[What A Day]([link removed])

Friday, September 20, 2024
BY MATT BERG & CROOKED MEDIA

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- TIME Magazine, on Moo Deng’s [sudden rise to fame]([link removed])

Chances are Moo Deng, an adorable two-month-old pygmy hippo, has overtaken your social media feeds lately. As if you couldn’t love her more, she’s turning into something of an environmentalist icon.
 

- Moo Deng has single-handedly brightened what has been a pretty grim news cycle, putting a smile on hundreds of millions of faces around the world. In a way, the baby hippo is a [welcome reminder]([link removed]) that we don’t need to take life so seriously all the time: “She has taken [big, toothless chomps]([link removed]) out of the legs of attending zookeepers, unhinged her jaw to appear as if she is screaming in either [joy or existential horror]([link removed]), and done a lot of sleeping in between,” [writes Slate]([link removed]). Moo Deng may look like her life is all fun and games, but she’s actually at work saving her species, even if she doesn’t know it.
 

- There are only [2,000 to 3,000 pygmy hippos]([link removed].) left in the wild, native to West Africa. Their rivers are being polluted by human activity, the forests where they live are being cut down or burned, and — mind-bogglingly — they’re hunted as food. If they’re not protected, the hippos could disappear from their habitats. How could you see Moo Deng’s face and not want to jump into action? Environmental activists and lawmakers are using her newfound stardom to pull at the public’s heartstrings and get them engaged in saving the world.
 

- “What more visceral way to think about the risks and consequences of resiliency work than through a creature like Moo Deng, that can bring people together in awe of the wonder of the natural world?” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told What A Day after [tweeting]([link removed]) about protecting the hippo’s future. “I’d like to think if she was somehow elected to the U.S. Senate, Moo Deng would be a member of the Climate Solutions Caucus,” added Coons, who co-chairs the caucus. Hold on while I check the rules…

[What A Day]([link removed])

People often engage with environmental issues when they fear catastrophic events, like sea levels rising and wildfires tearing across the West Coast. But Moo Deng can mobilize people without all the doom and gloom.
 

- Humans find Moo Deng so adorable because of her neoteny — aka childlike characteristics that make you go “awwwww,” such as big eyes relative to the size of the head, Dan Blumstein, a conservation biologist who studies animal behavior, told What A Day. “Any time you have some charismatic, cool animal that's a great thing, because it gets people thinking about biodiversity and the amazing things that are on Earth,” he said. “There's a leverage point there, using that excitement and interest, because we make decisions and get interested in things based on our emotions.”
 

- Intertwined with the cute posts about the baby hippo are countless memes, like Moo Deng [being held aloft by Pope Francis]([link removed]), [eating a spicy potato taco]([link removed]) from Taco Bell, or [bopping along]([link removed]) to “365” by Charli XCX. However, there’s also a subset of memes being used to spur people into action to save the environment, underscoring how memes and internet culture can be used as a nontraditional [form of activism and influence]([link removed]). “What it feels like to find out someone you met works at an oil or weapons company,” reads one post, paired with a picture of an extremely irritated Moo Deng, on the [GoGreenSaveGreen Instagram page]([link removed]). When you pair an animal’s cuteness with a cause people want to get involved in, posts like that “take off,” the page’s moderator told me.
 

- Environmentalists have long tried to reach the public with creative tactics ([throwing soup at the Mona Lisa]([link removed]) and a [Van Gogh painting]([link removed]) was questionable), but engaging millions of people is hard work. “Solving our environmental crises is no longer an issue of searching for solutions — we know the answers — it’s an issue of public willingness to accept those solutions,” Morgan Tingley, who teaches ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA, told What A Day. 

“If an adorable, pudgy pygmy hippo gets a few more people to care about saving biodiversity on this planet, then I’m all for it,” Tingley added. Maybe we can give the soup to Moo Deng instead. I bet she'd love it.

Think tenants don’t have power? Think again. This week on “Assembly Required,” Stacey Abrams talks with Tara Raghuveer, the founding director of the KC Tenants Union, about how renters are rising up and reshaping politics. From Kansas City to across the nation, they’re fighting for housing justice. Don’t miss this important conversation on how renters can turn the tables and take action. New episodes of Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams release every Thursday. Listen on [Amazon Music]([link removed]), or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R-NC) [won’t appear]([link removed]) at Donald Trump’s rally in North Carolina on Saturday following the [bombshell report]([link removed]) detailing his past support for bringing back slavery and appalling activity on a porn site. Damn, you can’t even call yourself a “Black Nazi” anymore without harsh consequences. Because of woke. 
 
Robinson, who’s running for governor in the state, is staying in the race despite calls from many Republicans to back out. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) didn’t comment directly, but [said]([link removed]), “It was a tough day, but we must stay focused on the races we can win.” Oof. 
 
The reports of Robinson’s musings, which he posted years before he entered politics, aren’t surprising, Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-NC) told the [What A Day]([link removed]) podcast. (Reminder to listen and subscribe, you crazy kids!). “This is not that different than other things we have seen from him,” Jackson said. “It's sexual in nature, it's very extreme, it's very crude, and we have seen all of those things from him.”

Trump has a long history of praising Robinson, calling him "Martin Luther King on steroids" and "Martin Luther King times two,” suggesting that Donald Trump cannot name more than two Black men off the top of his head. The Harris campaign is taking advantage, [launching a new ad]([link removed]) on Friday featuring times Trump has backed this whack job.

The pro-Trump Georgia State Election Board [approved a rule]([link removed]) on Friday that requires counties hand-count votes in the November presidential election, which could delay reporting of the results for weeks if not months. Critics say it’s impossible in all but the smallest counties, and that there’s not enough staff or money to enact the rule. Cool! 
 
MAGA Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) went to “a drug-fueled sex party in 2017 with the 17-year-old girl at the center of the alleged sex trafficking scandal,” [NOTUS writes]([link removed]) in an incredibly unsettling string of words, citing testimonies in legal documents. The minor was a junior in high school, attending the party of one of Gaetz’s lobbyist buddies. The Party of Family Values, everybody!!! 
 
Hezbollah unknowingly [handed out]([link removed]) explosive-filled pagers just hours before they began to blow up this week, killing dozens of people and injuring thousands. Israel hasn’t claimed responsibility, but the [New York Times]([link removed]) reports that Israel set up a shell company to pose as a pager producer to tamper with and send the devices to the Iran-backed group. Meanwhile, Israel [carried out deadly strikes]([link removed]) in Lebanon on Friday, targeting a senior Hezbollah official.
 
Prominent New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi [was placed on leave]([link removed]) from the outlet as her relationship with roadkill enthusiast Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s now a Trump surrogate, became public. 

Trump said that “any Jewish person” who votes for Harris “should have their head examined,” [while speaking]([link removed]) at an event combating antisemitism Thursday night. “If I don't win this election — and Jewish people would have a lot to do with that, 60 percent are voting for the enemy — Israel will cease to exist in two years,” he continued. Preemptively placing collective blame on Jewish people for something at an event to fight antisemitism… great work, everyone! Flawless execution.

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Stevie Wonder [announced a 10-show tour]([link removed]) across many battleground states leading up to the presidential election, after supporting Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention. Taylor Swift, are you listening? Get on it!

[What A Day]([link removed])

[You Survived Today. See You Thursday.]([link removed])

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