Another wonderful video from the fine folks at The Dodo.  This one is about complete strangers helping a totally different species in distress.  What a concept.

You have to trust me on this one.  This actually, really, truly is an "adorable animal video."  I've left the seemingly-gruesome comment in by the person posting it because it makes the actually adorable animal video all the funnier in proper perspective.

Trust me.  Really.

Another wonderful entry from the fine folks at The Dodo about an animal rescue --

For quite a while now, I've been posted a great many absolutely-wonderful animal videos from what I refer to as the fine folks at The Dodo.  Well, the other week, I discovered that last year they developed a TV series with Animal Planet called Dodo Heroes -- and that the second season was just about to begin.

That's to the magic of On Demand, I caught up with the first season, which turned out not to take all that long since there were only six episodes.  And all of them were "absolutely wonderful."  As was the first episode of the new, second season.  I have called the individual, short videos I've been posting "Adorable Animal Videos."  The series far-transcends that.

Each episode looks at an individual who has dedicated his or her life to protecting animals, sometimes by themselves or more generally through some small organization they've founded.  Each episode focuses on some specific, often very dramatic event they're in the middle of trying to accomplish at that particular time.

The shows have thus far told the stories of --

A veterinarian who trained himself to make prosthetics for animals, and is in the midst of creating a device for an elephant which he's never attempted before.

A woman who has developed a sanctuary for seals off the coast of Ireland.

A married couple who started Animal Defense International to rescue circus animals, and are in the midst of tense negotiations to reunite a mother lion with her cubs that were separated from her -- and who also rescue a spider monkey that has lived its life on a chain since it was a baby, and discovers freedom for the first time..

A woman who has developed a sanctuary in Thailand for elephants and is anxiously trying to negotiate for the release of an elephant which has been chained for a decade..

A veterinarian who rescues koala bears, with the help of her young "koala whisperer" daughter.

A former solider who rescues dogs in Afghanistan and reunites them with the soldiers who had found and saved them.

A woman who sold all of her possessions when she was 21 so she could go protect chimpanzees off the coast of Africa, and is now an expert in the field, working to start a sanctuary, while trying to find a companion for a chimpanzee named Ponso who had been used for medical experiments, then abandoned and has been living alone on a small island for several decades..

The show airs on Animal Planet on Saturday nights at 9 PM East/West Coast times.  You can also watch the episodes online here on Animal Planet's website.  It's extremely well done, and highly recommended if you like this sort of thing.

This brief trailer only gives the very slightest hint of how terrific, and often very emotional, each episode can be.  (One caveat: at the end, it says that Season Two is starting June 9, but clearly they changed that because the first episode has already aired.)

Know too that the sound may be off on the video, and if so you'll have to click the sound icon in the lower right of the frame to turn it on.

From the good folks over at The Dodo, here is just one of the many reasons that explains why pretty much most athletes say, "Hi, mom!!", into the camera.  Though this one is high on the list --

I can't quite explain how unique, totally unexpected, almost ethereal, and utterly adorable this video is.  But then, it needs no explanation other than the background given in the tweet.

Sorry, sometimes I get pissed off enough by the White House and its coterie of soulless acolytes willing the further the cause of fascism that instead I prefer to watch the overwhelming, heartwarming love that a parrot has for a little boy, and his love and giddy appreciation of it in return.  There are plenty enough other people standing in line to push back today and take the quislings to task.

Okay, so instead here is the bird and the boy, once again from the fine folks at the Dodo.  The pure joy and affection permeates everything here.  Most little kids that age would probably be freaked out by having a bird swoop in on them just once, let alone all the time.  But this is just joyful spirit, the perfect cleanser for an administration that has less compassion than a little boy -- and a parrot.

A fellow from Scotland decided to bicycle around the world.  Early on, a very young kitten who had been abandoned decided to chase after him.  And this video tells you the story.

But it only tells it in a 3-minute cursory way.  If you want far more wonderful details, the Washington Post has the full story here.  Hopefully you can read it with a subscription.  If not...well, the video  from the wonderful folks at The Dodo does an endearing job.

I've been reading a lot lately about Republican officials trying to outrage the far-right base by railing against how the Green New Deal shows that Democrats want to ban cows.  Now, there are two possibilities here:  first, either those GOP officials are smart and rational and don't truly believe Democrats actually want ban cows, so they're being deceitful demagogues attempting to spread manic frenzy to what they know is a foolishly-idiotic, breathtakingly-gullible, mindlessly-trusting base about an insane issue of banning an entire species that couldn't be done even if it was real -- or second, they themselves are so rabidly ignorant as to actually believe that Democrats really, truly, honestly want to ban cows   There are no other options.  It's one or the other.  I suspect the former, though given the existence of Louie Gohmert (R-TX), I don't discount the latter.

In response, I was planning to make a cogent, meticulously-prepared, eloquent argument to explain why there is absolutely zero in the Green New Deal or on any scrap of paper among Democratic files or even private diaries, let alone in imaginary thoughts, that says or suggests they want to, in fact, ban cows.  But as I started to type my treatise I realized..."Wait, stop!  This is insane."  If someone honestly needs convincing that Democrats don't want to ban cows, then there is no force on earth or in heaven to convince them otherwise.  It's not only something they want to believe because it fits the fantasy scenario they've created in what they refer to as their minds, but something they need to believe in order to justify a world where thought is too scary a concept, so relying on others to tell them how to behave and lead their lives is their only way to survive.

Therefore rather than try to convince them that they are wrong, I figure that the only other thing to do is explain why banning cows is such a wonderful idea, so that they might understand and support the proposal with a full and open heart.

After all, for all those on the far-right upset at Democrats wanting to ban cows, they have to remember the most important thing:  that there is no Second Amendment right to own a cow. So, cows don't have a Constitutional protection.  As those who believe in Original Intent, if the Founding Fathers wanted cows protected, they would have written it down.  Saying, "You will have to pull this cow out of my cold, dead hands" is meaningless.  Not just because it's not worth giving up your life for a potential steak or dish of ice cream -- especially when there are so many other delicious choices, like lamp chops or a bowl of sherbet -- nor because most people have never even held a cow in their hands, but most people wouldn't want to.

Nor would you really miss cows.  Seriously, after you're 12 years old, how often do you even have milk?  Maybe to smooth out your bitter cup of joe a bit, and you can use non-dairy Coffee-Mate (tm) for that.  And it's only the liberal frou-frou elite who need foam for their double-latte, and there's sheep's milk and goat milk they can use, after all, which I'm sure foams up wonderfully.  Hey, even coconuts can provide milk in a pinch!

If cows were really important, and necessary (beyond not being in the Constitution), they would have a major  organization dedicated to their protection and proliferation, to make sure everyone had a cow, or even two.  But there is no National Cow Association. No NCA advocacy group trying to convince Americans that they need cows to keep them safe -- because, after all, let's face it, cows are pretty gentle creatures so benign that for countless generations young kids have had fun simply tipping them over.  No NCA lobbyists pushing Congress to maintain your cow rights.  No spokesperson offering thoughts and prayers every time a cow went to the Great Cow Pasture in the Sky.

In fact, quite the contrary, people actually appreciate it when cows bite the dust, because it means more roast beef, hamburgers and barbecued ribs.  (Which, to be clear, can all be replaced with tasty dishes from other farm animals.)  So, to cry out to protect cows when you're regularly hoping they get butchered makes zero sense.

Hey, it wasn't all that long ago we we did ban cows, albeit in small amounts and just briefly, to protect US from Mad Cow Disease.  And people made it through just fine.  Don't think of that as just a temporary occurance, but a test run that worked.

And if there are some of those people who just simply couldn't do without cows, they could always import frozen steaks from abroad (though there might be high tariffs) -- or save up to take a Beef Lovers Trip overseas or to Canada.

But if in the end cows went the way of the dodo and became extinct -- well...honestly, extinction has never been a great concern to the far right.  For many decades they've even fought against environmental protections for species about to disappear.  So, starting now to "care" about cows seems unlikely and far too hypocritical for even those to whom hypocrisy is almost like breathing. 

Contrast that with all the benefits from banning cows, from the dangerous hazard of them wandering onto roads in the face of onrushing cars -- to the ability to help save the environment for our children and the future from the absence of ozone-depleting methane gas in cow farts.

And if all of that doesn't convince you of the great many reasons it's right to ban cows, then you're probably just a tree-hugging, cow-loving liberal snowflake.

In the end, though, there is really just one, final argument against trying to convince people that they're wrong about the Green New Deal.

And it's that anyone who actually believes Democrats want to ban cows is not voting for Democrats EVER. And there's a 34% chance they would not be voting, period.  Partly because they don't think enough to care to vote and partly because they couldn't find their polling place

And once more, we head back to the wonderful folks at the Dodo whose description in their tweet explains this quite nicely.  Or to put it another way, this is perhaps the star of a new party game called "Duck -- duck -- duck -- duck -- ...DOG!"
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