After three weeks of arguing we have a Speaker of the House. On the same day we have another mass shooting. This time in Maine and it is being reported that 18 people are dead but those numbers seem to change. It is almost like I don’t want to log into my computer to find out what is happening in America. Hate, Racism, Violence, those are the things that are dominating the news. In Florida, our Governor is banning all Palestinian organizations from our campuses. Free speech is not a thing in Florida. I guess neither is the right to assemble. Biden seems to be delivering the goods that are working but that is not what dominates that news.

The Republican led House has been described as a clown show pretty much since they took control. To me that is an insult to clowns. I grew up watching Bozo’s Circus and our Congress is nothing like what I watched.  Bozo was entertaining and made us laugh. Believe it or not there was always an inspirational message that went along with the program in an effort to educate children. That is not what our Congress does. You can tell me that is not the purpose of our Congress but I will counter that, believe it or not, our children paid more attention then what we think. I know I did when I was a kid. Many of my moral and political attitudes were formed in the 60s before I was even eligible to vote. This putting Party before Country would have never flown back then like it does today. I never heard my Republican Father ever call a Democrat the enemy of the people. Back then at the end of the day we were all Americans first and Democrats or Republicans second. The Preamble to the Constitution that said “We the People” were words that actually meant something.

We have a new Speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. When you look at his record what is see is a person that is scarier than McCarthy. This is a man that puts his idea of faith before everyone else and anything else. This is a man, while acting as an attorney and spokesman for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian advocacy group described homosexuals as “sinful” and “destructive”. He argued that homosexuality could lead to support of pedophilia. He was also an advocate for the criminalization of gay sex. He stated that “There is no right to sodomy in the Constitution and the right to “privacy of the home” has never placed all activity, within the home, outside the bounds of the criminal law”. I find that way of thinking very scary and what we have here is an individual that does not believe that we all have equal protection under the law. Our privacy is actually on of the liberties that we fought for. Our Constitution is not based on the Bible and does not reference it.

After Mike Johnson was nominated the Republicans held a press conference. During that press conference he was asked by ABC News reporter Rachael Scott about his effort to “overturn” the 2020 presidential election results. She was met with “boos” and one from the GOP lawmakers assembled by the nominee and one “shut up” aimed at the reporter by Rep. Virginia Fox of North Carolina. I think that is a legitimate question to ask and I think it deserves an answer. He is going to be expected to work with the President that he tried to call “illegitimate”. A man that defied his constitutional obligation and voted against certification. In reality he was a member of the group that tried to burn the Constitution and wanted to put an unelected person in the White House. This is a man that put Trump and the Republican Party before the Constitution and oath that he took to defend and protect the Constitution. Yes, he should have to answer that question.

I have written more than once that too many Christians have turned their backs on the teachings of Jesus and now worship at the feet of Pontius Pilate aka Trump and Mike Johnson I don’t think it is any different. I used to be envious of people that had faith which is something that I didn’t have. Now I look at the direction of many of the people of faith have taken and I am grateful that I have never been blessed with the hate and bigotry that has engulfed much of the Christian religion. It is not the religion that I taught when I was young.  I remember those lessons and am grateful that I was taught them, and, they have carried me on during my adult hood. Today it seems those lessons are no longer taught in many Churches nor have any meaning in many churches. Every time there is a mass shooting I wonder how guns and death can mix so easily in today’s religious world. Not just Christianity but Muslim, Judaism and many other religions.

There are now 18 dead in Maine and of course what you hear is about sending our thoughts and prayers. It seems the more thoughts and prayers we have the more violence and death we have. I am beginning to think that the thoughts a prayer crowd are what is causing the violence to increase. I have never seen a problem that has been solved by thoughts as prayer. Thoughts and prayers have not stopped the record number a people being killed by guns every day in this country. Thoughts and prayers have not stopped the racism, bigotry and violence that is plaguing America. All I hear is excuses why we can’t have gun control. We had gun control in the 60s. We had gun control in the 70s. We had gun control in the 80s. We had gun control all my life until Chief Justice Roberts changed multiple Supreme Court decisions. Our new Speaker of the House has stated “At the end of the day, the problem is the human heart. It’s not guns. It’s not the weapons”. This is a man that doesn’t want to find a solution. This is a man that talks about the sanctity of life as he justifies people dying all across the country. If he is correct that it is a problem with the human heart then, we all know that you can’t control the human heart. What you can control in the guns.