Free Republic

Here’s proof-positive that one of the leading entertainers in the anti-Trump Resistance is really singing the blues these days: Bette Midler ✔ @BetteMidler "18 wildfires in California today, Yosemite closed, torrential floods all around the globe, people dying from unprecedented heatwaves, AND NOW, AS WE HURTLE TOWARDS EXTINCTION FROM GLOBAL WARMING, #TRAITORTRUMP DUMPS FUEL STANDARDS. A FIRST CLASS IDIOT." Wow, Trump must have more power than anybody could possibly have imagined.

Much of the heat that’s gripped California and hastened the spread of deadly wildfires recently is due to a strange but familiar shift in the jet stream — one that’s haunted the West with threatening fire conditions in the past and could cause more hot, dry spells in the future, especially with a changing climate. The jet stream, the river of wind high above the Northern Hemisphere, has been weaker and wavier in the past few weeks, scientists say. Instead of pushing weather systems along as it usually does, it’s allowing the patterns to stagnate. “We’re seeing this mix of...

A California man has been taken into custody on suspicion of arson, as firefighters have contained just 5 percent of the blaze that started Wednesday in the Idyllwild area in Riverside County. The Cranston Fire has destroyed five homes and forced some 3,200 people to evacuate. The fire spread very rapidly, expanding to 4,700 acres in just a few hours. On Wednesday, the same day the blaze started, California fire authorities arrested Brandon McGlover, a 32-year-old man from Temecula. He has been booked into a detention center for "five counts of arson to wildland," and it wasn't immediately clear what...

Brandon N. McGlover, 32, of Temecula was arrested Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of setting the Cranston Fire, which has destroyed eight homes and has burned 4,700 acres near Idyllwild. McGlover has been transported to Cois Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta and booked on felony arson charges. He remains jailed on $1 million bail. According to a U.S. Forest Service-San Bernardino National Forest news release, CAL FIRE investigators, "determined a suspect description and issued a crime bulletin to other local law enforcement agencies. Based on the crime bulletin issued, the Hemet/San Jacinto Valley Gang Task Force located and detained McGlover." Lieutenant...

It happened July 12 at 6110 Trade Center Drive. AFD says the factory was trying out a new blend of chips that "didn't work out so well." That fire was contained to the exterior of the building, and ignited several other boxes of food waste. Then, three days later, additional boxes of the same tortilla chips spontaneously ignited again. Firefighters contained that fire and drowned all of the other boxes that had yet to catch fire.

Hundreds of residents of the seaside resort of Mati, east of Athens, sought refuge on Monday to nearby beaches to evade the approaching fire that has claimed the lives of at least 50 people.Heartbreaking photos have emerged of panicked residents trying to escape the rage of the flames and waiting to be rescued by the Greek coast guard and private boats. (note: many more photos at the link and 2 videos) -- Greeks Turn to Social Media to Find Missing Persons A group of Greeks have created an electronic database with photos and names of missing persons following Monday’s devastating fires...

President Trump on Tuesday pardoned a pair of Oregon ranchers whose arson conviction became a focus for opponents of federal government land ownership. Dwight Hammond, 76, and his son Steven, 49, were convicted in 2012 and sent to prison on arson charges. They had set a series of fires on their ranch that spread to federal land. The Hammonds’ case became the inspiration for the 40-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. The organizers wanted to protest federal land ownership. The Hammonds distanced themselves from the occupiers and didn't endorse the action. In a statement Tuesday...

Jesper Joergensen, a 52-year-old non U.S. citizen from Denmark who wrote repeatedly about anarchy on social media, is accused of starting the Spring Fire in Colorado, which is the most active among multiple blazes that are causing damage to that state. SheriffÂ’s officials in Colorado confirm that they believe the cause of the fire was arson, and they are holding Joergensen in connection with the crime. According to The Post, Joergensen said he was living in a camper near where the blaze began and claimed he tried to smother it although he didnÂ’t put water on it. He also claimed...

A man was arrested on Saturday on charges of starting a forest fire in Colorado that has destroyed structures and forced hundreds to evacuate their homes in one of dozens of wildfires raging across the drought-hit U.S. southwest. Jesper Joergensen, 52, was taken into custody last Saturday for the suspected arson that started the Springs Fire, according to Costilla County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. Joergensen is not a U.S. citizen and will be handed over to ICE once he has faced arson charges, said a Costilla County detention officer. The officer could not immediately say what nationality Joergensen held. The...

TAOS, New Mexico (Reuters) - A man was arrested on Saturday on charges of starting a forest fire in Colorado that has destroyed structures and forced hundreds to evacuate their homes in one of dozens of wildfires raging across the drought-hit U.S. southwest. Jesper Joergensen, 52, was taken into custody for suspected arson that started the Springs Fire, the most active of around 10 blazes in Colorado, the state hardest hit by fires, according to Costilla County Sheriff's Office Facebook page. Joergensen is not a U.S. citizen and will be handed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement once he...

When APD officers arrived on the scene, the say the suspect exited the building, carrying bottles of wine. Caldwell ran north in the alley before he was detained. According to an affidavit, numerous matchbooks from The Austin Club were found in his pockets. Caldwell told investigators he didn't know what was going on and denied being in the building when the fire started. Caldwell then told police "My name is Taylor Swift, I told him to burn it down and he did what I told him."

FORT WORTH, TX — A large police and firefighter presence was seen Friday after a fire broke out in the women's shoe department of Sears Department Store around 11:00 a.m. Friday, various news outlets report. The fire has been extinguished, and arson investigators are working the scene, KXAS reported. The mall was evacuated and sealed off after the fire and remains closed to the public, the station reported. No injuries have been reported. Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Steven English said on Twitter the fire was started by an incendiary device but was quickly extinguished by store employees. The jailed suspect...

The Islamic Cultural Center of Hässleholm was destroyed in a fire on Saturday night. Police are treating the fire as an arson attack, according to P4 Malmö. According to officials, a person entered the Islamic Cultural Center’s prayer room to purposely set the fire. The fire had the potential to spread to connected apartments, Magnus Carlsson of the Hässleholm Rescue Service said. …

A motion filed by lawyers representing the woman accused of starting fires on the campus of St. Catherine University seeking to suppress evidence obtained as a result of search warrants has been denied by a federal court judge. In early February, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced a three-count indictment of Tnuza Jamal Hassan, charging her with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, making a false statement to the FBI and arson. The charges came in connection to fires that were set at St. Kate's on Jan. 17, including inside a building that housed a day...

RANDOLPH COUNTY, N.C. — Several shelters and shooting benches at a Randolph County firing range were destroyed after a fire was intentionally set early Monday morning, according to Randolph County Fire Marshal Erik Beard.

A San Francisco man with convictions in high-profile arson cases, including one in which he burned the body of a sexual partner, was arrested this week on suspicion of attempted murder as well as several counts of arson, authorities said.

A Minnesota woman whom prosecutors said set fires at a Minnesota university out of anger because of U.S. military actions overseas was charged with terrorism Wednesday after she allegedly tried to assist a terrorist organization last year. Tnuza Jamal Hassan, 19, was charged in federal court for attempting to provide material support to Al Qaeda, lying to the FBI and arson, Fox 9 reported. She was initially arrested Jan. 17 after she set eight fires in seven buildings on the St. Catherine University campus in St. Paul. The Minneapolis woman admitted to investigators that she started the fires...

A 129-year-old, strikingly beautiful West Pasadena church suffered major damage and the loss of at least one significant historical statue after a vandal or vandals broke in early Saturday morning, spray painted graffiti, destroyed property and set fire to the structure. Although the fire was quickly extinguished by the Los Angeles City Fire Department, the Church of the Angels, at 1100 Avenue 64, suffered major damage from the assault, Pasadena Fire Dept. spokesperson Lisa Derderian said. The fire was reported by a 911 caller in the neighborhood who saw smoke at about 2:20 a.m. A Los Angeles Fire Dept. spokesperson...

A fire damaged a 129-year-old Episcopalian church Saturday morning in Pasadena and statues outside the building were defaced, prompting an arson investigation. ...House of Worship Task Force also was summoned to investigate, according to Bastman. “At this time investigators are not calling this a hate crime, but referring to it as arson, graffiti, vandalism and a burglary,” said Lisa Derderian of the Pasadena Fire Department. The building, which was built in 1889, is the oldest church along the Arroyo Seco waterway, according to the church’s website.

A suspected arson attack that burnt down a French kosher grocery store near Paris on Tuesday has revived anti-Semitism fears in France, three years to the day since a deadly assault on a Jewish supermarket by a jihadist gunman.A suspected arson attack on a French kosher grocery store has revived anti-Semitism fears. The incident took place in Créteil to the south east of Paris in France’s Val-de-Marne department. The fire at the store Promo & Destock in Mont-Mesly in Créteil was signaled to the authorities at around 5 am on Tuesday morning. One or more of the individuals involved in...