Why Pranking Your Children is the Worst Idea Ever

A Maryland couple have become the center of an online controversy after pulling vicious pranks on their children and posting them on YouTube.
In a recent video on the dad's YouTube channel, DaddyOFive, the mom holds up a bottle of magic disappearing ink and playfully announces that she's going to squirt it all over the carpet in her son's room and blame him for the mess.

She suddenly calls her 10-year-old son (with a string of expletives) to his room and begins screaming at him. "What the [bleep]!" she screams over and over. The boy, desperate and confused, protests his innocence, yelling, "I didn't do that!" and bursts into tears. Then his older brother get some of the blame laid at his feet and soon enough he's crying as well. The dad lambasts the children in a full throated roar.

And after the insanity reaches its crescendo, the parents finally admit that it was all just a big and heartless prank. The children, however, are still too upset to think any of this is funny. The dad just says, "It's just a prank bro" over and over as if that explains it all. You see, the Dad runs a YouTube channel called "DaddyOFive" and this is how he earns his living. So he's incentivized to pull ever more vicious pranks on his children. It's sad. Horrible.

The video has some labeling the way the children are being pranked as child abuse. I can't disagree. As a father of five, this kind of thing is so foreign and repulsive to me, not just because I fear the damage this couple is doing to their children because they clearly prize the money accrued from their YouTube channel over the happiness and trust of their children but the fact that so many are defending their behavior.

Please continue reading at The National Catholic Register>>>

*subhead*Bad idea.*subhead*

Kim Kardashian Poses as Virgin Mary in Candle Pic

Before we get excited about this, let's just remember. This is what she wants. The reality tv star is selling a candle with a picture of her dressed as the Virgin Mary. Yeah, ridiculous, disgusting even. When social media blew up, she then donned a skintight dress with a pic of the Virgin Mary right on her chest. I know, right?

These are the actions of a carnival barker desperate for attention. But she's not just selling a candle. She's selling herself. And if it's herself in the middle of a controversy it doesn't matter. She only has one product and that's the media talking about her. And let's face it, in this case, she picked an opposition that the media loves to poke so it's a match made in...hell, I guess.

I'll spare you the pic of her in the dress because...Catholic blog and all.

I see your point that here I am telling you not to get worked up over this and here I am posting about it but...Catholic blog and all.

*subhead*Carnival barker.*subhead*

Report Card: Curveball at Supreme Court, Yoga at Catholic Colleges, Pro-Life Prof Dismissed

Supreme Court gets thrown curveball in religious freedom case

Today the U.S. Supreme Court hears one of the most important church/state cases on its docket this year, but the case just took a major plot twist.
Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer considers whether religious organizations can be shut out of Missouri state grants precisely because of their religious mission. But the new governor of Missouri just reversed course on the issue and said he will allow religious organizations to apply for state grants. This, of course, is not retroactive, but the Court on Friday asked for both parties to offer their views on the governor’s decision.
The case has been one of the most anticipated this year, and the addition of Neil Gorsuch to the bench is of special interest to many, as the case has obvious implications for many religious organizations including Catholic schools and school choice programs.

Many Catholic colleges embrace yoga despite Hindu spirituality

In a piece criticizing Benedictine College of Kansas for its plans to rename a yoga class and change the content to ensure the class focuses only on physical exercise and not spiritual or cultural elements—a perfectly appropriate action for a faithful Catholic college—The World Hindu News exposes several other Catholic colleges and universities that have yoga classes apparently without due caution.
“Prominent US Roman Catholic universities/colleges—University of Notre Dame, Georgetown University, College of the Holy Cross, Boston College, Villanova University, Santa Clara University, Providence College, College of Saint Benedict, Gonzaga University, Loyola Marymount University, Marquette University, University of Dayton, Creighton University, John Carroll University, Loyola University Maryland, Xavier University, Fordham University, etc., offer various classes and programs of yoga regularly,” the piece states. “Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven) in Belgium, one of the oldest and most renowned universities in Europe founded in 1425, offers various yoga classes. It is launching ‘Mindful Yoga’ at University Parish ‘specifically for PhD students and staff.’”
With that lineup of colleges—many of which have severely compromised their Catholic identity—one might almost think that the paper was supporting Benedictine’s argument.
Fr. John Riley, chancellor for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, said yoga “is a mind and body practice developed under Hinduism, the goal of which is spiritual purification that will lead to a higher level of understanding and eventually union with the divine.”
He continued: “It is for these reasons that Catholics are alerted to the dangers of the practice of yoga and are encouraged to look for other exercise alternatives that do not incorporate a spiritual dimension.”

Catholic University of Louvain dismisses professor for calling abortion ‘murder’

A visiting lecturer at Belgium’s Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) has been dismissed for calling abortion “murder.”
The college initially suspended Stephane Mercier after a feminist group complained about his comments. But later, he received a letter from the university advising him of his outright dismissal. In a statement, UCL said that abortion was legal in Belgium and it respected women’s autonomy to opt for it.
The professor simply told students, “the truth is that abortion is the murder of an innocent person.”

Please continue reading at The Cardinal Newman Society>>>

*subhead*News.*subhead*

Transgender Man Sues Hospital for Refusing to Take Part in "Transition."

A woman who wanted a hysterectomy so she could pretend to be a man is now suing a hospital for not taking part in her "transition."

The craziest part is that she had the procedure done with very little fuss or opposition but she, along with the ACLU, believes that Catholic institutions must be made to conform, must be made to submit. The ACLU has now filed suit against Dignity Health Hospital in California.

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that Dignity discriminated against Evan Michael Minton, 35, when she sought a hysterectomy as part of her "transition." So Dignity said it couldn't perform the surgery at one of their Catholic hospitals but it was quite willing to perform it at one of their non-Catholic hospitals.

Horror upon horror, amiright?

The Sacramento Bee reports:

Last summer, Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael, part of the Dignity Health chain, abruptly canceled Minton’s surgery the day before it was scheduled to take place. His doctor eventually performed the procedure at another Sacramento-area hospital, but the initial denial still causes frustration and disappointment, Minton said. After months of reflection, he decided to take legal action against the San Francisco-based hospital chain.

“It devastated me, and I don’t want it to affect my transgender brothers and sisters the way it affected me,” Minton said Tuesday. “No one should have to go through that.”

The case pits the desires of transgender patients seeking sexual reassignment surgery against Catholic doctrines, which bar sterilizations such as hysterectomies in most instances. And it comes as federal and state lawmakers across the country are attempting to roll back protections of transgender persons, according to the ACLU, which joined the firm Covington & Burling in filing the lawsuit.

The piece goes on to discuss the facts that "legal protections for transgender people are under attack."

What the what?!!!!!!

This woman got exactly what she wanted but the fact that someone somewhere said the most dreaded word in the world to her - "NO", she's calling it discrimination and a violation of her rights. Let's be clear, her decision to act as a man doesn't mean the rest of the world needs to play along. We don't.

There is a war on Christians in this country, it is a war on religious liberty. It is fed by hatred, lawyers, media, and money. Our only protection against is love, lawyers, and prayer. Lots and lots of prayer.

*subhead*Discrimination.*subhead*

Baby's Spinal Cord Grows in Third Week After Conception. Disappears Entirely Upon Being Elected to Congress

In the third week after conception, a baby's spinal cord begins to form. It grows stronger given time unless it is elected as a Republican to Congress in which case it disappears completely.

LifeNews.com:

U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nevada, faced an angry crowd of abortion activists Monday at his town hall meeting, according to Nevada Public Radio. Many conservative lawmakers have faced hostile crowds at town hall meetings across the country in the past few months.

Heller has a pro-life voting record. He recently voted to overturn an Obama administration rule that basically forced states to fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business. He also voted to confirm new U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

But when an angry crowd full of abortion supporters pressed him Monday in Reno, Heller backtracked on his position.

The liberal news outlet Mic reports Heller repeatedly was asked about Planned Parenthood:

“I’m glad that you had the health care services that you need as you were growing up,” Heller told a constituent in a video captured by CNN politics reporter Eric Bradner. “I want to make sure that my daughters have the same opportunities and the same access to the same kind of care.”

This response was met by scattered applause until Heller mentioned that those services don’t have to be provided by Planned Parenthood. He said community health centers can also fit the bill, at which point the crowd erupted into boos.

But then, apparently conceding to his constituents’ pressure, Heller appeared to completely reverse his stance on funding the clinics.
“I have no problems with federal funding for Planned Parenthood,” he said.

Later, Heller said he would continue to look into the issue. When the crowd yelled at him again, he answered that he would “protect Planned Parenthood.”

Here's what Republicans don't understand. Yes, they won the last election. But if they don't defund Planned Parenthood, millions of pro-lifers will walk away from the GOP. Just. Walk. Away.

Gone.

So they can choose to appease liberal constituents and the media. But know this, the free ride is over. It's put up or shut up time. Defund Planned Parenthood.

*subhead*Defund*

AP Reports Spree Killer Shouted "God is Great" Before Shooting. Uhm. Not Exactly...

These are not people who are interested in reporting facts. They are interested in spinning you; protecting you from information that might lead you to a conclusion that they don't like. The Associated Press does not trust you with truth.

This is horrible. The Associated Press tweeted that the black shooter in Fresno, California who killed three white people shouted "God is great" before going on his killing spree.

Uhm. Not exactly.

The truth is that Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, who killed three people in less than two minutes hate spree yelled out "Allahu Akhbar." So the AP went ahead and just translated that for ya. Y'know, because you've never heard anyone say those words before and you don't speak Arabic or something.

HT Free Beacon

*subhead*Disgusting.*subhead*

College Students Asks "What is Truth?" And then They Answer That It's Racist

2,000 years ago, Pilate uttered the phrase "What is truth?"

Now it's back. And better yet, not only are these college students denying the existence of "truth" they're saying the very belief that there is truth is oppressive.

The Federalist:

In a letter that strings together words the students no doubt learned in their Blank-Studies classes in what almost appears to be social justice Mad Libs (the word “marginalized” appears seven times in the one-page document), the students claim inviting a speaker critical of Black Lives Matter and supportive of police amounts to oppression.

Further, the three authors of the letter—freshmen Dray Denson, Avery Jonas, and sophomore Shanaya Stephenson—explain that “the Truth” is a concept rooted in racism.

“The idea that there is a single truth–’the Truth’–is a construct of the Euro-West that is deeply rooted in the Enlightenment, which was a movement that also described Black and Brown people as both subhuman and impervious to pain,” the students wrote. “This construction is a myth and white supremacy, imperialism, colonization, capitalism, and the United States of America are all of its progeny. The idea that the truth is an entity for which we must search, in matters that endanger our abilities to exist in open spaces, is an attempt to silence oppressed peoples” (emphasis added).

Uhm, truth is not a concept that merely dates back to the Enlightenment kiddos. That's a little bit of truth for you right there. Free of charge. Truth is truth. And stupidity is the inability to recognize truth. So go to your parents and explain to them that they just paid $40,000 per year for their kids to get stupid.

And that's the truth. Because the moment you disavow the existence of truth, you give up on searching for wisdom since one choice can not be deemed better than another because there is no bar for anything to be measured against.

*subhead*Put Your Blurb Here.*subhead*

"The Godless Gestapo" Demands Football Coach Cease All That God Talk

I like the term "Godless Gestapo." It works. Thanks to PJ Media for that one.

This case is a hoot. And you can see how tolerant these clowns actually are. They don't want diversity. That demand conformity. This reminds me of whenever my little one wants something her older brother has, she immediately tells on him for not sharing.

University of Mississippi football coach Hal Freeze is a pretty serious Christian. And he tweets about his faith frequently. Nothing controversial. Nothing you wouldn't see on an inspirational "get well" card from a religious store. But he dared mention God in public so the Freedom from Religion Foundation objected, sending angry missives to the university, demanding that they force the coach to cease and desist from speaking of his faith.

FFRF asks that the University of Mississippi take immediate action to ensure that Coach Freeze, Coach Harris, and the rest of the University's athletic department are made aware that they cannot promote religion while acting as University employees. This prohibition on religious endorsement extends to social media messages. If Coach Freeze and Coach Harris elect to promote religion on personal social media accounts, their messages may not be published on the official Ole Miss sports website. Please inform us in writing of the steps taken to protect the right of conscience of the University's minority religious and nonreligious students.

Last time I checked, the University of Mississippi isn't accountable to the Freedom From Religion Foundation. And I'm sure the coaches are just shaking in their boots spring practice cleats.
But seriously, lest you worry too much about Hugh Freeze, at least one advocacy law firm has his back. The First Liberty Institute spoke out about the matter to the Christian Post:

"Football coaches do not lose their First Amendment rights simply because they work for a public university," First Liberty senior counsel Jeremy Dys told The Christian Post in a statement. "The First Amendment protects the right of Americans like Coach Freeze to engage in religious expression on their personal Twitter accounts. And our universities ought be places where tolerance, inclusivity, and diversity are promoted. The FFRF has resorted to intolerant bullying in an attempt to silence and censor Coach Freeze. At First Liberty Institute, we defend religious freedom for all Americans.

"We encourage the University of Mississippi to ignore the FFRF's letter."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation can issue all the sternly worded memos it wants, but I seriously doubt Coaches Hugh Freeze and Maurice Harris are going to allow themselves to be intimidated. These atheist killjoys claim to act in the name of tolerance, but they invoke tyranny in their attempts to silence the truth -- and they often wind up emboldening believers instead.

Just another example of totalitolerance in action folks. These people will stop at nothing.

*subhead*Tolerance.*subhead*

Wow. Days Before Supreme Court HEaring, Missouri Reverses Itself on Religious Liberty

Wow. This is pretty amazing. Just days before the Supreme Court is set to hear an important religious liberty case, the state of Missouri has completely reversed itself and said they will now offer grant money to a Christian institution.

But it may not stop the case from being heard.

The state's new Governor, Eric Greitens, is the one who reversed it. But I'm not sure how to read him yet as he was a Democrat until 2015 and then ran for Governor as a Republican. But it's still unclear as to whether the Supreme Court case will still be heard because even though going forward religious institutions can receive state grants that doesn't retroactively allow the same. Did he do this because he's a fan of religious liberty or did he do it to avoid Gorsuch being the deciding voice in an important ruling that could serve as precedent? I dunno.

You might recall that Trinity Lutheran applied for a state grant to adapt recycled tires into a community playground. But the state said Christians need not apply. OK, technically they didn't say that but that's what they said in this case.

The Catholic News Agency reports:

Today, religious freedom advocates say the amendment is used by secularists to cut off all religious groups from state funding.

Then last week, Gov. Greitens said that churches and religious groups were now eligible for public grants from the state’s department of natural resources for purposes such as improving recreational facilities and field trips.

“Before we came into office, government bureaucrats were under orders to deny grants to people of faith who wanted to do things like make community playgrounds for kids,” Gov. Greitens stated, adding “that’s just wrong.”

“We have hundreds of outstanding religious organizations all over the state of Missouri who are doing great work on behalf of kids and families every single day. We should be encouraging that work. So, today we are changing that prejudiced policy,” he continued.


The state’s Catholic Conference praised the announcement.

“We applaud the Governor’s move to make sure these non-sectarian DNR grants and programs are available to all children without religious discrimination,” Mike Hoey, executive director of the Missouri Catholic Conference, stated.

The announcement is “an important step for the state of Missouri away from anti-religious Blaine Amendments,” McGuire insisted.
However, the statement did not officially mean that Trinity Lutheran was retroactively eligible for grants for its playground.

“Just as today’s announcement from the governor states, his new directive doesn’t resolve the discriminatory actions that were taken against Trinity Lutheran’s preschool and the attempt to deny Trinity Lutheran its constitutionally protected freedom to participate equally in society,” Cortman stated.
Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for this week, although the Supreme Court last Friday reacted to Gov. Greitens’ announcement by ordering the church and the state to determine whether or not his new policy would affect Trinity Lutheran’s eligibility for the playground grants.

The deadline for both parties to submit their letters to the Court is by noon on Tuesday, April 18.

I'm really interested to see which way this goes. I'm really hoping the high court still hears it. I'd like to know right away what we have in Gorsuch.

 

*subhead*gorsuch.*subhead*

His Apperance was so Marred, Beyond Human Semblance

13 Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.
14 As many were astonished at him -- his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of men --
15 so shall he startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they shall see, and that which they have not heard they shall understand.
1 Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand;
11 he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

*subhead*Transgressions.*subhead*