Some of you thought the Bible story about Samson setting fire to his enemies' fields with foxes was sensational:
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The Anadolu Agency reports that there have been 162 arsonists arrested in France alone.
(They don't report the ethnicity or immigration status of the arsonists because of course not.)
Italy's arsonists are the worst of the bunch.
Forensics show that fires in Italy were set by attaching flaming rags to cats' tails and letting them loose through fields and forests.
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Like I said, someone's been gettin ideas from Samson and his foxes.
CNN reports,
As wildfires blazed in southern Italy this week, authorities probing for arson found a grisly clue: cats ‘with flammable-soaked rags tied to their tails.'
‘These animals were released into the fields, running around and spreading the fire,' said Domenico Costarella of Calabria's Civil Protection Agency in a video posted on Facebook on Tuesday. He added that other pieces of evidence also pointed to arson, including candles lit among flammable rags and delayed ignition devices.
The usual crowd ignored all the arson and blamed all the fires on climate change.
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Apparently, the mob is known for starting these fires, and you'll never believe why.
Using cats to spread fire is not a new phenomenon in southern Italy. In 2016, authorities in Sicily blamed the mob for using cats to start forest fires in a national park. The next year, officials said the same tactic was used to set fires outside of Naples, near Mount Vesuvius.
UC Berkeley researcher Lauren Pearson told CNN last year that there is evidence that Mafia groups often set fires to gain control of territory, often buying land at a premium in the aftermath.
In recent years, Pearson said, some organized crime groups have taken advantage of Italy's clean energy transition; one farmer who testified to an anti-Mafia commission in 2022 said he was approached by solar panel companies to sell his land after it had been burned.
Organized crime is taking advantage of Europe's climate change laws to get cheap land.
Never mind that they're the ones burning the land in the first place!
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