Eideard

A cross-eyed arsonist, Andrew Burls, who set fire to an underwear shop during last summer’s London riots was caught after police recognised his distinctive eyes on CCTV footage.

The 23 year-old admitted starting the blaze in the Peckham store, south east London, which caused almost £1million damage and left several people homeless.

Despite efforts to disguise himself, detectives identified Burls, who was said to “go cross-eyed under stress”, after he left his eyes visible above a scarf wrapped around his face…

The fire, which started at Regens Lingerie Boutique in Rye Lane just after 7.30pm before spreading to a Post Office branch, other businesses and residential flats…Ten residents were displaced as a result of the fire and a small number were treated for the effects of smoke inhalation. No-one was seriously injured.

The thug, from Peckham, initially denied setting fire to the premises. But officers arrested him at his home, not far from the scene, on October 24 after sifting through hours of CCTV footage…

Burls at first denied arson but changed his plea to guilty at Inner London Crown Court on Monday after police found evidence to prove an alibi was false. No further details were tendered…

Peckham was one of the worst hit areas during last year’s riots as hundreds of youths ran through the high street wrecking shops, starting fires and pelting police officers with missiles. Tens of millions of pounds damage was caused by rioters.

Throw away the key.

Yeah, get him some glasses and eye therapy inside the slammer.

In the hours after the 2008 election of the country’s first African-American president, three white men crept up to a predominantly African-American church being built here in Springfield, Massachusetts, blessed it corruptly with gasoline — and faded into the fresh November night.

Soon the church’s pastor, Bishop Bryant Robinson Jr., was at the crime scene’s flickering edge, weary, saddened. Moments before, he had been anticipating a new chapter in American history, and now here was one page, stuck. He didn’t need an investigation to tell him this was a racist act of arson. He is a black man with snow in his hair; he knew.

As he watched the new home for the Macedonia Church of God in Christ burn to the ground, Bishop Robinson imagined only one response: Rebuild.

Now, nearly three years later, that election night’s crisp air of possibility has all but faded in Washington, where the first African-American president, Barack Obama, struggles with grinding wars, a broken economy and spirit-killing partisanship. But here in Springfield, the smoke has lifted to reveal a new, 20,000-square-foot church standing on top of an old crime scene, its sanctuary walls painted the color of a clear blue sky.

Resting in one of its pews the other day, a silver cane by his side, Bishop Robinson, 74, said that this building on Tinkham Road reflects the ever-unfolding American story of race, in Washington, Springfield, everywhere. “The hatred in our country,” he said. “And the goodness in our country.”

The election night burning of a New England church became national news…Two months after the fire, three white men in their 20s were charged with burning down the church to express their rage at the thought of a black president. Two pleaded guilty, and the third was convicted after trial, in a case that The Republican newspaper of Springfield described as a “blot on the whole city.”

“Unfortunately, it was a confirmation of my experiences as an African-American,” Bishop Robinson said, adding: “My faith teaches me to forgive, and I forgive them. But I cannot be accepting of their behavior. I cannot be victimized by hatred. So I have to move forward.”

How many Americans have not “moved forward”?

I’d rather you RTFA and study the courage and spirit of Bishop Robinson. I’m certain I’d find a number of issues to debate with the gentleman. I’m equally certain I’d be honored to welcome him under my roof.

Dropping water one bucket at a time

One of the dozens of massive blazes that have torched rain-starved Texas was set by arsonists, police say.

Cops in Leander are hunting for two teenage girls and two teenage boys suspected of starting a fire Monday night that gutted around a dozen houses and forced hundreds of people to evacuated their homes…

The teens were spotted running through a wooded area where the fire started, police said. The city was offering up to $2,000 to anyone with information leading to the arrest of the arsonists.

Local reports said the blaze ripped through at least 300 acres, destroyed 11 homes and damaged at least eight homes around Leander, about 22 miles northwest of Austin…

Investigators say one of girl suspects was wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans, and she had black hair that may have been dyed. The other girl was described as having dirty blond hair in a white T-shirt and jeans. Both boys had dark, shaggy hair and were dressed in jeans, police said. All four teens are white, cops said.

More than 150 different wildfires have ravaged hundreds of thousands of acres and destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Texas this week.

One fire, in Bastrop, southeast of Austin, was described as the most devastating wildfire in more than a decade. That fire raged for a fourth-consecutive day on Wednesday, consuming 45 square miles and forcing 7,000 to evacuate the area. More than 600 homes were said to have been destroyed, and four people have been killed.

Murder is murder is murder. If they catch these kids and they are proven to have started fires – throw away the key.

Yes, there are safety reasons for that – the maximum flying hours, not the cheapskate part.

Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

At least 53 people were killed in a fiery attack at a casino in an upscale area of Monterrey, Mexico, government and emergency officials said…

Witnesses have told investigators that up to six people entered the Casino Royale and asked for the manager, according Adrian de la Garza, the state attorney general for Nuevo Leon.

When the manager refused, they set the building on fire, he said. It’s believed a solvent was used to start the blaze, possibly gasoline, de la Garza said…

Between 20 and 30 people were trapped in the casino by debris, said Cmdr. Angel Flores with the Green Cross…

Monterrey is the capital of Nuevo Leon…Nuevo Leon and the neighboring states of Coahuila and Tamaulipas have been the scene of clashes between organized crime groups. The Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas are vying for control of trafficking routes into the United States.

In November 2010, the federal government launched the Coordinated Operation Northeast, which involves sending more security forces to the area to tackle crime.

A tactic which obviously hasn’t had the effect of diminishing violence.

A white man has been convicted of setting fire to a mostly black church in November 2008 to protest Barack Obama’s election as the nation’s first black president.

The arson fire on November 5, 2008, just hours after election results were announced, destroyed the almost-completed Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield, Massachusetts, about 90 miles west of Boston. Several firefighters were slightly injured battling the flames.

Prosecutors argued that Michael Jacques, 26, and two white friends were motivated by racial resentment when they doused the building with gasoline and torched it. The church’s congregation was about 90 percent African American and authorities said the white men wanted to denounce Obama’s victory.

After a three-week trial, the jury in U.S. District Court in Springfield deliberated for nearly three days before finding Jacques, of Springfield, guilty of conspiracy to violate civil rights, religious property damage because of race and damage to religious property by use of fire…

Jacques faces up to 60 years in prison when he is sentenced on September 15, said assistant attorney Paul Smyth, the lead prosecutor in the case.

Two other men charged in the hate crime, Benjamin Haskell and Thomas Gleason, both 24, already have pleaded guilty to similar charges. Haskell was sentenced in November to nine years in federal prison, and Gleason, who testified for the prosecution in the trial, will be sentenced in October…

The church is being rebuilt and is now expected to open later this year, its pastor, Bishop Bryant Robinson, said last month.

Throw away the key.

Coppers still searching for Davis [L] – Ortiz [R] sits in the slammer

Police arrested a suspect in an arsonist-for-hire in Titusville after they said he made a critical mistake — he left the tip of his finger at the scene of the crime.

Meanwhile, detectives are seeking the public’s help in finding the man they say was trying to pull off an insurance scam by burning down his house.

Police were called to a fire at a home on North Dixie Avenue about 11:15 a.m. Saturday. While they were investigating, police said, they discovered evidence of accelerants, leading them to determine that the fire was likely an arson.

Then, while sifting through evidence, officers got a tip — literally. They found a piece of a latex glove with the tip of a finger inside.

Police said they found their suspect at a local hospital. They matched the tip to 24-year-old Ismael Ortiz, who detectives said quickly confessed. But how did the suspect clip his tip? Detective Jessica Edens explained: Trying to flee after setting the fire, “he slammed his finger in the door,” Edens said, “and it cut the tip of his finger off.”

Police said Ortiz told detectives he was hired by a resident of the home, Samuel “Sammy” Davis. Investigators said Davis hired Ortiz to burn down the house so he could collect on a renters insurance policy…

Edens said Ortiz was arrested and booked into the Brevard County Jail.

I guess you get what you pay for – even when hiring a crook.

Ahson Saeed, of Corvallis reacts over burnt debris from the mosque
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been called in to aid the investigation into an arson fire at the Corvallis mosque where Portland bomb plot suspect Mohamed Osman Mohamud sometimes attended.

The fire at the Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center was discovered by an on-duty police sergeant at about 2:15 a.m. today. It took firefighters 10 minutes to put it out and it damaged about 80 percent of the office it was contained to. No one was injured.

FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said it’s standard for the agency to become involved in attacks on religious groups, but that the possible connection between the fire and the arrest of Mohamud makes their involvement even more important…

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information that leads to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the fire…

Arthur Balizan, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon stated: “We have made it quite clear that the FBI will not tolerate any kind of retribution or attack on the Muslim community…We are working very closely with the leadership at the mosque. We will find the person responsible for this attack and bring the full force of the federal justice system to bear…”

If you’ve followed the details of the teenage fool who wanted to commit terrorist murders at a tree lighting ceremony, you would know that the initiatives that turned this creep up to the FBI and Homeland Security came from the Islamic community in Oregon.

OTOH, the sort of cowardly bigot that committed the arson attack upon the Corvallis mosque will likely turn out to be someone who has trouble reading the Sunday comics.

Samantha Broadhead released into her aunt’s custody

Although prosecutors once pleaded with a judge to keep her locked up, the 11-year-old Clearwater girl accused of setting her mother on fire has been sentenced to probation.

That’s a big contrast compared to early stages of the case, when the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office said “she’s a danger to herself, and she’s a danger to the community,” and seriously considered whether to try to indict the girl in the adult court system for attempted murder.

It’s also a contrast to her 15-year-old accomplice, who was sentenced to a juvenile program that could keep him locked up for two years.

The girl, with her blond hair tied back, wearing black slacks and a green top, pleaded guilty on Monday to juvenile charges of attempted murder, arson and grand theft. It all stemmed from a December night in which she and Jack Ault, her boyfriend, were accused of dousing her mother’s bed with gasoline and setting it ablaze. Nancy Broadhead, then 47, suffered serious burns and smoke inhalation.

On Monday, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Jack Day sentenced her to “indefinite probation,” and to comply with doctors’ recommendations that she stay in a mental health facility for as long as needed. The sentence prohibits her from contacting her accomplice, Ault, and says she can only talk to her mother/victim under the terms of a separate child welfare court case. Also, a formal finding of guilt was withheld.

RTFA. Bad Seed or Best-Interest Plea in response to an abusive parent?

Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Angry protesters in northern India set fire to a train and a railway station in protest at a move not to stop at remote stations, railway police say.

About 200 protesters attacked Khusrupur station in Bihar, It is not clear if anyone was injured. Local television channels showed flames and smoke billowing out of the burning train and stick-wielding protesters standing nearby.

Residents are said to have been incensed after watching the Patna-Calcutta train speed by without stopping.

“That train did not stop there, so they went berserk and attacked the Dhanapur intercity express,” senior railway police officer Rajender Singh told the Associated Press

New Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said the protests were “unfortunate”.

“Unfortunate”? You’ve got to be kidding. It’s fracking anarchy.

She said she was unaware of where the order not to stop at certain stations had come from. Ms Banerjee said an inquiry would be held to establish who was behind the order…

Former railway minister Laloo Yadav is from Bihar and railway officials say he had many major trains halting at dozens of smaller stations during his tenure.

Railway ministers in India often reward their constituencies by launching new trains or halting existing trains at existing stations in their area.

A US firm is offering $5,000 (£3,450) for clues leading to the arrest of an arsonist who has been setting portable toilets on fire across San Francisco.

The Clorox Company is also offering a year’s supply of toilet cleaning products in exchange for such tips.

More than two dozen toilets on San Francisco construction sites have been set on fire in the city in recent months, the Associated Press reports.

The cost of the damage has been estimated at $50,000.

The free cleaning products is a nice touch.

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Unrelated Link: What is it? (pictured above)