In a courtroom, a young woman couldn’t read what she wrote, so her step-dad did:

“To my future husband,

… I’m working every day to become the best wife I can be. I’m focusing on God and what He defines as a faithful Christian life… I pray that we continue to glorify the Lord… prioritizing Him in every aspect of our lives, and raise our family… to be God-fearing Christians as well. I pray God is at the center of our relationship… I can’t wait to love you in the best way I know how for the rest of our lives. … May our relationship last forever, Your future wife, Laken”

Now you know why she couldn’t read it. Brutally murdered, Laken Riley was victimized by a coddled illegal alien.

Megan Basham, writer of the book “Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelicals Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda'” commented, “Christians should stand up and say ‘No more’ to the toxic empathy that allows lives like Laken’s to be stolen.” Allie Beth Stuckey’s new book “Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion” reasons “that while empathy can be beneficial, it becomes dangerous when it blinds individuals to moral truths and is manipulated to justify harmful actions.”

Toxic empathy victimizes the most vulnerable and Laken Riley isn’t the only one. Ask the residents of Aurora, Colorado and how they like the terror of the bloodthirsty foreign gang, Tren de Aragua, pulling off the finger nails of their victims as a torture tactic of extortion.

We’ve been badgered by the left for years now about “toxic masculinity,” but without any attention to “toxic empathy.” The murderer of Laken Riley had all the markers of unbridled masculinity taking lethal advantage against a defenseless female. Giving Riley’s murderer repeated passes for crimes left unpunished and “rewarding” him with free housing in a ritzy hotel in New York City and a plane ticket on the taxpayer’s dime to fly to Georgia where he killed her, didn’t toxic empathy factor into this?

President Joe Biden, Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams and the leftist influence on justice in NY were all culpable in coddling the criminal alien with toxic empathy before his heinous act of toxic masculinity ended the life of Laken. If they had done their jobs to secure the border, punish the crimes and deport the serial lawbreaking alien, the toxic masculinity would have been behind bars, but toxic empathy delayed swift justice at the cost of Laken’s life.

After the murderer’s trial, MSNBC wrote an empathetic headline saying, “Laken Riley’s Killer Never Stood a Chance.” Lampooning empathy of this sordid sort, America’s best satirist, the Babylon Bee, ran a story of an illegal alien being bumped from first class to coach as a punishment for a capital offense.

In real life, Riley became prey for a murderer, though not without putting up a fierce fight for her life against her assailant’s toxic masculinity doped up by toxic empathy.

Stuckey writes, “Empathy has been hijacked for the purpose of conforming… people to particular political agendas.” Dump toxic empathy in the hazardous waste bin where DEI belongs too.

The Rev. Mel McGinnis is a Frewsburg resident.