the blog quebecois

CNN:

LONDON, England (AP) -- A grandmother stopped an intruder from entering her home by lobbing a heavy garden gnome at him, police said Friday.

Jean Collop was woken early on Tuesday morning by the sound of an intruder on the roof of her home in Wadebridge, southwest England.

"I grabbed the first thing that came to hand -- one of my garden gnomes -- and hurled it at him, and hit him," she recalled.

"He lay there and I began to scream. I went back into the kitchen and found a rolling pin in case he came down. I didn't want to break another gnome."

A neighbor alerted police who arrived shortly afterward and arrested the intruder.

At the risk of sounding gnomic, let's hope that there's a gnome somewhere out there with Paul Martin's name on it.

From an L.A. Times article about a Toronto sex crimes unit tasked with tracking down pedophiles and kiddie-pr0n collectors:

On one wall is a "Star Trek" poster with investigators' faces substituted for the Starship Enterprise crew. But even that alludes to a dark fact of their work: All but one of the offenders they have arrested in the last four years was a hard-core Trekkie.

I was a hard-core Trekkie. When I was ten years old. Maybe that's the point.

Update:

Ernest Miller is sceptical:

...I called the Child Exploitation Section of the Toronto Sex Crimes Unit and spoke to Det. Ian Lamond, who was familiar with the LA Times article.

He claims they were misquoted, or if that figure was given it was done so jokingly. Of course, even if the figure was given jokingly, shouldn't the Times' reporter have clarified something that seems rather odd? Shouldn't her editors have questioned her sources?

Nevertheless, Detective Lamond does claim that a majority of those arrested show "at least a passing interest in Star Trek, if not a strong interest." They've arrested well over one hundred people over the past four years and Det. Lamond claims they can gauge this interest in Star Trek by the arrestees' "paraphenalia, books, videotapes and DVDs." I asked if this wasn't simply a general interest in science fiction and fantasy, such as Star Wars or Harry Potter or similar. Paraphrasing his answer, he said, while there was sometimes other science fiction and fantasy paraphenalia, Star Trek was the most consistent and when he referred to a majority of the arrestees being Star Trek fans, it was Star Trek specific.

The Smoking Gun:

Meet Dion Milam. The 30-year-old California inmate may be the scariest looking criminal TSG has ever seen. Milam, who wears "Aryan" and "Honor" tattoos above his eyebrows and a swastika tat on his neck, was charged yesterday in a methamphetamine case (his brother-in-law allegedly tried to mail the drug into the Stanislaus County Jail, where Milam is being held on a murder charge). The below mug shot was taken earlier this year following Milam's arrest in the murder case. Milam, who pulled a gun on sheriff's deputies, got roughed up a bit as he resisted arrest.

Long ago I was active in the Fidonet (ask your parents, kiddies) FLAME echo. We thought we were bad d00dz, but about the worst thing we ever did was send an unordered pizza to some twit in Georgia. I'd say that this guy has definitely got us beat.

This thread (warning: Profane language) is from the admin of a message board called pirate969.org:

BRUCE YOU NEED TO STOP THIS MAN. The only reason I'm keeping this thread open is for some closure for the families and so that hopefully we can talk some sense into you. YOU KILLED TWO PEOPLE BECAUSE OF A STUPID INTERNET ARGUMENT.

Bruce, who appears unremorseful at best, is continuing to put up taunting, threatening posts:

I can't tell you where I am, but I can tell you I love free wireless internet. I know some of you like those fools, but they were trying to front and I can't let that lie. If anyone sees my brother, let him know that band practice is cancelled.

It goes on like that. I wasn't sure what to make of it -- you meet no shortage of braggarts and blowhards in flame wars, and it's possible that a couple in the group were murdered and he was taking false credit for it. Or that he was claiming to have killed some people who hadn't posted for longer than usual.

But no; according to this BBC story, it's for real, and he's the guy sought by police:

The online argument started in a thread (link) discussing a local band promoter. Bruce Pastuer, now wanted on two counts of homicide and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, was one of the participants in the discussion.

Apparently two other board members and Pastuer exchanged insults, at which point Pastuer drove to the home of the two victims at approximately 3:00PM, and shot them both with a borrowed 12 gauge shotgun. The police have not recovered the weapon, and the names of the two victims have not been released pending notification of their relatives.

In the course of the shooting, two neighbors came to investigate, and Pastuer reportedly fired at them as well. His location is unknown, and anyone with information is requested to contact the San Diego Police Department (link).

If the cops can triangulate WiFi signals, his fugitive days might be over soon; if not, I'll see if I can nail him with a deep-dish double-cheese with anchovies.

Update: This story is most likely a hoax. See comments for details.

The Montreal Gazette:

Homolka's lawyer, Sylvie Bordelais, said her client would respect the conditions imposed on her. But she added she and Homolka might look into the possibility of an appeal: "Except for a short period of her life, she has always been an obedient citizen, respectful of the law."

I hear ya, sister. You know, you rape and murder just a few girls and they never let you hear the end of it.

i was lying in a burned out basement with the full moon in my eyes i was hoping for replacement

neil young

The Smoking Gun:

JULY 21--Meet Patrick Tribett. The Ohio man was nabbed yesterday morning for "abusing harmful intoxicants" as he attempted to make a purchase at Bellaire's Dollar General Store. The 41-year-old Tribett, it seems, had been huffing spray paint and needed a refill.

Actually, it goes quite well with his shirt. Most people just look ridiculous in gold paint, but this guy makes it . . . work somehow.

Toronto Star:

More details, meanwhile, are emerging about [biker Wayne] Kellestine, who relished playing the role of a dangerous man.

The 56-year-old loved to pose in front of his collection of Nazi memorabilia in his rundown farmhouse, near Dutton, about a 20-minute drive from where police discovered the bodies of eight Toronto-area members of the Bandidos motorcycle gang on the weekend.

"His reputation is being an absolute renegade," said someone from the area who knows him well. "A dangerous, dangerous guy. He's always had that reputation."

I can't see where they'd get that impression. Look at that impish twinkle in his eye!

Hand-carving a replica of a Commodore-64 computer seems a rather impractical, if lovely, gesture. But it was done for an eminently practical purpose.

Or when it doesn't, like when this moron breaks into a liquor store.

I would drive 900 miles
And I would drive 900 more
Just to be the chick who drove 900 miles
To be charged with attempted vehicle burglary with battery, destruction of evidence and battery

I'm sure you've all heard the sad tale of astronaut Lisa Nowak by now. I've refrained from posting on it, because of its sordid nature, and because I don't traffic in human tragedy. The commenters on Fark.com (where the above parody of The Proclaimers' 1988 hit/instrument of torture appeared) are fortunately not so sensitive.

Headstones of Russian gangsters. These rather garish, laser-etched monuments are quite popular in Russia, and not just with the mob. More pictures here (scroll about halfway down the page).

The bandit who wore a leafy disguise while robbing a downtown bank Saturday has been caught, police said.

Investigators say James Coldwell, 49, robbed the Citizens Bank at 1550 Elm St. while clad in clothing adorned with tree branches held on by duct tape.

Coldwell was charged with one count of robbery after answering questions at the police station, Capt. Dick Tracy said.

Video surveillance of the Saturday morning robbery showed a thin white man leaving the bank in a shroud of tree branches, all duct-taped to his shirt and head. His short, dark hair and mustache were clearly visible between the leaves.

The corollory to the maxim that you should always wear clean underwear when going out in case you are involved in an accident is that you should refrain from wearing T-shirts with some message on them that could prove amusing (well, to the rest of us, anyway) if you get arrested.

Trinidad & Tobago Express [emphasis mine]:

SURGERY was performed on Sunday to remove a coconut from the body of a man who was sodomised with the fruit during an attack by a gang of men.

Ste Madeleine police are now investigating the case, in which the 27-year-old victim was found at the side of a canefield road at Golconda Village, near San Fernando.

Police were told that the man was seen drinking alcohol in the hours before he was found, and a group of men who picked him up are being sought.

The man is reported to have undergone surgery at a private medical centre.

So an impoverished Trinadadian gets to opt for private medical care, while the list of Canadians waiting for coconut-ectomies grows and grows.

And let me tell you, it's damned uncomfortable after two years or so.

Via grow-a-brain

A heartwarming tale of inclusion from the Mainichi Daily News:

Kuroda: Up to now, life has been difficult and I've suffered all kinds of discrimination due to my handicap. But here in Shinjuku Boss Yoshimura treats me just like anyone else, and I'm grateful to him. I can confide with him on anything, and he's very open and understanding. He's been like a father to me.

This is from a bank security camera in Little Rock, Arkansas. Our hero somehow manages to overlook the uniformed fellow (either a cop or security guard -- more likely the latter) at his left. Next up on the Moron Olympics: Freestyle wrestling and the always-thrilling 10-yard escape dash. Spoiler:

The suspect, 21 year-old Langston Robins, is being held on $250.000 bond.

Warning: There's some commentary added from some people laughing at the video.

sheboyganpress.com:

The case against a Sheboygan man accused of abducting a 17-year-old Oshkosh girl was dismissed this week after the teen admitted she lied about her two-week disappearance.

Angelina Lor initially claimed that

You'll have to read the rest of the piece here. Suffice it to say that Abbott and Costello could have used this guy in one of their more famous routines.

the morning call.com:

Allentown police had suspected William Torres of dealing drugs in the city. But an undercover narcotics investigation yielded much more, and resulted in Torres, 21, being charged early Saturday with two counts of homicide.

Police said Torres, whose last known address was 436 Turner St., Allentown, gunned down two men at Fourth and Allen streets last month. According to court documents, Torres admitted killing the men.

Torres was driving on Turner Street Friday afternoon when he was pulled over by police and arrested. He was wearing a hooded sweartshirt with a skull-head pattern on it, pajama bottoms and fuzzy lion-faced slippers at the time. He was still wearing the get-up when he was arraigned after midnight at Lehigh County prison.

Via Dave Barry

pink tentacle:

The Royal Thai Police have released the sketch of a man suspected of stealing 200,000 baht from the Ladprao branch of the Government Savings Bank (GSB) in Bangkok several weeks ago. According to a report on the newsclip.be Japanese language Thai news site, this sketch is based on the recollections of eyewitnesses, who say the suspect wore a motorcycle helmet at the time of the robbery.

One is for fighting. the other's for BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM BLAMBLAMBLAM

Gentle and/or perverse readers: Be apprised that indecent exposure is now apparently a capital offence * in Toronto The Good.

From a correction in the Toronto Star:

A Feb. 17 article about a man shot and killed by police in a Davisville-area park included misquoted information. Christian van Heiningen said that three weeks ago a man was flashing (exposing himself), in Oriole Park, not slashing himself.

Back to good old-fashioned basic policework, says I. Thank God they didn't use a Taser.

* Unless, of course, it happens to be Gay Pride Week. They're cool with it then.

When I first saw this mugshot at The Smoking Gun, I thought that the cops had hauled in a man in the middle of "marcelling," a hair-straightening treatment used by blacks (think Al Sharpton, James Brown, or New York congressman Charlie Rangel), which leaves the wearer with a large, wavy pompadour. Alas, on further inspection, it appears to be a woman, albeit one of the less-comely representatives of the sex.

But what do I care? My headline still fits.

I`ve featured at least one of these guys before, but it`s nice to see that someone`s put together a hall of fame.

Metro.co.uk:

A Ugandan government official has said that the bodies of people who die from drinking an illicit local gin should be caned six times before burial as an example to the living.

District commissioner Edwin Komakech advocated the corpse-punishing on Saturday at a security meeting in the Amuru district.

Via Dave Barry

metronews.ca halifax:

Shayne Howe returned home from a friend’s 40th birthday party just after midnight Sunday.

Ten minutes later, he said there was a two-metre burning cross on his front lawn, and a group of males outside shouting racial slurs at him.

"They waited for me to come home," said Howe, who has lived in Newport, just outside Windsor, for the past six years. "It’s like they knew I left to go out."

The 31-year-old Howe, who is black, said by the time he went outside to investigate, there was nobody in the yard.

"All I saw was flames, there was nothing else around," he explained. "There was no vehicles, no sound, nothing."

Egads! Only a dedicated, well-funded gang of racists -- I'm thinking the Canadian Human Rights Commission -- would have the command of ninja skills to carry out something like this and then simply disappear. And where is Richard Warman these days, anyway?

Or maybe they made their escape because there was nobody there to begin with.

Sorry, I've got to call shenanigans on this one. These things are almost invariably hoaxes. The credulous MSM is quick to leap on them because it suits their ridiculous fantasy of a society pulsing with hidden racism (and with themselves as Horatio at the Bridge heroically fending off the Tuscan swine).

Google "fake hate crimes" and you'll turn up a long list of examples, such as this partial list from 2006-2007. I haven't made a comprehensive study of the phenomenon, but I wrote about a couple of examples, here and here. People have been caught on security cameras punching themselves in the face to later claim a "racist" attack.

I was disappointed that both Dave Rutherford and Charles Adler fell for this scam -- Rutherford had some race pimp on, demanding "education" (and money for himself, no doubt) as a remedy. Adler had the man and his wife on -- they were unconvincing, to say the least.

The plane slowed and leveled out about a mile aboveground. Up ahead, the Viennese castle glowed like a fairy tale palace. When the pilot gave the thumbs-up, Gerald Blanchard looked down, checked his parachute straps, and jumped into the darkness. He plummeted for a second, then pulled his cord, slowing to a nice descent toward the tiled roof. It was early June 1998, and the evening wind was warm. If it kept cooperating, Blanchard would touch down directly above the room that held the Koechert Diamond Pearl. He steered his parachute toward his target.

Wired magazine has a long and fascinating piece on a (now-retired) Canadian conman and cat-burglar (does anyone still use that term?). You get the feeling that people are shopping screenplays around as we speak.

Photographer Jocelyn Bain Hogg somehow gained the trust of The Firm, a British gang that came to fame in the 1960s with the exploits of the Kray twins, celebrity psychopaths. This was from a set of photos of them (the later members) at play she took some ten years ago; she has plans to update them soon.

Warning: Some pictures NSFW; also, some, like the one above seem to be inaccessible from the main page. To see them, click on one of the thumbnails at the bottom right, then on the Enlarge tab and hit the Next button a few times.

The Globe And Mail:

There are police, mourners, and Ferrari floral arrangements outside a Montreal church today.

A funeral is being held for Agostino Cuntrera, a reputed leader of the once-dominant Rizzuto crime family.

His assassination last week has crime experts speculating that the Sicilian clan is being systematically eliminated by rivals.

The 66-year-old Cuntrera was gunned down last Tuesday outside his Montreal food supply warehouse.

He is reputed to have taken over as head of Canada's most powerful crime family after the arrest of Vito Rizzuto, now serving 10 years in a Colorado prison.

There are mourners, curious onlookers, and a heavy police presence outside the Catholic church in east-end Montreal where his funeral is being held.

Two floral arrangements with the Ferrari logo were also on display behind cars; Cuntrera was a sports-car enthusiast.

Because this one was already sort of taken.

I see that Omar Khadr is back in the news -- will no one rid me of this turbulent pest? At least they're starting to use a more up-to-date photo than that one of a cherubic twelve-year old lad, so beloved (one guesses) by his mother and the desperate housewives at the CBC (no guessing there). Young Omar has certainly blossomed into a handsome jihadi warrior, hasn't he?

Truth be told, these days he's sort of looking like a common body part. Admit it, it's hard to distinguish between the two. True, the Khadr thingee has teeth, which is kind of disturbing, on a vagina dentata level.

Sweet dreams!

CTV:

One day after a lead detective vented his frustration over what he deems lack of cooperation from witnesses in the city's latest homicide, friction continues between members of Edmonton's Somali community and officers trying to solve the case.

Bill Clark met with media on Sunday, arguing people inside the Papyrus Restaurant and Lounge saw who pulled the trigger in the early hours of New Year's Day, killing a 23-year-old man identified by friends as Muhammad Mahood Jama, and injuring another.

"We know the individual in hospital knows who shot him, he won't talk. We know there are other people inside who saw the suspect," he said. "Of all the people we interviewed, one person provides a suspect description - absolutely ludicrous."

Clark's anger stems in part from what he sees as a lack of trust between local Somalis and police after a substantial amount of resources were invested to improve the relationship. In the wake of dozens homicides that claimed young men from the community in the past several years, the city responded with several town hall meetings, sports tournaments, an African Centre and other efforts to elicit change. Edmonton also created 18 organizations to help facilitate integration.

"So when we hear people in the Somali community and these ethnic communities complaining about city administration it frustrates us," said Clark on Sunday.

But Ilham Ahmed, a board member of the Somalia Community Centre, argues police are wrong to pin all the responsibility on the community.

"Why do we have to look for our own criminals?" she asked. "What I see is negligence from the police community because when you are trained to investigate a murder you are not supposed to be make special - a criminal is a criminal. He doesn't have a face, he doesn't have a race."

City councillor Amarjeet Sohi is calling on witnesses to come forward in the New Year's day homicide, but also argues it's important to find out why there is resistance.

"If there is a demand from the community that these homicides, these murders, need to be solved, then people need to cooperate," he said. "On the other hand we need to figure out why people are not cooperating, why people feel scared. Is there not enough support from police? I think there is but people need to be made aware."

The province's immigration minister agrees with that sentiment, arguing members of the Somali community need to utilize supports already in existence.

"The resources are in place, all they have to do is reach out and use them," said Thomas Lukasik. "If there is an integration problem then we will focus on it. I think we are doing what we can. There has to be some impetus from the Somali community, willingness to want to integrate. I'm not sensing that there isn't."

Still, Ahmed argues there is a sense of isolation in the Somali community, and a sense of disconnect between her culture and the city at large. She says she struggles to feel at home, even 20 years after immigrating to the country.

"Nothing has been done for this community. We are left on our own," she said.

I can understand how much she misses the swift certainty of Somali justice, which boasts an incredible 100% clearance rate (Though, to be fair, so do approximately 90% of other African police forces. I can state this with some certainty, having lived in Africa two years more than most of my African-Canadian brothers.) when it comes to cases like this. Witness:

a) Police arrive on scene, determine that victim is a member of unpopular tribe/sect/clan;

b) Case closed!

or:

a) Police arrive on scene, determine that victim is a member of popular tribe/sect/clan;

b) Police round up members of unpopular tribe/sect/clan. Several of these will unfortuately expire during "questioning," too bad, so sad. Go out and get some replacements. Continue vigorous "investigations" until "confession." Kill unpopular tribe/sect/clan (or send to prison -- same result);

c) Case closed!

And that's the way we roll in (insert African nation here). [takes off, puts on sunglasses as closing music swells.]

[exeunt omnes]

Hillbuzz comments on the spate of racist black attacks on whites:

They accept the Center’s invitation to use the place as a clubhouse…and organize into gangs that then hunt white people in Boystown, robbing, beating, stabbing, and burglarizing them.

Since these are black “youth” organized and deliberately hunting whites, a Leftist controlled city like Chicago insists it’s racist to talk about the reality of what’s going on.

If these were white kids organizing to head into the Southside to specifically target and attack blacks, there would be a national uproar over this, led no doubt by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Henry Gates, and Barack Obama himself.

But, the Left doesn’t consider it a “hate crime” when it’s blacks organizing to prey on white people. Hate crimes apparently work only the other way around.

Only blacks can be victims, and everyone else has to be the victimizers. When black “youth” are rampaging through Boystown or the state fair in Wisconsin, the Left immediately apologizes for them and insists there are “reasons” for this behavior, that they are misunderstood, that they just have no place to act-out in their own neighborhoods so when they happen upon a place like Boystown or the fair, they don’t know how to behave.

And a commenter provides a site that tracks these mob attacks. There are over a hundred listed. Canada has only two mentions, including the Vancouver hockey riot, which had no racial aspects that I can see. Still, look at the frequency of the incidents, which have exploded over the last two years. I expect they will reach a crescendo next year when Obama goes down to ignomonious defeat.

Via Blazing Cat Fur

Walter Russell Mead on yesterday's topic, as well as the (sporadic) media coverage of it:

The American Interest:

"Philadelphia – While out of town last week, I suddenly started receiving urgent long-distance messages about young black people in Milwaukee acting crazy.

Again.

Last time it happened, I was on vacation during the Fourth of July weekend when a bunch of misbehaving young black people ransacked a gas station convenience store and attacked residents in a park.

This time, I was in my hometown of Philadelphia attending the National Association of Black Journalists convention when my BlackBerry started blowing up with news about what happened Thursday night at the Wisconsin State Fair.

According to reports, it was similar to what happened in Riverwest last month, but on a much more brutal – and scarier – scale.

When people start reporting they were being beaten by black people for no other reason than being white people at the State Fair, that’s pretty disturbing."

[. . .]

The Christian Science Monitor adds Washington and Las Vegas to the list of cities experiencing this phenomenon and discusses another pastime: “a game called ‘Knockout King,’ played primarily by black teenagers, where the point is to approach and quickly strike a stranger, often whites or immigrants, in an attempt to knock them unconscious with the first punch.”

Sounds like fun. A twist that is also gaining popularity is the “flash rob” where a large group of young people descends on a store and loots it. As responsible journalists are always careful to say, the overall trend of youth crime in the US remains headed down, but this particular form of crime seems to be gaining steam.