For several days last week and into the weekend, the streets of Chicago were taken over by young thugs. More than 30 people were shot and eight were killed. But the left-wing media doesn’t want to talk about that atrocity.

No, the controversy wasn’t that the streets of Chicago were hijacked, that people were beaten, that stores were looted. The controversy was how we are allowed to talk about it.

Multiple politicians lectured us about what we could say. Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson declared, “It is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.”

Illinois State Senator Robert Peters said, “I would look at the behavior of young people as a political act and statement. It’s a mass protest against poverty and segregation.”

Out-going Mayor Lori Lightfoot continued to gaslight the residents of Chicago by suggesting that the events of recent days were mostly peaceful, and definitely not “mayhem.”

Of course, what happened on Capitol Hill for a few hours on January 6th was the worst event in history and nearly toppled the U.S. government. But I digress.

Leftist politicians can lie all they want. That’s what they’re good at. Meanwhile, major retailers are pulling out of Chicago, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., largely because of one issue — crime.

The Left’s Victim Shaming

Speaking of crime, Rep. Jim Jordan took the House Judiciary Committee to New York City Monday to hear testimony from crime victims. Their stories were heartbreaking.

These witnesses and their families were victimized twice — first by the criminal and then by New York’s pathetic justice system that releases criminals without bail to commit more crimes.

Madeline Brame, a black woman, described how her husband and son, a veteran of Afghanistan, were attacked by four people. Her son was stabbed to death, and her husband suffered grievous injuries. Because of absurd plea deals, one of the attackers got out of jail in a year while another is likely to serve only five years.

Unfortunately, Democrats on the committee weren’t interested in what these crime victims had to say.

When Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) blasted the hearings as a “charade,” Brame accused Goldman of insulting her intelligence, saying, “You’re trying to insult me like I’m not aware of what’s going on here. I’m fully aware of what’s going on here. That’s why I walked away from the plantation of the Democratic Party.”

The worst victim shaming, however, came from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), who looked into the weeping faces of these witnesses and called them “props in a MAGA Broadway production.”

Only liberal Democrats could get away with this!

If Marjorie Taylor Green, Matt Gaetz or Ted Cruz ever used that kind of language against a minority or a woman or a member of the LGBTQ cult, every Republican in Congress and every conservative leader would have a microphone shoved in their face demanding they condemn that “right-wing extremist.”

But when you’re one of the neo-Marxists who run the Democrat Party, you have a blank check. You can call anybody anything you want as long as it advances the left’s agenda.

Biden’s Trans Insanity

House Republicans are scheduled to vote on legislation this week to protect girls’ sports from men who claim to be women. This really isn’t a controversial issue.

A poll by the Pew Research Center found 58% of Americans believe athletes should compete on teams that match their biological sex, while just 17% felt that boys should be allowed to compete against girls.

Joe Biden is siding with that fringe minority. He denounced the House GOP bill as “discriminatory” and vowed to veto it.

He won’t stand up to communist China. He can’t stop Putin’s invasion of Ukraine or illegal immigration at the southern border. But he will do whatever it takes to ensure that your daughter, your granddaughter, your sister or your niece is forced to compete against boys for college scholarships.

That is Biden’s priority.

Every Republican in the House and the Senate should vote for this bill just to expose Biden and every Democrat in Congress as the extremists they are.

University of Kentucky All-American swimmer Riley Gaines blasted Biden’s pandering to the fringe left, saying:

“The president has declared that science, truth, and common sense no longer matter. In opposing this bill, President Biden is catering to a radical minority at the expense of women, who are 51% of the population.

"Equal opportunity, privacy and safety in our sports shouldn’t be controversial. The women who once advocated for Title IX should be outraged as this goes against everything they fought for. Female athletes of all ages, levels, and sports deserve better.”

She’s absolutely right!

Now, here’s your chance to fight back!

ACTION ITEM: Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and tell your members of Congress to support H.R. 734, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.

Faith Under Fire

The Supreme Court yesterday heard oral arguments in a religious liberty case about whether Christians can be forced to work on Sundays. Thanks to Donald Trump’s three appointments, there is more upside than downside now in the court taking these kinds of cases.

But consider this irony: We’re already seeing cases about whether Christians will be allowed to work at all because their beliefs run counter to the left’s ideological extremism.

Intolerant leftists want to put Christian bakers, florists, photographers and web designers out of work. A Christian college administrator almost lost her job. Coach Kennedy and Peter Vlaming did lose their jobs over prayers and pronouns!

If you’re a Christian law school student today who writes an article defending marriage as the union of one man and one woman or the sanctity of life, good luck getting a job at any major law firm.

Spying On You

In an interview that aired Monday night, Tesla founder and Twitter owner Elon Musk made perhaps the most shocking revelation so far about the government’s influence and interference with the social media giant.

Musk told Tucker Carlson that the government’s “full access” to private direct messages on Twitter “blew my mind. I was not aware of that.” And it wasn’t just the U.S. government. Musk said that foreign intelligence agencies also had access to private messages.

As we have noted before, the first thing the Deep State did after it failed to keep our secrets secret, was to demand even more power to monitor social media and gaming chatrooms.

It’s reminiscent of what we did after 9/11, when the Deep State, then led by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, insisted it needed more power to monitor communications. They assured us that such powers would never be abused to spy on American citizens. We know how that turned out.

We’ve gone from putting FBI agents into suspect mosques to putting FBI agents into suspect Catholic churches — as if Catholics are a real threat to America!

Goodbye, Charles

Dr. Charles Stanley, founder of In Touch Ministries and the long-time senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta, died today at the age of 90.

Reverend Stanley’s sermons were watched by countless millions. He was instrumental in the conservative resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention, and served as president of the SBC in the 1980s.

Stanley was a Bible-focused pastor who loved Jesus and America. He cared deeply about our country and warned about the dangers of socialism. He constantly exhorted his congregation and everyone who heard him to obey God’s word as it was written.

Dr. Stanley also had a real love for the Jewish people. Over multiple years, he brought the incredible choir from the First Baptist Church of Atlanta to Christians United for Israel’s annual Summit.

Reverend Franklin Graham fondly remembered Dr. Stanley preaching many times with his father, Billy Graham, adding, “His teaching was solid. He did not compromise on God’s Word like so many others do today. God used him to impact so many lives around the world, and he will be greatly missed.”

I have no doubt that Dr. Stanley was welcomed home to the words we all long to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”