Keep in mind that three Arkansas students received corporal punishment for protesting gun violence in schools on Wednesday. Just let that soak in.

My kid and two other students walked out of their rural, very conservative, public school for 17 minutes today. They were given two punishment options. They chose corporal punishment. This generation is not playing around. #walkout

— Jerusalem Greer (@JerusalemGreer) March 14, 2018

Courtesy of the Daily Beast: 

Three students in a rural part of Arkansas have allegedly been smacked for participating in Wednesday’s national walkout protesting against gun violence. 

Despite that drastic punishment, one student’s mother, Jerusalem J. Greer, applauded her son and the other students at Greenbrier Public School for their defiant protest following the deadly shooting that killed 15 students and two adults at Stoneman Douglas High School last month in Parkland, Florida. 

“My kid and two other students walked out of their rural, very conservative, public school for 17 minutes today,” Greer wrote on Twitter. “They were given two punishment options. They chose corporal punishment. This generation is not playing around.”

According to Greenbrier Public School’s official policy, the school board “authorizes the use of corporal punishment to be administered in accordance with this policy by the Superintendent or his/her designated staff members who are required to have a state-issued license as a condition of their employment.” 

The handbook says that before students are smacked they are to be “given an explanation of the reasons for the punishment and be given an opportunity to refute the charges. administered privately, i.e. out of the sight and hearing of other students.”

This has to be the most tone deaf response to these protests imaginable.

Think about it.

These children take to the streets to protest that fact that they do not feel safe in their own schools, and the response is to physically abuse them? 

And in 2018 no less.

The Satanic Temple masterfully trolls Christians in Texas.

Courtesy of Dead State:   

The Satanic Temple is known for their masterful trolling of Christians. This time they’re going after “sadists” in Three Rivers, Texas. Why? Because last summer, the city’s public school district voted to allow paddling as a form of punishment for children. 

Now Temple spokesman Lucien Greaves says that school administrators who think hitting kids is okay need to be replaced, and that sentiment was reflected in a billboard put up by the Temple in Three Rivers. 

The billboard reads: “Our Religion Doesn’t Believe in Hitting Children.” 

“Hopefully, our billboard will give pause to passersby who will be forced to confront the fact that the school district is being operated by depraved and ignorant sadists who have no business being in education,” Greaves said, according to Patheos. “The billboard should be a wakeup call that the school district trustees, who voted 6 – 0 for corporal punishment, need to be replaced by competent and humane members of the community who have children’s best interests at heart.”

One of the Satanic Temple's tenets is that no one is allowed to cause bodily harm to another, which would already make them morally superior to fundamentalist Christians. 

The Obama Administration calls for an end to corporal punishment in our schools.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:

The Obama administration Tuesday called for an end to corporal punishment in states and school districts that continue to allow the practice. 

In a letter to governors and state school leaders, U.S. Education Secretary John B. King, Jr., called corporal punishment “harmful, ineffective, and often disproportionately applied to students of color and students with disabilities.” 

He urged states that had not yet ended corporal punishment — generally defined as paddling, caning or otherwise using physical force to inflict pain as punishment — to “eliminate this practice from your schools, and instead promote supportive, effective disciplinary measures.” 

While corporal punishment is banned in 28 states and the District of Columbia, there are 15 states that permit the practice and seven more that do not expressly prohibit it.

Just he very idea that this even has to be done in 2016 makes me sick to my stomach.

We now know so much about the harmful effects of corporal punishment on the emotional and mental well being of our children, and there are now so many more effective methods for behavior management, that it just seems barbaric that there are still institutions of learning who resort to physically injuring a child in order to gain compliance.

And of course this letter needs to be written now because once Jerry Falwell Jr. replaces John B. King Jr, as our Education Secretary I imagine he will reintroduce public floggings as a form of behavior modification.

Alabama public schools paddled almost 19,000 students during only one school year.

Courtesy of AL.com: 

While most of the nation long ago stopped striking children, Alabama principals continue to boast one of the highest batting percentages in the nation, paddling one child every four minutes. 

Across Alabama public schools, nearly 19,000 students were paddled in the 2013-2014 school year, according to newly available data from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. The count is of individual students and does not indicate how many were paddled more than once. 

Unlike in most of the developed world, Alabama law explicitly allows adults to administer corporal punishment, and education leaders in Alabama find no problem with paddling in schools.

You ever get so incredibly angry that you cannot type because your hands are tightly balled up into fists?

Well that is exactly how I responded to this article.

I had to literally walk around my office shaking out my hands to loosen them up enough so that I could even start typing.

First thing NOBODY should be striking a child in their care in fucking 2016! And I goddamn well mean NOBODY!

And if you are a school district that paddles even 19 students a year you should take a long hard look at your disciplinary techniques, because they suck!

But if you live in a state in which the schools paddle nearly 19,000 children a year that is a broken public school system.

I have worked with the most difficult, most aggressive, and most unresponsive kids you can imagine.

Not once, not once, NOT ONCE, did I ever raise my hand to one of those kids.

Was that challenging at times? Is the fucking sky blue? Hell yes it was challenging.

But if you work with those kids you should have an education to fall back on, tools at your disposal, tricks up your damn sleeve that you can pull out when everything else has fails.

But the one thing you do not have as a fall back is a violent response.

The minute you strike a child you have failed.

You have failed yourself, you have failed your employer, and you have failed that child.

Apparently the Alabama public school system has done all three.

New study reveals that spanking increases childhood defiance and mental health issues.

Courtesy of Red Orbit: 

If you think that the answer to an unruly child is a good spanking, think again, say researchers from the Universities of Texas and Michigan, who after extensive analysis found that this form of punishment only makes youngsters more likely to be defiant and aggressive. 

Their study, which was published in the April edition of the Journal of Family Psychology, was based on five decades worth of research involving more than 160,000 children. They are calling it the most extensive scientific investigations into the spanking issue, and one of the few to look specifically at spanking rather than grouping it with other forms of physical discipline. 

“Our analysis focuses on what most Americans would recognize as spanking and not on potentially abusive behaviors,” lead author Elizabeth Gershoff, an associate professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas, said in a statement Monday. “We found that spanking was associated with unintended detrimental outcomes and was not associated with more immediate or long-term compliance, which are parents' intended outcomes when they discipline their children.” 

In fact, Gershoff and co-author Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, found that the more frequently that children are spanked, the higher the risk that those kids will start to defy their parents, become aggressive, experience mental health issues, exhibit anti-social behaviors, and/or develop cognitive difficulties. 

In the mental health field this is really old news, but you would be surprised at the number of people who still feel that all any unruly or disruptive child needs is more discipline. And of course their idea of discipline always involves corporeal punishment.

Let me confess that when I was a young father I did swat my daughter on the butt one or two times at least.

My only excuse is that I was not well educated enough to know the harm I was doing and I now regret every swat I ever administered to my child.

And trust me she remembers every one of them as well, and will bring it up to remind me that I was not always the cool headed professional that people think I am today.

The problem of course is that positive behavior modification techniques are still not widely known, and even when known take time to change disruptive behaviors, while for many parents the spanking creates immediate gratification both by temporarily altering the child's behavior and also feeding into the parent's sense of power and need for control.

However if parents choose the slower path of positive behavior modification they will end up with happier children and ultimately more successful adults.

Ted Cruz suggests that Hillary Clinton should be "spanked" for not telling the truth. Because there is nothing misogynistic about that!

Courtesy of HuffPo:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton lied to the American people about Benghazi, and now voters will "administer a spanking," which is how Cruz disciplines his 5-year-old daughter when she doesn't tell the truth. 

"What happened in Benghazi was a national disgrace," Cruz said, responding to a question from a voter on Friday asking how the Republican presidential hopeful would hold those accountable for the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya that left four Americans dead, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. 

"In my house, if my daughter Catherine, the 5-year-old, says something she knows to be false, she gets a spanking," Cruz said, standing on the bar of a local shop here, looking into the crowd. 

In the Democratic primary, Cruz said voters have the opportunity to hold Clinton accountable. 

"In America, the voters have a way of administering a spanking," Cruz said with a smirk. "I can tell you this: As president ... there will be accountability for Benghazi."

So not only is Cruz using a sexually charge metaphor concerning Hillary Clinton but he also admits beating his five year old daughter.

Go ahead argue that spanking your child is not akin to a "beating," And then visualize a seven foot tall, 300 pound weightlifter, throwing you over their lap and laying into you as hard as they can.

That is about the equivalent.

ANY parent in 2016 who is still using corporal punishment to discipline their children should be forced to attend parenting and behavior modification classes. There are dozens and dozens of more effective alternatives to striking your children.

Hey, I popped my daughter on the butt as well, twice. And she remembers both of them. Trust me.

But that was a long time ago, and I certainly know better now.

In my job I work with children who come from homes where their behaviors, many of them the result of chemical imbalances in their brains or trauma they suffered as infants, are met with increasing levels of violence until finally the state steps in and takes them away.

By then the damage has been done, and it takes years of patience and therapy to partially undo the damage.

So for Ted Cruz to suggest that a one time Senator, former Secretary of State, and current presidential candidate should be struck as a powerful man might strike a young child, is disgusting.

By the way, who is actually surprised to learn that Cruz's daughter lies to him?

After all look who she has for a role model.

Christian couple sue Massachusetts because the state won't let them adopt foster children to beat.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

A Massachusetts couple claim they’re victims of religious discrimination because the state won’t allow them to adopt foster children because they spank their own kids. 

Gregory and Melanie Magazu sued the Department of Children and Families after their application was rejected because they admitted to using corporal punishment. 

“It’s been hard because (being a foster parent) is something that’s been in my heart, that I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” said Melanie Magazu — who grew up in the foster care system herself. 

She and her husband, who are members of Grace Reformation Bible Church, were turned down in 2013 because the state does not allow foster parents to use corporal punishment, as the Magazus do with their own three children. 

“Because of the significant trauma children in DCF care may have experienced, Department policy requires that foster parents agree not to use physical punishment as discipline,” said department spokeswoman Andrea Grossman. “This couple was denied as foster parents based on their use of corporal punishment on their biological children and the negative effect that could have on foster children.” 

The state argues that many foster children come from abusive homes, so exposure to spanking and other corporal punishment could be traumatizing — but Gregory Magazu said that’s how he shows his Christian love.

You simply do NOT get to use corporeal punishment against children placed in the care of the state, which is exactly as it should be. 

And if you want to adopt children, and your go to punishment is to hit them, then you are unfit for the job. And if that is against your religious beliefs than you REALLY need to think about changing your religious beliefs.

As I have mentioned before I work with some of the most challenging young people you can possibly imagine and if I even made a fist in response to one of their behaviors I would be out of a job. Period!

Many of these children have been horribly abused and neglected, and it really takes very little to re-traumatize them.  Which is something these two ignorant morons seem unable to grasp.

I have also worked with families who thought that the way to deal with escalating behaviors was to escalate the severity and frequency of the beatings. And yes some of them used their religion as as excuse for the beatings.

Yeah those people do not even SEE their children anymore.

Sean Hannity unbuckles his belt and punishes his desk in defense of NFL player Adrian Peterson against child abuse charges.

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

Sean Hannity defended Adrian Peterson last night by invoking how his own father used to beat him. And to illustrate that point rather vividly, Hannity took off his belt and whipped it around. 

Hannity admitted that Peterson went too far in beating his kids, but said he shouldn’t be penalized for trying to discipline his children. His guests pushed back a bit on corporal punishment and Hannity asked, “We’re gonna arrest everybody that’s ever hit their kid?” 

He recalled a time when his dad once punched him in the face and he “deserved it.” And then Hannity said, “I’ll take my belt off.” Which he did. And then proceeded to whip it on the table a few times to demonstrate how it was done.

Jesus what a fucking moron!

Nobody is suggesting that any person who utilizes corporal punishment in order to discipline their children could be brought up on charges, but there is a clear distinction between discipline and brutality. And if you do not understand that then you have no business raising your hand to a child.

I only spanked my daughter on the bottom a handful of times, and they usually consisted simply of a single pop on the butt.

Like I said there were probably less than a half dozen of these, and they were by no definition excessive, however my daughter remembers every single one and she still feels the sting of my aggression, for which I am eternally shamed for not being a more capable parent.

I myself was beaten by caregivers as a child, when my mother, who was working two jobs to support us, left us with strangers who provided room and board, and heaping amounts of discipline.

I was the identified troublemaker so I was left with strap marks on my back and legs, bruises on my arms and face, and deep emotional scars that even as a middle aged man slither to the surface every so often.

My response was to work with children for the majority of my life, mostly to protect them from others and to demonstrate that patience and consistency are far more effective at behavior modification than instilling fear or using brutality.

Personally I think that Hannity would be well served with some time in a psychiatrist's office, and have little doubt that there is a plethora of psychological problems swirling around in that square cranium of his.