Category: Love
My Personal Voting Post
It’s been a day, really, but that can be a day-in-the-life post some other time. Meanwhile, I have a tab up that I intend to use in my voting post, and it’s still there because I haven’t gotten it done. Here I am at 1 til 5 PM, but I am doing it now. 🌞🤯🌞
So my mission for today was to vote this morning. I got around and fixed my hair, and went to vote. There’s a jury trial, so parking was short. There was a spot, and I fit, but it was tough getting out of the car, as the person to my left had parked just barely on their righthand, my lefthand, line. But it got done. I figured they’d leave and make me look like the a-hole, even though I did have 3 in. of space between my car and my righthand line. Then, I figured they probably pulled in the best they could, and maybe/probably the person they pulled in next to had parked too far over, making this person look like the a-hole. So, all’s well, I got in, got signed in, and voted. There was not a line, but each machine was kept in use; there was a steady flow of voters. Awesome!
It was smooth as silk, and I actually got to vote for Dems all the way down the ticket except one office, where I wrote in a good friend of mine who I admire, and who would be a superlative state rep. Else, I voted Dem all the way. It was good. I usually post a pic of my pen and my sticker, but county costs are up, and there are no stickers today, and no free stylus pens, either. So, big whoop, but it got done! I expect to hear (read) that everyone who reads here votes this season; look at my WP handle!
Anyway, here’s a great post about another voter who votes Blue:
http://vixenstrangelymakesuncommonsense.blogspot.com/2024/10/heres-bit-of-history.html#more
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Here’s a Bit of History
This is the first president whose inauguration I can remember. Now, if you know my age, you might think that is improbable, but 1976 was a big year in Philadelphia with the Bicentennial and all. And I guess I imbibed political sensibility a bit from my mom. In 1977 I had a turntable, a Kiss album alongside my Sesame Street records and was a fan of Happy Days and watched some documentary about the 25th anniversary of rock and roll on PBS about a dozen times, it felt like.
I remember the 1970s. I was already me by the time I was a toddler cleaning up shot glasses after parties (the taste of blackberry brandy and the sound of Steppenwolf) and listening to the Midnight Special. when I definitely wasn’t supposed to still be awake and turning on the sole tv in the house and was lifting cold pizza out of the fridge. Mom finding me zonked on the floor with the farm report or Chief Halftown on in the morning.
He reminded me of Mr. Rogers then, and that was all right by me. He still does, and I don’t have a greater compliment. He cares, and he acts on his sense of caring. It’s the best thing you can say anyone ever does.
Kamala Harris is a lot closer to my age than Jimmy Carter and is a woman, like me. I am still mad about the women in their 100’s and their 90’s in 2016, who finally got to vote for a woman for president and she never broke through the ceiling she most certainly dented.
But maybe me and the first president I can remember as a girl, who talked so appreciatively of his own daughter, Amy, when I was a little girl myself and wanted grownups to believe in girls, can see Kamala Harris win together.
Maybe this is just a sentimental, schmaltzy departure from me busting on Trump’s mental decline or whatever–but I would like to see this. She is so ready, and I am so ready. and we are so ready.
So here is Harris calling Trump a weak bitch who loves dictators because of his weak bitchness. Because I am sentimental, but this is business and Trump needs a boot in the ass.
I’m not saying “we’ve come a long way, baby” or “she can bring home the bacon” or whatever passed for 1970s feminism. I am saying this candidate is herself outstanding and can do the damn job. Not because she’s a woman, but because she is a boss.
And the miserable misogynist she is running against is an echo of the past that a 100 year old man knows should be left to history. Because he has fought against that bigotry in his own life and in his own faith.
Saving the world-a reblog
Words Have Power

Good Evening, Everyone. Today I’d like to talk about the words we use, not even knowing the damage we do, with one specific question: Do you think you are a good person?
I’m willing to bet, to put real money on the line and bet that nearly everyone believes themselves to be a good person. I’m also willing to bet that many of the people who will answer that question with a “no” are really good people, but also really hurting people. They are the ones that have been told they are no good, that they are a monster, that they would be better off having never been born. And that hurts, more than a simple “I’m sorry” would ever be able to cover.

In these days of politics and fear, we lash out in anger and frustration. We use words to win, to wound, to prove we are right in the vain presumption that our being “right” even matters.
We flay our loved ones so very self-righteously; we flay innocent lives and cast salt to let it burn. Do we even know who we are hurting? Do we even care?

There is an old saying that goes something similar to ‘when you march to war, be sure you know where to point your weapons’.
And, maybe that’s the problem. We Americans have become so used to war, to fighting, to being strong, to having an enemy, that we’ve come to NEED an enemy. We’ve come to only know who we are and what we love by having someone to hate.

Life is hard. Choose love.
Hugs
Randy
Why I have not been on the blog, and what is going on.
Hi everyone. Thank you to Ali and Randy for keeping things running here. I went from my own personal melt down to now helping someone avoid theirs. I will explain.
So many may have noticed I am only posting view email news now mostly, I am not keeping up with comments, however I have saved them all in open tabs to get to later after this passes, and I am rarely interacting.
I really wanted to do this as a video as I feel I could do it so much better. But I can’t ever find the time and now don’t have the energy to do it. So here is what is going on.
I have a friend who is a fellow survivor. He was kidnapped at 7 yrs old and then tortured and trained to be a sex toy. Very harsh graphics if you ever read it. It led to lifetime victimization that he details on MS and with me in our talks. But the short version is he got out of it when he turned 40 but it has nearly destroyed his life. So now you understand the backstory. We have been working on and helping each with our abuses. He is one of the few people that understands some of the things going on with me and my issues. He has insights that have helped me and I help him. He tells me I am one of the few who also understand what he is dealing with emotionally.
My friend Kamyk was getting very sick. He has diverticulosis, infected pockets in his intestines. But his are in his in colon area, the upper sigmoid colon. He started having fevers of 104 and me and others begged him to go to medical care. He did. They hospitalized him because one or more pockets burst and were killing him. But the suddenness of it and the situation left him without any of his coping methods such as his computer but only his phone which he used to contact me. He has since gotten some things to help him, but his situation medically is iffy and his emotional situation is protected only by me and one other person that really can only contact him a few hours during the deep morning hours.
So the first days of communication were me trying hard to keep him from freaking out and his needing me to be with him almost all the time he was awake. He left our communications on even when the doctors were talking with him, which he gave them permission to tell me. I have not violated those talks as my own training tells me what I can repeat and what I can not. I do not repeat the doctor’s words but my friend’s fears and worries along with his understandings of medical things.
That set up a pattern that was made from his desperation and fear along with my wanting to be there for my friend just like Randy was there for me when I had my break down in 2014. He did the same thing spending as much time as possible that I needed but in his case he was working nights in a 12 hour shift in a hard job. But he did it to keep me from cutting myself and my wanting to die. I am now so much better I am paying his grand wonderful sacrifice forward. Every waking moment I had was spent with him in his waking moment and he slowly adjusted so has become calm. I have only my health, abilities, and emotional stability to work around. Again Randy had it much worse and he did it. So then should I try.
He today was going in for a dirty surgery. I am not posting the details but to only say that this is not preferred and going to be hard on my friend. I stayed with him via text even during my doctor’s office. My provider is so wonderful she took time to explain his situation internally and reassure me. But he went into the pre-op about 1 pm my time. It is now 8 pm my time with no word from him. Ron has tried to get me to go to bed, but I am so worried I can’t do so. Ron has reminded me of my training that I know a hard surgery could take a long surgery recovery time and now he will need / want / be kept under so he is not awake to text. But even though I know all that, I worked that, I did that, I still worry about my friend. Not really for the surgery. It will be what it will be. But his emotional state when he wakes up. He is so fragile. I have had all my life to deal with mine, I had my melt down mental break in 2014 so have had time to deal with that also. Kamyk just remembered parts of his abuse a year ago and his horrible kidnapping at 7 and the total mind, emotional, and physical fuck of a 7-year-old boy is something that is only months old and he is trying to deal with. He has turned to me as so much of what he endured was like what I endured. Sweet soul he is he thinks my own abuse was worse because of the constant violence I experience for 17 years, and I think his is worse because of the constant sexual use of his body over the years while mine was again only 17 years plus three people raping me as an 18, 19, and 20 year old, one person a female that made it worse for me somehow did it 4 times before I found a way to stop it. I guess we are two very damaged people desperately trying to help each other in our passage in life.
One last thing for this post. I should have gone to bed at 5 or 6 when I was tired. Ron is asking me to try to go to bed now. But I don’t feel sleepy even though I woke at midnight and only had a 2 hour nap because he came and laid down with meat 3 pm today. But remember I got shot up with steroids today. It is going to wreak havoc with my emotions, with my sleep, and my eating needs for a few weeks again. Thank each one of you that comes to Scotties Playtime and for each of you that read this post. It is important to me. Hugs.
Peace & Justice History for 10/14:
| October 14, 1943 As the result of an uprising at the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland, about 300 of its Jewish prisoners escaped, though only about 50 survived until the end of the war.Following the escape, the remaining inmates were killed and the camp was promptly closed by the Germans. Though Sobibor’s six gas chambers could exterminate 1200 people at a time, it was the smallest of the death camps. ![]() Some of the people who took part in the uprising at Sobibor (picture taken in 1944). The story of Sobibor |
October 14, 1979![]() The first national gay and lesbian march for civil rights in Washington, D.C., drew over 100,000 demanding an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of lesbian and gay people. More info about the March |
| October 14, 1981 Dock workers in Darwin, Australia, began a seven-day strike, refusing to load uranium on board “Pacific Sky” for eventual use by the U.S. military. After a week, the ship was forced to leave without its cargo. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryoctober.htm#october14
Better News
Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for October 11, 2024
Peace & Justice History for 10/11:
It’s National Coming Out Day!

| October 11, 1987 More than half a million people flooded Washington, D.C., demanding civil rights for gay and lesbian Americans, now celebrated each year as National Coming Out Day. Many of the marchers objected to the government’s response to the AIDS crisis, as well as the Supreme Court’s 1986 decision to uphold sodomy laws in Bowers v. Hardwick. ![]() ![]() The AIDS quilt, first displayed in 1987 in Washington, DC The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was first displayed there, bringing national attention to the impact of AIDS on gay communities, a tapestry of nearly two thousand fabric panels each a tribute to the life of one who had been lost in the pandemic. |
| Brief history of National Coming Out Day https://www.advocate.com/exclusives/2019/10/11/coming-out-day-brief-history |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryoctober.htm#october11
Not Losing You: a two minute PSA micro-movie supporting trans youth during the election
I admit I felt real emotion, I cried real tears as I watched this. I never had decent or even normal parents as anyone who reads this blog knows. But for a parent to apologize to a child shocks me and I love the idea. Parents can be wrong also and should be forgiven when they do admit it. My abusers never did. But to accept a child that is different is hard for some, they may not really understand. I have read so many stories of kids as young as 13 being kicked out of their homes to live on the street having to sell their body’s to survive. Far too many choose suicide. We need more of this to combat the shit red states are throwing out / doing calling it a culture war against woke. We need more of this to combat the religious assholes like Libs of TikTok who said it was OK for her to lie making trans / gay / drag queen people targets because lying was not against the law. Please spread this and help save more trans kids and help more parents find it in them to love their child more than their beliefs. Thanks. Hugs. Scottie
OK it has started, we are getting heavy rain and wind bands that will continue and get stronger until the hurricane Milton pass us inland. If it stays the course it is on, we will get the second tier wind / rain effects not the most drastic eye wall strength we got for over 8 hours during Ian. The storm is projected to hit at 1 or 2 overnight so we hopefully will be asleep. The storm is moving at 16 mph so it shouldn’t be over us long. Thanks for all those that reached out and sent support. Our home is very secure and we have the best roof that 17,000 dollars could provide. Ron reinforced the thinnest part of the roof with 4X4s because he was worried the inner pan roof was flexing. He built the carport with 6X6 posts and so many supports the house will go before the car port. Every window is boarded up. We have plenty of food and after the hurricane passes if we lose power the generator we have named the beast is ready to go. It has a surge power of 7,500 watts and ran stuff in our home and a neighbor’s after Ian. We only need it to run ours now. We have a hot plate and counter top microwave we can pull out and hook to the generator. We are in good shape, the best we could be. Hugs. Scottie
Not Losing You is a two minute PSA micro-movie supporting trans youth in the wake of unrelenting anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ legislation sweeping the U.S., and during the 2024 election season. Following an argument earlier that day over what clothing a trans daughter can wear and what name she can use, a farmer-father makes a decision that will change both of their lives
Peace & Justice History for 10/6
(Peace History’s links were misdirected for a few days, but the links are back now.)
| October 6, 1683 Thirteen Mennonite families from the German town of Krefeld arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Concord. Having endured religious warfare in Europe, the Mennonites were pacifists, similar to the Society of Friends (often known as Quakers) who opposed all forms of violence. The first Germans in North America, they established Germantown which still exists as part of Philadelphia. Modern Mennonite peace activism: |
| October 6, 1955 Poet Allen Ginsberg read his poem “Howl” for the first time at Six Gallery in San Francisco. The poem was an immediate success that rocked the Beat literary world and set the tone for confessional poetry of the 1960s and later. “Howl and Other Poems” was printed in England, but its second edition was seized by customs officials as it entered the U.S. City Lights, a San Francisco bookstore, published the book itself to avoid customs problems, and storeowner (and poet) Lawrence Ferlinghetti was arrested and tried for obscenity, but defended by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). ![]() Working on Howl in San Francisco, circa June, 1956 Following testimony from nine literary experts on the merits of the book, Ferlinghetti was found not guilty. ![]() Lawrence Ferlinghetti outside City Lights More about City Lights Read Howl Read more about Allen Ginsberg |
| October 6, 1976 An airliner, Cubana Airlines Flight 455, exploded in midair, killing 73 mostly young passengers including the entire Cuban youth fencing team. The plot was engineered by Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban former CIA agent, who was based in Venezuela at the time. The Posada Carriles file from the National Security Archive |
| October 6, 1978 346 protestors were arrested at the site of the proposed Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant in Inola, Oklahoma. In 1973 Public Service of Oklahoma announced plans to build the Black Fox plant about 15 miles from Tulsa. It was also near Carrie Barefoot Dickerson’s family farm. She became concerned as a nurse and a citizen about the potential health hazards. Carrie Barefoot DickersonThrough her group, Citizens’ Action for Safe Energy (CASE), and the consistent opposition of informed and persistent allies, the project was canceled in 1982. There are no nuclear plants in the state of Oklahoma, and no nuclear plant has been built in the U.S. since then. Carrie Dickerson Foundation |
October 6, 1979![]() Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant protest – late 1970s Over 1400 were arrested at Seabrook, New Hampshire, the construction site of two new nuclear power plants. The occupation was organized by the Clamshell Alliance. Clamshell history |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryoctober.htm#october6






Carrie Barefoot Dickerson