[blackshoe]

Ken, you ought to send some of this stuff to Randy Cassingham, for his This is True newsletter.

Robert Heinlein, in the late 1940s, when he mapped out his "future history", labelled the last half of the 20th century and first half of the 21st "the crazy years". It seems he was right.

[kenberg]

I do not contest the fact that the American legal system is highly dysfunctional. With the specific story, I have problems.

Some may be just a matter of wording. The GF stayed overnight. The man left apartment A. Later the GF sees the man in apartment C where a woman is giving (to him?, you don't say) a lap dance. The women in C perform lap dances with the apartment door open?


Then she goes to his house. What house? I thought he lived in apartment A. Does he have a house and an apartment? Were they using someone else's apartment?

She went to the house with the cops. How did she get in? Does she have a key? Was she actually living there? What address is shown on her driving license? In short, does she have legal status to enter this house when the man s not there? If she has a key that was given to her by the man, if she spends many nights in that house, if she has, or had, a substantial number of items of value in the house, I can imagine that the answer is that she did have such a right. I obviously am not a legal expert but it appears that the cops thought that she had this right. I doubt that they reached this conclusion totally on air.

She took some stuff from the refrigerator? I hope this isn't the main issue.


I don't understand about the car. The guy bought a car, paid for it, and had a written contract. Got that. Now the GF went to the previous owner and told him some story. Why? If the car is already sold, what is the point? It sounds as if the seller still had the car, otherwise I can't see the point, or the harm, in some story. But then she realizes the BF has the keys? So if I have this right, the BF and the seller wrote up a sales contract for the car, the BF gave the seller the money, and then he took the keys with him but not the car. Is that right? It's particularly difficult to make sense of this part of the story.

I am willing to believe that the BF is a total moron. That part comes across well. The rest of it I am having trouble with.

[ASkolnick]

Actually, I think it would be very likely the 3 other girls were in cahoots with the girl friend. I don't think this scenario as unlikely as people may think. Honestly, sounds actually like a pretty well thought out scam.

I understand how the protection and things would wind up being taken under criminal protection, but what would happen if the guy were to file a civil suit against the woman? I can sort of seeing this in a similar situation to OJ Simpson where although he was found innocent in the criminal case, he still lost the wrongful death civil suit.

[kenrexford]

As to kenberg's Questions:

1. I was an apartment. By "house," I should have said "home."
2. The door open? Yes. People are strange.
3. Cop assistance? Of course they thought this was OK. But, this is the problem with a hearing where only one side talks. They take that person's word for it and hand over property because of this.
4. The car? I think the car was alreay delivered (not sure). The sole issue was the title, which had not yet been transferred. Why this method? These are not sophisticated business people, who handle their affairs in the right manner. Er, like bank CEO's and the like.

[kenberg]

OK. The guy lives in an apartment house where you can walk down the hallway and watch some gals entertaining. Is there an extra charge in the rent for this? Sort of like adding in X-rated channels on the cable service?

I have lived in some odd places but I'm out of my depth here.

There is still an issue that maybe those with legal background could comment on: A guy gives a girlfriend a key to his apartment. By doing this, has he effectively given her the right to legal access to the apartment? Btw, it would never occur to me to outfit my place with security cameras but, especially if I lived in the sort of spot described, I am sure i would keep a close tab on who had a key and change locks as appropriate. Of course perhaps the building manager let the woman and the cops in.

An early life experience demonstrating the effect of perception: It's 1960, I am driving a 53 Chevy, the suspension is giving out, the car shakes as I drive it. A cop stops me, arrives at the window with ticket book in hand,and opens the conversation with "Son, you don't care much about the safety of the young lady there, do you?' I reply that I know the car needs work but my wife and I really wanted to go out to a movie. At the mention of the word "wife" he puts the ticket book away. I am immediately transformed from smart-ass punk to young family man doing his best to accommodate a wife who needs to get out of the house. I am subsequently addressed as "sir" rather than "son", no ticket is given.

A less amusing story: Around the same time I knew a young African American (a black guy in the language then) who was considerably more conservative in style than I was. Just as a passing comment he once remarked "Cops treat all black people like criminals". I have never had any trouble believing this. I hear things have changed. I hope so.

About this poor schmuck: Tell him to stay away from lap dancers. Forget the moral issue. There are far more compelling practical issues involved.

[luke warm]

kenberg, on Feb 27 2009, 01:50 PM, said:

About this poor schmuck: Tell him to stay away from lap dancers. Forget the moral issue. There are far more compelling practical issues involved.

i think lap dances (and dancers) are underappreciated

[Winstonm]

I am the one who voted very funny - but funny in a very dark way. Of course, though, I was influenced in my youth by dark sarcasm in the classroom, and there was no one there to yell, hey, teacher, leave those kids alone. So take my vote as just another brick in the wall.

[brianshark]

I found this sad and unfunny because it is probably based on a lot of truth. Maybe not perfectly accurate, maybe a little biased, but stuff like this does happen.

I have to say though, the correct response to your boyfriend screwing around with lapdancers is to dump him... maybe throw darts at a picture of his face for a few weeks to make yourself feel better. But her response was totally disproportional not to say illegal. I can't believe people think this guy deserved what happened to him. Illegal actions such as theft and fraudulent accusations are far worse than cheating on someone. People lose touch with reality when their hearts are broken.