The Unbelievable Video Showing the Moment a Hunter Snatches a Bird Out of the Air with His Bare Hands

What do you get when you combine guns, hunting, NFL quarterback Colt McCoy and a one-in-a-million-type feat? A viral video for sure.

Below is a YouTube post by Austin Stone church, a prominent church in Austin, TX. In it, a man can be seen walking through the brush with his shotgun when his buddies alert him to a quail coming his way. Instead of raising his gun (a good decision considering the bird was between him and the camera man), the hunter instead stretches out his hand and snatches the bird right out of the air to the disbelief of many:

Since being posted on Monday, the video has over 500,000 views.

Read more from this story HERE.

Birmingham Schoolgirl “Murdered in Bid to Harvest Her Organs”

Photo Credit: birmingham mailA Birmingham schoolgirl was murdered by health workers in India in a failed attempt to harvest her organs, her devastated parents have sensationally claimed.

Gurkiren Kaur Loyal’s family said she was being treated for a simple case of dehydration when staff at a clinic gave her a mystery injection which took her life.

But her relatives guarded the eight-year-old’s body so that her organs could not be taken in time to be used in transplant operations.

They claimed she was subjected to a “medieval” post-mortem examination during which all her major organs were removed in a bid to hide the truth of how she had been killed.

Gurkiren’s family said the Indian police and medical authorities made little attempt to investigate the death.

Read more from this story HERE.

7 Caught Trespassing At Boston’s Water Supply; Patrols Stepped Up Across Massachusetts (+video)

Photo Credit: Todd BingerShortly after midnight Tuesday, seven people were caught trespassing at the Quabbin Reservoir.

State Police say the five men and two women are from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, and “cited their education and career interests” for being in the area. The men told police they were chemical engineers and recent college graduates.

The Quabbin, in Belchertown, is one of the country’s largest man-made public water supplies. Boston’s drinking water comes from the Quabbin and the Wachusett Reservoirs.

Read more from this story HERE.

China Seeks Foothold in Arctic Group As Competition Heats Up for Region’s Resources

Photo Credit: State DepartmentChina is one of several countries hoping to obtain a foothold in a grouping of nations with territory lying within the Arctic Circle, a resource-rich area of fast-growing economic and strategic significance.

Beijing’s application for observer status at the Arctic Council, which meets in northern Sweden on Wednesday, requires the approval of all eight current members of the intergovernmental body, and some analysts are urging the United States to block it, pointing to China’s territorial disputes with neighboring countries and some of its policies at home.

The rising importance of the Arctic lies in its huge oil and gas potential, and experts predict virtually ice-free summers in the coming decades, making the region more accessible and navigable, and triggering concerns about potential harm to sensitive ecosystems.

A much-cited U.S. Geological Survey study in 2008 found that “the Arctic accounts for about 13 percent of the undiscovered oil, 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas, and 20 percent of the undiscovered natural gas liquids in the world.”

Geopolitical competition among Arctic nations has been heating up in recent years, and a Russian security strategy released in 2009 warned of the possibility of military conflict over the region’s resources.

Read more from this story HERE.

Massive Underwater Volcano Discovered off the Coast of Southeast Alaska

Photo Credit: Forest Service Geologist Jim BaichtalAbout 10,000 years ago, give or take a couple thousand years, a volcano blew its top in the middle of Behm Canal. The crater is still there, covered by 150 feet or so of ocean. But when the volcano exploded many thousands of years ago, it was not underwater. That’s what makes it so interesting.

Well, that and the fact that nobody currently living knew it was even there until just a few weeks ago.

U.S. Forest Service Geologist Jim Baichtal, who is based on Prince of Wales Island, and Anchorage USGS geologist Sue Karl were looking at some hydrographic surveys, something geologists tend to do.

When we were done, I noticed the area from Thorne Arm to Rudyerd had been surveyed,” Baichtal said. “I zoomed in and there was this large… some kind of volcano, and two other dome-like structures.”

Karl added that, “This new NOAA survey allowed us to see things that people had never seen before.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Holder Backing Into Corner, Blasts Issa’s Conduct as “Unacceptable” and “Shameful” (+video)

Photo Credit: YouTubeDuring a House Judiciary Committee hearing today, a visibly agitated Eric Holder blasted Rep. Darrell Issa’s conduct as “unacceptable” and “shameful.”

As Holder continued to mouth off to Rep. Issa, Issa tried to gain control, asking the chairman to shut Holder up.

Holder responded, “No, no, no, that’s – I am not going to stop talking now.”

Holder, perhaps one of the most integrity-challenged attorney generals in recent US history then had the gall to say, “It is inappropriate and too consistent with the way in which you conduct yourself as a member of Congress. It is unacceptable. And it’s shameful.”

President Obama’s Allies do More Damage in Days Than GOP Did in Four Years

In a matter of days, the Obama administration has done something that the president’s political opponents have failed to do over four and a half years: inflicted serious damage to President Obama’s public standing.

Obama has throughout his presidency aggressively combated GOP criticism — on issues large and small — mocking the attacks as political theater short on facts.

But with his own administration now embroiled in a flurry of controversies, including IRS mistreatment of conservative groups and the Justice Department’s secret monitoring of journalists’ phones, the president is coming across not as a forceful defender but as a bystander who claims he didn’t know what the people who work for him were doing. That posture, analysts said, will fuel public cynicism toward government and stoke fears of a White House in crisis.

“The Benghazi, IRS and Associated Press stories have a common thread: They deal with how policy is administered,” said Martha Joynt Kumar, a presidential historian who focuses on White House communication. “Management has been a weak point for the president from early in his administration. That is why these stories hit so hard. He has not been ahead of events but rather has had to rely on news organizations to inform him of what is going on in his own administration.”

But administration officials on Wednesday were still trying to deflect blame from the president, despite a battering in the media and on Capitol Hill.

Read more from this story HERE.

Eric Holder: Subpoenas For Hundreds Of Journalist Phone Records May Be Okay

Photo Credit: AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GettyAttorney General Eric Holder told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he may be comfortable with subpoenaing the phone records of hundreds of journalists if warranted by the facts of a hypothetical case.

“In a hypothetical situation, we’re gonna go after and subpoena hundreds of phone lines, phone records for journalists. Does that offend you as an American?” Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) asked Holder.

“It would depend on the facts. You’d have to know what the facts were and why the actions were taken,” Holder responded.

But Holder insisted that his Justice Department “does not want to have its actions chill sources” or “have a negative impact on the newsgathering abilities” of reporters.

Holder was sharply questioned by members of Congress from both sides of the aisle about the Justice Department’s subpoena of Associated Press phone records as part of a probe into a national security leak. Holder revealed that he had voluntarily turned over his own phone records as part of the same investigation.

Read more from this story HERE.

Benghazi Fallout: Will Susan Rice be on the Chopping Block?

Photo Credit: The CableInsiders with ties to the Obama administration tell The Cable that U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has become the heir apparent to National Security Advisor Tom Donilon — a post at the epicenter of foreign-policy decision making and arguably more influential than secretary of state, a job for which she withdrew her candidacy last fall amid severe political pressure.

“It’s definitely happening,” a source who recently spoke with Rice told The Cable. “She is sure she is coming and so too her husband and closest friends.”

“Susan is a very likely candidate to replace him whenever he would choose to leave,” agreed Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to President Obama and counselor at the Washington Institute. “She is close to the president, has the credentials, and has a breadth of experience.”

Both sources said the timing of succession was uncertain. “I don’t believe Tom Donilon is about to leave but would be surprised if he were to remain for the whole second term,” Ross said. “But in answer to your question, [Rice’s appointment] is very logical.”

Rice’s candidacy for secretary of state imploded in November after she recited talking points about the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi on five Sunday talk shows that turned out to be erroneous.

Read more from this story HERE.

IRS Exec Got $42k in Bonuses in Three Years

Photo Credit: ThinkstockLois Lerner, the senior executive in charge of the IRS tax exemption department and the federal employee at the center of the exploding scandal over the IRS targeting of conservative, evangelical and pro-Israel non-profits, was given $42,531 in bonuses between 2009 and 2011.

That figure was included in data provided by the IRS in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Washington Examiner. Lerner is director of the IRS exempt organizations division, which processes and approves or denies applications from groups seeking tax-exempt status.

Lerner received $17,220 for 2010, $14,691 for 2011 and $10,620 for 2012, the most recent year for which the IRS said data was available. Read more from this story HERE.