to hell with church

The number of Roman Catholics attending weekly services has dropped to an average of 39%. In contrast, 45 percent went to church on a weekly basis in 2005. The latest figure showed a sharp decline from 1955, when the average weekly attendance was 75 percent.

The decline continued with the rate falling by four percent each decade.

Among American Protestants, church attendance has been steady, although there has been a sharp decline in the number of people identifying as Protestants.

According to Gallup, the number of Americans identifying as Protestants has dropped from 71 percent in 1955 to 47 percent in 2010.

The average attendance rate for U.S. Protestants between 2014 and 2017 was 45 percent.

The number of people identifying as Catholics has remained stable. Gallup reported that the number of Americans identifying as Catholics today is 22 percent, compared to 1955 with 24 percent.

A large number of young people neither self-identify as Catholic or Protestant. Some identify as "other" or with non-Christian religions, but most describe themselves as no religion.

The report indicated that there were 33 percent of those aged 21 to 29 who identify with no religion.

A study conducted in 2016 revealed that there were one in five Americans who identify with no religion, up from two percent in 1955.

Catholics are still likely to attend mass during religious holidays like Easter and Christmas.

About 73 percent of all Christians claimed that they were planning to attend services on Easter Sunday. Actual attendance was about half of that number (39%).

That figure was higher among practicing Catholics, with 95 percent saying they were planning to attend Easter Sunday services.

well... it IS more than a few...

Republicans with power are like republicans getting sex - it happens so rarely that they hang onto it as tightly as they cling to the sheep over the fence.

Adoration fix

Despite public denials, the fates of Manafort and Cohen worried Trump.

For Trump, Cohen has represented a greater threat than even the Russia investigation, drawing from his decade of working as the then-celebrity real estate developer’s fixer. An FBI raid on Cohen’s New York office and hotel room in April rattled Trump, who has complained publicly about what he felt was government overreach while privately worrying about what material Cohen may have had after working for the Trump Organization for a decade.

When the raid on Cohen’s office produced a recording that the former fixer had made of Trump discussing a payment to silence a woman about an alleged affair, the sh*t hit the fan. Trump turned on Cohen like a pit bull on a child.

Trump also stewed for weeks over the media coverage of the Manafort trial.

Though these proceedings were not connected to Russian election interference, Trump views the Manafort charges as “a warning shot” from Mueller.

As Trump watched the courtroom proceedings, he told confidants that he feared his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., could at some point be the one on trial.

So, el Presidente headed off to a "love fest rally" for an adoration fix.

Poor Michael Cohen. He once had an autistic pathological liar for a client and that client was not known for paying his bills.

the "G" bomb...

GUILTY

Some charges dealt with money Manafort made lobbying for Ukrainian politicians (he previously failed to register as a foreign agent). Manafort moved $30 million from foreign shell companies into the US — but didn’t disclose this income on his tax forms, pay taxes on it, or fill out legally required disclosures. For these charges, he was convicted of five tax charges and one failure to declare foreign accounts.

Other charges were about what Manafort did once he lost his Ukrainian income. He tried to conjure up more cash via bank fraud. He was convicted of two counts of bank fraud.

The jury couldn’t agree on 10 other counts — three more failure to declare foreign accounts charges, and two more bank fraud charges, and five bank fraud conspiracy charges.

Mueller’s team has charged Manafort with seven other counts that weren’t part of this Virginia trial at all — they were brought separately in Washington, DC, and will be the focus of a trial scheduled to begin September 17.

the "B" bomb

We are all aware of the "F" bomb.

We are all aware of the "N" bomb.

We are not, however, all aware of the "B" bomb.

The "B" bomb is belief. Thinking STOPS where believing begins. Like "F" and "N," "B" should be removed from the thinking person's vocabulary.

To begin with, there are well over 400 "belief systems" or religions being practiced on the planet today. Of these, perhaps 50 make it into books.

"Hindu" is the Persian word for "Indian." The religions of the Hindus are many... MANY many. Yoga, Brahmanism,

The god(s) of the hebrews all spoke hebrew.

Pele spoke Hawaiian.

Coincidence?

So, when someone claims "America was founded on Christianity," ask "When?"

For over 12,000 years, Animists occupied this land. Recently, Spanish, and others, invaded and displaced the original occupants of this land to set up colonies.

Bacon's rebellion had nothing to do with pork. Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.

ARTICLE 11.
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,-as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

About 90% of the population assimilates religion from a parent, peers, or culture. Someone born and raised in Medina is not likely to be Eckankar.

So, enter the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

These folks find it necessary to pester prospective voters into supporting useless causes in the name of BELIEF.

The Faith and Freedom Coalition is a right-wing christian political group created by Ralph E. Reed. Launched in 2009, Reed describes the organization as "a 21st century version of the Christian Coalition on steroids."

Whatever.

The Faith and Freedom Coalition is a branch of the annoying christian church. Sad.

Most of us know what they "need."

"Hobby" president

About 50 years ago, my sister pitched cards at the Mapes.

A "slick" or hobby cowboy strutted up to her 21 table (a.k.a. blackjack) and before he could take a chair, she asked: "Hey slick, how long you been a goat roper?

Today, she might ask the Donald: "Hey slick, how long you been president?

He's got the hat, but not the cattle!

The New York Times report, which has Trump upset, cited a dozen current and former White House officials claiming White House Counsel Donald McGahn had aided Mueller in the Trump-Russia probe.

He suggests we "study" McCarthyism - but not too close.

McCarthy saw a commie in every closet - and the president of the SAG rolled over on a few innocents.



Trump is much like the hobby cowboy who lies: "I won this belt buckle in the rodeo (he bought it in the corner drugstore), the pickup truck is paid for (he has at least 24 payments to go), and I was only HELPING the sheep over the fence."

He may wear them lizard boots and a Stetson hat, but Trump is no president - never was, never will be.

Former CIA director John Brennan, in a New York Times op-ed, wrote that Trump’s denial of collusion with Russia is “hogwash.” Brennan was in office during the 2016 campaign, and he received briefings from European intelligence services that intercepted communications between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

It all dates back to the summer of 2014 when a hacker in the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD penetrated the computer network of a university in proximity to Red Square, unaware of the deeper implications. One year later he and his colleagues watched Russians launching an attack on the Democratic Party in the United States. The AIVD group was in exactly the SAME computer network used by the Russian hacker group Cozy Bear. Unbeknownst to Russians, or team trumpster in the dumpster, the Dutch could see and record everything as it was happening.

Even at the very peak of Trump's game, he is no more than a twitter turd (tenderfoot under rigorous detection).