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tkdguy

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I've often thought the hypothetical legal issues around supers are interesting enough for its own legal procedural show (focused on Jennifer Walters and Matt Murdock, of course.)  Customs issues alone would be a problem, let alone questions of jurisdiction, liability, or registration.  Who foots the bill for the Battle of New York?  How do you fingerprint Mystique?  Is involuntary telepathy even a crime?  Are there any hairier questions I haven't thought of?

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21 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

The German Chancellor is dependent on having enough votes in Parliament to support her/his government. Merkel's party is currently a minority in a coalition, so her ability to take decisive action is pretty limited. And she's been in power since 2005. In democracies the electorate usually starts itching for change if a government persists a long time, regardless of competence. 

  

But Angela Merkel expended a lot of political capital in welcoming so many Syrian refugees into Germany. There was substantial support for that in Germany initially on humanitarian grounds; but nationalists have been using it to work people up against her.

16 Years is about the effective term limit for a Chancelor in germany. Of hte 3 long running conservative ones, none every managed to exceed it.

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3 hours ago, Bazza said:

Continuing LL's tangent, and adding to megaplayboy's:

 

Sounds like argument(s) for the Sokovia Accords. 

 

One could legitimately agree or disagree with the Sokovia Accords, but one can't say that either side is devoid of sound arguments in their favor. But when you think about it, getting such wide international consensus was an impressive diplomatic achievement. King T'Chaka had his flaws, but he must have been a helluva politician.

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Hogwash.

 

UNTIL and Champions UN wield the power and influence they do because they are extensions of shadow organizations secretly commanded by none other than...FOXBAT!!  It's all fake news!  Don't you understand...HE MUST BE STOPP....

 

POP!  POP!  POP!   AIYEEEEE!!!

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On page 117 of Ultimate Mystic I proposed a few potential legal conundrums from the supernatural side of a superhero setting. Such as: Are summoned and bound spirits kidnapped and enslaved? If your spouse dies and comes back as a vampire, are you still married? ("'Til death do you part" suggests no, but a lawyer might argue that traditional working does not constitute a formal clause of a legally binding contract. OTOH American law does recognize the existence of common law.)

 

Dean Shomshak

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7 hours ago, DShomshak said:

On page 117 of Ultimate Mystic I proposed a few potential legal conundrums from the supernatural side of a superhero setting. Such as: Are summoned and bound spirits kidnapped and enslaved? If your spouse dies and comes back as a vampire, are you still married? ("'Til death do you part" suggests no, but a lawyer might argue that traditional working does not constitute a formal clause of a legally binding contract. OTOH American law does recognize the existence of common law.)

 

Dean Shomshak

 

Til undeath do you part? 

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The implications of superpowers, heroes, and villains is an unending subject.  Jurisprudence and rules of evidence.  Law and enforcement.  Governments.  Liability issues, which relates to licensing issues...what does it take to be called a Hero, and to have protection from collateral damage involved in stopping a supervillain?  On the flip side, how do you hold a licensed hero accountable for excessive force/damage?  (Drew Hayes' Super Powereds series draws on this quite a bit.)  Trademark and copyright laws.  Fakes and forgeries that are power-enhanced...even such things as taking a flawed gem and using Transform on it simply to correct the flaws.  A purely mechanical transform.  (Arguably this would be an extension of the principle of exposing to radiation to enhance color.)

 

Occasionally subtle points...proving that you were at A, when a crime was committed at B a few miles away, isn't much of a defense if teleport or duplication are in play.  Or shapeshift...no, it wasn't you, it was someone imitating you.  At A *or* B. :)  Mind control as a defense, is probably going to strongly depend on how the GM implements it.  Details will matter.  Can a witness voluntarily accede to telepathic reading, and would it be admissible?

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I was thinking of the dumb missionary and the North Sentinels.

 

I do remember in my reading, that in 1880, the British landed on the island, most of the natives scattered into the forest.  But, they did find an elderly couple, and 4 children, who they took with them.  The got sick (the couple died) and they were brought back.  Assuming an epidemic probably blasted through their people.  I kind of wonder if the chief reason they are so extremely hostile to visitors, is because of the "lore" from that incident and the resulting near-apocalypse (again assuming an epidemic did happen) is a result of: When white people show everybody drops dead.

 

In any case, just a thought.

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That seems frighteningly plausible. Many people have been saying Mr. Chau was *incredibly* irresponsible in his attempt, precisely because he could bring diseases to which the islanders had no resistance. After all, this story has played out so many times before.

 

Also, the people of the Andaman Islands are not stupid. (It takes brains to be a Stone Age hunter-gatherer.) I remember reading that no Andaman Islanders died in the huge Indian Ocean tsunami of, IIRC, 2005. On the islanders where outsiders do visit, the report is that when the islanders saw the ocean pulling back and back and back, the islanders ran for the hills and so saved themselves. I have never heard whether they have oral traditions about tsunamis, or whether they just figured that if the ocean is behaving strangely they should get away, but it showed good sense. So, I am inclined to believe the North Sentinel Islanders acted more rationally than did Mr. Chau.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

 

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To be fair, I have heard of wild animals running for higher ground just before the tsunami comes, so that could be one of those "intuned to your surroundings" things that the so-called civilized world seems to take for granted.   (I have to admit, back during the tsunami, I was thinking  "Wouldn't you expect, if water withdraws suddenly like that, that wouldn't you expect the water to come slamming back in eventually?).   But, I do remember some island in that area had their fishing area decimated and upheaved from the tsunami, and they figured out some ingenious workaround (the details escape me from a decade ago, I am afraid).   In any case, the Andaman and Sentinelese have survived for thousands of years in that location, it would be a mistake to assume they are simpletons.  They know what they are doing, even if we don't understand their ways.    

 

Note: For what it is worth, I have noticed over the years, that when some remnant of a hurricane is coming to my area to unload a lot of rain. It seems 24-48 hours before it, the rate of roadkill seems to rise, I always assumed they were likely attempting to find a better place to ride things out.   

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