Suspected arson fires torch perhaps hundreds of ballots in drop boxes in Pacific Northwest



Hundreds of ballots likely went up in flames after an explosive device apparently went off in a ballot drop box in Washington state, one of two such explosions that occurred early Monday morning.

Around 5:30 a.m. on Monday, police began working tirelessly to put out a fire in a ballot box near a bus station in Vancouver, Washington. Video of their efforts shows crews toiling in the pouring rain as the contents of the ballot box were reduced to ashes.

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"It appears that a device was attached to the outside of the ballot drop box that resulted in the ballots being ignited," Clark County auditor Greg Kimsey said, according to Oregon Live.

The ballot box was outfitted with a fire suppressant, Kimsey noted. Unfortunately, it did not work effectively.

When asked how many ballots were affected, Kimsey declined to give an exact number but claimed it was in the "hundreds."

Kimsey described the incident as "heartbreaking." "It’s a direct attack on democracy," he added.

Police likewise described the device as "suspicious."

'Southwest Washington cannot risk a single vote being lost to arson and political violence.'

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (D) suggested the incident may have even been an act of "terror."

"I strongly denounce any acts of terror that aim to disrupt lawful and fair elections in Washington state," he said in a statement, according to ABC News.

The drop box is located in Washington's 3rd Congressional District, where Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D) and Republican Joe Kent are in a tight rematch. In 2022, Perez beat Kent by fewer than 3,000 votes.

"Southwest Washington cannot risk a single vote being lost to arson and political violence," Perez said in a statement, according to ABC News.

Kent's team did not respond to a request for comment, the outlet claimed.

Ballots at the drop box were last collected around 11 a.m. on Saturday, so anyone who deposited a ballot after that time is encouraged to check the status of their ballot online. They may also contact the county elections office to receive a replacement ballot by calling (564) 397-2345 or emailing elections@clark.wa.gov.

Sadly, the drop box in Vancouver was not the only one in the area to be hit. About two hours before the incident in Vancouver, an "incendiary device" exploded in a drop box in Portland, a press release from the Portland Police Bureau indicated. Portland, Oregon, is located about 10 miles south of Vancouver, Washington.

Fortunately, a fire suppressant installed in the Portland ballot box activated, preventing a significant fire. Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott claimed that only three ballots had been damaged and that elections workers had already made plans to contact the affected voters.

"By the time officers arrived, the fire had already been extinguished by security personnel who work in the area," the PPB press release said. "Officers determined an incendiary device was placed inside the ballot box and used to ignite the fire. PPB’s Explosive Disposal Unit (EDU) responded to the scene and cleared the device."

It is unclear whether the two incidents are linked.

Yet another incendiary device was discovered at a drop box in Vancouver on October 8. Luckily, it did not cause any damage.

A man also allegedly admitted to lighting a fire in a ballot box in Phoenix last week, destroying perhaps 20 ballots, as Blaze News previously reported. The suspect denied having any political motivation, claiming instead that he "wanted to be arrested."

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Colorado thug pleads guilty to incinerating an infant, a toddler, and 3 adults as they slept



The last of the three thugs who incinerated two sleeping Denver children and three adults in August 2020 has pleaded guilty to murdering them.

Kevin Bui, Dillon Siebert, and Gavin Seymour donned full hockey-style face masks and hoodies on Aug. 5, 2020, then set out to execute a monstrous revenge scheme over Bui's stolen iPhone.

Bui, now 20, used the "Find my iPhone" app to track his phone to a Denver neighborhood. He and his teenage gang targeted the wrong house, broke in, splashed gasoline onto the walls, then set the place on fire.

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Eight people were sleeping inside the house at 5312 North Truckee Street at the time. Three managed to leap out windows, breaking bones but escaping the flames. Djibril Diol, his wife, Adja, and their 3-year-old daughter Kadidia were not so lucky. Hassan Diol and her infant daughter Hawa Beye were similarly burned alive.

Denver Police officer Gordon King, first on the scene, heard someone on the inside attempting to unlock the front door. According to the arrest warrant for Seymour, "King kicked in the front door but was forced away from the door by the extreme heat," reported the Daily Mail.

"As Officer King attempted to get the person out it was apparent that the person was not alive, and Officer King was forced back by the extreme heat of the fire," said the warrant.

KMGH-TV reported that firefighters desperately tried to save the Sengelese family from the "very significant fire," but it was too late.

The victims' bodies were ultimately found huddled together on the first floor.

The Denver Police Department circulated security footage stills of the suspects and their getaway vehicle and offered a $14,000 reward for information about the deadly attack. Authorities later increased the reward for information to $50,000.

Police arrested the trio in January 2021 and slapped them with scores of charges, including five counts of murder with extreme indifference in the first degree; three counts of criminal attempted murder in the first degree; two counts of first-degree assault; one count of first-degree burglary; three counts of first-degree arson; and eight counts of fourth degree arson.

Bui and Seymour, both 16 at the time of their arrests, were charged as adults, and each faced 60 counts. Siebert, 14 at the time, was charged with 47 counts.

Investigators determined that the teens had searched the victims' house on Google multiple times prior to the attack and that Bui had purchased the masks seen in the surveillance footage at a Party City close to where he lived. Snapchat conversations accessed by investigators revealed the retributive nature of the scheme.

"The [are going to] get theirs like I got mine," Bui wrote to Seymour.

Although the victims' families wanted to see Bui locked up for life without the possibility of parole, he managed to swing a plea deal with the Denver District Attorney's Office last week.

Bui agreed to plead guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and face up to 60 years in a state prison in exchange for the Democratic DA dropping an additional 60 criminal charges.

The Associated Press indicated that the other two murderers got off relatively lightly.

Siebert was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention and seven years in a state prison program for young offenders. Seymour was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of second-degree murder.

Amadou Beye, whose wife and infant daughter perished in the blaze, addressed Seymour in court, telling him in March, "I hope when you die you will die slow and hard," reported the Daily Mail.

"And you will die young. And when you die, I hope you will feel all the pain they did feel when they were dying. And you will feel all the pain that we feel right now," added Beye.

Bui's formal sentencing has been scheduled for July 2.

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Arson Suspected After Fire At Bernie Sanders’ Vermont Office; Senator Safe, No Injuries

'He then lit the accelerant and fled'

Report: Attacks on churches have skyrocketed in recent years — and the trend is accelerating



Attacks on churches in the U.S. have skyrocketed in recent years, and the trend appears to be fast accelerating, according to a new report from the Family Research Council.

The report, authored by Arielle Del Turco, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the FRC, noted that between 2018 and 2023, there were at least 915 acts of hostility against American churches. These depraved actions have ranged from vandalism and arson to gun-related incidents and bomb threats.

The states that reportedly accounted for the greatest number of church-related hostilities in the six-year period were California, with 91 incidents; Texas, with 62 incidents; New York, with 58 incidents; and Florida, with 47.

Things appear to be getting much worse.

Between January and November 2023, there were reportedly at least 436 such attacks — eight times as many as there were in 2018 — such that 2023 ended up being the worst of all six years reviewed by the FRC.

The FRC observed 315 incidents of vandalism last year; 75 arson attacks or attempts; 10 gun-related occurrences; and 20 bomb threats.

Among the various documented instances of vandalism in 2023 was the January 2023 smashing of stained glass windows at Holy Nation Church of Memphis, Tennessee; the June shredding of Bibles and hymnals at the historically black Fowler United Methodist Church of Annapolis, Maryland; and the July inversion of crosses at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in El Paso, Texas, which was also slapped with satanic imagery.

In terms of arson, attacks ranged from small to massively destructive fires. The Easter Sunday fire set to Faith Lutheran Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for example, resulted in substantial damage as well the removal of the church's steeple.

Del Turco noted that "although the motivations for many of these acts of hostility remain unknown, the effect is unmistakable: religious intimidation."

The beheading of a statue of religious significance may, for example, leave congregants "disturbed and upset." Other acts of hostility may alternatively "cause congregants or church leaders to feel unsafe," thereby interrupting the normal work of the church, according the report.

"They send the message that churches are not wanted in the community or respected in general. Our culture is demonstrating a growing disdain for Christianity and core Christian beliefs, and acts of hostility against churches could be a physical manifestation of that," continued Turco. "Regardless of the motivations of these crimes, everyone should treat churches and all houses of worship with respect and affirm the importance of religious freedom for all Americans."

The report posits that the increase in hostility against churches may point to a "larger societal problem of marginalizing core Christian beliefs, including those that touch on hot-button political issues related to human dignity and sexuality."

While frequently targets for radicals on account of their congregants' fidelity to tradition, churches also appear to be a reflexive scapegoat for leftists and other extremists.

Radicals in the U.S. seized upon the 2020 death of George Floyd as an excuse to lash out at their perceived foes, which turned out in many cases to be Christians and their places of worship. Leftists did likewise in 2022 in the lead-up to and wake of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, attacking churches and pro-life pregnancy centers alike.

This reflex appears elsewhere in the West. For instance, in Canada, at least 68 churches were razed, desecrated, or vandalized in 2021 after activists, the northern nation's liberal media, and political elites hyped the mass graves hoax.

The hoax, fully embraced by the Trudeau regime, alleged that mass graves had been discovered at the sites of former Indian residential schools that had been administered by Christian groups. The claims, which were dubious to begin with, were subsequently debunked, but not before radicals torched Catholic and Anglican churches across the country.

Tony Perkins, president of the FRC and a former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said of the findings in the report, "There is a common connection between the growing religious persecution abroad and the rapidly increasing hostility toward churches here at home: our government's policies."

"The indifference abroad to the fundamental freedom of religion is rivaled only by the increasing antagonism toward the moral absolutes taught by Bible-believing churches here in the U.S.," continued Perkins, "which is fomenting this environment of hostility toward churches."

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Portland Police Open Arson Probe After Car Set Ablaze Outside Tough-On-Crime Mayoral Candidate’s Home

Gonzalez put out a statement hours later confirming that no one had been harmed

Arsonist caught on video setting Jewish-Japanese restaurant on fire; NYPD investigating incident as anti-Semitic hate crime



Police are investigating a suspected hate crime after a man set fire to the outside of a popular Jewish-Japanese fusion restaurant in New York City, according to the NYPD.

A surveillance camera caught the moment that a man attempted to set the Shalom Japan restaurant on fire. Surveillance footage shows a bearded man wearing glasses and a baseball cap walking up to the restaurant located in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn around 4 a.m. on Nov. 18.

Police said the man torched two outside window tarps decorated with the Star of David. Video shows the man admiring his work before walking away. Smoke can be seen enveloping the surveillance camera.

There were no injuries from the fire, and there was no structural damage to the Brooklyn restaurant.

"The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating this as an anti-Jewish incident," police stated.

The NYPD is asking the public to help identify the individual who attempted to set the Jewish-Japanese fusion restaurant ablaze.

Police described the arson suspect as a man with a dark complexion and a thin physical frame.

Shalom Japan addressed the arson attempt in an Instagram post.

"Thank you for the concern and outpouring of love we have received. News quickly spread of an alleged fire that occurred at our restaurant a few weeks ago," the restaurant said on social media. "Fortunately Shalom Japan is fine and open for business."

Of all groups, Jews have been the most targeted in hate crime incidents in New York City. Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, there have been 155 hate crime incidents targeting Jewish people in New York City, according to NYPD data. Homosexual men were the victims of 65 hate crime incidents, followed by 37 against Asians and 36 against blacks.

In the month of October, NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force investigated 69 bias incidents against Jews — a whopping 214% increase compared to the same time a year ago.

There has also been a spike in anti-Semitic incidents across the United States since the start of the Israel-Hames war started on Oct. 7, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The ADL reported in late October that incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault have skyrocketed by 388% over the same period last year.

The organization said, "ADL recorded a total of 312 anti-Semitic incidents between Oct. 7-23, 2023, 190 of which were directly linked to the war in Israel and Gaza. By comparison, during the same period in 2022, ADL received preliminary reports of 64 incidents, including four that were Israel-related."

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Duo plead guilty to burning down Atlanta Wendy's during BLM riot; face no jail time and a $500 fine



Two of the three individuals accused of burning a Wendy's to the ground during the 2020 BLM riots have pleaded guilty. For reducing the business to ash and rubble, Chisom Kingston and the woman whom Rayshard Brooks indicated was his "girlfriend," Natalie Hanna White, will have to pay a $500 fine and complete 150 hours of community service.

What's the background?

On June 12, Atlanta police attempted to arrest 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks at a Wendy's drive-thru in Atlanta after he blew over the legal limit on a Breathalyzer test. However, Brooks struck APD officer Devan Brosnan, grabbed the officer's taser, and attempted to flee. When APD officer Garrett Rolfe gave chase, Brooks took aim at Rolfe with the stolen taser and fired, ultimately prompting a defensive and definitive response from Rolfe.

The officers were initially slapped with a litany of charges by former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard. However, a Georgia special prosecutor ultimately found in August 2022 that both officers "acted as reasonable officers would under the facts and circumstances of the events of that night."

Special prosecutor Peter Skandalakis stated, "Both acted in accordance with well-established law and were justified in the use of force regarding the situation."

While clarity ultimately prevailed, it was evidently in short supply on June 13, 2020 — not only because the anti-police narrative had been set following George Floyd's death in Minneapolis the previous month, but because liberal publications repeatedly claimed police had killed "an unarmed black man," notwithstanding the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's clear indication that Brooks had been wielding an officer's stun gun.

Torching the burger joint

Rioters mobbed the Wendy's on University Avenue in southwest Atlanta and shutdown a nearby interstate the evening of June 13. In addition to torching cars in the area and clashing with police, rioters set the restaurant ablaze.

WAGA-TV reported that by 9:30 p.m., flames could be seen shooting out of the restaurant.

The fire raged for over 45 minutes until firefighters, protected by a line of police officers, were able to put it out.

When asked about the inferno at the time, one of the rioters, told CNN, "We burned this one specifically because of what happened here[.] ... This goes back to what our mission is, making sure that there is justice served for the person that died over here at this Wendy's."

According to Atlanta Fire Department officials, the Wendy's fire was started in multiple locations using various incendiary devices.

Footage shot moments before the fire began consuming the building showed a woman, later identified as White, ignite an aerosol can while others smashed the restaurant's windows.

White was arrested in June 2020. The following month, Kingston and arsonist John Wesley Wade were also arrested.

Indictments and pleas

White, Kingston, and Wade were indicted in January 2022. The indictment listed two counts of first-degree arson and a count of conspiracy to commit arson in the first degree, reported WSB-TV.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said at the time, "I think this indictment is particularly important. It sends a message that we are a community that supports protesting. We certainly know it's one of your constitutional rights but what we do not tolerate is violent protest."

"It is unacceptable to burn down a building in our community even in the name of a protest," added Willis.

Ahead of their trial this week, Kingston and White entered negotiated guilty pleas, according to Fulton County court documents.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that they both pleaded guilty to the aforementioned charges and each received five years on probation and $500 fines.

John Wesley Wade, who has been held in federal prison, is set to go to trial Tuesday over the Wendy's arson.

While Wade faces the same charges as Brooks' apparent girlfriend and Kingston, he previously pleaded guilty to federal arson charges, having torched five postal trucks in Atlanta after the Wendy's went up in smoke.

Atlanta protesters burn a Wendy's after police shootingyoutu.be

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Man claims he was the victim of a hate crime after his property burned down. Then grand jury indicts him for felony arson.



A Texas man is facing serious criminal charges for allegedly having his property intentionally burned down after initially claiming to be the victim of a hate crime.

In June, a rental property that 50-year-old Mario Roberson owned in Huntsville, Texas, burned to the ground. Three people were inside the residence at the time; two of them died, while another managed to escape, albeit with serious injuries. Roberson, a black man, alleged that his property was targeted because of his race.

"Racism, power hungriness, money has gotten us to this place," he told KTRK-TV at the time. "You fear for your life when things like this happen."

2 bodies found in Huntsville home that burned down 1 month after being painted with racial slurs www.youtube.com

The fire happened about one month after another alleged incident of hate when Roberson claimed that someone sprayed racist graffiti on the property, a message that said, "We don't like your kind." Two weeks later, Roberson claimed that someone shot into a window at the home, telling police officers he believed it was a racially motivated act.

On the back of all three incidents, CAIR-Houston and the ADL Southwest urged the FBI to investigate the house burning as a hate crime.

But after an extensive investigation led by the Texas State Fire Marshal's Office, a grand jury returned on Monday an indictment against Roberson for first-degree arson.

Prosecutors do not believe that Roberson himself set the fire, but they believe he played a significant role. The alleged motive? Police believe the house was intentionally burned to the ground because Roberson was trying to collect insurance money by fraudulent means.

"He was indicted on allegations he hired someone to set it on fire for insurance fraud purposes," said Lt. Charles Dougherty of the San Jacinto County Sheriff's Office.

Important to this story is the fact that, about one month before the fire, "San Jacinto County rendered a decree of sale on the home for unpaid taxes," KTRK reported. Roberson reportedly owed tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes on the home.

Roberson has not yet been arrested, but he has declared his innocence, according to KTRK. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

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Woman Sentenced For Setting Fire To Wyoming Abortion Clinic

'Full responsibility'

160 people arrested on arson charges for Greek wildfires that the media previously said climate change was to blame



Greek officials arrested 160 people on arson charges for the wildfires that ravaged Greece this summer. Previously, the media almost exclusively blamed the Greek wildfires on climate change.

Wildfires have scorched Greece this summer. In the past week, at least 21 people – including two children – lost their lives in connection with the wildfires.

Fire department spokesman Ioannis Artopios said 60 firefighters had been injured attempting to extinguish the blaze as of Thursday.

Firefighters battled 99 separate wildfires across the country on Wednesday.

The wildfires have forced numerous evacuations during the summer months, including the main hospital of Alexandroupolis in northeast Greece.

The European Union's Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said that more than 180,400 acres burned in the port city of Alexandroupolis – making it the largest wildfire ever recorded among European Union countries, according to CNN.

Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis said that 160 people had been arrested across the country on arson charges, 42 of them accused of intentional arson and the remainder accused of setting fires through neglect, according to the New York Times.

Marinakis declared, "The culprits will face justice."

The Associated Press reported, police searched the home of one alleged arsonist suspected of setting at least fires and found kindling, a fire torch gun, and pine needles.

Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias torched the fire-starting suspects as "arsonist scum."

"You are committing a crime against the country,” Kikilias said during an emergency briefing on Thursday. "Arsonist scum are setting fires that threaten forests, property, and, most of all, human lives."

He declared, "You will not get away with it, we will find you, you will be held accountable."

Kikilias warned that the arsonists attempted to start new fires on Mount Parnitha – a densely forested mountain range roughly 30 miles north of Athens.

The media previously blamed climate change for the wildfires devastating Greece.

Only a few weeks ago, CNN ran an article titled: "Why wildfires happen: Debunking the myth that arson is to blame more than climate change."

The BBC declared, "Summer wildfires are common in Greece and scientists have linked the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, including heatwaves, to climate change."

The following articles prominently mention climate change, but do not use the word "arson" at all in the articles.

Earlier this month, NBC News published an article with the headline: "Greek wildfires are the 'harsh reality of climate change,' experts warn."

Politico Europe proclaimed in July, "Hundreds of people have been evacuated as wildfires rage in Greece, and Southern Europe faces another week of sweltering, above-40C temperatures in a heat wave that experts say is linked to climate change."

In an opinion piece in The Guardian titled: "The lesson from the Greece wildfires? The climate crisis is coming for us all," the writer claimed that a video of the Greek wildfires "could easily pass for a TV climate crisis awareness-raising campaign."

The New York Times wrote in July, "The fiercest wildfires have hit only parts of a few islands. But the effects of climate change pose a far wider threat to Greece’s tourism industry."

Last month, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament: "The climate crisis is already here, it will manifest itself everywhere in the Mediterranean with greater disasters."

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