Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

After roe, women are no longer free.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Not all heroes wear capes.

We still have time to mess this up!

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Republicans in disarray!

Everybody saw this coming.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

This really is a full service blog.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Saturday Night Open Thread: Koalas!

Saturday Night Open Thread: Koalas!

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koala obama g20
koala putin g20

ABC News:

It’s day one of the G20 Summit and world leaders are already getting cozy.

The world’s most powerful leaders put aside talks on the economy and Ukraine to cuddle with irresistibly cute koalas…

.

Beats the heck out of APEC’s Mao tunics for visuals, I think.

Saturday night’s all right for fighting, but what’s on the agenda for the rest of us?

Reader Interactions

247Comments

  3. 3.

    skerry

    I was standing in the Sydney Zoo admiring the koalas and full of general amazement at the oh-so-different animals when I overheard a woman near me tell her companion, “boring. they look the same as the ones in my backyard.” I thought her experience was probably like me going to the Baltimore zoo to see the squirrel exhibit. Perspective is a wonderful thing.

  6. 6.

    RobertDSC (Quad Intel Mac)

    We told you Obummer wuz a Commie! He wears their stuff perfectly! IMPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEACH!!!

    /wingnut

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    There goes your next conservative meme: “Stop Big Koala from Taking Yer Gunz and Freedumbz!”

    In other news, the antivaxxers aren’t done trying to revive previously conquered diseases. They’re having a conference!

    Questioning the Vaccine Program?

    Come hear the critics discuss vaccine injury, autism, ingredients and contaminants
    University of Minnesota, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Cowles Auditorium
    January 24, 2015, 10am to 5pm
    10 Authors on Vaccines, Science, Politics & Media

    Cost ya a hundred bucks to go mock and yell at them, which totally would be worth it.

  13. 13.

    Morzer

    Barack Obama with a slow-moving, dopey and evolutionarily stunted creature from Australia. Also a koala.

  19. 19.

    Tree With Water

    Remember that woman that had her face torn off by that house pet [slash] orangoutang? I did when I looked at that photo.

  21. 21.

    dmsilev

    @efgoldman:

    I thought Koalas, for all their cutitude, had nice sharp claws and bad tempers to go with.

    I trust Obama will be bringing a bunch back as welcome gifts for the new GOP Senators then.

    Or to replace those Senators. Because, really, there isn’t much difference between the average Republican politician and a bad-tempered miniature bear that spends most of its time sitting in trees eating leaves.

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    Dumb tech question: Is there any way to see where a link goes without clicking it on a touchscreen device, e.g., iPad or iPhone? On my PC, I can hover and decide if it’s worth clicking or not, and I like that.

  31. 31.

    Tree With Water

    His secret service agents are standing there all thinking to themselves, “No way am I going to take the blame for this one”.

    Perhaps it was a cry for help by the president. Recall that when Nixon chose to ride in that open car motorcade through the streets of Cairo in 1974, many agents reasonably assumed he was intentionally courting death rather than return home to the final act of the Watergate drama. One thing is certain- if Obama was done in by a koala, no one would ever refer to him as “no drama” again.

  33. 33.

    srv

    Glen Larson is dead.

    Creator and writer of Automan, Battlestar Galactica, B.J. & the Bear, Buck Rogers, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Knight Rider, Magnum P.I., Manimal, McCloud and Quincy M.E.

    Basically, many of y’alls lives.

  34. 34.

    Morzer

    Apparently Nick Drake’s sister has written a book about her brother:

    http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/15/i-want-to-complicate-the-nick-drake-story

    Strikingly, both parents were accomplished musicians. “My dad was wonderful at the piano. He had beautiful hands. Long, long fingers that were nearly always stained with engine oil from gadgets in the garden that he was trying to put right.” But, while Rodney wrote comic operettas (she quotes a scene from one set on a slow boat to India from memory for me), it was Molly who was the decisive musical influence on their son. Molly wrote songs at the piano and Rodney would record them on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He once took the tapes to Birmingham to get a record made.

    Last year, an album of Molly’s home recordings from the 1950s and 60s was released. “This is surely the most unexpected, strangely compelling release in years,” wrote Robin Denselow of the Guardian, reviewing it, while Joe Boyd, Nick’s producer, went so far as to claim that Molly was “the missing link in the Nick Drake story – there, in the piano chords, are the roots of Nick’s harmonies”.

    One of Molly’s songs was called Poor Mum, a bittersweet riposte to her son’s celebrated song Poor Boy from Bryter Layter. “Poor mum, poor mum,” she sings plaintively, Jane Birkin breathiness counterpointed with Joyce Grenfell articulation, “Nothing worked out in the way that you planned.”

  35. 35.

    Morzer

    People are finally asking Cosby some pointed questions – and not before time, IMHO:

    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/15/bill-cosby-silent-questions-sexual-assault-allegations

    At the end of the interview, presenter Scott Simon asked Cosby to respond to the growing furore over claims of sexual assault.

    The actor said nothing. Simon said: “You’re shaking your head no.”

    Simon tried again: “There are people who love you who might like to hear from you about this. I want to give you the chance.”

    When no response was offered, Simon wrapped up the roughly four-and-a-half-minute interview.

    On Monday, Cosby’s Twitter account asked fans to create internet memes using photos of him. The exercise quickly blew up, when people responded with references to allegations of sexual assault made by a number of women.

  37. 37.

    Steeplejack

    @Betty Cracker:

    I have an Android tablet, but I think this will work on an iPad:

    Touch and hold the link, and when the submenu pops up to allow you to open the link in a new tab, etc., the actual hyperlink that you will be going to should be displayed.

    Hope this explanation is not too murky. I’m not on the tablet right now.

  40. 40.

    Morzer

    @Baud:

    It should be interesting to see HRC’s peeps polling the broad masses to determine how many votes koala-hugging could be worth.

  45. 45.

    JPL

    @Baud: That is so sad. If there are no chargeable offenses due to the statue of limitations, Crosby needs to disappear. It’s unfortunate though, that history will still treat him as a star.

  50. 50.

    Morzer

    @skerry:

    I saw that, which makes me think that he is going to skulk off into the undergrowth.

    I do wonder what’s going to happen about the new series he’s signed up for.

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    @Morzer: @Baud:
    If Hillary’s [non]campaign team hires Joan Embry, we’ll know Operation Huggable Critter is a “go.”

    “I want to see Depends on all the baby orangutangs, am I making myself clear?“

  67. 67.

    skerry

    @Culture of Truth: I have seen more this year (both in my yard and as roadkill) than I remember for a long time. It saddens me. They do a harvest around here and donate the meat to food banks, but it seems like there could much more of a cull.

  70. 70.

    scav

    @trollhattan: Blitzen was the calm, meditative twin: Blitzkrieg was the evil twin to watch out for. Kicked off the team in fact, after one of Donner’s wilder parties.

  77. 77.

    trollhattan

    @Poopyman:
    A PSA for the northern states and all of Canada: The aurora forecast looks pretty good for tonight, and there’sthat’s no moon.
    Fixded

  78. 78.

    Betty Cracker

    @Morzer: Cosby has seemed cognitively impaired for a while now. Even before this scandal blew up, he seemed like he was losing it. I figured he had dementia.

  79. 79.

    Morzer

    @Betty Cracker:

    He was sufficiently compos mentis to land a new show on NBC next year. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised to learn that he was using old age as a way of deflecting the numerous rape/sexual abuse allegations.

  80. 80.

    Little Boots

    is it wrong that I’m okay with the election as long as steeplejack is still here?

    is that a problem?

  84. 84.

    Poopyman

    @Betty Cracker: Rumor has it he’s been going blind. I had occasion to run into him a couple of years ago in a hotel and from what I could tell I’m afraid it might be true.

  92. 92.

    Betty Cracker

    @efgoldman: Yes. But he’s not 1/10th as annoying as Gary Danielson. Good lord I want to reach through the screen and stuff a sock down his throat at least half a dozen times per quarter.

  100. 100.

    gogol's wife

    I left my husband alone with the computer for a few minutes to see the koalas, and then I heard him say, “Wow, there’s a new laser weapon in the Persian Gulf.” I said, “You clicked on Newsmax!” He’s not aware of all internet traditions.

  102. 102.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @gogol’s wife: I actually click fairly frequently. Doen’t it cost them money? Also, sometimes I have to see just what the hell they’re talking about. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what Sheryl Atkinson thinks her Benghazi scoop is.

  105. 105.

    lamh36

    I’ve seen the pic from another angle and the claws are definitely there and look pretty darn scary, but they are basically just wrapped around Obama’s arm

  111. 111.

    FlyingToaster

    Seriously, koalas are pretty effing vicious. At Taronga Zoo in Sydney, the ones they keep for tourists to pet (with photo) are drugged to the gills to make sure they don’t claw the visitors.

    Personally, I prefer wombats, but they’re pretty destructive too. And generally too big to pick up.

  112. 112.

    gogol's wife

    Okay, I tried and failed to watch Dead Ringer with Bette Davis and Karl Malden, so it’s off to bed.

  113. 113.

    skerry

    @Mike in NC: Kangaroo is tasty. Relatively common on menus. Never ate koala or saw it on a menu.

    @gogol’s wife: Nope, local area is over-run with deer. Have yet to see a wild koala in MD. I’ll certainly let folks know if I do. The deer population problem is a direct result of over-building and habitat loss. I feel sorry for the deer, but the fact is that they are a nuisance. A few years ago, a teenage boy was killed when his vehicle struck a deer and it broke through the windshield. Very sad.
    I’m in favor of the controlled hunt with meat donated to families that can use it.

  119. 119.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Tigers stalking the outskirts of Paris, rage-a-holic koalas taking world leaders hostage, dogs and cats living together!

    Can the rise of the dolphins be far off?

  123. 123.

    Anne Laurie

    @Mike in NC:

    Do they have recipes for koalas as well?

    Apart from the whole “endangered species” thing, I would suspect the flesh of any animal that lives on eucalyptus tastes strongly of Vicks Vapo-Rub.

  125. 125.

    Debbie(aussie)

    @Morzer: many thumbs up!
    This will give you a good idea of just how horrendous he really is http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/15/g20-tony-abbott-whingeing-about-domestic-agenda-on-world-stage

    ETA; notice how they are inside. Nursing of koalas is usually an outside activity, but here in SEQld we are experiencing a heat wave. Yesterday (Sat) was November record of 42C today is the same + hot 30kmh winds. Can’t have these dignitaries experience the heat.

  128. 128.

    skerry

    @Morzer: Yeah, they are an invasive species. I know folks there that hunt them. There is open season and no limits. Fox is another invasive species that they are trying to eliminate.

    A campaign has started to replace the Easter bunny with the Easter Bilby, an endangered marsupial native to Australia. You can even buy chocolate Easter Bilbies. The bilby somewhat resembles a rabbit – long ears and roughly the same size, but with a long tail. The lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950s. The greater bilby survives.

  129. 129.

    Morzer

    @Debbie(aussie):

    Well, I guess the loathsome Gina Rinehart is getting what she paid for. I really don’t know why more countries don’t declare all mineral resources to be national property and use them to create national wealth funds, rather than letting greedy oligarchs steal the wealth.

  132. 132.

    Betty Cracker

    @skerry: Wow, I looked bilbies up — odd looking creatures. Looks like a cross between a possum and a rabbit with a dash of mole thrown in.

  135. 135.

    Felonius Monk

    @Morzer:

    If you get an election lasting more than four hours, talk to your doctor.

    I guess that would indicate that you took too large a dose of “Vote-agra.”

  138. 138.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: I’m watching the Criminoles attempt another come-from-behind win. I told myself I wouldn’t get sucked in again, but the possibility of their defeat is too alluring. They’ll likely dash my hopes again. Damn it all.

  141. 141.

    mai naem mobile

    I never thought Cosby was that funny. I’m probably one of the few people who never watched the Cosby Show. I didn’t really have an opinion on him until he went on the black people need to stop blaming others and pull themselves up by their bootstraps crap. I’m guessing there’s something to the rumors. Too much smoke for there not to be a fire.

  146. 146.

    Morzer

    @mai naem mobile:

    I saw some episodes of the Cosby Show and I can’t now remember a single memorable thing that Dr Huxtable said or did. I thought the kids and Mrs Dr Huxtable were much more interesting.

    Admittedly, this was so many moons ago that there was still a viable population of sane Republicans in the wild.

  151. 151.

    Morzer

    @raven:

    Well, that I never experienced, so I shall take your word for it. Still think he wasn’t that special as Dr Huxtable though.

  159. 159.

    Steeplejack

    Okay, Mizzou held on, and now FSU has overtaken Miami. Tell me again, Betty, who am I supposed to be rooting for here?

  165. 165.

    Betty Cracker

    Fuck. FSU takes the lead. Oh well. Maybe their team bus will have a flat on Alligator Alley and be swallowed by a giant python. May the spirit of Tigertail make it so!

  173. 173.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Little Boots: No, he has taste more aligned with yours. Doesn’t mean better or worse. Might be a function of chronological age. For example, the Beasties are my contemporaries: Adam Yauch was born two days after me.

  175. 175.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @MomSense:

    She was in Enemy of the State and I remember wondering why her career didn’t take off.

    She did a couple of controversial things and played a price.

  179. 179.

    Howard Beale IV

    @MomSense: I saw this when I was visiting my aunt and cousins in Europe in 1992. Seeing Annie Lennox made up like a raccoon was bizarre.

  193. 193.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Violet: Define mess… I think she was lovely and a very good actress and should have been given at least the chances that Lindsay Lohan (who is also lovely and very good actress) got. She didn’t. One wonders why.*

    *One suspects that Ms. Lohan’s translucence and freckles helped her.

  194. 194.

    seaboogie

    @Culture of Truth: What are these deer doing to annoy you so? I gave it some thought, and figured that they are either:

    a) setting up cones, donning neon vests and using a jack-hammer on your driveway
    or
    b) standing up on their hind legs, front legs crossed in front of their chests chanting “Hell No – We Won’t Go!”
    or
    c) Throwing gang signs and pointing.

    I think your safest solution, no matter the cause is to crawl over the fence to your neighbor’s yard, run in a crouch down the block to the main road and catch the bus to work. It’s tough livin’ in the ‘hood.

    And in reference to an earlier comment, I knew a fellow who lived in Australia who was annoyed when there were kangaroos in his driveway.

  195. 195.

    MomSense

    @Violet:

    Gosh I missed the mess part. I thought she went vegan, had dreadlocks and said some true but uncomfortable things about the superficiality of Hollywood.

    @raven:

    That is so weird. His fur didn’t fall out but rejuvenated? Huh.

  196. 196.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @seaboogie: Deer do overpopulate without predators. Then a number of them starve to death over the winter. If a state does a good job of managing deer tags, the population stays at a sustainable level.

    Edited slightly.

  198. 198.

    Steeplejack

    Really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. Over at the bro’ man’s place with the greyhound last night, and, while he has every amenity, it’s just not home. Plus I stayed over there today to await delivery of and oversee installation of a crib and chest of drawers with changing-table top. Bro’ man and his spouse were bringing the new baby home from Florida tonight, but I haven’t heard any news yet. Will check in tomorrow and see about going over to take a look at the little mite. She’s only one month and four days old!

    In fact, I may toddle off to bed right now. The housecat is making her eyes look puffy, which is her sarcastic way of telling me it’s time.

    Sting can be a bit of a douche, but he does a good version of one of my favorite Elton John songs, “Come Down in Time.”

    . . . Gee, that’s not as good as I remember. Maybe better go out with the ever reliable “Englishman in New York.”

  214. 214.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’m as serious a TVZ fan as you’ll find in my state, with the possible exception of my psychiatrist. But this version is as fine a cover as I’ve heard. And it’s dynamite live also too.

  223. 223.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Omnes Omnibus: It don’t pay to think too much on things you leave behind. Happy Saturday, Omnes, and please think good thoughts for my new gig search.

  229. 229.

    dance around in your bones

    Dudes and dudettes!!!! I got laid tonight, first time since my husband died.I actually thought I’d never have sex again in my lifetime.I’m gonna be 61 next month, doncha know.

    Coolest thing? He was born the same year as my daughter (1972) and he was gentle and true and vigorous and multi- well, you know, like young guys are :)

  234. 234.

    Little Boots

    @Steeplejack:

    glad you’re sleeping in your own bed tonight. hope you’re okay, that was a lot of words. hope you are okay. cause … well there is no cause, hope you are okay.

  238. 238.

    Anne Laurie

    @dance around in your bones: Good for you, lady!

    My mother-in-law’s second husband is a couple years younger than her eldest son… but still older than her youngest, as she was careful to point out. It’s worked out well for everybody, not least her kids.

  240. 240.

    ruemara

    Where’s Mem? I sent off to the great evil corp and I think they had the best job hunting experience I’ve seen in a decade. Done in less than 15 minutes? Inconceivable.

    Dance, you got laid with a young dude? Gurl. I’m putting your icon up on my altar.

  242. 242.

    dance around in your bones

    @Omnes Omnibus: Dude was very careful and sensitive to my hip problem.

    We actually spent a long time skritchihng.each other between fucking, At least for some hours,. Like I said before,,I’d forgotten how young guys can go on and on.. Not that I’m complaining!!!!!

    I’ll definitely fuck him again if we csn get away with it in this household of two femmes and two dudes.,

  243. 243.

    dance around in your bones

    @Violet: @ruemara: @John Revolta: @Little Boots:

    Ok, I have to cut one of my respondents because too many fucking links.,

    YES!!!!! ruemara!!! Remember when I told you today that shit can happen when you least expect it????!! Well, I never expected to get fucked by a young man the same age as my daughter, Borrn in the same year.

    We went out to dinner together, and then we looked at a bunch of photos that I had on my laptop and iPhone? And then I went into my bedroom, and he came in a few minutes later and asked if I’d like to ‘hang out’.

    I said, “You mean you want to fuck?” And he said well,we’ll see what develops.

    What a sweet guy, And he liked this old lady :)

    Of course, I blinded him with my stories :)

  244. 244.

    dance around in your bones

    Anne Laurie, can you rescue my last comment from moderation?
    tried to eliminate one of the 4 people who replied to me,but somehow they all got through.

    Hence, I am in the moderation zone. FML, despite the great sex I had tonight :)

  245. 245.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Mike in NC:

    Do they have recipes for koalas as well?

    Here is some minor koala related trivia. Herbert Hoover saved the koala.

    In the 1920s, tens of thousands of koala skins were being shipped to the US each year to make furs.

    When Hoover became President an early Australian environmental group wrote to Hoover and asked him to ban the trade, and he did.

    If he hadn’t the koala would now probably be extinct.

    The reason that they wrote to Hoover was because they knew he had previously lived in Australia for a number of years while working as a mining engineer, so at least he knew what a koala was.

    Even though he was a Republican bastard, he still had a soft spot for koalas.

  246. 246.

    AxelFoley

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Tigers stalking the outskirts of Paris, rage-a-holic koalas taking world leaders hostage, dogs and cats living together!

    Can the rise of the dolphins be far off?

    Well, they are 6-4 this year, and might make the playoffs.

    Wait, wrong dolphins, right?

  247. 247.

    AxelFoley

    @Morzer:

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Dolphins are 6-4 and have already whupped the Patsies but good this year.

    Aaaaand ninja’d.

    Shoulda known someone would already make that joke.

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