on Christine, along with medical records, pictures, old ones at that, and a big red stamp that read 'non-divergent’.

He switched to another one to find a file on himself, also along with more detailed medical records, his routine, even a list of women who he had slept with, the red non divergent stamp was also there. What made him stop looking at his own file was the fact that it had attached pictures of him at bars with everyone of those women, and at the end a picture of his own son sleeping soundly on his crib.

They’d been watching them for a long, long time.

“Sir” he was interrupted. He closed the file and looked at the dauntless who was sitting at one of the computers and skeeming through it. “I found the jammers of our communications and switched it off. Also, there’s a similar software for shields like the ones in the Department.”

Eric looked at the screen, seeing the program indicate the shields were down.

“Copy the program and let’s take it to the city, I want this program to work on disabling the shields in the Department for the eventual take over”

“Yes sir” he replied, then got to work. Eric held onto the files and collected the ones with the same dark red color.

Once the files were secured in the truck and a fourth team of dauntless had joined to work on the camp, he turned around towards the city. On the drive there he continued to check the files, most of the red ones were from the Leaders of the city, but he was more concerned about the one that seemed to have details about the divergents on the city.

He concluded that the incial information they had about the settlement was wrong. The settlement was supposedly against the experiments, wanting to kill the non divergents and take the divergents under their wing. So why did they have a file exclusively with the label 'Terminated’?

He didn’t care he didn’t had all the pieces, something was very clear for him.

He’d been used, the city had been used, his time had been wasted.

“My inicial impression is that this settlement” he threw some of the files on the table in front of the other leaders in a later meeting “is not what we were originally told it was. I believe that the department made us believe this was a threat to us, when in fact it was targeting them, their divergents”

“That doesn’t explain why the attacked and why they killed 60% of the occupants of Amity” Christine said, always taking the side of the department to not loose the privileges she got from them.

“They’ll have their opportunity to explain themselves, as soon as the jammers went down the message went through. They’ll be here tomorrow morning” Morgan said on the other side of the table.

“Too fucking late for that, we’re still voting to close the city and turn back on our old structure” Eric said, extending a look to the other leaders.

The leader of Candor was not happy with life at this moment, all this information was a huge slap on the face for him. Amity, even though she appeared like it was all fine, everytime the attack on their faction was mentioned she couldn’t help herself from get sad, if not angry. Abnegation was totally biased as in what to vote for and of course Christine was pulling in Eric’s opposite direction.

Eric knew he wouldn’t have it easy, but if he’d wanted it easy in the first place, he would’ve chosen Amity.

While walking down the hall towards the nursery to check on Aleks, Eric knew this was probably the best time he could find to finally tell Morgan about him and Christine. The stakes were too high and if she found out by someone else it would be for trouble.

He knew throwing the files with the information on the leaders on the table could flip on him if Morgan found out, but he was sure Christine wouldn’t live to give a speech in another Choosing Ceremony.

When they were back at the bedroom, Aleks on arms, Eric set him down and Aleks quickly busied himself with a few toys they’d brought it.

Morgan just rested on the bed and sighed, placing her hand on her forehead.

“You okay?” He asked, sitting on the bed next to her and placing a hand on her side.

“Yeah it’s just” she shook her head a little and sighed “I’m tired. I’m tired of the troubles and the lies and… Having to always distrust people, is it too much to ask for us to be left alone?”

Eric hated when Morgan sounded defeated. Morgan was his rock, and if she quivered Eric would instantly fall, he needed her strong.

“I’m doing all I can to make that happen for us Morgan” she looked at him and placed her spare hand on top of his, rubbing his knuckles

“I know you are. And I appreciate it”

Eric took her hand and led it up to his lips, kissing her tenderly.

“About the lies and trust” Morgan rolled her eyes and covered her eyes with her hand

“What did you do Eric?” Eric smiled and kissed her hand again.

“What I didn’t do was tell you something. Something important” Morgan sat up on the bed next to him and looked up, Eric held her by the waist and looked down at her. “Christine” he said, Morgan rolled her eyes again.

“What about her?” She said disinterested.

“She’s my mother”

Morgan straightened up and looked at him with a serious frown.

“That uh… Explains a lot actually”

Eric leaned back on his arms and sighed

“Well, now you know. You know why I don’t like talking to her, or seeing her or anything. I’ve been groomed and trimmed and set up to be this” he motioned at himself “for as long as I can remember. Trained, then forced to take over Dauntless to continue to serve them. They even sent another transfer the next year to be my partner, my wife or whatever”

“And what happened to her?”

“Told her to fuck off. She was too stiff, to judgemental… What’s the point of she couldn’t at least fuck right?”

Morgan snorted a laugh and shook her head. Eric was still a man deep down, and sex was a primal thing in dauntless culture.

“They sent more, every year I could just tell who it was, how they tried to control me through a woman” he sat silent for a while until he wearily asked “you weren’t sent by them were you?”

“Of course not” she said with disdain. She saw how Eric let out a big relieved sigh and he relaxed on the bed.

“That’s something I’ve been asking myself ever since I saw you, you know, because you came from Erudite. I always looked at you and thought 'is this it? Have they finally found out how I liked them?’”

“I wasn’t paid much attention here in Erudite” she dismissed “I never had leadership qualities or the likes”

“Doesn’t seem like it”

Morgan smiled at that sweet comment and leaned in to kiss Eric on the lips. He leaned back on the bed and hugged her close, trapping her lips in more demanding kissed, but we’re interrupted when Aleks let out an angry shriek and slapped Eric in the leg to let Morgan go.

They laughed over eachothers lips and continued kissing, just to tease. Aleks again hit Eric on the leg as he complained, then began pushing on his leg as he was about to start crying.

Morgan retreated back and stood up from the bed to hold Aleks on her arms.

“Don’t be jealous you know you’re my favorite boy”

Morgan kissed Aleks on the cheek and held him, sitting again on the bed next to Eric.

“We’ll be back home soon champ, we don’t like it in here anymore than you do” Eric said touching his cheek slowly.

They settled in for that night, and Eric did eventually turn back to check the fence, see how they were patching up the big hole on the side.

If he looked out in the distance, the tents of the settlement were almost all down, which made him a little more relieved.

Still, he didn’t let his guard down. He still had to deal with the Department. But that was tomorrows fight.

[omfgtrump]

The Tale of Two Viruses: Part 7

This week we saw more evidence that the White House was aware in mid January of a potential devastating coronavirus pandemic. And on January 29th, a memo from Peter Navarro, Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and the national Defense Production Act policy.

It was entitled: “Aggressive Containment versus No Containment.”

In the memo, Navaro wrote: “Doing nothing (the “No Containment” option) could range from “zero economic costs” to $5.7 trillion depending on the lethality of the virus.”

He also estimated a scenario in which the coronavirus could kill 543,000 Americans.

Of course, The Don claims he never saw the memo.

Navarro’s Feb 23rd memo begins with, “There is an increasing probability of a full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life of as many as 1-2 million souls.”

Navarro called for an “immediate supplemental appropriation of at least $3 billion” to support efforts at prevention, treatment, inoculation and diagnostics. He described expected needs for “Personal Protective Equipment” for health care workers and secondary workers in facilities such as elder care and skilled nursing. He estimated that over a four-to-six-month period, “We can expect to need at least a billion face masks, 200,000 Tyvek suits, and 11,000 ventilator circuits, and 25,000 PAPRs (powered air-purifying respirators).”

Guess what happened to Navarro: He was disappeared from the task force and replaced by, “Mr. President, I think I love you more than Jesus” Mike Pence.

The Don persisted in magical thinking, asseting that this would never happen here, because after all, he is The Don, and not only will he not allow bad things to happen, but the virus is no match for him.

So while the virus was taking hold, The Don was still waxing about how the virus was going to just fade in to the sunset. He saw what happened in China and what was happening in Italy and chose to do nothing!

The Don railed at the World Health Organization trying to blame it for his administrations incompetence. He has railed against governors and the news media; I am waiting for him to say that if Obama hadn’t been president none of this would have happened. Actually, if he had heeded the Obama administrations warnings, not discarded the plan they set up for a pandemic crisis-including setting up a special pandemic task force- our country would have managed this crisis more effectively.

The Don did take time to get rid of Glenn A. Fine, who was the acting inspector general for the Defense Department since before Mr. Trump took office and who was set to become the chairman of a new Pandemic Response Accountability Committee to monitor how the government carries out the $2 trillion Coronavirus relief bill. Is there a chance Don that you will be minding the store, siphoning off money, making your friends richer, while people die? Why else get rid of someone whose job it is to make sure the money is distributed appropriately? Does that sound immoral and disgusting? Yes, and you have proven time and time again, that you are quite capable of doing this!

He also had the government purchase 29 million doses of Chloroquine for treating the virus when there is no evidence that it works. In fact, one study in Brazil had to be terminated, as it caused fatal heart attacks in 11 patients. Sweeden also terminated it study and no longer administering the drug to patients as numerous died of heart attacks as well.

When a reporter asked Dr. Fauci to speak about the drug you told the reporter that the question had been answered many times before and cut off the reporter so Fauci couldn’t speak.  Instead there is reporting that says you have been listening to Rudy Guiliani and Laura Ingraham, of Fox News, who have been feeding you with unscientific anecdotal evidence of the drug’s efficacy. (Hey Rudy, welcome back! Aren’t you in jail yet?)

What do you imagine is on Fauci’s mind when he is being silenced by the master of disinformation and lies?

Your patience with Fauci has been running thin; he, as opposed to you, tries to tell the American people the truth. Finally you couldn’t take it anymore and retweeted a former Republican Congressional candidates post: “Time to #Fire Fauci.” Perverse acts of intimidation in your demented reality show “Survivor.”

Hopefully, this schoolyard bullying will have no impact on Fauci’s truth telling as he is interested in saving lives and is truly devastated by what is going on; you, on the other hand, have no empathy and just want to win an election and somehow think getting the economy buzzing back is your pathway, no matter the casualties. If you fire him, maybe he will be liberated and tell the American people how badly you botched this.

We know things are starting to get bad for The Don when you start criticizing the Wall Street Journal. Soon he may even have to go after Lindsey, “I’ll do anything, and I mean anything for you,” Graham. Suddenly, they are starting to say that maybe it isn’t a good idea for you to be spending so much time rambling during the press conference because as far as the public is concerned as the great B.B. King sang: “The Thrill is Gone.”

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

The Wall Street Journal always “forgets” to mention that the ratings for the White House Press Briefings are “through the roof” (Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale, according to @nytimes  & is only way for me to escape the Fake News & get my views across. WSJ is Fake News!

The bump in your popularity for handling the crisis is retreating. Your lies, denial of facts and reality, insults of journalists and governors and preening about ratings, are starting to lose their luster, even with some of your supporters. Maybe people dying because of your incompetence breaks the hypnotic spell you have over your base? If death doesn’t then…

The Very Stable Genius faces a true existential dilemma: When is the right time to open up the country again and get people back to work with the prospects of a resurgence of the virus looming?

The Don is right in referring to his decision to reopen the country for business as “the most important decision he has ever made in his life.” Sure is Don, but your attention span to think through things and make decisions based on facts and not your “instincts” leaves me panicked. Luckily, governors are in control of their states and can make independent decisions despite you tweeting that you have the ultimate authority.

Recently you referred to the virus as a genius and in your daily version of “Survivor” you, The Very (Evil) Stable Genius, pitted yourself against an evil genius virus. The consequences of that match up is the unnecessary death toll we are facing. You are so over-matched; your utter incompetence and delusions of grandeur have given the evil genius virus more power to destroy.

If you are serious about making the right decision, then why do you keep repeating that we really don’t need to do a lot of testing? And why do you keep saying we have tested more people than any other country when there are 17 countries that have tested a larger percentage of their population? Why are you not coordinating a national response instead of putting the onus on the states? So when all is told, it will be the states and the governors that failed? That’s your re-election strategy?

Everyone is telling you that massive testing is the way to figure out how to bring the economy back, yet you downplay its importance? There is only one explanation: You are trying to hide the numbers of infected from the American people. You don’t want us to know how bigly and huge they are so you can say “look our numbers are so much lower than expected, see what good job I did!”

Don, the Covid-19 virus is eatingThe Very Stable Evil Genius alive. It feeds off your incompetence, which has allowed it to increase its devastation. But thanks to governors, mayors, front line medical workers, and essential workers, we are fighting the good fight and we can see some progress because of our mitigation tactics of staying home.

Now you are pushing to open the country for business on May 1st, despite scientists imploring that it is too soon. It is clear that you don’t have the smarts and patience to stay the course to save lives. If you open the country too soon, more will die and more blood will be on your hands. And that blood is not the kind that can be washed off with soap. The sad part is that your immorality will prevent you from caring. Let’s hope the American people do and get rid of you the way we are all trying to get rid of the virus.

———————— On a more somber note, the greatest percentage of people dying from the virus are brown and black. This is not surprising, but no less devastating. Poverty, poor health care, higher levels of preexisting conditions, as well as the fact that many are working at jobs that have high exposure rates, explain this gruesome reality. In Chicago, more than 70 percent of the deaths related to the Coronavirus were among black residents, though black residents make up only a third of the city’s population. In Michigan, black residents make up just 14 percent of the population, but over 40 percent of the Covid-19 deaths. This is happening all over the country. What the virus has brought to light is the stark reality of inequity in this country. There is no hiding from statistics. America’s long standing institutionalized racism has been brought to bear in the grimmest of ways. In this game of “Survivor,” it has been clear who the greatest losers are. The question is, when we finally get to the other side of this, will there be the political and spiritual will to do something about it. Will there be institutional change allowing access to healthcare for all. Will there be an emphasis on creating real economic opportunities for people of color to address this shameful inequality?

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[bigyack-com]

This Is What Racism Sounds Like in the Banking Industry

Jimmy Kennedy earned $13 million during his nine-year career as a player in the National Football League. He was the kind of person most banks would be happy to have as a client.But when Mr. Kennedy tried to become a “private client” at JPMorgan Chase, an elite designation that would earn him travel discounts, exclusive event invitations and better deals on loans, he kept getting the runaround.At first, he didn’t understand why. Then, last fall, he showed up at his local JPMorgan branch in Arizona, and an employee offered an explanation.“You’re bigger than the average person, period. And you’re also an African-American,” the employee, Charles Belton, who is black, told Mr. Kennedy. “We’re in Arizona. I don’t have to tell you about what the demographics are in Arizona. They don’t see people like you a lot.” Mr. Kennedy recorded the conversation and shared it with The New York Times.It’s no secret that racism has been baked into the American banking system. There are few black executives in the upper echelons of most financial institutions. Leading banks have recently paid restitution to black employees for isolating them from white peers, placing them in the poorest branches and cutting them off from career opportunities. Black customers are sometimes profiled, viewed with suspicion just for entering a bank and questioned over the most basic transactions.This year, researchers for the National Bureau of Economic Research found that black mortgage borrowers were charged higher interest rates than white borrowers and were denied mortgages that would have been approved for white applicants.Banks, including JPMorgan, say they are committed to eradicating the legacy of racism. And they insist that any lingering side effects simply reflect stubborn socioeconomic imbalances in society as a whole, not racial bias among their employees.What recently transpired inside a cluster of JPMorgan branches in the Phoenix area suggests that is not true.Mr. Kennedy was told he was essentially too black. His financial adviser, Ricardo Peters, complained that he, too, was a victim of racial discrimination. What makes their cases extraordinary is not that the two men say they faced discrimination. It is that they recorded their interactions with bank employees, preserving a record of what white executives otherwise might have dismissed as figments of the aggrieved parties’ imaginations.Patricia Wexler, a JPMorgan spokeswoman, denied that the bank discriminated against Mr. Peters or Mr. Kennedy. She said that the bank hadn’t been aware of the audio recordings and that “in light of some new information brought to us by The New York Times,” the company put one of its executive directors on administrative leave while the bank investigates his conduct.

The Back of the Branch

Mr. Peters started his career at JPMorgan as a salesman in the bank’s credit cards division. After about eight years in various roles, he was promoted to a financial adviser position in Phoenix in 2016. His job was to help bank customers prudently invest their money.Mr. Peters had won numerous performance awards at the bank, but things soon started going wrong for him. He was working in a JPMorgan branch in the affluent Sun City West area of Phoenix. He sought a promotion to become a private client adviser, a job that would have let him work with wealthier and more lucrative clients.The promotion never came. Instead, Mr. Peters was moved out of an office at the heart of the branch where he worked with other financial advisers and was relegated to a windowless room in the back.In April 2017, one of his bosses, Frank Venniro, told Mr. Peters that another manager had accused him of taking customers’ files home at night, a violation of the bank’s code of conduct. Mr. Peters denied it, and Mr. Venniro accepted that he was telling the truth, according to a recording of the conversation. But, he added, Mr. Peters needed to be more cognizant of how his colleagues perceived him. Mr. Peters was left with the impression that his managers, who were white, were predisposed to view him suspiciously. Could he prove it? No. What happened next was clearer.Mr. Peters complained to Mr. Venniro that another financial adviser was trying to steal a prospective client: a woman who had just received a $372,000 wrongful death settlement after her son died. She was black.Mr. Venniro told Mr. Peters that there was no point in his intervening in the dispute, because the woman was not a worthwhile client. “You’ve got somebody who’s coming from Section 8, never had a nickel to spend, and now she’s got $400,000,” Mr. Venniro said, referring to the federal program that provides vouchers to help with housing costs and whose title is sometimes used as a racial slur. “What do you think’s going to happen with that money? It’s gone.”“But I thought that’s why we get involved,” Mr. Peters protested.Mr. Venniro said no. “You’re not investing a dime for this lady,” he said. He knew from experience that she would quickly burn through the money. “It happens every single time.”When Mr. Peters tried to argue, Mr. Venniro interjected. “This is not money she respects,” he said. “She didn’t earn it.”Mr. Venniro declined to comment. Ms. Wexler, the bank spokeswoman, said that Mr. Venniro was put on leave after inquiries from The Times and that he resigned last Thursday. “Our employee used extraordinarily bad judgment and was wrong to suggest we couldn’t help a customer,” she said. She said Mr. Venniro knew the client was in subsidized housing but didn’t know her race.

Marching Orders

In February 2018, Mr. Peters was transferred from the Sun City West branch to a JPMorgan branch in a less wealthy neighborhood. He perceived it as another example of managers, including Mr. Venniro, mistreating him because he was black. One day, Mr. Peters met Mr. Kennedy, then 38. Mr. Kennedy had played for five N.F.L. teams as a defensive tackle. In 2011, he had joined the New York Giants — a homecoming that, The Times wrote at the time, was notable because of his impoverished childhood in Yonkers, N.Y. That season, Mr. Kennedy and the Giants won the Super Bowl.Mr. Kennedy retired and later moved to Phoenix. JPMorgan bankers had been courting his business, but he hadn’t liked the financial advisers the bank had proposed to manage his investments. Then he met Mr. Peters. “The chemistry was just so real because he knew exactly what I needed to do,” Mr. Kennedy said in an interview.In the summer of 2018, Mr. Kennedy gradually moved $800,000 to the bank. Mr. Peters and a colleague promised he would get “private client” status, which was reserved for accounts with more than $250,000. Landing a wealthy client like Mr. Kennedy was a big win for Mr. Peters, but he was anxious about being targeted by his superiors. On Aug. 24, he filed a formal complaint with the bank. He said he had alerted Mr. Venniro “that I feel that I am being treated differently because of my race and color of my skin” and that Mr. Venniro had suggested that the solution was for him to work in the less-wealthy branch.Less than two weeks later, JPMorgan agreed to pay $24 million to end a class-action lawsuit brought by other black employees who said the company had discriminated against them — in some cases by isolating them from colleagues and dumping them in poorer branches.On Oct. 5, Mr. Venniro took Mr. Peters to a meeting room and said he was being fired. Mr. Venniro said he didn’t know why. “I’m just given marching orders,” Mr. Venniro told him, according to a recording of the conversation.Mr. Peters filed a discrimination claim with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the civil rights division of the Arizona attorney general’s office, accusing JPMorgan of racial discrimination. JPMorgan denied that and said Mr. Peters was fired for improperly assigning credit for a new client to an employee who managers didn’t think deserved it. “We stand by our decision to terminate Peters,” Ms. Wexler, the spokeswoman, said. “The facts are indisputable.” Mr. Peters disputed the facts. He said that he had given credit to the correct employee. He said the bank was using a mundane internal dispute as an excuse to fire him. He has since started his own investment advisory firm in Arizona.

‘If This Dude Gets Upset’

Mr. Peters’s termination left Mr. Kennedy in the lurch. A number of his transactions were frozen or not carried out. In one case, $92,000 of Mr. Kennedy’s money that was supposed to go into a new investment product ended up in a holding account, inaccessible to Mr. Kennedy. (Ms. Wexler said the problems were caused by administrative errors.)JPMorgan assigned him a new financial adviser, Mr. Belton. He struck Mr. Kennedy as inexperienced. He was black, and Mr. Kennedy felt that was the only reason they’d been paired. Mr. Kennedy said he began recording their conversations so he could get feedback from other people about Mr. Belton’s financial recommendations. Mr. Kennedy had been under the impression that he had been granted the coveted “private client” status that Mr. Peters had promised. When Mr. Kennedy learned that was not the case, he complained to Mr. Belton — and then to Mr. Venniro. Mr. Belton warned Mr. Kennedy not to talk to Mr. Venniro again. In two secretly recorded conversations in October last year, he asked Mr. Kennedy to think about the impression he left on people at the bank. He pointed out that Mr. Kennedy was a big black man in Arizona. And he said that Mr. Venniro had been afraid to tell Mr. Kennedy that his application to become a private client had been deleted when Mr. Peters was fired.A few days later, Mr. Kennedy went back to the branch, and the conversation returned to the question of why the bank refused to grant Mr. Kennedy the status and perks of being a private client. Mr. Belton said that bank employees were scared of dealing with him and that therefore Mr. Kennedy would be better off interacting only with Mr. Belton.“They’re not going to say this, but I don’t have the same level of intimidation that they have — you know what I’m saying? — not only being a former athlete but also being two black men,” Mr. Belton said. Referring to Mr. Venniro, he added, “You sit in front of him, you’re like three times his size — you feel what I’m saying? — he already probably has his perception of how these interactions could go.”Moments later, he said: “We’ve seen people that are not of your stature get irate, and it’s like, ‘Well, if this dude gets upset, like what’s going to happen to me?’”Mr. Kennedy asked if Mr. Belton was saying that Mr. Venniro was racist. “I don’t think any person at that level is dumb enough for it to be that blatant,” Mr. Belton replied. “I don’t have any reason to believe blatantly that he’s that way. You feel what I’m saying? Now, whether there’s some covert action? To be honest? I always err on the side of thinking that. You know, people that are not us probably have some form of prejudice toward us.”Mr. Kennedy pulled most of his money out of JPMorgan and filed a grievance with an industry watchdog, and in June the bank sent him a letter trying to put an end to his complaining. “You stated that Mr. Belton informed you that our firm was prejudiced against you and intimidated by you because of your race,” the letter said. “We found no evidence to substantiate your allegations.” Read the full article

[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newscap 8/10/2019

Good Morning #realdreamchasers. Here is your daily news cap for Tuesday, October 8th, 2019. There is a lot to read and digest so take your time. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS), Barbados Today (BT), or by purchasing a Daily Sun Nation Newspaper (DN).

BTEDITORIAL – 500 DAYS OF THE MOTTLEY CREW – The landmark of 500 days of the life of the current administration of the Government of Barbados offers the opportunity for sober reflection on the performance of the largest Cabinet in Barbadian history. Granted, these ministers who serve at the pleasure of the Prime Minister each entered into existing portfolios or founded new ones in a bid to right a tottering ship of state, nearly foundering on the rocks of incompetence, economic stagnation and apathy. But now serious questions must be asked as to whether it is not now time to assess whether the individuals entrusted with the general direction and control of the Government of Barbados as currently configured may long continue to bask in the glow of prime ministerial favour. This is ultimately a question that can only be answered by the First Among Equals in Bay Street. We do not envy her position. The Prime Minister found herself having to feed all 29 mouths at the political trough when the Labour party inflicted a cataclysmic defeat on the Democratic Labour Party. Her predecessor in the BLP, Owen Arthur, knew something of this. He spoke of the enormous political pressure Governments face when they are at once cursed and blessed by a supermajority. So it should come as no surprise that the Prime Minister has had to contend with her own little local difficulty. Surely, now is the time to grade ministerial performance, given that this quantum of time has passed since their appointments.Under two ministers of transport, Barbados has had to endure possibly the worst level of bus service in history. A minister for energy and water resources has been preoccupied with providing potable water to rural districts and farms stricken by drought and try to battle the mess of malpractice in the sewage system – while having to prepare this nation for totally green energy economic in 11 years. As the minister for environment faces mounting piles of garbage, he struggles to persuade sanitation workers to work under a shift system at a time when taxpayers pay directly for waste and sewage management. Many members of the Cabinet, some elected and others appointed, have been as visible as they have been active. We look forward to greater fruit of the efforts of the ministers for small business, innovation, agriculture and tourism, among others. But we suggest that a sober appraisal of the tasks the nation faces as we rebuild a shattered economy would invariably indicate that some rationalisation has become necessary of the ministers chosen to oversee these tasks. We have been made privy to the Prime Minister’s own frustration with the pace of implementation of ministerial decisions.  We empathise with her impatience for action, her insistence on results, and her expectations of performance. But we also wonder whether such an unprecedented size of the governmental directorate has not also led to a diffusion of responsibility among its members. Perhaps the Prime Minister is experiencing the sociological phenomenon in which an individual is given to inaction when many others are present. Each minister assumes that his colleague is either responsible for taking action or may have already done so. So little gets done. We accept the risk in making this call for rationalisation of cabinet portfolios – currently around one minister for every 10,000 citizens. Prime Ministers prefer to appear in sole possession of the immense power to match and dispatch ministers. And we do not seek to usurp her unique role. But if she is to consolidate her position as this nation’s leader, focus public attention on the huge, unfinished tasks still facing us and fashion a nation in her vision, now is the time to adjust the ministerial team. A Cabinet that must be nimble, cost-conscious and effective can no longer justify its current existence as the largest body in 65 years of ministerial government. Reshuffle your cabinet, Prime Minister. It is time. (BT)

HOLD MINISTERS ACCOUNTABLE - Today marks 500 days since the new administration took office on May 25, 2018 and a great deal has happened since that time, including the laying off of public servants. Although it was understood that this was a requirement in order to obtain much needed funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it still remains a bitter pill, which was compounded by the number of Ministers in office and salary increases for the remaining service, including those at the top and the LIFO method utilised. At the time, the logic for these decisions was understood. The Government had and continues to carry a significant mandate to turn the country around from the scores of downgrades and dysfunction that had persisted for several years and an incentive was required to motivate the remaining demoralised public servants. However, now that the dust has begun to settle somewhat, it is time to revisit these issues. As I have said previously, I have no issue with the number of Ministers ... as long as these Ministers are performing. If we have 50 productive Ministers, the country will be better for it. If we have five non-performing Ministers, there will be no improvement. Barbados can ill afford to have anyone in the service that is not contributing to the recovery of this country and having non-, or low performing leaders not only wastes scarce monetary resources, it also sets a terrible tone for the service that this is acceptable.I do not expect a performance-based system to be implemented overnight. In addition to the mammoth exercise required to train and acclimatise persons to this new way of doing things, there will also be the effort required to change the cultural mindset that performance will outweigh length of service. This is why it is critical that our Prime Minister sets the tone by conducting a performance-based appraisal for Ministers against the Manifesto promises made to the people of Barbados, as well as the objectives established for the successful operations of each Ministry that they are responsible for. They should also answer to the progress made on any outstanding issues stemming from the Auditor General's report which impact their Ministry and provide explanations for any delays and target dates for completion. Without this exercise, much of the efforts to generate growth in this economy will be hamstrung, as we cannot only depend on the private sector to carry the responsibility for growing the economy. It will also cast doubt as to whether these Ministers are worthy of a vote when the next round of elections comes due. If Ministers are not held to the highest level of accountability, it would be unreasonable to expect this of the public service. We cannot continue to look as layoffs as a dollars and cents exercise. If we cut 50 per cent of the service but have sent home all the workers that would perform and keep those that will not, yes, we would have complied with IMF stipulations, but we would soon discover that we are no better off and the public service will continue to carry a poor perception. I strongly believe that there are many public servants who perform well despite less than ideal circumstances. We often hear of sick buildings, poorly functioning or nonexistent equipment required to complete the job and a deficiency in computer equipment that many of us in the private sector have grown used to in helping us to excel. Those workers that manage to get the job done are then disadvantaged when they give of their best and can make a significant contribution to their country but are pushed aside for no other reason than being new kid on the block. If we continue to employ persons that do not perform well, are insubordinate and believe that they cannot be terminated, it will make a mockery of the good workers that were terminated for the benefit of this country and their personal sacrifice would have been in vain. Let us not continue to throw mud in their face by continuing to potentially employ poor performing Ministers or public servants. Krystle Howell, CPA, CIA, COSO, ALMI, ACS, aka Mavis, is an Internal Auditor by profession, avid artist and a lover of dance. (DN)

STRAUGHN: GRATUITIES WON’T BE TAXED  - Government has not had any discussions with unions to look into the taxing of the gratuities of public servants. That was the clear-the-air statement made by Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn yesterday, after a voice note was circulating on WhatsApp, which suggested public servants could be on the verge of losing almost half of their gratuity to taxes upon reaching retirement age. “At no time to my knowledge has there been any discussion relating to the taxing of gratuities as it relates to the retirement of public servants,” Straughn said after calling into Voice of Barbados’ Down To Brass Tacks radio call-in programme. “I had a conversation with the acting general secretary [Delcia Burke of the National Union of Public Workers, NUPW] to indicate this thing has been in circulation. She assured me she had no knowledge of such a discussion.” (DN)

PARENTS WANT RESULTS – Despite its reopening yesterday, some parents of pupils of Sharon Primary School want to know where are the promised air quality tests for the businesses identified as potential sources of the environmental challenges that have plagued the St Thomas school over the past months. Felicia Cox, a renewable energy co-ordinator and trained engineer, speaking on behalf of a group of parents outside the school, said while they were satisfied that improvements had been made to the plant, they were yet to feel assured there would not be a recurrence. On Sunday in a statement, Deputy Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson announced the Ministry of Health had given the all-clear for classes to resume at Sharon Primary after a three-week closure. “Preliminarily air quality tests have been conducted by a private firm at both the Maria Holder Nursery and Sharon Primary schools and no alarming levels of particulate matter were detected,” stated Adamson. “There will be continued monitoring around these two schools by three ministries, the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Ministry of Labour.” (DN)

SWITCH ON – Government’s planned break-up of the near 120-year-old electricity supply monopoly by the Barbados Light & Power company and opening up the market to new players may not lead to cheaper electricity, respected economist Jeremy Stephen has warned. He told Barbados TODAY that the notion of new power companies driving prices down was likely wishful thinking. He contended that it is more likely that another player would rent the infrastructure owned by Light & Power parent Emera rather than setting up their own. But he suggested that while electricity bills may not be lowered, a second player in the market would likely lead to price stability. Stephen said: “In the short term there may be a price reduction because the new entities would be just introducing themselves to the market but over a year or two those prices would creep back up. “So I do not see any big reduction in prices, especially if the infrastructure has to be shared. “It is going to be like the same thing that happened between Digicel and Cable and Wireless, where Digicel entered the market and from an investment point of view, made the decision to rent. “It’s the same with Emera, given the capacity that they have, no one can enter the market and outprice them.” Stephen further argued that a new company may have to compete on reliability of service or may even appeal to customers by their “marketing and relatability”. He added: “If a company comes in and chooses to go the same route of oil-based electricity, they will have to share because it makes no sense putting up their own infrastructure or they would have to spend a lot of money on underground powerlines, which in the medium term would be too much of an expense for such a small country. “It would still therefore come at a cost to the customer.” The economist noted that even if a new entity goes the route of investing in renewable energy infrastructure, in pursuant of Government’s 2030 goal for 100 per cent green energy, there would be challenges in the maintenance of prices. He told Barbados TODAY: “If the new players deal with solar, there is a lot of outlay that they would need to first put down and you still have to remember that solar is still a little unreliable at commercial levels, so you will have to price in that inefficiency. “No company is ever going to fix the cost for an inefficiency, the cost for this is always going to be passed on to the customer, especially when it comes to utilities. “The point is that it is not going to be as simple as increased competition translating to lower prices.” Two months ago, Opposition Leader Joseph Atherley, warned Government of serious challenges to the break-up of the electricity monopoly. He told lawmakers that there were lessons to be learned from the on-going process of breaking up the telecommunications monopoly. Atherley said: “There will inevitably be tensions arising from those considerations which relate to the conventional energy supply structures and the renewable energy platforms that will have to be called into being. “We saw this with reference to the dismantling of the telecommunications monopoly in fact we saw it and we are still seeing it. “That there are some tensions around those considerations which relate to the existing infrastructural architecture of the now existing creature and those structures and platforms which will be called into being to facilitate the new creature we are trying to call into existence.” (BT)

BWU, BL&P IN TALKS AFTER WILDCAT STRIKE – A work stoppage at the Barbados Light and Power left managers locked in discussions with the Barbados Workers Union. Scores of linesmen abandoned their posts at the power company’s Garrison Hill headquarters from as early as 7:30 this morning. They instead reported outside the front of the building with the backing of the president of the BWU’s BL&P division, Howard Griffith. Around midday, a contingent from the union which included Light & Power’s Deputy Director of Industrial Relations Dionne Howard, along with Industrial Relations Officers Shakeda Williams, Cameron Layne and Sean Scott accompanied the workers into a nearby carpark to discuss the way forward. When they emerged, Howard revealed workers would be heading back to their posts pending discussions with management. She said: “We have met with the workers, we are clear on the issue, we have reached out to the management and we are scheduled to meet later today, so we will see how best we can solve this issue without any further disruption. “They will return to work at this time pending that discussion.” Company officials provided no details about the problems which sparked the action. While initial attempts to gain clarity from management officials were refused, Communications Coordinator Jennifer Blackman said in a statement discussions would continue this week and operations would resume “as normal”.(BT)

ANGREY NURSES – Disgruntled student nurses are sick and fed up with the way they are being treated as they pursue their studies. This was made clear to both the principal and registrar of the Barbados Community College (BCC), last Friday during a meeting where scores of students aired their grievances. Also in attendance were the heads of the Health Sciences and Nursing departments. Their main bones of contention related to the absence of a stipend as well as what they claim to be improper treatment from nurses at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). The nurses also raised concerns about having to do community service even though student doctors were exempt from doing so. A second-year student nurse who attended the meeting told Barbados TODAY the issues were longstanding and needed to be addressed. “If it is that the Youth Service gets stipends I don’t see why students nurses aren’t afforded that same luxury. Student nurses are basically working so if they are getting it I don’t see why we can’t get it too,” the source said. “In the meeting the nurses also petitioned for an end to the community service which they are required to serve. It is a requirement which Government is asking of us ever since they made our tuition free. However, the student doctors aren’t being asked to do it.” The source explained that as part of their training, student nurses are attached to the QEH and other health institutions across the island. She said the students did not feel they were being treated fairly by nurses during those training stints. “One of the main issues that was brought up was the treatment of student nurses at the QEH by other nurses. They complained that the staff nurses at the QEH did not want to sign the books for the students at the end of the day and if you don’t get your skill book signed then you don’t get a grade. “We are also asking about passes for student nurses for parking and to get into the ward because when you go to the QEH you have to park really far or you have to go and beg someone for a pass so you can get parking inside, or you would have to wait really long outside the ward before you get inside,” she explained. Additionally, the student nurse said her colleagues were not being allowed to use the QEH’s staff clinic. She said student nurses were being turned away after being told they were not on staff. When contacted for comment, Barbados TODAY was told that BCC principal Annette Alleyne was in a meeting. A message was left for her to return the call but none was forthcoming up to time of publication. President of the Barbados Nurses’ Association (BNA) Joanna Waterman told Barbados TODAY she was unaware of the issues being faced by the student nurses and would have to investigate the matter before issuing a comment. (BT)

CUSTOMS LAG COULD BRING GREATER LOSSES – Businesses crippled by the implementation of Government’s new computerised customs management system have reportedly been promised tremendous improvements in its efficiency by the end of the week. But as the holiday season draws nearer, one well-known businessman has warned that failure to achieve the promised corrections could result in tremendous losses for local commerce. Former President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and Managing Director of Abed and Co. Ltd, Eddy Abed told Barbados TODAY today that recent discussions with key government officials late last week were very fruitful and businesses were assured key kinks were being ironed out. However, Abed fears stock backed up in the Bridgetown Port along with associated storage and demurrage fees could cause hardship if the situation does not return to normal by the middle of October. “As would be expected, we had slow deliveries meaning that some items may not have been on the shelves as soon as they should have been. Obviously there were instances where importers like myself experienced larger than normal storage charges because the process took so much longer to clear and I think the other issue is the backlog of cargo still in the port that needs to make its way through,” Abed told Barbados TODAY. “I don’t need to restate the obvious about the peak season and Christmas imports and so on. Anything that impacts on that will have extremely negative results in terms of companies trading through the very important season and of course building enough ‘fat’ in this season to take us through the ‘lean’ season and throughout the rest of the year.” Customs and the Port Authority have decided to waive most of the fees associated with storage, but importers are being asked to pay as much as $150 a day to private companies which act on behalf of cargo vessels. In such instances, contrary to promises by Government, each local business would have to navigate the fees on their own. “I do know that each importer is having a conversation with the company that charges demurrage and will deal with it on its own merit,” said Abed. In mid September, recently appointed Comptroller of Customs, Owen Holder promised “teething” issues at the port would be handled within a week and Chairman of the Barbados Port Inc, Senator Lisa Cummins promised Government would engage with shipping lines to discuss the question of demurrage charges. A month later, Abed indicated his business was experiencing “some traction” with the Asycuda World system, though not all of the problems initially experienced are behind them. Based on assurances made, he said: “Later this week, all the manual transactions involving bond entries will be eliminated and the system should be handling that in its entirety. “Working through the backlog has been one of the largest problems and while we are working through it, there will be storage charges and demurrage charges. The faster we get back to normalcy, the better for all,” Abed added. Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry President, Trisha Tannis meanwhile told Barbados TODAY she could not yet provide an update on the new system. (BT)

UNDER 5000 OUTSTANDING PAYMENTS – More than a month after extending the deadline for its settlement scheme, there is no indication how soon Resolution Life Assurance Company Limited (ResLife) will wind up the distribution of payments to the remaining eligible policyholders. The initial aim of the company, which took over the portfolio of the failed CLICO International Life Insurance, was to complete policyholder payments by the end of July 2019. The court-appointed firm then set August 31, as the date to end the distribution of payments to policyholders, before extending the deadline to September 27, to accommodate the remaining policyholders. However, a day before that deadline, the company said it would continue its structured settlement process “until further notice”. Chief Executive Officer of ResLife Cheryl Senhouse told Barbados TODAY the further extension was necessary. “We saw it necessary to continue the settlement process beyond September 27, to facilitate as many persons as possible. Our team will continue serving clients thoroughly as we have been over the last 17 weeks,” she said, opting not to give a new deadline. An estimated 17,000 policyholders are entitled to settlement. Up to the end of August, ResLife had issued payments to some 10,000 policyholders. Senhouse said to date the company has mailed settlement letters to 16,500 policyholders, and that  during the initial extended period in September, settlements were completed for approximately another 1,000 policyholders, reducing the number of uncompleted settlements to less than 5,000. There are an additional 300 policyholders with consultations scheduled for this month. There are also policyholders who have already visited ResLife and are in various stages of the settlement process. Some individuals have filed lost policy declarations and have a wait time of four weeks once the declaration notices are published. Additionally, some individuals are awaiting changes where there were discrepancies such as change to payee names and recalculation of settlements. “We will be using our best efforts during the coming weeks to complete outstanding requirements for policyholders who have already come in, while encouraging those who have not yet done so, to come in to us to receive their settlement,” said Senhouse. “Payments to financial institutions for policies, which were assigned, will continue to be processed during this time. Also, there is a list of persons whose mail was returned and whose addresses are unknown are updated and published on the website – www.reslifeassurance.com periodically. Policyholders who are entitled to a settlement and have not received letters should check the site to verify if their names appear on the list,” she said. “Information for approximately 3,800 persons who completed Bond Applications up to mid-August has been submitted to Central Bank and we are working with them to facilitate the continued issuance of statements and first quarter payments. Bond holders have already started to receive payments and others will be paid over the coming days,” she added. In relation to the company’s medical insurance portfolio, officials indicated that there was no further update. In April Barbados TODAY confirmed that five firms were vying for that portion of the business, which officials had indicated should be completed by summer. The companies were given until April 24, 2019 to indicate an interest and ResLife was expected to complete the selection process by late May or early June.(BT)

PROPER FUNDING NEEDED FOR JUDICIARY – One of Barbados’ top judges is issuing a stern warning that the country should not expect any “first world justice” with the kind of penny-pinching taking place when it comes to judicial and legal training. This caution came on Monday from Madam Justice Jacqueline Cornelius, as she called for “proper” institutional support for judges and more education on the intended purpose of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. “You cannot get first world justice if you act with third world parsimony in the area of judicial and legal training. This goes for all areas that require specialist courts, from the family court, to the sexual offences court to the commercial division,” said Cornelius, who pointed out that she was a firm advocate of specialist courts and training. “We need not only judicial officers specializing in insolvency, but also a sufficient complement of officers specialising in other areas so that those commercial judges will be free to act quickly and competently and also undergo continuous training,” she said. She was speaking on the issue of bankruptcy and insolvency legislation in the Caribbean at the IMPACT Justice meeting at the Accra Beach Hotel. The High Court Judge told the gathering that a successful insolvency regime requires trained and dedicated judges and lawyers who were accessible, quick and well supported by the private and public Bar. A successful insolvency regime, she said, also requires public sensitization and education. At the same time, she warned against copying laws from other jurisdictions without adequately making them useful for the local market. “Law reform requires more than simply purloining another jurisdiction’s legislation. It is a good way to start of course, we do not have to reinvent the wheel, but if we are to steal we may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,” she said. She said one of the major deficiencies in Barbados’ reform efforts was a failure to implement “the basic rules which would permit the proper administration of the Act”. She noted that 18 years after it was passed no rules or regulations, forms or precedents, fees or provision for licences and training for trustees have been passed. During the two-day IMPACT discussions, members of the judiciary, accountants and other stakeholders are hoping for outcomes that would result in a fully functioning insolvency regime, a revised act and rules. Cornelius pointed out that since the passage of the Act only a handful of companies had made use of it, adding that “most of the matters are still sub judice”. Meanwhile, Minister of Small Business, Entrepreneurship and Commerce Dwight Sutherland said he was aware of the “serious implications” that the delay in bankruptcy and insolvency cases could have for investors, employees and the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises sector. “As Barbados continues to roll out its economic recovery and transformation plan, aimed at addressing our fiscal deficit, the Government is cognisant that the need for reform in the area of resolving insolvency has become even more critical,” said Sutherland. Stating that since the passage of the Act there has been some “grave impact” of insolvency locally, Sutherland highlighted the case of the Harlequin Group and Redjet (Airone Ventures Ltd). In the case of Harlequin, whose Merricks, St Philip project failed back in 2013 after investors, including Government, invested millions, Sutherland said employers were left unpaid and local and international investors were still anxiously awaiting word on whether they will be able to recover any of their investment. “Some of these creditors include local small businesses, who having positioned themselves to undertake contracts with these companies, now find their own businesses impacted, having to deal with the financial fallout,” he explained. In the case of the short-lived, Barbados-based low fares carrier Redjet, Sutherland said since that company sought protection under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in 2011, the delay in its case has left a number of creditors and under 100 employees unsure if they would be able to recover any of the monies owed them by the company. He said these issues, coupled with the island’s need for improvement in the ease of doing business, proved that having strong insolvency legislation and procedures mattered. He said: “As Barbados seeks to become globally competitive, Government is committed to implementing the relevant reforms to improve the way this country does business.” Sutherland explained that the recent passing of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 2019 allowed for the establishment of a commercial court for adjudicating bankruptcy and insolvency cases, and this, coupled with the recent installation of new judges, signalled Government’s intent to address issues of court backlog and delays. (BT)

GOVERNMENT TO FOCUS ON PRISONER REHAB – Govt is considering a series of measures aimed at bringing under control the number of ex-convicts who go back into crime. Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson said HM Prison Dodds, built to accommodate 1,250 inmates, now houses some 800 inmates, with some 20 to 25 females among them. But, speaking at a church service held to mark the 12th anniversary of Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds at the Ellerton Wesleyan Holiness Church, Hinkson expressed concern about the recidivism rate. He said: “In Barbados, traditionally about 40 per cent of newly released inmates end up committing a crime within six months afterwards. “We find this occurs mostly in terms of drug-related offences, but thankfully that rate seems to be coming down.” Hinkson, the minister for prison service said: “I have to help lead discussion on the society level regarding alternative sentencing, ankle monitoring and electronic surveillance. “Presently it costs us about $32,000 to house one prisoner each year. “While we have made progress in some areas, such as the Drug Treatment Court for minor drug offences, overall we must take a closer look at our restorative justice platform, which is something all countries have to do from time to time instead of just incarcerating people.” Government also plans to examine how the judicial system deals with children as he hinted at plans to establish a family court, said to open next year. Hinkson said: “Our current Juvenile Justice Act is 100 years old, and our Government Industrial School needs to go beyond dealing with basic things like wandering or throwing rocks on the highway. “We are getting help from UNICEF on how to implement this new system, but we realise one of our challenges when we pass laws in this country is the implementation process. “We have to be fair to young people in giving them another chance in life, so it is our aim to break down all barriers to inmate rehabilitation and reintegration into society.” He commended the many volunteers who willingly gave of their time, energy and resources to assist inmates with education and spiritual guidance, noting that “research has shown when there are lots of rehabilitation programmes in prisons, there is less tension and fewer acts of violence among inmates”. The minister also called on corporate Barbados to give former offenders a chance to prove themselves by offering them jobs, “since some of the main barriers to successful integration are employment, housing and family support. “Many prison officers are also trained in counselling, which will help the inmates mend any broken relationships with their families.” He also advised Minister of Small Business Dwight Sutherland, who also attended the service as area MP, to extend the Government’s Trust Loan to former inmates who may be interested in setting up their own businesses. He expressed the view that most offenders can change and make positive contributions to society, citing the many present and former inmates who had won awards at the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) over the years. The theme for the prison’s anniversary celebrations is Breaking Down Barriers, Fostering Relationships. (BT)

SET THEM FREE – Social activist Hamilton Lashley is making a call for drug accused incarcerated for cannabis to be freed. Lashley argued that while the Mia Amor Mottley-led Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration is moving full steam ahead to legalise marijuana for medicinal purposes, the cases of those imprisoned on marijuana charges, whether on remand or serving sentences, should be reviewed by the law courts. “I believe that all those in prison now that are currently facing sentences, when they put their case at the Magistrates’ court, and say that they use it for medicinal purposes, their cases should be reviewed and they should be set free, once it becomes legal. “You can’t introduce a new piece of legislation and don’t try to validate the Act, by looking at those persons who have been sentenced. Some of them up there for two, three years. Some of them have as long as five-year sentences. The former Member of Parliament said it would be a conflict of interest if a law legalising cannabis for medicinal purposes is passed, but there are people imprisoned who in their defense had said they used it for medicinal purposes. “There must be instant reviews of those persons in my view, who have been unfaired by the legal system,” Lashley said. Prime Minister Mottley said there is no doubt that Government will put a framework in place for medical cannabis. The local Rastafarian community has been pushing for the administration to decriminalize marijuana use for religious purposes. (BT)

BRA CASHIER CHARGED – Allegations that a male cashier at the Barbados Revenue Authority willfully engaged in misconduct on six occasions landed him before the law courts today. When the matters against Dwayne Louis Antonio Babb, of Sion Hill Tenantry Road, St James came up for hearing in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court this morning, the prosecutor, Sergeant Robert Jones made a submission for the cases to remain “indictable”. Magistrate Joy-Ann Clarke so ordered just before reading the charges to Babb who was not required to plead. It is alleged that the 32-year-old public officer engaged in willful misconduct which amounted to an abuse of public trust when he did not use the required documents to register motor vehicles: MW-246 on November 15, 2018; S-6217 on November 29, 2018; MX-595 on December 7, 2018; XH-543 on October 19, 2018, P-8711 on October 29, 2018 and XE-827 on November 7, 2018. There was no objection to bail for the accused who is being represented by attorney-at-law Kendrid Sargeant. Babb was released on $2,500 bail after his surety was accepted by the magistrate. He is scheduled to reappear before the No.1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on February 17, 2020. (BT)

PSV OPERATORS APPEAR IN COURT – Four men from the public transport sector are facing a joint charge of threatening unlawful violence towards each other that caused other persons present to fear for the personal safety. However, 27-year-old Andre Jamar Atkins, of No. 3 Sands Drive, Pilgrim Road, Christ Church; 23-year-old Shaquille O’shane O’Neil Scott, of Upper Weston, St James; 34-year-old Dacian Kirt Omar Griffith, of Church Gap, Hillaby, St Andrew and 38-year-old Elvis Felix Sam, of Edgecumbe Tenantry, St Philip told Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant they were not guilty of the October 2 charge. Atkins also pleaded not guilty to using the threatening words, “I gine kill you here. I gine kill you here. Open this door so I can get inside,” towards Griffith on October 2. It is alleged that Scott also threatened Griffith on the same date with the words, “I gine chop you up.” He pleaded not guilty to the charge.There were no objections to bail for the four accused, however they were warned by the magistrate to keep the peace. As part of their bail, which was in the sum of $2,000 each, the four must now report to a police station every week. Atkins must report to the Oistins Police Station, Scott to the Holetown Police Station, Griffith to the District ‘D’ police station and Sam to the Boarded Hall police station every Wednesday by noon with valid identification. The four will reappear in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on January 2, 2020. The unlawful violence charge which is alleged to have occurred in the District ‘D’ jurisdiction will be heard in that Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, October 10.(BT)

WANTED: RAHEEM BARNETT – The Royal Barbados Police Force is seeking the assistance of the public in locating Raheem Travonte Barnett alias “Roper” who is wanted for questioning in connection with a serious criminal matter.  Barnett is 23 years old and his last known address is Lodge Road, Christ Church. He has a brown complexion and is between 5 feet 8 inches tall and 6 feet tall. He has a tattoo of the word “Roper” on his right upper arm. Barnett is advised that he can present himself to the Oistins Police Station accompanied by an attorney-at-law of his choice. Anyone who may know the whereabouts of Raheem Travonte Barnett, is asked to contact the Oistins Police Station at 418-2612 or 418-2606, Police Emergency at 211, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIPS (8477), or the nearest police station. The public is reminded that it is a serious offence to harbour or assist wanted persons; anyone caught committing this offence can be prosecuted. (DN)

MISSING RICARDO MAYNARD – The Royal Barbados Police Force is seeking the assistance of the public in locating 31-year-old Ricardo Athelston Maynard, of Lot 43 Breezy Hill, St Philip. Maynard was reported missing by his mother Yvette Maynard, 56, of the same address who last saw him around 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, September 29. She last heard from him on Monday, September 30, around 11:30 a.m. Maynard left his mother’s residence wearing a short sleeve navy blue, button down shirt, a plain grey long pants and a pair of mustard and cream coloured soft shoes.Maynard is about 5 feet 6 inches tall with short black hair, a dark complexion and walks with an erect appearance. He has brown eyes and a flat forehead, with small eyes, small nose, thick lips, short neck, bushy eyebrows and is clean shaven. He has tattoos on his left arm, right bicep and chest.He frequents Colleton, St Gorge and Nelson Street, St Michael. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Ricardo Athelston Maynard is asked to contact the police emergency number 211, District ‘C’ Police Station at 416-8200, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIPS (8477) or the nearest police station. (DN)

There are 85 days left in the year Shalom!  Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for your daily news. #thechasefiles #dailynewscaps #bajannewscaps #newsinanutshell

[babyloniastreasure]

A Theory: Gabriel Reyes didn’t hate Morrison until the end of Overwatch.

The following is an (in depth) explanation and exploration of Gabriel Reyes’s “hatred” for Jack Morrison, the relationship these men share, the fall of Overwatch that resulted from these things, Ana’s involvement, and why I believe their rivalry/mutual distaste of one another is a fairly recent problem they share.

More under the cut.

We begin with the original Overwatch Strike Team: Reyes, Morrison, Amari, Wilhelm, Lindholm, and Liao.

Made up of six members, each of which outstanding in their field, Gabriel Reyes was personally chosen by UN representatives to lead them as the Overwatch Strike Team to combat the Omnic Crisis. Under his leadership, the group succeeded time and time again and the Crisis came to an end. The UN then decided to turn their small team into a full-fledged organization, which is the Overwatch we know and love today.

Regardless of his fantastic leadership, however, Gabriel Reyes was not given the Strike Commander position under Overwatch’s name. This duty was given to his long time friend and teammate, Jack Morrison. Ana became Overwatch’s Captain, second-in-command beside Morrison. Reyes was given command of the organization’s covert ops division, Blackwatch. These three are in the most important leading positions in Overwatch, and in addition to their service prior to its creation, it was the collective thirty years of teamwork and friendship that brought them so close. While Reinhardt and Torbjorn are still close with the trio, none are closer than Reyes, Morrison, and Amari.

Now, it’s commonly believed that it was this action (Gabe not receiving the position of Strike Commander) that drove a spike between Reyes’s and Morrison’s relationship. Given the last few comics we’ve been given, however, I do not believe this is the case.

We start with the Junkenstein and Uprising comics, referencing both in tandem.

While we can’t pin exactly when this Halloween party is taking place, we can definitely deduct a few things just based on what is shown.

1) McCree and Ana are present. McCree hasn’t left Overwatch and Ana is still alive. Furthermore, Ana’s hair is graying, which makes it likely that this took place within the same decade as the events of the Uprising comic. Given the state of McCree’s facial/head hair as well, this might have been astonishingly close to the end of Overwatch. But more on that later.

2) The length of Torbjorn’s beard and Mercy’s hair. They are quite long.

2) [cont.] In Uprising, Torb and Mercy’s hair are both quite shorter than they are in Junkenstein. And as we know, Uprising takes place seven years ago, while the respective “deaths” of Reyes and Morrison take place six years ago. It’s likely that Uprising takes place a while before the events of Junkenstein do.

3) Gabe is chummy with everyone. Up until the release of the Halloween issue, we had no canon evidence of what exactly the relationship between Jack and Gabe was like. It was assumed Gabe loathed Jack for getting the position he deserved from the beginning, and very little was mentioned of any friendship. So seeing Reyes bust in with a grin and greet everybody as friends was not only refreshing, but it was insightful.

We get further evidence of a lasting, unbroken friendship in Uprising.

One of the first images we’re greeted with is Gabe, Jack, and Ana together at the terminal. They talk strategy and are still all on fantastic terms with each other. I doubt two men who absolutely loathe each other would be willing to cooperate on such a sensitive mission. And given the fact it’s mentioned that Blackwatch is currently suspended, yet here Gabriel sits alongside Overwatch’s Commander and Captain, none of them harboring any ill will towards the other? It’s unlikely these three are sour with each other. If either Gabe or Jack had resentment for the other, it would have come to light here where tensions are high.

From here, I must draw a third line of camaraderie; to Ana Amari.

Throughout the recent issues, we’ve seen this trio again and again. Jack broods over this photo of the three of them a lot, and from that we can infer that above all, he cherishes their friendship. I think the fact that he chose to study this photo while dealing with a sensitive move like the King’s Row interference shows how badly he doesn’t want this to blow up in his face. If Overwatch takes another hit, there goes the organization he built with his friends, the memories they had serving together under that name, and the opportunities to do it again. It will all be lost. Reyes and Amari mean the world to him. More than anything, he doesn’t want to lose either of them because of the decisions he makes.

But back to Ana, and more importantly, back to Reyes.

Again, we know the events of Uprising take place one year before Gabe and Jack fought. This fight blew up the Swiss Headquarters and supposedly killed both men, and shortly thereafter Overwatch in its entirety was disbanded.

Given that it was just one year until these tragic events, I draw your attention to the Legacy issue.

Ana is old. She’s got that gray hair, she states she’s weary, she says she doesn’t know how much longer she can do this. She’s on this mission with Morrison, which means the Swiss HQ incident has yet to happen. So, at this point, she’s 54 years old. By now Reinhardt was already forced into retirement, the uprising in King’s Row has been dealt with, and as we know, this rescue was Ana’s last mission as an Overwatch agent.

She ignores Jack’s order to evacuate once their team loses members to Widowmaker, and she ends up severely injured. Ana gets left behind, and she is presumed dead. Jack Morrison must return to Overwatch with the news that Ana Amari has fallen in battle. And who does he have to tell?

Gabriel Reyes.

And Gabe is fucking pissed.

Under Morrison’s leadership, their mission failed. Under Morrison’s leadership, Ana was not evacuated. Under Morrison’s leadership he did not delay the drop ship’s take off to give her more time, he did not go back and try to find her, he didn’t even send for her body when it was all said and done. To Gabriel, a man who wasn’t there, a man who has worked every day dealing with criminals and dangerous missions that Overwatch doesn’t want to handle, a man who has risked his life and still shown compassion at every turn, to leave Ana Amari behind is beyond unacceptable. And by Jack Morrison! Best friends of thirty years and he just...leaves her there?

(While it’s understandable to the mission why Jack didn’t turn back and try to get her, to Gabriel this action is unthinkable. After all, it wasn’t Morrison who gave the unfortunately mixed-up-in-bad-business teenage cowboy a second chance, was it? Reyes has always shown compassion in his own ways, and given that compassion I believe he would have absolutely risked his own life to save Ana’s if there was a chance.)

This is further proven by Reyes’s (Now Reaper) dialogue in Old Soldiers.

“They left you to die.”

Even though this line is squished between several others that have to do with his personal suffering, the fact that Reaper mentions Ana’s well being reflects that he still cares about the circumstances surrounding her death. It still bothers him.

In the eyes of Gabriel Reyes, Jack Morrison is directly responsible for the death of one of his best friends. In Old Soldiers it’s been six years since she was presumed dead. And from the way Gabe sees it, Jack did nothing to try and save her when it could have been possible. He turned his back on their dearest friend, he left her to die when Reyes wouldn’t have thought twice about rescuing her. It drills him to the bone, and how does he cope?

He takes out all of his frustrations and anger directly upon the man he sees as responsible, Jack Morrison. They fight, the HQ explodes, and both men are presumed dead. Their mutual hatred for each other comes not from some dumb promotion, it comes from the fact that they tried to kill each other over a misunderstanding that never happened in the first place.

So.

To summarize:

It was the death of Ana Amari, and Jack’s assumed unwillingness to try and save her, that drove a stake between the life long friendship of Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison.

This became a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. Thanks for sticking around and reading my take on this piece of lore, and if you have any feedback or additions or even questions I’ll happily take them and answer them.

[delwin47]

Fanfic (ST:Voy), Reckonings

One more early Voyager fic from me -- Happy Voyager Anniversary, everyone and thank you to @alphaflyer @rikerssexblouse and @pg1890 for joining the fun!

Summary: Voyager's first three days stuck in the Delta Quadrant: two crews, one ship and, of course, Tom Paris.

Originally posted on FFN and AO3

Reckonings

Stardate 48321.46: 12 hours after the destruction of the Caretaker's array...

He might as well paint a giant red X on his back.

After all, an X, no matter how large and how red, couldn't possibly be as conspicuous as the uniform in his hands.

Starfleet command red. The Paris legacy. And now the unmistakeable sign of Tom Paris's treachery to the three dozen or so Maquis with whom he will apparently be sharing Voyager's fifteen decks for the immediate future.

Sliding the silky material through his fingers, Tom's expression twists into a humorless grin.

He's so very screwed.

Mustn't forget to add to those Maquis a crew of over a hundred Starfleet personnel all of whom think that he is the worst sort of disgrace to that same uniform...

...except the Captain.

The captain who put him back behind the helm of a starship.

Tom's fingers twitch as he mentally runs through the series of banks and turns, twists and dives that he guided Voyager through as they battled the Kazon less than twelve hours before. Whoever developed that bio-neural circuitry knew their stuff: Voyager responded to his commands like no other Starfleet ship he'd ever piloted.

And her captain evidently makes command decisions like no other captain Tom has ever encountered – and he's known a few. Who but Kathryn Janeway would hand over her ship to a paroled convict with a more than checkered service record?

Tom shakes his head in bemusement as he pulls on first the uniform pants and then the shirt. At least he'll provide a subject upon which Voyager's crew and their Maquis...guests? passengers? prisoners? can agree – everyone (except the Captain) hates Thomas Eugene Paris.

As he pins the communicator to his shirt, it promptly chirps to life :Kim to Paris:

"Paris here," Tom responds. "What can I do for you, Harry?" And he can't help smiling to himself: make that 'except the Captain and Ensign Harry Kim'.

:Do you have an hour or so? I'm in the middle of trying to figure out how to adapt the navigational systems to our...current coordinates and I could use a second pair of eyes:

All crises having passed for the moment, Tom has nothing if not time. Answering Harry in the affirmative, he slips on his boots, does a quick check in the mirror (the empty gray collar still pulls his attention like the gap from a missing tooth) and heads out the door – eyes straight ahead, mouth firmly and wisely set shut.

As it turns out, the corridors of Voyager are next to empty. Tom passes two or three of the Voyager crew but not a single Maquis. Come to think of it, he isn't sure what happened to Chakotay, Torres and the others once Janeway cleared her bridge – he and Harry were busy trying to find a relatively safe section of space into which to move Voyager. Are the Maquis now confined to quarters? Or the brig?

Having spent more than his fair share of time in starship brigs, Tom feels a brief flash of sympathy for the possible fate of the Val Jean's crew, but mostly he's glad to be spared becoming walking target practice, at least for the moment. When the doors of his destination slide open, he exhales heavily.

"Tom!" Harry turns to greet him, pausing in his work at the sole terminal in the room to do so. "Thanks for coming down."

"No problem." Tom glances around the gridded room appreciatively. "They made them bigger."

Harry follows his gaze and frowns. "The holodecks?"

Tom nods, estimating. "It looks like they increased both the area and the height. That gives some interesting extra potential for programs with multiple participants."

"Are you a holo-programmer?" Harry sounds surprised.

Tom considers that as he walks to join the younger man at the terminal. "Only as a hobby," he clarifies. "And 'was', not 'am'. I haven't been in a holodeck or holosuite since...for a couple of years."

Harry glances over, obviously trying to decide which tack to take in navigating the hazardous topic of Tom's recent history. "Well, now you are," he tries with only somewhat forced cheer. Then, with a grimace, "And we're all certainly going to need some new entertainment over the next seventy years so you'd better brush off those programming skills."

There are any number of questionable assumptions built into Harry's comment, but Tom chooses to address one of the less personal ones. "Given the circumstances, Harry, I'm pretty sure Janeway's not likely to authorize the use of energy for holodeck entertainment."

Harry shrugs. "The holodecks are on a separate grid from the rest of the ship. Their energy is incompatible with the main systems." He turns back to the computer. "That's actually why I'm working down here: it's more energy efficient to run simulations through the holodecks than through the main computer."

Despite everything, Tom chuckles. "So we may all starve out here, but even unofficial crew might be able to score holodeck privileges? Hell, maybe I'll invite Chakotay and his gang down to play some Velocity."

"Now that may be more difficult."

Which is interesting in itself, but even more interesting is the tone in which Harry drops his hint – the tone of someone with a nugget of information that he is all too eager to share. The straight-as-an-arrow Ensign Harry Kim is, Tom surmises, a first rate gossip hound.

Given that this particular nugget is one in which he has a personal interest, Tom has no problem biting. "And why is that?"

As expected, Kim pauses in his work and gives Tom his full attention. "Well, according to B'Elanna..."

"When were you talking to Torres?" No, not 'Torres'. 'B'Elanna'. When had that happened?

"The Captain ordered us both back down to Sickbay so that the Emergency Medical Hologram could make sure that virus or whatever it was that the Caretaker put into our systems was completely cleared out," Harry explains offhandedly, clearly impatient to get back to his point. "Anyway, B'Elanna said that all of the Maquis had been packed into various crew quarters and confined there."

Which is good news for Tom as evidently the lack of Maquis roaming the corridors this morning wasn't just a coincidence. But he finds himself backtracking through Harry's statement. "So are you okay? With the virus, I mean?"

Harry shrugs again, unconcerned. "Oh yeah. The EMH fixed that right up." Then he looks at Tom more directly. "By the way, I never did thank you for coming after me – or us – down there. We were in pretty bad shape before you found us. You probably saved our lives."

Tom scratches at the back of his neck. "You and Torres are both pretty stubborn. I'm sure you would have clawed your way out of there eventually."

Harry just grins. "So there's that, plus the Ferengi thing on DS9, not to mention your...help on the bridge yesterday – that's at least three I owe you, Paris."

The tone is light and casual: this is part of the script, the usual back-and-forth between crewmates who are used to putting their lives in each other's hands on a regular basis.

But it brings Tom up short. Because he and Harry are not, in fact, crewmates. And he disqualified himself from this sort of banter more than two years ago. Which no one seems to have any trouble remembering – except Harry.

Speaking of owing someone...

"Hey, Tom?" Harry glances over at him quizzically. "You okay?"

Tom blinks away his train of thought and turns back to his friend. "Yeah, Harry." Then he grins and briefly clasps the younger man's shoulder. "I'm fine." He turns his attention to the console. "Weren't you looking for my help with something?"

They spend the next hour working out how to compensate for the Delta Quadrant's lack of Federation navigational infrastructure until Harry is due to report back to the bridge. Once they part outside the holodeck, Tom begins to make his way back to his quarters, passing through still quiet and nearly empty corridors.

So at least he is running good there.

.

Stardate 48324.2: 36 hours after the destruction of the array...

So much for running good – though it was nice while it lasted.

Tom walks through the doors of the mess hall to find it – as expected – crawling with a dozen or so leather-clad Maquis.

An attempt to replicate breakfast in his quarters an hour earlier had been frustrated by an inactive replicator and a cheerful explanation from the computer that all meals were to be taken in the mess hall in order to maximize power conservation and centralize ration distribution. His brief musing on whether that would include the Maquis was answered by playing back an obviously hastily composed message from Harry which strongly suggested that Tom might want to wait until the ensign's shift break to head down to the mess hall for a meal.

Maquis included then.

Tom had taken a moment to wonder exactly how the negotiations on that one had gone down. Most likely Chakotay had pledged the good behavior of his crew – a pledge, no doubt, made in good faith and one that would be largely effective.

With the notable exception of behavior toward a certain ex-Maquis-turned-rat.

Having sent back a quick note declining Harry's well-intentioned but ultimately futile offer – Tom couldn't exactly hide behind the younger man for the next seventy years – Tom had made the decision to head directly into the line of fire.

His entrance immediately draws the attention of every person in the room, including the two Starfleet security officers who have clearly been stationed there to maintain order.

Neither of them looks exactly glad to see him.

Tom nods in their direction anyway but doesn't bother to wait for their acknowledgment. Feigning unconcern, he grabs a tray and makes his request of the replicator before moving to an open table where his back will be to the replicator and the door but he'll maintain a clear view of the full room and its occupants.

His attention ostensibly on his food, Tom takes a census of his fellow diners. Henley and Jonas occupy one table with two other Maquis whom he doesn't recognize. At the sight of him, Henley looks somewhat obscenely like a cat who's just been presented with an unexpected bowl of milk – or perhaps more accurately with a mouse with which to play. On the other side of the room, Chell's blue head glows as he whispers animatedly to the fellow Bolian seated across from him, his pointing finger and equally pointed gaze leaving little doubt as to the subject of his commentary. At a third table, Ken Dalby sits alone, tray pushed away. Slouched against the back of his chair, his arms are folded tightly to his chest and his calculating eyes are locked on Tom.

The other half dozen Maquis are unknown to Tom, evidently having joined Chakotay's crew after his own precipitous departure. But, based on the glares they are aiming in his direction, that's not affecting their ability to take Tom's betrayal personally.

Thirteen.

And all of them with very little left to lose.

A glance over at the gold-uniformed Starfleet officers confirms that help from that corner will be slow to arrive at best. Both men have subtly turned their shoulders, suggesting that it might well take an extra few seconds for them to notice any trouble starting in the direction of Voyager's observer.

And Tom well knows that a lot can happen in a few seconds.

He scans the room once more for potential sources of aid...like whom? Unless Harry cuts out in the middle of his bridge shift for a snack of ration bars... Chakotay, maybe? Tom did save the guy's life and, whatever else one might say about the man, one couldn't really doubt his sense of honor. Torres? An odd twist in his gut reminds him just how thoroughly he's burned that bridge.

"Tom Paris?"

He jumps violently at the soft voice. Little good it does keeping a view of the room before him if he misses the entrance of someone from behind. Twisting around, he identifies the voice's owner and hastily stands to cover the severity of his reaction. "That's me, yes." And then, regaining his composure, he adds, "It's Kes, right?"

The young woman nods, smiling and, despite the roomful of Maquis, Tom feels some of the tightness in his back and shoulders ease.

Motioning with the food tray in her hands, she asks, "May I join you?"

Tom nods, indicating the other chair and going so far as to pull it out for her. Kes sits, her back now to the room. Looking over her shoulder, Tom doesn't fail to notice that the security officers are once again on full alert: Tom Paris might be an easy victim to sacrifice but the elfin newcomer who has somewhat unwisely chosen to join him evidently is not.

Although, as Tom surveys the rest of the mess hall, the officers' renewed attention may be unneeded. The Maquis have turned back to their meals and the tension in the air has abated. He finds himself unsurprised that Kes seems to have called out the better angels of the freedom fighters' natures.

She might as well be an angel herself, with that air of innocence and kindness that seems to emanate from her. 'Unearthly' might be a fair descriptor and perhaps appropriate for a species that only lives nine years.

"I've been looking for the chance to thank you," Kes begins, interrupting his thoughts.

"To thank me?"

"For helping to rescue me." At what must be his somewhat blank look, she clarifies, "From Jabin."

"Ah." He has somehow almost forgotten about finding her beaten and half-starved in the Kazon encampment – had that only been two days ago? The holographic doctor did its work well and quickly in healing her. Not quite so innocent, then, and that kindness is more hard won than he was giving her credit for. "That wasn't our intent in going down to the surface," Tom explains honestly, then adds, "but I'm certainly happy to have helped."

Kes smiles warmly and, without thought, Tom smiles back. It's such an easy, natural interaction, without calculation. When did that become so unusual?

They both take a bite or two of their meals and Kes's gaze moves to the mess hall's expansive viewports. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she comments, indicating the starscape outside those ports. "And it's so amazing to be traveling through open space like this."

Having spent far too much of the last year landlocked, Tom can agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly. "You've never been off-planet before, have you?"

"No." Kes's eyes are still on the stars. "Neelix told me stories – about his ship and all the different systems and planets – all the different species." She gives a self-deprecating shrug. "They seemed like fairy tales at the time."

"And now you're going to live that fairy tale," Tom points out to her. "You and Neelix can travel to all of those places."

"That's true," she agrees, taking another bite of food. "Still," and she looks back out at the stars, "I can't help but wonder what it would be like to see it all from this ship – to be a member of a starship crew." She turns back to him with another enchanting smile. "It must be a wonderful life."

Tom chokes a little on a bite of food that seems to have gotten caught in his throat. At the sound, Henley glances back in his direction, likely hoping to witness his untimely demise courtesy of a ration bar. Jonas says something to draw her attention back and she joins in her tablemates' laughter. To the side of the room, the two security officers are chatting quietly with each other. For the moment, Tom Paris is forgotten.

Which is about the best that he can hope for.

"Yeah," he agrees roughly. And his own eyes turn to the starscape. "It must be."

.

  Stardate 48326.94: 60 hours after the destruction of the array...

Two quadrants away from Earth and San Francisco, but "Hurry up and wait" is still evidently the unofficial Starfleet motto for those lacking in rank insignia.

How many times during their first weeks at the Academy did Tom and his cohorts sprint in order to arrive at designated place X at appointed time Y only to spend the next half hour cooling their heels and waiting on someone higher up in the Starfleet pecking order?

Of course, at that point, 'someone' could have been just about anyone in uniform: it was pretty much impossible to get lower in the food chain than a freshly arrived Academy cadet.

Well, pretty much impossible unless you happened to be Thomas Eugene Paris. Seems like he's managed to accomplish that feat quite neatly.

Across the bridge at the tactical station, the lieutenant on duty – Andrews, maybe? – hasn't stopped glaring at him since Tom walked onto the bridge.

Perhaps 'rushed' more than 'walked'. Old habits die hard and one wouldn't want to be late when summoned by the captain of the ship to her ready room. Particularly when that captain put the helm of that ship in one's hands three days before. Even more particularly when one hasn't heard a word from that captain since finally, reluctantly turning that helm back over to someone whose gray collar wasn't bare.

Not that he blames her for the lack of communication. Right now Kathryn Janeway has bigger issues to deal with than the ex-Starfleet-lieutenant, ex-Maquis-pilot, current-convict-on-probation who happens to be an observer on her ship.

Like what to do with the three dozen not-so-ex Maquis who also happen to be residing on that ship.

Andrews hasn't let up his glower, and Tom begins to wonder if he's managed to do something to piss off the guy personally, beyond the usual 'cashiered out of Starfleet and convicted felon' stuff. Doesn't he have a station he's supposed to be monitoring anyway?

"Lieutenant?" comes Harry's voice from behind Tom at ops. "Could you confirm that the energy signature in grid forty seven is just a pocket of ambient radiation? My reading is unclear."

At which Andrews finally looks back down at his board. The corner of Tom's mouth twitches upward into something between a smirk and a grin, but he resists the urge to look back at Harry, instead mentally adding to his tally of what he owes the younger man.

Tom's actually been doing a good bit of mental calculating in the last couple of days – and not with good results. The inescapable conclusion of his ruminations has been that Voyager needs the Maquis. Without them, she simply will not have the manpower she needs to function sustainably, not to mention to begin a journey home.

And, if he's being honest, Tom knows that most of the Val Jean's crew are good people with talents that could serve Voyager well. Hell, Torres by herself would probably cut the length of the journey back to the Alpha Quadrant in half if given a crack at the engines. A captain would be foolish not to utilize those talents and foolish Kathryn Janeway is not.

Which is not good news for Tom Paris.

The Captain will not ask him to leave, he knows that. For one, he's his father's son, and secondly, it is by her request that Tom is on Voyager and in the Delta Quadrant to begin with. The combination of loyalty and slight guilt will ensure him a bunk and rations. But, if his existence is going to be limited to draining Voyager's resources and staying one step ahead of a Maquis lynch mob, he might as well still be in that penal colony in New Zealand.

From the conn, Culhane calls over to where Tuvok sits in the captain's chair: "Sir, I have the results of the navigational surveys that you asked me to run."

Without meaning to, Tom looks over at the ensign and Voyager's helm. Had it been for an hour, maybe two that he had occupied Culhane's seat?

The chance to fly again had been an unexpected and incredible gift; even more so had been the act of faith which had put him at the conn – the particular type of faith that a captain must have in her crew and that Tom thought he had forfeited forever.

Tom's eyes move again to the helm, so tantalizingly close.

Yet still absolutely out of his reach.

He may have raced like a new cadet to answer Janeway's summons, but the news awaiting him in the ready room can only be bad.

Despite that, he'll take the opportunity to thank her for giving him one more chance to fly a starship and to feel – if only for that short time – like a member of a crew again. For that, she has his endless gratitude.

The ready room door slides open, and Chakotay walks out, distracted and thoughtful. He glances Tom's way, but his look is without acknowledgment and inscrutable. He continues without pause to the turbolift and exits the bridge without a word.

Drawing on years of practice, Tom tries to school his own features back to impassivity as he steps up to the ready room door and sounds the chime. But, even though he refuses to glance back at the helm one more time, there is a tightness to his jaw that he can't ease as the door opens before him and he steps through.

Time to be cut loose again.

[lawfultruth]

Late Notice of Claim Precludes Coverage

Readers know that it doesn’t take much to get me up on my hobby horse about insurers trying to deny coverage based on the late provision of notice. In general, I am against a mere procedural fault causing a complete coverage forfeiture. Every now and then though there is a case where the policyholder’s lack of diligence makes the case against the insurer’s coverage defense very tough.  A recent decision out of the District of Minnesota provides an example where the extent and nature of the policyholder’s delay in providing notice of claim made the argument in favor of coverage very difficult. But while the insurer’s denial of coverage based on policyholder’s late provision of notice arguably was justifiable in the case, the circumstances involved still present some important lessons both about notice of claim and about the policyholder’s obligations under the policy.

  District of Minnesota Judge Susan Richard Nelson’s August 26, 2019 opinion in the case can be found here. A September 18, 2019 post on the Wiley Rein law firm’s Executive Summary Blog about the case can be found here.

  Background

Assessment Systems is a consulting services and testing software company. Assessment Systems entered into a contract to provide services to Crane, a company that certifies crane operators. During the course of the contract, Crane contended that the software Assessment Systems provided failed to function under the terms of the parties’ agreement, and refused payment.

  In June 2017, Assessment Systems sued Crane alleging breach of contract and seeking damages for non-payment. On April 21, 2017, Crane answered and filed a counterclaim against Assessment Systems asserting breach of contract and breach of warranty. The initial discovery deadline was December 15, 2017, but it was extended to April 23, 2018.

  Assessment Systems provided notice of the counterclaim to its Business Owners’ policy insurer on April 19, 2018 – as the Court later observed, the notice was provided “approximately one year after the Counterclaim was filed, and only four days prior to the close of discovery.” Prior to providing notice, Assessment Systems did not obtain any discovery supporting or refuting and of Crane’s asserted damages relating to Crane’s counterclaim and did not depose any witnesses, including Crane’s expert witness.

  The reason Assessment Systems did not provide notice of the counterclaim earlier is that its Director of Human Services – the employee responsible for managing insurance coverage issues for the company – was terminated in December 2017 and  had never informed Assessment Systems of the need to make a claim to the insurer. As the Court later noted, “No explanation is offered by Assessment Systems for why notice was not provided to Citizens during [the] eight months” prior to the HR director’s termination. After the HR director’s departure, another employee took responsibility for the insurance matters, and ultimately discovered the insurance policy from which Assessment Systems sought coverage, and then caused Assessment Systems to provide notice to the insurer.

  On May 21, 2018, the insurer appointed counsel to represent Assessment Systems with respect to the counterclaim. Assessment Systems, with the assistance of counsel appointed by the insurer, move for partial summary judgment with respect to a contractual limitation on Crane’s claimed damages. The court granted the motion, but preserved for trial questions of damages stemming from amounts Crane had paid under the contract. Trial in the case is currently set for September 30, 2019.

  The insurer filed a federal court action seeking a judicial declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Assessment Systems in the underlying lawsuit. The insurer filed a motion for summary judgment.

  The claims-made insurance policy that the insurer issued to Assessment Systems provided, among other things, that “If a ‘claim’ is made against ‘you,’ you must see to it that we receive written notice of the ‘claim’ as soon as practicable.”

  The August 26, 2019 Opinion

In an August 26, 2019 opinion, District of Minnesota Judge Susan Richard Nelson, applying Minnesota law, granted the insurer’s summary judgment motion.

  Judge Nelson first determined that although the policy did not specific say so, timely notice is required as a condition precedent to coverage under the insurer’s policy. The “plain and natural language” of the policy’s insuring agreement specifies that the policy’s coverage applies “only if” the policyholder provides notice of claim to the policy. Judge Nelson also noted as a general matter the claims-made policies require notice before insurance coverage attaches.

  Judge Nelson then concluded that notice requirement of the policy is “material” to the insurance agreement and therefore cannot be excused. She said that “considering the integral nature of notice to the insurer in claims-made insurance policies, and because the Policy at issue here is a claims-made policy, the Court holds as matter of law that the notice requirement in the Policy is ‘material’ – indeed a ‘basic’ or foundational – term of the insurance agreement.” As a material condition precedent to coverage, the notice requirement “must be literally met or exactly fulfilled” or no liability can arise on the promise qualified by the condition.

  Judge Nelson then concluded that “the undisputed facts demonstrate that notice was not given as soon as practicable.” The neglect of the company’s terminated HR director “is not a valid reason to delay notice,” particularly given the eight-month delay after the counterclaim was served and the HR director was terminated. The negligence of an employee, Judge Nelson said, “does not excuse a company’s failure to comply with a contract.” Holding otherwise, Judge Nelson said, “would permit employers to dodge insurance contract requirements where their employees are less than vigilant on insurance matters, which in turn may prejudice the insurer because the lapse of time can deprive the insurer of the opportunity for prompt investigation and impede defense against fraudulent claims.”

  Finally, Judge Nelson noted that although a showing of prejudice is not required under Minnesota law for an insurer to assert late notice as a defense to coverage, “even if a showing of actual prejudice were required, there is not genuine dispute of material fact that [the insurer] suffered actual prejudice as a result of Assessment Systems’ untimely notice.” During the period of the delayed notice, Assessment Systems conducted no discovery of Crane’s counterclaims and took no depositions, including no deposition of Crane’s expert. The notice was provide to the insurer just four days before the discovery deadline, and while some of Crane’s damages claims were defeated by Assessment System’s partial summary judgment motion, Assessment Systems is unable to conduct any discovery of Crane’s remaining damages claims.

  Discussion

It is always going to be a tough fight for a policyholder if its best argument against its insurer’s late notice defense is that the notice was untimely due to the neglect of an incompetent employee who ultimately was fired. However, I will say that almost every late notice dispute involves some element of oversight or omission. The fact is that in my experience, late notice happens. It happens for lots of reasons or for no reason at all. The question that the late provision of notice always presents, regardless of its cause, is whether the fact that notice was not timely provided should operate as a complete forfeiture of coverage.

  In this case, Judge Nelson in effect anticipated my usual fall back argument about late notice, which is that the insurer ought not to be able to rely on the late notice to defeat coverage unless the untimeliness of the notice prejudiced the insurer’s interests. Here, though the insurer was not required under Minnesota law to establish that it was prejudiced by the late notice, Judge Nelson said that even if prejudice were required, the record shows that the late provision of notice did prejudice the insurer. (Indeed, it could be said that not only was Assessment Systems not diligent in protecting its interests under the policy, but diligence as similarly lacking in the way the company defended itself against Crane’s counterclaim.)

  The best that can be said about this case is that it demonstrates a point that I often make when discussing notice issues, which is the importance for policyholders to be diligent in protecting their interests under the insurance policies. While there are many arguments I am prepared to make to try to counteract insurer’s attempts to avoid coverage, the most effective way for policyholders to preserve coverage is to avoid giving the insurer grounds on which to rely in trying to deny coverage. Well-advised policyholders will take appropriate steps to protect their interests, including take all steps to fulfill the policyholder’s obligations under the policy. (In one of the units in my series on the Nuts and Bolts D&O insurance, I discuss the policyholder’s various policy obligations at greater length.)

  There are some other lessons here. First, the function of administering a company’s insurance program is a very important responsibility. It should be undertaken by someone with a certain amount of sophistication and experience – and competence. With all due respect to persons who serve in the role of HR director, the HR department is not necessarily the first place that comes to mind when you are thinking about where within a company to place the insurance management function. The key is that the insurance administration function is an important one; it should be treated as an important function and the responsibility for the function should be assigned in recognition of the function’s importance.

  Second, as I think this case shows, it may not always be obvious when a claim has arisen. The underlying dispute here began as an attempt by Assessment Systems to collect unpaid amounts due from Crane under the service contract. The lawsuit only became a matter of relevance to the insurance policy when Crane filed the counterclaim. As often happens when litigation unfolds, it may not have occurred to anyone at Assessment Systems that what had started out as essentially a collection lawsuit had become a matter for which its insurance policy might provide coverage.

  The failure to recognize that a given matter is or has become something to which the insurance might be relevant happens fairly often. One of the reasons for this failure to recognize a claim is that the policy’s definition of Claim is so broad these days, encompassing a wide variety of legal matters. Another reason for the failure to recognize a claim is, as was the case here that various legal matters may not start out as claims but become claims later on.

  This failure to recognize a claim problem is a tough one. More than once in my career I have been in routine renewal conversations with clients and in the course of discussion it will just come out that there is some pending matter that does or could be a claim under the policy. (Many practitioners will no doubt themselves be familiar with these “Oh, by the way…” kinds of conversations.) As advisors, the best we can try to do to help our clients avoid getting in this kind of situation is to remind them frequently of the breadth of the policy’s definition of the term claim and of the importance of providing the insurer with timely notice.

  All of that said, and as I noted above, I am still prepared to argue as much as possible and in many situations that the late provision of notice should not effect a complete forfeiture of coverage. The fact is that when humans are involved, things like the late provision of notice are going to happen. The policy should be administered in a way that makes allowances for the fact that humans are involved.

The post Late Notice of Claim Precludes Coverage appeared first on The D&O Diary.

Late Notice of Claim Precludes Coverage syndicated from https://ronenkurzfeldweb.wordpress.com/

[simonconsultancypage]

Late Notice of Claim Precludes Coverage

Readers know that it doesn’t take much to get me up on my hobby horse about insurers trying to deny coverage based on the late provision of notice. In general, I am against a mere procedural fault causing a complete coverage forfeiture. Every now and then though there is a case where the policyholder’s lack of diligence makes the case against the insurer’s coverage defense very tough.  A recent decision out of the District of Minnesota provides an example where the extent and nature of the policyholder’s delay in providing notice of claim made the argument in favor of coverage very difficult. But while the insurer’s denial of coverage based on policyholder’s late provision of notice arguably was justifiable in the case, the circumstances involved still present some important lessons both about notice of claim and about the policyholder’s obligations under the policy.

  District of Minnesota Judge Susan Richard Nelson’s August 26, 2019 opinion in the case can be found here. A September 18, 2019 post on the Wiley Rein law firm’s Executive Summary Blog about the case can be found here.

  Background

Assessment Systems is a consulting services and testing software company. Assessment Systems entered into a contract to provide services to Crane, a company that certifies crane operators. During the course of the contract, Crane contended that the software Assessment Systems provided failed to function under the terms of the parties’ agreement, and refused payment.

  In June 2017, Assessment Systems sued Crane alleging breach of contract and seeking damages for non-payment. On April 21, 2017, Crane answered and filed a counterclaim against Assessment Systems asserting breach of contract and breach of warranty. The initial discovery deadline was December 15, 2017, but it was extended to April 23, 2018.

  Assessment Systems provided notice of the counterclaim to its Business Owners’ policy insurer on April 19, 2018 – as the Court later observed, the notice was provided “approximately one year after the Counterclaim was filed, and only four days prior to the close of discovery.” Prior to providing notice, Assessment Systems did not obtain any discovery supporting or refuting and of Crane’s asserted damages relating to Crane’s counterclaim and did not depose any witnesses, including Crane’s expert witness.

  The reason Assessment Systems did not provide notice of the counterclaim earlier is that its Director of Human Services – the employee responsible for managing insurance coverage issues for the company – was terminated in December 2017 and  had never informed Assessment Systems of the need to make a claim to the insurer. As the Court later noted, “No explanation is offered by Assessment Systems for why notice was not provided to Citizens during [the] eight months” prior to the HR director’s termination. After the HR director’s departure, another employee took responsibility for the insurance matters, and ultimately discovered the insurance policy from which Assessment Systems sought coverage, and then caused Assessment Systems to provide notice to the insurer.

  On May 21, 2018, the insurer appointed counsel to represent Assessment Systems with respect to the counterclaim. Assessment Systems, with the assistance of counsel appointed by the insurer, move for partial summary judgment with respect to a contractual limitation on Crane’s claimed damages. The court granted the motion, but preserved for trial questions of damages stemming from amounts Crane had paid under the contract. Trial in the case is currently set for September 30, 2019.

  The insurer filed a federal court action seeking a judicial declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Assessment Systems in the underlying lawsuit. The insurer filed a motion for summary judgment.

  The claims-made insurance policy that the insurer issued to Assessment Systems provided, among other things, that “If a ‘claim’ is made against ‘you,’ you must see to it that we receive written notice of the ‘claim’ as soon as practicable.”

  The August 26, 2019 Opinion

In an August 26, 2019 opinion, District of Minnesota Judge Susan Richard Nelson, applying Minnesota law, granted the insurer’s summary judgment motion.

  Judge Nelson first determined that although the policy did not specific say so, timely notice is required as a condition precedent to coverage under the insurer’s policy. The “plain and natural language” of the policy’s insuring agreement specifies that the policy’s coverage applies “only if” the policyholder provides notice of claim to the policy. Judge Nelson also noted as a general matter the claims-made policies require notice before insurance coverage attaches.

  Judge Nelson then concluded that notice requirement of the policy is “material” to the insurance agreement and therefore cannot be excused. She said that “considering the integral nature of notice to the insurer in claims-made insurance policies, and because the Policy at issue here is a claims-made policy, the Court holds as matter of law that the notice requirement in the Policy is ‘material’ – indeed a ‘basic’ or foundational – term of the insurance agreement.” As a material condition precedent to coverage, the notice requirement “must be literally met or exactly fulfilled” or no liability can arise on the promise qualified by the condition.

  Judge Nelson then concluded that “the undisputed facts demonstrate that notice was not given as soon as practicable.” The neglect of the company’s terminated HR director “is not a valid reason to delay notice,” particularly given the eight-month delay after the counterclaim was served and the HR director was terminated. The negligence of an employee, Judge Nelson said, “does not excuse a company’s failure to comply with a contract.” Holding otherwise, Judge Nelson said, “would permit employers to dodge insurance contract requirements where their employees are less than vigilant on insurance matters, which in turn may prejudice the insurer because the lapse of time can deprive the insurer of the opportunity for prompt investigation and impede defense against fraudulent claims.”

  Finally, Judge Nelson noted that although a showing of prejudice is not required under Minnesota law for an insurer to assert late notice as a defense to coverage, “even if a showing of actual prejudice were required, there is not genuine dispute of material fact that [the insurer] suffered actual prejudice as a result of Assessment Systems’ untimely notice.” During the period of the delayed notice, Assessment Systems conducted no discovery of Crane’s counterclaims and took no depositions, including no deposition of Crane’s expert. The notice was provide to the insurer just four days before the discovery deadline, and while some of Crane’s damages claims were defeated by Assessment System’s partial summary judgment motion, Assessment Systems is unable to conduct any discovery of Crane’s remaining damages claims.

  Discussion

It is always going to be a tough fight for a policyholder if its best argument against its insurer’s late notice defense is that the notice was untimely due to the neglect of an incompetent employee who ultimately was fired. However, I will say that almost every late notice dispute involves some element of oversight or omission. The fact is that in my experience, late notice happens. It happens for lots of reasons or for no reason at all. The question that the late provision of notice always presents, regardless of its cause, is whether the fact that notice was not timely provided should operate as a complete forfeiture of coverage.

  In this case, Judge Nelson in effect anticipated my usual fall back argument about late notice, which is that the insurer ought not to be able to rely on the late notice to defeat coverage unless the untimeliness of the notice prejudiced the insurer’s interests. Here, though the insurer was not required under Minnesota law to establish that it was prejudiced by the late notice, Judge Nelson said that even if prejudice were required, the record shows that the late provision of notice did prejudice the insurer. (Indeed, it could be said that not only was Assessment Systems not diligent in protecting its interests under the policy, but diligence as similarly lacking in the way the company defended itself against Crane’s counterclaim.)

  The best that can be said about this case is that it demonstrates a point that I often make when discussing notice issues, which is the importance for policyholders to be diligent in protecting their interests under the insurance policies. While there are many arguments I am prepared to make to try to counteract insurer’s attempts to avoid coverage, the most effective way for policyholders to preserve coverage is to avoid giving the insurer grounds on which to rely in trying to deny coverage. Well-advised policyholders will take appropriate steps to protect their interests, including take all steps to fulfill the policyholder’s obligations under the policy. (In one of the units in my series on the Nuts and Bolts D&O insurance, I discuss the policyholder’s various policy obligations at greater length.)

  There are some other lessons here. First, the function of administering a company’s insurance program is a very important responsibility. It should be undertaken by someone with a certain amount of sophistication and experience – and competence. With all due respect to persons who serve in the role of HR director, the HR department is not necessarily the first place that comes to mind when you are thinking about where within a company to place the insurance management function. The key is that the insurance administration function is an important one; it should be treated as an important function and the responsibility for the function should be assigned in recognition of the function’s importance.

  Second, as I think this case shows, it may not always be obvious when a claim has arisen. The underlying dispute here began as an attempt by Assessment Systems to collect unpaid amounts due from Crane under the service contract. The lawsuit only became a matter of relevance to the insurance policy when Crane filed the counterclaim. As often happens when litigation unfolds, it may not have occurred to anyone at Assessment Systems that what had started out as essentially a collection lawsuit had become a matter for which its insurance policy might provide coverage.

  The failure to recognize that a given matter is or has become something to which the insurance might be relevant happens fairly often. One of the reasons for this failure to recognize a claim is that the policy’s definition of Claim is so broad these days, encompassing a wide variety of legal matters. Another reason for the failure to recognize a claim is, as was the case here that various legal matters may not start out as claims but become claims later on.

  This failure to recognize a claim problem is a tough one. More than once in my career I have been in routine renewal conversations with clients and in the course of discussion it will just come out that there is some pending matter that does or could be a claim under the policy. (Many practitioners will no doubt themselves be familiar with these “Oh, by the way…” kinds of conversations.) As advisors, the best we can try to do to help our clients avoid getting in this kind of situation is to remind them frequently of the breadth of the policy’s definition of the term claim and of the importance of providing the insurer with timely notice.

  All of that said, and as I noted above, I am still prepared to argue as much as possible and in many situations that the late provision of notice should not effect a complete forfeiture of coverage. The fact is that when humans are involved, things like the late provision of notice are going to happen. The policy should be administered in a way that makes allowances for the fact that humans are involved.

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[golicit]

Late Notice of Claim Precludes Coverage

Readers know that it doesn’t take much to get me up on my hobby horse about insurers trying to deny coverage based on the late provision of notice. In general, I am against a mere procedural fault causing a complete coverage forfeiture. Every now and then though there is a case where the policyholder’s lack of diligence makes the case against the insurer’s coverage defense very tough.  A recent decision out of the District of Minnesota provides an example where the extent and nature of the policyholder’s delay in providing notice of claim made the argument in favor of coverage very difficult. But while the insurer’s denial of coverage based on policyholder’s late provision of notice arguably was justifiable in the case, the circumstances involved still present some important lessons both about notice of claim and about the policyholder’s obligations under the policy.

  District of Minnesota Judge Susan Richard Nelson’s August 26, 2019 opinion in the case can be found here. A September 18, 2019 post on the Wiley Rein law firm’s Executive Summary Blog about the case can be found here.

  Background

Assessment Systems is a consulting services and testing software company. Assessment Systems entered into a contract to provide services to Crane, a company that certifies crane operators. During the course of the contract, Crane contended that the software Assessment Systems provided failed to function under the terms of the parties’ agreement, and refused payment.

  In June 2017, Assessment Systems sued Crane alleging breach of contract and seeking damages for non-payment. On April 21, 2017, Crane answered and filed a counterclaim against Assessment Systems asserting breach of contract and breach of warranty. The initial discovery deadline was December 15, 2017, but it was extended to April 23, 2018.

  Assessment Systems provided notice of the counterclaim to its Business Owners’ policy insurer on April 19, 2018 – as the Court later observed, the notice was provided “approximately one year after the Counterclaim was filed, and only four days prior to the close of discovery.” Prior to providing notice, Assessment Systems did not obtain any discovery supporting or refuting and of Crane’s asserted damages relating to Crane’s counterclaim and did not depose any witnesses, including Crane’s expert witness.

  The reason Assessment Systems did not provide notice of the counterclaim earlier is that its Director of Human Services – the employee responsible for managing insurance coverage issues for the company – was terminated in December 2017 and  had never informed Assessment Systems of the need to make a claim to the insurer. As the Court later noted, “No explanation is offered by Assessment Systems for why notice was not provided to Citizens during [the] eight months” prior to the HR director’s termination. After the HR director’s departure, another employee took responsibility for the insurance matters, and ultimately discovered the insurance policy from which Assessment Systems sought coverage, and then caused Assessment Systems to provide notice to the insurer.

  On May 21, 2018, the insurer appointed counsel to represent Assessment Systems with respect to the counterclaim. Assessment Systems, with the assistance of counsel appointed by the insurer, move for partial summary judgment with respect to a contractual limitation on Crane’s claimed damages. The court granted the motion, but preserved for trial questions of damages stemming from amounts Crane had paid under the contract. Trial in the case is currently set for September 30, 2019.

  The insurer filed a federal court action seeking a judicial declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Assessment Systems in the underlying lawsuit. The insurer filed a motion for summary judgment.

  The claims-made insurance policy that the insurer issued to Assessment Systems provided, among other things, that “If a ‘claim’ is made against ‘you,’ you must see to it that we receive written notice of the ‘claim’ as soon as practicable.”

  The August 26, 2019 Opinion

In an August 26, 2019 opinion, District of Minnesota Judge Susan Richard Nelson, applying Minnesota law, granted the insurer’s summary judgment motion.

  Judge Nelson first determined that although the policy did not specific say so, timely notice is required as a condition precedent to coverage under the insurer’s policy. The “plain and natural language” of the policy’s insuring agreement specifies that the policy’s coverage applies “only if” the policyholder provides notice of claim to the policy. Judge Nelson also noted as a general matter the claims-made policies require notice before insurance coverage attaches.

  Judge Nelson then concluded that notice requirement of the policy is “material” to the insurance agreement and therefore cannot be excused. She said that “considering the integral nature of notice to the insurer in claims-made insurance policies, and because the Policy at issue here is a claims-made policy, the Court holds as matter of law that the notice requirement in the Policy is ‘material’ – indeed a ‘basic’ or foundational – term of the insurance agreement.” As a material condition precedent to coverage, the notice requirement “must be literally met or exactly fulfilled” or no liability can arise on the promise qualified by the condition.

  Judge Nelson then concluded that “the undisputed facts demonstrate that notice was not given as soon as practicable.” The neglect of the company’s terminated HR director “is not a valid reason to delay notice,” particularly given the eight-month delay after the counterclaim was served and the HR director was terminated. The negligence of an employee, Judge Nelson said, “does not excuse a company’s failure to comply with a contract.” Holding otherwise, Judge Nelson said, “would permit employers to dodge insurance contract requirements where their employees are less than vigilant on insurance matters, which in turn may prejudice the insurer because the lapse of time can deprive the insurer of the opportunity for prompt investigation and impede defense against fraudulent claims.”

  Finally, Judge Nelson noted that although a showing of prejudice is not required under Minnesota law for an insurer to assert late notice as a defense to coverage, “even if a showing of actual prejudice were required, there is not genuine dispute of material fact that [the insurer] suffered actual prejudice as a result of Assessment Systems’ untimely notice.” During the period of the delayed notice, Assessment Systems conducted no discovery of Crane’s counterclaims and took no depositions, including no deposition of Crane’s expert. The notice was provide to the insurer just four days before the discovery deadline, and while some of Crane’s damages claims were defeated by Assessment System’s partial summary judgment motion, Assessment Systems is unable to conduct any discovery of Crane’s remaining damages claims.

  Discussion

It is always going to be a tough fight for a policyholder if its best argument against its insurer’s late notice defense is that the notice was untimely due to the neglect of an incompetent employee who ultimately was fired. However, I will say that almost every late notice dispute involves some element of oversight or omission. The fact is that in my experience, late notice happens. It happens for lots of reasons or for no reason at all. The question that the late provision of notice always presents, regardless of its cause, is whether the fact that notice was not timely provided should operate as a complete forfeiture of coverage.

  In this case, Judge Nelson in effect anticipated my usual fall back argument about late notice, which is that the insurer ought not to be able to rely on the late notice to defeat coverage unless the untimeliness of the notice prejudiced the insurer’s interests. Here, though the insurer was not required under Minnesota law to establish that it was prejudiced by the late notice, Judge Nelson said that even if prejudice were required, the record shows that the late provision of notice did prejudice the insurer. (Indeed, it could be said that not only was Assessment Systems not diligent in protecting its interests under the policy, but diligence as similarly lacking in the way the company defended itself against Crane’s counterclaim.)

  The best that can be said about this case is that it demonstrates a point that I often make when discussing notice issues, which is the importance for policyholders to be diligent in protecting their interests under the insurance policies. While there are many arguments I am prepared to make to try to counteract insurer’s attempts to avoid coverage, the most effective way for policyholders to preserve coverage is to avoid giving the insurer grounds on which to rely in trying to deny coverage. Well-advised policyholders will take appropriate steps to protect their interests, including take all steps to fulfill the policyholder’s obligations under the policy. (In one of the units in my series on the Nuts and Bolts D&O insurance, I discuss the policyholder’s various policy obligations at greater length.)

  There are some other lessons here. First, the function of administering a company’s insurance program is a very important responsibility. It should be undertaken by someone with a certain amount of sophistication and experience – and competence. With all due respect to persons who serve in the role of HR director, the HR department is not necessarily the first place that comes to mind when you are thinking about where within a company to place the insurance management function. The key is that the insurance administration function is an important one; it should be treated as an important function and the responsibility for the function should be assigned in recognition of the function’s importance.

  Second, as I think this case shows, it may not always be obvious when a claim has arisen. The underlying dispute here began as an attempt by Assessment Systems to collect unpaid amounts due from Crane under the service contract. The lawsuit only became a matter of relevance to the insurance policy when Crane filed the counterclaim. As often happens when litigation unfolds, it may not have occurred to anyone at Assessment Systems that what had started out as essentially a collection lawsuit had become a matter for which its insurance policy might provide coverage.

  The failure to recognize that a given matter is or has become something to which the insurance might be relevant happens fairly often. One of the reasons for this failure to recognize a claim is that the policy’s definition of Claim is so broad these days, encompassing a wide variety of legal matters. Another reason for the failure to recognize a claim is, as was the case here that various legal matters may not start out as claims but become claims later on.

  This failure to recognize a claim problem is a tough one. More than once in my career I have been in routine renewal conversations with clients and in the course of discussion it will just come out that there is some pending matter that does or could be a claim under the policy. (Many practitioners will no doubt themselves be familiar with these “Oh, by the way…” kinds of conversations.) As advisors, the best we can try to do to help our clients avoid getting in this kind of situation is to remind them frequently of the breadth of the policy’s definition of the term claim and of the importance of providing the insurer with timely notice.

  All of that said, and as I noted above, I am still prepared to argue as much as possible and in many situations that the late provision of notice should not effect a complete forfeiture of coverage. The fact is that when humans are involved, things like the late provision of notice are going to happen. The policy should be administered in a way that makes allowances for the fact that humans are involved.

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[marjaystuff]

Elise Cooper’s interview of David Bruns and J.R. Olson

Rules of Engagement by David Bruns and J. R. Olson brings to the forefront the real threat of cyber warfare in this military thriller.  Both authors use their past experiences as naval officers to bring a wealth of accuracy and realism to the story, which only serves to heighten its authenticity.  Bruns is a former submarine officer who left the business world behind to write sci-fi novels.  Olson spent more than 20 years in the Navy, retiring as a commander, and now teaches college courses in Intelligence/Counter-Terrorism.

This tale of clear and present danger forewarns how cyberwarfare is the next battleground that can play out on the world stage.  Although some military thrillers can sometimes be bogged down in the details, this one has just the right balance between information given, plot development, and action.

As in real life, Russia is in the midst of the trouble making.  A criminal enterprise known as Bratva is losing money on its arms dealing business, so its leadership hires a North Korean go between to create havoc.  Rafiq Roshed, one of the world’s most wanted cyber terrorists, now residing in North Korea, is enlisted to pit China, Japan, and America. the nations with the three most powerful navies, on a collision course for World War III. He inserts a computer virus into a country's command system to gain control and has it begin to learn how to carry on its own warfare. First penetrating the Chinese, he has their war machine launch a series of attacks on the U.S. Pacific forces. As China and Japan are losing control of their military, the U.S. is also in danger of doing the same. Casualties are mounting, and an apocalypse is looming large.  The only way to stop this disaster from creating further trouble is to stop it at its source.

This plot driven military thriller does not have a single hero, but realistically shows how a team working together can complete the mission. Midshipmen Michael Goodwin, Janet Everett, and Andrea Ramirez are asked to find and eliminate the source before it is too late. Working collectively, they must connect the dots to find and destroy the deadly virus and its handler, Roshed.

Readers are left with an unsettling feeling after reading this story. It heightens a frightening wake-up call.  Fans of military thrillers will delve into the intrigue and heart pounding action of this novel. It has plenty of clever twists, strategic moves, and high stakes.

Elise Cooper:  Why did you both decide to team up?

J. R. Olson:  As Naval Academy graduates, we attend Alumni Association events. In 2011 we were invited to speak to the Naval Academy parents.  One of them said, ‘you two should get together to write a book.’  We did just that five years ago.  

EC:  What inspired you?

David Bruns:  In July 1984, just after the Hunt For Red October had come out, I had a chance to meet Tom Clancy before he became super famous.  In reading his book my world was changed.  Being a midshipmen in the US Naval Academy I decided to become a submarine sailor.  I spent six years as a commissioned officer in the nuclear-powered submarine force chasing the Russians in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. I thought how the Clancy book affected me, the movie “Top Gun” affected many who went on to become Navy pilots, and what Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff did for astronauts. We are hoping this book might do the same for the next generation of Cyber Warriors.  Maybe inspire the next generation to join the service and serve their country.

EC:  Cyber warfare does not seem to be on the public’s radar?

DB:  We wanted to write a book identifying and developing a story around the threats of the 21st Century.  We are hoping to take a threat not talked about publicly and dial it up to an ’11.’

JRO:  We were driven to write about cyber security.  The Naval Academy actually has a new facility called Hopper Hall that houses the cyber security program.  The midshipmen majoring in it will be able to study it from a national security perspective.  The heroes of our story are the team of three midshipmen.

EC:  This is the third book of the series?

DB:  The first two books were self-published.  For book three, and going forward, we decided to get an agent and publisher.  

JRO:  The first book, Weapons of Mass Deception, is about nuclear proliferation with non-state actors.  The second book, Jihadi Apprentice, delves into home grown radicalization.  This book highlights how a cyber threat can be used as a tool by a rogue actor working inside a nation state.  

EC:  There are many ways of using cyber as a weapon?

JRO:  There are a lot of systems connected all over the world.  With this plot we played off of SCADA: Supervisory control and data acquisition is a system of software and hardware elements that allows industrial organizations to have a centralized control.  A great example was the Stuxnet Worm. It penetrated inside the Iranian centrifuges and locked on the central panel.  Everyone observing thought it was functioning normally, but what was actually happening is that the centrifuges were coming apart.  Similarly, the electrical power grids are also system of systems that can be vulnerable to a cyber-attack.  

DB:  Other examples are the hacking of the Democratic Committee through spear phishing where someone clicked on a link they should not have.  There is also Target and Sony where a hacker was able to gain access to many people’s information.

EC:  Does cyber warfare have any fingerprint?

DB:  This is an issue because no one can tell who it is right away.  A code has to be taken apart. It takes awhile to be absolutely certain.  It is an issue of attribution.  How do we tell what constitutes a cyber-attack that should lead to war?

EC:  Besides an entertaining story what was your goal in writing this story?

DB: There is a certain level of expectation from the reader that they will get a plausible explanation.  We wanted to make it realistic and interesting without bogging it down in the details.  I have the benefit of a son who is a computer science major so I can run by him bits of information.  We did not want to write a Skynet book like Terminator that takes over the world.  The threat we wrote about is man-made.

JRO:  The ability for computers to make decisions is far greater than any human being.  In the future, this whole cyber arena may be computers fighting other computers. Although we made up “Happy Panda” and “Trident” we wanted to make sure that we created realistic systems with plausible vehicles.  

EC:  Can you give a heads up about your next book?

DB:  The threat will be from biological agents used as weapons.  The three Midshipmen are back, but now will be junior officers.  One of our characters from the previous books, FBI Special Agent Elizabeth (Liz) Soroush may have an important role.

THANK YOU!!

[swipestream]

Shadow of the Century Review

While it is by no means an element unique to me, my earliest gaming memories are deeply intertwined with 80s media, given the time when I grew up. Freddy Krueger showed up in my Ghostbusters campaign, our group fought a Terminator when we played Mechwarrior, and I remember running to the basement to make up characters for a Top Secret S.I. game after watching a Rambo movie.

Shadow of the Century is a Fate Core supplement that moves the Spirit of the Century setting into the 1980s. It attempts to add all your 80s action movie and TV series tropes into a tabletop roleplaying game. I’ll admit up front, as much as I enjoy playing Fate based games, I never fully invested in Spirit of the Century. I am familiar, and have played with, a lot of pulp tropes, but I never felt confident enough to fully embrace the setting to run a game using the material.

How well does Shadow of the Century address the idea of running games in an 80s action movie setting? How well does it integrate these ideas into the existing Spirit of the Century setting? Let’s dive in and find out.

The Fate Core Manuscript

 This review is based on the PDF of the product. The PDF is 214 pages long, with a page for the character sheet, and an Evil Hat ad, and a six-page index at the end.

The book has similar formatting to other Fate Core books, and the interior line art is full color. The style almost reminds me of the John Buscema/Tom Palmer artwork in the 80s Avengers comics, with less weight to the lines, but more lines for details in the art.

There is a clever tweaking to the standard Fate Core formatting, as the color choices and page numbers in the book are a nod to 80s design conventions, while the headers and structure still follow the established trade dress for Evil Hat.

The World We Live In

The opening chapter of the book has a brief summary of the established Spirit of the Century setting, then introduces the differences in the setting moving into the 80s, with elements that have changed between the original material and Shadow of the Century. All the broad elements mentioned in this introduction are further expanded upon later in the book, but it’s a good, quick explanation of the setting and how it relates to the earlier era.

In broad terms, the setting has moved from a handful of people born at the turn of the century to embody certain zeitgeist, with their own organization that opposes the World Crime League, to a setting where the old Spirits are hunted criminals, and the heroes come from all walks of life (expanding walks of life to accommodate for 80s action movie walks of life like wandering martial artists or lost time travelers).

Evil doesn’t all belong to the same over the top organization but is broken up across several (slightly less) over the top organizations that are deeply entrenched into politics and business across the world.

Also, it really sets the tone of the setting to know that Variable Hyperdimensional Simultaneity (VHS) is a term used to measure how much mathemagic has caused time and space to be warped.

The Pitch Session

 Something that is often a strength of Fate products is that the themes and structures of the campaign are often explicitly spelled out at the beginning of the campaign. While many games will have sections that discuss setting expectations and getting buy-in, Fate products often mechanize this step in a very specific way, and Shadow of the Century continues this tradition.

In Shadow of the Century, the group will be making decisions on what kind of structure the campaign has, following the structure of a movie or a series. This will create a different feeling and will trigger different advice. There are actually a few rules presented in the game that differ based on this decision as well.

The group will then collaboratively decide on “the Man,” which is one of the entrenched group of villains that their story will involve. The group will come up with issues (which have different guidelines based on series versus movies), cast members, and villains. It is important to note that all of this happens before the players make their characters.

Phase Six: Heroes I’m calling this section out specifically, because there are a few differences between how you create Shadow of the Century characters and Fate Core characters. While it doesn’t use the 1 for 1 stress boxes that some more recent Fate releases have used, extra stress boxes aren’t granted for skills, but can be purchased during character creation. While characters have a Trouble, a Call to Action, a War Story, and a Team-Up aspect, the last two aspects are called out as aspects that can be created in play later. This addresses some of the aspect overload that Fate Core introduces with its default character creation.

It’s also worth noting that there is a full-page discussion on 80s characters and the overreliance on cis white male heroes. It’s a call to action to keep the fun, crazy things from all the 80s stories you are emulating, but to do a better job of including marginalized people in important, and starring, roles.

Who Are You, And What Do You Do?

 Shadow of the Century also introduces roles for characters. Those roles all have specific stunts that play into the overall theme of that role. The roles introduced in this chapter include the following:

The Brain

The Brawler

The Cop

The Detective

The Dilettante

The Face

The Hacker

The Inventor

The Leader

The Ninja

The Saboteur

The Soldier

The Spy

The Thief

The Warrior

The Wheelman

Cue Hair Metal Anthem

This is the section of the book that introduces the rules that surround montages. The Ad-Mon-Tage, the Challenge Montage, and the Milestone Montage all have separate rules.

An Ad-Mon-Tage is a montage used to generate a bunch of free invokes on aspects that revolve around getting ready for a specific known threat. The Challenge Montage is similar to some of the group check rules in Fate Core, where characters are trying to do “something” narratively, and the number of successes from the PCs engaging in their montage determines how well that “thing” gets resolved.

The Milestone Montage involves punching beef so that you can borrow the benefits of your next milestone to use for a confrontation. Figuratively speaking. Or maybe literally. I’m not going to tell you how to montage.

Going Gonzo

This chapter introduces the Gonzometer, the Gonzometer level, and Gonzo feats. It also touches on creating a Centurion, the special characters that have previously existed in the setting, and who operate on a special level no matter what the Gonzometer is in the current scene.

The Gonzometer can be set from 1 to 3, with 1 being the over the top, but not quite supernatural level that a lot of 80s action movies and TV series portray. You might have a talking car (which is totally justifiable by science, if you think about it), but aliens and magic may not be an element. At 2, more fantasy and sci-fi elements may show up, but those elements are noteworthy. At Gonzometer 3, everything is crazy.

Characters can be Gonzo characters and spend their feats to build Gonzo feats to play into that theme. Gonzo feats have different levels, and if the Gonzometer of the current scene is lower than the tier of effects that you are attempting to use from your Gonzo feat, you must spend Fate points to make up the difference to trigger the effect.

Gonzo feats and how they interact with characters showcase one of the biggest strengths and biggest challenges of Fate based games. There is an example Gonzo feat, and a lot of advice on how to build Gonzo feats, but a lot is left up to the player and the GM to custom build for the character concept. That is both great, from a character customization standpoint, and challenging for people that don’t feel they have system mastery of Fate enough to “balance” the tiers of their stunt.

Your Character Goes to 11

 The next chapter of the book addresses character advancement. This involves the standard Fate concept of Milestones, but exactly what can change will vary, and there are different sets of Milestones for episodes, movies, crescendo milestones, season finales, rising action, and confrontation. There are also milestones introduced for villains and Methuselah Fragments.

That all probably sounds more complicated that it is. The episode milestones are generally minor milestones. Crescendo milestones are important, goal-based milestones. Season finale milestones are important milestones that are triggered by closing out a season arc, while rising action and confrontation only come up in movies, being triggered when characters realize who they are fighting, and when they get ready to bear down on their final fight.

Villain milestones track how the organization’s goals are progressing, and if one of their goals is no longer attainable. Depending on how things progress for the organization, it may change in scale, and if it’s low enough when the villains drop in scale, the villain organization disperses.

Methuselah Fragments go into one of my favorite aspects of the setting. Doctor Methuselah is a character that has rewritten reality multiple times to maintain his immortality. This has resulted in fragments from other realities that he has overwritten to appear from time to time, causing weird rifts and changes, and it also means that there are multiple versions of Doctor Methuselah in the setting. The Methuselah Fragment milestones are only used if this plot element is a major part of the campaign and tracks how reality is warping and changing based on who has interacted with one of these fragments.

Say Hello to Our Little Friends

The next chapter of the book addresses how to stat out extras, mooks, mobs, lieutenants, shadows, NPC Spirits and New Wave Heroes, and monsters. In addition to the descriptions on how to stat these different style characters, there is advice on the actual purpose of the different types of characters and how they should be used.

One of my favorite parts of this chapter is the roles for the Shadows. The Shadows are the leaders of the evil organizations in the setting. The Shadows all have the following roles instead of individual skills:

Assassin

Authority

Criminal

Mastermind

Scientist

Soldier

It’s a nod to an 80s trope where supervillains are almost always omnicompetent. If you are awesome enough to run an evil villain organization, you are at least moderately competent at all these roles. Business leaders know what their scientists are talking about and know how to shoot people in the head. Ninja masters know super science. Mega-criminals know how do use military grade hardware. It’s so 80s.

Bringing the ‘80s to the Max!

This chapter touches base on 80s-based themes and what exactly from the 80s the game is trying to capture. I like this, because it is very easy to think that your nostalgia or knowledge of an existing period is going to carry you through portraying an era. It is much better to make sure that everyone is on the same page about the tropes and themes that are specifically being addressed.

In addition to discussing the tropes that are at play in the setting, I enjoyed the idea that it examines lots of these tropes both from a generally positive side, and from a more destructive, problematic direction.

Something Strange in the Neighborhood

 I tend to like when core rulebooks or setting books have a sample adventure, because I like the example of how the designers expect the game to work. One place where Fate products often shine is that, instead of having a sample adventure, they often have adventure ideas and described campaign arcs. While not as fleshed out as a sample adventure, getting more of these outlines provides more of an idea what types of one-shots and campaigns play to the intended design of the setting.

In Shadow of the Century, we get about nine different paragraph-long ideas for one-shot adventures, as well as three campaign frames — general ideas for who the PCs are and what they would do over time. The example campaigns are:

Team Black (with a general A-Team vibe)

The Sentinels of Science (with strong Buckaroo Banzai overtones)

Anna and the Kareninas (Sort of Jem/Josie and the Pussycats with Robin Hood overtones)

The campaign frames provide sample characters as well, so it’s possible to just take the pre-generated characters and run with it. They are a few examples of Gonzo stunts with some of the sample characters, and kudos for using the term “synergy” on the character sheet for one of the Anna and the Kareninas characters.

The Greater Universe

 This chapter dives much deeper into the lore of the setting, how it connects with Spirit of the Century, and how various moving pieces fit together with other moving pieces. It provides a lot of inspiration, but given the assumed campaign structures, it’s not mandatory that anyone fully engage all the deep lore and interplay going on in this chapter.

One thing I will say up front — given the idea of Doctor Methuselah and the multiple alternate realities and reality fragments, I love the idea that you can’t have continuity errors. I mean, you can, but you can also just say “Methuselah Fragment” and get on with your day.

Overall, the villains belong to one of the following broad groups:

The Kroll’X (aliens from another dimension)

The Gentlemen’s Agreement (various crime organizations that don’t exactly work together, but agree to not get in one another’s way)

The New Science Party (Evil politicians—It’s not always redundant to say it that way)

The Board (Mega-corporations with agreements to carve up global markets and control everything through commerce and consumerism)

This chapter also introduces the Golden Seeds, organizations that might be helpful to the PCs, and carry on some of the legacies of the Centurions but may also serve as rivals or opponents if the PCs don’t oppose The Man the way their organization would prefer.

In addition to introducing the broad elements of all these groups, there are individual crime families, corporations, and sub-groups discussed, which can help to point GMs towards which elements of that faction are the most useful for their campaigns, and to hint at inter-group rivalries that can be played up in longer form series.

Pick Your Poison 

This chapter is filled with example characters that can be used as pre-generated PCs for a Shadow of the Century game. Beyond their skills and stunts, they only have a High Concept and a Trouble, leaving several aspects to be filled in, and none of a specific history or name assigned to them. The archetypes presented are:

Army of One

Coolest Kid in School

Earthbound Alien

Fugitive Android

Loose Canon

Martial Artist

Sorcerer for Hire

Teenage Werewolf

Time Rider

Unlikely Chosen One

The Earthbound Alien, Fugitive Android, Sorcerer for Hire, Teenage Werewolf, Time Rider, and Unlikely Chosen One include a few more examples of Gonzo stunts, for people that want them. It’s also easy to mix and match these pregens with the more fleshed out characters in the campaign frames, to have a good range of pregens to jump in and play with the setting, necessitating less work on the front end.

Be Excellent to One Another

Shadow of the Century does a great job, not only with invoking nostalgia, but with defining what the setting is about, and what tropes are at play. It provides villains and organizations that are both suitably 80s, and iconically vile.

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Shadow of the Century does a great job, not only with invoking nostalgia, but with defining what the setting is about, and what tropes are at play. It provides villains and organizations that are both suitably 80s, and iconically vile. It does the work of helping the table set up the overall campaign and provides tweaks to Fate Core to play to the pacing and themes present in the setting.

I Know You Are, But What Am I?

 While I don’t think these things are bad, overall, Shadow of the Century still retains some elements that I have seen beginning Fate players struggle with, such as custom-building stunts, and retaining different value stress boxes. While it specifically calls out the less inclusive elements of 80s media and entreats the table to avoid these, there isn’t a specific safety section in the book, and for the era where R rated cinema was deeply entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist, that may have been a worthwhile section to include.

Recommended — If the product fits in your broad area of gaming interests, you are likely to be happy with this purchase.

I freely admit that this might be due to the circumstances of my birth, but I am way more invested in this period of the setting than Spirit of the Century. I generally enjoy pulp tropes, but I think the idea of passing the torch from the golden age to a more jaded “modern” era really resonates.

I think this is a solid, broadly appealing Fate supplement, but in addition to that, it is a great overall sourcebook for a general 80s action setting, which even non-Fate players may enjoy reading. Unless you have no use for any 80s based campaign elements, or more modern action-based roleplaying, I think this purchase is going to have value for anyone picking it up.

What eras do you think would make for great gaming? What tropes define those eras, and what kind of campaigns would you picture for those timeframes? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Shadow of the Century Review published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames