As mentioned here a few days ago, a new “grooming and pimping” trial is currently underway at Liverpool Crown Court.

This is one of the largest cases of its kind ever to come to trial. The total number of defendants in the case is said to be 47, eleven of whom are currently on trial. The behavior of the alleged perpetrators was so heinous and brutal, and the victims of rape and trafficking so young, that the trial looks to be a national sensation in Britain over the next few weeks or months.

What may transform the case from a sensation into the cause of mass unrest is the fact that the perpetrators were all Muslims of Pakistani descent, and their victims were all white girls, some of them as young as thirteen. To avoid inflaming the sentiments of “persons of British background”, the police had originally requested that the news media refrain from covering the trial. The blackout held for about two weeks, until reports from the courtroom finally broke into the MSM this past Monday.

As lurid and horrific details emerged from court testimony, the anger of the native British public became more and more evident in comments on news sites and in letters to the editor. Last night the anger moved beyond words into street violence in one of the neighborhoods where the grooming gangs had operated.

Before it appeared in the MSM, news of what was happening spread via Twitter, Facebook, the nationalist forums and UAF. Rumor had it that there were 300 demonstrators on the scene in Heywood; that a Pakistani take-away had been burnt to the ground; that angry young whites had blocked the street so that fire engines could not get through to fight the fire. When reports of the incident finally made it into a local media article, details of what happened were scant:

Disturbances have broken out in the Heywood area of Rochdale, police have confirmed.

Gangs of youths have congregated and it is believed Asian takeaway businesses have been targeted, sources said.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “We became aware of congregations of men gathering in Heywood this evening. We are getting some reports of disturbances.

“There has been no reports of serious injuries. The owner of one takeaway restaurant has had his car attacked.”

This morning the media reports were more informative. Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:

Keep in mind that this trial is only just beginning. The rage that has smoldered for so long within the long-suffering English working class is ready to burst into open flame. It’s no wonder that the authorities wanted to muzzle the media — if this beast breaks its chains, there’s no telling how much damage it might do.

The Daily Mail had a detailed report on last night’s events:

Mob of 200 Youths Pelt Police With Bricks and Smash Up Shops ‘In Anger at On-Going Sex Grooming Trial’

Police were pelted with bricks and other missiles last night as hundreds of youths went on the rampage.

Takeaways were targeted in an evening of disorder understood to be linked to the on-going trial of a suspected grooming gang at Liverpool Crown Court.

A mob of around 200 youths congregated in the centre of the Heywood area of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, last night as trouble began.

One shop-owner told how he was abused by a group of youths , who called him a ‘dirty b*stard’.

A car belonging to a member of the public and three police vehicles were also damaged.

Greater Manchester Police has confirmed more police will be out on patrol today amid fears of a second night of violence.

A 35-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence and police assault and a 14-year-old boy was arrested for causing danger to a public highway.

The area became swamped with police in riot vans and the mob of young people was eventually dispersed by officers at about 11pm.

Zeeshan Khokhar, 23, owner of Bits n Pizza, a take-away on Market Street, said he was verbally abused, though his shop was not damaged.

Mr Khokhar said ‘white friends’ came to his shop to protect him as trouble began brewing.

He said: ‘It started about 4pm, kids banging on windows. They were shouting, “Why are you still open you dirty b*******?”.

‘The police came and told us to shut up shop. We are just doing business.

‘Our white friends, they came here and they are protecting us and customers were standing outside our door.

‘They said we have just come to keep an eye on you.

‘But it’s not good, it hurts and we are very worried about what’s going to happen.’

Then there was this ominous statement by Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney:

‘We are monitoring social media sites and ask anybody who is concerned or has information to share with us to go either through their local neighbourhood policing team, Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or by GMP using the 101 service.’

That is: the police (and presumably MI5) assign employees to read everything on the EDL forum and the nationalist websites, watch the tweets go by, check out Facebook messages, and presumably read the comments on newspaper sites. Britain has the most highly-developed capabilities for keeping its citizens under surveillance — far more effective than those of China or North Korea — and is now employing them to try to screw the lid down on white Britons so that the situation doesn’t spiral out of control.

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Mancunian Matters had more:

Police Attacked by 200 Youths in Rochdale as Sex-Gang Are Trialled

A Greater Manchester policeman is recovering after a mob of 200 youths attacked officers in Heywood, Rochdale, last night.

The violent disorder occurred on Thursday February 23, as groups of youths attacked local takeaways on Bridge Street, surrounding vehicles and threw missiles at police. Forces made numerous appeals to parents to contact their children if they were not home before the clash escalated.

[…]

Three police cars were damaged, as well as one member of the public’s, and one officer suffered bruising to his arms and legs.

[…]

The EDL denied any involvement in the Heywood disorder.

Some excerpts from The Express:

Patrols Stepped Up After Attacks

More police will be out on patrol in a town where Asian takeaways came under attack.

A mob of around 200 youths congregated in the centre of the Heywood area of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, as trouble began.

The disorder is understood to be linked to an on-going trial of men at Liverpool Crown Court.

Officers were pelted with bricks and other missiles and two arrests were made after windows were damaged at a takeaway on Bridge Street. An officer also suffered bruising to his legs and arms.

More interesting than the news report itself was this reader comment by “wessexwyvern” (24 February 2012 at 7:42 am):

Where have the police been hiding whilst gangs of Asian and Muslim paedophiles around the country groomed and exploited vulnerable children?

This isn’t an isolated case. I’m amazed at just how little violence there has been following some of these cases, which says much for the ability of the native, working class, English community to soak up some extreme provocation from our multi cultural friends and neighbours, and from the indifference of the PC, hamstrung police; who are about as much use as a chocolate fire guard nowadays.

If the actions of these men, and others of their ethnicity and religious persuasion, is an example of what a multi cultural society has to offer then maybe we’d be better off without it.

Finally, a comment on another version of the same news story:

It’s a shame the police don’t take robust action against the racist mussies that infest our country. This has been brewing for years, and it’s only a matter of time before the indigenous Brits say enough is enough.

We have been sold out to the foreign invasion of our country by our own disgusting politicians, we are branded racists at every turn for the slightest mention of the word immigrant, muslim , or black and we are policed to the point of terror. But the same cannot be said for the non whites of this country who are allowed to spew their racist bile with impunity, even whilst beating up a white girl whilst screaming “kill the white b**ch” on the streets of London in broad daylight.

Black MPs are allowed to spew their racist bile on internet sites, so the rest will just follow suit knowing that our spineless authorities will enforce the two tier justice system that exists in this country. Race laws only apply to the white man/women. Inciting religious hatred only applies to the white man/women. Just how long did our treacherous politicians and authorities think they could get away with their treacherous behaviour towards their own people before it blew up in their faces?

Minor spats like the one in Rochdale are just the tip of the ice berg, and it won’t be long before a full scale civil war breaks out. All I hear every day is how we have been sold out by our own politicians in favour of immigrants.

I for one cannot wait for the day we rise up and take our country back.

Yes, that pretty well sums it up.

Next stop: The Discontinuity.

Update: Error in the text corrected, thanks to an anonymous commenter.

Hat tips: Gaia, JP.

Our Norwegian correspondent The Observer sends a translated account of muggers who increasingly target young ethnic Norwegians in a culturally enriched area of Oslo. The translator includes this explanatory note:

I have translated an article from Document.no concerning the numerous muggings taking place in Groruddalen, an area in the eastern part of Oslo with a high non-Western immigrant population.

I wonder what the capital is going to look like in 2025 when the immigrant population is set to rise to 50 percent of the overall population of Norway.

I’ve been told that Alaska has large areas uninhabited areas and a climate similar to Norway’s. Maybe non-socialist ethnic Norwegians should contemplate crossing the pond once again…?

The translated article from Document.no:

Muggers targeting youths, a growing problem in Groruddalen

By Rubb
February 24, 2012

In the last 12 months the local newspaper for Groruddalen, Akers Avis, has run several stories about the numerous muggings occurring in the valley. What characterizes these incidents is that they are brutal, and that the victims in the majority of the cases are youths. In an article published on February 24, the newspaper confirms what many of us have suspected for some time now: the number of cases where muggers are targeting young people is on the rise. Growing up in Groruddalen can be riskier than we would like to admit.

People are encouraged to be careful with alcohol in order to protect themselves, but in a civilized society people shouldn’t be afraid of being attacked simply for being intoxicated.

Akers Avis has contacted two of the victims:

“Five or six boys came and sat down next to me. One of them put his hand in my pocket and grabbed my iPhone. I reacted to this and asked him what he wanted. He told me to relax and put the phone in his own pocket.”

“When I tried to get it back he started threatening me and told me that he had a knife. I ran away and called the police,” the 15-year-old says in a message to the newspaper via an internet forum.

The same gang have committed several other muggings in other areas of Groruddalen, such as Grorud and Ammerud.

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“He was obviously out to cause trouble. I was being threatened and discovered that several people had surrounded me. The 20 year old punched the man in front of him and managed to knock him down, but before he could do anything else someone knocked him down from behind. When he came to the robbers had left and taken his personal belongings.”

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And this weekend it happened again. A young intoxicated male was punched and knocked down when he disembarked a bus in Grorud. The boy does not wish to be interviewed.

Police confirm that the number of muggings in Groruddalen currently remains at a stable level, but according to Akers Avis incidents where youths are being targeted is on the rise.

The chief of Stovner police station, Espen Aas, reveals that approximately 100 muggings occur each year in Groruddalen. He emphasizes that this doesn’t constitute a mugging epidemic, and adds that the numbers don’t change much from year to year.

Very little is mentioned about the background of the muggers, but those who have been active around Groruddalen and Ammerud have earlier been described as Somalis by Akers Avis.

“There are different types of muggings, and there are different types of muggers. Our experience is that whenever we apprehend people for this type of behaviour we tend to notice a drop in the overall number of muggings at least in the short term,” Aas says. He’s especially worried about the brutality displayed in some of the cases, and he stresses that the police are prioritizing these cases. The robbers responsible the muggings in Grorud and Ammerud have been apprehended.

The newspaper article from Akers Avis is currently not available online.

For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.

Nicolai Sennels reports that Danes are not all that keen on Turkey’s accession to the EU. I’m not sure how Danish opinion differs from that of other EU member states, but I expect opposition is fairly widespread across the EU.

Denmark: 70.5 percent says no to Turkey in EU
by Nicolai Sennels

Turkey has 80 million Muslims and letting them into EU would be suicide. Islamonausea among Danes is clearly widespread — even on the extreme left.

Translated from Altinget.dk “Massive no to Turkey in EU”:

70.5 percent of Danes say no to the idea that Denmark should use the EU presidency to “facilitate negotiations with Turkey with the aim to give Turkey EU membership.” Only 16.7 answered yes. And quite remarkably, there is a majority among all parties’ voters against Denmark’s promotion of negotiations with Ankara.

It is not surprising that only 3 percent of the voters from the Danish People’s Party support Turkish EU membership, while 90 percent are opposed. Or that 79 percent of those who vote for the Liberals oppose.

More noteworthy is that among Social Democratic voters there are nearly three opponents for every supporter of Turkish EU membership (66 percent versus 23). …

Only 21 percent of SF (socialists) voters and 24 percent of the Radicals (green and cultural relativist party) want Denmark to facilitate the way for Turkey, while 36 percent of Enhedslistens (Communists) voters answer yes.

[…]

The poll shows strong opposition to EU membership for Turkey in all income groups. Women tend to be more dismissive of Turkey than men.

Nicolai Sennels is a psychologist and the author of “Among Criminal Muslims: A Psychologist’s experiences with the Copenhagen Municipality”.

Previous posts:

2010		Jan		6		The Eternal Victim
		Feb		19		Youths, Crime, and Islam
		Apr		11		The Stigmatization Fallacy
		May		8		Islam Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry
		Jul		28		Nicolai Sennels: An Open Letter to David Cameron
		Aug		5		Rape by Proxy
				10		Islam and Inbreeding
		Dec		17		The Connection Between Muslim Inbreeding and Terrorism
2011		Jan		10		The Dhimmification of the Red Cross
				12		Was Muhammad a Gelotophobe?
				26		Food Crises are Caused by Overpopulation
		Feb		10		Send in the Midwives!
				23		Western Quran Schools Are “Terrorist Factories”
		Mar		22		Why Multiculture Will Always Fail
				26		What is Islamization?
		Apr		3		The Psychopath’s Argument: Free Speech Kills People
		May		3		Islam’s Nancy Boys: The Psychological Background
				25		Arab Drought: Oil for Water
				28		Lean to the Left
		Jun		2		Freedom is Slavery
				11		Shame: Muslim culture’s armour. Weapon? Humour.
		Jul		29		Breivik: Inspired by Al Qaeda?
		Aug		23		Behind the Gates of Vienna
		Dec		19		Psychological Explanations of Political Correctness
2012		Jan		29		Islamonausea, not Islamophobia
		Feb		17		Whose Enemy? Whose Friend?
				23		Egging Them On

Bizarro News item #2: Man whacks his son across the nose with a coffee mug for failing to listen to Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

This happened in Connecticut, of all places. Yes, it’s weird, but normally it wouldn’t have been notable enough for anything except the news feed.

However, it has a Mohammed Coefficient of 100%.

From The Stamford Advocate:

Cops: Dad Hit Son for Not Watching Obama

STAMFORD — A North Stamford father trying to make his pre-teenaged son listen to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech last month was arrested on a warrant Wednesday and accused of striking his son with a coffee mug when the youth would not pay attention.

Mohamed Shohan, 49, of 55 Mather Road, Stamford, was charged with third-degree assault, disorderly conduct and risk of injury to a child. He was released after posting $5,000 bond and will be arraigned on the charges at state Superior Court in Stamford Thursday.

Youth Bureau Sgt. Joseph Kennedy said police were made aware of the assault Jan. 27 when the youth was brought to Stamford Hospital for treatment of an injury to his face. When police interviewed the 11-year-old boy, he told them the two sat down at home to watch the address the day after his father recorded it, Kennedy said.

When the boy kept acting out, the father lost his temper and grabbed a coffee mug his son was holding and hit him in the face with it, causing a bruise to the bridge of his nose, it is alleged.

When interviewed, Shohan could not explain how his son was injured, police said. Police then obtained an arrest warrant for Shohan.

“The father ended up overreacting quite a bit,” Kennedy said.

Hat tip: Paul Green.

This is the first Bizarro News item of the day. More to come!

The following news story is extreme, even for notoriously gun-hating Canada. Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:

According to media articles, the Mr. Sansone was released without being charged later the same day he was arrested:

Kitchener man arrested, strip-searched, after daughter draws picture of a gun

A Kitchener man says he was arrested and subjected to a strip search after his daughter drew a picture of a gun at school.

Jessie Sansone, 26, was taken into custody when he went to pick up his three children from Forest Hills public school on Wednesday.

His wife and their 15-month-old child were waiting for them at home.

Sansone said he was taken to the principal’s office, where police officers were waiting. His children were taken in by Family and Children’s Services, and he was taken to a police station in handcuffs.

Then, Sansone said, police went to his home and searched it.

Kitchener Police have not responded to requests for comment.

In a published report, the school says they notified the authorities because they were concerned children in the home had access to a gun.

Sansone told CityNews he was subjected to a strip search while in custody. Several hours later, he was released. No charges were laid and no gun was found in the home.

Sansone added that the allegations were especially hurtful because he had worked with the principal in the past. Sansone, who is a certified personal support worker and life-issues coach, often works at Kitchener schools, including Forest Hills.

Sansone admitted he was convicted of assault and attempted burglary five years ago, but he has never faced weapons charges.

What do you think — does this man’s record give the authorities probable cause to arrest him for what his daughter drew in that picture?

I couldn’t find many articles about this story in the media. But the SUN TV reporters weren’t the only ones outraged about the incident. Matt Gurney, writing for The National Post, had some choice words:

Even in a country with gun laws as warped as Canada’s, the story of Jessie Sansone is still mindboggling.

Sansone, 26, is a father of three and Kitchener, Ont., resident. As a younger man, he admits getting into trouble with the law, but claims to have lived clean for years. He’s now a certified personal support worker, husband and father of three. He was even reportedly offered a job at the very same school where this bizarre story begins. On Wednesday, Sansone arrived at his children’s’ school to pick them up. He was asked to step inside and meet with the principal. In the principal’s office, Sansone was met by three Waterloo Regional Police officers and immediately arrested. He was taken to a nearby station, strip searched and locked in a cell. His wife was also summoned to the station, and their children taken by Family and Children’s Services. At no point were they told why this was happening. It was not until officers had told Sansone that he’d be held in custody overnight before a bail hearing in the morning that his lawyer was finally able to tell Sansone that he had been arrested for possession of a firearm.

After hours in custody, during which time Sansone understandably became alarmed, he was suddenly released, without charges or conditions. A detective with the Waterloo Regional Police service apologized to Sansone, and explained that the entire sequence of events had been set in motion because a teacher at the school became alarmed when his four-year-old daughter drew a gun and said the picture was of her father. The teacher then noticed Family Services, who decided that the police needed to be involved, telling the police that they had reason to believe that there was a gun in Sansone’s home that his children had access to. That is what led Waterloo’s finest to bust Sansone in front of the entire school, strip him naked, confine him in a cell, bring his wife to a police station and take away their children.

That sounds bad, but it’s actually worse even than that. The drawing that set all this off was a drawing of Sansone being a good guy — according to what his daughter told her kindergarten teacher, the picture was off her daddy using a gun against “bad guys and monsters.” Protecting her, in other words. It was essentially a comic strip with her father in the role of the hero. Good Lord! We’d better call in the SWAT team, quick!

[…]

Everyone involved in this debacle would obviously concede that it shouldn’t have gone this way. But as long as every party involved in wronging Sansone and his family continue to claim that they did everything correctly and by the book, they are essentially admitting that given a comparable situation on some other occasion, another innocent man or woman is going to be arrested, stripped, thrown into a cell and have their kids removed from them. That’s not acceptable. It’s long been the case that gun owners, or even rumoured potential gun owners, are viewed as threats to society by default in this country. But Sansone’s experience is not about general cultural sentiment, but established procedures used by civil servants. The schools, Family Services and police all owe Sansone, his wife and their children an apology, and owe every citizen a commitment that they will never again act so rashly.

Winter Fundraiser 2012, Day Five

Here’s the map: we’re well into the first edition of 2012’s quarterly fundraisers and this post serves as the marker for the fifth day. And, no, I haven’t any idea how we got here so fast; last time I looked around seemed like we were just starting out. Taking my bearings again, I see we’re deep in the thickets of this here particular Garden of Forking Paths. As usual, my map bears little resemblance to Reality. The Baron is the navigator around here; I just follow along, enjoying the people and the scenery.

Fundraisers are fun, if taxing. I love all the emails and responses. The friendliness of our donors. The comments (though I do wish there were more of those). I treasure the messages on the PayPal notices. This time, a donor suggested her contribution go to socks for the Baron… an inside joke referring to my first post on this round, when I mentioned his middle class costume which he still dons for visits to Washington and the halls of power. Heh.

As it usually does, our theme for this bleg grew out of Long Discussions in the weeks prior to the launch date. The Baron’s temporary programming gig brought in enough money to cause our horizons to move a bit; we began to assess and reassess necessity vs. luxury. Our focus is mostly on keeping the house in good repair — it’s a fussy old cottage and a bit demented. One has to keep an eye on things or they get up to no good. But even here, we diverge on what is necessary versus whether-I-can-stand-our-kitchen-sink-one-more-year… (oops, ignore that one. It’s complicated.)

People who study such things say that an increase in income shows first in the grocery cart. Or eating patterns in general. With more money, people tend to move up the food chain, go out to eat more often, etc. And so we did move up, at least for a bit. But as the job ended, we worked our way back to a more familiar level. Restaurant-eating holds little charm when what you prepare for yourself mostly tastes better, but that brief spree on artichokes and asparagus was fun.

Frugality is a complex theme. The subjects we’ve picked out don’t even touch the surface of what appears to be a growing movement toward less-is-more. Try googling search strings containing “frugal” or “frugality”. Just the word alone brings up 6+ million hits. There’s even a wiki devoted to Frugality, complete with definition. It’s too bad they didn’t cover the etymology of the word, since this one is paradoxical: it derives directly from the Latin frux — fruit. That’s a clever little jump there, with a positive connection between the deliberative care of things and their fruitfulness. To be frugal is to thrive, to produce. It’s a bountiful word. And that’s how I think of it. Channeling the necessary into creative effort to live simply and well while still achieving our heart’s desire.

In our case, “heart’s desire” means keeping Gates of Vienna open. It is still a mysterious thing, how this blog has wandered and grown and thrived in ways we could never have predicted. The “long strange trip” of it all provides a foundation for optimism I wouldn’t have otherwise.

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In the first post I mentioned frugality in the context of character, choice, or chance. Then the Baron described his family’s inclinations to frugality when he was growing up. It was a choice for his family, and one he found congenial. For my family, frugality was the muddle we did to get through. Thus being frugal was grafted onto our living, eventually becoming second nature. My mother never quite adjusted; she always hoped that somehow the Laundry Fairy would show up and take that horrid pile away. Me? I was rather like Little Orphan Annie, bringing, if not order, at least some creative meals. Necessity made of me a cook and many years of practice burnished that into an effortless, creative pastime.

While considering the quality of chance in the context of my mother’s circumstances, I suddenly remembered her stories of the job she had as a young woman processing orders from all over the world for the Irish Sweepstakes. (If those young clerks arrived late for work in the morning, they were locked out of work for the day. Heavens, I’d have never fit in…)

Back then I believe lotteries had come to be forbidden by law in most places, including England and the U.S. But people bought those Irish tickets anyway; it was irresistible. And why not? Were we not raised on old fairy tales resonating with golden notions of sudden wealth?

They tricked out the Irish Sweepstakes in the garb of do-good charity for the Republic’s national hospitals. That was a clever selling point, relieving the buyer of his guilt at doing something illegal.

Like everything else in our culture, modern-day lotteries are bloated versions of the originals. The ubiquitous urban and rural glitter/litter of torn, discarded losing cards are merely signs of the times. Just think of the numbers involved in those scattered disappointments:

The North American lottery system is a $70 billion-a-year business, an industry bigger than movie tickets, music, and porn combined.

These tickets have a grand history: Lotteries were used to fund the American colonies and helped bankroll the young nation. In the 18th and 19th centuries, lotteries funded the expansion of Harvard and Yale and allowed the construction of railroads across the continent.

Since 1964, when New Hampshire introduced the first modern state lottery, governments have come to rely on gaming revenue. (Forty-three states and every Canadian province currently run lotteries.) In some states, the lottery accounts for more than 5 percent of education funding.

That’s a peculiarly small return for Virginia’s “education” system. Back when citizens of the Commonwealth were being sold the idea of a state lottery, the revenues were supposed to return far more than that to our schools. Obviously the overhead is heftier than we were led to believe. It usually is.

Several years ago I read an online treatise claiming that lottery winners tend to go through their ill-gotten gains and thus proceed from rags-to-riches-to-rags in no time flat. However, when I tried to find the research I remember from the 1990s, it’s been replaced by stories of winners’ successes. There’s even a Face book page for them. You can find varying statistics for the “happy” part of “ever after the lottery win” but the number I saw most frequently was 65%. That’s the percentage of people who do okay in the aftermath. There’s even a page of advice for those whom Fortune buries up to their necks in moola. Quite a somber, cautionary tale it is, too.

The Baron calls our lottery “a tax on stupidity”. However, I’m not so sure he’s right. It appears that some folks with good statistical skills can beat the game, at least some of the time. Here’s a woman who has her PhD in Statistics and four winning lottery cards:

First, she won $5.4 million, then a decade later, she won $2million, then two years later $3million and in the summer of 2010, she hit a $10million jackpot.

The odds of this has been calculated at one in eighteen septillion and luck like this could only come once every quadrillion years.

Harper’s reporter Nathanial Rich recently wrote an article about Ms Ginther, which calls the validity of her ‘luck’ into question.

First, he points out, Ms Ginther is a former math professor with a PhD from Stanford University specialising in statistics.

A professor at the Institute for the Study of Gambling & Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno, told Mr Rich: ‘When something this unlikely happens in a casino, you arrest ’em first and ask questions later.’

Well, yeah. But he’s from Nevada and who runs the casinos there??

There are several reports of statisticians who discovered a chink in the armor of these lottery cards’ algorithms. Wired reported one fellow’s experience in alerting the system about the problem. By the way, he’d figured out the Bingo game’s chink but when questioned about just beating the system by playing its weakness, he said he could make as much at his day job and it was far more interesting than scratching cards:

…As a trained statistician with degrees from MIT and Stanford University, Srivastava was intrigued by the technical problem posed by the lottery ticket. In fact, it reminded him a lot of his day job, which involves consulting for mining and oil companies.

This fellow’s job was analyzing the lay of the land — at least the underground part of it where mineral samples are found. He is sent samples and from those, he figures out the pattern of, say, gold deposits:

The numbers might seem random, as if the gold has just been scattered, but they’re actually not random at all. There are fundamental geologic forces that created those numbers. If I know the forces, I can decipher the samples. I can figure out how much gold is underground.”

He realized the same thing applied to scratch tickets:

“It wasn’t that hard,” Srivastava says. “I do the same kind of math all day long.”

…The apparent randomness of the scratch ticket was just a facade, a mathematical lie. And this meant that the lottery system might actually be solvable, just like those mining samples. “At the time, I had no intention of cracking the tickets,” he says. He was just curious about the algorithm that produced the numbers.

Read “Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code”. It’s a year old now, but a good story nonetheless. Please note that Mr. Srivastava obviously has enough. I can imagine a number of people who wouldn’t ‘get’ his perspective — i.e., getting money that way is essentially boring and trivial.

His experience doesn’t belie the fact that the money for lottery tickets is largely derived from the section of the population who draw government benefits. The poor. So welfare money from the government returns to the government via this “tax” on listless hopes. Perhaps that helps feed the Big Government notion that tax money is the government’s due. You OWE taxes. And what you owe ends up in some strange circular government shill games.

As our national prosperity declines, the push of lotteries may grow. Certainly the current push-BACK against higher taxation leaves the greedy in a bind. Cut spending? Frug-what?

To all our readers who buy lottery tickets: may your ships come sailing in, loaded and deep in the water with your fortunes. Meanwhile, maybe I can figure out how to stretch this chicken just a bit further.

Thanks, blessings on everyone who showed up at the tip jar today. Y’all know who you are but we like to let other readers know, too:

Stateside: Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas

Near Abroad: Canada

Far Abroad: Australia, Finland, Norway, and the UK

I swan, every time I see Illinois I’m surprised. And delighted! It must be the NOT-Obama factor at work? Whatever it is, our gratitude to those of you who suffer being of a different economic faith than the unionized socialists around you. And thanks for deciding to defy those folks by contributing to the project here.

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The latest accident statistics from ski slopes all over Europe indicate that Danes are 100 times more likely than Norwegians to run into a tree or otherwise injure themselves when skiing. Although not as proficient as Norwegians, the Swedes are also far more skilled on the slopes than their Danish cousins.

In other news, Canada is demanding that the EU shore up its European Financial Stability Facility — the euro-bailout fund — before the Canadian government makes any more contributions to the IMF to help the Eurozone.

Meanwhile, President Barack Hussein Obama has apologized to Afghanistan for the Koran-burning incident.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, EDO, Fjordman, Freedom Fighter, Gaia, Insubria, JP, KGS, Kitman, RR, Steen, The Observer, TV, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

A “Welshman” who threatened to behead and/or machine gun police officers was sentenced to eight months in jail today in a Cardiff courtroom. The case has a Mohammed Coefficient of 100%.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:

Below are some excerpts from a report on the sentencing posted at Wales Online:

Extremist Mohammed Abdin Jailed for Eight Months Over Threat to Machine Gun Police

A man arrested for threatening to machine gun police officers who stopped a meeting of an Islamic group at a Cardiff community centre was today jailed for eight months.

Mohammed Abdin of Clare Road, Grangetown was given four months for an admitted public order breach that evening and ordered to serve, in addition, a suspended sentence imposed for his involvment in an affray last year outside the American Embassy during a 10th anniversary memorial service for 9/11.

A judge was told this morning that in London last September he was heard to say: “In 10 or 15 years time when we rule, I’m going to hunt you down and then I’m going to kill you.

“I’m going to burn you to death ……. you are going to die”.

The police and council officials intended to serve a dispersal notice because of concerns the meeting going on had been organised by those affiliated to the outlawed Muslims Against Crusades, said prosecutor Jonathan Bushell.

He told Cardiff Crown Court: “There were 25 people inside, the group quickly became hostile and this defendant was the most aggressive.

“He shouted threats, asking what they were doing there, told them to put down their camera and lunged at one of them shouting ‘I’m going to chop your head off… I’m going shoot you with a machine gun’.”

Abdin was said to have continued with his threats while he overturned a table and pushed it towards the police.

The court heard the situation descended into a general melee with Abdin struggling violently as he was arrested.

At the police station he spat repeatedly and asked to stop said “I’ll spit in your face instead”, said Mr Bushell.

“He told the police ‘I’ve got a knife down my pants and I’ll cut your f—— throats with it’.”

When shown video footage of events inside the community centre, Abdin said he’d been angry and it happened in the heat of the moment.

[…]

The judge said having viewed the video of events, it was clear Abdin had been the most aggressive person there and had issued a series of threats in a “most disgusting and violent manner”.

“The police and the council workers were only trying to do their job and they did so bravely and with courtesy”, he told the defendant.

“But you subjected them to a sustained and disgraceful display of the most threatening behaviour which brings shame on yourself and on everybody else who was there, some of whom sought to restrain you.

“It is difficult to imagine a more serious example of this sort of (public order) offence for which – I stress – the maximum penalty is six months…”

Abdin was sentenced to four months after the automatic one-third credit for his guilty plea had to be put into effect and told the previous suspended sentence would be ordered to run consecutively because there could not be a clearer case for doing so.

Hat tip: JP.

Takuan Seiyo takes a brief look at three modes of artistic expression in the field of dance. A picture and a video are worth thousands of words.

A Short Treatise on the Three Main Schools of Modern Dance

by Takuan Seiyo

1. The West

Keith Hennessy, Crotch

“Experimental [homo] Art, Capitalist Critique, and Mystical Inquiry”

There is a YouTube video at the above link which becomes really interesting at about 2:40.

2. The immunized West in the East

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker

Once-Experimental [traditional] Art, Critique of Evil, and Mystical Inquiry

Moscow Ballet Performance, 2010

3. Islam

Ali, Ashura

Traditional Art, Critique of Rationalism, and Mystical Inquiry

Video: Festival of whipping and self-flagellation

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There are two examples of cultures gone insane here. The average under-fifty Westerner would not know which two those are.

If you do, you’ll find out that laws against assault no longer apply to any offended Muslim who might physically attack you.

There’s a word for this, and I think we all know it: Sharia.

Below are excerpts from an article about the case:

Muslim Admits to Attacking Atheist; Muslim Judge Dismisses Case

By Al Stefanelli

The Pennsylvania State Director of American Atheists, Inc., Mr. Ernest Perce V., was assaulted by a Muslim while participating in a Halloween parade. Along with a Zombie Pope, Ernest was costumed as Zombie Muhammad. The assault was caught on video, the Muslim man admitted to his crime and charges were filed in what should have been an open-and-shut case. That’s not what happened, though.

The defendant is an immigrant and claims he did not know his actions were illegal, or that it was legal in this country to represent Muhammad in any form. To add insult to injury, he also testified that his 9 year old son was present, and the man said he felt he needed to show his young son that he was willing to fight for his Prophet.

The case went to trial, and as circumstances would dictate, Judge Mark Martin is also a Muslim. What transpired next was surreal. The Judge not only ruled in favor of the defendant, but called Mr. Perce a name and told him that if he were in a Muslim country, he’d be put to death. Judge Martin’s comments included,

“Having had the benefit of having spent over 2 and a half years in predominantly Muslim countries I think I know a little bit about the faith of Islam. In fact I have a copy of the Koran here and I challenge you sir to show me where it says in the Koran that Mohammad arose and walked among the dead. I think you misinterpreted things. Before you start mocking someone else’s religion you may want to find out a little bit more about it makes you look like a dufus and Mr. (Defendant) is correct. In many Arabic speaking countries something like this is definitely against the law there. In their society in fact it can be punishable by death and it frequently is in their society.

Judge Martin then offered a lesson in Islam, stating,

“Islam is not just a religion, it’s their culture, their culture. It’s their very essence their very being. They pray five times a day towards Mecca to be a good Muslim, before you die you have to make a pilgrimage to Mecca unless you are otherwise told you can not because you are too ill too elderly, whatever but you must make the attempt. Their greetings wa-laikum as-Salâm (is answered by voice) may god be with you. Whenever, it’s very common when speaking to each other it’s very common for them to say uh this will happen it’s it they are so immersed in it.

Judge Martin further complicates the issue by not only abrogating the First Amendment, but completely misunderstanding it when he said,

“Then what you have done is you have completely trashed their essence, their being. They find it very very very offensive. I’m a Muslim, I find it offensive. But you have that right, but you’re way outside your boundaries or first amendment rights. This is what, and I said I spent about 7 and a half years living in other countries. when we go to other countries it’s not uncommon for people to refer to us as ugly Americans this is why we are referred to as ugly Americans, because we are so concerned about our own rights we don’t care about other people’s rights as long as we get our say but we don’t care about the other people’s say”

But wait, it gets worse. The Judge refused to allow the video into evidence, and then said,

“All that aside I’ve got here basically. I don’t want to say he said she said but I’ve got two sides of the story that are in conflict with each other.”

And,

“The preponderance of, excuse me, the burden of proof… “

And,

“…he has not proven to me beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant is guilty of harassment, therefore I am going to dismiss the charge”

[…]

This is a travesty. Not only did Judge Martin completely ignore video evidence, but a Police Officer who was at the scene also testified on Mr. Perce’s behalf, to which the Judge also dismissed by saying the officer didn’t give an accurate account or doesn’t give it any weight.

[…]

Needless to say, this is totally, completely and unequivocally unacceptable. That a Muslim immigrant can assault a United States citizen in defense of his religious beliefs and walk away a free man, while the victim is chastised and insulted by a Muslim judge who then blamed the victim for the crime committed against him is a horrible abrogation.

This reeks of those cases we used to read about where a woman is blamed for her own rape because she “was asking for it” by virtue of the clothing she chose to wear, and then having the Judge set the rapist free.

I can promise you this, you have not heard the last of this issue. Not by a long shot.

Hat tips: for the video, Vlad Tepes; for the article, HB.

The British Freedom Party is under attack again. This time it’s a DDOS attack on the party’s website, presumably mounted by Islamic zealots and their dhimmi collaborators in an attempt to shut down an increasingly popular information source.

Below is a statement from the British Freedom Press Office about the attack.

British Freedom Party under attack by far-left and Muslim extremists — your help is needed!

A Statement from the British Freedom Press Office

Party Chairman Paul Weston has just returned from a very successful tour of the USA and Canada where he addressed a state legislature and several private meetings. He was also interviewed on radio and TV, extending the reach of his message to millions of members of the public. These speeches have also been recorded and posted onto the internet, so that what he has to say can be seen by everyone online, especially in the UK. People are impressed with Paul’s message, and approval of the party has risen substantially, with other groups around the world and in the UK offering their support.

However, this has left some groups very worried and concerned that the British Freedom Party is tapping into a current of popular support by speaking the truth without mixing it with racial bigotry and hatred. This has resulted in the far-left and Muslim extremists doing what they do best when they can’t win the political debate: attacking us to try and silence us.

The last couple of days have seen the British Freedom Party website and server fall victim to a large-scale DDOS attack, taking down the site, which was carrying the very popular reports and videos of Paul Weston’s tour of North America. This attack has temporarily stopped people from seeing these reports, and has brought our email service down, therefore making our communication capabilities quite limited.

However, the DDOS attack has not stopped our party. We continue to spread our message via Facebook, Twitter, and our supporters’ blogs and websites. These attacks have only served to motivate British Freedom and Paul Weston to continue spreading the message of truth. We will travel to every corner of the UK and the world spreading the message of the Freedom Movement. We will never give up nor surrender to the far-left traitors and Muslim extremists who wish to see our country, culture and people destroyed.

We are working around the clock to bring the website and email service back up, but unfortunately these attacks will keep happening. It’s imperative that we improve our security systems and upgrade our servers, which comes at a high cost. For this reason, donations from like-minded people are vitally important so that we can pay for the necessary server upgrades. This will keep the news and information we provide to thousands of people daily coming.

Rather than just donate, you can also become a member of the party. This will give you voting rights and a say in the running of the party, and the formulation of its policies and strategy. People like you are the lifeblood of the British Freedom Party.

Your membership fee will help us secure the future of the party’s fight against Islamization and the Muslim extremists who are attacking us and preventing you from exercising your basic human right to listen to what we have to say.

By joining or donating now you can help us buy the security and servers that we need to continue bringing you news about threats from Islam, the EU, Political Correctness, attacks on our military, etc. Without your help you will be stuck with news from the politically correct mainstream media — who hate patriots like you and me.

You can contact us on Facebook.

Our website, which will be back online shortly, is here.

At one of his recent lectures, group of irate culture-enrichers threw eggs at the Swedish artist Lars Vilks, the man behind the Modoggies. Mr. Vilks, with his customary aplomb, proceeded to make an omelet out of the affair.

Nicolai Sennels has the report.

Swedish artist Lars Vilks takes revenge: Draws Mohammed on attackers’ egg

by Nicolai Sennels

I met the Swedish artist Lars Vilks at a lecture in the Danish Free Speech Society a couple of years ago. A very relaxed, friendly and polite man with a great sense of humor. He clearly does not makes his criticism of religions out of anger. He is what most artists are — politically aware — but while most suffer from Islamophobia (fear of Islam), Vilks dares to make fun of the history’s most sensitive prophet and his followers as well.

Some people say that art has to provoke in order to be art — but why do so few dare to provoke Muslims?

Lars Vilks was on Jihad Jane’s kill list for drawing the Rondellhund (a roundabout dog, a strange Swedish custom: a statue of a dog made of wood, metal, plastic, etc. and placed in a traffic roundabout) a dog with the face of Mohammed, their (always ‘their’) prophet.

At a recent lecture, Vilks showed a picture of their prophet Mohammed in front of a beer bottle, and 15 Arab looking men stood up, shouted their Islamonauseating slogan “Allahu Akhbar” and tried to spread Islamophobia (fear of Islam) by throwing eggs at Vilks. Vilks was quickly escorted out of the room by the police:

One of the eggs did not break, and Vilks managed to pick it up and bring it home. For revenge he drew their prophet on it and published the picture:



The Washington Post showed a clear sign of fear of Islam (Islamophobia) by omitting that the attackers screamed “Allahu Akhbar”…

For previous posts on Lars Vilks and the Roundabout Dogs, see the Modoggie Archives.

Nicolai Sennels is a psychologist and the author of “Among Criminal Muslims: A Psychologist’s experiences with the Copenhagen Municipality”.

Previous posts:

2010		Jan		6		The Eternal Victim
		Feb		19		Youths, Crime, and Islam
		Apr		11		The Stigmatization Fallacy
		May		8		Islam Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry
		Jul		28		Nicolai Sennels: An Open Letter to David Cameron
		Aug		5		Rape by Proxy
				10		Islam and Inbreeding
		Dec		17		The Connection Between Muslim Inbreeding and Terrorism
2011		Jan		10		The Dhimmification of the Red Cross
				12		Was Muhammad a Gelotophobe?
				26		Food Crises are Caused by Overpopulation
		Feb		10		Send in the Midwives!
				23		Western Quran Schools Are “Terrorist Factories”
		Mar		22		Why Multiculture Will Always Fail
				26		What is Islamization?
		Apr		3		The Psychopath’s Argument: Free Speech Kills People
		May		3		Islam’s Nancy Boys: The Psychological Background
				25		Arab Drought: Oil for Water
				28		Lean to the Left
		Jun		2		Freedom is Slavery
				11		Shame: Muslim culture’s armour. Weapon? Humour.
		Jul		29		Breivik: Inspired by Al Qaeda?
		Aug		23		Behind the Gates of Vienna
		Dec		19		Psychological Explanations of Political Correctness
2012		Jan		29		Islamonausea, not Islamophobia
		Feb		17		Whose Enemy? Whose Friend?

As an apparent side-effect of Afghan anger over the burning of Korans by the American military, a Norwegian soldier has been injured in a grenade attack.

Our Norwegian correspondent The Observer sends this report:

Breaking news: A Norwegian soldier has been injured in Afghanistan after demonstrators threw a hand grenade into the Norwegian military camp in Meymaneh.

It doesn’t say in the article that the demonstration was a response to the alleged burning of the Korans at the American camp in Kabul, but I guess that’s the most likely reason.

More severe demonstrations are expected tomorrow after Friday prayers.

In 2006 Afghan demonstrators attacked the old Norwegian camp in Meymaneh with automatic weapons. The attack was a direct result of the Motoons.

The translated article from Aftenposten:

Norwegian soldier injured in a hand grenade attack in Afghanistan.

A Norwegian soldier has been injured after demonstrators threw a hand grenade into the Norwegian camp in Meymaneh in Afghanistan.

This has been confirmed by the Norwegian Defence department

On Thursday morning Afghan demonstrators threw rocks at the Norwegian military camp, and later in the afternoon someone threw a hand grenade into the camp. This resulted in one Norwegian soldier receiving shrapnel wounds to his foot, spokesperson for the Norwegian military, Ivar Moen tells Aftenposten.no

“We don’t want to speculate on the extent of the injury at the present time, but the soldier is now receiving medical treatment at the hospital inside the camp. The soldier’s next of kin have also been notified.”

Moen says that the demonstrators dispersed after the hand grenade incident and that no shots were fired by Norwegian military personnel. No one other than the Norwegian soldier was injured in the attack and at the moment everything is calm outside the camp.

“For the time being we don’t intend to leave the camp and apprehend any of the demonstrators,” Moen tells Aftenposten.no

New demonstrations are expected on Friday.

Moen confirms that they have received reports about new demonstrations on Friday.

“We have to implement various safety measures in preparation for tomorrow’s demonstration.”

John Espen Lien, spokesperson at the Norwegian operative Defence headquarter, confirmed earlier on Thursday that demonstrations had started outside the Norwegian led camp in Meymaneh in the northern part of the country.

“There are approximately 100 individuals outside the main entrance, and we have been informed that teargas and warning shots have been fired,” Lien told Aftenposten.no.

There are no reports of weapons being fired at the Norwegian camp, but at 13.15 the defence department received a report about a Norwegian soldier being injured by a hand grenade.

Winter Fundraiser 2012, Day Four

The theme of this winter’s fundraiser is, as you all know, Frugality. Or lack thereof. And related topics.

The other night I talked about being raised in a Nash-Rambler family, which, in terms of 1950s American suburbia, was the essence of frugality. Its opposite would have been a Cadillac family, whose members lived a life of opulence and splendor and conspicuous consumption — or so it seemed to us kids who had to share the cramped space in the back seat of a 1954 Rambler.

Really, though, when it comes to high-end elegance and power, you can’t beat a 1931 Duesenberg. Just look at that car! Some Duesenbergs had 16-cylinder engines, and their advertisements boasted that they reached 88 mph in second gear, and 116 in top.

And look at the dapper fellow standing next to his pride and joy! Doesn’t he have it made? It’s obvious that, in addition to being able to drive from Richmond to D.C. in 45 minutes, he could have any woman he wanted. You know he could.

Or so it seemed to us, the Rambler people, stuck in our boring world of economy cars and thrifty spending habits and boring routines.

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Funnily enough, when I grew up, I didn’t rebel against my upbringing and become a high-flying big spender, ready to while away the time in the most expensive resorts with a high-maintenance fashion model on my arm.

No, except for being a hippie for a while, I turned out pretty much like my parents. Not a penny-pincher, but not inclined to spend any money I didn’t have to. I kept the family AMC Hornet going for as long as I could, tuning it up myself and jury-rigging various solutions to persistent problems — such as cutting a V-notch in the flywheel cover to let the oil drain out and save me from having to replace so many clutches, as opposed to replacing the rear gasket (so expensive!) and taking care of the problem at its source.

When I became a landscape artist, my natural tendency towards parsimony grew into something more pronounced. I shopped in the previously-owned meat section of the local market. I bought my clothes at yard sales. I drank A&P Tudor Premium beer — $2 a sixpack, but after the first four you didn’t notice the taste.

This was the shabby and emaciated fellow that Dymphna, for reasons known best to herself, decided to marry thirty-odd years ago. She trained me out of some of the worst of my habits — hence the “discussions” about Parmesan cheese — and we eked out a reasonable life together. When the Future Baron came along, we provided for him well, even while remaining thrifty. He didn’t know we were poor — by careful management of money, made easier by not having a TV, he had most things that a kid would want, even if he didn’t get to visit Disney World or go skiing, unlike some of his more middle-class friends and relatives.

When Dymphna’s fibromyalgia became so severe that she had to quit work, our lives changed, and I had to resume my career as a programmer after a long hiatus, thanks to a good friend who steered a substantial contract in my direction.

Fortunately for our family, it turned out that my skills paid well, and our prospects improved. The Future Baron went from home schooling to a decent private school, and later college. Our good fortune continued — I wasn’t laid off until just before he graduated.

One of the things that I discovered when we regained our prosperity was that all those years of self-denial had changed my deepest habits. I had lost my desire for most things that cost serious amounts of money. Even at the high point of our good fortune, I couldn’t bring myself to order an expensive item on the menu at a restaurant. I didn’t want any of the gadgets that were popular — they just weren’t interesting. It wasn’t through any inherent virtue; it was from long, long habit.

There are exceptions: I have a weakness for French wine, and a taste for very dark Swiss chocolate. Dymphna and I both like latte, just as if we were yuppies. But mostly we retain our frugal ways.

In contrast, take a look at Geronimo’s Locomobile:

Now that’s conspicuous consumption.

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Yesterday’s donations arrived from the following places:

Stateside: Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Virginia

Near Abroad: No Canadians yesterday!

Far Abroad: Australia, Belgium, Croatia, and Norway

Many thanks to everyone who contributed.

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