The case of the now-confessed Spokane arsonist leaves your humble correspondent breathless and sad. We'll sort out why below, but when we run down the clues of this caper, you may wonder why 700 homes burned at all.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass didn't think that dirty drug den encampments would impose, as the left is fond of saying — externalities—on the rest of the people who, you know, like to wash. And, as colleague Rick Moran will point out, it has reached "Positively Medieval" levels.
And, Oregon Republicans move to make hunting and fishing a constitutional right. Not a typo.
Lots to talk about so let's get going!
'Lucky' shirt
The story of the guy arrested for the Old Oaks Fire in Spokane, Wash., just keeps getting more gobsmacking.
First of all, as I explained in my piece "The Guy Arrested for the Spokane Fire Has Been Investigated Before for ... Aw, You Guessed It," he was a patricidal murderer who spent 10 years in an Arizona slammer on a reduced charge of manslaughter. According to his former attorney on that case, he didn't feel that Aaron F. Farinacci was mentally capable of helping in his own defense, noting the then-21-year-old had been on the psychiatrist's couch for years.
I talked about this on Seattle radio on Thursday, and on an almost hourly basis the story changed from tragic to tragic and head-shaking.
When he separated from the parole and probation department in Arizona, his PO didn't bother referring him for a psych eval because he had a girlfriend. No, really.
Now that Farinacci has confessed to more than two dozen fires, his court-appointed attorney has, predictably, raised the same concerns about the mental fitness of the 37-year-old father. Yes, he procreated.
More pertinent to the cases of the latest 700 torched homes and dozens of other buildings, however, is the fact that Farinacci was questioned about two 2025 fires that he now admits to setting. And when he was questioned last year, the investigator in that case noted his green T-shirt that read, "who needs luck I have charm."
In a probable cause affidavit from last summer, Farinacci was questioned about a fire in his neighborhood. He wasn't arrested. Apparently, a judge or magistrate didn't think there was enough evidence to issue an arrest warrant. Did the investigator leave out the part that showed the dude was a mental case murderer? If the investigator included that information, and they still couldn't get an arrest warrant, then Spokane has a judge problem. A big one.
When he was arrested this week, after a good Samaritan identified him, Farinacci was wearing the same "lucky charm" t-shirt.
President Trump has issued a disaster proclamation to help homeowners rebuild.
Read It: HOT BOOK SUMMER: Spy Thriller Addicts Will Eat Up Alex Dekker's Smart Debut Novel 'Desert Heist'
'Climate Change' uses matches
The man who's most responsible for Washington's high energy prices, former Gov. Jay Inslee, immediately went to guns over what started the fire.
"Climate change," said the enviro nutter.
Yesterday, Governor Inslee (D-WA) said the fire in Spokane was from "climate change"
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 4, 2026
An arson suspect was just arrested pic.twitter.com/uj1WJC1gL5
Farinacci was arrested with a fanny pack full of matches, a butane lighter, and cigarettes he admitted he carried to explain why he had his fire-setting equipment on his person.
It appears that "climate change" uses matches.
Disease-ridden rats
And we're not just talking about the wrong-headed commies at Los Angeles city hall. As PJ Media's Rick Moran writes in his piece "Los Angeles Isn't Just a Third World City. The Typhus Outbreak Is Positively Medieval":
Flea-borne typhus does not spread directly from person to person. But when you have four million people living in close quarters and the little rascals; it's nothing for a flea to leap from human to human, infecting them with the Rickettsia typhi bacteria.
"Since 2009, the number of flea-borne typhus cases in L.A. has increased by a staggering 2,300 percent," write Christopher Rufo and Ryan Thorpe in City Journal. "Last year, the county recorded more cases than at any point in its history."
Keep Up! West Coast, Messed Coast™—Seattle: Commie Mayors and Outta Town Police Chiefs Are Deadly
A tale of two violent rioters
It's hard to conceive that California federal judges might be tougher than Oregon ones, but here we are.
In Los Angeles, a 23-year-old rioter who "pour[ed] two bottles of lighter fluid onto a burning California Highway Patrol (CHP) vehicle and throwing an electric scooter over a freeway overpass near officers during an anti‑immigration law enforcement riot in a downtown Los Angeles last year" has been sent to federal prison for 37 months.
Yachua Mauricio Flores, who's old enough to know better, was sentenced by United States District Judge John F. Walter, who also ordered him to pay $253,415 in restitution.
Acting "First Assistant" U.S. Attorney — the moniker Bill Essayli has to use because John Thune can't get squat passed through the Senate — says that, “Violent attacks on law enforcement will result in federal prison time. Those who escalate chaos and endanger officers will be held accountable."
Too bad Essayli doesn't have a clone in Oregon, because an Antifa affiliated rioter who head-butted, kicked, and grabbed their nads and other private equipment of five federal officers outside Portland's ICE facility got no jail time. Zero.
The Post Millennial reports that U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio sentenced August Dean Gordon, who's 32 and old enough to know better, in late July to four months of home detention followed by five years of probation. The prosecutor sought a four-month prison term, while the defense asked for one year of supervised release.
Do you know what's really bad for mental health? Getting headbutted, kicked, and yanked in the nads by a "ready for combat" Delta Bravo at 3:30 in the morning, who in Antifa uniform of black bloc, "elbow pads, chest and back padding, a black bicycle helmet, clear goggles, and a blue surgical mask."
He has a lack of prior criminal history because Antifa dude has been wearing masks and Portland Police don't arrest them.
This judge is not just a waste of space but stupid.
Judge Baggio was a former federal public defender and was named a Multnomah County Circuit Judge in 2020. I'll bet she didn't notice Antifa during that year, either. She was given the federal position in 2023 by Joe Biden.
Hunting license
In May, I told you that Oregon Is a Step Closer to Outlawing Hunting and Gathering in our weekly West Coast, Messed Coast™ update. The initiative effort to do that failed to make the November ballot, thank goodness, and now the GOP gubernatorial candidate, state lawmaker Christine Drazan, is launching an effort to codify hunting, fishing, and "the cultivation of crops, and livestock" in the Oregon Constitution.
Yes, it's that ridiculous that one must enshrine a normal pastime of Oregonians into the state constitution to protect themselves from the nutters.
Guess who's coming to speak at my alma mater?
We guess they ran out of other antisemites to invite.
So True: Seattle Is in Free Fall
Invitation to a hero
President Trump has issued an invitation to the 16-year-old Santa Cruz lifeguard whose heroic rescue of a swimmer impressed millions of Americans. Trump wants to give Ryder Williams the nation's highest civilian honor.
They haven't ruined everything—yet
You can't dampen the spirit of prayer warriors who have opened a garden space in Portland's Chinatown to minister to the ample number of drug addicts, and everyone else, living on the streets.
The Urban Abbey has been in the planning stages for a while and is supported by a number of local churches, including Bridgetown, Grace Chapel, and Imago Dei. And, it turns out, Pete Grieg's church in Guildford, England — Emmaus Rd. — has had a hand in it, too.
They tried to ruin the city, but the church has other ideas.
Thanks to my kid, who drew my attention to this effort.
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