Are We Afraid Yet?

Mike Johnson has hornswoggled his way   into the job of Speaker of the 

U.S. House of Representatives

Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, welcomed Mike Johnson's speakership not only because of his conservative political record, but also because he is "a consciously committed evangelical Christian."

He is also consciously committed to upholding all of those things that 87% of Americans do not believe in. 

James Michael Johnson is an American politician servicing as the 56th speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the far-right Republican Party, Johnson is in his fourth House term, having represented Louisiana's 4th congressional district since 2017. He is 51 years old, from Shreveport, LA. 

Johnson is a strong ally of former president Trump and a quiet force among the MAGA Republicans. He was a chief architect of the effort to decertify the Biden election win in 2020. He is still a rigid denier that Trump lost the election. 

He is opposed to all abortions, regardless of rape or incest. He is also opposed to any form of homosexuality, including same sex unions or marriage.  He insists that other personal taboos should be abandoned because they are taboos to his beliefs. 

Finally, his hard right radical views make him a serious threat to our democracy. He was willing to overturn a presidential election and prosecute a coup on our government in order to get his way. A Trumper - through and through!

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the choice for Speaker of the U.S. House - second in line to the President of the United States - by 100% of the Republicans in the U.S. House.

Are you afraid yet?

 

When will we learn?

 "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The Second Amendment has been folded, stapled, and mutilated by the far-right for so many years that James Madison, who proposed it, would surely not recognize it in its present understanding. It was ratified in 1791 to allow the creation of civilian forces that can counteract a tyrannical federal government.

The founding Fathers felt that citizens should be able to protect themselves against the government and any other threat to their wellbeing or personal freedom. 

The obvious flaw in today's understanding of the amendment is "common sense." That being the lack of foresight of the Founding Fathers that ordinary citizens should not be allowed to own weapons that were intended for use only by the nation's military.

In short, the far-right's need to boost the manufacture and sale of weapons of mass destruction is a total political maneuver. The NRA lobbyists have worked the system to its upmost in order to pour money into the pockets of legislators for their re-election needs.  

Today, gun maniacs can buy as man army-style killing machines as they can afford. There are more than enough guns and rifles made and sold for every man, woman, and child in America!

The lies of the NRA and the gun lobbyists are stretching thin and it will soon bring down their empire. Why does someone need a fully-automatic machine gun or rifle?  Why?

Let's get the right-wing, the NRA, and the gun lobbyists out of the business of aiding and abetting the terrible death of our innocent citizens! 

When will we learn? 

Elephant Talk at the Montana PSC. . .

 What Do You Get With A Public Service Commission

Full of Elephants?

A 28% JUMP IN YOUR ELECTRIC BILL!

The current Montana Public Service Commission is filled to the brim with elephants and they just approved a 28% electricity rate increase for NorthWestern Energy's residential and small business customers.

Yes, they did, and they did it in broad daylight and with smiles on their little faces. (After all, Northwestern folks have to live, too.)

This, of course, is the way of elephants. When they begin to move, there is little in their path that will survive their onslaught. This five-member right-wing collection of business-lovin' "yes men and women" will give NorthWestern what ever they want.

So, dig out your candles, flashlights, firewood, and kerosene lanterns and enjoy Montana's winterland.

And drop the PSC members a note of thanks: Randy Pinocci (if he's not in jail by now), Tony O'Donnell,, James Brown, Jennifer Fielder, and Ann Bukacek.  Republicans all! 

P.S. They each make $111,179 a year as a PSC member. 

Isn't our democracy worth saving?

 As I bang away on my computer keyboard, I know full well that my hostile rant is about as meaningless as an ant crawling up the hind leg of an elephant with rape on its mind. 

But, like I have no good sense, I preserve. 

Our rule of law has failed us. Our court system has failed us. And, our government is now failing us. 

The U. S. House of Representatives has been handed over to the very same MAGA crowd that tried to overturn our government on Jan. 6th. The newly elected Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, is the guy who planned and orchestrated the move to decertify the 2020 election of Joe Biden. He is so far to the right, even Genghis Khan would have to look to his right to see him. 

There is no longer a viable Republican Party. There is but a distant memory of the once-Grand Old Party. It is hard to remember that they were once  one of two major political parties in America. If there are any members still alive, they have been bound and gagged by now. A man named Trump has given voice to the antigovernment rag-tag street thugs who have been waiting for their time in the sun, and they just won't give up and go away. . . mainly because the puppet master, himself, won't go away! Any resemblances to the old GOP doesn't exist.

So, our U.S. House of Republican misfits are in charge of the asylum and one can only imagine what they have in store for America.  A few items already mentioned are:  No further aid to Ukraine and a nation-wide ban on all abortions (with no exceptions). 

We are being bamboozled by a relatively miniscule number of democracy-haters who are - for some strange reason - in charge of us!

Or are we just not putting up the proper defense?  Are we so busy with our own lives that we can find fifteen or twenty things more important to do?

Let's get to work. Our democracy is well worth saving!

Report From the Loony Bin. . .

 Who Lit The Match?

Who Poured Gasoline On The Fire?

Who Will Put Out The Flame?

Who struck the match is easy: Rep. Matt Gaetz. He called for Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy to be thrown out of office - and the vote passed. This is how they treat the second in line to become President if something happened to Biden and Harris. It was a fait accompli by a rowdy bunch of hooligans who have no business in the offices they hold. Gaetz is a juvenile delinquent in the minds of many Americans. He saw a chance to call for the vote and put his mug and name in the spotlight. Evidently he was elected to tear things down rather than build things up.

Those toting gas cans to the fire are the troublemakers of the U.S. House, such as Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, Matt Rosendale, and others. Their states must be so proud of them.

As far as who will put out the flame is questionable.  The House has gone nearly three weeks with no Speaker, which means absolutely no business. Our government is in a crisis mode while the House sits idle. They are even unable to agree on a new Speaker. We can only hope there is a Republican in the House who has the moxie to step up and right the ship.

All the while, good ol' Matt Gaetz and his gang of legislative terrorists are basking in the limelight of ignorant bliss!

Election 2024 is heating up and we hope American voters have been paying attention to the condition of their country.

The Conservative Curriculum Creep. . .

PragerU is the world's leading conservative

nonprofit that is focused on changing minds 

through the creative use of digital media.

PragerU hit the Montana news by inserting itself into our Office of Public Instruction agenda and getting approval to swamp our public school curriculum with far-right thinking. It is an advocacy group and media organization that creates content promoting their strong conservative viewpoints on various political, economic, and sociological topics. It was founded in 2009.

They are insisting that their conservative agenda be implemented in our public school their way of teaching our children. 

When Elsie Arntzen, Superintendent of Montana's Office of Public Instruction was asked about it, she said, "they had all of the necessary credentials and so I opened the gate to let them in." Elsie  is, of course, the Montana Republican Administration's gate keeper of such things.  Big mistake, Montana!

We Montanans are aware of the far-right conservative's views on our public curriculum.  Such things as banning books about how our nation treated slaves, the facts on why we had a Civil War, and other topics that obviously stir embarrassment to conservatives. In other words, we ain't got no business teaching that factual stuff to our kids today!

Get involved and stop Elsie and the conservative ideology from getting their way in our public school curriculum . .and give PragerU the boot!

The Dysfunctional Duo. . .

 Jordan and Trump

Axis of Evil

Jim Jordan, possible new Speaker of the House, is a "dysfunctional Legislative Terrorist" according to several in his own Party. He is also capable of further weaponizing his friends on the far-right in the U.S. House. Further yet, there is a fear that he will once again enjoy an "Axis of Evil: with Donald Trump.

Rep. Jordan spoke at least twice to Donald Trump on Jan. 6th about things we are not allowed to know. He has ignored all subpoenas and even today he refused to answer a reporter on the question of whether the election was stolen from Trump. He has been a election denier since the electoral college proclaimed Biden the winner.

Jordan also was active in meetings with Trump and others as they strategized about how to overturn the election. He was considered by Trump to be an important legislative figure on the coup attempt of our Capitol.  There are many issues he was reportedly known to be involved in during the planning and implementation of the Jan. 6th coup.

To consider this man as next in line for the presidency behind the vice-president should make all of our blood run cold. He has been given very low marks by the majority of House members in his own Party and, in blunt terms,  has been severely criticized by the media in his home state.

Surely there is a way to bypass this man for such an important office in our government. 

A Once-Grand Institution of American Pride. . .

A National Lampoon movie "Animal House" in 1978 was based on when a horde of socially inept freshmen arrived at college and  attempted to pledge at the snooty Omega Theta Pi House.  It went down hill fast from there.

You know, of course, where I'm going with this. 

When the "socially inept" freshmen barged into the U.S. House of Representatives and began raising hell, it struck a familiar note with most Americans, too. And practically overnight the place turned into a "United States Animal House." 

Today, they have reached such an inferno of ineptness that they are completely incapable of even choosing their own Speaker of the House. A handful of troublemakers have effectively brought the House to a grinding halt!

It stands as a hollow shell of its former self.  

 

We are one big Keystone Kop movie lot. . .

The Keystone Kops of the U. S. House

The MAGA/Republican Party in charge of the United States House of Representatives is having a heck of a time getting anything done. It took them 15 ballots to elect Kevin McCarthy Speaker of the House and it took his Party less than nine months to run him off. Rep. Matt Gaetz  - a shining star in the MAGA universe, but a dimwit everywhere else - was the one who committed the coup de gras to end McCarthy's Speakership. 

True to form, Gaetz and his own version of the Keystone Kops, didn't plan out their "ides of October" well at all. They should have had a Speaker in mind - and able to get the votes - before they started opening their switchblades.  The word "ides" is from an old Latin word meaning "divide," and that fits perfectly with a description of the MAGA/Republican Party in the U.S. House. 

With the Israel/Hamas war, the Russia/Ukraine invasion, no Speaker of the House in America, no vote on an Ambassador to Israel yet, no votes on hundreds of our military's promotions,  U.S. House in complete disarray, and America so divided. . .  we are in a hell of a mess. 

Yep, we have become one big Keystone Kop movie lot!

Stevie is a winner - Jimmy is a loser

 Rep. Steve Scalise has won the U.S. House vote as nominee for the Speakership.  Now the head-banging begins. Remember the 15 votes to get wobbly Kevin McCarthy elected Speaker? Well, the same Freedumb Caucus members are voting again - and they wanted it to be Jimmy Jordan this time.  Jimmy thought he'd be a shoe-in, but Jimmy is kinda' short on friends. 

And, if Jimmy is at the bottom of the pile, Stevie is only two or three MAGA grunts up from there.

Jimmy can see Stevie reaching for the gavel. Stevie can see Jimmy watching him. Stevie is very happy. Jimmy is getting frustrated.

Jimmy is going to go drink some beer with Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Lauren Boebert. Jimmy will feel better after awhile. 

"All's Quiet (but unstable) On The Western Front"

Ho-Hum. . . another weekend in the Middle East and another chance to kill a few thousand innocent folks. In case you weren't aware, a life is worth about six bits over there. That's seventy-five cents, or roughly the price of one or two bullets for an AR-47.

The cost of shooting a citizen of Israel is cheap for these terrorists. Hamas gets financial aide and donated ammunition for killing Israelis from places like Iran and other Jewish-hating countries. The price of genocide of Jews is probably even in their national budget process. 

What's extremely horrifying is how they carry out their massacres. It seems very gratifying to the Hamas to grab an infant from its mother and decapitate it in front of her. They attacked a music festival of about 1,000 people and point-blank shot more than 360 of them. Many others were kidnapped and drug back across the border to the Hamas homeland as hostages.

This is a sick, evil, and deadly kind of people that we Americans have not faced on our homeland. . . yet!

Meanwhile, back in the land of milk and honey, power and money, we are watching the U.S. House of terrorism shut down the government and search for the best domestic terrorist to take over as Speaker.

"All's quiet (but unstable) on the western front!"

 

 

TV Commercials Are getting Longer, louder, and useless. . .

My wife and I sat through five consecutive commercials in one station break that lasted 5.5 minutes. The amount and length of commercials have become insane and should force the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to do something about it. This problem is getting worse - not better and only the viewers' complaints will end the nightmare! 

 

A TV viewer asked a newspaper in Florida a question about the increasing length of TV commercials: "Are there guidelines/limits for the amount of commercial time during TV shows?"  The newspaper staffer  answered, "On May 4, 2023, I was watching the movie The Expendables on Spike. From 9:01 to 10:02 PM there were 30 minutes of commercials and 31 minutes of movie."

There are no rules regulating the amount of airtime a television station or network - cable or otherwise - devotes to commercials, according to a FCC spokesperson.

Cable operators can transmit no more than 10.5 minutes of commercial matter per hour during children's programming on weekends. 

In the 1950s and 1960s, the average advertisement's length was one minute. Starting in the early 1970s, the average length shrank to 30 seconds. The 15-second commercial began to appear in the late 1980s.

TV stations are prohibited from boosting the average volume of commercials to levels beyond the programs they accompany. FCC rules for loud TV commercials are based on the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act.

Long commercials/informercials are proven lead generators. With the fragmentation of television channels the media cost of these longer spots decreases and therefore the cost per lead decreases making it viable and attractive for direct response advertisers.

There are many excellent shows to watch on television. I hope the FCC will fix the problem so the American people will continue to enjoy them.

Destroying the House from within. . .

 The U. S. House of Ill Repute

(ill repute: a person or business with a shady reputation)

There is a house in Washington

They call the Setting Sun.

And it's been the ruin of many a souls,

And God I know at least one.

The United States House of Representatives has been given a complete make-over and the architects were the MAGA folks. Montana, too, has sent their share of misfits to help with the wreckage. White Nationalist, Anti-democratic member Matt Rosendale is high on the list of unfit members who should be sent home. . . and I don't mean to Montana. Maryland is welcome to have him back.

The tragic story of the U. S. House is being shrouded in political shenanigans. The MAGA/Republican story is based on who is telling it. In the end, it is the perfect example of how a body of 435 members are being destroyed from within. Each of them is willing to go down with the ship rather than pick up a bucket and begin bailing water to save themselves . . . and the American People.

The answer is right in front of them - and us: Vote out the MAGA politicians and don't elect any more! 

Jimmy is a nut. . .

James Jordan (R-Ohio) 

Jimmy likes the Speakership. Jimmy wants to be Speaker. Jimmy doesn't have any friends but Jimmy doesn't need any. Jimmy is an ally to Donny. Donny likes Jimmy. Donny and Jimmy talk a lot. Jimmy says Donny told Jimmy he is "in the catbird seat" for Speakership. Jimmy says he wouldn't punish Matt Gaetz for kicking Kevin out of his job. 

Jimmy is a House Freedumb Caucus Member. 

Jimmy is a nut.

 

The Changing of the Mentally Deranged. . .

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is a loyal Trump ally and wants to be the next Speaker of the U.S. House.

Okay, you can stop laughing now.

When you think about the chaos that has turned the U.S. House of Representatives and the corrupt MAGA/Republican Party, it all makes sense.

There are approximately eight or nine members of the 435-member of the U.S. House who evidently control the show over there. They are affectionately referred to as the far right.  They are so far right that they would have to look to their left to see Genghis Kahn. 

Rep. Jordan is known as the "clown prince" of the House. He also has the distinction of holding a "hit list" of Democrats who he would like to see removed from the House (and beyond) and taken to the dungeon.

A nicer, sweeter guy you would ever meet.

And he is rounding up votes for his run at Speaker of the House as we speak. Probably with a gun.

The Meanderings of the Misfits are Biblical. . .

In the beginning, there was just Donald. . . and Donald was enough. But they kept coming. There was Graham and Cruz and Johnson and Jordan and Taylor-Greene and Boebert and Brooks and Gaetz and on and on.

All at once, the Grand Old Party of Republicans became the grotesque old party of MAGA/Republicans. They seem to have become a clump of bodies from different kinds of ideologies with different kinds of wants and needs. . .  and controlling demands.

The Donald - the Obi Wan Kabuki Actor - opened his book on the "Art of the Steal" and showed them how to cheat, lie, cook-the-books, and get away with everything! The MAGA maniacs learned well and learned quickly.  As a result, the MAGA Cult is riding hard into the sunset; oblivious to all of the road signs and warnings.

At approximately 4:45 EST, September 3, 2023, the U. S. House of Representatives was guided by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to hold a vote to kick Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) out of his job and onto the cold, wet pavement of Washington D.C. AND IT WAS MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Long live the Speaker; the Speaker is fired.

The ultimate CHAOS has been achieved. The relative handful of the "confused" has summoned the demons, opened Pandora's Box, and led their frightened and leaderless flock back into the cold, dangerous and dark desert of despair. 

Well done, good and faithful misfits.

 

 

A liar's gotta' do what a liar's gotta' do. . .

Lying became easy at a very early age. They were in their big boy pants, full of pee and vinegar, and thought themselves invincible. Losing was not an option to their hairbrained ideas. A few lies here and there were acceptable. After all, it was their time to shine and shoot for the moon. The Republican Party was hungry for a few wins and if it brought in a few billion extra for their friends in the higher income brackets, that was okay, too.

It was the saber-rattling election between George W. Bush and Al Gore that brought out highly corrupt dealings in the state of Florida where a guy named Brother Jeb Bush was governor. When the election recount was taking place and it was getting closer to a win for Gore, suddenly, ol' Jeb called a halt to the recount and threw it to the U.S. Supreme Court for a decision.  The court, of course, was stacked in favor of Republicans and that meant an obvious win for the  conservative George W. He was immediately given the Oval Office. Later in his term, "W" and his VP "uncle Dick" Cheney wanted to go into Iraq and do some heavy money hauling under the disguise that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction laying around all over the place. Of course that was soon found to be just another big fat lie from the Republicans, but America stood around with their fingers up their noses and let it all disappear into smoke and mirrors. 

While we promise ourselves we won't let them get away with it again, we watched a new breed of lying charlatans who make all before them shake with fear. Donald Trump upgraded the right to outstrip all others with his GOP Lie-o-Meter 2.0 The count was lost after a fact-check of 35,000 of his lies were recorded. When he lost the re-election bid, he nearly started the second civil war by prosecuting a coup and insurrection on our government. Fake electors were signed up by helpful Republicans around the country and ready to have a fake electoral count to give him the win. Again, he was caught along with his GOP cronies in congress and several states and court cases are still moving through the justice system.

So, what do the Republicans have up their sleeves for the 2024 election?  We can bet it'll be a dozy! Most history experts see a continued assault on our democracy, rule of law, and constitution. Their ideology is so far out of the mainstream of America that, by their own admission, they have no hope of winning another election fairly!

A man's gotta' do what a man's gotta' do. . . 

And a Republican's gotta' lie about what a Republican's gotta' lie about!

It's their way of life.

Can we really, in all good sense, vote for any more of them?