Thank you for the gif. I was reading my usual morning stuff, which included reading, over on Science Based Medicine, about a little boy dying horribly in a hyperbaric chamber, by quacks, and on the News: the short-fingered vulgarian gleeful over a supposed way to get Biden, and his son too....and after the little boy, I had to come here, thinking....PLEASE have an animal gif that will make me smile.
I am dead serious. I needed something right away. And that long neck, and long tongue, and baby did it. If I look at it for a while, and then, maybe go find some baby goats in pjs, I'll be able to face more news.
Absolutely. It's a go to for me every day. I don't always understand what they are talking about - because the subject may be beyond my limited scope of knowledge, but there is always something to learn there, from all the contributors.
If you need a stronger infusion I highly recommend searching for sprout and blossom the baby beavers on YouTube. I had no idea that baby beavers were so fuzzy and sweet. And noisy!
Actually, I’ll just link. Pro tip: of them drinks a bottle around 2:30.
We can feed them in Detroit too! It is So. Incredibly. Cool. Fucking. Awesome!!!! to have a giraffe decide to walk over and take the offerings of leaves you have. I got lucky and got an extra giraffe kiss on my hands! Best ten seconds ever!!!!
Incidentally (probably been mentioned before) if DOGE really wanted to cut goverment spending, Mr. Trump's golf trips to Florida cost $3-4 million dollars each - not counting local law enforcement expenditures for his motorcade and the cost to the local economy for shutting down the local airport.
(And no, this is not a small municipal airport. It can take a 747...)
Late to the party but I just wanted to say that Stravinsky piece was outstanding. I listened to it on a quality system and the recording is excellent as is the performance.
Here's a thought. How about the judge haul Marco Rubio into his courtroom, cite him for contempt, and Lockhimup!™ until every single one of those planes is back on American soil?
Egg prices have started going up here in Mexico, "thanks" to a massive increase in exports to the US (4.1 million dozen in January alone) ... well, the US can have the eggs, if they trade them for those guns they keep smuggling here. A dozen eggs per firearm. Ok, maybe 2 dozen for a 50.cal.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is defending President Donald Trump’s attacks on law firms and attorneys which he’s deemed his enemies.
The senator from South Carolina said he was more than fine with Trump’s decision to pull security clearances and slap other restrictions on legal adversaries while speaking to CBS moderator Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Calling investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia and the Jan. 6 assault on the capital “politically motivated,” he said, “People who engaged in trying to destroy President Trump, I don’t mind him going after them in a lawful way.”
Brennan immediately pushed back at Graham’s use of the word “lawful,” telling the senator, “The president is trying to use government power to punish private business because he didn’t like some of the work they had been doing.”
Graham doubled down, telling the journalist how “private business aided government power in a fashion to destroy Donald Trump’s life.”
Painting the president as the victim, Graham said, “You know, on our side, nobody in your world gets it, but our people believe that the Justice Department was used as a weapon to destroy Trump’s campaign and his business interests and to ruin his family.” “That they made up bogus charges and they proceeded in a fashion that was designed to destroy him politically and personally,” he went on. “I believe that and if these people involved pay a price, they got nobody but themselves to blame.”
Graham then chuckled as Brennan reminded him these firms were simply doing the jobs they were hired for. “These are lawyers working on cases,” she said. “You’re making it sound like the work that they take on is somehow part of a conspiracy and they should be punished for it.”
Trying to muddy the waters, the senator accused Trump’s targets of “pushing legal theories that to me were designed for political outcomes more than legal outcomes.”
“We can have a debate about, you know, holding a lawyer accountable for his client’s actions,” he added. “I generally don’t like that.”
“That’s what this sounds like,” Brennan interjected.
Graham stood his ground, saying that attorneys involved in investigations against Trump were “trying to disrupt and take down the Republican nominee for president.” “This was an orchestrated effort and Biden only regretted they didn’t do it sooner,” he maintained. “So it was politically motivated and everybody with their fingerprints on it, I hope they pay a price.”
I'm sure the DOD will be thrilled to have their research grants at places like MIT and CalTech canceled. Donnie don't need those eggheads and their woke science stuff!
Happy St. Patrick's day! Now I understand why Ziggy showed The Commitments this weekend. Seems I am a bit slow on the uptake these days.
Through a long story I will avoid, I happen to own a book intended to help psychotherapists work with other cultures. I have always found it highly useful, in dealing with my own family's quirks and sometimes in dealing with other folks.
Here's a bit from the book, about the Irish: "The Irish are a people of paradoxes. They have a tremendous flair for bravado, but inwardly tend to assume that anything that goes wrong is the result of their sins [or at least their fault. My add here.]. They are good-humored, charming, hospitable, and gregarious without being intimate. They love a good time, which includes teasing, verbal word play, and sparring, yet they revel in tragedy. Although always joking, they seem to struggle always against loneliness, depression and silence, believing intensely that life will break your heart one day...
The Irish have been show to have a high tolerance for nonrealistic thinking compared to many other groups...Although often viewed as a weakness, their ability to weave dreams was undoubtably crucial to their survival and may indeed be one of their most creative assets. Historically, the Irish have valued fantasy and dreaming more, perhaps, than any other Western European culture. Even third-generation Irish in the United States were shown to turn frustrations into compensatory fantasy more than others..."
I was going to type this into the movie night thread, but was too lazy. It fits, right? From the very first scene, as the protagonist is imagining being interviewed about his accomplishments.
Enjoy your day, and let yourself entertain some flights of fancy to offset these bleak times.
FWIW I don't think that Petroushka was added to the program at the last minute (I'm too lazy to check). I speak from experience--it's a fucking HARD piece.
Inside the White House, the decision was not about law—it was about power. A federal judge ruled against the administration. The debate inside Trump’s team was not whether the ruling was legal, but whether they could get away with ignoring it. They decided they could. And they were right.
This was not a clash between equal branches of government. It was the moment the judiciary was exposed as powerless. The courts do not have an army. They rely on compliance. But a court that cannot enforce its rulings is not a court—it is a suggestion box. And a presidency that can ignore the courts without consequence is no longer constrained by law—it is an untouchable executive.
Trump did not declare the end of judicial authority in a speech. He demonstrated it in practice. This is how democratic systems collapse—not with a single act, but with the normalization of defiance, the expectation that a ruling can simply be brushed aside....
That's how repubs work--they just go right ahead and do the thing without regard to tradition, constitution, lawfulness, morals, or ethics, without a thought or care in the world. And they've learned that there will be few, if any, consequences.
Aww, little giraffe baby! Find our the details here, including a link to the live web cam: https://martiniambassador.substack.com/p/giraffe-baby-gets-smooched
And your meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/6f6f097c-14d5-4b70-b4cd-42eb61b4fcc9
I especially like the baby owl clinging to the baby giraffe's head.
I want to hug and hug and hug that long babby neck!!!
Thank you for the gif. I was reading my usual morning stuff, which included reading, over on Science Based Medicine, about a little boy dying horribly in a hyperbaric chamber, by quacks, and on the News: the short-fingered vulgarian gleeful over a supposed way to get Biden, and his son too....and after the little boy, I had to come here, thinking....PLEASE have an animal gif that will make me smile.
I am dead serious. I needed something right away. And that long neck, and long tongue, and baby did it. If I look at it for a while, and then, maybe go find some baby goats in pjs, I'll be able to face more news.
Shout-out to Dr. Gorski at SBM. He, and that whole website, rocks.
Absolutely. It's a go to for me every day. I don't always understand what they are talking about - because the subject may be beyond my limited scope of knowledge, but there is always something to learn there, from all the contributors.
If you need a stronger infusion I highly recommend searching for sprout and blossom the baby beavers on YouTube. I had no idea that baby beavers were so fuzzy and sweet. And noisy!
Actually, I’ll just link. Pro tip: of them drinks a bottle around 2:30.
https://youtu.be/tr0RNVaWdLM?si
Thank you so much. I'm putting baby beavers on my list now.
The quacks have been indicted for, amongst other charges, 2nd degree murder.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2025/03/11/oxford-center-leaders-charges-hyperbaric-oxygen-chamber/82259999007/
Pure oxygen? Didn't anyone learn from the Apollo 1 disaster?
And no grounding straps!
Momma giraffe: 'I will be SO glad when you grow up. My neck hurts.'
“Tastes like babby giraffe-berries”
When he needs to get fresh air
And keep his lungs inflated
Ma giraffe says"Take deep breaths"
That cannot be debated.
You always make me gir-laugh.
My work is done here.
I would like one for my pocket.
https://factorydirectcraft.com/pimages/20160805110838-164528/miniature_baby_giraffe_3.jpg
"Wash behind your ears, Junior!"
I was talking to one of my kids the other day about giraffes. They had gone to the Richmond zoo, to see their pygmy hippo and babby.
The Richmond zoo has a walkway that puts you next to the giraffes. By their great huge heads. Feed them.
You can feed them? I have to go there.
We can feed them in Detroit too! It is So. Incredibly. Cool. Fucking. Awesome!!!! to have a giraffe decide to walk over and take the offerings of leaves you have. I got lucky and got an extra giraffe kiss on my hands! Best ten seconds ever!!!!
That's what Melania said.
Virginia or California?
Richmond, VA
hello neighbor!
I haven't been to the Richmond zoo in AGES! like 30 years! sounds like they've stepped up their game....
Hey neyba!
It's probably almost 20 years for me!
LOL!
Maybe I should correct that soon...
“Aw Mom, the other guys will see.”
I ruvs Giraffesses, especially their antennea!
Speaking of long necks ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lb9dq-JZFI
Well it IS St. Patrick's Day.
Isn't a bit early in the morning for so much heavy necking?
Does the baby gi-raffe want a Clark Bar, or is he willing to settle for the Toys R Us logo?
So sweet!
I wonder when we'll start hearing rumors about the disappeared people having been deplaned over open water.
Incidentally (probably been mentioned before) if DOGE really wanted to cut goverment spending, Mr. Trump's golf trips to Florida cost $3-4 million dollars each - not counting local law enforcement expenditures for his motorcade and the cost to the local economy for shutting down the local airport.
(And no, this is not a small municipal airport. It can take a 747...)
Those mammoth mice will be the pet of the century.
Late to the party but I just wanted to say that Stravinsky piece was outstanding. I listened to it on a quality system and the recording is excellent as is the performance.
Here's a thought. How about the judge haul Marco Rubio into his courtroom, cite him for contempt, and Lockhimup!™ until every single one of those planes is back on American soil?
Every single one of the PEOPLE. The planes are already back and loading for more. They're as mercenary as Con-Air.
We need more bartenders in Congress. I nominate this guy doing responsible pest control.
https://youtu.be/t98vNymHQ5M
Egg prices have started going up here in Mexico, "thanks" to a massive increase in exports to the US (4.1 million dozen in January alone) ... well, the US can have the eggs, if they trade them for those guns they keep smuggling here. A dozen eggs per firearm. Ok, maybe 2 dozen for a 50.cal.
"ICE is reportedly violating its own policies"
ICE has policies??
Other than "Act like major asshole-thugs at every opportunity", of course.
They do. And they consider them as binding as Musk and Trump consider the law. Mostly as "Haw haw, they think we be stupid, Haw!"
> “ You know, we’re no different than an insurance company”
That rumbling sound you hear is every dead US soldier spinning in their graves
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is defending President Donald Trump’s attacks on law firms and attorneys which he’s deemed his enemies.
The senator from South Carolina said he was more than fine with Trump’s decision to pull security clearances and slap other restrictions on legal adversaries while speaking to CBS moderator Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Calling investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia and the Jan. 6 assault on the capital “politically motivated,” he said, “People who engaged in trying to destroy President Trump, I don’t mind him going after them in a lawful way.”
Brennan immediately pushed back at Graham’s use of the word “lawful,” telling the senator, “The president is trying to use government power to punish private business because he didn’t like some of the work they had been doing.”
Graham doubled down, telling the journalist how “private business aided government power in a fashion to destroy Donald Trump’s life.”
Painting the president as the victim, Graham said, “You know, on our side, nobody in your world gets it, but our people believe that the Justice Department was used as a weapon to destroy Trump’s campaign and his business interests and to ruin his family.” “That they made up bogus charges and they proceeded in a fashion that was designed to destroy him politically and personally,” he went on. “I believe that and if these people involved pay a price, they got nobody but themselves to blame.”
Graham then chuckled as Brennan reminded him these firms were simply doing the jobs they were hired for. “These are lawyers working on cases,” she said. “You’re making it sound like the work that they take on is somehow part of a conspiracy and they should be punished for it.”
Trying to muddy the waters, the senator accused Trump’s targets of “pushing legal theories that to me were designed for political outcomes more than legal outcomes.”
“We can have a debate about, you know, holding a lawyer accountable for his client’s actions,” he added. “I generally don’t like that.”
“That’s what this sounds like,” Brennan interjected.
Graham stood his ground, saying that attorneys involved in investigations against Trump were “trying to disrupt and take down the Republican nominee for president.” “This was an orchestrated effort and Biden only regretted they didn’t do it sooner,” he maintained. “So it was politically motivated and everybody with their fingerprints on it, I hope they pay a price.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lindsey-graham-defends-trump-revoking-law-firms-security-clearance_n_67d6ee3de4b0c332fd9c620d?5mc=&utm_source=buzzfeed&utm_medium=iframely
I'm sure the DOD will be thrilled to have their research grants at places like MIT and CalTech canceled. Donnie don't need those eggheads and their woke science stuff!
Happy St. Patrick's day! Now I understand why Ziggy showed The Commitments this weekend. Seems I am a bit slow on the uptake these days.
Through a long story I will avoid, I happen to own a book intended to help psychotherapists work with other cultures. I have always found it highly useful, in dealing with my own family's quirks and sometimes in dealing with other folks.
Here's a bit from the book, about the Irish: "The Irish are a people of paradoxes. They have a tremendous flair for bravado, but inwardly tend to assume that anything that goes wrong is the result of their sins [or at least their fault. My add here.]. They are good-humored, charming, hospitable, and gregarious without being intimate. They love a good time, which includes teasing, verbal word play, and sparring, yet they revel in tragedy. Although always joking, they seem to struggle always against loneliness, depression and silence, believing intensely that life will break your heart one day...
The Irish have been show to have a high tolerance for nonrealistic thinking compared to many other groups...Although often viewed as a weakness, their ability to weave dreams was undoubtably crucial to their survival and may indeed be one of their most creative assets. Historically, the Irish have valued fantasy and dreaming more, perhaps, than any other Western European culture. Even third-generation Irish in the United States were shown to turn frustrations into compensatory fantasy more than others..."
I was going to type this into the movie night thread, but was too lazy. It fits, right? From the very first scene, as the protagonist is imagining being interviewed about his accomplishments.
Enjoy your day, and let yourself entertain some flights of fancy to offset these bleak times.
Ziggy is magic!
Somehow, the movie always fits the times.
Also too--regarding that mammoth mouse--is combined squee and horror a thing?
FWIW I don't think that Petroushka was added to the program at the last minute (I'm too lazy to check). I speak from experience--it's a fucking HARD piece.
Sigh, breathtakingly honest and to the point.
https://theintellectualist.com/black-saturday-us-constitutional-crisis-2025/
...
The White House’s Decision: Power Over Law
Inside the White House, the decision was not about law—it was about power. A federal judge ruled against the administration. The debate inside Trump’s team was not whether the ruling was legal, but whether they could get away with ignoring it. They decided they could. And they were right.
This was not a clash between equal branches of government. It was the moment the judiciary was exposed as powerless. The courts do not have an army. They rely on compliance. But a court that cannot enforce its rulings is not a court—it is a suggestion box. And a presidency that can ignore the courts without consequence is no longer constrained by law—it is an untouchable executive.
Trump did not declare the end of judicial authority in a speech. He demonstrated it in practice. This is how democratic systems collapse—not with a single act, but with the normalization of defiance, the expectation that a ruling can simply be brushed aside....
That's how repubs work--they just go right ahead and do the thing without regard to tradition, constitution, lawfulness, morals, or ethics, without a thought or care in the world. And they've learned that there will be few, if any, consequences.