I have watched with bemusement as some Democrats have excused, justified or otherwise supported the so-called “peaceful protests” in Los Angeles and elsewhere around the country.

They have seen cars burning, police attacked and property vandalized, and have been able to dismiss these things as “aberrations.”

They have been aided and assisted in this by many in the media, especially the legacy media, who had the same reaction when Black Lives Matter protesters burned down cities, destroyed businesses and caused the death of at least one police officer.

At one level, I admire their chutzpah.

The ability to tell us what is happening before our very eyes is not happening at all is an admirable exercise in Orwellian doublespeak, immortalized in the phrase “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

Having lived through the BLM monstrosities, this is not at all surprising. It is, however, a sad commentary on the mediocrity of our press, our civil society activists and our political leaders. Fool us once, shame on you as our cities are illuminated in flames. Fool us twice, shame on us, for not shutting you down.

I will say that I felt a similar sort of anger towards conservatives when I watched the creeping spin they put on Jan. 6.

To this day, I have friends who insist that it wasn’t a riot, and that the people who crashed through the Capitol doors, rushed through its hallways and defecated in some of its offices were really “peaceful.”

They were not peaceful. They were vicious animals, and they should not have been pardoned.

And yet, you will not hear the left agree the assaults on our cities were as dangerous and toxic as the riot on Jan. 6. They will continue to argue the latter was worse, because it involved a coup d'etat.

I think they are melodramatic drama queens who are exploiting the desperate and disorganized acts of angry people.

The only difference between what happened on Jan 6 and what happened during BLM and what is now happening in L.A. is there were no congressional hearings convened about the destruction caused by George Floyd loyalists, and there will likely be no congressional hearings for the rabid activists intent on “eliminating ICE.”

If you listen to the language of the protesters in L.A., it is not — contrary to what the talking heads on CNN argue — peaceful. It is reactionary, and it is vicious, and it is dripping with hatred against government agents.

That should frighten all of us who believe all riots are the same, because they conjure the worst characteristics of humanity and make them manifest in actions. The motivations don’t matter. The end results do.

Sadly, some Democrats believe there are some groups that have no right to protest.

If you oppose ICE, you can throw those Molotov cocktails. If you hate the police, including the ones who never put a knee on George Floyd’s neck, you can set their vehicles on fire and dox their families.

But if you are a grandmother praying the rosary in front of an abortion clinic, or if you are a teenager standing quietly in prayer in front of Planned Parenthood, or if you are a member of Students for Life and set up a table at a local college, you are fair game.

You can be attacked, arrested, and your tables can be destroyed by tenured professors.

You think that is an exaggeration? All of it has happened, some of it in Philadelphia, my beloved home.

Fortunately, last week, Congress finally did something worthwhile.

A House committee voted to eliminate the FACE Act, which has been used for the past 30 years to terrify and persecute pro-lifers by charging them with federal crimes for blocking access to clinics. No violence was necessary for the federal indictments, and the ensuing prison sentences.

If you prevented a woman from making her way into a clinic, you could have ended up in a maximum security facility. If you were a father of seven who was simply trying to protect his son from being harassed by a violent pro-abortion activist, you were in danger of having a SWAT team descend on your home.

If the full Congress agrees with the House Judiciary Committee, those days are over.

The overwhelmingly peaceful protests from pro-life activists will be protected. And perhaps the talking heads on TV will acknowledge that perhaps the laws should come down at least as harshly on radicals with blowtorches as they have on grandmothers with prayer books.

Better yet, perhaps they will call a riot a riot, and stop treating us to a master class in Orwell.

Copyright 2025 Christine Flowers