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Melissa Paints

@melissavandiver.bsky.social

1.3K followers 1.4K following 6.9K 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 https://linktr.ee/mvandiverart

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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 23d

Would love it if y'all followed my art page and shared my posts from there!

Melissa Vandiver Art @mvandiverart.bsky.social · 23d

Here's a thread of the art I spend most of my time on: themed pet portraits. They are all commissions, and I love collaborating with pet weirdos to portray these lil guys. I have done around 250 of these and they are each different. If you ever wonder what I'm working on, it's probably one of these.

Painting of a cat in an astronaut's space suit, standing on the moon, with an American flag and dark space behind. Pet portrait by New Orleans artist & illustrator Melissa Vandiver..#petportraits #art #neworleans #cats #cat #catsky #catsofbluesky #space #moon

Painting of a furry black, white, and brown dog, wearing a giraffe costume, on a black and white giraffe print background. Pet portrait by New Orleans artist & illustrator Melissa Vandiver.#petportraits #art #neworleans #dogs #dog #dogsky #dogsofbluesky #giraffe #giraffes

Painting of a brown dog in the crow's nest of an old-fashioned ship, with another mast and crow's nest in the distance behind. Background is blue sea and sky. Pet portrait by New Orleans artist & illustrator Melissa Vandiver. #petportraits #art #neworleans #dogs #dog #dogsky #dogsofbluesky

Painting of a furry white dog in a leather jacket, against a background of a brick wall with graffiti. Pet portrait by New Orleans artist & illustrator Melissa Vandiver.. #petportraits #art #neworleans #dogs #dog #dogsky #dogsofbluesky

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The Second Mrs. de ShinyGoth👻 @ghostingdani.bsky.social · 2h

Colonizers be like

onion person @junlper.beer · 2h

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Disney Prime Video + @disneyprimevideo.bsky.social · 2h

The Muppets Take Portland (2025)

The Muppets fuck around with the National Guard in front of stores that are not boarded up. Voodoo donuts is open late.

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Danny Cherry Jr (twitter/Insta/tiktok: @Deecherrywriter) @deecherrywriter.bsky.social · 15h

Just found out the name for mocking the powers-that-be while doing whimsical protesting:

Tactical frivolity.

There, now you know too.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactica...

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Reconstructed exPat @panarmstrong.bsky.social · 2d

I've only seen communities self organize together like this on the Gulf Coast after a hurricane or flood.

Block Club Chicago @blockclubchi.bsky.social · 2d

Chicago neighbors are forming watches near schools to protect students and guardians from ICE. blockclubchi.co/42v94TN

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Nikkolas Smith @4nikkolas.bsky.social · 9h

after millions of views and shares of my Portland Frog art. (thank you all🙏🏾) I got requests to highlight priests, and chickens, and Chicagoans, and T-Rexes, and more… all of us who refuse to bend the knee. so this is for US.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚕.
𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚗.

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 7h

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 10h

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Seth Rudy @sethrudy.bsky.social · 16h

Meanwhile in #Portland

Kermit faces off with Hopper in The Muppet Movie

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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 7h

It’s actually Election Day tomorrow… in Louisiana!

I’m watching: the New Orleans sheriff race, and the New Orleans mayor’s race.

Both in my cheat sheet of elections to watch this fall!

boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 7h

AI videos being sent to him by Miller, Noem et al, right?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7h

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

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Sam Adams @samadams.bsky.social · 17h

congrats to Nobel Peace Prize winner Portland Frog

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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 8h

Argentina is china's new soybean supplier after Trump tariffs fucked over our own farmers money.usnews.com/investing/ne...

Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 8h

One could hardly blame the Republicans for thinking the Dems would fold

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 11h

Ruben Gallego told me that "They teach in war all plans go to s*** when we first hit contact." This happened with Mike Johnson's gambit on the gov't shutdown. "I think they didn't realize that we weren't going to fold, and they didn't have a plan B after that."
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Mike Johnson is getting squeezed on all sides amid the government shutdown

The mild-mannered, pious Johnson has so far avoided an internal rebellion in the House amid the shutdown. But, Eric Garcia writes, his luck might be running out

www.independent.co.uk

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 9h

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Tyler, from the Internet @tylerfromtheinternet.com · 8h

I sometimes do work for publishing houses. This was a request that came to me the DAY that it was due and had NO assets for me to use: this is me taking a pdf of the book and making this from complete scratch! It would be good if you hired me actually! I can do stuff! This looks like a real ad!

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darth™️ @darthbluesky.bsky.social · 9h

the republican majority leader with a clear vision for the democratic party

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13h

Thune: "If the Democrats had won the majority, they probably would've tried to nuke the filibuster. And then you'd have four new senators from Puerto Rico and DC, you'd have a packed Supreme Court, you'd have abortion on demand ... "

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ae @aelkus.bsky.social · 9h

i think "TACO" now is actually totally wrong. it's not that Trump chickens out. it's that maintaining a tariff regime requires object permanence

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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 8h

Lol I just bought that printer and it's the only printer I've ever owned that seems like it was designed with the intent to print things

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Regime Accountant, CPA ☠️🎢 @regimecpa.bsky.social · 8h

Fucking dementia patient pedophile president

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Charles Ghoul-ba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · 14h

HOO BOY. I just acquired the FINAL, approved 2026 #ACA rate filings for #ARIZONA and it's not pretty at all.

Premiums are going up 46.3% on average...and that's for full price enrollees.

acasignups.net/rate_changes...

2026 Final Gross Rate Changes - Arizona: +46.3% (updated)

Originally posted 8/7/25 Overall preliminary rate changes via federal Rate Review database. Antidote Health Plan of AZ: (Unfortunately, no rate justification summary is available, and the full actuari...

acasignups.net

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Gwen Snyder is undead @gwensnyder.bsky.social · 14h

And let me highlight the DISCIPLINE at play here and across the country, too.

They are trying to goad protestors into lighting a Reichstag fire and those efforts are being met with suggestive hip thrusts from a giant inflatable frog.

This is movement not taking the bait.

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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 13h

What are the odds he's just going to keep it in recess forever?

Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 14h

To avoid swearing in a duly elected Democratic House member who will force a vote to release the Epstein files, the House is in recess indefinitely

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Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 13h

what's largely forgotten in the gauzy hagiography of the civil rights movement is that they were not a "spontaneous mass movement." many of their most famous actions were small, tactical moves made to *advance their narrative* in the public sphere.

anyways,

www.liberalcurrents.com/how-to-win-a...

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Melissa Paints @melissavandiver.bsky.social · 14h

Yeah it's dumb, like this already existed. Maybe it already used a form of machine learning I don't know. But I'm sure they'll try to sell this to us with a nice price hike 🙄

I can't get rid of Spotify because my grandma is on my family plan and I need her to have her jams haha

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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 14h

Trying to scare people. But it won't work. No one looks scared to me anymore. And it's power in numbers. All the TV hits in the world won't change the fact that when Americans see the sheer number of people out there, absolutely no one will believe anything these guys say.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15h

Sen. Roger Marshall: "October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We'll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it."

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