#this was on my local fb page

[jewishbarbies]

lazy christians are so fucking annoying. like do y’all even actually listen to your own messiah? the fuck do you think he was doing here? he didn’t perform miracles for money and favors. he didn’t hang out with the rich and “self made”. get your own fucking story straight.

[lemonynoses]

Here you go friends, a new meme format dropped.

[cappucosmico]

mmm if i asked for like 12 dollars on here to cover wifi would anyone be willing to spare... sniffles

[ashortstoryaboutlove]

I suspect this person I knew in HS is drinking the conservative media kool aid (but I have no idea what garbage they’re spewing atm bc I actively try to avoid it), but he was ranting on Facebook about how Walz honeymooned in China *gasp* and has been there a bunch of times *clutches pearls* thus he is a pure communist and a danger to America.

I just

I wonder if he would consider me watching Chinese dramas a threat to America?

I hope so bc I hate whatever it is that people like him want our country to be

[sleepytimesea]

[decadentdeviation]

If my eye ever stops twitching, it's over for you hoes

[guinevereslancelot]

i want to order azure bluet seeds but the only place that sells them is out of stock :( and the only place i can find with the plant itself has a minimum order number of 100 plants which is. too many

[elfgender]

I think facebook just insta-banned me for being trans?

[a-very-tired-jew]

Sad Realization and Confirmation - we're in hiding

I was coming home from work last night and had the realization that I had not seen any of the Chabad students walking across campus as I normally do until that moment. The student was not even dressed in the regular attire of a Chabad member, but in "normal" clothing. Their yamulke had been replaced by a baseball hat and they were wearing a Hawaiian shirt and jeans. Gone was the white button down and black slacks, let alone the tallit being worn underneath. It then hit me that I hadn't seen any of them since about late October / early November and that they likely had all switched to wearing less obviously Jew identifying clothing. I am a secular Jew that grew up in the Reconstructionist movement. While I don't wear anything that makes me stand out as a Jew, nor do I have much of my identity wrapped around clothing associated with my ethnicity, I do get recognized as one for my phenotypic expression. For the Chabad students the clothing is part of who they are. They are hiding it now because it's simply not safe. The fact that this echoes what I have seen across the internet about Jews hiding to be safe hit me like a ton of bricks. This isn't something we should have to do in 2024, but here we are. I went to the FB page of our local group as well and noticed that the attire had even changed in the safety of their own facility. So yeah...that's what we've come to. Jewish students who can't be outwardly Jewish because anti-Zionism is just a dogwhistle to go after us. It does not matter if you are not going after Jews, there is such a significant amount of threatening rhetoric that we as a people are going back to our old survival methods.

[drdemonprince]

ok, listening & learning here. i've been pretty invested in electoral politics my whole life—my dad's a state congressman now, much to everyone's misfortune. so i've definitely been the person who's said stuff like "well, you can do more radical stuff AND vote," but i think you're spot on—i haven't gotten involved in community organizing, but i have gone to democrat meetings. i guess i'm scared because it's unfamiliar territory. i don't really even know how to find the people doing meaningful action and reach out to them. there's a lot of broken websites and out of date fb pages, and i don't have a script for getting involved the way i do with politics. do you have any advice or encouragement? thank you in advance if you do answer, your writing has actively made my life better since i found it

Thanks for your question! This stuff is difficult to locate on purpose -- both because of state repression, and because when you are working outside of the existing legal and political system, there are risks to being out in the open about it.

Adjusting to more extra-political (as in, outside of democratic politics) activities is a gradual on-ramp. You will understand the landscape and see greater options the further you go, but it will take some time. A good place to start out is local mutual aid networks. Look up a local Food Not Bombs chapter, for instance. See if there is an anarchist library or leftist publisher near you and attend some events. Check out your local libraries and on-campus groups to see if there are any engaging in actions that you can contribute to. Interface with the local punk scene and see if there are any people there who are really about anarchist action.

Go to a communist reading group. Start one with your friends! Working outside of the mainstream political system means building the kind of world you want to live in and the communities you want rather than being plugged into a pre-existing structure like a cog in the machine.

Talk to your neighbors. Give money and food to homeless people and chat them up. Drop off supplies at protests and encampments. Ask people what they need. As you prove yourself and come to understand your local landscape, you will get invited into more actions or will form the friendships and political education needed to start ones of your own. Break the law for the sake of helping other people when you can. Find rules you can bend or ignore in all things. Avoid the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Revolutionary Communist Party like the fucking plague. they are cults.

You will find your way. I get more and more radical every year, and figure out a ton of shit I didn't previously understand. It's been at least a decade in the making for me. So don't be too hard on yourself if at first you don't feel like you understand what you are doing or that you are not doing "enough." Electoral politics runs on a constant manufactured sense of urgency and exhaustion. But we are building a world that is better, more loving, slower, and more responsive to the rhythms of the earth and our bodies.

You will be where you need to be. <3

[theragamuffininitiative]

Hey so for the record: I don't live in the area affected by Helene. I've heard a lot of rumors about stuff regarding FEMA assistance but struggle to find the actual sources of actual people explaining actual things (other than vague "We were turned away!" aka the officials, who may not have even been FEMA, already had too many volunteers under their responsibility "they are refusing donations" yeah bc they don't have anywhere to safely store them for distribution and people aren't communicating with them to coordinate). So here's what little I do know.

I highly recommend Samaritan's Purse and checking with local churches to see if you can assist them with their efforts if you find you cannot trust certain agencies for any reason.

I wandered around some local FB pages to see what folks are saying.

(I did not censor people's names bc these are all posted on public pages, and for the ability to verify, so please do not antagonize these individuals or attack them in any way.

[This post has multiple fact checks in it that are helpful but cursory (not citing specific sources each time) - this is not an endorsement of the page itself, I'm sure there are better ones, i just happened to see it near the end of my scrolling.]

I also happened upon this list of local churches randomly and thought I would add it in case people wanted to reach out to them to see if they are still taking donations/assistance:

Anyways.

I'm not saying FEMA is perfect, or saying I know what is going on. But all I am seeing is a lot of rumors and misinformation and unsubstantiated reports that are upset and vague, and more likely from probably well-meaning folks who tried to step into a situation they weren't prepared for and didn't understand.

But, like I said, there are ways to help (specifically churches and ministry-based disaster relief agencies bc they are not federally funded) for anyone who doesn't trust FEMA or the government or whatever. You can still help! Keep your convictions but look for ways to help instead of ways to just make everyone feel more angry and frustrated and miserable by focusing on what is wrong rather than what can be done right now to aid people who don't care about elections or sides or narratives when they don't have food or water.

This post does not reflect all the amazing efforts various aid agencies, ministries, churches, and local organizations and families and friends are doing for their communities right now. These stories are also being shared on local pages and in trending tags if you're looking for them. 💛

(I reserve the right to ignore and delete any asks/replies/reblogs and block users based on attitude or obvious misinformation. I'm no expert. But neither is pretty much anyone, and yeah that includes people in the middle of it bc sometimes when you are in the middle of the mess you can't see the full picture, and that's ok.)

[beneathsilverstars]

oh my god the director of my kid's old daycare just got put on leave, people are gossiping about it in the local fb groups, apparently he posted THIS on his own fb page???

you're a grown ass adult??????

[lionheartsgray]

So much has happened back-to-back these past few weeks that I forgot to post some very important news on my bunblr: there's a new bunny in the house! Meet the 9 lbs, 11 oz high-energy Jammy! ❤️

I've been looking to adopt a boyfriend for/to bond to Toto. I hadn't heard a response back on my application with a local rescue when I saw a post in my town's FB information page of someone rehoming a male rabbit because he kept fighting with the person's other rabbit.

The truth of it all ended up being that Jammy's owner was some kid who even admitted that she knew nothing about rabbits; neither rabbit was fixed, which was why they were fighting, and she was feeding both a seed/muesli mix (not good for rabbits) and kept the one in tiny hutch, and the other (Jammy) in a tiny, wire bottom cage, outside in a yard with multiple dogs, cats, and chickens.

Day 1 of bringing this beauty home and we established that Jammy is a GIRL and that she is incredibly sweet! This baby spent 2 years in cramped conditions, with poor "food", nothing to do, and had very little interaction. We set her up in a large xpen with lots of fresh hay and water, her own potty pan, toys, and blankets and she couldn't stop the kisses and binkies! She is absolutely precious and playful and wants attention 24/7, so much so that she whines and stomps at you if she's not being paid attention to, or if you-heaven forbid-stop petting her for a millisecond.

Of course, our goal is to get her spayed ASAP to prevent uterine cancer, and cut down on her naughty hormonal behaviors that have come with being a goofy handful. Unfortunately, the first appointment we can get with our exotic vet isn't until August of this year. But other than that, she appears to be healthy and free of mites, infections, or sickness! She will still be bonded to Toto in the future and I think she has the perfect playful personality that will match with the Bean(tm)'s. It will be a hilarious juxtaposition to have one giant black bunny bonded to one tiny black bunny! 🤣

And so 3 becomes 4...Welcome home, Jammy, March 25, 2024.

[groenendaze]

Do you have any tips for getting into dog sports? I've got an 8-month-old dalmatian/gsd/pit mix (my absolute best friend and also the bane of my existence, teenagers are a menace lol) who's crazy smart and athletic. The stuff you do with your pups looks awesome and I think we'd both really enjoy it! I'm just not sure where to start to look for clubs/events/etc. Any advice is appreciated!

Dog sports are one of those things where you either just happen to accidentally fall into it or you fight tooth and nail to find a place.

Some of the best ways to find places are to reach out to trainers/competitors in your area or close to you (FB and instagram are the easiest for this imo - if you have found any!). The rest depends on the sports you want to do and where you're located. A good way to try and find more sports would be to see if there are any in your area: google your city + "dog training club" or the sport you're looking for. See if any places offer classes (classes are a GREAT way to get started and test the waters!). Or look for events in your area and go watch! I wouldn't recommend trying to volunteer my first time watching an event, but it's a great place to get started and look for people who might know more people in your area that could help you. Most people are nice and like helping newbies out, but there are always some bad eggs in the pot!

Unfortuently, I'm not super great at finding non-American events, so I apologize if you aren't in the US! But if you are, there are a couple websites that you can check out. For AKC sanctioned events (FastCAT/AKC agility/Rally-O/Confo/etc), AKC has an event calendar.

For things like disc, you can check out UpDog's event page, Skyhoundz event page, USDDN (international), UFO (international), Quadruped, or AWI.

Agility has a couple besides AKC: UKI, CPE, NADAC, and USDAA.

Dock has a few with the main one being NADD and Ultimate Air Dogs.

For flyball, UFLI has a tournament list page. NAFA also does tournaments but I only do UFLI and NAFA's website looks like hasn't been updated since, like, the 90s.

There are other sports, like bitesports (PSA/IGP/Mondio/French Ring) or racing (AOK9, etc) but I know nothing about the racing world and bitesports are one of those sports (much like Flyball tbh) where you'd need to reach out to a club first because a club will make or break a dog.

I got into agility back in like, 2019 or something because I took classes from a local facility and went to some AKC events and asked around. I got into PSA because I googled "bitesports [city]" and found the closest club was an hour a half, so I emailed them. And then made that drive every weekend for 10 or so months haha (I put so many miles on my car). Moved to Wisconsin and reached out to a disc club local to me asking for a private lesson in disc on Facebook, ended up accidentally getting invited to play Toss & Fetch and my disc obsession spiraled from there. Ended up getting into flyball because I made friends with a lot of flyball people at disc. Everything else I've tried (like barn hunt/herding/etc) was a combination of looking on the AKC event page and going "I can do that", a friend going "you can do this, come to X event", or me frantically googling locations or sports or classes or private lessons.

When I first started out, I struggled a LOT. In Texas, there were quite a few places and clubs around me, but I only had about three months of that before I moved to Arkansas, which was a dog sport dead zone. I didn't have the connections or knowledge to even know where to look to get access to those places. It took me months to find the one single place where I could rent an agility field. I spent most of my time throwing a frisbee in a park not even knowing that disc was a dog sport I could compete in. Luckily, where I am now is pretty dominated by the sports I love and I've made a lot of really amazing connections which helps with knowing the who's/what's/how's of everything!

Good luck and I hope this helps!

[thatstormygeek]

So, I left FB a few years back, but I kept my account there because everyone else is still there, as is my HOA group (bleh) and a bunch of school groups (which I no longer need, but did until recently). My actual page is just used for sharing links to leftist and progressive news. Pointlessly, of course, because FB kills the reach of external links and is openly, actively hiding political posts. But still...on the off chance someone sees one, it doesn't hurt, I suppose.

Anyway, I'm reading this article today about how FB denied a campaign to promote local screenings of a climate change documentary. Now, each time I go over there, it makes me a little more sad to see all the folks still being manipulated by the algo, and I have to resist making yet another plea for them to jump ship because it's bad for them.

With that article, today I did make that post. Or one like it, asking them to make sure to look elsewhere for news because Meta is intentionally keeping politics from their feeds. I tried to post the link to the news article in the comments, and Facebook outright said "no."

Doesn't bode well, y'all.

[horsesarecreatures]

I just love her. <3 But this post is not going to be about Amba. Instead, I would just like to share my thoughts and perspectives on Shelby Dennis/ Milestone Equestrian/ Sdequus (and I apologize in advance to all the horseblrs who have been here a long time and are probably sick of such discussions - no judgement at all if you all scroll past this one). But the reason I'm bringing it up is I got some private messages the last time I posted a screenshot from the Milestone Equestrian's FB page showing the Olympic dressage champion Dalera's awful topline, and another calling out Horse & Hound for photoshopping the foam off a dressage horse's mouth. I didn't know about this until now because I live under a rock sometimes, but I've also been made aware that another horse blog has also expressed frustration at Shelby Dennis' stuff being re-shared here (and implied that I may have sent them an anon calling them a fucking moron because of it?).

Accordingly, I just want to put it out there that while I do follow her on FB and sometimes watch her youtube videos, I don't think she is a God, or that people should listen to everything she says without thinking critically about it. I also don't want people to think that I'm judging them or have absolutely no understanding of why they don't want to follow her. I truly, honestly, do see some of the criticisms. For example, I don't agree with keeping horses in pastures with barbed wire, and I don't think think its less risky than a horse getting cast in a stall. I've found no empirical evidence for that, and anecdotally speaking, some of the worst horse injuries I've seen were from them running into barbed wire. I also think her bitless & multibridles are a good idea, but they don't fit some of her horses well. Finally, I have a feeling the dam of her homebred might have been bred a little prematurely. To name a few.

But that said, she has admitted to being wrong about a bunch of things and has said that she is still evolving as a horse person, which we all are. There are things she posts about that I not only agree with but am grateful for because most people are too scared of the professional backlash they will receive if they call out certain people/practices. And while I don't think it's the one and only way to ethically train, I love clicker training and agree that the horse industry has been slower to adopt it compared to other animal training industries like seeing eye dogs. I also love the discussions about some of the systematic problems in the competition world that need to change (like ownership of certain venues, magazines, and ticket payment platforms by people like Andreas Helgstrand) before the amount of abuse will decrease.

So for me, while there is stuff she says/does that I disagree with, they don't outweigh the points that I do agree with. And I also think there have been some accusations about her that are a little unfair, one of them being that she is so arrogant she thinks she doesn't need to work with a trainer anymore. She made a video explaining that the dressage trainer she was working for said some very racist things in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, and changed the way he treated her when he found out she was mixed race. If a local trainer is being racist towards you that's a very valid reason to distance yourself and do your own thing for a while. There was also the assertion that she dumped Donut, the dam of her warmblood, when it became clear that she wasn't a good a mother. From what I remember, it was a broodmare lease to begin with, and I've seen an update on Donut and she is doing well in a riding home.

While I overall understand and agree with many of the criticisms towards Shelby, to me they don't amount to cancelable offences. And I feel the same way about many other horse people with a social media presence like Denny Emmerson. I don't like that he has downplayed some of the bad effects of saddleseat riding, but at the end of the day I don't think he's a horse abuser himself, and for every post he makes that I disagree with there are 10 that I do like. Unlike someone like Rick Gore, who misinformation is constantly accompanied by misogynistic and racist comments.

Of course, I don't follow everyone on all platforms, and there could be some things that I am missing. I'm more than happy to have discussions with people who may disagree with things I've said here or have additional information to add, as long as there is mutual respect. For the time being, I'm not going to unfollow Shelby, and I may still share screenshots of things she's said that I also want to talk about because its just easier than re-writing it. This does not mean that I wholeheartedly-endorse everything else she says and does and think that you guys should be too.