Trump’s Poll Numbers Skyrocket, Joy Behar Starts to Crack [WATCH]

It’s like a big chicken tender, but fancy.

As the old show business adage goes, “never work with children or animals.” Neither really care about sticking to the script, and that unpredictability can’t help but steal the scene. But, hey, sometimes it makes for a hilarious skit. “Saturday Night Live”’s April 14, 2023 episode introduced us to "Enter Stage Woof, Dog Acting School,” where zany dog trainers Yolanda Batista (played by Ana de Armas) and Donna Colonoscopini (played by Chloe Finemen) advertise a “semi-accredited” acting school for pups who “know they’re hot” and are ready to take on Hollywood.While de Armas and Fineman worked well together, their six canine co-stars went completely off the rails.From Henry, the deadpan golden retriever who simply refused to show his face, to Romeo, to the collie who left poor Fineman on the stage with a mouth full of cold spaghetti after a “Lady and The Tramp” bit gone wrong, these doggos and their complete lack of cooperation kept the actresses on their toes. Watch:Absolute chaos right? But pure comedy gold. Folks in the Youtube comments sections seemed to think so:“Not a single dog did what it was supposed to do, 10/10.”“When SNL brings actual dogs onto a skit you immediately know it’s gonna be hilarious.”“When you got a 100% success rate at getting a dog to do the opposite of what you want it to, you know that is some top notch training!”Dogs might not always be the best actors, but they are natural entertainers. This article originally appeared on 4.18.23

Believe it or not, there's still controversy over hair and how people with kinky hair types can wear their hair in professional settings. There are only 19 states that have passed the CROWN Act, which bars the discrimination of protective hairstyles worn by people that have kinky hair types. There continue to be instances where children have been unable to walk at graduation or attend school, and adults that have been fired for protective hairstyles that are often seen as unkempt or unprofessional. The prevalence of discriminatory dress code policies that often include specific hairstyles means that for decades, in an effort to look "professional," women with kinky hair have used chemical straighteners, which have recently been linked to uterine cancer. While some still use straighteners, many simply hide their hair with wigs or weaves, and men may cut theirs off to find and maintain employment. But this practice makes for a lack of representation in the workforce for diverse hairstyles in professional settings, and that's exactly why KDKA news anchor Royce Jones wore cornrows to work. KDKA is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, news affiliate for CBS News, where Jones is a reporter and evening anchor. He typically wears his hair loose and curly but recently got his hair braided and wore them on camera.People that have very curly to kinky hair textures have more fragile hair strands and have to use different products and styles to protect it from breakage. Cornrows, box braids and two-strand twists are all examples of protective styles to keep hair from breaking. Nevertheless, wearing protective styles in corporate settings is still a novel concept, even as people in charge learn more about what goes into caring for kinky hair textures. That's what makes Jones' move so bold. While people are more accepting of different hairstyles, it's not often represented in professional roles, especially where the attire is classified as "business." Yet, here Jones was, wearing a suit and tie sitting behind his anchor desk with freshly braided cornrows.The anchor took to social media to express the reason he decided to wear his hair braided on air and thank people for their support. "Here’s a reminder to be the representation you wish to see (in any space)! Feeling confident, happy and proud wearing my braids this week! Thanks for all of your supportive/encouraging messages. And s/o to my stylist, Mia, for doing the thing," Jones wrote.The comments on his post were extremely supportive from fans and coworkers alike. Fellow reporter Briana Smith wrote, "Love it! You can rock anything & everything! Keep being you! That’s why people love you my friend!""Braids on KDKA!! You look fabulous! CONGRATULATIONS," one commenter wrote."Royce, you’re the total package, good looking as heck, a great desk reporter and field reporter and greatly entertaining when you “step out” of the narrow reporter box like you do with Ray…and the braids? Honey, you’re fire," another person said."I love that you challenge the old stodgy rules about what a news anchor looks like. You keep on rockin’ it," one person wrote.Clearly, Jones has the support of the masses in his decision to wear braids on air. Representation of protective styles in professional settings is desperately needed, and it's obvious people are happy Jones is helping set the tone. This article originally appeared on 6.15.23

Human civilization has its upsides and its downsides. On the one hand, we've built incredible cities filled with amazing buildings where people work and play and are entertained, we have infrastructure that connects people and places, and we enjoy conveniences that previous generations could only dream about. On the other, we have environment-destroying excess and capitalistic greed pushing us toward widespread inequities and injustices. And then we have libraries. The public library is one of the greatest inventions humankind has ever imagined and actually made happen. Libraries are perfect in concept and exceptional in practice. The idea that we ought to plop a building full of books to borrow wherever groups of people live is beautiful in its simplicity and the fact that we've actually succeeded in doing it is somewhat miraculous. Libraries are something humans have created that has stood the test of time and that we can be truly, universally proud of. There is nothing but upside to a calm, quiet place where any and all people can hang out and read, without having to pay anyone anything. A thread on Twitter celebrating the wonderfulness of libraries illustrates this point perfectly."Today a woman with developmental disabilities came into the library, and she said she was lost," wrote Twitter user @schaalfan. "She didn't know her address, but her phone number was in her pocket on a piece of paper with Elmo on it. She kept saying, 'The library is a safe place.'" We called and her guardian came right over. Apparently this happens pretty regularly. They even stayed long enough for her to check out some new books and Sesame Street DVDs. The library is a safe place indeed. — David (@David) 1646415938 "We called and her guardian came right over," they continued. "Apparently this happens pretty regularly. They even stayed long enough for her to check out some new books and Sesame Street DVDs. The library is a safe place indeed."Indeed. The post prompted others to share their own stories of libraries being safe places for them, and it's enough to warm even the hardest of hearts.For people who grew up in dysfunctional homes, the library can be a safe haven of calm and kindness.For people with disabilities, it can be a safe place where people are patient and kind. We are so touched and glad that we can be a safe place. It's so important to us to be a community hub where everyone feels welcome. — Tigard Public Library (@Tigard Public Library) 1646511819 Oh THIS reached tight inside my book loving heart and squeezed. I grew up in a library and remember that feeling of being peacefully home. What a gift to return to. I will tell my girls. Take me to the library. Take me to the sea.pic.twitter.com/rDKy5e46B5 — PattyBulgerDahlgren Vaxxed + Masked\ud83d\udc0b \ud83e\udd88 \ud83e\udd91\ud83d\udc2c (@PattyBulgerDahlgren Vaxxed + Masked\ud83d\udc0b \ud83e\udd88 \ud83e\udd91\ud83d\udc2c) 1646487462 For people lacking financial means, the library is a space that provides free education and free entertainment, as well as a free indoor place to go. Library funding has a fantastic return on investment for a community - they fill up a lot of gaps in other social services and help people find their way to information about other opportunities. \nAnd they\u2019ve mostly avoided the stigma other public services suffer. — Erika (@Erika) 1646494845 The library was my refuge too. I was the first one in my family to go to college. I learned that books were my friends and they opened the doors to so many possibilities. One of my most treasured possessions is my library card. #LibrariesEmpower #Libraries — Intravenous Coffee (@Intravenous Coffee) 1646509090 People also celebrated librarians—the stewards of these wonderful places and the books and people who reside inside them. Librarians are right up there with teachers in the "best" category. While the building and the books help people to see it's safer and give readers an escape, it's you and your colleagues around the world that make the Library safe.\n\nThank you all for being guardians, guides, and companions to children and adults of all ages. — Ethan Kristopher-Hartley \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@Ethan Kristopher-Hartley \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa) 1646468687 Libraries and librarians deserve all the love we can give them. When so much seems wrong with the world, we at least know we got this one thing right. (And some people also threw a little love for Elmo into the thread, too, for good measure. "Sesame Street" is almost as wonderful as libraries, after all.) My son is 24 with cognitive disabilities. Almost every day he asks if Elmo is coming over for lunch. He knows the answer, but he still has hope that one day I'll say yes. — Cheryl Boucher (@Cheryl Boucher) 1646463049 This article originally appeared on 3.10.22

If you watch the news all day, you’ll probably think that America is a politically divided, dangerous, bigoted, contentious, depressing place that’s slowly losing its grip on being a world power. That’s because there are very few media outlets that can stay in business reporting good news. (Unless they’re Upworthy, of course.)Humans have a negativity bias, so they are much more interested in hearing about the world’s problems than what’s going well. That makes it easy for them to develop a warped view of their country and the world that is much more negative than it should be.Thousands of people on Reddit came together to make people feel a lot better about being an American recently after a user named KyleB2131 asked, “What does America do better than most other countries?” The post received thousands of responses from Americans and people abroad about the things that truly make the country great.=A lot of the responses are about how America excels in innovation and has wonderful topography highlighted by a fantastic system of national parks. Americans are also incredibly creative and make the best entertainment in the world.“This may be one of my favorite Reddit threads of all time,” a Reddit user named BigPlainV wrote. “Being tuned in to American mass media makes me feel like I live in the most fucked up armpit of the world. This thread has single handedly made me proud to be an American again.”“The American mass media, I believe, is our biggest downfall,” circ2day added. “Because bad news makes more money than good news, that's all we get. Everything is aggressively sensationalized for the sake of getting views. This makes America look incredibly bad to outsiders.”Here are 17 of the best responses to the question, “What does America do better than most other countries?”1. "Turning corn into things that are not corn." — rlemon2. "I was going to say cornbread but everyone said rest stops. Have y’all ever had cornbread?" — Admirable-Ad-25543. "I love the Interstate Rest Areas on road trips. I'm a Canadian from the west coast, and was always VERY impressed with the 24/7 rest areas. Clean washrooms, nice grassy areas for dogs, picnic tables, and a lot of times people selling crafts, or offering free coffee!"I've only driven through the western states, (WA,OR,CA,NV,UT,AZ) but yeah, those rest areas were always reliable. Always well-marked signs when the next one was coming up. Just made everything about traveling easier! Thanks, neighbors!" — Ubba-Ga4. "Jazz." — PuzzleheadReveal585. "National Parks." — Big-Win6220SmellLikeSheepSpirit added:"Absolutely. People complain about crowds at the national parks, but this is somewhat by design. As you mention the American national parks are very accessible, they have handicapped trails. They have large educational visitor stations. They have viewpoints on the roads. They're meant to "market" the outdoors to the masses. They're a "park" much like an urban park is. Most have truly amazing drives that give a great sampling of what they offer."They also have amazing landscapes that see much less usage only a few miles out. People miss the point that they work for both the layperson/day visitor AND the person who will spend 5 days in a roadless wilderness. And of course there are wilderness designations for that reason."6. "Make sure there's ice in your beverage." -- HegemoniHarbingerDJ33 added:"I asked where the ice machine was in a hotel in Dublin and the woman at the desk thought I was damaged in the head. She'd clearly never, ever had anyone ask that before."7. "Buffets. No buffet I’ve had can beat the one’s I had in the states." — sueRiot8. "Music — The United States is the birthplace of Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll, Hip Hop, Punk, Bluegrass, Country-Western, Rap, and a half a dozen different forms of regional folk music. Nearly every culture in the world imitates our musical forms." — Mike the Bard9. "While we have a LONG way to go, the USA is comparatively better than a lot of places regarding supporting people with disabilities." — Kittenesque0210. "The ability of the American farmer to produce food. It is really staggering the amount of food that is grown here." — fat-dum-stoopid11. "Women's sports are really well supported here - so are female athletes. Despite many things Americans might say about it - if you go to other countries female athletics is really almost non-existent." — Juls724312. "America wins EVERY Super Bowl!" — Leyline13. "Air conditioners everywhere and free public restrooms. You have to pay to use the restrooms in Europe." — SnooDoughnuts23114. "Business. Hands down. It’s their biggest advantage in my opinion. Deals with Americans just get done easier. Compared to other countries American businesses are more open-minded to new things, don’t try to fuck you over, want a win for both sides, want simpler agreements, negotiate fairly, hold up their end of the bargain, etc."If you have even done business internationally you really see what a strong advantage it is. Other countries everyone is fucking everyone over, or are close-minded, slow as snails, and obsessed with bureaucracy. Commerce just flows better there." — Stopinstinker15. "Think big and be bold. I am originally from Europe where people often just think small." — throwaway3213219043216."Serious answer? Logistics. We're quite a large country and we've gotten very good at moving things around." — weirdoldhobo197817. "Chatting, I’m from an Asian country where most people will avoid talking to stranger. But you can literally talk to anyone you met in the street in the US and most of them are willing to talk." — _formosa_This article originally appeared on 9.9.22

A family of kittens in western Turkey has won people's hearts with an emergency visit to a hospital.Not an animal hospital—a human hospital. And it wasn't a pet owner who brought them in, but the mama cat herself. According to Gulf Today, staff had previously left food and water for the stray orange tabby outside the Izmer, Turkey hospital, but that morning she kept meowing outside. Finally, she fetched one of her kittens and carried it right into the hospital, clearly on a mission. She wasn't scared or shy as hospital personnel cleared the path for her. With her baby in her mouth, she trotted through the hallways, seemingly looking for someone to help.Medical personnel examined the kitten along with its siblings and consulted with a veterinary clinic. As it turned out, the kittens had an eye infection. Mama kitty's maternal instincts are really something else. Just look at this sweetness caught on video:According to the Daily Mail, one of the hospital workers told local media: "We were giving food and water to the mother cat living on the street with other people living in this area. However, we did not know that she gave birth to kittens."As we began to receive patients in the morning, she showed up with her kittens. She asked for help, meowing for a long time. We were shocked. "Upon careful examination, we saw that the kittens were not able to open their eyes due to infection."We consulted with veterinarians and gave medicine as described. When the kittens opened their eyes a short time later, we were thrilled."Later, we sent the mother cat and kittens to Uzundere for further care. This is the first time something like this has happened to us. We were emotional and delighted to see that they recovered well."This isn't the first time that a mama cat has made news for bringing her kittens into a hospital in Turkey, however. Last spring, a different cat brought her kitten into an emergency room at a hospital in Istanbul. Merve Özcan described the scene in Twitter posts that went viral at the time."Today we were in the hospital emergency, a cat rushed to the emergency with her baby she was carrying in her mouth," Özcan wrote. "Her baby is a little mischievous, her mother grabs it where she finds it." — (@) Medics looked over the kitten for obvious signs of illness, while mama cat was given milk and food. Then they were sent to a vet. "The Turks have long been known for their love and care for stray animals," Bored Panda reported, "with many leaving out food and water for them on the streets."No wonder these cats felt so comfortable bringing their kittens into human hospitals for help.While we can't know for certain what prompted these mama kitties to bring their babies to these medical professionals, it's clear that their maternal instinct to protect and keep their kittens healthy is strong. And the fact that they seem to trust the hospital personnel to take care of their babies says a lot about how humans have treated them. Good for these Turkish medical workers for setting an inspiring example of kindness to animals. This article originally appeared on 4.6.21

When lifting weights at the gym, the discomfort you feel should be coming from the workout. Not from other people with no concept of boundaries. However, this is an all-too-common occurrence for women. Personal trainer Heidi Aragon (@fit_with_heidi) is used to sharing her fitness journey on social media. Her video, which has now garnered more than 8 million views on TikTok, didn't go viral because of the workout. Instead, people are responding to how she confronted a man who not only wouldn't stop staring at her, but denied the fact that he was. Until Heidi beat him at his own game.Heidi explains in the text video "This creepy old guy at the gym kept coming over and staring at me." Sure enough, the video shows a man in a green shirt, eyes undeniably fixated on Heidi. Uncomfortable, Heidi tries to get her husband to stand between her and the man, hopefully laying down a not-so-subtle cue to back off. But subtlety is clearly not this guy's language. So what does Heidi do? She stares back. The strategy seemed to work, at least for a while, but eventually Heidi had to go over and confront the guy directly. Her video text read: "I told him if he's going to work out in this corner he needed to stop staring and making me uncomfortable. His response was, 'I'm just looking around.' I then told him I record my workouts and I have him on film. He shut up real quick." @fit_with_heidi Don’t sit there and tell me you’re not doing something when I have proof. ? #gymtok #fittok #influencer #viral #trending #tiktok #fitness #gym #gymgirl #fyp #fypシ #foryou #foryoupage #gymcreeps ♬ Real As It Gets - Lil Baby I know what you're thinking: "Wait, didn't we just hear a story about this?" Why yes, you're right. Our very own Tod Perry covered another woman who had to deal with a guy at the gym who couldn't take a hint.Yes, almost back-to-back stories of women who have had enough from fellow male gym-goers. And still, there is victim blaming. In the video's comment section, one user wrote, "Wear pants like that and expected something different??" How many videos have to go viral before we stop blaming a woman's choice of clothing (which were really quite normal gym attire, by the way) for a man's obviously intrusive behavior? Others also seemed to assess that because Heidi was a fitness influencer, she more or less signed up for this kind of attention, invited or not. Which completely negates this woman having any choice in the matter. However, Heidi did post a tongue-in-cheek follow-up video thanking those who posted negative comments, as it gave her more followers and likes. So I guess there's some small victory.Though we may never have a consensus on proper gym etiquette, a good rule of thumb is keep to yourself. Getting the gumption to go workout is hard enough; don't make staying there a hardship as well.

It is hard to walk into a dog shelter without wanting to take them all home. In the case of Meghan Wedge and Sarah Bauer, one turned into ten—and quickly.It all started outside Meghan's work in Dalton, GA. Some colleagues of hers came into the office and said that there was a dog badly injured in the parking lot just outside. As Wedge told PBS39, "As soon as she got up, she'd fall back down. When she did finally get up, you could see that she couldn't put her weight on her one back leg. I wanted to help her, so I started posting on social media, just asking if anyone was able to help this dog. I didn't want to call the pound on her. I was hoping to find her a home." That was when she made a phone call to her sister, Sarah Bauer, who lived in Quakertown, PA. At that moment, for the dog who would soon be named Izzy, things were about to change. As Megan recalls, "Sarah was like: What if I take the dog? I said: Are you sure you want to do this? You don't know what you may be getting yourself into." But there was no talking Sarah out of it. They met in Virginia where Sarah met Izzy and took him home. The first order of business for Sarah was to take Izzy to the vet. That was when she learned how bad the trauma that Izzy had suffered really was. "Because of Covid-19 and everything going on, I couldn't go into the vet with her, which was hard in itself," said Bauer. "The vet comes out to my car and tells me that her hip is dislocated, she has abrasions on her legs and that she was probably hit by a car. She also told me that she was hit by buckshot. At that point, I started tearing up. To think that this sweet girl had been treated that way...I don't even want to think about someone hurting her on purpose." image.pbs.org As Sarah pointed out to PBS39 on Izzy's X-rays, "The tiny white dots—that's the buckshot—all over her body. This is just showing her abdomen. I also picked a couple out of her ears, arms and legs." As expected, when Megan heard this from Sarah it was heartbreaking. "When Sarah told me all of that, I started crying," said Wedge. "I have a rescue dog myself, and she was abused before I got her. To me, dog is God spelled backwards. Dogs are angels. I think it's sickening that people would even think about hurting an animal."So Izzy had been hit by a car and had buckshot all over her body, but there was one more discovery about to be made. Izzy was also pregnant. "The vet told me that she found a heartbeat," said Bauer. "So, just to know that a little puppy was alive after everything that her mom went through, that was incredible!" The thing is, they were wrong. It would turn out not to be a heartbeat. It would turn out to be nine of them. images.gofundme.com "The vet tech came out and said: So, we don't just have a puppy, we have puppies! Do you want to guess how many? I said: Three or four? She said: Nine! I said: Nine puppies...that's crazy," said Bauer. "She's really come alive since the first time that I met her. I think the puppies really brought out the puppy in her. She manages pretty well, but I know that she's in discomfort every day, especially if she tries to go up or down steps or even just to run around with her puppies, she won't put weight on that leg. I just want her to have the best life, that's why I brought her home with me, I just want her to have a good life." To assist Sarah with the vet bills of over $4,000, and to help her feed the nine new family members, you can go to the GoFundMe page that was created. It certainly sounds like Izzy could not have landed in a better home than the one she shares with Sarah Bauer.