Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

The willow is too close to the house.

I was promised a recession.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

People are complicated. Love is not.

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

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Faunasphere / Sunday Later Evening Open Thread: Baby Pygmy Hippo!!!!

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105Comments

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I visited the Taronga Zoo some thirty years ago. Great zoo! Naturally, the baby pygmy hippo was not there then, but oh, all the koalas, all screaming about how much they hate Qantas.

  4. 4.

    Jerzy Russian

    Who doesn’t like seeing river horses? I hope the mother looks before she sits down, as the baby sometimes goes underneath her.

  6. 6.

    themann1086

    That’s the worst cat* I’ve ever seen. Is it some sort of new hypoallergenic hairless breed?

    *please be aware of all Internet traditions

  8. 8.

    Scamp Dog

    @Jerzy Russian: I’m not sure she needs to–you can see how the baby gets in the way of her feet, and she carefully moves her leg to keep in contact without putting her weight on it. She knows where that baby is.

  9. 9.

    debit

    I hope the guy who did the baby monkey (riding on a pig) song does one for the baby pygmy hippo too. True story! When I trapped Julian and brought him home the only thing that would bring him out of hiding is if I sang the baby monkey song.

  12. 12.

    Mary G

    So cute! Also, something that Trump probably won’t like, but we Californians should be proud:

    At midday today, California got 56.7% of its power from renewables, a new record.— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) March 26, 2017

  14. 14.

    Viva BrisVegas

    A couple of years ago some guy shot one of these in the Northern Territory thinking that it was a wild pig.

    The theory is that it escaped 5 or 6 years before from a private zoo that was being closed down. It had been living wild in the river up there.

    So I suppose that now we are even.

  15. 15.

    sanjeevs

    Has anyone noticed that Trump campaign booster Newt Gingrich had a novel come out last October named ‘Treason’ –
    THE WORLD’S MASTER TERRORIST, known only as the Falcon, has infiltrated Washington’s highest corridors of power, threatening the very existence of our democracy in this realistic tale of modern day TREASON.

    Cant imagine where he got the idea for that.

  19. 19.

    mai naem mobile

    I think he’s too stupid but I wonder if Nunez pulled the stunt of going to the WH so that he would get kicked off the committee becuase he didnt want to deal with being the chair. Kind of ditto for Paul Ryan. I am even wondering if Ryan told him to go to the WH so that it would go to a Special Committee so that the WH would be under pressure because they were already treating him like crap. But i don’t see Ryan thinking stuff that far out.

  24. 24.

    efgoldman

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    If you are flying for free, you follow the rules.

    A ten year old girl? Who’s running United? Sister Mary Hitler transported from the 50s?

  25. 25.

    Yarrow

    @amk: Yes, airlines have dress codes for employees, their families and others they give their airline passes to for free/reduced fare flights. They (and anyone who flies on a pass) are representing the airline and the airline wants those people to dress appropriately.

    The gate agent has the authority to refuse boarding to the employee or other person on a pass if they don’t meet the requirements. One American based carrier used to require women traveling on a pass to wear hosiery. A female friend of mine worked for the airline and used to wear an ankle length skirt and carry around a pair of knee high hose to put on at the last minute. She was refused boarding on one flight because she wasn’t wearing them so she always had a spare pair with her. They’ve loosened the rules in recent years.

  28. 28.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    She keeps popping up on my FB feed. Apparently, the baby is doing a lot of kicking and moving around. I don’t think she can lay down. They should turn off the damn camera and induce labor.

  30. 30.

    Mike J

    @amk:

    UA has a dress code? Is it run by fundies?

    All airlines have a dress code if you’re flying for free with an employee. I’ve always worn a jacket and tie when I’ve done it, even though it isn’t explicitly required.

    On the other hand, I’d cut kids a little more slack that some rando who was just bangin’ an FA.

  32. 32.

    Mary G

    WaPo says Trump administration weighing more involvement in the Yemen war. Terrible idea. The people there are already starving to death and the Saudis and other Sunnis bomb civilians all the time. They just shot up a boat full of unarmed refugees from Somalia.

    ETA: Forgot the quote:

    Yemen’s population centers have been decimated by the conflict, in which indiscriminate Saudi airstrikes and fighting on the ground have killed an estimated 10,000 civilians. Both the Houthis, who hold the capital, Sanaa, Hodeida and other cities, and Saudi Arabia, which controls the sea perimeter around Hodeida, have restricted delivery of aid and other goods flowing through the port to other population centers.

    On Wednesday, U.N. humanitarian officials said that millions of Yemenis were on the verge of starvation. Yves Daccord, director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, warned that an extended battle for the port city would “put even more pressure on the population” and could tip the country into greater humanitarian crisis.

  34. 34.

    Yarrow

    @efgoldman: Yes, the airlines have dress codes for people who are flying for free on passes because either they or someone they are related to or know works for the airline. They are representing the airline. That includes ten year old girls.

    It’s a benefit of working for the airline. They have rules associated with using the benefit. Doesn’t seem that draconian to me.

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne

    Back home safely from my writer’s conference. I chewed all of my food carefully the rest of the weekend and did not have to be Heimliched a second time. I’m probably going to hire the nice lady who helped me to do some editing for me because, well, I kind of owe her one.

    Also, the hippo toesies are adorable.

  36. 36.

    Yarrow

    @Mnemosyne: How are you feeling? Any after effects from being Heimliched? That sounded really scary. Glad you are okay.

    Wasn’t someone going to read a few chapters of your book? How did that go?

  37. 37.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Mnemosyne: Glad you made it back in one piece. Are you trying to emulate Cole in the “do we need to crowdfund a bubble?” department?

  45. 45.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @sanjeevs:

    Gack, I hope he doesn’t include sex scenes. Can’t imagine a Newt-penned scene would be very nuanced.

  48. 48.

    amk

    @Yarrow:

    They are representing the airline. That includes ten year old girls.

    Really? The kids didn’t sign up for that bs, did they now?

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yarrow:

    No aftereffects except for being embarrassed. I did mention it to a few people at the conference who were like, OMG, that was YOU?!?

    The reading of the pages went well, but nobody offered me a book contract on the spot, sadly. I do have a chance to send some pages to an agent, but when she heard I was re-working the heroine a bit, she made sure to emphasize that it is an open-ended offer and she doesn’t want me to send anything that’s not from a complete manuscript.

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:

    Between this and spraining my knee right before Disneyworld, G isn’t sure I should be allowed to travel for the foreseeable future. ?

    @debbie:

    I had a scary incident on Friday where the combination of a persistent cough and a roast beef sandwich meant I had to be Heimliched. Fortunately, I had a quick-thinking lunch partner who saved the day.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mary G: This would be a bad idea. I cannot imagine the CENTCOM Commander would be enthused with adding this to his plate. Limited, increased involvement against AQIP by SOCOM might be appropriate, if set up right. All this is going to do is further radicalize the Houthis, further enflame the al Awklaki problem that plagued the British when they controlled Aden and now is a problem for us tied into the AQIP problem, and further cement the burgeoning connections between the Iranians and Yemen’s 5er Shia who would normally have no reason to make common cause with Iran.

    In terms of US interests, what Yemen needs is a targeted, precise Special Forces intervention for dealing with AQIP and significant humanitarian assistance to alleviate the long running problems that the Saudi operations have exacerbated.

  53. 53.

    Mike J

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): Actual quote from Gingrich’s book, 1945

    “Even though it had been only minutes since their last lovemaking, John Mayhew was as ever overwhelmed by the sight of her, the shameless pleasure she took in her own body and its effect on him. . . . Since he wasn’t sure what to say, he made a production out of lighting up and enjoying that first, luxurious after-bout inhalation.”

  57. 57.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    It’s been really amusing watching the Twitter postings of all of the female hockey players who have turned down USA Hockey’s invitation to be a replacement from the boycotting striking (let’s call it what it really is) women’s national team. They’ve run through the other 67 players in the national team pool, the entire NWHL, the players on the Under-18 national team, pretty much every NCAA Division I player, a lot of Division III players, some high schoolers, and a few former college players who haven’t played anything but beer league hockey for the last few years. If anyone has accepted the invitation, they’ve kept it really, really quiet.

    Now there’s a rumor (sourced pretty well, including the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast) that American NHL players are considering boycotting the men’s world championships in solidarity. In fairness, there are plenty of North American NHL players who don’t want to play in what is a relatively unimportant tournament to people on this continent, and this may just be their excuse for this year. Still, it’ll make noise. And it would probably make Phil Kessel’s next family get together a less frosty if he publicly backs his sister.

  61. 61.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    what Yemen needs is a targeted, precise Special Forces intervention for dealing with AQIP

    You don’t mean like that clusterfuck earlier this year, I hope.
    I know you have confidence in the commanders on the ground who you know, but anything – anything – the current maladministration touches turns to pig shit.

  62. 62.

    Mary G

    @Adam L Silverman: And if you look at the map in the article, AQIP isn’t even in the same section of the country as the Houthis. The Saudis and American neocons and petroleum executives who enable them are just using it as an excuse. Now that ACHA is history, I think I’ll call Darrell Issa about this tomorrow.

  64. 64.

    efgoldman

    @Felonious Monk:

    I WANT A HIPPOPOTAMUS FOR CHRISTMAS!

    Sorry, but the only thing we’ve ever been able to afford from the Nieman-Marcus catalog was a bag full of personalized golf tees for my late father in law.

  65. 65.

    Yarrow

    @skerry: I have no idea what the rules are. They could be sexist and may need to be revisited.

    @amk: Kids don’t sign up for a lot of stuff that their parents make them do. The kids were flying for free. The parents are in charge of making sure the kids follow the rules that go with using the free passes that they were given. I don’t know what the dress code is; I just know the airlines have dress codes for people flying on passes and some of the dress code has, in the past, seemed really dumb.

    One thing I’ll say is do not piss off the gate agents. They have the authority to deny anyone boarding. They will wield that authority like a bludgeon if they decide you don’t meet their requirements to get on the plane. Don’t piss them off, especially if you’re flying on a pass.

  70. 70.

    Yarrow

    @Mnemosyne: Glad you are okay! At least you were memorable. “Dear literary agent, I was the writer who had to be Heimliched at lunch…”

    All kidding aside, it sounds somewhat productive and you can always send the manuscript in when you feel it’s ready.

  72. 72.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    Here’s my Newt parody:

    Bern Penrose flung off his Egyptian cotton towel and stared hard at the girl. “Salute the Little General, you wench, or I’ll turn you over my knee!”

    “Again, you wicked man? My poor cheeks are still aflame from the last time.”

    They came together like rutting chipmunks under the hot August sun….

  73. 73.

    amk

    @Yarrow: Kids were flying for free is a silly argument. I fly all the time across countries and I have not seen gate agents acting as SS to anyone. Including those who are raggedly dressed. In any case, it’s a bad PR for the stupid airline.

  76. 76.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: The mess earlier this year was a combination of 1) Disregarding the process at the National Command Authority level that is intended to reduce the chances of such a mess happening, 2) bad intelligence or, perhaps more accurately, intelligence that was incorrect at the time of the raid, and 3) a number of things going wrong en route to and on the objective.

    The latter two things are going to happen – they can never be completely reduced to not happening.

    The problems we have are at the National Command Authority level right now.

  78. 78.

    mainmata

    @Mary G: Awesome! I work on climate change on the right coast and am so proud of California’s long history leading renewable energy.

  81. 81.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The problems we have are at the National Command Authority level right now.

    Hell, I don’t have any inside info or specialized knowledge but that’s glaringly, hideously obvious. And it’s going to get more people (both our people and others) killed for no good reason.

  82. 82.

    efgoldman

    @Mnemosyne:

    We also had two NY Times bestselling authors (Robyn Carr and Sarah Maclean) do the keynote and closing speeches for our dinky little conference in Orange County.

    If somebody offered me a free trip to Orange County CA in the winter, I’d take it.

  86. 86.

    J R in WV

    I have to admit….I don’t find the babby Hippo cute, not at all.

    Sorry. Not fuzzy enough, maybe…

  88. 88.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    @amk: You don’t see gate agents barring other passengers for dress code violations because they don’t have dress codes for paying customers other than what is legally required. They do have a dress code for people who are using the company perk of free travel. They are being regulated as employees, not passengers. It isn’t any different from my employer requiring me to wear a dress shirt and tie to work despite allowing visitors on site in jeans and t-shirts.

  89. 89.

    Yarrow

    @amk: Why’s it a silly argument? The airlines have dress codes for using their passes. You don’t follow the dress code you don’t get on the plane. The code may be stupid and need to be changed, but that’s a different issue.

    As for gate agents, talk to people who work for airlines and fly for free. They’ll tell you about the SS gate agents. I’ve encountered them myself. Was yelled at by one for having the nerve to approach the counter after the person ahead of me in line finished their business and walked away. The gate agent actually told me I had to step back two paces and wait. The agent didn’t do anything during that time except glare at me and make me wait. It was kind of nutty. Petty authoritarian.

    I agree it’s bad PR for the airline. It wasn’t handled very well and in the age of social media it’s the kind of thing that gets broadcast quickly.

  90. 90.

    Chet Murthy

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): Uh, first time I read it, I didnt’ see the “parody” part. Hence my reaction. Then I re-read, realized it was parody, and yes, it works well. I’m just not a careful reader, is all.

    Truly, I read it, started giggling out loud at the chipmunks part, and thought “oh no way, Newt wrote -that-? That’s ridiculous.” As parody, it’s excellent.

  92. 92.

    Coin operated

    Re: denied boarding. Having once worked at Sabre (the IT arm of American Airlines), you learn that if you want to fly for free, you learn the dress code well and make sure all members of your party know it as well. My children and I were never denied boarding, but I’ve seen more than my share of people turned away at the gate. Also…you were never sure of your seat until they closed the front door and pulled the jetway. A revenue-generating passenger always had priority and the gate agents at AA had no issue coming onto the plane and asking you to unass your seat for a paying passenger.

  93. 93.

    efgoldman

    @J R in WV:

    I don’t find the babby Hippo cute, not at all.

    Should be an easier target than squirrels, though, and the meat should be tender.

  94. 94.

    Wag

    @MomSense:
    I don’t know about your giraffe, but here in denver one of our giraffes gave birth a few weeks ago and my wife shot a video that’s really cute.

  103. 103.

    PIGL

    The broad backed hippopotamus
    Lies on his belly in the mud.
    Although he seems so firm to us
    he is merely flesh and blood.

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