Just what we need.

A Speaker with hard right views. A biblical literalist, which probably means he also believes that the Bible is the inerrant word of God and that there were dinosaurs on the Ark, which, by the way, is reproduced cubit for cubit in Kentucky. Fun for the whole family!

The days and months ahead are going to be the kind of interesting that many have had enough of, made even moreso by the presence of a person who needs look no further than the Bible for his inspiration and guidance.

Uh oh.

Mr. Johnson’s unpacking of what Jefferson intended by separation of church and state is nothing more than a wrong-headed extraction of convenient conclusions. He apparently isn’t familiar with the function of a wall—it separates two spaces. It is not porous, nor does it allow easy access from one direction.

It’s a fucking solid wall- with studs and drywall. And insulation.

And we were worried about Jim Jordan.

It’s as if the rest of the world can’t comment on what’s going on in the Middle East. We can’t possibly know the trouble Jews have seen in their long, tortured history. So, for the rest of the world, it’s hands off– we best keep our opinions to ourselves. Sometimes it feels like we’re not allowed to understand.

There’s no getting up to speed. The rest of us need have nothing to say about Israel’s single-minded response to the events of October 7, even as thousands of Gazans suffer beyond imagining.

Of course it’s difficult to show restraint when your citizens are butchered and the perpetrators react as if God is pleased by the ruthlessness and bloodshed! Israel has responded with understandable, unapologetic, determined, even disciplined rage. But the collateral damage is a weight Israel must bear. How can it not consider the welfare of those who are caught in the middle?

It must be difficult to pick your fight, or take the time to be careful, when things are this raw and messed up. War is war. There’s nothing fair about it. And yet, restraint must be shown.

Israel seems to have given up on restraint. But it’s hard to know for sure, because no one can walk a mile in their shoes.

As much as it sounds like just another wack-a-doodle conspiracy theory, as much as people would vehemently take exception to it, I can’t help wonder if Netanyahu and others had the intelligence about the October 7 invasion and purposely sat on it, dismissing Hamas’ convictions and intent, and considering it instead to be a timely diversion from all his troubles.

Nah, how could he ever consider such a thing? But then he could swing into action, talk tough, and look like a leader.

Doesn’t seem to be working, if that’s how it went down (and it’s probably not).

The headline this morning is that people don’t trust Bibi. He’s damaged goods, caught in a maelstrom. But what is Israel to do if, in the midst of a war, they have to think about picking another Prime Minister?

Maybe such a step is called for, even needed, before more lives are needlessly sacrificed in the name of… what? Prolonging the agony on all sides and creating even more ill will and hardened feelings?

Mike Johnson is still a bit of an unknown quantity, but what I’ve seen so far is another sickeningly slick, buttoned up politician wound tighter than a cow’s ass in fly season who spouts the party line. He’s a Christian conservative who’ll have trouble admitting that human beings are more complicated than he wants them to be. And the Bible doesn’t have as much to offer in the way of guidance on certain issues as he probably thinks it does.

Johnson reminds me of Henry Gibson’s character in The Blues Brothers movie. I’m sure any resemblance is purely coincidental.

People don’t really know what talent is. They’ve grown accustomed to cookie-cutter mediocrity. They just respond to things that “move” them– a pretty face, lyrics that touch a chord, or a rumbling base line. That’s always been the case, I guess, but it’s the musicianship part that gets under my skin. Or maybe authenticity.

With few exceptions, today’s mainstream “artists” are a dime a dozen to me, less organic. Any dreamer with a decent voice can be made a star. It’s mostly manufactured, formulaic, auto-tuned sameness. Seems tough to argue against Top 40 or whatever the metric is today being full of so-called music that sounds basically bland and contrived—whether pop or country or rap. Hip-hop does sound all the same, with an occasional catchy melodic hook, so that has to be about the words and the anger and rawness.

There was no better time for originality and substance— regarding musicianship, lyrics, and melody—than the 60s and 70s. And of course my argument is just one more subjective rant, another tired, generational complaint. But I bet there are many others who feel the same way. And they’re not all as old as I am.

The outlook for the world seems less than rosy sometimes.

Acapulco gets hit with a surprise Cat 5 and people there feel like no one is noticing. China has designs on Taiwan and may be assessing whether or not we’re distracted enough by events at home and elsewhere to make its move. Israel is not listening to anyone and forges ahead with a ground assault in Gaza. We bomb several sites in Syria. We suffer through another mass shooting; our schools are failing, as neglected and distracted students and inept, overwhelmed administrators are driving many teachers to leave the profession. Some big companies who should know better boast about being carbon neutral by 2050, which is still twenty-seven years away. Drug abuse is still a scourge; Vladimir Putin is happy to keep flying under the radar and make life hell for the people of Ukraine; Taylor Swift is a lightweight musician and marketing wunderkind who’s getting way too much attention, and

climate change is real.

So the banal, tired, maddening response from Republicans after another mass shooting is indeed offered out of an abundance of caution that they don’t piss off the NRA and a gun-loving base.

It’s not really about paying attention to mental health issues or protecting 2^nd Amendment rights, or the bad influence of video games, because all these things, minus the 2^nd Amendment excuse, exist in many other countries who don’t have near the incidence of gun violence we do.

One thing other countries do have is either an assault weapons ban or at least a serious background check, or both. And there are probably other factors in play in the U.S.- like living in a society where failure looms large, where we are distracted and isolated by so many things, always being fed a line about achievement and success and acquiring stuff.

Meanwhile, innocent people get butchered and all the Republicans can muster is the agonizingly familiar “thoughts and prayers” and “now’s not the time.” It’s glaringly obvious that there will never be a right time, so maybe it’s time, as Colbert suggests, that these waffling politicians’ non-committal responses become an issue in upcoming elections.

Sadly, there are already more guns than there are people in this country, but how can we stand by and let these horrors continue to happen, as if they’re just part of life here in wild west America?

Are we, homo sapiens, the pinnacle of evolution, or just the current version? Are we, as sentient beings, at the apex of the evolutionary process, or are we still on the journey and maybe somewhere out there in the vastness of the universe are our more evolved relatives? Versions 2.0 and 3.0 and so on (or would it be 1.1.2, 1.1.3…? I don’t know how that works).

In any event, what I’m wrestling with this morning is our uniqueness. Are we made in the image of God and there’s nothing more to come, or are we the predictable and natural culmination of processes thus far?

Different ways of asking the same question? I don’t know.  

If you have to study religion in the same manner one would study philosophy, if you need to be cerebral in order to fully grasp a religion’s tenets, if you have to study religious faith the way one studies calculus and trigonometry, then seminaries have their work cut out for them. They need extensive outreach programming; they need to get the word out that religious faith is not for the faint of heart or those who have no use for putting their thinking caps on.

For those who prefer feeling to thinking, religion can feel like being left high and dry, because you have to study history, you need to learn a new language. And if you don’t know the lingo, it’s difficult to be part of the conversation.

There must be some middle ground, or at least a starting point.

There’s a true story about Karl Barth, a learned Reformed theologian and prolific writer of some dense volumes of systematic theology who, late in life at a symposium in Chicago, was fielding questions from the audience. The final question was something like “What is the most important thing you’ve learned in your illustrious career?”

Instead of blowing it off as ridiculous and too difficult to answer, Barth closed his eyes and thought for a few moments. Then he looked up and smiled, and said, “The most important thing I’ve learned is this: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

Religious faith feeds introspection, contemplation, and expresson. So it’s no surprise that, among other things, we’ve turned it into a linguistic exercise that can intimidate and even short circuit any desire to explore.

Enter Dr. Barth, who has done us the favor of distilling copious amounts of verbiage, and given anyone who is interested a door through which to enter. As good a place as any to start, and to return to as often as needed.

Mike Johnson, new Speaker of the House.

A Trump stooge, a Jim Jordan clone without the name recognition. Friend of Old Energy, enemy of women’s reproductive rights, architect of the amicus brief leading to a lawsuit intended to undo the results of the 2020 election in four battleground states, and which wasn’t even given the courtesy of a written opinion by the Supreme Court; not averse to dismantling Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, and in general another in a long line of fearful Christian conservatives who sound naïve and scared and not a little defensive, like they’ve lived sheltered lives and been fed a line.

All we really need to know is that he’s a Trump toady and acceptable to the Freedom Caucus.

It’s really hard to stomach Matt Gaetz and company as they gloat and plot their next moves.