Religious affiliation down as more elect to be "nones"

"Nones" of another variety than we're used to in the Catholic Church, and, of course, spelled different, are the driving force in religion as we know it today. They are either "atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular,” according to the American Family Survey Their numbers are 34% of all Americans with Protestants trailing at 33%, Catholicism 21% in this late 2017 study. I have said for years that the primary thing wrong with religion is the organized church and continue to believe it is precisely that which is creating this new important group.

Other factors accounting for the exodus are the strict disciplines that have often harsh requirements in order for the congregation to participate, like the Catholic faith, but then there is the latest barrier, an LGBTQ community that isn't welcome, especially by Evangelicals. Here are passages from the Bible re. homosexuality...

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. (Leviticus 18:22)

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. (Leviticus 20:13)

According to one source "The word “homosexuality” didn’t even show up in English translations of the Bible until 1946," so Bible thumpers can't really trace it back to the original scriptures. And that brings about another theory of mine, the Bible is a book written by men who, even if inspired by the holy events of the day, nevertheless were people like us. Prone to mistakes, which in many cases account for confusions found in translation after translation. But the obstacles against the LGBTQ group is only one problem for the church; with so many more, the "nones" are sure to proliferate.

International gun control gets in the act

Probably most of us have not thought enough about international gun control when the situation is so bad in this country, far surpassing those of other industrialized nations like the U.S. As an example, this country had 3.85 gun deaths per 100,000 population in 2016 compared to Japan .04, China .06, United Kingdom .07, and Germany .12. There's more but you get the idea. The international conference was about eliminating the trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons, but has several other aspects to its agenda...

• Exert greater control over ammunition
• Support women’s participation in small arms control
• Crack down on illicit trade in small arms and ammunition
• Strengthen legislation to disarm domestic violence abusers

They also want to address things like guns in the home, a problem very prevalent in the U.S. since 1.7 million children live with unlocked, loaded guns in this country. Did you know that 91% of all children who die from firearms in high-income countries across the world come from the United States. So, the high level of gun violence and the need to fix it is not debatable. And since the Mary Stoneman massacre, the right button seems to have been pushed, and the gun control movement has gained a momentum that just may be both deep-rooted and enduring.

New Jersey has a grip on gun control

The 2nd Amendment gun nuts are all in a dither over the release by New Jersey of federal information on "near-real-time firearms trafficking data." They refer to the 1996 Dickey Amendment, which forbids using the feds budget to do gun violence research. The NRA and its brainless membership have been dreading this for some time, knowing full well that, with the brutal facts out in the open, the American public might come to their senses and take up opposition to gun violence. What is so pitiful is it has taken so many gun deaths, including hundreds of children, to get here.

"Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled the data Tuesday as part of a campaign promise to strengthen New Jersey's already-tight gun laws." One of the facts" "77 percent of guns used in crimes in New Jersey come from out of state." Which would indicate they are bringing in guns from states with the loosest gun laws like Arizona, Kansas, Mississippi, or closer Vermont. New Jersey has promised to release this information from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on a monthly basis. More states should do this in line with enacting new gun control laws.

Did Facebook elect Donald Trump?

Typical Facebook 2016 Election ad

Headlines have proclaimed that thousands of ads were purchased by Russians, some posing as Americans, designed to elect Donald Trump in 2016. If the idea was to force the U.S. into chaos, then they accomplished their purpose. Facebook says they were actually purchased by the Kremlin and, even when considering 1st Amendment rights, it raises the question of whether or not this is considered an act of hostility against the American government. Of course, T-rump and his pathetic supporters would say no, it is just business as usual, in the good old Republican way.

Facebook even admits the ads were meant, "to sway public sentiment," and claims to be placing safeguards in place to prevent manipulation of future elections. But the question arises, is the American public so easily swayed, basically uninformed, so downright stupid that a Facebook ad could decide their vote? If so, this country has become a massive field of what I call apathetics, those who are completely out of tune, and really don't care. The most frightening side of the ads was their bent toward racism as well as to create unrest on gay rights and gun rights.

If Facebook did elect Donald Trump, we are in more trouble than we ever realized.

NRA still doesn't want public to know true gun violence statistics

The National Rifle Assn. pushed through the Dickey Amendment in 1996, gun legislation that prevents, "the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using funds 'to advocate or promote gun control.'" Naturally it is in the best interest of this violence promoting organization to keep the true facts from the public. According to Health, "Of the 30 leading causes of death in the United States, gun violence is the least researched." And the Brady organization reports, on an average day 96 people die from gun violence. But the NRA refuses to accept these figures.

I have followed David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center for years and despite the NRA's head gun nut, Wayne LaPierre, he is making progress in documenting and publishing about gun violence. He regularly side-steps the Dickey Amendment which prevents "the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using funds 'to advocate or promote gun control.'" It's a stupid law meant only to hide the facts that gun violence is completely out of control, to keep it all secret so a stupid Congress doesn't have to face the facts.

Actually, gun violence research has proliferated over the past few years thanks to people like David Hemenway and with the help of universities, think tanks and private philanthropy. Even states like California are beginning to recognize the problem and then "governors from six northeastern states and Puerto Rico announced plans to launch a research consortium to study the issue. "A gun in the home increases the risk of someone in that home dying from suicide maybe threefold, and the evidence is overwhelming," Hemenway says. The NRA, and the public, must face up to these facts.

Trump's bait and switch on reducing drug costs

Mouth open as usual but no substance

Bait and switch is alive and well in the Trump administration and, as usual, the American consumer is the loser. Instead of going direct to the source of ridiculously high U.S. drug prices, the greed of pharmaceutical companies, he appeals to foreign markets to adjust their prices, That has to be one of the stupidest  moves Donald Trump has made since entering office. Besides, health experts say it wouldn't work anyway because the American drug industry wouldn't cooperate. Why should they? As an example, Medicare, one of its largest markets, isn't required to negotiate its drug pricing.

After Trump's speech, shares of major drugmakers, insurers and PBMs, pharmacy benefit managers, rose. Warren Buffett called the cost of healthcare "insane," and he, along with Chase Bank and Amazon hope to, "create a health care system that costs less and gets better results." for its employees. Talk is that could even accommodate other companies in the future. And that brought down the stocks of insurers and pharmaceutical companies. This would bring to mind that competition is no longer fair in the business world, now favoring large corporations and the wealthy.

Has anyone doubted that for some time?

Not one iota of your life is private anymore

For years I labored as a privacy blogger to convince the public they should be concerned over the loss of their privacy. Protect your data, I would tell them, even going to the extent of suggesting individuals should own their personal information, companies having to get your permission to use it, paying you for the privilege. No one was interested and out of all this I coined the term, 'apathetics,' for the individuals who stood by indifferently, watching their private data collected in databases around the world.

I finally threw up my hands and said, 'If you don't give a shit, why should I,' and turned my interest to political blogging. I can assure you the time to protect your personal information is long past; given time, almost anyone can go to the Internet underground and buy your Social Security number for five bucks. I still refuse to give mine out just because of the principal of it. Now Google is talking about selling the future, "powered by your personal data." Facebook, because of the use of its users' private information is in trouble with the feds. I hate to say it, but I told you so.