the 2023 speaker of the house voting thread of implosion

[Steamboat1874 4031]

9 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

What if I told you that Earth, Wind, and Fire will be in concert with Chicago here in Houston and Fort Worth in August of next year....

I will tell you I worked for the Austin band Extreme Heat back in the 80's and we opened for them at the Erwin Center.

Great show and The Heat blew the doors off of that place.

They still play around town occasionally and I highly recommend them.

[jimmyjazz 45512]

3 minutes ago, Steamboat1874 said:

I will tell you I worked for the Austin band Extreme Heat back in the 80's

User name checks out.

[Beau Vine 53964]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

I will say, it’s almost like the “shut it down, who cares” crowd, and especially the Freedom Caucus bozos, do not understand the leadership burden both McCarthy and Johnson have to endure if there is one, how it would reflect in polling and fundraising and they’re not in the room with Biden when negotiating and being informed how much a shutdown will impact human lives, the economy, etc.

They just want to grandstand, fundraise and be on TV. Others have the burden of leading. It’s not a fun one 

[Js1 85055]

This is going well and not at all vindictive revenge against Johnson and leadership for passing a short-term funding bill

 

 

[Pods 7522]

The people saying "Nobody wants to work anymore" the loudest, are also the first people to not show up to do their own job. 

Edited November 15, 2023 by Pods

[Pods 7522]

30 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

And there will be chicken nuggets and juice and everyone has to clap and play nice and call each other Congressman or Batman, because sometimes they’ll be playing Batman instead of Congress and that’s ok because we encourage creativity.

No dinosaur nuggies though.  

Dinosaur nuggies are for Big Boys and Girls. 

Dinosaur nuggies will be served at the regular cafeteria. 

[Captainant 27309]

23 minutes ago, Pods said:

No dinosaur nuggies though.  

Dinosaur nuggies are for Big Boys and Girls. 

Dinosaur nuggies will be served at the regular cafeteria. 

username relevant

[Pods 7522]

6 minutes ago, Captainant said:

username relevant

[DDD Dad 14167]

43 minutes ago, Pods said:

Does he fix the cable?

[Brisketexan 104462]

Does he fix the cable?

Don’t be fatuous.

[BamaATL 16592]

35 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Does he fix the cable?

No Mike Johnson and his kid prevented it.  

[jimmyjazz 45512]

2 hours ago, Pods said:

No dinosaur nuggies though.  

Dinosaur nuggies are for Big Boys and Girls. 

Dinosaur nuggies will be served at the regular cafeteria. 

No worries, they've all been recalled.  (I recall Norah.)

[C-Man 26991]

Oh, cool, cool.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/15/mike-johnson-separation-church-state-misnomer

Quote

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has delivered his verdict on the separation of church and state: it is a “misnomer”.

The second-in-line to the presidency informed Americans on Tuesday that their time-honored conception of one of the founding principles of the country was a “misunderstanding”. Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box, he tried to turn the conventional wisdom about the founders’ intentions on its head and claimed what they really wanted was to stop government interfering with religion, not the other way around.

“The separation of church and state is a misnomer,” the speaker said in an interview with the TV channel from the US Capitol. “People misunderstand it. Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that Jefferson wrote. It’s not in the constitution.”

Johnson was referring to Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut, written in 1802 when the third president was in the White House. It makes clear that the founding fathers subscribed to a powerful separation of church and state, which they enshrined in the establishment clause of the first amendment.

Jefferson in his letter quotes the establishment clause saying that Congress should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. He goes on to say that it builds “a wall of separation between Church & State”.

Johnson’s contentious remarks fall in line with years of effort on his part to bring Christianity into the center of American politics. The New York Times has dubbed him the first Christian nationalist to hold the powerful position of speaker.

Mike Johnson and other Republican members of Congress kneel in prayer in the House chamber on 6 January 2023. Photograph: Jon Cherry/Reuters

In the CNBC interview, Johnson was asked to explain the unusual sight of him praying along with a group of other members of Congress on bended knee on the floor of the House shortly after he was sworn in as speaker.

He has made no attempt to obscure his religious fervor. He told Fox News that anyone who wanted to know what he thought about any issue should “go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview”.

That worldview goes as far as to cast the US not as a democracy but as a “biblical” republic, as he stated in a 2016 interview. Before he entered politics as a member of the Louisiana legislature in 2015 he worked for many years as senior lawyer for the extremist Alliance Defense Fund.

The same group, renamed the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), has spearheaded attacks on LGBTQ+ rights before the US supreme court and played an important hand in the overturning of the right to an abortion in the court’s Dobbs decision.

 

[jimmyjazz 45512]

A one-directional separation.  Makes total sense.

[YGIFS 19449]

Speaking of separation of one’s erection…make sure y’all check in with your porn accountability partner on this Hump Day

[Bozo_Casanova 26232]

8 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Speaking of separation of one’s erection…make sure y’all check in with your porn accountability partner on this Hump Day

I’m starting with the man in the mirror

[Serak The Preparer 3423]

1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

A one-directional separation.  Makes total sense.

[coachherman'sgrill 1977]

“The separation of church and state is a misnomer,” the speaker said in an interview with the TV channel from the US Capitol. “People misunderstand it. Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that Jefferson wrote. It’s not in the constitution.”

Neither are the amendments, hence there are amendments. Women not being able to vote isn't in the Constitution too. And fuck the Bill of Rights too. We all misinterpreted that as well. This white power religious terrorist is fucking scary because he is so sure in his worldview that he knows he is divinely right by some abstract concept that isn't real. Almost Righteous Gemstones levels of absurdity. 

[Bozo_Casanova 26232]

Thomas Jefferson  edited out the supernatural parts of the New Testament. He pulled out the angels, geneology, prophesy,miracles, the resurrection and the ascension.  In Jefferson’s version Jesus of Nazareth is crucified, died, they roll the stone in front of the tomb and that’s the end of the story.
He said he did it to pull the “diamonds” of moral doctrine and deistic principles from the “dunghill” of “nonsense” and told John Adams:

“In extracting the pure principles which he taught, we should have to strip off the artificial vestments in which they have been muffled by priests, who have travestied them into various forms, as instruments of riches and power to them. “

I wonder what the Speaker thinks about that. 

[SydneyCarton 47809]

3 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Thomas Jefferson  edited out the supernatural parts of the New Testament. He pulled out the angels, geneology, prophesy,miracles, the resurrection and the ascension.  In Jefferson’s version Jesus of Nazareth is crucified, died, they roll the stone in front of the tomb and that’s the end of the story.
He said he did it to pull the “diamonds” of moral doctrine and deistic principles from the “dunghill” of “nonsense” and told John Adams:

“In extracting the pure principles which he taught, we should have to strip off the artificial vestments in which they have been muffled by priests, who have travestied them into various forms, as instruments of riches and power to them. “

I wonder what the Speaker thinks about that. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

1 hour ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

I wonder what the Speaker thinks about that. 

Wokism was invented by that notorious heretic Thomas Jefferson 

['stache 21743]

I seem to recall that many, if not most, of the Founding Fathers were followers of the Enlightenment, which was highly skeptical of organized religion, which they attribute to the bad parts of the dark ages. Or something like that. It's still in my head that they were borderline atheist, or maybe Unitarian without a strong devotion to dogma. I know there's something along these lines, so fuck this fucking guy, we were founded specifically to avoid any one form of religion dominating our lives you worthless fuck.

[SaucyJack 3484]

Deists is the word your looking for.

[The Dog 43771]

 

[Captainant 27309]

"Arsonists complaining about the smoke" is a pretty succinct encapsulation of the republican angst over election fraud

[DixonHur 11074]

On 11/15/2023 at 12:15 PM, Pods said:

The people saying "Nobody wants to work anymore" the loudest, are also the first people to not show up to do their own job. 

They're also all living off the government teat.   They're the real socialist welfare queens.

[Homercles 10205]

On 11/15/2023 at 12:31 PM, longhornmatt said:

I have the solution to this.  We need to set up a kiddie table House of Representatives that meets in the boardroom set for The Apprentice.  They can all sit in high chairs, they can all have their own gavels, they can all get a closeup monologue into the camera for their big speech that will be broadcast on OAN instead of CSPAN, and then they can just leave without having to  vote or worry about doing any other real work.  And there will be chicken nuggets and juice and everyone has to clap and play nice and call each other Congressman or Batman, because sometimes they’ll be playing Batman instead of Congress and that’s ok because we encourage creativity.

[Francisco 2.0 32290]

 

 

 

[atomheartbevo 89362]

So he says he's going to release nearly 40,000 hours of the uncensored Jan. 6 video footage, that does not contain "sensitive information", which, yeah, we know what "sensitive information" means (i.e. that footage which shows MAGA doing horrible shit).

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/17/politics/speaker-johnson-releases-january-6-footage

He's doing it to get Gaetz and MTG and the others off his back.

[atomheartbevo 89362]

https://www.legistorm.com/pro_news/3124/speaker-johnson-re-hires-evangelical-lobbyist-to-lead-personal-office.html

Quote

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has added a familiar face to head up his personal office. Ruth Ward joined Johnson's office from Family Policy Alliance, where she was a government affairs director. FPA is the advocacy arm of fundamentalist evangelical organization Focus on the Family.

Ward was FPA's sole registered federal lobbyist. She most recently lobbied on the Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act, End Taxpayer Funding of Gender Experimentation Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's proposed rule to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, according to the organization's most recent disclosure.

 

[Ojo Rojo 1882]

"We will get our way, all of it, or we will destroy the country."  I say we let them do it.  FAFO, bigtime.  When government employees stop getting paid, SS checks stop going out, etc. and the GOP is absolutely the reason why, let's see what that does to their political fortunes.

[Beau Vine 53964]

On 11/17/2023 at 5:38 PM, atomheartbevo said:

So he says he's going to release nearly 40,000 hours of the uncensored Jan. 6 video footage, that does not contain "sensitive information", which, yeah, we know what "sensitive information" means (i.e. that footage which shows MAGA doing horrible shit).

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/17/politics/speaker-johnson-releases-january-6-footage

He's doing it to get Gaetz and MTG and the others off his back.

Didn't all the tapes get released already to Tucker?

[tx 3 putt 76158]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/11/21/search/mike-johnson-kfile-invs/index.html
 

Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the House, voiced support for revisiting Supreme Court decisions that struck down restrictions on the use of contraception, barred bans on gay sex and legalized same sex marriages, according to a CNN review of his prior public statements.

On a conservative talk radio show the day the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Johnson underscored Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion that the high court should reconsider those other landmark rulings.

[BamaATL 16592]

Bad news, Johnson is a complete right wing religious lunatic.  

Good news, his brand of politics doesn't sell.  I read that to date, since assuming the speakership 3 or so weeks ago, he has managed to raise a reported $12,000 for the national party.  There are girl scout troops that do better than this during cookie season.  

McCarthy was many horrible things, but he was an excellent fundraiser for the national party.  Without his national profile (or since being neutered on a national stage), his fundraising capability is diminished, assuming he cares to participate at all. 

Considering that dotard is burning thru much of what would otherwise be Republican National Party money on himself and his legal defenses, and that House Republicans just basically shot their best fundraiser in the face, things are looking up on that side of things for Democrats.  

[Fudge Nuggets 19118]

God damnit...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/22/hall-oates-lawsuit-restraining-order

[atomheartbevo 89362]

58 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

God damnit...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/22/hall-oates-lawsuit-restraining-order

 

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20342]

Gotta hand it to him ... except for the Revolutionary War, the U.S.-Mexico war of 1846 (after which the district he represents became part of the U.S. when the U.S. took possession of it), the Spanish-American war (we ended up with Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, though we gave the Philippines independence), the wars against the Native Americans etc .... Kevin is mostly right. 

[Underdog 28437]

The best and smartest people. 

[Bozo_Casanova 26232]

you could also make the case that the US bought what is now the US Virgin Islands essentially at Gunpoint during WWI to stop the German sub fleet from further operations there. The Dutch were neutral in the war and their neutrality was repeatedly violated by both sides.

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Bozo_Casanova

[jimmyjazz 45512]

Nice bowtie, Kevin.

[BamaATL 16592]

2 hours ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

Gotta hand it to him ... except for the Revolutionary War, the U.S.-Mexico war of 1846 (after which the district he represents became part of the U.S. when the U.S. took possession of it), the Spanish-American war (we ended up with Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, though we gave the Philippines independence), the wars against the Native Americans etc .... Kevin is mostly right. 

Already working on his John Boehner like sales pitch for CBD oil for veterans I see.  

[DixonHur 11074]

2 hours ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

Gotta hand it to him ... except for the Revolutionary War, the U.S.-Mexico war of 1846 (after which the district he represents became part of the U.S. when the U.S. took possession of it), the Spanish-American war (we ended up with Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, though we gave the Philippines independence), the wars against the Native Americans etc .... Kevin is mostly right. 

It's all about phrasing...we never ASKED for land...we just TOOK it

[Macanudo 12922]

2 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

you could also make the case that the US bought what is now the US Virgin Islands essentially at Gunpoint during WWI to stop the German sub fleet from further operations there. The Dutch were neutral in the war and their neutrality was repeatedly violated by both sides.

 

Danish, Dutch.  Whatever works.

[C-Man 26991]

"Speaker Johnson wrote foreword for book filled with conspiracy theories and homophobic insults"

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/01/politics/kfile-mike-johnson-conspiracy-theories-homophobic-slurs/index.html

Of course he did.

Quote

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson wrote the foreword and publicly promoted a 2022 book that spread baseless and discredited conspiracy theories and used derogatory homophobic insults.

Written by Scott McKay, a local Louisiana politics blogger, the book, “The Revivalist Manifesto,” gives credence to unfounded conspiracy theories often embraced by the far-right – including the “Pizzagate” hoax, which falsely claimed top Democratic officials were involved in a pedophile ring, among other conspiracies.

The book also propagates baseless and inaccurate claims, implying that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was subjected to blackmail and connected to the disgraced underage sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Other sections of the book defend podcaster Joe Rogan from racism charges after it was revealed he used the N-word, which Rogan later apologized for. The book also disparages poor voters as “unsophisticated and susceptible to government dependency” and easy to manipulate with “Black Lives Matter ‘defund the police’ pandering.”

“Scott McKay presents a valuable and timely contribution with The Revivalist Manifesto because he has managed here to articulate well what millions of conscientious, freedom-loving Americans are sensing,” Johnson writes in his 300-word foreword.

Johnson’s endorsement of the book extends beyond the foreword: In 2022, he actively promoted the book on his public social media platforms and even dedicated an episode of his podcast he co-hosts with his wife to hosting McKay.

During the podcast episode, Johnson expressed his belief in the book, stating, “I obviously believe in the product, or I wouldn’t have written the foreword. So I endorse the work.” He also referred to McKay as a “dear friend” and highlighted that the book “really could make some waves.” Over the years, Johnson had written opinion pieces for McKay’s blog, the Hayride, and engaged with the author on public platforms like Facebook.

Since he was elevated to the speakership in October, Johnson’s views from his time as a socially conservative attorney, state lawmaker and Louisiana congressman have come under increased scrutiny – particularly his views on homosexuality which he has called an “inherently unnatural” and “dangerous” lifestyle and even blamed it, in part, for the fall of the Roman Empire.

Following publication of this story, a spokesman for Johnson told CNN he did not read passages of McKay’s book highlighted by CNN and said he strongly disagreed with them.

Enter your email to sign up for CNN's "What Matters" Newsletter.

close dialog

Sign up for CNN's What Matters newsletter

Every day we summarize What Matters and deliver it straight to your inbox.

Sign Me Up

No, Thanks

By subscribing you agree to our

privacy policy.

“The Speaker had never read the passages highlighted in the CNN story which he strongly disagrees with. He wrote the foreword as a favor to a friend, supportive of the general theme of the book but not as an endorsement of all the opinions expressed.”

CNN reached out to McKay, who called the story a “hit piece” on social media.

Reviving Pizzagate

In his book, McKay insinuates that hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta contained coded references hinting involvement in “child sex trafficking” because of “unexplained references” to “hot dogs and pizza,” resembling alleged code words used by pedophiles.

“The Pizzagate scandal was born, and though some of the most outlandish allegations made in it were clearly disproven, other elements were not; the whole thing just seemed to be dismissed as debunked, and no explanation was ever given,” he writes.

While McKay remains ambiguous in his book regarding the elements he asserts weren’t disproven, he explicitly writes on his public Facebook page that the conspiracy related to code words was not debunked and goes as far as labeling Podesta as a pedophile.

Despite framing conspiracy theories as inquiries in his book, McKay often openly endorses these claims on his public social media platforms.

Jared Holt, an expert on right wing conspiracy theories at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think-tank that studies disinformation, told CNN that Johnson’s promotion of the book raised questions about the new House speaker’s judgment.

The book contains “the lurid daydreams of certain online far-right sentiments,” said Holt. “His leadership may open the door for those unpopular fringes to weld disproportionate political power.”

Homophobic slurs and disparaging poor voters

The book repeatedly disparages Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, calling the former mayor a “queer choice” for the Cabinet position and saying he had “queer sanctimony” and was “openly, and obnoxiously, gay.” At one point, the book labels him “Gay Mayor Pete Buttigieg.”

Another section takes aim at poor voters, who the author calls, “unsophisticated and susceptible to government dependency” and says they are easily manipulated with “bowdlerizing old monuments, or midnight basketball, or Black Lives Matter ‘defund the police’ pandering.”

While McKay’s reference was to poor voters nationwide, Louisiana often ranks among the poorest states in the United States when measured by the share of citizens living below the poverty line.

Midnight basketball refers to late-night basketball leagues designed to steer young people away from potential involvement in crime by offering engagement during peak crime hours.

McKay’s book also shares other unfounded conspiracy theories, including the debunked claim that the Democratic National Committee’s emails in 2016 were not hacked but leaked by a staffer named Seth Rich. In 2020, Rich’s parents settled a lawsuit with Fox News, stemming from the network’s publication of a retracted story connecting their son’s murder to right-wing conspiracy theories. The book denies that carbon dioxide is linked to climate change and frequently mocks the climate crisis as “hysteria.”

The book also spreads a conspiracy theory that the Biden administration deliberately allowed undocumented immigrants into the country to turn them into voters.

The book targets and taunts prominent Democratic officials, including calling Interior Secretary Deb Haaland “half oppressed” because her mother is Native American and father is of Norwegian descent and writes that former President Barack Obama’s “chief selling point was that he was black.”

McKay also adds that the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, a frequent foe of Donald Trump, used his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam “as a political get-out-of-jail-free card.”

 

[swraith 336]

 

“I’ll tell you a secret,” he said, “since media is not here.” God had spoken to him throughout Republicans’ weekslong effort to find a new Speaker, Johnson said. Eventually, God revealed to Johnson that he would be a Moses-like figure leading the GOP and the country through a “Red Sea moment.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson just compared himself to Moses (msnbc.com)

[Red Five 40593]

I've always wondered what it would look like if "god" actually spoke to someone like Mike Johnson. 

"Holy fucking shit, I talked to God!!"

"Yeah, so you've told us. You're very religious and you always talk to him."

"No not that fucking bullshit! I mean, literally talked to him! Like no bullshit for real this time!".

 

[Biff Tannen 45477]

1 hour ago, swraith said:

 

“I’ll tell you a secret,” he said, “since media is not here.” God had spoken to him throughout Republicans’ weekslong effort to find a new Speaker, Johnson said. Eventually, God revealed to Johnson that he would be a Moses-like figure leading the GOP and the country through a “Red Sea moment.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson just compared himself to Moses (msnbc.com)

Yeah, that's not someone with psychological problems.  No sir.

[TeeDubya 3358]

2 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Yeah, that's not someone with psychological problems.  No sir.

or a bank account.

[SimonBolivar 10897]

3 hours ago, swraith said:

 

“I’ll tell you a secret,” he said, “since media is not here.” God had spoken to him throughout Republicans’ weekslong effort to find a new Speaker, Johnson said. Eventually, God revealed to Johnson that he would be a Moses-like figure leading the GOP and the country through a “Red Sea moment.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson just compared himself to Moses (msnbc.com)

Amazing how God never tells any white guys to be roofers in Texas in August.

Edited December 8, 2023 by SimonBolivar

[jimmyjazz 45512]

6 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

Amazing how God never tells any white guys to be roofers in Texas in August.

That's exactly what he told me.  I said "fuck off, God".