Read the Recommendation of the Police Service Commission to retire former Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin – Read it and weep!
BARBADOS MEDIA IGNORES RELEASE OF POLICE SERVICE COMMISSION REPORT: PSC Report Recommended the Retirement of Commissioner Darwin Dottin
Discover more from Barbados Underground
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
168 responses to “BARBADOS MEDIA IGNORES RELEASE OF POLICE SERVICE COMMISSION REPORT: PSC Report Recommended the Retirement of Commissioner Darwin Dottin”
-
Reblogged this on CARIBBEAN VIBE – Whats News.
-
First thing of note is that the Commission opted to take a course of action to allow this criminal to secure his pension, I am opposed to this route anyone who is as dishonest and as vile as Dottin cannot deserve a pension he and Mottley however deserve a long prison sentence.
He should have been kicked out of the service and sent to Dodds along with Mottley a long time ago.
-
In the first blog BU asked Mia to make a statement on this matter, this time around we will add Owen Arthur to the list. This matter has political fingerprints all over it. Why have charges not been brought against the culprits?
-
David, when an officer could be sent on leave by Dottin for making recommendations that someone close to Dottin be charged with Manslaughter coming out of two car accidents in which two lives were lost in these two accidents with the same driver but because of a Dottin tie in he was never charged but the officer sent on special leave is despicable and disgusting, this man was unfit to be a COP but because of his very close ties to Mottley he was installed in that post and as we are seeing clearly now some of the reasons he was there to do Mottley nasty jobs.
-
I have read the obviously leaked report of the Commission which highlights a litany of serious allegations of grave misconduct by the removed Commissioner which if proven in my view merits dismissal for as I pointed out in an earlier posts lowly public officers have lost their jobs and pensions for less significant breaches of the relevant Public Service Regulations.
Now having said that -and let me make it abundantIy clear that I am not trying to defend the ousted Commissioner but just seeking balance- can anyone point me towards a paragraph in the missive where the embattled Commissioner was given ‘ a right to be heard’ before action was taken.
Also I ask among other things how could Ms Mottley who was relieved of the post of Attorney General in 2004 or thereabouts be implicated in a decision to tap the phone of the driver of Mr Stuart who became acting Prime Minister from 2010.
-
@David. There is good news and bad news. So, first the good news. Once again BU has served the national interest and right to know. Hats off to you, my friend and fellow patriot. VERY well done and many, many thanks.
The bad news? Having read this letter to the GG, I had to take a couple of Aspirin and a cup of strong sweet tea, the sovereign remedy for severe shock. I then had to re-shock myself over and over again by re-reading the letter several times, so that its contents could truly sink in.
Considering the letter from the point of view of an ordinary member of the electorate and as a taxpayer, certain elements of it come into sharp focus and beg many questions. I now ask the BU family if these same questions are ones they would ask, or if I am getting so old that senile dementia has irrevocably established itself and I have completely lost the plot. I am encouraged that @Rational Thinking seems to be a fellow-sufferer of mine in senility.
1. Page 1 para 3. “The Commission believes that the information in its possession provides strong evidence of criminal activity by the Commissioner.” So what exactly puts the Commissioner in a position of immunity from prosecution? Why was this evidence not sent to the DPP and, if it WAS sent to the DPP, why has the Commissioner not been arrested and charged? The same as any other criminal in the land? By what authority or law is he rendered immune from prosecution?
2. Well, in the same para, we have the answer, which is, according to the Commission: (a) not in the interests of the Commission itself; (b) not in the public interest; (c) because of the Commissioner’s age; and (d) to protect the Commissioner’s pension. And I have a problem with that reasoning: (a) surely the best interests of the Commission are served by NOT rendering criminals immune from prosecution and being instead seen to promote the same justice for all; (b) as a member of the public, I believe that my interests are best served when there is transparency on major matters and criminals are arrested and prosecuted, no matter who they are; (c) in case the Commission is unaware of it, let me advise it that there is no statute of limitations on crime, nor is age any sort of a defense or excuse – and that is a point of LAW – age may be taken into consideration ONLY UPON SENTENCING; and why should I, as a taxpayer, pay a pension to someone who not only failed to uphold and respect the law as he was hired to do, but who flouted that law in the most egregious manner, tantamount to treason; who exposed Barbados to international ridicule by making internationally-reported racist comments to the effect that two British rape victims were unable to identify (or not) their assailant because he was black, thus causing a massive backlash of international ridicule and ill-will and severe financial loss to the tourism sector; and who, having arrested and charged the wrong man, refused to let him go; and worst of all, who breached the personal privacy and national security of the country for political reasons.
3. How could this letter possibly be withheld from the general public for so long? In any fair, democratic and transparent society, the contents of such a letter would have been made public IN THE INTERESTS OF PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN TAXPAYER-FUNDED BODIES!! It would have been made public to demonstrate that such behaviour had occurred and would not be tolerated. The Commissioner would have been arrested and criminally charged to show that no one is above the law (except Her Majesty the Queen) and as a warning and example to all. By not exercising transparency in such a grave and criminal matter, far from reassuring the public, the Commission has embarked on a course of action the verdict on which is “cover-up” and “promoting criminal activity”. In other words, the promotion of corruption.
4. And what of the message that it sends to those upon which Barbados relies for its financial well-being – being tourists and foreign investors? “Come to Barbados and watch the CoP get away with criminal activities and his pensions. The poster-boy Mugabe has NOTHING on WE!!!”
The political ramifications of this letter will cause much concern and disquiet. It is way outside the bounds of probability that the CoP, whose criminal activity the Commission has determined was for political ends (and I am sure they do not mean interdepartmental politics, but national politics) were not either encouraged, sanctioned or even ORDERED, by a member of the then cabinet – and that could only have been the A-G. Therefore, the A-G, who is also not above the law, may, upon proper investigation, be found to be criminally liable and ought to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Instead, the Commission has proposed a course that permits the A-G to continue to serve in the parliament of this country that rules over and be paid by the very people they have betrayed.
We are told by the Commission that the Commissioner tapped the phones of the Police driver of former PM Arthur. You, David, are right, in my view, to question this. This is meant to demonstrate that Arthur knew nothing of these crimes and was being victimised by the ambitions of his A-G and the CoP. Are you and I alone in not buying this exculpatory attempt to return to power or to wrest power away from the present incumbent and into the hands of a wife-beating stooge?
I reflect on the paranoia, drunkenness and megalomania of the final years in office of Owen Arthur and I absolutely refuse to believe that he did not know and condone. And if his Police driver was tapped, I have to consider the strong possibility/probability that it was done because personal paranoia had set in as to what the driver might have overheard of drunken, megalomaniacal ramblings, by an old man desperate to cling on to power and his personal piggy bank, also known as the National Exchequer.
The timing of the leak of this document supports this, as it comes hot on the heels of that debacle of a debate of no confidence in the Minister of Finance in which Owen Arthur refused to speak. And if further support for this view is needed, look no further than today’s Nation, “Citing a desire for unity, Senator Jerome Walcott declined nomination for a third straight term as chairman of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), in favour of party leader Mia Mottley.”
“Desire for unity”, my ass!!! “Set-up” is what it is. First, get willing idiot to appoint Dottin as CoP. Next, get willing idiot to collude in illegal phone tapping. Next, allow willing idiot to take over leadership post-election, which he knows he cannot win anyway because the electorate has been there, seen it, done it and doesn’t trust him. Then, get Payne to sue Hinckson for defamation (which Payne will almost certainly win). Then, get willing idiot to bring a no-confidence motion against the MoF, but refuse active support so that she ends up with egg on her face. Then, get Walcott to decline nomination on the basis of party-unity and make sure that the Commission letter is leaked at the same time.
The potential pay-out is vast. Removal from the House of the main rival, disgrace of the main rival and the BLP will turn to him (or his wife-beating nominee). And meanwhile the country in the grips of a global recession, will not focus on the fact that the recession is global and has been made worse for Barbados as a direct result of the CoP and the total breakdown of the court system due to his own appointee as CJ (and apparently now compounded by the new CJ) and will remember only the feel-good factor when billions were squandered on things like a new and barely functional court house etc. and will see the error of its ways in removing him from office.
Are we really that forgetful and stupid?
I need another couple of Aspirin and about 6 more cups of strong sweet tea.
-
I have read the report again and I guess I would have to read it several times before I fully grasp the contents but what caught my eye is the heading ‘CRIMINAL OFFENCES’- Am I to understand that the determination to pursue or not to pursue criminal charges against members of the Royal Barbados Police Force can be decided upon by the Police Service Commission. Just asking.
On another note and not trying to sidetrack but the installed Commissioner is quoted in an interview as saying that he knows the criminal elements in the force but is waiting for them to weed themselves out. Is this statement for real? what message is he sending to the criminal elements outside the force?
-
@David. Here is an article on point of how a responsible press operates and they did not even have to look for a story to be leaked. Once again, well done to you and BU.
-
balance | October 27, 2013 at 5:35 AM |
Amused- your speculation about the nastiness emanating from the bowels of the BLP to discredit Ms Mottley might very well be true but it does not detract from Ms Motley’s culpability if politics aside the inferences in the report can be linked to her directly and indirectly to then administration.
Rate This
Quantcast
-
Mr Dottin has been virtually offered an olive branch? Why not did he slither away ignominously into the darkness as he was given the opportunity to do. I await with bated breath the ace under his sleeve.
-
@balance | October 27, 2013 at 5:37 AM | “….it does not detract from Ms Motley’s culpability if politics aside the inferences in the report can be linked to her directly and indirectly to then administration.”
I completely and totally agree with you and I never said otherwise. Indict the whole lot of them, no matter how high it goes. They, none of them, have any immunity from prosecution.
-
I would have hoped that Amused would have used his obvious legal training and educated the forum on the wider implications -outside of the political party spectrum- of the leaked report as we witness our continual slide into the abyss of banana republic status. Now the report was supposed to have been prepared without the input of ancillary staff according to its contents to protect confidentiality. It begs the question therefore as to which of the five signatories would have leaked the report. Over to you David. I still cannot understand why in the face of all that damming evidence that efforts would have been made to protect the pension rights and interests of the Commissioner over and above those whom he sought to discredit by breaking the law which he was called upon to uphold.
-
@balance
Where BU got the report is none of your business.
-
The question which we have for Dotting, are you going to take this rap all by your lonesome?
-
boy in as much as it pains me to say that the hypocrisy of MIA is something that i did not expect coming from her . Her loud and boisterous approach on leadership befuddles and confuse me, Her experience throught out the years should have taught her many lessons surely that “timing ” is an important vehicle before one cast their net, her timing on the “NO CONFIDENCE VOTE on Sincklair ” is another eyeopener on how she can be maliciuos and overzealous in her method to achieve or accomplish her goals. it is reason enough to suggest that methods of eves dropping and wire tapping all can be summarised to be one of a person who will not be persuaded to use “caution” as a necessary avenue , The same methods which she knows uses in a wreckless manner to undermind the economy through perception and adding needless chaos and distress ,, Absolutely Disturbing to say as a leader she is who cannot be trusted…
-
@balance | October 27, 2013 at 7:06 AM | “I would have hoped that Amused would have used his obvious legal training and educated the forum on the wider implications -outside of the political party spectrum…..”
With respect, I think you need to re-read what I said and you will find that I did exactly that. I also want to side with David in refusing to reveal his sources. That is a time-honoured and legally accepted standard of the Press. And let us face it, many in Barbados think that BU is the ONLY responsible press that we have. Me among them.
-
@ Amused
You must know that Bushie is completely unimpressed with your fake righteous indignation in the failure of the commission to dismiss prosecute the CoP. What aspirin what?! 🙂
You think Bushie born this century?You yourself has outlined the massive levels of corruption and inbreeding that have become endemic in Barbados …..
….in our courts
….in government
….in the police
….in the public service
…in the private sector
… Even in the damn church…and now that someone FINALLY HAS THE BALLS to deal with a crooked high level official, albeit in a somewhat limited action (BUT 1000% BETTER THAN ANYTHING IN THE LAST 30 YEARS), you jump on your high horse about how it should have been handled by the book.
BULL SHIT
Bushie wants to publicly congratulate the Commission for having the BALLS and the fortitude to take what has been a REVOLUTIONARY and much needed step in public governance.
BTW….Note the COOPERATIVE EXPERIENCE on the commission.This gets the ball rolling and many asses must now be tightly squeezed when the days come…..
-
I am more than convinced that the Commission based on their- according to the report- published irrefutable evidence acted ultra vires in not bringing disciplinary charges against Mr Dottin. Perhaps if the report had been kept confidential away from the eyes of the public then the purported evidence would remain speculative and rumor inundated and as such would have allowed the Commission to proceed as they wish. Publication opens a different can of worms crawling towards in any other jurisdiction the resignation of the Commission..
-
however ac one not to disappoint see this as an eyeopener to the public who now has a firsthand view to see the kind of METAL the new leadership of the BLP is made up of and how her METHODS to gain information or even to disquiet and decapitate the legal ramblings of govt does not fall short on her ablity to do likewise in pursuing her own selfinterest as she openly castigate and disarmed the economy.
-
ac you could really hush.
You ain’t see that in the CLICO affair Thompson seems to have been no better?
ALL of them seem to be crooks…and they formed a clique to protect one another.
This is only the start…..COME OUT THINGS….
-
WUh damn i belive Thompson is dead so what u want he has already been hand delivered to BBE who would be judge and executioner and give the final decree on David , however the names and person accused in these actions are still alive and now it is up to those among the living to be judge and jury and have the Final say according to evidence , until such time as BBE seem fit to intervene , ac HUSH! i don’t think so,
-
And the plot thickens. When there is time for debate in the house{and there will be}all those members who supported Mia’s no confidence motion by way of vote but not through voice, will be quick to their feet. Arthur, Payne, Marshall and others will show Barbados exactly where the other edge of that sword is guided.
-
Who was it that started the attack on the blogs? Who was it that called for their regulation? Was it regulation they were getting at ,or was censorship the intended goal? Just who was that person?
-
In response to the comment: Balance written on October 27, 2013. I must say that the writer did not read or did not understand the Recommendation of Retirement of the commissioner of Police. The Police Commissioner actions were criminal and prosecutorial offenses. The only right to be heard by the Commissioner of Police is in a criminal court. The Commissioner of Police actions were egregious. He should have been fired and disbarred.
-
Police Service Commission Report Recommended the Retirement of Commissioner Darwin Dottin @
We at PLANTATION DEEDS REPORT RECOMMENDS JAIL AND NOT Retirement for X Commissioner Darwin Dottin,
Lets us All hear the wire taps between the COP and Violet Beckles over the last 5 years, Let us Also hear the Wiretap of XCJ David Simmons and Violet Beckles at night After 11:00pm over the years.
Say It Aint so XCOP AND XCJ
-
Good question HH. It was Mia Mottley, wasn’t it?
-
But wasn’t that predictable and not necessarily indicative of misfeance? Isn’t the fourth estate still strongly against the blogs? Has the current Government, to distance themselves from Mia Mottley and the BLP, come out strongly in favour of the Blogs? and if they haven’t hasn’t the blogs been disproportionately for DLP campaigns to spool the causation of everything back to pre-2008 days and disavow their relationship with anything that has happened since then?
-
@Bush Tea | October 27, 2013 at 8:03 AM | Go back to bed or take your pills or something. Do as you tell ac to do. Be quiet.
That document would, I am sure, have been laid before the court in confidence and all parties required to sign confidentiality undertakings in respect thereof. Therefore, what is inexplicable is the statement by Reiffer J. (a Mia appointee) that there was no evidence before her court of a breach of national security.
I would also point out to you that by law the tapping of phones requires a court order made upon application of the A-G AND the Minister of National Security (respectively Mia and Owen at the time). Therefore, was such an application made? Was such a court order given? If so, possibly Dottin has copies of these. If so, looks like a CoP pension is not considered enough and there is a hint of possibility of a personal shakedown going on.
Finally, the ONLY justifiable reason I can see why Dottin was not fired for cause and indicted under recommendation of this course of action by the PSC, lies in the process itself that must be followed, which is a COI (and not necessarily a public one either) on which there must be 3 commissioners all senior to Dottin. That is not easy to achieve, given Dottin’s position as CoP. The only actively-serving officer senior to Dottin is the DPP. If you read the letter, you will find that it mentions that difficulty. You appear to have missed the ONLY point in the letter that can possibly justify your position, which means that you are talking out of your much despised (by you – and likely all others) nether regions. For someone negatively fixated by excrement, you really are tossing around a lot of it.
However, that in no way negates the very real views expressed by both Balance and ac, both of which I am in accord with. And if there is an ass involved here, it is neither Balance nor ac nor, with all due humility, myself. The attempt to bleed in any alleged misconduct on the part of the late David Thompson in the CLICO is, as ac has most correctly pointed out, not relevant to this case and diversionary. As ac has also pointed out, David Thompson, if he is guilty of anything at all, is facing the supreme judge of all who is in no need of your assistance or input.
-
@checkit-Out
Has the current Government, to distance themselves from Mia Mottley and the BLP, come out strongly in favour of the Blogs?
The difference between the DLP and BLP is that in 2007 with the arrival of David Thompson they have embraced Barbados Underground as a legit channel to disseminate their message in a way which the BLP has not caught on up to now. There is absolutely nothing which stops an appointed person from the BLP to ask for messages to be posted.
-
Amused
The more you post the more you expose your bias and your obsessions…..and your verbosity does not hide your complete lack of logic…
Like most lawyers, you start with a given position (client) and then seek to develop a line of argument that is aimed at cowing your opponents with your verbosity and legal language….
Bushie says ….FRIG YOU!
You come here singing high praises to Mia over the years and now that the truth has come out you falling back on ac for support?
That Commission has broken new ground in Barbados . It is a valuable and praiseworthy first step on the path to transparency and the rule of law.
Bigger people than the CoP broke the laws of Barbados before without ANY price being paid.
….a PM bragged that he broke immigration laws and employed illegal workers without a work permit……probably paid no NIS either…
…A DPP used a high level official to strong-arm a tenant over rents..
….A whole prison burned while under security forces control – and over $1B dollars were spent …..between VECO and COW as a result…..
What resulted…?Now this commission takes ACTION over illegal acts by the CoP … and you griping….and arguing that the PERSON IN CHARGE may not be in any way responsible
…..you want more than aspirin…..you want Dr Connell….. -
@Bush Tea
Many believe that the Arthur, Payne faction have forged a truce because of what they have in common; stop MAM becoming PM. Could we be tacking one of the considerations?
-
@ David
…one of many. -
So will we now bring a no confidence motion in MAM THE LOTO?
bARE SPORT IN BIM!
aS A NUTTER IT IS TIME FOR THE supreme judge of all who is in no need of your assistance or input TO INTERVENE. LOL. OH ME AM. -
@ checkit-out … Go to BU’s archives and search for postings by Bajan Truth.
-
Mia is history. Her future has already been determined by Captain Owen Arthur and his merry band of pirates.
-
This time events and issues will take her out and as a consequence the position of leader of the opposition will drop naturally to the Captain.
-
@Bushie. Yes, I thought that Mia was the answer and said so, based on the available data. When the data changes, people, except you apparently, change their views. Or would you rather I stood steadfastly behind someone who may have been responsible for a wholesale invasion of people’s privacy? I also thought that Marston Gibson was a good choice for CJ, but his subsequent record has caused me to change my mind. That, Bushie, is what people do when there is data presented to them that gives them a reason to change their minds. It is called being “cognitive”. I recommend it to you.
-
Amused
…don’t you have to be shown to be wrong in order to change your mind?
Bushie has NO PROBLEM AT ALL with changing his mind….it is the Bushman’s constant quest in life…. -
Bushie would LOVE to be wrong…
But…
One only had to look at Mia as a minister to see a train wreck in the making…
Warped appointments of girlfriends…
Strong handedness
Emotionalism
Pettiness
EdutechCheck and see who was one of the FIRST to deem the CJ a waste of time after initially welcoming a change…..
…and don’t talk about the CoP…..Not bragging….these things were OBVIOUS.
-
Bushie, have you seen Caswell? has anyone seen him?
-
Caswell has posted a couple of times, he is fighting a kidney stones attack.
-
With Mottley as Minister of IB and Legacy Barbados she had the same Chairman in Peter Boos a man who would like to instruct this govt on ethics in governance this is the same man that reported to Mottley and as Minister instructed him at Legacy to pay a Peter Mann and Evelyn the tidy sum of $460,000.00 to go towards a football competition now this one Boos instructed the board that he had agreed to make this payment with no prior board paper or discussion he also instructed them to pay a Brenda Pope the tidy sum of $30,000.00 per month as a salary with no earlier discussion with his board, this is from a company that was on the verge of being wrapped up along this. Please Mottley then over at IB which he also chaired he paid another one of Mottley’s girlfriends the hearty sum of $ 30,000.00 to travel the world at taxpayers expense while she pleased Mottley.
And this one Boos and Mottley would like to advise people they should carry their asses far as hell from around Barbados. -
No wonder Mottley in a hurry to get back in Bay Street to continue to hire her lesbians and ones she would like to pounce on and control taxpayers monies for her own purposes.
But I feel confident in saying Barbadians will never be forced to endure this fraud of extreme proportions in Parliament of Barbados for too long again both Arthur and Kerrie will relief us of that sickness named Mottley. -
‘Where BU got the report is none of your business.”
I expected nothing less from you but for matters to go forward in a transparent manner, the sources of the report would eventually have to unfold or be called into question. It is your call and Mr Dottin’s surely not mine; a confidential Goverment document was not published me since I am sworn to the Official Secrets Act so i do not care from whence it cometh. I hope when the chickens come home to roost, your coop is still there for you. I repeat that our judicial system is fully equipped to deal with Mr Dottin and Ms Mottley when politics is taken out of the equation. -
@balance
Go and investigate how Morris when he was at the Barbados Today paper got an advance copy of the Waterman AX Report. You make your comments and let BU worry about our sources.
-
How the hell does one take politics out of anything anyway?
-
David;
A brilliant question in your 1.31 report. Looks like you’re beginning to see the light. Politics is everywhere in human society. Man is a political being despite any protestations to the contrary by individuals.You can’t take politics out of anything. But you can mitigate the bad effects of partisan politics somewhat by shining the light of transparency on political matters and ensuring that everyone interested can be aware of the likely true, not spun, circumstances surrounding every political move.
-
RE Rate This
David | October 27, 2013 at 12:51 PM |
Caswell has posted a couple of times, he is fighting a kidney stones attack.
FOR THE RECORD DAVID YOU DONT FIGHT KIDNEY STONES ATTACKS………….YOU PASS KIDNEY STONES [VERY VERY PAINFUL] OR/ AND YOU HAVE THE UNPASSED ONES REMOVED. -
Wuhloss GP in Bubaduss everybody FIGHT everything and everyone,,, Wud YUH think CAswell Afraid to pick a FIGHT wid Kidney Stones, Wuh yuh think bush TEA mek he commander an chief of BUP. LOL…………….
-
The Report of the Commission is riddled with innuendo and hearsay.No proof of any wrong doing by Dottin.The language is full of subjective observations and if I were the GG it would not be acted on.But the current GG is of the same cast n’est ce pas?Hear the language:
WAS OF THE FIRM BELIEF! So what the hell if you believe crap.It firm?It’s gospel truth??Did that get past the Very Reverend Dean Dr Marshall?
HE WAS INFORMED! by whom???when??where is the written word??
MAY be tapped>May???? Is that the best you can write in your findings??
HEARD RUMOURS!You acting on RUMOURS????
PRIVATELY INFORMED! Is that a hear no lie,see no lie, tell no lie riddle?
NOTHING IN CONVERSTION IMPLICATED BOWEN!Choice words,choice opinion,spoken by the prophets..
DOTTING GAVE INSTRUCTIONS!Did he do so in writing?I hope so for the sake of the commission.
PREPARED A FALSE DOCUMENT!Followed by IF TRUE.What’s ging on here.Does the commission have unassailable proof ?
NOT NECESSARILY INFORMED BY SUSPICION OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY!Does the commission have the licence to write a judgement???
WE ARE OF THE VIEW!Who else but the commission,the apparent judge jury and executioner of Dottin,the commission,motivated by what comes across as a personal vendetta with political overtones is a rehash of what Errol Barrow did in the 70’s when he interferred with the Constitution and it backfired when the BLP came to form the government.Whatever these clowns who now sit in judgement on the Police Service Commission undo or do,it will cme to haunt the proper governance of this country Barbados.You political pimps and knowalls,you incompetent members of the Fatted Calf Brigade are up to no good in sofar as raising the quality of life of Barbadians.You DLP swine will bring your pigs to a fine market and Barbados will be the poorer that you have existed to do it.May you all burn in hell!!
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.