This is the benefit you derive from being a religious nut: Any normal Congressman and we'd all just assume he lied on the disclosure form, but Johnson's so Bible-crazy he might have put it all in Shekels.
So, can anybody who's familiar with the wonders of the U.S. tax code guess just what scam is being worked here? If you don't have money in a bank, or stocks in a brokerage, but instead you're part of, I don't know, a Double-Reverse Tithe Sharing Commune, you never have to pay taxes?
My financial wizardry has only ever extended to balancing my checkbook, but just on a basic level, where is his salary deposited? In 2023, do they cut him a physical check? They certainly don't pay him in cash. Because he strikes me as one of those guys whose mother owns his house, his wife owns his car, his cousin holds title to income properties, etc. Typical mafioso type lifestyle, in other words.
Even if Congress cuts him a paper check, where is he cashing it? The local liquor store? And what does he do with that cash? You can't buy a house with actual cash money. You can't even buy a car with cash money!
But I think this would explain why the very first bill he proposed is to slash the IRS's budget.
Not only cash or deposit paychecks, but how does he pay his effing phone bill, or any other bill? I do appreciate the attempts of certain reporters to normalize this. One article said that he must live paycheck to paycheck like most Americans. See? He's just a regular guy, only without a debit card.
I mean, when you think about it for all of two minutes, the absurdity skyrockets through the roof. How does he walk around every day? Last I checked, Starbucks doesn't accept Bible tracts as payment for a tall latte.
He probably doesn't go to Starbucks. I know I don't. However, the local grocery store or wherever he gets food stuffs for his family could go in there as well.
My boss in the Air Force was promoted and he threw a small party for all of us peasants (the enlisted trash). People got a little blasted and his wife started telling us family secrets which included that her dad was a mafia boss in Cincinnati and that he owned nothing including the mansion she grew up in. But I'm sure this sort of Christian guy wouldn't do anything like that.
Not an IRC expert, but I’m sure the IRS knows about his congressional paycheck (so maybe he files a 1040EZ return. Sweet!) But it still baffles me how he can get by without a bank account. I mean, don’t you have to have one to get any entry level job? How does he cash his paychecks?
Occam's Razor tells me he does have a bank account, probably multiple bank accounts, he just doesn't report them on the disclosure form. Is this a crime? Ha ha ha, he's a powerful white man, we all know how that goes.
He deserves privacy! Leave him alone! But if you're a female of child-bearing age, report your menstrual cycle details to your local government officials.
I actually find Johnson hiding his payoff money to be less strange than a lot of other things about him, like his appearing and then disappearing adopted Black son – now you see him, now you don’t – or his wife running an anti-gay counseling service that seems to use the concept of medieval “humours” as its guiding philosophy. I guess leeches are hard to come by these days.
The humours business is entirely un-Biblical, of course; it comes from the pagan Greeks. If Johnson ever wants to divorce his wife he can just say he can't remain married to such a heretic. Or maybe go straight to the stoning.
Half of conservative Evangelical woo-woo is "unbiblical" bullshit. They weren't even opposed to abortion until the 1970s. They have their busybody, fascist worldview and they have retrofitted it with bits and pieces of Christianity as their fig leaves.
And a life of antigay abuse (not necessarily directed at me) tells me Johnson has plenty to hide: no one becomes a professional anti gay crusader without some internal issues and history.
I've not thought outing most folks was a good idea: i was in the closet for too long: and with reason.
But Johnson has been a professional anti LGBTQ activist and rightist apologist for abusing the likes of me and mine for a couple decades. His actual statements on the evil and danger of us queers have had real legislative and social effects.
It’s not theater of cruelty, it’s pragmatic sharing of information, against a backdrop of dishonest murderous agitprop.
He’s also articulated “constitutional” reasons to let Donnie steal democracy and set up a dictatorship.
I’d out the appalling little Christofascist in a heartbeat: it’s that serious:
Trae Crowder:
As far as Mike Johnson goes, he’s not just a
believer; no, he’s an architect; he’s a constitutional lawyer. He tried to devise legal Arguments for why Trump should be able
to retain the presidency (back then they
called that a paper coup), y’all so I’m
telling you right now don’t let all this Suburban business dad fool you! …this milk toast Maniac is every bit as dangerous as the rest of them if not more so due to his semblance of competency and ability to mask how insane he is …
And the further below the surface you drill down, the freakier they get. To paraphrase Bern, conservative Christians are like a Russian nesting doll of "OOF."
I've been saying for a while now It's Coming and You're Not Gonna Like It. The Republicans and their insane billionaires have been working toward this for many decades, but the only thing that's been holding back the Red Tide since The Rise Of The Prophet Newt has been norms enforced by the professional politicians of the Republican Party, who would rather not rule over an apocalyptic hellscape, thank you very much. But Trump has revealed them as paper tigers and suffered No Consequences (so far, which is all that matters), so they think the same will apply to them (that's why Jan 6). Civil War II will look nothing like Civil War I (hell, my opinion is we're already in it) but it will (continue to) be bloody and stupid. The fight is over control of the 3 branches of the federal government, and when the Republican Party controls all three the base will want blood, mostly figuratively, but they will absolutely call for what's best in life. Whether it's Trump, DeSantis, or some other spawn from Hell won't matter.
Well, that's the question, whether they can do that. Johnson shows the Republicans are becoming more extreme, but religious extremism is also very unpopular, so an extreme and unpopular political party is becoming even more extreme and unpopular. Of course they've got the Electoral College working for them, but "all three" might not be possible any more.
It's very unpopular in some sectors, and the Republican Party has been working diligently for decades to make those sectors irrelevant. What's new is the influx of MAGA elected officials, who don't have Trump's immunity but think they do. They are a valuable force in implementing the chaos that is the heart of MAGA, which i predict will outlive Trump, because it feeds a hunger in the base to be powerful and rise above the oppression of Woke. MAGA itself is not nearly powerful enough on its own to take down democracy, but it's enough for an amoral tinpot like DeSantis, Cruz, Pence, Haley, etc. to finally drown the New Deal in the bathtub and attempt to legislate the 1950's back into existence, as long as the Republican Party thinks they can use it. Ultimately we have a government of the voters, by the voters, and for the voters. It's going to be them who decides what America is. That's why the Republican Party is laser-focused on gaming the vote process, it's their only shot left.
Specifically, Christian extremism is extremely unpopular with two demographics where the Republicans are getting absolutely murdered: Women and young people. It's one thing to lose women 60-40, quite another when it becomes 70-30. I think it's interesting that, for all their problems with women voters, the Republicans never seriously considered a woman Speaker. Elise Stefanik is good enough to give the nominating speech for Jim Jordan, but when Jordan's bid fails, she can't be considered for speaker herself (of course it's also likely that no non-insane woman would want the job, who wants to start every meeting being addressed as "Sugar Tits"?)
Anyway, that's just how their minds work, I'm sure they'd dismiss the idea of a woman Speaker as "Affirmative Action" or "DEI." So instead let's follow up Dobbs with another enormous "Fuck You" to the women of America.
Also, women's dislike of the Republican party is growing to the point where it encompasses all races, ages, education levels, geographic regions etc. Good luck, Republicans, in finding a voter suppression tactic to deal with THAT. They're more than half the population, fer Chrissakes.
The Party has been locked into this model of focusing on their Reagan base since they rejected Rove's scheme for Latino outreach, which could have worked. They value ideological purity far more than any outreach of any kind because their model runs on ideological anger.. Dobbs had to happen, the Party has been promising it and prepping the judiciary to pull the trigger for decades. Trump's hat trick just tipped it over the line. God alone knows what insane politicking went on with the Speaker dance, though misogyny always works as an explanation with these people. There's plenty of Republican women fine with Dobbs, so clearly the problem is with those Other women, the sluts. Who needs them, when God is on our side?
If you're self-conscious about your pencil-neck, try CrossFit! Just look at what it's done for Marjorie Taylor Greene! There are NFL tackles who don't have her neck muscles.
It sucks that anyone in this day and age would feel the need to remain closeted. But it's a reality, and privacy needs to be respected. I agree completely with your point, however, that any closeted individual who publicly tries to strip his/her own rights away must be exposed for the hypocrites they are. (Damn, I sound like a talking head. I'm better at this when I'm half-drunk!)
"I’m telling you right now don’t let all this Suburban business dad fool you! …this milk toast Maniac is every bit as dangerous as the rest of them if not more"
All of this.
My mom was from that corner of Louisiana--evangelical Protestant, racially retrograde (she had to leave home suddenly in her late teens, because she forgot to say "yes ma'am" to a White woman) and, incidentally, floating on a giant bubble of natural gas. (https://www.dnr.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/page/442) Which is probably where the money comes from.
This summer's drought in the Midwest caused record-low flow levels in the Mississippi, one consequence of that is a "tongue" of saltwater from the Gulf extending upriver so towns that rely on the river for their drinking water no longer have drinkable water. There was even some concern that this might reach as far as New Orleans, and the city would need a temporary pipeline reaching a hundred miles upriver just to keep clean drinking water flowing.
So you can imagine now that we have a Speaker of the House from Louisiana, we can be sure we'll get some prompt federal attention to address this problem. Why, I'll bet it's probably the subject of one of the first bills Speaker Johnson will be introducing!
About "Suburban business dad" and what that buys him (or how much it disarms any potential opposition) the Republicans biggest problem right now is with women voters, and I'd bet any woman of voting age is well familiar with the archetype of Creepy, Controlling "Nice Guy."
I’m stunned that the NYT or WaPo haven’t yet found a way to blame Dems for Johnson’s weird finances. “FDR’s New Deal Source of Anti-Christian Banking Laws.” Meanwhile, Santos still in Congress, probably because Dems voted to oust McCarthy.
Honestly, if I was a Democratic Member of Congress and my vote actually counted in the outcome, I might think twice about voting to oust Santos from the House, he's such a perfect embodiment of today's Republican party that it's kinda handy havin' him around.
I think it was Jamie Raskin who said he wouldn't vote to oust Santos without a guilty verdict. Seems reasonable. And, as you say, the optics of keeping him around are pretty good, too.
I guess it's kinda like my feelings about Tommy Tuberhead's blockade of all military promotions, "Gosh, that's awful, and somebody should really do something about it, after we've had a year or two to make sure everybody who is serving or ever has served is absolutely clear about which political party this guy represents."
Santos and Coach survive by the grace of Comity and Power. The argument in favor of Comity is essentially that our institutions are fragile, and the appearance of impropriety must be tolerated to enable the sausage-making that is Democracy to continue. The argument in favor of Power is that the ability to prevent the Senate from functioning is too valuable to risk losing by impeding it in any way, since the whole purpose of the Senate is to hobble the federal government and keep it "under control".
Anyway, that's the best I can do for a good-faith argument in favor. The problem of course is that the Republican Party cares not for sausage-making compromise, and will happily hobble the federal government at every opportunity, since they want most of it to cease to exist. Note that Comity and Power give no leverage to Democrats, since they are norms that Republicans chuckle at. So Democrats are going to have to find a way to deal with this, or watch Comity and Power pull the federal government to the edge of the abyss.
Hm. I don't know. I'm just an old lady/retired postal worker from Iowa. Maybe none of the crimes Santos has committed seem anywhere close to the treasonous shit Trump was doing?
Also, I read this morning the WaPo story about the NY civil case against Trump MegaBiz. It's the bit about the Queens Man's spawn and their sketchy business acumen. Has a photo of the 3 spawn & the spawner, all looking wax-museumed. It's Vacant Stare 4, the I reckoning. So I wandered around this morning thinking about how fair-game they'd be on a dark road as the headlights caught them, and in that moment I also thought about the dissolution of South Sudan, where one spends all day collecting and processing water lillies(!) for food, and thinking "if there's anyone who'd oughta have a permanent vacant stare..." and so of course I forgot what floor I was going to with the compost bucket when I got on the elevator...
All that to say I pride myself* on this mindfull of substantial (not to say substantive) thoughts that get me thru the day...and it's not even 9am!
*in a negative sense
All that to say Itty Bitty Johnson would not qualify for inclusion in the Vacant Stare 4. He's got a vision, or visions...
The motto of the University of Wisconsin is Numen Lumen, but this being Wisconsin we also know quite a bit about the rumen (and our underpaid grad students know quite a bit about the Ramen.)
Roy, how wrong can you be! fellatio isn’t in the constitution, and we all know it’s a sin against god. So seriously, you need to get your act together because Johnson would never tell you to suck that little poor box of his, because it doesn’t even work; so there’s that!
And since Johnson is fiscally conservative, and a responsible member of Congress; saving $14 billion from the IRS funding to pay for Israel, which will cost the IRS $75 billion, is a true bargain, and the basis for biblical math.
Not to be confused with actual math, because biblical math is a fantastical way to show one’s true commitment to god, while justifying every asinine policy position a conservative holds dear.
So Roy, feel free to make fun of Johnson, but do so at your own peril, as everyone knows that homosexuality is the same as bestiality and 2 plus 2 equals gods blessing!...:)
Oh, Biblical Math is FAR beyond my heathen understanding. Like how you balance Social Security by keeping prime-working-age immigrants OUT of the country (In Iowa, "prime-working-age" means 11, 13 and 17.)
Google News search tells me this story hasn't yet broken into the ranks of the Prestige Media, just TNR and The Daily Beast and Politico, so far. The WaPo was too busy interviewing his White Christian constituents to learn how their deep faith in Christ moves them to love Speaker Johnson. Who wants to spend their time looking over a bunch of tiresome financial disclosure forms when there's a chance at a Louisiana Diner Safari?
All the President's Men, 2023 version: "Woodstein! Get in here, there's been a report of a break-in at the Watergate, I want you to hop a plane to Yorba Linda and interview everyone who knew Nixon when he was a boy!"
I don't actually know anything about LaGuardia, except that story about him reading the funny papers over the radio during a newspaper strike. Was he known for corruption? (I mean, above and beyond the usual.)
When I was reading up on the show a while ago, I saw a Harnick and/or Bock quote that they had just been busy emulating the Gilbert and Sullivan pattern of choral repetition of the soloist's last line. It wasn't until they heard audience reaction that they realized they'd stumbled onto a line so cherce.
first groggy take on the subject line of this mornings email/post was maybe johnson had turned state's and agreed to testify against his shitty god..then the coffee brought me down.
Not to defend any christofascist but I'm not sure that he doesn't tithe a lot of money to a church of the insane and unhinged.
Otherwise, yeah, sure, sketchy AF.
This is the benefit you derive from being a religious nut: Any normal Congressman and we'd all just assume he lied on the disclosure form, but Johnson's so Bible-crazy he might have put it all in Shekels.
So, can anybody who's familiar with the wonders of the U.S. tax code guess just what scam is being worked here? If you don't have money in a bank, or stocks in a brokerage, but instead you're part of, I don't know, a Double-Reverse Tithe Sharing Commune, you never have to pay taxes?
My financial wizardry has only ever extended to balancing my checkbook, but just on a basic level, where is his salary deposited? In 2023, do they cut him a physical check? They certainly don't pay him in cash. Because he strikes me as one of those guys whose mother owns his house, his wife owns his car, his cousin holds title to income properties, etc. Typical mafioso type lifestyle, in other words.
Even if Congress cuts him a paper check, where is he cashing it? The local liquor store? And what does he do with that cash? You can't buy a house with actual cash money. You can't even buy a car with cash money!
But I think this would explain why the very first bill he proposed is to slash the IRS's budget.
Bingo. Johnson only answers to Leonard Leo (and Jesus), not no stinkin' IRS.
Not only cash or deposit paychecks, but how does he pay his effing phone bill, or any other bill? I do appreciate the attempts of certain reporters to normalize this. One article said that he must live paycheck to paycheck like most Americans. See? He's just a regular guy, only without a debit card.
I mean, when you think about it for all of two minutes, the absurdity skyrockets through the roof. How does he walk around every day? Last I checked, Starbucks doesn't accept Bible tracts as payment for a tall latte.
You want tithe with that?
He probably doesn't go to Starbucks. I know I don't. However, the local grocery store or wherever he gets food stuffs for his family could go in there as well.
Oh puh-lease.
My boss in the Air Force was promoted and he threw a small party for all of us peasants (the enlisted trash). People got a little blasted and his wife started telling us family secrets which included that her dad was a mafia boss in Cincinnati and that he owned nothing including the mansion she grew up in. But I'm sure this sort of Christian guy wouldn't do anything like that.
Heavens to Betsy, no. He would NEVER.
DeVos, no doubt.
Heavens to Betsy: "Keep my name out yo' mouth"
Not an IRC expert, but I’m sure the IRS knows about his congressional paycheck (so maybe he files a 1040EZ return. Sweet!) But it still baffles me how he can get by without a bank account. I mean, don’t you have to have one to get any entry level job? How does he cash his paychecks?
Occam's Razor tells me he does have a bank account, probably multiple bank accounts, he just doesn't report them on the disclosure form. Is this a crime? Ha ha ha, he's a powerful white man, we all know how that goes.
That is one chatty razor!
The Best a Man Can Get
He deserves privacy! Leave him alone! But if you're a female of child-bearing age, report your menstrual cycle details to your local government officials.
My Money, My Choice
The penalty for failing to disclose all your assets on the form is, "Um... OK, but just don't do it again, alright?"
On the second offense they add, "Look, we TOLD you once already, now this time we really MEAN it..."
Ripe for an audit. Hamstringing the IRS is just what the doctor ordered. Thou shalt not audit a Republican. I read that in some bible or other.
Right, it's under the chapter and verse about "When thou shalt choose a Special Prosecutor, Republicans and Republicans only shall be hired."
Whomsoever shall be Specially Perse - er, Prosecuted, so shall he be swarthy at least unto a bag made of papyrus derived from the darkest of fibers.
Well done, Roy!
I actually find Johnson hiding his payoff money to be less strange than a lot of other things about him, like his appearing and then disappearing adopted Black son – now you see him, now you don’t – or his wife running an anti-gay counseling service that seems to use the concept of medieval “humours” as its guiding philosophy. I guess leeches are hard to come by these days.
The humours business is entirely un-Biblical, of course; it comes from the pagan Greeks. If Johnson ever wants to divorce his wife he can just say he can't remain married to such a heretic. Or maybe go straight to the stoning.
Half of conservative Evangelical woo-woo is "unbiblical" bullshit. They weren't even opposed to abortion until the 1970s. They have their busybody, fascist worldview and they have retrofitted it with bits and pieces of Christianity as their fig leaves.
Divorce! Hush your mouth! She'll be committed to an asylum for hopelessly hysterical women. Shame.
The Yellow Wallpaper meets the revival tent.
Do I detect some redundancy?
Now you’re just being hysterical. Can anyone say Bellevue????...:)
Nice view, if you disregard the bars...
I think that whole (smooth skinned)young black male companion for white guys to explore manhood with is a long-standing southern tradition.
Came here to say something pithy; defaulted to OOF.
Unless you've got a "football buddy" named Skipper.
Maybe Johnson's Ephemeral Boy attends the same school as Matt Gaetz's Cuban Anomaly -- a special institution run by Falwell's pool boy. Or something.
In this world of lumpers v. splitters, I agree that in these cases they should be considered separate subspecies.
Awesome: Fiorello is a great, and under performed musical. Here's a good rendering of the original: https://youtu.be/XrJMnONes2w?si=9NyNQzMnDdK-R8mi
And a life of antigay abuse (not necessarily directed at me) tells me Johnson has plenty to hide: no one becomes a professional anti gay crusader without some internal issues and history.
I've not thought outing most folks was a good idea: i was in the closet for too long: and with reason.
But Johnson has been a professional anti LGBTQ activist and rightist apologist for abusing the likes of me and mine for a couple decades. His actual statements on the evil and danger of us queers have had real legislative and social effects.
It’s not theater of cruelty, it’s pragmatic sharing of information, against a backdrop of dishonest murderous agitprop.
He’s also articulated “constitutional” reasons to let Donnie steal democracy and set up a dictatorship.
I’d out the appalling little Christofascist in a heartbeat: it’s that serious:
Trae Crowder:
As far as Mike Johnson goes, he’s not just a
believer; no, he’s an architect; he’s a constitutional lawyer. He tried to devise legal Arguments for why Trump should be able
to retain the presidency (back then they
called that a paper coup), y’all so I’m
telling you right now don’t let all this Suburban business dad fool you! …this milk toast Maniac is every bit as dangerous as the rest of them if not more so due to his semblance of competency and ability to mask how insane he is …
https://youtu.be/jfPr80295ns
Terrifying that until last week he was some rando rep from DeepRedistan, now we're scratching the surface of his freakitude. Their bench, it's deep.
And the further below the surface you drill down, the freakier they get. To paraphrase Bern, conservative Christians are like a Russian nesting doll of "OOF."
It's OOFS all the way down.
A toxic stew of oofs and oafs, if you ask me (and even if you don't, so there!).
A whole-grain loaf of oafs, a hot, steaming bowl of oaf-meal.
Not to mention the loafing oafs, a significant subset.
I've been saying for a while now It's Coming and You're Not Gonna Like It. The Republicans and their insane billionaires have been working toward this for many decades, but the only thing that's been holding back the Red Tide since The Rise Of The Prophet Newt has been norms enforced by the professional politicians of the Republican Party, who would rather not rule over an apocalyptic hellscape, thank you very much. But Trump has revealed them as paper tigers and suffered No Consequences (so far, which is all that matters), so they think the same will apply to them (that's why Jan 6). Civil War II will look nothing like Civil War I (hell, my opinion is we're already in it) but it will (continue to) be bloody and stupid. The fight is over control of the 3 branches of the federal government, and when the Republican Party controls all three the base will want blood, mostly figuratively, but they will absolutely call for what's best in life. Whether it's Trump, DeSantis, or some other spawn from Hell won't matter.
"when the Republican Party controls all three..."
Well, that's the question, whether they can do that. Johnson shows the Republicans are becoming more extreme, but religious extremism is also very unpopular, so an extreme and unpopular political party is becoming even more extreme and unpopular. Of course they've got the Electoral College working for them, but "all three" might not be possible any more.
It's very unpopular in some sectors, and the Republican Party has been working diligently for decades to make those sectors irrelevant. What's new is the influx of MAGA elected officials, who don't have Trump's immunity but think they do. They are a valuable force in implementing the chaos that is the heart of MAGA, which i predict will outlive Trump, because it feeds a hunger in the base to be powerful and rise above the oppression of Woke. MAGA itself is not nearly powerful enough on its own to take down democracy, but it's enough for an amoral tinpot like DeSantis, Cruz, Pence, Haley, etc. to finally drown the New Deal in the bathtub and attempt to legislate the 1950's back into existence, as long as the Republican Party thinks they can use it. Ultimately we have a government of the voters, by the voters, and for the voters. It's going to be them who decides what America is. That's why the Republican Party is laser-focused on gaming the vote process, it's their only shot left.
Specifically, Christian extremism is extremely unpopular with two demographics where the Republicans are getting absolutely murdered: Women and young people. It's one thing to lose women 60-40, quite another when it becomes 70-30. I think it's interesting that, for all their problems with women voters, the Republicans never seriously considered a woman Speaker. Elise Stefanik is good enough to give the nominating speech for Jim Jordan, but when Jordan's bid fails, she can't be considered for speaker herself (of course it's also likely that no non-insane woman would want the job, who wants to start every meeting being addressed as "Sugar Tits"?)
Anyway, that's just how their minds work, I'm sure they'd dismiss the idea of a woman Speaker as "Affirmative Action" or "DEI." So instead let's follow up Dobbs with another enormous "Fuck You" to the women of America.
Also, women's dislike of the Republican party is growing to the point where it encompasses all races, ages, education levels, geographic regions etc. Good luck, Republicans, in finding a voter suppression tactic to deal with THAT. They're more than half the population, fer Chrissakes.
of course it's also likely that no non-insane woman would want the job, who wants to start every meeting being addressed as "Sugar Tits"?
Nancy Mace?
The Party has been locked into this model of focusing on their Reagan base since they rejected Rove's scheme for Latino outreach, which could have worked. They value ideological purity far more than any outreach of any kind because their model runs on ideological anger.. Dobbs had to happen, the Party has been promising it and prepping the judiciary to pull the trigger for decades. Trump's hat trick just tipped it over the line. God alone knows what insane politicking went on with the Speaker dance, though misogyny always works as an explanation with these people. There's plenty of Republican women fine with Dobbs, so clearly the problem is with those Other women, the sluts. Who needs them, when God is on our side?
In it up to our pencil-neck geek necks...
If you're self-conscious about your pencil-neck, try CrossFit! Just look at what it's done for Marjorie Taylor Greene! There are NFL tackles who don't have her neck muscles.
Anything with 'Cross' in its name I avoid unconditionally*
*Except the cross-town bus, on which I take a pass**
**a senior pass
I thought that was from her giving BJs to her cross fit instructor
It sucks that anyone in this day and age would feel the need to remain closeted. But it's a reality, and privacy needs to be respected. I agree completely with your point, however, that any closeted individual who publicly tries to strip his/her own rights away must be exposed for the hypocrites they are. (Damn, I sound like a talking head. I'm better at this when I'm half-drunk!)
Which half?
The better half!
Everything's better when you're half-drunk!
I thought that was Blue Bonnet.
Everything's better when Blue Bonnet is half-drunk?
"I’m telling you right now don’t let all this Suburban business dad fool you! …this milk toast Maniac is every bit as dangerous as the rest of them if not more"
All of this.
My mom was from that corner of Louisiana--evangelical Protestant, racially retrograde (she had to leave home suddenly in her late teens, because she forgot to say "yes ma'am" to a White woman) and, incidentally, floating on a giant bubble of natural gas. (https://www.dnr.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/page/442) Which is probably where the money comes from.
This summer's drought in the Midwest caused record-low flow levels in the Mississippi, one consequence of that is a "tongue" of saltwater from the Gulf extending upriver so towns that rely on the river for their drinking water no longer have drinkable water. There was even some concern that this might reach as far as New Orleans, and the city would need a temporary pipeline reaching a hundred miles upriver just to keep clean drinking water flowing.
So you can imagine now that we have a Speaker of the House from Louisiana, we can be sure we'll get some prompt federal attention to address this problem. Why, I'll bet it's probably the subject of one of the first bills Speaker Johnson will be introducing!
Louisiana keeps the Corps of Engineers employed.
Also the FBI's political corruption division.
About "Suburban business dad" and what that buys him (or how much it disarms any potential opposition) the Republicans biggest problem right now is with women voters, and I'd bet any woman of voting age is well familiar with the archetype of Creepy, Controlling "Nice Guy."
2 marks right out the box!
Marvelous in every way.
(Typo alert: I believe you mean "widow's" mite.)
(in the original Australian)
Bravo
I’m stunned that the NYT or WaPo haven’t yet found a way to blame Dems for Johnson’s weird finances. “FDR’s New Deal Source of Anti-Christian Banking Laws.” Meanwhile, Santos still in Congress, probably because Dems voted to oust McCarthy.
Honestly, if I was a Democratic Member of Congress and my vote actually counted in the outcome, I might think twice about voting to oust Santos from the House, he's such a perfect embodiment of today's Republican party that it's kinda handy havin' him around.
Just think of the time it saves: [points in Santos' direction] "You know, THAT."
I think it was Jamie Raskin who said he wouldn't vote to oust Santos without a guilty verdict. Seems reasonable. And, as you say, the optics of keeping him around are pretty good, too.
I guess it's kinda like my feelings about Tommy Tuberhead's blockade of all military promotions, "Gosh, that's awful, and somebody should really do something about it, after we've had a year or two to make sure everybody who is serving or ever has served is absolutely clear about which political party this guy represents."
Santos and Coach survive by the grace of Comity and Power. The argument in favor of Comity is essentially that our institutions are fragile, and the appearance of impropriety must be tolerated to enable the sausage-making that is Democracy to continue. The argument in favor of Power is that the ability to prevent the Senate from functioning is too valuable to risk losing by impeding it in any way, since the whole purpose of the Senate is to hobble the federal government and keep it "under control".
Anyway, that's the best I can do for a good-faith argument in favor. The problem of course is that the Republican Party cares not for sausage-making compromise, and will happily hobble the federal government at every opportunity, since they want most of it to cease to exist. Note that Comity and Power give no leverage to Democrats, since they are norms that Republicans chuckle at. So Democrats are going to have to find a way to deal with this, or watch Comity and Power pull the federal government to the edge of the abyss.
Comity and Power are the shock jocks who will be taking the place of Hannity and ExcrementOrrifice.
ExcrementOrrifice.
c'mon, that could be an Repub-loving pundit
Tragedy tomorrow, comity tonight!
Did Raskin vote to impeach Queens Man? Why yes, yes he did...but Santos? Nah. Professional courtesy...
Hm. I don't know. I'm just an old lady/retired postal worker from Iowa. Maybe none of the crimes Santos has committed seem anywhere close to the treasonous shit Trump was doing?
If we're talkin' scale, then I'm outta my depth. For me, cheap crooks are all pretty much the same.
The Cheaper The Crook, The Gaudier The Patter, A Continuing Series
You should read Rankin's note on why he voted against kicking Santos out
OK, ok...due process. You're killing my buzz!
"New Speaker Mike Johnson Doesn't Have a Bank Account. Here's Why That's Bad News for Joe Biden."
"We interview this randomly chosen Lousianian about how Bidenflation has emptied the bank account he doesn't even have."
In this world of ordinary meatheads
Extraordinary meatheads
I'm glad there is Roy
Also, I read this morning the WaPo story about the NY civil case against Trump MegaBiz. It's the bit about the Queens Man's spawn and their sketchy business acumen. Has a photo of the 3 spawn & the spawner, all looking wax-museumed. It's Vacant Stare 4, the I reckoning. So I wandered around this morning thinking about how fair-game they'd be on a dark road as the headlights caught them, and in that moment I also thought about the dissolution of South Sudan, where one spends all day collecting and processing water lillies(!) for food, and thinking "if there's anyone who'd oughta have a permanent vacant stare..." and so of course I forgot what floor I was going to with the compost bucket when I got on the elevator...
All that to say I pride myself* on this mindfull of substantial (not to say substantive) thoughts that get me thru the day...and it's not even 9am!
*in a negative sense
All that to say Itty Bitty Johnson would not qualify for inclusion in the Vacant Stare 4. He's got a vision, or visions...
"We ruminate more by 9am than most people do all day!"
Ruminants Unite!
Herd mentality, sorry...
I need to ruminate on this some more!
Well ok, if you've got the stomachs for it...
What's a cud for, if not to be chewed over?
That's it – no more cuddling for you!
The motto of the University of Wisconsin is Numen Lumen, but this being Wisconsin we also know quite a bit about the rumen (and our underpaid grad students know quite a bit about the Ramen.)
If'n ya wants to curry favor, don't fergit the cumin, human.
The Supreme Court says I needn’t tell
So you can all go to hell —
Suck my little poor box!”
Suck my little poor box, you say?
Roy, how wrong can you be! fellatio isn’t in the constitution, and we all know it’s a sin against god. So seriously, you need to get your act together because Johnson would never tell you to suck that little poor box of his, because it doesn’t even work; so there’s that!
And since Johnson is fiscally conservative, and a responsible member of Congress; saving $14 billion from the IRS funding to pay for Israel, which will cost the IRS $75 billion, is a true bargain, and the basis for biblical math.
Not to be confused with actual math, because biblical math is a fantastical way to show one’s true commitment to god, while justifying every asinine policy position a conservative holds dear.
So Roy, feel free to make fun of Johnson, but do so at your own peril, as everyone knows that homosexuality is the same as bestiality and 2 plus 2 equals gods blessing!...:)
Will withhold judgement (Are We Not Gods?!) til Steve weighs in (lbs or kilos, his choice) on the maths.
Oh, Biblical Math is FAR beyond my heathen understanding. Like how you balance Social Security by keeping prime-working-age immigrants OUT of the country (In Iowa, "prime-working-age" means 11, 13 and 17.)
It’s in god’s hands....:)
16 marks! (that's 1, 3, 5 and 7)
2 as the only even prime, sits alone in a corner, neglected.
itself...one...
oh...OH.
Damn.
Gives entirely other meaning to 2 marks.
I often estimate using pi=3
Irrational numbers are the work of Satan.
Hey Mr B – does yer knowledge of maths make you a satanist?
I thought it was his love of Satan (Tony Evers) that made him a Satanist
Google News search tells me this story hasn't yet broken into the ranks of the Prestige Media, just TNR and The Daily Beast and Politico, so far. The WaPo was too busy interviewing his White Christian constituents to learn how their deep faith in Christ moves them to love Speaker Johnson. Who wants to spend their time looking over a bunch of tiresome financial disclosure forms when there's a chance at a Louisiana Diner Safari?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/10/29/mike-johnson-louisiana-hometown-house-speaker/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
All the President's Men, 2023 version: "Woodstein! Get in here, there's been a report of a break-in at the Watergate, I want you to hop a plane to Yorba Linda and interview everyone who knew Nixon when he was a boy!"
I don't actually know anything about LaGuardia, except that story about him reading the funny papers over the radio during a newspaper strike. Was he known for corruption? (I mean, above and beyond the usual.)
Also, I don't know Broadway as well as I'd like, but this one strikes me as a Deep Cut that Randy Rainbow wouldn't reach for.
It's not Tom Bosley who's singing in the clip, but Howard da Silva as Marino, the machine boss.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiorello!
Here's a fun performance by da Silva and ensemble in 1980:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrJMnONes2w
Ah, got it. So the guy with the tin box is the Republican machine boss, not LaGuardia.
"Up Your Honor bit by bit"
is cherce.
When I was reading up on the show a while ago, I saw a Harnick and/or Bock quote that they had just been busy emulating the Gilbert and Sullivan pattern of choral repetition of the soloist's last line. It wasn't until they heard audience reaction that they realized they'd stumbled onto a line so cherce.
No, the opposite. He was a crusader type. This is the opposition.
I was all set for this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46ybS7cebuU .
Oh well, maybe tomorrow.
Not sure of the... oh, "Garbo talks"! OK
Is the title here a play on Jolson? Sorry that I have to have jokes explained to me.
[Little Jimmy says] Hey Mr B! Why did all the hip numbers laugh at 4?
[SteveB says] I don't know, Jimmy? Why DID all the hip numbers laugh at 4?
[Little Jimmy says] Because he was too square! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !!!
[SteveB, wondering again why he gave up film school, while looking around for an eraser to throw]
first groggy take on the subject line of this mornings email/post was maybe johnson had turned state's and agreed to testify against his shitty god..then the coffee brought me down.
Leonard Leo's Latest Line-Item
LeoLeo, or Leo2. I blame the parents.