Tag Archives: Todd Starnes

Focusing On The Wrong Thing

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On Thursday, Todd Starnes posted an article about a graduation speech given by Kansas City Chiefs football team kicker Harrison Butker at Benedictine College, a private Catholic school in Kansas.

The article reports:

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker is facing the wrath of the National Football League.

He recently delivered a commencement address at Benedictine College, a private Catholic school in Kansas.

Butker encouraged women to embrace their vocation as a homemaker and that set off the heavy-set, magenta-haired feminist crowd.

“I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother,” Mr. Butker said. “I’m on this stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation.”

He added: “It cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.”

The Kansas City Chiefs kicker also blasted Gay Pride month and condemned President Biden’s stance on abortion.

“Our nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally. He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I’m sure to many people, it appears you can both Catholic and pro-choice,” he said.

The article notes:

More than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for him to be fired.

“We demand accountability from our sports figures who should be role models promoting respect for all people regardless of their race, gender identity or sexual orientation,” read the Change.org petition. “We call upon the Kansas City Chiefs management to dismiss Harrison Butker immediately for his inappropriate conduct.”

Are these the same people who were quiet when some of the best players in the NFL were charged with various crimes such as sexual assault, driving under the influence, and drug use?

The article concludes

“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” said Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, in a written statement to People. “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”

The NFL has an interesting definition of the word “inclusive.” Their definition does not include players who are pro-life, pro-family or pro-Catholic. And if the NFL is so inclusive – why aren’t there any female linebackers or quarterbacks in the league?

Harrison Butker’s speech expressed values that were mainstream in America less than fifteen years ago. Is our society or culture better off now that these values are no longer considered mainstream?

Why Has It Taken A Month For This To Be Reported??

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On Sunday, Todd Starnes posted an article noting that one of the prisoners kidnapped on October 7th was a 3-year-old American.

The article reports:

The admission came in the second paragraph of a press briefing released Sunday by the White House.

“He (Biden) expressed his appreciation to Qatar and Sheikh Tamim personally for his earlier efforts to secure the release of hostages from Hamas, including two American citizens, and the urgent ongoing efforts to secure additional releases. He condemned unequivocally the holding of hostages by Hamas, including many young children, one of whom is a 3-year old American citizen toddler, whose parents were killed by Hamas on October 7th. The two leaders agreed that all hostages must be released without further delay.”

White House

There are thirteen Americans who are still being held captive by Hamas.

The article concludes:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the kidnapping of babies, but it was unclear whether he was referring specifically to the American child.

“Imaging a baby is held hostage. Who takes a baby hostage,” he said on CNN. “What is this, taking children hostage? Threatening to kill them? This is savagery of the highest order. We’re doing everything in our power to achieve two things: one, destroy Hamas, because without it, none of us have a future.”

“It’s not only our war. It’s your war too, its the battle of civilization against barbarism. If we don’t win here, this scourge will pass to other places. The Middle East will fall, Europe is next, you’ll be next. The first goal is to destroy Hamas and the second goal is to bring back our hostages. We’re trying to do both,” he added.

For what it’s worth, Biden should tell Hamas they have 24 hours to release all of our people or else Gaza City will become the world’s largest glass parking lot. But I’m not sure the president has the courage or the mental capacity to deliver on such a threat.

It is time for America to demand the release of all the hostages. We need to remember what happened to the Iranian hostages as soon as Ronald Reagan was elected President.

Don’t Mess With New England Sports Fans

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I lived in New England for 45 years, 35 of them in Massachusetts. I was there for the glory days of the Bruins and the Red Sox and the Tom Brady years. I can honestly say that New England sports fans are a breed of their own. Massachusetts is also a Democrat stronghold. George W. Bush didn’t even establish a campaign headquarters in my area when he ran for President! Well, sports fans and politics are about to have a major clash.

On Thursday, Todd Starnes reported the following:

Hundreds of Army and Navy football fans were booted from their hotels to make room for illegal aliens. And a good many veterans and service academy graduates were among those displaced.

It’s the big story Massachusetts where the government ordered hotels to cancel reservations for the upcoming football game at Gillette stadium.

Massachusetts has a “right to shelter law.” That means homeless people and illegals must have a place to stay.

Some 70,000 fans are expected and hotel rooms are a hot commodity.

One state lawmaker noted the irony that the home of the New England Patriots can’t find rooms for people that fought for the country because the state had to make room to take care of people who invaded our nation.

“We have veterans and military families being moved out of their reservations because illegal immigrants are living in the motel,” State Rep. Steven Xiarhos told me.

“They’re estimating about $45 million a month have is being spent,” he said. “Now, I’m on the Ways and Means Committee and I’m proud to be on that committee as well as Veterans Affairs Committee and Public Safety. Those are some of the committees I’m on. And, you know, this was never really planned on or budgeted.”

The article ends with a quote from State Rep. Steven Xiarhos:

“So they’re getting incredible benefits based on the Right to Shelter law,” he said. “Meanwhile, I have veterans in my district that are homeless.”

This is a classic example of the difference between America First and America Last. To borrow a phrase from Tom Bodett — When it comes to veterans and service academy graduates – America First will leave the light on for you.

This isn’t the first time the Democrats have taken hotel reservations away from the people who made them. In 2004, all of the law students who had made hotel reservations (up to a year in advance) to take the bar exam in Boston were kicked out of their hotel rooms to make room for the Democrat Party Convention. The students were then housed in the various colleges around the city which was okay, but they had made the hotel reservations first!

Whatever Happened To The First Amendment?

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On Monday, Todd Starnes posted an article about a recent school board meeting in Suffolk County, Virginia.

The article reports:

A controversy over prayer has erupted in Suffolk County, Virginia.

The other day a woman concluded her remarks to the school board by attempting to offer a prayer.

The school board chairman interrupted and said prayers were not allowed inside the school board chamber.

Instead of leaving, Angela Kilgore invited those in the audience to join her in a recitation of “The Lord’s Prayer.”

At that point the school board chairman asked law enforcement to clear the room.

He then admonished those who had prayed – accusing them of grandstanding and conduct unbecoming.

As if there is something unseemly about praying for God to bless and protect the students in Suffolk County, Virginia.

…The Founding Freedoms Law Center and First Liberty Institute wrote a letter to the school board reminding them it is against the law to silence a citizen’s prayer.

“In fact, the Constitution prohibits the government from excluding religious expression from a public forum; it certainly does not require such censorship. We ask that the School Board clarify its policy accordingly, and we would be happy to work with the School Board to craft new policy that does not discriminate against religious citizens or violate their constitutional rights.  “When the government encourages diverse expression—say, by creating a forum for debate—the First Amendment prevents it from discriminating against speakers based on their viewpoint.” Shurtleff v. City of Boston, 142 S. Ct. 1583, 1583 (2022),” the law firms said in a joint statement.

The school board is more concerned about someone praying at their meeting than about the pornography in their school libraries. Maybe we need a new school board.

The Revolution President Trump Created

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On July 4th, The American Thinker posted an article about the success of the Trump Presidency vs. the Reagan Presidency. It you are old enough, you will remember that the press hated President Reagan almost as much as they hated President Trump. But those were different times.

In a June 2017 article Todd Starnes notes:

A beautiful story of our true nature exemplified in the context of the political world, comes from the relationship between Republican president Ronald Reagan and Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. Polar opposites politically–yet not allowing that to define their relationship. One time Reagan confronted O’Neill about some nasty things said in the newspaper, and O’Neil replied with: “That’s just politics, after 6 o’clock we’re buddies–we’re friends.” And that’s exactly what they were–frequently going out after work and simply having a beer together, and after Ronald Reagan was shot, the first person to come and visit him was Tip O’Neill. Reagan took it, that when things would get a little heated in some of their meetings, he would visibly set his watch to 6 o’clock, as a frolicsome reminder of their true identity in friendship.

Can you imagine a friendship between President Trump and Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelosi? I don’t think the responsibility for that lack of friendship falls totally on President Trump.

The article at The American Thinker notes a few significant positive changes to our politics under President Trump:

Before Trump, most Republican politicians saw lying to their base — or at least to a certain part of their base — as a necessary and proper part of their job.  Consider, for instance, this representative quote from Mac Stipanovich, chief of staff to Bob Martinez, the moderate Florida governor who later served in the first Bush administration:

There was always an element of the Republican Party that was bats— crazy. They had lots of different names — they were John Birchers, they were ‘movement conservatives,’ they were the religious right. And we did what every other Republican candidate did: we exploited them. We got them to the polls. We talked about abortion. We promised — and we did nothing. They could grumble, but their choices were limited.

The tawdry history of how the pre-Trump Republican Party has used and discarded the religious right — especially the pro-life movement — is rather long.  Even so, I think it’s important for conservatives to know it, so I will do my best to summarize it.

The article notes:

By the time that Donald Trump took office, only two pro-life justices remained: Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.  Because Trump got only three vacancies, he needed to fill all of them with men and women of principle in order for his side to come out on top.

This was a tall order, since no other Republican president had appointed more than one pro-life justice.  And yet Trump pulled it off.

The article concludes:

Trump kept his promise to move the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, even though the RINOs wailed and screeched. Trump also tried to keep his promise to build the border wall, but on that issue, his efforts sadly came up short, because he needed Congress to pass legislation that even most Republicans really, really didn’t want passed.

Fortunately, on judicial nominations, Trump had more freedom of action, and with the help of Mitch McConnel and the Federalist Society, he chose three pro-life judges in a row — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

So remember that the next time you hear anybody talking about how they wish we could all return to a time before Trumpistry made its mark on America. Remember that it is because of Donald Trump, and his unique level of respect for his base, that each state now has the right, if it so chooses, to enact laws protecting a baby’s right to life.

I will be voting for President Trump in the Republican primary if he runs. I will also be voting for him in the general election if he runs. The positive impact he had on the country is often overlooked by those who support the swamp.

When There Are No Police Available

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Todd Starnes posted an article yesterday about a recent incident in Atlanta.

The article reports:

Two white motorists were stopped by a mob of armed black men and assaulted in Atlanta near the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks died.

“He straight up said, ‘No white people are allowed on this road,” one of the victims told television station WSB.

He said they tried to explain they were just trying to get to the Interstate, but that only made things worse.

The gang pelted their car with rocks, knocking out windows and injuring the motorists. One man was punched.

“They said you can’t go this way,” a female motorist told the television station. When she asked why, they replied, “You’re not African American. Only African Americans are allowed on this road. You’re white, you’re a cracker. You’re not allowed on this road. Turn around.”

The article concludes with the suggestion that every law-abiding America should be armed. I suspect that had the driver pulled out a gun, he would have been allowed to proceed to the interstate. That suggestion sounds like something out of the wild west, but if the city officials in some of our major cities don’t get a handle on the lawlessness in those cities, citizens who believe in the Second Amendment will take care of it for them.

When Law And Order Are Out Of Order

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Yesterday Todd Starnes posted an article at Townhall about an incident near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The article reports:

Mrs. Smith’s 7-year-old son had just completed a zoom class from the den of their home when she received an urgent email from her son’s first grade teacher.

It just so happened that the little boy had recently been gifted a toy gun and the child had placed his “new favorite thing” on the table next to the computer.

“Another parent had been very uncomfortable by the fact that the gun had been in view of the zoom call,” Mrs. Smith said on my radio show. “It’s such an innocent thing that someone used to make a judgment and an accusation.”

A few hours after they received the email, there was a knock at the front door. It was the police.

“The police officer came to our door right after breakfast and asked us to step outside of our home as a result of the zoom call,” she told me.

Mrs. Smith’s husband tried to explain to the officer that there were no guns in the house – other than the toy gun that their son had received. 

“He essentially lectured us on child safety and the fact that our children are too young to interact with any guns and weapons,” she said.

The officer said it did not matter that it was a toy gun and he continued to lecture the couple. 

“I said, this is a toy. No one is unsafe in our home. Everyone is safe and well and healthy,” she said. “They took it very seriously as if there was some sort of chance we had weapons in the home.”

The article concludes:

Mrs. Smith said her children were terrified by the police visit.

“They were scared their parents were going to go to jail that day for something that was completely untrue,” she said.

The family was not cited and there were no follow up visits from authorities, but they were definitely shaken by the ordeal.

“What really troubled me was the fact that someone made a claim, an accusation with zero facts,” she said. “It was completely bogus and it left our kids really scared.”

Life is returning to normal for the Smith family, but they have made one important decision regarding education.

“We opted out of zoom calls,” she said.

The German government perfected the process of snitching on neighbors during the 1920s and 1930s – leading up to World World II. It’s horrifying to imagine that such tendencies might exist in modern day America.

There are a lot of disturbing things here. Why didn’t the ‘concerned’ parent just call the parents without getting the police involved? Why were the police concerned about a toy gun–haven’t they got better things to worry about? Has it occurred to anyone that when children grew up playing cops and robbers with guns that there were fewer mass shootings?

 

Like A Serpent’s Tooth

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William Shakespeare said, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.” Well, we have something close to that in the remarks by a New York lawmaker.

Todd Starnes posted an article at Townhall about some recent comments by New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman.

The article reports:

“It’s a shame that the federal government has left New York with no other choice but to accept charity from bigots,” State Sen. Brad Hoylman said. “You know those medical tents being constructed in Central Park? They’re being set up by notorious anti-gay bigot Franklin Graham. Mr. Graham must promise to treat EVERY patient with dignity and respect.”

Graham responded to the senator’s repulsive comments during an interview on The Todd Starnes Radio Show. He urged Americans to set aside politics.

“This virus is a tsunami that is hitting our shores. It’s killing Republicans. It’s killing Democrats. It’s killing independents,” Graham said. “And we just need to say forget the politics right now. Let’s work together to save lives.”

It’s unthinkable that anyone, much less a state lawmaker, would bully a bunch of Christians who simply want to provide medical treatment to critically ill New Yorkers.

Just for the record, I have no doubt that Reverend Graham will treat every patient with dignity and respect. It is a shame that Senator Hoylman is not treating Reverend Graham with dignity and respect. The Senator needs to apologize and gratefully accept the help.

An Afternoon Well Spent

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Below is a picture of my afternoon. In the picture are author Todd Starnes, radio host Lockwood Phillips, and radio host Ben Ball. Todd Starnes was in Morehead City, North Carolina, this afternoon to sign copies of his book Culture Jihad. This book should be required reading for anyone concerned about the future of our country. I also did a short segment of the show with them.

 

Insanity Among Some Americans

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Yesterday Todd Starnes posted an article about Brigadier General John Teichert, the new wing commander at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Brigadier General Teichert owns a website called, “Prayer at Lunchtime for the United States.”

The article reports:

…a press release from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation calling for the arrest of now Brigadier General Teichert – the new wing commander at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is an organization that trolls military bases in search of any public display of the Christian faith. They are typically triggered by Nativity scenes and Bibles placed on Missing Man tables.

MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein was especially angered to learn that Gen. Teichert owns a website called, “Prayer at Lunchtime for the United States.”

The website encourages “Bible-believing Americans to take time to specifically pray for our nation at lunchtime every day.” It also features a prayer list – including among others President Trump, Vice President Pence, Congress and the military.

Weinstein demanded that Defense Secretary James Mattis launch an immediate investigation – calling Gen. Teichert a “fundamentalist Christian tyrant and religious extremist predator.”

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation claims to represent 41 personnel at Edwards AFB who are allegedly offended by the general’s personal website.

“Brigadier General Tiechert’s disgraceful, illegal and brazen promotion of his personal flavor of his weaponized version of Christianity represents one of the worst and most egregious cases MRFF has ever encountered in its 13 years of First Amendment civil rights advocacy,” Weinstein said in a prepared statement.

He went on to allege the general’s website violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice and demanded he must be investigated, prosecuted, convicted and punished.

“General Teichert should be doing time behind prison bars, not commanding a Wing wearing a General’s stars,” Weinstein said.

The Pentagon has not responded to my inquiries about Mr. Weinstein’s complaint, but the allegations are so outlandish they deserve no response.

“The Air Force appears to be doing exactly what it should upon receiving a complaint from Mikey Weinstein: ignoring him,” First Liberty Institute attorney Mike Berry told me. “Like so many complaints by the MRFF, this complaint is vindictive, intolerant, and completely without merit.”

Unless the Brigadier General was coercing people to go to his website, I really don’t think Mikey Weinstein has a case.

The article concludes:

During the Obama Administration Weinstein once bragged about having a hot line to the Pentagon. It’s beyond time for the Trump Administration to disconnect the number.

It’s time to put a stop to these vile and hateful attacks on Christian members of our military. Demanding that a general be imprisoned because he prays? Calling him an extremist predator? Outrageous!

It seems to me the only fundamentalist, extremist predator in this case is the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Mikey Weinstein is entitled to his opinion of Christianity. He is not entitled to prevent anyone from practicing Christianity.

Private Property Rights

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According to The American Policy Center:

In a “Fifth Amendment” treatise by Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Sanders (12/10/97), he writes: Our state, and most other states, define property in an extremely broad sense.” That definition is as follows:

“Property in a thing consists not merely in its ownership and possession, but in the unrestricted right of use, enjoyment, and disposal. Anything which destroys any of the elements of property, to that extent, destroys the property itself. The substantial value of property lies in its use. If the right of use be denied, the value of the property is annihilated and ownership is rendered a barren right.”

The right of use has come under fire in recent years. One instance of property rights being violated occurred recently in Pennsylvania.

Yesterday Todd Starnes posted the following:

The owners of a Pennsylvania farm have been ordered by the Sewickley Heights Borough to cease and desist holding Bible studies on their private property.

Borough leaders accused Scott and Terri Fetterolf of improperly using their 35-acre farm as a place of worship, a place of assembly and as a commercial venue.

They were served a cease-and-desist order in October 2017, the Post-Gazette reported.

The Independence Law Center filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the farmers against the borough alleging an egregious violation of the U.S. Constitution.

According to the lawsuit, the Fetterolfs were threatened with fines of $500 per day plus court costs for having Bible studies at their home, having meetings where religious songs are sung, conducting any religious retreats for church leaders or seminary students or conducting any religious fundraisers.

The article concludes:

The lawsuit accuses the government leaders of violating religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and equal protection.

“Government should not target religious activities for punishment, particularly when similar secular activities are permitted,” attorney Jeremy Samek said. “In America, no government can categorically ban people from assembling to worship on one’s property.”

To that point, the lawsuit alleges the borough allows other activities and gatherings – ranging from political rallies to a Harry Potter event.

So if government leaders allow muggles to cavort in Sewickley Heights Borough, they should afford the same rights to Christians gathering for Bible study on private property.

There are situations where it might be appropriate to limit a home Bible study–if parking becomes a problem in the neighborhood or if the noise level was inappropriate. However, this was on a farm–I doubt there was either a noise or a parking problem. This is simply an illegal attempt to limit religious activity, and I suspect the Sewickley Heights Borough will lose the case in court. However, the thing to remember here is that in many cases the people holding the Bible study would not have the resources to fight the case in court. There are a number of legal advocates for Christians under attack that are handling this sort of case. We should all be grateful for these organizations–they are protecting our right to the free exercise of our religious beliefs.

Some Of Our Educated People Have Gone Over The Edge

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Yesterday Todd Starnes posted an article about Simmons College. Simmons is a beautiful college in Boston that has a stellar reputation.

The article reports:

If you happen to be in the library at Simmons College in Boston – and somebody sneezes — whatever you do — don’t say “God bless you.”

That’s because the librarians believe that the phrase “God Bless You” can spark something worse than a microagression. They fear it could spark an Islamophobic microaggression.

Merriam-Webster defines micro aggression as:

a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority)

  • A digital photo project run by a Fordham University student about “racial microaggressions” features minority students holding up signs with comments like “You’re really pretty … for a dark-skin girl.”
  • —Jinnie Spiegler
  • There is a real and worthy conversation taking place in this country now, particularly among young people, around the idea of microaggressions—slight, often unintended discriminatory comments or behaviors.
  • —Charles M. Blow

; also : behavior or speech that is characterized by such comments or actions

  • … argues that the power of microaggression lies in its invisibility to the perpetrator, who typically finds it difficult to believe that he or she possesses biased attitudes.
  • —Emily Skop

News flash–we all have biased attitudes of some sort. Micro aggression is a relatively new concept. It is generally used to shut up people with ideas you don’t agree with. Accusing someone of micro aggression is actually a form of censorship or bullying. It is a shame that the expression has become common on our college campuses in an effort to prevent non-liberal ideas from appearing.

Todd Starnes concludes his article by saying:

“In North America (and throughout much of the western world), people who follow Christianity have institutional power, therefore Islamomisia is a systematized discrimination or antagonism directed against Muslim people due to their religion or perceived religious, national or ethnic identity associated with Islam,” the document states.

It’s not an official college policy, mind you, but — you know the drill.

The librarians — a real sensitive bunch – warn that phrases like “God bless you” and “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Easter” can make Muslims feel slighted.

The resource guide also warned students to be wary of something called “Christian privilege.”

“In the United States and many other Western nations, Christianity and its various denominations and religious practices hold institutional and cultural power,” the guide states. “Christian privilege is the unearned benefit that Christians in the US receive that members of other faiths (or non-religious people) do not.”

For example, if you expect to get a day off on Good Friday or Christmas Eve — you have Christian privilege.

If you can worship freely, without fear of violence of threats, you have Christian privilege.

Clearly, the librarians at Simmons College have plenty of book smarts — but they don’t have the sense the Good Lord gave a goose.

Bless their hearts.

America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. If those principles are not what you choose to live under, please feel free to live elsewhere.

Evidently Guns Are Not The Only Problem In Our Schools

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Todd Starnes posted an article on his website yesterday about a sixth grade class at North Richland Middle School in Texas.

The article states:

The Fort Worth Star Telegram reports the 41-question survey was part of the diversity curriculum for Black History Month. Students were instructed to rate their level of comfort with various scenarios:

  • A friend invites you to go to a gay bar
  • You go to the gay bar and a person of the same sex asks you to dance
  • Your sister invites her new boyfriend home to dinner. He is a female-to-male transsexual
  • Your dentist is HIV positive.
  • Your assigned lab partner is a Fundamentalist Christian

Parent Ashley Brent told the Star-Telegram her son was very uncomfortable with what he called a “weird test.”

“This is not something that is school-appropriate,” she told the newspaper.

And what HIV-positive dentists and transsexual boyfriends have to do with Black History Month is beyond me.

What are we doing to our children?