Mike Johnson speaker of the house

[boy4you]

My brother and I grew up in Nebraska where being Gay was a big problem. These right-wing Christian nationals will come after us and want to destroy the LGBTQI community. Please vote in 2024 

[hntnhole]

On 10/28/2023 at 12:02 PM, tallslenderguy said:

then some guy stands up front and purports to speak for God for an hour or so

Fun story re: speaking in tongues ...

Some years ago, in autumn, I drove out to West Virginia to purchase a car.  The seller was old and quite ill, and had hired a women from Nashville named Helen to deal with selling off his collection.  He'd made a fortune in strip-mining, and lived on top of one of the (former) mountains he'd leveled, of which only the bottom half was still there.  On the day I arrived, the seller was unable to do business, so I found a motel and waited for the next day, upon which I met the selling agent,  She had no scintilla of an idea about the cars (there were around 60) in the collection, and launched into all kinds of talk about how filled with the Holy Spirit she was, on and on, told me the Lord had promised her to clothe her in jewels, to which I responded "But Helen - it doesn't sound like you'll keep warm in a dress made of stones", hoping she'd just back off a little bit.  I was able to share quite a bit of information about that particular marque, which body-style were more valuable, etc, which at least gave her a notion of what she was selling. 

Helen turned out to be what she called an Evangelical, which crowd apparently gets "credits" in the hereafter for bringing in fresh blood.  She insisted - almost demanded - that I attend services with her the next day (it must have been a Sunday, but I don't recall exactly).  What I do remember is that I was trying to be on my very best behavior - I really wanted to buy that car.  Towards the end of the service, the pastor did indeed ask (as I recall, in a circuitous way), if anyone had "felt the Spirit" or some-such, and a number of the congregants apparently had.  The "speaking in tongues" began, and I simply couldn't believe my eyes or ears, and then some other woman started to translate what these babbling folks were apparently trying to communicate.  A few were actually rolling on the floor in some kind of ecstatic trance. I was simply stunned.

Take note:  I am not judging these people, nor their devotion nor their spirituality.  If this is how they find peace, stability, spiritual fulfillment, it's fine by me.  But for a guy from a big city with a Liturgical church-tradition, it was a real shocker.  Since it was Sunday, no business could be done, so I had another day on my own to digest it all. 

Monday, the owner was able to navigate, and we got down to business.  After I wrote the check and we shook hands, he called out to some kid to go to one of the barns and get my car.  I turned to see who he was calling, and the most beautiful, sandy-haired blonde boy in blue-jean bib overalls was approaching.  The most enchanting drawl, big, cornflower blues, and a smile that could melt the heart of Stan himself.  I asked if I could go with him, and the owner said sure.  The kid started to tell me about all the different marques the owner had collected (there were around 40 steel pole-barns jammed with many wonderful cars, and maybe 10 more jammed with "lady-things" the owners wife had collected; stuff like dolls, dishes, "artwork", furnishings, one glance was enough.  We got to the now "my" car, and drove it out to the porch area where the now-former owner was waiting.  He said to me "alright, young fella - I'ma show you how to drive this thing and then I'm going back inside.  

And that was the first and last time I ever witnessed anything even close to such a display of religious fervor.  

[viking8x6]

17 hours ago, hntnhole said:

I asked if I could go with him...  We got to the now "my" car

Uh-huh. But what happened in the barn?

[hntnhole]

Just the car-related business. 

After wasting two days (there was a transport semi waiting at the side of the road for two days, which wasn't cheap) all I wanted was to get the business done and get outta there. Also, I'm not all that good at seducing guys - I'm better at it with guys that are already comfortable being who they need to be. 

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, hntnhole said:

Just the car-related business. 

After wasting two days (there was a transport semi waiting at the side of the road for two days, which wasn't cheap) all I wanted was to get the business done and get outta there. Also, I'm not all that good at seducing guys - I'm better at it with guys that are already comfortable being who they need to be. 

You need to watch Blanche Devereux again and take note about how things are done in the South LOL  .... I'm wondering if the sandy-blonde hair boy is somwhere reading this thread thinking that exact same thing happend to him some time ago.... LOL

[hntnhole]

7 hours ago, EuRawBull said:

thinking that exact same thing happend to him some time ago.... LOL

Wouldn't THAT be something special !!!  I doubt I'll ever know ... 

[BootmanLA]

On 10/29/2023 at 7:54 PM, barefucker44 said:

I may be gay, but I aint stupid.  Mike Johnson will be a great speaker.  The Democrat party has done so much to screw Americans, we need to stand for strong Republicans who will back America and Israel.  As a Jewish gay man and a staunch supporter of Israel, I support conservatives who stand for Israel.

Far be it from me to suggest anything about your intelligence, but I will say your observational skills seem to be, well, suspect.

I normally won't even engage with assholes who insist on calling it the "Democrat Party" (knowing full well that the name of the party is the Democratic Party, but "Democrat Party" somehow sounds...sinister, I suppose). But if you're going to "stand for" Republikkklans" who will "back America and Israel", be specific about what you think "backing America" means. For the GOP, it means tax cuts for the wealthy while increasing taxes on the working classes. It means cutting more out of our already tattered and fragile safety net.

Unlike most people on this site, I've known Mike Johnson for years, and I can assure you he is a snake. A snake in a very nice suit, but a snake nonetheless, one who would cheerfully eliminate every protection you have as a gay man while telling you he's doing it for your own moral good.

And as for backing Israel: the only reason Johnson and his religious ilk "back Israel" is because they think somehow their vision of Armageddon and Christians taking over the world relies on Israel's existence. Mind you, they expect fully that all Jews will be either converted or killed in the final battle, so keep THAT in mind when you talk about their support for Jews.

And for that matter: Johnson and his ilk firmly believe it's not only constitutional, but a good idea in practice, that Christians in America get preferential treatment for everything, completely aside from their views about gays. As a Jew, you should know they consider you a second-class citizen at best.

[BigBearSean]

On 10/29/2023 at 8:54 PM, barefucker44 said:

I may be gay, but I aint stupid.  Mike Johnson will be a great speaker.  The Democrat party has done so much to screw Americans, we need to stand for strong Republicans who will back America and Israel.  As a Jewish gay man and a staunch supporter of Israel, I support conservatives who stand for Israel.

There were also Jews that supported Hitler, even after he began rounding them up inyo ghettos.  And people who supported Nazis not for their genocidal pogroms, but for their fiscal policies.  Know what we call them?  Nazis.  Because no one gives a shit about how "fiscally responsible" you are when you're actively destroying people's lives and murdering them.

Johnson is a monster.  And his support for a fascist government genocidally murdering 8,700 civilians, 70% of which are CHILDREN, isn't even because he cares about Israel.  It's because he's a death cult fanatic hoping to bring about the "end times" while also murdering off "enemies of god" for his "christian army."

I was raised around these EXACT SAME hate-mongers.  And they will gladly use you for authoritarian power until they no longer need you, then murder you off too.  That's not hyperbole. That's HISTORY.

[hntnhole]

17 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

"Democrat Party" somehow sounds...sinister, I suppose

Or - just incurious about appearances? 

17 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

"back America and Israel"

It occurs to me that perhaps these people are not well educated in recent World History.  Yes, Israel is an important ally in that area of the world, helping counter the more repressive regimes in the area.  Yes, Israel has the "right" to answer the Hamas attack of last month.  I would also say, the current Government there has much to answer for regarding their intelligence capabilities. and the current Prime Minister has even more to answer for.  The ancient saying "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" may apply to military combatants, but it does not apply to civilians.  It may be that millennia ago, when "armies" consisted of some men with broadswords and spears, plus some boys with slingshots, that physiologically-based slogan worked out.  Those days are long, long gone.  Using modern weapons to utterly destroy what - for all appearances - is a mostly civilian, non-combatant population, repressed, un-armed, unhoused, unfed, with medical facilities bombed to smithereens merely to kill one of the opposition's warlords (and perhaps an associated staff), while denying the mostly innocent hundreds and hundreds of thousands of civilians of water, food, shelter, medical care, cannot be justified.  This civilian population was told to go South, to the border crossing into Egypt, while that area continued to receive regular attacks by the IDF.  Such a deal: jump from the fat into the fire.  

"An eye for an eye/tooth for a tooth" simply does not correlate to the butchery taking place today with a scintilla of equanimity or basic humanity.  Yes, the State of Israel is an important ally of the US in that region, which status does not give that State the right to do what it's doing. 

18 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

I've known Mike Johnson for years, and I can assure you he is a snake

Now that is fascinating.  From the US media's reporting, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that he's not what he appears.  But coming from a man who's known him personally for years, and from that perspective confirming what most of us have sensed from major media reporting, is about as trustworthy as it gets.  

I don't know exactly how these people came to believe that they simply had the right to dictate, impose their narrow view of issues upon everyone else.  Perhaps it's nothing more than living in an echo-chamber with others who believed in the same charade?  How is it that some folks get the notion that Gawd Almighty has given them dictatorial powers over their fellow citizens?  What kind of stunted emotional growth did these folks fall prey to?    

18 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

their vision of Armageddon and Christians taking over the world relies on Israel's existence. Mind you, they expect fully that all Jews will be either converted or killed in the final battle,

I suppose that they also know that Gawd is male.  He wears blue on Tuesdays and green on Thursdays.  More, it's His Almighty Will that there's still no viable 2-State Solution after lo these many years.  

I'm glad I've lived much of my life without these people trying so desperately to grab temporal power (and with an actual chance to fuck up everything).  We'll see how much damage they can do in a year, before we have the chance to throw them out of office.  

[DallasPozzible]

Reporting today that Johnson’s financial disclosures since he took office in 2016 claim that Johnson and wife have no bank account containing more than $1000 and no assets is a bit unbelievable. What is he hiding?

[think before following links] https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/very-unusual-financial-disclosures-reveal-mike-johnson-does-not-have-a-bank-account-or-investments/ar-AA1je0il

[viking8x6]

44 minutes ago, DallasPozzible said:

Reporting today that Johnson’s financial disclosures since he took office in 2016 claim that Johnson and wife have no bank account containing more than $1000 and no assets is a bit unbelievable. What is he hiding?

[think before following links] https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/very-unusual-financial-disclosures-reveal-mike-johnson-does-not-have-a-bank-account-or-investments/ar-AA1je0il

No doubt he gave all his money to the Church. And it takes verrrry good care of him. Tax-free, of course.

[hntnhole]

That wouldn't surprise me one bit ... 

[BootmanLA]

At this point the general assumption among politicos is that Johnson basically lives paycheck to paycheck. He apparently has a very nice house in Benton, Louisiana - which is a pissant little place so for the dollar range of the value of the house he reported, it is either a huge house or on a great deal of property. But he has a high mortgage debt on the property as well, so it's very possible he never has more than a few thousand dollars in his account at any given point. He has significant liabilities (read: debt) in addition to his mortgage, and while his salary as a congressman has been substantial, he's only been doing that since 2017; prior to that, he was an attorney in private practice mostly representing the ADF, plus a state legislator here (which pays less than $25,000).

And of course, he's got to keep a place in DC to live as well as the house back in his district. The high cost of housing in DC is one reason several members sleep in their offices and shower in the House gym. The government provides limited funding for travel to/from one's home district, but anything above that is the responsibility of the member and/or his campaign, and until recently, Johnson had never raised significant campaign money either, so most of what he did raise probably went for expenses like that.

It's of course possible that he's got secret slush funds of money out there somewhere. But I think the more logical answer is, he's just a spendthrift who doesn't practice any discipline regarding savings.

[ErosWired]

6 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

But I think the more logical answer is, he's just a spendthrift who doesn't practice any discipline regarding savings.

And now the chosen speaker for the party demanding steep cuts in funding for government in the name of fiscal discipline. Naturally.

Anyone who doesn’t think parties are solidly entrenched in our system can examine any ballot offered to voters in Kentucky. The first boxes at the top allow a voter to check off a choice to vote a straight Democratic or straight Republican ticket - check one box and you’re done voting. They couldn’t make it any easier to be partisan. I don’t know how many other states do it this way, but I cannot remember ever seeing a Kentucky ballot any different.

Personally, I have had occasion to interact professionally with politicians of both parties, at the federal, state, and local levels. I have yet to meet one who did not make my skin crawl. I have found them as a class to be duplicitous, untrustworthy, machinating opportunists, and if they don’t start that way they become that way in short order. I offer two words:

Term limits.

[hntnhole]

12 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

But I think the more logical answer is, he's just a spendthrift who doesn't practice any discipline regarding savings.

Well, if he's one of those guys that's always thinking 'if I do X, then the money will follow", he's hardly the first in Congress, or the rest of government.  Plenty of folks try their hand at business without doing much background work.  It would put him in plenty of company too ... like that queen Santos they're trying to toss out.  Or (to be fair, crossing party lines) Menendez, the Senator who bent over for all that Egyptian bling.  Both are trying like hell to stay in Congress, and thus on the gravy-train.  

Thanks for the background info - most of us had never heard of him until his dizzying rise to the Speakership.