Category: Love
Texas lawmaker pops question to partner on statehouse floor
This post is to show how to do good protest and positive push back against the new maga oppression. Show them we are here, we are alive, and we will continue to be in public view living our lives fully. I love the courage of this couple. Hugs
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by Filip Timotija – 01/14/25 3:47 PM ET
Eric Gay, Associated Press file
A large Texas flag hangs from the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 14, 2019.A Texas lawmaker got down on one knee and proposed to his longtime partner on the statehouse floor during the first day of the 89th legislative session.
Texas Rep. Venton Jones (D-Dallas) popped the question to Gregory Scott Jr. on Tuesday, right before other lawmakers were set to be sworn in, according to a video posted on X by a WFAA reporter, an ABC affiliate.
Scott said yes. The couple were surrounded by family, friends and colleagues.
“We just got engaged on the House floor,” Jones said.
Jones, a second-term lawmaker, represents Texas House District 100, which encompasses parts of South Dallas, West Dallas, East Dallas and Oak Cliff, including other areas.
“In a time when our love and our very existence are challenged, often in the halls of this very building, this moment is a reminder that love conquers all,” Jones said, according to The Dallas Morning News. “Gregory and I stand as proof that progress is unstoppable, and no amount of hate can erase the truth of who we are.”
Jones, a nonprofit CEO, is the vice chair of the Texas LGBTQ Caucus.
“Gregory and I are building our family and future together. Our love symbolizes resilience and our story reminds us that love can and will always overcome hate,” Jones added.
Peace & Justice History for 1/15
January 15, 1929 Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. The son of a Baptist pastor, he followed in his father’s footsteps, then went on to lead the American civil rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s, and to speak out against the Vietnam war. In 1955 Dr. King organized the first major protest of the civil rights movement: the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott. Influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, he advocated nonviolent civil disobedience to end racial segregation. The peaceful protests he led throughout the American South were often met with violence and arrest, but King and his followers persisted. His inspiration, leadership and eloquence helped tens of millions claim the fundamental rights of citizenship, and changed the face of a nation. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. biographical sketch Since 1986, the third Monday in January has been designated a federal holiday honoring the greatness and sacrifice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A chronology: April 4, 1968 Dr. King was assassinated. Shortly thereafter, U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan) introduced legislation to create a federal holiday to commemorate Dr. King’s life and work. January, 1973 Illinois became the first state to adopt MLK Day as a state holiday. January, 1983 Rep. Conyers’s law was passed after 15 years January, 1986 The United States first officially observed the federal King Day holiday. January, 1987 Arizona Governor Evan Mecham rescinded state recognition of MLK Day as his first act in office, setting off a national boycott of the state. January, 1993 Martin Luther King Day holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time. Brief biography of Dr. King The greatest MLK speeches you may have never heard |
| January 15, 1968 The Jeanette Rankin Brigade marched on Washington to protest the war in Vietnam.It was led by 87-year-old Rankin herself, the first U.S. Congresswoman (R-Montana), and the only member of Congress to vote against U.S. entry to both world wars. After the march’s arrival in Washington, D.C. the New York Radical Women staged a “Burial of Traditional Womanhood.”  Jeanette Rankin More on Jeanette Rankin Documents from the New York Radical Women including Funeral Oration for the Burial of Traditional Womanhood by Kathy Amatniek (who coined “Sisterhood is Powerful”) (a .pdf) |
January 15, 1969 Janet McCloud Janet McCloud, her husband Don and four others from the Tulalip Indian tribe were tried for one of their “fish-ins” on the Nisqually River in Washington state. The Nisqually empties into Puget sound on the Tulalip reservation. Despite century-old treaties granting them half the salmon catch in their ancestral waters, state game officials harassed and arrested Indian fishermen. However, all were found not guilty. In a decision not reached for five years, U.S. District Judge George Boldt ruled in favor of 14 treaty tribes, including the Tulalip, upholding the language of their treaties. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjanuary.htm#january15
Cool Entertainment News
(I’m a huge Alan Cumming fan. And I really like Chrishell Stause’s talent, as well.)
Alan Cumming Packed the Latest Traitors Castle With Queer Contestants. It Paid Off
Gabby Windey, Chrishell Stause, Bob the Drag Queen and more are delivering on the drama — and the style.
By Ana Osorno and Samantha Allen
The year 2025 is off to an extremely rocky start. Between the devastating Los Angeles fires and Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration, times are tough. But if you’re on the hunt for a small kernel of joy, may we recommend tuning into season three of The Traitors for some respite? Hosted by none other than Emmy-winning diva Alan Cumming, the hilarious and messy game takes place in a stunning Scottish castle — and features some of our favorite reality TV icons and villains as they basically play an amped-up version of the party game Mafia with twists, turns, and delicious challenges. Prepare yourself to watch some Real Housewives stir the pot while big-game players — think: Survivor, Big Brother, The Challenge — inflict maximum pain on the competition. It really is as fun as it sounds.
This season, specifically, features a cast seemingly pulled directly out of our very gay fever dreams. Bob the Drag Queen! Gabby Windey! Chrishell Stause! Carolyn Wiger! A gay royal! Thank you, Alan. We are forever indebted to you for your efforts to ramp up the LGBTQ+ factor this year. After Peppermint was the first to be voted out last season… it’s nice to have multiple icons to root for, especially ones so vehemently opposed to Vanderpump Rules villain Tom Sandoval.
The longtime Traitors fans here at Them have been counting down the days until the return of this beloved show, so in honor of the first three episodes being released on Peacock, we sat down to discuss our fave players, judge the choices they’ve made so far, and share our hopes for the rest of the season. Below, site director Samantha Allen joins me to break it all down. — Ana Osorno (snip-More at the link)
It’s difficult to talk about
Hello All. I don’t know how this will come across, so forgive me for doing a bit of navel gazing. I thought giving a bit of voice to something I really really don’t want to talk about may help. Or, at least it may help someone else. Who knows.
What people don’t always understand is that I find it very difficult to talk about this, and forced to, I feel even worse and find myself with even darker thoughts. Nonetheless, it seems right to try.
See, when you tell people you are dealing with depression, they try to give you advice, tell you to snap out of it, some begin to smother you – or at least it feels that way. Frankly, it’s a psychophysiological issue, and there are no easy answers, no easy solutions.
Most doctors don’t understand depression any better than their patients. They either want to overmedicate or ignore.
Most people dealing with depression try to self medicate. Alcohol, drugs, impotent rage at the smallest things. Me – it’s eating my feelings and hiding away in the house away from my overwhelming problems that others likely see as immaterial issues.
I’m still working every day, but I don’t want to go in. I want to stay home. I don’t want to deal with the problems at work because they are seemingly insurmountable. Heat not working. Machines not working. Employees not working. My truck isn’t working. And my dryer is shrinking my clothes… ok, that might be the Little Debbies. Messed up thing is, if I stay home I’m alone with things that aren’t working here at home and someone needs to clean the kitchen! So, going in to work is actually relieving after a while.
One of the things that surprises people is just how many of us live with depression. Just how many go to work, feed the kids, fill the gas tank and go through their normal day dying inside. I had to tell my boss on Thursday that I was not doing well with his – what feels like – pummeling me with criticism and ‘why didn’t you’s’. No one is perfect, and even though I tried to make the right decisions – well, I could only handle so many things even though I knew I was letting him down even while I was killing myself trying to be everywhere and handle everything.
Does he know that I am forced to handle imperative things that others are assigned but fail to do or that no matter what I do there are so many things yet to do? Does he know that I am working late just to get things done when no one is in the way? Does he know that I’m tired but can’t sleep no matter how exhausted I am? Does he know that I’m whining to you rather than cleaning my kitchen?
The odd thing is that I don’t know whether to feel better that I’m not alone or feel worse that so many of us have to deal with this shit. And, that’s the point, isn’t it. So many of us deal with this it’s just called “being an adult in America”. I wanted unicorns and rainbows, and like everyone else I more often just get bull-shit and rained on. (sigh!) Adulthood sucks. So, be kind to those you meet, for they are likely going through their own battles.
And, for those of you out there that are, well – just another adult in America, hang on. Keep going. I’ve heard the sun comes out, tomorrow.
Hugs and Loves.
Randy
Only Words
Letters from An American
January 9, 2025 by Heather Cox Richardson Read on Substack
Family members, friends, and political leaders gathered today at the Washington National Cathedral to honor the life of former president Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29 at age 100. All five living presidents and most of their wives attended: George W. Bush and Laura Bush were there, along with Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Melania Trump, and Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden.
Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, were also there, meeting Trump for the first time since January 6, 2021, when Trump tweeted to the rioters attacking the U.S. Capitol that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” redoubling the crowd’s fury and sparking chants of “Hang Mike Pence.”
Pence shook Trump’s hand; his wife stayed seated, looking straight ahead. While Obama, sitting next to Trump, spoke to him, former president Bush refused to acknowledge Trump, instead walking past him and giving a familiar greeting to Obama.
By virtue of living to age 100, Carter survived many of his contemporaries, and some left behind eulogies for him. Carter’s vice president, Walter Mondale, died in 2021 but recorded his memories of working with Carter in the White House from 1977 to 1981. His son Ted Mondale read the eulogy at today’s service.
Mondale recalled how he and Carter had redefined the role of the vice president of the United States, which had fallen into eclipse when President George Washington shut his own vice president, John Adams, out of his central circle of advisors and never recovered. Mondale recalled that Carter had honored his wish to change that pattern by becoming a full partner in the administration. Carter conferred with him regularly, put him in charge of certain central issues, and the two men became close friends.
Mondale also remembered that Carter was farsighted, ignoring short-term political interests to protect the next generations from harm. He tried to put the nation on a path that would find alternatives to fossil fuels, and did his best to advance women’s rights. He pushed for a law to extend the time for states to approve the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution to make women’s equality part of the nation’s fundamental law, and he appointed women to positions in his administration and the federal judiciary. Mondale noted that Carter “appointed five times as many women to the federal bench as all of his predecessors combined.”
Mondale recalled Carter’s “extraordinary years of principled and decent leadership, [and] his courageous commitment to civil rights and human rights.” He recalled that toward the end of their time in the White House, in the years immediately after the tumultuous years of President Richard Nixon, with his covert bombing of Cambodia and cover-up of the Watergate break-in, the two men were summing up their administration. The sentence they came up with was: “We told the truth, we obeyed the law, and we kept the peace.”
President Gerald Ford also left behind a eulogy for Carter, who had defeated Ford’s reelection attempt in 1976. Despite their political differences, the two men had become friends in 1981 when they traveled to and from the funeral of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, who along with Israel’s Menachem Begin had signed the 1978 Camp David Accords negotiated by Carter’s administration that established a framework for a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Over time, Ford and Carter became close friends and agreed to deliver eulogies for each other.
Carter fulfilled his promise in 2006, and today Ford’s son Steve fulfilled his father’s.
Ford spoke to Carter’s deep faith in God when he noted that the former president “pursued brotherhood across boundaries of nationhood, across boundaries of tradition, across boundaries of caste. In America’s urban neighborhoods and in rural villages around the world, he reminded us that Christ had been a carpenter.” “I’m looking forward to our reunion,” Ford concluded. “We have much to catch up on. Thank you, Mr. President. Welcome home, old friend.”
Carter’s grandson Jason Carter, chair of the Carter Center’s board of trustees and a former Georgia state senator, emphasized Carter’s integrity: his grandfather’s political convictions reflected his private beliefs. “As governor of Georgia half a century ago, he preached an end to racial discrimination and an end to mass incarceration. As president in the 1970s…he protected more land than any other president in history…. He was a climate warrior who pushed for a world where we conserved energy, limited emissions, and traded our reliance on fossil fuels for expanded renewable sources. By the way, he cut the deficit, wanted to decriminalize marijuana, deregulated so many industries that he gave us cheap flights and…craft beer. Basically, all of those years ago, he was the first millennial. And he could make great playlists.”
Jason Carter called his grandfather’s life a “love story, about love for his fellow humans and about living out the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.” He highlighted his grandfather’s work to bring cases of Guinea worm disease from 3.5 million cases in humans every year to fourteen.
Carter noted that “this disease is not eliminated with medicine. It’s eliminated…by neighbors talking to neighbors about how to collect water in the poorest and most marginalized villages in the world. And those neighbors truly were my grandfather’s partners for the past forty years [and have] demonstrated their own power to change their world.” When Jimmy Carter “saw a tiny 600-person village that everybody else thinks of as poor, he recognized it. That’s where he was from. That’s who he was.” He saw it as “a place to find partnership and power and a place to carry out that commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. Essentially, he eradicated a disease with love and respect. He waged peace with love and respect. He led this nation with love and respect.”
President Joe Biden, who was the first senator to endorse Carter’s run for president in 1976, also gave a eulogy today. In what appeared to be a reflection on the incoming president in the audience, who for years has mocked Carter as the worst president in history, Biden focused on what he called Carter’s “enduring attribute: character, character, character.” And, Biden said, quoting the famous saying from ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus: “Character…is destiny,” both in our lives and in the life of the nation.
Carter taught him, Biden said, that “strength of character is more than title or the power we hold. It’s the strength to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity, respect. That everyone, and I mean everyone, deserves an even shot. Not a guarantee, but just a shot…. [W]e have an obligation to give hate no safe harbor, and to stand up to what my dad used to say is the greatest sin of all: the abuse of power.”
Character, Biden said, is not about being perfect, for none of us are perfect. It’s about “asking ourselves: Are we striving to do…the right things?… What are the values that animate our spirit? To operate from fear or hope, ego or generosity? Do we show grace? Do we keep the faith when it’s most tested?”
Biden noted that Carter lived a faith that commanded its adherents to love their neighbors. He also noted that such a commandment is hard to follow, and that it requires action. It is, he said, the essence of the Gospel and many other faith traditions, and it is also “found in the very idea of America. Because the very journey of our nation is a walk of sheer faith. To do the work, to be the country we say we are, to be the country we say we want to be: a nation where all are created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.”
“We’ve never fully lived up to that idea of America,” Biden said, but thanks to patriots like Jimmy Carter, “[w]e’ve never walked away from it either.”
Carter was “[a] white Southern Baptist who led on civil rights. A decorated Navy veteran who brokered peace. A brilliant nuclear engineer who led on nuclear nonproliferation. A hard-working farmer who championed conservation and clean energy.” He “also established a model post-presidency by making a powerful difference as a private citizen in America,” Biden said, showing “us how character and faith start with ourselves and then flow to others.”
“At our best,” Biden said, “we share the better parts of ourselves: joy, solidarity, love, commitment. Not for reward, but in reverence for the incredible gift of life we’ve all been granted. To make every minute of our time here on Earth count.”
“That’s the definition of a good life,” Biden said. It was the life Jimmy Carter lived for 100 years: a “good life of purpose and meaning, of character driven by destiny and filled with the power of faith, hope, and love.”
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Notes:
https://americanoversight.org/timeline/224-p-m/
https://people.com/karen-pence-refuses-greet-donald-trump-jimmy-carter-funeral-8772193
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/adams-vice-presidency/
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/jimmy-carter-eulogy-walter-mondale-full-text/
https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/read-gerald-ford-jimmy-carter-eulogy-full-text-rcna187015
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/30/1161050106/jimmy-carter-biden-relationship
https://apnews.com/article/jimmy-carter-president-biden-eulogy-
Yesterday’s asshat news headlines.
Hi Everyone. I woke at 12:22 last night. But I got up at 1 am and started making posts and doing things. So I just finished the asshat yesterday news posts. So now before I answer the comments … and I love comments everyone sends to me, I have to make a red sauce. Ron promised to make me a grand lasagna if I make the sauce. So with ear buds in, off I go to make the sauce. Hugs and loves to everyone. Remember that I really care for everyone. Add any questions or comments in the comments and I will reply there. Hugs.
Two months ago Fat Hitler vowed to imprison Zuckerberg.
This is the result.
If you criticize the dear leader of the maga cult then you are forever an enemy. Death to the nonbelievers. This is why the current republicans and maga is very much a cult. Hugs.
This is great. The tRump world crowed about this citizen of Greenland who praised tRump’s plan to take over Greenland. Yet the truth did come out … He was a tRump loving fanboy violent felon drug dealer prison escapee. Hugs.
Joy!
A Quick One
First, I was almost not here on the blog at all Sunday, but after supper, I felt like setting up a couple of morning posts, so I read up to stay caught up. I figure I ought to say something.
Somewhere, somehow, I caught a cold. It is only a cold, but it is miserable to the point that I don’t recall having a cold that wore me out the way this one has. I suppose it was working on me for a few days, but it really only hit yesterday. By the time I figured out what was happening, it was a full-blown cold. I did feel better this morning, but I know me, so I’ve tried to take it easier so I can get rid of the danged thing sooner rather than later, or relapsing. I haven’t been ill since before COVID in 2019, and it has been great! I wish we all still wore masks as they do in Japan during cold-flu season. Anyway, eating nutritiously, taking my zinc lozenges, using a decongestant when I need to (and they do too work!), and getting to bed earlier are what I’m doing to get better. Last night I was in bed before 10! It’s usually 11. So, that’s what’s up with me; I just have been taking it easier. TTYL, and everyone stay warm or cool as you need, and safe. 💖 🌞
Scottie's Playtime 