Mike Johnson speaker of the house

[tallslenderguy]

 

"In the wake of an unprecedented three-week void without a House speaker, Republicans on Wednesday elected Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson. While he is recognized within some Washington circles for his deeply conservative stances, Johnson, who was most recently the House GOP conference's vice chair, remains relatively obscure beyond the Capitol.

But prior to joining Congress in 2017, he spent years building his career and profile by denouncing gay people and fighting against gay rights, which he staunchly opposes, citing his Christian faith and views on liberty."

"...Johnson described homosexuals as "sinful" and "destructive" and argued support for homosexuality could lead to support for pedophilia. He also authored op-eds that argued for criminalizing gay sex."

[think before following links] https://abc7chicago.com/mike-johnson-house-speaker-gay-rights/13972396/

[hntnhole]

That's just the beginning of the loooong list of issues he's on the repressive side of.  Plus, he was active in trying to overturn the election, and all kinds of other mischief.  

I wonder how long he'll last .... 

[ErosWired]

When asked to describe where he stood on any number of issues, he was quoted as saying something along the lines of, “Pick up any Bible lying around the house and you’ll find what I’m about. It’s all there.”

Chilling.

I believe it is this drive toward religious rule that, more than anything else, would tip this nation again into civil war. They think they can make everyone else live their beliefs, and they cannot.

Americans may have begun to take their liberty for granted, but they are also very accustomed to it, and if you take it from them, you will only make them want it back more fervently. The trouble with a people who have tasted freedom is that they’re like pigs who’ve tasted blood - once tasted, they will always crave it, and become dangerous.

[hntnhole]

14 hours ago, ErosWired said:

“Pick up any Bible lying around the house and you’ll find what I’m about. It’s all there.”

The problem Mr. Johnson is ignoring is, there's plenty of other moral teachings in that particular tome.  

For example, how about "Judge not, that ye be not Judged"?  Where in the above referenced collection of ancient beliefs does any text refer to forcing one's personal religious beliefs upon an entire society?  Where does that authority come from?  Don't bother looking for it - it isn't there.  Where in "New" addition did the One they presume to follow say "go ahead - force your beliefs, however perverted - on your fellow countrymen?  Mr. Johnson, and his intellectual peers, don't give one rats ass about that collection of ancient sayings/beliefs.  I think if someone snuck into their outhouses and swapped out the Sears Catalogue for a Bible, they wouldn't notice for weeks.  

Mr. Johnson apparently abhors non-straight (as an arrow) folks.  The obvious answer to his abhorrence would be "so don't have sex with other men, and keep your long pointy nose out of other peoples business".  

How did we get to this place?  How did an apparently substantial  segment of the population come to believe that they get to force their own personal beliefs upon millions of other citizens that may not share their myopic arrogance?  If you don't like the issue of women's rights regarding care of their own bodies, then don't exercise those legal rights as they pertain to others, and keep your long, pointy nose out of other people's pants.  

Imagine if these people actually ran the country for an appreciable amount of time:  They could set the US back by centuries of political progress towards equal rights for all.  

If anyone hasn't registered yet, for all of our sakes, DO IT.  Vote these people out a year from now.  Agitate.  Question.  Get involved.  If not you, then who?  Do what you can to send these folks back to their hate-filled miseries - whether they live in mansions or dirt-floored trailers.  

[tallslenderguy]

History is replete with Mike Johnsons, "... handing tickets out for 'God.'  Except their "ticket" is not a free pass to an event, but a criminalizing citation.  

They, at one time, touted themselves as "the moral majority."  They are neither, but they know how to join themselves to a larger group end up adding their agenda to the mix. 

[hntnhole]

Geez .... that group of haters hasn't crossed my mind in ages .... who was that woman with the beehive hairdo that ran her mouth constantly about the imMoral Minority .....   

[tallslenderguy]

4 minutes ago, hntnhole said:

 

How did we get to this place?  How did an apparently substantial  segment of the population come to believe that they get to force their own personal beliefs upon millions of other citizens that may not share their myopic arrogance?  If you don't like the issue of women's rights regarding care of their own bodies, then don't exercise those legal rights as they pertain to others, and keep your long, pointy nose out of other people's pants.  

Imagine if these people actually ran the country for an appreciable amount of time:  They could set the US back by centuries of political progress towards equal rights for all.  

i think it's a fundamentalist mindset.  It's not based on understanding, or even belief. It's an emotional disposition that convinces the person they know 'God' and their biases and notions are therefore authorized and untouchable.  It's sleight of hand they practice with one another in their gathering places.  Have you been to one of those mega churches? It's downright creepy. They call it 'worship,' but they drum this hypnotic, manipulative music filled with their ideas to start. A 'leader' upfront tells you when to sit or stand. After you are tranced, they send containers around to collect money, then some guy stands up front and purports to speak for God for an hour or so.  

Any human responsibility is repressed and shoved into a tight corner, often utterly destroyed, and replaced by their construct which they call "God." 

[hntnhole]

6 minutes ago, tallslenderguy said:

Have you been to one of those mega churches? It's downright creepy

No.  But your previous comments to the above would also carry currency with the craven money-hunt by the speakers.  I remember one (my grandmother used to watch these extravaganzas on tv) where the preacher would manage to bring up how much Gawd needed their dough over and over again.  I've only seen it on tv.  Fortunately when Billy Graham had an event in Chicago, and my mom and dad went, I was old enough to make other arrangements.  The only thing I would have enjoyed is Ethyl Waters wobbling out His Eye is On the Sparrow.  By then, her vibrato had devolved into a 10-foot wide tremolo, enough to drive a car through.  

I think I've always been suspicious of others imparting their religiosity, assuming I'd simply accept it.  But, I don't, and never have.  After getting a beating from laughing out loud (at the most inopportune time  - when the congregation was in process of sitting down again after the recitation) at one of the creeds we had to recite in our Lutheran church service, I learned the hard way to evaluate when and where to voice dissent.  

As I see it, blaming some Entity of Antiquity for the exercise of individual intellectual probing, is the very definition of dullness.  We're able to think on our own, which responsibility so many of these culturally-inspired bullshit, pseudo-clerics abhor, is nothing less than anti-human.  

[viking8x6]

2 hours ago, hntnhole said:

How did an apparently substantial  segment of the population come to believe that they get to force their own personal beliefs upon millions of other citizens that may not share their myopic arrogance?

They have always believed that - just ask Hester Prynne. Haters gonna hate.

The more important question is, how did tens of millions of citizens collectively come to believe that it is OK for them to do so, if they do it -- supposedly -- within the structure of our governmental system?

[PozBearWI]

Perhaps the question to explore.  How can we begin to neutralize and ultimately reverse this seemingly intractable Hatfield's and McCoy's we're in?

[ellentonboy]

Once they reach a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, I hope some nut job like Matt Gaetz or Marjorie Taylor Green get pissed off and try to remove him because frankly, he is as about as dangerous as they come.  I don't think he will last to be honest but I know little about politics, or government for that matter.  That is sad because they either employed me or supported me my entire life, I'm not bragging here just being honest.   It's amazing to realize  that considering the amount of money they have deposited into my checking account over the years.......

[hntnhole]

20 hours ago, viking8x6 said:

how did tens of millions of citizens collectively come to believe that it is OK for them to do so

I can only assume that it's to be laid at the feet of Big Religion.  When only those who adhere are "saved", it follows that those who don't are doomed.  Then, it's an easy step to translate that pending doom into punishing the "already" doomed in the here and now.  Maybe they think that doing the Deity's work for Him (not Her, of course), extra blessings may accrue to them.  What's so interesting, is that the man that enabled all these openly-practiced hatreds is himself as perverted, emotionally stunted as a stone.  

I can only come to the conclusion that this inclination to hate has always been within human beings, but held at bay by cultural pressure to become better citizens, not worse.  Just as happened 100 years ago in a certain nation of culture in Europe, one hellish man loudly and consistently screamed out over and over again how it was their "duty" to hate certain others.  

Mr. Johnson may prove to be Orange Jesus' Goebbels. 

 

[hntnhole]

19 hours ago, JimInWisc said:

How can we begin to neutralize and ultimately reverse this seemingly intractable Hatfield's and McCoy's we're in?

If you're not already, register to VOTE, and then be sure to do it.  Join an activist group or three.  Attend progressive rallies.  Volunteer with your local Democratic Party office.  Make phone calls, Write letters. Knock on doors with literature provided by your local D party. Get your friends to join you. 

In short, as we used to say years ago, ACT-UP.  

[PozBearWI]

39 minutes ago, hntnhole said:

If you're not already, register to VOTE, and then be sure to do it.  Join an activist group or three.  Attend progressive rallies.  Volunteer with your local Democratic Party office.  Make phone calls, Write letters. Knock on doors with literature provided by your local D party. Get your friends to join you. 

In short, as we used to say years ago, ACT-UP.  

I'm already local elected person; and also work every election unless I am on the ballot.  

Re: Parties, I am opposed to parties in general and both of them specifically.  Both parties hound me to join.  

[viking8x6]

20 hours ago, JimInWisc said:

Perhaps the question to explore.  How can we begin to neutralize and ultimately reverse this seemingly intractable Hatfield's and McCoy's we're in?

I love this, and am in strong agreement here.

The parties, and the people in power (the plutocracy to an equal or greater extent than the public officials), manipulate the feelings of the people, fomenting hatred. Only the rich win. This level of cynicism is a bit new for me, but in the last five or ten years I've come to feel that it's sadly appropriate and more accurate than I wish it were.

 

One thing that I try to do personally, and that I see as a thing that may indeed help, is to act personally, as I can, to reach across those divisions and find our common ground. Most of the people who vote Republican don't actually wish ill on their fellow people. The echo chamber and the internet can easily make it seem otherwise.

Things that seem to work for me: Listen hard, a lot. Try to see the good in people. Share with my Republican relatives - like my barely-older uncle (my mother's kid brother), who is a staunch NRA member. He and I are good friends. Participate in activities that cross political boundaries - a couple that have worked for me are square dancing and choral singing.