Better In Baltimore 

Thousands of additional law enforcement officers managed to restore relative calm to the streets of Baltimore last night. While the riots have captured the nation's attention, there is a teachable moment here with many lessons about the left's failed policies. 
 

• A senior law enforcement source in Baltimore alleges that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake ordered police officers to stand down Monday night. If there is evidence of such an order, local businesses owners who suffered damage during the riots should sue the mayor. 
   
• Mayor Rawlings-Blake and City Council President Jack Young apologized for calling the rioters "thugs." The mayor said, "There are no thugs in Baltimore." According to Mr. Young, "They're not thugs. They're just misdirected" -- comments so breathtaking they need no commentary. 
   
• Fox News reports there is evidence that unknown "professional agitators" who used social media to stoke rioting in Ferguson were doing the same in Baltimore. 

  The FBI is sending agents all over the country to investigate local police forces. Is anyone going after the individuals and/or groups who are inciting violence and causing unrest in our streets? By the way, rioting broke out last night in Ferguson. Two people were reportedly shot. 
   

• Obama finally condemned the rioting as counterproductive, but true to form he also blamed conservatives in Congress for not spending billions more on so-called urban investments. But liberal politicians have dominated Maryland for decades. 

  If lack of "investment" is the problem, reporters should be asking left-wing politicians in Maryland, "Why haven't you made those investments?" The left owns this disaster. 

  Who Decides? 

  During yesterday's historic debate, several Supreme Court justices, including Anthony Kennedy, expressed reservations about redefining marriage -- an institution that has existed for millennia. 

  The left and its media allies insist that public opinion has shifted dramatically. There is some truth to that, but the media's claims of consensus are exaggerated. Two polls this week indicate that the country remains deeply divided. An Associated Press poll found that only 48% of adults support same-sex "marriage." A Fox News poll found the same. 

  But if opinions are changing so quickly, why not let the process play out in the political arena? As Chief Justice John Roberts said, "People feel very differently about something if they have a chance to vote on it than if it's imposed on them by the courts." 

  I appreciate the chief's restraint. The Supreme Court should not be dictating radical social change. Politicians who would prefer to ignore the issue should -- at a minimum -- oppose judicial activism and demand respect for the will of the people. 

  Fighting For Religious Liberty 

  As we have seen time and again, the implications of redefining marriage extend far beyond the desires of two adults. Men and women of faith are being fired or fined into bankruptcy. The redefinition of marriage is leading to an attack on religious liberty. 

  The AP poll also found that a majority of Americans do not believe that business owners with religious objections should be forced to participate in same-sex weddings. And by a 16-point margin (56% to 40%), Americans said it was more important for government to protect religious liberties than gay rights. But will it? 

  That is exactly where this battle is headed, and the left clearly thinks it can force men and women of faith to cave every time. 

  During yesterday's arguments before the Supreme Court, Justice Alito asked if religious universities could lose their tax-exempt status for refusing to offer housing to same-sex couples. Obama's lawyer, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, answered, "It's certainly going to be an issue. I don't deny that." 

  Verrilli is the same lawyer who told the justices in the Hobby Lobby case that the government could force businesses to pay for abortions. 

  The left has little respect for religious liberty and believes faith must bend to the dictates of big government. If the tax-exempt status of religious universities is at risk, then the tax-exempt of faith-based charities and churches is also at risk. 

  Scandal Update 

  The Treasury Department's inspector general recently informed Congress that it has recovered thousands of additional emails to or from Lois Lerner that congressional investigators may not have seen. At least 650 messages are from the crucial time when Lerner was directing the IRS' scrutiny of Tea Party groups. 

  This latest discovery is part of the inspector general's on-going criminal investigation into whether the IRS deliberately withheld emails from Congress. 

  Congress Fights For Life 

  In January, the House of Representatives was poised to vote on legislation stopping abortions after 5 months of pregnancy (20-weeks). But the vote was abruptly cancelled when several Republican congresswomen protested certain provisions in the bill. The debacle left abortion advocates emboldened and pro-lifers wondering how politicians had managed to botch a vote on a bill that enjoys the support of two-thirds of Americans. 

  Last week, members of Congress seemed to rediscover their courage when it comes to defending unborn human life, even when confronted with cowardly attacks by the left. You can read more in my most recent op-ed at The Christian Post.