Maggie Shnayerson

@thedeadline: Shoutout to the Chevy HRH. Today I’ve driven it through hell. (Taken with Instagram)

Admittedly, should you find yourself in the path or the aftermath of an F4 tornado sustaining winds of 190 mph, I’d guess it’s entirely natural to become deeply attached to whatever armor you’ve got, particularly if it weighs a couple of tons and you might as well be an inchworm in comparison to the Home Depot that just got flattened across the highway.

That said, it was a little—odd?—how many times Anderson Cooper mentioned the make and model of the vehicle from which missing and injured Joplin teen Will Norton was ejected during an interview Monday night with Norton’s family. They noted twice more that it was a Hummer H3 sunroof through which Norton was ripped. Driving home from his high school graduation with his dad, no less. The tiniest Hummer GM makes is mentioned again in the (currently swamped) Facebook page the Norton’s have put together to find their son as well as in the online version of Cooper’s CNN report.

This is highly relevant information to tracking the kid down quickly, I get it. But okay, so how about a plate number? Color? Year? The H3 has been out since ‘06 with a couple of different variations. I’d be shoving pictures of the car, if I had any left, into Cooper’s hand, bumper stickers, whatever, anything that makes it stand out. Except the H3 was destroyed by the storm.

So was that the point then? That this storm was so massive it took out a Schwarzenegger ride? People in Joplin, Missouri, drive hefty SUVs but are also environmentally-conscious? For Pete’s sake, tell us what Will Norton was wearing.

I can’t even begin to imagine the level of shock the people of Joplin are in. If they forgot the name of the state they were standing in I’d hardly be surprised. Cooper, on the other hand…tell you what, Piers Morgan spoke with more sincerity last night. Never thought I’d say that.

It just made me go huh, is all.

What do I know, anyhow; I watched his newscast from my non-raptured, structurally-sound couch. Thinking of the Nortons, Stelter, Cooper too, and the people of Joplin, Missouri.

Spring should never be this sad.

This little stunt by Robert Gibbs makes me love him just a little bit. Or want to smack him a little bit. Then again, the man does put up with the White House Press Corps everyday. I use the phrase “put up with” in its most loosely-interpreted manner. Perhaps he’s entitled to throw a hissy fit in New Delhi whenever he pleases. [via @calderone on The UpShot]

Have The Daily What reblog your Tumblr post. Thanks guys

[youtube kE2tlFEcEdQ]

My Child is a Monkey | NatGeo

These people, who adopt three-day-old monkeys, stick them in diapers, and call themselves ‘Monkey Mothers,’ are completely insane. I’d really very much like to throttle one of them to within an inch of their lives. ABC covered similar ground in 2008.