News Sparks: Teenage Shul Arsonist Charged, BLM Leader Threatens Adams with "Riots" if He Returns to Tougher Policing

By Yehudit Garmaise

Teen Charged After Setting Shul on Fire in Austin, Texas

An 18-year old boy, Franklin Barrett Secriest, has been arrested and charged with first-degree felony arson after he allegedly intentionally set fire and caused $25,000 in damages to the porch, entryway, floor mats, and glass of Congregation Beth Israel in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 31.

The reason for the crime is unknown, but the arson appears to be a hate crime.

Surveillance video recorded Secriest driving a Jeep, whose license plate helped to identify him and his home address, into the shul’s parking and getting out of his car with a green container of liquid, that was later found to be flammable. Not long after, smoke and light from a fire is seen in the background, as the perpetrator, who is still carrying the green container, court paperwork said.

Sechriest was booked into the Travis County Jail last night at 6:20 pm, where he remained on $100,000 bond, which had not yet posted as of this morning, according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.

Israel Conduct Exercises to Prepare for Potential Future COVID Outbreaks

To prepare for outbreak of a new, more lethal variant of COVID-19, today Israel initiated a nationwide drill that tested the readiness of the country’s systems in the case of another potential viral flare-up.

The purpose of the country’s practice operation was to enhance the structures that determine lockdown policies, enforce quarantines, monitor variants, watch border crossings, and offer economic support to citizens.

“While the situation of coronavirus in the world is deteriorating, Israel is safe and protected,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said. “In order to maintain this, and to safeguard the continuity of normal life, we must continue to closely monitor the situation and prepare for any scenario.”

BLM Leaders Vows Bloodshed if Adams Reinstates Tough Policing

Black Lives Matter co-founder Hawk Newsome is not one of the many New Yorkers who are breathing sighs of relief that Mayor-elect Eric Adams has promised to bring back the Anti-Crime Unit that NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea disbanded in June 2020, after several of its officers were involved in the deaths of Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, and Eric Garner, whose last words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry for the BLM movement.

In a debate with Adams yesterday at Brooklyn Borough Hall, Newsome vowed the return of “riots,” “fire,” and “bloodshed” if the mayor-elect follows through with his promise to reinstate the Anti-Crime Unit as an Anti-Gun Unit.

Fearing that a return to tougher policing will bring with it more police brutality to people of color, Newsome said, “If they think they are going back to the old ways of policing then we’re going to take to the streets again.

“I am not threatening anyone. I am just saying that it’s a natural response to aggressive oppression, people will react.”

Adams responded by saying there is “no reason we cannot have both safe streets and racial justice in our city.”

“I put my body on the line for my community,” said mayor-elect Adams, who later said he promised he was going to re-institute the Anti-Gun Unit, and he won't back down. “So I’m not here for folks to come and say ‘I’m going to hold you accountable.’”

(Kevin P. Coughlin / Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)