A horrific incident on the el train in Chicago on Monday has led to a woman in critical condition with severe burns.

Police say that a 45-year-old male had a “verbal altercation” with the 27-year-old woman before the alleged attack, but a source who spoke to CWB Chicago contradicted the account.

The arson incident would be his 23rd arrest. Some of those arrests include other incidents of arson.

The source said the attack was unprovoked and completely random.

A person of interest was apprehended by police, but he has not been charged yet.

The source told CWB Chicago that the woman was paying attention to her cell phone on a Blue Line train at about 9:26 p.m. when the man doused her with a liquid from a bottle. She tried to run away, but he was able to catch up to her and light her on fire, according to the source. The man was also lit on fire during the altercation.

The woman was transported to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.

CWB Chicago reported that the suspect had previously been charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, but a judge denied a request to keep him in custody and ordered 24/7 electronic monitoring instead.

Three weeks later, another judge modified the terms to allow him to leave his home outside daytime hours, which includes the time of the alleged assault.

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The report also said that the suspect had been arrested 22 times since 2016 by the Chicago Police Department alone. The arson incident would be his 23rd arrest. Some of those arrests include other incidents of arson.

A source told CWB Chicago that no one on the train stepped in to help the woman after she was lit on fire. A witness also described the man as black.

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The chaos, harassment, and violence that unfolded at a recent TPUSA event at UC Berkeley were so bad that the Department of Justice and FBI are now investigating.

“Antifa is an existential threat to our nation,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X following the event. “The violent riots at UC Berkeley last night are under full investigation by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force. We will continue to spare no expense unmasking all who commit and orchestrate acts of political violence.”

Alongside comedian Rob Schneider, author Frank Turek hosted the Turning Point event that packed the university’s Zellerbach Hall — and he’s telling BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey what really happened.

“Antifa was there, obviously. They were hurling insults and slurs at the people trying to get in. They set off fireworks, which sounded like gunfire, so people were scrambling,” Turek explains.

“The university police did not keep the walkway free to allow people to get in. So people were spat on, people were harassed, and they were not only harassed getting in, Allie, they were harassed getting out,” he continues.

“Most of these people were probably George Soros-funded, you know, liberal agitators,” he adds.

And these protesters were vile, shouting disturbed things like “f**k your dead homie” to mock the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

“Isn’t it ironic, Allie, that these people who say they’re fighting for inclusion, tolerance, and diversity will not include you and will not tolerate you for holding a diverse view?” Turek asks. “And they claim that we are the fascists.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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Liberals in the United States keep pretending to “resist” a democratically elected president they smear as an “authoritarian.” Meanwhile, real resistance fighters push back against a real authoritarian regime — in Iran.

For well-to-do white liberals, “resistance” amounts to a bumper sticker, a hashtag, a chant, and a safe protest march. No American faces arrest for opposing President Trump or his policies. Police never cracked down on thousands of No Kings demonstrators. The government never shut down the internet. No American risks execution for demanding new leadership.

Partisan voices push the false claim that Americans must choose between sending troops or doing nothing. Anyone who actually listens to Iranian dissidents knows better.

Iranian dissidents face all of that and more. Their resistance carries the cost of blood, freedom, and life.

Last weekend, I saw real resistance up close. More than 1,000 Iranian dissidents gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Free Iran Convention to plan for a future free from the mullahs’ rule. Panels featuring scholars, women, young activists, and even voices from inside Iran painted a picture of a regime on the brink.

As the regime clings to power, it leans harder on censorship, torture, and public executions to keep Iranians living in fear.

This crackdown unfolds against an economy collapsing under its own weight. More than 80% of Iranians live below the poverty line. Inflation punishes the entire country. Unemployment keeps climbing.

The harsher the repression, the more Iranians recognize the only path forward is regime change.

In 2018, 2019, and 2022, Iranians took to the streets in nationwide uprisings. Thousands died. Tens of thousands went to jail. As 2025 unfolds, the question no longer asks if another uprising comes — only when.

The West now faces its own question: Will we be ready to support the Iranian people when that moment arrives?

Here at home, partisan voices push the false claim that Americans must choose between sending troops or doing nothing. Anyone who actually listens to Iranian dissidents knows better.

A third option exists — the one championed by Maryam Rajavi and the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition that rejects both the shah’s dictatorship and the mullahs’ theocracy.

Rajavi, elected by the NCRI as president for the transitional period after the ayatollah’s ouster, puts it plainly:

Neither appeasement nor war, but regime change at the hands of the Iranian people and their organized, legitimate, and just resistance. We do not seek money or weapons. We only ask that this resistance be recognized.

This resistance already lives and breathes inside Iran. The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran stands as the largest and best-organized opposition movement in the country. Resistance units operate in all 31 provinces. They have carried out thousands of attacks on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij — the regime’s main instruments of suppression.

These units organize protests, strikes, and anti-regime campaigns. Their intelligence network exposed Tehran’s clandestine nuclear program and uncovered terrorist plots funded by the regime.

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Photo Illustration by Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The cost has been staggering. Since 1981, the regime has killed more than 100,000 PMOI/MEK members. Countless others have been imprisoned, tortured, or targeted in state-funded smear campaigns.

The idea of negotiating with the Iranian regime belongs to the realm of fantasy. No meaningful difference separates so-called hard-liners from so-called moderates. Both factions produce economic ruin at home and terrorism abroad. Young Iranians see the truth plainly.

During the Free Iran convention, Seena Saiedian — an Iranian American and law student at the University of Virginia — captured the desperation:

The landscape for the youth in Iran is bleak: hyperinflation, high unemployment, censorship, repression. Iranian youth see no hope for moderating or reforming the current regime. By every metric, life gets worse. The root cause of every challenge Iran’s youth face is the current regime.

The Iranian dictatorship will collapse. History guarantees that. The only question: Will the United States shorten the Iranian people’s suffering or extend the mullahs’ reign of terror?

If we want a secular, democratic Iran — one capable of fostering peace in the region — we must say clearly that no negotiation can salvage the current regime. No deal will reform it. No diplomatic fantasy can tame it.

We must tell the Iranian people and the brave resistance units operating inside the country that the United States stands ready to recognize their efforts and their right to chart a future for a free Iran.

The United States doesn’t need to send money, weapons, or troops. The regime is already on the brink of collapse. The Iranian people are already mobilizing. They need moral clarity from the West — not silence, appeasement, or more excuses.

Supporting freedom against tyranny is the American way. It always has been. And standing with the people of Iran honors the moral foundations that built this nation.

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Residents of a Chicago suburb are calling for action after a viral video on social media showed a mother and her two children getting attacked by a gang of schoolchildren.

33-year-old Corshawnda Hatter was walking with her son and daughter on South Bensley Avenue in the South Deering neighborhood on Monday at about 3 p.m. when they were attacked. They were walking home from Orville Bright Elementary School at the time.

‘It’s been an ongoing thing in this community, and the parents don’t take accountability for anything their kids do.’

The video shows the children laughing and mocking the mother and children before cornering them against a chain-link fence. Hatter tries to protect her children before the attackers begin punching her and drag her to the ground, where she is kicked and beaten.

The video lasts about two minutes.

Hatter and her son were treated at a hospital for injuries sustained in the attack.

On Tuesday, dozens of people showed up at the school demanding accountability and calling for students to be expelled. Hatter described what happened to her at the impromptu gathering.

“I asked my kids to come to the next side of the street with me, so they wouldn’t get jumped,” she recalled.

“So we kept walking. They followed us all the way,” she added. “And then they fought my son and hit my son first. … Then they dragged me in the grass and pulled my little baby’s hair out.”

She said she had a meeting with school officials about the incident.

Others told WGN-TV that the students had been terrorizing the neighborhood but that parents were to blame.

“It’s been an ongoing thing in this community, and the parents don’t take accountability for anything their kids do,” said one parent. “If my kids were being messy, I’m going to come out here and let it be known. I’m going to shut it down.”

Chicago Public Schools released a statement offering few details.

“We are horrified by the attack on this family, and we are working collaboratively with city departments and agencies to provide support to the victims of the attack. CPS is coordinating closely with the Mayor’s Office, CPD, CHA, and other city departments to provide additional support to the family,” read the statement in part. “School administrators, teachers, and support staff work with students to create an open environment where conflicts and grievances can be addressed.”

RELATED: Connecticut police investigate allegedly racially motivated beating of high school student after brutal video goes viral

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson reacted on social media and called the attack “unacceptable” in a long statement saying he was deeply disturbed by the incident.

Hatter said outside the school that her son had been previously bullied by students.

“I’m trying to get justice for my son,” she said.

“And you deserve it!” a supporter responded.

CPD said no arrests had been made but that the department had increased the police presence at the school — for the rest of the week.

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