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House GOP gives Mike Johnson Speaker nod after whirlwind Emmer dropout

Emily Brooks, Mychael Schnell
The Hill
Tue, 24 Oct 2023 09:54 UTC
Johnson
© Ting Shen/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesRep. Mike Johnson becomes Speaker in the House Chamber • October 25, 2023
House Republicans nominated Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) for Speaker on Tuesday evening, making him the fourth GOP lawmaker to win the conference's nod this cycle — and its second nominee within a day after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) dropped out of the running amid GOP opposition.

Johnson's nomination capped off a whirlwind day — but one that ended with House Republicans appearing to finally unite around a Speaker nominee.

In an internal roll call validation vote for Johnson, all but three GOP members who voted "present" said they could vote for Johnson for Speaker on the House floor. While at least a dozen members were absent, putting him under the 217-vote threshold in the room, Johnson signaled optimism that he would win their support, too. The intention, Johnson said, is to go to the House floor Wednesday.

Johnson said:
"Democracy is messy sometimes. This House Republican majority is united. This is servant leadership. We're going to serve the people of this country. We're going to restore their faith in this Congress, this institution of government. America is the last best hope of man on the Earth."

Comment: Who is the new Speaker?
Louisiana Republican Rep. Mike Johnson was elected speaker of the House on Wednesday by a vote of 220-209. Johnson, 51, who had been a dark horse for the position, was voted the GOP nominee the night before after Republicans plowed through three higher-profile candidates.

The new speaker has only been in politics since 2015 when he was elected to the state House, where he stayed until 2017. The son of a firefighter, Johnson was elected to Congress in the 2016 election and serves on the House Judiciary and Armed Services Committees.

Johnson is currently in his second term as the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, putting him in a leadership position that largely stays out of the limelight.

The Louisiana Republican — who would be the second Pelican State speaker nominee after the failed bid from House Majority Leader Steve Scalise — previously served one term as the influential Republican Study Committee chairman.

Johnson is an ally of former President Donald Trump and defended him during the Democrat-led House impeachment hearings. He also filed an amicus brief co-signed of 100 House Republicans to support Texas litigation seeking to overturn the 2020 election results in four states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He was the Chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee at the time.

"President Trump called me this morning to let me know how much he appreciates the amicus brief we are filing on behalf of Members of Congress," Johnson posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Dec. 9, 2020. "Indeed, 'this is the big one!'"

Fourth nominee is the charm...
Emmer's drop out came shortly after a blistering attack on Truth Social from former President Trump, who called him a "globalist RINO," or, Republican In Name Only, and warned House Republicans that electing him speaker would be a "tragic mistake."

Trump didn't formally endorse any of the candidates in the next round, posting on his Truth Social account that he "could never go against any of these fine and very talented men, all of whom have supported me, in both mind and spirit, from the very beginning of our GREAT 2016 Victory."

On several other issues, Johnson has aligned with the most conservative lawmakers in the caucus.

Last month, he voted against H.R. 5692, the Ukraine Security Assistance and Oversight Supplemental Appropriations Act, which passed. The bill appropriates federal dollars to assist Ukraine's military in its defense against Russia and establishes an inspector general's office to oversee aid.

Additionally, he opposed the temporary spending measure, known as a Continuing Resolution (CR), aligning with 90 other House Republicans, at the Sept. 30 deadline. He also supported measures to bolster border security within the CR, which aimed to restrict eligibility for asylum seekers. The bill did not garner enough support to pass.

In June, Johnson voted in favor of a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Joe Biden.

Later Wednesday morning, Trump said Johnson would be a "fantastic speaker," and said he is "respected by all and that's what we need."

"He's popular, smart, sharp. He's going to be fantastic. I think he's going to be a fantastic speaker," Trump said ahead of the floor vote Tuesday

Not everyone was as convinced!

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Eye 1

Finland blames Chinese ship for Baltic Sea gas pipeline & telecoms cable damage, despite weak evidence


Euronews
Wed, 25 Oct 2023 09:21 UTC
finland ship
Finnish police say they have data pointing to the Hong Kong-flagged cargo vessel NewNew Polar Bear as the culprit in damaging the pipeline running under the Baltic Sea.

Finnish investigators say they believed an anchor of a Chinese container ship was dislodged and caused the damage to the undersea BalticConnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia on the Baltic Sea earlier this month.

The National Bureau of Investigation, a branch of the Finnish police, said that it has evidence and data pointing to the Hong Kong-flagged cargo vessel NewNew Polar Bear as the culprit in damaging the pipeline running across the Gulf of Finland.

Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi, NBI's head of the investigation, said in a news conference Tuesday that a 1.5 to 4-meter-wide dragging trail on the seabed is seen to lead to the point of damage in the gas pipeline.

Comment: So Finland expects us to believe that a Chinese vessel was going around, scouring the Baltic sea bed with its anchor, damaging 2 incredibly significant pieces of infrastructure, and it wasn't until some time later that they identified the culprit? And that was thanks to some 'traces' found on one of its anchors?

One recalls the Chinese weather balloon incident that sent the US into hysterics, as well as the West's Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, and so one could be forgiven for being skeptical of Finland's allegations and waiting for China's review of the evidence.

The sabotage of undersea infrastructure is picking up apace: Also check out SOTT's Focus from 2012: Undersea Internet Cables Cut AGAIN!

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Bullseye

Russia calls for cessation of hostilities in Palestinian-Israeli conflict, establishment of Palestinian state - Lavrov


TASS
Thu, 26 Oct 2023 14:00 UTC
Lavrov
© Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASSRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Russia calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as well as for negotiations on the establishment of a Palestinian state, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"Russia condemns terrorist actions and all other actions that violate international humanitarian law and cause harm to the civilian population, and calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and the resumption of negotiations on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, which was solemnly promised to the Palestinians almost 75 years ago," the top diplomat said at a plenary session of a high-level conference on Eurasian security in Minsk.

According to Lavrov, Washington's attempts to monopolize the Middle East settlement process have led to the current disastrous situation. "Given the West's destructive line to undermine the sustainable development of Eurasia, its lack of readiness for fair competition and joint work, the task of forming a new continental architecture of equal and indivisible security is more urgent than ever, which is actually the goal of the conference created on the initiative of Belarusian President [Alexander Lukashenko], an architecture maximally open to the widest possible range of states ready for equal and constructive interaction," the Russian foreign minister said.
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Bad Guys

Israel to refuse visas to UN officials after Guterres' Gaza speech highlighting Palestine's '56 years suffering occupation'


Al Jazeera
Thu, 26 Oct 2023 14:14 UTC
Gilad Erdan
© David Dee Delgado/Getty Images via AFPRepresentative of Israel to the UN Gilad Erdan addresses the press in New York. Protesting the UN chief's indirect criticism of Israel, Israel's UN envoy says 'the time has come to teach them a lesson'.
Israel will refuse visas to United Nations officials, its ambassador to the UN has said, as the country's spat with the international organisation deepens.

Gilad Erdan made the statement on Wednesday, according to Israeli media, as the fallout from the UN chief's speech at the Security Council the previous day continues.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres indirectly criticised Israel for ordering the evacuation of civilians from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip. He also said Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7 did not happen "in a vacuum" as the Palestinians have been "subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation".

Comment: Gueterres responds to Israel's comments:



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Stock Down

Nigel Farage demands debanking row staff be suspended after document reveals intent to 'drive him out of the country', jokes about 'throwing milkshake' at him

David Churchill
Daily Mail
Mon, 23 Oct 2023 23:13 UTC
nigel farage
Angry: Nigel Farage calls for inquiry over debanking row with Coutts bank.
Bosses at NatWest were last night facing calls from Nigel Farage to suspend staff who joked about wanting to 'throw a milkshake' at him.

In the latest twist in the debanking row, a bombshell document revealed how staff privately boasted about having potentially 'driven him out of the country'.

Another message said they would 'pay' to be the person who told him he was not welcome to use the firm.

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Zelensky exposed: Former advisor reveals how Ukrainian president thinks he is omnipotent

Maciej Pieczyński
Remix
Tue, 24 Oct 2023 00:01 UTC
zelensky
© Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via APUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends an event for marking Statehood Day in Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv, Friday, July 28, 2023.
Oleksyi Arestovych didn't pull any punches in his scathing criticism of the Ukrainian president.

The arrogance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is causing problems with Kyiv's allies and he believes that, as his country is at war, he can do anything, his former adviser has claimed.

In a bombshell interview with Polish news outlet dorzeczy.pl, Oleksyi Arestovych slammed his former boss for his increasingly overbearing behavior and believes he has fallen victim to delusions of grandeur and a belief that he is all-powerful.
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Cross

No Jesus: Christians are under attack in Australia

Augusto Zimmermann
RT
Tue, 24 Oct 2023 07:14 UTC
Sydney Tower, Australia and Statue outside St Mary's Cathedral 1.
© Planet One Images/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesSydney Tower, Australia and Statue outside St Mary's Cathedral 1.
Religion is increasingly being associated with bigotry and intolerance, yet proposed law changes discriminate against believers.

The last census in Australia indicates that, while Christianity is still the answer most people give when asked about their religion, it is in sharp decline, and 'no religion' is a close second.

Almost 44% of the respondents said they were Christian in 2021, and almost 39% said they were not religious. Looking at the trend - these numbers were 61% and 22%, respectively, a mere decade earlier - it is clear that Christians are on their way to becoming a minority.

This trend of Australia's weakening Christian heritage is further exacerbated by existing and proposed anti-religious legislation aimed at radically changing the fabric of our society. The latest such proposals, worked out by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), seek to eliminate the exemptions to the country's discrimination laws which allow religious schools to expel students, fire teachers, and turn down applicants based on their sexuality, relationship status, and pregnancy. In other words, it allows a religious school to be able to hire and admit people who adhere to its religion's values.

Comment: Divide and conquer. Materialization of people's lives and destruction of people's belief in God, in something higher and more profound than this material world. It looks like it is an agenda of the PTB to destroy and divide people into many minor groups which fight with each other over many things, while the psychos in power gain more and more control over every aspect of our lives.

See also:

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Sherlock

SOTT Focus: What Really Happened on 7th October?

Robert Inlakesh & Sharmine Narwani
The Cradle
Tue, 24 Oct 2023 00:00 UTC
news headlines
Evidence is now emerging that up to half the Israelis killed were combatants; that Israeli forces were responsible for some of their own civilian deaths; and that Tel Aviv disseminated false 'Hamas atrocities' stories to justify its devastating air assault on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Two weeks after the Hamas breakout assault on Israel on 7 October, a clearer picture of what happened - who died, and who killed - is now beginning to emerge.

Instead of the wholescale massacre of civilians claimed by Israel, incomplete figures published by the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz show that almost half the Israelis killed that day were in fact combatants - soldiers or police.

In the interim, two weeks of blanket western media reporting that Hamas allegedly killed around 1,400 Israeli civilians during its 7 October military attack has served to inflame emotions and create the climate for Israel's unconstrained destruction of the Gaza Strip and its civilian population.

Accounts of the Israeli death toll have been filtered and shaped to suggest that a wholesale civilian massacre occurred that day, with babies, children, and women the main targets of a terror attack.

Now, detailed statistics on the casualties released by the Israeli daily Haaretz paint a starkly different picture. As of 23 October, the news outlet has released information on 683 Israelis killed during the Hamas-led offensive, including their names and locations of their deaths on 7 October.
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Shopping Bag

Ukraine expects €18 billion from EU in 2024 - PM


RT
Mon, 23 Oct 2023 19:40 UTC
ShmigLeyen
© Omer Messinger/Getty ImagesPM Ukraine, Denis Shmigal • President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen
October 2022 • Berlin
Ukraine's economy has experienced its sharpest downturn in three decades, financial experts have warned...

Kiev expects to receive at least €18 billion ($19 billion) in foreign aid from the European Union (EU) next year, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal has said. The tranche matches the amount the country will receive from the bloc in 2023.

Shmigal wrote on Telegram on Monday:
"EU budget support to Ukraine in 2023 already amounts to 15 billion euros - this is one of the most important factors helping Ukraine be economically resilient and stable."
Kiev has recently received a sum of €1.5 billion ($1.59 billion) in what was a ninth set of EU financial assistance tranches, he added. Two more payments are expected to be completed before the end of the year to bring the total to €18 billion, according to Ukraine's finance ministry.

Ukraine has become heavily dependent on foreign financial aid since Moscow launched its offensive in the country in February of last year, as millions of people fled due to the conflict and as logistical and supply chain routes became disrupted. Ukraine's economy shrank by about one-third in 2022, financial experts said, in what was its sharpest economic downturn in more than 30 years.

Comment: Ukraine has become the perfect vehicle to break the financial backs of numerous nations...part of the plan Ursula?

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Red Flag

EU a 'parody' of USSR - Hungarian PM


RT
Mon, 23 Oct 2023 21:53 UTC
Orban
© Marco Tacca/Getty ImagesHungarian PM Viktor Orban
Viktor Orban has likened the bloc's domineering tactics to his country's four decades under Soviet control...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has marked the anniversary of his country's failed 1956 uprising against the USSR by accusing the European Union of seeking Soviet-like dominance by trying to strip Budapest of its identity.

Orban, in a speech on Monday in the western Hungarian city of Veszprem, said:
"Today, things pop up that remind us of the Soviet times. Yes, it happens that history repeats itself. Fortunately, what once was tragedy is now a comedy at best. Fortunately, Brussels is not Moscow. Moscow was a tragedy. Brussels is just a bad contemporary parody."
Orban claimed that Brussels has tried to impose a model of liberal democracy that the Hungarian people have rejected. He added that although the EU's domineering methods hark back to the Soviet era, the bloc is not able to rule with an iron fist.
"We had to dance to the tune that Moscow whistled. Brussels whistles too, but we dance as we want to, and if we don't want to, then we don't dance."
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