Comic for Monday, Oct 23, 2023

[mlooney 3,417]

https://www.egscomics.com/comic/layers-063

Having tried to talk an bureaucrat out of their held position and failed, despite the logic of my position , Summon Charts must be a very powerful spell.    

[Darth Fluffy 302]

The pacing of EGS seems to be slowing down.

[mlooney 3,417]

59 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

The pacing of EGS seems to be slowing down.

I suspect we are done with the flash back.  Should be back to the normal breakneck speed of EGS arcs /s

 

[Amiable Dorsai 70]

I would like to see a bit more... alacrity in the pacing, there are several threads that need resolving. That said, Edward vs. his boss (does he have a name?) has been amusing.

[Amiable Dorsai 70]

It would be especially nice to see some progress on the Ellen/Magus/Kaoli (pretty please with sugar on it) front.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

 

Every day, parents do incredible things for their children the kids will never know or understand (at least, not until they become parents).  And some parents find ways to do even more.

 . . . . .

Edward is using his best tricks to talk about Tedd.  Too bad he was not able to use this ability and communicate WITH Tedd.

 . . . . .

I wish there was more detail to the dialogue with Assistant Director Liefeld.  I need new techniques to argue with my boss.

 . . . . .

It is possile for bacon to be too greasy and salty.

 

[ijuin 572]

1 hour ago, Amiable Dorsai said:

I would like to see a bit more... alacrity in the pacing, there are several threads that need resolving. That said, Edward vs. his boss (does he have a name?) has been amusing.

Assistant Director Liefeld. He is apparently the FBI’s overall head of paranormal operations for the Midwest.

[mlooney 3,417]

3 hours ago, ijuin said:

Assistant Director Liefeld. He is apparently the FBI’s overall head of paranormal operations for the Midwest.

Given that he's an Assistant Director it's possible that he's in charge of all of paranormal activity in the country.  Arthur is in charge of the midwest. 

[ijuin 572]

Possibly, but his office seems to be in Chicago, or somewhere within driving distance of Moperville, rather than in DC, as we see him meeting Arthur and Edward far too easily for a flight or a half-day drive to be necessary.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

16 hours ago, mlooney said:

Given that he's an Assistant Director it's possible that he's in charge of all of paranormal activity in the country.  Arthur is in charge of the midwest. 

It seems that he is based near Moperville, perhaps Chicago, which as ijuin said, would imply Midwest Regional Assistant Director.

Where did you see the scope of Arthur's authority being Midwest? He retired and was reactivated; possibly he had a broader scope prior to retirement.

I am curious if the magic object warehouse is also regional. It appears to not be. In fact, it is odd that bits and pieces from all over the world end up there (based on the little we've seen). Why was the Dewitchery Diamond in the US (the EGS US)?

The lab that made Grace and her siblings appears to have been an unsanctioned rouge operation.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

A further bit on the scope of Assistant Director Leifeld's responsibilities, the EGS fandom Wiki has this short blurb about him:

Quote

Assistant Director Liefeld is an extremely beefy man who works in the same government agency as Mr. Verres. He recently promoted Mr. Verres to "head of paranormal diplomacy", an office that hadn't previously existed. He first appeared in the EGS Main Story Comic for 2010-01-19.

I do not think this is fully correct. As 'Assistant Director', I don't think he'd have the authority to create a new department; I think he is just reporting the result of a discussion that he was part of, but the decision was made by the actual director, or perhaps even involving other agencies. As such, not holding the decision power, he could be either national level or regional level; regional would still be involved as the office loosing Edward. And he seems to be available in the local area(?), so I'm guessing regional assistant director.

Edward's new position sounds national in scope, so it seems like Assistant Director Leifeld is informing Edward, "You no longer work for this regional office."

 

[ijuin 572]

I think that Liefeld reports directly to the national head of FBI Paranormal Affairs, who is either the Director of the entire FBI himself, or reports directly to him.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

4 hours ago, ijuin said:

I think that Liefeld reports directly to the national head of FBI Paranormal Affairs, who is either the Director of the entire FBI himself, or reports directly to him.

Do you think that when Edward is in Leifeld's office, he is in DC? Or in EGS, the capital is not DC?

[ijuin 572]

1 hour ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Do you think that when Edward is in Leifeld's office, he is in DC? Or in EGS, the capital is not DC?

No, which is why I think Liefeld is not the nationwide head of anything. Liefeld is probably in Chicago or somewhere else where Edward can drive to see him and return the same day. It’s Liefeld’s boss who one would have to travel to DC to meet. Liefeld also talks like he has a boss breathing down his neck as opposed to reporting straight to the Secretary of Homeland Security.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

2 hours ago, ijuin said:

No, which is why I think Liefeld is not the nationwide head of anything. Liefeld is probably in Chicago or somewhere else where Edward can drive to see him and return the same day. It’s Liefeld’s boss who one would have to travel to DC to meet. Liefeld also talks like he has a boss breathing down his neck as opposed to reporting straight to the Secretary of Homeland Security.

I concur that Leifeld is probably not nationwide head, for similar reasons. Also that he has a boss in his area of responsibility, magic oversight, that resides in the capital.

Per the description so far, they are within the FBI, which is an old organization. Presumably, the head of the FBI is in the chain, even if they are within the bailiwick of Homeland Security.

Our Department of Homeland Security is somewhat of an anomaly. It was created in the wake of 9/11, in my opinion to deflect attention from the fact that the administration had enough evidence warning of 9/11 but took no action. (If I am correct, the deflection was successful.) The initial onset of DHS disrupted actual homeland security for several transition years as roles devolved and new ones, replacements, had not yet gelled. It seems effective now, still redundant though, muddying responsibility. My expectation for the long run is that we have a bloated security apparatus that will fail to catch threats because it is too entrenched in habits and not responsive to a changing environment. We already have indication of this happening to some degree; Chinese abductions from US soil and Russian dissidents dying under mysterious circumstances on US soil.

There has not been an indication that the EGS universe has a Department of Homeland Security. Since its relatively recent creation hinges on a nebulous chain of events and how various persons handled the fallout, it seems plausible that the EGS America could have avoided the entire fiasco.

Being 'Assistant Director' and being in charge of a region does not match the organizational model of the agency I support, they have regional directors (with their own assistants), but on the other hand, I don't think how each agency organizes is dictated to them, so you could be on to something in that regard.