R Magic Brow

Actor Jon Bernthal is defending pit bulls from what he calls “racism” — but that doesn’t alleviate concerns about the breed potentially being a legitimate safety issue.During an appearance on “The Howard Stern Show,” Bernthal compared the stigma surrounding pit bulls to human discrimination, arguing that it’s wrong to judge the breed out of fear.“He said the widespread fear of pit bulls is ‘dog racism,’ and he said it was compared to judging people on their race or sexual orientation,” Stu comments.Bernthal has pit bulls himself and has called them “honest.”“So, apparently they’re giving him factual statements and sticking to their beliefs,” Stu laughs.The actor also claimed that a pit bull is just as likely to bite as any other dog.“Look, I think it’s wise to be a little bit skeptical of pit bulls, and I like all dogs. Personally, I know a lot of people that have pit bulls, and I like them, but you know, I think that you should discriminate a little bit,” Dave says.“So, I don’t know what that says about me, but it’s probably a good idea to be wary,” he adds.“There does seem to be a more likely terrible outcome when it comes to pit bulls. But still, it’s probably a small percentage of the dogs, right?” Stu asks.“Not all pit bulls, they’re not all going to be the same, but they were bred for violence initially, I believe, for fighting,” Dave says.“And sometimes the dog will protect itself against you, the owner,” he adds.Want more from Stu and Dave?To enjoy more of Stu and Dave's lethal blend of wit, humor, and insightful commentary subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

A Texas pastor who previously served as director of vocations for the Diocese of Dallas and now sees over 9,500 people show up every Sunday at his church in Coppell recently discussed the need for men to assume leadership roles, the challenges they will invariably face, and two challenges fathers should take on today.Fr. Edwin Leonard noted on the episode of "The Catholic Gentleman" podcast published on Thursday that when he took on the role of pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church during the pandemic, he observed that "everyone had been separated from their church community" long enough for some men to have "gotten used to the loneliness."'He also knew that you would be reading that Gospel.'Gospel and grillTo combat this pervasive sense of alienation, strengthen the community, and "more purposely target the hearts of men" so that like King David "they could be men after God's heart," the parish under Fr. Leonard began holding an annual men's summit."We just got a bunch of guys together, and we had barbecue. We had some bourbon, some beer, and some cigars, and just like hung out in the courtyard of our church," the priest said. "And it was about, you know, a 20-minute talk that first year from our key presenter."Feeling inspired by the Holy Spirit to go beyond consuming content that filled their bodies and minds, the attendees broke into groups and shared what the Lord was doing in their lives and how that had impacted them.The parish recognized that this summit and similar initiatives focused on fortifying the hearts and minds of men in the community were not only the way to cultivate Christian leaders but to strengthen the faith of multiple generations.RELATED: Blaze News investigates: Family or fallout — experts assess the threats now facing the nuclear family Lambert/Getty ImagesTest your mettleThe priest noted, after all, that the likelihood of successful religious transmission is greatly increased when children receive and grow in their faith in the presence of their father."The fact that he is leading in some way, shape, or form — it astronomically increases the opportunity and the chances for your children to have their faith," Fr. Leonard said. "So we said ... if we're going to pour forth effort, we can do anything, we just can't do everything. Let's build up some leaders."The aim behind the men's summit evidently became helping men not just serve their community but point in their service "towards the Lord whom they know."Over the course of the podcast, Fr. Leonard raised several issues he has observed negatively affecting young men and undercutting their leadership prospects, not least of which is passivity and "delayed adolescence," which he clarified is the result of a lack of exposure to adversity.To rectify these problems, he repeatedly advocated for controlled adversity — for engaging with and surmounting challenges of the kind that test mettle and build muscle.Action itemsAfter discussing the need to be challenged, Fr. Leonard was asked to provide those men listening with at least one challenge that if met could help them become better over the next week and into the more distant future.The priest instead issued two challenges, the first of which was for fathers to "pray over your children every night. Make a sign of the cross on their forehead like you did at their baptism. Bless them."The second challenge Fr. Leonard issued was for men to "practice listening to the Word of God. So you need to read the Word of God — I would suggest reading the Daily Gospel.""Read it once and then, you know, ask yourself two questions: What is the Lord trying to say to me? This isn't like a historical, critical method Bible study where you're like, 'What was the original source material? What was God trying to say 2,000 years ago?'" Fr. Leonard said. "God is omniscient, so as He was inspiring this to be read, He had a literal first-century meaning, but He also knew that you would be reading that Gospel reading in 2026.""The second question is the real crux of what I want people to do," he continued. "Think how you can put that scripture verse or what the Lord said to you into action that day."The priest added, "The more that you listen to the Word of God, the more that you're going to be able to hear the Word of God" and emphasized that "the practice of putting it into action bears fruit." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

As a modest contribution to the general welfare, I have once again taken on a task that state universities, despite their ever-expanding bureaucracies, seem unable to perform: helping parents and students decipher the course catalog before they accidentally enroll in an ideological boot camp.This year’s expedition into Arizona State University’s listings produced a familiar discovery.The challenge is recognizing ideological conformity when it hides beneath academic jargon and historical subject matter.For fall 2026, ASU offers eight courses with witchcraft, magic, or the occult in the title — and exactly one with Christianity.Think about that for a moment.At one of the largest public universities in the country, students can choose from a small festival of courses on witchcraft, while Christianity receives a single titled course.The predictable defense is already forming: These are history classes. They merely study witchcraft as history; they do not promote it.If only the syllabus cooperated.One ASU syllabus from this summer says the course will examine how the identity of the heretic and the witch was constructed against its binary opposite, the “orthodox” Christian. It then turns to “religious Othering,” especially “the female as Other,” and asks students to explain how centuries-old witch persecutions continue to shape their own lives.A student scrolling through the catalog may think, “Witchcraft? That sounds like an interesting history class.” What the description does not announce plainly is that the course has already selected its moral and political framework before the first reading begins.Allow me to translate the academic dialect into ordinary English.The syllabus contains three ingredients that appear with remarkable regularity across what I call the oppression-studies curriculum.First, orthodox Christianity is cast as the principal villain. The word "orthodox" is not merely descriptive. It identifies the force against which everyone else must be understood. Those troublesome Christians, always insisting that the Word of God is true.Second, history is organized around a fixed binary of oppressors and oppressed. The key term is “Othering.” Outside the university, the word means little. Inside it, “Othering” functions as a philosophical skeleton key.RELATED: Warning: This college course may be bad for your brain Andi Purnomo/Getty ImagesWhatever the subject — witchcraft, colonialism, literature, economics, architecture, or even mathematics — the conclusion is expected to fit the same template: One group possesses power, another is marginalized, and scholarship consists of exposing the machinery of oppression.Questions about whether Christianity is true, whether Christ is who Christians say He is, or whether salvation is real disappear from view. The course’s operating question is not “What is true?” but “Who has power?”Third, the historical narrative must be applied directly to the present. Medieval Europe is not studied merely to understand medieval Europe. Students must show how the old oppression continues now.History becomes raw material for a contemporary moral narrative in which Christians are still preventing women from having a little fun — even if that fun occasionally involves necromancy. Dead people need friends too.Once you learn the pattern, whole sections of the catalog become easier to read.The subject often matters less than the interpretive framework. Whether a course concerns witchcraft, fairy tales, Shakespeare, climate, coffeehouses, or design, the destination frequently remains the same. Society is assumed to be organized by systems of oppression, and every topic marches toward that conclusion.That’s precisely why parents and students need help reading college catalogs.Course descriptions are often written in a dialect that obscures more than it reveals. The average 18-year-old has no reason to know that terms such as “Othering,” “lived experience,” “deconstructing,” “intersectionality,” “hegemonic,” or “dialectic of oppression” may signal not simply a topic but an entire philosophical system.Learning to recognize those signals is an exercise in intellectual discernment.At the most elementary level, discernment means making distinctions. Ideas have presuppositions. Professors never merely present facts; every course is organized around assumptions about reality, morality, human nature, and truth.For Christians, some distinctions remain basic. The Word of God? Yes. Communion with Satan? No. That binary is not about power. It is about truth and goodness, and it should not require four credit hours to sort out.RELATED: Why do state schools bankroll people who despise the state? ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty ImagesOnce students grasp that first level of discernment, they are prepared for the next: watching how quickly the narrative shifts when necessary.One day, witchcraft is presented as a genuine spiritual tradition unjustly maligned by Christianity. The next, it is described as a social category invented by Christians to oppress women.Those claims are difficult to reconcile, but reconciliation is beside the point. Both preserve the same moral architecture: Christians remain the oppressors, and everyone else becomes the oppressed.The hardest courses to identify are not those that openly advertise ideology. Those are easy enough to avoid. The greater challenge is recognizing ideological conformity when it hides beneath academic jargon and historical subject matter.The sooner students learn to decode that language, the sooner they can decide where to spend their tuition dollars and intellectual energy.College is expensive enough without paying thousands of dollars to hear that orthodox Christianity is the principal menace of Western civilization — and discovering only after the drop deadline that you accidentally enrolled in Witchcraft 101.

Caitlin Clark has become one of the biggest names in sports, but BlazeTV host Steve Deace argues she now faces a defining moment that could shape her entire legacy. He explains that she cannot afford to remain silent on the debate over the future of women’s sports, arguing that the issue is not only about personal conviction.“She has an absolute obligation, not just morally, but financially, athletically, to address the issues that Sophie Cunningham is speaking on,” Deace says.Clark has remained silent on the issue of men in women's sports, as she most recently refused to comment on fellow WNBA star Sophie Cunningham's stance that transgender "women" should not be allowed on the same court.“This is not a matter of opinion, and I don’t even think it’s a matter of conscience. I think it’s a matter of fact that Caitlin Clark has an obligation to address this,” he continues, asking, “What league does Caitlin Clark play in?”Deace points out that Clark’s league, the WNBA, is specifically called the “Women’s National Basketball Association.”He also notes that despite her spot as a top women’s athlete, she still wouldn’t beat a much younger all-American male athlete.“Freshmen going into college this year. How many of them do you think Caitlin Clark could beat one-on-one?” Deace asks co-host Todd Erzen.“None. None of them,” Erzen replies.“She couldn’t beat the average high school star athlete. And she’s the greatest, she’s maybe the greatest female athlete in the world alive today ... so then it would seem like protecting the integrity of what that word ‘W’ means, would be vitally important to her,” Deace says.“What would that do to Caitlin Clark’s stock to just watch these guys come in and pretending to be women and just absolutely physically just roll her, just steamroll her on the way to the basket. She could not even get a shot off,” he continues.“So it seems as if you are profiting off of being a woman, playing in a league whose first word of its branding is ‘women’s’ … then defining what is and is not a woman would be paramount,” he adds.Want more from Steve Deace?To enjoy more of Steve's take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.