Beyond Beyond the Fringe category archive

The Sheriff fired the deputy for his “liking” the Sheriff’s opponent in the campaign:

The case enters a murky legal area: Previous cases have dealt with postings on social networks such as Facebook, but there are no explicit words in this situation. Marcus Messner, a journalism and mass communications professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who specializes in social media, said it was likely the matter would have to be settled by a higher court.

“Going to a candidate’s Facebook page and liking it in my view is a political statement. It’s not a very deep one, but you’re making a statement when you like a person’s Facebook page,” Messner said.

There’s the old story about the fellow who goes to a psychiatrist.

The shrink shows him an inkblot (I said it was an old story) and asks, “What does this remind you of.”

The patient answers, “Sex.”

The shrink shows him another inkblot, asks the same question, and gets the same answer.

After about 15 minutes of this, the shrink says, “I believe you are preoccupied with sex.”

The patient sits up angrily and retorts, “Me! You’re the fellow with all the dirty pictures!”

That patient had nothing on Republicans.

At the Chicago Trib, Steve Chapman decides that bribery is good, as long as it increases corporate revenue.

Jim Galloway went to check out a neighborhood where his daughter was working; he found it to be an unfinshed subdivision with a streets, vacant lots all prepared for construction with pipes and conduits already in place, a couple of houses, and “mortgage rage.”

The friendly man disappeared, replaced by one whose face was twisted in anger. He stepped back, reached behind his back, pulled out a badge and declared himself to be a law enforcement officer.

This road was private, he roared. (Not true — street had been deeded to the county years earlier.) He ordered us to leave. When we demurred, he pulled out a cell phone and feigned a phone call to the sheriff’s office.

The man was not armed. But had we kept going, that condition might have changed by the time we made the return trip past his house – and so we retreated.

Follow the link to learn why he dubbed it “mortgage rage.”

TSA wants to gaze at at you only on its screens, not up close and personal:

An Oregon man who “does something with the internet” stripped stark naked at Portland airport on Tuesday in a protest at TSA screening policies.

John E Brennan, 50, turned up to board a flight San Jose yesterday, according to reports, but took umbrage at the TSA’s screening procedures.

KATU News reports that Brennan said he was fed up being “harassed” by screeners, and promptly decided to stage a strip down process in the security lane.

(snip)

Eventually police arrived and booked the still starkers Brennan for disorderly conduct and indecent exposure. They apparently confirmed that no drugs or alcohol was involved in the incident.

I suggest that the gentleman claim that this was a voluntary strip-search and therefore protected under the Constitution.

I do not know where justice lies in this case, or even if justice has anything to do with it.

I do know that no good can come from this.

For the first time, a Pennsylvania appeals court has confronted the complex question of who gets custody of embryos, ruling this week in favor of a Chester County woman who hopes to give birth using frozen embryos that her estranged husband wants destroyed.

The Superior Court decision upheld a lower court, but ran counter to the small body of national case law on embryo custody. In six other states where high courts have grappled with disputes over frozen embryos, they concluded that parenthood should not be forced on an unwilling person.

Now on the agenda in Alabama.

Truly vile persons.

The weather forecast for today is 80 Fahrenheits with severe thunderstorms.

Scientology makes its followers keep a positive balance on deposit to pay for future “spiritual counseling” as a condition of membership.

Two converts have fallen into apostasy and want their money back.

The organization is fighting back.

Church lawyer F. Wallace Pope Jr. of Clearwater said none of that matters. Numerous courts have held that the First Amendment shields religions from judicial intrusion. To rule on the merits of the contract, (Judge) Schaefer would have to entangle himself in religious issues, Pope said.

He argued: “Only Scientology law applies.”

It’s the best catch there is.

Under arrest for contributing to public health by spreading vitamin S.

Seventy-one Fahrenheits and healthy foot-tall daffodils preparing to bloom are not proper on a Junuary January (clearly I misplet “January,” but perhaps “Junuary” is appropriate) day in these lattitudes.

This dude should be on Wall Street, not on 7th Ave. He’s clearly got the bankster moves.

In a blatant attempt to capitalize on the birth of Jay-Z’s and Beyonce’s daughter, a New York City designer has filed an application to trademark the baby’s name so that he can place it on an assortment of children’s clothing.

(snip)

Mbeh’s trademark application was filed without consent or knowledge of the infant’s famous parents. The application, which cost Mbeh $325, was filed by Patricia Elie, a Queens lawyer.

I never have understood the whole Michael Jackson “King of Pop” thing. Sure he was a good singer, but no more king than Frankie Valli, Frank Sinatra, or Bing Crosby before them.

I also don’t get Elvis idolatry.

Similarly, I don’t understand this court filing. Then again, it was filed in France, and the French think that Jerry Lewis was high theatre.

Tony Hicks reports in the San Jose Mercury-News:

A group of the King of Pop’s fans is suing the singer’s former physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, for emotional distress over the star’s 2009 death.

In November, Murray was found guilty of administering the fatal dose of propofol that ended Jackson’s life. But Murray’s four-year sentence doesn’t satisfy members of the Michael Jackson Community, which is based in France. They’ve filed a lawsuit against him for causing them pain and distress.

Pain and distress? If that’s the justification, I should sue every sports team that calls Oakland home.

Apparently, Texas A & M has trademarked a common phrase.

A spokesperson for Texas A&M University said the school might take legal action against the Broncos for using the school’s trademarked “12th man” phrase before Sunday’s game, according to KBTX TV in College Station, Texas.

This definitely puts the “amateur” in semi-pro college football.

This is like Apple’s trying to trademark the letter “i,” but succeeding.

Via the Booman Tribune.

The two girls — sometimes friends, sometimes not — were feuding. So in late November, one girl parked in the other girl’s spot at Osceola Fundamental High School. Then she suspected the other girl of keying her car. Then she went home and, without naming names, put up a couple of posts on her Facebook page, including this one:

“oh so you keyed my car? well your karmas gonna be a wholeee lot worse that that”

The next morning, the girl, 16-year-old Allie Scott, found herself in big trouble.

The Pinellas school district suspended her for three days. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office charged her with stalking.

The girl’s parents have hired a lawyer and are threatening suit.

“Stalking” does rather seem to be overkill.

No word on the search for the anonymous car-keyer.

The efforts to bamboozle us to buy things we don’t need at prices we can’t afford continue to gain new weapons:

Brick-and-mortar stores have long wanted to track consumers the way online merchants do and are starting to figure out how. They’re using security cameras to monitor shopping behavior and tracking mobile phones to divine which stores people visit.

Click to read the rest and give up privacy.

Vanessa Gibbs was not allowed to board a flight at Norfolk International Airport because her purse had a gun design on it.

A TSA agent told her it was a federal offense.

“It’s in the shape of a gun. I’m like, it’s a design on the purse. How is it a federal offense?” said Gibbs.

TSA is taking the position that it is a “replica gun.” Watch the video and decide for yourself how much it replicates a gun.

Naked man a concern for cops

Surprisingly enough, it appears to be neither a politician nor a coach of something-or-other.

Via Contradict Me.