That depends on how you define power. We know the Billingsworths are very wealthy which means he’s more powerful than the average middle class loser, but money only goes so far. Are politics involved? Does having criminal connections make you more or less powerful than also having money? How much money? Could say Carla’s dad technically be more powerful in that regard?
Oh, I meant to ask HOW her father is powerful. My bad.
But her father being wealthy does explain how she was able to get away with her complete wreck of a life in high school, at least partly.
DudeMyDadOwnsaDealership
Her surrogate mother, too.
I doubt she’d be as eager to bear children for Asher’s Grandfather in order to strengthen relations with his crowd….Jared Leto’s coattails and Al Capone’s are not interchangeable.
I doubt that’s What Ms.Billingsworth meant, but she is still giving Sal’s reading on the nature of her recent behavior more validation. I hope Asher’s reflecting on her comment….’Cause I doubt “Jennifer” is playing dumb.
I believe it’s stated earlier that her dad is/was the mayor of her hometown and is at least still heavily involved in politics. It was during the comics when Becky and zjoyce went back home for the weekend and Billie had to move back into room and so was looking for a place to shift Becky too.
thejeff
Wasn’t actually mayor, but was able to get the mayor to clear the homeless out of town, so had significant influence.
The Ruttens make the most common brand of phone we’ve seen, they make a fairly common brand of engine, and we’ve heard of them throwing their money behind politicians and high-profile legal campaigns. So we know they have power, probably a great deal of it.
I doubt the Billingsworths are on that level with them. They’re probably a big deal in the state.
Matthew E Davis
And I feel it really needs to be underscored how much power control over data infrastructure gives people. We tend to ignore it because it’s sort of background noise, but Facebook creates profiles on people who aren’t even on the platform due to the void their absence creates in the flow of data they get from people who are on the platform. To me, that’s power in spades.
Yeah, Billingsworth Sr. is definitely rich enough to have genuine political clout.
But there’s a pretty big difference between ‘killing people politely with policy’ and ‘considered a guy who laundered millions of dollars an extremely replaceable stooge.’ Gramps knows his hands are bloody, for one.
It’s also not quite as easy for a businessman/maybe local politician to get a hitman. Which is a very important difference in this case.
Wagstaff
I dunno about that last part. Is Billingsworth Sr. computer savvy enough to use the dark web?
Regalli
We don’t know, because we know nothing about him except ‘very neglectful,’ ‘rich,’ and ‘fucked over the homeless in their city,’ but I don’t take it as a given he has plural on his payroll the same way Gramps obviously does.
The Walkertons seem to be on good terms with the Billingsworths, since the three have been friends since early childhood, but at the same time the Walkertons all took it as a given Jennifer’s parents wouldn’t be at Family Weekend, to the point where IIRC Linda and Charles don’t comment on it at all. That gives a rough estimate of social status and says the neglect’s been going on for a long time.
Wagstaff
Maybe he could do it through one of those new cryptocurrency cards advertised these days?
Considering that Ruth used a Deep Fake application, it seems at least somewhat possible.
Delicious Taffy
I think that pic just came off of an image search. Amber’s more likely to be the one using actual deepfake stuff.
Needfuldoer
She cropped the head off anyway, so she probably just used “willow deepfake” as a shortcut for finding a nood that could plausibly be her own.
JBento
Hey, spotted your twitter account in the wild today, on that thread on the absolute fuckery of article about how “solar power might become supercheap and that’s bad, actually.”
thejeff
It is actually a problem and one that’s been known for a while now. It’s mostly a problem with our current ways of running the power grid admittedly.
The problem is that solar power doesn’t really become supercheap. It’s definitely cost effective, but it still costs money to build and maintain solar arrays and that needs to be paid for. And it needs to promise some return on the investment in order to get built in the first place because we still need more.
But once built there’s essentially no energy price too low for it to not be worth selling onto the grid. Unlike fossil fuel plants where you need to buy the fuel and that sets a floor for the price, there’s no floor for solar pricing. Even when the price drops below what you need to make to keep making payments on the loans used to build it.
And since even on a regional scale all the solar is generally operating at peak at the same time, most of their power will be sold at deflated prices on the spot market, but we’ll still need more expensive power the rest of the time.
Left uncorrected, what this will really do is not lead to free power, but to less incentive to build the cheap solar power, since those plants can’t even cover their costs.
The article then goes on to talk about ways to mitigate the problem. It’s a far better article than might be thought from the first tweet in the thread. Even if they don’t suggest “smash capitalism” as the solution.
Delicious Taffy
@JBento
Can you really be sure it was me? My avatar is a funny green alien, after all. Maybe you were just drunk and saw the lights from a tractor.
JBento
@thejeff: That reasoning, however, presumes two things that are not true:
1 – That the enterprise needs to be privately run, and
2 – That it needs to be independently profitable.
It literally can* be just something that you throw tax dollars into and get clean power out of. Like, nobody** is going around arguing that firefighters aren’t profitable, they’re just organisations that we throw tax dollars into and get (hopefully) fires put out out of.
*and it SHOULD, because power supply is too important to leave in the hands of private corps, but I digress.
**well, SOMEBODY probably is, because the dregs of humanity never cease to dig a deeper septic tank, but you know what I mean.
Wagstaff
One things for sure, we’re not gonna prevent irreversible damage to our ecosystems and cities from climate change unless nuclear power is also an active player.
thejeff
Even that’s too simple a solution. Sure governments could build solar power plants under the current market pricing system and just eat the construction and maintenance costs, but that doesn’t change the basic problem. Heavy reliance on solar produces excess energy at some times while leaving the system reliant on other more expensive energy at other times. Just having government eat the costs doesn’t fix that. (Nor are government resources unlimited and efficiencies shouldn’t be ignored just because the government is involved.)
There are both technological and market rule fixes to this problem. Most obviously – batteries and other power storage techniques so solar power can be stored to be used later when demand is higher and the sun not shining.
Wagstaff
I never said nuclear power was gonna solve the climate crisis on it’s own. My point is that we need all the help we can get in our mission from every carbon-free source of energy available.
It is instructive to note that an energy source need not be renewable in order to be carbon free. Even if we don’t rely on nuclear power in the long term, solar power and wind alone just aren’t reliable enough for today’s electricity demands.
Increased implementation of nuclear power, combined with all other efforts at carbon-free energy generation and storage, will be wholly necessary to win the race against the clock of climate change.
JBento
It is, in fact, extremely easy, and they have done it repeatedly. It’s called the Pinkerton Agency.
Regalli
You know, fair.
The other critical thing is that Jennifer hasn’t stolen a ton of money from her father the way Asher’s stolen from the family business, so there’s no known risk of him finding out and trying to kill Jennifer. (Maybe Gramps wouldn’t decide he wants Asher dead, but the alternative is ‘back in the mob for good’ and thus probably not much better for someone who does sincerely seem to want out.) Really what I’m getting at is, Gramps is way more likely to pose a deadly threat to Asher (and anyone in his orbit) than Billingsworth Sr. is to his daughter or her friends, specifically.
I worry for Asher. He may not be particularly good at getting out of a life of crime (as evidenced by ‘stealing tuition money from the mob,’ you poor doomed kid,) but I’d like him to have the chance. Maybe he should look into transfer programs. In like, Australia or something.
Thag Simmons
I don’t know if Blaine was necessarily an easily replaceable asset, but rather someone who was actively undermining their operations and who needed replacing.
He just looks perturbed to me, which is pretty reasonable considering that Sal just told them that they kinda suck and his girlfriend shouldn’t trust him.
I, meanwhile, am loving Jennifer’s dialogue in that last panel.
Like, no the situation, but just that response. I might disagree with your choices Jennifer, but you rock that linguistic logic.
I would say it’s plenty fair to Carl not to trust him. By my read, he’s either pretty dim or pretty callous. He either didn’t notice or actively ignored his serious girlfriend spiraling right in front of his face. Or never saw/didn’t care about the red flag that was dumping him out of nowhere so she’d have more personal time for her drug habit.
Needfuldoer
Speaking of, I wonder how she’s doing now. Is she still in contact with her IU friend group?
Maybe she got better with familial support back home. Let Sarah have a little vindication, as a treat.
Regalli
Last semester, when Sarah defended her actions to Raidah, she replied ‘not according to Dana, last I checked.’ However, we don’t know WHEN Raidah last checked. It could be Dana’s dad isn’t a safe person, or it could be that whatever treatment she was getting for her grief wasn’t particularly pleasant (especially since Dana’s primary mechanism seemed to be avoidance) and Raidah checked a while ago. Or that there was a heavier focus on the marijuana than the actual issue, which was as I said grief. We really don’t know enough about Dana to say, except that she’s not back at IU as far as we know. (Because she’s doing a year at community college? Because her dad’s controlling? We have no information here.)
Regalli
* Er. Sarah defended herself by saying she did what was best for Dana, or something similar, Raidah said ‘not according to Dana.’
thejeff
Also, given that Raidah completely missed that she was in bad shape while at school, I’m not sure how much faith I put in her assessment of Dana’s status.
Regalli
Yeah, I’m assuming she’s talked to Dana, but even if so we don’t know how much or when. I’d be totally fine if there’s an eventual reveal Raidah WAS right because she knew Dana’s dad would make things worse, a la the Ruth and Carla situation, but what Raidah was doing was untenable, too.
thejeff
I kind of hope not, just because of what that would do to Sarah. In that case it would have been a completely hopeless situation, but she’d absolutely blame herself for whatever happened to Dana.
Spencer
That sounds like a perfect reason to delve into it! Go all in!
All’s well that ends on the road to hell.
zee
I’d love for Dana to come back from a leave of absence and hug Sarah in front of Raidah thanking her for doing what she needed to be done, which none of her friends would do
Sam
I would thrive if Dana ever comes back and is grateful to Sarah. It would be a nice thing for Sarah.
Keulen
I forgot about that. Now I remember why I don’t trust Carl, along with the rest of that group of people.
Asher looks concerned for his safety; as he should be considering the circumstances. Also, does anyone else feel like Billie/Jennifer is trying a little too hard in her “be a new person” thing?
Between the part where 18-year-olds are talking about how they’re all grown up and settled down, and the part where Asher implied Sal’s motorcycle was a sign of immaturity when we know he rides one? Yeah, there is some definite tryhardness here.
Jason Rivest
I think specifically it was riding a motorcycle in winter. The safe, mature, settled-down thing to do is to put it away for the winter. Where I live, it’s the law, though our winters are admitedly tougher than other places.
I’m sure Asher recognizes that still riding his motorcycle in the winter means he has not settled down as much as Sal. I’m not sure if he’s not proud of that a little bit. Asher may not want to be a criminal anymore, but he still might be cultivating his bad boy image.
BBCC
Either way, since he still rides in the winter, he should not be talking.
thejeff
She didn’t seem nearly that comfortable about it when Walky asked. “Don’t want to talk about it.”
193 thoughts on “Paper over”
Wagstaff
Just how powerful is her father, anyway?
Sirksome
That depends on how you define power. We know the Billingsworths are very wealthy which means he’s more powerful than the average middle class loser, but money only goes so far. Are politics involved? Does having criminal connections make you more or less powerful than also having money? How much money? Could say Carla’s dad technically be more powerful in that regard?
Wagstaff
Oh, I meant to ask HOW her father is powerful. My bad.
But her father being wealthy does explain how she was able to get away with her complete wreck of a life in high school, at least partly.
DudeMyDadOwnsaDealership
Her surrogate mother, too.
I doubt she’d be as eager to bear children for Asher’s Grandfather in order to strengthen relations with his crowd….Jared Leto’s coattails and Al Capone’s are not interchangeable.
I doubt that’s What Ms.Billingsworth meant, but she is still giving Sal’s reading on the nature of her recent behavior more validation. I hope Asher’s reflecting on her comment….’Cause I doubt “Jennifer” is playing dumb.
Mr D
wtf are you talkin about
Minkey93
I believe it’s stated earlier that her dad is/was the mayor of her hometown and is at least still heavily involved in politics. It was during the comics when Becky and zjoyce went back home for the weekend and Billie had to move back into room and so was looking for a place to shift Becky too.
thejeff
Wasn’t actually mayor, but was able to get the mayor to clear the homeless out of town, so had significant influence.
Darkseide
We may never know. It’s a mystery!
Matthew E Davis
I would say yes only because it’s been shown that Carla’s family makes phones. Which means they mine information. And information is power.
Thag Simmons
The Ruttens make the most common brand of phone we’ve seen, they make a fairly common brand of engine, and we’ve heard of them throwing their money behind politicians and high-profile legal campaigns. So we know they have power, probably a great deal of it.
I doubt the Billingsworths are on that level with them. They’re probably a big deal in the state.
Matthew E Davis
And I feel it really needs to be underscored how much power control over data infrastructure gives people. We tend to ignore it because it’s sort of background noise, but Facebook creates profiles on people who aren’t even on the platform due to the void their absence creates in the flow of data they get from people who are on the platform. To me, that’s power in spades.
JepMZ
Is this from Patreon strips?
RowenMorland
Didn’t he have a group of people deported?
RassilonTDavros
Powerful enough to singlehandedly get the mayor of (insert hometown/city here, dunno it off the top of my head) to “move all the homeless people out of downtown,” at the very least.
Regalli
Yeah, Billingsworth Sr. is definitely rich enough to have genuine political clout.
But there’s a pretty big difference between ‘killing people politely with policy’ and ‘considered a guy who laundered millions of dollars an extremely replaceable stooge.’ Gramps knows his hands are bloody, for one.
It’s also not quite as easy for a businessman/maybe local politician to get a hitman. Which is a very important difference in this case.
Wagstaff
I dunno about that last part. Is Billingsworth Sr. computer savvy enough to use the dark web?
Regalli
We don’t know, because we know nothing about him except ‘very neglectful,’ ‘rich,’ and ‘fucked over the homeless in their city,’ but I don’t take it as a given he has plural on his payroll the same way Gramps obviously does.
The Walkertons seem to be on good terms with the Billingsworths, since the three have been friends since early childhood, but at the same time the Walkertons all took it as a given Jennifer’s parents wouldn’t be at Family Weekend, to the point where IIRC Linda and Charles don’t comment on it at all. That gives a rough estimate of social status and says the neglect’s been going on for a long time.
Wagstaff
Maybe he could do it through one of those new cryptocurrency cards advertised these days?
Considering that Ruth used a Deep Fake application, it seems at least somewhat possible.
Delicious Taffy
I think that pic just came off of an image search. Amber’s more likely to be the one using actual deepfake stuff.
Needfuldoer
She cropped the head off anyway, so she probably just used “willow deepfake” as a shortcut for finding a nood that could plausibly be her own.
JBento
Hey, spotted your twitter account in the wild today, on that thread on the absolute fuckery of article about how “solar power might become supercheap and that’s bad, actually.”
thejeff
It is actually a problem and one that’s been known for a while now. It’s mostly a problem with our current ways of running the power grid admittedly.
The problem is that solar power doesn’t really become supercheap. It’s definitely cost effective, but it still costs money to build and maintain solar arrays and that needs to be paid for. And it needs to promise some return on the investment in order to get built in the first place because we still need more.
But once built there’s essentially no energy price too low for it to not be worth selling onto the grid. Unlike fossil fuel plants where you need to buy the fuel and that sets a floor for the price, there’s no floor for solar pricing. Even when the price drops below what you need to make to keep making payments on the loans used to build it.
And since even on a regional scale all the solar is generally operating at peak at the same time, most of their power will be sold at deflated prices on the spot market, but we’ll still need more expensive power the rest of the time.
Left uncorrected, what this will really do is not lead to free power, but to less incentive to build the cheap solar power, since those plants can’t even cover their costs.
The article then goes on to talk about ways to mitigate the problem. It’s a far better article than might be thought from the first tweet in the thread. Even if they don’t suggest “smash capitalism” as the solution.
Delicious Taffy
@JBento
Can you really be sure it was me? My avatar is a funny green alien, after all. Maybe you were just drunk and saw the lights from a tractor.
JBento
@thejeff: That reasoning, however, presumes two things that are not true:
1 – That the enterprise needs to be privately run, and
2 – That it needs to be independently profitable.
It literally can* be just something that you throw tax dollars into and get clean power out of. Like, nobody** is going around arguing that firefighters aren’t profitable, they’re just organisations that we throw tax dollars into and get (hopefully) fires put out out of.
*and it SHOULD, because power supply is too important to leave in the hands of private corps, but I digress.
**well, SOMEBODY probably is, because the dregs of humanity never cease to dig a deeper septic tank, but you know what I mean.
Wagstaff
One things for sure, we’re not gonna prevent irreversible damage to our ecosystems and cities from climate change unless nuclear power is also an active player.
thejeff
Even that’s too simple a solution. Sure governments could build solar power plants under the current market pricing system and just eat the construction and maintenance costs, but that doesn’t change the basic problem. Heavy reliance on solar produces excess energy at some times while leaving the system reliant on other more expensive energy at other times. Just having government eat the costs doesn’t fix that. (Nor are government resources unlimited and efficiencies shouldn’t be ignored just because the government is involved.)
There are both technological and market rule fixes to this problem. Most obviously – batteries and other power storage techniques so solar power can be stored to be used later when demand is higher and the sun not shining.
Wagstaff
I never said nuclear power was gonna solve the climate crisis on it’s own. My point is that we need all the help we can get in our mission from every carbon-free source of energy available.
It is instructive to note that an energy source need not be renewable in order to be carbon free. Even if we don’t rely on nuclear power in the long term, solar power and wind alone just aren’t reliable enough for today’s electricity demands.
Increased implementation of nuclear power, combined with all other efforts at carbon-free energy generation and storage, will be wholly necessary to win the race against the clock of climate change.
JBento
It is, in fact, extremely easy, and they have done it repeatedly. It’s called the Pinkerton Agency.
Regalli
You know, fair.
The other critical thing is that Jennifer hasn’t stolen a ton of money from her father the way Asher’s stolen from the family business, so there’s no known risk of him finding out and trying to kill Jennifer. (Maybe Gramps wouldn’t decide he wants Asher dead, but the alternative is ‘back in the mob for good’ and thus probably not much better for someone who does sincerely seem to want out.) Really what I’m getting at is, Gramps is way more likely to pose a deadly threat to Asher (and anyone in his orbit) than Billingsworth Sr. is to his daughter or her friends, specifically.
I worry for Asher. He may not be particularly good at getting out of a life of crime (as evidenced by ‘stealing tuition money from the mob,’ you poor doomed kid,) but I’d like him to have the chance. Maybe he should look into transfer programs. In like, Australia or something.
Thag Simmons
I don’t know if Blaine was necessarily an easily replaceable asset, but rather someone who was actively undermining their operations and who needed replacing.
Clif
Sure, but is he more powerful than a locomotive?
Grimey
Fear on Asher’s face in the final panel.
Leorale
He just looks perturbed to me, which is pretty reasonable considering that Sal just told them that they kinda suck and his girlfriend shouldn’t trust him.
Rabid Rabbit
She also just threatened him. After all, she just reminded him that despite everything, Jennifer is basically her sister and she’ll look out for her.
Seriously, if Sal made that face at you while telling you to treat someone properly, wouldn’t you get a little worried?
Wizard
Especially since she quite clearly implied that she fully expects Asher to do wrong by Ms. Billingsworth at some point.
Rose by Any Other Name
I, meanwhile, am loving Jennifer’s dialogue in that last panel.
Like, no the situation, but just that response. I might disagree with your choices Jennifer, but you rock that linguistic logic.
Needfuldoer
Fear with a dash of regret for throwing Sal under the bus at the convenience store that night.
Suet
You tag anything, Willis, dew it.
Speaking of, where is Gramps
Clif
In the secret Korean mafia opium den hidden deep beneath the University and accessible only through the steam tunnels.
As far as we know.
Rognik
I mean, Carl’s shoulder is very important to the story.
Aro
Oh shit does Jennifer also have cops willing to murder hospital patients?
Clif
Yes, but only if they’re gay or black.
Well, maybe if they’re native American and resisting arrest.
Sirksome
I don’t trust Asher, that’s a given, but maybe also I shouldn’t trust Jennifer???…Nah I knew her dad was a rich douche already.
Undrave
I don’t trust their entire group, though I guess that’s not fair to Carl?
anonymsly
I would say it’s plenty fair to Carl not to trust him. By my read, he’s either pretty dim or pretty callous. He either didn’t notice or actively ignored his serious girlfriend spiraling right in front of his face. Or never saw/didn’t care about the red flag that was dumping him out of nowhere so she’d have more personal time for her drug habit.
Needfuldoer
Speaking of, I wonder how she’s doing now. Is she still in contact with her IU friend group?
Maybe she got better with familial support back home. Let Sarah have a little vindication, as a treat.
Regalli
Last semester, when Sarah defended her actions to Raidah, she replied ‘not according to Dana, last I checked.’ However, we don’t know WHEN Raidah last checked. It could be Dana’s dad isn’t a safe person, or it could be that whatever treatment she was getting for her grief wasn’t particularly pleasant (especially since Dana’s primary mechanism seemed to be avoidance) and Raidah checked a while ago. Or that there was a heavier focus on the marijuana than the actual issue, which was as I said grief. We really don’t know enough about Dana to say, except that she’s not back at IU as far as we know. (Because she’s doing a year at community college? Because her dad’s controlling? We have no information here.)
Regalli
* Er. Sarah defended herself by saying she did what was best for Dana, or something similar, Raidah said ‘not according to Dana.’
thejeff
Also, given that Raidah completely missed that she was in bad shape while at school, I’m not sure how much faith I put in her assessment of Dana’s status.
Regalli
Yeah, I’m assuming she’s talked to Dana, but even if so we don’t know how much or when. I’d be totally fine if there’s an eventual reveal Raidah WAS right because she knew Dana’s dad would make things worse, a la the Ruth and Carla situation, but what Raidah was doing was untenable, too.
thejeff
I kind of hope not, just because of what that would do to Sarah. In that case it would have been a completely hopeless situation, but she’d absolutely blame herself for whatever happened to Dana.
Spencer
That sounds like a perfect reason to delve into it! Go all in!
All’s well that ends on the road to hell.
zee
I’d love for Dana to come back from a leave of absence and hug Sarah in front of Raidah thanking her for doing what she needed to be done, which none of her friends would do
Sam
I would thrive if Dana ever comes back and is grateful to Sarah. It would be a nice thing for Sarah.
Keulen
I forgot about that. Now I remember why I don’t trust Carl, along with the rest of that group of people.
Thag Simmons
Mr Billingsworth is a rich shithead. Gramps is a mobster. One of these is more dangerous than the other.
Clif
Well, yes. But which is which.
I would wager a small sum that the total damage caused by rich shitheads far exceeds that caused by Korean mobsters.
thejeff
Depends on circumstance.
One likely does more damage overall. The other is more likely to bump off an individual who crosses them.
Undrave
Yeah Sal, go hang with the dorks and the nerds, they’re way more honest about who they are.
Keulen
I’ve always found dorks and nerds far more fun to hang out with, but then I’m a dork/nerd myself.
Kyrik Michalowski
Asher looks concerned for his safety; as he should be considering the circumstances. Also, does anyone else feel like Billie/Jennifer is trying a little too hard in her “be a new person” thing?
Mackabre
Sal certainly feels that way
Sam
1,000,000% yes. I think both Asher and Jennifer have been trying too hard in this interaction as Sal says in the first panel.
Regalli
Between the part where 18-year-olds are talking about how they’re all grown up and settled down, and the part where Asher implied Sal’s motorcycle was a sign of immaturity when we know he rides one? Yeah, there is some definite tryhardness here.
Jason Rivest
I think specifically it was riding a motorcycle in winter. The safe, mature, settled-down thing to do is to put it away for the winter. Where I live, it’s the law, though our winters are admitedly tougher than other places.
I’m sure Asher recognizes that still riding his motorcycle in the winter means he has not settled down as much as Sal. I’m not sure if he’s not proud of that a little bit. Asher may not want to be a criminal anymore, but he still might be cultivating his bad boy image.
BBCC
Either way, since he still rides in the winter, he should not be talking.
thejeff
She didn’t seem nearly that comfortable about it when Walky asked. “Don’t want to talk about it.”
Sirksome
Everyone has been feeling that way since she first appeared post time skip.
Nono
Raidah and Carl are just in the back thinking, “ugh, I thought we got a new, drama FREE friend group”.
Miri
Either that or “woohoo, we got a new FREE DRAMA friend group” ?
Cmasta1992
Cynicism isn’t cute or cool Sal.
Leorale
Luckily, she’s not trying to be cute or cool.
She’s right about them, too.
crow