Pastor Mike is looking to get out of some of his legislative pickles by fucking with disaster relief:
House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed to reporters Monday there’s “been some discussion” of tying California wildfire aid to a debt limit increase, after GOP members raised the issue with Donald Trump in several meetings at the President-elect’s Florida resort this weekend.
The notion that Congress could make the release of disaster relief dollars conditional upon also agreeing to raise the debt ceiling is already facing pushback from some Democrats.
But many California Republicans, including Rep. Doug LaMalfa, said in a brief interview Monday they may have no choice but to pursue that option given the potential urgency around addressing the Los Angles fires, paired with the reality that the nation could default on its borrowing authority in a matter of months.
LaMalfa represents a far northern inland district, so he’s got very little skin in this game, fwiw.
Anyway, there was a lot of outrage about Pastor Mike’s boundless hypocrisy on this matter, especially since he’s from Louisiana, where his benevolent and loving God tends to drown and destroy a good bit of His creation on a regular basis. And, yeah, fuck that guy.
But he’s also weak. He knows that getting a debt ceiling increase is going to require a lot of Democratic votes, and that the Freedums hate it when anything passes with Dem votes, since that destroys their ability to have extended tantrums on the House floor. He also knows that he’s got a 2 vote majority, and 9 clowns can call for a motion to vacate under the new House rules. (Coincidentally, California has 9 Republican Members of Congress.). So, rock / hard place, chicken salad from chickenshit, pick your metaphor.
Mike’s just looking for the right kind of laxative that will allow a big old pile of shit debt ceiling increase to pass by the massive polyps in the House colon that are the Freedum Caucus members, and he thinks he found it.
Steve LaBonne
Make it a permanent abolition of the debt ceiling and I’d say, we’ve got a deal.
chrisanthemama
LaMalfa’s congressional district includes Paradise, CA, which burned to the ground in 2018, during trump’s first tenure. I don’t recall any hitches with the federal relief funds at that time, though that was the genesis of trump’s idiot comments about raking the forest. Oh yeah: a solidly Red part of CA.
A Ghost to Most
What does Jesus have to do with Christianity?
Kosh III
Tie all future hurricane disaster relief funds to cutting funds to __________ fill in the blank something the Regressives love.
And frak them all!
Buttigieg/AOC 2028
Captain C
@Steve LaBonne: Was just going to type this.
Kosh III
NotMax
Reason for focusing on the debt ceiling is so that the deficit-exploding tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations from Dolt 45’s term can be extended into the future, if not having rates lowered even more while doing so.
RevRick
@A Ghost to Most: I would stipulate that the question should be, “What does Jesus have to do with Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christianity?”
Belafon
@A Ghost to Most: Whatever Jesus said to do, Christians do the opposite of.
randy khan
Since I think the debt ceiling is stupid, from my personal perspective, this is a win-win, particularly because I thought the Republicans were talking about conditions that would impose their views on California.
But I will admit that, so long as we have a debt ceiling, it does seem that the arsonists (word chosen intentionally) in the House Republican caucus should have to deal with it, rather than trying to force the Dems to bail them out.
WaterGirl
Who would Jesus screw?
Is it wrong that my immediate thought was Mary Magdalene?
If god doesn’t have a sense of humor, I am going to hell.
Belafon
@RevRick: Very similar, though, to talk a couple of threads back that when women say “men” and a few of us men go “I know, right?”. The Christians who know that Evangelicals are screwing things up should be able to handle the general label.
WaterGirl
@Kosh III: Do you have a typo in your nym or email? Of did you add an extra “I”? Something threw you into moderation.
sab
@RevRick: Finally, an actual pastor says that.
lowtechcyclist
@RevRick:
Don’t leave out the conservative Catholics – we don’t want them to feel overlooked!
Trollhattan
Because Doug LaMalfa’s district has never had wildfires in the history of fire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California%27s_1st_congressional_district
Fuck me sideways, he has seen California’s deadliest fire and California’s largest fire, four of the largest ten, occur in his very district. A poor one at that. How can this fucking guy even open his fucking yap on firefighting? He will be hosting more, probably this year.
sab
@lowtechcyclist: They don’t even read the bible. Popes thought it might confuse their sheeple.
lowtechcyclist
@WaterGirl:
God seems to put up with my sense of humor, so you should be safe, at least on those grounds.
Trollhattan
Speaking of that old time religion, folks, here’s your incoming US ambassador to Israel on why Israel gets ALL the Palestine. (Spoiler: there is no “Palestine.”)
apocalipstick
@A Ghost to Most:
Better question: what does Jesus have to do with Christendom?
Kosh III
@WaterGirl: Probably did it wrong due to old fart fumble fingers syndrome ™
tam1MI
I’m sure somebody will come along any second now to lecture us all on why this is all Biden’s fault.
Jackie
@chrisanthemama:
Trump at first refused aid and only capitulated when his own staff pointed out Paradise was a red district and he would be refusing to help those who voted for him.
Timill
@WaterGirl: You, me, and many others around here, no doubt…
Kosh III
@Trollhattan: Tell Ambassador Dingle–err Huckleberry to vacate the land the Quapaw, Chickasaw, Osage, Caddo and others occupied for 15,000+ years.
TBone
@NotMax: yep.
Chief Oshkosh
Mary Magdalene.
SATSQ
ETA: Doh! WG beat me to it.
Belafon
@Trollhattan: Huckabee finally speaks to the rights of Native Americans.
Belafon
Duplicate
prostratedragon
From Sen. Kaine, with a richly illustrative photo.
Kosh III
Palestine as a word dates back at least to Herodotus but why should facts hinder the genocide of Palestinians to give Eretz Israel more lebensraum?
prostratedragon
@WaterGirl: Can we help it if that’s how the story is told (in very plain intertext)?
TBone
@prostratedragon: I don’t know whether to laugh or cry…i decided on laugh
RevRick
@WaterGirl: God has an enormous sense of humor. You’re safe.
I would answer the question that God never wants to screw us, but we insist on screwing ourselves.
TBone
@RevRick: Howard Be Thy Name
JML
@prostratedragon: that’s the southern spelling of “mil’tary”
TBone
@JML: bwahahahaha!
Kosh III
@JML: that’s the southern spelling of “mil’tary”
I though it was “rebel?”
Citizen Alan
@Trollhattan: Mike Huckabee and his fellow travelers are who Jesus was talking about when he warned of “whited sepulchers.” Pristine and holy on the outside but nothing but rotten stinking filth on the inside.
Professor Bigfoot
@Trollhattan: Yeah, be we were supposed to vote against Harris for the sake of “the Palestinians.”
Fuck ’em. Let ’em get exactly what they advocated for.
Daoud bin Daoud
@A Ghost to Most: to most Christians, Jesus is just a name to blaspheme while they abuse and exploit God’s children.
Professor Bigfoot
@Kosh III: Damned shame the “pro-Palestinian” protestors shanked the one person who might have helped.
Too bad, so sad.
WTFGhost
@A Ghost to Most: it’s an interesting question. One fundamentalist Christian I know stopped being Christian when he was forced to come to grips with how none of the prophesies about the Messiah said he’d come once, die, resurrect, and then, come back at some later time, to fulfill the rest of the prophesies. You ever feel proud and a bit sad at the same time? “Wow, that’s good sound reasoning, and… damn, I hated losing my own Christianity, I hope losing yours is going easier.”
@RevRick: Today, and today only, I’d say “fundamentalist” and “evangelicals” are different. I’d say that “Evangelical” means “partisan Republican who professes Christianity,” while “fundamentalist” just means “someone who thinks the bible is inerrant, and means exactly what the fundamentalist wants it to men”
I could be wrong – I’ve not really watched religious battles in many years. But lots of people swore they were evangelical Christians, but they didn’t believe Jesus was the messiah… and no, I don’t think they were excellent scholars, who realized the prophesies weren’t fulfilled.
@WaterGirl: I feel obligated to call out that one religion teacher I had said there was no reason to believe Mary Magdalene was a “loose woman” or prostitute. It became a common belief (so I was told), but there wasn’t really any biblical basis for it. Still: as the most prominent woman around a bunch of guys, I’d bet every heterosexual had some hot fantasies.
@lowtechcyclist: From just the name, I’d say Catholics could be *evangelicals*, but not *fundamentalists*, because fundamentalism is inconsistent with Catholicism – they believe the KJV Bible is perfect and inerrant, and they don’t even say the Lord’s Prayer the same way. But “Conservative” Catholics might fit evangelicals, which seem more politically partisan than caring about WWJD or WWJS, etc..
Spanky
@RevRick:
Sorry I’m late to the thread. Got some stitches out.
He’s their Get Out of Hell Free card.
TBone
Detroit represent!
https://bsky.app/profile/ryanjreilly.com/post/3lfpzgbla2c2a
It’s a response to Emptywheel:
Old Man Shadow
@WaterGirl: Might be John or Peter too.
West of the Rockies
The vile, heinous LaMalfa represents my district. He is arrogant, hypocritical, and heartless. The Camp Fire occurred in his district… he was singing a different tune then, boy.
Ron from MN
@WaterGirl: ha, good one, and I’m thinking that if these “Christians” are in heaven, I’d be happier in hell w my friends . (for the record) I’m agnostic on most days.
RevRick
Since religion has been dragged into this thread, I want to share a discussion this morning in my clergy pericope* group on Nehemiah 8. It is set in Jerusalem after the exiles have returned from Babylon. The place is in ruins. The religious/political elites who returned are struggling to get their bearings. The common folk left behind are struggling to deal with day to day problems. But together they tell Ezra, the priest and scribe, and one of the few who can read, to read to the whole Torah to the whole community. So, he and thirteen associates do just that in one day long reading, giving the sense of the Scripture, to the people, who respond with weeping. But Ezra and his assistants tell them not to weep, but to go home, eat the fat and drink the sweet wine and hold fast to the joy.
This passage immediately spoke to me about our present state of affairs. We face ruin in the person of Trump and his minions. We face ruin in the face of the gathering climate change crisis. We face ruin from hare-brained economic policies and schemes.
In the face of these things, what can we hold on to to give us hope and joy? What will keep us from sinking into despair?
The people back then were seeking strength in their faith, but they also found it in renewed community. And while they weren’t masters of their own destiny, since they were a backwater of the Persian Empire, nevertheless they found ways to carry on.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I was going to say this, but I decided to check the comments first.
Geminid
@Professor Bigfoot: I always thought the “Pro-Palestinian” protesters hurt the Palestinians more than they helped, and I consider myself pro-Palestinian. The people over there need better allies than the Westerners who’ve made them their own special cause.
cain
Well, he’s not the Messiah.. he’s a very naughty boy!
cain
@Geminid: The Palestinians have burned every bridge. They’ve incorporated Israeli hate so much that they are willing to try to bring down the leaders of their host countries.
I completely get why their pissed, but hate isn’t going to get them out of their hole and the hole keeps getting dug deeper.
When the middle east countries themselves are not running around using Palestinians plight as a prop to distract their masses like they used to do; that says a lot.
Villago Delenda Est
Pastor Mike, like many American “christians”, is nothing of the fucking sort. Worships Mammon and Moloch, and their vile spawn, the convicted felon.
RevRick
@TBone: And here I thought God’s name was Art.
Villago Delenda Est
@RevRick: I thought it was George!
tam1MI
Their actions make sense when you realize that they cared not one whit about the Gazans they pretended to advocate for. It was all about Teaching the Democrats a Lesson.
Me, I’m waiting to see how many of them turn out to have been FBI provocateurs…
Villago Delenda Est
@WTFGhost: “Evangelical” is a rebranding of “Fundamentalist”, when “Fundamentalist” got too toxic for the mainstream. Same wild and crazy anti-Jesus beliefs, though.
Professor Bigfoot
@Geminid: The sheer entitlement, that they had the chutzpah to tell Black voters we should ignore our own needs to support Palestinians by VOTING FOR THE GUY GUARANTEED TO HURT PALESTINIANS.
I, and I’m sure I’m not the only one, got straight to “fuck y’all and good fucking luck with Trump.”
TBone
@Villago Delenda Est: he is part of the New Apostolic Reformation movement also promoted by Elno, et al. that reaches into our upper echelons like the Supremacists Court as evidenced by the “Appeal to Heaven” flags they fly. They are rebranding themselves now though, as is the fashy fashion of the day, running from the N.A.R. tag.
lowtechcyclist
@TBone:
Yeppers – that’s what the ‘H’ in ‘Jesus H. Christ’ stands for. Thought everybody knew that. ;-)
lowtechcyclist
@cain:
An excitable boy!
Hey Rev Rick, did you know you can replace the lyrics of the verses of Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy” with the lyrics of “Lord of the Dance”?
Well, I danced for the scribes and the Pharisees,
excitable boy, they all said,
But they would not dance and they wouldn’t follow me,
excitable boy, they all said.
Well, he’s just an excitable boy.
Then I danced for fishermen, for James and John
excitable boy, they all said.
And they came with me and the Dance went on,
excitable boy, they all said.
Well, he’s just an excitable boy.
Ooh, wah, ooh, oo-ooh, excitable boy.
There’s your earworm for the evening!
TBone
@lowtechcyclist: I’ll see that, and raise you one earworm
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9hw1SKn5eFM
Aziz, light!
@lowtechcyclist: And to the republic, for Richard Stands.
In grade school I couldn’t figure out who that was.
Zelma
@Villago Delenda Est:
The New Apostolic Reformation is a pretty scary development if you are a believer in separation of church and state or liberal ideals. The NAR is representative of a thread that has always been found in Christianity – the idea that the Holy Spirit is not only present but is creating new prophesies, new religious truths. Like capitalism is god’s plan. So far from what Jesus taught.
TBone
@TBone: now we know where Mr. D(onold) got the idea for his gold lame sneakers (pronounced “lamay”).
Miss Bianca
@cain: I happen to be reading a book right now called, “A Very Short History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”. I’m up to the 1940s and all I can think is, “man, did the Palestinians ever get shafted. And they’ve been catching *no* breaks from *nobody* for at least the last 100 years.”
Not the Zionists, not the British, not the UN, not the rest of the Arab world, not their leaders, not their supposed “allies”…and certainly not the Israelis.
It’s a fucking mess.
snoey
@lowtechcyclist: Those of us on the inside know that the H is for haploid.
TBone
@snoey: *smirks in diploid
Xavier
@Steve LaBonne: just what I was going to say. I’d vote to eliminate the debt ceiling on a standalone bill, that plus disaster relief is a no brainier. On the other hand “don’t throw us in the briar patch” is a good strategy too.
lowtechcyclist
@Zelma:
These movements wouldn’t bother me so much if their new prophecies were at least semi-consistent with the Scriptures we’ve already got.
But a ‘Christian’ movement to acquire worldly power and domination? John, in his first epistle, says to “love not the world,” but what could be more worldly than power and control over others?
I’d really like to have a word with some of these bozos.
kindness
The next hurricane/tornado that sweeps through the south…well if they really want their federal support they’re going to have to legalize free abortion on demand. Same difference.
Citizen Alan
@Geminid: I can’t think of a single-issue protest group on the Left that doesn’t hurt their cause more than they help.
Citizen Alan
@lowtechcyclist: From a political standpoint, the mainstream Christianity of my youth has been completely supplanted in this country by a heretical if not Satanic cult. The Mark of the Beast came in the form of a red MAGA hat.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Xavier: Except, I don’t think it eliminates the debt ceiling. I think it just suspends it during Trumps term. Could be wrong.
Geminid
@Citizen Alan: I think many gun control advocates help their cause, but I do not consider them to be on the “Left.” They’re more in the liberal camp, and that makes a big difference
Geminid
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Yeah, so long as Mike Johnson controls what legislation makes it to a floor vote there won’t be a vote to repeal the debt ceiling. His caucus would never tolerate that. It would be like waving a silver cross at a bunch of vampires.
Westyny
@lowtechcyclist: For now . . .
karensky
@WaterGirl: Nah, the line is too long!
BellyCat
@lowtechcyclist: You and TBone just won the internet today!
DFH
I mean I’m all for good visuals in writing, but not before breakfast, my god.
“Mike’s just looking for the right kind of laxative that will allow a big old pile of shit debt ceiling increase to pass by the massive polyps in the House colon that are the Freedum Caucus members, and he thinks he found it.”