While it won’t end the larger conflict, a major hostage exchange is on the brink of being approved.
This video details how many Palestinian children are being held in Israeli military prisons with no charges, it shows clearly how much of an open air prison every Palestinian lives under in the current situation. The abuses of the Palestinians is beyond belief now. Hugs. Scottie
Again because people were not paying attention, the religious fanatics moved into positions of power. Now they want to enforce their own personal way of life on everyone and are willing to destroy democracy to do it. The public should take these people as a warning of how they want to erase our personal liberties to eased their religious fears. Think of it, if you read both this post and the article you see that he is claiming that his god will not give good things to our country, which to be honest has really been so far his god giving good things to white people, but will now be mean to … again white people because the very people Mike Johnson thinks are bad have gained more equality in the cis hetero world. He really thinks we are inventing new ways to be “evil”. Hell’s bells and my dogs that love gravy how weird is this guy to think that people only started to do bad stuff now that gays have the right to marry and kids can come out at school? Really what about slavery, what about the atrocities all through history including the Holocaust and the dark ages, Spanish Inquisition, and the horrible things Columbus and his people did. But gay kids are where his god draws the line???? Think of the things being done in Gaza, but his god is more upset that a boy finds another boy sexually attractive so that is why he will destroy the country? Think about where and why these people focus on. Worth the read for both. Hugs
Talking to pastor Jim Garlow on a broadcast of the World Prayer Network, Johnson spoke ominously of America facing a “civilizational moment.” He said, “The only question is: Is God going to allow our nation to enter a time of judgment for our collective sins? Or is he going to give us one more chance to restore the foundations and return to Him?”
The segment was filmed Oct. 3, just weeks before Johnson’s unexpected rise to become speaker of the House. Garlow pressed the clean-cut Louisiana congressman to say “more about this ‘time of judgment’ for America.” Johnson replied: “The culture is so dark and depraved that it almost seems irredeemable.” He cited, as supposed evidence, the decline of national church attendance and the rise of LGBTQ youth — the fact, Johnson lamented, that “one-in-four high school students identifies as something other than straight.”
Discussing the risk of divine retribution, Johnson invoked Sodom, the Old Testament city destroyed by God for its wickedness with a rain of burning sulfur. Johnson is a polished orator, but in a closing prayer with Garlow he grew tearful. Johnson intoned, “We repent for our sins individually and collectively. And we ask that You not give us the judgment that we clearly deserve.”
Read the full article. Longtime JMG readers may recall that Jim Garlow appeared here many times starting around 15 years ago, usually for “gays are satanic” type rants.
In 2010, Garlow declared that God passed Proposition 8 in California because Christians nationwide had fasted against same-sex marriage.
In 2017, we heard from Garlow when he called for a national tax to be given to churches for them to provide healthcare to congregants, as “health is God’s issue.”
In 2021, Garlow led a group of evangelicals in marching around the Georgia Capitol building seven times to prevent Democrats from winning.
Garlow is the co-author of the so-called Manhattan Declaration, which calls on Christians to disobey all pro-LGBTQ ordinances and laws.
"We’re violating His commands. We’re inventing new ways to do evil.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson: “Depraved” America Deserves God’s Wrath
PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: Pastor Jim Garlow calls for an armed uprising against the nation’s LGBTQ people. Pastor Jim Garlow claims that Christians who hate homosexuals will be rewarded with an eternal celestial orgy when they reach heaven. Pastor Jim Garlow says Satan is a gay activist. Pastor Jim Garlow says God has forgiven Newt Gingrich for his serial adultery.
I cannot emphasize enough that that man is dangerous. He believes that he has been placed there by God to claim the united states government for his narrow radical view of Christianity. Him + Trump represent an existential threat to the republic.
In its early days, our “Christian” nation wiped out most of the indigenous people and brutally enslaved millions of Africans. More recently, it fabricated excuses to start two bloody and futile wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in which untold innocent civilians and children died.
If those and other atrocities didn’t piss off the Christian god, then he either doesn’t exist or has very warped priorities.
These people are gleefully watching whats happening in Israel because, to them, it means Baby Jesus is returning any day now so he’s trying to “save” as many Americans as possible before the end.
Absolutely. Their doctrine says the Jerusalem Temple must be rebuilt before Jesus can return. And when he does, all Jews who have not accepted him as Savior will be obliterated. Which is all of them.
What’s appallingly cynical is that while most Jews probably don’t know this, the Israeli government certainly does, and is happy to accept evangelicals’ support even knowing what’s supposed to happen to them.
This guy’s really dangerous. They really managed to sneak the guy in there without any proper due diligence, didn’t they? I recall that screaming shrew shouting down the reporter who asked the question about election denial. “How *dare* you apply scrutiny to us?!!”
Every Republican supported him, and none of those Republicans are facing angry constituents calling for their removal from office any time soon… so this is apparently what Republican voters want from DC.
I fully expect the dark money’d interests already knew how twisted and perverted this miserable piece of shit is before they insisted on his installation.
It’s right there in the book of Ezekiel: Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed due to gay people living in them. They were destroyed because violent residents violated their cultural guest laws, harassing and robbing visitors and migrants asking for help.
You can always tell what kind of Xtian you’re dealing with depending whether they actually understand the lesson in their own book or if they simply apply whatever interpretations they want in order to justify their own appalling, hateful behavior.
Lot offered his own four daughters to appease the soldiers to prevent them from killing the two angels he was saving in his house. For his protection from the angry mob and the soldiers, the angles made everyone who protest to become blind. This made the soldiers angry, and they raped Lot as punishment for protecting those angels, which was commonly done to control their victims. Angels then told Lot to run away with his daughters because they were going to destroy those two mythical cities for their inhospitality and cruelty. For one thing, there is no ancient archeological evidence that Sodom and Gomorrah ever existed. They are not on any ancient maps. As typical with most Biblical stories, they are parables to learn from except for those Christian apologists who take everything out of context to justify their bigotry and ignorance.
Christians ignore what the Bible actually says about Sodom and Gomorrah. We weren’t the cause, we were the punishment, at least the first level of punishment.
Frankly, it’s pretty insulting, but the way THEY act is what’s raising the threat level…
Looking back, if I had a safe and supportive environment when first realized I was Trans at age 15 I believe my life would have been much easier. Not perfect but easier.
This religious fanatic needs to mind his own freaking business.
And that is why it is so important that all trans and non-binary come out. To find each other so they can comfort and support each other and show that this is ok and part of normal life. That’s the reason christStains are so against any kind of equality and normalization of all genders. Because it goes against their hate and deludes opportunities to grift money. The only reason growing up trans was hard for you and growing up gay was hard for me is because of hateful religion.
Johnson is quite delusional and hiding a deep dark secret about himself, as we’re all quite aware. NO ONE ever goes that deep into how to ‘eliminate’ our clan than those who are deep DEEEEPPPP in a violent and sad closet.
Yeah, there’s seriously something off about this guy, beyond the usual bigotry. The prissy zealotry is extremely creepy. (Along with those other signs like the weird youthful adoption and the porn monitoring with his son.)
Some of them just seem ignorant, blind cultists. But this guy is full-on creepster culty since he’s clearly intelligent enough, or should be, to have some grounding in the real world. If I had children, I wouldn’t let him anywhere near them. He gives off serious pervy vibes.
Why is one of the default babble verses against LGBTQI+ always include the story of Sodom and Gomorrah? Interesting that the post script to those verses was the daughters of Lot getting him drunk and having sex with him to supposedly make sure the world didn’t die with no survivors.
And I ALWAYS have the counterweight babble verses to this. Why was sodom and gomorrah destroyed? Because they did things that was against the traditions of the peoples in those lands at that time. And these traditions are timeless so it also applies to us in this time an place.
Ezekiel 16:48-50
•As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done. “‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. (NIV)
Interesting that the post script to those verses was the daughters of Lot getting him drunk and having sex with him to supposedly make sure the world didn’t die with no survivors.
And likely what really happened was Daddy got loopy, knocking up the daughters, then blaiming them. Imagine the two boys that were birthed. He was their father AND grandfather their mom’s were their half-sisters, and each mom was the aunt to the other’s kid. And it, apparently, was all A-OK with the big sky fairy.
Sounds a lot like the arrogant, overfed and unconcerned congress critters not helping the poor, the sick etc better reread that part of the Bible quickly.
I have long said that if God hates gay people, then He fucked up royally when He had a hand in our creation. He is supposed to know all the past, the present, and the future. So how did we slip through? The answer we always get from the “religious ones” is that we “choose” to be gay. Stop choosing and you’ll be OK. See?
Homosexuality is a natural and a normal expression of human sexuality. It always has been, it always will be, and after all of us, here, are dead – and our existence forgotten – there will still be gay-oriented babies being born on every continent, in every country, and in every culture
Same as it ever was
That’s a little piece of truth they left out of both the Old and the New Testicles.
First, they never think deeply about that and they became str8 the first time they got excited when they caught a glimpse of her panties or her bra straps or big tits, etc.I actually asked a coworker that once, and that is the paraphrased answer he gave me. He became str8 when he first got hot over a girl. It’s so easy. I realized that the thinking was so shallow that further discussion was useless.
So God sat back as gave a 👍🏼 to more than years of slavery and lynchings but he’s super pissed and losing his shit over young LGBTQ kids living their lives? M’kay.
The important thing to note is that Israel built the complex under the hospital when they controlled the area decades ago. Yes they knew the tunnels were there because they built them. If Hamas is guilty of working from a hospital, then why is Israel also not guilty of the same damn thing. Even if there was an entire battalion of Hamas fighters there, it doesn’t give Israeli military / government permission to do wholesale slaughter of civilians. Israel wants to keep being the aggrieved person who lost less than 1,400 people to violence when they have committed war crimes against 11,000 people, a third of them children. You can not wipe out an idea and feeling with military aggression. Israel is simply fostering the next generations of people angry at them for killing their families. How does any of this help peace? Hugs. Scottie
President Biden is asked by a reporter about the situation at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, and claims that Hamas committed the first war crime there by establishing operations within that hospital. Biden also claims that he’s been informed that the Israeli military brought in incubators and are allowing hospital personnel to leave.
Meanwhile, Human Rights activist Huwaida Arraf posted on Twitter screenshots from a report in Tablet about how Israel is so certain about the bunker and tunnel under Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza because they contributed to building it 40 years ago in 1983.
“‘Parental rights’ is an appealing term, but voters have caught on to the reality that it is fueling book bans, anti-LGBT efforts, pressure on teachers not to discuss race and gender, whitewashing history, and so on,” said political analyst Larry Sabato, a politics professor at the University of Virginia and founder and director of the Center for Politics. “Parents may want more input in the schools, but as a group they certainly aren’t as extreme as many in the Moms for Liberty.”
Great short read. Really puts it in words most people can understand. Hugs. Scottie
Former President Trump’s allies are pre-screening the ideologies of thousands of potentialfoot soldiers, as part of an unprecedented operation to centralize and expand his power at every level of the U.S. government if he wins in 2024, officials involved in the effort tell Axios.
Why it matters: Hundreds of people are spending tens of millions of dollars to install a pre-vetted, pro-Trump army of up to 54,000 loyalists across government to rip off the restraints imposed on the previous 46 presidents.
The screening for ready-to-serve loyalists has already begun, driven in part by artificial intelligence from tech giant Oracle, contracted for the project.
Social media histories are already being plumbed.
What’s happening: When Trump took office in 2017, he included many conventional Republicans in his Cabinet and key positions. Those officials often curtailed his behavior and power.
Trump himself spends little time plotting governing plans. But he is well aware of a highly coordinated campaign to be ready to jam government offices with loyalists willing to stretch traditional boundaries.
If Trump were to win, thousands of Trump-first loyalists would be ready for legal, judicial, defense, regulatory and domestic policy jobs. His inner circle plans to purge anyone viewed as hostile to the hard-edged, authoritarian-sounding plans he calls “Agenda 47.”
The people leading these efforts aren’t figures like Rudy Giuliani. They’re smart, experienced people, many with very unconventional and elastic views of presidential power and traditional rule of law.
Behind the scenes: The government-in-waiting is being orchestrated by the Heritage Foundation’s well-funded Project 2025, which already has published a 920-page policy book from 400+ contributors. Think of it as a transition team set in motion years in advance.
Heritage president Kevin Roberts tells us his apparatus is “orders of magnitude” bigger than anything ever assembled for a party out of power.
The policy series, “Mandate for Leadership,” dates back to the 1980s. But Paul Dans, director of Project 2025, told us: “Never before has the entire movement … banded together to construct a comprehensive plan to deconstruct the out-of-touch and weaponized administrative state.”
Trump insiders relish rebuilding the team with purists. But the truth is, they have no choice: Many more-traditional Republicans quit the first administration in frustration or were fired by tweet. And some former advisers are talking to prosecutors or are charged with crimes.
The Trump campaign tells us no outside group speaks for him: “The campaign’s Agenda47 is the only official comprehensive and detailed look at what President Trump will do when he returns to the White House. … While the campaign is appreciative of any effort to provide suggestions about a second term, the campaign is not collaborating with them.”
Questions for Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 applicants. Screenshot via Project 2025 website
How it works: The most elaborate part of the pre-transition machine is a résumé-collection project that drills down more on political philosophy than on experience, education or other credentials.
Applicants are asked to “name one person, past or present, who has most influenced the development of your political philosophy” — and to do the same with a book.
Another query: “Name one living public policy figure whom you greatly admire and why.”
We’re told immense, intense attention will be given to the social-media histories of anyone being considered for top jobs. Those queasy about testing the limits of Trump’s power will get flagged and rejected.
Reality check: Technically, this apparatus will be inherited by any Republican nominee — Heritage officials tell us they’ve briefed the campaigns of Trump, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.
But this is undeniably a Trump-driven operation. The biggest tell: Johnny McEntee — one of Trump’s closest White House aides, and his most fervent internal loyalty enforcer — is a senior adviser to Project 2025.
One of the most powerful architects is Stephen Miller, a top West Wing adviser for the Trump administration. Miller is charting an even harder line on legal and immigration policy than last time. While he maps a White House return, he’s president of America First Legal, which vows to fight “lawless executive actions and the Radical Left.”
Between the lines: Trump doesn’t hide his intentions. It’s important to tune out the theatrical language that drives social media and cable TV, and focus intently on the directional guidance of his second term.
He’s telling us exactly what he intends to do — like it or loathe it. And this time, he’ll have prefabbed institutional muscle to turn pugilistic words into policies and action from the get-go.
Here’s what the early days of a second Trump presidency would look like, based on his words and our conversations with Trump insiders:
His top obsession will be the Justice Department, the FBI and the intelligence community — all of which he thinks conspired to investigate him, thwart him, screw him. He’s been very clear that he’s willing to unleash these agencies against political enemies.
The next priority will be the Department of Homeland Security and the border, with plans to erect sprawling detention camps, “scour the country for unauthorized immigrants,” and “deport people by the millions per year,” The New York Times reports. We’re told Trump’s top criterion for immigration officials will be whoever promises to be most aggressive. Trump has told allies he’s confident the Supreme Court will back his most draconian moves.
As first reported by Jonathan Swan for Axios last year, a key tool for Trump’s “revenge term” would be the use of Schedule F personnel powers to wipe out employment protections for tens of thousands of civil servants across the federal government. Trump allies want a deep and wide purge of the professional staff that often serves across new administrations.
Officials close to the Pentagon tell us they’re worried about a plan, articulated by former Trump official Russ Vought in the Heritage document, to direct the National Security Council to “rigorously review all general and flag officer promotions to prioritize the core roles and responsibilities of the military over social engineering and non-defense related matters, including climate change, critical race theory [and] manufactured extremism.” Indeed, the Trump allies see obstacles to remove at every level of every agency.
The bottom line: This Trump-allied machine has the most power over the formation of a potential future government of any group in U.S. history. Trump, if elected, will leverage it to do things with government that none of us has seen in our lifetime.
“Behind the Curtain” is a column by Axios CEO Jim VandeHei and co-founder Mike Allen, based on regular conversations with White House and congressional leaders, CEOs and top technologists.
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