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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
This is the fifth and final comic in the Secretary story-arc. The culmination has [[Black Hat]] up to his usual shenanigans in the {{w|United States Senate chamber|US Senate chamber room}}. The hearings have ended, with the chairperson deciding to sentence him to death, instead of confirming his position of Internet Secretary. Black Hat replies that he was "never interested in taking the position." This would be quite weird, as Senate confirmation meetings take a long time. The committee members are obviously surprised, and they question Black Hat, trying to get him to reveal his motives. He then cryptically replies that "It was taking us a while to move the pumps into the maintenance tunnels." The confused committee members then look at each other.
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This is the fifth and final comic in the Secretary story-arc. The culmination has [[Black Hat]] up to his usual shenanigans in the {{w|United States Senate chamber|US Senate chamber room}}.
  
This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday to Friday) and not over the usual schedule of three comics a week. It may be a continuation of the comic [[493: Actuarial]], in which Black Hat demonstrates great power over even Internet trolls via his sociopathic ways. This would explain why Black Hat was nominated as Internet secretary. These are all the comics in [[:Category:Secretary|Secretary series]]:
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The hearings have ended, with the chairman deciding to sentence him to death, instead of confirming his position of Internet Secretary. Black Hat replies that he was "never interested in taking the position". This would be quite weird, as Senate confirmation meetings take a long time. The committee members are obviously surprised, and question Black Hat, trying to get him to reveal his motives. He then cryptically replies that "It was taking us a while to move the pumps into the maintenance tunnels". The confused committee members then look at each other.  
* [[494: Secretary: Part 1]]
 
* [[495: Secretary: Part 2]]
 
* [[496: Secretary: Part 3]]
 
* [[497: Secretary: Part 4]]
 
* [[498: Secretary: Part 5]]
 
  
A red playpen ball bursts out of the panel and rolls towards the committee chairperson, before being followed by a geyser of red, white, and blue balls, which begin to engulf the room and the Senate rotunda. Of course, Black Hat has already escaped by grabbing Tron Paul's lightcycle and using it to smash his way out of the rotunda. Outside the Senate, Cory Doctorow offers Black Hat a lift and asks if he's a fugitive now, and Black Hat replies that they never had his name, which is odd, considering that they know he's stolen a nuclear submarine, along with everything else mentioned in [[496: Secretary: Part 3]]. Back at Congress, they seem to have forgotten about Black Hat's "gleeful mayhem" and are jumping off the balcony into the ball pit below. [[:Category:Playpen balls|Playpen balls]] have been the topic of many comics before, notably in [[150: Grownups]].
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A red playpen ball bursts out of the panel and rolls towards the committee chairman, before being followed by a geyser of red, white and blue balls, which begin to engulf the room and the Senate rotunda. Of course, Black Hat has already escaped, by grabbing Tron Paul's lightcycle and using it to smash his way out of the rotunda.  
  
The Senate or a Senate committee, in reality, cannot sentence a person to death, as that would be a {{w|Bill of attainder|bill of attainder}}, which Congress is prohibited from passing by Article I, Section 9, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution: "No Bill of Attainder ... shall be passed." "An unorthodox move," indeed. {{w|Tron (video game)|Tron}} was an arcade game, based on the {{w|Tron (movie)|movie}} of the same name, and both released in 1982. The characters would play on a grid in lightcycles that left behind walls of light. The objective of the game was to force the opponent to run into the wall of light, similar to the {{w|Snake (game)|Snake game}}.
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Outside the Senate, Cory Doctorow offers Black Hat a lift and asks if he's a fugitive now, and Black Hat replies that they never had his name, which is odd, considering that they know he's stolen a nuclear submarine, along with everything else mentioned in [[496: Secretary: Part 3]]
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Back at Congress, they seem to have forgotten about Black Hat's "gleeful mayhem" and are jumping off the balcony into the ball pit below.
  
 
The title text refers to {{w|Al Gore}}. Al Gore was the {{w|Vice President of the United States|Vice President}} under President {{w|Bill Clinton}} and ran as the Democratic nominee for President in 2000. Al Gore has had {{w|Al Gore and information technology|quite a history with the Internet}}, including one oft-misquoted (rather, quoted out of context) interview with CNN in which he told {{w|Wolf Blitzer}}, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." Many spun this to mean he claimed to have actually invented the Internet himself, although some of its {{w|List of Internet pioneers|pioneers}} clarified what Gore actually meant (that "his initiatives led directly to the commercialization of the Internet") and agreed with this assessment.<ref>[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cerf_recognise/ "Net builders Kahn, Cerf recognise Al Gore"]. ''The Register''. October 2, 2000. [https://web.archive.org/web/20191215233809/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cerf_recognise/ Archived] from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2020. "No one in public life has been more intellectually engaged in helping to create the climate for a thriving Internet than the Vice President."</ref><ref>[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a4451/vint-cerf-0508/ "Vint Cerf Interview — Quotes from the Father of the Internet"]. ''Esquire''. April 24, 2008. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190904220345/https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a4451/vint-cerf-0508/ Archived] from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2020. "His initiatives led directly to the commercialization of the Internet. So he really does deserve credit."</ref>
 
The title text refers to {{w|Al Gore}}. Al Gore was the {{w|Vice President of the United States|Vice President}} under President {{w|Bill Clinton}} and ran as the Democratic nominee for President in 2000. Al Gore has had {{w|Al Gore and information technology|quite a history with the Internet}}, including one oft-misquoted (rather, quoted out of context) interview with CNN in which he told {{w|Wolf Blitzer}}, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." Many spun this to mean he claimed to have actually invented the Internet himself, although some of its {{w|List of Internet pioneers|pioneers}} clarified what Gore actually meant (that "his initiatives led directly to the commercialization of the Internet") and agreed with this assessment.<ref>[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cerf_recognise/ "Net builders Kahn, Cerf recognise Al Gore"]. ''The Register''. October 2, 2000. [https://web.archive.org/web/20191215233809/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cerf_recognise/ Archived] from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2020. "No one in public life has been more intellectually engaged in helping to create the climate for a thriving Internet than the Vice President."</ref><ref>[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a4451/vint-cerf-0508/ "Vint Cerf Interview — Quotes from the Father of the Internet"]. ''Esquire''. April 24, 2008. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190904220345/https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a4451/vint-cerf-0508/ Archived] from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2020. "His initiatives led directly to the commercialization of the Internet. So he really does deserve credit."</ref>
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The Senate or a Senate committee, in reality, cannot sentence a person to death, as that would be a {{w|Bill of attainder|bill of attainder}}, which Congress is prohibited from passing by Article I, Section 9, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution: "No Bill of Attainder ... shall be passed." "An unorthodox move," indeed.
 +
 +
{{w|Tron (video game)|Tron}} was an arcade game, based on the {{w|Tron (movie)|movie}} of the same name, and both released in 1982. The characters would play on a grid in lightcycles which left behind walls of light. The objective of the game was to force the opponent to run into the wall of light, similar to the {{w|Snake (game)|Snake game}}.
 +
 +
Of course, [[playpen balls]] have been the topic of many comics before, notably in [[150: Grownups]].
 +
 +
All comics in the [[:Category:Secretary|Secretary]] series are:
 +
*[[494: Secretary: Part 1]]
 +
*[[495: Secretary: Part 2]]
 +
*[[496: Secretary: Part 3]]
 +
*[[497: Secretary: Part 4]]
 +
*[[498: Secretary: Part 5]]
 +
 +
This series was released on 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.
 +
 +
It is possible that this series is a continuation of [[493: Actuarial]], in which Black Hat demonstrates great power over even Internet trolls via his sociopathic ways. This would explain why Black Hat was nominated as Internet secretary.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
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[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
 
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
 
[[Category:Playpen balls]]
 
[[Category:Playpen balls]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
 

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