YouTube/screen grab


Marjorie Taylor Greene threatens Mike Johnson: 'We are sick and tired of being humiliated'

David Edwards
January 23, 2024 11:45AM ET



Real America's Voice/screen grab




Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said she was drawing a "red line" on Rep. Mike Johnson's (R-LA) speakership because Republicans were "sick and tired of being humiliated in Congress."

During a Tuesday appearance on Steve Bannon's War Room broadcast, Greene said she objected to funding for Ukraine or a deal on U.S. immigration policy.

"We cannot pass this bill, and Speaker Johnson cannot bring that bill to the House floor," Greene said. "It will truly cause massive problems for him. That is my red line."

"And I think you'll see a lot of my colleagues join me on that," she continued. "We are sick and tired of being humiliated in Congress. We have a Republican majority, I don't care how slim the majority is, and it's time for Republicans in Congress to act like it."

ALSO READ: Why Trump was the worst boss ever — according to 12 of his top White House officials

Greene suggested that Republicans could move to vacate the chair and end Johnson's speakership as they had done with Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

"And it's time for whoever the Speaker is, whether it was Kevin McCarthy or today it's Mike Johnson, or whoever we have to put in there next, it's time for them to act like the Republican Speaker and stop carrying water for Joe Biden's presidency," she insisted.

Johnson has said he's "not worried" about efforts to oust him as Speaker.


https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-threatens-mike-johnson/

 

More shrill by the copy n paste, eh?

 

This is interesting. Johnson's attempts to do away with our Constitution and democracy and inflict Christian Nationalism on the nation go back a lot further than most people know.


Mike Johnson previewed shoddy Jan. 6 legal fight in decades-old war against booze: report

Travis Gettys
January 23, 2024 11:42AM ET



U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson gives a brief statement to reporters about the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, at the U.S. Capitol Oct. 26, 2023, in Washington, D.C.. - Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America/TNS




Mike Johnson fought to keep alcohol from being legally sold two decades ago in a Louisiana town near his home, years before being elevated to House speaker.

Minden, a town of just under 12,000 people but boasting more than 20 Baptist congregations, still forbade the consumption of alcohol back in 2003, when local business leaders began pushing to allow restaurant patrons to enjoy drinks with their meals. Opponents hired Johnson to push back, reported Rolling Stone.

"This history — which reads like a prohibitionist sequel to Footloose — does more than underscore Johnson’s abstemious character," wrote Tim Dickinson for the magazine.

"The kind of day-late and dollar-short legal arguments that Johnson mustered in Minden’s fruitless fight against liquor would resurface years later when Johnson, as the region’s congressman, championed Donald Trump’s baseless challenges to the 2020 election. And they may yet haunt the 2024 election cycle, as leading Republicans are already signaling a willingness to dispute any new Trump defeat."

ALSO READ: Uncivil war: How Speaker Mike Johnson’s dream of bipartisan decency died in his hands

Civic leaders had worked with the state legislature to adjust Louisiana's "local option" liquor law that would allow a vote on restaurants serving alcohol, and the city council approved that bill for the ballot in August, but local attorney Graydon Kitchens Jr. and his group the Minden Family Forum warned that booze sales would lead to video gambling and strip clubs in town.

Johnson filed a lawsuit on behalf of five residents to remove the measure from the ballot, but a judge quickly ruled that the challenge had been filed too late and ordered the vote to go forward — and 57 percent of Minden residents approved the sale of alcoholic drinks at restaurants.

The future House speaker, however, vowed to challenge the result in court within the week, but his challenge wasn't actually filed until the start of the next year. That effort fell flat as well.

Minden eventually loosened its liquor laws even further, and at least four liquor stores have opened since Johnson's prohibition effort failed.



https://www.rawstory.com/mike-johnson-louisiana/

 

A Democrat raised protecting Johnson as speaker in a meeting with Biden and congressional leaders
Julie Tsirkin and Scott Wong and Monica Alba and Kyle Stewart
Thu, January 25, 2024 at 4:54 PM MST·7 min read
168



Samuel Corum

• 
  

WASHINGTON — During a meeting between President leaving the page." data-wf-tooltip-position="bottom">Joe Biden and congressional leaders focused on Ukraine aid and border security last week, a Democratic lawmaker raised the issue of how to “protect” Republican Speaker Mike Johnson if conservative hard-liners try to oust him from power, two sources in the room told NBC News.

“Johnson is in a precarious position and [we] should figure out how to protect the guy,” Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told attendees, according to one of the sources.

A second lawmaker in the room confirmed that the issue of protecting Johnson was raised in the meeting but said there was not a broader discussion about it among those in the room.


Himes’ remarks came toward the end of the hour-and-20-minute-long closed-door meeting in the White House’s Cabinet Room, as Biden allowed each of the leaders seated around the table a few minutes to speak. Himes told the group he’s never been in a negotiation where everyone agreed — referring to the need for both Ukraine aid and border security — then brought up the issue of shielding the new speaker.

The source said they could not see Biden’s reaction in that moment but said that House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, turned to Himes, seated next to him, and thanked him for making the remarks. Johnson did not have any reaction to Himes, the source added.

The revelation that Himes broached the subject of rescuing Johnson in front of the speaker, the president and top congressional leaders from both parties suggests that Democrats are increasingly considering how they will respond if conservatives move to depose Johnson like they did last fall to his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy — particularly after Johnson bucked his far-right members to prevent a shutdown this month and has yet to fully close the door to a bipartisan deal on Ukraine aid and immigration policy changes.

A Biden official said the White House has not and will not insert itself in hypothetical discussions like a motion to vacate, the tool that allows a single House member to force a vote to oust the speaker, and would defer to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y, who also attended the private meeting.

Spokespeople for Jeffries, Himes and Turner had no comment for this article.

A Johnson spokesman said in a statement: “The motion to vacate does not factor into how the Speaker leads the House. He is fully committed to working openly and transparently with every member.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has already personally warned Johnson that she will file a privileged motion to vacate the speaker’s office if he puts a package on the House floor that includes critical aid for Ukraine — a top priority for Biden and Russia hawks in both parties on Capitol Hill. Others on the right are furious at Johnson for cutting a top-line spending deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at the start of the year and have said that a motion to vacate is a tool that should be kept on the table.

Last October, House Democrats debated whether to step in and save McCarthy from a far-right rebellion, but they ultimately decided to all stick together and join eight GOP bomb-throwers in overthrowing McCarthy.

The outcome of a second coup attempt in mere months could be different. Several moderate House Democrats told NBC News this month they would be willing to vote to rescue Johnson if Greene or another Johnson foe forces a motion to vacate. The moderates said they would not issue conditions to Johnson for their support but would want him to uphold the bipartisan top-line spending deal and avert a government shutdown.

“If Johnson sticks to his guns and to the agreement he made, I think many of us would vote down a motion to vacate,” said one key moderate House Democrat.

During another point in the Jan. 17 White House meeting, Rep. Adam Smith, of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he was glad Johnson appears open to a bipartisan compromise product, according to a source familiar with discussions.

But Smith warned that legislation that swings further in the direction of hard-liners, such as the House Republicans’ partisan border security bill known as H.R. 2, would sink any potential deal.

As with Himes’ remarks, Johnson did not react to what Smith had to say in the moment, according to the source.

The trio negotiating the border bill in the upper chamber, Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., James Lankford, R-Okla., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., received backing both publicly and privately from leadership over the last few weeks, though the deal is currently held up due to opposition from Senate hard-liners.

Even in the meeting with the president, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., advocated forcefully for the yet-to-be-revealed border deal that would unlock funds for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, according to two sources with knowledge of his remarks.

It’s rare for McConnell to insert himself into the machinations of the House, having refrained from doing so numerous times under then-Speaker McCarthy. Yet McConnell and other members of his leadership team, faced with the prospect that Ukraine may never receive critical munitions and lethal assistance from its biggest ally, the U.S., has decided to take a more assertive approach.

“I’m not in the business of advising the speaker of the House how to pass legislation,” the Republican leader told the room, referring to Johnson, who was seated several inches away. “But if the Republicans controlled the House, the Senate and the White House, they would not get a border deal.”

McConnell’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Just a week later, McConnell, in a private meeting with rank-and-file Republicans on Wednesday, cast doubt about the prospects of the emerging bipartisan border deal, sending the chamber into chaos. McConnell suggested that linking border provisions with Ukraine aid could tank funding for the war-torn country — though House Republicans had demanded that the two issues be paired.

It’s an idea Democrats in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and progressive lawmakers who were left out of border negotiations, have also raised, frustrated by the prospect of having to vote against foreign aid they support because of changes to immigration policy they oppose.

"This has been anything but an open and transparent process,” one of the lawmakers, speaking on condition of anonymity, told NBC News. “Which is extremely frustrating. Why are we even here? In terms of having this conversation, in a subject area as complex as border security and immigration policy tied to support for Ukraine, which has significant bipartisan support already.”

The Biden administration publicly stood by its decision to ask Congress to approve funding for causes overseas alongside additional money for the southwest border.

When pressed by NBC News last week if the administration had any regrets about linking the items, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied: “No, not at all. Both of those things are important to the president. They are an emergency request. That’s why they — [Biden] included it in the supplemental, and we believe all of it needs to move forward.”

Privately, the White House does not believe it could have achieved Ukraine aid without border security, and vice versa, according to a senior administration official.

"We have a moment right now where congressional leaders need to understand you should not fear the deal," House Financial Services Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., who served as interim speaker after McCarthy, said Thursday during an appearance on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

"You should get as much good in public policy as your time gets — without fear of repercussions."


https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrat-raised-protecting-johnson-speaker-235453479.html

 

american haters obsession with religion and how he claims religion is guiding conservatives down a path to "inflict Christian Nationalism on the nation" turns out to be a case of psychological projection.
You see, it turns out the FBI is looking for effective ways to identify Nudity, weapons, and explosives.
First it was Trump. Now it's us.
Tried to warn you.
You wouldn't listen.​

FBI recruits Amazon Rekognition AI to hunt down 'nudity, weapons, explosives' (msn.com)
FBI recruits Amazon Rekognition AI to hunt down 'nudity, weapons, explosives'
Story by Jessica Lyons Hardcastle • 18h

Honestly, it sounds like a fun time
The FBI plans to use Amazon's controversial Rekognition cloud service "to extract information and insights from lawfully acquired images and videos," according to US Justice Department documents.…

In its Agency Inventory of AI Use Cases, the DOJ lists the project, code-named Tyr, as being in the "initiation" phase for the FBI, which intends to customize and use the technology "to review and identify items containing nudity, weapons, explosives, and other identifying information."

The DOJ document doesn't mention a start date, and simply says the Feds will be using a Rekognition-based commercial off-the-shelf system purchased pre-built from a third party. The FBI declined to comment, and though Amazon promised The Register a statement in response to our inquiries, that has yet to arrive.

In addition to providing facial recognition and analysis services, Amazon says Rekognition can also search for objects in image and video libraries and detect "inappropriate, unwanted, or offensive content," among other capabilities.

Amazon previously pledged to indefinitely ban police from using Rekognition — but with some loopholes. It didn't pause selling the service to government agencies, however, or to third-parties that may then provide the technology to cop shops.

So, to be fair, Project Tyr doesn't break any earlier promise by the cloud giant. It does, however, come at a time when concerns about warrantless surveillance seems to be growing, especially when the FBI is doing the snooping.

Earlier this week, Amazon said it would kill the easy button that allowed law enforcement to request Ring video footage without a warrant. Specifically, Amazon sunsetted the Request for Assistance feature in its Neighbors app, which allowed the plod to slurp Ring customers' video recordings. Now officers have to ask first.

The move was applauded by data privacy and civil liberties advocates.

"The ability for law enforcement to use the Neighbors app to mass-request footage from camera owners was always dangerous, and had a documented effect of exacerbating racial profiling," Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer told The Register in an earlier interview.

On the other hand, the news about the FBI using Rekognition promoted a very different response.

"I think it's important to look both at FBI and Amazon practices in this space," said Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology's (CDT) Security and Surveillance Project.

"The FBI permits broad use of facial recognition in investigations (people don't even need to be designated suspects to be scanned), programs its systems to always return matches even if those matches are unreliable, and hides use of facial recognition from defendants," Laperruque told The Register.

"With all those factors in mind, it would be deeply disturbing if Amazon had gone back on its pledge not to sell facial recognition to law enforcement," he added. "There are no federal laws limiting how the FBI and other agencies use this invasive technology, and their own policies are far too lax. So long as it's a wild west in terms of use, there's no excuse for backsliding." ®

Soon after this article was published, we heard back from Amazon. Spokesperson Duncan Neasham told us that as far as the web giant is concerned, the FBI's use of Rekognition doesn't break its moratorium on banning the police from using the API's face-comparison features.

"As we've said many times, and continue to believe strongly," Neasham continued, "companies and government organizations need to use existing and new technology responsibly and lawfully. We also believe that governments should put in place regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and we are ready to help them design appropriate rules, if requested."

Remember brandon's "Disinformation Governance Board" that he and Mayorkas cooked up? You recall; the office that quickly was compared to George Orwell's "Ministry of Truth".

Yeah, they closed the office when they realized it was just more than they could slip by us.
But no doubt about it, censorship and the absolute control of information is their goal.
And you just can't hate America more than that.​

 

Can you say fascist ?

 

'Over his head': Mike Johnson faces leadership crisis over border pact

Travis Gettys
January 29, 2024 9:41AM ET



U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson gives a brief statement to reporters about the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, at the U.S. Capitol Oct. 26, 2023, in Washington, D.C.. - Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America/TNS




Mitch McConnell and Mike Johnson are each facing a test of their leadership in the immigration showdown.

A bipartisan group of senators are expected to soon deliver text of a bill that would tie stricter border policies to Ukraine aid, and Senate minority leader McConnell must try to keep his 49 members on board while the House speaker struggles to keep Donald Trump's right-wing allies from killing the deal, reported Politico.

“We don’t know if the House would take up and pass anything we pass in the Senate,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a McConnell ally. “People wonder: ‘Why should we do this if it’s not going anywhere?’ Especially if it’s a hard vote for some people.”

Johnson and McConnell speak regularly, and the House speaker told Republican senators that border security was necessary to get new Ukraine funding, but the Senate minority leader's allies believe McConnell fails to see that House Republicans won't allow any policy achievements for President Joe Biden.

“If you’re going to take a tough vote, you take one but you want to accomplish something," Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), a skeptic on Ukraine aid. "The worst of all possible worlds is you take a vote, you put a lot of political pressure on the House and you don’t get any policy accomplished. We’re going to take a vote that only harms us politically. It also puts our House colleagues in a bad position.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has threatened to strip Johnson of his gavel if Ukraine aid passes, and Donald Trump has made clear that he doesn't want border legislation until he's potentially back in office, and some of the House speaker's own allies are beginning to doubt his ability to keep GOP hardliners in line.

“What we’re finding out is that Mike Johnson is in over his head,” said one House Republican who knows both Johnson and McConnell.

McConnell has been candid about Trump's opposition to the border deal, and he knows a bill linking that to Ukraine aid must easily pass the Senate to have a chance in the House, where Johnson's leadership faces another test.

“I have no idea what [Johnson will] do,” said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-LA). “If we don’t get 25, preferably 30, [Republican] votes for a bill over here, it makes it that much less likely that he’ll be able to get it to the floor.”



https://www.rawstory.com/mike-johnson-house-speaker-2667112725/

 

Keep in mind these Christian Nationalists who think they should still be able to own slaves is not the scariest part when it comes to Johnson. There is very little chance they can convince the country to go back to slavery. The scary part is they are also dominionists. And they believe they should help hasten the second coming of Christ and end the world sparing only them. And Johnson as House Speaker has lots of opportunities to spark world war which would result in nuclear war and actually end the world. Dominionists can turn their bullshit biblical prophecies into a very real self fulfilling prophecy.



Revealed: Mike Johnson's 'alarming' ties to slavery-defending Christian extremists

Brad Reed
January 31, 2024 7:51AM ET



U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) (L) celebrates becoming speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol on October 25, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)




The Daily Beast has published a new report revealing ties between House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Christian fundamentalists who believe slavery is justified by the Bible.

Specifically, the report notes that Johnson has openly praised Christian nationalist David Barton and has said that Barton's work has had a "profound influence" on him.

Barton is best known for his widely debunked claims about American founder Thomas Jefferson being a theocratic Christian fundamentalist, and The Daily Beast has found that his website has espoused even more extreme views.

"Barton’s group, WallBuilders, advocates for laws and legal interpretations premised on a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible," the publication writes. "And Barton’s website once published an in-depth defense of biblical slavery, challenging aspects of the 13th Amendment. The essay was first posted in 2003 and, though widely criticized, was only taken down at some point after October 2022, according to the nonprofit Internet Archive."

RELATED: Sen. Josh Hawley is praying for your money

A spokesperson for Johnson argued that the speaker did not deserve to be tarred with the words that others have written, but they notably did not disavow his ties to Barton.

"None of these actions or comments you are referencing were made by Speaker Johnson," the spokesperson said. "The Speaker is not going to apologize to the Daily Beast for his Christian faith or judge the beliefs or statements of others."

However, this is not Johnson's only run-in with slavery-defending fundamentalists, as in 2019 he delivered a speech before the Council for National Policy, a Christian group co-founded by Christian dominionist Gary North, who also believed slavery was justified by the Bible.

James Aho, a professor of religious studies at Idaho State University, told The Daily Beast that Johnson's willingness to associate with such extremists should be deeply concerning.

“It’s alarming that these people have gotten into Congress," he said.


https://www.rawstory.com/mike-johnson-2667131761/

 

Republicans are weaponizing a boring House tradition. The result is more paralysis.
Sahil Kapur and Syedah Asghar
Updated Wed, January 31, 2024 at 5:31 PM MST·4 min read
4.1k



Mark Schiefelbein


WASHINGTON — When Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., faced his first deadline to prevent a government shutdown in November, he knew his own party wouldn't let him bring up a bill the normal way.

And so he short-circuited the process and called the vote under “suspension of the rules,” sending the stopgap funding bill straight to the floor with a catch: It needed a two-thirds majority to pass.

It passed with the help of Democrats, as 93 Republicans — almost half of his members — defected.


Two months later, Johnson executed the same move to keep the government open and buy time for negotiations, again recognizing that GOP rebels in his ranks would strangle a vote on a short-term bill. Again, Democrats helped pass it with a supermajority vote, while more Republicans split down the middle.

Welcome to the new House of Representatives under the thin Republican majority. It's becoming so inept at moving legislation through the normal process that it's starting to look like a more rowdy Senate, where the minority party can bless or block bills and the once-rare 60-vote threshold, or two-thirds in the House, has become the new normal.

The House is expected to use the supermajority process again on Wednesday to pass a $78 billion tax bill, which faces GOP objections. And some Republicans say they'll have to use the same approach if they want to pass full-year government funding and a potential Senate immigration and Ukraine aid pact.

“It’s a stunning development,” said Joshua Huder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute who specializes in Congress.

At issue for Johnson is his members' increasing use of a normally procedural vote, known as the "rule," to try to block their own party's legislation. Earlier this month, 13 right-wing lawmakers tanked a rule on the floor to protest the spending deal Johnson struck with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., even though they supported the unrelated bill it was designed to bring up. And on Tuesday, four centrist New York Republicans nearly torched a rule in protest of a tax bill that didn’t expand the state and local deduction, switching their votes at the last minute after they felt they had made their point.

In recent months the Republican dysfunction in the Rules Committee, and the party’s inability to stick together to advance those motions on the floor, “has created a de facto filibuster because Johnson has resorted to a supermajority process,” Huder said.

“It’s not surprising they’re leaning on Democrats. It’s the only tool they have to control the floor on these big deals,” Huder said. “But what’s not clear is how long this is sustainable.” Eventually, he said, pressure will grow and Johnson will be put “in an even more precarious position. Either he’ll lose his job or some rules changes will come about. But the last couple months have been very unusual.”

The change has far-reaching implications for the House, where the longstanding tradition is that the majority party unifies to vote in favor of a procedural rule. Members could vote for or against a bill, but the rule was sacrosanct. Vote against it, they would say, and you're simply turning the chamber over to the minority party.

Yet lately, numerous factions of Republicans have weaponized the tradition and voted down rules — or at least threatened to — as a point of leverage to advance their goals.

“This, for many years, basically never happened, and now it’s just a regular thing people do,” said Brendan Buck, a former aide to two Republican House speakers. “Two things hammered into new members’ heads: Don’t lie to the whip and don’t vote against a rule.”

The fragile GOP majority was on display on Monday, when Democrats had more members voting than Republicans, 201 to 198.

“My Republican friends barely — barely — control the House of Representatives,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the ranking member of the Rules Committee, said on the floor.

Some swing-district lawmakers say they want to get results and that it's unfortunate legislation now requires a two-thirds vote.

“The problem is: We’re going to have to put everything on suspension because we can’t get a rule passed,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. “The threshold is now two-thirds.”

The practice of tanking rules was instigated by far-right Republicans, who have used aggressive tactics to get their way. Now, centrist GOP lawmakers say they can play that game, too.

“Inherently I’m a team player,” said Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., who was part of the revolt on Tuesday over the SALT deduction. “But we’ve seen, 13 months here, small groups of individuals get their way when they use tactics like taking down rules. So we’re aware of that tactic. We’re aware of how successful it’s been politically. And all options are on the table to get the results for our constituents.”




https://www.yahoo.com/news/republicans-weaponizing-boring-house-tradition-172029440.html

 

You know they are in trouble when politicians resort to the old fake phone call routine.

And again what a phony non-fucking fake Christian Johnson is that does not practice Thou shalt not lie.


'MAGA' Mike Johnson busted for fleeing reporters by taking seemingly fake phone calls

Adam Nichols
February 2, 2024 8:42AM ET



Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) talks on the phone after a meeting with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on the House side of the U.S. Capitol on January 12, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)




Speaker Mike Johnson has become media shy nearly five months into his bruising tenure as House leader — and he’s being called out for using childish tactics to hide.

Before becoming the victor in the bloody battle for the gavel, Johnson (R-LA) was known to be a chatty congressman who would routinely stop to talk with reporters, New York Times’ congressional correspondent Annie Karni wrote Friday.

Now, however, as he’s hounded by the right wing of his party, under pressure to stop a government shutdown and has Trump breathing down his neck on border discussions, he’s less eager to talk.

And Karni said his avoidance is verging on the ridiculous.

“After spending less than six minutes answering questions at a news conference, Mr. Johnson shut down reporters’ shouted questions with a silent cue, like a cab light switched off, signaling he was no longer available: He held his smartphone phone to his ear and speed-walked out of sight,” she wrote.

“It is a ploy that Mr. Johnson has used frequently to dodge questions since the fall.”

ALSO READ: Trump goes silent on ‘serious voter fraud’ after long trashing New Hampshire as ‘rigged’

She called it, “One of the most common tactics in a member of Congress’s playbook … talking, or pretending to talk, on the phone.

“These days, as he strides through the Capitol from his office to the House floor and back, Mr. Johnson’s preferred posture is inaccessible. And it most often involves using his iPhone as his buffer.”

She went on, “Is it a fake phone call, a sick kid or the president of the United States? It’s hard for journalists to tell who, if anyone, is on the other end of the line — and that is the point.”

Another Johnson tactic that Karni has noticed, when a phone isn’t available, is Johnson taking notes or reviewing papers as he walked.

Johnson isn’t the first to hide behind a phone, Karni wrote.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) pretended to be on a call in June 2022 as reporters asked him about his role in trying to deliver a slate of fake electors

“I’m on the phone,” he said.

“No, you’re not — I can see your phone; I can see your screen,” a reporter for NBC News told him.



https://www.rawstory.com/mike-johnson-2667154161/

 

"Thou shalt not lie"
Hey american hater, did you burst into flames when you typed that?

 

'I’m not satisfied': Speaker Johnson facing growing rebellion for ignoring GOP caucus

Tom Boggioni
February 4, 2024 8:39AM ET



New House Speaker Mike Johnson will have to try and reach a new agreement in early 2024 (Stefani Reynolds)




House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) may be headed for the same fate as his predecessor, the now-retired Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), with members of his GOP caucus complaining that he is not only blowing off their wishes, but is also ignoring them.

According to a report from the Daily Beast, Republicans are fond of Johnson but there are growing worries about his "leadership skills" — something badly needed to keep his fractured caucus focused on the task at hand.

The report notes that the general consensus about his performance is that he "talks out of both sides of his mouth, telling members what they want to hear, and then doing what they don’t want."

One familiar complaint heard is that he keeps postponing taking on big issues, with Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) stating, "I’m not satisfied," before adding, “I’ll be his biggest cheerleader when he does something conservative. But when we continue to do what Republicans seem to do up here and kick the can down the road and say, ‘Oh, well, we'll fight next time we promise you,’ I’m gonna be critical of that.”

ALSO READ: Marjorie Taylor Greene wants GOP leaders to coronate Trump — right now

Another House Republican, who didn't want to be identified, complained, "He says whatever he needs to say to make everyone happy, which makes you an ineffective leader. I mean, there’s just a lot of lip service to people, making them feel like they’re being heard without actually making a decision. All that being said, you know, he’s doing a pretty crappy job,”

The Daily Beast reports adds, "The speaker’s shifting policy stances are at the top of the GOP’s list of grievances. His shifting positions on critical issues, disgruntled right-wing lawmakers said, have become a key problem."

You can read more here.



https://www.rawstory.com/speaker-johnson-rebellion/

 

A hypocrite and fake Christian.

1
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

2
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.”

3
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”

4
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

5
“Honour thy father and thy mother.”

6
“Thou shalt not kill.”


7
“Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

8
“Thou shalt not steal.”


9
“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”
Exodus 20:16

This one is about honesty. If you lie to someone, you are “bearing false witness,” and may cause harm to yourself and to others.

10


“Thou shalt not covet.”


GOP senator claims Mike Johnson lied when he said he was left out of border negotiations

Sarah K. Burris
February 4, 2024 7:14PM ET



Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) talks on the phone after a meeting with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on the House side of the U.S. Capitol on January 12, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)




House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke to "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker on Sunday, claiming he was being left out of all of the negotiations between the Democrats and Republicans over the border and military funding bills. But one Senator says that's not entirely accurate. As it turns out, Johnson chose to be excluded.

Welker asked if he was offered a "briefing."

"No!" Johnson said. "I've had individual senators call and give me tips and offered things that are going on in the room, but we've not been a part of that negotiation. And I've been absolutely clear from day one — since literally the next day after I was handed the gavel in late October, what the functional equivalence of H.R. 2, what those are and why that was necessary to solve the problem."

CNN's Capitol reporter Manu Raju posted on the social media site "X" that Republican Sen. James Lankford (OK) was "invited to participate in the Senate talks but ultimately declined." According to Johnson, the House already approved its own bill.

"Lankford told me that Johnson was asked 'early on' whether 'you want to be engaged on this,'" recalls Johnson’s response, according to Lankford: 'He said the House has already spoken.'"

The reference was to the second House Resolution that the Republicans sought to pass for the year. Senators on both sides have called that bill a non-starter, Raju explained in his social media post.

Lankford also told Raju that Johnson was "loosely briefed" on the talks despite refusing to participate in the negotiations.

It was revealed in the past few weeks that Donald Trump has asked Republicans not to pass a border or immigration bill because he doesn't want President Joe Biden to have any successful legislation.

The legislation marks the first time in decades that Republicans and Democrats have been willing to come together on such legislation.


https://www.rawstory.com/mike-johnson-border-negotiations/

 

Well Shooter is confused.
The point of his rant seems to be that Speaker Johnson lied when he said he was left out of border negotiations.
Well, that isn't "bearing false witness against thy neighbor".

And in fact, Johnson was left out of border negotiations, the dispute appears to be whether he was cut out of them by the negotiators or declined to participate.

And none of that is relevant anyway in light of what we're learning about the mislabeled "Immigration reform bill". It would be more properly called the "Ukraine pork bill".

 

‘A new low’: Democrats blast Speaker Mike Johnson’s mockery of border agents

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
February 6, 2024 10:23AM ET



Speaker Mike Johnson. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)




Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is under fire after mocking U.S. Border Patrol agents by baselessly suggesting the reason they support the Senate border bill is personal financial gain.

One day after the Senate released its massive border bill, which experts say includes many items House Republicans demanded, Johnson and much of his House GOP conference immediately rejected it, largely in response to Donald Trump's direction. The ex-president has made clear he wants to keep Congress from improving the situation at the border so he will have an issue to use against President Joe Biden in the November election.

On Monday, the largely right-wing labor union representing U.S. Border Patrol agents and staff endorsed the Senate border bill, saying it “will drop illegal border crossings nationwide.”

READ MORE: Speaker Johnson’s Latest Move Adds to His Conflicting Quagmire of Divergent Border Positions

“The Border Act of 2024 will give U.S. Border Patrol agents authorities codified, in law, that we have not had in the past," wrote Brandon Judd, President of the National Border Patrol Council, in a statement supporting the Senate border bill. "This will allow us to remove single adults expeditiously and without a lengthy judicial review which historically has required the release of these individuals into the interior of the United States. This alone will drop illegal border crossings nationwide and will allow our agents to get back to detecting and apprehending those who want to cross our borders illegally and evade apprehension. While not perfect, the Border Act of 2024 is a step in the right direction and is far better than the current status quo. This is why the National Border Patrol Council endorses this bill and hopes for its quick passage.”

Judd just last week testified for House Republicans, declaring he believes Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas should be impeached. And the National Border Patrol Council endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2016 and 2020.

The Senate border bill was crafted by hardcore conservative Republican U.S. Senator Jim Lankford (R-OK), and liberal U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). Despite its harsh changes to immigration law, it has the support of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and President Joe Biden, who says he will sign it. It also had the support of Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has done an "about face," telling his conference to oppose it.

READ MORE: ‘We Aren’t Monsters’: Top Senate Dem Slams Josh Hawley for Not Wanting to Help Kids

The bill includes "$20 billion in emergency funding for federal authorities — including the Homeland Security, Justice and State departments, as well as other agencies — to hire thousands of new Border Patrol agents and asylum officers, increase detention capacity, and invest in technology to combat the smuggling of fentanyl and other narcotics," The Washington Post reported.

But Monday night Speaker Johnson appeared to mock border patrol agents.

"The Border Patrol union has come out and said the bill is better than the status quo," Fox News host Laura Ingraham told Speaker Johnson (full interview here). "Does that affect your thinking on this?"

Johnson has repeatedly said the Senate bill is "dead on arrival."

Suggesting financial interest for border patrol agents, Speaker Johnson told Ingraham, "I think it does have something to do with the pay structure that's in the bill. I understand they are desperate for measures that will assist."

The bill does not appear to include pay increases for border patrol agents.

Johnson was sharply criticized.

"Wow," declared U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NY), "the republicans are now mocking America’s border patrol officers for the crime of supporting bipartisan border security. A new low."

The White House also took notice of Speaker Johnson's remarks.

READ MORE: ‘Mutiny’: Far Right GOP Senators Start to Give McConnell the McCarthy Treatment

"In case you were wondering how desperate @SpeakerJohnson is to delay border security for political purposes," wrote White House Deputy Press Secretary and Senior Communications Adviser Andrew Bates. He also quoted a Newsweek article: "Speaker Mike Johnson sparked laughter from Fox News host Laura Ingraham after suggesting the National Border Patrol Council had come out in support of a major bipartisan immigration and asylum bill because it could result in a pay rise for their members."

Watch below or at this link.

https://www.rawstory.com/a-new-low-democrats-blast-speaker-johnsons-mockery-of-border-agents/