Some recent clips from The Majority Report. Watch / listen to those that interest you.

 

 

 

Many Items in Peace & Justice History for 6/1

Also, I want to mention that I’ve been publishing here at Scottie’s Playtime since 7/10 or 11, and normally, have posted one of these each day. There hasn’t been much change or updating for a while; the newsletter and history website is Carl Bunin’s labor of love, depending upon the sales of buttons, pencils, and other merch. I’ve been reading these since 2001, and have noted it feels as if we here may have seen some of these before, and definitely will have by next month. So: should I continue after July 10th, or has everyone seen these, and enough is enough for a while? I don’t mind either way, but I don’t want to use up space and give people repeats. Just let me know in comments over the next few days, OK? And thanks for visiting Scottie’s Playtime!

June 1, 1845

Sojourner Truth (born Isabella Baumfree, but went by the name she believed God had given her as a symbolic representation of her mission in life) set out from New York City on a journey across America, preaching about the evils of slavery and promoting women’s rights. She had been a slave with several owners but was legally free when slavery was abolished in New York state.
Read more about Sojourner Truth (There’s a very cool yet somewhat incendiary comment there on this page; go see it.)
June 1, 1921
America’s worst race massacre, begun the day before over the threat of a lynching, culminated in the complete destruction of the African-American neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa leaving nearly 10,000 homeless.
The ruins of Tulsa Oklahoma’s Greenwood District following the assault by the white community.
Death in a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921  
read more 
Meet The Last Surviving Witness To The Tulsa Race Riot Of 1921 
June 1, 1932
Gay rights organizer Henry Gerber published an article in Modern Thinker magazine attacking the view that homosexuality is a neurosis.
In 1924, Henry Gerber, a postal worker in Chicago, started the Society for Human Rights, America’s first known gay rights organization.

“The Society for Human Rights is formed to promote and protect the interests of people who are abused and hindered in the legal pursuit of happiness which is guaranteed them by the Declaration of Independence, and to combat the public prejudices against them.”

After having created and distributed a newsletter called “Friendship and Freedom,” Gerber was arrested and held for 3 days without a warrant or being charged with any infractions. Upon release he lost his job for “conduct unbecoming a postal worker.”
Following the last of his three trials, in which the charges were ultimately dismissed, Gerber moved to new York City and re-enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving another 17 years. He lived until 1972, passing away at the the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home in Washington, D.C., living long enough to see the Stonewall Rebellion [see June 28, 1969], the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.
 
More on Henry Gerber 
June 1, 1942

On the advice of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler ordered all Jews in occupied Paris to wear an identifying yellow star on the left side of their coats.
The following month 13,000 French Jews were deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps.

June 1, 1950
Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R-Maine), then the only woman in the Senate, and just the second in U.S. history, denounced Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) and his “red-baiting” tactics on the floor of the U.S. Senate, in a speech called “A Declaration of Conscience.”

“Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism—the right to criticize;
the right to hold unpopular beliefs;
the right to protest;
the right of independent thought.”

Text of the Senator Smith’s Declaration 
June 1, 1963
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and readings from the Bible in public schools violated the establishment clause of the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution in School Dist. Of Abington Township v. Schempp. The Court reasoned that the daily practice was unconstitutional because a public institution was conducting a religious exercise and “that public funds, though small in amount, are being used to promote” a particular religion. “It is not the amount of public funds expended; as this case illustrates, it is the use to which public funds are put . . . .”
The decision 
June 1, 1967
The Vietnam Veterans Against War (VVAW) was founded in New York City after six Vietnam vets marched together in a peace demonstration. The group was organized to give voice to the growing opposition to the escalating war in Indochina among returning servicemen and women.


VVAW, through open discussion of soldiers’ first-hand experiences, revealed the truth about the nature of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia.
VVAW demonstrating against Iraq war 2004
The VVAW today 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjune.htm#june1

A few news articles I wanted to share. Crazy, hateful, and mean.

Trump Admin “Effectively Legalizes” Machine Guns

DOJ Wants To Make It Easier To Indict Congress Reps

 

AP: How Trump Is Scrubbing His Admin’s Records

FDA Approves New COVID Vax With Strict Conditions

 

Federal Judge Rules That DHS Must Keep Custody Of Migrants Shipped To South Sudan Pending His Ruling

Inside The Christianist Plot To Quash Gaza Protests

Wow. A group that initially included no Jews hatched a plan to make support for Palestine a crime. The US is following their playbook and supporting the mass killing & removal of Palestinians.Group Behind Project 2025 Has a Plan to Crush the Pro-Palestinian Movement http://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/u…

David Schatsky (@dschatsky.bsky.social) 2025-05-18T10:24:52.522Z

MSNBC’s Ali Velshi: “America Is Sliding Into Autocracy”

Rule Change Would Let Trump Fire Federal Statisticians

Cooking the books? Fears Trump could target statisticians if data disappointsProposed rule change could pave way for president to fire economists whose figures prove politically inconvenientwww.theguardian.com/us-news/2025…

Lauren Ashley Davis (@laurenmeidasa.bsky.social) 2025-05-18T17:03:59.368Z

Major Corporate Sponsors Withdraw From NYC Pride

Here’s the list:

Anheuser-Busch
Booz Allen Hamilton
Citi
Comcast
Deloitte
Diageo
Garnier
Nissan
PepsiCo
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Skyy Vodka
Target
Mastercard

US Army To Alter Birth Records Of Transgender Troops

Exclusive: US Army to change transgender soldiers' records to birth sex reut.rs/4dvNxhZ

Reuters (@reuters.com) 2025-05-21T15:40:15.551Z

Hegseth Leads Pentagon Prayer For “Divine” Trump

FDA Orders New Warning Labels On COVID Vaccines

Felon Explodes At “Idiot, Jerk, Fake News” Reporter For Asking About Qatari Jet: “You Are Not Smart Enough”

 

Responding to Charlie Kirk on homosexuality & the Bible

OK I admit this guy is a scholar so he uses words and phrases that are sometimes hard for me to follow with my limited education.  But I do understand enough to follow what he is saying.  Charley Kirk is full of shit on what he thinks they bible says because he is letting his own bigotry and prejudices create what the passages mean for him rather than research it with people more knowledgeable.  Jesus and the bible were not against homosexuality as we understand it because they did not see sexuality and sex acts the same way we do.    The sin of Sodom was lack of hospitality and men wanting to take a higher sexual role than angels.  The people of the time of the bible were like young macho men types today, worried about what looked manly enough, and putting your penis in someone regardless of sex was manly.  But the person who took another person in them was not, they were lessor.  Women were viewed as lessor, inferior, and so were men that took another male’s penis inside them.  It was not about pleasure or love, it was all about status.   One thing I like about this guy is he freely admits the bible is context driven and doesn’t know what we know and understand today, that in some areas the morals we have today are superior to that of the bibles for example slavery.   Hugs.


 

Montana Judge Enjoins Bathroom Ban: “No Evidence” The Ban Prevents Violence

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/montana-judge-enjoins-bathroom-ban

Some stories I wanted to share but never found time. I have read these and found them informative and worth the reading

Trump Appointee Pressed Analyst to Redo Intelligence on Venezuelan Gang

Call for EU ban on anti-LGBTQ ‘conversion’ gets 1 million signatures

Call for EU ban on anti-LGBTQ ‘conversion’ gets 1 million signatures

Tim Walz Perfectly Explains Why Trump Running The Country ‘Like A Business’ Is A Bad Idea

https://www.comicsands.com/tim-walz-trump-businessman?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=infeed&utm_campaign=linkprogram

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz criticized President Donald Trump during an interview with MSNBC host Jen Psaki, stressing just why the people who elected Trump to run the country “like a business” were completely misguided.

Walz particularly lamented the impacts of Trump’s ongoing trade war with Canada and Mexico, noting that Trump has a history of scuttling deals and “a proven track record of being an absolute failure.”

https://x.com/Acyn/status/1920290310212759910

https://x.com/Acyn/status/1920290310212759910?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1920290310212759910%7Ctwgr%5E00f795982a109b5c6cc456d92454395e8ffdfb59%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicsands.com%2Ftim-walz-trump-businessman

Military commanders will be told to send transgender troops to medical checks to oust them

https://apnews.com/article/transgender-ban-military-discharge-troops-0218f0b6fec595c420bd0ac072d87335

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks at the Al Udeid Air Base, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks at the Al Udeid Air Base, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Military commanders will be told to identify troops in their units who are transgender or have gender dysphoria, then send them to get medical checks in order to force them out of the service, officials said Thursday.

A senior defense official laid out what could be a complicated and lengthy new process aimed at fulfilling President Donald Trump’s directive to remove transgender service members from the U.S. military.

The new order to commanders relies on routine annual health checks that service members are required to undergo. Another defense official said the Defense Department has scrapped — for now — plans to go through troops’ health records to identify those with gender dysphoria.

 

Far Right Federal Judge Rules Gay And Trans People Can Be Discriminated Against In Workplaces

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/far-right-federal-judge-rules-gay

Judge Kacsmaryk, a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas, ruled on the EEOC’s treatment of Title VII employment discrimination claims on gay and trans people.

Montana Court Issues Final Blow to Anti-Trans Health Care Law

A judge found that the law’s premise is not scientific, but “political and ideological.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Israel announces major expansion of settlements in occupied West Bank

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j5954edlno

David Gritten

BBC News
Reporting fromLondon
Yolande Knell

Middle East correspondent
Reporting fromJerusalem
AFP An aerial view shows people around a portable building under construction at the illegal Israeli settler outpost of Homesh, near the Palestinian village of Burqa, in the occupied West Bank (29 May 2023)AFP
Israeli ministers said the settler outpost at Homesh will be retrospectively legalised (file photo from May 2023)

Israeli ministers say 22 new Jewish settlements have been approved in the occupied West Bank – the biggest expansion in decades.

Several already exist as outposts, built without government authorisation, but will now be made legal under Israeli law. Others are completely new, according to Defence Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Settlements – which are widely seen as illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this – are one of the most contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians.

Katz said the move “prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel”, while the Palestinian presidency called it a “dangerous escalation”.

The Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now called it “the most extensive move of its kind” in more than 30 years and warned that it would “dramatically reshape the West Bank and entrench the occupation even further”.

BBC team’s tense encounter with sanctioned Israeli settler while filming in West Bank

Israeli settlers are seizing Palestinian land under cover of war – they hope permanently

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for their hoped-for future state – in the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

Successive Israeli governments have allowed settlements to grow. However, expansion has risen sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the head of a right-wing, pro-settler coalition, as well as the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

On Thursday, Israel Katz and Bezalel Smotrich – an ultranationalist leader and settler who has control over planning in the West Bank – officially confirmed a decision that is believed to have been taken by the government two weeks ago.

A statement said they had approved 22 new settlements, the “renewal of settlement in northern Samaria [northern West Bank], and reinforcement of the eastern axis of the State of Israel”.

It did not include information about the exact location of the new settlements, but maps being circulated suggest they will be across the length and width of the West Bank.

Katz and Smotrich did highlight what they described as the “historic return” to Homesh and Sa-Nur, two settlements deep in the northern West Bank which were evacuated at the same time as Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005.

Two years ago, a group of settlers established a Jewish religious school and an unauthorised outpost at Homesh, which Peace Now said would be among 12 made legal under Israeli law.

Nine of the settlements would be completely new, according to the watchdog. They include Mount Ebal, just to the south of Homesh and near the city of Nablus, and Beit Horon North, west of Ramallah, where it said construction had already begun in recent days.

The last of the settlements, Nofei Prat, was currently officially considered a “neighbourhood” of another settlement near East Jerusalem, Kfar Adumim, and would now be recognised as independent, Peace Now added.

Map of the Israeli-occupied West Bank showing the approximate locations of 22 new settlements announced by Israeli ministers (29 May 2025)

Katz said the decision was a “strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel, and serves as a buffer against our enemies.”

“This is a Zionist, security, and national response – and a clear decision on the future of the country,” he added.

Smotrich called it a “once-in-a-generation decision” and declared: “Next step sovereignty!”

But a spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – who governs parts of the West Bank not under full Israeli control – called it a “dangerous escalation” and accused Israel of continuing to drag the region into a “cycle of violence and instability”.

“This extremist Israeli government is trying by all means to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh told Reuters news agency.

Lior Amihai, director of Peace Now, said: “The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal.”

Elisha Ben Kimon, an Israeli journalist with the popular Ynet news site who covers the West Bank and settlements, told the BBC’s Newshour programme that 70% to 80% of ministers wanted to declare the formal annexation of the West Bank.

“I think that Israel is a few steps from declaring this area as Israeli territory. They believe that this period will never be coming back, this is one opportunity that they don’t want to slip from their hands – that’s why they’re doing this now,” Mr Ben Kimon told the BBC’s Newshour programme.

Israel effectively annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, in a move not recognised by the vast majority of the international community.

AFP Israeli soldiers patrol outside the construction of a portable building at the Homesh site in the West Bank on 29 May 2023.AFP
Israeli soldiers accompanied settlers establishing the Homesh outpost in May 2023

This latest step is a blow to renewed efforts to revive momentum on a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict – the internationally approved formula for peace that would see the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel – with a French-Saudi summit planned at the UN’s headquarters in New York next month.

Jordan’s foreign ministry condemned what it called a “flagrant violation of international law” that “undermines prospects for peace by entrenching the occupation”.

UK Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer said the move was “a deliberate obstacle to Palestinian statehood”.

Since taking office, the current Israeli government has decided to establish a total of 49 new settlements and begun the legalisation process for seven unauthorised outposts which will be recognised as “neighbourhoods” of existing settlements, according to Peace Now.

Last year, the UN’s top court issued an advisory opinion that said “Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful”. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) also said Israeli settlements “have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law”, and that Israel should “evacuate all settlers”.

Netanyahu said at the time that the court had made a “decision of lies” and insisted that “the Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land”.

Missouri Supreme Court Defies Voters, Halts Abortions in the State

Missouri Supreme Court Defies Voters, Halts Abortions in the State

Missouri Supreme Court Defies Voters, Halts Abortions in the State

Despite passage of a constitutional amendment last fall, the ping-pong battle over “reproductive freedom” continues.

FBI To Investigate “Targeted Violence Against Religious Groups” After Hate Group Rally In Seattle Gayborhood

FBI To Investigate “Targeted Violence Against Religious Groups” After Hate Group Rally In Seattle Gayborhood

I watched videos of this protest and the complete violence of the police going full out assault against the gay protestors who were just standing there.  The Christian group in anger at what the mayor said about them, so the next day blocked access to the town hall not letting reporters, workers, or people in the community into the town hall.  The Christian group did not have a permit and violated sound level ordnances but the police did not try to remove them or force them to let people through to the town hall.  But the police did again violently attack the counter protestors from the neighborhoods.  It seems clear the police are pro the Christian haters who want conversion therapy done on LGBTQ+ kids to wipe out anyone not straight and cis. The police chaplain is on the fly for the hate group as you can see below.    The Christian hate group wants to force everyone to live as their church doctrines demand.  They are extremely hateful towards the LGBTQ+ community.  They demand that people respect and accommodate their views but refuse to accept the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, not accept the rights that the LGBTQ+ communities are due.   I will post the rest of the post by Joe. My. God.  but at the end I will post a video that streamer Vaush made on this subject also.  As Vaush says the prosecutors refused to press charges on many the police arrested.  Maybe because they were innocent protestors viciously attacked by bigoted police.   Hugs


May 28, 2025

The Seattle Times reports:

In the days after a chaotic confrontation between police and protesters at a conservative Christian rally on Capitol Hill, several groups have questioned why the demonstration was held at Cal Anderson Park and how the city could have better prepared.

The rally, advocating “freedom from same sex attraction” and ”the sacrality of biological gender,” was permitted in the heart of the state’s most LGBTQ+-friendly neighborhood, in a park named for the state’s first openly gay elected official. It attracted scores of protesters who scrapped with police. Twenty-three people were arrested.

Local LGBTQ+ advocates and at least one City Hall politician expressed anger the permit was granted for Cal Anderson, alleging the location was intended to rile the neighborhood’s residents.

Seattle’s ABC affiliate reports:

The Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced via a social media post on Tuesday evening the FBI will investigate allegations of targeted violence against religious groups regarding last weekend’s chaotic Cal Anderson Park rally.

Dan Bogino posted the announcement on X at 5:15 p.m., writing, “We have asked our team to fully investigate allegations of targeted violence against religious groups at the Seattle concert. Freedom of religion isn’t a suggestion.”

MayDay USA, which describes itself as a Christian Pro-Life organization, held the rally at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. It was met by LGBTQ+ protesters in a competing rally. At some point, police were called in, and there were multiple scuffles between the group and officers.

From my first post about the incident…

Seattle’s Fox affiliate reports:

One of the prominent supporters of Mayday USA is former Spokane Valley state representative Matt Shea, of the “On Fire Ministries,” according to the Radical Women Seattle. Mayday USA organizers have set up a tour of five cities in the country, with Saturday’s event being held in what is considered the heart of the LGBTQ+ community in Seattle on Capitol Hill.

Seattle’s NBC affiliate reports:

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said the far-right rally was specifically held at the park in Seattle’s known LGBTQ+ neighborhood “to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values.”

In a statement, Mayor Harrell called Seattle “a welcoming, inclusive city for LGBTQ+ communities, and we stand with our trans neighbors when they face bigotry and injustice.” Harrell said anarchists joined the counterprotesters, which resulted in violence and arrests. He said the event organizes shut down the event early after being asked to do so.

Matt Shea, the far-right extremist cited above, has appeared here multiple times, most recently in February 2023 when a church then-affiliated with Shea was ordered to pay Planned Parenthood nearly $1 million in legal fees and a fine related to protests that “interfered with patient care.”

He first earned national headlines in 2019 when leaked chats showed his violent fantasies about executing non-Christians and when it was learned that he had participated in militia drills to train young men for “biblical warfare.”

Shea advocates for the creation of a 51st US state based on “biblical law.” He has also said that all American men who fail to avow allegiance to Jesus should be executed.

He was expelled by the Washington state Republican caucus but refused to resign even after the feds found that he had “participated in an act of domestic terrorism against the United States” by helping plan the armed takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016.

Shea did not seek reelection in 2020 and is now the pastor of Covenant Christian Church in Spokane.

Hair during childhood

I have very few photos of me as a child.  I only have these few.  I wish I had more.  I did have a small book given to me by someone who knew my adopting adults but hurricane Ian took them from me and I did not have them saved digitally.  Notice that until I was 17 and in the church boarding school was I allowed to have long hair.   Hair was used as a way to set me apart from other kids, to reenforce the idea that I was less than the others, I was the one to be hurt and used.  As I have mentioned while the other kids could have their hair the current style I was required to have my hair as short as possible.  When I was young my adopting father cut it himself and would often leave bald spots and make it as ugly as possible.  Hugs

Me at 7 months

These two pictures below I do not know how old I am, but again notice the hair.  In the top picture we are at the large farm my grandparents owned.  It was a place the entire family gathered at holidays.  I was happy to be outside because inside the big farm house with a dozen bedrooms I was constantly being raped or made to please “my” siblings, cousins, and uncles.  Even at that age of 4 or 5 I was no stranger to the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that started at age 3.   The clothing was always decent when we were there, to be taken from me once we left. At the farm house I had food to eat when hungry, and grandmother was always talking to me, hugging me, and just letting me stay near her.  No one yelled at me even though I was scared of some of the adult men.  But when we left the good times stopped and the abuse began.

The lower one I think was taken after we have had moved to the small cow town to evade the abuse charges against the adults.  I think this might have been my second grade school photo.  By now the light was going from my eyes and I learned not to talk.  I simply looked at everyone as possibly the next one I would have to “make happy” or perform for.  It was now happening at school, by the one of the town police officers, and of course at home.  My siblings would drug me and take me to parties or simply have them at the house we lived in and I would be a party favor.  

In this picture below I am about 11 or 12.  I am about to go to be taken somewhere to some event to be displayed.  I think it might have been to church where for a while the adopting adult female and her daughters were going to hopefully to buy their way past their guilts.  The pastor there was regularly abusing me, I have talked about that before.  I was grateful he only wanted to play with my nude body or have me suck him, never put something in my butt as normally I would have been raped at least once before getting ready for church.  By now I had no fight left in me.  Notice the always long sleeves to cover the marks and bruises and the long pants to cover the welts and marks.  Again notice the short hair at a time when longer flowing hair was being worn by boys my age in school.  This would have been in the early 1970s.  By now at this age I had accepted I was a toy to be used or displayed, moved and directed by them.  I had no agency, no authority, no say in my life.  My retreat was in my head, the place I lived, the dreams and stories I told myself that no one else could hear. 

Below is me at 18 at the church boarding school.  This is the first time in my life I was allowed to grow my hair out.  The adopting adults hated it.  The adopting adult female constantly bitching and insulting me over.  At this point the adopting male refused to speak to me or be in any room I was in if I had to be at their home during the school year.  I tried to remain at the school as much as possible.

Below is me at age 23 or early 24 when I had just gotten out of the military.  I had already started to let my hair grow over my ears.  This was the way I kept my hair most of my life just longer on the sides and back.  Parted on the left and swept to the right.   Hugs

This is me at age 23 or early 24 when I had just gotten out of the military.  I had already started to let my hair grow over my ears.  This was the way I kept my hair most of my life just longer on the sides and back.  Parted on the left and swept to the right.   Hugs