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Melissa Paints

@melissavandiver.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.5K following 12K posts

Melissa Vandiver (she/her), artist & illustrator in New Orleans. Board member New Orleans Women and Children's Shelter. Noted loudmouth. Follow my art account for art and less loudmouth: @mvandiverart.bsky.social mvandiver-art.carrd.co

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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 7h
Putting this here so I remember to watch later and because I think it may interest y'all. It's a doc about someone trying to reconnect with their hateful MAGA father after his cancer diagnosis. youtu.be/_WKZNlhVo54
youtu.be
Revealing The Racial Divide in Nebraska | Full Documentary
YouTube video by PBS Documentaries
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the beggars out of here getter @milesklee.bsky.social · 8h
“we scared this dude so much about other places in America that he thinks they’re all warzones and he does want to drive an armored jeep into an urban center and kill anyone he encounters but they don’t have the right kind of gas station drugs or energy drinks and his mom is actually really sick…”
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Zoomer Antimillenarian @surcomplicated.bsky.social · 8h
The simple answer, btw, is to pick a couple high-profile targets and destroy them. And the painfully obvious two to start with are (1) Elon's companies and (2) Oracle. The Oracle Corporation is one of the worst rent-seekers in the US. And Elon's just committing crimes left and right.
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geoffrey @parsnip.bsky.social · 9h
there is a deep moral and social rot in rural and red state america and people pointing it out are not the cause of it
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 05/10/2026
If the Democrats win, they have to be ready to bring generational change. Reform the courts, eliminate the filibuster, expand the house, admit DC and Puerto Rico as states, pass a new voting rights act, and prosecute every single corrupt member of the Trump admin.
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
ALL for the profits to go to like 100 people
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ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 05/10/2026
treating voting like a privilege that can be lost instead of a right and duty of all citizens casts a bad light on the whole system
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Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 05/10/2026
All prisoners should have the right to vote while in prison
Norman Rockwell's Freedom of Speech
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 04/10/2026
If Texas AG Ken Paxton loses his state’s U.S. Senate race and doesn’t accept the results, he will have unusually powerful tools to investigate his own race — even without legitimate evidence of any crimes. Fortunately, election officials are on heightened alert: demdock.com/4jvWgFM
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Shannon @nolashan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
FYI, Bratz Y'all is going to be at Port Orleans all month. #nolasky
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Pharma industry is so fucked. Ordering my meds from the Mark Cuban website because WITH MY INSURANCE these exact meds cost me around $100. Sometimes randomly higher or lower because why price things consistently? WITH MY INSURANCE y'all, which is like medium good!
Screenshot receipt that says Home delivery
Mirtazapine 15mg Tablet
$5.80
Atomoxetine HCl 100mg Capsule
$13.21
Subtotal
$19.01

Taxes
$0.00
Shipping
$5.25
Delivery Order Total
$24.26
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Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
demanding the pope give up on dualism and believe in physicalism is a grade A "what is it exactly you think this guys job is" selfown
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Rory Blank @roryblank.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
A majority of Texans support increasing access to abortions The Texas GOP: “Look at that city boy, don’t he look like a sissy gay homo” A majority of Texans want legal Marijuana The Texas GOP: ”brisket!!!!!!!” A bunch of rural farmers: “ooooh brisket good! Brisket! Brisket! Brisket!”
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
My kingdom for a Democrat who would just roll their eyes and call the accusation stupid and irrelevant There's a reason the Tim walz "weird" thing struck a chord with people
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Helping clean out my friend's apartment (who moved away) and my husband and I wanted his giant dresser but couldn't go get it until the dead of night and a neighbor understandably thought we were robbing the place. On the plus side I got to drive home like this
Photo of a dilapidated old Kia soul with a dresser strapped on top of it, at night with a townhouse building behind it
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It's that time of year! School kids are picking up their band instruments for the first time and their parents are clearly making them practice outside haha. We've got a trumpet today
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Wait this is about LOISH!? No
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I'm personally of the opinion that you should never ever accuse an artist of using AI unless you are directly paying them. Not because I want people to get away with it, but because the damage done to artists by those accusations is too great, considering AI is mimicking *us*
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Arden Powell @ardenpowell.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
If you think an artist's style looks like AI but you can scroll back through their portfolio and see them doing the same work before 2020, congrats, you're not looking at an AI grifter. You're looking at one of the original victims whose entire style AI stole.
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Hahahahahaahahah
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
2 summers ago, Trump telling everyone to move on from the Epstein files and calling it a hoax initiated a schism that has been growing on the right
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Omg I would be in divorce court so fast www.reddit.com/r/NewOrleans...
reddit.com
From the NewOrleans community on Reddit: Trying to recover my mom’s ashes.
Explore this post and more from the NewOrleans community
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Parkscope Joe @parkscopejoe.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Ultimately I think human authorship is impoetant, even if AI tools are part of the process. (Part of, not the start and finish)
In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity.
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The audacity to lobby these religious leaders to get some spiritual priority for their models when they refuse to help existing humans and are creating their "beings" at the expense of existing humans
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
My mind is unboggled
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Danny Cherry Jr (twitter/Insta/tiktok: @Deecherrywriter) @deecherrywriter.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
LOUISIANANS OF BLUESKY! ASSEMBLE! I'm working a story related to the Louisiana US Senate race. Any Louisianans here got family members or friends who are Republican or independent but voting for Jamie Davis? Think they'd want to talk to me? If so DM me!!!
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Zoomer Antimillenarian @surcomplicated.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
FWIW, I think a fuckup on this scale in time to wreck them electorally was *almost* inevitable from Day 1, precisely because this is the Special Birthday Boy presidency in which there are almost no limits on Trump's madness and every proposed policy disaster has a real shot at going all the way.
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
In many ways, the only thing boys need to learn are the lessons we already teach girls. They need to learn to be part of a community. And if they understand that, then the lessons on consent and sexual violence come naturally.
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The government's AI chatbot is able to say something that no Trump nominee is allowed to.
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This aligns with my observation that Grok is a net good on Twitter (yes, Mecha Hitler); it's correct much more of the time than the right wing assholes! AND THEY LISTEN TO IT
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Also, it's basically a very clear argument for why *I* - the reader, their friend, whatever woman in their life - should be allowed to be raped. If I looked at a man and put a list of conditions on his not being murdered, he'd see that as a threat right?
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
For me, the hardest thing about stories like the Cornell gang rape case isn’t reading the initial details—although that is hard. What’s even harder is when men online, especially the journalists and pundits, start trying to combat the feminist outrage by purposefully seeding doubt and victim-blaming
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
if you’re a dude thinking “i’ve never done anything disgusting” (citations needed) then you’ve more than likely sat there quietly while your friend did something disgusting or bragged about doing something disgusting. you cannot absolve yourself.
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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“you live in a bubble” yeah, we all do, social media literally manufactures bubbles for us.
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is horrible, especially for today's college kids, but please remember anything he does with a stroke of the pen can be undone with a stroke of the pen.
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Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"For months, a group of central Louisianans and its growing coalition of allies have come together to thwart the family and child detention facility from taking root in Alexandria..." veritenews.org/2026/09/22/o...
veritenews.org
Opponents of Alexandria ICE detention facility hold community forum - Verite News New Orleans
The England Authority Board of Commissioners is slated to discuss the planned ICE detention facility at a meeting on Thursday.
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Danny Cherry Jr (twitter/Insta/tiktok: @Deecherrywriter) @deecherrywriter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My favorite part of this story—which calls into question whether or not a paper can objectively cover a mega-corporation it is partnered with—is how a rep from Meta contact one the journalists of this piece several times to request that they include favorable coverage of Meta.
He then texted, four times, pushing for this story to include favorable depictions of the Meta data center. 

“Can you confirm you’ll note some of these positives in the piece?” Stone texted shortly after sending the brief statement.

The Meta executive then called the reporter and, for about five minutes, continued to push for positive coverage of Meta within this story on the company’s influence on news coverage.
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Godspeed You! BOOsky Emperor @andrewpaul.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
the easiest way to describe New Orleans to someone who’s never been is that it’s simultaneously the literal and figurative End of the World, as well as everyone’s future it’s somehow both ominous and incredibly life-affirming. 10/10 city. so thankful i got to live here for the years i did
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Someone on Reddit posted about a dog I want and I was messaging back and forth and then they deleted their account??! I guess I dodged a bullet although it seemed pretty normal
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 25/09/2026
I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
They trying to set the narrative that it is agents, and not tools they invented and trained on purpose, doing this. Don't repeat it in their words
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Of note, data centers etc are a big issue here, and Letlow (R) appears to be for them (while doing shady stock trading). Davis (D) is a rural farmer who's been on the scene a while advocating for rural Louisianians - a generally good candidate who will probably cut into the GOP share of that base
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Danny Cherry Jr (twitter/Insta/tiktok: @Deecherrywriter) @deecherrywriter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
🚨🚨🚨 Just got info from the Jamie Davis (Louisiana US Dem candidate) campaign that a poll taken from 9/17 to 9/19 shows he's within 4 points of US Rep. Julia Letlow (the R senate candidate) in the Louisiana US senate race. Of note, Letlow's name recognition is double that of Davis. (82% vs. 41%)
TO: Jamie Davis for U.S. Senate
FROM: Hart Research Associates
DATE: September 22, 2026
RE: Recent statewide survey shows Jamie Davis within the margin of error; strong reaction to his positive message

Hart Research Associates conducted a statewide survey between September 17 and 19, 2026, among
500 likely Louisiana voters via landline, cell phone, and text-to-web. The survey was representative of
the November 2026 electorate by key demographic, geographic, and partisan factors, and has a
margin of error of ±4.5%.
Our survey shows that Jamie Davis is within striking distance of Julia Leitlow in the initial trial
heat, despite the Republican’s name recognition advantage:
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Danny Cherry Jr (twitter/Insta/tiktok: @Deecherrywriter) @deecherrywriter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I know that a Dem polling closely to a GOP candidate in a La US Senate race seems off, but after talking to an OG Louisiana GOP pollster/consultant, there's things to consider: 1. Interparty squabbling within the La GOP, for starters: www.audacy.com/wwl/news/loc...
audacy.com
Senate race could get ugly as GOP candidates fight for votes
“I think it’s kind of difficult to say who’s leading at this point,” LAPolitics.com publisher Jeremy Alford said, noting that each of the candidates has commissioned his or her own polls in the race. ...
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Yell In a War @jelenawoehr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
it really needs to be more openly discussed that all the people advocating for “we should be fine with losing basic skills if we get more systems thinking” are men, meaning socialized to expect to be able to offload basic tasks of daily living onto a wife as part of their compensation for existing
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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I hate how existing laws just don't apply to tech?? You can't legally record people without their knowledge or consent in a lot of states!!
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Barker abolish ICE 🧊 @pursuedbyabear.llc · 24/09/2026
Can you imagine an elected leader who simply includes art as part of his work? As though any thriving community can do without it? #theatersky
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