Daily Update - November 26, 2025

Thanks To Liberal Judges, Criminals Are Not In Jail

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About Reuel Sample

This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Wednesday November 26, 2025.

Bethany MaGee is yet another young lady brutalized – in this case doused with gasoline and set on fire - by a violent career criminal who had no business walking around in society – much less being on his own on a Chicago transit train.

Lawrence Reed – the accused - has an extensive criminal record with over 70 arrests and 15 convictions in Chicago – many of them violent. According to the New York Post, Mr. Reed just last August slapped a hospital social worker so hard she was knocked unconscious. This led to a felony aggravated battery charge.

He was on pretrial release when he set this woman on fire. Said the public defender in advocating for his release: “Mr. Reed needs services, he does not need to be incarcerated for being mentally ill and acting in accordance with his mental illness.”

That is the equivalent of letting rabid dog loose in a playground while we wait on his medicine to come in. We only care about the dog, not the society that he menaces.

Clearly Judge Molina-Gonzalez – the judge who released this madman – needs to resign or be removed from her position. She won’t – as Democrats in Chicago – much like in those in Charlotte – seem more concerned about protecting criminals than protecting society. Mr. Reed was bad news and should have been in jail. The prosecutor’s office said as much. This Democrat liberal judge released him anyway, told him to be good and don’t do what he shouldn’t, and sent him on his merry way.

Thankfully in North Carolina Iryna’s Law – named after yet another woman killed by a career maniac in a liberal controlled county – restricts cashless bail, severely limits the ability of judges to release repeat offenders, increases the death penalty, and allows the suspension of magistrates who fail to comply. 21 Democrats in the state House joined 8 in the Senate in opposition to this bill. Not one Republican voted against keeping career criminals out of jail.

Perhaps Democrats should stop electing Democrats and start electing Republicans who actually care about the communities they are pledged to protect.

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. Thanks for listening.

Reuel Sample is the Editor-in-Chief of The Wilmington Standard. A graduate of Grove City College and Princeton Theological Seminary, he has served as both a Presbyterian Pastor and a Navy Chaplain. He is the product of a classical liberal arts education combined with real world experience in politics and business and conservative Christian worldview firmly rooted in the Reformed tradition. He is the host of several podcasts including the NHC GOP Podcast, the Pastor's Voice, and co-hosts the Nikki and Reuel Podcast Experience. An avid sailor, he has sailed around the world as a youth and to the Azores as a teen as well as extensive trips up and down the east coast of the United States. He is honored to be married to his wife Pam and makes his home in Wilmington, NC.