Free Republic

U.S. wildlife officials will decide next year whether a wide-ranging Western bird species needs protections even though Congress has blocked such protections from taking effect, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Wednesday. They could determine the greater sage grouse is heading toward possible extinction, but they would be unable to intervene under the Endangered Species Act. The bird’s fate instead remains largely in the hands of the 11 individual states where they are found. President Barack Obama signed a $1.1 trillion spending bill late Tuesday with a provision that barred money from being spent on rules to protect the chicken-sized bird...

Recently, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki did an advertisement with Ing-Diba bank in his native home of Germany. The commercial shows Dirk entering a butcher’s shop and being offered some wurst sausage from behind the counter. At first glance, it appears that the advertisement is harmless enough but for some reason, German vegetarians were not pleased with Dirk chowing down on meat: In the shop an elderly lady behind the counter gives Nowitzki a slice of wurst to sample. A propos of wurst-eating she asks him: “What did we always used to say?” she asks the 2.13 meter (7-foot) basketball...