The new House speaker called for “Biblically-sanctioned government.”
This is a very dangerous time to have someone like him in such a possition of authority. He really doesn’t want democracy. He is not OK with everyone doing their own thing, living their own lives, worshiping in their own way, being who they are. Nope, he doesn’t favor that at all. He insists on the right, demands it, to force everyone to worship as he does, live as he church doctrines say, have only the kids of sex he wants you to have, raise your children the way he demands, structure your home in a “Christian way” which means wives summit and be submissive to your husbands like good little half humans. Get the point! He wants to force his god down your throat. These same people once claimed gays wanted to force our lifestyle on everyone, but that is what he is demanding to do to the entire country! Think how now the Christians want special rights to discriminate and to be exempt from laws they don’t like because they are Christians. Think how they have screamed about being forced to live in a secular society, but they want the right to force everyone to live a religious lifestyle. Think how they would react if other religions demanded the same special rights or the right to force everyone to live as a devote Muslim? Very scary, these people are. Hugs. Scottie
“The government has replaced the Creator,” Mike Johnson said in a 2019 seminar appearance. “Government is becoming God.” He is pictured here addressing the House chamber after winning the speakership this month.Tom Williams/Zuma
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.
Rep. Mike Johnson, the newly elected Republican House speaker, used to conduct a seminar in churches premised on the idea that the United States is a “Christian nation.” This ministry, as he has referred to it, is yet more evidence that Johnson is committed to a hardcore Christian fundamentalism that shapes his views of politics and government.
The seminar, titled “Answers for Our Times: Government, Culture, and Christianity,” was organized by Onward Christian Education Services, Inc., a company owned by his wife, Kelly Johnson, a Christian counselor and anti-abortion activist who calls herself a “leader in the pro-family movement.” The website for her counseling service—which was taken down shortly after Johnson became speaker—described the seminar, which featured both her and Johnson, as exploring several questions, such as, “What is happening in America and how do we fix it?” The list includes this query: “Can our heritage as a Christian nation be preserved?” There were different versions of the seminar running from two-hour-long lectures to retreats lasting two days.
Mike and Kelly Johnson, each a fundamentalist Christian and culture war battler who advocates adhering to what they call a “Biblical worldview,” launched this initiative in 2019. After one such presentation on February 24, 2019, at the First Baptist Church in Bossier City, Louisiana, where they are members—an event that also featured Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council—a local television news show reported that the seminar’s goal was to “keep God in Government.” Johnson posted the article on his congressional website.
According to a Louisiana Baptist newsletter, the Johnsons intended to first pitch their seminars to Baptist churches in the Pelican State before expanding to other states. The publication reported that the couple’s goal was “to equip churches to take a stand against the cultural attacks now being directed at people of faith, the traditional family and basic freedoms embedded in the U.S. Constitution.” It noted that Johnson said he was compelled to create this new ministry while serving in the US House because he was concerned “that too many believers today feel ill-informed to provide substantive answers to fake arguments.” It quoted Johnson: “Our nation is entering one of the most challenging seasons in its history and there is an urgent need for God’s people to be armed and ready with the Truth.” He was referring to what fundamentalists call “Biblical truth.”
A promotion blurb for the seminar described it this way: “As polls show that Christianity is in rapid decline in America, and the culture is growing more secularized and more coarsened, many believers feel ill-informed and ill-prepared to do anything to reverse these trends. Scripture is clear that we have an obligation to provide substantive answers… But HOW?”
At a “Answers for Our Times” seminar held at the First Baptist Church of Haughton, Louisiana, in April 2019, Kelly Johnson proclaimed that “Biblical Christianity” is the only “valid worldview.” Nothing else, she said, “makes sense.” She contended that guidance to the problems of today can be found in the “simple answers in the Bible.” 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.” He added, “The problem is most people” want “the government to take care of us now, we want the government to provide us everything… It will not work because it defies the created order of the Creator… The government has replaced the Creator. Government is becoming God.”
Mike Johnson ran through a quick version of US history, in which he insisted, “We began as a Christian nation.” He pointed out that Christopher Columbus said that he journeyed to the Americas “to bring the gospel to unknown coast lands and people.” Johnson added, “We would call him an evangelical today.” Fired up, he offered a litany of statements from the nation’s founders, government officials, and Supreme Court officials who cited God or religion as essential to the United States. “Is this a Christian nation?” he asked. “Yes, we live in a post-Christian culture. I think that’s beyond dispute. You can’t even argue with a straight face that this did not begin as a Christian nation.”
At this seminar, Mike Johnson groused that few of his colleagues in government abide by or even recognize God’s principles—that is, his view of God’s principles—and he expressed great cynicism about his fellow politicians:
A shocking number of elected officials in this country and state do not have a fully formed philosophy of government. They don’t know what their world view is. They’re just moving around waiting for whatever the loudest voice or the most powerful lobbyist tells them how to vote. God help us. That’s why we’re in the situation we’re in… They poll it. It’s not necessarily what his constituents want. I try to do every day what my constituents want. But sometimes what your constituents want does not line up with the principles God gave us for government. And you have to have conviction enough to stand [up] to your own people in a town hall and say, “I know you feel that way, but this is what you’re missing.” And I’m telling you, there’s a tiny percentage of elected officials who are willing to do that.
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.”
In a time of political upheaval, cultural clashes, and war, it’s clear that Mike Johnson believes he has the solution. It’s not government of the people, but government shaped by his fundamentalist worldview. As his wife and partner-in-preaching says, nothing else makes sense. They possess the truth, and now, as he has become second in the line of presidential succession, he has the opportunity to meld power to this truth and serve the goal of making America a Christian nation.
If you want to understand this conflict, if you want to see what real bigotry / racism is watch this video. There is no doubt who is in the wrong, who are the villains really are. Hugs. Scottie
On October 7, Hamas, a militant group based in the Gaza Strip, launched a deadly attack on Israel, killing over 1,400 Israelis and kidnapping over 200. In retaliation, Israeli airstrikes have killed, as of this video, over 6,400 Palestinians in Gaza, where Palestinians have lived for decades under an occupation and blockade.
Since 1967, Israel has imposed tight restrictions on travel and essential goods such as food, fuel, medicine, and water in its occupied territories. In 2007, those restrictions became even tighter in Gaza after Hamas seized power there. Since then, it has been nearly impossible for Palestinians to leave Gaza or to access an adequate supply of essential goods.
Today, the Gaza Strip, with a population of over 2 million Palestinians, is a victim of what many call “collective punishment” as Israel bombards its population, shuts off access to internet, power, food, water, and medicine, forces them to leave their homes, and prepares for a ground invasion.
This latest episode of Vox Atlas explains how the experience of Palestinians in Gaza got to this point, and what’s behind Israel’s occupation and its blockade of Gaza.
Read the full article. As you can see below, homocon extremist Andy Ngo and the far-right hate group Gays Against Groomers are celebrating.
Drag Queen who goes by “Pickle” DENIED entrance to Drag Queen Story Hour at San Fernando Valley Public Library by protestors pic.twitter.com/YGVNrKs9JY
The jerk below is a well known right wing agitator who used to make stuff up about BLM protestors to try to promote anger at them and black people. I watched the video in which he claims people of color stopped the performance yet in the video all the people are white. Hugs
A children’s drag event at the San Fernando Library featuring Pickle the drag queen was shut down at a peaceful protest on Oct. 25. Parents of color surrounded the front of the library, preventing Pickle the drag queen from coming inside to perform. The drag event was organized… https://t.co/5ZKvFcGEXEpic.twitter.com/8qLQ2UIMD1
Angry protesters outside a San Fernando library block Drag Laureate Pickle from a Drag Storytime event inside. Now, local leaders are taking to social media to condemn the protests and support the drag events. The new controversy – Tonight at 11 from ABC7 https://t.co/7I37pYARrwpic.twitter.com/k9uiThT9AP
The cops around where I live are known for their indifference to gay people despite this being a town heavily populated by gays. This place is sick with hypocrisy
About six to eight protesters refused to leave the entrance even after police issued a dispersal order, according to Pickle.
How many did they arrest after the order was disobeyed? None.
Conclusion: It’s okay to ignore orders from police if you’re illegally blocking a public building’s entrance/exit, though maybe it’s a special rule that only applies to fascists protesting a person in costume reading to children.
Could any of them give a reason why those kids, whose parents approved and were in attendance, should have decisions made for them by some other party who doesn’t know them?
Look at the pictures, and tell me what is sexual happening? What is threatening to kids in these pictures? A small group of angry violent haters were allowed by the 10 police officers there to deny other people the right to use a public facility and see the performance they had come to see. The police allowed them to block entrances, to scream profanities in front of children they claimed to be trying to protect, and seemed to feel entitled to force others to do only what the hateful protesters want. This is not democracy. Think of how the police handle BLM protestors, and yet made no move to arrest these protestors. Below is a quote from the article. Hugs
“Protesters claimed they want to keep children safe while pounding on walls, shouting obscenities and slurs toward my staff and library staff, and using strollers to blockade moving vehicles. The hypocrisy is astounding,” Horvath said.
Drag queen Pickle reads a story to children during a Drag Queen Story Hour event at the Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach on June 17.
Dozens of protesters physically blocked the entrance to the San Fernando Library this week to stop a scheduled drag storytime reading event from taking place.
Videos posted on social media showed a group of about 70 people — some of whom had previously attended similar demonstrations in North Hollywood, Glendale and elsewhere — wearing black-and-white shirts reading, “Leave our kids alone.” They chanted the same slogan through bullhorns while hurling verbal abuse and slurs at the guest reader.
Story hours, during which drag queens read to children at venues such as libraries, schools and bookstores, have drawn fury and condemnation from conservatives and right-wing extremists across the country. Some events have been the subject of anti-LGBTQ+ threats and at times violent confrontations.
Wednesday’s scheduled 30-minute event, which organizers said was intended to promote youth literacy, never took place.
April 23, 2023
“What was meant to be a celebration of love and inclusion turned into the opposite,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, the event’s host, said in a statement Thursday.
“Protesters claimed they want to keep children safe while pounding on walls, shouting obscenities and slurs toward my staff and library staff, and using strollers to blockade moving vehicles. The hypocrisy is astounding,” Horvath said.
Horvath’s staff said in an email that the supervisor, who was inside the library, did not officially cancel the event. But it did not proceed because demonstrators “blockaded” entrances — denying entry to both library patrons and drag queen Pickle, the guest reader.
Pickle, Los Angeles chapter president of the nonprofit Drag Story Hour, said she parked blocks away from the library “for safety reasons,” anticipating some hostility.
Video footage showed that San Fernando police officers encircled Pickle near the rear entrance. The phalanx moved toward a metal gate but stopped short as some protesters screamed “pervert,” “pedophile” and “disgusting freak” at Pickle.
About six to eight protesters refused to leave the entrance even after police issued a dispersal order, according to Pickle. The San Fernando Police Department did not confirm or deny whether such an order had been given.
The drag performer said she and the police then attempted to move to the front entrance. As they walked, protesters blared car horns, refused to move and positioned nearby tables to block the front entryway, she said.
“At this point, the police weren’t making arrests, they weren’t stopping the mob and they were allowing an unelected group of people to determine who could and who could not access a public building,” Pickle said. “Shame on the San Fernando police.”
Pickle received a text from Horvath’s staff telling her to leave since she was unable to enter the building. After receiving a police escort back to her car, she did so.
“They canceled the event and I can’t believe how they handled the situation,” Pickle said, referring to staff from the library and Horvath’s office. “This goes beyond hurt feelings. This is about civil rights and they shouldn’t have invited me down if they weren’t going to stand up for them.”
Questions emailed to L.A. County Library personnel, who oversee the San Fernando Library, were not immediately answered Thursday.
Pickle said she has attended about 50 drag story hour events, but this was the first canceled in person.
A story hour she was scheduled to appear at in Glendale last spring was canceled ahead of time, and protesters also disrupted another of her storybook hours in Sherman Oaks in April.
San Fernando Police Lt. Pete Aguirre said 10 officers were deployed to the library.
Aguirre said no arrests were made and no assaults or property damage were reported.
Aguirre said protesters began arriving at 10:30 a.m., with most staying until the event was terminated at noon. Others didn’t leave for another hour and engaged with a “small contingent of counter protesters.”
“We weren’t able to get to the venue, but we ensured that the performer was not assaulted in any way and that they were able to leave the venue unharmed,” Aguirre said.
Lynchburg, Virginia USA – April 14, 2023 – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaking at Liberty University on April 14, 2023.Photo: Shutterstock
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently sent a message to his followers comparing LGBTQ+-inclusive elementary school teachers to Hamas fighters who have gunned down and kidnapped Israeli civilians.
“I have seen the Left’s indoctrination dangerously worsen in the last couple of decades — from student organizations praising Hamas at Ivy Leagues to elementary school teachers pushing radical gender ideology down the throats of first graders,” DeSantis’ message said, according to Florida Politics.
Don’t Say Gay laws and “parents rights” groups are all part of a plan to completely defund public education.
On October 7, Hamas members gunned down Jewish settlers, worshippers, and attendees of an electronic music festival; launched rocket attacks; and took women and children hostage. Their attacks have ignited a long-simmering military conflict with Israel as the neighboring countries battle over control of the region.
DeSantis has claimed that some pro-Palestinian U.S. student groups, like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), are “pro-Hamas” and want a “second Holocaust.” While Hamas is an Islamist militant movement and one of the Palestinian territories’ two major political parties, supporters of Palestine don’t automatically support Hamas or its actions. Nevertheless, DeSantis has ordered his state’s universities to disband SJP groups, threatening to persecute and cut government funding to them otherwise.
DeSantis is equating support for Hamas with elementary school teachers who support LGBTQ+-inclusive student policies (or “radical gender ideology,” as DeSantis calls it), such as allowing trans students to use names, pronouns, and bathrooms matching their gender identities.
Palestine Legal, a group that provides legal support for pro-Palestinian groups, says that DeSantis’ ban on SJP groups is part of his larger effort to restrict freedom of speech on campuses.
“Florida, particularly under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, has been actively undermining education, freedom of speech, and social justice movements, including by banning anti-racist courses and trying to criminalize protests. It is not surprising that this egregious move to silence the student movement for Palestinian rights is being pursued under DeSantis,” it said Wednesday in a statement, according to WJTV. “If it goes unchallenged, no one’s political beliefs will be safe from government suppression.”
For those that don’t know, I dropped my TYT membership this summer. I found that Anna’s hard right turn and Cenk’s hate for Biden along with trying to destroy the Democratic Party became too much to take. But on this he is correct. Plus I love how David, who is the rational national, presents the facts in the video. Hugs. Scottie
Cenk Uygur, founder and host of The Young Turks, joined Piers Morgan for a lively and educated discussion on the conflict.
Justice Clarence Thomas borrowed more than a quarter of a million dollars from a wealthy friend to buy a 40-foot luxury RV, did not repay it, and had the loan forgiven.
Can’t wait for all the “students should pay their loans” conservatives to condemn him. https://t.co/jFx3rGspCt
Almost all Democratic politicians are defying 80% of their base who support a ceasefire in Gaza, but several lawmakers in particular who purport to be “progressive” have sparked backlash over their inflammatory comments in support of Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza. In particular, Ritchie Torres and John Fetterman responded to criticism from progressives who’ve condemned their bloodthirsty takes. Their responses, predictably, were atrocious. In this video we’ll discuss the so-called “progressives” who continue to support Israel despite irrefutable evidence of war crimes they’ve committed in Gaza.
Oh my dogs that love gravy, this post set me off. But before we get to that, I have been on and off on the computer today. Ron is still hobbling yet went out and put the new night pole light. So I have been doing the inside stuff, but yesterday our new outside solar pole lamp top arrived. Now, we had agreed he would paint the pole before attaching the new light. But today, after sitting in his chair as I was doing dishes, he disappeared for a while. Then informed me that the new lamp post light was on the pole. WTF!!!! I don’t know. But when I asked him about painting the pole, he said that could be done at any time. So I guess we have to see what happens next.
So now I am helping Ron make supper. But in the post below, the dad and the host seem to think that the daughter’s sexual awakening was a choice, which we know it is not, and that somehow it was forced on her. Notice that he says that the LGBTQ+ people want to “infest our children” WTF! Just how is such a belief possible? Hugs. Scottie
The Christian dad said that the “lesbian cult” took his daughter so he rejected her. But now some members of his family won’t talk to him.
Conservative BlazeTV host Steve Deace recently applauded a viewer for refusing to accept his lesbian daughter, saying that LGBTQ+ people want to “infest our children” and it’s important for parents to “maintain their conviction.”
Deace’s reaction came in response to a letter from a viewer named David Biddle, who said he is a fundamentalist Southern Baptist and a “culture warrior.”
He said his daughter “loved the Lord” and was his “world” and “sidekick” until her sophomore year of college, when she “got grabbed by the lesbian cult.”
“We naturally had the emotions of anger and heartbrokenness,” Biddle said, adding that he tried to convince her to change for the next year but that “she kept insisting it was her choice to do this and she just likes this better.”
He continued, “Within a year of her conversion, she was ‘engaged’ [to a girl]” and “she became militant towards us for not embracing her choices.” He explained that she said if they didn’t accept her, she would cut them out of her life.
“She basically demanded we deny our faith,” Biddle said. “That was demonic words coming from her mouth.” He asserted his belief that “affirmation is not love; it is condemnation” and said, “The most unloving thing I could do as a father was to pave her path to eternal damnation.”
He said he hasn’t spoken to his daughter in two years and that some of his extended family won’t speak to him and his wife for what they have done.
Biddle ended by praising Deace’s show for continuing to spread anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. “Keep sounding the alarm of the evil demonic forces that are capturing our kids and all of society,” he said.
Deace’s response was to encourage parents like Biddle to “maintain their conviction.”
“This is not as uncommon of a story as we would wish, unfortunately,” he said, adding that “a lot of our institutions have a lot of conviction to infest our children,” as if LGBTQ+ people are insects or rodents that need to be exterminated.
“If they have come to the point that they can penetrate the bubble of families, even like the one that David articulated here, understand that this thing has metastasized deeply into our culture, and the only way out is through,” Deace said. “I’d urge everybody in our audience to pray for David and families like him, to maintain their conviction, and that the lord would reward that in this life or the next.”
Lynchburg, Virginia USA – April 14, 2023 – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaking at Liberty University on April 14, 2023.Photo: Shutterstock
Photo: Screenshot
