Grrl Power #1157 – Max can’t drive 165
Max’s problem with having a mundane evening is that her car has 700 horsepower and she’s used to casually breaking the sound barrier, so yeah, she has a bit of a lead foot. Or whatever her foot is made of. No, she wasn’t actually going 165 when she was pulled over, but she was going more than 10 over for sure. Normally a 2010 Shelby GT-500 only clocks about 500 HP, but she lets the Arc-SPARQ nerds maintain, tinker, and drive the thing when she’s not using it, so they’ve tuned it up a bit. Possibly totally replaced the engine and transmission. For fun. Because that’s how they do.
Max’s requirements for her “secret identity” was that the first name be gender neutral, and the first/last name combo not be a porn or stripper name. It was her specificity that doomed her. She actually likes the name Harper Lux. It kind of sounds like a superhero’s mundanonym. Mundanym? Somebody either with light powers or… I guess someone who plays a harp? Like an angel or a pied piper situation. Only it’d be like, uh… The Hued Harper. “Pied” means multicolored apparently. As in “Magpie,” which are two-tone birds. They actually look three toned to me, but I guess from a distance they look starkly black and white. Evidently the term “pied” came to mean “two colored,” not necessarily black and white, and from there evolved into just meaning “multicolored,” until it basically totally stopped being used in any form except in the tale of the Pied Piper. But I digress. If that cop was more on the ball, he might be suspicious that “Harper” seemed surprised by her own middle name, but this guy is just out there meeting his quota, and doesn’t care that someone is driving around in a really nice car with a probably fake but professionally done I.D.
I forgot to draw the seatbelt in every panel until I was almost done with the page. And yes, I know normally, a seatbelt would fall between a woman’s breasts, but that would mess up the point of the first panel, which was the Fuzz getting a solid downblouse on Max and immediately deciding to act like an ass. Normally Max is courteous and professional with law enforcement, at least the ones that are themselves professional. She has some strong opinions about those who act otherwise, but she’s trying to stay low key tonight, which means gritting her teeth and bearing it, since there’s basically no recourse for police who act unprofessionally. She’s definitely going to memorize this guy’s badge number for later, though.
The May vote incentive is finally up! Digit has some new and exciting tech to show off, as well as some other things, albeit inadvertently.
Variant outfits and lack thereof over at Patreon, as well as the semi-usual bonus incentive related comic.
.
.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
“Jean LaQueefa” sounds more like a drag name. Cherry Poppins IS a drag name.
Amanda is a very popular drag name. Because she is a man, duh.
Also is a acctual porn star name
And there’s one called Teen LaQueefa which is pretty close to Jean.
Slightly different spelling, Cherry Poppens was the name of a porn star.
As funny as hey thought they would be. I’d say pissing off Max won’t be worth it.
Imagined conversation: “Oh, c’mon, what’s the chance *Max* is going to get pulled over? She’s got an adamantium rod up her butt! This is just to piss off the FSB if they try and figure out her civilian identity.”
The FSB can’t even plant Propaganda right. You hear about their attempt to claim a Ukrainian “Nazi” saboteur was somewhere, and was supposed to have three SIM cards… and they planted three copies of the game SIMS 3?
They also had about 300 of their agents across Europe outed about a month into the war by the SBU, which promptly got housecleaned.
But Max’s debrief on that night might trigger some “Make Maxima say” bingo checks!
You could have given her a four or six point harness for her Shelby. I feel it would certainly rate one. Hey presto! Instant uplift.
A racing harness in a street car is a huge red flag for any cop, and Max wouldn’t need one anyway. Cops HATE street racers and love to confiscate the cars when ever they can. Back in 1982 I had a ’75 Camero Type-LT, it was the plain-jane Iroc-z/Z-28, same power train, no ground effect body parts. Damn thing did 40mph at an idle and would cruise at 70 all day long. After my 3rd ticket I had to drag my brakes in town, ran through 2 sets in 2 years. Not to mention how many tires I went through LOL. Guy I got it from tried to de-tune it by putting a 2 barrel carb off a ’79 family car, as soon as I got the stock manifold and a 4 barrel back on it… And yes it got a whopping 12 mpg.
I’m sure the ARC-Boffins could tame the around town handling but for us ordinary folk once you get up over 350 or so horsepower you have to start working a lot harder for around town drivability. I’ve been fortunate to get to drive a wide variety of cars and can say that for in town driving, it is more fun to drive a slow car fast than to try to slow down a fast car for city traffic. One thing that is handy with modern engine management is that you can change the tune for different conditions (street/race). I am not fortunate enough to be the owner but I am familiar with a Mustang similar to Max’s. It has two ignition keys, one of which gives you reduced power for everyday driving.
It was a ’75, the only thing electronic about it is it had a coil set in the distributer cap and an ICM rather than points. It was so basic of a car it didn’t have AC or a FM radio, only AM. Only luxury it had was tilt wheel. There was ways I could de-tune it for the in-town street, but I was 22 when I got it, would you have? The other thing about it I hated was the fact that if I was driving into a 40-50 mph head wind, and hit over 100mph, the front end would drift. Which is why that model was pulled after a few deaths etc…
It had no wind effect spoilers so a headwind would lift the car up enough for the wheels to lose traction. After my close call I kept it down during windy days ;) Well, that and the trunk was so small 3 bags of food would fill it. Paper bags mind you, this was before self-serve gas stations and plastic bags.
I can’t help but think of a big poofy dog every time I read Shebly…
“And – while you’re at it – write another one for throwing a police car to kingdom come.”
I wonder what kind of pet Whipple was. Dog?
Whipple the Whippet?
What, like Whipple the Whippet?
I think Whipple’s the street name, with Babette being the first pet.
What’s a whipple?
Am I losing nerd cred for not knowing this?
> until it basically totally stopped being used in any form except in the tale of the Pied Piper
Don’t people say piebald anymore for animals that have large white spots?
Uh, maybe farmers do, or people who work with animals a lot. I can’t say I’ve ever heard it in casual conversation.
Pied wagtail, pied flycatcher.
Lots of pied/piebald species/subspecies of birds, and other animals, out there.
Tortoiseshell cats would probably have been called something like “Leonard’s Pied Cats”, had a dfferent person named them.
Could be an outlier situation, but I have seen people use piebald to refer to people with vitiligo. It’s one of those things where, technically speaking, I don’t think there is any offense meant, but I could easily see somebody taking offense to it.
As someone with familial non-segmental vitiligo, I’m so going to own calling myself “piebald” (though it might draw attention to my receding hairline …) Perhaps “variegated” though I’ve only seen that referring to plants. My sister always called them her “leopard spots”. Mom just wore a lot of hats and long sleeves.
P.S. there is some evidence that as an autoimmune disease targeting melanocytes, us piebald humans are somewhat more resistant to melanomas.
So, uhm, I appear to be wrong about her being rules-abiding on the road. Seems like she’s a bit of a speed addict.
I suspect it’s less of her being a “speed addict” than it is a question of accustomization.
I live in CA, for example, and as a truck driver, I’m used to doing 60 mph, because although it’s posted 55 state-wide for trucks, everyone knows that it’s a “soft 55,” meaning that the CHiPs really do not gaf if you’re 5 over.
However…
Truckers from out of state (and especially TX) cannot shut up about “how fucking slow” things are in CA. They’re accustomed to doing 70mph+. This is especially true of TX drivers, who are used to doing 85+ in most places.
Max undoubtedly already feels like she’s moving at a leisurely snail’s pace, and as such, can’t “feel” the difference between, say, 65 and 95. Similar to how easy it is to go from 10 to 15 without really noticing it.
Not that any of this is an excuse, of course, but it is absolutely understandable.
She only went 10 over, not 100 over, lighten up there Boomer
It wasn’t 10 miles over. It was ‘MORE’ than 10 miles over. If it was only 10 miles over the speed limit she probably wouldnt have gotten any ticket. In most jurisdictions, including for camera speeding cameras, they give a leeway of 10 miles over the speed limit in case the camera catches you during a very brief moment when you were going faster than the speeding limit or because of calibration issues. It literally says so on a speeding ticket when you receive the printed out versions that get mailed to you. :)
That being said the cop is being massively unprofessional with what he said, even if it’s accurate. Definitely not something they should be saying on a routine traffic stop.
One thing about powerful cars, especially if they ride well, is that the speed just sorta creeps up without you noticing. In my youth I had a Firebird that while not particularly powerful, handled well. One day I thought, “That particular bit or road went by quickly”. I looked down to see that without noticing my speed had crept up to over 100 mph. Sadly that car, much like Max’s Mustang, was a ticket magnet. After the baby came we traded the Firebird for a Volvo. My working theory is that a maroon Volvo is invisible to radar as I never got another speeding ticket.
Took a ’23 Mustang for a spin recently, couldn’t feel the difference between 40 and 90 without constantly monitoring the speedometer. Drove almost entirely on cruise control while near civilization, just in case, because it really wanted to go faster. Very smooth ride, great handling and response actually, and that was before I put it in sport mode.
It’s not that she’s a speed addict necessarily. I don’t think she gets any real thrill out of flying fast, for example. If anything she’s gotten so used to flying and superspeed that it’s pretty much ‘perfunctory’ to her, as she said to herself over the Grand Canyon when she noticed how Sydney was still new enough to superpowers to actually get a thrill out of
flying. She’s just so used to being able to fly around at superspeed that she barely notices when she’s going slower, except to notice how inefficiently slow it is for her. :)
More like being allergic to slowness! The stasis gun sure riled her up!
Mildly perturbed there :)
Heather Whip, Brandy Glas, Trudy Ligh… I could go on.
Before the night is over,Max should drop in at Sydney’s place and can you imagine the conversation…..!
I’d say Max’s Limit Meter is building quickly.
Some poor bastard at whatever bar she lands at is going to wind up catching it, like a Slime catching a Dragon Slave.
…assuming she doesn’t save it all for Leon & Gwen.
Who should both be suddenly aware of the Doom Flags now hovering over them.
A cold chill is washing over Leon and Gwen right now :)
Now, how many of you rushed over to Google Maps to see if there was a 17181 Sterling Avenue in Dallas? (It wouldn’t be 75201; that’s downtown.) And Max wouldn’t need restriction A, requiring corrective lenses…
An annoyed Max is not a good thing.
I was honestly expecting Motorcycle and no helmet endorsements not that “A”.
I just copied the “A” from my own licence, not thinking about what that meant. I didn’t even know I required corrective lenses! My vision isn’t really that bad, but I haven’t taken my glasses off for anything since high school except sleep and bathing, so it doesn’t matter anyway.
put an S on there. give everyone a snicker or two. it works for most modern cars now…
Part of me feels like Max would do the work to get an unrestricted Class A with all endorsements just to say she had it.
Turns out there’s 3 matching numbers and street names with other extensions (drive, st, etc) in various Dallas suburbs. Two are business parks and the 3rd is a middle-class neighborhood, so I guess we have a semi-official location for where Max’s cover identity lives.
With her height it is reasonable that the belt may be a bit to the left. Also I usually take off my belt any time I need my ID. I keep it in my back pocket so I need to move a bit to get it.
Maybe the belt just shifted as she reached over to get her insurance card out of the glove compartment.
I would recommend leaving the belt on until the cop asks for the ID, just because if they walk up and you’ve already removed the belt they can ticket you for driving without a belt on.
Forgot the lipstick, too. Very sinister look, there.
Nobody looks “okay” with a pig shining their “fuck your eyes” in their face.
They do it deliberately, as provocation.
Never had that happen to me, but then I turn on the dome light when I get pulled over, and put my wallet and registration on the dash, roll down the window, then hands back on the wheel.
Whatever I can do to make the cop feel comfortable is a plus.
Trust me when I say that many things outside your personal experience exist & happen.
Some people keep guns in their gloveboxes, in addition to their vehicle registration. Or sometimes as a replacement for their registration.
At least, that’s what the cops are thinking when you reach for your glovebox. Do you think that makes them feel “comfortable”?
I’m assuming it happens with cars, not when you’re trucking right? The angle of the flashlight would be awkward with a truck. I mean if they did it upwards into a truck that would be ridiculously deliberate, while doing it downward into a car might just be an attempt to do a plain view search in the car when it’s nighttime.
Although this cop seems to be getting plain view search of Maxima’s cleavage instead with the flashlight.
Yeah, the lack of lipstick or other makeup, plus some angular features there, makes her look like a long-haired male villian.
Specifically, someone from the Flash’s rogue gallery, I’m not sure who.
Captain Cold, for example?
https://www.cbr.com/the-flash-powerful-rogues/#captain-cold
I didn’t forget the lipstick, she’s doing “tight smile so I don’t break-a you face.”
Yeah I know that lip curl well, seen that on my mother’s face plenty of times during PTA meetings (shiver).
Which is why you squared her jaw! Now I get it.
I assumed she was biting her lip in order to keep her anger in check – both about how unprofessional the cop was behaving and the slow realization that ARC-LIGHT gave her a porn star name for her secret identity, despite her specific instructions.
Black out the center tooth and Max would look like either a hockey player or Alfred E.Neuman…!
And in both cases, Shorsey would tell’em to give their balls a tug.
Who/what is Shorsey? I never really read Mad Magazine much and I know almost nothing about hockey, so I feel like I’m missing the reference.
Shorsey is arguably the best and most cursed hockey player in Canada.
Start here, and you’re welcome: https://youtu.be/Z5XuqPKtr-g
Danke! :)
I’ll bite, what are the standard porn naming rules?
Heavy on the innuendo.
and that word is for the back-door porn stars
There’s “porn names” which are like “stripper names” pushed to the extreme. Then there’s *your* porn name, which is your first pet’s name followed by the name of the street where you grew up.. Randall Munroe in an XKCD suggested keeping your children out of porn by living on Rogers Street and naming their first pet Mister.
Going with that formula, mine sounds more like a Magic card than a porn name.
Hmm.
“Frodo Mount Alutom.”
…nope, I don’t get it.
That would make mine “Sarge 133rd”, doesn’t work well LOL. I knew a guy that had just had a boy born and he gave him the first name of “Michael”, the guy’s last name was “Hunt”, I told him straight out that poor kid was going to go through hell in high school!! I hope his wife veto’d it ASAP!
“Satin Mill Rock” Yup, checks out.
Would not work for me because I didn’t grow up in one place, I went to 16 different schools by 10th grade and registered for a couple more that I didn’t get to attend because we got moved before the next day of school. The Cold War was rough on dependents because parents could get transferred halfway around the world at the drop of a hat. We got moved from TN to Kenitra Morocco with 2 weeks notice and that’s just because that’s how long it takes to get shots and paperwork done in the 1960s.
Default is the street you lived on when you were born.
As a Brat, I had at least eleven different addresses, growing up.
Ashley Hiawatha. Yeah, maybe, but I don’t have the skintone to pull that off.
I would have thought it would be a good idea to know the name on your fake ID before leaving the house to use it.
And as much fun as coming up with a porn/stripper name for Max might be, coming up with a name that doesn’t immediately suggest attractiveness might be better.
Like maybe, Bertha Jenkins. That would likely annoy Max as much but limit the amount of vengeance she might take.
I mean, if we want annoying pseudonyms, I might have gone with “Mary-Olga Bethamine Hoestsheimer.”
But then again, I am an evil bitch. X’D
Known to her friends as “Mo Beth”
Yeah, was thinking that as well: she totally shoulda checked before it reached the printer stage, if not as soon as it came out
Beatrix Kiddo
Would not work for me because I didn’t grow up in one place, I went to 16 different schools by 10th grade and registered for a couple more that I didn’t get to attend because we got moved before the next day of school. The Cold War was rough on dependents because parents could get transferred halfway around the world at the drop of a hat. We got moved from TN to Kenitra Morocco with 2 weeks notice and that’s just because that’s how long it takes to get shots and paperwork done in the 1960s.
Sydney’s secret identity name is like that.
Agnes Tuttle.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-788-apologies-to-anyone-named-agnes/
Honestly, I hope she keeps using that cover. It’d make for some fun idealize pages.
“The Mundane Misadventures of Agnes Tuttle!”
lol, that title for Tuttle makes her sound like a crime investigator, but she lives somewhere the worst crime is stealing a pack of gum.
When I see ‘Agnes Tuttle’ as a last name for some reason I think of an English author who occasionally gets put into solving crimes, similar to ‘Murder she Wrote.’ But English. I don’t know why my mind goes there.
I love that title as a variant comic idea :)
I don’t see how Harper D. Lux is a porn star name. That police officer must be just as genre-savvy as Leon and… (browses cast page) Gwen. Are those names really all that common in the actual porn industry or is it more of a meme to think up hilariously weird names?
The deluxe version of a Harper-Collins Romance novel would probably be fairly pornographic.
Also “harpy” is a term for an overbearing woman, making it a pretty solid name for a dominatrix.
A quick Google search finds several pornstars named “[Something] Deluxe”.
I see. Well, the Harper-Collins thing makes sense, but is kind of an obscure reference.
But the fact that many pornstars use Deluxe is not enough for me to draw the reverse conclusion, because that word is being used in all kinds of other contexts as well.
I’d have made the fake ID out for Pat Ada Tap, just to see if Max ever realizes that the whole name is a palindrome.
Pfffft, if you’re going to have a porn star name, expect to get called out on it. If it’s a legit name, blame the parents. :p
I guess she has to use a fake name to avoid questions about the camo gear… but I don’t see why she would’ve been using one when she bought the car…
“So, wanna tell me why you’re driving a car owned by one… ‘Maxima Whateverherlastnamemightbe’?”
Grand theft auto. It’s more than just a game.
Leander.
I suspect that if push came to absolute shove, Max would use her speed to disable the cop’s communications, and call in support from Leon & Ariana to handle the situation.
Most likely Leon has the car is registered to her pseudonym identity now, not under Max’s name. But there’s no reason to go super resolving this if the moron tries to escalate far enough to arrest her or anything. As a federal agent she has legit reasons for having an alternate ID, and can pretty much just badge the man and tell him to keep his mouth shut about it. Followed up promptly with a visit from ArcLight explaining how his camera and car recordings will be wiped, and that he will be monitored for the near future to ensure he’s not blabbing national security secrets.
Must confess, if we’re gonna have a Who’s Who for Maxima in Disguise (Autobots for the win!) I think it needs to be her final form with black hair.
For a moment, I thought her name was Lux Harper Dee and thinking what porn actress has that name…
Lux Harper Dee does. :P
Interestingly, if you google ‘Lux Harper Dee’ and set it to ‘Images’, this comic is the first hit.
Had she never looked at her own fake ID before? How did she even buy and register the car in the first place? Or did she just not realize what name they’d put on it?
Fairly sure this is a brand (waiting for the spanking when she gets back) new fake ID
She had better be taking note of his name and badge number and having him quietly reprimanded… like being stationed somewhere nasty (almost said ‘traffic duty’, but he’s already there)
that would be misuse of her office, and risk blowing her cover. (always assume there’s a paper trail. one cannot count on a marine to fall on their sword.)
That’s why said ‘quietly’
And what about his misuse of office?
He’s not actually misusing his office. He’s just being extremely rude and unprofessional. What he’s doing ‘with his office’ is giving her a ticket, which she got because she WAS speeding.
On the other hand, getting him stationed somewhere nasty would be a direct misuse of HER office. Whether she does so quietly or not.
Just filing a complaint about his being unprofessional would not be, but the excessive stuff you mentioned would be because of using her job to get revenge for him saying something unprofessional. Although making a formal complaint so that he gets reprimanded would NOT be misuse – that’s something anyone could do when talked to in an extremely unprofessionally inappropriate manner. She also had said something inappropriate as well btw (“Obviously not fast enough” in response to “Do you know how fast you were going?”)
In either case, making a big deal about this WOULD be bad for Public Relations if it ever got out. Plus would make her color hue choker less useful for its intended purpose.
It would be inappropriate for her to use her position to get out of this particular ticket, or to use it to get revenge on him. But it would be an appropriate use of her power to apply some pressure to discourage this sort of thing from happening to anyone else in the future. To make police actually accountable to the public.
Yes, that ^
Meant to use it to discourage that sort of unprofessionalism: he’s probably a great guy, who just said something stupid in the heat of the moment (and then doubled down on it and ran with it)
“But it would be an appropriate use of her power to apply some pressure to discourage this sort of thing from happening to anyone else in the future. ”
No, it would not be. Her position is not meant for speech policing the cops at traffic stops. Unless his doing so is somehow an ‘atypical’ crime (Atypical Resource Commission, remember?) She is not Internal Affairs. She is not the speech police. And she is not in any way in oversight of police traffic stops. She is not in any way affiliated with the police or any agency above the police. ARCHON is its own, entirely separate agency. What she can do is what any citizen can do – file a formal complaint about the incident and his inappropriate statement. But I doubt she will do even that, let alone abuse her position, since she’s trying to keep a low profile in the first place.
“To make police actually accountable to the public.”
I must have missed where that’s her job or where that’s what her authorization entails in the ARCHON charter. :)
I repeat.
I often get the impression that you confuse Legality with Justice.
:)
I really think I need to know what your definition is for legality vs your definition for justice because we might have a disconnect in understanding each other. It might help me understand what you’re saying a bit better if I know what you mean when you say ‘legality’ and ‘justice’ so that I know if I’m confusing those two terms or not.
On the surface, I don’t see how what I said was confusing legality and justice, but instead if using legality within the application of justice. I think it would be quite unjust for people to use their positions of authority in one area to force themselves into positions of authority over other areas, especially if they have not been given that power by the people. Instead of just using the infrastructure in place already to deal with reporting on a police officer who is acting in an unprofessional manner.
I’ve never thought of justice as ‘whatever i think is right because I’m in charge’ – it does also require equal application of the law, as well as reasonableness and fairness in how the law is applied. I don’t think that abusing ones authority to get revenge on someone is particularly just… especially if there are ways to achieve the same goal without using your position to do so.
Using your position to get something done that you want feels too much to me like when a celebrity comes into a restaurant without a reservation, is told he or she has to wait to be seated, then is told “AHEM DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” Then gets the waiter/waitress fired. :)
“On the surface, I don’t see how what I said was confusing legality and justice, but instead if using legality within the application of justice. ”
Oh god this sentence made no sense so I’m rewriting it to make sense.
On the surface, I don’t see how what I said was confusing legality and justice, but rather, I use legality within the application of justice in order to have justice be applied equally to everyone (which I consider to be a necessary aspect for true justice to be achieved, along with reasonableness and fairness).
There. That looks a LOT better and is actually coherent, instead of what I rote beforehand. I don’t write as well when I’m typing on my phone. Sorry.
“speech policing”? Wow. Discouraging sexual harassment is not “speech policing”.
And unfortunately, no, his behavior is not ‘atypical’. And while correcting it doesn’t fall within Archon’s responsibilities, I doubt they’re supposed to just ignore events that fall outside their charter. I would guess that they have a formal process for handing a situation off to the appropriate agency, distinct from what a normal citizen would do.
And I said power, not position. “With great power comes great responsibility.”
““speech policing”? Wow. Discouraging sexual harassment is not “speech policing”.”
Well… technically speaking it is. It’s telling someone they cannot say something. It’s policing what they can or cannot say. It’s policing their speech. This is not always a violation of the first amendment though. Examples include sexual harassment, incitement to violence (fighting words), and defamation – all of which are policing people’s speech, but are justifiable to police. Assuming that you can prove that the person who’s speech you are policing has actually DONE one of those things. There are several famous court cases which TENTATIVELY limit free speech in this respect – Chaplinsky vs New Hampshire showed that free speech exception of ‘fighting words.’ Obscenity (under the Miller Test) has also ALWAYS been a limitation on free speech (although the definition of obscenity has narrowed a LOT). Commercial speech has limitations as well in order to prevent false advertising and fraud. False statements of fact (defamation) pre-dates the American Revolution (1734 – John Peter Zenger – which established the DEFENSE for a charge of defamation being ‘truth’).
All this does not deny what I stated. Maxima is not the speech police. She needs to operate within a set of rules if she believes she was sexually harassed, rather than use her own authority, which does NOT include the ability to police other people’s speech (including sexual harassment). She would instead have to go through the infrastructure in place for reporting and dealing with someone who she believes has sexually harassed her, which will then be used in trying to prove whether or not the police officer’s speech was simply unprofessional and stupid (which would probably be a reprimand) or was sexual harassment (which would be a much harsher punishment, including firing and/or a civil lawsuit).
“And unfortunately, no, his behavior is not ‘atypical’.”
Atypical as defined by ARCHON’s charter. IE, involving superpowers.
“And while correcting it doesn’t fall within Archon’s responsibilities, I doubt they’re supposed to just ignore events that fall outside their charter.”
They’re not supposed to police things outside their charter themselves. There are other agencies which handle it instead. It’s not Maxima’s authority as a member of ARCHON to do anything about this. Maxima doesnt have to ignore it as an individual who has been the subject of the unprofessional behavior, but not as an ARCHON agent.
“I would guess that they have a formal process for handing a situation off to the appropriate agency, distinct from what a normal citizen would do.”
Actually in this scenario, the process would be to do what a normal citizen would do, since Maxima was not doing anything here within the function of being an agent of ARCHON.
“And I said power, not position.”
Then most of what you said has nothing to with the post I made here, since the point of the thread is that Maxima should not abuse her authority. Authority is about position, not power.
Guesticules had been talking about misuse of OFFICE (ie, authority), not misuse of her powers.
Any act can be speech, and can be discouraged on a basis other than the speech component. Killing someone can be a statement, and yet we can prohibit people from killing. The idea of free speech is that we should not restrict behavior solely on what it is intended to communicate, but that does not mean we cannot or should not place restrictions on the mechanism used to communicate that speech.
“Killing someone can be a statement, and yet we can prohibit people from killing.”
Because there are still certain limits on free speech, and certain actions are not considered speech, despite your first sentence. Which was incorrect.
There’s an old saying coined by legal philosopher Zechariah Chafee Jr:
“Your right to swing your arms ends where the other man’s nose begins.”
Which was based on an earlier quote by John Finch:
“Your right to swing your arm leaves off where my right not to have my nose struck begins.”
” The idea of free speech is that we should not restrict behavior solely on what it is intended to communicate, but that does not mean we cannot or should not place restrictions on the mechanism used to communicate that speech.”
Ummm… we do have time, place and manner restrictions on free speech. I’m a bit confused on what the point of your post is now, or what any of it has to do with abusing positions of authority.
He made comment about her name. That’s not a misuse of anything. At most, mentioning that one’s parents gave you a porn star name (as that may be his only real take away with this id) would be him mentioning the parents.
Seeing as how she’s not a child, the cop should easily suspect that she already knew her name was a porn star name. :p
The only ones to blame here, are the ones who made the fake ID
Yep to all of this. :)
Btw this reminds me of how, in Office Space, the IT guy’s name is Michael Bolton, and he constantly has people asking if he’s related to the singer Michael Bolton (who was born AFTER him), and even when he says he’s not the conversation is ENTIRELY about Michael Bolton songs from that point onward, which annoys him to no end, because he has to pretend to like Michael Bolton songs or people get angry at him at that point.
There’s also that he was being mean when he mentioned it, the cop thought it was cool. He said it with much praise imo.
Reminds me of the movie “Cellular”
“What’s your son’s name?”
“Ricky. Ricky Martin.”
“You named him after the singer?!”
“He wasn’t known then.”
:p
Parking Enforcement.
Historically, only women got assigned to that, hence the phrase “meter maid.”
I may not be sexist, but I’ll wager a paycheck that Officer Dippy is.
He also has a moustache, and if my watching of cop movies and TV shows has taught me anything, cops who have a moustache are older and more set in their ways, which sometimes can be outdated (and sexist or problematic in other ways).
Lethal Weapon is the exception to this rule, despite Murtaugh having a moustache. But he is ‘getting too old for this sh**’ :)
For what? A brief aside that her fake name comes across as a fake name? That’s not his fault for being perceptive.
Yeah, no, that’s not what happened at all. If he was just questioning the validity of her driver’s license, he would have said something a lot more tactful than “porn star name”. And he said that three times. It would be an inappropriate discussion in most contexts, but in the middle of a traffic stop? That’s edging into “Would you like to perform sexual acts to get out of this parking ticket?” territory.
At that point, she’d probably say, “f* it,” drop cover, and haul the fuck into his own precinct to file charges in person.
And pay the speeding ticket, of course.
And the glorious upshot of that would be all the cops having to think twice, because the hot girl they’re sleazing on might be Archon in disguise.
Not being the big fish in the pond would hopefully adjust their attitudes.
Doesn’t even have to be Archon. The chance that it might be a super, maybe even a supervillain, should provide some deterrent towards hassling hot people.
Ok, now I really want to see this cop pull HenchWench over.
But her night out to just have a simple drink would be ruined at that point, hence why she’s holding her tongue at the moment and not sending the cop’s car into orbit so he can think about how to talk to people in a more respectful manner. She’s wanting to salvage her ‘mundane night’ as a ‘normal woman out for a drink. A normal, conspicuously buxom, six-foot-one, fitness model-looking woman.’
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1156-mundanity-insanity/
I get the impression that Maxima REALLY values being able to do that, since she probably hasn’t had that opportunity ever since her skin flaked off and she became a golden-skinned amazon with purple hair and elven ears that can fly, juggle tanks with ease, and incinerate entire city blocks with a single blast from her finger.
Variant of the ‘I just want to be normal’ tv trope
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IJustWantToBeNormal
The ‘I just want to be ordinary for a few hours before going back to being extraordinary.
Sort of like when a celebrity wears dark glasses and a hat so they don’t have to deal with the legions of fans swarming them.
I mean there’s also the P.R. problem of if she does that to the cop, but that’s more a problem for Arianna to deal with, and Maxima doesnt care as much about the P.R. aspects as we’ve seen in the past. As Maxima has already said to the press: “Managing the quavering masses is her job; protecting them is mine.”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-177-one-step-forward-two-steps-back/
(last panel)
This is an important, but unpleasant part of that “mundane night out as a normal woman out for a drink.” This is the sort of thing the average woman has to deal with, without the benefit of superpowers to protect them.
While I’m pretty sure that it’s not an average thing for a police officer to start telling a woman about their name being a porn star name (which is quite unprofessional behavior, even if not necessarily sexual harassment and may or may NOT be harassment), at least some women have had to deal with some form of people being socially awkward, harassing, or just weirdly jerky to them. Since I’ve had to deal with it as well. But I wouldnt say it’s just a mundane woman thing to have to deal with people being jerks – mundane men have to deal with other people being jerks saying jerky things as well. I’ve seen more than a few police traffic stops, caught on video, where the officer acts incredibly inappropriately and unprofessionally to men as well as women.
And how does sexual harassment make you feel? Do you understand why it’s considered significantly worse than other forms of harassment, or awkward or jerky behavior?
“And how does sexual harassment make you feel?”
I’m opposed to sexual harassment, obviously, and think people who do so are bad people. I do not like people who sexually harass others. I also do not like people who walk around punching others in the head.
“Do you understand why it’s considered significantly worse than other forms of harassment,”
Depends on what’s being considered sexual harassment and if it can be PROVEN.
I intensely hate sexual harassment. I’ve had to deal with sexual harassment personally.
Nevertheless, I also don’t like people mis-labelling things as sexual harassment if they are not, or claiming sexual harassment where none actually happened. I do not subscribe to the ‘Believe all women’ mentality because women are human, and humans are capable of lying or exaggerating or being mistaken. False claims diminish examples of actual sexual harassment (‘the boy who cried wolf’ effect) and can ruin an innocent person’s life just from the accusation alone, with nothing happening to the false accuser.
“or awkward or jerky behavior?”
Obviously there’s a difference between harassment and awkward behavior. One has intent, the other doe not. Intentional acts are worse than unintentional acts. But you do need to be able to prove that someone had intent – you don’t just start with the assumption of intent because here is a presumption of innocence for any defendant. In a criminal case, there’s a burden of ‘beyond a reasonable doubt.’ In a civil case, there’s a burden of ‘preponderance of the evidence.’ In neither of these cases do you make the defendant have to prove their innocence, at least not from the get-go – you have to have the plaintiff prove the defendant’s guilt. The defendant does not have to prove their innocence until the burden of proof shifts against them because of evidence presented.
In the scenario above, I’m not sure that what the cop did could be proven to be sexual harassment (I’d lean towards yes but I can see it going the other way with a semi-competent argument), but it WAS unprofessional and worthy of him being written up and reprimanded, if for no other reason than to have it on record should something like that happen again in the future.
You’ve described a very intellectual reaction to sexual harassment. But again, how does it make you feel?
Because for most people, it makes them scared. At worst, scared that they’re going to be raped or killed, depending on how carefully they respond to the harasser. In a work setting, scared that they’ll lose their job. In an interaction with the police, scared that the full force of the law will be brought against them, even if they haven’t violated any laws. It makes people feel helpless, and that what they experience is disconnected from right and wrong, from how the world is supposed to function. It damages their trust in both people and institutions. It alienates them from their own bodies, their own experiences. In a way, it’s worse than death, because it feels like death while still being alive.
It’s not equivalent to being rude, or insensitive, or anti-social. It’s not just jerkish behavior.
“But again, how does it make you feel?”
Angry? If I can prove it actually happened, at least. If it didn’t happen, and someone is claiming it to someone who is innocent, then I’d be angry at the false accuser. And if one person did not sexually harass, but another person THOUGHT they did because they’re overly sensitive, then I wouldnt be angry at either person, but I’d be disappointed that the person making the claim can’t consider that he or she might be mistaken.
“Because for most people, it makes them scared”
I’d be more angry than scared. Although I guess I could also be angry AND scared. Or angry and uncomfortable if I’m not scared.
“At worst, scared that they’re going to be raped or killed, depending on how carefully they respond to the harasser.”
I think there might be a significant difference between ‘sexual harassment’ and rape. I’d need more context as to the nature of the sexual harassment.
“It makes people feel helpless, and that what they experience is disconnected from right and wrong, from how the world is supposed to function.”
I don’t actually disagree with any of what you’re saying here. Although I still won’t throw out the concept of innocent until proven guilty, because women are just as likely as men to lie. Moreso if they think they can get away with it easily, just like men would be more likely to lie if they thought THEY could get away with it. I’ve seen way too many examples of women lying about it, and admitting they lied after the man’s life has been ruined, to decide to eschew Blackstone’s Formulation by just assuming one side or the other is telling the truth, or shifting the burden of proof without compelling evidence FIRST.
“It’s not equivalent to being rude, or insensitive, or anti-social. It’s not just jerkish behavior.”
I think you might be making a broad assumption which can lead to quite a bit of injustice, when context and evidence tends to be needed for each situation.
I wasn’t asking how you felt about other people being hypothetically harassed, but I suppose I didn’t make that clear enough. I was asking you to place yourself in the shoes of someone being harassed, and think about their feelings, and use that as a consideration for how other people should behave in order to avoid making other people feel harassed.
“I think there might be a significant difference between ‘sexual harassment’ and rape. I’d need more context as to the nature of the sexual harassment.”
I wasn’t trying to make an equivalence between sexual harassment and rape. My point is that sexual harassment may be a precursor to rape. Someone who is being sexually harassed has reason to fear that they might be raped. We penalized threats, even when they cause no actual harm, if they are a clear indication that they intend to cause harm in the future, and because they are coercive. Sexual harassment is to rape what a threat of violence is to murder.
I do think false accusations are a serious problem that any legitimate attempt to deal with crimes of any category must address. Rape is perhaps uniquely difficult to address, because determining whether an act was consensual or not frequently relies on internal information that is not directly accessible to other parties. There is no physical evidence that can be presented — or rather, any evidence can only point to whether a specific event occurred, but not whether that event was consensual.
“I wasn’t asking how you felt about other people being hypothetically harassed, but I suppose I didn’t make that clear enough.”
Fair enough.
“I was asking you to place yourself in the shoes of someone being harassed,”
If I -truly- felt I was being sexually harassed, instead of being confronted with someone who was simply stupid and socially awkward (the latter of which HAS happened to me quite a few times, both online and in RL), I would be very angry at them. I don’t tend to get angry at people who are socially awkward or stupid though, until they double and triple down on the stupidity. Even then I try to not get too angry with them. I consider being evil (sexual harassment) to be a lot worse than being stupid (socially awkwardness). :)
“and think about their feelings”
I am. I’m just also considering that other people might misinterpret someone’s speech for sexual harassment when it’s not, because a lot of people are VERY oversensitive about language, while I’m admittedly not. I tend to give people a LARGE benefit of the doubt because I have admittedly been very indoctrinated in the whole concept of innocent until proven guilty (which I think is a good thing btw – I’m a very staunch advocate for Blackstone’s formulation).
“and use that as a consideration for how other people should behave in order to avoid making other people feel harassed.”
I understand what you’re saying. And it’s a good idea that people should NOT act like socially awkward jerks. But sometimes people are also being overly sensitive about innocent statements, or other times people ARE going to be socially awkward and not intend to cause what the recipient is feeling. I feel that intent should be the primary consideration of most accusations (except for negligence, which does not require intent). There is, however, a legal term for what you’re describing as well. The Eggshell Skull Rule. Mainly for PHYSICAL harm, not emotional harm though. It’s a common law doctrine that makes the defendant liable for the plaintiff’s UNFORESEEABLE and uncommon reactions to the defendant’s negligent OR intentional tort (wrongdoing). It’s usually meant as a ‘The defendant should have known better before doing that’ claim for doing something that would cause a physical injury. A common example of this doctrine is that a person’s skull was very thin due to the person’s own health condition, if the person gets into an accident, the other person who caused the accident will be liable for the actual damages, although the average person would not suffer the same serious injuries in the same accident as the person with the thin skull. You are, however, using this doctrine for EMOTIONAL states which are a LOT harder to prove than physical states (hence why it’s not used for emotional states0.
“I wasn’t trying to make an equivalence between sexual harassment and rape. ”
It seemed like you were when you said that sexual harassment, for most people, makes them scared that they’re going to be raped or killed.’
“My point is that sexual harassment may be a precursor to rape.’
Understood. That could be said the same though with any sort of harassment to men or women and murder as well.
“We penalized threats, even when they cause no actual harm,”
You need to penalize threats as they are defined by the elements of those claims though.
The elements of sexual harassment, which need to be present for the claim to be valid, are:
1) unwelcome conduct;
2) of a sexual nature directed towards the victim’s gender
3) that create a hostile or offensive environment and/or
4) include an adverse action against the victim.
I understand now that you’re meaning that rape could be the ‘adverse action against the victim’ btw. But it still requires proving those elements of the charge. So while I do emphasize with victims of sexual harassment (particularly as a woman myself), I just won’t fall into the trap of believing all women without there being proof involved. I do not think I’d ever make a false allegation because I find behavior like that to be despicable, but I can’t be sure that others would not (especially since I’ve seen it happen way too many times, in both a professional capacity and in social and mainstream media).
“I do think false accusations are a serious problem that any legitimate attempt to deal with crimes of any category must address. Rape is perhaps uniquely difficult to address, because determining whether an act was consensual or not frequently relies on internal information that is not directly accessible to other parties.”
I completely agree with you here. But it’s why I lean so heavily towards Blackstone’s Formulation (better ten guilty men go free than one innocent man be convicted, which is the basis for ‘innocent until proven guilty’) Because I do NOT want to be the one that makes a mistake that ruins an innocent person’s life. The burden is going to be put on the accuser. It’s unfortunate but I consider it better than the alternative that any man, at any time, can be accused of a despicable and EVIL crime without any proof being necessary if the woman decides they want to for whatever reason (jilted girlfriend, doesnt like the person, for kicks, to prevent themselves from getting in trouble with their boyfriend/husband/parents, and so on). Neither side anyone will take will be a great side to take, but I consider one side mildly better than the other, at least as far as a system of laws that is to applied equally to everyone is concerned.
“There is no physical evidence that can be presented — or rather, any evidence can only point to whether a specific event occurred, but not whether that event was consensual.”
Well there ARE rape kits, eyewitness testimony, text messages, previous history, etc which can be used as circumstantial evidence (usually – sometimes not with the history and eyewitness testimony, that needs back-and-forth argument to see if it’ll be admitted into evidence). But I agree with you here. Rape is often a problem to prove, evidence-wise. Especially when the victim waits too long before reporting it and/or it’s not in addition to another violent crime (ie, a mugging, a burglary, an assault and battery, etc).
TL;DR – if I was in the shoes of a person who was ACTUALLY being sexually harassed, I would be ANGRY more than afraid. I once did get attacked as a teenager outside a pizza place next to my high school (not sexually but physically – the guy tried to steal my purse and when I held onto my bag he choked me to make me let go) and I wound up jumping on him and jabbing a key in his face a few times, then some other guys ran over, held the guy down until the police arrived, and pulled me off of him to calm me down because I would have jabbed him in the eye or throat with my keys if I had the chance).
So I do understand how others would be afraid, but my reaction would be anger first and foremost.
Some people opt for flight, others for fight. In this respect I’m probably a lot like Maxima (or Sydney with how she reacted to being mugged), except no gold skin and ability to juggle tanks and throw people into outer space or ash them when they anger me.
PS – during the pizza place incident, the owner gave me a free slice of pizza and a coke and said it was the best thing he ever saw when I started going nuts on the guy who tried to rob me.
I think you’re jumping straight to assuming that people are advocating legal consequences for inappropriate behavior. Just as there are degrees of improper behavior, there are degrees to the appropriate sort of response.
A sexual comment by the average person may just be rude, insensitive, or awkward, but should generally be avoided if there is risk that it will be taken as a threat, and thus we as a society should discourage it through social, rather than legal, means.
A sexual comment by a police officer is unprofessional, and the power disparity between them and an average person increases the chance that it will be threatening, and thus should be even more strongly discouraged. Such a comment during a hostile interaction such as a traffic stop is even more threatening, and should be against policy and result in disciplinary action.
The goal should be to prevent harmful behavior. Ruining another person’s life doesn’t undo any harm to a potential victim, and may have minimal deterrence factor, particularly if an accusation alone is sufficient, with no evidence required. If the punishment doesn’t depend on actually committing the crime, then innocence is no refuge. But at the same time, if we make excuses for inappropriate behavior, that contributes to the murkiness of harassment and consent, and makes people feel more comfortable pushing those boundaries, forcing themselves on other people.
It’s one thing to question an accusation with no other witnesses or evidence. But that’s not relevant to the comic page we’re purportedly discussing. If we can’t even agree that the police officer’s behavior is inexcusable, then we have a problem long before we get to the accusation stage.
Except it actually IS a porn star name. Which dhe herself referred to ad ‘porn star names’ when she heard the potential names arc light was thinking up. Thats the punchline of the joke.
Leon and Gwen were making a bunch of porn star names tor secret IDs, and she said “No porn star names!” And they subtly gave her a porn star name ANYWAY. :)
That’s irrelevant to whether or not it’s appropriate for a police officer to hassle her about it during a traffic stop.
I’m just pointing out that, while he’s being unprofessional, what he’s saying is still accurate. :)
If your name was Zaphod Beeblebrox and I was a cop that pulled you over for speeding… and that’s the name on your license,I might wind up asking if Ford Prefect or Arthur Dent or Tricia McMillain were hiding in the trunk. I’d make a bunch of Hitchhiker’s Guide quips at the very least. :)
Which would be very appropriate, and I’d respect the nerd cred of any cop who could make those references on the fly. Whereas IRL repeatedly insisting “you have a stripper name” during an exchange carrying an inherent imbalance of power is right on the edge of sexual harassment, and any other speech or actions along those lines could easily justify her lodging a complaint.
Definitely a fair enough argument to make.
And yes I’d lodge a complaint as well if I was in Maxima’s shoes. Probably wouldn’t use my position to ruin his career though, especially since what he was saying was accurate and the whole ‘cool’ thing he said in the beginning makes me think he was being stupid and thoughtless instead of lewd and lascivious.
Definitely something for her to lodge a complaint about, though. Like DaveB said, she’s committed his badge number to memory for later. Probably to make a complaint like a normal person would, that the officer made a sexually-charged comment. I mean it’s very arguable that he didn’t mean it in that context (ie, the hitchhiker’s guide example I gave), but it still could have been easily interpreted as if he did (since ‘porn star name’ IS still a sexual reference and the officer should know better).
Oh! Had another thought.
What if Maxima’s secret identity name was Cyndi Lauper (like how Michael’s name in Office Space was Michael Bolton) and the cop started on and on about ‘Girls just wanna have fun’ being his favorite song. Despite the fact that THAT could also be interpreted as sexually suggestive to someone who is a 6 foot 1, fitness model-esque gorgeous woman who’s been pulled over by a cop for speeding. He might be just focused on the name, and not the sexual connotation involved by one of the song titles, by a woman who CONSTANTLY has to deal with people looking at her in an overtly lascivious manner.
:)
It would in fact be inappropriate for a cop to bring up ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ at someone who just happened to be named Cyndi Lauper. Not as inappropriate as this is, but inappropriate.
Why you might ask? Very simple: You should not insult or make fun of people you just met who you have power over. That’s a form of bullying and harassment and just generally unpleasant behavior, and not at all appropriate for a cop to be doing. And anyone a cop pulls over is definitionally under their power…the cop is the one who determines what happens from there, which can range from a
Anyone named Cyndi Lauper has heard that joke. A lot. Now maybe she’s fine with it, in which case, no harm was done…but what if she isn’t fine with it? What if she is tired of that damn joke and every time she hears it she feels mocked and belittled? In that case, she has two choices:
1. Act like she’s fine with it out of fear of the power this person wields over her. Feeling helpless and pissed and maybe scared.
2. Risk offending someone who can impose a variety of unpleasant consequences on her, from monetary penalties, to spending time in jail (they can hold people for 72 hours without charging them), to shooting her dead.
Now, are all the options listed in #2 there likely to actually be enforced by the cop? No (though the first one might be). But it colors the interaction anyway. She is pressured to put up with humiliating and unpleasant behavior by this person because they have power over her and can punish her if she offends them. Which means that people in positions of power like this (which is not just cops, it also includes employers, teachers, court mandated therapists, and a variety of other similar situations) need to be very careful to not harass the people they have power over in any way.
Now, once the person in power knows the other person better this can loosen up a little (you can, in fact, be friends with someone you employ and give each other shit, for example) but even there the person with power needs to be careful that the other person isn’t just ‘grinning and bearing it’ and at a traffic stop where you literally met this person two minutes ago? No. It is never appropriate for the cop to tease or mock them in any way.
Good response. :)
Would a male stripper name be something like “William ‘Bill’ Poppins”?
That one would likely be “Willy Poppins.”
A raunchier version would be “Harry Poppins.”
Was probably thinking more of a drug-dealer :(
Don’t forget the Richards…
There are a bunch of RL porn stars with ridiculous names. Mostly men. Keep in mind these are real names of real male porn stars
Rocky Balboner
Tom Wanks
John Cutesack
Clint Orris
Bill Clitton
Ben Dover (yes there is a guy named that – it’s not just a joke)
Throbbin Hood (this is awful. Throbbin isnt even a normal first NAME)
Lance Thruster
Buck Naked (see my comment above on Ben Dover)
Rod Longstaff
Luke Thighwalker
Woody Johnsson
Buster Hymen
Richard Cheese
And with this list I have officially lost the will to live. Good night everyone. :)
not a real porn name, but maybe a Hobbit Porn name: Dildo Draggins
Rod Tackleford will meet you halfway there.
I find this mene to be appropriate here. :)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UcZzlPGnKdU
But dental is the most important health care to superhero’s. A lot of fights end with a fist to the face.
Just wait till she finds out the barcode on the back leads to a questionable Maxima fanart page.
Now, see, I would’ve gotten creative and gone to other languages to slip something by her. Really get sneaky with the etymology. For example, the Beaux-Ksomme family name points to a mixed French/Danish ancestry, “Beaux” meaning “beautiful” and “Ksomme” meaning “nice”. Nothing wrong with that, right? Maybe only mention one half of the full name before handing her the ID. And Elizabeth is a strong, respectable name. Not everybody is aware that it’s the augmentative form of “Buffy”. So suddenly Max’s new name is “Buffy Beaux-Ksomme”!
Really?
You don’t think she’d spot “Buffy Buxom?”
Imagine going to school with the name “Eric Shin.”
Went to school with a ‘Richard King’, he never used the usual short-name (didn’t stop us from switching the order of the names… and using the sort-name anyway :P )
We had a guy named Peter Wrinkle AND one named Hugo Cox.
we had an asian student, Phukk Yu
honestly
we also had a girl named Gaylord
There was famously an Adolf Hitler who was pulled up when he tried to get into America in the 60s.
Also, don’t forget Brianna Ghey.
Reminds me of this cilp from Scrubs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOFFh9wA0A8
I kid you not, under the standard porn star naming rules mine is Samson Redwood.
Dinky Union
THIS is why you always check your credentials before leaving the office. I can neither confirm nor deny that a certain field office would replace an agent’s credentials with a photo of Bozo the Clown that may or may not have wound up in the SAIC’s badge before his meeting with the FBI.
I get the feeling she’s used to getting very respectful reactions from law enforcement and is having problems adjusting.
Maxima looks like she’s barely keeping it under control. I wonder if she realises that taking a grumpy attitude might end up making the stop take longer, wasting even more of her time. It’s kind of sad that she can’t even enjoy a simple drive due to her attitude.
Yes.
It obviously has nothing at all to do with officer “You got a porn name, hur hur,” being a typically sexist piece of shit pig.
A lot of people conflate “this is normal” with “this is okay”. At best, I can say that it’s a coping mechanism for dealing with the feeling of powerlessness in the face of injustice. But it certainly bothers me when someone embraces the awful and calls it good.
*furious pokes the screen looking for the LIKE button*
Same, it was right behind this dent full of dead pixels a moment ago but keeps shifting… >_<
For the record that address probably doesn’t exist in real life. Sterling Drive and Lane ARE in Dallas though.
Yeah, I’m not trying to dox someone. I just put her in a nice downtown zipcode because she legit does have an apartment she owns but rarely visits, then made up the rest.
Still very unprofessional of the cop to even say anything.
I’ll make a proposal: What’s the odds her car does not have a reinforced rack or grip where she could just grab it, pick it up, and fly off with it without damaging it?
Contact telekinesis; She could pick it up by a whip antenna, and fly off with it, without damaging it. She could probably pick it up by a loose thread, if it didn’t break her suspension of disbelief.
Am I missing something? I don’t see any innuendo in Harper Deluxe. Why would that be a porn star name?
…Speaking as someone who doesn’t watch “professional” porn, and thus has no experience with what porn stars call themselves.
If you google enough, you will find a sex reference for “harping”. It’s nothing much, and it’s not common.
Thank you GoogleMan. I was lost on that one too. And now that I know, I must say Harper Dee Lux is nowhere even close to as porn-ish as Sindee Swallows.
Max is getting it light here, probably because she presents as an attractive woman in a muscle car in the 20-35 range, meaning most cops will assume she’s someone’s side-piece and that someone is more likely than not to be someone who can fuck their day by calling the boss.
Her day would be considerably WORSE with that face and ID if she were tooling around in a five year old Kia or Honda with body dings and fading paint…because the cops know THOSE are unlikely to have a sugar-daddy who’ll avenge them with the chief.
There is very little chance Officer Douche-Weasel would even see her in an old Kia or Honda (it would probably struggle to even reach the speed limit… )
Cops absolutely profile cars that “look” fast over something generic and nondescript, and plenty of sports cars around – no reason to assume it’s tied to someone with political influence. Although on the other end of the spectrum, they also target trashed cars, so something boring in good repair is optimal for being ignored.
I used to speed and drive pretty aggressive, had a series of white or blue consumer sedans, never pulled over once. Then switched to one that was bright red with a semi-sporty body and tail lights that were similar to those of several muscle cars, actually drove the speed limit (or nearly at least), and got 5 tickets over the next 2 years doing the exact same drives. Once after dark explicitly because “I clocked somebody doing 90, there’s not many cars out, and I saw your tail lights in my mirror before turning around.”
Haven’t had another ticket in many years since getting rid of it.
While Max is definitely a “Dee Lux” gal, she’s also someone you DON’T mess with. I’m quite sure he’ll get a talking to and maybe given a desk job for a while after it’s all said and done. Max as a “mushy human” would be harassed like that by many people in the world. Sad, but true. He’s thinking “it’s her word against mine” but he can’t know who she is so yeah, he’ll be lucky to get a reprimand out of it. If Max wants to bother.
How much can Max really risk throwing her weight around when she’s using her secret identity, though? I think she has to let him get away with it.
“You verbally abused a undercover federal officer acting in an official manner” sounds good to me. Top Secret blah blah blah… He seen big boobs and figured she’d be too dumb to complain about it. Be a good lesson for a guy that still had his “bro-think” on. Fancy clothes, fancy car, big boobs, yeah she’s a sugar daddy’s toy, deserves it. NOPE!
The complaint doesn’t even need to reveal the private identity, I’m sure Arianna’s team can spin the need to keep it redacted.
Not just porn stars who have… ‘questionable’ names, just heard about a song-writer whose birth name was ‘Don Choat’ (he changed it to ‘Don Wayne’)
I feel like Max might actually deliberately (or through habit) forgo seatbelts entirely. It’s not like she’s in danger of whiplash or impact harm, and all a seat belt is going to do is be another bit to rip away when/if she ever needs to make a rapid unscheduled exit from the vehicle.
In case of unexpected collision (remember that she CAN be surprised) the seatbelt might protect the car from being demolished by Max’s face.
I doubt Max spends much time inside vehicles.
It’s easy to be disrespectful to cops when you’re rich and bulletproof.
Or just rich, really.
Speeding is only a crime for poor people, who can’t afford the ticket or the expensive lawyer to keep the points off their license.
The bullet proof part would be much more important if she wasn’t also a Mayonnaise American.
As Jiggs reminded us a few pages back.
I would like to suggest that Max is more of a Butter American than Mayo.
closer to Honey than Butter
;P
I will go Margarine American, noting that once upon a time, margarine was undyed, and if you wanted it to be “butter yellow,” you had to mix in a package of oleo with a food dye cap.
As a little kid I can remember margarine with the little dot of dye (probably annatto). If you wanted yellow you had to mash that little dot of dye into the rest of the bar.