Grrl Power #928 – This is an ebullient citizen’s arrest
And we come full circle, back to the alien tourists who launched this whole escapade. We’re almost wrapped up with this storyline, as I know a few of you are having Sydney withdrawal, myself included.
Uh… yeah. Not sure what else to say about this one. I doubt NYC storm drains are tour-worthy. Well, maybe pinky there is a xenoarcheologist. That would make almost any artificial structure pretty interesting to her. Who knows, maybe that whole tour group are all students? Well, I suppose if anyone did, it’d be me, but honestly I just wanted a bunch of aliens wandering around Times Square, so fill in whatever story you like for them. I actually imagined a bunch of them are just streamers and wanted some exclusive new content for their UniverseTube channels, and the rest of them are the kind of people who go on vacation expressly for the purpose of loading up three dozen slide carousels in order to entertain/bore their friends and families into comas with insipid slide shows.
Kind of out of nowhere, Star Justice 12 will likely be out this Friday, barring any last second editorial issues. It’ll be available at Michael-Scott Earl’s website. SJ 11 came out nearly 3 years ago, and it’s one of my favorite series of all time, so I’ve been waiting for this one for a while. There wasn’t any big kickstarter for it, MSE is just writing and releasing them, I guess to test how direct sales do vs a big pre-funding campaign. I’m hoping it goes well, even though he plans on wrapping the series at 14 or 15.
Star Justice is on of those books I very nearly passed over. I had seen it on my recommended list on Amazon for a few weeks, then one day thought, eh, I’ll give it a shot. Looking at my kindle Device and Content list tells the rest of the story. I bought the 1st book Nov 25, 2017, then didn’t read it right away. Guess I had other stuff in the queue. I’m guessing I started reading SJ1 on about Jan 13 or 14, because I bought the second book on Jan 15, then books 3-8 on Jan 18th. Obviously I was hooked. Then, amazingly, book 9 came out like the day before I finished #8, but then I was caught up and had to wait like everyone else. I’m just glad I didn’t have to wait for book 6. Yeah, if you’ve read book 5, you know. There was SOMETHING of a cliffhanger. That was not a productive week for me. Kind of surprised I didn’t miss posting a page, come to think of it.
The new vote incentive is up! 
Maxima won (or lost) the draw this time. There are several clothing/non-clothing variants over at Patreon, including a special version with guest art direction from JJ Abrams. (Yes, there’s a ton of lens flares, hah hah. I amuse myself.) The a-cups will return next month, so please enjoy this offering in the meantime.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like!
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I like that one. She’s cute, and the way she talks is cute.
Hope she’s all right after this…
You’re correct! She seems a real doll. Like to see more of her.
She dresses cute, and talks cute buuuutttt….
That outfit is obviously inspired by flirtier dresses in classic Earth Sci-fi, including the metallic sheen. This is an outfit that screams, “I’m that sexy alien that always showed up in your shows that you wanted to date.” and not, “I’m an invader out to destroy you” or “I’m a body snatcher trying to blend in.” This means she did her research, and is pursuing a specific response.
Further, the other aliens are using universal translators while she actually learned English when the ship was targeted to land in an English-speaking territory. This means she plans ahead, and can also functionally learn a language in that timeframe (or she learned several Earth languages, which is also impressive). She also recognizes the two are criminals, but is very calm and self-collected about it all in the midst of a super-fight and willing to perform a citizen’s arrest. So she’s likely very combat capable, too.
So this one, despite coming across as “valley-girl”, is actually really intelligent and combat ready.
Yeah, it’s never a good idea to underestimate someone’s abilities, especially in a fight! That “soft target” might actually be able to sweep the floor with you…
Is that the right word? Sweep? Or is it mop?
I just know I’ve noticed people think Daniel the Human is a soft target at times, but in actual fact, he just doesn’t like that side of himself…
Most people is saying “wet sweep” I thinks.
It’s entirely possible that we’re reading too deeply into this, but she is seriously giving me Lu-Tze vibes — Pterry’s Sweeper / History Monk in the Discworld books.
His “Rule One”, with respect to that last panel:
“Do not act incautiously when confronting a little bald wrinkly smiling man.”
Sexy alien Lu-Tze was not something I’d expected anywhere. :)
NOBODY expects the sexy pink alien inquisition
Or maybe classic Terran sci-fi outfits were based on the actual fashions of alien tourists / abductors, and this is just an everyday casual outfit for her species.
the disturbing implication of a world where Ray Punk is the aesthetic.
or is it Atom Punk; I always forget aside from theme what aesthetically really separates these two.
Its like Steampunk and Diesel Punk aside from steam vs diesel/gasoline and brown vs grey there isn’t much of a visual difference in the general machinery and everyday clothes *other than again color*.
Looks like something out of Space Channel 5!
Reminds me of humans who are only slightly fluent in other languages. That hispanic guy you hired to pour some concrete might only know a few hundred words of English… but check and see what kind of reading material he enjoys in Spanish before you assume he’s unintelligent. Seriously, the ONLY time I’ve ever seen science magazines alongside the gossip rags at a checkout line, it was a place called “Cardenia’s” and the magazines were in Spanish.
(Great place for freshly baked tortillas and fresh queso cheese, btw )
Do you know of a good place for non-queso cheese?
There’s a good place on the corner of Rue Street and Camino Road, next to the Panera Bread.
well, i guess the news have spread out?
Well, it isn’t as if they tried to be subtle……….much more blatantly actually.
Alternatively, Her Garamm is getting arrested right behind her and another super is standing ready with cuffs.
I get the feeling that Miss Alien Merc is going to do something rather stupid and really regret it.
Already too late. She tried kidnapping local super powers just to have her technology robbed from her and even then things are still progressing down hill for her.
Her best shot at escape is for the authorities to forget about her, but that is just another blow to her ego anyway.
I think the lady who hired the local family as tour guides will start waving to to the Archon folks to come and get these two.
Maxima: Now where did that … Oh there she is.
Sydney: Don’t worry. I got this. [ Light hook shoots out 40 metres and entangles the two. ] (Hard vocal fry) Get over here! [ The two “criminals of the authorities” are yanked over beside Maxima. Big sappy grin appears on Sydney’s face. ] I’ve wanted to do that for so long.
Maxima: [ Shakes head at Sydney’s joke then addresses the mercenaries ] I am assuming you guys don’t have any kind of diplomatic immunity? You might not like the justice system on our low-tech backwater, but it what we have. Oh, I should probably let you know this anyway. You have the right to remain silent and not answer any questions we may have. You have the right to hire a local, qualified attorney and have that lawyer with you during any questioning or hearings. If you can not afford an attorney, the court may appoint a lawyer for you at no cost to you. You understand all that?
Hmm, would a local lawyer be willing to have alien client just for the publicity? I can just see the bail hearing:
Arianna (Prosecutor): Your Honor, the defendants are foreign nationals that entered the United States under false pretenses and pose an extremely high flight risk to locations where we can not access them for deportation. I move that the defendants be remanded in custody until the conclusion of the trial.
Oops, I forgot a part of the Miranda warning: Anything you do say may be recorded and presented as evidence against you in a court of law.
Pretty sure Pander would rep them both pro bono at this point, career-enhancing publicity or not.
“Arianna (Prosecutor): Your Honor, the defendants are foreign nationals that entered the United States under false pretenses and pose an extremely high flight risk to locations where we can not access them for deportation. I move that the defendants be remanded in custody until the conclusion of the trial.”
“Your honor, first, I object to Arianna prosecuting this, since she is not a prosecutor. She is a legal counsel for ARCHON, so I dispute her authority to prosecute this case.
“Also, I would request that they put under the custody of Irradon, unless the prosecution can show any statute under which they can legally hold my clients, which I cannot find any legal authority for them to do if they are going to go through a civilian trial. The only existing treaties that we possess with extraterrestrial persons is via the Council and the Council’s alien representative, Irradon.
“I also would argue that the charge of entering under false pretenses should be dropped from any list of charges as the United States has already tacitly allowed this for several decades with other alien species, who have been living and working in the United States without interference from the United States, all without the knowledge of the American people. Any false pretenses would only exist between one Ray Cosmos and my clients, which is outside the jurisdiction of the United States to prosecute. Until the existing U.S. immigration law can include the respective places of my clients’ origins, they should be released into the custody of their own governments until such time that the prosecution can present their case or, barring that, again, put into the custody of Irradon if the treaty with the Council has any wording for this scenario.”
The “authority” we have to arrest someone on our planet that is not *from* our planet is the same authority we have to arrest people who come to our *country.* The rights of a country to detain anyone who comes onto their land without permission extends from personal property rights, we have the right to tell anyone to stay off our lawn. You can’t arrest someone yourself for trespass, but you can alert the constabulary, and defend yourself if necessary.
Extend that to a whole planet, it boils down to “if you come here, you have to play by our rules, because our rules is how we will judge your actions”
Think of it this way, no extra-planetary body has authority on earth, not a single one. They can’t come here and decide how our rules work. They can ask nicely, but that would be admitting they exist. If they ask *forcefully* that’s how you get angry terrans r/HFY’ing up the galaxy.
“The “authority” we have to arrest someone on our planet that is not *from* our planet is the same authority we have to arrest people who come to our *country.*”
1) Arianna is not a prosecutor. She would not be prosecuting anything.
2) There is obviously a different standard on arresting people from another planet based on the fact that, in the Grrlpower universe, aliens have been tourist-ing our planet for quite a while, so there has to be SOME written law in immigration law on the subject. and since anything in the main law would be subject to public scrutiny, I’m assuming it has to be in the treaty with the Council instead. It wouldnt be as simple as ‘you came to our planet so we have authority over arresting you’ with nothing dealing with extraterrestrial representation. Especially if one of the charges is coming to the planet illegally when there are a ton of other aliens who are also simultaneously on the planet with just as little forewarning as those two.
“Extend that to a whole planet, it boils down to “if you come here, you have to play by our rules, because our rules is how we will judge your actions”
Except, again, there is already an extraterrestrial representative in the Council. Irradon. Just like how when Maxima detained Krona, I had a problem with it, Archon trying these two criminally would be a problem as well, for multiple reasons – starting with Arianna not having the authority to do so or argue she can before a judge. That’s a DA’s job, and Arianna is not a DA. Plus, like I said, there is likely SOMETHING in the Council treaty about anyone who falls under their representation when crimes are committed. If Archon wants to break the treaty over that…. then that’s another problem. Best bet would be to first get the Council’s permission, via getting Irradon’s permission to try them first.
“Think of it this way, no extra-planetary body has authority on earth, not a single one. They can’t come here and decide how our rules work. ”
Except for whatever is in the treaty between the US and the Council.
“They can ask nicely, but that would be admitting they exist.”
The US already knows they exist, and has known for quite some time, according to the whole US/Council relationship. The -public- did not know until recently, but the government (ie, anyone in the government with high enough clearance) knew already.
“If they ask *forcefully* that’s how you get angry terrans r/HFY’ing up the galaxy.”
As powerful as Maxima is, I think the US would still be at a disadvantage if it went to war with the entire Xevoarchy. Or even with just the Council. Even Dabbler alone is able to fight Maxima to a standstill.
Plus this seems like something where diplomacy would be a better option for both side than either side trying to be forceful about what to do with these two.
I’m still hopeful that Garamm and Lapha will get away though. We have no idea where they are… just that the three alien tourists are there. Which, after some thought, seems to imply that they are NOT near Times Square anymore. Because in another post I was wondering why those three would still be lingering around Times Square when they got into an SUV long before Archon even got there.
You almost missed something: even if Ari is a DA, she would be out of her jurisdiction, Archon is based in Texas, the ‘crime’ (and resulting court case) allegedly occurred in New York
Arianna has Federal Jurisdiction and, as such, cases that include immigration of any kind into the USA IS under Federal Jurisdiction.
The Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, but the Reformation Acts (13th, 14th & 15 Amendments) granted them US Citizenship, Fundamental Rights under law & legal protection in courts. The Reformation Acts were effective specifically for that time frame & granted these provisions for a limited time (for the lifespan of those feed slaves) but they also form the basis of our Naturalization Laws & protocols. The shipload of refugees were granted provisional citizenship (indirectly, by Dues & the country he runs).
However, when it comes to the alien tourists (that were once covered by the Veil), they would also need to legally get their Visas & Green Cards from Immigration Services while they decided if it was worth their time to use our Naturalization Services…And other countries that host their tourists would presumably be treating their visitors according to their own laws covering their own versions of Immigration & Naturalization laws. In the USA, these laws fall under United States jurisdiction & each State also have their own, additional, provisions as well.
It’s possible that aliens like Ray Cosmos has been granted a form of “blanket Visa’ for those tourists that he brings in with him & only effective for as long as they remain with him & his touring agenda. if any of them commit crimes while on Ray’s touring, they would be subject to US laws for prosecution, since that would invalidate their Visa status.
No doubt that the mercenaries here did NOT go through any of the legal procedures so that makes them in violation of immigration law, in addition to whatever other laws they’ve violated…
No, she doesn’t, Ari is not a DA, she is simply (until stated otherwise) Archon’s legal council
There is no such things as a ‘blanket Visa’ for tourists in a tour group, and seriously doubt Raymos has any sort of license, let alone one that allows him to bring in aliens and drop them in the middle of Times Square
Oh, and being a tourist doesn’t grant you Citizenship of any kind
“Arianna has Federal Jurisdiction and, as such, cases that include immigration of any kind into the USA IS under Federal Jurisdiction.”
Actually no. Arianna does not have Federal jurisdiction in a criminal case. Because Arianna is not a federal prosecutor. She does not work for the Department of Justice. She works for ARCHON.
Just to explain, I did not make a mistake by not mentioning jurisdiciton. My entire argument was based on Arianna not having federal jurisdiction to prosecute a case in the first place, because she’s not a prosecutor. She likely ha federal sponsorship to argue in federal district court, but that’s for civil cases. I have federal sponsorship as well. I can’t try a criminal case though as a prosecutor.
A lot of people tend to confuse civil cases and criminal cases. So I’ll give a basic rundown.
Any attorney can argue a state civil case, if they are barred (passed the state bar exam) in that state or if the judge allows it.
Any attorney can DEFEND in a criminal case, if they are barred (passed the state bar exam) in that state or if the judge allows it. (ie, like in My Cousin Vinny).
Only an attorney that has federal sponsorship can argue in FEDERAL civil court, which generally requires another attorney to sponsor you.
Only a prosecutor for that state can PROSECUTE in a state criminal case, unless the judge allows a prosecutor from another state to prosecute in that state. Which pretty much never happens.
Only a federal prosecutor can prosecute a federal criminal case. All federal prosecutors answer to the Department of Justice.
Arianna does not work for the Department of Justice. Arianna is not a federal prosecutor. I wouldnt be surprised if Arianna was able to argue in civil federal courts though, or that she probably passed the state bar in multiple states. Even I’ve passed the state bar in 4 states, and I’m not working for a superhero government agency that is national. :) Arianna is likely far more learned than I am, if not for that pesky being fictional thing. She likely knows immigration law as well, but again – since she’s not a federal prosecutor, she could only argue in a civil matter (plaintiff or defendant) or a criminal DEFENSE matter.
Like Guesticules did say, Arianna is not a DA. Which doesn’t really matter because immigration law can also, and usually does, fall under federal district court. But I’ll add, once again, that she’s also not a federal prosecutor. She’s ARCHON’s legal counsel.
Also, again just letting people know I’m not an immigration attorney but I know the basics… there IS something called a blanket L1 visa petition (it’s usually used for multinational companies to transfer their employees in L-1 status) but I doubt that Ray Cosmos filed that petition prior to plopping his ship down in Times Square.
“No doubt that the mercenaries here did NOT go through any of the legal procedures so that makes them in violation of immigration law, in addition to whatever other laws they’ve violated.”
None of the tourists went through any legal procedures, yet ARCHON has waived that already. Remember flower smell alien girl and Sydney starting to just make up names for them as ARCHON was processing them? Not to mention it’s only Ray Cosmos who actively did something illegal – it doesnt seem like any of the aliens on his ship were aware that he did not file the proper visa petitions or paperwork for tourist visas.
So no, if they charge the mercenaries, they’re using the wrong charge. They should use assault on a federal officer and attempted kidnapping. I’d still argue about venue then, since the US does not have any agreements with their home planets, unless there’s something covered in the Council/US treaty, which would probably be the only jurisdictional justification available, which would put the alien mercs in Council hands, not US federal hands, until some new statutes or treaties are hammered out. Which is probably the same case for any existing alien on earth if they were to break a law, like Greenie (Jeannie) at Club Oontz, or snapping fingers dancing lizard guy.
Like said: no blanket VISA for tourists, employees being transferred are not tourists
Yes Guesticules. I’m agreeing with you. :) I’m just being very wordy about my agreement.
You are mostly correct. I want to point out that DaveB has mentioned in a past comment that the existence of aliens or supernatural is not explicitly written into law. The logic being that this would defeat the purpose of secrecy and any secret law would defeat the purpose of a law insofar as it could not be tried in court.
That said, real U.S. law does NOT cover extraterrestrial aliens.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-104publ208/pdf/PLAW-104publ208.pdf
[PAGE 576]
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1101&num=0&edition=prelim
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/1/8
There you go. Current U.S. law would not be able to deport a non-human alien.
Depending on state, you can, in fact, arrest someone yourself for trespass.
GoogleMan listed above the NY statute 140.30
[A]ny person may arrest another person 1.(b) for any offense when the latter has in fact committed such offense in his presence.
and here’s the relevant New york offense
A person is guilty of criminal trespass in the third degree when he knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in a building or upon real property (a) which is fenced or otherwise enclosed in a manner designed to exclude intruders;
…so in New York if someone walks into your house without your permission and refuses to leave, then you can arrest them.
Apparently, that doesn’t apply to gated communities
Actually it can apply to gated communities as well. Dal’s right about this.
So, why is that couple being charged with threatening that mob that entered their gated community last year?
That was not New York. That was St. Louis.
Although in St. Louis, while citizens arrests are different, the stand your ground rules are ALSO different. That couple actually had the right to SHOOT at the mob. They didn’t (the guns were not even capable of firing, apparently). The charges against them are complete BS and politically driven, not to mention legally problematic. Including a prosecutor actually falsifying evidence and being caught doing so. Honestly, the prosecutor should be disbarred for ordering that tampering.
Knew that whole thing was political bullshittery at its worst, glad to read they are not being charged
Cereally: you break into a private gated community, and dare to sue them when they rightly tell you to “fuck off”?
The governor had said that even if they had been charged, which would have made no sense legally, he would have pardoned them anyway.:). Because even he said what the prosecutor was trying to do was illegal with the tampering and the charges violated the constitution anyway.
And yeah that whole thing was insane and everyone in that mob should have been arrested.
Fine, officially these two are released into the care of the Council, and specifically Irradon. He in turn requests Archon to house these individuals as the Council does not have appropriate holding facilities for defendants of this nature.
I thought Arianna was a federal prosecutor, or was that her last job?
If she’s a prosecutor, she’s never mentioned it anywhere in the comic, and hasnt done any work that remotely relates to being a prosecutor whatsoever. Not to mention federal prosecutors work for the Department of Justice, not a branch of the military like Archon is.
Maybe she did that before joining Archon and it hasnt been mentioned yet, but the point still is she’s not a federal prosecutor now.
“He in turn requests Archon to house these individuals as the Council does not have appropriate holding facilities for defendants of this nature.”
Everything we’ve seen about the Council seems to imply that they’re pretty adamant about having control over their own people, but in any case, Irradon could do that. But it would not be instantaneous.
Arianna could probably prosecute the case if Archon itself was the claimant, rather than the NYC/NY/US governments, but I can’t imagine why Arc-whatever would try to do that instead of just providing evidence and testimony to the DoJ. Archon is a military branch, not its own government.
“Arianna could probably prosecute the case if Archon itself was the claimant,”
In a criminal case, there’s no claimant. There’s the prosecution and the defense. Claimants are for civil cases, not criminal cases. I think that you mean Arianna could represent Archon if Archon was the claimant in a civil case.
Arianna isnt a federal prosecutor, because she’s not in the DoJ. So she can’t be the prosecutor in a federal criminal case.
Arianna isn’t a DA in New York, so she can’t be the prosecutor in a state criminal case.
Arianna CAN sue in a civil case.
And she might be a JAG officer (Judge Advocate General), but everything I’ve seen about her so far implies she’s a civilian, not military, despite working for a military agency. And it seems like most of Arianna’s job is on the civilian end of Archon. But I don’t know that much about military law beyond some basic stuff. Military law and civilian law are two very different creatures.
“but I can’t imagine why Arc-whatever would try to do that instead of just providing evidence and testimony to the DoJ. Archon is a military branch, not its own government.”
Right. If this became some sort of civilian criminal trial, it would not be something that Arianna could prosecute. Since she’s in Archon, not the DoJ, and is not a prosecutor.
Arianna, as the chief lawyer for Archon, might not be able to prosecute certain cases but she can bring legal papers to court that would initiate prosecution procedures & see to it that proper individuals (of the specific jurisdiction) would be put on the case.
Since Archon is, for all intents, purposes & definitions, a new Branch of the military, Arianna herself would have to be highly qualified in both military & civilian laws…
“Arianna, as the chief lawyer for Archon, might not be able to prosecute certain cases but she can bring legal papers to court that would initiate prosecution procedures & see to it that proper individuals (of the specific jurisdiction) would be put on the case.”
No, she really can’t. She could call up a federal prosecutor though. But she would not be arguing anything in court in a criminal case as a prosecutor herself, like it was presented in the initial scenario post. :)
“Since Archon is, for all intents, purposes & definitions, a new Branch of the military, Arianna herself would have to be highly qualified in both military & civilian laws…”
Yes, Arianna might be a JAG officer, although I sort of doubt it based on what we’ve seen. She seems more like a civilian attorney operating within a military branch instead, and I don’t know how that works for prosecutions, but the aliens would not be prosecuted in a military court anyway so that’s a moot point. But I’m sure she’s versed in military and civilian laws. It doesn’t mean she is a federal prosecutor though. Even if she WAS a JAG officer (doubtful but possible since ARCHON is a military branch), she’s not a federal prosecutor, which is again what was being proposed as the scenario in the initial post.
Look, I was being cheeky when I made my post, only because it was making Arianna the prosecutor, which would be an easy thing to dispute. But apparently this has somehow become a long thread on something I figured was obvious to people. :)
Judge: The selection of the Department of Justice for prosecutor in this case is not under the purview of this court. Arianna NoLastName is a properly enrolled attorney in this jurisdiction, and her expertise in unusual defendants such as aliens are clearly relevant to this case, so we shall not interfere in that choice.
The Court did not hear in prosecution’s bail statement a charge relating to acquiring property under false pretenses, so we will take the phrase in it’s more colloquial meaning. I see among the charges a violation of 8 U.S. Code § 1325 – Improper entry by alien, wherein the defendants allegedly made material false representations about their intentions on entering the country.
This court has been made aware that aliens have been allowed entry to the country in prior years, and that their existence has been restricted to a small number of government agencies.
Does the defense mean to provide evidence that such prior alien visitors made material misrepresentations that were not disclosed to those agencies responsible to know such highly secret facts?
“Judge: The selection of the Department of Justice for prosecutor in this case is not under the purview of this court. Arianna NoLastName is a properly enrolled attorney in this jurisdiction, and her expertise in unusual defendants such as aliens are clearly relevant to this case, so we shall not interfere in that choice.”
That… literally makes no sense.
1) Arianna is not in the Department of Justice. She’s in ARCHON.
2) Arianna’s expertise about aliens does not make her a prosecutor. If she wants to be an expert witness, that’s fine. But find a proper DA to prosecute this case first.
3) The judge is seeming to violate the law for some reason in making this decision, and is claiming he does no have the authority to say that someone who is not a DA should be prosecuting. I would suggest that if he cannot remain impartial or at least follow basic jurisprudence, then I would ask that he recuse himself.
Also everything that’s being said sets me up for an appeal based on the judge disregarding the law on one of the most basic aspects :)
“Does the defense mean to provide evidence that such prior alien visitors made material misrepresentations that were not disclosed to those agencies responsible to know such highly secret facts?”
Now I’m not an immigration attorney, but any law student knows that the defense is under no requirement to provide evidence. The burden of proof is on the prosecution. The defense should not be required to do the prosecution’s job for them. I’ve already shown inconsistent application of the law. Not only by different time periods of aliens coming into the United States, but even by this EXACT ship. If you want, you can start arresting every alien on Ray Cosmos’s ship, including Ray Cosmos despite him being a handsome and charismatic devil-may-care rogue (wink at Ray Cosmos), and prosecute each of them, and I would not object to that. Or you can drop that particular charge. I’m also requesting that any treaty between the US and the Council be made public so I can adequately represent my client.
” I see among the charges a violation of 8 U.S. Code § 1325 – Improper entry by alien, wherein the defendants allegedly made material false representations about their intentions on entering the country.”
I would now argue that ARCHON has already waived that charge by allowing all the other members of Ray Cosmos’s ship to come in, despite having given ARCHON no advanced warning of their coming to Earth. I also take issue with the claim that they made ‘material false representations of their intentions on entering the country.’ There was no communication at all between them and ARCHON. Ray Cosmos was the only one who would have been capable of letting Archon know via any communication, as it was his ship. If there was any material false representations at all, it would be between Ray Cosmos and my clients. Ray Cosmos is not a part of the United States, nor is he a citizen of the United States, and any juridisctional arguments of venue in a lawsuit between Ray Cosmos any my clients would not be under the purview of this court.”
So in theory, Ray could go to US prison for his illegal tourism operations, while Lapha and Garamm walk free (perhaps with restraining orders to stay out of the US) until the Xevoarchy or their own governments choose to try them… I find I’m completely okay with that outcome.
Well, they might not be charged with immigration offences, but assault on a federal law-enforcement officer would definitely apply, at least for Lapha. I think something along the lines of attempted abduction/kidnapping might also find its way to the charge sheet.
Nope, that’s nonsense. ARCHON allowed tourists entry. Defendants represented that they were tourists on vacation, when they in fact were here for work reasons, that work being a professional team attempting to kidnap a member of the US government armed forces. These misrepresentations violated 8 U.S. Code § 1325, independently of whether Ray Cosmos had obtained proper permits.
The US Government, in allowing entry, waived its privilege to prosecute for violation of other entry rules. It did not waive its right to receive truthful answers to the questions it did ask.
More likely they’d just go into custody of the Council, and Irradon in particular, to handle any charges against them, based on any rules of either the Council or the Xevoarchy. He’d likely have ARCHON involved though, since Maxima was the ‘victim’ and several of ARCHONs members were eye-witnesses. Plus ARCHON would likely argue about venue, since it took place on Earth, on US soil, against a US citizen. But the ‘illegal immigration’ charge would be ridiculous compared to the ACTUAL charge that Archon would have a point about – the attempted kidnapping and assault and battery on both humans and aliens on Earth.
David Nuttall: Everything David said is entirely correct. At least for Lapha. Garamm’s only attack was on Ray Cosmos, not against any humans, although there could always be a charge as an accomplice if Archon was able to find out that Garamm was actually involved with the mercs, which might not be readily apparent.
Ms Pedantic: It’s not nonsense. And the mercs actually did not have any dealings with ARCHON before the attempt to capture Maxima happened, so you can’t claim they lied on any paperwork :)
In order for the prosecution to be brought, the DoJ must have been involved, yes? And since Arianna is supposedly prosecuting the case for the DoJ, then Arianna must have been selected as lead prosecutor. That is the status quo when you made your motion. (Actually, she was merely making a statement against bail, so she might have been speaking in some blended role, but let’s assume she was prosecutor for some sense-forsaken reason.)
Nothing we have seen about Arianna makes this choice impossible. (It’s stupid, but drama generally relies on the law of conservation of characters.) Is there a statute that prohibits the appointment of a DA who is/was from Archon? Why would there be? It would seem a natural thing, given Archon’s purview over supers, aliens, and other supernatural threats.
When you objected to Arianna as prosecutor, the judge responded to your words and the situation, that is all. The RATIONALE you used to object to Arianna to the judge is not one that the judge is going to credit, given the obvious fact that the DoJ made that choice of prosecutor.
wrt “evidence”, you made a specific claim that the same law was tacitly violated. If you have no evidence of that claim, then you have made a frivolous claim. Normal judges don’t use internet rumors to rule on cases. Certainly, the judge would have judicial notice that aliens have lived among us with the knowledge of the US government. That in no way implies that the aliens did not properly notify the government of their existence, using whatever secret channels existed for that purpose. Thus, your clients are subject to the law they have violated, unless you can provide EVIDENCE that that law does not apply to aliens and this prosecution is capricious and against existing policies. If you haver any such evidence, whip it out.
And, I’m assuming your aspersions on the judge’s supposed bias were to us rather than the judge. This guy is ten times more “inside the lines” than Sullivan, and no one had the very bad sense to call out Sullivan inside the courtroom.
Ari is not DoJ, if anything, she would be DoD
She is also not a DA
“In order for the prosecution to be brought, the DoJ must have been involved, yes?”
If it’s a federal prosecutor? Then yes. If it’s a state/city prosecutor, then no. But Arianna is neither a state, city, or federal prosecutor. So yes, for a federal prosecution to be brought, the Department of Justice would need to be involved and appoint a federal prosecutor, who works FOR the DoJ.
“And since Arianna is supposedly prosecuting the case for the DoJ, then Arianna must have been selected as lead prosecutor.”
That’s not how it works. The DoJ has to appoint a federal prosecutor. Not just any lawyer they can find. Also, ARCHON is under the DoD (since Archon is military and the DoD is the part of the government that oversees the Armed Forces), not the DoJ.
“That is the status quo when you made your motion.”
The status quo would be not using Arianna, since Arianna is not a federal prosecutor. Even the judge can’t decide to allow it, unlike if an attorney is not in the state bar for a given state or lacks a federal sponsorship. Prosecution has its own set of requirements that a judge can’t bypass.
“Nothing we have seen about Arianna makes this choice impossible. (It’s stupid, but drama generally relies on the law of conservation of characters.) ”
Actually the fact that she’s not in the DoJ does make the choice impossible, which was my entire point in the scenario. :) She’s in Archon, which would be overseen by the DoD. The DoD does not have federal prosecutors.
Just as a quick cliffnotes, here’s how prosecutors work.
At the federal level, prosecutors are known as ‘U.S. Attorneys.’ There is a U.S Attorney for each federal court district in the US. These US attorneys are appointed by the President. There are 94 U.S. attorneys in the US at any given time.
Under the U.S. Attorneys re the assistant federal prosecutors, who work under the DoJ. There are about 2000 assistant federal prosecutors in the US at any given time.
The DoJ (or the President) can get outside counsel for criminal DEFENSE, or for civil cases, but not for prosecuting crimes on behalf of the federal government.
“When you objected to Arianna as prosecutor, the judge responded to your words and the situation, that is all. ”
If a judge is actively ignoring the law when responding to the situation, I’m perfectly within my rights to both request his recusal. If he’s not going to use the law as a basis for his opinions, he’s not exercising any judicial discretion at all. And if he doesn’t… well then I’d have a good reason for an appeal.
“The RATIONALE you used to object to Arianna to the judge is not one that the judge is going to credit, given the obvious fact that the DoJ made that choice of prosecutor.”
Again, that’s literally not how a federal prosecutor is appointed. They have to be under the DoJ, not the DoD. The US attorneys are already appointed by the President. The assistant federal prosecutors are already working for the DoJ, and for those US Attorneys.
Arianna. Is. Not. In. The. DoJ. :) While any prosecutor can be an attorney, not any attorney can be a prosecutor, and definitely not a federal prosecutor… which is where I think you’re getting a little tripped up on the details.
“If you have no evidence of that claim, then you have made a frivolous claim.”
I literally gave evidence of that claim. Also that’s not the definition of a frivolous claim.
“Certainly, the judge would have judicial notice that aliens have lived among us with the knowledge of the US government.”
Why would you assume that the judge would have judicial notice of that? I’m not sure you understand what Judicial notice means. The definition of judicial notice is an introduction into evidence of a fact that is so notorious or well known, or so authoritively attested, that it cannot be reasonably doubted. The only thing the public knew until recently is that aliens had landed in Galytin. Then a LOT more recently the US finally came clear that aliens have been coming to Earth for some time now, confirmed by Cora. It’s still not apparent that the US has made it clear that the US has been allowing aliens, other than Dabbler, to be on Earth for decades.
Not to mention, the idea that aliens exist on Earth is not a question – the idea that there’s a formailzed way for them to come to Earth legally…. IS a question. It’s not something that would be taken under judicial notice.
“Thus, your clients are subject to the law they have violated, unless you can provide EVIDENCE that that law does not apply to aliens and this prosecution is capricious and against existing policies.”
Again that is now how law works. Especially not criminal law. There is a presumption of innocence. It’s up to the prosecution, not the defense, to prove otherwise. The defense does not need to do the prosecution’s job for them, and the burden of innocence is not on the Defense ever.
You also can’t assume a law will apply to a party not even written into the law. If it’s not written in the law, it does not apply. You also can’t assume there IS a law unless the PROSECUTION can point to a law or treaty which would apply. The Defense does not have to do this. The Prosecution does. Then the defense can try to refute it or show why it does not apply, or find some other flaw in the prosecution’s reasoning.
“If you haver any such evidence, whip it out.”
Seriously, I don’t know why you think the defense has to whip out evidence of innocence – the prosecution is supposed to whip out evidence of guilt.
“And, I’m assuming your aspersions on the judge’s supposed bias were to us rather than the judge.”
Oh if I think the judge is ignoring the law and showing bias, especially in a very public case, I’d be more than fine with saying it in court. Respectfully. Because I’d want it on record for my appeal once the judge rules against us, to show that there was a question as to the judge’s bias, and his inability to use the law in making his decisions. Although I doubt this would have to happen.
“This guy is ten times more “inside the lines” than Sullivan, and no one had the very bad sense to call out Sullivan inside the courtroom.”
… what guy? The judge you would pretending to be in your scenario? If he does what you just described, he would definitely not be operating ‘inside the lines.’ Also who is Sullivan? I have no idea who you are talking about now.
I mean, the Miranda Warning isn’t even required on arrest (it’s required before interrogation), so…
Unless it’s in whatever treaty the United States has with Irradon via the Council, regarding the arrest of extraterrestrials for human laws. Which is possible, I guess?
Well, better safe than sorry. If the arresting officer has to explain the Miranda rights and does not, then the case can get tossed out of court. If the arresting officer does not have to explain the Miranda rights but does, that just takes up time. So err on the side of caution and recite them anyways.
Learned recently that one of Miranda’s killers was acquitted at least in part because after being read his rights, he chose to exercise them and wouldn’t talk to the cops. Grim irony.
Miranda was actually a pretty awful person – he kidnapped and raped an 18 year old girl. And in the second trial after the first confession was thrown out, he did get convicted. They just didnt bother using his confession in the second trial – they used testimony of his common law wife.
He wound up dying in 1976 after violating his parole (he was paroled for god knows what reason in 1972 after serving only 6 years), after he was stabbed when he started a bar fight in downtown Phoenix. He was armed also when he was stabbed. The guy who was responsible for Miranda’s death (a guy called Fernando Zamora Rodriguez) was held by federal immigration officials (he was an illegal immigrant I believe), and was not the actual guy who stabbed Miranda – that was some other guy that Miranda was fighting with, and Rodriguez gave that person the knife. No one was arrested for killing Miranda though, because the county attorney’s office declined to press charges because multiple witnesses convinced the DA that it was self defense. I don’t know if Rodriguez was deported though. Probably. There isnt a lot of info available on that.
Im not a lawyer, but i did some dumb things growing up. Police proceedurals get it partially wrong.
Miranda is required at the point of detanment, Not interrogation. Detainment becomes Arrest the moment you are refused the ability to walk away. They may repeat Miranda during formal questioning, but anything you potentially say once you are detained could be used even if you were not being “Questioned”. Talking in the policecar to the cop is you waiving your rights to speak with a lawyer present. The only things you want to talk about. Are food, drinks, lawyer, phonecall crap/piss and comfort for which a reasonable accommodation needs to be made for and if it isn’t then that is a discussion to have with a lawyer. Cops don’t make or judge laws so arguing with a cop starts as loosing proposition and goes downhill from there.
I’ve heard more than one legal scholar and not a few cops say “never, ever talk to the cops, there is absolutely no possible upside for you and all you can really do is provide evidence against yourself.” I’m also told cops are allowed to lie about basically anything to encourage a suspect to incriminate themselves.
not only have i heard the same things, but i’ve listened to commentary over the opinion of an actual case where the cops lied, got the individual to confess falsely, destroyed his life, and won the appeal of the conviction. with the court actually saying that lying is a necessary tool for investigation. we need law enforcement reform in the US.
Police are allowed to lie during an interrogation, yes. It’s called the Reid technique, developed by a psychologist called John E. Reid.
Again, I’m not a criminal attorney (I practice intellectual property law, contract law, litigation, and a few other areas but mainly IP law), but I know the basics since I’ve taken the bar in several states and I’ve done a few arraignments on a per diem basis. So I’m just giving some basic common sense advice here.
As soon as you get detained at all by police, you need to always do the following things:
1) Ask if you’re being arrested.
2) If they say no, ask if you’re free to leave.
3) If they don’t let you leave, say you want an attorney. Be very specific about that. Do not just say ‘should I have an attorney?’ or ‘I think maybe I should have an attorney?’ Say ‘I want an attorney.’
nce you do that, they can NOT interrogate you further. If they do, any evidence they gain will be inadmissible. Do not volunteer any information. And realize – the police WILL LIE as a psychological technique to see if you’re guilty or not, especially before you tell them you want your attorney.
If they’re just calling it an interview… it’s still an interrogation. The police do not have to tell you any Miranda rights until you are formally arrested or at least deprived of your freedom (detained for a certain period of time which varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction). They do not have to tell you about your right to remain silent. They do not have to tell you that you have a right to an attorney. They do not have to tell you that you don’t have to speak to them. They do not have to tell you that you can refuse it invite them in your home, although they do have to knock and announce themselves (but if they barge in without a warrant, they’ve already violated your rights unless they have exigent circumstances). Police do not have to dress in an official uniform (ie, being undercover). And police do not have to inform you that you are under investigation. They do not have to volunteer any information at all.
There are rules already on what they can do WHEN lying though – no entrapment, for example.
Heck, the whole ‘good cop bad cop’ routine is basically lying as well. So is going undercover. That’s why police lying is allowed – with obvious limits like threatening to beat you up, or as I said before, entrapment, using lies to convince you to commit a crime where you otherwise were not going to (ie, tricking someone into committing a crime in order to secure a prosecution).
It sort of sucks because it can lead to police abusing this technique, and it can lead to false confessions even, but the courts have yet to find many ways to limit the technique without severely tying police hands with suspects, beyond entrapment rules and threats of physical violence.
But there definitely should be more limits.
Most of what I say regarding criminal law is from one year of working for the DA’s office in NY, two years of doing per diem cases which sometimes involved arraignments, and basic stuff learned in law school and passing three state bar exams. Also from knowing several judges.:)
+1
Miranda laws are actually not required anywhere in the law btw. And yes, everything you mentioned is correct, with one caveat. The reason for a police officer giving miranda rights is because of the idea that the defendant did not know his rights. Oddly enough, Miranda rights are now so well known because of popular media that almost everyone knows what miranda rights are…. which sort of defeats the need for police to inform the defendant of his or her miranda rights…. which arent really rights at all… just an additional way for police to gain evidence via admissions. This has actually come up in court before. :)
I’d kinda like to see Lapha try to muscle her way past Ms Shiney Dress, and she gets her ass kicked in like 1/2 a second. Turns out baldy is a galactic level martial arts champion.
My having ideation is opinion to Dress Shiney being un-refusing of surviving, may she have possibility of superior exercising in defense of self power, and likewise an ending of conflict if should be it is at need. In contrary the case would she not be starting in interaction of possible contrary ideation having Lapha.
CMHB
There are fundamentally three kinds of people who seem unconcerned with their own safety.
The genuinely suicidal, the genuinely ignorant, and the genuinely competent.
Three guesses as to which one Shiny Dress falls into.
Learning of the brain is for big smart.
Well, since you gave me three guesses and three choices, I suppose I’m likely to get it right…. eventually.
But my first guess is that she likely has superior force backing her up – either in terms of available technology, just plain physical strength and toughness (remember, her muscles may have nothing to do with the size-to-strength ratio our own biology teaches us to expect), or friends ready to back her up. Commanding a dangerous criminal to halt (and presumably wait for the authorities) carries with it an expectation of resistance and I’m guessing she has an expectation that such resistance can be quickly overcome.
Her English may not be good but her looks certainly are. And I suspect she is a lot smarter than those who toured of seeing underneath.
Considering she is talking a totally alien language without a translator she must certainly be really smart. probably even genius level for Earth standards. Sure her grammar is bad, but how much time she had to learn it? Heart got famous just recently.
When I visited Scotland a couple of decades back, I noticed that in the UK they used a lot of different prepositions than Americans. One example is we go “to the hospital” whereas they go “in hospital”. By the end of a week, all my short words were scrambled, and I was saying things that citizens of neither country would say.
Her grammar is not bad. The word choice and grammar are both excellent and get the ideas across clearly; she is mostly missing nuances of preposition usage. It seems like if she had studied Spanish instead, she’d have it almost perfect. Speaking the learning is making of the big brain, you know.
Yeah, I know plenty of native speakers (here in America, for clarification) whose grammatical errors render them less coherent than this alien. I always find it hilarious when a non-native speaker posts something and concludes with something along the lines of “sorry for my English, I’m non-native” and they honestly did a better job than half my graduating class would have making the same post with the same intent.
The education system here is… not great, to say the least.
Well, from what I’ve heard, actually, the US educational system is actually rated second in the world. That said, the US Education system Accessibility wise? ….is Thirty-second.
The ability to be well-educated exists in the US, prob is the grand majority of the American people can’t afford it. Honestly, if Americans weren’t so “Tax Averse” (looking at you, Republicans, and all your bloody tax cuts), government grants for schooling and opening more accessible schools would be a thing. Course, then again, if that was the case, about half of the US Senate and House would never have been voted in in the first place, Republicans or Democrat, because frankly US Politicians rely on their voters being stupid.
We’re tax averse because we don’t get what we pay for. Often we get things we’d actually be willing to pay money to be spared!
For instance, I’ve done battle for years with the damage Common Core has done to my son’s math skills. As well as tutoring my brother’s kids long distance; They’re in college, and their math skills are inferior to what was expected of high school graduates in the 1970’s. They were never required to learn algebra to the point of being proficient at it!
When elementary teachers started calling math practice “drill and kill”, it showed you where their heads were at. Kids should not have to invent for themselves or to “reason out” what 5 x 12 is. Some things need to be drilled until they are 100% automatic, and failure to do so handicaps the student for the rest of their educational life.
We got our son help at each stage he needed it, and repeatedly made sure that educational fads did not get in the way of his education. Lord knows how many intelligent kids got sidelined by the personal preferences of lazy teachers and fad-bound educational institutions.
Ah yes, we just love being given education lectures based on what someone says “I’ve heard”, especially when they’re apparently so uneducated themselves that they haven’t seen the great amount of findings that education achievement is very much *not* correlated with the amount of money thrown at it.
Speaking of which, the amount of money spent on public education in the US (federal, state, and local combined) has nearly doubled over the last thirty years, while student achievement scores have declined over the same period. Funny that.
Someone gets enriched when the taxpayers are soaked for ever more money “for education”, but it’s certainly not the students.
And I see you couldn’t resist slurring “republicans”, but let’s look at Detroit, which has been controlled by Democrats continuously for 60+ years (the city voted 97.5% for Obama in 2012), and has the nation’s eighth highest per student education spending among the top 100 largest school districts. What does it get for all that education spending with not a Republican politician in sight? Oh look, it’s dead last in the nation for student reading skills (grade 4 and grade 8) and dead last in mathematics (grade 4 and grade 8), according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
To be fair, from context, Pendrake is apparently talking about college, not primary or secondary education.
Of course, Pendrake’s mental conflation of the term “well educated” with “college” in the context of modern America is hilarious, but I’m sure there are countries where those two concepts are meaningfully correlated.
I have multiple college degrees and am on my 2nd technical career, using none of those degrees nor my professional licensure. I have coworkers 10 years younger who are ahead of me, with no degrees. I also know many blue-collar people with no degrees who are not only smarter than me, they make significantly more.
Don’t just “go to college” by default, technical/trade schools are awesome too and some paths don’t require any official training. Get whatever training adds value to the career you want, not the other way around, and then work smart AND hard.
Yep. A good solid tradesman can earn high professional wages, even without becoming an owner. A large number of self-made millionaires got there through the trades, especially plumbing and HVAC. You work your way up at 70-100K, train competent helpers and buy a second and third truck, and save and invest what you make, and a million dollars is not a surprising net worth at all. Same in a couple of other trades.
(Given the vast pipe break kablooey caused by the recent long freeze in Texas, plumbers are earning 300 an hour here at the moment.)
The US educational system, at least as of the time of my own trip through it, was educating students to a lower median standard than most developed nations across the world, but having a top few percent who were excelling at a higher level than anywhere else.
IOW, a lot of it is crap, and even in places where it’s not crap unmotivated students can get by without learning much – but in places where it’s not crap, a motivated and able student can learn more and learn to solve problems better than just about anywhere.
That’s been a couple of decades, and the differences in attainment honestly weren’t all that much. So things may have changed by now. Still that seems consistent with the America I know – train a few elites to a phenomenal standard, and everybody else doesn’t matter.
Yeah this is one of those situations where you call the authorities not try to be the authorities.
Perhaps she is Captain of Galactic Detectives on holiday, hoping not to end holiday early the miscreants to take custody into.
Especially if next week her retirement is to be, the timing poorness of such an encounter would disaster assure.
If her retirement is next week, then she’s doomed to death unless she has a wacky suicidal partner to protect her from trope-infused karma.
Perhaps it is the person so beautiful that seeing of his true self results in consumption being inverted?
*blink blink*?
:)
considering how she goes from are you on a tout to you should “un-go” as in stop because they are on the run from the authorities, does give me this detective or space police agent who infiltrated the shady tour group, or even possibly a bounty hunter who was after them and waiting for an opportunity.
I think she meant for them to ‘go back’ into the tunnels.
I am leaning back towards it coming across as “freeze you are a criminal”
Bring on Aster and STINKBOMB
Hope she careful, when someone calls out your a criminal. You tend get removed as witness from the world(s).
Interesting thing I learned researching Ninja Turtles: NYC doesn’t really have dedicated storm drains. Their storm and sewage are combined, to some degree. Totally reframed that show l, and this scene.
IIRC, the sewage runs in a gutter on the side of the storm drain. So long as it’s not a bad storm, where the rain water reaches the gutter, everything is fine.
If it is a bad storm? The gutters get a good cleaning.
For more than you might want to know about the extent and problems of combined sewers in New York, see https://www.osc.state.ny.us/files/local-government/publications/pdf/combined-sewers.pdf . I suspect that the attempts to alleviate the situation vary widely.
My understanding is that New York City and many other cities prohibit underground tours unless arrangements have been agreed upon in advance. A number of the access points have also been alarmed to prevent intrusion by malicious persons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_exploration A group of urban explorers when they found themselves surrounded by a heavily armed group of police who thought that they had detected terrorist activity.
It’s not just sewers, civilians are banned from practically all public utility infrastructure because of the extreme amount of damage they can do, even accidentally. Someone changing shutoffs or flipping switches on a dare could easily cause millions in damages. In the case of public water supplies, it’s actually a federal offense to mess with them, even before the additional charges for actually doing something with malicious intent.
Combined stormwater/seweage pipe systems here in West Seattle worked o.k. in the 1940s with a much smaller population, fewer impermiable surfaces and less concern about untreated sewage flowing into Puget Sound. It’s different today, if only because during the rainy season when the system is overloaded there’s a fine on the amount of untreated water released.
Building ever-greater numbers of treatment plants is so expensive, it’s actually cost-effective to pay homeowners to install cisterns that slow-release stormwater into raingardens – tracts of extra spongey soil (covered in plants to keep the soil in place and look nice) that slowly percolate the water underground. Compensation is based on the roof area controlled by the system, as an objective measure of the water controlled. I was told that the utility covered its cost contribution in 3 years of fines averted, while to get that compensation I promised to keep the system operational at least 5 years. It works for me and for all of us!
+1 for solutions. Are you enjoying your rain garden?
San Francisco has the same problem; Normally it functions as separate systems but if there is a big rainstorm it can cause raw sewage to wash into the bay. (Usually in and through a neighborhood known as Hunters Point, but I digress). They’ve been building separate systems everywhere they do underground work for decades, at ferocious expense, but haven’t got them fully separated yet and there are places in the downtown where it’s not even clear how that bit of it’s going to work when they get there.
This is basically the way it works in any city situated on a large body of water, whose sewers were built before 1910 or sometime around there.
How much ya all wanna bet she has some kind of hidden badass powers like super telekinesis or can secrete out a paralytic toxin or some such?
Not to worry about the criminals of the authorities to her meeting. Her equipment of the beauty has other purposes of usefulness.
Pinky is cute, I like her. Maybe she can be a regular comming, when she learned more of the Enlish…or even before when not yet. Cuddos for trying of the attempt. Everybody can just stuff a small fish in their ear, but actually trying to learn another language for a short weekend trip is awesome.
Yes, kudos to Pinky. The locals don’t usually mind if you don’t get it right but appreciate the effort :)
Depends heavily on the “locals” you encounter, especially here in the US. There is a shockingly huge number of people that have the bizarre opinion that anybody coming here, whether as a tourist or an immigrant, should somehow achieve perfect, native-level fluency with zero accent, and yet if an American travels, they have no such obligation to study another language, as “they speak English everywhere, anyway, so why bother?” (which is probably the politest way these people might put it, if they even have the curtesy to bother trying to explain at all).
Honestly, it isn’t even just tourists and immigrants that get the “learn some G-D English!” treatment, as I have had friends and acquaintances that got told this, when they were born and raised here, their families had been here for generations, and thus they are not only native, non-accented English speakers, but in fact, like most Americans, do not speak any other languages. Not because they *are* foreign, but rather because they *look* foreign, and that is apparently enough for these… people… to decide to yell at them to learn English.
Well, this is the US over the past twenty years we’re talking about as well. September 11th didn’t do immigrants any favors, and it’s only gotten worse since. Some guy just shot 6 Asians ostensibly because “They brought the Pandemic to us!”
The fact of the Orange Jackass constantly blaming immigrants for everyone’s problems (when hilariously he’s the child of them) for the last four years didn’t help either.
It seems kind of counterproductive to be shooting a bunch of native-born citizens of the US on the rationale that China was the site where a nasty virus emerged.
I hope the guy faces a “meaningful exercise of justice”. I like that phrase. Innocuous yet full of possibility.
In fairness, while Mango Mussolini was certainly emblematic of, and greatly accelerated/exacerbated that particularly American brand of xenophobic bigotry, it has existed for a depressingly long time.
I think he shot those eight (not six) people for reasons involving them being women and/or masseuses, not being asian, since one hispanic man and one white woman were shot as well.
Even according to the shooter’s own admission, he targeted the massage parlors because “he had a sexual addiction and had carried out the shootings at the massage parlors to eliminate his temptation.” Also, he said that “he had frequented massage parlors in the past and launched the attacks as a form of vengeance.” It seems more like he was targetting women, and the fact that the massage parlors were asian-run was more because a lot of massage parlors in Atlanta seem to be run by asian women, statistically.
Normally people who are doing something for racist reasons are going to stick to the racist reason, not suddenly instead give an insane misogynistic/religious reason. It’s not even like it eliminates it being a hate crime whether it’s women or asians.
There are a lot of political cartoons that illustrate the irony in that attitude. Apparently it’s been a theme since 1898.
Learning several languages makes sense when you are in Europe, and driving six hours can put you through three countries and three different languages. Here, you can drive for days and be in the same country, speaking the same language, so the value in learning other languages is not so much. So, it’s not QUITE the same thing.
Similarly, employees of American companies don’t have much in the way of need to speak foreign languages. Specialists might, and some customer-contact personnel, but there aren’t that many well-paid jobs where the time spent learning a second language wouldn’t have been better spent on something else.
Learning several languages makes sense if you are going to interact with anything but American Monoculture.
Let’s be super honest for a minute. The US doesn’t emphasize learning other languages, because it doesn’t want people inoculated with outside ideas. And that’s not paranoia, it’s basic industrial psychology.
Essentially, it’s no different than software compatibility. By excluding other languages, especially those of your top competitors, you get to control what ideas – what products – are available, and how they are used. Imagine how much harder it would have for the US government to gin up the Cold War (and subsequently protect corpo interest) if even a quarter of the populace had a enough command of Russian to actually make casual interaction a regular occurrence? Same same Japanese in the 80’s & 90’s? Or Arabic & Chinese today?
“English Mother F***er! Do you speak it?”
Pulp Fiction
Hmm… Pinky here seems a bit too clueless.
I think it’s possible that she’s actually affiliated with Lapha’s clients and was sent to Earth as an observer. She might even end up killing Lapha and Garamm to tie up loose ends after their failure.
The way she speaks, I was wondering if she comes from the same planet as Starfire.
maybe she learned the English from watching Teen Titans and though that was how aliens are supposed to speak.
Actually, I hear there IS a lot of interesting stuff under NYC. Probably not so much the storm drains, though.
Because New York was an original port for both commerce and immigration, that area was heavily rebuilt and much was built on top/under itself in pieces and part. It means that there is the city on top, but under ground there are tunnels for railroad stations, illegal tunnels, massive water ducts, waste run of ducts, and subways. Put another way, its like several different maps all throw together, and sometimes they connect, sometimes they dont, sometimes parts are filled in, ect
Kind of like the Chicago underground, only more underground.
You don’t recognize the manner of speech? Never watched Teen Titans, huh?
On a side note, Baen’s Bar is still closed. For those who enjoy Good Science Fiction, Baen is THE publisher. And they are currently under assault by the liberals without a clue…
Baens Bar?
Please don’t mention that debacle here.
You mean the one minor politics chat room where people with diverse political beliefs said diverse things about current politics?
I understand Newtown Treatment Facility in Brooklyn occasionally offer tours
and you should pobably try and see the 12th Avenue Cow Tunnels
Good stuff! Thanks!
With regard to DaveB’s commentary on interminable vacation slide shows. Bring on the Disquisition!
Reminds me of a night gallery where John Astin played a biker gone to hell.
I like Pinky, she seems fun to hang around with.
Has anyone determined if Lapha is the one who bought Syndey’s grakz, or just another member of the same species? I have no idea how much variance they have in their looks.
It was explained they are not the same individual
Although, it might have been fun if it was, and Laph originally planned a trip to Dirt to see about getting some money back from Sydney
Next page, Ms Pinky points to a giant billboard showing Laph seconds from getting punched in the face by Juggernot (no, that wasn’t the only image they had of her, that’s just the one Dabbles thought was the funnest, and… Maxi couldn’t disagree)
Next panel be something like, “That was not the request. You will un-go right here until authorities make with the returning.” And then she binds them in some kind of psychic stricture.
“slide carousels”??? You are really showing your age there, Dave!
Slide carousels have been either used or referenced in some fashion nearly every time I have encountered that trope being referenced in any piece of media I’ve seen it in, regardless of age. For reference, I am 25 and have never actually encountered a real slide carousel actively in use in my life, just a couple collecting dust for over a decade in a supply closet at school, yet I have had plenty of exposure to the concept via movies and television.
For you young whippersnapers just substitute powerpoint presentation. At least a slide projector had the convenient “snick-snick” sound to prompt you to glance at the next slide.
I personally like the snick snick, it adds some weight to the transition.
Was actually going to mention that as well, you beat me to it. It would be cool if they were high-tech defensive measures, though not at the same level as Sydney’s orbs. Even more hilarious would be if she’s an Intergalactic Enforcer who’s on holiday and isn’t looking to mix her work in on her vacation time, so she’s letting these two-bit crooks off easy to try and enjoy the rest of her stay, which will come out if they continue harassing her.
Dangit, put the reply on the wrong post. Ignore the above.
anyone notice that Pinky’s halos do the glow and levitation thing for the gal when she was lifted up by surprise and unbalanced so as to not fall over? She’s wearing high tech…what else is she hiding that might be a necessity on a primitive planet or where one might get some strange nookie? (already established that sex tourism of earth is a thing)
Was actually going to mention that as well, you beat me to it. It would be cool if they were high-tech defensive measures, though not at the same level as Sydney’s orbs. Even more hilarious would be if she’s an Intergalactic Enforcer who’s on holiday and isn’t looking to mix her work in on her vacation time, so she’s letting these two-bit crooks off easy to try and enjoy the rest of her stay, which will come out if they continue harassing her.
Remember, Learning of the brain is for big smart.
Maybe Pinkie has ambitions to learn as many languages as she can. Earth will give her a run for her money, with dozens of major lanuages and countless regional dialects.
Actually, there are underground tours of New York City. Lots of interesting stuff down there, lots of history to be learnt.
Pinky is adorable! Her eyes and figure would bring the boys to the yard on any planet. She probably speaks English more precisely than half of the NYC residents; she just needs to polish her syntax. I’m sure she’s not defenseless either, so pissy Ms. Flame Head better watch it.
“Please to excuse molecular bindings. Here you shall wait for authorities, yes? I now begin tour of sewers. Be of good day to you.”
It’s not syntax, it’s prepositional usage. Hers is not nuanced for America nor for Britain, but it’s not incorrect.
The “please to” is a Chinesesque usage that she’s never exhibited, and the “yes?” is a European ending that also hasn’t occurred in her sentence structure.
Perhaps:
“Now that you are comfortable of the molecular bindings, I will tour of the seeing underneath. Hello to the goodbyings.”
Yeah, Scribe’s is a bit more “Borat” than Pinkie’s demonstrated syntax thusfar.
Yup. Pinkie’s syntax is very close to Starfire of Teen Titans. Not identical, but close.
Just went back to her first appearance, and there were a lot of interesting term agglomerations. I am betting that Pinkie is in fact psychic, since she used the phrase “eye-seeing” which implies there is another kind of seeing, and “mouth-eat” which implies there is another kind of eating.
I expect she is capable of that other kind of seeing, and her buddy in disguise is probably capable of that other kind of eating.
Perhaps her species can “see” using sound waves, and she can “eat” by direct food absorption, like an Amoeba. It doesn’t necessarily dictate psionic powers.
In the old Men in Black cartoon I watched when I was probably to old to do so, the King of the Worm aliens came to New York, with such memorable phrases as “Greetings from my bottom!” Ah, nostalgia.
Given Cora’s attitude, it’s probably not beyond the pale for alien criminals to be beheaded by random tourists.
It’s possible that Pinky is like Cora – a bounty hunter, not currently employed, but seeing an opportunity to aid local law enforcement (and possibly get paid in the process – nothing better than a vacation that pays for itself!). Or perhaps she is just a Concerned Citizen. Either way, I agree with the chat consensus that Lapha is probably in for a world of hurt. Maybe her space-lizard-boyfriend will save her.
I’m sort of confused about how Pinky and her friends are still anywhere close to this area, since she got a ride from the father with his kids in the SUV before ARCHON or the space mercs or Evil Inc even arrived/made their debut.
The specifics are missing, of course, but at some point the spontaneous tour had to end and SUV dad had to get his kids home. Presumably he would drop them in the same general area. Of course, she had specifically asked for tasting of local food cuisines, so any such establishment of food cuisine serving would have been a reasonable destination for the dropping of look tours.
It’s central New York. If the traffic is as dense as the media-inspired stereotype suggests, then they aren’t going anywhere fast!
I live in New York. I’m just not sure how they didnt actually make any distance from their initial spot, or why they’re on foot instead of in the SUV. I’m sure there’s some reason but it was too short for a real tour of New York City and too long for them to still be there. Unless maybe they were completely stuck in traffic, the police made them get out of the SUV when the fight broke out, and they had to wait there until they were processed by Archon?
Maybe Ray Cosmos’s tour visit only scheduled a limited time on-planet, so the can’t stray too far if they don’t want to miss their ride home.
Maybe. Just seems like a VERY short period of time. I’ve had day trips to Atlantic City that were longer. :)
Just about all I know of Atlantic City is that one Bruce Springsteen song, which doesn’t exactly sound like the typical tourist experience, so I’ll take your word for how much of a trip it is!
It might be that the plan was to stay longer, but that the fight and its aftermath has prompted Ray to cut the visit short. Assuming communication devices to be as ubiquitous among Extraterrestrials as they are among Humans, a message to ‘get back to the bus before you miss it’ could have caught them before the tour got very far. Pure speculation, maybe we’ll find out in the next page or so.
I just mean that there are bus tours from NYC to Atlantic City (I’ve done them a bunch of times because I don’t want to cram all my friends in my car and it’s cheaper than paying for a day’s parking in AC). And usually it’s about 8 hours or so. Sometimes longer. It’s never just a couple of hours. :)
Or think of is like a cruise where you stop at different islands. You don’t just stop there for an hour or two… it’s for enough time that the cruise takers can explore and try the locale cuisine, see the sights, etc.
No disagreement there, as far as what the planned itinerary would be. I’m just imagining a slightly panicked call from Ray to his various clients telling them that things have gone pear-shaped and he will need to leave the area sooner than expected. (Cue opportunity for incident as some of the clients are left behind, either through straying too far from the ship or not seeing the message in time…)
haha :)
I have this little fan theory that that’s how ET got stuck on Earth. :) Tour guide and the guy got left behind.
Are we even sure they are from the same ship?
No evidence of another ship… although if a second ship also decided to come along with Ray’s tour, it might explain why Lapha and Garamm think they have any chance of getting away.
I’m pretty sure at least a few of them are from Ray’s ship, since Ray specifically mentioned that. But there’s probably also a secondary cloaked ship, since before all the craziness with Hench Wench or Sydney’s capture, Lapha did mention taking HW as a substitute capture.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-894-plan-b-from-outer-space/
That heavily implies they would NOT be leaving on Ray’s ship – they’d have a different ship as well to leave on. Not to mention it just makes sense they wouldnt be relying on Ray’s ship to leave in, since he wasnt in on the job.
on the tourists.
Pinky stands out as she clearly already has knowledge of Earth given she is trying to speak English, not likely something too common out in space even with some humans out there; but in small numbers. So she may have come to Earth before through more legitimate MIB/Twilight Council’s Iradon tourism means before, or knows someone who has; so her taking the shady tour bus is suspicious…given her wording here sounding like playing dumb to throw the criminals off then the “un-go” line as in “don’t move”, get the bounty hunter or space cop checking out Ray;s shady operation or waiting to isolate one or more of the rather large group of “poachers”.
on the rest of the tourists we had a bachelorette party that feels like they just grabbed the cheapest way to Earth they could find and didn’t think about the legalities or didn’t question them at all just assuming it was all on the up
and up.
on the rest of them, suckers, Ray’s whole tour feels like the thing that was advertised at Fracture by a back alley in the food court areas via small printed at home one page flyers, rounded up enough people and told them which gate to meet at, at which time at the space port. Or more modern example, when you look up tours of like Amish country but when you show up to the nearby city you find some modified van advertising tours, New Orleans may be a better example of this taking advantage of tourists thing, or the pick up truck that charges to drive you to the actual amusement park or cave and you find out after going inside that the local guide wasn’t actually affiliated with them, was just someone taking advantage of the bad parking there so now you are stuck as your car is parked way out at their property so you have to use their service to get back despite now realizing they were just a scam.
Listen, Dave, may I call you Dave?
I know Sidney is your favorite, your magnum opus, the character that best represents you. I had a funny chaotic evil guy once. But like Richard from LFG that schtick runs its course.
Sidney is great. A spazz, a nerd, witty, stupid, new to the superhero game so the audience can learn with her even though she already knows what she’s doing somehow…
Anyway… I for one want to see more vignettes like this where maybe whole chapters explore other characters with only cameos by Sidney. She can be… overbearing. Remember Varia on the elevator at Deus’s place.? That is me reading Sidney…
I would turn her down faster than Leon.
That wasn’t Varia on the elevator. That was Vale.
that’s a tricky thing though.
on the one hand if you go super character focused like say Steven Universe; you get a full on audience surrogate, learn about the world as the character learns about it, but later on this can *and did for this show* become a hindrance (for those that don’t know a theme in Steven Universe was the audience was experiencing everything with Steven so nothing was shown of events when he wasn’t around…save for some creative use of security cameras so he could still be seeing the action, or the audience was seeing something he was hearing ect… but later one when the audience really needed more world building and could have used times from other character’s perspectives it didn’t happen because of that hard rule.
I bring that up as when this comic started, and its first few years that was the impression I got, we were only following Sydney; although a few break moments here and there where she wasn’t in the room did disprove this; but it felt like a soft version of the audience surrogate, a few moments away so the audience gets it better.
that said after years of focusing on one character surrounded by lots of interesting characters one does want to move away at times and get more on their personalities *to be honest I am trying to outline a fanfic and I hate the dialogue I wrote between Faulk and Zephan, and realizing we don’t really have much to go on for their personalities, neither has really been seen outside a few scenes; so not sure their range of reactions to different situations…like how would they react to a very public superhero vigilante/good Samaritan who is clearly using real magic ontop of super powers in full view of tv cameras…like how much would they care about the Twilight Council getting involved? Have zero data points on Faulk’s views of the council and the supernatural.
that said back on the point there are a bunch of other characters we barely see involved in anything, and don’t know much about; heck we still don’t know what all the powers even are of the new recruits. It is always nice to give some screen/story time to your secondary and tertiary characters.
that said, we are also dealing with a visual medium which greatly restricts the pacing and rushing that will result in a straight read through feeling like the story is rushed or worse unfocused. Have to separate real world wait time and page view in-story time.
it is also a mixed bag to want to put your main character on the back burner so others get some time to shine. I know this scenario intimately. for many years most stories I wrote centered around a single sorceress (Rhulan the Celestial Sorceress), with the only major exceptions being the occasional short horror story or erotic commissions…although she got in those too often enough. But realizing how powerful she had gotten I have opted in recent years to put her on the back burner and have stories focus on other characters; although she may pop up as a background character, or show up for a cameo. In fact I am still putting together a collection of stories she is either involved in or influenced the events of in some way in chronological order and realizing I am hitting a huge chunk of chapters where she isn’t even around at all, mixing older works and newer works that fit into the same timeframes where she was absent but the events are still relevant to when she shows back up again.
all that said it feels, disingenuous to just shove aside one’s main character for too long. Like, what am I doing, you should be in this fight, in this story, not standing around twiddling your thumbs while others fight or you take a secondary or tertiary character role to the new story focus; this is out of character; snap out of it, put on your cape and get back out there.
yeah that rambled a bit. But the main idea is, its sort of a double edged sword.
You want others characters to get focus and be developed.
But you also don’t want to lose focus on your main character and the original idea of them interacting with the world.
You also have to remember that most of this is an in medias res of a story being relayed to the audience by Sydney.
It makes sense that Sydney, as the main protagonist, would be heavily featured in the comic. Sort of like how Kirk or Picard was heavily featured in Star Trek, Luke Skywalker was heavily featured in Star Wars, or Sam Beckett was heavily featured in Quantum Leap. Even though there are other duetertagonists involved, the main one would be Sydney.
Actually star wars is told by r2d2 so ignore that analogy, sorry
and the “humans” are really space bees/
A fridge-logic thought about legalities and semantics. The page title refers to a Citizen’s Arrest. This obviously doesn’t require the person making the arrest to be an accredited Law officer of the jurisdiction; that is one of its defining factors. But does it require them to be a Citizen of the jurisdiction?
A citizen’s arrest IMPLIES that you are a part of the local government’s citizenry, however it only technically requires you to be a civilian stopping a crime.
This means that currently Pinky can be considered a citizen for the purpose of a citizen’s arrest. (as she is legally, if somewhat tenuously, a lawful tourist)
I’m intrigued by this. If indeed ‘citizen’ in this case means ‘layperson’ and not ‘national member’, I don’t think Pinkie being a galactic alien is really a factor – it seems like a non-US Terran tourist could probably perform a citizen’s arrest without any legal backlash. I’d be surprised if it hasn’t happened at some point actually, although I haven’t the slightest idea where to look for a case like that. I suppose it would just be a note within the criminal case, unless the detained criminal filed suit against their captor (?).
Of course, common sense and the intricacies of law don’t always mix. And it probably adds another wrinkle if a non-resident alien is detaining another non-resident alien rather than detaining a citizen.
Any insights, Pander?
From wikipedia –
Despite the practice’s name, in most countries, the arresting person is usually designated as a person with arrest powers, who need not be a citizen of the country in which they are acting. For example, in the British jurisdiction of England and Wales, the power comes from section 24A(2) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984,[3] called “any person arrest”. This legislation states “any person” has these powers, and does not state that they need to be a British citizen.
And here’s New york
§ 140.30 Arrest without a warrant; by any person; when and where
authorized.
1. Subject to the provisions of subdivision two, any person may
arrest another person (a) for a felony when the latter has in fact
committed such felony, and (b) for any offense when the latter has in
fact committed such offense in his presence.
2. Such an arrest, if for a felony, may be made anywhere in the
state. If the arrest is for an offense other than a felony, it may be
made only in the county in which such offense was committed.
So, “any person” clearly applies, and the jurisdiction is fine, but it’s unlikely that Pinkie knows the exact felony that has been committed. (There are likely dozens of them to choose from.)
“Any insights, Pander?”
Don’t let the name fool you. You don’t need to be a citizen to make a citizen’s arrest. It’s just a term of art. Anyone can make a citizen’s arrest.
Not really needing to say more because GoogleMan already stated it. Just to let people know though…. if you attempt a citizen’s arrest and are wrong, even if it was an honest mistake, you’re likely going to be sued yourself (and you will lose that lawsuit badly) and probably be arrested as well.
But no. No need to be a citizen. You can be a tourist. You can even be an illegal alien and make a ‘citizen’s arrest.’
Looks similar to the alien who spelled her name in smell…!
If you meant, from the group who were shown at the start getting into the car mistaking it for either a cab or a tour-bus, then yes, it’s the same group (DaveB even implied that by mentioning the full of the circle)
I thought so too – “Aster”, iirc – but Pinky appeared before her and never got a name.
Is Ms. Purple a biologist? There used to be some unusual species in the NY sewers. And with aliens not being THAT uncommon on Earth (I believe Sydney has met almost as many as she has met native supers – way more if we count those she met while in space), the NY sewer system could house some real surprises in this world…
Even the maggot-people of Coprophagium didn’t like the sewer tour.
“The ambience was nice”, gurgled one tourist, “but the dining was far too fatty.”
UniverseTube, u-tube. Co-incidence? From the master of illustrated dad jokes? I remain astonished that Xuriel hasn’t manipulated anyone into asking for a tour of Uranus.
Oh wow Michael-Scott Earle finally got off his ass and decided to get some work on Star Justice done? That’s good we’ve been waiting three years for that new book while he’s been doing that weird-ass Space Skinght series.
Lapha needs to be careful here. Anyone who has watched One Punch Man knows that you shouldn’t underestimate a mild looking bald person. They just might be the toughest person out there.
You know, the foreshadowing of her intelligence is well played. You might be tempted to dismiss her as dumb because of the way she talks, but would a dumb person invest time and effort into learning a skill for the sake of learning it?
In her case, it seems not. She may sound dumb because she’s still learning the language but she’s got a sharp mind in her head.
In this case, Pinky is the Brain :D