Tag: arson

DERANGED Anti-Trump Leftist Charged with Hate Crime After Burning Cross With MAGA Hat on Top in Chicago’s Grant Park Released From Jail — Judge Only Bans Him From Possessing Wood or Kerosene

A 21-year-old anti-Trump activist charged with multiple felonies, including hate crimes, was released from jail Thursday after burning a cross in Chicago’s Grant Park and placing a Make America Great Again hat on top of it.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, what was initially hyped by Chicago officials, Rev. Michael Pfleger, and media as a racist “white supremacist” or KKK-style attack in Grant Park turned out to be the work of a deranged anti-Trump, anti-MAGA leftist.

On June 9, 2026, police and firefighters responded to a burning cross in Chicago’s Grant Park.

The incident prompted immediate backlash, and one local church offered a $10,000 reward to help make an arrest, and local officials were quick to blame the incident on racism and ‘white supremacists.’

Block Club Chicago reports that Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church, who offered the reward,  noted, “Racism has always been a part of America’s DNA, and this week it has raised its head boldly and loudly,” Pfleger said in a statement.

“This bold rise of racism must be condemned by every race, faith community, and Chicagoan as was done with the swastika and treated as a hate crime.”

As it turns out, however, the cross-burner is an Asian man, Merlin Lu, 21, a University of Illinois Chicago senior, who burned the cross, adorned with a MAGA hat, to protest President Trump and MAGA.

Lu allegedly told police that “The greatest threat to the American people is [President] Trump, [Jeffrey] Epstein, their billionaire pedophile friends, and their MAGA Christian nationalist base.”

Now, the same Merlin Lu,  has been released back onto the streets by a Cook County judge after facing serious felony charges for torching a cross with a MAGA hat tied on top.

On Thursday, Lu appeared in Cook County court. Despite the gravity of the charges, multiple felonies targeting a protected class and using fire to intimidate, the judge refused to detain him. Lu was released pending trial (next court date June 22).

The judge’s tough-talking condition? Lu is prohibited from possessing fire-starting materials like wood or kerosene. That’s it.

Not held without bond. Not monitored aggressively. Just “don’t buy wood or kerosene,” as if this unhinged individual who openly frames Trump supporters and Christians as existential threats alongside pedophile billionaires will suddenly become harmless without kindling.

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Spencer Pratt Says He Was Victim of Arson Attack at His Crystals Company Office: ‘This Was No Accident’

Reality TV personality and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt is claiming that a fire at his Pacific Palisades crystal company office was no accident and may have been politically motivated.

The fire broke out on Thursday at the Highlands Circle business complex, where Pratt Daddy Crystals is located.

The building, which previously housed the Casa Nostra restaurant, was undergoing renovations at the time.

Multiple fire crews responded to the scene, and the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Arson Unit was later called in to investigate.

No injuries were reported.

Pratt told The New York Post that he believes the fire was deliberate.

“I want to be careful to not compromise an arson investigation, but this incident is very suspicious,” Pratt said.

“I will wait for the investigators to make public the details, but this was no accident, and the timing of this…on the heels of all of the contentious election tomfoolery of the last two weeks, it is very suspect, indeed.”

He went further, suggesting the fire could be retaliation for his criticism of Democrat politicians.

“There are many unscrupulous people in this city who will stop at nothing to silence people who expose the corruption that has overrun our city,” Pratt said.

“This fire was not an accident, and it would not surprise me in the least if this were a reprisal for my work in opposing Karen Bass and Nithya Raman, and having the audacity as a civilian to try and do my civic duty and improve our broken city.”

The fire came just days after Pratt placed third in the June 2 Los Angeles mayoral primary with 26% of the vote. Many have questioned the validity of his seeming to have secured second place, only to be pushed out by a sudden influx of ballots for his opponent.

Pratt recently posted a defiant video promising to release damaging evidence related to the campaign and city leadership.

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Calif.: Fire damage identified on mail-in ballots in L.A. ahead of primary elections

Fire damage was identified on a number of mail-in ballots from a drop box in Los Angeles, according to the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (RR/CC).

In a Sunday press release, the RR/CC said “staff identified a limited number of Vote by Mail ballots that appeared to have sustained fire-related damage inside an Official Ballot Drop Box at the Department of Public Social Services-Civic Center.”

“Preliminary information indicates the incident was isolated and involved a small number of ballots, as it occurred between the most recent scheduled collection and the following morning’s retrieval,” the release stated.

It added that staff had filed a report with local police and would fully cooperate as the investigation continued.

The office also related a separate incident on Sunday morning when vandalism was discovered at the Cesar E. Chavez Park voting center in L.A. County, though it claimed that voting operations were not disrupted.

“Voting is a fundamental right, and Los Angeles County remains committed to ensuring every eligible voter can cast a ballot safely and confidently,” said L.A. County Board Chair and First District Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, per the release.

“Any attempt to vandalize election facilities, damage voting materials, or interfere with the voting process is unacceptable. We take these incidents seriously and will continue working with election officials and law enforcement partners to protect voters and uphold the integrity of our elections,” she continued.

The RR/CC also said it was working to identify the voters potentially affected by the incidents.

“Voters whose ballots may have been impacted by the Drop Box incident will be contacted directly and provided information about available options, including replacement ballots if necessary,” the office stated.

Sunday’s announcement comes just ahead of California’s June 2nd primary elections, which include the highly contested gubernatorial primary race.

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Woman Indicted for Attempted Arson at Texas Republican Party Headquarters, Left Note Saying ‘F*CK DJT, F*CK ICE’

A 22-year-old woman has been federally indicted for attempting to burn down the Comal County Republican Party Headquarters.

According to federal prosecutors, Grace Carol Brown broke a window at the building on Landa Street on January 14, threw a backpack containing ethanol, gasoline, a lighter, and matches inside, attempted to climb through the broken window, and when that failed, lit a rolled-up magazine on fire and tossed it into the structure.

A small fire caused minor damage, but no one was injured.

Employees discovered the damage when they arrived for work.

Investigators also found a note at the scene in which Brown allegedly expressed extreme hostility toward the Republican Party, ICE, and federal officials.

Court documents and multiple reports describe the note as saying, “Report this: I burned down the Nazi Party of NB’s office. F-CK DJT F-CK ICE, Liberty or die.”

Additional writings found in the backpack called Republican officials “Enemies of the U.S. Constitution.”

The DOJ explained in a press release:

An investigation determined that Brown displayed antipathy through writings and actions, toward the goals and activities of the Comal County Republican Party Headquarters, law enforcement elements of the United States government to include ICE, and certain Executive Branch officials whom she allegedly referred to as “Enemies of the U.S. Constitution.”

Brown was arrested on January 22 by New Braunfels Police and the FBI.

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Over 123 Historic Christian Churches In Canada Burned Or Vandalized In Past 5 Years – More Than 220 Burned In Europe

In many of Canada’s small towns sits an architectural wonder. It’s their church. These are the centerpiece of each town. They tower over the residential homes and small businesses. Often, massive structures with intricate designs and steeples, some of which are over 200 years old.

Many of these small towns are “defined by their churches”. Is this the reason they are being torched? Who is benefiting from this systemic removal of Christian churches across Canada and Europe? The respective governments can no longer deny that these fires are a pattern.

All across Canada, churches are being vandalized and burned to the ground. The Canadian government seems to have little interest in learning why or stopping it. A recent study by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute proclaims arson of Canadian churches has doubled since 2021.

The Gateway Pundit recently reported on all the churches that have been burned in Europe over the last few years. Data from Ecclesiastical Insurance, the popular insurer of Christian buildings in Europe, stated that from 2020 to 2024, there were over 200 incidents of arson affecting churches.

Investigators in Canada have only charged people in 4% of the church arsons between 2021 and 2023. Because of this, the “official motives” are unknown in more than 96% of the cases. However, in Europe, local newspapers say the common cause of the arson is mental illness, or “pyromania”, with no particular ideological reason. That’s truly hard to believe.

The most recent Canadian church to burn was in the lake town of Saint-Romain, Quebec. It burned on the evening of April 13th. Their original church was built in 1893.  It’s a very small town of roughly 800 people. The following day of the fire, the founder of Rebel News, Ezra Levant, went to the site and noticed no other news outlets. The major news organizations in Canada have mostly ignored this arson trend. Politicians have been accused of downplaying the attacks.

Even though roughly 45 firefighters from six stations were dispatched, the Church burned completely to the ground. It’s hard to make sense of how this could happen. In 2025, the town built a new $1.7mil Fire Department just 430 ft. from the church (image below). Fire officials said they saved the church bells and the cross from the top of the steeple.

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Man Accused of Starting Palisades Fire Had Become Obsessed With Leftist Ideas According to Prosecutors

New court filings show that the alleged arsonist who started the January 2025 Pacific Palisades fire in California is a deranged leftist who hated capitalism, resented the rich, and was angry at the world.

As a reminder, these are the hallmarks of today’s unhinged, anti-American, anti-social left.

These findings were presented in a memorandum filed last week in the case United States vs. Jonathan Rinderknecht, ahead of his June 8 trial.

Rinderknecht has been charged with three federal felony counts for starting the Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people, destroyed 7,000 homes and businesses, and caused $150 billion in damages.

In the weeks preceding the arson, Rinderknecht’s online searches included phrases such as “lets kill all the billionaires,” “let’s take down all the billionaires,” and “free Luigi Mangione,” according to WESH-TV.

Mangione is currently in jail awaiting trial for the December 2024 assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Mangione’s personal journal entries suggested he targeted the insurance executive because of his intense hatred for the American for-profit health insurance industry, which he called a “greed-fueled cartel.”

According to the memo in Rinderknecht’s case, the leftist lunatic — who worked as an Uber driver in the weeks preceding the Palisades fire — ranted against capitalism and whined about Mangione’s arrest.

“Many of defendant’s Uber passengers on December 31, 2024 and January 1, 2025, described defendant as angry, intense, driving erratically, and ranting about being ‘pissed off at the world’ and Luigi Mangione, capitalism, and vigilantism,” prosecutors wrote, per the New York Post.

“When asked why someone would ultimately set the blaze, Rinderknecht allegedly responded that it ‘would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as ‘we’re basically being enslaved by them,’ and compared such an act of ‘desperation’ to the murder for which Mangione was charged,” according to the pretrial memo.

In a nutshell, Rinderknecht is the poster boy for today’s deranged left, whose primary characteristics are emotional incontinence, violence, and fetishization of criminality.

It’s not surprising that Rinderknecht romanticized accused assassin Luigi Mangione, since liberals constantly lionize criminals while undermining the safety of law-abiding Americans.

In the months preceding the Palisades fire, Democrats and their media puppets beclowned themselves by falsely blaming “climate change” for the massive blaze that, in reality, seems to have been caused by a left-wing arsonist.

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London Sees THIRD Attack on Jewish Sites in a Week, as Attempted Arsonist Targets Synagogue

UK Jews are in increasing danger.

An attempted arson attack targeted a synagogue in North London overnight, as the incidents multiply in Labour-led Britain.

It’s the third occurrence at Jewish sites in the capital this week, and it comes in the context of 3,700 antisemitic incidents recorded in the United Kingdom in 2025.

The UK establishment and the lying MSM will blame the military confrontations in the Middle East for this state of things – but, in fact, these attacks are the direct result of their own suicidal ‘unchecked mass migration’ policies.

CBS News reported:

“The fire caused minor smoke damage to a room at Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, London, according to the Community Security Trust, which provides safety advice to Jewish groups. No injuries were reported.”

Metropolitan Police officers noticed damage to the window of the Synagogue, and saw smoke inside a room, with evidence that a bottle with accelerant had been thrown through the window.

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Man Pleads Guilty to Firebombing Nonprofit with Napalm Device – ALSO Tried to Hand Hezbollah a Hit List of 35,000 Israelis Saying “Start the Hunt”

A man allegedly linked to “white supremacist movements” has now pleaded guilty to a disturbing series of crimes, including firebombing a nonprofit using a napalm-style device and attempting to assist the foreign terrorist organization Hezbollah.

28-year-old Regan Darby Prater of Tullahoma, Tennessee, stood before a federal judge in Knoxville and copped to one count of arson and one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

According to the Department of Justice, Prater admitted he drove from his home to the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, Tennessee.

According to the press release:

“Regan Darby Prater, 28, currently of Tullahoma, Tennessee, entered a guilty plea to one count of arson and one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Prater pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville. Sentencing has been set before U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan for Sept. 9, in Knoxville.

Prater faces up to 20 years in federal prison, along with related fines, restitution, and a term of supervised release to be served after he is released from custody. As part of his agreement, Prater waived indictment by a Federal Grand Jury and agreed to plead guilty to the aforementioned charges.

Court documents establish that Prater used a so-called “sparkler bomb,” i.e., a napalm-based incendiary device ignited by a common sparkler, to destroy facilities maintained by the Highlander Center, a school for grassroots leaders and social movements in New Market, Tennessee. As part of his guilty plea, Prater admitted that he drove from his home in Tullahoma to the Highlander Center, ignited the sparkler bomb, and destroyed a building, ultimately causing over $1.2 million in damage.

Before he detonated the bomb, Prater spray-painted the symbol of the Iron Guard, a 1930s-era paramilitary arm of the Romanian Nazi Party, in the Highlander Center parking lot. This same symbol was engraved on the rifle used in the terrorist attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, just two weeks prior to the arson. Prater acknowledged that he committed the arson at the Highland Center due to his white-supremacist ideology and as a response to the Highlander Center’s faith-based educational priorities and its association with the Civil Rights Movement.

Separately, Prater also admitted that, in 2019, he attempted to provide material support to Hizballah, also known as “Hezbollah,” which the United States has recognized as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997. Specifically, Prater obtained a document purporting to contain personally identifiable information of over 35,000 individuals purportedly affiliated with the government of Israel. He then provided that document to an individual he believed to be associated with Hizballah, stating, among other things: “Start the hunt.””

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Yet Another HISTORIC CHURCH TORCHED In Canada

Another historic church lies in ashes after a major fire tore through Saint-Romain, Quebec, last night. The building, whose construction began in 1893, is the latest casualty in a relentless campaign against Canada’s Christian institutions that has seen arsons more than double since 2021.

The post, which included video of the blaze, has ignited widespread outrage across X, with people quick to assume who the likely culprits are.

That CBC News investigation documented the surge in detail. A subsequent Macdonald-Laurier Institute report confirmed arson attacks on religious institutions more than doubled from pre-2021 baselines, with fewer than 4% of cases resulting in charges—leaving over 96% unsolved.

Western nations are watching the same erosion. In the UK, churches face more than 10 crimes every single day.

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Son of trans hockey shooter revealed to be arsonist who attempted to burn down black church as cops seize terrifying weapons stash

The son of the transgender shooter who opened fire at a high school hockey game is serving time in federal prison for setting fire to a black church.

Robert Dorgan, 56, who also went by ‘Roberta Esposito,’ took his own life after he fired shots inside the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on Monday afternoon, killing his son Aidan Dorgan, 23, and his ex-wife Rhonda, 52.

Dorgan’s in-laws, Linda and Gerald Dorgan, both 75, and her friend Thomas Geruoso, 54, an assistant principal at Shea High School in Pawtucket also remain in critical condition at a local hospital following the rampage.

While investigating the shooting, authorities discovered that Dorgan was the biological father of Kevin Colantonio, 37, who tried to burn down the Shiloh Gospel Temple Ministries in North Providence two years ago.

North Providence Police Chief Alfredo Ruggiero Jr. told the Boston Globe that investigators made the connection on Wednesday and reviewed an interview they conducted with Colantonio’s mother, Marlyse Dunbar, following his arrest.

She told officers at the time that Dorgan – who has a Nazi-inspired tattoo on his bicep and voiced his support for ‘white power’ – was Colantonio’s father. 

The development came as police released images of firearms they recovered after conducting a search of Dorgan’s apartment, work locker, and storage unit.

The images depicted a sawed-off shotgun and AR-15 style rifle seized from the storage unit. Two handguns were recovered at the scene of the massacre.

People close with the family have since told WPRI that Dorgan influenced his son’s dangerous fixation on race. 

The son even scrawled white nationalist messages in notebooks seized by federal investigators following the fire on February 11, 2024. 

One disturbing message read: ‘Hunt them down gun everyone down that isn’t white, if one is white spread the gospel. Always gibe our bloodline a chance.’

‘Eliminate Rich Snob global Elite Pastors, burn churches down to the ground, when congregants move to [the] next church, do the same,’ read another of Colantonio’s messages.

Authorities said Colantonio bought a Bic lighter and $10 worth of gas from a local gas station before walking over to the Shiloh Gospel Temple Ministries, a Pentecostal church with about 100, mostly black, members.

Once at the church, Colantonio poured gasoline around its base and ignited five different fires, all of which were quickly extinguished – but not before causing significant damage to the church.

‘Due to the damage, church congregants were prevented from enjoying their free exercise of religious beliefs as church services were canceled until the church could be reopened,’ federal prosecutors said. 

Just one day after the blaze, court documents showed Colantonio privately messaged an unidentified family member and said no one in the community cared about the arson.

In those messages, he called the church ‘Atheist God mockers,’ adding: ‘They’re busy dancing around collecting money.’

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