Where are the nones and why did they leave Evangelical churches?

I was listening to a Christianity Today Podcast and the guest claims there was a big rise in "nones" beginning in 2016, and he claims it's Trump's fault. Nones don't identify as evangelicals--or any religion. It's the "I'm spiritual, not religious." I listened about 5 minutes and logged off. I assume he's tagging a particularly demographic--millennials and some gen-x--because Pew reported there was no mass departure of White Americans from evangelical Protestantism between 2016 and 2020. Besides, like so many other terms, the word has become almost meaningless and meaning is squishy. They weren't pro-life, they didn't care about gay-marriage, and they weren't particularly sensitive to the needs of the poor unless it was through a government grant for their church body. So the support of the pro-life movement, the biggest rise in income of blacks in 50 years, policies to keep illegals in Mexico, and prison reform meant little to those who rarely attended church opting for yoga classes and mindfulness.

Trump haters/blamers rarely can point to a policy--i.e. that which affects us at our address, only a visceral dislike of his personality and how he threatened to "drain the swamp." Whereas those of us who can't stand Biden know exactly minute by minute what he is doing to tear apart the nation, to drag us into wars while funding our former enemies, to destroy our border and thus the concept of a nation, to enlist us in attack groups of race, sex, class -- ridiculing God's creation and our religion. Let me count the ways . . .

 
Trump tried to transplant a spine into a party that lost theirs. It was messy and painful. Maybe those "nones" (a group which had been growing for two decades before 2016) really had no religion before Trump and just got honest about it? It's so much easier to love the guy fumbling in the basement who is the head of a crime family.

Biden's inflation, April report

 Broken down more specifically, here's which indexes continue to show the greatest inflation in the 12 months that ended in April: 

• financial services - 8.4 percent
• apparel services - 9.2 percent
• delivery services - 7.4 percent
• fees for lessons or instructions - 12.1 percent
• veterinarian services - 10.2 percent
• motor vehicle insurance - 15.5 percent
• motor vehicle repair - 20.2 percent
• transportation services - 11.0 percent
• rent of primary residence - 8.8 percent 
• stationary and gift wrap - 9.7 percent
• pet food - 14.6 percent
• medical equipment and supplies - 9.9 percent
• motor oil - 13.1 percent
• household paper products - 11.9 percent
• outdoor equipment and supplies - 12.1 percent
• electricity - 8.4 percent
• food at elementary and secondary schools - 296.0 percent
• spices, condiments, and sauces - 10.3 percent
• salad dressing - 14.8 percent
• margarine - 23.8 percent
• carbonated drinks - 11.9 percent
• eggs - 21.4 percent
• crackers and bread - 13.1 percent
• cereal - 11.3 percent

296% for food in schools?
Latest Inflation Report Is More Bad News for Biden (townhall.com)

Schools struggle to provide meals for kids as inflation sends food costs soaring - CBS News

The ineptness of Republicans

Who needed Russia when there was Bill Barr hiding Hunter's laptop for a year and the 51 "experts" lying about it in the run up to the election after it was finally revealed? No need for charges against Dominion voting machines. There was so much collusion and corruption going on to defeat Trump it's ridiculous. https://patriotpost.us/articles/97070? Did Barr think that Democrats wouldn't try to mess with an election a year out, like what they are doing now with these phony indictments? The ineptness of the Republicans makes me wonder how Trump made it out alive from his first term.

Two Phil's at the Kentucky Derby

We're going to a Kentucky Derby party tomorrow evening, and we'll select (bet) a horse to win. I've chosen Two Phil’s, a 3-year-old colt, the first Illinois-based horse to qualify for the Kentucky Derby since 2007. I couldn't pass up the name Phil, but have no idea what the apostrophe is about. He's owned by two men named Phil, so I suppose it could mean Two Phil's [horse]. Also, I'm not positive he's actually on the list. I think he's a really pretty horse, a chestnut with a white stripe. The description sounded good. He's big and can go 40 mph.

“There’s gonna be 150,000 people screaming, and other horses will be all jacked up, sweating, nervous,” Rivelli said. “But he’s just got a little bit of an air about him, like he’s not really afraid of much. He doesn’t come busting out of the gate. But when he sees daylight, he knows it’s time to go.”

Two Phil's – Kentucky Derby Context | The TwinSpires Edge

Body changes with hormone therapy

More word games in the transagenda. Becoming female could be TOO exclusionary. I think the concept is to wipe out sex altogether.

"This article will replace the term [male to female] MTF hormones with estrogen hormone therapy. This is because MTF terminology is binary and exclusionary. Not everyone who uses estrogen-based hormone therapy may identify as male or have the goal of becoming female." MTF hormone therapy and body changes: Expectations and more (medicalnewstoday.com)

The results of this toxic brew are

shrinking testicles, but scrotal skin doesn't shrink
softer skin
fat redistribution to hips and thighs
development of an A cup breast
dry skin
decrease in muscle mass
erectile dysfunction
bone loss
increase in DVT
increase in heart disease
infertility

If the man is 25 and wants to take his chances after his body has fully developed, that's his Sophie's Choice, but to foist this on a 15 year old whose brain hasn't matured enough to fight back, is criminal. Then it is medical malpractice.

Joe Biden will never be peace broker like Clinton or Trump

The U.S. is the biggest player in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Why are we not working on a peace agreement instead of selling one country arms? Uncle Joe was so anxious to flee Afghanistan and turn over billions in materiel. Then he jumped right in another war where he had financial interests dating back to his days as vice president.

Joe Biden will never be a peace broker like Bill Clinton in Ireland or Donald Trump in the Abraham Accord. The Biden White House dismissed the historic Abraham Accord. His Crime Family doesn't benefit.

Pro-life pediatricians attacked

Although I don't like politics and social issues preached from the pulpit, I do believe churches need to support inquiries into movements and political agendas that go against the teachings of Christ and Christians trying to follow his justice, truth and mercy. Churches preach about friendship, brotherhood and family yet ignore the divisions in their own congregations on life issues, whether that is abortion, euthanasia, trans abuse of children, war or the growing racial divides encouraged by the Marxists among us.

"Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, pro-life institutions and individuals have faced sustained attacks. The militant group Jane’s Revenge vandalized pregnancy resource centers, the FBI arrested pro-life father Mark Houck in Pennsylvania, and a deranged pro-abortion man plotted an assassination attempt on Justice Brett Kavanaugh. These unrelenting attacks show no sign of abating. Look no further than the latest assault on the American College of Pediatricians, also known as ACPeds."
https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/05/05/hackers-target-pro-life-pediatricians-in-unrelenting-cyberattack/

Proud Boys trial

They've got a conviction on 4 Proud Boys claiming seditious conspiracy for January 6. I'd like to link to a conservative truth site, but have scanned nearly 100 entries, there were none. From Mother Jones to Guardian to Politico to all the alphabet media. Of course, no one cares about them--the goal is to convict Donald Trump and put him in jail so he can't drain the swamp, members of which also attended the riot on January 6.

Joe Biden and the neo-patriarchy

Joe Biden is a bad person. He particularly doesn't like women, adult or child, born or unborn, related to him or not. I'm not blowing the whistle or talking about his gibberish or hair sniffing (although others are on his criminal financial dealings). It's obvious by his behavior.

• He pushes abortion, at any time for any reason all through the pregnancy.
• He advocates mutilating underage girls so they can become part of the patriarchy and be sterile so they can't reproduce.
• He endangers women by putting them in the hands of the cartels to bring them across the border for sex work.
• He puts young women at risk by letting men invade their restrooms and locker rooms.
• He doesn't recognize his own granddaughter, whose rights are currently in litigation.
• He strips women athletes from grade school through college of their rights to win a race, a ribbon or scholarship so those awards can go to men in dresses and eye shadow, from swimming to discus to bike races.
• Austin Killups was an over 25 loser who took up racing late; then decided he couldn't compete against men, so he took a few hormones to lower his testosterone (a rule) and beat the ladies in their bike race. Transgender cyclist Austin Killips sparks debate after winning UCI stage race (yahoo.com)

Joe's OK with that. He hates women. From the tiniest and most helpless to the strongest (who don't want to be called names). 

 Get over him, ladies of the Democrats. Stop voting for Joe. Start standing up for yourselves. Fight the neo-patriarchal crimes and stick up for women.

The J-6 trial sends a message

The J-6 trial was a filmed terrorist drama played out to tell Trump supporters or any conservatives and anyone who slavishly watched it that they better behave and not protest about anything, or they can expect the prison terms, house arrest and vile treatment. The only person killed was a female veteran protestor, shot by police. Yet if you read any "historical" account, it will still say 5 died.

 Tucker showed his 3 million viewers the video of guards letting people in and the "rioters" taking photos, and we might have seen more if Fox hadn't stopped him. I hope someday he can finish the job, but both parties seem to be terribly afraid of him. Need to shut him up. There are 30,000 video files according to NPR. 1,000 people being investigated. Nine terabytes of information.

 
How does this compare to the hundreds of people who died during the months after George Floyd's death with billions in property loss, and businesses destroyed? That had a message for America, too. Do what you want, we'll stand down because your neighborhoods don't matter. Your safety isn't important. The J-6 protesters didn't get that sort of treatment. How do their crimes compare to the crimes of the pandemic? There must be hundreds who should be in jail for those crimes. And what about the crimes that the government agencies committed to cover up the Hunter Biden laptop so his pop could win the election? It has terrible information about Joe.

 
Yes, J-6 trial was definitely a message to anyone who asks too many questions about the war, the border, the pandemic, the crime family in the WH, the climate scam, the child abuse in the schools, the gender clinics and doctors, the bank failures, the supply chain, the raging inflation, and the debt and deficit.

NPR's biased account of March 23, 2023 is frightening. One person has been acquitted. Majority have not been tried. "The defendants who haven't received any prison time are often fined, and sentenced to a combination of probation, community service and home confinement, depending on the nature of the case. The vast majority of these defendants are charged only with "parading or demonstrating in a Capitol building," which is a misdemeanor."

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/25/1165022885/1000-defendants-january-6-capitol-riot?

VAWA is not protecting women

Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 (VAWA 2022) "is a federal law originally enacted in 1994 that today protects individuals who are survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. It includes protections for survivors who are applying for or residing in covered housing programs."

Passed in 1994 with bi-partisan support, it is now a paper tiger as far as I can see, and just duplicates other laws about violence. It gets hoop-la in the media when it's renewed because of its name. Women/woman terms are no longer used. Over time in the reauthorizations, same sex couple violence and transgender violence and elder abuse and child abuse were added. The terms are now victim, survivor, person, spouse, partner and member of household. Some changes also were made in wording so that illegal immigrants had protection, services, and grants to non-profits. It's now just one more government give away to pay salaries of state and local bureaucrats and to keep the lights on at the non-profit skimmers. 

With the current renewal (signed by Biden) VAWA 2022 certainly does nothing to keep women safe from men in their locker rooms or from theft of their prizes in athletic competition. Someone should rename locker rooms  as "housing."

Book Club Selections and suggestions, for 2023-2024

Each May our book club selects nine titles for the next September through May reading period. And today was that day.   This year’s selection list was very strong, so I’ll list them all, but first the nine choices. And who would have thought there was anything left to be said about Abraham Lincoln?  I don't know much about flowers, but look forward to reading about the flower designer at the White House who served many first ladies. Having just survived Covid, the Pale Rider about the 1918 pandemic will probably be riveting. Or maybe not. . .  I didn't recommend any titles.

The winners

September 11   And there was light (biography of A. Lincoln) by Jon Meacham (leader undesignated)

October 2    To America; personal reflections of an historian (memoir) by Stephen Ambrose (Peggy)

November 6    House in the sky (hostage memoir) by Amanda Lindhout (Gail)

December 4    Once upon a wardrobe (historical fiction, C.S. Lewis) by Patti Callahan (Linda)

January 8    My first ladies (memoir) by Nancy Clark (Mary Lou)

February 5   Sisters of Sinai (history, 19th c.) by Janice Soskice (Carolyn)

March 4     Pale rider (history, 1918 flu) by Laura Spinney (Isala)

April 1     Soul Survivor (selections of writers) by Philip Yancy  (Marti)

May 6    Fifth Avenue story society by Rachel Hauck (leader undesignated)


Other suggestions, not selected

Home for Christmas (anthology) published by Plough

The burning pages (mystery, Scotland) by Paige Shelton

So help me God by Mike Pence

The important thing about Margaret Wise Brown (children’s book)

Holdout by Graham Moore

The Spy and the traitor by Ben Macintyre

Money saving for Seniors

Have you seen those PennySaver USA sponsored ads? The last one I saw was "irresponsible spending seniors do." They are click bait--they are hawking spending, not saving. But money saving really depends on your quintile. Until Covid, we had a regular Friday night date to eat out. We got out of that habit, and now it's more like 2 or 3 times a month, and we don't really miss it. We never were big spenders, enjoying the time with friends or each other. But let's say with tip the bill was $60, so cut that out of your monthly expenses x2 and it adds up. Going back to the house for dessert with friends after dinner, really saves you some cash. Someone in the 5% group might give up a vacation to Europe to save money. Joe has been a disaster for our grocery and gas bills--what have you done to cut back, if anything?

Why can't they find the leaker? More serious than J-6

If they stopped investigating parents protecting their children from porn and CRT, maybe DoJ could find the leaker of the Dobbs decision   Alito: Dobbs Leak Made Supreme Court Justices ‘Targets of Assassination' (breitbart.com) ". . . the leak was designed to mobilize external pressure on the justices to intimidate one or more justices into changing their votes. The Supreme Court marshal’s investigation did not uncover enough evidence to accuse someone of being the leaker." Alito thinks he knows who it was.

18 USC 1507 Picketing Or Parading Statute

Whoever, with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer, in the discharge of his duty, pickets or parades in or near a building housing a court of the United States, or in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer, or with such intent uses any sound-truck or similar device or resorts to any other demonstration in or near any such building or residence, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.  See full statute at…https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2010-title18/USCODE-2010-title18-partI-chap73-sec1507

Dinner, last day of April

Let's return to the real reason we have social media. Photos of our meals. This is Sunday dinner today: pork tenderloin, butternut squash, mashed potatoes, coleslaw on leaf lettuce and mixed fruit--pineapple and blueberries. I love my Mountain Ivy dishes from Blue Ridge Southern Pottery (Erwin, TN) which I bought at the Lakeside archives sale store in 2018. The pattern is a little older than me, and the pottery closed in 1957.

United Nations wants sex with children to be justified in law

“Principle 16” of the global body’s March report, released for International Women’s Day, lays out the basis for what the U.N. considers “consensual sexual conduct.” It says:

The enforcement of criminal law should reflect the rights and capacity of persons under 18 years of age to make decisions about engaging in consensual sexual conduct and their right to be heard in matters concerning them. Pursuant to their evolving capacities and progressive autonomy, persons under 18 years of age should participate in decisions affecting them, with due regard to their age, maturity, and best interests, and with specific attention to non-discrimination guarantees.

Failing to Create Brotherhood of Man, UN Promotes Sex With Children (dailysignal.com)

Alphabet agencies in the federal government--most armed

 ATF Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives

 BIA Bureau of Indian Affairs 

BOP Federal Bureau of Prisons 

CBP U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

DEA Drug Enforcement Administration 

DHS Department of Homeland Security 

DOD Department of Defense 

DOJ Department of Justice 

EPA Environmental Protection Agency 

FAR Federal Acquisition Regulation 

FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation 

FDA Food and Drug Administration 

FLEO Federal law enforcement officer 

FPDS-NG Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation 

FPS Federal Protective Service 

FWS U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 GSA General Services Administration 

HHS U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

ICE U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 

IRS Internal Revenue Service

ESO Law Enforcement Support Office 

NIH National Institutes of Health 

NPPD National Protection and Programs Directorate 

OECA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance 

OIG Office of Inspector General 

PSC product or service code 

SSA Social Security Administration 

TIGTA Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration 

TSA Transportation Security Administration 

USMS U.S. Marshals Service 

USSS U.S. Secret Service 

VA U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

 VHA Veterans Health Administration

GAO-19-175, FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT: Purchases and Inventory Controls of Firearms, Ammunition, and Tactical Equipment

16,000 miles

I learn a lot at the gym. The exercycles are about 2 ft. apart. So, I could overhear the conversation of 2 retirees, maybe 10 years younger than me. So, I learned about the karaoke places and where to go ball room dancing in Columbus, OH. I also learned which local bands (really crazy names) have split or are having problems with venues. One guy had lost 30 lbs, but was having eye problems, so all the directions to the venues he told his friend involved side roads because he doesn't do freeways anymore. There were the usual complaints about safety, so they are both shopping in the daytime. Seems they don't like President Trump personally, but when they ran down the list of policies and programs like immigration and military, they were right smack in the middle of MAGA.

 
Meanwhile, my log sheet rolled over to 16,000 miles yesterday. I think I started tracking in January 2015 and I record both walking and cycling. 

Missing Fox because Tucker is gone?

 I enjoyed two day-time Fox shows--Outnumbered at noon, and The Five, at 5 p.m.  I'll drop them both now that Tucker has been fired.  I enjoy the Newsmax morning show, Wake up America.  Good hosts, and interesting panels. Rob Finnerty. Veteran News Anchor Rob Finnerty Joins Newsmax TV | Newsmax.com

A friend on Facebook has some recommendations:

Get a Rumble account - you can watch on Roku or your PC. Great shows that tell the truth like In The Litterbox with Jewels and Catturd. Flyover Conservatives, American Media Periscope, The Pete Santilli Show, Uncover DC, Redacted News, Thrivetime Show, The Prather Point, Benny Johnson, The Mel K Show, and the list goes on and on. I watched Tucker from time to time but haven't watched Fox since they called AZ early in the 2020 election. If you watch on your PC, you can participate in the chat. Norma - you'd love putting in your 2 cents worth. I participate in the chat but my Rumble account name is not my real name but is something clever. No one in the chat goes by their real name.

And I forgot Steve Bannon's WarRoom. Another place to watch shows is Frankspeech.com (Lindell TV). You'd love Brannon Howse. Can watch on Roku and PC.

Tucker--best in the business

"Carlson, 53, was the best in the business — the most interesting, the most provocative, the most compelling, the most scathing personality out there — and no one else was even close. The numbers bore that out, week after week after week. But in a numbers-driven business, the Fox News potentates decided that their mild and moderate sensibilities were more important than calling out the wrongness of the world around us: the nihilism of the Left, the cognitive decline of the American president, the wickedness and cultishness of the transgender movement, the incessant race-baiting of the Democrat Party, the craven DEI obsessiveness of corporate America, the socially engineered destruction of our military, the corruption of the FBI, the two-tiered justice system that pervades us — we could go on. And Carlson did go on. And on. And on."

https://patriotpost.us/articles/96777? Douglas Andrews