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(((What Fresh Hell Is This)))'s avatar

That looks like fun!

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LuluBelle's avatar

I used to think being an otter would be the best animal but in my quickly advancing old age, I've decided I'd rather be a hippo. It looks like a peaceful life and you're more than capable of putting a stop to anyone harassing you.

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Hippo Heaven's avatar

OMG, OMG, that hippo is to die for!!!

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Ward From Cali's avatar

Has anybody posted this yet?

https://youtu.be/MJ7IGnQPZPQ?si=4hhNfsUjgGKlAwKf

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Ellie Alive In 25's avatar

Hippos are fun, and I like to watch videos, but I also remember they kill more people in the parts of Africa where they live than lions, etc..

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Martini Glambassador's avatar

Best to observe them from the safety of your browser :)

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Dee (Not Snider) 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

The hed gif is a violation of my god-given HIPPO rights. I shall now protest until I get bored and wander off in five minutes or so.

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Zap's avatar

like

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vorpal's avatar

Mud mud glorious mud

Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood

So follow me follow

Down to the hollow

And there let us wallow

In glorious mud

https://youtu.be/4zpDF3Py7r8?si=dhPPmm_dmLj8xMpO

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John Thorstensen's avatar

My folks had that record when I was a kid -- Flanders and Swann were utterly charming, highly musical, and wonderfully witty.

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Suzie Greenburg's avatar

I would pool party with this hippo.

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Sherry's avatar

No you don’t! Hippos might look cute like lions but they’re really not all that friendly when you get in THEIR water.

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Suzie Greenburg's avatar

I thought of that but decided to thow caution to the wind!!

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Sherry's avatar

Then transport your mind to the Hippo pool and enjoy. Who am I to say that you cannot dream? Enjoy. Hippo hugs to you.

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Suzie Greenburg's avatar

Cheers!

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Shocktreatment's avatar

𝗔 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗦𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗛𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗙𝗹𝘆. 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳𝗹𝘆.

A new study out of the United Kingdom shows that hippos can fly. Well, only if you define flying as getting all four hooves off the ground for 0.3 seconds...

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a61510373/study-says-hippos-can-fly-briefly/

It's not quite the worry that the Murder Hornets are, but still. Hippos are 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵. Sure .3 seconds of airtime 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺. They're just getting started...

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Ward From Cali's avatar

Heh. I read that last week and have already used the SCIENCE FACT that Giant Pigs can fly to justify several optimistic arguments. Anyone who doesn't have this article bookmarked is blowing a huge opportunity!

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The Blessed Reverend's avatar

they key word here is 'briefly' I learned to my profound disappointment

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Daniel's avatar

We already knew this.

Eadweard Muybridge made a film of one doing so in 1889.

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John Thorstensen's avatar

Immortalized by Phillip Glass, if you like that kind of thing, as I unaccountably do:

"Horses in the air

Feet on the ground

Never seen this picture before .... "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPCkt9VvkY0

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ziggywiggy's avatar

That one is wonderfully adorable.

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TootsStansbury 🇺🇦's avatar

So graceful!

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Stroke1's avatar

You're gonna need a bigger diving board.

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Martini Glambassador's avatar

LOL, can you imagine?!

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Andrea's avatar

I lived across from the National Zoo for 7 years. They had Pygmy hippos - I loved them. Then I moved - I think all the hippos disappeared.

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The Blessed Reverend's avatar

maybe they are looking for you

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Page Turner's avatar

Who's a good boy?

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asmallmacropod 🐨's avatar

'Here's the Hiphopopotamus

The hip hop hippo

They call me the Hiphopopotamus

My lyrics are bottomless'

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Chopsusie's avatar

Did Steve tell you that perchance?

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Daniel's avatar

And the Rhymnoceros?

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asmallmacropod 🐨's avatar

My beats are fat

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Les Bontemps's avatar

My feets are flat.

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skinnercitycyclist's avatar

"The Hippopotamus," Ogden Nash

Behold the hippopotamus!

We laugh at how he looks to us,

And yet in moments dank and grim,

I wonder how we look to him.

Peace, peace, thou hippopotamus!

We really look all right to us,

As you no doubt delight the eye

Of other hippopotami.

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Cincinnatus's avatar

How about a hippopotamus?

I'd trash him from top to "bottom-us."

- Cowardly Lion, Wizard of Oz

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marcus816's avatar

I love hippopotami

and have seen them in the wild.

I saw them from a camp on high,*

They looked up at me and smiled.

*Oliphant Rest Camp, Kruger SANP

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Second Laws's avatar

Poetry has been all downhill since Ogden Nash. ;-)

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skinnercitycyclist's avatar

For my master’s I mainly read German poetry, so I will defer to you as far as putting T.S. Eliot in his place!

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Cliff Hendroval's avatar

Nah, since Beowulf.

Hwæt!

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fuflans's avatar

love you miss rebecca. i literally have no idea what your position on biden/NO biden is. and neither position is wrong.

we're in the shittiest place. and this is once again unprecedented and because america chose the vilest thing on the planet to be our president in 2016 (i have NO DOUBT biden wouldn't be running if trump was in...away...somewhere.)

we just need this to end - and no matter what the result is - come back roaring. i am so ready to engage in all the fisticuffs for biden or harris.

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BlueSpot's avatar

Fear of Trump winning this year has a lot of people doing and saying things that they normally wouldn't. People might disagree over who should lead us as we head into this year's election, but we are united that we must defeat Trump.

I think Biden is our best chance of winning this year. Others think otherwise. In the end, it will come down to the convention and the Democratic Party leadership who will make the decision.

I will back whomever is the Democratic nominee, because I have my doubts that we will remain a free, democratic nation should Trump return to power.

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Moni le terrible's avatar

Rebecca. I'm still sticking with my stance I haven't got all of the facts to make my own judgement about Biden's state. I just haven't had time, adjusting to a new work shift, to watch the debate or the interview yet, I have a weekend coming up with 2 nights off, and will catch up then. I know what you were seeing because I was reading comments the next night for the interview. I've come to the conclusion that though I might disagree with people here, they each have a role in pointing me to things I might not have noticed before, as long as they're reasonably and like minded- that is, overall Democratic in politics or liberal if they call themselves other.

As a request for anyone who knows, is there a way to kind of personal message folks on here, to dig further into details and discussions about what they're seeing?

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Kyle Sparks's avatar

I know everyone has different opinions on OHJB and his electability in 2024. And that's okay. My personal one is that while we *might* lose if he stays in, we *definitely* lose if he drops out.

Which is why this news today might make some of you happy, but it fcking terrifies me.

https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1811461815693692955

"NBC News confirms: The Biden campaign is quietly assessing the viability of Vice President Kamala Harris' candidacy against Donald Trump in a new head-to-head poll."

I genuinely believe that if OHJB leaves the ticket, we're going to get rolled like 1968 all over again, and it feels like it's 50/50 as to whether or not I'll get to vote in a free, fair election again in my lifetime (I'm 41, btw).

Not that it's anything anyone has to do, but anyone feeling charitable and feel like finding a way to talk me off the ledge?

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fuflans's avatar

i'm actually starting to think the opposite - we're more likely to lose with biden. the first few days after the 'debate', i thought my current way of thinking was insane... and i go back and forth on an hourly basis and listen to far far far too many podcasts. but the terror never ceases.

also no one knows. no one fucking knows. i just want this to be over.

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Atrele Kasha's avatar

Honestly, I think it's pretty forward thinking. Assessing a Harris candidacy is most certainly a worst case scenario: Like it or not, A) Biden is pretty old, B) Shit can happen quickly, C) The other side is rapidly getting more militaristic and hostile and violent, D) Shit can SERIOUSLY happen quickly.

I doubt that they're setting up for President Biden to step down because a few idiots panicsharted all over Twitter and the New York Times. It's probably more like setting up so they can seamlessly transfer to Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris. Joe's in pretty decent health given his age, but it costs the campaign little or nothing to make transition arrangements so Harris can hit the ground running and make her case on short notice. She's the ONLY person who can benefit from the campaign.

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Kyle Sparks's avatar

Thank you.

All of that makes sense, and yes it is good to have some actual data to make a decision off of. Forgive me, I'm also trying to phrase this in a way that makes sense, but my addled brain is making that difficult. I'll do the best I can:

To me, doing this--and moreover somehow letting word get out about it--will be blood in the water to an already actively hostile national media apparatus who wanted to push Biden out the door, reality be damned. It shows that the campaign *can* be bullied by this media-driven narrative, and worse, it gives new legs to this story right when it felt like the campaign was starting to get past it. It feels like another instance of the Dems being afraid of their own shadow, and there being no media penalty for punching leftward, and it really gets frustrating.

And of all the times to give in to Dems in Disarray and the usual Circular Firing Squad, now is ABSOLUTELY NOT one of them.

America is literally in an existential crisis, and it feels like our party is very much not up to the gravity of this moment.

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Atrele Kasha's avatar

TBH I feel fairly certain that Biden and Harris's teams expect a hostile media environment. They probably HAD the plan and were updating projections with the latest poll data. NBC just found it and well... you get a lesson in how the media lies to you and directs your thought process the way they want it. It might be true, but it's probably far more benign than it actually is, especially since the media is absolutely aware that people are getting sick of the "BIDEN IS OOOOOOLD" stories they need to keep up their horse race.

Especially with the new stories about "Oh fucking shit, there's enough cross-referenced public data to point out Trump's actual place in the Epstein Files!"

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Stephanie's avatar

Oh. Have people been . . . fighting? Sigh. It's too hot.

Be nice.

Also, don't overthink it. None of us gets to decide who the candidate is, beyond voting. Speculating about a better candidate is like thinking about what you'll do when you win the lottery. Sure, could happen. But probably not. Nice way to distract yourself for a while, but not a life strategy.

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Robin Orcutt's avatar

Oh Rebecca don’t leave us. We all know some people are just plain useless blowhards. Wish it weren’t true but it is.

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Stephanie's avatar

Oh. Have people been . . . fighting? Sigh. It's too hot.

Be nice.

Also, don't overthink it. None of us gets to decide who the candidate is, beyond voting. Speculating about a better candidate is like thinking about what you'll do when you win the lottery. Sure, could happen. But probably not. Nice way to distract yourself for a while, but not a life strategy.

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Blognonymous's avatar

If you are writing threatening comments because you don't like or agree with the author, you're effectively a MAGA. Maybe your politics disagree with that movement, but your threats are exactly what is wrong with those people. Grow some thicker skin and stop being an asshole. Sometimes things change and if you can't adapt to that change then you lack resilience. The reality is aging happens slow and then fast. Biden was fine and now he's not. If you can't accept this reality then you're going to be very surprised by it when the same thing happens to you or a loved one. At the end of the day all of us, everyone who isn't a far right extremist, should care about preserving democracy in the United States first. Biden no longer provides the best path to that end. Time to adapt. The US should be paying close attention to the UK and France right now. They figured out how to defeat the extremists and their playbook was solid.

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fuflans's avatar

somebody on one of my pods called them 'blue Q'. i hope it's not that bad.

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Snowolf100's avatar

Eh, well I'll disagree with you on that Labour's playbook was solid. They pissed off a lot of people (me included) who don't like their stance on things like disability reform and welfare, trans treatments (how they're also for banning puberty blockers) and not re-joining the EU in any capacity.

But I voted for them because to vote for anyone else (tory) would be worse.

One of the shadow cabinet ministers got beaten by a Green Party candidate so there was a shuffle when Starmer took over. I'm not sure if that happens normally I thought they'd be in a "safe seat". Also if reform hadn't split the tory voters, Labour wouldn't have had the landslide they've got.

IF sunak had made a deal with reform and had not ran what some pundits called the worst tory campaign ever then it could have been 5 more years of tory rule. It's more like the tories lost the election than Labour pulled off a competent victory.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/06/this-is-going-to-be-a-disaster-inside-the-tories-chaotic-election-campaign

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Blognonymous's avatar

I think the point Labour made was that by being adaptable and leaning more centrist, giving voters what they cared about, made them easy to elect. The Tories had been blundering for years but to defeat them Labour had to become more centrist. Not that I believe they necessarily will be able to overcome the economic challenges the Tories left them. But they figured out how to sell voters enough to get elected.

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Robert Eckert's avatar

Their playbook did not involve two weeks of demanding that their leader step down.

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Blognonymous's avatar

No, because their leader called for snap elections and let the people decide. Biden is obstinately ignoring his people.

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Robert Eckert's avatar

Keir did not have the power to call the elections: the Tories did. Labour did not spend weeks demanding that Keir quit because he wouldn't win. If they had, Sunak would still be PM.

Biden is doing what his supporters want him to do: campaign hard. The media that are in the tank for Trump are not "his" people. The minority of Congresspeople who do not understand loyalty, organization, or disciple are not his people either. People like me are his people.

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Blognonymous's avatar

Talking about France.

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Snowolf100's avatar

This was the second lowest turnout of voters since 2001. Labour's vote share didn't massively increase in England. It increased in Scotland where the SNP had a problem with a scandal. Basically Labour didn't see a massive swing of voters moving to them because they were centrist.

What happened was the tory voters either a) stayed home and didn't vote or b) voted for reform. More votes were given to tories and reform combined than Labour. Labour regained the seats they lost to the tories when it was about brexit and bojo was basically making promises that were pure bs and gave out false hope that has not materialised.

reform also got more votes than the Liberal Democrats and yet gained 5 seats to their 72. This election had the largest gap between vote numbers and number of seats the parties won.

Labour's point was more we're not the tories please vote for us we're less evil than the other guys, but only just so.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nglegege1o

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/05/uk-general-election-2024-five-key-points

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c886pl6ldy9o

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Blognonymous's avatar

Okay so maybe France is a better example then. Far left and centrists partnering up to beat the far right. I think we need something similar here. For those centrists who haven't gone off the far right deep end anyway.

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BECKY's avatar

I don't know why we all don't realize that reasonable people can disagree about the best path to beat Donald Trump. The truth is that no one really knows how either can turn out. I'm hoping the DNC does something sciency like polling likely voters (I'm not very knowledgeable what group would be the most representative), otherwise aren't we just guessing based on a lot of emotion?

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fuflans's avatar

precisely

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Robert Eckert's avatar

Polling has been done. The debate had close to zero impact on actual voters. Whether the weeks of handwringing since the debate have had an impact will show up soon.

https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2024/07/no-change-biden-debate-performance-has-had-almost-no-impact-on-2024-race-report-finds/

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Suki van Dijk's avatar

this is so important - NO ONE KNOWS and no one can know. Anyone who tells you they know is lying to you. So whatever happens, if the Mango Menace (goddess forfend, and pew, pew, pew) gets back in, people will blame either the people who fought for Biden to stay or fought for him to go.

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Atrele Kasha's avatar

Let's all love on the furry community. I feel the furry community is deeply unappreciated in many places.

For example,. from the Intercept:

https://theintercept.com/2024/07/10/gay-furry-hackers-feud-with-heritage-foundation-exec-over-hack/

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CanadianBacon's avatar

OK, my 2 cents (CDN) worth:

Grow the fuck up people. (And please note that this is coming from a CANADIAN.)

Sorry if that offends anybody. Or not, I really don't care.

I do give money to Rebecca (not much because I'm an old and on a disability pension) and wish I could give more but I like eating. I came to this site to read opinions that may or may not align with mine (and admittedly for the schadenfreude of American politics). If you don't agree with a viewpoint at the very least you can be civil about it.

I don't comment often because I'm basically asocial. The only times I do comment are A: when I have a pithy (or pissy) comment or otherwise somewhat humourous thing to say (yes I spelled it with a "U", bite me) or B: when I get royally pissed off enough to break my own rules and momentarily interact with society (or Wonkette readers).

Death threats of any sort or to any person don't help change my mind about being so.

I could continue but my lunch is ready and I can already feel my temper lowering. Thanks for letting me vent.

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(((What Fresh Hell Is This)))'s avatar

Rebecca, let me know if someone does cancel because of what you wrote. I'll replace their subscription with my own. (yes, I'm a freeloader)

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Rebecca Schoenkopf's avatar

oh about 20 people have canceled, honey. you don't have to replace all 20 :)

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(((What Fresh Hell Is This)))'s avatar

Good, because I can't! <grin>

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marydn's avatar

You do not have to read everything on this site. If you think an article will annoy you or anger you or depress you then don't read it. If you start reading and become upset then stop reading. If someone is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to read then call the police 'cause I'm pretty sure that is illegal. AND LEAVE REBECCA ALONE! Except to give her money, of course.

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CripesAmighty's avatar

And fellow wonkers, too. Remember, while we're arguing fiercely about the best play, we're on the same team.

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Hunk's avatar

That's why I haven't read even one word of The Split. I don't have any interest in reading that kind of fiction and not on here. I hope it's well written and people enjoy it, but otherwise. Don't care.

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Ward From Cali's avatar

I ain't gonna get too deep into Rebecca's scolding. I'm just gonna say that I argued with her, personally, about her position on Biden early on. My arguments were, as they usually are, strong and forcefully presented. But not personally abusive. And if anyone can't wrap their brains around that because of moral reasons should at least think of the tactical ones. Diplomacy is a thing, and you'll.never convince anyone of anything with a firehose of white-hot hatred. And frankly, the flamethrowers piss me off, because they infringe MY free speech rights by their selfish behavior. Every time 'Trix has to say something like this, it chills debate.

Of course, this is a community that has long-standing members who still can't seem to wrap their brains around simple, years-long dictums like "don't be misogynistic dicks" and still need to be warned every single time Wonkette posts a story about a despised politician who also happens to be female engages in some sort of publicly skeevy shenanigans. It's almost like some people just refuse to learn.

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mr_snarky's avatar

I don’t read all the comments but who are these presumptuous rude non-commenters harassing the Editrx? Lemme at ‘em!

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