This is going to be the last thing I put up today. This day has only been good for the three hours I got to spend writing about life in the hellscape of the Anzio beachhead in 1944, surrounded by German artillery in the hills. But the oppo research on Mike Johnson is important enough to put it up as quickly as possible. There will undoubtedly be more tomorrow, since what you’re going to read here demonstrates what a rich pile of Fundamentalist shit he is.
Oh dear Tom! Should I take a sleeping pill or just a good long swallow of 16 year old Scotch? Guess the latter. This guy is a piece of work for sure along with the ADF. He can smile while he twists the knife. Something about the way this crowd uses language. HCR said in an interview on PBS that the fight we're in today is not new, but it is incredibly intense. And it requires everyone who believes that the Declaration of Independence is THE founding document as Lincoln did ( rather than the constitution which is what the enslavers counted on to stop creating a pluralistic nation) must stand up and work together with others seeking to build the kind of society the Declaration envisions. Of necessity then that means voting these guys and gals out of office as best we can given gerrymandered districts and getting better people in. It was a good interview. Look it up. Onward and upward people. Onward and upward.
Back in the day that would have been Lagavullin (sp) 🤷♂️, it was nice seeing Heather on PBS tonight, I learn every time she and everyone else speaks, these Substack communities are way ahead of MSM including print, I feel blessed to be able to participate. 🙏
A drop in the bucket as to influencing the public, sad to say. X marks the spot for influential bull Schitt. FB not far behind. Does anybody know which wannabe social media effort is close to being a home for disgusted X users? I read that many journalists are abandoning X for other sites. .???
Yes, do sip the Scotch gently, and fully enjoy it. It's a gift.
But also, Linda, understand that in politics, as in physics, to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. (To be sure, politics is not as clear cut and precise as physics, but it's the same idea. What we saw with Dobbs, we shall probably see in reaction to Johnson.)
Whatever works, and only if you need it. I used melatonin for a while, but after reading Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, by Matthew Walker, Prof. of Neuroscience and Psychology at UC Berkeley and Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science, I tried some of his tips for getting to sleep without taking anything, and they worked, and I slept better without using them. And the book is damned interesting, including the vignette about where the song, Satisfaction came from.
but it still sucks and makes me, in old age, very depressed that politics in my lifetime has been this nightmare from which LOTS of people don't ever want to wake up from. I grew up thinking ( what a whiggish lad I was, and it lasted till I was over fifty) that things tended to get better over the long haul (that long arc, etc.). and now, THIS.
it's funny how this scumbag Johnson so closely resembles a nerdy high school physics teacher when he might as well be Dracula.
I'm not exactly young. Born in the first summer of the Eisenhower Administration. My earliest memories of international significance were Sputnik and Laika, the dog that the Soviets launched, who probably didn't last for than a few hours in space. I knew about these evnts because my father was an expert on the USSR. I kept asking him when Laika was going to come home, and I can't remember exactly what he said, probably because I'm guessing he was being vague.
And, yeah, I also thought that things always got better over time. I think Reagan and Bush2 must have killed that naivete, but I don't quite remember if they did or not.
And this current crop of GOPers--I haven't gotten a good look at photos of Johnson, but so many of them--the vast majority of them--are so awful.
But do remember that we are so lucky to have a president who--out of all the people he ran against in the primaries, is far and away the most able to deal with these times. Every time I read about something else he's done, and how he handled it, I'm just amazed both at his competence in the office, and how lucky we are to have him.
I hope that reading this will help you be more optimistic, and in better spirits.
I saw her on PBS, would like to see TC there. “Something about the way this crowd uses language.” Frank Luntz must still be on the payroll teaching them how to make Schitt smell like roses. He’s the best propaganda master. Good as Goebbels.
a year or so ago, I complained about the re-emergence of Luntz and a friend told me he had had a stroke and had, therefore, been out of the public eye. he should have stayed there. and all the scumbags in that wretched party have contributed to this disgusting moment, so they need to crawl back to the rock under which they were so happy in their obscurity and shut the fuck up.
I REALLY don't like to wish people ill (some people who know me from here are rightly skeptical when I say that, but Luntz is a fucking incubus. and, alas, a clever one.
And one who has done more damage than most. I especially remember the W/Dickie fiasco and how they cleverly lied about so much - scientific papers, EPA issues, anything they couldn't redact. Back then, they pretended, now they just tell bigger whoppers that nobody over five would believe. Or they publish Project 2025
I am going to opt for "theocratic weirdo" instead of "extremist." He may have a nice smile. He may wear a jacket. But the only thing missing is his AK15.
A while back, someone on one of the Substacks, either yours, Joyce Vance's, or Rob Hubbell's, made a point of how bad Johnson is... it set an alarm in my brain that is now going off so loud, that I don't expect to sleep for a good long time.
And, if still Speaker on Jan. 6(?), 2025, is likely to throw more spanners into the works of ratifying the results of the 2024 election once President Biden is reelected.
Congress changes hands on January 3, so the likelihood of this bible banging hayshaker being in a position to screw things up is unlikely. I don't think Speaker Jeffries will want to do any of that.
Thank you for this reminder. In the meantime, I just checked Johnson's Wikipedia bio and find that he was reelected in 2022, having run unopposed. In any case, it's essential in 2024 that Democrats retake the House and expand the number of Democratic members in the Senate.
My best political source called Johnson a "gift to the Democrats," in the same way that Dobbs was a gift--i.e., a lot more people are going to vote Democratic due to this newly empowered GOPer's views.
Please leave God out of it. Hope, prayers, chrystal squeezing, all of it. It only means you are waiting for someone else to solve the proplem. Just like the T-Rumpers waiting for their Orange Savior to march in and save them from US. Work works.Hard work and organizing gets results. Remember, many workers died by Pinkerton bullets to get us the 40 hour work week. They will never give us anything.
I don't meen to be too critical. Had to get it off my chest. Your comments are usually right on the mark, KD.
Indivisible org. listed several little hummers - but not all of these nor the Twit remarks. Less abortions so women need to be "compelled" to bring more able bodied workers into the world?
I watched & listened to his acceptance speech (after Jeffrie's excellent one) and yeah, nice folksy down home guy, right? Working together - bipartisan - yeah yeah yeah. Oh yeah, he & his wife have a covenant marriage - look that up.
Ya know, if the Dems had stayed on the Spirit of Howard Dean tour bus all those years ago, we would not be in this fix now..... Rahm Emmanuel has a helluva lot to answer for. On the other hand, Lucian said he has had to lock his front door because the Repubs are dumping so many columns at his door.....and it's twue, it's twue..... If the Dems cannot win big in 2024 we might as well go home, but not before we make the entire DNC walk the plank after being forced to eat liver (no onions)..... Pooties I say.
Oh, I well knew it was a joke and I hope the pile grows until he can't get out until he writes all the columns to cover the Repubs' generosity in dumping them on both your doorsteps.....
has anyone else noticed that in these mass shootings, the people who get shot but don't quite die are referred to as having been "injured."
now maybe I'm crazy or just wrong, but it sounds like the MSM are using "injured" because it just seems to SOUND less severe than "shot."
I assume that since these guns are created for maximum lethality, pretty much anybody who stops one of those bullets is probably never going to be physically okay ever again. the psychological maiming can be taken for granted.
it's pretty upsetting that this guy (clearly psychotic and probably bipolar, since schizophrenia is almost never something that begins when you're forty-ish) has managed to successfully elude law enforcement for (as of 7:00 PM) close to a whole day.
I take your point re 'injured' v. 'wounded' or 'shot', I recall from one or more of the press conferences held during the hunt for the killer, it was clarified that a number of injuries resulted from panicked people trying to get away, some falling down and being trampled on. Don't yet know how many actually shot but not killed and how many injuring in the ensuing panic.
People like Johnson remind me of the warning voiced by Dr. Peter Venkman (aka Bill Murray), “...human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!”
“Hello Gilead, er America, I welcome the opportunity to see you “on your knees” just like my wife has been for the last two weeks. I come not in peace but in full battle armor ready to slay the dragons and gargoyles of those who refuse to believe as I do ( and as I think you should). Don’t Fear the Reaper, he’s not on this podium, I am… Fear Me; you’ll have no choice any way. I am your future. I am the Resurrection of the Handmaid. Because of me, women will serve their purpose and bear us “able bodied males” to toil in our workplaces, thus saving the fortunes of those who require labor. It is a glorious day”
The GOP is used to foisting useful tools on the country because that's what all of them are--tools of the wealthy oligarchs. Johnson will lead no one anywhere. He'll do what he's told. The scary part is that he'll be second replacement to the presidency. Pray for Joe and Kamala.
CORRECTION: The current terms of office for ALL of the House of Representatives ends on January 3, 2025. (Not 1/3, as I had originally posted.)
So, if we elect a Democratic majority in the November 2024 election, the newly elected Dems will take office on January 3, 2025. And they will promptly elect one of their own as Speaker.
And that person will serve as Speaker during the January 6, 2025 certification of the Presidential/Vice-Presidential election. Not Mike Johnson or any other Republican.
Thanks for doing the heavy lifting, Tom. You beat the Times and Washington post consistently.
Oh dear Tom! Should I take a sleeping pill or just a good long swallow of 16 year old Scotch? Guess the latter. This guy is a piece of work for sure along with the ADF. He can smile while he twists the knife. Something about the way this crowd uses language. HCR said in an interview on PBS that the fight we're in today is not new, but it is incredibly intense. And it requires everyone who believes that the Declaration of Independence is THE founding document as Lincoln did ( rather than the constitution which is what the enslavers counted on to stop creating a pluralistic nation) must stand up and work together with others seeking to build the kind of society the Declaration envisions. Of necessity then that means voting these guys and gals out of office as best we can given gerrymandered districts and getting better people in. It was a good interview. Look it up. Onward and upward people. Onward and upward.
Back in the day that would have been Lagavullin (sp) 🤷♂️, it was nice seeing Heather on PBS tonight, I learn every time she and everyone else speaks, these Substack communities are way ahead of MSM including print, I feel blessed to be able to participate. 🙏
A drop in the bucket as to influencing the public, sad to say. X marks the spot for influential bull Schitt. FB not far behind. Does anybody know which wannabe social media effort is close to being a home for disgusted X users? I read that many journalists are abandoning X for other sites. .???
For those of us who missed seeing Heather on the News Hour, here's the link. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/historian-compares-americas-current-divisions-to-the-past-and-how-we-can-overcome-them
Please don't waste a good Scotch with a long swallow. Sip it gentley to keep from grinding your teeth!
Heather is my hero too. She will tell you the same.
Yes, do sip the Scotch gently, and fully enjoy it. It's a gift.
But also, Linda, understand that in politics, as in physics, to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. (To be sure, politics is not as clear cut and precise as physics, but it's the same idea. What we saw with Dobbs, we shall probably see in reaction to Johnson.)
Praying that you're right.
About the whiskey? Wasting good whiskey is a waste.
Verifyable fact.
Truth!
I vote sleeping pill. one drinks oneself to sleep with the cheap shit.
Whatever works, and only if you need it. I used melatonin for a while, but after reading Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, by Matthew Walker, Prof. of Neuroscience and Psychology at UC Berkeley and Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science, I tried some of his tips for getting to sleep without taking anything, and they worked, and I slept better without using them. And the book is damned interesting, including the vignette about where the song, Satisfaction came from.
Dems reactions may have been opposite, but not equal. That needs to change. Maybe a physics lesson.
you're right, of course, David.
but it still sucks and makes me, in old age, very depressed that politics in my lifetime has been this nightmare from which LOTS of people don't ever want to wake up from. I grew up thinking ( what a whiggish lad I was, and it lasted till I was over fifty) that things tended to get better over the long haul (that long arc, etc.). and now, THIS.
it's funny how this scumbag Johnson so closely resembles a nerdy high school physics teacher when he might as well be Dracula.
David,
I'm not exactly young. Born in the first summer of the Eisenhower Administration. My earliest memories of international significance were Sputnik and Laika, the dog that the Soviets launched, who probably didn't last for than a few hours in space. I knew about these evnts because my father was an expert on the USSR. I kept asking him when Laika was going to come home, and I can't remember exactly what he said, probably because I'm guessing he was being vague.
And, yeah, I also thought that things always got better over time. I think Reagan and Bush2 must have killed that naivete, but I don't quite remember if they did or not.
And this current crop of GOPers--I haven't gotten a good look at photos of Johnson, but so many of them--the vast majority of them--are so awful.
But do remember that we are so lucky to have a president who--out of all the people he ran against in the primaries, is far and away the most able to deal with these times. Every time I read about something else he's done, and how he handled it, I'm just amazed both at his competence in the office, and how lucky we are to have him.
I hope that reading this will help you be more optimistic, and in better spirits.
😅
Glad you understand. Never waste the good stuff.
I saw her on PBS, would like to see TC there. “Something about the way this crowd uses language.” Frank Luntz must still be on the payroll teaching them how to make Schitt smell like roses. He’s the best propaganda master. Good as Goebbels.
I don't fit the PBS profile - liberal academic with a popular following involved in the east coast intelligentsia.
Their loss, and ours. I once had hope that Bloomberg would provide a mouthpiece to counter Rupert. Desperately needed.
a year or so ago, I complained about the re-emergence of Luntz and a friend told me he had had a stroke and had, therefore, been out of the public eye. he should have stayed there. and all the scumbags in that wretched party have contributed to this disgusting moment, so they need to crawl back to the rock under which they were so happy in their obscurity and shut the fuck up.
I REALLY don't like to wish people ill (some people who know me from here are rightly skeptical when I say that, but Luntz is a fucking incubus. and, alas, a clever one.
And one who has done more damage than most. I especially remember the W/Dickie fiasco and how they cleverly lied about so much - scientific papers, EPA issues, anything they couldn't redact. Back then, they pretended, now they just tell bigger whoppers that nobody over five would believe. Or they publish Project 2025
I am going to opt for "theocratic weirdo" instead of "extremist." He may have a nice smile. He may wear a jacket. But the only thing missing is his AK15.
Gaetz will give him one tomorrow.
Yeah, that loathsome creature is strutting around the Halls of Congress as though he and Empty Greene own the place. Sickening.
Time to invest in Barf Bags!
yea verily.
Handmaid Tale whoa - beef out those able bodied workers, girls!
Wonder if he's taken a good look down south of Shreveport lately and the
abject poverty in Louisiana.
Thank you Tom. Expose it all.
Shine a light in the dark corners they don't want anyone looking in.
And they make the fiction sound so attractive. The Handmaid’s Tale is to be the reality.
A while back, someone on one of the Substacks, either yours, Joyce Vance's, or Rob Hubbell's, made a point of how bad Johnson is... it set an alarm in my brain that is now going off so loud, that I don't expect to sleep for a good long time.
Time to seriously get to work.
Sounds more dangerous than Jordan. Repubs obviously wanted somebody who smelled better. And whose bull Schitt is more easily swallowed.
And, if still Speaker on Jan. 6(?), 2025, is likely to throw more spanners into the works of ratifying the results of the 2024 election once President Biden is reelected.
Congress changes hands on January 3, so the likelihood of this bible banging hayshaker being in a position to screw things up is unlikely. I don't think Speaker Jeffries will want to do any of that.
Thank you for this reminder. In the meantime, I just checked Johnson's Wikipedia bio and find that he was reelected in 2022, having run unopposed. In any case, it's essential in 2024 that Democrats retake the House and expand the number of Democratic members in the Senate.
A dab of good news
Again, how can I “like” this? I cannot.
My best political source called Johnson a "gift to the Democrats," in the same way that Dobbs was a gift--i.e., a lot more people are going to vote Democratic due to this newly empowered GOPer's views.
From your pen to God's ear.
Please leave God out of it. Hope, prayers, chrystal squeezing, all of it. It only means you are waiting for someone else to solve the proplem. Just like the T-Rumpers waiting for their Orange Savior to march in and save them from US. Work works.Hard work and organizing gets results. Remember, many workers died by Pinkerton bullets to get us the 40 hour work week. They will never give us anything.
I don't meen to be too critical. Had to get it off my chest. Your comments are usually right on the mark, KD.
Now if we can just get those votes counted correctly....
Will propaganda define this situation, as it has everything else of late.
Indivisible org. listed several little hummers - but not all of these nor the Twit remarks. Less abortions so women need to be "compelled" to bring more able bodied workers into the world?
I watched & listened to his acceptance speech (after Jeffrie's excellent one) and yeah, nice folksy down home guy, right? Working together - bipartisan - yeah yeah yeah. Oh yeah, he & his wife have a covenant marriage - look that up.
Creepy
A true Dorian Gray?
Welcome to Gilead
Ya know, if the Dems had stayed on the Spirit of Howard Dean tour bus all those years ago, we would not be in this fix now..... Rahm Emmanuel has a helluva lot to answer for. On the other hand, Lucian said he has had to lock his front door because the Repubs are dumping so many columns at his door.....and it's twue, it's twue..... If the Dems cannot win big in 2024 we might as well go home, but not before we make the entire DNC walk the plank after being forced to eat liver (no onions)..... Pooties I say.
Don't worry about Lucian. That's a joke. The topics are piling up on his doorstep.
Same here.
Oh, I well knew it was a joke and I hope the pile grows until he can't get out until he writes all the columns to cover the Repubs' generosity in dumping them on both your doorsteps.....
And this was before some asshole with a weapon of war killed at least 20 and wounded 50-60 in Maine.
Yep.
has anyone else noticed that in these mass shootings, the people who get shot but don't quite die are referred to as having been "injured."
now maybe I'm crazy or just wrong, but it sounds like the MSM are using "injured" because it just seems to SOUND less severe than "shot."
I assume that since these guns are created for maximum lethality, pretty much anybody who stops one of those bullets is probably never going to be physically okay ever again. the psychological maiming can be taken for granted.
it's pretty upsetting that this guy (clearly psychotic and probably bipolar, since schizophrenia is almost never something that begins when you're forty-ish) has managed to successfully elude law enforcement for (as of 7:00 PM) close to a whole day.
Yeah and that he was still on active duty in the army Reserves doesn't say much for the Army.
Semper Fi.
I take your point re 'injured' v. 'wounded' or 'shot', I recall from one or more of the press conferences held during the hunt for the killer, it was clarified that a number of injuries resulted from panicked people trying to get away, some falling down and being trampled on. Don't yet know how many actually shot but not killed and how many injuring in the ensuing panic.
Don’t like but my rage meter topped out long ago. We are a sick, sick country. Guns are the God of choice for our 50% fools
This guy is a shoo-in for the Larry Craig Award, just a matter of time.
People like Johnson remind me of the warning voiced by Dr. Peter Venkman (aka Bill Murray), “...human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!”
(Ghostbusters, 1984)
Dave Fake News reports
“Hello Gilead, er America, I welcome the opportunity to see you “on your knees” just like my wife has been for the last two weeks. I come not in peace but in full battle armor ready to slay the dragons and gargoyles of those who refuse to believe as I do ( and as I think you should). Don’t Fear the Reaper, he’s not on this podium, I am… Fear Me; you’ll have no choice any way. I am your future. I am the Resurrection of the Handmaid. Because of me, women will serve their purpose and bear us “able bodied males” to toil in our workplaces, thus saving the fortunes of those who require labor. It is a glorious day”
That is *very* good.
I was feeling my inner snarky
The GOP is used to foisting useful tools on the country because that's what all of them are--tools of the wealthy oligarchs. Johnson will lead no one anywhere. He'll do what he's told. The scary part is that he'll be second replacement to the presidency. Pray for Joe and Kamala.
CORRECTION: The current terms of office for ALL of the House of Representatives ends on January 3, 2025. (Not 1/3, as I had originally posted.)
So, if we elect a Democratic majority in the November 2024 election, the newly elected Dems will take office on January 3, 2025. And they will promptly elect one of their own as Speaker.
And that person will serve as Speaker during the January 6, 2025 certification of the Presidential/Vice-Presidential election. Not Mike Johnson or any other Republican.
Thanks, TC, for correcting me on this.
Unfortunately, no, you didn't. But given the state of political/civics education in this country, that's sadly not surprising.
The Senate has 1/3 of the body up for election every two years - each elected to a six year term.
The House (in order to make it more "responsive to the people") are all up for election every two years.
But "vote them out" is exactly right, so you're definitely "on target".
Thanks, TC.
Go Dems!