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Mike Johnson referred to the Bible as the 'owner’s manual' for 'how things are supposed to operate' and called for 'biblically sanctioned government.' Johnson complained that there is now 'total chaos on the street… God’s not at the top anymore.'
"Mike Johnson sees himself as part of small band of righteous officials who take on the hard task of governing strictly according to the tenets of Christian fundamentalism. He and Kelly are true believers. He has long associated with Christian nationalism; crusaded against gay rights and same-sex marriage; decried no-fault divorce; and pushed for a total ban on abortion. Her Christian counseling practice has compared homosexuality to bestiality and incest. They share a dark view of the modern world. In a sermon he preached in 2016, Johnson declared, “We’re living in a completely amoral society.” And during a podcast last year with Jordan Peterson, the Canadian conservative provocateur, he said that “sinister” elites were responsible for orchestrating climate change as an issue to achieve global “control.”
Girolamo Savonarola was an ascetic Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and a preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He became known for his prophecies of civic glory, his advocacy of the destruction of secular art and culture, and his calls for Christian renewal.
These types of fanatical despotic religionists never end well. Here's what happened to Savonarola and his cohorts:
"Savonarola and two of his supporting friars were imprisoned. On 23 May 1498, Church and civil authorities condemned, hanged, and burned the bodies of the three friars in the main square of Florence."
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If we are living in an "amoral" society as Speaker Johnson claims, it's only "amoral" because of the anti-human, anti-democracy nuts who believe in theocratic rule (Biblical Law), and it's because whackjobs like her actually think "beastiality" is the same as "homosexuality." She is, of course, stupidly wrong, as most of these fanatics who take the Bible literally are. She is comparing our homosexual brothers and sisters to BEASTS!
Beastiality is having sexual congress with animals who cannot consent to such activity, whereas, in a mutually consensual homosexual relationship, consent exists, therefore, it is NOTHING like "beastiality," and Mrs. Johnson is a lunatic for saying so. And it's also none of her and her husband's panty-sniffing business what consenting adults do in a relationship. But we've had these sort of "God knows best because he told me" crazies around forever, as my reference to Savonarola proves.
(Kelly declared that “biblical Christianity”—that is, a literal reading of the Bible as fundamentalists interpret it—is the only “valid worldview,” and nothing else makes sense. (This worldview includes creationism—believing that the Earth was created by God in six days 6,000 years ago—and the denial of evolution.)
We now have a fanatical theocrat second in line to the secular United States government, and that should give us nightmares.
Read and listen to what Mike Johnson and his wife believe and preach in the linked Mother Jones article above, and then get back to me and tell me the difference between their theocratic positions and that of the ayatollahs in the Middle East who reign supreme over their governments.
Just to remind everyone, especially those who don't read history:
"In a proclamation on February 1, 1933, Hitler stated, 'The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and co-operation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life.' "
18 comments:
"Mrs. Johnson is a lunatic"
Straight and to the point.
Birds of a feather...
In September 1933, the Nazis created the Reich Chamber of Culture to assure the Nazification of German culture.
"DEGENERATE" ART”
Nazi leaders sought to control Germany not only politically, but also culturally. The regime restricted the type of art that could be produced, displayed, and sold. In 1937, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels made plans to show the public the forms of art that the regime deemed unacceptable. He organized the confiscation and exhibition of so-called “degenerate” art.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/degenerate-art-1
Also on October 10, 1936 Heinrich Himmler created the Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion, or Special Office (II S), a sub-department of Executive Department II of the Gestapo.
Per the Johnson's interview with Kayleigh McEnany...
Kaleigh leads off with asking Mrs Johnson about how the media have come after her for her expressions of her faith. This would be where Mrs. Johnson compared LGBTQA+ relationships to bestiality. No mention of that in the interview of course.
Lots of mutual admiration between the Johnsons, and as they are married I'd expect no less. What soured in my soul the most though is their perception that both are the kindest sweetest people you'll ever want to meet, they just love everyone so why would anyone say a cross word about them? (My eyes rolled in my head so far I had to take a break. Ouch!)
I've met so many humans like this; a facade of sweetness and love for all with a dark underbelly where the love has more strings than a can of silly string. "I love you" they say while calling you slurs as they work to remove our civil rights because rights are only for the true believers you silly little homo (true comment to me during my online battles for LGBTQA+ civil rights).
So, to sum up:
Well mannered when in public - check
Well dressed - check
Believes rights are created by their specific deity and backed by their very specific orthodoxy therefore only true believers are deserving of those rights and the protections they provide - triple scoop check with sprinkles and whipped cream on top. check. check. check.
Believes the First Amendment doesn't establish a wall between church and state - again triple check.
When someone tells you they swear their oath of office to promote their faith and not to protect the Constitution, believe them.
Our democracy is in so much trouble. The only thing which gives me hope is MAGA GOP tied themselves to this abomination to democracy with their overwhelming vote of support to make him Speaker of the House. They own this mess; best not to let them forget.
Grey One talks sass:
"Our democracy is in so much trouble. The only thing which gives me hope is MAGA GOP tied themselves to this abomination to democracy with their overwhelming vote of support to make him Speaker of the House. They own this mess; best not to let them forget."
This blog will continue to remind its readers that the Johnsons of this country are akin to ayatollahs and every type of fanatical religionist who believes religious laws based on a supposed holy book supersedes the secular law of our secular Constitution.
Any religion that teaches homosexuality is "against God's law/will" is not a religion of love. An all-loving, all powerful, all-knowing god would not create a group of humans and then call them abominations to be reviled and hated by their fellow humans. However, ignorant, superstitious men from the Bronze Age who lived in a desert and knew little if nothing about human nature absolutely would.
Homosexuality is natural. And has been since we fell out of the trees and walked the savannah. IMO, only frightened and ignorant people believe otherwise.
And now we have one of those people 2nd in line to the presidency!
Steve Schmidt:
"The speaker of the United States House of Representatives has no bank accounts of any kind, and believes people and dinosaurs lived together 6,000 years ago. He is second in line to the American presidency.
He is a dangerous man because he is a fanatic, a true believer. The abysmal state of American journalism has kept the American people chained to a very specific type of congressional miscreant."
From Eric Hoffer's book, "The True Believer:"
“The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is the surrendering and humbling of the self breed pride and arrogance. The true believer is apt to see himself as one of the chosen, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a prince disguised in meekness, who is destined to inherit the earth and the kingdom of heaven too. He who is not of his faith is evil; he who will not listen will perish.”
Likewise, Hoffer wrote this in the same book: “A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.”
These words perfectly describes Mike Johnson and the theocratic true believers of the GOP.
"The speaker of the United States House of Representatives has no bank accounts of any kind, and believes people and dinosaurs lived together 6,000 years ago."
Who actually believes the Earth is only 6,000 year old? Well, the Speaker and his wife and a LOT of fundamentalists.
Apparently they never read history, because it would reveal that the Sumerians advanced the process of irrigation 4,000 BCE, that would be approximately 6,000 years ago. It's in the historical record, unlike the made-up age of the Earth.
When looking deeply into the concept of a concrete unchanging self no such self can be found. For everything is constanty changing as well as being impermanent.
Nobody but ignorant religious fanatics believes the earth is only 6,000 years old. The link you provided shows the Sumerians invented glue 5,000 BCE! LOL!
Shaw, you said "This blog will continue to remind its readers that the Johnsons of this country are akin to ayatollahs and every type of fanatical religionist who believes religious laws based on a supposed holy book supersedes the secular law of our secular Constitution."
And that is exactly why I follow you. Your voice of reason is a balm to my soul. That and I love to imagine you playing with your goats on the farm. I really like goats. (I know they aren't technically yours but has anyone told the goats that?)
:)
Grey One talks sass
My weekly interaction with the goats is a way for me to replenish my heart with calm and peace, after a days of horrendous headlines.
I have to admit at times that I find my goat friends preferable to humans. Each one has her own personality and quirks. They, like all living beings, respond to gentleness, kindness, and love.
After milking, I enter their pens and open the barn doors and let them out into the pastures for a day in the fresh air. Since they've grown to trust me, they gather around me, sometimes gently rubbing their heads against me, which is so sweet and endearing. I sometimes have to lead them to the pastures because they just want to hang out in the paddock with me! LOL!
Greetings from Lila, Lucy, Kelly, Extra, Harmony, Irene, Jolly, Mary, and Martha!
Perhaps, if there is "a purpose" to life other than simply accepting life for what it us, you've found it Shaw. If only humankind, the earth's most advanced and most effctive predator, would universally attain the realization that we ought to treat all other humans as you treat "your" goats.
I can wish and continue to believe it is possible.
UPDATE: House Republicans, under Speaker Johnson are continuing the push to eliminate the $35/ month cap on insulin that Democrats helped pass.
Why would the Republicans do this???
Because they are either penny wise and pound foolish or they simply do not give a shit about anything or anybody but themselves.
Shaw? Why? Because the Dems passed it. Pure and simple.
Why would they push a bill that would defund the IRS and cost us billions adding to our national debt. It's not because of policy. It's not part of any organizing ethos.
It's because the Dems passed the IRS funding for more agents to make sure the upper 10% of earners, those making more than 600K a year, would pay what the law says they should pay.
The GOP has no policy apart from "if the Dems passed it, it's bad. Repeal it!"
Rev, The additional IRS agents are to increase revenue to pay for all of the "social" spending and waste the politicians are in charge of. The mistake you make is this will not come from the rich but from the working middle class. The rich have have accountants to figure out how to pay less. I know that is difficult to understand but there are simple ways to raise tax revenue and it is not by adding thousands of agents. Eliminate deductions or go to a Fair/Flat tax. This won't happen because because of people like you who believe politicians, as long as they are democrats, are swell people and don't see the tax code as a weapon. Maybe keep politicians from using tax revenue to buy votes or have them be citizen legislators and not have a career in politics but walk among us. If we didn't support the world on the backs of the working class we wouldn't need to increase the confiscation of our money. Everyone knows we have to pay taxes but some believe their money is given away so the political
skud: "The mistake you make is this will not come from the rich but from the working middle class."
That is NOT correct:
"The IRS will ensure that audit rates do not increase for those earning less than $400,000 a year – echoing President Joe Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on those below that threshold – and will add more safeguards for lower- and moderate-income taxpayers who claim the earned income tax credit.
“This new compliance push makes good on the promise of the Inflation Reduction Act to ensure the IRS holds our wealthiest filers accountable to pay the full amount of what they owe,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, noting that years of underfunding led to the lowest audit rate of well-off filers in the agency’s history."
SOURCE
Now if you're in favor of allowing multi-billionaires to cheat on their tax returns so that YOU have to pay more, I'd like an explanation for why that is.
"Tax cuts initially enacted during Republican trifectas in the past 25 years slashed taxes disproportionately for the wealthy and profitable corporations, severely reducing federal revenues.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was the biggest rewrite of the code in decades and arguably the most consequential legislative achievement of the one-term president. Crafted largely in secret by a handful of Trump administration officials and members of Congress, the bill was rushed through the legislative process."
"As draft language of the bill made its way through Congress, lawmakers friendly to billionaires and their lobbyists were able to nip and tuck and stretch the bill to accommodate a variety of special groups. The flurry of midnight deals and last-minute insertions of language resulted in a vast redistribution of wealth into the pockets of a select set of families, siphoning away billions in tax revenue from the nation’s coffers. This story is based on lobbying and campaign finance disclosures, Treasury Department emails and calendars obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, and confidential tax records." --ProPubica
Dave notes the GOP has no policy apart from "if the Dems passed it, it's bad. Repeal it!"
Seems to be Skud's position as well.
Ms. Shaw, Do you really believe the irs will go after the richest and just leave the middle class alone. In an alternate universe that may be true but we live in today, at least some of us do. I did laugh when you said "President Joe Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on those below that threshold. He also said he would unite he country, fight crime resist illegal immigration and put 2 million miles on Amtrak. All of these statements are false but you still believe he will not raise taxes on those making under 400k.
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