Fishermen Save Bald Eagle Caught in the Grip of a Giant Octopus: WATCH
Fishermen off of Canada’s Vancouver Island saved a bald eagle this week as it struggled in the clutches of a giant octopus.
The fishermen worked at Mowi Canada West, the leading salmon aquaculture company in British Columbia.
Wrote Mowi: “Our staff at our Mahatta West farm in Quatsino rescued an eagle that had bitten off more than it could chew when it tried to catch an octopus. They are used to seeing the wonders of nature around them on a regular basis, but they knew that this was a once in a lifetime experience. The octopus swam away unharmed and the eagle recovered on a branch for around 10 minutes before it flew away.”
Said salmon farmer John Ilett: “We weren’t sure if we should interfere because it is mother nature, survival of the fittest. But it was heart wrenching — to see this octopus was trying to drown this eagle. I was able to just latch on to the octopus and give it a little tug. It released its grip … which gave the eagle just enough time to get to shore. We weren’t sure exactly how it was going to go down when I tested the pole.”
Reuters reports: “The central African country banned ‘sexual relations between people of the same sex’ in a new penal code earlier this year, according to copies of the law online. A government official who declined to be named confirmed the change, which happened in July but was not widely reported. The minister of justice declined to comment. … Confirmation of the change, which introduced a penalty of up to six months in prison and a fine of 5 million CFA francs ($8,521), came at the end of a mixed year for LGBT+ rights.”
House to Approve Articles of Impeachment Against Donald J. Trump: WATCH LIVE
The U.S House of Representatives is set to resume debate and vote on articles of impeachment against Donald Trump at 9:45 am on Friday morning following a marathon Thursday session which ended with a surprise adjournment by Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) that outraged Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee.
Larry Kramer, Trans Model Search, Eric Holder, Lachlan Murdoch, ‘In The Heights’ Movie, Pete Buttigieg, Vassar: HOT LINKS
McConnell
MOVE TO ACQUIT?Mitch McConnell hints at Senate strategy: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to hold a final vote to acquit President Donald Trump, should he be impeached, when a majority of senators believe his trial has run its course instead of holding a vote on dismissing the articles of impeachment, two Republican senators told CNN on Wednesday.Republicans want to have a vote on acquittal — to clear the President of the charges against him — not simply rely on a 51-vote threshold procedural motion to dismiss the hotly disputed case.” DEMOCRAT JOE MANCHIN. Torn on voting to convict…
TWILIGHT OF A DIFFICULT MAN. Larry Kramer and the birth of AIDS activism: “Let it be said that Mr. Kramer, now 81 and frail from illness, still does righteous fury like no one else.”
AMERICABLOG RESPONSE. Pete Buttigieg is a bad gay? Here we go again. ‘Pete’s other “problem,” that he’s a gay white man, has deep roots in the woker-than-thou left. Lots of newer LGBT activists have outright animus towards white gaymen, claiming, among other things, that white gaymen never did anything for the LGBT movement when, in many cases, they carried the lion’s share of the activist burden, including sacrificing their lives.’
MAYOR PETE ON CBS THIS MORNING: “In Iowa, he’s in a tight race with the top candidates, and a poll in New Hampshire has him leading. Buttigieg joins “CBS This Morning” to discuss the impeachment hearings, what his record shows in helping minority communities, and how he plans to tackle the student debt crisis.”
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. Impeach Donald Trump. “Such an act of tyranny is what the Constitution was created to protect against. That is why this impeachment process is urgent and should move forward without delay.”
ERIC HOLDER. Bill Barr should resign as Attorney General: “As a former U.S. attorney general, I am reluctant to publicly criticize my successors. I respect the office and understand just how tough the job can be. But recently, Attorney General William P. Barr has made a series of public statements and taken actions that are so plainly ideological, so nakedly partisan and so deeply inappropriate for America’s chief law enforcement official that they demand a response from someone who held the same office.”
DAN SPILO. Survivor contestant ejected from show after off-camera incident: “For the first time in Survivor‘s 39-season history, a contestant has been ejected from the game due to an undisclosed, off-camera incident. At the end of Wednesday’s episode, Jeff Probst revealed to the remaining castaways that Dan Spilo had been removed and would not return to camp.”
Trump Supporters Warn of Civil War, Violence if He is Removed from Office: WATCH
Trump supporters outside his rally earlier this week in Hershey, Pennsylvania warned of a second civil war and physical violence if he is removed from office by impeachment. The cult is real.
Trump supporters at the president’s rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania tell CBS News their thoughts on impeachment and the possibility of his removal: “It would become the second Civil War.” t.co/jPUmfWREbXpic.twitter.com/bzT0v9oaWN
Mike Pence Refuses to Declassify Call with Ukrainian President
Mike Pence’s attorney is refusing a request to declassify a call between the vice president and Ukraine’s president.
The Daily Beast writes: “Pence’s counsel rejected the request from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), which came after Pence aide Jennifer Williams testified about the call, but told lawmakers that specific details of the conversation were classified. Pence’s office said the vice president didn’t discuss the impeachment inquiry, which has revolved around President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, so there was no need to release the transcript. “
Politico reports: “In a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Pence’s lawyer, Matthew Morgan, said it “serves no purpose” to declassify supplemental testimony from one of Pence’s national security aides, as Schiff had demanded. ‘At this point, the Intelligence Committee’s oversight authority is limited to those areas in which it may potentially legislate or appropriate,’ Morgan wrote to Schiff, who pressed Pence last week to declassify supplemental testimony from one of the vice president’s national security aides, Jennifer Williams.”
Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka Give a Tour of Their NYC Brownstone at the Holidays: WATCH
Architectural Digest paid a visit to the Harlem brownstone of Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka to check out their home at the holidays.
Harris and Burtka have been in the brownstone, which was once a speakeasy for mill workers and a musical school for girls, for six years. The home features an apothecary cabinet with surprise gifts for guests, a robotic player piano, a parlor bar with monkey decor, an animatronic parrot, and an extensive art collection.
16-Year-Old Climate Activist Greta Thunberg is TIME’s Youngest-Ever ‘Person of the Year’
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, has been selected as TIME’s 2019 ‘Person of the Year’, making her the youngest person ever bestowed with their honor.
While the franchise has a long record of recognizing the power of young people, the editors have never before selected a teenager #TIMEPOYt.co/1YHRSq3a9i
Writes TIME: “While the franchise has a long record of recognizing the power of young people, the editors have never before selected a teenager. Before 2019, the previous individual to hold the record for youngest Person of the Year was the first Person of the Year in TIME’s history: 25-year-old Charles Lindbergh, selected as most influential man of 1927. … Her message is one the Boomers would have recognized in the 1960s: Our elders have sold us out. The system isn’t working. The time to act is now. Perhaps even more drastically than it did in 1966, the world is changing, and the young are the ones who see what’s happening. And in 2019, as millions of people across the planet joined her, history was made by the vision of one young person in particular.”
ABC News reports: “In a speech peppered with scientific facts about global warming, the Swedish 16-year-old told negotiators Wednesday at the U.N.’s climate talks in Madrid that they have to stop looking for loopholes for their countries’ actions and face up to the ambition that is needed to protect the world from a global warming disaster. ‘The real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like real action is happening, when in fact almost nothing is being done, apart from clever accounting and creative PR,’ said Thunberg, who later Wednesday was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year .”
Thanos Creator Blasts Trump After Campaign Tweet Compares President to Genocidal Marvel Villain: ‘How Sick is That?’
Donald Trump’s campaign late Tuesday tweeted a bizarre and disturbing video comparing the president to Thanos, a Marvel villain from The Avengers who snaps his fingers to destroy half the world’s population. In the tweeted clip, it’s the Democrats Trump is shown destroying. “House Democrats can push their sham impeachment all they want. President Trump’s re-election is inevitable,” the campaign wrote in the tweet.
The Trump campaign is now comparing the President to Thanos, the genocidal villain from The Avengers. This is bizarre. Even for them. (And they leave out the part where Thanos loses in the end) t.co/Cc4cWp1dbe
Jim Starlin, the comic book writer and artist who created Thanos in 1973, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the Trump campaign tweet: “After my initial feeling of being violated, seeing that pompous fool using my creation to stroke his infantile ego, it finally struck me that the leader of my country and the free world actually enjoys comparing himself to a mass murderer. How sick is that? These are sad and strange times we are going through. Fortunately, all things, even national nightmares, eventually come to an end.”
Boston Man Left Scarred for Life After Homophobic Attack by Man Wielding Box Cutter, Shovel: WATCH
A Boston man was beaten in the head with a shovel and slashed with a boxcutter in a homophobic attack that left him scarred for life.
WCVB reports: “The 25-year-old man who was attacked had just left Prentiss Street when Eddie Smith, 58, of Boston, began directing anti-gay slurs at him, according to the police report. Smith hit the man with a shovel and cut him with a box cutter near his eye, police said. Officers said they found a box cutter and a snow shovel. The injured man told police Smith had directed anti-gay slurs at him in the past.”
Smith was released on his own recognizance and will be arraigned this week. Said his victim: “I just hope I don’t see him soon. It just sucks that now I have to remember him when I look at my face for the rest of my life.”
