In yet another sign of the times, a deranged teenager torched the Beth Israel Synagogue in the heart of northeast Jackson.
I have been to the beautiful synagogue many times for seminars and funerals. I am heartbroken by this. I am confident my sentiment is shared by almost every Northsider.
U.S. Attorney J.E. Baxter Kruger of the Southern District of Mississippi said, “This hateful, anti-Semitic attack on the Beth Israel Congregation is disturbing and unacceptable. Mississippians may rest assured that my office will not stand idly by when violence and intimidation threaten our community. We will seek the most serious charges warranted by the evidence and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. We remain fully committed to standing with Jewish Americans and protecting our communities from hatred and harm.”
Special Agent in Charge Robert A. Eikhoff of the FBI Jackson Field Office said, "Houses of worship are sacred. Citizens of Mississippi of all faiths and backgrounds have the right to worship free of violence and intimidation. The heinous actions of Stephen Spencer Pittman, which allegedly sought to destroy the Beth Israel synagogue, will not be tolerated. While Mr. Pittman acted alone, FBI Jackson will continue to work with our federal, state, and local partners to hold accountable those who seek to infringe on the rights of Americans. The FBI is committed to protecting all places of worship and delivering justice for our communities. As always, we encourage the public to remain vigilant and to promptly report suspicious activities that could represent a threat to public safety."
The incident brings back memories of September 18, 1967. The then-new temple on Old Canton Road was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan. Beth Israel Congregation was founded in 1860, and it has operated in its present location since 1967.
A Justice Department press release stated: “Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, of Madison, Mississippi, used gasoline to set fire to the religious building in the early morning hours of Saturday, January 10, 2026. The fire resulted in extensive damage to a significant portion of the building and rendered it inoperable for an indefinite period of time.”
Churches throughout the Northside are reaching out to Beth Israel to offer spiritual and financial support. At my men’s prayer group at Covenant Presbyterian Church we discussed next steps for providing aid. Then later that day at the Rotary Club of North Jackson, president Neelam Goel made a statement of support which no doubt will be backed up with aid.
This is not only a tragedy for Beth Israel, it is a tragedy for the young man who did this foul deed and his entire family and network of friends.
During his initial appearance Spencer Pittman, a former baseball player at St. Joseph Catholic School in Madison, said “Yes sir. Jesus Christ is Lord” when asked by Magistrate Judge Andrew Harris if he understood his rights.
The teenager’s father implored his son not to do it during a text exchange just before the arson. His father later reported his son to the FBI. We need to pray for their family.
This is all so sad and heartbreaking but a sign of the times when our media is now dominated by Big Tech algorithms which lead impressionable young minds down rabbit holes of conspiracy and rage. The teenager referred to Beth Israel as a “synagogue of Satan” in court documents.
We see these terrible incidents playing out again and again throughout our nation, fueled by algorithms designed to captivate and engage. It just so happens the best way to engage a young mind is to convince that young mind of a massive conspiracy that threatens the world. This will only get worse with artificial intelligence chatbots. Something must be done to regulate these Big Tech algorithms.
The rampant algorithm-fueled tribalism is causing the disintegration of our institutions and social structures. It’s harder to deny it when it happens in your neighborhood. Teenage mental illness is 50 percent higher today than 20 years ago, including suicide, depression, anxiety and psychosis.
Just as the rest of the nation is becoming outraged by skyrocketing power bills caused by electricity-sucking data centers, Mississippi is running headlong into the data center storm.
Just last week Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves announced a $20 billion data center project in Desoto County. Huge data center projects have already been announced in Meridian, Madison and Vicksburg. These four data centers will consume far more electricity than the rest of the state.
The Meridian project just won the award for “Worst Economic Development Deal in the Nation” by The Center for Economic Accountability.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that one of the nation’s largest suppliers of electricity, PJM, has a big data center headache. The article is titled, “America’s Biggest Power Grid Operator Has an AI Problem—Too Many Data Centers.”
PJM serves 67 million people in a 13-state region from New Jersey to Kentucky, including Northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley.”
The article states, “Rates are going up for consumers. Older power plants are going out of service faster than new ones can be built. And the grid’s capacity is in danger of maxing out during periods of high demand, which could force PJM to call for rolling blackouts during heat waves or deep freezes to avoid damaging grid infrastructure.
“In New Jersey, rates for residents spiked by about 20% in June. Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill made electricity prices a signature issue in her campaign, vowing in her victory speech to ‘declare a state of emergency on day one’ to drive down utility costs.”
The Desoto County project is headed by Elon Musk. Musk has done several “behind the meter (BTM)” deals. A BTM deal is not connected to the grid, but feeds power through its own generating facilities directly. This is far preferable to Madison’s Amazon deal which sucks power from the grid and passes costs onto average ratepayers.
The Desoto County data center will consume two gigawatts of power — as much as the whole state of Mississippi. Given the huge impact of these data centers and brewing problems elsewhere in the country, it behooves our state officials to slow down the pace.
