#but still filed a whole class action lawsuit

[demigirlboss2girlrotboogaloo]

No one on this site-comma-webbed understands how copyright works.

[sabakos]

I tried to find out if Derrida had ever responded to the open letter where several analytic philosophers requested that Cambridge not award him an honorary degree on the basis that his work was nonsense, and found this instead:

In 1990, Derrida signed an agreement to donate his scholarly papers to [UC Irvine], where he taught part time. But after his death in 2004, Derrida’s heirs began questioning the pact. The university tried to negotiate, then sued three months ago, a maneuver that outraged professors in California and beyond.

Oh huh, that sounds pretty serious. Wonder what that was about...

According to multiple sources, Derrida wanted UCI to halt its investigation of a Russian studies professor, Dragan Kujundzic, who was accused of sexually harassing a 25-year-old female doctoral student. So he tried to use his archives as leverage to derail the case, they said. UCI officials declined to comment on Derrida’s letter or Kujundzic last week. But court records from a lawsuit filed by the doctoral student might fill in some of the gaps. The 2004 sexual harassment lawsuit contends that Kujundzic, who taught a popular class on vampires and signed his e-mails with a colon to symbolize Dracula bite marks, used his position as the student’s advisor to manipulate her into a series of sexual encounters.

Well, that's certainly an ethics violation at least, which at least ought to be grounds for dismissal if the allegations could be proven. Unfortunately for Derrida, there wasn't much plausible deniability.

Kujundzic, 47, who left Irvine in 2005 for a job at the University of Florida, told campus investigators the fling was “voluntary and consensual.” The student said she felt coerced to engage in sex or risk having her academic career ruined.

But of course it gets worse. The letter Derrida wrote to UCI's chancellor itself was online until recently, because some of Derrida's colleagues were somehow under the impression that this would help "clear things up" with regards to how Derrida has been misrepresented by the LA times.

These are some highlights of what Derrida's supporters thought would make him look favorable.

I will begin by making it unequivocally clear that I fully approve the principles of all rules meant to prevent, or even to repress, the kinds of behavior defined in the United States as “sexual harassment.” In their principle, these laws seem to me just and useful. But everyone knows that, in practice, they can give rise to applications that are abusive, capricious, or even perverse and deceitful—often devastating for the person, reputation, and career of those who are unjustly victimized by frequently malevolent maneuvers and sometimes by judicial errors.

I have especially heard said that, without even envisaging all sorts of intermediary stages, the provision of a whole range sanctions or warnings, a recommendation has already been made to apply the worst possible sanction of last resort: the exclusion of our colleague from UCI. Why has such a precipitous action been considered? Why go so quickly and so far?

The truth is this:  if the scandalous procedure initiated against Dragan Kujundzic were not to be interrupted or cancelled, for all the reasons I have just laid out, if a sanction of whatever sort were allowed to sully both his honor and the honor of the university, I would sadly be obliged to put an end, immediately, to all my relations with UCI.  The somber and tragic hypothesis of such transgressions (which I wish still to exclude) would mean, quite obviously, that I would neither attend nor participate in the widely international conference in October that is devoted to me and was organized, precisely, by Dragan.

So in addition to both rebutting good faith attempts at engage with his "work" by Searle and others, and subsequently ignoring all other future negative reviews and criticisms, he apparently found the time to try to throw his weight around the UC system to get them to drop an investigation into his colleague, despite said colleague admitting guilt! And UC Irvine, for their own lack of taste or seriousness, still maintains his archive up until 1998, while the last six years of Derrida's life are presumably still held by his estate.

[goldenclaymore]

so yesterday was the worst day ever. i was out with my dog, friends and their dogs in our local dog forest... and my dog was attacked and dragged down a mountain. i literally jumped down the mountain, to save my dog, bc the owner of this blood thirsty dog was stoned and was sitting his ass down smoking his shit ass weed and not reacting at all.

thankfully people and my friends came to help. this dog was repeatedly trying to bite my dog's throat. my dog was literally on his back, screaming his lungs out and this attack dog was standing on top of him and trying to get to his throat. my dog was literally only saved bc of his thick coat (samoyed) and his thick dog harness.

i went to the police, bc this guy and his dog are apparently known and someone gave me his name, address and dogs breed. the breed is very important, bc this breed is forbidden in germany and can only be owned if you have a license... a proof you can handle this breed.

yesterday evening i get a call from a random number and it's a dog owner who's dog had its throat ripped open by this aggressive dog. thankfully the dog is alive but only survived due to an emergency surgery.

today i'm invited to a BBQ, where i will meet literally 6 other dog owners who had been attacked by this dog. my whole body hurts (due to jumping and sliding down this 15meters high mountain) but i'll gladly join bc we are collecting data and gonna file a class action lawsuit. bc this dog needs to be taken away, since the drug addict won’t put a damn muzzle and leash on this dog.

what scary is... this dog showed NO SIGN of aggression. NO WARNING. this dog went from 0 to ballistic bloodthirsty monster. while leo (my dog) was just walking past this dog.

so.... i had to let it out bc i'm still a crying mess and everything hurts and i guess i got a trauma lmao. also sorry for shitty english, i really didn't feel like bothering with writing nice and tidy, if someone read this far. x(

[socialbrewcoffee]

7 things you probably didn’t know about Kona Coffee

If you’re a Kona Coffee lover, chances are you would have searched the internet to death to know all you can about the coffee drinking world’s biggest obsession. But just in case, you still have room for a few more facts in your Kona coffee-pedia, here’s a quick read. So, bring out that 100% Kona Coffee pack that you have safely tucked away in one of your kitchen cabinets, fix up your heavenly tasting brew and savor these facts while indulging in the flavor and aroma that rules the coffee drinking world.

Fact #1 Bananas make Kona Coffee taste better

While Hawaii offers Kona Coffee plants that perfect climate to grow and mature, Hawaiian farmers also play a role in ensuring the plants get the type of conditions they deserve. They plant Kona berries in the vicinity of banana trees in order to shield the young, upcoming stars of the coffee world from excessive exposure to the sun. So, bananas do play a significant role in nurturing the flavor notes of the world-beating Kona Coffee.

Fact #2 A festival around the world’s most sought-after coffee

Kona Coffee has a whole festival dedicated to its charm that magically unites coffee lovers from around the world. First held in 1970, the Kona Coffee Festival continues to be a yearly event and is Hawaii’s longest running food festival. Besides the scintillating taste, flavor and history of Kona Coffee, the festival presents a diversified platform that celebrates art, food, music, community, learning and lots more. What kicked off as a weekend activity decades back is now a vibrant event that delightfully engages audiences over 10 days. Purchase a $5 festival button to enter and savor the flavor of any of the numerous events that take place at the greatest coffee festival in the world.

Fact #3 Born in Hawaii, spotted by England

Kona Coffee was first introduced to the world by English merchant Henry Nicholas Greenwell in the 1850s. He set up Greenwell Farms and marketed the first batches of the one-of-its-kind Kona Coffee, which eventually started to make news in coffee consuming communities around the world. Greenwell Farms continues to be Kona’s oldest and largest coffee producer, with generation after generation successfully continuing to not only uphold but further extend the legacy of the world’s most exotic coffee.

Fact #4 Kona humbles the giants of America

In 2019, Kona coffee farmers filed a class action lawsuit against America’s biggest retailers including Amazon, Costco, Walmart, Safeway and Kroger for producing and selling 19 brands of coffee as ‘Kona Coffee’. The ensuing settlement proved that truth always prevails, even if you are the Goliath of the American retail industry.

Fact #5 A bug can wipe out files and farms

One of the biggest threats to Kona Coffee production came about in 2010 with the infestation of plantations by the Coffee Berry Borer. While it was unclear how the beetle got to Kona, the damage was so severe that by late 2010 the Hawaii Department of Agriculture declared a quarantine on all green Kona coffee beans leaving the island. It was either this or having the entire Kona Coffee yield drop by over 90%.

Fact #6 Even exotic coffee has its grades

Kona Coffee is available in 3 grades. The Type I grade where every Kona cherry comprises 2 beans. The Type II grade where the Kona cherry has only one bean. The last grade is the ‘Number 3’ or the ‘Triple X’ which is labeled not as Kona Coffee but Hawaiian Coffee. Bean grades below Number 3 are considered as ‘Offgrade’ coffee and are labeled as ‘Generic Coffee’.

Fact #7 The logo that spells pure Kona Coffee

When you see the 100% Kona Coffee logo, you’re assured of getting the real deal. But how did this originate? The ‘100% Kona Coffee’ logo and emblem that’s now become the global identity and benchmark for authentic Kona Coffee was introduced by Stephen Yamashiro, who served as the Mayor of Hawaii County from 1992 to 2000.

[volcanokids]

Hey idk who needs to hear this but the shit going on with Robinhood and Gamestop right now should make you really fucking angry and I’ll tell you why

If you’re not up to speed on the situation, here’s some good posts explaining it. The gist is that using completely legal means, a bunch of individual retail investors (fancy words for normal ass people who, like the rest of us, have very little money) who invest on online brokerage apps (like Robinhood) bought stock in Gamestop after hedge funds worked hard to manipulate the market for their own gains. These average people interrupted the plans of these much larger hedge funds to essentially drive Gamestop’s stock price into the ground by buying all of the stock these companies had and holding onto it, which has now costed these hedge funds BILLIONS of dollars, and for once has disrupted their long standing practice of market manipulation to fuck people over and maintain the wealth of the 1%.

Otherwise average people with accounts on Robinhood, Fidelity, Webull, etc., have now taken and held a ridiculously huge amount of control over GME stock and the rich corporations invested into it and caused it’s growth to absolutely explode. I’ve seen COUNTLESS stories in which many of them turned hundreds of dollars into thousands, made enough much needed money to pay off debts, medical bills, or just to put into savings that they wouldn’t have gotten under other circumstances. They accumulated small fortunes and gave power back to the people, and best of all took that money directly out of the hands of greedy and corrupt billion dollar hedge funds.

But of course, there had to be backlash for this.

Last night (1/27), Robinhood took away its investors’ ability to buy any more stock in Gamestop than they already owned, and today has made its user base fully unable to trade Gamestop stock AT ALL unless it is to sell their already owned shares, like literally fully took away the button that lets you purchase GME stock, period. Straight up preventing trade like this to any degree in the free market, much less to favor billion dollar corporations, is incredibly blatant market manipulation which is very illegal, hence the class-action lawsuit that has already been filed against Robinhood. Hedge funds have lost literally BILLIONS of dollars to normal people trading stock legally, and Robinhood halting trade and making selling the ONLY option for Gamestop, AMC, and similar companies is their attempt at helping the hedge funds gain back their fortune after they failed to manipulate the market in their favor, and fucking over the average people who are invested on their platform in the process. 

Retail investors—regular people—when this happened, lost THEIR ability to buy, and therefore continue taking back the wealth held by the hedge funds, but this restriction on Robinhood has NO effect on hedge funds, who have now been able to buy and sell all day today (1/28) freely. They used the opportunity to drive the price of Gamestop down again, essentially trying to bail themselves out after they manipulated the market and fucked themselves over in the first place. So, Robinhood, several other trading brokers, CNBC, and any other large corporation who has pissed on Reddit for “manipulating the market” have also now revealed their alignment with these companies, who are the reason the wealth in America is as disparaged as it is. They’re complaining, shifting the blame, even making up straight up lies about retail investors being involved in the alt-right to defame the people who have beat them at their shitty game.  

People on Reddit saw the manipulation, played the game fairly, and hedge funds are STILL trying to fuck them over for daring to touch the fortunes that they have gained by their shady as hell practices and fucked up the economy by hoarding. Reddit saw an opportunity to actually literally redistribute wealth, and these companies are trying to put us all in our place and keep that from happening by extremely corrupt means.

Market manipulation has been going on for a very long time with very little pushback from the people who actually take the blow when the market tanks—i.e. lower to middle class people who can’t afford bailouts and end up broke and out of jobs when the market crashes. The crash of ‘08 was caused by big brokers doing illegal shit and fucking around with people’s money with absolutely no personal repercussions. No lawsuits (or at least no lawsuits that did fuck all about it) no jail time for anyone responsible, nothing. Not only has this Gamestop movement taken back some of the wealth, we are beginning to finally hold these companies accountable. Again, as of right now, a class-action lawsuit has been filed against Robinhood for their blatant market manipulation, and hedge funds invested in GME have lost over 5 billion dollars.

We always talk about eat the rich, fuck the 1%, redistribute the wealth. I know the stock market is confusing—it’s made that way on purpose—and I understand anyone’s personal reluctance to participate in the stock market directly because of the hatred for it’s capitalistic nature and everything it’s done wrong and every way it’s failed so many people. But, if you want to actually be a part of a movement that is literally taking billionaire’s wealth and redistributing it right now, show support on social media for the people putting in time and money to make this happen.

I am not qualified at all to give financial advice, and I can’t in good faith tell anyone to buy stocks, ESPECIALLY knowing many, many people do not have the disposable income to be able to do so. Do not spend money you don’t have. But the media is going to and has been altering the narrative, making the small investors look like they’re being corrupt. Do not believe them. They’re often paid out or owned by these big corporations in the first place, they do not give a shit about any of us, about ruining our lives, about taking everything we’re worth. They’ve done it forever. But the HUGE number of people buying GME, supporting, and cooperating with each other with the solitary goal of fucking over these hedge funds, fighting them and beating them at their own game is scaring the absolute shit out of them. It’s becoming a movement that’s being compared to another occupy wall street. It’s showing people they have the power to instigate change and could legitimately lead to an entire restructuring of the system if we play our cards right. Of course changing one capitalist system into another capitalist system is not ideal nor is it the goal, but this whole thing has very quickly become a movement backed by A LOT of people who have knowledge about the system, have seen it work and seen it get corrupted in real time, acknowledged exactly where it fucks us all over, and are beginning to break it down by exposing a huge and obvious instance of corruption at the hands of billionaires.

If you can do nothing else, educate yourself about all the fuck shit these companies are doing, rally support on whatever social media you use, keep posting diamond-hands-we-like-the-stock-gme-to-the-moon-memes, put pressure on the brokerage apps like Robinhood who are manipulating the market and let them know there will be hell to pay. Robinhood is sitting at a well deserved one star review on the google play store for their shitty actions and has gotten burned over and over on twitter, lots of investors are planning a mass exodus and closing their Robinhood accounts when all this shit is over, as WELL as the lawsuit, and all of it has garnered the attention of some very influential figures who now have our backs. All of the repercussions they’re facing is the direct result of our outrage and backlash. Be outraged with us and let’s make real fucking change.

GME to the fucking moon everyone 🚀

[young-dumb-and-vaccinated]

The Sommelier (Hannigram x Female!Reader) pt. 19

The plot fucking thickens.

@dovahdokren @lov3vivian @deadman-inc-bikeshop @scpdragon @wisesandwichshark

Trigger warnings: implied racism, religiously motivated violence, kidnapping

“So I heard you’re a civilian consultant for the FBI now?” Charissa said through the receiver. “That’s exciting. Are you being paid?” 

“Yeah, actually.” You sat up on the bed. “It isn’t a ton, but it’s enough to get by until I can go back to work.” 

She groaned. “Why would you want to come back to work here?”

“Well, for one,” You laughed. “I’d get to see my best friend in person.” 

“Are you sure you can’t give me just a little hint as to where you’re hiding out?” She pleaded. “No pressure, but you left your umbrella at the restaurant and it’s just been sitting in my car this whole time.” 

“Oh shit, I was wondering where that was.” You held the phone between your shoulder and your ear so you could reach for a Russian chocolate from Hannibal’s bedside table. You popped one through your lips and held it in your cheek. “Thanks dude.” 

You could hear the smirk on Charissa’s face. “So did you ever get the sommelier to call you?”

You wanted so badly to tell your best friend every juicy detail, but your acute paranoia held you back. You couldn’t risk putting making Hannibal and Will targets. But then again, it was Charissa. 

“You’d better not tell anyone about this or else I’ll sever your spine with my goddamn teeth.” You threatened. 

Your friend’s ears perked up. “Go on.” 

You looked around the room for any sign of Hannibal and to make sure Will hadn’t gotten home yet. When you knew the coast was clear, you cupped your hand over the speaker. “We totally just fucked.” 

Charissa pretended to be shocked. “Oh my god, I could have never seen that coming!” 

“But that’s not all.” You shushed her. “The guy that saved me from getting blown up, the FBI agent, I’m sleeping with him too!” 

“You slut!” She cursed, playfully. “I didn’t think you had it in you to sneak around.” 

“No, no!” You whispered. “That’s the best part! They’re into each other too. So we have, like, an agreement.” 

“Like a throuple?” 

“Not ‘like’ a throuple.” You corrected. “Just a throuple.” 

“Dayum, girl.” She said. “You truly have become the alpha female.” 

“Darling?” Hannibal called out from downstairs. He sounded worried.

“Is that him?” Charissa asked. “Are you with him right now?” 

“Okay, goodbye.” You said before abruptly ending the call. 

You descended the stairs and found him in the living room. “What’s wrong?” 

He said nothing, letting the television answer you. 

“At approximately six this evening, Evangelical pastor Calvin J. Armitage was arrested for firing the first shot in what would become a deadly shootout with the FBI.” The anchor said. “Entering the megachurch premises to ask questions about the still-open Baltimore Butcher case, Agent Crawford of the Behavioral Science Unit is on site for an exclusive interview.” 

Jack looked deeply shaken, and had blood stained all over his jacket. He drew in a deep breath before speaking. 

“Special agent Graham and I arrived at the church with the intention of asking Pastor Armitage about his relationship to Chase Mulvaney.” He began. “He was compliant to begin with, then became defensive. He then called the local police, claiming that a-” 

Jack paused, a look of slight disgust on his face for what he was about to say. 

“-A large black man posing as a federal agent was threatening him.” He finished. “He then held us at gunpoint until the police showed up. While I verified my identity to the chief, Pastor Armitage opened fire, shooting me once in the shoulder, then ran. Special Agent Graham went after him. Then both men disappeared. We believe Armitage is holding Graham hostage, but upon further inspection, we have seen no signs of either man in the church.” 

You covered your mouth with your fingertips, too afraid to acknowledge anything with words. Hannibal gently placed his hand on your leg and looked into your eyes.

"Listen to me, [F/N]." He said, desperation in his voice. "You need to tell me what you and Will figured out from the investigation, and fast. Any information at all could tell where he might have taken him."

"The Blue Ridge mountains." You answered with more certainty than was warranted. "He took Will to the mountains just like in Borrasca."

"That's over six hundred miles of land, not including altitude." Hannibal pointed out. 

You pressed your fingers to your temples in attempt to slow your thoughts. “You think I don’t know that?” 

“Please, just tell me anything about Chase that could narrow it down.” He pleaded. 

“He has a ministry.” You blurted out. “In the Blue Ridge Mountains. Something luxurious, meant for Christian women.” 

Hannibal bolted to the office to find his computer. “That’s a start. Keep going.” 

You snapped your fingers to try and kickstart your memory. “Chase is a narcissist, but not a creative one. He stole his title from NXIVM and his cult personality from Handmaid’s Tale. I think that means he doesn’t understand satire.” 

Hannibal’s fingers danced across the keyboard, filling the silent house with frantic clicking. “That also means the name of his ministry might be a thinly-veiled reference to something he doesn’t understand as well. What else?” 

You tugged at your hair. “I don’t know, how far could he have gotten in the last three hours?” 

“It doesn’t take very long to get from the city to the mountains.” Hannibal answered. “They could be anywhere by now.” 

You groaned. “We don’t have that kind of time. Hold on a minute, let me get my laptop.” 

Unsurprisingly, Chase had scrubbed the internet clean of every trace of himself. You were forced to read between the lines. You scoured every ex-fundamentalist forum you could find. You posted on every subreddit that had anything to do with evangelical ministries. You opened dozens of tabs with everything from a PDF of the Handmaid’s Tale to case files of class action lawsuits in Frederick County. 

Minutes turned into hours and the hours stacked up. You had to hit yourself in the face every time you felt yourself drifting off. 

“What are you doing?” Hannibal asked, after a particularly loud slap. 

“Trying to keep myself awake.” You said over a poorly-timed yawn. You knocked yourself against the temple a few more times. “Come on you sack of shit, wake up.” 

Hannibal snatched you by the wrist. "Stop that this instant."

"Why should I?" You said, on the verge of angry tears. "Will is probably fucking dead and it's my fault, so yeah, I'm a sack of shit."

"Don't say that." Hannibal tightened his grip on your wrist. "He's not dead and it is certainly not your fault."

"I can't sleep knowing Chase took him." You admitted. "I just can't."

Hannibal sat down next to you. He cupped your face in his hand and rolled the tears away from your cheeks.

Hannibal opened his computer. "We'll sleep in shifts. Send me everything you have so far. You'll sleep better knowing I'm looking for him."

"Fine." You said, dumping a handful of links into a document and sending it to his email. You decided to go to sleep right there on the couch with your laptop in arm's reach, so when your shift was up, you could get straight back to work. You drifted off to the ambient noises of Hannibal typing away.

You woke up to your text notification sound.

[96thdayofrage]

Google gives Black workers lower-level jobs and pays them less, suit claims

Lawsuit accuses company of ‘racially biased corporate culture’ in which Black people comprise just 4.4% of employees

A lawsuit filed on Friday accuses Google of systemic racial bias against Black employees, saying the company steers them to lower-level jobs, pays them less and denies them opportunities to advance because of their race.

According to a complaint seeking class-action status, Google maintains a “racially biased corporate culture” that favors white men, where Black people comprise only 4.4% of employees and about 3% of leadership and its technology workforce.

The plaintiff, April Curley, also said the Alphabet Inc unit subjected Black employees to a hostile work environment, including by often requiring they show identification or be questioned by security at its Mountain View, California, campus.

Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The complaint was filed in the federal court in San Jose, California.

It came after that state’s civil rights regulator, the department of fair employment and housing, began investigating Google’s treatment of Black female workers and possible discrimination in their workplace.

Curley said Google had hired her in 2014 to design an outreach program to historically Black colleges.

She said her hiring had proved to be a “marketing ploy”, as supervisors began denigrating her work, stereotyping her as an “angry” Black woman and passing her over for promotions.

Curley said Google had fired her in September 2020 after she and her colleagues began working on a list of desired reforms.

Curley is not the first Black employee to accuse Google of discrimination or who has shared experiences of discrimination at the company. Lesley Miley, a former engineering director at the company, has said he has been physically stopped by co-workers as he was entering a Google office on two occasions despite wearing his employee badge as is required. Miley and others said they had told higher-ups and executives about the issues with deputizing employees to police who does and does not belong in Google offices.

Many Black and Latino people still feel excluded from the tech industry as a whole, attributing that to both a lack of access and internal support.

“While Google claims that they were looking to increase diversity, they were actually undervaluing, underpaying and mistreating their Black employees,” Curley’s lawyer Ben Crump said in a statement.

Crump is a civil rights lawyer who represented the family of George Floyd after he was murdered in May 2020 by the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Curley’s lawsuit seeks to recoup compensatory and punitive damages and lost compensation for current and former Black employees at Google, and to restore them to their appropriate positions and seniority.

[repentantsky]

5 Gaming Controversies in 2020, That Just Seemed So Avoidable

Gaming has over the years, been full of controversies, some caused by bad management, some caused seemingly by human error, and some that just seem avoidable. 2020 has had a slue of these controversies, so let's talk about what happened this year that ticked all of us off, but didn't need to. 

5. Joy-con Drift. 

Nintendo will probably appear on this list more than once, but the most obvious controversy caused by them that could have been avoided, is Joy-Con drift. The Switch has had issues with this since not long after release, and if the PS5 and Xbox Series X are anything to go by, it's natural to assume that issues on a new console are expected, in fact given the history of console launches, I 'd say that is unavoidable. However, the Switch is going to be four years old this coming March, so for this persistent issue to still exist, it seems like a lack of concern from Nintendo. A number of class action lawsuits have been filed against them because of Joy-Con drift, and as recently as October, in order to try and deny the problems coming from those legal cases, Nintendo denied there was anything wrong at all. They've had years to fix this problem, and didn't even manage to do so with the Switch Lite, which is a much worse situation for Lite owners, as they'd have to give Nintendo their whole console to get it repaired. Then there's the fact that they originally charged almost as much to fix Joy-cons on regular Switches, as new Joy-cons cost to buy, and even suggested that Switch owners should plan to buy a new set of Joy-cons every two years. While they did eventually reverse course on that due to pressure from lawsuits and general backlash, it's safe to say, Nintendo went really anti-consumer with this, and as you probably know, it's not the only time they did it this year. 

4. Crunch 

While crunch has been a part of this industry for far longer than the Switch has, people really started to take notice of it this year after many developers were interviewed about their horrible working conditions. Naughty Dog, who was seen as one of the better developers out there got hit pretty hard after Jason Schreier wrote a piece about how bad their hidden crunch culture was. Crunch in the industry is seen as a major problem, because at times, due to a lack of a union, developers are overworked, and underpaid, and many of them, are either looked down upon by their fellow developers for not partaking in it as much as others, or more importantly, by their management, which could jeopardize their career. Mandatory crunch is also a thing, sometimes seeing developers work twelve to sixteen hour days, and only getting paid for the first eight or so. It only gets worse, when you realize, that delays tend to cause more crunch, because more ideas are shoved into a game when more time is given to develop it. An article by Kotaku, made a valid point recently, when it called out The Last of Us Part II and Naughty Dog for winning best direction of the year at The Game Awards, despite their crunch culture. Many games have gone through it this year, espeically after COVID caused delays, but none may be more announced than CD Projekt Red, something you've probably seen me talk about here before, but that I'll save for another entry down the line ... when it called out The Last of Us Part II and Naughty Dog for winning best direction of the year at The Game Awards, despite their crunch culture. Many games have gone through it this year, espeically after COVID caused delays, but none may be more announced than CD Projekt Red, something you've probably seen me talk about here before, but that I'll save for another entry down the line ... when it called out The Last of Us Part II and Naughty Dog for winning best direction of the year at The Game Awards, despite their crunch culture. Many games have gone through it this year, espeically after COVID caused delays, but none may be more announced than CD Projekt Red, something you've probably seen me talk about here before, but that I'll save for another entry down the line ... 

3. Xbox Series X and PS5 pre-orders. 

Microsoft and Sony, despite being on the cusp of a new generation, spent the majority of the year keeping certain secrets from the public in a bid to outdo each other price wise for their console. While in the end, it played out exactly as most people predicated, top end consoles priced at $ 499 with variations priced one hundred, and two hundred dollars cheaper respectively, they took too long to get to that point, and pre-orders were a mess as a result. Sony announced it's prices and said PS5 would go on sale only a few days removed from that reveal. While that was already a problem, most people need more time than that, the fact that certain retailers let the pre-orders go out early, only added to the confusion, and bots ended up sweeping the majority of the consoles anyway, because those were easier to set-up for scalpers, than buying the system outright. Microsoft tried to be a bit better about that, and give people more time to prepare, but that also fell through, as the demand for the console, was much higher than the supply even tried to prepare for, an issue both systems faced. Even Japan, which is notorious for not selling Microsoft consoles, sold out far quicker than anyone could have expected. Had Sony and Microsoft just put the prices and pre-orders up earlier, and let them be bought over a period of a month or so, instead of just one, super hectic day, all the issues could have been avoided. which is notorious for not selling Microsoft consoles, sold out far quicker than anyone could have expected. Had Sony and Microsoft just put the prices and pre-orders up earlier, and let them be bought over a period of a month or so, instead of just one, super hectic day, all the issues could have been avoided. which is notorious for not selling Microsoft consoles, sold out far quicker than anyone could have expected. Had Sony and Microsoft just put the prices and pre-orders up earlier, and let them be bought over a period of a month or so, instead of just one, super hectic day, all the issues could have been avoided. 

2. Smash Bros, Splatoon and musical takedowns

Nintendo is back on this list as they recently fell under fire from fans of the Smash Bros community, for disallowing a major tournament to take place, because it simply chose to emulate a game that is out of print, using a mod called the Slippie Mod , so those partaking in the tournament, could play from home, instead of having to meet and risk spreading COVID to each other and tournament goers. A few weeks later, several people in an official Splatoon tournament changed their names to show support for the Smash Bros community and Nintendo's response was to shut down the whole finals of said tournament, in an attempt to try and lower the visibility of support for people who simply felt wronged by Nintendo. This of course backfired because it's the internet, and that's not going to go unnoticed, which only made them look worse. Not long after that, Nintendo started taking down videos and songs on YouTube that were from Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart Wii and others. Hundreds if not thousands of videos were taken down, and while Nintendo was within their rights to do so, they crippled several channels by issuing copyright strikes against them, which not only removed their ability to make money on their channels, it can disable streaming, and even cost them money they are no longer making, to try and get their channel back. In the end, Nintendo was in their rights to do all that they did, but that doesn't mean it was the right thing to do, especially in 2020, where leaving these things well enough alone, would have only led to more people enjoying Nintendo products. Instead, games like Bravely Default II and other major upcoming Switch game releases, are facing potential boycott's, because of Nintendo's sour attitude towards it's own communities. It was once said, that a corporation, is within their rights to make people hate them, and Nintendo has embodied that well in 2020.

1. Cyberpunk 2077, The Whole Thing

Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that has been worked on for years at this point. It was announced the January before the 8th gen consoles, the PS4 and Xbox One released, and only managed to come out, about a month after the following 9th gen began. Despite this fact, the game runs horribly on consoles, and requires a pretty beefy PC to run well. The delays that happened in 2020, which lasted 8 months, were supposed to be about optimizing the game for 8th consoles, which are by far still the largest market for any multi-generation, multi-platform titles, but it came out recently that CDPR lied about that, and were instead focusing on the PC release. They also lied to Sony and Microsoft about how well the game ran, lied to their consumers when they didn't put out any review copies for the game before launch, lied to everyone regarding returns, which only came up three or four days after the game launched, meaning digital owners were pretty much out of luck, lied to retailers who's reputations were put on the line based on their return policies, and oh yeah, they lied about crunch to. They also promised the game would release “when it was ready” and obviously lied about that as well. Lying is a choice, and CDPR has lied, and lied, and lied. It wouldn't be shocking to find out more lies were made by them in the coming months, such as maybe the two major upcoming patches in January and February not being as effective as they are proposed to be, or the fact that they will need more patches after those to run properly. They even lied about in game content, making it seem like the path you choose in the start of the game would last a long while and have a major effect on the game, but that doesn't appear to be true either, as many people have gotten through the start of the game, in about 20 minutes. It's a shame really, to see a game with such promise, be ruined by such habitual liars, but alas, here we are. Even time might not save CDPR as they are currently as a loss of billion dollars total because of this disaster, and their trust with consumers is all but gone. 

Can you think of any other avoidable controversies for 2020? Let me know with the notes below.   

[newyorkprelawland-blog]

Fast Fashion, Slow Lawsuits: The Rise Of Copycats In The Fashion Industry

By Melanie Nolan, Skidmore College Class of 2023

February 9, 2021

On February 17th, Kim Kardashian attended the Hollywood Beauty Awards in Los Angeles wearing a vintage Theirry Mugler dress with cutouts from their 1998 haute couture Spring/Summer collection.[1] On February 18th, fast-fashion retailer Fashion Nova released the “Winning Beauty Cut Out Gown”  available for purchase on their website for $49.99. It appeared to be a nearly-exact replica of the hyper-specific vintage gown Kardashian wore the day before. Kardashian herself addressed the situation on Twitter. “Only two days ago, I was privileged enough to wear a one-of-a-kind vintage Mugler dress and in less than 24 hours it was knocked off and thrown up on a site — but it’s not for sale. You have to sign up for a waitlist because the dress hasn’t even been made to sell yet.”[2] In the span of mere hours since Kardashian was photographed in the dress, Fashion Nova had recreated it, shot it on a model, found a manufacturer, and uploaded it on their website for the public to purchase. Or did they?

Fashion watchdog Instagram account @DietPrada fired back at Kardashian. They posted a screengrab of the knockoff Muegler dress on a FashionNova model, taken days before Kardashian had even worn the piece. “Fashion Nova Mugler knockoff shot 4 days before Kim wore it on 02/18/19. Kim, you’ll never fess up to your sneaky lil collaborations, but we got all the receipts.”[3] This finding by @DietPrada raises a few questions. Not only does it call into question Kardashian’s previous statement, but it also raises questions about if Kardashian was in on this grift the whole time. If the eagle eyes of @DietPrada are correct, it means that Kardashian (or a stylist) has been tipping off FashionNova about her outfits before she wears them. If they are incorrect, it means that somehow FashionNova guessed that Kardashian was going to wear a hyper-specific vintage piece, shot it, styled it and manufactured it, all before Kardashian even wore it. Then, when Kim unveiled it on Instagram they uploaded it to their website a day later. Fans speculated in the comments about what seemed more likely. Again, Kardashian defended herself on Twitter, swearing that she had nothing to do with it, and condemned retailers like Fashion Nova for ripping off small designer’s works.[4]

To be fair, Kardashian has battled with fashion retailers about copyright before. She filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit against Missguided for using her “name and image without permission in order to generate interest in their brand and website.”[5] However, she made no move to file such action against Fashion Nova. Was that an admission of guilt? Or, was it simply because of the ties Fashion Nova already has to her sisters?[6]

The jury is still out on Kardashian, but she is hardly the only one to be caught up in copyright issues with garments. There is a complicated history with fashion’s relationship with the law, and items of clothing often wrestle with complicated questions about what can be recreated, what can’t and how to take action about those who do.

Oddly enough, the debate and the laws about fashion start mainly with a lawsuit against two cell phones companies. The case was complex, but it boils down to this: in 2011, Apple sued Samsung for “slavishly” copying its products, namely cell phones and tablets. Apple argued that due to their patents, they were entitled to Samsung’s profits, and Samsung needed to promptly stop production of their infringing products.[7] Normally, a case like this would not be such a big deal for law, specifically law about fashion. But the patent that Apple claimed Samsung was infringing on was a design patent. A design patent is very different from a utility patent. A utility patent which protects what something does. A design patent protects the way something looks.[8] By filing this lawsuit, Apple claimed that their product’s design was getting ripped off, and thus they were wronged. Apple won.

Design patents protect the functionality of an object, but they also protect decorative aspects of it as well. As Fashionista described it, “If you have a shoe that has an interesting molded or sculptural heel that doesn't have any particular special function, but is part of this otherwise functional item, the shoe might have design patent possibility.”[9] Nike is by far the king of design patents. They filed for 867 patents in 2018, which is oddly only the second-most in the company's history.[10] But Nike, as a sneaker company is the perfect fit for something like a design patent. Their products clearly serve a function, yet there are clear decorative aspects as well that are unique to the brand. Handbags are another item that bears well to design patents, and the decorative hardware can also serve as the “ornamental piece” of a functional object. However, despite these useful instances of design patents working in their favor, many brands don’t use them. Instead, they focus their efforts on protecting their trademarks.

Patents are expensive. Trademarks are cheaper. To patent the design of a shirt can be up to $6,000-$8,000 just to start. To pay to trademark a little logo in the corner is much cheaper, and it can be incorporated into overall branding as well. This is all fine and good for big brands, like the aforementioned Nike who employs (and can afford) an army of lawyers to protect their designs. But some can’t, and in the age of Instagram this has become a massive, gaping problem.

For Madeline Pendleton, it’s just another day at the office. Only, her office is her garage, and her work is her small brand, Tunnel Vision.[11] Madeline and her best friend, who she dubs an “unofficial partner” run the brand, quite literally out of her home in Eagle Rock. They do small orders and small batches, and almost all of the designs on the website are Pendleton’s own original art. “I design ethically, and thus have a significantly lower profit margin than sellers of the sweatshop-produced copy, so it stings quite a bit knowing people make more money than I do off of my own artwork by just selling copies of it”[12] Pendleton isn’t the only one struggling with this. Many small businesses are routinely burned by the fast fashion market, and struggle to make ends meet while also battling with overseas manufacturers who often rip items almost as soon as they are created. But until then, she and other countless small designers will simply have to keep working, and try to keep up.

______________________________________________________________

[1] https://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/a26390312/kim-kardashian-vintage-thierry-mugler/

[2] https://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/1097903684527091712

[3] https://www.instagram.com/p/BuDB6RxlPab/

[4] https://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/1097903481518616576

[5]https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/kim-kardashian-sues-style-copycat-website-using-her-image-permission-1188517

[6] https://www.fashionnova.com/collections/kylie

[7] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/business/apple-samsung-patent-trial.html

[8] https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1502.html

[9] https://fashionista.com/2016/12/fashion-law-patent-copyright-trademark

[10] https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2019/01/07/nike-continues-torrid-patent-pace.html

[11]http://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2016/02/25/how-one-sustainable-fashion-brand-resuses-vintage-clothing/

[12]http://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2016/02/25/how-one-sustainable-fashion-brand-resuses-vintage-clothing/

Photo Credit: VOGUE Taiwan

[tearsofthemis]

Tears of Themis : Chapter 1 “Social Snobbery” Part 12

[Previous Part] | [Masterlist] | [Next Part]

▌Location- QingPing Restaurant, First Floor

MC: “Mr. Fang, you…”

(Fang Yuan’s sudden admission that he was the one who broke the security camera was far from what Xia Yan and I anticipated.)

Xia Yan: “Mr, Fang, is it safe to assume that you were already aware that this food poisoning incident was intentional? The culprit at hand is Lu HaiYang.”

(Fang Yuan quietly sat down at the table.)

Xue XinRan: “Grandpa Fang… It’s been so long, why are you still protecting that ungrateful scumbag! Like the saying goes, ‘give him an inch and he’ll take a mile’, you’re too kind to him and now he’s taking advantage of it!”

Xia Yan: “Miss Xue, what did Mr. Fang tell you?”

(XinRan turned to Fang Yuan silently, bit her lip and turned away angrily. Fang Yuan sighed, but it was clear that he had no intention to tell us more. His reluctance to open up to us made me think of the family portrait I found on his bookshelf, and the photo of Lu HaiYang behind it.)

MC: (That’s right, it was Lu HaiYang! The boy in the photo resembles Lu HaiYang! Is this the reason as to why Mr. Fang would rather shoulder the blame?)

MC: “Pardon me for asking, Mr. Fang, but we found your family photo on the bookshelf, and a photo of Lu HaiYang was behind it… Are you willing to shoulder the blame just because Lu HaiYang looks like your son?”

(Fang Yuan looked at me in shock, then sighed.)

Fang Yuan: “How did you know…”

(I retrieved the photo frame from the bookshelf and passed it to Fang Yuan.)

MC: “The boy in the photograph… is he your son?”

Fang Yuan: “That’s right... Fang Xuan was our only son.”

MC: “Where is he now…”

Fang Yuan: “Twenty-seven years ago when he had just turned eighteen, he was accepted to his first choice university and begged us to let him go backpacking alone to celebrate. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion for him, but who could have known that the tour bus would get into an accident as it was rounding a tight mountain bed, and he would never came back home… QingPing and I decided to sponsor students, partially in memory of our late son. We wanted to reward all the hardworking students who achieve their dreams of going to university, almost as though they can go on in place of Fang Xuan. Unfortunately, QingPing fell ill from the shock of losing her son. Who would’ve known that two years later, she would leave me as well…”

MC: “My condolences, Mr. Fang…”

Fang Yuan: “QingPing loved to cook, and she left behind her recipes. I quit my day job and opened this restaurant in hopes that more and more people would come to love her cooking as well. HaiYang was originally one of my employees, he wanted to work part-time and prepare for university. I would often see him hang back and study in the restaurant when we closed for the day, he was hardworking like Fang Xuan in that regard. Naturally, I wanted to help him, to take away some of his financial burdens. I won’t lie and say that I don’t have a soft spot for him compared to all the other students I’ve sponsored in the past.”

Xia Yan: “Lu HaiYang was a righteous and studious kid back then, wasn’t he.”

Fang Yuan: “Of course. HaiYang would never sabotage me and intentionally poison others, he was forced to by that corrupt company!”

MC: “MeiWeiKa forced his hand? How do you know that for sure?”

Fang Yuan: “It all started when he was hired by the company a year ago.”

~~~Flashback~~~

Lu HaiYang: “Grandpa Fang, y-you gotta help me, they’re going to fire me…”

Fang Yuan: “How did this happen to you, my boy?”

(Lu HaiYang knelt in front of Fang Yuan and sobbed. His face was swollen, and purple bruises were starting to form under his eye. Someone had beaten him up.)

Fang Yuan: “Get up, get up. Who did this to you, I’m going to call the police!”

Lu HaiYang: “W-wait! Don’t call the police, I.. I did this to myself.”

Fang Yuan: “You… hit yourself!? W-well why would you…”

Lu HaiYang: “I couldn’t reach the sales quota the company set for me by five hundred thousand dollars. As my punishment, I had to hit myself fifty times in front of the whole department. The company said it was meant to be a lesson. If I didn’t hit myself hard enough, they would cut my salary under the pretense of not rectifying my wrongs, and not striving for improvement.”

Fang Yuan: “How outlandish! What your company did to you… is against the law! Go and resign, HaiYang. We have to take them to court!”

Lu HaiYang: “I can’t do that, Grandpa Fang! You don’t understand just how hard it is to find a job, especially after I’ve just graduated. I have to start from somewhere and climb my way up to the top. I didn’t stay long at other companies. If I resign now, no one will want me as an employee! I don’t want to move back home, back to the shoddy village farms, I want to stay in Stellis City… “

~~~Flashback ends~~~

MC: “MeiWeiKa company has committed severe crimes, he should have listened to you and resigned so he could pursue legal action!”

Fang Yuan: “HaiYang was scared to be homeless, his drive to provide a better future for himself is understandable. I was scared at the time when he showed up in that sorry state, so I caved and agreed to help him with what I could. He asked me to purchase MeiWeiKa’s membership at a price of two thousand dollars a month. I agreed.”

Xia Yan: “That was the beginning of the end, right? Lu HaiYang kept on pressing you to buy add-on services, like that VIP membership.”

Fang Yuan: “That’s right. MeiWeiKa’s VIP membership costs thirty thousand per month, it’s more on top of that if you want advertising space on their app. There was no way I could afford it. After I refused to upgrade my membership, work pressure began to build on HaiYang. Since then, he has become twisted and unscrupulous. MeiWeiKa is the root of all our problems, falsifying bad reviews and hiring idle-men to harass and cause trouble for us restaurant owners. The restaurant next door has experienced similar treatment.”

MC: “Have you guys considered filing a class action lawsuit?”

Fang Yuan: “We don’t have any evidence… or the kind of influence that MeiWeiKa has. Everyone online would side with the company, I could do nothing about it except watch as LuYang followed their lead and became one of their lackeys. Actually, since the health department gave their verdict, I already knew that HaiYang was the one who sabotaged the water supply. But…”

Xia Yan: “That’s why you hosed down the water container, and swept the restaurant meticulously of any pesticides, and broke your own security camera… all to protect Lu HaiYang. If you are this certain, then our culprit is the man himself?”

Fang Yuan: “W-well I-”

Xue XinRan: “Grandpa Fang! If you let this slide, the restaurant will be filed as a health hazard, and the restaurant will have to shut down! Then no one will ever get to taste Grandma Fang’s recipes ever again…”

Fang Yuan: “I don’t want to stay quiet to the injustice I faced, but I don’t want HaiYang to go to jail. He’s still young and has his whole life ahead of him, he’s only made a couple bad decisions. But if he’s incarcerated, his life might as well be as good as over!”

Xia Yan: “But Mr. Fang, this lawsuit could be the push Lu HaiYang needs to be set on the right path again, won’t it be beneficial for everyone if MeiWeiKa is punished by the law for what they’ve done? Lu HaiYang forced to sabotage QingPing Restaurant, could be the first of many spearheads that’ll expose MeiWeiKa’s unethical business practices, as long as Lu HaiYang could turn around and testify…” 

Fang Yuan: “You don’t understand, young man! I’ve definitely thought of convincing Lu HaiYang, but that company isn’t one that I can anger!”

MC: “But sir, you’ve never asked us to stop our investigation today. Aren’t you at least a bit hopeful that perhaps we can help? As long as Lu HaiYang is willing to cooperate with us, I can defend him against the prosecutors…”

Fang Yuan: “Young lady, you’re a lawyer aren’t you? I’ve already guessed as such. You must have concealed your identity because XinRan told you that I’m not fond of lawyers, right…”

(I hadn’t even realized that I had let it slip!)

MC: “I apologize, Mr. Fang…”

Fang Yuan: “Actually, I’m not against hiring a lawyer, I was only afraid that lawyers would prosecute HaiYang... I thought that if I tidied up the restaurant, your investigation would be futile. XinRan would give up the case, and perhaps I would pay less for the settlement; it would be a good thing. But I underestimated your abilities, and I underestimated XinRan’s perseverance. When we were upstairs just now, I told XinRan everything that I have just told you both, she tried to convince me to speak with you. I understand that you have good intentions of helping me, but I cannot give up HaiYang’s future so… my decision is that I will not hire lawyers for the trial. I thank you for your time and your service.” (Just as Fang Yuan dismissed us, he turned to head up the stairs once again. I wanted to plead with him and say something - anything that would get him to change his mind. As I opened my mouth, the restaurant’s door opened. Who would come to the restaurant at a time like this? I turned towards the door... It was Lu HaiYang.)

-------

[Previous Part] | [Masterlist] | [Next Part]

——-

《CREDIT》 Translator & Editor: @humi-and-co​  《未定事件簿》Tears of Themis is a 2020 Chinese otome game by 米哈游Mihoyo. All original credits go to 米哈游Mihoyo.

《 VOICE ACTORS 》 Xia Yan | Jin Xian: https://weibo.com/riceranger Lu HaiYang | Zhang Pei: https://weibo.com/u/1937059462 Xue XinRan | V17-Su Wan: https://weibo.com/u/2925530143 Fang Yuan | Zhao Yang

[prorevenge]

Former nerd destroys bully's life

This is a story about my older sister. My sister is a super kind and smart person. In high school, she was a typical “nerd”. Never really cared about her clothes really and stuck to her studies and extra-curricular. Her general style was pulling her hair in a pony-tail, jeans, shirt and sweater/jacket. In her class, there were a group of popular girls that made it their life job to make my sister’s life miserable. Think real-life Mean Girls (Regina George and all). Every time I talked to her about it, I could tell in her eyes it hurt her but she just told me she was ok and she’ll just keep ignoring them. One day, Regina and her minions, spread a rumor about my sister being a slut. Telling everyone she acts innocent but has actually slept with a bunch of guys and even hit on teachers. This rumor spread to all of the students and the staff. I texted my sister when I heard about it and she told me she was fine but when I saw her at home later that night, it was obvious she had been crying. The school called my parents about the whole ordeal. The administration knew that it was all B.S. but still had to do investigate since it involved teachers. My sister and even the administration knew who would spread this kind of rumor, but there was no proof since it was all word of mouth. The teachers knew that those group of girls were not nice but they never did anything this messed up before. My sister confronted Regina and all she said was, “you are a loser and losers deserve a crappy life. Deal with it!”

My sister went on to graduate as the class valedictorian and went to Cambridge in the UK for her undergraduate and graduated magna cum laude and then went to Harvard Law. She worked for a few years at some big law firm but eventually started her own practice back in the area we grew up in with her now husband.

One day she gets a mother and her daughter into her office and asks about suing the landlord of the apartment complex the mother was living in. They said that the premises have not been upkept, has hazardous living conditions and repairs are rarely done and when they are done, they’re not done well. For example, when a water pipe burst, the plumber didn’t replace any of the old pipes and instead just patched with adhesives like duct tape and gorilla tape because the to fully repair the ordeal would take a few days so the management company just patched it up. My sister goes on to find out that the management company is owned none other than by Regina’s family and that the complex had been falling apart ever since Regina’s father retired and Regina decided to take over despite not knowing how to run the company. Over the course of a few months, my sister found out that it was not just this one complex but three out of the four complexes the company managed were in terrible condition and my sister’s firm was able to get about 60% of the residents to file for a class action lawsuit. The list of things that were messed up in these places was astronomical. The fire sprinkler system didn’t work, a huge backlog of repairs needed to be done in the apartments, signs of mold were even sprouting in certain areas with more moisture, and rodent infestation. The only thing they didn’t have were termites. On top of that, there were reports of multiple break-ins in the complexes as the security contractors were no longer working for them. Everything was documented with pictures, police reports and sworn witness statements from current and previous tenants, contractors previously hired, previous employees, and expert witnesses. The case mounted against Regina’s company was basically ironclad. My sister never forgot that rumor and if there was even an opportune moment for her to get back at Regina, it would be now so my sister made it her mission to get anything and everything out of Regina for wronging these people. Initially, Regina's attorneys wanted to settle out of court but since Regina was stubborn and also not too bright, she didn’t want to settle and decided to fight back. As the defendant, Regina’s claim was that all of the problems were caused by the plaintiffs and they were trying to fraud her.

Case eventually went to trial, despite Regina’s attorney wanting to settle out of court. On the first day of court, my sis was nervous about Regina recognizing her, however, it seemed like Regina didn’t remember her at all. Throughout the trial, my sister’s firm produced expert witness after expert witness about how all the damage to the property was caused by negligence and any repairs that were done, were not done properly. Former employees testified how Regina cut costs by reducing critical maintenance staff and expecting the left-over staff to take care of everything. When they couldn’t keep up with the backlog, she fired the people and hired unqualified replacements. The only complex that was maintained well was the one she lived in and she spared no expense to remodel her unit with new appliances and luxuries and also had a bunch of her friends live there too either discounted heavily or free.

At the end of the trial, Regina was found guilty on all accounts and ordered to fix everything or the complexes will be shut down. The judge also ordered that no one was allowed to live there while the repairs were being made so she had to pay for all of the current tenants’ relocation to hotels AND the repairs for an entire month. There were over 300 residents. The costs for everything would cost Regina over $2 million dollars, assuming they don’t find more things wrong and need to extend the repairs. If she had just settled with the plaintiffs, in the beginning, it would have cost her less than $500k. Regina broke down outside of the courthouse and was screaming at her attorneys. When she caught sight of my sister, she ran over and started screaming obscenities at her. My sister put up a hand to quiet her and said to her face, “you are a loser, and losers deserve a crappy life. Deal with it.” And walked away. Regina’s face got bright red for a moment and then the light bulb finally went off, as she realized who my sister is. The same nerd girl she bullied and has now destroyed her life.

Aftermath. Regina’s dad had zero idea of what was going on. After he retired, he moved to out of the country to live abroad and by the time he found out the company he built was falling apart, it was a bit too late. He eventually came back to fire Regina and re-establish his company and hired the right people to run the company.

(source) story by (/u/edwadokun)

[eliteprepsat]

This article was originally published on May 23, 2020 and has been modified to reflect recent developments. It was revised on September 2, 2020 and again on October 27, 2020.

Elite Prep is committed to keeping you up-to-date with the ongoing, ever-fluid situation regarding the lawsuit against the University of California and its use of SAT/ACT scores in its admissions policies. Below is the executive summary followed by a detailed list of frequently asked questions with the latest changes.

Executive Summary

Thursday, May 21, 2020, was a momentous day in the history of the University of California. On that day, the University of California Board of Regents (the governing and policy-making body for the entire UC system) unanimously passed UC President Janet Napolitano's proposal to eliminate the SAT and ACT as a requirement on the UC application. Under President Napolitano's plan, UC was to adopt a test-optional admissions policy for the graduating high school classes of 2021 and 2022, then go test-blind for the classes of 2023 and 2024.

On Tuesday, September 1, 2020, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman added another plot twist to an already convoluted situation. In this decision, Judge Seligman ruled that UC's test-optional policy unfairly disadvantaged disabled applicants because they lacked access to testing centers with accommodations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though the ruling only took into account the perceived harm to disabled applicants to UC, the effect of the ruling impacted all applicants to UC. UC was prohibited from using SAT/ACT scores for admissions and scholarship consideration, effective immediately. UC promptly appealed the decision.

Then, on September 24, 2020, the First Appellate District Court of Appeal in California ruled in favor of UC's appeal. Consequently, UC is once again permitted to use SAT/ACT scores in their admissions decisions, effective immediately. However, four UC schools—Berkeley, Irvine, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz—had already opted to be test-blind for SAT/ACT scores, meaning they will not consider SAT/ACT scores even if an applicant reports them. The other five UC schools have decided to be test-optional. These test-optional and test-blind policies are in effect for the fall 2021 application cycle (affecting current high school seniors).

Read on if you would like more details.

As of this writing, for the graduating high school class of 2021, UC will be test-blind for four UC campuses and test-optional for five.

Test-blind means that even if you report an SAT/ACT score on your UC application, the score will not be used as a data point when deciding your admissibility. Currently, four UC campuses have a test-blind admission policy:

UC Berkeley

UC Irvine

UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Cruz

Test-optional means that if you report a score on the UC application, and the score is favorable, it will enhance your academic profile and therefore possibly enhance your chances of admission. If the score is average or below average, the score will be neutral, not negative, on your application since colleges will not punish you for not doing well on an optional test. Test-optional is the ideal situation for the applicant. Five UC schools are test-optional for the high school graduating class of 2021:

UC Davis

UC Los Angeles

UC Merced

UC Riverside

UC San Diego

Why are some UC schools test-optional while others are test-blind? Doesn't the UC Board of Regents' decision in May affect all UC campuses?

Each UC school has its own admissions office, and even though all UC schools adhere to some form of comprehensive review, each UC admissions office gets to decide how to admit its own students. Some of the UC schools felt that a test-optional policy would disadvantage students who did not report SAT/ACT scores (or, conversely, advantage students who did), so they opted to be test-blind immediately. Other UC schools felt they wanted to give students a chance to show off academic ability through an SAT/ACT score. Also, not for nothing, the two most popular colleges in the US for fall 2020—UCLA (109,000 applications received) and UC San Diego (100,000 applications received)—are both test-optional. Schools with that many applicants will probably want more data points, not fewer, to inform their admissions decisions. The UC Regents' decision is a recommended course of action, not a mandate.

The ruling is most likely NOT the final word.

The First Appellate Court stayed the case, thereby reinstituting the possible use of SAT/ACT in UC admissions, but the trial that will determine whether use of the SAT/ACT in UC admissions harms students has yet to take place. So the status quo might change yet again after the trial takes place, or perhaps when the next legal motion is filed.

But for current high school seniors (class of 2021), the status quo is, for all intents and purposes, most likely the final word.

It is highly unlikely the lawsuit will be settled before the UC application deadline of November 30, 2020. So for current high school seniors, the status quo (four UC schools test-blind, five test-optional) is the law of the land. But should the wheels of justice spin faster than usual, or if the case is settled out of court, then perhaps a decision will be made before the end of November. But we doubt it.

What about SAT/ACT scores for the California State University (CSU) application?

CSU will not be using SAT/ACT scores in their admissions decisions for the freshman class of fall 2021 (current high school seniors).

So should I report my SAT/ACT score on my UC application?

Absolutely. As noted above, your score on one or more sections of the SAT/ACT could pass you out of certain general education requirements or qualify you for scholarships, so yes, go ahead and submit your scores. You have nothing to lose and potentially something to gain. And the test-optional UC campuses won't know about your SAT/ACT score unless you report it on the UC application.

Where do I report my SAT/ACT score on the UC application?

The UC application for Fall 2021 is available now. Go to apply.universityofcalifornia.edu and create your account (if you're a senior). On the right-hand menu on the website, you will see a section for Test Scores. That's the section where you report your scores. If a UC campus you're applying to is test-blind, then the scores you report on the application website will not be forwarded to that UC admissions office for inclusion in your file. However, your scores would be made available to the test-optional UC campuses, and to the UC school where you enroll in fall 2021 (for the purposes of passing you out of certain entry-level requirements.)

Should I pay for an official SAT/ACT score report to be sent to the UC schools I apply to?

We recommend holding off on sending SAT/ACT official score reports to UC campuses during the application season and only sending the official score report to the UC campus where you matriculate in the fall. So just pay for an official test score report once you know where you will be attending in the fall, if you do decide to attend a UC school.

If I'm a senior and haven't taken the SAT/ACT yet, should I still try to take it?

For high school seniors, Elite recommends taking the test if you can, and not taking it if you have to go way out of your way to find a testing center that is open. This is ultimately your family's decision to make, but in the cost-benefit analysis of "driving time to testing center" versus "what the scores will be used for at this moment" (admissions for test-optional schools and placement purposes), we view taking the SAT/ACT in the fall of 2020 as advisable, not mandatory.

Should I take the SAT/ACT if I'm a high school junior?

For high school juniors, the admissions test policies might change for you, depending on the outcome of this lawsuit. But if you are a junior and have a test date lined up for fall 2020, great. Go ahead and take it, especially if you've been preparing for it this summer. If your test date this fall gets cancelled, don't worry about it. You can try again in spring 2021. The next SAT test dates after the November test are December, March, May, and June. And remember, you'll still have fall of 2021 (August, October, November) available to you for last-minute retakes when you're a senior. So plenty of time to take the SAT/ACT. What remains to be seen is whether UC campuses will adjust their test-blind/test-optional policies when you are seniors.

The preliminary injunction points out that disabled students don't have access to testing centers with accommodations because of the Covid-19 pandemic. If or when Covid-19 quarantines, lockdowns, and shelter-in-place orders are lifted, doesn't that mean that the playing field is once again level for disabled and non-disabled test takers?

Maybe. This is one of the most open of the open questions in this whole affair.

If I take the SAT or ACT, do I need to sit for the SAT Essay or the ACT Writing section?

UC Regents also voted on May 21st to eliminate the SAT Essay and ACT Writing section as a requirement on the UC application, beginning with the class of '21. Currently, the only selective or highly selective college in the US that requires the SAT Essay or ACT Writing is West Point. No other college or university—not even Stanford, MIT, and the Ivy League colleges—requires the SAT Essay or ACT Writing. If you are in the class of '21 or '22 and plan on submitting an SAT or ACT score (as we recommend above), then take the version of the test without the essay—unless you are planning to apply to West Point.

What's this about UC creating its own standardized admissions test?

In the same board measure adopted on May 21st, Pres. Napolitano also tasked UC to come up with its own standardized admissions test by 2025. After the period of suspension (2021-24), UC is supposed to roll out its own proprietary standardized admissions test, which will aim to align with "the content UC expects students should have mastered to demonstrate college readiness for California freshmen." If UC cannot come up with its own proprietary admissions test by 2025, UC will go test-blind in perpetuity.

The Academic Senate's task force which investigated SAT/ACT in UC admissions policy also recommended that UC come up with its own admission test, but they estimated it would take 9 years to do so. In her plan, approved by the UC Regents, Pres. Napolitano has essentially cut the recommended timeline in half, almost daring UC to come up with its own test in half the time that it's projected to take.

What about SAT Subject Tests and AP Tests?

According to the UC Office of Admissions, throughout the period of suspension (2021-24), UC will still consider AP and SAT Subject Test scores.

Even test-blind UC campuses will still consider SAT Subject Test scores and AP scores.

This is especially pertinent to applicants to engineering majors. Typically, colleges of engineering would like to see an applicant's scores in SAT Math Level 2 and an SAT science Subject Test (Chemistry, Biology E/M, or Physics). And AP scores are still being considered, for all students regardless of intended major. The lawsuit is just about the use of SAT/ACT scores in admissions and scholarships.

How does the removal of SAT/ACT scores in the application review affect the way my UC application is evaluated?

When one data point is removed from the evaluation process, the remaining data points become all the more important. Those remaining data points are GPA, both weighted and unweighted; strength of class schedule, meaning the number of AP, IB, or honors level courses taken in high school; AP and Subject Test scores; extracurricular activities list; and the college application essays, also known as personal statements. Pay close attention to these components of your UC application now that SAT/ACT scores have been removed from the equation.

Our counselors and branch directors are experts in college admissions. Make sure to reach out to your local Elite Prep branch to create a plan to maximize your chances in UC and other college admissions. And thank you for allowing us to accompany you on the road to college success.

[arawynn]

Update on our Corona situation

After dealing with the whole pandemic insanely well with the pandemic until late summer, we (=Germany) get bitten in the ass by a mix of carelessness (probably mixed with ‘it’s not that bad’ conspiracy myths and the likes), being tired of the measurements/wanting to go back to ‘normal’ and people being idiots.

After our daily new infections climbed to something around 4000, our chancellor warned that we needed to get it under control again or we might reach almost 20.000 daily new infections.

(For reference, we’ve been noticeably below 1000 new infections per day.)

After a couple days of having roughly 4000 new cases per day, that number jumped to 7000 by the end of two weeks ago. Then once again the numbers stayed roughly at that amount for a couple days (I honestly expected we’d reach the 8000 after two or three days) before jumping once again - to 12.000 cases per day.

Which we haven’t even reached in March/April.

Dr. Merkel’s warning/calculation of 20.000 people at Christmas would currently be something to wish for because if it goes on like right now, we’ll be somewhere between 100.000 and 500.000 new infections per day at Christmas.

Germany as a whole is considered an at risk area (the incidence figure of more than 50 new infected per 100.000 inhabitants within the past 7 days has been reached and by now surpassed) as of last week. There are areas with an incidence figure of above 200 that have implemented a lockdown (in contrast to the shutdown Germany did earlier this year).

My home county as a whole is an at risk area as of today as well. 

Meeting people in public is limited to 5 people if they’re from more than two households. You can get the limit to 10 people, but you’d have to announce it to the public order office which means needing to have a concept and strictly sticking to them. We’d have to split the choir up again, most likely to soprano-only, alto-only, tenor-only and bass-only practices. Which might be useful to learn something new when you start with a piece, but at some point you need to sing them together because there’s a huge difference between singing it only with your/one voice and singing four-part.

The practices from my church choir we had picked up again carefully and with extensive safety measures (since the average age is definitely at least 60) are entirely cancelled. It’s questionable if we’ll be able to sing on Boxing Day EVEN IF (and that’s a very big even if) services would be allowed again by then. We’d probably have to retort to well-known and already performed pieces instead of the new ones we started practicing last week. 

Meanwhile the people who believe conspiracy myths keep demonstrating (without facemasks and social distancing of course) against “the dictatorially Corona rules” and want to throw some of the leading scientists like Professor Drosten in jail, want to file a class action lawsuit against the German government and scientists in the USA  (who aren’t even responsible for it, but the “lawyers” already collect 800 € per person), somebody tried to burn down the Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI - the most important health office during this pandemic in Germany) and another somebody put up a mannequin that looks like it’s been hanged with a piece of paper reading “journalists” attached to it.

So aside from the pandemic coming back full-force, we also have the conspiracy myth believer to deal with - who are becoming more and more radical, which honestly worries me a lot too. Because the only two ways I see for them to get out of it are 1) getting them out of the conspiracy bubbles cold turkey (including instantly them abandoning any and all social media) long term and ideally getting them into some sort of therapy or 2) either they themselves or a loved one of theirs gets very sick with the virus (and there has already been at least 1 case where somebody died of Covid after getting willingly infected and still claimed it was the right thing to do).

[deniscollins]

‘Scared to Death’ by Arbitration: Companies Drowning in Their Own System

DoorDash requires all employees to sign an arbitration clause that bars them from joining together to mount class-action lawsuits, making it more difficult for employees to sue due to individual costs. What would you do if an entrepreneurial lawyer figured out how to efficiently have 6,000 employees individually file claims to the arbitration company and you received a $9 million bill, which a federal judge ruled that the company must pay: (1) continue having new employees sign arbitration clauses, (2) no longer require it, or (3) something else, if so, what? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

Teel Lidow couldn’t quite believe the numbers. Over the past few years, the nation’s largest telecom companies, like Comcast and AT&T, have had a combined 330 million customers. Yet annually an average of just 30 people took the companies to arbitration, the forum where millions of Americans are forced to hash out legal disputes with corporations.

Mr. Lidow, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur with a law degree, figured there had to be more people upset with their cable companies. He was right. Within a few months, Mr. Lidow found more than 1,000 people interested in filing arbitration claims against the industry.

About the same time last year, Travis Lenkner, a lawyer in Chicago, had a similar realization. Arbitration clauses bar employees at many companies from joining together to mount class-action lawsuits. But what would happen, Mr. Lenkner wondered, if those workers started filing tens of thousands of arbitration claims all at once? Many companies, it turns out, can’t handle the caseload.

Hit with about 2,250 claims in one day last summer, for example, the delivery company DoorDash was “scared to death” by the onslaught, according to internal documents unsealed in February in federal court in California.

Driven partly by a legal reformist spirit and entrepreneurial zeal, Mr. Lidow and Mr. Lenker are leaders in testing a new weapon in arbitration: sheer volume. And as companies face a flood of claims, they are employing new strategies to thwart the very process that they have upheld as the optimal way to resolve disputes. Companies, in a few instances, have refused to the pay fees required to start the arbitration process, hoping that would short-circuit the cases.

“There is no way that the system can handle mass arbitrations,” said Cliff Palefsky, a San Francisco employment lawyer who has worked to develop fairness standards for arbitration. “The companies are trying to weasel their way out of the system that they created.”

Even as Supreme Court rulings over the last two decades have enshrined arbitration as the primary way that companies can hash out disputes, giving them enormous sway, consumer advocates and labor rights groups have criticized its inequities.

One of the biggest obstacles for consumers and workers is that payouts on individual arbitration judgments don’t justify the costs of mounting a complex case against a big company.

Some of the mass arbitration strategies may be changing that calculus.

Mr. Lidow runs FairShake, a start-up that uses an automated system to get the arbitration process started. If the claim results in a payout, the start-up takes a cut.

Mr. Lidow got interested in arbitration after the e-commerce company he founded to sell ethically sourced clothing shut down. A former mergers and acquisitions lawyer, he wanted to use some of his digital know-how to disrupt the cumbersome, clubby legal system that nearly every American must agree to use instead of going to court against their employer, rental car provider or cable company.

In the spring of 2018, FairShake bought targeted Google ads that invited anyone with gripes against a cable and internet company to start the arbitration process through its website. Over two months, FairShake notified companies like AT&T and Comcast that it was filing 1,000 arbitration claims.

The companies were caught off guard. It took six months for many of the claims to move through arbitration. And some were still making their way through the system two years later. To Mr. Lidow, that seemed like a long time for two of the nation’s largest companies, with ample legal resources, that have vouched publicly for the efficiencies of arbitration over court.

It was particularly notable because AT&T was at the center of a landmark 2011 Supreme Court ruling that anointed arbitration as a fair forum for legal disputes.

“From our perspective, the companies weren’t prepared to administratively handle that volume,” Mr. Lidow said. “The whole system wasn’t prepared.”

An AT&T spokesman said FairShake’s “system is unnecessary because our process is so easy to follow and efficient for consumers.”

FairShake is expanding its focus to other industries, like consumer finance and home security. For the arbitration claims that FairShake has settled, consumers have gotten an average payout of $700.

Mr. Lenkner also sees a potentially viable legal niche in mass arbitration.

A former lawyer at Boeing who clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the Supreme Court, Mr. Lenkner said most companies never expected that people would actually use arbitration.

“The conventional wisdom might say that arbitration is a bad development for plaintiffs and an automatic win for the companies,” he said. “We don’t see it that way.”

His firm’s first wave of cases have focused on workers in the gig economy. Many of these workers, particularly at food delivery companies, have been thrust onto the front line of the coronavirus crisis by ferrying food and supplies to housebound consumers, while risking getting sick. A large number of their employers require these workers to sign arbitration clauses.

Mr. Lenkner said he believed that his firm could economically mount arbitration claims, one by one, because the gig workers had similar allegations against companies like Uber and Postmates — namely that they have been misclassified as independent contractors.

One of the firm’s latest showdowns is with DoorDash, a leading food delivery app in the United States. It shows the traction that mass arbitration is gaining with judges and the lengths that companies will go trying to stop it.

It began last summer when Mr. Lenkner’s firms filed more than 6,000 arbitration claims on behalf of couriers for DoorDash, known as “dashers.”

Among them was Victoria Diltz, a single mother in the Bay Area who works at a fast-food restaurant and as a housekeeper, and relies on making deliveries for DoorDash to generate extra cash for a tank of gas, groceries or car payments.

She said the company’s formula for paying workers was inconsistent, but as an independent contractor she had no way to challenge that.

“They know we are desperate for the cash, so we will do whatever,” said Ms. Diltz, 46, who lived out of her car for a period while working for DoorDash.

The cases were taken to the American Arbitration Association, an entity that provides the judges and sets up the hearings for such disputes.

DoorDash specified in its contracts with its roughly 700,000 dashers that they had to use the association when filing an arbitration claim. The company also told the dashers that it would pay any fees that the association required to start the legal process.

Then DoorDash got the bill for the 6,000 claims — more than $9 million.

DoorDash balked, arguing in court that it couldn’t be sure that all of the claimants were legitimate dashers. The American Arbitration Association said the company had to pay anyway. It refused, and the claims were essentially dead.

The company made other moves seeking to limit the damage from mass arbitration.

DoorDash’s lawyers at the Gibson Dunn firm reached out to another arbitration provider, which turned out to be more accommodating on some issues important to the company.

The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution, or C.P.R., was willing to allow DoorDash to arbitrate “test cases” and avoid having to pay the fees all at once. C.P.R. also took feedback from Gibson Dunn on the proposed new rules, though it did not consult with the dashers’ lawyers.

In a statement, C.P.R. said the new rules for mass arbitration were broad based and not specific to the DoorDash case. It also said the new rules had provisions that were generally favorable to plaintiffs.

If they wanted to keep “dashing” for DoorDash, workers had to sign a new contract designating C.P.R. as the new arbitrator.

But a federal judge in San Francisco wasn’t willing to go along with it. The judge, William Alsup, ordered DoorDash in February to proceed with the American Arbitration Association cases and pay the fees.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for DoorDash said the company “believes that arbitration is an efficient and fair way to resolve disputes.”

But in a hearing, Judge Alsup questioned whether the company and its lawyers really believed that.

“Your law firm and all the defense law firms have tried for 30 years to keep plaintiffs out of court,” the judge told lawyers for Gibson Dunn late last year. “And so finally someone says, ‘OK, we’ll take you to arbitration,’ and suddenly it’s not in your interest anymore. Now you’re wiggling around, trying to find some way to squirm out of your agreement.”

“There is a lot of poetic justice here,” the judge added.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #244

“you could stand me up at the gates of hell, but i won’t back down.”

What accent do you find most difficult to understand? Heavy southern. Has your music taste changed over the years? Not very. I do like more indie stuff now than I used to, though. What movie never fails to make you cry? The Notebook. What movies do you think need a sequel? Hm... I'm sure there's plenty, but they're evading me for now. Let's see... yeah idk. Do you have to see it to believe it? I mean it depends; see what exactly? But in general, yeah. I believe in spirits, maybe even auras, stuff like that. What was the last thing you bought for yourself? Food. Do you like 3D movies? Yeah, they're cool. Have you ever had breakfast in bed? Not the "my partner brought me food and it's romantic" type of way; I've just eaten breakfast food in bed. Have you ever practiced kissing on a stuffed animal? No, that's always been. p wild to me. Do you still talk to your childhood friends? A few. True/False: You live with your parents. Just one. At the dinner table do you always sit in the same chair? We rarely eat at the table, but generally, yes. Is your signature legible? I think so. Have you met any bands/singers? No. Have you ever witnessed a miracle? No. Do you know someone that looks better as they age? *shrugs* Do you know the order of the colors of the rainbow? Yes. Do you sometimes wish you were the opposite gender? No. Have you ever kissed a picture? of who? I don’t think so. Did/do you distract your teachers to get them to tell you stories? I didn't really speak in class unless I was pretty sure I had the answer to a question or had a serious question myself. Who makes you feel like you’re worth something? My mom, more than anyone. Do you remember a lot of your childhood? Yeah. I have a crazy vivid long-term memory. How many pets is too many? Depends on available space as well as what you can afford to care for sufficiently. Do you stare at dead people in a movie to see if you can catch them moving? lol no. Does your hand fit inside a Pringles container? Probably. I can curl my thumb really inward to make space. Do you know who your maid of honor/best man will be? Sara, unless I end up marrying her lmao. In that case, it'd be Mom. If you had the opportunity to be famous, would you take it? I don't like the term "famous" for me personally, but rather "well-known" for a photographer. What is your favorite healthy snack? Strawberries, I guess? What is the best song by your favorite artist/band? I HAVE TO???????? PICK???????????? Oh jeez. At least right now, "Time" is one that I hold incredibly close to my heart and usually brings me to tears because it reminds me of Teddy. It's just a beautiful song. I'd say overall, probably "Trap Door." It's cool as hell. How many times did your phone ring today? None. What theme do you want for your wedding? Halloween/fall-ish. How much do you spend a month on make-up? Nothing. Do you have any of your future children’s names picked out? I don't want kids, but if I did, Alessandra Quinn is the girl and my spouse cannot argue, and I'd love Damien Vance or Damien Victor for a boy. What was your favorite childhood meal? Spaghetti. Would you ever date someone over the internet? I don't *think* I'd do it again, no, unless it was Sara and we were actually making arrangements to move in together ASAP. Do you find it hard to believe that a dinosaur was once right where you are? No, but rather cool as hell. What is your favorite part of the movie “The Lion King”? The intro (up to where the title pops up, not just NAAAAAAAAAAAAASEBENYAAAAAAAAAAA). It's just... magical. I, without fail, get goosebumps all over and smile. Do you have any bug bites atm? No. Do you knock before entering someone’s room? Yeah. What was the last thing you shot in the garbage? Like, shot as a basketball? Probably just paper or something. Would you freak out if you saw a spider crawling on you right now? Fuck yes I would. Who did you last call beautiful? Venus, my snake. Have you ever used a tanning bed? Nooooooo. Do you think people will eventually stop believing in God? Oh, absolutely not. The belief in some sort of higher power has evolved since the dawn of civilization, so why would it stop? Do you and your best friend have the same favorite band? No. Do you prefer watching movies or playing video games? Vidya games. Have you ever been go-cart racing? Ha ha yeah, fun. Up in NY with my cousins. How many jobs have you had in your life? Three. Does your shower have a door or curtains? Two curtains. Do you have any posters of your favorite band on your walls? Metallica and Manson, yeah. Are you good at remembering names? NOOOOOOOO. Have you been outside today? No. Have you ever walked the opposite direction on an escalator? No. When making pancakes, do you try to make cool shapes/pictures? No. Do you use your hand when you’re explaining something? Oh yeah. Do you play a lot of video games? Not anymore, really. I would, but I can't afford a new console. I want a PS4 super badly (hell, even a PS3) to play new games, especially ones I haven't seen let's plays of. You can only replay a game so many times before you get bored, y'know? The only game I play regularly is WoW and that's because it has like... endless content to do. Who is your favorite Disney princess? Probably Jasmine. What word do you hate that people use often? (yolo, derp..) None off the top of my head. I just don't care. When was the last time you had hiccups? Idr. Have you ever thrown up from drinking too much alcohol? No. Do you ever buy the same piece of clothing, just in different colors? No. What is the last movie you saw in a theater? The live action The Lion King, I think. How many bank accounts do you have? I don't think I even have one... I know Mom was talking about opening me up one, but like, why. I don't make an income. Have you ever been falsely accused of starting drama? Oh sure. Do you attend church regularly? I never go. Have you ever been to Dairy Queen? Good. Shit. They have THE best chocolate milkshakes. Do you tend to worry a lot? Only always! How old were you when you lost your first tooth? Idr. Do you remember your first time on the internet? Not really, no. Which website do you email from? Hotmail. Do you enjoy receiving souvenirs? Yeah. Do a lot of people dislike you or is it the other way around? Idk. Have you ever had the flu? No, knock on wood. What about strep throat? Yeah. Would you ever consider going on a cruise? No. What is your biggest insecurity? My more "different" interests/hobbies. Have you ever painted a room alone? No. Speaking of which, when did you last paint your room? Never. Have you ever had a terrible hangover? No. Do you ever get migraines? Rarely. Do you know how to garden? I mean, I could put it together... What was the last thing you plugged into an outlet? A phone charger. Do people consider you to be a funny person? I don't know. Do you like children? No. If not, why is this? I'm just... uncomfortable and feel like I'm playing with slime against my will or some shit any time I'm in their presence. I don't like how they stare, I don't like how rude they can be, I hate how demanding they are of attention (YES, I am aware that is healthy behavior for the baby of a social species, I just can't provide it), they ask too many questions... I have a lot of reasons I don't like them. Is there a big age difference between you and the person you like? No. What is the most amusing thing on the internet, in your opinion? YouTube, I guess? Does the future excite you or scare you? Both. What do you plan on doing with the rest of your life? I don't want to think on this. How many huge secrets do you have? I don't know about *huge* secrets... How many people know these secrets? ^ How many times a day do you brush your teeth? Once. Do you ever floss? Not really, oops. Have you ever been in a long-term relationship? Two. Ever considered suicide? Yes. If so, did you try to commit suicide? Yes. Is there anyone out there who makes you feel completely useless? No. Do you like texting or calling people more? TEXTING. Don't call me omg. Have you ever painted something and been impressed by it? Yeah. When did you last babysit, if ever? I actually did last week in an emergency situation with my nephew. I was the one and only person capable due to everyone being sick. I was scared as shit and very anxious the whole time, but I did it. Ultimately, it was a good bonding experience for us. Do you have any younger siblings? Yes, one sister. Have you ever thought of someone as useless? I'm sure I've thought of myself like that before. Have you ever considered bleaching your hair? Not to remain blonde, no, but I did that on the occasion I dyed it purple, I think. Do you drink vitamin water? No. Are there any old movies you absolutely love? Well of course. Have you ever had a Big Mac before? No, it doesn't appeal to me. Do you think you attract the opposite sex at a reasonable rate? I don't know or care. Where is your favorite place to travel? Mountainous and wooded areas. What is your goal for the next few months? Do well in school, get back into driving, maybe get a job I can actually handle. Can you count to ten in another language other than your own? German, yeah. And I think Spanish. Have you ever played on a sports team before? Yeah. If you have, what was that sport and when? All of these are from when I was a young kid. T-ball/softball, basketball, cheerleading, soccer... I think that's it? Oh wait, dance for many years as a pre-teen/teen. Have you ever filed a lawsuit on someone? No. Do you think you’re a good singer? Not really. Do you think you have a good sense of style? I don't care. What matters is I myself like what I wear. Do you enjoy reading often? No... but I want to get back into it. Have you ever had a deadly illness? No, thank goodness. Ever had food-poisoning before? No. Where did you last eat dinner at? Like, eat out? I think it was a local Mexican restaurant with Mom and the sis. Have you ever shot a gun before? No. Where do you apply cologne or perfume? My neck and just generally around my torso. I don't really pay attention to exactly where. What completely and totally disgusts you and turns you off? Disrespect is what came to mind first this instance. What song makes you laugh when you hear it? I'unno. Do you take surveys hoping someone will see your answers or just ‘because’? Just because. It's a time-killer and a way for me to just. Talk. Not at anyone, just to get thoughts out of my head. It's therapeutic to me. What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? Chocolate or vanilla, depending on my mood. What diet could you never do? "Raw." <<<< Yeah. Do you have a curfew? No, not that I ever leave the house. Do you actually like your job? N/A What is the last song you sang? I think it was "Ordinary Man" by Ozzy feat. Elton John. GOD I am ready for this album. Describe the best kiss you’ve ever experienced: Bro idk I've had a lot of those and I've never like ranked them in my head. Think to the last time someone said thank you to you, what had you done to earn it? I commented on my friend's picture that she was fUCKING BEAUTIFUL. Grab your cellular. When did you last receive a text message? Like three hours ago. Is there anything that’s worrying you at the moment? Just a lot. Honestly, do you wish there was someone still in your life who used to be but for whatever reason isn’t anymore? I mean yeah, there' s multiple people like that. Who in your household do you not have a good relationship with? My sister's dog. Who in your life are you scared to lose more than anything? Mom.

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

It doesn’t get a lot of attention next to the presidential race, but Republicans have a fighting chance to retake control of the U.S. House next year. Dozens of Democrats sit in seats President Trump carried in 2016, and the GOP still has a built-in structural advantage due to geographic self-sorting and how some districts are drawn. But some of that advantage disappeared this week, when a three-judge panel approved a new congressional map for North Carolina to replace the state’s previous Republican gerrymander.

It’s been a busy year for North Carolina district maps. In September, North Carolina’s state-legislative map was thrown out for violating the state constitution’s “free elections” clause. Within the month, Democratic-backed plaintiffs filed a similar lawsuit against the state’s U.S. House map, which was drawn to maximize the number of Republican districts. In October, a majority-Democrat panel of judges found that the map showed signs of “extreme partisan gerrymandering” and issued an injunction against it, and the Republican legislature passed a new map in mid-November. The Democratic plaintiffs argued that the boundaries were still not fair enough, but on Monday, the judges ruled in favor of the map, which will now be used for the 2020 elections.1

Let’s dive into the partisanship of the new map. Thanks to Daily Kos Elections, which has already calculated the results of the 2016 and 2012 presidential races (among other recent elections) in each of the new districts, we’ve calculated FiveThirtyEight partisan leans2 for each of the new seats, and the new map does significantly alter the partisan composition of several North Carolina districts. That means that, instead of 10 pretty safe Republican districts and three pretty safe Democratic ones, North Carolina now has eight fairly Republican-leaning districts and five fairly Democratic-leaning ones.

Two red districts in North Carolina just became blue

The FiveThirtyEight partisan leans* of North Carolina’s congressional districts, before and after court-ordered redistricting in 2019

District Old Partisan Lean New Partisan Lean 1st D+35 D+10 2nd R+13 D+19 3rd R+24 R+24 4th D+35 D+29 5th R+18 R+36 6th R+16 D+18 7th R+18 R+20 8th R+15 R+10 9th R+14 R+13 10th R+24 R+38 11th R+28 R+17 12th D+37 D+34 13th R+10 R+36

*Partisan lean is the average difference between how a state or district votes and how the country votes overall, with 2016 presidential election results weighted at 50 percent, 2012 presidential election results weighted at 25 percent and results from elections for the state legislature weighted at 25 percent. Note that FiveThirtyEight’s current partisan leans do not yet incorporate the results of the 2018 election.

Source: Daily Kos Elections

The two districts whose partisan lean changed hues as a result of the new boundaries are the 2nd and 6th. Instead of being an R+13 seat encompassing the exurban and rural areas around Raleigh, the 2nd District now covers Raleigh and its immediate suburbs and is now 19 points more Democratic-leaning than the country as a whole. Former state Rep. Deborah Ross, the Democrats’ 2016 U.S. Senate nominee, headlines a crowded field of Democrats running for the seat, while current Republican Rep. George Holding has hinted he will not run here again. Similarly, the 6th District has also gone blue — from R+16 to D+18 — by swapping several rural counties for urban areas like Greensboro. Incumbent Republican Rep. Mark Walker sounds unlikely to run here again, too; instead, he is reportedly considering primarying a Republican incumbent for U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, Democrat Kathy Manning, who lost a bid for the 13th District in 2018, looks like a formidable contender for the new 6th.

The new map makes it very likely that Democrats will pick up two House seats in North Carolina in 2020. That’s important because it makes Republicans’ quest to regain House control — or at least eat into Democrats’ majority — that much harder. In effect, Republicans need to flip two additional Democratic-held seats just to stand pat in the House.

But many Democrats still aren’t satisfied with North Carolina’s new map. In pressing the legal case against it, National Democratic Redistricting Committee chair Eric Holder complained that the redrawn map “simply replaces one partisan gerrymander with a new one.” And he has a point — the new map does still give an advantage to Republicans, albeit a smaller one than the old map. Under the old lines, the median district by partisan lean was 10 points more Republican-leaning than the state as a whole.3 And under the new lines, the median district is 7 points more Republican-leaning than the state as a whole.4

If you’re a fan of a roughly proportional map — a.k.a., one where the share of seats a party wins is aligned with its statewide vote share — that’s a problem, as is the fact that the map is virtually unresponsive to changes in the national mood. To see this in action, just compare the share of congressional seats Republicans would win under different national popular vote scenarios in North Carolina to Pennsylvania, which got a new court-ordered congressional map in 2018. In that case, the Democratic-controlled Pennsylvania Supreme Court appeared to go out of its way to create competitive districts that would ensure the makeup of the state’s congressional delegation changed with the political winds. North Carolina’s map appears less responsive.

As you can see in the chart above, as Republicans or Democrats do better in the national popular vote, we would expect them to flip multiple seats in Pennsylvania. For example, assuming congressional results track exactly with partisan lean, we would expect Democrats to win eight out of 18 seats in a D+1 environment, but 10 of 18 seats in a D+6 environment and just five of 18 seats in an R+5 environment.

But in North Carolina, partisan lean implies that Republicans would win eight out of the 13 new districts in a Republican wave year (R+10) … and in a neutral political environment … and in a Democratic wave year (D+9). In fact, Democrats would have to win the national popular vote for U.S. House by 13 percentage points to win a majority of North Carolina’s U.S. House seats (again, assuming the results tracked exactly with partisan lean).

Plaintiffs could have appealed the case to the North Carolina Supreme Court in hopes of getting a more competitive map, but they declined to do so on Monday, citing the fact that candidate filing is already underway. And of course the maps will be redrawn in North Carolina — and everywhere else — starting in 2021, so both sides will have another crack at drawing the map soon.