admin
The Department of Justice has rightly opened a probe into the violent disruptions outside a Turning Point USA event at the University of California, Berkeley, after disturbing video showed chaos and assaults aimed at conservative students and attendees. This isn’t garden-variety protest — it’s a sustained attempt to shut down speech and intimidate Americans exercising their First Amendment rights, and federal involvement was necessary. The Biden-era tolerance for campus thuggery must end.
Eyewitness footage and reporting show smoke and paint bombs, objects thrown at police, and at least one attendee struck in the head by a glass bottle and hospitalized, while multiple people were arrested before and during the event. UC Berkeley officials claim they’ll cooperate with investigators, but the question facing parents and taxpayers is why this predictable breakdown of order was allowed to escalate in the first place. Universities are supposed to be marketplaces of ideas, not safe harbors for mobs that attack those they disagree with.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s Civil Rights Division moved quickly, rightly promising to examine whether the university and local officials failed in their duty to protect free expression and public safety. Conservatives have been warning for years that the radical left’s anti-free speech campaign would grow more violent if left unchecked — now we’re watching the consequences unfold on a campus once famous for free debate. If schools want federal funding and the prestige of public trust, they must demonstrate they can prevent political violence, not wink at it.
Meanwhile, in a separate blow to public confidence in our institutions, federal prosecutors unsealed indictments accusing two Cleveland Guardians pitchers of conspiring with bettors to rig in-game prop bets by manipulating pitch types and speeds. The charges are severe — wire fraud, bribery and money laundering — and if proven, the players didn’t just betray their teams, they betrayed every fan and parent who believes sports still operate with basic integrity. The contrast is stark: when major institutions like MLB move to bring bad actors to justice, why do universities so often excuse or minimize politically motivated violence on campus?
Americans who cherish liberty should be outraged but not surprised — a culture that celebrates silencing dissent will eventually produce mobs and moral rot. The remedy is simple and unapologetic: prosecute the criminals, sanction institutions that enable them, and restore law and order on campuses and in public life. Our country was built on free expression and fair play; it’s time our institutions remembered that and acted like it.
