By Ben Johnson

Media bias manifests itself not just in the way liberal reporters shade the truth, repeat extreme ideologues’ talking points, or attack traditional values in their stories. It also takes place by ignoring stories that do not fit their narrative.

During the frenetic early days of the second Trump administration, the legacy media have glossed over or ignored stories of broad interest to tens of millions of their readers — including a story of a far-left senator slapping a Christian pastor who told a drag queen not to use the girls’ restroom, Planned Parenthood “accidentally” giving sexually explicit material to young children, sanctuary cities flouting federal law by releasing criminal aliens onto U.S. streets, accounting gimmicks that made the Biden administration’s national debt seem smaller than it was, and a Christian member of the U.S. Senate revealing the one prayer he says every day when he enters the fray of political combat.

1. Liberal Democrat Slaps Christian Pastor for Telling a Drag Queen Not to Use the Women’s Restroom

A far-left state legislator who previously advocated for pedophiles struck a Christian lawmaker with a blow to the shoulder after the conservative pastor insisted a drag queen refrain from using the girls’ restroom at the Kentucky State Capitol. The incident began when a trans-identified man who goes by the name “Carma Bell Marshall” stepped out of the women’s restroom on Thursday, March 27, and State Rep. Bill Wesley (R-91) saw young girls inside the restroom visibly uncomfortable.

“I told him I was a trans woman, and I belong in that bathroom just as any other female and he just wasn’t having it,” said Marshall.

“A man pretending to be a woman tried to gain access to the girl’s bathroom at the Capitol today,” when police stopped him and Wesley confronted him, reported State Rep. T.J. Roberts (R-66). “My colleague stood up to this madness, reminded the man that he is a man, and he has no place in women and girl’s spaces, especially the bathroom! … This is important. Young girls come to the Capitol every day, and they should not be confronted by men in their restrooms.”

“Good on Bill for this courageous act of TRUTH!” said State Rep. Roberts.

“Thank you Rep. Bill Wesley for standing up for women and girls. Men don’t belong in women’s bathrooms or facilities!” said The Family Foundation, Kentucky’s family policy organization.

But his actions did not sit well with liberal State Senator Karen Berg (D-26). In video footage taken on the floor, Berg approaches Wesley, speaks to him, then strikes him sharply with her right hand on his left shoulder blade.

“A far left democrat senator slapped me after I kept a man pretending to be a woman out of the girl’s bathroom in the Kentucky Capitol,” said Wesley in a social media post on X. “I will always protect women and girls from insanity, and will never yield to threats and violence of the far Left, including from Karen Berg!!”

Berg later admitted to “tapping” Wesley, seemingly equating her act of physical aggression with his free speech: “I apologized and hope he would apologize to Carma Bell Marshall.”

Berg received a glowing write-up in The Washington Post for entering Kentucky state politics after her trans-identifying daughter committed suicide.

Berg previously advocated that pedophiles, whom she called “Minor Attracted Persons” or “MAPs,” should use sex dolls that resemble minors, because it “gives them a release.” Berg concluded with the contradictory statement, “The research is not very good, and it’s not comprehensive, but the research is out there and is conclusive.” Kentucky native and girls’ sports advocate Riley Gaines noted, “I’m not shocked considering @karenforky refers to pedophiles as ‘maps’ or ‘minor attracted persons’…. This is why democrats keep losing. Totally unacceptable behavior and embarrassing representation of KY.”

The incident has spurred Wesley to take greater action. “I’m going to file a bill next year to protect the innocence of these little kids,” vowed Wesley, who is also a pastor. “This should be a common-sense thing.”

“Men do not belong in girl’s bathrooms, period!” he posted.

2. Planned Parenthood Admits Giving Sexually Explicit Coloring Books to Children ‘by Mistake’

Also in Kentucky, Planned Parenthood has apologized after it claims it “inadvertently” gave sexually explicit coloring books to a group of school students ranging from ages 8 to 13 visiting the Kentucky Science Center on March 21.

The coloring book in question, which you can see here, includes “outlines of a penis and breasts and a ‘sexlib’ fill-in-the-blank activity about condoms, amongst other things,” according to WLKY.

Planned Parenthood initially denied claims, then confessed it “inadvertently” handed out sexually explicit material to children.

“This partner is no longer welcome at the Science Center,” the center posted online.

The incident will only fuel calls to defund Planned Parenthood, which received $699.3 billion in taxpayer funds in 2023.

3. These Cities and States Released the Largest Number of Criminal Aliens into American Communities

Sanctuary cities and states did not adequately comply with federal orders to turn over 25,283 criminal illegal immigrants to federal custody, including 72 who have been convicted of homicide. The intransigence spread through 46 states and three U.S. territories (the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Marianas).

But some areas offended more than others, according to a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies.

“The jail with the highest number of declined detainers or insufficient notice to ICE was the main jail in Santa Clara County, Calif., which released nearly 3,000 criminal aliens,” says the report. “Cook County Jail in Illinois and Fairfax County Adult Detention Center in Virginia each also released more than 1,000 criminal aliens during the period.”

In all, between October 1, 2022, and February 6, 2025, “more than 25,000 detainers were declined by these jails, and in more than 1,400 instances the jails failed to give adequate notification to ICE to take custody of the aliens.” 

4. The National Debt Increased by More than $1 Trillion … in the First Half of This Fiscal Year

The slippery slope to American insolvency got a little slicker in the last year of the Biden-Harris administration, as the federal government has added $1.3 trillion to the national debt in the last six months, according to the most recent monthly budget review from the Congressional Budget Office. Overspending and fiscal irresponsibility has been a bipartisan undertaking long enough for the United States to incur a $36 trillion national debt. But since the artificial COVID lockdowns, politicians’ indifference to national solvency has reached pandemic levels. The CBO stated:

“The federal budget deficit totaled $1.3 trillion in the first half of fiscal year 2025, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. That amount is $245 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year. Revenues increased by $71 billion (or 3 percent), and outlays rose by $317 billion (or 10 percent).”

In other words, while politicians raised more revenue from taxpayers this year than last year, they increased spending by more than three times that amount.

The CBO report also reveals the deficit rose during the first year of the second Trump administration due, in part, to accounting procedures in the last year of the Biden-Harris administration:

“The change in the deficit was influenced by the timing of outlays and revenues, which decreased the deficit during the first six months of fiscal year 2024. Outlays in October 2023 were reduced by shifts in the timing of payments that were due on October 1, 2023, a Sunday. (The payments were made that September.) If not for that shift, the deficit so far this fiscal year would have been $173 billion more than the shortfall at this point last year. Part of the deficit increase in 2025 also arises from the postponement of some tax deadlines from 2023 to 2024 (described below), which boosted receipts in 2024.”

As the U.S. Treasury has explained, “The federal government spent $6.75 trillion in FY 2024. This means federal spending was equal to 23% of the total gross domestic product (GDP).” As this author has noted, the U.S. government claimed 17% of the GDP through taxation and fees last year; the 6% difference represents the unbridled government spending which constitutes the source of the massive indebtedness the government is foisting upon us, even as it taxes the productive economy to a standstill and obscures the extent of their damage with ledger book gimmicks. 

5. Senator Reveals His Daily Prayer

One of the most colorful members of the U.S. Senate has revealed the one prayer he utters every day to engage politics with a properly Christian perspective.

“When I say my prayers, I ask God, ‘Don’t let me hate,’” revealed Senator John Kennedy (R-La.). “It’s hard sometimes in Washington” not to indulge lower impulses of reproachment and resentment. “I don’t hate anybody,” Kennedy, who is considered one of the quickest-witted, sharpest-tongued people in the U.S. Senate, told Newsmax host Chris Salcedo on March 26.

The Louisiana Republican later reiterated that he petitioned God to maintain good humor, and to keep his heart pure and unstained of bitterness, at least once a day.

That is a good practice for anyone, in any line of work, to follow. May God grant it.

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.