My most commented on photo from 10 years ago.

My most commented on photo from 10 years ago.

I miss this girl so very much.  She was the sweetest thing and everyone loved her.

She had the most beautiful, freaky eyes.  The ice blue was always obvious, but sometimes the light would catch them just right and they would look red.  One night not long after I adopted her I took her to the fenced area at the side of the house to potty.  I didn't realize she was so smart that she could get out.  I was heading out the front door to take out the trash when a brown blur with red eyes came from around the dark corner and ran right at me!  I screamed and slammed the door shut.  After a split second I realized it was Emma and the porch light had made her eyes glow.  I called her in and all was well, but I felt like a huge idiot for not recognizing my own puppy.  LOL

http://www.blu.fyi/2014/06/i-met-emma-my-very-first-time.html

Logical Fallacies to Avoid - Artist: Noelle Cress

Artist: Noelle Cress

Six years ago I fostered a pig. 😂😂😂🥰🥰🥰

Six years ago I fostered a pig.  😂😂😂🥰🥰🥰

This is her dreaming in my lap.  Gah, she was a mess.

I wish I could have kept her but when I took her to the vet they told me that she was a 4-week-old farm pig, meaning that she was going to grow BIG.  I did not expect that; I assumed she was someone's lost pet, because why else would there be a pig in my area?  Unfortunately, there was no way I could provide for a pig that would be her size, so I sent her (with the help of quite a few rescue friends) to a sanctuary.  I still think about her often.  In the short time I had her, I got her almost completely house-trained.  She was hilarious.  Touch her any kind of way she didn't like and she squealed like she was being murdered.  What a drama queen.  🤣  I still hope to visit her at the sanctuary one day.  ❤️❤️❤️

I mean... where's the lie?

I mean... where's the lie?

BLACK LIVES MATTER.

Posted by Melissa Taylor Thomason, copied because I don't want it to disappear.

The reason many young, Southern, white, “allies” like me embrace the “Black Lives Matter” movement is ...

Because we grew up around the “All Lives Matter” crowd that went to church on Sunday and then used the N- word every time a Black person made them mad for the rest of the week. 

Because we got taught “red or yellow, black or white, they are precious in his sight” as kids and then, as teenagers, got told that if we started relationships with black people we’d be called an “N- lover,” disowned or worse. 

Because we were taught about the horrors of slavery, and then we were taught that the Confederate flag should be “respected.” 

Because we grew up hearing white people around us say “I love everybody” and then heard them whisper about not moving into one neighborhood or another because Black people lived there. 

Because we grew up being shown and taught all about a white Jesus and learned later that He looked nothing like us. 

Because at school, we were taught that MLK Jr was a hero and then we saw how angry “Martin Luther King Jr Day” made you. 

Because we heard the “Black jokes” that some of you told and thought the laughter or silence others responded with didn’t line up with the “holy boldness” we’d been taught. 

Because what you taught us black people were or believed or how “they” acted was NOTHING like the reality we found when we got close to them and listened. 

We embrace #BLM because we grew up hearing the words of the “silent majority” spoken aloud, and we knew that what they were saying about HUMAN BEINGS was wrong.

Many of us embrace “Black Lives Matter,” because we embrace all movements that steer us closer to racial equality and because when you showed us who you were, we believed you. 

#BlackLivesStillMatter #AlliesUnite

********

Edit added on 6/11/20:

Let’s clear up some common misconceptions in these comments, as there are lots of them, and I’m down for taking the time to do it if it will help paint a clearer picture: 

1. My parents were INCREDIBLE, but they couldn’t walk around with their hands covering my ears all the time. 😂 I was SMART, and I loved God with everything in me. It didn’t take very long for me to figure out that many of the grown-ups in my extended world were NOT okay with Black people except from a distance. My parents weren’t those people though. Black kids spent the night with me, and one of my friends, who was black, lived with us for a while when I was a young adult. They loved him just like one of their own kids. I thank God for the parents He gave me DAILY. 👍🏻

2. This isn’t just stuff that happened “in the past.” Many of the things I listed are what I heard and saw as a child and teenager in a rural Southern town AND then again heard and saw in the lives of young people I worked with as an adult and in the lives of fellow adults. If these were super rare or isolated events in my world, I wouldn’t have listed them. 👍🏻

3. Yes, I’m sure that racism probably occurs in a variety of regions in this country, but I’ve never lived for an extended period of time anywhere but in the South. So I can’t tell you about anywhere else. You’re welcome to tell ME about it though. 👍🏻

4. Of course, “not all Southerners are racists!” 🤦🏼‍♀️ That was kind of my point. 😂 I am such a strong advocate for black lives, BECAUSE I am a Southerner. I’ve seen racism. I know it’s history in the South. I KNOW it’s not dead, and I absolutely REFUSE to sit silently by and let it breathe and grow without taking action. And I am not alone! There are tons of “Melissas” all over the South right now! (Some of them have shared this post! 😉 )👍🏻

5. I am both well-adjusted and HAPPY. 🥰 I do not support black lives because of “white guilt” or “white angst.” I support black lives because of LOVE!!! I value black lives. I value black children. I value black PEOPLE, and I love them because why wouldn’t I? God made us all in His image, not just us pale folks! 😉 And although I understand that “I didn’t own slaves” and that “it’s not my personal fault that people experience racism in this country,” I do think it is my personal RESPONSIBILITY, as a Christian and a mother, to do what I can to help fix my own house (aka: country)  when it’s broken!!! 

Hugs to every person who can hear this post with their hearts and not their agendas!!!

Yesterday I waffled between enraged and exhausted.

Yesterday I waffled between enraged and exhausted.  My rage was probably showing a bit, but I have no regrets.  We should be angry, but also proud.  We're getting things done.

Today, I am itchy.  I put a 5-years-expired prescription psoriasis cream on a big patch of skin that was bothering me.  Now I feel like I have a chemical burn.  I guess that's what I get for trying my best, being a student, and not being magically wealthy enough to afford health insurance.  I sure do miss the days when Obama was in charge and valued my life regardless of my financial standing.

Make no mistake:  Once I graduate I won't be in this situation again, but many people aren't so fortunate.  And since I'm a caring person that breaks my heart.  I will always vote for someone who cares about the well-being of the people of this country.  The quality of our lives is what matters before anything else, FULL STOP.

Black Lives Matter and have a good day!  ❤

Yesterday I waffled between enraged and exhausted.

Yesterday I waffled between enraged and exhausted.  My rage was probably showing a bit, but I have no regrets.  We should be angry, but also proud.  We're getting things done.

Today, I am itchy.  I put a 5-years-expired prescription psoriasis cream on a big patch of skin that was bothering me.  Now I feel like I have a chemical burn.  I guess that's what I get for trying my best, being a student, and not being magically wealthy enough to afford health insurance.  I sure do miss the days when Obama was in charge and valued my life regardless of my financial standing.

Make no mistake:  Once I graduate I won't be in this situation again, but many people aren't so fortunate.  And since I'm a caring person that breaks my heart.  I will always vote for someone who cares about the well-being of the people of this country.  The quality of our lives is what matters before anything else, FULL STOP.

Black Lives Matter and have a good day!  ❤

He's honestly the most vile and disgusting thing I've ever seen.

He's honestly the most vile and disgusting thing I've ever seen.  Disagree?  Die mad.  Feel like standing up for your orange toddler?  Might as well unfriend me.  I don't have a single fuck left to give anymore.

I miss Obama.  I never felt more secure in this country than when he was in charge.

Shared from Tracy Wade Suhan

THIS WAS ON A FRIEND’S PAGE: An anguished question from a Trump supporter: ‘Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?’

 
THE SERIOUS ANSWER: Here’s what the majority of anti-Trump voters honestly feel about Trump supporters en masse:

 
That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought "Fine."
(https://www.usatoday.com/.../trump-university.../502387002/)

That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, "Okay." (https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hotel-paid-millions-in-fines-for-unpaid-work)

That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, "No problem." (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/list-trumps-accusers-allegations-sexual-misconduct/story?id=51956410&)

That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, "Not an issue." (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/11/22/donald-trumps-outrageous-claim-that-thousands-of-new-jersey-muslims-celebrated-the-911-attacks/)

That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn't care, you exclaimed, "He sure knows me."

(https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/23/president-donald-trump-could-shoot-someone-without-prosecution/4073405002/?)

That when you heard him relating a story of an elderly guest of his country club, an 80-year old man, who fell off a stage and hit his head, to Trump replied: “‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn’t—you know, he was right in front of me, and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him. He was bleeding all over the place. And I felt terrible, because it was a beautiful white marble floor, and now it had changed color. Became very red.” You said, "That's cool!" (https://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-howard-stern-story)

That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw. (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-criticized-after-he-appears-mock-reporter-serge-kovaleski-n470016?)

That when you heard him brag that he doesn't read books, you said, "Well, who has time?" (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/americas-first-post-text-president/549794/?)

That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn't commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, "That makes sense." (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/19/what-trump-has-said-central-park-five/1501321001/?)

That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, "Yes!"

(https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trump-campaign-protests-20160313-story.html)

That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man's coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, "What a great guy!"

(https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/donald-trump-orders-protester-s-coat-is-confiscated-and-he-is-sent-into-the-cold-a6802756.html)

That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, "Thumbs up!" (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/why-cant-trump-just-condemn-nazis/567320/?)

That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, "That's the way I want my President to be." (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-insult-foreign-countries-leaders_n_59dd2769e4b0b26332e76d57)

That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they're supposed to be regulating and you have said, "What a genius!"

(https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/12/29/138-trump-policy-changes-2017-000603/)

That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, "That's smart!"

(https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2018-03-05/how-is-donald-trump-profiting-from-the-presidency-let-us-count-the-ways?)

That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was in the middle of water and you have said, "That makes sense."

(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/09/26/the-very-big-ocean-between-here-and-puerto-rico-is-not-a-perfect-excuse-for-a-lack-of-aid/)

That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, "falling in love" with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, "That's statesmanship!"

(https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/02/politics/donald-trump-dictators-kim-jong-un-vladimir-putin/index.html?)

That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids, has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas - he explains that they’re just “animals” - and you say, “Well, OK then.”

(https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/more-5-400-children-split-border-according-new-count-n1071791?)

That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise.

(https://www.americanprogress.org/article/confronting-cost-trumps-corruption-american-families/)

What you don't get, Trump supporters, is that our succumbing to frustration and shaking our heads, thinking of you as stupid, may very well be wrong and unhelpful, but it's also...hear me...charitable.
Because if you're NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering.

- Adam-Troy Castro