🟧MMJ

views are my own, Retired programmer, network specialist. Army Vet 🚫DM

[🟧MMJ @QCDrifter]

@Mimiiben1 3

[Michelle Maxwell ™ @MichelleMaxwell]

The neighbors call the cops on my dad every six months. They think he’s running a fighting ring or flipping pets for profit. For years, I wasn't sure they were wrong.

My father, Frank, is a man of few words and even fewer friends. He lives on a fixed income in a small, weathered house just outside of town. He’s 68, walks with a limp he got in ’71, and spends most of his day in his garage.

But his most controversial habit involves the local animal shelter.

Like clockwork, Dad brings home a dog. Not the cute puppies everyone wants. He picks the "unadoptables." The three-legged pit bulls, the senior labs with gray muzzles, the curs that cower in the corner. For six months, that dog lives like royalty. I’d visit and see Dad hand-feeding them steak scraps, walking them for hours, talking to them in a soft voice he never used with me.

Then, six months later? Gone.

The dog vanishes. No photos, no collar left behind. Just an empty bowl and Dad driving his rusted pickup truck to the shelter to get another one.

"Where’s Barnaby?" I asked last Sunday. Barnaby was a one-eyed Golden Retriever mix he’d had since spring. That dog worshipped the ground Dad walked on.

"Moved on," Dad grunted, staring at his coffee.

"Moved on? Did you sell him, Dad? The neighbors are talking. They say you’re sick."

"Let them talk."

I couldn't take it anymore. I loved Barnaby. The thought of my father selling that sweet soul to some stranger for a few hundred bucks made my stomach turn. So, when I saw him load a bag of high-grade kibble and a new leash into his truck the next morning, I followed him.

I expected him to drive to a breeder or a shady parking lot exchange. Instead, he drove two towns over to a drab apartment complex near the VA hospital.

He pulled up to a ground-floor unit. I watched from my car, phone ready to record evidence, as he knocked on the door.

A young man answered. He couldn't have been older than 25, but he looked 50. He was missing his right arm, and the way he stood—tense, scanning the perimeter—screamed PTSD. I recognized that look. I’d seen it in Dad’s old photos.

Dad didn't say a word. He just whistled.

From the passenger seat of Dad’s truck, a dog jumped out. It wasn't Barnaby. It was "Duke," a German Shepherd he’d had last year. Duke looked incredible. Focused. Calm. He trotted right up to the young man and sat by his left leg, leaning his weight against the boy’s thigh.

The young man crumpled. He fell to his knees, burying his face in Duke’s fur, sobbing. Duke didn't flinch. He just held his ground, anchoring the boy to reality.

Dad handed the young man a thick envelope. Not money—paperwork. Vaccination records. Training logs.

I got out of my car. "Dad?"

He jumped, looking more terrified than I’d ever seen him. He walked me away from the boy, lowering his voice.

"You weren't supposed to see this."

"You trained him," I realized. "You didn't get rid of them. You trained them."

Dad sighed, lighting a cigarette with shaking hands. "A fully trained PTSD service dog costs anywhere from fifteen to thirty thousand dollars. The insurance doesn't cover it. The VA has a waiting list a mile long. These boys... they come home, and they can't sleep, they can't go to the grocery store, they can't breathe."

He looked back at the young man, who was now smiling through tears, throwing a ball for Duke with his left hand.

"I can't give them money," Dad said, his voice cracking. "I don't have any. But I know dogs. And I have time."

"But why the secrecy? Why every six months?"

"Because that’s how long it takes to turn a scared shelter dog into a soldier’s lifeline," he said. "Basic obedience, task training, desensitization. I take the broken dogs nobody wants, and I turn them into the partners these kids need."

"And Barnaby?" I asked, my throat tight.

"Delivered him yesterday to a female marine in Ohio. She hadn't left her house in two years. She went to the park this morning."
🐾 on my ❤️ Please share if this moved you.

[🟧MMJ @QCDrifter]

@gunsnrosesgirl3 Cinnamon

[Thrilla the Gorilla @ThrillaRilla369]

So many disagree with me, but I think trade schools should get the same funding as universities! Skilled trades are just as valuable, if not more so, in today's world.

[Better World @tacokiwi2024]

@RepThomasMassie We would actually like 5 bullet points every week from every member of congress and the senate. we pay your salaries and you work for us, we want to see first hand what each of you are doing.

[Johnny Cadillac @lippyent]

Hmm 🤔 ?¿

[Young_Gun @AARonYo41124053]

@bjay1111 @SenSchumer Dude…that is not entirely true…some people worked in the private sector for years before working as a civil servant. The 1984 law prevented them from collecting any social security for their time before working for the local/state/federal governments

[Ricky Davila @TheRickyDavila]

Since a week before the election, MSNBC has lost over half of their primetime audience and CNN’s viewership has dropped nearly 50%.

Wonderful, it’s what they deserve for deliberately failing our democracy for clickbait. FAFO.

[🟧MMJ @QCDrifter]

@RichardAngwin I'm sorry people, but Trump will do whatever he wants. If he wants to fire a federal judge, he will just do it. Who is going to stop him!!!!!

[Democratic Wins Media @DemocraticWins]

BREAKING: In a stunning announcement, Donald Trump admits he’ll implement Project 2025’s plan to gut the civil service and create a more politically driven government. It’s one of the ways Trump plans to abuse his power. Retweet so all Americans see this

[Jerome Adams @JeromeAdamsMD]

I don’t understand how many of the same people who say vaccines don’t work/ aren’t necessary… will turn around and say our increase in vaccine preventable diseases is due to unvaccinated immigrants entering our country. 🤦🏽‍♂️

[🟧MMJ @QCDrifter]

@PrezLives2022 Not sure this is a great idea. If half the country stops buying things, demand will go down, and prices will drop. Gas, food, and housing will go down. This will make Trump's economy look good, and that is the last thing we want. This might back-fire.

[Hope for America? 💙 🇺🇦 🟧🏳️‍🌈 @BUGGY447]

After reading this, I accessed the Pro version of ChatGPT and found something all MAGAs and friends who voted for installing a dictator should have read and explained to them:

The concept of a "Department of Government Efficiency" was universally recognized in both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Both regimes had agencies and offices that dealt with state control, administration, and the streamlining of governmental functions, often focusing on centralization and enforcement of socialist policies. The Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler did not have an official agency specifically named "Department of Government Efficiency." Still, it established various ministries and offices that aimed to centralize and optimize state control over the economy and public life. One of the most important was the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, which was tasked with controlling information and maintaining state ideology. Other agencies like the Reich Ministry of the Interior dealt with bureaucratic efficiency and control over civil service and administrative functions.
The Soviet Union, under Joseph Stalin and his successors, had agencies focused on increasing the efficiency of government operations. For example, the State Planning Committee (Gosplan) was a key institution responsible for managing the Soviet economy through centralized planning. Russia also has a Central Statistical Directorate to collect data for economic and government planning and numerous other government bodies aimed at increasing the efficiency of state operations and implementing socialist policies.

[LA Blue Dot in GA 🌊🐸 @namwella1961]

The #MAGACultMorons got their wish. America is going to be burned to the ground & rebuilt based on Agenda 47 and Project 2025.

When prices rise, and unemployment & inflation skyrockets, remember the Democrats tried to warn you.
#ProudBlue FAFO Trump Effect Hell No

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

On this Veterans Day, I'd like to say thank you to all Veterans who have served our country with honor like my Dad did as a Marine in Vietnam.

Thank you for your service. 🙏🫡

[President Biden Archived @POTUS46Archive]

When I took office, we faced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Today, we have the greatest economy in the world.

[Seth Abramson @SethAbramson]

Everyone voting today knows that Donald Trump has agreed to let Elon Musk cut a third of all government spending if he wins, right? And that *there's mathematically no way to do that* except by dramatically cutting Social Security and Medicare and collapsing the American economy?