Trifecta of Bad News for Man in White House Yesterday: "President's Longtime Personal Lawyer, Longtime Executive at his Business, Pled Guilty to a Cover-Up, a Criminal Cover-Up"

Donald Trump's day so far:

- Michael Cohen sells him out on Trump Tower Moscow
- Trump has meltdown on White House lawn
- Trump panics, cancels Putin meeting
- Deutsche Bank raided
- Trump's former tax attorney raided
- Cohen also sells out Trump's kids
- It's still only noon

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) November 29, 2018

As More U.S. Catholic Diocesan Offices Are Searched by Police, Reports Continue That Lists of Abusive Priests Released by Bishops Are Incomplete

Two days ago, I wrote, 

One bishop after another is claiming that there have not been cases of abuse in his diocese for years now, and the lists being released are almost entirely names of priests who have been dead for some time. Many survivors are pointing out that they can testify that the lists being released are not complete, since they personally known of priests whose names are not on the lists being released.

Killing of John Allen Chau, Controversy re: Pope Benedict's View of Jewish-Christian Relations, Claim of Franklin Graham That Trump Defends the Faith: Idea of Religious Mission Now in News

With the killing of John Allen Chau on North Sentinel Island and controversy about EPope Benedict XVI's understanding of Jewish-Christian relations in the news right now, religious missionizing is unexpectedly in the spotlight of the mainstream media. In the current conversations about Christian mission, it would be short-sighted not to recognize that these conversations are taking place against the backdrop of great fear in some quarters that Christian cultures are being overtaken by Muslim ones, and that Christianity needs to compete with Islam in a way reminiscent of the "Holy Wars" period in the past.

Breaking News: Authorities Raid Offices of Galveston-Houston Catholic Archdiocese

A significant footnote to what I posted earlier today about how Catholic pastoral leaders have moved beyond the point of no return with the abuse horror show: this morning, criminal authorities are raiding the offices of the Catholic diocese of Galveston-Houston. According to news reports, they are looking for the secret archives that canon law mandates dioceses keep regarding abuse allegations.

This is a highly significant story because this is the diocese of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, current president of the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Conference. As the news report at the head of the posting states, this is also unprecedented action in the U.S.

Point of no return, indeed.

German Catholic Bishops on Abuse: Church Is at "Point of No Return" and Has Been Exposed as "Perpetrator Organization" — What Now?

Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, "Bishops must open archives to 'independent experts'":

"Scapegoating Gay Priests and Pining for a World in Which Most Catholics Agree with Church Teaching on Birth Control Is No Way to Confront the Abuse Crisis"

It needs to be said again: the call of some Catholic pastoral leaders and of some sectors of the church for "purification" & acts of penance (not to mention, showy reactionary piety) in response to the abuse crisis is embedded in analysis targeting queer people. /1

— 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚖 𝙳. 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚎𝚢 (@wdlindsy) November 25, 2018

Donald Trump as Defender of "the" Faith: "These Children Are Barefoot. In Diapers. Choking on Tear Gas"

Huffington Post Lead Headline, 25 November 2018

Mike Allen, "Franklin Graham: Trump 'defends the faith'":

I never said he was the best example of the Christian faith. He defends the faith. And I appreciate that very much.